Transparent extention of existing applications for mobile computing

Mobile computing devices together with an ever growing land-based and wireless communication network infrastructure are the existing technical prerequisites for continuous access to networked services. This relieves users from being bound to their desktop computers and lets them spread out into the world. But using the different mobile facilities often requires a lot of special concern and there is no straight-forward solution towards an integrated mobile environment. This paper examines an approach to extend existing systems by transparently introducing a mobility service system to meet the special needs of mobile users. Typical mobile communication problems such as frequent disconnection, low bandwidth or a changing network environ- ment are hidden embedding the user into a supporting overall networked infra- structure but still providing his familiar workplace environment

Cryogenic Fluid Management Experiment (CFME) trunnion verification testing

The Cryogenic Fluid Management Experiment (CFME) was designed to characterize subcritical liquid hydrogen storage and expulsion in the low-g space environment. The CFME has now become the storage and supply tank for the Cryogenic Fluid Management Facility, which includes transfer line and receiver tanks, as well. The liquid hydrogen storage and supply vessel is supported within a vacuum jacket to two fiberglass/epoxy composite trunnions which were analyzed and designed. Analysis using the limited available data indicated the trunnion was the most fatigue critical component in the storage vessel. Before committing the complete storage tank assembly to environmental testing, an experimental assessment was performed to verify the capability of the trunnion design to withstand expected vibration and loading conditions. Three tasks were conducted to evaluate trunnion integrity. The first determined the fatigue properties of the trunnion composite laminate materials. Tests at both ambient and liquid hydrogen temperatures showed composite material fatigue properties far in excess of those expected. Next, an assessment of the adequacy of the trunnion designs was performed (based on the tested material properties)

The internationalization paradigm and dynamic capabilities of Portuguese firms: contributions from case studies in the metallurgical and metal-mechanic sectors

Esta pesquisa mergulha na esfera microeconómica do setor secundário, visando iluminar os paradigmas de internacionalização das empresas Portuguesas. Um estudo de caso é conduzido nas empresas focais centrado no vértice estratégico. Uma revisão da literatura é realizada nos campos interdisciplinares das ciências económicas e da gestão, com uma focagem dualística no modelo processual de internacionalização de Uppsala e, comitantemente, na teoria das capacidades dinâmicas. No contexto da indústria, o estudo centra-se no setor da metalurgia e metalomecânica. É seguido um design comparativo, com uma configuração de caso múltiplo e unidades de análise incorporadas. Este enquadra-se numa abordagem qualitativa e posição filosófica interpretativista, com uma orientação dedutiva. A análise de dados está enraizada num quadro metodológico triádico: o procedimento analítico geral de Miles e Huberman (1984), o protocolo de Weber (1990) e o quadro de referência de Gioia (2009). Os casos exibem uma realidade de internacionalização multiparadigmática, com heterogeneidade entre si e sobreposição dimensional de alguns fenómenos, aderindo de forma distinta ao modelo de Uppsala e à teoria das capacidades dinâmicas. Em segundo lugar, os construtos seminais abordados na problemática de partida revelam efeitos distintos. Verificou-se uma relação positiva entre os paradigmas de internacionalização observados e os fatores de distância psíquica. Os fatores de distância geográfica, observam um efeito ambidexteriano (relação positiva e de espúrio). A última é causada pelo fenómeno contingencial de perificidade económica (com raízes nas teorias Ricardiana e Smithiana da competividade nacional e absoluta) revelando uma necessidade latente de políticas públicas para restaurar o equilíbrio de forças com os outros mercados da UE e estimular os fluxos de investimento para o exterior. Terceiro, as capacidades dinâmicas (CDs tipo 1 e 2) revelam processos de reconfiguração orientados para a ambidexteridade internacional, porquanto as CD globais demonstram sinais de mutabilidade e transferabilidade bidireccional para múltiplos pontos de destino.This research plunges into the microeconomic orb of the Portuguese economy of the secondary sector, aiming to illuminate the internationalization paradigms of these firms. A case research is conducted upon the focal firms focused on their strategic apex. A literature review is performed in the interdisciplinary fields of economics and managerial sciences, dualistically centered on the internationalization process model of Uppsala, and commitantly, at the dynamic capabilities theory. In the context of the manufacturing industries, this study focusses on the sector of metallurgy and metal-mechanic. A comparative design is followed, with a multiple case setting and embedded hermeneutic units of analysis. It fits a qualitative approach within an interpretative philosophical stance with a deductive orientation. The qualitative data analysis process is rooted in a triadic methodological framework: the general analytical procedure of Miles and Huberman (1984), the Weber protocol (1990) and the framework of Gioia (2009). The cases exhibited a multiparadigmatic internationalization reality, with heterogeneity among them although with some overlapping phenomena adhering differently to the U-model and to the dynamic capabilities doctrine. Second, seminal constructs addressed in the initial problematization revealed distintive relations. The psychic distance factors of the U-model were positively perceived as a true relation. The geographical distance factors observe an ambidexterian effect - true and spurious. The latter caused by the contingency phenomenon of economic periphery uncovers a latent need for public policies to retrieve the equilibrium of competitive forces with other EU markets and stimulate the outward flow of investment of the firms. Third, the DCs, both type 1 and type 2, exhibit processes of reconfiguration oriented towards international ambidexterity, while the GDCs evidence of DC mutability and indiscriminate bidirectional transferability

