Non-functional properties in the model-driven development of service-oriented systems

Systems based on the service-oriented architecture (SOA) principles have become an important cornerstone of the development of enterprise-scale software applications. They are characterized by separating functions into distinct software units, called services, which can be published, requested and dynamically combined in the production of business applications. Service-oriented systems (SOSs) promise high flexibility, improved maintainability, and simple re-use of functionality. Achieving these properties requires an understanding not only of the individual artifacts of the system but also their integration. In this context, non-functional aspects play an important role and should be analyzed and modeled as early as possible in the development cycle. In this paper, we discuss modeling of non-functional aspects of service-oriented systems, and the use of these models for analysis and deployment. Our contribution in this paper is threefold. First, we show how services and service compositions may be modeled in UML by using a profile for SOA (UML4SOA) and how non-functional properties of service-oriented systems can be represented using the non-functional extension of UML4SOA (UML4SOA-NFP) and the MARTE profile. This enables modeling of performance, security and reliable messaging. Second, we discuss formal analysis of models which respect this design, in particular we consider performance estimates and reliability analysis using the stochastically timed process algebra PEPA as the underlying analytical engine. Last but not least, our models are the source for the application of deployment mechanisms which comprise model-to-model and model-to-text transformations implemented in the framework VIATRA. All techniques presented in this work are illustrated by a running example from an eUniversity case study

AI in Learning: Designing the Future

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is predicted to radically change teaching and learning in both schools and industry causing radical disruption of work. AI can support well-being initiatives and lifelong learning but educational institutions and companies need to take the changing technology into account. Moving towards AI supported by digital tools requires a dramatic shift in the concept of learning, expertise and the businesses built off of it. Based on the latest research on AI and how it is changing learning and education, this book will focus on the enormous opportunities to expand educational settings with AI for learning in and beyond the traditional classroom. This open access book also introduces ethical challenges related to learning and education, while connecting human learning and machine learning. This book will be of use to a variety of readers, including researchers, AI users, companies and policy makers

AI in Learning: Designing the Future

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is predicted to radically change teaching and learning in both schools and industry causing radical disruption of work. AI can support well-being initiatives and lifelong learning but educational institutions and companies need to take the changing technology into account. Moving towards AI supported by digital tools requires a dramatic shift in the concept of learning, expertise and the businesses built off of it. Based on the latest research on AI and how it is changing learning and education, this book will focus on the enormous opportunities to expand educational settings with AI for learning in and beyond the traditional classroom. This open access book also introduces ethical challenges related to learning and education, while connecting human learning and machine learning. This book will be of use to a variety of readers, including researchers, AI users, companies and policy makers

Changing botanical composition of species-rich meadows through variation of management

