Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Deployment models'

The increased demand for broadband communications has led to the rapid development of the conventional terrestrial and satellite wireless communications systems. One of the main challenges to next generation wireless systems is to deliver high-capacity and cost-efficient solutions to cope with an increasing usage of broadband services and applications. In the recent years, an emerging competitive system has attracted the attention for providing wireless broadband communications and other services based on quasi-stationary aerial platforms operating in the stratosphere known by high altitude platforms (HAPs), and located 17-22 km above the earth surface. This solution has been described by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as "a new and long anticipated technology that can revolutionize the telecommunication industry''. The HAP systems provide important advantages such as low cost, high elevation angles, low propagation delay, easy and incremental deployment, flexibility in operation, broad coverage, broadcast and broadband capability, ability to move around in emergency situations, etc. Therefore, they have been proposed by ITU for the provision of fixed, mobile services and applications, e.g. the third generation (3G) services licensed by ITU and backbone link for terrestrial networks in remote areas. This thesis explores and investigates the wireless communication and techno-economic performance of terrestrial systems and HAPs. An overview of research and development on aerial platforms worldwide is given. Coexistence performance and techniques of heterogeneous systems to provide broadband wireless communications based on Worldwide Interoperability Microwave Access (WiMAX) are investigated. A heterogeneous scenario is developed to examine the coexistence performance of heterogeneous systems. The capacity and deployment aspects of HAPs are analyzed, and further compared with terrestrial Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS) through techno-economic studies including a proposed partnership based business model for HAPs. Performance of wireless sensor network applications via HAPs is also investigated, and shows the high potential of HAPs for large-area and long-endurance surveillance and emergency applications. The thesis shows that communications from the aerial platforms provide the best features of both terrestrial and satellite systems. HAPs can effectively coexist in a heterogeneous radio environment, and are competitive solutions in urban and suburban scenarios in terms of capacity, coverage and business perspective. This makes HAP a viable competitor and complement to conventional terrestrial infrastructures and satellite systems.

Decisions to deploy IT systems on public Infrastructure-as-a-Service clouds can be complicated as evaluating the benefits, risks and costs of using such clouds is not straightforward. The aim of this project was to investigate the challenges that enterprises face when making system deployment decisions in public clouds, and to develop vendor-neutral tools to inform decision makers during this process. Three tools were developed to support decision makers: 1. Cloud Suitability Checklist: a simple list of questions to provide a rapid assessment of the suitability of public IaaS clouds for a specific IT system. 2. Benefits and Risks Assessment tool: a spreadsheet that includes the general benefits and risks of using public clouds; this provides a starting point for risk assessment and helps organisations start discussions about cloud adoption. 3. Elastic Cost Modelling: a tool that enables decision makers to model their system deployment options in public clouds and forecast their costs. These three tools collectively enable decision makers to investigate the benefits, risks and costs of using public clouds, and effectively support them in making system deployment decisions. Data was collected from five case studies and hundreds of users to evaluate the effectiveness of the tools. This data showed that the cost effectiveness of using public clouds is situation dependent rather than universally less expensive than traditional forms of IT provisioning. Running systems on the cloud using a traditional 'always on' approach can be less cost effective than on-premise servers, and the elastic nature of the cloud has to be considered if costs are to be reduced. Decision makers have to model the variations in resource usage and their systems' deployment options to obtain accurate cost estimates. Performing upfront cost modelling is beneficial as there can be significant cost differences between different cloud providers, and different deployment options within a single cloud. During such modelling exercises, the variations in a system's load (over time) must be taken into account to produce more accurate cost estimates, and the notion of elasticity patterns that is presented in this thesis provides one simple way to do this.

Software engineering is a discipline concerned with manufacturing or developing software. Software plays a pivotal role in everyday life, an absence of which will be devastating to a number of governmental, recreational and financial activities, amongst many others. One of the latest branches of software engineering, component-based software engineering, is concerned with the development of software systems using already existing components which speculatively will ensure rapid and inexpensive software development processes. Parallel with the advances in software engineering, the field of digital libraries — a field dealing with Web-based access to and management of structured digital content — has adopted this development model from software engineering to shift focus from developing and using traditionally monolithic software systems to developing and using more flexible component-oriented software systems. Since componentised development approaches are relatively recent, other areas such as packaging and managing component-based software systems still remain unattended to. This dissertation presents research on techniques and methodologies for packaging customisable component-based digital libraries such that deployment is rapid and flexibility is not compromised. Although the reference point of this research was that of component-based digital library systems, it is believed that this research can be generalised across the family of Web-based component-based software systems. An outcome of this research was a prototype packaging system consisting of a pair of tools: a package builder tool and a package installer tool. This packaging system was developed to model the ideas and methodologies that were identified as important to the processes of packaging and installing component-based digital library systems. These tools consequently underwent a user evaluation study whereby they were evaluated for understandability, usability and usefulness to the processes of packaging and installing component-based digital libraries. A key contribution of this research was identifying requirements for a generic component packaging framework. For a component to be seen as ”fit-to-package”, it must posses the following at the very least: the component must be configurable automatically; the component must have a formal description of its dependency software; there must be formal descriptions that describe individual components as well as systems composed of components; and there must be a way whereby installation questions are formally encoded such that components are able to correctly receive configuration information. In totality, this research has shown that component-oriented software development approaches can benefit from an infrastructure which allows for component-based software systems to be composed, distributed and installed effortlessly.

