Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) play an important role in supporting motorists and first responders to handle major incidents, hazmat spills, security measures and other emergency operations. Increasingly, technology advancements and applications are providing invaluable integration opportunities to interconnect safety, maintenance, ITS, traffic operations, facilities, and transportation equipment programs to maximize available resources and achieve efficiency in transportation operations. This research focuses on one of the prominent ITS devices: Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) operations. Using real time incident management operations data and ITS operations data, an attempt is made to develop ITS Operations Evaluations Models (ITSOEMs) that are capable of quantifying the operations value of DMS and their complementing ITS surveillance and detection systems, such as CCTV, Safety Service Patrol (SSP) and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems. The I-95 corridor in the state of Virginia is selected as the Study Corridor. Operations data from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) on DMS and ITS detection systems and incident management is analyzed to accomplish four key research objectives: a) To collect, extract and evaluate real time operations data from VDOT ITS and incident management operations programs and identify the factors contributing to the successful operation of DMS for the duration of incidents and events occurring on the I-95 Study Corridor; b) To develop analytical models to determine measurable influence of incident detections in successfully disseminating messages on DMS; c) To develop ITS Operations evaluation models to determine the effectiveness of DMS messages during incidents by quantifying the influence of DMS messages in the deterrence of secondary incidents on the I-95 Study Corridor; and d) To develop guidelines on the application of these quantitative ITS evaluation models so that transportation engineers can effectively use these models to perform ITS evaluations at other ITS locations. The ITS evaluation framework developed in this research work is expected to assist transportation engineers in the prioritization, selection and implementation of operations and technology integration strategies.

Club Texas: Building Community in Electronic Music Fan Culture through Online Collaboration is a report of results from a content analysis that analyzes the role of online participatory culture for community development and social capital for a local underground EDM ‘scene’ (Electronic Dance Music) in Dallas, TX. This study analyzes DallasDanceMusic.com (DDM), one of the first and largest message board communities to support the EDM community in Dallas, TX since 1994. The study measures participatory culture and social capital using content analysis of the site during high profile activity for a four-month period in 2012. / text

ITC/USA 2013 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Ninth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 21-24, 2013 / Bally's Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV / PMRF provides a volume of space, which may include any combination of below-surface, surface, above-surface environments to safely test, gather data, and monitor in real time, the performance of systems being developed. This paper discusses how TENA implementation in range instrumentation; including radar, optics, video, GPS, and telemetry systems; will enhance data acquisition and distribution of systems under test. While details of this implementation plan are specific to PMRF, this approach can serve as a blueprint for TENA implementation at other ranges throughout the DoD.

This paper discusses the Department of Defense (DoD) direction to provide an environment for realistic Test & Evaluation in a Joint operational context and enhance interoperability and reuse with other test ranges and facilities though the use of the Test and Training Enabling Architecture (TENA) and connectivity to the Joint Mission Environment Test Capability (JMETC) joint test infrastructure. The intent of the "TENA-Enabled Range Roadmap" is to describe how TENA would be incorporated into PMRF's range infrastructure through both near-term upgrades and long-term system replacement. While details of this implementation plan are specific to PMRF, this roadmap can serve as a blueprint for TENA implementation at other ranges throughout the DoD.

The methods for efficient safety message dissemination in VANETs were proposed. First, the method for using multi-channel was proposed. Using the proposed multi-channel method (divide-and-deliver algorithm), the safety message was delivered to the target device with less delay compared to the traditional single-channel method. This method showed resilient performance even in poor wireless channels compared to the single-channel method. Second, to improve low reliability in low vehicle density situations, the enhanced divide-and-deliver algorithm was proposed. The network coding was a key technique to the enhancement. For the efficient use of network coding, rigorous analysis was conducted and an algorithm was proposed to change the number of network coding packets adaptively by the vehicle densities. Finally, the method for delivering safety messages to multi-direction was proposed. This multi-vehicle selection broadcast (MSB) algorithm avoided the collision between multiple rebroadcasts among vehicles and removed unnecessary packets by using backoff slots. The contributions of this research include reducing delay and increasing reliability for the dissemination of safety messages.

