Project PANOPTES (http://www.projectranoptes.org) is aimed at establishing a collaboration between professional astronomers, citizen scientists and schools to discover a large number of exoplanets with the transit technique. We have developed digital camera based imaging units to cover large parts of the sky and look for exoplanet transits. Each unit costs approximately $5000 USD and runs automatically every night. By using low-cost, commercial digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, we have developed a uniquely cost-efficient system for wide field astronomical imaging, offering approximately two orders of magnitude better etendue per unit of cost than professional wide-field surveys. Both science and outreach, our vision is to have thousands of these units built by schools and citizen scientists gathering data, making this project the most productive exoplanet discovery machine in the world.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / A laboratory information management system (LIMS) is central to the informatics infrastructure that underlies biobanking activities. To date, a wide range of commercial and open source LIMS are available. The decision to opt for one LIMS over another is often influenced by the needs of the biobank clients and researchers, as well as available financial resources. However, to find a LIMS that incorporates all possible requirements of a biobank may often be a complicated endeavour. The need to implement biobank standard operation procedures as well as stimulate the use of standards for biobank data representation motivated the development of Baobab LIMS, an open source LIMS for Biobanking. Baobab LIMS comprises modules for biospecimen kit assembly, shipping of biospecimen kits, storage management, analysis requests, reporting, and invoicing. Baobab LIMS is based on the Plone web-content management framework, a server-client-based system, whereby the end user is able to access the system securely through the internet on a standard web browser, thereby eliminating the need for standalone installations on all machines. The Baobab LIMS components were tested and evaluated in three human biobanks. The testing of the LIMS modules aided in the mapping of the biobanks requirements to the LIMS functionalities, and furthermore, it helped to reveal new user suggestions, such as the enhancement of the online documentation. The user suggestions are demonstrated to be important for both LIMS strengthen and biobank sustainability. Ultimately, the practical LIMS evaluations showed the ability of Boabab LIMS to be used in the management of human biobanks operations of relatively different biobanking workflows.

This report has conducted a research of comparing a few open source search engines. The research contains two evaluation processes, the first evaluation will evaluate each open source search engine found on today’s market. Points will be given between one to five points depending on how well the open source search engine meets the requirements. The open source search engine with the highest score will then be chosen for implementation. The first evaluation resulted in Elasticsearch being the selected open source search engine and will continue to the implementation phase. The second evaluation will be measuring the system performance and the relevance of the SERP (Search Engine Results Pages). This phase will evaluate the system performance by taking time measurements on how long it takes for the search engines to deliver the SERP. The relevance of the search results will be judge by a group of CSN employers. The group will be giving point be-tween one to five points depending on the relevance of the SERP. It will eval-uate Elasticsearch with the search engine CSN are using today on their web-site (www.csn.se). This phase resulted in Elasticsearch being the better in performance measurements but not in the relevance of the SERP. This was discussed and came to the conclusion that most points were lost because of the first search result Elasticsearch delivered. If this search result was re-moved Elasticsearch could deliver as good results as the old search engine. The survey came to the conclusion that Elasticsearch is recommended for CSN if certain problem areas could be corrected before implementation into their systems.

Free (libre) and open source software (FLOSS) emerged in the 1980s as a radical alternative to proprietary software. Fighting back against what FLOSS enthusiasts viewed as overly restrictive intellectual property protections placed on proprietary software, FLOSS was designed with the intent of granting users the right to study, modify, adapt, or otherwise tinker with the source code of software. As such, FLOSS users were able to collaborate in producing software that could be distributed freely and widely to others, who could, in turn, make changes to the software. As FLOSS projects grew in popularity, the productive process was spread throughout a broad network of distributed users, all of whom could work on the code. The result of this process was the creation of robust, effective, and efficient forms of software that could compete with those offered by large software companies. Increasingly, however, some of those large software companies became involved in the development of FLOSS projects. On its face, this may seem to be a contradiction of interests. Why would a for-profit company invest in the development of software that is made freely available for others to use? This is the contradiction that lies at the heart of this research project. More specifically, this project looks at the dynamics that exist between communities of FLOSS developers and the corporations that are involved in or make use of their projects. Working from a critical political economy perspective, this study complicates theories of the commons and commons-based peer production by illustrating how FLOSS processes and products are being incorporated into broader corporate structures and strategies. The three case studies presented - Red Hat, Microsoft, and Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems - exemplify different elements of this dynamic. Red Hat provides an example of how a company that relies exclusively on free software can be turned into a profitable business. The Microsoft case demonstrates why the company has undergone a transition from vehement opposition to FLOSS toward a more supportive position. Finally, Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems demonstrates how FLOSS communities cope with changing ownership structures and unwanted corporate interference into their projects.

