O Brasil é um dos maiores produtores e exportadores de carne bovina do planeta e com a expectativa de ser responsável por 45% do consumo mundial sendo que a maior parte de seu consumo ainda é local. Para se manter nesta posição e expandir suas vendas tanto no mercado interno como externo é importante que se garanta a qualidade do produto. Esta qualidade só é conseguida quando se consegue gerenciar todo o processo da cadeia produtiva, de forma a permitir o registro de todos os dados do animal na cadeia de produção. Tanto o governo através do SISBOV como grandes distribuidores possuem sistemas de gerenciamento que através de técnicas de rastreabilidade permitem ter este controle. A identificação do animal é ponto chave para a rastreabilidade que hoje é feita através de bottons, transponders, brincos entre outros. Todos estes métodos são invasivos e suscetíveis a perdas e adulterações. Esta dissertação mostra a viabilidade de inserir em sistemas de rastreabilidade existentes ou não a inclusão de identificação biométrica e usa como exemplo o focinho nasal do bovino. Para tanto desenvolveu-se programas para entrada de informações através de um celular com sistema operacional Android que em conjunto com programas desenvolvidos para rodarem na WEB pudessem cadastrar e confirmar a identidade do animal. Os testes mostraram a capacidade do aplicativo Android em localizar o espelho nasal e coletar o mesmo. Com os dados coletados foi possível armazenar as informações ou confirmar a identidade do animal por meio dos serviços do servidor. Mostrou-se desta forma viável a utilização deste tipo de identificação em sistemas de gerenciamento novos ou já existentes. / Brazil is one of the largest producers and exporters of beef in the world and with the expectation of being responsible for 45% of global consumption and the largest part of consumption is still locall. To stay in this position and to expand its sales both in domestic and foreign markets is important to ensure product quality. This quality is achieved only when you can manage the entire process of the production chain in order to allow the registration of all animal data in the production chain. The government through SISBOV and large distributors have been working with management systems through traceability techniques. Animal identification is key to the traceability and nowadays is made via bottoms, transponders, earrings among others. All these methods are invasive and susceptible to loss and tampering. This work shows the feasibility of entering into existing traceability systems or not the inclusion of biometric identification and uses as an example the nasal muzzle beef. For both developed programs to input information through a mobile phone with Android operating system in conjunction with programs designed to be web based solution could register and confirm the identity of the animal. All results was able to shown the system performance by showing that it was possible to store the information or confirm the identity of the animal through the server services. The methodology proposed could be useful in commercial applications focusing in bovine traceability.

Establishing traceability in global supply chains is a complicated problem. Current solutions for achieving traceability are expensive or imperfect, and give rise to organizational and trust-related issues. Blockchain could present itself as a solution to many of these issues. This thesis aims to build a blockchain-based traceability system. Based on the event  characteristics in IKEA Supply Chain, our analysis show that, for timely processing, the capacity of a traceability system should be 10 593 events per second. Additionally, 14 requirements were identified and included in the system design. A system was designed that consists of six components, a client application, a controller, a smart contract pool, IPFS and Quorum. In order to reduce the potential load on the system, certain optimization measures were taken. The system design resulted in a load requirement of 14 975 transactions for a delay bound of one minute. The resulting performance of the developed system revealed itself to be a throughput of 159 transactions per second and a convergence time of 4.71 seconds, which is not enough to reach the requirement. However, a solution is proposed to divide the network into many smaller networks that together can produce the necessary throughput.

