<p>Clustering in a data mining setting has been researched for decades. Lately, document clustering used to cluster web search engine results have recieved much attention. Large companies such as Google and Microsoft have shown their interest and we have seen the emergence of commercial clustering engines such as Vivisimo. This thesis shows how a search engine with clustering capabilities can be developed. The approach described has been implemented as a working prototype that allows searching and browsing clusters through a web interface. The prototype has been evaluated in a user survey and through informal testing.</p>

<p>Today, dogs and humans are used in rescueing victims from disasters involving collapsed buildings, trapped tunnels and so forth. However, in some cases, robots have been deployed to assist the rescue teams. The tragic events of the World Trade Center in 2001 involved Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) robots pioneering rescue search with the help of information technology and robotics engineering. This report describes the design and implementation of a safety-critical system of a USAR robot model which will serve as a basis for analysis and development of future USAR robots. The scenario used in the experiment is a USAR robot prototype searching for survivors in a building which has collapsed. We analyse the scenario on a real prototype made up of Lego Mindstorms parts and equipped with a camera relaying real-time images to a workstation. The paper is a continuation of the report I submitted in December 2005; "Identifying the risks involved in the design of a safety-critical system for an Urban Search and Rescue robot".</p>

<p>In this research project I try to answer how context sensitive mobile devices can be used to complement traditional foreign language learning in a classroom. My approach to answering this question is based on the goal of creating a prototype application called the “Personalized And context sensitive foreign Language training system for real Life situAtions using mobile devices” (PALLAS). To be able to develop PALLAS satisfactory I start by performing a prestudy to create a theoretical ground for my ideas. This allows me to come up with ideas of how PALLAS could be used. To systemize my process I create a scenario-based development method. I start by writing user scenarios of the PALLAS system in use. This is the part where new ideas are included into PALLAS. Then I analyze the user scenarios and create formalized models of how PALLAS is supposed to work. The models are in turn used to design a system architecture, which finally is used to implement the PALLAS prototype. I finish my research by comparing the finished PALLAS prototype to the original user scenarios. It turns out that the process has resulted in an architecture that can almost completely satisfy the features found in the user scenarios. With this solid architecture in place the next natural step for PALLAS will be testing in real-life scenarios with students and teachers using the system.</p>

<p>With more and more cellular phone handsets being introduced wifi interfaces, an alternative to using the purely cell-based mobile phone networks infrastructure can be envisioned: mobile phone cells can be extended via ad-hoc relaying of traffic from out-of-coverage handsets towards in-coverage handsets, and mobile phones might be able to establish communication paths between them without passing through the cellular infrastructure. This presents a number of challenges including billing, security, multi-fabric routing, hand-over and quality of service. One task of this project is thus to look at the necessity of providing brokering network access, addressing variables influencing its success. The other task for this project is to construct the necessary mechanisms for establishing the ad-hoc part of an extension to cellular networks. This involves analysing ad-hoc networking and implementing OLSRv2, one of several experimental solutions for ad-hoc networking that exist within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). To emulate such a system, but also for debugging and evaluating the implementation, a test-bed is required to be constructed.</p>

<p>The KOPEK Payment System supports payment of online content or services as well as single sign in. Setting up the KOPEK Payment System is easy, the system consist of the KOPEK Payment Server as well as an end user client. The server is installed so that it will be exposed to the desired customers, usually directly on the Internet. It can be installed in front an existing web server that handles more advanced content or services than the KOPEK Payment Server itself supports. Access to the content or the service will then be controlled by the rules configured in the KOPEK Payment Server. The KOPEK client application will be used from any end user who will access that content in order to identify the end user and make sure the user has met the requirements defined in the KOPEK Payment Server. Simple license control over personal licenses can be achieved by creating a web page and make the KOPEK Payment Server control access to that web page. An application can then try to access that web page and will only proceed if the web page can be read. If the web page cannot be read, the end user hasn’t met the requirements defined in the KOPEK Payment Server and hence the end user doesn’t have a valid license. This results in support for quite advanced copy protection when using the KOPEK Payment System. The copy protection can be further enhanced by also using the KOPEK Payment Systems support for centralized electronic identification systems, like the Norwegian BankID or BuyPass. In the market there exists some solutions that have specialized in license control and copy protection. These solutions seem to cover most of the more advanced licensing models, but none of these solutions can supply both a complete solution for license control and copy protection as well as a solution for electronic distribution of the licenses. There would probably be a market for such complete solutions and since the KOPEK Payment System already support both electronic distribution of licenses and can be used for simple license control an expansion of the KOPEK Payment System to also support more advanced license control. However, the KOPEK Payment System has some obvious weaknesses when it comes to dependence on an Internet connection and that both the company responsible for the KOPEK Payment System central servers as well as the company responsible for the KOPEK Payment Server used for license control can continue to keep the servers operative.</p>

