<p>How does action turn [into a] substantive and, if it does, how does it turn into action again to perdure or even change?</p><p>In this endeavor I set out to study organizing and organization by asking myself how organizing becomes a product called organization and how that product turns into the very organizing whence it once was spawned. In other words, I set out to study what I denominate the movements between organizing and organization. To that end a play is put in motion in which actors act and make representations which are subsequently interpreted poetically and rhetorically. This in order to create a stage of evidence from which the movements between organizing and organization can be derived.</p><p>The imagination put forth consists of two movements, which I dub instantiation and concatenation. These I relate to the motions embodied by metaphor and metonymy and later conflate them into one and the same movement of organizing in the wor[l]d within which materials through their play against each other are gathered to create more or less stable products. These products may be called organizations.</p><p>In a way, this is an attempt to study the makings of organization by way of a passage into it.</p>

How does action turn [into a] substantive and, if it does, how does it turn into action again to perdure or even change? In this endeavor I set out to study organizing and organization by asking myself how organizing becomes a product called organization and how that product turns into the very organizing whence it once was spawned. In other words, I set out to study what I denominate the movements between organizing and organization. To that end a play is put in motion in which actors act and make representations which are subsequently interpreted poetically and rhetorically. This in order to create a stage of evidence from which the movements between organizing and organization can be derived. The imagination put forth consists of two movements, which I dub instantiation and concatenation. These I relate to the motions embodied by metaphor and metonymy and later conflate them into one and the same movement of organizing in the wor[l]d within which materials through their play against each other are gathered to create more or less stable products. These products may be called organizations. In a way, this is an attempt to study the makings of organization by way of a passage into it.

No description available.

The problem which spurred this thesis has three components. First, there are entities which we may call stuff – alluded to by uncountable nouns; these entities seem to have a duality for behaving like both (i) an object or a discrete middle size substance – which are supposed to be non-repetitive and independent, and as well as (ii) a concept or a universal – which are repetitive but dependent (on some independent substances). Second, a dichotomy persists between the two aspects of the duality: what is non-repeatable cannot be repeatable and, conversely what is repeatable cannot be non-repeatable. Third, there is a background of how we conventionally do logic, and our present trend of doing – or rather, doing away with – metaphysics. The thesis then came up with four chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the question – how can, or how do we deal with stuff predication following the conventional guidelines? – where by stuff predication I mean any predication involving stuff. I also tried there to find out some clues from Frege’s works. Chapter 2 dives into some related issues pertaining to language, grammar and the notion of constitution. Chapter 3 examines critically two types of theories or views (one of them has been recently championed by Michael Dummett and P.F. Strawson; the other by David Armstrong) arguing how repetitive entities differ from the non-repetitive ones. My counter argument is that those arguments are either fallacious or not even complete. Chapter 4 takes an Aristotelian perspective following the lead of E.J. Lowe. The thesis has a pessimistic tone at the end: the conventional method is quite inadequate as it misses some subtleties pertaining to stuff, nor could Lowe’s Aristotle take us too far. Nevertheless, one cannot – I hope – miss some deeper insights glimpsing into this work. Particularly, Chapter 3 opens up some new venues to think about: our thoughts about our own arguments and proofs may need some revamping.

