Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2004--Aachen.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2004--Jena.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / “Cartas al editor” / Revisión por pares

MOTL/O embodies the MOTL paradigm and models organizational adaptation. We report progress on developing computational tools for systematically altering organizational components. This adds a novel dimension to MOTL (Hexmoor, et.al., 2008). This extension is necessary to allow communities of agents or robots to reconfigure their organizational structure in response to changes in the environment. Traditional approach of a hierarchical command and control (C2) structure is ineffective (Alberts & Hayes, 2003). Recently, an edge organization has been proposed as a more suitable alternative Command and control structure in the current information age, due to its empowerment of the edge members, better shared awareness among all the members in the organization, interoperability and most importantly, agility and adaptability to dynamic situations (Chang, 2005). We will explore principled mechanisms for converting a hierarchical organization to an edge type organization. Other than structural differences, organizations differ in information flow network and information sharing strategies. We move toward a solution for organizational adaptation. Beyond current project, many other types of organizational adaptation are possible and require much further research that we anticipate for our future work. This task will lay the foundation for automatic organizational adaptation. This report begins by outlining related work and background in section 2. In section 3 we

Cette thèse sur travaux, composée de quatre articles, s’intéresse à la dynamique de la diffusion des connaissances entre les acteurs internes d’un pôle de compétitivité français au travers de modélisations multi-agents individu-centrées. Les trois premiers articles constituent un ensemble de réflexions théoriques sur la diffusion inter organisationnelle des connaissances et, comme prolongement, le quatrième article intègre des spécificités d’un pôle de compétitivité. L’article 1 propose une extension dynamique de l’impact de la capacité d’absorption de Sakakibara (2003) et d’Egbetokun et Savin (2012) sur le stock de connaissances d’entreprises partenaires. L’article 2 porte sur des acteurs qui essayent de minimiser le déficit causé par une perception erronée des interactions de deux projets dans lesquels ils investissent régulièrement. Nous avons travaillé sur un grand nombre de décideurs partageant de l’information avec leurs voisins les plus proches. L’article 3 effectue une extension du modèle de l’article 1 en intégrant la mauvaise perception des informations échangées entre acteurs et étudie son impact sur l’accumulation de connaissances. L’article 4, transpose le modèle précédent en y intégrant la notion de confiance et certaines spécificités des pôles de compétitivité. / This thesis, consisting of four articles, deals with the dynamics of the diffusion of knowledge among the internal stakeholders of a French competitiveness cluster through multi-agent modeling. The first three articles are a set of theoretical reflections on inter-organizational knowledge sharing and, as an extension of this, the fourth article includes the specifics of a cluster. Article number 1 provides a dynamic extension of the impact of the absorptive capacity of Sakakibara (2003) and Egbetokun and Savin (2012) on the stock of knowledge of partner companies. Article number 2 focuses on players who try to minimize the deficit caused by a misperception of interactions of two projects in which they invest regularly. It analyzes a large number of decision makers sharing information with their closest neighbors. Article number 3 carries out an extension of the model of article number 1 based on article number 2, incorporating misperception of information exchanged between stakeholders and examines its impact on the accumulation of knowledge. The last article transposes the previous model by incorporating the notion of trust and certain specificities of French competitiveness clusters.

In the past two decades, multi-agent systems (MAS) have emerged as a new paradigm for conceptualizing large and complex distributed software systems. A multi-agent system view provides a natural abstraction for both the structure and the behavior of modern-day software systems. Although there were many conceptual frameworks for using multi-agent systems, there was no well established and widely accepted method for modeling multi-agent systems. This dissertation research addressed the representation and analysis of multi-agent systems based on model-oriented formal methods. The objective was to provide a systematic approach for studying MAS at an early stage of system development to ensure the quality of design. Given that there was no well-defined formal model directly supporting agent-oriented modeling, this study was centered on three main topics: (1) adapting a well-known formal model, predicate transition nets (PrT nets), to support MAS modeling; (2) formulating a modeling methodology to ease the construction of formal MAS models; and (3) developing a technique to support machine analysis of formal MAS models using model checking technology. PrT nets were extended to include the notions of dynamic structure, agent communication and coordination to support agent-oriented modeling. An aspect-oriented technique was developed to address the modularity of agent models and compositionality of incremental analysis. A set of translation rules were defined to systematically translate formal MAS models to concrete models that can be verified through the model checker SPIN (Simple Promela Interpreter). This dissertation presents the framework developed for modeling and analyzing MAS, including a well-defined process model based on nested PrT nets, and a comprehensive methodology to guide the construction and analysis of formal MAS models.

