With the development of the computer networks, mainly the Internet, it became easier to develop applications where the execution is shared between a local computer, the Client, and one located on the other side of the network communication channel, the Server. The hardware advancements in the recent years made it possible to display 3D graphics (games, map navigation, virtual worlds) on mobile devices. However, executing these complex applications on the client terminal is not possible without reducing the quality of the displayed graphics or lowering its processing requirements. Different solutions have already been proposed in academic publications; however none of them satisfies all requirements. The objective of this thesis is to propose an alternative solution for a new client-server architecture where the connectedness of the mobile devices is fully exploited. Several main requirements are addressed: - Minimize the network traffic, - Reduce the required computational power on the terminal, and - Preserve the user experience compared with local execution. First a formal framework is designed that can effectively define and model distributed applications for 3D graphics. Then a model of new architecture is presented, that overcomes the disadvantages of the architectures presented in the state of the art. The core of the architecture is the MPEG-4 standard, which is used to transfer the data between the server and the client in a compressed manner. The last part of explores the design of architectures optimized for running on mobile devices. The design of the new client-server architecture is validated by implementing a game and running simulations.

Mobility and using smartphones and tablets as replacement of laptops are getting to be increasingly vital for enterprises and accordingly bring new concerns from different perspective for both companies and individuals. To achieve enterprise mobility companies needs to ensure that the mobile equipment are always connected, complies with security policy in a safe and protected path toward being productivity and efficiency. To approach these purposes Mobile Device Management (MDM) was created few years back in order to not only secure enterprises information but additionally manage user’s activities and equipment. However there is no general methodology to define criteria weight for these systems and rather depends on different enterprise policy. One primary issue here is availability of many MDM solutions in market and several difficulties to compare them together and meanwhile most of comparison documents limited based on white papers of providers which mostly designed for commercial market purposes. This thesis will come up with a list of important properties for MDM solutions and evaluate several of solutions as well as categorizing all available criteria in this area. Second part of thesis is a case study of choosing proper MDM solution for two different scenarios and give recommendations on what products to utilize relying upon what sort of association you have. In order to achieve this, strong analytical methods are required to compare existing services and sharper eye from security perspective toward the applications.

Στόχος της εργασίας είναι ο σχεδιασμός, η ανάπτυξη κι η αξιολόγηση ενός πρωτότυπου εκπαιδευτικού παιχνιδιού περιπέτειας για κινητές συσκευές. / Objective of this project is the designing, the development and the evaluation of an educational adventure game for mobile devices.

Na sociedade contemporânea a utilização da tecnologia é cada vez mais incorporada no cotidiano dos indivíduos e atualmente os dispositivos móveis fazem parte do cotidiano dos estudantes. Seu uso demanda novas soluções que aproveitem suas potencialidades e potencial ubiquidade considerando, todavia as limitações que esta classe de dispositivos impõe. O presente estudo abrangeu uma investigação do uso de dispositivos móveis na área de ensino de Técnica de Programação, que é uma etapa básica e fundamental para a construção de sistemas computacionais. Este trabalho aborda a aplicação de dispositivos móveis na construção do conhecimento de algoritmos e programação, considerando os estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem dos estudantes. A pesquisa investiga como aprimorar o processo de construção de conhecimento em algoritmos, com vistas a reduzir os índices de reprovação que, ao longo dos anos, têm sido constatados nesta área. A estratégia educacional utilizada envolveu o uso do ciclo de aprendizagem de Kolb (1984), que trabalha com experiências concretas, reflexão e observação. A metodologia utilizada neste trabalho consistiu em investigar como a tecnologia móvel e os estilos preferenciais preferencial de aprendizagem dos alunos podem alavancar a melhoria neste processo de construção do conhecimento, por meio de um ambiente com objetos educacionais e que enseja interações junto do serviço de SMS. A investigação buscou também adequar as necessidades derivadas de diferentes estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem que os estudantes podem evidenciar, mas considerando as limitações e características dos dispositivos móveis. Como resultado são apresentadas sugestões para as instituições de ensino, relacionadas à utilização dos dispositivos móveis e considerando os estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem. / In the contemporary society, the use of technology has been more and more incorporated to the daily life of individuals and, currently, the mobile devices have made part of the students’ everyday routine. Their usage demands new solutions which take advantage of their potentialities and potential ubiquity regarding, though, the limitations that this class of devices impose. The current study encompassed an investigation of the use of mobile devices within the Technical Programming teaching area which is a basic and fundamental stage to the construction of computer systems. This work approaches the application of mobile devices in the knowledge construction of algorithms and programming, considering the students’ learning styles. The research investigates how to improve the process of knowledge construction on algorithms aiming at reducing the indices of failing that have been verified in this area through the years. The educational strategy utilized involved the use of the learning cycle of Kolb (1984), that works with concrete experiences, reflection and observation. The methodology used within this work consisted in investigating how the mobile technology and the attention to the students’ preferential learning style can boost the improvement within this teaching learning process through an environment with educational objects and that provides students with interactions by the SMS service. The investigation also aimed at making adequate the needs derived from different learning styles the students can evidence, but by considering the limitations and features of the mobile devices. As a result, suggestions – related to the usage of mobile devices and regarding the learning styles – are presented to the education institutions.

