Nominal reference, temporal constitution and quantification in event semantics

It is by now a weIl-known topic in semantics that there are striking similarities between the meanings of nominal and verbal expressions, insofar as the mass:count distinction in the nominal domain is reflected in the atelic:telic distinction in the verbal domain (cf. Leisi 1953, Taylor 1977, Bach 1986, to cite just a few authors). However, these supposed similarities have not be made explicit in formal representations

Designing Coupled Engineered Systems Under Uncertainty

The evolving technology and state of art research have provided various platforms for transforming engineering design by merging product and process design with materials. This merger gives us an extended design space and a larger search space with a potential benefit of discovering engineering solutions that include better-quality product without compromising performances. The opportunities also pose serious challenges. The realization and modeling of the extended design space in itself is very complex as result of numerous interacting decisions (coupled decisions) at varying levels of priority. With a plethora of materials and manufacturing processes to choose from, the need for decision support to aid designers to efficiently explore the design space becomes imperative. Furthermore, the uncertainty that lies at each stage of decision making need to be properly addressed to render the effectiveness and accuracy of the undertaken decisions. The design of engineered systems, in context of this thesis, is viewed from the Decision-Based Design (DBD) perspective. In Decision-Based Design (DBD), the principal role of a human designer is to make decisions and engineering design is recognized as a decision- making process. The implementation of Decision-Based Design can take many forms, one manifestation of the Decision-Based Design (DBD) construct is the Decision Support Problem Technique (DSPT) developed to provide support to human designers in exercising judgment in making design decisions. All decisions identified in the DSPT are categorized as selection, compromise, or a combination of these. Selection decisions are modeled as selection Decision Support Problems (sDSP) and the compromise decisions are modeled as compromise Decision Support Problems (cDSP). In this thesis, a framework for modeling design decisions involving multiple interacting decisions, called the Multilevel Decision Scenario Matrix (MDSM) is proposed. The decision pattern pertaining to several interacting decisions is identified for a given engineering design problem using MDSM and a mathematical formulation with robustness metrics is implemented for the identified decision pattern to explore decisions that are relatively insensitive to uncertainties. Then, a generic robust decision method, based on compromise Decision Support Problem Construct is proposed. The integration of coupled decisions with robustness metrics, specifically, Design Capability Index (DCI) and Error Margin Index (EMI) is detailed as a method for designing engineered systems under uncertainty. The proposed method is applied in designing of fender, one-stage reduction gearbox and, composite structures

Supporting Scholarly Research Ideation through Web Semantics

We develop new methods and technologies for supporting scholarly research ideation, the tasks in which researchers develop new ideas for their work, through web semantics, computational representations of information found on the web, capturing meaning involving people’s experiences of things of interest. To do so, we first conducted a qualitative study with established researchers on their practices, using sensitizing concepts from information science, creative cognition, and art as a basis for framing and deriving findings. We found that participants engage in and combine a wide range of activities, including citation chaining, exploratory browsing, and curation, to achieve their goals of creative ideation. We derived a new, interdisciplinary model to depict their practices. Our study and findings address a gap in existing research: the creative nature of what researchers do has been insufficiently investigated. The model is expected to guide future investigations. We then use in-context presentations of dynamically extracted semantic information to (1) address the issues of digression and disorientation, which arise in citation chaining and exploratory browsing, and (2) provide contextual information in researchers’ prior work curation. The implemented interface, Metadata In-Context Explorer (MICE), maintains context while allowing new information to be brought into and integrated with the current context, reducing the needs for switching between documents and webpages. Study shows that MICE supports participants in their citation chaining processes, thus supports scholarly research ideation. MICE is implemented with BigSemantics, a metadata type system and runtime integrating data models, extraction rules, and presentation hints into types. BigSemantics operationalizes type-specific, dynamic extraction and rich presentation of semantic information (a.k.a. metadata) found on the web. The metadata type system, runtime, and MICE are expected to help build interfaces supporting dynamic exploratory search, browsing, and other creative tasks involving complex and interlinked semantics

