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To create a realistic environment, many simulations require simulated agents with human behavior patterns. Manually creating such agents with realistic behavior is often a tedious and time-consuming task. This dissertation describes a new approach that automatically builds human behavior models for simulated agents by observing human performance. The research described in this dissertation synergistically combines Context-Based Reasoning, a paradigm especially developed to model tactical human performance within simulated agents, with Genetic Programming, a machine learning algorithm to construct the behavior knowledge in accordance to the paradigm. This synergistic combination of well-documented AI methodologies has resulted in a new algorithm that effectively and automatically builds simulated agents with human behavior. This algorithm was tested extensively with five different simulated agents created by observing the performance of five humans driving an automobile simulator. The agents show not only the ability/capability to automatically learn and generalize the behavior of the human observed, but they also capture some of the personal behavior patterns observed among the five humans. Furthermore, the agents exhibited a performance that was at least as good as agents developed manually by a knowledgeable engineer.

Cognitive and behavioral models have become popular methods to create autonomous self-animating characters. Creating these models presents the following challenges: (1) Creating a cognitive or behavioral model is a time intensive and complex process that must be done by an expert programmer (2) The models are created to solve a specific problem in a given environment and because of their specific nature cannot be easily reused. Combining existing models together would allow an animator, without the need of a programmer, to create new characters in less time and would be able to leverage each model's strengths to increase the character's performance, and to create new behaviors and animations. This thesis provides a framework that can aggregate together existing behavioral and cognitive models into an ensemble. An animator only has to rate how appropriately a character performed and through machine learning the system is able to determine how the character should act given the current situation. Empirical results from multiple case studies validate the approach taken.

Managing complexity is an increasing challenge in the development of embedded systems (ES). Some of the factors contributing to the increase in complexity are the growing complexity of hardware and software, and the increased pressure to deliver full-featured products with reduced time-to-market. An attractive approach to manage the software complexity, reduce time-to-market and decrease development costs lies in the adoption of component-based development that has been proven as a successful approach in other domains. Another raising challenge, due to complexity increase, in ES, is predictability, i.e., the ability to anticipate the behavior of a system at run-time. The particular predictability requirements of ES call for a development framework equipped with techniques and tools that can be applied to deal with requirements, such as timing, and resource utilization, already at early-stage of development. Modeling and formal analysis play increasingly important roles in achieving predictability, since they can help us to understand how systems function, validate the design and verify some important properties. In this thesis, we present a resource-aware framework for designing predictable component-based ES. The proposed framework consists of (i) the formally specified ProCom component model that takes into account the characteristics of control-intensive ES, and (ii) the resource-aware timed behavioral language - REMES for modeling and reasoning about components’ and systems’ functional and extra-functional behavior that includes relevant resource types for ES, associated analysis techniques for various resource-wise properties, and a set of associated tools. To demonstrate the potential application of our framework, we present a number of case studies, out of which one is an industrial research prototype, where ProCom and REMES are applied. / PROGRESS

