This dissertation develops a new and efficient method of routing table lookups for the current and next generation Internet Protocols (IP). A router performs a table lookup to determine the next hop address on a data packet's path to its destination host. Next hop data is aggregated on variable-length prefixes that are derived from a destination host's network and sub-network (subnet) identifiers based on the Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) strategy. Since CIDR prefix length is arbitrary, a longest matching prefix (LMP) search must be performed to determine the next hop. Conventional search techniques do not work well for LMP search. However, if lookups are not done efficiently, a bottleneck develops at the router, and the performance of the network is degraded. Although research into lookup strategies has progressed over the last decade, no method has been proven to perform well for both current IP routing, IP version 4 (IPv4), and next generation IP (IPng or IPv6). Furthermore, most researchers ignore dynamic updates to the routing table and their effect on the actual throughput rate. The method advanced in this dissertation is based in software, scales well with regards to the length of the address, and supports multi-gigabit routing even with updates included. To achieve this notable improvement, an original scheme called PHASE, for perfect hashing across segmented expansions, was constructed. PHASE stores prefixes in a hierarchy of segment tables, partitioning each prefix into discrete segments. The algorithm expands each segment such that every segment in a table is of uniform length. A search progresses by segmenting the target address and using single-displacement perfect hashing to perform lookups across the segment tables. The result is a bounded worst-case performance of two accesses for IPv4 and eight accesses for IPv6. The IPv6 worst-case is comparable to that of some contemporary IPv4 techniques. Additionally, PHASE provides a dynamic update method that performs two orders of magnitude better than other suggested techniques, and eliminates memory fragmentation.

Many studies exist that examine ethical beliefs and attitudes of university students attending medium or large institutions. There are also many studies which examine ethical attitudes and beliefs of computer science and information systems majors. None, however, examines ethical attitudes of university students (regardless of undergraduate major) at a small, Christian, liberal arts institution (Oklahoma Baptist University) regarding computer related situations. This study evaluates and compares students at a small, Christian, liberal arts school with those from neighboring state schools as well as compares those students' ethical attitudes with those of experts (thoughtful, responsible people in computer science, technology, and business). All of the situations presented involved some aspect of computing technology. Findings tend to indicate that school size (small versus large) may be more of an influence on ethical beliefs rather than type of school (state versus private, Christian) Likewise, students attending OBU were more likely to exhibit significant differences in attitudes when age, expertise were used as predictor work experience, variables rather or computer than using gender, major, or completion of a prior course in ethics. Finally, OBU students' attitudes differed significantly from those of experts in almost half of the questions presented.

This study investigated and compared the use of electronic design and simulation applications as an alternative to traditional circuit construction and experimentation laboratory activities in secondary technology education. The primary research question asked if using contemporary electronics circuit design and simulation applications improves student learning with higher-level application, synthesis, and evaluation skills over traditional laboratory circuit construction and analysis activities. Students were evaluated for their lower levels of understanding, which validated prior research on simulations for electronics instruction. More importantly, students were evaluated for higher levels of learning through hands-on design and troubleshooting activities that demonstrated problem-solving skills inherent in technology education. A quasi-experimental approach was used to evaluate student learning. Two treatments were used where the research group completed learning activities using an electronics simulation package, and the control group used traditional circuit construction techniques. It was hypothesized that students in the two treatments would show no significant difference in their basic knowledge of electronics. It was further hypothesized that there would be no significant difference in between the two treatments when evaluating the students' ability to design and troubleshoot electronics circuits. Students in the two treatments completed a common instructional unit to learn electronics component and circuit theory. Students were evaluated for their learning achievement with knowledge, comprehension, and application levels of understanding of electronics through a written pretest and posttest. Analysis, synthesis, and evaluation levels of understanding were assessed through problem solving activities that included design and troubleshooting activities. Statistical analysis of the test and activity results determined that there were no significant differences in learning achievement between the two treatments. This study identified that circuit design and simulation applications are an effective alternative to traditional laboratory exercises. Pedagogical implications include the appropriate use of simulations, advantages gained through both laboratory treatments, and the effects of simulations on lower and higher levels of understanding. These findings are relevant to technology education instruction as well as technical, engineering, mathematical, and scientific instructional programs.

