Technical and professional communicators have in recent research been challenged to make significant contributions to the field of knowledge management, and to learn or create the new technologies allowing them to do so. The purpose of this dissertation is to make such a combined theoretical and applied contribution from the context of the emerging discipline of Texts and Technology. This dissertation explores the field of knowledge management (KM), particularly its relationship to the related study of artificial intelligence (AI), and then recommends a KM software application based on the principles of narratology and narrative information exchange. The focus of knowledge is shifted from the reductive approach of data and information to a holistic approach of meaning and the way people make sense of complex events as experiences expressed in stories. Such an analysis requires a discussion of the evolution of intelligent systems and narrative theory as well as an examination of existing computerized and non-computerized storytelling systems. After a thorough discussion of these issues, an original software program that is used to collect, analyze, and distribute thematic stories within any hierarchical organization is modeled, exemplified, and explained in detail.

Usability is one important factor for customers to reach satisfaction. The purpose of this report was to investigate how information should be displayed on a carpooling web application to increase usability, focusing on the aspects of effectiveness and attitude. A market survey indicated that young adults were especially interested in carpooling services, the age group of 18-31 therefore became the target group of this study. After studying existing literature relevant to the research question and creating a prototype, a functional web application was created in two different versions. User tests were then conducted on the different versions to compare how the design aspects of detailed descriptions on buttons, breadcrumbs and different sign-in and register buttons affected usability. The methods used to measure usability were SUS-questionnaires, CTA and Smith’s lostness formula. The results showed that the usability score was higher for the version with less detailed description on buttons, single sign-in and register buttons (instead of multiple), with breadcrumbs. Those results aligned with the time taken by test users to execute each task, as well as the overall comments from the test users. In conclusion, the results from this report confirms that the implemented design aspects improved effectiveness and attitude in regards to usability. / Användbarhet kan bedömas vara en viktig faktor för kundnöjdhet. Syftet med denna rapport var att undersöka hur information ska visas på en webbapplikation för samåkningstjänster för att öka användbarheten, med fokus på aspekterna effektivitet och attityd. En marknadsundersökning visade att det fanns ett särskilt stort intresse för samåkningstjänster hos unga vuxna – användare i åldern 18-31 år blev därmed målgruppen för denna studie. Efter studerande av relevant forskning och framställning av en prototyp, skapades en funktionell webbapplikation i två olika versioner. Användartester genomfördes på de olika versionerna för att jämföra hur detaljerade beskrivningar på knappar, breadcrumbs samt olika inlogg- och registrerar-knappar påverkar användbarheten. Metoderna som användes för att mäta användbarhet var SUS-frågeformulär, CTA och Smith’s “lostness”-formel. Det sammanställda resultatet visade att testpersonerna gav ett högre betyg till versionen med mindre detaljerade beskrivningar på knapparna, en knappför inloggning och en för registrering samt breadcrumbs. Dessa resultat stämde överens med tiden det tog för testpersonerna att utföra de olika uppgifterna samt kommentarerna från dem. Slutsatsen är att resultaten av denna rapport bekräftar att de implementerade designaspekterna ledde till förbättrad effektivitet och attityd kopplat till användbarhet.

Amaethon is a web application that is designed for enterprise farm management. It takes a job typically performed with spreadsheets, paper, or custom software and puts it on the web. Farm administration personnel may use it to schedule farm operations and manage their resources and equipment. A survey was con- ducted to assess Amaethon’s user interface design. Participants in the survey were two groups of students and a small group of agriculture professionals. Among other results, the survey indicated that a calendar interface inside Amaethon was preferred, and statistically no less effective, than a map interface. This is despite the fact that a map interface was viewed by some users as a potentially important and effective component of Amaethon.

