Zinc is used widely as a corrosion resistant coating on steel. However, in Europe, zinc is considered an environmental pollutant. Zinc-aluminum alloy coatings may be able to minimize the leaching of zinc into the environment. There are a number of thermodynamic and chemical variables that make the zinc-aluminum coating on steel more durable, in terms of thickness, hardness, corrosion rate, and roughness, thus minimizing zinc pollution and enhancing the durability of the galvanized product. Among these variables are the galvanizing bath temperature and chemical composition, and item immersion time and withdrawal rate. One way to investigate the interaction of these variables is via the use of neural networks. Neural networks are especially useful in mapping independent variables (such as temperature, percentage of alloying metals) to dependent variables (such as zinc layer hardness and thickness) that may be related to each other in a nonlinear fashion. Neural networks learn to recognize patterns, and subsequently store their knowledge after being exposed to a set of sample patterns. This stored knowledge can be used for prediction given a different set of input patterns. The ability of neural networks to predict output after the learning process has been completed makes them very useful in the study of galvanizing. Instead of having to use a great number of experiments to determine the characteristics of the galvanized zinc layer, a neural network can be used to model the galvanizing process, and can predict the properties of the galvanized layer, again, without having to resort to endless experiments - "a Virtual Galvanizing Laboratory." Actual laboratory experiments using zinc-aluminum alloy galvanizing baths were conducted in Rhesca Laboratories, Helsinki, Finland, using a Hot Dip Galvanizing Simulator. A total of thirty six samples were used in the study, thirty for training, and six for testing. A feedforward neural network was successfully trained using Neurodimension's Neurosolutions software. The results of the training and testing of the network exhibited correlation between the bath composition, dipping time, temperature and the sample thickness, roughness, corrosion resistance and hardness. These results indicate that it is possible to construct a "Virtual Galvanizing Laboratory" in which "virtual experiments" can be performed to predict the thickness, roughness, corrosion resistance and hardness properties of zinc-aluminum galvanized steel.

The President of Ohio Dominican College (ODC), a liberal arts institution in Columbus, Ohio, authorized the development of a strategic plan for Academic Computing in 1989. The project initially produced a planning guide, or plan-to-plan, which defined Academic Computing and identified issues for study. These issues included (1) introducing computer-based programs; (2) increasing the availability and use of computers; (3) integrating computing throughout the curriculum; (4) meeting the Academic Computing Center's future needs; (5) offering courses through computer-based distance learning; and (6) the effects of technology on the college's administrative structure. WOTS- UP forms, interviews and a survey produced an environmental audit of internal and external forces affecting Academic Computing. Enrollment data were analyzed using the Policy Analysis and Simulation System (PASS) software package. Projections suggested that enrollment growth will be enhanced by computerizing the curriculum. National and college data indicated that enrollment in the Computer Science major will not increase. The plan recommends that ODC move toward integration of computing across the curriculum and develop programs combining Computer science with other majors. Combined majors will draw students to upper level Computer Science courses and increase enrollments in cooperating departments. To support these efforts, ODC will need a new computer laboratory and classroom. Guidelines and recommendations for these facilities are included. The plan also suggests that Ohio Dominican move toward offering courses via computer-based distance learning. Finally, no immediate change in the college's administrative structure is proposed, but periodic review of technology's effects on college operations is recommended.

The goal of this study was to examine the perceived value of distance learning MBA degrees to employers and employees. Value was measured by promotion, improved job security, an increase in money, position or status, additional knowledge, or the expertise that the more highly educated employee brings to the work place. Feedback from employers and employees was used to examine their perceptions, support and acceptance of non-traditional degrees in the workplace. Two online, web-based surveys were used to solicit opinions. The samples used included students who graduated from distance learning (DL) MBA programs and human resource professionals. The graduates were identified by university representatives using alumni lists for their MBA distance learning programs. Survey requests were provided to university representatives, who forwarded them to the graduates. Human resource professionals were identified through the Fortune 500 web site and the Society of Human Resource Professionals. Requests were mailed to human resource professionals. Requests to complete the survey were also posted to graduate school and human resources forums. There were 167 responses to the Survey of Graduates and 159 responses to the Survey of Human Resource Professionals. Approximately 660 survey requests were mailed with an average response rate of approximately 50%. The investigator expected to find that graduates of DL MBA programs would see a link between their degree and promotions or salary increases. The Survey of Graduates results showed that graduates felt their distance learning degree programs were a viable alternative to conventional degrees and believed their DL degrees would be as valuable as degrees earned through traditional programs. It was expected that some human resource professionals would not see a difference between the two degree types and others would feel that DL degrees were inferior. In fact, some employers were skeptical of distance learning degree programs and did not hold them in the same light as traditional degree programs. Many employers did not care where an employee earned the degree as long as the expected performance was evident.

