Abstraction mechanisms in programming languages aim to allow orthogonal pieces of functionality to be developed separately; complex software can then be constructed through the composition of these pieces. The effectiveness of such mechanisms lies in their support for modularity and reusability: The behavior of a piece of code should be reasoned about modularly---independently of the specific compositions it may participate in; the computation of a piece of code should allow specialization, so that it is reusable for different compositions. This dissertation introduces structural abstraction: a mechanism that advances the state of the art by allowing the writing of highly reusable code---code whose structure can be specialized per composition, while maintaining a high level of modularity. Structural abstraction provides a disciplined way for code to inspect the structure of its clients in composition, and declare its own structure accordingly. The hallmark feature of structural abstraction is that, despite its emphasis on greater reusability, it still allows modular type checking: A piece of structurally abstract code can be type-checked independently of its uses in compositions---an invaluable feature for highly reusable components that will be statically composed by other programmers. This dissertation introduces two structural abstraction techniques: static type conditions, and morphing. Static type conditions allow code to be conditionally declared based on subtyping constraints. A client of a piece of code can configure a desirable set of features by composing the code with types that satisfy the appropriate subtyping conditions. Morphing allows code to be iteratively declared, by statically reflecting over the structural members of code that it would be composed with. A morphing piece of code can mimic the structure of its clients in composition, or change its shape according to its clients in a pattern-based manner. Using either static type conditions or morphing, the structure of a piece of code is not statically determined, but can be automatically specialized by clients. Static type conditions and morphing both guarantee the modular type-safety of code: regardless of specific client configurations, code is guaranteed to be well-typed.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The theory-ladenness of perception thesis claims that the perception of different subjects might differ depending on prior knowledge, concepts and theories they hold. Oftentimes this thesis is associated with relativistic views, and therefore rejected. One of the strategies introduced to avoid the theory-ladenness of perception consists in affirming a strong version of the modularity of mind thesis, put forth by Fodor (1983). According to this thesis, some of the processing stages of perception would be performed by informationally encapsuled modules. This dissertation contains two independent papers, the first of which questions the empirical and theoretical plausibility of informational encapsulation of the perceptual modules. The second paper puts forth arguments for an enactivist view of the mind, in which the thesis of the theory-ladenness of perception is not thought to be problematic, but an essential element. This latter paper draws mainly on Noë (2004, 2009, 2012), and defends a version of the thesis of the theory-ladenness of perception grounded in the practice and the abilities of perceiving organisms in the physical environments in which they find themselves and with which they interact. / A tese da impregnação teórica da percepção afirma que a percepção de sujeitos diferentes pode diferir em função dos conhecimentos, conceitos e teorias prévias de que dispõem. Frequentemente, essa tese é associada a posições relativistas e, por isso, rejeitada. Uma das estratégias apresentadas para evitar a impregnação teórica da percepção consiste em afirmar uma versão forte da tese da modularidade da mente, proposta por Fodor (1983). De acordo com essa tese, alguns estágios do processamento perceptual seriam realizados em módulos informacionalmente encapsulados. Esta dissertação compreende dois artigos independentes, o primeiro dos quais questiona a plausibilidade empírica e teórica do encapsulamento informacional dos módulos perceptuais. O segundo artigo apresenta argumentos favoráveis a uma concepção enativista da mente, na qual a tese da impregnação teórica não é tida como problemática, mas como um componente essencial. Esse segundo artigo baseia-se principalmente nos trabalhos de Noë (2004, 2009, 2012), e defendemos uma versão da tese da impregnação teórica da percepção que tem como fundamento a prática e as habilidades dos organismos nos ambientes físicos nos quais se encontram e com os quais interagem.

