Les travaux de cette thèse portent sur la stabilité et la stabilisation des systèmes non-linaires représentés par des modèles Takagi–Sugeno (T-S). L'objectif de ces travaux est d'explorer des techniques alternatives aux LMI pour l'analyse et la synthèse de lois de commande dans le cadre non quadratique afin de réduire le conservatisme. Tout d'abord, la stabilisation robuste de systèmes T-S à commutations incertains et perturbés a été considérée. Ainsi, des conditions de stabilisation ont été obtenues sous forme LMI sur la base d'une fonction candidate de Lyapunov à commutations. Puis, une nouvelle approche, pour l'analyse de la stabilité des systèmes non linéaires décrits par des modèles T-S polynomiaux a été proposée. L'objectif est ici d'explorer des techniques alternatives aux LMI dans le cadre non-quadratique. Ainsi, sur la base de travaux préliminaires dévolus à l'analyse de la stabilité via les techniques d'optimisation polynomiale « Sum-Of-Squares » (SOS), l'emploi d'une fonction candidate de Lyapunov polynomiale multiple a été proposée. Celle-ci permet de réduire le conservatisme des approches polynomiales existantes dans la littérature. Enfin, les modèles T-S classiques pouvant-être vus comme un cas particulier des modèles polynomiaux, une méthodologie de synthèse de lois de commande dans le cadre non quadratique est proposée. Celle-ci permet de s'affranchir de paramètres difficiles à obtenir en pratique via les approches LMI ainsi que de fournir une solution globale lorsque celle-ci existe. Néanmoins, à ce jour, des hypothèses fortes de modélisation restent toutefois nécessaires et constituent l'inconvénient majeur des approches SOS. Inconvénient qu'il conviendra de traiter dans des travaux futurs et qui suggèrent donc quelques perspectives à ces travaux. / This thesis deals with the stability and stabilization of nonlinear systems represented by Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) models. The objective of this work is to explore and find out some alternatives to classical LMI conditions in order to reduce the conservatism. First, we focus on robust stabilisation of uncertain switched T-S models. Based on a switched Lyapunov function, the stabilisation conditions are obtained in terms of LMI. Then, a new approach for the stability analysis of polynomial T-S models is proposed. The goal is here to explore alternatives to LMI in the non-quadratic framework. Therefore, an extension of some preliminary result on the stability analysis of polynomial T-S models is proposed by the use of a multiple polynomial Lyapunov function which lead to less conservatism. The stability conditions are given in terms of Sum-of-Squares (SOS) polynomial optimization problem. Finally, classical T-S models being a particular case of polynomial ones, an attempt is done as an alternative to LMI in the non quadratic framework for the design of non-PDC controllers via SOS techniques. Within this framework, global stability may be guaranteed if there exists a solution to the SOS constraints. Moreover, it didn't require unknown parameters in advance like in LMI based non quadratic approaches. However, these SOS based controller design conditions are obtained through a restrictive modelling assumption, suggesting future prospects to this work.

