Today the utilization of all kind of multimedia services in networks increases and due to this demand for real-time communication gets higher for every day. One of the most common protocols used today is Ethernet. It is of interest to find real-time protocols that are useful together with already existing protocols since it is expensive to rebuild the network infrastructure. Several new protocols have been proposed to solve the upcoming problems. The objective of this project is to make an inventory and a comparison between Ethernet and these new protocols. During this project four different protocols capability to fulfill the demands for real-time communication have been studied and compared with Ethernet. Three of the protocols are built on the same basic technique as Ethernet and these are PCSMA, CSMA-DCR and DOD-CSMA-CD. The fourth protocol is ATM and it transmits in a different way over communication networks. The analysis of this project is pointing out advantages, similarities and differences between the protocols from a real-time perspective. All four protocols are more suitable for real-time requirements than Ethernet.

Approved for public release, distribution unlimited / Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. / Healthcare costs throughout the United States are on the rise, drawing increased scrutiny from government officials and Congress. The cost of pharmacy operations and pharmaceuticals is growing at a rate that is alarmingly higher than that of the total cost of military healthcare itself. Recent congressional legislation has essentially given the Department of Defense the ultimatum to cut costs for beneficiaries wherever possible, or risk having benefits arbitrarily cut by Congress. In the face of this possibility, cutting costs through better business practices must be explored, particularly within the area of pharmacy operations. This project explores the potential cost savings that can be realized by implementing Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology in the pharmacy operations of the DoD Medical Treatment Facilities (MTF). This research proves that implementing Lean Six Sigma methodology will improve military pharmacy operations, often at little cost, while realizing significant savings and increased customer satisfaction.

The effect of hydrogen bonding interactions on the drop generation of both acid and hydroxyl-containing polymer solutions is reported showing that polymer chain relaxation can be influenced through the use of appropriate polymer co-solvent interactions for polymers having weight average molecular weight (Mw) < 100 kDa. Reported for the first time is evidence of flow-induced polymer degradation during inkjet printing for both poly(methylmethacrylate) and polystyrene in good solvent. Polymers having Mw either less than 100 kDa or greater than approximately 1,000 kDa show no evidence of molecular weight degradation. The lower boundary condition is a consequence of low Deborah number imposed by the printhead geometry and the upper boundary condition due to viscoelastic damping. For intermediate molecular weights the effect is greatest at high elongational strain rate and low solution concentration with higher polydispersity polymers being most sensitive to molecular weight degradation. For low polydispersity samples, PDi £ 1.3 chain breakage is essentially centro-symmetric induced either by overstretching when the strain rate increases well beyond a critical value, that is the stretching rate is high enough to exceed the rate of relaxation or by turbulence. For higher polydispersity samples, PDi chain breakage is consistent with almost random scission along the chain inferring that the forces required to break the chain are additionally transmitted either by valence bonds, i.e. network chains and junctions or discrete entanglements rather than solely by hydrodynamic interaction. Preliminary results are presented on the degradation of molecular structure in water of two galactomannan’s in water after inkjet printing. Galactommann’s are known to form complex H-bonded structures in water and the results are consistent with breaking of the H-bonding structure at low reduced concentration with evidence of main chain breakage at higher reduced concentration, c/c* = 0.25.

