[pt] As pesquisas na área da biologia molecular vêm produzindo um grande volume de dados e estes precisam ser bem organizados, estruturados e persistidos. Na sua grande maioria os dados biológicos são armazenados em arquivos no formato texto. Para grandes volumes de dados, o caminho natural seria utilizar SGBDs para gerenciá-los. Contudo, estes sistemas não possuem estruturas adequadas para representar e manipular dados específicos ao domínio. Por exemplo, sequências biológicas normalmente são tratadas como simples cadeias de caracteres (tipo texto/varchar) ou BLOB, e desta forma perde-se todo um conjunto de informações composicionais, posicionais e de conteúdo. Esta tese argumenta que a gerência de dados (estrutura, armazenamento e acesso de dados) se transformou em um dos principais problemas para o domínio de pesquisas da bioinformática. Desta maneira propõe-se um modelo conceitual biológico para representar informações do dogma central da biologia molecular, bem como um tipo abstrato de dado (ADT – do inglês Abstract Data Types) específico para a manipulação de sequências biológicas e seus derivados. / [en] The researches in molecular biology have been producing a large amount of data and they need to be well organized, structured and persisted. Mostly biological data are stored on files in text format. For large volumes of data, the natural way would be to use DBMS to manage them. However, these systems do not have adequate structures to represent and manipulate data specific to the domain. For example, biological sequences are typically treated as simple strings (type text/varchar) or BLOB, and thus lost a whole set of compositional, positional and content information. This thesis argues that the management of data (structure, storage and data access) has become a major problem for researches in bioinformatics. Thus we propose a conceptual model for representing biological information of the central dogma of molecular biology, as well as an Abstract Data Types (ADT) specific for the manipulation of biological sequences and its derivatives.

O Brasil é um dos maiores produtores mundiais de cana-de-açúcar. As operações agrícolas da cana-de-açúcar representam aproximadamente 67% dos custos de produção de açúcar e álcool e é um setor que faz uso intenso de tecnologia. Um dos problemas mais comuns na área de sistemas de informação agrícolas é a dificuldade de interoperabilidade entre os agentes da cadeia produtiva. A falta de um padrão para representar o conhecimento técnico das operações agrícolas da cana-de-açúcar dificulta o compartilhamento deste conhecimento, além de aumentar o custo de manutenção dos sistemas especialistas. O presente trabalho propõe um modelo conceitual para uma ontologia de tarefa que represente as operações agrícolas da cana-de-açúcar afim de possibilitar a interoperabilidade entre sistemas computacionais e o compartilhamento do conhecimento utilizando formalismo ontológico. Foram estudados os padrões para troca de dados na área agrícola, métodos para modelagem de tarefas e ontologias. O modelo conceitual proposto foi baseado em uma extensão de um perfil UML para representar tarefas existentes, sendo adicionada uma notação para representação de eventos externos a tarefa que podem alterar seu estado, não existente no perfil original. Os resultados foram avaliados em relação a conformidade da extensão proposta com o meta-modelo da linguagem de modelagem conceitual original e da capacidade do modelo em representar as estruturas específicas das operações agrícolas da cana-de-açúcar. O modelo proposto serve de base para implementações via RDF ou OWL garantindo através do formalismo ontológico a interoperabilidade entre os sistemas agrícolas canavieiros. / Brazil is one of the world\'s largest producers of sugar cane. Sugar cane agricultural operations account for approximately 67% of sugar and alcohol production costs and is a sector that makes intense use of technology. One of the most common problems in the agricultural information systems area is the difficulty of interoperability among agents in the production chain. The lack of a standard to represent the technical knowledge of the sugar cane agricultural operations makes it difficult to share this knowledge, and it increases the cost of maintenance of expert systems. The present work proposes a conceptual model for a task ontology that represents the sugar cane agricultural operations in order to enable the interoperability between computational systems and the knowledge sharing by using an ontological formalism. The standards for agricultural data exchange, methods for task modeling and ontologies have been studied. The proposed conceptual model was based on an extension of an existing UML profile to represent tasks, but a notation to represent external tasks that can change its state was added. This notation did not exist in the original profile. The results were evaluated in relation to the conformity of the proposed extension with the meta-model of the original conceptual modeling language and the capacity of the model to represent the specific structures of the sugarcane agricultural operations. The proposed model could be implemented in RDF or OWL and allowing the interoperability between sugar cane software systems.

