The promise of service oriented computing, and the availability of Web services promote the delivery and creation of new services based on existing services, in order to meet new demands and new markets. As Web and internet based services move into Clouds, inter-dependency of services and their complexity will increase substantially. There are standards and frameworks for specifying and composing Web Services based on functional properties. However, mechanisms to individually address non-functional properties of services and their compositions have not been well established. Furthermore, the Cloud ontology depicts service layers from a high-level, such as Application and Software, to a low-level, such as Infrastructure and Platform. Each component that resides in one layer can be useful to another layer as a service. It hints at the amount of complexity resulting from not only horizontal but also vertical integrations in building and deploying a composite service. To meet the requirements and facilitate using Web services, we first propose a WSDL extension to permit specification of non-functional or Quality of Service (QoS) properties. On top of the foundation, the QoS-aware framework is established to adapt publicly available tools for Web services, augmented by ontology management tools, along with tools for performance modeling to exemplify how the non-functional properties such as response time, throughput, or utilization of services can be addressed in the service acquisition and composition process. To facilitate Web service composition standards, in this work we extended the framework with additional qualitative information to the service descriptions using Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). Engineers can use BPEL to explore design options, and have the QoS properties analyzed for the composite service. The main issue in our research is performance evaluation in software system and engineering. We researched the Web service computation as the first half of this dissertation, and performance antipattern detection and elimination in the second part. Performance analysis of software system is complex due to large number of components and the interactions among them. Without the knowledge of experienced experts, it is difficult to diagnose performance anomalies and attempt to pinpoint the root causes of the problems. Software performance antipatterns are similar to design patterns in that they provide what to avoid and how to fix performance problems when they appear. Although the idea of applying antipatterns is promising, there are gaps in matching the symptoms and generating feedback solution for redesign. In this work, we analyze performance antipatterns to extract detectable features, influential factors, and resource involvements so that we can lay the foundation to detect their presence. We propose system abstract layering model and suggestive profiling methods for performance antipattern detection and elimination. Solutions proposed can be used during the refactoring phase, and can be included in the software development life cycle. Proposed tools and utilities are implemented and their use is demonstrated with RUBiS benchmark.

We propose a distributed, collaborative traffic congestion detection and dissemination system using VANET that makes efficient use of the communication channel, maintains location privacy, and provides drivers with real-time information on traffic congestions over long distances. The system uses vehicles themselves, equipped with simple inexpensive devices, as gatherers and distributors of information without the need for costly road infrastructure such as sensors, cameras or external communication equipment. Additionally, we present a flexible simulation and visualization framework we designed and developed to validate our system by showing its effectiveness in multiple scenarios and to aid in the research and development of this and future VANET applications. / by Francisco M. Padron. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

