A Proposta Técnica é uma documentação cuja elaboração é uma atividade frequente nas empresas prestadoras de serviço e fornecedoras de produtos, que envolve um time multidisciplinar de profissionais e consome quantidade significativa de recursos financeiros e tempo, tanto das empresas proponentes quanto das empresas contratantes, que analisarão seu conteúdo e por fim selecionarão a proposta a ser aceita. A proposta desempenha vários papeis, funcionando como um material de comunicação da empresa que representa, ao explicitar sua capacidade para realização do trabalho proposto, e também como anexo contratual da transação comercial, passando por servir de fonte de informações para a orçamentação do Projeto e sugerir novas soluções às problemáticas apresentadas pelo cliente. O presente trabalho explorará a importância da Proposta Técnica nas negociações comerciais, assim como seu processo de elaboração em empresas construtoras de edifícios comerciais para iniciativa privada no Brasil, utilizando-se a metodologia de estudo de caso. Por meio de análise da documentação e de entrevistas com os profissionais envolvidos tanto na elaboração quanto na classificação das propostas, são discutidos os pontos essenciais no processo de produção de uma Proposta Técnica. / The Technical Proposal is a document whose preparation is a frequent action in companies which offer services or products. Besides it involves a multidisciplinary team, it also spends a significant amount of resources and time of all companies involved (the bidders and the contractor who will analyze it and decide which one will be accept). The Technical Proposal has some roles to play: be a promotional material of the proponent company, compose the contract, supply the cost estimation with time and quantity information and, finally, suggest new or complementary solutions to client´s questions. The aim of this research is, by doing case studies, to discuss the Technical Proposal business importance and to describe its preparation process in Brazilian commercial buildings construction companies. Interviews and documental analyses are the chosen tools to identify the main points of proposal development and the trends of this area.

<p>With the standardization of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), the telecommunications scene becomes more and more converged and in the future we will most likely access our services from all kinds of devices and link them together. One important future access method that has so far been left out of the standardization is television. There is a need for Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) to work together with IMS and this thesis focuses on one aspect of that convergence, namely charging.</p><p>The problem explored in this thesis is if there is an efficient way of charging for IPTV services while taking advantage of the IMS charging functionality and this is done for two aspects of the problem. First, the possiblilty of an efficient Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) signaling schema is investigated and then a good charging Application Programming Interface (API) to be used when developing applications is investigated. The findings of these two investigations are then tested and improved during the implementation of a demo application.</p><p>This thesis delivers specifications for a signaling schema that enables a Set-Top Box (STB) to pass charging information to an IMS network via INFO requests inside a special charging session. The schema is small and extendable to ensure that it can be modified further on if necessary. The thesis also delivers an encapsulating and intuitive charging API to be used by developers who want to charge for their services.</p>

<p>Denna uppsats behandlar frågan om rätten till eutanasi och läkarassisterade självmord. Den svenska lagstiftningen och praxisen på området har jämförts med den holländska motsvarigheten, då Holland 2001 blev det första landet i världen som legaliserade eutanasi och läkarassisterade självmord.</p><p>Frågan om rätten till självvalt livsavslut är ingenting nytt men ändock är frågan kontroversiell och ger upphov till fler frågor än den kan ge svar på. Frågorna som skall besvaras i den här uppsatsen lyder:</p><p>Vilka likheter respektive skillnader finns mellan den svenska rättsliga hållningen avseende eutanasi och den holländska Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act (2001)? Vilka filosofiska spörsmål och konsekvenser bör man ta ställning till innan en legalisering sker och hur skulle en svensk lagstiftning kunna utformas?