Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-104). / Many motion tracking systems average and integrate tracking measurements over a period of time in order to reduce the effects of device noise, external noise and other disturbances. The target (user) is likely to be moving throughout the sample time, introducing additional 'noise' (uncertainty) into the measurements. Without filtering, noise can cause small variations in the estimated tracking positions (tracking drift) over time. There are many filters and algorithms that account for uncertainty due to noise. The Kalman filter has been chosen in this study because of its ability to estimate tracking positions and to account for uncertainty in the tracked object's position where it is occluded by other stationary or moving objects. An inexpensive algorithm is presented which detects the slightest motion and then tracks the motion or the target very accurately.

Includes bibliographical references. / Data matching, also referred to as data linkage or field matching, is a technique used to combine multiple data sources into one data set. Data matching is used for data integration in a number of sectors and industries; from politics and health care to scientific applications. The motivation for this study was the observation of the day-to-day struggles of a large non-governmental organisation (NGO) in managing their membership database. With a membership base of close to 2.4 million, the challenges they face with regard to the capturing and processing of the semi-structured membership updates are monumental. Updates arrive from the field in a multitude of formats, often incomplete and unstructured, and expert knowledge is geographically localised. These issues are compounded by an extremely complex organisational hierarchy and a general lack of data validation processes. An online system was proposed for pre-processing input and then matching it against the membership database. Termed the Data Pre-Processing and Matching System (DPPMS), it allows for single or bulk updates. Based on the success of the DPPMS with the NGO’s membership database, it was subsequently used for pre-processing and data matching of semi-structured patient and financial customer data. Using the semi-automated DPPMS rather than a clerical data matching system, true positive matches increased by 21% while false negative matches decreased by 20%. The Recall, Precision and F-Measure values all improved and the risk of false positives diminished. The DPPMS was unable to match approximately 8% of provided records; this was largely due to human error during initial data capture. While the DPPMS greatly diminished the reliance on experts, their role remained pivotal during the final stage of the process.

Multinational software and service implementation companies are faced with several challenges when it comes to effective and efficient retrieval and utilization of knowledge within the organization’s business units. While explicit knowledge is more easily recorded, tacit or qualitative (i.e., “sticky”) knowledge is seldom easy to transfer. Internal sharing and retrieval of this knowledge are essential core competencies for business units to function cohesively and to position themselves for competitive advantage. The Project Management Office (PMO) has a key role to play in the facilitation and standardization of this tacit knowledge as encountered in projects of varying complexity. Research shows that project-based organizations with PMOs have a better handle on knowledge flows and better able to handle the unexpected situations. PMO’s act as knowledge brokers with the aim to make tacit knowledge reusable, retrievable, and standardized, i.e., more explicit. This study explores the extent of the knowledge brokering function and determines if there is evidence of a mediating or moderating effect by the PMO on the tacitness of knowledge. This brokering function is examined via the project manager expectations and attitudes about knowledge sharing, trustworthiness of the source and recipients of this knowledge, the level of tacitness of the incoming knowledge, and organizational preferences on knowledge sharing. Through a framework that shows when and in what life cycle stage PMO knowledge brokering or attitudes and expectations are most effective, PMO Managers can take timely actions to increase the likelihood of more explicit knowledge being created leading to a critical competency for the organization at large. Situations where the PMO would be best served to allow knowledge to be explicit without its involvement are also examined. / Business Administration/Management Information Systems

Data breaches are the theft of sensitive information or the disruption of company operations through cybercriminal acts. This paper studies the impact data breaches have on stock prices. I use the findings to make a public policy recommendation which I believe will facilitate future cybersecurity improvements. The impact of a data breach on stock prices is not well understood. The existing research is contradictory: Some research has found that a data breach has a statistically significant, long-term, negative impact on stock price. Others have found that data breaches have no impact. One study found a statistically significant negative impact but that the share price quickly recovers (Richardson et al., 2019). Share price reflects the market’s consensus option of the value of a firm. Clarity on the impact of a data breach on share price would help companies establish an appropriate cybersecurity investment strategy. The lack of clarity in the research makes establishing a strategy difficult. This paper studied the share price movement of companies who disclosed a data breach between January 2007 and September 2020. It found, through event studies and statistical tests, that data breaches have a statistically significant negative impact on share price. These results were heavily influenced by a few extreme cases. Interviews with research analysts and investors found that they regard data breaches as immaterial. They do not believe customer behavior changes as a result of a breach. They also do not believe that the cost of a breach is material to a financially sound company. The implication is that companies should be wary of over-investing in cybersecurity. Company strategy should be to do what is necessary for regulatory compliance and to be consistent with standard practices. Market participants suffer from a lack of information. There is not a data source which can be used to determine the probability and cost of a future breach; nor is there a data source to gauge the effectiveness of a security control. Cybersecurity insurers are the natural collection and dissemination point for this data, but they view this information as their source for competitive advantage. They will not willingly share the information. The government should intervene by making the disclosure of breach information mandatory, and then ensuring that this information is widely available. / Business Administration/Interdisciplinary