Specifying and Verifying Contract-driven Composite Web Services: a Model Checking Approach

As a promising computing paradigm in the new era of cross-enterprise e-applications, web services technology works as plugin mode to provide a value-added to applications using Service-Oriented Computing (SOC) and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). Verification is an important issue in this paradigm, which focuses on abstract business contracts and where services’ behaviors are generally classified in terms of compliance with / violation of their contracts. However, proposed approaches fail to describe in details both compliance and violation behaviors, how the system can distinguish between them, and how the system reacts after each violation. In this context, specifying and automatically generating verification properties are challenging key issues. This thesis proposes a novel approach towards verifying the compliance with contracts regulating the composition of web services. In this approach, properties against which the system is verified are generated automatically from the composition’s implementation. First, Business Process Execution Language (BPEL)that specifies actions within business processes with web services is extended to create custom activities, called labels. Those labels are used as means to represent the specifications and mark the points the developer aims to verify. A significant advantage of this labeling is the ability to target specific points in the design to be verified, which makes this verification very focused. Second, new translation rules from the extended BPEL into ISPL, the input language of the MCMAS model checker, are provided so that model checking the behavior of our contract-driven compositions is possible. The verification properties are expressed in the CTLC logic, which provides a powerful representation for modeling composition contracts using commitment-based multiagent interactions. A detailed case study with experimental results are also reported ins the thesis

Dictogloss in the Primary School EFL classroom: Investigating the process, product and perceptions of collaborative writing

544 p.Debido al auge del aprendizaje de inglés como lengua extranjera en Educación Primaria, resulta de gran importancia investigar propuestas pedagógicas apropiadas para el alumnado de este grupo de edad. Las tareas de escritura colaborativa han demostrado ser eficaces con adultos y niños a la hora de favorecer la interacción entre pares y la atención a la forma, dos procesos fundamentales en el aprendizaje de segundas lenguas, en especial en aquellos contextos donde el contacto con la lengua extranjera fuera del aula es escaso. La presente tesis doctoral explora el potencial de un tipo de tarea de escritura colaborativa, la dictoglosia, entre jóvenes aprendices de inglés como lengua extranjera (de 11 y 12 años). En el estudio presentado, se analizó la cantidad y la calidad de la atención a la forma durante el desarrollo de la dictoglosia, así como la complejidad y la corrección de la producción escrita en inglés. Paralelamente, se cuantificó la atención dedicada a dos formas lingüísticas meta (la flexión verbal de tercera persona singular -s y los determinantes posesivos de tercera persona his/her), diseminadas en los textos originales que los aprendices tenían que reconstruir como parte de la dictoglosia. Se analizó tanto la atención a la forma como la producción escrita en función de la repetición de la tarea, la instrucción focalizada hacia las formas meta (IFF) y una serie de factores individuales, como las actitudes y la calidad de la escritura en la primera lengua (L1) (español). Los participantes se asignaron a dos grupos experimentales: uno deellos realizó las dos dictoglosias experimentales en parejas (Colab), mientras que el otro recibió una instrucción sobre las formas meta antes de completar las tareas de forma colaborativa (IFF+Colab). El grupo de comparación llevó a cabo las tareas individualmente. Utilizando un diseño pretest (T1), postest (T2) y postest diferido (T3), se obtuvo información sobre la complejidad y la corrección de la escritura narrativa individual en inglés de los participantes. Por otra parte, antes de las tareas se administró un cuestionario relativo a las actitudes hacia la escritura y el trabajo colaborativo, y una vez realizadas las dictoglosias, los participantes ofrecieron su opinión acerca de estas mediante otro cuestionario y entrevistas focales. Los datos indicaron que los jóvenes aprendices que realizaron la tarea de manera colaborativa se centraron principalmente en aspectos mecánicos y gramaticales de la lengua, si bien las discusiones sobre el léxico resultaron más extensas y elaboradas. La mayoría de las cuestiones lingüísticas se resolvieron correctamente, y el uso del inglés fue mayor en discusiones relativas a la gramática, mientras que la L1 predominó en episodios léxicos. En cuanto a la variable de la repetición de la tarea, el grupo IFF+Colab empleó significativamente menos tiempo el segundo día que el primero, mientras que las características de las discusiones resultaron similares ambos días para ambos grupos colaborativos. Por otra parte, la instrucción sobre la -s proporcionada antes de la tarea se tradujo en una atención significativamente mayor a esta forma con respecto al grupo Colab. El análisis del producto escrito en respuesta a la tarea no evidenció una ventaja de los grupos colaborativos frente al individual ni a nivel de complejidad ni de corrección. Con todo, el grupo IFF+Colab obtuvo el mayor índice de corrección en las formas meta. La producción individual en respuesta a los tests permitió observar una ventaja del grupo Colab frente a los otros dos grupos, mientras que en el caso de los participantes de IFF+Colab se detectaron ciertas tendencias positivas entre el T1 y T2, incluyendo la corrección de las formas meta. Los jóvenes aprendices manifestaron una predisposición positiva al trabajo colaborativo y a la escritura, a pesar de que la escritura en inglés suscitó más recelos que la escritura en su L1. Los participantes percibieron favorablemente la tarea de la dictoglosia, siendo esta valoración más notable en el caso de aquellos que la realizaron en parejas y, en especial, del grupo Colab. Por el contrario, los conflictos generados durante la resolución de la tarea en algunas parejas de la condición IFF+Colab influyeron negativamente en la percepción de la misma en este grupo. Finalmente, a la hora de predecir el nivel de logro en la escritura en inglés, las actitudes hacia la escritura resultaron ser más relevantes que la competencia escrita en L1. En suma, la presente tesis contribuye a ampliar el conocimiento sobre el potencial de la tarea de la dictoglosia en Educación Primaria y a informar la práctica docente en esta etapa educativa

