Structural biology forms the basis of all functions in an organism from how enzymes work to how a cell is assembled. In silico structural biology has been a rather isolated domain due to the perceived difficulty of working with the tools. This work focused on constructing a web-based Functional Genomics Information Management System (FunGIMS) that will provide biologists access to the most commonly used structural biology tools without the need to learn program or operating specific syntax. The system was designed using a Model-View-Controller architecture which is easy to maintain and expand. It is Python-based with various other technologies incorporated. The specific focus of this work was the Structural module which allows a user to work with protein structures. The database behind the system is based on a modified version of the Macromolecular Structure Database from the EBI. The Structural module provides functionality to explore protein structures at each level of complexity through an easy-to-use interface. The module also provides some analysis tools which allows the user to identify features on a protein sequence as well as to identify unknown protein sequences. Another vital functionality allows the users to build protein models. The user can choose between building models online on downloading a generated script. Similar script generation utilities are provided for mutation modeling and molecular dynamics. A search functionality was also provided which allows the user to search for a keyword in the database. The system was used on three examples in Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV). In the first case, several FMDV proteomes were reannotated and compared to elucidate any functional differences between them. The second case involved the modeling of two FMDV proteins involved in replication, 3C and 3D. Variation between the several different strains were mapped to the structures to understand how variation affects enzymes structure. The last example involved capsid protein stability differences between two subtypes. Models were built and molecular dynamics simulations were run to determine at which protein structure level stability was influenced by the differences between the subtypes. This work provides an important introductory tool for biologists to structural biology. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Biochemistry / unrestricted

Popu1ar writers and experts say that we are living in an "Information" era, that we have become an "Information" society with an "Information" economy. Businesses have come to realise the importance of information for the survival of the enterprise in a business world which is becoming increasingly complex. This realisation led to the concept of "managing information as a resource". This concept has the underlying assumptions that we know what information and information resources are, that information is indeed a resource and that information can indeed be managed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate these assumptions and to propose a framework for information management. Information is strongly linked to data, knowledge and wisdom. These terms are often used interchangeably in ordinary language. For the purposes of this study more accurate definitions were proposed. Data are unevaluated attributes, information is data put into perspective and context while knowledge is justified, true beliefs. Wisdom is a special ability of a person to make meaningful "connections" between his own knowledge and information thereby exhibiting insight into a given situation. Information can only exist in the human mind as that is the only place where meaning can be added. Information can be made tangible by putting it on paper or through verbal expression, but, once outside the mind, it can, at most, be called information resources. The process of transforming data into information resources and transforming information resources into information and knowledge is called the information process. This process is reversible and iterative. Every single human being needs information in order to survive. It is a basic human need. It plays an important role in learning and in communication with an equally important role in society. It has strong implications regarding the individual's rights to privacy and access to information. The use of information by society has an influence on culture and it shapes a new economy which is based on services and knowledge. It has the ability to replace capital and becomes "capital" in itself Because of its importance to individuals, business, on a national and international basis, information needs to be managed. Information management means the cost -effective management of the information process, the information resources and the information infrastructure in pursuit of predetermined goals. It is a centralised function within the organisation with the purpose of facilitating and providing the framework needed within which to manage information. The management of information means that the information resources allocated to individuals are managed prudently and is the responsibility of each individual. The management of information takes place within the framework provided by the information management function. Information is a resource and a manageable one. Considering that a change in a person's knowledge occurs when presented with information, another dimension becomes evident, namely, that of a process; the process of informing. Both these dimensions need an infrastructure in support. Information management is the management of the resource dimension, the process dimension and of the infrastructure and calls for an holistic management approach. The aim of information management is to mobilise the data, information and knowledge resources into productive action. That is the challenge facing individuals, organisations and governments. / Thesis (DCom)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Informatics / unrestricted

