Computer Sciences Commons^™

Benchmarking Financial Operations Using The Premier Operations Outlook Database, Margaret M. Thompson

Community & Environmental Health Theses & Dissertations

Acute-care hospitals have come under increased pressure to reduce costs while increasing the quality of providing care. Historically, increasing costs of providing care has had the greatest impact on the reduction of operating margins necessary to expand capital and for repayment of debt. Facilities can benchmark internal historical data to identify areas where costs have increased and are able to explain the factors that contribute to the increases. One of the challenges facing hospitals in their efforts to reduce operating costs is how, what, and where, do they obtain comparative data to benchmark the cost of operating medical facility to …

Infoharness: Managing Distributed, Heterogeneous Information, Kshitij Shah, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Today, important information is scattered in so many places, formats, and media, that getting the right information at the right time and place is an extremely difficult task. Developing a single software product, for example, includes the creation of documents ranging from the requirements specification and project schedules to marketing presentations, multimedia tutorials, and more. Each document may be created by a different person using a different tool, and each may be stored in a different place. InfoHarness is an information integration system, platform, and tool set that addresses these problems, managing huge amounts of heterogeneous information in a distributed …

Processes Driving The Networked Economy, Amit P. Sheth, Will Van Der Aalst, I. Budak Arpinar

Kno.e.sis Publications

The authors propose that an organic workflow-process technology will power the evolution of information system architectures. The authors outline three likely stages of architectural evolution in the context of a networked economy and discuss critical gaps in the current technology with respect to their envisioned future.

The Nature And Structure Of Impediments To Edi Adoption And Integration: A Survey Of Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Deepak Khazanchi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

Electronic data interchange (EDI) is a key enabling component of business-to-business electronic commerce. As firms adopt and integrate advanced information technologies such as EDI, it is important to understand the nature of challenges faced by them. This becomes especially important given the fact that nearly 99.7% of all businesses in the US can be classified as small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As costs and risks associated with implementing new information technologies decrease, these firms will surely need to focus their attention on managing impediments associated with new technology implementation and learn from the failures or successes of their peer. Consequently, …

Enterprise Business Objects : Design And Implementation Of A Business Object Framework, Kai-Uwe Schafer

Theses

Software components representing business entities like customer or purchase order introduce a new way of Online Transaction Processing to business applications. Collaborating business objects allow to complete whole business processes as a single distributed transaction, instead of dividing it into queued steps, which sometimes even require user intervention. This IS due to the fact that business objects contain both business data and logic and that they incorporate multiple databases from different vendors and different geographic locations in a single transaction.

Business objects cannot be used as stand-alone components, but require a framework of services that manage persistence, concurrent transactions, and …

Web-Based Interlibrary Loan System, Ee Peng Lim, Schubert Foo, Cheng Hai Tan, Kwang-Yong Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Interlibrary loan (ILL) system is one of the important library services provided by most public libraries. Through ILL, public libraries share their collections of reading material and library users are able to access library resources beyond their affiliated libraries. However, the present manual ILL process is inconvenient, inefficient and error-prone. In this project, we developed a system that automated many tedious procedures in the existing ILL system. The new ILL system is realized by a number of Java applets customized for librarians and library users. The new ILL system allows library users to submit ILL requests at any time using …

One-Prong Τ Decays With Kaons, R. Barate, M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

