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To meet the latest requirements of the 6G standards, several techniques have been proposed in the open literature, such as millimeter waves, terahertz communication, and massive MIMO. In addition to these recent technologies, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is strongly advocated for 6G networks, as the 6G standard will not be dedicated to broadband services, but will rather be oriented towards reduced geographical cellular coverage. In this context, the deployment of UAVs is considered a key solution for seamless connectivity and reliable coverage. Although UAVs are characterized by their high mobility and their ability to establish line-of-sight links, their use is still impeded by several factors such as weather conditions, their limited computing power, and, most importantly, their limited energy. In this work, we are aiming for the novel technology that enables indefinite wireless power transfer for UAVs using laser beams. We propose a novel UAV deployment strategy, based on which we analyze the overall performance of the system in terms of wireless coverage and provide some useful insights. To this end, we use tractable tools from stochastic geometry to model the complex communication system.

Guaranteeing Quality of Service (QoS) in an (edge-)cloud environment is one of the biggest open problems in the field of cloud computing. Currently, deploy- ment of cloud applications is managed by cloud orchestration systems, such as Kubernetes. These systems make deployment of applications in cloud easier than ever, offering their users the benefits of availability, scalability and resilience. However, at the moment they are not capable of optimizing the deployment of cloud applications with respect to performance QoS metrics, such as response time and throughput. The thesis proposes an approach that provides probabilistic guarantees on the performance QoS metrics in an (edge-)cloud environment. The approach is based on assessing the performance of cloud applications and subsequently controlling their deployment in a way that the applications are deployed only in the environ- ments in which their performance does not violate their QoS requirements. The thesis also presents a proof-of-concept implementation of that approach. The im- plementation verifies the effectiveness of the approach and will serve for further research.

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The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of compliant mechanisms in space applications and design, analyze, and test a compliant space mechanism. Current space mechanisms are already highly refined and it is unclear if significant improvements in performance can be made by continuing to refine current designs. Compliant mechanisms offer a promising opportunity to change the fundamental approach to achieving controlled motion in space systems and have potential for dramatic increases in mechanism performance given the constraints of the space environment. A compliant deployment hinge was selected for development after industry input was gathered. Concepts for large-displacement compliant hinges are investigated. A design process was developed that links the performance requirements of deployment to the design parameters of a deployment hinge. A large-displacement monolithic compliant rotational hinge, the Flex-16, is designed, analyzed, and tested. It was developed for possible application as a spacecraft deployment hinge and designs were developed using three different materials (polypropylene, titanium, and carbon nanotubes) and manufacturing processes (CNC milling, electron beam manufacturing metal rapid prototyping, and a carbon nanotube framework) on two size scales (macro and micro). A parametric finite element model allowed for prediction of prototype behavior before fabrication. The Flex-16 hinge is capable of 90 degrees of deflection without failure or contact and can be designed to meet industry requirements for space.

This study extracted descriptive information and analyzed content in 23 children's books related to military deployment using a coding instrument entitled, “Military Bibliotherapy Coding Instrument for Children's Books,” developed for this study. Additionally, the content from the books was compared to themes found in current research literature. The books were not as racially diverse as the military population. Books for black children are underrepresented with only 8% of books having black characters compared to the 16.9% black population in active duty military service. The most prevalent response to the deployment of a loved one described is sadness with 65% of the books describing this response. Finding ways to keep the main character and the deployed person connected is the most prevalent coping strategy described in the books (82%). A surprising find is that pride in the deployed person's military service is described as a coping strategy in some of the books although it was not found in the research literature. All phases of deployment were described with the exception of reintegration. No books addressed this important phase of deployment. Information from this analysis will assist parents, educators and mental health professionals in selecting books for bibliotherapy use that align with the unique circumstances and characteristics of military children. Information presented will also inform and encourage publishers to seek out and publish books to more adequately meet the demographics and meet the unique experiences faced by military children.