Today companies (especially large companies whose employees make a lot of international business trips) often have very large telephone bills. While international roaming technically works with GSM, the cost of phone calls from one country to another are often much higher than calls within a country. Despite political pressure to reduce the costs of roaming within the European Union, the cost of phone calls from one country to another are often quite expensive. A cost-saving solution is eagerly desired by many firms. OptiCall Solutions AB has designed an integrated system called the Dial over Data (DoD) solution. In this scheme, a caller sends a data request to the DoD server instead of directly making a call to the party that they wish to speak with. The DoD solution uses an Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP-PBX) to make two Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) calls, one to the caller and another to the callee, then bridges these two calls. To realize cost savings, the cost of these two calls and the cost of the infrastructure necessary to make the two calls and to bridge them must be lower than the cost of the direct call. Call Through is a service for making cheap international calls which is provided by many telecommunications companies. Instead of making a direct call to the party the caller wants to speak with, the caller makes a call to the local call-through service access number. The caller dials the actual callee’s number after the call is established. The service provider then makes a call to the callee and bridges the two calls. The caller only needs to pay for a local call and the service subscription fee, rather than the expensive international call fee. This can greatly reduce the costs for user who need to make a lot international calls. Today, many companies use such a call-through service in order to reduce the total cost of their employees’ calls. Additionally, the Mobile Extension (MEX) is a concept which gives mobile users the ability to use their mobile phone in the same manner as their fixed office phone, for example, by providing services such as setting presence and transferring a call. In addition, the user should experience a consistent interface, for example the calling number displayed for the callee should always be a number that the callee could use to return the call. In this thesis project, a mobile extension application called ‘OptiCaller’ based on the Symbian OS was developed and evaluated. This application is part of the DoD solution and provides client side functionality. Furthermore, it supports making call-through calls and using the MEX functions. Additionally, it is designed and implemented in a flexible way so that it can work with a variety of different PBX solutions. A provisioning system called ‘OptiCaller Provisioning System’ was also designed and evaluated. This provisioning system was tailored for the ‘OptiCaller’. It provides administrators a platform to manage the OptiCaller application on the end-users’ mobile phones. / Idag har företag (i synnerhet stora företag vars anställda gör en hel del internationella affärsresor) ofta mycket stora telefonräkningar. Även om internationell roaming fungerar tekniskt i GSM så är kostnaden för telefonsamtal från ett land till ett annat ofta mycket högre än samtal inom ett land. Trots politiska påtryckningar för att minska roamingkostnaderna inom EU, så är kostnader för telefonsamtal från ett land till ett annat ofta ganska dyra. En lösning som kan minska dessa kostnader välkomnas av många företag. OptiCall Solutions AB har utvecklat ett integrerat system som kallas Dial över Data (DoD). I detta system skickas först en samtalsbegäran från en klient till en server istället för att klienten direkt ringer ett samtal till den som de vill tala med. DoD systemet använder Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP-PBX) för att göra två Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) samtal, en till den som ringer och en den uppringda parten. Sedan kopplas dessa två samtal ihop. Värt att beakta är att kostnaden för denna infrastruktur samt att producera två samtal i stället för ett bör vara lägre än kostnaden för ett direkt samtal. Samtalskort är en tjänst för att göra billiga internationella samtal vilket erbjuds av flera telekommunikationsföretag. Istället för att göra ett direkt samtal till den som den uppringande vill tala med, gör först ett samtal till den lokala call-service noden. Med hjälp av en transparent klient så behöver användaren inte själv ringa call-service noden utan det sker helt automatik. Väl besvarat av call-service noden så kopplas samtalet till den destination användaren vill ringa till. Den som ringer behöver bara betala för ett lokalsamtal och tjänstens prenumerationsavgift. Detta kan kraftigt minska kostnaderna för användare som gör en hel del utlandssamtal. Idag är det även många företag som tillhandahåller en sådan funktion till sina anställda för att minska den totala kostnaden för deras samtal. Mobile Extension (MEX) är ett begrepp som ger mobila användare möjlighet att använda sin mobiltelefon på samma sätt som sina fasta kontorstelefon, till exempel genom att tillhandahålla tjänster såsom inställningen närvarostatus och koppling ett samtal. Användaren bör uppleva ett konsekvent gränssnitt, till exempel att det uppringande numret som visas alltid bör kunna användas för att ringa tillbaka till den som ringt. I detta examensarbete har en så kallad mobil anknytning tillämpning "OptiCaller", baserad på Symbian OS, utvecklats och utvärderats. Denna applikation är en del av DoD lösningen och ger funktionalitet på klientsidan. Den har även stöd för samtalskortfunktioner och MEX funktioner. Den är dessutom utformad på ett flexibelt sätt så att den kan arbeta med en rad olika PBX lösningar. Ett system för provisionering anpassat för OptiCaller kallat ”OptiCaller Provisioning System" har också framtagits och utvärderats. Det ger administratören en plattform för att administrera OptiCaller klienter i en större skala och hanterar såväl installation samt inställningar av OptiCaller klienter på mobiltelefoner.

During the 2000 presidential race, then Texas Governor George W. Bush advocated transforming and reforming how the Department of Defense (DoD) acquires new weapon systems. He promised a "revolution" that would "skip a generation of technology," in order to "move on to futuristic weapons without necessarily buying all those in development." This thesis examines President Bush's proposal and analyzes the potential impact on DoD and the defense industry. Ultimately the research revealed that there are ways to improve the acquisition process and protect the defense industry. The primary conclusion of the research is that it is feasible to skip current weapon systems in development, in order to begin research and development of the next-generation weapon systems. However, DoD will be impacted through higher operations and sustainment (O & S) costs to sustain existing weapon systems if weapon systems currently in development are skipped. The acquisition professionals that participated in this study believe these O & S costs could increase up to 10% per year for anywhere from five to 20 years depending on the type of system. This thesis makes additional recommendations and areas of further research. / Captain, United States Marine Corps

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / The existing INFOCON system is an information warning system that the DOD maintains. It is not formally correlated to other warning systems, such as DEFCON, FPCON/THREATCON, WATCHCONs, SANS INFOCON, or the Homeland Security Advisory System Threat condition. The criteria for each INFOCON level are subjective. The INFOCON recommended actions are a mix of policy and general technical measures. The INFOCON system vaguely follows the Defense in Depth network defense methodology. This thesis examines the foundations for the existing INFOCON system and presents an evolved INFOCON system. The focus will be on the security of the DOD information infrastructure and the accomplishment of the mission, as well as the usability and the standardization of the INFOCON warning system. The end result is a prototype that is a set of predefined escalation scripts for the evolved INFOCON system's safeguard measures. / Civilian, Federal Cyber Service Corps, Naval Postgraduate School

