O benchmarking é um processo pelo qual a organização identifica as melhores práticas de um objeto de estudo selecionado, e faz a s melhorias necessárias para alcançá-las. A identificação do objeto é uma etapa fundamental para que se evite que recursos sejam alocados em projetos que pouca ou nenhuma vantagem competitiva tragam à organização. Esta dissertação apresenta uma sistematização da etapa de identificação do objeto de estudo de benchmarking que leve em consideração a importância das dimensões competitivas para os clientes, o seu desempenho frente à concorrência e o alinhamento entre os projetos de benchmarking e as prioridades estratégicas de melhoria de desempenho organizacional. A proposta é detalhada com a apresentação de algumas ferramentas que podem ser úteis durante esta etapa de planejamento do processo de benchmarking. Após a apresentação da sistemática, dois casos de aplicação da proposta são relatados e discutidos. Mesmo diante das limitações e dificuldades ocorridas, as empresas mostraram-se bastante satisfeitas com os resultados apresentados, e certas de que se projetos de benchmarking fossem implementados a partir dos objetos de estudo identificados, eles trariam considerável vantagem competitiva para a organização. / Benchmarking is a process through which the organization identifies the best practices of a selected object of study, and makes improvements necessaries to reach them. The identification of the object of study is an important stage to prevent that resources be placed towards projects that little or no competitive advantage bring to the organization. This project presents a systematization of the benchmarking object of study identification stage that considers the importance of the competitive dimensions to the customers, its performance with relation to the competitors, and the alignment between the benchmarking projects and the strategical priorities of organizational performance improvement. The proposal is detailed with the presentation of some tools that can be useful during the benchmarking process planning stage. After the presentation of the systematics, two cases of application are presented and discussed. Although the limitations and difficulties in applying the proposal, the managers of the companies had shown themselves pleased with the presented results, and certain that if benchmarking projects were implemented from the identified objects of study, they would bring considerable competitive advantage for the organization.

Esta dissertação de mestrado insere-se no contexto da análise de desempenho técnico construtivo de edifícios. O objetivo é sistematizar informações qualitativas e quantitativas para subsidiar o programa de necessidades de projetos de laboratórios de química do ensino superior, para atendimento das demandas correntes de segurança e habitabilidade desses ambientes. A pesquisa parte de uma revisão bibliográfica em bases nacionais e internacionais sobre análise de desempenho de edifícios habitacionais (ABNT NBR 15575/2008) e particularmente, do programa de necessidades das instalações laboratoriais em edifícios do ensino superior. O trabalho de campo é realizado por meio da metodologia do estudo de caso único nos laboratórios do edifício do Instituto de Química da Universidade de São Paulo, onde foram levantados e analisados os padrões de uso do edifício, os usuários e suas necessidades e expectativas. O produto resultante desta análise e do confronto com as referências de desempenho será a relação de requisitos e critérios que podem ser utilizados na elaboração de programa de necessidades e em soluções de projetos de instalações laboratoriais de maneira responsável e consciente. / This masters degree dissertation is inserted in the context of a technical constructive building development analysis. The objective is to systematize qualitative and quantitative information, in order to subsidize the necessities of higher education chemical laboratories project, to accomplish the current demands for safety and habitability of these environments. The research is based on a bibliographical revision of national and international sources, related to the analyses on the development of habitational buildings (ABNT NBR 15575/2008) and program elements linked especially to the laboratorial installations in buildings of higher education. The field work is done based on the unique case study methodology in the laboratories of the Chemistry Institute of the University of São Paulo (IQUSP), where the usage standards of the building, and users necessities and expectations have been gathered and analyzed. The product resulting from this analysis and from the confrontation with the performance standards will be the requirements inventory and the criteria that should be utilized in the elaboration of the program of needs and as solutions to laboratorial installations projects, in a responsible and conscious approach.