Atualmente existem muitos estudos sendo conduzidos na área de Home Care, onde casas providas com sensores e atuadores podem ajudar o paciente em suas tarefas diárias, mesmo aqueles portadores de doenças crônicas ou limitações cognitivas e físicas. No contexto de Home Care, dispositivos domésticos controláveis podem agir como atuadores. Um importante desafio nessa área é a coordenação desses atuadores, para que os mesmos possam ser utilizados na prestação de cuidados ao paciente em sua casa. Para prestar auxílio em tarefas, deve ser levado em consideração o contexto do paciente e dos dispositivos presentes na casa. Este trabalho apresenta uma nova abordagem, sensível ao contexto, para selecionar a funcionalidade, de um dispositivo, mais adequada para a execução de uma atuação em um ambiente de Home Care. Nessa abordagem, as funcionalidades dos dispositivos são representadas por serviços Web, e modelos de processos de negócio são utilizados como roteiros das atividades que devem ser realizadas para gerir uma determinada situação. Desta forma, o problema de selecionar dispositivos e funcionalidades adequadas para executar uma determinada atividade de atuação de um modelo de processo de negócio é tratado através da seleção de serviços Web com base em aspectos sintáticos, semânticos e contextuais. A abordagem é avaliada através da simulação de cenários de aplicação extraídos da literatura, de forma a verificar a sua viabilidade. / There are many studies currently being conducted within the field of Home Care, where houses fulfilled with actuators and sensors can help patients in their daily lives, even the ones who suffer from chronicle diseases or cognitive and physical disabilities. In the Home Care context, controllable domestic devices can perform as actuators. An important challenge to this area refers to the coordination of such actuators so they can be used to assist patients in their home. In order to assist the patient daily live we need to take into consideration the patient and the context of household devices. This work presents a novel context-aware approach for selecting the most appropriate device functionality to execute the actuation needed in a Home Care environment. In this approach, device functionalities are described and represented by Web services, and business process models are used as guidelines for the activities that should be realized to manage a determined situation. Therefore, the issue of selecting devices and adequate functionalities to execute determined activity in a business process model is treated as an approach to select Web services based on their syntactic and semantic aspects in a context-aware manner. The approach is evaluated by simulation of application scenarios extracted from the literature in order to check its viability.

Atualmente existem muitos estudos sendo conduzidos na área de Home Care, onde casas providas com sensores e atuadores podem ajudar o paciente em suas tarefas diárias, mesmo aqueles portadores de doenças crônicas ou limitações cognitivas e físicas. No contexto de Home Care, dispositivos domésticos controláveis podem agir como atuadores. Um importante desafio nessa área é a coordenação desses atuadores, para que os mesmos possam ser utilizados na prestação de cuidados ao paciente em sua casa. Para prestar auxílio em tarefas, deve ser levado em consideração o contexto do paciente e dos dispositivos presentes na casa. Este trabalho apresenta uma nova abordagem, sensível ao contexto, para selecionar a funcionalidade, de um dispositivo, mais adequada para a execução de uma atuação em um ambiente de Home Care. Nessa abordagem, as funcionalidades dos dispositivos são representadas por serviços Web, e modelos de processos de negócio são utilizados como roteiros das atividades que devem ser realizadas para gerir uma determinada situação. Desta forma, o problema de selecionar dispositivos e funcionalidades adequadas para executar uma determinada atividade de atuação de um modelo de processo de negócio é tratado através da seleção de serviços Web com base em aspectos sintáticos, semânticos e contextuais. A abordagem é avaliada através da simulação de cenários de aplicação extraídos da literatura, de forma a verificar a sua viabilidade. / There are many studies currently being conducted within the field of Home Care, where houses fulfilled with actuators and sensors can help patients in their daily lives, even the ones who suffer from chronicle diseases or cognitive and physical disabilities. In the Home Care context, controllable domestic devices can perform as actuators. An important challenge to this area refers to the coordination of such actuators so they can be used to assist patients in their home. In order to assist the patient daily live we need to take into consideration the patient and the context of household devices. This work presents a novel context-aware approach for selecting the most appropriate device functionality to execute the actuation needed in a Home Care environment. In this approach, device functionalities are described and represented by Web services, and business process models are used as guidelines for the activities that should be realized to manage a determined situation. Therefore, the issue of selecting devices and adequate functionalities to execute determined activity in a business process model is treated as an approach to select Web services based on their syntactic and semantic aspects in a context-aware manner. The approach is evaluated by simulation of application scenarios extracted from the literature in order to check its viability.

