Dr. Bower confirmed that earned value management (EVM) is not widely adopted, and that many project managers see the methodology as being overly complex and difficult to implement. He identified several serious challenges associated with conventional EVM.and addressed the first issue by creating a new theoretical concept called Assured Value Analysis (AVA). This add-in process provides two new measures, permitting improvements to EVM that take into account the added certainty provided through procurement. Assured Value (AV) represents the budget for a future signed contract, and Expected Cost (EC) represents the agreed cost of that contract. Those measures permit the calculation of a Total Cost Variance that includes not only cost deviations to date, but also future ones to which the project team is already committed. AVA also allows conventional EVM formulae to take into account the Assured Value and Expected Cost of future signed agreements. A simple notional project is used to demonstrate the implementation of AVA. He resolved the remaining challenges and issues through realising that the isolation of project phases would provide a simplified but more dependable methodology, one that also provides features not found in conventional EVM. Significant milestones are normally planned to occur at the end of a project phase. By assessing project performance only at the end of each completed phase, performance calculations are significantly simplified.. His new technique, Phase Earned Value Analysis (PEVA) simplifies the calculation of PV, EV and AC, and also provides benefits that are not possible with EVM. Since the planned and actual phase completion dates are known, an intuitively simple but accurate time-based schedule variance and schedule performance index (i.e. SVP and SPIP) can be measured. PEVA also permits the forecasting of future phase end cost figures and phase completion dates using the phase CPI and SPI ratios. Since PEVA employs data points having specific x axis and y-axis values, those can be readily plotted and trend lines identified with standard spreadsheet functions. This is a powerful feature, as it allows key project stakeholders to visualise emerging project performance trends as each phase is completed. Finally, he successfully combined the AVA and PEVA concepts, resulting in a new EVM methodology - Phase Assured Value Analysis (PAVA) - which takes into account the assurance provided by procurement, simplifies the calculation of earned value through phases, and provides powerful forecasting and charting features. He validated this new combined approach in multiple respects. The new AVA and PEVA formulae were rigorously established and confirmed through standard algebraic procedures. The formulae were tested in sample project situations, to clearly demonstrate their functions. He argues that the PAVA approach conforms to the 32 criteria established in the United States for full EVM compliance. He presented AVA and PEVA to critical audiences at major project management conferences in North America and the UK, as well as several gaining expert criticism from organisations and practitioners. Finally, he used archived cost and schedule records to retrospectively test the combined PAVA methodology on a significant office facilities and technology program.

<p>This thesis presents an evaluation of the Solaris version of the Xen virtual machine monitor and a comparison of its performance to the performance of Solaris Containers under similar conditions. Xen is a virtual machine monitor, based on the paravirtualization approach, which provides an instruction set different to the native machine environment and therefore requires modifications to the guest operating systems. Solaris Zones is an operating system-level virtualization technology that is part of the Solaris OS. Furthermore, we provide a basic performance evaluation of the security modules for Xen and Zones, known as sHype and Solaris Trusted Extensions, respectively.</p><p>We evaluate the control domain (know as Domain-0) and the user domain performance as the number of user domains increases. Testing Domain-0 with an increasing number of user domains allows us to evaluate how much overhead virtual operating systems impose in the idle state and how their number influences the overall system performance. Testing one user domain and increasing the number of idle domains allows us to evaluate how the number of domains influences operating system performance. Testing concurrently loaded increasing numbers of user domains we investigate total system efficiency and load balancing dependent on the number of running systems.</p><p>System performance was limited by CPU, memory, and hard drive characteristics. In the case of CPU-bound tests Xen exhibited performance close to the performance of Zones and to the native Solaris performance, loosing 2-3% due to the virtualization overhead. In case of memory-bound and hard drive-bound tests Xen showed 5 to 10 times worse performance.</p>