Integrating Human Factors with Structured Analysis and Design Methods

Current human factors input to system development is effected through methods, tools and guidelines. Although the input prompts the consideration of human factors concerns during system design, reports have highlighted inadequacies with respect to the scope, granularity, format and timing of the contributions, e.g. Smith, 1986; Chapanis and Burdurka, 1990; Sutcliffe, 1989; etc. The thesis argues that such problems are obviated if design needs of both Software Engineering and Human Factors are appropriately represented within an overall system design cycle. Intersecting concerns may then be identified for explicit accommodation by the design agenda. To derive an overall design cycle, current conceptions for the individual disciplines should be examined. Since these conceptions are expressed at a lower level as methods, an overall design cycle may be instantiated more specifically by integrating compatible methods from the two disciplines. Methodological integration is desirable as design inter-dependencies and roles may be defined explicitly. More effective inter-disciplinary communication may also accrue from the use of a common set of notations. Methodological integration is facilitated if the design scope, process and notation of individual methods are well defined. Such characteristics are found in a class of Software Engineering methods commonly referred to as structured analysis and design methods. Unfortunately, the same are not currently to be found for human factors since its methods are generally unstructured and focus only on later design stages. 1 Thus, a pre-requisite for integration is the derivation of a reasonably complete and structured human factors method. Since well developed Software Engineering methods already exist, it would be appropriate (for the purposes of methodological integration) to structure human factors methods around specific structured analysis and design methods. The undertaking is exemplified by the present research for the Jackson System Development method. In other words, the scope of the thesis comprises the derivation, test and integration of a structured human factors method with the Jackson System Development method. In conclusion, the research contributes to the Human Factors discipline in two respects. Firstly, it informs the research community on how similar work with other structured analysis and design methods may be set up. Secondly, it offers designers an extended Jackson System Development method that facilitates the incorporation of human factors during system development

