A presente tese tem como objetivo produzir subsídios para a construção de um referencial teórico-metodológico sobre a utilização dos objetos de aprendizagem no contexto das comunidades virtuais auto-organizadas para a produção de software livre e de código aberto. Utiliza-se como metodologia a etnografia virtual (HINE, 2000) em conjunto com a teoria analítica da ação mediada (WERTSCH, 1991) e a análise de conteúdo (BARDIN, 2000). A coleta de dados foi efetuada, em duas fases, nos fóruns de discussão de quatro (4) comunidades, além de uma comunidade incubadora de desenvolvimento de projetos de software livre e de código aberto. Constata-se que os objetos de aprendizagem mediam o processo de solução de problemas, uma vez que 100% dos problemas da amostra analisada foram resolvidos, apesar da ausência de um padrão de conformidade desses objetos. Esta limitação é superada em razão do perfil específico imperante dos membros ativos da comunidade, pois estes possuem elevado nível de comportamento colaborativo/cooperativo, iniciativa voluntária, desprendimento, obstinação, capacidade de autoaprendizagem, autonomia, independência, disciplina, responsabilidade e comprometimento com prazos, qualidade dos produtos e outras exigências estabelecidas pela comunidade. Outro fator de relevância é que as comunidades são ricas em interação humana, o que qualifica o processo do significado da mediação e o ambiente de colaboração, nas ações referentes à localização, montagem e contextualização dos objetos de aprendizagem. Os significativos resultados atingidos por estas comunidades têm impactado, sobremaneira, as grandes organizações de produção de software, levando-as a rever suas estratégias corporativas, boas práticas de desenvolvimento, gestão de pessoas, equipes e projetos. Por outro lado, infere-se que a sustentabilidade de tais comunidades não pode estar assentada somente em atributos e habilidades pessoais, principalmente pelo fato de que a localização dos objetos de aprendizagem para a solução de problemas baseia-se no conhecimento tácito de seus membros. Necessário se faz agregar inovações na forma e funcionalidade de tais comunidades (padrão de conformidade, métodos e ferramentas tecnológicas), com vistas a possibilitar uma efetiva e universal acessibilidade do conhecimento produzido para a solução mais eficiente dos problemas, bem como incorporar membros com comportamentos e habilidades diversos. Os resultados desta pesquisa contribuem para as inovações futuras, no campo teórico e prático, na definição de um padrão de conformidade para a especificação, indexação, uso, combinação e avaliação dos objetos de aprendizagem, além de motivar a mudança de comportamento, cultura e forma de aprender. / The present thesis aims to produce subsidies for the development of a theoreticalmethodological referential on the use of learning objects in the context of self-organized virtual communities for the development of free and open source software. The methodologies used were the virtual ethnography (HINE, 2000), together with the mediated action analytical theory (WERTSCH, 1991) and content analysis (BARDIN, 2000). Data was collected in two phases: from the discussion forums of (4) four communities, and from an incubator community for the development of free and open source software projects. The learning objects appear to mediate the problem solution processes, since all the problems of the analyzed sample were solved, despite the lack of a standard of compliance of those objects. This limitation is overcome due to the specific dominant profile of the active members of the community, who display a high level of collaborative behavior, voluntary initiative, detachment, obstinacy, auto-learning capacity, autonomy, independence, discipline, responsibility and commitment to deadlines, product quality and other requirements established by the community. Another relevant aspect is that the communities are abundant in human interaction, what qualifies the mediation significance process and the collaborative environment in the actions referring to location, assembling and contextualization of the learning objects. The meaningful results obtained by those communities have led great software production organizations to review their corporate strategies, good developmental practices, staff, people and project management. On the other hand, it is inferred that the sustainability of those communities can not be maintained only by personal attributes and abilities, specially because the location of the learning objects for problem solution is based on the tacit knowledge of their members. It is necessary to aggregate innovation into the nature and functionality of those communities (standard compliance, technological methods and tools), to not only enable an effective and universal accessibility to knowledge leading to more efficient problem solution, but also to incorporate members with diverse behavior and abilities. The results of the present research contribute to future innovation in both theoretical and practical fields in the definition of a pattern of conformity for the specification, indexation, use, combination and evaluation of learning objects, in addition to motivating a change of behavior, culture and way of learning.

