The challenge of operating and managing complex and dynamic environments, known as complex endeavors, has become a central issue in the C2 research community. NATO research groups have studied how to combat the negative effects of endeavor complexity on performance. Essential to these efforts is the study of C2 Agility, which is the ability of an entity to cope with change and employ different C2 approaches based on the requirements imposed by—and changes in—the current operational environment. An important aspect in accomplishing this research goal is to study how operational environments are constituted, as this would enable research into how the effectiveness of different C2 approaches is affected by different endeavors. The Endeavor Space model, which represents endeavor complexity in three dimensions, was developed for this purpose. In an effort to continue research on the Endeavor Space, the current study set out to implement the dimensions in a C2 research platform called ELICIT. Three ELICIT scenarios were created to represent different regions of the Endeavor Space. Additionally, the study designed, developed, and tested a prototype self-assessment instrument—the ESSAI—to capture how the Endeavor Space dimensions—Tractability, Dynamics, and Dependencies—were experienced by operators. Eight teams completed the scenarios and rated their complexity using the ESSAI. No significant differences in perceived complexity could be found between the scenarios. However, all Endeavor Space dimensions indicated correlational relationships with perceived difficulty, and most of them correlated with ELICIT performance. This is indicative of underlying patterns that were not thoroughly revealed in the current study. Implications and improvements for future research are discussed.

The ability of agile teams to adapt the project plan to unexpected problems is still a less-researched area. They must change the project plans as facing unexpected challenges and, even though existing studies relate some aspects to this ability, such as participatory decision-making, openness to discuss problems in an immediate sense and focus on actions to be taken in near future, these studies do not yet offer a complete theory, or set of practices, about how adaptation takes place. What actions and decisions of the team allow for adaptation? Improvisation is an approach that could potentially fill this gap and consists of someone executing an action without previously planning it, or doing it differently from the original plan, when facing a problem. This study presents an investigation of how agile teams adapt when facing unexpected changes or problems during the projects. The concept of improvisation is used and the study involved two agile software development teams and using Grounded Theory (GT). The results indicate that the teams apply different improvisation strategies, such as breaking standard work rules, as well as maintain habits that contribute positively to improvisation. Clients also play an important role in helping teams solve unexpected problems and should be invited to collaborate. These results can be used to assist professionals in search of more effectiveness in agile teams in terms of adapting the plan during the project. / A habilidade de os times ágeis adaptarem o plano do projeto de acordo com problemas inesperados ainda é uma área de pesquisa pouco explorada. Essas equipes precisam ser capazes de adaptar o plano do projeto quando se deparam com desafios inesperados e, ainda que os estudos relacionem alguns aspectos a essa habilidade, como tomada de decisão participativa, abertura para discutir problemas de imediato e foco em ações de curto prazo, os estudos ainda não oferecem uma teoria completa ou conjunto de práticas que descrevam como, de fato, a adaptação acontece. Quais ações e decisões do time lhe garantem a capacidade de adaptação? A improvisação é uma abordagem interessante para compreender esse gap, e consiste em executar uma ação sem previamente planejá-la, ou de uma maneira diferente do que a planejada, quando da ocorrência de um problema ou mudança inesperada. Esse estudo apresenta uma investigação da adaptação em projetos ágeis quando as equipes se deparam com mudanças ou problemas inesperados. O conceito da improvisação é usado e o estudo envolveu dois times ágeis que desenvolvem software, e utilizando o método Grounded theory (GT). Os resultados indicam que os times utilizam diferentes estratégias de improvisação, como quebrar regras de trabalho, assim como mantem hábitos que contribuem positivamente para a improvisação. O cliente também desempenha um papel importante ao ajudar os times a resolverem problemas inesperados, e portanto devem ser convidados a colaborar. Esses resultados podem ser usados para auxiliar profissionais no sentido de obter-se times ágeis mais efetivos na adaptação do plano durante o projeto.

