The following thesis aims to describe the transformation of telco operators' business strategy evoked by the growing popularity and usage of Internet services like WhatsApp, Skype and Netflix, also known as over-the-top services. The thesis provides comprehensive overview of transformations in the telecom industry that have been taking place globally, explaining the drivers that led to inception of free or cheaper Internet-based services, their business models. It then narrows down to the thorough analysis of the Czech market, capturing the implications that over-the-top services have on business strategy of the major Czech telco players. The analysis is strongly supported by industry reports, statistics and quantitative research. The primary research adds in telco customers' perspectives, usage and value perception of over-the-top services, as well as their satisfaction with respective telco services and their pricing. Derived findings identify major developments and trends in the Czech telco market; they also suggest compelling observations for related businesses.

Att perceptuellt uppfatta och identifera lukter påverkas av en rad olika kortikala system och kognitva förmågor. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka huruvida personer med afasi har en luktförmåga som skiljer sig från normalpopulationen och ifall en afasiproblematik påverkar de faktorer som normalt involverar luktförmågan.          I studien medverkade tio försökspersoner, sex män och fyra kvinnor. Personerna hade varierande grad och typ av afasi och var mellan 42 och 76 år. Deltagarna delades in i åldersgrupper där två personer klassades som yngre och åtta som äldre. Samtliga testdeltagare genomförde två olika lukttest: Odor Threshold Test (OTT), och Swedish Odor Identification Test (SOIT). Testdeltagarnas journaler granskades även för information om skadehistoria samt livsvanor.           Resultaten visade att 60% av deltagarna hade en nedsatt luktförmåga och att det fanns större resultatskillnader i SOIT än OTT då kön och förekomst/avsaknad av epilepsi testades mot varandra. Inga resultat kunde dock styrkas med statistisk signifikans jämfört med en normalpopulation eller inom gruppen.

Submitted by Noeme Timbo (noeme.timbo@metodista.br) on 2016-08-17T18:43:42Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcio Antonio Kowalski.pdf: 822717 bytes, checksum: b07b1e8d6f79ff2b5c7ed45608b849df (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-17T18:43:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcio Antonio Kowalski.pdf: 822717 bytes, checksum: b07b1e8d6f79ff2b5c7ed45608b849df (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-27 / The digital society embraces us in all of the daily aspects and a significant part of the population lives connected on multi-platforms. With the instantaneity of the communication flows, we live in a routine where many accesses are from a “click” or a touch away. The television as a preponderant media for many decades, in its digital transition involves a function beyond the television that we knew, as an interactive display that connects and absorbs contents from many sources. The consecrated global models of audio-visual distribution, especially by Broadcast, suffer the changes consequences of its public behavior by the new opportunities of contents acquisition, now interactive and on demand. On this context, the Smart TVs models (connected televisions) in Broadcast shows differentiated options and they require an increasing space on the connection with other displays. With this scenery, the study seeks to provide and analyze the new content offerings, applications, possibility and trends in the hybridity of the sources for the future television. / A sociedade digital nos abraça em todos os aspectos do cotidiano e uma parte significativa da população vive conectada em multiplataformas. Com a instantaneidade dos fluxos de comunicação, vivemos uma rotina onde muitos acessos estão a um “clique” ou toque. A televisão como mídia preponderante durante várias décadas, na sua transição digital comporta uma função além da TV que conhecíamos, como display interativo que se conecta e absorve conteúdos provenientes de várias fontes. Os consagrados modelos mundiais de distribuição de audiovisual, especialmente pelo Broadcast, sofrem as consequências da mudança do comportamento do seu público pelas novas oportunidades de acesso aos conteúdos, agora interativos e sob demanda. Neste contexto, os modelos das SmartTVs (TVs conectadas) em Broadband (Banda Larga) apresentam opções diferenciadas e requerem um espaço cada vez maior na conexão com todos os outros displays. Com este cenário, o presente estudo busca descrever e analisar as novas ofertas de conteúdos, aplicativos, possibilidades e tendências do hibridismo das fontes para a futura TV.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:30:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcio Antonio Kowalski.pdf: 822717 bytes, checksum: b07b1e8d6f79ff2b5c7ed45608b849df (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-27 / The digital society embraces us in all of the daily aspects and a significant part of the population lives connected on multi-platforms. With the instantaneity of the communication flows, we live in a routine where many accesses are from a click or a touch away. The television as a preponderant media for many decades, in its digital transition involves a function beyond the television that we knew, as an interactive display that connects and absorbs contents from many sources. The consecrated global models of audio-visual distribution, especially by Broadcast, suffer the changes consequences of its public behavior by the new opportunities of contents acquisition, now interactive and on demand. On this context, the Smart TVs models (connected televisions) in Broadcast shows differentiated options and they require an increasing space on the connection with other displays. With this scenery, the study seeks to provide and analyze the new content offerings, applications, possibility and trends in the hybridity of the sources for the future television. / A sociedade digital nos abraça em todos os aspectos do cotidiano e uma parte significativa da população vive conectada em multiplataformas. Com a instantaneidade dos fluxos de comunicação, vivemos uma rotina onde muitos acessos estão a um clique ou toque. A televisão como mídia preponderante durante várias décadas, na sua transição digital comporta uma função além da TV que conhecíamos, como display interativo que se conecta e absorve conteúdos provenientes de várias fontes. Os consagrados modelos mundiais de distribuição de audiovisual, especialmente pelo Broadcast, sofrem as consequências da mudança do comportamento do seu público pelas novas oportunidades de acesso aos conteúdos, agora interativos e sob demanda. Neste contexto, os modelos das SmartTVs (TVs conectadas) em Broadband (Banda Larga) apresentam opções diferenciadas e requerem um espaço cada vez maior na conexão com todos os outros displays. Com este cenário, o presente estudo busca descrever e analisar as novas ofertas de conteúdos, aplicativos, possibilidades e tendências do hibridismo das fontes para a futura TV.