[ES] Para proporcionar un entorno de tráfico vial más seguro y eficiente, los sistemas ITS o Sistemas Inteligentes de Transporte representan como una solución dotada de avances tecnológicos de vanguardia. La integración de elementos de transporte como automóviles junto con elementos de infraestructura como RoadSide Units (RSUs) ubicados a lo largo de la vía de comunicación permiten ofrecer un entorno de red conectado con múltiples servicios, incluida conectividad a Internet. Esta integración se conoce con el término C-ITS o Sistemas Inteligentes de Transporte Cooperativos. La conexión de automóviles con dispositivos de infraestructura permite crear redes vehiculares conectadas (V2X) vehículo a dispositivos, que ofrecen la posibilidad de nuevos despliegues en aplicaciones C-ITS como las relacionadas con la seguridad. Hoy en día, con el uso masivo de teléfonos inteligentes y debido a su flexibilidad y movilidad, existen varios esfuerzos para integrarlos con los automóviles. De hecho, con el soporte adecuado de unidad a bordo (OBU), los teléfonos inteligentes se pueden integrar perfectamente con las redes vehiculares, permitiendo a los conductores usar sus teléfonos inteligentes como dispositivos de bordo a que participan en los servicios C-ITS, con el objeto de mejorar la seguridad al volante entre otros. Tópico este, que hoy día representa un tema relevante de investigación. Un problema a solucionar surge cuando las comunicaciones vehiculares sufren inferencias y bloqueos de la señal debidos al escenario. De hecho, el impacto de la vegetación y los edificios, ya sea en áreas urbanas y rurales, puede afectar a la calidad de la señal. Algunas estrategias para mejorar la comunicación vehicular en este tipo de entorno consiste en desplegar UAVs o vehículo aéreo no tripulado (drones), los cuales actúan como enlaces de comunicación entre vehículos. De hecho, UAV ofrece importantes ventajas de implementación, ya que tienen una gran flexibilidad en términos de movilidad, además de un rango de comunicaciones mejorado. Para evaluar la calidad de las comunicaciones, debe realizarse un conjunto de mediciones. Sin embargo, debido al costo de las implementaciones reales de UAV y automóviles, los experimentos reales podrían no ser factibles para actividades de investigación con recursos limitados. Por lo tanto, los experimentos de simulación se convierten en la opción preferida para evaluar las comunicaciones entre UAV y vehículos terrestres. Lograr modelos de propagación de señal correctos y representativos que puedan importarse a los entornos de simulación se vuelve crucial para obtener un mayor grado de realismo, especialmente para simulaciones que involucran el movimiento de UAVs en cualquier lugar del espacio 3D. En particular, la información de elevación del terreno debe tenerse en cuenta al intentar caracterizar los efectos de propagación de la señal. En esta tesis doctoral, proponemos nuevos enfoques tanto teóricos como empíricos para estudiar la integración de redes vehiculares que combinan automóviles y UAVs, así mismo el impacto del entorno en la calidad de las comunicaciones. Esta tesis presenta una aplicación, una metodología de medición en escenarios reales y un nuevo modelo de simulación, los cuales contribuyen a modelar, desarrollar e implementar servicios C-ITS. Más específicamente, proponemos un modelo de simulación que tiene en cuenta las características del terreno en 3D, para lograr resultados confiables de comunicación entre UAV y vehículos terrestres.<br>[CAT] Per a proporcionar un entorn de trànsit viari més segur i eficient, els sistemes ITS o Sistemes Intel·ligents de Transport representen una solució dotada d'avanços tecnològics d'avantguarda. La integració d'elements de transport com auto móvils juntament amb elements d'infraestructura com Road Side Units (RSUs) situats al llarg de lav via de comunicació permeten oferir un entorn de xarxa connectat amb multiples serveis, inclusa connectivitat a Internet. Aquesta integració es connex amb el terme C-ITS o Sistemes Intel·ligents de Transport Cooperatius , com ara els automòbils, amb elements d'infraestructura, com ara les road side units (RSU) o pals situats al llarg de la carretera, per a aconseguir un entorn de xarxa que oferisca nous serveis a més de connectivitat a Internet. Aquesta integració s'expressa amb el terme C-ITS, o sistemes intel·ligents de transport cooperatius. La connexió d'automòbils amb dispositius d'infraestructura permet crear xarxes vehiculars connectades (V2X) vehicle a dispositiu, que ofreixen la possibilitat de nous desplegaments en aplicacions C-ITS, com ara les relacionades amb la seguretat. Avui dia, amb l'ús massiu dels telèfons intel·ligents, i a causa de la flexibilitat i mobilitat que presenten, es fan esforços per integrar-los amb els automòbils. De fet, amb el suport adequat d'unitat a bord (OBU), els telèfons intel·ligents es poden integrar perfectament amb les xarxes vehiculars, permetent als conductors usar els seus telèfons intel·ligents com a dispositius per a participar en els serveis de C-ITS, a fi de millorar la seguretat al volant entre altres. Tòpic est, que hui dia representa un tema rellevant d'investigació. Un problema a solucionar sorgeix quan les comunicacions vehiculars ateixen inferències i bloquejos del senyal deguts a l'escenari. De fet, l'impacte de la vegetació i els edificis, tant en àrees urbanes com rurals, pot afectar la qualitat del senyal. Algunes estratègies de millorar la comunicació vehicular en aquest tipus d'entorn consisteix a desplegar UAVs o vehicles aeris no tripulats (drones), els quals actuen com a enllaços de comunicació entre vehicles. De fet, l'ús d'UAVs ofereix importants avantatges d'implementació, ja que tenen una gran flexibilitat en termes de mobilitat, a més d'un rang de comunicacions millorat. Per a avaluar la qualitat de les comunicacions, s'han de realitzar mesures en escenaris reals. No obstant això, a causa del cost de les implementacions i desplegaments reals d'UAV i el seu ús combinat amb vehicles, aquests experiments reals podrien no ser factibles per a activitats d'investigació amb recursos limitats. Per tant, la metodologia basada en simulació es converteixen en l'opció preferida entre els investigadors per a avaluar les comunicacions entre UAV i vehicles terrestres. Aconseguir models de propagació de senyal correctes i representatius que puguen importar-se als entorns de simulació resulta crucial per a obtenir un major grau de realisme, especialment per a simulacions que involucren el moviment d'UAV en qualsevol lloc de l'espai 3D. En particular, cal tenir en compte la informació d'elevació del terreny per a intentar caracteritzar els efectes de propagació del senyal. En aquesta tesi doctoral proposem enfocaments tant teòrics com empírics per a estudiar la integració de xarxes vehiculars que combinen automòbils i UAV, així com l'impacte de l'entorn en la qualitat de les comunicacions. Aquesta tesi presenta una aplicació, una metodología de mesurament en escenaris reals i un nou model de simulació, els quals contribueixen a modelar, desenvolupar i implementar serveis C-ITS. Més específicament, proposem un model de simulació que té en compte les característiques del terreny en 3D, per a aconseguir resultats fiables de comunicació entre UAV i vehicles terrestres.<br>[EN] To provide a safer road traffic environment and make it more convenient, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITSs) are proposed as a solution endowed with cutting-edge technological advances. The integration of transportation elements like cars together with infrastructure elements like Road Side Units to achieve a networking environment offers new services in addition to Internet connectivity. This integration comes under the term Cooperative Intelligent Transport System (C-ITS). Connecting cars with surrounding devices forming vehicular networks in Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) open new deployments in C-ITS applications like safety-related ones. With the massive use of smartphones nowadays, and due to their flexibility and mobility, several efforts exist to integrate them with cars. In fact, with the right support from the vehicle's On-Board Unit (OBU), smartphones can be seamlessly integrated with vehicular networks. Hence, drivers can use their smartphones as a device to participate in C-ITS services for safety purposes, among others, which is a quite interesting research topic. A significant problem arises when vehicular communications face signal obstructions caused by the environment. In fact, the impact of vegetation and buildings, whether in urban and rural areas, can result in a lower signal quality. One way to enhance vehicular communication networks is to deploy Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to act as relays for communication between cars, or ground vehicles. In fact, UAVs offer important deployment advantages, as they offer great flexibility in terms of mobility, in addition to an enhanced communications range. To assess the quality of the communications, a set of measurements must take place. However, due to the cost of real deployments of UAVs and cars, real experiments might not be feasible for research activities with limited resources. Hence, simulation experiments become the preferred option to assess UAV-to- car communications. Achieving correct and representative signal propagation models that can be imported to the simulation environments becomes crucial to obtain a higher degree of realism, especially for simulations involving UAVs moving anywhere throughout the 3D space. In particular, terrain elevation information must be taken into account when attempting to characterize signal propagation effects. In this research work, we propose both theoretical and empirical approaches to study the integration of vehicular networks combining cars and UAVs, and we study the impact of the surrounding environment on the communications quality. An application, a measurement framework, and a simulation model are presented in this thesis in an effort to model, develop, and deploy C-ITS services. More specifically, we propose a simulation model that takes into account 3D terrain features to achieve reliable UAV-to-car communication results.<br>I want to thank the Spanish government through the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and the European Union Commission through the European Social Fund (ESF) for co-financing and granting me the fellowship to fund my studies in Spain and my research stay in Russia. In addition, I would to thank the National Institute of Informatics for granting me the internship fund and the Japanese government through the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for supporting my research work in Japan.<br>Hadiwardoyo, SA. (2019). Modelling and Real Deployment of C-ITS by Integrating Ground Vehicles and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/118796<br>TESIS

In recent years, call centres have been considered as an integral part of the modern businesses, since they play an important role in providing service delivery functions to their customers. A well-managed call centre, therefore, is crucial to ensure high level of customer satisfaction in today’s competitive market. In order to achieve a high standard, managers of call centres face a very difficult set of challenges. At the top level, they must strike a balance between two powerful competing interests: low operating costs and high service quality. On a day-to-day basis, while simultaneously keeping low costs and high service quality, those managers must also employ appropriate techniques and tools in order to evaluate the true performance of their operations accurately. Such tools play a vital role in understanding the current system performance, evaluation of any proposed enhancement scenarios, and optimising operations management decisions under any unexpected operating conditions. One of traditional operations management challenges for call centre managers is to tackle the multi-period human resources allocation problem. In this thesis, the staffing and staff scheduling decisions in single-skill inbound call centres were studied. These decisions are normally made under strict service level constrain in the presence of highly uncertain operations and demand of call centre services. Neglecting such uncertainty may lead to unrealistic decisions. The objective of this research thesis was to propose a framework to enhance the call centre performance through taking realistic optimal staffing and scheduling decisions. Realistic optimisation requires realistic modeling (evaluation) of call centre operations which is the main focus and contribution of this research. The proposed framework has combined statistical, simulation, and Integer Programming (IP) techniques in achieving realistic optimisation. The framework begins by developing stochastic statistical data models for call centre operations parameters which are divided into service demand (arrival volumes) and service quality (service times, abandonment volumes, and patience time) parameters. These data models are then fed into a simulation model which was developed to determine the minimum staffing levels in daily an-hour periods. Finally, these staffing levels are considered as input to an IP model that optimally allocates the service agents to the different operating shifts of a typical working day. Application of the proposed framework to a call centre in Libya will also be presented to illustrate how its staffing and scheduling decisions could be improved by using the model.

