Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-70) Also available in print.

Thesis (Master)--İzmir Institute of Technology, İzmir, 2005. / Keywords: Cryptosystem, rivest-Shamir-Adleman, parallel computing, parallel algorithms, Random number. Includes bibliographical references (leaves. 68).

Stuttgart, Univ., Diplomarb., 2001.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (p. [93]-98). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Pas de résumé / No abstract

In manufacturing, automation has replaced many dangerous, mundane, arduous and routine manual operations, for example, transportation of heavy parts, stamping of large parts, repetitive welding and bolt fastening. However, skilled operators still carry out critical manual processes in various industries such as aerospace, automotive and heavy-machinery. As automation technology progresses through more flexible and intelligent systems, the potential for these processes to be automated increases. However, the decision to undertake automation is a complex one, involving consideration of many factors such as return of investment, health and safety, life cycle impact, competitive advantage, and resources and technology availability. A key challenge to manufacturing automation is the ability to adapt to process variability. In manufacturing processes, human operators apply their skills to adapt to variability, in order to meet the product and process specifications or requirements. This thesis is focussed on understanding the 'variability involved in these manual processes, and how it may influence the automation solution'. Two manual industrial processes in polishing and de-burring of high-value components were observed to evaluate the extent of the variability and how the operators applied their skills to overcome it. Based on the findings from the literature and process studies, a framework was developed to categorise variability in manual manufacturing processes and to suggest a level of automation for the tasks in the processes, based on scores and weights given to the parameters by the user. The novelty of this research lies in the creation of a framework to categorise and evaluate process variability, suggesting an appropriate level of automation. The framework uses five attributes of processes; inputs, outputs, strategy, time and requirements and twelve parameters (quantity, range or interval of variability, interdependency, diversification, number of alternatives, number of actions, patterned actions, concurrency, time restriction, sensorial domain, cognitive requisite and physical requisites) to evaluate variability inherent in the process. The level of automation suggested is obtained through a system of scores and weights for each parameter. The weights were calculated using Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) with the help of three experts in manufacturing processes. Finally, this framework was validated through its application to two processes consisting of a lab-based peg-in-a-hole manual process and an industrial process on welding. In addition, the framework was further applied to three processes (two industrial processes and one process simulated in the laboratory) by two subjects for each process to verify the consistency of the results obtained. The results suggest that the framework is robust when applied by different subjects, presenting high similarity in outputs. Moreover, the framework was found to be effective when characterising variability present in the processes where it was applied. The framework was developed and tested in manufacturing of high value components, with high potential to be applied to processes in other industries, for instance, automotive, heavy machinery, pharmaceutical or electronic components, although this would need further investigation. Thus, future work would include the application of the framework in processes in other industries, hence enhancing its robustness and widening its scope of applicability. Additionally, a database would be created to assess the correlation between process variability and the level of automation.

We have developed a comprehensive simulator to study the polarization entangled quantum key distribution (QKD) system, which takes various imperfections into account. We assume that a type-II SPDC source using a PPLN-based nonlinear optical waveguide is used to generate entangled photon pairs and implements the BB84 protocol, using two mutually unbiased basis with two orthogonal polarizations in each basis. The entangled photon pairs are then simulated to be transmitted to both parties; Alice and Bob, through the optical channel, imperfect optical elements and onto the imperfect detector. It is assumed that Eve has no control over the detectors, and can only gain information from the public channel and the intercept resend attack. The secure key rate (SKR) is calculated using an upper bound and by using actual code rates of LDPC codes implementable in FPGA hardware. After the verification of the simulation results, such as the pair generation rate and the number of error due to multiple pairs, for the ideal scenario, available in the literature, we then introduce various imperfections. Then, the results are compared to previously reported experimental results where a BBO nonlinear crystal is used, and the improvements in SKRs are determined for when a PPLN-waveguide is used instead.

M.Comm. / A review of literature reveals that salespeople may have misperceptions of their own role and these misperceptions may influence their performance. Selling has also become more complex and scientific in these tough economic times, and more salespeople are involved in selling teams that provide customised solutions to customers’ needs. Salespeople often need to depend on other types of salespeople within the supply chain to be able to successfully perform their own role. Therefore, salespeople may have misperceptions of the roles of other salespeople with whom they work and on whom they depend. These misperceptions may influence the performance of salespersons. Salespeople play an important part in the successful selling of an organisation’s products and the eventual success of the business itself. This study aims to contribute to improving the performance of salespeople by investigating the role perceptions and possible role misperceptions, of mutually dependent Key Account Managers and Sales Agents. Taking into consideration the identified research problem, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the role perceptions of salespeople regarding their own, and their mutually dependent counterparts’ role in the supply chain of a fast-moving consumer goods organisation, and the impact that such perceptions may have on performance. The study employed a mixed method approach to measure the role perceptions of mutually dependent salespeople within the supply chain of a fast-moving consumer goods organisation. The researcher used an exploratory mixed method design. The first phase comprised the collection of qualitative data, and the quantitative phase was then based on the learning’s from the first phase. An exploratory design was ideal for exploring relationships as the study variables were unknown, and a new instrument needed to be developed based on a preliminary qualitative inquiry. Therefore, the research was divided into two phases with the first phase facilitating the design of the instrument for the quantitative second phase of the study. The data collected with the questionnaire was coded, and aside from the normal descriptive statistical analysis such as frequency percentages and standard deviations, hypotheses testing using Pearson product correlations was conducted. For the two smaller groups of respondents a Spearman rank was used, and a Parametric test was employed for the larger group as the variables were normally distributed.

M.Comm. / Worldwide an increasing amount of legal credibility is being assigned to digital signatures and it is therefore of utmost importance to research and develop additional measures to secure the technology. The main goal of this dissertation is to research and identify areas in which the user’s private key, used for the digital signing of messages, is exposed to the risk of being compromised and then develop a prototype system (SecureSign) to overcome the identified vulnerabilities and secure the digital signing process. In order to achieve the above stated, use will be made of a cryptographic token, which will provide secure storage and a secure operational environment to the user’s private key. The cryptographic token is at the heart of SecureSign and it is where the user’s private key will be created, stored and used. All operations requiring the user’s private key will be performed on the token, which is equipped with its own processor for this purpose.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The SASL project at the University of the Western Cape is in the process of developing a machine translation system that can translate fully-fledged phrases between South African Sign Language (SASL) and English in real-time.To visualise sign language,the system aims to make use of a 3D humanoid avatar created by van Wyk. Moemedi used this avatar to create an animation system that visualises a small set of simple Phrases from very simple SignWriting notation input. This research aims to achieve an animation system that can render full sign language sentences given complex SignWriting notation glyphs with multiple sections. The specific focus of the research is achieving animations that are accurate representations of the SignWriting input in terms of the five fundamental parameters of sign language, namely, hand motion, location, orientation and shape, as well as non-manual features such as facial expressions. An experiment Was carried out to determine the accuracy of the proposed system on a set of 20 SASL phrases annotated with SignWriting notation. It was found that the proposed system is highly accurate, achieving an average accuracy of 81.6%.