Species-rich hay meadows are threatened habitats for many plant and animal species. The biomass of these meadows has traditionally been used as forage for extensively kept ruminants. During the last decades, their habitat quality and area have been declining. On the one hand, the decline of species-rich hay meadows could be caused by increased fertiliser use as well as earlier and more frequent cutting. On the other hand, a reduction or abandonment of agricultural usage reduces their floristic diversity. This reduces important ecosystem services provided by these habitats, e.g. pollination. Therefore, benchmarking data on botanical composition and biomass is needed to estimate effects of different fertilisation and cutting regimes. This thesis aims at developing recommendations on how to manage species-rich hay meadows in order to conserve habitat functions and to enable agronomic usage at the same time. More specifically, management effects on botanical composition, biomass quantity and quality were investigated in a field trial running from 2013-2018. In this field trial, twelve different treatments were tested in a randomised block design at two sites in southern Germany. The different treatments consisted of a combination of three fertilisation levels (none, PK and NPK) and four different dates of first cut. The cutting date variants were chosen according to the phenology of dominant grasses before, at the beginning and at the end of flowering as well as a late cut at the seed-ripening stage. Both sites were species-rich hay meadows and each plot was fertilised annually and cut twice a year during the six-year field trial. The first study investigates changes in botanical composition. The number of vascular plant species did not significantly change after four years of fertilisation or cutting-date treatments, but botanical composition was affected significantly. The proportion of grasses was promoted by NPK fertilisation at both sites and by early cutting dates at one site only. Forbs were replaced by grasses because this site was dominated by the annual species Rhinanthus alectorolophus, a hemiparasite relying on generative reproduction. The second study addresses the question if living conditions of small plant species are affected by changed management. It was shown that shading reduced the proportion of small plant species due to the increased dry matter yield (DMY) caused by NPK fertilisation. It was concluded that annual NPK fertilisation containing 35 kg N ha-1 impairs the habitat function of species-rich hay meadows and, in the long term, excessive fertilisation could lead to reduced species numbers. Results of the third study revealed that although the date of first cut plays an important role in determining chemical composition of biomass, there is flexibility of choice at later cutting dates. Between the flowering and the seed-ripening stage, there were no significant differences in forage quality. However, late-cut hay is suitable as exclusive feed for horses only. Therefore, an early cut is recommended for use as biogas substrate and to be included into rations for extensively kept ruminants. In conclusion, general patterns of management effects were detected: Annual NPK fertilisation decreases the habitat quality of species-rich hay meadows. Based on the three studies presented in this thesis, the date of first cut in perennial plant communities should be handled more flexibly. This would benefit farmers, because higher forage qualities can be achieved. However, it was shown that there are site-specific effects. Plant communities containing annuals can be severely affected by advanced cutting dates, and the phenology at the date of first cut is crucial for the survival of these species. Interacting negative effects of fertilisation and cutting date on habitat quality suggest that the combination of late cutting date and NPK fertilisation should be avoided. Therefore, the best management at whole-farm scale appears to be a rotational cut and an extensive fertilisation of single meadows.Artenreiche FFH-Mähwiesen sind als Lebensraum für viele Tier- und Pflanzenarten geschützt. Traditionell wurden sie als extensive Heuwiesen genutzt, doch ihre Habitatqualität und ihre Fläche gehen seit Jahrzehnten zurück. Zum einen sind die FFH-Mähwiesen durch die Intensivierung der Bewirtschaftung bedroht, z. B. durch einen verstärkten Einsatz von Düngern, einen früheren ersten Schnitt und eine höhere Schnitthäufigkeit. Zum anderen geht die floristische Vielfalt auch durch zu seltene Mahd oder Verbrachung bei Nutzungsaufgabe zurück. Dadurch werden wichtige Ökosystemdienstleistungen wie z.B. die Bestäubung verringert. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, Bewirtschaftungsempfehlungen zu entwickeln, die eine landwirtschaftliche Nutzung ermöglichen und gleichzeitig die Habitatfunktion der Mähwiesen sichern. Dabei wurden Auswirkungen variierter Bewirtschaftung auf die botanische Zusammensetzung, die Trockenmasseerträge und Biomassequalität in einem Feldversuch von 2013 bis 2018 untersucht. Dieser Feldversuch wurde als randomisierte Blockanlage auf zwei Standorten innerhalb des FFH-Gebiets Alb zwischen Jusi und Teck in Süddeutschland angelegt. Die zwölf untersuchten Behandlungen setzten sich aus einer Kombination von drei Düngungsstufen (ohne, PK und NPK) und vier Schnittvarianten (Zeitpunkt des ersten Schnitts) zusammen. Der Zeitpunkt des ersten Schnitts orientierte sich dabei an der Phänologie der Hauptbestandsbildner und variierte vom Stadium vor Beginn der Gräserblüte bis zur Samenreife. Während der gesamten Versuchslaufzeit wurden die Wiesen zweimal im Jahr gemäht und jährlich zum ersten Aufwuchs im März gedüngt. In der ersten Studie werden Änderungen der botanischen Zusammensetzung durch Düngung und Schnittzeitpunkt untersucht. Es zeigte sich kein signifikanter Einfluss auf die Anzahl der Gefäßpflanzenarten, dennoch veränderte sich die botanische Zusammensetzung nach vier Jahren Versuchsdauer signifikant. An beiden Standorten wurde der Gräseranteil durch NPK-Düngung und an einem Standort zusätzlich durch einen ersten Schnitt vor der Samenreife gefördert. Hier erhöhte sich der Gräseranteil zulasten des Kräuteranteils, da die dort dominierende Art Rhinanthus alectorolophus als einjähriger Hemiparasit auf generative Vermehrung angewiesen ist. Die zweite Studie untersuchte den Einfluss der Bewirtschaftung auf die Lebensbedingungen niedrigwüchsiger Pflanzenarten, die wichtig für die Habitatfunktion artenreicher Mähwiesen sind. Hier wurde gezeigt, dass die durch Düngung erhöhte Biomasseproduktion zu einer Beschattung der unteren Bestandschichten und gleichzeitig zu einer Abnahme niedrigwüchsiger Pflanzenarten führt. Daraus lässt sich schließen, dass schon eine NPK-Düngung mit 35 kg N ha-1 pro Jahr die Habitatqualität der Wiesen verschlechtert und dass eine zu hohe Düngung langfristig die Artenvielfalt verringert. Die Ergebnisse der dritten Studie zeigten schließlich, dass obwohl die Phänologie zum Zeitpunkt des ersten Schnitts die chemische Zusammensetzung des Aufwuchses bestimmt eine gewisse Flexibilität bei der Wahl des Schnittzeitpunktes gegeben ist. Zwischen der Hauptblütezeit der Gräser und dem Stadium der Samenreife bestand kein signifikanter Unterschied der Futterqualität. Dennoch ist das Heu ab dem Zeitpunkt der Gräserblüte nur für Pferde als alleiniges Futter geeignet. Daher wird ein früherer Schnitt für die Nutzung als Biogassubstrat oder für die Verfütterung in der extensiven Tierhaltung empfohlen. Zusammenfassend zeigen die Erkenntnisse dieser Arbeit Handlungsoptionen zum Erhalt der artenreichen Mähwiesen auf: Eine Düngung wie in der getesteten NPK-Variante sollte vermieden werden. Der erste Schnitt kann vor der Samenreife der hauptbestandsbildenden Arten stattfinden, sofern nicht einjährige Arten den Bestand dominieren. Davon würden auch die Landwirte profitieren, da durch einen früheren Schnitt höhere Futterqualitäten erzielt werden. Der erste Schnitt sollte nicht regelmäßig erst zum Zeitpunkt der Samenreife durchgeführt werden, um eine zu starke Beschattung niedrigwüchsiger Pflanzen zu vermeiden. Insbesondere die Kombination von NPK-Düngung und einem späten ersten Schnitt könnte zum Verlust wertgebender Arten führen. Daher wird als beste Bewirtschaftungsvariante eine angepasste Düngung alle zwei bis drei Jahre abgeleitet. Der erste Schnitt sollte im Zeitraum der Blüte der hauptbestandsbildenden Gräserarten (meist Arrhenatherum elatius) erfolgen. In einzelnen Jahren kann der erste Schnitt schon früher im Stadium des Rispenschiebens erfolgen ohne negative Auswirkungen auf den Pflanzenbestan

