Os avanços tecnológicos na eletrônica e no software têm sido rapidamente assimilados pelos sistemas computacionais demandando novas abordagens para a engenharia de sistemas e de software prover produtos confiáveis, sob critérios bem estabelecidos de qualidade. Dentro deste contexto, o processo de elicitação de requisitos tem um papel estratégico no desenvolvimento de projetos. Problemas na atividade de elicitação contribuem para produzir requisitos pobres, inadequados ou mesmo inexistentes que podem causar a perda de uma missão, desastres materiais e financeiros, a extinção prematura de um projeto ou promover uma crise organizacional. Esta tese apresenta o processo de elicitação de metas de dependabilidade, chamado ELICERE, aplicado em sistemas computacionais críticos, que se fundamenta nas técnicas de engenharia de requisitos orientada a metas, chamada i*, e nas técnicas de engenharia de segurança HAZOP e FMEA, que identificam e analisam perigos operacionais de um sistema. Depois de criar os modelos do sistema usando os diagramas i*, eles são analisados através de palavras-guia baseadas no HAZOP e FMEA, de onde as metas relacionadas à dependabilidade são extraídas. Através desta abordagem interdisciplinar, ELICERE promove a identificação de metas, que atendam aos requisitos de qualidade, relativos à dependabilidade, para sistemas computacionais críticos ainda na fase de concepção de um projeto. A abordagem do estudo de caso é baseada em um estudo qualitativo e descritivo de um caso único, usando o projeto de um foguete lançador hipotético, chamado V-ALFA. A aplicação do ELICERE neste projeto espacial teve a intenção de aperfeiçoar as atividades de engenharia de requisitos do sistema computacional do Veículo Lançador de Satélites Brasileiro, e também como forma de explicar como o processo ELICERE funciona. / The technological advances in electronic and software have been rapidly assimilated by computer systems, demanding new approaches for software and system engineering to provide reliable products, under well-known quality criteria. In this context, requirements engineering has a strategic role in project development. Problems in the elicitation activity contribute to producing poor, inadequate or even non-existent requirements that can cause mission losses, material or financial disasters, premature project termination or promote an organizational crisis. This thesis introduces the dependability goals elicitation process, called ELICERE, applied to critical computer systems based on a goal-oriented requirement engineering technique, called i*, and the safety engineering techniques HAZOP and FMEA, which will be applied for the identification and analysis of operational risks of a system. After creating the system models using i* diagrams, they are analyzed through guidewords based on HAZOP and FMEA, from which goals related to dependability are extracted. Through this interdisciplinary approach, ELICERE promotes the identification of goals that meet the quality requirements, related to dependability for critical systems, still in the project conception phase. The case study approach is based on a qualitative and descriptive single-case, using a computer system project of a hypothetical launching rocket, called V-ALFA. The ELICERE application in this space project intends to improve the requirement engineering activities in the computer system of the Brazilian Satellite Launch Vehicle, and also a way to explain how the ELICERE process works.

O propósito desta dissertação é apresentar o uso da opinião de especialistas e outras questões relevantes acerca do assunto na avaliação das incertezas em estudos de análise de risco e confiabilidade, com apresentação de um estudo de caso prático. Em estudos de confiabilidade umas das principais preocupações está na determinação das frequências de ocorrência dos eventos e seu comportamento ao longo do tempo. Muitas vezes, os dados de frequência estão obsoletos, não estão disponíveis ou mesmo, não são suficientes para se avaliar a probabilidade de ocorrência de eventos. Nestes casos, a elicitação da opinião de especialista surge como uma alternativa a suplementar estas ausências de dados possibilitando assim uma melhor análise das incertezas. Baseado na condição da subjetividade, a elicitação dos especialistas tem como objetivo quantificar as incertezas a partir da experiência prévia e estado atual de conhecimento. Combinado com métodos matemáticos, a elicitação possibilita o gerenciamento de conflitos de informações de forma a atingir o consenso e possibilitar uma análise subjetiva dos problemas. / The purpose of this dissertationis to present the use of expert opinion and other relevant issues on the subjective assessment of uncertainties in risk analysis and reliability studies, presenting a practical case study. In reliability studies a major concern is to determine the frequencies of occurrence of events and their behavior through time. Often, the available data are not representative enough to evaluate the event probability or it is obsolete for use. In these cases, the elicitation of expert opinion is an alternative to supplement these data absences, Thus enabling a better uncertainties analysis. Based on the subjectivity condition, the elicitation of experts aims to quantify the uncertainty considering the previous experiences and current state of knowledge. Combined with mathematical elicitation methods, it enables the manegement of information conflicts in order to reach consensus and makes possible a subjective analysis of problems.

