Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Interactive and diagnostic controls'

Mestrado em Contabilidade, Fiscalidade e Finanças Empresariais
Este estudo teve como objectivo analisar as relações entre perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU), estrutura organizacional, tecnologia e a utilização diagnóstica e interactiva dos sistemas de controlo de gestão (SCG) no sector financeiro português. O estudo é desenvolvido tendo por base a Teoria da Contingência e os Levers of Control e utiliza PLS-SEM para realizar as análises tendo por base dados de um inquérito realizado a 50 empresas do sector. Os resultados indicam que níveis mais elevados de PEU estão associados a estruturas organizacionais mais descentralizadas e com maiores níveis de especificação e especialização de tarefas. O estudo também indica que níveis mais elevados de PEU estão associados a uma utilização mais intensiva dos SCG de forma diagnóstica e interactiva. Adicionalmente, os resultados sugerem que as empresas mais centralizadas e com níveis mais baixos de especificação e especialização de tarefas tendem a utilizar de forma mais intensiva um menor número de SCG quando comparadas com empresas mais descentralizadas e com maiores níveis de especificação e especialização de tarefas. Finalmente, a associação entre tecnologia e a utilização diagnóstica e interactiva dos SCG não é suportada estatísticamente.
The purpose of this research is to explore the relationships between perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU), organizational structure, technology and management control systems (MCS) diagnostic and interactive uses in the Portuguese financial services industry. The study is built upon the Contingency Theory and the Levers of Control framework and employs PLS-SEM to conduct the analyses on data from a survey of 50 firms. Results indicate that higher levels of PEU are associated with organizational structures that are more decentralized and that exhibit a higher degree of specification and specialization of tasks. This study also finds that higher levels of PEU are associated with a more intense use of MCS for diagnostic and interactive purposes. Additionally, results suggest that firms exhibiting higher centralization and lower levels of task specification and specialization will tend to use more intensively a lower number of MCS than more decentralized firms with higher levels of specification and specialization of tasks. Finally, the association between technology and MCS diagnostic and interactive uses were not found to be statistically significant.

Cette thèse étudie la façon dont les gestionnaires utilisent les systèmes de contrôle de gestion comme des leviers de changement stratégique. Cette question est intéressante tant du point de vue théorique et une pratique. L'enquête se concentre sur le cas d'opérations de services industriels. Les spécificités de ce secteur - les flux immatériels, les compétences hétérogènes implication du client, - prendre son environnement particulièrement instable. Pendant ce temps, les forces de technologie de l'information époque les entreprises de services sans cesse procéder à des changements stratégiques à créer un avantage concurrentiel durable. Simons (1995, 2000) d 'un levier de contrôle de cadre est utilisé comme point de départ. Ce cadre propose deux repères extrêmes de classer les systèmes de contrôle de gestion: par rapport aux systèmes interactifs de diagnostic en fonction du degré d'implication du top management. Cette thèse développe deux idées nouvelles: premièrement, que le cadre de l'analyse pourrait être étendue à quatre dimensions: l'outil de gestion, la structure organisationnelle, l'utilisation du système de contrôle, et le système d'indemnisation, d'autre part, il explore la manière dont les quatre dimensions interagissent dans la pratique. La dimension outil provient de la littérature managériale sur les systèmes de contrôle. Il souligne l'importance de la coordination horizontale des flux de matières provenant de fournisseurs aux clients. La dimension organisationnelle est de la littérature sur la gestion de projet, ce qui élargit la coordination de cette question à de nouveaux produits et de nouveaux services. La dimension de compensation a déjà été mis en place par Simons, bien que cette dimension a rarement été exploré dans la pratique. Deux études de cas sont utilisées pour explorer la pertinence de cette grille. L'analyse porte sur plusieurs années où les changements stratégiques survenus, d'expliciter la manière dont ces changements ont été traduits dans les quatre dimensions de notre grille. Il semble que certaines configurations long de ces quatre dimensions sont plus efficaces que d'autres. Une configuration plus efficace à la fois présente des éléments interactifs et de diagnostic. Cette approche équilibrée, qui nous caractérisent des sociétés de services industriels, est présentée comme une idée intéressante à explorer dans de futures recherches. Conséquences en termes du rôle du contrôleur sont également discutées ..

Background: Strategic renewal is a phenomenon where companies decide to do strategic alterations with the aim to improve their stasis in the current market (Kiesler & Sproull, 1982). This can be accomplished in several ways; in this report the focus is on management control systems and how they are incorporated in the strategic implementation process in order to drive and generate renewal. Management control systems are considered to be an important aspect of the strategy process (Simons, 1994). Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze to what extent and in what form interactive and diagnostic management control systems are employed in large organizations in order to drive strategic renewal. Methodology: This is a qualitative research with an abductive approach that is based on a single case study. Through interviews we answer how management control systems are used in the implementation process of strategic renewal on different levels of an organization; we have made ten interviews with top-, middle- and operational management.  Conclusion: Our main finding is that the process of implementing a successful strategic renewal through the adoption of MCS is not a linear one. The process is continuous and conducted in a circular manner; this also implies the interrelation of the variables.

