Improving the Performance of Database-Centric Applications Through Program Analysis

Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2016-09-30 09:55:51.506

Análisis de los sistemas de información en la productividad de la empresa Belta Ltda.

Los sistemas y la tecnología de información han sido una pieza clave en las organizaciones, estos buscan lograr un equilibrio junto con las estrategias empresariales, ya que de esta manera las empresas estarían en mejores condiciones para enfrentar los desafíos del mercado. (Morantes Leal y Miraidy Elena, 2007)1. Para abordar este tema, hemos decidido realizar un análisis de un sistema de información aplicado en la empresa Belta Ltda. para determinar la relación que existe entre la productividad y el uso de los sistemas empresariales. La información de este análisis está compuesta por 6 capítulos divididos de la siguiente manera: En el primer capítulo se muestra una introducción de los sistemas de información empresarial, la importancia del uso de las tecnologías, además se describe los objetivos de esta investigación, el alcance y vinculación de este proyecto con la línea de investigación de la escuela de administración de la universidad del Rosario. En el segundo capítulo se presenta el marco teórico; la descripción de los tipos de sistemas de información, y las metodologías utilizadas para la evaluación del uso de las tecnologías. Enseguida se describe la metodología utilizada para llevar a cabo esta investigación y las herramientas utilizadas para este caso de estudio en el capítulo tres. En el cuarto capítulo se muestra una descripción de la empresa, el organigrama, el entorno general del negocio, y se desarrolla la aplicación del documento guía; el modelo integral 5d`s, que consiste en realizar diferentes diagnósticos para determinar cómo se encuentra la empresa a nivel interno y externo. Finalmente, según el análisis y resultados obtenidos con esta investigación, se dan unas conclusiones finales y se proponen unas recomendaciones para la empresa en los últimos capítulos.

Pacote de sincronização de réplicas de bases de dados

A replicação de base de dados tem como objectivo a cópia de dados entre bases de dados distribuídas numa rede de computadores. A replicação de dados é importante em várias situações, desde a realização de cópias de segurança da informação, ao balanceamento de carga, à distribuição da informação por vários locais, até à integração de sistemas heterogéneos. A replicação possibilita uma diminuição do tráfego de rede, pois os dados ficam disponíveis localmente possibilitando também o seu acesso no caso de indisponibilidade da rede. Esta dissertação baseia-se na realização de um trabalho que consistiu no desenvolvimento de uma aplicação genérica para a replicação de bases de dados a disponibilizar como open source software. A aplicação desenvolvida possibilita a integração de dados entre vários sistemas, com foco na integração de dados heterogéneos, na fragmentação de dados e também na possibilidade de adaptação a várias situações. ABSTRACT: Data replication is a mechanism to synchronize and integrate data between distributed databases over a computer network. Data replication is an important tool in several situations, such as the creation of backup systems, load balancing between various nodes, distribution of information between various locations, integration of heterogeneous systems. Replication enables a reduction in network traffic, because data remains available locally even in the event of a temporary network failure. This thesis is based on the work carried out to develop an application for database replication to be made accessible as open source software. The application that was built allows for data integration between various systems, with particular focus on, amongst others, the integration of heterogeneous data, the fragmentation of data, replication in cascade, data format changes between replicas, master/slave and multi master synchronization.

Improving understandability in consumer health information search: Uevora @ 2016 fire chis

This paper presents our work at 2016 FIRE CHIS. Given a CHIS query and a document associated with that query, the task is to classify the sentences in the document as relevant to the query or not; and further classify the relevant sentences to be supporting, neutral or opposing to the claim made in the query. In this paper, we present two different approaches to do the classification. With the first approach, we implement two models to satisfy the task. We first implement an information retrieval model to retrieve the sentences that are relevant to the query; and then we use supervised learning method to train a classification model to classify the relevant sentences into support, oppose or neutral. With the second approach, we only use machine learning techniques to learn a model and classify the sentences into four classes (relevant & support, relevant & neutral, relevant & oppose, irrelevant & neutral). Our submission for CHIS uses the first approach.

