Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Watchdog'

This thesis deals with a design and implementation monitoring system of Starhill society computer network. Part of the design is development and realization hardware modules that provide restarting of remote network devices. Command transmission is realized through discretionary transceivers available, whose regulations can make such transmissions possible. A usage of 466~MHz frequency band is the main assumption. Both concept and implementation are described in the thesis. The designed system is integrated to the existing IS of the association.

The Internet of Things (IoT) plays an important role in the coming era of the Internet development. In addition to the convenience and opportunities it brings to us, there comes with the security issues, which could lead to the privacy leakage, it’s a threaten to the whole IoT system. To deal with the potential dangerous element hidden behind this technology, monitoring on the network would be indispensable. To develop and implements the digital network watchdog system that monitors the local network and the connected device, firstly, I surveyed the area related to the IoT attacks. The network monitor system provides basic network monitoring function, connected device tracking and monitoring function, reliable device operating function. I used the packages provided by Raspberry Pi to realize the general monitoring and transferred the captured result for further analysis. Also, I made use of SNMP and drawing tool to create graphs of different parameters in the monitoring of both network and connected devices. Then I implemented database with web service on Raspberry Pi to realize device operating. In evaluation, the system works well in general monitoring with all information provided and low lost package percentage, the graphs can provide situation of different parameters, and the respond time in the operation time of database is short. I discussed the ethical thinking and proposed the ethical thinking and future work.

This study sought to examine whether pressure from China’s dynamic, yet repressed, civil society had any impact on the Chinese state’s anti-corruption strategies. It was discovered that online activism in China has been on the rise in recent years, and this activism has been working in tandem with the government to monitor public and private corruption, exposing numerous cases online. Increasing trends of online activism seem to be leading to an augmented government anti-corruption strategy that is sensitive to issues exposed on the Internet and to public opinion. As the government sought to shore up its credibility, it was able to harness this wave of public participation to work towards its own ends. Recent reforms in China have attempted to institute public surveillance and monitoring as a central part of the government’s anti-corruption efforts. By illuminating the changing institutional design of the anti-corruption agencies within the Party and the government since the 1990s, this study found that the most recent campaign to rally pubic participation was sincere as the goal of clean government and limited corruption benefit both the government and Chinese society. However, the current anti-corruption regime still has engrained problems and conflicts of interest. Until public surveillance is fully developed and there are more democratic checks and balances, this study does not predict that corruption will be eliminated in China in the near future.
published_or_final_version
China Development Studies
Master
Master of Arts in China Development Studies

Attempts to build a free press are routinely made in countries experiencing violent conflict or the aftermath thereof. A free press, defined as a press that holds governments accountable, is thought of as an important part of an emerging democracy. The role of media development projects is nevertheless under-researched. Most examinations of such projects are done by practitioners active in media development. This thesis contributes to the emerging academic literature on media development and its role in statebuilding. It does so by investigating media development in the new state of South Sudan. Ethnographic observations, a social survey, and unstructured interviews have been applied during a fieldwork spell in Juba, which lasted from November 2014 to August 2015. The application of three methods allowed for an in-depth investigation of the South Sudanese understanding of media, which differed significantly from the aims of western media experts implementing media development projects. Furthermore, the thesis compares the strengths and weaknesses, and the results delivered, by each utilised research method, and thus investigates how these methods perform in a country of the global South. I argue that the various understandings of media in South Sudan differ significantly from the thinking and practices of western media practitioners. In South Sudan, this resulted in a deteriorating relationship between the country’s government and its international donors and led to problems for the newly trained journalists. Furthermore, my results show the limitations of using just one method in a country of the global South; and they provide an argument for bricolage, a research approach that combines perspectives, theories, and methods, when researching policy-relevant questions in environments where the researcher is not a cultural native.