The increasing number of devices owned by a single user makes it increasingly difficult to access, organise and visualise personal information (PI), i.e. documents and media, across these devices. The primary method that is currently used to organise and visualise PI is the hierarchical folder structure, which is a familiar and widely used means to manage PI. However, this hierarchy does not effectively support personal information management (PIM) across multiple devices. Current solutions, such as the Personal Information Dashboard and Stuff I’ve Seen, do not support PIM across multiple devices. Alternative PIM tools, such as Dropbox and TeamViewer, attempt to provide a means of accessing PI across multiple devices, but these solutions also suffer from several limitations. The aim of this research was to investigate to what extent enhanced information visualisation (IV) techniques could be used to support accessing PI across multiple devices. An interview study was conducted to identify how PI is currently managed across multiple devices. This interview study further motivated the need for a tool to support visualising PI across multiple devices and identified requirements for such an IV tool. Several suitable IV techniques were selected and enhanced to support PIM across multiple devices. These techniques comprised an Overview using a nested circles layout, a Tag Cloud and a Partition Layout, which used a novel set-based technique. A prototype, called MyPSI, was designed and implemented incorporating these enhanced IV techniques. The requirements and design of the MyPSI prototype were validated using a conceptual walkthrough. The design of the MyPSI prototype was initially implemented for a desktop or laptop device with mouse-based interaction. A sample personal space of information (PSI) was used to evaluate the prototype in a controlled user study. The user study was used to identify any usability problems with the MyPSI prototype. The results were highly positive and the participants agreed that such a tool could be useful in future. No major problems were identified with the prototype. The MyPSI prototype was then implemented on a mobile device, specifically an Android tablet device, using a similar design, but supporting touch-based interaction. Users were allowed to upload their own PSI using Dropbox, which was visualised by the MyPSI prototype. A field study was conducted following the Multi-dimensional In-depth Long-term Case Studies approach specifically designed for IV evaluation. The field study was conducted over a two-week period, evaluating both the desktop and mobile versions of the MyPSI prototype. Both versions received positive results, but the desktop version was slightly preferred over the mobile version, mainly due to familiarity and problems experienced with the mobile implementation. Design recommendations were derived to inform future designs of IV tools to support accessing PI across multiple devices. This research has shown that IV techniques can be enhanced to effectively support accessing PI across multiple devices. Future work will involve customising the MyPSI prototype for mobile phones and supporting additional platforms.

Topic of this thesis is the Data Governance implementation in the large companies. These companies struggle during governing and managing data to get useful insights for the decision making. Data Governance is new approach to managing the companies which helps to solve the data management pain points and helps organizations to work with data effectively and without any problems. Data Governance helps to transform data into asset. This thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. In the theoretical part are discussed reasons for emerging Data Governance, analysis of approaches to Data Governance by world leading methodologies and possible focus of the Data Governance projects as well as its benefits. Important part of this theoretical part is Data Governance components definition. Implementation of the Data Governance is discussed in the practical part. The goal of the practical part is to describe required artifacts which should exist during the implementation. Described artifacts use the best practice from the existing literature. These deliverables will help to better structure, govern and successfully implement the Data Governance. Delivering these artifacts bring the value for the company. Each project deliverable has definitions of the importance for the project team and the company. Most important benefit of the practical part is aspiration to eliminate pain points during the Data Governance implementation as appropriate project team, cooperation definition, buy-in and deliverables.

Since, the available informational and technological resources constitute a source of prosperity and differentiation for the organisations, the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is becoming more crucial and vital. The thirty years of the CIO's existence have shown a path of changes and difficulties on defining and establishing the particular role within the organisational context. The present study examines the CIO role evolution over the last thirty years, analyses the CIO role at the present time and discusses the CIO role in the future. The examination of the evolution of the CIO role identifies four main areas of interest that are used as the conceptual framework of the study. These areas relate to business strategy, innovation and competitive advantage, relationships building and external environment. Based on a qualitative research approach, nine case studies of existing CIOs are conducted and analysed from the private and the public sector. The analysis provides insights about the responsibilities of the CIOs, currently, regarding each one of the role aspects and the furthermore, particular responsibilities for these aspects. The results of the analysis demonstrate that within the CIO role responsibilities there are activities such as active participation in the strategic planning, exploitation of information management as an enabler of innovation, active facilitation of consultation processes with the stakeholders and finally, networking with outside organisations such as suppliers and customers but also networking with peers to share best practices. Regarding the future of the CIO role, it is argued that the CIO role includes responsibilities relating to technology management and it is counterproductive to separate these responsibilities to another C-level executive such as a CTO. Finally, it is argued that the CIO role enhances the dynamic capabilities of the organisation by helping it to improve its learning processes and the way it transforms its information resources. The results of the study have implications to both industry and academia. The proposed CIO role model could be used by industry as a guideline for the job description of the role in question, as well as an evaluation scheme for the post holders. With respect to academia, the proposed role model could be used to identify the skills necessary for a CIO and thus, to help inform areas in which university educational programmes should focus on.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / This current research revealed the need to design an information architecture model for Data Governance In order to reduce the gap between the Information Technology versus the Information Management. The model designed to make a balance between the need to invest in technology and the ability to manage the information that is originated from the use of those technologies, as well as to measure with greater precision the generation of IT value through the use of quality information and user satisfaction. In order to test our model we take a case of study in the Higher Education sector in Peru in order to demonstrate the successful data governance projects with this model. 1