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are gaining momentum among researchers. ITS encompasses several technologies, including wireless communications, sensor networks, data and voice communication, real-time driving assistant systems, etc. These states of the art technologies are expected to pave the way for a plethora of vehicular network applications. In fact, recently we have witnessed a growing interest in Vehicular Networks from both the research community and industry. Several potential applications of Vehicular Networks are envisioned such as road safety and security, traffic monitoring and driving comfort, just to mention a few. It is critical that the existence of convenience or driving comfort services do not negatively affect the performance of safety services. In essence, the dissemination of safety services or the discovery of convenience applications requires the communication among service providers and service requesters through constrained bandwidth resources. Therefore, service discovery techniques for vehicular networks must efficiently use the available common resources. In this thesis, we focus on the design of bandwidth-efficient and scalable service discovery protocols for Vehicular Networks. Three types of service discovery architectures are introduced: infrastructure-less, infrastructure-based, and hybrid architectures. Our proposed algorithms are network layer based where service discovery messages are integrated into the routing messages for a lightweight discovery. Moreover, our protocols use the channel diversity for efficient service discovery. We describe our algorithms and discuss their implementation. Finally, we present the main results of the extensive set of simulation experiments that have been used in order to evaluate their performance.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are gaining momentum among researchers. ITS encompasses several technologies, including wireless communications, sensor networks, data and voice communication, real-time driving assistant systems, etc. These states of the art technologies are expected to pave the way for a plethora of vehicular network applications. In fact, recently we have witnessed a growing interest in Vehicular Networks from both the research community and industry. Several potential applications of Vehicular Networks are envisioned such as road safety and security, traffic monitoring and driving comfort, just to mention a few. It is critical that the existence of convenience or driving comfort services do not negatively affect the performance of safety services. In essence, the dissemination of safety services or the discovery of convenience applications requires the communication among service providers and service requesters through constrained bandwidth resources. Therefore, service discovery techniques for vehicular networks must efficiently use the available common resources. In this thesis, we focus on the design of bandwidth-efficient and scalable service discovery protocols for Vehicular Networks. Three types of service discovery architectures are introduced: infrastructure-less, infrastructure-based, and hybrid architectures. Our proposed algorithms are network layer based where service discovery messages are integrated into the routing messages for a lightweight discovery. Moreover, our protocols use the channel diversity for efficient service discovery. We describe our algorithms and discuss their implementation. Finally, we present the main results of the extensive set of simulation experiments that have been used in order to evaluate their performance.

Nowadays warehousing became one of the most important and critical part in supply chain systems due to the fact that it consumes a considerable part of logistic cost. Designing phase of warehousing system is the most important part in warehousing since most of the strategic and tactical decisions should be taken in this phase. Majority of academic papers are primarily analysis oriented and does not give a systematic method and techniques as a basis for warehouse redesign. So there is a need to develop a structured procedure that can be applied for different type of warehouses. Therefore the purpose of this thesis is to develop a process for redesigning production warehouses, and analyzing major problems during redesign steps. The thesis is designed as a case study, and a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods were used for data collection and data analysis. The methodology focuses around the warehousing process and redesign steps as described in the literature. Results of the thesis develop a seven steps procedure for redesigning of the production warehouse, also different problems and challenges are faced during redesign steps. It was tried to choose the best redesigning method which fit with the characteristics of the warehouse, in order to cover the space reduction of the warehouse with the consideration of existing facilities and reducing of cost. In addition, the performance of the current warehouse system was evaluated based on current design of the warehouse in order to avoid repeating of same mistake in redesign process. Storage assignment policy as one of the redesign steps was discussed and a framework for storage system of the components were suggested. The findings of the thesis to some extent can be applicable to other production warehouses. Further research is suggested for more specific results and new developed redesign methods for all types of warehouses.

This thesis studies the impact of mobility and wireless channel characteristics, i. e. , variability and high bit-error-rate, on the performance of integrated voice and data wireless systems from network, transport protocol and application perspectives. <br /><br /> From the network perspective, we study the impact of user mobility on radio resource allocation. The goal is to design resource allocation mechanisms that provide seamless mobility for voice calls while being fair to data calls. In particular, we develop a distributed admission control for a general integrated voice and data wireless system. We model the number of active calls in a cell of the network as a Gaussian process with time-dependent mean and variance. The Gaussian model is updated periodically using the information obtained from neighboring cells about their load conditions. We show that the proposed scheme guarantees a prespecified dropping probability for voice calls while being fair to data calls. Furthermore, the scheme is stable, insensitive to user mobility process and robust to load variations. <br /><br /> From the transport protocol perspective, we study the impact of wireless channel variations and rate scheduling on the performance of elastic data traffic carried by TCP. We explore cross-layer optimization of the rate adaptation feature of cellular networks to optimize TCP throughput. We propose a TCP-aware scheduler that switches between two rates as a function of TCP sending rate. We develop a fluid model of the steady-state TCP behavior for such a system and derive analytical expressions for TCP throughput that explicitly account for rate variability as well as the dependency between the scheduler and TCP. The model is used to choose RF layer parameters that, in conjunction with the TCP-aware scheduler, improve long-term TCP throughput in wireless networks. A distinctive feature of our model is its ability to capture variability of round-trip-time, channel rate and packet error probability inherent to wireless communications. <br /><br /> From the application perspective, we study the performance of wireless messaging systems. Two popular wireless applications, the short messaging service and multimedia messaging service are considered. We develop a mathematical model to evaluate the performance of these systems taking into consideration the fact that each message tolerates only a limited amount of waiting time in the system. Using the model, closed-form expressions for critical performance parameters such as message loss, message delay and expiry probability are derived. Furthermore, a simple algorithm is presented to find the optimal temporary storage size that minimizes message delay for a given set of system parameters.

