An integrated approach toward strategic information systems planning

Within the competitive global environment, information has become a key resource for increasing a corporation's competitiveness by changing the nature or conduct of business. Accordingly, corporations are now seeking a method for information systems planning to maximize their strategic effectiveness.Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) refers to the process of creating a portfolio for the implementation and use of IS to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of a corporation, so that it can achieve its objectives. An investigation of SISP, however, showed that only 24% of planned applications were actually developed (Int. J. Comput. Appl. Technol., 8 (1995), 61; MIS Quarterly, September (1988), 445). This figure clearly shows that enhancements are required for current SISP processes. In particular, this paper focuses on SISP methodologies, which provide support for overall SISP processes.The paper initially identifies four general SISP methodology problems: lack of support for Information Technology Architecture, under-emphasis on information technology opportunities, duration of SISP, and lack of support for business process reengineering. Next, it proposes an integrated SISP methodology which solves the above problems while retaining the advantageous qualities of current SISP methodologies. Finally, a case study is added to show how the methodology actually works in practice.     

An integrated approach to high-level information fusion

In today’s fast paced military operational environment, vast amounts of information must be sorted out and fused not only to allow commanders to make situation assessments, but also to support the generation of hypotheses about enemy force disposition and enemy intent. Current information fusion technology has the following two limitations. First, current approaches do not consider the battlefield context as a first class entity. In contrast, we consider situational context in terms of terrain analysis and inference. Second, there are no integrated and implemented models of the high-level fusion process. This paper describes the HiLIFE (High-Level Information Fusion Environment) computational framework for seamless integration of high levels of fusion (levels 2, 3 and 4). The crucial components of HiLIFE that we present in this paper are: (1) multi-sensor fusion algorithms and their performance results that operate in heterogeneous sensor networks to determine not only single targets but also force aggregates, (2) computational approaches for terrain-based analysis and inference that automatically combine low-level terrain features (such as forested areas, rivers, etc.) and additional information, such as weather, and transforms them into high-level militarily relevant abstractions, such as NO-GO, SLOW-GO areas, avenues of approach, and engagement areas, (3) a model for inferring adversary intent by mapping sensor readings of opponent forces to possible opponent goals and actions, and (4) sensor management for positioning intelligence collection assets for further data acquisition. The HiLIFE framework closes the loop on information fusion by specifying how the different components can computationally work together in a coherent system. Furthermore, the framework is inspired by a military process, the Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield, that grounds the framework in practice. HiLIFE is integrated with a distributed military simulation system, OTBSAF, and the RETSINA multi-agent infrastructure to provide agile and sophisticated reasoning. In addition, the paper presents validation results of the automated terrain analysis that were obtained through experiments using military intelligence Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).     

An integrated hospital information system in Geneva

Since the initial design phase from 1971 to 1973, the DIOGENE hospital information system at the University Hospital of Geneva has been treated as a whole and has retained its architectural unity, despite the need for modification and extension over the years. In addition to having a centralized patient database with the mechanisms for data protection and recovery of a transaction-oriented system, the DIOGENE system has a centralized pool of operators who provide support and training to the users; a separate network of remote printers that provides a telex service between the hospital buildings, offices, medical departments, and wards; and a three-component structure that avoids barriers between administrative and medical applications. In 1973, after a 2-year design period, the project was approved and funded. The DIOGENE system has led to more efficient sharing of costly resources, more rapid performance of administrative tasks, and more comprehensive collection of information about the institution and its patients.     

An integrated materials information system for infrastructure planning

The vitality of a nation or region is based on the effective use of material resources for public and private infrastructure. There are an abundance of technological options and policy choices that can be defined. A value chain approach based on the Reference Material System, using state-of-the-art information systems, can be used to provide an integrated framework for information on material resources and finished materials markets to support planning and analysis of the physical infrastructure that is essential to social and economic development. This framework also provides a model for tracking annual flows and stock levels for the capital account of a region or nation.     

An integrated hospital information system in The Netherlands

The development of an experimental integrated hospital information system (HIS) at Leiden University Hospital was initiated by the Dutch government in 1972. As a result of this experiment, a sophisticated HIS is now used by 45 hospitals in the Netherlands, which together have more than 35% (22,000) of the acute care hospital beds in the country. Further development and maintenance of the system are in the hands of a nonprofit organization called BAZIS. This article describes the characteristics of the system and its functions. Special attention is given to technical issues, use of the system, costs, and the organizational structure overseeing multi-hospital participation.     

An integrated decision making approach for ERP system selection

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have gained major prominence by enabling companies to streamline their operations, leverage and integrate business data process. In order to implement an ERP project successfully, it is necessary to select an ERP system which can be aligned with the needs of the company. Thus, a robust decision making approach for ERP software selection requires both company needs and characteristics of the ERP system and their interactions to be taken into account. This paper develops a novel decision framework for ERP software selection based on quality function deployment (QFD), fuzzy linear regression and zero–one goal programming. The proposed framework enables both company demands and ERP system characteristics to be considered, and provides the means for incorporating not only the relationships between company demands and ERP system characteristics but also the interactions between ERP system characteristics through adopting the QFD principles. The presented methodology appears as a sound investment decision making tool for ERP systems as well as other information systems. The potential use of the proposed decision framework is illustrated through an application.     

