Devices in our home are becoming more intelligent and increasingly communicating with each other via the internet. This Internet of Things supports daily activities and increases ease of use and safety at home. As a user, you have to make a trade-off between your privacy and functionality. These kinds of decisions are difficult and mistakes and inconsistencies in privacy settings are easily made. Moreover, privacy settings are often still hidden deep in the interface and difficult to use. By observing the decision-making process, this research aims to better understand how, when and why these types of privacy decisions often fail.

Two major pursuits in modern theoretical astronomy concern pinning down the cosmology of our Universe and understanding how galaxies form. We have advanced to the point where these two topics can no longer be considered separately, and a full understanding of either requires the intricate link between galaxy formation and cosmology to be understood. This is becoming increasingly pressing, as ongoing and upcoming surveys such as DES, LSST, Euclid and WFIRST rely on our (as of yet incomplete) understanding of how galaxies redistribute matter, in order for their measurements to be interpreted correctly. One of the main goals of these surveys is to derive the parameters of our Universe to very high precision by precisely measuring the distribution of matter, which is extremely sensitive to cosmology. To fully exploit these observations, theoretical models are needed that can predict the clustering of matter, as a function of cosmology, to 1% or better. Currently, these models do not exist. While models based on a Universe containing only dark matter can satisfy this requirement, the real Universe contains galaxies and all the energetic processes that come with it, and these have been shown to redistribute matter on large scales in ways that are not yet completely understood. Ignoring these processes will lead us to wrongly infer the properties of our Universe. I propose to build a new model that incorporates the effects that galaxies have on the distribution of matter to prepare us for upcoming surveys, by combining data from a great many existing and upcoming numerical simulations. This is the perfect time for this research due to the advances in simulating galaxy formation over the last several years and the imminence of massive amounts of data that will be wasted or wrongly interpreted without a better model for the clustering of matter.

Climate change has emerged as one of the most pressing issues of the early 21st century, and many consider energy efficiency to be a promising approach to reducing energy demand and thus abating greenhouse gas emissions. It has been asserted that nearly one quarter of greenhouse gas abatement potential involves energy efficiency measures in the existing stock of commercial and residential buildings, carrying all but zero (or even negative) net costs. Despite the importance of the property sector as a major consumer of energy, and its potential for reductions in energy consumption, we know very little about the environmental performance of its buildings, especially as it relates to economic issues such as occupant behavior and market pricing. This research project makes a contribution to filling the knowledge lacuna by investigating ?the economics of energy efficiency in buildings.? The first part of the project is aimed at building users, investigating occupant behavior and the impact of technological interventions, such as smart thermostats, using randomized field experiments. The second part focuses on homeowners and commercial property owners, providing evidence on the efficiency of the market in pricing ?green? attributes. Part three of the project concentrates on capital market participants such as pension funds, another important force in the drive for energy efficiency in the economy, specifically addressing the integration of energy efficiency in institutional portfolios and its implications for risk/return trade-offs. The empirical research has a global scope, and the results should provide policymakers and market participants in the Netherlands and beyond with robust evidence that allows for the design and implementation of well-functioning energy efficiency programs, products, and policies. Ultimately, for society, the combination of effective governmental regulation, consumer understanding, and investor demand for energy efficiency may lead to significant emission abatement, thereby slowing down the harmful effects of climate change.

Aim was to analyze the DDoS attacks focused on exploitation of DNS. Attack sources, targets, and characteristics observed in DDoS attack traffic will be analyzed and an assessment of vulnerabilities and single points of failure that threaten the resilience of the DNS under DDoS attack will be conducted. By combining these two perspectives, actionable intelligence will be used to improve the resilience of the DNS against attacks, while facilitating prevention of DNS attacks.

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