Les progrès constants en miniaturisation des transistors et l’augmentation des fréquences des signaux utilisés sont les principales tendances dans l’évolution des circuits électroniques. Avec ces évolutions apparaissent de nombreux effets indésirables qui perturbent le comportement des systèmes électroniques et sont soupçonnés d’être responsables de la majorité des dégradations de signaux dans les systèmes en haute fréquence. Des retards de propagation indésirables sont ainsi introduits par la présence des interconnexions, et la diaphonie, phénomène dû aux couplages entre lignes d’interconnexions, peut éventuellement provoquer des commutations non désirées des transistors. La prise en compte des interconnexions, dès les premières phases de conception d'un système, est par conséquent devenue une nécessité ces dernières années. Mais la simulation temporelle d’un réseau d’interconnexions est très gourmande en temps de calcul, ce qui impacte la durée globale de conception. Le remplacement des modèles électriques, décrivant précisément les interconnexions, par des modèles plus simples est primordial pour limiter les coûts de calcul. Une méthode de réduction d'ordre des modèles peut alors être employée pour effectuer cette opération efficacement. Le modèle final doit en effet décrire assez précisément certains aspects importants du modèle original et conserver les propriétés importantes du réseau d'interconnexions. Cette démarche permettra aux concepteurs d’effectuer des simulations temporelles rapides et d’étudier les paramètres d’intégrité du signal tel que le retard, le temps de montée, le dépassement….L'objectif de cette thèse est d’établir un nouvel outil de réduction de complexité des modèles de réseaux d'interconnexions. Différentes descriptions initiales des systèmes d'interconnexions sont envisagées : modèles circuits (fonctions de transfert) ou mesures fréquentielles. L’approche développée repose sur l’utilisation des fonctions orthogonales de Müntz-Laguerre et de Kautz afin de décrire mathématiquement, de manière précise, le système d'origine. Un opérateur linéaire, lié à ces fonctions de base, est ensuite appliqué pour déterminer un modèle rationnel de moindre complexité. La technique proposée est comparée à d'autres méthodes de la littérature d’abord sur des exemples académiques. Tout le potentiel de la méthode est ensuite illustré par sa mise en œuvre sur des réseaux d'interconnexions. / The ongoing progress in transistor miniaturization and a continuous frequency increase are the main trends in the present day evolution of electronic circuits. A number of undesired effects are intrinsic to these developments and are suspected to be responsible for most of the flawed signals present in high frequency systems. Parasitic delays are thus introduced by the presence of interconnect lines and crosstalk due to coupling may lead to undesired switching events in transistor circuits. Accounting for the presence of interconnect lines, at a very early stage in the design flow has become unavoidable in recent years. However, time domain simulations of massively coupled interconnect networks may be computationally costly and have a tremendous impact on the overall duration of the design process. Replacing complex, high order circuit models by more compact surrogates is thus necessary. Model order reduction is an effective way to derive such surrogates. The final model must mimic certain aspects of the original model with sufficient accuracy and preserve the interconnect network’s most important properties. This approach enables designers to account for the undesired effects of interconnect lines such as, delays, rise-times and overshoots while maintaining the overall duration of time-domain simulations within acceptable limits. The aim of this thesis is to create a new model order reduction tool applicable to complex interconnect networks. Different initial representations were considered – circuit models (transfer functions) or frequency domain measurements. The proposed approach uses orthogonal basis functions such as Müntz-Laguerre and Kautz to build an accurate mathematical representation of the original system .A linear operator, related to these functions, is subsequently used to derive a simplified model. The technique is first compared to other approaches using examples available in literature, its full potential being demonstrated on coupled interconnect models.

In this research, a focus is on the development of simplified models to represent the behavior of electric machinery within the time-domain models of power systems. Toward this goal, a generator model is considered in which the states include the machine’s active and reactive power. In the case of the induction machine, rotor slip is utilized as a state and the steady-state equivalent circuit of the machine is used to calculate active and reactive power. The power network model is then configured to accept the generator and induction machine active and reactive power as inputs and provide machine terminal voltage amplitude and angle as outputs. The potential offered by these models is that the number of dynamic states is greatly reduced compared to traditional machine models. This can lead to increased simulation speed, which has potential benefits in model-based control. A potential disadvantage is that the relationship between the reactive power and terminal voltage requires the solution of nonlinear equations, which can lead to challenges when attempting to predict system dynamics in real-time optimal control. In addition, the accuracy of the generator model is greatly reduced with variations in rotor speed. Evaluation of the models is performed by comparing their predictions to those of traditional machine models in which stator dynamics are included and neglected.

Video games have become the largest portion of the entertainment industry and everyday life of millions of players around the world. Considering games as cultural artifacts, it seems imperative to study both games and players to understand underlying psychological and behavioral implications of interacting with this medium, especially since video games are rich domains for occurrence of rich affective experiences annotated by and measurable via in-game behavior. This thesis is a presentation of a series of studies that attempt to model player perception and behavior as well as their psychosocial attributes in order to make sense of interrelations of these factors and implications the findings have for game designers and researchers. In separate studies including survey and in-game telemetry data of millions of players, we delve into reliable measures of player psychological need satisfaction, motivation and generational cohort and cross reference them with in-game behavioral patterns by presenting systemic frameworks for classification and regression. We introduce a measurement of perceived need satisfaction and discuss generational effects in playtime and motivation, present a robust prediction model for ordinally processed motivations and review classification techniques when it comes to playstyles derived from player choices. Additionally, social aspects of play, such as social influence and contagion as well as disruptive behavior, is discussed along with advanced statistical models to detect and explain them. / <p>Note: The papers are not included in the fulltext online</p><p>Vid tidpunkten för disputationen var följande delarbete opublicerat: delarbete I (manuskript).</p><p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following paper was unpublished: paper I (manuscript).</p>

