The presented dissertation entitled „Development and Validation of a Landscape Metrics Based Approach for Standardized Landscape Assessment Considering Spatial Patterns” addresses three main questions: I. Which ecosystem services depend on landscape structure? II. How can landscape metrics be used to achieve a standardized routine for assessing the impact of landscape structure on the hereon dependent ecosystem services? III. How can regional planning benefit from the consideration of landscape structural effects on the provision of ecosystem services? The PhD study was carried out in the context of the Climate Change adaptation project REGKLAM (funding code 01 LR 0802). The work package “Land Use” was conducted at the Institute of Soil Science and Site Ecology of the TU Dresden under the direction of Prof. Dr. Makeschin. The PhD study took place in the framework of a sub-work package of it, which was called “Integrated Land Use Assessment”. The aim of this sub-work package was the evaluation of Climate Change adaptation strategies at the landscape scale in a cross-sectoral manner. The ecosystem services concept was chosen as methodological framework for this purpose. Particular motivation of this PhD study was that landscape structural aspects are often not sufficiently considered in commonly used ecosystem services assessment approaches. A standardized assessment procedure regarding the impact of the composition and configuration of land use/ land cover types is not yet existent in contemporary planning approaches, neither in strategic environmental assessment. In my thesis, I developed in the period from 2010 to 2014 a methodological basis which addresses this challenge. My thesis was realized as cumulative dissertation, which consists of three articles. These articles are published in peer-reviewed, ISI-listed international journals, whereas the third article still is in press. The short introduction in chapter one gives information on the motivation and the structure of the thesis. In chapter two, the research hypothesis is formulated and scope and objectives are explained. Chapter three gives an overview of the history of landscape metrics, the state-of-the-art, and current research in topic. In chapter four, the model region, focus areas, and the methodological basis are described. The fifth chapter summarizes results of the three articles (Frank et al. 2012, 2013, in press). Discussions in chapter six critically reflect the methodology and identify limitations, strengths, and its contribution to regional planning and to decision-making. Furthermore, some suggestions for extending the approach to other ecosystem services, especially regulating services, are made and perspectives towards different research questions are shown. Chapter seven summarizes the main outcomes of the PhD study. The central output of the dissertation is a module of GISCAME, a land use change impact assessment platform for supporting regional planning. The landscape metrics based ecosystem services assessment approach facilitates calculation, combination, and interpretation of a choice of landscape metrics and, hence, the evaluation of the impact of composition and configuration of land use patterns on ecosystem services. I selected eleven focus areas in the planning region “Upper Elbe Valley/Eastern Ore Mountains” to demonstrate the application and validation of the landscape metrics based approach that I propose in my dissertation. With these use cases, I show that the landscape structure significantly influences the provision of the ecosystem services ecological integrity and landscape aesthetics. Within the first use case I could demonstrate that the afforestation planning can be enhanced by including landscape metrics in the planning process. Actual priority areas for afforestation do not contribute to ecological integrity at the regional scale. Landscape fragmentation, habitat connectivity, and landscape diversity must be taken into account in order to identify most efficient priority areas for afforestation in terms of enhancing ecological integrity. The