The dynamic information context is challenging school communities to calibrate their ways of understanding information literacy. However empirical research reports a lack of shared understanding and vision around information literacy that is negatively impacting its development. The solution it is argued is to increase the level of multi stakeholder dialogue about the information literacy phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to create a platform for dialogue within an international school community by identifying and comparing conceptions of information literacy across multiple stakeholder groups to proactively inform information literacy practice. Working within the qualitative paradigm and invoking a phenomenographic methodological approach the research drew from a trans-disciplinary theoretical background in the information, management and education sciences. Using recorded focus group discussions stakeholders including students, parents, teachers, library staff, IT personnel, administration and leadership shared their perceptions of the information context as a stepping stone to sharing their conceptions of information literacy. The findings show that stakeholder groups perceived the information context to be characterised by environmental, social human and affective dimensions; that stakeholders did not hold one singular conception of information literacy but rather they shared a series of conceptions of information literacy to varying degrees, and that the variation in the ways information literacy was conceptualised prevailed across three continuums namely the individual-collective, affective-cognitive and competency–personal mastery continuums. Furthermore, the comparative analysis of the series of conceptions of information literacy created the opportunity to develop a model of the common ground of conceptual understanding of information literacy thereby making an original contribution to knowledge. The study provides compelling insights for information literacy practitioners recommending that a shared conceptual understanding of information literacy requires accommodating its complex socio-contextual nature and anchoring that understanding in the philosophical, pedagogical and strategic thinking of the learning community.

A conjunção das recentes tecnologias de mídias sociais, mobilidade e computação em nuvem coloca à disposição das empresas um grande volume de dados variados e recebidos em grande velocidade. Muitas empresas começam a perceber neste fenômeno, conhecido como Big Data, oportunidades de extração de valor para seus negócios. A literatura aponta diversos mecanismos pelos quais Big Data se transforma em valor para a empresa. O primeiro deles é pela geração de agilidade, aqui entendida como a capacidade de perceber e rapidamente reagir a mudanças e oportunidades em seu ambiente competitivo. Outro mecanismo é a utilização de Big Data como facilitador de capacitações dinâmicas que resultam em melhorias operacionais, por meio do aprofundamento (exploit) de alguma capacitação específica. Por fim, Big Data pode ser facilitador de capacitações dinâmicas que resultem em inovação (explore de novas capacitações) e no lançamento de novos produtos e serviços no mercado. Dentro deste contexto, o presente estudo se propõe a investigar a abordagem da utilização de Big Data por empresas inseridas em diferentes contextos competitivos e com diferentes níveis de capacitação de TI. Faz parte também do objetivo da pesquisa entender como as empresas adequaram seus processos de negócio para incorporar o grande volume de dados que têm à disposição. Por meio de estudos de caso realizados em empresas de grande porte de diferentes segmentos e com grande variabilidade na utilização de Big Data, o estudo verifica utilização de Big Data como viabilizador de capacitações dinâmicas atuando no aperfeiçoamento de capacitações operacionais, na diversificação de negócios e na inovação. Além disso, verifica-se a tendência de acoplamento de machine learning às soluções de Big Data, quando o objetivo é a obtenção de agilidade operacional. A capacitação de TI também se mostra determinante da quantidade e complexidade das ações competitivas lançadas pelas empresas com o uso de Big Data. Por fim, é possível antever que, graças às facilidades trazidas pela tecnologia de cloud, recursos de TI serão crescentemente liberados para atuação junto ao negócio - como, por exemplo, em iniciativas de Big Data - fortalecendo as capacitações dinâmicas da empresa e gerando vantagem competitiva. / The combination of the technologies of social media, mobility and cloud computing has dramatically increased the volume, variety and velocity of data available for firms. Many companies have been looking at this phenomenon, also known as Big Data, as a source of value to business. The literature shows different mechanisms for transforming Big Data in business value. First of them is agility, herein understood as the ability of sensing and rapidly responding to changes and opportunities in the competitive environment. Other mechanism is the usage of Big Data as an enabler of dynamic capabilities that result in operational improvements, through the deepening (exploit) of determined operational capability. Finally, Big Data can be the facilitator of dynamic capabilities that result in innovation (explore of new capabilities) and in the launching of new product and services in the market. Within this context, the goal of this study is to investigate the approach for Big Data usage in companies from different competitive scenarios and with different levels of IT capability. It is also part of the objectives to investigate how companies changed their processes to accommodate the huge volume of data available from Big Data. Through case studies in companies of different industries and with different Big Data approaches, the study shows Big Data as an enabler of dynamic capabilities that result in the improvement of operational capabilities, in the diversification of business and in innovation. It has also been identified the trend of association of machine learning to Big Data when the objective is operational agility. IT capability shows to be determinant of the quantity and complexity of the competitive actions launched from Big Data. To conclude, it is valid to anticipate that due to simplification coming from cloud technologies, IT resources will be increasingly released to working close to business - as, for example, in Big Data initiatives - strengthening dynamic capabilities and creating value to business.

