No description available.

[pt] Uma das estratégias mais populares para publicar dados estruturados na Web é expor bases de dados relacionais (BDR) em formato RDF. Esse processo é chamado BDR-para-RDF ou triplificação. Além disto, princípios de Linked Data oferecem vários guias para dar suporte a este processo. Existem duas principais abordagens para mapear bases de dados relacionais para RDF: (1) a abordagem de mapeamento direto, onde o esquema das bases de dados é diretamente mapeado para um esquema RDF, e (2) a abordagem de mapeamento customizado, onde o esquema RDF pode ser significativamente diferente do esquema original da base de dados relacional. Em ambas abordagens, existem vários desafios relacionados tanto com a publicação quanto com o uso de dados em RDF originados de bases de dados relacionais. Esta tese propõe a coleta de design rationale como uma valiosa fonte de informação para minimizar os desafios do processo de triplificação. Essencialmente, a coleta de design rationale melhora a consciência sobre as ações feitas no mapeamento da base de dados relacional para um conjunto de dados no formato RDF. As principais contribuições da tese são: (1) um modelo de design rationale (DR) adequado para o processo de BDR-para- RDF, independente da abordagem utilizada (direta ou customizada); (2) a integração de um modelo de DR para um processo que segue a abordagem direta de BDR-para-RDF e para um processo que segue a abordagem customizada usando a linguagem R2RML; (3) o uso do DR coletado para melhorar recomendações de reuso de vocabulários existentes através de algoritmos de Ontology Matching. / [en] One of the most popular strategies to publish structured data on the Web is to expose relational databases (RDB) in the RDF format. This process is called in RDB-to-RDF or triplification. Furthermore, the Linked Data principles offer useful guidelines for this process. Broadly stated, there are two main approaches to map relational databases into RDF: (1) the direct mapping approach, where the database schema is directly mapped to an RDF schema; and (2) the customized mapping approach, where the RDF schema may significantly differ from the original database schema. In both approaches, there are challenges related to the publication and to the consumption of the published data. This thesis proposes the capture of design rationale as a valuable source of information to minimize the challenges in RDB-to-RDF processes. Essentially, the capture of design rationale increases the awareness about the actions taken over the relational database to map it as an RDF dataset. The main contributions of this thesis are: (1) a design rationale (DR) model adequate to RDB-to-RDF processes, independently of the approach (direct or customized) followed; (2) the integration of a DR model in an RDB-to-RDF direct mapping process and in an RDB-to-RDF customized mapping process using the R2RML language; (3) the use of the DR captured to improve the recommendations for vocabularies to reuse.

[pt] Valores de usuário são um fator importante no design de software, mas nem sempre são considerados de forma explícita no processo de design. Ao tomar decisões de design, valores de usuários podem se perder junto aos viéses dos designers relacionados a seus próprios valores. Para evitar esse problema, este trabalho estuda a integração de valores de usuários com técnicas de design rationale, especificamente Questões, Opções e Critérios (QOC), e como essa integração é refletida em um artefato de design resultante (um diagrama de interação usando MoLIC). Conduzimos dois estudos separados com estudantes de Ciência da Computação no Rio de Janeiro. No primeiro estudo, vimos que valores de usuários podem ser integrados com design rationale usando notações informais, como circulando ou sublinhando as opções ou critérios associados a valores de usuários. As decisões tomadas com o método QOC usando valores de usuário resultaram em impactos relevantes nos diagramas MoLIC. Participantes que realizaram as atividades para usuários com valores bem definidos tiveram resultados mais ricos do que aqueles com usuários mais genéricos. No segundo estudo, vimos que designers conseguem reconhecer quando valores de usuários são incorporados em artefatos de design. Esses resultados são estimulantes para continuar a pesquisar valores de usuários, com possibilidades de desenvolver novos métodos ou de atualizar técnicas e notações existentes, como QOC ou MoLIC, para dar suporte a valores de usuários. / [en] User values are a significant part of designing software, but are not always considered explicitly in the design process. When making design decisions, user values can get lost among the designers own biases regarding their values. To avoid this pitfall, this work studies the integration of user values with design rationale techniques, namely Questions, Options, and Criteria (QOC), and how this integration reflects on a resulting design artifact (in particular, an interaction diagram using MoLIC). We performed two separate studies with Computer Science students in Rio de Janeiro. In the first study, we found that user values can be integrated into design rationale using informal notations, such as circling or underlining the options or criteria related to user values. The decisions made with the QOC method using user values did result in relevant impacts on MoLIC diagrams. Participants who performed activities for users with strong values had richer results than those for more generic users. In a second study, we found that designers can recognize when user values are embedded into design artifacts. These results are encouraging to continue research regarding user values, with possibilities of developing new methods or updating existing techniques and notations such as QOC or MoLIC to explicitly support user values.