The study concerns the inter-relationship between media reform and civil society in Thailand between 1995-2000. It examines case studies of two selected television organisations - the production company Watchdog and the broadcast channel Independent Television (iTV) - and analyses their internal production decision-making processes, their public affairs programs and their urban and rural audiences. Debates about civil society and media reform between 1995-2000 influenced the government's media regulation policies to the extent that more attention was paid to media freedom as intended by Articles 39, 40 and 41 in the 1997 Constitution. Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) took an important role in monitoring government policies on media reform under the Constitution and issues about media re-regulation and ownership were canvassed, although the drawn out National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) selecting process delayed media reform. The transparency of the selection process of the NBC has been widely debated among NGOs, media scholars and media professionals. Most Thai public affairs programs in the period were shown on iTV, Channel 9 and Channel 11 and were in the minority compared with entertainment. Thai television stations normally screened entertainment programs to make profits, while they usually would not allow producers to air open debates critical of the government. Also, public affairs programs that were screened often were given inappropriate airtimes. Watchdog and iTV treated public affairs programs in different ways. Watchdog, originating from an NCO, the Creative Media Foundation, emphasized public participation in local community-oriented programs - such as Chirmsak Pinthong's Lan Ban Lan Muang - which exemplified civic journalism on television. In contrast, iTV was created in 1996 to meet the promise made in 1992 after Black May that a non-state commercial channel would be introduced. It was organised by journalists from the Nation Multimedia Company and focused on current national news issues which seldom allowed public participation. Both organisations attempted to maintain their professionalism despite political and business pressures. Chirmsak and Watchdog were accused of bias favoring the Democrat Party and often encountered program censorship. ITV staff, especially in the news department led by Suthichai Yoon and Thepchai Yong, unsuccessful fought. Shin Corps 2000-2001 takeover of the station that had been brought on by the financial problems of iTV and the Siam Commercial Bank after the economic crisis of 1997. There were three main concepts of civil society in the period 1997-2000 - Communitarianism, Self-sufficiency and Good Governance. These ideas were advanced by reformers such as Dr. Prawase Wasi and Thirayut Boonme, and were reinforced by His Majesty King Bhumibol's December 1997 Birthday Speech that endorsed the ideal of national self-sufficiency. Thai civil society debates often were involved with rural people, while the 8th National Development Plan and the Chuan government's policy on decentralisation aimed to strengthen the rural sector as an antidote to the 1997 crisis. However, the aims of civil society reformers were at times too idealistic and were viewed with skepticism by some middle class urban critics. The continuing influence of electoral corruption in rural areas also obstructed civil society ideals, while decentralisation and community development still maintained a top-down way of development and depended on government support. These difficulties in implementing pro-civil society reforms in the political process were paralleled by difficulties in developing public interest programs on Thai television. Current affairs and investigative journalism programs, such as iTV Talk, Tod Rahad and Krong Satanakarn, did not often open public discussion on the programs. Rather, the regular format of panel discussions, consisting of elites and some celebrities, tended to focus on national topics rather than local issues. The hosts of many of these public affairs programs depended on their own celebrities status and tended to invite well-known guests, whereas community-oriented programs such as Lan Ban Lan Muang and Tid Ban Tang Muang promoted civic journalism and deliberative democracy more effectively. The latter programs allowed the public to participate in the programs as the main actors and even proposed their own agendas. However, a limited study of three audience focus groups - an expert urban group, a young middle class urban group, and a rural group - found considerable scepticism about the possibility of developing public interest awareness via television programs. The expert and young middle class groups criticised both the hosts and the style of a selection of current affairs programs, which they thought were too serious and also biased. Some also considered that current affairs programs were a platform for the people in power rather than providing a space for the public. Therefore, they rarely watched them. In contrast, the rural group who participated in Lan Ban Lan Muang, believed that the program was useful for development communication. The audience gained information about other communities and used the media as the means to publicise their own community. However, they rarely watched it because the airtime of the program was the same as a popular entertainment program on Channel 3. The researcher used qualitative research methods to collect data, including indepth interviews, focus groups, participant observation, program recording and document analysis. Theoretically, the study has attempted to combine the approaches of western and Thai scholars. The main approach used to explain the relationship between the media and civil society is media and public sphere theory, as introduced by Habermas, and combined with the perspectives on media re-regulation of the Thai scholar Ubonrat Siriyusak. In terms of analysing Watchdog and iTV, the researcher used political economy perspectives to understand decision-making in both organisations. In addition, an organisational culture approach was used to explore conflicts of interest that arose in both organisations due to their different sub-cultures. Civic journalism, framing theory and development communication theory were further employed to examine the television programs and their roles in promoting the public interest and development projects, while the audience groups were considered in the context of participatory communication theory and reception theory.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The role of the media as a watchdog for the social institution of science is viewed as part of the media’s role to protect society. In this regard, the role of media was studied in reporting the phenomenon of the commercialisation of academic research at universities. The current study was conducted by analysing articles in 2 scientific journals (Science and Nature) and 4 printed newspapers (The New York Times, London Times, Mail & Gaurdian, Business Day) for the year 2003. The methods of investigation for each publication included the number of articles covering the topic, the percentage coverage, headline analysis, summary of contents and analysis of the themes. The New York Times had more articles on the topic of the “commercialisation of science at universities” than the other publications. However, based on the number of issues per year, Science and Nature had a greater coverage of the topic than The New York Times. Based on the analyses of the articles, it is concluded that The New York Times had the most balanced and informed coverage of all the issues and stakeholders involved in the commercialisation of science at universities. This is attributed to the The New York Times’s position of standing outside the realm of science and its experience in covering broad issues.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die rol van die media as ‘n waghond vir die sosiale instelling van die wetenskap, word gesien as deel van die media se rol as die beskermer van die samelewing. In hierdie opsig is die media se rol in die verslaglewering van die kommersialisering van die wetenskap by universiteite ondersoek. Hierdie studie is uitgevoer deur artikels in 2 wetenskaplike vaktydskrifte (Science en Nature) en 4 koerante (The New York Times, London Times, Mail & Guardian, Business Day) vir die jaar 2003, te analiseer. Die metodes wat gebruik is om elke artikel te ontleed, het die aantal artikels, die persentasie van artikels in elke publikasie, hoofopskrif analise, opsomming van inhoud en ‘n analise van die artikel se tema, ingesluit. The New York Times het meer artikels omtrent die onderwerp, die “kommersialisering van die wetenskap by universiteite”, as die ander publikasies gehad. Gebaseer op die aantal uitgawes per jaar, het Science en Nature meer aandag geskenk aan die onderwerp as The New York Times. Volgens die analises van die artikels, word afgeleui dat The New York Times die mees gebalanseerde en ingeligte dekking gehad het oor die betrokke sake en partye in die “kommersialisering van die wetenskap by universiteite”. Dit word toegeskryf aan die The New York Times se posisie as buitestaander in die wetenskap en die koerant se ondervinding om ‘n wye veld te dek.

Dissertação apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Comunicação, ramo de Jornalismo
Data is a term that is currently making massive waves amongst media and news media. With stories like the Iraq War Logs, it made its way onto the journalistic stage. Due to that, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate the characteristics of data journalism and its effects on journalism. Therefore, the related project is designed to make use of current models in order to find out what it takes through practical use. Furthermore, the conducted case study aims to determine the usage and acceptance by the audience of the social network Twitter and in particular the Millennials. The subject of the study was the produced visual data outcome and the feedback given by citizens and especially consumers/ users of Twitter. The data for the study was gathered through a quantitative image type analysis and the record of retweets and favorites. These data support the view that data journalism with its visual results appeal to the audience and the characteristics of the Millennials. Additionally, it was concluded that the basic attitude of journalists will not change but the tools and skills need to be implemented in the newsroom and the work process of the storytelling journalist that, as a result, will promote watchdog and citizen journalism.

