La thèse porte sur le développement d’une nouvelle approche pour améliorer la performance des projets d’une organisation. Cette approche est basée sur un modèle conceptuel donnant une représentation cognitive permettant à l’organisation de construire et d’adapter les éléments ayant un impact dans la performance des projets. Le modèle est formé de trois parties. Les principes sont les préalables auxquels doivent adhérer les dirigeants de l’organisation et les personnes ayant des activités de coordination. Les concepts sont des définitions, idées et représentations mentales servant de bases au modèle. Les domaines de progression sont formés de problématiques et sous-problématiques qu’il convient de parcourir de manière équilibrée. Ce modèle a été décliné en une méthode destinée aux organisations entreprenant de manière régulière des projets internes. La durée de la thèse n’a permis de tester la méthode dans des conditions réelles. / The thesis focuses on developing a new approach to improve organizational project performance. This approach is based on a conceptual model giving a cognitive representation that enables the organization to build and adapt the items affecting the project performance. The model consists of three parts. The principles are the prerequisites that the leaders of the organization and people with coordination role must comply with. The concepts are definitions, ideas and mental constructs intended to be the model basis. The progress areas are made of issues and sub-issues that should be treated in a balanced way. This model has been used to create a method for organizations undertaking regularly internal projects. In the duration of the thesis, the method cannot be tested in actual situations.

Afin de combiner les avantages de la normalisation et de la personnalisation, «la conception modulaire » est utilisée de plus en plus par les OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) dans le développement de systèmes complexes. Différente de la conception traditionnelle, la conception modulaire confie l’entière responsabilité d’un module aux fournisseurs principaux. Dans ce cas, les fournisseurs commencent à collaborer avec les OEMs beaucoup plus tôt dans le processus de conception, et participent à la conception des systèmes depuis la phase de la conception conceptuelle. Avec une approche « conception modulaire», il n’est plus possible de définir le concept produit avant le choix de leurs fournisseurs, comme on le fait en conception traditionnelle. Par contre, les concepts produits et leurs fournisseurs doivent être examinés simultanément au début de la conception conceptuelle. Cependant, le lien incassable entre un module et son fournisseur est rarement pris en compte dans les méthodes de support de la conception. La plupart des méthodes existantes traitent le choix d’architecture et le choix de(s) fournisseur(s) comme deux sujets d’aide au choix séparés. Dans notre travail, nous proposons une méthode et un outil appelé«Architecture & Supplier Identification Tool (ASIT)», qui considère conjointement les performances des fournisseurs et celles de leurs modules. L’ASIT est capable de générer toutes les architectures possibles(toutes les combinaisons à modules donnés) en fonction des besoins client, en tenant compte des nouvelles technologies et des nouveaux fournisseurs. La performance globale de chaque architecture tient compte à la fois l’architecture et de ses fournisseurs, elle est estimée à partir de données de produits existants et de connaissances expertes. Les candidats appropriés (binômes architectures/fournisseurs) sont identifiés (en tenant compte de leur degré de satisfaction clients, de l’incertitude globale, et de l’impact environnemental) pour être considéré dans la conception conceptuelle. L’utilisation d’ASIT est illustré par une étude de cas de conception du groupe motopropulseur. La comparaison des résultats à d’autres méthodes montre que l’approche ASIT constitue un outil d’aide à la décision intéressant pour les OEMs,elle permet l’identification simultanée des fournisseurs et des architectures qui garantissent une performance globale. / In order to combine the advantage of standardization with those of customization, modular design has been increasingly used by OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) in complex system development. Different from traditional design, modular design advocates entrusting lead suppliers with full responsibility of a module. In this case, suppliers are involved much earlier in design, and start collaborating with OEMs from the conceptual design phase. This characteristic of modular design makes it impossible to define the product concept before choosing suppliers, as is normally done in the traditional way. Instead, the product concepts and supplier possibilities need to be considered simultaneously. However, this unbreakable link between a module and its supplier is rarely considered indesign support methods. Most existing methods treat architecture and supplier as two separate issues. In this work, we propose the Architecture & Supplier Identification Tool (ASIT), which considers performance of both suppliers and their modules. The ASIT is capable of generating all possible product/system architectures based on customer requirements with consideration of new technologies and new suppliers. The overall performance of each architecture is estimated using data of existing products and expert knowledge. Appropriate candidates are identified, taking into account their customer requirements satisfaction, overall uncertainty, and environmental impact, to be considered in conceptual design. The utilization of ASIT is illustrated in a powertrain design case study. Comparing the results from different methods shows that ASIT is an interesting decision support tool for OEMs to identify suppliers and architectures regarding their overall performance.

