Bikes sharing systems have known a growing success all over the world. Several attempts have been made since the 1960s. The latest developments in ICT have enabled the system to become efficient. People can obtain real-time information about the position of the vehicles. More than 200 cities have already introduced the system and this trend keeps on with the launching of the NYC system in spring 2013. A new avatar of these means of transportation has arrived with the introduction of Autolib in Paris end of 2011.The objective of this thesis is to propose algorithms that may help to improve this system efficiency. Indeed, operating these systems induces several issues, one of which is the regulation problem. Regulation should ensures users that a right number of vehicles are present at any station anytime in order to fulfill the demand for both vehicles and parking racks. This regulation is often executed thanks to trucks that are travelling the city. This regulation issue is crucial since empty and full stations increase users' dissatisfaction. Finding the optimal strategy for regulating a network appears to be a difficult question. This thesis is divided into two parts. The first one deals with the "static" case. In this part, users' impact on the network is neglected. This is the case at night or when the system is closed. The operator faces a given repartition of the vehicles. He wants the repartition to match a target one that is known a priori. The one-truck and multiple-truck balancing problems are addressed in this thesis. For each one, an algorithm is proposed and tested on several instances. To deal with the "dynamic" case in which users interact with the system, a simulator has been developed. It is used to compare several strategies and to monitor redistribution by using trucks. Strategies not using trucks, but incentive policies are also tested: regularly updated prices are attached to stations to deter users from parking their vehicle at specified stations. At last, the question to find the best initial inventory is also addressed. It corresponds to the case when no truck are used within the day. Two local searches are presented and both aim at minimizing the total time lost by users in the system. The results obtained can be used as inputs for the target repartitions used in the first part. During my thesis, I participated to two EURO-ROADEF challenges, the 2010 edition proposed by EDF and the 2012 one by Google. In both case, my team reached the final phase. In 2010, our method was ranked fourth over all the participants and led to the publication of an article. In 2012, we ranked eighteenth over all the participants. Both works are added in the appendix

Untersucht wurden die Einflussfaktoren auf den Tropfsaftverlust von Schweinefleisch in Verpackungen zur Selbstbedienung. Dabei wurden die Bag-Methode und die EZ-Driploss-Methode zur Bestimmung des Tropfsaftverlustes verglichen. Die Auswertung der Daten der Leistungsprüfung von 3.396 Reinzuchttieren und 802 Kreuzungstieren zeigten, dass die Qualität von SB-Fleisch hinsichtlich des Safthaltevermögens anhand der Fleischqualitätsparameter pH-Wert, Py-Wert, Leitfähigkeit und Farbhelligkeit vorhergesagt werden kann. Einen Einfluss auf die Qualität haben u. a. die genetische Konstruktion und die Jahreszeit.

Det behövs mer databaserade beslut av företag för att konkurrera på marknaden, vilket har bidragit till att business intelligence har gått från att användas på strategisk nivå till att även användas på en mer operativ nivå. Detta har medfört att behovet av analys och beslutsunderlag har vuxit hos ett större antal anställda som har resulterat i att IT-avdelningen i verksamheter blir en flaskhals. I takt med att behovet av BI har vuxit har begreppet self-service kommit, som innebär att användare själva ska kunna ta fram sina beslutsunderlag. Att införa self-service BI innebär dock en del utmaningar, och många av verksamheterna som har infört det blev missnöjda med resultatet. Det största hindret har visat sig vara användarna och det oväntade faktum att det krävs mer utbildning än förväntat. Därför är syftet med den här studien att underlätta införande av SSBI genom att undersöka hur användarrelaterade utmaningar kan hanteras vid införande av SSBI. För att besvara frågeställningen har sex stycken intervjuer genomförts på ett anonymt företag med respondenter som på olika sätt har en koppling till införande av SSBI. Resultatet av studien är en modell över de användarrelaterade utmaningarna vid införande av SSBI och de i detta arbete identifierade rekommendationerna för hur de kan hanteras. Genom att använda sig av dessa utmaningar vid införande av SSBI kan verksamheter ge användarna goda förutsättningar, vilket ökar möjligheten att införa ett lyckat och hållbart SSBI.

