Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Evaluating software is a universal and complex problem. The question is: how should software be selected and adopted, or rather, which of the software packages is the most suitable for a specific environment? Extensive research on the evaluation of software has been done, but only a few researchers have considered evaluation of e-learning systems based on three software quality characteristics (i.e. usability, maintainability and deployability) for implementation in third world countries. In this thesis, it will be considered how to use a mixed research methods for the evaluation of free and open source e-learning systems in a developing country. The scope of this investigation is the evaluation of two free and open source e-learning systems at the Open University of Tanzania using 33 stakeholders (some with more and others with less computer expertise). / South Africa

There has been a significant rise in the provision of television and video services over IP (IPTV) in recent years. Increasing network capacity and falling bandwidth costs have made it both technically and economically feasible for service providers to deliver IPTV services. Several telecommunications (telco) operators worldwide are rolling out IPTV solutions and view IPTV as a major service differentiator and alternative revenue source. The main challenge that IPTV providers currently face, however, is the increasingly congested television service provider market, which also includes Internet Television. IPTV solutions therefore need strong service differentiators to succeed. IPTV solutions can doubtlessly sell much faster if they are more affordable or low-cost. Advertising has already been used in many service sectors to help lower service costs, including traditional broadcast television. This thesis therefore explores the role that advertising can play in helping to lower the cost of IPTV services and to incentivise IPTV billing. Another approach that IPTV providers can use to help sell their product is by addressing the growing need for control by today's multimedia users. This thesis will therefore explore the varied approaches that can be used to achieve viewer focused IPTV implementations. To further lower the cost of IPTV services, telcos can also turn to low-cost, open source platforms for service delivery. The adoption of low-cost infrastructure by telcos can lead to reduced Capital Expenditure (CAPEX), which in turn can lead to lower service fees, and ultimately to higher subscriptions and revenue. Therefore, in this thesis, the author proposes a CustOmisable, INcentive (COIN) driven Video on Demand (VoD) framework to be developed and deployed using the Mobicents Communication Platform, an open source service creation and execution platform. The COIN framework aims to provide a viewer focused, economically competitive service that combines the potential cost savings of using free and open source software (FOSS), with an innovative, incentive-driven billing approach. This project will also aim to evaluate whether the Mobicents Platform is a suitable service creation and execution platform for the proposed framework. Additionally, the proposed implementation aims to be interoperable with other IPTV implementations, hence shall follow current IPTV standardisation architectures and trends. The service testbed and its implementation are described in detail and only free and open source software is used; this is to enable its easy duplication and extension for future research. / TeX output 2012.03.02:1241 / Adobe Acrobat 9.2 Paper Capture Plug-in

In the last decade, there has been an increase in the number of web-enabled mobile devices, offering a new platform that can be targeted for the development of learning applications. Worldwide, developers have taken initiatives in developing mobile learning (M-learning) systems to provide students with access to learning materials regardless of time and location. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether it is viable for first year students enrolled at the University of Namibia (UNAM) to use mobile phones for ad-hoc learning of mathematical concepts. A system, EnjoyMath, aiming to assist students in preparing for tests, examinations, review contents and reinforce knowledge acquired during traditional classroom interactions was designed and implemented. The EnjoyMath system was designed and implemented through the use of the Human Centred Design (HCD) methodology. Two revolutions of the four-step process of the HCD cycle were completed in this study. Due to the distance between UNAM and Rhodes University (where the researcher was based), the researcher could not always work in close relation with the UNAM students. Students from the Extended Study Unit (ESU) at Rhodes University were therefore selected in the first iteration of the project due to their proximity to the researcher and their similar demographics to the first year UNAM students, while the UNAM students were targeted in the second iteration of the study. This thesis presents the outcome of the two pre-intervention studies of the first-year students' perceptions about M-learning conducted at Rhodes University and UNAM. The results of the pre-intervention studies showed that the students are enthusiastic about using an M-learning system, because it would allow them to put in more time to practice their skills whenever and wherever they are. Moreover, the thesis presents the different stages undertaken to develop the EnjoyMath system using Open Source Software (PHP and MySQL). The results of a user study (post-intervention) conducted with participants at UNAM, ascertained the participants' perception of the usability of the EnjoyMath system and are also presented in this thesis. The EnjoyMath system was perceived by the participants to be "passable"; hence an M-learning system could be used to compliment an E-learning system at UNAM.