second use case focused on the question, how landscape structure influences scenic beauty. By means of a survey, I performed a comparison between the landscape metrics based approach and landscape perception of 153 respondents. This test underpinned my assumption that a landscape metrics based routine allows conclusions on the value of landscape aesthetics. The third use case gives practical advice in the current planning challenge about how to enhance water erosion protection planning in the context of Climate Change. Here, I demonstrated that not only land use change in preferential water erosion paths, but especially the change of management strategies combined with an improvement of landscape structure have the capacity to reduce water erosion potential by 92 %. The results show that it is of great importance to consider landscape structural aspects in current and future regional planning questions because additional, relevant planning information becomes tangible. The comparison of the presented method with other landscape metrics based approaches for ecosystem services assessment shows that the interpretation of the landscape metric values in the GISCAME platform module goes one step further towards usability for planning support: its transparency, spatial transferability, and flexibility are the main strengths of the approach. However, there is a clear need to involve the impact of landscape structure aspects also regarding other ecosystem services.:Contents Contents I List of Figures III List of Tables IV Summary V 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Motivation 1 1.2. Structure and strategy 1 2. Scope and objectives 3 3. Background and context 5 4. Methods 8 4.1. Model region and focus areas 8 4.2. Assessment framework: GISCAME 9 4.3. Challenge of standardization 10 4.4. Approach for assessing biotope connectivity 13 5. Results 15 5.1. Assessment of ecological integrity: Frank, S., Fürst, C., Koschke, L., and Makeschin, F. 2012. A contribution towards a transfer of the ecosystem service concept to landscape planning using landscape metrics. Ecological Indicators 21: 30-38. 15 5.2. Relationship of structure and ecosystem service: Frank, S., Fürst, C., Koschke, L., Witt, A., and Makeschin, F. 2013. Assessment of landscape aesthetics-Validation of a landscape metrics-based assessment by visual estimation of the scenic beauty. Ecological Indicators 32: 222-231 17 5.3. Extended scope of application in current planning questions: Frank, S., Fürst, C., Witt, A., Koschke, L., and Makeschin, F. in press. Making use of the ecosystem services concept in regional planning - trade-offs from reducing water erosion. Landscape Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10980-014-9992-3. 18 6. Discussion 20 6.1. Critical reflection of the methods 20 6.2. Challenge of validation 21 6.3. Supporting decision-making and planning 22 6.4. Outlook 23 6.4.1. Extension of the LM set and assessment criteria 23 6.4.2. Extension by consideration of further ecosystem services and different research fields 23 6.5. Proposal for enhancement of practice relevancy of LMs 24 7. Concluding remark 26 References 27 Appendices 33 / Die vorgelegte Dissertation mit dem Titel „Entwicklung und Validierung eines auf Landschaftsstrukturmaßen basierten Ansatzes zur standardisierten Landschaftsbewertung unter Berücksichtigung räumlicher Muster“ behandelt die drei Hauptfragen I. Welche Ökosystemdienstleistungen hängen von der Landschaftsstruktur ab? II. Wie können Landschaftsstrukturmaße genutzt werden, um ein standardisiertes Bewertungsverfahren dieser abhängigen Ökosystemdienstleistungen zu ermöglichen? III. Wie kann die Regionalplanung von der Berücksichtigung der Effekte von Landschaftsstruktur auf die Bereitstellung von Ökosystemdienstleistungen profitieren? Die Promotions-Studie wurde im Rahmen des Klimawandel-Anpassungs-Projektes REGKLAM (Förderkennzeichen 01 LR 0802) durchgeführt. Das Arbeitspaket „Landnutzung“ wurde am Institut für Bodenkunde und Standortslehre der TU Dresden unter Leitung von Prof. Dr. Makeschin bearbeitet. Die Promotions-Studie