Nowadays, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), about 40% of the population is urban and this region is expected to face the highest growth rates during the next decades. By 2100, the three most populated cities in the world will be located in SSA. As a consequence of the extremely fast transformations experienced during the last decades, SSA cities are facing social and environmental issues combined with a lack of financial means and capacity in urban planning and management. The poorest often constitute a large part of the urban population that is extremely vulnerable to health and disaster risks.In SSA cities, up-to-date and spatially detailed geographic information is often missing. This lack of information is an important issue for many scientific studies focusing on different urban issues and there is a real need to improve the availability of geoinformation for these cities in order to support urban planning, urban management, environment monitoring, epidemiology or risk assessment, etc. The work presented in this thesis aims to develop different frameworks for the production of geoinformation. For this purpose, advantage is taken of Very-High Resolution Remote Sensing imagery (0.5 meters) and open-source software. These frameworks implement cutting-edge methods and can handle a large amount of data in a semi-automated fashion to produce maps covering very large areas of interest. In the spirit of open science, the processing chains are entirely based on open-source software and are released publicly in open-access for any interested researchers, in order to make the methods developed completely transparent and in order to contribute to the creation of a pool of common tools and scientific knowledge. These frameworks are used to produce very detailed land-cover and land-use maps that provide essential information such as the built-up density, or the fact that a neighborhood is residential or not. This detailed geoinformation is then used as indicators of presence of populated places to improve existing population models at the intra-urban level. / Option Géographie du Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Se situant dans le champ de la stratégie, cette thèse souhaite contribuer à l’aide à la réflexion stratégique des entreprises du FLOSS commercial. Cet objectif semble atteint par la fourniture de deux construits (modèle des dynamiques et jeu de propositions) et trois illustrations par des cas d’entreprises représentatives du secteur. Le modèle des cinq dynamiques constitue un support à la formulation de l’intention et à la conception de la configuration stratégique. En éclatant l’approche communautaire classique dans les dynamiques socio-politique, psycho-cognitive et d’usage, ce travail génère un cadre conceptuel qui se propose d’intégrer la notion d’environnement FLOSS plus large que celle de communauté. Ce modèle met en évidence un besoin de repérer les acteurs et pouvoirs en présence dans un projet, de gérer les réticences de ces derniers et de s’appuyer sur les usages pour développer des pratiques qui génèrent de la collaboration. Enfin, le jeu de propositions peut servir aux entreprises du FLOSS commercial de lignes directrices et aux chercheurs de pistes à approfondir. / This thesis aims to support business strategic decisions of commercial FLOSS companies. This objective appears to be achieved through two specific and flexible models (theoretical study supported by set of practical proposals) and three open source companies based case studies. The five dynamics' model is used to support the definition of the strategic intents and their deployment within an open source company. Based on socio-political, psycho-cognitive and technological use dynamics, this work generates a conceptual framework integrating the concept of FLOSS environment, much broader than only communities. This model highlights the needs to identify the different actors, their roles and scopes of influence in a project, to manage their reluctance and to mobilize collaboration tools to leverage of FLOSS practices. Finally, the set of proposals can be used as guidelines for commercial FLOSS companies strategy definition and for researchers more specific studies.

Dans le mouvement d'extension de la portée sociale du logiciel libre s'est constituée une utopie, qui constitue un pan de l'imaginaire politique contemporain. Cette utopie s'étend désormais bien au-delà de son milieu socio-culturel d'origine (le milieu hacker), du fait des liens tissés entre " libristes " et défenseurs des " biens communs ", du poids croissant de l'approche open source, et à proportion de l'intérêt suscité par le logiciel libre chez certains intellectuels critiques à partir de la fin des années 1990. Reprenant l'idéal cybernétique de libre circulation de l'information, l'utopie du logiciel libre se présente comme une contestation de la vision néolibérale de la propriété intellectuelle, et comme une critique des formes d'organisation du travail caractéristiques du capitalisme industriel. Elle se déploie en tant qu'" utopie concrète " (E. Bloch), mettant en jeu des pratiques de collaboration en ligne, des créations juridiques originales, et des formes de militantisme. Elle embrasse un idéal d'auto-organisation de la société civile, fondé sur la valorisation d'un domaine d'activités sociales distinct tant de l'État que du marché. Elle est toutefois condamnée à demeurer en deçà de cet idéal, et reste par ailleurs toujours menacée par les séductions du mythe et les renoncements de l'idéologie.