Entre os fatores que geram o alto custo da rastreabilidade, está a dificuldade na criação e manutenção de relações precisas entre artefatos. Praticamente todas as metodologias existentes preocupam-se em relacionar artefatos diretamente entre si, o que dificulta o uso de processos automatizados na derivação de novos relacionamentos, bem como na manutenção dos já existentes. Com base nestas observações, o presente trabalho propõe o uso de estruturas intermediárias nos relacionamentos, chamadas de entidades, para representar os interesses tratados pelos artefatos, e derivar, automaticamente, relações complexas entre os mesmos. Este modelo foi avaliado por profissionais da indústria e apresentou-se como solução de rastreamento viável, em comparação com as tradicionais matrizes de rastreabilidade. Espera-se que este sirva como base para soluções inovadoras na área, que ainda é considerada problemática. / The difficulties in creation and maintenance of precise relationships between artifacts are the root cause of traceability high cost. VirtualIy alI existing methodologies propose solutions that relate artifacts directly among themselves, what hinders the use of automated processes to derivate new relationships, as welI as maintaining existing ones automaticalIy. Based on these observations, this work proposes the use of intermediate structures, calIed entities, to represent the interests present on traced artifacts. These entities can be used to derive, automaticalIy, complex relationships between artifacts. The proposed model was evaluated by industry professionals and was considered by them as a viable solution for traceability when compared to the traditional traceability matrices. It is believed that this model will serve as a basis for innovative research solutions in traceability, which is still considered a problematic field.

Large systems often have a long life-span and their system and software architecture design comprise many intricately related elements. The verification and maintenance of these architecture designs require an understanding of how and why the system are constructed. Design rationale is the reasoning behind a design and it provides an explanation of the design. However, the reasoning is often undocumented or unstructured in practice. This causes difficulties in the understanding of the original design, and makes it hard to detect inconsistencies, omissions and conflicts without any explanations to the intricacies of the design. Research into design rationale in the past has focused on argumentation-based design deliberations. Argumentation-based design rationale models provide an explicit representation of design rationale. However, these methods are ineffective in communicating design reasoning in practice because they do not support tracing to design elements and requirements in an effective manner. In this thesis, we firstly report a survey of practising architects to understand their perception of the value of design rationale and how they use and document this knowledge. From the survey, we have discovered that practitioners recognize the importance of documenting design rationale and frequently use them to reason about their design choices. However, they have indicated certain barriers to the use and documentation of design rationale. The results have indicated that there is no systematic approach to using and capturing design rationale in current architecture design practice. Using these findings, we address the issues of representing and applying architecture design rationale. We have constructed a rationale-based architecture model to represent design rationale, design objects and their relationships, which we call Architecture Rationale and Element Linkage (AREL). AREL captures both qualitative and quantitative rationale for architecture design. Quantitative rationale uses costs, benefits and risks to justify architecture decisions. Qualitative rationale documents the issues, arguments, alternatives and tradeoffs of a design decision. With the quantitative and qualitative rationale, the AREL model provides reasoning support to explain why architecture elements exist and what assumptions and constraints they depend on. Using a causal relationship in the AREL model, architecture decisions and architecture elements are linked together to explain the reasoning of the architecture design. Architecture Rationalisation Method (ARM) is a methodology that makes use of AREL to facilitate architecture design. ARM uses cost, benefit and risk as fundamental elements to rank and compare alternative solutions in the decision making process. Using the AREL model, we have proposed traceability and probabilistic techniques based on Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN) to support architecture understanding and maintenance. These techniques can help to carry out change impact analysis and rootcause analysis. The traceability techniques comprise of forward, backward and evolution tracings. Architects can trace the architecture design to discover the change impacts by analysing the qualitative reasons and the relationships in the architecture design. We have integrated BBN to AREL to provide an additional method where probability is used to evaluate and reason about the change impacts in the architecture design. This integration provides quantifiable support to AREL to perform predictive, diagnostic and combined reasoning. In order to align closely with industry practices, we have chosen to represent the rationale-based architecture model in UML. In a case study, the AREL model is applied retrospectively to a real-life bank payment systems to demonstrate its features and applications. Practising architects who are experts in the electronic payment system domain have been invited to evaluate the case study. They have found that AREL is useful in helping them understand the system architecture when they compared AREL with traditional design specifications. They have commented that AREL can be useful to support the verification and maintenance of the architecture because architects do not need to reconstruct or second-guess the design reasoning. We have implemented an AREL tool-set that is comprised of commercially available and custom-developed programs. It enables the capture of architecture design and its design rationale using a commercially available UML tool. It checks the well-formedness of an AREL model. It integrates a commercially available BBN tool to reason about the architecture design and to estimate its change impacts.