La qualité osseuse est un paramètre important à prendre en compte lors des différents types de chirurgie mis en œuvre pour les interventions sur le rachis. Cependant, ce paramètre reste difficile à estimer in vivo du fait notamment de la difficulté à accéder à ce site anatomique. Ce travail porte sur le développement d'une technique ultrasonore permettant d'estimer la qualité osseuse en utilisant la réponse échographique d'une tige métallique insérée dans l'os et utilisée dans le cadre de la chirurgie du rachis. Des travaux expérimentaux montrent la faisabilité de notre approche in vitro. Une tige métallique similaire à celle utilisée en clinique est insérée dans des échantillons d'os trabéculaire perpendiculairement à l'axe du traducteur. Les réponses échographiques de la tige immergée dans l'eau et insérée dans l'os sont comparées, ce qui permet de déterminer la vitesse de propagation dans l'os (SOS, Speed of Sound), ainsi que la pente du coefficient d'atténuation en fonction de la fréquence (BUA, Broadband Ultrasonic Attenuation). Les résultats obtenus pour les 21 échantillons montrent i) une corrélation significative entre SOS et la fraction volumique d'os (BV/TV, R² = 0.6 et p < 0.001); et ii) une non-linéarité de la variation du BUA et BV/TV (R² = 0.22 et p<0.001). Des simulations numériques utilisant des éléments finis spectraux en 2D permettent de mieux comprendre la propagation ultrasonore et d'estimer la sensibilité des mesures à des erreurs de positionnement de la tige et du capteur. De plus, des simulations numériques par différences finies dans le domaine temporel en 3D permettent de mieux comprendre l'interaction entre une onde ultrasonore et le tissu osseux en comparant les résultats expérimentaux et numériques. Ce travail prouve la faisabilité de cette approche de caractérisation ultrasonore pour estimer la qualité osseuse, ce qui ouvre la voie à de possibles études cliniques dans le futur. / Bone quality is an important parameter which should be taken into account during the different types of surgical procedures used in spine surgery. However, this parameter remains difficult to be determined in vivo, mostly due to difficulties of positioning different sensors around this anatomical site. The aim of this work is to develop an ultrasonic technique allowing to assess bone quality using the echographic response of a metallic rod inserted in bone tissue and used in spine surgery. Experimental works show the feasibility of the technique in vitro. A metallic rod similar to the one used in the operating room is inserted in trabecular bone samples perpendicularly to the transducer axis. The echographic responses of the rod immersed in water and in bone tissue are compared, which allows to determine the wave velocity in bone tissue, as well as the slope of the attenuation coefficient as a function of frequency (BUA, broadband ultrasonic attenuation). The results obtained for the 21 samples show i) a significant correlation between SOS and bone volume fraction (BV/TV, R² = 0.6, p < 0.001); and ii) a non linear variation of BUA as a function of BV/TV (R² = 0.22, p<0.001).Numerical simulation using 2D spectral finite element simulation allows to better understand wave propagation and to estimate the sensitivity of the measurements to positioning errors of the rod and of the sensor. Moreover, 3-D finite difference time domain simulation allows to better understand the interaction between an ultrasonic wave and bone tissue by comparing the experimental and numerical results. This work proves the feasibility of this ultrasonic characterization approach to estimate bone quality, which opens the way to future clinical studies.

This work analyzes the possibilities of using of Competitive Intelligence in nonprofit organizations and suggests a method of implementation of Competitive Intelligence in the existing nonprofit organization. In the theoretical part I write about the nonprofit sector in the Czech Republic and selected countries of the European Union and I briefly describe the term Competitive Intelligence. In the practical part I use a questionnaire to analyze the possibilities of using of Competitive Intelligence in the nonprofit sector and after that I perform PESTEL and PORTER analyses of the SOS Children's Villages. In the end I use a multi-criteria evaluation to select the best method of the implementation of Competitive Intelligence in the analyzed organization.

