Dans le cadre de l’amortissement passif de structure, les élastomères sont employés dans les industries du transport sous la forme de liaisons amortissantes. Ces matériaux ont un comportement dépendant de la fréquence, de la température et de l’amplitude d’excitation. Les modèles numériques associés peuvent être coûteux en temps de calcul, notamment en phase d’optimisation. Le but de cette thèse est de proposer un modèle réduit efficace de ces liaisons amortissantes, qui prenne en compte la dissipation viscoélastique et les précharges non-linéaires dans les liaisons. La première partie de ce mémoire se concentre sur la représentation de la dissipation par le modèle réduit. Une loi de comportement viscoélastique, basée sur un modèle rhéologique identifié expérimentalement, est utilisée avec la méthode des éléments finis pour obtenir un modèle numérique des liaisons amortissantes. Un premier modèle réduit prédictif, prenant en compte la dissipation en est dérivé en utilisant une extension originale des méthodes de sous-structuration. La deuxième partie traite de l’influence des précharges statiques non-linéaires sur le comportement dynamique et la dissipation dans les liaisons. Pour cela, une loi de comportement hyper-visco-élastique linéarisée autour d’un état précontraint statique non-linéaire est développée. Les méthodes de sous-structuration introduites dans la première partie sont alors enrichies afin de tenir compte de la dissipation et les non-linéarités géométriques dans les liaisons. Finalement, ces modèles réduits à 2 nœuds permettent des gains en temps de calcul d’un facteur 50 à 100 et sont facilement utilisables par l’ingénieur en phase de conception. / In the context of passive damping, various mechanical systems from the space, aeronautic or auto-mobile industry use elastomer components (shock absorbers, silent blocks, flexible joints...).These materials have frequency, temperature and amplitude dependentcharacteristics. The associated numerical models may become computationally too expensive during an optimization process.The aim of this work is to propose an efficient reduced model of rubber devices that account for the viscoelastic damping and the non-linear pre-stress in the dampers.The first part of this thesis is about how to include the viscoelasticdamping in the reduced model. It starts by using a viscoelastic constitutive relation, based on experimental identification, within the frame of the finite element method to obtain a numerical model of the rubber dampers. A first efficient reduced model is then derived from this FE model by using an original extension of sub-structuring methods in the case of viscoelastic damping.In the second part, the influence of non-linear static pre-stress overthe dynamic behavior and the dissipation in the dampers is studied. An hyper-visco-elastic constitutive relation, linearized in the neighbourhood of a pre-stressed state, is developed. The sub-structuring methods presented in the first part are then upgraded to account for the damping and the geometrical non-linearities in the dampers. Finally, these 2-node reduced models give access to greatly reduced computation times (50 to 100 times faster) and are easy to use for the engineer.