金融資訊科技的發展及未來社會走向資訊化的必然趨勢下，自1960年至1970年間建置的銀行業大主機架構，多己到達設備投資轉換及軟體效率不足、系統發展週期過長及維護成本過大之瓶頸。由於核心銀行作業系統的複雜性及重要性，系統轉型的龐大投資計畫失敗時可能對銀行產生相當大的影響，系統廠商的評估選擇非常重要。本研究主要提出資訊系統整合廠商評量模式之形成及應用方式，針對核心銀行系統進行評估及選擇適當的系統整合廠商。 經由文獻探討及針對國內某商業銀行的個案研究，我們先建立一個初步的模型，定義出考量層級及涵蓋因素。之後，配合分析層級法(Analytical Hierarchy Process)設計問卷，收集國內各型銀行的資訊主管及業務主管針對「資訊系統整合廠商評量模式考量因素」進行兩兩比較所回應的相對重要性認知，經AHP運算建立層級因素間的權重分派，之後再依受測者所屬銀行類別及職務類別進行統計分析，作為評估廠商時參考的對象。決策者可根據各自銀行狀況再作權重調整，以此標準評量廠商資料，計算最後評比結果，AHP可在評量模式形成時，彙整產業認知資訊計算出考量因素之權重分配；也可在評量模式應用時彙整參與決策者意見，調整考量因素之權重分配，甚至在廠商評選時彙整參與決策者意見，如同計算權重分配一樣，計算出各合作廠商之優先次序。本研究可用來探討資訊系統整合廠合評量的主要考量因素，思考新的資訊科技可能所帶來的危機或轉機，而加以因應或利用；所發展的評量模式可以提供實務使用，期能協助銀行業，在核心銀行系統轉換需求過程中，建立一個對合作廠商評估與選擇的考量模式，在參考產業認知及層級分析的運算作業下，縮短系統轉型之時程，提高成功機率。 / Facing the technology advancement, it is about the time to upgrade the core banking systems built during 1960s and 1970s. The massive variety of banking operation requirements and the IT dependency of critical banking services make the system upgrade transition an enormous burden. This study aims to establish an evaluation model to be used for selecting appropriate system integration vendor of core banking systems. We review the literature and establish an initial model by identifying a group of consideration categories and their included factors. These factors are conformed to real world situations through a case study on a commercial bank at Taiwan. In the following survey, the weight allocation for these consideration factors is to be investigated from the banking community at Taiwan. A questionnaire based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to collect the comparative perceptions for the importance of the consideration factors. Through the AHP, the aggregated evaluation weights can be calculated. Based on the perception difference among bank types and manager types, a statistical analysis will be conducted later. The decision-makers may adjust the evaluation weights based on the ad-hoc needs for their banks. The comparative scoring of the evaluated vendors is then calculated based on the evaluation weights. The study contributes to investigate the important consideration factors for core banking systems and establish an evaluation model based on the industry perception. The similar approach can be extended to other information systems evaluation in the future.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-06-16T13:38:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 lilianedepaulamendonca.pdf: 840671 bytes, checksum: d3415357a9f75507728dd90212a86318 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-07-13T14:14:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 lilianedepaulamendonca.pdf: 840671 bytes, checksum: d3415357a9f75507728dd90212a86318 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-13T14:14:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 lilianedepaulamendonca.pdf: 840671 bytes, checksum: d3415357a9f75507728dd90212a86318 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-11 / A difusão global de políticas públicas em sociedades em desenvolvimento na década de noventa, apresenta-se como um processo consolidado de adoção de políticas estruturadoras em especial, no campo da educação. Essas políticas se afirmam pela implementação de políticas e programas nacionais e subnacionais, voltados para subsidiar e orientar a política educacional na Educação Básica. Nos países do continente latino-americano as avaliações de eficácia escolar passam a corresponder aos modelos de políticas de resultados implementados no período pós-reforma. Considerando a influência do Banco Mundial na definição das políticas adotadas no continente, a pesquisa tem por objetivo analisar o processo de difusão de modelos de avaliação de políticas em larga escala no contexto da modernização da gestão da educação, em países recém-democratizados na América Latina. A metodologia da pesquisa aborda os estudos comparativos internacionais de política educacional pública. Em uma análise investigativa e exploratória dos modelos de avaliação aplicados no continente, espera-se demonstrar como o processo de adoção de modelos de política de avaliação de sistemas educacionais materializou em países como Argentina, Brasil, Chile e Mexico, na década de 1990. Constatou-se que no continente latino-americano, o processo decisório dos governos nacionais foi balizado em uma visão desenvolvimentista, apoiado no processo de descentralização do setor educacional e influenciado institucionalmente pelo Banco Mundial. O processo ocorre pelo consenso dos governos latino-americanos à expertise do Banco Mundial no delineamento de modelos de políticas de avaliação em larga escala em sua maioria em caráter amostral. No nível subnacional, em especial no Brasil, a adoção das políticas públicas de avaliação em larga escala apresenta-se articulada na esfera nacional, contudo, a sua difusão localiza-se na autonomia e no protagonismo dos governos estaduais, em um processo de aprendizagem política, a partir da rede horizontal de desenhos políticos avaliativos que se estabelecem no país, os quais disseminam inovações que tendem a contribuir para um processo hegemônico de difusão de modelos avaliativos censitários na federação. / The global diffusion of public policies in developing societies in the 1990's, is presented as a consolidated adoption process of structuring policies in particular in the field of education. These public policies are stated by implementing the national and subnational policies and programs, suitable to subsidize the policy of the Basic Education. In the countries of the Latin American continent the assessment of school effectiveness shall correspond to the models of policies result implemented in the post-reform period. Considering the influence of the World Bank in shaping policies adopted on the continent, the survey's purpose is to analyze the diffusion process of policy evaluation models on a large scale in the context of modernization of education management in newly democratized countries in Latin America. The methodology approaches the interpretation of official documents by the international comparative studies of educational public policy. In an investigative and exploratory analysis of the assessment models implemented on the continent, is expected to demonstrate how the process of adoption of models of evaluation of educational systems policy materialized in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, in the 1990's. It was found that in the Latin American continent, the decision-making process by national governments was marked in a developmental vision, supported the decentralization process in the education sector and institutionally influenced by the World Bank. The process occurs by consensus of Latin American governments to the expertise of the World Bank, in the design of policy models of large-scale evaluation mostly in sample character. On a subnational level, specifically in Brazil, the adoption of the public policies assessment, to a large extent, is nationally articulate. Nevertheless, its propagation is connected with the autonomy and protagonism of the state governments, in a process of learning policy from the horizontal network of an evaluative political process which is stablished in the country , and that promulgate innovations to contribute to a hegemonic diffusion of the assessment census patterninnovations to contribute to a hegemonic diffusion of the assessment census pattern

