<p>Syftet med studien är att undersöka prototyper i samband med systemutveckling, och då särskilt om agila utvecklingsmetoder har påverkat hur prototypning används.En genomgång av begreppet prototyp och närliggande begrepp görs för att klargöra vad som kan avses med prototyper inom systemutveckling. En översikt över olika synsätt på prototyper och deras användning presenteras, och leder vidare till en teoretisk modell för prototyper i systemutveckling.Systemutvecklare och experter intervjuas för att bringa klarhet i begreppen och ta reda på hur prototyper används i systemutvecklingsprojekt i praktiken. Utifrån detta material presenteras en vidareutveckling av den första teoretiska modellen. Problemrymd och lösningsrymd hör till modellens centrala begrepp.Studien visar att agila utvecklingsmetoder påverkar arbetet med prototyper i riktning mot att utföra prototypning i det ordinarie utvecklingsspåret samt att hämta in regelbunden återkoppling på prototyper från användare och andra intressenter under hela systemutvecklingsprojektets gång. Sådana arbetssätt visade sig också förekomma inom den praktiska systemutvecklingen.</p>

Over the years, organizations have seen fit to adopt the use of agile systems development methodologies (ASDMs) because of the benefits that they offer, such as flexibility and the ability to deliver products faster, in constantly changing environments. When ASDMs are used in projects, they are made to fit or be suitable for a project‟s unique aspects, such as its size, requirements, scope and outcomes. This is known as the contingent use of ASDMs. Little is known about the contingent use of ASDMs in South African organizations. It is not known whether it is happening, its procedure and its success. It is important to know this because quality and control need to be maintained in systems produced. There is always a danger that the benefits of using a system development methodology (SDM) would be lost if ASDMs are highly adapted. This led to an investigation of three organizations in South Africa that use contingent ASDMs. With the help of semi-structured interviews, focus groups and documents, data was collected that was analysed, using the tool ATLAS.ti, and the analysis methods content and cross-case analysis. It was found that some South African organizations in the telecommunications, consulting, technological, outsourcing and agricultural sectors use ASDMs in combination with the still popular waterfall SDM. Compatibility between the SDM and the project is a factor in some organizations. Scrum was cited to be the ASDM that was used in some of the organizations interviewed due to its maturity. They make ASDMs contingent by using aspects in the methods, such as Scrum, that are useful for their unique projects. These aspects are in some cases combined with other SDMs to form hybrid methodologies. Some organizations use criteria, such as project needs, outcomes, size and complexity to make ASDMs contingent. Some organizations have measures and facilities in place to manage, monitor, control and document the process used to make ASDMs contingent. They make use of contingent ASDMs as they have experienced more success with them and they will continue to do so. / Thesis (MCom (Computer Science & Information Systems))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Over the years, organizations have seen fit to adopt the use of agile systems development methodologies (ASDMs) because of the benefits that they offer, such as flexibility and the ability to deliver products faster, in constantly changing environments. When ASDMs are used in projects, they are made to fit or be suitable for a project‟s unique aspects, such as its size, requirements, scope and outcomes. This is known as the contingent use of ASDMs. Little is known about the contingent use of ASDMs in South African organizations. It is not known whether it is happening, its procedure and its success. It is important to know this because quality and control need to be maintained in systems produced. There is always a danger that the benefits of using a system development methodology (SDM) would be lost if ASDMs are highly adapted. This led to an investigation of three organizations in South Africa that use contingent ASDMs. With the help of semi-structured interviews, focus groups and documents, data was collected that was analysed, using the tool ATLAS.ti, and the analysis methods content and cross-case analysis. It was found that some South African organizations in the telecommunications, consulting, technological, outsourcing and agricultural sectors use ASDMs in combination with the still popular waterfall SDM. Compatibility between the SDM and the project is a factor in some organizations. Scrum was cited to be the ASDM that was used in some of the organizations interviewed due to its maturity. They make ASDMs contingent by using aspects in the methods, such as Scrum, that are useful for their unique projects. These aspects are in some cases combined with other SDMs to form hybrid methodologies. Some organizations use criteria, such as project needs, outcomes, size and complexity to make ASDMs contingent. Some organizations have measures and facilities in place to manage, monitor, control and document the process used to make ASDMs contingent. They make use of contingent ASDMs as they have experienced more success with them and they will continue to do so. / Thesis (MCom (Computer Science & Information Systems))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Research has shown that data warehouses potentially offer great investment opportunities to business. To benefit from this, business needs to invest large sums of money. Such investments are very risky, as no guarantee of the success of these ventures can be given. Object-oriented