A inter-relação entre estratégias, recursos e performance das firmas é o foco central de investigação deste trabalho. Através da abordagem denominada como Visão da Firma Baseada em Recursos, estudou-se o caso do Cluster Vitivinícola da Região da Serra Gaúcha, visando à análise de sua competitividade. Como contribuição teórica à área de estratégia, foi proposto e detalhado um esquema de classificação de recursos em clusters, introduzindo-se os conceitos de Recursos Sistêmicos, Recursos de Acesso Restrito e Recursos Singulares. A investigação baseou-se em dados coletados através de entrevistas estruturadas realizadas com executivos e especialistas de 54 empresas produtoras de vinhos finos. O objetivo principal foi o estudo da influência exercida pelos recursos estratégicos sobre a performance das firmas. Complementarmente, foi investigado qual o papel das estratégias das firmas sobre o acesso a estes recursos. Os resultados evidenciaram uma influência positiva dos recursos e das estratégias sobre a performance, auxiliando na compreensão das assimetrias competitivas entre as firmas do cluster. / The interrelationships of strategy, resources and performance of the firms is the main subject of this work. Through the lens of the Resource Based View of the Firm, we studied the case of the South Brazilian Wine Cluster, analyzing its competitiveness. As a theoretical contribution to the strategy field, we proposed and detailed a classification scheme of resources in clusters, introducing the concepts of Systemic Resources, Singular Resources and Constrained Access Resources. The study was based on data collected trought in-depth and structured interviews with experts and executives of 54 fine wine produccing firms. The results were analysed by qualitative and quantitative techniques. The main goal was the identification of the influence of resources on the firms’ performance. In addition, we studied the role of firm’s operational strategies on access to these resources. The results evidenced a positive effect of resources and strategies on performance, improving the understanding of competitive assimetries between firms in the cluster.

The social community is structured around data, a lot of that data is stored in different types of databases. The meaning of this essay is to develop an interactive tool that will change the way database visualization is done, and also to research in which fields a tool of this type can be used. With the help of different methods we discovered areas where it could be of use, such as; presentation of a database, development and documentation of a database. The primary goal of the prototype was to make viewing of database structures easier, even people without prior database knowledge should be able to understand the structure. During the development we used prototypes. Their are two types of prototyping, high-fidelity and low-fidelity, both were used during the development. IDQ viewer is a prototype, which shows tables and columns in a database. One of the thoughts behind the tools functionality was that it should be platform independent, and also place independent. The tool became useful in different roles, as a learning tool, a political tool and a technical tool. As a result we can see that the usability of this tool has broadened. There exists a strong public need of tools that will generate this type of database visualization. Further research and further development of new tools are needed in the areas of database visualization.

The automotive field is becoming more and more complex and cars are no longer just pure mechanical artifacts. Today much more than 50 % of the functionality of a car is computerized, so, a modern car system is obviously based on mixed technologies which emphasize the need for new approaches to the design process compared to the processes of yesterday. A corresponding technology shift has been experienced in the aerospace industry starting in the late sixties and today aircraft could not fly without its computers and the pilots’ environment has turned to a so called glass cockpit with no iron-made instrumentation left. A very similar change is still going on in the automotive area. Simulator-Based Design (SBD) refers to design, development and testing new products, systems and applications which include an operator in their operation. Simulator-Based Design has been used for decades in the aviation industry. It has been a common process in this field. SBD may be considered as a more specific application of simulation-based design, where the specific feature is a platform, the simulator itself. The simulator could consist of a generic computer environment in combination with dedicated hardware components, for instance a cockpit. This solution gives us the possibility of including the human operator in the simulation. The name of the project is Simulator-Based Design in Practice. The purpose of this master thesis is to get a complete practice in how to use a human-in-the-loop simulator as a tool in design activities focusing on the automotive area. This application area may be seen as an example of systems where an operator is included in the operation and thus experience from the car application could be transferred to other areas like aviation or control rooms in the process industry. During the performance of the project we have gone through the main parts of the SBD process. There are many steps to complete the whole cycle and many of them have iterative loops that connect these steps with the previous one. This process starts with a concept (product/system) and continues with a virtual prototyping stage followed by implementation, test design, human-in-the-loop simulation, data analysis, design synthesis and in the end a product/system decision. An iterative process approach makes the cycle flexible and goal oriented. We have learnt how to use the simulator and how to perform the whole cycle of SBD. We first started getting familiar with the simulator and the ASim software and then we were trying to reduce the number of computers in the simulator and changing the network in order to find good optimization pf the computer power. The second step has been to implement a new application to the simulator. This new application is the rear mirror view and consists of a new LCD monitor and the rear view vision that must be seen in the new monitor. Finally we updated the cockpit to the new language program Action Script 3.0. The information gathering consisted of the course Human-System interaction in the University, the introduction course to ASim software and the course of Action Script 3.0.

