The spiral of applied research: A methodological view on integrated design research

Abstract not available

Multimedia delivery in the future internet

The term “Networked Media” implies that all kinds of media including text, image, 3D graphics, audio and video are produced, distributed, shared, managed and consumed on-line through various networks, like the Internet, Fiber, WiFi, WiMAX, GPRS, 3G and so on, in a convergent manner [1]. This white paper is the contribution of the Media Delivery Platform (MDP) cluster and aims to cover the Networked challenges of the Networked Media in the transition to the Future of the Internet. Internet has evolved and changed the way we work and live. End users of the Internet have been confronted with a bewildering range of media, services and applications and of technological innovations concerning media formats, wireless networks, terminal types and capabilities. And there is little evidence that the pace of this innovation is slowing. Today, over one billion of users access the Internet on regular basis, more than 100 million users have downloaded at least one (multi)media file and over 47 millions of them do so regularly, searching in more than 160 Exabytes1 of content. In the near future these numbers are expected to exponentially rise. It is expected that the Internet content will be increased by at least a factor of 6, rising to more than 990 Exabytes before 2012, fuelled mainly by the users themselves. Moreover, it is envisaged that in a near- to mid-term future, the Internet will provide the means to share and distribute (new) multimedia content and services with superior quality and striking flexibility, in a trusted and personalized way, improving citizens’ quality of life, working conditions, edutainment and safety. In this evolving environment, new transport protocols, new multimedia encoding schemes, cross-layer inthe network adaptation, machine-to-machine communication (including RFIDs), rich 3D content as well as community networks and the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) overlays are expected to generate new models of interaction and cooperation, and be able to support enhanced perceived quality-of-experience (PQoE) and innovative applications “on the move”, like virtual collaboration environments, personalised services/ media, virtual sport groups, on-line gaming, edutainment. In this context, the interaction with content combined with interactive/multimedia search capabilities across distributed repositories, opportunistic P2P networks and the dynamic adaptation to the characteristics of diverse mobile terminals are expected to contribute towards such a vision. Based on work that has taken place in a number of EC co-funded projects, in Framework Program 6 (FP6) and Framework Program 7 (FP7), a group of experts and technology visionaries have voluntarily contributed in this white paper aiming to describe the status, the state-of-the art, the challenges and the way ahead in the area of Content Aware media delivery platforms

The Future of the Internet III

Presents survey results on technology experts' predictions on the Internet's social, political, and economic impact as of 2020, including its effects on integrity and tolerance, intellectual property law, and the division between personal and work lives

EM based channel estimation in an amplify-and-forward relaying network

Cooperative communication offers a way to obtain spatial diversity in a wireless network without increasing hardware demands. The different cooperation protocols proposed in the literature [1] are often studied under the assumption that all channel state information is available at the destination. In a practical scenario, channel estimates need to be derived from the broadcasted signals. In this paper, we study the Amplify-and-Forward protocol and use the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to obtain the channel estimates in an iterative way. Our results show that the performance of the system that knows the channels can be approached at the cost of an increased computational complexity. In case a small constellation is used, a low complexity approximation is proposed with a similar performance

EM based channel estimation in an amplify-and-forward relaying network

Cooperative communication offers a way to obtain spatial diversity in a wireless network without increasing hardware demands. The different cooperation protocols proposed in the literature [1] are often studied under the assumption that all channel state information is available at the destination. In a practical scenario, channel estimates need to be derived from the broadcasted signals. In this paper, we study the Amplify-and-Forward protocol and use the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to obtain the channel estimates in an iterative way. Our results show that the performance of the system that knows the channels can be approached at the cost of an increased computational complexity. In case a small constellation is used, a low complexity approximation is proposed with a similar performance

NiFe hydrotalcite-derived catalyst for CO2 reforming of methane: the impact of calcination and reduction temperature

Master's thesis in Petroleum engineeringABSTRACT Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has become a major environmental concern for today’s society. As energy demand keeps on rising, the transition to cleaner energies is not fast enough to completely reduce greenhouse emissions. Therefore, new solutions must be found. Recently, several researches have been made on one possible solution. Dry reforming of methane (DRM) can utilize methane (CH4) and CO2 two of the most important greenhouse gases for producing valuable syngas as a chemical feedstock for industrial applications. However, DRM process requires a heterogeneous catalyst for its operation and despite the efforts, a suitable catalyst viable from an economical point of view is yet to be found. Recently, studies on Ni-Fe based Hydrotalcite (HT)-derived compounds have presented promising results. In this study a series of bimetallic Ni-Fe HT-derived catalysts with Ni loading of 20 wt.% and Fe/Ni molar ratio of 0.1 were prepared by coprecipitation at high supersaturation (fast injection method) and calcined at different temperatures. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption-desorption, temperature programmed reduction (TPR), and hydrogen chemisorption. The rise in calcination temperature generated an increase on crystallite size and reduction peak. On other hand, effects on surface area followed a bell tendency. Calcined catalysts performance over activity and stability at different reduction temperatures were studied for a DRM reaction at a temperature of 700 °C, atmospheric pressure and a gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 120,000 mL.g-1.h-1. Calcination at 600 °C was found to be the overall best performer achieving the highest conversions with good signs of stabilit

Rethinking De-Perimeterisation: Problem Analysis And Solutions

For businesses, the traditional security approach is the hard-shell model: an organisation secures all its assets using a fixed security border, trusting the inside, and distrusting the outside. However, as technologies and business processes change, this model looses its attractiveness. In a networked world, “inside” and “outside” can no longer be clearly distinguished. The Jericho Forum - an industry consortium part of the Open Group – coined this process deperimeterisation and suggested an approach aimed at securing data rather than complete systems and infrastructures. We do not question the reality of de-perimeterisation; however, we believe that the existing analysis of the exact problem, as well as the usefulness of the proposed solutions have fallen short: first, there is no linear process of blurring boundaries, in which security mechanisms are placed at lower and lower levels, until they only surround data. To the contrary, we experience a cyclic process of connecting and disconnecting of systems. As conditions change, the basic trade-off between accountability and business opportunities is made (and should be made) every time again. Apart from that, data level security has several limitations to start with, and there is a big potential for solving security problems differently: by rearranging the responsibilities between businesses and individuals. The results of this analysis can be useful for security professionals who need to trade off different security mechanisms for their organisations and their information systems