Submitted by CÉSAR COUTINHO RAMOS null (cesar.ramos@volkswagen.com.br) on 2016-05-17T16:05:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 CesarCoutinhRamos-MestradoProfissionalizante.pdf: 2191241 bytes, checksum: 312d1b09db67ad58815b0cf71365dc9e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-05-19T19:18:04Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ramos_cc_me_guara.pdf: 2191241 bytes, checksum: 312d1b09db67ad58815b0cf71365dc9e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-19T19:18:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ramos_cc_me_guara.pdf: 2191241 bytes, checksum: 312d1b09db67ad58815b0cf71365dc9e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-19 / Este trabalho compara qualitativamente sete métodos de modularização, com o objetivo de escolher e aplicar aqueles que melhor se adaptam ao projeto piloto de modularização de uma suspensão traseira a ar para caminhões e ônibus. Dentre os métodos estudados, os métodos MFD (Modular Function Deployment) e DSM (Design Structure Matrix) foram escolhidos, basicamente em função de possuírem: aplicação prática, repetibilidade dos resultados, softwares disponíveis e facilidade de organização dos dados. O método DSM serviu de base para gerar os primeiros possíveis módulos e simplificar o problema dos inicias 44 componentes para 26, simplesmente com uma visão funcional e técnica. O MFD foi utilizado principalmente para estruturar o processo de modularização e atender aos requisitos dos clientes e estratégias do negócio. Os resultados apresentados pelos dois métodos foram analisados de forma detalhada e indicaram a formação de sete módulos, que foram obtidos tanto diretamente dos métodos DSM e MFD, quanto da combinação de ambos. Ficou evidente, através dos resultados alcançados, que a utilização conjunta desses dois métodos, juntamente com a análise criteriosa dos resultados no desenvolvimento do produto aumentou consideravelmente a eficiência do processo de modularização. / This work presents and compares qualitatively seven modularization methods, in order to choose and apply those that best suits for a rear air suspension modularization pilot project for trucks and buses. Among the methods studied, the MFD (Modular Function Deployment) and DSM (Design Structure Matrix) methods were mainly chosen on the basis that they present: practical application, repeatability, software availability and ease data organization. The DSM method was the basis to generate the first possible modules and simplify the problem from the initial 44 to 26 components, only with a functional and technical approach. The MFD was mainly used to structure the modularization process and meet the customer requirements and business strategies. The results shown by the two methods were analyzed in detail and resulted in the generation of seven modules, which were obtained either directly from DSM and MFD methods, or from the combination of both. It became evident, by the results achieved, that the combined use of these two methods, along with a careful analysis of the results on product development, greatly increased the modularization process efficiency.

abstract: The Internet and climate change are two forces that are poised to both cause and enable changes in how we provide our energy infrastructure. The Internet has catalyzed enormous changes across many sectors by shifting the feedback and organizational structure of systems towards more decentralized users. Today’s energy systems require colossal shifts toward a more sustainable future. However, energy systems face enormous socio-technical lock-in and, thus far, have been largely unaffected by these destabilizing forces. More distributed information offers not only the ability to craft new markets, but to accelerate learning processes that respond to emerging user or prosumer centered design needs. This may include values and needs such as local reliability, transparency and accountability, integration into the built environment, and reduction of local pollution challenges. The same institutions (rules, norms and strategies) that dominated with the hierarchical infrastructure system of the twentieth century are unlikely to be good fit if a more distributed infrastructure increases in dominance. As information is produced at more distributed points, it is more difficult to coordinate and manage as an interconnected system. This research examines several aspects of these, historically dominant, infrastructure provisioning strategies to understand the implications of managing more distributed information. The first chapter experimentally examines information search and sharing strategies under different information protection rules. The second and third chapters focus on strategies to model and compare distributed energy production effects on shared electricity grid infrastructure. Finally, the fourth chapter dives into the literature of co-production, and explores connections between concepts in co-production and modularity (an engineering approach to information encapsulation) using the distributed energy resource regulations for San Diego, CA. Each of these sections highlights different aspects of how information rules offer a design space to enable a more adaptive, innovative and sustainable energy system that can more easily react to the shocks of the twenty-first century. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sustainability 2018