Thesis’ background This thesis intends to contribute to the literature gap identifying when connecting the literature on capabilities required for the transition towards circular business models and the literature that investigates the value creation and capture in these business models. Research aim Identifying the key capabilities that facilitate the transition towards circular business models and investigating their use for value creation and capture Methodology A qualitative approach was followed, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with four managers working at companies that are experiencing circular business models Findings Eight key capabilities were identified from this research including: (1) Developing the systemic thinking, (2) Managing the circular network,(3) Managing knowledge, (4) fostering open innovation, (5) Understanding customer’s requirement for exploring the wasted value, (6) Designing products for longevity, (7) Innovating in the sale and use phase and (8) managing circular suppliers to close the loops between the end use and the production. Deploying these eight key capabilities with a systemic thinking would enable companies moving to circular business models and creating and capturing economic and non-economic sustainable values.

This research addresses the drivers and barriers for the inclusion of microgeneration in new homes in the UK, and the role of different technology deployment models in overcoming barriers. An interdisciplinary mixed-methods approach is used, drawing on insight from social sciences, economics, innovations theory and psychology to characterise the role of deployment models and assess householder attitudes. A coevolutionary analysis of drivers and barriers provides evidence that many of the social, economic, technical and institutional issues involved with incorporating microgeneration in new homes are substantially different from those involved with retrofitting the technologies, demonstrating the importance of considering new build domestic microgeneration as an issue in its own right, rather than subsuming it into analyses of retrofitting. The use of Foxon’s coevolutionary framework to investigate the diffusion of specific technologies in a certain sector is also demonstrated. A literature synthesis brings together previously disparate strands of research to draw new insights into the role of different deployment models in overcoming barriers. It is found that the ESCO model is likely to have a significant role to play in facilitating the uptake of microgeneration in new homes, but that householder attitudes towards ESCOs may be mixed. An existing theory that more innovative householders will prefer private ownership of microgeneration to ESCOs (and vice versa), is tested quantitatively. No relationship between innovativeness and choice of deployment model is found in the present work. However, it is shown that different householders do prefer different models, with younger age, higher levels of education and urban living found to correlate with a preference for the ESCO model. An analysis of occupancy trends in the UK reveals that in the majority of cases, householders’ choices of deployment model are likely to align with that which is most economically and technically suitable for their chosen development.

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) of Agenda 2030 calls for an increase in the use of renewable energy sources, among other targets. The percentage of fossil fuel-fired thermal generation for electricity is increasingly being reduced as renewable energy technologies (RET) advance in cost-competitiveness, and as greenhouse gas and industrial air pollutant emission limits become more stringent. In certain cases, renewable energy contributes to energy security by improving a nation’s trade balance, since local resources are harnessed and imports are reduced. RET investments are becoming more frequent gaining a sizeable share in the electric power mix of numerous countries. However, RET is affected by existing fossil fuel-fired electricity generation, especially in countries that have domestic reserves. While coal may be dirty, others such as natural gas provide multiple benefits, presenting a challenge to renewables. Additionally, RET endowment varies for each geographical location. This often does not correspond to the location of major electricity demand centers.  Therefore, large scale RET adoption and integration becomes logistically more cumbersome, as it necessitates existence of a developed grid network. Utilizing a series of analyses in two different settings – Africa and Cyprus – this thesis draws insights on RET growth policy and the level of technology representation in long term energy models. In order to capture specific challenges of RET integration, enhancements in traditional long-term energy system models are called for and carried out.  The case of Africa is used to assess adoption of RET under various trade scenarios. It is home to some of the world’s greatest RET resource potential and the single largest potential RET project, Grand Inga.  While, the island of Cyprus has goals of introducing large percentages of RET into its electric power mix. Each have important idiosyncrasies which are reflected in the analysis. On the one hand, natural gas competes with RET in Cyprus and forms a key transition fuel away from oil. On the other hand, lack of cross-border interconnectors limit RET project development across Africa.<br><p>QC 20170519</p>

Early systems engineering and requirements definition requires quantitative information about potential solutions prior to having sufficient information or time to develop detailed models. This research develops and demonstrates a transparent and repeatable process for rapidly creating quantitative models that leverage existing expert knowledge. This process is built upon established modeling frameworks and current literature for low fidelity modeling and hierarchical expert-based methods. The process includes system definition using interactive morphological analysis and gathering information from subject-matter experts with computer-based interfaces in order to create a series of linear performance models. Available volunteers provided data for a relevant aerospace design to test the process as a whole and several hypotheses about specific methodological decisions made during the development. The collected data was analyzed for similarity among participants and for similarity to model parameters of an existing trusted truth model. The results of the analysis demonstrated the ability for expert-based models to accurately match the behavior of the truth models and of historical data.

Thailand introduced universal access to Anti-retroviral treatment (ART) service in 2003. This became the main factor increasing demands for services with increasing numbers of People living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), (PLHIV) and those people living longer. Since 2011, two other factors altered the ART service provision: changes in enrolment criteria to allow PLHIV with high CD4 count (a blood test that establishes the stage of immunosuppression), access to the ART service, and decentralisation changes allowing easier access to ART at peripheral levels. This study therefore examined how service providers at all levels of care deliver ART services, and developed a tool to estimate future requirements for those providers. The case study uses mixed methods including both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Two stages of data collection were conducted; fieldwork to collect data on activities and flow of ART services, and time required for each type of service provider. These become the input data for a second stage to project staffing requirements based on Markov and Monte Carlo analysis to 2025. Three models of ART services were found, across all levels of facility in the public sector operating in high HIV/AIDS prevalence settings,: community-based, doctor-led and mixed-comprehensive. All models adapted their ART services from the national guidelines by applying HR strategies: task shifting, skill mix and community-based approach, to maintain/increase accessibility and quality of care. The estimation of time required to provide ART service of providers was estimated. 60 full time equivalent (FTE) providers (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and non-healthcare providers) in 2012, projected to almost double in 2015. This study found negligible gaps (0.02-0.05%) between needs and availability of healthcare providers to deliver ART service. The HR strategies investigated, were sufficiently widespread to be worth recommending for wide application in human resource planning. Moreover, the tool developed to estimate the requirements for healthcare providers from this study could further support forward towards planning for HIV/AIDS services in Thailand and possibly elsewhere.

O presente trabalho foi estruturado a partir de um estudo qualitativo baseado na experiência de planejamento estratégico em uma universidade. Teve por objetivo identificar as variáveis que intervêm na implementação daquele processo com a utilização da metodologia de desdobramento de diretrizes. O estudo qualitativo realizado adotou procedimentos que incluíram pesquisa individual com representantes dos segmentos da universidade. Os entrevistados representam os responsáveis pelas finalidades de planejamento, de supervisão geral e setorial, de execução do ensino, bem como de apoio técnico e assessoria. Os principais procedimentos adotados no desenvolvimento da pesquisa foram descrição, análise e interpretação. O planejamento estratégico, usualmente descrito como processo integrante da gestão empresarial, é apresentado como um recurso que capacita a instituição de ensino superior a atuar com eficiência e eficácia e a reagir com rapidez às demandas do seu entorno social. O desdobramento das diretrizes é mostrado como uma ferramenta que pode ser aplicada no detalhamento do plano estratégico, assim que as linhas de ação anuais estejam definidas. Resultaram do estudo a confirmação de que professores e funcionários necessitam de incentivo para atuar nesse processo e que fatores como liderança e comprometimento com resultados, esforço para o compartilhamento do propósito comum, motivação dos envolvidos e acompanhamento dos processos são essenciais para a implementação, com sucesso, do plano estratégico.<br>This paper is structured on qualitative studies carried out considering the strategic planning process in a university. Its aim is to identify variables which intervene in the implementation of the process using the policy deployment methodology. The qualitative study was carried out using procedures that included individual survey with the persons who are responsible for planning, general and sectorial supervision, teaching, as well as technical support and consultantship, of the many sectors of the university. Description, analysis and interpretation were the main procedures used in developing the survey. Strategic planning, usually described as a process of integration in management, is presented as a resource that enables a college or a university to act efficiently and effectively and react promptly to the demands of the social environment. The policy deployment is presented as a tool which can be applied in detailing the strategic planning as soon as the annual procedures have been defined. As a result of the study carried out it was confirmed that faculty and staff need stimuli in order to take part in the process and that aspects like leadership, commitment to results, effort in sharing common purposes, motivation of all involved individuals and the following-up of the processes are essential to the successful implementation of a strategic plan.