Problem description: The universities resources is allocated yearly through a regulation letter by the government which might make it more difficult to plan the organisation due to unforeseen events. The adaption and design of the management is a critical event that can cause negative consequences for the operation if made with deficient knowledge understanding about the cause and effect. We argue that this demands the management to clearly communicate the operations unique context, visions, goals and desired approach to create consensus within the organisation.  Research question: How does the balance between interactive and diagnostic control affect the management and the actions between top and local management in universities?  Purpose: The purpose with this research is to describe and understand how the balance between interactive and diagnostic controll in both the management and budget process affects actions in universities.  Methodology: This is a descriptive qualitative research which is mainly deductive. The empirical data is based on six different interviews from six different respondents that has been interviewed according to two different interview guides depending on which management level they were. The interview guide is based on semi structured questions that are well anchored in the theory through a operationalization scheme to fulfil the purpose of gathering the desired data to ensure a high validity.  Conclusions: Actions like budget games occurs despite reached balance between interactive and diagnostic control as a result of the universities context of being a part of the government since local savings is prohibited.
Problemdiskussion: Resursfördelningen i högskolan tilldelas varje år genom att regeringen skickar ut regleringsbrev vilket medför att förmågan att planera långsiktigt till följd av oförutsedda händelser kan försvåras. Anpassning och utformning av styrdialogen är en kritisk händelse som vid bristande förståelse kring orsak och verkan, kan resultera i negativa konsekvenser för verksamheten. Detta ställer krav på en styrdialog som förmår att tydligt förmedla verksamhetens unika kontext, vision, mål och önskat tillvägagångssätt för att skapa samsyn inom organisationen. Forskningsfråga: Hur påverkar balansen mellan interaktiv och diagnostisk kontroll styrdialog och ageranden mellan central och lokal ledning i högskolor? Syfte: Vår undersökning syftar till att beskriva och förstå hur balansen mellan interaktiv och diagnostisk kontroll i såväl styrdialog som budgetprocess påverkar ageranden i högskolor. Metod: Detta är en beskrivande kvalitativ studie med en huvudsaklig deduktiv ansats. Empirin grundar sig på intervjuer från sex olika respondenter som har intervjuats efter två olika intervjuguider beroende av ledningsnivå. Intervjuguiden är baserad på semistrukturerade frågor som är väl förankrade i teorin genom ett operationaliseringsschema i syfte att samla önskad information för att säkerställa en hög validitet. Slutsats: Ageranden såsom budgetspel uppstår trots uppnådd balans mellan interaktiv och diagnostisk kontroll till följd av högskolans kontext av att vara en statlig myndighet då lokalt sparande inte tillåts.

Contabilidade Gerencial e a Estratégia têm em comum a questão do desempenho organizacional, a primeira tem como objetivo medir o desempenho, a segunda se preocupa em como as organizações podem obter desempenho por meio de vantagens competitivas. Uma abordagem utilizada pela Estratégia é a Visão Baseada em Recursos, nessa ótica, o desempenho é potencializado pelas competências organizacionais da empresa, mas, nessa busca pelas competências, as organizações utilizam-se do Sistema de Controle Gerencial - SCG. Dependendo de como o SCG é utilizado, diagnóstica ou interativamente, ou uma combinação dos ambos, este pode contribuir para o desenvolvimento das competências e balancear as Tensões Dinâmicas e, indiretamente, influenciar o desempenho organizacional. Fundamentado no modelo teórico de Henri (2006), o objetivo deste trabalho foi contribuir para o entendimento deste relacionamento nas 1.000 maiores empresas brasileiras, utilizando a técnica estatística multivariada Modelagem de Equações Estruturais com o método de estimação Partial Least Square PLS. Os resultados em um total de 104 empresas indicam que (i) não existem evidências de relacionamento negativo entre o Uso Diagnóstico e o desenvolvimento de competências organizacionais, sugerindo que, no Brasil, o Uso Diagnóstico pode ter um menor componente disfuncional, e também, que este pode ser visto como uma rotina organizacional necessária para manter a organização dentro de um caminho planejado, o que não é incompatível com o desenvolvimento das competências; (ii) não existem relacionamentos significativos positivos entre desenvolvimento de competências e desempenho econômico, medido pelo Retorno sobre Patrimônio Líquido, o que é coerente com o estudo de Henri (2006), sugerindo que devem existir outras variáveis não contempladas no modelo, ou ainda que o indicador RSPL possa não ser uma proxy adequada de desempenho nos anos de 2005 a 2007; (iii) existe relacionamento positivo entre o Uso Interativo e o desenvolvimento de competências, com exceção do Empreendedorismo, o que é consistente com os resultados de Henri (2006); (iv) existe relacionamento positivo entre as Tensões Dinâmicas e as competências, o que está em linha com Henri (2006) e valida a teoria de que as tensões são importantes para busca da eficácia organizacional; (v) Uso Diagnóstico e Uso Interativo do SCG influenciam positivamente as Tensões Dinâmicas, podendo configurar o SCG como um recurso complementar na ótica da VBR; (vi) quando o desempenho é medido por auto-avaliação, ocorre uma alteração nos resultados dos relacionamentos entre competências e desempenho, com as competências Aprendizagem Organizacional e Orientação para Mercado influenciando positivamente o desempenho, indicando que estas duas competências/orientações devem ser estimuladas pelo uso do SCG. Os resultados da pesquisa estão sujeitos a algumas limitações, a principal delas refere-se ao fato que as respostas refletem a percepção dos profissionais de controladoria e finanças das empresas e a análise dos dados também não considerou a estratificação por setores econômicos. Estas limitações ensejam futuras pesquisas, como a sua replicação utilizando outro perfil de respondente, a realização de estudos de casos em empresas com diferentes culturas e desempenhos, bem como estudos que aprofundem a dimensão uso com competências específicas e mesmos construtos oriundos de outros campos de conhecimento.
Managerial Accounting and the Strategy have in common the issue of organizational performance; the first has as the objective of performance measuring the second focuses on how the organizations can obtain performance through competitive advantages. An approach used by the Strategy is the Resource-Based View, through this point of view, the performance is maximized by the company organizational competences, but in this competences search, the organizations use the Management Control System - MCS. Depending on how the MCS is used diagnostically or interactively, or in a combination of both, this can contribute to the competences development and the dynamic tensions balance and indirectly, influence the organizational performance. Originated by the Henri (2006) theoretical model this study proposal is to contribute for this relationship understanding in the 1,000 Brazilian biggest companies, using the multivariate statistic technique Structural Equation Modeling with the estimation method Partial Least Square PLS. The result in a total of 104 companies indicates that (i) there are no evidences of negative relationship between the diagnostic use and the organizational competences development, suggesting that in Brazil, the diagnostic use can have a minor dysfunctional component, and also, that the diagnostic use can be seen as an organizational routine needed to maintain the organization in a planned path, which is not incompatible with the competences development ; (ii) there are no meaningful positive relationships between the competence development and the economical performance, measured by the Return on Equity, which is coherent with the Henri (2006), suggesting that there must be other variables not contemplated in the model, or even that the indicator ROE might not be an adequate proxy of development in the years of 2005-2007; (iii) there is a relationship between the interactive use and the development of competences, excepting the enterprising, which is consistent with Henri (2006) results; there is a positive relation between the dynamic tensions and the competences, which is aligned with Henri (2006) and validates the theory that the tensions are important for the search of the organizational effectiveness (v) diagnostic use and interactive use of the MCS have a positive influence on the dynamic tensions, being able to configure the MCS as an additional resource in the RBV framework ; (vi) when the development measurement is made by self-evaluation, there happens a results change of the relations between competences and performance, with the organizational learning competences and market orientation having a positive influence on the performance, indicating that this two competences/orientations must be stimulates by the MCS use. The research results have some limitation; the main one is that the answers reflect the perception of corporate controllers and finance managers The data analyses did not take in account the stratification by economical sector. These limitations enhance future researches, such as its reply using others professional profiles ; the use cases study methodology in companies with different cultural and performance profiles, and more accurate studies of the usage dimension of specific competences and the same construct deriving from other fields of knowledge.