The independent style of scanning and payment at self-service checkouts (SCOs) has resulted in areas for concern. The reduction of employee involvement may reduce the social presence perceived at a SCO. Social presence is when a user experiences the perception that there is another intelligence or entity within their environment (Short, William & Christie, 1976). If customers are not influenced by the social presence of the employees at a SCO then it may affect their behaviour. Using a mixed methods approach, with a combination of qualitative and quantitative data gathering, this thesis investigated dishonest behaviours at self-service checkouts and the effects of a social presence on consumer behaviour. The overreaching research question then guiding this dissertation is: What effect does a social presence have on thefts at self-service checkouts and can social presence be effectively implemented via technology? Three exploratory qualitative (Studies 1-3) and two empirical studies (Studies 4-5) were conducted to investigate issues surrounding thefts at SCO with reference to social presence. Study 1 consisted of in-depth observations of customers within supermarkets to gain an understanding of everyday behaviours associated with self-service checkouts. Both customers and staff seemed to be frustrated at the amount of times the technology did not work properly and the customer would appear disadvantaged when they required assistance. With an understanding of the salient factors and behaviours associated with self-service checkouts, Study 2 then explored SCO staff perceptions of thefts at self-service checkouts (Creighton et al., 2015). Qualitative semi-structured interviews were used to investigate the perceived influence of social presence at self-service checkouts by staff and its perceived effect on dishonest customer behaviour. Twenty-six self-service checkout staff took part in a series of semi-structured interviews to describe customer behaviours with self-service. With respect to actual physical social presence, such as the recognised presence of an employee, staff reported that more customer thefts occurred when the self-service checkouts were busy and their social presence was reduced. To further explore social presence within a retail environment and validate the perceptions from SCO Staff, Study 3 investigated the role of the security guard in terms of their social presence and explored their perceptions of thefts at self-service checkouts. Interviews with 6 security guards were conducted to determine factors surrounding theft as their role is to monitor this type of dishonest behavior. There was an overall agreement from security guards that there were more thefts at self-service checkouts when the store was busy and that there were more thefts at self-service checkouts overall, compared to traditional manned checkouts. The first empirical study (Study 4), consisting of 2 Experiments, considered the effects of a social presence within a self-service checkout interface on user behaviour. This study examined whether a social presence in the form of a computer designed onscreen agent at a simulated SCO, with design features varying in ‘humanness’, i.e. agents that displayed more or less-human-like features (eyes in Experiment 1, and human shapes in Experiment 2), would have an effect on opportunistic behaviour (cheating) in a simulated checkout scenario. Ninety-one participants interacted with a simulated SCO while their eye movements were tracked via a Tobii TX300 eye-tracker. Hypotheses that predicted a social presence would receive attention and result in fewer instances of theft when integrated within an interface were supported, suggesting that implementing an agent designed to suggest some level of humanness e.g. with eyes, within a SCO interface may reduce levels of theft as customers are likely to notice it. However, Study 4 showed mixed results for the effects of varying agent appearance alone. Research has shown that social presence can also be induced by varying agent behaviour (Burgoon et al., 2000). Study 5 thus varied interactivity (i.e. personal vs impersonal nature) of the agent via voice implementation on the SCO, using the same agent as in Study 4 (Experiment 2). The research highlights the need for the current designs of SCO to be updated to reduce operational issues which could be contributing to thefts occurring at SCOs. It is also concluded that further research is needed on the effects of interactivity and agent presence during a SCO interaction to explore dimensions of social presence and how they are being experienced by the user, which may ultimately lead to a reduction in thefts at SCOs.

Este trabalho de conclusão tem como seu objetivo principal verificar os serviços que são oferecidos nas Salas de Auto-Atendimento (SAA) para a terceira idade, em uma agência do Banco do Brasil, em Porto Alegre. Interessa saber como é a percepção desse público com relação ao tema proposto para sugerir à instituição bancária melhorias, bem como comprovação em futuros estudos. Diante das impressões dos consumidores dos produtos e serviços oferecidos no ambiente ora analisado, percebe-se que este público tem pouca familiaridade quando lida com a automação bancária, embora outros problemas paralelos foram destacados, como a necessidade permanente de funcionários para auxiliá-los durante as operações, as filas ocasionando cansaço físico, a segurança nas SAA, a pouca privacidade quando utilizam as máquinas e a necessidade de conforto nesse ambiente, como a disponibilização de cadeiras, bebedouros e vasos com plantas. A grande maioria ainda prefere o atendimento tradicional, ou seja, o contato humano. Para este público, este é o caminho mais seguro e agradável para acessar os produtos e serviços bancários. Notou-se a reduzida oferta de estudos sobre o assunto quando se trata de relacionar a automação bancária versus terceira idade, bem como a inexistência de uma política diferenciada de atendimento para esse público. / This study has as main objective to verify the services provided at the Self Service Rooms for elderly people, in an agency of Banco do Brasil in Porto Alegre. The objective is to know what is the perception of this public with respect to the proposed theme. The aim is to know what is the perception of this public with respect to the proposed theme to suggest to the bank institution, as wel as the improvement in future studies. Confronted with the impressions of the consumers of the products and services in the environment now analyzed, it is verified that this public has less familiarity when dealing with banking automation, however other parallel problems were highlighted, such as: the continuous need of supporting during the operation, the waiting lines resulting in physical tiredness, the physical security at the Self Service Rooms, and the lack of privacy when they use the ATM. The majority still prefers the traditional service, in other words: the human contact. To this public, this is the safer and most enjoyable way to access the banking services. It was noticed a limited offer of studies about the subject, when we connect the banking automation and the activities for senior citizens as well as the lack of a different policy os serving this public.

