Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Internet effects and challenges'

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1999.<br>"June 1999."<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-103).<br>by James Vander Vliet.<br>M.Eng.

In September 2004, scientists from the California Institute of Technology and the European Organization for Nuclear Research succeeded in sending 859 gigabytes of data from California to Switzerland in less than 17 minutes. At such speed, a full-length feature film can be downloaded in 4 seconds. In those 4 seconds, the copyright of a piece of work can easily be infringed on the internet. In recent years, with the improvement of the technology, it has become possible to convert analogue work into digital work through a simple process: it can then be distributed to millions of people from all over the world in a few minutes, using the Internet. In the 1990s, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing networks exploited this new technology. Using file sharing networks, users started to download songs and movies without paying for them. As a result, the music and movie industry suffered great financial losses. While courts are still dealing with the legal issues caused by P2P networks, an even greater issue has materialised, that of transnational digital copyright infringement through websites. Traditional copyright laws operate territorially and some websites use this territoriality, by going beyond national boundaries and operating abroad. They sometimes use the loophole-ridden copyright laws of foreign countries. Therefore, copyright infringements on the Internet have become an international problem and this situation poses a new challenge for copyright holders. The principle of territoriality is not sufficient anymore. It is obvious that those infringements on the Internet are a global problem, affecting all nations. International issues are usually best solved through international cooperation. The solution clearly lies in the reform and harmonisation of International Private Law (IPL) of copyright at global level. In this Ph. D. thesis, three different scenarios have been examined to show the challenges encountered by copyright holders on the Internet. Jurisdiction and applicable law issues have been identified in these scenarios. The aim of this study is to examine the IPL of copyright on the internet.

This thesis work consists of a literature study where different aspects of DNS and the Internet of Things have been researched. A functional naming and service identification method is an essential part in making the IoT global, and DNS is the current method of naming devices on the Internet. The study looks into some challenges DNS will encounter, namely functionality, security and availability. This report concludes that a multicast DNS (mDNS) based solution designed for constrained networks is advantageous. This is despite the limited security that is currently available for such a solution. In the future, it is important that security has top priority, as there are currently limited means of security in DNS. Further study is needed when it comes to availability and how name resolving would work with constrained devices that utilise sleep mode.<br>Detta examensarbete består av en litteraturstudie där olika aspekter av DNS (Domännamnssystemet, eng. Domain Name System) och Sakernas Internet (eng. Internet of Things) har studerats. En fungerande namngivnings-och serviceidentifieringsmetod är en viktig del för att kunna göra Sakernas Internet globalt, och DNS är den nuvarande metoden för att namnge enheter på Internet. Studien undersöker vissa utmaningar som DNS kan stöta på, nämligen funktionalitet, tillgänglighet och säkerhet. Rapportens slutsats är att en lösning baserad på multisändnings-DNS (eng. multicast DNS, mDNS) som är anpassad för begränsade nätverk (eng. constrained networks) är fördelaktig. Detta trots den begränsade säkerhet som finns tillgänglig just nu för en sådan lösning. I framtiden är det viktigt att säkerheten har högsta prioritet, eftersom säkerheten är begränsad hos DNS. Det behövs ytterligare studier när det gäller tillgänglighet och hur adressöversättning skulle fungera med begänsade enheter (eng. constrained devices) som använder viloläge.

This paper gives an account of themes that emerged from a preliminary analysis of a large corpus of electronic communications in an online, mediated course for intercultural learners. The goals were to test assumptions that electronic communication is internationally standardized, to identify any problematic aspects of such communications, and to construct a framework for the analysis of electronic communications using constructs from intercultural communications theory. We found that cyberspace itself has a culture(s), and is not culture-free. Cultural gaps can exist between individuals, as well as between individuals and the dominant cyberculture, increasing the chances of miscommunication. The lack of elements inherent in face-to-face communication further problematizes intercultural communications online by limiting opportunities to give and save face, and to intuit meaning from non-verbal cues. We conclude that electronic communication across cultures presents distinctive challenges, as well as opportunities to course planners.

Despite the obvious advantages of the internet, there is little debate that it significantly facilitates Intellectual Property (IP) rights infringements, particularly in the trademark context. Infringers not only remain hidden by the anonymity that the internet provides, but also take advantage of the difficulties in enforcing IP rights. In these circumstances, it has become necessary to shift focus from the actual infringers, and instead focus on internet intermediaries (such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs), hosts and navigation providers, such as search engines) that are responsible in numerous ways for making content, including those that infringe trademark rights, available to internet users. Accordingly, this thesis addresses the following research question – ‘what are the approaches for, and challenges in, holding internet intermediaries accountable for infringements of trademark rights?’ This thesis argues that accountability can be achieved through both monetary and non-monetary remedies. The first substantive part of the thesis focuses on monetary remedies. Although trademark law in the United Kingdom (UK) and the English common law have not provided trademark owners with an effective remedy against internet intermediaries, by which these intermediaries could be held liable for their role in making infringing content available to internet users, the experience in other Member States of the European Union (EU) and in the United States (US) has been quite the opposite. In the second substantive part, this thesis builds on the discussion concerning approaches in the US and continental EU Member States, in order to propose suitable reforms to UK (as well as EU) trademark law that would potentially allow aggrieved trademark owners to claim monetary relief against internet intermediaries in the form of an action for trademark infringement. The proposal for legal reforms identifies the class of intermediaries against whom, and the circumstances in which, such monetary relief should be made available. Consequential legal reforms are proposed in order to counter the potential abuse of notice-and-takedown procedures, which this thesis identifies as a direct consequence of the interplay between the proposed liability framework and the EU safe harbour that limits such liability. The last substantive part of the thesis considers injunctive relief as a means of holding internet intermediaries accountable for making infringing content available to internet users. This part sets out how injunctions have been utilised in the UK against ISPs, and identifies key challenges underpinning this remedy, while also considering its application to other types of intermediaries. Having considered comparable approaches in Chile, Singapore and Australia, recommendations are made for suitable legal reforms to the EU legal framework, which has hitherto shaped the development of UK law in this regard. These suggested reforms are aimed at overcoming the challenges associated with the injunctive remedy, while promoting it as an effective way of holding internet intermediaries accountable for making content that infringes trademark rights available to internet users.

Internet of Things systems are pervasive systems evolved from cyber-physical to large-scale systems. Due to the number of technologies involved, software development involves several integration challenges. Among them, the ones preventing proper integration are those related to the system heterogeneity, and thus addressing interoperability issues. From a software engineering perspective, developers mostly experience the lack of interoperability in the two phases of software development: programming and deployment. On the one hand, modern software tends to be distributed in several components, each adopting its most-appropriate technology stack, pushing programmers to code in a protocol- and data-agnostic way. On the other hand, each software component should run in the most appropriate execution environment and, as a result, system architects strive to automate the deployment in distributed infrastructures. This dissertation aims to improve the development process by introducing proper tools to handle certain aspects of the system heterogeneity. Our effort focuses on three of these aspects and, for each one of those, we propose a tool addressing the underlying challenge. The first tool aims to handle heterogeneity at the transport and application protocol level, the second to manage different data formats, while the third to obtain optimal deployment. To realize the tools, we adopted a linguistic approach, i.e.\ we provided specific linguistic abstractions that help developers to increase the expressive power of the programming language they use, writing better solutions in more straightforward ways. To validate the approach, we implemented use cases to show that the tools can be used in practice and that they help to achieve the expected level of interoperability. In conclusion, to move a step towards the realization of an integrated Internet of Things ecosystem, we target programmers and architects and propose them to use the presented tools to ease the software development process.

