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Many modern web applications run on distributed cloud systems, which allows them to scale their resources to match performance requirements. Scaling of resources at industry scales, however, is a financially-expensive operation, and therefore one that should involve a business justification rooted in customer quality-of-service metrics over more commonly-used utilization metrics. Additionally, changing the resources available to such a system is non-instantaneous, and thus a reasonable effort should be made to predict system performance at varying resource allocations and at various expected workloads. Common performance monitoring solutions look at general metrics such as CPU utilization or available memory. These metrics are at best an indirect means of evaluating customer experience, and at worst may provide no information as to whether users of a commercial application are satisfied with the product they have paid for. Instead, the use of application-specific metrics that accurately reflect the experience of system users, combined with research into how these metrics are affected by various tunable parameters, allows a company to make accurate decisions as to the desired performance perceived by their users versus the costs associated with providing that level of performance. This thesis uses a real-world software-as-a-service product as a case study in the development of quality-of-service metrics and the use of those metrics to determine business cases and costing packages for customers. The product used for this work is Phoenix, a state-of-the-art social media aggregation and analytics software-as-a-service web platform developed by Echosec Systems, Ltd. The product will be tested under realworld conditions on cloud hardware with a minimal test harness to ensure a realistic depiction of live production conditions. / Graduate

This thesis describes and analyses the ways in which employees in two front line call centre settings report their experience of qualitative and quantitative monitoring in the workplace, and its impact on their work and work life. I conducted ethnographically informed fieldwork, including participant observation and interviews, in two financial service call centre sites. Emerging from the rich descriptions participants shared about their work life, identity and accountability stood out as key themes. The sites, which use similar methods of monitoring and performance measurement, had quite different management strategies in place which affected staff perceptions of identity and accountability. I modified an activity theory framework to create a model of organisational, professional and peer identities and accountabilities, and to examine the ways these connect, interact, and sometimes disconnect, with one another. Call centres are contentious workplaces in the literature, generating ongoing debate about the extent to which electronic monitoring is effective as a method of control and about the way monitoring and surveillance affects workers. Using this framework allows me to look at common call centre issues, such as the quality/quantity dichotomy, through a different and potentially helpful lens, one that is novel in the call centre literature. My findings suggest that when the various facets of identities and accountabilities are poorly aligned, workers are forced to prioritize one over the other, often to the detriment of both. In the financial service call centres I studied, workers often chose to prioritize professional and peer identity over organisational accountability when organisational requirements were strongly felt to conflict with the ways in which a professional banker should behave towards customers and colleagues. Workers made these choices despite clearly understanding the potential consequences to themselves in terms of achieving performance metric targets and supervisory approval. Conceptualizing call centre workers’ responses to monitoring and measurement from an identity and accountability perspective offers new insights into the reasons why financial service call centre workers are often dissatisfied or frustrated with standard call centre measurement practices, leading to potential practical solutions.

This thesis describes and analyses the ways in which employees in two front line call centre settings report their experience of qualitative and quantitative monitoring in the workplace, and its impact on their work and work life. I conducted ethnographically informed fieldwork, including participant observation and interviews, in two financial service call centre sites. Emerging from the rich descriptions participants shared about their work life, identity and accountability stood out as key themes. The sites, which use similar methods of monitoring and performance measurement, had quite different management strategies in place which affected staff perceptions of identity and accountability. I modified an activity theory framework to create a model of organisational, professional and peer identities and accountabilities, and to examine the ways these connect, interact, and sometimes disconnect, with one another. Call centres are contentious workplaces in the literature, generating ongoing debate about the extent to which electronic monitoring is effective as a method of control and about the way monitoring and surveillance affects workers. Using this framework allows me to look at common call centre issues, such as the quality/quantity dichotomy, through a different and potentially helpful lens, one that is novel in the call centre literature. My findings suggest that when the various facets of identities and accountabilities are poorly aligned, workers are forced to prioritize one over the other, often to the detriment of both. In the financial service call centres I studied, workers often chose to prioritize professional and peer identity over organisational accountability when organisational requirements were strongly felt to conflict with the ways in which a professional banker should behave towards customers and colleagues. Workers made these choices despite clearly understanding the potential consequences to themselves in terms of achieving performance metric targets and supervisory approval. Conceptualizing call centre workers’ responses to monitoring and measurement from an identity and accountability perspective offers new insights into the reasons why financial service call centre workers are often dissatisfied or frustrated with standard call centre measurement practices, leading to potential practical solutions.

