Making the Distribution Subsystem Secure

This report presents how the Distribution Subsystem is made secure. A set of different security threats to a shared data programming system are identifed. The report presents the extensions nessesary to the DSS in order to cope with the identified security threats by maintaining reference security. A reference to a shared data structure cannot be forged or guessed; only by proper delegation can a thread acquire access to data originating at remote processes. Referential security is a requirement for secure distributed applications. By programmatically restricting access to distributed data to trusted nodes, a distributed application can be made secure. However, for this to be true, referential security must be supported on the level of the implementation

Divided, they win? a case study of the new political generation in Egypt since 25th January 2011

This dissertation explores the political culture of the new political generation in Egypt after 25th January 2011. It aims at examining the reasons behind generational conflicts on the new political landscape. It defines political generation as â a group of people who have been subject to common social and political (â ¦) influences and circumstances\u27 that shape their political values, attitudes, and signify their sharing of an essential destiny\u27 . Hence, generations are defined in terms of political culture, rather than age groups. The study examines six suggestive cases: The National Movement for Changeâ Kefayaâ , the 6th of April, the We Are All Khaled Saed, the Egyptian Current Party, the Salafyo Costa movement and Ultras Ahlawy football community. Through examining formative experiences, ideological composition and organizational forms, values, symbols, strategies, and inter-relationships, I aim at resolving one research problem: The significant variation within the political culture of the new generation deepens conflicts both within the emergent Generation and with the Muslim Brotherhoodâ on various ideological issues and political strategies. Also, it stimulates ideological transformation and threatens to upgrade political authoritarianism. In order to develop a \u27grounded\u27 , knowledge of the subject, the study, first, examines reasons behind the MB\u27s failure to co-opt the new generation both before and after the 25th January. Secondly, It examines the formative socio-political experiences of each generational unit. Thirdly, I report the interview findings on ideological and organizational manifestations and, finally, I analyze the results in order to understand the reasons behind generational conflicts and how they might lead into upgrading Mubarak\u27s authoritarianism. This research provides future studies with elementary background on the situation, its main actors, their inter-relationships and possible means of resolving their conflicts. I use two integrative methods of qualitative research: ethnographic semi-structured interviews with members of the new political generation and â participation as observer\u27. Data culled from primary and secondary sources is analyzed through conceptual analysis tool to examine the undergoing transformation and possible means to resolve the conflict. The study concludes that there are four intertwined lines through which generational conflicts evolved: a) problems either withered away or got replaced by new problems, b) a change and/or loss of leadership, mobilizable resources and sympathy, c) the rise of unexpected generational cooperation, and d) one generation topple or liquidate the other

Modified Mahalanobis Taguchi System for Imbalance Data Classification

The Mahalanobis Taguchi System (MTS) is considered one of the most promising binary classification algorithms to handle imbalance data. Unfortunately, MTS lacks a method for determining an efficient threshold for the binary classification. In this paper, a nonlinear optimization model is formulated based on minimizing the distance between MTS Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve and the theoretical optimal point named Modified Mahalanobis Taguchi System (MMTS). To validate the MMTS classification efficacy, it has been benchmarked with Support Vector Machines (SVMs), Naive Bayes (NB), Probabilistic Mahalanobis Taguchi Systems (PTM), Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE), Adaptive Conformal Transformation (ACT), Kernel Boundary Alignment (KBA), Hidden Naive Bayes (HNB), and other improved Naive Bayes algorithms. MMTS outperforms the benchmarked algorithms especially when the imbalance ratio is greater than 400. A real life case study on manufacturing sector is used to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model and to compare its performance with Mahalanobis Genetic Algorithm (MGA)

Antifungal activity of Comamonas acidovorans isolated from water pond in south Jordan

A bacterial strain identified as Comamonas acidovorans NB-10II was isolated from water pond in South Jordan. It was found to have an antifungal activity against filamentous fungi (Aspergillus niger SQ 40,Fusarium oxysporium SQ 11, Verticillium dahliae SQ 42), yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae SQ 46, Candida albicans SQ 47). All gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus megaterium SQ 5, Bacillus cereus SQ 6, Staphylococcus aureus SQ 9, Streptococcus pyogenes SQ 10) and gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli SQ 22, Klepsiella spp SQ 33, Pseudomonas mallei SQ 34) were found to be resistant. The isolateNB-10II was found to accumulate the main portion of the antimicrobial substances in their cells. In batch culture, the active antimicrobial substances accumulated at the late growth cycle, reaching theirmaximum at 42 h of growth. The data clearly show an antifungal activity of C. acidovorans against filamentous fungi and yeasts, and indicated the possibility of using NB-10II as a source of antimicrobialsubstances or as a biocontrol agent of some plant diseases in Jordan

Effect of carbon source on the antimicrobial activity of Corynebacterium kutscheri and Corynebacterium xerosis

In an attempt to screen out new potent antimicrobial substances producing bacteria, Corynebacterium kutscheri NB-1 and Corynebacterium xerosis NB-2 were isolated and were found antagonistic to bacteria and fungi. Antimicrobial substances production of the bacterial strains was greatly influencedby variation of carbon sources. Galactose and glucose strongly enhanced the antimicrobial activity of Corynebacterium kutscheri and Corynebacterium xerosis, respectively. But their antimicrobial activity had been repressed by ribose and lactose, respectivel

Determination of aerodynamic sensitivity coefficients for wings in transonic flow