"Resource sharing between applications can significantly improve the resources required for all, which can reduce cost, and improve performance. Isolating resources on the other hand can also be beneficial as the failure or significant load on one application does not affect another. There is a delicate balance between resource sharing and resource isolation. Virtual machines may be a solution to this problem with the added benefit of being able to perform more dynamic load balancing, but this solution may be at a significant cost in performance. This thesis compares three different configurations for machines running application servers. It looks at speed at which a new application server can be started up, resource sharing and resource isolation between applications in an attempt to quantify the tradeoffs for each type of configuration."

Face à la volonté d’intégrer une quantité toujours plus importante de nouveaux services au sein des terminaux mobiles de nouvelle génération et afin de répondre à leurs contraintes d’encombrement, des nouveaux concepts d’antennes intelligentes font l’objet de nombreuses recherches. Parmi les solutions proposées dans la littérature, la technique consistant à charger l’antenne par un matériau aux propriétés commandables apparaît particulièrement intéressante puisque elle cumule les effets de miniaturisation et d’agilité. Le travail de cette thèse concerne l’intégration des films minces La-Ti-O-N et BST dans des antennes miniatures et agiles en fréquence. Pour cela, une étude systématique des propriétés diélectriques (constante, tangente de pertes et accordabilité) des films La-Ti-O-N a été réalisée en basses et hautes fréquences. Ces propriétés sont fonction des caractéristiques structurales des films, elles-mêmes issues de la nature du substrat utilisé et des conditions de dépôt. En parallèle, une étude sur l’intégration de ces matériaux dans des structures rayonnantes pour atteindre l’agilité souhaitée a été menée. De premiers démonstrateurs d’antennes miniatures et reconfigurables à base des films minces La-Ti-O-N et BST ont été réalisés et caractérisés. / Given the desire to integrate a large number of new services in latest generation of hand held devices and in order to meet their dimensional constraints, new concepts of smart antennas are considered to be the subject of many researches. Among several solutions mentioned in the bibliography, the technique of loading the antenna with tunable material is particularly interesting because it combines the effects of miniaturization and tunability. The studies in this thesis focus on the integration of La-Ti-O-N and BST thin films in antenna conception for miniaturization and agility in frequency. A study of dielectric properties (permittivity, loss tangent and tunability) of La-Ti-ON thin films was realized. These properties are found to be depending on the structural characteristics of the thin films, which derived from the nature of the substrate and the deposition conditions. In the mean time, another study for the integration of these materials in radiating structures to achieve agility in frequency was carried out. Demonstrations of miniaturized and reconfigurable antennas based on La-Ti-ON and BST thin films were fabricated and characterized.

