Thesis (M.S. in Computer Science)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2006. / Thesis Advisor(s): Don Brutzman, Don McGregor. "September 2006." Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Approved for public release, distribution unlimited / Current chat and instant messaging (IM) solutions within the DoD have created problems with information security and interoperability. Though Extensible Message and Presence Protocol (XMPP) is the only mandated chat and IM protocol in the DoD, the majority of the military still operates alternate nonstandard solutions that prevent interoperability and lack appropriate security assurances. XMPP is a streaming XML protocol used for multi-user text chat and Instant Messaging (IM). XMPP supports a large set of administrative and user features, valuable to military chat and IM users. As an open standard, XMPP is also extensible to allow for development of military-specific chat and IM requirements. XMPP protocol also provides significant extensibility to allow for greater command and control and other operational capabilities. This work demonstrates the use of XMPP to route XML-expressed Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS-XML) data to conduct distributed modeling and simulation. This work also demonstrates the use of XMPP as a generalized XML message-routing framework in conjunction with XML-expressed military data models, such as the Joint Consultation Command and Control Information Exchange Data Model. Also presented in this thesis is an XML document based chat data logger, designed to support persistent operations using distributed chat architecture. Experiments conducted with Navy Exercise Trident Warrior 2006 demonstrate the value of such a framework, as well as the value of XML document-based chat data logging. Results indicate that implementation and extension of XMPP has significant value for enhancing command and control. These features, along with the benefits of the adoption of open standard solutions, make XMPP an essential technology for adoption in todayâ s operational command and control suites.

This thesis introduces the Progressive Messages model of communication. It is an event-driven framework for building scalable parallel and distributed computing applications on modern networks. In particular, the paradigm provides notification of message termination. That is, when a message succeeds or fails, the user’s application can capture an event (often through a callback) and perform a designated action. The semantics of the Progressive Messages model are defined as an extension to the message-driven model, which is like an asynchronous RPC. Together, these models can be contrasted to the message-passing model (the basis of Sockets and MPI), which has no event notification. Using Progressive Messages allows for a more scalable design than permitted by either the message-passing or message-driven model. In particular, Progressive Messages can handle communication concurrently with computation, which means that one process does not need to wait in order to service a request or response from another process. This overlap leads to more efficiency. As part of the study of Progressive Messages, we create the MATE (Message Alerts Through Events) library, which is a prototype API that supports event notification in communication. This API was implemented in both MPI and InfiniBand verbs (OpenFabrics). "Unit tests" of network metrics shows that there is some latency in event-driven message handling, though it is difficult to determine if the source of the latency is hardware or software based. The goal of the Progressive Messages model is that parallel and distributed computing applications will be easier to build and will be more scalable.

Faculty of Criminology, Justice and Policy Studies

The increasing popularity of Instant Messaging (IM) among adolescents in North America (Kids' Take On Media, 2003; Lenhart, Ranie & Lewis, 2001; Tagliamonte & Denis, 2006) is prompting two educational debates. One debate contests whether IM is more like speech or writing (e.g. Tagliamonte & Dennis, 2003). The second debate disputes whether IM has a positive or negative effect on school writing (e.g. O’Connor, 2005). This thesis addresses these debates from a New Literacies Studies (NLS) stance. It reports on a qualitative study of the perspectives and literacy practices of high school students. The purpose is to examine how IM shapes student writing and perception of literacy. The study focuses on the communication that transpired between five experienced IM users—one researcher and four adolescent participants—during a six-week IM writing group. Findings indicate the participants regard IM as a space for written slang; a space where speech and writing merge. Sensitive to context, the participants note that they can switch language registers to accommodate their audience, but they think confusion between registers may be a possibility. They demonstrate an attitude of “linguistic whateverism” (as described by Baron, 2002) when writing in the context of IM to increase efficiency, but they do not use as many acronyms as expected. The “whatever” attitude is linked to mistakes in writing, but it also exposes them to a sense of freedom and enjoyment. In general, IM provides these students with a new purpose for language, which they perceive as disconnected from school literacy. The findings suggests that IM language is a hybrid of speech and writing, and connecting IM with school writing (both literally and figuratively) may help teachers be more effective in making school writing processes more relevant to students’ lives. While making this connection, it is important for teachers to emphasize the plurality of literacies and the importance of revising and editing “finished” writing. In conclusion, this thesis considers new opportunities and concerns for writing pedagogy and new prospects for language research. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-01-25 11:40:10.265 / Queen's University; Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program (OGS)

Chemnitz, Techn. Univ., Diplomarb., 2005.

