Traditional Mobile IP supports only one tunnel between HA (Home Agent) and FA (Foreign Agent) for MN (Mobile Node) to transmit data from CN (Corresponding Node) to MN during handoff. To alleviate traffic load, in this Thesis, we propose a multiple-tunnel approach by setting up a secondary tunnel in addition to the primary tunnel. HA can split the video stream from the primary tunnel to the secondary tunnel when the former encounters high traffic load. Thus, quality of video stream from CN to MN can be guaranteed through the proposed multiple-tunnel schemes. For the purpose of validation, we implement the multiple-tunnel schemes on Linux platform for HA, FA, and MN to support video stream splitting. Specifically, if HA detects that high system load occurs on FA, an MPEG-4 packet filter is activated on HA to split some portions of video packets from the primary tunnel to the secondary tunnel based on I/B/P frame types. Video receiver on MN can then successfully recover these two divided video packets and playback the complete stream smoothly. Three experiments for validation are developed. They are (i) a simple Mobile IP handoff, (ii) Different bit rates to activate the stream splitting mechanism, and (iii) automatic adjustment of stream splitting according to system load. The experimental results have proved that the proposed multiple-tunnel schemes can substantially improve the quality of video streams.

Bakgrund: Bristande kommunikation är en av de vanligaste orsakerna till vårdskador. Bristande kommunikation orsakar lidande för den enskilde patienten och en ökad belastning på vården med exempelvis extra vårddygn. Kommunikation och informationsöverföring är av Socialstyrelsen identifierat som ett riskområde i vården. Flera studier samt nationella och internationella myndigheter rekommenderar standardiserade verktyg vid överrapportering. Den kirurgiska patienten är särskilt utsatt och råkar oftare ut för vårdskador. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva vad anestesi-, operations-, och postoperativa sjuksköterskor upplever och fokuserar på vid överrapportering från operationsavdelning till postoperativ avdelning. Metod: Fokusgruppsintervjustudie, materialet har analyserats med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Studien bestod av tre fokusgruppsintervjuer med tre deltagare i varje grupp. Resultat: Studiens resultat består av tre teman, innehåll, struktur och miljö. Innehåll består av den information som respektive fokusgrupp anser är viktig vid en överrapportering. Struktur beskriver på vilket sätt överrapporteringen sker. Överrapporteringen följer en informell struktur ibland med stöd av olika journalhandlingar. Miljö beskriver den kontext där överrapporteringen sker. Överrapporteringsmiljön upplevdes i många fall som stökig med flera distraherande moment. Slutsats: Samtliga sjuksköterskor upplevde överrapporteringssituationen på liknande sätt. Vad beträffade den innehållsmässiga och strukturella delen av rapporten upplevdes den av samtliga fokusgrupper som adekvat. Den miljömässiga aspekten av överrapporteringen upplevdes av samtliga som ett område med förbättringsmöjligheter. / Background: Communication failure is one of the most common causes for medical injuries. Every year lack in communication causes suffering for the patient and an increased burden on healthcare, for example trough extra care days. Communication and information transfer are identified by the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) as a risk area in healthcare. The surgical patient is particularly vulnerable and prone to medical injuries. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe what anesthesia-, operating room- and postoperative care unit nurses experience and focus on in a handoff from the surgical unit to the postoperative care unit. Method: A focusgroup interview study was conducted; the data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The study consisted of three focusgroups, with three participants in each group. Result: The results of the study consists of three themes, content, structure and environment. Content entails the information that the focusgroups believes is important in an handoff. Structure describes how the handoff is done. The handoff follows an informal structure, sometimes with the support of various medical records. Environment describes the context in which the handoff is done. The handoff environment was perceived in many cases as messy with multiple distractions. Conclusion: All of the nurses described the handoff situation similarly. The content and structural part of the handoff was perceived by all of the focusgroups as adequate. The environmental aspect of the handoff was perceived by all as the area with most improvement possibilities.

