Although smart meters are deployed in many countries, the data collection process from smart meters in Smart Grid (SG) still has some challenges related to consumer privacy that needs to be addressed. Referred to as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), the data collected and transmitted through the AMI can leak sensitive information about the consumers if it is sent as a plaintext. While many solutions have been proposed in the past, the deployment of these solutions in real-life was not possible since the actual AMIs were not accessible to researchers. Therefore, a lot of solutions relied on simulations which may not be able to capture the real performance of these solutions. In this thesis, two 802.11s wireless mesh-based SG AMI network testbeds are developed with Beaglebone Black and Raspberry Pi 3 boards to provide a baseline for the simulations. The Raspberry Pi 3 testbed is also configured to be remotely accessible.

With the obvious evolution and acceleration of smart grid, it is crucial for its success to rely on a solid transmission protocol among its peripherals due to its real time streaming. TCP is the well known traditional transport protocol used for a reliable transmission, and is a major player for smart grid. However, it lacks a fault tolerance transmission method that overcomes potential failures which may mitigate smart grid progress and in its turn decrease its reliability. We propose that smart grid operators utilize SCTP as the principle transport protocol for their smart grid communications, by using the two very significant characteristics offered by SCTP multi-homing and multi-streaming respectively. Thus, we argue that they can override two major obstacles caused by TCP Head of Line Blocking (HLB) and the inability of handling automatically two or more paths to a final destination. Although SCTP resembles TCP in many aspects, SCTP can definitely play a dominant role in many current and future applications due to its key features that do not exist in TCP. We have used ns2.34 simulator as the tool whom we relied on to investigate whether or not smart grid may benefit over TCP by the two SCTP features, and have analyzed the output of simulated results by using other analytical tools. As we obtain results, we argue that smart grid operators should rely on SCTP as a feasible transmission protocol instead of TCP.

The awareness of power consumption is considered to be an important step of driving energy- saving technologies development. With the ‘Smart Grid’ technologies, Sweden has deployed Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) nationwide. How to present and operate the data be collected by AMI devices in an effective and friendly way has become a problem worth to research on. This thesis project aims to provide an energy consumption monitoring system, which integrate power consumption information from AMI, and geographic information from coordinates, for both customers and power companies, practical for the latter one. Based on that, active web map services of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Swedish market are also been analyzed in this thesis report, in order to investigate the features which may be applied in this system. The energy consumption monitoring system presented in this project is developed on the GIS of Google Maps, web-browser based. With the open Google Maps API for Javascript and WAMP environment support, a working system is given locally. In this project, at a designated Swedish area, Smedjebacken, there are 50 end-users with AMI data periodically recorded at the interval level of one hour for a whole year, and 3 substations connecting part of the end-users, all of them have the coordinates to position. AMI data is used to simulate a real-time scenario to test the monitoring function. Functions of this system are separated into two aspects, customers and power companies. Customers can check their power consumption in many different ways, including latest hour’s consumption, any past single day’s consumption, generate whole year’s consumption column chart, comparing with the average consumption level with a certain range of neighbors. Power companies have global view and access authorities of all customers and substations. In addition, an alarm will be triggered if any of the substation’s power loss is over 5%. As a result of analysis, the advantage lay with Google Map on cost of developing, open API and documentations. In the end, a working monitoring system is given under the simulated real-time power consumption scenario.