In 2011, the Office of the Auditor General of BC reported that post-certification monitoring of projects certified through the environmental assessment (EA) process was largely absent (OAGBC, 2011). In response, the BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) implemented a compliance and enforcement (C&E) program and began conducting inspections. A total of 103 inspections on 42 active projects have been conducted by EAO between August 2011 and March 2016. Although many regulatory theories detail factors that affect compliance, empirical evidence evaluating patterns of enforcement and compliance outcomes directly related to EA requirements is lacking. This research examines patterns in compliance oversight and compliance outcomes through collection, verification and analysis of a wide range of publically available data. Findings indicate that certain aspects of EAO’s C&E strategy are effective and warranted; while other strategies are not being properly implemented and require reassessment. Based on key findings, a range of recommendations, including suggestions for further research, is provided to improve EAO’s C&E strategy, which will in turn enhance environmental management in BC.
Science, Faculty of
Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for
Graduate

Over the past several decades, the numbers of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) that focus on tackling human rights issues have grown rapidly. These organizations operate internationally and work with governments, legislatures, social movement leaders, activists, donors, and individual citizens. As the number of operating INGOs has risen dramatically, researchers have simultaneously begun to investigate the possibility of creating a global civil society that would govern itself in order to maintain peace, create global solidarity and achieve human rights. This research investigates the role of nonprofit organizations in developing a global civil society by evaluating U.S.-based organizations that are tapping into an often-uninvolved subset of societyâ American donors.
Master of Public and International Affairs

Since 1974, governments have created a series of statutory public involvement institutions in the English NHS: Community Health Councils; Patient and Public Involvement Forums; Local Involvement Networks; and, from 2013, local Healthwatch. This study presents the role of these institutions as a puzzle, given the growth of alternative forms of public involvement. Public involvement in the NHS tends to be studied for its contribution to democratising the NHS or for its role in a choice-led consumer market, but these analyses generally focus on involvement led by NHS personnel or by independent patient organisations. This dissertation uses a different body of political science theory to assess roles that statutory public involvement institutions may play in Ministers’ political management of the NHS. One approach is to see these institutions as ‘sheepdogs’, rounding up and organising diverse groups, thus providing a form of corporatist interest intermediation. Alternatively, they could be ‘watchdogs’, raising the alarm when standards slip critically and thereby helping to safeguard the NHS against disasters. The explanatory value of these two interpretations is reviewed over the period 1974-2010, using policy documents and archive material, including the records of these organisations and the archives of public inquiries into problems in hospitals. The findings suggest that at various times national political actors have used statutory public involvement institutions to manage the representation and mobilisation of interests and to alert them to problems in local health services. There is more recent evidence for the watchdog than for the sheepdog role. The watchdog role has been reappraised following the failure of statistical monitoring and regulatory police patrols to prevent disasters in the NHS. The discussion also shows how the sheepdog powers of these institutions mean that they can round up opposition, rather than moderating it, resulting in Ministerial reforms to statutory public involvement institutions.

The word journalist, and the domain of producers and texts that inhabit its boundaries, often lacks a clear and agreed definition. The dominant body of literature looks at journalists in the United States through a remote lens, locates them within a cadre of journalists operating out of a newsroom, and overlooks the multiple roles they inhabit at once. This dissertation represents an attempt to build on and extend the depth of definitions afforded the American print journalist offered in literature that dominates journalism studies. This dissertation utilizes critical textual analysis for a case study of journalists' letters to editors of journalism trade magazines to identify the patterned ways journalists define journalists. Deuze's (2005, 2007b) theory of the ideological definitions of journalists provides a framework for the analysis. Journalism trade magazines perform a special role as watchdogs of the press. Journalists who write letters to editors of these magazines are watching the watchdogs. This dissertation looks to those journalists' words to craft a nuanced understanding of the factors that shape the forces defining these journalists, their labor, and their pursuit of democratic ideals. Drawing from the corpus of letters published in American Journalism Review, Columbia Journalism Review, and Editor and Publisher, critical textual analysis identifies how discourses in the letters reflect or reshape traditional print journalists' self definitions. The result is a catalog of information that shapes an understanding of the letters within the individual ideological framework of the community of people who volunteer their opinions for publication in these journals. The dissertation works to develop a more complete picture of the ideology of traditional print journalists as it is defined in their own words.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Greta K. Weiderman, for the Master of Arts degree in Mass Communication and Media Arts, presented on Aug. 21, 2009, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: THE WATCHDOG ROLE OF NEWSPAPERS: NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF SINCLAIR BROADCASTING'S ANNOUNCEMENT TO AIR A ONE-SIDED DOCUMENTARY RIGHT BEFORE THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. William Babcock This thesis is a content analysis examining newspaper coverage of Sinclair Broadcasting's announcement that it planned to air a program titled "Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal" 13 days before the November 2004 presidential election. Sinclair Broadcast Group ordered its 61 stations to preempt regular programming and run the show, which attacked then presidential candidate John Kerry's activism against the Vietnam War (Jensen, 2004). The film was to be presented as news programming. This study examines how 41 newspapers in cities with Sinclair television stations covered the announcement to run the "Stolen Honor" documentary and the situation following it in news stories, editorials and columns. It also examines if the ownership or circulation of the newspapers was related to the way they covered the controversy and whether these newspapers served their watchdog functions. The results indicated that there was no relationship between a newspaper's performance of the watchdog role, as measured by the watchdog index, and its circulation or ownership. But the study did find, however, that as a whole, the newspapers performed their watchdog role.

