Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Internet mapping'

The purpose of the project was to develop a Web application using GIS data that would map addresses or coordinate information and then find any hazardous areas that may fall within a given distance to this location. The geographic area of this project covers the extent of cities San Bernardino, Redlands, and Yucaipa, California.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited
Both the number of hosts using Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), and the volume of IPv6 traffic, has increased exponentially since 2012.With this adoption, the IPv6 routed infrastructure becomes an increasingly important component of global critical infrastructure and network policy. Unfortunately, the tools and techniques used to perform active network topology discovery were designed for Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), leading to a potentially opaque view of the IPv6 Internet. In this thesis, we extend nascent work on stateless high-speed IPv4 active topology probing to develop a new IPv6 traceroute method Yelling At Random Routers Progressively version 6 (Yarrp6). Yarrp6 randomly permutes the set of IPv6 targets and hop counts to distribute load, thereby helping to avoid IPv6 response rate limiting. Further, we encode state in the IPv6 payload to permit Yarrp6 to both match responses with probes and use different probe transport protocols. Via active experimentation on the public IPv6 Internet, we compare the results obtained from Yarrp6 against the current state-of-the-art IPv6 topology mapping tool. We show that Yarrp6 can discover topology at more than an order of magnitude faster than previously possible. Finally, we conduct a study of the effect of transport layer protocol on forward Internet Protocol (IP) path inference to determine what protocol is best used for active IPv6 topology discovery.
Outstanding Thesis
Information Systems Technician First Class, United States Navy

The thesis investigates differences between non-profits and commercial organization in how marketing online should be performed. Factors that are different are searched for through qualitative interviews but also from an online form posted on a website. The website was made using traditional marketing theories and then used as a tool to find possible differences. It was discovered that among the respondents, price and place from McCarthy’s classic 4P model had become obsolete in this new milieu and should be replaced by credence and compassion.

For thousands of years, people have been creating maps of the world around them as a means of understanding, navigating and controlling space. Cyberspace is the pre-eminent terra incognita of the twenty-first century and a wide range of maps and map-like visualisations have been produced to comprehend it. Many different aspects of cyberspace have been mapped, from the physical infrastructure, the data flows and customer statistics, to the emergent patterns of Web hyperlinks and the social structures of online forums. This thesis provides a discussion of the nature of these maps and visualisations, recognising them as complex socio-technical visual images open to multiple connotative interpretation, and imbued with political power and embedded in a wider socio-cultural milieu. The work is situated theoretically within contemporary cultural analyses of cartography, employing a hermeneutic epistemology and a non-progressive categorisation of cyberspace mapmaking practices into distinct, but overlapping and contested modes. The research questions tackled by the thesis are threefold, involving auditing how Internet infrastructures have been mapped, how these maps work semiotically and what is the nature of power they have to do work in the world. The thesis is an empirically-focused interpretative approach applied to an important mode of cyberspace cartographies: those that map Internet infrastructures. These maps give a fascinating picture of what the Internet looks like, and, significantly, they also provide rich insights into how different interest groups want the Internet to look. The goal of the analysis is to understand both the design connotations of the cartographic signs and the political imaginings of maps of the Internet infrastructure and this proceeds via two detailed case studies. The first case study focuses on the connotative meaning and power of statistical mapping to represent the nature of the globalisation of Internet connectivity. The second case study critiques marketing maps that sell infrastructure access and are intimately bound up in promoting the notion of global network reach.

“Mashups” are web-based maps that intermix user-created data with information gathered from multiple online sources. As part of the wave of “Web 2.0” technologies, mashups represent a shift toward distributed authoring and sharing of Internet content, complicating traditional modes of knowledge production. Mashups originated in the open source “hacker” movement and are now associated with the term “neogeography,” used to describe the practice of amateur mapmaking online. In this thesis I ask whether mashups facilitate a cartography that is more accessible and democratic, studying the ways in which mashup authors create alternative community or personal cartographies while remaining dependent on existing power structures for data and resources. I illuminate these issues through a series of examples, such as: mashups that render personal memories about places, maps created by activist groups to counter dominant representations of geography by governments or corporations, and websites that facilitate the collaborative creation and sharing of spatial knowledge within community groups. Contrasting these case studies with traditional paper cartography and GIS, as well as the professional online mapping technologies of the Geospatial Web (or GeoWeb), I explore how mashups attempt to represent personal, subjective, overlapping and contradictory perceptions of space and place. While enthusiastic claims about the ability of mashups to wrest mapmaking from state and corporate hands are currently overstated, I conclude that mashups do in fact provide new ways of collaboratively representing space whose implications are still to be determined.

This thesis maps the growth of the use of internet technologies in randomised controlled trials in health care and public health, and explores the methodological and ethical issues that arise from their use from the perspective of researchers and participants. Online clinical trials are growing in number, and claim to offer benefits for researchers and participants, providing solutions to some of the inherent problems associated with traditional trials. However, little is known about how many internet-based trials have been conducted, what methodological research has been undertaken, or what impact the new technologies might have on researcher or participant experience. The thesis followed a step-by-step approach, using information science, research synthesis, and qualitative methods. The creation of a database of internet-based clinical trials established that they have grown rapidly in number, use internet technologies primarily to deliver an intervention, predominantly in behavioural, mental health, or life-style public health settings. A two-stage systematic review, comprising a descriptive map and a qualitative synthesis, established what is known about the methods, conduct or participant experience in internet-based trials. A qualitative primary study was then carried out, based on the findings of the review, to further explore the views, attitudes and experiences of researchers, participants and the public, into the motivations, benefits or barriers to taking part in internet-based clinical trials. Themes emerging from the research suggest complex interactions between design and technology, particularly in the area of participant characteristics and choice; convenience versus intrusion; impact of time and place; the pace of change and impact of societal changes in the use of technology. A range of ethical considerations emerged, including the nature of informed consent, ethical approval, and the need for a systematic approach to patient and public involvement. Recommendations are made to help inform and improve research practice in the digital age.

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
This study discusses the new challenges compelled by information technologies from the following question: how to deal with the excess of information. The search for ways to promote knowledge in cyberspace demands investigations of more intelligent representations. We face the need to reorganize the information in the digital space, which in turn requires a deeper look on the practices of design. Deepen the role for the designer as a creator of interfaces of cyberspace, this study recovers the important contribution made by the information design, field of study that investigates the understanding of information through visual representations. Considering cartography as a human need to achieve visual representations of complex systems of information, the visualization, in the context of this research, is regarded as a fundamental instrument to reveal hidden meanings, invisible in a observation restricted to data itself. Manovich links the concept of mapping to visualization. Since all digital data is represented with the same digital code, computers can easily map one representation to another. Then, visualization can be conceived as a kind of mapping, in which data is mapped to image. The main objective here is to investigate data visualization applications that meet the challenges imposed by the excess of information. To discuss the hypothesis that the data visualization is relevant to generate knowledge, this work examines models of interactive visualization of dynamic data from a sample of applications available on the Internet. With this overview of the types of visualization, a classification was created based on the need to understand the context and the symbolic relations of individuals on the Internet. Finally, some future directions of studying information, design and visualization are pointed out
Esta pesquisa debate os novos desafios impostos pelas tecnologias da informação a partir da seguinte questão: como lidar com o excesso de informações. A busca pelas formas de favorecer o conhecimento no ciberespaço demanda investigações sobre propostas mais inteligentes de representação dessas informações. Estamos diante da necessidade de reorganização da informação no espaço digital, que, por sua vez, requer um olhar mais aprofundado sobre as práticas do design. Para traçarmos o papel do designer como projetista das interfaces do ciberespaço, retomamos a relevante contribuição dada pelo design da informação, área de estudos que investiga a compreensão da informação por meio de representações visuais. Considerando a cartografia como a necessidade humana de realizar representações visuais de sistemas complexos de informação, a visualização se constitui, no contexto desta pesquisa, como instrumento fundamental para revelar sentidos ocultos, invisíveis numa observação restrita aos dados em si. Manovich coloca que o conceito de mapeamento também está intimamente relacionado à visualização, pois ao representar todos os dados usando o mesmo código numérico, os computadores facilitam o mapeamento de uma representação em outra. A visualização pode, então, ser concebida como um tipo de mapeamento, no qual o conjunto de dados é mapeado em uma imagem. O objetivo principal, portanto, é investigar aplicações que exploram a visualização de dados como proposta para enfrentar os desafios impostos pelo excesso de informações. Para investigar a hipótese de que a visualização de dados se constitui como manifestação relevante para a geração de conhecimento, este trabalho analisa propostas interativas de visualização de dados dinâmicos, a partir da coleta de uma amostragem significativa de aplicações disponíveis na Internet. Com uma visão geral dos tipos de visualização, foi criada uma classificação, inspirada na necessidade de se compreender os contextos e as possíveis relações simbólicas que tais aplicações possam representar aos indivíduos na Internet. Por fim, são apontados alguns caminhos futuros de pesquisa, a partir do olhar crítico sobre a informação, o design e a visualização