Food product contamination leading to a food borne illness is real and has potentially devastating impact on supply chain operations and cost. However, it is not well understood from the quantitative perspective. This research seeks to fill this gap by providing a generic model of a multi-stage food supply chain consisting of a supplier/grower, processing center and retailer(s) and analyzing the impact of food product contamination in this model. The supplier corresponds to the farm/grower of the raw material such as fruits and vegetables, the processing center processes the raw material into a final food product and the retailer corresponds to the supermarkets and grocery stores selling the food product to a customer. A situation where a contamination occurs at the supplier or processing center potentially resulting in a food borne illness to the customer is considered. The contamination is discovered through periodic sampling tests conducted by the grower, processing center or through the outbreak of a food borne illness. The supply chain is modeled utilizing a G/G/1 queuing system at the processing center and an order- up to policy at the retailer(s). This research develops and compares multi-stage supply chain models with varying number of retailers. The negative dependence of contamination on the origin and mode of detection of the contamination is quantified. The differences in individual food product attributes which can impact the cost of contamination are analyzed. The impact of supply chain structure and properties and detection policies on the severity of potential contamination cases is studied. The most cost effective sampling strategies which companies can adopt in the event of product contamination are derived. The payoff from the implementation of a quality control process which can eradicate contamination is evaluated. A numerical study of the impact of a real-world contamination event on a tomato and lettuce supply chain is also conducted. Finally, a traceability system capable of tracking and tracing back products in the event of a food product recall is incorporated in the supply chain model. The value of traceability for different supply chain scenarios is assessed through the implementation of an ARENA based simulation model.

Inter-document similarity is used for clustering, classification, and other purposes within information retrieval. In this thesis, we investigate several aspects of document similarity. In particular, we investigate the quality of several measures of inter-document similarity, providing a framework suitable for measuring and comparing the effectiveness of inter-document similarity measures. We also explore areas of research related to novelty and diversity in information retrieval. The goal of diversity and novelty is to be able to satisfy as many users as possible while simultaneously minimizing or eliminating duplicate and redundant information from search results. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of diversity-aware retrieval functions, user query logs and other information captured from user interactions with commercial search engines are mined and analyzed in order to uncover various informational aspects underlying queries, which are known as subtopics. We investigate the suitability of implicit associations between document content as an alternative to subtopic mining. We also explore subtopic mining from document anchor text and anchor links. In addition, we investigate the suitability of inter-document similarity as a measure for diversity-aware retrieval models, with the aim of using measured inter-document similarity as a replacement for diversity-aware evaluation models that rely on subtopic mining. Finally, we investigate the suitability and application of document similarity for requirements traceability. We present a fast algorithm that uncovers associations between various versions of frequently edited documents, even in the face of substantial changes.

Years since the outbreak of the mainland in 2008, melamine incident, public concern and requirement about food safety are increasing. In fact, the industry, government and academia also initiated many research plans and policy measures for the issue. Currently, the government has begun construct food traceability system plaforms layer by layer, including Taiwan agriculture and food traceability system, Taiwan processed food traceability system and food distribution traceability system. However, since the implement costs are considerable and the benefits of food traceability are unknown, to enhance the willingness to implementation food traceability, it must be attractive enough to let the market value widely recognized and accepted. Accordingly, the key factors in promoting food traceability and assessment criteria of each factor would be the issues that the government and the food industry are eager to figure out. Based on literature and traceability current developments, this study sort out the hierarchy factors of implementation of food traceability system, including government policy side, third-party certification unit, traceability information system, production and management side, supply chain collaboration, consumers cognitive, then design the qualitative and quantitative questionnaires by Analytic Hierarchy Process. Interview with nine experts (3 industrial, 3 government unit and 3 academic) and conduct in-depth discussion to reach key factors in the weight and priority of promoting food traceability system in Taiwan. In conclusion, our three major conclusions and recommendations, as follows: 1."Production and management side," "government policy side", "consumer awareness and acceptance" are driving foctors of the development of food traceability. "Supply chain collaboration", "traceability information system" and "third-party certification body" are complementary elements, which still needs proper planning and construction. 2. From the perspective of business, prior assessment of the food traceability will maximum effectiveness. It helpbusiness to improve the internal processes, risk management, in addition to protect consumer health and safety, enhance corporate reputation. 3. The Government should refer to the development of food traceability leading countries develop food safety regulations, orderly planning of food traceability systems. Also promote to food industry, and consumer.