Epistemological Approach to Dependability of Intelligent Distributed Systems

Recent and expected future developments in the domains of artificial intelligence, intelligent software agents, and robotics will create a new kind of environment where artificial entities and human beings seamlessly operate together to offer services. The users of these services may not necessary know whether the service is actually offered by a human being or an artificial entity. This kind of environment raises a requirement for using a joint terminology between human beings and artificial entities, especially in the domain of the epistemic quality of information. The epistemic quality of information will play an important role in this kind of intelligent distributed systems. One of the main reasons is that it affects the dependability of those systems. Epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief including their nature, sources, limits, and forms. Human beings have been interested in epistemology since the times of ancient Greece, as knowledge is seen to be an important factor of human beings' actions and success in the actions. We are of the opinion that the scene of epistemology is changing more than ever before: artificial intelligence has entered into the domain. In this thesis we argue that first, an intelligent software entity is capable of having beliefs and second, both knowledge and justified belief will be important factors in the dependability of AI-based agents' actions and success in the actions. We carry out a theoretical analysis of the epistemological concepts - belief, justified belief, and knowledge - for the context of intelligent software agents and dependable intelligent distributed systems. We introduce enhanced definitions of justified belief and knowledge, which we call Pragmatic Process Reliabilism. These definitions can be adopted into dependable intelligent distributed systems. We enhance the dependability taxonomy in order to cope better with the situations created by learning and the variation of the epistemic quality of information. The enhancements comprise the following concepts: attributes (skillfulness, truthfulness, and serveability), fault classes (training fault and learning fault), failure (action failure and observed failure), and means (relearning and retraining). We develop a theoretical framework (Belief Description Framework - BDF) to perceive, process, and distribute information in order to verify that our ideas can be implemented. We model the framework using Unified Modelling Language in order to demonstrate its applicability for implementation. First, we define relationships between epistemological concepts and software entities (classes). Second, we show that information, belief, justified belief, and knowledge can be specified as classes and instantiated as objects. The Information class defines the environment - a kind of information ecosystem - of information. It is the central point. It has relationships with other classes: Proposition, Presentation, EpistemicQuality, Warrant, Security, Context, and ActorOnInformation. Third, we specify some important requirements for BDF. Fourth, we show by modelling BDF using the UML modelling