Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This paper seeks to describe the process by which a database-centric web application was redesigned and rewritten to take advantage of Apache’s Lucene - an open-source information retrieval software library written in the Java programming language. After the implementation of a Lucene-based text index of “semi-structured data”, a college radio station's card catalog application was able to deliver higher-quality search results in significantly less time than it was able to do using just a relational database alone. Additionally, the dramatic improvements in speed and performance even allowed the search results interface to be redesigned and enhanced with an improved pagination system and new features such as faceted search/filtering.

This paper describes the design and initial implementation of a web-based financial information system, intended to replace a Microsoft Access financial database in support of a federally funded, international health project. This system is being reimplemented for the web in order to provide stakeholders across the country (and potentially around the world) access to the project's financial information.

Lärplattformar blir ett allt vanligare inslag i den svenska gymnasieskolan. Dessa beskrivs ofta okritiskt som fan­tas­t­iska hjälpmedel både för lärares arbete och för elevers lärande. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att utreda hur lär­plattformar kan fungera som ett stöd i lärares arbete, vilka hinder som kan finnas för detta och vad dessa hinder kan bero på. För att besvara dessa frågor har vi genomfört semistrukturerade intervjuer med tolv yrkesverksamma gymnasielärare. Resultatet visar att de flesta av informanterna ser att lärplattformar har en funktion att fylla. Framför allt ser de tillgänglighet som en stor för­del. Flera av lärarna känner sig som digitala immigranter och ser eleverna som digitala infödingar. Dock är de senare inte så kunniga inom digital teknik som viss forskning vill låta påskina. Vi har funnit att lärplattformar kan fungera som ett stöd i lärares arbete, bl.a. genom ökat elevansvar, obundenhet i tid och rum, underlättad kommunikation och möjlighet till överblick. Orsaker till att lärplatt­formar inte alltid fungerar som ett stöd i arbetet kan vara att skolledningen infört lärplattformen utan någon större re­flektion, att lärplattformar inte är pedagogiska verktyg eller anpassade efter skolans behov, samt att lärarna har fått för dålig ut­bildning för att kunna hantera lärplattformen. En slutsats vi har dragit är att lärplattformar mycket väl kan fungera som stöd i lärares arbete men att det i dag sker genom att de underlättar det administrativa arbetet. Däremot är inte lärplattformar pedagogiska verktyg men de kan bidra till att det pedagogiska kan fokuseras genom att tid och energi frigörs, så att läraren kan fokusera på kärnverksamheten – det pedagogiska.

In this thesis, priority setting to the form of the Swedish parliamental decision on priority setting, 1997, is considered an innovation for implementation in health care. The features of this innovation are investigated. The practical implications of implementation are identified by investigating the user organisation, ie, Swedish health care organisations and management systems. Also, a case of a three-stage process for macro-level priority setting that engaged the entire organisation in the Västerbotten County Council (VCC) is presented. This is done against a background of preceding implementation efforts in the VCC. Four specific research efforts and papers are presented. In Paper I, priority setting is operationalised into a multi-dimensional resource allocation task. On that basis, with the help of interviews (1998) and surveys (2002 and 2005) primarily of VCC health care managers, the impact of implementation is measured by prioritisation structures, processes and decisions. Survey response rates were low. Results were used as qualitative data, internally compared, and interpreted as: a) responses reflected mainly “early adopters’” opinions; b) priority setting is an ambiguous concept; c) indicating limited overall implementation; d) reinterpretation of the prioritisation task occurred over time among respondents; and, e) this group took increasingly personal responsibility as stakeholders in priority setting. Paper II reports a case study intervention of explicit, departmental level priority setting with the aim of improving cost-effectiveness in in vitro fertilization resource use and a rationing of services perceived legitimate by all stakeholders. The intervention combined priority setting and structured quality improvement techniques. Results were: a) improved operational efficiency of diagnostic procedures that allowed resources to be reallocated to treatment; and b) patients were prioritized and treatment resources were rationed based on evidence of treatment effect among subgroups. Evaluation showed that the procedure met stated criteria for legitimacy. In Paper III, a full-format test of the macro level prioritisation process is described and evaluated by participants with the help of surveys after each completed stage. Participants report the need for improvement of elements in the overall process and of procedural specifics. However, overall there was a strong commitment to the initiative and satisfaction with the process and the resulting decisions. In Paper IV, procedural specifics of the prioritisation process are evaluated. They are also compared to the Program Budgeting and Marginal Analysis (PBMA) framework when used for macro level purposes. Procedures provided intended results such as vertical and horizontal priority setting and a consistent process. However, economic targets were not fully achieved in any of the stages. Conclusions include that health care management systems are not prepared for priority setting and need profound restructuring and that the prioritisation process described in Papers III and IV was successful because: a) the process satisfied politicians’ directives; b) participants were satisfied with the procedures and perceived the subsequent reallocation decisions as legitimate; and, c) methods resulted in the intended outcome. Factors suggested as the basis of success include: long-term overall preparations; broad and deep participation; a readiness for change among participants; a stage for horizontal priority setting that added to the quality, feasibility and perceived validity of the knowledge base; a strong process leadership; and politicians determined to protect the process from opportunistic disturbances.