</p><p>I Sverige är det inte olagligt att begå självmord eftersom det är ett angrepp mot den egna rättssfären. Således är det inte heller olagligt att hjälpa någon att ta sitt eget liv. Genom domstolsavgöranden innebär medhjälp att man ger den som vill dö tabletter eller giftdryck som personen själv måste svälja. Den som vill dö måste själv utföra den dödande handlingen, annars riskerar medhjälparen att dömas för dråp. Svensk lagstiftning förbjuder någon ur den medicinska professionen att assistera vid ett självmord, dock är detta tillåtet för anhöriga eller nära vänner.</p><p>Hollands lagstiftning grundar sig på trettio år av domstolsavgöranden. Successivt har domstolarna byggt upp olika rekvisit eller due care-kriterier som måste vara uppfyllda för att en läkare som utfört eutanasi eller assisterat självmord skall gå fri från ansvar. Den holländska lagstiftningen kräver även att det skall finnas fem regionala kommittéer som skall granska inkomna rapporter om eutanasi. De har sedan att avgöra huruvida due care-kriterierna blivit mötta eller om ärendet skall överlämnas till åklagaren. En kontroversiell aspekt med den holländska lagstiftningen är att den tillåter minderåriga att begära eutanasi eller assisterat självmord.</p><p>Europadomstolen har i ett avgörande beslutat att det inte strider mot Europakonventionen om de mänskliga rättigheterna att förneka någon assistans med att ta sitt liv. Domstolen tolkade artikel 2 och 8 så att det är viktigare för en stat att skydda alla individer i samhället än att ge en enskild individ rätt till assistans vid självmord.</p><p>Slutligen har ett förslag till svensk lagstiftning utformats, liknande den holländska lagstiftningen. Förslaget innebär att individen skall ha rätt att få eutanasi eller assisterat självmord utfört av en läkare och inte vara hänvisad till att någon anhörig vill och vågar agera medhjälpare. Frågan är inte när utan om en svensk lagstiftning kan bli realitet i Sverige, då den styrande makten inte anser att en lagstiftning liknande den holländska är önskvärd i Sverige. Enligt svensk lag är det idag tillåtet att svälta ihjäl en människa genom passiv dödshjälp eller att assistera någon att begå självmord. Däremot är det inte tillåtet för beslutskompetenta individer att själva välja när de vill avsluta livet och ett outhärdligt lidande, genom att använda eutanasi eller läkarassisterat självmord. Det borde vara en rättighet att i liknande situationer kunna välja att dö i en för individen trygg miljö omgärdad av sina närmaste.</p>

Denna uppsats behandlar frågan om rätten till eutanasi och läkarassisterade självmord. Den svenska lagstiftningen och praxisen på området har jämförts med den holländska motsvarigheten, då Holland 2001 blev det första landet i världen som legaliserade eutanasi och läkarassisterade självmord. Frågan om rätten till självvalt livsavslut är ingenting nytt men ändock är frågan kontroversiell och ger upphov till fler frågor än den kan ge svar på. Frågorna som skall besvaras i den här uppsatsen lyder: Vilka likheter respektive skillnader finns mellan den svenska rättsliga hållningen avseende eutanasi och den holländska Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act (2001)? Vilka filosofiska spörsmål och konsekvenser bör man ta ställning till innan en legalisering sker och hur skulle en svensk lagstiftning kunna utformas? I Sverige är det inte olagligt att begå självmord eftersom det är ett angrepp mot den egna rättssfären. Således är det inte heller olagligt att hjälpa någon att ta sitt eget liv. Genom domstolsavgöranden innebär medhjälp att man ger den som vill dö tabletter eller giftdryck som personen själv måste svälja. Den som vill dö måste själv utföra den dödande handlingen, annars riskerar medhjälparen att dömas för dråp. Svensk lagstiftning förbjuder någon ur den medicinska professionen att assistera vid ett självmord, dock är detta tillåtet för anhöriga eller nära vänner. Hollands lagstiftning grundar sig på trettio år av domstolsavgöranden. Successivt har domstolarna byggt upp olika rekvisit eller due care-kriterier som måste vara uppfyllda för att en läkare som utfört eutanasi eller assisterat självmord skall gå fri från ansvar. Den holländska lagstiftningen kräver även att det skall finnas fem regionala kommittéer som skall granska inkomna rapporter om eutanasi. De har sedan att avgöra huruvida due care-kriterierna blivit mötta eller om ärendet skall överlämnas till åklagaren. En kontroversiell aspekt med den holländska lagstiftningen är att den tillåter minderåriga att begära eutanasi eller assisterat självmord. Europadomstolen har i ett avgörande beslutat att det inte strider mot Europakonventionen om de mänskliga rättigheterna att förneka någon assistans med att ta sitt liv. Domstolen