This study investigated the perceptions of students, the instructor and the laboratory assistant about the use of remote access technology in group projects of programming language courses. Their perceptions are investigated in terms of three aspects: effects of the use of this technology on their motivation, the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease of use of this technology. A central shared project server was installed for group project studies of students. To access to the central project server, Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection, which is a remote access technology, was used. The data were collected from 2nd grade university students by using a computer attitude scale and a questionnaire developed by the researcher. Also, interviews were conducted with the course instructor and the laboratory assistant. Descriptive statistics, frequency distributions and descriptive analysis methods were used to analyze the results. In results, the high percentage of indecisive students, which is between 38% and 48%, was noticeable. It was concluded that by increasing the length of usage of the system this high ratio may be decreased to reasonable levels. On the other hand, high number of the rest of the students reported positive perceptions. They expressed that remote access technology is a useful and also easy to use technology. It is concluded that students, the instructor and the laboratory assistant accepted the use of this new technology in their learning environment. Also, like instructor and the laboratory assistant, they stated that it affected their motivation towards the group projects in a positive way.

Som IT-företag har man ett behov av att laborera med den teknik man levererar till sina kunder. För att öka effektiviteten i dessa laborationsmiljöer bör man sträva efter att minska genomförandetiden för de olika arbetsmoment som ingår i labo-rationerna. TDC, som levererar kommunikationslösningar, har en laborationsmiljö på sitt kontor i Växjö. Arbetet innefattar tidsödande ominstallationer av servrar. Ett annat problem är att man i dagsläget ofta fysiskt måste befinna sig i laborat-ionsmiljön vilket begränsar arbetet då personer som inte befinner sig på samma kontor inte kan använda utrustningen. Under laborationer finns ofta ett behov av att rensa servrar och nätverksenheter för att sedan utföra ominstallation eller om konfiguration, arbetsmoment som kan ha hög tidsåtgång. Syftet med arbetet är att ta fram riktlinjer för hur man bygger upp effektiva laborationsmiljöer för nätverk-senheter och servrar med hjälp av bland annat virtualisering, samt att reducera behovet av fysisk tillgång till laborationsutrustning. Under arbetets gång utfördes en workshop, regelbundna telefonavstämningar, laborationer och en litteratursökning. Målet har varit att ta fram riktlinjer för hur man bygger effektiva laborationsmiljöer. Laborationerna innefattade virtualisering och extern lagring. Genom att utföra litteratursökningen i ett flertal databaser har man hittat källor för att stödja teori och resultat. Riktlinjerna som tagits fram visar hur man minskarbehovet av fysisk närvaro ge-nom att möjliggöra fjärråtkomst samt genom att ha en väl planerad nätverksstruk-tur. Genom att använda fjärranslutningar på rätt sätt kommer man åt utrustningen även om nätverksutrustningen i laborationsmiljön inte är fullt funktionell. Om man har ett instickskort för remote management i servern går det ofta att komma åt servrar via ett gränssnitt så länge den har ström och nätverksåtkomst. På det sättet kan man via fjärranslutning stänga av och starta servern samt installera ope-rativsystem på den. För att minska tidsåtgånen vid rensning och ominstallat-ion/omkonfiguration av servrar och nätverksenheter kan man använda sig av virtualiering med ögonblicksbilder och nätverksenheters konfiguration kan sparas på servrar. Företag utnyttjar generellt sett bara en liten del av sin serverkapacitet. För att använda kapaciteten effektivare och på så sätt vara mer ekonomisk är vir-tualisering en bra lösning. Rent administrativt bör laborationsmiljön och dess rutiner vara mycket väl dokumenterade. / IT-companies today need to experiment with the technology they deliver to their customers. A laboratory environment with little or no planning behind it can have a quite low efficiency. The term “efficiency” is used, in this work, as a measure-ment of how much time it takes to complete a certain work-task. However, effi-ciency also means reducing the useage of resources. Increased efficiency means that less time is used to complete one or more tasks. Today, IT-companies nor-mally utilize a fraction of their total server capacity. To utilize the servers more efficiently, and be more economic, virtualization is a good solution. TDC, who delivers communication solutions, has a laboratory environment at their office in Växjö. The work includes, among other things, time-consuming reinstallation of servers. Another problem is that people currently often need to be in the envi-ronment, physically. This limits the use of the environment because people in oth-er offices have no chance of using it. The purpose of this work is to develop guidelines as to build efficient laboratory environments for servers and network-units, and to reduce the need of physical access to the laboratory equipment. During the work a workshop was conducted, regular telephone reconciliations were held, experiments were done and a literature research was made. The exper-iments dealt with virtualization and external storage. The goal has been to develop guidelines on how to build efficient laboratory environments. Through the litera-ture research, in multiple databases, sources were found that support the theory and the results. The guidelines developed show how to reduce the need of physical presence by allowing remote access and having a well-planned network structure. By configur-ing the remote access properly the equipment can be accessed even if some parts of the network structure are not fully functional. Servers can be accessed via a special expansion card as long as they have power and network access. This way, you can start and stop the server and even reinstall its operatingsystem, all of it remotely. It is essential in a laboratory environment to be able to restore the con-figuration of a device to a initial state, or known working state. For networking units this is accomplished by storing (and getting) configurations from a central server. Virtualization is a good option when it comes to restoring servers, because it is easy to save snapshots of virtual machines. The whole environment and its routines should be well documented.

