¡yEnterprise Resource Planning¡z(ERP) is an integrated information system consists of different business functions including Financial/Cost, Sales/Distribution, Material Management, Production Planning, etc. It facilitates the business flexibility to adjust for environmental changes such as industries, customer needs, and the status of competitor. The purposes are to reduce the cost, enhance work efficiency, and generate sufficient information for the business decisions. Two enterprises are studied for their ERP implementation in this thesis; they are the InfoChamp Systems Corporation (ICSC) and the Yageo Company (YC). ICSC which started in 2000 A.D. is a spinout company of the China Steel Company after it successfully constructed the ERP system. The strategy of the China Steel Company was to gradually extend the application function from the original management information system. On the other hand, the Yageo Company adopts the SAP package and discards the whole traditional information system. In order to discover how these two enterprises implement the ERP systems, the author interviewed their representatives several times. Besides, the company documents, publish papers and data from their web sites were collected and analyzed. The main conclusions are summarized as the following. 1. The enterprise needs to carefully consider the organization structure associated with possible constraints before the implementation of ERP system. Whether to extend the traditional management information system or to adopt a certain industrial package, the information integration among new systems and old systems is a very complicated issue. 2. The goal of the implementation project should be clarified and specified to all members in the enterprise. In addition, the project manager should be fully authorized to take charge of the whole implementation process. 3. As the enterprise expend their business functions, the information system also needs extra modules. It is not an enduring decision to simply adopt an available package. However, using interface development to integrate the informational system will result in high maintenance cost. 4. The two enterprises emphasis the importance by establishing the project control mechanism. The executive managers serve as the project leader in order to proclaim the ambition of the project success. 5. The contract negotiation with the consulting company requires careful communication. The cost, durations, customization, and the commitment of a successful project should be included. 6. The consistency of the business and information process may enhance business performance. 7. The bureaucratic organization and workflow need a reformation.

A major hurdle for any company to cross is the act of re-engineering software if they wish to stay relevant. With the speed that software and technology advances, it would be ignorant for any product to stagnate. With that comes the inherent difficulties of choosing which of the older technologies to keep (if any) and which newer technologies to employ in the re-engineered solution. Once that is covered, the actual implementation presents its own set of challenges to both the decision makers and developers in the process. This thesis describes a case study, in particular the efforts put forth to re-engineer some specific software. While the software is quite capable, it is becoming more and more out-dated every passing year, not to mention more difficult to maintain, upgrade and alter, providing a perfect example to explore. The focus of this thesis is to discuss what avenues of upgrading and methods of providing comparable or improved services to the end user our team chose and implemented. These include using a relational database with an advanced object-relational mapper in a modern environment to provide a REpresentational State Transfer (REST) web service that will then supply a rich interactive front-end. Taken together, these tools are quite powerful and capable.

The purpose of this research is to examine the socio-economic legacies of the French Protectorate in Morocco and the attitude of modern-day Moroccans to that legacy, through a series of in-depth interviews with a wide range of people who lived through colonialism and came after it. I use these interviews alongside documents of the time and the findings of contemporary commentators to chart the establishment of the Protectorate's social and economic policies in Morocco and how they destroyed the traditional infrastructure and cultural heritage of the country to replace them by a more 'modern and civilised' westernised system. I argue that, although some good did come from French colonialism in Morocco, these policies were not viable and so, when decolonisation came about, the country was unable to sustain itself and, therefore, had no choice but to continue to look to France both financially and educationally. Through highlighting how France transformed every aspect of Moroccan life to match that of la Métropole, this research shows why Moroccans find it so hard to shake off their colonial past, why they continue to use the French language in business, politics and education and why, unless Morocco steps out of the shadow of its former occupier, and make its own way in the world, they feel it will never be truly independent.

