Alwast, T, Miliszewska, I & Leung, C 1996, 'A decision support system architecture using agents and data warehousing', International Journal of Information and Management Sciences, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 26-41.
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A generic architecture incorporating agent based and data warehousing technologies for the design of decision support systems (DSS) is presented. The architecture consists of an interface agent, control and service agents, and a warehouse agent organized in a hierarchical structure which supports cooperative problem solving. The architecture has been designed to support DSS type query processing and to provide a framework for integrating both intelligent and conventional heterogeneous software components. A data warehouse is specifically used to support efficient DSS type query processing and at the same time facilitate the integration of distributed databases. The architecture provides a platform for cooperative problem solving in a complex environment. Implementation issues relating to such an architecture are also addressed.
Finn, GD, Lister, R, Szabo, T, Simonetta, D, Mulder, H & Young, R 1996, 'Neural networks applied to a large biological database to analyse dairy breeding patterns', Neural Computing & Applications, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 237-253.
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The paper recounts the investigation of a dairy sire prediction capability based on Cascade Correlation neural networks to study influences relating the performance of offspring to their parents. The context of the problem is the artificial insemination breeding program for the Australian dairy industry. The networks are used to screen observed information in the database to relate it to best combinations of dam and sire. The voluminous data is quite noisy and is subject to genetic and environmental influences. The intention is to extract linear and nonlinear relationships from among the input variables without specifying their form. A number of scenarios are employed which recast the data into different forms. In particular, it was discovered that the problem could be restructured and the data supplemented with transformed data to produce succinct input patterns of manageable dimensionality, which allowed for a substantially improved predictive capability. It was then found that reasonable daughter predictions could be obtained of about 10%, as measured by her milk production. Results are compared with those obtained using two alternate neural network methods. Crude statistical methods are employed to evaluate the performance of the neural networks.
Smith, CL & Voinov, A 1996, 'Resource management: Can it sustain pacific northwest fishery and forest systems?', Ecosystem Health, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 156-158.
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The relative effectiveness of resource management regimes is widely discussed. Sustainability and ecosystem health are two dimensions upon which the effect of management is judged. Evaluating resource management requires long time spans. We look at the impact of management on fish and forest resources by taking a life cycle approach to the exploitation of natural capital. Russian ethnographer Gumilev (1990) describes the process of how human systems go through a set of phases that parallel the birth, growth, maturity, and death stages of the life cycle. The process of adaptive renewal proposed by Holling (1992), too, has life cycle characteristics. The primary variables used to represent the phases of the renewal cycle are the amount of capital that is accumulated and the connectedness in the system. We apply the renewal cycle to a fishery and forestry example in the U.S. Pacific Northwest to see how management regimes alter the capital stock of these systems. In these two examples, 90% of the natural capital is lost or projected to be lost over a century and a half of exploitation. The management regime in both cases evolves toward greater inflexibility. Based on these two examples, resource management does not seem to lead to sustainability or ecosystem health. © 1996 Blackwell Science, Inc.
Leaney, J, Peterson, C & Drane, C 1970, 'Computer systems engineering in large groups', Proceedings - Frontiers in Education Conference, 26th Annual conference on Frontiers in Education - Technology-Based Re-Engineering Engineering Education (FIE 96), I E E E, SALT LAKE CITY, UT, pp. 1491-1494.
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The subjects Computer Systems Analysis and Computer Systems Design within the computer systems engineering degree at UTS concern themselves with the specification, architecture, design and implementation of a computer based system of moderate complexity, covering electrical and mechanical hardware, computer hardware and software. Students are expected to develop the system to appropriate standards, using suitable techniques, within a defined process and operating within a team. The computer based system is concerned with the problem of the automatic assembly of (pseudo) chocolates into (pseudo) chocolate boxes. There are a variety of boxes and a variety of chocolates, which have to be assembled to (operator entered) orders. The class is divided into teams. A team comprises five groups. Each of four groups is responsible for one of the major subassemblies, and the fifth group is responsible for the systems engineering and telecommunications. The major subassemblies are the assembly robot, the box conveyor and (Vision) recognition system, the chocolate recognition system, and the supervisory control system. The project has been running for five years and this paper summarizes the history, reports on the development and analyses educational aspects. Student appreciation of the subjects has been entirely positive, with the most often made comment that finally they have understood why they have studied engineering for the previous four to five years.
Rowe, D, Leaney, J & Lowe, D 1970, 'Development of a systems architecting process for computer based systems', Proceedings of ICECCS '96: 2nd IEEE International Conference on Engineering of Complex Computer Systems (held jointly with 6th CSESAW and 4th IEEE RTAW), ICECCS '96: 2nd IEEE International Conference on Engineering of Complex Computer Systems (held jointly with 6th CSESAW and 4th IEEE RTAW), IEEE Comput. Soc. Press, MONTREAL, CANADA, pp. 200-203.
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Zowghi, D, Ghose, AK & Peppas, P 1970, 'A framework for reasoning about requirements evolution', Proceedings of the 4th Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (PRICAI’96), Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Cairns, Australia, pp. 157-168.
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