Ebooks have the potential to change the way we read but the ebook industry is not growing as it could be because it is faced with a number of challenges. The British fiction book market struggles as it grows with no clear idea of how each of the book chain areas is challenged by the effect of them. There is the need to identify these effects and challenges faced by the book chain both in the individual areas and the book chain as whole. By identifying these effects and challenges, the British ebook community can address them and grow with the knowledge and assurance that they are working together towards a successful book future. This thesis aimed to investigate what these challenges and effects were and the differences between the ebook and pbook chains. Three specific stakeholders from the book chain were investigated: publishers, libraries and ebook users. The research methods used to obtain information included interviews with publishers both in America and Britain, a telephone questionnaire of all British public library authorities and an online questionnaire available to an international audience of ebook users. The research found that the pbook and ebook chains were different and included different stakeholders. It also found that the publishing processes between pbooks and ebooks had numerous similarities and differences. The effects and challenges for all stakeholders were discussed in relation to the five key areas that had become apparent from the original research and literature; rights, cost, formats, perceptions and knowledge. The fiction ebook market will continue its slow growth until the time that either some of these challenges can be rectified or they become so problematic that the ebook fiction market fails completely.

Com o desenvolvimento da tecnologia digital, nos últimos 20 anos, mídias como a televisão, vídeo, cinema, rádio, impressos etc., convergiram para a Internet, adequando-se a este novo instrumento de comunicação. Os quadrinhos, como cultura de massa, também buscam seu espaço adequando e/ou desenvolvendo novas formas de linguagem e narrativa. A introdução de novos elementos como som, animação e interatividade podem transformar a forma como as pessoas lêem os quadrinhos. O cinema, o quadrinho, o desenho animado, a televisão - linguagens baseadas em imagens seqüenciais - intercambiam elementos de linguagem mutuamente e continuamente, mas já possuem uma linguagem bastante estruturada. Percebeu-se o esforço de muitos artistas do quadrinho em desenvolver ou adaptar a linguagem dos quadrinhos para um formato digital. Mas como fazer isso para uma mídia que ainda não definiu sua própria linguagem? Esta dissertação teve por objetivo investigar as iniciativas de adaptação da linguagem dos quadrinhos para o formato digital. Para isto, conduzimos nossa pesquisa de modo a contemplar três aspectos: o ponto de vista do profissional da área, a visão do consumidor e, por último, a análise do produto - o próprio quadrinho on-line - que os conecta. Estes dois primeiros aspectos foram analisados com base em entrevistas, concedidas por profissionais da área e estudantes das cidades do Recife e do Rio de Janeiro, que foram submetidas às técnicas de análise qualitativa do discurso, o que permitiu a detecção de recorrências e inconsistências nas respostas dos entrevistados. Os resultados desta análise definiram os padrões que serviram de base comparativa para o terceiro aspecto: a análise dos quadrinhos on-line veiculados na Internet, que proveu informações sobre as tendências, novas possibilidades e limitações.<br>With the development of digital technology, in the last 20 years, medias like television, video, cinema, radio, printings etc, converged to the Internet, adapting to this new instrument of communication. Comics, as mass media, look for their place by adapting or developing new vocabulary for their language and narrative. The Introduction of new elements like sound, animation and interactivity may change the way we read comics. Cinema, comics, cartoons, TV, languages based on sequence of images, continuously trade elements but have a very structured language. The effort of many artists to develop or adapt the language of comics to digital media was perceived. But how to do that in a medium that was not defined by its own language? The objective of this dissertation is to investigate initiatives to adapt the language of comics to digital media. For this, we conducted our research focusing on three aspects: the artist view - producer of comics, the consumer of comics and, finally, an analysis of online comics, to connect the previous points of view. The first two aspects have been analyzed through interviews with comic artists and students in Recife and Rio de Janeiro, using a qualitative analysis of discourse, which enabled us to detect recurrences and inconsistencies in the answers of interviewees. The results of this analysis define the comparative patterns for the third aspect: online comics on the web, that provide information about tendencies, new possibilities and limitations.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate how the challenges of Internet of Things that manufacturers can influence can be overcome. Theoretical foundation - This study conducted an extensive literature review to identify and understand the challenges to Internet of Things and actions to overcome them. 11 technical challenges, 13 organisational and 6 resource availability challenges were identified. 4 actions were identified. Method - To fulfil the purpose, an embedded multiple case study at a global Aerospace manufacturer was conducted. 7 unstructured interviews, 12 semi-structured interviews and a survey were conducted. Respondents were picked due to their experience in Internet of Things projects and relevant technologies. The survey was conducted to evaluate the challenges’ relevance to high-technology manufacturers, on a 7-point Likert scale. The semi-structured interviews aimed to find actions to overcoming the challenges relevant to high-technology manufacturers. Findings - The evaluation of the challenges relevance to high-technology manufacturers resulted in 10 common, 9 occasional and 2 uncommon challenges. 12 actions to overcoming the challenges and their tasks were identified. Theoretical contribution - The study provides a comprehensive list of potential challenges to Internet of Things. It evaluated the challenges’ impact on high-technology manufacturers, thus challenging and validating Internet of Things challenges presented in literature. It provides a set of actions and a framework which aids in overcoming challenges that impact high-technology manufacturers’ Internet of Things initiatives, thus contributing to digital change management. Finally, it aids in the progress towards concretising Industry 4.0 and its trends toward connectivity, intelligence, and flexible automation. Practical contribution - The study provides an increased understanding of potential challenges of Internet of Things, and recommendations to how high-technology manufacturer can overcome the challenges. A framework is provided which gives an overview of which actions, and subsequent tasks, to take to overcome a specific challenge.

Les systèmes de communication sans fil à venir vont faire un usage intensif des transmissions de paquets courts. La norme 5G émergente en est un exemple parfait, pour lequel deux des trois principaux cas d'utilisation, les communications massives de type machine (mMTC) et les communications ultra fiables à faible latence (URLLC), reposent intrinsèquement sur des paquets courts. Un autre exemple est fourni par les récents réseaux d'accès de faible puissance (LPWAN) tels que Sigfox, LoRa, etc. et conçus pour prendre en charge l'IoT. L'utilisation de paquets courts au niveau de la couche physique peut modifier considérablement la conception des systèmes de communication numériques. En particulier, avec une longueur de bloc courte, la surcharge de l'en-tête ne peut plus être considérée comme négligeable. Plus important encore, les résultats asymptotiques de la théorie de l'information, qui ont été un guide essentiel et un moteur essentiel de la conception de systèmes de communication en constante amélioration jusqu'à présent, ne sont plus valables dans ce régime. Comment alors assurer une communication fiable sans augmenter la longueur du code puisque ce dernier n'est plus une option? Par extension et plus fondamentalement, comment concevoir la couche physique de paquets courts pour assurer des performances optimales avec l'utilisation la plus efficace possible des ressources disponibles? L'objectif de cette thèse est de revoir les techniques de conception de la couche physique pour la communication par paquets courts et de proposer de nouvelles directives de conception tirant parti des derniers résultats en matière de codage de canal dans le régime de longueur de bloc finie<br>Upcoming wireless communication systems are expected to make intensive use of short packet transmission. An epitome is the emerging 5G standard, for which two out of the three principal use cases, massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC) and Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), are intrinsically based on short packets. Another example is provided by the recent Low-Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) designed to support the IoT such as Sigfox, LoRa, etc.The use of short packets at the physical layer may substantially change the way digital communication systems are designed. In particular, at short block length, header overhead may no longer be considered negligible. More importantly, asymptotic results from information theory which have been a central guide and a key driver to the design of ever-improving communication systems so far no longer hold in this regime. How, then, to ensure reliable communication without increasing the code length since the latter is no longer an option ? By extension and more fundamentally, how to design the physical layer of short packets to ensure optimal performance with the most efficient use of available resources at hand ? The focus of this PhD thesis is to revisit physical layer design for short-packet communication and to propose new design guidelines leveraging the latest results on channel coding in the finite blocklength regime

The high dropout rate of the United States Virgin Islands school district's ninth-grade students is a major educational problem and the catalyst for a myriad of social problems. Ninth grade academies and extended school day intervention programs have benefited only the academically prepared students. This qualitative case study examined educators' perceptions of the challenges that led to the increased dropout rate of the district's ninth-grade students. Bandura's self-efficacy theory and Atkinson's motivational achievement theory formed the foundational pillars for this study. The research questions were focused on challenges that led to the increased dropout rate of ninth-grade students and the programs implemented to support dropout prevention. The data collection methods consisted of questionnaires from 4 administrators, 4 counselors, and 16 core-subject teachers, and semi-structured group interviews with 2 administrators, 2 counselors, and 8 core subject teachers. Analysis of the data included coding and the identification of common themes. The findings showed that poor school attendance, academic unpreparedness, and disciplinary infractions were some of the challenges that resulted in premature school dropout. Interpretation of the data confirmed that the implementation of proactive and reactive approaches, modified instructional methods, and intervention strategies have proven ineffective. After 10 years, the ninth grade academies of the school district have had no significant effect on promotion or retention rates. The introduction of Ninth Grade Completion via Career Curriculum Academies, a combination of college preparatory and vocational skills classes, may transform education for ninth-graders, increase promotional rates, and benefit the larger community.