Ce travail de thèse s'intéresse à l'étude des processus de conception de produits dans le cadre de projets d'innovation. L'approche proposée se focalise sur les connaissances associées aux processus de décision, identifiées comme critiques dans ces projets.<br />Les contributions de ce travail de recherche sont centrées sur la compréhension des mécanismes de décision et le support à leur bon déroulement. En premier lieu, un modèle de processus de décision, appelé INDIGO est proposé. Il a pour objectif de représenter l'ensemble des informations associées aux processus de décision, regroupées en un modèle unique, multi-vues. Il s'agit de la vue structure de la décision (les éléments d'information de l'espace de décision), de la vue processus de décision (les activités de décision), de la vue organisation de la décision (les acteurs impliqués dans la décision). Un Système de Gestion des Connaissances, appelé MEYDIAM est ensuite proposé. Il est fondé sur la proposition d'une nouvelle approche de Gestion des Connaissances. Il permet la création et la réutilisation de connaissances liées à la décision par l'utilisation d'informations structurées par le modèle INDIGO. MEYDIAM est principalement constitué dune mémoire de projet. Cet outil, au moyen d'interfaces appelées objets de connaissances, permet de capturer, au fil de l'eau les informations associées aux processus de décision et de les<br />réutiliser. Les contributions ont été validées via une maquette informatique testée dans le cadre des projets d'innovation du groupe PSA PEUGEOT CITROËN.

This thesis work is based on the previous researches in design automation at Sandvik Coromant. The concept of product family description (PFD) has been introduced to the company to improve documentation of knowledge in engineering design process. Current documentation at the company for engineering design covers mostly the design definition part of the knowledge. PFD is constituted by design definition and completed by design rationale. This kind of documentation improves reusing, revising and expanding the knowledge at the company. On the other side, PFD is an input for design programming and a good engineering design description for a product provides more efficiency in design programming. The project is started by a survey for several principles and applications for knowledge modelling. Product variant master (PVM) and Semantic MediaWiki are selected by the results of the survey. To show the concept of PVM, modelling of a test product is done in product model manager (PMM) software. The main part of the project is setting up product family description (PFD) by capturing design rationale for the test product, implementing in Semantic MediaWiki. Since the design rationale is not documented, it was recorded during several meetings with the designer of the test product. The description is completed by including the argumentations about the rules, figures, dimensions and etc. Also in the project has been tried to improve and revise the description to make it more simple and efficient. Another objective of the project is to show Semantic MediaWiki as a candidate application for modelling knowledge at the company. In this step the applicability and functionality of both PFD and Semantic MediaWiki is seen. In the next stage the project findings and company documentation are evaluated. In this step has been tried to show the pros and cons of the project. The emphasis of the evaluation is on PFD and the alternative application. In the end a conclusion of the whole methods and findings of the project comes with discussion with people who were involved in this work.

No description available.