The majority of earlier studies on media and the environment have concentrated on media contents, effects, and associated problems and limitations. The focus here on 'approaches to improvement' advances research in this field a step forward. This research proposes three broad 'approaches to improvemen' and undertakes four case studies to provide an exploration of their potentials. First is the 'educational approach' of building journalists' knowledge. Two cases studies illustrate the high potentials of this approach. Assessment of a mid-career training initiative in environmental reporting reveals positive impacts on journalists' knowledge, reporting skills, and job satisfaction. Evaluation of a university journalism module on sustainability shows increases in students' understanding of the meaning and multidimensional nature of sustainability, and their appreciation of the need for enhancing public awareness through media coverage. Second is the 'social responsibility approach' of media receptiveness towards a more responsible role in communicating these issues. An analysis of newspersons' views reveals partial support for this approach – although they were somewhat unreceptive to media environmental policies as a way of expressing social responsibility, they tended to be receptive towards an educative role. However, journalistic routines and norms may restrict an educative approach to news reporting. Third is the 'message framing approach' of employing effective and persuasive communication strategies in the framing of mediated information to influence understanding and perception. An experimental assessment of an information campaign on 'sustainable consumption', designed based on this approach finds some increases in community understanding and concern; thus, illustrating the potentials of this approach. Finally, drawing from the findings of the case studies and other observations in the literature the study identifies the interdependencies between the three approaches and the interconnected network of other influencing factors that are likely to determine their success – thus providing a clearer perspective of their viability in the real world.

The importance of constructing reliable and efficient methods for securing digital information in the modern world cannot be overstated. The urgency of this need is reflected in mainstream media--newspapers and websites are full of news about critical user information, be it credit card numbers, medical data, or social security information, being compromised and used illegitimately. According to news reports, hackers probe government computer networks millions of times a day, about 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year and cybercrime costs large American businesses 3.8 million dollars a year. More than 1 trillion worth of intellectual property has already been stolen from American businesses. It is this evergrowing problem of securing valuable information that our thesis attempts to address (in part). In this thesis, we study methods to secure information that are fast, convenient and reliable. Our overall contribution has four distinct threads. First, we construct efficient, "expressive" Public Key Encryption systems (specifically, Identity Based Encryption systems) based on the hardness of lattice problems. In Identity Based Encryption (IBE), any arbitrary string such as the user's email address or name can be her public key. IBE systems are powerful and address several problems faced by the deployment of Public Key Encryption. Our constructions are secure in the standard model. Next, we study secure communication over the two-user interference channel with an eavesdropper. We show that using lattice codes helps enhance the secrecy rate of this channel in the presence of an eavesdropper. Thirdly, we analyze the security requirements of network coding. Network Coding is an elegant method of data transmission which not only helps achieve capacity in several networks, but also has a host of other benefits. However, network coding is vulnerable to "pollution attacks" when there are malicious users in the system. We design mechanisms to prevent pollution attacks. In this setting, we provide two constructions -- a homomorphic Message Authentication Code (HMAC) and a Digital Signature, to secure information that is transmitted over such networks. Finally, we study the benefits of using Compressive Sensing for secure communication over the Wyner wiretap channel. Compressive Sensing has seen an explosion of interest in the last few years with its elegant mathematics and plethora of applications. So far however, Compressive Sensing had not found application in the domain of secrecy. Given its inherent assymetry, we ask (and answer in the affirmative) the question of whether it can be deployed to enable secure communication. Our results allow linear encoding and efficient decoding (via LASSO) at the legitimate receiver, along with infeasibility of message recovery (via an information theoretic analysis) at the eavesdropper, regardless of decoding strategy. / text

