Exploiting the Hierarchical Structure of Rule-Based Specifications for Decision Planning

Rule-based specifications have been very successful as a declarative approach in many domains, due to the handy yet solid foundations offered by rule-based machineries like term and graph rewriting. Realistic problems, however, call for suitable techniques to guarantee scalability. For instance, many domains exhibit a hierarchical structure that can be exploited conveniently. This is particularly evident for composition associations of models. We propose an explicit representation of such structured models and a methodology that exploits it for the description and analysis of model- and rule-based systems. The approach is presented in the framework of rewriting logic and its efficient implementation in the rewrite engine Maude and is illustrated with a case study.

On-line analytical processing

On-line analytical processing (OLAP) describes an approach to decision support, which aims to extract knowledge from a data warehouse, or more specifically, from data marts. Its main idea is providing navigation through data to non-expert users, so that they are able to interactively generate ad hoc queries without the intervention of IT professionals. This name was introduced in contrast to on-line transactional processing (OLTP), so that it reflected the different requirements and characteristics between these classes of uses. The concept falls in the area of business intelligence.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Hugh Baird College: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 109/95 and 39/99)

Comprises two Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) inspection reports for the periods 1994-95 and 1998-99

Sugar Supply Chains and Regional Development

The coastal Queensland regions are heavily dependent upon the sugar industry and are likely to remain so. The interplay between sugar industry and regional development is little understood beyond the historical record. Yet current reform proposals place great store on regional initiatives to rejuvenate both sugar and its host communities. Such proposals are at best naïve as will be seen in this paper. A key feature of sugar and like industries is a high degree of supply chain interdependence which is embedded in place and time. Reflecting this, sugar regions have a more diverse skills mix and a more advanced manufacturing and services capability than many other agriculturally-oriented regions, notably broadacre grain and beef. Central to the emergence of such a regional industrial structure are inter-industry transactions. These will be considered in both an input-output framework and from a transactions cost basis. Associated insights point to the inadequacy and likely failure of initiatives based on current “efficiency/productivity‿ thinking. Alternative ways to view the industry are discussed along with a recommendation that those involved with sugar regionally revisit current plans

The Phillips Machine, The Analogue Computing Traditoin in Economics and Computability

In this paper I try to argue for the desirability of analog computation in economics from a variety of perspectives, using the example of the Phillips Machine. Ultimately, a case is made for the underpinning of both analog and digital computing theory in constructive mathematics. Some conceptual confusion in the meaning of analog computing and its non-reliance on the theory of numerical analysis is also discussed. Digital computing has its mathematical foundations in (classical) recursion theory and constructive mathematics. The implicit, working, assumption of those who practice the noble art of analog computing may well be that the mathematical foundations of their subject is as sound as the foundations of the real analysis. That, in turn, implies a reliance on the soundness of set theory plus the axiom of choice. This is, surely, seriously disturbing from a computation point of view. Therefore, in this paper, I seek to locate a foundation for analog computing in exhibiting some tentative dualities with results that are analogous to those that are standard in computability theory. The main question, from the point of view of economics, is whether the Phillips Machine, as an analog computer, has universal computing properties. The conjectured answer is in the negative.Phillips Machine, Analogue Computation, Digital Computation, Computability, General Purpose Analogue Computer

Market information acquisition: a prerequisite for successful strategic entrepreneurship

AbstractThis paper investigates on the types of information used by managers and entrepreneurs, so as to conduct market research and to evaluate market potential.The authors examine five major sets of variables to understand their impact on firms’ information market search effort. Empirical results based on a survey of Greek enterprises provide support for these factors in predicting firms’ market information acquisition. Findings on structural and administrative characteristics of the firms support the notion that companies engaged in greater market information search and evaluation of market potential tend to develop and implement complex penetration and development market strategies, in order to maximize their business performance in the examined market