Este trabalho de conclusão tem como seu objetivo principal verificar os serviços que são oferecidos nas Salas de Auto-Atendimento (SAA) para a terceira idade, em uma agência do Banco do Brasil, em Porto Alegre. Interessa saber como é a percepção desse público com relação ao tema proposto para sugerir à instituição bancária melhorias, bem como comprovação em futuros estudos. Diante das impressões dos consumidores dos produtos e serviços oferecidos no ambiente ora analisado, percebe-se que este público tem pouca familiaridade quando lida com a automação bancária, embora outros problemas paralelos foram destacados, como a necessidade permanente de funcionários para auxiliá-los durante as operações, as filas ocasionando cansaço físico, a segurança nas SAA, a pouca privacidade quando utilizam as máquinas e a necessidade de conforto nesse ambiente, como a disponibilização de cadeiras, bebedouros e vasos com plantas. A grande maioria ainda prefere o atendimento tradicional, ou seja, o contato humano. Para este público, este é o caminho mais seguro e agradável para acessar os produtos e serviços bancários. Notou-se a reduzida oferta de estudos sobre o assunto quando se trata de relacionar a automação bancária versus terceira idade, bem como a inexistência de uma política diferenciada de atendimento para esse público. / This study has as main objective to verify the services provided at the Self Service Rooms for elderly people, in an agency of Banco do Brasil in Porto Alegre. The objective is to know what is the perception of this public with respect to the proposed theme. The aim is to know what is the perception of this public with respect to the proposed theme to suggest to the bank institution, as wel as the improvement in future studies. Confronted with the impressions of the consumers of the products and services in the environment now analyzed, it is verified that this public has less familiarity when dealing with banking automation, however other parallel problems were highlighted, such as: the continuous need of supporting during the operation, the waiting lines resulting in physical tiredness, the physical security at the Self Service Rooms, and the lack of privacy when they use the ATM. The majority still prefers the traditional service, in other words: the human contact. To this public, this is the safer and most enjoyable way to access the banking services. It was noticed a limited offer of studies about the subject, when we connect the banking automation and the activities for senior citizens as well as the lack of a different policy os serving this public.

Este trabalho de conclusão tem como seu objetivo principal verificar os serviços que são oferecidos nas Salas de Auto-Atendimento (SAA) para a terceira idade, em uma agência do Banco do Brasil, em Porto Alegre. Interessa saber como é a percepção desse público com relação ao tema proposto para sugerir à instituição bancária melhorias, bem como comprovação em futuros estudos. Diante das impressões dos consumidores dos produtos e serviços oferecidos no ambiente ora analisado, percebe-se que este público tem pouca familiaridade quando lida com a automação bancária, embora outros problemas paralelos foram destacados, como a necessidade permanente de funcionários para auxiliá-los durante as operações, as filas ocasionando cansaço físico, a segurança nas SAA, a pouca privacidade quando utilizam as máquinas e a necessidade de conforto nesse ambiente, como a disponibilização de cadeiras, bebedouros e vasos com plantas. A grande maioria ainda prefere o atendimento tradicional, ou seja, o contato humano. Para este público, este é o caminho mais seguro e agradável para acessar os produtos e serviços bancários. Notou-se a reduzida oferta de estudos sobre o assunto quando se trata de relacionar a automação bancária versus terceira idade, bem como a inexistência de uma política diferenciada de atendimento para esse público. / This study has as main objective to verify the services provided at the Self Service Rooms for elderly people, in an agency of Banco do Brasil in Porto Alegre. The objective is to know what is the perception of this public with respect to the proposed theme. The aim is to know what is the perception of this public with respect to the proposed theme to suggest to the bank institution, as wel as the improvement in future studies. Confronted with the impressions of the consumers of the products and services in the environment now analyzed, it is verified that this public has less familiarity when dealing with banking automation, however other parallel problems were highlighted, such as: the continuous need of supporting during the operation, the waiting lines resulting in physical tiredness, the physical security at the Self Service Rooms, and the lack of privacy when they use the ATM. The majority still prefers the traditional service, in other words: the human contact. To this public, this is the safer and most enjoyable way to access the banking services. It was noticed a limited offer of studies about the subject, when we connect the banking automation and the activities for senior citizens as well as the lack of a different policy os serving this public.