Submitted by RITA DE CASSIA GREGORIO DE ANDRADE (ritagandrade@gmail.com) on 2018-07-23T18:01:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE DA RITA.pdf: 20877085 bytes, checksum: 68d60fbc8fe46b3e97812ad6af9d3aa2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ALESSANDRA KUBA OSHIRO ASSUNÇÃO (alessandra@fct.unesp.br) on 2018-07-23T18:49:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 andrade_rcg_dr_prud.pdf: 20877085 bytes, checksum: 68d60fbc8fe46b3e97812ad6af9d3aa2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-23T18:49:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 andrade_rcg_dr_prud.pdf: 20877085 bytes, checksum: 68d60fbc8fe46b3e97812ad6af9d3aa2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-07-05 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Na pesquisa ora apresentada, tratamos da cidade de Cuzco e da repercussão do Shopping Center Real Plaza na estrutura e estruturação urbanas, com ênfase no comércio. Estudamos os espaços comerciais presentes em Cuzco, tais como mercados públicos, centros comerciais populares, bodegas, entre outros, para entender o papel do Shopping Center Real Plaza numa cidade marcada por uma diversidade de espaços varejistas. Analisamos a estruturação do espaço urbano e as singularidades de uma cidade média, cujo centro mais antigo está marcado pelo patrimônio cultural e pelas atividades terciárias do ramo turístico. Representam singularidades que levamos em consideração, para a análise da cidade em tela: o conteúdo simbólico do centro histórico; a mercantilização dos elementos culturais, pelo turismo; a presença de uma diversidade de espaços varejistas; a dinâmica comercial proporcionada pelos vendedores ambulantes e o sítio urbano montanhoso. O objetivo geral dessa pesquisa é estudar as repercussões do Shopping Center Real Plaza na estruturação urbana e comercial da cidade de Cuzco e os objetivos específicos são: 1) refletir sobre a expansão dos shopping centers no Peru; 2) compreender as singularidades de Cuzco, no que toca aos processos naturais, históricos e socioeconômicos, como também os diversos espaços comerciais da cidade; 3) analisar a estruturação urbana da cidade em tela, buscando compreender os diferentes “centros” e “eixos” comerciais; 4) analisar o Real Plaza de Cuzco, no que se refere à escolha locacional, aos agentes envolvidos no processo de construção e funcionamento, as consequências para a formação ou reforço da centralidade (comercial e de serviços) e a relação de concorrência ou complementaridade com os espaços de comércio preexistentes na cidade. Para isso, realizamos os seguintes procedimentos metodológicos: Leitura bibliográfica, análise documental, realização de entrevistas, aplicação de questionários, produção de mapas, observação do espaço urbano e levantamento fotográfico. Fundamentamos a tese de que, embora haja tendências gerais de concentração econômica e de expansão geográfica de novos espaços comerciais, há singularidades associadas à cidade de Cuzco, decorrentes da história, da conformação arquitetônica e do sítio urbano, que influenciaram na localização e implantação do Shopping Center Real Plaza. Essa superfície comercial e imobiliária, levantada no contexto da economia neoliberal, teve que se integrar a uma cidade com lógica distinta de dinâmica comercial, ligada ao “informal” e ao “tradicional”. / Our focus was on the study of the Cuzco city and the repercussion of the Real Plaza Shopping Center on the structure and urbane structuration, regarding mainly to the commerce. We treat with the commercial spaces present in Cuzco, such as the public markets, popular commercial centers, wineries and others; so that we could understand the role of the Real Plaza Shopping Center in a city that is characterized by retailer spaces. We analyzed the structuration of urbane spaces and the singularities of a middle-size city, whose oldest center is characterized by the cultural heritage and tertiary activities of the touristic branch. The next singularities were considered to the analysis of the city in screen: the symbolic content of the historical center; the mercantile process of cultural elements carried out by tourism; the presence of a diversity of retailer spaces; the commercial dynamic provided by ambulant sellers and the mountain urbane site. The general aim of this research is to study the repercussions of the Real Plaza Shopping Center on the urbane and commercial structuration of the Cuzco city and the specific aims are: 1) reflect on the expansion of shopping centers in Peru; 2) understand the singularity of Cuzco, regarding the natural, historical and socioeconomics process, in addition to the several commercial spaces of the city; 3) analyze the urbane structuration of the city in screen, looking for understanding the different commercial “centers” and “axis”; 4) analyze the Real Plaza of