In the 21th century, we see a trend in which CPU processing power is not evolving at the same pace as it did in the century before. Also, in the current generation, the data requirements and the need for higher speed are increasing every day. This increasing demand requires multiple middlebox instances in order to scale. With recent progress in virtualization, middleboxes are getting virtualized and deployed as software (Network Function (NF)s) behind commodity CPUs. Various systems perform Load Balancing (LB) functionality in software, which consumes extra CPU at the NF side. There are research work in the past which tried to move the LB functionality from software to hardware. Majority of hardware­based load balancer only provides basic LB functionality and depends on NF to provide the current performance statistics. Providing statistics feedback to LB consumes processing power at the NF and creates an inter­dependency.   In this thesis work, we explore the possibility of moving the load balancing functionality to a Smart Network Interface Card (smartNIC). Our load balancer will distribute traffic among the set of CPUs where NF instances run. We will use P4 and C programming language in our design, which gives us the combination of high­speed parallel packet processing and the ability to implement relatively complex load balancing features. Our LB approach uses latency experienced by the packet as an estimate for the current CPU loading. In our design, higher latency is a sign of a more busy CPU. The Latency Aware smartNIC based Load Balancer (LASLB) also aims to reduce the tail latency by moving traffic from CPUs where traffic experiences high latency to CPU that processes traffic under low latency. The approach followed in the design does not require any statistics feedback support from the NF, which avoids the tight binding of LB with NF.   Our experiment on different traffic profiles has shown that LASLB can save ~30% CPU for NF. In terms of fairness of CPU loading, our evaluation indicates that in imbalanced traffic, the LASLB can load more evenly than other evaluated methods in smartNIC­ based LB category. Our evaluation also shows that LASLB can reduce 95th percentile tail latency by ~22% compared to software load balancing.

In this project work the basis for an anomaly detection system in ARM processors was researched on. Specifically, the focus was set to determine the performance monitoring units (PMU) in the processor which allow the reliable detection of anomalies. This was achieved by injecting targeted faults on the assembly level into the binary file to represent attacks on a physical level in a consistent way. A set of three PMUs was determined to reach a detection rate of 56.67% to 66.67% (depending on the test scenario) in the selected scenarios. However, the expected detection rate is higher for real-world attacks, due to the broad nature of the executed tests. In addition, it was observed that the readout frequency of these PMUs is critical, and in general, it is advisable to expose the values after each function call, or in the case of security-sensitive sections, multiple times within functions.

