Esta tese propõe conceitos, processos e uma arquitetura de sistemas para Monitoração e Acompanhamento da Aprendizagem Eletrônica (MAAE). A arquitetura é definida pelo seu modelo conceitual, pela interação com os serviços externos e pela representação XML dos conceitos e dos serviços. Ela independe de abordagem pedagógica específica. O Ponto de Observação é inserido em vários locais do Conteúdo da Aprendizagem Eletrônica. Um Elemento de Observação é associado ao Ponto de Observação, e é o responsável pela captura das interações do Processo de Aprendizagem Eletrônica. O Agenciador de Observação (Agenciador de Monitoração e Acompanhamento da Aprendizagem Eletrônica) recebe os eventos e solicitações dos Elementos de Observação e interage com os serviços externos. Os eventos são gravados no Repositório de Observação. A definição dos Processos de Aprendizagem Eletrônica é útil para a definição da estratégia de monitoração (Modelagem do Processo da Aprendizagem Eletrônica). Através da inserção dos mecanismos de observação nas Atividades de Aprendizagem (Processo da Produção do Conteúdo de Aprendizagem Eletrônica) é feita a monitoração do aprendiz (Processo da Aprendizagem Eletrônica) e se obtém as informações para análise (Avaliação e Análise da Aprendizagem Eletrônica). / This thesis proposes concepts, processes and a system architecture for Monitoring and Tracking E-Learning. The architecture is defined by a conceptual model, the interaction with external services and representation XML of the concepts and the services. It does not depend on any specific pedagogical boarding. The Monitoring Point is inserted in some places of the E-Learning Content. A Monitoring Element is associated to the Monitoring Point and it is for responsible of one of the interactions of the E-Learning Process. The Monitoring Service (E-Learning Monitoring and Following Service) receives the events and requests from the Monitoring Elements and it interacts with the external services. The events are recorded in the Monitoring Repository. The E-Learning Processes definition is useful to modeling the monitoring strategy (Learning Process Modeling), and insert to the monitoring mechanisms in the E-Learning Activities (Learning Content Production Process). The learner interaction monitoring occurs by getting the information according to the previous planning (Learning Process), and the generated information (Learning Analysis and Evaluation Process) is used in the analysis of learning tracking.

Esta tese propõe conceitos, processos e uma arquitetura de sistemas para Monitoração e Acompanhamento da Aprendizagem Eletrônica (MAAE). A arquitetura é definida pelo seu modelo conceitual, pela interação com os serviços externos e pela representação XML dos conceitos e dos serviços. Ela independe de abordagem pedagógica específica. O Ponto de Observação é inserido em vários locais do Conteúdo da Aprendizagem Eletrônica. Um Elemento de Observação é associado ao Ponto de Observação, e é o responsável pela captura das interações do Processo de Aprendizagem Eletrônica. O Agenciador de Observação (Agenciador de Monitoração e Acompanhamento da Aprendizagem Eletrônica) recebe os eventos e solicitações dos Elementos de Observação e interage com os serviços externos. Os eventos são gravados no Repositório de Observação. A definição dos Processos de Aprendizagem Eletrônica é útil para a definição da estratégia de monitoração (Modelagem do Processo da Aprendizagem Eletrônica). Através da inserção dos mecanismos de observação nas Atividades de Aprendizagem (Processo da Produção do Conteúdo de Aprendizagem Eletrônica) é feita a monitoração do aprendiz (Processo da Aprendizagem Eletrônica) e se obtém as informações para análise (Avaliação e Análise da Aprendizagem Eletrônica). / This thesis proposes concepts, processes and a system architecture for Monitoring and Tracking E-Learning. The architecture is defined by a conceptual model, the interaction with external services and representation XML of the concepts and the services. It does not depend on any specific pedagogical boarding. The Monitoring Point is inserted in some places of the E-Learning Content. A Monitoring Element is associated to the Monitoring Point and it is for responsible of one of the interactions of the E-Learning Process. The