Wireless network virtualization (WNV) and millimeter wave (mmW) communications are emerging as two key technologies for cellular networks. Virtualization in cellular networks enables wireless services to be decoupled from network resources (e.g., infrastructure and spectrum) so that multiple virtual networks can be built using a shared pool of network resources. At the same time, utilization of the large bandwidth available in mmW frequency band would help to overcome ongoing spectrum scarcity issues. In this context, this dissertation presents efficient frameworks for building virtual networks in sub-6 GHz and mmW bands. Towards developing the frameworks, first, we derive a closed-form expression for the downlink rate coverage probability of a typical sub-6 GHz cellular network with known base station (BS) locations and stochastic user equipment (UE) locations and channel conditions. Then, using the closed-form expression, we develop a sub-6 GHz virtual resource allocation framework that aggregates, slices, and allocates the sub-6 Ghz network resources to the virtual networks in such a way that the virtual networks' sub-6 GHz downlink coverage and rate demands are probabilistically satisfied while resource over-provisioning is minimized in the presence of uncertainty in UE locations and channel conditions. Furthermore, considering the possibility of lack of sufficient sub-6 GHz resources to satisfy the rate coverage demands of all virtual networks, we design a prioritized sub-6 GHz virtual resource allocation scheme where virtual networks are built sequentially based on their given priorities. To this end, we develop static frameworks that allocate sub-6 GHz resources in the presence of uncertainty in UE locations and channel conditions, i.e., before the UE locations and channel conditions are revealed. As a result, when a slice of a BS serves its associated UEs, it can be over-satisfied (i.e., resources left after satisfying the rate demands of all UEs) or under-satisfied (i.e., lack of resources to satisfy the rate demands of all UEs). On the other hand, it is extremely challenging to execute the entire virtual resource allocation process in real time due to the small transmission time intervals (TTIs) of cellular technologies. Taking this into consideration, we develop an efficient scheme that performs the virtual resource allocation in two phases, i.e., virtual network deployment phase (static) and statistical multiplexing phase (adaptive). In the virtual network deployment phase, sub-6 GHz resources are aggregated, sliced, and allocated to the virtual networks considering the presence of uncertainty in UE locations and channel conditions, without knowing which realization of UE locations and channel conditions will occur. Once the virtual networks are deployed, each of the aggregated BSs performs statistical multiplexing, i.e., allocates excess resources from the over-satisfied slices to the under-satisfied slices, according to the realized channel conditions of associated UEs. In this way, we further improve the sub-6 GHz resource utilization. Next, we steer our focus on the mmW virtual resource allocation process. MmW systems typically use beamforming techniques to compensate for the high pathloss. The directional communication in the presence of uncertainty in UE locations and channel conditions, make maintaining connectivity and performing initial access and cell discovery challenging. To address these challenges, we develop an efficient framework for mmW virtual network deployment and UE assignment. The deployment decisions (i.e., the required set of mmW BSs and their optimal beam directions) are taken in the presence of uncertainty in UE locations and channel conditions, i.e., before the UE locations and channel conditions are revealed. Once the virtual networks are deployed, an optimal mmW link (or a fallback sub-6 GHz link) is assigned to each UE according to the realized UE locations and channel conditions. Our numerical results demonstrate the gains brought by our proposed scheme in terms of minimizing resource over-provisioning while probabilistically satisfying virtual networks' sub-6 GHz and mmW demands in the presence of uncertainty in UE locations and channel conditions. / Doctor of Philosophy / In cellular networks, mobile network operators (MNOs) have been sharing resources (e.g., infrastructure and spectrum) as a solution to extend coverage, increase capacity, and decrease expenditures. Recently, due to the advent of 5G wireless services with enormous coverage and capacity demands and potential revenue losses due to over-provisioning to serve peak demands, the motivation for sharing and virtualization has significantly increased in cellular networks. Through wireless network virtualization (WNV), wireless services can be decoupled from the network resources so that various services can efficiently share the resources. At the same time, utilization of the large bandwidth available in millimeter wave (mmW) frequency band would help to overcome ongoing spectrum scarcity issues. However, due to the inherent features of cellular networks, i.e., the uncertainty in user equipment (UE) locations and channel conditions, enabling WNV and mmW communications in cellular networks is a challenging task. Specifically, we need to build the virtual networks in such a way that UE demands are satisfied, isolation among the virtual networks are maintained, and resource over-provisioning is minimized in the presence of uncertainty in UE locations and channel conditions. In addition, the mmW channels experience higher attenuation and blockage due to their small wavelengths compared to conventional sub-6 GHz channels. To compensate for the high pathloss, mmW systems typically use beamforming techniques. The directional communication in the presence of uncertainty in UE locations and channel conditions, make maintaining connectivity and performing initial access and cell discovery challenging. Our goal is to address these challenges and develop optimization frameworks to efficiently enable virtualization and mmW technologies in cellular networks.

