Submitted by Caroline Xavier (caroline.xavier@pucrs.br) on 2017-06-30T17:33:51Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TES_BERNARDO_SEVERO_DE_SOUZA_COMPLETO.pdf: 5113763 bytes, checksum: a24628d427a0a60b3a6ea0c5200d5dfd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-30T17:33:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TES_BERNARDO_SEVERO_DE_SOUZA_COMPLETO.pdf: 5113763 bytes, checksum: a24628d427a0a60b3a6ea0c5200d5dfd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-20 / O aumento do volume de dados n?o estruturados na Web nas ?ltimas d?cadas tem sido impulsionado pelo surgimento de novos meios de comunica??o, dispositivos e tecnologias. Neste contexto se desenvolve a Web Sem?ntica, cujo objetivo ? o de atribuir uma camada de representa??o de conhecimento a esses dados, facilitando o tratamento por processos automatizados. Ontologias s?o elementos chave da Web Sem?ntica, oferecendo uma descri??o dos conceitos e dos relacionamentos entre os mesmos para um dom?nio espec?fico. Entretanto, ontologias de um mesmo dom?nio podem divergir em sua estrutura, granularidade ou terminologia, necessitando que um processo de mapeamento entre as mesmas seja realizado, produzindo um conjunto de correspond?ncias entre entidades semanticamente relacionadas (alinhamento). Um n?mero crescente de abordagens de mapeamento tem surgido na literatura e a necessidade de avaliar e comparar qualitativamente os alinhamentos produzidos se faz presente. Tarefas que fazem uso de alinhamentos passaram a demandar melhores representa??es gr?ficas dos mesmos. Neste contexto, foi realizada uma pesquisa com especialistas em alinhamentos para identificar os aspectos mais importantes em uma visualiza??o de alinhamentos. Este trabalho apresenta ent?o uma abordagem adaptativa de visualiza??o para alinhamentos, que permite ao usu?rio escolher como e o que visualizar, de acordo com prefer?ncias pr?prias ou para uma atividade sendo realizada no momento (cria??o, manipula??o, avalia??o, etc.). Por fim, um prot?tipo foi constru?do com o intuito de validar a solu??o. Os resultados obtidos da avalia??o dos usu?rios com o prot?tipo mostram que a abordagem lida com os problemas que se prop?e a resolver, com uma margem para trabalhos futuros em formas de visualiza??o de alinhamentos. / The increase in the volume of unstructured web data in recent decades has been driven by the arising of new media, devices and technologies. In this context, the Semantic Web was developed, whose objective is to provide a layer of knowledge representation to that data, facilitating the treatment by automated processes. Ontologies are key elements of the Semantic Web, providing a description of the concepts and relationships between them, for a specific domain. However, ontologies of the same domain may differ in structure, granularity or terminology, requiring a process of matching between them to be performed, producing a set of correspondences between semantically related entities (alignment). A growing number of matching approaches have emerged in the literature, and the need to evaluate and qualitatively compare the produced alignments is presented. Tasks that make use of alignments started to demand better graphical representations for it. In this context, a survey was conducted with alignment specialists to identify the most important aspects in an alignment visualization. This work presents an adaptative approach for alignment visualization, that allows users to choose how and what to visualize, according to their own preferences or the task being performed at that moment (creation, manipulation, evaluation, etc.). Finally, a prototype was built with the purpose of validating the solution. The results obtained from the prototype validation with users show that the approach handles the problems it proposes to solve, with a margin for future work on alignment visualization.