Monitoring Service (E-Learning Monitoring and Following Service) receives the events and requests from the Monitoring Elements and it interacts with the external services. The events are recorded in the Monitoring Repository. The E-Learning Processes definition is useful to modeling the monitoring strategy (Learning Process Modeling), and insert to the monitoring mechanisms in the E-Learning Activities (Learning Content Production Process). The learner interaction monitoring occurs by getting the information according to the previous planning (Learning Process), and the generated information (Learning Analysis and Evaluation Process) is used in the analysis of learning tracking.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:36:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Francisco Bianchi.pdf: 1658151 bytes, checksum: 0b1376dad8e2f37c261e6edead4044a2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-05-29 / The present study proposes a model for conceptual and theoretical access to information and knowledge, with an emphasis on ownership and access to the tacit knowledge in organizations productive. The architecture of the model is based on the metaphor of the road maps that guide the individual to the sources of information and knowledge, previously mapped in the organization. In terms of technology, the model takes into account the strong support of information and communications technologies (ICTs), particularly those related to the recovery and presentation of information on environment network Intranet, making it comprehensive and easily accessible not only by specialists, but mostly by individuals with little or neither ability to use computers. Although the strong point of the proposed model is the present stage of ICTs, its main focus isn t the technology but the people who will interact with the model and take advantage of its features. Faced applicable, it is recognized the importance of motivation, both for individuals seeking information to satisfy their needs cognitive, as for the information of professionals responsible for the processes of management of information and knowledge in organizations, as critical factor for success of the proposed model. For theoretical validate of the model proposed in this study, looking up in the Information Science, Administration and Computer Science, important concepts on the management of information and knowledge, business organization and information technologies. This work is concluded presenting a theoretical and conceptual model for access to information and knowledge, supported by technology Intranet network. / O presente estudo prop?e um modelo conceitual e te?rico para acesso ? informa??o e conhecimento, com ?nfase na apropria??o e acesso ao conhecimento t?cito, em organiza??es produtivas. A arquitetura do modelo esta baseada na met?fora dos mapas rodovi?rios, que guiar? o indiv?duo at? as fontes de informa??o e conhecimento, previamente mapeadas na organiza??o. Em termos de tecnologias, o modelo leva em considera??o o forte apoio das tecnologias de informa??o e comunica??o (TICs), principalmente aquelas relacionadas com a recupera??o e apresenta??o da informa??o, em ambiente de rede Intranet, tornando-o abrangente e de f?cil acesso n?o somente por especialistas, mas principalmente por indiv?duos com pouca ou nenhuma habilidade de uso de computadores. Embora o ponto forte do modelo proposto seja o est?gio atual das TICs, seu foco principal n?o s?o as tecnologias, mas as pessoas que ir?o interagir com o modelo e se beneficiar das suas funcionalidades. Diante disso, reconhece-se a import?ncia da motiva??o, tanto dos indiv?duos que buscam informa??es para satisfazer suas necessidades cognitivas, quanto dos profissionais da informa??o respons?veis pelos processos de gest?o da informa??o e do conhecimento nas organiza??es, como sendo fator cr?tico de sucesso do modelo proposto. Para fundamenta??o te?rica do modelo proposto neste trabalho, buscam-se nas Ci?ncias da Informa??o, Administra??o e Computa??o, os conceitos importantes sobre gest?o da informa??o e do conhecimento, organiza??o empresarial e tecnologias da informa??o. Conclui-se este trabalho apresentando um modelo te?rico e conceitual para acesso ? informa??o e conhecimento, apoiado por tecnologias de rede Intranet.

