Contributions to presence-based systems for deploying ubiquitous communication services

Next-Generation Networks (NGNs) will converge the existing fixed and wireless networks. These networks rely on the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), introduced by the 3GPP. The presence service came into being in instant messaging applications. A user¿s presence information consists in any context that is necessary for applications to handle and adapt the user's communications. The presence service is crucial in the IMS to deploy ubiquitous services. SIMPLE is the standard protocol for handling presence and instant messages. This protocol disseminates users' presence information through subscriptions, notifications and publications. SIMPLE generates much signaling traffic for constantly disseminating presence information and maintaining subscriptions, which may overload network servers. This issue is even more harmful to the IMS due to its centralized servers. A key factor in the success of NGNs is to provide users with always-on services that are seamlessly part of their daily life. Personalizing these services according to the users' needs is necessary for the success of these services. To this end, presence information is considered as a crucial tool for user-based personalization. This thesis can be briefly summarized through the following contributions: We propose filtering and controlling the rate of presence publications so as to reduce the information sent over access links. We probabilistically model presence information through Markov chains, and analyzed the efficiency of controlling the rate of publications that are modeled by a particular Markov chain. The reported results show that this technique certainly reduces presence overload. We mathematically study the amount of presence traffic exchanged between domains, and analyze the efficiency of several strategies for reducing this traffic. We propose an strategy, which we call Common Subscribe (CS), for reducing the presence traffic exchanged between federated domains. We compare this strategy traffic with that generated by other optimizations. The reported results show that CS is the most efficient at reducing presence traffic. We analyze the load in the number of messages that several inter-domain traffic optimizations cause to the IMS centralized servers. Our proposed strategy, CS, combined with an RLS (i.e., a SIMPLE optimization) is the only optimization that reduces the IMS load; the others increase this load. We estimate the efficiency of the RLS, thereby concluding that the RLS is not efficient under certain circumstances, and hence this optimization is discouraged. We propose a queuing system for optimizing presence traffic on both the network core and access link, which is capable to adapt the publication and notification rate based on some quality conditions (e.g, maximum delay). We probabilistically model this system, and validate it in different scenarios. We propose, and implement a prototype of, a fully-distributed platform for handling user presence information. This approach allows integrating Internet Services, such as HTTP or VoIP, and optimizing these services in an easy, user-personalized way. We have developed SECE (Sense Everything, Control Everything), a platform for users to create rules that handle their communications and Internet Services proactively. SECE interacts with multiple third-party services for obtaining as much user context as possible. We have developed a natural-English-like formal language for SECE rules. We have enhanced SECE for discovering web services automatically through the Web Ontology Language (OWL). SECE allows composing web services automatically based on real-world events, which is a significant contribution to the Semantic Web. The research presented in this thesis has been published through 3 book chapters, 4 international journals (3 of them are indexed in JCR), 10 international conference papers, 1 demonstration at an international conference, and 1 national conferenceNext-Generation Networks (NGNs) son las redes de próxima generación que soportaran la convergencia de redes de telecomunicación inalámbricas y fijas. La base de NGNs es el IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), introducido por el 3GPP. El servicio de presencia nació de aplicaciones de mesajería instantánea. La información de presencia de un usuario consiste en cualquier tipo de información que es de utilidad para manejar las comunicaciones con el usuario. El servicio de presencia es una parte esencial del IMS para el despliegue de servicios ubicuos. SIMPLE es el protocolo estándar para manejar presencia y mensajes instantáneos en el IMS. Este protocolo distribuye la información de presencia de los usuarios a través de suscripciones, notificaciones y publicaciones. SIMPLE genera mucho tráfico por la diseminación constante de información de presencia y el mantenimiento de las suscripciones, lo cual puede saturar los servidores de red. Este problema es todavía más perjudicial en el IMS, debido al carácter centralizado de sus servidores. Un factor clave en el éxito de NGNs es proporcionar a los usuarios servicios ubicuos que esten integrados en su vida diaria y asi interactúen con los usuarios constantemente. La personalización de estos servicios basado en los usuarios es imprescindible para el éxito de los mismos. Para este fin, la información de presencia es considerada como una herramienta base. La tesis realizada se puede resumir brevemente en los siguientes contribuciones: Proponemos filtrar y controlar el ratio de las publicaciones de presencia para reducir la cantidad de información enviada en la red de acceso. Modelamos la información de presencia probabilísticamente mediante cadenas de Markov, y analizamos la eficiencia de controlar el ratio de publicaciones con una cadena de Markov. Los resultados muestran que este mecanismo puede efectivamente reducir el tráfico de presencia. Estudiamos matemáticamente la cantidad de tráfico de presencia generada entre dominios y analizamos el rendimiento de tres estrategias para reducir este tráfico. Proponemos una estrategia, la cual llamamos Common Subscribe (CS), para reducir el tráfico de presencia entre dominios federados. Comparamos el tráfico generado por CS frente a otras estrategias de optimización. Los resultados de este análisis muestran que CS es la estrategia más efectiva. Analizamos la carga en numero de mensajes introducida por diferentes optimizaciones de tráfico de presencia en los servidores centralizados del IMS. Nuestra propuesta, CS, combinada con un RLS (i.e, una optimización de SIMPLE), es la unica optimización que reduce la carga en el IMS. Estimamos la eficiencia del RLS, deduciendo que un RLS no es eficiente en ciertas circunstancias, en las que es preferible no usar esta optimización. Proponemos un sistema de colas para optimizar el tráfico de presencia tanto en el núcleo de red como en la red de acceso, y que puede adaptar el ratio de publicación y notificación en base a varios parametros de calidad (e.g., maximo retraso). Modelamos y analizamos este sistema de colas probabilísticamente en diferentes escenarios. Proponemos una arquitectura totalmente distribuida para manejar las información de presencia del usuario, de la cual hemos implementado un prototipo. Esta propuesta permite la integracion sencilla y personalizada al usuario de servicios de Internet, como HTTP o VoIP, asi como la optimizacón de estos servicios. Hemos desarrollado SECE (Sense Everything, Control Everything), una plataforma donde los usuarios pueden crear reglas para manejar todas sus comunicaciones y servicios de Internet de forma proactiva. SECE interactúa con una multitud de servicios para conseguir todo el contexto possible del usuario. Hemos desarollado un lenguaje formal que parace como Ingles natural para que los usuarios puedan crear sus reglas. Hemos mejorado SECE para descubrir servicios web automaticamente a través del lenguaje OWL (Web Ontology Language)