En kris är vanligtvis förknippad med ett stort hot till företag och med en hög grad av osäkerhet. Varje krissituation är också unik vilket innebär att krishanteringen kommer att skilja sig åt beroende på den givna situationen. Coronavirusets utbrott utgör en global och unik kris som kommit att ställa restaurangbranschen inför en stor utmaning. Myndigheter har infört hårda restriktioner som har bidragit till ett minskat gästantal hos restaurangföretagen vilket resulterat i en minskad försäljning på kort tid. Med hänsyn till detta är syftet med denna studie att beskriva och förklara hur företag inom restaurangbranschen har hanterat rådande Coronakris. Syftet uppnås genom att jämföra restaurangföretagens strategier under Coronapandemin. Mer specifikt uppnås detta genom en kvalitativ studie i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer med elva restaurangföretag i Norrbotten. Restaurangföretagens sätt att hantera Coronapandemin har sedan analyserats utifrån Contingency Theory, Simons LOC med utgångspunkt i interaktiva- och diagnostiska styrsystem samt teorin om den ideala användningen av ekonomistyrning. Studiens slutsatser visar att det finns många likheter i hur restaurangföretagen har hanterat och fortfarande hanterar den rådande Coronakrisen. Nya intäktsställen, finansiella åtgärder för att minska kostnader och förändring i planeringen har varit återkommande strategier för att överleva krisen. Resultatet visar att dessa strategier indikerar på ett möjlighetssökande beteende som stimulerar lärande, idéskapande och kreativitet samt uppmuntrar till dialog och debatt vilket tyder på att interaktiva styrsystem har en betydelsefull roll för att anpassa sig till rådande situation och bemöta de osäkerheter som uppstår under en krissituation. Studiens resultat visar även att många av restaurangföretagen upplever ett ökat behov av kontroll under osäkra perioder och nämner budget som en relevant kontrollmekanism, vilket tyder på ett diagnostiskt arbetssätt. Huvudslutsatsen blir därför att restaurangföretagen främst arbetar interaktivt men till viss del även diagnostiskt i sitt sätt att hantera Coronakrisen, vilket tyder på en viss balans mellan dessa styrsystem.
A crisis is usually associated with high uncertainity and with a major threat to companies. Each crisis is also unique, which means that every situation will be handled differently. The Coronavirus outbreak is a global and unique crisis that has posed a major challenge to the restaurant industry. Authorities have introduced restrictions that have limited the amount of guests at restaurants, which has in a short time frame resulted in reduced sales. With this in mind, the purpose of this study is to describe and explain how companies in the restaurant industry have managed the current Coronacrisis. The purpose is achieved by comparing the restaurants´ strategies during the Coronapandemic. More specifically, this is achieved through a qualitative study through semi-structured interviews with eleven restaurants in Norrbotten. The restaurants´ way of manage the Coronacrisis has then been analyzed from Contingency Theory, Simon´s LOC based on interactive- and diagnostic control systems and the theory of the ideal use of management control systems. The conclusion of the study show that there are many similarities in how restaurants have managed and still manage the current Coronacrisis. New revenue streams, financial measures to reduce costs and changes in planning have been recurring strategies for surviving the crisis. The results show that these strategies indicate on an opportunity-seeking behaviour that stimulates learning, creativity and encourages dialouge and debate. This, in turn, shows that interactive control systems play a significant role in adapting to the current situation and responding to the uncertainties that arise during a situation of crisis. The results of the study also show that many of the restaurants experience an increased need of control during uncertain times and mention budget as a relevant control mechanism, which indicates on a diagnostic approach. The main conclusion is therefore that the restaurants mainly work interactively but to some extent also diagnostically in their way of managing the Coronacrisis, which indicates on a certain balance between these control systems.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Henrique Lopes Viana.pdf: 853384 bytes, checksum: cea6a7706a6bee5e44ab0082898d0a53 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-09
This paper investigated the associations between the usage of management reports for managers of business units from a retail company, the effectiveness of decisions and performance. To do this, we adopted the Mahama and Cheng (2013) model to measure the perceived benefits on usage of management reports, Widener (2007) to measure the intensity of usage of reports and cost of attention, and Baum and Wally (2003) to measuring the speed of decisions. We have also performed a quantitative analysis of the data obtained by combining survey data with historical data of the company. The results showed that there is a positive and significant statistical relationship between the perceived benefit of management reports and the intensity of their usage and the intensity of usage is positively associated with taking a more rapid, efficient and comprehensive decision. Moreover, most decision speed is related to improved financial performance and greater coverage of the decision is negatively associated with non-financial and financial performance. The main limitation of this study lies in the fact that the survey reflects the reality of a particular organization, so any generalizations should be avoided. Moreover, the results suggest that the company should invest in spreading the benefits of the use of management reports as a way to improve organizational performance.
Esta pesquisa estudou as associações entre o uso dos relatórios gerenciais por gestores das unidades de negócios de uma rede varejista, a eficácia das decisões e o desempenho. Para tanto, adotou-se o modelo Mahama e Cheng (2013) para se medir a percepção de benefícios do uso dos relatórios gerenciais, Widener (2007) para se medir a intensidade do uso dos relatórios e custo da atenção, e Baum e Wally (2003) para se medir a velocidade das decisões. Realizou-se também uma análise de dados quantitativa, combinando dados obtidos por survey com dados históricos da empresa. Os resultados apontaram que há uma relação estatística positiva e significante entre a percepção de benefício dos relatórios gerenciais e a intensidade de seu uso e que a intensidade de uso está positivamente associada a uma tomada de decisão mais veloz, eficiente e abrangente. Ademais, a maior velocidade de decisão está relacionada a melhores desempenhos financeiros e a maior abrangência da decisão está negativamente associada ao desempenho não financeiro e financeiro. A principal limitação do trabalho repousa no fato de que a pesquisa reflete a realidade de uma organização específica, portanto deve ser evitada qualquer generalização. Por outro lado, os resultados sugerem que a empresa deve investir na divulgação dos benefícios do uso dos relatórios gerenciais como forma de melhorar o desempenho organizacional.