A leptospirose é uma zoonose de importância mundial, e é causada por bactérias patogênicas do gênero Leptospira, pertencente à ordem Spirochaetales. Os seres humanos são hospedeiros acidentais e os surtos de leptospirose ocorrem em grandes centros urbanos após enchentes contaminadas por urina de ratos. Existem poucas informações a respeito de como Leptospira spp lida com situações de estresse induzidas pelo hospedeiro e pelo ambiente. O ferro é um íon essencial para a maioria dos seres vivos. A regulação de genes envolvidos por seu aporte e estoque na célula bacteriana é mediada por proteínas da família de reguladores transcricionais, Fur (ferric uptake regulator). L. interrogans sorovar Copenhageni possui quatro ortólogos para Fur, que foram alvo de estudo deste trabalho. A caracterização destes genes foi realizada através de estudos evolutivos, determinação do seu padrão de expressão em modelo animal e análise de modelagem estrutural. Durante o andamento do mestrado, ensaios paralelos revelaram resultados promissores na análise de expressão de genes relacionados ao sistema SOS, um mecanismo de resposta bacteriano a danos no material genético. Assim sendo, o estudo de caracterização de expressão em modelo animal suscetível e resistente à doença foi ampliado. Ensaios de qRT-PCR de cDNAs provenientes de pulmão, rim e fígado permitiram a identificação de dois genes que foram expressos quase que constitutivamente ao longo de toda a infecção em todos os órgãos e organismos estudados: fur979 e recA. Os demais foram requeridos em dias específicos da infecção. Quanto aos componentes do sistema SOS, observamos padrão de expressão específico para o rim, no quinto dia após a infecção. Para os estudos evolutivos de Fur foi gerada uma árvore filogenética que revelou o agrupamento de duas sequências da família Fur de Leptospira interrogans sorovar Copenhageni em ramos fechados com sequências muito similares a proteína Fur e Zur de Escherichia coli. Os outros dois ortólogos agruparam com as proteínas correspondentes nas demais espécies de Leptospira. Uma destas sequências apresentou padrão evolutivo específico dentre as espécies patogênicas. A modelagem da estrutura terciária, confirmou o padrão evolutivo obtido em nossa inferência filogenética. / Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis caused by pathogenic bacteria from the genus Leptospira, order Spirochetales. Human beings are accidental hosts, and leptospirosis outbreaks occur in large urban centers after contact with contaminated waterby rodent urine. There are few informations concerning the mechanisms employed by Leptospira sppto deal with the stress induced by the host and the environment Iron is an essential ion to most of living beings. The regulation of genes involved in its uptake and maintenance in the bacterial cell is mediated by the transcriptional regulator family proteins, Fur (ferric uptake regulators). L. interrogans serovar Copenhageni possesses four orthologues for Fur, which were the focus of this work. The characterization of Leptospira Fur genes was done through evolutive studies, determination of their expression pattern on animal model and structural modeling analysis. In parallel, some experiments presented promising results for the expression analysis of genes related to the SOS system, a bacterial response mechanism to DNA damage. Therefore, the gene expression characterization on susceptible and resistant animal model was amplified. qRT-PCR experiments of cDNA from lung, kidney and liver allowed the identification of two genes expressed almost constitutively during the infection in all organs and organisms : fur979 and recA. The others were required in specific days of the infection. Curiously, the SOS system components showed specific expression pattern in the fifth day after inoculation, in kidney. For the Fur evolutive studies, a phylogenetic tree was inferred, revealing the clustering of two Fur family sequences from Leptospira interrogans serovar Copenhageni in closed branches with very similar sequences to Fur and Zur proteins from Escherichia coli. The other two orthologues clustered with corresponding proteins in the other Leptospira species. One of these sequences presented a specific evolutive pattern among pathogenic species. The tertiary structure modeling confirmed the evolutive pattern obtained in our phylogenetic inference.

The relation between the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii and schizophrenia was studied and confirmed in several studies. There are proofs that latent toxoplasmosis deteriorates the course of schizophrenia. The goal of this study was to clarify whether there are differences between subjectively perceived quality of life of infected and non-infected psychiatric patients. We tested men and women from the PCP treated for the diagnosis of schizophrenia, who undertook serology blood tests for detection of anamnestic T. gondii antibodies. Patients also filled out two questionaires that assessed subjectively perceived quality of life - SOS-10 and WHOQOL-BREF. Patients filled out these questionaires twice, both at the start of the study before coming to psychiatric therapeutical institution and after one year. During the first testing were the questionaires filled out by 171 persons, after one year by 108 persons. Based on the results of these tests we found out that latent toxoplasmosis had a negative impact on subjectively perceived quality of life of schizophrenia patients, particularly on infected women. On the other hand, the quality of life of non-infected patients improved during one year. The effect of toxoplasmosis on quality of life was gender related, which could be explained by already...

