The player experience (PX) of games can be inspected in various ways to help developers understand the essential ingredients for a successful and engaging game design. Users are even able to experience games on a variety of different gaming platforms, which presents more ways of interaction compared to games that are restricted to only a single gaming platform. The overall chain of interactions between games and platforms, becomes a central design target to understand the complex nature of digital games. However, there are a limited number of studies that investigate how the gaming platforms affects the general PX, and how to conduct an effective evaluation on a game that exists on several platforms. The purpose of this thesis is to research the general PX of these multi-platform games and to generate information about a topic of interest where there is not much prior knowledge. This was done through a single case study using participants and measure their overall PX when played on two different platforms. This process used playability heuristics based on literature focusing on PX and usability, along with semi-structured interviews and observations. The data from this case study would then be discussed to serve as a base for a future hypothesis to be studied, and to discuss how research around multi-platform gamescan be managed and assist game developers in their process of creating an enjoyable PX.Besides presenting how games developed for several platforms can affect the evaluation of the PX, the study also presents findings for how players personal preference for gaming platforms can impact both their performance, and their opinions of a games design.

With the rapid migration of physical layer design of radio towards software, it becomes necessary to select or develop the platform and tools that help in achieving rapid design and development along with flexibility and reconfigurability. The availability of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) has promoted the concept of reconfigurable hardware for software defined radio (SDR). It enables the designer to create high speed radios with flexibility, low latency and high throughput. Generally, the traditional method of designing FPGA based radios limits productivity. Productivity can be improved using Model based design (MBD) tools. These tools encourage a modular way of developing waveforms for radios. The tools based on MBD have been the focus of recent research exploring the concept of the platform independent model (PIM) and portability across platforms by the platform specific model (PSM). The thesis presented here explores the tools based on MBD to achieve prototyping for wireless standards like IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.16e on reconfigurable hardware. It also describes the interfacing of the universal software radio peripheral (USRP2), acting as a radio frequency (RF) front end, with an additional FPGA board for baseband processing. / Master of Science

隨著網際網路興起，資訊的交流與傳遞產生了革命性的變化，同時也影響了許多產業既有的經營與交易模式，電子商務以及產品/服務數位化的概念開始大行其道。近年來，網際網路的即時性與互動性，更促成平台經營模式的興起，藉由打破傳統交易模式中單向的供應鏈形式，平台建立了多方使用者對資訊及產品/服務在供給與需求上的循環性，促成交易成本降低，進而創造更多新的商機。 以傳統出版業為例，受限於書籍在印刷出版時高額的固定成本，廠商通常只能向已具有市場規模的知名作家或經濟人進行作品出版的提案與邀約；而對於消費者來說，也僅能就市場提供的產品進行選擇。另一方面，對於許多有潛力但尚未被發掘的創作者而言，也因為缺乏能實際接觸市場的機會與管道而遭到埋沒，而對廠商來說，過高的搜尋成本與投資風險也形成了發掘這些新銳作家的障礙。 本研究試圖以平台策略與經營模式為基礎，探討創作交流平台對於傳統出版業以及其數位化過程中所產生的衝擊與影響，並試圖建立一套能有效促成創作者、使用者與廠商三方獲益的資訊交流平台；最後，針對創作在數位化過程中最容易遭遇到的著作權問題，本研究也將以平台經營管理的角度加以審視分析，並提出相關政策上之建議。因此，本研究之研究問題係總結為以下三點： 1.創作交流平台對於傳統出版業與出版數位化的影響與競合關係 2.創作交流平台經營模式與成功關鍵之分析 3.創作交流平台著作權法律相關政策與議題之探討 / As Internet became more and more popular, there was a revolutionary change about transportation of information, and it also deeply influenced many industries’ original operation and transaction models. For this reason, e-commercial and digitization of products and services started to prevail. In recent years, because of Internet’s instantaneity and interactivity, platform business models start to spring up. By breaking through the traditional one-way supply chain, platforms try to find the circulation between each type user’s supply and demand of products or services. Platforms model decrease the transaction cost and help many people find the new business. Take traditional publishing industry for example, for fear of the high fixed cost of books publishing; publishers only publish books by well-known authors or through agents with good reputation. For customers, they can only passively choose from the items supplied. Besides, many potentially brilliant authors may be neglected under this circumstance, because they lack channels to approach the market and audiences. Considering the searching cost and risk, it’s also difficult for publishers to discover these potential creators. This research will be based on platform strategies and business models, discussing the influence and transformation result from creation communication platforms during digitization process of traditional publishing industry. Furthermore, this research will try to build up a platform business model to make users (including creators, audiences and publisher) profit. At last, this research also covers the copyright issue about creation communication platform, and brings up some advices for platform policies. After all, this research will focus on three questions as below: 1.Influence and transformation result from creation communication platforms during digitization process of traditional publishing industry. 2.Analysis about creation communication platforms’ business models and key factors for making success. 3.Discussion of creation communication platforms’ copyright issues and related business policies.