<p>By what means can legislative committees exercise influence on policy outputs? How and why do committees in different countries differ in their abilities to do so? This dissertation argues that legislative committee power is a multidimensional concept. Committee procedures can be distinguished into three analytic dimensions: 1) committees' positive agenda power, their power to ensure the placement of legislative versions preferred by them on the floor; 2) committees' negative agenda power, their power to delay or block the progress of legislation; and 3) committees' information capacity, institutional incentives granted to them to gather and transmit information. These distinct dimensions benefit different legislative actors. Therefore, they reflect different features of a political system, and may not be consistently strong or week.</p><p>Based on an original cross-national data set, the dissertation shows that committee procedures cluster empirically in these three distinct dimensions. Furthermore, the dissertation also demonstrates how legislators' electoral incentives, the composition of multiparty governments, preexisting authoritarian incumbents' uncertainty and bargaining power, and the changes in legislative memberships affect different dimensions of committee power.</p> / Dissertation

Organizations with older legacy systems face a number of challenges, including obsolescent technologies, brittle software, integrating with modern applications, and rarity of properly skilled human resources. An increasingly common strategy for addressing such challenges is application modernization, which transforms legacy applications into (a) newer object-oriented programming languages, and (b) modern Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). Published approaches to legacy application modernization focus either on technology transformation or SOA transformation, but not both. Given that both types of transformation are desirable, it is valuable to explore how to combine existing approaches to perform both transformations types within a single project. This thesis proposes principles for combining such approaches, and demonstrates how these principles can be applied through an example of a combined approach along with a simulated application of this example. The results of this simulated application leave us with considerable confidence that both transformations can be successfully incorporated into a combined project.

Data about the spatial variation of soil attributes is required to address a great number of environmental issues, such as improving water quality, flood mitigation, and determining the effects of the terrestrial carbon cycle. The need for a continuum of soils data is problematic, as it is only possible to observe soil attributes at a limited number of locations, beyond which, prediction is required. There is, however, disparity between the way in which much of the existing information about soil is recorded and the format in which the data is required. There are two primary methods of representing the variation in soil properties, as a set of distinct classes or as a continuum. The former is how the variation in soils has been recorded historically by the soil survey, whereas the latter is how soils data is typically required. One solution to this issue is to use a soil-landscape modelling approach which relates the soil to the wider landscape (including topography, land-use, geology and climatic conditions) using a statistical model. In this study, the soil-landscape modelling approach has been applied to the prediction of soil bulk density (Db). The original contribution to knowledge of the study is demonstrating that producing a continuous surface of Db using a soil-landscape modelling approach is that a viable alternative to the ‘classification’ approach which is most frequently used. The benefit of this method is shown in relation to the prediction of soil carbon stocks, which can be predicted more accurately and with less uncertainty. The second part of this study concerns the inclusion of expert knowledge within the soil-landscape modelling approach. The statistical modelling approaches used to predict Db are data driven, hence it is difficult to interpret the processes which the model represents. In this study, expert knowledge is used to predict Db within a Bayesian network modelling framework, which structures knowledge in terms of probability. This approach creates models which can be more easily interpreted and consequently facilitate knowledge discovery, it also provides a method for expert knowledge to be used as a proxy for empirical data. The contribution to knowledge of this section of the study is twofold, firstly, that Bayesian networks can be used as tools for data-mining to predict a continuous soil attribute such as Db and that in lieu of data, expert knowledge can be used to accurately predict landscape-scale trends in the variation of Db using a Bayesian modelling approach.