One-prong ττ decays into final states involving kaons are studied with about 161 000 τ+τ−τ+τ− events collected by the ALEPH detector from 1991 to 1995. Charged kaons are identified by dE/dx measurement, while K0LKL0's are detected through their interaction in calorimeters. Branching ratios are measured for the inclusive mode, B(τ−→K−Xντ)=(1.52±0.04±0.04)%B(τ−→K−Xντ)=(1.52±0.04±0.04)%, where X can be any system of neutral particles, and for the exclusive modesB(τ−→K−ντ)=(6.96±0.25±0.14)×10−3,B(τ−→K−π0ντ)=(4.44±0.26±0.24)×10−3,B(τ−→K−π0π0ντ)=(0.56±0.20±0.15)×10−3,B(τ−→K−π0π0π0ντ)=(0.37±0.21±0.11)×10−3,B(τ−→K−K0ντ)=(1.62±0.21±0.11)×10−3,B(τ−→K−K0π0ντ)=(1.43±0.25±0.15)×10−3,B(τ−→K0¯¯¯¯¯¯¯π−ντ)=(9.28±0.45±0.34)×10−3,B(τ−→K0¯¯¯¯¯¯¯π−π0ντ)=(3.47±0.53±0.37)×10−3,B(τ−→K−ντ)=(6.96±0.25±0.14)×10−3,B(τ−→K−π0ντ)=(4.44±0.26±0.24)×10−3,B(τ−→K−π0π0ντ)=(0.56±0.20±0.15)×10−3,B(τ−→K−π0π0π0ντ)=(0.37±0.21±0.11)×10−3,B(τ−→K−K0ντ)=(1.62±0.21±0.11)×10−3,B(τ−→K−K0π0ντ)=(1.43±0.25±0.15)×10−3,B(τ−→K0¯π−ντ)=(9.28±0.45±0.34)×10−3,B(τ−→K0¯π−π0ντ)=(3.47±0.53±0.37)×10−3,where the first error is statistical and the second is systematical. Upper limits for B(τ−→K0¯¯¯¯¯¯¯π−π0π0ντ)B(τ−→K0¯π−π0π0ντ) and B(τ−→K−K0π0π0ντ)B(τ−→K−K0π0π0ντ) are also obtained. Mass spectra in the final states are investigated in order to study the relevant dynamics.

A Study Of Single W Production In E+E- Collisions At √S = 161-183 Gev, R. Barate, Manoj Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Single W production is studied in the data recorded with the ALEPH detector at LEP at centre-of-mass energies between 161 and 183 GeV. The cross section is measured to be σw = 0.41 ± 0.17(stat.) ± 0.04(syst.) pb at 183 GeV, consistent with the Standard Model expectation. Limits on non-standard WWγ couplings are deduced as -1.6 γ γ = 0) and -1.6 γ γ = 1) at 95% C.L. A search for effectively invisible decays of the W boson in W pair production is performed, leading to an upper limit on the branching ratio of 1.3% (Γinv = 27 MeV) …

Measurement Of W-Pair Production In E+E- Collisions At 183 Gev, R. Barate, Manoj Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The production of W+W− pairs is analysed in a data sample collected by ALEPH at a mean centre-of-mass energy of 182.7 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 57 pb−1 . Cross sections are given for different topologies of W decays into leptons or hadrons. Under Standard Model assumptions for the W-pair production and decay, the W-pair cross section is measured to be 15.57 ± 0.62(stat.) ± 0.29(syst.) pb. Using also the W-pair data samples collected by ALEPH at lower centre-of-mass energies, the decay branching ratio of the W boson into hadrons is measured to be B(W → hadrons) = …

Monitoring The Stability Of The Aleph Vertex Detector, G. Sguazzoni, Manoj Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The ALEPH Silicon Vertex Detector features an optical fibre laser system to monitor its mechanical stability. The operating principle and the general performance of the laser system are described. The experience obtained during 1997 and 1998 operations confirms the important role that such a system can have with respect to the detector alignment requirements. In particular, the laser system has been used to monitor short-term temperature-related effects and long-term movements. These results and a description of the laser-based alignment correction applied to the 1998 data are presented.