method that BDF can be specified and implemented.Tekoäly, älykkäät ohjelmistoagentit ja robotit tulevat edelleen kehittyessään muodostamaan toimintaympäristön, missä ihmiset ja ohjelmistopohjaiset agentit tuottavat yhteistyössä erilaisia informaatioon pohjautuvia palveluita. Tulevaisuudessa näiden palveluiden käyttäjät eivät välttämättä ole tietoisia siitä, onko heidän käyttämänsä palvelut tuottanut ihminen, ohjelmistopohjainen agentti, robotti, vai kaikki nämä yhteistyössä. Tällainen toimintaympäristö synnyttää vaatimuksen käyttää yhteisiä käsitteitä etenkin informaation tiedollisen laadun suhteen. Ihmiset toimivat suurelta osin uskomuksien ja niiden oikeutuksien sekä tietojen pohjalta, joten nämä käsitteet tulisi ottaa samaan käyttöön myös ohjelmistopohjaisissa järjestelmissä. Ihmiset ovat olleet kiinnostuneita epistemologiasta jo antiikin Kreikassa, koska tiedolla on nähty olevan huomattava vaikutus ihmisten toimintaan ja onnistumisessa toiminnoissaaan. Tähän mennessä epistemologia on pääasiassa käsitellyt totuutta, uskomusta, oikeutusta ja tietoa vain ihmiselle ominaisina käsitteinä. Mutta tekoälypohjaisten järjestelmien kehittyminen tulee muuttamaan tämän: myös tekoälypohjaisella agentilla voi olla uskomuksia, oikeutuksia uskomuksilleen ja tietoja. Lisäksi informaation tiedollinen laatu vaikuttaa myös älykkäiden ohjelmistoagenttien toiminnan luotettavuuteen. Tämä väitöskirja käsittelee epistemologisten käsitteiden soveltamista älykkäiden ohjelmistoagenttien ja älykkäiden hajautettujen järjestelmien luotettavuuteen. Epistemologiaan liittyvistä käsitteistä (totuus, uskomus, oikeutus, tieto sekä luottamus ja luotettavuus) arvioidaan niiden merkitys ja soveltuvuus älykkäiden ohjelmistoagenttien ympäristöön. Uskomuksen kohdalla tuodaan esille syyt, miksi on perusteltua ajatella, että älykkäällä ohjelmistoagentilla voi olla uskomuksia. Oikeutusteorioista analysoidaan seuraavat: fundamentalismi, koherentismi, evidentialismi ja reliabilismi sekä tietoteorioista analysoidaan kausaalinen teoria, hyveteoria, tieto ensin -teoria ja reliabilismi. Näiden arvioiden perusteella esitellään uusi versio reliabilismista (pragmatic process reliabilism), joka soveltuu älykkäiden ohjelmistoagenttien ja ihmisten yhteistyöympäristöön. Tässä väitöskirjassa esitetään myös laajennuksia tietojenkäsittelyjärjestelmien luotettavuutta käsittelevään luokitteluun. Uudet attribuutit ovat taitavuus (skillfulness), totuudenmukaisuus (truthfulness) ja palvelukyky (serveability). Uudet virheluokat ovat opetusvirhe (training fault) ja oppimisvirhe (learning fault). Uudet toimintahäiriökäsitteet ovat toimintahäiriö (action failure) ja havaittu häiriö (observed failure). Ja uudet toipumismenetelmät ovat uudelleen koulutus (retraining) ja uudelleen oppiminen (relearning). Lopuksi tässä väitöskirjassa esitellään yksi mahdollinen malli (Belief Description Framework, BDF) toteuttaa esitettyjä ajatuksia. Mallissa määritellään epistemologian eri käsitteiden ja ohjelmistokomponenttien välisiä suhteita. Informaatio, uskomus, oikeutettu uskomus ja tieto määritellään luokkien avulla ja ne toteutetaan vastaavilla objekteilla. Malli on määritelty UML-kielellä, joten sen avulla on mahdollista tehdä varsinainen toteutus BDF:stä

