The Components of a Decision Support System

(i)Data Management Component. The data management component performs the function of storing and maintaining the information that you want your Decision Support System to use. The data management component, therefore, consists of both the Decision Support System information and the Decision Support System database management system. The information you use in your Decision Support System comes from one or more of three sources: Organizational information: One may want to use virtually any information available in the organization for your Decision Support System. What you use, of course, depends on what you need and whether it is available.You can design your Decision Support System to access this information directly from your company’s database and data warehouse. However, specific information is often copied to the Decision Support System database to save time in searching through the organization’s database and data warehouses. External information: Some decisions r equire input from external sources of information. Various branches of federal government, Dow Jones, Compustat data, and the internet, to mention just a few, can provide additional information for the use with a Decision Support System.Personal information:You can incorporate your own insights and experience your personal information into your Decision Support System. You can design your Decision Support System so that you enter this personal information only as needed, or you can keep the information in a personal database that is accessible by the Decision Support System. (ii)Model Management Component. The model management component consists of both the Decision Support System models and the Decision Support System model management system. A model is a representation of some event, fact, or situation.As it is not always practical, or wise, to experiment with reality, people build models and use them for experimentation. Models can take various forms. Businesses use models to rep resent variables and their relationships. For example, you would use a statistical model called analysis of variance to determine whether newspaper, TV, and billboard advertizing are equally effective in increasing sales. Decision Support Systems help in various decision-making situations by utilizing models that allow you to analyze information in many different ways.The models you use in a Decision Support System depend on the decision you are making and, consequently, the kind of analysis you require. For example, you would use what-if analysis to see what effect the change of one or more variables will have on other variables, or optimization to find the most profitable solution given operating restrictions and limited resources. Spreadsheet software such as excel can be used as a Decision Support System for what-if analysis. The model management system stores and maintains the Decision Support System’s models.Its function of managing models is similar to that of a databa se management system. The model management component can not select the best model for you to use for a particular problem that requires your expertise but it can help you create and manipulate models quickly and easily. (iii)User Interface Management Component. The user interface management component allows you to communicate with the Decision Support System. It consists of the user interface management system. This is the component that allows you to combine your know-how with the storage and processing capabilities of the computer.The user interface is the part of the system you see through it when enter information, commands, and models. This is the only component of the system with which you have direct contract. If you have a Decision Support System with a poorly designed user interface, if it is too rigid or too cumbersome to use, you simply won’t use it no matter what its capabilities. The best user interface uses your terminology and methods and is flexible, consiste nt, simple, and adaptable. For an example of the components of a Decision Support System, let’s onsider the Decision Support System that Land’s End has tens of millions of names in its customer database. It sells a wide range of women’s, men’s, and children’s clothing, as well various household wares. To match the right customer with the catalog, land’s end has identified 20 different specialty target markets. Customers in these target markets receive catalogs of merchandise that they are likely to buy, saving Lands’ End the expense of sending catalogs of all products to all 20 million customers.To predict customer demand, lands’ end needs to continuously monitor buying trends. And to meet that demand, lands’ end must accurately forecast sales levels. To accomplish theses goals, it uses a Decision Support System which performs three tasks: Data management: The Decision Support System stores customer and product informati on. In addition to this organizational information, Lands’ End also needs external information, such as demographic information and industry and style trend information.Model management: The Decision Support System has to have models to analyze the information. The models create new information that decision makers need to plan product lines and inventory levels. For example, Lands’ End uses a statistical model called regression analysis to determine trends in customer buying patterns and forecasting models to predict sales levels. User interface management: A user interface enables Lands’ End decision makers to access information and to specify the models they want to use to create the information they need.

