The UTeach Observation Protocol (UTOP) is designed to capture what occurs in a classroom. The UTOP was developed for use in the nationally recognized UTeach program (uteach.utexas.edu) and has been validated nationally in the Gates Foundation Measures of Effective Teaching. (http://www.metproject.org/downloads/Preliminary_Findings-Research_Paper.pdf) Currently the UTOP has been used in both science and math classrooms and is being developed for use in English language arts and social studies classrooms as well. This report serves to begin the modification of the UTOP for use in an engineering classroom to evaluate engineering specific content. The UTOP has been described as a lens for reflection on teaching practices and the goal of this report is to help focus that lens more clearly on the engineering classroom. This tool was created for utilization in both educator and administrator roles. Teachers can use the UTOP to self-assess their own teaching practices as well as in observing other teachers and identify classroom best practices. Administrators and other classroom visitors can use the UTOP to understand and evaluate what occurs in a classroom for a multitude of outcomes. The methodology chosen in this report to create the engineering specific examples used real lessons that have been implemented in engineering classrooms and vetted in actual practice. Using both initial lessons from the teachers and their feedback along with language taken from the Next Generation Science Standard Framework and the UTeachEngineering Engineering Design Protocol, the examples were developed to show how to score each indicator on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest score, in a secondary engineering classroom. The next steps recommended for this work are to pilot the examples created in this report and test the usefulness of the examples created. This can be accomplished by field-testing it in UTOP training with teachers and modifying the information based on the feedback that they provide. The work described in this paper was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Award DUE-0831811). / text

The subject of this thesis is the usage of economic instruments (EIs) in multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and their relation to international economic law. The thesis aims at analysing and evaluating the possibilities of using economic instruments, their potential to ensure the compliance with the treaties' provisions and assessing, under which conditions it is possible to use them in compliance with the international economic law. As a lot of economic instruments operate with restrictions to international trade in several manners, they can get in conflict with the law embodying this area, namely the law of the World Trade Organization. The thesis therefore analyses the main principles and provisions of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade that can affect the usage of EIs in MEAs. Most attention is paid to the interpretation of exemptions from the Agreement that can legalize such restrictions. Trade-Related Environmental Measures shouldn't be discriminatory. They shouldn't present arbitrary or unjustifiable restriction to trade against the principles and provisions of the WTO agreements. Such restrictions can only be made based on international agreement. The case of trade restriction based on MEA wasn't yet considered by Dispute Settlement Body and the answer hence depends on the...

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) allows users of network equipment (i.e. Network Administrators) to remotely query the state of any device being tested for system load, utilization and configuration. Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional are all equipped with SNMP service so that an SNMP manager can communicate with an SNMP agent running on a wireless 802.11b client. However the rest of Windows operating systems, including Windows CE and a Pocket PC, have to run third party proxy SNMP agents in order to be recognized by an SNMP management application. This thesis describes an implementation of a Pocket PC SNMP agent for two Pocket PC mobile devices accessing a wired network via an 802.11b wireless link. As a result of the implementation performed in this thesis, an SNMP manager can wirelessly communicate with a Pocket PC client. However, other results found that only some of the commercially available SNMP managers are able to access the mobile SNMP client and its management information base, due to incompatible implementations of the server and client software. / Lieutenant, Royal Thai Air Force

This thesis charts the evolution of the credit default swaps (CDS) market from its inception to the present day. The first part focuses on the principles of CDS trading, the differences between CDS and insurance, the structure of the markets and variation in their volumes during the period, the influence of CDS on the credit crisis and the current state of the market. The second part looks at AIG and the relationship between CDS and the problems of AIG. The final part looks at the regulation and standardisation of the CDS market and trend in the changes to those regulations.