Nas últimas décadas o desenvolvimento de novos produtos se tornou o foco da competitividade industrial e, é neste ambiente que a literatura atual identifica vários casos que apontam para uma forte tendência de descentralização do desenvolvimento de produto em âmbito global. Assim, pretende-se por meio de estudo de caso único, analisar o processo de descentralização de desenvolvimento global de novos produtos (DGP) adotado por uma empresa automotiva atuante no setor de veículos comerciais. O estudo foca na pesquisa dos fatores que favorecem a descentralização do DGP, bem como suas causas, baseado na teoria vigente. Como principais conclusões, pode-se citar que o setor de veículos comerciais reage de maneira similar a outros setores, como o de telecomunicações, e que diferentemente da literatura vigente sobre a descentralização do DGP, fatores como o interesse no mercado local e aspectos históricos da evolução da subsidiária brasileira apresentam maior relevância do que o baixo custo e as competências locais em desenvolvimento de produtos. Identificou-se, também, que neste caso o produto modular influencia no processo de descentralização do DGP dependendo do tipo de estrutura deste último, ao contrário do identificado por pesquisas anteriores. Por fim, é elaborada uma proposta de relação entre tipo de estrutura de DGP e a utilização ou não de projeto modular. / In recent decades the development of new products has become the industrial competitiveness focus and, it is in this environment, that the current literature identifies several cases which indicate a strong trend of product development decentralization in a global sphere. Thus, this study intent to, through a single case study, analyzes the decentralization process of new products global development (PGD) used by a company from the automotive industry acting at the commercial vehicles sector. The study focuses on the research of the factors that encourage the decentralization of PGD and its causes, based on existing theory. As main conclusions, it is possible to mention that the commercial vehicles sector reacts similarly to other sectors such as telecommunications, in which factors such as interest in the local market and historical aspects of evolution of the Brazilian subsidiary have more relevance than the low cost and local skills in product development, unlike the current literature on this topic. It was also identified, in this case, that the modular product influences the PGD decentralization process depending on its structure, unlike identified by previous studies. Finally, the author developed a proposal which describes the relation between the PGD type of structure and the use (or not) of modular design.

O problema de agrupamento de dados em grafos consiste em encontrar clusters de nós em um dado grafo, ou seja, encontrar subgrafos com alta conectividade. Esse problema pode receber outras nomenclaturas, algumas delas são: problema de particionamento de grafos e problema de detecção de comunidades. Para modelar esse problema, existem diversas formulações matemáticas, cada qual com suas vantagens e desvantagens. A maioria dessas formulações tem como desvantagem a necessidade da definição prévia do número de grupos que se deseja obter. Entretanto, esse tipo de informação não está contida em dados para agrupamento, ou seja, em dados não rotulados. Esse foi um dos motivos da popularização nas últimas décadas da medida conhecida como modularidade, que tem sido maximizada para encontrar partições em grafos. Essa formulação, além de não exigir a definição prévia do número de clusters, se destaca pela qualidade das partições que ela fornece. Nesta Tese, metaheurísticas Greedy Randomized Search Procedures para dois modelos existentes para agrupamento em grafos foram propostas: uma para o problema de maximização da modularidade e a outra para o problema de maximização da similaridade intra-cluster. Os resultados obtidos por essas metaheurísticas foram melhores quando comparadas àqueles de outras heurísticas encontradas na literatura. Entretanto, o custo computacional foi alto, principalmente o da metaheurística para o modelo de maximização da modularidade. Com o passar dos anos, estudos revelaram que a formulação que maximiza a modularidade das partições possui algumas limitações. A fim de promover uma alternativa à altura do modelo de maximização da modularidade, esta Tese propõe novas formulações matemáticas de agrupamento em grafos com e sem pesos que visam encontrar partições cujos clusters apresentem alta conectividade. Além disso, as formulações propostas são capazes de prover partições sem a necessidade de definição prévia do número de clusters. Testes com centenas de grafos com pesos comprovaram a eficiência dos modelos propostos. Comparando as partições provenientes de todos os modelos estudados nesta Tese, foram observados melhores resultados em uma das novas formulações propostas, que encontrou partições bastante satisfatórias, superiores às outras existentes, até mesmo para a de maximização de modularidade. Os resultados apresentaram alta correlação com a classificação real dos dados simulados e reais, sendo esses últimos, em sua maioria, de origem biológica / Graph clustering aims at identifying highly connected groups or clusters of nodes of a graph. This problem can assume others nomenclatures, such as: graph partitioning problem and community detection problem. There are many mathematical formulations to model this problem, each one with advantages and disadvantages. Most of these formulations have the disadvantage of requiring the definition of the number of clusters in the final partition. Nevertheless, this type of information is not found in graphs for clustering, i.e., whose data are unlabeled. This is one of the reasons for the popularization in the last decades of the measure known