tolkade artikel 2 och 8 så att det är viktigare för en stat att skydda alla individer i samhället än att ge en enskild individ rätt till assistans vid självmord. Slutligen har ett förslag till svensk lagstiftning utformats, liknande den holländska lagstiftningen. Förslaget innebär att individen skall ha rätt att få eutanasi eller assisterat självmord utfört av en läkare och inte vara hänvisad till att någon anhörig vill och vågar agera medhjälpare. Frågan är inte när utan om en svensk lagstiftning kan bli realitet i Sverige, då den styrande makten inte anser att en lagstiftning liknande den holländska är önskvärd i Sverige. Enligt svensk lag är det idag tillåtet att svälta ihjäl en människa genom passiv dödshjälp eller att assistera någon att begå självmord. Däremot är det inte tillåtet för beslutskompetenta individer att själva välja när de vill avsluta livet och ett outhärdligt lidande, genom att använda eutanasi eller läkarassisterat självmord. Det borde vara en rättighet att i liknande situationer kunna välja att dö i en för individen trygg miljö omgärdad av sina närmaste.

In this thesis, we characterize the proprietary active scanning algorithm of several wireless network interface cards. Our experiments are the first of its kind to observe the complete scanning process as the wireless network interface cards probe all the channels in the 2.4GHz spectrum. We discuss the: 1) correlation of channel popularity during active scanning and access point channel deployment popularity; 2) number of probe request frames statistics on each channel; 3) channel probe order; and 4) dwell time. The knowledge gained from characterizing wireless network interface cards is important for the following reasons: 1) it helps one understand how active scanning is implemented in different hardware and software; 2) it can be useful in identifying a wireless rogue host; 3) it can help implement Active Scanning in network simulators; and 4) it can radically influence research in the familiar fields like link-layer handovers and effective deployment of access points.

Little is known about how the decision for elective cesarean section comes about in the clinical environment. A prospective longitudinal study based on the Health Belief Model was conducted about first time mothers’ decision making processes and their health beliefs which led to their satisfaction with their decision about their mode of delivery. A convenience sample of 144 nulliparous women with singleton pregnancies and no medical indications requiring a cesarean delivery were recruited using internet based informational notices and with flyers. Women (n = 127) planning a vaginal delivery (VDMR) represented 88.2% of the sample and women (n = 17) requesting a cesarean delivery (CDMR) represented 11.8% of the sample. Data were collected during the third trimester and six weeks after the delivery using an internet-based questionnaire. Data were analyzed using t-tests and multiple linear regression to predict the effect of maternal health beliefs, maternal childbirth self efficacy, partner support, acceptance of the maternal role, and request group (VDMR vs. CDMR) on the dependent variables of maternal perception of the delivery and maternal satisfaction with her decision for the mode of delivery. Compared to women with VDMR, women with CDMR were significantly older, less educated, perceived more risk of emergent cesarean and less ability to deliver vaginally. Hypothesis testing indicated that the overall regression model did not significantly predict maternal perception of the delivery. The model accounted for a significant amount (15.1 %) of the variance in maternal satisfaction with the decision for mode of delivery. Acceptance of the maternal role and maternal request group significantly contributed to the model indicating that women with higher acceptance of the maternal role and women with CDMR had poorer satisfaction with their decision for the mode of delivery. The findings showed that factors influencing maternal perceptions of the delivery and satisfaction with the mode of delivery are different. Health beliefs had less relevance for perception of the delivery. It is possible that experiences that occur within the context of the delivery are more salient for maternal perception. Women with higher acceptance of the maternal role and who request a cesarean delivery are at risk for less satisfaction with their delivery decision and more decisional conflict and thus may need more support during decision-making processes and after delivery. Future research should examine the long-term impact of dissatisfaction with delivery decision on maternal outcomes.

