The main aim of the research presented in this thesis is to inform the design of interactive computer systems for supporting creative knowledge work. Research into creativity and knowledge work has been explored and used to develop a criteria modelling approach. The particular contribution of the author's work is the drawing together of that research and applying the findings to interaction design. The publications were selected on the basis of how well they represent the main outcomes of the work. The journey from prescribing system requirements and design goals to framing the system design process in terms of evaluation criteria may be traced through the papers presented. Interest in creativity and the role of computer technology in creative tasks has recently increased. A number of national initiatives have been set in motion in the LJK, beginning in December 1996 with the Initiative for National Action on Creative Technologies, the Creative Media Initiative: Technology Foresight, Department of Trade and Industry, National Endowment for Science and Technology in the Arts (NESTA) and the People and Computers Programme, of the Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC). Thus, the author's involvement in creativity research and computer support is proving to be timely. Amongst her recent initiatives is Creativity and Cognition, an international symposium which brings together creative people in the arts with technologists and scientists. The thesis is divided into three parts : themes and outcomes, methodology and case studies. A criteria-based modelling approach is presented which has evolved from earlier models that represent key elements of creativity and knowledge work. A model of creative knowledge work is proposed and categories of criteria identified. Underpinning the main outcomes are the case studies which were carried out in industry/academic collaborative projects. The findings were considered in relation to other studies. The thesis presents an approach to computer systems design and development that directly links the requirements definition to the application of evaluation criteria. These criteria are based upon the characteristics of the cognitive style and working practices of creative knowledge workers.

Magíster en Tecnologías de la Información / La División de Sistemas de Autoservicio de la empresa DTS, ha pasado en los últimos años de ser un fabricante más de hardware de autoservicio a ser el principal proveedor de soluciones integrales en este rubro. Este cambio trajo consigo el surgimiento de diversos problemas en el ámbito del desarrollo de software, debido principalmente a la carencia de un proceso formal. Con el fin de resolverlos, la Gerencia decidió dar inicio a un proyecto de mejora sistemática del proceso de desarrollo de software, cuyo primer paso y objetivo principal de esta Tesis, sería la formalización de dicho proceso, y cuyos objetivos secundarios serían su evaluación, detección de posibles problemas y corrección posterior de ellos. Para la especificación del proceso se decide usar lenguaje SPEM 2.0 en vez de documentos de texto, notación formal que permite algún tipo de procesamiento automatizado posterior. Como herramienta de especificación se determina el uso de EPF Composer, entorno gráfico que facilita la tarea de formalización. Finalmente, para la evaluación del proceso e identificación de anomalías, se establece el uso del método Process Model Blueprints, modelo desarrollado por alumnos de doctorado del DCC de la Universidad de Chile. En principio se procedió a adquirir conocimiento sobre SPEM 2.0 y EPF Composer. Luego, en base a entrevistas efectuadas al personal de la División y al registro documental de proyectos pasados y en ejecución, se identificaron las tareas, roles y artefactos del proceso, los que fueron clasificados en un determinado número de áreas de proceso CMMI. Más tarde, se definieron los subprocesos fundamentales efectuados en la organización, los que finalmente fueron ensamblados en el proceso de desarrollo de software de la División. Este proceso ya formalizado, fue evaluado usando Process Model Blueprints, detectándose una serie de anomalías en cada una de sus tres vistas (roles, tareas y productos), las que fueron analizadas y corregidas cuando correspondía hacerlo. Todos los objetivos planteados en esta Tesis fueron cumplidos de acuerdo a lo establecido, logrando contar al final del trabajo con un proceso especificado formalmente, evaluado según un conjunto de criterios, y mejorado a través de la corrección de las anomalías detectadas. Dentro de las lecciones aprendidas, se detecta entre otras cosas, que un análisis inicial más exhaustivo del problema planteado podría haber evitado el cambio posterior de los objetivos; además, se postergó la creación de guías para ciclos de mejora futuros, cuando éstas entregan tanto o más valor a los usuarios que la formalización del proceso. Como trabajo futuro, entre otras iniciativas, la División ha decidido participar en ADAPTE, proyecto que busca encontrar una nueva estrategia de adaptación de procesos que permita enfrentar proyectos de distinta naturaleza con un proceso especialmente adaptado a cada uno de ellos.

Thesis presents author's view to principles of business process management (BPM) and the process approach to the description of business processes. The main contribution made by this thesis is subsequent practical application of all principles to particular company in tourism - asistence service. Objectives of this thesis were achieved through studying theoretical resources and use of practical experience.