La dépression et les troubles anxieux chroniques constituent une problématique majeure de santé publique et les stratégies pharmacologiques conventionnelles que sont les antidépresseurs apparaissent à la fois souvent d'une inefficacité limitée et potentiellement source d?iatrogénie. Pour mettre au point de nouveaux traitements la modélisation animale demeure une solution de choix pour évaluer les modifications comportementales induites par ces nouvelles molécules. La création de nouvelles modélisations plus performantes apparaît comme un champ d'investigation important afin d'optimiser le rôle de filtre de la recherche préclinique. L'objectif du travail que nous présentons et de proposer des traitements exploitant des nouvelles voies pharmacologiques comme celles interagissant avec les voies opioïdergiques ou présentant des propriétés anti-oxydantes. Les résultats présentés mettent ainsi en lumière à travers le test de la nage forcée chez le rat, les effets antidépresseurs d'un nouvel inhibiteur des enképhalinases, l'opiorphine, et d'un extrait polyphénolique de cacao. Nous présentons secondairement le développement de nouvelles modélisations animales chez le rat afin de mieux appréhender deux types de situations cliniques. Nous proposons d?une part une nouvelle modélisation éthologique de l'anxiété extrême dans laquelle plusieurs traitements de référence (fluoxétine en chronique et en aiguë, imipramine, diazépam et clonazépam) révèlent une efficacité comparable à celle observée en clinique dans le cadre du trouble panique. D'autre part, une modélisation associant une procédure de stress chronique modérée à une carence chronique en donneurs de méthyle (folates notamment) conduit à manifestations comportementales et des modifications neurobiochimiques originales dont le rapprochement avec certaines psychopathologies peut être discuté (dépression mélancolique et trouble panique). Les données que nous présentons sur l'évaluation de nouveaux traitements comme sur la mise au point de nouvelles modélisations posent des bases prometteuses pour la recherche sur les troubles anxio-dépressifs / Depression and chronic anxiety disorders are a major public health problem and conventional pharmacological strategies (antidepressants) appear often ineffective with a iatrogenic potential. In order to develop new treatments, animal models remain a solution of choice for evaluating the behavioral changes induced by these molecules. Creating new models more efficient seems to be a major field of investigation in order to optimize the role of filter of preclinical research. The objective of the work we present here is to propose some treatments exploiting new pharmacological tools like those with interaction with opioidergic pathways or with anti-oxidant properties. The results in the forced swimming test in rats show the antidepressant effects of a novel enkephalinase inhibitor, opiorphin, and of a cocoa polyphenolic extract. Secondarily, we present the development of new animal models in rats to better understand two types of clinical situations. We propose a new ethological model of extreme anxiety in which several reference treatments (chronic and acute fluoxetine, imipramine, diazepam and clonazepam) showed an efficacy comparable to that observed in panic disorder. On the other hand, a modeling procedure combining chronic mild stress to a chronic deficiency of methyl donors (folates in particular) leads to behavioral manifestations and neurobiochemical changes whose similarity with certain psychopathologies can be discussed (melancholic depression and panic disorder). The evaluation of new treatments and the development of new models set the foundations for promising research on anxiety-depressive disorders