The objective of this study was to secure information from a wide distribution of software development practitioners about their development processes, their views about related processes and methods and their perceived and actual software process maturity. Research questions answered in this study were: (a) what are the current software development practices in industry? (b) Are there significant differences between the practitioner's perceived and actual development process maturity; (c) Is there correlation between professional and/or organizational demographics and perceived and actual development processes?; and (d) What do practitioners believe are significant success and failure factors as they relate to job performance? These questions and others were answered by this study. A self-administered, mailed survey, the Software Development Process Survey, was developed for this study as the data gathering instrument. The survey experienced a return rate of 49.2% and 95.6% of the questions were answered by the 203 respondents. Due to the size, distribution and response to validity-check questions, the results of the survey were considered fairly representative of the targeted population. Two metrics were also developed. The Perceived Process Maturity Level was the result of the subject's stated perceived, estimated, process maturity level. The Calculated Process Maturity Level resulted from calculating responses to 25 process-related questions. The two metrics were then compared to each other and to the actual distribution of the Capability Maturity Model developed by the Software Engineering Institute. The data show that the subjects have defined a 0.3 level difference between their perceived and actual process maturity level. Additionally, the subjects generally felt that their present position, company and product quality were not as good as experienced in previous positions. The study also revealed that metrics and metric processes had low priority, neither helped or hindered the development process, could be minimized in today's competitive environment, and increased development costs. A fully annotated version of the survey is included.

This study gathered information about the training of teachers and the application of computers in education in Puerto Rico. The information for the study was assessed mainly by two questionnaires designed by the researcher and distributed to 229 teachers in public and private schools who were using computers as a teaching tool and 21 college professors who were teaching or had taught the Computer Literacy course in Teacher Education Programs. The syllabi of the computer courses were also consulted. Results of the study indicated that higher education institutions meet, at least at a satisfactory level, the standards of the International Society for Technology in Education. The computer is used in a variety of tasks as an instructional tool (CAI) and in some managerial tasks (CMI). It is recommended that higher education institutions adopt the competencies presented by the International Society of Technology in Education. It is also important that the universities collaborate with the Department of Education, providing the necessary knowledge and skills that will enable teachers to use the new technologies properly, without forgetting the human part involved in the educational process.

Few things in life are certain. In aviation at least one thing is always true: for every takeoff, there must be a landing. Unfortunately, landings do not always turn out according to plan. In 1995 there were 44,347 transportation fatalities, of which only 969 (2.2 percent) were aviation related. As long as people continue to fly, accidents will continue to happen. The majority of these included a pilot-made decision that determined the outcome. Have pilots been trained well enough to handle any problem that comes their way? A review of flight training literature revealed that only a limited amount of research has been conducted in the area of multimedia training and pilot performance. The purpose of this study was to determine how computer-based training affected student pilots encountering emergency situations. The effect of multimedia and computer-based training continues to be an area of dissension among many in the education and computer industries. This study used a research experiment design with student pilots having less than 50 hours of total flight time. Participants were randomly assigned to a control group or an experimental group, with each group receiving a form of emergency training. Following the training sessions, participants faced several different scenarios involving emergencies in a flight simulator. A review of the literature suggested that participants receiving the multimedia training product would perform better on the flight-simulator evaluation than those receiving traditional training. Data analysis of pilot's performance indicated that there was a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in all areas: motor skills, decision making skills, and overall performance. Additional analysis showed that neither age nor total flight time made a difference in test scores. Safety-minded pilots constantly seek to improve their flying knowledge and skills. Only through learning, then training to apply what has been learned, can a pilot become a safer pilot. Multimedia training products help fulfill this need. Many skill areas use both decision making and motor skills in conjunction with each other. These conclusions can be applied in more areas than just flight training.

The lack of coordination of clinical information communicated between chiropractic and allopathic physicians is detrimental to patients' overall health care. This lack of coordination and communication contributes significantly to the fragmentation of shared patient care among these medical providers. The goal of this research was to identify effective ways to improve coordination of patient information between chiropractic and allopathic physicians through secure methods of electronic communication. This research investigated applying digital pen-and-paper technology, Semantic Web technology standards, and biomedical ontologies to improve coordination of patient information. Specifically, the dissertation investigated whether I) digital pen and- paper technology was a viable approach to capture health data electronically; 2) the proposed agile software development methodology was appropriate for prototyping a secure Web-based Health Record (WHR); and 3) a Semantic Web ontology of an electronic health record for chiropractic medicine was feasible. This investigation also initiated awareness for a new informatics specialty coined Chiro-informatics - the application of computing to solve problems in chiropractic medicine. Volunteer patients from a chiropractic group who were also being treated by an orthopedist, neurologist, or internist were recruited for this investigation. Authentic health data was collected from these patients using digital pen-and-paper technology, and verified for accuracy using Mi-Forms software. The verified data was then transferred automatically into a relational database where ID Protect was executed to secure anonymity for the patients' identities. This authentic health data along with the anonymous identities provided the information base for prototyping the WHR. Next, the Extreme Programming (XP) agile software development methodology was followed to prototype the secure WHR successfully. XP use case stories recorded on CRC cards specified nine software requirements of this proof-of-concept: populating, logging in securely, logging out securely, authenticating, authorizing, viewing, updating, downloading, and printing. Ontologies constitute the backbone of the Semantic Web, which provides data with structure and meaning for computational processing. This research germinated chiro-ontology’s©, a Semantic Web ontology of an electronic health record for chiropractic medicine. Constructing chiro-ontology is feasible by me deploying Semantic Web technology standards for interoperability; 2) leveraging reference ontologies for semantic consistency; and 3) integrating chiropractic expertise for spinal manipulation knowledge.