The question of how to measure and classify people's risk preferences is of substantial importance in the field of economics. Inspired by the multitude of ways used to elicit risk preferences, we conduct a holistic investigation of the most prevalent method, the multiple price list (MPL) and its derivations. In our experiment, we find that revealed preferences differ under various versions of MPLs as well as yield unstable results within a 30-minute time frame. We determine the most stable elicitation method with the highest forecast accuracy by using multiple measures of within-method consistency and by using behavior in two economically relevant games as benchmarks. A derivation of the well-known method by Holt and Laury (American Economic Review 92(5):1644-1655, 2002), where the highest payoff is varied instead of probabilities, emerges as the best MPL method in both dimensions. As we pinpoint each MPL characteristic's effect on the revealed preference and its consistency, our results have implications for preference elicitation procedures in general.

A oferta de bens e serviços para atendimento da demanda dos consumidores atuais tem uma forte base na personalização, ou seja, na busca da satisfação individual dos clientes. Essa tem sido a forma que as empresas tem encontrado para se diferenciar. Para tanto, as organizações necessitam de modelos de negócios que permitam ajustar seus processos com as freqüentes necessidades de mudanças. A metodologia utilizada foi a observação de estudo de casos com projetos de Inovação Tecnológica, que possuem altos índices na característica de mudança dos requisitos. A proposta deste trabalho é permitir que essa volatilidade seja identificada na fase de eliciação de requisitos, com base nas intenções de cada envolvido no processo de engenharia de requisitos, e que tais solicitações possam ser melhor compreendidas através da prototipação baseada nas perspectivas dos participantes: de negócio, operacional, de design e gerencial. Como resultado foi definido o volaRE, que permite se conhecer a volatilidade de um requisito, com base nas características definidas do mesmo, ainda na fase de eliciação. / Current consumers have demanded a special attention in the production and distribution of goods and services which have turned organizations to mass customization, looking for an individual satisfaction of their customers. This has been the form that companies have found to differentiate themselves. Therefore, the integration of business and productive processes must be adaptable to the frequent changes in the company\'s environment. The used methodology was the observation of cases study with of Technological Innovation projects, which have high rates of requirements changes. The proposal of this work is that this volatility could be identified in the requirements elicitation phase, based on the intent of each involved in the process of requirements engineering, and that such requests can be better understood through perspectives prototyping based of those participants: business, operational, design and management. As result volaRE was defined, that lets to know the requirement\'s volatility, based on defined characteristics, yet at elicitation phase.

"There are many types of knowledge involved in producing a design (the process of specifying a description of an artifact that satisfies a collection of constraints [Brown, 1992]). Of these, one of the most crucial is the design plan: the sequence of steps taken to create the design (or a portion of the design). A number of knowledge elicitation methods can be used to obtain this knowledge from the designer. The success of the elicitation depends on the match between the knowledge elicitation method used and the information being sought. The difficulty with obtaining design plan information is that this information may involve implicit knowledge, i.e. knowledge that can not be expressed explicitly. In this thesis, an approach is used that combines two knowledge elicitation techniques: one direct, to directly request the design steps and their sequence, and one indirect, to refine this knowledge by obtaining steps and sequences that may be implicit. The two techniques used in this thesis were Forward Scenario Simulation (FSS), a technique where the domain expert describes how the procedure followed to solve it, and Card Sort, a technique where the domain expert is asked to sort items (usually entities in the domain) along different attributes. The Design Ordering Elicitation System (DOES) was built to perform the knowledge elicitation. This system is a web-based system designed to support remote knowledge elicitation: KE performed without the presence of the knowledge engineer. This system was used to administer knowledge elicitation sessions to evaluate the effectiveness of these techniques at obtaining design steps and their sequencing. The results indicate that using an indirect technique together with a direct technique obtains more alternative sequences for the design steps than using the direct technique alone."

