No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Mavris, Dimitri; Committee Member: Hollingsworth, Peter; Committee Member: Kavadias, Stylianos; Committee Member: Schrage, Daniel; Committee Member: Volovoi, Vitali. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the six decades since organisations rst adopted computer machinery to support their operations this form of technology has undergone rapid evolution. This evolution is characterised by both the advancement of the machines themselves and the expansion of their application in the organisational domain through the development of increasingly advanced software. A particularly in uential development for large enterprises has been the introduction of computerised Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERPs) and the popularisation of proprietary ERP packages. By integrating the feature sets of an increasingly wide range of business software applications ERPs enable organisations to satisfy a large part of their information processing requirements by adopting a single software artefact. This approach o ers numerous bene ts to adopters as it ensures the integration of information processing activities across organisational functions. However, the realisation of these bene ts depends upon the organisation's ability to achieve congruence between its own structures and those embedded in proprietary ERP packages. This includes, on one level, the management of the processes of adaptation through which organisational actors become accustomed to a new technology and, on another level, the con guration and alignment of the artefact with the organisation's operating procedures. Despite the popularity of ERP adoption the achievement of congruence in information systems is an illusive ideal for many organisations. Accordingly, many Information Systems (IS) scholars have researched the organisational, technical and social factors which obstruct congruence and the interventions proposed to counter these. A key nding following from these investigations is that, notwithstanding the implementation of countering interventions, organisations often need to continue operations while experiencing some degree of incongruence or mis t in their information systems. The research performed in this study advances knowledge about this phenomenon by investigating the implications of incongruence for the behaviour of users of proprietary ERPs in organisations. Weickean Sensemaking Theory is adopted as conceptual framework to enable the investigation of instances of incongruence as events experienced by users in the context of their work environments. The theory dictates that users, rather than passively adopting the impositions of software artefacts, en- act information systems in unpredictable ways based on subjective and shared processes of sensemaking. An empirical investigation is performed and takes the form of a single, cross-sectional case study in which a variety of data collection techniques are utilised. The data sources are analysed and triangulated to trace the relationship between experiences of incongruence and patterns of information systems enactment among the user community. The ndings of the study reveal that experiences of incongruence cultivate knowledge sharing among a user community, a process which aligns their beliefs about the nature, role and use of a technology in an organisation. Furthermore, experiences of incongruence encourage users to augment designed technologies through the development informal information processing activities and alternative work ows. These forms of behaviour, while resolving users' experiences incongruence, lead to variance between the designed technology and the enacted technology creating various risks for the integrity of the organisation's business processes. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die ses dekades sedert organisasies rekenaar masjinerie begin toepas het om hul bedrywighede te ondersteun, het hierdie vorm van tegnologie dramatiese ontwikkeling ondergaan. Hierdie ontwikkeling word gekenmerk deur beide die bevordering van die masjiene self, asook die uitbreiding van hul toepassings in die organisatoriese domein deur die ontwikkeling van meer gevorderde sagteware. 'n Besonder invloedryke ontwikkeling vir groot ondernemings was die bekendstelling van gerekenariseerde Enterprise Resource Plan- ning Systems (ERPs) en die popularisering van kommersiële ERP pakkette. Deur die integrasie van 'n toenemend wye verskeidenheid funksionaliteit stel ERPs organisasies in staat om 'n groot deel van hul inligting verwerking vereistes deur die aanneming van 'n enkele sagteware produk te dek - 'n benadering wat talle voordele bied aangesien dit die integrasie van inligting verwerking tussen organisatoriese funksies verseker. Die verwesenliking van hierdie voordele is egter afhanklik van die organisasie se vermoë om kongruensie tussen sy eie strukture en die van ERP pakkette te bewerkstelling. Dit sluit die bestuur van prosesse waartydens organisatoriese akteurs aanpas by 'n nuwe tegnologie in, asook die kon gurasie van die pakket om belyning met die organisasie se operasionele prosedures te verseker. Ten spyte van die gewildheid van ERPs is die bereiking van kongruensie in inligtingstelsels 'n ontwykende ideaal vir baie organisasies. Gevolglik word die organisatoriese, tegniese en sosiale faktore wat kongruensie belemmer gereeld deur Information Systems (IS) akademici ondersoek. 'n Prominenete bevinding wat uit hierdie navorsing voortspruit is dat organisasies dikwels hul werk moet voortsit ten spyte van inkongruensie in hul inligtingstelsels. In hierdie studie word die bovermelde fenomeen verder ondersoek deur die implikasies van inkongruensie vir die gedrag van gebruikers van kommersiële ERP pakkette te ondersoek. Weick se Sensemaking teorie word toegepas as konseptuele raamwerk om gevalle van inkongruensie as gebeure wat deur gebruikers ervaar word te ondersoek. Die teorie bepaal dat die gebruikers nie bloot rekenaarstelsels aanvaar nie, maar dit op onvoorspelbare maniere enact op grond van subjektiewe en gedeelde prosesse van singewing. 'n Gevallestudie word uitgevoer waarin 'n verskeidenheid data-insamelingstegnieke gebruik word. Die databronne word ontleed en kruisvalidasie word gedoen om die verhouding tussen ervarings van inkongruensie en patrone van gedrag binne inligtingstelsels te beskryf. Die bevindinge van die studie dui daarop dat ervarings van inkongruensie die deel van kennis binne 'n gebruikersgemeenskap tot gevolg het. Hierdie proses belyn gebruikers se verwysingsraamwerke oor die aard, rol en gebruik van 'n tegnologie in 'n organisasie. Verder word bevind dat gebruikers, agv ervarings van inkongruensie, 'n tegnologie uitbrei dmv die ontwikkeling van informele inligting verwerkingstegnieke en alternatiewe werksprosesse. Hierdie gedrag stel gebruikers in staat om inkongruensie te oorkom, maar lei tot variansie tussen die ontwerpte tegnologie en die toepassing daarvan binne die organisasie. Dit hou verskeie risiko's vir die integriteit van die organisasie se besigheidsprosesse in.