Traditional mechanisms of deployment of deferent applications can be costly in terms of time and resources, especially when the application requires a specific environment to run upon and has a different kind of dependencies so to set up such an application, it would need an expert to find out all required dependencies. In addition, it is difficult to deploy applications with efficient usage of resources available in the distributed environment of the cloud. Deploying different projects on the same resources is a challenge. To solve this problem, we evaluated different deployment mechanisms using heterogeneous infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) called OpenStack and Microsoft Azure. we also used platform-as-a-service called Kubernetes. Finally, to automate and auto integrate deployments, we used Spinnaker as the continuous delivery framework. The goal of this thesis work is to evaluate and improve different deployment mechanisms in terms of edge cloud performance. Performance depends on achieving efficient usage of cloud resources, reducing latency, scalability, replication and rolling upgrade, load balancing between data nodes, high availability and measuring zero- downtime for deployed applications. These problems are solved basically by designing and deploying infrastructure and platform in which Kubernetes (PaaS) is deployed on top of OpenStack (IaaS). In addition, the usage of Docker containers rather than regular virtual machines (containers orchestration) will have a huge impact. The conclusion of the report would demonstrate and discuss the results along with various test cases regarding the usage of different methods of deployment, and the presentation of the deployment process. It includes also suggestions to develop more reliable and secure deployment in the future when having heterogeneous container orchestration infrastructure. / Traditionella mekanismer för utplacering av deferentapplikationer kan vara kostsamma när det gäller tid och resurser, särskilt när applikationen kräver en specifik miljö att löpa på och har en annan typ av beroende, så att en sådan applikation upprättas, skulle det behöva en expert att hitta ut alla nödvändiga beroenden. Dessutom är det svårt att distribuera applikationer med effektiv användning av resurser tillgängliga i molnens distribuerade i Edge Cloud Computing. Att distribuera olika projekt på samma resurser är en utmaning. För att lösa detta problem skulle jag utvärdera olika implementeringsmekanismer genom att använda heterogen infrastruktur-as-a-service (IaaS) som heter OpenStack och Microsoft Azure. Jag skulle också använda plattform-som-en-tjänst som heter Kubernetes. För att automatisera och automatiskt integrera implementeringar skulle jag använda Spinnaker som kontinuerlig leveransram. Målet med detta avhandlingsarbete är att utvärdera och förbättra olika implementeringsmekanismer när det gäller Edge Cloud prestanda. Prestanda beror på att du uppnår effektiv användning av Cloud resurser, reducerar latens, skalbarhet, replikering och rullningsuppgradering, lastbalansering mellan datodenoder, hög tillgänglighet och mätning av nollstanntid för distribuerade applikationer. Dessa problem löses i grunden genom att designa och distribuera infrastruktur och plattform där Kubernetes (PaaS) används på toppen av OpenStack (IaaS). Dessutom kommer användningen av Docker- behållare istället för vanliga virtuella maskiner (behållare orkestration) att ha en stor inverkan. Slutsatsen av rapporten skulle visa och diskutera resultaten tillsammans med olika testfall angående användningen av olika metoder för implementering och presentationen av installationsprocessen. Det innehåller också förslag på att utveckla mer tillförlitlig och säker implementering i framtiden när den har heterogen behållareorkesteringsinfrastruktur.

When developing applications, developers face a challenge when they have to select the technologies that best fit the requirements gathered for the application that is going to be developed. New programming languages, frameworks, stacks, etc., have arisen in recent years making the choice even harder. Cloud computing is a new technology that has gained popularity in the last two decades providing computing resources to developers and companies. As with the other technologies, there are many cloud service providers to choose from. In this thesis, the two biggest cloud service providers Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure are compared. Furthermore, after comparing the providers a prototype of a customer relationship management system was deployed to the selected provider. From the data gathered it could be seen that further research needs to be done to decide which provider might fit better for application development.

Many organizations are struggling to improve customer-focused quality in today's highly competitive domestic and global markets. At the same time, these organizations have failed to implement the Six Sigma methodology into their daily control and strategic planning processes. Six Sigma deployment failures have been categorized as coming from many sources, both management related and person related. Some of the key management related Six Sigma project failures have been identified and discussed in this research work. For continuous improvement to truly take root, organizations must realize that just successfully applying quality tools on any process will not necessarily provide dramatic results, unless the concepts of policy management and deployment are institutionalized. A model called "Six Sigma Policy Deployment" was developed and has been proposed which may help mitigate Six Sigma project failures that are presently attributed to management and organizational issues. By integrating Policy Deployment, the Six Sigma DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) problem solving approach, and the classic PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) Cycle, the potential for breakthrough improvements in any organization can be enhanced. The model was contrasted against a list of 30 sources of failure in typical Six Sigma projects in order to validate its applicability to mitigate these failures. Furthermore these failures were matched with the work of recent quality theorists in order to validate their occurrence and relevance. A case study section is presented to illustrate FPL's Quality Improvement Program and the Six Sigma Lifecycle, which are bases for the new model. This section also highlights how the use of the proposed Six Sigma Policy Deployment model could help to mitigate potential Six Sigma project failures.