Evaluation of e-learning web sites using fuzzy axiomatic design based approach

High quality web site has been generally recognized as a critical enabler to conduct online business. Numerous studies exist in the literature to measure the business performance in relation to web site quality. In this paper, an axiomatic design based approach for fuzzy group decision making is adopted to evaluate the quality of e-learning web sites. Another multi-criteria decision making technique, namely fuzzy TOPSIS, is applied in order to validate the outcome. The methodology proposed in this paper has the advantage of incorporating requirements and enabling reductions in the problem size, as compared to fuzzy TOPSIS. A case study focusing on Turkish e-learning websites is presented, and based on the empirical findings, managerial implications and recommendations for future research are offered

Measuring performance of virtual learning environment system in higher education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to measure the performance of commercial virtual learning environment (VLE) systems, which helps the decision makers to select the appropriate system for their institutions. Design/methodology/approach – This paper develops an integrated multiple criteria decision making approach, which combines the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and quality function deployment (QFD), to evaluate and select the best system. The evaluating criteria are derived from the requirements of those who use the system. A case study is provided to demonstrate how the integrated approach works. Findings – The major advantage of the integrated approach is that the evaluating criteria are of interest to the stakeholders. This ensures that the selected system will achieve the requirements and satisfy the stakeholders most. Another advantage is that the approach can guarantee the benchmarking to be consistent and reliable. From the case study, it is proved that the performance of a VLE system being used at the university is the best. Therefore, the university should continue to run the system in order to support and facilitate both teaching and learning. Originality/value – It is believed that there is no study that measures the performance of VLE systems, and thus decision makers may have difficulties in system evaluation and selection for their institutions

A Study on the evaluation and development of welfare policy for soldiers using AHP

Thesis(Master) -- KDI School: Master of Public Policy, 2022The Republic of Korea is adopting a conscription system due to financial reasons, added with the reality of Korea being a divided country that must actively respond to North Korea's direct provocations and threats caused by their uncertain, volatile system. This implies that since the Korean military is operated on the premise of a conscription system based on national defense obligations, active-duty soldiers are forced to continuously adapt it environments rapidly changed by external forces. In the process, some experience maladjustment, or become either serious perpetrators or victims of toxic culture existing in barracks such as bullying, suicide, violence and unjust behavior. Accordingly, the Ministry of National Defense promoted several military welfare policies with the basic agenda to fundamentally resolve the repeating problems in the barracks. However, despite the steady efforts of the Ministry of National Defense, the level of soldiers' feelings for improving treatment is low because the Korean military has led the policy from the supplier's point of view without trying to properly grasp the welfare needs of soldiers based on professional methods. Therefore, this study attempted to recognize welfare needs from the perspective of beneficiaries by examining what welfare policies are mainly preferred by active-duty soldiers using AHP research techniques. As a result of the AHP survey, the most preferred policy for active-duty soldiers was to expand the usage of smartphones (0.377), followed by a policy (0.145) that supports soldiers with approximately 100,000 won for self-development activities. On the other hand, their least preferred policy was the policy to support haircuts expenditures for soldiers (0.007). This is because there was no opportunity to use private salons amid continuous restrictions on going out or vacation due to COVID-19. In other words, welfare programs that have no utility value for soldiers only wastes the budget, and this study emphasizes that for the efficient execution of a limited budget, the survey of beneficiaries' needs must precede the establishment of welfare plans. Furthermore, this study proposes two alternatives for more efficient execution of the welfare budget. The first is to increase the autonomy of active-duty soldiers' welfare choices. By providing cashable welfare, not in kind, the system needs to be improved so that active- duty soldiers can each choose more necessary welfare. The second is to prepare various contents that can use a smartphone. Simply extending smartphone usage time should be avoided as it can be a risk to the military's original purpose of national defense. However, for example, contracts with companies that provide e-book rental services can provide welfare so that soldiers can experience various cultural lives with smartphones during off-work hours. Preparing various contents using smartphones can be an alternative to more efficiently utilizing the welfare budget in that it can provide non-exclusion and non-economical welfare benefits.1. Introduction 2. Literature Review 3. Study Design Using AHP 4. Study Results & Implications 5. ConclusionOutstandingmasterpublishedYuji JAN

