In this thesis, I address the problem and promise of decentralization, in the context of standard-setting for physical systems. I explore how the process of the decentralization of power works in the context of physical information, in three subsets:the relationship between existing standards and the decentralized control of physical information; how hands-on experimentation helps to shed light on the decentralized control of physical information; and how existing Free/Libre Open Source Software culture addresses the decentralized control of physical information.

In this study, I design an empirical open source software selection process, which reuses some ideas from Commercial Off-the-Shelf selection methods and addresses the characteristics of the open source software. Basically, it consists of three basic steps: identification, screening and evaluation. The identification step is to find all possible alternatives to open source software that can meet the high level requirements. The next step is screening, in which the refined requirements are applied to filter the alternatives. The evaluation step is based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process, in which the alternatives are inspected from functional suitability, source code, support strength and popularity. In more detail, under functionality suitability criterion, alternatives to open source software are evaluated in viewing of how much functionality can fit in with the functional user requirements. The source code of the alternatives is evaluated from six criteria: programming language, code size, code comment, code intra-module complexity and code inter-module complexity. The evaluation of support strength depends on the evaluation of field support and support resources. The field support includes commercial support and community support. The community support specifically refers to the direct responses from the community to the support requests. Aside from field support, open source software projects also provide various support-related resources such as, documents, wiki, blog, etc. To determine the popularity of the alternatives, I evaluate them from software use, development participation and web popularity. In the case study, I utilize the process to select the best open source unified modeling language tool from the ten alternatives for the software development process. After the screening phase, the four competitive alternatives, BOUML, ArgoUML, UMLet and Violet, are evaluated from functionality, source code, support strength and popularity criteria. The evaluation result indicates that ArgoUML is the best tool for the requirement. The case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the selection process. Various important attributes of open source software are taken into consideration systematically and the final decision is reached based on comprehensive investigation and analysis. The process provides an operable solution to the open source selection problem in practice.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 129 p.; also includes graphics. Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: D. Lynn Forster, Dept. of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 124-129).

ITC/USA 2013 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Ninth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 21-24, 2013 / Bally's Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV / Applications that use TMATS benefit from the ability to presume that the TMATS data is well constructed. This need is met by a TMATS validator. Some classified systems need source code rather than an executable to avoid expensive testing before being allowed in. An Open Source Validator is proposed, presented and made available to the public. Major points and difficulties are discussed. The source is available in a Visual Studio 2008 project here: www.bkelly.ws/irig/validator.html A bulletin board for TMATS / Chapter 10 discussion is here: http://www.bkelly.ws/irig_106/

No description available.

A fascination for electronics development platforms was the starting point for this project. Brought forward from open source initiatives, these exist of modular hardware toolkits and software. This modularity allows people to use them in different configurations to support a variety of contexts and purposes. In this way it enables them to bring just about any idea to life. There is an emerging trend on the web, where people modify or hack into products, trying to change or extends their products to fit their needs. As technology is becoming cheaper and embedded in everyday products, it allows products to become more flexible, and be more sensitive towards these trends. My project has been an investigation in developing a method for design, which promotes modular product systems, rather than closed, fixed products. Open-ended design is an approach which supports an exploration space for end-users. Focused on laymen users, allows them to investigate what functionality and behaviour is needed for their own interests and niche purposes. The open-ended design framework was used to design Myriad: a flexible, modular camera system to complement GoPro cameras. Myriad exists of a growing library of modules, sensors and a mobile app which combined create unique camera functionality and behaviours.

Bacterial contamination due to excessive levels of bacteria is a confounding problem and remediation of impaired watersheds relies on the detection of fecal indicator bacteria and then assessing the source of said bacteria. Bacterial source tracking (BST) is an approach for assessing potential sources of this contamination. The purpose of this study was to utilize both cultivation-independent and –dependent methods to improve the ability to track sources of fecal contamination. First, E. coli community composition was assessed across three standard water quality assessments including USEPA Methods 1603 and 1604, and Colilert®, to determine their impact on BST library-based performance. Results indicate that the three assessed methods of enumeration and isolation may select for different populations of E. coli and standardized methods may be warranted if library-dependent BST is part of a research plan. Next, BST techniques were used to enumerate and characterize E. coli communities across various dairy manure management techniques used in the Leon River watershed in central Texas to determine effectiveness of BST efforts in tracking contamination from dairy manure. Results of this study indicated that manure and effluent management strategies which employed means to remove solids from the manure tended to decrease the levels of E. coli in the effluent. Some E. coli genotypes were found across the managerial treatments even though there were no clear seasonal trends or site groupings among the dataset. The vast majority of the isolates classified using the Texas E. coli BST library were correctly classified back to their major source class, thus increasing confidence in the methods currently being utilized to track dairy fecal contributions in this Central Texas watershed. Finally, deer bacterial fecal communities from south and central Texas were analyzed using 454-pyrosequencing to assess the potential for the development of a deer-specific BST marker. Microbial communities did not cluster by site or year suggesting that deer fecal communities in these Texas regions are stable over time and could be amenable to marker development.

Zugl.: Hagen, FernUniversity, Diss., 2006.

Zugl.: Dresden, Techn. Univ., Diplomarbeit, 2005

Zugl.: Erlangen, Nürnberg, University, Diss., 2006.