As alterações constantes nos padrões competitivos e a crescente complexidade de produtos têm influenciado o comportamento dos sistemas de produção. Com iniciativas voltadas para as atividades centrais, as empresas adotam novas formas de gestão e arranjos interorganizacionais na busca por maior flexibilidade e rapidez na adaptação. Na discussão sobre arranjos interorganizacionais há um interesse especial em redes de empresas. O conceito, apesar de abstrato, consiste em organizações legalmente independentes que estabelecem vínculos economicamente interdependentes visando a cooperação ao invés da competição. O desempenho dos sistemas produtivos que se configuram a partir de redes de empresas, depende do alinhamento das empresas destes tipos de arranjo em torno de objetivos comuns e específicos, definidos a partir da estratégia do sistema produtivo. Neste sentido, busca-se avaliar a adequação de requisitos para o desenvolvimento de sistemas de indicadores de desempenho que auxiliem a formação e gestão de sistemas produtivos abordados sob o recorte analítico de redes de empresas na construção civil. Para avaliar os requisitos, a pesquisa foi dividida em duas partes: a revisão bibliográfica e o trabalho de campo. Na primeira parte, são discutidos os conceitos e características das redes de empresas e de sistema de indicadores de desempenho. Na segunda, apresentam-se os estudos de caso feitos em obras de construção civil, referentes ao segmento de edificações, e por fim, a avaliação dos requisitos. / The constant changes in competitive standards and the increasing complexity of products have affected the production systems behavior. With initiatives turned to the central activities, enterprises use new ways of interorganizational management and arrangements searching for greater flexibility and speed in adaptation. Discussing about interorganizational arrangements there is a special interest in networks of enterprises. The concept, even abstracted, consists in legally independent organizations which set up economically independent links looking for cooperation opposite to competition. The performances of productive systems, which are configured from networks of enterprises, depend on the firm\' alignment around specific and common aims, fixed from the productive system strategy. Therein, a proposal of evaluation of requirements for the development of measure performance systems in construction projects under the analytic approach of enterprise networks. To attempt the proposal, the research was divided into two parts: the bibliographic proofread and the case study. In the first part the concepts and characteristics of networks enterprises and performance indicator system are debated. In the second one are shown the studies in civil construction works, referring to the edifying segment and at last the evaluation of requirements.

Biological systems are driven by complex regulatory processes. Graphical models play a crucial role in the analysis and reconstruction of such processes. It is possible to derive regulatory models using network inference algorithms from high-throughput data, for example; from gene or protein expression data. A wide variety of network inference algorithms have been designed and implemented. Our aim is to explore the possibilities of using statistical independence criteria for biological network inference. The contributions of our work can be categorized into four sections. First, we provide a detailed overview of some of the most popular general independence criteria: distance covariance (dCov), kernel canonical variance (KCC), kernel generalized variance (KGV) and the Hilbert-Schmidt Independence Criterion (HSIC). We provide easy to understand geometrical interpretations for these criteria. We also explicitly show the equivalence of dCov, KGV and HSIC. Second, we introduce a new criterion for measuring dependence based on the signal to noise ratio (SNRIC). SNRIC is significantly faster to compute than other popular independence criteria. SNRIC is an approximate criterion but becomes exact under many popular modelling assumptions, for example for data from an additive noise model. Third, we compare the performance of the independence criteria on biological experimental data within the framework of the PC algorithm. Since not all criteria are available in a version that allows for testing conditional independence, we propose and test an approach which relies on residuals and requires only an unconditional version of an independence criterion. Finally we propose a novel method to infer networks with feedback loops. We use an MCMC sampler, which samples using a loss function based on an independence criterion. This allows us to find networks under very general assumptions, such as non-linear relationships, non-Gaussian noise distributions and feedback loops.