<p>Debate over Intellectual Property Rights ‘IPRs’ particularly patent and copyrights is mainly on forward-looking industries in computer software. As part of a trade deal reached in 1994, the member nations of the World Trade Organisation must adhere to a global agreement known as TRIPS, for the Trade- Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights.</p><p>This study is to analyse the ethical conception of Intellectual Property Rights and in particular its implications on the developing countries in relation to TRIPS. The approach will be to analyse a broad philosophical theories of property to see if there is any justification for a software program to be treated as private property and also argue base on John Rawls two principles of justice in relation to TRIPS Agreement. Some reflections will be put on the use of open-source software by less developing countries.</p><p>From the study it was asserted that, strong IPRs protection would hinder technological transfer and indigenous learning activities in the early stage of industrialisation when learning takes place through reverse engineering. And policy makers should consider differentiation in terms of the level of economic and industrial development, if protection and enforcement of IPRs is intended to enhance technological development.</p>

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of commodity promotion activities on the United States' hazelnut farmer's economic welfare. Commodity promotion activities, such as generic advertising and research, are the responsibilities of government mandated commodity commissions, such as the Hazelnut Marketing Board (HMB). The HMB is a state mandated cartel, organized under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 (i.e. the Marketing Order) and amended in 1981, 1986, and 1989 (7 CFR Part 982, FR Doc. 81-14045 FR Doc. 86-18438, FR Doc. 89-26187). HMB promotion activities are funded by taxes levied on U.S. hazelnut farmers. To ensure that promotion provides a net benefit to these farmers this research uses Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) of the assessments under various assumptions about the market's conditions. A non-linear system of equations (SEM) with Monte Carlo simulation was utilized to produce these estimates. / Graduation date: 2013

Debate over Intellectual Property Rights ‘IPRs’ particularly patent and copyrights is mainly on forward-looking industries in computer software. As part of a trade deal reached in 1994, the member nations of the World Trade Organisation must adhere to a global agreement known as TRIPS, for the Trade- Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights. This study is to analyse the ethical conception of Intellectual Property Rights and in particular its implications on the developing countries in relation to TRIPS. The approach will be to analyse a broad philosophical theories of property to see if there is any justification for a software program to be treated as private property and also argue base on John Rawls two principles of justice in relation to TRIPS Agreement. Some reflections will be put on the use of open-source software by less developing countries. From the study it was asserted that, strong IPRs protection would hinder technological transfer and indigenous learning activities in the early stage of industrialisation when learning takes place through reverse engineering. And policy makers should consider differentiation in terms of the level of economic and industrial development, if protection and enforcement of IPRs is intended to enhance technological development.

(<特集>学習オブジェクト・学習データの活用と集約) (<Special Issue> Application and Aggregation of Learning Objects and Learning Data)

<p>The web has evolved much through the years. From being a place where author and reader were clearly distinguished, it now invites everyone to take part in the development of both content and technology. Social services are central in what is called Web 2.0. Wikis, blogs and folksonomies are all examples of how the users and their communities are key to the development of services. Collaborative writing, tags and API:s are central. Social services are given an extra dimension through integration. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether it was possible to integrate an encyclopedia with a photosharing service. The issue was whether it was possible to find relevant images to the article they were connected to. The method for examining the issue was to create a service which functions was investigated through user tests. Wickrpedia was created, which is an integration of Wikipedia and Flickr. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia in the shape of a wiki, while Flickr is used to store, organize and share photos. The result shows that the images added someting to the encyclopedia; it became more entertaining and pleasant and the users’ knowledge was increased. The relevance of the images was good. The service can and should be improved. The conclusion is still that the service worked well and was seen as an improvement by the users.</p> / <p>Webben har förändrats mycket de senaste åren. Från att tidigare haft en tydlig uppdelning mellan läsare och författare inbjuds nu alla att delta i utvecklingen av både innehåll och teknik. Sociala tjänster är det centrala i det som benämns Web 2.0. Wikis, bloggar och folksonomies är alla exempel på hur användarna och deras gemenskap är nyckeln till utveckling av tjänster. Kollaborativt skrivande, taggar och API:er är centrala. Sociala tjänster får en ytterligare dimension genom integrering. Denna studies syfte var att utreda hur det gick att integrera ett uppslagsverk med en fotodelningstjänst. Frågan är om det gick att göra på ett sådant sätt att bilderna hade relevans för de artiklar de kopplades till. Metoden för att utreda frågan var att skapa en tjänst vars funktion undersöktes med hjälp av användartester. Wickrpedia skapades, vilket är en intregrering av Wikipedia och Flickr. Wikipedia är en encyklopedi i form av en wiki, medan Flickr används för att förvara, organisera och dela med sig av bilder. Resultatet visar att bilderna tillförde något till uppslagsverket; det blev roligare och trevligare och användarna fick en ökad kunskap. Relevansen hos bilderna var god. Tjänsten har brister, och den går att vidareutveckla. Slutsatsen var ändå att tjänsten fungerade och var en förbättring för användarna.</p>