The transformation of the legacy electric grid to Smart Grid (SG) poses numerous challenges in the design and development of an efficient SG communications network. While there has been an increasing interest in identifying the SG communications network and possible SG applications, specific research challenges at the network protocol have not been elaborated yet. This dissertation revisited each layer of a TCP/IP protocol stack which basically was designed for a wired network and optimized their performance in IEEE 802.11s-based Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) communications network against the following challenges: security and privacy, AMI data explosion, periodic simultaneous data reporting scheduling, poor Transport Control Protocol (TCP) performance, Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) broadcast, and network interoperability. To address these challenges, layered and/or cross-layered protocol improvements were proposed for each layer of TCP/IP protocol stack. At the application layer, a tree-based periodic time schedule and a time division multiple access-based scheduling were proposed to reduce high contention when smart meters simultaneously send their reading. Homomorphic encryption performance was investigated to handle AMI data explosion while providing security and privacy. At the transport layer, a tree-based fixed Retransmission Timeout (RTO) setting and a path-error aware RTO that exploits rich information of IEEE 802.11s data-link layer path selection were proposed to address higher delay due to TCP mechanisms. At the network layer, ARP requests create broadcast storm problems in IEEE 802.11s due to the use of MAC addresses for routing. A secure piggybacking-based ARP was proposed to eliminate this issue. The tunneling mechanisms in the LTE network cause a downlink traffic problem to IEEE 802.11s. For the network interoperability, at the network layer of EPC network, a novel UE access list was proposed to address this issue. At the data-link layer, to handle QoS mismatch between IEEE 802.11s and LTE network, Dual Queues approach was proposed for the Enhanced Distributed Channel Access. The effectiveness of all proposed approaches was validated through extensive simulation experiments using a network simulator. The simulation results showed that the proposed approaches outperformed the traditional TCP/IP protocols in terms of end to end delay, packet delivery ratio, throughput, and collection time.

This is a master’s thesis performed at the Department of Shipping and Marine Technology research group in Hydrodynamics at Chalmers University of Technology and is written for the Center for Naval Architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH.In order to meet increased requirements on efficient ship propulsions with low noise level, it is important to consider the complete system with both the hull and the propeller in the simulation.OpenFOAM (Open Field Operation and Manipulation) provides different techniques to simulate a rotating propeller with different physical and computational properties. MRF (The Multiple Reference Frame Model) is, perhaps, the easiest way but is a computationally efficient technique to model a rotating frame of reference. The sliding grid techniques provide the more complex way to simulate the propeller and its surrounding region, rotating and interpolate on interface for transient effects. AMI, Arbitrary Mesh Interface, is a sliding grid implementation which is available in the recent versions of OpenFOAM, introduced in the official releases after v2.1.0.In this study, the main objective is to compare these two techniques, MRF and AMI, to perform the open water characteristics of the propeller with the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equation computations (RANS) and study the accuracy in parallel performance and the benefits of each approach.More specifically, a self-propelled ship is simulated to study the interaction between the hull and propeller. In order to simplify and decrease the computational complexity the free surface is not considered. The ship under investigation is a 7000 DWT chemical tanker which is subject of a collaborative R&D project called STREAMLINE, strategic research for innovative marine propulsion concepts. In self-propelled condition, the transient forces on the propeller shall be evaluated. This study investigates the results of the experimental work with advanced CFD for accurate analysis and design of the propulsion. In this thesis, all simulations are conducted by using parallel computing. Therefore, a scalability analysis is studied to find out how to affect the average computational time by using different number of nodes.

When Brian Friel’s play The Freedom of the City premiered in 1973, just a year after the events of Bloody Sunday, it was met with harsh criticism and called a work of propaganda. In the play, three peaceful protestors flee a civil rights demonstration turned violent and end up trapped inside the Guildhall in Derry, Northern Ireland. By the end of the play, they are shot dead. These three protestors, disoriented by violence as well as the aftereffects of life-long poverty, on the surface are not emblems of morality. However, this thesis employs Ami Harbin’s theorization of disorientation and moral action to challenge traditional virtue ethics and showcase that even in the midst of all-encompassing disorientation, moral action can easily emerge, even from the most unexpected person. Specifically, I look at the character Skinner, a flippant hooligan who leads the other trapped protestors through a series of games ultimately meant to encourage them to embrace their disorientation as he has. Within Friel’s drama, accepting and embracing disorientation as opposed to fighting it, I conclude, is what frees one from the bounds of disorientation, and in this case, allows a person to more fully perpetuate moral action.