With the ascendency of data and the rise of interest in analytics, organizations are becoming more interested in the use of data to make their business processes more intelligent and reactive. BI applications are a common way that organizations integrate analytics in their processes. However, it can be days, weeks or even months before a manual response is undertaken based on a human interpreting a report. Even when information technology supports automatic responses within an organization, it is often implemented in an ad hoc manner without following a systematic framework. In this thesis, we present a reactive performance monitoring (RPM) framework which aims at automating the link from the analytical (how well is the operational achieving the strategic) to the operational (the particular process steps implemented within an organization that determine its behavior) aspects of businesses to bypass the strategic (the high level and long term goals an organization is trying to achieve) as needed and reduce the latency between knowledge and action. Our RPM framework is composed of an architecture, a methodology, and a rule environment which permits the redaction of rules possessing relevant conditions and actions. In addition, we present an OLAP rule engine which is demonstrated to be effective in our framework where events are streamed in, reacted upon in real-time, and stored in an OLAP database. To develop and evaluate our framework, two case studies were undertaken. The first was done using IBM technologies implementing an application made to identify patients at high risk of cancer recurrence. The second was done using open source technologies. With this second implementation, we created an application that has the goal of informing women from at risk populations of the different stages of pregnancy on a weekly basis.

Mine cooling system components are an integral part of a mine‟s ventilation system. A mine‟s reliance on these capital intensive components are set to increase as mines deepen. Mine cooling systems consume up to a quarter of the electricity used on mines. Component efficiency should be monitored to ensure optimum utilisation. Downtime should be minimised so that production is not negatively influenced. Replacing expensive components in an age of severe economic pressure should be avoided altogether. In this study, the performance of mine cooling system components was monitored. The effects of various operational and maintenance interventions on component performance have been quantified. Quantifying the effects of management decisions led to the refining of operational procedures, the optimisation of future maintenance, and the subsequent identification of electrical energy savings potential without the need for expensive modifications. Investigations show that a mine could realise a saving of up to nine hundred thousand rand annually by optimising the maintenance schedule of chillers. Extrapolated results estimate an electrical energy saving of 52 127 MWh per year if the strategy were implemented on twenty of South Africa‟s biggest mines. In addition, a monetary saving in excess of five hundred thousand rand could be saved through refining operational procedures. These strategies will be possible without the need for expensive installations or complicated modifications. Monitoring cooling system performance allows management to identify trends in performance, to understand component inter-dependence, and to allow for informed decision-making. In addition, performance monitoring allows for the identification of component and instrumentation faults. Statistical control charts and simulation modelling are some of the tools that have been employed in this study. These tools assist management formulate strategies and decisions with a higher degree of confidence. / MIng (Mechanical Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