The agents of animal diseases harm the human population in several ways, provoking diseases called zoonosis, in other words, the diseases that they are transmitted from the vertebrate animals to the man. The animal sanitary control is an activity of extreme importance for our society concerning the health and economy. The high number of establishments that they need to be fiscalized and the enormous amount of collected data, requests a lot of organization and they should allow managers of the fiscalization agencies to have fast access to updated information. Many zoonosis demand fast actions and, for this, the avaliable spatial information is of fundamental importance to avoid higher economical-social damages. However, the government agencies lack of specialized computer tools for the treatment of these data, mainly due to the costs of software licensing and hardware demands, hindering the work of sanitary administration. Now, with the development of the geotechnologies it is available a great variety of tools in free software, allowing fast and efficient access of these information. Among them WebGIS are inserted. They are the technologies, politics and necessary people to promote the publication of geospatial data (group of integrated data) in Internet, making possible the user's interaction in the construction of maps and in the access to non spatial information. In this context, as a result of this work it was obtained a WebGIS, integrating several solutions in free software to systematize the data of animal sanitary control of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, allowing the spatial visualization of the establishments, giving support to the managers to take decision and with reduced technological costs.
Os agentes de doenças animais prejudicam a população humana de diversas formas, provocando doenças que são as chamadas zoonoses, ou seja, as doenças que se transmitem dos animais vertebrados ao homem. O controle sanitário animal é uma atividade de extrema importância para a nossa sociedade no que diz respeito à saúde e economia. O grande número de estabelecimentos que precisam ser fiscalizados e a enorme quantidade de dados coletados requerem muita organização e devem permitir que gestores dos órgãos de fiscalização tenham acesso rápido a informações atualizadas. São muitas as zoonoses que exigem ações rápidas e, para isto, a informação disponibilizada de forma espacial é de fundamental importância para evitar maiores prejuízos econômico-sociais. No entanto, os órgãos governamentais carecem de ferramentas computacionais especializadas para o tratamento destes dados, principalmente devido aos custos de licenciamento de software e exigências de hardware, dificultando o trabalho de gestão sanitária. Atualmente, com o desenvolvimento das geotecnologias, está disponível uma grande variedade de ferramentas computacionais em software livre que permitem o acesso rápido e eficiente a estas informações. Entre elas, estão inseridos os WebGIS, que são as tecnologias, políticas e pessoas necessárias para promover a disponibilização de dados geoespaciais (conjunto de dados integrados) na Internet, possibilitando a interação do usuário na construção de mapas e no acesso às informações não espaciais. Neste contexto, como resultado deste trabalho obteve-se um WebGIS, integrando diversas soluções em software livre para sistematizar os dados de controle sanitário animal do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, que permitem a visualização espacial dos estabelecimentos, e dão suporte aos gestores para tomadas de decisão, com custos tecnológicos reduzidos.

L'objectif de cette thèse est de détecter des éléments défaillants d'Internet. Tout d'abord,nous étudions le déploiement des points d'échange Internet (IXP) en Amérique latine et constatons que certains pays sont en situation d'échec dans leur déploiement IXP, c'est-à-dire aucun IXP du tout, ou bien que l'IXP n'a pas réussi à attirer suffisamment de membres. Deuxièmement, nous étudions BGP, le protocole de routage utilisé sur Internet, et en particulier s'il existe des mensonges BGP, c’est à dire si les routes par lesquelles les paquets circulent réellement sur Internet divergent des chemins que les systèmes autonomes (AS) annoncent. Nous trouvons effectivement des cas où les chemins ne correspondent pas. Enfin, nous étudions comment le trafic circule à l'intérieur des AS et nous nous concentrons sur la détection des détours d'acheminement, c'est-à-dire les cas où les itinéraires d'acheminement ne correspondent pas aux meilleurs itinéraires disponibles, selon le protocole de routage utilisé. Nous mettons ainsi en évidence des détours dans plusieurs AS
The objective of this thesis is to detect hidden broken pieces of the Internet. First, we study the deployment of Internet exchange points (IXPs) in Latin America and find that while some IXPs across the region have managed to proliferate, some countries have failed IXPs, i.e., no IXP at all, or the IXP has not succeeded to attract members. Second, we focus on the border gateway protocol (BGP), the routing protocol used on the Internet, and study whether ASes carry on BGP lies, i.e., if the forwarding routes through which packets actually flow on the Internet diverge from the AS-paths that ASes advertise on BGP. Wefind cases where the paths indeed mismatch. Finally, we study how traffic flows inside ASes and focus on the detection of forwarding detours, i.e., cases in which the forward ingroutes do not match the best available routes, according to the internal gateway protocol(IGP) in use. We reveal such forwarding detours in multiple ASes

The rigorous developments of GIS over the past decades have enabled application developers to create powerful systems that are used to facilitate the management of spatial data. Unfortunately, each one of these systems is specific to a local service, with little or no interconnection with services in other locales. This makes it virtually impossible to perform dynamic and interactive GIS operations across multiple locales which have similar or dissimilar system configurations. The Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) resolved the problems partially by offering excellent conceptual and logical abstraction model for data exchange. Recent advancements of the Internet enlightened the GIS community as to the realization of an ideal concept of information interchange. A suite of new technologies that embraces Extensible Markup Language (XML), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), Portable Network Graphics (PNG) and Java creates a powerful and new perspective that can be applied to all phases of online GIS system development. The online GIS is a Web-based approach to integrating diverse spatial data sources for GIS applications. To address the spatial data integration options and implications related to the Web-based approach the investigation was undertaken in 5 phases: (1) Determine the mapping requirements of graphic and non-graphic spatial data for online GIS application; (2) Analyze the requirements of spatial data integration for online environments; (3) Investigate a suitable method for integrating different formats of spatial data; (4) Study the feasibility and applicability of setting up the online GIS; and (5) Develop a prototype for online sharing of teaching resources. Resulting from the critical review on current Internet technology, a conceptual framework for spatial data integration was proposed. This framework was based on the emerging Internet technology on XML, SVG, PNG, and Java. It was comprised of four loosely coupled modules, namely, Application Interface, Presentation, Integrator, and Data module. This loosely coupled framework provides an environment that will be independent of the underlying GIS data structure and makes it easy to change or update the system as a new task or knowledge is acquired. A feasibility study was conducted to test the applicability for the proposed conceptual framework. A detailed user requirements and system specification was thus devised from the feasibility study. These user requirements and system specification provided some guidelines for online GIS application development. They were expressed specifically in terms of six aspects: (1) User; (2) Teaching resources management; (3) Data; (4) Cartography; (5) Functions; and (6) Software development configuration. A prototype system based on some of the devised system specifications was developed. In the prototype software design, the architecture of a Three-Tier Client-Server computing model was adopted. Due to the inadequacy of native support for SVG and PNG in all currently available Web browsers, the prototype was thus implemented in HTML, Java and vendor specific vector format. The prototype demonstrated how teaching resources from a variety of sources and format (including map data and non-map resources) were integrated and shared. The implementation of the prototype revealed that the Web is still an ideal medium for providing wider accessibility of geographical information to a larger number of users through a corporate intranet or the Internet cost-effectively. The investigation concluded that current WWW technology is limited in its capability for spatial data integration and delivering online functionality. However, developing of XML-based GIS data model and graphic standards SVG and PNG for structuring and transferring spatial data on the Internet appear to be providing solutions to the current limitations. It is believed that the ideal world where everyone retrieving spatial information contextually through a Web browser disregarding the information format and location will eventually become true.

COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
A compreensão dos atuais processos produtivos é essencial neste momento em que o conhecimento tornou-se um importante gerador de valor. Uma visão holística dos conhecimentos que estão disseminados, de forma dispersa, entre profissionais, consultores e acadêmicos é necessária para a síntese de novas teorias da produção. Pesquisadores de gerência de operações freqüentemente usam mapeamento causal como um mecanismo para construir e comunicar teorias, particularmente em suporte à pesquisa empírica. As abordagens mais usuais para capturar dados cognitivos para um mapa causal são brainstorming e entrevistas, os quais exigem muito tempo e apresentam um significativo custo em sua implementação. Esta tese visa gerar uma metodologia (Metodologia Evocativa para Mapeamento Causal - ECMM) voltada para aplicação em pesquisa sobre gerência de operações para coletar e estruturar dados disseminados de forma desagregada, como conhecimento e experiência profissional e acadêmica, contidos nas opiniões de um grande número de especialistas dispersos demograficamente e geograficamente. Isto é alcançado evocando opiniões, codificando-as em variáveis e reduzindo o grupo em conceitos e relações. Tem-se uma especial preocupação em conseguir este objetivo em tempo factível e com baixo custo. A coleta de dados é assíncrona, via Internet, possui dois ou três turnos (à semelhança do método Delfos). A análise de dados usa codificação, técnica de grupamento hierárquica e escalamento multidimensional para identificar conceitos na forma de mapas cognitivos. A ECMM foi ilustrada com aplicações que demonstram sua viabilidade. Aplicou-se nas áreas de gestão da cadeia de suprimento (SCM) e administração de serviços (SM) com a participação de aproximadamente 1.300 respondentes de empresas e universidades de quase 100 países. Dentre os desdobramentos para pesquisas futuras propõe-se aplicar nas áreas de ECMM em SCM e SM visando a uni-las em um tema: gestão da cadeia de suprimento de serviços.
The understanding of the present productive processes is essential at this moment when knowledge became an important value creator. A holistic vision of the pieces of knowledge that are spread out and dispersed among practitioners, consultants and academics is necessary for the synthesis of new theories of production. Operations management researchers often use causal mapping as a key tool for building and communicating theory, particularly in support of empirical research. The widely accepted approaches for capturing cognitive data for a causal map are informal brainstorming and interviews, which require a time- consuming and significant cost of implementation. This dissertation aims at creating a methodology (Evocative Causal Mapping Methodology - ECMM) intended for use in operations management research for collecting and structuring dispersed data spread out as practical and research knowledge, and experience contained in the opinions of a large number of specialists demographically and geographically scattered. This is accomplished by evoking opinions, encoding them into variables and reducing the resulting set to concepts and relationships. A special concern is to achieve this goal in a feasible time and cost- efficient way. ECMM consists of two or three round, Delphi- like, Internet-based asynchronous data collection, and a data analysis that uses a coding panel of experts, hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling for identifying concepts on cognitive map formats. Applications illustrate ECMM and demonstrate its feasibility. They were developed on supply chain management (SCM) and service management (SM) involving about 1,300 respondents of companies and universities of about 100 countries. Among possible unfolding future studies, this dissertation proposes to apply ECMM in SCM and SM aiming at unifying them into a single topic: service supply chain management.