På godt ti år er størstedelen af de danske fiskeressourcer blevet privatiseret og givet til de enkeltefartøjsejere som privat ejendom. Fiskekvoterne, der førvar et forvaltningsredskab, er pludselig bleveten handelsvare der kan handles og lejes frem og tilbage mellem bådejerne. På den måde er kvotemarkedet blevet det nye bærende princip for fiskeriets forvaltning, og fiskeriet har efterfølgende gennemgået en omfattende socio økonomisk og kulturel forandring. Det er denne forandringsproces som dokumenteres, undersøges og udforskes i afhandling en. I den forbindelse er afhandlingen et etnologisk bidrag til et forskningsfelt præget af økonomer og ressourceforvaltere, og afhandlingen peger på en markantkløft mellem dem der forvalter fiskeriet og det som de forvalter. For fiskerne betød det nye kvotemarked også en ny frihed. Efter flere årtier, hvor fiskerne var underlagt den biovidenskabelige forvaltning af fiskeriet, genopstod en række fartøjsejere nu som "finanskaptajner". Med det nye marked investerede de og udvidede deres fiskerivirksomheder, på bekostning af mange andre som valgte at sælge deres kvoter. Men fiskekvoter er ikke nogen almindelig vare, og biologiske udsving, politiske brydninger og voksende monopoler udgør lige så stor en risiko som de giver mulighed for gevinster.

For standardized environmental management systems (EMS) to be environmentally effective tools, they should affect important environmental aspects related to flows of materials and energy, which for manufacturing companies are closely connected to their products. This paper presents how external environmental auditors interpret and apply important product-related requirements of ISO 14001 at manufacturing companies in Sweden. The results indicate that the link between EMS and products is rather weak. Products are seldom regarded as significant environmental aspects and are therefore not within the main scope of many EMS, which are mainly focused on sites. However, all of the interviewed auditors require that some kind of environmental considerations be incorporated into product development, but these considerations are to large extent site oriented; how they are prioritized in relation to other factors such as economics and other customer priorities appears to be up to the companies. The paper includes some recommendations to strengthen the role of products within the framework of standardized EMS.

Geographically located materials are used by the archaeology to analyze and explain the socio-cultural aspects of ancient life. Thus, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have started to be used in archaeology for many applications. Although, cooperation of GIS and archaeology is considered as beneficial, it has become insufficient to meet the requirements of archaeologists about excavation study. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to develop Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) which includes both the GIS tools and analyses and / analytical modeling capabilities in order to satisfy the needs of archaeologists. Moreover, to develop a specialized system for specific archaeological excavation site is aimed. In this study, Kaunos is selected as a case study area and in order to furnish this aim, firstly, needs of archaeologists working in the excavation study of Kaunos are analyzed. Secondly, GIS tools and analyses are determined which meet the requirements of archaeologists. Finally, SDSS for Kaunos Archaeological Excavation Site is developed. It is composed of four components namely / Database Management, Model Management, Dialog Management and Stakeholder Components. Analyses are conducted under the Model Management Component and results are visualized in Dialog Management Component. Result maps help and assist archaeologists in terms of interpreting and examining the socio-cultural, economical and demographical characteristics of Kaunos.

As global markets transcend nationalities in search for key advantages in cost,quality and flexibility, the once unbridgeable limit of geographical location isovercome by faster Internet speed lines, online services and tools that allowindividuals and businesses to interact regardless of space and time. This thesis studies the transition from traditional project management to virtualenvironments and the impact that this new paradigm has over dispersed teamsand their interactions among themselves and the project manager. The focus of the study lays on the concept of motivation within virtual projectmanagement and the role of the project manager to overcome the specificchallenges of this new working scenario. Additionally, parallels are drawn on themotivation features that virtual project management systems offer to projectmanagers as well as team members. This study shows the importance of bridging the difficulties of motivatingdispersed teams and how traditional techniques of motivation have a muchlesser impact on team members. The idea of progress and self accomplishmentare brought forth as the strongest motivators for dispersed teams. Finally, this study exposes the shortcomings of current projectware as a tool tomotivate teams and explores the idea of applying gamification techniques tothese software packages to lift the motivation responsibilities off the shoulders ofproject managers.

Els sistemes de gestió permeten millorar l'eficiència de les organitzacions i en aquest context, una organització pot tenir implantats múltiples sistemes. La forma preferible de gestionar-los és integrant-los, perquè s'aprofiten les sinèrgies existents entre sistemes. Existeixen molt pocs estudis empírics que analitzin la integració de sistemes. Així, l'objectiu d'aquesta tesi és conèixer i analitzar empíricament com integren les empreses els sistemes i com realitzen les auditories d'aquests.Les conclusions de l'anàlisi empírica realitzada són que les empreses:(1)integren majoritàriament els sistemes a un determinat nivell, i sembla que els models de gestió utilitzats i l'ordre d'implantació dels sistemes, condicionen aquest nivell,(2)duen a terme, majoritàriament, auditories del sistema integrades, essent el nivell d'integració de les internes superior al de les externes, i(3)en alguns aspectes, sembla que la integració de les auditories externes, està relacionada amb el nivell d'integració dels sistemes. / Management systems can improve the efficiency of organizations and in this context, an organization can have multiple systems in place. The preferable way to manage them is integrating them, so take advantage of synergies between existing systems.There are very few empirical studies that analyze systems integration. Hence, the objective of this thesis is to ascertain and analyze empirically how companies integrate systems and how perform their audits.(1)Conclusions of the empirical analysis carried out are that companies: mainly integrate systems at a certain level, and it appears that management models used and systems'implementation order, determine this level,(2)carried out, mostly, integrated system audits, being the level of integration of the internal higher than the external, and (3)in some respects, it seems that the integration of external audits is related to the level of systems integration.