Atualmente existem muitos estudos sendo conduzidos na área de Home Care, onde casas providas com sensores e atuadores podem ajudar o paciente em suas tarefas diárias, mesmo aqueles portadores de doenças crônicas ou limitações cognitivas e físicas. No contexto de Home Care, dispositivos domésticos controláveis podem agir como atuadores. Um importante desafio nessa área é a coordenação desses atuadores, para que os mesmos possam ser utilizados na prestação de cuidados ao paciente em sua casa. Para prestar auxílio em tarefas, deve ser levado em consideração o contexto do paciente e dos dispositivos presentes na casa. Este trabalho apresenta uma nova abordagem, sensível ao contexto, para selecionar a funcionalidade, de um dispositivo, mais adequada para a execução de uma atuação em um ambiente de Home Care. Nessa abordagem, as funcionalidades dos dispositivos são representadas por serviços Web, e modelos de processos de negócio são utilizados como roteiros das atividades que devem ser realizadas para gerir uma determinada situação. Desta forma, o problema de selecionar dispositivos e funcionalidades adequadas para executar uma determinada atividade de atuação de um modelo de processo de negócio é tratado através da seleção de serviços Web com base em aspectos sintáticos, semânticos e contextuais. A abordagem é avaliada através da simulação de cenários de aplicação extraídos da literatura, de forma a verificar a sua viabilidade. / There are many studies currently being conducted within the field of Home Care, where houses fulfilled with actuators and sensors can help patients in their daily lives, even the ones who suffer from chronicle diseases or cognitive and physical disabilities. In the Home Care context, controllable domestic devices can perform as actuators. An important challenge to this area refers to the coordination of such actuators so they can be used to assist patients in their home. In order to assist the patient daily live we need to take into consideration the patient and the context of household devices. This work presents a novel context-aware approach for selecting the most appropriate device functionality to execute the actuation needed in a Home Care environment. In this approach, device functionalities are described and represented by Web services, and business process models are used as guidelines for the activities that should be realized to manage a determined situation. Therefore, the issue of selecting devices and adequate functionalities to execute determined activity in a business process model is treated as an approach to select Web services based on their syntactic and semantic aspects in a context-aware manner. The approach is evaluated by simulation of application scenarios extracted from the literature in order to check its viability.

We can classify several quite different calculi for automated reasoning in first-order logic as instantiation-based methods (IMs). Broadly speaking, unlike in traditional calculi such as resolution where the first-order satisfiability problem is tackled by deriving logical conclusions, IMs attempt to reduce the first-order satisfiability problem to propositional satisfiability by intelligently instantiating clauses. The Inst-Gen-Eq method is an instantiation-based calculus which is complete for first-order clause logic modulo equality. Its distinctive feature is that it combines first-order reasoning with efficient ground satisfiability checking, which is delegated in a modular way to any state-of-the-art ground solver for satisfiability modulo theories (SMT). The first-order reasoning modulo equality employs a superposition-style calculus which generates the instances needed by the ground solver to refine a model of a ground abstraction or to witness unsatisfiability. The thesis addresses the main issue in the Inst-Gen-Eq method, namely efficient extraction of instances, while providing powerful redundancy elimination techniques. To that end we introduce a novel labelled unit superposition calculus with sets, AND/OR trees and ordered binary decision diagrams (OBDDs) as labels. The different label structures permit redundancy elimination each to a different extent. We prove completeness of redundancy elimination from labels and further integrate simplification inferences based on term rewriting. All presented approaches, in particular the three labelled calculi are implemented in the iProver-Eq system and evaluated on standard benchmark problems.

No description available.