Cuzco, regarding its location choice, agents involved in the process of building and operation, the consequences of formation or reinforcement of the (commercial and services) centrality and the relation of concurrence or complementarity with the pre-existent commercial spaces of the city. To do that, we used the next methodological tools: literature review, documental analysis, interviews, surveys, production of maps, observation of urbane space and photographic reports. We based the thesis that, although there are general trends of economical concentration and geographic expansion of new commercial spaces, there are particularities associated with the Cuzco city, due to its history, architectonic features and urbane sites, which have influence on the location and implantation of the Real Plaza Shopping Center. This commercial and real estate surface, considering the neoliberal economic context, needed to integrate itself to a city with a distinct logic of commercial dynamic, linked to the "informal" and "traditional". / 2014/01069-7

Nous analysons dans cette thèse le processus de structuration d'organisations politiques écologistes, le Green Party et les Verts, de manière comparative et à l'échelle régionale, sur la période 1974-1995. Nous étudions cinq dimensions de ce processus : structuration organisationnelle, évolution des clivages avec les autres formations politiques, évolutions électorales et stratégiques, parcours militants et médiatisation des écologistes. Nous mettons en évidence plusieurs processus se jouant à l'échelle régionale et locale et leur influence décisive sur l'échelle nationale (rôle moteur des fédérations régionales dans l'unification des Verts français, évolutions stratégiques locales) mais également l'impactrécurrent à l'échelle locale de dynamiques opérant à l'échelle européenne, surtout à partir de la formation d'un groupe écologiste au Parlement européen à partir de 1984. Dans les deux régions, les caractéristiques des partis Verts sont déterminées en premier lieu par la structure des clivages qui les opposent (ou apparentent) aux autres partis politiques ainsi que les parcours militants de leurs militants, deux facteurs qui donnent également lieu à de graves conflits internes. En Bretagne, les événements de mai 1968 puis un mouvement anti-nucléaire puissant contribuent à la structuration d'une famille politique consistante mais les Verts restent très fragiles sur le plan organisationnel, malgré une implantation électorale significative surtout à partir de 1989. Au Pays de Galles, le développement d'un mouvement écologiste autonome est entravée par la puissance du mouvement régionaliste et la présence au sein du parti travailliste de nombreux opposants à l'armement nucléaire, et le fait qu'une partie significative des militants du Green Party soient des nouveaux arrivants originaires d'Angleterre. Le Wales Green Party recueille de ce fait des résultats électoraux très faibles mais parvient à pérenniser son organisation et ses activités. / This thesis analyses the structuring of green political parties from a comparative perspective and at a regional (sub-national) scale, from 1974 to 1995. We study five dimensions of this process: organisational structuring, evolution of cleavages with other political parties, electoral and strategic evolutions, careers of activists, and media coverage (including a study of green media). Our research highlights several processes taking place at regional and local levels which have a decisive influence on the national scale (e. g. the crucial part played by regional federations in the unification of LesVerts in 1984 and early strategic evolutions at a local level) as well as the regional impact of dynamics developing at the European level, above all after the formation of a Green group in the European Parliament in 1984. In both regions, the Green parties are shaped first of all by the cleavages opposing (or relating) them to other parties and by the careers of their activists, two factors from which also stem serious internal conflicts. In Brittany, the impact of May 1968 followed by a successful movement against nuclear power have contributed to the transformation of the green movement into apolitical force but Les Verts have then remained very fragile as an organisation, despite significant electoral gains from 1989 onwards. In Wales, the green movement as a specific force is weakened by the strength of the regionalist movement, the opposition to nuclear weapons from many Labour Party activists and the fact that many Green Party activists in Wales are newcomers from England. The Wales Green Party thus obtains low electoral results but nevertheless succeeds in making its campaigns and activism durable.