Vizz3D is a powerful 3D visualization system. The current version is neither perfect nor up-to-date. Furthermore, some important features are missing. In order to keep the tool valuable it needs to be maintained. I implemented a new feature allowing to save and load the view port in the graph to control the camera position. I also improved the CPU utilization and the navigation system to solve the limitations in Vizz3D and to improve the overall performance.

A number of three-dimensional virtual environments are available to develop vision-based robotic capabilities. These have the advantage of repeated trials at low cost compared to field testing. However, they still suffer from a lack of realism and credibility for validation and verification.This work consists of the creation and validation of state of the art virtual terrains for research in Martian rover vision-based navigation algorithms. This Master's thesis focuses on the creation of virtual environments, which are the exact imitations of the planetary terrain testbed at the European Space Agency's ESTEC site. Two different techniques are used to recreate the Martian-like site in a simulator. The first method uses a novel multi-view stereo reconstruction technique. The second method uses a high precision laser scanning system to accurately map the terrain.Comparison of real environment to the virtual environments is done at exact same locations by making use of captured stereo camera images. Ultimately, the differences will be characterized by the main known feature detectors (e.g. SURF, and SIFT).The present work led to the creation and validation of a database containing highly realistic virtual terrains which can be found on Mars for the purpose of vision-based control algorithms verification. / <p>Validerat; 20120821 (anonymous)</p>

Diversos empresários e órgãos de classe procuram identificar oportunidades no desenvolvimento potencial dos setores naval e offshore e no fornecimento de conteúdo local para essas indústrias. Também as instituições governamentais e privadas interessadas no fomento à indústria brasileira procuram formas de conferir competitividade à indústria alvo de suas políticas. Este trabalho desenvolve de forma preliminar uma ferramenta suportada pela teoria da Visão Baseada em Recursos (VBR), que visa identificar a similaridade entre os recursos necessários para produzir uma série de equipamentos e as competências detidas pela firma. Além da identificação da similaridade, que permite priorizar a escolha dos equipamentos que podem ser desenvolvidos pela firma interessada em atuar no mercado naval, a ferramenta permite a identificação de lacunas tecnológicas e traz à baila importantes discussões sobre a obtenção de competências externamente à firma. / Several entrepreneurs and unions seek to identify potential development opportunities in marine and offshore industries, aiming to provide local content for these industries. Also the government and private institutions interested in promoting the Brazilian industry endeavor ways to give competition to the shipbuilding industry. This study develops a preliminary tool supported by the theory of Resource-Based View (RBV), which aims to identify the similarity between the resources needed to produce a series of equipment and the capabilities held by the firm. Besides the identification of similarity, which helps on the choice of equipment to be developed by the firm, the tool allows the identification of technology gaps and brings up important discussions about getting capabilities outside the firm boundaries.

Esta dissertação busca investigar os materiais sócio-históricos dos anos 60 norte-americanos materializados no romance de ficção científica Do androids dream of electric sheep? de Philip K. Dick por meio da análise do foco narrativo, especialmente. Embora não seja considerado um dos mais refinados romances de Dick, a obra apresenta um diagnóstico bastante apurado dos limites de experiência disponíveis da década. / This dissertation aims to investigate the socio-historical materials of the North American 60s materialized in the Philip K. Dicks science fiction novel Do androids dream of electric sheep? by analyzing its point of view, mostly. Although it is not considered one of Dicks finest novels, the work presents a very refined diagnosis of the limits of the available experiences of the decade.