Hypericum polyanthemum é uma planta nativa do Sul do Brasil que contém compostos como flavonóides, taninos, derivados de floroglucinol (uliginosina B) e benzopiranos: HP1 (6-isobutiril-5,7-dimetóxi-2,2-dimetilbenzopirano), HP2 (7-hidróxi-6-isobutiril-5- metóxi-2,2-dimetilbenzopirano), e HP3 (5-hidróxi-6-isobutiril-7-metóxi-2,2- dimetillbenzopirano). Esses metabólitos são responsáveis por uma série de atividades biológicas como inibidores da monoaminoxidase (IMAO), antiproliferativa e antitumoral. No presente trabalho modificações na biomassa vegetal e no teor de metabólitos bioativos de plantas de H. polyanthemum cultivadas sob condições controladas e após 18 semanas de aclimatação foram investigadas após elicitação com o fungo Nomuraea rileyi através da adição do microrganismo liofilizado e pulverizado (LP), ou liofilizado, autoclavado e pulverizado (LAP) por curtos e longos períodos de tempo. Plantas cultivadas sob condições controladas tratadas com LAP demonstraram aumento na concentração dos benzopiranos HP1, HP2 e HP3 enquanto LP provocou efeito negativo ou ainda, não alterou a síntese destes compostos. Porém, baixos níveis do floroglucinol uliginosina B foram detectados em todos os tratamentos. Tratamentos com LAP por longos períodos de tempo em plantas cultivadas a campo provocaram aumento de biomassa (2x) e a análise química demonstrou elevação do teor de compostos fenólicos totais nas partes vegetativas das plantas submetidas a todos os tratamentos. Ainda, a análise apontou um diferente grau de acúmulo dos metabólitos, com maiores teores de HP1, HP2, HP3 e uliginosina B sendo encontrados nas partes reprodutivas das plantas tratadas com LAP. A elevação dos metabólitos bioativos em resposta ao elicitor fúngico sugere que estes compostos são induzíveis na resposta de defesa de H. polyanthemum. Os resultados obtidos nesse trabalho são relevantes em virtude da planta não sofrer danos. Assim, o sistema descrito representa uma nova abordagem em pesquisas com plantas visando otimizar condições para a produção de biomassa e metabólitos secundários de interesse medicinal. / Hypericum polyanthemum is a native plant of South Brazil that contains compounds such as flavonoids, tannins, phloroglucinol derivatives (uliginosin B) and benzopyrans: HP1 (6-isobutyryl-5,7-dimethoxy-2,2-dimethylbenzopyran), HP2 (7-hydroxy-6-isobutyryl-5- methoxy-2,2-dimethylbenzopyran), and HP3 (5-hydroxy-6-isobutyryl-7-methoxy-2,2- dimethylbenzopyran). These metabolites are responsible for biological activities such as monoamine oxidase inhibitor, antiproliferative and antitumoral. In this work changes in biomass and bioactive metabolites after elicitation with the fungi Nomuraea riley added as freeze dried culture (DC) or as freeze dried autoclaved cell powder (DACP) for short and long periods of time have been investigated in Hypericum polyanthemum plants grown under controlled conditions and after 18 weeks of field acclimatization. Plants treated with DACP showed increased concentrations of the benzopyrans while the DC affected negatively or did not alter the synthesis of these compounds. Nevertheless, low levels of uliginosin B were detected in all treatments. Long time treatment of field grown acclimatized plants with DACP triggered plant growth doubling the biomass and chemical analyses demonstrated increased total phenolic compounds yields in the vegetative parts of plants submitted to the treatments. Furthermore, the analysis showed different pattern of metabolites accumulation, with higher yields of benzopyrans and uliginosin B accumulated in the reproductive parts of the plants treated with DACP during all experiment. The elevation of bioactive metabolites levels in response to the elicitor suggests that these compounds are inducible in plant defense response of H. polyanthemum. The results obtained are relevant since the plant did not suffer injury. Then, the system described represents a new approach in plant research aimed to optimize the conditions for biomass and accumulation of secondary metabolites.

The principal aim of this doctoral research has been to investigate whether various popular methods of emotion elicitation perform differently in terms of self-reported participant affect - and if so, whether any of them is better able to mimic real-life emotional situations. A secondary goal has been to understand how continuous affect can be classified into discrete categories - whether by using clustering algorithms, or resorting to human participants for creating the classifications. A variety of research directions subserved these main goals: firstly, developing data-driven strategies for selecting 'appropriate' stimuli, and matching them across various stimulus modalities (i.e., words, sounds, images,films and virtual environments / VEs); secondly, comparing the chosen modalities on various self-report measures (with VEs assessed both with and without a head-mounted display / HMD); thirdly, comparing how humans classify emotional information vs. a clustering algorithm; and finally, comparing all five lab-based stimulus modalities to emotional data collected via an experience sampling phone app. Findings / outputs discussed will include a matched database of stimuli geared towards lab use, how the choice of stimulus modality may affect research results, the links (or discrepancies) between human and machine classification of emotional information, as well as range restriction affecting lab stimuli relative to `real-life' emotional phenomena.