as modularity, which is being maximized to find graph partitions. This formulation does not require the definition of the number of clusters of the partitions to be produced, and produces high quality partitions. In this Thesis, Greedy Randomized Search Procedures metaheuristics for two existing graph clustering mathematical formulations are proposed: one for the maximization of the partition modularity and the other for the maximization of the intra-cluster similarity. The results obtained by these proposed metaheuristics outperformed the results from other heuristics found in the literature. However, their computational cost was high, mainly for the metaheuristic for the maximization of modularity model. Along the years, researches revealed that the formulation that maximizes the modularity of the partitions has some limitations. In order to promote a good alternative for the maximization of the partition modularity model, this Thesis proposed new mathematical formulations for graph clustering for weighted and unweighted graphs, aiming at finding partitions with high connectivity clusters. Furthermore, the proposed formulations are able to provide partitions without a previous definition of the true number of clusters. Computational tests with hundreds of weighted graphs confirmed the efficiency of the proposed models. Comparing the partitions from all studied formulations in this Thesis, it was possible to observe that the proposed formulations presented better results, even better than the maximization of partition modularity. These results are characterized by satisfactory partitions with high correlation with the true classification for the simulated and real data (mostly biological)

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-08-08T13:00:48Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) tese_MariaSibaldo.pdf: 2571529 bytes, checksum: 0d9af192f329870166c194c53541ce82 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-08T13:00:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) tese_MariaSibaldo.pdf: 2571529 bytes, checksum: 0d9af192f329870166c194c53541ce82 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-23 / CAPEs / Os sistemas de recomendação fazem uso de algoritmos para facilitar a busca de itens de interesse do usuário. Esta tese apresenta uma solução para recomendação através do agrupamento em redes complexas, dado que este encontra padrões que beneficiam a recomendação. É utilizada a métrica de modularidade para auxiliar na divisão de uma rede em grupos e, com base nesse agrupamento, realizar recomendação. Assim, foram propostos dois métodos de recomendação baseados em modularidade, dois algoritmos de agrupamento e uma nova métrica de modularidade. O primeiro método proposto estima o peso da aresta entre dois elementos em uma rede bipartida (usuário e item) após a formação de grupos e faz uso das arestas do grupo do item. O método citado anteriormente serviu de inspiração para o segundo método, o qual faz uso das arestas entre grupos. Para este segundo método foram propostos dois algoritmos: AMV (Agrupamento com Movimento de Vértices), o qual realiza os agrupamentos com diversas métricas existentes; e o AMA (Agrupamento com Movimento de Arestas), o qual realiza agrupamentos apenas com a métrica proposta. O algoritmo AMA tem um tempo de processamento menor que o AMV. Com as observações realizadas na segunda proposta, uma nova métrica de modularidade foi elaborada para melhorar a recomendação. Esta modularidade possui maior valor quando os pesos dos relacionamentos entre os grupos são semelhantes. A primeira proposta se mostrou adequada para o problema e obteve o 6º lugar na competição do RecSys 2014. A segunda proposta obteve resultados comparativos equivalentes ao de métodos de recomendação no estado-da-arte. A métrica proposta mostrou-se adequada para a recomendação. / This thesis uses the modularity metric to assist in dividing a network into groups and, based on this grouping, apply recommendation procedure. We propose two methods of recommendation based on modularity, two grouping algorithm and also a new metric of modularity. The first method proposed estimates the rating between two nodes in a bipartite network after grouping it, for this estimation the item’s group is used. The first method was the inspiration for the second one: which uses the edges between groups to estimate the edges weight. Two algorithms were created for this second method: AMV (grouping with vertex movement), which can be used with different modularity metrics; and AMA (grouping with edges moviment), which makes use of the modularity metric proposed here and is faster than the previous one. A different modularity metric was proposed to improve the recommendation system. This modularity has greater value when the weights of relationships between groups are similar. The first proposal was adequate to the problem and obtained the 6th place in the RecSys Challenge 2014 competition. The second proposal has equivalent results compared to other recommendations methods in the state of the art. The experiments with the proposal metric showed that this metric is adequate to recommender systems.