Byggbranschen står inför en återkommande produktivitets- och kvalitetsproblematik. Plattformar är en central del i det industriella byggandet som är ett strategiskt utvecklingsområde som strukturerar tekniska lösningar, processer och produktionsmetoder inom ett företag. Effekterna är bland annat effektivare arbetsmetoder, skalfördelar och en förutsägbarhet i processerna som mångt och mycket i teorin skulle kunna avhjälpa delar av den rådande produktivitets- och kvalitetsproblematiken i branschen. Dock går det att ifrågasätta om plattformar lyckats nå sin fulla teoretiska potential och genomslagskraft i branschen.Syftet med detta examensarbete är att skapa bättre förståelse av varför branschen inte får ut mer effekt av plattformar i byggproduktionen. Detta genom att i kontexten av byggföretaget NCC:s byggproduktion beskriva och förklara användandet av attityder och verktygen kopplat till NCC:s tekniska bostadsplattformar.En litteraturstudie har utförts och företagsintern dokumentation har använts för att kartlägga befintliga erfarenheter och kunskaper inom det industriella byggandet och NCC:s tekniska plattform. För att nå kunskap och erfarenheter om produktionens plattformsanvändande, har åtta plats- och projektchefer intervjuats tillsammans med en bakgrunds- och referensintervju av en specialist och chef inom projektering- och installationsstyrning.NCC:s tekniska bostadsplattform kan i teorin definieras som en teknikplattform. Plattformen försöker möta kunders krav när kunden kommer in någonstans i projekteringen (ETO), även om kunders krav kan komma att utvecklas och förändras med tiden. Plattformen är i stort projekteringsledd och består till stor del av projekteringsanvisningar på komponentnivå med ett något begränsat fokus på standardiserade produktionsmetoder. Dock uttrycker majoriteten av de intervjuade projekt- och platscheferna ett behov av standardiserade arbetsberedningar. Intervjuer och teori tyder på vikten av att involvera och skapa en delaktighet och ägandeskap i dessa processer och standarder.    Användandet i produktionen beror till stor del på i vilken omfattning projekteringen har skett utifrån plattformen. Utan att veta den exakta implementeringsgraden, uttrycks ett förändrat och minskat användande av plattformen. Två vanligt uttryckta förklaringsmodeller som förklarar varför styrningen mot plattformen har minskat är att det inte längre är ett krav att arbeta utifrån plattformen och att plattformen inte har utvecklats tillräckligt mot den upplevda förändrade beställarrollen. Analysen visar att i teorin betyder det att det finns en dålig koppling mellan process- och teknikplattformen, då ett föråldrat kund- och marknadsfokus riskerar att göra det svårare för plattformen att säljas in hos kunder, implementeras och utvecklas. Att ha en systematisk erfarenhetsåterföring från byggprojekten till plattformen som skapar en kontinuerlig innovations- och kunskapsackumulation är minst lika viktigt som att ha ett aktuellt utbyte mellan process- och teknikplattformen. Produktionspersonalens inställning till plattformen beror även på hur väl erafenhetsåterföringen fungerar.  Denna studie visar att användandet, verktyg och attityder är nära sammanflätade och beroende av varandra. Plattformen är ett viktigt verktyg som skapar uppskattade effekter i produktionen, som i allmänhet skapat grundläggande positiv attityd och acceptans till plattformen hos samtliga projekt- och platschefer. Dock exemplifierar samtliga respondenter en historisk men även rådande problematik hos vissa tveksamma lösningar och beskrivningar inom plattformen. Om plattformen inte är uppdaterad ändras attityderna snabbt och historiska fel ekar länge i produktionen. Negativa attityder går att koppla till utvecklingen, kommunikationen eller utbildningen inom plattformen, vilka alla är nära sammankopplade med erfarenhetsåterföring, involveringen av produktionspersonal, och kopplingen mellan teknik- och processplattformen.Det krävs fortsatt forskning för att förklara hur produktionen ska använda plattformar på ett effektivt sätt. Stort fokus ligger på projekteringen men inte på ett produktionsanvändande. Istället behövs ett mer tvärvetenskapligt angreppsätt som lämnar mer plats för det mänskliga samspelet i produktionen och hur plattformar bör användas i produktionen. / The construction industry is facing a recurring productivity and quality problem. Platforms are a central part of industrial housebuilding, which is a strategic development area that structures technical solutions, processes and production methods within a company. The effects include more efficient working methods, economies of scale and a predictability in the processes that in many ways could in theory remedy parts of the prevailing productivity and quality problems in the industry. However, it is possible to question whether platforms have succeeded in reaching their full theoretical potential and impact in the industry. The purpose of this thesis is to create a better understanding of why the industry does not get more effect