Submitted by Gabriela Lopes (gmachadolopesufpel@gmail.com) on 2016-09-26T14:08:40Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Tese-versao final_31_03.pdf: 1465705 bytes, checksum: 6bdab3574c99a765714c6fe1098adb64 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2016-09-26T18:32:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Tese-versao final_31_03.pdf: 1465705 bytes, checksum: 6bdab3574c99a765714c6fe1098adb64 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-26T18:32:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Tese-versao final_31_03.pdf: 1465705 bytes, checksum: 6bdab3574c99a765714c6fe1098adb64 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-13 / Sem bolsa / O feijão é um alimento de excelente qualidade nutricional e fonte de compostos bioativos que auxiliam na prevenção de doenças. No Brasil, o consumo de feijão deve ser mantido por fazer parte da tradição culinária brasileira, porém estudos demonstram crescente redução no seu consumo em decorrência de alimentos prontos e refeições fora do lar. Ademais, não existe um consenso sobre efeitos de diferentes processamentos na cocção de feijão sobre compostos bioativos e atributos sensoriais de feijão. Diante disso, o objetivo desse estudo foi avaliar hábitos de consumo de feijão em restaurante e em casa, relacionando características sócio demográficas com motivos que influenciam no consumo de feijão, além de avaliar o efeito de diferentes processamentos na cocção de feijão sobre o conteúdo de compostos fenólicos, antocianinas, capacidade antioxidante e atributos sensoriais. Os resultados mostraram que: (1) o consumo de feijão em casa ainda é um hábito nas refeições e que os motivos nutricionais, sensoriais e culturais influenciam na escolha em consumir feijão; (2) a forma de processamento para a cocção está diretamente relacionada com a capacidade antioxidante e afeta a disponibilidade de compostos fenólicos, antocianinas e interfere nos atributos sensoriais do feijão. / Beans are food with excellent nutritional quality and source of bioactive compounds which help preventing diseases. In Brazil, beans consumption must be maintained because they are part of Brazilian culinary tradition. However, studies demonstrate the increasing reduction in beans consumption due to ready-to-eat food and meals eaten outside the household. Moreover, there is no consensus on the different processing effects of cooking over bioactive compounds and sensory attributes of beans. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate consumption habits for beans in restaurants and households, relating socio-demographic characteristics to reasons that influence consumption of beans, besides evaluating the effect different processes have on beans cooking in relation to phenolic compounds content, anthocyanins, antioxidant capacity and sensory attributes. The results showed that: (1) consumption of beans at home is still a habit for meals and that nutritional, sensory and cultural reasons influence the choice to consume beans; (2) the kind of processing for cooking is directly related to the antioxidant capacity and affects the availability of phenolic compounds, anthocyanins and interferes in the sensory attributes of beans.

Since the release of the new iPad in 2010, few studies have explored the idea of tablet- based menus in restaurants. Since this is a new topic in the hospitality industry, there has not been literature that explores how personal traits influence the adoption intention of tablet-based menus. This study aims to explain the impact of innovation characteristics and individual differences on customer intentions to adopt tablet-based menus in restaurants of different service levels. With a random sample of 430 participants collected via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a regression analysis and an ANOVA test were performed. The results confirmed that only three variables (relative advantage, compatibility, and restaurant type) make a statistically significant contribution to predicting the adoption intention of tablet-based menus. It was also found that adoption intention of tablet-based menus differs across three restaurant types (quick-service restaurant, midscale restaurant, and upscale restaurant). The findings of this study provide an important insight to restaurant managers who may consider implementing tablet-based menus at their establishments. Limitations and ideas for future research are discussed.

Business intelligence (BI) is an umbrella term used to describe the applications,infrastructure and tools, and best practices which organizations canuse to analyze information in order to improve and optimize decisions andorganizational performance. In the later years a new trend has emerged inthe area of BI namely, Self-Service Business Intelligence. The purpose ofSelf-Service BI is to empower the users by allowing users to create reportsand analyze data without support of the IT department. This thesis have tested and evaluated Microsoft's new Self-Service BI toolsuite, Power BI, through a case study in a large organization. The mainpurpose was not only to conclude if it is possible to implement a completeSelf-Service BI solution in a large organization, but also examine which partsof the Business Intelligence architecture are most suitable for implementingPower BI. The result have shown that Power BI and Self-Service BI tools can't meetthe back-end requirements of a large organization and therefore it is not asuitable or functional solution. However, the front-end applications and bestpractises of Power BI and Self-Service BI are suitable for a large business.They support the users needs and empowers the users create better andmore powerful analysis.