643 research outputs found
A Multi-level Technology Acceptance, Adoption and Implementation Model for Achieving Government-Citizen Dialogue: An Omani Case Study
The number of commercial applications that exploit Web 2.0 social media is increasing rapidly. However, little is known about the challenges that public sector organizations face when they decide to adopt Web or other technology-based applications, and offer them to consumers; particularly when governmental and civil service organizations are involved. This is particularly true in developing non-Western regions, such as the Middle East, where 'Arab Spring' developments in 2011 stimulated interest in the ability of social networking to mobilize citizens against ruling elites. Consequently, this study investigated Oman's public sector to gain a deeper understanding of the adoption and use of information technology innovation and its potential to engage governments more closely with citizens. In essence, it aimed to develop a comprehensive model of ‘organizational adoption’ and ‘citizen use’ of technology for achieving meaningful online dialogue. The focus of this study is not social media applications per se, but rather it concerns any Web or other technology-based application that is suited to improving dialogue between government organizations and citizens.
The final model was derived over three distinct phases of research using a mixed method approach. In Phase I, an initial literature review developed understanding of global trends in e-Government adoption and clarified the study aims, scope, and primary research question. A more extensive literature review was then undertaken to derive a tentative 'first-cut model' theoretical framework. This contains factors considered critical to both achieving successful organizational adoption of IT innovations and a meaningful dialogue between governments and citizens. These are presented from three distinct perspectives or levels; the National level, Organization level, and Management level. In Phase II of the research, case studies involving three Omani civil services organizations helped to refine the tentative model. Policymakers and citizens were interviewed to confirm issues and identify additional adoption and use factors. Finally, in Phase III a participatory action research approach was used to test completeness of the refined model, which culminated in the final model.
This study has shown that meaningful online dialogue can be used for different purposes: for facilitating access to decision-makers (mainly), for responding to citizens' enquiries and for addressing rumours. At the National level, government support—meaning political, economic and technical aspects—plus social changes has driven the acceptance of technology for improving government-citizen interactions and for sharing of information. In contrast, the major National level inhibitors are: limited availability of broadband services, other digital divide barriers, national culture barriers and political barriers. At the Organization level, having an IT strategy and top management support, adequate human, financial and technical resources, and a strong citizen-centric orientation are all factors that drive the adoption. Conversely, lack of capability, inappropriate internal culture, and resistance to change can all inhibit adoption. At the Management level, good preparation, proficiency with technical issues, accessibility and marketing issues, appropriate consideration of operational issues and end user needs are critical for implementation of Web or other technology-based applications needed to create meaningful online dialogue. Conversely, major implementation challenges concern inadequate IT infrastructure, resistance to change, and inability to recruit a suitable management team. The research also found that creating a management team, recruiting qualified moderators, controlling the discussion, responding to citizens, and defining the interaction characteristics (objectives, target citizens, participation policies and rules, etc.) are all critical for achieving a meaningful dialogue.
The developed model has added to the knowledge of how to encourage technology innovations in governmental organizations, in particular through online dialogue that motivates citizens and other stakeholders to engage in meaningful discussions. For non-Omani governmental organizations having similar operational characteristics, the developed model offers lessons for policymakers and others who wish to enhance citizens' interactions; or who wish to improve the reputation of the organization; or bring about citizen-acceptable policies and decisions. Future work should be aimed at testing the developed social networking adoption model in other industries, sectors and national settings
Pecuniary Knowledge Externalities: Evidence from European Regions
The paper investigates the effects of agglomeration and specialization of technological activities on regional productivity growth,applying the notion of pecuniary knowledge externalities. The latter are indirect interdependencies between firms mediated by the price system. Pecuniary knowledge externalities enable to appreciate both the positive and negative effects associated with the regional concentration of knowledge generating activities. Our analysis leads to specify the hypothesis of an inverted U-shaped relationship between the agglomeration of innovation activities and productivity growth. The empirical investigation, based upon 138 European regions in the years 1996 through 2003, supports the hypothesis that agglomeration yields diminishing positive net effects beyond a maximum. The homogeneity of knowledge generating activities however reduces absorption costs and hence rises the net benefits at each agglomeration level.