Global connectivity, for anyone, at anyplace, at anytime, to provide high-speed, high-quality, and reliable communication channels for mobile devices, is now becoming a reality. The credit mainly goes to the recent technological advances in wireless communications comprised of a wide range of technologies, services, and applications to fulfill the particular needs of end-users in different deployment scenarios (Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and 3G/4G cellular systems). In such a heterogeneous wireless environment, one of the key ingredients to provide efficient ubiquitous computing with guaranteed quality and continuity of service is the design of intelligent handoff algorithms. Traditional single-metric handoff decision algorithms, such as Received Signal Strength (RSS) based, are not efficient and intelligent enough to minimize the number of unnecessary handoffs, decision delays, and call-dropping and/or blocking probabilities. This research presented a novel approach for the design and implementation of a multi-criteria vertical handoff algorithm for heterogeneous wireless networks. Several parallel Fuzzy Logic Controllers were utilized in combination with different types of ranking algorithms and metric weighting schemes to implement two major modules: the first module estimated the necessity of handoff, and the other module was developed to select the best network as the target of handoff. Simulations based on different traffic classes, utilizing various types of wireless networks were carried out by implementing a wireless test-bed inspired by the concept of Rudimentary Network Emulator (RUNE). Simulation results indicated that the proposed scheme provided better performance in terms of minimizing the unnecessary handoffs, call dropping, and call blocking and handoff blocking probabilities. When subjected to Conversational traffic and compared against the RSS-based reference algorithm, the proposed scheme, utilizing the FTOPSIS ranking algorithm, was able to reduce the average outage probability of MSs moving with high speeds by 17%, new call blocking probability by 22%, the handoff blocking probability by 16%, and the average handoff rate by 40%. The significant reduction in the resulted handoff rate provides MS with efficient power consumption, and more available battery life. These percentages indicated a higher probability of guaranteed session continuity and quality of the currently utilized service, resulting in higher user satisfaction levels.

Global connectivity is on the verge of becoming a reality to provide high-speed, high-quality, and reliable communication channels for mobile devices at anytime, anywhere in the world. In a heterogeneous wireless environment, one of the key ingredients to provide efficient and ubiquitous computing with guaranteed quality and continuity of service is the design of intelligent handoff algorithms. Traditional single-metric handoff decision algorithms, such as Received Signal Strength (RSS), are not efficient and intelligent enough to minimize the number of unnecessary handoffs, decision delays, call-dropping and blocking probabilities. This research presents a novel approach for of a Multi Attribute Decision Making (MADM) model based on an integrated fuzzy approach for target network selection.

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are effective for surveillance and monitoring, but struggle with persistent, long-term tracking, especially without GPS, due to limited flight time. Persistent tracking can be accomplished using multiple vehicles if one vehicle can effectively hand off the tracking information to another replacement vehicle. This work presents a solution to the moving-target handoff problem in the absence of GPS. The proposed solution (a) a nonlinear complementary filter for self-pose estimation using only an IMU, (b) a particle filter for relative pose estimation between UAS using a relative range (c) visual target tracking using a gimballed camera when the target is close to the handoff UAS, and (d) track correlation logic using Procrustes analysis to perform the final target handoff between vehicles. We present hardware results of the self-pose estimation and visual target tracking, as well as an extensive simulation result that demonstrates the effectiveness of our full system, and perform Monte-Carlo simulations that indicate a 97% successful handoff rate using the proposed methods.

The Voice over IP (VoIP) technology has become prevalent today due to its lower cost than traditional telephony and its ability to support new value-added services. Additionally, the increasing availability of wireless internet access has led to research studies examining the combination of wireless network access with voice over IP. With the widespread availability of advanced mobile phones and Pocket PCs, the need for VoIP applications on these mobile platforms is tangible. To enable this, we need to evaluate the current wireless access technologies to see if they can support the necessary traffic and implement software to offer these VoIP services to users. In order to easily implement an IP-based service on GSM technology, we should use the GPRS service provided by the GSM operators. In this thesis, we evaluate Voice over IP service over GPRS in terms of feasibility and quality. Following this we ported a locally developed VoIP program to a Pocket PC (with GSM SIM-card support) which runs Microsoft’s Windows Mobile in order to provide suitable software as needed to offer the service from such a portable device. / VoIP tekniken har blivit en rådande teknik numera på grund av dess lägre kostnader och mervärdestjänster som erbjuds jämfört med traditional telefoni. Samtidigt som tendensen mot mer tillgänglig trådlöst internet har underlättat och därmed driver mera studier inom dessa områden. Den allt mer utbredda användningen av avancerade mobiltelefoner och handdatorer numera har lett till ökat behov av att använda VoIP tekniken för dessa mobila utrustningar är alltmer kännbar. För att möjliggöra användadet av VoIP tekniken så behöver vi först och främst utvärdera dagens existerande teknologier för att stödja iden och för det andra måste vi kunna implementera en mjukvara vilket kan erbjuda olika typer av tjänster för slutanvändaren. För att kunna använda en IP-baserad tjänst på GSM teknologin så måste vi använda oss utan GPRS tjänster som tillhandahålls av GSM opratörer. I detta examens arbete kommer vi att utvärdera VoIP tjänster på GPRS när det gäller kvalitet och möjligheter. Därefter kommer vi att Portning en VoIP mjukvara till en handdator (utrustad med GSM sim-kort) vilket har windows Mobile operativsystemet som erbjuder en rad olika tjänster.

