It is important for engineers to understand the capabilities and limitations of the technologies they consider for use in their systems. Several researchers have investigated approaches for modeling the capabilities of a technology with the aim of supporting the design process. In these works, the information about the physical form is typically abstracted away. However, the efficient generation of an accurate model of technical capabilities remains a challenge. Pareto frontier based methods are often used but yield results that are of limited use for subsequent decision making and analysis. Models based on parameterized Pareto frontiers—termed Technology Characterization Models (TCMs)—are much more reusable and composable. However, there exists no efficient technique for modeling the parameterized Pareto frontier. The contribution of this thesis is a new algorithm for modeling the parameterized Pareto frontier to be used as a model of the characteristics of a technology. The novelty of the algorithm lies in a new concept termed predicted dominance. The proposed algorithm uses fundamental concepts from multi-objective optimization and machine learning to generate a model of the technology frontier.

A governança do fornecimento (sourcing) de serviços de tecnologia da informação (TI) é uma questão que abrange aspectos gerenciais, econômicos e sociais. Atualmente parte significativas das recomendações de mercado orientam para a adoção de modelos padronizados cujas recomendações são consideradas melhores práticas. Dentre as existentes, o modelo eSourcing Capability Model (eSCM), desenvolvido pelo Information Technology Services Qualification Center da Universidade Carnegie Mellon, destina-se exclusivamente à padronização das práticas de sourcing. A pesquisa empreendida questiona quais as implicações das premissas do modelo eSCM para sua adequabilidade ao contexto institucional brasileiro. Foram realizadas análises de conteúdo para identificação das premissas explícitas e implícitas. Ao final dessa etapa identificou-se doze premissas, as quais foram comparadas com uma caracterização das especificidades do ambiente institucional brasileiro. Por sua vez, essa caracterização foi validada com especialistas. Conclui-se que o modelo eSCM traz uma grande contribuição para a prática da gestão do sourcing que é a preocupação com a gestão por processos e um gerenciamento profissional. Outra contribuição significativa do modelo é o foco no alinhamento dos estratégias e operações. Contudo, o modelo está fundamentado em uma lógica que presume uma racionalidade e formalismo que não são compatíveis com a cultura brasileira. São elementos que, historicamente, quando importados para o nosso contexto degeneraram-se e criaram arranjos ambigüos. / Information technology services sourcing governance is an issue with economic, managerial and social dimensions. To approach it many frameworks have been develloped. This research addresses the adequacy of eSourcing Capability Model (eSC) to the Brazilian institutional context. The research design was based on content analysis and comparative analysis. It was found 12 premisses that underlie the eSCM. They were validated with experts. The conclusion points that eSCM brings professionalism to sourcing management. However, the model is based on rationality and formalism not compatible with Brazilian culture. Those elements was previously imported and degenerated to alternative institutional arrangements,

A governança do fornecimento (sourcing) de serviços de tecnologia da informação (TI) é uma questão que abrange aspectos gerenciais, econômicos e sociais. Atualmente parte significativas das recomendações de mercado orientam para a adoção de modelos padronizados cujas recomendações são consideradas melhores práticas. Dentre as existentes, o modelo eSourcing Capability Model (eSCM), desenvolvido pelo Information Technology Services Qualification Center da Universidade Carnegie Mellon, destina-se exclusivamente à padronização das práticas de sourcing. A pesquisa empreendida questiona quais as implicações das premissas do modelo eSCM para sua adequabilidade ao contexto institucional brasileiro. Foram realizadas análises de conteúdo para identificação das premissas explícitas e implícitas. Ao final dessa etapa identificou-se doze premissas, as quais foram comparadas com uma caracterização das especificidades do ambiente institucional brasileiro. Por sua vez, essa caracterização foi validada com especialistas. Conclui-se que o modelo eSCM traz uma grande contribuição para a prática da gestão do sourcing que é a preocupação com a gestão por processos e um gerenciamento profissional. Outra contribuição significativa do modelo é o foco no alinhamento dos estratégias e operações. Contudo, o modelo está fundamentado em uma lógica que presume uma racionalidade e formalismo que não são compatíveis com a cultura brasileira. São elementos que, historicamente, quando importados para o nosso contexto degeneraram-se e criaram arranjos ambigüos. / Information technology services sourcing governance is an issue with economic, managerial and social dimensions. To approach it many frameworks have been develloped. This research addresses the adequacy of eSourcing Capability Model (eSC) to the Brazilian institutional context. The research design was based on content analysis and comparative analysis. It was found 12 premisses that underlie the eSCM. They were validated with experts. The conclusion points that eSCM brings professionalism to sourcing management. However, the model is based on rationality and formalism not compatible with Brazilian culture. Those elements was previously imported and degenerated to alternative institutional arrangements,