<p>This thesis focuses on a part of Internet forensics concerned with determining the geographic location of Internet hosts, also known as geolocation. Several techniques to geolocation exist. A classification of these techniques, and a comparative analysis of their properties is conducted. Based on this analysis several novel improvements to current techniques are suggested. As part of an earlier designed Multi-Agent Framework for Internet Forensics (MAFIF), an application implementing two active- measurement geolocation techniques is designed, implemented and tested. Experiments with the application are performed in the Uninett network, with the goal of identifying the impact of different network properties on geolocation. What most clearly set this thesis apart from earlier work, in addition to the use of a multi-agent system, is the analysis of the impact of IPv6 on geolocation, and the introduction of multi-party computation to geolocation. The extensive focus on delay measurements, although not bringing anything new to the field of networking in general, is also new to geolocation as far as we know.</p>

<p>This study continues the work from the specialization project, carrying out the empirical study of the educational platform It's Learning at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The goal of this study was to measure the user acceptance of It's Learning at NTNU, performing more surveys with the students at NTNU, but also with other educational establishments for comparison. In addition to this, we wanted more focus on It's Learning as a multi-user system. To achieve the goal we did a study of technology acceptance in information systems. In addition to this, we have studied important challenges of developing, introducing and using groupware to get more focus on It's Learning as a multi-user system. In addition to the survey we performed during the specialization project, three new surveys have been performed in this study. Two surveys were performed with student groups at NTNU, while one survey was performed with a student group at Sør-Trøndelag University College (HiST). In addition to this, we have performed interviews with some of the teachers at NTNU to get an indication of their usage and opinion of It's Learning. Instead of using one of the existing technology acceptance models as a framework for the survey, we created a new research model. The new model combines elements from two existing technology acceptance models, and was created to better adapt to It's Learning. The survey, together with the interviews with the teachers, and the groupware challenge study, created a basis for an evaluation of It's Learning. The results from the survey in this study clearly contradicted the results from the survey in the specialization project, but even though the results differed, all the student groups identified many of the same topics when it comes to problems with It's Learning and how to improve the system The results from the study indicates that two of the main problems with It's Learning at NTNU is that too few subjects use It's Learning, and that It's Learning is not utilized in a good way by the teachers. These two problems represent two important challenges with multi-user systems, the "critical mass" challenge and the "non-standard use" challenge. As opposed to NTNU, HiST has mandatory use of It's Learning, meaning that they avoid the "critical mass" challenge. We also found that It's Learning has an inflexible and cumbersome user interface, and the lack of possibilities for integrating the calendar and message system in It's Learning with other existing applications affect the utility value of these features. That It's Learning is a closed system is one of the largest problems for the teachers, in addition to some missing features for administrating exercises in their subjects. From this study we found that general user acceptance models give a good indication on the user's perception of an information system, but that there is also important to focus on the challenges related to specific types of systems, like the multi-user environment in the case of our study.</p>

<p>En av de dominerende IT-avgjørelsene tatt av organisasjoner gjennom det siste tiåret, har vært valgene i retning av delte informasjonssystemer og databaser. Integrasjon av separate og isolerte egenutviklede systemer, som begynte som prosjekter rundt noen få applikasjoner, har i dag fortsatt i en mye større skala gjennom initiativ som standardiserte virksomhetssystemer og datavarehus. Selv om nåtidens perspektiv er preget av antagelsene om avansert teknologi som enten determinanter eller muliggjører for radikale organisatoriske endringer, viser empiriske studier en rekke uoverensstemmelser i tilfeller som støtter en slik deterministisk tankegang. Samtidig erfarer verden i disse dager en ny periode som har fått betegnelsen kunnskapsalderen. I denne nye sammenhengen er kunnskap en primær råvare og kunnskapsflyt er ansett til å være den viktigste faktoren i økonomien. Siden hurtige teknologiske innovasjoner bygger broer mellom konkurrerende organisasjoner er det nå en trend i industrien å betrakte den felles kunnskapen til de ansatte som en nøkkelfaktor til å produsere innovative og konkurransedyktige produkter. Denne endringen i fokus medfører at organisasjoner må revurdere måten de utfører sin forretning på siden fokus ikke lenger er på materielle aktiva, men på mennesker sine evner og erfaringer. Denne rapporten ønsker å bedre forståelsen av virksomheter sine egentlige behov for kunnskap og kunnskapsoverføring, med utgangspunkt i at det som i mange tilfeller er antatt å være formell praksis ikke er den samme som faktisk er utført. Dette inviterer til diskusjon om hvorvidt standardiserte virksomhetssystemer basert på beste praksis i industrien vil kunne imøtekomme de lokale kravene som stilles i organisasjoner. I lys av teori om praksisfellesskap og vurderte kritiske suksessfaktorer basert på tidligere erfaringer med implementering av virksomhetssystemer søker vi en bedre forståelse for eksisterende praksis i organisasjoner for å bedre kunnskapsoverføringen. Det er i den anledning blitt foretatt en case-studie hos salgsrepresentantene i Felleskjøpet Trondheim. Nøkkelord: ERP, CRM, kunnskapsforvaltning, praksisfellesskap, teknologi i praksis</p>