SISTEMA DE INFORMACIÓN GEOGRÁFICA PARA LA GESTIÓN DE RECURSOS HÍDRICOS

Este artículo describe la puesta en funcionamiento de una herramienta de información geográfica para la gestión y planificación de recursos hídricos de Cataluña desarrollada mediante plataformas OpenSource. Esta herramienta ha de permitir responder a sucesos extremos como la sequía, facilitando de manera intuitiva y rápida elementos de  evaluación y toma de decisiones. Este Sistema de Información Geográfica (SIG) de gestión de los recursos hídricos se ha  desarrollado para obtener resultados a medida del cliente. Su interfaz ágil y sencilla, su capacidad multiusuario, su alto  rendimiento y escalabilidad y la ausencia de costes de licencia hacen que, con una inversión limitada, se obtenga una amortización muy rápida. Cabe destacar la automatización de procesos sistemáticos, geoprocesos y análisis multicriterio definidos por el cliente, que le permiten ahorrar tiempo y recursos, así como aumentar la productividad.Palabras clave: Sistema de Información Geográfica (SIG), acceso abierto, gestión, agua, automatizaciónAbstractThis article describes the implementation of a geographical information tool developed on an OpenSource platform for the management and planning of water resources in Catalonia. This Geographic Information System (GIS) is designed to deliver fast and intuitive evaluation and decision making criteria in response to extreme events, such as drought. Its strong customization, user friendliness, multiuser capability, performance and scalability, together with its license-free condition, allow for an extremely fast return on investment. The embedded automation of user-defined systemic processes, geo-processes and multi-criteria analyses provide significant time and resource savings and productivity Key Words: Geographic Information System (GIS), Open Source, water supply management, automation

Digital design of an EPC Gen2 controller for enhanced RFID tags

This thesis presents an improvement of the long range battery-less UHF RFID platform for sensor applications which is based on the open source Wireless Identification and Sensing Platform (WISP) project. The purpose of this work is to design a digital logic that performs the RFID EPC gen2 protocol communication, is able to acquire information by sensors and provide an accurate estimation of tag location ensuring low energy consumption. This thesis will describe the hardware architecture on which the digital logic was inserted, the Verilog code developed, the methods by which the digital logic was tested and an explorative study of chip synthesis on Cadence.

Implementazione del Sistema Informativo 3D: sviluppo di un lessico codificato per una funzionale e produttiva comparazione dei dati

Il progetto del dottorato di ricerca ha permesso di estendere il lavoro svolto sul Sistema Informativo 3D del Cantiere della Fontana del Nettuno al fine di definire la struttura concettuale e i relativi contenuti tematici di una piattaforma open source in grado di sviluppare la documentazione di restauro, sia per opere complesse caratterizzate dalla presenza di molti materiali costitutivi, sia per interventi più semplici nel quale preservare memoria e fornire libero accesso ai dati. Il confronto tra il SI del Cantiere della Fontana del Nettuno con le attuali metodologie utilizzate in campo nazionale ed internazionale ha permesso di ampliare i lessici necessari per la documentazione grafica e testuale da effettuare su diverse classi di materiali, creando delle cartelle integrate da combinare in base ai materiali costitutivi delle opere da restaurare. Il lavoro ha permesso la redazione di un lessico specifico per i diversi materiali costitutivi fornendo una banca dati informatizzata di facile consultazione.

Ship performance modelling for least-CO2 emission routes

Decarbonization of maritime transport requires immediate action. In the short term, ship weather routing can provide greenhouse gas emission reductions, even for existing ships and without retrofitting them. Weather routing is based on making optimal use of both envi- ronmental information and knowledge about vessel seakeeping and performance. Combining them at a state-of-the-art level and making use of path planning in realistic conditions can be challenging. To address these topics in an open-source framework, this thesis led to the development of a new module called bateau , and to its combination with the ship routing model VISIR. bateau includes both hull geometry and propulsion modelling for various vessel types. It has two objectives: to predict the sustained speed in a seaway and to estimate the CO2 emission rate during the voyage. Various semi-empirical approaches were used in bateau to predict the ship hydro- and aerodynamical resistance in both head and oblique seas. Assuming that the ship sails at a constant engine load, the involuntary speed loss due to waves was estimated. This thesis also attempted to clarify the role played by the actual representation of the sea state. In particular, the influence of the wave steepness parameter was assessed. For dealing with ships with a greater superstructure, the wind added resistance was also estimated. Numerical experiments via bateau were conducted for both a medium and a large-size container ships, a bulk-carrier, and a tanker. The simulations of optimal routes were carried out for a feeder containership during voyages in the North Indian Ocean and in the South China Sea. Least-CO2 routes were compared to the least-distance ones, assessing the relative CO2 savings. Analysis fields from the Copernicus Marine Service were used in the numerical experiments.