Na sociedade contemporânea a utilização da tecnologia é cada vez mais incorporada no cotidiano dos indivíduos e atualmente os dispositivos móveis fazem parte do cotidiano dos estudantes. Seu uso demanda novas soluções que aproveitem suas potencialidades e potencial ubiquidade considerando, todavia as limitações que esta classe de dispositivos impõe. O presente estudo abrangeu uma investigação do uso de dispositivos móveis na área de ensino de Técnica de Programação, que é uma etapa básica e fundamental para a construção de sistemas computacionais. Este trabalho aborda a aplicação de dispositivos móveis na construção do conhecimento de algoritmos e programação, considerando os estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem dos estudantes. A pesquisa investiga como aprimorar o processo de construção de conhecimento em algoritmos, com vistas a reduzir os índices de reprovação que, ao longo dos anos, têm sido constatados nesta área. A estratégia educacional utilizada envolveu o uso do ciclo de aprendizagem de Kolb (1984), que trabalha com experiências concretas, reflexão e observação. A metodologia utilizada neste trabalho consistiu em investigar como a tecnologia móvel e os estilos preferenciais preferencial de aprendizagem dos alunos podem alavancar a melhoria neste processo de construção do conhecimento, por meio de um ambiente com objetos educacionais e que enseja interações junto do serviço de SMS. A investigação buscou também adequar as necessidades derivadas de diferentes estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem que os estudantes podem evidenciar, mas considerando as limitações e características dos dispositivos móveis. Como resultado são apresentadas sugestões para as instituições de ensino, relacionadas à utilização dos dispositivos móveis e considerando os estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem. / In the contemporary society, the use of technology has been more and more incorporated to the daily life of individuals and, currently, the mobile devices have made part of the students’ everyday routine. Their usage demands new solutions which take advantage of their potentialities and potential ubiquity regarding, though, the limitations that this class of devices impose. The current study encompassed an investigation of the use of mobile devices within the Technical Programming teaching area which is a basic and fundamental stage to the construction of computer systems. This work approaches the application of mobile devices in the knowledge construction of algorithms and programming, considering the students’ learning styles. The research investigates how to improve the process of knowledge construction on algorithms aiming at reducing the indices of failing that have been verified in this area through the years. The educational strategy utilized involved the use of the learning cycle of Kolb (1984), that works with concrete experiences, reflection and observation. The methodology used within this work consisted in investigating how the mobile technology and the attention to the students’ preferential learning style can boost the improvement within this teaching learning process through an environment with educational objects and that provides students with interactions by the SMS service. The investigation also aimed at making adequate the needs derived from different learning styles the students can evidence, but by considering the limitations and features of the mobile devices. As a result, suggestions – related to the usage of mobile devices and regarding the learning styles – are presented to the education institutions.