The ability of agile teams to adapt the project plan to unexpected problems is still a less-researched area. They must change the project plans as facing unexpected challenges and, even though existing studies relate some aspects to this ability, such as participatory decision-making, openness to discuss problems in an immediate sense and focus on actions to be taken in near future, these studies do not yet offer a complete theory, or set of practices, about how adaptation takes place. What actions and decisions of the team allow for adaptation? Improvisation is an approach that could potentially fill this gap and consists of someone executing an action without previously planning it, or doing it differently from the original plan, when facing a problem. This study presents an investigation of how agile teams adapt when facing unexpected changes or problems during the projects. The concept of improvisation is used and the study involved two agile software development teams and using Grounded Theory (GT). The results indicate that the teams apply different improvisation strategies, such as breaking standard work rules, as well as maintain habits that contribute positively to improvisation. Clients also play an important role in helping teams solve unexpected problems and should be invited to collaborate. These results can be used to assist professionals in search of more effectiveness in agile teams in terms of adapting the plan during the project. / A habilidade de os times ágeis adaptarem o plano do projeto de acordo com problemas inesperados ainda é uma área de pesquisa pouco explorada. Essas equipes precisam ser capazes de adaptar o plano do projeto quando se deparam com desafios inesperados e, ainda que os estudos relacionem alguns aspectos a essa habilidade, como tomada de decisão participativa, abertura para discutir problemas de imediato e foco em ações de curto prazo, os estudos ainda não oferecem uma teoria completa ou conjunto de práticas que descrevam como, de fato, a adaptação acontece. Quais ações e decisões do time lhe garantem a capacidade de adaptação? A improvisação é uma abordagem interessante para compreender esse gap, e consiste em executar uma ação sem previamente planejá-la, ou de uma maneira diferente do que a planejada, quando da ocorrência de um problema ou mudança inesperada. Esse estudo apresenta uma investigação da adaptação em projetos ágeis quando as equipes se deparam com mudanças ou problemas inesperados. O conceito da improvisação é usado e o estudo envolveu dois times ágeis que desenvolvem software, e utilizando o método Grounded theory (GT). Os resultados indicam que os times utilizam diferentes estratégias de improvisação, como quebrar regras de trabalho, assim como mantem hábitos que contribuem positivamente para a improvisação. O cliente também desempenha um papel importante ao ajudar os times a resolverem problemas inesperados, e portanto devem ser convidados a colaborar. Esses resultados podem ser usados para auxiliar profissionais no sentido de obter-se times ágeis mais efetivos na adaptação do plano durante o projeto.

Combinar o treinamento de força (TF) com o de potência (TP) tem mostrado ser mais efetivo do que os treinamentos aplicados de modo isolado. Porém, não existe consenso sobre a melhor forma de combinar o TF com o TP na mesma sessão de treino. Assim, os objetivos deste estudo foram investigar e comparar o efeito da ordem de combinação do TF e do TP no desempenho da força dinâmica máxima de membros inferiores, do salto vertical, da velocidade, da agilidade, do salto em profundidade e da potência muscular de membros inferiores. Participaram 27 jogadores de futebol, os quais foram divididos em três grupos: FP (realizou todas as séries do TF e em seguida as do TP), PF (realizou todas as séries do TP e em seguida as do TF) e AA (realizou séries alternadas do TF com o TP), sendo submetidos a oito semanas de treinamento. O TF utilizou o exercício agachamento (60-80% de 1RM) e o TP utilizou exercícios de salto em profundidade. Os resultados foram: aumentos significantes na força dinâmica máxima de 48,6%, 46,3% e 53% nos grupos FP, PF e AA respectivamente; na altura do salto vertical de 13%, 14,2% e 14,7% nos grupos FP, PF e AA, respectivamente e na potência média do grupo AA (8,6%) para a carga de 40% do PC. Não foram observadas alterações no desempenho da agilidade. Com relação a velocidade, os grupos FP e PF diminuíram o desempenho nos testes de 10 e 20 metros, enquanto que o grupo AA não alterou o seu desempenho. Em conclusão, as três diferentes combinações do TF e do TP foram semelhantes em promover adaptações no desempenho de jogadores de futebol e com base nestes resultados sugere-se que a ordem de combinação do TF e do TP na mesma sessão de treino parece não influenciar o desempenho de maneira crônica / The combination of strength (ST) with power training (PT) has been shown to be more effective than the isolated methods. However, there is no consensus on the best way to combine these methods in the same training session. Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare the effect of the combination of TF and TP on performance of lower limbs maximum dynamic strength and power, vertical jump, speed, agility, and drop jump. Twenty seven soccer players participated in eight weeks of training. They were divided into three groups: FP (all TF series before TP series), PF (all TP series before TF series), and AA (alternated TF and TP series). The TF was composed of squat exercise (60-80% 1RM) and the TP used drop jumps. The results were: significant increases in maximal dynamic strength of 48.6%, 46.3%, and 53% in groups FP, PF, and AA; respectively; in vertical jump height of 13%, 14,2% e 14,7% in groups FP, PF, and AA; respectively, and in average power in the AA group (8,6%) for the load of 40% PC. No changes were observed in agility performance. The FP and PF groups presented a decrease in speed of 10 and 20 meters, while the AA group did not change. In conclusion, the three different TF and TP combinations resulted in similar adaptations in soccer players performance. Thus, it can be suggested that TF and TP training order does not seem to interfere with long term performance changes

