In today’s database server environments, multiple types of workloads, such as on-line transaction processing, business intelligence and administrative utilities, can be present in a system simultaneously. Workloads may have different levels of business importance and distinct performance objectives. When the workloads execute concurrently on a database server, interference may occur and result in the workloads failing to meet the performance objectives and the database server suffering severe performance degradation. To evaluate and classify the existing workload management systems and techniques, we develop a taxonomy of workload management techniques. The taxonomy categorizes workload management techniques into multiple classes and illustrates a workload management process. We propose a general framework for autonomic workload management for database management systems (DBMSs) to dynamically monitor and control the flow of the workloads and help DBMSs achieve the performance objectives without human intervention. Our framework consists of multiple workload management techniques and performance monitor functions, and implements the monitor–analyze–plan–execute loop suggested in autonomic computing principles. When a performance issue arises, our framework provides the ability to dynamically detect the issue and to initiate and coordinate the workload management techniques. To detect severe performance degradation in database systems, we propose the use of indicators. We demonstrate a learning-based approach to identify a set of internal DBMS monitor metrics that best indicate the problem. We illustrate and validate our framework and approaches using a prototype system implemented on top of IBM DB2 Workload Manager. Our prototype system leverages the existing workload management facilities and implements a set of corresponding controllers to adapt to dynamic and mixed workloads while protecting DBMSs against severe performance degradation. / Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2014-05-07 13:35:42.858

This dissertation is concerned with the principles of pavement management systems and their applications in western and developing countries. The first part of the dissertation deals with the principles of pavement engineering and the role of the different layers in order to gain the required knowledge in highway pavement components, which will allow a cost-effective repair related to each specific defect. The second part deals with the existing systems for monitoring pavement condition and evaluatest heir benefit in assessingh ighway condition. The study shows the main problems usually militate against using the sophisticated technology in monitoring highway condition and implementing maintenance management systems in some cities in developing countries. In addition to the problems inherent in cities in developing countries, the city of Benghazi in Libya has special factors which have developed as a result of UN sanctions which were imposed in 1992. Therefore, the city of Benghazi has been selected as a case study for this particular research since it is a typical example of most cities in developing countries in terms of size, population and in ten-ns of lack of maintenance resources and skilled labour (Benghazi might have been so well resourcedth at it would no longer fall into the categoryo f developingc ity but for the sanction). The objectives of the study are attained through conclusions which indicate that establishing a pavement maintenance strategy in the city of Benghazi based on any or some of the sophisticated technology in road condition monitoring is not appropriate. This conclusion is tested by manufacturing a unique prototype measuring machine and using it in pilot monitoring exercises in the cities of Newcastle and Sunderland. The results of these pilot exercises are analysed to evaluate the benefit which such appropriate technology equipment can bring to the issue of monitoring of pavement condition in cities in developing countries having problems similar to those that prevail in Benghazi. The prototype equipment developed in this study is unique in that it is purely mechanical and uses no electronics in monitoring road condition. Moreover, all parts of the machine are fabricated from materials available in most cities in developing countries and therefore such machines could be easily maintained locally. The prototype described in this study is not only relevant to road monitoring but points the way towards the development of similar equipment in many engineering situations in developing countries. This research study points engineers in similar conditions in the direction that the Author thinks they should follow in applying their engineering abilities in developing countries.

University of Technology, Sydney. School of Management, Faculty of Business. / This study investigated how selected Australian universities evaluated and adopted various learning management systems in their teaching and learning programs, given claims of uncritical evaluation, problems and cautions in the Australian (1998: 13; Brabazon, 2002; Yetton, Forster, Hewson, Hughes, Johnston, Nightingale, Page-Hanify, Vitale and Wills, 1997) and North American (Berg, 2002; Noble, 1998b) higher education literatures. Ironically, universities charge large amounts of money teaching their students to develop competence in critical analysis, yet some studies have claimed that they were deficient in critically analysing their own decisions (Brabazon, 2002; Yetton et al., 1997). This important question has received little attention in the higher education literature, despite the high visibility and costs of these decisions. Although limited theoretical explanations have been proposed by various researchers, such as Yetton et al. (1997) and Brabazon (2002), these matters have not been the subject of published empirical research to date. A grounded theory methodological framework, validated by the insights of institutional theory, was employed throughout to promote broader sociological explanations than other studies constrained by functionalist theoretical frameworks (Yetton et al., 1997). Qualitative case studies utilising semi-structured interviews and document analysis were conducted at three Australian universities. The findings of this analysis were written up in three case study narratives and an analytic cross-case analysis. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis at the field level were undertaken as an additional source of data to verify emergent grounded theory. A grounded theory of uncritical decision making (Figure 57) was ultimately developed in response to this study’s research problem. The core category around which this model was developed (‘falling behind’) appeared in all three cases, in interviews with experts from the Australian higher education sector, and was also found in both the Australian and overseas higher education literatures. This grounded theory also represents a minor contribution to the institutional theory literature as a new institutional change process model which links the activities of key individuals with broader field developments, and integrates the constructive and reproductive assumptions of old and new institutional theory.

