Thesis (M. G. I. S.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. / Marc Smith, Committee Member ; P.K. Yeung, Committee Member ; Benjamin Shapiro, Committee Member ; Sheldon Jeter, Committee Member ; Yogendra Joshi, Committee Chair.

Στην παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία υλοποιήθηκε ένα ολοκληρωμένο σύστημα απεικόνισης κινδύνων πλημμυρών για τον ποταμό Ευρώτα. Η εργασία χωρίζεται σε δύο ενότητες: την Ενότητα 1, Θεωρητικό Πλαίσιο και την Ενότητα 2, Υλοποίηση. Στην Ενότητα 1 αρχικά παρουσιάζονται κάποια εισαγωγικά στοιχεία. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, δίνεται ο ορισμός της πλημμύρας και των αιτίων που την προκαλούν. Στην συνέχεια γίνεται μία αναφορά σε διαχρονικά προβλήματα και στις έννοιες του κινδύνου και της κρίσης, καθώς επίσης στους τρόπους αντιμετώπισης τους από τους αρμόδιους φορείς. Έπειτα γίνεται μία αναφορά στις σύγχρονες ανάγκες. Συνεχίζουμε με την ανάλυση των αισθητήρων που χρησιμοποιούνται στο ποταμό και πως αξιοποιείται το σύστημα λήψης αποφάσεων. Επίσης αναλύουμε τα γεωγραφικά πληροφοριακά συστήματα, τις αρχιτεκτονικές τους , τον τρόπο ανάπτυξη τους καθώς επίσης και την ανάγκη ύπαρξης τους στο διαδίκτυο. Λίγο πριν τελειώσουμε κάνουμε μία αναφορά στις τεχνολογίες που χρησιμοποιούμε και παραθέτουμε και μερικά στατιστικά στοιχεία .Τέλος δίνουμε μερικά παραδείγματα παρόμοιων έργων και των κυριοτέρων υπηρεσιών που προσφέρουν Στην Ενότητα 2 περιγράφεται η δικτυακή πύλη που υλοποιήθηκε, πληρώντας όλες τις προϋποθέσεις που έχουν τεθεί από την Ενότητα 1. Πιο συγκεκριμένα γίνεται αναφορά στις δικτυακές υπηρεσίες που αναπτύχθηκαν, τον τρόπο που λειτουργούν καθώς επίσης και μερικές φορές επεξηγούνται κάποια σημαντικά κομμάτια κώδικα. / This Diploma Dissertation presents a complete system depiction of dangerous floods for the river Eurotas. The dissertation is separated in two units. In Unit 1 initially are represented certain introductive elements such as the definition and the causes of flood, the use of sensors, the decision support system. Also, we analyze Geographic Information Systems (GIS), their architectures as well as their need of existence in the internet. Finally, we finish with a report in the technologies that we use and mention certain statistical elements. In Unit 2, the network gate that was materialised, filling the conditions that have been placed by Unit 1, is described. Particularly, we give a report in the network services that were developed, the way that they function as well as explanation of certain important code.

Thesis (MTech (Business Information Systems))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / The emergence of big data (BD) has rendered existing conventional business intelligence (BI) tools inefficient and ineffective for real-time decision support systems (DSS). The inefficiency and ineffectiveness is perceived when business users need to make decisions based on stale and sometimes, incomplete data sets, which potentially leads to slow and poor decision making. In recent years, industry and academia have invented new technologies to process BD such as Hadoop, Spark, in-memory databases and NOSQL databases. The appearance of these new technologies have escalated to an extent, that organisations are faced with the challenge of determining most suitable technologies that are appropriate for real-time DSS requirements. Due to BD still being a new concept, there are no standard guidelines or frameworks available to assist in the evaluation and comparing of BD technologies. This research aims to explore factors that influence the selection of technologies appropriate for real-time DSSs in a BD environment. In addition, it further proposes evaluation criteria that can be used to compare and select these technologies. To achieve this aim, a literature analysis to understand the concept of BD, real-time DSSs and related technologies is conducted. Qualitative as well as quantitative research techniques are used after interviews are conducted with BI experts who have BD knowledge and experience. Experimental research in a computer laboratory is also conducted. The purpose of the interviews is to ascertain which technologies are being used for BD analytics and in addition, which evaluation criteria organisations use when choosing such a technology. Furthermore, a comparative computer laboratory experiment is conducted to compare three tools which run on Hadoop namely; Hive, Impala and Spark. The purpose of the experiment is to test if system performance is different for the three tools when analysing the same data set and the same computer resources. The impirical results reveals nine main factors which impact the selection of technologies appropriate for real-time DSS in a BD environment, and ten application independent evaluation criteria. Furthermore, the experiment results indicate that system performance in terms of latency, is significantly different among the three tools compared.

M.Sc. (Computer Science) / The attitude of critics towards decision support systems vary from a major breakthrough to just another bussword. The objective of this study is to design an expert system that can advise the ignorant to design, implement and evaluate a decision support system. In chapter one criteria that will influence the design of a decision support system were identified. The four areas the were looked into: Organisational long term goals and -strategy Attitude of the people in the organization The tasks of management The problem a decision support system will be designed for. A list of 'criteria were compiled and carried forward to chapter two. In chapter two a decision support system was defined and the components of the system discussed. The influence that the criteria (of chapter one) had on the components of the decision support system were decided. Chapter three discussed a subset of a decision support system namely expert systems. This chapter were motivated by two things: The objective of this study was to design an expert system According to the definition of a decision support system (chapter two) an expert system is a subset of a decision support system. A brief description of the components of an expert system and a layout of the different rule bases were given. An implementation methodology will be discussed. In chapter four a methodology were described to measure user satisfaction after a decision support system were implemented. A summary of this chapter were accepted for publication as an article in 'Information and Systems Management'. Chapter five discussed a look into the future of decision support systems. A complete Super Intelligent System was described. Although this is fictitious it could trigger ideas for other studies.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MCom (Computer Auditing))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Accounting / MCom / unrestricted

