An application of a generalized management information system to energy policy and decision making : the user's view

This paper presents an approach to the development and use of management information systems that is particularly applicable to systems with the following characteristics: - several classes of users, each of which has a different degree of sophistication - complex and changing security requirements - data exhibits complex and changing inter-relationships - changing needs to be met by information system - must be built quickly nd inexpensively - complex data validation requirements The approach is hierarchical from the user's view in that he may access the system at distinct levels, corresponding to his degree of computer sophistication. A casual user has high level primitives to work with, while an experienced user has more flexible but more detailed low- level primitives. We also have advocated that such systems be implemented in a hierarchical fashion, because this technique provides for ease of debugging, independence of hardware, and a basis for investigating properties of completeness, integrity, correctness, and performance

An application of a generalized management information system to energy policy and decision making : the user's view

Includes bibliographical references.John J. Donovan, Louis M. Gutentag, Stuart E. Madnick, Grant N. Smith

Economic data bank management in a developing nation

This dissertation describes the results of a research project which was undertaken at Loughborough University of Technology. The basic objectives of the research project were: (1) to investigate the management elements required for organising the development of an Economic Data Bank (EDB), with particular emphasis on the requirements of a developing nation; (2) to investigate the sociological, political and technical implications associated with organising the development of an EDB in a developing nation. A theoretical framework was established for this study. This was dene after an extensive search and review of literature was performed in the areas of data and data base management systems, management information systems, and computer technology in general. [Continues.

Posuzování rizikového profilu retailového investora se zaměřením na doplnění investic na penzi – přístup s využitím fuzzy logiky

In order to provide the best services to their customers for undertaking investments for retirement as part of the third pillar of the retirement reform from the World Bank, financial institutions assess private investors' risk profiles. There are many approaches to assessing a risk profile. Since risk profile definitions are vague and assessment deals with many imprecisions, uncertainty, and missing information, we proposed an approach based on fuzzy logic, which proved capable of dealing with those phenomena. We described a framework where we can translate risk profile components into fuzzy sets and assess risk profiles using fuzzy inference. We argued for flexibility, understandability (to a non-technical audience), and transparency. We proposed that future work focuses on parts of our proposed framework, as we have given those very broadly to provide proof of conceptAby mohly finanční instituce poskytovat svým zákazníkům co nejlepší služby při investování na důchod v rámci třetího pilíře důchodové reformy Světové banky, posuzují rizikové profily soukromých (retailových) investorů. Existuje mnoho přístupů k posuzování rizikového profilu. Protože definice rizikového profilu jsou vágní a posuzování se potýká s mnoha nepřesnostmi, nejistotou a chybějícími informacemi, navrhli jsme přístup založený na fuzzy logice, který se ukázal jako schopný se s těmito jevy vypořádat. Popsali jsme rámec, v němž můžeme převést složky rizikového profilu na fuzzy množiny a posuzovat rizikové profily pomocí fuzzy inference. Argumentovali jsme flexibilitou, srozumitelností (pro netechnické publikum) a transparentností. Navrhli jsme, aby se budoucí práce zaměřila na části námi navrženého rámce, protože ty jsme uvedli velmi široce, abychom poskytli důkaz konceptu.157 - Katedra systémového inženýrstvívelmi dobř

Decision Support Systems: Issues and Challenges; Proceedings of an International Task Force Meeting, June 23-25, 1980

This book reports on a three-day meeting on Decision Support Systems held at IIASA. IIASA's interest in sponsoring the meeting was spurred by several factors. First, the term DSS clearly is used in a wide range of contexts; we hoped to develop a deeper understanding of the term and the new field to which it refers. Second, we felt that ongoing work in the DSS field would be enhanced by interaction between professionals who had been working on such systems and people from fields that function as "resource disciplines" for DSS. Finally we wished to bring professionals from several nations together, from the east as well as the west, to share experiences and to assess the viability of the DSS concept in different cultures. The broad objectives set for this meeting were realized in a number of ways. Virtually all the participants testified that they had gained a deeper understanding of DSS, the role it can play in asssisting managers in organizations, and the need for further development in key areas

