<p> This project discusses the Home Automation System (HAS), which utilizes the technology of wireless sensor network (WSN). The control mechanism of these systems is based on ZigBee that works in collaboration with mobile and Internet systems. The input of these devices is quite different, which creates challenges for the creators of the system. Certain household devices are very easy to control while others have comparatively complex inputs. The system should be able to control both types of devices through a singular interface. This challenge is overcome by implementation of the wireless sensor nodes in a HAS. A highly important advantage of using ZigBee&rsquo;s monitoring system is energy conservation, and reduction in power costs. Utilization of HAS leads to a decrease in consumption of water, electricity and other energy inputs, a reduction of the cost of utilities, and the improvement of security features. The paper demonstrates that Home Automation System has numerous applications beyond control of lighting, temperature and security cameras in a household. The technology opens up frontiers for numerous other applications in the area of home assistance and even in home health care.</p>

<p> The effectiveness of a cognitive radio (CR) system depends mainly on involved spectrum sensing techniques. The main aim of CR is for effective utilization of the spectrum opportunistically by sharing it with secondary users (SUs), when the primary user (PU) is absent. In this project, cooperative spectrum sensing using weights based on the distance measures from the PU and Multitaper Method (MTM) method is briefly explained. The results show that MTM method provides more accurate threshold value compared to other methods for low signal to noise ratios (SNRs), hence improving the spectrum sensing technique. The results also show that MTM method requires a lesser number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) sub-blocks compared to Periodogram (PE) for the same performance.</p>

<p> Sustainable infrastructure that is used and maintained by communities over time, and resilient to hazards, is sorely needed in developing countries where natural disasters cause disproportionate damages and mortality as well as impede development efforts. Shelter is universally recognized as a foundational element of disaster recovery; and while its ability to provide protection from the elements is a core function, it also affords broader social and economic benefits. Unfortunately, conventional approaches in post-disaster shelter reconstruction focus primarily on rapid and recognizable results over long-term outcomes, perpetuating pre-existing vulnerabilities and failing to provide acceptable standards of service. There exists a need to better understand how shelter recovery processes employed by stakeholders lead to eventual infrastructure system outcomes. This research longitudinally analyzed 19 humanitarian shelter projects following Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in the Philippines over a three-year period, seeking to answer the overarching research question of <i>what combinations of coordination, stakeholder participation and training across project delivery phases lead to resilient and sustainable community infrastructure systems?</i> A multi-method approach consisting of case study methods and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was employed to analyze the impact of combinations of project processes in leading to infrastructure outcomes. This research (1) identified key factors influencing inter-organizational coordination in post-disaster contexts; (2) identified types of household participation that arise in shelter projects and analyzed their impact on project outcomes; (3) identified methods of construction training used in shelter projects and their impact on household knowledge acquisition; and (4) analyzed combinations of coordination, participation, and training across the planning, design, and construction phases of shelter projects that led to infrastructure resilience and sustainability, in isolation and combination. The results contribute to understanding of shelter processes and organizing structures necessary for resilient and sustainable systems, building theory of reconstruction process pathways. Practically, findings can aid practitioners identify more effective modalities of delivering shelter assistance in post-disaster humanitarian response.</p><p>

<p> A new terahertz-frequency (THz) relative positioning capability is developed and demonstrated in simulation for the formation flight of cargo aircraft. Formation flight is used by the military for a wide variety of applications. This work specifically considers the precision airdrop of personnel and supplies over hostile territory. During these operations, aircraft must maintain precise relative positioning; however, the current technology is flawed because radio signals are easy to detect and GPS is easily jammed. We propose using THz signals, the unique propagation properties of which provide both stealth and robustness to jamming. THz is a nascent technology with growing interest, particularly for high-speed wireless communications. To the author&rsquo;s knowledge, this is the first exploration of its potential for positioning. This dissertation develops methods for the measurement of range and bearing angle from the THz signal and a communication scheme to transmit altitude measurements over the THz link. These measurements are then fused together in a Kalman filter to estimate the aircrafts&rsquo; relative positions. Results from an integrated simulation demonstrate that the THz system is capable of precisely measuring the position, with cross-track errors of 11 m, two-sigma, at separations of 2 km, well within the 50 m requirements for the precision airdrop application.</p><p>

<p> This study analyzed intercultural communication and cross-cultural hurdles between a multinational mining company, &ldquo;the Company,&rdquo; and the indigenous Western Shoshone community in Northern Nevada. Standpoint theory, as presented by Wood (2004), was the framework used to analyze the engagement methods utilized by the Company and the local tribal organizations to identify communication barriers between the two groups. This study explored an external perception of the Company and the general mining industry from tribal employees, as well as the unique perspective of those participants who bring a Native American standpoint to their position of employment within the Company. Research data was derived from focus groups of the Company employees of Native American descent and targeted interviews with external Native American stakeholders. The focus group participants varied by departmental function, tenure, and standing across multiple geographic operations, while the interview participants were employed by two different tribal organizations. Focus group and interview data each highlighted a discernable gap in the Company&rsquo;s current outreach with the local Native American communities and indicated key areas for improvement. Both internal and external participants recommended improvements to the Company&rsquo;s communications strategy and provided specific examples of culturally effective outreach methods and topics. These disparities originated from differing cultural perspectives and standpoints between the Company and the Native American communities. Through improved dialogue practices and communication outreach, this intercultural relationship can progress.</p>