The goal of this Thesis is to uncover, characterize, analyze, describe and define selected contemporary rules of etiquette, international business and diplomatic protocol in international business and diplomatic practice and point out the greatest deficiencies witnessed in practice. The research subject of this Thesis is, thus, the formal aspect of international business and diplomatic cooperation. Its output consists of recommendation on how to correctly apply these rules in practice. I would also like my paper to significantly contribute to the general knowledge of this fascinating and commonly useful knowledge. The structure of the Thesis as it was drawn up in context of its goals consists of three main chapters, introduction and conclusion. The first part of the Thesis deals with Social Etiquette. This part is not conceived as general rules of social intercourse. Instead, it concentrates mainly on the elaboration of contemporary general rules of social intercourse and etiquette to in the context of business and entrepreneurial activities, i.e. Business Protocol. The Thesis would also like to provide answers to the following questions: What is the current standard of social intercourse in the Czech Republic? What are the contemporary rules of social intercourse in the Czech Republic and how do they differ from the etiquette abroad? Can we claim that these rules are being observed? What leads our managers, businessman, diplomats etc. to observing these rules? In my Thesis I strive to evaluate contemporary rules applicable to social, business and diplomatic events as well as in written communication and to draw attention the lack of their knowledge. Another partial goal of the Thesis consists of using carried out analyses, evaluations, inquiries via questionnaires and comparative analyses to point out the differences in the rules of social intercourse, conduct and negotiation in different territories. The working hypothesis of this part of the paper is to indicate on the basis of the above mentioned allegations the relationship between the behaviour and conduct of managers of different provenience and the fact that they have different cultural background. Culture is learned not inherited. It is derived from the social environment not from genes and it must be clearly distinguished from human character and the character of individual people. Significant attention is, therefore, paid to the study of international customs and conventions, especially those of the countries which the representatives of Czech firms, enterprises and institutions most come into contact with. The presented Thesis does not have the ambition to come up with a definitive cookbook as to how to conduct oneself in a given situation within a given territory; it merely strives to point out the pitfalls, misunderstandings and blunders in conduct and barriers in communication and in business or any other professional negotiations. Unlike legal acts the rules of Etiquette are not binding. Laws apply to all and the state prosecutes their infringement. Unlike laws, the rules of Etiquette are not enforceable. Their only form of enforcement is the social pressure which the society effectuates on the individual. Thus, the standards of social conduct only apply to those willing to abide by them. The presented paper is an aggregate of the rules and its author's views. Another author's standpoint may differ. The second part of the Thesis concentrates on the sphere of Diplomatic Protocol in international business and diplomatic practice. The presented paper aims at describing the existing system of Foreign Service and diplomatic activities, presenting the diplomatic representations, consulates, missions and other representatives abroad, their functioning as well as their immunities and privileges. Diplomatic Protocol concerns the formal, not the material, content of international relations. Formal rules of social conduct in intercourse with diplomatic representatives of other countries, the etiquette and the ceremonies applied to the intercourse with these representatives form an integral part of the Diplomatic Protocol. In the initial part I define the very term Diplomatic Protocol and I strive to specify is subject. Successively I address individual respective parts of Diplomatic Protocol and diplomatic practice, such as the methods of establishing diplomatic relationships, the roles of diplomatic missions, ranks of diplomatic representatives and their immunities and privileges, the procedure related to the conferment of agrément and the termination of activity of the head of a diplomatic mission, official visits of foreign guests, organisation of international conferences, diplomatic correspondence, consular activities etc. In the course of its elaboration the presented Thesis should also offer answers to the following questions: What is the current international form, role and significance of the Diplomatic Protocol? What leads states to observing signed conventions? Which diplomatic immunities and privileges are at the moment among the most abused or violated? For the accomplishment of the goals set out in this Thesis I shall strive to outline the scale of theoretic approaches and based on the effective layout and international practice express my own conclusions. Among others, the paper also aims at promoting the development of skills of the current diplomat and acquainting them with the norms of diplomatic correspondence. The aforementioned part of the Thesis also sets out another rather easily attained objective: due to the inexistence of comprehensive publications on this topic to become a handbook and reference manual not only for the young adepts of this profession but for all who for some reason take interest in Diplomacy. It was an ambition of the author to assemble and explain terms, which those interested in the practical aspects of Foreign Service, may be confronted with. The paper reflects current diplomatic practice and takes into account Czech circumstances. The author is endeavouring to mediate the information and knowledge she gained through years of practice at representative offices abroad gained during her practical experience at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and through more than 20 years of practice in academic research and instruction of this area.

