The suitabilty of conceptual graphs in strategic management accountancy

The hypothesis of the research is "conceptual graphs are a suitable knowledge-base decision support tool for use by managemenat ccountants in strategic planning", explained as follows. Knowledge-based approaches can help accountants apply their skills in the direction of strategic management problems. Such problem domains cannot be modelled effectively by computer alone, hence we are only interested in those advanced knowledge-based methodologies that can be adequately reviewed by strategic management accountants in the light of their own continually changing tacit and implicit knowledge. Structured diagram techniques, such as flowcharting, are well known by accountants and are a clearly understandable yet important aid in problem review. Apart from being founded on a logically complete reasoning system, the knowledge-based methodology of conceptual graphs was formulated to be an enhancement of these other methods. Furthermore the graphical form of conceptual graphs enjoy an apparent similarity to the 'negating' brackets in the accountant's traditional bookkeeping model. After conducting a comparative study with two similar methodologies in current use showing the technical advantages of conceptual graphs, the Conceptual Analysis and Review Environment computer software was devised and implemented. CARE was used to test the - accepted graphical form of conceptual graphs through a series of user evaluation sessions. The evaluations started out with subjects from the conceptual graphs community itself, then key business school staff, and culminated in a session with senior practising accountants. In addition, CARE was enhanced iteratively in accordance with the results of each evaluation session. Despite their strong prima facie attractiveness and positive response from the conceptual graphs community session, as the user evaluations progressed it became increasingly evident that the inherent complexity of conceptual graphs fundamentally undern-tined them as a viable tool, other than for very trivial problems well below the level needed to be viable for strategic management accountancy. Therefore the original contribution of this research is that its hypothesis turns out to be false

Third Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications, part 1

The application of artificial intelligence to spacecraft and aerospace systems is discussed. Expert systems, robotics, space station automation, fault diagnostics, parallel processing, knowledge representation, scheduling, man-machine interfaces and neural nets are among the topics discussed

Analysing film content : a text-based approach

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Perspective relativity: A conceptual examination of the applicability of an articulated notion of "perspective" to such matters as the problem of meanings

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The aim of this thesis is to articulate and defend a general notion of 'perspectives' and some of the ways that they relate to one another, in order to help to clarify one of the preliminary conceptual problems in cybernetics, namely, the relation between energy propagation (signal) and information propagation (message). The literature on this topic is meagre, although the literature relevant to it is too great to cover comprehensively. The approach closely follows the ideas of Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend in the philosophy of science. It is found that the perspective notion has possible uses other than that of signal and message, since the same arguments apply to a wide variety of conceptual and human situations. The concepts considered include: point of view, field space, overall view, three broad categories of perspective difference, compatible and incompatible perspectives, the effect of values and goals, and mutual sensitivity and relevance of perspective spaces. There are five chapters: the first introduces the perspective approach to the 'problem of meanings' and provides a brief introduction to the other four chapters; the second examines two fragments of the philosophical background; the third offers a relatively informal discussion of perspectives and perspective relativity; the fourth suggests an example of a terminology of perspectives (true to perspective relativity, not the only possible one); and the final chapter summarises some immediate results as well as suggesting some possible specialised applications, including political models, information retrieval and machine intelligence.SER

Ontology-based knowledge management for technology intensive industries

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

ETAG, A Formal Model of Competence Knowledge for User Interface Design

Vliet, J.C. van [Promotor]Tauber, M.J. [Copromotor]Veer, G.C. van der [Copromotor

On smart and natural language technology support of strategy work

This research explores how natural language processing of text, which is in electronic format, might be exploited to benefit strategic business planning in companies. It entails considering devices for making sense of huge, complex and dynamic data for decision making in a complex and dynamic world. It entails grasping managers' true requirements. Text that is in electronic format abounds. The Internet is continuing its phenomenal growth. Strategic decision-makers in companies struggle with making sense, keeping up with and taking advantage of the emerging world. Theoretical and technological advances in many fields of inquiry, from strategy to information technology, give rise to new promises for computer support of strategic managerial work. Management of knowledge and computer processing of natural language format text are among these. After surveying the field of strategy for its requirements and the state of art some alternative solutions are considered. A partial solution that was actually built is described together with experiments performed with it. Feedback solicited and obtained from managers with help of the concrete existence of the partial solution is then examined and analysed thoroughly. Ideas related to the use of systems based on language and knowledge technology have been developed and many issues identified. This together with managerial feedback forms a base for creating strategy support systems in the future.reviewe