<p dir="ltr">Wearable devices are ubiquitous. There are over 1.1 billion wearable devices in the<br>market today[1]. The market is projected to grow at a rate of 14.6% annually till 2030[2].<br>These devices collect and store a large amount of data[3]. A major amount of this collected<br>data is stored in the cloud. For many years now, law enforcement organizations have been<br>continuously encountering cases that involve a wearable device in some capacity. There have<br>also been examples of how these wearable devices have helped in crime investigations and<br>insurance fraud investigations [4],[5],[6],[7],[8]. The article [4] performs an analysis of 5 case<br>studies and 57 news articles and shows how the framing of wearables in the context of the<br>crimes helped those cases. However, there still isn’t enough awareness and understanding<br>among law enforcement agencies on leveraging the data collected by these devices to solve<br>crimes. Many of the fitness trackers and smartwatches in the market today have more or<br>less similar functionalities of tracking data on an individual’s fitness-related activities, heart<br>rate, sleep, temperature, and stress [9]. One of the major players in the smartwatch space is<br>Fitbit. Fitbit synchronizes the data that it collects, directly to Fitbit Cloud [10]. It provides<br>an Android app and a web dashboard for users to access some of these data, but not all.<br>Application developers on the other hand can make use of Fitbit APIs to use user’s data.<br>These APIs can also be leveraged by law enforcement agencies to aid in digital forensic<br>investigations. There have been previous studies where they have developed tools that make<br>use of Fitbit Web APIs [11],[12], [13] but for various other purposes, not for forensic research.<br>There are a few studies on the topic of using fitness tracker data for forensic investigations<br>[14],[15]. But very few have used the Fitbit developer APIs [16]. Thus this study aims to<br>propose a proof-of-concept platform that can be leveraged by law enforcement agencies to<br>access and view the data stored on the Fitbit cloud on a person of interest. The results<br>display data on 12 categories - activity, body, sleep, breathing, devices, friends, nutrition,<br>heart rate variability, ECG, temperature, oxygen level, and cardio data, in a tabular format<br>that is easily viewable and searchable. This data can be further utilized for various analyses.<br>The tool developed is Open Source and well documented, thus anyone can reproduce the<br>process.<br>12<br></p>

Background: In the rapidly evolving field of game development, the demand for diverse platform support is increasingly significant. This thesis explores the creation of a Unity-based game compatible with both Web and Android platforms, addressing the rising need for cross-platform gaming experiences. The project aims for a comprehensive and adaptable methodology.Objectives: Our thesis aims to conduct a thorough performance comparison between an Android gaming application and a gaming web application, both featuring a similar user interface, using Firebase metrics. The evaluation will be performed on two designated devices, D1 and D2, measuring CPU load, network load, and memory usage. The research aims to provide insights into the performance variations of these applications while playing the 2048 game on specific devices. This investigation contributes to a deeper understanding of how different platforms and device specifications impact gaming experiences in terms of computational load and network responsiveness.Method: In our thesis, we optimize Unity as the main game engine, allowing for easy-platform-to-platform code exchange. To gather user information and performance metrics, it incorporates Firebase SDK(Software Development Kit), which includes Firebase Analytics and Firebase Performance SDK. Using Android Studio and VisualStudio Code as the main development tool and Firebase Hosting for web deployment, the project is exported for both Android and the Web. The test was conducted on two devices (D1 and D2) while playing the game 2048 for 30 seconds.Results: The result of our analysis shows the comparison of metrics for CPU, memory, and network load of 2048 games for web and Android applications for two devices d1 and d2. The Web D2 consumes more memory than Android D2. Web and Android D1 use similar amounts of memory. Coming to CPU load D2 consumes more than D1 for both Web and Android. The network for web D2 has more network load than web D1 and both Android D1, and D2 have similar network loadConclusions: In conclusion, the Android applications will provide a more streamlined user experience, notably in terms of CPU and network efficiency when compared to the Web app While Android D1 and Web D1 have comparable memory requirements, Web tasks, particularly on Web D2, and Android tasks, especially on AndroidD2, both need significant memory utilization.Keywords: Web application, Android application, Firebase, Unity, Test lab, Performance

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In recent times, attention to the indoor plants in the houses has increased, which can be used to produce food or just for decoration and for health purposes. However, moving plants from their original place in nature to a closed place leads to negative effects due to changing environmental parameters around them. For instance, fluctuations in temperature, light, and soil moisture might affect indoor plant growth process. This work investigates the possibility of using the smart mobile and web applications to monitor remotely the most of changing environmental parameters around plants. These parameters can give the user the real-time information on air temperature and humidity, soil temperature and moisture, as well as amount of light. The Top-down method has been used to design a monitoring system to help the user keep informed of indoor climate changes. This system contains Raspberry and some sensors that are used in sensing various environmental conditions. It also includes the software component which defines services and actions to be taken on the data collected by sensing objects. The system is tested and evaluated in the indoor environment to prove the required concepts. The results indicated that web and mobile interfaces transfer data in real-time manner and send environmental information to the user. The data collected is visualized by different charts and figures to give a better understanding of the surrounding conditions in which the plant grows. It is concluded that the proposed system provides a user-friendly monitoring application to monitor the most indoor environmental parameters.

