Visando atuação flexível em redes heterogêneas, modernos sistemas multimídia podem adotar o conceito da codificação escalável, onde o fluxo de vídeo é composto por múltiplas camadas, cada qual complementando e aprimorando gradualmente as características de exibição, de forma adaptativa às capacidades de cada receptor. Atualmente, a especificação H.264/SVC representa o estado da arte da área, por sua eficiência de codificação aprimorada, porém demanda recursos computacionais extremamente elevados. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho apresenta uma arquitetura de projeto colaborativo de hardware e software, que explora as características dos diversos algoritmos internos do codificador H.264/SVC, buscando um adequado balanceamento entre as duas tecnologias (hardware e software) para a implementação prática de um codificador escalável de até 16 camadas em formato de 1920x1080 pixels. A partir de um modelo do código de referência H.264/SVC, refinado para reduzir tempos de codificação, foram definidas estratégias de particionamento de módulos e integração entre entidades de software e hardware, avaliando-se questões como dependência de dados e potencial de paralelismo dos algoritmos, assim como restrições práticas das interfaces de comunicação e acessos à memória. Em hardware foram implementados módulos de transformadas, quantização, filtro anti-blocagem e predição entre camadas, permanecendo em software funções de gerência do sistema, entropia, controle de taxa e interface com usuário. A solução completa obtida, integrando módulos em hardware, sintetizados em uma placa de desenvolvimento, com o software de referência refinado, comprova a validade da proposta, pelos significativos ganhos de desempenho registrados, mostrando-se como uma solução adequada para aplicações que exijam codificação escalável tempo real. / In order to support heterogeneous networks and distinct devices simultaneously, modern multimedia systems can adopt the scalability concept, when the video stream is composed by multiple layers, each one being responsible for gradually enhance the video exhibition quality, according to specific receiver capabilities. Currently the H.264/SVC specification can be considered the state-of-art in this area, by improving the coding efficiency, but, in the other hand, impacting in extremely high computational demands. Based on that, this work presents a hardware/software co-design architecture, which explores the characteristics of H.264/SVC internal algorithms, aiming the right balancing between both technologies (hardware and software) in order to generate a practical scalable encoder implementation, able to process up to 16 layers in 1920x1080 pixels format. Based in an H.264/SVC reference code model, which was refined in order to reduce global encoding time, the approaches for module partitioning and data integration between hardware and software were defined. The proposed methodology took into account characteristics like data dependency and inherent possibility of parallelism, as well practical restrictions like influence of communication interfaces and memory accesses. Particularly, the modules of transforms, quantization, deblocking and inter-layer prediction were implemented in hardware, while the functions of system management, entropy, rate control and user interface were kept in software. The whole solution, which was obtained integrating hardware modules, synthesized in a development board, with the refined H.264/SVC reference code, validates the proposal, by the significant performance gains registered, indicating it as an adequate solution for applications which require real-time video scalable coding.

It is argued that Pryor's criticism of scepticism of perceptual justification misses the point: while Pryor's dogmatism can provide a successful explication of the perceptual justification of first order empirical beliefs (i.e., an explication of propositional justification), it is barren vis à vis second order sceptical criticisms about the epistemic status of beliefs justified via perception (that is, criticisms pointing to the lack of doxastic justification). We argue that the two main motivations that Pryor offers for his dogmatism –to avoid scepticism of perceptual justification and to explicate perceptual justification– fail due to his commitment with some externalist theses, which make it impossible to satisfy the metaepistemic requisites imposed by the sceptic. Hence given the lack of satisfaction of Pryor's own goals, we conclude that Pryor's dogmatism is not an adequate explication of perceptual justification. / Se argumenta que la crítica de Pryor al escepticismo sobre la justificación perceptiva está fuera de foco: mientras que el dogmatismo puede ser una explicación exitosa sobre la justificación perceptiva de las creencias empíricas de primer orden (i.e. de la justificación proposicional), es estéril frente a las críticas escépticas (de segundo orden) sobre el estatus epistémico de las creencias justificadas perceptivamente (es decir, frente a críticas que señalan la ausencia de justificación doxástica). Argumentamos que las dos principales motivaciones que Pryor ofrece a favor de su dogmatismo –evitar el escepticismo respecto de la justificación perceptiva y proporcionar una explicación intuitiva de la misma– fallan, debido, principalmente, a su compromiso con ciertas tesis de corte externista que imposibilitan la satisfacción de los requisitos metaepistémicos impuestos por el escéptico. En vista de este déficit explicativo respecto a sus propias motivaciones, concluimos que el dogmatismo no es una explicación adecuada de la justificación perceptiva en general.