L'Internet des Objets (IdO) a évolué depuis cette possibilité théorique de connecter tous les appareils à un réel marché de biens et de services en constante expansion. Les technologies sous-jacentes ont évolué et l'IdO repose aujourd'hui sur de nombreuses technologies de communication différentes: Des technologies à courte portée comme Bluetooth, moyenne portée comme Zigbee ou longue portée comme la technologie LoRa (Long-Range).Les systèmes de l'IdO sont habituellement construits autour d'infrastructures fermées basées sur des systèmes en silo. Créer de l'interopérabilité entre ces silos fermés est un enjeu pour certains cas d'usages cruciaux dans le déploiement des technologies de l'IdO comme les villes intelligentes. Développer la problématique au niveau applicatif est une première étape directement inspirée des pratiques courantes en matière de collecte et d'analyse de données dans le cadre du développement des technologies de traitement de données massives. Cependant, construire des ponts au niveau réseau permettrait de faciliter l'interconnexion entre infrastructures et faciliterait la transition fluide entre technologies de l'IdO afin d'améliorer à bas coût la couverture réseau.Le Système de Nom de Domaine (Domain Name System, DNS), initialement développé pour traduire les noms, lisibles et compréhensibles par les utilisateurs en adresses IP, utilisées par les appareils connectés, est reconnu comme un facilitateur sur les question d'interopérabilité sur Internet. C'est l'un des systèmes les plus anciens déployés sur Internet, développé à la fin des années 1980 pour supporter la croissance de l'infrastructures Internet. Bien qu'ayant beaucoup évolué ces dernières années, en témoignent les nombreuses propositions de modifications au standard publié à son sujet, le DNS reste aujourd'hui l'une des infrastructures les plus centrales du réseau Internet.Le DNS repose sur des principes simples, mais son évolution depuis ses premiers développements ont permis de construire des systèmes complexes grâce à ses nombreuses possibilités de configuration. Dans le cadre cette thèse, qui étudie les possibles améliorations aux services et infrastructures de l'IdO, nous étudions la problématique suivante : Le DNS et son infrastructure peuvent-ils servir de support efficace à l'évolution de l'IdO de la même manière qu'il a accompagné l'évolution d'Internet ?Dans cette optique, nous étudions de possibles améliorations de systèmes de l'IdO sous trois angles.Nous testons tout d'abord un modèle d'itinérance pour réseaux de l'Internet des Objets au travers de la construction d'une fédération reposant sur l'infrastructure du DNS et ses extensions pour en assurer l'interopérabilité, la sécurité de bout-en-bout et optimiser les communications entre infrastructures. Son objectif est de proposer des transitions fluides entre réseaux sur base d'informations stockées à l'aide de l'infrastructure DNS. Nous explorons également les problématiques introduites par le DNS, notamment en termes de latence et d'influence sur les temps de réponse des applications, et comment en limiter l'impact sur les échanges, déjà grandement contraints, entre objet connecté et passerelle radio. Pour cela nous étudions les conséquences de l'utilisation de requêtes DNS anticipées dans un contexte de mobilité en milieu urbain. Nous étudions ensuite la façon dont le Système de Nom de Domaine peut renforcer l'interopérabilité, la disponibilité de ressources et le passage à l'échelle de systèmes de compression de paquets de l'IdO. Enfin, nous explorons la question de la minimisation de trafic en implantant des algorithmes d'apprentissage sur des capteurs et en mesurant les paramètres du système final, en particulier en terme de performances de transmissions et d'efficacité énergétique<br>The Internet of Things (IoT) evolved from its theoretical possibility to connect anything and everything to an ever-increasing market of goods and services. Its underlying technologies diversified and IoT now encompasses various communication technologies ranging from short-range technologies as Bluetooth, medium-range technologies such as Zigbee and long-range technologies such as Long Range Wide Area Network.IoT systems are usually built around closed, siloed infrastructures. Developing interoperability between these closed silos is crucial for IoT use-cases such as Smart Cities. Working on this subject at the application level is a first step that directly evolved from current practice regarding data collection and analysis in the context of the development of Big Data. However, building bridges at the network level would enable easier interconnection between infrastructures and facilitate seamless transitions between IoT technologies to improve coverage at low cost.The Domain Name System (DNS) basically developed to translate human-friendly computer host-names on a network into their corresponding IP addresses is a known interoperability facilitator on the Internet. It is one of the oldest systems deployed on the Internet and was developed to support the Internet infrastructure's growth at the end of the 80s. Despite its old age, it remains a core service on the Internet and many changes from its initial specifications are still in progress, as proven by the increasing number of new suggestions to modify its standard.DNS relies on simple principles, but its evolution since its first developments allowed to build complex systems using its many configuration possibilities. This thesis investigates possible improvements to IoT services and infrastructures. Our key problem can be formulated as follow: Can the DNS and its infrastructure serve as a good baseline to support IoT evolution as it accompanied the evolution of the Internet?We address this question with three approaches. We begin by experimenting with a federated roaming model IoT networks exploiting the strengths of the DNS infrastructure and its security extensions to improve interoperability, end-to-end security and optimize back-end communications. Its goal is to propose seamless transitions between networks based on information stored on the DNS infrastructure. We explore the issues behind DNS and application response times, and how to limit its impact on constrained exchanges between end devices and radio gateways studying DNS prefetching scenarios in a city mobility context. Our second subject of interest consists of studying how DNS can be used to develop availability, interoperability and scalability in compression protocols for IoT. Furthermore, we experimented around compression paradigms and traffic minimization by implementing machine learning algorithms onto sensors and monitoring important system parameters, particularly transmission performance and energy efficiency

Dissertation (Ph. D.)--University of Akron, Dept. of Psychology-Industrial/Organizational, 2009.<br>"May, 2009." Title from electronic dissertation title page (viewed 11/27/2009) Advisor, Andrea Snell; Committee members, Robert Lord, Aaron Schmidt, James Diefendorff, Matthew Lee; Department Chair, Paul Levy; Dean of the College, Chand Midha; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2005.<br>"Submitted to Department of English and Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy" Includes bibliographical references (leaves 250-284)

L'auteur n'a pas fourni de résumé en français<br>In modern online advertising, advertisers tend to track Internet users' activities and use these tracking data to personalize ads. Even though this practice - known as extit{targeted advertising} - brings economic benefits to advertising companies, it raises serious concerns about potential abuses of users' sensitive data. While such privacy violations, if performed by trackers, are subject to be regulated by laws and audited by privacy watchdogs, the consequences of data leakage from these trackers to other entities are much more difficult to detect and control. Protecting user privacy is not easy since preventing tracking undermines the benefits of targeted advertising and consequently impedes the growth of free content and services on the Internet, which are mainly fostered by advertising revenue. While short-term measures, such as detecting and fixing privacy leakages in current systems, are necessary, there needs to be a long-term approach, such as privacy-by-design ad model, to protect user privacy by prevention rather than cure. In the first part of this thesis, we study several vulnerabilities in current advertising systems that leak user data from advertising companies to external entities. First, since targeted ads are personalized to each user, we present an attack exploiting these ads on the fly to infer user private information that have been used to select ads. Second, we investigate common ad exchange protocols, which allow companies to cooperate in serving ads to users, and show that advertising companies are leaking user private information, such as web browsing history, to multiple parties participating in the protocols. These web browsing histories are given to these entities at surprisingly low prices, reflecting the fact that user privacy is extremely underestimated by the advertising industry.In the second part of the thesis, we propose a privacy-by-design targeted advertising model which allows personalizing ads to users without the necessity of tracking. This model is specifically aimed for the two newly emerging ad technologies - retargeting advertising and ad exchange. We show that this model provides strong protection for user privacy while still ensuring ad targeting performance and being practically deployable