erfolgte im Rahmen des Teil-Arbeitstaktes „Integrierte Landnutzungsbewertung“. Ziel dieses Teil-Arbeitspaketes war die Bewertung von Klimawandel-Anpassungs-Strategien auf Landschaftsebene in Sektor-übergreifender Weise. Zu diesem Zweck wurde das Ökosystemdienstleistungskonzept als methodischer Rahmen gewählt. Der spezielle Anlass dieser Promotion-Studie war, dass landschaftsstrukturelle Aspekte in gebräuchlichen Ökosystemdienstleistungs-Bewertungsansätzen oft ungenügend berücksichtigt sind. Ein standardisiertes Bewertungsverfahren des Einflusses von Zusammensetzung und Anordnung von Landnutzungs-/Landbedeckungstypen existiert weder in aktuellen Planungsansätzen noch in Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfungen. In meiner Dissertation entwickelte ich im Zeitraum von 2010 bis 2014 eine methodische Grundlage, welche diese Herausforderung angeht. Meine Promotion wurde als kumulative Dissertation, welche aus drei Artikeln besteht, umgesetzt. Diese Artikel wurden in begutachteten, ISI-gelisteten, internationalen Journalen veröffentlicht, wobei sich das dritte aktuell im Druck befindet. Die kurze Einleitung im ersten Kapitel informiert über die Beweggründe und die Struktur der Dissertation. Im zweiten Kapitel ist die Forschungshypothese formuliert sowie Geltungsbereich und Zeile erläutert. Kapitel drei gibt einen Überblick über die Geschichte der Landschaftsstrukturmaße, den aktuellen Forschungsstand und aktuelle Forschungsfelder. Im vierten Kapitel sind die Modellregion, die Fallstudien-Gebiete, sowie methodische Grundlagen beschrieben. Das fünfte Kapitel fasst die Ergebnisse der drei Artikel (Frank et al. 2012, 2013, im Druck) zusammen. Diskussionen in Kapitel sechs reflektieren die Methodik kritisch und identifizieren ihre Grenzen und Stärken sowie den Beitrag der Ergebnisse zu Regionalplanung und Entscheidungsfindung. Darüber hinaus werden einige Empfehlungen zur Erweiterung des Ansatzes für weitere Ökosystemdienstleistungen, insbesondere regulierende Leistungen, getroffen und Perspektiven zur Anwendung für andere Forschungsfragen werden aufgezeigt. Kapitel sieben fasst schließlich die wichtigsten Ergebnisse der Promotions-Studie zusammen. Das zentrale Ergebnis der Dissertation ist eine Erweiterung des Entscheidungsunterstützungs-Werkzeuges GISCAME. Der auf Landschaftsstrukturmaßen basierende Ökosystemdienstleistungs-Bewertungsansatz ermöglicht die Berechnung, Kombination und Interpretation einer Auswahl von Landschaftsstrukturmaßen und somit die Bewertung des Einflusses von Zusammensetzung und Anordnung von Landnutzungsmustern auf Ökosystemdienstleistungen. Ich wählte elf Fokusgebiete in der Planungsregion „Oberes Elbtal/Osterzgebirge“ aus um die Anwendung und Validierung des auf Landschaftsstrukturmaßen basierenden Ansatzes, den ich in der Dissertation vorschlage, zu demonstrieren. Mittels dieser Anwendungsfälle zeige ich, dass die Landschaftsstruktur die Bereitstellung der Ökosystemdienstleistungen ökologische Integrität und Landschaftsästhetik erheblich beeinflusst. Im ersten Anwendungsfall konnte ich zeigen, dass die Aufforstungsplanung durch die Einbeziehung von Landschaftsstrukturmaßen in den Planungsprozess verbessert werden kann. Vorranggebiete für Waldmehrung in ihrer derzeitigen Form tragen nicht zur ökologischen Integrität auf der regionalen Ebene bei. Landschaftszerschneidung, Biotopverbund und Landschaftsdiversität müssen vermehrt beachtet werden, um Vorranggebiete für Waldmehrung für eine Verbesserung der ökologischen Intaktheit effizienter anzuordnen. Der zweite Anwendungsfall richtete sich auf die Frage, wie Landschaftsstruktur die Landschaftsästhetik beeinflusst. Mithilfe einer Befragung verglich ich den auf Landschaftsstrukurmaßen basierenden Ansatz mit der Landschaftswahrnehmung von 153 Befragten. Dieser Test untermauerte meine Annahme, dass das auf Landschaftsstrukurmaßen basierende Vorgehen Rückschlüsse auf den ästhetischen Wert einer Landschaft zulässt. Der dritte Anwendungsfall gibt praktische Hinweise bezüglich der aktuellen Planungs-Herausforderung, wie Erosionsschutzplanung im Kontext des Klimawandels