As social media has emerged to become a key site for contemporary communications and cultural production, the internet meme has penetrated every level of social networking online. Albeit being a global phenomenon with pervasive discursive power in a number of fields ranging from humour to international politics and cyber warfare, comparatively little research has been made into how internet memes work on the discursive level of identity formation and their influence on the formation of internet-based social movements. Using Reddit stock market anarchists r/WallStreetBets as case study, this thesis will use Critical Discourse Analysis to analyze how internet memes work on the level of socio-political formations and how their function can be understood in relation to entropic social environments online. This thesis investigates how internet memes are used as a tool for creation of motifs for action, identity markers, connective action, and social narrativization within an ambivalent social movement online. Introducing the novel term ”memetic discourse” as a way to understand memes as transferable units of memetically programmed content, this study shows the potential of memes to act as effective yet unstable modes of communication within networked environments.

Doutoramento em Engenharia Eletrotécnica
Network virtualisation is seen as a promising approach to overcome the so-called “Internet impasse” and bring innovation back into the Internet, by allowing easier migration towards novel networking approaches as well as the coexistence of complementary network architectures on a shared infrastructure in a commercial context. Recently, the interest from the operators and mainstream industry in network virtualisation has grown quite significantly, as the potential benefits of virtualisation became clearer, both from an economical and an operational point of view. In the beginning, the concept has been mainly a research topic and has been materialized in small-scale testbeds and research network environments. This PhD Thesis aims to provide the network operator with a set of mechanisms and algorithms capable of managing and controlling virtual networks. To this end, we propose a framework that aims to allocate, monitor and control virtual resources in a centralized and efficient manner. In order to analyse the performance of the framework, we performed the implementation and evaluation on a small-scale testbed. To enable the operator to make an efficient allocation, in real-time, and on-demand, of virtual networks onto the substrate network, it is proposed a heuristic algorithm to perform the virtual network mapping. For the network operator to obtain the highest profit of the physical network, it is also proposed a mathematical formulation that aims to maximize the number of allocated virtual networks onto the physical network. Since the power consumption of the physical network is very significant in the operating costs, it is important to make the allocation of virtual networks in fewer physical resources and onto physical resources already active. To address this challenge, we propose a mathematical formulation that aims to minimize the energy consumption of the physical network without affecting the efficiency of the allocation of virtual networks. To minimize fragmentation of the physical network while increasing the revenue of the operator, it is extended the initial formulation to contemplate the re-optimization of previously mapped virtual networks, so that the operator has a better use of its physical infrastructure. It is also necessary to address the migration of virtual networks, either for reasons of load balancing or for reasons of imminent failure of physical resources, without affecting the proper functioning of the virtual network. To this end, we propose a method based on cloning techniques to perform the migration of virtual networks across the physical infrastructure, transparently, and without affecting the virtual network. In order to assess the resilience of virtual networks to physical network failures, while obtaining the optimal solution for the migration of virtual networks in case of imminent failure of physical resources, the mathematical formulation is extended to minimize the number of nodes migrated and the relocation of virtual links. In comparison with our optimization proposals, we found out that existing heuristics for mapping virtual networks have a poor performance. We also found that it is possible to minimize the energy consumption without penalizing the efficient allocation. By applying the re-optimization on the virtual networks, it has been shown that it is possible to obtain more free resources as well as having the physical resources better balanced. Finally, it was shown that virtual networks are quite resilient to failures on the physical network.
A virtualização de rede é vista como uma abordagem promissora para ultrapassar o “Impasse da Internet” e permitir inovação na Internet, possibilitando assim uma migração fácil para novas abordagens de redes, bem como a coexistência de arquiteturas de redes complementares numa infraestrutura compartilhada e em ambiente comercial. Recentemente tem crescido de forma bastante significativa o interesse pela virtualização de rede por parte dos operadores e dos grandes fabricantes, desde que os potenciais benefícios da virtualização se tornaram claros, tanto de ponto de vista económico como operacional. No início, o conceito foi versado pelo meio académico, onde foram realizadas provas de conceito de pequena escala, e em que a virtualização de rede foi considerada como forma de investigação de novos protocolos. Esta Tese de Doutoramento tem como objetivo geral dotar uma rede de operador de um conjunto de mecanismos e algoritmos capazes de gerir e controlar redes virtuais. Para este fim, é proposta uma framework que visa alocar, monitorizar e controlar recursos virtuais de uma forma centralizada e eficiente. De forma a analisar o desempenho da framework, procedeu-se à sua implementação e avaliação numa rede de pequena dimensão. De forma a permitir que se possa efetuar uma alocação eficiente, em tempo real, e a pedido, de redes virtuais numa rede física, é proposta uma heurística para efetuar o mapeamento na rede física. Para que o operador de rede possa rentabilizar ao máximo a sua infraestrutura de rede, é ainda proposta uma formulação matemática que, através de programação linear, visa maximizar o número de redes alocadas na infraestrutura de rede. Dado que o consumo energético de uma infraestrutura de rede começa a ter significância nos custos de operação, é importante que se faça a alocação das redes virtuais no menor número de recursos físicos e também em recursos físicos ativos. Para endereçar este desafio é proposta uma formulação matemática que visa minimizar o consumo energético da rede física sem afetar a eficiência da alocação de redes virtuais. Para minimizar a fragmentação da infraestrutura de rede e ao mesmo tempo aumentar as receitas do operador, é também estendida a formulação inicial para contemplar a re-otimização de redes virtuais previamente mapeadas, fazendo com que o operador tenha um melhor aproveitamento da sua infraestrutura física. Será ainda necessário endereçar a migração de redes virtuais, quer por motivos de balanceamento de carga, quer por motivos de falha iminente de recursos físicos, sem afetar o bom funcionamento da rede virtual. Para este fim, é proposto um método baseado em técnicas de clonagem, para efetuar a migração de redes virtuais entre recursos da infraestrutura física de forma transparente e sem impacto para a rede virtual. De forma a avaliar a resiliência das redes virtuais a falhas na rede física, e ao mesmo tempo obter a solução ótima de migração de redes virtuais em caso de falha iminente dos recursos físicos, a formulação matemática é estendida para minimizar o número de nós migrados em simultâneo com a realocação de ligações virtuais. Em comparação com as nossas propostas de otimização verificou-se que as heurísticas existentes para mapeamento de redes virtuais têm um desempenho muito baixo. Verificou-se ainda que é possível efetuar a redução do consumo energético sem a penalização da alocação eficiente. Com a re-otimização das redes virtuais mostrou-se que é possível obter mais recursos livres, assim como obter uma melhor distribuição dos recursos. Por último, demonstrou-se que as redes virtuais são bastante resilientes a falhas na rede física.

Collaborative jamming with digital musical instruments (DMI) exposes a need for output synchronization. While temporal solutions have been established, a better understanding of how live sound transformations could be balanced across instruments is required. In this work, a technology probe for reciprocal sound transformations was designed and developed by networking the instruments of four musicians and employing layered mapping between a shared interface, high-level sound attributes, and the sound synthesis parameters of each instrument. The probe was designed and used during a series of participatory design workshops, where seven high-level attributes were constructed according to the spectromorphology framework. The analysis, where the notion of sonic narrative and the concept of flow were applied, reveals how live controlling reciprocal sound transformations facilitates collaboration by supporting role-taking, motivating the ensemble, and directing the focus of its members. While generality of the implemented attributes cannot be claimed, challenges of the chosen mapping strategy and requirements for the user interface were identified.
Jammande i grupp med digitala musikinstrument (DMI) avslöjar ett behov för att kunna synkronisera dem utgående signalerna. Temporära lösningar har etablerats, men en bättre förståelse för hur live ljudtransformationer skulle kunna balanseras över flera instrument är nödvändig. I detta arbete utvecklades och designades en teknologisk sond för reciproka ljudtransformationer genom att koppla ihop fyra musikers instrument och en flerlagersavbildning skapades med ett delat gränssnitt, högnivå ljudattribut samt ljudsyntesparametrarna för varje instrument. Sonden designades och användes under co-design-workshops, där sju högnivå ljudattribut konstruerades enligt spectromorfologiramverket. Analysen, där begreppen soniskt berättande och konceptet flyt applicerades, avslöjar hur realtidskontroll av reciproka ljudtransformationer främjer medverkande genom att stödja rolltagande, motivera ensemblen, samt rikta fokuset hos medlemmarna. Även om det inte går att hävda att de implementerade attributen är generella, så identifierades utmaningarna hos den valda avbildningsstrategien och hos användargränssnittet.