by Hung King Fai Kevin. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-85 (2nd gp.)). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.ii / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / 摘要 --- p.v / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.vi / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- OBJECTIVES --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- NEED FOR PATIENT-MONITORING SYSTEM --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Aging Population --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Increasing Population with Heart Diseases --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- ECG BASICS --- p.3 / Chapter 1.4 --- EXISITING ECG-MONITORING TECHNOLOGIES --- p.4 / Chapter 1.5 --- CHALLENGES IN PATIENT-MONITORING --- p.5 / Chapter 1.6 --- DEVELOPMENT OF AN ECG-MONITORING SYSTEM --- p.6 / Chapter 1.6.1 --- Overall Structure --- p.6 / Chapter 1.6.2 --- Considerations --- p.7 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- EMI FILTERS IN ECG ACQUISITION CIRCUIT --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- OVERVIEW OF NOISE SOURCES IN ECG ACQUISITION --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Other Biopotentials --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Motion Artifact --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Power-line Interference --- p.10 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- High-Frequency Electromagnetic Interference --- p.15 / Chapter 2.2 --- EMI FILTERS --- p.16 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Introduction to EMI Filters --- p.16 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Types of EMI Filter --- p.17 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- EMI Filters in ECG Monitoring --- p.21 / Chapter 2.3 --- MODELING OF INTERFERENCE IN ECG-MONITORING SYSTEM --- p.22 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Model and Parameters --- p.22 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Method --- p.24 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Results --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Discussion --- p.30 / Chapter 2.4 --- BUILDING AN ECG ACQUISITION CIRCUIT WITH EMI FILTERS --- p.30 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Purpose --- p.30 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Experimental Setup and Method --- p.30 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Results --- p.32 / Chapter 2.4.4 --- Discussion --- p.46 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- ADAPTIVE FILTER --- p.48 / Chapter 3.1 --- OBJECTIVE --- p.48 / Chapter 3.2 --- INTRODUCTION TO ADAPTIVE FILTER --- p.48 / Chapter 3.3 --- METHOD --- p.50 / Chapter 3.4 --- RESULTS --- p.52 / Chapter 3.5 --- DISCUSSION --- p.57 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- WAP-BASED TELEMEDICINE APPLICATIONS --- p.59 / Chapter 4.1 --- INTRODUCTION TO TELEMEDICINE --- p.59 / Chapter 4.2 --- INTRODUCTION TO WAP --- p.59 / Chapter 4.3 --- WAP APPLICATIONS --- p.60 / Chapter 4.4 --- SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION --- p.63 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Overall Structure --- p.63 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Relational Database --- p.63 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- Program Flow --- p.64 / Chapter 4.4.4 --- ECG Browsing and Feature Extraction --- p.70 / Chapter 4.5 --- EMULATION --- p.72 / Chapter 4.6 --- EXPERIENCE WITH WAP PHONE --- p.74 / Chapter 4.7 --- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION --- p.75 / Chapter CHAPTER 5: --- CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK --- p.77 / Chapter 5.1 --- CONCLUSION --- p.77 / Chapter 5.2 --- FUTURE WORK --- p.77 / Chapter 5.3 --- MARKET ANALYSIS --- p.79 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.80

by Pan Jiao Feng. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-93). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgments --- p.v / List of Tables --- p.x / List of Figures --- p.xi / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Graph definitions --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- The S box graph --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- The file transfer graph --- p.4 / Chapter 1.4 --- "(g, f)-factor and (g, f)-factorization" --- p.5 / Chapter 1.5 --- Thesis contributions --- p.6 / Chapter 1.6 --- Organization of the thesis --- p.7 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- On the Optimal Four-way Switch Box Routing Structures of FPGA Greedy Routing Architectures --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- FPGA model and S box model --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- FPGA routing --- p.10 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Problem formulation --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2 --- Definitions and terminology --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- General terminology --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Graph definitions --- p.15 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- The S box graph --- p.15 / Chapter 2.3 --- Properties of the S box graph and side-to-side graphs --- p.16 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- On the properties of the S box graph --- p.16 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- The properties of side-to-side graphs --- p.19 / Chapter 2.4 --- Conversion of the four-way FPGA routing problem --- p.23 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Conversion of the S box model --- p.24 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Conversion of the DAAA model --- p.26 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Conversion of the DADA model --- p.27 / Chapter 2.4.4 --- Conversion of the DDDA model --- p.28 / Chapter 2.5 --- Low bounds of routing switches --- p.28 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- The lower bound of the DAAA model --- p.29 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- The lower bound of the DADA model --- p.30 / Chapter 2.5.3 --- The lower bound of the DDDA model --- p.31 / Chapter 2.6 --- Optimal structure of one-side predetermined four-way FPGA routing --- p.32 / Chapter 2.7 --- Optimal structures of two-side and three-side predetermined four-way FPGA routing --- p.45 / Chapter 2.7.1 --- Optimal structure of two-side predetermined four-way FPGA routing --- p.46 / Chapter 2.7.2 --- Optimal structure of three-side predetermined four-way FPGA routing --- p.47 / Chapter 2.8 --- Conclusion --- p.49 / Appendix --- p.50 / Chapter Chapter 3. --- "Application of (0, f)-Factorization on the Scheduling of File Transfers" --- p.53 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.53 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- "(0,f)-factorization" --- p.54 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- File transfer model and its graph --- p.54 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Previous results --- p.56 / Chapter 3.1.4 --- Our results and outline of the chapter --- p.56 / Chapter 3.2 --- NP-completeness --- p.57 / Chapter 3.3 --- Some lemmas --- p.58 / Chapter 3.4 --- Bounds of file transfer graphs --- p.59 / Chapter 3.5 --- Comparison --- p.62 / Chapter 3.6 --- Conclusion --- p.68 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- "Decomposition Graphs into (g,f)-Factors" --- p.69 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.69 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- "(g,f)-factors and (g,f)-factorizations" --- p.69 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Previous work --- p.70 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Our results --- p.72 / Chapter 4.2 --- Proof of Theorem 2 --- p.73 / Chapter 4.3 --- Proof of Theorem 3 --- p.79 / Chapter 4.4 --- Proof of Theorem 4 --- p.80 / Chapter 4.5 --- Related previous results --- p.82 / Chapter 4.6 --- Conclusion --- p.84 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Conclusion --- p.85 / Chapter 5.1 --- About graph-based approaches --- p.85 / Chapter 5.2 --- FPGA routing --- p.87 / Chapter 5.3 --- The scheduling of file transfer --- p.88 / Bibliography --- p.89 / Vita --- p.94