This thesis addresses the innovation of information systems in enterprises, particularly in the utility market segment. The thesis starts with a definition of utilities, a market segment containing companies involved in generation, transmission, distribution and retail of energy services as well as other companies providing related networked services. The aims of this thesis are both theoretical and practical. The theoretical part offers a new theory for IS innovations for the selected segment and for the relation between the innovation and the architectures of IS. In the practical part, the author identifies current challenges and opportunities in the selected market segment and offers scenarios and visions for future development. The first part of the thesis maps out the general innovation theories in the context of the selected topic. The second part introduces a new innovation theory based on an analysis of the specific conditions in the utility market segment. The next section focuses on the topic of IS architecture and its ability for tracking and managing the changes of the IS during the innovation process. The following part relays designs for specific architecture models supporting the current innovation trends in the utility market. The final part of the thesis summarizes particular business recommendations for innovation procedures in utilities, identifies innovation opportunities, and inspires visions for the future development of the market. The opportunities are related to a new way of understanding the role of IS in utility companies. IS provides a portfolio of information services to support the customer oriented business services, advanced services with added value and tailor made services for specific customer groups.

本論文旨在分析阿美族鄉土文化教材之內容，並探討這套教材在邦查國小實施的情形。前者以內容分析法，輔以論域分析法進行研究；後者則以參與式觀察法和訪談法進行研究。本研究之研究結果如下： 壹　在理念部分，研究發現本教材實施的最大困難在於邦查國小師生皆無法完全肯定原住民鄉土文化教材的價值。他們無法肯定本教材實施的主因在於幾個看似衝突概念之間的矛盾與混淆，分別是「國際化」對「本土化」、「同化」對「多元化」、「認同」對「生存」等。除非能夠釐清這幾個概念，否則原住民鄉土文化教材仍很難在國小教育中落實。 貳　在阿美族鄉土文化教材之內容部分，研究發現本套教材之照片多於圖片，較能說服學生相信文字所敘述的是「現在真實存在」的文化，而更有真實感。本教材之文字描述最著重精神文化，其次為社群文化，最少的則為物質文化。而圖片呈現最多的是精神文化，其次為物質文化，最少的是社群文化。研究並發現此套教材隱含有父權意識型態，並有避免呈現負面、衝突和困境，標題和內容不符，以及母語標注系統不一致等疏誤。 參　在阿美族鄉土文化教材之實施部分，大環境所看到的是不斷變動之課程改革政策與虛化之鄉土教材教科書；蘊涵豐富阿美族文化的邦查村，卻因族人參與意願、信仰因素、及青壯年之族人遠離部落到他鄉工作等主客觀因素，使得學童接觸本族文化機會少。在邦查國小鄉土活動課程之實施部分：八十七學年度上學期邦查國小實際上課的節數只有十四次。上課主題部分只有四次是關於阿美族族群文化的，另外十次則是邦查村之鄉土教材。在實際教學部分：發現教師對教材陌生、感到生疏、不自在、不知道如何教。教學重陳述，少有比較、評論或價值澄清。教學法強調記憶與背誦，互動偏向教師對全體學生的封閉性問題之問答。經過一個學期的教學，學生對於自己本族的看法不是太樂觀積極。 肆　整體而言，阿美族鄉土文化教材之實施至少有以下幾個問題：1.本鄉鄉土教材課程優先於原住民鄉土族群文化課程，原住民學童在學校仍無法學到自己的族群文化；2.教師在教導鄉土教學時，相關之教學專業知能不足，影響教學效果；3.想讓一個民族明白自己文化的根，使他們有自信，但卻只提供單一課程，則其功用有限。 最後，本研究並針對上述研究發現提出討論與建議。 / The study aims to analyze the contents of Ami indigenous culture teaching materials and to explore the process of employing these teaching materials in Pangcah elementary school. Content analysis and discourse analysis were conducted. Participatory observation and interview were also employed. Findings include: 1. The most difficult thing for implementing Ami teaching materials is that the staff and students were unconvinced of their values. The Ami indigenous culture teaching materials cannot be successfully implemented unless people can clarify the concepts of “internationalization vs. localization”, ”assimilation vs. diversification”, and “identification vs. survival”. 