[pt] Este trabalho apresenta uma infraestrutura para implantação remota e descentralizada de componentes de software distribuídos, multi-linguagem e multi-plataforma. Diferente de outros trabalhos, essa infraestrutura suporta a instalação local de componentes com dependências estáticas, que são geridas por um sistema de pacotes, semelhante àqueles usados em sistemas operacionais baseados em Linux. A fim de simplificar a gesão do ambiente de execução e do ciclo de vida dos componentes, essa infraestrutura oferece uma interface programática que permite o planejamento da implantação e o mapeamento físico por níveis graduais de detalhamento. Os níveis graduais de detalhamento ajudam na modularizaçãoo dos planos de implantação e permitem o mapeamento automático, semi-automático ou totalmente manual dos componentes no ambiente de execução e nas máquinas físicas. Isso garante ao desenvolvedor um maior controle sobre a distribuição dos recursos, caso necessite. O projeto dessa infraestrutura visa facilitar trabalhos futuros, como o desenvolvimento de novas estratégias automáticas da implantação e a integração com linguagens de descrição de arquitetura. / [en] This work presents an infrastructure for remote and decentralized deployment of distributed, multi-language and multi-platform component-based applications. Unlike other component deployment systems, this infrastructure supports the local installation of static dependencies, which are managed by a packaging system, similar to those used in Linux-based operating systems. In order to simplify the management of the execution environment and the component’s life-cycle, this infrastructure provides an API that allows the deployment planning and the physical mapping by incremental level of details. The incremental level of details promote the modularisation of deployment plans and allow the automatic, semi-automatic or fully manual mapping of components in the execution environment and the physical resources. This provides a better control over the distribution of resources to the developer, if needed. The design of this infrastructure aims to provide a basis for future work, as the development of new strategies for automatic deployment and the integration with architecture description languages.

Much traditional user interface evaluation is conducted in usability laboratories, where a small number of selected users is directly observed by trained evaluators. However, as the network itself and the remote work setting have become intrinsic parts of usage patterns, evaluators often have limited access to representative users for usability evaluation in the laboratory and the users' work context is difficult or impossible to reproduce in a laboratory setting. These barriers to usability evaluation led to extending the concept of usability evaluation beyond the laboratory, typically using the network itself as a bridge to take interface evaluation to a broad range of users in their natural work settings. The over-arching goal of this work is to develop and evaluate a cost-effective remote usability evaluation method for real-world applications used by real users doing real tasks in real work environments. This thesis reports the development of such a method, and the results of a study to: • investigate feasibility and effectiveness of involving users with to identify and report critical incidents in usage • investigate feasibility and effectiveness of transforming remotely-gathered critical incidents into usability problem descriptions • gain insight into various parameters associated with the method. / Master of Science

Air quality significantly impacts health and overall quality of life, making its measurement essential. However, most affordable air quality devices are designed only for use within WiFi range and cannot handle extreme temperatures, limiting their usefulness for people in remote or extreme environments, such as regions with harsh winter climates. This limitation is concerning, as winter often brings worse air quality due to temperature inversions that trap pollutants and increase fuel burning for heating. Inversion is a problem as close to home as Utah Valley, and as far away as Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Most low-cost air quality sensors are not built for rural, remote, or mobile locations, leaving these areas underserved by current technology. To address this gap, we developed a durable air quality sensor designed for long-term use in harsh, frontier environments. Our sensor performs reliably in extreme climates, withstanding temperatures as low as -40°C, and ensures dependable data collection and remote storage. Equipped with robust wireless networking, it uses cellular technology for real-time data transmission and features a secondary Long Range (LoRa) radio, enabling coverage in areas without cellular service.

The paper describes a method for implementing a machine learning model into the enterprise network infrastructure to detect and classify harmful software in the Internet of Things environment. / В работе описан способ внедрения модели машинного обучения в сетевую инфраструктуру предприятия для обнаружения и классификации вредоносного ПО в среде Интернета вещей.