This thesis addresses the design of a productivity dashboard for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and highlight the requirements for SME’s undergoing the initial implementation of business intelligence (BI). The objective is to develop an easy-to-use web application prototype that incorporates a dashboard with data source selection, while considering research framework requirements and limitations. Further, the prototype aims to fulfil the conceptual requirements of the tool used for decision support systems, including remote access, scalability, customization, and intuitive data presentation.   The thesis successfully developed a prototype web application that allows remote access through a browser. The interface of the application received positive feedback from respondents and demonstrates high usability. As a result, the prototype's scalability is confirmed through the gradual integration of new functionality, depicted in a hierarchical diagram to guide future enhancements. However, limitations arise from the technology choices, making the integration of new data sources more challenging due to specific data structure and attribute requirements. The study provides clear guidelines and inspiration for SMEs and web developers in integrating BI tools during the initial phase of adopting decision support systems. The research offers a well-documented development and evaluation process, empowering SMEs to make informed decisions when implementing BI solutions. / Det här examensarbetet behandlar utformningen av en produktivitetsdashboard för små och medelstora företag (SMEs) för att spåra nyckeltal för prestanda och lyfta fram kraven för SMEs som genomgår den initiala implementeringen av business intelligence (BI). Målet är att utveckla en lättanvänd webbapplikations prototyp som tillhandahåller en dashboard med möjlighet att välja datakälla samtidigt som forskningens krav och begränsningar beaktas. Vidare syftar prototypen till att uppfylla de konceptuella kraven för verktyg som används i system för beslutstöd, vilket inkluderar fjärråtkomst, skalbarhet, anpassning och intuitiv presentation av data.    Studien utvecklade framgångsrikt en prototyp för en webbapplikation som möjliggör fjärråtkomst via en webbläsare. Gränssnittet för applikationen fick positiv återkoppling från respondenter och visade hög användbarhet. Prototypens skalbarhet bekräftas genom gradvis integration av ny funktionalitet. Begränsningar uppstår dock på grund av valda teknologier, vilket gör integrationen av nya datakällor mer utmanande på grund av specifika krav på datastruktur och attribut. Studien ger tydliga riktlinjer och inspiration för små- och medelstora företag samt webbutvecklare för att integrera BI-verktyg under den inledande implementering av system för beslutstöd. Forskningen erbjuder en väldokumenterad process för utveckling och utvärdering, vilket ger små- och medelstora företag möjlighet att fatta välinformerade beslut vid implementering av BI-lösningar.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how well a generic monocular camera, placed on the vehicle, can be employed to localize an autonomous vehicle in a warehouse setting. The main function is to ascertain which zone the vehicle is currently in, as well as update the status when entering a new zone. Two zones are defined, where one has a lower allowed top velocity and the other a higher one. For this purpose ArUco markers are used to signal the system as to where it currently is. Markers are strategically placed around the laboratory area to saturate the environment with possible detections. Multiple sequences are recorded while varying camera placement, angles, and paths to determine the optimal number and placement of markers. In addition to this, a SLAM solution is tested in order to explore what benefits can be found. The idea is to provide fine-grained localization as well as a map of the warehouse environment, to provide more options for further development. To solve the SLAM problem, an implemented particle filter approach initializes a set of particles uniformly distributed within the world frame. For each frame, the particles undergo pose prediction, weight assignment based on likelihood, and resampling. This iterative process gradually converges the particles toward the camera's true position. Visual odometry techniques are used to estimate the camera's ego-motion. The process involves acquiring a sequence of images, detecting distinctive features, matching features between consecutive frames, estimating camera motion, and optionally applying local optimization techniques for further refinement. The implementation shows promise and all test cases performed during the project have been successful as for the zone localization. The SLAM solution can detect and track specific features or landmarks over consecutive frames. By triangulating the positions of these features, their depth and distance can be determined. However, the visualization of these features on a top-down map, which was part of the plan, has not been completed yet despite finishing the particle filter implementation.

Termen Dark Patterns började användas år 2012 och har sedan dess blivit ett omdebatterat ämne. Termen kan översättas till manipulerande designval som medvetet utformas för att påverka och styra användarna av applikationer, hemsidor och sociala medier. Forskare menar på att det kan användas för att påverka människor till att ta val de annars aldrig gjort och flertalet granskningar av befintliga media visar på att deras närvaro är hög. Dark patterns fungerar som ett paraplybegrepp över dessa designmönster och har bryts ned av flera forskare för att kunna förklara varje enskilt identifierat mönster och dess påverkan. Tidigare forskning har dock inte fokuserat på Dark Patterns i samband med sociala medier med inriktning korta videoklipp, så kallade video shorts. Den här uppsatsen ämnar att ta reda på hur användarens upplevelse av Dark Patterns närvaro i denna kontext påverkar användaren. För att ta reda på detta används en designbaserad forskningsmetod. Genom intervjuer samlas kvalitativ data in från tio deltagare som delats upp i två grupper. En grupp har fått använda en prototyp med Dark Patterns som författarna till uppsatsen identifierat vid en analys av de sociala medierna TikTok och Youtube Shorts. Den andra prototypen innehåller designval som agerar motsats till dessa Dark Pattern. Uppsatsen använder sedan en tematisk analys för att kunna se likheter samt olikheter i deltagarnas svar.  I resultatet presenteras sedan vilka mönster analysen givit, exempelvis föredrar flertalet deltagare designen som innehåller Dark Patterns till den grad att de inte känner sig uppenbart lurade. Subtila Dark Patterns visar sig påverka användarens upplevelse positivt, vilket får dem att vilja använda tjänsten mer, vilket också ligger i tjänstens intresse. Det mer aggressiva och uppenbara Dark Pattern upprörde dock deltagarna i större utsträckning och kan bidra till att användaren känner sig lurad och känner sig istället frustrerad och irriterad.