"December 2001" Includes bibliographical references : (p. 31-32) Simons (1990) notion of interactive controls has been used in the literature to examine the role of management control systems in facilitating strategic change. The implications of strategic change for routine diagnostic feedback mechanisms have received less attention. Drawing on interview and archival data from a single case study of an Australian pump manufacturer, we examine the way diagnostic controls are used in the immediate period following strategic change. The changes in diagnostic controls are shown not only to align the organization in a self-regulating way to a new strategic direction, but also to promote learning, co-operation and culture change which are integral to, rather than an outcome of the strategic change process.

Master of Science
Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
Warren N. White
The objective of this research was to show that controls demonstrations and education can be greatly improved with the use of Web 2.0 tools. First, a user-centered and collaborative website was developed using the freely available Web 2.0 tools. Then procedures for creating animations using control system simulations were developed. Using the Java programming language, interactive graphs were constructed for display to allow the viewer to change the initial conditions of the controls system and plot the results of the simulation as calculated. These animations and interactive graphs used already developed MatLab resources. Using Web 2.0 tools, the collaborative web site can be easily updated by several people simultaneously, only requiring access to the internet. Because of these advantages, collaboration between multiple universities and controls researchers in distant locations is possible, and the new website has the potential of becoming the center of controls research around the world. More importantly, the procedure allows future systems to be demonstrated while requiring minimal additional work, thereby increasing the universities' ability to educate their students, as well as the general public, about controls system research.

In order to improve the feedback an intelligent tutoring system provides, the grading engine needs to do more than simply indicate whether a student gives a correct answer or not. Good feedback must provide actionable information with diagnostic value. This means the grading system must be able to determine what knowledge gap or misconception may have caused the student to answer a question incorrectly. This research evaluated the quality of a rules-based grading engine in an automated online homework system by comparing grading engine scores with manually graded scores. The research sought to improve the grading engine by assessing student understanding using knowledge component research. Comparing both the current student scores and the new student scores with the manually graded scores led us to believe the grading engine rules were improved. By better aligning grading engine rules with requisite knowledge components and making revisions to task instructions the quality of the feedback provided would likely be enhanced.

L'objet de la thèse est d'étudier les liens entre transversalité et systèmes budgétaires. Il s'agit en particulier d'observer dans quelle mesure les phénomènes transversaux dans les organisations peuvent exercer une influence sur les systèmes budgétaires, et réciproquement, de chercher si le recours à des systèmes budgétaires transversaux peut influencer les processus de transversalisation et de développement d'interactions dans l'organisation. Des observations en ce sens ont donc été conduites auprès d'entreprises industrielles de taille et d'activités variées. La combinaison de méthodes de recherche qualitatives et quantitatives permet de souligner que la transversalité est formellement reconnue dans un nombre significatif d'entreprises industrielles et dans les mécanismes de contrôle tels que les systèmes budgétaires. Cette reconnaissance de la transversalité est conçue et comprise comme complémentaire des approches classiques des organisations et du contrôle. La thèse montre que les budgets transversaux sont liés à la recherche d'un meilleur suivi des réalisations, sur la base d'activités et processus étroitement associés à la stratégie de l'entreprise.

