Hybrid systems, combining event-driven and time-driven dynamics, have become ubiquitous in modern technology and the center of significant research activity within various disciplines including computer science and systems and control engineering. The International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) has been providing a forum for such activity by instituting a series of conferences on the a...

The experience in developing performance-centered systems for higher education has improved significantly, and practitioners have made considerable progress in elaborating a methodology. This paper discuss the convergence of thinking among various disciplines in analysis and design methodologies, and describes the key elements of the new-emerged performance support engineering development metho...

American education subscribes wholeheartedly to the idea that only by long, arduous disciplining can real achievement in culture result. The unlucky and unwilling student finds himself faced with the necessity of forcing his emotional and, occasionally, his cortical processes through a rigorous treadmill of tedious facts collected by hordes of the uninspired. The tediousness of the material is,...

The discussion in the sociology of science about the role of model systems in biology provides an invitation to reflect on whether and how they operate in sociology in comparison to other disciplines. This paper shows that sociology too relies on objects of study that receive a disproportionate amount of attention and implicitly come to stand in for a specific class of objects. But, unlike othe...

In recent years an increasing emphasis is being placed on the inclusion of multi-disciplinary programs or in courses having multi-disciplinary content. Including this content can be challenging especially among the various engineering disciplines. This is exacerbated by the challenges associated with making this type of course content accessible to a wide range of students with varying levels o...

This study uses citation analysis to assess the quality of MIS Quarterly and compares this assessment to journals of other disciplines. The study also investigates the knowledge contributions of MIS Quarterly to the publications in both information systems and other disciplines. Some 3497 citations were made to 251 articles published in MIS Quarterly during 1989-1998. The study results show tha...

The question of whether architectural creativity is more of an artistic or engineering nature is one with a long history but also one with no conclusive answer. The art camp would argue that technology should be treated as a means towards and end, and that technology alone cannot give meaning to our lives. The engineering camp on the other hand would argue that good problem-solving result...

addressing environmental management problems at catchment scales requires an integrated modelling approach, in which key bio-physical and socio-economic drivers, processes and impacts are all considered. development of decision support systems (dsss) for environmental management is rapidly progressing. this paper describes the integration of physical, ecological, and socio-economic components i...