Complete List of High School Electives

Complete List of High School Electives SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you thinking about high school electives and wondering what your options are? Unlike required courses, electives are classes you choose based on your interests. Most high schools offer electives that cover a wide variety of topics, so you're sure to find some that interest you! This list was created by compiling the elective options from numerous high schools across the country. A variety of schools were used including public, private, large and small schools in order to create a complete list of high school electives. How to Use This List This list is intended to give you an introduction to all the possible electives you may come across as a high school student. You can use it as a starting point for doing more in-depth research of your own school's electives. Read through the list below, making note of any course names that seem particularly interesting. Then, grab a copy of your school's course catalog (ask your guidance counselor if you don't know where to find it), and look to see which of the electives you found interesting are offered by your school. Read through the course descriptions if necessary because electives can have different names depending on the school offering them, even if they cover essentially the same topic (for example, the culinary arts class listed below could also be called cooking, foods, or something similar). Mark the interesting electives you find in your course catalog as potential classes to take in the future. Also, because this list organizes electives by category, you can see which categories have the most interesting electives for you. While electives don’t include all topics covered in a specific field, if you marked, for example, a lot of the science electives as potentially interesting topics to study, you may want to think about continuing to study science in college. Being interested in your classes is one of the best way to get higher grades and enjoy what you’re learning. Now that you have the complete list, are you wondering how to choose which electives to take? We have a guide for that! Read through it to learn how many electives you'll be able to take and how to choose electives that are both interesting and will strengthen your college applications! What If Your School Doesn't Offer an Elective Listed Below? It would be impossible for any single school to offer every elective on this list; there are simply too many. Schools choose which electives to offer based on a number of factors including location, student population, resources available, teacher expertise, and student interest. If you are interested in one of the electives on this list but don't see it offered in your school's course catalog, you can take the following actions: Talk to your guidance counselor or department head. The elective may be under a different name than the one listed below, or your school may offer a similar course. If there is no comparable course and you are really interested in the subject, talk to your guidance counselor and see if it’s possible for you to do an independent study or take the course at a local community college. The Complete List of Electives Business Accounting Business law Business management Consumer education Entrepreneurial skills Introduction to business Marketing Personal finance Computer Science/Information Technology Animation App development Audio production Computer programming Computer repair Film production Graphic design Media technology Music production Typing Video game development Web design Web programming Word processing Family and Consumer Science Chemistry of foods CPR training Culinary arts Early childhood development Early childhood education Family studies Fashion and retail merchandising Fashion construction Home economics Interior design Nutrition Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Foreign Language American Sign Language Ancient Greek Arabic Chinese French German Hebrew Italian Japanese Korean Latin Portuguese Russian Spanish You might even learn all the Dutch names of the Chinese zodiac signs! Language and Writing Advanced composition African literature Asian literature British literature Cinema studies Contemporary literature Creative writing Debate Film study Gothic literature Humanities Journalism Poetry Popular literature Practical writing Public speaking Rhetoric School yearbook Works of Shakespeare World literature Math Computer math Math applications Probability and statistics Quantitative literacy Trigonometry Performing Arts Choir Concert band Dance Drama Guitar Jazz band Marching band Music theory Orchestra Percussion Piano Theater technology World music Physical Education Aerobics Dance Gymnastics Health Lifeguard training Pilates Racquet sports Specialized sports Swimming Weight training Yoga Science Agriculture Astronomy Biotechnology Botany Earth science Environmental science Forensic science Geology Human physiology Marine biology Meteorology Oceanography Physics Sound and acoustics Zoology Social Studies African studies Asian studies Civics Cultural anthropology Current events Economics European history Human geography International relations Latin American studies Middle East studies Mythology Philosophy Physical anthropology Political studies Psychology Religious studies Sociology US government Women’s studies World politics World religions Visual Arts 3-D art Art history Ceramics Digital media Drawing Film production Jewelry design Painting Photography Printmaking Sculpture Vocational Education Auto body repair Auto mechanics Building construction Computer-aided drafting Cosmetology Criminal justice Driver Education Electronics FFA (Future Farmers of America) Fire science Heating and cooling systems Hospitality and tourism JROTC (Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps) Metalworking Networking Plumbing Production technology Refrigeration fundamentals Robotics Woodworking What's Next? Now that you know the options you have for electives, read our guide to learn how to choose electives that will interest you and strengthen your college applications. Trying to decide whether to take the ACT or the SAT? Read our guide to figure out which test will get you a better score! Are you considering summer academic programs for middle school and high school students? Take a look at our guides for the TIP, SIG, CTY, and Stanford EPGY programs. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Negative Impact of Technology Essay Example