L'imagerie par résonance magnétique est une des méthodes de diagnostic les plus utilisées, aussi bien dans le domaine médical que dans les études précliniques. Cependant, la relaxivité des agents de contraste commerciaux ne représente qu'une fraction de la relaxivité prédite par la théorie et il est nécessaire d'optimiser les différents paramètres dont elle dépend pour atteindre des valeurs de relaxivité plus élevées : nombre de molécules d'eau en première sphère de coordination, vitesse d'échange de l'eau, dynamique de rotation du complexe, relaxation électronique, distance Gd(III)-proton. Dans ce travail, nous présentons la synthèse, la stabilité et la relaxivité des complexes de Gd(III) de deux séries de ligands tripodes dérivés de la 8-hydroxyquinoléine, basés l'une sur une plateforme 1,4,7 triazacyclononane, l'autre sur un pivot azote central. Ces complexes ont montré des stabilités comparables à celles des agents commerciaux, des valeurs de relaxivités élevées dans l'eau ainsi qu'en milieu biologique. L'utilisation de la 8-hydroxyquinoléine comme base des ligands a permis de sensibiliser le Nd(III) et l'Yb(III) pour la luminescence proche infrarouge, ouvrant la possibilité pour le développement de nouveaux systèmes bimodaux. / Magnetic resonance imaging is a commonly used diagnostic method in medicinal practice as well as in biological and preclinical research. However, the relaxivity of commercial contrast agents is only a few percent of the theoretically predicted relaxivity. An optimisation of the different parameters who have an impact on the relaxivity (number of gadolinium bound water molecules, water exchange rate, rotation dynamic of the complex, electronic relaxation, Gd(III)-proton distance) is needed to obtain higher relaxivities. In this work, we present the synthesis, the stability and the relaxivity of the Gd(III) complexes of two series of 8-hydroxyquinolinate-based ligands, one using a 1,4,7 triazacyclononane platform, the other one using a central nitrogen architecture. Theses complexes show stabilities comparable to commercial agents, and high relaxivities in both water and serum. The 8-hydroxyquinolinate moiety allows these ligands to sensitize Nd(III) and Yb(III) for Near Infra Red (NIR) luminescence, leading to a new class of potential bimodal systems.

Uppsatsens syfte var att kritiskt granska olika filosofiska utgångspunkter kring skäl för agerande samt hur skälen rättfärdigas utifrån värden och det goda. Hur trovärdiga och rimliga är argumenten som förs fram om skäl och dess relationen till värden och det goda?Följande filosofers teorier har granskats: Thomas Nagel, Christine Korsgaard samt R Jay Wallace. Jag argumenterar för att skäl för agerande bör vara baserade på goda grunder samt att skäl och värden bör betraktas vara subjektiva och agent-relativa. Nagel är den ende som hävdar att oreducerbara agent-relativa skäl finns, något som bestrids av både Wallace och Korsgaard. Dock menar jag att de båda uttrycker en viss agent-relativitet i sina argument, Korsgaard i ambitioner och Wallace i speciella fall. Samtliga tre bidrar på olika sätt med väsentliga argument om att skäl har ett moraliskt anspråk på agenten oavsett vilken typ av skäl de förespråkar. Dock kan värden omöjligt accepteras eller te sig trovärdiga utifrån Nagels argument om att värden är objektiva och uppstår utan mänsklig involvering. Korsgaard har en viktig poäng och lyckas på ett trovärdigt sätt bidra till förklaringen att värden endast kan uppkomma ur mänskligheten. Ett annat viktigt och relevant argument som belyses av alla tre handlar om hur vi måste förhålla oss till varandra som en förutsättning för det goda. Agent-relativa skäl ter sig som mest trovärdiga då de utgår från agentens förmåga och kapacitet att bedöma moraliska aspekter. Hur vi kommer överens om gemensamma skäl och hur vi delar dem kvarstår som olöst, så därför ter sig delade, publika och agent-neutrala skäl problematiska. / The aim of the thesis was to critically examine different philosophical views regarding reasons for action and how reasons are justified based on values and the good. How credible and reasonable are the arguments and their relation to values and the good? The theories of following philosophers have been examined: Thomas Nagel, Christine Korsgaard and R Jay Wallace. I argue that reasons for actions should be based on solid grounds and that the reasons and values should be considered as subjective and agent-relative. Nagel is the only one who claims that there are irreducible agent-relative reasons and values, something that is disputed by both Korsgaard and Wallace. However, I mean that they both a certain agent-relativity in their arguments, Korsgaard in ambitions and Wallace in special cases.They all contribute with significant arguments about the fact that reasons does have a moral claim on the agent, regardless of the type of reasons they advocate. However, values cannot possibly be accepted or appear credible based on Nagel's argument that the values are objective without human involvement. Korsgaard has an important view and succeeds in a credible way in contributing to the explanation that values can only arise from humanity. Another important and relevant argument, highlighted by all three, is about how we must relate to each other as a prerequisite for the good. Agent-relative reasons appear to be the most credible and are based on the agent's ability and capacity to assess moral aspects when relevant. How we can agree on reasons and share them remains unresolved, therefore shared, public and agent-neutral reasons seem problematic.