Les travaux de cette thèse s’inscrivent dans un projet de grande envergure, le projet 3D-IDEAS, financé par l’ANR. Le but de ce projet est d’établir la chaîne complète de l’intégration de circuits en technologie 3D. Les densités de puissance dans ces circuits sont telles que les problèmes liés à la température – électromigration, désappariement des courants et tensions de polarisation, etc. – sont susceptibles de remettre en cause la conception du circuit. Le coût élevé de la fabrication de ces circuits oblige le concepteur à valider le comportement électrothermique des circuits préalablement à l’envoi en fabrication. Pour répondre à ce besoin, un simulateur électrothermique précis et fiable doit être à disposition. En outre, en raison de la complexité extrême de ces circuits, il est judicieux que ce simulateur soit compatible avec l’approche de modélisation haut niveau. L’objectif de cette thèse est de développer un tel simulateur. La solution proposée intègre ce simulateur dans un environnement de développement CAO pour circuit intégré standard, Cadence®. La contrainte sur la précision des résultats nous a amené à développer une nouvelle méthodologie spécifique à la modélisation électrothermique haut-niveau. Ce manuscrit comporte deux grandes parties. Dans la première, la démarche adoptée pour concevoir le simulateur est détaillée. Ensuite, dans la seconde partie, le fonctionnement du simulateur ainsi que la méthode de modélisation haut-niveau mise en place sont présentées, puis validées. / The work of this thesis is part of a larger project, the project 3D-IDEAS, funded by the ANR. The purpose of this project is to establish the complete chain of integrated circuits built upon 3D technology. Power densities in these circuits are exacerbated, thus problems related to temperature, such as electromigration, mismatch of bias currents and voltages, etc., arise and might have critical effects on the circuit behavior. The high cost of these circuits requires the designer to validate the electro-thermal behavior of circuits prior to manufacturing. To meet this need, an accurate and reliable electro-thermal simulator should be available. Moreover, due to the extreme complexity of these circuits, it is wise for such a simulator to be compliant with high level modeling approach. The objective of this thesis is to develop such a simulator. The proposed solution integrates the simulator in the broadly used CAD environment for integrated circuits Cadence®. The need of accurate results led us to develop a new methodology specific to high level electro-thermal modeling. This manuscript is split in two major parts. In the first one, the approach to implement the simulator is detailed. Then, in the second part, the operation principle of the simulator and the modeling method implementation are detailed and validated.

Le travail présenté dans ce manuscrit a pour objet l’étude et le développement d’un banc de caractérisation généraliste appliqué à l’extraction du modèle comportemental d’amplificateur TPM-NIM (Two-Path Memory Nonlinear Integral). Ce modèle qui dispose d’une des architectures les plus abouties au laboratoire XLIM requiert une instrumentation microonde haut de gamme, très onéreuse, hors de portée de la majorité des concepteurs pour sa mise en œuvre expérimentale. L’objectif est donc de proposer des principes de mesure originaux permettant d’identifier le modèle TPM-NIM avec une instrumentation standard. Dans ces travaux, deux bancs sont présentés : tout d’abord, un banc de caractérisation développé autour d’une instrumentation de pointe disposant des meilleures propriétés pour extraire le modèle. Puis, un banc construit autour d’une instrumentation standard mais incluant des méthodes de traitement et de mesure novatrices. Ces deux bancs ont été utilisés avec plusieurs véhicules de tests et il ressort que le second permet de diminuer le bruit des mesures de phase tout en réduisant le coût total des équipements. Enfin, une dernière partie est consacrée à la comparaison du modèle TPM-NIM avec deux modèles comportementaux classiques mettant en avant sa polyvalence. / The work presented in this manuscript is devoted to the study and development of a general characterization bench applied to the extraction of the TPM-NIM (Two-Path Memory Nonlinear Integral) amplifier behavioral model. This model, has one of the most advanced architectures at the XLIM laboratory. It requires a high-end microwave instrumentation, overpriced and beyond reach for most of the designers for its experimental implementation. The aim is to propose some original measurements principles allowing the TPM-NIM model’s identification with a standard instrumentation. Two benches are presented in these works : firstly, a characterization bench, developed using a high performance instrumentation with the best properties to extract the model. Then, a bench, built with a standard instrumentation but through innovative processing and measurement methods. These two benches have been used with several test vehicles and it appears that the second one decreases the noise of phase measurements while reducing the equipment’s total cost. Finally, a last part is dedicated to the comparison of the TPM-NIM model with two classic behavioral models by emphasizing its versatility.