Les techniques de biologie moléculaire ont pris au cours des 20 dernières années une place importante dans le diagnostic direct des pathogènes viraux. Notre travail a porté sur la mise en place et le développement d’une plate-forme de biologie moléculaire, au sein du laboratoire de virologie de l’hôpital de la Timone, pour répondre aux demandes et contraintes du diagnostic en milieu hospitalier. L’organisation de cette plate-forme a nécessité plusieurs étapes : la prévention des risques de contamination, l’aliquotage et le stockage des réactifs, l’automatisation des techniques d’extraction des acides nucléiques, la mise au point de témoins positifs synthétiques et de témoins internes et l’optimisation des protocoles de PCR. Cette approche optimisée du diagnostic moléculaire des infections virales a été appliqué notamment à la détection de la grippe pandémique A/H1N1v dans les laboratoires de routine hospitalière et d’urgence « Point Of Care ». La mise en place de cette plate-forme a fait progresser de manière considérable le diagnostic moléculaire du laboratoire. Elle nous permet actuellement de détecter un grand nombre de pathogènes (>80) et de réaliser des tests dans un format à haut débit (≈40 000 tests/an). Au total, cette plateforme est au coeur de la capacité du laboratoire pour réagir de manière rapide aux évènements d'émergence en mettant en place rapidement des procédures diagnostiques standardisées. Ces techniques ont été transférées à de nombreux autres laboratoires de virologie partenaires nationaux et internationaux. Nous envisageons maintenant son utilisation dans une approche syndromique avec notamment, le développement du diagnostic des virus respiratoires
Molecular biology techniques have taken an important role in the direct diagnosis of viral pathogens over the last 20 years. Our work focused on establishing and developing a platform for molecular diagnosis in the laboratory of Virology (Timone Hospital) to meet the demands and constraints of diagnosis in hospitals. The organization of this platform required several steps: prevention of contamination risks, aliquoting and storage of reagents, automation techniques of nucleic acid extraction, development of synthetic positive controls and internal controls and optimization of PCR protocols. This optimized approach of the molecular diagnosis of viral infections has particularly been applied to the detection of pandemic influenza A/H1N1v in hospital laboratories for routine and emergency "Point Of Care." The implementation of this platform has significantly improved molecular diagnosis in our laboratory. It currently allows us to detect a large number of pathogens (> 80) and perform tests in a high-throughput (≈ 40,000 tests per year). In total, this platform is at the heart of the laboratory capacity to react quickly to emerging events by rapidly implementing standardized procedures. These techniques have been transferred to many other partners’ laboratories nationally and internationally. We are now considering its use in a syndromic approach including the development of the diagnosis of respiratory viruses

Atualmente, o ambiente extremamente dinâmico e altamente competitivo, no qual as organizações estão inseridas, aumentou expressivamente a importância da Tecnologia da Informação (TI). Aliada a isto, a crescente complexidade das infraestruturas de redes e serviços, também conhecidas como infraestruturas de TI, tornaram a Gerência de Serviços de Tecnologia da Informação indispensável a qualquer organização. Nesse cenário, coletâneas de boas práticas e processos foram desenvolvidas visando a obter o melhor desempenho dos produtos e serviços oferecidos. Entre as coletâneas amplamente aceitas, tanto na academia quanto na indústria, vale destacar a Biblioteca de Infraestrutura de Tecnologia da Informação (i.e., Information Technology Infrastructure Library, ITIL). Dentre os processos descritos na ITIL, o Gerenciamento de Mudanças é de suma importância para as organizações. Tal processo é responsável por padronizar o planejamento, o agendamento, a implementação e a avaliação de mudanças no ambiente de TI. Ainda que a adoção das boas práticas proporcione significativas melhorias, a ocorrência de falhas em procedimentos de mudanças não pode ser negligenciada. Para tratar eventuais falhas é proposto o processo de Gerenciamento de Problemas, o qual é responsável por gerir o ciclo de vida de problemas. Nesse contexto, o reúso do conhecimento e da experiência do operador, sobre os processos de TI, é de fundamental importância, pois possibilita a simplificação de procedimentos para a detecção da causa raiz de falhas e, consequentemente, minimiza perdas financeiras e custos de manutenção. Apesar disso, nas soluções existentes o processo de diagnóstico é realizado de uma forma estática e ad hoc, o que dificulta reutilizar o conhecimento em falhas recorrentes ou similares. Diante do exposto, nesta dissertação é proposta uma solução para a identificação interativa da causa raiz de problemas detectados em mudanças. Em contraste com as soluções existentes, o foco desta dissertação é o reúso de traços históricos de diagnósticos e da experiência do operador. A solução proposta teve sua aplicabilidade avaliada em dois estudos de casos. Os cenários utilizados são baseados em situações reais, bem como consideram falhas recorrentes em mudanças sobre as infraestruturas de redes e serviços. Os resultados demonstram a capacidade da solução em reutilizar o conhecimento adquirido com experiências anteriores, bem como, na adaptabilidade do diagnóstico gerado, tanto na infraestrutura de TI na qual a falha ocorre, quanto nas respostas fornecidas pelo operador. A estrutura modular da solução desenvolvida permite dividir a complexidade do processo de identificação em problemas menores que podem ser resolvidos individualmente. Assim, as organizações podem personalizar partes da solução para melhor refletirem as necessidades específicas do seu ambiente de TI.
Presently, the extremely dynamic and highly competitive environment, in which organizations are inserted, significantly increased the importance of Information Technology (IT). In addition, the increasing complexity of network infrastructures and services, also known as IT infrastructures, turned the Information Technology Service Management essential to any organization. In this context, guides of best practices and processes were developed to obtain a best performance out of provided products and services. Among the most widely accepted proposals, in both academy and industry, it is worth mentioning the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). From the processes described in ITIL, Change Management is indispensable for organizations. This process defines how changes should be planned, scheduled, implemented, and evaluated in IT environments. Despite the significant improvements that the adoption of ITIL’s best practices can provide, the occurrence of failures cannot be neglected. To address possible failures, the process of Problem Management is proposed. Such process is responsible for managing the life cycle of problems. Thus, the reuse of operator’s knowledge and experience, on IT processes, has fundamental importance for allowing to simplify the procedures of detecting failures’ root cause and, therefore, minimizes financial losses and maintenance costs. Nevertheless, the diagnostic process, in the existing solutions, is performed in a static and ad hoc fashion, which complicates the reuse of knowledge in recurrent failures or similar. Based on the previous considerations, in this dissertation, we propose a solution for interactive identification of the root cause of problems detected in IT changes. In contrast to existing solutions, the focus of this solution is the reuse of the operator’s experience and the knowledge from cases that have already been completed. The proposed solution had its applicability evaluated in two case studies. The scenarios used are based on real situations, taking into account recurrent failures in changes on IT infrastructures. The results show not only the ability of the solution to reuse the knowledge acquired from previous experiences, but also the adaptability of diagnosis generated in both the IT infrastructure, where failure occurs, and the responses provided by operator. The modular structure of the developed solution allows to divide the complexity of the identification process into smaller problems that can be solved individually. Thus, organizations can customize parts of the solution to better reflect the specific requirements of your IT environment.