This thesis examines the hollow-earth theories of John Cleves Symmes and seeks to recognise and restore both his memory and his legacy. I outline Symmes’ theory that the Earth is hollow and habitable within, and accessible via holes at the North and South Poles, consider the impact of this theory on the commencement of the United States Antarctic Exploration program, and demonstrate its lasting legacy within the genre of Symmesian hollow-earth fiction. Previous scholarship has been intermittent, disparate and oddly contextualised, often assigning both Symmes and his theory to the world of the “weird and wonderful.” In order to study Symmes’ legacy, I synthesise previous scholarship and show the continuing presence of his theory – at times unrecognised and unacknowledged – in fiction. Commencing with a description of the series of publications in which Symmes publicised his idea, this thesis looks at his theory’s reception, with a discussion of several books and letters published in response to the theory – from contemporary times through to the current day. In determining the legacy of his theory, rather than the theory itself, I look at possible and probable sources for Symmes’ idea, and place it on the continuum of natural philosophy and science from the thirteenth century so as to set Symmes’ announcement in the perspective of its time. I then address Symmes’ influence on the United States Congress, which culminated in the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842. Finally, I examine Symmes’ legacy in fiction, commencing with an extensive discussion of Symzonia, which some posit was authored by Symmes, and continuing through to the present. I find that while Symmes’ theory, and the ensuing debate about a hollow earth, may have advanced the speed with which the United States commenced Antarctic exploration, with time this exploration would probably have happened anyway. His greatest legacy is through the establishment of a body of hollow-earth fiction based around the fictional hole which now bears his name; “Symmes’ Hole” lives on in literature to the current day.

In this thesis the Russian Federation is investigated to understand if it still tries to continue its classic Soviet style of security perception in the post-Cold War era and its views concerning national security as reflected in Russia&#039 / s military doctrines. It is so obvious that the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the emrgence of Russia as an independent entity in the post-cold war era have compelled the Russian Federation to redefine its national interest. In this context it experienced a crisis of describing its identity and national interests in changing security environment. Although in the early years of Yeltsin it preferred close cooperation with the West then abandoned this approach. It was implied that some states and coalitions were still main threats to the security of the Russian Federation in the military doctrine and the near-abroad policy re-gained importance. In addition with the inauguration of Putin as the Russian President the reaction of the Russian Federation regarding both internal and external security issues displayed the growing significance of traditional interests and old-style security issues. Thus in this thesis it is asserted that the Russian Federation still tries to sustain its well-known traditional interests the classic Soviet style of security perception in the post-Cold War period. Therefore this study tries to explain this argument through examining the effects of its imperial past, transformation years and its situation in the new security environment of post-Cold War era under Yeltsin and Putin.

This dissertation deals with how national higher education policy affects stakeholder influence in practice, i.e. how two selected higher education institutions, the University of Oslo and Telemark University College, have interpreted and adapted to national policy reforms. The aim of this dissertation is threefold. First, four stakeholder regimes: the expert, welfare, bargaining and entrepreneurial regimes, are developed. Second, these stakeholder regimes are used to investigate the evolvement of norms and structures for stakeholder influence over time, i.e. approximately 40 years, at the University of Oslo and Telemark University College, respectively. Third, historical institutionalism is used at an organisational level in order to reveal the evolvement of continuity and change in stakeholder influence at these two institutions. This dissertation argues that the two higher education institutions have both undergone an evolvement of stakeholder influence in three phases where the two first phases have paved the way for the ultimately dominant characteristics of the entrepreneurial regime. At the same time, the analysis shows that the initial institutional legacies of the University of Oslo and Telemark University College differed. The University of Oslo had an established institutional legacy where the professors had the most influence, whereas the participation of other internal stakeholder groups became part of the legacy during the 1970s. Recently, ideas of strong leadership have been added to the legacy. In contrast, the institutional legacy of Telemark University College was based on cooperation with external stakeholders already from the outset of the period studied here. On a general level, this dissertation argues that policy is more likely to change practice if the changes are incremental and introduced as layering modes of change on the structural aspects of the regime models. Along with these incremental changes – where the University of Oslo and Telemark University College become more alike in several aspects – both higher education institutions display a number of continuous practices; cooperation with external stakeholders is one example which can be traced back to the early stage of this study. However, Telemark University College initially opened up more to the outside world than the University of Oslo.