Visando atuação flexível em redes heterogêneas, modernos sistemas multimídia podem adotar o conceito da codificação escalável, onde o fluxo de vídeo é composto por múltiplas camadas, cada qual complementando e aprimorando gradualmente as características de exibição, de forma adaptativa às capacidades de cada receptor. Atualmente, a especificação H.264/SVC representa o estado da arte da área, por sua eficiência de codificação aprimorada, porém demanda recursos computacionais extremamente elevados. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho apresenta uma arquitetura de projeto colaborativo de hardware e software, que explora as características dos diversos algoritmos internos do codificador H.264/SVC, buscando um adequado balanceamento entre as duas tecnologias (hardware e software) para a implementação prática de um codificador escalável de até 16 camadas em formato de 1920x1080 pixels. A partir de um modelo do código de referência H.264/SVC, refinado para reduzir tempos de codificação, foram definidas estratégias de particionamento de módulos e integração entre entidades de software e hardware, avaliando-se questões como dependência de dados e potencial de paralelismo dos algoritmos, assim como restrições práticas das interfaces de comunicação e acessos à memória. Em hardware foram implementados módulos de transformadas, quantização, filtro anti-blocagem e predição entre camadas, permanecendo em software funções de gerência do sistema, entropia, controle de taxa e interface com usuário. A solução completa obtida, integrando módulos em hardware, sintetizados em uma placa de desenvolvimento, com o software de referência refinado, comprova a validade da proposta, pelos significativos ganhos de desempenho registrados, mostrando-se como uma solução adequada para aplicações que exijam codificação escalável tempo real. / In order to support heterogeneous networks and distinct devices simultaneously, modern multimedia systems can adopt the scalability concept, when the video stream is composed by multiple layers, each one being responsible for gradually enhance the video exhibition quality, according to specific receiver capabilities. Currently the H.264/SVC specification can be considered the state-of-art in this area, by improving the coding efficiency, but, in the other hand, impacting in extremely high computational demands. Based on that, this work presents a hardware/software co-design architecture, which explores the characteristics of H.264/SVC internal algorithms, aiming the right balancing between both technologies (hardware and software) in order to generate a practical scalable encoder implementation, able to process up to 16 layers in 1920x1080 pixels format. Based in an H.264/SVC reference code model, which was refined in order to reduce global encoding time, the approaches for module partitioning and data integration between hardware and software were defined. The proposed methodology took into account characteristics like data dependency and inherent possibility of parallelism, as well practical restrictions like influence of communication interfaces and memory accesses. Particularly, the modules of transforms, quantization, deblocking and inter-layer prediction were implemented in hardware, while the functions of system management, entropy, rate control and user interface were kept in software. The whole solution, which was obtained integrating hardware modules, synthesized in a development board, with the refined H.264/SVC reference code, validates the proposal, by the significant performance gains registered, indicating it as an adequate solution for applications which require real-time video scalable coding.