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-17T13:54:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marize Barros.pdf: 527208 bytes, checksum: 82da487394af4a3707f9611ee6678fa9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-01-19 / Research on the demand of the English Language as a technical competence in the marketplace in the State of Maranhão, presenting as its background, the globalization process and the productive re-structuration in the labor world. An investigation was carried out at a local enterprise, ALUMAR, which deals with high technological innovation, in order to detect if the company is requiring the appropriate English knowledge from its employees, and to which positions this linguistic competence is indispensable to develop their performance. In order to reach this goal, some job agencies were investigated to identify to what extent the workers are fulfilling the necessary requirements of the laboring market in the professional qualification field. The methodology applied was a study of case with focus on a very expressive job agency in Maranhão. At the end of this research, it can be realized that there is a consider demand of the English Language by the company. In the meantime the most of the workers do not have this competence, and among those who have this competence, it is seen only as a step to the marketplace, not to be, mainly, a cultured citizen. / Pesquisa sobre a exigência da Língua Inglesa como competência técnica no mercado de trabalho no Maranhão, tendo como pano de fundo os impactos da globalização e da reestruturação produtiva no mundo do trabalho. Investigou-se uma empresa com inovações tecnológicas localizada no Estado do Maranhão ALUMAR - a fim de detectar se esta está exigindo que o trabalhador tenha o domínio da Língua Inglesa e para quais cargos este domínio é imprescindível para o desempenho da função. Para materialização deste objetivo, pesquisou-se algumas agências de empregos e empresas de serviços, procurando identificar, até que ponto, os profissionais estão correspondendo às exigências do mercado de trabalho no campo da qualificação profissional. A metodologia utilizada foi o estudo de caso, focalizando uma das agências de emprego de grande expressividade no Maranhão. Ao final da pesquisa, conclui-se que a exigência do domínio da Língua Inglesa é considerável por parte da empresa, entretanto o que se percebe é que a grande maioria dos funcionários ainda não possui esse domínio e os que o possuem ainda não o percebem para além da produção, buscam aprender o idioma somente para servir ao mercado de trabalho e não, primordialmente, para ser um cidadão culto.

L’objectif de cette thèse était de développer de nouveaux biomatériaux nanofibreux architecturés (2D ou 3D) grâce à la méthode d’électrospinning puis d’étudier l’influence de ces structures nanofibreuses sur le comportement des cellules osseuses. L’électrospinning est une technique qui permet d’obtenir des nanofibres en projetant sous l’action d’un champ électrique intense une solution de polymère sur un collecteur. Les nanofibres sont alors généralement disposées aléatoirement sous forme de mats (ou scaffolds). Ces scaffolds trouvent des applications en ingénierie tissulaire grâce à leur structure mimant la matrice extracellulaire des tissus vivants. Toutefois, il a été montré que lorsque le collecteur est micro-structuré, il est alors possible de contrôler l’organisation des fibres lors de leur dépôt grâce à la perturbation locale du champ électrique au voisinage de la surface du collecteur. Ces collecteurs architecturés jouent ainsi le rôle de « templates » électrostatiques. Dans un premier temps, nous avons développé des scaffolds 2D nanofibreux monocomposants en forme de nids d’abeilles grâce à l’utilisation d’un collecteur micro-structuré en nids d’abeilles lors du procédé d’électrospinning. Ces scaffolds ont été développés à partir de deux biopolyesters le poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) ou le poly(lactic acid) (PLA). Nous avons prouvé que la morphologie des nanofibres de PCL (distribution bimodale du diamètre des fibres) conduisait à un scaffold présentant un relief beaucoup plus marqué alors qu’avec les fibres de PLA, qui présentent une distribution monomodale du diamètre des fibres, les scaffolds obtenus sont beaucoup plus plats. Nous avons montré qu’il est possible de contrôler l’organisation spatiale de cellules osseuses de type MG-63, des ostéoblastes, en jouant sur le relief et l’architecture du scaffold. Puis, nous avons démontré qu’en couplant la micro-structuration des nanofibres de PCL (par l’utilisation d’un collecteur en nid d’abeilles lors du procédé d’électrospinning) avec les propriétés d’auto-assemblage du PCL, nous pouvions élaborer de nouveaux scaffolds nanofibreux 3D ayant la particularité de présenter des pores de tailles contrôlées ainsi qu’un gradient de porosité dans l’épaisseur du scaffold. Puis nous nous sommes intéressés à l’élaboration de membranes composites