In today's world education and the resulting production of knowledge is highly valued as it can open the door to socioeconomic status and mobility. As a result, many students choose cultural and educational exchanges in a foreign country. The goal of this thesis is to better understand the decision making process international students experience prior to their study at an American university. Anchored in structuration theory, a two-step methodology was applied. First, a brief questionnaire survey was administered as a pilot study to gather preliminary data and initiate contact with participants. Second, interviews were conducted with foreign students to obtain background information and their reasoning for studying abroad. While most international students share common experiences in the decision making process, the temporal progression of "action steps" varies considerably among students. / Department of Geography

This thesis explores the ability of Wi-Fi technology and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 capability to disseminate various forms of information through densely vegetated, high humidity and high temperature environments. Using a lighter-than-air vehicle (balloon) and existing commercial-off-the- shelf, 802.11b and 802.16 wireless components, real-time information can be brought to the war-fighter. In particular, this thesis experiments with the use of commercially available wireless equipment and various antennae all attached to a helium-filled balloon to send and receive video, audio and digital information. This information is then disbursed to individual members of an established network over a specified land-mass. The balloon plays an important role in connecting network members to information that helps local and national commanders in making tactical decisions. These decisions consist of deploying forces, identifying and targeting the enemy, and deterring hostilities. Identifying the best method to supply real-time data to facilitate the movement of military assets and enhance a military s ability to engage an enemy decisively. Employing commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) systems to disseminate real-time information is a potentially inexpensive solution to enable air and ground components to survey and target adversaries instantaneously. The ability to provide actionable information to the soldier serves as a force multiplier and increases the probability of mission success.

This thesis explores the utility of market mechanisms for Department of Defense (DOD) command, control, communication and collaboration (C4). Shortfalls in current C4 systems found by the Defense Science Board, Office of Force Transformation, and Command and Control Research Program are presented. Alternative C4 internal market structures that can help achieve the principles of Network-Centric Operations are illustrated. Then, using the principles of mathematical model development, the thesis builds a testable "E-Bay" type model for applying markets in the DOD. The model is not validated or tested in the space of this thesis and should undergo experimentation. Next, this thesis walks through an intelligence use case and presents a number of testable hypotheses for model validation. Two Appendices are included, the first discusses decision making in markets by taking existing decision making tools to show how the cycle of information can be improved for the decision making commander in market transaction space. The second appendix is a briefing that highlights the key points of the Virtual Military Market (VMM) and the intelligence use case. The thesis concludes that "practiced adhocracy" and improved decision making can be achieved by the VMM and that DOD should explore this concept further.

For organizations with training pipelines, this study offers insight to help identify and minimize undesirable effects which may result from often unavoidable demand variations within a resource and time constrained environment. The highly complex Naval aviation training process is used as a case study. However, any organization with a training pipeline may find this study to be useful. Within a training pipeline, like any resource constrained production line, variability may cause undesirable results to occur. Variability includes any change in the number of students to train, time-to-train, instructor availability, material availability, and other supporting factors. Undesirable effects may include: delayed time-to-train, wasted valuable resources, reduced morale, reduced quality of training, or an increase in undesirable behaviors as a result of perceived production pressures. "Wasted valuable resources" includes human capital, money, material, and time. Although other sources of variability will be discussed, this study will primarily examine the cause and effect relationships resulting from variations in the number of students to train. Potential solutions are explored.

This thesis examines the following hypothesis: Through the combined use of common training and collaborative planning, a decision maker may sufficiently alleviate the harmful effects of an environment of information so that he/she can continue to make effective decisions. An environment of extreme information ambiguity, a dependent variable, is one of the most difficult components of a battle where the decision maker may reach a confusing and debilitating point where surviving seems less and less likely. Common training, an independent variable, purports that everyone who is relevant to the situation in the battlespace has similar skills, education, doctrine, and standards of performance coupled with comparable experiences. Collaborative planning, an independent variable, connotes a sharing of ideas; synchronization of assets, use of information technology, global real-time mission planning, face-to-face meetings, and other information sharing techniques for situations of collective concern. This thesis is a unique and in depth exploration of the relation of these three variables. Until now, no other research has looked at the relation of common training and collaborative planning with respect to decision making in environments of extreme information ambiguity. In order to explore the model the researcher analyzed two historical military battles: the Battle of Trafalgar and the Battle of Midway. Detailed research using a case study method was conducted to determine if the battles substantiated the thesis model. Research results indicate that for the maritime battles studied, the model appears to be a useful tool for interpretation and description of events and their outcomes. However, future studies should also increase the number and type of battles and other factors such as time and leadership should be considered.

Current military doctrine is primarily hierarchical in nature with respect to power and authority. The "Functional Concept of Battlespace Awareness" (FCBA) is a military sensor methodology that employs a hierarchical command structure to test emerging technologies. Asymmetric warfare, however, demands a faster and more adaptive warfighting mentality that distributes power and responsibility across more of our forces; particularly those that are at the frontlines of the battlefield. "Power to the Edge" is a warfighting methodology that emphasizes a departure from traditional military hierarchies and a transition into a configuration that empowers "Edge" actors with information and authority. This thesis will prove that "Power to the Edge" doctrine is a more effective way to fight the enemies we will likely face in the Information Age. By analyzing and interpreting data collected at the Extended Awareness II and Extended Awareness IIB experiments, this thesis will show that transition in our current command and control methodology will be necessary to keep up with a changing enemy.

The performance of IEEE 802.11g wireless local area network (WLAN) standard receivers when the signal is transmitted over a frequency-selective, slowly fading Nakagami channel in a pulse-noise interference environment when errors-and-erasures Viterbi decoding is used is examined. The different combinations of modulation (both binary and non-binary) and convolutional code rate specified by the WLAN standard are examined. The performance obtained with errors-and-erasures decoding (EED) is compared with the performance obtained with errors-only hard decision Viterbi decoding (HHD) as well as that obtained with soft decision Viterbi decoding (SDD) for binary modulation, while for non-binary modulation, EED performance is compared with HDD performance. It was found that EED can significantly improve performance under some conditions when pulse-noise interference is present.

The desire for more intelligence in the battlefield has given rise to the idea of routing video images over wireless sensor networks. This would apprise combat decision makers with actual images of battlefield developments and allow them to make sound decisions. To achieve this objective, the characteristics of video traffic must be studied and understood. This thesis focuses on evaluating the possibility of routing video images over a wireless sensor network. Video traffic is modeled and simulations are performed via the use of the Sun Small Programmable Object Technology (Sun SPOT) Java development kits configured in three different network topologies: the star topology, binary tree topology and chain topology. It is known that video traffic is self similar and can be obtained by aggregating a large number of On-Off message sources. Hence, an On-Off model using Pareto distribution function is used to model video traffic over the network. In this thesis four self-similar shaping parameters, i.e., alpha(On) = 1.2, 1.4, 1.7 and 1.9 are used in the simulations. The performance of each topology is evaluated based on parameters like mean throughput, mean interarrival time, mean packet drop, and mean delay. / Singapore Armed Forces author.

No description available.

The purpose of this thesis will be to examine the decision-making process in crisis situations, defined as those presenting a high threat and short decisional time. Crisis situations in the area of foreign policy have become more acute and dangerous since the end of World War II and the rise of nuclear weapon delivery capabilities.