Notre travail de recherche a comme but d’améliorer la compréhension que nous avons sur les centres de services partagés (CSP), un mode d’organisation qui est en vogue ces dernières années. Plus spécifiquement, l’objet de notre travail est d’explorer la singularité qui existe entre ce mode organisationnel spécifique qu’est le centre de service partagés appliqué au système d’information (SI) et à l’alignement stratégique de celui-ci avec l’entreprise. Le thème de ce travail est donc de tester l’impact d’un CSP qui a en charge la SI dans l’alignement des usages (après la phase de gestion du changement et donc de bascule). En d’autres mots, nous testons le lien entre le fait de confier une partie de son SI à un CSP et la variation de l’alignement des usages du SI. Nous avons envisagé d’étudier notre problématique sous un aspect de la variation de l’alignement du SI et de la « satisfaction » des parties prenantes. Nous nous sommes focalisé sur la phase post-basculement (Alignement des Usages). Cette démarche inclut les termes « dynamique » et « usage » et prend en compte les dimensions temporelle et relationnelle. Nos travaux s’inscrivent dans un domaine de recherches émergent, ce qui leur confère un caractère exploratoire. Nous avons construit notre stratégie et notre objet de recherche de manière progressive. Comme préalable indispensable, il nous a paru fondamental de réaliser une exploration théorique des thèmes associés à notre recherche afin de constituer à la fois le fondement et la justification de la démarche proposée. Les connaissances que nous avons acquises nous ont conduit à élaborer des propositions conceptuelles (6 hypothèses) dans une perspective constructiviste. Celles-ci ont été construites lors de tests préalables puis ont fait l’objet de mises à l’épreuve auprès d’une sélection d’entreprises européennes utilisant un ou plusieurs CSP. Il nous a semblé plus riche de disposer de données issues de la complémentarité de deux approches qualitatives. Notre investigation s’est donc déroulée de façon duale. Nous avons d’une part étudié en détail une entreprise en particulier et, d’autre part, nous avons réalisé une étude pluri-organisationnelle composée de 5 études de cas menées à partir de 9 entretiens semi-directifs.La diversité des résultats obtenus tend à démontrer la singularité de notre travail de recherche. Deux propositions sont à mettre en évidence. La première est que l’alignement des usages à long terme est renforcé par l’utilisation d’une organisation insérant en son sein des CSP (hypothèse 1) et la deuxième est liée au fait que les parties prenantes externes peuvent être plus facilement manœuvrables par les entreprises clientes qui utilisent un CSP (hypothèse 3). Plus globalement, nous constatons deux autres contributions intéressantes de nos travaux. La première est liée à la plus grande stabilité dans le cadre de changements profonds des organisations qui font par exemple l’expérience d’une fusion ou d’une acquisition (hypothèses deux et six). Notre recherche académique arrive dès lors à la conclusion que le CSP est un facteur habilitant la stabilité de l’entreprise qui l’utilise. La seconde contribution est essentielle, elle couvre les problématiques d’interface entre le CSP et les autres acteurs, principalement les autres parties prenantes internes. Les liens entre les différentes parties sont fondamentaux pour obtenir et maintenir un bon alignement. / The aim of our research is to improve the understanding that we have towards the Shared Service Centers (SSC), a way of organization which has been the trend in the last years. To be more specific, the aim of our work is to explore the existing singularity between this specific organizational method, which is the SSC applied to the Information System (IS) and the strategic alignment with the enterprise. The objective of this paper is therefore to test the impact of the IS alignment in a company which uses the SSC. We have considered to study our question under the aspect of the variation of the IS alignment and the stakeholder’s “satisfaction”. We focalized on the postoperative handover (alignment of usages). This approach includes the “dynamic” and “usage” terms and takes into account the temporary and relational dimensions. Our work is inserted in a new research field that provides them with an explorative characteristic. We have built our strategy and our research study in a progressive way. Beforehand, it has seemed to us crucial to undergo a theoretic exploration of the subjects related to our research, in order to build simultaneously the basis and the purpose of the mentioned approach. The knowledge we have acquired has led us to elaborate conceptual proposals (6 hypotheses) from a constructivist perspective. These proposals were built during initial exploration tests and afterwards they were tested in European companies using one or more SSC. It seemed to us more logical to adopt the complementarity of a dual qualitative approach. On one hand, we studied in detail one company and, on the other hand, we have realized a poly organizational study, composed by 5 case studies, which were based on 9 semi-directive interviews.The variety of the results obtained tends to demonstrate the singularity of our research. Two proposals must be highlighted. The first one is that the strategic alignment in the long term is reinforced by the use of a SSC (hypothesis 1) and the second one is linked to the fact that the external stakeholders can be easily managed by the clients’ enterprises which use a SSC (hypothesis 3). More generally, we have verified two other interesting contributions during our research. The first one is linked to a larger stability in the case of deep changes as, for example, a merger or a takeover (hypothesis 2 and 6). Our academic research has reached the conclusion that the SSC is a factor which offers stability to the company that uses it. The second contribution is fundamental, that is, it covers the importance of the interfaces between the SSC and the other internal parties involved. The connections between the different groups are essential in order to obtain and to maintain a good alignment.