Esse trabalho analisa a construção de diferentes formas de enquadramento interpretativo de ativistas do movimento dos direitos animais em interações com a grande mídia. Por meio de uma análise de molduras, são estudados perfis de organizações desse movimento social, assim como casos específicos desse tipo de interação. Teóricos da abordagem do enquadramento interpretativo identificam um dilema central vivenciado por militantes de movimentos sociais que optariam ora por uma postura “estratégica” e ora por uma postura “ideológica”. Em uma crítica ao conceito de “estratégia”, esse trabalho desenvolve uma classificação de molduras baseada na adequação imaginada dessas interpretações às situações às quais se referem. Dessa forma, esse dilema é reinterpretado em termos de um dilema entre a utilização de categorias vistas como mais ou menos adequadas para a classificação das situações, tendo em vista a possibilidade de que aquelas categorias vistas como as mais apropriadas não sejam simpáticas ou compreensíveis ao interlocutor. As respostas a esse dilema devem variar de acordo com três tipos objetivos gerais de curto prazo estipulados de acordo com determinadas combinações de lógicas de ação: construir problemas sociais, conquistar resultados práticos e defender identidades coletivas. No caso do movimento dos direitos animais, essas combinações de lógicas de ação dão origem a três tipos de ativismo: o abolicionismo construcionista, o abolicionismo pragmático e o abolicionismo identitário. As decisões dos militantes devem variar, ainda, de acordo com as dinâmicas interativas peculiares a cada interação na qual estão inseridos. Cinco dinâmicas interativas relevantes para esse processo são identificadas: a atribuição de características ao interlocutor; a antecipação do impacto do enquadramento; as intenções dos atores; a adequação à situação de fala; e o desempenho de um papel social. Assim, dinâmicas pré-interativas e interativas levam ativistas a desenvolver soluções distintas para o dilema do enquadramento interpretativo nos casos analisados. / This work analysis the construction of different forms of framing developed by animal rights activists in interactions with the mass media. Through a frame analysis, this social movement‟s organizations‟ profiles are analyzed, as well as specific cases of this kind of interaction in a comparative perspective. Scholars of the framing perspective identify a central dilemma that social movement‟s activists experience between a “strategic” position and an “ideological” attitude. In a critic of the concept of “strategy”, this work develops a classification of the frames based on the imagined adequacy of these interpretations to the situations to which they refer. Therefore, this dilemma is reinterpreted in terms of a dilemma between the use of categories seen as more or less adequate for the classification of the situations, knowing that there is a possibility that those categories seen as the most appropriate are not appealing or apprehensible to the interlocutor. The answers to this dilemma must vary according to three types of short-term general goals defined by the given “logics of action combinations”: construct social problems, conquer practical results and defend collective identities. In the case of the animal rights, these logics of action combinations are the origins of three types of activism: the constructionist abolitionism, the pragmatic abolitionism and the identity abolitionism. The activist‟s decision must vary, also, according to the peculiar interactive dynamics of each interaction in which they are inserted. Five interactive dynamics that are relevant to this process are identified: the attribution of characteristics to the interlocutor; the anticipation of the framing impact; the intentions of the actors; the adequacy to the speech situation; and the social role‟s performance. Thereby, pre-interactive dynamics and interactive dynamics both lead activists to develop distinct solutions for the framing dilemma in the analyzed cases.

The World Wide Web contains large amounts of data, and in most cases this data has no explicit structure. The lack of structure makes it difficult for automated agents to understand and use such data. A step towards a more structured World Wide Web is the Semantic Web, which aims at introducing semantics to data on the World Wide Web. One of the key technologies in this endeavour are ontologies, which provide a means for modeling a domain of interest and are used for search and integration of data. In recent years many ontologies have been developed. To be able to use multiple ontologies it is necessary to align them, i.e., find inter-ontology relationships. However, developing and aligning ontologies is not an easy task and it is often the case that ontologies and their alignments are incorrect and incomplete. This can be a problem for semantically-enabled applications. Incorrect and incomplete ontologies and alignments directly influence the quality of the results of such applications, as wrong results can be returned and correct results can be missed. This thesis focuses on the problem of completing ontologies and ontology networks. The contributions of the thesis are threefold. First, we address the issue of completing the is-a structure and alignment in ontologies and ontology networks. We have formalized the problem of completing the is-a structure in ontologies as an abductive reasoning problem and developed algorithms as well as systems for dealing with the problem. With respect to the completion of alignments, we have studied system performance in the Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative, a yearly evaluation campaign for ontology alignment systems. We have also addressed the scalability of ontology matching, which is one of the current challenges, by developing an approach for reducing the search space when generating the alignment.Second, high quality completion requires user involvement. As users' time and effort are a limited resource we address the issue of limiting and facilitating user interaction in the completion process. We have conducted a broad study of state-of-the-art ontology alignment systems and identified different issues related to the process. We have also conducted experiments to assess the impact of user errors in the completion process. While the completion of ontologies and ontology networks can be done at any point in the life-cycle of ontologies and ontology networks, some of the issues can be addressed already in the development phase. The third contribution of the thesis addresses this by introducing ontology completion and ontology alignment into an existing ontology development methodology.