The research focuses on the utilisation of open-source information in augmentation of the all-source counterespionage endeavour. The study has the principal objective of designing, contextualising and elucidating a micro-theoretical framework for open-source environmental scanning within the civilian, statutory counterespionage sphere. The research is underpinned by the central assumption that the environmental scanning and the contextual analysis of overt information will enable the identification, description and prioritisation of espionage risks that would not necessarily have emerged through the statutory counterespionage process in which secretly collected information predominates. The environmental scanning framework is further assumed to offer a theoretical foundation to surmount a degenerative counterespionage spiral driven by an over-reliance on classified information. Flowing from the central assumption, five further assumptions formulated and tested in the research are the following: (1) A methodically demarcated referent premise enables the focusing and structuring of the counterespionage environmental scanning process amid the exponential proliferation of overt information. (2) Effective environmental scanning of overt information for counterespionage necessitates a distinctive definition of ‘risk’ and ‘threat’, as these are interlinked yet different concepts. It is therefore asserted that current notions of ‘threat’ and ‘risk’ are inadequate for feasible employment within an overt counterespionage environmental scanning framework. (3) A framework for overt counterespionage environmental scanning has as its primary requirement the ability to identify diverse risks, descriptively and predicatively, on a strategic as well as a tactical level. (4) The degree of adversity in the relationship between a government and an adversary constitutes the principal indicator and determinant of an espionage risk. (5) The logical accommodation of a framework for overt counterespionage environmental scanning necessitates a distinctive counterintelligence cycle, as existing conceptualisations of the intelligence cycle are inadequate. The study’s objective and the testing of these five assumptions are pursued on both the theoretical and pragmatic-utilitarian levels. The framework for counterespionage, open-source environmental scanning and risk assessment is presented as part of a multilayered unison of alternative theoretical propositions on the all-source intelligence, counterintelligence and counterespionage processes. It is furthermore advanced from the premise of an alternative proposition on an integrated approach to open-source intelligence. On a pragmatic-utilitarian level, the framework’s design is informed and its application elucidated through an examination of the 21st century espionage reality confronting the nation state, contemporary statutory counterintelligence measures and the ‘real-life’ difficulties of open-source intelligence confronting practitioners. Although with certain qualifications, the assumptions are in the main validated by the research. The research furthermore affirms this as an exploratory thesis in a largely unexplored field. / Thesis (Ph.D)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Political Sciences / Unrestricted

This theses analyses necessity and legitimacy of existence of intellectual property rights, especially patents and copyrights. There is shown the true essence of these instruments as monopoly privilege. On case of information technology I demonstrate that these privileges are unreasonable and counterproductive in many cases. Analysis of ?free software? alternative model proves that use of patents and copyrights is not a necessary condition of creation of intangible goods. The last part of this work shows, that existence of any special instruments for intangible goods protection is not needed as well as it is not reasonable.

The theme of this thesis is to analyze current technological trends with a focus on open source software in terms of relevance and importance for enterprises. The main objective is to evaluate the current status of open source software for Czech enterprises and characterize the progress based on data from 2010 and 2015. The thesis describes the basic forms of software used by companies which are further categorized based on the functionality and usability. The specifics of open source software and its licenses are defined. Subsequently the selection of specific open source licenses, generally perceived views on their use and the status of open source software in various stages of its existence are described. Analytical part describes the results of the author's survey in Czech enterprises in terms of open source software application for 2015. The results are compared with data from 2010 and appropriate conclusions are defined. Finally, the hypotheses are connected with the results of the author's survey, data comparison, available open source methodologies and other sources for an overall assessment of the situation in the Czech Republic.