Technology market transfer plan launch of DELIVES to E.U. Market©

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em BiotecnologiaThe pharmaceutical industry faces one of the biggest waves of patent expirations. The magnitude of the potential loss of sales is such that Datamonitor, predicts that between 2011 and 2012 the revenue from the drug will decrease for the first time in four decades. Alternatively, the technologies for Drug Delivery (DD), which consist of the science of delivering an active ingredient in place of the body where this is necessary, in the right quantities at the right time in the most effective and convenient, are boosting the growth of pharmaceutical companies, increasing its revenue by extending the product life cycle and through new formulations and combinations. According to this perception, this marketing plan was developed for a future company, LIFE DELIVERY, which holds the patent of a new biomaterial, and intends to launch a new product - Deliver | Improving life quality - for the market. DELIVES is a New Targeted Drug Delivery (TDD), which consists of a DD directed to release the drug locally in the area of interest, extremely versatile and can be precisely adjusted to achieve the specific objectives of each client, providing a controlled release of drugs and elaborated through a process environmentally friendly. Using three types of segmentation (geographic, industry type and application) and applying different evaluation criteria to selected segments, the final conclusions point to the following target customers: large pharmaceutical companies, the European Union, acting in the markets of the following therapeutic areas: inflammation and Musculosketal, metabolic disorders and cardiovascular diseases, the latter being the ideal customers for market entry strategy. According to the perceived value, of target customers - translated in cost-saving -, LIFE DELIEVERY will adopt a position based on three main pillars: quality, innovation and organizational image. The business model adopted aims to license the technology, using different communication strategies, and € 322.078.48, is the cost to implement this marketing plan in the first year of life of the company

WLAP the Web Lecture Archive Project: The Development of a Web-Based Archive of Lectures, Tutorials, Meetings and Events at CERN and at the University of Michigan

This paper summarizes the results of a project to develop an electronic repository of "content-rich" lectures, talks, and training activities on the World-Wide Web. The work was carried out from July 1999 to July 2001 by a collaboration consisting of the University of Michigan ATLAS Collaboratory Project, the University of Michigan Media Union, the CERN HR Division, supported by the CERN IT and ETT Divisions and the CERN Academic and Summer Student Programs. In this document, we describe the software application chosen to synchronize the slide presentations to the video recordings, provide technical solutions to the various recording and archival challenges encountered during the project, and propose a set of research and development issues we feel merit further investigation. We also present the concept of a "Lecture Object" and suggest the adoption of standards so that lectures at multiple institutes can be seamlessly shared and incorporated into federated databases world-wide