This thesis develops and applies an integrated method of environmental assessment that couples a geographic Information system (GIS) to Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA), using bioenergy combustion and CHP sites as a case study. A literature review to identify the gaps in knowledge with respect to spatial MCA and GIS-based approaches to support decision-making and sustainability assessments shows the need for an approach to identify suitable locations for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants using bioenergy combustion and to analyse spatial aspects. CHP plants can improve the efficiency and sustainability of bioenergy generation because they are capable of producing and utilising both electrical and thermal energy. Identifying suitable locations for these, typically decentralised, plants is crucial but challenging because proximity to both feedstock supply and heat demand has to be considered. The thesis develops and applies a novel GIS-based approach to identify suitable locations for CHP bioenergy plants and to analyse spatial aspects. This work stands out as the principal novel contribution of the research presented in this thesis. The science-based technical assessment can be integrated in a formal and structured decision support framework (DSF) which could aid environmental decision-making. There is no single right way to conduct a decision-making process because every process is limited by resources and timelines. The environmental assessment case study described in this thesis uses a modified version of the MCA framework proposed by the Department for Communities and Local Government (2009). The GIS-based approach is integrated in this DSF to couple GIS to MCA. Additionally, specific attention is given to reviewing and selecting sustainability aspects (covering Criteria and Indicators) and MCA methods. These processes are also integrated in the DSF and can be seen as being part of the problem structuring phase of the DSF used in the research presented in this thesis. It is shown how the DSF is applied to assess alternatives for centralised and decentralised generation in a research case study region. By applying the different stages of the DSF, including the GIS-based approach, the selection processes and a selected MCA method (Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)), it can be concluded that the decentralised alternatives should be preferred in the research case study scenarios if regional sustainable bioenergy generation wants to be archived. In the first scenario, the second alternative (A2) clearly dominates with an overall score of 71.82% (A1: 28.18%). However, the results are relatively close in the second scenario (A3: 56.62%, A4: 43.38%), which is mainly due to the similarity of the alternatives in the scenario. The sensitivity analyses show that the rankings of alternatives do not change in both scenarios unless major criteria weight variations or performance adjustments are made.

Decision trees are one of the most commonly used tools in decision analysis, knowledge representation, machine learning, etc., for its simplicity and interpretability. We consider an extension of dynamic programming approach to process the whole set of decision trees for the given decision table which was previously only attainable by brute-force algorithms. We study decision tables with many-valued decisions (each row may contain multiple decisions) because they are more reasonable models of data in many cases. To address this problem in a broad sense, we consider not only decision trees but also inhibitory trees where terminal nodes are labeled with “̸= decision”. Inhibitory trees can sometimes describe more knowledge from datasets than decision trees. As for cost functions, we consider depth or average depth to minimize time complexity of trees, and the number of nodes or the number of the terminal, or nonterminal nodes to minimize the space complexity of trees. We investigate the multi-stage optimization of trees relative to some cost functions, and also the possibility to describe the whole set of strictly optimal trees. Furthermore, we study the bi-criteria optimization cost vs. cost and cost vs. uncertainty for decision trees, and cost vs. cost and cost vs. completeness for inhibitory trees. The most interesting application of the developed technique is the creation of multi-pruning and restricted multi-pruning approaches which are useful for knowledge representation and prediction. The experimental results show that decision trees constructed by these approaches can often outperform the decision trees constructed by the CART algorithm. Another application includes the comparison of 12 greedy heuristics for single- and bi-criteria optimization (cost vs. cost) of trees. We also study the three approaches (decision tables with many-valued decisions, decision tables with most common decisions, and decision tables with generalized decisions) to handle inconsistency of decision tables. We also analyze the time complexity of decision and inhibitory trees over arbitrary sets of attributes represented by information systems in the frameworks of local (when we can use in trees only attributes from problem description) and global (when we can use in trees arbitrary attributes from the information system) approaches.