Negative Impact of Technology Essay Example Negative Impact of Technology Essay Negative Impact of Technology Essay Technology and threats have a lot in common. The negative impact of technology on society has left no stone unturned in proving this statement right. Lets get acquainted with more in the following write-up It is appallingly obvious our technology has exceeded our humanity. ~ Albert Einstein When I was a kid, we had a social life, and it was called outside. And look at todays kids Facebook, PlayStations, iPhones, Blackberries, and not to forget, television sets with 300 channels. My grandmother used to say, one day when technology would hover, humans would stop thinking before acting.This statement makes much of a sense, and why not? Technology has sidelined patience from our lives. Every second that passes by is making us all the more dependent on technology. Some may call it a bliss, but some differ. They may agree to the fact that technology has eased up life, but they also believe that it has cast differences between us and our close ones. Think of it, with the help of Internet technology, we no longer meet our loved ones in person, who may be living in the same town as we are. Instead, we call, chat, or e-mail them.Whats more, we become anxious when the coffee machine takes a millisecond more in dispensing the coffee. We become fretful when a song takes a minute extra to get downloaded. Impatient as weve become, we humans might have eradicated this thing called waste of time, but many of us are still unaware of the stupefying negative impact of technologys ubiquity in our life. Agriculture, business, media, etc. are some fields where technology has proved its mettle, but at the same time, the dreadfully negative consequences that it has led us to are worth a concern.So, why always talk about the positive impacts of technology on our society? Its time to get real, and face the negatives too. The following bunch of words is an attempt towards understanding it all. Negative Impact of Technology on Communication Hi-tech gadgets, fast pace, computer games, mic rowaved food, and not to ignore, instant communication this is what technology has bestowed upon us. However, have we paid attention to our lifestyles? Do you know you have your wife and kids waiting for you to come back from the office after a long day, and spend time with you? But what do you do?The moment you step into the house, you switch on your laptop, and start checking mails, Facebook, and other latest updates. And if thats over, you have the television waiting earnestly for you to switch it on. When do you talk to your family? This is how we define relaxation today. The ultimate bliss! You might be friends with a thousand people on a social-networking site, but ask yourself, how many of them actually have a face-to-face interaction with you? I do agree that technology and Internet access have rendered ease to communication methods, and it allows us to stay connected 247.However, till when? Its ironic that even though we have lunch with our family, were busy browsing our B lackberry! And of course, that means that were a close-knit family, doesnt it? Negative Impact of Technology on Education Funny as it may sound, Google is God for students. Many of you might have stumbled upon this page hunting on what to write as an essay on Negative Impact of Technology on Education and Society. Well, there you have it all, a full-fledged essay. Yes, I do agree that there isnt a source of information better than the Internet, and perhaps, can never be.However, dont you think it has made students extremely lethargic? Consider college assignments. Today, in most of the schools and colleges, students are supposed to submit college assignments online. As a result, students spend a good hour searching for the best stuff on this platform that has virtually every information in this world. Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+S assignment done. The negative impact of technology on students is known universally. Kids today know more than anyone about the latest gadgets, gizmos, etc.Well, even I would like to confess that I know more about the latest cell phones than my dad does! Kids know how to operate them, play games in it, and get used to them. Gone are those days when leisure time was about creative recreational activities. Video games, PlayStations, iPhones, and Androids are the new thing! And then we blame ourselves for not being creative enough. I totally support the fact that information technology has made our life unbelievably easy. Yes, it has. However, every revolution has its adversities associated.We cannot savor technology optimally if we close our eyes to the negatives. The negative impact of technology on human life is hard to express here in a single write-up. Nevertheless, I would just like to conclude by saying that, an accomplishment is savored only when there are no strings of pain or stress attached to it. We might have the latest technology serving us big time, but unknowingly, we might be missing out on those teeny-weeny moments of happine ss that life bestows on us. Correct me if you must.

Run a Diesel on Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO)