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo investigar a sedimentação sócio-histórica do romance de estreia de Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847), a partir de seu foco narrativo. Ao atentar à fortuna crítica da obra, em especial às resenhas que seguiram a publicação do romance e às críticas materialista e feminista, distinguem-se duas tendências, dois modos de entender Jane Eyre. Por meio da análise de trechos do romance, visa-se ilustrar como essas duas vias de leitura são possíveis por conta da posição ambígua da narradora-personagem dentro da sociedade vitoriana. Expandindo o conceito de Terry Eagleton do in between, argumenta-se que, por estar sempre em uma posição entre as classes alta e baixa e por desejar inserção, Jane relata e denuncia as violências que permeiam a sociedade vitoriana e, ao mesmo tempo, incorpora o discurso dominante, mesmo quando esse vai contra ela mesma. Entende-se, assim, que o romance retrata a situação contraditória da classe média e o impacto de viver nessa posição na própria consciência do indivíduo, isto é, na sua visão de si e do mundo, como observado na voz da narradora de Jane Eyre. / The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the social and historical sedimentation of Charlotte Brontës 1847 debut novel, Jane Eyre, by exploring its point of view. Drawing from the novels literary criticism, especially from the reviews that followed its publication and from the Feminist and Marxist criticism, two different ways of understanding Jane Eyre are distinguished. The close reading of excerpts from Charlotte Brontës work aims at highlighting that these two readings are possible due to the narrators ambiguous position in the Victorian social structure. By expanding Terry Eagletons concept of the in between, it is discussed that, since Jane is from the very beginning of the novel in a position between the upper and lower classes and she longs for inclusion, she accounts on and denounces the violence that permeated the Victorian society, just as, at the same time, she incorporates the dominant discourse even when it speaks against herself. Thus, it is understood that the novel portrays the contradictory situation of the petty bourgeoisie and the impact of being in such a position on the individuals consciousness, as it is seen in Jane Eyres narrators voice.

A inter-relação entre estratégias, recursos e performance das firmas é o foco central de investigação deste trabalho. Através da abordagem denominada como Visão da Firma Baseada em Recursos, estudou-se o caso do Cluster Vitivinícola da Região da Serra Gaúcha, visando à análise de sua competitividade. Como contribuição teórica à área de estratégia, foi proposto e detalhado um esquema de classificação de recursos em clusters, introduzindo-se os conceitos de Recursos Sistêmicos, Recursos de Acesso Restrito e Recursos Singulares. A investigação baseou-se em dados coletados através de entrevistas estruturadas realizadas com executivos e especialistas de 54 empresas produtoras de vinhos finos. O objetivo principal foi o estudo da influência exercida pelos recursos estratégicos sobre a performance das firmas. Complementarmente, foi investigado qual o papel das estratégias das firmas sobre o acesso a estes recursos. Os resultados evidenciaram uma influência positiva dos recursos e das estratégias sobre a performance, auxiliando na compreensão das assimetrias competitivas entre as firmas do cluster. / The interrelationships of strategy, resources and performance of the firms is the main subject of this work. Through the lens of the Resource Based View of the Firm, we studied the case of the South Brazilian Wine Cluster, analyzing its competitiveness. As a theoretical contribution to the strategy field, we proposed and detailed a classification scheme of resources in clusters, introducing the concepts of Systemic Resources, Singular Resources and Constrained Access Resources. The study was based on data collected trought in-depth and structured interviews with experts and executives of 54 fine wine produccing firms. The results were analysed by qualitative and quantitative techniques. The main goal was the identification of the influence of resources on the firms’ performance. In addition, we studied the role of firm’s operational strategies on access to these resources. The results evidenced a positive effect of resources and strategies on performance, improving the understanding of competitive assimetries between firms in the cluster.