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the possibility to build a modular data center in wood. The goals is to investigate how to build data centers using building system modules, making it easier to build more flexible data centers and expand the business later on. Investigations have been conducted to find out advantages and disadvantages for using wood in a modularized data center structure. The investigation also includes analysing the moistures effect on the material and if there are any other advantages than environmental benefits in using wood as a building material. A literature study were conducted to examine where research already have been conducted and how those studies can be applicable to this thesis. Although the ICT sector is a rapidly growing industry little research has been published in regards to how to build a data center. Most published information involves electric and cooling, not measurements of the building and how materials is affected by the special climate in a data center. As a complement to the little research interviews were conducted and site visits were made. Interviews were conducted with Hydro66, RISE SICS North, Sunet and Swedish modules, whilst site visits were made at Hydro66, RISE SICS North, Sunet and Facebook. As a result of these studies, limitations were identified with regards to maximum and minimum measurements for the building system and service spaces in a data center. These limitations were used as an input when designing a construction proposal using stated building systems and a design proposal for a data center. During the study, access have been granted to measurements of temperature and humidity for the in- and outgoing air of the Hydro66 data center. These measurements have been analyzed with the facts about HVAC systems and the climates effect on wood, for example in regards to strength and stability. This analysis has shown that more data needs to be collected during the winter and that further analysis needs to be conducted, to beable to draw conclusions if the indoor climate of a data center has an effect on the wooden structure. A design proposal for a data center have been produced with regards to the information gathered by the litterature and empirical studies. The proposal were designed to show how the information could be implemented. The result have increased the understanding on how to build data center buildings in wood and how this type of buildings could be made more flexible towards future changes through modularization.

Typically, systems biology focuses on the form and function of networks of biochemical interactions. Questions inevitably arise as to the evolutionary origin of those networks' properties. Such questions are of interest to a growing number of systems biologists, and several groups have published studies shown how varying environments can affect network topology and lead to increased evolvability. For decades, evolutionary biologists have also investigated the evolution of evolvability and its relationship to the interactions between genotype and phenotype. While the perspectives of systems and evolutionary biologists sometimes differ, their interests in patterns of interactions and evolvability have much in common. This thesis attempts to bring together the perspectives of systems and evolutionary theory to investigate the evolutionary effects of fluctuating environments. Chapter 1 introduces the necessary themes, terminology and literature from these fields. Chapter 2 explores how rapid environmental fluctuations, or "noise", affects network size and robustness. In Chapter 3, we use the Avida platform to investigate the relationship between genetic architecture, fluctuating environments and population biology. Chapter 4 examines contingency loci as a physical basis for evolvability, while chapter 5 presents a 500-generation laboratory evolution experiment which exposes E. coli to varying environments. The final discussion, concludes that the evolution of generalism can lead to genetic architectures which confer evolvability, which may arise in rapidly fluctuating environments as a by-product of generalism rather than as a selected trait.

Sistemas morfológicos quantitativos são descritos por medidas contínuas. A relação genética entre essas características dos indivíduos é representada pela matriz de covariância genética aditiva, a matriz G. Entender a evolução da matriz G, portanto, é de suma importância para compreender os padrões de diversificação encontrados na natureza. Neste trabalho estudamos modelos computacionais para a evolução de traços contínuos em populações naturais, sujeitas a variados tipos de seleção e condições internas, focando no problema da evolução dos padrões de integração e modularidade nessas populações. Testamos dois modelos com diferentes combinações de parâmetros em sua capacidade de reproduzir e elucidar padrões naturais. Seleção direcional correlacionada se mostrou uma força importante na criação desses padrões de covariação e a seleção estabilizadora correlacionada se mostrou fundamental para a manutenção desses padrões / Quantitative morphological systems are described by continuous measurements. The genetic relation between these characteristics of the individuals is represented by the genetic additive co-variance matrix, the G matrix. Understanding the evolution of the G matrix is, therefore, of paramount importance for proper interpretation of the patterns of diversification we observe in nature. In this work we study computational models for the evolution of quantitative traits in natural populations, subject to different natural selection and internal conditions, focusing on the problem of the evolution of the pattern of morphological integration and modularity. We test two models with different sets of parameters in their ability to reproduce and elucidate natural patterns. Directional correlated selection was necessary for the shaping of the patterns of morphological integration, and correlated stabilizing selection was fundamental to the maintenance of these patterns