Thesis (B.A. (Hons.)) - University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliography.

This dissertation develops an analytic framework to undertake cell design in a cellular system. The cell is modeled in a broader sense than ever done before. In our analytical model, we incorporated the use of guard channels, queueing of new calls, and hybrid channel allocation. A numerically stable and efficient solution to a queueing system with two arrival streams having reserved and borrowable servers has been developed. This queueing system is used to model the cell behavior. The model provides valuable insights into the behavior of the cell, and this in turn has been used to devise an efficient stochastic optimization algorithm for determining the minimum number of channels required by the cell. Our techniques are stable, easy to implement for practical systems and produce optimized solutions quickly. This is particularly useful because we expect that future designs of cellular systems may execute such algorithms on cell-site processors. / Ph. D.

Decades of research suggest that talking on a cell phone interferes with driving performance, but the underlying mechanisms of this interference remain poorly understood. Driving and cell phone research often generalizes easy, novice laboratory tasks to the well practiced task of driving, and it frequently ignores important factors like emotion in tasks used to represent cell phone conversation. This experiment sought to address these issues. Participants performed a tracking task and two verbal tasks over 7 one-hour sessions. At some times the tasks were performed individually, and at others the tracking task was performed concurrently with one of the verbal tasks. Participants watched an anger-inducing film clip at the beginning of the 7th session and were instructed to either down-regulate or maintain that anger. Results challenged the validity of generalizing easy novice task performance to driving performance.

D. Tech. Marketing, Logistics and Sport Management / This study explores supply chain costs in the South African mobile phone industry, which then leads to the development of a supply chain cost-reduction framework for this industry. The knowledge generated from this study should assist South African mobile phone companies to reduce their supply chain costs. On the other hand, this study should also assist regulating authorities (the Department of Communication and The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa [ICASA]) to gain insight into the cost drivers in the mobile phone supply chain and the contributing factors to high call tariffs in South Africa. It should also inform appropriate and adequate mobile telecommunication policies. The purpose of this study is to explore supply chain costs in the South African mobile phone industry, and to develop a supply chain cost-reduction framework for the South African mobile phone industry.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 265-297).

M.A. (Fundamental Communication) / Communication technologies like the mobile phone often present a double-edged sword in romantic relationships. While the mobile phone can enhance communication, it can simultaneously present a source of conflict. But through the use of a rule-based system, romantic partners can minimise conflict. This study investigated mobile phone usage rules that are negotiated by adolescents and young adults in their romantic relationships and also how these rules have been perceived to affect the romantic relationship. Of particular focus were rules that pertained specifically to the management of personal privacy boundaries by partners through the appendage of the mobile phone. The dialectic framework of Communication Privacy Management presented a nuanced lens from which to investigate the surveillance dimension of mobile phone appropriation in romantic relationships. The rise of peer-to-peer monitoring offered a unique point of departure that makes understanding the manifestation of this form surveillance in romantic relationships relevant. Findings conducted from surveys and interviews indicate that the negotiation of rules for appropriate mobile phone rules is indeed crucial to not only minimising conflict in romantic relationships but also enhancing trust and respect in the dyad. So important were trust and harmony that partners are even willing to allow their implicit rules and understandings of privacy to be superseded by a pursuit for these relational qualities. In addition to this, partners preferred not to resolves relational arguments over the phone because of the impetuous and intrusive nature of the mobile phone persona. While some rules remained constant, the quantitative survey showed that rules were evolutionary in nature as the relationships grew. The subsequent qualitative interviews also confirmed this finding.