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is an emerging trend in networking that offers a number of advantages such as smoother network management over traditional networks. By decoupling the control and data planes from network elements, a huge amount of new opportunities arise, especially in network virtualization. In cloud datacenters, where virtualization plays a fundamental role, SDN presents itself as the perfect candidate to ease infrastructure management and to ensure correct operation. Even if the original SDN ideology advocates openness of source and interfaces, multiple networking vendors offer their own proprietary solutions. In this work, an open-source SDN solution, named Tungsten Fabric, will be deployed in a virtualized datacenter and a number of SDN-related use-cases will be examined. The main goal of this work is to determine whether Tungsten Fabric can deliver the same set of use-cases as a proprietary solution from Juniper, named Contrail Cloud. Finally, this work will give some guidelines on whether open-source SDN is the right candidate for Ericsson.

Um processo de software é definido pelas diversas atividades comumente efetuadas durante o desenvolvimento de software, considerando que tais atividades sejam realizadas sob políticas bem definidas e procedimentos bem estabelecidos. Assim, existem diversos modelos de processo de desenvolvimento de software, que visam garantir a qualidade do produto desenvolvido por meio de tal processo. Identificando a necessidade de processos de software específicos para o desenvolvimento de software livre, devido aos modelos tradicionais não considerarem as características do desenvolvimento deste tipo de software, foi proposto no contexto do Projeto QualiPSo o modelo OMM (Open Source Maturity Model). Com o intuito de contribuir com o modelo OMM e a comunidade de software livre, esse trabalho teve como um de seus objetivos a análise do emprego de wikis no processo de desenvolvimento de software. Outro objetivo dessa pesquisa foi o desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta para mensurar o quanto de documentação e registro de Design Rationale tem sido realizado em uma wiki / A software process is defined by several activities commonly performed during the software development, whereas such activities are conducted under well defined policies and and well established procedures. Thus, there are various models of software development process designed to ensure the quality of the product developed through this processes. By identifying the need for software processes specific to the development of free software, due to traditional models do not consider the characteristics of this type of software, the OMM Model (Open Source Maturity Model) was proposed in the the QualiPSos project context. Aiming to contribute with the OMM model and free software community, one of this work objectives was the analysis of using wikis in the software development process. The other objective of this research was to develop a tool to measure how much documentation and registration of Design Rationale has been performed in a wiki

Smart City technologies emerge as a potential solution to tackle common problems in large urban centers by using city resources efficiently and providing quality services for citizens. Despite the various advances in middleware technologies to support future smart cities, there are yet no widely accepted platforms. Most of the existing solutions do not provide the required flexibility to be shared across cities. Moreover, the extensive use and development of non-open-source software leads to interoperability issues and limits the collaboration among R&D groups. Our research explores the use of a microservices architecture to address key practical challenges in smart city platforms. More specifically, we are concerned with the impact of microservices on addressing the key non-functional requirements to enable the development of smart cities such as supporting different scalability demands and providing a flexible architecture which can easily evolve over time. To this end, we are developing InterSCity, a microservice-based open source smart city platform that aims at supporting the development of sophisticated, cross- domain applications and services. Our early experience shows that microservices can be properly used as building blocks to achieve a loosely coupled, flexible architecture. Experimental results point towards the applicability of our approach in the context of smart cities since the platform can support multiple scalability demands. We expect to enable collaborative, novel smart city research, development, and deployment initiatives through the InterSCity platform. The full validation of the platform will be conducted using different smart city scenarios and workloads. Future work comprises the ongoing design and development effort on data processing services as well as more comprehensive evaluation of the proposed platform through scalability experiments. / As tecnologias de Cidades Inteligentes surgem como uma potencial solução para lidar com problemas comuns em grandes centros urbanos, utilizando os recursos da cidade de maneira eficiente e fornecendo serviços de qualidade para os cidadãos. Apesar dos vários avanços nas tecnologias de middleware para suporte às cidades inteligentes do futuro, ainda não existem plataformas amplamente aceitas. A maioria das soluções existentes não oferece a flexibilidade necessária para ser compartilhada entre as cidades. Além disso, o vasto uso e desenvolvimento de software proprietário levam a problemas de interoperabilidade e limitam a colaboração entre grupos de P&D. Nesta dissertação, exploramos uso de uma arquitetura de microsserviços para abordar os principais desafios práticos em plataformas de cidades inteligentes. Mais especificamente, estamos preocupados com o impacto dos microsserviços sobre requisitos não-funcionais para permitir o desenvolvimento de cidades inteligentes, tais como o suporte a diferentes demandas de escalabilidade e o fornecimento de uma arquitetura flexível que pode evoluir facilmente. Para esse fim, criamos a InterSCity, uma plataforma para cidades inteligentes de código aberto baseada em microsserviços que visa apoiar o desenvolvimento de aplicativos e serviços sofisticados em múltiplos domínios. Nossa experiência inicial mostra que os microsserviços podem ser usados adequadamente como blocos de construção para obter uma arquitetura flexível e fracamente acoplada. Resultados experimentais apontam para a aplicabilidade de nossa abordagem no contexto de cidades inteligentes, já que a plataforma pode suportar diferentes demandas de escalabilidade. Esperamos permitir pesquisas colaborativas e inovadoras em cidades inteligentes, assim como o desenvolvimento e iniciativas de implantações reais através da plataforma InterSCity. A validação completa da plataforma será realizada usando diferentes cenários de cidades inteligentes e cargas de trabalho. Os trabalhos futuros compreendem o esforço contínuo de projetar e desenvolver novos serviços de processamento de dados, bem como a realização de avaliações mais abrangentes da plataforma proposta por meio de experimentos de escalabilidade.