Les systèmes critiques, parmi lesquels les systèmes embarqués construits autour d'un microprocesseur mono-cœur exécutant un logiciel d'application, ne sont pas à l'abri d'interférences naturelles ou malveillantes qui peuvent provoquer des fautes transitoires. Cette thèse porte sur des protections qui peuvent être implantées pour détecter les effets de telles fautes transitoires sans faire d'hypothèses sur la multiplicité des erreurs générées. De plus, ces erreurs peuvent être soit des erreurs de flot de contrôle soit des erreurs sur les données. Une nouvelle méthode de vérification de flot de contrôle est tout d'abord proposée. Elle permet de vérifier, sans modifier le système initial, que les instructions du programme d'application sont lues sans erreur et dans le bon ordre. Les erreurs sur les données sont également prises en compte par une extension de la vérification de flot de contrôle. La méthode proposée offre un bon compromis entre les différents surcoûts, le temps de latence de détection et la couverture des erreurs. Les surcoûts peuvent aussi être ajustés aux besoins de l'application. La méthode est mise en œuvre sur un prototype, construit autour d'un microprocesseur Sparc v8. Les fonctions d'analyse de criticité développées dans le cadre de la méthodologie proposée sont également utilisées pour évaluer l'impact des options de compilation sur la robustesse intrinsèque du logiciel d'application.

No mercado altamente globalizado de hoje, a manutenção dos equipamentos tem se tornado um fator crucial para as empresas dos mais diversos segmentos. Técnicas de manutenção baseadas no nível de degradação dos equipamentos estão sendo preferidas em detrimento das técnicas tradicionais como manutenção corretiva e preventiva, e trazem benefícios como tempos de paradas reduzidos, tarefas de manutenção facilitadas e melhor gerenciamento de ativos. Com o desenvolvimento das técnicas de manutenção inteligente, os sistemas embarcados que comportarão estes algoritmos necessitarão cada vez mais de alta flexibilidade, combinada com alta velocidade de processamento e baixo consumo. Em outras palavras, eles tornam-se cada vez mais complexos, o que tem impacto direto no projeto destes sistemas. Neste contexto, a programação baseada em modelos em conjunto com a capacidade de geração automática de código para uma dada plataforma tem despertado grande interesse. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo realizar a análise dos espaços de projeto e também do desempenho de diferentes implementações para algoritmos de manutenção inteligente quando executados em hardware e software. A partir de implementações disponíveis nos ambientes MATLAB e LabVIEW™ de um sistema de manutenção inteligente chamado Watchdog Agent™, e utilizando ferramentas de geração automática de código, o desempenho dos sistemas de manutenção gerados é comparado usando-se parâmetros como tempo de execução e ocupação de memória ou da área do FPGA. Para os testes são utilizados dados de vibração coletados de uma bancada de testes composta por um atuador eletromecânico para válvulas.
In today’s highly globalized market, equipment maintenance has become a crucial factor for companies from several segments. Maintenance strategies based on equipment’s condition level are being preferred in place of traditional techniques such as corrective and preventive maintenance, and incur in benefits such as reduced downtime, facilitated maintenance tasks and better assets management. With the development of intelligent maintenance techniques, the embedded systems that will be used with such algorithms will need increasingly more flexibility, combined with high processing speed and low power consumption. In other words, they became increasingly more complex, what directly impact in their project. Within this context, model based engineering associated with automatic platform-specific code generation capabilities are of great interest. This work has as objective to perform a design space exploration by analyzing the performance of different implementations for intelligent maintenance algorithms when executed in hardware and software. Based on implementations available in MATLAB™ and LabVIEW™ environments of an intelligent maintenance system called Watchdog Agent, and using automatic code generation tools, the performance of the generated systems are compared using parameters such as execution time and memory or FPGA area occupation. For the validation tests, vibration data collected from a test bench composed by an electric mechanical actuator will be used.

Computer networks security is a topic which has been extensively researched. This research is fully justified when one notices the dimensions of the problem faced. One can easily identify different kinds of networks, a large quantity of network protocols, and an overwhelming amount of user applications that make extensive use of networks for the purposes those applications were built. This conforms a vast research field, where it is possible for a researcher to set his or her interests over a set of threats, vulnerabilities, or types of attacks, and devise a mechanism to prevent the attack, mitigate its effects or repair the final damages, based upon the specific characteristics of the scenario. Our research group on Computer Networks has been researching on certain kinds of computer networks security risks, specially those affecting wireless networks. In previous doctoral works [13], detection and exclusion methods for dealing with malicious nodes in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) had been proposed, from the point of view of every individual network node, using a technique called Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) based on Watchdog methods. In this scope, we pretend to optimize network throughput removing misbehaved nodes from the network communication processes, a task performed specifically by the Watchdog systems. When isolated security techniques obtain good results on dealing with one type of attacks, a way to improve the whole network performance could be establishing mechanisms for cooperatively sharing information between well-behaved nodes to speed up misbehaved node detection and increase accuracy. Obviously, these mechanisms will have a cost in terms of network transmission overhead and also a small computing time overhead needed to analize the received data and to obtain an opinion about a suspect node. The key issue here it to adequately balance the costs and the benefits related to these cooperation techniques to ensure that the overall network performance is increased if compared with a non-collaborative one.
Serrat Olmos, MD. (2013). Cooperation techniques to improve peer-to-peer wireless networks security [Tesis doctoral]. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/32831
Alfresco

Recientes avances en las tecnologías de la comunicación, así como la proliferación de nuevos dispositivos de computación, están plasmando nuestro entorno hacia un Internet ubicuo. Internet ofrece una plataforma global para acceder con bajo coste a una vasta gama de servicios de telecomunicaciones, como el correo electrónico, comercio electrónico, tele-educación, tele-salud y tele-medicina a bajo coste. Sin embargo, incluso en los países más desarrollados, un gran número de áreas rurales todavía están pobremente equipadas con una infraestructura básica de telecomunicaciones. Hoy en día, existen algunos esfuerzos para resolver esta falta de infraestructura, pero resultan todavía insuficientes. Con este objetivo presentamos en esta tesis RuralNet, una red comunitaria inalámbrica para proveer acceso a Internet de forma personalizada a los subscriptores de un área rural. Los objetivos de este estudio han sido el desarrollo de una nueva arquitectura para ofrecer un acceso a Internet flexible y seguro para zonas rurales aisladas. RuralNet combina el paradigma de las redes mesh y el uso de los dispositivos inalámbricos embebidos más económicos para ofrecer un gran número de servicios y aplicaciones basados en Internet. La solución desarrollada por RuralNet es capaz de cubrir grandes áreas a bajo coste, y puede también ser fácilmente desplegado y extendido tanto en términos de cobertura como de servicios ofrecidos. Dado que la implementación y la evaluación de RuralNet requiere un alto coste y una gran cantidad de mano de obra, hemos considerado que la simulación y la emulación eran una alternativa válida para ahorrar costes. Con este objetivo hemos desarrollado Castadiva, un emulador flexible proyectado para la evaluación de redes MANET y mesh. Castadiva es un emulador basado en dispositivos de bajo coste, utilizado para evaluar los protocolos y las aplicaciones desarrolladas.
Hortelano Otero, J. (2011). Design and implementation of architectures for the deployment of secure community wireless networks [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/10079
Palancia

