Ce travail présente une architecture logicielle concrète dédiée aux besoins et caractéristiques des systèmes d'Intelligence Ambiante (AmI). Le modèle comportemental proposé, appelé Higher-order Agent (HoA), capture simultanément l'évolution de l'état mental de l'agent ainsi que l'état de son plan d'actions. Les expressions du plan sont écrites et composées en utilisant un langage algébrique formel, nommé AgLOTOS. Les plans sont construits automatiquement et à la volée, comme un système de processus concurrents, déduits des intentions de l'agent et de ses préférences d'exécution. Basé sur une sémantique de plans et d'actions concurrentes, un service de guidance est aussi proposé afin d'assister l'agent dans le choix de ses prochaines exécutions. Cette guidance permet d'améliorer la satisfaction des intentions de l'agent au regard des plans concurrents possibles et en fonction du contexte actuel de l'agent. La "localité" et le "temps" étant considérés comme des informations contextuelles clés dans l'activité de l'agent, nous les prenons en compte au travers de deux fonctions utilitaires originales conçues à partir des expériences des exécutions d'action et pouvant être combinées suivant les préférences stratégiques de l'agent. La structure compositionnelle des expressions AgLOTOS est mise à profit pour permettre des révisions ciblées du plan de l'agent, Les révisions des sous-plans sont donc réalisées automatiquement en fonction des mises à jour apportées aux intentions, tout en maintenant la consistance du comportement de l'agent. Un cas d'étude est développé afin de montrer comment l'agent peut agir, même s'il subit des changements inattendus de son contexte, en fonction de ses expériences passées qui révèlent certains cas de d'échecs. / This work presents a concrete software architecture dedicated to ambient intelligence (AmI) features and requirements. The proposed behavioral model, called Higher-order Agent (HoA) captures the evolution of the mental representation of the agent and the one of its plan simultaneously. Plan expressions are written and composed using a formal algebraic language, namely AgLOTOS, so that plans are built automatically and on the fly, as a system of concurrent processes. Due to the compositional structure of AgLOTOS expressions, the updates of sub-plans are realized automatically accordingly to the revising of intentions, hence maintaining the consistency of the agent. Based on a specific semantics, a guidance service is also proposed to assist the agent in its execution. This guidance allows to improve the satisfaction of the agent's intentions with respect to the possible concurrent plans and the current context of the agent. Adopting the idea that "location" and "time" are key stones information in the activity of the agent, we show how to enforce guidance by ordering the different possible plans. As a major contribution, we demonstrate two original utility functions that are designed from the past-experiences of the action executions, and that can be combined accordingly to the current balance policy of the agent. A use case scenario is developed to show how the agent can act, even if it suffers from unexpected changes of contexts, it does not have many experiences and whose past experiences reveals some failure cases.

This paper deals with artificial life simulation by means of artificial BDI agents.This work aims to create a virtual world, to which agents are put. In system, there is 5 kinds of agents. Agent father, who rules and synchronizes the system. Next are agent worker, salesman, cop and thief. Model of the system is created by use of Prometheus methodology. The system is programed in the Jason language, which is implementation of AgentSpeak language.

La validité et la fidélité d'une traduction en langue française de l'Inventaire d'épuisement professionnel de Maslach et Jackson (1986) (MBI) est étudiée. Les trois premières études portent sur 260 éducatrices en garderie et 123 infirmières qui ont rempli des questionnaires dont le MBI. Les résultats appuient la consistance interne, la stabilité temporelle, la validité factorielle, la validité de convergence et la validité hypothético-déductive. De plus, 6,9% des éducatrices ont développé des symptômes sérieux d'épuisement professionnel sur un intervalle d'un an. La quatrième étude a été effectuée auprès de 219 éducatrices en garderie qui ont répondus au MBI et à une version abrégée du BDI et les ont retournés par la poste. L'analyse factorielle des items du MBI et du BDI a démontré que les items saturent sur des facteurs distincts, suggérant que le MBI évalue une symptomatologie différente de celle mesurée par le BDI. Les résultats appuient l'utilisation du MBI comme outil d'évaluation d'un état non clinique d'épuisement professionnel.