Hoje em dia, muitas empresas de petróleo estão adotando diferentes sistemas baseados em conhecimento com o objetivo de ter uma melhor predição de qualidade de reservatório. No entanto, existem obstáculos que não permitem geólogos com diferentes formações recuperar as informações sem a necessidade da ajuda de um especialista em tecnologia da informação. O principal problema é a heterogeneidade semântica dos usuários finais quando fazem consultas em um sistema de consulta visual (VQS). Isto pode ser pior quando há uma nova terminologia na base de conhecimentos que afetam a interação do usuário, especialmente para usuários novatos. Neste contexto, apresentamos contribuições teóricas e práticas que explora o sinergismo entre ontologia e interação homem-computador (HCI). Do lado da teoria, introduzimos o conceito de visão de ontologia bem fundamentada e a sua definição formal. Nós nos concentramos na extração de vista ontologia de uma ontologia bem fundamentada e completa, baseando-nos em meta-propriedades ontológicas e propusemos um algorítmo independente da linguagem para extração de sub-ontologia que é guiada por meta-propriedades ontológicas. No lado prático, baseado nos princípios de HCI e desenho de interação, propusemos um novo sistema de consulta visual que usa o enfoque de vistas de ontologias para guiar o processo de consulta. Também o nosso desenho inclui visualizações de dados que ajudarão geólogos a entender os dados recuperados. Além disso, avaliamos nosso desenho com um teste de usabilidade a-través de um questionário em experimento controlado. Cinco geólogos que trabalham na área de Geologia do Petróleo foram avaliados. O enfoque proposto é avaliado no domínio de petrografia tomando as comunidades de Diagênese e Microestrutural adotando o critério de precisão e revocação. Os resultados experimentais mostram que termos relevantes obtidos de documentos de uma comunidade varia entre 30 a 66% de precisão e 4.6 a 36% de revocação, dependendo do enfoque selecionado e da combinação de parâmetros. Além disso, os resultados mostram que, para toda combinação de parâmetros, a revocação obtidos de artigos de diagênese usando a sub-ontologia gerada para a comunidade de diagênese é maior que a revocação e f-measure usando a sub-ontologia gerada para a comunidade de microestrutural. Por outro lado, resultados para toda combinação de parâmetros mostram que a revocação e f-measure obtida de artigos de microestrutural usando a sub-ontologia gerada para a comunidade de microestrutural é maior que a revocação e o fmeasure usando a sub-ontologia gerada para a comunidade de diagêneses. / Nowadays many petroleum companies are adopting different knowledge-based systems aiming to have a better reservoir quality prediction. However, there are obstacles that not allow different background geologists to retrieve information without needing the help of an information technology expert. The main problem is the heterogeneity semantic of end users when doing queries in a visual query system (VQS). This can be worst when there is new terminology in the knowledge-base affecting the user interaction, particularly for novice users. In this context, we present theoretical and practical contributions that exploit the synergism between ontology and human computer interaction (HCI). On the theory side, we introduce the concept of ontology view for well-founded ontology and provide a formal definition and expressive power characterization. We focus in the ontology view extraction of a well-founded and complete ontology based on ontological meta-properties and propose a language independent algorithm for sub-ontology extraction, which is guided by ontological meta-properties. On the practical side, based on the principles of HCI and interaction design, we propose a new Visual Query System that uses the ontology view approach to guide the query process. Also, our design includes data visualizations that will help geologists to make sense of the retrieved data. Furthermore, we evaluated our interaction design with five users performing a usability testing through a questionnaire in a controlled experiment. The evaluation was performed over geologists that work in the area of petroleum geology. The approach proposed is evaluated on the petrography domain taking the communities of Diagenesis and MicroStructural adopting the well known criteria of precision and recall. Experimental results show that relevant terms obtained from the documents of a community varies from 30 to 66 % of precision and 4.6 to 36% of recall depending on the approach selected and the parameters combination. Furthermore, results show that almost for all the parameters combination that recall and f-measure obtained from diagenesis articles using the sub-ontology generated for the diagenesis community is greater than recall and f-measure using the sub-ontology generated for microstructural community. On the other hand, results for all the parameters combination that recall and f-measure obtained from microstructural articles using the sub-ontology generated for the microstructural community is greater than recall and f-measure using the subontology generated for diagenesis community.