Search For Invisible Higgs Boson Decays In E+E- Collisions At Centre-Of-Mass Energies Up To 184 Gev, R. Barate, Manoj Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In a data sample of 78.3 pb−1 collected in 1996 and 1997 by the ALEPH detector at centre-of-mass energies from 161 to 184 GeV, invisible decays of a Higgs boson have been searched for in the reaction e+e− → hZ, where the Z can decay into e+e−, µ+µ− or q¯q. No evidence for a signal is found and limits on the production cross section are derived as a function of the Higgs boson mass. These results are combined with those obtained in an update of the analyses of the ALEPH data taken at LEP 1. For a production cross section …

Study Of T Decays Involving Kaons, Spectral Functions And Determination Of The Strange Quark Mass, R. Barate, M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

All ALEPH measurements of branching ratios of ττ decays involving kaons are summarized including a combination of results obtained with K0SKS0 and K0LKL0 detection. The decay dynamics are studied, leading to the determination of contributions from vector K∗(892)K∗(892) and K∗(1410)K∗(1410), and axial-vector K1(1270)K1(1270) and K1(1400)K1(1400) resonances. Agreement with isospin symmetry is observed among the different final states. Under the hypothesis of the conserved vector current, the spectral function for the KK¯¯¯¯¯πKK¯π mode is compared with the corresponding cross section for low energy e+e−e+e− annihilation, yielding an axial-vector fraction of (94+6−8)%(94−8+6)% for this mode. The branching ratio for ττ decay into …

Determination Of The Lep Centre-Of-Mass Energy From Zγ Events, R. Barate, Manoj Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A study of events with photons and missing energy has been performed with the data sample obtained with the ALEPH detector at centre-of-mass energies from 161 to 184 GeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of about 80 pb−1. The measured distributions are in agreement with Standard Model predictions, leading to constraints on WWγ gauge coupling parameters ∆κγ and λγ. The results from the fit to the cross sections and to the energy and angular distributions of the photons are: ∆κγ = 0.05+1.15 −1.10(stat)±0.25(syst) λγ = −0.05+1.55 −1.45(stat)±0.30(syst).

Harp: A Distributed Query System For Legacy Public Libraries And Structured Databases, Ee Peng Lim, Ying Lu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The main purpose of a digital library is to facilitate users easy access to enormous amount of globally networked information. Typically, this information includes preexisting public library catalog data, digitized document collections, and other databases. In this article, we describe the distributed query system of a digital library prototype system known as HARP. In the HARP project, we have designed and implemented a distributed query processor and its query front-end to support integrated queries to preexisting public library catalogs and structured databases. This article describes our experiences in the design of an extended Sequel (SQL) query language known as HarpSQL. …

Measurement Of The Hadronic Photon Structure Function At Lep 1 For 〈Q2〉 Values Between 9.9 And 284 Gev2, Barate, R.; Et Al., M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Inclusive γ∗γ interactions to hadronic final states where one scattered electron or positron is detected in the electromagnetic calorimeters have been studied in the LEP 1 data taken by ALEPH from 1991 to 1995. The event sample has been used to measure the hadronic structure function of the photon F2γ in three bins with 〈Q2〉 of 9.9, 20.7 and 284 GeV2.

Search For Charged Higgs Bosons In E+E- Collisions At √S = 181-184 Gev, Barate, R.; Et Al., M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

No abstract provided.

Search For The Standard Model Higgs Boson At The Lep2 Collider Near √S = 183 Gev, R. Barate, M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

During 1997 the ALEPH experiment at LEP gathered 57pb−1 of data at centre-of-mass energies near 183 GeV. These data are used to look for possible signals from the production of the Standard Model Higgs boson in the reaction e+e−→HZ. No evidence of a signal is found in the data; seven events are selected, in agreement with the expectation of 7.2 events from background processes. This observation results in an improved lower limit on the mass of the Higgs boson: mH>87.9GeV/c2 at 95% confidence level.