As a result of the recent advances in the computation and communications industries, wireless communications-enabled computing devices are ubiquitous nowadays. Even though these devices are introduced to satisfy the user’s mobile computing needs, they are still unable to provide for the full mobile computing functionality as they confine the user mobility to be within certain regions in order to benefit from services provided by fixed network access points. Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are introduced as the technology that potentially will make the nowadays illusion of mobile computing a tangible reality. MANETs are created by the mobile computing devices on an ad hoc basis, without any support or administration provided by a fixed or pre-installed communications infrastructure. Along with their appealing autonomy and fast deployment properties, MANETs exhibit some other properties that make their realization a very challenging task. Topology dynamism and bandwidth limitations of the communication channel adversely affect the performance of routing protocols designed for MANETs, especially with the increase in the number of mobile hosts and/or mobility rates. The Connected Dominating Set (CDS), a.k.a. virtual backbone or Spine, is proposed to facilitate routing, broadcasting, and establishing a dynamic infrastructure for distributed location databases. Minimizing the CDS produces a simpler abstracted topology of the MANET and allows for using shorter routes between any pair of hosts. Since it is NP-complete to find the minimum connected dominating set, MCDS, researchers resorted to approximation algorithms and heuristics to tackle this problem. The literature is rich of many CDS approximation algorithms that compete in terms of CDS size, running time, and signaling overhead. It has been reported that localized CDS creation algorithms are the fastest and the lightest in terms of signaling overhead among all other techniques. Examples of these localized CDS algorithms are Wu and Li algorithm and its Stojmenovic variant, the MPR algorithm, and Alzoubi algorithm. The designers of each of these algorithms claim that their algorithm exhibits the highest degree of localization and hence incurs the lowest cost in the CDS creation phase. However, these claims are not supported by any physical or at least simulation-based evidence. Moreover, the cost of maintaining the CDS (in terms of the change in CDS size, running time, and signaling overhead), in the presence of unpredictable and frequent topology changes, is an important factor that has to be taken into account -a cost that is overlooked most of the time. A simulation-based comparative study between the performance of these algorithms will be conducted using the ns2 network simulator. This study will focus on the total costs incurred by these algorithms in terms of CDS size, running time, and signaling overhead generated during the CDS creation and maintenance phases. Moreover, the effects of mobility rates, network size, and mobility models on the performance of each algorithm will be investigated. Conclusions regarding the pros and cons of each algorithm will be drawn, and directions for future research work will be recommended.

This thesis studies the impact of mobility and wireless channel characteristics, i. e. , variability and high bit-error-rate, on the performance of integrated voice and data wireless systems from network, transport protocol and application perspectives. <br /><br /> From the network perspective, we study the impact of user mobility on radio resource allocation. The goal is to design resource allocation mechanisms that provide seamless mobility for voice calls while being fair to data calls. In particular, we develop a distributed admission control for a general integrated voice and data wireless system. We model the number of active calls in a cell of the network as a Gaussian process with time-dependent mean and variance. The Gaussian model is updated periodically using the information obtained from neighboring cells about their load conditions. We show that the proposed scheme guarantees a prespecified dropping probability for voice calls while being fair to data calls. Furthermore, the scheme is stable, insensitive to user mobility process and robust to load variations. <br /><br /> From the transport protocol perspective, we study the impact of wireless channel variations and rate scheduling on the performance of elastic data traffic carried by TCP. We explore cross-layer optimization of the rate adaptation feature of cellular networks to optimize TCP throughput. We propose a TCP-aware scheduler that switches between two rates as a function of TCP sending rate. We develop a fluid model of the steady-state TCP behavior for such a system and derive analytical expressions for TCP throughput that explicitly account for rate variability as well as the dependency between the scheduler and TCP. The model is used to choose RF layer parameters that, in conjunction with the TCP-aware scheduler, improve long-term TCP throughput in wireless networks. A distinctive feature of our model is its ability to capture variability of round-trip-time, channel rate and packet error probability inherent to wireless communications. <br /><br /> From the application perspective, we study the performance of wireless messaging systems. Two popular wireless applications, the short messaging service and multimedia messaging service are considered. We develop a mathematical model to evaluate the performance of these systems taking into consideration the fact that each message tolerates only a limited amount of waiting time in the system. Using the model, closed-form expressions for critical performance parameters such as message loss, message delay and expiry probability are derived. Furthermore, a simple algorithm is presented to find the optimal temporary storage size that minimizes message delay for a given set of system parameters.