La thèse porte sur l’usage cartographique à visée commerciale de la base de données libre OpenStreetMap (OSM). L’usage d’une base de données produite par des contributeurs anonymes, a priori non experts de l’information géographique (IG) et n’étant tenus à aucun engagement de qualité, suscite des interrogations. Mais dans le même temps, cette situation nouvelle révèle des enjeux d’intérêt public majeurs comme celui de l’accès à l‘IG. Chacun des contributeurs s’attache à suivre des méthodes, identiques car collectivement mises au point, pour décrire des objets pérennes de l’espace public tout en collectant des informations qui les concernent dans leur pratique. Nous rappelons que la base de données présente de fortes hétérogénéités de qualité et de densité de données en fonction des types de territoire. À partir de ce constat nous expliquons que la production de cartes, prenant comme source OSM, est possible lorsque l’ensemble du système technique et social de la communauté OSM est pris en compte dans le processus de création. Nous étudions donc, l’écosystème qui soutient cette production et les modalités de diffusion de la base de données. Nos analyses nous permettent d’entrevoir soit un futur respectueux du projet, soit au contraire son aliénation. Dans le cadre d’une recherche menée durant un contrat CIFRE, nous interrogeons le changement de paradigme lié à la conception cartographique et posons la question de la réalisation menée à partir d’une base de données contributive, libre (dans sa modélisation et dans sa production) et diffusée sous une licence ouverte, tout en respectant la convention tacite entre le lecteur de la carte et son producteur suivant laquelle la sélection éditoriale n’est pas dictée par une déficience d’informations
This thesis focuses on the commercial cartographic use of the OpenStreetMap (OSM) free database. The use of a database produced by anonymous contributors, possibly not experts in geographical information (GI) and not bound by any quality commitment, raises questions. This new situation reveals major public interest issues such as the access to GIs. Each contributor strives to follow the same methods, developed collectively, to describe permanent objects in the public space while collecting information that is of interest in their practice. We point out that the database presents strong heterogeneity in data quality and density according to the types of territory. From this observation we explain that the production of maps, taking as source OSM, is possible when the entire technical and social system of the OSM community is taken into account in the creation process. Therefore we are therefore studying the ecosystem that supports this production and the dissemination’s methods of the database. Our analyses allow us to foresee either a future that respects the project or, on the contrary, its alienation. Our research was conducted as part of a corporate contract, so we were led to question the paradigm shift related to cartographic design and the realization of a contributory database, free (in its modeling and production) and distributed under an open license, while respecting the tacit agreement between the map reader and its producer that editorial selection is not dictated by an information deficit

The simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) algorithm have been widely used for autonomous navigation of robots. A type of visual SLAM that is popular among the researchers is RGBD SLAM. However processing immense image data to identify and track landmarks in RGBD SLAM can be computationally expensive for smaller robots. This dissertation presents an alternate method to reduce the computational time. The proposed algorithm extracts features from a region of interest (ROI) to track landmarks for RGBD SLAM. This strategy is compared to the traditional method of extracting features from an entire image. The ROI algorithm is implemented via a pre-processing algorithm, which is then integrated into the RGBD SLAM framework. The pre-processing pipeline implements image processing algorithms in three stages to process the data. Stage one uses a ROI algorithm to detect ROIs in an image. For visual SLAM such as RGBD SLAM, objects that are highly detailed are used as landmarks. Hence the ROI algorithm is designed to detect ROIs containing highly detailed objects. Stage two extracts features from the image and stage three uses feature matching algorithms to re-identify a ROI. Once a ROI has been successfully re-identified, it is stored and categorised as a landmark for RGBD SLAM. Scale invariant feature transform (SIFT), speeded up robust features (SURF) and orientated FAST and rotated BRIEF (ORB) are three feature extraction algorithms that are used in stage two. The outcomes from this study revealed that the pipeline was able to successfully create a database of landmarks which can be re-identified in subsequent frames. In addition, the results showed that when the pipeline is configured such that SURF features are used with a bigger ROI, RGBD SLAM produced more accurate results in determining the position of the robot compared to the traditional method of extracting features from an entire image. However, this strategy requires more computational time. The findings further revealed that this strategy still out performs the traditional method when the number of features extracted is reduced. This indicated that this strategy performs more robustly compared to the traditional method in environments that can contain few features. The method presented in this study did not improve the computational time of RGBD SLAM but did improve the accuracy in localizing the robot.

La richesse des réponses aux requêtes posées aux systèmes pair-à-pair de gestion de données (PDMS) dépend du nombre de mappings entre les ontologies des différents pairs. Augmenter ce nombre permet d'améliorer les réponses aux requêtes. C'est à ce problème que nous nous intéressons dans cette thèse. Il s'agit de découvrir des liens sémantiques entre les ontologies des différents pairs du système. Ce problème, connu sous le nom d'alignement d'ontologies, est spécifique dans les systèmes pair-à-pair, au sein desquels les ontologies ne sont pas a priori complètement connues, le nombre d'ontologies à aligner est très important et l'alignement doit s'opérer en l'absence de contrôle centralisé. Nous proposons des techniques semi-automatiques pour identifier : (1) des raccourcis de mappings correspondant à une composition de mappings existants et (2) des mappings nouveaux ne pouvant être inférés en l'état actuel du système. Ces techniques sont basées sur l'exploitation des mécanismes de raisonnement des PDMS et sur des critères de filtrage restreignant le nombre de couples d'éléments à aligner. Les raccourcis de mappings sont identifiés à partir de l'analyse de la trace des requêtes posées par les utilisateurs, mais également après application de critères estimant leur utilité. La découverte de nouveaux mappings consiste à identifier les éléments de l'ontologie d'un pair donné jugés intéressants puis à sélectionner les éléments de pairs distants avec lesquels il est pertinent de les aligner. Les techniques d'alignement proposées sont soit des adaptations de techniques existantes soit des techniques innovantes tirant parti des spécificités de notre cadre de travail
The richness of answers to queries asked to peer to peer data management systems (PDMS) depends on the number of mappings between ontologies of different peers. Increasing this number can improve responses to queries. This is the problem considered in this thesis. We aims at discovering semantic links between ontologies of different peers. This problem, known as ontology alignment, is specific in peer-to-peer systems in which ontologies are not completely known a priori, the number of ontologies to align is very large and alignment should be done without any centralized control. We propose semi-automatic techniques for identifying: (1) mapping shortcut corresponding to a composition of existing mappings and (2) new mappings which can not be inferred in the current state of the system. These techniques are based on the use of reasoning mechanisms of PDMS and filtering criteria restricting the number of pairs of elements to align. Mapping shortcuts are identified from the analysis of trace of queries asked by users, but also after application of criteria considering their usefulness. The discovery of new mappings consists in identifying the elements of the ontology of a given peer that are judged interesting and then in selecting the elements from distant peer with which it is relevant to align them. The proposed alignment techniques are either adaptations of existing technology or innovative techniques exploiting the specificities of our framework

Detta examensarbete har genomförts på Aven Rabbalshede AB i syfte att kartlägga företagets dåvarande situation i dess interna logistikflöde, för att sedan lägga fram förbättringsförslag som kan implementeras för att förbättra detta flöde. Målet var att reducera trucktrafiken i fabriken med minst tio procent. Aven Rabbalshede AB är ett tillverkningsföretag av lastpallar, träemballage, transportstöd och lådor. Företaget är en del av Avenkoncernen som är en av Skandinaviens ledande tillverkare av lastpallar och träemballage. Aven Rabbalshede AB är den största enheten inom koncernen med cirka 55 anställda och en produktion på cirka 1,3 miljoner lastpallar per år. Företaget hade en bristande struktur och systematik över truckflödet och materialhanteringen vilket har inneburit stora och många mellanlager samt andra svårigheter. Examensarbetet innebar att först och främst kartlägga vad respektive truck gjorde under en arbetsdag för att kunna analysera hur dåvarande situation såg ut. Nästa steg var att undersöka hur stort behovet av trucktransporter egentligen var genom att mäta utflödet och inflödet av material från varje maskin inom fabriken. Materialflödena visade hur ofta en truck behövde transportera material till och från maskinerna. Dessa transportrutter klockades sedan för att se hur lång tid de tog vilket gav en överblick över hur belagda truckarna var i olika scenarion. Detta låg sedan till grund för förbättringsförslaget som var en zonindelning av fabriken där en truck fick ansvaret för en egen zon och ett antal arbetsuppgifter. För att en zonindelning ska kunna implementeras i framtiden krävs det att företaget uppfyller ett antal förutsättningar. Dessa förutsättningar innebär bland annat en förändring till ett standardiserat arbetssätt i den hela interna logistiken. Vid en framgångsrik implementation kommer den interna logistiken för företaget att effektiviseras genom färre trucktransporter, högre säkerhet och lägre kostnader vilket innebär besparingar för företaget.
This Bachelor`s Thesis has been made at Aven Rabbalshede AB in purpose of identify its former position in its internal logistics flow, then make suggestions for improvements that can be implemented to improve this flow. The main goal was to reduce truck traffic inte factory with at least ten percent. Aven Rabbalshede AB is a manufacturing company of wooden pallets, wooden packaging, transport support and boxes. The company is part of the Aven Group, which is one of Scandinavia's leading manufacturer of pallets and wooden packaging. Aven Rabbalshede AB is the largest unit within the Aven Group of about 55 employees and a production of about 1,3 million pallets per year. The company had a lack of structure and systematics in the truck flow and material handling which has brought major and many inventories and other difficulties. The project meant first of all to find out what each truck did during a working day in the current situation in order to analyze how the situation was. The next step was to examine how great the need for truck transport actually was by measuring the outflow and inflow of material from each machine in the factory. Material flows showed how often a truck needed to transport materials to and from the machines. These transport routes was clocked to see how long they took to give an overview of how busy the trucks were in different scenarios. This formed the foundation for the improving proposals which was a zoning of the factory where each truck was responsible for its own zone and a number of tasks. For a zoning to be implemented in the future it requires that the company fulfill a number of conditions. A successful implementation would make the internal logistics of the company more effective through fewer truck shipments, higher security and lower costs.