Chaque année en France, 4 millions de consultations en urgence ne sont pas justifiées d'un point de vue médical et presque la moitié des patients se présentant aux Urgences auraient vocation à être traités ailleurs, libérant ainsi les services d'Urgences destinés à traiter les réelles situations urgentes. L'engorgement des Urgences a conduit les services à mettre en place une priorisation de la prise en charge à l'accueil des patients ; cette priorisation n'est pas standardisée ni rationalisée. Nous avons conçu un outil informatisé permettant le tri des niveaux d'urgence en fonction des symptômes, antécédents et contexte médical du patient. Par cet outil, baptisé iCare, le patient seul ou aidé d'un tiers, doit être capable de détecter et de prioriser ses symptômes devant mener à une consultation urgente, par opposition aux symptômes moins urgents ou non-urgents. L'évaluation de l'algorithme iCare concernant les pathologies oculaires a pour ambition de disposer d'un outil de tri généralisable et reproductible au sein des différentes unités de soin, mais aussi à améliorer la responsabilisation et l'autonomie des patients dans la compréhension de leurs symptômes et leur recours au système de soins (concept d'empowerment en e-santé). L'objectif principal de notre recherche interventionnelle ne comportant que des risques et contraintes minimes consistait à valider l'algorithme de tri iCare, déterminant le niveau d'urgence approprié correspondant aux situations cliniques rencontrées. Cette validité était basée sur les calculs de sensibilité, spécificité, valeurs prédictives positives et négatives. Le niveau de référence retenu était le niveau d'urgence déterminé par le médecin à l'issue de sa consultation. Un effectif de 1000 patient se présentant pour une urgence ophtalmologique s'est vu proposer la participation à la recherche à son arrivée à l'accueil de deux centres de soins parisiens (Fondation Rothschild, Institut Vernes), à compter de la date d'acceptation du protocole par le Comité pour la Protection des Personnes dans la recherche biomédicale (CPP). Si le patient consentait à participer à la recherche, un technicien d'étude clinique (TEC) lui faisait remplir l'algorithme iCare, présenté sous forme de questionnaire interactif sur tablette tactile, dont l'implémentation prenait en routine moins de deux minutes. À l'issue de cette implémentation, un niveau d'urgence A, B, C ou D était fourni par le programme. Le niveau d'urgence attribué par l'algorithme n'était connu ni du patient, ni du médecin qui allait l'examiner. Le niveau d'urgence déterminé par le médecin à l'issue de son examen clinique (gold standard du critère de jugement principal) était recueilli, sous forme de niveau A,B,C,D ou de choix binaire Urgent / Non Urgent (U / NU). D'autres paramètres, comme temps nécessaire et le besoin d'aide au remplissage, le motif de consultation, les données démographiques et le temps d'attente sur place ont également été analysés. Cette thèse dresse un état de l'art de l'appellation "e-santé" en 2018, aborde les problématiques actuelles de santé publique liées à l'hyperfréquentation des services d'urgence en France, et présente l'outil iCare comme solution potentielle pour simplifier et rationaliser le tri des niveaux d'urgence en ophtalmologie (aspect santé publique), comme moyen d'éducation à la santé et d'autonomisation des patients dans la lecture de leurs symptômes (aspect empowerment), mais aussi comme outil généralisable de big data rapportant les motifs de consultation dans les services d'urgence, les cabinets ou même à domicile (aspect épidémiologique)
Every year in France, 4 million emergency consultations are not justified from a medical point of view and almost half of the patients presenting to the Emergency Department could be treated elsewhere, thus releasing the Emergency Departments to take care of the real urgent situations. The overcrowding of the ERs led the services to set up a prioritization of care for the reception of patients; this prioritization is not standardized nor rationalized. We designed a computerized tool to sort emergency levels based on a patient's symptoms, background, and medical context. By this tool, called iCare, the patient alone or assisted by a third party, must be able to detect and prioritize his symptoms leading to an urgent consultation, as opposed to less urgent or non-urgent symptoms. The evaluation of the iCare algorithm regarding ocular pathologies aims to run a generalizable and reproducible sorting tool within the different care units, but also to improve patient autonomy in the understanding of their symptoms and their use of the healthcare system (e-health concept of empowerment). The main objective of our "interventional research involving only minimal risks and constraints" was to validate the iCare sorting algorithm, determining the appropriate level of urgency corresponding to the clinical situations encountered. This validity was based on the calculations of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values. The chosen gold-standard was the level of emergency determined by the doctor after his consultation. A number of 1000 patients presenting for an ophthalmological emergency were offered to participate in research upon arrival at the reception of two Parisian health centers (Rothschild Foundation, Vernes Institute), from the date of protocol acceptance by the Committee for the Protection of Persons in biomedical research (CPP). If the patient consented to participate in research, a Clinical Study Technician (CST) made him fill in the iCare algorithm, presented as an interactive questionnaire on touchscreen tablet, whose implementation took less than two minutes. At the end of this implementation, a level of emergency A, B, C or D was provided by the program. The level of emergency attributed by the algorithm was unknown to either the patient or the doctor who was going to examine him. The level of emergency determined by the physician at the end of his clinical examination (gold standard of the primary endpoint) was collected as a level A, B, C, D or as binary choice Urgent / No Urgent (U / NU). Other parameters, such as the time required and the need for filling assistance, the reason for consultation, demographics and on-site waiting time were also analyzed. This thesis outlines a state of the art of the word "e-health" in 2018, addresses the current public health issues related to high traffic in emergency services in France, and features the iCare tool as a potential solution to simplify and rationalize the sorting of emergency levels in ophthalmology (public health feature), as a means of health education and empowerment of patients in the reading of their symptoms (empowerment feature), but also as a generalizable tool for big data reporting of the reasons for consultation in the emergency wards, private practices or even at home health-related internet researches (epidemiological feature)