<p>The Chief information officer (CIO) position has been seen as very important to every organization; this includes organizations that have either outsourced   or Insourced their IT function. Various studies have shown that this role emerged as a critical executive position in most organization which helps to shape organizations strategy. CIO has a major responsibility of aligning IT with business strategy that leads to an organization achieving a higher competitive advantage. This  work describeD the various roles of the CIO in organizations with a special focus on IT-business strategy alignment.</p><p>Based on our investigations from previous research, case studies and current interviews with CIOs, we were able to see that the CIO roles are shifting from operational to more strategic one. The CIO is seen to be the bridge between IT strategy and business strategy. As a result of this, they have close collaboration with the CEOs in order to be successful in aligning IT strategy to the business objectives. In view of this, the CIO plays the role of both the chief architect who designs future possibilities for business and the technology provocateur (Intelligent officer) that aligns IT with business.</p>

The Chief information officer (CIO) position has been seen as very important to every organization; this includes organizations that have either outsourced   or Insourced their IT function. Various studies have shown that this role emerged as a critical executive position in most organization which helps to shape organizations strategy. CIO has a major responsibility of aligning IT with business strategy that leads to an organization achieving a higher competitive advantage. This  work describeD the various roles of the CIO in organizations with a special focus on IT-business strategy alignment. Based on our investigations from previous research, case studies and current interviews with CIOs, we were able to see that the CIO roles are shifting from operational to more strategic one. The CIO is seen to be the bridge between IT strategy and business strategy. As a result of this, they have close collaboration with the CEOs in order to be successful in aligning IT strategy to the business objectives. In view of this, the CIO plays the role of both the chief architect who designs future possibilities for business and the technology provocateur (Intelligent officer) that aligns IT with business.

The focus of this thesis is to develop computational techniques for analysis of protein structures. We model protein structures as points in 3-dimensional space which in turn are modeled as weighted graphs. The problem of protein structure comparison is posed as a weighted graph matching problem and an algorithm motivated from the spectral graph matching techniques is developed. The thesis also proposes novel similarity measures by deriving kernel functions. These kernel functions allow the data to be mapped to a suitably defined Reproducing kernel Hilbert Space(RKHS), paving the way for efficient algorithms for protein structure classification. Protein structure comparison (structure alignment)is a classical method of determining overall similarity between two protein structures. This problem can be posed as the approximate weighted subgraph matching problem, which is a well known NP-Hard problem. Spectral graph matching techniques provide efficient heuristic solution for the weighted graph matching problem using eigenvectors of adjacency matrices of the graphs. We propose a novel and efficient algorithm for protein structure comparison using the notion of neighborhood preserving projections (NPP) motivated from spectral graph matching. Empirically, we demonstrate that comparing the NPPs of two protein structures gives the correct equivalences when the sizes of proteins being compared are roughly similar. Also, the resulting algorithm is 3 -20 times faster than the existing state of the art techniques. This algorithm was used for retrieval of protein structures from standard databases with accuracies comparable to the state of the art. A limitation of the above method is that it gives wrong results when the number of unmatched residues, also called insertions and deletions (indels), are very high. This problem was tackled by matching neighborhoods, rather than entire structures. For each pair of neighborhoods, we grow the neighborhood alignments to get alignments for entire structures. This results in a robust method that has outperformed the existing state of the art methods on standard benchmark datasets. This method was also implemented using MPI on a cluster for database search. Another important problem in computational biology is classification of protein structures into classes exhibiting high structural similarity. Many manual and semi-automatic structural classification databases exist. Kernel methods along with support vector machines (SVM) have proved to be a robust and principled tool for classification. We have proposed novel positive semidefinite kernel functions on protein structures based on spatial neighborhoods. The kernels were derived using a general technique called convolution kernel, and showed to be related to the spectral alignment score in a limiting case. These kernels have outperformed the existing tools when validated on a well known manual classification scheme called SCOP. The kernels were designed keeping the general problem of capturing structural similarity in mind, and have been successfully applied to problems in other domains, e.g. computer vision.