Static Analysis of Concurrent Programs Based on Behavioral Type Systems

The strength of program static analysis techniques lies on its ability to detect faulty behaviors prior to the execution. This ability requires that the analysis process foresees any possible runtime scenario. A task which is even more complex in the case of concurrent programs, because of the number of alternatives introduced by the usual nondeterminism. In this particular case, some of the most common faulty behaviors are those about erroneous usage of resources, presence of deadlocks and data race conflicts. Behavioral type systems for programming languages provide a strong mechanism for reasoning on programs actions at static time. In this thesis we discuss two static analysis techniques based on this approach. The first one, targets the resource usage in an ad-hoc language with full-fledged operations for acquiring and releasing virtual machines. The second one, targets the deadlock analysis of Java programs. In both cases we provide a formal proof of correctness, along with prototype implementations that allow practically to test the feasibility of these solutions. These prototypes have also allowed assessing these techniques against others existing in the literature obtaining very encouraging results

THE STRATEGIC RESPONSE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISE SECTOR FIRMS TO THE SINGLE EUROPEAN MARKET - A COMPARATIVE STUDY

The creation of the post-1992 European Single Market represents a significant change in the business environment confronting firms throughout Europe. Although there is an extensive source of literature available on appropriate strategic responses to the Single Market, very few of these writings contain guidance specifically related to the situation facing small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs). The objectives of this study are i) to determine important veu-iables which might influence SME competitiveness, ii) how these may influence SME competitiveness and iii) to identiiy the formal or informal strategic approaches of SME firms responding to the challenge of the Single Market. To achieve these objectives a comparative study has been undertaken across approximately 200 UK and German SME food & drink processing firms. The first phase of the research involves a survey aimed at identifying which national, regional and company-specific variables may influence SME sector competitiveness in the Single European Market envirormient. British firms identify only a small number of crucially important vauriables whereas German respondents identify a much larger number of variables. Variables identified as having an important/very important influence on competitiveness are used in the second survey to determine whether these Eire likely to place firms in a stronger or weaker position on the competitive continuum within the post-1992 environment. UK firms are much more indifferent about competitive advantages and disadvantages compared to their German counterparts. German firms, in contrast, identify a balanced portfolio of disadvantages and advantages. The third survey is aimed at establishing companies' strategic approaches in terms of planning philosophy, market opportunities and internal capabilities. The survey establishes that German firms have a more formalised planning approach. Furthermore, most German SMEs follow a focused differentiation strategy, emphasising premium product performance with distinctive tangible and intangible benefits. At the same time increased emphasis is placed on making production more cost effective and efficient. Given that the identified strategic approach by the German firms appears to be the most appropriate strategic option for Northern European SME firms, it may be concluded that the latter appear to be in a stronger competitive position in the post-1992 environment. In contrast, small UK firms appear to reject the idea of getting actively involved in Single Market activities and continue to pursue domestic market issues. Findings indicate that UK respondents show distinctive gaps in their strategic approach. Hence, it can be anticipated that these firms are in a weaker position to counteract threats to their marketplaces from foreign competitors. A strategic response framework for SME firms is introduced and additional measures are discussed which may assist UK owner/managers to become more involved in formalised strategic plarming. This may lead to a more successful strategic response to the challenges of the Single European Market

Regulation and best practices in public and nonprofit marketing

The volume contains the papers presented during the 9th International Congress of the International Association on Public and Nonprofit Marketing (IAPNM) entitled "Regulation and Best Practices in Public and Nonprofit Marketing". Structured in accordance with the sessions of the mentioned Congress, the volume includes papers and relevant contributions on marketing research development in the public administration, healthcare and social assistance, higher education, local development and, more generally, nonprofit organizations. The social marketing specific issues take an important part of the volume giving the diversity of the approached topics as well as the large number of researchers concerned with this matter. Though of small dimensions, the contents of the sessions dedicated the revival and reinvention of public marketing must be underlined, as well as of the transfer of public marketing best practices to the South-Eastern European states. Publishing this volume represents a term of the interest expressed by over 40 academic and research groups in Europe and other continents with interests in the public and nonprofit marketing field, as well as in other European states’ bodies that develop specific empirical studies