En el moment en què els ballarins pateixen una lesió l'atenció dels professionals de la medicina de la dansa se centra prioritàriament en els aspectes físics del tractament i de la recuperació. Amb tot, la lesió sovint té conseqüències pel que fa a les funcions psicològiques. L'objectiu d'aquesta recerca de tipus exploratori, de disseny empíric, transversal, descriptiu i correlacional/causal és conèixer les respostes emocionals davant la lesió de ballarins lesionats de dansa mesurant depressió, desesperança, estat emocional i estratègies d'afrontament. Per això, es varen administrar el POMS, BDI-II, BHS i CHIP, a més d'un qüestionari sobre els factors associats a la lesió, a una mostra de 94 ballarins lesionats a Nova York. Els resultats més destacats assenyalen que el 31,9% dels ballarins va presentar una simptomatologia de depressió en les categories de lleu, moderat i sever en el BDI-II i un 42,9% d'ells desesperança. Quant al perfil de l'estat d'ànim (POMS), constatem una tendència a nivells elevats de tensió i confusió, seguits de depressió, fatiga i hostilitat. El vigor destaca per la seva absència. Les estratègies d'afrontament utilitzades inclouen l'afrontament instrumental i el de distracció, mentre que tendeixen a no utilitzar en la mateixa mesura estratègies pal·liatives. Pel que fa a d'altres factors associats cal destacar, en primer lloc, les preocupacions econòmiques com a factor que pot arribar a ser un impediment a l'hora d'obtenir tractament mèdic i/o psicològic. En segon lloc, en relació a les conductes dels ballarins és rellevant que el 64,8% va continuar ballant malgrat la lesió, i que el 31,9% va cuidar la lesió per sí mateix, sense cap ajut mèdic. Finalment, pel que fa al suport i l'ajuda que pot oferir un psicòleg especialitzat en dansa, els ballarins valoren positivament les tècniques de relaxació, i el seu suport davant les respostes emocionals davant les lesions, així com en la transició psicosocial de la carrera de ballarí. / En el momento en que los bailarines sufren una lesión la atención de los profesionales de la medicina de la danza se centra prioritariamente en los aspectos físicos del tratamiento y de la recuperación. Sin embargo, la lesión tiene a menudo consecuencias sobre las funciones psicológicas. El objetivo de esta investigación de tipo exploratorio, de diseño empírico, transversal, descriptivo y correlacional/causal es conocer las respuestas emocionales en bailarines lesionados midiendo depresión, desesperanza, estado emocional y estrategias de afrontamiento. Para ello, se administraron el POMS, BDI-II, BHS y CHIP, además de un cuestionario sobre los factores asociados a la lesión, a una muestra de 94 bailarines lesionados en Nueva York. Los resultados más destacados señalan que el 31,9% de los bailarines presentó una sintomatología de depresión en las categorías de leve, moderado y severo en el BDI-II y un 42,9% de ellos desesperanza. En cuanto al perfil del estado de ánimo (POMS), constatamos una tendencia a niveles elevados de tensión y confusión, seguidos de depresión, fatiga y hostilidad. El vigor destaca por su bajas puntuaciones. Las estrategias de afrontamiento empleadas incluyen el afrontamiento instrumental y el de distracción, mientras que tienden a no utilizar en la misma medida estrategias paliativas. En cuanto a otros factores asociados es importante destacar, en primer lugar, las preocupaciones económicas como factor que puede llegar ser un impedimento para obtener tratamiento médico y/o psicológico. En segundo lugar, en relación con las conductas de los bailarines cabe destacar que el 64,8% continuó bailando aún estando lesionado, y que el 31,9% cuidó la lesión por sí mismo. Finalmente, en cuanto al apoyo y la ayuda que puede ofrecer un psicólogo especializado en danza, los bailarines valoran positivamente las técnicas de relajación, y su apoyo ante las respuestas emocionales ante las lesiones, así como en la transición psicosocial después de la carrera de bailarín. / When dancers are injured dance medicine professionals focus their attention primarily on the physical aspects of treatment and recovery. However, injuries usually have an impact on the individual's psychological functions as well. The objective of this exploratory study, of experimental, transversal, descriptive and correlational/causal design, is to know the emotional responses towards injury in injured dancers measuring depression, hopelessness, emotional state and coping strategies. In order to do that, the POMS, BDI-II, BHS and CHIP were administered, together with a questionnaire regarding injury-associated factors, to a sample of 94 injured dancers in New York. As for the results, 31.9% of the dancers showed depression symptomatology in the categories mild, moderate and severe in the BDI-II and 42.9 of them showed hopelessness. Regarding the profile of mood states (POMS), results show a tendency towards high levels of tension and confusion, followed by depression, fatigue and hostility. Vigor stands out due to its low scores. The coping strategies used include instrumental and distraction, while not using palliative strategies in the same degree. Regarding other injury-associated factors it is important to note, firstly, the dancers' economical worries as a factor that can even prevent them from accessing medical and/or psychological treatment. Secondly, as regards dancers' behavior, 64.8% of them continued dancing despite being injured, and that 31.9% took care of their injuries themselves, without any professional medical help. Finally, regarding the support and help a dance psychologist can provide, dancers considered positive the relaxation techniques, and their support when emotionally responding to injuries as well as in the psychosocial transition at the end of their professional career.