Palliative care (PC) is a specialty that improves the quality of care often for terminally ill patients and their family members by providing physical, psychosocial, and spiritual pain and symptom management. PC assists patients in decision making about their goals of care. These goals of care discussions help the treating physicians to better plan more appropriate treatment options specifically tailored for each patient based on their preferences. Due to the illness severity of the patients, approximately 20% of all hospital deaths occur in the intensive care unit (ICU). Recognition of and advocacy for integrating PC in the ICU have increased in the last decade following many studies which have shown the positive effects of PC for critically ill patients and their family members. This was a single-center retrospective study conducted at an academic hospital that examined the effects of a proactive PC intervention and the clinical outcomes on patients who died in the medical and neurological ICUs (MICU and NICU), since the majority of ICU deaths occurred in these two units. This study was a quality improvement project that examined only patients who died, in order to make a similar comparison between patients who ultimately had the same clinical outcome. This pre-intervention (phase 1) and post-intervention three phase analysis measured the effectiveness of a screening tool (phase 2), and a daily ICU huddle (phase 3) compared to the pre-intervention phase. The study analyzed the impact the interventions had on clinical measurable outcomes such as 1) day of PC consultation after ICU admission and after meeting criteria, 2) day of meeting criteria for PC based on a screening tool, 3) hospital and ICU lengths of stay, 4) direct cost per discharge, and 5) the average number of PC consultations per month. Electronic database review of all MICU and NICU patients who died from July 2010 to December 2011 and April 2013 to October 2014 were performed. Comparisons were made between patients who received a PC consultation and those who received usual care, from both pre-intervention and post-intervention phases. A total of 888 patients were included and analyzed in this study. The intervention reduced the average day of PC consultation after ICU admission from 9.55 in phase 1 to 4.95 in phase 2 and to 4.75 in phase 3 after the addition of the daily huddle. The average day of PC consultation after meeting criteria in the ICU was also reduced from 8.0 to 3.08 then to 2.18, respectively. The average number of PC consultations per month increased from 10.6 to 12.8 to 17.7 in the three respective phases. The cost per discharge was not significantly different from patients who received a PC consultation and for patients who received usual care. PC service did not reduce the length of stay for patients when compared to patients who received usual care. The sensitivity and specificity of the screening tool in phase 2 were 66.2% and 70.8%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the screening tool with daily huddle in phase 3 were 65.7% and 62.5%, respectively. Proactive screening for PC eligibility and discussion of that eligibility with the critical care team improves access to PC in the ICU. The screening tool and daily ICU huddle helped critical care physicians identify the group of patients most appropriate for PC consultation. The analysis suggests that the critical care physicians were able to accurately discriminate which end-of-life patients they could manage on their own. However, the low sensitivity and specificity of the screening tool suggests that there is still significant room for refinement in order for the screening tool to be more discriminatory and effective. Further research is needed to confirm these findings.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-03-19T13:06:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Douglas Rafael Veit_.pdf: 4241312 bytes, checksum: db46ad98d688b6b42902ae0142a9b574 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-19T13:06:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Douglas Rafael Veit_.pdf: 4241312 bytes, checksum: db46ad98d688b6b42902ae0142a9b574 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-27 / UNISINOS - Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos / GMAP/Unisinos / As ferramentas relacionadas à Manufatura Avançada estão se desenvolvendo rapidamente e irão transformar o futuro dos sistemas de produção. O paradigma de produção será alterado para o desenvolvimento, fabricação e a comercialização de novos produtos a partir do uso destas tecnologias. Nesse contexto, uma das tecnologias tratadas com maior atenção no que tange aos sistemas produtivos é a Manufatura Aditiva. Este trabalho identificou os impactos da utilização da Manufatura Aditiva pelos sistemas produtivos e suas repercussões nos critérios competitivos. Para atender a este objetivo, foram utilizados Métodos Múltiplos de Pesquisa. Inicialmente, foi realizada uma revisão sistemática da literatura no tema em questão. Dessa revisão, emergiram proposições a respeito dos impactos e suas repercussões na competitividade das organizações, utilizados como base para o questionário das entrevistas. Este questionário foi aplicado a três grupos de entrevistados distintos: Fabricantes e Representantes da Manufatura Aditiva (Brasil e EUA), Usuários da tecnologia (Brasil, EUA e Alemanha) e Representantes de Governos nacionais (Brasil