Navigating the Information Security Landscape: Mapping the Relationship Between ISO 15408:1999 and ISO 17799:2000

It is crucial for corporations operating in a multinational economy to have a seamless understanding of the security process. For information assurance, ISO 15408:1999 (i.e. Common Criteria) and ISO 17799:2000 are the key standards, both of which are needed for implementing a global approach to security. They provide a definition of the necessary elements of the process as well as the basis for authoritative certification. However, the standards are entirely different in focus. The former is product-oriented while the latter is strategic and organizational. That divergence is an obstacle to creating secure enterprises and it causes disagreement about the meaning and value of the certifications. Mapping the relationship between ISO 15408 and ISO 17799 demonstrates their strengths and weaknesses and encourages organizations to use these standards effectively. The results of our study indicate that while there are overlaps between these two standards, there are also significant gaps

Integrating Live Skeleton data into a VR Environment.

The aim of this project is to be able to visualise live skeleton tracking data in a virtual analogue of a real world environment, to be viewed in VR. Using a single RGBD camera motion tracking method is a cost effective way to get real time 3D skeleton tracking data. Not only this but people being tracked don’t need any special markers. This makes it much more practical for use in a non studio or lab environment. However the skeleton it provides is not as accurate as a traditional multiple camera system. With a single fixed view point the body can easily occlude itself, for example by standing side on to the camera. Secondly without marked tracking points there can be inconsistencies with where the joints are identified, leading to in- consistent body proportions. In this paper we outline a method for improving the quality of motion capture data in real time, providing an off the shelf framework for importing the data into a virtual scene. Our method uses a two stage approach to smooth smaller inconsistencies and try to estimate the position of improperly proportioned or occluded joints

Plate boundary trench retreat and dextral shear drive intracontinental fault-slip histories: Neogene dextral faulting across the Gabbs Valley and Gillis Ranges, Central Walker Lane, Nevada

The spatial-temporal evolution of intracontinental faults and the forces that drive their style, orientation, and timing are central to understanding tectonic processes. Intracontinental NW-striking dextral faults in the Gabbs Valley–Gillis Ranges (hereafter referred to as the GVGR), Nevada, define a structural domain known as the eastern Central Walker Lane located east of the western margin of the North American plate. To consider how changes in boundary type along the western margin of the North American plate influenced both the initiation and continued dextral fault slip to the present day in the GVGR, we combine our new detailed geologic mapping, structural studies, and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology with published geologic maps to calculate early to middle Miocene dextral fault-slip rates. In the GVGR, Mesozoic basement is nonconformably overlain by a late Oligocene to Miocene sequence dominated by tuffs, lavas, and sedimentary rocks. These rocks are cut and offset by four primary NW-striking dextral faults, from east to west the Petrified Spring, Benton Spring, Gumdrop Hills, and Agai Pah Hills–Indian Head faults. A range of geologic markers, including tuff- and lava-filled paleovalleys, the southern extent of lava flows, and a normal fault, show average dextral offset magnitudes of 9.6 ± 1.1 km, 7.0 ± 1.7 km, 9.7 ± 1.0 km, and 4.9 ± 1.1 km across the four faults, respectively. Cumulative dextral offset across the GVGR is 31.2 ± 2.3 km. Initiation of slip along the Petrified Spring fault is tightly bracketed between 15.99 ± 0.05 Ma and 15.71 ± 0.03 Ma, whereas slip along the other faults initiated after 24.30 ± 0.05 Ma to 20.14 ± 0.26 Ma. Assuming that slip along all four faults initiated at the same time as the Petrified Spring fault yields calculated dextral fault-slip rates of 0.4 ± 0.1–0.6 ± 0.1 mm/yr, 0.4 ± 0.1–0.5 ± 0.1 mm/yr, 0.6 ± 0.1 mm/yr, and 0.3 ± 0.1 mm/yr on the four faults, respectively. Middle Miocene initiation of dextral fault slip across the GVGR overlaps with the onset of normal slip along range-bounding faults in the western Basin and Range to the north and the northern Eastern California shear zone to the south. Based on this spatial-temporal relationship, we propose that dextral fault slip across the GVGR defines a kinematic link or accommodation zone between the two regions of extension. At the time of initiation of dextral slip across the GVGR, the plate-boundary setting to the west was characterized by subduction of the Farallon plate beneath the North American plate. To account for the middle Miocene onset of extension across the Basin and Range and dextral slip in the GVGR, we hypothesize that middle Miocene trench retreat drove westward motion of the Sierra Nevada and behind it, crustal extension across the Basin and Range and NW-dextral shear within the GVGR. During the Pliocene, the plate boundary to the west changed to NW-dextral shear between the Pacific and North American plates, which drove continued dextral slip along the same faults within the GVGR because they were fortuitously aligned subparallel to plate boundary motion

A Virtual Space with Real IoT Data.