Information systems to provide leading indicators of energy sufficiency : a report to the Federal Energy Administration

Final working paper, submitted to Office of Data Policy, Federal Energy Administration in connection with A Study of information systems to provide leading indicators of energy sufficiency, (FEA Contract no. 14-01-001-2040)

Exploiting a perdurantist foundational ontology and graph database for semantic data integration

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University London.The view of reality that is inherent to perdurantist philosophical ontologies, often termed four dimensional (4D) ontologies, has not been widely adopted within the mainstream of information system design practice. However, as the closed world of enterprise systems is opened to Internet scale Semantic Web and Open Data information sources, there is a need to better understand the semantics of both internal and external data and how they can be integrated. Philosophical foundational ontologies can help establish this understanding and there is, therefore, an emerging need to research how they can be applied to the problem of semantic data integration. Therefore, a prime objective of this research was to develop a framework through which to apply a 4D foundational ontology and a graph database to the problem of semantic data integration, and to assess the effectiveness of the approach. The research employed design science, a methodology which is applicable to undertaking research within information systems as it encompasses methods through which the research can be undertaken and the resultant artefacts evaluated. This methodology has a number of discrete stages: problem awareness; a core design-build-evaluate iterative cycle through which the research is conducted; and a conclusion stage. The design science research was conducted through the development of a number of artefacts, the prime being the 4D-Semantic Extract Load (4D-SETL) framework. The effectiveness of the framework was assessed by applying it to semantically interpret and integrate a number of large scale datasets and to instantiate a prototype graph database warehouse to persist the resultant ontology. A series of technical experiments confirmed that directly reflecting the model patterns of 4D ontology within a prototype data warehouse proved an effective means of both structuring and semantically integrating complex datasets and that the artefacts produced by 4D-SETL could function at scale. Through illustrative scenario, the effectiveness of the approach is described in relation to the ability of the framework to address a number of weaknesses in current approaches. Furthermore the major advantages of the 4D-SETL are elaborated; which include ability of the framework is to combine foundational, domain and instance level ontological models in a single coherent system that dispensed with much of the translation normally undertaken between conceptual, logical and physical data models. Additionally, adopting a perdurantist realist foundational ontology provided a clear means of establishing and maintaining the identity of physical objects as their constituent temporal and spatial parts unfold over the course of tim

Yavaa: supporting data workflows from discovery to visualization

Recent years have witness an increasing number of data silos being opened up both within organizations and to the general public: Scientists publish their raw data as supplements to articles or even standalone artifacts to enable others to verify and extend their work. Governments pass laws to open up formerly protected data treasures to improve accountability and transparency as well as to enable new business ideas based on this public good. Even companies share structured information about their products and services to advertise their use and thus increase revenue. Exploiting this wealth of information holds many challenges for users, though. Oftentimes data is provided as tables whose sheer endless rows of daunting numbers are barely accessible. InfoVis can mitigate this gap. However, offered visualization options are generally very limited and next to no support is given in applying any of them. The same holds true for data wrangling. Only very few options to adjust the data to the current needs and barely any protection are in place to prevent even the most obvious mistakes. When it comes to data from multiple providers, the situation gets even bleaker. Only recently tools emerged to search for datasets across institutional borders reasonably. Easy-to-use ways to combine these datasets are still missing, though. Finally, results generally lack proper documentation of their provenance. So even the most compelling visualizations can be called into question when their coming about remains unclear. The foundations for a vivid exchange and exploitation of open data are set, but the barrier of entry remains relatively high, especially for non-expert users. This thesis aims to lower that barrier by providing tools and assistance, reducing the amount of prior experience and skills required. It covers the whole workflow ranging from identifying proper datasets, over possible transformations, up until the export of the result in the form of suitable visualizations