The BDI agent architecture includes a plan library containing pre-de ned plans. The plan library is included in the agent architecture to reduce the need for expensive means-end reasoning, however can hinder the agent's e ectiveness when operating in a changing environment. Existing research on integrating di erent planning methods into the BDI agent to overcome this limitation include HTNs, state-space planning and Graphplan. Genetic Algorithms (GAs) have not yet been used for this purpose. This dissertation investigates the feasibility of using GAs as a plan modi cation mechanism for BDI agents. It covers the design of a plan structure that can be encoded into a binary string, which can be operated on by the genetic operators. The e ectiveness of the agent in a changing environment is compared to an agent without the GA plan modification mechanism. The dissertation shows that GAs are a feasible plan modification mechanism for BDI agents. / Information Science

Cette thèse vise à améliorer la conception des systèmes multi-agents, par l'étude et la modélisation des capacités humaines de planification et d'interaction. Elle s'appuie sur une expérimentation psychologique durant laquelle des sujets humains avaient à résoudre un problème de planification en connaissances incomplètes.<br /><br />Les protocoles collectés au cours de cette expérimentation ont été analysés du point de vue de la planification et du point de vue des interactions. Ainsi, un modèle de la planification humaine et un modèle de l'interaction humaine ont pu être conçus.<br /><br />Ces deux modèles sont intégrés de façon homogène à une nouvelle architecture d'agent appelée BDIGGY. Parmi les modèles d'agents existants, le modèle BDI (Belief, Desire, Intention) offre un cadre intéressant pour la conception d'agents délibératifs capables de planifier et<br />d'interagir selon leurs états mentaux. Ainsi, l'architecture BDIGGY est née d'une fusion entre le système IGGY (un système pré-existant de planification humaine) et une architecture BDI étendue à la résolution coopérative de problèmes.<br /><br />Le modèle de l'interaction humaine introduit dans BDIGGY est sur deux niveaux :<br />1. il s'appuie sur la théorie des actes de langage pour modéliser les énoncés, à l'aide d'un ensemble de performatives (comme c'est le cas dans les ACL classiques) appliquées à des états mentaux ;<br />2. il utilise un modèle du discours, représenté par des automates temporisés, pour décrire la dynamique des conversations humaines, en remplacement des protocoles de communication jugés trop rigides.<br /><br />Les niveaux de l'énoncé et du discours sont liés par une sémantique des performatives. Cette sémantique décrit les pré-conditions et les post-conditions portant sur les états mentaux des agents, à la réception et à l'envoi de messages.<br /><br />Dans BDIGGY, l'interaction, la planification et les connaissances s'entrelacent grâce auxconcepts BDI.<br />L'architecture BDIGGY est validée en comparant au cours d'un test "à la Turing", les protocoles expérimentaux provenant de l'expérimentation psychologique et les protocoles générés par des agents BDIGGY, durant une simulation de la résolution du problème.