from platforms in construction production. This is done by describing and explaining the use of, attitudes and tools connected to NCC's technical housing platforms in the context of the construction company NCC. A literature study has been carried out and NCC's in-house documentation has been used to map the existing experiences and knowledge within the industrial housebuilding and NCC's technical platform. To gain knowledge and experience about the platform use in production, interviews have been a major tool. The sample of respondents include eight site- and project managers as well as a reference interview by a specialist and manager in design and installation management. NCC's technical housing platform can in theory be defined as a technical platform. The platform tries to meet the client requirements when the client enters the house-building design process (ETO), even though client’s requirements may develop and change over time. The platform is largely design-led and largely consists of design instructions at the component level with type solutions and has a somewhat limited focus on standardized production methods. However, most of the interviewed project and site managers demand a need for standardized work planning that, together with the theory, show the importance of involving and creating participation and ownership in these processes and standards. The use in production largely depends on the extent to which the design has taken place based on the platform. Without knowing the exact degree of implementation, a changed and reduced use of the platform is expressed. Two commonly expressed explanatory models that explain why the use of the platform has decreased is that it is no longer a requirement to work with the platform, and that the platform has not developed sufficiently in relation to the perceived changed customer role. The analysis shows that in theory this means that there is a poor connection between the process platform and technical platform, as an outdated customer and market focus risks making it more difficult for the platform to be sold to customers, implemented and developed. From a platform development point of view and based on the production staff's attitude to the platform, it is equally important to have a systematic feedback of experience from the projects to the platform that creates a continuous accumulation of innovation and knowledge. This study shows that usage, tools and attitudes are closely intertwined and interdependent. The platform is an important tool that creates appreciated effects in production that have generally created a positive attitude and acceptance of the platform by all project and site managers. However, all respondents exemplify a historical but also prevailing problem with some doubtful solutions and descriptions within the platform. If the platform is not updated, attitudes change quickly, and historical errors resonate in production for a long time. These factors can be linked to the development, communication or training within the platform, all of which are closely linked to experience feedback, the involvement of production staff, and the link between the technology and process platform. Further research is required to explain how production should use platforms effectively. Great focus is on the design process but not on a production use. Instead, a more interdisciplinary approach is needed that leaves more room for human interaction in production and how platforms should be used in production.

In the age of online courses and digital textbooks, several areas of academia, such as special education, are far behind in the technological revolution. Some teachers use long unstructured digital documents, while others maintain large physical files for students containing every piece of information or coursework they have ever received. Could these extremely unstructured approaches to data collection and aggregation be streamlined with a software platform built specifically for this purpose? Could this platform also be built to accommodate multiple integrations and practical new features? Most importantly, in terms of usability, would this software be enjoyable to use? The Autism Management Platform was initially built for parents of children with Autism to be able to post and view various events and activities throughout their child’s life. The platform now allows for communication on posts between parents, teachers, physicians, and anyone else involved in the child’s life who is authorized to do so. What started as a general platform built for Autism was able to adopt an integration specific to special education. The Autism Management Platform was then further enriched by new features, such as the addition of appointments and visual schedules, proving that it could serve beyond the platform it was intended to be. Through several semester-long user trials in high school special education programs, it was found that real people could use an integration of this platform in an enjoyable and meaningful way.