An integrated component design approach to the development of a design information system for customer-oriented product design

In product design, the designer must draw upon many different types of information including both product-user requirements and design developments in related fields. As each designer has his/her own subjective opinion, an appropriate link between the user requirements and design features must be carefully developed to generate the most suitable design recommendation.The objective of this research is to develop a component design approach for the generation and evaluation of feasible design alternatives to help designers make the most effective design decisions. The development of the approach is based on the concept of component design and interaction links between user requirements and design output parameter values so that the design alternatives can be generated. A confidence interval for order statistics is then used to determine if enough unique feasible design alternatives have been generated. The research is presented in conjunction with a ballpoint pen design to demonstrate the feasibility and advantages of this approach.The results should provide designers with a useful method for the development of a design information system that will efficiently generate and evaluate a set of feasible design alternatives in product design process.     

An integrated optimal control algorithm for discrete-time nonlinear stochastic system

Consider a discrete-time nonlinear system with random disturbances appearing in the real plant and the output channel where the randomly perturbed output is measurable. An iterative procedure based on the linear quadratic Gaussian optimal control model is developed for solving the optimal control of this stochastic system. The optimal state estimate provided by Kalman filtering theory and the optimal control law obtained from the linear quadratic regulator problem are then integrated into the dynamic integrated system optimisation and parameter estimation algorithm. The iterative solutions of the optimal control problem for the model obtained converge to the solution of the original optimal control problem of the discrete-time nonlinear system, despite model-reality differences, when the convergence is achieved. An illustrative example is solved using the method proposed. The results obtained show the effectiveness of the algorithm proposed.     

An integrated information system for real estate agency-based on service-oriented architecture

To enhance the efficiency of surfing the Internet, an integrated platform for real estate agency-based on service-oriented architecture (SOA) is established. It employs the concept of search engine and loads the information provided previously by each real estate agency to this platform. Due to the different types of data structure from each real estate agency website, the standard format must be defined for integrating the information. In this paper, the standard is defined by XML and is used to integrate heterogeneous database. This standard format includes the data fields that are required by the agency websites. It is processed in the platform which is expandable by receiving information from other sources in the future. In consideration of the copyright regulation, the agents are allowed to login and to share specific information on this platform in order to increase the transaction rate. The system also includes a Google Map engine for GIS service that marks the spatial location as the users send the requests. It helps the users to find the demanded housing information and to retrieve the nearby geographic location in a very short time.     

基因调控信息集成数据库及查询

随着基因组研究的深入和生物信息学的发展,对基因调控信息的分析和应用引起人们越来越多的重视。客观要求我们建立起一套能够广泛搜集信息并实现信息共享,同时利用分析工具对基因调控信息进行分析的研究机制,进而能从现有信息中进一步获得更深层次的基因知识。GRI是一套建立在后台Oracle关系型数据库及前台Web技术的基础上、以基因调控信息为主的集成数据库系统,它具有搜集各类基因调控信息、进行数据动态更新、为用户提供信息查询的功能,同时具有基因调控信息分析和数据挖掘等功能。     

一种融合特征点与轮廓信息的匹配算法

为了解决传统区域增长算法处理低纹理图像时,因种子点个数不够导致匹配无法进行增长的问题,提出一种融合轮廓信息的匹配算法来增加种子点个数.首先提取图像特征点与轮廓信息,然后利用方向性约束确定候选匹配点集,最后根据边缘相关性原则从候选匹配点集中计算得到最佳匹配点,即新增种子点.理论分析与实验表明,其较传统区域增长算法能够得到更多种子点,匹配范围更广,匹配精度更高.     

综合船桥信息系统设计研究

针对船舶自动航行系统现有技术的不足之处,设计了符合船舶自动航行技术发展方向的综合船桥信息处理系统。制作了以ARM芯片为核心的通信网关,实现了信息系统的一体化网络连接;研究了分布式数据库技术,并且运用Oracle数据库的Advanced Replication功能实现信息系统的双机热备;采用信息融合技术可解决系统的信息过载问题,并提高信息精度和可靠性,给出了基于联邦滤波器的导航信息融合模型。相关的测试与实验证明该系统具备实用价值。     

An integrated information fusion approach based on the theory of evidence and group decision-making

Dempster–Shafer theory of evidence has been employed as a major method for reasoning with multiple evidence. The Dempster’s rule of combination is however incapable of managing highly conflicting evidence coming from different information sources at the normalization step. Extending current rules, we incorporate the ideas of group decision-making into the theory of evidence and propose an integrated approach to automatically identify and discount unreliable evidence. An adaptive robust combination rule that incorporates the information contained in the consistent focal elements is then constructed to combine such evidence. This rule adjusts the weights of the conjunctive and disjunctive rules according to a function of the consistency of focal elements. The theoretical arguments are supported by numerical experiments. Compared to existing combination rules, the proposed approach can obtain a reasonable and reliable decision, as well as the level of uncertainty about it.     