This thesis is an empirical legal investigation into regulatory chilling effects in online contexts. Internet censorship is on the rise globally and state surveillance and cyber-policing capabilities are rapidly evolving. Understanding regulatory "chilling effects" - the idea that laws, regulations, or state surveillance can deter people from exercising their freedoms or engaging in legal activities - has thus today taken on greater urgency and public importance. Yet, the notion is not uncontroversial; many commentators have questioned the existence and impact of regulatory chilling effects, particularly in online contexts. It does not help that previous studies on regulatory chilling effects are generally narrow in methodological and theoretical approach and concern traditional media contexts, shedding little light on how chilling effects may work online. Drawing on a theoretical framework that synthesizes traditional chilling effects theory - forged largely by legal theorists Frank Schauer and Daniel Solove - and informed by insights from both online privacy and computer mediated communications (CMC) research, this thesis addresses this gap in the literature with an innovative research design that explores regulatory chilling effects online, with case studies exploring its comparative, regulatory, and surveillance-related dimensions. In concrete terms, this thesis provides empirical and theoretical foundations not only for the notion of regulatory chilling effects online but also factors that influence them. The first case study, a first-of-its-kind online survey with over 1200 respondents, provides general empirical support for the existence of regulatory chilling effects in online contexts, including comparative insights, that is, how some forms of regulation or surveillance may have more significant regulatory chilling effects than others, and why. The second case study examines whether widely covered revelations in June 2013 concerning NSA/PRISM online surveillance has had a chilling effect on Wikipedia users. The third case study is an investigation of the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)'s controversial notice and takedown copyright enforcement system, a scheme often criticized for creating chilling effects online. This DMCA study is carried with a sample of 500 Google Blogs and 500 Twitter accounts and offers insights into how regulatory chilling effects work in practice, along with insights and implications of automated or "robotized" legal enforcement and the DMCA's international impact. Ultimately, this thesis addresses substantial gaps in existing research and literature concerning the existence, scope, impact, and permanence of regulatory chilling effects, and factors that influence them, while helping lay the foundation for a theory of regulatory chilling effects for online contexts. It also has substantial methodological contributions, offering unique and innovative methods for measuring and exploring regulatory chilling effects that can be re-deployed or built upon in future research.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 1999.<br>Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 113 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-61).

The rapid spread of the Internet of Things (IoT) is causing the exponential growth of objects connected to the network, in fact, according to estimates, in 2020 there will be about 3/4 devices per person totaling of over 20 billion connected devices. Therefore, the use of content that requires intensive bandwidth consumption is growing. In order to meet these growing needs, the computing power and storage space are transferred to the network edge to reduce the network latency and increase the bandwidth availability. Edge computing allows to approach high-bandwidth content and sensitive apps to the user or data source and is preferred to use it for many IoT applications respect to cloud computing. Its distributed approach addresses the needs of IoT and industrial IoT, as well as the immense amount of data generated by smart sensors and IoT devices, which would be costly and time-consuming to send to the cloud for processing and analysis. Edge computing reduces both the bandwidth needed and the communication among sensors and cloud, which can negatively affect the IoT performance. The goal of edge computing is to improve efficiency and reduce the amount of data transported to the cloud for processing, analysis and storage. The research activity carried out during the three years of the Ph.D. program focused on the study, design and development of architectures and prototypes based on the Edge Computing in various contexts such as smart cities and agriculture. Therefore, the well-known paradigms of Fog Computing and Mobile Edge Computing have been faced. In this thesis, will be discussed the work carried out through the exploitation of the Fog Computing and Mobile Edge Computing paradigms, considered suitable solutions to address the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution.

Innovation is vital for the future of Australia.s internet economy. Innovations rely on businesses. ability to innovate. Businesses. ability to innovate relies on their employees. The more these individual end users engage in the internet economy, the better businesses. engagement will be. The less these individual end users engage, the less likely a business is to engage and innovate. This means, for the internet economy to function at its fullest potential, it is essential that individual Australians have the capacity to engage with it and participate in it. The Australian federal government is working to facilitate the internet economy through policies, legislation and practices that implement high-speed broadband. The National Broadband Network will be a vital tool for Australia.s internet economy. Its .chief importance¡® is that it will provide faster internet access speeds that will facilitate access to internet services and content. However, an appropriate infrastructure and internet speed is only part of the picture. As the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development identified, appropriate government policies are also needed to ensure that vital services are more accessible by consumers. The thesis identifies essential theories and principles underpinning the internet economy and from which the concept of connectedness is developed. Connectedness is defined as the ability of end users to connect with internet content and services, other individuals and organisations, and government. That is, their ability to operate in the internet economy. The NBN will be vital in ensuring connectedness into the future. What is not currently addressed by existing access regimes is how to facilitate end user access capacity and participation. The thesis concludes by making recommendations to the federal government as to what the governing principles of the Australian internet economy should include in order to enable individual end user access capacity.

Purpose . The purpose of this study was to determine (a) the perceptions of teachers concerning the desirability and effectiveness of selected alternatives to social promotion and grade retention, (b) the perceptions of elementary school principals toward selected alternatives to social promotion and grade retention, and (c) compare the differences and similarities of perceptions of teachers and elementary school principals toward selected alternatives to social promotion and grade retention. The rationale for this investigation was derived from empirical research demonstrating retention's negative impact on retained students. Procedure . The sample population in the study included 114 second and third grade teachers and 36 elementary school principals. The study determined and compared the effectiveness of alternatives to social promotion and grade retention as perceived by representative samples of second and third grade teachers and elementary school principals from Stockton Unified, Manteca Unified, Lincoln Unified and Lodi Unified School Districts of San Joaquin County, California. Data for the study were collected through mail survey, which contained 29 items. Participants in the study expressed their degrees of agreement or disagreement regarding each item by selecting the appropriate response on a four-point Likert-type scale. Data collected through the survey were statistically analyzed using the Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) on a personal computer. Means, standard deviations, and rankings were computed for each survey item. A series of independent sample t tests were performed to determine if any significant differences existed between teachers' and school administrators' perceptions with regard to selected alternatives to retention. Findings . Principals and teachers strongly endorsed parental involvement, early identification and timely intervention, providing high-quality curriculum and instruction, high-quality professional development for teachers, and recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers as the best alternatives to social promotion and grade retention. Conclusions and recommendations . Schools need to identify at-risk children early and provide targeted intervention. Parental involvement in the education of their children is crucial. School Districts should also strive to hire, and retain well-trained teachers and equip every classroom with high-quality curriculum and rich learning environment.