Denna rapport jämför ett kommersiellt site survey-verktyg med ett open sourcealternativ. En site survey är processen att planera och implementera ett trådlöstnätverk. Det är viktigt för att undvika problem med täckning, störningar samtplacering och konfigurering av accesspunkter. För att göra jämförelsen har en metod utvecklats för att jämföra site survey-verktyg. Metoden tar upp och jämför olika kriterier i form av verktygens förmåga att hantera signalstyrka, störningar, quality of service, manuella site surveys, virtuella site surveys, dokumentering av resultat samt verktygens förmåga att underlätta vid placering och konfigurering av accesspunkter. Förutom detta tas även mjukvarornas gränssnitt och användarvänlighet upp. Metoden skulle dock kunna utökas ytterligare för att innefatta t ex säkerhet, inlärningstid och support, för att på så sätt bidra till en bättre jämförelse.De verktyg som har jämförts är open source-mjukvaran Kismet och den kommersiella mjukvaran InterpretAir. InterpretAir har visat sig ha en bättre funktionalitet på alla punkter och anses därför vara den mest lämpliga mjukvaran vid en site survey. Detta kan dock ha berott på att Kismet, trots att det utsetts till det lämpligaste open sourcealternativet, inte är ett renodlat site survey-verktyg och därför inte har samma fokus på just denna funktionalitet.

Nas últimas décadas a tecnologia de realidade virtual tem sido cada vez mais utilizada em várias aplicações na sociedade. Particularmente a partir do início da década de 90, observamos o advento da realidade virtual baseada em multiprojeções, com o surgimento do paradigma de construção de sistemas de realidade virtual totalmente imersivos como por exemplo o CAVE™. Esta tese tem por objetivo apresentar pesquisas e desenvolvimentos relacionados com a implementação do primeiro sistema de multiprojeção totalmente imersivo baseado em aglomerado de computadores convencionais, sistema este denominado de CAVERNA Digital. O trabalho aqui apresentado é composto por um panorama atual do estado da arte das tecnologias de realidade virtual baseadas em multiprojeção. O conceito de aglomerados de computadores convencionais para realidade virtual, ou especificamente VRCluster é apresentado, bem como uma taxonomia de organização interna dos VRClusters. O sistema de multiprojeção da CAVERNA Digital é apresentado, descrevendo em detalhe as opções dos inúmeros subsistemas como projetores, telas, subsistema de vídeo, dispositivos de interação e outros. Outra contribuição desta tese é pela inovação de uma plataforma de visualização interativa voltada para ambientes de realidade virtual imersivos, plataforma esta denominada de JINX, baseada no padrão aberto X3D. Aspectos relacionados com a operação destes sistemas de realidade virtual avançados são apresentados como é o caso das interface de gerenciamento de ambientes imersivos denominado de SIRIUS e do núcleo de gerenciamento de ambientes imersivos denominado de ZEUS. Por fim vários testes de desempenho são realizados para a validação da integração dos inúmeros recursos utilizados na CAVERNA Digital. / In the last decades, virtual reality technology has been increasingly used in many applications for the society. Particularly in the beginning of 90’s, we can observe the advent of virtual reality based in multi-projections, leading to the construction paradigm of CAVE™ like virtual reality systems. The goal of this thesis is to present the research and developments related to the construction of the first multi projection completely immersive system based on commodity computer clusters called CAVERNA Digital. The work here presented is composed by an updated panorama of the state-of-art multi-projection virtual reality technologies. The concept of commodity computer clusters for virtual reality, or specifically VRCluster is shown, as well as the taxonomy for internal organization of the VRClusters. The CAVERNA Digital multi-projection system is shown, including details of the options of uncountable subsystems, like projectors, screens, video, and interaction devices, among others. This thesis contributes with another innovation: the visualization platform, called JINX, based on the open standard X3D. Aspects related to the operation of these advanced virtual reality systems are presented, which is the case of the user interface for immersive environments called SIRIUS and the management core for immersive environments called ZEUS. Finally, various performance tests were conducted to validate the integration of the uncountable resources used in the CAVERNA Digital.