In the context of world economies transitioning to services, telecommunications services are the primary means of communication between different economic entities and are therefore essential. The focus on the end consumer, the convergence with the Internet, the separation between the software and the hardware implementing a service, and the telecommunications market deregulation have led to a revolution and a new era in the telecommunications industry. To meet these challenges, former national telecommunications providers have to reduce the construction time, from months to days, while affecting non-negatively other parameters (e.g., cost, quality of service, quality of experience) of new telecommunications services. To tackle this broad theme, we propose a telecommunications service construction process, the software tools that are to be used in this process and a tool building process to build them. The telecommunications service construction process reflects current practices in the telecommunications industry. As such, it should be (easily) accepted by practitioners. The software tools (i.e., Domain Specific Modeling Languages designed as profiles of an Enterprise Architecture Modeling Language, graphical editors, code generators, Off the Shelf network simulators, a collaboration Design Rationale Domain Specific Modeling Language) help telecommunications providers face the challenges. The tool building process relies on models and provides a high automation degree, hence software tools can be build more rapidly. We illustrate the telecommunications service construction process and the tools using a multimedia conferencing service. Our proposals contribute to reducing the construction time of new telecommunications services, while providing the possibility of improved quality of service and increased involvement of the consumer. Faster provisioning of new telecommunications services, that better answer the consumers¿ needs, will increase the rate of development of new economic services in general, and will ultimately have a positive impact on world economic development.

The use of agile methods continues to increase within software development but the agile processes do not contain the necessary steps to account for the user and realize the usability of the system. It seems it is therefore necessary to integrate the UCD methodology and agile methodology. What this integration should look like is not always apparent as the integration needs to be adapted to the specific context in each organization. Accompanied by a pre-study which identified difficulties with the integration, the current study examines how UCD specialists experience the communication through boundary objects in distributed agile teams. Furthermore the study examines how the understanding of the user is communicated to the developers in the agile teams and the potential of doing so with a design rationale. A case study was therefore performed with interviews of six UCD specialists to try to answers these questions. A content analysis was performed in relation to each research question and identified a number of themes relating to the experiences concerning; (1) communication through boundary objects, (2) how an understanding of the user is communicated, and (3) opinions of using design rationale for this purpose. Some of the conclusions drawn are that boundary objects only aim at communicating the interaction with the system, that they should be viewed as communication aids as they are not stand-alone and making them comprehensive would be even more time consuming. Furthermore, personas are not deemed fitting for communicating the understanding of the user to developers. This should instead be done by allowing developers to participate in user research.