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 1990.<br>Thesis Advisor(s): Lawphongpanich, Siriphong. Second Reader: Block, Paul. "September 1990." Description based on title screen as viewed on December 22, 2009. DTIC Descriptor(s): Maintenance, Stations, Deployment, United States, Optimization, Environments, Peacetime, Models, Training, Naval Personnel, Integer Programming, Algebra, Efficiency, Cycles, Supply Depots, Aircraft Carriers, Naval Operations, Mixing, Microcomputers, Budgets, Mathematical Models. DTIC Identifier(s): Aircraft Carriers, Deployment, Theses, Military Forces(United States), Computer programs, Computerized Simulation, Maintenance, Naval Personnel. Author(s) subject terms:Carrier, Optimization, Deployment Model. Includes bibliographical references (p. 63). Also available in print.

Thesis (MCIS - Computer and Information Sciences) -- AUT University, 2007.<br>Primary supervisor: Krassie Petrova. Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (185 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm.) in City Campus Theses Collection (T 004.6 HUA)

Orientador: Edmundo Roberto Mauro Madeira<br>Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Computação<br>Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-03T17:46:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Barros_MariaClaudiaBorges_M.pdf: 784009 bytes, checksum: d002e78a701c5dbdec8f79ba3161d649 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003<br>Mestrado

Le but du travail réalisé dans cette thèse est de fournir aux fournisseurs de services une solution qui est capable de non seulement déployer les services dans le cloud de façon économique, automatique, mais aussi à grande échelle. La première contribution traite le problème de la construction d’un nouveau service demandé par le client à partir de services disponibles dans le cloud de manière à satisfaire les exigences en termes de qualité de service ainsi qu’en termes de coût. Nous présentons ce problème par un modèle analytique et proposons un algorithme heuristique dont la performance est améliorée de 20-30% par rapport aux autres approches. La seconde contribution est une solution pour déployer les services dans le cloud en considérant les demandes des utilisateurs finaux. Pour assurer qualité de services dans une grande échelle, le service demandé est dupliqué et distribué dans le réseau; chacun de ses réplicas servira les utilisateurs à proximité. Le plan d’approvisionnement selon lequel le service est dupliqué dépend de sa demande, ce qui ne cesse pas de changer en quantité ainsi qu’en distribution, ce qui rend le problème plus compliqué. Nous proposons une solution qui est capable de s’adapter aux changements dans le réseau, y compris ceux des demandes de ses utilisateurs. Enfin, nous proposons un système basé sur OpenStack qui permet de déployer les services complexes dans un cloud qui couvre différente locations (cloud multi-site). A partir d’une demande du client, le système automatiquement calcule le plan d’approvisionnement optimal et le déploie en respectant les contraintes du client<br>The purpose of the work in this thesis is to provide the Service Provider a solution which is capable of deploying complex services in a cloud automatically and cost-effectively. The first contribution allows the Service Provider to construct complex services requested by the clients from basic services at his disposal. The construction must be efficient in terms of execution time and operation cost while respecting the client’s constraints. We present an analytic model for this problem and propose a heuristic solution which performance is 20-30% better than other approaches. The second contribution solves the problem of deploying the services while considering end-users’ demands. To ensure the quality of services provided to end-users, not only one instance but a set of service replicas is deployed in the network. How the service is duplicated and distributed depends on the demands of its end-users that change constantly in quantity as well as distribution, which complicates the problem. Thus the provisioning mechanism has to be capable of adapt to the change in the network, including the change in end-users’ demands. Our third contribution is a system using OpenStack which allows Service Provider to deploy complex services in a cloud that spans over different locations (multi-site cloud). Given a client’s request, the system automatically calculates the optimal provisioning plan and deploys it while respecting the client’s constraints

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2001.<br>Title from title page screen, viewed March 10, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Rodney P. Riegle (chair), J. Christopher Eisele, George Padavil, John H. Bantham, Thomas J. Bierma. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-128) and abstract. Also available in print.

The main purpose of this work was to study the problem of optimal and automated deployment and reconfiguration (at the architectural level) of microservice systems, proving formal properties and realizing an implemented solution. It started from the Aeolus component model, which was used to formally define the problem of deploying component-based software systems and to prove different results about decidability and complexity. In particular, the Aeolus authors formally prove that, in the general case, such problem is undecidable. Starting from these results we expanded on the analysis of automated deployment and scaling, focusing on microservice architecture. Using a model inspired by Aeolus, considering the characteristics of microservices, we formally proved that the optimal and automated deployment and scaling for microservice architectures are algorithmically treatable. However, the decision version of the problem is NP-complete and to obtain the optimal solution it is necessary to solve an NP-optimization problem. To show the applicability of our approach we decided to also realize a model of a simple but realistic case-study. The model is developed using the Abstract Behavioral Specification (ABS) language, and to calculate the different deployment and scaling plans we used an ABS tool called SmartDepl. To solve the problem, SmartDepl relies on Zephyrus2. Zephyrus2 is a configuration optimizer that allows to compute the optimal deployment configuration of described applications. This work resulted in an extended abstract accepted at the Microservices 2019 conference in Dortmund (Germany), a paper accepted at the FASE 2019 (part of ETAPS) conference in Prague (Czech Republic), and an accepted book chapter.

Mobile Learning (M-learning) refers to any kind of learning which takes place within and beyond the traditional learning environment via wireless mobile devices. These devices are able to move with the learner to allow learning anytime, anywhere. M-learning is considered as the next step beyond electronic learning (E-learning) and distance learning (D-learning) by using mobile wireless devices with internet connectivity to facilitate formal and informal learning. Over the past decade M-learning has become gradually popular in university settings by providing mobile access to learning resources, collaborative learning and to exchange formative evaluation and feedback between students and instructors. Therefore, M-learning involves learning activities that are not restricted to a specific time or place. Despite the familiarity with M-learning as a new paradigm in modern education, there has been a shortage of research concerning how to deploy this technology in a successful way. The integration of M-learning in a university environment needs to involve some aspects in terms of the readiness of users and institutions, users‟ acceptance and engagement, and the sustainability of the system. There are some initial models that investigate the implementation of M-learning which provide some guidelines that work as starting point for the future of M-learning deployment. However, there is no theoretical model that provides guidelines for staged deployment of M-learning. In addition, there was no clear definition of sustainability factors that will assure continues evaluation and upgrade of M-learning systems after deployment. The aims of this research work are to study students‟ readiness for M-learning, investigate the factors that affect students‟ acceptance and analyse M-learning literature in order to propose and evaluate a model which can be used to foster the sustainable deployment of M-learning within teaching and learning strategies in higher education institutions. The research was conducted in Brunel University, West London. Data were collected from School of Information, Computing and Mathematical Science students using three surveys: the first studied students‟ readiness for M-learning, the second investigated factors that affect students‟ acceptance of M-learning and the last one developed and evaluated a sustainable M-learning deployment model. The outcome of this research lead to a conceptual model that gives a wide overview of all elements that need to be addressed in the M-learning environment and bridges the gap between the pre- and post-implementation phases in order to ensure sustainability. Furthermore, the model provides university educators with a planned approach to incorporate M-learning in higher education curriculums with the aim of improving teaching and learning.

