Process modeling grammars are used to create models of business processes. In this paper, we discuss how different routing symbol designs affect an individual's ability to comprehend process models. We conduct an experiment with 154 students to ascertain which visual design principles influence process model comprehension. Our findings suggest that design principles related to perceptual discriminability and pop out improve comprehension accuracy. Furthermore, semantic transparency and aesthetic design of symbols lower the perceived difficulty of comprehension. Our results inform important principles about notational design of process modeling grammars and the effective use of process modeling in practice.

Framework Machinations is a tool for representing board games mechanics and mechanics of some computer games. Its main purpose is to allow game designers to test and tune the game's parameters before games release. However, current framework is not able to create models of some game mechanics and by that, it forces its users to simplify their models. The aim of this work is to extend framework machinations into a tool capable of simulating board game mechanics without having to simplify them. Thesis includes a program for working with an extended framework and a case study detailing the implementation of the Stone Age game in the extended framework.

This thesis provides an approach to use feature modeling with a set of guidelines for requirements definition and decomposition activities of the axiomatic design methodology. A tool that supports the development of feature models and modeling of the Axiomatic Design activities is implemented to be utilized for guiding the designer. Axiomatic Design suggested four domains of information in the transformation of the problem definition to the solution, and provided mechanisms for supporting the mapping among some of those domains. The approach suggested in this thesis fills an important gap, which is the transition from the customer needs to functional requirements, in axiomatic design. A case study is carried out in order to analyze advantages and disadvantages of the proposed approach.

This thesis is concerned with the study of how sketch-based systems can be improved to enhance idea generation process in conceptual design stage. It is also concerned with achieving a kind of integration between sketch-based systems and CAD systems to complete the digitization of the design process as sketching phase is still not integrated with other phases due to the different nature of it and the incomplete digitization of sketching phase itself. Previous studies identified three main related issues: sketching process, sketch-based modeling, and the integration between the digitized design phases. Here, the thesis is motivated from the desire to improve sketch-based modeling to support idea generation process but unlike previous studies that only focused on the technical or drawing part of sketching, this thesis attempts to concentrate more on the mental part of the sketching process which play a key role in developing ideas in design. Another motivation of this thesis is to produce a kind of integration between sketch-based systems and CAD systems to enable 3D models produced by sketching to be edited in detailed design stage. As such, there are two main contributions have been addressed in this thesis. The first contribution is the presenting of a new approach in designing sketch-based systems that enable more support for idea generation by separating thinking and developing ideas from the 3D modeling process. This kind of separation allows designers to think freely and concentrate more on their ideas rather than 3D modeling. the second contribution is achieving a kind of integration between gesture-based systems and CAD systems by using an IGES file in exchanging data between systems and a new method to organize data within the file in an order that make it more understood by feature recognition embedded in commercial CAD systems.

The thesis is focused on styling a real passenger car Proton Prevé with regard to the quality of surface modelling using computer software Autodesk Alias. The stylistic adjustments were made on basis of the background research and poll focused on the target group. Selected body parts have been modified according to the desired sport character of the car and the current vehicle’s appearance. The result of the work is a surface model, which was created using A-Class modelling methods under the direction of Evektor company. The benefit of the thesis is facelift of an existing car with consideration of the current market situation and customer requirements.

The waste heat recovery technologies have become very relevant since many industrial plants continuously reject large amounts of thermal energy during normal operation which contributes to the increase of the production costs and also impacts the environment. The simulation programs used in industrial engineering enable development and optimization of the operational processes in a cost-effective way. The company Chematur Engineering AB, which supplies chemical plants in many different fields of use on a worldwide basis, was interested in the investigation of the possibilities for effective waste heat recovery from the hydrogenation of dinitrotoluene, which is a sub-process in the toluene diisocyanate manufacture plant. The project objective was to implement waste heat recovery by application of the Organic Rankine Cycle and the Absorption Refrigeration Cycle technologies. Modeling and design of the Organic Rankine Cycle and the Absorption Refrigeration Cycle systems was performed by using Aspen Plus® simulation software where the waste heat carrier was represented by hot water, coming from the internal cooling system in the hydrogenation process. Among the working fluids investigated were ammonia, butane, isobutane, propane, R-123, R-134a, R-227ea, R-245fa, and ammonia-water and LiBr-water working pairs. The simulations have been performed for different plant capacities with different temperatures of the hydrogenation process. The results show that the application of the Organic Rankine Cycle technology is the most feasible solution where the use of ammonia, R-123, R-245fa and butane as the working fluids is beneficial with regards to power production and pay-off time, while R-245fa and butane are the most sustainable choices considering the environment.

The scope of this study is to illustrate the relationship between computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) systems, and to show how architectural modeling should be positioned in the process of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems. The integration of computer aided technologies with architectural design is investigated in terms of design-production/fabrication interaction. The research has been based on a case study in which the CAD/CAM process from the initial design phase to the actual manufacturing of the design object has been explored. A design object is modeled using CAD and the model is manufactured using CAM in order to illustrate the process of CAD/CAM and its potentials related to architectural design and the construction/manufacturing/fabrication process of building. Thus, the study tries to demonstrate what digital tools can provide to the field of architecture, and lists the requirements for architectural modeling to acquire compatibility among the parts of the building process.

