Kvalitetsledningsstandard ISO 9001 samt miljöledningsstandard ISO 14001 är idag frekvent förekommande i svenska företag. Standarderna har som syfte att ligga till grund för en organisations ledningssystem och innehåller en mängd kravspecifikationer som anses vara optimala för att en verksamhet ska bedriva ett hållbart kvalitetsarbete. Standarderna ges ut av International Organization for Standardization, vilken förkortas som ISO. Förkortningen grundar sig i det grekiska ordet isos som kan översättas till identisk eller lika. Grundidén för ISO-standarder är nämligen att de är standardiserade riktlinjer som går att applicera på alla organisationer med samma resultat.    Genom en kvalitativ flerfallsstudie så ämnar forskningen att undersöka hur organisationer påverkas av ISO-standarders spridning och institutionalisering, samt vad det har för effekt på dess arbete med kvalitet och hållbarhet. Under arbetets gång så har primärdata samlats in genom sex semi-strukturerade intervjuer med kvalitetschefer, miljöchefer och projektansvariga på ISO-certifierade företag samt hos Swedish Standards Institute. Majoriteten av forskningsanalysen behandlar ISO-standarder i kontexten kring institutionalisering, isomorfism och institutionellt tryck, men den undersöker även företags påstådda motiv, och hur de upplever de organisatoriska konsekvenserna av anpassningen till ett ISO-certifierat ledningssystem.   Utfallet av undersökningen visar att de undersökta företagen påstår sig ha tre olika motiv till att göra en anpassning till ISO-standarder och dessa är: Påtryckningar från intressenter och kundernas krav på certifierade ledningssystem, certifieringar som konkurrensfördel i upphandlingar, samt en tilltro till standardens förmåga att effektivisera den egna verksamheten.   Påtryckningarna från intressenter har visat sig ha en central roll i hur företaget bedriver sitt arbete med standarder. De organisatoriska effekterna upplevs av samtliga respondenter som positiva men ger i de flesta fall inte intryck av att vara bra nog för att motivera den mängd tid och resurser som krävs för att erhålla ett certifikat. Istället sätts processen ofta igång genom ett tryck från omgivningen där kunderna genom sina kravställningar har en förmåga att få företagen att initiera sin anpassning. Svenska organisationer drivs således till att anpassa sig till samma typ av standardiserade sätt att bedriva sitt arbete, vilket gör dem mer homogena med sin omgivning och bidrar till att kvalitets- och miljöarbetet allt mer blir professionaliserat. / Quality management standard ISO 9001 and environmental management standard ISO 14001 are frequently occuring in swedish enterprises. The standards are intented to provide a foundation for an organization’s management system and they contain a series of specifications that are estimated to be optimal for a business to conduct a sustainable and high quality operation. ISO-standards are published by International Organization for Standardization, which is abbreviated as ISO. The abbreviation stems in the greek term isos, which can be translated into equal or alike. The main idea of ISO-standards is that they are a series of standardized guidelines which can be applied to any organization with the same results.   By conducting a qualitative multi-case study the research intends to examine how organizations are affected by the ISO-standards proliferation and institutionalization, as well as its perceived effects on firms’ work with quality and sustainability. Primary data has been gathered during the course of the research by conducting six semi-structured interviews with quality managers, environmental managers and project managers at ISO-certified enterprises as well as the Swedish Standards Institute. The majority of the analysis treats ISO-standards in the context of institutionalization, isomorphism and institutional pressure. Moreover, it also examines the enterprises alleged motives for adaption as well as their experience of the organizational changes a certified management system entails. The results of the research shows that the examined enterprises claims to have three different motives for adaption: Pressure from stakeholders and the customers’ demands for certified management systems, certificates as a competitive advantage in procurements, as well as a trust in the standards ability to streamline the organization.   The pressure from stakeholders have proven to play a central role in how the enterprise conducts work with the standards. The organizational effects are perceived by all respondents as positive. However, in most cases they do not give the impression of being worthy of the time and effort required to achieve a certificate. Instead, the process of acquiring a certificate is often initiated as a direct response to customers’ demands. Thus, the organizations are more inclined to adapting the same kind of standardized ways of planning their operations, which further makes them homogeneous with their environment as well as contributes to the professionalization of quality- and environmental work.