The radio astronomy and space geodesy scientific instrumentation of the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in Gauteng, South Africa, generate large volumes of data. Additional large data volumes will be generated by new geodesy instruments that are currently under construction and implementation, including a lunar laser ranging (LLR) system, seismic and meteorological systems and a Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) global observing system (VGOS) radio telescope. The existing HartRAO data management and storage system is outdated, incompatible and has limited storage capacity. This necessitates the design of a new geodetic research data management system (GRDMS). The focus of this dissertation is on providing a contextual framework for the design of the new system, including criteria, characteristics, components, an infrastructure architectural model and data structuring and organisation. An exploratory research methodology and qualitative research techniques were applied. Results attained from interviews conducted and literature consulted indicates a gap in the literature regarding the design of a data management system, specifically for geodetic data generated by HartRAO instrumentation. This necessitates the development of a conceptual framework for the design of a new GRDMS. Results are in alignment with the achievement of the research questions and objectives set for this study. / Information Science / M.A. (Information Science)

Esta tesis se enmarca en los procesos de recuperación de información en la Web, mediante la aplicación de tesauros y orientada hacia las propuestas de representación de información en la Web Semántica. Se plantea la creación de un modelo conceptual para desarrollar aplicaciones web para la gestión colaborativa de tesauros basados en SKOS y su aplicación en la indización de recursos de información, agrupados en repositorios y descritos mediante metadatos. Se han estudiado modelos de recuperación de información aplicados a la Web, junto con el significado, estructura, tecnologías y evolución de la Web Semántica, así como la representación de tesauros en este ámbito a partir de iniciativas basadas en RDF, analizando detalladamente SKOS. Se ha llevado a cabo una descripción funcional de las principales características de una aplicación de este tipo. La formalización de la propuesta se ha realizado con diagramas UML de casos de uso y de clases. / The field of this thesis is the web information retrieval process applying thesauri and its orientation is the representation of information in the Semantic Web. It raises the creation of a conceptual model in order to develop web applications for the collaborative management of SKOS based thesauri and the information resorces indexing, group by repositories and using metadata to describe it. Web information retrieval models has been analized, likewise meaning, structure, technologies and evolution of the Semantic Web and the representation of thesauri in this enviroment using RDF specifications, specially SKOS. Main characteristics of this type of applications have been studied. The author use case of use and class UML diagrams to formalize the proposal.

Elements of continuous variation such as tremolo, vibrato and portamento enable dimensions of their own in expressive melodic music in styles such as in Indian Classical Music. There is published work on parametrically modeling some of these elements individually, and to apply the modeled parameters to automatically generated musical notes in the context of machine musicianship, using simple rule-based mappings. There have also been many systems developed for generative musical accompaniment using probabilistic models of discrete musical elements such as MIDI notes and durations, many of them inspired by computational research in linguistics. There however doesn't seem to have been a combined approach of parametrically modeling expressive elements in a probabilistic framework. This documents presents a real-time computational framework that uses a multi-attribute trie / n-gram structure to model parameters like frequency, depth and/or lag of the expressive variations such as vibrato and portamento, along with conventionally modeled elements such as musical notes, their durations and metric positions in melodic audio input. This work proposes storing the parameters of expressive elements as metadata in the individual nodes of the traditional trie structure, along with the distribution of their probabilities of occurrence. During automatic generation of music, the expressive parameters as learned in the above training phase are applied to the associated re-synthesized musical notes. The model is aimed at being used to provide automatic melodic accompaniment in a performance scenario. The parametric modeling of the continuous expressive elements in this form is hypothesized to be able to capture deeper temporal relationships among musical elements and thereby is expected to bring about a more expressive and more musical outcome in such a performance than what has been possible using other works of machine musicianship using only static mappings or randomized choice. A system was developed on Max/MSP software platform with this framework, which takes in a pitched audio input such as human singing voice, and produces a pitch track which may be applied to synthesized sound of a continuous timbre. The system was trained and tested with several vocal recordings of North Indian Classical Music, and a subjective evaluation of the resulting audio was made using an anonymous online survey. The results of the survey show the output tracks generated from the system to be as musical and expressive, if not more, than the case where the pitch track generated from the original audio was directly rendered as output, and also show the output with expressive elements to be perceivably more expressive than the version of the output without expressive parameters. The results further suggest that more experimentation may be required to conclude the efficacy of the framework employed in relation to using randomly selected parameter values for the expressive elements. This thesis presents the scope, context, implementation details and results of the work, suggesting future improvements.