Run a Diesel on Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) So, you’re here because you’re curious about the process of running a diesel engine on waste vegetable oil gathered from a restaurant? Well, good for you. Our guess is that in addition to still having the first nickel you ever earned tucked between your mattress and box spring, you no longer want to contribute to all the nastiness that goes along with America’s dependence on fossil fuel. Give yourself a pat on the back. We’re conservationists. People who don’t want to use more of this world’s resources than necessary, and we place a priority on getting a little more mileage out of stuff that most people would toss aside. We’re also rugged individualists. People who don’t like to depend on others when they can depend on themselves. Run a Diesel on Waste Vegetable Oil: A Reality Check By now, you’ve probably read all of the waste veggie oil propaganda: diesel engines run fine on vegetable oil, just as they were originally designed to; restaurants are dying to get rid of this viable fuel alternative - to them it’s a waste product; burning veggie oil is better for the planet than burning fossil. As far as we’ew concerned, all of that is true. But going into this you also need to know that there are no free lunches and no free rides. Yes, you will save money, but you’ll be trading off valuable time out of your life. Compare burning waste vegetable oil in your car to another popular grassroots sustainable energy process: burning wood to heat your house. If you’ve ever cut, split and stacked enough firewood to last through a cold winter, you know what were talking about. It saves you money out of pocket, but it’s going to cost you some sweat and maybe even a minor flesh wound or two. Run a Diesel on Waste Vegetable Oil: Things to Keep in Mind First, if you make a deal with a restaurant to collect their oil, you need to do so in a prompt, professional manner. In my case, the restaurant had little storage space and was eager to get rid of their waste oil when they had a few containers filled up, lest they get cited for having it around in the event of a health department inspection. So when the manager of that fine establishment called, she expected me to get over and collect the oil, pronto. Next, you have to store the oil. I have two clean 55 gallon drums in which I store my filtered oil, but the five-gallon containers I get from the restaurant get stacked up in the corner of my garage until I get around to the next step. Which is... Filtering. There will be food particles suspended in the oil and, before you can burn it in your car, you need to get them out. This isn’t brain surgery, but it can be tedious if you’re doing it the old-fashioned way like I do it, pouring the oil through strainers by hand. There are more effective ways, but it will involve buying additional equipment, a pump, hose, spin on filters etc. Then there’s the waste. My oil is given to me in five-gallon plastic containers inserted in cardboard boxes. These are recyclable, but you’ll have to clean out the containers or risk drawing the ire of the folks at the local transfer station. Ditto for the cardboard. If it’s soaked in oil, they might reject it, which means you’ll be sending it to the landfill. In addition to the packaging waste, you will also invariably have some oil at the bottom of the containers that are so polluted with charred food that it’s virtually unusable. You’re going to need to get rid of this too, unless you plan on taking the time to clean it and burn it. Run a Diesel on Waste Vegetable Oil: Modifying the Vehicle You need to modify your vehicle to burn WVO. If you are planning to burn WVO in a car that is under warranty, first off, I think you’re out of your mind, and second, this will definitely void said warranty. The best kit on the market  is the Greasecar kit. It costs about $1,000, less installation. If you can’t do it yourself, then at $80 an hour, which is what most repair shops charge, you could be looking at more than $1,000 for installation. In fact, Greasecar charges between $1,000 - $1,400 for installation. If you’re driving 15,000 miles a year in a VW diesel that gets 40 mpg, it’s going to take you more than a year just to pay off the price of the kit and the installation. Run a Diesel on Waste Vegetable Oil: Maintenance It’s possible to filter all of the fryer junk out of the oil before you dump it in your car, but for some reason, I’m never able to. So you’re going to have to change the filters on your car more frequently than you ever had to while burning diesel. This isn’t a big deal, but it is one more step in the process that people who just pull up to the pump, fill up and then drive off, never have to deal with. And if you drive too far with a clogging filter, you could be left on the side of the road facing a $200 tow bill. (This happened to me). And there goes some of your savings. Run a Diesel on Waste Vegetable Oil: Final Thoughts Its important to understand that burning WVO isn’t as straightforward as some might lead you to believe. It is interesting and rewarding but will require some work on your part. But, hey, we’re conservationists and rugged individualists. We don’t give up after hearing a little straight talk, right?

