Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1981. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 317-341). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

In intermittently connected mobile networks (ICMNs), where most of the time there does not exist a complete path from source to destination, or such a path is highly unstable and may change or break after it has been found (or even while being found). This kind of environment may apply to wildlife tracking sensor networks or military networks, and node on this network must find a route and communicate with other nodes by the way of moving, because the base station is too far away or destroying. In order to achieve this purpose, researchers have suggested using flooding-based routing schemes. Although these ways have high probability of delivery, but they waste a lot of network resources. This thesis proposes a routing protocol in ICMNs named Spray and Hop, and it has adopted a kind of mechanism which is named Spray. The method can reduce network overhead, and broadcast efficiently at the same time by using one name little control packages named forwarding token. In addition, in order to improve the success rate of delivery, we still apply a kind of composite Utility-based mechanism. This mechanism is to select the next best candidate relay node through node's own information, not utilizing the way of direct transmission. Spray and Hop mechanism has highly scalability, that is, this mechanism has good performance in dense and sparse networks, and does not need extra network information. Simulation results show that Spray and Hop has good performance in packet transmissions and end-to-end delay indeed, comparing to other flooding-based mechanisms.

Thesis (M.S. in M.E.)--School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. Directed by Farrokh Mistree. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 247-249).

Transportation infrastructure, a vital component to sustain economic prosperity, represents the largest public-owned infrastructure asset in the U.S. With over a trillion invested dollars invested into long-lived physical assets such as roads and bridges, transportation agencies are tasked with maintenance and rehabilitation efforts to ensure that the access to transportation facilities is readily available and that the infrastructure is properly preserved. The management of these assets and the determination of their value, however, have been at the forefront of discussions in many state agencies and local governments. As a consequence, asset valuation has become a key component in asset management because it links the performance of infrastructure and deterioration process with the value of the infrastructure and its depreciation, providing critical information for decision makers at various levels to make more informed decisions. A utility-based methodological framework for the valuation of transportation infrastructure is presented along with a case study to demonstrate its applicability. A general framework is presented with emphasis on the valuation of pavement infrastructure. The results from the framework is then compared to existing valuation methods in addition to a series of sensitivity analysis on the variation of performance measures and their effect on the value of an asset. The development of this valuation approach serves as a starting point for assessing, in addition to the physical condition of an asset, the operational measures that can often make an asset less useful to its customers and managing agency. Utility theory can be utilized to combine the effect of performance indicators of varying measures and scales on the value of an asset. The proposed framework can assist state and local transportation agencies in the optimization of resource allocation procedures for better coordination of asset investments, facilitating benefit-cost analyses to quantify the impact of infrastructure investments. This tool allows agencies to detect deficiencies if any, in the management of its assets, providing a feedback mechanism that can foster an introspective review of its current management practices that may need further refinement or possibly elimination. / text

Companies have been providing information on their interactions with the environment since the 1880s however there has been an upsurge in the amount of information they provide over the last three decades. This has been driven by a variety of legislative, internal, social drivers. These corporate environmental disclosures appear within three key channels and media: via the Internet, in their AnnuaVFinancial Report and in a stand alone Environmental Report. The USA was the fIrst country to introduce statutory requirements relating to the disclosure of environmental information in the AnnuaVFinancial Report - Securities Release 5235 and 5386. Many other countries, including the UK, are now considering making environmental disclosure, in some shape or form, mandatory. Benchmarking studies are frequently applied identify the leading companies in terms of Environmental Reports; companies within the utility sector are repeatedly cited as leaders. However most research and benchmarking studies compare what themes have been disclosed in a single channel or media, for example, emissions, waste, energy, and do not examine the quality of the disclosures or compare those disclosures in the different channels and media. Recently, qualitative characteristics relating to the quality of environmental disclosures have been developed including, inter alia, accessibility, credibility and inclusivity. This thesis therefore aims to (1) assess whether utility companies are also leaders in environmental disclosure via the Internet and in their AnnuaVFinancial Reports, (2) compare the effects of a voluntary and mandatory disclosure requirements on the environmental themes and qualitative characteristics disclosed in the AnnuaVFinancial Reports and Environmental Reports of electric power utilities based in the UK and USA and applies Lasswell's model as an integrating framework for (1) and (2) in order to assess what, if any, inferences can be made from a direct content analysis relating to 'why' and 'with what effect' environmental disclosures are made. Content analysis is applied to meet the three main aims of this thesis. First, a basic appearance or nonappearance form of content analysis is applied on 275 (utility and non-utility) companies to assess whether utility companies are also leaders in environmental disclosure via the Internet. The amount location and type of environmental themes that were disclosed within the AnnuaVFinancial Reports of 100 (utility and non-utility) companies were then identifIed via content analysis to assess whether utility companies are also leaders in environmental disclosure in their Annual Report and Financial Report. A more complex frequency content analysis was applied to assess the environmental themes and the qualitative characteristics disclosed by 20 electric power companies based in the UK and USA in their AnnuaVFinancial Reports and Environmental Reports to evaluate the affect of voluntary and mandatory disclosure requirements. The research shows that no companies are fully exploiting the capabilities of the Internet for environmental disclosure and that no one sector stands out as a leader. The oil, gas, coal and related services sector, not the utility sector, are leaders in terms of environmental disclosure within the AnnuaVFinancial Report, indeed there does not appear to be any consensus within the utility sector regarding the environmental themes that should be disclosed. Mandatory disclosure requirements heavily influence the amount, themes, balance, character and specifIcity of environmental disclosures made by of electric power companies based in the USA who appeared to target their disclosures in the AnnuaVFinancial Report and Environmental Report at different audiences. Electric power companies based in the UK, where there are no mandatory disclosure requirements, disclosed double the amount of information in their Environmental Report than companies based in the USA but disclosed less information in their AnnuaVFinancial Report which was virtually a subset of those in their Environmental Report in terms of the amount, themes, balance, character and specifIcity. It can be concluded from the application of Lasswell's model that environmental disclosures are made due to a combination of drivers, the types and qualitative characteristics of those disclosures depend on the relative importance of those drivers. More importantly the environmental disclosures have little effect due to their lack of credibility, and environmental disclosures, in particular, via the Internet were found to be unduly burdensome in terms of their accessibility. Stakeholders will fmd it difficult to create an informed image until there are generally accepted or mandatory standardised data collection methods, measurements and presentation for collating the environmental information itself and for the verifIcation statement therefore they need to be aware of the limitations of corporate environmental disclosures, be critical of the information and go back to the company for more details on any area of specific interest. Although companies may not want to allow stakeholders to create an informed image, guidelines are presented that can be used by companies to improve the accessibility and credibility of their environmental disclosures.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1942. / Typescript. Includes abstract and vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [i]-iii).

Thesis (licentiat)--University of Copenhagen, 1981. / "Licentiatafhandling nr. 13." Includes bibliographical references.