Le transfert vertical intercellulaire est l’une des technologies clés qui facilitera le déploiement de véhicules connectés et autonomes. Aujourd’hui, l’émergence des réseaux véhiculaires : les communications de véhicule à véhicule (V2V), véhicule à infrastructure (V2I) et de véhicule à tout (V2X) a permis de nouvelles applications telles que les Systèmes de Transport Intelligents Coopératifs (C-ITS), les applications temps réel (par exemple, la conduite autonome), applications de gestion du trafic routier et applications de confort. Cependant, ces réseaux se caractérisent par une grande mobilité et de fréquents changements de la topologie, ce qui génère des réseaux épars et nécessitant des mécanismes de transfert pour le maintien de la continuité de session.Pour résoudre ce problème, nous avons proposé le PMIP-MIVH, une approche basée sur le PMIP et qui profite des avantages de l’utilisation d’une interface logique dans le traitement du transfert vertical intercellulaire. Pour améliorer et étendre notre approche, une méthode multicouche de sélection du meilleur réseau disponible, basée sur la logique floue a également été proposée. Les résultats analytiques et les résultats des simulations montrent tous que les solutions proposées sont performantes comparées aux autres méthodes de transfert existantes et améliorent efficacement la gestion de la mobilité dans les réseaux véhiculaires<br>Vertical handover is one of the key technologies that will facilitate the connected and autonomous vehicles deployment. Today, the emergence of Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANETs): Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communications, Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) has enabled new applications such as Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), real-time applications (for example, autonomous driving), road traffic management applications and comfort applications. However, these networks are characterized by a high level of mobility and dynamic change in the topology, which generates scattered networks and requires handover mechanisms for maintaining ongoing session continuity. To address this problem, we have proposed a PMIP-based Mobile Internal Vertical Handover (PMIP-MIVH) approach which takes advantage of the use of a logical interface in handling handover. To improve and extend our approach, a cross-layer and fuzzy logic-based selection method of the best available network has been also proposed. Analytical results and conducted simulation results all show that the proposed solutions overperform the existing handovers and enhance efficiently the handover management in the VANETs field

The growth and presence of heterogeneous connected devices inside the home have the potential to provide increased efficiency and quality of life to the residents. Simultaneously, these devices tend to be Internet-connected and continuously monitor, collect, and transmit data about the residents and their daily lifestyle activities. Such data can be of a sensitive nature, such as camera feeds, voice commands, physiological data, and more. This data allows for the implementation of services, personalization support, and benefits offered by smart home technologies. Alas, there has been a rift of security and privacy attacks on connected home devices that compromise the security, safety, and privacy of the occupants. In this thesis, we provide a comprehensive description of the smart connected home ecosystem in terms of its assets, architecture, functionality, and capabilities. Especially, we focus on the data being collected by smart home devices. Such description and organization are necessary as a precursor to perform a rigorous security and privacy analysis of the smart home. Additionally, we seek to identify threat agents, risks, challenges, and propose some mitigation approaches suitable for home environments. Identifying these is core to characterize what is at stake, and to gain insights into what is required to build more robust, resilient, secure, and privacy-preserving smart home systems. Overall, we propose new concepts, models, and methods serving as a foundation for conducting deeper research work in particular linked to smart connected homes. In particular, we propose a taxonomy of devices; classification of data collected by smart connected homes; threat agent model for the smart connected home; and identify challenges, risks, and propose some mitigation approaches.

This study examines the phenomenon of the usage of e-commerce in relation to firms’ internationalization process. Consequently, the study investigates risks and psychic distance in relation to prior research within International business, Internationalization and e- commerce, while focusing on the latest era of academia, namely “Internetalization”. The study investigates how e-commerce and its tools reduce perceived risks associated with firms’ internationalization process and what challenges Swedish SME’s identify while using e- commerce as a tool for internationalization. The study takes a qualitative, multiple case study approach focusing on Swedish SME’s operating in foreign markets within the retail industry. The findings indicate that e-commerce has the potential to generate international market expansion for Swedish SME’s. Further findings show that e-commerce and its tools are leveraged by Swedish SME’s to source, access and exchange valuable information whilst reducing perceived risk related to internationalization since it gives SME’s access to essential information needed for further expansion. Two main challenges are identified. Firstly, trustworthiness and secondly transforming gathered information into valuable information and knowledge. Consequently, the main challenge identified in the internationalization process of Swedish SME’s, resides in coping with the underlying presence of “psychic distance” or “virtuality trap”.

The Internet-of-Things (IoT) brings machine-to-machine communication to a global scale together with new business scenarios and inter-relationships. If compared to previous communication technologies, IoT transforms the traditional value chain and creates a different business ecosystem. In this scenario, incumbent telecom companies are taking the role of technology enablers to enter the market. These companies are trying to find ways to generate new value propositions and to position themselves along the IoT-specific value chain. To do that, incumbents need to overcome a number of external and internal challenges. The purpose of this research is to investigate those challenges from the perspective of an incumbent telecom company via a case study carried out at Ericsson. This Thesis is built on the theoretical foundations of innovation management and business model innovation. The research behind is based on academic literature, opinions from industry experts, market analyses, and qualitative data collected from several interviews and online resources. The outcome from this study remarks some major external and internal challenges faced by incumbents. From the internal perspective, the challenges are related to enable the structures within the company to make possible the development of IoT as a radically new business area. On the external side, the main challenges shift from entering the market and position themselves in the new IoT value chain, to the development of unprecedented relationships, innovative value propositions and a new business paradigm. In order to do that, companies need to understand the unexplored IoT ecosystem, find needs and opportunities via partnerships and develop joint business models. This work provides specific data to complement the scarce literature around the topic of IoT business models and challenges for incumbent companies. It offers practical help to guide managers to understand the nascent IoT market, to define adoption strategies and to find their way through the emerging ecosystems.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2009.<br>Thesis research directed by: Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2007.<br>Thesis research directed by: Dept. of Communication. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

Globally neonatal mortality accounts for 40% of under-five deaths. Participatory interventions where the local problems are addressed have been successful in some settings. The aim of this thesis was to describe challenges in perinatal health in a Vietnamese province, and to evaluate the effect of a facilitated intervention with local stakeholder groups that used a problem-solving approach to neonatal survival during three years. The NeoKIP trial (Neonatal Knowledge Into Practice, ISRCTN44599712) had a cluster-randomized design (44 intervention communes, 46 control). Laywomen facilitated Maternal-and-Newborn Health Groups (MNHGs) and used Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles to address perinatal health problems. Births and neonatal deaths were monitored. Interviews were performed in households of neonatal deaths and randomly selected live births. Use of health services was mapped. The primary healthcare staff’s knowledge on newborn care was assessed before and after the intervention. Neonatal mortality rate (NMR) was 16/1000 live births (variation 10 - 44/1000 between districts). Home deliveries accounted for one fifth of neonatal deaths, and health facilities with least deliveries had higher NMR. Main causes of death were prematurity/low birth-weight (37.8 %), intrapartum-related deaths (33.2 %) and infections (13.0 %). Annual NMR was 19.1, 19.0 and 11.6/1000 live births in intervention communes (18.0, 15.9 and 21.1 in control communes); adjusted OR 1.08 [0.66-1.77], 1.23 [0.75-2.01], and 0.51 [0.30-0.89], respectively. Women in intervention communes more frequently attended antenatal care, prepared for delivery and gave birth at institutions. Primary healthcare staff’s knowledge on newborn care increased slightly in intervention communes. This model of facilitation of local stakeholder groups using a perinatal problem-solving approach was successful and may be feasible to scale-up in other settings.<br>NeoKIP project in Vietnam

Thesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)-- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2012.<br>Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-66).<br>The U.S. government doubled NIH appropriations between 1998 and 2003, aiming to significantly foster research activities in biomedicine. However, several indicators demonstrate not only that the impact of the budget increase fell short of expectations; in many cases it resulted in unintended negative effects. Compared to pre-doubling conditions, researchers now spend significantly more time writing grant proposals, impacting their ability to carry out research. Paradoxically, the probability with which a grant proposal is accepted for funding deteriorated sharply after the doubling and continues to fall. The average age of first-time NIH grant recipients has increased by almost a decade since the early 70's, while the percentage of biomedical doctorates securing tenured or tenure-track positions relentlessly drops. These trends represent a threat to the quality, stability, and availability of the U.S. biomedical research workforce. This thesis takes a system dynamics approach to test the hypothesis that a sudden and temporary increase in research funds can result in unintended long-term effects hampering research discoveries and workforce development. A simulation model is therefore developed using the available literature and calibrated to replicate historical trends. The model is then used to perform experiments that test the effects of changes in certain parameters or policies. The outcomes of these experiments provide policy insights that can help improve the effectiveness of NIH funding and its impact on the workforce.<br>by Mauricio Gomez Diaz.<br>S.M.in Technology and Policy

