Design and Implementation of World Wide Web Pages for the Computational Information Systems Research Group in the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield

This dissertation consists of six chapters, and describes the design and implementation of the World Wide Web pages for the Computational Information Systems Research Group in the Department of Information Studies. The idea of implementing the World Wide Web pages for the research group is to get the information of the group published on the Internet. The area of networking (Internet) is reviewed particularly with reference to the World Wide Web. A few network tools are discussed. The emphasis is given more on the World Wide Web and the browser used as these form the most important part in this project. The Web pages were created via the HTML editor called the HTML Writer. The HTML language used in writing the program is described together with a brief description of the functions used in the program. A few number of hyper-editing systems are also discussed, with most attention being given to the hyper-editing system used in this project. The comparison was made between HTML Writer and the Hot-Metal Editor. The design and development of the Web pages is described from the first attempts to write the program to the final version. Lastly, the Web pages are reviewed as the final step in completing this project

Analyzing manpower data of higher learning institutions: A Markov chain approach

The approach to manpower policy in most Malaysian universities appears to be guided by the traditional method of putting the right number of people in the right place at the right time or arranging for suitable number of people to be allocated to various jobs usually in a hierarchical structure.The technique has been practiced for years.This traditional method is deficit in the sense that it neither offers computational tools that will enable administrators to determine possible line of action to be taken nor provide tools to generate alternative policies and strategies.The objective of this study was to design a planning model for projecting university faculty employment under alternative policy suggested by the government. The planning model was developed using Markov chain technique.Two scenarios were considered in the study; scenario 1 was based on historical data pattern between year 1999 – 2014 and scenario 2 was based on RMK 9 policies.The results showed the possibility average length of stay by position and probability of loss for both scenarios. The greater impact is expected for average length of stay of senior lecturers compared to other faculty position considering the new policy

Performance modeling of e-procurement workflow using Generalised Stochastic Petri net (GSPN)

This paper proposes a Generalised Stochastic Petri net (GSPN) model representing a generic e-procurement workflow process. The model displays the dynamic behaviour of the system and shows the inter relationship of process activities. An analysis based on matrix equation approach enabled users to analyse the critical system's states, and thus justify the process performance. The results obtained allow users for better decision making in improving e-procurement workflow performance

Optimization of Workload Allocation Problem in a Network of Heterogeneous Computer Systems

Multiple Queue Multiple Server Queueing models are used to model workload allocation problems in a network of computers. The problem of determining optimal allocation of workload with single and multi class jobs to a parallel of computers is presented followed by a problem of determining optimal buffer size related to arrival of workload to a single computer. The generalized exponential (GE) distributional model with known first two moments has been used to represent general inter arrival and service time distributions as various jobs have various traffic characteristic. Other service distributional models such as exponential, Erlang-k and Gamma have also been used to expand the work applicability. A new algorithm of workload allocation scheme using First Come First Serve discipline in conjunction with optimization of GE queueing systems is proposed for minimizing mean queue length and mean response time in a network of computer systems. This has an advantage over a classical queueing allocation scheme, and is favorably compared. The performance measures, mean queue length and mean response time of the proposed scheme have practically shown improvement. The principle of optimization and GE distributional model are used to derive a new workload allocation model of single class jobs in a network of queueing system. The reusable concept is proposed to gain solution for determining individual job allocation in a multi class environment. This study is of interest whereby both single and multi class assumption can be done without repeatedly developing and solving new models. The convincing results of workload allocation models proposed has motivated the work to obtain the direct dependence of the buffer size on the given workload in the network of computer systems. A closed loop expression for buffer sizing of single class jobs and partial buffer sizing of multi class jobs are derived and show their dependency on workload arrival and processing rate in a computationally efficient way