The study presented in this dissertation focusses on the analysis of novices' trajectories in learning genres of their profession, engineering. The goals of the study are: (a) to refine the current understanding of what constitutes professional genre knowledge and of how novices learn and use genres of professional communication, and (b) to test the effectiveness of the suggested pedagogy for an Engineering Communication course. This qualitative longitudinal exploration includes ten case studies that span eight years and trace the participants' trajectories through the university and workplaces. I use a combination of three theoretical perspectives---Rhetorical Genre Studies, Activity Theory, and situated learning---as a lens for the analysis of novices' learning trajectories on their way to becoming professional communicators. The study demonstrates that in addition to the knowledge of genre conventions and understanding of an audience's expectations, genre knowledge is a result of a summative effect of such ingredients accumulated from different sources at different time periods as (a) cultural capital, (b) domain content expertise, (c) the novice's understanding of the improvisational qualities of genre, (d) agency, as reflected in the novice's ability to both seize and create kairotic moments in the chronological flux of time and enact genres in the ways that are recognizable by the community of practice, (e) formal education, (f) workplace experiences, and (g) private intention. The study indicates that the ingredients of genre knowledge accumulated in one context may be used in another, that is, that rhetorical strategy may be portable, thus allowing novices to adapt genres learned elsewhere to a new rhetorical situation. The study also shows that communication practices can be successfully taught outside of local contexts, for example, in the academic classroom. In addition I draw pedagogical implications of the inquiry for the communication classroom; for example, that communication instructors need to extend their pedagogies beyond teaching genre conventions and audience awareness and provide classroom contexts that would allow students to develop the understanding of genre as allowing for flexibility and educated intervention. The study also shows that the timing of the offering of domain-specific communication courses is crucial for the students to be able to develop the sense of connections among communication courses, subject matter courses, and professional practice.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2011. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-61). Also available on the World Wide Web.

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In the area of project management, it is well understood that effective communication processes impact positively on project performance. Despite this, project teams still struggle to develop effective communication plans that address their project communication needs. The evidence of this is that many project problems are attributed to poor communication. The literature addresses the needs and shortcomings of group communication and communication planning in general; but there is however, a scarcity of literature describing how to plan for the internal communication needs of high-performance civil engineering teams. With the limited literature available on the topic, this study seeks to validate how effective the current communication planning methods are at Aurecon in meeting the communication needs of its project teams. This qualitative research project is a case study of communication planning within the project teams at Aurecon in Port Elizabeth. A semi-structured interview process was followed, addressing specific questions, without limiting the direction of the interviews. Project team members, working on high performance projects, were asked for their thoughts, feelings and suggestions about existing communication practices and project communication planning. Overall, it was found that the existing communication-planning practices at Aurecon did not have any beneficial effect on how team members communicate. It was concluded that project teams would benefit from improved communication-planning processes that are more inclusive of their specific communication needs. Organisations working on high-performance projects will benefit directly from the research, which challenges these organisations to think more broadly about how they plan for communication at a project level. The research provides practical suggestions for improving the way that teams plan their communication processes; and it does so by focusing on the communication needs of the team members. Recommendations are made to professional bodies, tertiary institutions, project organisations – and most importantly – to project team members themselves. The recommendations to project team members include taking ownership of communication practices, asserting their views, as well as making their needs known.

Within the fields of network operation and performance measurement, it is a common requirement that the technologies involved must provide the basis for an effective, reliable, measurable and controllable service. In order to comply with the service performance criteria, the constrains often lead to very complex techniques and methodologies for the simulation, control, test, and measurement processes. This thesis addresses some of the factors that contribute to the overall spectrum of statistical performance measurements in telecommunication services. Specifically, it is concerned with the development of three low complexity and effective techniques for real-time traffic generation, control and measurement. These techniques have proved to be accurate and near optimum. In the three cases the work starts with a literature survey of known methodologies, and later new techniques are proposed and investigated by simulating the processes involved. The work is based on the use of high-speed Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks. The problem of developing a fast traffic generation technique for the simulation of Variable Bit Rate traffic sources is considered in the first part of this thesis. For this purpose, statistical measures are obtained from the analysis of different traffic profiles or from the literature. With the aid of these measures, a model for the fast generation of Variable Bit Rate traffic at different time resolutions is developed. The simulated traffic is then analysed in order to obtain the equivalent set of statistical measures and these are compared against those observed in real traffic traces. The subject of traffic control comprises a very wide area in communication networks. It refers to the generalised classification of actions such as Connection Admission and Flow Control, Traffic Policing and Shaping. In the second part of this thesis, a method to modify the instantaneous traffic profile of a variable rate source is developed. It is particularly useful for services which have a hard bound on the cell loss probability, but a soft bound on the admissible delay, matching the characteristics of some of the services provided by ATM networks. Finally, this thesis is also concerned with a particular aspect of the operation and management of high speed networks, or OAM functions plane, namely with the monitoring of network resources. A monitoring technique based on numerical approximation and statistical sampling methods is developed and later used to characterise a particular traffic stream, or a particular connection, within a high speed network. The resulting algorithms are simple and computationally inexpensive, but effective and accurate at the same time, and are suitable for real-time processing.