Business incubators have become an integrated part of innovation systems worldwide, designed to support innovative entrepreneurship and regional development. However, empirical research on incubated firms show mixed results on innovation and growth. In this paper, 18 Swedish incubators, top-ranked and funded by government innovation programs, are studied through the lens of the institutional logics perspective. Multiple conflicts in state and market logics are highlighted and discussed, as well as implications for new venture creation and future research on business incubators as influential institutional actors.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à la construction des pratiques tutorales dans le cadre d’une formation ouverte et à distance au sein de Campus Numériques français. L’hypothèse centrale de ce travail est que, malgré de nombreuses contraintes, les tuteurs à distance, en grande majorité, poursuivent cette activité. L’auteur commence par mettre en lumière, par le biais d’une trentaine d’ entretiens semi-directifs, les représentations des tuteurs concernant leur activité : quelles ressources et quels liens entrent dans la construction de leurs pratiques. C’est grâce au « modèle-service » quadripolaire que l’analyse s’effectue : quelles influences peuvent avoir le « système », « les pairs », « la personne-à-qui-s’adresse le service » (les étudiants) et « soi » sur la pratique tutorale à la fois individualisée et sociale. Les conclusions de ce travail permettent à l’auteur d’envisager la poursuite de l’activité tutorale comme une réponse à une ou des logique(s) individuelle(s) idiosyncrasique(s) à chacun des tuteurs dans le cadre de la sociologie de l’expérience. / This dissertation addresses the matter of constructing tutorial practices construction in e-learning French campuses. The main hypothesis of this work is that, despite numerous constraints, most cybertutors pursue their tutorial activity.The author starts her research by in highlighting tutors’ representations of their activity through about thirty semi-directed interviews : which resources and links are required in building their practices. Thanks to the four poles “service-model”, the author can analyze the influences of the “system”, “the peers”, “the students” and “oneself” on tutorial practices which are individual and social in nature.These findings lead the author to consider the pursuit of tutorial activity as an answer to individual idiosyncrasic logic(s) for every tutor. This is accomplished through experience sociology.

Au travers d'une étude de cas unique et interprétative de la profession médicale, cette thèse propose d'étudier l'usage des artefacts dans la dynamique conjointe des logiques institutionnelles. Pour comprendre la façon dont le changement s'opère, nous avons suivi l'institutionnalisation d'une nouvelle logique émergente. Des médecins généralistes légitiment leur rôle dans le champ médical par la création d'un mouvement social à la croisée de plusieurs mondes : une logique professionnelle et une logique basée sur l'évidence. Après avoir rassemblé les différents objets épistémiques mobilisés (Knorr -Cetina, 2001), une analyse biographique d'une cinquantaine de médecins a été réalisée par le biais du cycle herméneutique (Bleicher, 1980 ; Myers, 2013). L'originalité de ce travail se fonde sur l'approche socio-matérielle des pratiques (Orlikowski, 2005) perçues à la fois comme des traceurs du changement et comme des "performateurs" du changement. Dans le premier cas, d'un point de vue méthodologique, il est possible de faire émerger plusieurs logiques institutionnelles (Friedland, 2012) en analysant l'évolution des objets utilisés par les médecins dans le temps (Gherardi, 2012) pour comprendre l'agencement des acteurs au cours du changement institutionnel (Lounsbury & Crumley, 2007). Dans le second cas, et à portée théorique, la compréhension de la performativité des objets fournit des explications conceptuelles quant à la propagation d'une logique (Orlikowski & Scott, 2008). Nous explicitons le rôle des énoncés performatifs d'Austin (1962) dans le changement de choix de logique chez les individus à travers une nouvelle notion : le déclic. / This research is in depth interpretative case study looking at the raised of contesting practices in the medical profession. In the 1970s, a social movementemerged in France defending the return of professional values that have been absorbed by the prevalent managerial logic. Actors shaped an innovative ‘hybrid’logic (Reay & Hinings, 2009) setting in between professional and evidence - based of medicine logic (Mendel & Scott, 2010). This study explains how a social movement have challenged successfully the dominant logic, and how the vision came to be incorporated into the field configuration. A large amount of qualitative datawere collected via interviews, archives, and ethnography, and analysed withhermeneutics cycles methodology (Bleicher, 1980; Myers, 2013). I created fifty biographies and focused on the different epistemic objects professionals were using to defend and diffuse the project (Knorr-Cetina, 2001). The contribution of analysing sociomateriality in the process of change is twofold. Theoretically it explained the performative dimensions of a transformation of logic (Orlikowski, 2005). Methodologically it offers new possibilities for identifying institutional logics in a field (Thornton et al., 2012). Findings allow me to illustrate the Austinian perspective of performativity which highlights the formal cooperation between actors (Austin, 1965).