<p>HIV and AIDS are disease conditions that have led to high mortality rates in Southern Africa since the late 1970s. The socio-economic system has led to the unequal spread of resources&rsquo / and vulnerability and exposure to HIV is more prevalent in poorer communities. The added burden of life stresses cause for many to be isolated and stigmatised and are often not equipped with the necessary support and coping skills to deal with the magnitude of these circumstances. There is a high prevalence of mental disorders and especially depression amongst individuals infected with either HIV or AIDS. Research shows that stressful life events can impact HIV course progression and impacts the QoL of those infected with HIV or AIDS. Given the social and psychological context of HIV and AIDS, the aim of the study was to examine the relationship between depression and QoL in a sample of adults diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. This quantitative, cross-sectional study used the Becks Depression Inventory II (BDI II) and the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q), to measure the variables concerned. This battery of&nbsp / questionnaires was administered to a purposive sample of adult individuals diagnosed with HIV or AIDS residing in a previously disadvantaged area in the Cape Metropole region. Using SPSS,&nbsp / data was analysed and descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted. The study found that there were more women than men with HIV or AIDS that were found to be depressed (mild, moderate and severe depression). Furthermore, the depressive state increased when the progression of the disease increased. There were generally no significant differences in the QoL&nbsp / experienced within various areas of life and overall life satisfaction experienced. However, the QoL experienced in work was lower. There was a significant relationship between the depressed state and QoL and life satisfaction experienced in household duties and tasks. The contribution of this study includes informing the larger research project, with regards to future treatment&nbsp / regimes. It will update statistics on the prevalence of depression and QoL of adults diagnosed with HIV or AIDS in the area. This study is framed within a biopsychosocial model and is&nbsp / theoretically underpinned by Beck&rsquo / s theory of depression. Key words: HIV, AIDS, adults, depression, quality of life (QoL), Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI II), Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q), Antiretrovirals (ARV&rsquo / s), prevalence data, correlations.</p>

<p>HIV and AIDS are disease conditions that have led to high mortality rates in Southern Africa since the late 1970s. The socio-economic system has led to the unequal spread of resources&rsquo / and vulnerability and exposure to HIV is more prevalent in poorer communities. The added burden of life stresses cause for many to be isolated and stigmatised and are often not equipped with the necessary support and coping skills to deal with the magnitude of these circumstances. There is a high prevalence of mental disorders and especially depression amongst individuals infected with either HIV or AIDS. Research shows that stressful life events can impact HIV course progression and impacts the QoL of those infected with HIV or AIDS. Given the social and psychological context of HIV and AIDS, the aim of the study was to examine the relationship between depression and QoL in a sample of adults diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. This quantitative, cross-sectional study used the Becks Depression Inventory II (BDI II) and the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q), to measure the variables concerned. This battery of&nbsp / questionnaires was administered to a purposive sample of adult individuals diagnosed with HIV or AIDS residing in a previously disadvantaged area in the Cape Metropole region. Using SPSS,&nbsp / data was analysed and descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted. The study found that there were more women than men with HIV or AIDS that were found to be depressed (mild, moderate and severe depression). Furthermore, the depressive state increased when the progression of the disease increased. There were generally no significant differences in the QoL&nbsp / experienced within various areas of life and overall life satisfaction experienced. However, the QoL experienced in work was lower. There was a significant relationship between the depressed state and QoL and life satisfaction experienced in household duties and tasks. The contribution of this study includes informing the larger research project, with regards to future treatment&nbsp / regimes. It will update statistics on the prevalence of depression and QoL of adults diagnosed with HIV or AIDS in the area. This study is framed within a biopsychosocial model and is&nbsp / theoretically underpinned by Beck&rsquo / s theory of depression. Key words: HIV, AIDS, adults, depression, quality of life (QoL), Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI II), Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q), Antiretrovirals (ARV&rsquo / s), prevalence data, correlations.</p>

The BDI agent architecture includes a plan library containing pre-defined plans. The plan library is included in the agent architecture to reduce the need for expensive means-end reasoning, however can hinder the agent’s effectiveness when operating in a changing environment. Existing research on integrating different planning methods into the BDI agent to overcome this limitation include HTNs, state-space planning and Graphplan. Genetic Algorithms (GAs) have not yet been used for this purpose. This dissertation investigates the feasibility of using GAs as a plan modification mechanism for BDI agents. It covers the design of a plan structure that can be encoded into a binary string, which can be operated on by the genetic operators. The effectiveness of the agent in a changing environment is compared to an agent without the GA plan modification mechanism. The dissertation shows that GAs are a feasible plan modification mechanism for BDI agents. / Information Science