A l'époque où l'Internet est devenu la plateforme par défaut pour offrir de la valeur ajoutée, des nouveaux fournisseurs de services multimédia ont saisi cette opportunité en définissant les services Over-The-Top (OTT). Cependant, Internet n'étant pas un réseau de distribution fiable, il nécessaire de garantir de haut niveau de Qualité d'Expérience (QoE), ainsi que les revenues des Fournisseurs de Services d'Internet (ISP) et des OTTs.Le travail présenté dans ce document va au-delà de l'état de l'art, en proposant une solution qui prend en compte cet objectif. Les principaux apports qui y sont présentés peuvent être synthétisées en quatre contributions.En premier lieu, l'inclusion des paramètres liés aux modèles d'affaires dans l'analyse de la QoE a demandé un nouveau cadre pour calculer la QoE d'un service OTT. Ce cadre est basé sur le formalisme mathématique des Machines Étendues à États Finis (EFSM), ce qui profite de deux avantages des EFSMs~: les traces des machines suivent les décisions de l'utilisateur et les variables du contexte utilisés comme indicateurs de qualité, seront utilisées ultérieurement pour computer la QoE.La deuxième contribution consiste à mettre en œuvre deux algorithmes. Le premier fait le calcul d'une forme équivalent, ayant la forme d'un arbre qui représente les traces de la machine. Le deuxième utilise les traces et fait le calcul de la QoE pour les états terminaux de chaque trace. Les deux algorithmes peuvent être utilisés comme base d'un outil de monitorage capable de prévoir la valeur de la QoE d'un utilisateur. De plus, une mise en œuvre concrète des ces deux algorithmes comme une extension de l'Outil de Monitorage de Montimage (MMT) est aussi présentée.La troisième contribution présente la validation de l'approche avec un double objectif. D'une part, l'inclusion de paramètres du modèle d'affaires est validée et on détermine leur impact sur la QoE. D'autre part, le modèle de la QoE proposé est validé par la mise en œuvre d'une plateforme d'émulation d'un service OTT qui montre des vidéos perturbés. Cette implémentation est utilisée pour obtenir des valeurs estimées par utilisateurs réels qui sont utilisés pour dériver un modèle approprié de la QoE.La dernière contribution se base sur le cadre donné et fournit un analyse statique d'un service OTT. Cette procédure est réalisé par un troisième algorithme qui calcule la quantité des configurations contenues dans le modèle. En analysant à l'avance touts les scénarios possibles qu'un utilisateur peut rencontrer, le fournisseur des services OTT peut détecter des défauts dans le modèle et le service à une stade précoce du développement / At a time when the Internet has become the de facto platform for delivering value, the new multimedia providers took advantage of this opportunity to define Over-The-Top (OTT) services. Considering that Internet is not a reliable distribution network, it is necessary to ensure high levels of Quality of Experience (QoE) and revenues for Internet Service Providers (ISP) and OTTs. The work presented in this dissertation goes beyond the state of the art by providing a solution having this goal in mind. The main contributions presented here can be summarized in four main points.First, the inclusion of business-model related parameters in the QoE analysis required a new framework for calculating the QoE of an OTT service.This framework is based on the Extended Finite States Machine (EFSM) mathematical formalism, which takes advantage of two features of the EFSMs: (1) the traces of the machines that keep track of the user's decisions and; (2) the context variables used as quality indicators, correlated later with the QoE.The second contribution is the design and the implementation of two algorithms. The first computes the $l$-equivalent, a version in the form of a tree of the model that exposes the traces of the machine. The second uses the traces and computes the QoE at the final stages of each trace. Both algorithms can be used to design a monitoring tool that can predict a user’s QoE value. In