This study aims to analyze and evaluate the influence of digital technologies on the inter-action of design and manufacturing processes by representing an outlook of digital tech-nologies through developments in modeling capabilities, manufacturing techniques, mate-rial science, and design strategies. The digital era reached by the technological developments in different fields of sci-ence influenced the field of architecture, just like the others. Thus, a new kind of spa-tial and tectonic quality in architecture is emerging with the lately introduced design tools and materials that are novel to the building industry, while redefining the role of architect in this contemporary medium. The evolutionary process of Frank O. Gehry and his office, being a pioneer in using digital design and manufacturing tools in architecture, is represented with realized examples that point out the formerly discussed developments in the realm of architecture and visualize the tectonics of the digitally designed and produced buildings / culminating with the case study of Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao.

The use of robotic systems in consumer goods industry has increased over recent years. However, food industry has not taken to the robotics technology with the same desire as in other industries due to technical and commercial reasons. Difficulties in matching human speed and flexibility, variable nature of food products, high production volume rates, lack of appropriate end-effectors, high initial investment rate of the so-called systems and low margins in food products are still blocking the range of use of robotics in food industry. In this thesis study, as a contribution to the use of robotic systems in food industry, a secondary packaging robotic system is designed. The system is composed of two basic subsystems: a dual-axis controlled robotic arm and a special-purpose gripper. Mechanical and control systems design of basic subsystems are performed within the scope of the study. During the designing process, instead of using classical design methods, modern computer-aided design and engineering tools are utilized.

Submitted by Irene Nascimento (irene.kessia@ufpe.br) on 2016-08-04T17:59:38Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Alexandre Alves Ferreira.pdf: 1532776 bytes, checksum: cd416fd163761609e1e6e758b7633ee6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-04T17:59:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Alexandre Alves Ferreira.pdf: 1532776 bytes, checksum: cd416fd163761609e1e6e758b7633ee6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-19 / Uma das grandes missões de um governo é de proporcionar bem-estar à população. Para alcançar esses objetivos é necessário desenvolver ações, as quais implicam vinculação de verba pública para assegurar as despesas que tais ações acarretarão. Sendo assim, nos órgãos públicos, como é o caso das universidades federais, é elaborado o orçamento anual, regido pela Lei Orçamentária Anual (LOA), a qual estabelece os créditos destinados aos diversos órgãos governamentais para que eles possam, então, desenvolver suas atividades. É nesse horizonte que este estudo aplica o princípio da Gestão de Processos, como ferramenta de gestão, para monitorar o desempenho da execução orçamentária, especialmente nos procedimentos que requerem ações entre unidades departamentais. Assim, o objetivo geral deste estudo foi o de analisar a gestão da execução orçamentária da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE) e propor melhorias ao processo. Especificamente, o estudo identificou, descreveu e representou graficamente o processo de execução orçamentária da UFPE; analisou e apontou seus cenários atual e desejável em relação às suas etapas, ao tempo utilizado no desenvolvimento das tarefas e aos recursos humanos envolvidos; e apresentou uma proposição de indicadores de desempenho do processo na expectativa de que sirvam de recursos para monitorar a execução orçamentária das unidades gestoras de orçamento e da UFPE, em geral. Pesquisa de natureza aplicada, a coleta de dados combinou diferentes fontes de evidências: pesquisa documental, observação participante e questionários semiestruturados. Adotou-se abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa na análise dos dados, e utilizou a metodologia do Business Process Management (BPM) para descrição, representação e análise do processo. A proposição dos indicadores seguiu o modelo metodológico de Trzesniak (2014), e, portanto, os indicadores foram formulados com base em cinco dimensões: denominação, propósito, conceito, forma de apuração e metadados. A pesquisa apontou que o processo de execução orçamentária da UFPE tem potencial para se tornar mais ágil, eficiente e focado no usuário e que os indicadores de monitoramento propostos poderão acompanhar a gestão orçamentária. / One of the major missions of the government is to provide welfare to the population. In order to achieve this goal it is necessary to develop actions, which involve linking public funds to ensure resources for the development of such actions. Thus, public agencies - such as federal universities - prepare the annual budget in accordance with the Annual Budget Law (LOA), which establishes credits allocated to various government agencies so that they may develop their activities. This is the horizon to which this study applies the principle of process management as a management tool to monitor the performance of budget execution, especially procedures that require actions between departmental units. Therefore, this study aims at analyzing budget execution management performed by the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) and proposing improvements to the process. Specifically, this study identified, described and graphically represented the budget execution process of UFPE. It analyzed and pointed out the current and desired scenarios regarding its stages, time spent in the development of tasks and human resources involved. In addition, it presented a proposal for performance indicators in an attempt to serve as resources for monitoring budget execution of UFPE's budget management units. This study is an applied research. Data collection combined different sources of evidence: document research, participant observation, and semi-structured questionnaires. It adopted qualitative and quantitative approach to data analysis, and used Business Process Management (BPM) methodology for description, representation and analysis of the process. Proposition of indicators followed the methodological model developed by Trzesniak (2014), and therefore indicators have been formulated based on five dimensions: denomination, purpose, concept, means of verification and metadata. The research indicated that UFPE's budget execution process has the potential to become more agile, efficient and focused on the user, and the proposed monitoring indicators may follow up the budget management.