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Proof of Concept - An Academic LIMS application: The aim of this project is the creation of an open-source, freeware LIMS application that can be used in an academic setting as a teaching tool for both chemistry and computer science students. The LIMS package will combine an application, developed using VB.NET, to manage the data with other open-source or freeware programs such as MySQL and WEKA. The numerous commercial chemical informatics applications available are useful tools to learn how to manage data from a user's standpoint. However, they are not readily available to the average student, nor do they offer a great understanding into how they were developed from a programmer's frame of mind. There is a great void here that, if filled can greatly help the academic community.

As the delivery of healthcare has become more sophisticated, scientific, and complex, the need for HIM (Health Information Management) professionals at all levels has increased, and the role and status of those managing these functions has increased accordingly. (AHIMA, September 24, 2007). Studies by the Institute of Medicine and others have found suboptimal technology use throughout the healthcare industry. The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) developed the e-HIM Virtual Lab (V-lab) to train students in the use of new technology applications in response to IOM findings. Faculty are the gatekeepers for use of instructional technology in educational settings. Many disciplines have evaluated instructional technology use by students. There are very few studies on faculty use of instructional technology. There are no published studies of the determinant factors influencing health information management (HIM) faculty use of instructional technology. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the faculty's attitude and behavior toward the use of the V-lab instructional technology. A non-random one group pretest posttest design was used to test the hypothetical Instructional Perception -Technology Acceptance Model (IP- TAM) for faculty perceptions regarding system functionality, usability and technology acceptance. The Path Analysis determined the strongest construct indicators for intent to use the V-lab were Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease Of Use (PEOU), System Functionality and Usability (SFU). These findings support the recommendation for a collaborative examination of the existing V-lab systems to improve utilization and success.

The web browser has emerged as a central workspace for information workers, where they make use of cloud-based applications to access their information. While this solution nicely supports access to their data from multiple devices, it presents a nightmare for organizing and coordinating data between tools for a single project. Information is typically scattered between various online tools, where storage and organization structures are replicated. Information workers are interrupted and have to switch between projects frequently. Once interrupted, resuming work on a project can be hard. To address this information fragmentation and the impact of work interruptions, I created Contextinator, a personal information manager for the web browser that lets information workers organize their work activity and information into projects. Contextinator assists in coordinating information for projects, thereby ameliorating information fragmentation for projects that live on the cloud. It assists information workers in context switching and resuming work after interruptions. In my the- sis, I describe the problem of information fragmentation in the cloud. I discuss the different areas of related work of Personal Information Management, the design of Contextinator and how it is grounded in previous research. I briefly discuss how Contextinator is implemented. I then present the results from my field-evaluation of Contextinator. Finally, I conclude by discussing future work in this research. / Master of Science

Conversational agents can benefit healthcare across different application domains. However, the automated generation of reliable agents is still challenging and lags behind traditional conversational domains. This research exploited the interplay of information management and automated planning to efficiently model the expected behavior of goal-oriented health dialogues. The proposed approach supports the dynamic generation of predictable policies that are used for the management of the health dialogue as well as the identification of the dialogue state. This work advances the state of the art in health dialogue management by automating the generation (and update) of efficient dialogue managers with a reduced cost since they do not require handcrafting of the dialogue policy or large conversational datasets.