University of Technology, Sydney. School of Management, Faculty of Business. / This study investigated how selected Australian universities evaluated and adopted various learning management systems in their teaching and learning programs, given claims of uncritical evaluation, problems and cautions in the Australian (1998: 13; Brabazon, 2002; Yetton, Forster, Hewson, Hughes, Johnston, Nightingale, Page-Hanify, Vitale and Wills, 1997) and North American (Berg, 2002; Noble, 1998b) higher education literatures. Ironically, universities charge large amounts of money teaching their students to develop competence in critical analysis, yet some studies have claimed that they were deficient in critically analysing their own decisions (Brabazon, 2002; Yetton et al., 1997). This important question has received little attention in the higher education literature, despite the high visibility and costs of these decisions. Although limited theoretical explanations have been proposed by various researchers, such as Yetton et al. (1997) and Brabazon (2002), these matters have not been the subject of published empirical research to date. A grounded theory methodological framework, validated by the insights of institutional theory, was employed throughout to promote broader sociological explanations than other studies constrained by functionalist theoretical frameworks (Yetton et al., 1997). Qualitative case studies utilising semi-structured interviews and document analysis were conducted at three Australian universities. The findings of this analysis were written up in three case study narratives and an analytic cross-case analysis. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis at the field level were undertaken as an additional source of data to verify emergent grounded theory. A grounded theory of uncritical decision making (Figure 57) was ultimately developed in response to this study’s research problem. The core category around which this model was developed (‘falling behind’) appeared in all three cases, in interviews with experts from the Australian higher education sector, and was also found in both the Australian and overseas higher education literatures. This grounded theory also represents a minor contribution to the institutional theory literature as a new institutional change process model which links the activities of key individuals with broader field developments, and integrates the constructive and reproductive assumptions of old and new institutional theory.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2007. / Additional advisors: Dale W. Callahan, Laurie Joiner, Helmuth F. Orthner, Gregg Vaughn. Description based on contents viewed Oct. 6, 2008; title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

<p> Continuing population growth and increased urbanization within disaster-prone areas have led to greater numbers of mass casualties and economic losses caused by natural or human-made disasters. Efficient decision-making processes are crucial in all phases of a disaster life cycle, from mitigation and preparedness to response and recovery. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to contribute to region-wide disaster operation management capabilities by creating a set of tools to facilitate fast, life-saving decision-making. The dissertation begins with initial first responders&rsquo; assignments to affected structures and spans health care and infrastructure preparation and response. In mass casualty incident (MCI) circumstances in particular, situations are complicated, networks are often large, and conditions are transient and time-dependent. Thus, models developed in this thesis evaluate and update decisions based on available information at each point in time to the system. </p><p> The functioning of various response networks, whether in the disaster scene or at the health care facilities, is conceptualized mathematically. Each model can be viewed as a type of queueing network in which MCI victims are customers and responders or health care facilities are servers. Each queueing network is employed to: (1) test developed protocols, acting as queueing system operational policies to support disaster response, (2) assess tactics developed otherwise, or (3) optimize regional resiliency of the health care system given its dependence on set of interdependent supporting lifelines in disasters through preparedness and response actions. Resource-constrained patient flow models of hospitals are presented for routine and emergency operations for the purpose of the study. Using queueing network conceptualizations, discrete event simulation and simulation-based optimization techniques are developed to propose and evaluate protocols that guide responses and for assessing performance and resilience of these systems.</p><p>

<p> In the U.S. medical sector, software failures in safety-critical systems in healthcare have led to serious adverse health problems, including patient deaths and recalls of medical systems. Despite the efforts in developing techniques to build resilient systems, there is a lack of consensus regarding the definition of resilience metrics and a limited number of quantitative analysis approaches. In addition, there is insufficient guidance on evaluating resilience design patterns and the value they can bring to safety-critical systems. </p><p> This research employed the interdependency analysis framework to evaluate the static resilience of safety-critical systems used in the healthcare field and identified software subsystems that are vulnerable to failures. Resilience design patterns were first implemented to these subsystems to improve their ability to withstand failures. This implementation was followed by an evaluation to determine the overall impacts on system&rsquo;s static resilience. </p><p> The methodology used a common medical system structure that collects common attributes from various medical devices and reflects major functionalities offered by multiple medical systems. Fault tree analysis and Bayesian analysis were used to evaluate the static resilience aspects of medical safety-critical systems, and two design patterns were evaluated within the praxis context: <i> Monitoring</i> and <i>N-modular redundancy</i> resilience patterns. </p><p> The results ultimately showed that resilience design patterns improve the static resilience of safety-critical systems significantly. While this research suggests the importance of resilience design patterns, this study was limited to explore the impact of structural resilience patterns on static resilience. Thus, to evaluate the overall resilience of the system, more research is needed to evaluate dynamic resilience in addition to studying the impact of different types of resilience design patterns. </p><p>