Private sector U.S. defense contractors failing to meet contract objectives experience lower profitability, pay costly penalties, and risk survivability. Using the theory of contracts, the purpose of this multiple case study was to the explore strategies that some leaders of U.S. defense contracting businesses use to meet all the contract terms with the U.S. Department of Defense. Data were collected from 5 leaders of private sector defense contracting companies in northwest Florida through face-to-face, semistructured interviews and through a review of operations manuals, quality assurance policy manuals, and archived U.S. Department of Defense contracts. During data analysis using Yin's 5-step process of compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding the data, 4 themes on strategies emerged: (a) communication strategy for successful completion of contracts, (b) technology strategy to monitor contract compliance, (c) training strategy for program managers, and (d) subcontractor selection strategy. The findings indicated that communication among all contract parties was an essential component of each of the 4 themes. Computerizing the contracting workflow to monitor compliance efforts, training program managers for effective oversight of contract compliance, and selecting subcontractors were vital elements of the strategies private sector defense contractors used to meet all the terms and conditions of U.S. Department of Defense contracts. The implications for positive social change include the potential for private sector defense contractors to improve the strength of the defense of the northwest Florida community, lower unemployment, and provide a safer environment for humanity.

As drop-on-demand (DOD) applications continue to gain ground in desktop inkjet-printing, 3D printing, fluid mixing, and other areas the demand for higher frequency operations are beginning to push against the current physical boundaries in DOD technology. The current research is exploring the possibility of controlling drop volume and velocity at high frequency ranges where meniscus vibrations can occur between drop formations and affect drop formation characteristics. A periodic voltage is applied to a piezoelectric disk in order to generate pressure fluctuations in a single nozzle droplet generator, causing the fluid meniscus at the nozzle to vibrate. A single stronger pulse is then superimposed over the periodic waveform at different phases in order to drive drop ejection. The characteristics of the resulting drop, specifically the volume and velocity, are experimentally measured using a high speed camera with precise timing control. The results of these experiments are then compared to a lumped element model (LEM) developed for the droplet generator geometry used. Within the LEM model framework, special attention was given to the definition of a novel method by which one can measure drop volume within an electroacoustic circuit and also allow meniscus dynamics to affect present and future drop formations. Experimental results indicate a strong dependence of both drop volume and drop velocity on the phase of the vibrating meniscus at the start of drop formation. Positive meniscus displacements and momentums resulted in large drop volumes and velocities while negative displacements could reduce drop volume or altogether eliminate drop formation. Specifically, positive displacements and momentum of a vibrating meniscus could lead to drop volumes approximately 50% larger than the original drop volume without a vibrating meniscus. Meanwhile, negative meniscus displacements and momentums were shown to have the ability to completely prevent drop formation. Additional potential for drop characteristic control with a vibrating meniscus is discussed alongside observations on the stabilizing affect the vibrating meniscus appears to have on drop velocity as a function of time. Also, flow visualization of the drop formation is provided to demonstrate the added affect the meniscus vibrations have on the drop shapes and break-off profiles. The LEM model presented demonstrates qualitative agreement with the experimental model, but fails to quantitatively predict drop volumes. Sources of error for the LEM model and potential improvements are discussed. / Graduation date: 2012

Syftet med kandidatarbetet är att skapa musik till en folkgrupp som saknar en etablerad musikkultur. För att göra detta valdes folkgrupper ut ur den fiktiva spelvärlden Drakar och Demoner: Trudvang. Fornnordisk kultur var en inspiration till Trudvang och detta studerades för att påvisa likheter till folkgrupperna i Trudvang. Parallellerna mellan de olika kulturerna blev uppsatsens förundersökning. Uppsatsens förundersökning resulterade i att det finns en efterfråga på musik i spelet varpå två folkgrupper från Trudvang valdes ut för gestaltning med musik, alferna och virannerna. Baserat på instrument som samerna och anglosaxarna kunde tänkas använda producerade vi musik till den andra delen av forskningen. Musiken undersöktes genom att dela ut en enkät till erfarna spelare på spelets forum för att bestämma huruvida gestaltningen av alferna och virannerna var lyckad. Resultaten visade att det lämpar sig att gestalta dessa folkgrupper med den producerade musiken och som ett resultat ge dem en musikkultur. / Detta är en reflektionsdel till en digital medieproduktion.

Game engines process a lot of data under strict deadlines. Therefore, measures to increase performance are important in this area. Data-Oriented Design (DOD) promotes principles that are meant to increase performance by better cache utilization. The purpose of this thesis is to examine a selection of these principles to give a better understanding of how DOD affects CPU time and the rate of cache misses, with focus on the area of game development. More specifically, the principles examined are removal of run-time polymorphism, iteration over contiguous data, and lowering the amount of data in hot loops. Also, the Entity-Component-System pattern is examined, which is based upon DOD principles. The approach was to first present a theoretical background on the subject, and then to conduct tests by implementing a simulation of movement and collision detection utilizing said principles. The tests were written in C++ and executed on an Intel Core i7 4770k with no rendering. CPU time was measured in updated entities per μs, and cache utilization was measured in the form of cache miss rate. The results showed that the DOD principles did increase performance. Cache miss rate was also lower, with the exception of when removing run-time polymorphism. The conclusion is that Data-Oriented Design, used in game development, is likely to result in better performance, mostly as a result of better cache utilization.