micro-structurées 2D et 3D. En couplant le procédé d’électrospinning avec le procédé d’électrospraying sur des collecteur micro-structurés, nous avons démontré que nous pouvions déposer de manière contrôlée les particules spécialement sur les murs des nids d’abeilles grâce notamment à la présence d’une très fine couche de fibres électrospinnées au préalable sur le collecteur. Cette fine couche de nanofibres joue le rôle de « template électrostatique » pour le dépôt des particules. Nous avons ensuite appliqué cette technique pour développer des membranes composites nanofibreuses bicouches à base de nanofibres de PCL et de microparticules d’hydroxyapatite (HA). Ces membranes composées de 21 microarchitectures différentes (barres, plots, hexagones, labyrinthe) ont ensuite été intégrées dans des mini plaques de culture cellulaire, formant ainsi un nouveau type de biopuce, appelés biochips, qui permettent pour le screening des microarchitectures nanofibreuses. Enfin, en combinant simultanément l’électrospinning de nanofibres et l’électrospraying de particules sur des collecteur micro-structurés en nid d’abeilles, des scaffolds composites 3D présentant des pores cylindriques de tailles contrôlées ont été élaborés. / The aim of this thesis was to develop new architectured nanofibrous biomaterials (2D or 3D) using the electrospinning method and to study the influence of these nanofibrous structures on bone cells behaviors. Electrospinning is a technique allowing the production of nanofibers by projecting, under the action of a strong electric field, a polymer solution on a collector. The nanofibers are generally randomly deposited and form mats or scaffolds. These scaffolds are interesting for tissue engineering applications because of their structure mimicking the extracellular matrix of living tissues. However, it has been shown that when the collector is microstructured, it is possible to control the organization of the fibers during their deposition through the local perturbation of the electric field at the vicinity of the surface of the collector. These micropatterned collectors act as "electrostatic templates". First, 2D honeycomb nanofibrous scaffolds were elaborated using micropatterned honeycomb collectors during the electrospinning process. These scaffolds were made either with poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) or poly(lactic acid) (PLA). We showed that the morphology of the PCL nanofibers (bimodal distribution of the fiber diameter) led to a scaffold with a strong relief. Despite, with PLA fibers which presented a monomodal distribution of the fiber diameter, the obtained scaffolds were much flatter. It was possible to control the spatial organization of bone-like cells MG-63 (osteoblasts), playing on the relief and the architecture of the scaffold. Subsequently, 3D materials were elaborated using micropatterned collectors in order to open new paths for the development of filling materials for bone regeneration. Microstructuration of PCL nanofibers (by the use of micropatterned honeycomb collector during the electrospinning process) coupled with the self-assembling properties of the PCL lead to the development of new 3D nanofibrous scaffolds, with controlled pore size and porosity gradient in the thickness of the scaffold. Afterwards, micropatterned composite 2D and 3D membranes were elaborated. By coupling the process of electrospinning with the process of electrospraying on micropatterned collector, we demonstrated that we can deposit the particles in a controlled way, especially on the walls of honeycomb patterns thanks to the presence of a thin fiber layer first deposited on the collector. This thin nanofiber layer plays the role of an "electrostatic template" for the particles deposition. Thereafter, this technique was applied to develop bilayers composite nanofibrous membranes containing PCL nanofibers and hydroxyapatite (HA) microparticles. These membranes consisted of 21 different microarchitectures (bars, blocks, hexagons, maze) were then incorporated into a small cell culture plate, thereby forming a new type of biochip for the screening of nanofibrous architectures. Indeed, these biochips allowed the screening of nanofibrous microarchitectures to identify the most relevant for bone regeneration. It turned out that the HA hexagonal structures (with an average diameter of 300 microns) and circular HA structures (with an average diameter of 150 microns) are the structures that enhance the most the mineralization process of bone cells. Finally, by combining simultaneously electrospinning nanofibers and electrospraying particles on micropatterned honeycomb collector, 3D composite scaffolds were elaborated. It was possible to control the size of cylindrical pores of these 3D composite from tens to hundreds of microns by changing the size of the honeycomb patterns of the collector.