This project is about how free, open-source tools can create reasonable, secure and flexible remote access solutions for smaller companies with a limited budget.  Secure remote access to a working environment is a solution for its time, as last year Covid-19 change the working environment for millions of employers and employees. The importance of secure remote access to a working environment became noticeable as offices closed down and employers started working from home. Still, the need for secure access to the company's infrastructure remains. This is where Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) enter the picture, as it has a broad application scope and is particularly useful for secure remote access. My project was subdivided into three parts: How to implement secure remote access to a working environment within the requirements of the chosen company, which are an inexpensive solution with high-security features.  Automate the creation and distribution of all the necessary parts that their employees will need in a VPN structure. Research about the future direction regarding VPN and the importance of cybersecurity to help ensure security preparedness for the company. The chosen solution was OpenVPN and Google authenticator, together with a written bash script. It became a solution that was free, flexible, secure and scalable. But why the need and what about the future?  Research shows that a high percentage of small and medium-sized enterprises are vulnerable to cyberattacks. It also shows that these companies have the lowest cybersecurity. "It wouldn't happen to us" is dangerous but, sadly, a typical mindset throughout the S&M companies. It's primarily because of this S&M's are more exposed than larger companies. The future of VPN's has become more important than ever before, and it's something that during Covid-19 has risen in use all over the world, the research and development of VPNs has accelerated. The research objectives of this project are of high interest to many other organizations in the same position, and the presented work has helped answer the question: "Where will we stand in a few years regarding secure remote work, cybersecurity andencrypted networks?"

The purpose of this project is to make it easier to grow plants domestically all year round. The objective is to construct a remotely controllable and environmentally independent automated hydroponic system. This would minimize the efforts required by the user to sustain plants in non-native climates. A hydroponic gardening system uses water as a growth medium instead of soil. The system is climate conscious and has benefits compared to conventional agriculture. Hydroponic systems are affected by several factors, this project only focuses on controlling the light intensity by isolating the system, and regulating the nutrient concentration through EC. The system uses a microcontroller for analysis and control. The results are promising, showing that the system works. However, the limitations in time led to a short test period, therefore the data gathered is limited. The discussion based on the results conclude that the system cannot be considered completely automatic but reduces the need of manual labour. / Syftet med detta projekt är att göra det lättare att odla växter inhemskt året runt. Målet är att konstruera ett fjärrstyrbart och miljöoberoende automatiskt hydroponiskt system. Detta ska minimera ansträngningarna från användaren för att underhålla växter i icke-inhemska klimat. Ett hydroponiskt odlingssystem använder vatten som tillväxtmedium istället för jord. Tekniken har fördelar jämfört med konventionell odling vilket gör hydroponi mer miljövänligt. Hydroponiska system påverkas av flera faktorer, men detta projekt fokuserar bara på att kontrollera ljusintensiteten genom att isolera ljuset inom systemet samt att reglera näringsämne-koncentrationen genom att mäta den elektriska ledningsförmågan i vattnet. Systemet använder en mikrokontroll för analys och kontroll. Resultaten är lovande och visar att systemet fungerar. Däremot har begränsningarna i tid lett till en kort testperiod, därför är data som samlas in begränsad. Diskussionen baserad på resultaten drar slutsatsen att systemet inte kan anses vara helt automatiskt men reducerar behovet av manuell arbetskraft.