The frequency spectrum allocated to cellular mobile telephone systems is very limited. Efficient channel assignment schemes can significantly increase the utilization of the available frequency channels. Virtually Fixed Channel Assignment (VFCA) is a dynamic channel assignment method. The idea behind it is simple: each cell is allocated a set of nominal channels. A call request generated in a cell is assigned a nominal channel if one is available. Otherwise, a channel from an adjacent cell is borrowed to serve this call as long as frequency interference constraints are satisfied. VFCA is a promising method because (i) it is efficient in channel assignment, and (ii) it is relatively easy to implement compared to other dynamic channel assignment methods. VFCA has been analyzed based primarily on simulation studies in the past twenty years. In this thesis, we focus our study on development of new channel borrowing strategies and analytical models for VFCA. The contribution of this work is summarized as follows. (1) Development of an queuing model for performance analysis of VFCA. This model may also be used to conduct sensitivity analysis on some system parameters when VFCA is used. (2) Proposed a new channel reservation scheme for handoffs. (In a cellular system, when a call using a channel crosses a cell boundary, it needs to be handed off to a new channel in the new cell. This is called a handoff.) An optimization model for this channel reservation scheme is developed. (3) Applied the fluid-flow approach to modeling an integrated mobile cellular system that uses VFCA to estimate the distribution of data queue length in a cell of the system. These results are useful in the design, performance analysis and optimization of VFCA schemes.

Thesis advisor: Timothy Duket / What is the relationship between inequality and the prevalence of mobile phones in a society? It is obvious that being poor is a barrier to owning a mobile phone, but what about simply being poorer than those around you? Stories abound about the benefits mobile phones bring to the poor in developing countries. For example, in Bangladesh's Narshingdi district, mobile phones have made it possible for families who once struggled to survive, to earn more than enough to eat well and live comfortably. These isolated villagers who grow crops or raise livestock can use their village cell phone to speak directly to wholesalers and are able to get better prices for their goods in the marketplace (Ahmed, 2000). In Cote d'Ivoire coffee growers share mobile phones to follow hourly changes in coffee prices in order to sell at the most profitable time (Lopez, 2000). But how likely will these poor people be to access a mobile phone if they are significantly poorer than the “rich” in their countries. In place where there is such a disparity, does unequal income distribution make it less likely that someone will own a cell phone, or does something about the condition make adopting this technology even more widespread? As it turns out, the results of this study indicate that the higher the level of inequality in a country, the more likely someone living there is to own a cell phone. While this result seems counterintuitive, I will discuss in detail a few ways to explain it after giving some background on the subject. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2003. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

<p>India is often considered to be a high tech country; however there are substantial differences in both adaptation and use of new technology between urban and rural areas. Many times women are excluded from the technological development due to social norms and traditions. The use of cell phones in India has increased profoundly in recent years; meanwhile the use of computers spreads at a much lower rate. Still the women are not making full use of these new communication technologies.</p><p>In order to investigate this, a field study in Tuticorin area in South East India was conducted, where interviews with small-scale businesswomen were carried out. The purpose of this degree project is to investigate the current use of Information and Communication Technologies, ICT, among women in the area in order to assess the value of cell phones and identify barriers for the use of computers as communication tools.</p><p>The empirical findings show that the four women mainly studied, all used cell phones within their businesses, but to different extents. Using the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing group’s network theory and the resource based 4R-model, we have analysed the current use cell phones as well as barriers and enabling factors for the use of communication technologies. The main barrier for the cell phone use is the ownership issue, limiting the women’s access. For cell phones, low prices and accessible knowledge enable the spread and use, whereas the same factors can create barriers for the use of computers.</p>

India is often considered to be a high tech country; however there are substantial differences in both adaptation and use of new technology between urban and rural areas. Many times women are excluded from the technological development due to social norms and traditions. The use of cell phones in India has increased profoundly in recent years; meanwhile the use of computers spreads at a much lower rate. Still the women are not making full use of these new communication technologies. In order to investigate this, a field study in Tuticorin area in South East India was conducted, where interviews with small-scale businesswomen were carried out. The purpose of this degree project is to investigate the current use of Information and Communication Technologies, ICT, among women in the area in order to assess the value of cell phones and identify barriers for the use of computers as communication tools. The empirical findings show that the four women mainly studied, all used cell phones within their businesses, but to different extents. Using the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing group’s network theory and the resource based 4R-model, we have analysed the current use cell phones as well as barriers and enabling factors for the use of communication technologies. The main barrier for the cell phone use is the ownership issue, limiting the women’s access. For cell phones, low prices and accessible knowledge enable the spread and use, whereas the same factors can create barriers for the use of computers.