With the world economy becoming unpredictable, it has become a necessity for businesses to relook at the way they do business. The world has become competitive and companies that aim to become profitable have seen the need to find ways to improve efficiencies and increase productivity to stay relevant. There has been an adoption of strategies that are aimed at improving the efficiencies in companies such as Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). The strategy is aimed at improving equipment efficiencies and increase productivity through the transfer of certain skills from maintenance personnel to operators. The aim is that the operators perform some of the activities that the maintenance people used to do and they do the more complex tasks. By transferring these skills to operators there is constant cleaning, inspections and lubricating of equipment. This frees up time for maintenance people to do planning and other jobs that require time and higher skills levels. The implementation of these activities allows companies to tap into unused capacity that was always hidden by breakdowns and unplanned stops. The process however requires commitment from management and all stakeholders involved in the organisation. There are prescribed implementation processes that can be followed or companies can follow their own processes but the fundamentals of involving people from the onset must be followed. The involvement of stakeholders creates commitment at all levels and in order to sustain this initiative people must be committed to it. The inclusion of the activities transferred from maintenance people to operators, will reinforce the knowledge and habits required from operators and perhaps sustain the initiative. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

With the world economy becoming unpredictable, it has become a necessity for businesses to relook at the way they do business. The world has become competitive and companies that aim to become profitable have seen the need to find ways to improve efficiencies and increase productivity to stay relevant. There has been an adoption of strategies that are aimed at improving the efficiencies in companies such as Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). The strategy is aimed at improving equipment efficiencies and increase productivity through the transfer of certain skills from maintenance personnel to operators. The aim is that the operators perform some of the activities that the maintenance people used to do and they do the more complex tasks. By transferring these skills to operators there is constant cleaning, inspections and lubricating of equipment. This frees up time for maintenance people to do planning and other jobs that require time and higher skills levels. The implementation of these activities allows companies to tap into unused capacity that was always hidden by breakdowns and unplanned stops. The process however requires commitment from management and all stakeholders involved in the organisation. There are prescribed implementation processes that can be followed or companies can follow their own processes but the fundamentals of involving people from the onset must be followed. The involvement of stakeholders creates commitment at all levels and in order to sustain this initiative people must be committed to it. The inclusion of the activities transferred from maintenance people to operators, will reinforce the knowledge and habits required from operators and perhaps sustain the initiative. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether the post-deployment screening instrument currently utilized to assess active-duty Marines for symptoms of PTSD upon their return from a combat deployment can be solely relied upon to accurately assess for PTSD. Additionally, this study sought to compare the number of Marines who have sought trauma-related mental health treatment based on their answers on the Post-Deployment Health Assessment (PDHA) to the number who have sought trauma-related mental health treatment based on their answers on their PTSD Checklist â?? Military Version (PCL-M). The participants in this study were comprised of a sample of active-duty Marines that had recently returned from a combat deployment. A quantitative secondary data analysis used Item Response Theory (IRT) to examine the answers provided by the participants on both the PDHA and PCL-M. Both instruments proved to be effective when assessing symptoms of PTSD and the participants identified as having symptoms of PTSD were referred for mental health services as required. According to the results, more Marines were identified as having symptoms of PTSD using both assessment instruments (PDHA and PCL-M) compared to those identified using just the PDHA. The result was a better understanding of predictors of Marines who may later develop PTSD. The results of this study can also assist the Marine Corps with its post-deployment screening for symptoms of PTSD which in turn can provide appropriate mental health referrals for Marines if deemed appropriate.

本篇論文試圖以米歇爾•傅柯的權力分析為理論基礎來分析和討論瑪格麗特•愛德伍的小說《使女的故事》。透過書中女主角奧芙弗雷德的論述，我們看到的是一個不熟悉且極權統治的國度。小說中描述的高壓政策是對美國八十年代政治和社會趨勢的反諷，也呈現給讀者基列共和國中權力運作的刻畫和剖析；在此國度的權力運作中，不論男女都深受權力網絡的控制。小說中嵌入的是一個全面性且集中的權力機制。因此，本篇論文將以傅柯的權力觀為理論出發點，對於《使女的故事》中的權力機制做一個全面性的閱讀和探究。本論文中所強調的並不是舊權力觀中以壓迫和禁忌為主的權力。此處的權力是落實在策略和技術層面上，而這些手法顯現了權力的負面特性更強調正面的生產特性。權力足以生產出一個模範讓人們仿效，權力更有能力使人們內化這個模範並成為社會認可的正常人。這樣精細的權力運作是為了便於管理和控制。本論文將就傅柯的權力分析來探究小說中所彰顯的權力負面和正面特質。《使女的故事》的情節就像是揉和了傅柯的一些主要論點。小說和理論的對話呈現在權力與論述、與規訓懲罰、與性機制的關係，這些論點將會在內文中逐章討論。這些權力機制製造出奧芙弗雷德的歸順，也產生反抗。反抗則會巔覆既有的權力關係。本論文的最後結論將會說明權力的不確定性和易變性是如何反映在主角的反抗行為中。權力關係並不是統治者和被統治者之間的二元對立，而是一個變動的關係。這樣的不穩定性使得權力永遠呈現出流動和拉距的現象。 / This thesis attempts to scrutinize Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in terms of Michel Foucault’s analytics of power. Through Offred’s discourse, we perceive a totalitarian regime foreign to us. The description of the extremely high-pressure policy is a satiric response to the political and social developments in the United States in the 1980s. This novel also presents us with an anatomy of power that lays bare the exercise of power in the Republic of Gilead, in which both men and women are caught up in the dense web of power. An overwhelming and compressive mechanism of power is embedded in this novel. Therefore, my argument will be based on Foucault’s elucidation of power to analyze The Handmaid’s Tale in a more panoramic perspective. The concept of power elaborated in this thesis is not the one that always says no through prohibition and interdiction. Instead, power is materialized in all kinds of strategies and techniques. These tactics reveal the repressive and the productive characteristics of power. Power is capable of producing the norm for individuals to follow and also of transforming them into the “normal” ones for the purpose of administration and domination. Following Foucault’s analytics of power, this thesis will explore the productive and repressive manipulation of power reflected in this novel. The Handmaid’s Tale serves as an exemplary literary dramatization of some of Foucault’s major ideas. The correspondence between Atwood’s work and Foucault’s propositions of power will be discussed in three separate chapters, in which the mechanisms of power are revealed in discourse, discipline and punishment, and sexuality. Offred’s submission is produced by those power mechanisms, yet power also produces resistance that subverts established power relations. The final chapter will conclude that Offred’s resistant behavior reflects the contingency and vulnerability of power. Power relations are not the binary opposition between rulers and the ruled but the mobile and negotiable relations, in which power flows quickly from one area to another.