O Brasil, sendo um país com dimensões continentais, necessita de uma infraestrutura rodoviária que proporcione deslocamentos com conforto e segurança aos seus usuários, bem como transporte eficiente de insumos. Somente através da adequada gerência de pavimentos é possível realizar medidas corretivas nos momentos apropriados, assegurando a manutenção de um nível satisfatório de serventia. Os modelos de previsão de desempenho são ferramentas imprescindíveis na gerência de pavimentos, já que permitem estimar o momento (ou volume de tráfego equivalente) do surgimento de defeitos e programar a realização de serviços de manutenção. A pesquisa relatada nesta dissertação está inserida no projeto Rede Temática do Asfalto, incentivado pela PETROBRAS, e teve por objetivo avaliar o desempenho de dois trechos da rodovia federal BR-290/RS, dando ênfase à análise da influência da variação do lençol freático na deflexão medida no topo deste pavimento. Dando continuidade a estudos anteriores, foram calibradas linhas de tendência propostas para a rodovia em monitoramento, através de levantamentos de deflexões, deformações permanentes, de defeitos superficiais e textura. Ademais, controlou-se a variação da profundidade do lençol freático, através da instalação de um medidor de nível de água no trecho I da BR-290/RS e analisou-se a dependência do módulo de resiliência do solo de subleito em função da umidade de compactação, com ciclos de umedecimento e secagem. Os resultados dos levantamentos demonstraram que os trechos monitorados da BR-290/RS continuam em degradação, com afundamentos nas trilhas de roda e irregularidade longitudinal bastante elevados, sugerindo que intervenções já deveriam ter sido feitas. De forma diferente, a aderência pneu-pavimento e as deflexões apresentam valores aceitáveis. Nos ensaios laboratoriais observou-se que os solos compactados no ramo seco, ou que sofreram ciclos de secagem, apresentaram valores mais elevados de módulo de resiliência do que aqueles compactados no ramo úmido, ou que sofreram ciclos de umedecimento. Os módulos de resiliência mostraram-se quase independentes do estado de tensões e os modelos k-θ apresentaram escassa significância. Por fim, a análise realizada com o software Everstress 5.0 indicou que a oscilação da umidade no subleito influencia nas deflexões do pavimento. Como esperado, quanto maior a umidade, maiores as deflexões. / Brazil, as a country with continental dimensions, needs a road infrastructure that provides comfort and safety to its users, as well as efficient transport of goods. Only through proper pavement management, rehabilitation measures may be taken at appropriate times, ensuring a satisfactory level of serviceability being maintained. Performance models are essential tools in the management of pavements since they allow estimating the time (or equivalent traffic volume) of appearance of distresses and scheduling maintenance services. The research reported in this dissertation is part of the Asphalt Thematic Network project, funded by PETROBRAS, and aimed to evaluate the performance of two sections of federal highway BR-290/RS, with emphasis on the analysis of the influence of the water table variation on deflections measured on the top of this pavement. Continuing previous studies, trend lines were calibrated for pavements under monitoring, through surveys of deflections, permanent deformations, surface distresses and texture. In addition, the variation of the water table depth was controlled by the installation of a water level meter on the section I of BR-290/RS, and the dependence of the resilience module of the subgrade soil was analyzed in function of the compaction water content, with wetting and drying cycles. The results of the surveys showed that the monitored sections of the BR-290/RS continue to deteriorate, with values of rutting and roughness quite high, suggesting that interventions should have already been done. Conversely, the tire-pavement friction and the deflections present acceptable values. In the laboratory tests, it was observed that the soils compacted in the dry branch of the compaction curve, or that underwent drying cycles, presented higher values of resilient modulus than those compacted in the wet branch, or that underwent cycles of wetting. The resilient modules were almost independent of the stress state and the k-θ models presented little significance. Finally, the analysis performed with the software Everstress 5.0 indicated that the oscillation of the humidity in the subgrade influences the deflections of the pavement. As expected, the higher the humidity, the greater the deflections.

The wide range of applications for single input single output controllers have encouraged interest in monitoring their performance. Over the past two decades researchers in the area have found many performance enhancement opportunities by applying these techniques. These are most evident in large operational plants with hundreds of controllers being monitored at the same time. Early performance measures were based on minimum variance control as a benchmark for controller performance. Many other procedures have since emerged that have improved the level of accuracy in these performance measures. In addition, these improvements made it easier to implement control loop performance monitoring in large industrial settings. This thesis looks at the performance measures in use for single input single output controllers. The work here looks at incorporating these different measures for a specific manufacturing plant. Ways of identifying the goals and objectives of controllers in a system are presented. Furthermore, measures are proposed that most accurately indicate if these goals and objectives are being met. The concept is demonstrated on a distillation system in a gas plant. It is shown how using these objective driven techniques can provide the user with sound results. These results do not require much user analysis to identify sources of problems and areas of improvement.

Behavioural symptoms, cognitive deficits, and findings from electrophysiological, neuroimaging and genetic studies all suggest atypical performance monitoring in ADHD. Performance monitoring involves error detection and post-error behavioural adjustment and is crucial to behavioural self-regulation and reinforcement learning, both of which are dysfunctional in ADHD. Therefore, post-error slowing was examined in children with ADHD and controls using a modified flanker task both with, and without, error detection provided. There was a significant main effect of group on post-error slowing across conditions and when error-detection was provided, significant post-error slowing deficits were found in children with ADHD. These findings suggest that the performance monitoring deficit in ADHD is specific to post-error behavioural adjustment and supports the inclusion of this deficit in the neurocognitive profile of ADHD. Findings are discussed in terms of current neurocognitive reinforcement learning models of ADHD.