A complexidade é um tema da maior relevância nos estudos contemporâneos. Inúmeros autores dedicados a estudar as estruturas de organização social, os modos de vida e os sistemas de valor nas sociedades hipermodernas destacam sua condição extremamente heterogênea e mutável. No campo da arquitetura, contextos de complexidade vêm impondo limites severos às abordagens projetuais deterministas, centralizadoras e hierárquicas, demandando dos arquitetos uma revisão profunda nos seus métodos de pensamento e ação. Problemas complexos se caracterizam pela imprevisibilidade de seus elementos causais, pela sua metamorfose diante do esforço em resolvê-los e pela ausência de soluções de referência válidas e diretamente aplicáveis. Eles demandam dos arquitetos habilidades cognitivas e operativas diferenciadas, que potencializem: a emergência criativa, a adaptação constante, a integração com outras inteligências coletivas e um vínculo direto com a ação transformadora. Pode-se afirmar que a identidade da inteligência projetual contemporânea vem sendo redefinida por novas aberturas em seus processos criativos que buscam meios para associar termos como a indeterminação, a inovação e a interatividade. Esta tese considera que um dos caminhos para essa associação pode ser encontrado nos processos de improvisação. A improvisação, analisada a partir do campo da arte, configura um modo de pensar e agir com grande potencial de articulação coletiva e um vínculo direto com a ação criativa em tempo real. Trata-se de um processo de caráter essencialmente experimental, capaz de despertar inúmeras sensibilidades criativas fundamentais para o enfrentamento da complexa realidade dos problemas de projeto. Além de oferecer um rico repertório de estratégias cognitivas para a articulação e o desenvolvimento de ideias, o conceito de improvisação permite traçar um olhar integrado sobre um conjunto emergente de práticas projetuais contemporâneas que, apoiadas nos princípios do código livre, vêm definindo um campo de ação projetual ainda pouco explorado e analisado, que compreende, por exemplo, o Open Design, os Makerspaces, FabLabs, Hackerspaces e as redes de arquitetura coletivas. Na base destes movimentos encontra-se todo um envolvimento com as linguagens eletrônicas, diversas modalidades de computação e uma infraestrutura sistêmica de redes digitais que, hoje, podem ser consideradas os motores da experimentação e da improvisação criativa. Esta pesquisa apresenta, dentre seus objetivos principais: uma leitura crítica e epistemológica das relações entre improvisação e arquitetura, uma proposta de reflexão dos atributos da improvisação frente ao processo de projeto, em suas dimensões operativas e cognitivas, e uma discussão dos resultados práticos das jamsessions criativas, eventos concebidos como laboratórios de reflexão-em-ação. Busca-se, desse modo, contribuir não apenas para uma revisão da noção de improvisação na arquitetura, mas também para uma revisão da própria episteme projetual em tempos complexos. / Complexity is a subject of major relevance in contemporary studies. Hypermodern societies have extremely heterogeneous and changeable social structures, lifestyles and values systems. According several authors, the complexity of current environments have been shaping rigorous limits to deterministic, centralized and hierarchical design approaches. Its dynamic condition demands a revision process in contemporary design methods of thinking and action. Complex problems can be recognized through unpredictable causal factors, metamorphic variability over time and lack of immediate valid and applicable design solutions. These sort of problems request the architect distinctive operational and cognitive skill, such creative emergence, continued adaptation, integration with collective intelligence and direct link with transformative real time actions. The identity of contemporary practice is changing and being redefined by a growing openness in its creative processes. Indetermination, innovation and interaction are terms that must be reflected in connection. In this research we consider improvisation as an alternative to associate these term and suggest possible implications in contemporary design process. Improvisation is a reflection-in-action tactic with great potential for collective thinking and real-time creative experience. It is essentially experimental and engender important creative sensibilities oriented to complex situations. The conceptual analysis of improvisation enables the construction of a congruent systemic view dedicated to emerging practices. Examples such Open Design movement, Maker Spaces, Fab Labs, Hacker Spaces and Collective Architecture Network have a common operational structure governed by open source principles and applied in the real world. They have been involved with very experimental processes of digital technology innovation which embraces improvised reflection-in-action. New computing techniques, electronic language and digital networks are reshaping design process and creating new values and new attributes to architecture. The intentions of this research are to offer a connected reading between improvisation and contemporary design processes, to present a operative and cognitive approach of idiomatic improvisation, to expose the potential of these attributes in the context of architecture practice, and present practical results from a series of design jamsessions based on the articulation of improvisation techniques and physical computing. These reflections are expected to provide elements for a necessary review in the relation of improvisation and architecture thinking, and also contribute to rethink the epistemic direction of architecture in complex times.