Development toward an all-silicon integrated thermal management system: the integrated MCM

A new all-silicon multichip module with integrated thermal management system is presented. Our new packaging approach combines the benefits of wafer-scale integration with the flexibility of independently fabricated and pre-tested devices, allowing the development of highly integrated systems. Wet anisotropic etching is used for the dicing of silicon integrated circuits as well as for the fabrication of the chip-receiving cavities in the silicon substrate. The etching exposes {1 1 1} type planes in both chip and receiving surface, assuring a virtually perfect mating of the assemblage. The system is complemented with an integrated silicon heat sink, which can maintain heat fluxes in excess of 100 W/cm².     

融入二维码信息的自适应蒙特卡洛定位算法

蒙特卡洛定位（MCL）算法存在计算量大、定位精度差的问题，由于二维码具有携带信息的多样性、二维码识别的方便性与易用性的特点，提出一种融入二维码信息的自适应蒙特卡洛定位算法。首先，利用二维码提供的绝对位置信息修正里程计模型的累计误差后进行采样；然后，采用激光传感器提供的观测模型确定粒子的重要性权重；最后，因为重采样部分采用固定样本集会导致大计算量，所以利用Kullback-Leibler距离（KLD）进行重采样，根据粒子在状态空间的分布情况自适应调整下一次迭代所需粒子数，从而减小计算量。基于移动机器人进行的实验结果表明，改进算法与传统蒙特卡洛算法相比定位精度提高了15.09%，时间缩短了15.28%。     

An integrated approach to systems development

A management consultancy developed its own systems development methodology in the 1970s, which it is continuing to use in updated form with success. Implementation at client sites taught the company many valuable lessons, such as the need for a supportive framework for staff who are using such a methodology for the first time.     

Prediction of river discharge and surface water quality using an integrated geographical information system approach

A methodology is developed for the prediction of river discharge and surface water quality (indexed by nitrogen loading) of a predominantly rural catchment using simple models in an integrated Geographical Information System (GIS). River discharge is predicted using the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) runoff Curve Number model, and surface water quality by the export coefficient model. Main input variable to these models is information on land-use along with ancillary information such as soils. Land-use is an important parameter that affects both discharge and water quality, and it can be derived from classification of remotely sensed images. Unlike conventional models, the models employed here do not require large amounts of data on several hydro-meteorological variables. The models are applied to a rural catchment in eastern England where major land-use changes have occurred in the recent past. Historical land-use data are derived from a variety of sources including maps, aerial photographs and remotely sensed satellite images for various dates ranging from 1931 to 1989. A GIS is a valuable means to enable large amounts of spatial data to be integrated, and to facilitate data manipulation for the specific application of the models. Results are validated using observed runoff and water quality records, and it is shown that the model predictions are of acceptable accuracy. This study demonstrated an application of a GIS to employ simple models to predict river discharge and water quality.     

Increasing the degree of information system integration and developing an integrated information system

The structure of an information system is defined, and the structural elements are considered as factors in providing measures of the degree of integration of an information system. Absorption, exclusion, reorganization and transfer are processes considered in the role of increasing the degree of integration. Finally measures for the effectiveness of integration of two or more systems are discussed.     

An integrated fuzzy multi criteria group decision making approach for ERP system selection

This paper aims to ease group decision-making by using an integration of fuzzy AHP (analytic hierarchy process) and fuzzy TOPSIS (technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution) and its application to software selection of an electronic firm. Firstly, priority values of criteria in software selection problem have been determined by using fuzzy extension of AHP method. Fuzzy extension of AHP is suggested in this paper because of little computation time and much simpler than other fuzzy AHP procedures. Then, the result of the fuzzy TOPSIS model can be employed to define the most appropriate alternative with regard to this firm's goals in uncertain environment. Fuzzy numbers are presented in all phases in order to overcome any vagueness in decision making process. The final decision depends on the degree of importance of each decision maker so that wrong degree of importance causes the mistaken result. The researchers generally determine the degrees of importance of each decision maker according to special characteristics of each decision maker as subjectivity. In order to overcome this subjectivity in this paper, the judgments of decision makers are degraded to unique decision by using an attribute based aggregation technique. There is no study about software selection using integrated fuzzy AHP-fuzzy TOPSIS approach with group decision-making based on an attribute based aggregation technique. The results of the proposed approach and the other approaches are compared. Results indicate that our methodology allows decreasing the uncertainty and the information loss in group decision making and thus, ensures a robust solution to the firm.