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Human Mobility Monitoring using WiFi: Analysis, Modeling, and Applications
Understanding and modeling humans and device mobility has fundamental importance in mobile computing, with implications ranging from network design and location-aware technologies to urban infrastructure planning. Today\u27s users carry a plethora of devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, and smartwatches, with each device offering a different set of services resulting in different usage and mobility leading to the research question of understanding and modeling multiple user device trajectories. Additionally, prior research on mobility focuses on outdoor mobility when it is known that users spend 80% of their time indoors resulting in wide gaps in knowledge in the area of indoor mobility of users and devices. Here, I try to fill the gaps in mobility modeling in the areas of understanding and modeling indoor-outdoor human mobility as well as multi-device mobility. In this thesis, I propose the characterization and modeling of human and device mobility. Further, I design and deploy mobility-aware applications for contact tracing of infectious diseases and energy-aware Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) scheduling. I try and answer a sequence of four primary inter-related questions : (1) how is indoor and outdoor user mobility different, (2) are multiple device trajectories belonging to a single user correlated, (3) how to model indoor mobility of users and (4) how to design effective mobility aware applications that are easily deployable and align with long term goals of sustainability as well relay positive societal impact. The insights gained from each question serves as a base to build up on the next question in the series. I present answers to these questions across three main parts of my thesis. The first part comprises of characterization and analysis of human and device mobility. In this part I design and develop tool to extract device trajectories from WiFi system logs syslog and map devices to users. These extracted trajectories and device to user mapping are used to characterize and empirically analyze the mobility of users at varying spatial granularity (indoor, outdoor) and extract device mobility correlations between multiple devices of users and forms the first part of my thesis. In the second part, based on the insights gained from the multi-granular and multi-device mobility characterization stated above, I argue that mobility is inherently hierarchical in nature and propose novel indoor human mobility modeling approach. Third, I leverage the passively observed mobility to design mobility-aware applications that either look back or look ahead in time. WiFiTrace is a look back or backtracking application that is a network-centric contact tracing tool to aid healthcare workers in manual contact tracing of infectious diseases and iSchedule is a look ahead machine learning based mobility-aware energy-saving application that predicts Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) schedule for higher energy savings while increasing user comfort
Intellectual Property Management in Health and Agricultural Innovation: A Handbook of Best Practices, Vol. 1
Prepared by and for policy-makers, leaders of public sector research establishments, technology transfer professionals, licensing executives, and scientists, this online resource offers up-to-date information and strategies for utilizing the power of both intellectual property and the public domain. Emphasis is placed on advancing innovation in health and agriculture, though many of the principles outlined here are broadly applicable across technology fields. Eschewing ideological debates and general proclamations, the authors always keep their eye on the practical side of IP management. The site is based on a comprehensive Handbook and Executive Guide that provide substantive discussions and analysis of the opportunities awaiting anyone in the field who wants to put intellectual property to work. This multi-volume work contains 153 chapters on a full range of IP topics and over 50 case studies, composed by over 200 authors from North, South, East, and West. If you are a policymaker, a senior administrator, a technology transfer manager, or a scientist, we invite you to use the companion site guide available at http://www.iphandbook.org/index.html The site guide distills the key points of each IP topic covered by the Handbook into simple language and places it in the context of evolving best practices specific to your professional role within the overall picture of IP management
Development of a system compliant with the Application-Layer Traffic Optimization Protocol
Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia InformáticaWith the ever-increasing Internet usage that is following the start of the new decade,
the need to optimize this world-scale network of computers becomes a big priority
in the technological sphere that has the number of users rising, as are the Quality of
Service (QoS) demands by applications in domains such as media streaming or virtual
reality.
In the face of rising traffic and stricter application demands, a better understand ing of how Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should manage their assets is needed. An
important concern regards to how applications utilize the underlying network infras tructure over which they reside. Most of these applications act with little regard for
ISP preferences, as exemplified by their lack of care in achieving traffic locality during
their operation, which would be a preferable feature for network administrators, and
that could also improve application performance. However, even a best-effort attempt
by applications to cooperate will hardly succeed if ISP policies aren’t clearly commu nicated to them. Therefore, a system to bridge layer interests has much potential in
helping achieve a mutually beneficial scenario.