verbesset werden kann. In diesem Fall konnte ich zeigen, dass nicht nur Landnutzungsänderungen in präferenziellen Abflussbahnen, sondern insbesondere eine Änderung der Bodenbearbeitungsstrategie in Kombination mit verbesserter Landschaftsstruktur das Potential hat, die potentielle Wassererosion um 92 % zu reduzieren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass es von großer Bedeutung ist, landschaftsstrukturelle Aspekte in aktuellen und zukünftigen Planungsfragen zu berücksichtigen, da somit zusätzliche, maßgebliche Informationen greifbar werden. Der Vergleich der vorliegenden Methodik mit anderen Ansätzen, die Landschaftsstrukturmaße nutzen um Ökosystemdienstleistungen zu bewerten, zeigt, dass die automatisierte Interpretation der Landschaftsstrukturmaße mittels des neuen Moduls in GISCAME einen Schritt in Richtung Nützlichkeit für Planungsunterstützung geht: Transparenz, räumliche Übertragbarkeit und Flexibilität sind weitere Stärken des Ansatzes. Jedoch gibt es eindeutig den Bedarf den Einfluss von Landschaftsstruktur auf weitere Ökosystemdienstleistungen einzubeziehen.:Contents Contents I List of Figures III List of Tables IV Summary V 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Motivation 1 1.2. Structure and strategy 1 2. Scope and objectives 3 3. Background and context 5 4. Methods 8 4.1. Model region and focus areas 8 4.2. Assessment framework: GISCAME 9 4.3. Challenge of standardization 10 4.4. Approach for assessing biotope connectivity 13 5. Results 15 5.1. Assessment of ecological integrity: Frank, S., Fürst, C., Koschke, L., and Makeschin, F. 2012. A contribution towards a transfer of the ecosystem service concept to landscape planning using landscape metrics. Ecological Indicators 21: 30-38. 15 5.2. Relationship of structure and ecosystem service: Frank, S., Fürst, C., Koschke, L., Witt, A., and Makeschin, F. 2013. Assessment of landscape aesthetics-Validation of a landscape metrics-based assessment by visual estimation of the scenic beauty. Ecological Indicators 32: 222-231 17 5.3. Extended scope of application in current planning questions: Frank, S., Fürst, C., Witt, A., Koschke, L., and Makeschin, F. in press. Making use of the ecosystem services concept in regional planning - trade-offs from reducing water erosion. Landscape Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10980-014-9992-3. 18 6. Discussion 20 6.1. Critical reflection of the methods 20 6.2. Challenge of validation 21 6.3. Supporting decision-making and planning 22 6.4. Outlook 23 6.4.1. Extension of the LM set and assessment criteria 23 6.4.2. Extension by consideration of further ecosystem services and different research fields 23 6.5. Proposal for enhancement of practice relevancy of LMs 24 7. Concluding remark 26 References 27 Appendices 33

In this work, we study geometrical and physical properties of exact spacetimes that belong to non-expanding Pleba'nski-Demia'nski class. It is a family of solutions of type D that also belong to the Kundt class, and contain seven arbitrary parameters including a cosmological constant. We present here the results of three extensive articles, each focusing on a different aspect of the problem. In the first article, we investigate the meaning of individual parame- ters in the non-expanding Pleba'nski-Demia'nski metric. First, we set almost all parameters to zero and obtain Minkowski and (anti-)de Sitter backgrounds. Af- terwards, we allow other parameters to be non-zero and we study the B-metrics, non-singular "anti-NUT" solutions and conclude with the full electrovacuum Pleba'nski-Demia'nski metric. In the second article, we focus on the de Sitter and anti-de Sitter backgrounds where we present and analyse 11 new diagonal metric forms of (anti-)de Sitter spacetime. We find five-dimensional parametriza- tions, draw coordinate surfaces and conformal diagrams. In the third article, we show that the AII-metric together with the BI-metric describes gravitational field around a tachyon on both Minkowski and (anti-)de Sitter backgrounds. Fi- nally, in order to better understand the global structure and...