This study explored the state of art education in Turkey as revealed by pre-service art education university instructors, and the potential of incorporating visual culture studies in pre-service art education in Turkey. The instructors' ideas about visual culture, and popular culture, the impact it might have, the content (objects), and the practices within the context of Turkey were examined. Visual culture was examined from an art education perspective that focuses on a pedagogical approach that emphasizes the perception and critique of popular culture and everyday cultural experiences, and the analysis of media including television programs, computer games, Internet sites, and advertisements. A phenomenological human science approach was employed in order to develop a description of the perception of visual culture in pre-service art education in Turkey as lived by the participants. In-person interviews were used to collect the data from a purposive sample of 8 faculty members who offered undergraduate and graduate art education pedagogy, art history, and studio courses within four-year public universities. This empirical approach sought to obtain comprehensive descriptions of an experience through semi-structural interviews. These interviews employed open-ended questions to gather information about the following: their educational and professional background; their definitions of art education and art teacher education and what it means for them to teach pre-service art education; critical reflections on the educational system of Turkey; perceptions of visual and popular culture; and finally individual approaches to teaching art education. This study was conducted for the purpose of benefiting pre-service art teacher education in general and specifically in Turkey. It provided the rationale, the nature, and pedagogy of visual culture as well as the why and how of visual culture art education in the context of Turkey. Furthermore, it provided insights into the potential contribution of the concept of visual culture to the understanding of art and improvement of art teacher training in the context of Turkey.

This thesis offers an information strategy for a small-sized webdesign business. It examines the current state of its IS/IT, whilst evaluating its benefits in business procedures and processes. This thesis envisages an IT strategy that will significantly support increase in competitiveness on the market and accomplishment of the business goals of this firm. This strategy introduces various elements of the future information system and emphasises the importance of the choice of the right solutions. The essential part of master’s thesis are also theoretical resources.

No description available.

In recent years, interactive systems developers have increasingly included usability engineering and interaction design as an integral part of software development. With recognition of the importance of usability come attempts to structure this new aspect of system design, leading to a variety of processes and methodologies. Unfortunately, these processes have often lacked flexibility, completeness and breadth of coverage, customizability, and tool support. This thesis shows the development of a process model, that we call LUCID/Star*, which addresses and overcomes the characteristics lacking in existing methodologies and an evaluation of its application in a real-world development environment. To demonstrate the goal of this thesis, we have used a combination of empirical and analytical evidence. The (LUCID/Star)* process model for usability engineering grew out of the examination, adaptation, and extension of several existing usability and software methodologies. The methods that most greatly impacted the creation of (LUCID/Star)*were the LUCID Framework of interaction design, the Star Life Cycle of usability engineering, and the Waterfall and Spiral models of Software engineering. Unlike most of these, we have found that a sequence of cycles (each of which produces a product evolution) is a more effective analogy for the interaction development process. A sequence of cycles is more modular and makes it easier to focus on each cycle separately. Working with Optim Systems, Inc. in Falls Church, VA we instantiated the process model and introduced it as a process to develop a web-based device management system. (LUCID/Star)* performed remarkably in the Optim case, overcoming the tight constraints of budget and schedule cuts to produce an excellent prototype of the system. / Master of Science

Policies intended to pursue climate mitigation through soil carbon sequestration require accurate estimates of soil carbon stocks and projections of how carbon pools will change with future climate. In this study, the process model MIMICS-CN was utilized to explore the potential changes in bulk soil organic carbon (SOC) and protected mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) with changes in mean annual temperature (MAT) and annual net primary productivity (NPP) for the native range of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L). A Monte Carlo method was used to calibrate a large ensemble of model parameters using observational data from loblolly pine stands. Spatial projections of carbon pools across the native range of loblolly pine were produced for nine temperature and productivity scenarios representing a range of likely futures. The standard deviation of the mean total SOC pool to a depth of 30 cm was 3.6 kg C m-2 while the standard deviation of potential changes in pool magnitude was 0.96 kg C m-2. Associated with regional climate change projections, increases in MAT caused losses in bulk SOC but did not affect MAOM. Simulated increases in NPP resulted in increased bulk SOC, MAOM and the proportion of SOC that is MAOM (MAOM:SOC) highlighting the importance of productivity in sequestering atmospheric CO2 in general and in protected C pools, specifically. SOC pools did not change consistently across the landscape. Rather, they varied by subregion due to differences in soil texture and changes in forecasted NPP. Soils with clay contents above 18% had the greatest potential to accumulate MAOM and bulk SOC under a realistic future climate scenarios. In regions with low clay content, significant increases in total SOC are driven by the accumulation of C in unprotected SOC sub-pools. With the maximum likely increase in NPP (31.4%), a regionwide increase in total SOC of 29% was projected whereas subregions in which NPP decreases showed no potential to increase soil carbon stocks. We conclude that the management of loblolly pine to increase productivity can increase the amount of SOC and the residence time of bulk SOC over decadal time scales, however regional differences in the proportion of C in MAOM and unprotected pools must be considered when planning silvicultural management. / Master of Science / Managing soil carbon in southeastern U.S. loblolly pine forests creates a sustainable system of producing large quantities of forest products and has the potential to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Accurate estimates of the amount of carbon in soils at regional scales and projections of changes in soil carbon caused by global change are critical components to successfully determining the effectiveness of this approach to climate change mitigation. In this study, a model of soil carbon designed to describe the range of loblolly pine is utilized to simulate soil carbon changes using three realistic potential increases in temperature and three projections of changing ecosystem productivity to the year 2050. As temperature increases, the total amount of carbon in soils decreases because the rate of decomposition by microbial organisms hastens. However, with increasing productivity, losses of soil carbon due to increased temperatures are mitigated, and, at the highest levels of productivity, soil carbon stocks and the resistance of soil carbon to future losses increase by up to 26 percent. Here, we propose a productivity focused management approach to sequestering carbon in loblolly pine soils and highlight sub regions which may be more vulnerable to soil carbon losses due to environmental factors such as flooding and nutrient limitations.