As a result of the recent advances in the computation and communications industries, wireless communications-enabled computing devices are ubiquitous nowadays. Even though these devices are introduced to satisfy the user’s mobile computing needs, they are still unable to provide for the full mobile computing functionality as they confine the user mobility to be within certain regions in order to benefit from services provided by fixed network access points. Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are introduced as the technology that potentially will make the nowadays illusion of mobile computing a tangible reality. MANETs are created by the mobile computing devices on an ad hoc basis, without any support or administration provided by a fixed or pre-installed communications infrastructure. Along with their appealing autonomy and fast deployment properties, MANETs exhibit some other properties that make their realization a very challenging task. Topology dynamism and bandwidth limitations of the communication channel adversely affect the performance of routing protocols designed for MANETs, especially with the increase in the number of mobile hosts and/or mobility rates. The Connected Dominating Set (CDS), a.k.a. virtual backbone or Spine, is proposed to facilitate routing, broadcasting, and establishing a dynamic infrastructure for distributed location databases. Minimizing the CDS produces a simpler abstracted topology of the MANET and allows for using shorter routes between any pair of hosts. Since it is NP-complete to find the minimum connected dominating set, MCDS, researchers resorted to approximation algorithms and heuristics to tackle this problem. The literature is rich of many CDS approximation algorithms that compete in terms of CDS size, running time, and signaling overhead. It has been reported that localized CDS creation algorithms are the fastest and the lightest in terms of signaling overhead among all other techniques. Examples of these localized CDS algorithms are Wu and Li algorithm and its Stojmenovic variant, the MPR algorithm, and Alzoubi algorithm. The designers of each of these algorithms claim that their algorithm exhibits the highest degree of localization and hence incurs the lowest cost in the CDS creation phase. However, these claims are not supported by any physical or at least simulation-based evidence. Moreover, the cost of maintaining the CDS (in terms of the change in CDS size, running time, and signaling overhead), in the presence of unpredictable and frequent topology changes, is an important factor that has to be taken into account -a cost that is overlooked most of the time. A simulation-based comparative study between the performance of these algorithms will be conducted using the ns2 network simulator. This study will focus on the total costs incurred by these algorithms in terms of CDS size, running time, and signaling overhead generated during the CDS creation and maintenance phases. Moreover, the effects of mobility rates, network size, and mobility models on the performance of each algorithm will be investigated. Conclusions regarding the pros and cons of each algorithm will be drawn, and directions for future research work will be recommended.

Ethics as a subject is investigated in this paper and in particular how ethics can be analyzed in different organizations. The paper investigates how the generic ethical performance (EPE) evaluation model can help organizations to evaluate their ethical performance. The base for the empirical material is collected through qualitative interviews with staff on four different international organizations. The results proclaim that the EPE model can help organizations to narrow down focus and to categorize results, which help organizations to analyze ethical behavior. If the EPE model is complemented with an improvement model (the Deming cycle) an ethical improvement model is created. Conclusions are that evaluating ethical performance is not simple and the results can be ambiguous. The EPE model should be seen as a tool in generic cases and not as the only way of evaluating ethics. If ethics is processed according to the Deming cycle small steps of continuous improvement should help organizations to improve ethical performance. The more you study something the more you realize the complexity of it. Opening doors to new knowledge is like finding yourself in a labyrinth. Some ways are leading to dead ends and sometime you get lost. But when you have been walking in the labyrinth for a while you tend to recognize how the different paths are connected and a web is revealed. This study reveals a gap between theoretical knowledge and knowledge about how to implement and use theories of ethics in “real life” situations. The paper ends with ideas for future possible research, the Ethical Improvement Model (EIM) created in this paper is brought forward as a suggestion.