Диссертация на соискание ученой степени кандидата технических наук по специальности 05.13.05 – Компьютерные системы и компоненты. – Национальный технический университет "Харьковский политехнический институт", Харьков, 2016. Диссертация посвящена созданию новых и усовершенствованию существующих методов и технических средств компьютерной диагностики уровня подготовленности спортсменов на базе комплексного решения задачи характеризации функциональных и биомеханических показателей. В диссертации разработаны методы компьютерной диагностики технических и функциональных параметров, максимально влияющих на результат с использованием комплекса двигательных и функциональных моделей, экспериментально определен уровень достоверности измерений применяемыми средствами, реализованы методы компьютерной диагностики уровня подготовленности спортсменов контрольно-диагностическими средствами на базе созданной аппаратуры и систем, определены способы и области их применения.
Dissertation for the degree of candidate of technical sciences by specialty 05.13.05 – computer systems and components. – National technical university "Kharkiv polytechnical institut", Kharkov, 2016. This thesis is devoted to the creation of new and improvement of existing methods and means of computer diagnostics level of athletes. It is determined on the basis of a comprehensive solution to the problem of characterizing the functional and biomechanical parameters of athletes. The thesis developed methods for computer diagnostics of technical and functional parameters, the maximum impact on the result from the use a complex of motor and functional models, experimentally determined the level of reliability measurement means employed, implemented methods of computer diagnosis the level of readiness of sportsmen control and diagnostic tools on the basis of established instruments and systems identified methods and their applications.

Дисертація на здобуття наукового ступеня кандидата технічних наук за спеціальністю 05.13.05 – Комп'ютерні системи та компоненти. – Національний технічний університет "Харківський політехнічний інститут", Харків, 2016. Дисертація присвячена створенню нових та удосконаленню існуючих методів і технічних засобів комп'ютерної діагностики рівня підготовленості спортсменів на базі комплексного розв'язання задачі характеризації функціональних і біомеханічних показників. В дисертації розроблено методи комп'ютерної діагностики технічних і функціональних параметрів, що максимально впливають на результат з використанням комплексу рухових і функціональних моделей, експериментально визначено рівень достовірності вимірювань засобами, що використовуються, реалізовані методи комп'ютерної діагностики рівня підготовленості спортсменів за допомогою контрольно-діагностичних засобів на базі створеної апаратури та систем, визначено способи та галузі їх застосування.
Dissertation for the degree of candidate of technical sciences by specialty 05.13.05 – computer systems and components. – National technical university "Kharkiv polytechnical institut", Kharkov, 2016. This thesis is devoted to the creation of new and improvement of existing methods and means of computer diagnostics level of athletes. It is determined on the basis of a comprehensive solution to the problem of characterizing the functional and biomechanical parameters of athletes. The thesis developed methods for computer diagnostics of technical and functional parameters, the maximum impact on the result from the use a complex of motor and functional models, experimentally determined the level of reliability measurement means employed, implemented methods of computer diagnosis the level of readiness of sportsmen control and diagnostic tools on the basis of established instruments and systems identified methods and their applications.

The focus of this thesis is to explore the automation technology used in the modern entertainment industry. Upon completion of my thesis, I will deliver a working prototype of the chosen technology and present its capabilities in a choreographed show.