L'interopérabilité entre applications et les passerelles entre différentes sources de données sont devenues des enjeux cruciaux pour permettre des échanges d'informations op- timaux. Cependant, certains processus nécessaires à cette intégration ne peuvent pas être complétement automatisés à cause de leur complexité. L'un de ces processus, la mise en correspondance de schémas, est maintenant étudié depuis de nombreuses années. Il s'attaque au problème de la découverte de correspondances sémantiques entre éléments de différentes sources de données, mais il reste encore principalement effectué de manière manuelle. Par conséquent, le déploiement de larges systèmes de partage d'informations ne sera possible qu'en (semi-)automatisant ce processus de mise en correspondance. De nombreux outils de mise en correspondance de schémas ont été développés ces dernières décennies afin de découvrir automatiquement des mappings entre éléments de schémas. Cependant, ces outils accomplissent généralement des tâches de mise en correspondance pour des critères spécifiques, comme un scénario à large échelle ou la décou- verte de mappings complexes. Contrairement à la recherche sur l'alignement d'ontologies, il n'existe aucune plate-forme commune pour évaluer ces outils. Aussi la profusion d'outils de découverte de correspondances entre schémas, combinée aux deux problèmes évoqués précedemment, ne facilite pas, pour une utilisatrice, le choix d'un outil le plus ap- proprié pour découvrir des correspondances entre schémas. La première contribution de cette thèse consiste à proposer un outil d'évaluation, appelé XBenchMatch, pour mesurer les performances (en terme de qualité et de temps) des outils de découverte de correspondances entre schémas. Un corpus comprenant une dizaine de scénarios de mise en correspondance sont fournis avec XBenchMatch, chacun d'entre eux représentant un ou plusieurs critères relatif au processus de mise en correspondance de schémas. Nous avons également conçu et implémenté de nouvelles mesures pour évaluer la qualité des schémas intégrés et le post-effort de l'utilisateur. Cette étude des outils existants a permis une meilleure compréhension du processus de mise en correspondance de schémas. Le premier constat est que sans ressources externes telles que des dictionnaires ou des ontologies, ces outils ne sont généralement pas capables de découvrir des correspondances entre éléments possédant des étiquettes très différentes. Inversement, l'utilisation de ressources ne permet que rarement la découverte de correspondances entre éléments dont les étiquettes se ressemblent. Notre seconde contribution, BMatch, est un outil de découverte de correspondances entre schémas qui inclut une mesure de similarité structurelle afin de contrer ces problèmes. Nous démontrons ensuite de manière empirique les avantages et limites de notre approche. En effet, comme la plupart des outils de découverte de correspondances entre schémas, BMatch utilise une moyenne pondérée pour combiner plusieurs valeurs de similarité, ce qui implique une baisse de qualité et d'efficacité. De plus, la configuration des divers paramètres est une autre difficulté pour l'utilisatrice. Pour remédier à ces problèmes, notre outil MatchPlanner introduit une nouvelle méth- ode pour combiner des mesures de similarité au moyen d'arbres de décisions. Comme ces arbres peuvent être appris par apprentissage, les paramètres sont automatiquement config- urés et les mesures de similarité ne sont pas systématiquement appliquées. Nous montrons ainsi que notre approche améliore la qualité de découverte de correspondances entre sché- mas et les performances en terme de temps d'exécution par rapport aux outils existants. Enfin, nous laissons la possibilité à l'utilisatrice de spécifier sa préférence entre précision et rappel. Bien qu'équipés de configuration automatique de leurs paramètres, les outils de mise en correspondances de schémas ne sont pas encore suffisamment génériques pour obtenir des résultats qualitatifs acceptables pour une majorité de scénarios. C'est pourquoi nous avons étendu MatchPlanner en proposant une “fabrique d'outils” de découverte de correspondances entre schémas, nommée YAM (pour Yet Another Matcher). Cet outil apporte plus de flexibilité car il génère des outils de mise en correspondances à la carte pour un scénario donné. En effet, ces outils peuvent être considérés comme des classifieurs en apprentissage automatique, puisqu'ils classent des paires d'éléments de schémas comme étant pertinentes ou non en tant que mappings. Ainsi, le meilleur outil de mise en cor- respondance est construit et sélectionné parmi un large ensemble de classifieurs. Nous mesurons aussi l'impact sur la qualité lorsque l'utilisatrice fournit à l'outil des mappings experts ou lorsqu'elle indique une préférence entre précision et rappel
Interoperability between applications or bridges between data sources are required to allow optimal information exchanges. Yet, some processes needed to bring this integra- tion cannot be fully automatized due to their complexity. One of these processes is called matching and it has now been studied for years. It aims at discovering semantic corre- spondences between data sources elements and is still largely performed manually. Thus, deploying large data sharing systems requires the (semi-)automatization of this matching process. Many schema matching tools were designed to discover mappings between schemas. However, some of these tools intend to fulfill matching tasks with specific criteria, like a large scale scenario or the discovery of complex mappings. And contrary to ontology alignment research field, there is no common platform to evaluate them. The abundance of schema matching tools, added to the two previously mentioned issues, does not facil- itate the choice, by an user, of the most appropriate tool to match a given scenario. In this dissertation, our first contribution deals with a benchmark, XBenchMatch, to evaluate schema matching tools. It consists of several schema matching scenarios, which features one or more criteria. Besides, we have designed new measures to evaluate the quality of integrated schemas and the user post-match effort. This study and analysis of existing matching tools enables a better understanding of the matching process. Without external resources, most matching tools are mainly not able to detect a mapping between elements with totally dissimilar labels. On the contrary, they cannot infirm a mapping between elements with similar labels. Our second contribu- tion, BMatch, is a matching tool which includes a structural similarity measure and it aims at solving these issues by only using the schema structure. Terminological measures en- able the discovery of mappings whose schema elements share similar labels. Conversely, structural measures, based on cosine measure, detects mappings when schema elements have the same neighbourhood. BMatch's second aspect aims at improving the time per- formance by using an indexing structure, the B-tree, to accelerate the schema matching process. We empirically demonstrate the benefits and the limits of our approach. Like most schema matching tools, BMatch uses an aggregation function to combine similarity values, thus implying several drawbacks in terms of quality and performance. Tuning the parameters is another burden for the user. To tackle these issues, MatchPlanner introduces a new method to combine similarity measures by relying on decision trees. As decision trees can be learned, parameters are automatically tuned and similarity measures are only computed when necessary. We show that our approach provides an increase in terms of matching quality and better time performance with regards to other matching tools. We also present the possibility to let users choose a preference between precision and recall. Even with tuning capabilities, schema matching tools are still not generic enough to provide acceptable quality results for most schema matching scenarios. We finally extend MatchPlanner by proposing a factory of schema matchers, named YAM (for Yet Another Matcher). This tool brings more flexibility since it generates an 'a la carte' matcher for a given schema matching scenario. Indeed, schema matchers can be seen as machine learn- ing classifiers since they classify pairs of schema elements either as relevant or irrelevant. Thus, the best matcher in terms of matching quality is built and selected from a set of different classifiers. We also show impact on the quality when user provides some inputs, namely a list of expert mappings and a preference between precision and recall

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Human Nutrition
Edgar Chambers IV
Preference mapping is a method that provides product development directions for developers to see a whole picture of products, liking and relevant descriptors in a target market. Many statistical methods and commercial statistical software programs offering preference mapping analyses are available to researchers. Because of numerous available options, there are two questions addressed in this research that most scientists must answer before choosing a method of analysis: 1) are the different methods providing the same interpretation, co-ordinate values and object orientation; and 2) which method and program should be used with the data provided? This research used data from paint, milk and fragrance studies, representing complexity from lesser to higher. The techniques used are principal component analysis, multidimensional preference map (MDPREF), modified preference map (PREFMAP), canonical variate analysis, generalized procrustes analysis and partial least square regression utilizing statistical software programs of SAS, Unscrambler, Senstools and XLSTAT. Moreover, the homogeneousness of consumer data were investigated through hierarchical cluster analysis (McQuitty’s similarity analysis, median, single linkage, complete linkage, average linkage, and Ward’s method), partitional algorithm (k-means method), nonparametric method versus four manual clustering groups (strict, strict-liking-only, loose, loose-liking-only segments). The manual clusters were extracted according to the most frequently rated highest for best liked and least liked products on hedonic ratings. Furthermore, impacts of plotting preference maps for individual clusters were explored with and without the use of an overall mean liking vector. Results illustrated various statistical software programs were not similar in their oriented and co-ordinate values, even when using the same preference method. Also, if data were not highly homogenous, interpretation could be different. Most computer cluster analyses did not segment consumers relevant to their preferences and did not yield as homogenous clusters as manual clustering. The interpretation of preference maps created by the highest homogeneous clusters had little improvement when applied to complicated data. Researchers should look at key findings from univariate data in descriptive sensory studies to obtain accurate interpretations and suggestions from the maps, especially for external preference mapping. When researchers make recommendations based on an external map alone for complicated data, preference maps may be overused.