Volery and Lord noted that the rapid expansion of the Internet will play a pivotal role in the delivery mediums in which education is provided. My dissertation addresses the potential best methodology for developing more effective instruction through Internet based learning. Previous research has identified various aspects related to student learning in online settings, the Internet as a core delivery platform for information, student learning styles, and gender as a component of student success in online platforms. This study was motivated by three research goals: (1) Assess the essential components for an effective open campus model, (2) identify and analyze stakeholder perceptions of factors influencing the design, development, implementation of online coursework, and perceptions by instructional design themes (3) utilize data from literature, respondent questionnaires, agricultural learning modules, and agricultural stakeholder perceptions to propose a model for open online course design and faculty implementation of best teaching methodologies related to online instructional delivery. Using the Delphi Model for consensus, three expert panels (undergraduate agriculture students, secondary agriculture teachers, and post secondary agriculture education faculty) identified the vital components for online course frameworks addressing instructional design, application of course content, and collaborative education models within online learning platforms. To illustrate the objectives of this study, the findings support the proposal and development of the Unified Model for Online Learning and System Design.

Safety Management Systems (SMS) are becoming the industry standard for safety management throughout the aviation industry. As the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continues to mandate SMS for different segments, the assessment of an organization’s safety culture becomes more important. An SMS can facilitate the development of a strong aviation safety culture. This study describes basic principles and components of an SMS and how safety culture and SMS are integrated. Studies focusing on safety culture assessment were identified for other industries as well as for different areas of the aviation industry. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between an organization’s safety culture and SMS implementation in collegiate flight schools. The research study was designed to determine (a) relationship between SMS implementation and safety culture, (b) the relationship between safety promotion and safety culture, and (c) the relationship between management commitment and safety culture. The study population consisted of 453 individuals at 13 collegiate flight schools. Data were gathered through an online survey to safety officers at collegiate flight schools within the University Aviation Association to determine the level of SMS implementation; and the Collegiate Aviation Program Safety Culture Survey (CAPSCUS) was used to measure the safety culture at those collegiate flight schools. The results indicated that a relationship existed between SMS implementation and safety culture, safety promotion and safety culture, management commitment and safety culture. The relationship for all three was more prominent within the Formal Safety Program major scale of the CAPSCUS. It is recommended that collegiate flight schools examine their existing level of SMS, management commitment, and their safety promotion and assess safety culture within their institution. Future studies should be done to further examine the relationship between SMS implementation and safety culture so that the collegiate flight training environment would have guidance regarding SMS implementation.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2005-08-12Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:43:36Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 kuller_ml_dr_rcla.pdf: 12732966 bytes, checksum: 450a00e0d115e79129f8e83266d34753 (MD5) / Sistemas de Gestão Ambiental, relacionados á NBR JSO 14001, são aplicáveis adequadamente em plantas fixas de trabalho, industriais ou de serviços, que apresentam rotina de atividades, possibilitando a permanência do colaborador até durante toda sua vida profissional. Obras de Construção Pesada não têm rotina de atividade e longo tempo de duração. Em cada obra as atividades vão se sucedendo umas às outras, com colaboradores que chegam de regiões distantes, para desenvolver trabalhos específicos, partindo em seguida para outras obras, O ambiente fisico, que abriga as obras e fornece os insumos para implantação das estruturas fixas e provisórias, é afetado pelas atividades da obra e pode afetar atividades e estruturas. O ambiente é dinâmico e não apresenta características unifonnes em todos os locais onde ocorrem obras. Para contornar essas variáveis, apenas uma conscientização ambiental, envolvendo processos abrangentes, dinâmicos e contínuos dá consistência à gestão ambiental eficiente para as construtoras. Dessa foma, para implantar a gestão ambiental, partindo-se da teoria necessária e priorizando a prática indispensável, buscou-se desenvolver e aplicar uma série de ferramentas para orientação, controle e avaliação de impactos e de desempenho ambiental, em obras diversas, concluindo-se que é possível construir obras de engenharia de grande porte protegendo o meio ambiente. / Enviromnental Management Systems related to NBR ISO 14001, are applicable properly to industrial or services units, which present routine of activities, making possible the permanency of the employee during bis professionai life. Works of Heavy Construction do not have routines of activity and a long period of time. On each work the activities succeed one after the others, with employees that arrive from distant regions, to develop only a specific work. The physical environment where the work develops and fiirnishes natural resources to implement fixed and temporary structures is affected by the activities and may influence the activities and structures. The environment is dynamic and does not present identical characteristics in ali places where work is developed. To get around these variations only an environmental awareness involving extensive, dynamic and continuous processes gives Constructors consistency for an efficient enviromnental management. Thus, in order to implement the Environmental Management, starting from the necessary theory and giving priority to the indispensable practice, it was searched to develop and to apply a series of tools for orientation, control and evaluation of impacts and of enviromnental performance, in several works, concluding that is possible to build engineering works of large plants, protecting the environment.