Η διερεύνηση της περιοχής χωρητικότητας και της περιοχής επιτεύξιμων ρυθμών μετάδοσης καναλιών αποτελεί βασικό αντικείμενο της Θεωρίας Πληροφορίας. Η Ευθυγράμμιση Παρεμβολών είναι μια καινούρια ιδέα που δίνει μια εναλλακτική οπτική στο αντικείμενο αυτό, μέσω της διαφορετικής λογικής που εισάγει σχετικά με την κωδικοποίηση και τη μετάδοση της πληροφορίας. Σε πρόσφατες δημοσιεύσεις έχουν προταθεί μοντέλα που επιτρέπουν την εφαρμογή της θεωρίας της Ευθυγράμμισης Παρεμβολών και τη χρήση της σε πρακτικά συστήματα επικοινωνιών και καταδεικνύουν την υπεροχή της σε σχέση με συμβατικές μεθόδους. Παράλληλα, παρόλο που προς το παρόν έχει δοθεί έμφαση στην εδραίωση της Ευθυγράμμισης Παρεμβολών στις επικοινωνίες, η μαθηματική της βάση καθιστά δυνατή την εφαρμογή της σε αντικείμενα που ανήκουν σε άλλους τομείς. Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι η μελέτη και η εφαρμογή της Αναδρομικής Ευθυγράμμισης Παρεμβολών για μετάδοση πληροφορίας σε Συστήματα Επικοινωνιών, καθώς και η διερεύνηση της απόδοσης της μεθόδου σε πρακτικά συστήματα. / The study of the channel capacity region and the achievable rate region is one of the main topics of Information Theory. Interference Alignment is a new idea that provides new insights through the introduction of a different viewpoint on data encoding and transmission. In recent publications, models have been proposed that allow the application of the theory of Interference Alignment to practical communication systems and demonstrate its superiority compared to traditional approaches. Furthermore, although for the time being emphasis has been put on establishing the use of Interference Alignment to communication systems, its mathematical formulation makes possible its use to other areas. The purpose of this thesis is to study and to apply Retrospective Interference Alignment to data transmission in communication systems and to evaluate the performance of the method in practical systems.

No description available.