Följande examensarbete har genomförts inom Högskoleingenjörsutbildningen i Maskinteknik, Industriell Ekonomi och Produktion vid Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Institutionen för Hållbar Produktionsutveckling. Studien har utförts på uppdrag av Alfa Laval Lund AB, vid enheten Business Unit GPHE, under vårterminen 2019. Målet med detta arbete har varit att utföra en kartläggning av intressenter i det digitala ekosystemet, identifiera kundbehov och aktörer på marknaden inom området prediktivt underhåll och uppkopplade produkter samt att definiera möjliga affärsmodeller. Alfa Lavals förväntningar av projektet har varit att resultatet skall understödja uppfyllelse av kundernas behov samt att bolaget skall erhålla en överblick av det digitala ekosystem som idag växer fram. Under genomförandet har metoder såsom research av intressenter samt intervjuer varit centrala. Efterforskningar av bolag har skett med avsikten att utforma en kartläggningsmodell. Intervjuer med aktörer och slutkund har varit till stöd för att undersöka i vilka fall uppkoppling skapar kundvärde samt för att få en helhetssyn kring andra spelares strategier inom digitaliseringen. Litteraturstudier har omfattat information beträffande Internet of Things, Connectivity, Industri 4.0, prediktivt underhåll samt affärsmodellering. Resultatet har visat att de mest förekommande kundbehoven är statusmonitorering av utrustning, prediktivt underhåll och högre produktivitet med flera, vilka alla har anknytning till att kunden vill minska sina kostnader. För det digitala ekosystemet kan det konstateras att det aktuella läget är ganska splittrat samt att det ständigt dyker upp nya lösningar och spelare som försöker positionera sig på marknaden. Studien visar likaledes att uppkopplingen till internet bidrar till uppkomst av nya erbjudanden i form av tjänster, varför det förekommer ett ökat behov av att implementera nya serviceinriktade affärsmodeller med nya intäktsströmmar baserade på prenumerationer.
This thesis degree project has been submitted for the degree program in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Business Administration and Manufacturing, at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Sustainable Production Development. The study has been carried out on behalf of Alfa Laval AB, Business Unit GPHE, during the spring term 2019. The goal of this thesis has been to perform a survey of interests in the digital ecosystem, identify customer needs and market players in the field of predictive maintenance and connected products, along with suggesting on possible business models. Alfa Laval’s expectations have been to receive anover view of the currently emerging digital ecosystem and that the project should support the fulfillment of customer needs. Interviews and research of stakeholders have been central methods during the implementation. In the project an investigation was made of different companies to design a mapping model. The study included in-person interviews with market players and end customers to support the survey on cases in which connectivity creates customer value and also to get an overview of strategies used by different market players in digitization. The literature studies have covered topics regarding Internet of Things, Connectivity, Industry 4.0, predictive maintenance and business modelling. The result has shown that the most common customer needs are asset status monitoring, predictive maintenance, higher productivity and others, all of which are related to the customer’s desire of achieving cost reduction. For the digital ecosystem, it can be stated that the current situation is fragmented and that there is a constant emergence of new solutions with quick implementations and new players trying to position themselves in the market. The study also shows that connectivity contributes to the development of new types of services, thus causing an increased need of implementation of new service-oriented business models with new revenue streams based on subscriptions.

The concept of supply chain management has become an important issue for companies today in order to keep or gain competitive advantage. It is all about managing your supply chain to reach the highest possible efficiency and increase profits through cooperation with your supply chain partners. A supply chain is however vulnerable to several threats, or risks, that decreases the overall efficiency and influences the business performance.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the internal risks that can be found in a basic internal supply chain in order to make an assessment of their manageability and impact using a specific case. To do this a case study of Thule Trailers AB in Jönköping was conducted. Thule Trailers AB chose to offshore their main production of components to Poland in 2003, so the company’s internal supply chain was expanded outside of Sweden. This research looks closer at the interactions between Thule Trailers AB in Jönköping and their internal supplier plant in Poland. The research was conducted using a qualitative method with several interviews with representatives in both Jönköping and Poland, during which a number of internal risks were identified in Thule Trailers AB in Jönköpings’ internal supply chain.

The conclusions made are that the internal risks identified, i.e. communication risks, quality risks etc, might not have as great an influence on the company as would external risks, they can however in comparison be managed. The findings suggest that the issues with e.g. quality and delivery basically come down to insufficient communication inside the internal supply chain.

Another conclusion that could be drawn is that since the internal risks in the internal supply chain all are ripple effects, its source is almost always external, which implies that their avoidance is difficult. At least they cannot be eliminated completely by the company itself, it needs to be done in cooperation with the company’s external supply chain partners.

There is potential to solve most of the internal problems that can be managed internally if both parties are prepared to put some real effort into reducing the risk sources. The risks are manageable and need to be managed to reduce the impact it has for the customer and end customer in turn. The authors of this thesis believe that for a company to be successful, the end customer has to be prioritized in almost every situation, and this goes for all of the members in the supply chain, especially the internal ones.

In today's world the challenge of logistics becomes more and more important for all companies, which consequently contributes to the need of an integrated system of in-house logistics. Goods must flow easily between stations and departments in order to achieve the best utilization of transportation as well as maintaining a good distribution structure to handle these processes in an efficient and effective way to enhance business performance and competitiveness. This report aims to provide research on how to strategically organize, plan and structure the flow of internal logistics within an organization. The research in this study originates from 3 main methods, a theoretical review, a case study and a benchmark. The main idea of the thesis was to contribute with scientific knowledge of improvements that can be achieved within internal logistics targeting companies operating within the service sector. In order to understand the scope of the problem the current state at the case Tropical Islands was analysed and served to identify areas where possible improvements could be achieved. Further on, in combination with the theory and empirical findings the main conclusions of the thesis was the need to strategically organize the flow of internal logistics to improve efficiency and enhance competitiveness. It was made evident that planning is essential in order to successfully implement the milk runs. Other tools could be utilized to further eliminate drawbacks that might occur.

Traditional value stream mapping (VSM) is used to identify non-value-added (NVA) activities in lean production systems. However, VSM lacks flexibility and responsiveness due to its static nature, which limits its usage in complex and flexible production environments. Furthermore, in a production system, the internal logistics and production value streams are interconnected to each other. Therefore, they face the challenges of same nature such as poor material handling, lack of flexibility and lack of responsiveness. These challenges are disseminated from poor integration of internal logistics and production value streams. The lack of flexibility in VSM is discussed in previous research works to some extent but its lack of responsiveness has not received much attention. Similarly, poor material handling and lack of flexibility of internal logistics system are discussed extensively in previous research works; however, the lack of responsiveness of internal logistics has received very little attention. Furthermore, poor integration of internal logistics and production value streams has not received any attention in the previous research works. To overcome aforementioned challenges, this thesis emphasizes on combining digital technologies (e.g., RFIDs, sensors, barcodes, simulation and intelligent interfaces) with VSM and internal logistics system. However, there is very limited research that addresses improvement potentials in VSM and internal logistics system through digitalization. Therefore, this thesis aims to fill this gap by investigating the improvement potentials of digitalization for both value stream mapping and the internal logistics. In this regard, firstly the core challenges in value stream mapping and internal logistics system are identified. As a second step, possible improvement opportunities are identified in these two areas to increase the productivity of the production system through the adoption of digitalization. A qualitative research approach is performed in data collection methods such as observations and interviews. Furthermore, an empirical study is performed to provide an overview of the current production value streams and internal logistics system at a case company. The study concludes that the combination of VSM with simulation and real time data collection is vital to increase the flexibility and responsiveness of VSM. The improved flexibility and responsiveness of VSM will make it efficient to identify non-value-added activities. It is also discussed and demonstrated that the integration of internal logistics and production value streams can be improved through implementation of digital technologies such as AGVs, RFIDs/barcodes, IoT, data analytics and intelligent algorithms in the context of Industry 4.0. The improved integration of internal logistics and production value streams can improve the productivity of the production system to a large extent.