Dans cette thèse, on aborde le problème de structuration des programmes télévisés de manière non supervisée à partir du point de vue de l'inférence grammaticale, focalisant sur la découverte de la structure des programmes récurrents à partir une collection homogène. On vise à découvrir les éléments structuraux qui sont pertinents à la structure du programme, et à l’inférence grammaticale de la structure des programmes. Des expérimentations montrent que l'inférence grammaticale permet de utiliser minimum des connaissances de domaine a priori pour atteindre la découverte de la structure des programmes. / TV program structuring raises as a major theme in last decade for the task of high quality indexing. In this thesis, we address the problem of unsupervised TV program structuring from the point of view of grammatical inference, i.e., discovering a common structural model shared by a collection of episodes of a recurrent program. Using grammatical inference makes it possible to rely on only minimal domain knowledge. In particular, we assume no prior knowledge on the structural elements that might be present in a recurrent program and very limited knowledge on the program type, e.g., to name structural elements, apart from the recurrence. With this assumption, we propose an unsupervised framework operating in two stages. The first stage aims at determining the structural elements that are relevant to the structure of a program. We address this issue making use of the property of element repetitiveness in recurrent programs, leveraging temporal density analysis to filter out irrelevant events and determine valid elements. Having discovered structural elements, the second stage is to infer a grammar of the program. We explore two inference techniques based either on multiple sequence alignment or on uniform resampling. A model of the structure is derived from the grammars and used to predict the structure of new episodes. Evaluations are performed on a selection of four different types of recurrent programs. Focusing on structural element determination, we analyze the effect on the number of determined structural elements, fixing the threshold applied on the density function as well as the size of collection of episodes. For structural grammar inference, we discuss the quality of the grammars obtained and show that they accurately reflect the structure of the program. We also demonstrate that the models obtained by grammatical inference can accurately predict the structure of unseen episodes, conducting a quantitative and comparative evaluation of the two methods by segmenting the new episodes into their structural components. Finally, considering the limitations of our work, we discuss a number of open issues in structure discovery and propose three new research directions to address in future work.

Au cours des 60 dernières années le développement des infrastructures de transports (Autoroutes, Lignes Grandes Vitesse, Nationales doubles voies) a fragmenté l'habitat des cerfs élaphe (Cervus elaphus). D'après les observations naturalistes, cette anthropisation a causé la fragmentation de deux populations géographiques existantes en sept dans la partie Sud et d'une en trois dans la partie Nord. Afin d'évaluer l'impact de ces infrastructures sur la structuration génétique de ces populations de cerfs, nous avons échantillonné chacune de ces populations grâce à la coopération de trois fédérations de chasse. Le cours laps de temps écoulé depuis la construction de ces infrastructures nous a conduits à choisir comme marqueurs moléculaires les microsatellites, efficaces dans l'inférence d'évènements récents. Les nouvelles techniques de séquençages (NGS) permettent d'obtenir d'importants jeux de données rapidement, nous avons choisi d'utiliser ces méthodes de séquençage pour obtenir nos données. Aucun logiciel ne permettant de traiter les données de séquençage haut débit des microsatellites pour des espèces dont le génome n'est pas complètement séquencé, nous avons alors réalisé un programme, MicNeSs qui permet de génotyper rapidement et objectivement (sans intervention humaine) un grand nombre d'individus et de locus. Nous avons utilisé MicNeSs pour génotyper 345 individus pour 17 locus microsatellites. A partir de ce jeu de données, nous avons montré l'existence d'une structuration génétique des populations de cerfs élaphe en Île-de-France en liaison avec les infrastructures routières et ferroviaires. Nous avons mis en évidence un effet fort des jumelages autoroutes/LGV et une efficacité différentielle des passages grande faune de 2ème et 3ème génération sur les populations de cerfs élaphe en Île-de-France. / During the last 60 years, the development of urban areas, main roads, highways and railways in Île de France, has fragmented the habitat of the red deer (Cervus elaphus). According to naturalistic observations, it caused the fragmentation of the two existing putative populations in the South in to seven putative populations and one in three in the North.In order to estimate the impact of the infrastructure on the genetic structure of these populations we sampled each of the putative population with the help of three hunting societies. Due to the short time passed since the first highway construction we chose microsatellite loci as molecular markers, efficient in the inference of recent events. The next generation sequencing (NGS) enable to have quickly important data set, we chose to use this technic to obtain our data. No software permits to treat microsatellites data from NGS for the species without complete genome, we made one program, MicNeSs which genotypes quickly and objectively a lot of individuals and loci. We used MicNeSs to genotype 345 individuals for 17 microsatellite loci. With this data set we showed the presence of a genetic structure of the red deer populations in association with the road and rail infrastructure. We highlighted a strong impact of the paired of highway/railway and a differential efficiency of the wildlife passages of the second and third generation on the red deer populations in Île-de-France.

