Configuration Management of Distributed Systems over Unreliable and Hostile Networks

Economic incentives of large criminal profits and the threat of legal consequences have pushed criminals to continuously improve their malware, especially command and control channels. This thesis applied concepts from successful malware command and control to explore the survivability and resilience of benign configuration management systems. This work expands on existing stage models of malware life cycle to contribute a new model for identifying malware concepts applicable to benign configuration management. The Hidden Master architecture is a contribution to master-agent network communication. In the Hidden Master architecture, communication between master and agent is asynchronous and can operate trough intermediate nodes. This protects the master secret key, which gives full control of all computers participating in configuration management. Multiple improvements to idempotent configuration were proposed, including the definition of the minimal base resource dependency model, simplified resource revalidation and the use of imperative general purpose language for defining idempotent configuration. Following the constructive research approach, the improvements to configuration management were designed into two prototypes. This allowed validation in laboratory testing, in two case studies and in expert interviews. In laboratory testing, the Hidden Master prototype was more resilient than leading configuration management tools in high load and low memory conditions, and against packet loss and corruption. Only the research prototype was adaptable to a network without stable topology due to the asynchronous nature of the Hidden Master architecture. The main case study used the research prototype in a complex environment to deploy a multi-room, authenticated audiovisual system for a client of an organization deploying the configuration. The case studies indicated that imperative general purpose language can be used for idempotent configuration in real life, for defining new configurations in unexpected situations using the base resources, and abstracting those using standard language features; and that such a system seems easy to learn. Potential business benefits were identified and evaluated using individual semistructured expert interviews. Respondents agreed that the models and the Hidden Master architecture could reduce costs and risks, improve developer productivity and allow faster time-to-market. Protection of master secret keys and the reduced need for incident response were seen as key drivers for improved security. Low-cost geographic scaling and leveraging file serving capabilities of commodity servers were seen to improve scaling and resiliency. Respondents identified jurisdictional legal limitations to encryption and requirements for cloud operator auditing as factors potentially limiting the full use of some concepts

Not Yet Modern? Longitudinal Organizing Capabilities of Offshoring Enterprises

While offshoring is well covered in literature, its organizational aspect and long-term development are not known. This chapter seeks to remedy this. Reviewing longitudinal offshoring studies discloses diverging findings. A range of activities has been offshored. The framework for organizing capabilities includes functions, tools, management/leadership and boundary spanners. A four-phase linear model of long-term offshoring is proposed, encompassing transfer, resource searches, transformation and development. Four case studies of offshoring organization were made: one longitudinal process is described. Their development paths differ, they do not go beyond transformation; two revert to backshoring; three do captive arrangements. Two employ project organization. They do not follow a modern pattern of linear progression

Intellectual Property Management in Health and Agricultural Innovation: Executive Guide

Prepared by and for policy-makers, leaders of public sector research establishments, technology transfer professionals, licensing executives, and scientists, this online resource offers up-to-date information and strategies for utilizing the power of both intellectual property and the public domain. Emphasis is placed on advancing innovation in health and agriculture, though many of the principles outlined here are broadly applicable across technology fields. Eschewing ideological debates and general proclamations, the authors always keep their eye on the practical side of IP management. The site is based on a comprehensive Handbook and Executive Guide that provide substantive discussions and analysis of the opportunities awaiting anyone in the field who wants to put intellectual property to work. This multi-volume work contains 153 chapters on a full range of IP topics and over 50 case studies, composed by over 200 authors from North, South, East, and West. If you are a policymaker, a senior administrator, a technology transfer manager, or a scientist, we invite you to use the companion site guide available at http://www.iphandbook.org/index.html The site guide distills the key points of each IP topic covered by the Handbook into simple language and places it in the context of evolving best practices specific to your professional role within the overall picture of IP management

Pigeonpea Technology Exchange ñ Strategies, Experiences, and Lessons Learnt in Eastern and Southern Africa

The Pigeonpea Improvement Project for Eastern and Southern Africa was initiated in 1992 with the goal of increasing pigeonpea productivity in the region. By 1996, the project had made significant progress in developing improved varieties, understanding markets, and identifying constraints to consumption. How could the technologies and knowledge developed through the combined efforts of ICRISAT and its collaborators be disseminated to achieve widespread impact

Towards Establishing a Change Management Process at an Academic Research Laboratory Network

This report focuses on the evaluation and development of a change management process for the Regis University Academic Research Network (ARNe), and specifically the SEAD Practicum. The author originally proposed expanding on a security audit performed on the ARNe in 2008, and researched, evaluated and presents several risk assessment methodologies. This broad approach was later focused on the practical aspects of developing a change management process for the ARNe/SEAD Practicum, based on researching applicable standards and best practice guidance. A management questionnaire and user survey were developed and distributed to obtain valuable opinions and perspectives from the individuals most directly involved with the administration and use of the ARNe and SEAD Practicum portal