Diploma thesis focuses on open source business intelligence platforms. The main aim of this thesis is to compare open source BI platforms Pentaho BI Suite and Jaspersoft BI Suite using a set of criteria on the example of the solution for a fictive company. In order to achieve this goal, the research for criteria in already existing comparisons is made firstly and on the basis of this own comparative criteria and their weights are defined. Then important features of platforms under the BI solution primary layers are characterized. In the conclusion both platforms are evaluated and compared according to the result values of all criteria. The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part deals with the analysis and definition of criteria and the BI platform introduction. Used criteria are analyzed in the Gartner research, in the book about business intelligence and in two diploma theses. Own defined criteria are divided into following groups: Installation, ETL, OLAP, Reporting and Documentation. The introduction includes description of components, licence politics and available editions. In the practical part the platform functionality is tested, the project created in both of them is specified and then platforms are evaluated and compared. The functionality testing is made progressively from installation, through ETL and OLAP to reporting. The main aim of this thesis is completed in the last chapter of the practical part, where both platforms are evaluated according to the set of defined criteria, first of all under the BI solution primary layers and then also from general point of view. Here is used the weighted sum method from the multi-criteria decision analysis. The contribution of this thesis is in the transparent confrontation of two open source BI platforms, in the definition of the comparative criteria set and also in the presentation of all tools strengths and weaknesses including screenshots.

Orientadores: Diógenes Cortijo Costa, Emília Wanda Rutkowski / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T22:03:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Hosokawa_ElianaKimoto_M.pdf: 13880772 bytes, checksum: 897c0a00b54b6e7934a96e421cf042ab (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: O mapeamento sistemático brasileiro, cujas cartas em escalas pequenas, 1:1.000.000 a 1:25.000, além de incompletas e desatualizadas, tem apenas 1% das cartas 1:25.000 concluídas. Os demais mapeamentos nacionais são descontínuos, os dados geoespaciais são desatualizados, as informações geográficas escassas e não estão centralizadas em uma única base de dados. Essa dispersão resulta na repetição de produtos cartográficos e desperdício de investimento público. Na tentativa de minimizar esses problemas, foi aprovado o decreto nº 6.666/2008, instituindo a Infraestrutura Nacional de Dados Espaciais e o Diretório Brasileiro de Dados Geoespaciais, DBDG, uma rede de servidores integrados pela Internet que reúne dados geoespaciais de diferentes instituições desenvolvedoras de produtos cartográficos. Contudo, um crescente número de instituições têm disponibilizado gratuitamente seus diretórios de dados e não constam no DBDG. Um Sistema de Informação Geográfica, SIG, destaca-se por manipular dados de diferentes fontes, utilizando o espaço geográfico como fator comum. Este sistema possibilita o estudo de fenômenos ambientais e urbanos para a gestão territorial municipal. No entanto, poucos municípios utilizam o SIG, em virtude da falta de recursos financeiros, porém, com o avanço de softwares livres e financiamentos do governo sua utilização torna-se acessível. A Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas estabelece o conteúdo da Base Cartográfica Municipal na NBR 14.166, definindo como os aspectos do território municipal devem ser representados. Nesta perspectiva, esta pesquisa analisou as potencialidades e as limitações das geotecnologias livres como ferramenta de apoio ao planejamento territorial municipal. Para tal, foram identificados os diretórios que disponibilizam gratuitamente os dados geoespaciais do Brasil e desenvolvido um banco de dados georreferenciados, para apresentar os dados referentes aos elementos básicos de uma Base Cartográfica Municipal / Abstract: The Brazilian systematic mapping, whose maps in small scale, 1:1,000,000 to 1:25,000, further incomplete or outdated, have only 1% of the maps 1:25,000 is completed. The other national mappings are discontinuous, outdated geospatial data, shortage of geographic information and are not centralized in a single database. This dispersion results in repetition cartographic products and public investment waste. In an attempt to minimize these problems, was issued the act nº 6,666/2008, establishing the National Spatial Data Infrastructure and the Brazilian Directory of Geospatial Data, DBDG, a network of integrated servers over the Internet that consolidate geospatial data from different developers institutions of cartographic data products. However, an increasing number of institutions have made available free your data directories and not included in DBDG. A Geographic Information System, GIS, stands out for handling data from different sources, using the geographical space as a common factor. This system allows the study of environmental and urban phenomena to municipal territorial management. However, few municipalities work with the GIS, due to the lack of financial resources, but with the advancement of free software and its use government funding the using will become accessible. The Brazilian Association of Technical Standards establishes the content of Municipal Cartography Basemap at NBR 14,166, determining how the aspects of the municipality shall be represented. In this perspective, this research analyzed the potential and limitations of free geo technology as a support tool to municipal territorial planning. To this end, the directories have been identified that provide free geospatial data from Brazil and developed a geo referenced database, to present data regarding the basic elements of a Municipal Cartography Base / Mestrado / Arquitetura, Tecnologia e Cidade / Mestra em Arquitetura, Tecnologia e Cidade