Notre travail de recherche a comme but d’améliorer la compréhension que nous avons sur les centres de services partagés (CSP), un mode d’organisation qui est en vogue ces dernières années. Plus spécifiquement, l’objet de notre travail est d’explorer la singularité qui existe entre ce mode organisationnel spécifique qu’est le centre de service partagés appliqué au système d’information (SI) et à l’alignement stratégique de celui-ci avec l’entreprise. Le thème de ce travail est donc de tester l’impact d’un CSP qui a en charge la SI dans l’alignement des usages (après la phase de gestion du changement et donc de bascule). En d’autres mots, nous testons le lien entre le fait de confier une partie de son SI à un CSP et la variation de l’alignement des usages du SI. Nous avons envisagé d’étudier notre problématique sous un aspect de la variation de l’alignement du SI et de la « satisfaction » des parties prenantes. Nous nous sommes focalisé sur la phase post-basculement (Alignement des Usages). Cette démarche inclut les termes « dynamique » et « usage » et prend en compte les dimensions temporelle et relationnelle. Nos travaux s’inscrivent dans un domaine de recherches émergent, ce qui leur confère un caractère exploratoire. Nous avons construit notre stratégie et notre objet de recherche de manière progressive. Comme préalable indispensable, il nous a paru fondamental de réaliser une exploration théorique des thèmes associés à notre recherche afin de constituer à la fois le fondement et la justification de la démarche proposée. Les connaissances que nous avons acquises nous ont conduit à élaborer des propositions conceptuelles (6 hypothèses) dans une perspective constructiviste. Celles-ci ont été construites lors de tests préalables puis ont fait l’objet de mises à l’épreuve auprès d’une sélection d’entreprises européennes utilisant un ou plusieurs CSP. Il nous a semblé plus riche de disposer de données issues de la complémentarité de deux approches qualitatives. Notre investigation s’est donc déroulée de façon duale. Nous avons d’une part étudié en détail une entreprise en particulier et, d’autre part, nous avons réalisé une étude pluri-organisationnelle composée de 5 études de cas menées à partir de 9 entretiens semi-directifs.La diversité des résultats obtenus tend à démontrer la singularité de notre travail de recherche. Deux propositions sont à mettre en évidence. La première est que l’alignement des usages à long terme est renforcé par l’utilisation d’une organisation insérant en son sein des CSP (hypothèse 1) et la deuxième est liée au fait que les parties prenantes externes peuvent être plus facilement manœuvrables par les entreprises clientes qui utilisent un CSP (hypothèse 3). Plus globalement, nous constatons deux autres contributions intéressantes de nos travaux. La première est liée à la plus grande stabilité dans le cadre de changements profonds des organisations qui font par exemple l’expérience d’une fusion ou d’une acquisition (hypothèses deux et six). Notre recherche académique arrive dès lors à la conclusion que le CSP est un facteur habilitant la stabilité de l’entreprise qui l’utilise. La seconde contribution est essentielle, elle couvre les problématiques d’interface entre le CSP et les autres acteurs, principalement les autres parties prenantes internes. Les liens entre les différentes parties sont fondamentaux pour obtenir et maintenir un bon alignement. / The aim of our research is to improve the understanding that we have towards the Shared Service Centers (SSC), a way of organization which has been the trend in the last years. To be more specific, the aim of our work is to explore the existing singularity between this specific organizational method, which is the SSC applied to the Information System (IS) and the strategic alignment with the enterprise. The objective of this paper is therefore to test the impact of the IS alignment in a company which uses the SSC. We have considered to study our question under the aspect of the variation of the IS alignment and the stakeholder’s “satisfaction”. We focalized on the postoperative handover (alignment of usages). This approach includes the “dynamic” and “usage” terms and takes into account the temporary and relational dimensions. Our work is inserted in a new research field that provides them with an explorative characteristic. We have built our strategy and our research study in a progressive way. Beforehand, it has seemed to us crucial to undergo a theoretic exploration of the subjects related to our research, in order to build simultaneously the basis and the purpose of the mentioned approach. The knowledge we have acquired has led us to elaborate conceptual proposals (6 hypotheses) from a constructivist perspective. These proposals were built during initial exploration tests and afterwards they were tested in European companies using one or more SSC. It seemed to us more logical to adopt the complementarity of a dual qualitative approach. On one hand, we studied in detail one company and, on the other hand, we have realized a poly organizational study, composed by 5 case studies, which were based on 9 semi-directive interviews.The variety of the results obtained tends to demonstrate the singularity of our research. Two proposals must be highlighted. The first one is that the strategic alignment in the long term is reinforced by the use of a SSC (hypothesis 1) and the second one is linked to the fact that the external stakeholders can be easily managed by the clients’ enterprises which use a SSC (hypothesis 3). More generally, we have verified two other interesting contributions during our research. The first one is linked to a larger stability in the case of deep changes as, for example, a merger or a takeover (hypothesis 2 and 6). Our academic research has reached the conclusion that the SSC is a factor which offers stability to the company that uses it. The second contribution is fundamental, that is, it covers the importance of the interfaces between the SSC and the other internal parties involved. The connections between the different groups are essential in order to obtain and to maintain a good alignment.

We investigated attachment and migration of human retinal pigment epithelial cells (primary, SV40-transfected and ARPE-19) on nanoscopically defined, two-dimensional matrices composed of parallel-aligned collagen type I fibrils. These matrices were used non-cross-linked (native) or after riboflavin/UV-A cross-linking to study cell attachment and migration by time-lapse video microscopy. Expression of collagen type I and IV, MMP-2 and of the collagen-binding integrin subunit α2 were examined by immunofluorescence and Western blotting. SV40-RPE cells quickly attached to the nanostructured collagen matrices and aligned along the collagen fibrils. However, they disrupted both native and cross-linked collagen matrices within 5 h. Primary RPE cells aligned more slowly without destroying either native or cross-linked substrates. Compared to primary RPE cells, ARPE-19 cells showed reduced alignment but partially disrupted the matrices within 20 h after seeding. Expression of the collagen type I-binding integrin subunit α2 was highest in SV40-RPE cells, lower in primary RPE cells and almost undetectable in ARPE-19 cells. Thus, integrin α2 expression levels directly correlated with the degree of cell alignment in all examined RPE cell types. Specific integrin subunit α2-mediated matrix binding was verified by preincubation with an α2-function-blocking antibody, which impaired cell adhesion and alignment to varying degrees in primary and SV40-RPE cells. Since native matrices supported extended and directed primary RPE cell growth, optimizing the matrix production procedure may in the future yield nanostructured collagen matrices serving as transferable cell sheet carriers. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

No description available.