Na sociedade contemporânea a utilização da tecnologia é cada vez mais incorporada no cotidiano dos indivíduos e atualmente os dispositivos móveis fazem parte do cotidiano dos estudantes. Seu uso demanda novas soluções que aproveitem suas potencialidades e potencial ubiquidade considerando, todavia as limitações que esta classe de dispositivos impõe. O presente estudo abrangeu uma investigação do uso de dispositivos móveis na área de ensino de Técnica de Programação, que é uma etapa básica e fundamental para a construção de sistemas computacionais. Este trabalho aborda a aplicação de dispositivos móveis na construção do conhecimento de algoritmos e programação, considerando os estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem dos estudantes. A pesquisa investiga como aprimorar o processo de construção de conhecimento em algoritmos, com vistas a reduzir os índices de reprovação que, ao longo dos anos, têm sido constatados nesta área. A estratégia educacional utilizada envolveu o uso do ciclo de aprendizagem de Kolb (1984), que trabalha com experiências concretas, reflexão e observação. A metodologia utilizada neste trabalho consistiu em investigar como a tecnologia móvel e os estilos preferenciais preferencial de aprendizagem dos alunos podem alavancar a melhoria neste processo de construção do conhecimento, por meio de um ambiente com objetos educacionais e que enseja interações junto do serviço de SMS. A investigação buscou também adequar as necessidades derivadas de diferentes estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem que os estudantes podem evidenciar, mas considerando as limitações e características dos dispositivos móveis. Como resultado são apresentadas sugestões para as instituições de ensino, relacionadas à utilização dos dispositivos móveis e considerando os estilos preferenciais de aprendizagem. / In the contemporary society, the use of technology has been more and more incorporated to the daily life of individuals and, currently, the mobile devices have made part of the students’ everyday routine. Their usage demands new solutions which take advantage of their potentialities and potential ubiquity regarding, though, the limitations that this class of devices impose. The current study encompassed an investigation of the use of mobile devices within the Technical Programming teaching area which is a basic and fundamental stage to the construction of computer systems. This work approaches the application of mobile devices in the knowledge construction of algorithms and programming, considering the students’ learning styles. The research investigates how to improve the process of knowledge construction on algorithms aiming at reducing the indices of failing that have been verified in this area through the years. The educational strategy utilized involved the use of the learning cycle of Kolb (1984), that works with concrete experiences, reflection and observation. The methodology used within this work consisted in investigating how the mobile technology and the attention to the students’ preferential learning style can boost the improvement within this teaching learning process through an environment with educational objects and that provides students with interactions by the SMS service. The investigation also aimed at making adequate the needs derived from different learning styles the students can evidence, but by considering the limitations and features of the mobile devices. As a result, suggestions – related to the usage of mobile devices and regarding the learning styles – are presented to the education institutions.