O rápido crescimento das regiões urbanas tem impacto significativo nos sistemas de tráfego e transportes. Políticas de gerenciamento e estratégias de planejamento alternativas são claramente necessárias para o tratamento da capacidade limitada, e cada vez mais deficitária, das redes viárias. O conceito de Sistemas Inteligentes de Transportes (ITS) surge neste cenário; mais do que procurar aumentar a capacidade por meio de modificações físicas na infraestrutura, sua premissa baseia-se na utilização de tecnologias avançadas de comunicação e computação para melhor gerir os recursos de tráfego e transportes atuais. Influenciar o padrão do comportamento dos usuários é um desafio que tem estimulado muita pesquisa na área de ITS, onde fatores humanos passam a ter grande importância na modelagem, simulação e avaliação dessa abordagem inovadora. Este trabalho tem como foco a utilização de Sistemas Multiagentes (MAS) na representação dos sistemas de tráfego e transporte, com base nas novasmedidas de desempenho impostas pelas tecnologias ITS. As características de agentes têm grande potencial para representar componentes geográfica e funcionalmente distribuídos, como a maioria dos elementos no domínio da aplicação. Uma arquitetura BDI (beliefs, desires, intentions) é apresentada como alternativa a modelos tradicionais, usados para representar o comportamento do motorista em simulação microscópica, considerando-se a representação explícita dos estados mentais dos usuários. Os conceitos básicos de ITS e MAS são apresentados, assim como exemplos de aplicações relacionados com o tema do trabalho. Esta foi a motivação para a extensão de um simulador microscópico existente, no sentido de incorporar as características dos MAS para melhorar a representação dos motoristas. Assim, a demanda é gerada a partir de uma população de agentes, resultando da decisão sobre a rota e o tempo de partida ao longo de vários dias. O modelo estendido, que passa a suportar a interação de motoristas BDI, foi efetivamente implementado e foram executados diferentes experimentos para testar a abordagem em cenários de tráfego urbano. MAS permite uma abordagem direcionada a processos que facilita a construção de representações modulares, robustas, e extensíveis, características pouco presentes em abordagens voltadas ao resultado. Suas premissas de abstração permitem uma associação direta entre modelo e implementação. Incerteza e variabilidade são assim tratadas de maneira mais intuitiva, uma vez que arquiteturas cognitivas permitem uma fácil representação do comportamento humano na estrutura do motorista. Desta forma, MAS estende a simulação microscópica de tráfego no sentido de melhor representar a complexidade inerente às tecnologias ITS. / The rapid growth of urban areas has a significant impact on traffic and transportation systems. New management policies and planning strategies are clearly necessary to cope with the more than ever limited capacity of existing road networks. The concept of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) arises in this scenario; rather than attempting to increase road capacity by means of physical modifications to the infrastructure, the premise of ITS relies on the use of advanced communication and computer technologies to handle today’s traffic and transportation facilities. Influencing users’ behaviour patterns is a challenge that has stimulated much research in the ITS field, where human factors start gaining great importance to modelling, simulating, and assessing such an innovative approach. This work is aimed at using Multi-agent Systems (MAS) to represent the traffic and transportation systems in the light of the new performance measures brought about by ITS technologies. Agent features have good potentialities to represent those components of a system that are geographically and functionally distributed, such as most components in traffic and transportation. A BDI (beliefs, desires, and intentions) architecture is presented as an alternative to traditional models used to represent the driver behaviour within microscopic simulation allowing for an explicit representation of users’ mental states. Basic concepts of ITS and MAS are presented, as well as some application examples related to the subject. This has motivated the extension of an existing microscopic simulation framework to incorporate MAS features to enhance the representation of drivers. This way demand is generated from a population of agents as the result of their decisions on route and departure time, on a daily basis. The extended simulation model that now supports the interaction of BDI driver agents was effectively implemented, and different experiments were performed to test this approach in commuter scenarios. MAS provides a process-driven approach that fosters the easy construction of modular, robust, and scalable models, characteristics that lack in former result-driven approaches. Its abstraction premises allow for a closer association between the model and its practical implementation. Uncertainty and variability are addressed in a straightforward manner, as an easier representation of humanlike behaviours within the driver structure is provided by cognitive architectures, such as the BDI approach used in this work. This way MAS extends microscopic simulation of traffic to better address the complexity inherent in ITS technologies.