development has proved successful for developing operational systems in industry. This study researches object-oriented techniques to discover whether these techniques could be used successfully in data warehousing. A literature study focuses on the definition of an information systems development methodology and defines the components of such methodology. A further literature study on four popular object-oriented methodologies determines the commonalities of these methodologies. In conclusion, a literature study on data warehouse methodologies is done to discover the phases and techniques used in developing data warehouses. Based on the literature, a method is proposed to build a data warehouse harnessing object-oriented phases and techniques. The proposed method is applied as an interpretive experiment, followed by an evaluation of the data warehouse implemented. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Research has shown that data warehouses potentially offer great investment opportunities to business. To benefit from this, business needs to invest large sums of money. Such investments are very risky, as no guarantee of the success of these ventures can be given. Object-oriented development has proved successful for developing operational systems in industry. This study researches object-oriented techniques to discover whether these techniques could be used successfully in data warehousing. A literature study focuses on the definition of an information systems development methodology and defines the components of such methodology. A further literature study on four popular object-oriented methodologies determines the commonalities of these methodologies. In conclusion, a literature study on data warehouse methodologies is done to discover the phases and techniques used in developing data warehouses. Based on the literature, a method is proposed to build a data warehouse harnessing object-oriented phases and techniques. The proposed method is applied as an interpretive experiment, followed by an evaluation of the data warehouse implemented. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Agile methods for Information Systems Development (ISD) projects are claimed to encourage developers to be more flexible and efficient by means of arrangements in the development team’s physical and social environment. Research has, however, not yet answered the questions of how, why, and in what contexts agile methods work. ISD can be understood as a highly complex undertaking, which requires the developers’ creativity. The creative process is susceptible to the individual’s task motivation, which in turn is affected by the physical and social environment. In view of this, I argue that theories of motivation, such as the Self-Determination Theory, and theories of creativity could be usefully applied in such research. This study analyses Scrum, one of the most popular agile methods. Empirical data were collected through focused interviews with developers who had extensive experience of working in projects using various agile methods. Narratives of work episodes with perceived high and low motivation were analyzed in terms of motivation theory. Interview data were classified according to the type of motivation experienced and analyzed in relation to the agile method arrangement involved. The results of the investigation demonstrate how agile methods affect developers’ motivation in ways that are conducive to creative performance. The most pronounced effects are related to the individuals’ perceived work-related competence, autonomy, and sense of belonging to the team. Several agile arrangements in combination affect motivation in the positive direction, the single most influential factor being the team’s daily stand-up meetings. The agile arrangement that seems most difficult to implement without causing episodes of low motivation is the product owner role. The analytical approach taken in this study contributes to a better understanding of the aspects that are critical to the successful implementation of agile methods. / Agila metoder för systemutvecklingsprojekt syftar till att öka utvecklarnas flexibilitet och effektivitet genom arrangemang av utvecklarnas fysiska och psykosociala arbetsmiljö. Forskning om hur, varför och i vilka sammanhang agila metoder fungerar är dock ännu otillräcklig. Systemutveckling kan beskrivas som en komplex uppgift som fordrar utvecklarnas kreativitet. Individens kreativa process påverkas av individens uppgiftsmotivation, vilken i sin tur påverkas av faktorer i den fysiska och psykosociala arbetsmiljön. Mot den bakgrunden framhålls psykologisk teori om motivation, som Self-Determination Theory, och teori om kreativitet, som relevant för forskning om agila metoder. I avhandlingen analyseras Scrum, en av de mest populära agila metoderna. Empiriska data har hämtats från fokusintervjuer med utvecklare med lång erfarenhet av arbete i agila projektmiljöer. Deras berättelser om episoder med starka motivationsupplevelser har analyserats med stöd av teorin. Intervjudata har klassificerats avseende motivationstyp och i relation till inverkande agila arrangemang. Resultaten visar hur agila metoder inverkar på utvecklares motivation i avseenden med relevans för kreativa prestationer. Starkast var inverkan relaterad till utvecklarnas upplevelse av arbetsrelaterad kompetens, autonomi och samhörighet med utvecklingsteamet. Flera samverkande agila arrangemang inverkade positivt på motivationen; allra starkast inverkan hade teamets dagliga stå-upp-möte. Det agila arrangemang som var svårast att implementera utan att bidra till uppkomsten av negativt inverkande episoder var rollen produktägare. Studien bidrar med kunskap relevant för implementering av agila metoder i systemutvecklingsprojekt.