Cette thèse traite de la vérification en ligne, par des moyens matériels, du flot de contrôle d'un système a base de microprocesseur. Une technique de compaction est utilisée pour faciliter cette vérification (analyse de signature). La plupart des méthodes proposées jusqu'ici imposent une modification du programme d'application, afin d'introduire dans celui-ci des propriétés invariantes (la signature en chaque point de l'organigramme est indépendante des chemins préalablement parcourus). Les méthodes proposées ici, au contraire, ont comme caractéristique principale de ne pas modifier le programme vérifie et utilisent un dispositif de type processeur, disposant d'une mémoire locale, pour assurer l'invariance de la signature. Deux méthodes sont ainsi décrites. La première est facilement adaptable a différents microprocesseurs et présente une efficacité qui la place parmi les meilleures méthodes proposées jusqu'ici. La seconde methode a été dérivée de la première dans le but de diminuer la quantité d'informations nécessaire au test. Cette dernière methode a été implantée sur un prototype d'unité centrale d'automate programmable (avec la société télémécanique) et son efficacité a été évaluée par des expériences d'injection de fautes. Le cout d'implantation particulièrement faible dans le cas du prototype réalise peut permettre d'envisager une évolution de celui-ci vers un produit industriel

L'elaborato affronta in primo luogo la progettazione e il design CAD del sistema di misura impedenziometrico ad alta risoluzione. La seconda parte tratta un'upgrade del software per implementare una funzione di risparmio energetico.