Syftet med studien är att öka vår förståelse för hur slöserier påverkar ett internt material och produktionsflöde i en producerande verksamhet, för att kunna ge förslag på effektiviseringar av denna process. Studien är utförd på företaget Växjöfabriken Produktions AB som är beläget i Växjö och utför skärande bearbetning på gjutgods. Efter att ha studerat befintliga teorier skapade vi vår teoretiska utgångspunkt med det urval av teorier som vi ansåg vara viktiga för studien. Från dessa genererade vi en analysmodell som sedan låg till grund för det fortsatta arbetet. Analysmodellen gav ett strukturerat arbetssätt för att samla in empirisk fakta från företaget som vi sedan använde för att göra en analyserande jämförelse med vår teoretiska utgångspunkt. Första steget i processen var att utföra en processkartläggning på företaget där vi dokumenterade all data tillhörande produktionsprocessen. Processkartläggningen visualiserades sedan med avseende på de flödesvägar som materialet färdas på vid respektive maskin som var inkluderad i vår undersökning. Kartläggningen innefattar även lagerhantering och en granskning av den nuvarande layouten. Med processkartläggningen som grund utförde vi sedan en nulägesanalys där vi analyserade det interna material- och produktionsflödet. Genom analysen kunde slöserier som är relaterade till Växjöfabrikens materialhantering identifieras. De identifierade slöserierna går, till stor del, att relatera till en bristande strategi för hur layouten är planerad och ett system där man placerar nya fysiska tillgångar där det finns ledigt utrymme. Med dessa slutsatser som utgångspunkt började vi ett arbete med att generera nya layoutalternativ med syftet att reducera de slöserier som idag har en inverkan på processen. Den första layouten är genererad utan hänsyn till de restriktioner som finns på fabriken i form av svårflyttade arbetsceller. Denna layout är framtagen för att påvisa hur ett optimalt materialflöde med maximalt reducerade slöserier skulle kunna se ut om det hade funnits en långsiktig strategi från start. Vid genereringen av nästa layout, där vi har tagit hänsyn till de restriktioner som finns, strävade vi efter att utforma ett flöde som påminner om den tidigare nämnda layouten utan restriktioner så mycket som möjligt. I de avslutande kapitlen diskuterar vi resultatet av layoutförslagen för att komma fram till våra slutsatser och rekommendationer på förbättringar som vi anser är praktiskt genomförbara och gynnsamma för Växjöfabriken Produktions AB.
The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to increase our understanding of the different types of waste that affects the internal material- and production flow in a manufacturing company. The study was conducted in order to provide recommendations to improve the efficiency of the process. The study was performed at the company Växjöfabriken Produktions AB, which is located in Växjö and performs cutting processing on casted details. After studying existing theories we created our theoretical base with a selection of theories that we considered important for the study. From these, we generated an analytical model that formed the basis for the continued work in this study. The analytical model provided a structured approach for collecting empirical data from the company, which we then used to make an analytical comparison with our theoretical base. The first step in the process was to conduct a process mapping at the company where we documented all of the data associated with the process. The mapping was then visualized with respect to the flowpaths that the material travels on each machine that were included in our study. The survey also includes the inventory handling and an inspection of the current factory layout.With the process mapping as a basis, we performed an analysis of the current situation in which we analyzed the material and inventory handling, as well as the production layout. With the analysis, we could then identify the different types of waste that belong to the handling of materials that Växjöfabriken currently undertake. The wastes that were found was, in large part, related to a lack of strategy for how the layout is planned. It was also related to a system that places new equipment where there is free space instead of basing its position on a long-term plan for further expansion. With these findings as a starting point, we began to develop new layout options with the aim of reducing the wastes that we found have impact on the process. The first layout is generated without regard to the restrictions that exist at the factory in the form of robotic workstations that are difficult to move. This layout is designed to demonstrate how an optimal material flow with wastes, reduced to a maximum, would look like if there had been a long-term strategy from the start. The development of the next layout, where we had taken the restrictions into account, we sought a design that would get us as close to the previously mentioned one as possible. In the last chapters we discuss the results of newly developed layouts in order to reach conclusions and recommendations for improvements that we believe is feasible and beneficial for Växjöfabriken Produktions AB.

Rapportens syfte var att undersöka hur ett medelstort tekniskt företag kan utveckla sittinformationsflöde internt vid framtagning av en ny produkt. Valet av studiens syfte grundarsig i att organisationer i företag oftast inte prioriteras utan att det är produktionen somgenomför effektiviseringar och förbättringar medan organisationen lätt glöms bort. Attundersöka detta informationsflöde mellan teknisk avdelning och resterande avdelningar ikedjan av informationsflödet gav studien både en prägel av ingenjörs- ochpersonalvetarperspektiv. Litteraturstudien låg till grund för rapporten och de kommunikativafaktorerna som påverkar organisationen vid framtagningen av en ny produkt varorganisationsteorier, standardiserat arbetssätt för att undvika slöseri av information, olikatyper av kommunikation och förbättringsarbete. Genom att intervjua berörda avdelningar påSilvent AB kunde en grundläggande bild av nuläget och organisationen skapas, vilket senareblev grunden för analysen. Slutsats kunde dras genom att jämföra teori, intervjuer ochnulägesbeskrivning. Denna grundades även utifrån frågeställningen och syftet i hur ettmedelstort tekniskt företag skulle kunna utveckla sitt informationsflöde internt vidframtagning av en ny produkt i framtiden. Slutsatser som framkom i studien för att kunnauppfylla detta var att skapa en teknisk bro som förtydligar och förmedlar kommunikationen inom organisationen på ett effektivt sätt.
The purpose of the report was to investigate how a medium-sized technical company candevelop its information flow internally when developing a new product. The choice of thepurpose of the study is that organizations in companies are usually not prioritized without itbeing production that performs efficiency improvements and improvements while theorganization easily forget. Examining this flow of information between the technicaldepartment and the other parties gave the study both an element of engineering and personnelscience. The literature study formed the basis for the report and the communicative factorsthat affect the organization in the production of a new product were organizational theories,standardized methods of preventing the dissemination of information, different types ofcommunication and improvement work. By interviewing the relevant departments at SilventAB, a basic picture of the present and the organization could be created, which later becamethe basis for the analysis. Conclusion could be drawn by comparing theory, interviews andcurrent position description. The conclusion was also based on the question and purpose ofhow a medium-sized technical company could develop its information flow internally whendeveloping a new product in the future. Conclusions found in the study to meet this were tocreate a technical bridge that clarifies and communicates communication within theorganization effectively.

This thesis is focused on topic of mapping and optimization of processes with particular focus on logistic processes. The work consists of three interconnected parts. The first part contains definitions of important concepts and approaches in three separate areas. The areas are organization processes, logistic processes and Lean management. The second part revolves around suitable methodology, it contains used methods and tools suitable for mapping and analysis of various process as well as principles and tools recommended for optimization of logistic processes. The last part of thesis maps key processes of internal logistics inside of manufacturing factory and analyses logistic system used in organization. The thesis also proposes various recommendations how to make analysed processes better. Analysis and optimization of processes is in the end enriched by recommendations, which should lead to better organization logistics system in the future.

