0000000000083153

AUTHOR

Vesa Savolainen

Representation theory treatment of measurement semantics for ratio, ordinal and nominal scales

Within the scope of the representational theory a formal framework for description of semantic aspects of measurement on different scales is proposed. This is done by means of a first-order formal logical system consisting of a set of empirical predicates which play the part of a data structure in the framework, a set of operations by means of which syntactically correct statements can be formed; a set of axioms being true statements and a set of numerical statements which is an aggregation of potential measurement results carrying a meaningful load. On this basis the notation of semantic information on various scales is introduced and some common claims about the measurement semantic infor…

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Some structural properties of a formal model of measurement procedure

Three kinds of a model structure for a measurement procedure are analyzed, i.e. one-cyclic, tree-like and multicyclic. For a multicyclic structure a method of the choice of the optimal strategy for partitioning the uncertainty interval is constructed. An example of a measurement procedure using the suggested strategy is given. Some specific cases of the strategies under different initial conditions are discussed.

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Perspectives on executive information systems

Executives who consider the acquisition of Executive Information Systems (EIS) may encounter several major problems already in their selection and introduction stages. Key issues are the following: Can the EIS's really match our managerial needs and support decision making in our organizational contingencies? How widely in the leadership levels can they be introduced? Are they easy-to-learn, easy-to-use and easily customizable? Do they utilize the newest information technology, e.g. graphics and modern interface technology? Can they work in our computer network? In order to facilitate elegant solutions of the selection problems, we construct an evaluation framework which guides the selectio…

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Discrete-mathematical approach to formal description of measurement procedure

The discrete-mathematical model of measurement procedure is developed for facilitating the description of measurements in both quantitative and qualitative scales. On the basis of this model the Measurement Problem is formulated. It is shown that the problem can be considered, in the general case, as one of the discrete optimization problems. The suggested approach brings closer the concepts of a computing algorithm and measurement procedure so that it permits the application of similar tools for the analysis and development of both of them.

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Special interpretation of formal measurement scales for the case of multiple heterogeneous properties

A formal model of measurement is constructed and its components are outlined in this paper. An integrated hierarchical formal four-level structure which allows description of the multiple heterogeneous properties of a complex object under measurement is developed in order to have a uniform tool for the selection of specific scales for the measurement of these properties. A special treatment of a measurement scale defined on the space of the object states is offered, and corresponding structures of basic types of scales are explained permitting to take into consideration distances between relations on these states. Our approach can serve as the uniform formalised basis for development of mea…

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Mobile information systems - executives' view

The concepts of travelling executive and executives' mobile information system are first defined in this paper. The main findings are in the form of collected data and opinions concluded from our personal discussions with 49 executives in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Finland concerning the nature of the work of executives and the usage of information technology (IT) to support their work today. The near future expectations of the executives are also analysed, especially concerning the mobile use of IT services in order to construct executives' holistic view of mobile computing. The use of IT services was found to be very widespread. Big differences were found: some of the executive…

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