This dissertation develops a Bayesian framework to assess medication compliance in glaucoma patients. Bayesian Networks have increasingly become tools of choice in solving problems involving uncertainty in the medical domain. These models have been successfully applied to diagnosis applications. This research applied Bayesian modeling to medication noncompliance in glaucoma patients. Medication noncompliance is the failure to comply with a physician's instructions with regard to taking medications at specified times. If the patient is non-compliant, irrespective of the advances in medical field, the person does not benefit from medical intervention. A model-based decision support system using a Bayesian Network was developed to determine whether a patient was complying with the medications prescribed by the physician. The predictive ability of the model was investigated using the existing patient data. To assess research validity, the results obtained through the model were compared against a domain expert's evaluation of the patient cases. The results provided by the Bayesian framework agree with the information provided by the domain expert. The Bayesian model can be used to confirm an ophthalmologist's clinical intuition or to formulate a prescription strategy for a glaucoma patient. The model can be further refined using larger patient data sets and additional variables. A clinical decision support system can be developed using the refined model to prevent medical errors in glaucoma compliance process. Results from this study could potentially improve the decision making process, given the uncertain and incomplete data available to a physician. The Bayesian approach may be generalized to other applications where a decision has to be made based on incomplete and uncertain data sets.

As digital storage of data continues to grow it is increasingly difficult to find information on demand, particularly in unstructured text documents. Unstructured documents lack explicit record definitions or other metadata that can facilitate retrieval. Yet, digital information is increasingly stored in unstructured documents. Manual or human-assisted indexing of unstructured documents is time consuming and expensive. Automated retrieval techniques, such as those used by Internet search engines, have a variety of limitations including depth and breadth of coverage and frequency of update. In addition many retrieval methods become impractical on large document collections where the need for improved performance is even greater. Most text indexing and retrieval systems include a component that classifies documents. This research will focus on the automated classification of unstructured text. The goal of this research was to investigate a commercial classification tool and evaluate the tool's performance on Reuters-21578, a benchmark categorization collection of unstructured text. The performance of a commercial-off-the-shelf(COTS) product, Oracle Text on the Reuters-21578 collection was evaluated using a variety of measures documented in the classification literature.

Pinkerton Security services has offices throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom from which security guards are dispatched to client sites. Only a few of the offices are semi-automated with the rest dependent upon the manual collection and transmission of the data to corporate Headquarters in Van Nuys, California. Headquarters processes the data and disburses the payroll checks and invoices. The manual effort of dispatching security guards and recording timekeeping in the field offices has resulted in poor quality and untimely data. Competing firms that have automated these processes have a distinct marketing edge over Pinkerton. The procedure to develop an automated system for Pinkerton began with a comprehensive review of Pinkerton's information processes. The review included visits to several offices and the formation of an operation's committee responsible for the detailed design of the new system. Several meetings were held to define field and corporate data requirements. The efforts produced a comprehensive relational data base system called PARS (Pinkerton Automated Resource System). The new Pinkerton security system is a state- of-the-art software system for the security industry. The plan was to install the system in 130 Pinkerton security offices nationwide. Once implementation began, the problem facing Pinkerton was whether Pinkerton was realizing the full benefits of automation and whether PARS was meeting the company's goals and objectives. The purpose of this study was to conduct an investigation into the impact of PARS upon information processes in the first three offices that received the system to determine if PARS was functioning as expected. System deficiencies were to be identified and a list of recommended improvements developed to ensure Pinkerton received the full benefits of automation. The first phase of the evaluation consisted of a detailed review of Pinkerton, the company's information problems, and the proposed solutions through automation. Using the three offices as a case study, a complete methodology was developed to formally address the information requirements of Pinkerton. Problems the offices had prior to PARS were identified, the automated methods that were proposed and implemented to solve the problems were discussed, and the effect of automation upon office operations was analyzed. The second component of this study consisted of questionnaires that were directed toward the users of the system. The questionnaires were structured to capture the users' perceptions of the effectiveness of the PARS system. Results were summarized by function, by question, and by objective and the findings analyzed. Statistics of various field and corporate processes before and after PARS were also captured to provide an objective measure of the impact of PARS. The results of the case study analysis indicated that through PARS the three offices had resolved their prior information processing problems. The implementation of PARS forced procedural standards and data integrity controls into each office. Further analysis of the findings indicated PARS had achieved the field offices goals of reducing the incorrect payment of wages, reducing unbillable overtime, improving payroll accuracy, improving billing accuracy, and improving client service. PARS had also permitted staff reductions in the case study offices. The potential savings to Pinkerton in this area alone could approach $3.2 million per year. The results from the questionnaires indicated a high acceptance level by users of the system. Ninety-two percent of the users said PARS provided useful and timely reports and 100% felt PARS supported the company's business objectives. The users returned an 85% positive response when asked if the system handled changing information requirements effectively and 83% agreed that the system improved the productivity of the office. All offices reported a reduction in paper flow and every user felt they could use PARS effectively in 30 to 60 days. The recommendations derived from the study were to continue the implementation of PARS in the other security offices, upgrade the system documentation, and to resolve the outstanding hardware and software issues. Also, data transmission problems between the field offices and corporate should be corrected so the data could be received and processed in a more reliable and timely manner. Other system features were also requested that would provide the users with additional capabilities. In summary, the results indicated that PARS had been successful in meeting the system's goals and objectives and automation had solved many of the problems in the field offices. Pinkerton should receive the full benefits of automating the field offices through the use of PARS.