Les composants des marchés financiers peuvent être vus comme une chaîne globale de production de confiance, c’est-à-dire de crédit. Nous appelons cet ensemble de d’acteurs, de règles du jeu et d’outils le Financial Assets Production System (FAPS). Dans le cadre d’une grille de lecture institutionnaliste (Veblen, Coase, North, Williamson) nous essayons de décrire et comprendre la production concrète des actifs financiers, leur système de production et de circulation. Puis nous illustrons par quelques exemples sur les structures globales des marchés, les composants et leurs relations, l'hypothèse "nationality defines organisational rationality". Cette hypothèse est étayée par les nombreux travaux d’anthropologues (Hall, Godelier), sociologues (Banfield, d’Iribarne, Mauss), économistes (Akerlof, Breuer, Tarde, Rugman), autres spécialistes des sciences sociales (historiens, politologues) et techniciens du management interculturel (Hofstede, Trompenaars). « Institutions and culture matter ». La culture nationale, par opposition aux autres référentiels culturels, modèle en partie les composants du marché et leur fonctionnement. Dans cette perspective nous ouvrons la réflexion sur les impacts du déploiement mondial des pratiques de standardisation-certification des services, produits et processus financiers. Et donc sur une potentielle déculturation des structures de marché et leur convergence vers un éventuel modèle « pur », sans marqueurs culturels, de production d’actifs financiers. En d’autres termes, ces réducteurs d’incertitude que sont les normes et leur utilisation sont-ils des « effaceurs de culture » en produisant un isomorphisme institutionnel volontaire ? Notre idée directrice est que la culture nationale n’est pas soluble dans l’ISO, mais au contraire peut s’y révéler. Les caractéristiques nationales ou civilisationnelles des systèmes de production d’actifs financiers ne sont pas sur le point de disparaître, les développements rapides des formes prises par la finance éthique sont là pour corroborer cette hypothèse. / Financial market components can be seen as a global credit production system. We call this global intermediation chain and its different links the Financial Assets Production System (FAPS).Institutional economics (Veblen, Coase, North, Williamson) provide some guidelines and tools to understand the production and distribution processes of financial assets. The aim is to describe, using examples, the way asset production is national specific. “Nationality defines organizational rationality”. This hypothesis is supported by some findings in anthropology, sociology, political science, history and the intercultural management school. “Institution and culture matter” is the motto of institutional approach. National culture, a specific level of cultural approach, has a readable impact on some market components and related functioning.But if market organization is national specific, what could be the impact of the on-going roll-out of international technical standards on those cultural layers. If standards are national culture erasers does it mean that there is a culture-free market model? And that a universal functional isomorphism, due to standards usage, provides more rational market practices to global players? Our findings are that national cultural market practices are not disappearing with standards global roll-out. Most of the time national cultures are still embedded in universal standards used by market players. The swift development of Ethical Finance seems to support the idea that domestic cultures are still strong drivers in financial markets set up.