Os avanços tecnológicos na eletrônica e no software têm sido rapidamente assimilados pelos sistemas computacionais demandando novas abordagens para a engenharia de sistemas e de software prover produtos confiáveis, sob critérios bem estabelecidos de qualidade. Dentro deste contexto, o processo de elicitação de requisitos tem um papel estratégico no desenvolvimento de projetos. Problemas na atividade de elicitação contribuem para produzir requisitos pobres, inadequados ou mesmo inexistentes que podem causar a perda de uma missão, desastres materiais e financeiros, a extinção prematura de um projeto ou promover uma crise organizacional. Esta tese apresenta o processo de elicitação de metas de dependabilidade, chamado ELICERE, aplicado em sistemas computacionais críticos, que se fundamenta nas técnicas de engenharia de requisitos orientada a metas, chamada i*, e nas técnicas de engenharia de segurança HAZOP e FMEA, que identificam e analisam perigos operacionais de um sistema. Depois de criar os modelos do sistema usando os diagramas i*, eles são analisados através de palavras-guia baseadas no HAZOP e FMEA, de onde as metas relacionadas à dependabilidade são extraídas. Através desta abordagem interdisciplinar, ELICERE promove a identificação de metas, que atendam aos requisitos de qualidade, relativos à dependabilidade, para sistemas computacionais críticos ainda na fase de concepção de um projeto. A abordagem do estudo de caso é baseada em um estudo qualitativo e descritivo de um caso único, usando o projeto de um foguete lançador hipotético, chamado V-ALFA. A aplicação do ELICERE neste projeto espacial teve a intenção de aperfeiçoar as atividades de engenharia de requisitos do sistema computacional do Veículo Lançador de Satélites Brasileiro, e também como forma de explicar como o processo ELICERE funciona. / The technological advances in electronic and software have been rapidly assimilated by computer systems, demanding new approaches for software and system engineering to provide reliable products, under well-known quality criteria. In this context, requirements engineering has a strategic role in project development. Problems in the elicitation activity contribute to producing poor, inadequate or even non-existent requirements that can cause mission losses, material or financial disasters, premature project termination or promote an organizational crisis. This thesis introduces the dependability goals elicitation process, called ELICERE, applied to critical computer systems based on a goal-oriented requirement engineering technique, called i*, and the safety engineering techniques HAZOP and FMEA, which will be applied for the identification and analysis of operational risks of a system. After creating the system models using i* diagrams, they are analyzed through guidewords based on HAZOP and FMEA, from which goals related to dependability are extracted. Through this interdisciplinary approach, ELICERE promotes the identification of goals that meet the quality requirements, related to dependability for critical systems, still in the project conception phase. The case study approach is based on a qualitative and descriptive single-case, using a computer system project of a hypothetical launching rocket, called V-ALFA. The ELICERE application in this space project intends to improve the requirement engineering activities in the computer system of the Brazilian Satellite Launch Vehicle, and also a way to explain how the ELICERE process works.

A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to identify and analyze issues in the implementation of one-to-one computing initiatives and provide solutions for improvement. An understanding of the implementation process was developed through the analysis of data collected through 27 interviews with teacher experts in the field who have worked with the implementation of one-to-one programs. Teachers were purposely selected from the following groups: those who were completing their first year of teaching, those who had between two and ten years of teaching experience, and those who had eleven plus years of total teaching experience. This study distinctly addresses one-to-one initiatives from both placing importance on the utilization of negative knowledge and in simultaneously treating teacher perceptions as a valid reality. Issues associated with the implementation of one-to-one initiatives develop at a faster speed than traditional school structures are accustomed to respond to. Successful one-to-one management requires a responsive, interconnected, and efficient organizational structure. This research has significance for the improvement of one-to-one initiative implementation efforts. The findings contained in this research have the potential to benefit teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders associated with the implementation of one-to-one initiatives.

No description available.