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Automating the deployment, security risk minimization, scaling, maintenance and development processes is highly critical, as it enables unleashing the potential of cloud computing. The flexibility and reliability advantages of cloud computing are not fully disclosed without automation of lifecycle processes. The flexibility of the automation solution is directly proportional to the quality of performed lifecycle processes for the entire infrastructure. Nowadays, a lot of companies are in constant search forflexible decisions for their infrastructure for further growth and decrease the usage exploitation of resources when they have a non-use state to avoid additional financial costs. Orchestrator techniques to automate configuration, coordination, and management of computer systems and software are used to meet such infrastructure's demand. Infrastructure as a Code took a large part in automation processes from the beginning of the growing demand for Cloud Computing, but now the new era of orchestration and demand on flexibility capabilities has come, which IaC has to cover. Last decade, multiple IaC solutions appeared. Each of them has a different performance as orchestrators. Flexibility of the orchestrator is measured by configuration capabilities and workflow control of operations via internal features. Nevertheless, time and required computational resources are an important part of orchestrator performance as well. Protracted delays between lifecycle processes and extra-high computational resource demand lead to high financial costs and high service downtime. Computational resource consumption and time metrics, configuration capabilities are the core of orchestrator performance

The optimization of package selection in logistics, particularly within the realm of e-commerce, offers numerous potential advantages, such as a reduction in environmental impact and decreased costs. This thesis addresses the problem of allocating items to the minimum number of packages, known as the bin packing problem, by proposing various heuristics. We develop and assess heuristics for assigning products to groups, while heuristics for accommodating these groups within packages are derived from previous research. These heuristics are evaluated within a commercial context, taking into account factors such as delivery cost, environmental impact, and their applicability in real-time systems. Our findings indicate that optimal solutions for smaller orders can be ascertained within a reasonable timeframe, while even rudimentary heuristics yield satisfactory results. It was determined that a key attribute of an effective solution was lowering the number of packages used, as this correlates with reduced shipping costs and environmental impact.

This work investigates the robustness of learned representations of self-supervised learn-ing approaches, focusing on distribution shifts in computer vision. Joint embedding architecture and method-based self-supervised learning approaches have shown advancesin learning representations in a label-free manner and efficient knowledge transfer towardreducing human annotation needs. However, the empirical analysis is majorly limitedto the downstream task’s performance on natural scenes within the distribution. This constraint evaluation does not reflect the detailed comparative performance of learn-ing methods, preventing it from highlighting the limitations of these methods towards systematic improvement. This work evaluates the robustness of self-supervised learn-ing methods on the distribution shift and corrupted dataset ImageNet-C quantitatively and qualitatively. Several self-supervised learning approaches are considered for compre-hensiveness, including contrastive learning, knowledge distillation, mutual information maximization, and clustering. A detailed comparative analysis is presented to under-stand the retention of robustness against the varying severity of induced corruptions and noise present in data. This work provides insights into appropriate method selectionunder different conditions and highlights the limitations for future method development.

Public transport is important to society as it provides spatial accessibility and reduces congestion and pollution in comparison to other motorized modes. To assure a high-quality service, all parts of the system need to be well-functioning and properly planned. One important aspect for the system's bus terminals is their capacity. This needs to be high enough to avoid congestion and queues and the delays these may lead to. During planning processes, various suggested designs and solutions for a terminal need to be evaluated. Estimating capacity and how well the suggestions will function is a challenging problem, however. It requires analysis of complex interactions and behaviour of the vehicles. This sort of analyses can preferably be carried out using microsimulation. Furthermore, a discrete event simulation approach can make use of the fact that the path of a vehicle through a terminal can readily be described by a sequence of events (such as arriving, starting to drive to a stop etc.). The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate how discrete event simulation can be used to evaluate bus terminal design and traffic control policies. The main contribution is the development of a method for bus terminal simulation. As a first step, a discrete event simulation model of a combined bus and tram stop is formulated. The model is tested on a real system where the current design is compared to an alternative one. The test shows that a model developed with a discrete event approach can be used to evaluate the situation at a stop and compare design alternatives. In the next step, a general discrete event simulation model of bus terminals is formulated. A modular approach is introduced, where a terminal can be constructed from a set of module building blocks. Another important contribution of the model is its spatial resolution that allows for queues and blockages to occur throughout the terminal. By applying the simulation model in a case study, it is shown that the model can be used to evaluate and compare various scenarios related to the layout, number of passengers and the outside traffic situation. Lastly, the bus terminal simulation model is used in a second case study in order to compare model output with empirical data. This study identified a number of factors that may have had an influence on differences between observations and simulation results and that is of interest to look further into. This includes the actual adherence to terminal rules and the effects of model parameters.