Tese (doutorado)-Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Ambiental, Instituto de Educação, 2011. / Submitted by eloisa silva (eloisa1_silva@yahoo.com.br) on 2012-11-29T17:42:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 isabel c. gonçalves.pdf: 6035278 bytes, checksum: 5dbcfa764c876125726ef29d8b6b4732 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-11-29T17:42:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 isabel c. gonçalves.pdf: 6035278 bytes, checksum: 5dbcfa764c876125726ef29d8b6b4732 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Atualmente, a sociedade contemporânea está mergulhada numa crise de relações socioambientais decorrente da nossa imersão no paradigma da ciência e do mercado, que está assentado na valoração do ser humano pelo que ele consome e pode exibir em detrimento do ser. O paradigma vigente valoriza o consumismo fundamentado na exploração de recursos naturais e do trabalho humano, e na crença do poder da tecnologia e do conhecimento científico para remedição de problemas que se originam nesse processo. A inexistência de repertório de significações reduziu esta profunda crise civilizatória a crises desconexas e disjuntas, as quais chamamos de crise da saúde, transporte, segurança, ambiental, entra tantas outras crises que possamos mapear. Neste contexto, esta tese busca analisar os processos que acreditamos serem os responsáveis por esta visão hegemônica de mundo que é descontextualizada, redutora e disjunta. Traçamos uma linha histórica dos processos e relações que nos levaram, enquanto sociedade, a acreditar que vivemos uma crise ambiental (usando, como tema gerador, as mudanças climáticas) e não uma crise civilizatória. Intentou-se evidenciar que nossas relações sociais, numa sociedade voltada para o consumo, é a grande gestora desta sociedade de risco, determinada pelos paradigmas dominantes que nos levam a crer no poder determinístico da ciência e na edificação de uma sociedade em equilíbrio. Em contraposição a este pensamento afirmamos com base em diversos autores, que vivemos em um mundo que não é estático, não está em equilíbrio e nem é determinado a priori, mas sujeito a processos termodinâmicos, caóticos e irreversíveis que desencadeiam desestabilizações nos ambientes e consequentes processos de auto-organização, compondo os sistemas complexos adaptativos de aprendizagem, tanto nos organismos de Gaia, quanto nos sujeitos, nas relações entre os sistemas bióticos e abióticos, nas sociedades, na economia, na política e em nossa cultura. Como resistência a esta visão hegemônica de mundo propomos um método de abordagem contextualizado deste problema, através da construção de campos de significados que retratem esta crise de forma contextualizada associando este tema ao cotidiano do sujeito. Este processo foi desenvolvido através da abertura de ambientes de convivência relacionais baseados no compartilhamento de experiências. Mostramos também a importância da abordagem teórica ser associada ao dia-a-dia do sujeito, pois cada indivíduo vê seu mundo através de suas experiências, história de vida, seu background. Abrimos possibilidades de provocar estímulos no limite do caos capazes de desestabilizar este sujeito ao ponto de tirá-lo do equilíbrio e provocar novas emergências, que ressignifiquem este sujeito em relação a seu mundo. Ativa-se sua vontade de potência para atuar significativamente em seu meio, compartilhando o campo organizacional com as demais esferas da sociedade, para juntos construírem um ambiente, uma cidade sustentável, entendida como um sistema complexo adaptativo de aprendizagem. / Currently, contemporary society is mired in a crisis of social relations arising from our immersion in the paradigm of science and the market, which sits in the valuation of human beings by what it consumes and can display to the detriment of the being itself. The paradigm values consumerism based on the exploitation of natural resources and human labor, and the belief in the power of technology and scientific knowledge for the problems’ remediation that originate in that process. The lack of significations repertoire reduced this profound civilizational crisis to disconnected and disjoint crises, to which we call health, transport, safety, environmental crisis, these are some between so many other crises that we can map. In this context, this thesis aims to analyze the processes that we believe to be responsible for