Nesta tese de doutorado, apresentamos uma abordagem para a observação das métricas de código-fonte, estudando-as através de suas distribuições e associações, além de discutir as relações de causalidade e implicações práticas-gerenciais para monitoramento das mesmas. Em nossos estudos avaliamos a distribuição e correlações dos valores das métricas de 38 projetos de software livre, dentre os com mais contribuidores ativos em seus repositórios. Para tal, coletamos e analisamos os valores para cada métrica em mais de 344.872 classes e módulos dos projetos avaliados. Complementarmente, para mostrarmos a utilidade do monitoramento de métricas, descrevemos uma extensão e adaptação do modelo de causalidade do conceito de atratividade de projetos de software livre, que indica uma relação estatística entre os valores das métricas de código-fonte e a quantidade de downloads, contribuidores e atualizações (commits) nos repositórios dos projetos. Para isso, realizamos estudos empíricos com milhares de projetos de software livre. Do ponto de vista prático, também contribuímos com um conjunto de ferramentas inovador para a automação da avaliação de projetos de software livre, com ênfase nos estudos e na seleção de métricas, o que permite a análise de código-fonte de acordo com a percepção de qualidade das comunidades de software livre. Entre as principais contribuições desta tese está uma análise detalhada, em relação ao comportamento, valores e estudos de caso, de 15 métricas de código-fonte, o que representa um avanço em comparação a literatura relacionada ao ampliar o número de métricas avaliadas e propor uma abordagem que visa diminuir as contradições das análises das métricas. / In this Ph.D dissertation we present an approach about source code metrics tracking. We have researched source code metrics distributions and associations to discuss their causality and management-practices implications. Our studies have assessed distributions and correlations of source code metric values on 38 free software projects, which have a lot of activated contributors in their repositories. We have collected and analyzed metrics from 344,872 classes and modules of about 38 free software projects. Additionally, to show how it is useful to track source code metrics, we have extended the model of free software attractiveness to include source code metrics. Our technical attractiveness model indicates a statistical relationship between source code metrics and number of downloads, contributors, and commits in the analyzed free software repositories. For that, we have conducted empirical studies with 8,450 free software projects. From a practical point of view, we have contributed with a set of innovative tools for automated evaluation of free software projects. Our tool allow the analyses of source code metrics that mirror quality perceptions from the free software communities point of view.

Airborne Wind Energy Systems (AWES) harness the power of high-altitude winds using tethered planes or kites. Continuous and reliable operation requires that AWES become autonomous devices, but the wind intermittency forces the system to repeatedly take-off to start, and land to shut-off. Therefore, a common approach to facilitate the operation is implementing Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) functionality. This thesis models and simulates AWES flights working towards the implementation of flight controller hardware and autonomous operation of an AWES demonstrator platform. The Ardupilot open-source autopilot platform provides a convenient tool for modeling, simulation, and hardware implementation of small-scale airplanes. An AWES lab-scale demonstrator was developed to obtain operational insight, get preliminary flight data, and real-world experience in this technology. A quadplane was developed by combining a structurally reinforced glider with VTOL and autopilot components. Its performance is obtained from static and aerodynamic studies and converted into the Ardupilot parameter format to define it in the simulation. An AWES flight model was developed from the ground up to evaluate the performance of a simple flight controller in trajectory tracking. The Ardupilot Software-in-Loop (SIL) tool expands the simulation capabilities by running the flight controller code without requiring any hardware. This allowed controller tuning and flight plan evaluation with a more advanced fight model. AWES crosswind flight simulation was only possible due to the incorporation of an elastic tether and an ideal winch into the physics model. As a result, different trajectories and configurations were tested to find the optimal parameters that were uploaded to the flight controller board. The operational capabilities of the AWES demonstrator were expanded with a flight testing campaign. By targeting individual objectives, each test gradually increased its complexity and ensured that the flight envelope was safely expanded. The results were validated with the simulation before moving on to the next flight test. The testing campaign is still underway due to challenges and limitations presented by the legal and logistical aspects of operating the quadplane. However, preliminary flight tests in VTOL mode have been completed and were consistent with the simulated results in terms of autonomous waypoint navigation and attitude control. / Graduate