Currently, many researchers and stakeholders believe that effective delivery systems for construction projects are key to improving project quality and value in the construction industry. Therefore, it is important that owners use the best project delivery system because there are significant consequence due to differences in contracting processes and roles and responsibilities among contracting parties. For the reason, this research aims to compare the efficiency of DB with that of CMAR, as two methods used to select or deny expectations, specifically through quantitative and qualitative analysis. In order to do that, the researcher identified performance data and benefits, drawbacks, and success factors of DB and CMAR through survey and case projects and also analyzed performance data collected from two case projects. Consequently, owners will be able to understand characteristics, differences, and success factors of two different PDSs based on the comparative study. Furthermore, this research could be used to develop a decision support system for owners to select an appropriate PDS.

La transmisión asistida por relay o transmisión cooperativa es una nueva técnica de diversidad espacial donde aparece un elemento nuevo (un relay o un usuario cooperativo) en la tradicional transmisión punto a punto (fuente a destino). Ahora en la comunicación intervienen tres enlaces: fuente-relay, relay-destino y fuente-destino. El relay, además de asistir a la fuente en la transmisión de un mensaje, permite combatir las degradaciones que puede sufrir el canal como el shadowing y el pathloss. Aunque esta técnica está basada en el trabajo realizado en los 70 por Van der Meulen, Cover y El Gamal, ha sido en los últimos años cuando se han vuelto a considerar el uso de relays. En realidad, la transmisión asistida por un relay puede verse como un sistema virtual multi-antena (virtual MIMO) donde las antenas están distribuidas en diferentes terminales. Sin embargo, al contrario de los sistemas multi-antena y debido a la limitación de la actual tecnología radio, el relay debe trabajar en modo half-duplex, ya que no puede transmitir y recibir simultáneamente en la misma banda. Este hecho, motiva que la transmisión deba realizarse en dos fases ortogonales en función del modo del relay (recibiendo datos - relay-receive phase o transmitiendo datos - relay-transmit phase). Estas fases pueden implementarse en el dominio de la frecuencia o el tiempo.Esta tesis investiga protocolos y estrategias para la transmisión asistida por relay para mejorar la eficiencia espectral y homogeneizar el servicio para todos los usuarios en un sistema de comunicación celular. La introducción del relay en la comunicación implica la redefinición de muchas técnicas y protocolos considerados en las comunicaciones punto a punto y en los sistemas multi-antena, situados en la capa física y/o superiores.En primer lugar se presentan los achievable rates obtenidos por la transmisión asistida por relay en función del rol del relay (amplifica y retransmite o decodifica y retransmite), el tipo de transmisión (siempre transmite, incremental o selectiva), los datos transmitidos por el relay (repite los símbolos recibidos o son independientes) y el tipo del protocolo half duplex. En función de los terminales activos en cada fase de la comunicación (fuente, destino o relay), existen hasta cuatro protocolos. Otro aspecto considerado es la asignación de recursos (resource allocation) para cada fase de la comunicación, la cual puede estar fijada de antemano o puede ser ajustada dinámicamente en función de los canales de los diferentes enlaces. En el caso de que todos los coeficientes del canal se conocieran perfectamente, los terminales podrían transmitir síncronamente, mejorando la comunicación gracias a la ganancia debida a técnicas de pre-codificación por medio de los autovectores del canal (con antenas distribuidas).Además dos técnicas de transmisión asistida por relay son evaluadas cuando existen múltiples relays por destino. Ambas dependen del tipo de mensajes transmitidos a cada relay (mensajes independientes o uno común). La asignación de recursos para ambas técnicas puede verse como un problema convexo.Tres escenarios resumen diferentes tipos de transmisión asistida por relay para múltiples fuentes y un solo destino: RMAC (Relay-assisted Multiple Access Channel), UC (User Cooperation) and MARC (Multiple Access Relay Channel). Su diferencia se basa en el tipo de relay half- duplex considerado. La transmisión puede hacerse síncrona o asíncronamente. Las fuentes y los relays están limitados en potencia y el acceso de ellos en cada fase de la comunicación pude hacerse por medio de TDMA (time division multiple access), FDMA (frequency division multiple access) or SC (superposition coding multiple access). La asignación de recursos puede ser formulada como un problema convexo en algunos casos y la solución óptima puede ser encontrada. Seguidamente la transmisión asistida por relay y duplexada en tiempo es aplicada a un sistema celular centralizado basado en TDMA en el downlink. Con el objetivo de mejorar la eficiencia espectral se propone el reuso espacial