Hochsch. für Angewandte Wissenschaften, Diplomarbeit, 2008--Hamburg.

Mobile learning is the attainment of any knowledge or skill through using mobile technology, anywhere, anytime (Hashemi et al. 2477). Hashemi and Ghasemi also state that mobile phones are one of the most successful technologies in the past two decades (2947). More and more educators are using mobile phones as an educational tool. Second Language Acquisition has also been redefined due to the advent of Mobile learning and text-messaging. Khazaie and Ketabi explain that "the value of deploying technology at the service of learning and teaching seems to be both self-evident and unavoidable" (174). There are many studies of using text-message technologies in education and in Second Language Leaning of English, but these publications do not provide any evidence of the use of Mobile technologies or text-messaging in Second Language Acquisition of Spanish. This paper presents a study using text-message in the teaching and learning of Spanish Vocabulary in a second semester Spanish course. It compared a Control group that used a conventional paper based task learning method and an Experiment group that used text-messaging leaning method to learn twelve Spanish Vocabulary words. The results from the study show that text-messaging can be used as an effective Spanish Vocabulary language learning tool and students enjoyed the use of this vocabulary learning method. The finding in this study could perform as a roadmap in creating more studies that involve the use of mobile learning and text-messaging in the learning of Spanish vocabulary and Spanish as a Second Language.

Since the advent of the Internet as a means of communication, more and more people have been using electronic media for a variety of purposes including interpersonal communication, sending and receiving information as well as language learning purposes. Therefore, a line of research in this area seems necessary to gain a better understanding of various aspects involved in this topic and identify its possible advantages. To this end, the present study was an attempt to investigate the effectiveness of an online messaging application, namely WhatsApp Messenger, which is an example of computer-mediated communication tool where both synchronous and asynchronous online communication can occur, on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ syntactic complexity. This research was an experimental study and had a pretest-posttest design. This study had an experimental and a control group. The participants in the experimental group of this study were 15 adult intermediate language learners. They were asked to participate in eight discussion tasks and post on WhatsApp Messenger for a period of two months. The quantitative analyses were carried out by running independent samples t-tests as well as Mann-Whitney U tests to determine the differences in terms of syntactic complexity. The results revealed that using WhatsApp Messenger for communication practice had significant impacts for this group of learners on eleven measures of syntactic complexity. In addition, a survey questionnaire was administered to further delve into the participants’ perceptions and beliefs about their experience of computer-mediated communication. The results showed that participants found this messaging tool helpful and were satisfied with it in terms of comfort level. Participants also showed positive feedback toward the design and implementation of the study. / Graduate

Abstract ¡§Human Needs Drive Technology.¡¨ Since internet comes into action, it brings dramatic changes in human culture. Internet technology does not change only the way of communication or how the business activity moves, but it also creates a whole new life model. Especially after the rising of instant messaging software, the real-time communication model is formed. Many studies on instant messaging focuses on the pros and cons of the software itself and the benefits it has generated. Besides, their study groups are more focused on people with specific roles, such as sales, marketing staff, or students. The results obtained often do not cover the aspects on people with multi-roles. This study report takes EMBA students as the object of study, mainly because they carry the characteristics of both a student and a business man, whose behavior may lead us to see the general value that the instant messaging can generate. The study focuses on the behavior and motivation of EMBA students using instant messaging software, and it further discusses the changes that the instant messaging can bring at their study and their jobs. 9 EMBA students are chosen to conduct the case study, interviewed face-to-face and via instant messaging. The study finds that the instant messaging software have brought very positive benefits for EMBA students in their jobs, school work, and even in their interaction with their family. Key words: Instant messaging software¡BSKYPE¡BEMBA