Após três décadas de pesquisa em hipermídia, muitos problemas identificados ainda não foram totalmente solucionados. Problemas relacionados com desorientação, sobrecarga cognitiva, qualidade de interface, interatividade e estruturação dos componentes dos sistemas hipermídia, são alguns que merecem ser citados. Particularmente, o problema clássico de desorientação do usuário recebeu maior atenção. Várias propostas de solução já foram sugeridas: use de roteiros guiados em substituição a navegação, retorno ao no anterior (`backtrack'), histórico de nos visitados, marcas de livro (`bookmarks'), mapas globais e locais, visões olho-de-peixe, metáforas, folheadores (`browsers'), entre outras. Se observa também que o avanço tecnológico permite que cada vez mais as aplicações incluam dados multimídia. Esta tendência mostra a necessidade urgente do surgimento de novas técnicas de modelagem de aplicações hipermídia que diminuam os problemas citados anteriormente. Desta forma, se pretende com a presente dissertação, propor uma técnica de modelagem de aplicações hipermídia, capaz de diminuir os problemas de desorientação do usuário e também de facilitar a identificação das estruturas compreensíveis que interligarão os componentes da aplicação. A técnica de modelagem aqui proposta - HMT (`Hypermedia Modeling Technique') - utiliza quatro modelos para descrever uma aplicação: o modelo de objetos descreve os objetos do domínio da aplicação e seus relacionamentos; o modelo de hiperobjetos refina o modelo de objetos, adicionando maior semântica aos relacionamentos; o modelo de navegação descreve os elos e estruturas de acesso e o modelo de interface contem as descrições sobre como o usuário ira perceber os objetos hipermídia. A técnica HMT se baseou no levantamento dos problemas relevantes as aplicações hipermídia e principalmente na analise das propostas e dos principais trabalhos encontrados na literatura. Finalmente, reforçando a viabilidade das idéias, foi feita a modelagem, projeto e implementação da aplicação hipermídia sobre literatura no Rio Grande do Sul, sob a forma de CD-ROM : Enciclopédia da Literatura Rio-Grandense. / After three decades of hypermedia research a great number of identified problems still remain without a total solution. Problems related to disorientation, cognitive overhead, interface, interaction and structure of hypermedia applications components are some of the main problems. The classical user disorientation problem has been the main focus of the attention. Many solution proposals have been suggested: the use of guided tours replacing navigation, backtrack, history mechanisms, bookmarks, global and local maps, fisheye views, metaphors, browsers, among others. We note that the technological advance allows the construction of applications that include multimedia data. This shows us that new modeling techniques for hypermedia applications are required to reduce the problems cited above. In this dissertation, we intend to propose a modeling technique for hypermedia applications, capable of reducing both the user disorientation problem and the identification of comprehensible structures that will link the components of the application. This modeling technique - the HMT (Hypermedia Modeling Technique) - uses four models to describe an application: the object model describes the objects of the application domain and their relationships; the hyperobject model enhances the object model, adding more semantics to the relationships; the navigation model describes the access structures and the interface model contains the descriptions of how the user will perceive the hypermedia objects. The HMT technique was based on the relevant problems related to hypermedia applications and mainly on the analysis of the proposals and related research found in the literature. Finally, reinforcing the viability of the proposed ideas, an application was modeled, designed and implemented: the CD-ROM "Enciclopedia da Literatura Rio- Grandense" which deals with literary information.

