The main purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about the design of computer and communication systems that can aid the management process. 1.1 Historical Overview We propose that Decision Support System can be considered as a design conception conceived within the computer industry to facilitate the use of computer technology in organisations (Keen, 1991). This framework, built during the late 1970s, offers computer and communication technology as support to the decision process which constitutes, in this view, the core of the management process. The DSS framework offers the following capabilities: * Access: ease of use, wide variety of data, analysis and modelling capacity. * Technological: software gel)eration tools. * Development modes: interactive and evolutionary. Within this perspective, computer and communication technologies are seen as an amplification of the human data processing capabilities which limit the decision process. Thus, the human being is understood metaphorically as a data processing machine. Mental processes are associated with the manipulation of symbols aOO human communication to signal transmission.

Patrick Humphreys Department of Social Psychology London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. Email: P. Humphreys@lse. ac. uk This book presents a selection of contributions to the conference on Implementing Systems for Supporting Management Decisions: Concepts, Methods, and Experiences held in London in July, 1996. The conference was organized by the International Federation of Infonnation Processing's Working Group 8. 3 on Decision Support Systems and the London School of Economics and Political Science. (LSE). The Programme Committee for the Conference comprised Liam Bannon, University of Limerick; Patrick Humphreys, LSE, co-chairperson; Andrew McCosh, University of Edinburgh; Piero Migliarese, Politecnico di Milano, co- chairperson; Jean-Charles Pomerol, LAFORIA, Universite Paris VI. The chairperson of the organizing committee was Dina Berkeley, LSE. The programme committee members served also as the editors of this book. Each contribution was selected by the editors after peer review and was developed by its authors specifically for inclusion in this volume. Working group 8. 3 was formally established in 1981 on the recommendation ofIFIP's Technical Committee on Information Systems (TC8). The scope of the working group covers: "Development of approaches for applying information systems technology to increase the effectiveness of decision makers in situations where the computer system can support and enhance human judgment in the perfonnance of tasks that have elements that cannot be specified in advance.

The main purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about the design of computer and communication systems that can aid the management process. 1.1 Historical Overview We propose that Decision Support System can be considered as a design conception conceived within the computer industry to facilitate the use of computer technology in organisations (Keen, 1991). This framework, built during the late 1970s, offers computer and communication technology as support to the decision process which constitutes, in this view, the core of the management process. The DSS framework offers the following capabilities: * Access: ease of use, wide variety of data, analysis and modelling capacity. * Technological: software gel)eration tools. * Development modes: interactive and evolutionary. Within this perspective, computer and communication technologies are seen as an amplification of the human data processing capabilities which limit the decision process. Thus, the human being is understood metaphorically as a data processing machine. Mental processes are associated with the manipulation of symbols aOO human communication to signal transmission.

Patrick Humphreys Department of Social Psychology London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. Email: P. Humphreys@lse. ac. uk This book presents a selection of contributions to the conference on Implementing Systems for Supporting Management Decisions: Concepts, Methods, and Experiences held in London in July, 1996. The conference was organized by the International Federation of Infonnation Processing's Working Group 8. 3 on Decision Support Systems and the London School of Economics and Political Science. (LSE). The Programme Committee for the Conference comprised Liam Bannon, University of Limerick; Patrick Humphreys, LSE, co-chairperson; Andrew McCosh, University of Edinburgh; Piero Migliarese, Politecnico di Milano, co chairperson; Jean-Charles Pomerol, LAFORIA, Universite Paris VI. The chairperson of the organizing committee was Dina Berkeley, LSE. The programme committee members served also as the editors of this book. Each contribution was selected by the editors after peer review and was developed by its authors specifically for inclusion in this volume. Working group 8. 3 was formally established in 1981 on the recommendation ofIFIP's Technical Committee on Information Systems (TC8). The scope of the working group covers: "Development of approaches for applying information systems technology to increase the effectiveness of decision makers in situations where the computer system can support and enhance human judgment in the perfonnance of tasks that have elements that cannot be specified in advance."

This monograph presents a unique and powerful bottom-up methodology for promoting and securing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through innovative and creative decision-making and enactment in a wide variety of entrepreneurial innovation contexts. The authors identify four sustainable development enabling factors - (1) the presence of a trustworthy trading system for private and public goods; (2) the need for communication facilities for provenance exploration, authentication and demonstration; (3) the ability to build and support entrepreneurial innovation clusters bottom-up; and (4) the ability to establish caravanserai - and argue that these four factors can enable a strong bottom-up contribution to sustainability in all its forms. The authors investigate the changing contexts for decision support now emerging from the responses to pandemic-driven lockdowns, explore how in ancient history a set of sustainable development enabling factors was responsible for the enduring success of safe local and trans-national trading relationships, and reveal the role of these factors in recent history. They also provide a case study example of a coffee grower in Peru that successfully promotes the full set of sustainability-enabling factors through their own bottom-up innovative and creative activities. They discuss the opportunities arising from building a Sustainability-Enabling Decision Support (SEDS) platform and conclude by examining how success stories, mediated by a SEDS at the micro level can promote into new territories at the meso sand macro level guided by these sustainable development enabling factors.

Iran is a country rich in wildlife and, under the Shah, was one of the first in the world to develop a conservation program. A natural crossroads over which migrations of men and animals have flowed since the beginning of time, the country has two completely different climatic zones enabling an extraordinary variety of species to flourish. Surprisingly, however, the details are poorly documented in the West. This book is the first to explore the major species of mammals and birds, both as they are now and as they have evolved through time. It will serve as an invaluable guide for wildlife enthusiasts and travelers.