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / This study is an assessment of participatory monitoring and evaluation in NGOs: a case study of SOS Children’s Village,Cape town, South Africa. The aim of the study is to examine the process of application of PM&E framework in the SOS Children’s Village Project, with a view to ascertaining its impact on the project and to provide suggestions and recommendations to SOS and NGOs in South Africa. There were four primary objectives of this study: to provide a theoretical and conceptual framework, through the discussion and/or analysis of applicable PM&E theories and concepts; to provide an overview of organizational structure of the project implementation team of SOS; to identify the different stakeholders involved in the monitoring and evaluation process; to empirically assess the process of PM&E in the SOS Project. The theoretical and conceptual framework of participatory development approach and the child rights based approach is used in this study. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of research are used throughout the study and measurement of key variables are made. While the systematic random sampling technique is utilised to collect data for the quantitative research, purposive sampling was used to select respondents for semi-structured interviews in the qualitative research. The study identified that the monitoring and evaluation process in SOS Children’s Village, Cape Town, South Africa is participatory in which the relevant stakeholders, especially the beneficiaries i.e. children participate in the monitoring and evaluation process. However, the study recommended that there should be an updated training and seminar for the staff to empower them to enhance their understanding of participatory monitoring and evaluation.

Le vieillissement de la population est une tendance mondiale. Selon les estimations, en 2050, 2,1 milliard de personnes seront âgés de 60 ans ou plus. Les logiciels d’aide aux soins de santé à domicile (ou en anglais Healthcare Supportive Home- HSH Systems) ont été proposés pour répondre à la forte demande de soins de santé à distance pour les personnes âgées vivant seules. Étant donné que les équipes de professionnels de la santé ont besoin de collaborer pour continuellement surveiller l’état de santé des patients souffrant de maladies chroniques, il est nécessaire de faire coopérer les systèmes logiciels d’e-santé préexistants. Cependant, les systèmes de HSH actuels sont propriétaires, monolithiques, fortement couplés et coûteux ainsi que la plupart d’entre eux ne considèrent pas les interactions dynamiques avec systèmes de e- Health fonctionnant à l’intérieur du domicile (e.g., des robots compagnons interactifs ou moniteurs d’activité) ni à l’extérieur de la maison. Ces systèmes sont parfois conçus et fondés sur des législations locales, des configurations des systèmes de santé spécifiques (e.g., publique, privé ou hybride), des plans nationaux de soins de santé, et des ressources technologiques disponibles ; leur réutilisation dans d’autres contextes est donc souvent limitée. De ce fait, les systèmes de HSH fournissent une vue limitée de l’état de santé des patients, sont difficiles à évoluer en fonction de l’évolution de la santé des patients et ne permettent pas la surveillance constante des patients. Ils ont des limites sérieuses pour aider l’autogestion des multiples maladies chroniques. En réponse à ces problématiques, cette thèse propose HomecARe, une architecture de référence pour permettre le développement des systèmes logiciel de HSH de qualité. HomecARe considère les systèmes HSH comment Systèmes-de-Systèmes (en anglais Systems-of- Systems - SoS) (i.e., systèmes complexes à grande échelle qui sont composées de systèmes hétérogènes, distribués, et avec indépendance opérationnelle et managériale), qui réalisaient leurs missions (e.g., l’amélioration de la qualité de vie des patients) grâce aux comportements qui émergent des collaborations entre les différents systèmes constitutifs. Pour établir HomecARe, un processus systématique pour la conception des architectures de référence a été adopté. HomecARe représente la connaissance du domaine et des solutions architecturales (e.g., patrons et stratégies d’architecture) en utilisant les points de vue architecturales des concepts, missions, et qualité. Pour évaluer HomecARe, un cas d’étude a été mené. Dans cette étude, HomecARe a été utilisé dans la conception de l’architecture logicielle du DiaManT@Home, un système de HSH pour l’assistance aux patients diabétiques. Les résultats montrent qui HomecARe est une solution viable pour guider le développement des systèmes de HSH réutilisables, interopérables, fiables, sécurisés, et adaptatifs. Cette thèse apporte d’importantes contributions dans les domaines d’e-santé, architectures logicielles, et architectures de référence de SoS. / Population ageing has been taking place all over the world, being estimated that 2.1 billion people will be aged 60 or over in 2050. Healthcare Supportive Home (HSH) Systems have been proposed to overcome the high demand of remote home care for assisting an increasing number of elderly people living alone. Since a heterogeneous team of healthcare professionals need to collaborate