Electronic Business (e-Business) is recognised as being able to help organisations to achieve competitiveness benefits. In Libya, the uptake of e-business in the higher education sector has been relatively limited and ineffective. There is no guidance available to help Libyan universities to maximise their leverage by participating intelligently in e-business deployment. This research examines e-business deployment initiatives and provides insights and learning into how to successfully develop and implement these initiatives within universities in a developing country, specifically Libya. The aim of this research is to develop a robust framework to support an efficient e-business deployment focusing on the case of Libya. This is achieved by exploring selected completed and on-going successful initiatives and focusing on the barriers to, and the enablers of, these initiatives. As a result, the nature of successful e-business deployment is determined, and the e-business deployment requirements for universities in Libya are identified. A combination of research methodology approaches has been engaged in this research. Firstly, an extensive review of literature took place to summarise and create the arguments around the main e-business models and their related dimensions, contributing to the development of e-business deployment research. Secondly, a qualitative approach based on case studies, include an explanatory investigation in three cases, is selected as an appropriate methodology for this research. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews are conducted to gather data from selected universities. The results show that Process, People and Technology barriers are the main barriers facing e-business deployment in Libyan universities. The collected data was analysed and problems were identified; as a result, the elements for a holistic approach to manage e-business deployment emerged. Based on the findings, an e-business deployment model is developed to provide a holistic approach for universities to plan, perform and review their e-business levels, as well as uncovering the main barriers preventing these universities from expanding e-business development. Also, a model of the implementation process of e-business deployment is proposed. From a practical point of view, this research provides realistic implications for decision makers and officials within Libyan universities involved in the process of planning, developing and implementing e-business initiatives.

Avec l'émergence de l'informatique dans les nuages, une nouvelle approche consiste à externaliser des tâches de calcul, de façon à réduire les coûts d'hébergement et à augmenter la flexibilité des systèmes. L'infrastructure actuelle des services permettant cette externalisation repose sur l'utilisation de centres de traitement de données centralisés, qui sont dédiés à l'approvisionnement de ressources de calcul. Dans cette thèse, nous étudions la possibilité de fournir de tels services en utilisant une infrastructure pair-à-pair, c'est-à-dire une infrastructure totalement décentralisée pouvant être déployée sur une fédération de noeuds de calcul hétérogénes et de provenances diverses. Nous nous focalisons sur le problème de l'allocation des noeuds et présentons Salute, un service d'allocation de noeuds, qui organise les noeuds en réseaux virtuels non-structurés et repose sur des mécanismes de prédiction de disponibilité pour assurer, avec une grande probabilité, que les requêtes d'allocation sont satisfaites dans le temps, malgré le dynamisme de l'environnement hôte. Pour ce faire, le service Salute repose sur la collaboration de plusieurs protocoles pair-à-pair appartenant à la catégorie des protocoles épidémiques. Afin de valider nos propositions, nous évaluons Salute en utilisant des traces provenant d'un échantillonnage de plusieurs systèmes pair-à-pair de référence<br>With the emergence of Cloud computing, a new trend is to externalize computing tasks in order to decrease costs and increase flexibility. Current Cloud infrastructures rely on the usage of large-scale centralized data centers, for computing resources provisioning. In this thesis, we study the possibility to provide a peer-to-peer based Cloud infrastructure, which is totally decentralized and can be deployed on any computing nodes federation. We focus on the nodes allocation problem and present Salute, a nodes allocation service that organizes nodes in unstructured overlay networks and relies on mechanisms to predict node availability in order to ensure, with high probability, that allocation requests will be satisfied over time, and this despite churn. Salute's implementation relies on the collaboration of several peer-to-peer protocols belonging to the category of epidemic protocols. To convey our claims, we evaluate Salute using real traces

Cette thèse porte sur le développement de techniques de commande prédictive pour le déploiement et la reconfiguration d'un système multi-agents dans une zone convexe et bornée en deux dimensions. Un nouvel algorithme de commande prédictive décentralisé, fondé sur une partition de Voronoï de l'espace pour le déploiement d'une flotte de drones quadrirotor, est construit. La loi de commande prédictive décentralisée est d'abord rendue plus robuste pour supporter des perturbations déterministes bornées s'appliquant sur les agents, introduisant une nouvelle partition de Voronoï garantie fondée sur des boîtes pour assurer la sécurité du déploiement. Dans ce cas, un nouveau correcteur prédictif fondé sur des tubes avec observateur est conçu en résolvant des problèmes d'optimisation sous contraintes d'inégalités matricielles linéaires/bilinéaires. Ensuite, pour supporter des perturbations stochastiques non bornées, un nouvel algorithme de commande prédictive sous contraintes probabilistes est proposé, rendu résoluble par la transformation des contraintes probabilistes apparaissant dans le problème d'optimisation en contraintes algébriques. Enfin, une stratégie de reconfiguration fondée sur un correcteur prédictif décentralisé est conçue pour permettre à des agents de rejoindre ou de quitter le système multi-agents durant son déploiement. Des résultats de simulation sur une flotte de drones quadrirotor valident l'efficacité des stratégies de commande proposées<br>This thesis presents Model Predictive Control (MPC) techniques for the deployment and the reconfiguration of a dynamical Multi-Agent System (MAS) in a bounded convex two-dimensional area. A novel decentralized predictive control law for the Voronoi-based deployment of a fleet of quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is derived. The proposed decentralized MPC is firstly robustified to deal with bounded deterministic perturbations acting on the agents, introducing a new box-based guaranteed Voronoi tessellation to ensure a safe deployment. In this case, a new output-feedback tube-based MPC is designed by solving constrained optimization procedures relying on linear/bilinear matrix inequalities. Secondly, to deal with unbounded stochastic perturbations, a new output-feedback chance-constrained MPC algorithm is proposed, solved by mean of a relaxation of the considered probabilistic constraints into algebraic constraints. Finally, a decentralized MPC-based reconfiguration strategy is designed to deal with the case of agents joining or leaving the multi-agent system during the deployment. Illustrative simulation results on a fleet of quadrotor UAVs validate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T17:42:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo7488_1.pdf: 2696600 bytes, checksum: c580dacde3637e2e5e3b13d9ba753aab (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005<br>Atualmente, as empresas estão se tornando cada vez mais dependentes de informações para alcançarem seus objetivos institucionais. As empresas privadas precisam de informações para competir no mercado; as públicas, para garantir o bem estar da população. Em qualquer caso, a área de tecnologia da informação (TI) exerce um papel fundamental que é o de apoiar a estratégia empresarial. No entanto, evidências históricas têm mostrado que as empresas falham ao investir nessa área, seja por ineficiência no seu modelo de gestão ou no de governança. Ademais, nem sempre esses investimentos são vistos pelos executivos como justificáveis, considerando que, muitas vezes, eles tendem a fixar atenção apenas no retorno financeiro que da tecnologia da informação pode advir. Faltam, neste caso, métricas não financeiras capazes de avaliar a contribuição dessa área à organização. Este trabalho apresenta um modelo de governança de TI, baseado no Balanced Scorecard e Quality Function Deployment. Tais ferramentas serão utilizadas no planejamento da função, de forma a alinhá-lo à estratégia do negócio, dotá-lo de métricas de avaliação e identificar as necessidades de sistemas informações para, finalmente, priorizar investimentos. Concluindo, será apresentado um estudo de caso com a área de TI da Secretaria de Defesa Social de Pernambuco

Autonomous electric vehicles are set to replace most conventional vehicles in the near future. Extensive research is being done to improve efficiency at the individual and fleet level. There is much potential benefit in optimizing the deployment and rebalancing of Autonomous Electric Taxi Fleets (AETF) in cities with dynamic demand and limited charging infrastructure. We propose a Fleet Management System with an Online Optimization Model to assign idle taxis to either a region or a charging station considering the current demand and charging station availability. Our system uses real-time information such as demand in regions, taxi locations and state of charge (SoC), and charging station availability to make optimal decisions in satisfying the dynamic demand considering the range-based constraints of electric taxis. We integrate our Fleet Management System with MATSim, an agent-based transport simulator, to simulate taxis serving real on-demand requests extracted from the San Francisco taxi mobility dataset. We found our system to be effective in rebalancing and ensuring efficient taxi operation by assigning them to charging stations when depleted. We evaluate this system using different performance metrics such as passenger waiting time, fleet efficiency (taxi empty driving time) and charging station utilization by varying initial SoC of taxis, frequency of optimization and charging station capacity and power.

Thesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2011.<br>Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-67).<br>The United States government is committed to promoting a market for electric vehicles. To ensure that this electrification program does not result in the same failure that has come be associated with its predecessor programs, Freedom Car and the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, charging infrastructure must be available. At this point, however, it is unclear what the balance will be between industry and government involvement in enabling the distribution of electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE). A number of companies in the private sector have begun initial deployment projects, and municipalities, utilities and other commercial players are beginning to look into the provision of this equipment. However, little is understood about this market where uncertainties about vehicle sales, costs and government support abound. This thesis analyzes the economics of the infrastructure market and explores the internal logic for the companies involved through a dynamic behavioral spatial model to draw policy recommendations for the roles of the government and the private sector in vehicle electrification. Because of the low cost of electricity and high costs of charging infrastructure capital, it will be difficult for EVSE providers to earn a profit selling electricity. Model simulations demonstrate the importance of a public sector infrastructure roll out strategy and investment innovation in the EVSE market toward faster and cheaper charging options. Policies to stimulate electric vehicle adoption must focus on R&D for charging stations and deploying infrastructure.<br>by Michael J. Kearney.<br>S.M.in Technology and Policy

While extensive research has been done examining stress in families using the Double ABCX model and examining stress management using attachment theory, there is no research combining the model to understand how they might be integrated in understanding stress and coping. The current study uses the Double ABCX model and research on attachment to suggest that attachment relationships will be the primary resource to adjust for military families during deployment. Two extreme case studies were selected to explore the interplay of these two models. The in-depth interviews of the women with a deployed spouse and with children in the home were examined. Exploration of the experiences of the two women informed a model in understanding the synthesis of stress and attachment and understanding the influence of meaning making and adjustment. Therapeutic implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.<br>Master of Science

Several applications have been proposed for wireless sensor networks, including habitat monitoring, structural health monitoring, pipeline monitoring, and precision agriculture. Among the desirable features of wireless sensor networks, one is the ease of deployment. Since the nodes are capable of self-organization, they can be placed easily in areas that are otherwise inaccessible to or impractical for other types of sensing systems. In fact, some have proposed the deployment of wireless sensor networks by dropping nodes from a plane, delivering them in an artillery shell, or launching them via a catapult from onboard a ship. There are also reports of actual aerial deployments, for example the one carried out using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at a Marine Corps combat centre in California -- the nodes were able to establish a time-synchronized, multi-hop communication network for tracking vehicles that passed along a dirt road. While this has a practical relevance for some civil applications (such as rescue operations), a more realistic deployment involves the careful planning and placement of sensors. Even then, nodes may not be placed optimally to ensure that the network is fully connected and high-quality data pertaining to the phenomena being monitored can be extracted from the network. This work aims to address the problem of random deployment through two complementary approaches: The first approach aims to address the problem of random deployment from a communication perspective. It begins by establishing a comprehensive mathematical model to quantify the energy cost of various concerns of a fully operational wireless sensor network. Based on the analytic model, an energy-efficient topology control protocol is developed. The protocol sets eligibility metric to establish and maintain a multi-hop communication path and to ensure that all nodes exhaust their energy in a uniform manner. The second approach focuses on addressing the problem of imperfect sensing from a signal processing perspective. It investigates the impact of deployment errors (calibration, placement, and orientation errors) on the quality of the sensed data and attempts to identify robust and error-agnostic features. If random placement is unavoidable and dense deployment cannot be supported, robust and error-agnostic features enable one to recognize interesting events from erroneous or imperfect data.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 1999.<br>Includes bibliographical references.<br>From its start in the early 1900's, the communications business has been a regulated industry with little or no competition. The economic incentives to deploy new technological innovations were often overshadowed by the regulatory environment and a lack of competitive pressures. The 1982 divestiture of AT&T successfully created competition in the long distance market, however the local access market continued to operate as regulated monopoly. As the primary access point between users and the telecommunications network, the local access providers have extracted significant value from the telecommunications market. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (T A96) was designed to open up the local access market to competition. The incumbent suppliers were required to enable competition by making their assets available to competitors. At the same time, Internet data transport was becoming the dominant telecommunications revenue source and new technologies that offered high-speed Internet access were becoming available. This thesis demonstrates that the three types of competitors defined by TA96 have evolved different strategies for maximizing the value that they can capture from the telecommunications market. By applying a case study for Cable Modems and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) modems, it is shown that the economic incentives to deploy new technologies are not necessarily aligned with the needs of the telecommunications consumer.<br>by Bruce R. Wolfeld.<br>S.M.M.O.T.