this hegemonic vision of the world that is decontextualized, simplistic and disjointed. We drew a line of historical processes and relationships that led us, as a society, to believe that we live in an environmental crisis (using as a generator theme, the climate change) and not a civilization crisis. Our social relations brought to evidence that a society geared to consumption, is a great manager of this risk society, determined by the dominant paradigms that lead us to believe in the deterministic power of science and building of a society in balance. In contrast to this thought, based on several authors, we affirm that we live in a world that is not static, nor is in equilibrium and not at all determined a priori, but subject to chaotic and irreversible thermodynamic processes, that will trigger destabilization in the environments and consequent processes of self-organization in a complex adaptive learning process, both in the Gaia organizations, as in the subject, in the relationship between biotic and abiotic systems, societies, economics, politics and in our culture. As a resistance to this hegemonic vision of the world we propose a contextualized approach method to this problem by building field of meanings that portray this crisis in a contextualized and complex way associating this theme to the daily life of the subject. This process was developed through the opening of coexistence relational environments based on shared experiences. We also stress the importance of theoretical approach to be associated with the subject’s daily life, since every individual sees his world through its own experiences, life story and background. Thus, we open possibilities of provoking stimuli on the edge of chaos to destabilize this subject to get it out of balance and provoke new emergencies, which resignifies this subject in relation to his world. Thus, activating his will power to act meaningfully in their midst, sharing the organizational field with the other spheres of society, to together build an environment, a sustainable city, understood as a complex adaptive learning system.

Un système logistique est une composante essentielle d'un système spatial dans lequel les acteurs s'organisent autour d'infrastructures pour faire circuler des flux (de marchandises, d'information et financier) sur un territoire. L'organisation logistique globale résulte d'un processus auto-organisé et distribué de la part des acteurs. Ce travail vise à comprendre, à de multiples échelles, comment des acteurs autonomes et très hétérogènes (dans leurs modes de fonctionnements et dans leurs objectifs), s'organisent collectivement autour des infrastructures à leurs dispositions pour gérer des flux soumis à un ensemble de contraintes (temporelles, spatiales,...). On propose ici un modèle orienté agent permettant de simuler les processus de création et d'organisation des flux liés à la logistique sur un territoire. Le modèle prévoit de décrire l'interface entre les flux internationaux et les flux urbains afin de comprendre comment les dynamiques portuaires et urbaines cohabitent au sein du système. Le modèle intègre une dynamique structurelle et organisationnelle grâce aux graphes dynamiques afin de représenter l'évolution du système. Le modèle permet ainsi aux agents de s'adapter, comme dans la réalité, à des perturbations du système. / A logistic system is an essential component of a spatial system. Actors are organised around infrastructures in order to move different kinds of flow (of goods, of information, or financial) over a territory. The logistic organisation comes from an auto-organised and distributed process from the actors. This works aims to understand, at different scales, how autonomous and heterogeneous actors (according to their goals and methods to take decisions) are collectively organised around infrastructures to manage different kinds of flow, and despite numerous constraints (temporal, spatial,...). We propose an agent-based model which allows to simulate the processes to create and organise logistic flow over a territory. The model describes an interface between international and urban flow in order to understand how the port and urban dynamics work together. The model integrates a structural and organisational dynamics thanks to dynamic graphs in order to represent the evolution of this kind of system. Thus, the agents can adapt themselves to system's perturbations as in the reality.

