Défenses de thèses publiques en mars à la LSM

La thèse examine l’influence des contraintes institutionnelles et des dynamiques organisationnelles au sein de la « fabrique » de l’intégration professionnelle. Dans le but de comprendre l’intrication entre les différents processus en jeu, cette recherche fait dialoguer les théories néo-institutionnelles et la théorie de la régulation sociale, mettant en avant les pressions institutionnelles cadrant les organisations et les choix managériaux, mais également les réactions des acteurs de l’organisation – gestionnaires et travailleurs – par rapport aux règles imposées. Au travers d’une enquête quantitative, d’une analyse documentaire et d’études de cas, cette thèse de doctorat démontre que l’intégration professionnelle est influencée par les contraintes institutionnelles et les processus organisationnels, mais dans une certaine mesure seulement. C’est finalement le jeu des acteurs en présence qui façonne l’intégration professionnelle.

Face au problème universel de l’inégalité d’accès des salariés actifs à la FPC, nous nous interrogeons sur les logiques d’action des acteurs. Les enjeux de justice en la matière se trouvent non seulement sur une proportion importante d’inégalité d’accès, mais la liberté d’action, la question du choix et les relations au travail constituent autant de questions qui touchent aux sphères de justice. Dans cette thèse, nous avons examiné les principes de justification qui ont légitimé l’engagement des acteurs dans cette pratique. Nous nous sommes intéressés également aux mécanismes institutionnels, socioéconomiques et culturels susceptibles d’influencer ces justifications. En partant d’une approche constructiviste et centrée sur les acteurs, nous avons étudié le sens de la justice en matière de FPC des salariés vietnamiens des secteurs manufacturier et universitaire. Les résultats de notre recherche montrent que l’inégalité d’accès en soi, ne constitue pas forcément un problème de justice en matière de FPC. Cette inégalité dissimule la pluralité des critères de justice des personnes concernées.

Based on a comparative analysis of different user interface pattern catalogues, languages, and on the requirements elicited from it, this thesis defines a cross-device pattern as a pattern expecting to capture a general solution to a problem of designing multiple user interfaces of information systems for multiple contexts of use, particularly devices and platforms.A conceptual model of cross-device pattern is defined with its semantics expressed as a UML 2.0 class diagram and its syntax via User Interface Pattern Language Markup Language (UIPLML), a XML-compliant markup language for designing Multiple User Interfaces (MUIs) patterns for multiple contexts of use. To validate UIPLML, four pattern databases offering multi-faceted search have been created. A step-wise method for applying cross-device pattern is defined and applied on a running case study. Three frequently used design patterns, i.e., the Master-and-Details design pattern, the Population Interaction Unit and the Service Interaction Unit of the OO-Method, are then subject to a methodological instantiation. Various software prototypes (i.e., UsiMAD, PaDeRa) have been developed in order to investigate the impact of the method on designers who are responsible for designing multiple user interfaces based on cross-device patterns.

User stories (US) are the most used requirements artifacts within agile methods such as XP and Scrum. They are written in natural language using prose or following a specific template. In practice, many templates have been proposed with no semantic for each syntax used in these templates. Therefore, this thesis has studied US templates with the following structure: As [WHO], I want [WHAT], so that [WHY]. We have proposed a unified model for US templates and provided semantic of each syntax. We have also proposed a goal-based model called Rationale Tree (RT) aiming at analyzing US sets. It allows identifying dependencies between US, Epic US and Themes. In addition, the RT provides a global view of the systems which allows to improve the planning activities, and therefore the development life-cycle of agile methods. As an alternative to RT, we have also proposed a US model based on the Use-Case model that allows US to be used within non-agile projects and fill the gaps between US and Object-Oriented design.

In Europe, orders are submitted to power exchanges to sell or buy substantially large amounts of electricity for the next day. The orders include so-called non-convexities rendering the underlying microeconomic optimization problem `non-convex', departing from more classical assumptions in microeconomic theory. Most of the power exchanges are integrated at a European level under the Price Coupling of Region project. Uniform prices are computed, in the sense that every market participant of a same market segment (location and hour of the day) will pay or receive the same electricity price and no other transfers or payments are considered. This is done at the expense of having some bids "paradoxically rejected" in the market outcome, as for the computed market prices, some bids propose a price which is "good enough" but are yet rejected. It is also at the expense of welfare optimality, as most of the time, no welfare optimal solution can be supported by uniform prices such that no financial losses are incurred. The present thesis proposes mixed integer programming models and algorithms for such non-convex uniform price auctions. In particular, a new bidding product is proposed which generalizes both block orders used in the Central Western Europe Region (France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, etc) or Nord Pool (coupling Northern countries), and, mutatis mutandis, complex orders with a minimum income condition as used in Spain and Portugal.

“The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is probably the most frequently used interaction modality of all interactive systems. While the information contents of these GUIs are of high importance, their presentation is recognized as an essential factor that determines the GUI quality that is impacted by several determinants such as, but not limited to: visual design, aesthetics, pleasurability, arousal, and fun. Consequently, assessing the aesthetic quality of a GUI becomes a potential element to focus on in order to facilitate communication between the end user and her information system. "How to assess user interface aesthetics?" remains a question faced by several researchers and designers during the user interface development life cycle since aesthetics has been demonstrated to positively influence usability, user experience, pleasureability, and trust. Visual techniques borrowed from visual design suggest that the GUI layout could be assessed against a set of visual measures such as balance, symmetry, alignment, and simplicity, to name a few. For each visual technique, a visual measure could be computed based on a mathematical formula that captures the basic elements for each technique. Whereas different formulas exist for computing each visual measure, no consensus exists today on how to consistently evaluate these measures in a way that is aligned with human judgment, which is intrinsically subjective. In order to appropriately assess the aesthetic quality of a GUI of an information system, there is a need to align the machine objectivity based on computerized visual measures to the human subjectivity based on human perception.”