Intellectual capital - the intangible assets of skill, experience, productivity, information, knowledge, infrastructure, and relationships - can be used to provide a source of competitive advantage. When human, structural, and relational components are properly formalized, captured, and leveraged, a higher value asset can result, directly affecting a company's prosperity. It is advantageous for knowledge-based companies with assets consisting mainly of skill, ideas, and intellectual ability to adopt organizational learning and knowledge management as strategic initiatives and include the intangible assets of intellectual capital in performance measurements. This descriptive study utilized an electronic survey to collect information directly from a sample of project managers active in the information technology (In domain in order to identify the extent to which project managers participated in the management of intellectual capital. In addition, the level of importance these elements have on project success in the opinion of the same group of IT project managers was investigated. This was accomplished in order to identify the practical synergies of the practice of project management and the development of intellectual capital. Finally, a determination of whether or not an awareness of intellectual capital as a formal concept existed among project managers was pursued. Results showed that a majority of the IT project managers participating in the study claimed a basic awareness intellectual capital and reported participation in activities associated with the management of intellectual capital, but at varying frequency levels. Among participants, project managers currently involved in one or more information systems projects also validated that the elements identified as important contributors in the management of intellectual assets are considered important to their project's success. The research proposed expanded the current knowledge base by making explicit the connections of the concepts of intellectual capital management with project management practices and techniques. The study offered a set of recommendations for practicing project managers to use in order to focus on the successful intellectual asset management of an information technology project team, with the aggregate result being further value and wealth creation for the firm.

Choosing suitable enterprise level systems is an important and complicated decision in any domain. The difficulty in selecting suitable Learning Management Systems (LMSs) is compounded by the sheer number of available products from which to choose. The decision process is further complicated by the large number of features and functions contained in these products and the heterogeneous groups of intended audiences (faculty, staff, and students) that will be using these features. The problem addressed by this researcher is the lack of a multi-criteria decision analysis framework for selecting Learning Management Systems (LMSs). Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) provides decision makers with a set of theories, methodologies and techniques that can provide structure and manageability to complex decisions. In developing and testing the MCDA framework for selecting suitable LMSs, a number of steps were taken. First, a set of criteria that could be used in the evaluation of these systems was identified. A panel of experts reviewed the criteria set to ensure that it was essentially complete, and yet small enough to be manageable by an evaluation committee. In addition, the panel reviewed the criteria for scoring independence, operability, and non-redundancy. Then, the criteria set was incorporated into a step-by step model of a multi-criteria decision analysis framework for selecting suitable LMSs. In addition to the master set of criteria, the framework provided techniques for weighting criteria and aggregating scores, as well as an Excel spreadsheet tool for managing this information. A university LMS selection committee then successfully implemented this MCDA framework to evaluate three systems for possible use. As a result, the committee found that the system that was selected through this process satisfactorily represented their preferences with regards to selecting a suitable LMS for their unique environment.

Software developers and users do not, in many cases, work efficiently and effectively together to elicit and agree on software requirements. A different approach to requirement elicitation and approval is proving extremely successful in industry. This approach uses a methodology and technique called Joint Application Development (JAD). JAD is both a team-technique and a methodology that emphasizes structure, a detailed agenda, and an active, trained facilitator. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the use of information technology to support group work. Electronic meeting system (EMS) technology, a specific type of group support system, has evolved since the early 1980s to address the need to provide computer support to work groups. This research study hypothesizes that the union of EMS technology with IAO-like meetings addressing a complex task such as software requirement elicitation will result in improved efficiency and effectiveness, higher quality decisions, greater member satisfaction, and improved consensus. Because testing these hypotheses using a controlled software project is impractical, data synthesis (meta-analysis) techniques were applied to the results from 180 historical laboratory experiments and field studies that examined EMS to support group decision-making. Results were grouped for analysis by research setting and by outcome variable (efficiency, effectiveness, quality, satisfaction and consensus). The results confirm that EMS technology improves group decision-making efficiency and effectiveness, results in higher quality decisions and greater member satisfaction, and improves the process for obtaining consensus in both laboratory and field research settings. The composite field study’s effects were 1 y, to 3 times more significant than those from laboratory experiments. The results support the widely held research premise that historical laboratory and field results are not inconsistent but rather reflect different research situations. In this study, the laboratory findings were categorized to reflect treatments similar to those in field studies (medium to large size groups, medium to difficult tasks); the resulting outcomes were consistent. Because of this consistency of effect between controlled laboratory and field study results, the credibility and generalizability of historical field study outcomes is considerably strengthened.