de un slot temporal para las transmisiones de los relays hacia sus respectivos destinos (slot de relay), generando interferencia para todos los restantes destinos activos. Un algoritmo de control de potencia basado en la teoría de juegos es propuesto para combatir la interferencia generada. Bajo esa configuración, un algoritmo de scheduling investiga las posibles ganancias debidas al multi-user gain y mide el overhead introducido.Otra forma de tratar con la interferencia es la de controlar el rate de nuestra transmisión (rate control management). Bajo ciertas condiciones es posible modelar la función de densidad de probabilidad de la potencia interferente. En ese caso, la fuente ajusta el rate para maximizar el throughput de la comunicación. Esta solución es extendida para el caso en el que cada destino es asistido por varios relays. Las dos soluciones propuestas son capaces de proporcionar mejores resultados que la transmisión directa, a pesar de la interferencia existente en el slot de relay. Finalmente, se investiga el control dinámico del enlace para la transmisión asistida por relay con dos diferentes tipos de conocimiento sobre el canal: conocimiento estadístico (statistical knowledge of the channel state) o conocimiento del canal instantáneo (actual information about the current channel state).Estos dos tipos de conocimiento derivan en diferentes estrategias a utilizar para seleccionar la modulación y el esquema de codificación (MCS). En el primer caso, los rates seleccionados no están adaptados al canal actual, por lo que el destino puede recibir erróneamente los mensajes. Los protocolos de retransmisión de mensajes (ARQ - automatic repeat request) son los encargados de asegurarse la correcta recepción y son redefinidos para la transmisión asistida por relay.. En este trabajo, se especifica los códigos espacio-tiempo distribuidos, la codificación en al fuente y el relay y la longitud de las retransmisiones. Cuando la fuente conoce algún parámetro del canal instantáneo puede adaptar el MCS para esa realización del canal. En ese caso se investiga la predicción del error en las transmisiones asistidas por relay, y con ello es posible diseñar el MCS para que maximice la cantidad de información transmitida para una probabilidad de pérdida de paquete o que maximice el throughput. / The relay-assisted or cooperative transmission is a relatively new class of spatial diversity technique where a new element comes up in the conventional source-destination or point-to point communication: an assisting relay or cooperating user. The relay assists to the source in transmitting a message to the destination and allows dealing with the channel impairments like shadowing and pathloss. Although the seminal works were issued in the 70's by van der Meulen, Cover and El Gamal, it has been during the last years when it has re-gained more attention by the researchers. In fact, the relay-assisted transmission can be seen as a virtual MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) with distributed antennas. In contrast to MIMO systems, the transmission requires the use of additional channel resources because of the limitation of the current radio technology: the relay terminal is constrained to work in half-duplex mode, which motivates that the transmission must be carried out in two orthogonal phases (relay-receive and relay-transmit phase), duplexed in time or frequency domains.This dissertation investigates protocols and strategies for the relay-assisted transmission which improve the spectral efficiency and homogenize service in the cellular communication systems. The new element present in the communication, the relay terminal, imposes a redefinition of many techniques and protocols commonly used in the point-to-point and MIMO systems, which are placed at the physical and upper layers.First, achievable rates using the relay-assisted transmission are provided which depend on the role of the relay (amplify-and-forward or decode-and-forward), the type of the transmission (persistent transmission, incremental or selective relaying), the data transmitted by the relays (repetition or unconstrained coding) and the type of half-duplex protocol. There are up to four protocol definition depending on the activity of the terminals on each phase. An additional aspect addressed is the resource allocation for each phase, that is, either it is fixed beforehand (static) or it is adjusted dynamically (dynamic) as a function of the channel quality. For the single-user relay- assisted transmission the resources can be allocated based on the channel quality of the different links. Moreover, if there is complete channel state information about all channel coefficients, source and relay can transmit synchronously enhancing the transmission thanks to the (distributed) eigenvector precoding techniques.Two relay-assisted transmission techniques are evaluated when a destination is assisted by multiple relays. Both depend on the messages intended to each assisting relay (independent or common messaging). The resource allocation for both techniques is shown to be convex. Additionally, three different scenarios illustrate the