This is the 46th year of America as a "Space Faring Nation." Two generations of satellite-engineers have designed, developed, and refined the processes, technologies, and techniques for building satellites. The first generation of satellite pioneers has left the industry. The second generation of satellite engineers is rapidly approaching retirement. Much of the design process knowledge they have will depart with them unless it is codified in some usable way. A way to harvest, retain, and efficiently re-use the design process knowledge of the corps of senior satellite experts is needed to close the gaps among rapidly changing technologies, declining resources, and the need for new satellites. Design process knowledge can be adapted to the use of new materials, fabrication techniques, and resource constraints, if it is captured and made available for re-use. The search for possible cost savings and increases in efficiency is leading to the application of knowledge acquisition tools and knowledge management methods. This research project attempted to collect, understand, and reuse the knowledge of multiple domain experts on design processes that drive initial design decisions associated with translating "Requirements on Orbit" to "Design Requirements." This research applied concept maps as a knowledge acquisition and representation tool among multiple domain experts in the translation from a statement of requirements to design requirement specifications. There were three specific goals for this research. They were: (1) demonstrating how concept maps can be used for knowledge acquisition among multiple domain experts; (2) developing a prototype knowledge representation model from the concept maps for guiding the development of design requirements from "Statements of Requirements on Orbit" (3) assessing the utility of that prototype knowledge acquisition and representation model by examination of a limited problem set.