The economies of most Sub-Saharan African countries are linked to the onset, reliability and performance of seasonal rainfall. Failure of seasonal rains may signal food deficits or worse. Farmers, water conservationists and government bodies responsible for food security, all have an interest in seasonal rainfall: onset, approximate dates for start of the season and probabilities for early, normal or late onset of rains. This knowledge enables them make crucial decisions as to the choice of crops, planting dates, management of dams, pasture and hydro-electric dams. In this thesis, daily rainfall data for 29 rainfall stations in Botswana for the years 1971 - 2004 was analyzed to determine Start-of-Season (505)/ Onset of summer rainfall. We used Principal Component Analysis to determine rainfall homogeneous zones in Botswana. Basically three regions were identified for October, November December (OND) rainfall months. Rainfall values in representative stations in each zone (Northern, Central and South-Eastern and Western regions) were correlated with Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) in global oceans to determine ocean regions that correlate well with Botswana rainfall. The onset dates were grouped into false, early, normal, late and failed onsets. Monthly rainfall and Rainfall Onsets for selected 14 rainfall stations and ten other weather parameters, (that include SSTs, Sea Level Pressures (SLPs) and climate indices) were placed in a spreadsheet. Emergent Situation Awareness (ESA) for dynamic Bayesian networks (DBN) was used to analyze this data. The ESA for DBN models temporal dependencies among the weather parameters and climate indices using Direct Acyclic Graphs (DAG). This innovative DBN technology, ESA, reveals more detailed information from complex models. It reveals what is currently happening over time in a domain of interest. Each of the parameters and climate indices revealed varying degrees of beliefs for early, normal, late or failed rainfall onsets in Botswana. Some of the parameters which showed higher degrees of beliefs are promising signals to the onset of summer rains.

Thesis (M.S. in Information Technology Management)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2009. Thesis (M.B.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Barreto, Albert. "March 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on April 23, 2009. Author(s) subject terms: Contingency, Contracting, Information Technology, Information Technology Management, Defense Contracting, Case Study, Interview, Survey, Procurement, Contract Management, Contractor, Iraq, Army, Gansler. Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-120). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-144) Also available in print.

Abstract not available

<p> </p><p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Date: </strong>16th<strong> </strong>June 2009</p><p><strong>Authors: </strong><strong><em>ODUOSE GODSPOWER ONORIODE (810822-T139)</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>NJINKO POLYCARP NGANSI (791005-5735)</em></strong></p><p><strong>Title: </strong>Evaluating the impact of IT Outsourcing in an Organization.</p><p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The continuous advancement of technology has increase the intensity of competition between organizations whose operations or core competence is based on information technology. Consequently this has force them to decide to either outsource or insource in order to survive the competition.</p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze the reason for IT outsourcing, the factors to consider before outsourcing, how to manage a successful IT outsourcing and the impact of IT outsourcing on an organization which consists of the advantages (benefits) and disadvantages (risks) of IT outsourcing.</p><p><strong>Research question: </strong>What are the impacts of IT outsourcing taking into consideration the reasons and factors for its successful implementation?</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>This thesis combines description with exploration and analysis. We used both primary data and secondary data. Due to time constraint and the importance of detail information for this research, we adopted a semi-structured interview which allows the respondent to give their thoughts and detail insight on some of the questions. Taken into consideration the time allotted to the interview in the research schedule, we were still able to work with articles, books, news release and website materials as secondary data sources.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>From the theoretical framework, a lot of emphasis was placed on cost saving or reduction as the reason for IT outsourcing but the empirical study and analysis indicate that the reasons for IT outsourcing is now shifting from cost saving or reduction to organization need to have access to advance technology and expertise although cost saving is still an important reason why organization adopt IT outsourcing.</p><p>Moreover, from the theoretical framework and empirical study of this thesis we could deduced that in order to implement a successful IT outsourcing the organization needs to consider some major factors such as identifying the need to outsource (why outsource IT?), what IT activities or infrastructure to outsource, identify the various steps and processes (such as contracts) involve in IT outsourcing, identify potential risks and possible outcome, criteria for choosing the appropriate IT outsourcing vendor and evaluate the down time and time required to find the most appropriate IT outsourcing vendor. We observed that organizations which spent more time in planning the IT outsourcing experience more success rate compared to those who spent less time.</p><p>Furthermore, from the theoretical framework and empirical study, we found that IT outsourcing has a major impact on an organization and its impact is dependent on how the factors for its success is managed. Although there are a lot of notable benefits of IT outsourcing but IT outsourcing also entails risks such as the hidden cost, security and confidentiality issues, service quality issues and system or operation disruptions just to name a few. In an attempt to mitigate risk, a company engaging in an IT outsourcing will try to protect its core activities and outsource non-core activities for security and confidentiality reasons. Though companies vary with respect to their operations, they will be optimistic to experience benefits that will outweighs any potential risks or cost in an IT outsourcing since the main objective of any company is to maximize profit and minimize cost.</p><p> </p>