This thesis aims to establish analytical frameworks to map urban growth patterns with spaceborne remote sensing data and to evaluate environmental impacts through Landscape Metrics and Ecosystem Services. Urbanization patterns at regional scale were evaluated in China's largest urban agglomerations and at metropolitan scale in Shanghai, Stockholm and Beijing using medium resolution optical satellite data. High-resolution data was used to investigate changes in Shanghai’s urban core. The images were co-registered and mosaicked. Tasseled Cap transformations and texture features were used to increase class separabilities prior to pixel-based Random Forest and SVM classifications. Urban land cover in Shanghai and Beijing were derived through object-based SVM classification in KTH-SEG. After post-classification refinements, urbanization indices, Ecosystem Services and Landscape Metrics were used to quantify and characterize environmental impact. Urban growth was observed in all studies. China's urban agglomerations showed most prominent urbanization trends. Stockholm’s urban extent increased only little with minor environmental implications. On a regional/metropolitan scale, urban expansion progressed predominately at the expense of agriculture. Investigating urbanization patterns at higher detail revealed trends that counteracted negative urbanization effects in Shanghai's core and Beijing's urban-rural fringe. Beijing's growth resulted in Ecosystem Services losses through landscape structural changes, i.e. service area decreases, edge contamination or fragmentation. Methodological frameworks to characterize urbanization trends at different scales based on remotely sensed data were developed. For detailed urban analyses high-resolution data are recommended whereas medium-resolution data at metropolitan/regional scales is suggested. The Ecosystem Service concept was extended with Landscape Metrics to create a more differentiated picture of urbanization effects.​ / <p>QC 20160205</p>

ITC/USA 2015 Conference Proceedings / The Fifty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 26-29, 2015 / Bally's Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV / There is great potential in using Best Source Selectors (BSS) to improve link availability in aeronautical telemetry applications. While the general notion that diverse data sources can be used to construct a consolidated stream of "better" data is well founded, there is no standardized means of determining the quality of the data streams being merged together. Absent this uniform quality data, the BSS has no analytically sound way of knowing which streams are better, or best. This problem is further exacerbated when one imagines that multiple vendors are developing data quality estimation schemes, with no standard definition of how to measure data quality. In this paper, we present measured performance for a specific Data Quality Metric (DQM) implementation, demonstrating that the signals present in the demodulator can be used to quickly and accurately measure the data quality, and we propose test methods for calibrating DQM over a wide variety of channel impairments. We also propose an efficient means of encapsulating this DQM information with the data, to simplify processing by the BSS. This work leads toward a potential standardization that would allow data quality estimators and best source selectors from multiple vendors to interoperate.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Marketing has long been seen as a qualitative discipline following a rather soft approach. This, in many circumstances, resulted in a loss of marketing's credibility against other more quantitative managerial disciplines. Out of this plight, numerous marketing practitioners and experts during the past two decades have developed ways to prove that marketing can indeed be quantifiable. Born were the theories of marketing metrics as tools to make marketing measurable and, thus, to justify its existence. As can be assumed, in most organisations, the existence of the marketing discipline is not threatened; yet, an increased importance is placed on the fact that marketing expenditure is located wisely and efficiently in order to make a contribution to bottom line. This is particularly significant for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) which typically have only small marketing budgets and dispose of limited marketing expertise. The purpose of this study is to examine whether such a medium sized enterprise, the Tepass + Seiz KG, a German group of car dealerships, shows a marketing behaviour typical for that of an SME and does not use a sophisticated system of marketing metrics to measure the efficiency of its marketing