Quality of media traffic over Lossy internet protocol networks: Measurement and improvement.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is an active area of research in the world of communication. The high revenue made by the telecommunication companies is a motivation to develop solutions that transmit voice over other media rather than the traditional, circuit switching network. However, while IP networks can carry data traffic very well due to their besteffort nature, they are not designed to carry real-time applications such as voice. As such several degradations can happen to the speech signal before it reaches its destination. Therefore, it is important for legal, commercial, and technical reasons to measure the quality of VoIP applications accurately and non-intrusively. Several methods were proposed to measure the speech quality: some of these methods are subjective, others are intrusive-based while others are non-intrusive. One of the non-intrusive methods for measuring the speech quality is the E-model standardised by the International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardisation Sector (ITU-T). Although the E-model is a non-intrusive method for measuring the speech quality, but it depends on the time-consuming, expensive and hard to conduct subjective tests to calibrate its parameters, consequently it is applicable to a limited number of conditions and speech coders. Also, it is less accurate than the intrusive methods such as Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) because it does not consider the contents of the received signal. In this thesis an approach to extend the E-model based on PESQ is proposed. Using this method the E-model can be extended to new network conditions and applied to new speech coders without the need for the subjective tests. The modified E-model calibrated using PESQ is compared with the E-model calibrated using i ii subjective tests to prove its effectiveness. During the above extension the relation between quality estimation using the E-model and PESQ is investigated and a correction formula is proposed to correct the deviation in speech quality estimation. Another extension to the E-model to improve its accuracy in comparison with the PESQ looks into the content of the degraded signal and classifies packet loss into either Voiced or Unvoiced based on the received surrounding packets. The accuracy of the proposed method is evaluated by comparing the estimation of the new method that takes packet class into consideration with the measurement provided by PESQ as a more accurate, intrusive method for measuring the speech quality. The above two extensions for quality estimation of the E-model are combined to offer a method for estimating the quality of VoIP applications accurately, nonintrusively without the need for the time-consuming, expensive, and hard to conduct subjective tests. Finally, the applicability of the E-model or the modified E-model in measuring the quality of services in Service Oriented Computing (SOC) is illustrated

Revisiting the Thames Formula: The Evolving Role of the International Maritime Organization and Its Member States in Implementing the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention

Despite the findings that marine casualty rates have plummeted and the safety record of the oil transport industry has significantly improved, high visibility pollution incidents in the last decade like those involving the tankers Erika and Prestige off the coast of Europe, together with the chronic problems of illegal and unregulated fishing and dismal labor conditions for many seafarers led a United Nations-chartered consultative group of leading international organization representatives to conclude that there is an urgent need to improve State performance in the implementation and enforcement of the international maritime legal regime. There is less agreement, however, in how to go about improving implementation and enforcement, given the problem’s multifaceted political, legal, environmental, economic, social and institutional dimensions. For some, the solution lies in better defining and enforcing the international requirement for a genuine link between flag States and their vessels, while also providing greater transparency of the true vessel ownership and control interests. For others, they key is to provide technical and financial assistance to needy States, to help them develop the capacity to carry out their obligations under international maritime law. Expanding the jurisdiction of States other than the flag State (port States, coastal States and others with the capacity to take enforcement action) provides at least a partial solution for some. Still others would turn to the international courts or empower one or more global or regional international organizations to assume an auditing and/or enforcement role against States that fail to meet their international obligations. To weigh the merits of these and other reform proposals it is necessary first to identify the causes of the current problem and the context provided by the present legal regime established by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS Convention), together with the pervasive role of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), as confirmed and expanded by the LOS Convention and other international instruments developed under IMO auspices

Revisiting the Thames Formula: The Evolving Role of the International Maritime Organization and Its Member States in Implementing the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention

Despite the findings that marine casualty rates have plummeted and the safety record of the oil transport industry has significantly improved, high visibility pollution incidents in the last decade like those involving the tankers Erika and Prestige off the coast of Europe, together with the chronic problems of illegal and unregulated fishing and dismal labor conditions for many seafarers led a United Nations-chartered consultative group of leading international organization representatives to conclude that there is an urgent need to improve State performance in the implementation and enforcement of the international maritime legal regime. There is less agreement, however, in how to go about improving implementation and enforcement, given the problem’s multifaceted political, legal, environmental, economic, social and institutional dimensions. For some, the solution lies in better defining and enforcing the international requirement for a genuine link between flag States and their vessels, while also providing greater transparency of the true vessel ownership and control interests. For others, they key is to provide technical and financial assistance to needy States, to help them develop the capacity to carry out their obligations under international maritime law. Expanding the jurisdiction of States other than the flag State (port States, coastal States and others with the capacity to take enforcement action) provides at least a partial solution for some. Still others would turn to the international courts or empower one or more global or regional international organizations to assume an auditing and/or enforcement role against States that fail to meet their international obligations. To weigh the merits of these and other reform proposals it is necessary first to identify the causes of the current problem and the context provided by the present legal regime established by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS Convention), together with the pervasive role of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), as confirmed and expanded by the LOS Convention and other international instruments developed under IMO auspices