Esta dissertação aborda o desenvolvimento e a implementação de um laboratório remoto para a disciplina \"SEL0431 - Laboratório de Controle de Processos Industriais\", a qual visa proporcionar aos alunos o contato direto com sistemas de controle e supervisão de processos industriais através de projetos desenvolvidos em uma planta didática industrial. O laboratório foi implementado em 2017 e é constituído por uma planta de escala reduzida, que contém instrumentos de campo, controladores lógicos programáveis, redes de comunicação digitais e um servidor, que conecta a rede local do laboratório à rede da Universidade. Os estudantes acessam este servidor através de aplicações de protocolo remoto RDP sobre VPN com portais online e ferramentas adicionais de suporte para que realizem seus experimentos à distância com a planta. Além de atuar como gateway entre a planta e as máquinas dos alunos, o servidor autentica seus usuários, gerencia acessos simultâneos e permite que os alunos visualizem e obtenham os dados da planta mais facilmente. Ao final de cada projeto, o autor deste trabalho conduziu um questionário para registrar a impressão dos estudantes sobre o uso do laboratório remoto e comparou os resultados apresentados pelos alunos da turma de 2016 e os da turma de 2017 desta disciplina. Esta análise indicou que a adição de um laboratório remoto apresentou um impacto positivo no desempenho acadêmico dos estudantes nesta disciplina: eles atingiram resultados mais completos, exploraram mais a fundo os recursos da planta e avaliaram positivamente o uso da ferramenta. Ademais, esta solução técnica adotada para desenvolver o laboratório remoto é replicável a outras disciplinas e possui a vantagem de permitir o controle total da planta pelos alunos sem abdicar da segurança durante os experimentos. / This thesis addresses the development and implementation of a remote laboratory for the discipline \"SEL0431 – Industrial Processes Control Laboratory\", which aims to provide students with direct contact with control and supervision systems of industrial processes through projects developed in a didactic plant. The laboratory was first implemented in 2017 and consists of a reduced scale plant, which contains field instruments, programmable logic controllers, digital communication networks and a server that connects the laboratory\'s local network to the University Wide Area Network (WAN). Students access the server through RDP applications over VPN and they are supported by online portals and additional tools to perform their remote experiments with the plant. In addition to serving as a gateway between the plant and the students\' machines, the server authenticates its users, manages simultaneous access and enables students to view and obtain plant data more easily. At the end of each project, the author of this paper conducted a survey to record the students\' impression of the use of the remote laboratory and compared the results presented by the students of 2016 classes and those of 2017 classes of this discipline. The analysis revealed the remote laboratory positively impacted on the academic performance of students in this discipline: they achieved more complete results, explored more deeply the plant resources and positively evaluated the use of such tool as a support for teaching industrial processes control and supervision. Furthermore, the technical solution is replicable to other practical courses and presents the advantage of enabling students to totally control the plant without forgoing the security during their experiments.

Esta dissertação aborda o desenvolvimento e a implementação de um laboratório remoto para a disciplina \"SEL0431 - Laboratório de Controle de Processos Industriais\", a qual visa proporcionar aos alunos o contato direto com sistemas de controle e supervisão de processos industriais através de projetos desenvolvidos em uma planta didática industrial. O laboratório foi implementado em 2017 e é constituído por uma planta de escala reduzida, que contém instrumentos de campo, controladores lógicos programáveis, redes de comunicação digitais e um servidor, que conecta a rede local do laboratório à rede da Universidade. Os estudantes acessam este servidor através de aplicações de protocolo remoto RDP sobre VPN com portais online e ferramentas adicionais de suporte para que realizem seus experimentos à distância com a planta. Além de atuar como gateway entre a planta e as máquinas dos alunos, o servidor autentica seus usuários, gerencia acessos simultâneos e permite que os alunos visualizem e obtenham os dados da planta mais facilmente. Ao final de cada projeto, o autor deste trabalho conduziu um questionário para registrar a impressão dos estudantes sobre o uso do laboratório remoto e comparou os resultados apresentados pelos alunos da turma de 2016 e os da turma de 2017 desta disciplina. Esta análise indicou que a adição de um laboratório remoto apresentou um impacto positivo no desempenho acadêmico dos estudantes nesta disciplina: eles atingiram resultados mais completos, exploraram mais a fundo os recursos da planta e avaliaram positivamente o uso da ferramenta. Ademais, esta solução técnica adotada para desenvolver o laboratório remoto é replicável a outras disciplinas e possui a vantagem de permitir o controle total da planta pelos alunos sem abdicar da segurança durante os experimentos. / This thesis addresses the development and implementation of a remote laboratory for the discipline \"SEL0431 – Industrial Processes Control Laboratory\", which aims to provide students with direct contact with control and supervision systems of industrial processes through projects developed in a didactic plant. The laboratory was first implemented in 2017 and consists of a reduced scale plant, which contains field instruments, programmable logic controllers, digital communication networks and a server that connects the laboratory\'s local network to the University Wide Area Network (WAN). Students access the server through RDP applications over VPN and they are supported by online portals and additional tools to perform their remote experiments with the plant. In addition to serving as a gateway between the plant and the students\' machines, the server authenticates its users, manages simultaneous access and enables students to view and obtain plant data more easily. At the end of each project, the author of this paper conducted a survey to record the students\' impression of the use of the remote laboratory and compared the results presented by the students of 2016 classes and those of 2017 classes of this discipline. The analysis revealed the remote laboratory positively impacted on the academic performance of students in this discipline: they achieved more complete results, explored more deeply the plant resources and positively evaluated the use of such tool as a support for teaching industrial processes control and supervision. Furthermore, the technical solution is replicable to other practical courses and presents the advantage of enabling students to totally control the plant without forgoing the security during their experiments.