In the past decade, there has been rampant growth in healthcare service delivery options, based on the Internet and related information and communication technology. As a result, there is a great deal of expectation among national governments, regulators, healthcare organisations, and other stakeholders about the role of the Internet in healthcare service provision. Given the global crisis in healthcare services generally and the funding of healthcare services specifically, a number of policymakers view the advances in Internet-based self-service technology as a potential enabler of more efficient and effective healthcare service delivery. Proponents of consumer-driven healthcare in particular who seek to use the Internet to make consumers more informed about healthcare funding decisions and to reduce the cost of servicing consumers have been actively experimenting in this area. Despite the accelerating growth in the deployment of Internet-based self-service technologies, their protracted uptake by users is giving rise to concerns about the effectiveness of the implementation and acceptance of these contemporary forms of service delivery. Furthermore, little is known about how the social healthcare context shapes Internet-based self-service technology implementations. This thesis presents an in-depth qualitative case study that documents a healthcare insurer’s efforts to implement an online self-service technology for the period 1999 to 2005. A research framework was adopted that draws on key theoretical concepts from structuration and actornetwork theory (ANT) to link the social context to implementation processes. These two conceptual lenses, which are compatible with the thesis’s interpretive stance, reveal several new insights, confirming that the challenges associated with the implementation of information system innovations such as Internet-based self-service technologies cannot be understood in isolation. From a structuration perspective analysing the various enactments of self-service provision of healthcare afforded a deeper understanding of how social practices influence the design and use of the technology. From an ANT perspective, the study showed how the major translations in the design and use of the self-service technology emerged from a process where technological and social elements co-evolved. This study also reveals that the implementation problems and opportunities facing this particular healthcare insurance organisation were historical and systemic. This approach demonstrates that the complex interdependencies and interactions among contrasting social, political, economic and technological issues shaped the contemporary channel as it exists today and therefore advances theory in yet another important way. Using the insights obtained from these two theories, a conceptual framework was derived. The conceptual framework demonstrates that in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of Internet-based self-service technology implementation, such an analysis must incorporate the interconnectedness of four perspectives – meaning, process, context and the technology artefact – and their respective conceptual elements from both structuration and actor-network theory. Future studies attempting to deepen our understanding of information systems implementation can also provide constructive insights by focusing on the interdependent, interconnected and historical nature of the implementation phenomenon. Some important practical applications for future self-service technology implementations are also discussed. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Informatics / unrestricted

According to some commentary, employees are empowered by simple, flexible and lightweight social software such as blogs and wikis. Using such software, it is claimed they will be able to connect and collaborate beyond boundaries and to benefit organisations in innovation and growth. Extending such claims, commentators also argue that social software challenges existing ways of networking, communicating and collaborating and is likely to cause disruption to some organisations. However, a literature search reveals that it is still unclear for both researchers and practitioners how social software can be exploited for work purposes, and what are the grounds for its adoption. Systematic investigation of the adoption of social software for work collaboration is found to be absent in academic writing. Organisations continue experimenting on social software, seeking ways to encourage their employees to adopt the tools, and expect to benefit from self-organised, distributed