Businesses' demand for information technology-(IT) capacity and IT solutions are growing daily. As available services and products expand, users require more convenience, cost savings, user-friendliness and reliability. Manufacturers of mobile devices have always been motivated to develop mobile devices which are more flexible and reliable. As a consequence of the above mentioned, the importance of business in the modern technological environment was greatly overestimated as a result of development in mobile technology. Mobile technology breaks the limitations of mobility in businesses which provides innovative possibilities Mobile distance-based services have attracted much attention because of the growing potential that it offers. Businesses need mobile options that deal with specific needs. A mobile accounting system will provide adaptability and flexibility to an entity, which at this stage has not been possible. An improved adaptability and flexibility of enterprises will have a positive impact on productivity and innovation as a result. The rapid growth and development of mobile technology creates the opportunity for the development of many innovative mobile applications. From the above it is clear that there is an existing trend that companies want to implement more mobility in their business. From an accounting perspective, small-to medium-sized businesses have simpler rules and regulations that must be obeyed (IFRS for SMEs). Thus, the point of entrance of this study will focus on the feasibility of a mobile accounting system for small to medium sized entities (SME). On a global scale, should the importance of small-to medium-sized entities (SMEs) not be overlooked. SMEs are the mainstay of most national economies and represent between 30 to 60 percent of the economy's gross domestic product. A mobile accounting system will provide managers and business owners the option to have “anytime anywhere” access to the entity's financial information. This will also allow businesses to be more mobile. Thus, invoices can be issued, receivables added, payments entered (creditors and so on) and all this can be done without physically being on the business premises. The mobile system will therefore communicate in real time with the database on the business premises which is stored electronically and so information for everyone who uses it will be updated and correct. / MCom (Accountancy), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Businesses' demand for information technology-(IT) capacity and IT solutions are growing daily. As available services and products expand, users require more convenience, cost savings, user-friendliness and reliability. Manufacturers of mobile devices have always been motivated to develop mobile devices which are more flexible and reliable. As a consequence of the above mentioned, the importance of business in the modern technological environment was greatly overestimated as a result of development in mobile technology. Mobile technology breaks the limitations of mobility in businesses which provides innovative possibilities Mobile distance-based services have attracted much attention because of the growing potential that it offers. Businesses need mobile options that deal with specific needs. A mobile accounting system will provide adaptability and flexibility to an entity, which at this stage has not been possible. An improved adaptability and flexibility of enterprises will have a positive impact on productivity and innovation as a result. The rapid growth and development of mobile technology creates the opportunity for the development of many innovative mobile applications. From the above it is clear that there is an existing trend that companies want to implement more mobility in their business. From an accounting perspective, small-to medium-sized businesses have simpler rules and regulations that must be obeyed (IFRS for SMEs). Thus, the point of entrance of this study will focus on the feasibility of a mobile accounting system for small to medium sized entities (SME). On a global scale, should the importance of small-to medium-sized entities (SMEs) not be overlooked. SMEs are the mainstay of most national economies and represent between 30 to 60 percent of the economy's gross domestic product. A mobile accounting system will provide managers and business owners the option to have “anytime anywhere” access to the entity's financial information. This will also allow businesses to be more mobile. Thus, invoices can be issued, receivables added, payments entered (creditors and so on) and all this can be done without physically being on the business premises. The mobile system will therefore communicate in real time with the database on the business premises which is stored electronically and so information for everyone who uses it will be updated and correct. / MCom (Accountancy), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Offshore oil platforms are used for the exploitation and production of hydrocarbons and consist of a processing plant and a utility plant. The oil and gas industry operations are energy-intensive and, in the case of offshore platforms, the need to decrease energy consumption and reduce CO2 emissions has increased. In the oil and gas industry, the ISO 50001 standard promotes the implementation of energy management systems and proposes indicators based on energy. Interestingly, after several decades of knowledge of the concept of exergy, this has not been formally implemented in the programs and strategies of the oil and gas industry organizations. In this research, the implementation of the exergy method and the carbon capture and storage strategy for the assessment of the performance of a floating, production and