Aerosol Jet® Printing (AJP) is a direct-write based additive manufacturing process that is capable of printing electronics with fine features and various materials. It eliminates the complex masking process in traditional semiconductor manufacturing, thus enables flexible electronics design and reduces manufacturing cost. However, the quality control of AJP processes is still a challenging problem, primarily due to the lack of understanding of the potential root causes of the quality issues. There is a complex interaction among process setting variables, in situ feature variables, and quality variables in AJP processes. In this research, an ensemble model strategy is proposed to quantify the effect of the process setting variables on the in situ feature variables, and the effect of the in situ feature variables on quality variables in a two-level hierarchical way. By identifying significant in situ feature variables as responses for the process setting variables, as well as predictors for product quality in a joint estimation problem, the proposed models have a hierarchical variable relationship to enable in situ process control for variation reduction and defect mitigation. A real case study is investigated to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method. / Master of Science / Printed electronics is a promising technique for the future of the electronics manufacturing industry due to its potential for producing thin, flexible and low cost electronic devices. For the printing of any electronic device, a fundamental step is to print the conductive wires. Aerosol Jet® Printing (AJP) is one of the emerging additive manufacturing technologies for printing the conductive wires on a variety of substrates. It is a maskless additive manufacturing technique capable of printing high resolution wires. However, the quality control of AJP processes is still a challenging problem, primarily due to the lack of understanding of the potential root cause factors of the quality issues. There is a complex interaction among process setting variables, <i>in situ</i> feature variables, and quality variables. More importantly, the selection of the <i>in situ</i> feature variables is typically based on engineering domain knowledge and sensor instrumentation capability, rather than based on statistical significance of variables. In this research, an ensemble model strategy is proposed to quantify the effect of the process setting variables on the <i>in situ</i> feature variables, and the effect of the <i>in situ</i> feature variables on quality variables in a two-level hierarchical way. By identifying significant <i>in situ</i> feature variables as responses for the process setting variables, as well as predictors for product quality in a joint estimation problem, the proposed models have a hierarchical variable relationship to enable <i>in situ</i> process control for variation reduction and defect mitigation. A real case study is investigated to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method.

This thesis addresses the problem of achieving better convergence between different phases (here design and manufacturing) of the product development cycle. The use of liaison has been proposed to better integrate the product and assembly process. Two facets of integration have been addressed in this thesis. One is concurrent evolution of the process model with the product model and the second is associativity between product model and process model. A liaison data structure has been proposed, which is set of geometric entities, associated with one or more assembly process that acts as an interface between the product model and process model. As the liaison data is not available explicitly in the product model, a set of algorithms have been developed and implemented to identify and extract the geometric entities defined in the liaison data structure from assembly model. The proposed algorithms can identify and extract liaisons for riveting, welding, bolt fastening, screw fastening, adhesive bonding (gluing) and blind fastening. The developed algorithms have been implemented and tested. The process model needs to evolve with the product model concurrently so that any mistakes or infeasibility in the process model can be flagged right away. The use of liaison enables the construction of process model as the product model is fleshed out. A framework based on liaison has been proposed and implemented to demonstrate the concurrent evolution of product and process model. Linking the changes in the product model to flag the changes (or at least identify the need for changes) in the process model forms the associativity problem. The liaison has been used for maintaining associativity between the product and process model. A framework has been proposed for maintaining associativity between product model and process model that makes use of expert knowledge or tribal knowledge to track impact of changes in product model or process model. An aircraft wing box has been used as an example to illustrate and validate the proposed approaches. Finally the thesis concludes by summarizing contributions of the research and outlining future work.