Inter-document similarity is used for clustering, classification, and other purposes within information retrieval. In this thesis, we investigate several aspects of document similarity. In particular, we investigate the quality of several measures of inter-document similarity, providing a framework suitable for measuring and comparing the effectiveness of inter-document similarity measures. We also explore areas of research related to novelty and diversity in information retrieval. The goal of diversity and novelty is to be able to satisfy as many users as possible while simultaneously minimizing or eliminating duplicate and redundant information from search results. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of diversity-aware retrieval functions, user query logs and other information captured from user interactions with commercial search engines are mined and analyzed in order to uncover various informational aspects underlying queries, which are known as subtopics. We investigate the suitability of implicit associations between document content as an alternative to subtopic mining. We also explore subtopic mining from document anchor text and anchor links. In addition, we investigate the suitability of inter-document similarity as a measure for diversity-aware retrieval models, with the aim of using measured inter-document similarity as a replacement for diversity-aware evaluation models that rely on subtopic mining. Finally, we investigate the suitability and application of document similarity for requirements traceability. We present a fast algorithm that uncovers associations between various versions of frequently edited documents, even in the face of substantial changes.

Entre os fatores que geram o alto custo da rastreabilidade, está a dificuldade na criação e manutenção de relações precisas entre artefatos. Praticamente todas as metodologias existentes preocupam-se em relacionar artefatos diretamente entre si, o que dificulta o uso de processos automatizados na derivação de novos relacionamentos, bem como na manutenção dos já existentes. Com base nestas observações, o presente trabalho propõe o uso de estruturas intermediárias nos relacionamentos, chamadas de entidades, para representar os interesses tratados pelos artefatos, e derivar, automaticamente, relações complexas entre os mesmos. Este modelo foi avaliado por profissionais da indústria e apresentou-se como solução de rastreamento viável, em comparação com as tradicionais matrizes de rastreabilidade. Espera-se que este sirva como base para soluções inovadoras na área, que ainda é considerada problemática. / The difficulties in creation and maintenance of precise relationships between artifacts are the root cause of traceability high cost. VirtualIy alI existing methodologies propose solutions that relate artifacts directly among themselves, what hinders the use of automated processes to derivate new relationships, as welI as maintaining existing ones automaticalIy. Based on these observations, this work proposes the use of intermediate structures, calIed entities, to represent the interests present on traced artifacts. These entities can be used to derive, automaticalIy, complex relationships between artifacts. The proposed model was evaluated by industry professionals and was considered by them as a viable solution for traceability when compared to the traditional traceability matrices. It is believed that this model will serve as a basis for innovative research solutions in traceability, which is still considered a problematic field.

A software system is represented by different software artefacts ranging from requirements specifications to source code. As the system evolves, artefacts are often modified at different rates and times resulting in inconsistencies, which in turn can hinder effective communication between stakeholders, and the understanding and maintenance of systems. The problem of the differential evolution of heterogeneous software artefacts has not been sufficiently addressed to date as current solutions focus on specific sets of artefacts and aspects of consistency management and are not fully automated. This thesis presents the concept of holistic artefact consistency management and a proof-of-concept framework, ACM, which aim to support the consistent evolution of heterogeneous software artefacts while minimising the impact on user choices and practices and maximising automation. The ACM framework incorporates traceability, change impact analysis, change detection, consistency checking and change propagation mechanisms and is designed to be extensible. The thesis describes the design, implementation and evaluation of the framework, and an approach to automate trace link creation using machine learning techniques. The framework evaluation uses six open source systems and suggests that managing the consistency of heterogeneous artefacts may be feasible in practical scenarios.