The stock market is a highly complex adaptive system as different entities interact, operate and change states due to a specific trading behavior they follow. For that reason, the dynamics that can be found there change over time due to these actions. However, when systematic risks like COVID-19 take place these dynamics are altered. In this master thesis, an agent-based modelis constructed that simulates the interaction between investors and five companies with the purpose of investigating how its dynamics are affected. This agent-based model is constructed by using the environment of Python. Additionally, another purpose of this study is to compare a financial index like OMSX30 to a constructed financial index given by the agent-based model. Lastly, according to the findings of this study, a constructed index made with the corresponding model does not fully capture the dynamics of OMSX30. However, there are some similarities in terms of trends.

The usability of complex scientific software is often lacking as it tends to not receive a high priority in development, in addition to the fact that developers are usually engineers with a low level of knowledge in usability areas. The study examines such a software in an environment with a significant difference in terms of user skill, which creates some issues in terms of improving usability. Novice users need to have a higher degree of learnability to better understand how to operate the system, but this cannot reduce the overall level of complexity since it is required by experienced users to perform more advanced tasks. To find out how usability could be increased under these conditions, qualitative interviews were conducted with users of the software. The gathered data was applied to a thematic analysis that was used as a foundation in the development of a functional prototype for a new design, which was iteratively tested and evaluated with users. The design integrates a somewhat novel feature through a zoom-in function as an adaptable view, where the user can visualize a more complex layer of the software. The study also highlights the importance of correctly identifying central user activities in an environment with a high difference in complexity among tasks, to make more informed design decisions around visual priority.

System engineering (SE) is a structured systematized methodology that deals with designing, managing, and optimizing systems performance. System engineers use the perspective of system thinking to make the successful use and retirement of engineering systems. Since the role of system engineers ranges widely from technical support to customer interaction, system design to management, there is a demand to develop a cadre of effective systems engineers. However, two critical questions are not well-defined in the extant body of SE literature: (1) What are the fundamental attributes of systems engineering that would influence the performance/effectiveness of individual systems engineer? (2) What are the corresponding leading indicators for appraising the performance of an individual systems engineer? To respond to these questions, this study proposes a new instrument to evaluate the system engineers' performance and subsequently identify their strengths and weaknesses within the complex system domain. The instrument is based on the set of performance indicators examining six fundamental system engineering attributes. The implication of this study would assist systems engineers in strengthening their system skills and reflects a state that can be improved through training, workshops, and education to prepare them to face the complex situations originating from the problem domain.