<p>Background</p><p>The importance of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is that they redesign organizational processes and structure. The new knowledge embedded in the ERP systems induces substantial changes in the businesses which adopt ERP systems. Furthermore, ERP implementations are socially complex and knowledge-intensive activities as several companies may be involved in a single ERP project and intensive knowledge transfer among these companies is vital for the success of the implementation projects.</p><p>Purpose</p><p>To date limited amount of research has been performed in the area of knowledge transfer in ERP implementations. My study answered the following questions:</p><p>1. What is the effect of the transfer of knowledge that is associated with ERP implementations?</p><p>2. What (if any) knowledge transfer barriers have been identified during the ERP implementation process?</p><p>3. What types of activities did the firms initiate to enable the knowledge transfer during the ERP implementation process?</p><p>Method</p><p>My research consisted of theoretical and empirical parts. Theoretical part entailed a thorough review of current literature on the ERP systems and knowledge management. Adopting a phenomenological approach I next collected the primary data through interviews and surveys with experts in the ERP implementation projects.</p><p>Results</p><p>I have described the area of knowledge transfer within ERP implementation projects and identified connections between ERP implementations and organizational learning. I have also uncovered and analyzed the origins of a number of factors that potentially inhibit or enable the knowledge transfer within implementation projects. I was able to connect the theoretical part of the thesis with empirical data and gained a comprehensive understanding of the phenomena at hand. Major barriers to the knowledge transfer stem from the tacit nature of the knowledge itself and the lack of social relationships within the various stakeholders. Activities organizations engage in are ‘knowledge conversion’ and relationships facilitation within the project team.</p>

A importância da Telessaúde no âmbito da medicina propagou-se de forma exponencial, demonstrando capacidade de maximizar resultados, sendo utilizada rapidamente na área de Fonoaudiologia, podendo ser denominada de Telefonoaudiologia. Os resultados nesta área tornaram-se produtivos, possibilitando educação continuada mediada por tecnologia aos profissionais e disponibilizando atendimentos aos usuários que se encontram distantes dos centros médicos, tanto para realização de diagnósticos quanto para tratamento. O presente trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver um instrumento para criar linhas de orientação das pesquisas dos projetos elaborados pelos docentes do Departamento de Fonoaudiologia da Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru na área de Telessaúde, para identificar os pontos fortes e fracos destes projetos, como também as possíveis causas. Para isso, inicialmente foi aplicado um questionário específico, abordando quatro competências distintas: administrativa, tecnológica, financeira e de sustentabilidade. A pesquisa identificou que 11 docentes do Departamento de Fonoaudiologia desenvolviam projetos na área de Telessaúde. Dessa forma, os mesmos foram entrevistados para a aplicação do questionário, cujos resultados foram inseridos em planilha específica, analisados por meio de estatística descritiva e interpretados com a aplicação da Matriz SWOT, que possibilitou identificar os pontos fortes e pontos fracos dos projetos. Além disso, foi utilizado o Diagrama de Ishikawa para identificar os efeitos observados e posteriormente a identificação das causas. A interpretação dos resultados obtidos por meio da análise de trinta e dois projetos possibilitou verificar que o desempenho produtivo está concentrado na competência administrativa, também denominada de pontos fortes, obtidos a partir da pontuação máxima de 1034 pontos (87,33%) em relação ao total de pontos. Foram constatados como pontos fortes a missão do projeto, a qualidade das informações, os canais de comunicação e os benefícios proporcionados aos usuários, tendo como principais causas a utilização