Dans cette thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés à l’ouverture des EIAH (EnvironnementsInformatiques pour l'Apprentissage Humain), pour répondre à leur faible déploiement dansles établissements de formation, en facilitant leur appropriation par des usagers. Notre travailde recherche s'inscrit dans le cadre du projet REDiM (Réingénierie des EIAH Dirigée par lesModèles) mené au LIUM (Laboratoire d'Informatique de l'Université du Maine), dont un desobjectifs est d’intégrer les enseignants dans le processus de conception des scénariospédagogiques d’un EIAH.Nous proposons une approche d’ingénierie et de réingénierie pour rendre un EIAH ouvertà la conception et à l’adaptation de ses scénarios pédagogiques par les enseignantsutilisateurs. Nous avons défini un processus de conception basé sur la modélisationde scénarios pédagogiques ouverts (SPO), qui permet l’instrumentation des enseignantspour les aider dans la conception continue (i.e. qui se poursuit dans l’usage) d’une activitéd’apprentissage. Nous faisons trois propositions scientifiques :- Un modèle de représentation des SPO, qui permet de les structurer en variantes enfonction des contextes d’exécution. Nous qualifions ce modèle de rationnel puisqu’il s’appuieprincipalement sur l’approche du Design Rationale que nous avons adaptée à notreproblématique.- Un processus itératif et incrémental d’ingénierie et de réingénierie qui guide lesenseignants pour concevoir et adapter des SPO conformes au modèle que nous avonsdéfini.- Une méthode dirigée par les modèles et spécifique au domaine métier pour instrumenterle processus d’ouverture des scénarios pédagogiques d’un EIAH existant. Cette méthoded’instrumentation, reposant sur l’IDM (Ingénierie Dirigée par les Modèles) et le DSM(Domain-Specific Modeling), implique les enseignants utilisateurs de l’EIAH, considérés icicomme des experts du domaine. Elle est structurée en plusieurs phases qui amènentprogressivement à définir, de façon spécifique à l’EIAH considéré, un langage d’expressiondes SPO (ADSGEML - Adaptive Domain-Specific Graphical Educational ModelingLanguage) et un éditeur associé permettant la conception et l’adaptation des SPO dansl’univers métier de l’EIAH.Afin d’évaluer et de raffiner nos propositions, nous les avons appliquées sur l’EIAH«Hop3x», préalablement conçu au LIUM dans le cadre d’un autre projet pour pratiquer laprogrammation orientée objet. Nous avons donc élaboré un ADSGEML et un environnementd’édition graphique pour permettre aux enseignants de concevoir et d’adapterdynamiquement des sessions ouvertes de Hop3x, à un niveau élevé d’abstraction. / In this thesis, we are interested in opening TEL systems (Technology EnhancedLearning) up in order to respond to the problem of their low deployment in teachinginstitutions, we need to facilitate their adoption by users. Our research work is part ofthe REDiM (French abbreviation which means “Model-Driven Re-engineering of TELsystems”) project led by the LIUM Computer Science Laboratory of Le MansUniversity in France. One of the main objectives of this project is to involve teachersin the design process of learning scenarios of a TEL system.We propose an engineering and re-engineering approach for opening TEL systemsin order to facilitate for teachers the design and adaptation of pedagogical scenarios.We defined a design process based on the modeling of Open Pedagogical Scenarios(OPS), which allows the building of supports helping teachers in the continuousdesign of a learning activity (i.e. design which continues in the use process). Wemake three scientific proposals:- A model of OPS representation which defines a structure based on variantsaccording to execution contexts. We consider this model to be “rational” because it isbased mainly on the Design Rationale approach that we have adapted for ourresearch problem.- An iterative and incremental engineering and re-engineering process that guidesteachers to design and adapt OPS according to the rational model that we define inthis work.- A model-driven and domain-specific method for supporting the process of openingpedagogical scenarios of a legacy TEL system. This method, based on the MDE(Model-Driven Engineering) and DSM (Domain-Specific Modelling), involves teachersusing the TEL system, as they are considered to be domain experts. Our method isdivided into several phases that lead progressively to define the TEL system’sADSGEML (Adaptive Educational Graphical Domain-Specific Modelling Language)and an associate editor allowing the design and adaptation of OPS in the businessfield of the TEL system to open for teachers.To evaluate and refine our proposals, we have applied them on the TEL system"Hop3x" which was designed at LIUM under another project for practicing objectorientedprogramming. We therefore developed an ADSGEML and a graphicalediting environment to enable teachers to design and adapt dynamically the openHop3x’s learning sessions at a high level of abstraction.

This thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach to research how design rationale may improve practices for participatory design in urban planning. Knowledge on sustainable development, participatory planning in public sector, design rationale and innovation are brought together to form a cohesive understanding for the matter of citizen dialogue and participation.  To further gain knowledge on the subject a case study is done following the planning of a consultation at the urban planning office in Norrköping by participatory observations. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews are conducted with civil servants from Norrköping and Norrtälje, discussing the theme of citizen dialogue and municipal capacity and competence for its performance. The knowledge contributions addresses the specific case study at first hand, but are also applicable in some general sense. The study shows that design rationale can be of use and inspiration to address issues of culture and mental models in public sector, as these as believed to stand in the way of forming a more innovative and adaptive public sector that can design better practices for dialogue and participation. Design thinking and attitude can bring openness and human centred perspectives, among other things, to public organisations.  For the case study in question it is suggested that the urban planning office would benefit from implementing and trying out ways of working that are more in line with design thinking and attitude. It is also suggested that they might benefit from employing an experienced designer to be part of planning procedures, as expert designers can adapt methods and tools for participation to design case specific activities. To employ a more case specific and local approach to participatory practices is proposed to bring better results, both in terms of its democratic breakthrough as well as its impact on social sustainability.  Overall, this thesis offers contributions to design knowledge, knowledge that in turn can be important for the area of sustainable development at large.