e-Learning is becoming an influential role as an economic method and a flexible mode of study in the institutions of higher education today which has a presence in an increasing number of college and university courses. e-Learning as system of systems is a dynamic and scalable environment. Within this environment, e-learning is still searching for a permanent, comfortable and serviceable position that is to be controlled, managed, flexible, accessible and continually up-to-date with the wider university structure. As most academic and business institutions and training centres around the world have adopted the e-learning concept and technology in order to create, deliver and manage their learning materials through the web, it has become the focus of investigation. However, management, monitoring and collaboration between these institutions and centres are limited. Existing technologies such as grid, web services and agents are promising better results. In this research a new architecture has been developed and adopted to make the e-learning environment more dynamic and scalable by dividing it into regional data grids which are managed and monitored by agents. Multi-agent technology has been applied to integrate each regional data grid with others in order to produce an architecture which is more scalable, reliable, and efficient. The result we refer to as Regionally Distributed Architecture for Dynamic e-Learning Environment (RDADeLE). Our RDADeLE architecture is an agent-based grid environment which is composed of components such as learners, staff, nodes, regional grids, grid services and Learning Objects (LOs). These components are built and organised as a multi-agent system (MAS) using the Java Agent Development (JADE) platform. The main role of the agents in our architecture is to control and monitor grid components in order to build an adaptable, extensible, and flexible grid-based e-learning system. Two techniques have been developed and adopted in the architecture to build LOs' information and grid services. The first technique is the XML-based Registries Technique (XRT). In this technique LOs' information is built using XML registries to be discovered by the learners. The registries are written in Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) format. The second technique is the Registered-based Services Technique (RST). In this technique the services are grid services which are built using agents. The services are registered with the Directory Facilitator (DF) of a JADE platform in order to be discovered by all other components. All components of the RDADeLE system, including grid service, are built as a multi-agent system (MAS). Each regional grid in the first technique has only its own registry, whereas in the second technique the grid services of all regional grids have to be registered with the DF. We have evaluated the RDADeLE system guided by both techniques by building a simulation of the prototype. The prototype has a main interface which consists of the name of the system (RDADeLE) and a specification table which includes Number of Regional Grids, Number of Nodes, Maximum Number of Learners connected to each node, and Number of Grid Services to be filled by the administrator of the RDADeLE system in order to create the prototype. Using the RST technique shows that the RDADeLE system can be built with more regional grids with less memory consumption. Moreover, using the RST technique shows that more grid services can be registered in the RDADeLE system with a lower average search time and the search performance is increased compared with the XRT technique. Finally, using one or both techniques, the XRT or the RST, in the prototype does not affect the reliability of the RDADeLE system.

Le contexte de ce travail est la Modélisation et Simulation (M&S) de systèmes complexes. Leur étude nécessite de combiner plusieurs points de vue (échelles temporelles et spatiales, domaines scientifiques et formalismes, niveaux de résolution...). Le challenge est l'intégration rigoureuse de ces différentes perspectives sur un système au sein d'une démarche de M&S. La multi-modélisation et la co-simulation sont deux approches prometteuses pour cela. La difficulté sous-jacente est de fournir une démarche modulaire, hiérarchique, dotée d'une approche d'intégration de composants hétérogènes rigoureuse et associée à un environnement logiciel supportant l'ensemble du cycle de M&S pour la mettre en pratique. MECSYCO (Multi-agent Environment for Complex System CO-simulation) est un intergiciel de co-simulation se focalisant sur la réutilisation de modèles issus d'autres logiciels. Il se base sur une stratégie d'encapsulation logicielle et formelle fondée sur DEVS, fournit des mécanismes de gestion des hétérogénéités, et assure une co-simulation décentralisée et modulaire. MECSYCO répond au besoin d'intégration de composants hétérogènes au sein d'une co-simulation, mais ne propose pas de démarche complète comprenant l'ensemble des propriétés énoncées précédemment comme la possibilité de hiérarchiser. Pour pallier à ce manque, dans la continuité des travaux sur MECSYCO nous proposons une démarche de multi-modélisation et co-simulation descriptive autorisant la construction incrémentale de multi-modèles à partir de modèles issus d'autres logiciels. Notre démarche est décomposée en 3 étapes : l'intégration, la multi-modélisation et enfin l'expérimentation. Chaque élément produit lors de ces étapes est associé à une description permettant de le manipuler. L'utilisation de descriptions complète le processus d'intégration, permet la construction