de multimeios específicos, a educação continuada, a quantidade de informações disponibilizadas e o comprometimento do capital humano. Em relação aos pontos fracos dos projetos de Telessaúde, constatou-se que a competência de sustentabilidade apresentou uma pontuação de 250 pontos (65,10%), indicando como fatores negativos a ausência de especialização da mão de obra em determinadas etapas do projeto, a falta de atualização de hardware e software, a exclusão digital dos usuários e a obsolescência do projeto. As principais causas desses pontos fracos estão concentradas na dificuldade de suporte técnico, profissionais para divulgação e treinamento, estratégias de marketing e a manutenção dos projetos desenvolvidos. Conclui-se que os pontos fortes estão concentrados na competência administrativa, sendo que o domínio desta competência proporciona a elaboração de planejamentos estratégicos, criando ações para tornar as instituições mais produtivas e competitivas. Os pontos fracos dos projetos estão identificados na competência de sustentabilidade, necessitando de ações específicas para diminuir os efeitos negativos durante a execução destes projetos pelos seus responsáveis. A pesquisa mostrou que o domínio dos pontos fortes e pontos fracos dos projetos, associados a especialização do capital humano, a maximização do tempo e a atualização dos recursos digitais são insumos importantes para ampliar os benefícios dos projetos de Telessaúde, rumo a vantagem competitiva organizacional. / Telehealth is a most important subject in medicine department because it shows how to maximize results and how to be used by Speech Therapy, being called Telepractice in Speech. Results in this area have become productive. It allows to professionals continued education mediated by technology and treatment or diagnostic by distance to users of medical centers. This work aim to develop a tool that would be able to create project research sides elaborated by teachers relationed to Fonoaudiologia da Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru in Telehealth field. Thus, strengths and weak points and their causes and effects would be identified. First of all, a specific questionary was applied which addressed four topics: administrative, technological, financial and sustainability. The research identified that 11 teachers have been a project in Telehealth area. These teachers were interviewed to questionary application and its results were inserted in a specific spreadsheet. They were analyzed through descriptive statistics and interpreted by SWOT analysis that allows identify strengths and weak points present in projects. Besides, Ishikawa diagram was used to identify effects and, after that, causes. There were 32 projects. After analysis, it was verified that productive performance is focused in administrative skill, also called strengths which effect was acquired through maxim punctuation of 1034 points (87.33 per cent). It was checked many strengths such as project mission, information quality, communication channels and their benefits to users, being their causes using specific technologies, continued education, quantities of disponibilized information and human capital commitment. In relation to weak points, it was verified that sustainability skill presented 250 points (65.10 per cent), showing negative facts such as missing specialization work force in some phases of projects, missing actualized hardware and software, user digital exclusion and project obsolescence. These weak points are focused by difficulties to get technical support, professionals for releasing and training, marketing strategies and manutention of developed projects. In conclusion, it is known that strengths are focused in administrative skills because they provide strategic planning elaboration, creating actions to organization become more productive and competitive. Weak points are identified in sustainability skill, needing specific actions to decrease negative effects during project execution by responsible professionals. This research showed that weak points and strengths and human capital, time increasing and actualized digital resources are important inputs to extend Telehealth project benefits, intending to organization advantage competitive.