Findings of this research work provide clear understanding of why organizationaltechnology(Network technology) adoption decision makers decide to recommend or notrecommend an Internet Protocol migration(adoption of the latest protocol), or a migrationfrom Ipv4 to IPv6/ or adoption of IPv6, to their organizations. A meticulous review ofliterature on the practice of various organizations technology adoption process served as abase for developing relevant research questions and corresponding hypothesis. The researchhypothesis was developed to examine organization‟s technology (Network technology)adoption decision maker‟s perception of IPv6: quality of service, auto configurationcapability, security, mobility, address abundance and cost effectiveness and its effect on theirdecision.The study result indicated that network expert‟s decision to recommend a new networktechnology adoption, specifically, internet protocol migration from IPv4 to IPv6 is highlyinfluenced by their perception of the factors listed in the previous paragraph, thereforenetwork expert‟s perception of the aforementioned factors are instrumental for their decisionof recommending whether to encourage the internet protocol migration. It is also implied thatmanagers at top level can make a technology adoption or migration decision based on therecommendation from the experts already knowing that their decision is highly influenced bytheir perception of capabilities and functionality of the new IP (IPv6). In addition to theapparent contribution of this study to organizations that fall in to the category of organization,where this study was conducted, the result of this study also helps different organizationsengaged in other kinds of business activity, such as: network infrastructure manufacturersand application developers by providing essential information regarding which functionalitiesand capabilities are playing a major role for organization‟s choice for a certain networkinfrastructure. / Program: Masterutbildning i Informatik

This thesis looks in depth at telephony server clusters, the modern switchboards at the core of a packet-based telephony service. The most widely used de facto standard protocols for telecommunications are the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and the Real Time Protocol (RTP). SIP is a signaling protocol used to establish, maintain, and tear down communication channel between two or more parties. RTP is a media delivery protocol that allows packets to carry digitized voice, video, or text. SIP telephony server clusters that provide communications services, such as an emergency calling service, must be scalable and highly available. We evaluate existing commercial and open source telephony server clusters to see how they differ in scalability and high availability. We also investigate how a scalable SIP server cluster can be built on a cloud computing platform. Elasticity of resources is an attractive property for SIP server clusters because it allows the cluster to grow or shrink organically based on traffic load. However, simply deploying existing clusters to cloud computing platforms is not good enough to take full advantage of elasticity. We explore the design and implementation of clusters that scale in real-time. The database tier of our cluster was modified to use a scalable key-value store so that both the SIP proxy tier and the database tier can scale separately. Load monitoring and reactive threshold-based scaling logic is presented and evaluated. Server clusters also need to reduce processing latency. Otherwise, subscribers experience low quality of service such as delayed call establishment, dropped calls, and inadequate media quality. Cloud computing platforms do not guarantee latency on virtual machines due to resource contention on the same physical host. These extra latencies from resource contention are temporary in nature. Therefore, we propose and evaluate a mechanism that temporarily distributes more incoming calls to responsive SIP proxies, based on measurements of the processing delay in proxies. Availability of SIP server clusters is also a challenge on platforms where a node may fail anytime. We investigated how single component failures in a cluster can lead to a complete system outage. We found that for single component failures, simply having redundant components of the same type are enough to mask those failures. However, for client-facing components, smarter clients and DNS resolvers are necessary. Throughout the thesis, a prototype SIP proxy cluster is re-used, with variations in the architecture or configuration, to demonstrate and address issues mentioned above. This allows us to tie all of our approaches for different issues into one coherent system that is dynamically scalable, is responsive despite latency varations of virtual machines, and is tolerant of single component failures in cloud platforms.

<p>SMTP, the current protocol for sending electronic mail (e-mail) over the Internet, has for many years suffered from several problems and limitations. When it was designed, well over twenty years ago, the requirements for e-mail were very different from those of today. A message was a text message in English, and both user and machine were explicitly named in the address. The protocol was not designed to transfer other types of messages, and no mechanism was included to verify the identity of the sender.</p><p>In order to solve these shortcomings, a new e-mail protocol needs to be defined. This report specifies a basis for what such a protocol may look like. The protocol has been designed to be easy to modify and expand, as well as to benefit from more recent ideas and technology. Binary message content is transferred without conversion, sender addresses are verified, and the address format is flexible. Along with the specification of the protocol, a sample implementation has been provided.</p>