ICTs, including mobile devices, are changing rapidly, and so is the application of these technologies in various disciplines. From the literature it was determined that mobile devices have an influence on information behaviour, whether it be in the form of information seeking, searching, use, sharing, collaboration, or any other information behaviour activity. This study focused on the influence of mobile devices on the information behaviour of undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria. Understanding the influence that mobile devices have on information behaviour might improve the effective use of mobile devices in education, and might be of use to library services. A mixed methods approach was followed, consisting of questionnaires for the collection of quantitative data and focus group interviews for the collection of qualitative data. Convenience sampling was used to select undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Department of Information Science. This was followed by a census approach in which all students were invited to participate in completing the electronic self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire collected data on mobile devices and information behaviour, mobile devices and academic studies, mobile devices and clickUP, mobile devices and the Blackboard App and mobile devices and communication. The questionnaire was open from 06 October – 07 November 2013 and 201/923 (21.8%) students responded. Purposive sampling was used to invite focus group participants. The focus groups were guided by four topics: general use of mobile devices to find, access, share and use information; differences in using mobile devices to find, access, share and use information for academic purposes; different mobile devices used for different purposes; and recommendation(s) to other students for using mobile devices for academic purposes. Five focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 32 participants between 20 August and 09 September 2014. It was found that mobile devices have an influence on the information behaviour of students, confirming what was found in the literature. Mobile devices are used more in a general and social environment than in an academic one. They however hold much value for the academic environment. Participants in the study stressed the importance, the advantages, and the potential that the mobile devices have, and still could have in the future. Participants made use of multiple mobile devices in their day-to-day activities. Furthermore, it is clear that information should be available quickly, allowing access from anywhere and at any time in order to satisfy the changing demands of the information user. It may be because of this constant need for information in its various formats, that the lines between the different contexts are being blurred. / Mini Dissertation (MIT)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Information Science / MIT / Unrestricted

Universities should strive to educate students by applying new learning environments where students are given the opportunity to explore the world of education by the use of mobile devices. These technologies and mobile devices are already second nature to them and applying these devices in a learning environment will improve the students’ learning experience. It is sensible to make use of these new technologies to get students attention, since students will find learning interesting and more enjoyable. Students’ attitude towards a mobile learning environment and learning with mobile devices has already received much attention in existing literature. This study aimed to determine whether South African, University students will welcome the use of mobile devices during their studies, especially in the field of Taxation. The study also focussed on students’ attitudes towards using e-books instead of the hardcopy textbooks during their studies and during open-book assessments. This longitudinal study made use of two questionnaires to obtain the feedback on students’ perception on what they believe mobile learning to be, their acceptance and willingness to engage with a mobile learning environment and to determine whether their attitudes towards mobile learning have change over two academic years. Furthermore, statistical analysis of the data was done to determine whether a significant difference exists between the responses between male and female students. The results indicated that more males are interested in using mobile technologies for educational purposes, however, it is not significant. It was concluded that students, when given the opportunity, are interested to engage with a mobile learning environment. It was lastly concluded that no significant change in acceptance and willingness of engaging with a mobile learning environment exists over two academic years. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lmchunu2014 / Taxation / unrestricted

6 pp. / Remotely sensed data are valuable for monitoring, assessing, and managing impacts to arid and semi-arid lands caused by drought or other changes in the natural environment. With this in mind, we collaborated with scientists and technologists to redevelop DroughtView, a web-based decision-support tool that combines satellite-derived measures of surface greenness with additional geospatial data so that users can visualize and evaluate vegetation dynamics across space and over time. To date, users of DroughtView have been local drought impact groups, ranchers, federal and state land management staff, environmental scientists, and plant geographers. Potential new applications may include helping to track wildland fire danger. Here, we present the functionality of DroughtView, including new capabilities to report drought impacts and share map information, as well as the data behind it.

Floating describes the act of staff moving from one unit to another based on the needs of the patients in a hospital. Many staff who float to different units express negative feelings, including anxiety and lack in self-efficacy. However, floating is both an economical and efficient method to use staff across the hospital, especially with current staffing shortages in the United States. This study investigated how the use of mobile performance support devices may help reduce anxiety and increase self-efficacy for those staff who float to different units. with access to multiple resources available on the mobile device, Bandura's social learning theory and self-efficacy concept set the framework through modeling, observing, and imitating others in order to reproduce certain behaviors and tasks and believe in one's capability to perform. a quantitative study incorporating the retrospective pretest-posttest design was conducted using the population of float staff, including both nurses and respiratory therapists, from Children's Medical Center of Dallas. Both the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and General Self-Efficacy Scale, along with a basic demographic tool, were used to explore anxiety and self-efficacy in relation to the usage of mobile performance support devices. Findings can be used to impact the negative feelings of staff towards the idea of floating.