Observing and forecasting road surface temperatures

Wintertime weather conditions can be hazardous for road traffic. Icy roads and poor visibility caused by snowfall increase the accident risk. Accurate forecasting of road conditions is important, because reliable and precise forecasts help the road maintenance personnel to plan their operations accordingly. Well timed maintenance operations increase safety and enable economical savings as unnecessary actions can be avoided. Drivers can also adjust their route plan and driving behaviour appropriately when warnings of hazardous conditions are given well beforehand. Road conditions are forecasted in the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) with specialized road weather model. Before executing the actual forecast, the model is first initialized by feeding it with observation data. The quality of this data is essential for forecast accuracy, as the forecast is greatly dependent of the initial model state. Road weather stations have traditionally been one of the main sources of information, but their density is sparse especially in rural areas. Road surface temperature can vary considerably across the road network, so observations should be done in dense enough spatial scale. Nowadays it is possible to gather real time information from vehicles. Mobile sources provide observations with high spatial density and thus facilitate detecting the road stretches most prone to freezing. However, the quality of mobile observations should be assessed before implementing them to the road weather forecasting systems. This dissertation aims to answer to two research questions. Firstly, it has been studied how to best use available surface temperature observations in the road weather model initialization. Secondly, it has been studied how differences in two road weather models' physics affect to the surface temperature forecast accuracy. A method called coupling was implemented to the FMI road weather model. The main idea of the method is to adjust the incoming radiation flux so that the modelled surface temperature fits to the last observed value. The results show that this method improves considerably the short range surface temperature forecasts. Mobile surface temperature observations done with Teconer RTS411 were compared to road weather station measurements to assess the mobile data quality. According to the results, the mobile observations were on average 0.62 ͦC warmer than the road weather station measurements at 0 ͦC and in dry conditions. It was found out that the difference between mobile observations and road weather station measurements was dependent on the road status. A calibration equation for mobile observations was developed using linear mixed models to get mobile observations more in line with road weather station measurements. The effect of the mobile observations to the road surface temperature forecast accuracy was studied. According to the results, using the mobile observations calibrated with the developed equation improved the accuracy of road surface temperature forecasts compared to a theoretical situation where there would not be other surface temperature observations available. However, for an area with a dense road weather station network the accuracy of forecasts assimilating mobile observations with correction were on par with the accuracy of forecast assimilating interpolated surface temperature values. Studying model physics and comparing behaviour of different models is beneficial for model development. In this work, the verification results of the FMI's and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological institute's (KNMI) road weather models were compared to each other. In addition, the model physics were studied to find out the reasons for differences in the surface temperature forecasts. The forecasts of the KNMI model were found to be slightly more accurate than the forecasts of the FMI model. Although the core physics of the models were rather similar, there were large differences in some physical parameters and the number and the thickness of the ground layers. Individual reason for the better performance of the KNMI model could not be found, as the effects of different physical properties eventually sum up to surprisingly similar modelled surface temperature values.Talviset sääolosuhteet, kuten jäiset tiet ja lumisateen aiheuttama heikko näkyvyys, lisäävät onnettomuuksien riskiä. Teiden turvallisena pitämisessä auttavat tarkat ja luotettavat tiesääennusteet, joiden avulla auraukset ja suolaukset voidaan suunnitella hyvissä ajoin. Ilmatieteen laitos ennustaa keliolosuhteita kyseistä tarkoitusta varten kehitetyn tiesäämallin avulla. Väitöstyössä tutkittiin, miten pintalämpötilahavaintoja voidaan parhaiten käyttää tiesäämallin alkutilan määrityksessä. Perinteisesti havaintojen tärkein lähde ovat olleet tiesääasemat, mutta nykyisin on mahdollista saada reaaliaikaisia havaintoja uusista lähteistä, kuten autoista. Mobiilimittausten laatua selvitettiin vertaamalla autoon kiinnitettävällä laitteella tehtyjä tienpintalämpötilamittauksia tiesääasemien mittauksiin. Tulosten mukaan mobiilihavainnot olivat keskimäärin 0.62 ͦC tiesääasemahavaintoja lämpimämpiä, kun tie oli kuiva ja lämpötila nollassa. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että ero mobiilien ja tiesääasemamittausten välillä oli riippuvainen siitä, oliko tienpinta kuiva vai esimerkiksi märkä tai jäinen. Tutkimuksessa kehitettiin kalibrointiyhtälö mobiilihavaintojen korjaamiseksi. Mobiilihavaintojen vaikutusta tienpintalämpötilaennusteen tarkkuuteen tutkittiin vertaamalla mobiileja tienpintalämpötilahavaintoja hyödyntävää ennustetta kahteen kontrolliennusteeseen. Kalibroitujen mobiilihavaintojen käyttö paransi ennusteita verrattuna teoreettiseen tilanteeseen, jossa tienpintalämpötilahavaintoja ei ollut saatavilla. Sen sijaan mobiilihavaintoja käyttävät ennusteet antoivat suunnilleen yhtä tarkkoja ennusteita kuin interpoloituja tienpintalämpötilahavaintoja käyttävä malliajo ennustealueella, jolla on tiesääasemia tiheässä. Väitöstyössä verrattiin lisäksi Suomen Ilmatieteen laitoksen ja Alankomaiden Ilmatieteen laitoksen tiesäämallien ennustetuloksia keskenään. Myös mallien fysikaalisia ominaisuuksia verrattiin, jotta saataisiin selville, mistä erot tienpintalämpötilaennusteissa johtuvat. Alankomaiden mallin tienpintalämpötilaennusteiden havaittiin olevan hieman tarkempia kuin Suomen Ilmatieteen laitoksen mallin. Vaikka perusfysiikka oli melko samankaltainen molemmissa malleissa, joittenkin fysikaalisten parametrien arvoissa oli suuria eroja. Fysikaalisista eroista huolimatta eri tekijät malleissa summautuvat siten, että mallien ennustama pintalämpötila oli huomattavan samanlainen