Determination Of |Vub| From The Measurement Of The Inclusive Charmless Semileptonic Branching Ratio Of B Hadrons, R. Barate, M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

From a study of the kinematic properties of the final state produced in the semileptonic decays b→Xℓνℓb→Xℓνℓ, the inclusive charmless semileptonic branching ratio of b hadrons is measured. With a sample of 3.6 million hadronic Z decays recorded between 1992 and 1995 with the ALEPH detector at LEP, the value Br(b→Xuℓνℓ)Br(b→Xuℓνℓ) is determined to be (1.73±0.55stat±0.55syst)×10−3(1.73±0.55stat±0.55syst)×10−3, where XuXu represents any charmless hadronic state and b is a mixture of b hadrons weighted by their production rates. This measurement yields the result|Vub|2=(18.68±5.94stat±5.94syst±1.45HQE)×10−6,|Vub|2=(18.68±5.94stat±5.94syst±1.45HQE)×10−6,where the last error comes from the conversion of the branching ratio to the CKM matrix element squared.

Search For Bs0 Oscillations Using Inclusive Lepton Events, R. Barate, M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A search for B0sBs0 oscillations is performed using a sample of semileptonic b-hadron decays collected by the ALEPH experiment during 1991–95. Compared to previous inclusive lepton analyses, the proper time resolution and b-flavour mistag rate are significantly improved. Additional sensitivity to B0sBs0 mixing is obtained by identifying subsamples of events having a B0sBs0 purity which is higher than the average for the whole data sample. Unbinned maximum likelihood amplitude fits are performed to derive a lower limit of Δms>9.5ps−1Δms>9.5ps−1 at the 95% confidence limit (95% CL). Combining with the ALEPH D−sDs−-based analyses yields Δms>9.6ps−1Δms>9.6ps−1 at 95% …

Search For Charginos And Neutralinos In E+E- Collisions At Centre-Of-Mass Energies Near 183 Gev And Constraints On The Mssm Parameter Space, R. Barate, M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Searches for charginos and neutralinos are performed with the data collected by the ALEPH detector at LEP at centre-of-mass energies near 183 GeV. In these searches, it is assumed that R-parity is conserved and that the lightest neutralino is the LSP. No evidence of a signal is observed in the 57 pb−1−1 accumulated, which excludes chargino and associated neutralino production up to the kinematic limit over large regions of the MSSM parameter space. Under the assumptions of common gaugino and common sfermion masses at the unification scale, the interplay between the chargino, neutralino and slepton exclusion limits allows a lower …

Search For Supersymmetry With A Dominant R-Parity Violating Lqd̄ Coupling In E+E- Collisions At Centre-Of-Mass Energies Of 130 Gev To 172 Gev, R. Barate, M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A search for pair-production of supersymmetric particles under the assumption that R-parity is violated via a dominant LQD¯LQD¯ coupling has been performed using the data collected by ALEPH at centre-of-mass energies of 130–172 GeV. The observed candidate events in the data are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. This result is translated into lower limits on the masses of charginos, neutralinos, sleptons, sneutrinos and squarks. For instance, for m0=500m0=500 GeV/c2/c2 and tanβ=2–√tan⁡β=2 charginos with masses smaller than 81 GeV/c2/c2 and neutralinos with masses smaller than 29 GeV/c2/c2 are excluded at the 95% confidence level for any generation structure of …

Electronic Data Interchange : Its Benefits In Trade Activities For Developing Countries, Luis E. Nova [Morel]

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Xcert Software, Inc., Keng Siau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The case on Xcert Software, Inc., illustrates the operational and strategic issues encountered by a startup IT company in the Internet security business. Xcert faces difficulty in a number of areas: (1) finances, (2) future direction and leadership, (3) organizational structure, experience and size, and (4) marketing. This is a discussion case that introduces students to the competitive world of Internet business and provides them an opportunity to discuss and debate the myriad issues facing the founders of Xcert.