Video Quality Measurement for 3G Handset

The quality of video has become a decisive factor for the consumer of 3G video services to choose his mobile operator. It is, therefore, critical for 3G network operator, equipment provider and service provider to measure and hence maintain the video quality of video services they offer. A project has been proposed in University of Plymouth to develop a test platform to evaluate video quality for 3G handset using Asterisk PBX server. For this purpose, support for 3G-324M protocol and all the audio and video codecs (i.e. H.263 baseline level 10 and MPEG-4 simple profile @ level 0) mandated and recommended by 3G- 324M standard should be added in to Asterisk®. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the correct software implementation of H.263 baseline level 10 and MEPG-4 simple profile @ level 0 video codecs so that they can then be incorporated in to Asterisk®. This is the part of the above mentioned project. Open source FFmpeg-libavcodec is believed to support both MPEG-4 and H.263 codecs. Similarly Telenor H.263 codec is also free to use. This project tests both the capabilities and suitability of the above mentioned software packages/codecs for adding in to Asterisk to perform the required encoding and decoding. Experiments showed that FFmpeg-libavcodec can neither decode nor encode to MPEG-4 simple profile @ level 0. It seems that FFmpeg requires some major modifications in its source code to support MPEG-4 simple profile @ level 0 codec. Although FFmepg can decode and encode to H.263 baseline level 10, but it does not offer a fine control over bitrate while encoding, and reports very high muxing overhead while decoding, H.263 baseline level 10. Telenor H.263 codec can decode and encode to H.263 baseline level 10.without any problem. Telenor H.263 codec is, therefore, more suitable for incorporating in to Asterisk® than FFmpeg for decoding and encoding to H.263 baseline level 10 bitstreams. ISchool of Computing, Communication and Electronic

Caught in the web : an analysis of South Africa's response to the emerging global information policy regime

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-126).This study provides a descriptive analysis of South Africa's response to the emerging global information policy regime. Compelled by a combination of hegemonic influences and its own self interest, this study argues that South Africa accepted the liberalising commitments of the emerging global information policy regime vis-a-vis the World Trade Organization Agreement on Basic Telecommunications. As a contribution to understanding inter-state cooperation in international relations, regime theory is utilised as the theoretical framework. The regime framework is used to explain the motivations behind South Africa's intention to liberalise its telecommunications sector as a result of power dynamics in the international system. The findings from the qualitative analysis note that South Africa's response is motivated by systemic and domestic factors. A willingness to enter the information economy and fulfil domestic social development means that South Africa has to balance its obligations to the WTO with the commitments to improve its domestic accessibility concerns. As a developing country with inadequate conditions for liberalisation, South Africa was unable to stop the strategic equity partners from capitalising on the poorly regulated telecommunications environment. The unfavourable result of high tariff charges and low fixed-line connectivity can be attributed to privatisation initiatives and lack of political will to promote competition. South Africa is in the midst of dramatic change in its telecommunications sector which is aided by technological convergence, further privatisation of the incumbent and the introduction of the Second Network Operator. The international scope of this study means that liberalisation is part of South Africa's broader commitments to the emerging global information policy regime. Entering the information economy is conditional on the successful implementation of international liberalisation policies so that the required investment and skills can assist in providing universal service to the majority of South Africa citizens. However, implementation requires a fair market structure, independent regulation and low interconnection charges. Without these important structures in place, this study notes that the goal of participation in the information economy and economic growth as a result of effective telecommunication utilisation is a distant reality

Identifying sensitive marine areas in the South China Sea under international law

At the interface of law, science and policy, this study is centred on the scientific and technical criteria adopted for the identification of sensitive marine and coastal areas, the role of international law and the adequacy of scientific evidence. It uses the South China Sea (SCS) as a case-study the basis that it is (1) a regional sea which is not protected under any binding regional instrument -this makes international law particularly relevant for direct implementation; and (2) a regional sea whose resources are subjected to intense and often competing uses in a politically and ecologically sensitive environment -identification of sensitive marine areas therefore appear opportune. The identification of sensitive area necessarily precedes the choice of and designation of Marine Protected Areas and Area-Based Management Tools (ABMTs). It also precedes the question of the content of states’ obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment, which are outside the scope of this study. This study investigates the legal status of sensitive area criteria adopted under the auspices of intergovernmental processes but in often non-binding instruments and documents. It asks whether and how these sensitive area criteria may contribute to inform implementation of the obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment under international law