生活於手機相機普及的今日，人們逐漸依賴隨手可得的行動裝置記錄生活，影像記錄儼然成為今日人們記錄生活的方式之一。本研究致力於提供使用者個人化之飲食管理系統，讓使用者在利用影像記錄飲食之時，改變自身的多樣性飲食攝取行為，讓個體更為健康。透過健康控制與社會認知理論，我們以影像後設資料的運用，增加自我效能，提供使用者方便的飲食記錄方式、以及更能掌握自身的營養狀況，讓使用者在記錄飲食的同時，還能改變自身飲食攝取行為，更能作為未來回憶飲食狀況之線索。在實驗設計上，我們邀請6位受試者使用本研究所開發的飲食管理系統，利用兩週的時間真實模擬生活中的飲食記錄環境。我們分析使用者實驗前後的自我效能問卷，以及所記錄的飲食記錄作為評估依據。實驗結果顯示，我們的系統能夠提升個體自我效能外，還能夠改變個體的飲食攝取行為。因此本研究有效促進自我效能感協助使用者在記錄生活，讓個體飲食更加健康 / In these days, as the popularity of smart phone grows, people tend to rely on mobile devices to record their lives. Digital photograph has become one of the ways people recording their daily lives. This research is aimed at providing users with personalized dietary management system, allowing users not only use photos to record their life, but also change their behavior to keep users in good health. Based on health control and social cognitive theory, this application utilizes the metadata of the images to enhance self-efficacy, to provide users an easier way to record their dietary and take better control of their own health. Furthermore, the data of the application allows users to recall the dietary and thus improves users’ dietary habits. For the experimental design, 6 subjects were invited to use rthis dietary management application, to record their daily dietary in two weeks. The subjects were asked to use the system, and answer a questionnaire related to the self-efficiency of their adequate dietary after using the application. Experimental results shows that this system not only helps users enhance individual self-efficacy in dietary but also change their dietary habit to achieve the goal of balanced dietary and in good health.

Owner companies should consider all elements of Document Management during a project’s life cycle, identify shortcomings and address them successfully to ensure successful completion of projects and ultimately to also ensure legal compliance as stipulated by contractual agreements. Proper governance during the execution of projects involves, amongst others, the establishment of structures and processes, with appropriate checks and balances built into these structures and processes, to enable all stakeholders to be in a position to have access to relevant documentation. Executing projects makes a huge demand on the flow and management of project related documentation through the different phases of these projects. The research, as documented in this dissertation, investigates and evaluates whether Sasol Technology, as the project execution agent for the Sasol Business Units, has efficient governing Document Management processes and procedures in place to support the successful execution of capital projects. Sasol Technology uses a stage gate model, associated with project life cycles, as a systematic approach for the execution of capital projects. Document Management is a new business function that was established in 2008. Not all the functions involved in the life cycle of project execution are fully aligned with the central function managing documentation. There is thus a need for a fully integrated Document Management System, involving all the functions of Sasol which are involved during the different phases of project execution. The literature study analyses existing world best document management and records management practices and procedures and points out that meticulous and strict document and records management practices form the backbone of organisational authentic evidence compliance. The research design method that was chosen to authenticate the research question is an Exploratory Qualitative Approach, combined with a Descriptive Approach. Results are obtained from a combination of three methods. Published and available existing data of how documents are managed in Sasol was gathered and secondary findings are established. Focused and structured interviews were then conducted with experienced team members from the different functions involved in project execution and lastly, e-mail administrated questionnaires were developed and distributed to relevant project team members within Sasol Technology to assess the current system and to determine additional requirements for an enhanced Document Management System, specifically applicable to owner companies in the project execution environment. Whereas the scrutiny of the secondary sources provides a background and the progress iii made with regard to setting requirements for a standardised Document Management System for the execution of projects in the Sasol Technology and some of the other Sasol Business Units, the primary data findings indicate how the project team members perceive the existing Sasol Technology Document Management System to be. Key findings include, that documentation life cycle management is not fully developed and needs to be addressed in the Sasol Technology project execution environment. Furthermore, integration of the documentation management of the various departments, functions and structures in Sasol will enable better and improved management of project documentation. The specific output of this dissertation is the recommendation of an improved Document Management System to allow the different functions within Sasol Technology and some other Sasol Business Units to have access to an integrated system, included in it all relevant documentation requirements during the life cycle of projects. An added deliverable is a framework of requirements to be included in a document management philosophy, not only for Sasol, but also for other owner companies during project execution. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Owner companies should consider all elements of Document Management during a project’s life cycle, identify shortcomings and address them successfully to ensure successful completion of projects and ultimately to also ensure legal compliance as stipulated by contractual agreements. Proper governance during the execution of projects involves, amongst others, the establishment of structures and processes, with appropriate checks and balances built into these structures and processes, to enable all stakeholders to be in a position to have access to relevant documentation. Executing projects makes a huge demand on the flow and management of project related documentation through the different phases of these projects. The research, as documented in this dissertation, investigates and evaluates whether Sasol Technology, as the project execution agent for the Sasol Business Units, has efficient governing Document Management processes and procedures in place to support the successful execution of capital projects. Sasol Technology uses a stage gate model, associated with project life cycles, as a systematic approach for the execution of capital projects. Document Management is a new business function that was established in 2008. Not all the functions involved in the life cycle of project execution are fully aligned with the central function managing documentation. There is thus a need for a fully integrated Document Management System, involving all the functions of Sasol which are involved during the different phases of project execution. The literature study analyses existing world best document management and records management practices and procedures and points out that meticulous and strict document and records management practices form the backbone of organisational authentic evidence compliance. The research design method that was chosen to authenticate the research question is an Exploratory Qualitative Approach, combined with a Descriptive Approach. Results are obtained from a combination of three methods. Published and available existing data of how documents are managed in Sasol was gathered and secondary findings are established. Focused and structured interviews were then conducted with experienced team members from the different functions involved in project execution and lastly, e-mail administrated questionnaires were developed and distributed to relevant project team members within Sasol Technology to assess the current system and to determine additional requirements for an enhanced Document Management System, specifically applicable to owner companies in the project execution environment. Whereas the scrutiny of the secondary sources provides a background and the progress iii made with regard to setting requirements for a standardised Document Management System for the execution of projects in the Sasol Technology and some of the other Sasol Business Units, the primary data findings indicate how the project team members perceive the existing Sasol Technology Document Management System to be. Key findings include, that documentation life cycle management is not fully developed and needs to be addressed in the Sasol Technology project execution environment. Furthermore, integration of the documentation management of the various departments, functions and structures in Sasol will enable better and improved management of project documentation. The specific output of this dissertation is the recommendation of an improved Document Management System to allow the different functions within Sasol Technology and some other Sasol Business Units to have access to an integrated system, included in it all relevant documentation requirements during the life cycle of projects. An added deliverable is a framework of requirements to be included in a document management philosophy, not only for Sasol, but also for other owner companies during project execution. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

In the emerging Web of Data, publishing stable and unique identifiers promises great potential in using the web as common platform to discover and enrich data in the ecologic sciences. With our collaborative e-Science platform “BEFdata”, we generated and published unique identifiers for the data repository of the Biodiversity – Ecosystem Functioning Research Unit of the German Research Foundation (BEF-China; DFG: FOR 891). We linked part of the identifiers to two external data providers, thus creating a virtual common platform including several ecological repositories. We used the Global Biodiversity Facility (GBIF) as well the International Plant Name Index (IPNI) to enrich the data from our own field observations. We conclude in discussing other potential providers for identifiers for the ecological research domain. We demonstrate the ease of making use of existing decentralized and unsupervised identifiers for a data repository, which opens new avenues to collaborative data discovery for learning, teaching, and research in ecology.