A fundamental challenge is to understand nonequilibrium statistical mechanics starting from microscopic chaos in the equations of motion of a many-particle system. In this thesis we summarize recent theoretical advances along these lines. We focus on two different approaches to nonequilibrium transport: One considers Hamiltonian dynamical systems under nonequilibrium boundary conditions, another one suggests a non-Hamiltonian approach to nonequilibrium situations created by external electric fields and by temperature or velocity gradients. A surprising result related to the former approach is that in simple low-dimensional periodic models the deterministic transport coefficients are typically fractal functions of control parameters. These fractal transport coefficients yield the first central theme of this thesis. We exemplify this phenomenon by deterministic diffusion in a simple chaotic map. We then construct an arsenal of analytical and numerical methods for computing further transport coefficients such as electrical conductivities andchemical reaction rates. These methods are applied to hierarchies of chaotic dynamical systems that are successively getting more complex, starting from abstract one-dimensional maps generalizing a simple random walk on the line up to particle billiards that should be directly accessible in experiments. In all cases, the resulting transport coefficients turn out to be either strictly fractal, or at least to be profoundly irregular. The impact of random perturbations on these quantities is also investigated. We furthermore provide some access roads towards a physical understanding of these fractalities. The second central theme is formed by a critical assessment of the non-Hamiltonian approach to nonequilibrium transport. Here we consider situations where the nonequilibrium constraints pump energy into a system, hence there must be some thermal reservoir that prevents the system from heating up. For this purpose a deterministic and time-reversible modeling of thermal reservoirs was proposed in form of Gaussian and Nose-Hoover thermostats. This approach yielded simple relations between fundamental quantities of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and of dynamical systems theory. Our goal is to critically assesses the universality of these results. As a vehicle of demonstration we employ the driven periodic Lorentz gas, a toy model for the classical dynamics of an electron in a metal under application of an electric field. Applying different types of thermal reservoirs to this system we compare the resulting nonequilibrium steady states with each other. Along the same lines we discuss an interacting many-particle system under shear and heat. Finally, we outline an unexpected relationship between deterministic thermostats and active Brownian particles modeling biophysical cell motility.

Embedded and automated tests reduce maintenance costs for embedded systems installed in remote locations. Testing multiple components of an embedded system, connected on a scan chain, using deterministic test patterns stored in a system provide high fault coverage but require large system memory. This thesis presents an approach to reduce test data memory requirements by the use of a test controller program, utilizing the observation of that there are multiple components of the same type in a system. The program use deterministic test patterns specific to every component type, which is stored in system memory, to create fully defined test patterns when needed. By storing deterministic test patterns specific to every component type, the program can use the test patterns for multiple tests and several times within the same test. The program also has the ability to test parts of a system without affecting the normal functional operation of the rest of the components in the system and without an increase of test data memory requirements. Two experiments were conducted to determine how much test data memory requirements are reduced using the approach presented in this thesis. The results for the experiments show up to 26.4% reduction of test data memory requirements for ITC´02 SOC test benchmarks and in average 60% reduction of test data memory requirements for designs generated to gain statistical data.

A fundamental challenge is to understand nonequilibrium statistical mechanics starting from microscopic chaos in the equations of motion of a many-particle system. In this thesis we summarize recent theoretical advances along these lines. We focus on two different approaches to nonequilibrium transport: One considers Hamiltonian dynamical systems under nonequilibrium boundary conditions, another one suggests a non-Hamiltonian approach to nonequilibrium situations created by external electric fields and by temperature or velocity gradients. A surprising result related to the former approach is that in simple low-dimensional periodic models the deterministic transport coefficients are typically fractal functions of control parameters. These fractal transport coefficients yield the first central theme of this thesis. We exemplify this phenomenon by deterministic diffusion in a simple chaotic map. We then construct an arsenal of analytical and numerical methods for computing further transport coefficients such as electrical conductivities andchemical reaction rates. These methods are applied to hierarchies of chaotic dynamical systems that are successively getting more complex, starting from abstract one-dimensional maps generalizing a simple random walk on the line up to particle billiards that should be directly accessible in experiments. In all cases, the resulting transport coefficients turn out to be either strictly fractal, or at least to be profoundly irregular. The impact of random perturbations on these quantities is also investigated. We furthermore provide some access roads towards a physical understanding of these fractalities. The second central theme is formed by a critical assessment of the non-Hamiltonian approach to nonequilibrium transport. Here we consider situations where the nonequilibrium constraints pump energy into a system, hence there must be some thermal reservoir that prevents the system from heating up. For this purpose a deterministic and time-reversible modeling of thermal reservoirs was proposed in form of Gaussian and Nose-Hoover thermostats. This approach yielded simple relations between fundamental quantities of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and of dynamical systems theory. Our goal is to critically assesses the universality of these results. As a vehicle of demonstration we employ the driven periodic Lorentz gas, a toy model for the classical dynamics of an electron in a metal under application of an electric field. Applying different types of thermal reservoirs to this system we compare the resulting nonequilibrium steady states with each other. Along the same lines we discuss an interacting many-particle system under shear and heat. Finally, we outline an unexpected relationship between deterministic thermostats and active Brownian particles modeling biophysical cell motility.

Nachhaltige und ethisch vertretbare Beschaffung und Produktion gehören zu den großen Herausforderungen, die aus dem rasanten Klimawandel und der wachsenden Weltbevölkerung resultieren. Die Erneuerbare-Energien-Richtlinie II der EU und das deutsche Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz sind nur zwei Beispiele für die Vielzahl von Gesetzen und Vorschriften, die Standards für nachhaltige und ethisch vertretbare Beschaffung und Produktion vorgeben. Sie implizieren einen Bedarf an Transparenz, Rückverfolgbarkeit und Verifizierbarkeit von Lieferketten und Transaktionen. Öffentliche Verifikationen von Transaktionen entlang von Lieferketten ermöglichen es Dritten, die Einhaltung von Standards und Richtlinien und den Wahrheitsgehalt von Nachhaltigkeitsversprechen zu überprüfen. Folglich kann die öffentliche Überprüfbarkeit Kunden, öffentlichen Stellen und Nichtregierungsorganisationen dabei helfen, Verstöße und Betrug in Lieferketten aufzudecken. Dies wiederum kann dazu beitragen, den Druck zur Einhaltung geltender Standards und Vorschriften zu erhöhen. Transaktionen in Lieferketten basieren oft auf vertraulichen Informationen, wie beispielsweise Mengen und Preise. Die Transparenz derartiger Daten könnte auf Geschäftsgeheimnisse schließen lassen, was direkten Einfluss auf die Wettbewerbsvorteile der beteiligten Firmen hätte. Die Vereinbarkeit von Transparenz und Vertraulichkeit scheint jedoch auf den ersten Blick widersprüchlich zu sein. Diese Dissertation stellt sich der Herausforderung, die öffentliche Verifizierbarkeit von Transaktionen in Lieferketten unter Wahrung der Vertraulichkeit zu ermöglichen. Ausgehend von zwei Fallbeispielen für Lieferketten-Verifikationen werden zunächst Anforderungen an Lösungen untersucht und fünf Forschungsfragen abgeleitet. Anschließend wird eine universelle Lösung entworfen, welche Transparenz und Vertraulichkeit in Einklang bringt. Das vorgestellte Systemmodell ermöglicht sichere öffentliche Verifikationen durch den Einsatz von Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) und Proxy Re-Encryption (PRE). Um die Eignung des Systemmodells für eine Vielzahl realer Szenarien zu verdeutlichen, werden in dieser Dissertation Protokolle für verschiedene Verifikationsfunktionen entworfen. Dies umfasst die Verifikation von Bilanzen, motiviert durch den Handel mit nachhaltigem Palmöl, sowie die Verifikation von Verhältnissen, veranschaulicht durch die Verarbeitung verschiedener Arten von Kobalt. Durch theoretische und empirische Untersuchungen wird nachgewiesen, dass die Protokolle sichere öffentliche Verifikationen für realitätsnahe Szenarien in praktikabler Zeit ermöglichen. Im Weiteren werden die Sicherheitseigenschaften und -implikationen des vorgeschlagenen Systemmodells und der Protokolle untersucht. Dies beinhaltet eine formale Analyse des Risikos, vertrauliche Informationen im Falle wiederholter, gleicher Verifikationen preiszugeben. Aufgrund der Anfälligkeit gegenüber derartigen Angriffen beim Verwenden probabilistischer Output Obfuscation, wird das Paradigma der Data-Dependent Deterministic Obfuscation (D3O) vorgestellt. D3O ist ein universelles Konzept und damit unabhängig vom Anwendungsfall der Lieferketten-Verifikation. Daher kann es in einer Vielzahl weiterer Protokolle für sichere Berechnungen eingesetzt werden, um das Abfließen vertraulicher Informationen zu reduzieren. / Sustainable and ethical sourcing and production are major challenges that arise from rapid climate change and our growing world population. The EU's Renewable Energy Directive II and the German Supply Chain Act are just two examples of the multitude of laws and regulations that define standards for sustainable and ethical sourcing and production. They imply a need for supply chain transparency, traceability, and verification. Public verification of supply chain transactions gives any third-party verifier the chance to evaluate compliance and the correctness of claims based on supply chain transaction details. Therefore, public verification can help customers, buyers, regulators, and non-governmental organizations uncover non-compliance and fraud committed by supply chain actors. This, in turn, can help increase the pressure to comply with applicable standards and regulations. Supply chain transactions often involve confidential data like amounts or prices. Transparency of such data could leak trade secrets and affect companies' competitive advantages. However, reconciling transparency with confidentiality seems contradictory at first glance. This thesis takes up the challenge of enabling privacy-preserving public verification of confidential supply chain transactions. Given two exemplary real-world use cases for supply chain verification, the thesis first investigates requirements for valid solutions and infers five research questions. It then designs a universal solution that combines transparency with confidentiality. The proposed system model achieves privacy-preserving public verification by employing the cryptographic techniques of fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) and proxy re-encryption (PRE). To demonstrate the suitability of the system model for a large variety of lifelike supply chain verification scenarios, the thesis designs privacy-preserving protocols for different verification functions. This includes the verification of balances, using the trade in sustainable palm oil as an example, as well as the verification of ratios, motivated by different forms of cobalt sourcing. These protocols are evaluated both theoretically and empirically. Through extensive empirical evaluation, the proposed protocols prove to enable privacy-preserving public verification for the mentioned supply chain scenarios in practical time. Additionally, this thesis investigates the security implications of the proposed system model and protocols and formally analyzes the risk of leaking information through repeated similar verifications. Based on the identified vulnerability to such attacks in the case of probabilistically obfuscated protocol outputs, the thesis introduces and investigates the paradigm of data-dependent deterministic obfuscation (D3O). D3O is a universal concept that is independent of the field of supply chain verification. It can reduce the leakage of confidential information in a large class of privacy-preserving protocols.

Αντικείμενο της παρούσας μεταπτυχιακής εργασίας είναι η διερεύνηση βελτιωμένων τεχνικών εφαρμογής του μοντέλου κυκλοφοριακού σχεδιασμού SATURN. Για το σκοπό αυτό επιλέγονται να μελετηθούν δύο διαφορετικές περιοχές στην υφιστάμενη και σε μία νέα κατάσταση. Συγκεκριμένα, η πρώτη περιοχή μελετάται ως ρυθμιστικό δίκτυο και οι αλλαγές στη νέα της κατάσταση αφορούν αλλαγή λειτουργίας κάποιων υφιστάμενων οδών όπως είναι αλλαγή κατεύθυνσης ροής οχημάτων και οι μονοδρομήσεις, και η δεύτερη ως προσομοίωσης και οι αλλαγές στη νέα της κατάστασης αφορούν την πεζοδρόμηση μίας οδού. Τα δίκτυα αυτά μελετώνται και ως ντετερμινιστικά και ως στοχαστικά με τη χρήση του αλγόριθμου Frank & Wolf και του Burrell αντίστοιχα, αλγόριθμους που διατίθενται μέσω του SATURN. Από την ανάλυση των αποτελεσμάτων παρατηρείται ότι οι αλλαγές που εφαρμόστηκαν στα δύο δίκτυα της παρούσας εργασίας φορτίζουν τα δίκτυο περισσότερο με αποτέλεσμα να επιβαρύνουν την κυκλοφοριακή κατάσταση. Επιπλέον διαπιστώθηκε ότι οσο πιο απλό είναι ένα δίκτυο τόσο πιο εύκολη είναι η επιλογή της συντομότερης διαδρομής από τους χρήστες, ενώ όσο πληθαίνουν οι εναλλακτικές διαδρομές παρατηρούνται διαφορές στην κατανομή των φόρτων σε αυτές και στην επίλυση του προβλήματος καταμερισμού, καθώς επίσης και ότι σε περιπτώσεις όπου οι εναλλακτικές διαδρομές καθίστανται ανταγωνιστικές παρατηρείται διασπορά των μετακινούμενων σε αυτές. Επιπροσθέτως ενδείκνυται το στοχαστικό μοντέλο ως καταλληλότερο και στις δύο εφαρμογές. Τέλος τo SATURN αποτελεί ένα χρήσιμο προγράμματα ανάλυσης δικτύων, προσομοίωσης και κατανομής της κυκλοφορίας. / The subject of this thesis is the investigation of improved application techniques of model transport planning SATURN. For this purpose, two different networks were chosen to study in two situations, one in an existing and one in a new situation . Specifically , the first area is being studied as a buffer network. The changes in the new situation are changes as the flow direction of vehicles and one-way. The second area is being studies as simulation network. In the new situation one street become way for pedestrian. These networks are studied as deterministic and stochastic using the algorithm Frank & Wolf and Burrell respectively, these algorithms are available through the SATURN. After the analysis of the results, it is observed that changes implemented in both networks affect in a worse way the traffic situation. In addition it was found that the simpler is a network the easier is to select the shortest route from the users. Opposed to this, increasing the alternative routes observed differences in the distribution of flows in them and in the assignment problem’s solution. Moreover in cases where alternative routes become competitive, dispersion of traveling is observed in them. Additionally stochastic model is showed to be appropriate in both applications . Finally to SATURN is a useful network analysis programs of simulation and assignment of traffic to urban road networks.

隨著國際競爭壓力增加及國內金融環境開放，國內企業運用併購策略已成為企業成長之重要方法。其中併購支付方式決策由於受到許多企業內外在因素左右，諸如稅法規定、法令限制、外部監督力量要求、企業的資本結構及股東結構等因素，而對企業財務結構及股價有重大影響，進而牽動併購的效益。本文乃欲檢驗併購支付方式的各項決定因素，以及支付方式對股價的效果，以供企業作為決策之參考。 本文之研究係以民國86年至95年間宣告併購的國內上市櫃企業為對象，同時排除行業性質特殊之金融業，以Logit模型及複迴歸模型從事實證模型分析。 本文研究議題有二： 一.探討影響併購支付模式之決定因素為何?本文以支付方式之虛擬變數為應變數，以每股現金流量等為自變數。 二.探討併購支付模式對公司股價之影響為何? 本文以累積異常報酬率為應變數，以支付方式之虛擬變數為自變數。 本研究實證結果發現，支付方式之決定因素方面，相對規模、併購地點、外資持股比例、併購宣告時間及負債權益比達到顯著水準。其中作為風險分攤因素之代理變數中負債權益比及相對規模之實證結果，均顯示與預期相符，即併購風險愈大，主併公司傾向選擇以股票支付，而併購地點卻與預期相反；另外資持股比例越高，傾向採現金支付，亦與預期相符。又併購宣告時間在企業併購法公布以後者，併購企業傾向採用股票支付。在支付方式對公司股價影響方面，實證結果雖與預期相符，即現金支付之累進異常報酬較股票支付方式佳，但其結果並不顯著。 / With the increasing pressure from international competition and opening domestic economic environment, the strategy to Business Combinations has become a more and more important way to promote enterprise and economy progress. The strategy of payment for Merger & Acquisition depends much on the various internal and external enterprise factors, and it has an significant impact on the capital structure of enterprises and the price of Stock. It also influences the effectiveness of merging. The present study was designed to investigate the possible deterministic factors of the mode of payment for Merger & Acquisition and how the mode of payment affected the price of stock, which might provide a good reference for planning enterprise strategies. The data were collected from the domestic enterprises which declared to merge other enterprises between 1997 and 2006. The financial industry with special marketing characteristics was excluded. The Logit and multiple linear regression models were used for the analyses. The aims of the present study were: 1. To investigate the possible deterministic factors of mode of payment for Merger & Acquisition. A dummy variable regarding mode of payment was used as the dependent variable, and variables such as per cash flow were used as the independent variables. 2. To determine how mode of payment for mergers affected the price of stock. Cumulative abnormal return ratio (CAR) was used as the dependent variable, and a dummy variable regarding mode of payment was used as the independent variable. The results showed that RS, CROSS, FRG, Dyear and DE significantly determined the mode of payment. The results were in accordance with the concept of risk-sharing. The higher the risk of merging, the more tendencies that the main enterprise chooses to pay by stocks. The higher percentage of FRG, the more tendency that the main enterprise chooses to pay by money or cash. The main enterprise also tends to choose to pay by stocks when the time of merging was declared after the publication of the law. For the results of the effect of mode of payment on the stock price, the results were also under expectation. The CAR for payment by cash or money is better than that by stocks. However, this result was not statistically significant.

The bulk of the research work in wave related areas considers sea waves as stochastic objects leading to wave forecasting techniques based on statistical approaches. Due to the complex dynamics of the sea waves’ behaviour, statistical techniques are probably the only viable approach when forecasting over substantial spatial and temporal intervals. However this view changes when limiting the forecasting time to a few seconds or when the goal is to estimate the quiescent periods that occur due to the beating interaction of the wave components, especially in narrow band seas. This work considers the multi disciplinary research field of deterministic sea wave prediction (DSWP), exploring different aspects of DSWP associated with shallow angle LIDAR systems. The main goal of this project is to study and develop techniques to reduce the prediction error. The first part deals with issues related to shallow angle LIDAR systems data problems, while the remaining part of this work concentrates on the prediction system and propagation models regardless of the source of the data. The two main LIDAR data problems addressed in this work are the non-uniform distribution and the shadow region problems. An empirical approach is used to identify the characteristics of shadow regions associated with different wave conditions and different laser position. A new reconstruction method is developed to address the non-uniformed sampling problem, it is shown that including more information about the geometry and the dynamics of the problem improves the reconstruction error considerably. The frequency domain approach to the wave propagation model is examined. The effect of energy leakage on the prediction error is illustrated. Two approaches are explored to reduce this error. First a modification of the simple dispersive phase shifting filter is tested and shown to improve the prediction. The second approach is to reduce the energy leakage with an iterative Window-Expansion method. Significant improvement of the prediction error is achieved using this method in comparison to the End-Matching method typically used in DSWP systems. The final part in examining the frequency domain approach is to define the prediction region boundaries associated with a given prediction accuracy. The second propagation model approach is the Time/Space domain approach. In this method the convolution of the measured data and the propagation filter impulse response is used in the prediction system. In this part of the research work properties of these impulse responses are identified. These are found to be quite complicated representations. The relation between the impulse response (duration and shift) with prediction time and distance are studied. Quantification of these impulse responses properties are obtained by polynomial approximation and non-symmetric filter analysis. A new method is shown to associate the impulse response properties to the prediction region of both the Fixed Time and Fixed Point mode.

La tribologie et l'analyse non-linéaire du signal est le sujet de mon travail de thèse. Dans la nature, les phénomènes linéaires sont l'exception ; rares sont les systèmes réels qui obéissent exclusivement à des lois linéaires. A l'opposée, les non-linéarités sont impliquées dans tous les processus naturels (réactions chimiques, mécanique, économie, etc.). Les systèmes frottant en sont un des exemples les plus courants, avec des applications très variées. Dans les systèmes de freinage, le frottement se trouve être à l'origine de nombreux problèmes d'instabilités. Les types d'instabilités auxquelles on a affaire dans ce cas sont celles des vibrations induites par le frottement. C'est justement sur ces instabilités que repose le principe Modalsens; un capteur- une lamelle- vient frotter sur un échantillon et ce frottement génère la vibration de celui-ci : le post-traitement par analyse de Fourier du signal vibratoire permet de distinguer des composantes liées au relief, au frottement et à la compressibilité des aspérités. Dans le cas de la méthode Modalsens, l'analyse de Fourier, qui est un outil linéaire, agit comme des lunettes aux travers desquelles est observé le signal et qui filtrerait toutes les composantes non-linéaires. Notre contribution s'inscrit dans cette optique: mettre en place une méthode performante d'analyse non-linéaire pour permettre de mieux appréhender l'analyse du comportement dynamique de Modalsens et de dégager de nouveaux estimateurs pour la caractérisation des surfaces textiles. Partant de là, les résultats obtenus nous serviront à proposer une modélisation du contact sur matériaux fibreux. / Tribology and nonlinear time series analysis are the main subject of my thesis. In nature, the Iinear events are the exception; few real systems follow linear laws exclusively. At the opposite, nonlinearities are involved in all natural processes (chemical reactions, mechanical engineering, economies, etc.). Systems involving dry friction are one of the most common examples, with a variety of applications. In braking systems, friction is found to cause many problems of instability. Types of instabilities addressed in this case are those of friction induced vibrations. The Modalsens method is precisely based on the exploitation of those instabilities: a sensor- a thin blade- rubs on a sample and friction induces its vibrations. Post-processing by Fourier analysis of the vibration signal can separate several components of the sample related to the relief, friction and compressibility of asperities. However, in the case of Modalsens method, Fourier analysis, which is a linear tool, acts like eyeglasses through which the signal is observed and that filters out all non-linear components. Our contribution is in this perspective: the establishment of an efficient method of nonlinear signal analysis to better understand the dynamic behavior of Modalsens and also generate new estimators for the characterization of textile surfaces. Hence, a model of contact on fibrous surface is proposed based on the obtained results.

A caminhada do turista pode ser enunciada num meio desordenado formado por N pontos espalhados aleatoriamente num hipercubo de d dimensoes. Um caminhante, partindo de um ponto qualquer desse meio, se desloca seguindo a regra determinista de dirigir-se sempre ao ponto mais proximo que nao tenha sido visitado nos ultimos µ pas- sos. Esta dinamica de movimentacao leva a trajetorias formadas por uma parte inicial transiente de t pontos, e uma parte final c?clica de p pontos. As trajetorias obtidas sao altamente dependentes da configuracao do meio. Este cenario sugere que este modelo possa ser usado como uma ferramenta de reconhecimento de padroes em conjuntos de dados. O objetivo desta tese e mostrar que as propriedades da caminhada do turista permitem a sua utilizacao na caracterizacao e exploracao de diversos tipos de sistemas. Aplicamos o modelo descrito em dois tipos distintos de sistemas, sistemas cont´?nuos e redes regulares, estudando suas ropriedades em funcao de parametros como tamanho do sistema, valor de memoria (µ), condicoes de contorno e regras de movimentacao. Finalmente, propomos e exploramos duas novas metodologias de reconhecimento de padroes baseadas nesta caminhada. A primeira consiste de um algoritmo de an´alise de imagens para caracterizar texturas que utiliza os resultados da matriz conjunta S(t, p) que carrega as informacoes sobre todas as trajetorias obtidas, reduzindo sua dimensionalidade e permitindo a classificacao eficiente de diferentes classes de imagens por um algoritmo de analise discriminante. O diferencial desta metodologia esta em sua capacidade de extrair da imagem as informacoes presentes em diversas escalas simultaneamente. A segunda metodologia e um algoritmo de agrupamento de dados n~ao supervisionado que considera cada atrator formado num dado valor de µ como um agrupamento natural e tem como resultado final uma arvore hierarquica geral, onde os grupos se conectam conforme se aumenta o valor de µ. Os resultados desta metodologia comparam-se em eficiencia aos resultados obtidos pela metodologia adicional para os dados testados e, entre as vanta- gens obtidas, podemos citar (i) independencia de uma metrica relacionando os elementos do conjunto, ja que trabalha apenas com uma matriz de vizinhancas, (ii) respeito a estrutura natural embutida no conjunto de dados, gerando uma arvore geral ao inves de uma arvore binaria e (iii) a representacao de maneira identica de conjuntos que sofreram transformacao de escala devido a independencia de uma metrica. / The tourist walk is defined in a disordered environment characterized by N points randomly distributed in a d-dimensional hypercube. Leaving from a given point, a wal- ker moves according to the deterministic rule of going to next point not visited in the last µ time steps. This dynamics leads to trajectories consisting in a transient part of t points e a final cyclic part of p points. The obtained trajectories are strongly dependent on the configuration of points. This described scenario suggests that the model can be treated as a tool for pattern recognition. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that the tourist walk\'s properties allow for its use in the characterization and exploration of various kinds of systems. We have applied the model in two distinct kinds of systems - continuous systems and regular networks and studied its properties as a function of the following parameters: system size, memory (µ), boundary conditions and movimentation rule. Eventually we have proposed and explored two new pattern recognition methodolo- gies based on this deterministic walk. The first one consists of an image analysis algorithm to characterize textures that makes use of the joint matrix S(t, p) which carries the data about all trajectories obtained, reducing its dimensionality and allowing an efficient clas- sification of different classes of images by a discriminant analysis algorithm. Its distinctive feature is its ability to extract informations in all scales from an image simultaneously. The second methodology proposed is a non-supervised clustering algorithm that considers each attractor in a given µ as a natural cluster. Its final result is a general hierarchical tree where groups coalesce as µ is increased. The results obtained with this methodology are comparable in efficiency with the results obtained with the tradicional method for the datasets tested. Among the advantages presented we can cite (i) independence from a metrics relating the elements since it works only with a neighborhood ranking table, (ii) respect for the natural structure hidden in the dataset, generating a general tree instead of a binary one and (iii) the representation of two sets transformed by scale in an identic manner due to the independence from a metrics.

O relacionamento de dados record linkage, originou-se na área da saúde pública e atualmente é aplicado em várias outras áreas como: epidemiologia, pesquisa médica, criação de ensaios clínicos, na área de marketing, gestão de relacionamento com o cliente, detecção de fraude, aplicação da lei e na administração do governo. A técnica consiste no processo de comparação entre dois ou mais registros em diferentes bases de dados e as principais estratégias de record linkage são: manual, deterministic record linkage (DRL) e probabilistic record linkage (PRL). Este estudoteve como objetivo aplicar o record linkage em bases de dados heterogêneas, utilizadas pela rede de atenção à saúde do município de Ribeirão Preto e identificar entre elas a melhor estratégia a ser adotada para a integração de bases de dados na área da saúde. As bases de dados da secretaria Municipal de Saúde de Ribeirão Preto (SMS-RP) e do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (HCFMRP/USP) foram objeto deste estudo, tendo como critério de inclusão apenas os registros de pacientes em que o município de residência informado correspondia ao município de Ribeirão Preto e o atendimento tivesse ocorrido na Unidade Básica Distrital e de Saúde (UDBS) - Centro Saúde Escola Joel Domingos Machado\" (CSE-Sumarezinho) nos anos de janeiro de 2006 a agosto de 2008 e no HCFMRP/USP. Foi selecionada uma amostra aleatória simples resultando em um conjunto de 1.100 registros de pacientes na base de dados do CSE-Sumarezinho e de 370.375 registros na base de dados do HCFMRP/USP. Foram, então, selecionadas quatro variáveis de relacionamento (nome, nome da mãe, sexo e data de nascimento). As estratégias adotadas foram: DRL exato, DRL com discordância em uma variável de relacionamento, e baseada em funções de similaridades (Dice, Levenshtein, Jaro e Jaro-Winkler) e, por fim, PRL. A estratégia DRL exato resultou em 334 registros pareados e na abordagem com discordância de uma variável foram 335, 343, 383 e 495, sendo as variáveis discordantes sexo, data de nascimento, nome e nome da mãe respectivamente. Quanto ao uso das funções de similaridades, as que mais se destacaram foram Jaro-Winkler e Jaro. Quanto à acurácia dos métodos aplicados, o PRL (sensibilidade = 97,75% (CI 95% 96,298,8) e especificidade = 98,55% (CI 95% 97,0-99,4)) obteve melhor sensibilidade e especificidade, seguido do DRL com as funções de similaridade Jaro-Winkler sensibilidade = 91,3% (CI 95% 88,793,4) e especificidade = 99% (CI 95% 97,6-99,7)) e Jaro (sensibilidade = 73,1% (CI 95% 69,476,6) e especificidade = 99,6% (CI 95% 98,5-99,9)). Quanto à avaliação da área sob a curva ROC do PRL, observou-se que há diferença estatisticamente significativa (p = 0,0001) quando comparada com os métodos DRL com discordância da variável nome da mãe, Jaro-Winkler e Jaro. Os resultados obtidos permitem concluir que o método PRL é mais preciso dentre as técnicas avaliadas. Mas as técnicas com a função de similaridade de Jaro-Winkler e Jaro também são alternativas viáveis interessantes devido à facilidade de utilização apesar de apresentarem o valor de sensibilidade ligeiramente menor que o PRL. / The record linkage originated in the area of public health and is currently applied in several other areas such as epidemiology, medical research, establishment of clinical trials, in the area of marketing, manager customer relationships, fraud detection, law enforcement and government administration. The technique consists on the comparison between two or more records in different databases and their key strategies are: manual comparison, Deterministic Record Linkage (DRL), and Probabilistic Record Linkage (PRL).This study aimed to apply the record linkage in heterogeneous databases, used by the network of health care in Ribeirão Preto and identify the best strategy to be adopted for the integration of databases in health care. The databases that were evaluated in this study were of the Municipal Health Department of Ribeirão Preto (SMS-RP) and of the Clinical Hospital of the School of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto (HCFMRP/USP) having as inclusion criterion only the records of patients in the county of residence reported corresponded to the city of Ribeirão Preto and care had taken place in the Basic District Health Unit (UDBS) - School Health Center \"Joel Domingos Machado\" (CSE-Sumarezinho) included in the years from January 2006 to August 2008 and in the HCFMRP/USP. Held to select a simple random sample resulted in a set of 1,100 patient records in the database of the CSE-Sumarezinho and 370,375 records in the database of HCFMRP/USP. Then there was the selection of four linking variables (name, mother\'s name, gender and birth date). The strategies adopted were: the exact DRL, DRL with one variable where the linking is disagreement, applied with similarity functions (Dice, Levenshtein, Jaro, and Jaro-Winkler), and, finally, PRL. The strategy of the exact DRL resulted in 334 matched records and strategy in dealing with disagreement of one variable were 335, 343, 383 and 495, to the following variables discordant gender, birth date, name and mother\'s name, respectively. Regarding the use of similarity functions which most stood out were Jaro and Jaro-Winkler. Regarding the accuracy of the methods applied, the PRL obtained better sensitivity and specificity (sensitivity = 97,75% (CI 95% 96,298,8) and specificity = 98.55% (95% CI 97.0 to 99.4)), followed by the DRL with the similarity functions Jaro-Winkler (sensitivity = 91.3% (95% CI 88.7 to 93.4) and specificity = 99% (95% CI 97.6 to 99, 7)) and then by Jaro (sensitivity = 73.1% (95% CI 69.4 to 76.6) = 99.6% and specificity (95% CI 98.5 to 99.9)). The evaluation of the area under the ROC curve in the PRL, was observed that there is statistically significant difference (p = 0.0001) if it is compared with the DRL methods when there is disagreement in the variable mother\'s name, as well as for Jaro and for Jaro-Winkler. The results indicate that the PRL method is most accurate among the techniques evaluated. Although the techniques with the similarity function of Jaro-Winkler and Jaro were also interesting viable options due to the ease of use, although having the sensitivity value slightly smaller than the PRL.