[EN] Incorporating error detection mechanisms is a key element in the design of fault tolerant systems. For many of those systems the detection of an error (whether temporary or permanent) triggers a bunch of actions or activation of elements pursuing any of these objectives: continuation of the system operation despite the error, system recovery, system stop into a safe state, etc. Objectives ultimately intended to improve the characteristics of reliability, security, and availability, among others, of the system in question. One of these error detection elements is a watchdog processor; it is responsible to monitor the system processor and check that no errors occur during the program execution. The main drawback of the existing proposals in this regard and that prevents a more widespread use of them is the loss of performance and the increased memory consumption suffered by the monitored system. In this PhD a new technique to embed signatures is proposed. The technique is called ISIS - Interleaved Signature Instruction Stream - and it embeds the watchdog signatures interspersed with the original program instructions in the memory. With this technique it is a separate element of the system processor (a watchdog processor as such) who carries out the operations to detect errors. Although signatures are mixed with program instructions, and unlike previous proposals, the main system processor is not involved neither in the recovery of these signatures from memory nor in the corresponding calculations, reducing the performance loss. A novel technique is also proposed that enables the watchdog processor verification of the structural integrity of the monitored program checking the jump addresses used. This jump address processing technique comes to largely solve the problem of verifying a jump to a new program area when there are multiple possible valid destinations of the jump. This problem did not have an adequate solution so far, and although the proposal made here can not solve every possible jump scenario it enables the inclusion of a large number of them into the set verifiable jumps. The theoretical ISIS proposal and its error detection mechanisms are complemented by the contribution of a complete system (processor, watchdog processor, cache memory, etc.) based on ISIS which incorporates the detection mechanisms proposed here. This system has been called HORUS, and is developed in the synthesizable subset of the VHDL language, so it is possible not only to simulate the behavior of the system at the occurrence of a fault and analyze its evolution from it but it is also possible to program a programmable logic device like an FPGA for its inclusion in a real system. To program the HORUS system in this PhD a modified version of the gcc compiler has been developed which includes the generation of signatures for the watchdog processor as an integral part of the process to create the executable program (compilation, assembly, and link) from a source code written in the C language. Finally, another work developed in this PhD is the development of FIASCO (Fault Injection Aid Software Components), a set of scripts using the Tcl/Tk language that allow the injection of a fault during the simulation of HORUS in order to study its behavior and its ability to detect subsequent errors. With FIASCO it is possible to perform hundreds or thousands of simulations in a distributed system environment to reduce the time required to collect the data from large-scale injection campaigns. Results show that a system using the techniques proposed here is able to detect errors during the execution of a program with a minimum loss of performance, and that the penalty in memory consumption when using a watchdog processor is similar to previous proposals.
[ES] La incorporación de mecanismos de detección de errores es un elemento fundamental en el diseño de sistemas tolerantes a fallos en los que, en muchos casos, la detección de un error (ya sea transitorio o permanente) es el punto de partida que desencadena toda una serie de acciones o activación de elementos que persiguen alguno de estos objetivos: la continuación de las operaciones del sistema a pesar del error, la recuperación del mismo, la parada de sus operaciones llevando al sistema a un estado seguro, etc. Objetivos, en definitiva, que pretenden la mejora de las características de fiabilidad, seguridad y disponibilidad, entre otros, del sistema en cuestión. Uno de estos elementos de detección de errores es un procesador de guardia; su trabajo consiste en monitorizar al procesador del sistema y comprobar que no se producen errores durante la ejecución del programa. El principal inconveniente de las propuestas existentes a este respecto y que impiden una mayor difusión de su uso es la pérdida de prestaciones y el aumento de consumo de memoria que sufre el sistema monitorizado. En este trabajo se propone una nueva técnica de empotrado de firmas (ISIS -Interleaved Signature Instruction Stream) intercaladas dentro del espacio de la memoria del programa. Con ella un elemento separado del procesador del sistema realiza las operaciones encaminadas a detectar los errores. A pesar de que las firmas se encuentran mezcladas con las instrucciones del programa que está ejecutando, y a diferencia de las propuestas previas, el procesador principal del sistema no se involucra ni en la recuperación de las firmas ni en las operaciones de cálculo correspondientes, lo que reduce la pérdida de prestaciones. También se propone una novedosa técnica para que el procesador de guardia pueda verificar la integridad estructural del programa que monitoriza comprobando las direcciones de salto empleadas. Esta técnica de procesado de las direcciones de salto viene a resolver en gran medida el problema de la comprobación de un salto a una nueva zona del programa cuando existen múltiples posibles destinos válidos. Este problema no tenía una solución adecuada hasta el momento, y aunque la propuesta que aquí se hace no consigue resolver todos los posibles escenarios de salto sí permite incorporar un buen números de ellos al conjunto de saltos verificables. ISIS y sus mecanismos de detección de errores se complementan con la aportación de un sistema completo (procesador, procesador de guardia, memoria caché, etc.) basado en ISIS denominado HORUS. Está desarrollado en lenguaje VHDL sintetizable, de manera que es posible tanto simular el comportamiento del sistema ante la aparición de un fallo y analizar su evolución a partir de éste como programar un dispositivo lógico programable tipo FPGA para su inclusión en un sistema real. Para programar el sistema HORUS se ha desarrollado una versión modificada del compilador gcc que incluye la generación de las firmas de referencia para el procesador de guardia como parte del proceso de creación del programa ejecutable a partir de código fuente escrito en lenguaje C. Finalmente, otro trabajo desarrollado en esta tesis es el desarrollo de FIASCO (Fault Injection Aid Software COmponents), un conjunto de scripts en lenguaje Tcl/Tk que permiten la inyección de un fallo durante la simulación de HORUS con el objetivo de estudiar su comportamiento y su capacidad para detectar los errores subsiguientes. Con FIASCO es posible lanzar cientos o miles de simulaciones en un entorno distribuido para reducir el tiempo necesario para obtener los datos de campañas de inyección a gran escala. Los resultados demuestran que un sistema que utilice las técnicas que aquí se proponen es capaz de detectar errores durante la ejecución del programa con una mínima pérdida de prestaciones, y que la penalización en el consumo de memoria al usar un procesador de guardia es similar a la de las propu
[CAT] La incorporació de mecanismes de detecció d'errors és un element fonamental en el disseny de sistemes tolerants a fallades. En aquests sistemes la detecció d'un error, tant transitori com permanent, sovint significa l'inici d'una sèrie d'accions o activació d'elements per assolir algun del objectius següents: mantenir les operacions del sistema malgrat l'error, la recuperació del sistema, aturar les operacions situant el sistema en un estat segur, etc. Aquests objectius pretenen, fonamentalment, millorar les característiques de fiabilitat, seguretat i disponibilitat del sistema. El processador de guarda és un dels elements emprats per a la detecció d'errors. El seu treball consisteix en monitoritzar el processador del sistema i comprovar que no es produeixen error durant l'execució de les instruccions. Els principals inconvenients de l'ús del processadors de guarda és la pèrdua de prestacions i l'increment de les necessitats de memòria del sistema que monitoritza, per la qual cossa la seva utilització no està molt generalitzada. En aquest treball es proposa una nova tècnica de encastat de signatures (ISIS - Interleaved Signature Instruction Stream) intercalant-les en l'espai de memòria del programa. D'aquesta manera és possible que un element extern al processador realitze les operacions dirigides a detectar els errors, i al mateix temps permet que el processador execute el programa original sense tenir que processar les signatures, encara que aquestes es troben barrejades amb les instruccions del programa que s'està executant. També es proposa en aquest treball una nova tècnica que permet al processador de guarda verificar la integritat estructural del programa en execució. Aquesta verificació permet resoldre el problema de com comprovar que, al executar el processador un salt a una nova zona del programa, el salt es realitza a una de les possibles destinacions que són vàlides. Fins el moment no hi havia una solució adequada per a aquest problema i encara que la tècnica presentada no resol tots el cassos possibles, sí afegeix un bon nombre de salts al conjunt de salts verificables. Les tècniques presentades es reforcen amb l'aportació d'un sistema complet (processador, processador de guarda, memòria cache, etc.) basat en ISIS i que incorpora els mecanismes de detecció que es proposen en aquest treball. A aquest sistema se li ha donat el nom de HORUS, i està desenvolupat en llenguatge VHDL sintetitzable, la qual cosa permet no tan sols simular el seu comportament davant la aparició d'un error i analitzar la seva evolució, sinó també programar-lo en un dispositiu FPGA per incloure'l en un sistema real. Per poder programar el sistema HORUS s'ha desenvolupat una versió modificada del compilador gcc. Aquesta versió del compilador inclou la generació de les signatures de referència per al processador de guarda com part del procés de creació del programa executable (compilació, assemblat i enllaçat) des del codi font en llenguatge C. Finalment en aquesta tesis s'ha desenvolupat un altre treball anomenat FIASCO (Fault Injection Aid Software COmponents), un conjunt d'scripts en llenguatge Tcl/Tk que permeten injectar fallades durant la simulació del funcionament d'HORUS per estudiar la seua capacitat de detectar els errors i el seu comportament posterior. Amb FIASCO és possible llançar centenars o milers de simulacions en entorns distribuïts per reduir el temps necessari per obtenir les dades d'una campanya d'injecció de fallades de grans proporcions. Els resultats obtinguts demostren que un sistema que utilitza les tècniques descrites és capaç de detectar errors durant l'execució del programa amb una pèrdua mínima de prestacions, i amb un requeriments de memòria similars als de les propostes anteriors.
Rodríguez Ballester, F. (2016). Detección concurrente de errores en el flujo de ejecución de un procesador [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/63254
TESIS