In the last 50 years, flooding has figured as the most frequent and widespread natural disaster globally. Extreme precipitation events stemming from climate change could alter the hydro-geological regime resulting in increased flood risk. Near real-time precipitation monitoring at local scale is essential for flood risk mitigation in urban and suburban areas, due to their high vulnerability. Presently, most of the rainfall data is obtained from ground‐based measurements or remote sensing that provide limited information in terms of temporal or spatial resolution. Other problems may be due to the high costs. Furthermore, rain gauges are unevenly spread and usually placed away from urban centers. In this context, a big potential is represented by the use of innovative techniques to develop low-cost monitoring systems. Despite the diversity of purposes, methods and epistemological fields, the literature on the visual effects of the rain supports the idea of camera-based rain sensors but tends to be device-specific. The present thesis aims to investigate the use of easily available photographing devices as rain detectors-gauges to develop a dense network of low-cost rainfall sensors to support the traditional methods with an expeditious solution embeddable into smart devices. As opposed to existing works, the study focuses on maximizing the number of image sources (like smartphones, general-purpose surveillance cameras, dashboard cameras, webcams, digital cameras, etc.). This encompasses cases where it is not possible to adjust the camera parameters or obtain shots in timelines or videos. Using a Deep Learning approach, the rainfall characterization can be achieved through the analysis of the perceptual aspects that determine whether and how a photograph represents a rainy condition. The first scenario of interest for the supervised learning was a binary classification; the binary output (presence or absence of rain) allows the detection of the presence of precipitation: the cameras act as rain detectors. Similarly, the second scenario of interest was a multi-class classification; the multi-class output described a range of quasi-instantaneous rainfall intensity: the cameras act as rain estimators. Using Transfer Learning with Convolutional Neural Networks, the developed models were compiled, trained, validated, and tested. The preparation of the classifiers included the preparation of a suitable dataset encompassing unconstrained verisimilar settings: open data, several data owned by National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention - NIED (dashboard cameras in Japan coupled with high precision multi-parameter radar data), and experimental activities conducted in the NIED Large Scale Rainfall Simulator. The outcomes were applied to a real-world scenario, with the experimentation through a pre-existent surveillance camera using 5G connectivity provided by Telecom Italia S.p.A. in the city of Matera (Italy). Analysis unfolded on several levels providing an overview of generic issues relating to the urban flood risk paradigm and specific territorial questions inherent with the case study. These include the context aspects, the important role of rainfall from driving the millennial urban evolution to determining present criticality, and components of a Web prototype for flood risk communication at local scale. The results and the model deployment raise the possibility that low‐cost technologies and local capacities can help to retrieve rainfall information for flood early warning systems based on the identification of a significant meteorological state. The binary model reached accuracy and F1 score values of 85.28% and 0.86 for the test, and 83.35% and 0.82 for the deployment. The multi-class model reached test average accuracy and macro-averaged F1 score values of 77.71% and 0.73 for the 6-way classifier, and 78.05% and 0.81 for the 5-class. The best performances were obtained in heavy rainfall and no-rain conditions, whereas the mispredictions are related to less severe precipitation. The proposed method has limited operational requirements, can be easily and quickly implemented in real use cases, exploiting pre-existent devices with a parsimonious use of economic and computational resources. The classification can be performed on single photographs taken in disparate conditions by commonly used acquisition devices, i.e. by static or moving cameras without adjusted parameters. This approach is especially useful in urban areas where measurement methods such as rain gauges encounter installation difficulties or operational limitations or in contexts where there is no availability of remote sensing data. The system does not suit scenes that are also misleading for human visual perception. The approximations inherent in the output are acknowledged. Additional data may be gathered to address gaps that are apparent and improve the accuracy of the precipitation intensity prediction. Future research might explore the integration with further experiments and crowdsourced data, to promote communication, participation, and dialogue among stakeholders and to increase public awareness, emergency response, and civic engagement through the smart community idea.<br>Negli ultimi 50 anni, le alluvioni si sono confermate come il disastro naturale più frequente e diffuso a livello globale. Tra gli impatti degli eventi meteorologici estremi, conseguenti ai cambiamenti climatici, rientrano le alterazioni del regime idrogeologico con conseguente incremento del rischio alluvionale. Il monitoraggio delle precipitazioni in tempo quasi reale su scala locale è essenziale per la mitigazione del rischio di alluvione in ambito urbano e periurbano, aree connotate da un'elevata vulnerabilità. Attualmente, la maggior parte dei dati sulle precipitazioni è ottenuta da misurazioni a terra o telerilevamento che forniscono informazioni limitate in termini di risoluzione temporale o spaziale. Ulteriori problemi possono derivare dagli elevati costi. Inoltre i pluviometri sono distribuiti in modo non uniforme e spesso posizionati piuttosto lontano dai centri urbani, comportando criticità e discontinuità nel monitoraggio. In questo contesto, un grande potenziale è rappresentato dall'utilizzo di tecniche innovative per sviluppare sistemi inediti di monitoraggio a basso costo. Nonostante la diversità di scopi, metodi e campi epistemologici, la letteratura sugli effetti visivi della pioggia supporta l'idea di sensori di pioggia basati su telecamera, ma tende ad essere specifica per dispositivo scelto. La presente tesi punta a indagare l'uso di dispositivi fotografici facilmente reperibili come rilevatori-misuratori di pioggia, per sviluppare una fitta rete di sensori a basso costo a supporto dei metodi tradizionali con una soluzione rapida incorporabile in dispositivi intelligenti. A differenza dei lavori esistenti, lo studio si concentra sulla massimizzazione del numero di fonti di immagini (smartphone, telecamere di sorveglianza generiche, telecamere da cruscotto, webcam, telecamere digitali, ecc.). Ciò comprende casi in cui non sia possibile regolare i parametri fotografici o ottenere scatti in timeline o video. Utilizzando un approccio di Deep Learning, la caratterizzazione delle precipitazioni può essere ottenuta attraverso l'analisi degli aspetti percettivi che determinano se e come una fotografia rappresenti una condizione di pioggia. Il primo scenario di interesse per l'apprendimento supervisionato è una classificazione binaria; l'output binario (presenza o assenza di pioggia) consente la rilevazione della presenza di precipitazione: gli apparecchi fotografici fungono da rivelatori di pioggia. Analogamente, il secondo scenario di interesse è una classificazione multi-classe; l'output multi-classe descrive un intervallo di intensità delle precipitazioni quasi istantanee: le fotocamere fungono da misuratori di pioggia. Utilizzando tecniche di Transfer Learning con reti neurali convoluzionali, i modelli sviluppati sono stati compilati, addestrati, convalidati e testati. La preparazione dei classificatori ha incluso la preparazione di un set di dati adeguato con impostazioni verosimili e non vincolate: dati aperti, diversi dati di proprietà del National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention - NIED (telecamere dashboard in Giappone accoppiate con dati radar multiparametrici ad alta precisione) e attività sperimentali condotte nel simulatore di pioggia su larga scala del NIED. I risultati sono stati applicati a uno scenario reale, con la sperimentazione attraverso una telecamera di sorveglianza preesistente che utilizza la connettività 5G fornita da Telecom Italia S.p.A. nella città di Matera (Italia). L'analisi si è svolta su più livelli, fornendo una panoramica sulle questioni relative al paradigma del rischio di alluvione in ambito urbano e questioni territoriali specifiche inerenti al caso di studio. Queste ultime includono diversi aspetti del contesto, l'importante ruolo delle piogge dal guidare l'evoluzione millenaria della morfologia urbana alla determinazione delle criticità attuali, oltre ad alcune componenti di un prototipo Web per la comunicazione del rischio alluvionale su scala locale. I risultati ottenuti e l'implementazione del modello corroborano la possibilità che le tecnologie a basso costo e le capacità locali possano aiutare a caratterizzare la forzante pluviometrica a supporto dei sistemi di allerta precoce basati sull'identificazione di uno stato meteorologico significativo. Il modello binario ha raggiunto un'accuratezza e un F1-score di 85,28% e 0,86 per il set di test e di 83,35% e 0,82 per l'implementazione nel caso di studio. Il modello multi-classe ha raggiunto un'accuratezza media e F1-score medio (macro-average) di 77,71% e 0,73 per il classificatore a 6 vie e 78,05% e 0,81 per quello a 5 classi. Le prestazioni migliori sono state ottenute nelle classi relative a forti precipitazioni e assenza di pioggia, mentre le previsioni errate sono legate a precipitazioni meno estreme. Il metodo proposto richiede requisiti operativi limitati, può essere implementato facilmente e rapidamente in casi d'uso reali, sfruttando dispositivi preesistenti con un uso parsimonioso di risorse economiche e computazionali. La classificazione può essere eseguita su singole fotografie scattate in condizioni disparate da dispositivi di acquisizione di uso comune, ovvero da telecamere statiche o in movimento senza regolazione dei parametri. Questo approccio potrebbe essere particolarmente utile nelle aree urbane in cui i metodi di misurazione come i pluviometri incontrano difficoltà di installazione o limitazioni operative o in contesti in cui non sono disponibili dati di telerilevamento o radar. Il sistema non si adatta a scene che sono fuorvianti anche per la percezione visiva umana. I limiti attuali risiedono nelle approssimazioni intrinseche negli output. Per colmare le lacune evidenti e migliorare l'accuratezza della previsione dell'intensità di precipitazione, sarebbe possibile un'ulteriore raccolta di dati. Sviluppi futuri potrebbero riguardare l'integrazione con ulteriori esperimenti in campo e dati da crowdsourcing, per promuovere comunicazione, partecipazione e dialogo aumentando la resilienza attraverso consapevolezza pubblica e impegno civico in una concezione di comunità smart.

Traditional business models that used to govern the operations of travel and tourism businesses, defined in a rigid way their functional areas and the relationships among them. The advent of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has driven the transformation of these business models into novel destination marketing models. National Tourism Organisations’ task of managing the process of destination marketing has been augmented with the advent of electronic marketing methods. The complexity of managing the diverse interests of the multiplicity of the stakeholders involved in destination marketing has been extended by the novel electronic communication channels that have been introduced. This has made the need of establishing an explicit model for managing the process of destination marketing more imperative than ever before. Recognising the need for explicitly managing the process of destination marketing for the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO), an integrated marketing model has been developed to guide the management of the destination’s marketing process. The key for optimising the destination’s marketing processes is the successful implementation of the model through the integration of traditional with electronic marketing activities. The model is founded upon the CTO’s marketing executives’ mindset and expectations and facilitates the satisfaction of the CTO’s online visitors / customers’ expectations. Moreover, it reflects on the CTO’s existing marketing services, the Cyprus tourism industry’s eMarketing deployment and European NTOs’ eMarketing deployment level. The utter objective that is aimed to be achieved through the implementation of the developed model is the improvement of Cyprus’ competitiveness as a tourism destination worldwide.

The use of GIS tools in marine spatial planning has become widespread. Such tools however often prescribe sterilized zones from a developer’s perspective (e.g. protected areas) and use surrogate indicators of wave and tidal resource with these being used to suggest areas of likely commercial development. The work undertaken in this thesis follows a more dynamic approach which has developed software to model the development appraisal process for wave and tidal projects. This means the most economically feasible sites for development can be located, taking into account factors (such as cable costs) ignored where resolve parameters alone are used in marine spatial planning. Moreover the model developed enables contrasting scenarios for differing harvesting technologies, grid connection points, cable types, port facilities to be examined and for specific improvement plans for such infrastructure to be investigated.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2008.<br>Degree granted by Missouri University of Science and Technology, formerly known as the University of Missouri-Rolla. Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed April 29, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-111).

