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This research focuses on providing a fast and space efficient compression method to answer information queries on spectroscopic data. Our primary hypothesis was whether a conversion from decimal data to character/integer space could be done in a manner that enables use of succinct structures and provides good compression. This compression algorithm is motivated to handle queries on spectroscopic data that approaches limits of main computer memory. The primary hypothesis is supported in that the new compression method can save 79.20% - 94.07% computer space on the average. The average of maximum error rates is also acceptable, being 0.05% - 1.36% depending on the subject that the data was collected from. Additionally, the data’s compression rate and entropy are negatively correlated; while compression rate and maximum error were positively correlated when the max error rates were performed on a natural logarithm transformation. The effects of different types of data sources on compression rate have been studied as well. Fungus datasets achieved highest compression rates, while mouse brain datasets obtained the lowest compression rates among four types of data sources. Finally, the effect of the studied compression algorithm and method on integrating spectral bands has been investigated in this study. The spectral integration for determining lipid, CH2 and dense core plaque obtained good image quality and the errors can be considered inconsequential except the case of determining creatine deposits. Despite the fact that creatine deposits are still recognizable in the reconstructed image, the image quality was reduced.

Data synchronization is the problem of bringing multiple versions of the same data on different remote devices to the most up to date version. This thesis looks into the particular problem of key-value storage systems synchronization between mobile devices in a peer-to-peer environment. In this research, we describe, implement and evaluate a new key-value storage system synchronization algorithm using a 2-phase approach, combining approximate synchronization in the first phase and exact synchronization in the second phase. The 2-phase architecture helps the algorithm achieve considerable boost in performance in all three major criteria of a data synchronization algorithm, namely synchronization time, processing time and communication cost, while still being suitable to operate in a peer-to-peer environment. The performance increase makes it feasible to employ database synchronization technique in a wider range of mobile applications, especially those operating on a slow peer-to-peer network.

Once upon a time in the promised land of Information Society there was a widespread concern for the dreaded Digital Divide. In the wide range of modern stories and "fairytales" in our technoromantic era, access to and knowledge about computers always seem to hold the key to a prosperous future, while deprivation of such access will doom you to the far side of the Digital Divide. ICT (information and communication technology) thus seems to be the driving force of the 21st century as the electricity was for the 20th. As a result, the policymakers of Norway, even if, or just because, they rule a small country, are afraid of falling behind on the golden route to the future, and thus aspire to be on the right side of the digital divide. This is in accordance with general concerns in other countries and the EU about lagging behind, since they have observed that Japan and USA have been leading the way enroute to the Information Society (Selwyn 2002, Servaes and Heinderyckx 2002). This is also a double drama because as in the traditional fairytales, princesses are in special danger or have wandered off and must be rescued by the heroes: …knowledge in technology must be shared by all groups in order to prevent new differences from developing in the presuppositions for participation. Dissemination must thus proceed so that it does not consolidate traditional gender divisions where girls are raised to believe that "women do not understand" natural science and technology. Girls and computing has been a topic in the Norwegian public discourse since "once upon a time" around 25 years ago, and I will through this collection of articles investigate various stories about the girls and computing problem at different sites and look into how these stories relate to each other.