Orientador: Maria Cecilia Calani Baranauskas / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T17:08:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Santana_VagnerFigueredode_D.pdf: 4477858 bytes, checksum: f4c115f4395355870c66c81a065a8e3f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: ...Observação: O resumo, na íntegra, poderá ser visualizado no texto completo da tese digital. / Abstract: ...Note: The complete abstract is available with the full electronic document / Doutorado / Avaliação de interfaces de usuario / Doutor em Ciência da Computação

A strong trend of returning to nuclear power is evident in different places in the world. Forty-five countries are planning to add nuclear power to their grids and more than 66 nuclear power plants are under construction. Nuclear power plants that generate electricity and steam need to improve safety to become more acceptable to governments and the public. One novel practical solution to increase nuclear power plants' safety factor is to build them away from urban areas, such as offshore or underground. To date, Land-Based siting is the dominant option for siting all commercial operational nuclear power plants. However, the literature reveals several options for building nuclear power plants in safer sitings than Land-Based sitings. The alternatives are several and each has advantages and disadvantages, and it is difficult to distinguish among them and choose the best for a specific project. In this research, we recall the old idea of using the alternatives of offshore and underground sitings for new nuclear power plants and propose a tool to help in choosing the best siting technology. This research involved the development of a decision model for evaluating several potential nuclear power plant siting technologies, both those that are currently available and future ones. The decision model was developed based on the Hierarchical Decision Modeling (HDM) methodology. The model considers five major dimensions, social, technical, economic, environmental, and political (STEEP), and their related criteria and sub-criteria. The model was designed and developed by the author, and its elements' validation and evaluation were done by a large number of experts in the field of nuclear energy. The decision model was applied in evaluating five potential siting technologies and ranked the Natural Island as the best in comparison to Land-Based, Floating Plant, Artificial Island, and Semi-Embedded plant.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of the Master of Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / The assignment of identifying Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for the successful implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems has become an important problem in the information system (IS) research. The necessity to identify CSFs becomes perceptible because of the failure often associated with the ERP system implementation in corporate organisations. The investigation and identification of CSFs will help cut costs of implementing ERP systems in organisations by giving higher precedence to the most critical factors. Literature has indicated that some factors of ERP system implementation labelled as critical are, in most cases, not critical for achieving success in the ERP system implementation. It can be argued that the inherent prediction error in the identification of CSFs is associated with the method employed for identifying criticality. Certain researchers have asserted that many of the studies on CSFs have based their findings on the use of content analysis method to identify and classify implementation factors of ERP systems as critical or not, rather than empirical findings. This intrinsic drawback has led researchers to suggest the use of sound scientific methods such as the structural equation modelling technique to identify CSFs to help guide the implementation of ERP systems in organizations. However, because of the limitations of the existing findings, the expectation is still much higher in effectively resolving the problem of identifying CSFs, in general. The overarching aim of this study was to determine those factors that are deemed critical for the successful implementation of the on-line registration system as an archetype of ERP system at HEIs. It was necessary to, firstly, identify common factors that have a significant impact on ERP system implementation and, secondly, to ascertain whether the identified factors are applicable in HEI settings, particularly to the on-line registration system. This study plans an in-depth exploration of the implementation of an on-line registration system with the identified factors forming the precursor to unearth those factors that are critical for the success of implementing on-line registration systems. The study has adopted a post-positivism mixed methods approach to identify and verify CSFs of the on-line registration system implementation, taking into consideration higher-order relationships between the factors. Data gathering took place using expert judgement with the involvement of role players in the implementation of on-line registration systems. The ADVIAN classification method provides the analytic tool for identifying factors that are deemed critical for successful implementation of on-line registration systems. The results reveal the existence of various dimensions of criticality with organisational culture and ERP strategy and implementation methodology emerging as critical factors, while the driving factors for implementation include ERP vendor support and guidance, senior and top management support, project plan with agreed objectives and goals, project management to implement project plan and project leader. It is established that the driven factors that should be observed when intervention measures are implemented include change management, post-implementation evaluation, software testing and troubleshooting, user training and user involvement. It is hoped that the CSFs discovered in this study will contribute towards the under-researched area of ERP and pragmatically aid the improvement of a process area that is in desperate need of business process re-engineering at HEIs. / M