storage offloading units FPSO is proposed. FPSO platforms and their processing and utility plants may have different configurations depending on, among others, the reservoir characteristics and production requirements. The possible configurations can therefore be numerous. In this sense, some operation scenarios based on different well-fluid compositions and operation modes are studied. The platform models are developed and simulated using the software Aspen HYSYS®. Results show that, on average, the reduction of 88.8% in CO2 emissions is penalized with a reduction in exergy efficiency of 1.7 points. Further, results allow a better understanding of exergy and environmental performance of the FPSO. / Plataformas de petróleo offshore são utilizadas para a exploração e produção de hidrocarbonetos e consistem em uma planta de processamento e uma planta de utilidade. As operações da indústria de petróleo e gás são de energia intensiva e, no caso de plataformas offshore, é necessário cada vez mais diminuir o consumo de energia e reduzir as emissões de CO2. Na indústria de petróleo e gás, a norma ISO 50001 promove a implementação de sistemas de gestão de energia e propõe indicadores baseados em energia. Entretanto, após várias décadas de conhecimento do conceito de exergia, este não foi formalmente implementado nos programas e estratégias das organizações da indústria de petróleo e gás. Neste trabalho, propõe-se a implementação da análise exergética e a estratégia de captura e armazenamento de carbono para a avaliação do desempenho de unidades flutuantes, de produção, de armazenamento e transferência FPSO. As plataformas FPSO e suas plantas de processamento e utilidade podem ter diferentes configurações dependendo, entre outras, das características do reservatório e dos requisitos de produção. As configurações possíveis podem, portanto, ser numerosas. Neste sentido, são estudados alguns cenários de operação baseados em diferentes composições dos fluidos do poço e em três modos de operação. Os modelos de plataforma são desenvolvidos e simulados usando o software Aspen HYSYS®. Os resultados mostram que, em média, a redução de 88,8% nas emissões de CO2 é penalizada com uma redução da eficiência exergética de 1,7 pontos. Além disso, os resultados permitem uma melhor compreensão da exergia e desempenho ambiental do FPSO.

En quelques années, les domaines des jeux vidéo et des systèmes multi-agents (SMA) ont pris de plus en plus de places dans la vie de chacun. Malgré des similitudes assez fortes (présences d’entité dans les vidéo pouvant être assimilées à des agents), les SMA ne sont presque jamais utilisés dans le développement de jeux. Ce mémoire présente Shine Agent Modeling Platform (SAMP), une plateforme visant intégrer le paradigme multi-agents au sein du développement de jeux vidéo. Cette fusion permet l’utilisation de la puissance des multi-agents au sein des jeux vidéo.SAMP propose une approche au niveau des interactions permettant de réduire le coût de traitement de ces interactions en optimisant le nombre de recherches effectuées dans l’environnement.En plus d’intégrer le paradigme multi-agents, SAMP vise à être accessible à un maximum d’utilisateurs en proposant une interface de modélisation entièrement graphique. Un système d’importation de modèles comportementaux permet de créer deuxniveaux de modélisation : un niveau proche de la logique développement informatique et un niveau proche de la logique métier de l’utilisateur.SAMP est intégré à un moteur de jeux vidéo, Shine Engine, permettant de générer les environnements graphiques dans lesquels les agents évolueront. / In recent years, video games domains and multiagents systems (MAS) domains took more and more place into the life of many pepole. Despite of strong similarities (video games entities wich can be assimilated to agents), MAS are very rarely used during the development of video games. This submission presents the Shine Agent ModelingPlatform (SAMP), a framework trying to integrate the multi-agents paradigm within the development of video games. The purpose is to integrate the efficiency of the MAS within the video games.SAMP provides an approach to enhance the interactions between agents. This approach reduces the number of searches within the environment. In addition to integrate the multi-agents paradigm within the video games, SAMP aims to be userfriendly by proposing a full graphical interface to MAS. An import/export system of these modelsallows users to create two modeling levels: one close to the computer sciences logic and the second close the business logic of the user.SAMP is integrated in a video games engine: Shine Engine. This integration allows to generate the graphic environment in which agents will live.

The Kentucky Mesonet is a high-density, mesoscale network of automated meteorological and climatological sensing platforms being developed across the commonwealth. Data communications, collection, processing, and delivery mechanisms play a critical role in such networks, and the World Meteorological Organization recognizes that “an observing system is not complete unless it is connected to other systems that deliver the data to the users.” This document reviews the implementation steps, decisions, and rationale surrounding communications and computing infrastructure development to support the Mesonet. A general overview of the network and technology-related research is provided followed by a review of pertinent literature related to in situ sensing network technology. Initial infrastructure design considerations are then examined followed by an in-depth review of the Mesonet communications and computing architecture. Finally, some general benefits of the Mesonet to the citizens of Kentucky are highlighted.