Notre objectif est d’évaluer et de rendre opérationnelle la décomposition de problèmes d’optimisation sous contraintes. Nous nous sommes intéressés à deux problèmes en particulier : le problème de la recherche d’un plus grand sous-graphe commun (MCIS), et le problème de somme coloration minimale (MSCP). Il s’agit de problèmes NP-difficiles pour lesquels les approches de résolution complètes passent difficilement à l’échelle, et nous proposons de les améliorer à cet égard en décomposant ces problèmes en sous-problèmes indépendants. Les décompositions que nous proposons s’appuient sur la structure du problème initial pour créer des sous-problèmes de tailles équilibrées. Pour le MCIS, nous introduisons une décomposition basée sur la structure du graphe de compatibilité, et nous montrons que cette décomposition permet d’obtenir des sous-problèmes plus équilibrés que la méthode EPS classiquement utilisée pour paralléliser la résolution de problèmes en programmation par contraintes. Pour le MSCP, nous introduisons une nouvelle décomposition arborescente de hauteur bornée, et nous montrons comment tirer partie de la complémentarité de la programmation par contraintes et de la programmation linéaire en nombres entiers pour obtenir et résoudre les sous-problèmes indépendants qui en découlent. Nous proposons également une approche portfolio qui utilise des techniques d’apprentissage automatique pour choisir dynamiquement l’approche la plus performante en fonction du problème à résoudre. / The objective of this thesis is, from a general standpoint, to design and evaluate decomposition methods for solving constrained optimisation problems. Two optimisation problems in particular are considered: the maximum common induced subgraph problem, in which the largest common part between two graphs is to be found, and the sum colouring problem, where a graph must be coloured in a way that minimises a sum of weights induced by the employed colours. The maximum common subgraph (MCIS) problem is notably difficult, with a strong applicability in domains such as biology, chemistry and image processing, where the need to measure the similarity between structured objects represented by graphs may arise. The outstanding difficulty of this problem makes it strongly advisable to employ a decomposition method, possibly coupled with a parallelisation of the solution process. However, existing decomposition methods are not well suited to solve the MCIS problem: some lead to a poor balance between subproblems, while others, like tree decomposition, are downright inapplicable. To enable the structural decomposition of such problems, Chmeiss et al. proposed an approach, TR-decomposition, acting at a low level: the microstructure of the problem. This approach had yet to be applied to the MCIS problem. We evaluate it in this context, aiming at reducing the size of the search space while also enabling parallelisation. The second problem that caught our interest is the sum colouring problem. It is an NP-hard variant of the widely known classical graph colouring problem. As in most colouring problems, it basically consists in assigning colours to the vertices of a given graph while making sure no neighbour vertices use the same colour. In the sum colouring problem, however, each colour is associated with a weight. The objective is to minimise the sum of the weights of the colours used by every vertex. This leads to generally harder instances than the classical colouring problem, which simply requires to use as few colours as possible. Only a few exact methods have been proposed for this problem. Among them stand notably a constraint programming (CP) model, a branch and bound approach, as well as an integer linear programming (ILP) model. We led an in-depth investigation of CP's capabilities to solve the sum colouring problem, while also looking into ways to make it more efficient. Additionally, we evaluated a combination of integer linear programming and constraint programming, with the intention of conciliating the strong points of these highly complementary approaches. We took inspiration from the classical backtracking bounded by tree decomposition (BTD) approach. We employ a tree decomposition with a strictly bounded height. We then derive profit from the complementarity of our approaches by developing a portfolio approach, able to choose one of the considered approaches automatically by relying on a number of features extracted from each instance.

This thesis uses a case study approach and investigates how the institutional environment has an impact on decision making regarding sales within three departments at WSP Management in Sweden. With the application of neo-institutional frameworks, the study explains how decision making is constrained by the institution and the actors that make up the institutional environment, as well as how a pursuit for stability and legitimacy isolate engineering consultant companies from other sectors within the market.   The study concludes that the institutional environments inducements have created a sales structure within the departments that is solely focused on the public sector and acquiring contracts through public procurement. This sales structure is heavily imprinted within the departments and has created a culture where employees rely in department management to solely sell their services to potential customers. The success and efficiency within this institutional environment has made it that the departments key performance indicator-demands from upper the upper management are based on a sales structure that requires little or no proactive sales. The inducements within the regulative institutional environment thus has a big impact on their decision making when they are trying to maintain a financial stability in relation to the company’s upper management. With the current structure they have been placed in an institutional comfort zone in which they will be stuck within if no change is made.