碩士
逢甲大學
自動控制工程所
100
During the last several decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of publications on computer-assisted diagnostic system of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The relevant equipments and diagnostic systems in recent years had increased noticeably. However, the data could not communicate between different systems, due to the difference in the data format. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop an interactive online diagnostic platform of traditional Chinese medicine with a function of multimedia data mining system. This model provided the fundamentals of data format, database, online platform, interaction, and data mining functions. We have developed the web-based interactive online diagnostic platform for TCM, and the platform provides the user can share the data in a standard format. To conclude, through this model of interactive and data exchange for multimedia data of TCM, the system can be helpful to provide the fundamental service of data management, data exchange, and data mining.

This project focuses on the fault observability problem and its impact on plant performance and profitability. The study has been conducted along two main directions. First, a technique has been developed to detect and diagnose faulty situations that could not be observed by previously reported methods. The technique is demonstrated through a subset of faults typically considered for the Tennessee Eastman Process (TEP); which have been found unobservable in all previous studies. The proposed strategy combines the cumulative sum (CUSUM) of the process measurements with Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The CUSUM is used to enhance faults under conditions of small fault/signal to noise ratio while the use of PCA facilitates the filtering of noise in the presence of highly correlated data. Multivariate indices, namely, T2 and Q statistics based on the cumulative sums of all available measurements were used for observing these faults. The ARLo.c was proposed as a statistical metric to quantify fault observability. Following the faults detection, the problem of fault isolation is treated. It is shown that for the particular faults considered in the TEP problem, the contribution plots are not able to properly isolate the faults under consideration. This motivates the use of the CUSUM based PCA technique previously used for detection, for unambiguously diagnose the faults. The diagnosis scheme is performed by constructing a family of CUSUM based PCA models corresponding to each fault and then testing whether the statistical thresholds related to a particular faulty model is exceeded or not, hence, indicating occurrence or absence of the corresponding fault. Although the CUSUM based techniques were found successful in detecting abnormal situations as well as isolating the faults, long time intervals were required for both detection and diagnosis. The potential economic impact of these resulting delays motivates the second main objective of this project. More specifically, a methodology to quantify the potential economical loss due to unobserved faults when standard statistical monitoring charts are used is developed. Since most of the chemical and petrochemical plants are operated under closed loop scheme, the interaction of the control is also explicitly considered. An optimization problem is formulated to search for the optimal tradeoff between fault observability and closed loop performance. This optimization problem is solved in the frequency domain by using approximate closed loop transfer function models and in the time domain using a simulation based approach. The optimization in the time domain is applied to the TEP to solve for the optimal tuning parameters of the controllers that minimize an economic cost of the process.

The knee joint plays an essential role in the human musculoskeletal system. It has evolved to withstand extreme loading conditions, while providing almost frictionless joint movement. However, its performance may be disrupted by disease, anatomical deformities, soft tissue imbalance or injury. Knee disorders are often puzzling, and accurate diagnosis may be challenging. Current evaluation approach is usually limited to a detailed interview with the patient, careful physical examination and radiographic imaging. The X-ray screening may reveal bone degeneration, but does not carry sufficient information of the soft tissue conditions. More advanced imaging tools such as MRI or CT are available, but expensive, time consuming and can be used only under static conditions. Moreover, due to limited resolution the radiographic techniques cannot reveal early stage arthritis. The arthroscopy is often the only reliable option, however due to its semi-invasive nature, it cannot be considered as a practical diagnostic tool. Therefore, the motivation for this work was to combine three scientific methods to provide a comprehensive, non-invasive evaluation tool bringing insight into the in vivo, dynamic conditions of the knee joint and articular cartilage degeneration. Electromyography and inverse dynamics were employed to independently determine the forces present in several muscles spanning the knee joint. Though both methods have certain limitations, the current work demonstrates how the use of these two methods concurrently enhances the biomechanical analysis of the knee joint conditions, especially the performance of the extensor mechanism. The kinetic analysis was performed for 12 TKA, 4 healthy individuals in advanced age and 4 young subjects. Several differences in the knee biomechanics were found between the three groups, identifying age-related and post-operative decrease in the extensor mechanism efficiency, explaining the increased effort of performing everyday activities experienced by the elderly and TKA subjects. The concept of using accelerometers to assess the cartilage degeneration has been proven based on a group of 23 subjects with non-symptomatic knees and 52 patients suffering from knee arthritis. Very high success (96.2%) of pattern classification obtained in this work clearly demonstrates that vibroarthrography is a promising, non-invasive and low-cost technique offering screening capabilities.

Professional Doctorate - Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
The rapid and accelerating development of information and communication technology (ICT) has caused an unprecedented expansion in Hong Kong’s ICT industry and a simultaneous increase in the demand for ICT practitioners. With the intention of helping ICT-related companies in Hong Kong retain valuable employees, this research identifies the effects of diagnostic and interactive use of performance measurement systems (PMS) on organisational commitment and job satisfaction. From a critical review of related literature, two research questions and twenty-five hypotheses were formulated to explore ICT practitioners’ perceptions of job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and PMS. An Internet-based anonymous questionnaire, using measures adopted from previous validated research, collected the research data. Six thousand invitation emails sent to randomly selected ICT practitioners in Hong Kong provided 299 responses for statistical analysis. Findings indicate that diagnostic and interactive use of PMS positively influences the job satisfaction and organisational commitment of employees, and suggest that job satisfaction and organisational commitment are correlated. The study also found that employees’ position in the organisation and the nature of the business influences both job satisfaction and commitment, but that their marital status only influences job satisfaction and not organisational commitment; other demographics have no influence on either satisfaction or commitment. Results from this study provide insights for managers and owners of companies in Hong Kong’s ICT sector by suggesting how they can formulate appropriate strategies to reduce staff turnover. The research contributes to the literature related to the appropriate use of PMS in ICT organisations as a means of improving organisational commitment and job satisfaction.