EQUINE PITUITARY PARS INTERMEDIA DYSFUNCTION (PPID): PATHOPHYSIOLOGY AND A SURGICAL APPROACH TO TREATMENT

Equine pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) is a common endocrine disease of the older horse. First described in 1932, and likened to human Cushing’s disease, it is associated with an enlargement of the pituitary gland that was classically termed an adenoma. The underlying mechanism is attributable to a lack of dopaminergic inhibition of the pars intermedia. Treatment methods have remained essentially unchanged for 30 years and the prevalence data have mainly stemmed from Eastern Australia and the USA. The general objective of this thesis was to explore the feasibility of developing a targeted cell-specific approach for the treatment of equine PPID. The specific aims were to confirm the need for this advanced therapy by determining the prevalence of PPID in horses globally; to continue the investigation of the underlying cellular mechanism of PPID by confirming the role of pro-hormone convertases, and sequence the equine pro-opiomelanocortin, prohormone convertase 1 and 2 genes; and to investigate the methodology for site-specific applications of future therapy for equine PPID. These aims were met by reporting the prevalence data from a worldwide audience of veterinarians using an internet-based survey tool; by describing partial gene sequences of the equine proopiomelanocortin and prohormone convertase enzymes and their expression in normal and PPID horses; and by showing how low-volume contrast enhancement of the brain using computed tomography can delineate the margins of the pituitary gland, showing how general anesthesia effects the pulsitility and concentration of adrenocorticotrophic hormone, and finally, modifying a previously reported technique, by developing a novel surgical approach to the treatment of this classical condition

An Investigation into the Usability of an Innovation Management Assessment Tool

Two tools for assessing external knowledge absorption maturity were developed during Part 1 of this research based upon the work of a previous researcher. The first of these tools assesses the maturity of a single organization, or actor. The second tool assesses the maturity of the collaborative innovation network that actor is a part of. Each tool produces a maturity profile for that actor or network which can then be used to inform innovation strategy decision making. An actor maturity assessment tool had been developed in previous research, however it did not consider how important evaluation criteria were to the individual being evaluated. To address this, a literature review was conducted to identify importance weight elicitation and score aggregation methods. The findings were then used to further develop this actor assessment tool and create a new network assessment tool. Revised Simos’ method (SRF) for weight elicitation and normalization was used for determining the importance weights of evaluation criteria of actors. The Weighted Sum Model (WSM) was then used to calculate aggregate dimension scores which are used to create maturity profiles for that actor. The network assessment tool then finds the importance of those actors to their networks based on the criticality of the roles they play and their level of involvement in those roles. It was decided that the criticality of actor roles should be determined using pairwise comparison while the level of involvement an actor had in those roles could be found using point allocation. The theoretical validity and limitations of these methods were then analyzed. Finally, the functionality of the actor tool was improved and validated through usability testing and user feedback. After deciding that the usability concerns within the actor assessment tool were too great, the tool’s development down that path was stopped. The goal of the research then shifted to identifying usability recommendations so that similarly developed decision aid tools would reach implementation. It was predicted that the lack of conciseness in the instructions of the methods developed in Part 1 of this work were significant contributors to its lack of usability. Two versions of the actor assessment tool were then developed, one which was concise and one which was non-concise. Six think-aloud studies were conducted for each tool which explored conciseness’ effect on five attributes of usability: (1) efficiency, (2) effectiveness, (3) satisfaction, (4) learnability, and (5) usefulness. It was later discovered that conciseness may have an effect on non-native speaker’s ability to use instructions. It was also suspected that conciseness may have an effect on perceived workload. Based on the findings from these studies a list of recommendations was made to help future academic developers of decision aid tools to better account for usability in hopes that they get to have the satisfaction of their research reaching implementation

AN INNOVATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING LEAN CONSTRUCTION MATURITY

This thesis integrates Lean construction (LC) with the organisational assessment method ofmaturity models (MM) and delivers an original contribution to knowledge in the form of avalidated innovative organisational framework to measure the current state of LC maturity,which is called Lean Construction Maturity Model (LCMM). This framework provides andsupports organisations towards the development of greater maturity and subsequentlyenhances the awareness and understanding of LC. The aim of this research was to enableorganisations to measure the gap between their current state and where they want to be interms of embedding LC. Accordingly, the research addressed this aim further by providingbusinesses with support and guidance in their LC maturation process in particular inmeasuring sought improvement in their journey towards greater maturity in LC. The studywas conducted as a qualitative mixed-method design in order to discover and achieve a richunderstanding of the phenomenon of LC maturity from LC key informants and best fulfil theresearch aim. Consequently, a phenomenological approach was utilised, with focus groups(FGs) as the primary study, combined with a group interview as well as individual interviewsas supplementary components. To ensure validity, three different approaches weredeployed: first the triangulation of three different methods to collect the data, second a richand thick-description, and finally the validation of the developed framework by memberchecks in the form of interviews and a FG. The major findings of this research are: thesuccessful integration of MMs and LC achieved through the development of the proposedframework, and the simplification of LC into 11 Key Attributes that explain LC in a simplerand better way than before. This framework defined a LC maturity assessment methodutilising five maturity levels, 11 Key Attributes, which have been described through 60Behaviours, Goals & Practices, and 75 Ideal Statements that more mature organisations willexemplify. Finally, the most important consequence of this work is the enabling oforganisations to obtain a systemic and holistic overview of their current state of LC maturityand providing them with support in their maturation