Measurement Of Triple Gauge Wwγ Couplings At Lep2 Using Photonic Events, R. Barate, Manoj Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A study of events with photons and missing energy has been performed with the data sample obtained with the ALEPH detector at centre-of-mass energies from 161 to 184 GeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of about 80 pb−1. The measured distributions are in agreement with Standard Model predictions, leading to constraints on WWγ gauge coupling parameters Δκγ and λγ. The results from the fit to the cross sections and to the energy and angular distributions of the photons are: Δκγ=0.05+1.15−1.10(stat)±0.25(syst), λγ=−0.05+1.55−1.45(stat)±0.30(syst).

Tuple Source Relational Model: A Source-Aware Data Model For Multidatabases, Ee Peng Lim, Roger Hsiang-Li Chiang, Yinyan Cao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In some integration projects, complete integration of database instances may not be necessary. It may also be too costly and impossible to do so due to poor local data quality and insufficient instance-level knowledge. In this research, we study how multidatabases with global schemas should be represented and manipulated when the data instances from the local databases do not require to be fully integrated. We propose the tuple source (TS) relational model to represent multidatabases under such an integration requirement. This model extends the classical relational model by augmenting every relation with a source attribute to identify the local database …

Methodology And Theory Building In Mis Research, Nancy Lightner, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper reports on the stage of maturity of MIS research according to the McGrath (1979) model, as evidenced by the theory building occurring in two top MIS research journals. While MIS as a discipline continues to grow, its development depends on establishing a cumulative tradition of good research (Keen 1980). Of the published papers surveyed that are relevant to theory building, 81% of them relate to theory development, while 18% address theory testing. Of the papers involving data collection, more than half use field studies as the methodology. In order to advance MIS as a mature field, it is …

A Global Object Model For Accommodating Instance Heterogeneities, Ee Peng Lim, Roger Hsiang-Li Chiang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

To completely address database integration problems in the context of multidatabase [10] and data warehousing systems, one has to examine various integration and query requirements. Due to various reasons such as poor data quality in local databases, ongoing local database updates, and instance heterogeneities, some instance differences have to be accommodated by the integrated databases. We have therefore proposed a new object-oriented global data model, called OORA, that can accommodate attribute and relationship instance heterogeneities in the integrated database. In addition, the OORA model has been designed to allow database integrators and end users to query both the local and …

Searches For The Neutral Higgs Bosons Of The Mssm In E+E- Collisions At Centre-Of-Mass Energies Of 181-184 Gev, Barate, R.; Et Al., M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The data collected by ALEPH at LEP at centre-of-mass energies ranging from 181 to 184 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 57 pb−1, are analysed to search for pair-produced neutral Higgs bosons h and A, in the bb̄bb̄ and τ+τ−bb̄ final states. Two events are found in the data with 2.5 expected from standard model processes. When combined with the lower energy data collected by ALEPH and with earlier reported searches for associated hZ production, these analyses are interpreted in the context of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model (MSSM). For standard choices of MSSM parameter sets, …

Web Bags: Are They Useful In A Web Warehouse?, Sourav S. Bhowmick, Sanjay Kumar Madria, Wee-Keong Ng, Ee Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Sets and bags are closely related structures. A bag is different from a set in that it is sensitive to the number of times an element occurs while a set is not. In this paper, we introduce the concept of web bag in a web warehouse as a part of our Web Information Coupling System(WICS). Informally, a web bag is a web table which allows multiple occurrences of identical web tuples. Web bag helps to discover useful knowledge from a web table such as visible documents (or web sites), luminous documents and luminous paths. We formally discuss the semantics and …

Information Coupling In Web Databases, Sourav S. Bhowmick, Wee-Keong Ng, Ee Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Web information coupling refers to an association of topically related web documents. This coupling is initiated explicitly by a user in a web warehouse specially designed for web information. Web information coupling provides the means to derive additional, useful information from the WWW. In this paper, we discuss and show how two web operators, i.e., global web coupling and local web coupling, are used to associate related web information from the WWW and also from multiple web tables in a web warehouse. This paper discusses various issues in web coupling such as coupling semantics, coupling-compability, and coupling evaluation.