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The emergence and subsequent uptake of Information and Communication Technologies has transformed the research processes in universities and research institutions across the globe. One indelible impact of Information and Communication Technologies on the research process is the increased generation of research data in digital format. This study investigated how research data has been generated, organised, shared, stored, preserved, accessed and re-used in Malawian public universities with a view to proposing a framework for research data management in universities in Malawi. The objectives of the study were: to determine research data creation, sharing and re-use practices in public universities in Malawi; to investigate research data preservation practices in public universities in Malawi; to investigate the competencies that librarians and researchers need to effectively manage research data; and to find out the challenges that affect the management of research data in public universities in Malawi. Apart from being guided by the Community Capability Model Framework (Lyon, Ball, Duke & Day, 2011) and Data Curation Centre Lifecycle Model (Higgins, 2008), the study was inspired by the pragmatic school of thought which is the basis for a mixed methods research enabling the collection of quantitative and qualitative data from two purposively selected universities. A census was used to identify researchers and librarians while purposive sampling was used to identify directors of research. Questionnaires were used to collect mostly quantitative and some qualitative data from 36 librarians and 187 researchers while interviews were conducted with directors of research. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to analyse the quantitative data by producing percentages, means, independent samples ttest and one-way analysis of variance. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data.

The South African public sector faces significant challenges that impact on its ability to deliver services to the public. There are several parties that can assist the public sector in addressing these challenges. One of these is the internal audit functions of government organisations. For internal auditing to support effectively the managements of the government organisations they serve, the internal audit function should be sufficiently capable. The questions remain as to whether South African public sector internal audit functions are sufficiently capable and how internal audit capability can be measured. The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation published the Internal Audit Capability Model (IA-CM) in 2009. The main purpose of the model is to provide a capability self-assessment tool for public sector internal audit functions. This model could be used as a yardstick in measuring public sector internal audit capability within South Africa, should the elements and key process areas (KPAs) of the model be applicable to the South African context. This study therefore aims to determine whether the IA-CM can be applied within a South African context. The South African public sector, the role of internal auditing within the South African public sector as well as the IA-CM as a tool of measuring public sector internal audit capability were investigated. A literature review was conducted on these topics, as a foundation for the study. Specific data was obtained on each of the KPAs of the IA-CM through a case study design by selecting an appropriate South African national department and ranking the case against the KPAs of the IA-CM. The ranking was conducted based on a review of relevant documents and interviews with applicable internal audit and management staff and audit committee members of the selected case. The study concludes that 82.9% of the KPAs of the IA-CM appear to be applicable within a South African context and that, in essence, the model can be applied within a South African context. However, eight hindrances that may negatively affect the feasibility of implementing the remaining 17.1% of the KPAs or certain components of these KPA’s, have been also been identified. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Auditing / MCom / Unrestricted

Parallelization is an important part of modern data systems. However, the non-determinism of thread scheduling introduces the difficult problem of considering all different execution orders when constructing an algorithm. Therefore deterministic-by-design concurrent systems are attractive. A new approach called LVars consists of using data which is part of a lattice, with a predefined join operation. Updates to shared data are carried out using the join operation and thus the updates commute. Together with limiting the reads of shared data, this guarantees a deterministic result. The Reactive Async framework follows a similar approach but has several aspects which can cause a non-deterministic result. The goal with this thesis is to explore how we can ammend Reactive Async in order to guarantee a deterministic result. First an exploration into the subtleties of lattice based data combined with concurrency is made. Then a formal model based on a simple object-oriented language is constructed. The constructed small-step operational semantics and type system are shown to guarantee a form of determinism. This shows that LVars-similar system can be implemented in an object-oriented setting. Furthermore the work can act as a basis for future revisions of Reactive Async and similar frameworks. / Parallellisering är en viktig del i moderna datasystem. Flertrådade applikationer innebär dock en svårighet i och med att programmerare måste ta alla exekveringsordningar i beaktning. Därför är beräkningsmodeller vars resultat är garanterat deterministiskt en attraktiv utväg. En ny modell, kallad LVars, använder gitterstrukturer tillsammans med en supremum-operation för att garantera att uppdateringar av delad data kommuterar. Detta tillsammans med begränsningar av läsning av datan garanterar ett deterministiskt resultat. Reactive Async är ett programmeringsramverk som följer en liknande strategi. Det finns dock flera delar i dess konstruktion som i en oförsiktig programmerares händer kan orsaka att ett programs resultat blir icke-deterministiskt. Målet med detta examensarbete är att utforska vilka modifikationer som skulle kunna göras av Reactive Async för att garantera determinism. Först görs en undersökning av de mer svårförståeliga delarna i kombinationen av gitterbaserad data med flertrådad exekvering. Sedan konstrueras en formell beräkningsmodell baserad på ett enkelt objektorienterat språk. Konstruktionens småstegade operationella semantik tillsammans med dess typsystem visas kunna garantera en form av determinism. Detta visar att ett system liknande LVars kan implementeras i ett objektorienterat språk. Därmed skulle detta arbete kunna ligga till grund för framtida versioner av Reactive Async.