A consumer health decision support system (CDSS) is being developed at the South African Medical Research Council (MRC). It is a software program intended to help members of the public decide when they may be at risk of some common but serious illnesses like tuberculosis and hypertension. It would be ideal for a public health kiosk or e-health programs of the government. The program has been built as an expert system. Its knowledge base consists of rules which are used in assessing the risk of illness. The rules were given by medical experts who took part in the development of the CDSS. The study proposes a method for the evaluation of the rule base of the CDSS using FCA methods. It is important to evaluate the knowledge base of an expert system, because if its knowledge base is of broad scope and is accurate then it can be expected that the expert system will be good at giving advice and hence potentially useful. FCA is a mathematical framework which can be used to investigate causal relations in data. The study explored its utility in the evaluation of the CDSS knowledge base. FCA implications and the FCA formulation of the JSM method were two FCA methods that were selected. The FCA methods were used to generate rules from actual patient data, and these were compared to the rules initially given by the experts. The motivation to use FCA data analysis as well as experts’ knowledge in the development of the CDSS program is that FCA data analysis may discover some things that the experts may have overlooked. Or at least the experts can review their expertise against actual field data which has been analysed by FCA methods. A system like the CDSS cannot be built using FCA data analysis techniques only, involvement of experts is very important. The two FCA methods were chosen so as to compare their results, and it was also thought that they may perhaps complement each other. Preliminarily it was found that FCA implications and the FCA formulation of the JSM method can be used in the evaluation of the rule base of the CDSS. / Dissertation (MSc (Computer Science))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Computer Science / unrestricted

One of the most significant keys to value creation comes from placing emphasis on producing knowledge. The production of knowledge must a major part of the production strategy. This study aims to harness the concept of knowledge management (KM) as an essential element in the creation of sustainable competitive advantage for organisations. Accordingly, this research seeks to highlight the concept of knowledge management systems (KMS) as an essential element, in which the decision support system (DSS) and organisational performance (OP) are elements that control the survival of organisations in the marketplace. The industry requires creative thinking to generate innovation, learning and excellence in knowledge cognition and knowledge inertia, as well as knowledge acquisition (KA), and spending in three types of DSS: the group decision support system (GDSS), executive support system (ESS) and the expert system (ES). It also requires investment in experience inertia and in work teams for the purpose of access to cross-pollination of the information between the employees and to find new ideas about the industry. This study aims to investigate the issues and factors which affect the utilisation of KM as a tool for effective decision-making (DM).Therefore, decision models and DSSs which enhance effective utilisation of this approach will be investigated. Accordingly, a conceptual model based on the literature review and consultations with knowledge workers was developed. Studies of collaborating organisations which are active in manufacturing in Iraq and the UK were performed to validate the conceptual model and facilitate exploratory investigation regarding the relationships. Data was collected using personal interviews with managers and knowledge workers at the enterprises, in addition to use of the questionnaire which was distributed to samples within these firms. A case study method was used in the data collection stage. These case studies could also be implemented for the mechanical, systems engineering, and manufacturing industries. This is because the findings have been tested where the primary objectives of this study investigate KM gaps in the manufacturing industries generally. This study has also addressed the examined objectives by providing an explanation of several issues, identifying the key sources of KM and the corresponding factors. According to the study, KM is found to occur most strongly over the stages of manufacturing and on which high level KM mainly occurs. Furthermore, this study ties together the concepts of KM, DSS and performance as a way of creating sustinable competitive advantage for the firms. Similarly, the study examines the current use of KM tools and assesses the most prominent methods. This study explores the role of KM in industrial firms and the limitation of obstacles to avoid the gaps. Thus, this study proposes a businesslike framework and creative method, explaining comprehensively how KM must adjust in order to align employees' ideas with the firm's larger goals effectively and strategically, which will reduce the lack of harmonisation between the polarisation and implementation of KMS to those firms. The study identifies high correlation between KM and OP, in addition to identifying high correlation between computer-based DSS and OP.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1979 F37 / Master of Business Administration

Life-support treatment is regarded as the support of vital functions of respiration and circulation such as mechanical ventilation and inotropic support, and life-sustaining therapy which incorporate therapies such as artificial hydration, nutrition and haemodialysis. Life-support treatment is rendered to critically ill patients within the intensive care units. However, when treatment options are maximised, and the patient’s condition is unchanged, a decision is often made to withdraw treatment. Professional nurses are usually involved in the process of withdrawal of life-support treatment as they care for this population of patients. The study followed a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research paradigm in order to explore and describe the perceptions of professional nurses with regard to the process of withdrawing life-support treatment in a private intensive care unit. Data was collected by means of interviews, which were transcribed according to Tesch’s method of analysis. Field notes were used to supplement the data findings. Based on the data collected, it is clear that professional nurses experience difficulties when performing withdrawal of life-support treatment. There are a number of communication concerns which need to be addressed and suggestions were also made by the interview participants regarding these concerns. The study makes recommendations to assist professional nurses with the process of withdrawing life-support treatment in a private intensive care unit. The findings of the study will be disseminated to the relevant hospital and unit managers. Ethical principles were maintained throughout the study by adhering to the principles of privacy, confidentiality, anonymity and beneficence.