incrémentale et modulaire des multi-modèles, et isole l'expérimentation. Nous mettons ensuite en place un environnement de développement basé sur des langages dédiés aux descriptions, et nous automatisons le passage d'une description d'expérience à sa co-simulation effective. C'est une démarche d'Ingénierie Dirigée par les Modèles qui nous permet de mettre en pratique notre approche en facilitant le travail des modélisateurs et en évitant les erreurs d'implémentation. Nos contributions sont évaluées sur plusieurs expériences dont la reprise d’un multi-modèle d’autoroute hybride et un exemple de thermique des bâtiments. / This work deals with complex system Modeling and Simulation (M&S). The particularity of such systems is the numerous heterogeneous entities in interaction involved inside them. This particularity leads to several organization layers and scientific domains. As a consequence, their study requests many perspectives (different temporal and spatial scales, different domains and formalisms, different granularities...). The challenge is the rigorous integration of these various system perspectives inside an M&S process. Multi-modeling and co-simulation are promising approaches to do so. The underlying problem is to define a modular and hierarchical process fitted with a rigorous way to integrate heterogeneous components and which is supported by a software environment that covers the whole M&S cycle. MECSYCO (Multi-agent Environment for Complex SYstem CO-simulation) is a co-simulation middleware focusing on the reuse of existing models from other software. It relies on a software and formal DEVS-based wrapping, provides heterogeneity handling mechanisms and ensures a decentralized and modular co-simulation. MECSYCO deals with the heterogeneous component integration need but its M&S process does not have all the properties above-mentioned. Notably, the hierarchical modeling ability is missing. To overcome this, we propose to fit MECSYCO with a descriptive multi-modeling and co-simulation process that allows the hierarchical design of multi-models using models from other software. Our process is split into three steps: integration, multi-modeling and finally the experimentation. We adopt a descriptive approach where a description file is linked to each product of these steps, these documents enable to manipulate them. The use of description files completes the integration steps, allows a hierarchical and modular multi-model design and isolates the experiments. Then we set up a development environment based on Domain Specific Languages to support the description work, and we automate the transition from an experiment description to its effective co-simulation. This is a Model-Driven Engineering approach which allows us to put into practice our contribution by facilitating the work of modelers and by avoiding implementation mistakes. Our contributions are evaluated on several experiments including a hybrid highway model and a thermal regulation example.

O gerenciamento de resíduos sólidos municipais não vem contemplando adequadamente a multidimensionalidade da realidade urbana num mundo globalizado e pouco tem auxiliado na necessária transformação dos padrões de consumo nas comunidades locais. Face a incerteza inerente dos sistemas sociais, a complexidade vem sendo, progressivamente, reconhecida como a expressão paradigmática dessa realidade. Neste trabalho, desenvolve-se o conceito de sistema de resíduos sólidos sob a perspectiva de um sistema complexo, assim como caracteriza-se a dinâmica das suas interações. A partir dessa concepção teórica, discute-se a busca da sustentabilidade por meio do gerenciamento de resíduos e as formas de complexificar a sua metodologia de atuação, na qual a cobrança da coleta de resíduos domiciliares é identificada como um importante instrumento neste processo. Propõe-se um modelo de cobrança desses serviços cuja viabilidade é verificada na simulação feita para o município de Santo André-SP. Levanta-se, ainda, dados sobre as formas de cobrança existentes em diversos municípios e a situação dos serviços de limpeza urbana no Brasil. Conclui-se que o gerenciamento de resíduos sólidos deve ser executado no âmbito de uma política pública local para o setor e que o modelo de cobrança proposto tem maior aplicabilidade em cidades de médio a grande porte. / Municipal solid waste management does not give appropriate consideration to the urban multidimensional reality in a globalized world and it has not promoted the necessary change of consumer standards in the local community. Due to the inherent uncertainty of the social systems, the complexity has been progressively recognized as a paradigmatic expression of this reality. In this study the concept of solid waste system is explained in the perspective of a complex system and how to characterize the dynamics of its interactions. From this theoretical standing the search for sustainability through solid waste management and the way to improve the complexity of its methodology is discussed wherein the household waste collection tax is identified as an important tool. A model for a waste collection tax is proposed the feasibility of which is validated by a simulation applied in Santo Andre city. Data on waste collection tax was acquired from several municipal districts and they represent the situation of the urban cleaning services in Brazil. Conclusions state that solid waste management should be carried out in the context of local public policies for this sector and that the proposed model for waste collection tax presents high feasibility for medium and large cities.