Applications that use directory services or relational databases operate in client-server mode where a client requests information from a server, and the server returns a response to the client. Communication between each client-server application is achieved by using separate custom built front-ends with non-portable data formats. A need exists to access information from different heterogeneous client-server systems in a standard message request-response format. This research proposes a generic XML document that presents a common request-response interface to the client from which they can access network protocol or database information. The XML component is easily adaptable to accessing any new client-server type protocol or database data that may be added to a server. The approach in determining the XML elements is, firstly review each systems command and data structure separately, and then determine if there are any commonalities within each protocol that would allow for a common representation of both the data and command structure. For the purposes of this project, three different data sources that are typically used in an Internet application were analysed, namely: -- a TCP based server program; -- a relational type database; and -- a directory service. The solution was implemented using Linux as the operating system, Java as the programming language, MySQL as the relational database, openLDAP as the directory server and a proprietary TCP based server application. Initially the complete system was developed for the proprietary TCP-based application. The other systems were added with minimum additional work. The result of the implementation was that it is relatively easy to add new protocols (for e.g. LDAP) on an as needed basis with minimal changes required on the server side. A client will receive XML responses that the client can either adapt (typically using a separate style-sheet) to their specific needs or use the existing front-ends if they are suitable. After the design was implemented and tested, the performance of XML and non-XML messages was evaluated. As expected the increased verbosity of XML results in a larger footprint that requires more processing time and resources. This means that any implementation using XML has to carefully weight the benefits of flexibility, extensibility and standard message formats against reduced performance. After evaluating XML type messages in an Internet type environment that involved human-computer interaction, it was concluded that the slower response times is not that significant to negate the benefits of a common message interface provided by using XML. / Dissertation (M Eng (Computer Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

The purpose of this project was to develop a WebQuesst investigation that would facilitate student Internet usage. A WebQuest investigation is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet.

The purpose of the project was to examine the current situation of B2C e-commerce in Japan, consumers' online purchasing behavior, and attributes affecting online purchases. Since many companies are interested in starting or have started B2C e-commerce businesses, this study would aid companies in developing marketing strategies that would grow their businesses and build loyalty among consumers.

Orientador: Eleri Cardozo / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-14T03:43:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dolphine_TiagoMarchetti_M.pdf: 1822376 bytes, checksum: 5425d1b4cf2ca6a35df00dc7dc511d69 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Arquiteturas de micromobilidade vêm sendo propostas para atender ao crescente interesse por tecnologias de mobilidade IP. MPA (Mobility Plane Architecture), desenvolvida na FEEC/Unicamp, é uma solução de micromobilidade baseada em tunelamento de pacotes que emprega apenas protocolos bem estabelecidos. Quando estudou-se aplicações para melhoria de desempenho em handover e engenharia de tráfego na arquitetura MPA, verificou-se que estas aplicações necessitavam serviços comuns. Este trabalho descreve a plataforma MIS (Mobility Infrastructure Services) que fornece um conjunto de serviços para suporte ás funcionalidades básicas comuns de aplicações de gerência de rede, engenharia de tráfego e gerência de mobilidade. A plataforma proposta facilita o desenvolvimento de tais aplicações compartilhando soluções às necessidades encontradas na arquitetura de micromobilidade MPA e outras arquiteturas similares. São apresentados o projeto, implementação e testes da plataforma, juntamente com dois estudos de casos em gerência de mobilidade e engenharia de tráfego. Palavras-chave: redes IP móveis, micromobilidade, gerência de rede, engenharia de tráfego / Abstract: Micro-mobility architectures have been proposed to meet the growing interest in technologies supporting mobility in IP networks. MPA (Mobility Plane Architecture), developed at the FEEC/Unicamp, is a micro-mobility solution based on tunneling of packets that employs only well standardized protocols. When applications for supporting seamless handover and traffic engineering in MPA started to be designed, it was noticed that these applications demand a set of common services. This dissertation presents the MIS (Mobility Infrastructure Services) platform which provides a set of services that meet the common basic features demanded by applications of network management, traffic engineering and mobility management. The proposed platform facilitates the development of these applications when they are targeted to MPA and other micro-mobility architectures. This dissertation reports the design, implementation, ant test of the MIS platform, along with two case studies in mobility management and traffic engineering. Keywords: IP mobile networks, micro-mobility, network management, traffic engineering / Mestrado / Engenharia de Computação / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Multihoming allows nodes to be multiply connected to the network. It forms the basis of features which can improve network responsiveness and robustness; e.g. load balancing and fail-over, which can be considered as a choice between network locations. However, IP today assumes that IP addresses specify both network location and node identity. Therefore, these features must be implemented at routers. This dissertation considers an alternative based on the multihoming approach of the Identifier Locator Network Protocol (ILNP). ILNP is one of many proposals for a split between network location and node identity. However, unlike other proposals, ILNP removes the use of IP addresses as they are used today. To date, ILNP has not been implemented within an operating system stack. I produce the first implementation of ILNP in FreeBSD, based on a superset of IPv6 – ILNPv6 – and demonstrate a key feature of ILNP: multihoming as a first class function of the operating system, rather than being implemented as a routing function as it is today. To evaluate the multihoming capability, I demonstrate one important application of multihoming – load distribution – at three levels of network hierarchy including individual hosts, a singleton Site Border Router (SBR), and a novel, dynamically instantiated, distributed SBR (dSBR). For each level, I present empirical results from a hardware testbed; metrics include latency, throughput, loss and reordering. I compare performance with unmodified IPv6 and NPTv6. Finally, I evaluate the feasibility of dSBR-ILNPv6 as an alternative to existing multihoming approaches, based on measurements of the dSBR's responsiveness to changes in site connectivity. We find that multihoming can be implemented by individual hosts and/or SBRs, without requiring additional routing state as is the case today, and without any significant additional load or overhead compared to unicast IPv6.