School library media centers have traditionally provided students and teachers with information resources in two formats: print materials, including books, periodicals and microforms; and audiovisual materials including film, television and audio devices. Recent technological advances and the changing nature of information/publishing industries now suggest it might be desirable for school library media centers to provide information resources in an electronic format including computer, compact disc, and/or video disc databases. This paper examines the feasibility of introducing a site-specific periodical literature CD ROM database into the secondary school library media center in three ways: an attitude survey, a queuing analysis and a cost analysis. Four secondary schools in the Dade County Public School system were selected to receive a CD ROM database on a trial basis. A posttest only, equivalent-groups AB design was used to measure students' confidence in their abilities to locate periodical literature, the student’s perceptions of the level of difficulty in the task and the availability of such literature in the school library media center, and student satisfaction with the school library media center and its collection. The study also applied standard quantitative techniques, i.e. queuing models and simulation, to the use of the traditional print periodical index and a CD ROM periodical index. To develop a queuing model, at the index table and the service or search times were needed. Service times were based on 1088 observations of students using The Readers guide to Periodical Literature and INFOTRAC II, a CD. ROM database. Arrival rates were based on two typical school library media center patron access patterns--a "worst" case and a "best" case scenario .Using this information, two models were constructed. Each model was run twice, once for The Readers Guide to Periodical Literature and once for INFOTRAC II. The cost analysis included such components as the school discretionary budget and district funding for media specialist salaries. School discretionary expenditures included initial start-up costs for hardware and recurring costs for subscription and supplies. Media specialist salary costs to the district calculated based on the time used and the for instruction in periodical research and intervention and help in student searches. The attitude survey showed that in every area tested, INFOTRAC II users had a more positive attitude toward periodical research and the school library media center than did Readers Guide users. The search data gathered for the queuing analysis were of itself significant. Student’s using The Readers Guide to Periodical Literature took an average of 13.68 minutes to complete a search. INFOTRAC II users needed only 5.4 minutes. The queuing analyses showed that a single CD ROM terminal, when compared to a seven volume READER-S GUIDE, makes a poorly planned media center activity worse, and a well-planned media center activity better. The financial impact of the CD ROM database is felt most by the school-site discretionary budget. Annual subscription costs for CD ROM products are significantly higher than print indexes. Data collected indicated that the CD ROM index, INFOTRAC II, required little or no instruction by media specialists, while formal instruction in the use of The Readers Guide to Periodical Literature Ranged from 15 to 180 minutes per class. At the same time, daily logs showed that Readers Guide users required an average of 46 minutes a day of professional help, while INFOTRAC II users needed only 15 minutes a day. When costs of instruction and intervention by media specialists are included, the more expensive CD ROM product becomes highly competitive to the print index. In conclusion, secondary schools that place a high priority on expanding student’s perceptions of how to access information and creating enthusiasm for independent investigations should consider CD ROM databases. In addition, the CD ROM database offers a vehicle for providing computer usage experiences for the entire student body. Careful evaluation should be given to the issues of equitable access, availability of cited sources, library media center management chores and individual school collection development goals when making a Selection.

The literature indicates that usability studies, commonly used in industry, are rarely conducted with educational software and children. The problem addressed in this study examined the issue of educational software usability studies with children. The researcher conducted an experimental, randomized control-group posttest study investigating the redesign of the human-computer interface of educational simulation software. The study employed a testing instrument designed by the researcher. The validation of the instrument is contained within this study. Along with the test instrument embedded counters were used to collect data for this study. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA. Results showed that software rewritten with a redesigned human-computer interface was easier for students to use. This was an expected outcome. An item analysis of the test instrument was used to attempt to explain why the new interface was easier for the students. The human-computer interface was rewritten using human factors guidelines. Results were that menus may be a better interface than sentence direction, if the task is not too difficult. When the difficulty increased, the data yielded evidence that menus may not be any more effective than sentence directions. The use of inverse video for giving directions was also examined. The results showed a definite increase in effectiveness when inverse video directions were changed to a menu format. A focus of this study was to determine if usability studies should be conducted on childhood populations. It is the researcher's belief that this is essential for major improvements in educational software.

A Library Media Center (LMC) in a private high school in Broward County, Florida set its goal to improve access to its collection and to handle circulation procedures more efficiently. The existing method of access was through the card catalog, but it was contingent on discrete manual records. The problem was how to convert the card catalog to machine readable records that would meet two prerequisites. First, the bibliographic records must meet library standards to allow for future resource sharing, and second, the records must be installed on a microcomputer. After a search of professional literature by the library director of the LMC, who conducted this study, it was found that an Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) could be the solution to its goal. However, other school librarians who had installed similar systems, were experiencing difficulties updating their OPAC's. Many of the systems offered automated circulation procedures, but did not improve on the search functions of the card catalog. In this study the author described how the LMC staff planned and implemented an OPAC system to improve access to library resources. The Winnebago "CIRC/CAT" system included two modules, online catalog and automated circulation, and ran on an IBM PS2 Model 50 computer. When the OPAC project was implemented, the tasks were divided into four phases, 1) preliminaries 2) preparation of the collection, 3) retrospective conversion of materials, and 4) patron conversion. In the first phase the LMC director configured the "Winnebago CIRC/CAT" program to meet local parameters. Preparation of the collection was a three-fold process, weeding, verifying and bar coding, that was conducted by the library assistant and volunteers. During the third phase, retrospective conversion, 7,248 manual records (shelf-list cards) were converted to standard machine readable records (MARC) by the LMC director and a volunteer. The MARC records were downloaded from BiblioFile (a laser disc based system) and entered into the OPAC system. In the last phase, the LMC clerk entered the patron data. The OPAC project took four months to complete. As a result of the computerized catalog, students were able to access the collection more efficiently. Using the keyword option, they were able to find more citations. The OPAC did not save time with checking out materials, but reports and statistics based on circulation could be generated in less time than the manual method.