Thesis advisor: Callista Roy<br>The purpose of this secondary analysis was to understand the coping and adaptation processes of reservist soldiers and one family member throughout the first year following deployment to Iraq. A directed content analysis based on the Roy (2009, 2011) conceptualization of coping and adaptation was accomplished on 75 interviews from 20 Army Reserve and family participants. Research questions were; which contextual stimuli affected the coping capacity for dealing with focal stimuli; military deployment and reintegration. Second, whether resourceful and focused coping at Wave 1 positively influenced the adaptation level at 52 weeks. Third, whether physical and fixed coping at Wave 1 negatively affected the adaptation level at 52 weeks. Fourth, whether coping capacity varied during the reintegration year. Findings confirmed primary study outcomes (MacDermid, 2006) where participants described individualized reintegration. Informants' depictions were different from the previously published, "New Emotional Cycles of Deployment." Contextual stimuli were complicating or protective and exerted substantial influence on managing the deployment and reintegration. Cognitive-emotional processing the meaning and repercussions of the deployment is part of the reintegration process. Resourceful and focused coping positively affected the adaptation level at 52 weeks. Insufficient reports of physical and fixed coping precluded determining its effect. Coping efforts were a discrete measure of coping extrapolated from narratives, and were found to fluctuate throughout the year. When demands intensified, participants accelerated their coping efforts as predicted by the Roy adaptation model (2009). Coping strategies were effective or ineffective. Concepts of transcendence, transformation, and hope were understood in new ways within the Roy model. Transcendence in individuals and groups was further explicated. Spirit was another concept from Roy's work that was observed in the participants. Implications for policy, theory, nursing practice, education and research are discussed. Keywords: adaptation, adaptation level, coping, coping efforts, Roy adaptation model, spirit, transcendence, transformation, hope, military deployment, post-deployment, reintegration, Reservist, military family, deployment cycle, directed content analysis<br>Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012<br>Submitted to: Boston College. Connell School of Nursing<br>Discipline: Nursing

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior<br>Cloud computing offers resources to reduce the computational costs in the institutions that uses hardware and software resources through virtualization, in addition the delivery of software as a service. There are mechanisms for automated software deployment in cloud providers, however it requires encoding or extensive knowledge for developer on the cloud provider specific technology, particularly the various requirements reconstruction, because cloud environments have their own software architectures. In this research was presented a model-based approach to automatic software deployment in the cloud environment. We presented a brief review of literature, with existing proposals for automated software deployment in cloud. In analyzed solutions, we found five that presents deployment mechanisms are script or programming language based, two proposals used manual mechanisms and two proposals applied the model-based approach to software deployment in the cloud, however still strongly linked to manual aspects and complex modeling, because it requires the developer to understand the cloud provider architecture. This research presents a new solution with detailed architecture, use cases, data flow and conceptual view of a model-based approach to automatic software deployment in the cloud. In this research was also conducted an experiment, where the solution presented positive impacts in maintainability, learn-ability and reduction of developer´s workload to deploy software services in the cloud, using UML deployment diagrams as input.<br>A computação em nuvem oferece recursos para reduzir os custos computacionais nas instituições que utilizam recursos de hardware e software através da virtualização, além da entrega de software como serviço. Existem mecanismos automáticos para implantação de software em provedores de nuvem, no entanto, demandam codificação ou requerem conhecimento aprofundado do desenvolvedor acerca da tecnologia específica do provedor de nuvem, sobretudo da reconstrução de vários requisitos, já que ambientes em nuvem possuem arquiteturas de software próprias. Nesta pesquisa foi apresentada uma abordagem baseada em modelos para implantação automática de software no ambiente em nuvem. Foi apresentada uma breve revisão da literatura sobre as propostas existentes para implantação automática de software na nuvem. Foram analisadas as propostas, onde cinco mecanismos de implantação baseiam-se em script ou linguagem de programação, duas propostas utilizaram em mecanismos manuais e duas propostas aplicaram uma abordagem baseada em modelos para implantação de software na nuvem, no entanto ainda fortemente ligadas a aspectos manuais e de modelagem complexa, uma vez que requer do desenvolvedor a compreensão da arquitetura do provedor de nuvem. Esta investigação apresenta uma nova solução com arquitetura detalhada, casos de uso, fluxo de dados e visão conceitual de uma abordagem dirigida a modelos para implantação de software automática na nuvem. Nesta pesquisa também foi realizado um experimento onde a solução apresentou impactos positivos em manutenibilidade, apreensibilidade e na redução na carga de trabalho do desenvolvedor para implantar serviços de software na nuvem por meio de diagramas de implantação UML como entrada.

The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the impact of dynamic message signs (DMS) on the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) toll road network using the Pre-Deployment DMS Survey (henceforth referred to as "pre-deployment survey"). DMS are electronic traffic signs used on roadways to give travelers information about travel times, traffic congestion, accidents, disabled vehicles, AMBER alerts, and special events. The particular DMS referred to in this study are large rectangular signs installed over the travel lanes and these are not the portable trailer mount signs. The OOCEA is currently in the process of adding several fixed DMS on their toll road network. Between January 2007 and February 2008, approximately 30 DMS are planned on their network. It is important to note that there was one DMS sign on the OOCEA network before this study started. Since most of the travelers on OOCEA toll roads are from Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, this study is limited to these counties. This thesis documents the results of pre-deployment analysis. The instrument used to analyze the travelers' perception of DMS was a survey that utilized computer aided telephone interviews. The pre-deployment survey was conducted during early November of 2006. Questions pertaining to the acknowledgement of DMS on the OOCEA toll roads, satisfaction with travel information provided on the network, formatting of the messages, satisfaction with different types of messages, diversion questions (Revealed and Stated preferences), and classification/socioeconomic questions (such as age, education, most used toll road, and county of residence) were asked to the respondents. The results of the pre-deployment analysis showed that 54.4% of the OOCEA travelers recalled seeing DMS on the network. The respondents commonly agreed that the DMS are helpful for providing information about hazardous conditions, and that the DMS are easy to read. The majority of the travelers preferred DMS formats as a steady message for normal traffic conditions, and use of commonly recognized abbreviations such as I-Drive for International Drive. The results from the binary logit model for "satisfaction with travel information provided on OOCEA toll road network" display the significant variables that explain the likelihood of the traveler being satisfied. The results from the coefficients show that infrequent travelers are more likely to be satisfied with traveler information on OOCEA toll roads. In addition, the provision of hazard warnings, special event information, and accuracy of information on DMS are associated with higher levels of satisfaction with traveler information. The binary logit model for "Revealed Preference (RP)" diversion behavior showed that Seminole County travelers were likely to stay on the toll road, and SR 408 travelers were likely to divert off the toll road. The travelers who acknowledged DMS on the OOCEA network were also likely to divert off the toll road, but those who learned of the congestion by DMS were likely to stay on the toll road. Learning of congestion by DMS could encourage travelers to stay, since when they are on the toll roads, diversion at times could be difficult with no access to exits or little knowledge of alternate routes. But it is also possible that travelers stayed because their perception was that the toll roads are faster, especially when messages on DMS show travel times that confirm the travelers' belief. Travelers who were not satisfied with travel information on the network were more likely to divert off the toll road. The implications for implementation of these results are discussed in this thesis. DMS should be formatted as a steady message for normal traffic conditions. Commonly recognized abbreviations, such as I-Drive for International Drive, must be used for roadway identification when possible. DMS messages should be pertained to information on roadway hazards when necessary because it was found that travelers find it important to be informed on events that are related to their personal safety. Accuracy of information provided on DMS was important for traveler information satisfaction because if the travelers observe inaccurate travel times on DMS, they may not trust the validity of future messages. DMS information that led to the travelers canceling their intended stops led to a higher likelihood of them being dissatisfied with traveler information. It is important to meet the travelers' preferences and concerns for DMS.<br>M.S.<br>Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering<br>Engineering and Computer Science<br>Civil Engineering MS

An optimization methodology, algorithms, and computer program for cable/lumped-body deployment system are developed for the design and installation of sonar packages in deep ocean ranges. In addition, a methodology and algorithms for the control of the system are proposed. A penalty function is developed in terms of the system parameters and the dynamic constraints are set up for the optimization of cable/lumped-body deployment system. Deployment procedures and segmentations characterized by their initial and terminal condition are proposed. Alternating Direction (ADM) and Modified Alternating Direction (MADM) methods are employed for the optimum search. The optimization algorithms are then implemented on a desk-top computer. The objective of the search is to achieve the optimum vessel speed and cable pay-out rate that result in the minimum penalty value. Numerical examples are presented to test the robustness of the algorithm (ADM) and the compute program capabilities. The results are compared to those of the MADM method and the entire space search. During actual installation, it is anticipated that randomness in the excitation will cause sonar packages to miss the exact target locations. Thus a continuous correction in the controllable parameters is necessary. Three alternative types of control algorithms are presented for these reasons.<br>Graduation date 1993