The major socio-economic development challenges facing most African countries include economic diversification, poverty, unemployment, diseases and the unsustainable use of natural resources. The challenge of quality healthcare provisioning is compounded by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Sub Saharan Africa. However, there is a great potential in using electronic healthcare (e-health) as one of the supportive systems within the healthcare sector to address these pressing challenges facing healthcare systems in developing countries, including solving inequalities in healthcare delivery between rural and urban hospitals/clinics. The purpose of this study was to compile a Provincial E-health Framework (PEHF) based on the feedback from electronic healthcare readiness assessments conducted in selected rural and urban hospitals/clinics in the North West Province in South Africa. The e-healthcare readiness assessment was conducted in the light of effective use of ICT in patient healthcare record system, consultation among healthcare professionals, prescription of medication, referral of patients and training of healthcare professionals in ICT usage. The study was divided into two phases which were phases 1 and 2 and a qualitative design supported by a case study approach was used. Data were collected using different techniques to enhance triangulation of data. The techniques included group interviews, qualitative questionnaires, photographs, document analysis and expert opinions. The outcome of the assessment led to the compilation of the PEHF which was based on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). SOA was chosen to integrate the hospitals/clinics‟ ICT infrastructure yet allowing each hospital/clinic the autonomy to control its own ICT environment. To assist hospitals/clinics integrate their ICT resources, this research study proposed an Infrastructure Network Architecture which clustered hospitals/clinics to share common ICT infrastructure instead of duplicating these resources. Furthermore, processes of the e-health services (e-patient health IV record system, e-consultation system, e-prescription system, e-referral system and e-training system) were provided to assist in the implementation of the PEHF. Finally, a set of guidelines were provided by the research study to aid the implementation of the PEHF.

This research examined the relationships of cultural orientations to preferences for public relations messages on the Internet websites among college students in South Korea and in the United States.

The present study draws on uses and gratifications and media system dependency perspectives for examining factors related to Internet usage behaviors of international students and their motives to use their home-country Internet resources.

South African home users of the Internet use the Internet to perform various everyday functions. These functions include, but are not limited to, online shopping, online gaming, social networking and online banking. Home users of online banking face multiple threats, such as phishing and social engineering. These threats come from hackers attempting to obtain confidential information, such as online banking authentication credentials, from home users. It is, thus, essential that home users of online banking be made aware of these threats, how to identify them and what countermeasures to implement to protect themselves from hackers. In this respect, information security awareness (ISA) programmes are an effective way of making the home users of online banking aware of both the threats they face and the countermeasures available to protect themselves from these threats. There are certain legal requirements with which South African banks have to comply when implementing ISA initiatives. Non-compliance or failure to demonstrate due care and due diligence should a security incident occur will result in financial penalties for the bank as well as possible brand damage and loss of customers. Banks implement international best practice recommendations in an effort to comply with legislation. These include recommendations for information security awareness. This research investigated both information security best practice recommendations and information security legal requirements for information security awareness. A selected list of information security best practices was investigated for best practice recommendations while a selected list of information security legislation was investigated for legal requirements imposed on South African banks. A gap analysis was performed on both these recommendations and requirements to determine whether the implementation of best practice recommendations resulted in compliance with legal requirements. The gap analysis found that the implementation of best practice recommendations does not result in compliance with legal requirements. Accordingly, the outcome of this research highlighted the importance of understanding the legal requirements and ensuring that adequate controls are in place with which to achieve compliance. / Business Information systems / Msc. (Information systems)

M. Tech. Business Information Systems / Having tools and resources that would enhance the performance of the learners would be of huge assistance to learners and their institutions. The increasing use of internet and technology has enhanced and transformed the conventional library resources into electronic resources. Utilizing electronic library resources helps learners to acquire information anytime and anywhere. Institutions that support the use of e-resources save significant amounts of money because the printing of materials are reduced. As a result, the use of e-resources by learners enhances their learning and their performance gets improved. The major objective of this study was to conceptualize a framework that will assist in successful electronic resources utilization. This was encouraged by the fact that the determinants of effective utilization of electronic resources are still not clearly expressed.