2. In the contents of Ami indigenous culture teaching materials, there are more photos than drawings, making the depicted real things of the past even more convincing. Most of the text describes the spiritual culture, less of the text describes the social system culture, and least of the text describes the substance culture. However, most pictures show the spiritual culture, less pictures show the substance culture, and least pictures show the social system culture. There was fatherhood ideology hidden in these teaching materials. Additional mistakes include the avoidance of negation, conflicts and dilemma, the incompatibility between title and content, and the inconsistent phonetic symbol systems of labeling Ami indigenous language. 3. The implementation of the Ami indigenous culture teaching materials was conditioned by the unceasingly changing curriculum policies, inefficient use of textbooks, and the ignorance of abundant Ami culture existing in the Pangcah village. In the instructional process, time is very limited, and the teacher did not perform very well. When he taught, he spoke alone and hardly has any comparisons, comments or clarifications. The teacher emphasized on reciting and rote-memory, with little teacher-student interaction. In the end of the semester, students did not develop positive attitude toward their own culture. Overall speaking, the implementation of Ami cultural teaching materials encounter at least the following problems: 1) the local mainstream curriculum takes precedence over the Ami cultural curriculum, thus precludes the absorption of their own culture by the Ami school children. 2) The effect of special instruction is usually offset by teachers' lack of the specialized pedagogical knowledge. 3) It is virtually impossible to restore self-confidence of the indigenous race through the implementation of one single subject's curriculum. Doing so would undoubtedly produce limited effect.

It is essential for individuals’ well-being and relationships that they have the ability to consciously experience, express and respond to their own and others’ affects. The validity of a new conception of affect consciousness (AC), incorporating consciousness of both own and others’ affects, was investigated in this thesis. The clinical usefulness of the new conception was explored and an interview (affect consciousness interview – self/other; ACI-S/O) intended to capture this new definition was validated. In study I the interrater reliability and the concurrent validity of the ACI-S/O were assessed and found to be acceptable. There were significant differences in all variables of ACI-S/O between the four groups that participated in the study. Joy and interest had the highest ratings in all groups and guilt and shame had the lowest. By means of a factor analysis, two factors, labeled “general affect consciousness” and “consciousness about shame and guilt,” were obtained. General affect consciousness was related to different aspects of relational and emotional problems and possibly protection against them. In study II the clinical implications of AC were further explored in relation to eating disorders (ED). The level of AC in the ED group was compared with a comparable non-clinical group. The relation between AC and aspects of ED pathology were explored, as well as whether AC should be seen as a state or trait in patients diagnosed with ED. ACI-S/O was not significantly related to ED pathology or general psychological distress. There were no significant differences in AC between the different sub-diagnoses of ED but there were between the ED group and the non-clinical group. Significant pre-post correlations for both factors of ACI-S/O were found, indicating that AC could be seen as a stable dimension that might be important for ED pathology but is unrelated to ED symptoms. In study III the relationship between AC and self-reported attachment style (ASQ) was explored