activities. Primarily, a literature review was performed to illustrate the role of marketing metrics within large corporations and smaller enterprises and to shed light to the typical marketing behaviour of SMEs. The subsequent examination of the Tepass + Seiz KG and its marketing performance measurement system was built onto the findings of that review. The study was conducted, following a single case study strategy with the use of in-depth interviews to collect the data. The analysis illustrated that the Tepass + Seiz KG, even though conducting numerous different marketing activities, shows a marketing behaviour typical for a medium sized enterprise and that it does not measure its marketing activities efficiently. Consequently, recommendations on how to improve its measurement systems were made and various marketing metrics were introduced and suggested for implementation. The development of a stringent marketing strategy in addition to the metrics recommended was found to be a necessary further step towards a sophisticated marketing management within this enterprise. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Bemarking word lank reeds beskou as 'n kwalitatiewe dissipline met 'n taamlike sagte aanslag. Dit het onder vele omstandighede gelei tot 'n verlies aan geloofwaardigheid vir bemarking vergeleke met ander meer kwantitatiewe bestuursdissiplines. As gevolg hiervan het baie bemarkingspraktisyns en bemarkingskundiges oor die afgelope twee dekades maniere ontwikkel om te bewys dat bemarking inderdaad kwantifiseerbaar kan wees. Daaruit is die teorieë van bemarkingsmaatstawwe gebore as 'n instrument om bemarking meetbaar te maak en om sodoende die bestaan daarvan te regverdig. Daar kan aanvaar word dat die bestaan van die bemarkingsdissipline in die meeste organisasies nie bedreig word nie; nogtans word al meer klem gelê op die feit dat bemarkingsuitgawes slim en doeltreffend aangewend moet word om 'n bydrae tot winsgewendheid te lewer. Dit is veral belangrik vir klein en mediumgrootte ondernemings (KMO's), wat gewoonlik oor slegs klein bemarkingsbegrotings en beperkte bemarkingskundigheid beskik. Die doel van hierdie navorsingstudie was om te ondersoek of so 'n mediumgrootte onderneming, die Tepass + Seiz KG, 'n Duitse groep van motorhandelaars, bemarkingsgedrag tipies van 'n KMO toon en nie gebruik maak van 'n gesofistikeerde stelsel van bemarkingsmaatstawwe om die doeltreffendheid van sy bemarkingsaktiwiteite te meet nie. Daar is primêr 'n literatuuroorsig uitgevoer om die rol van bemarkingsmaatstawwe binne groot korporasies en kleiner ondernemings te illustreer en om lig te werp op die tipiese bemarkingsgedrag van KMO's. Die daaropvolgende ondersoek van die Tepass + Seiz KG en die metingstelsel vir sy bemarkingsprestasie is gebou op die bevindings van die literatuuroorsig. Die studie is uitgevoer volgens die strategie van 'n enkele gevallestudie met die gebruik van in-diepte onderhoude om die data in te samel. Die ontleding het aangetoon dat die Tepass + Seiz KG, hoewel daar baie verskillende bemarkingsaktiwiteite uitgevoer word, die tipiese bemarkingsgedrag van 'n mediumgrootte onderneming uitvoer en nie sy bemarkingsaktiwiteite doeltreffend meet nie. Gevolglik is aanbevelings gedoen oor hoe metingstelsels verbeter kan word en verskeie tipes bemarkingsmaatstawwe is voorgestel vir implementering. Daar is bevind dat die ontwikkeling van 'n streng bemarkingstrategie bykomend tot die aanbevole maatstaf 'n noodsaaklike verdere stap is vir gesofistikeerde bemarkingsbestuur binne hierdie onderneming.

A quantum channel is a mapping which sends density matrices to density matrices. The estimation of quantum channels is of great importance to the field of quantum information. In this thesis two topics related to estimation of quantum channels are investigated. The first of these is the upper bound of Sarovar and Milburn (2006) on the Fisher information obtainable by measuring the output of a channel. Two questions raised by Sarovar and Milburn about their bound are answered. A Riemannian metric on the space of quantum states is introduced, related to the construction of the Sarovar and Milburn bound. Its properties are characterized. The second topic investigated is the estimation of unitary channels. The situation is considered in which an experimenter has several non-identical unitary channels that have the same parameter. It is shown that it is possible to improve estimation using the channels together, analogous to the case of identical unitary channels. Also, a new method of phase estimation is given based on a method sketched by Kitaev (1996). Unlike other phase estimation procedures which perform similarly, this procedure requires only very basic experimental resources.