to continually monitor health status of chronic patients, a cooperation of pre-existing e-Health systems, both outside and inside home, is required. However, current HSH solutions are proprietary, monolithic, high coupled, and expensive, and most of them do not consider their interoperation neither with distributed and external e-Health systems, nor with systems running inside the home (e.g., companion robots or activity monitors). These systems are sometimes designed based on local legislations, specific health system configurations (e.g., public, private or mixed), care plan protocols, and technological settings available; therefore, their reusability in other contexts is sometimes limited. As a consequence, these systems provide a limited view of patient health status, are difficult to evolve regarding the evolution of patient’s health profile, do not allow continuous patients monitoring, and present limitations to support the self-management of multiple chronic conditions. To contribute to solve the aforementioned challenges, this thesis establishes HomecARe, a reference architecture for supporting the development of quality HSH systems. HomecARe considers HSH systems as Systems-of-Systems (SoS) (i.e., large, complex systems composed of heterogeneous, distributed, and operational and managerial independent systems), which achieve their missions (e.g., improvement of patients’ quality of life) through the behavior that emerges as result of collaborations among their constituents. To establish HomecARe, a systematic process to engineer reference architectures was adopted. As a result, HomecARe presents domain knowledge and architectural solutions (i.e., architectural patterns and tactics) described using conceptual, mission, and quality architectural viewpoints. To assess HomecARe, a case study was performed by instantiating HomecARe to design the software architecture of DiaManT@Home, a HSH system to assist at home patients suffering of diabetes mellitus. Results evidenced HomecARe is a viable reference architecture to guide the development of reusable, interoperable, reliable, secure, and adaptive HSH systems, bringing important contributions for the areas of e-Health, software architecture, and reference architecture for SoS.

No description available.

Contexte : Les systèmes à logiciels prépondérants sont de plus en plus interopérables formant des alliances nommées « Systèmes-des-Systèmes » (SdS). Les applications des SdS peuvent aller des systèmes de gestion du trafic jusqu’aux systèmes de gestion de crises. Étant donné que les SdS supportent souvent des domaines critiques, ils doivent être fiables en traitant les disfonctionnements ou les défauts et en évitant les défaillances qui pourraient causer des dégâts et pertes importantes aux utilisateurs.Problème : Ajuster les opérations d’un SdS dépend d’une spécification précise et une attestation rigoureuse de sa consistance opérationnelle. Cependant, en plus des limitations des langages pour capturer conjointement la structure et le comportement des SdS, les prédictions de la consistance opérationnelle des SdS reposent sur leurs systèmes constitutifs qui ne sont pas totalement connus au moment de la conception. Par conséquent, les SdS ont été développés et déployés sans évaluation de leurs opérations, puisque les langages actuels ne supportent pas ce type de précision lors de l’évaluation. Objectif : Cette thèse fournit des solutions théoriques et pratiques basées sur un langage formel de description d’architectures pour supporter une évaluation précoce des opérations du SdS par rapport à la structure et le comportement du SdS à travers les simulations. Contributions : Les contributions essentielles de ce projet comprennent (i) une approche de transformation des modèles pour produire automatiquement des modèles de simulation à partir des descriptions des architectures logicielles du SdS, combinant la description structurelle et comportementale du SdS dans la même solution, (ii) une méthode d’évaluation de l’architecture logicielle du SdS pour la prédiction des opérations du SdS tout en considérant les changements inhérents qui peuvent se produire, (iii) la modélisation de l’environnement et la génération automatique des générateurs de stimulus pour soutenir la simulation des SdS, livrant des données pour nourrir tel simulation, et (iv) une méthode pour la synchronisation automatique entre l’architecture descriptive d’exécution (qui change à l’exécution par suite de l’architecture dynamique) et son architecture prescriptive d’origine basée sur des mécanismes de découverte et de récupération de modèles et une transformation de modèle à l'envers.