Investigating e-procurement barriers within six Saudi Arabian SMEs

Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Bedfordshire.This study aims to investigate factors affecting the adoption of e-procurement in Saudi Arabian SMEs. The study adopted the Gunasekaran and Ngai (2009) model as a theoretical framework and foundation for the research to investigate current status and readiness, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, perceived critical success factors and perceived future organisational performance. Through an extensive literature review and detailed data analysis, the study extended the model to incorporate perceived cultural and external factors that were found to be necessary for the adoption of e-procurement in Saudi Arabian SMEs. Through case studies and AHP analysis, the proposed model elements were validated and prioritised in the Saudi Arabian context. Three different methods were adopted for data collection. First, an exploratory study was conducted to understand the current status of e-procurement and provide an overview of the factors that affect the adoption of e-procurement using the Gunasekaran and Ngai (2009) model.Second, a detailed survey was conducted to find the relative importance of various factors related to each of the five elements of the Gunasekaran and Ngai (2009) model. Third, detailed interviews were conducted across four selected SMEs to gain an insight into the factors that affect the adoption of e-procurement. The results of the exploratory study were helpful in identifying perceived factors that affect the adoption of e-procurement. Detailed survey analysis using AHP validated the theoretical framework and the relevance of the factors of the Gunasekaran and Ngai (2009) model. However, some of the factors were found to be more important than in the Gunasekaran and Ngai (2009) model, while others were less important. Results of the qualitative study (interviews) found additional factors that were relevant to each of the five elements of the GN model. They further suggested that “Current e-procurement activities” was an additional factor in the “current status and readiness” element and “Increased transparency” was an additional factor in the “perceived benefits” element. Similarly, the analysis of the qualitative results found two additional factors in the “perceived barriers” element (i.e. absence of e-procurement specific laws and regulations and lack of trust in the electronic transfer of funds), three additional critical success factors (i.e. cost-benefit analysis of the solution, technical maturity of the marketplace and user-friendliness of the solution) and two additional factors in perceived future organisational performance (i.e. strategic alliance and networking and knowledge management and data warehousing). Further, analysis of the qualitative findings revealed two additional elements (i.e. perceived external and perceived cultural factors). The study thus suggests that organisational culture, cultural inertia and business culture of the country are three important cultural factors that are perceived to affect the adoption of e-procurement, while government support, having one’s own postal addresses and delivery services, providing secure and trustworthy online payment options, low cost and high speed internet connection, suppliers’ willingness and readiness, pressure from competitors, policy and regulations are the seven important perceived external factors that affect the adoption of e-procurement in Saudi Arabian SMEs. The results of the qualitative data analysis led to the development of an extended Gunasekaran and Ngai (2009) model to incorporate perceived culture and perceived external factors. The study has significant implications in terms of further e-procurement research for SMEs in Saudi Arabia and also its adoption in the developing world in general

A framework for cots software evaluation and selection for COTS mismatches handling and non-functional requirements

The decision to purchase Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software needs systematic guidelines so that the appropriate COTS software can be selected in order to provide a viable and effective solution to the organizations. However, the existing COTS software evaluation and selection frameworks focus more on functional aspects and do not give adequate attention to accommodate the mismatch between user requirements and COTS software specification, and also integration with non functional requirements of COTS software. Studies have identified that these two criteria are important in COTS software evaluation and selection. Therefore, this study aims to develop a new framework of COTS software evaluation and selection that focuses on handling COTS software mismatches and integrating the nonfunctional requirements. The study is conducted using mixed-mode methodology which involves survey and interview. The study is conducted in four main phases: a survey and interview of 63 organizations to identify COTS software evaluation criteria, development of COTS software evaluation and selection framework using Evaluation Theory, development of a new decision making technique by integrating Analytical Hierarchy Process and Gap Analysis to handle COTS software mismatches, and validation of the practicality and reliability of the proposed COTS software Evaluation and Selection Framework (COTS-ESF) using experts’ review, case studies and yardstick validation. This study has developed the COTS-ESF which consists of five categories of evaluation criteria: Quality, Domain, Architecture, Operational Environment and Vendor Reputation. It also provides a decision making technique and a complete process for performing the evaluation and selection of COTS software. The result of this study shows that the evaluated aspects of the framework are feasible and demonstrate their potential and practicality to be applied in the real environment. The contribution of this study straddles both the research and practical perspectives of software evaluation by improving decision making and providing a systematic guidelines for handling issue in purchasing viable COTS software

A theory evaluation and programme implementer decision analysis for two therapy-driven programmes operating in the disability and rehabilitation sector