addition, a concrete implementation is given as an extension of the Montimage Monitoring Tool (MMT).The third contribution presents the validation of the approach, having two objectives in mind. On the one hand, the inclusion of business-model related parameters was validated by determining the impact of such variables on the QoE. On the other hand, the proposed QoE model is validated by the implementation of an OTT emulation platform showing disrupted videos. This implementation is used to obtain QoE values evaluated from real users, values used to derive an appropriate QoE model.The last contribution uses the framework to perform a static analysis of an OTT service. This is done by a third algorithm that computes the amount of configurations contained in the model. By analyzing in advance all the possible scenarios a user can face -- and their respective QoE, the OTT provider can detect flaws in the model and the service from the early stages of development

行動通訊網路之國際漫遊(以下簡稱：漫遊)的信令傳遞方式，從早期的通信衛星發展至目前的海底纜線，都屬於高維護成本的電信基礎設施，導致漫遊通話費用成本居高不下。隨著行動通訊網路技術發展，無形中促使OTT（Over The Top）的應用逐漸廣泛，甚至取代原本漫遊通話模式。即便如此，漫遊通話節費產品依然盛行，其主要原因是OTT服務無法提供優於目前行動通訊網路所擁有的特性：高通話品質、高移動性以及通話雙方不受應用軟體或終端裝置型號之限制（如Line無法與微信互通）。 由於漫遊的話務必須透過本地端服務網路或國際合作營運商的協議路由，才能順利將信令送達受話方，如此的程序卻造成Tromboning和Triangular等路由問題，對營運商而言，無形中衍生國際營運商合作的路由接續費用等相關成本。為改善上述問題，本論文的研究方法在不增加電信核心網路元件的基礎架構上使用漫遊閘道，分流處理目前行動通訊網路之漫遊的信令傳遞。採用動態更新漫遊用戶資料機制，降低各電信核心網路元件的運算資源，使漫遊的話務能採用更直接的路徑方式進行路由。 本研究所提出的方法，根據數學理論推導驗證可以發現，漫遊路由成本，不論是路由所需經過的國家數、網路元件數以及營運商連結數等，都能有效降低。模擬實驗結果也顯示，本研究方法能有效降低漫遊呼叫接通的時間，並能提升行動通訊網路前端網路元件的運算效能。在避免Tromboning和Triangular等路由問題的同時，降低營運商的話務路由成本，進而降低漫遊通話費用，提升用戶對漫遊通話使用率，達成雙贏局面。 / The ways of transferring signaling of international roaming, abbreviated to roaming in the following, in mobile communication network evolve from satellite communications, submarine cable communications, etc. The huge maintenance cost of telecommunication infrastructure results in high charge of a roaming call. Through the advancement of mobile communication network technologies, the emergent Over The Top (OTT) applications had been widely spread and began to replace the ways of legacy roaming calls. However, the saving call products still popular is due to OTT services are inferior to those of mobile communication in terms of voice quality and mobility. Apart from this, both parties of OTT services are subject to the same application software, e.g. LINE cannot communicate with WeChat. Since roaming traffic should be delivered through the routing protocol between local service network and international cooperative operators, it may cause Tromboning and Triangular problems. Operators, should thus increase the cost of interconnection due to the corporation among international operators. To resolve the problems, we propose to use roaming gateways based on the underlying infrastructure without adding components to the existing telecommunication core network. Roaming gateways can assist in separate processing of roaming signals delivery of the current mobile communication networks. The proposed method adopts the current registration model when roaming users visit a service network. Aside from this, the method dynamically updates users’ data in order to reduce the use of computing resources of core network components. The method is proved to be able to choose more direct paths in making roaming calls. The proposed method is verified by both mathematical analysis and simulations. The mathematical analysis proves that the proposed method is able to reduce roaming routing cost in terms of numbers of countries, network components and interconnected operators. The simulations show that the proposed method is able to shorten the answering time of roaming calls and enhance the computation efficiency of the front-end components of mobile communication network. In summary, the proposed method is able to solve the routing problems of Tromboning and Triangular as well as reduce the traffic routing cost of operators. As the result, the operators will be able to offer better tariff to users.

No description available.