由於大環境的改變，公司間的競爭越來越激烈；顧客對新產品的需求也因為新技術的出現日益增加。為了因應全球化競爭及產品生命週期縮短的大環境，迅速及優異的新產品發展成為公司重要的競爭優勢。為了強化公司的競爭優勢，新產品發展已成為一重要議題。本論文著重於研究改善新產品發展的過程，探討影響新產品發展的關鍵因素，尤其是生產與研發間的關係。 本論文分為五個部分，第一章探討新產品發展的概念及基礎理論，說明新產品發展從單一功能政策進化為今日的跨功能性政策的一環。第二章對影響新產品發展的關鍵因素做詳盡介紹，說明跨功能性的整合將會是新產品發展成功的關鍵方法。第三章仔細討論研發與製造間的關係，並將兩者的角色由傳統的分別為單一部門功能的觀點打破，且將產品的設計與製程均視為新產品發展的重要功能，試圖詮釋將單一個人╱部門的知識與成功的新產品發展連結的可能性。第四章將探討知識傳遞的限制、知識管理及組織學習的基本理論。第五章將介紹重要的管理上、組織上及技術上的支援工具，並希望藉由這樣的分析能夠瞭解新產品開發過程中各關鍵因素間的關係。第六章將介紹實務上所使用的新產品開發觀念，這部分的資料是由個案訪問而來，選了三家不同產業具國際營運的公司為例，對實務做驗證。最後，提出一新產品開發的「最佳實務」，包括了重新定義新產品開發過程中的功能，並提出一良好管理新產品開發的建議。 / Nowadays the competitions among companies become more and more fierce due to the dramatic change of competitive environment. The demands of new products are accelerated by the emerging new technologies. The rapid and excellent new product development (NPD) has become a great strategic advantage to be accommodated to the global competition with shorter product life cycle. In order to enhance the competitive advantage, improving NPD has become a vital issue for companies. This thesis focuses on improving the NPD process. Factors influencing the NPD process are discussed in detail, especially the interface between R&D and production. The thesis is divided into five parts, starting with a general view on NPD in the first chapter. There it will be shown, how NPD has changed over the last decades from a traditional approach of functional-development to a cross-functional process today. Factors influencing this effective collaboration are presented in chapter two. In chapter three, the interface between R&D and production is directly scanned. It will be distinguished between the individual knowledge bases of the different departments. Process and product knowledge can be identified as the parts to be matched and will be illustrated. Consequently, the possibilities of linking those knowledge bases during NPD are shown. Chapter four will focus on the limitations of knowledge transfer and the fundamentals of knowledge management and organizational learning will be presented. In chapter five, supportive organizational, managerial and technological tools will be analyzed. The multiple views on NPD assure that all factors influencing the process are analyzed and proven according to their leverage on the process. In chapter six, currently used NPD concepts are outlined. The information presented was gathered through interviews carried out at globally operating companies who have technological centers and production sites in Sweden. To avoid focusing on NPD practices in an industry, the companies were chosen according to their product lines and customer segments. The final part will present best practices in NPD. This includes reconsidering all the discussed aspects and presenting a recommendation about how to organize NPD superiorly.