An environment is defined as polluted when contaminants are introduced within it and causeadverse effects to its ecosystem. Chemical pollutants can migrate and often affect severalenvironmental compartments: for instance, chemicals can leach from polluted soil intogroundwater, or they can evaporate and disperse into the atmosphere.The recent advent of industrialisation and urbanisation has brought on the daily discharge ofharmful chemicals, such as heavy metals, organic pollutants and radioactive materials, into theenvironment via a high number of contamination sources, both commercial and industrial.More and more chemicals are identified as harmful to humans and the environment every year;in regard to the seemingly unsurmountable number of new ones being constantly introduced tothe market, it is important that authorities keep improving the efficiency of regulatoryprocedures and safety testing. This includes supporting scientific research which isfundamental for improving our understanding of the mechanisms of action of these chemicalsin order to handle them properly.In the present study, FET (Fish Embryo acute Toxicity) tests and behavioural challenges wereperformed on zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos and larvae to investigate coumarin 47 andpermethrin in terms of toxicity and effect on larval photomotor response. A change inlocomotor activity in response to a light-to-dark transition stimulus is often the ultimate causeof exposure to specific neurotoxic agents, making it a useful endpoint in assessing centralnervous system toxicity, while FET tests are a guideline tool employed in the determination ofdevelopmental toxicity and teratogenicity.4Overall, the results obtained provided a significant understanding on the toxicity endpoints ofthe selected test compounds to be employed as references for future investigations.

The health impacts of exposure to ambient temperature have been drawing increasing attention from the environmental health research community, government, society, industries, and the public. Case-crossover and time series models are most commonly used to examine the effects of ambient temperature on mortality. However, some key methodological issues remain to be addressed. For example, few studies have used spatiotemporal models to assess the effects of spatial temperatures on mortality. Few studies have used a case-crossover design to examine the delayed (distributed lag) and non-linear relationship between temperature and mortality. Also, little evidence is available on the effects of temperature changes on mortality, and on differences in heat-related mortality over time. This thesis aimed to address the following research questions: 1. How to combine case-crossover design and distributed lag non-linear models? 2. Is there any significant difference in effect estimates between time series and spatiotemporal models? 3. How to assess the effects of temperature changes between neighbouring days on mortality? 4. Is there any change in temperature effects on mortality over time? To combine the case-crossover design and distributed lag non-linear model, datasets including deaths, and weather conditions (minimum temperature, mean temperature, maximum temperature, and relative humidity), and air pollution were acquired from Tianjin China, for the years 2005 to 2007. I demonstrated how to combine the case-crossover design with a distributed lag non-linear model. This allows the case-crossover design to estimate the non-linear and delayed effects of temperature whilst controlling for seasonality. There was consistent U-shaped relationship between temperature and mortality. Cold effects were delayed by 3 days, and persisted for 10 days. Hot effects were acute and lasted for three days, and were followed by mortality displacement for non-accidental, cardiopulmonary, and cardiovascular deaths. Mean temperature was a better predictor of mortality (based on model fit) than maximum or minimum temperature. It is still unclear whether spatiotemporal models using spatial temperature exposure produce better estimates of mortality risk compared with time series models that use a single site’s temperature or averaged temperature from a network of sites. Daily mortality data were obtained from 163 locations across Brisbane city, Australia from 2000 to 2004. Ordinary kriging was used to interpolate spatial temperatures across the city based on 19 monitoring sites. A spatiotemporal model was used to examine the impact of spatial temperature on mortality. A time series model was used to assess the effects of single site’s temperature, and averaged temperature from 3 monitoring sites on mortality. Squared Pearson scaled residuals were used to check the model fit. The results of this study show that even though spatiotemporal models gave a better model fit than time series models, spatiotemporal and time series models gave similar effect estimates. Time series analyses using temperature recorded from a single monitoring site or average temperature of multiple sites were equally good at estimating the association between temperature and mortality as compared with a spatiotemporal model. A time series Poisson regression model was used to estimate the association between temperature change and mortality in summer in Brisbane, Australia during 1996–2004 and Los Angeles, United States during 1987–2000. Temperature change was calculated by the current day's mean temperature minus the previous day's mean. In Brisbane, a drop of more than 3 �C in temperature between days was associated with relative risks (RRs) of 1.16 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02, 1.31) for non-external mortality (NEM), 1.19 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.41) for NEM in females, and 1.44 (95% CI: 1.10, 1.89) for NEM aged 65.74 years. An increase of more than 3 �C was associated with RRs of 1.35 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.77) for cardiovascular mortality and 1.67 (95% CI: 1.15, 2.43) for people aged < 65 years. In Los Angeles, only a drop of more than 3 �C was significantly associated with RRs of 1.13 (95% CI: 1.05, 1.22) for total NEM, 1.25 (95% CI: 1.13, 1.39) for cardiovascular mortality, and 1.25 (95% CI: 1.14, 1.39) for people aged . 75 years. In both cities, there were joint effects of temperature change and mean temperature on NEM. A change in temperature of more than 3 �C, whether positive or negative, has an adverse impact on mortality even after controlling for mean temperature. I examined the variation in the effects of high temperatures on elderly mortality (age . 75 years) by year, city and region for 83 large US cities between 1987 and 2000. High temperature days were defined as two or more consecutive days with temperatures above the 90th percentile for each city during each warm season (May 1 to September 30). The mortality risk for high temperatures was decomposed into: a "main effect" due to high temperatures using a distributed lag non-linear function, and an "added effect" due to consecutive high temperature days. I pooled yearly effects across regions and overall effects at both regional and national levels. The effects of high temperature (both main and added effects) on elderly mortality varied greatly by year, city and region. The years with higher heat-related mortality were often followed by those with relatively lower mortality. Understanding this variability in the effects of high temperatures is important for the development of heat-warning systems. In conclusion, this thesis makes contribution in several aspects. Case-crossover design was combined with distribute lag non-linear model to assess the effects of temperature on mortality in Tianjin. This makes the case-crossover design flexibly estimate the non-linear and delayed effects of temperature. Both extreme cold and high temperatures increased the risk of mortality in Tianjin. Time series model using single site’s temperature or averaged temperature from some sites can be used to examine the effects of temperature on mortality. Temperature change (no matter significant temperature drop or great temperature increase) increases the risk of mortality. The high temperature effect on mortality is highly variable from year to year.