This thesis examines the microeconomic consequences of the arrival of open source in the software market. Specifically, it analyzes three features of open source software by using specific models of industrial organization. Open source software is free, and may be modified or duplicated by anyone. The first paper studies the entry of an open source software in a closed source software market. Using a model of horizontal differentiation, the analysis considers a closed source firm's investment in the quality of its software. The introduction of open source on the market reduces the firm's investment in quality and increases the price of its software. Moreover, the entry of open source software may reduce consumer welfare. Post-entry by an open source software, the reduction in market share lowers the firm's incentive to invest in quality. The second paper features vertical differentiation to study a monopolist selling supporting product to its software. The study begins by contrasting the supply of support by an open source provider and a closed source vendor. The model shows that in both cases the levels of support offered are the same. In addition, consumer welfare is higher and profit lower under an open source software. Then, the paper considers the competition in the provision of support. Here, the supply of high level support is greater than under a monopolist. Finally, the monopolist adopts a dual licensing strategy to extract more surplus from developers interested in modifying open source software and redistributing the resulting product. This technique, when the developers place high value on the source code, generates more profit if the monopolist chooses to publish as open source rather than closed source. The last paper studies how a closed source firm is affected by the introduction of an open source benefiting from contributions by users. A vertical differentiation model is used, and reveals that, when contribution of users is present, the closed source vendor may lower its price to a level where it forces the open source out of the market. The firm's lower price not only increases demand for its software, but also induces consumers into switching from open to closed source software therefore reducing the contribution of users. / Les logiciels libres sont uniques en leur genre\ : non seulement sont-ils distribués gra-tuitement, mais on peut aussi les modifier et les copier. Cette thèse étudie l'impact de ces propriétés du logiciel libre sur la compétition et sur les entreprises de logiciel propriétaire. Des modèles propres à l'organisation industrielle sont utilisés. Le première étude examine l'arrivée d'un logiciel libre sur un marché occupé par un logiciel propriétaire. En utilisant un modèle de différenciation horizontale, le papier consi-dère une firme propriétaire qui investit dans la qualité de son logiciel. L'arrivée d'un logiciel libre cause l'entreprise du logiciel propriétaire à réduire le niveau de son investissement et à augmenter le prix de son produit. Il s'avère alors que l'introduction du logiciel libre sur le marché réduit l'investissement de l'entreprise et engendre même l'augmentation du prix du produit. De plus, l'arrivée du logiciel libre peut réduire le niveau de bien-être des consommateurs. Comme le logiciel libre ne réagit pas aux décisions stratégique de l'entreprise, cette dernière voit son marché réduit peu importe sa stratégie. La firme décide conséquemment de vendre un produit de moindre qualité à un prix plus élevé à une clientèle réduite. Le deuxième papier propose un modèle qui utilise la différenciation verticale afin d'exa-miner un monopoleur offrant un produit complémentaire à son logiciel. L'étude compare d'abord les cas d'un logiciel libre et d'un logiciel propriétaire, toujours dans le contexte d'un monopoleur offrant du support professionnel pour son logiciel. Il est établi que le bien-être des consommateurs est plus élevé, et le profit inférieur dans le cas d'un distributeur de logiciel libre. Ensuite, le modèle initial est modifié avec l'ajout d'une seconde entreprise offrant du support professionnel. Dans ce cas, l'offre de support de haut niveau est plus élevée. Finalement, le monopoleur adopte une stratégie de licences doubles. Ce concept permet au monopoleur de proposer la vente d'une licence même si son logiciel est libre. Cette technique génère plus de profits, certaines conditions étant présentes, que si l'entreprise optait pour un logiciel propriétaire. Un logiciel libre profite des contributions de ses usagers pour améliorer son produit. Le troisième papier examine l'arrivée d'un tel produit sur un marché dominé par un logiciel propriétaire. Le modèle de différenciation verticale utilisé contraste les deux logiciels dans un marché donné et révèle que la contribution des utilisateurs peut diminuer la part de marché du logiciel libre au profit de son conccurrent. De fait, en diminuant ses prix le licenceur du logiciel propriétaire incite le consommateur à délaisser le logiciel libre pour le produit de son concurrent.