Durant les 20 dernières années, la recherche en visualisation d’informations (InfoVis) a permis l’émergence de nouvelles techniques et méthodes qui permettent d’assister l’analyse de données intensives pour la science, l’industrie, et les gouvernements. Cependant, la plupart de ces travaux de recherches furent orientés sur des données statiques pour des utilisateurs experts.Dernièrement, des évolutions technologique et sociétales ont eu pour effet de rendre les données de plus en plus dynamiques et accessibles pour une population plus diverse. Par exemple des flux de données tels que les emails, les mises à jours de statuts sur les réseaux sociaux, les flux RSS, les systèmes de gestion de versions, et bien d’autres. Ces nouveaux types de données sont utilisés par une population qui n’est pas forcément entraînée ou éduquée à utiliser des visualisations de données. La plupart de ces personnes sont des utilisateurs occasionnels, d’autres utilisent très souvent ces données dans leurs travaux. Dans les deux cas, il est probable que ces personnes n’aient pas reçu de formation formelle en visualisation de données.Ces changements technologiques et sociétaux ont généré une multitude de nouveaux défis, car la plupart des techniques de visualisations sont conçues pour des experts et des bases de données statiques. Peu d’études ont été conduites pour explorer ces défis. Dans ce rapport de thèse, j’adresse la question suivante : « Peut-­on permettre à des utilisateurs non­-experts de créer leur propre visualisation et de contribuer à l’analyse de flux de données ? »La première étape pour répondre à cette question est d’évaluer si des personnes non formées à la visualisation d’informations ou aux « data sciences » peuvent effectuer des tâches d’analyse de données dynamiques utiles, en utilisant un système de visualisation adapté pour supporter cette tâche. Dans la première partie de cette dissertation, je présente différents scénarios et systèmes, qui permettent à des utilisateurs non­-experts (de 20 à 300 ou 2000 à 700 000 personnes) d’utiliser la visualisation d’informations pour analyser des données dynamiques.Un autre problème important est le manque de principes génériques de design pour l’encodage visuel de visualisations d’informations dynamiques. Dans cette dissertation, je conçois, définis, et explore un espace de design pour représenter des donnés dynamiques pour des utilisateurs non­-experts. Cette espace de design est structuré par des jetons graphiques représentant des éléments de données qui permettent de construire dans le temps différentes visualisations, tant classiques que nouvelles.Dans cette thèse, je propose un nouveau paradigme de conception (design) pour faciliter la réalisation de visualisation d’informations par les utilisateurs non­-experts. Ce paradigme est inspiré par des théories établies en psychologie du développement, tout autant que par des pratiques passées et présentes de création de visualisation à partir d’objets tangibles. Je décris tout d’abord les composants et processus de bases qui structurent ce paradigme. Ensuite, j’utiliserai cette description pour étudier *si et comment* des utilisateur non­-experts sont capables de créer, discuter, et mettre à jour leurs propres visualisations. Cette étude nous permettra de réviser notre modèle précédent et de fournir une première exploration des phénomènes relatifs à la création d’encodages visuels par des utilisateurs non­-experts sans logiciel. En résumé, cette thèse contribue à la compréhension des visualisations dynamiques pour des utilisateurs non­-experts
During the past two decades, information visualisation (InfoVis) research has created new techniques and methods to support data- intensive analyses in science, industry and government. These have enabled a wide range of analyses tasks to be executed, with tasks varying in terms of the type and volume of data involved. However, the majority of this research has focused on static datasets, and the analysis and visualisation tasks tend to be carried out by trained expert users. In more recent years, social changes and technological advances have meant that data have become more and more dynamic, and are consumed by a wider audience. Examples of such dynamic data streams include e-mails, status updates, RSS 1 feeds, versioning systems, social networks and others. These new types of data are used by populations that are not specifically trained in information visualization. Some of these people might consist of casual users, while others might consist of people deeply involved with the data, but in both cases, they would not have received formal training in information visualization. For simplicity, throughout this dissertation, I refer to the people (casual users, novices, data experts) who have not been trained in information visualisation as non-experts.These social and technological changes have given rise to multiple challenges because most existing visualisation models and techniques are intended for experts, and assume static datasets. Few studies have been conducted that explore these challenges. In this dissertation, with my collaborators, I address the question: Can we empower non-experts in their use of visualisation by enabling them to contribute to data stream analysis as well as to create their own visualizations?The first step to answering this question is to determine whether people who are not trained in information visualisation and the data sciences can conduct useful dynamic analysis tasks using a visualisation system that is adapted to support their tasks. In the first part of this dissertation I focus on several scenarios and systems where different sized crowds of InfoVis non-experts users (20 to 300 and 2 000 to 700 000 people) use dynamic information visualisation to analyse dynamic data.Another important issue is the lack of generic design principles for the visual encoding of dynamic visualization. In this dissertation I design, define and explore a design space to represent dynamic data for non-experts. This design space is structured by visual tokens representing data items that provide the constructive material for the assembly over time of different visualizations, from classic represen- tations to new ones. To date, research on visual encoding has been focused on static datasets for specific tasks, leaving generic dynamic approaches unexplored and unexploited.In this thesis, I propose construction as a design paradigm for non-experts to author simple and dynamic visualizations. This paradigm is inspired by well-established developmental psychological theory as well as past and existing practices of visualisation authoring with tangible elements. I describe the simple conceptual components and processes underlying this paradigm, making it easier for the human computer interaction community to study and support this process for a wide range of visualizations. Finally, I use this paradigm and tangible tokens to study if and how non-experts are able to create, discuss and update their own visualizations. This study allows us to refine our previous model and provide a first exploration into how non-experts perform a visual mapping without software. In summary, this thesis contributes to the understanding of dynamic visualisation for non-expert users

Objetivo: O presente estudo teve como objetivo realizar a adaptação transcultural e verificar a confiabilidade, consistência interna, validade estrutural e a validade de construto do ProFiMap-neck em indivíduos com relato de dor cervical crônica. Método: Participaram deste estudo pacientes do sexo feminino com relato de dor cervical há mais de 3 meses durante o movimento ou repouso A amostra foi composta por 30 indivíduos (33,43±10,32 anos) para a etapa de teste da versão pré-final, 100 indivíduos (38,89±10,84 anos) para a confiabilidade e 180 indivíduos (37,49±11,86 anos) para a validadade de construto, para a análise da consistência interna e validade estrutural. O processo de tradução e retrotradução ocorreu em 5 etapas: 1) Tradução inicial para o português, 2) Síntese de traduções, 3) Retrotradução, 4) Comitê de especialistas, e 5) O teste da versão pré-final. Para validade de construto a pontuação do ProFitMap-neck foi correlacionada com a pontuação do Neck Disability Index (NDI), além disso, foram utilizados para fins de correlação a Escala de Ansiedade e Depressão Hospitalar (HADS-A e HADS-D), a Escala Tampa de Cinesiofobia e o Short Form - 36 (SF-36). Para a análise fatorial exploratória foi utilizada a Análise de Componentes Principais, o indice de Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) e % de variância cumulativa. Para a análise da consistência interna foi utilizado o coeficiente de ? de Cronbach. Para a confiabilidade foi utilizando o Coeficiente de Correlação Intraclasse (CCI). O coeficiente de correlação de Pearson foi utilizado para verificação das correlações. A magnitude da correlação foi graduada da seguinte maneira: R<0,29: pobre; 0,30,7: forte. Resultados: Durante o processo de teste da versão pré-final não foram relatadas dúvidas pela amostra de pacientes ao responder o instrumento. Para a escala de Sintomas/Intensidade do ProFitMap-neck versão português brasileiro foram verificados dois domínios (Escala de Sintomas/Intensidade Geral e Escala de Sintomas/Intensidade Equilíbrio) com porcentagem de variância cumulativa de 57,33% e índice KMO=0,66. Para a escala de Sintomas/Frequência do ProFitMap-neck foi verificado apenas 1 domínio com porcentagem de variância cumulativa de 56,20% e KMO=0,84. Para a escala de Limitação Funcional do ProFitMap-neck foram verificados 2 domínios (Postura e AVDs e Movimento e Percepção de Saúde) com porcentagem de variância cumulativa de 56,28% e KMO=0,57. Todos os itens apresentaram carga fatorial superior a 0,2. A análise de consistência interna demonstrou valores de alpha de cronbach adequados (alpha>0.70) para todos os domínios do ProFitMap-neck. Na reprodutibilidade foram verificados valores de CCI excelentes para todos os domínios e escalas (ICC>0,75). Nossos achados demonstraram correlações moderadas/fortes e negativas entre a pontuação total do NDI e as pontuações dos domínios e escalas Sintomas/Intensidade, Sintomas/Frequencia e Limitação Funcional do ProFitMapneck (R=-0,65, R=-0,56 e R=-0,71, respectivamente). Foram verificadas correlações no geral moderadas/fortes e positivas entre os escores das ferramentas SF-36 e ProFitMap-neck. Para as correlações entre Ansiedade, Despressão e Cinesiofobia e as Escalas do ProFitMap-neck versão português brasileiro foram verificadas correlações em sua maioria moderadas e fortes (-0,32Objective: This study aimed to perform the cultural adaptation and verify the reliability, internal consistency, structural validity and construct validity of the Profile Fitness Mapping neck questionnaire (ProFiMap-neck) in individuals reporting chronic neck pain. Method: This study recruited female patients with neck pain for more than three months during motion or at rest The sample consisted of 30 individuals (33.43 ± 10.32 years) to test the pre-final version, 100 individuals (38.89 ± 10.84 years) for reliability and 180 individuals (37.49 ± 11.86 years) for construct validity, analysis of internal consistency and structural validity. The process of translation and back translation occurred in 5 steps: 1) Initial translation into Portuguese, 2) Summary of translations, 3) Back-translation, 4) Committee of Experts, and 5) The test of the pre-final version. Construct validity was verified correlating scores on ProFitMap-neck and Neck Disability Index (NDI), Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS-A and HADS-D), Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia and the Short Form - 36 (SF-36). Exploratory factor analysis was perfomed considering Principal Component Analysis, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index (KMO) and percentange of cumulative variance. For the analysis of internal consistenc, we used ? Cronbach and for reliability Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was used. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to investigate correlations and the strength was graded as follows: R <0.29: poor; 0.3 0.7: Strong. Results: During the test of the pre-final version, volunteers did no report doubts. Structural validity retained two domains for Symptoms/Intensity ProFitMap-neck Brazilian Portuguese version (General Symptoms Intensity and Symptoms Intensity/ Balance) with cumulative percentage of variance of 57.33% and KMO=0.66. For the Scale Symptoms/Frequency of ProFitMap-neck we identified one domain, with cumulative percentage of variance of 56.20% and KMO = 0.84. For Functional Limitation of the ProFitMap-neck, we identified two domains (Posture and Movement and Diary Life Activities and Health Perception) with cumulative percentage of variance of 56.28% and KMO = 0.57. All items had factors loadings greater than 0.2. The internal consistency analysis revealed adequate alpha Cronbach values (alpha>0.70) for all ProFitMap-neck domains. We obtained excellent ICC values for all domains and scales (ICC> 0.75). Our findings showed moderate/strong and negative correlations between the total score of the NDI and the scores of the domains and scales Symptoms/Intensity, Symptoms/Frequency and Functional Limitation of ProFitMap-neck brazilian portuguese version (R = -0.65, R = -0.56 and R = -0.71, respectively). Correlations between the scores of the SF-36 and ProFitMapneck tools were in the majority moderate/strong and positive. For correlations between anxiety, depression and kinesiophobia and the scales of the ProFitMap-neck brazilian portuguese version were observaded moderate and strong values (-0.32