Até os dias de hoje, diversos algoritmos de mineração de modelos de processos já foram propostos para extrair conhecimento a partir de logs de eventos. O conhecimento que tais algoritmos são capazes de obter incluem modelos de processos de negócio, assim como aspectos da estrutura organizacional, como atores e papéis. A mineração de processos pode se beneficiar de uma estratégia incremental, especialmente quando as informações sobre um ou mais processos de negócio presentes no código fonte de um sistema de informação são logicamente complexas (diversas ramificações e atividades paralelas e/ou alternativas). Neste cenário, são necessárias muitas execuções da aplicação para a coleta de um grande conjunto de dados no arquivo de log, a fim de que o algoritmo de mineração possa descobrir e apresentar o processo de negócio completo. Outra situação que torna necessária a mineração incremental é a constante evolução dos processos de negócio, ocasionada geralmente por alterações nas regras de negócio de uma ou mais aplicações. Neste caso, o log pode apresentar novos fluxos de atividades, ou fluxos alterados ou simplesmente fluxos que não são mais executados. Estas mudanças devem ser refletidas no modelo do processo a fim de garantir a sincronização entre a aplicação (processo executado) e o modelo. A mineração incremental de processos pode ainda ser útil quando se faz necessária a extração gradual de um modelo de processo completo, extraindo modelos parciais (fragmentos de processo com início e fim) em um primeiro passo e integrando conhecimento adicional ao modelo em etapas até a obtenção do modelo completo. Contudo, os algoritmos atuais de mineração incremental de processos não apresentam total efetividade quanto aos aspectos acima citados, apresentando algumas limitações. Dentre elas podemos citar a não remoção de elementos obsoletos do modelo de processo descoberto, gerados após a atualização do processo executado, e também a descoberta de informações da estrutura organizacional associada ao processo como, por exemplo, os atores que executam as atividades. Este trabalho propõe um algoritmo incremental para a mineração de processos de negócio a partir de logs de execução. Ele permite a atualização completa de um modelo existente, bem como o incremento de um modelo de processo na medida em que novas instâncias são adicionadas ao log. Desta forma, podemos manter ambos, modelo de processo e o processo executado sincronizados, além de diminuirmos o tempo total de processamento uma vez que apenas novas instâncias de processo devem ser consideradas. Por fim, com este algoritmo é possível extrair modelos com acurácia igual ou superior aqueles que podem ser extraídos pelos algoritmos incrementais atuais. / Even today, several process mining algorithms have been proposed to extract knowledge from event logs of applications. The knowledge that such algorithms are able to discovery includes business process models, business rules, as well as aspects of organizational structure, such actors and roles of processes. These process mining algorithms can be divided into two: non-incremental and incremental. The mining process can benefit from an incremental strategy, especially when information about the process structure available in the system source code is logically complex (several branches and parallel activities). In this scenario, its necessary several executions of the application, to collect a large set of log data, so that the mining algorithm can discover and present the complete business process. Another use case where incremental mining is usefull is during the changing structure of the process, caused by the change in the business logic of an application. In this case, the log may provide new traces of activities, modified traces or simply traces that are no longer running. These changes must be reflected in the process model being generated to ensure synchronization between the application and model. The incremental process mining can also be useful when it is necessary to extract a complete process model in a gradual way, extracting partial models (process fragments with begin and end) in a first step and integrating additional knowledge to the model in stages to obtain the complete model. However, existing incremental process mining algorithms are not effective to all aspects mentioned above. All of them have limitations with respect to certain aspects of incremental mining, such as deletion of elements in the process model (process model update). Additionally, most of them do not extract all the information present in the structure of the process, such as the actors who perform the activities. This paper proposes an incremental process mining algorithm from execution logs of information systems. The new algorithm allows the full update (adding and removing elements) of an existing model, as well as the increment of a process model as new records are added to the log. Thus, we can keep process models and process execution syncronized, while reducting the total processing time, since only new process instances must be processed. Finally, are expected the extraction of process models with similar or higher accuracy compared to current incremental mining algorithms.