The main focus of this thesis is the Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) work ing group, which was formed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to explore
standardizations for network information retrieval. This group specified a request response protocol where authoritative entities provide resources containing network
status information and administrative preferences. Sharing of infrastructural insight
is done with the intent of enabling a cooperative environment, between the network
overlay and underlay, during application operations, to obtain better infrastructural re sourcefulness and the consequential minimization of the associated operational costs.
This work gives an overview of the historical network tussle between applications
and service providers, presents the ALTO working group’s project as a solution, im plements an extended system built upon their ideas, and finally verifies the developed
system’s efficiency, in a simulation, when compared to classical alternatives.Com o acrescido uso da Internet que acompanha o início da nova década, a necessidade de otimizar esta rede global de computadores passa a ser uma grande prioridade
na esfera tecnológica que vê o seu número de utilizadores a aumentar, assim como a
exigência, por parte das aplicações, de novos padrões de Qualidade de Serviço (QoS),
como visto em domínios de transmissão de conteúdo multimédia em tempo real e em
experiências de realidade virtual.
Face ao aumento de tráfego e aos padrões de exigência aplicacional mais restritos, é
necessário melhor compreender como os fornecedores de serviços Internet (ISPs) devem
gerir os seus recursos. Um ponto fulcral é como aplicações utilizam os seus recursos
da rede, onde muitas destas não têm consideração pelas preferências dos ISPs, como
exemplificado pela sua falta de esforço em localizar tráfego, onde o contrário seria
preferível por administradores de rede e teria potencial para melhorar o desempenho
aplicacional. Uma tentativa de melhor esforço, por parte das aplicações, em resolver
este problema, não será bem-sucedida se as preferências administrativas não forem
claramente comunicadas. Portanto, um sistema que sirva de ponte de comunicação
entre camadas pode potenciar um cenário mutuamente benéfico.
O foco principal desta tese é o grupo de trabalho Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO), que foi formado pelo Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) para explorar
estandardizações para recolha de informação da rede. Este grupo especificou um protocolo onde entidades autoritárias disponibilizam recursos com informação de estado
de rede, e preferências administrativas. A partilha de conhecimento infraestrutural
é feita para possibilitar um ambiente cooperativo entre redes overlay e underlay, para
uma mais eficiente utilização de recursos e a consequente minimização de custos operacionais.
É pretendido dar uma visão da histórica disputa entre aplicações e ISPs, assim como
apresentar o projeto do grupo de trabalho ALTO como solução, implementar e melhorar sobre as suas ideias, e finalmente verificar a eficiência do sistema numa simulação,
quando comparado com alternativas clássicas
Delay Tolerant Networks for Efficient Information Harvesting and Distribution in Intelligent Transportation Systems
[EN] Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) can make transportation safer, more efficient, and more sustainable
by applying various information and communication technologies. One of these technologies are \acfp{VN}.
\acp{VN} combine different communication solutions such as cellular networks,
\acfp{VANET}, or IEEE 802.11 technologies to provide connectivity among
vehicles, and between vehicles and road infrastructure.
This thesis focuses on VNs, and considers that the high speed of the nodes
and the presence of obstacles like buildings, produces a highly variable network
topology, as well as more frequent partitions in the network. Therefore,
classical \ac{MANET} protocols do not adapt well to VANETs. Under these
conditions, \ac{DTN}
have been proposed as an alternative able to cope with these adverse
characteristics. In DTN, when a message cannot be routed
to its destination, it is not immediately dropped but it is instead stored and
carried until a new route becomes available. The combination of VN and
DTN is called \acp{VDTN}.
In this thesis, we propose a new VDTN protocol designed to collect
information from vehicular sensors. Our proposal, called \ac{MSDP}, combines
information about the localization obtained from a GNSS system with the actual
street/road layout obtained from a Navigation System (NS) to define a new
routing metric. Both analytical and simulation results prove that MSDP outperforms
previous proposals.