Evidence supports bedside report as a mechanism to improve communication, patient safety, quality of report, and nurse and patient satisfaction when implemented in a closed unit. The purpose of this project was to examine the impact of implementing a bedside report process to transition patients from the emergency department to a medical-surgical unit. Specifically, the goal was to analyze the impact of a bedside- reporting process on patient progression and on nurse and patient satisfaction. Lewin's change model provided the theoretical framework for this quasi-experimental study. Patient progression data consisted of 706 patient transitions from the emergency department to the medical-surgical unit. Pre and post implementation survey responses from 87 patients and 61 nurses comprised the patient and nurse satisfaction data. The data were evaluated through multiple t test analyses. Patient progression times improved significantly post implementation of the bedside report process (p < .05). Nursing satisfaction, quality of report, and safety information were gathered using the Transfer Report Communication Survey. There was statistically significant improvement in survey scores for perceived openness and ease of communication, nurses' perception of the accuracy of information exchanged, and the ability to understand the reported patient information after bedside report was implemented (p < .05). Assessment of patient satisfaction via the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey noted no improvement in patient satisfaction during the project timeframe (p < .05). These findings may promote positive social change by improving patient care transitions and improving safety in acute care patient transfers.

Within the context of healthcare delivery, human lives are at risk when health care professionals fail to communicate effectively. Audits by The Joint Commission from 1995 to 2005 revealed that 65% of sentinel events occurred as a result of staff miscommunication, prompting the requirement that standardized handoff tools be deployed. Therefore, this project was completed to improve safety in the hospital through implementation of a standardized tool that could enhance the quality of nurse handoff communication. Mohorek & Webb's (2015) linear model of communication, which emphasizes the importance of encoding, transmission, and decoding in the communication process, provided the framework for this project. Participants included 11 registered nurses (RNs) and 14 licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) who completed the pre-and-post intervention survey using the Handover Evaluation Scale. The RNs reflected significant difference in improvement in the perceived quality of handoff following the implementation of standardized handoff tool: pre-test (M = 66.91, SD = 7.27) compared to post-test (M = 80.91, SD = 7.45); t(10) = -5.09, p = 0.000. On the other hand, there was no statistically significant change noted with the LVN group before implementation of standardized handoff tool: pre-test (M = 70.71, SD = 9.72) compared to post- test implementation (M = 73.57, SD = 7.73); t(13) = -1.06, p = 0.309. The findings resulting from this project suggest that there are important differences in provider types when using standardized handoff tools and that more attention to this dynamic is warranted. The social change mandate of protecting the safety of patients is enhanced through effective communication among nurses and was demonstrated in the project.

No description available.

<p>In this thesis we study the handoff problem of mobile stations (MSs) jointly with the resource management at the access points (APs) for wireless mesh networks (WMNs), where the APs can dynamically adjust the transmission power and time to each of the associated MSs. Two objectives are considered, one is to balance the energy consumption of the APs, and the other is to achieve fair throughput among the MSs. Since the global optimum solutions are difficult to obtain, we propose heuristic schemes for achieving each of the objectives. The objective of balancing AP energy consumption is achieved in two steps. The optimum transmission power and rate is solved at each AP so that to minimize the energy consumption of the AP, assuming the MS-AP association is given. Two handoff schemes are then designed to find which MSs should be associated to which APs during each scheduling interval (SI). The schemes are based on energy consumption information exchanged among neighboring APs. The real-time energy balancing (REB) scheme tries to balance the energy consumption of the APs in each SI, while the long term energy balancing (LEB) scheme balances the AP energy consumption over a longer term. Our results indicate that the network lifetime can be significantly extended using the proposed handoff schemes, compared to the simple distance-based handoff scheme, and using LEB can achieve balanced AP energy consumption with a small number of handoffs. The second part of the thesis is to consider the MS handoff and AP resource allocations in order to achieve fair throughput among the MSs. An optimization problem is formulated and solved at each AP to achieve long term proportional fairness of the throughput among the MSs, assuming the MS-AP association is known. Two handoff schemes are proposed, one is utility-based, and the other is number-based, in order to determine which MSs should be associated to which APs. Our results show that both the schemes are good at achieving fair throughput among the MSs, and the schemes are not sensitive to MS moving speed or group mobility patterns. The number-based scheme is simpler than the utility-based one in terms of implementation.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)