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the style of a user interface (i.e., its look and feel) has an effect on the usability of a synchronous computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) environment for delivering Internet-based collaborative content. The problem motivating this study is that people who are located in different places need to be able to communicate with one another. One way to do this is by using complex computer tools that allow users to share information, documents, programs, etc. As an increasing number of business organizations require workers to use these types of complex communication tools, it is important to determine how users regard these types of tools and whether they are perceived to be useful. If a tool, or interface, is not perceived to be useful then it is often not used, or used ineffectively. As organizations strive to improve communication with and among users by providing more Internet-based collaborative environments, the users' experience in this form of delivery may be tied to a style of user interface look and feel that could negatively affect their overall acceptance and satisfaction of the collaborative environment. The significance of this study is that it applies the technology acceptance model (TAM) as a tool for evaluating style of user interface look and feel in a collaborative environment, and attempts to predict which factors of that model, perceived ease of use and/or perceived usefulness, could lead to better acceptance of collaborative tools within an organization.

The objective of this research is to build a decision model for a comprehensive assessment of solar photovoltaic technologies using multiple perspectives. These perspectives include: social, technological, economic, environmental, and political (STEEP) with each perspective consisting of multiple criteria. Hierarchical decision modeling and expert judgment quantification are used to provide the relative ranking of the perspectives and criteria. Such modeling is effective in addressing technology evaluations with competing and contrasting perspectives and criteria where both quantitative and qualitative measurements are represented. The model is then operationalized by constructing desirability functions for each criterion. The combined results provide an overall numerical score for each technology under consideration as well as criteria desirability gaps. This model is useful for assessing photovoltaic technologies from varying worldviews such as the electric utility worldview, the photovoltaic manufacturer's worldview, or the national policy worldview. This model can also provide guidance to decision makers and practitioners on areas of improvement for a selected technology. The research utilizes the electric utility worldview as a case study.

With the current trend in cloud computing and virtualization, more organizations are moving their systems from a physical host to a virtual server. Although this can significantly reduce hardware, power, and administration costs, it can increase the cost of analyzing performance problems. With virtualization, there is an initial performance overhead, and as more virtual machines are added to a physical host the interference increases between various guest machines. When this interference occurs, a virtualized guest application may not perform as expected. There is little or no information to the virtual OS about the interference, and the current performance tools in the guest are unable to show this interference. We examine the interference that has been shown in previous research, and relate that to existing tools and research in root cause analysis. We show that in virtualization there are additional layers which need to be analyzed, and design a framework to determine if degradation is occurring from an external virtualization layer. Additionally, we build a virtualization test suite with Xen and PostgreSQL and run multiple tests to create I/O interference. We show that our method can distinguish between a problem caused by interference from external systems and a problem from within the virtual guest.