Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:22:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Paula Narciso Severo.pdf: 41116757 bytes, checksum: 03aa3830fc6c5a0aceda938219ba0012 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-11 / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo / The customization has been presented in several kinds of games, pleasing players with distinct profiles and showing its potential as a feature that may bring huge inovations to these virtual environments. Realizing that such feature may bring a deeper overlay between the player and its representative character, this paperwork has as purpose, investigate the avatar and its customizable process in order to identify the main elements that act on the avatars' construction and edition in games. For this, theoretical surveys have been made concerning the character in the general narrative and in digital environments, more specifically in the games. Then, we have performed a study of the avatar as the interactor's participation tool in the cyberspace and in the games, followed by an analysis concerning the avatar's customization tool under an aesthetic view and finally, it has been made a description of the games to be analysed, followed by a comparison and interpretation based on the dissertation's content as a whole and some authors that can make interesting contributions to the viewpoint of the avatar's customization in the game. However, we realized that the customization in the games may engage the player beyond the necessity of just accomplish the main goal of the game, creating an extra motivation and increasing the player's involvement not only with the avatar, but with the game as a whole / A personalização tem se apresentado em diversos gêneros dos games, agradando a jogadores de perfis distintos e demonstrando seu potencial como uma característica que pode trazer grandes inovações para estes ambientes virtuais. Percebendo que tal característica pode trazer um maior envolvimento do jogador com sua personagem representativa, este trabalho tem como objetivo investigar o avatar e seu processo customizável a fim de identificar os elementos fundamentais que atuam na construção e edição do avatares nos games. Para isso foram feitos levantamentos teóricos a respeito da personagem na narrativa geral e nos ambientes digitais, mais especificamente nos games; em seguida foi realizado um estudo do avatar como ferramenta de participação do interator no ciberespaço e nos games, seguido de uma análise da ferramenta de customização do avatar sob um olhar estético e por último, foi feita uma descrição dos games a serem analisados seguido de uma comparação e interpretação baseada no conteúdo da dissertação como um todo e em alguns autores que podem trazer contribuições interessantes para o ponto de vista da personalização do avatar no game. Percebemos, contudo, que a personalizaçãoo nos games pode empenhar o jogador para além da necessidade de apenas realizar o objetivo principal no game, constituindo uma motivação a mais e aumentando o envolvimento do jogador não só com o avatar, mas com o game como um todo

Mobile devices are increasingly being used to access Web content but lack the resources for proper presentation to the user. To address this problem, content is typically customized to be more suitable for a mobile environment. Automatic customization of web content is a challenging problem because fine-grain adaptation often depends on both the relevance of individual objects on a web page, as well as the context of access (e.g., screen size of device being used, network connectivity, location, etc.). We present Usage-aware Interactive Content Adaptation, an adaptation technique that allows a user who is unsatisfied with the system’s adaptation decision to take control of the adaptation process and make changes until the content is suitably adapted for her purposes. The adaptation system learns from the user’s modifications and adjusts its prediction for future accesses by other users. With this approach, users are empowered to correct bad adaptation decisions made by the system without being overly burdened. We applied the technique in two domains: adapting the quality of images to reduce download times and save energy and bandwidth, and customizing the layout of images to improve the utilization of screen real-estate. The work was evaluated through a series of user studies, and the results show that user feedback can be effectively used to provide appropriate customizations (i) for objects with varying relevance, (ii) when context affects the users adaptation requirements, and (iii) when the same content can be used for multiple purposes by different users.

The trend in todays manufacturing industry is changing from mass production to mass customization. The companies which win the markets are those which can deliver highly customized products at the fastest rate and allow for life-cycle participation of customers regardless of where they are and when they participate. One of the strategies for implementing the mass customization paradigm is to implement the product development according to the assemble-to-order (ATO) pattern. Under the ATO pattern, the design of a product becomes the determination of a configuration which contains a set of pre-developed components configuration design for short. The configuration design problem can be well treated as a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). The mature methods are available for CSP, but there are several limitations with CSP for configuration design. This thesis proposes a novel approach to configuration design. This approach is based on a CSP but adds a wrapper (product data model, PDM for short) over the CSP model. Consequently, both the customer and the other life cycle development programs only communicate with the PDM, and a more intelligent and user-friendly computer system for configuration design can then be implemented. Both the conceptual design and implementation of such a wrapper are discussed in this thesis. A computer prototype system for elevator design is developed for demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach.

Mobile devices are increasingly being used to access Web content but lack the resources for proper presentation to the user. To address this problem, content is typically customized to be more suitable for a mobile environment. Automatic customization of web content is a challenging problem because fine-grain adaptation often depends on both the relevance of individual objects on a web page, as well as the context of access (e.g., screen size of device being used, network connectivity, location, etc.). We present Usage-aware Interactive Content Adaptation, an adaptation technique that allows a user who is unsatisfied with the system’s adaptation decision to take control of the adaptation process and make changes until the content is suitably adapted for her purposes. The adaptation system learns from the user’s modifications and adjusts its prediction for future accesses by other users. With this approach, users are empowered to correct bad adaptation decisions made by the system without being overly burdened. We applied the technique in two domains: adapting the quality of images to reduce download times and save energy and bandwidth, and customizing the layout of images to improve the utilization of screen real-estate. The work was evaluated through a series of user studies, and the results show that user feedback can be effectively used to provide appropriate customizations (i) for objects with varying relevance, (ii) when context affects the users adaptation requirements, and (iii) when the same content can be used for multiple purposes by different users.