Neste trabalho será provado que as álgebras comutativas de potências associativas de dimensão n e nilíndice n-3, assim como, álgebras de dimensão 9 sobre C, são solúveis, estendendo os resultados conhecidos ao famoso Problema de Albert. Logo depois de estudar o problema de Albert, será dada uma descrição das tabelas de multiplicação para as álgebras comutativas de potências associativas de dimensão n maior do que 12 e nilíndice n-1 sobre um corpo de característica diferente de 2,3 e 5. / We will prove that commutative power-associative nilalgebras both of dimension n and nilindex n-3, or of dimension 9 over C, are solvable. This solve an specific case of famous Albert\'s problem. After that, we will make a description about multiplications of commutative power-associative nilalgebras of dimension n (greater or igual that 12) and nilindex n-1 over a field of characteristic diferent from 2,3 and 5.

Beim Graphisomorphieproblem geht es um die Frage, ob zwei Graphen bis auf Knotenumbenennungen die gleiche Struktur haben. Es ist eines der wenigen verbleibenden natürlichen Probleme, für die weder ein Polynomialzeitalgorithmus noch NP-Härte bekannt ist. Aus dieser Situation ist ein Forschungszweig erwachsen, der effiziente Isomorphiealgorithmen für eingeschränkte Graphklassen entwickelt. Der Hauptbeitrag dieser Arbeit besteht in Logspace-Algorithmen, die das Isomorphieproblem für k-Bäume, Intervallgraphen, sowie Helly- und Proper-Kreisbogengraphen lösen. Dies verbessert zuvor bekannte parallele Algorithmen und führt zu einer vollständigen Klassifikation der Komplexität dieser Probleme, da für sie auch Logspace-Härte nachgewiesen wird. Tatsächlich leisten die vorgestellten Algorithmen mehr: Im Fall der k-Bäume berechnet der Algorithmus kanonische Knotenbenennungen mit O(k log n) Platz. Eine alternative Implementation des Algorithmus kommt mit O((k+1)!n) Zeit aus – hierbei ist n die Anzahl der Knoten – und ist damit der schnellste bekannte FPT-Algorithmus für Isomorphie von k-Bäumen. Die Algorithmen für Intervall- und Kreisbogengraphen berechnen kanonische Repräsentationen – das heißt, sie weisen jedem Knoten ein Intervall (beziehungsweise einen Kreisbogen) zu, sodass diese sich genau dann schneiden, wenn die zugehörigen Knoten benachbart sind, und isomorphe Eingabegraphen das gleiche Intervallmodell (beziehungsweise Kreisbogenmodell) erhalten. Außerdem werden auch Logspace-Algorithmen angegeben, die Intervallrepräsentationen mit zusätzlichen Eigenschaften berechnen – oder erkennen, dass dies nicht möglich ist: Für die resultierenden Intervallmodelle kann gefordert werden, dass sie proper sind (also kein Intervall ein anderes enthält), dass sie unit sind (also alle Intervalle die gleiche Länge haben) oder dass die Längen der paarweisen Schnitte (und optional der einzelnen Intervalle) vorgegebenen Werten entsprechen. / The graph isomorphism problem deals with the question if two graphs have the same structure up to renaming their vertices. It is one of the few remaining natural problems for which neither a polynomial-time algorithm nor NP-hardness is known. This situation has led to a branch of research that develops efficient algorithms for special cases of the graph isomorphism problem, where the input graphs are required to be from restricted graph classes. The main contribution of this thesis comprises of logspace algorithms that solve the isomorphism problem for k-trees, interval graphs, Helly circular-arc graphs and proper circular-arc graphs. This improves previously known parallel algorithms and leads to a complete classification of the complexity of these problems, as they are also shown to be hard for logspace. In fact, these algorithms achieve more: In the case of k-trees, the algorithm computes canonical labelings in space O(k log n). An alternative implementation runs in time O((k+1)!n), where n is the number of vertices, yielding the fastest known FPT algorithm for k-tree isomorphism. The algorithms for interval and circular-arc graphs actually compute canonical representations, i.e., each vertex is assigned an interval (or arc) such that these intersect each other if and only if the corresponding vertices are adjacent, and isomorphic input graphs receive the same interval (or arc) model. This thesis also presents logspace algorithms that compute interval representations with additional properties, or detect that this is not possible: The resulting interval models can be required to be proper (no interval contains another), unit (all intervals have the same length), or to satisfy prescribed lengths for pairwise intersections (and possibly prescribed lengths of intervals).