Buscando aumentar a qualidade de software, a área de Engenharia de Software tem produzido ferramentas para auxílio ao desenvolvimento de software assim como tem estudado e produzido formas de controlar o processo de desenvolvimento. A tecnologia existente para coordenação de atividades humanas - incluindo sistemas de Workflow e PSEE (Process-Centered Software Engineering Environments) - possui algumas limitações. Uma das principais é a falta de flexibilidade. Algumas características importantes de processos de software não têm sido levadas em consideração pela tecnologia disponível, como por exemplo: o aspecto humano envolvido, a dificuldade em definir todo o processo antes de executá-lo, o tratamento de mudanças durante a execução, dentre outras. Além disso, quando se considera a construção de PSEEs, notase a necessidade de uma abordagem formal adequada, que permita um melhor entendimento, análise e comparação com outros modelos. Este trabalho apresenta e discute um modelo conceitual e mecanismos para contribuir para o aumento da flexibilidade e do nível de automação fornecidos para execução de processos. Para atingir os objetivos do trabalho, foi proposta uma arquitetura, denominada APSEE, construída a partir de um meta-modelo unificado que integra informações organizacionais, gerenciais, sobre artefatos do processo, e sobre ferramentas do ambiente. O modelo proposto define de forma rigorosa seus componentes. Assim, as propriedades de recursos e pessoas são descritas visando melhorar o controle de sua alocação, permitindo a construção de um mecanismo de apoio à instanciação de recursos e pessoas em processos. Além disso, uma linguagem de modelagem visual de processos de software é proposta. Por fim, é fornecido o mecanismo de execução de processos que permite modificações dinâmicas, verifica a consistência dessas modificações, e permite acompanhamento da execução de processos pelo gerente. Os diferentes componentes envolvidos na definição do modelo APSEE proposto foram especificados formalmente através de método algébrico e também através da abordagem de gramáticas de grafos, constituindo uma base semântica de alto nível de abstração que deu origem a um conjunto de protótipos implementados como ferramentas do ambiente PROSOFT-Java. A implementação também serviu para constatar a viabilidade do uso do APSEE como plataforma de integração para vários serviços de gerência de processos desenvolvidos como atividades de pesquisa no contexto do grupo PROSOFT. Finalmente, são apresentadas considerações acerca dos trabalhos relacionados, os elementos críticos que influenciam a aplicabilidade do modelo e as atividades adicionais vislumbradas a partir do trabalho proposto. / Software Engineering evolved to increase software quality through the definition of tools to support both development and management processes. However, the existing technology to provide automated support for human activity coordination - mainly represented by Workflow Management Systems and Process-Centered Software Engineering Environments (PSEEs) - has some limitations. One of the most important limitations is related to the low level of flexibility provided by current tools. Existing technologies provide limited support for some important software process characteristics, which includes, for example, the humanistic aspect of software processes, the difficult to completely prescribe the process model in advance, and the lack of adequate support for dynamic changes on enacting processes. Besides, the construction of a PSEE demand an adequate formal approach for its specification, which can improve its understandability and analysis, while constitutes a basis for comparison with similar proposals. This work presents and discusses a conceptual model and mechanisms which jointly aim to increase the level of flexibility and automation provided for software processes enactment. In order to reach this goal, a software-based architecture is proposed, named APSEE, which provides a unified meta-model that integrates organizational and management information, along with software artifact and tool support. The proposed meta-model rigorously defines its components. Therefore, resource and people properties are formally described in order to allow better allocation through an automated process instantiation mechanism. In addition, a visual software process modeling language is provided which is, in turn, related to the underlying meta-model. Finally, a flexible process enactment mechanism was specified to support dynamic changes on process models that work together with consistency check and monitoring mechanisms. The required software components for the proposed meta-model were specified using algebraic specification and graph grammar-based techniques which, in turn, were used to build prototypes for the Java-PROSOFT environment. This implementation was also useful to evaluate the feasibility of using APSEE as an integration platform for a number of process management services developed by PROSOFT research group. Finally, it is discussed how this proposal relates to the current technological state-ofthe- art, the critical elements that can influence its applicability and effectiveness, and the expected future activities.