in a non-clinical group and three patient groups. There were significant correlations between all scores on ACI- S/O and the ASQ, with the exception of consciousness about guilt. Multiple regression analyses showed that AC, and especially others’ affects, contributed significantly to the ASQ subscales. AC and in particular own joy and others’ guilt and anger seem to be of importance for attachment style. In study IV the importance of AC for the treatment process was explored. Patients’ AC before therapy was significantly correlated with patients’ positive feelings towards their therapists but not with their alliance ratings. Patients’ warm and positive feelings were related to pre-therapy AC, whereas negative feelings were related to low alliance ratings in the previous sessions. / Det är viktigt för människans relationer och välbefinnande att ha en förmåga att medvetet uppleva, uttrycka egna samt svara på andras affekter. I denna avhandling studerades användbarheten av en ny definition av Affektmedvetenhet (AM), omfattande medvetande om egna och andras affekter samt validiteten i en intervju (affektmedvetenhetsintervjun-själv/andra; AMI-S/A) som avser att fånga den nya definitionen. I studie I undersöktes interbedömarreliabilitet och den samtidiga validiteten hos AMI-S/A. De befanns vara godtagbara. Det fanns signifikanta skillnader på alla delsskalor i AMI-S/A mellan de fyra grupper som deltog i studien. Affekterna glädje och intresse hade de högsta skattningarna i alla grupper och skuld och skam hade de lägsta. En faktoranalys genomfördes där två faktorer föll ut. De beskrevs som "Generell affektmedvetenhet" och "Medvetenhet om skam och skuld". Generell affektmedvetenhet visade sig vara relaterad till olika aspekter av relationella och känslomässiga problem och antogs skydda mot dessa. I studie II genomfördes vidare undersökning av den kliniska betydelsen av AM för ätstörningar. Nivån av AM hos patienter med ätstörningar jämfördes med en demografiskt jämförbar icke-klinisk grupp. Förhållandet mellan AM och ätstörningspatologi undersöktes. Någon signifikant relation mellan AMI-S/A och ätstörningssymtom eller allmän psykisk ohälsa hos ätstörningspatienterna hittades inte. Det fanns heller inga signifikanta skillnader i AM mellan olika undergrupper av ätstörning men däremot mellan hela ätstörningsgruppen och den icke-kliniska gruppen. Frågan om AM kan betraktas mer som ett drag eller tillstånd hos patienter med ätstörning utforskades. Det fanns signifikanta korrelationer mellan före och eftermätning på båda faktorerna på AMI-S/A. Resultaten tyder på att AM kan ses som en stabil dimension i sig själv som tycks vara viktig för ätstörningar, men som inte har samband med ätstörningssymtom. I studie III undersöktes förhållandet mellan AM och självrapporterad anknytningsstil (ASQ) i en icke-klinisk grupp och tre patientgrupper. Det fanns signifikanta korrelationer mellan alla skattningar på AMI-S/A och ASQ, med undantag av medvetenhet om skuld. Regressionsanalyser visade att AM, och speciellt medvetenhet om andras affekter, bidrog signifikant till anknytningsstilen. AM och i synnerhet egen glädje och andras skuld och ilska verkar vara av betydelse för anknytningsstil. I studie IV undersöktes betydelse av AM för behandlingsprocessen i olika former av samtalsbehandling. Patienternas AM före behandlingen var signifikant korrelerad med deras positiva känslor gentemot sina terapeuter vid det tredje samtalet, men inte med deras alliansskattning vid detta samtal. Patienternas negativa känslor var inte relaterade till deras AM före behandlingen men däremot till låg alliansskattning vid de tidigare samtalen.