Reconfigurable Antenna Systems: Platform implementation and low-power matters

Antennas are a necessary and often critical component of all wireless systems, of which they share the ever-increasing complexity and the challenges of present and emerging trends. 5G, massive low-orbit satellite architectures (e.g. OneWeb), industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT), satcom on-the-move, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autonomous Vehicles, all call for highly flexible systems, and antenna reconfigurability is an enabling part of these advances. The terminal segment is particularly crucial in this sense, encompassing both very compact antennas or low-profile antennas, all with various adaptability/reconfigurability requirements. This thesis work has dealt with hardware implementation issues of Radio Frequency (RF) antenna reconfigurability, and in particular with low-power General Purpose Platforms (GPP); the work has encompassed Software Defined Radio (SDR) implementation, as well as embedded low-power platforms (in particular on STM32 Nucleo family of micro-controller). The hardware-software platform work has been complemented with design and fabrication of reconfigurable antennas in standard technology, and the resulting systems tested. The selected antenna technology was antenna array with continuously steerable beam, controlled by voltage-driven phase shifting circuits. Applications included notably Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) deployed in the Italian scientific mission in Antarctica, in a traffic-monitoring case study (EU H2020 project), and into an innovative Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) antenna concept (patent application submitted). The SDR implementation focused on a low-cost and low-power Software-defined radio open-source platform with IEEE 802.11 a/g/p wireless communication capability. In a second embodiment, the flexibility of the SDR paradigm has been traded off to avoid the power consumption associated to the relevant operating system. Application field of reconfigurable antenna is, however, not limited to a better management of the energy consumption. The analysis has also been extended to satellites positioning application. A novel beamforming method has presented demonstrating improvements in the quality of signals received from satellites. Regarding those who deal with positioning algorithms, this advancement help improving precision on the estimated position

Regulating the Internet : policy and practice with reference to the control of Internet access and content

Organisations, national governments and supranational bodies have all been active in formulating policy measures to regulate access to, and use of, Internet content. The research investigated policy responses formulated and implemented within the European Union, the Council of Europe, the UK government and three UK academic institutions during a five-year period from 1998 to 2003. This investigation took place from a perspective of concern for the potential impact on freedom of expression and freedom of enquiry of such policy initiatives. On a theoretical level, the study aimed to illuminate the process of information policy formulation in this area. Habermas' ideas about the erosion of the public sphere, and the promotion of conditions favourable to an ‘ideal speech' situation, were used as an analogy to the issues posed by the regulation of speech on the Internet. The growth in use of the Internet worldwide as an informational, recreational and communications tool has been accompanied by a moral panic about ‘unacceptable' Internet content. The effectiveness of a range of responses that have been made to control this ‘problematic' medium, including the use of technical, ethical and legal constraints, were examined. Freedom of expression and freedom of access to information were considered, both as a fundamental human right and in the context of a professional ethic for information professionals and academic staff and students. Policy-making by the European Union and the UK government was explored via longitudinal analysis of primary and secondary documentary sources; by the Council of Europe via a combination of documentary analysis of primary and secondary sources and participant observation at a policy-making forum; and at the organisational level via case study research at three UK Higher Education Institutions. This case study research used a combination of documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with relevant personnel. Findings from the three case studies were triangulated via a questionnaire study carried out with student respondents at each of the Institutions, to explore students' actual use, and misuse, of University computer networks and their attitudes towards attempts to regulate xxi this use. The SPSS computer software package was used to analyse the data collected via the questionnaire study. The re-interpreted policy process model proposed by Rowlands and Turner (1997) and the models of direct and indirect regulation proposed by Lessig (1999) were used as heuristic tools with which to compare the findings of the research. A new model, the reflexive spiral, was designed to illustrate the dynamic, evolving and bi-directional character of the policy formulation processes that were identified. The enquiry was exploratory in nature, allowing theories and explanations to emerge from the data rather than testing a pre-determined set of conclusions. The conclusion is that the democratising potential of the Internet has indeed been constrained by policy measures imposed at a range of levels in an attempt to control the perceived dangers posed by the medium. Regulation of the Internet was found to be a problematic area for organisations, national governments, and international organisations due to its inherently ‘resistant' architectural structure and its transborder reach. Despite this, it was found that, at all levels, the Internet is subject to a multi-tiered governance structure that imposes an increasingly wide range of regulatory measures upon it. The research revealed that of the three re-interpreted policy process models, those of the Garbage Can and the Bureaucratic Imperative were found to be particularly illustrative of the policy formulation process at all levels. The use of Lessig's models of regulation (Ibid) was also found to be applicable to this area, and to be capable of illuminating the many forces impacting on information flow on the Internet. Overall, the measures taken to control and regulate Internet content and access were found to have exerted a negative impact on freedom of expression and freedom of access to information.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo