Informational privacy of individuals has significantly gained importance after information technology has become widely deployed. Data, once digitalised, can be copied, distributed, and long-term stored at negligible costs. This has dramatic consequences for individuals that leave traces in the form of personal data whenever they interact with information technology, for instance, computers and phones; or even when information technology is recording the personal data of aware or unaware individuals. The right of individuals for informational privacy, in particular to control the flow and use of their personal data, is easily undermined by those controlling the information technology. The objective of this thesis is to study the measurement of informational privacy with a particular focus on scenarios where an individual discloses personal data to a second party which uses this data for re-identifying the individual within a set of other individuals. We contribute with privacy metrics for several instances of this scenario in the publications included in this thesis, most notably one which adds a time dimension to the scenario for modelling the effects of the time passed between data disclosure and usage. The result is a new framework for inter-temporal privacy metrics.

La tesis propone un lenguaje específico de dominio (DSL) para modelar Sistemas Colaborativos (CSSL - Collaborative Software System Language). Este lenguaje fue diseñado como una extensión de UML usando el mecanismo de metamodelado y posee una sintaxis abstracta formalizada que permitirá entre otras cosas definir más de una sintaxis concreta a partir de ella, lo cual aumenta la legibilidad y flexibilidad del lenguaje. Finalmente se presenta una guía que facilita la construcción de Sistemas Colaborativos. Dentro del paradigma MDD (Model Driven Development) y utilizando el lenguaje CSSL se describe las etapas iniciales de un método para modelar los Sistemas Colaborativos.

This thesis discusses applying AI planning tools for generating plans for manual operations. Expertise of motion economy domain is used to select good plans among feasible ones. Motion economy is a field of industrial engineering, which deals with observing, reporting and improving manual operations. Motion economy knowledge is organized in principles regarding the sequences and characteristics of motions, arrangement of workspace, design of tools etc. A representation scheme is developed for products, workspace and hand motions of manual operations. Operation plans are generated using a forward chaining planner (TLPLAN). Planner and representation of domain have extensions compared to a standard forward chaining planner, for supporting concurrency, actions with resources and actions with durations. We formulated principles of motion economy as search control temporal formulas. In addition to motion economy rules, we developed rules for simulating common sense of humans and goal-related rules for preventing absurd sequences of actions in the plans. Search control rules constrain the problem and reduce search complexity. Plans are evaluated during search. Paths, which are not in conformity with the principles of motion economy, are pruned with motion economy rules. Sample problems are represented and solved. Diversity of types of these problems shows the generality of representation scheme. In experimental runs, effects of motion economy principles on the generation of plans are observed and analyzed.

This study examined the domain-specific nature of perfectionism in the contexts of sport and academe among a sample of 113 female and 142 male intercollegiate varsity student-athletes. Participants completed self-report measures of domain-specific perfectionism, perceived competence (PC), and perceived importance (PI) of success. A repeated-measures MANOVA revealed that, on average, student-athletes had significantly higher levels of perfectionism in sport than in school/academe (all ps < .0001). Separate single sample t-tests for PC and PI showed the participants had, on average, significantly higher levels of PC and PI in sport than in school (ps < .001). Bivariate correlation analyses revealed that, in general, as domain-specific PC and PI increased so too did domain-specific perfectionism. Results reinforce the value of measuring perfectionism as a domain-specific (rather than global) personality disposition, and that perceived competence and perceived importance (i.e., perceived task value) may be associated with the development of domain-specific perfectionism.

Thesis (M. S. in Computer Science)--Vanderbilt University, May 2005. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. S.)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Paredis, Chris; Committee Member: McGinnis, Leon; Committee Member: Schaefer, Dirk.

Les pratiques de développement des logiciels de Réalité Virtuelle (RV) ne sont pas optimisées. Ainsi, chaque société utilise ses propres méthodes. L'objectif de la thèse est d'automatiser la production et l'évaluation des logiciels de RV en utilisant des techniques issues de ! 'Ingénierie Dirigée par les Modèles (IDM). Les approches existantes en RV ne permettent pas de tirer parti des points communs que partagent ces logiciels. Ces manques de réutilisation et d'abstraction sont des problèmes connus en !DM, qui propose le concept de Ligne de Produits Logiciels (LPL) pour automatiser la production de logiciels de la même famille par réutilisation de composants communs. Cependant cette approche n'est pas adaptée au développement de logiciels reposant sur un scénario, comme en RV. Nous proposons deux frameworks qui comblent respectivement les manques en IDM et en RV : LPLOS (LPL Orientée Scénario) et LPLRV (LPL pour la RV). LPLOS repose sur un modèle de scénarios qui manipule un modèle de variabilité logicielle (Feature model, FM). Chaque étape du scénario correspond à une configuration du FM. LPLRV repose sur LPLOS. Le scénario supervise la manipulation des objets virtuels, générés automatiquement à partir d'un modèle. Nous avons implémenté ces frameworks au sein d'outils qui ont été essayés sur des exemples et évalués par des utilisateurs cibles. Les résultats soutiennent l'utilisation de ces frameworks pour la production de logiciels reposant sur un scénario. / Development practices in Virtual Reality (VR) are not optimized. for example, each company uses its own methods. The goal of this PhD thesis is to automatize development and evaluation of VR software with the use of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) technics. The existing approaches in VR do not take advantage of software commonalities. Those lacks of reuse and abstraction are known problems in MDE, which proposes the Soflware Product Line (SPL) concept to automatize the production of software belonging to the same family, by reusing common components. However, this approach is not adapted to software based on a scenario, like inVR.We propose two frameworks that respectively address the lacks in MDE and VR : SOSPL (scenario-oriented software product line) and VRSPL (VR SPL). SOSPL is based on a scenario model that handles a software variability model (feature model , FM). Each scenario step matches a configuration of the FM. VRSPL is based on SOSPL. The scenario manages virtual objects manipulation, the objects being generated automatically from a model. We implemented these frameworks inside tools that have been tried on exemples and evaluated by their target users. The results promote the use of these frameworks for producing scenario-based software.

This project is about creating a Dashboard with suitable data models containing support ticket statistics for the company Sigma IT Consulting. The work flow used by Sigma today is to manually log in to the system to see the support ticket statistics, which can be a tedious and time consuming process. Furthermore, Sigma do not have any monitoring system for checking the health of their web application services. They have a need for an internal Dashboard containing this information with regularly updates. Our solution is to design suitable data models and implement them within a Dashboard application.

Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse visent à faciliter le développement de ressources pour le traitement automatique des langues. Les ressources de ce type prennent des formes très diverses, en raison de l’existence de différents niveaux d’étude de la langue (syntaxe, morphologie, sémantique,. . . ) et de différents formalismes proposés pour la description des langues à chacun de ces niveaux. Les formalismes faisant intervenir différents types de structures, un unique langage de description n’est pas suffisant : il est nécessaire pour chaque formalisme de créer un langage dédié (ou DSL), et d’implémenter un nouvel outil utilisant ce langage, ce qui est une tâche longue et complexe. Pour cette raison, nous proposons dans cette thèse une méthode pour assembler modulairement, et adapter, des cadres de développement spécifiques à des tâches de génération de ressources langagières. Les cadres de développement créés sont construits autour des concepts fondamentaux de l’approche XMG (eXtensible MetaGrammar), à savoir disposer d’un langage de description permettant la définition modulaire d’abstractions sur des structures linguistiques, ainsi que leur combinaison non-déterministe (c’est à dire au moyen des opérateurs logiques de conjonction et disjonction). La méthode se base sur l’assemblage d’un langage de description à partir de briques réutilisables, et d’après un fichier unique de spécification. L’intégralité de la chaîne de traitement pour le DSL ainsi défini est assemblée automatiquement d’après cette même spécification. Nous avons dans un premier temps validé cette approche en recréant l’outil XMG à partir de briques élémentaires. Des collaborations avec des linguistes nous ont également amené à assembler des compilateurs permettant la description de la morphologie de l’Ikota (langue bantoue) et de la sémantique (au moyen de la théorie des frames). / The work presented in this thesis aim at facilitating the development of resources for natural language processing. Resources of this type take different forms, because of the existence of several levels of linguistic description (syntax, morphology, semantics, . . . ) and of several formalisms proposed for the description of natural languages at each one of these levels. The formalisms featuring different types of structures, a unique description language is not enough: it is necessary to create a domain specific language (or DSL) for every formalism, and to implement a new tool which uses this language, which is a long a complex task. For this reason, we propose in this thesis a method to assemble in a modular way development frameworks specific to tasks of linguistic resource generation. The frameworks assembled thanks to our method are based on the fundamental concepts of the XMG (eXtensible MetaGrammar) approach, allowing the generation of tree based grammars. The method is based on the assembling of a description language from reusable bricks, and according to a unique specification file. The totality of the processing chain for the DSL is automatically assembled thanks to the same specification. In a first time, we validated this approach by recreating the XMG tool from elementary bricks. Some collaborations with linguists also brought us to assemble compilers allowing the description of morphology and semantics.

Context. A clear software process definition is important because it can help developers to share a common understanding and improve the development effectiveness. However, if the misconceptions or misunderstandings are introduced to the team during the process definition, it will bring numerous uncertain problems to the projects and reduce the productivity. Scrum is one of the most popular Agile development processes. It has been frequently used in software development. But the misunderstanding of usage of the Scrum method always leads to situations where teams cannot achieve the hyper-productivity even failure. Therefore, introducing a reasonable graphical language for describing the Scrum process may help learners to gain a correct and common understanding of the Scrum method. Objectives. In this study, we introduce a graphical Domain Specific Language for modeling the Scrum process and specific Scrum projects. Further, we evaluated the proposed language to figure out if and how this language can help developers learn Scrum method and understand the specific Scrum projects. For the first, we decide to extract the essential elements and their relative relationships of the Scrum process, and based on that, we define and specify the graphical language. After that, we evaluate the proposed graphical language to validate whether this language can be considered as useful to help developers to learn Scrum method and understand the specific Scrum projects. Methods. In order to define the graphical language, we studied and reviewed the literature to extract the essential elements and their relationships for describing the Scrum process. Based on that, we defined and specified the graphical DSL. With the aim of evaluating the proposed graphical language, we performed the experiment and survey method. This experiment was conducted in an educational environment. The subjects were selected from the undergraduate and master students. At the same time, we carried out a survey to capture the developers‘ opinions and suggestions towards the proposed language in order to validate its feasibility. Results. By studying the literature, we listed and specified the essential elements for describing the Scrum process. By executing the experiment, we evaluated the efficiency and effectiveness of learning Scrum in using the proposed language and the natural language. The result indicates that the graphical language is better than the natural language in training Scrum method and understanding specific Scrum projects. The result shows that the proposed language improved the understandability of the Scrum process and specific Scrum projects by more than 30%. We also performed a survey to investigate the potential use of the proposed graphical DSL in industry. The Survey results show that participants think the proposed graphical language can help them to better understand the Scrum method and specific Scrum projects. Moreover, we noticed that the developers who have less Scrum development experience show more interests in this proposed graphical language. Conclusions. To conclude, the obtained results of this study indicate that a graphical DSL can improve the understandability of Scrum method and specific Scrum projects. Especially in managing the specific Scrum project, subjects can easily understand and capture the detailed information of the project described in the proposed language. This study also specified the merits and demerits of using the graphical language and textual language in describing the Scrum process. From the survey, the result indicates that the proposed graphical language is able to help developers to understand Scrum method and specific Scrum projects in industry. Participants of this survey show positive opinion toward the proposed graphical language. However, it is still a rather long way to applying such a graphical language in Scrum projects development because companies have to consider the extra learning effort of the graphical DSL.