[EN] This work is aimed to interpret, analyse and know which are the conceptual bases that nowadays define the idea of space in architecture, the contemporary ways of dwelling, through the analysis on a specific pattern, the ubiquitous space. This tries to reveal a new way to understand space, which has arisen from what today is shaped as "the new paradigm", associated to the Information and Communications Technology era (ICT). The intention of this work has been born with a proposing vision. Not a historiographic one. The interest lies in getting deeper in the present to reveal known data -although they are not yet assumed or sufficiently applied-, which will lead to propose a working system that develops in practice the essence of dwelling today. Through the definition of this ubiquitous space, an objective pattern of space in harmony with our era will be exposed, as a proposal to develop today a really contemporary architecture. This work is born as a personal investigation project, the one of an architect who builds and who, according to his way of facing the materialization of reality, searches to set up a working method arisen from the project, and adding to it the virtual condition under a real and pragmatic vision of it. For this, a specific project of architecture is chosen as a study case, UBITAT 1.0. Mainly, its analysed parameters will be the ones that gave origin to this project, now extended, modified or renewed according to the needs of investigation required by each moment. They will be a guide to extract a global depiction of the object of study -space-, which will allow its application to other settings with the only aim to answer the key question of this work: What are the characteristics that define today's space and, therefore, what does it mean to dwell today? / [ES] Mediante este trabajo se busca interpretar, analizar y conocer las bases conceptuales que definen hoy la idea de espacio en arquitectura, los modos de habitación contemporáneos, a través del análisis sobre un modelo concreto, el del espacio ubicuo, que intenta desvelar un nuevo modo de entender el espacio derivado de lo que se configura hoy como el "nuevo paradigma", asociado a la era de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC). La intención del trabajo es propositiva. No historiográfica. El interés reside en profundizar en el presente, para revelar datos conocidos pero aún no asumidos o suficientemente aplicados, que nos puedan llevar a proponer un sistema de trabajo que desarrolle en la práctica la esencia del habitar hoy. A través de la caracterización de dicho espacio ubicuo se intentará exponer un modelo objetivo de espacio acorde a nuestra era, como propuesta para desarrollar hoy una arquitectura realmente contemporánea. Este trabajo nace como un proyecto de investigación personal, de un arquitecto que construye, y que según su manera de abordar la materialización de la realidad, busca plantear un método de trabajo derivado del proyectual, añadiendo a éste la condición virtual, bajo una visión real y pragmática del mismo. Para ello se elige un proyecto de arquitectura concreto como caso de estudio, UBITAT 1.0, cuyos parámetros analizados serán principalmente los que dieron origen al mismo, ahora ampliados, modificados o renovados según el curso que la investigación demande en cada momento. Servirán como guía para extraer una caracterización global del objeto de estudio, el espacio, que permita ser aplicado en otros escenarios con la intención de responder en cualquier situación a la pregunta clave de este trabajo: ¿Qué características definen al espacio hoy y qué significa, por ello, habitar, hoy? / [CA] Amb aquest treball busquem interpretar, analitzar i esbrinar les bases conceptuals que defineixen avuí en dia la idea d'espai en arquitectura, els modes d'habitatge contemporanis, mitjançant l'anàlisi sobre un model concret, el d'espai ubicu, que intenta desvetllar/caracteritzar una nova manera d'entendre l'espai derivat d'allò que es configura recentment com el "nou paradigma", associat a l'era de les tecnologies de la informació i la comunicació (TIC). La intenció del treball sorgeix amb una visió propositiva. No historiogràfica. L'interés resideix en aprofundir en el present, per revelar dades conegudes, però encara no asumides o allò suficientment aplicades, que ens duen a proposar un sistema de treball que desenvolupe en la pràctica l'essència de l'habitar avuí. A través de la caracterització d'aquest espai ubicu, es tractarà d'exposar un model objectiu d'espai d'acord a la nostra època, com a proposta per desenvolupar avuí una arquitectura realment contemporània. Aquest treball naix/sorgeix/parteix com un projecte de recerca personal, d'un arquitecte que construeix, i que segons la seua concepció d'abordar la materialització de la realitat, busca plantejar un mètode de treball derivat del projectual, afegint a aquest la condició virtual, sota una visió real i pragmàtica d'ell mateix. Per a tal fi, es tria un projecte d'arquitectura concret com a cas d'estudi, UBITAT 1.0, els paràmetres del qual analitzats seran conductors de l'orige d'aquest treball, ara ampliats, modificats i renovats segons el curs que la recerca demanda en cada moment. Serviran com a guia per a extraure una caracterització global de l'objecte d'estudi, l'espai, que permeta ser aplicat en altres escenaris, amb la intenció de respondre en qualsevol situació a la pregunta clau d'aquest treball: ¿Quines característiques defineixen l'espai avuí i què significa, per tant, habitar, avuí? / Cerdá Pérez, M. (2016). EL ESPACIO UBICUO La idea de espacio arquitectónico derivado de la implementación de las tecnologías de Inteligencia Ambiental [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/62173