This work focuses on scheduling of MPI jobs when executing in shared-memory multiprocessors (SMPs). The objective was to obtain the best performance in response time in multiprogrammed multiprocessors systems using batch systems, assuming all the jobs have the same priority. To achieve that purpose, the benefits of supporting malleability on MPI jobs to reduce fragmentation and consequently improve the performance of the system were studied. The contributions made in this work can be summarized as follows:· Virtual malleability: A mechanism where a job is assigned a dynamic processor partition, where the number of processes is greater than the number of processors. The partition size is modified at runtime, according to external requirements such as the load of the system, by varying the multiprogramming level, making the job contend for resources with itself. In addition to this, a mechanism which decides at runtime if applying local or global process queues to an application depending on the load balancing between processes of it. · A job scheduling policy, that takes decisions such as how many processes to start with and the maximum multiprogramming degree based on the type and number of applications running and queued. Moreover, as soon as a job finishes execution and where there are queued jobs, this algorithm analyzes whether it is better to start execution of another job immediately or just wait until there are more resources available. · A new alternative to backfilling strategies for the problema of window execution time expiring. Virtual malleability is applied to the backfilled job, reducing its partition size but without aborting or suspending it as in traditional backfilling. The evaluation of this thesis has been done using a practical approach. All the proposals were implemented, modifying the three scheduling levels: queuing system, processor scheduler and runtime library. The impact of the contributions were studied under several types of workloads, varying machine utilization, communication and, balance degree of the applications, multiprogramming level, and job size. Results showed that it is possible to offer malleability over MPI jobs. An application obtained better performance when contending for the resources with itself than with other applications, especially in workloads with high machine utilization. Load imbalance was taken into account obtaining better performance if applying the right queue type to each application independently.The job scheduling policy proposed exploited virtual malleability by choosing at the beginning of execution some parameters like the number of processes and maximum multiprogramming level. It performed well under bursty workloads with low to medium machine utilizations. However as the load increases, virtual malleability was not enough. That is because, when the machine is heavily loaded, the jobs, once shrunk are not able to expand, so they must be executed all the time with a partition smaller than the job size, thus degrading performance. Thus, at this point the job scheduling policy concentrated just in moldability.Fragmentation was alleviated also by applying backfilling techniques to the job scheduling algorithm. Virtual malleability showed to be an interesting improvement in the window expiring problem. Backfilled jobs even on a smaller partition, can continue execution reducing memory swapping generated by aborts/suspensions In this way the queueing system is prevented from reinserting the backfilled job in the queue and re-executing it in the future.

ABSTRACT Title: How do you get the students to listen? – A study of Academic Works communication towards students (Hur får du en student att lyssna? – En studie av Academic Works kommunikation mot studenter) Number of pages: 38 (41 including enclosures) Author: Fredrik Hansson Tutor: Peder Hård af Segerstad Course: Media and Communication studies C Period: Autumn 2007 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University. Aim: The purpose of this paper is to study the strategies involved in the communication process between an organisation and its target audience. The study also aims to examine the company Academic Work and its communication efforts towards the targeted audience students. Method/Material: In order to examine the aim above, interviews were made with two persons involved in the communication of Academic Work. In addition to the interviews, a questionnaire was carried out at campus Ekonomikum, Uppsala University. Main results: The main result can be summarized as: · Academic Works communications have a lot of resemblance with the papers presented theory. · Events and direct meetings is the communication effort by Academic Work that has the biggest impact on student’s awareness and knowledge of the company. · A large majority of the students at campus Ekonomikum at Uppsala University are interested in working part-time and are aware of Academic Work. Despite this, only a few percents of the students participating in the questionnaire are working or have ever worked for Academic Work. Keywords: Communication, students, Academic Work, target audience, strategies, message, media channel.

Abstract As online social network services are becoming one of the dominant media channels the importance of disseminating messages through them is of high importance for governments, organizations, companies etc. The online social network services are several and changes rapidly as they grow and evolve. Being networks, the services give the user the tools to send, as well as receive text and information. This proposes us with yet another obstacle in communication via online social network services since sender and receiver merges together. Online social network services and the Blogosphere, which essentially also is a network, exist in the context of Web 2.0. The crucial feature of Web 2.0 is to a large degree the harnessing of collective intelligence i.e. the collection of individual knowledge and information. Many of the tools and sites within Web 2.0 are therefore of a network structure, hence further stressing the importance to communicate via networks in general. Network Analysis is the discipline through which we can see and understand the larger patterns of networks. In this thesis I have looked into three key concepts of Network Analysis; Weak Links, Growth and Preferential Attachment. I have found that we can use the knowledge of Network Analysis to disseminate messages via online social network services since it provides us with the raw structures of how networks tend to grow, and how messages tend to disseminate. Title: Web 2.0 and Network Society – PR and Communication: The Challenge of Online Social Networks Number of pages: 34 Author: Max Tandefelt Tutor: Else Nygren Course: Media and Communication Studies C Period: HT 07 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University. Purpose/Aim: Facilitate message dissemination through online social network services, as they are becoming one of the dominant media channels Material/Method: Network Analysis Main results: I have presented crucial concepts of Network Analysis that can be used for message dissemination via online social network services Keywords: Online Social Network Services, Network Analysis, Web 2.0, Message Dissemination