E-learning systems provide a promising solution as an information exchanging channel. Improved technology could mean faster and easier access to information but does not necessarily ensure the quality of this information. Therefore it is essential to develop valid and reliable methods of quality measurement and carry out careful information quality evaluations. Information quality frameworks are developed to measure the quality of information systems, generally from the designers' viewpoint. The recent proliferation of e-services, and e-learning particularly, raises the need for a new quality framework in the context of e-learning systems. The main contribution of this thesis is to propose a new information quality framework, with 14 information quality attributes grouped in three quality dimensions: intrinsic, contextual representation and accessibility. We report results based on original questionnaire data and factor analysis. Moreover, we validate the proposed framework using an empirical approach. We report our validation results on the basis of data collected from an original questionnaire and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in particular. However, it is difficult to measure information quality in an e-learning context because the concept of information quality is complex and it is expected that the measurements will be multidimensional in nature. Reliable measures need to be obtained in a systematic way, whilst considering the purpose of the measurement. Therefore, we start by adopting a Goal Question Metrics (GQM) approach to develop a set of quality metrics for the identified quality attributes within the proposed framework. We then define an assessment model and measurement scheme, based on a multi element analysis technique. The obtained results can be considered to be promising and positive, and revealed that the framework and assessment scheme could give good predictions for information quality within e-learning context. This research generates novel contributions as it proposes a solution to the problems raised from the absence of consensus regarding evaluation standards and methods for measuring information quality within an e-learning context. Also, it anticipates the feasibility of taking advantage of web mining techniques to automate the retrieval process of the information required for quality measurement. This assessment model is useful to e-learning systems designers, providers and users as it gives a comprehensive indication of the quality of information in such systems, and also facilitates the evaluation, allows comparisons and analysis of information quality.

本研究證實從系統開發的觀點應用1:1連結式後設樣式對軟體複雜度的影響是負面的，不過複雜度的變動對系統而言是一個常數，對中型以上的系統，這樣的複雜度影響是相當小的，本研究認為可以忽略不計。本研究也證實從系統彈性的角度應用1:1連結式後設樣式對軟體複雜度的影響是正面的，透過設計樣式將程式的流程控制與商業規則切割開來，可以使得商業規則的新增更為容易。

Information security and privacy in health care is a critical issue, it is crucial to protect the patients’ privacy and ensure the systems availability all the time. Managing information security systems is a major part of managing information systems in health care organizations. The purpose of this study is to discover the security metrics that can be used in health care organizations and to provide the security managers with a security metrics scorecard that enable them to measure the performance of the security system in a monthly basis. To accomplish this a prototype with a suggested set of metrics was designed and examined in a usability study and semi-structured interviews. The study participants were security experts who work in health care organizations. In the study security management in health care organizations was discussed, the preferable security metrics were identified and the usable security metrics scorecard specifications were collected. Applying the study results on the scorecard prototype resulted in a security metrics scorecard that matches the security experts’ recommendations. / Graduate / 0723 / 0769 / 0454 / hebae@uvic.ca

Software defect prediction is motivated by the huge costs incurred as a result of software failures. In an effort to reduce these costs, researchers have been utilising software metrics to try and build predictive models capable of locating the most defect-prone parts of a system. These areas can then be subject to some form of further analysis, such as a manual code review. It is hoped that such defect predictors will enable software to be produced more cost effectively, and/or be of higher quality. In this dissertation I identify many data quality and methodological issues in previous defect prediction studies. The main data source is the NASA Metrics Data Program Repository. The issues discovered with these well-utilised data sets include many examples of seemingly impossible values, and much redundant data. The redundant, or repeated data points are shown to be the cause of potentially serious data mining problems. Other methodological issues discovered include the violation of basic data mining principles, and the misleading reporting of classifier predictive performance. The issues discovered lead to a new proposed methodology for software defect prediction. The methodology is focused around data analysis, as this appears to have been overlooked in many prior studies. The aim of the methodology is to be able to obtain a realistic estimate of potential real-world predictive performance, and also to have simple performance baselines with which to compare against the actual performance achieved. This is important as quantifying predictive performance appropriately is a difficult task. The findings of this dissertation raise questions about the current defect prediction body of knowledge. So many data-related and/or methodological errors have previously occurred that it may now be time to revisit the fundamental aspects of this research area, to determine what we really know, and how we should proceed.