Title: Velocity characteristics of soccer players Objectives: The main goal of the thesis id to evaluate and analyze velocity and agility abilities of elite players. Analyze the change direction in velocity in the form of acceleration and deceleration turn over to the opposite direction. Compare the movement task session to the right and left rotating lower limb. Methods: Measured group consisted of 35 players with these athropometric values (age = 20±3,25 years, height = 187 ± 0,648 m, weight = 72 ± 3.25 kg). Players completed the warm-up prior to testing (activation stretching, stretching, warm up and subsequent motion game). Measured tested portion was 5m, followed by turning on the predefined leg and running backwards to the photocell gate (test 505). Each player completed 2 attemps on the right and 2 attemps on the left leg. Method for evaluating the kinematics used 2D video analysis. For video processing software was used Bio TEMA (ImageSystems Ltd., Sweden). Results: Players in test of velocity achieved different times on rotation right and left side. However these differences were not significant. In the first step of slowing and accelerating players do not reach comparable velocity. They can compare velocity on the second step. On right side players will use the stride length at step 2 and...

<p>Market globalization and steep competition are increasing the need for more efficient and effective strategies in meeting evolving market demands. Adopting a more integrated approach to supply chain relationship management has been increasingly viewed as a way of meeting changing customer needs. This thesis work explores lean and agility frameworks as tools for achieving supply chain integration. Different aspects of the concepts of lean and agility and their applications in the supply chain are presented based on theoretical literature. Thus, this thesis seeks to point out the impact that the concepts of lean and agility can have on the supply chain as a whole. Four companies have been investigated in connection to the level of awareness, perception, and practical application of these tools in their supply chain. To this end, information was collected in a survey questionnaire from these four companies and supported by an interview. The results show that lean and agility are important tools to achieve supply chain integration, but respondents are yet to fully achieve the transition to lean/agile enterprise. It could be said that lean/agile supply chain is still more in theory than in practice. The level of awareness to market changes is high but there seem to be no specific way in achieving integration in the supply as there is wide variation in the way one company achieves it with respect to another. Generally, respondents are implementing lean/agile principles in cooperation and collaboration with suppliers and customers, demand pull system, and using combination of strategies. However, it is clear that adequate market information is required when trying to fit lean/agile principles into supply chain strategy. Furthermore, all respondent recognise the need for change to satisfy customer need, but the respond to change vary from one company to another. Also, there is a gradual shift from traditional focus solely on cost and profit to customer relation relationship management and customer satisfaction. Consequently, companies are organizing themselves around the customer who pulls goods and value from the producer of the goods.</p>