e EUA). Tanto para a literatura quanto para as entrevistas realizou-se a análise de conteúdo procurando identificar as convergências e divergências entre as análises. Ainda, para confrontar estes resultados com a prática, foram realizados dois estudos de campo e um estudo de caso. Como resultados, destaca-se que a utilização da Manufatura Aditiva é um caminho sem volta. Seus benefícios partem da redução do tempo de atravessamento desde o processo de desenvolvimento de produto até a fabricação, além da viabilidade de novos modelos de negócios. Barreiras como a velocidade de impressão e a qualidade final (aparência) devem ser solucionadas em breve, devido ao avanço da tecnologia, propiciando às organizações maior competitividade em um conjunto significativo de critérios competitivos. / The tools related to Advanced Manufacturing are developing rapidly and will transform the future of production systems. From these technologies the production paradigm will be changed for the development, manufacture and commercialization of new products. In this context, one of the technologies most carefully addressed in production systems is Additive Manufacturing. This research aimed to identify the impacts of the use of the Additive Manufacturing on the production systems and its repercussions on the competitive criteria. To achieve this goal, Multiple Research Methods were used. Initially, a systematic literature review on the subject was carried out. From this review, propositions emerged about the impacts of the additive manufacturing on the production systems and their repercussions on the competitiveness of organizations. These propositions were the basis for the elaboration of the interview questionnaire, which was applied to three different groups: Manufacturers and Representatives of the Additive Manufacturing (Brazil and USA), Users of the technology (Brazil, USA and Germany) and Representatives of national governments (Brazil and USA). For both the literature and the interviews findings, content analysis was carried out in order to identify the convergences and divergences between them. In order to compare these results with the empirical reality, two field studies and one case study were carried out. As a result, it is emphasized that the use of Additive Manufacturing is a path with no return. Its benefits include the reduction of lead time, from the product development to the manufacturing product development, and the viability of new business models. Barriers such as speed of print and final quality (appearance) should be solved soon, due to the technology improvement, giving organizations greater competitiveness in a significant set of criteria.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-08-08T18:07:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 João Emmanuel Cordeiro Lima.pdf: 1660575 bytes, checksum: f67e9180e1c1a2bba40c15a752510d68 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-08T18:07:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 João Emmanuel Cordeiro Lima.pdf: 1660575 bytes, checksum: f67e9180e1c1a2bba40c15a752510d68 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This paper aims to identify parameters capable of facilitating the exercise of judicial review of environmental laws harmonizing the effectiveness of the right to an ecologically balanced environment and legislative discretion. In order to achieve this end, we made a gradual rapprochement to the main object by fixing some fundamental ideas. In this sense, the first step was to identify the fundamentals of legislative discretion and its correlation with the separation of powers. Then we delimited the concept of environmental laws and studied the distribution of the competence for its issuance under the constitution, a fundamental subject to the later developments associated with formal judicial review. Then we evaluated the content and status of the right to an ecologically balanced environment in the Federal Constitution, a central theme for the subsequent construction of criteria for material judicial review. After studying this issues directly related to environmental laws and to the environmental right to a balanced environmental, we began to analyze the fundamentals of judicial review and its conformation in the Federal Constitution of 1988. We also evaluated issues related to the legitimacy of judicial review, a theme closely correlated to the discussions about the boundaries between judicial action and legislative discretion. We finished the study of the fundamental ideals that form the foundation of this work through the analysis of constitutional interpretation and its importance to the exercise of judicial review. After we established these bases, we seeked to identify specific parameters to be used for the exercise of formal and material judicial review of environmental laws. Finally, we analyze some specific cases in order to test the use of parameters identified by the Judiciary / Esta dissertação tem por objeto identificar parâmetros aptos a viabilizar o exercício do controle de constitucionalidade de leis ambientais harmonizando a efetividade do direito ao meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado e a discricionariedade legislativa. Partimos da hipótese de que o tratamento dado a esse direito pela Constituição e a natureza do bem jurídico por ele protegido tornam esse controle especialmente desafiador, justificando um estudo específico sobre o tema. Para alcançar essa finalidade, buscamos realizar uma progressiva aproximação do objeto principal por meio da fixação de algumas ideias fundamentais. Nesse sentido, o primeiro passo foi identificar os fundamentos da discricionariedade legislativa e sua correlação com a separação dos poderes. Em seguida delimitamos o conceito de leis ambientais e estudamos a distribuição da competência para sua edição na Constituição, tema relevante para os posteriores desenvolvimentos associados ao controle de constitucionalidade formal. Avaliamos em seguida o conteúdo e o status do direito ao meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado na Constituição Federal, aspectos cruciais para a posterior fixação de critérios relacionados ao controle de constitucionalidade material. Superadas as questões relacionadas diretamente às leis ambientais e ao direito ao meio ambiente equilibrado, passamos a analisar os fundamentos do controle de constitucionalidade e sua conformação na Constituição Federal de 1988. Meditamos também sobre as questões associadas à legitimidade do controle, tema intimamente correlacionada às discussões sobre os limites entre a atuação judicial e a liberdade de conformação do legislador. Finalizamos o estudo das ideias fundamentais que formam o alicerce do trabalho por meio da análise da interpretação constitucional e sua importância para o exercício do controle. Fixadas essas bases, identificamos parâmetros a serem utilizados para o exercício do controle de constitucionalidade formal e material das leis ambientais. Por fim, analisamos algumas decisões judiciais com vistas a identificar e avaliar o emprego dos parâmetros identificados pelo Poder Judiciário

A escrita é uma das evoluções mais significativas da humanidade desde a descoberta do fogo. Devido à importância indiscutível dela, principalmente no ambiente de aprendizagem, há muitas pesquisas delineadas para qualificá-la, mesmo com os avanços tecnológicos digitais que ampliaram o uso da linguagem, ainda encontramos muitos estudantes com dificuldades para escrever, expressar ou argumentar as suas ideias por meio do código escrito e respeitando a coerência. Sendo que essa dificuldade sofre um aumento significativo quando se trata da produção de um texto acadêmico científico no ensino superior, pois os acadêmicos encontram dificuldades para escrever a partir de critérios de análise textual, como por exemplo, o que poderá tornar um texto coerente ou não. Nesse sentido, as tecnologias digitais podem apoiar a qualificação desse processo. Diante da problemática apresentada, essa tese tem por objetivo compreender como uma ferramenta com base em mineração de texto pode apoiar os estudantes no processo de construção e avaliação da escrita acadêmica a partir de determinados critérios de análise textual. Para a organização dos procedimentos metodológicos foram escolhidas as abordagens qualitativas e quantitativas, assim como, o método de pesquisa quase-experimental e as técnicas de coleta utilizadas foram questionários e documentos. Para analisar os dados coletados foram aplicadas as técnicas de análise estatística descritiva e análise de conteúdo. O experimento se deu com 782 alunos, divididos em dois grupos para aplicação e comparação dos resultados por meio da avaliação às cegas de um grupo de professores selecionados. Alguns resultados são perceptíveis na trajetória da investigação, como por exemplo, as significativas contribuições do software Sobek integrado na ferramenta Seshat para identificar os critérios de análise textual que confirmam ou não a coerência na construção de um texto científico. / Writing is one of the most significant evolutions of mankind since the discovery of fire. Due to its undisputed importance, especially in the learning environment, there are many researches outlined to qualify it, even with the technological advances in digital technology that have expanded the use of language, we still find many students with difficulties to write, express or argue their ideas by The written code and respecting coherence. This difficulty suffers a significant increase when it comes to the production of a scientific academic text in higher education, since academics find it difficult to write from criteria of textual analysis, for example, what can make a text coherent or do not. In this sense, digital technologies can support the qualification of this process. In view of the problems presented, this paper aims to understand how a tool based on text mining can support students in the process of construction and evaluation of academic writing based on certain criteria of textual analysis. For the organization of the methodological procedures were chosen the qualitative and quantitative approaches, as well as the quasi-experimental research method and the collection techniques used were questionnaires and documents. To analyze the collected data, the techniques of descriptive statistical analysis and content analysis were applied. The experiment was carried out with 782 students, divided into two groups for application and comparison of the results through the blind evaluation of a group of selected teachers. However, some results are perceptible in the research trajectory, such as the significant contributions of the software Sobek integrated in the tool Seshat to identify the criteria of textual analysis that confirm or not the coherence in the construction of a scientific text.