Under det senaste decenniet har utvecklingen ökat drastiskt av streaming av filmer, serier, dokumentärer och sport. Utvecklingen har medfört att nya over-the-top (OTT) företag har inträtt marknaden. Några av världens största underhållnings- och telekomföretag har under de senaste åren satsat på denna typ av plattform. Konkurrensen ökar ständigt då det idag finns ett stort antal olika streamingtjänster för en konsument att välja mellan. Konsumenten får en alltmer betydelsefull roll i utvecklingen av dessa tjänster samtidigt som e-lojalitet blir en viktigare faktor för att skapa konkurrensfördelar online.  Studiens syfte är att undersöka huruvida de 8C:na och eWOM skapar förtroende samt tillfredsställelse, i förlängning, e-lojalitet gentemot OTT-plattformar. Studien utgår från en deduktiv forskningsansats med kvantitativ karaktär. Genom en enkätundersökning har empirisk data insamlats och därefter analyserats genom deskriptiv statistik samt regressionsanalyser.  Resultatet påvisar att faktorerna care, customization, character, contact interactivity och eWOM har en positiv inverkan på förtroende och tillfredsställelse. Vidare antyder resultatet att förtroende och tillfredsställelse i sin tur har en stark positiv påverkan på e-lojalitet. Slutligen har även en modell utformats baserat på studiens resultat, denna kan lämnas som ett praktiskt och teoretiskt bidrag. Modellen visar vilka faktorer OTT-företag bör ta hänsyn till vid erbjudandet av tjänster för att främja e-lojalitet bland deras konsumenter. / Over the past decade, the development of streaming entertainment such as movies, TV shows, documentaries and sports has increased drastically. This development has resulted in a number of new OTT (over-the-top) companies entering the market. Some of the world's largest entertainment and telecom companies have in recent years invested in this type of platform. The competition is constantly increasing as a variety of streaming services are available for the consumers to choose from. The consumer’s role is continuously growing in the development of these services, while e-loyalty is becoming a more important factor in creating competitive advantages online.  The purpose of the study is to investigate whether the 8Cs and eWOM create trust and satisfaction, by extension, e-loyalty to OTT platforms. The study is based on a deductive research approach of a quantitative nature. Through a survey, empirical data have been collected and then analyzed through descriptive statistics and regression analysis.  The results indicate that care, customization, character, contact interactivity and eWOM have a positive impact on trust and satisfaction. Furthermore, the results suggest that trust and satisfaction in turn have a strong positive impact on e-loyalty. Lastly, a model has been designed based on the results of the study, which can be provided as a practical and theoretical contribution. The model demonstrates which factors OTT companies should take into account when offering services to promote e-loyalty among their consumers. This paper is written in Swedish.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:22:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3795.pdf: 1250266 bytes, checksum: 92066a2c1ad5d8123001121adcd92bc3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-02 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Against of stimuli that are dangerous, animals manifest defense reactions that cause fear and anxiety. These stimuli activate the serotonergic system, which sends projections to structures involved in defense mechanisms such as the septum, hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala and periaqueductal gray modulates the behavioral changes that can be characterized as anxiety. Studies have shown that 5-HT3 receptors are part of this modulation. The elevated plus maze (EPM) is a widely used animal model to evaluate the anxiolytic activity of drugs. Currently, it is known that the retest in rodents (rats and mice) increases the avoidance of it, this phenomenon, which refers to "a display of tolerance" (OTT, One Trial Tolerance). The amygdala is a prosencephalic structures that have significant amount of serotonin (5-HT) in this way, recent results from our laboratory have shown that microinjections of ondansetron antagonist 5-HT3 receptors in the amygdala of mice produced anxiolytic-like effect evaluated in LCE. The aim of this study was to evaluate the involvement of receptors 5-HT3 receptors in the amygdala of mice prior experience the elevated plus-maze (EPM). Conventional measures of anxiety (% of entry and time spent in open arms), locomotor activity (frequency in closed arms) and ethological measures related to risk assessment were recorded. The present study demonstrated that intra-amygdala of ondansetron, antagonist of 5-HT3 receptors, produced anxiolytic-like effects in naive mice and mice prior experience the LCE. The injection of ondansetron in only one of the exhibits produced anxiolytic-like effect, which leads us to conclude that the drug produced no change in memory. Both the Trial 1 and in Trial 2, none treatments affected locomotor activity. So while the amygdala is involved in the neurobiology of the defense reactions such as anxiety response, as