Model matematik prestasi pelayan Web bagi sistem portal

Penggunaan Internet pada masa kini didapati semakin meluas. Namun begitu hanya segelintir pihak sahaja yang mengambil tahu tentang kelakuan prestasinya. Banyak organisasi membangunkan portal yang berteraskan internet untuk tujuan apliksi yang spesifik. Aplikasi-aplikasi ini menggunakan pelayan web sebagai pemproses utama. Namun begitu tidak ada model tertentu yang dibangunkan untuk mengukur prestasi pelayan Web yang digunakan bagi menguji keberkesanan sistem portal yang berkaitan. Objektif kajian ini adalah membangunkan model analitikal atau model matematik yang berasaskan teori giliran untuk menilai prrstasi pelayan Web bagi mencapai suatu sistem portal. Model menggambarkan sistem sebagai "kotak hitam" di mana hanya kadar ketibaan peket dan kadar layanan pelayan sahaja yang dipertimbangkan sebagai parameter kajian Penggunaan parameter-parameter ini bcrtujuan mengukur nilai metrik prestasi pelayan Web seperti penggunaan pelayan Web, purata peket yang dihasilkan bagi setiap pelayan Web dan purata masa sambutan Model yang dibangunkan dapat memberi Maklumat dan pemahaman tentang kepentingan prestasi pelayan Web paras aras sisem. Maklumat yang diperolehi juga dapat membekalkan penyelesaian efektif dalam mengenalpasti komponenen yang menyebabkan masalah prestasi sistem pada masa akan datang. Secara amnya, maklumat yang diperolehi daripada model analitikal yang dibangunkan dapat membantu pihak pengurusan organisasi membuat keputusan berkaitan dengan prestasi sistem bagi meningkatkan lagi sistem capaian pelayan Web

Measuring the effectiveness of undergraduate programs by a nonparametric method

Measuring the effectiveness of programs is not an easy task since the related variables may be affected by environmental factors which are often not under the control of the policy maker. Besides that, the use of output(s) alone without considering the input(s) to measure the effectiveness of programs may depict a wrong picture about the programs. If the ratio of output(s) to input(s) is defined as the basic measure of efficiency, effectiveness relates the input or output to the final objective(s) to be achieved, that is the outcome(s).The aim of this paper is to propose a model to estimate effectiveness of undergraduate programs by using a nonparametric method, known as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA).In the tertiary educational setting, if the graduates are defined as the output, then it is argued that the employed graduates could be considered as the outcome, whereas the main inputs are the academic staff. As the academic staff are of different rank with different contribution, this feature should be reflected in any performance measure of academic institutions.The effectiveness model for undergraduate programs is proposed as the ratio of the number of employed graduates six months after graduation to numbers of academic staff at five different rankings.This model was used to analyze the effectiveness of 26 selected undergraduate programs in a university. The results show that only 10 were effective, and 16 were not effective for year 2009.Besides the results analyzed by the proposed model, the effectiveness measure based on a ratio of one outcome to one input, that is without considering the superiority of the inputs is also included for comparative analysis.As expected the two results are different.The result based on the proposed method is suggested to be used for further analysis and improvement action. Besides that, the proposed model may be used in different context with certain adjustment especially in the selection of input and outcome

Interpolating data in transition probability matrix of Markov chain to improvise average length of stay

Data interpolation is proposed for estimating transition probability matrix (TPM) of Markov chain model. We showed that interpolated estimator was unbiased. To show its applicability the model on the manpower recruitment policy is developed and analyzed on Excel spreadsheet. Based on the model, the new estimation of the state transition matrix for each category of manpower driven by interpolation technique is devised. The revised transition matrix of Markov chain was substituted by embedding interpolation and can be used as an equation solver to calculate mean time estimation for each category of manpower. The model results were then compared to the classical Markov chain for both old and new policies by means of mean time estimation. Two scenarios were considered in the study; scenario 1 was based on historical data pattern in five years and scenario 2 was based on the new policy. The results showed the possibility average length of stay by position and probability of loss for both scenarios. The proposed data interpolation based TPM approach has shown a new way of recruitment projection for policy changes. The results have indicated better estimation of average length of stay for each category compared to the traditional Markov chain approach

Developing triad design algorithms based on compatible factorization

We consider the problem of listing distinct triples that satisfy certain properties.This problem is known as triad design of order v; TD(v).This design exists for v = 1 or 5 (mod v).Much of our work deals with the enumeration of several triad design, for example TD(7); TD(11) and TD(13). These processes have helped us develop algorithm for triad design, the objective of this study.A new technique for triad design algorithm, known as Interval Generation Method was employed to construct TD(6n + 1) and TD(6n + 5).This method depends on analyzing the pattern of triples in the design to build starters.We begin by producing starters from Interval Generation Method as the initial block to begin with.Then the algorithm begins by cycling modular v from the initial block and finishes when the process approaches the initial block.The algorithms for TD(6n+1) and TD(6n+5) are presented in Chapter 4 and 5, respectively.As the entire study depends mainly on TD(v) algorithms, new and remarkable theorems and lemmas for TD(v) development are presented and proved