Large quantities of live data about an environment can be easily and cheaply collected using a network of small sensors (IoT). However these sensors typically do not display any information directly, and it can be difficult to understand the data collected. Conversely VR environments used for training, require scenarios to be created, populated with rich data. By linking the VR system directly to the IoT data broker we import the live (or recorded) status of real hardware from an industrial environment into the virtual world allowing a remote viewer to monitor the operation of the system

Effects of variability of local winds on cross ventilation for a simplified building within a full-scale asymmetric array: overview of the Silsoe field campaign

The large body of natural ventilation research, rarely addresses the effects of the urban area on ventilation rates. A novel contribution to this gap is made by the REFRESH cube campaign (RCC). During 9 months of observations, the Silsoe cube was both isolated and surrounded by a limited asymmetrical staggered array. A wide range of variables were measured continuously, including: local, reference and internal flow, stability, background meteorological conditions, internal temperature, and ventilation rates (pressure difference techniques for cross ventilated cases). This paper tests the impact of the array on the relation between local and reference wind speeds as modified by wind direction and on cross ventilation rates. The presence of the array causes a 50% to 90% reduction in normalised ventilation rate when the reference wind direction is normal to the cube. The decrease in natural ventilation varies with wind direction with large amounts of scatter for both setups. The relation between local and reference wind speeds for the array case had two characteristic responses, not explained by reference wind (speed or direction) nor sensitive to averaging period, turbulence intensity or temperature differences. Given the singular response of the CIBSE approach, it is unable to capture these conditions

Megathrust Heterogeneity, Crustal Accretion, and a Topographic Embayment in the Western Nepal Himalaya : Insights From the Inversion of Thermochronological Data

Between 81 degrees 30MODIFIER LETTER PRIMEE and 83 degrees E, the Himalayan range's "perfect" arcuate shape is interrupted by an embayment. We hypothesize that thrust geometry and duplexing along the megathrust at midlower-crustal depths play a leading role in growth of the embayment as well the southern margin of the Tibetan plateau. To test this hypothesis, we conducted thermokinematic modeling of published thermochronologic data from the topographic and structural embayment in the western Nepal Himalaya to investigate the three-dimensional geometry and kinematics of the megathrust at midlower-crustal depths. Models that can best reproduce observed cooling ages suggest that the megathrust in the western Nepal Himalaya is best described as two ramps connected by a long flat that extends further north than in segments to the east and west. These models suggest that the high-slope zone along the embayment lies above the foreland limb of an antiformal crustal accretion zone on the megathrust with lateral and oblique ramps at midlower-crustal depths. The lateral and oblique ramps may have initiated by ca. 10 Ma. This process may have controlled along-strike variation in Himalayan-plateau growth and therefore development of the topographic embayment. Finally, we analyze geological and morphologic features and propose an evolution model in which landscape and drainage systems across the central-western Himalaya evolve in response to crustal accretion at depth and the three-dimensional geometry of the megathrust. Our work highlights the importance of crustal accretion at different depths in orogenic-wedge growth and that the midlower crustal accretion determines the location of plateau edge.Peer reviewe

Measurements of the static pressure near the surface in the atmospheric boundary layer

Measurements have been made of the three components of velocity and of the static pressure in the lowest 10 ​m of the atmospheric boundary layer. The measurements reported here were made on two occasions: the first with a single 10 ​m mast and the second with four 6 ​m masts. One-hour duration measurements at a sampling rate of 10 samples s−1 were processed for statistical properties including an assessment of the mean static pressure, and the time series processed for spectral properties. The mean velocity profile followed the expected boundary-layer log-region. An estimate of the mean static pressure compared to that above the boundary layer has been made and shows a dependency on the RMS (Root Mean Square) of dynamic pressure. The spectra of wind velocity and wind dynamic pressure follow the expected n−5/3 power-law decay rate in the inertial subrange, whereas static pressure spectra followed a decay rate close to n−4/3 - a result that was not predicted by published theory. Limited comparisons have been made with measurements from wind-tunnel boundary-layer flows, and with one other full-scale experiment. There is evidence from these comparisons that the static pressure spectra has a decay rate close to n−4/3 but there is also evidence of Reynolds-number sensitive. These measurements were made as part of a study of wind effects on buildings. The distinct spectral pattern of static pressure compared to that of dynamic pressure is a potential aid to identifying their separate contribution to wind loading and natural ventilation

An investigation of the structure of ensemble averaged extreme wind events

This paper examines the extreme gust profiles obtained by conditionally sampling full-scale velocity data obtained in the lower part of the atmospheric boundary layer. It is demonstrated that three different types of behaviour can be observed in the streamwise component of velocity. In all cases the corresponding vertical velocity component illustrates similar behaviour. An idealised horseshoe vortex model and a downburst model are investigated to examine if such structures can explain the behaviour observed. In addition, an empirical model is developed for an isolated gust corresponding to each of the three types of behaviour observed. It is possible that the division of the gust profile into three different types may lead to an improvement in the correlation of extreme gust events with respect to type.Facultad de Ingenierí

Field measurement of natural ventilation rate in an idealised full-scale building located in a staggered urban array: comparison between tracer gas and pressure-based methods

Currently, no clear standards exist for determining urban building natural ventilation rates, especially under varying realistic meteorological conditions. In this study, ventilation rates are determined using tracer gas decay and pressure-based measurements for a full-scale (6 m tall) cube. The cube was either isolated (2 months of observations) or sheltered within a staggered array (7 months), for both single-sided and cross ventilation (openings 0.4 x 1 m). Wind speeds at cube height ranged between 0.04 m s-1 and 13.1 m s-1. Errors for both ventilation methods are carefully assessed. There is no discernible linear relation between normalised ventilation rates from the two methods, except for cross ventilation in the array case. The ratio of tracer gas and pressure derived ventilation rates is assessed with wind direction. For single-sided (leeward opening) cases it approached 1. For cross ventilation the ratio was closer to 1 but with more scatter. One explanation is that agreement is better when internal mixing is less jet-dominated, i.e. for oblique directions in the isolated case and for all directions for unsteady array flows. Sheltering may reduce the flushing rate of the tracer gas from the cube relative to internal mixing rate. This new dataset provides an extensive range of conditions for numerical model evaluation and for understanding uncertainty of ventilation rates. Knowledge of the latter is critical in buildin