Concerning the deployment of VNs and VANET technologies, technology
already left behind the innovation and the standardization phases, and it is
about time it reach the first early adopters in the market. However, most car
manufacturers have decided to implement VN devices in the form of On Board
Units (OBUs), which are expensive, heavily manufacturer dependent, and
difficult to upgrade. These facts are delaying the deployment of VN. To boost
this process, we have developed the GRCBox architecture. This architecture is
based on low-cost devices and enables the establishment of V2X, \emph{i.e.} V2I and V2V, communications
while integrating users by easing the use of general purpose devices like
smartphones, tablets or laptops. To demonstrate the viability of the GRCBox
architecture, we combined it with a DTN platform called Scampi to obtain
actual results over a real VDTN scenario. We also
present several GRCBox-aware applications that illustrate how developers can
create applications that bring the potential of VN to user devices.[ES] Los sistemas de transporte inteligente (ITS) son el soporte para el establecimiento de un
transporte más seguro, más eficiente y más sostenible mediante el uso de
tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones.
Una de estas tecnologías son las redes vehiculares
(VNs). Las VNs combinan diferentes tecnologías de comunicación como las redes
celulares, las redes ad-hoc vehiculares (VANETs) o las redes 802.11p para
proporcionar conectividad entre vehículos, y entre vehículos y la
infraestructura de carreteras.
Esta tesis se centra en las VNs, en las cuales la alta velocidad de los
nodos
y la presencia de obstáculos como edificios producen una topología de red
altamente variable, así como frecuentes particiones en la red. Debido a estas características,
los protocolos para redes móviles ad-hoc (MANETs) no se adaptan bien a las
VANETs. En estas condiciones, las redes tolerantes a retardos (DTNs) se han
propuesto como una alternativa capaz de hacer frente a estos problemas. En DTN,
cuando un mensaje no puede ser encaminado hacia su destino, no es
inmediatamente descartado sino es almacenado hasta que una nueva ruta esta disponible.
Cuando las VNs y las DTNs se combinan surgen las redes vehiculares tolerantes
a retardos (VDTN).
En esta tesis proponemos un nuevo protocolo para VDTNs diseñado para recolectar
la información generada por sensores vehiculares. Nuestra propuesta, llamada
MSDP, combina la información obtenida del servicio de información geográfica
(GIS) con el mapa real de las calles obtenido del sistema de navegación (NS)
para definir una nueva métrica de encaminamiento. Resultados analíticos y
mediante simulaciones prueban que MSDP mejora el rendimiento de propuestas
anteriores.
En relación con el despliegue de las VNs y las tecnologías VANET, la
tecnología ha dejado atrás las fases de innovación y estandarización,
ahora es el momento de alcanzar a los primeros usuarios del mercado. Sin embargo,
la mayoría de fabricantes han decidido implementar los dispositivos para VN
como unidades de a bordo (OBU), las cuales son caras y difíciles de
actualizar. Además, las OBUs son muy dependientes del fabricante original.
Todo esto esta retrasando el despliegue de las VNs. Para acelerar la adopción
de las VNs, hemos desarrollado la arquitectura GRCBox. La arquitectura GRCBox
esta basada en un dispositivo de bajo coste que permite a los usuarios usar
comunicaciones V2X (V2V y V2I) mientras utilizan dispositivos de propósito general como
teléfonos inteligentes, tabletas o portátiles. Las pruebas incluidas en esta
tesis demuestran la viabilidad de la arquitectura GRCBox. Mediante la
combinación de nuestra GRCBox y una plataforma de DTN llamada Scampi hemos
diseñado y probado un escenario VDTN real. También presentamos como los
desarrolladores pueden crear nuevas aplicaciones GRCBox para llevar el
potencial de las VN a los dispositivos de usuario.[CA] Els sistemes de transport intel·ligent (ITS) poden crear un transport més
segur, més eficient i més sostenible mitjançant l'ús de tecnologies de la
informació i les comunicacions aplicades al transport.
Una d'aquestes tecnologies són les xarxes vehiculars (VN). Les VN combinen
diferents tecnologies de comunicació, com ara les xarxes cel·lulars, les
xarxes ad-hoc vehiculars (VANET) o les xarxes 802.11p, per a proporcionar
comunicació entre vehicles, i entre vehicles i la infraestructura de
carreteres.