Availability of organized data is required for accurate prediction of structural or functional deterioration in sewer and water pipes. Toward this end, GIS provides a means for viewing, understanding, interpreting, and visualizing complex geographically referenced information to reveal data relationships, patterns, and trends. The primary objective of this research is to develop a standard GIS data model and applications of the model. In the future, these can be used to develop protocols and methods for predicting the remaining life of water and wastewater assets. The source data for this study is the utility data and other publicly available data from resources such as USGS, SSURGO etc. Field mapping files are generated from the source files and the standard data model. These are then programmed to the common Extensible markup Language (XML) file developed as a base which is then converted to the data model where the final form of utility data is stored. The data taken from the utilities is cleansed and analyzed to match the standard data model which is then uploaded through the common XML and stored in the data warehouse as a geospatial database. The geospatial database is an aggregated water and wastewater infrastructure data consisting of the utility data in standard data model format. The data warehouse is developed for utilities to store their data at a centralized server, such as the San Diego Super Computer Center. Web applications demonstrate the publishing, querying and visualization of aggregated data in a map-based browser application. This aggregation of data of multiple utilities will help in providing timely access to asset management information and resources that will lead to more efficient programs. This tool also furnishes the public with a convenient tool to learn about municipal water and wastewater infrastructure systems. This document gives an overview of how this process can be achieved using the above mentioned tools and methodologies. / Master of Science

Background: Web application security (WAS) testing is crucial for protecting web applications from cyber threats. However, organizations often struggle to select effective WAS testing tools due to the lack of a well-defined set of evaluation criteria. This research aims to address this need by identifying the key metrics for evaluating and comparing WAS testing tools.  Objectives: The primary objectives of this research are to identify the key metrics for comparing WAS testing tools, validate the significance of these metrics through semi-structured interviews, and perform a comparison between WAS testing tools using the validated metrics. This research aims to find a set of validated metrics for evaluating and comparing WAS testing tools.  Methods: The research methodology consisted of three main phases: a literature review to compile a comprehensive set of technical and non-technical metrics commonly used for assessing and comparing WAS testing tools, semi-structured interviews with security experts to validate the significance of the identified metrics, and an experiment to compare three WAS testing tools - ZAP, Burp Suite, and Acunetix - using the OWASP Benchmark project. These three tools were selected based on the author’s recommendations in the literature.  Results: The initial literature review found 37 evaluation metrics for WAS testing tools. Through interviews, experts confirmed some of these were important, but also said some were not very useful. The experts additionally suggested some new metrics that were not in the literature. Incorporating this feedback, the final list was refined down to 35 metrics for evaluating WAS testing tools. An experiment was then conducted to compare three WAS testing tools - ZAP, Burp Suite, and Acunetix with the test subject as the OWASP Benchmark Project and by using the validated set of metrics. The results of this experiment revealed differences in the performance of the tools, with Burp Suite emerging as the best performer.  Conclusions: This research has provided a valid set of metrics for comparing and evaluating WAS testing tools, empowering organizations to make more informed decisions. Security professionals can optimise their WAS testing tool selection by understanding the key metrics and their relative significance, as established through the literature and interviews. Based on the experimental analysis, Burp Suite performed better than other tools. Therefore, for organizations initiating the selection process of the WAS testing tool, Burp Suite stands out as a good choice.

Our reliance on software has been growing fast over the past decades as the pervasive use of computer and software penetrated not only our daily life but also many critical applications. As the computational power of multi-core processors and other parallel hardware keeps increasing, concurrent software that exploit these parallel computing hardware become crucial for achieving high performance. However, developing correct and efficient concurrent software is a difficult task for programmers due to the inherent nondeterminism in their executions. As a result, concurrency related software bugs are among the most troublesome in practice and have caused severe problems in recent years. In this dissertation, I propose a series of new and fully automated methods for verifying and debugging concurrent software. They cover the detection, prevention, classification, and repair of some important types of bugs in the implementation of concurrent data structures and client-side web applications. These methods can be adopted at various stages of the software development life cycle, to help programmers write concurrent software correctly as well as efficiently. / Ph. D.