Energy Harvesting Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Energy Harvesting - Dissertation Example Energy harvesting, therefore, can be defined as â€Å"The process in which energy is captured from a system’s environment and converted into usable electric power† (Maxim, 2011). The law of conservation of energy is the basis for energy harvesting. Energy can be converted from one form to another and the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains the same (Clark, 2004). Therefore, energy whether in form of wind, kinetic, chemical and others can be converted to electrical energy. 2. METHODS OF HARVESTING ENERGY Energy harvesting produces electric energy from ambient energy sources, present in large and small systems. Recovering a fraction of this energy can have a significant economic and environmental impact. These systems widely vary in sizes. On the macro scale, hydro electricity, tidal power, solar panels and wind turbines can produce MegaWatts. On a smaller scale, immediately available energy such as vibration, heat and light energy can be used to produce milliWatts. A typical energy harvesting system converts energy from the source and stores that energy. Capacitors are used in large scale systems, whereas, batteries are used in small scale systems for storage of energy. ... Photovoltaic cells, which are made up of silicon are used to convert solar energy into electricity. Most of these photovoltaic cells operate at an efficiency of less than 15 % (Asimov, 1969). The maximum theoretical efficiency attainable, however, is only 32.3 % (Clark, 1974). Solar energy is also indirectly used to produce electricity by concentrated solar power plants. The solar collectors are used to concentrate or focus sunlight onto a receiver that heats a liquid to produce steam, which in turn is used to produce electricity in the same way coal or fossil fuel plants do. 2.2 Wind Energy Wind turbines are used to harvest electrical energy from the wind. The wind passes over the blades of wind turbines, which in turn produces a turning force. The rotating blades turn the shaft which passes through the gearbox. The gearbox increases the rotational speed for the generator. The generator uses magnetic fields to convert the rotational energy harvested from the wind into electrical ene rgy. Wind farms, which are clusters of wind turbines, are used to harvest electrical energy from wind. The minimum wind speed for generating electricity is 4-5 m/s and the theoretical maximum power that can be extracted from the wind is 59.3 %. In reality this figure is usually around 45 % maximum for a large turbine. Wind energy has great potential for energy harvesting in the future and even smaller turbines (50-150 watts) are available for household connection (Golding, 1976). Energy harvested from the wind largely depends on siting of the wind farm. 2.3 Hydroelectric Hydroelectric systems create energy by harvesting energy by force of water. Water is collected in a dam or a reservoir. The water near the bottom of the reservoir is forced by the pressure of the water above it to be

Star school Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Star school - Essay Example The strength of STAR school lied in its ability to strive for excellence irrespective of socio-economic barriers that existed around it. Its aim was to ensure that children stood first, the class room sessions are as effective as ever and the fact that leadership and accountability are the key areas to success should be inculcated within kids. For this a new in charge of the committee Ackerman was appointed under whom another committee was working that worked to respond more effectively to the requirements to a certain standard. However, it was observed that African American students had been underperforming. They showed lack of interest and had not been able to give result at par with that of native students. As a result of this, even the teachers had been observed lacking interest in teaching these students. The results kept dipping and the African students continued showing major dip in their performance. An â€Å"Excellence for all† strategy has been worked out, the main aim of which is to ensure that students from all kinds of socio-ethnic backgrounds are looked after and there is Excellency of results observed amongst all students enrolled. For this purpose, schools in various districts were evaluated and funds were raised to help refurbish them. It was figured out which were the low performing schools, in what areas were they not performing well and what were the barriers hindering the overall performance of the schools. The Federal government’s help was also sought after while raising funds for sustainability. The central administration of the schools was checked critically and any immediate steps taken. SWOT tools help to analyze and identify key issues for developing future strategies for Star. Emphasis for future should be more on excellence in performance than on quantity in order to improve the results of the African-Latin students and to help their motivation. In the current situation of global

Nursing Utilization Project-Improving Quality Initiatives & Standard Essay

Nursing Utilization Project-Improving Quality Initiatives & Standard in the Community Services Program - Essay Example naturally be followed by several systemic changes; creating the necessary management structure; developing the strategies for the changes to take place; designing the mechanisms to incorporate the change; and assigning the resources. This proposal has been inspired by various researchers, a study conducted by Rabbani et al. (2007) which assessed the feasibility of using the BSC within a low-income health setting and resulted in improvements in patient, staff, clinical, and financial outcomes alike within their health care settings. Another study by Hashmi (2003) used a QAPI program similar to the one proposed herein. Implementation of the quality improvement initiatives shall be commenced with the staff practicing better customer service complimented by thorough training and monitoring by the QAPI team. A number of surveys and interviews shall be done with the patients, community and staff to evaluate the quality improvement initiatives on a regular basis. Such data will be reported to the Board of Directors to evaluate. The reporting cycle is every 90 days or approximately 6 months. The Board shall have the final decision in approving policy changes within this proposal as necessary, in order for the plan to be effective in the process of improving the quality of services of Walton Community Services to garner at least 90% compliance rating in the improvement of customer services, an achieve CARF certification and increase funding. Walton Community Services, Inc., a reliable community healthcare provider is concerned with the continued provision of a high quality of service to the majority of its clientele. Accreditation not only improves one status within the field of community providers, but also establishes the company as a reputable provider of community services and ensures funding through different sources. Walton Community Services, Inc. must defend the vision of the company by providing the highest quality of customer service it can offer its