Aquesta tesi tracta de dues de les noves tecnologies relacionades amb la Internet of Things (IoT) i la seva integració amb el camp de les Smart Grids (SGs); aquestes tecnologies son la Web of Things (WoT) i la Social Internet of Things (SIoT). La WoT és una tecnologia que s’espera que proveeixi d’un entorn escalable i interoperable a la IoT usant la infraestructura web existent, els protocols web y la web semàntica. També s’espera que la SIoT contribueixi a solucionar els reptes d’escalabilitat i capacitat de descobriment creant una xarxa social d’agents (objectes i humans). Per explorar la sinergia entre aquestes tecnologies, l’objectiu és el de proporcionar evidència pràctica i empírica, generalment en forma de prototips d’implementació i experimentació empírica. En relació amb la WoT i les SGs, s’ha creat un prototip per al Web of Energy (WoE) que té com a objectiu abordar els desafiaments presents en el domini les SGs. El prototip és capaç de proporcionar interoperabilitat i homogeneïtat entre diversos protocols. El disseny d’implementació es basa en el Model d’Actors, que també proporciona escalabilitat del prototip. L’experimentació mostra que el prototip pot gestionar la transmissió de missatges per a aplicacions de les SGs que requereixen que la comunicació es realitzi sota llindars de temps crítics. També es pren una altra direcció d’investigació similar, menys centrada en les SGs, però per a una gamma més àmplia de dominis d’aplicació. S’integra la descripció dels fluxos d’execució com a màquines d’estats finits utilitzant ontologies web (Resource Description Framework (RDF)) i metodologies de la WoT (les accions es realitzen basant-se en peticions Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol/Secure (HTTP/S) a Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)). Aquest flux d’execució, que també pot ser un plantilla per a permetre una configuració flexible en temps d’execució, s’implementa i interpreta com si fos (i mitjançant) un Virtual Object (VO). L’objectiu de la plantilla és ser reutilitzable i poder-se compartir entre múltiples desplegaments de la IoT dins el mateix domini d’aplicació. A causa de les tecnologies utilitzades, la solució no és adequada per a aplicacions de temps crític (llindar de temps relativament baix i rígid). No obstant això, és adequat per a aplicacions que no demanden resposta en un temps crític i que requereixen el desplegament de VOs similars en el que fa referència al flux d’execució. Finalment, el treball s’enfoca en una altra tecnologia destinada a millorar l’escalabilitat i la capacitat de descobriment en la IoT. La SIoT està sorgint com una nova estructura de la IoT que uneix els nodes a través de relacions significatives. Aquestes relacions tenen com a objectiu millorar la capacitat de descobriment; en conseqüència, millora la escalabilitat d’una xarxa de la IoT. En aquest treball s’aplica aquest nou paradigma per optimitzar la gestió de l’energia en el costat de la demanda a les SGs. L’objectiu és aprofitar les característiques de la SIoT per ajudar a la creació de Prosumer Community Groups (PCGs) (grups d’usuaris que consumeixen o produeixen energia) amb el mateix objectiu d’optimització en l’ús de l’energia. La sinergia entre la SIoT i les SGs s’ha anomenat Social Internet of Energy (SIoE). Per tant, amb la SIoE i amb el focus en un desafiament específic, s’estableix la base conceptual per a la integració entre la SIoT i les SGs. Els experiments inicials mostren resultats prometedors i aplanen el camí per a futures investigacions i avaluacions de la proposta. Es conclou que el WoT i la SIoT són dos paradigmes complementaris que nodreixen l’evolució de la propera generació de la IoT. S’espera que la propera generació de la IoT sigui un Multi-Agent System (MAS) generalitzat. Alguns investigadors ja estan apuntant a la Web i les seves tecnologies (per exemple, Web Semàntica, HTTP/S)—i més concretamente a la WoT — com a l’entorn que nodreixi a aquests agents. La SIoT pot millorar tant l’entorn com les relacions entre els agents en aquesta fusió. Les SGs també poden beneficiar-se dels avenços de la IoT, ja que es poden considerar com una aplicació específica d’aquesta última.<br>Esta tesis trata de dos de las novedosas tecnologías relacionadas con la Internet of Things (IoT) y su integración con el campo de las Smart Grids (SGs); estas tecnologías son laWeb of Things (WoT) y la Social Internet of Things (SIoT). La WoT es una tecnología que se espera que provea de un entorno escalable e interoperable a la IoT usando la infraestructura web existente, los protocolos web y la web semántica. También se espera que la SIoT contribuya a solucionar los retos de escalabilidad y capacidad de descubrimiento creando una red social de agentes (objetos y humanos). Para explorar la sinergia entre estas tecnologías, el objetivo es el de proporcionar evidencia práctica y empírica, generalmente en forma de prototipos de implementación y experimentación empírica. En relación con la WoT y las SGs, se ha creado un prototipo para la Web of Energy (WoE) que tiene como objetivo abordar los desafíos presentes en el dominio las SGs. El prototipo es capaz de proporcionar interoperabilidad y homogeneidad entre diversos protocolos. El diseño de implementación se basa en el Modelo de Actores, que también proporciona escalabilidad del prototipo. La experimentación muestra que el prototipo puede manejar la transmisión de mensajes para aplicaciones de las SGs que requieran que la comunicación se realice bajo umbrales de tiempo críticos. También se toma otra dirección de investigación similar, menos centrada en las SGs, pero para una gama más amplia de dominios de aplicación. Se integra la descripción de los flujos de ejecución como máquinas de estados finitos utilizando ontologías web (Resource Description Framework (RDF)) y metodologías de la WoT (las acciones se realizan basándose en peticiones Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol/Secure (HTTP/S) a Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)). Este flujo de ejecución, que también puede ser una plantilla para permitir una configuración flexible en tiempo de ejecución, se implementa e interpreta como si fuera (y a través de) un Virtual Object (VO). El objetivo de la plantilla es que sea reutilizable y se pueda compartir entre múltiples despliegues de la IoT dentro del mismo dominio de aplicación. Debido a las tecnologías utilizadas, la solución no es adecuada para aplicaciones de tiempo crítico (umbral de tiempo relativamente bajo y rígido). Sin embargo, es adecuado para aplicaciones que no demandan respuesta en un tiempo crítico y que requieren el despliegue de VOs similares en cuanto al flujo de ejecución. Finalmente, el trabajo se enfoca en otra tecnología destinada a mejorar la escalabilidad y la capacidad de descubrimiento en la IoT. La SIoT está emergiendo como una nueva estructura de la IoT que une los nodos a través de relaciones significativas. Estas relaciones tienen como objetivo mejorar la capacidad de descubrimiento; en consecuencia, mejora la escalabilidad de una red de la IoT. En este trabajo se aplica este nuevo paradigma para optimizar la gestión de la energía en el lado de la demanda en las SGs. El objetivo es aprovechar las características de la SIoT para ayudar en la creación de Prosumer Community Groups (PCGs) (grupos de usuarios que consumen o producen energía) con el mismo objetivo de optimización en el uso de la energía. La sinergia entre la SIoT y las SGs ha sido denominada Social Internet of Energy (SIoE). Por lo tanto, con la SIoE y con el foco en un desafío específico, se establece la base conceptual para la integración entre la SIoT y las SG. Los experimentos iniciales muestran resultados prometedores y allanan el camino para futuras investigaciones y evaluaciones de la propuesta. Se concluye que la WoT y la SIoT son dos paradigmas complementarios que nutren la evolución de la próxima generación de la IoT. Se espera que la próxima generación de la IoT sea un Multi-Agent System (MAS) generalizado. Algunos investigadores ya están apuntando a la Web y sus tecnologías (por ejemplo,Web Semántica, HTTP/S)—y más concretamente a la WoT — como el entorno que nutra a estos agentes. La SIoT puede mejorar tanto el entorno como las relaciones entre los agentes en esta fusión. Como un campo específico de la IoT, las SGs también pueden beneficiarse de los avances de la IoT.<br>This thesis deals with two novel Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and their integration to the field of the Smart Grid (SG); these technologies are the Web of Things (WoT) and the Social Internet of Things (SIoT). The WoT is an enabling technology expected to provide a scalable and interoperable environment to the IoT using the existing web infrastructure, web protocols and the semantic web. The SIoT is expected to expand further and contribute to scalability and discoverability challenges by creating a social network of agents (objects and humans). When exploring the synergy between those technologies, we aim at providing practical and empirical evidence, usually in the form of prototype implementations and empirical experimentation. In relation to the WoT and SG, we create a prototype for the Web of Energy (WoE), that aims at addressing challenges present in the SG domain. The prototype is capable of providing interoperability and homogeneity among diverse protocols. The implementation design is based on the Actor Model, which also provides scalability in regards to the prototype. Experimentation shows that the prototype can handle the transmission of messages for time-critical SG applications. We also take another similar research direction less focused on the SG, but for a broader range of application domains. We integrate the description of flows of execution as Finite-State Machines (FSMs) using web ontologies (Resource Description Framework (RDF)) and WoT methodologies (actions are performed on the basis of calls Hyper Text Transfer Protocol/ Secure (HTTP/S) to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL)). This execution flow, which can also be a template to allow flexible configuration at runtime, is deployed and interpreted as (and through) a Virtual Object (VO). The template aims to be reusable and shareable among multiple IoT deployments within the same application domain. Due to the technologies used, the solution is not suitable for time-critical applications. Nevertheless, it is suitable for non-time-critical applications that require the deployment of similar VOs. Finally, we focus on another technology aimed at improving scalability and discoverability in IoT. The SIoT is emerging as a new IoT structure that links nodes through meaningful relationships. These relationships aim at improving discoverability; consequently, improving the scalability of an IoT network. We apply this new paradigm to optimize energy management at the demand side in a SG. Our objective is to harness the features of the SIoT to aid in the creation of Prosumer Community Group (PCG) (groups of energy users that consume or produce energy) with the same Demand Side Management (DSM) goal. We refer to the synergy between SIoT and SG as Social Internet of Energy (SIoE). Therefore, with the SIoE and focusing on a specific challenge, we set the conceptual basis for the integration between SIoT and SG. Initial experiments show promising results and pave the way for further research and evaluation of the proposal. We conclude that the WoT and the SIoT are two complementary paradigms that nourish the evolution of the next generation IoT. The next generation IoT is expected to be a pervasive Multi-Agent System (MAS). Some researchers are already pointing at the Web and its technologies (e.g. Semantic Web, HTTP/S) — and more concretely at the WoT — as the environment nourishing the agents. The SIoT can enhance both the environment and the relationships between agents in this fusion. As a specific field of the IoT, the SG can also benefit from IoT advancements.