Le prestazioni e la densità di integrazione dei circuiti integrati hanno avuto una incredibile crescita negli ultimi decenni. Questo incredibile sviluppo ha portato ad una enorme crescita delle applicazioni dei circuiti elettronici, fino ad arrivare a pensare di poter rendere “smart” e connesso ad Internet ogni oggetto di uso comune, grazie alla cosiddetta “Internet of Things”. In questo panorama trovano dunque sempre maggior spazio i sensori, indispensabili al fine di monitorare i parametri d’interesse negli oggetti da controllare. Un altro aspetto molto importante è quello di ridurre il consumo dei dispositivi. Gli oggetti da connettere ad internet nella maggior parte dei casi saranno infatti da alimentare a batteria. Lo scopo di questo elaborato è quello di sviluppare un nodo sensore con annesso un datalogger mediante l’utilizzo di un microcontrollore. L’obiettivo principale è di ridurne il consumo al minimo, con correnti di standby dell’ordine delle decine di nA, così da poter alimentare tale circuito per un periodo di diversi anni con la batteria più piccola possibile. Il circuito sarà non solo progettato ma anche realizzato su PCB, al fine di poterne collaudare il funzionamento reale e di poterlo confrontare con quello previsto. Un dispositivo di questo tipo, oltre ad essere un utile caso di studio per mostrare i valori minimi di consumo verso i quali sia possibile spingersi, potrebbe trovare applicazione in situazioni in cui si renda necessario monitorare determinati parametri in condizioni tali da rendere difficoltosa la sostituzione della batteria e quindi anche il monitoraggio real-time che richiederebbe necessariamente un maggior consumo. Il progetto si compone di un microcontrollore che, oltre a gestire la lettura di un sensore, si occupa di implementare la funzione di datalogger. Un altro componente fondamentale è un timer, avente lo scopo di gestire il periodo di attività del µC.

Zoological gardens, or zoos, keep and display wild animals, mainly for the purposes of education, conservation and biological research. However, it is evident that a significant component of zoos is the vast number of people who visit them, since without the support of visitors, zoos would not be financially viable and would cease to exist. This research investigates the behaviours of these visitors and develops an understanding of their awareness relating to what they see and do while they are in the zoo, along with their motivations for visiting. The study focuses on two major metropolitan zoos in Australia: Adelaide (in South Australia) and Taronga (in Sydney, New South Wales). A brief historical account contextualises changes, raising awareness of the significance of visitors to the livelihood of zoos. More and more zoos are integrating into their management routines different programmes that relate to the care and welfare of the animals. Despite recent growth in scientific attention, which has focused on human-animal relationships, little research has been conducted relating to the human visitor in the zoo. To date, decisions made by administrators have been based upon assumptions of the visitors’ understanding of the work of zoos rather than on actual quantitative findings. This empirical research is significant in that it uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to appraise factual data and information. The data from unobtrusive tracking observations at different exhibits, combined with the results of questionnaire surveys, are used to explore and assess the perceptions of visitors. In developing a demographic profile of the people who visit zoos, this work considers the motivations and the frequency of visitors. Various factors that influence the viewing patterns of visitors are explored to assess the popularity of exhibits, and the perceptions of visitors relating to animals and enclosures are investigated, to assess the diverse levels of satisfaction. Case studies explore the perceptions and understandings of visitors towards the use of enrichment items, the use of signs and labels, and a hypothetical approach to the feeding of carnivores in zoos. The results are important in that they contribute essential knowledge that describes the perceptions of a wide range of people who visit zoos, along with their expectations, since it is crucial for these institutions to maintain their popularity with the public.

Doctor of Philosophy
Zoological gardens, or zoos, keep and display wild animals, mainly for the purposes of education, conservation and biological research. However, it is evident that a significant component of zoos is the vast number of people who visit them, since without the support of visitors, zoos would not be financially viable and would cease to exist. This research investigates the behaviours of these visitors and develops an understanding of their awareness relating to what they see and do while they are in the zoo, along with their motivations for visiting. The study focuses on two major metropolitan zoos in Australia: Adelaide (in South Australia) and Taronga (in Sydney, New South Wales). A brief historical account contextualises changes, raising awareness of the significance of visitors to the livelihood of zoos. More and more zoos are integrating into their management routines different programmes that relate to the care and welfare of the animals. Despite recent growth in scientific attention, which has focused on human-animal relationships, little research has been conducted relating to the human visitor in the zoo. To date, decisions made by administrators have been based upon assumptions of the visitors’ understanding of the work of zoos rather than on actual quantitative findings. This empirical research is significant in that it uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to appraise factual data and information. The data from unobtrusive tracking observations at different exhibits, combined with the results of questionnaire surveys, are used to explore and assess the perceptions of visitors. In developing a demographic profile of the people who visit zoos, this work considers the motivations and the frequency of visitors. Various factors that influence the viewing patterns of visitors are explored to assess the popularity of exhibits, and the perceptions of visitors relating to animals and enclosures are investigated, to assess the diverse levels of satisfaction. Case studies explore the perceptions and understandings of visitors towards the use of enrichment items, the use of signs and labels, and a hypothetical approach to the feeding of carnivores in zoos. The results are important in that they contribute essential knowledge that describes the perceptions of a wide range of people who visit zoos, along with their expectations, since it is crucial for these institutions to maintain their popularity with the public.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur klippning har bidragit till att förstärka det vilseledande narrativet i filmen The Prestige (2006). Tre scener som anses vara betydelsefulla för filmens vilseledande narrativ har analyserats, för att fastställa vad som händer med berättandet i filmen när olika klipptekniker används och hur klippningen bygger upp den här typen av narrativ. Med hjälp av Kleckers forskning om vilseledande narrativ, Bordwell och Thompsons teori kring hur tid kan manipuleras genom klippning och Corrigan och Whites teori om olika klipptekniker, undersöker uppsatsen hur det vilseledande narrativet är strukturerat genom klippning. Resultatet visar på att det går att konstatera att klippningen i The Prestige har bidragit till att framhäva det vilseledande narrativet. Genom användningen av olika klipptekniker, har berättandet i filmen lyckats vilseleda publikens uppmärksamhet. Tack vare blandningen av de olika teknikerna undanhålls viktig information från betraktaren, vilket är avgörande för att ett vilseledande narrativ ska fungera.