This thesis discusses the development of a naval ship distributed system architectural framework and related design tools that can be used during ship Concept and Requirements Exploration (CandRE). This architectural framework includes architectures for ship operations, the physical arrangement of Mission Power and Energy Systems (MPES) vital components within the ship, the logical relationship between MPES vital components, and simple energy and data models of MPES functions. This architectural framework is implemented through integrated Ship Behavior Interaction Models (SBIMs) that include the following: Warfighting Model (WM), Ship Operational Model (OM), Capability Model (CM), and Dynamic Architecture Flow Optimization (DAFO). These models provide a critical interface between logical and operational architectures, quantifying warfighting capabilities through system measures of performance at specific capability nodes. These models' interface with each other in the warfighting environment to guide the alignment of MPES vital systems using a DAFO. The integrated models quantify the performance of tasks enabled by capabilities through system measures of performance at specific capability nodes, enabling the simulation of the MPES configuration in operational situations. / Master of Science / This thesis discusses the development of a naval ship distributed system architectural framework and related design tools that can be used during ship Concept and Requirements Exploration (CandRE). This architectural framework includes architectures for ship operations, the physical arrangement of Mission Power and Energy Systems (MPES) within the ship, the logical relationship between MPES, and simple energy and data models of MPES. This architectural framework is implemented through integrated Ship Behavior Interaction Models (SBIMs) that include the following: Warfighting Model (WM), Ship Operational Model (OM), Capability Model (CM), and Dynamic Architecture Flow Optimization (DAFO). These models provide a critical interface between logical and operational architectures, quantifying warfighting capabilities through system measures of performance. These models' interface with each other in the warfighting environment to guide the alignment of MPES during operations. The integrated models quantify the performance of tasks enabled by capabilities through system measures of performance at specific capability nodes, enabling the simulation of the MPES configuration in operational situations.

The diploma thesis discusses information security management in the context of ITIL framework. In the introductory part is explained the concept of information security, its importance and main goals. In subsequent chapters, the work aims to explore methodologies, frameworks and standards related to information security and internal control. Selected frameworks and models and described and compared with each other based on different criteria. The comparison is also one of the benefits of the work because similar topics which compare different models of internal control and information security are quite rare in the literature. The practical part of the thesis forms new methodology on basis of researched models and standards, including ISO 27000, ITIL and COBIT. This methodology provides a relatively simple way to evaluate the level of information security in an organization. It uses process capability model which is applied on selected company. Another benefit of the thesis is the developed methodology and its demonstration on a selected company.

Orientador: Mario Jino / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-06T08:05:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Salviano_ClenioFigueiredo_D.pdf: 2111618 bytes, checksum: 1da963de455fd0587fbfd55071cd1d0f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Melhoria de processo de software baseada nos níveis de maturidade fixos da arquitetura estagiada dos modelos SW-CMM e CMMI não atendem à diversidade de contextos e objetivos estratégicos das organizações intensivas em software. Esta pesquisa evoluí a área de melhoria de processo com a utilização da flexibilidade da arquitetura contínua da ISO/IEC 15504 para um melhor alinhamento da melhoria com o contexto e objetivos estratégicos específicos de cada organização, principalmente as micro e pequenas. São identificadas três gerações de arquiteturas de modelos de capacidade de processo (estagiada fixa, contínua fechada e contínua aberta). É proposta uma engenharia de processo, de software e de qualquer outro trabalho humano intensivo em conhecimento, dirigida por perfis de capacidade de processo. É desenvolvida uma abordagem exemplo dessa engenharia com um conjunto de propriedades, um modelo unificado, um ciclo de melhoria e um conjunto de medições, bem como um método para o estabelecimento de perfis de capacidade de processo. As propostas são validadas com análises, aplicações práticas e uma agenda de pesquisa / Abstract: Software process improvement based on the staged architecture¿s fixed maturity levels of SWCMM and CMMI models do not support the diversity of software intensive organizations context and strategic objectives. This research evolves the current process improvement area taking advantage of the flexibility of ISO/IEC 15504 continuous architecture towards a better alignment between an improvement with each organization¿s specific context and strategic objectives, especially of micro and small ones. Three generations of architectures for process capability models (fixed staged, closed continuous, open continuous) are identified. A process capability profile driven, software and any other knowledge intensive human work, process engineering is proposed. An exemplar approach for this engineering is developed, with a set of properties, a unified model, an improvement cycle and a measurement set, as well as a method for establishing process capability profile. These proposals are validated by analyses, practical applications and a research agenda / Doutorado / Engenharia de Computação / Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica

Orientadores: Rubens Maciel Filho, Marcelo de Carvalho Reis / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Quimica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T16:16:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva_JorgeVicenteLopesda_D.pdf: 2220964 bytes, checksum: ee65ed039527559f9cf092c3f17a0a31 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Laboratórios de pesquisa universitários são ambientes únicos com intensas atividades do conhecimento. Porém, não é raro verificar uma falta de organização sistemática de seus processos de gestão e a integração satisfatória de estratégias, missão, pessoal, infra-estrutura e atividades do conhecimento. Esta tese discute as motivações, necessidades e propõe um modelo de capacidade para a gestão estratégica desse ambiente. O modelo tem por objetivo auxiliar na avaliação e melhoria da capacidade de seus processos e servir como referência na gestão de laboratórios. O modelo é composto de 17 processos divididos em quatro grupos: gestão estratégica, infra-estrutura, gestão do conhecimento, e gestão de pessoal e cultura. Cada processo individualmente é composto de resultados, práticas base e artefatos. Os processos foram criados a partir de levantamento em quatro laboratórios de pesquisa e da literatura em gestão da pesquisa, gestão do conhecimento, modelos para gestão organizacional e modelos de capacidade de processo. O modelo é aderente às especificações da recente norma ISO/IEC 15504 para criação de modelos de capacidade de processo preenchendo uma lacuna na área de modelos de gestão de pesquisa. Cada processo pode ser avaliado individualmente segundo níveis de capacidade (incompleto, executado, gerenciado, estabelecido, previsível, em otimização) de acordo com atributos atendidos. A proposta está em linha com a tendência mundial de estabelecimento de modelos de capacidade de processos para vários domínios do conhecimento. O modelo foi validado em duas diferentes comunidades de gestores de pesquisa: os gestores de pesquisa e os gestores de pesquisa com experiência em melhoria de processos. A proposta atende aos requisitos de que é possível um modelo de capacidade de processos para a melhoria e avaliação dos processos mais relevantes nos laboratórios universitários. A sua contribuição se dá como uma ferramenta auxiliar na gestão estratégica da pesquisa universitária. Como trabalhos decorrentes, há espaço para que esse seja aprimorado com o seu uso mais intenso e às condições, tamanho e foco de cada laboratório ou domínio de atuação / Abstract: University Research Laboratory (URLab) is a unique environment that performs knowledge-intensive activities. It is the live cell of research in the university environment. However, it is not rare to observe a lack of systematic organization in its management processes to consider a satisfactory integrated vision associating the strategy, mission, people, culture, infrastructure, and mainly knowledge actions. This thesis discusses the motivations, necessities and the basis of a framework for the strategic management of this environment. The proposed framework intends to assist URLabs to place its strategic management into a higher level of maturity. It is a set of 17 individual processes sorted in four main groups to know: strategic management, infrastructure management, knowledge management, and people and culture. Each individual process includes a scope, outcomes, basic practices, and work products. The framework considers the best practices investigated in some URLabs and the technical and scientific literature on knowledge management, research management, organizational management, and capability models. Each process can be placed in one of the five different hierarchical capability level (incomplete, performed, managed, established, predictable and optimizing), according to attributes fulfilled. The proposed framework uses the architecture and some of the most generic processes of the ISO/IEC 15504-5 International Standard as a reference. The ISO/IEC recently published this suite of standards, composed of five parts that provide definitions and requirements to create capability models. Nowadays, there is a tendency to spread the use of process capability assessment and improvement frameworks for different domains of the knowledge. Therefore, the framework for URLabs is in line with the tenor on process capability models. Two different communities validated the framework: the community of managers of research and the community of researchers with experience in process improvement. This framework intends to be useful as a reference to assess and improve strategic management in URLabs. It can also be useful for funding agencies as a formal mechanism to decide on grants for research, based on the URLabs' management capability profile. It is an open proposal that can be adapted and improved for different classes of URLabs in terms of size, focus, and culture / Doutorado / Desenvolvimento de Processos Químicos / Doutor em Engenharia Química