Supporting Image Search with Tag Clouds: A Preliminary Approach

Algorithms and techniques for searching in collections of data address a challenging task, since they have to bridge the gap between the ways in which users express their interests, through natural language expressions or keywords, and the ways in which data is represented and indexed.When the collections of data include images, the task becomes harder, mainly for two reasons. From one side the user expresses his needs through one medium (text) and he will obtain results via another medium (some images). From the other side, it can be difficult for a user to understand the results retrieved; that is why a particular image is part of the result set. In this case, some techniques for analyzing the query results and giving to the users some insight into the content retrieved are needed. In this paper, we propose to address this problem by coupling the image result set with a tag cloud of words describing it. Some techniques for building the tag cloud are introduced and two application scenarios are discussed

Comparison of a theoretical analysis with an experimental stress analysis of an FRP thin-wall composite box beam

Call number: LD2668 .T4 ME 1989 H37Master of ScienceMechanical and Nuclear Engineerin

Forms and Fragments: Enactment of Cultural Identification in an Online Community of Chinese Living Overseas

This research is an interpretive study of the dynamics of cultural identification as enacted by Chinese individuals living overseas who participate in a virtual online community known as Wenxuecity.com. The study draws on intercultural communication theories of identity proposed by Carbaugh, Collier, and Hecht, as well as on my own integrative framework for the analysis of cultural identity, to explore the self-other interaction in identity enactment, the multidimensionality of identity, and the centrality of communication in processes of identification. Through the application of a qualitative analysis of online discourse, I found three primary forms of cultural identification-- perceptual, strategic, and positional cultural identification -- that reveal how online commentators make sense of their individual and group identities. Through online discussion of a variety of topics -- from China\u27s history, East-West tensions, to academic power structures and racial hierarchies in host cultures or media stereotyping and global hegemonic relations -- and using communicative strategies like self-other comparison, advice, and ideological debate, commentators enact both a sense of group cohesiveness as well as their internal, conflictive heterogeneity. Their discourse allows for the exploration of how multiple dimensions of identity -- individuality, sociality, materiality, and spirituality -- intersect to shape the fragmentary character of cultural identification. In the particular case of the group under study, the dominant trends observed reveal that cultural identification is a process characterized by the enactment of a sense of marginalization in host societies, heightened individuality, strategic attachment to or distancing from Chinese cultural membership, and ideological divisions

Rhizomes, assemblages and nomad war machines – re-imagining curriculum development for posthuman times

We live in troubling times. Issues of planetary concern under a regime of advanced capitalism include environmental degradation, pandemic, widening inequality gaps and mass migration; while accelerated technological mediation continues to connect us like never before. To say that the situation is complex is an understatement; yet meanwhile, education in the West continues to follow and repeat the same pedagogical and curriculum trends that we have seen for the past century. Taking a ‘posthuman turn’ in education involves a shift from learning-as-cognition to a focus on connections between humans and non-human others; a move from the primacy of the written and spoken word to the re-emergence of the embodied self; and a recognition that other-than-human agents are always present in processes of learning. Posthuman pedagogies decentre humanistic values which privilege the individual (and certain kinds of individual at that), and Cartesian dualisms which separate body from mind, teacher from learner and human from non-human others. Although the ideas are exciting and offer potential for liberatory pedagogical practice, the language of posthumanism is dense, challenging and often exclusionary. This thesis tells the story of how a group of educators from different sectors and countries put the ideas to work practically, using artistic and dialogic means to disrupt ideas of ‘education as usual’ and explore ideas of a posthuman curriculum. The findings offer new ways to explore education, either through professional development, informal learning projects, or public scholarship, demonstrating how posthuman philosophy can be employed as a navigational tool to rethink and re-imagine education for the 21st century and beyond

Students learning science: Representation construction in a digital environment

This thesis showed the viable digital delivery for a representation-focused approach for teaching science. This study has led to guidelines for a generative digital design and sequencing of representational tasks and resources. It has also illustrated students’ collaborative reasoning processes during a problem-solving task, reflective of an authentic scientific inquiry