O tratamento de câncer possui diversas modalidades. Uma delas é a utilização de fontes de radiação como principal protagonista do tratamento. A radioterapia e a medicina nuclear são exemplos desse tipo de tratamento. Por utilizarem a radiação ionizante como principal ferramenta para a terapia, há a necessidade de se efetuar diversas simulações do tratamento a fim de maximizar a dose nos tecidos tumorais sem ultrapassar os limites de dose nos tecidos sadios circunvizinhos. Os sistemas utilizados na simulação desses tipos de terapia recebem o nome de Sistemas de Planejamento Dosimétrico. A medicina nuclear e a radioterapia possuem seus próprios sistemas de planejamento dosimétricos devido a grande diversidade das informações necessárias às suas simulações. Os sistemas de planejamento em radioterapia são mais consolidados do que os de medicina nuclear e por tal motivo um sistema que aborde tanto os casos de radioterapia como de medicina nuclear contribuiria para significativos avanços na área de medicina nuclear. Dessa forma, o objetivo do trabalho foi modelar um Sistema de Planejamento Dosimétrico com o uso do código de Monte Carlo MCNP6 Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code que permitisse incorporar os casos de radioterapia e medicina nuclear e que fosse extensível a novos tipos de tratamentos. A modelagem desse sistema resultou na construção de um Framework, orientado a objetos, nomeado IBMC o qual auxilia no desenvolvimento de sistemas de planejamento que necessitam interpretar grandes quantidades de informações com o objetivo de escrever o arquivo base do MCNP6. O IBMC permitiu desenvolver de maneira rápida e prática sistemas de planejamento para radioterapia e medicina nuclear e os resultados foram validados com sistemas já consolidados. Ele também mostrou alto potencial para desenvolver sistemas de planejamento de novos tipos de tratamentos que utilizam a radiação ionizante. / Cancer therapy has many branches and one of them is the use of radiation sources as treatment leading method. Radiotherapy and nuclear medicine are examples of these treatment types. For using the ionization radiation as main tool for the therapy, there is the need of crafting many treatment simulation in order to maximum the tumoral tissue dose without throught the dose limit in health tissue surrounding. Treatment planning systems (TPS) are systems which have the purpose of simulating these therapy types. Nuclear medicine and radiotherapy have many distinct features linked to the therapy mode and consequently they have different TPS destined for each. The radiotherapy TPS is more developed than the nuclear medicine TPS and by that reason the development of a TPS that was similar to the radiotherapy TPS, but enough generic for include other therapy types, it will contribute with significant advances in nuclear medicine and in others therapy types with radiation. Based on this, the goal of work was to model a TPS that utilizes the Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport code (MCNP6) in order to simulate radiotherapy therapy, nuclear medicine therapy and with potential for simulating other therapy types too. The result of this work was the creation of a Framework in Java language, objectoriented, named IBMC which will assist in the development of new TPS with MCNP6 code. The IBMC allowed to develop rapidly and easily TPS for radiotherapy and nuclear medicine and the results were validated with systems already consolidated. The IBMC showed high potential for developing TPS by new therapy types.

This Report examines the history of the planning of Canberra with emphasis on the systems devised for determining land use, development control and public participation. Part One covers the periods during which various authorities and Departments have been responsible for planning and development. The long term effect of autocratic attitudes of the early planners and the subordinate position of the employee/tenant/lessee on the ordinary rights of the community to participate in planning is considered. The single minded objective of creating a monumental city, the determination to preserve at all costs what each generation of planners regarded as the original plan, the overriding concern with physical planning and construction, and the determination of the bureacracy not to share power or responsibility is noted. Part Two examines those places in Australia and elsewhere which have developed democratically and have devised systems to make planning responsible to the community. A number of common characteristics are noted. The limitations on the extent of public participation is acknowledged. Part Three examines a statutory planning system for the ACT. The conclusion is reached that the existing system, relying as it does on antique NSW laws adapted fifty years ago when the town was in its infancy are totally inadequate for a medium size city. The existing legislation is particularly defective in providing for the town planning process and development control needs of the Territory. The deficiencies of the latest planning review are noted, and although the retention of the existing planning authority is supported, its compulsory democratisation through a Planning Act providing statutory requirments for plan making and public participation, is advocated.

Mittelständische Industrieunternehmen setzen für ihre betrieblichen Abläufe Planungs- und Ausführungssysteme ein. Aufgrund der Turbulenzen auf Absatz- und Beschaffungsmärkten kann die Wirtschaftlichkeit und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit dieser Unternehmen nur durch permanente Anpassungen der Organisationsstrukturen und -abläufe erfolgen. In der Praxis zeigt sich eine unzureichende technologische Anpassungsfähigkeit der heute eingesetzten Standardsoftwaresysteme. Diese lassen zwar während der Einführungsphase vielfältige Konfigurationsmöglichkeiten zu, Veränderungen im laufenden Betrieb sind aber meist nur mit großem Aufwand möglich. Hier sind die Softwarehersteller in Zukunft zunehmend gefordert, wandlungsfähige Auftragsabwicklungssysteme zu entwickeln. Über die Entwicklungsphase (Build-Time) hinaus muss auch parallel zur Betriebsphase (Run-Time) der technische Fortschritt aufgrund von geänderten Anforderungen durch entsprechende Softwarereleases synchronisiert werden. / Development and application of adaptive enterprise resource planning systems: <br><br> Medium-sized industrial enterprises apply resource planning systems for their business processes. Changing markets require permanent adaptation of these enterprises’ organisational structures and processes to ensure their efficiency and their competitiveness. However, currently applied standard software systems have proven to be insufficiently adaptable. They allow multiple configuration options during implementation and setup, but it is hardly possible to perform configuration changes during the application phase. Therefore software developers will have to focus on adaptable enterprise resource planning systems in future. Beyond the development phase (build time) technological progress caused by changing requirements also has to be synchronised simultaneously by current software releases during the application phase (run time).<br> --------<br> © GITO mbH Berlin