Diferentes organizações dentro de um mesmo domínio de aplicação costumam ter requisitos de dados bastante semelhantes. Apesar disso, cada organização também tem necessidades específicas, que precisam ser consideradas no projeto e desenvolvimento dos sistemas de bancos de dados para o domínio em questão. Dessas necessidades específicas, resultam variações estruturais nos dados das organizações de um mesmo domínio. As técnicas tradicionais de modelagem conceitual de banco de dados (como o Modelo Entidade-Relacionamento - MER - e a Linguagem Unificada de Modelagem - UML) não nos permitem expressar em um único esquema de dados essa variabilidade. Para abordar esse problema, este trabalho de mestrado propôs um novo método de modelagem conceitual baseado no uso de Diagramas de Características de Banco de Dados (DBFDs, do inglês Database Feature Diagrams). Esse método foi projetado para apoiar a criação de famílias de esquemas conceituais de banco de dados. Uma família de esquemas conceituais de banco de dados compreende todas as possíveis variações de esquemas conceituais de banco de dados para um determinado domínio de aplicação. Os DBFDs são uma extensão do conceito de Diagrama de Características, usado na Engenharia de Linhas de Produtos de Software. Por meio dos DBFDs, é possível gerar esquemas conceituais de banco de dados personalizados para atender às necessidades específicas de usuários ou organizações, ao mesmo tempo que se garante uma padronização no tratamento dos requisitos de dados de um domínio de aplicação. No trabalho, também foi desenvolvida uma ferramenta Web chamada DBFD Creator, para facilitar o uso do novo método de modelagem e a criação dos DBFDs. Para avaliar o método proposto neste trabalho, foi desenvolvido um estudo de caso no domínio de dados experimentais de neurociência. Por meio do estudo de caso, foi possível concluir que o método proposto é viável para modelar a variabilidade de dados de um domínio de aplicação real. Além disso, foi realizado um estudo exploratório com um grupo de pessoas que receberam treinamentos, executaram tarefas e preencheram questionários de avaliação sobre o método de modelagem e a sua ferramenta de software de apoio. Os resultados desse estudo exploratório mostraram que o método proposto é reprodutível e que a ferramenta de software tem boa usabilidade, amparando de forma apropriada a execução do passo-a-passo do método. / Different organizations within the same application domain usually have very similar data requirements. Nevertheless, each organization also has specific needs that should be considered in the design and development of database systems for that domain. These specific needs result in structural variations in data from organizations of the same domain. The traditional techniques of database conceptual modeling (such as Entity Relationship Model - ERM - and Unified Modeling Language - UML) do not allow to express this variability in a single data schema. To address this problem, this work proposes a new conceptual modeling method based on the use of Database Feature Diagrams (DBFDs). This method was designed to support the creation of families of conceptual database schemas. A family of conceptual database schemas includes all possible variations of database conceptual schemas for a particular application domain. The DBFDs are an extension of the concept of Features Diagram used in the Software Product Lines Engineering. Through DBFDs, it is possible to generate customized database conceptual schemas to address the specific needs of users or organizations at the same time we ensure a standardized treatment of the data requirements of an application domain. At this work, a Web tool called DBFD Creator was also developed to facilitate the use of the new modeling method and the creation of DBFDs. To evaluate the method proposed in this work, a case study was developed on the domain of neuroscience experimental data. Through the case study, it was possible to conclude that the proposed method is feasible to model data variability of a real application domain. In addition, an exploratory study was conducted with a group of people who have received training, executed tasks and filled out evaluation questionnaires about the modeling method and its supporting software tool. The results of this exploratory study showed that the proposed method is reproducible and that the software tool has good usability, properly supporting the execution of the method\'s step-by-step procedure.

O Brasil é um dos maiores produtores mundiais de cana-de-açúcar. As operações agrícolas da cana-de-açúcar representam aproximadamente 67% dos custos de produção de açúcar e álcool e é um setor que faz uso intenso de tecnologia. Um dos problemas mais comuns na área de sistemas de informação agrícolas é a dificuldade de interoperabilidade entre os agentes da cadeia produtiva. A falta de um padrão para representar o conhecimento técnico das operações agrícolas da cana-de-açúcar dificulta o compartilhamento deste conhecimento, além de aumentar o custo de manutenção dos sistemas especialistas. O presente trabalho propõe um modelo conceitual para uma ontologia de tarefa que represente as operações agrícolas da cana-de-açúcar afim de possibilitar a interoperabilidade entre sistemas computacionais e o compartilhamento do conhecimento utilizando formalismo ontológico. Foram estudados os padrões para troca de dados na área agrícola, métodos para modelagem de tarefas e ontologias. O modelo conceitual proposto foi baseado em uma extensão de um perfil UML para representar tarefas existentes, sendo adicionada uma notação para representação de eventos externos a tarefa que podem alterar seu estado, não existente no perfil original. Os resultados foram avaliados em relação a conformidade da extensão proposta com o meta-modelo da linguagem de modelagem conceitual original e da capacidade do modelo em representar as estruturas específicas das operações agrícolas da cana-de-açúcar. O modelo proposto serve de base para implementações via RDF ou OWL garantindo através do formalismo ontológico a interoperabilidade entre os sistemas agrícolas canavieiros. / Brazil is one of the world\'s largest producers of sugar cane. Sugar cane agricultural operations account for approximately 67% of sugar and alcohol production costs and is a sector that makes intense use of technology. One of the most common problems in the agricultural information systems area is the difficulty of interoperability among agents in the production chain. The lack of a standard to represent the technical knowledge of the sugar cane agricultural operations makes it difficult to share this knowledge, and it increases the cost of maintenance of expert systems. The present work proposes a conceptual model for a task ontology that represents the sugar cane agricultural operations in order to enable the interoperability between computational systems and the knowledge sharing by using an ontological formalism. The standards for agricultural data exchange, methods for task modeling and ontologies have been studied. The proposed conceptual model was based on an extension of an existing UML profile to represent tasks, but a notation to represent external tasks that can change its state was added. This notation did not exist in the original profile. The results were evaluated in relation to the conformity of the proposed extension with the meta-model of the original conceptual modeling language and the capacity of the model to represent the specific structures of the sugarcane agricultural operations. The proposed model could be implemented in RDF or OWL and allowing the interoperability between sugar cane software systems.