The quasianalytical approach is applied to the 3-D full potential equation to compute wing aerodynamic sensitivity coefficients in the transonic regime. Symbolic manipulation is used to reduce the effort associated with obtaining the sensitivity equations, and the large sensitivity system is solved using 'state of the art' routines. The quasianalytical approach is believed to be reasonably accurate and computationally efficient for 3-D problems

Cost-effectiveness of innovations in pathology services in relation to cancer diagnosis and treatment management

Pathology plays an important role in cancer diagnosis and treatment management, results from the pathology lab guide clinicians’ diagnosis and inform patient care plans. Pathology digitisation is expected to maximise lab efficiency when handling tissue specimens, enhance speed, provide novel information to be used by clinicians when making treatment decisions and potentially improve test accuracy. Early cancer diagnosis and personalised treatment are key players in enhancing patients’ clinical outcomes and improving quality of life. Whilst research has shown digitisation of pathology labs to be an effective intervention for better management and reporting on tissue specimens, no evaluation has reported on the economic implications of the adoption of digital systems in an NHS with limited resources. Breast cancers are the most common cancer type in the UK so any advances in accuracy or time to diagnosis due to digital pathology are expected to have a large impact on this group of patients. This thesis investigates the cost-effectiveness of digital pathology through its impacts on breast cancer patients. A discrete event simulation model representing the breast cancer pathway was constructed and used to analyse the impacts of digitisation. There was evidence of both time and cost savings for breast cancer patients as a result of pathology digitisation. A systematic review and meta-analysis compared the diagnostic accuracy of the HER2 biomarker pre- and post- the introduction of digital pathology. There was evidence of reporting precision but not of improved accuracy. Finally, a cost-effectiveness analysis comparing the two approaches found digital pathology not to be cost-effective when compared to conventional microscopes for scoring the HER2 biomarker

Assessing English Language Instructors’ Knowledge and Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) In Taif University Campuses (TUCs)

The success of the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) into the teaching and learning of English language depends largely on the level of knowledge of ICT possessed by the instructors and actual utilization of these in the classroom. The study therefore assessed Taif University (TU) English Language instructors’ knowledge and use of ICT in English Language classrooms. Attempt was made to provide answers to these four research questions using survey research design: (1) What is the level of knowledge of English language instructor about ICT? (2) Are ICT facilities available in Taif University Campuses (TUCs) for the teaching and learning of English? (3) Do English language instructors use ICT in English? (4) Is there any significant difference in the knowledge of ICT between male and female English language instructors? The participants were 94 English Language instructors from 4 university campuses in and around Taif City. A self-designed questionnaire was used to collect pertinent data which were analyzed using frequency counts, simple percentage and t-test. Findings revealed that the level of knowledge of ICT possessed by English Language instructors was poor and as such, they rarely use ICT in English Language instruction. It was also found that there was significant difference in the male and female instructors’ knowledge of ICT with the males demonstrating a higher level of knowledge than their female counterparts. Based on these findings, it is recommended, among others, that English language instructors must attend periodic seminars, workshops and in-service trainings to equip them with knowledge of ICT and its utilization in classroom instruction while instructor education programs in tertiary establishments must be reviewed to incorporate ICT-assisted instruction. Keywords: language assessment, English language teaching, information technology, and language communication

The Development of a Predictive Theory of Science Education Based Upon Information Processing Theory

This thesis describes the establishment of a new predictive theory for science education which can give direction to the improvement and transformation of science teaching at all levels. It is based upon Information Processing Theory. It has the ability to predict performance in science on the basis of independent psychological tests and to provide a framework for understanding how scientific learning takes place. The development of the theory has resulted from empirical work on 529 school pupils at "0" Grade (age 16) and on 440 Glasgow University students, through two series of experiments in addition to two confirmatory studies in the U.S.A. and Egypt. The first series related to students performance in individual questions, and the second related to students over-all performance in conventional examinations. Throughout this empirical work, a constant pattern has emerged showing that the students' holding-thinking space limited their ability to solve problems of different complexity. As soon as there was an overload on students' holding-thinking space, their performance fell away. In addition, the students' holding-thinking space is considered to be a good predictor for success in the conventional "0" Grade examinations, as well as the university examinations not only in chemistry, but also in physics, biology and mathematics. Where the theory and the empirical measurements have not agreed exactly, further investigation has been done to examine the disparities. In some cases new understanding has occurred which has allowed the theory to be modified. This thesis illustrates the importance of the teaching of learning strategies. In fact, it raises the teaching of strategies on to a par with the teaching of content. Three ways of successfully reducing the load on the students' holding-thinking space have been described and tested. The effect of the limitation of students' perceptual fields and of holding-thinking space on learning and problem solving tasks is also explored. The theory, which has been established in this thesis, answered some of the questions that educators have concerning students' limitations in learning and in problem solving. The outworking of this theory in terms of instructional methods, design of computer programs, books and laboratory experiences, is forming the basis of several follow-up studies

The Muslim Brotherhood's Gender Agenda: Reformed or Reframed?

The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) has been hailed as an example of a reformist Islamist movement whose role is key to the democratisation process in Egypt. This article examines the extent to which first, the Muslim Brotherhood's agenda has been reformed, and second, the extent to which it recognises women's full and equal citizenship and third, the interface between agency and ideology. The multiple standpoints on gender matters existing within the movement is more than a manifestation of heterogeneity; its political function is to enable the movement to adopt different faces (framings) for multiple audiences. The article argues that the fundamental gendered construction of division of roles and power has not been reformed but reframed through the instrumentalisation of various discourses, despite the active agency of women in support of the movement