Det råder debatter och diskussioner om att ökad effektivitet, produktivitet och digitalisering krävs för att lyckas med välfärdsuppdraget. Begreppen är central och det finns få individnära forskning om vad dessa begrepp står för och innebär i det dagliga arbetet för olika yrkesverksamma personer inom välfärdenstjänster såsom hälso- och sjukvård och äldreomsorg. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att ta del av hur begreppen uppfattas av ett mindre antal personer som verkar på olika nivåer inom välfärdenstjänster. Denna kvalitativa studie med fenomenografisk ansats baseras på informanters uppfattningar. För analys av insamlade data används konventionell innehållsanalys. Studiens teoretiska ramverk med koppling till gränser mellan ekonomi- och demokrativärden, motsättningen mellan olika rationalitet och stridande logiker utvecklas i samband med analys av det empiriska materialet. Resultatet visar att även om informanters medvetenhet om välfärdens utmaningar är i varierande grad, finns det en generell uppfattning av att en välfungerande hälso-och sjukvård och äldreomsorg kräver rätt och tillräcklig kompetens. Det finns en uppfattning bland informanter att beslutfattarna måste skjuta till mer resurser. Resultatet pekar också på en uppfattning av att välfärden kan upprätthållas om tillräckliga åtgärder görs åt konsekvenserna som befolkningsutvecklingen medför. När det kommer på tal om åtgärderna som krävs, uppstår spänningar och konflikter i uppfattningar kring begreppen effektivitet/produktivitet, digitalisering, uppgiftsväxling och kvalitet i relation till resurser. Det kan ha sin grund i förekomst av olika gränsdragningsproblematik med olika rationalitet och stridande logiker som följd. / There are debates and discussions around that increased efficiency, productivity and digitalization are required to succeed with the welfare mission. The concepts are central and there is little individual based research on what these concepts stand for and mean in the daily work of various professionals in welfare services such as health and medical care and elderly care. The purpose of the present study is to take part of how the concepts are perceived by a small number of people who work at different levels in welfare services. This qualitative study with a phenomenographic approach is based on informants' perceptions. Conventional content analysis is used for analysis of collected data. The study's theoretical framework with connection to boundaries between economic and democratic values, the opposition between different rationality and conflicting logics is developed in associated with the analysis of the empirical material. The results show that although informants' awareness of the challenges of welfare varies, there is a general perception that a well-functioning health care and care for the elderly requires the right and sufficient competence. There is a general perception among informants that decision-makers need to invest more resources. The results also point to a perception that welfare can be maintained if sufficient measures are taken for the consequences that population development entails. When it comes to the measures required, tensions and conflicts arise in perceptions around the concepts of efficiency / productivity, digitization, task exchange and quality in relation to resources. These tensions and conflicts might be because of the existence of problems with different boundaries, problems with different rationality and conflicting logics.

Formal language theory, originally developed to model and study our natural spoken languages, is nowadays also put to use in many other fields. These include, but are not limited to, the definition and visualization of programming languages and the examination and verification of algorithms and systems. Formal languages are instrumental in proving the correct behavior of automated systems, e.g., to avoid that a flight guidance system navigates two airplanes too close to each other. This vast field of applications is built upon a very well investigated and coherent theoretical basis. It is the goal of this dissertation to add to this theoretical foundation and to explore ways to make formal languages and their models more expressive. More specifically, we are interested in models that are able to model quantitative features of the behavior of systems. To this end, we define and characterize weighted automata over structures with hierarchical information and over graphs. In particular, we study infinite nested words, operator precedence languages, and finite and infinite graphs. We show Büchi-like results connecting weighted automata and weighted monadic second order (MSO) logic for the respective classes of weighted languages over these structures. As special cases, we obtain Büchi-type equivalence results known from the recent literature for weighted automata and weighted logics on words, trees, pictures, and nested words. Establishing such a general result for graphs has been an open problem for weighted logics for some time. We conjecture that our techniques can be applied to derive similar equivalence results in other contexts like traces, texts, and distributed systems.