v anglickém jazyce The diploma thesis analyzes the institute of participation and focuses on his legal regulation in the Czech republic. Participation is indoubtedly one of the most complicated institute of the criminal law and the legal regulation can be approached in many ways. To find a suitable way of legal regulation is prerequisite to comply with basic principles of criminal law - to protect society from crime. The aim of the diploma thesis is to provide the reader insight into current legal regulation, to draw attention to its shortcomings and to suggest suitable solutions for future legislation. The diploma thesis is divided into for chapters. The first chapter firstly deals with the interpretation of basic terms that are closely related to participation. It also attends to define the term of participation and to analysis two base approaches to the regulation of participation - monistic and dualistic systems. As a part of the analysis of these approaches, a brief excursion into the legal regulation of participation in Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, Austria and Italy is offered. The second chapter focuses on the legal regulation of participation in Czech republic. It firstly clarifies the principle of accessority as the guiding principle of participation, which results from the application...

L'animation et le rendu sont deux domaines de recherche importants dans l'informatique graphique. L'occlusion ambiante (OA) est un moyen très répandu pour simuler l'éclairage indirect. Nous présentons une approche rapide et facile à mettre en œuvre pour l'approximation de l'occlusion ambiante de l'espace d'affichage. On calcule l'OA pour chaque pixel en intégrant les valeurs angulaires des échantillonneurs autour de la position du pixel qui pourrait bloquer l'éclairage ambiant. Nous appliquons une méthode séparable afin de réduire la complexité du calcul. La simulation des rides expressives du visage peut être estimée sans changer l'information géométrique. Nous avons construit un modèle de rides en utilisant une technique graphique qui effectue des calculs seulement dans l'espace d'affichage. Les animations faciales sont beaucoup plus réalistes avec la présence des rides. Nous présentons une méthode de cinématique inverse rapide et facile à mettre en œuvre qui s'appuie sur un modèle masse-ressort et qui repose sur les interactions de forces entre les masses. Les interactions de forces entre les masses peuvent être vues comme un problème de minimisation de l'énergie. Elle offre une très bonne qualité visuelle en haute performance de vitesse. En se basant sur notre méthode d'IK, nous proposons un modèle de synthèse des gestes corporels expressifs intégrés dans notre plateforme d'agents conversationnels. Nous appliquons l'animation de tout le corps enrichi par l'aspect expressif. Ce système offre plus de flexibilité pour configurer la cinématique expressive directe ou indirecte. De façon globale, cette thèse présente notre travail sur le rendu et l'animation en 3D. / Animation and rendering are both important research domains in computer graphics. We present a fast easy-to-implement separable approximation to screen space ambient occlusion.We evaluate AO for each pixel by integrating angular values of samplers around the pixel position which potentially block the ambient lighting.We apply a separable fashion to reduce the complexity of the evaluation. Wrinkle simulation can also be approximated without changing geometry information.We built a wrinkles model by using a modern graphics technique which performs computations only in screen space.With the help of wrinkles, the facial animation can be more realistic. Several factors have been proved, and wrinkles can help to recognize action units with a higher rate. Inverse kinematics (IK) can be used to find the hierarchical posture solutions. We present a fast and easy-to-implement locally physics-based IK method. Our method builds upon a mass-spring model and relies on force interactions between masses. Our method offers convincing visual quality results obtained with high time performance. Base on our IK method, we propose our expressive body-gestures animation synthesis model for our Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA) technology. Our implementation builds upon a full body reach model using a hybrid kinematics solution. Generated animations can be enhanced with expressive qualities.This system offers more flexibility to configure expressive Forward and Inverse Kinematics (FK and IK). It can be extended to other articulated figures. Overall, this thesis presents our work in 3D rendering and animation. Several new approaches have been proposed to improve both the quality and the speed.