The purpose of the architecture of software systems in business organizations is to support those organizations in achieving business goals. In software development organizations the design of an architecture is a collective effort that involves various organizational stakeholders and designers, who identify, interpret, and reason about intents, and communicate, delegate, commit to, and implement intents and decisions. Current architectural design descriptions are by-and-large based on block-and-arrow notations representing "coarse-grained" solution elements of the system. They lack explicit representation for modeling and analyzing the decision-making of stakeholders and architectural designers who hold different organizational responsibilities, and pursue conflicting and/or synergistic business or system goals, while collectively pursuing organizational objectives. This thesis considers the proposition that a distributed intentionality perspective is applicable in the design of software system architectures. During architectural design, relationships between intentional actors define the context in which intentional actors pursue business and system goals and in which they negotiate architectural decision-making. The objective of this research is to investigate what an Intentional Architecture Language (IAL) could be like that utilizes intentional and organizational modeling and analysis concepts to support architectural decision-making efforts in organizational settings. Drawing from prior work on organizational modeling and analysis, this thesis first defines a core IAL, and then explores its use to model and analyze architectural decision-making both reported in the literature and empirically observed at a number of commercial projects in industry. Drawing from these explorations, this thesis proposes a number of extensions to the core IAL, discusses lessons learned, and points to the advantages and limitations in using an IAL to model and analyze architectural decision-making in an organizational setting.

The purpose of the architecture of software systems in business organizations is to support those organizations in achieving business goals. In software development organizations the design of an architecture is a collective effort that involves various organizational stakeholders and designers, who identify, interpret, and reason about intents, and communicate, delegate, commit to, and implement intents and decisions. Current architectural design descriptions are by-and-large based on block-and-arrow notations representing "coarse-grained" solution elements of the system. They lack explicit representation for modeling and analyzing the decision-making of stakeholders and architectural designers who hold different organizational responsibilities, and pursue conflicting and/or synergistic business or system goals, while collectively pursuing organizational objectives. This thesis considers the proposition that a distributed intentionality perspective is applicable in the design of software system architectures. During architectural design, relationships between intentional actors define the context in which intentional actors pursue business and system goals and in which they negotiate architectural decision-making. The objective of this research is to investigate what an Intentional Architecture Language (IAL) could be like that utilizes intentional and organizational modeling and analysis concepts to support architectural decision-making efforts in organizational settings. Drawing from prior work on organizational modeling and analysis, this thesis first defines a core IAL, and then explores its use to model and analyze architectural decision-making both reported in the literature and empirically observed at a number of commercial projects in industry. Drawing from these explorations, this thesis proposes a number of extensions to the core IAL, discusses lessons learned, and points to the advantages and limitations in using an IAL to model and analyze architectural decision-making in an organizational setting.

The simulation world defines conceptual modeling as a tool that provides a clear understanding of the target domain or problem. Although there are some approaches offering useful insights on conceptual modeling in the simulation development lifecycle, they do not provide adequate guidance on how to develop a conceptual model. This thesis study presents a framework for developing conceptual models for simulation systems that is based on the idea that the modelers will develop conceptual models more effectively by following a defined conceptual modeling method, using a domain specific notation and a tool. The conceptual model development method is defined in a step-by-step manner and explanations about the notation and tool are provided when required. A multiple-case study involving two cases is conducted in order to evaluate the applicability of the method for conceptual modeling and validate the expected benefits.

Conceptual models were introduced in the simulation world in order to describe the problem domain in detail before any implementation is attempted. One of the recent approaches for conceptual modeling of the military mission space is the KAMA approach which provides a process description, a UML based notation, and a supporting tool for developing conceptual models. The prominence of the approach stems from availability of guidance and applications in real life case studies. Although the credibility of a conceptual model can be leveraged through use of a structured notation and tools, the verification and validation activities must be performed to arrive at more credible conceptual models. A conceptual model includes two categories of information: static and dynamic. The dynamic information describes the changes that occur over time. In this study, the dynamic characteristics of the conceptual models described in KAMA notation are explored and a verification approach based on these is proposed. The dynamical aspects of KAMA notation and example conceptual models provide the necessary information for characterization of the dynamical properties of conceptual models. Using these characteristics as a basis, an approach is formulated that consists of formal and semiformal techniques as well as supporting tools. For description of additional properties for dynamic verification, an extended form of KAMA is developed, called the KAMA-DV notation. The approach is applied on two different real-life case studies and its effectiveness is compared with earlier verification studies.

This thesis considers the requirement engineering process from the small scale industries point of view. It begins with a brief introduction to software requirements and then proceeds to a detailed study of the requirement engineering process. The later part of the thesis considers Business Process Modeling and how it helps in understanding any business in a better way and how conceptual model helps in extracting business requirements from any particular business scenario. The Object Oriented Technique is used for building the conceptual model. The thesis concludes with a case study. / text