<p>Personalisering byr på store muligheter for e-handelen. Ved hjelp av omfattende informasjon om konsumentene kan bedrifter benytte spesielle datasystemer for å tilpasse sine tjenester til den enkelte kunde. Tilpasningen kan dreie seg om hvilken informasjon som skal vises, spesielle sammensetninger av ulike tjenester, eller varetilbud som er unike for den enkelte kunde. Personalisering kan gi fordeler for både konsument og produsent. Konsumentene får bedre og mer relevante produkter, og kan spare tid fordi behovet for informasjonssøk kan reduseres. Dette vil produsentene kunne nyte godt av i form av mer lojale og tilbakevendende kunder. Denne masteroppgaven ser på mulighetene for å utvikle et standardisert system for personalisering. En slik standard vil gi e-handelen en rekke fordeler. Viktigst er reduserte systemutviklingskostnader og enklere integrering av elektroniske tjenester for samarbeid mellom bedrifter. For å muliggjøre et standardisert personaliseringssystem må det også utvikles og etableres en standardisert brukerprofil. Ved å gjøre denne profilen universell, og dermed tilgjengelig for bruk i mange elektroniske tjenester, vil konsumentene i tillegg få den fordelen at de kun trenger å forholde seg til én profil. Oppgaven skisserer en systemmodell basert på et tidligere rammeverk for et kundesystem. Modellen bygges opp gjennom vurderinger av ulike løsningsalternativer, og presenterer løsninger for profil- og personaliseringssystem. Funnene konkretiseres i et todelt rammeverk. Rammeverket gir retningslinjer og overordnede krav for de to systemene. I tillegg til rammeverket er det utviklet fire enkle prototyper som illustrerer systemenes bruksområder. Løsningen som foreslås er å utvikle systemene som webtjenester. En webtjeneste er et program som tilbyr funksjonalitet til andre datasystemer via standardiserte protokoller på Internett. Denne tilnærmingen vil gjøre systemene plattformuavhengige og lett integrerbare, og danner dermed et godt utgangspunkt for standardisering. Personalisering er avhengig av god kundeinformasjon. Men konsumentene må motiveres til å oppgi informasjon om seg selv, en motivasjon personaliserte kvalitetstjenester kan gi. Oppgaven konkluderer med å anbefale en inkrementell utvikling av det universelle profilsystemet. Ved å først fokusere på de fordeler en enkel standardprofil gir, kan systemet få utbredelse på markedet. Ved lansering av personaliseringsstandarden finnes da en etablert målgruppe, og profilene kan utvides for å møte de nye informasjonskrav som stilles. Kvalitetssikring av tjenestene som benytter standarden skal underbygge konsumentenes villighet til å gi informasjon. Videre konkluderes det med at en sterk allianse mellom ulike aktører involvert i utviklingen vil øke sannsynligheten for at systemene blir en suksess. Aktørene må ha tillitt i markedet, og hensynet til personvern og sikkerhet må til enhver tid stå først.</p>

<p>En universell elektronisk ID kan brukes på tvers av systemer. Den kan brukes over alt. Det er en del sider ved dagens situasjon som hindrer bruk av elektronisk identitet på samme måte som et fysisk identitetskort. I oppgaven ser jeg på innholdssiden av en universell e-ID. Hva skal en universell e-ID inneholder. I oppgaven kombinerer jeg personlige profiler med e-ID-tjenestene som i dag eksisterer og får på den måten universelle personlige profiler distribuert ved hjelp av e-ID-tjenester. e-ID-tjenestene som i dag finnes på markedet har gode sikkerhetsmekanismer for beskyttelse av informasjon. Konseptet jeg skisserer i oppgaven bruker disse mekanismene til å ta vare på personlige profiler. På den måten får man også distribuert profilene sammen med e-ID-en.</p>