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-04T18:50:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 thesis.pdf: 520664 bytes, checksum: a8423486c7ffd3a3ceff9cb2b60761ce (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-03-14 / Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / The graph isomorphism problem has applications in several areas of science. This problem has not an efficient solution to its general case. In this work, we present the basic concepts of group theory, graph theory and quantum mechanics. We introduce the hidden subgroup problem and a known polynomial reduction of the graph isomorphism problem in its general case to the hidden subgroup problem on the symmetric group. We use a method that reduces the graph isomorphism problem to the group intersection problem. This method combines results from quantum computing and solvable group theory providing a efficient solution through a quantum algorithm to the graph isomorphism problem for the particular class of graphs. / O problema do isomorfismo de grafos possui aplicações em diversas áreas da ciência. Tal problema não possui uma solução eficiente para o seu caso geral. No presente trabalho, apresentamos os conceitos básicos em teoria de grupos, teoria dos grafos e mecânica quântica. Apresentamos o problema do subgrupo oculto e uma conhecida redução polinomial do problema do isomorfismo de grafos no seu caso geral para o problema do subgrupo oculto sobre o grupo simétrico. Utilizamos um método que reduz o problema do isomorfismo de grafos para o problema de interseção de grupos. Este método utiliza resultados da computação quântica e da teoria dos grupos solúveis, nos permitindo obter uma solução eficiente através de um algoritmo quântico para o problema do isomorfismo de grafos para uma classe particular de grafos.

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Daniel Morgato Martin / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Computação, 2014. / Neste trabalho estudamos o Problema do Isomorfismo de Grafos e a sua complexidade para resolvê-lo. Nossa principal contribuição é a proposta de um algoritmo para o caso geral do Problema, baseado no particionamento do conjunto de vértices e em emparelhamentos perfeitos de grafos bipartidos. Estudamos também o algoritmo de Brendan McKay, que é o mais rápido algoritmo para o Problema do Isomorfismo de Grafos conhecido. Ao final, implementamos o algoritmo proposto nesta dissertação e o algoritmo de McKay. Após a comparação dos dois algoritmos, verificamos que os resultados obtidos pelo algoritmo proposto não foram satisfatórios, porém apresentamos possíveis melhorias de como deixá-lo mais eficiente. / In this work we study the Graph Isomorphism Problem and their complexity to solve it. Our main contribution is to propose an algorithm for the general case of the Problem, based on partitioning the set vertex and perfect matchings of bipartite graphs. We also studied the Brendan McKay¿s algorithm, who is the fastest algorithm for the Graph Isomorphism Problem known. At the end, we implemented the algorithm proposed in this dissertation and McKay¿s algorithm. After comparison of the two algorithms, we found that the results obtained by the proposed algorithm were not satisfactory, but improvements are possible as to make it more efficient.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:13:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2008 - Laura Carolina Caetana de Oliveira Borges Volfzon.pdf: 2710642 bytes, checksum: 6bdff66e80dd924fdc7ce5585f11bb6f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-11-28 / This thesis presents the normative isomorphism of the rules that reign economic and financial activities as a result from the institutional evolution. This analysis was done under a sociological and institutional economic perspective. The study was developed in three steps: (i) a sociological approach, under Weber s, Braudel s and Arrighi s theory the State s institutional structure, the world-economy model and the dynamic world wealth, with emphasis on the hegemonic Gramsci s concept and the organicity of the social tissue, according to Elias; (ii) an intermediate approach of the institutional economics, under Hodgson s, Nelson s e Pawell & DiMaggio s theory; and (iii) a focused perspective about the normative isomorphism convenience to the rules that influence economics and strategic activities under Possas s and Coriat s theories industrials structures and institutional comparative advantages. The new industrial property law effects over the Brazilian Pharmaceutical Industry s patents deposits are the example for the thesis theoretical construction. / A tese apresenta o isomorfismo normativo das regras que regulam as atividades econ?micas e financeiras como o resultado da evolu??o institucional. Esta an?lise foi feita sob a perspectiva da sociologia e da economia institucional. O estudo se desenvolve em tr?s etapas: (i) a abordagem sociol?gica, sob a teoria de Weber, Braudel e Arrighi - estrutura institucional do estado, economia-mundo e din?mica da riqueza mundial, destacando o conceito de hegemonia de Gramsci e a organicidade da malha social segundo Elias, (ii) a abordagem intermedi?ria da economia institucional, sob a teoria de Hodgson, Nelson e Pawell & DiMaggio - desenvolvimento tecnol?gico e institucionaliza??o organizacional, e (iii) o foco acerca da conveni?ncia de normas isom?rficas para as atividades econ?micas e estrat?gicas, sob a teoria de Possas e Coriat - estruturas industriais e vantagens comparativas institucionais. Os efeitos da nova Lei de Propriedade Industrial sobre os dep?sitos de patentes das empresas da ind?stria farmac?utica no Brasil consubstanciam o exemplo da constru??o te?rica da tese.

O presente estudo visa a identificar os fatores institucionais que influenciaram a adoção de um Centro de Serviços Compartilhados em uma unidade organizacional de uma empresa brasileira pertencente ao setor de tabaco, tendendo a inibir, favorecer ou condicionar sua implementação. Tendo como elementos metodológicos predominantes a abordagem descritiva, qualitativa e o estudo de caso, a presente pesquisa busca embasamento teórico nas concepções da Nova Sociologia Institucional e na literatura disponível sobre serviços compartilhados a fim de averiguar os tipos de motivações predominantes para a adoção do CSC, sejam elas relacionadas à procura por eficiência ou legitimidade. Este trabalho também objetiva identificar os tipos de pressões institucionais presentes e predominantes na ocasião da adoção do CSC, verificar a presença ou não de decoupling e investigar se esses fatores inibem, favorecem ou, de alguma forma, condicionam a implementação do CSC. Os resultados demonstram que a busca por legitimidade é a motivação predominante na primeira fase de transição ao CSC, sendo que, na segunda fase, destaca-se a exigência de eficiência. Predominam as pressões institucionais miméticas na ocasião da adoção e as pressões coercitivas são interpretadas de forma positiva pelos gestores e colaboradores; não há decoupling; e, por fim, os achados demonstram que tais fatores favorecem a implementação do CSC. / This study aims to identify the institutional factors influencing the adoption of a Shared Services Center in an organizational unit of a Brazilian company belonging to the tobacco industry, which tended to inhibit, promote or constrain its implementation. With the methodological elements prevailing the descriptive and qualitative approach and the case study, this research seeks theoretical foundation in the concepts of the New Institutional Sociology and in the available literature on shared services in order to investigate the predominant types of motivations for the adoption of the SSC, whether related to the search for efficiency or legitimacy. This study also intends to identify the types of prevailing institutional pressures at the time of adoption of the SSC, verify the presence or absence of decoupling and investigate whether these factors inhibit, promote or somehow condition the implementation of SSC. The results demonstrate that the search for legitimacy is the predominant reason in the first stage of transition to the shared services model, while in the second one, it stands out the requirement of efficiency. Mimetic institutional pressures are prevalent at the time of adoption and coercive pressures are interpreted positively by managers and employees; there is not decoupling; and finally, the findings demonstrate that such factors favor the implementation of the SSC.