multi-user relay-assisted transmission with a single destination and different types of half-duplex relays: RMAC (Relay-assisted Multiple Access Channel), UC (User Cooperation) and MARC (Multiple Access Relay Channel). The relay-assisted transmission can be done synchronously or asynchronously. The sources and relays are power limited and access in each phase of the communication by TDMA (time division multiple access), FDMA (frequency division multiple access) or SC (superposition coding multiple access). For those scenarios the allocation of transmitted power and time resources can be formulated as a convex problem under some circumstances, evaluating the optimal solution.Afterwards, the relay-assisted transmission duplexed in time is applied to a centralized cellular system based on TDMA in the downlink. The reuse of one time slot for the transmissions done from the relays to destinations (relay slot) is proposed to improve the spectral efficiency. This solution produces interference for all the destinations active in that time slot. A power control algorithm (at the relays) based on game theory is proposed to combat the generated interference. Under that configuration a scheduler algorithm explores the multi-user gain for the relay-assisted transmission, measuring the introduced overhead.Another way of dealing with the interference is by rate control management. Under some circumstances it is possible to model the probability density function (pdf) of the interfering power. In such a case, the source can tune the transmission rate in order to maximize the throughput. This solution is extended to the case where each destination is assisted by multiple relays. In spite of the interfering power, both proposed solutions are able to provide significant gains over the direct transmission.Finally, the dynamic link control of the relay assisted transmission is investigated under two different assumptions on the knowledge about the channel: statistical knowledge of the channel state and actual information about the current channel state. Both types of knowledge lead to different transmission strategies, in terms of selecting the modulation and coding scheme (MCS). Under the first case, the transmission rates are not adapted to the current channel realization and the destination can decode wrongly the messages. The Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) protocols are redefined for the relayassisted transmission to cope with these events. In this work we specify the (distributed) space-time codes, the coding at the source and relay and the length of the retransmissions. When there is actual information about the channel state the MCS can be adapted to the current channel realization. In such a case, the link error prediction for the relay-assisted transmission is investigated, and thus the MCS can be designed for maximizing the information rate for a given probability of packet loss or maximizing the throughput.

No description available.

This dissertation focuses on developing algorithms and systems to improve the efficiency of operating mega datacenters with hundreds of thousands of servers. In particular, it seeks to address two challenges: First, how to distribute the workload among the set of datacenters geographically deployed across the wide area? Second, how to manage the server resources of datacenters using virtualization technology? In the first part, we consider the workload management problem in geo-distributed datacenters. We first present a novel distributed workload management algorithm that jointly considers request mapping, which determines how to direct user requests to an appropriate datacenter for processing, and response routing, which decides how to select a path among the set of ISP links of a datacenter to route the response packets back to a user. In the next chapter, we study some key aspects of cost and workload in geo-distributed datacenters that have not been fully understood before. Through extensive empirical studies of climate data and cooling systems, we make a case for temperature aware workload management, where the geographical diversity of temperature and its impact on cooling energy efficiency can be used to reduce the overall cooling energy. Moreover, we advocate for holistic workload management for both interactive and batch jobs, where the delay-tolerant elastic nature of batch jobs can be exploited to further reduce the energy cost. A consistent 15% to 20% cooling energy reduction, and a 5% to 20% overall cost reduction are observed from extensive trace-driven simulations. In the second part of the thesis, we consider the resource management problem in virtualized datacenters. We design Anchor, a scalable and flexible architecture that efficiently supports a variety of resource management policies. We implement a prototype of Anchor on a small-scale in-house datacenter with 20 servers. Experimental results and trace-driven simulations show that Anchor is effective in realizing various resource management policies, and its simple algorithms are practical to solve virtual machine allocation with thousands of VMs and servers in just ten seconds.