This dissertation focused on two therapy-driven programmes operating in the disability and rehabilitation sector in the Western Cape, South Africa. One programme is an inclusive education programme with a classroom component and parenting component to it and the other is a vocational rehabilitation programme. These two programmes, implemented by the Chaeli Campaign (CC), are aligned with the community-based rehabilitation model of service delivery. These programmes are implemented by personnel with a variety of qualifications, including community workers and occupational therapists. Key goals for programmes of this nature are to ensure that all persons with disabilities are active participants of socio-economic life, to ensure that the rights and dignity of all persons are respected and upheld and to reintegrate persons with disabilities into family and community life. Another goal of these programmes is to transfer skills from highly-skilled professionals to workers with less training and lay persons. With respect to the last mentioned goal, the skills required to services persons with disabilities are redistributed, so that professionals such as occupational therapists are no longer solely responsible for serving these persons. Both programmes under evaluation in this document are implemented either exclusively or with help from occupational therapists. Problem Statement: The problem statement is made up of two components. First, the underlying programme theories of the two therapy-driven programmes were not well articulated. According to CC’s director, this poor articulation made it difficult for programme staff to describe their programmes to potential programme donors. Second, the organisation struggles to obtain funding from potential programme donors to finance the use of occupational therapists in their programmes. The difficulty in obtaining funding is assumed to be due to potential donors’ belief that these programmes could be implemented at a reduced cost by community workers. Method: The evaluator decided to conduct two programme evaluations to address the two aspects mentioned in the problem statement. First, programme theory evaluations were done to address the poor articulation of the programmes’ theories. The programme theory evaluation aimed to elicit and articulate the underlying logic of each of the programmes, thus enabling the evaluator to assess their plausibility. Following this, three multi-criteria decision analyses (MCDAs) using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) were conducted. The MCDAs were intended to establish which implementer (an occupational therapist or a community worker) is most preferred by CC’s current programme stakeholders. The participants of the MCDA included programme beneficiaries, current programme donors, field experts, programme facilitators and programme staff. Results: Programme theories were made explicit and articulated. These were then depicted as logic models. Results indicate that when assessed against social science and evaluation literature, the programme theories elicited in this dissertation are plausible. The MCDA results indicate that programme stakeholders prefer occupational therapists for technical aspects of programme delivery and prefer community workers for psychosocial aspects of rehabilitation, such as relationship-building and providing emotional support. Of note is that stakeholders weighted the perceived benefits of occupational therapists and community workers as more important than the costs associated with each implementer. The results from the MCDA highlight that programme stakeholders perceive the benefits of implementers (occupational therapists and community workers) to be more important than their associated costs. The evaluator assessed these results against social science literature and found that in general, stakeholders value benefits more than costs of implementing personnel. Recommendations: Recommendations are made to the organisation to describe their programmes’ theories more coherently and more clearly express their need for both community workers and occupational therapists Conclusions: Rather than considering cost, potential donors should consider that occupational therapists and community workers serve specific purposes in programme implementation. Their purpose, rather than their cost, should be prioritised in order for programmes to be effective. The field should be made aware of this disjuncture, while costs are important considerations, stakeholders in the field of disability and rehabilitation should not compromise on the quality of services in order to reduce programme costs

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): a review of the literature

This article is a review of work published in various journals on the topics of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) between January 2000 and May 2006. A total of 313 articles from 79 journals are reviewed. The article intends to serve three goals. First, it will be useful to researchers who are interested in understanding what kinds of questions have been addressed in the area of ERP. Second, the article will be a useful resource for searching for research topics. Third, it will serve as a comprehensive bibliography of the articles published during the period. The literature is analysed under six major themes and nine sub-themes

Employee’s Health Management Evaluation System for the Enterprise

This research tries to establish one employee health management system for enterprises. Through sending the questionnaires by e-mail or face to face delivery to human resource management experts who work in the universities and enterprises in China. A total of 30 questionnaires were distributed and wholly returned for the first round and a total of 20 questionnaires were distributed and 18 were returned for the second round. Those questionnaires based on human capital theory were analyzed by modified Delphi method and analytic hierarchy process. The results show that the evaluation system of employee health management is constructed, including 2 primary indexes, 9 secondary indicators, and 34 thirdly indicators. Two enterprises were evaluated by the employee health management system and shows that the index system can accurately reflect the implementation of employee health management and can provide guidance for enterprises to carry out employee health management activities. This research show that the evaluation systems consist of two independent variables, there are health management process and health management results which are significantly related to the enterprises employees’ health management. Future research should expand the depth of research content and increase the number of enterprises to perfect the evaluation system

Mathematical Fuzzy Logic in the Emerging Fields of Engineering, Finance, and Computer Sciences

Mathematical fuzzy logic (MFL) specifically targets many-valued logic and has significantly contributed to the logical foundations of fuzzy set theory (FST). It explores the computational and philosophical rationale behind the uncertainty due to imprecision in the backdrop of traditional mathematical logic. Since uncertainty is present in almost every real-world application, it is essential to develop novel approaches and tools for efficient processing. This book is the collection of the publications in the Special Issue “Mathematical Fuzzy Logic in the Emerging Fields of Engineering, Finance, and Computer Sciences”, which aims to cover theoretical and practical aspects of MFL and FST. Specifically, this book addresses several problems, such as:- Industrial optimization problems- Multi-criteria decision-making- Financial forecasting problems- Image processing- Educational data mining- Explainable artificial intelligence, etc