collaboration. This technology adoption is a contingent process. The way members use social software is embedded within the social interaction process, group characteristics, tasks and environments. Adaptive structuration theory (AST) is adopted for social software-supported collaboration in a way that emphasised its value as a contextual analysis approach. A conceptual framework was developed from the researcher's experiential knowledge, AST and empirical evidence, and then revised with the findings from exploratory studies. The main theoretical insights induced from empirical evidence are: influence from 'meta-users', e.g., supervisors and managers, affects both users' use intention and behaviour. Social structures embedded in social capital can enable or inhibit the adoption of social software. Nevertheless, new social structures do emerge from online conversations. Additionally, the results show that task-technology fit has little relevance to social software adoption. A case study approach with mixed methods is adopted in this study. Social network analysis and statistical analysis provide complementary support to qualitative analysis. The UK public sector was chosen as the research context. Individuals are knowledge workers in distributed and cross-boundary groups. The asynchronous social software applications studied are blogs and wikis.

L'analyse sismique des structures de génie civil est une problématique majeure pour la sécurité des personnes et la pérennité des ouvrages. L'étude expérimentale permet de comprendre le comportement réel de la structure mais occasionne des problèmes de coût important et d'effet d'échelle souvent inévitable dû aux dimensions des structures. D'un autre côté, l'étude numérique propose une bonne approximation du comportement global mais la représentation précise des phénomènes locaux (fissuration, perte de matière, flambement, grands déplacements) dans les zones fortement endommagées est délicate et souvent insuffisante. Ce travail de thèse propose l'élaboration d'une technique de sous-structuration hybride pour coupler un modèle numérique à une plateforme expérimentale. Ainsi, la partie faiblement endommagée de la structure est modélisée numériquement tandis que la partie fortement endommagée est testée expérimentalement. Cette méthode permet de coupler le réalisme de l'expérimental avec le faible coût numérique sans toutefois perdre en précision. Après avoir élaboré une méthode de couplage hybride peu intrusive pour le code de calcul (Cast3m), un modèle d'endommagement anisotrope adapté aux chargement sismique (effet unilatéral, déformations permanentes) est développé dans le cadre de la thermodynamique des milieux continus. Afin de valider la méthode hybride, une étude expérimentale est menée sur une structure type en béton armé. La fissuration de la partie expérimentale est étudiée grâce à la corrélation d'images. Ce travail expose donc une alternative intéressante aux analyses classiques des structures importantes soumises à des sollicitations complexes. / The seismic analysis of civil engineering structures is a major problem for the safety of the persons and the sustainability of the structures. The experimental study allows to understand the real behavior of the structure but causes problems of important cost and often inevitable scale effect owed in dimension of the structures. On the other hand, the numerical study proposes a good estimate of the global behavior but the accurate modelling of the local phenomena (cracking, losses of material, buckling, large displacements) in the strongly damaged zones is delicate and often insufficient. This work of this thesis proposes the elaboration of a hybrid technique of sub-structuring to couple a numerical model with an experimental platform. So, the weakly damaged part of the structure is numerically modelled whereas the strongly damaged part is experimentally tested. This method allows to couple the precision and the realism of the experimental with the numerical moderate cost without losing however in precision. Having elaborated a few intrusive hybrid method of coupling for the code of calculation (Cast3m), a anisotropic damage model adapted for seismic load (unilateral effect, permanent strains) is developed within the framework of the thermodynamics of the continuous media. To validate the hybrid method, an experimental study is led on a typical reinforced concrete structure. The cracking of the experimental part is studied thanks to images correlation. This work thus exposes an interesting alternative to the classic analyses of the important structures subjected to complex loading.