Analysis ot the road barriers maintenance: the Bologna Case Study

This thesis deals with the topic of Road Safety when maintaining its road elements. The aim of the work is the prioritization of maintenance for each barrier that depends on some factors that are related to the topography of the site, deformations, degradation of the composing elements, and the compliance of the barrier installation with the original situation. Based on these components a final coefficient by which the maintenance priority was highlighted, calculated, and associated to each barrier. For easy study and visualization, information was uploaded and processed in a GIS environment, in order to create analyses and choropleth maps. Analyses were exploited by using free and open-source GIS software, namely QGIS. Information on the barriers' features was registered with both on-site and online (i.e., web mapping providers) inspections. With regards to the on-site inspections, a complete geotagged photos database was created, in order to improve the survey. GIS potentialities were fully exploited by applying some geoprocessing tools which allowed deep analyses.

Integration of ROS for the control of industrial robotic systems in a proprietary environment

The paper deals with the integration of ROS, in the proprietary environment of the Marchesini Group company, for the control of industrial robotic systems. The basic tools of this open-source software are deeply studied to model a full proprietary Pick and Place manipulator inside it, and to develop custom ROS nodes to calculate trajectories; speaking of which, the URDF format is the standard to represent robots in ROS and the motion planning framework MoveIt offers user-friendly high-level methods. The communication between ROS and the Marchesini control architecture is established using the OPC UA standard; the tasks computed are transmitted offline to the PLC, supervisor controller of the physical robot, because the performances of the protocol don’t allow any kind of active control by ROS. Once the data are completely stored at the Marchesini side, the industrial PC makes the real robot execute a trajectory computed by MoveIt, so that it replicates the behaviour of the simulated manipulator in Rviz. Multiple experiments are performed to evaluate in detail the potential of ROS in the planning of movements for the company proprietary robots. The project ends with a small study regarding the use of ROS as a simulation platform. First, it is necessary to understand how a robotic application of the company can be reproduced in the Gazebo real world simulator. Then, a ROS node extracts information and examines the simulated robot behaviour, through the subscription to specific topics.

Graph-based Vision-Language Model for Multi-Modal Retrieval of Fashion Products

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the field of fashion industry in different ways. E-commerce retailers exploit their data through AI to enhance their search engines, make outfit suggestions and forecast the success of a specific fashion product. However, it is a challenging endeavour as the data they possess is huge, complex and multi-modal. The most common way to search for fashion products online is by matching keywords with phrases in the product's description which are often cluttered, inadequate and differ across collections and sellers. A customer may also browse an online store's taxonomy, although this is time-consuming and doesn't guarantee relevant items. With the advent of Deep Learning architectures, particularly Vision-Language models, ad-hoc solutions have been proposed to model both the product image and description to solve this problems. However, the suggested solutions do not exploit effectively the semantic or syntactic information of these modalities, and the unique qualities and relations of clothing items. In this work of thesis, a novel approach is proposed to address this issues, which aims to model and process images and text descriptions as graphs in order to exploit the relations inside and between each modality and employs specific techniques to extract syntactic and semantic information. The results obtained show promising performances on different tasks when compared to the present state-of-the-art deep learning architectures.

Analysing Road Barrier using GIS Software: The Case Study of Bologna

The direct attention of this thesis is the maintenance of road elements to improve road safety. The goal of the research is to prioritise maintenance for barriers based on factors such as the terrain of the site, deformations, degradation of the components, and adherence to the original installation. Using these factors, a coefficient is calculated to determine the maintenance priority for each barrier. To ease understanding and visualisation, data was uploaded and processed in a GIS environment to generate analysis and maps. This was done using GIS, a free and open-source GIS software. Information about the features of the barriers was collected through both on-site and online examination. During on-site inspections, a database of geotagged photos was created to aid in the survey. GIS capabilities word fully utilised by using geoprocessing tools for more in-depth analysis.

Preclinical Target Validation Using Patient-derived Cells.

The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) and its clinical, industry and disease-foundation partners are launching open-source preclinical translational medicine studies.

Modelo de inclusão digital para construção do conhecimento em qualidade de vida e atividade fisica

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Educação Física

The Use of Latent Semantic Indexing to Mitigate OCR Effects of Related Document Images

Due to both the widespread and multipurpose use of document images and the current availability of a high number of document images repositories, robust information retrieval mechanisms and systems have been increasingly demanded. This paper presents an approach to support the automatic generation of relationships among document images by exploiting Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR). We developed the LinkDI (Linking of Document Images) service, which extracts and indexes document images content, computes its latent semantics, and defines relationships among images as hyperlinks. LinkDI was experimented with document images repositories, and its performance was evaluated by comparing the quality of the relationships created among textual documents as well as among their respective document images. Considering those same document images, we ran further experiments in order to compare the performance of LinkDI when it exploits or not the LSI technique. Experimental results showed that LSI can mitigate the effects of usual OCR misrecognition, which reinforces the feasibility of LinkDI relating OCR output with high degradation.