it refers to the phenomenon it seems OTT not to participate. / Diante de estímulos que representam perigo os animais manifestam reações de defesa que originam o medo e a ansiedade. Estes estímulos ativam o sistema serotonérgico, o qual emite projeções para estruturas envolvidas nos mecanismos de defesa tais como, septo, hipotálamo, hipocampo, substância cinzenta periaquedutal e amídala, modulando as alterações comportamentais que podem ser caracterizadas como ansiedade. Estudos têm demonstrado que os receptores 5-HT3 fazem parte desta modulação. O labirinto em cruz elevado (LCE) é um modelo animal amplamente utilizado para avaliar a atividade ansiolítica de drogas. Atualmente, sabe-se que o reteste em roedores (ratos e camundongos) aumenta a evitação do mesmo, fenômeno este, que se refere à tolerância de uma exposição (OTT, do inglês One Trial Tolerance). A amídala é uma das estruturas prosencefálicas que apresentam quantidade relevante de serotonina (5-HT), dessa forma, resultados recentes do nosso laboratório demonstram que microinjeções de ondansetron, antagonista dos receptores 5- HT3, na amídala de camundongos, produziu efeito ansiolítico avaliado no LCE. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o envolvimento dos receptores 5-HT3 na amídala de camundongos reexpostos ao labirinto em cruz elevado (LCE). Medidas convencionais de ansiedade (% de entrada e de tempo gasto nos braços abertos), atividade locomotora (freqüência de entrada nos braços fechados) e medidas etológicas relacionadas à avaliação de risco foram registradas. O presente estudo demonstrou que a injeção intra-amídala de ondansetron, antagonista de receptores 5-HT3, produziu efeito ansiolítico tanto em camundongos ingênuos quanto em camundongos reexpostos ao LCE. A injeção de ondansetron em apenas uma das exposições produziu efeito ansiolítico, o que nos leva a concluir que a droga não produziu alteração da memória. Tanto na exposição 1 como na reexposição, nenhum dos tratamentos afetou a atividade locomotora. Portanto, embora a amídala esteja envolvida na neurobiologia das reações de defesa, tais como a resposta de ansiedade, no que se que refere ao fenômeno OTT ela parece não participar.

Google and Apple together are ruling the mobile phone industry with their operating systems, Android and iOS. Any mobile application willing to reach the vast majority of end-users, need to be run on both platforms. The issue, however, arises when considering that fact that developing an application for each platform requires different knowledge and code base. Cross-platform frameworks are emerged to overcome the mentioned issue by providing the possibility to develop a mobile application which works on multiple platforms with potentially a single code base.To investigate the capabilities of cross-platform frameworks, three frameworks were chosen to be compared; React Native backed by Facebook, Xamarin owned by Microsoft, and Flutter developed by Google. The chosen frameworks have been compared in the context of OTT Videooriented mobile applications. As a reference application OTT Flow, an OTT Video application developed by Accedo, has been used.The findings in this thesis shows that Xamarin is not a good choice for the purpose of this thesis since no advantages were witnessed in most of the criteria. React Native and Flutter, on the other hand, offer promising features which suit developing OTT applications. When considering the video-specific functionalities, however, React Native stood out slightly better. In fact, even though React Native is possibly the best choice among the mentioned frameworks for developing OTT Video-oriented mobile applications, the cross-platform frameworks are not mature enough in terms of video-specific functionalities support yet. / Google och Apple dominerar mobiltelefonindustrin tillsammans med sina operativsystem, Android och iOS. En mobilapplikation som eftersträvar att nå majoriteten av slutanvändarna måste gå att köra på båda plattformarna. Problem uppstår emellertid när man överväger det faktum att utveckla en applikation för varje plattform kräver olika kunskaper och kodbas. Ramverk för utveckling mot flera plattformar finns för att övervinna problemet genom att erbjuda möjlighet att utveckla en mobilapplikation som fungerar på flera plattformar med eventuellt en enda kodbas.För att undersöka kapaciteten hos plattformsramverk, valdes tre ramverk ut för att jämföras: React Native stött av Facebook, Xamarin ägt av Microsoft och Flutter utvecklat av Google. De valda ramverken har jämförts i samband med OTT Videoorientede mobila applikationer. Som referens användes OTT Flow, en OTT Videoapplikation utvecklad av Accedo.Resultaten i detta arbete visar att Xamarin inte är ett bra val för syftet med detta arbete eftersom inga fördelar sågs i de flesta kriterierna. React Native och Flutter, å andra sidan, erbjuder lovande funktioner som passar för att utveckla OTT applikationer. När man överväger de videospecifika funktionerna stod emellertid React Native ut lite bättre. Faktum är att även om React Native kanske är det bästa valet bland de nämnda ramverken för att utveckla OTT Video-orienterade mobila applikationer, så är de ramverken ännu inte mogna nog i termer av stöd för videospecifika funktioner.