Recently, technology advancement has brought improvement in all the sectors, including the railway sector. The Internet of Things (IoT) based railway systems have immense potential to improve quality and systems that will enable more efficient, environmental friendly railway system. Many research brought innovations that offer enormous benefits for rail travel. The current research focuses on the railway industries, as they want to reap the benefits of IT concept such as Cloud Computing, Information Security, and Internet of Things (IoT). Railway industries are generating a large volume of data every day from different sources. In addition, machine and human interactions are rapidly increasing along with the development of technologies. This data need to be properly gathered, analysed and shared in a way that it is safe from different types of cyberattacks and calamities. To overcome smart devices’ and Cloud’s limitations, the new paradigm known as Fog computing has appeared. In which an additional layer processes the data and sends the results to the Cloud. Despite numerous benefits of Fog, computing brings into IoT-based environments, privacy and security issues remain the main challenge for its implementation. Hence, the primary purpose of this research is to investigate the potential challenges, consequences, threats, vulnerabilities, and risk management of data security in the railway infrastructure in the context of eMaintenance.

Contributory liability is the liability of a party who is not the direct infringer, but who facilitates or contributes to the infringement committed by the direct infringer. With respect to trade marks, neither EU law nor national laws of member states (MS) provide specific rules to deal with the issue except very limited circumstances. Thus, the question of contributory trade mark liability is assessed under tort law rules. In that regard, the law seems straightforward. Yet, it is not. This is because, contributory liability now mainly arises in a new context: the Internet. Except from the cases of where the occurrence of a direct infringement of trade mark is questionable eg selling and buying keywords, Internet intermediaries' liability arise as contributory liability since they are the vehicles to facilitate transactions between third parties on the Internet. Here, it should be underlined that the thesis' scope is limited to the cases where it is unquestionable that the direct trade mark infringement has taken place, so the intermediaries' contributory liability is an issue. More precisely the cases dealing with selling of counterfeit goods. In those circumstances, trade mark owners have been seeking to fix the liability of an intermediary rather than the direct infringers themselves since reaching the latter is not always possible as they can easily remain anonymous or be located in jurisdictions which are not easily accessible for right holders. This is why, intermediaries have been the subject of contributory liability cases. As such, how should their liability be examined given that their involvement does not go beyond providing a necessary platform and infrastructure? How can their involvement be assessed as the Internet's infrastructure differs from that of the offline world? For these questions that arise from contributory trade mark liability, there are two legal instruments applicable within the EU: 1) tort laws of the MSs, and 2) pan-EU immunity regime established by the E-Commerce Directive 2000/31. The first is also applicable to the offline world while the latter provides a more Internet-specific approach as it establishes horizontally applicable safe harbour rules for certain activities of intermediaries. According to the Directive, intermediaries which provide mere conduit, caching and hosting services can be granted immunity from the liability arising from its users' infringements provided that the conditions stated under each Article are qualified. However, the immunity is provided as an additional protection meaning that not qualifying for immunity does not automatically result in the liability of an intermediary. Thus, whether an intermediary is liable or not is ultimately a subject of tort law of the MSs which is not harmonised within the EU. Thus, the law of contributory trade mark liability in the EU appears to be incoherent. On the one hand, the immunity rules govern when an intermediary would be granted immunity from liability and apply horizontally. On the other hand, tort law rules deal with the question of contributory liability but differ from one MS to another. Therefore, an analysis on existing law appears necessary in order to build the legal framework more systematically by demonstrating how it is applied. Yet, this analysis shall be undertaken to answer whether the current regime proves to be satisfactory in dealing with ongoing and emerging issues that the Internet brings and finally what the remedy would be for the issues where the law falls short in dealing them. These are the questions that have been neglected by the EU legislators. This thesis therefore undertakes this examination in the pursuit of answers to these questions and ultimately the remedy.

In December 2009 Google had a press release, in which they stated that they would start individualize their users' search results. This is the year individualization began, according to Eli Pariser, who also coined the expression filter bubble. A filter bubble is said to occur when a user only receives individualized feeds, causing them to only consume information that align with their beliefs and excluding them from contradicting information. The main goal of this thesis is to evaluate the existence of filter bubbles and the effects of them. In order to reach the goal, an experiment on a large social media platform is conducted, as well as a qualitative literature study. The experiment consists of fourteen bots that are assigned different behaviors which are performed on a social media platform, which expresses that they use individualization of users' information feeds. The presented results from the experiment are based on data crawled from the bots' feeds. The main finding of the experiment is that no significant filter bubbles are observed and that users experience less exclusion the more of the feed they consume. The literature study consists of 24 papers that both do and do not support the theory of filter bubbles. The main effects found are that filter bubbles fosters polarization of opinions and confirmation bias. It is also said that this could lead to undermining deliberative democracy.<br>År 2009 talade Google om att de skulle börja anpassa sina sökresultat beroende på vem som använde deras tjänst. Detta lyftes fram av Eli Pariser år 2011, som då myntade uttrycket filterbubbla. Pariser menar att en person befinner sig i en filterbubbla om personen endast konsumerar innehåll som är anpassat efter tidigare visade intressen och därmed blir utesluten från information som utmanar personens åsikter och övertygelser. Det är omdiskuterat huruvida filter bubblor existerar eller inte och vilka effekter som kommer av att en person befinner sig i en. Detta arbete utförs med syfte att utvärdera filter bubblors existens och effekter på både individen och samhället i stort. För att uppfylla syftet genomförs ett experiment och en kvalitativ litteraturstudie. Experimentet består av fjorton nya medlemskonton på en stor social medieplattform där en automatisk mjukvara gillar specifika inlägg under sex veckors tid. Plattformen har uttryckligen framfört att de anpassar användarens flöde av inlägg efter dess beteende. Detta flöde sparas ner för samtliga fjorton konton, två gånger dagligen under sju veckors tid (en vecka extra efter att gillandet av inlägg slutat) och analyseras sedan i jakt på filterbubblor. Genom experimentet att skapa filterbubblor på en social medieplattform hittas inga bevis på att filterbubblor existerar på precis den plattformen. Den kvalitativa litteraturstudien innebär en ingående granskning av vetenskapliga artiklar och avhandlingar inom området. I de 24 arbeten som utvärderas är det åtta stycken som anser att filterbubblor existerar. Flera effekter av filterbubblor hittas i litteraturen och en av de negativa effekterna filterbubblor kan ha på individen är att förstärka behovet att bekräfta sina fördomar. Samhället kan också drabbas av effekter från filterbubblor, såsom försvagande av deliberativ demokrati. Deliberativ demokrati, även kallat samtalsdemokrati lyfter vikten av kommunikation för att utveckla och förstärka en demokrati.