Aquesta tesi se centra en les VANET, en les quals l'alta velocitat dels nodes
i la presència d'obstacles, com els edificis, produeixen una topologia de
xarxa altament variable, i també freqüents particions en la xarxa. Per aquest
motiu, els protocols per a xarxes mòbils ad-hoc (MANET) no s'adapten bé. En
aquestes condicions, les xarxes tolerants a retards (DTN) s'han proposat com
una alternativa capaç de fer front a aquests problemes. En DTN, quan un
missatge no pot ser encaminat cap a la seua destinació, no és immediatament
descartat sinó que és emmagatzemat fins que apareix una ruta nova.
Quan les VN i les DTN es combinen sorgeixen les xarxes vehicular tolerants a
retards (VDTN).
En aquesta tesi proposem un nou protocol per a VDTN dissenyat per a
recol·lectar la informació generada per sensors vehiculars. La nostra
proposta, anomenada MSDP, combina la informació obtinguda del servei
d'informació geogràfica (GIS) amb el mapa real dels carrers obtingut del
sistema de navegació (NS) per a definir una nova mètrica d'encaminament.
Resultats analítics i mitjançant simulacions proven que MSDP millora el
rendiment de propostes prèvies.
En relació amb el desplegament de les VN i les tecnologies VANET, la
tecnologia ha deixat arrere les fases d'innovació i estandardització, ara és
temps d'aconseguir als primers usuaris del mercat. No obstant això, la majoria
de fabricants han decidit implementar els dispositius per a VN com a unitats
de bord (OBU), les quals són cares i difícils d'actualitzar. A més, les OBU
són molt dependents del fabricant original. Tot això està retardant el
desplegament de les VN.
Per a accelerar l'adopció de les VN, hem desenvolupat l'arquitectura GRCBox.
L'arquitectura GRCBox està basada en un dispositiu de baix cost que permet als
usuaris usar comunicacions V2V mentre usen dispositius de propòsit general,
com ara telèfons intel·ligents, tauletes o portàtils. Les proves incloses en
aquesta tesi demostren la viabilitat de l'arquitectura GRCBox. Mitjançant la
combinació de la nostra GRCBox i la plataforma de DTN Scampi, hem dissenyat i
provat un escenari VDTN pràctic. També presentem com els desenvolupadors poden
crear noves aplicacions GRCBox per a portar el potencial de les VN als
dispositius d'usuari.Martínez Tornell, S. (2016). Delay Tolerant Networks for Efficient Information Harvesting and Distribution in Intelligent Transportation Systems [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/68486TESI
Toward Open and Programmable Wireless Network Edge
Increasingly, the last hop connecting users to their enterprise and home networks is wireless. Wireless is becoming ubiquitous not only in homes and enterprises but in public venues such as coffee shops, hospitals, and airports. However, most of the publicly and privately available wireless networks are proprietary and closed in operation. Also, there is little effort from industries to move forward on a path to greater openness for the requirement of innovation. Therefore, we believe it is the domain of university researchers to enable innovation through openness. In this thesis work, we introduce and defines the importance of open framework in addressing the complexity of the wireless network. The Software Defined Network (SDN) framework has emerged as a popular solution for the data center network. However, the promise of the SDN framework is to make the network open, flexible and programmable. In order to deliver on the promise, SDN must work for all users and across all networks, both wired and wireless. Therefore, we proposed to create new modules and APIs to extend the standard SDN framework all the way to the end-devices (i.e., mobile devices, APs). Thus, we want to provide an extensible and programmable abstraction of the wireless network as part of the current SDN-based solution. In this thesis work, we design and develop a framework, weSDN (wireless extension of SDN), that extends the SDN control capability all the way to the end devices to support client-network interaction capabilities and new services. weSDN enables the control-plane of wireless networks to be extended to mobile devices and allows for top-level decisions to be made from an SDN controller with knowledge of the network as a whole, rather than device centric configurations. In addition, weSDN easily obtains user application information, as well as the ability to monitor and control application flows dynamically. Based on the weSDN framework, we demonstrate new services such as application-aware traffic management, WLAN virtualization, and security management
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