The increasing demand towards products and services that perfectly matches the customer needs is evident, so the manufacturing trends are aiming to produce small unit of customized product in large total volumes. The advances in manufacturing and information technologies provided great opportunities to achieve cost-effective mass customization. The purpose of this study was to have a holistic view on under-standing how entrepreneurs in small companies employ and effectively manage mass customization realization. The focus was placed in identifying what are the major factors that influence successful mass customization, how available technologies are enabling this process and how companies achieve value co-creation with the customers. In order to study the practical implementation of mass customization four case studies have been conducted. The information gathered was categorized and the preliminary theoretical framework was used as a template to compare the empirical results. The results show that every strategy for mass customization has to be customizes according to the particular product/service, market, customers, and the available technology for cost efficient implementation of mass customization. In a mass customization system value co-creation is achieved by direct customer integration and is benefiting from economies of integration. The challenge is to balance the system to the right degree, so socially and technologically efficient environment can bring higher value for the customers and better business opportunities for the companies. / This Master Thesis project has been carried out as part of "Production Development and Management" Program at JTH and "Information Technology and Management" program at JIBS.

Our aim is to answer whether or not 3D printing is capable of achieving mass customization and mass production, since answering this might help predict a shift within manufacturing industries and the use that this technology has had the past years. Further, our aim is to give an overall view of the industry of companies offering 3D printed goods for end use through an e-commerce marketplace and its value creating activities. The overall aim is to contribute to fill the academic gap regarding research on 3D printing within the field of mass customization and provide groundwork for future research. To provide the current picture of the industry and thus analyze its capabilities regarding mass production and mass customization, we present the value chain with the involved value creating activities. We have conducted three qualitative interviews to three out of four companies within the industry complemented as well with an exhaustive research to the websites of the companies.

Expressing the individual personality with the help of the products, people use, and the mass customization are getting closer to our daily life. As a result, more and more companies have begun to implement mass customization in different industries. Also, flexible production becomes a key factor to win the market after more online customization appear and connect different demanders across the borders. Between companies and customers, there exists an important connection which is the interactive process influencing mass customization. An interactive process consists of three parts which are named: information about customers, trans-formation of data and use of information to produce more products. However, there are a lot of factors that will affect the interactive process and finally set thereby requirements for mass customization. During this research, the authors use a qualitative case study and deductive ap-proach to obtain a theoretical model. Through interviewees with two managers of Dooria AB and a visit of the factory in Kungsätter, the authors identified high quality approach, experienced employees, high loyalty of employees, flexibility of human capital, flexibility of production, feedback of customers, education information flow and interaction as important factors which influence the interactive process. Hence, this investigation provides insights about the interrelations between these factors. So, manager in similar industries can identify the situation of their own company and improve the efficiency mass customization.

The trend in todays manufacturing industry is changing from mass production to mass customization. The companies which win the markets are those which can deliver highly customized products at the fastest rate and allow for life-cycle participation of customers regardless of where they are and when they participate. One of the strategies for implementing the mass customization paradigm is to implement the product development according to the assemble-to-order (ATO) pattern. Under the ATO pattern, the design of a product becomes the determination of a configuration which contains a set of pre-developed components configuration design for short. The configuration design problem can be well treated as a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). The mature methods are available for CSP, but there are several limitations with CSP for configuration design. This thesis proposes a novel approach to configuration design. This approach is based on a CSP but adds a wrapper (product data model, PDM for short) over the CSP model. Consequently, both the customer and the other life cycle development programs only communicate with the PDM, and a more intelligent and user-friendly computer system for configuration design can then be implemented. Both the conceptual design and implementation of such a wrapper are discussed in this thesis. A computer prototype system for elevator design is developed for demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach.

Product proliferation is a common challenge for firms providing customized products. To cope with this challenge, firms usually incorporate strategies such as component commonality, postponement, and/or delayed differentiation in their supply chains. In this dissertation, we study the effectiveness of these strategies. First, we evaluate the inventory costs for various percentages of common component substitution. Second, we analyze the performance of two postponement strategies and their relationship with product proliferation. Third, we study the cost and benefits of implementing delayed differentiation in a make-to-order environment and provide insights for managers choosing where along the supply chain they should differentiate their products.

Beginning with the study of type, house typologies, manufactured houses, and structure classification, this thesis proposes the design and fabrication of a hybrid structural insulated panel (SIP) and laminated-stud (Lam) framing system developed using contemporary three-dimensional modeling techniques and digital production methodology. Included within are prototypes, assembly diagrams, and structural tests of the proposed Cannoli Framing System (CFS) as well as three speculative Turnstijl houses whose systematic variation demonstrates the flexibility and scalability of the proposed system. In essence, this is the design of a framing typology capable of structural and formal variability to a degree that has previously been neither feasible nor affordable.