Évaluation : Nous avons conduit des cas d’études pour évaluer nos approches en utilisant le SdS de surveillance des inondations et le SdS d’espace.Résultats : Notre approche montre une précision importante pour (i) produire des simulations des architectures logicielles des SdS sans failles et complètement opérationnelles, (ii) supporte une évaluation et une prédiction fiable des opérations du SdS à la phase de conception, (iii) génère de manière automatique des générateurs de stimuli pour soutenir et nourrir l’exécution de la simulation et (iv) maintien la synchronisation entre les versions descriptives et prescriptives de l’architecture du SdS.Conclusion : Nous avons conclu que les approches proposées font évoluer l’état de l’art de l’évaluation des architectures logicielles des SdS en offrant des solutions pour prédire l’efficacité des opérations du SdS pour maintenir une opération continue malgré les changements architecturaux, fournissant plus de confidence aux utilisateurs qui reposent dans l’avenir sur les services du SdS. / Context: Software-intensive systems have been increasingly interoperated forming alliances termed as “Systems-of-Systems” (SoS). SoS comprises a collection of systems joined to achieve a set of missions that none of the systems can individually accomplish. Each constituent system keeps its own management, goals, and resources while coordinating within the SoS and adapting to meet SoS goals. Applications of SoS range from traffic control to emergency response and crisis management. As SoS often support critical domains, such systems must be trustworthy by dealing with malfunction or defects and avoiding failures that could cause extensive damage and losses to the users.Problem: Correct SoS operations depend on a precise specification of the SoS structure and a rigorous attestation of its behaviors. However, besides limitations on languages to jointly capture SoS structure and behavior, predictions on the SoS emergent behaviors rely on constituent systems not totally known at design-time. Therefore, SoS have been developed and deployed without evaluating their operation, since current languages do not support such precision in evaluation.Objectives: This PhD project provides solutions founded on a formal architectural description language to support an early evaluation of SoS behaviors regarding its inherent SoS structure and dynamics through simulations.Contribution: The main contributions of this project comprise (i) a model transformation approach for automatically producing simulation models from SoS software architecture descriptions, combining SoS structure and behavior description in a same solution, (ii) a SoS software architecture evaluation method for SoS operation prediction considering the inherent changes that can occur, (iii) environment modeling and automatic generation of stimuli generators to sustain the SoS simulation, delivering data to feed such simulation, and (iv) a method for the automatic synchronization between the runtime descriptive architecture (changed at runtime due to dynamic architecture) and its original prescriptive architecture based on model discovery and recovery mechanisms and a backward model transformation.Evaluation: We conducted case studies to assess our approaches using Flood Monitoring SoS and Space SoS.Results: Our approaches show a high accuracy to (i) produce fault-free and operational simulations for SoS software architectures, (ii) support a reliable evaluation and prediction of SoS operation at design-time, (iii) automatically generate stimuli generators to sustain and feed the simulation execution, and (iv) maintain the synchronization between descriptive and prescriptive versions of the SoS architecture.Conclusions: We concluded that the proposed approaches advance the state of the art in SoS software architecture evaluation by offering solutions to predict the SoS operations effectiveness to maintain a continuous operation despite architectural changes, providing more trust for users that in the future shall rely on SoS services.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / This study is an assessment of participatory monitoring and evaluation in NGOs: a case study of SOS Children’s Village,Cape town, South Africa. The aim of the study is to examine the process of application of PM&E framework in the SOS Children’s Village Project, with a view to ascertaining its impact on the project and to provide suggestions and recommendations to SOS and NGOs in South Africa. There were four primary objectives of this study:to provide a theoretical and conceptual framework, through the discussion and/or analysis of applicable PM&E theories and concepts; to provide an overview of organizational structure of the project implementation team of SOS; to identify the different stakeholders involved in the monitoring and evaluation process; to empirically assess the process of PM&E in the SOS Project. The theoretical and conceptual framework of participatory development approach and the child rights based approach is used in this study. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of research are used throughout the study and measurement of key variables are made. While the systematic random sampling technique is utilised to collect data for the quantitative research, purposive sampling was used to select respondents for semi-structured interviews in the qualitative research. The study identified that the monitoring and evaluation process in SOS Children’s Village, Cape Town, South Africa is participatory in which the relevant stakeholders, especially the beneficiaries i.e. children participate in the monitoring and evaluation process. However, the study recommended that there should be an updated training and seminar for the staff to empower them to enhance their understanding of participatory monitoring and evaluation.