The rapid development in wireless network technology, together with the extensive progress in the digital home hardware and software, have allowed every family to enjoy the conveniences of these new technologies. In particular, the UPnP network technologies link various digital home devices together, coming alone with seamless connection and configuration-less environment. These benefits make it very easy for users to enjoy their digital home devices. However, related security issues have begun to surface one after another. Under a UPnP network environment, users¡¦ identity are not distinguished and therefore, they can not authorize the usage of those devices, services and content. Devices with similar types of service and content lack of integration, it is inconvenient when users need to search or access. In addition, there seems to be a lack of proper handling mechanisms when these devices, services, and content encounter anomaly problems and errors. Lastly, family users will also inevitably have connection requirements between homes but unfortunately, the current UPnP network environment is unable to provide convenient and secured home-to-home content exchange mechanisms. To address the issues mentioned above, this study surveyed the UPnP network environment from a fresh perspective. And through virtual resources, central control network framework and fault tolerance design, it further provides abilities to do related resource authentication, authorization, auditing, and fault handling. It also uses PKI framework to provide the authentication and secure connection between homes. Lastly, we designed and implemented a secure Management System for a UPnP digital home network. It provides secure and convenient home network environment that is compatible with UPnP/UPnP AV standards. On the user¡¦s control aspect, we provided user authentication, authorization, and auditing functionalities. On the home resource management aspect, we provided networks, devices, services, and content which can be controlled and managed. And we also provide integrated and customized entries for service and content. We have a management system with smart and user friendly features. On the anomaly management aspect, we provide fault detection, handling, and basic fault tolerance mechanism. Lastly, we provide trusted homes mechanism, supporting secure user roaming outside their homes, allowing content sharing between trusted homes, and ensuring that users roaming in other locations may still access specific content in their homes.

The transformation of a manual paper-based moderation process into an electronic moderation (eModeration) process poses unique challenges. These challenges concern academic processes, people and the user experience of interactive systems. eModeration can improve the user experience of assessment processes while lowering the risk of delaying the process or losing scripts. Despite the benefits associated with optimising assessment procedures, particularly examination procedures, the use of eModeration in South Africa is limited. There are several possible reasons for a lack of eModeration adoption ranging from infrastructure and technical issues through to organisational and human factors. The focus of this study is on the human factors involved in eModeration. Since no User Experience Evaluation Framework for eModeration existed at the time of this research, an in-depth study was conducted based on the experiences of eModeration users in the context of private higher education institutions. The study focused on identifying the most important user experience constructs for the evaluation of an eModerate system within the context of private higher education institutions in South Africa towards proposing a framework. The study was based in the fields of Information Systems and Human-Computer Interaction with eModeration being the application domain. The research used a Design Science Research methodology, which involved the development and testing of a User Experience Evaluation Framework for eModeration. The data generation methods included interviews with deans, eModerators and management, as well as a survey that included responses from both moderators and deans. The research was conducted at Midrand Graduate Institute and evaluated at Monash University. The study makes a validated contribution towards identifying the most important user experience constructs. The identified constructs were utilised in the design and development of the User Experience Evaluation Framework for eModeration, which can be used along with the evaluation criteria tool to evaluate eModerate systems. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Systems)

We address the problem of migration of local storage of desktop users to remote sites. Assuming a network connection is maintained between the source and destination after the migration makes it possible for us to transfer a fraction of storage state while trying to operate as close to disconnected mode as possible. We have designed an approach to determine the subset of storage state that is to be transferred based on past accesses. We show that it is feasible to use information about files accessed to determine clusters and hot-spots in the file system. Using the tree structure of the file system and by applying an appropriate similarity measure to user accesses, we can approximate the working sets of the data accessed by the applications running at the time. Our results indicate that our technique reduces the amount of data to be copied by two orders of magnitude, bringing it into the realm of the possible.

Thesis deals with remote servers specifically those for the Minecraft. These servers are divided into groups. The work examines the possibility of remote access to these servers on network protocols level, which are described briefly, and also at the level of the game itself. Describes the game options that can be influenced via remote management. Then analyzes the applications that are intended for this remote access, and identifies problems associated with them. Based on the issues that implied from this analysis, application that solves these problems is designed. The first chapter contains a brief description of the network protocols that can be used to remotely manage servers for the Minecraft and identifies the most appropriate protocol. The next chapter describes the Minecraft, and specifically those of its regions which can be influenced via remote management. The next chapter analyzes the applications that can be used to remotely manage Minecraft servers and based on the problems that this analysis identifies, an application that solves these problems is designed. The designed application is then implemented. The last part contains user documentation of created application.