Continued increase in population and escalating environmental degradation have changed the priorities of agricultural development projects in developing and emerging countries towards both increasing production or productivity and improving sustainability. The long-term success of these development projects, especially in terms of improving sustainability, depends on how widely those improved practices which are shown to be effective in achieving the technical objectives, are adopted/adapted by farmers in the targeted region. In these terms, many projects in recent years may be considered to be relatively unsuccessful. This study aimed to investigate the factors contributing to the effectiveness of agricultural technology research and development projects in improving the sustainability of cropping systems in upland areas of China, together with the factors that might limit their effectiveness. This has involved both a review of recent projects carried out in the region and detailed monitoring and evaluation of one such project carried out in South West China – the SHASEA project. The SHASEA Project was implemented in Wang Jia catchment in Yunnan Province using holistic and multi-disciplinary approaches to address the twin objectives of increasing productivity of maize, wheat and soybean in a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly way. It introduced into the catchment a range of novel or modified cropping practices, which had been evaluated in plot studies over the preceding six years, together with biological and engineering measures designed to stabilise large scale soil movements in lateral gullies and the main stream. The SHASEA Project was successful in achieving its short-term scientific and technical objectives, but was too short to determine the level of adoption by farmers in the locality. The present study has used a range of approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of this Project, to monitor the biological, environmental and socio-economic impacts and investigate the perceptions of the farmers about the Project and the likelihood of their adoption of the recommended practices. Participatory approaches were used wherever possible, including detailed household surveys, PRA workshops and discussions with Key Informants. Field surveys and direct observations were also made, together with a limited economic analysis of the modified cropping practices introduced into the catchment. It was found that the farmers had different perceptions about the range of practices introduced into the catchment. Some were clearly preferred, such as contour cultivation and were likely to be adopted, while others were seen as inappropriate, such as straw mulching and intercropping, and were unlikely to be adopted. The benefits of an innovative, integrated cropping system, INCOPLAST, were not fully appreciated by the farmers. Other practices would only be adopted if the financial returns were favourable, such as the use of polythene mulch. Longer-term measures, such as tree planting schemes, were regarded favourably, but adoption would still depend on economic returns and related issues such as land security. An irrigation scheme was suggested by the farmers, but after installation it was not used extensively for the staple crops in the catchment. It was found that farmers planned to use the irrigation for higher value crops such as tobacco, after the end of the Project. It has been concluded that, despite the technical and scientific success of the Project, long-term adoption of many of the practices introduced into the catchment will be low, unless considerable incentives are used or much more effective dissemination techniques employed. It is considered that the outcomes would have improved considerably if participatory approaches had been used from the outset, to engage farmers more fully with the project, to ensure that the practices introduced were as appropriate as possible, to achieve greater ownership of the objectives and outcomes, leading to higher adoption rates. More emphasis should have been given to the dissemination of the outcomes at farmer level outside the catchment of study and there should have been more involvement with the regional policy makers and extension officials throughout the programme. Longer-term improvements in sustainability at the catchment level have not yet been demonstrated. These outcomes are discussed within the context of other agricultural projects carried out in South East Asia and other developing regions. Based on the outcomes and conclusions from this study, a series of recommendations are made which are presented as good practices for future agricultural development projects in South East Asia.

While the focus of this work is on turbo equalization, there is also an examination of equalization techniques including MMSE linear and DFE equalizers and Precoding. The losses and capacity associated with the ISI channel are also examined. Iterative decoding of concatenated codes is briefly reviewed and the MAP algorithm is explained.

Free energy techniques provide the basis for an analysis of aspects of the liquid-vapour interface undertaken in this study. The main focus of this work is an extensive theoretical investigation into properties of the surface tension, including curvature dependence and supersaturation effects, using Monte Carlo computer simulation techniques.

Integration is one of the driving themes in database and applied computing research. Starting with the development of Federated Information Systems and passing over to Enterprise Application Integration, the integration of distributed systems receives a lot of attention with the development of Web services these days. Integration on an architecture independent level can be cast to the integration of autonomous object oriented systems which requires the integration of object structure and object behaviour. Past research has mainly addressed the structural aspects meaning the integration of class attributes and relations. This thesis is addressing the integration of object behaviour and proposes a structured, model-driven approach for the integration of business processes specifying software application behaviour. It consists of the identification of correspondences between business processes on different levels of abstraction and associates the correspondences with integration patterns that lead to a specific technical integration. One advantage of the approach is that correspondences and patterns are defined separately, which enhances the re-usability of patterns in different integration scenarios. Integration scenarios can be distinguished between horizontal and vertical integration, and within or across enterprise borders. Within an enterprise, horizontal integration consists of integrating systems on the same level of abstraction and vertical integration consists of integrating systems on different levels of abstractions, whereas across enterprise borders, horizontal integration consists of determining the most appropriate systems, from among a set of functionally equivalent ones, and vertical integration consists of defining an appropriate combination of systems to create a new one. So far, there exist no approach that attempts to support all integration scenarios within a framework. This thesis proposes an integration approach that is able to support all integration scenarios mentioned before. The approach is built on a meta-meta layer architecture and provides generic methods and techniques for the logical integration of object behaviour based on a domain independent framework. The thesis proposes two alternative outcomes of an integration. First one creates a new global behaviour that integrates local behaviour and can be supported by a service oriented architecture. Second alternative outcome are synchronisation points between business process, so-called inter-process dependencies, that can be supported by an event-driven architecture. The advantages and disadvantages of both are discussed in detail.