This report  describes in detail the working process of constructing a normalized relational database with an associated graphical user interface, based on raw data data sets in CSV-format acquired from the Avian Knowledge Network. The data files contained the bird sightings from the year 2009 in North America. An entity-relationship model of the database was designed, including a table representing the raw data as well as tables representing the corresponding normalized relational data. As a first step the bulk loading facility of the DBMS is used for loading a CSV file into the raw data table. Then a SQL stored procedure  is used for populating the final relational tables by transforming and cleaning the rows of the raw data table. Performance measurements were made about the data transformation as well as a comparison between querying the raw data table versus the final normalized tables. In addition a graphical user interface (GUI) was developed that allows a user to query the database in a flexible way. The performance measurements indicated that querying the normalized tables was more efficient than querying the raw data table.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point, 2008.
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree Master of Science in Natural Resources (Environmental Education and Interpretation), College of Natural Resources. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-50).

As citizens of developed countries we are under constant media influence. The media can in many cases choose if and more importantly how a phenomenon is to be presented to the public. Criminal matters and the actions of the police have almost always received large spatial attention in the media. The police’s perspective is often given much priority and weight, and while the police never intend to misguide the public, one must take into consideration that they operate under certain circumstances, hence their perspective of crime is influenced and somewhat biased. The written media, i.e. the press, is favorably examined through textual analysis but considering media influence on a society this textual analysis must be put in a wider perspective. This makes a discourse analysis of the critical kind well suited in researching the police in media. The aim of this paper is to establish, by using aspects of the theory of discourse analysis as presented by Teun van Dijk and Norman Fairclough, how (and to some extent with what purpose) the press presents the actions of the police.

Este estudo incide sobre o Plano de Marketing para a Terra Azul e tem como objetivo descrever todos os passos essenciais à sua elaboração, de forma a proporcionar a melhoria da qualidade do serviço prestado, alcançando um patamar de excelência e aumentando o seu reconhecimento. Foi efetuada uma revisão da literatura na área do Marketing, sendo este uma ferramenta imprescindível para dotar a organização de competências e qualidades que lhe permitem obter sucesso e conseguir um posicionamento de liderança face às outras da concorrência. O Plano foi composto pelas seguintes etapas: Pesquisa documental sobre a empresa (para se caracterizar a sua estrutura, composição, missão, cultura organizacional, estratégias e desempenho operacional) e sobre o Marketing; sumário executivo; definição dos objetivos de Marketing; análise ambiental; segmentação do mercado; posicionamento; Marketing-mix; orçamentação; implementação do plano e avaliação e controlo. Cada um destes elementos foi trabalhado sempre no sentido de permitir encontrar as falhas da empresa e corrigi-las ou minimizá-las, identificar as mais valias da empresa e maximizar o seu aproveitamento; ABSTRACT: Marketing Plan – Terra Azul, Whale Watching This study focuses on the Marketing Plan for Terra Azul and aims to describe all essential steps for their preparation, to provide improved quality of service, reaching a level of excellence and increasing its recognition. A literature review in the Marketing area was conducted, this being an essential tool to provide the organization skills and abilities that allow it to succeed and achieve a leadership position against the competition. The Plan was comprised of the following steps: Documentary research on the company (to characterize its structure, composition, mission, organizational culture, strategy and operational performance) and on Marketing; executive summary; definition of Marketing objectives; environmental analysis; market segmentation; positioning; Marketing mix; budgeting; roll-out and evaluation and control. Each of these elements was worked to allow the company to find and fix any fault or to minimize, identify the added value of the company and maximize its use.

Whale-watching tourism depends upon the continued presence of cetacean species within a specific area. However, current evidence suggests that the distribution and/or abundance of cetaceans may alter in response to continued changes in sea surface temperature with global climate change (GCC). This thesis develops and applies a framework for evaluating the resilience of whale-watching tourism to these potential temperature-induced shifts in cetacean distribution. The framework identifies three key components that are likely to affect the vulnerability of an operator to climate change impacts on cetacean occurrence (and tourist numbers). These are the likelihood of observing a cetacean, the type of whale-watching trip, and the type of tourist. Together with an examination of an operator's adaptive capacity, these data provide the type of information required to make an assessment of resilience. Using Western Scotland as a case study, framework components were populated using species distribution modeling, a motivation-based segmentation of whale-watchers, an examination of tourist's attitudes to scenarios of a changing environment and a segmentation of trip activity. Finally, data on potential vulnerability were combined with investigation of an operator's adaptive capacity (using semi-structured interviews) to make an evaluation of resilience to climate change. Our results highlight four key findings: (1) operators have high inherent resilience to a variable environment in which uncertainty is accepted, (2) vulnerability to climate change is influenced by the type and number of trips offered by whale-watch operators, (3) adaptive capacity can be improved through enhanced perceptions of risk, and (4) vulnerability to climate change is not independent from vulnerability to other factors. Future research should focus on those areas where whale-watching is less diverse, more specialised and where, currently, the climate is less variable, as it is in these regions that vulnerability may be highest and, most likely, capacity to develop resilience at its lowest.

Nástup VOD přinesl novou formu spotřeby obsahu: binge-watching. Tato práce zkoumá, jak tento posun začal ovlivňovat scénář seriálů, které jsou koncipovány tak, aby byly zhlédnuty hned po sobě (binge-watched).