Plan recognition in cooperative or adversarial situations requires the ability to reason with beliefs. The problem is complicated in adversarial situations because an opponent may employ deception. In this case, an agent must also be able to reason about an opponent's beliefs (nested beliefs) as well as his own beliefs. A system has been developed that permits agents to reason with nested beliefs using possible worlds semantics; consistency maintenance is employed to allow agents to revise their beliefs when an inconsistency occurs. The advantages over prior systems are that belief revision occurs without user interaction and that beliefs are treated as objects having equal status with facts; this permits complex interaction between beliefs and actions. The theory includes treatment of many areas necessary to create a system of multiple autonomous reasoning agents. These agents are given the ability to deceive each other and to predict when they are being deceived. The system is shown to be practical by its implementation in a simulation. / Master of Science

Yes / The aim of this research is to synthesise findings from previous studies by employing weight and meta-analysis to reconcile conflicting evidence and draw a “big picture” of eWOM factors influencing consumers’ intention to buy. By using the findings from 69 studies, this research identified best (e.g. argument quality, valence, eWOM usefulness, trust in message), promising (e.g. eWOM credibility, emotional trust, attitude towards website) and least effective (e.g. volume, existing eWOM, source credibility) predictors of intention to buy in eWOM research. Additionally, the effect size of each predictor was calculated by performing meta-analysis. For academics, understanding what influences consumers’ intention to buy will help set the agenda for future research directions; for practitioners, it will provide benefit in terms of practical guidance based on detailed analysis of specific factors influencing consumers’ intention to buy, which could enhance their marketing activities.

Yes / Purpose: This study investigates the role of consumer cosmopolitanism on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions towards foreign and local brands. Design/Methodology/Approach: The responses were collected on a structured questionnaire through a consumer survey. The data was then analysed through PLS-SEM. Findings: The results depict the positive influence of consumer cosmopolitanism on consumer attitudes towards foreign brands, which positively influences purchase intentions towards foreign brands and negatively influences the purchase intentions of local brands. Further, the mediating role of perceived quality was observed in explaining the consumer preference towards foreign and domestic brands. Practical Implications: Finally, the study concludes by providing implications for marketing scholars and managers of global and local brands. Originality Value: The paper examines the underlying mechanisms related to consumer cosmopolitanism and its role in influencing the foreign and local brand purchase.

Yes / With a long history and strong culinary heritage, time-honored restaurants are often associated with the phenomenon of nostalgia. However, research on nostalgia and nostalgic experiences in time-honored restaurants is largely absent. This study built a framework for nostalgic experiences to understand nostalgia triggers as antecedents and consumers’ revisit intention as the outcome. A survey of 366 residents in Beijing and Shanghai, China, revealed that nostalgia triggered by food and service staff significantly evoked consumers’ memories, and the food and restaurant environment stimulated the communitas component of nostalgic experiences. Memory had a positive effect on both communitas and positive emotions, while communitas had a positive effect on positive emotions. Finally, positive emotions resulted in significantly increased revisit intention.

Yes / While the importance of s-commerce is implicitly recognized, inconsistencies in extant empirical research pose significant challenges. Based on perspectives from trust, social presence, and socio-technical theories, this study develops an integrated model of the factors that influence intention and use behavior, with particular attention to the role of trust in s-commerce. The model is tested using meta-analytic structural equation modeling techniques on 201 observations from 83 s-commerce studies. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

This thesis investigates an intelligent system that can in real time infer the course of action of a human opponent in a competitive environment. Such an achievement would indicate the possibility that machines can not only interpret human behavior as it happens, but also predict the future course of action that a human might take. This thesis first examines several different application of intention recognition, describes the approach of Template Based Interpretation (TBI), and details the process of creating an efficient and accurate intention recognition system. The domain chosen is chess. The system's objective was to discern the opponent's strategy. It is able to use the board positions and other relevant data of the current state to gain an understanding of the movement patterns of the opposition.

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans l'axe des travaux sur l'engagement. Son objectif est d'explorer le paradigme de la communication engageante. Il s'agit d'effectuer un rapprochement entre les théories de la Persuasion et celle de l'Engagement (Joule, Girandola & Bernard, 2007). L'intérêt de cette démarche est d'allier deux champs théoriques traditionnellement disjoints dans le processus lié au changement d'attitude et de comportement. Les théories de la Persuasion ont considérablement contribué à la compréhension des mécanismes du traitement de l'information, mais également à ceux touchant le changement d'attitude. Selon ces théories, il est nécessaire de peser sur les idées pour atteindre les comportements. A l'inverse, l'engagement préconise d'agir à partir du comportement pour atteindre l'activité cognitive. Cette activité entraîne à sa suite un changement d'attitude et ce jusqu'à la production de nouveaux comportements. Notre réflexion peut-être posée en ces termes : dans quelle(s) mesure(s) l'engagement dans un acte suivi de la lecture d'un message persuasif, influe-t-il sur l'aspect cognitif et sur l'intention comportementale des individus ? / This thesis falls within the works on the commitment. Its objective is to investigate paradigm of the binding communication. It is a question of making a link between the theories of the Persuasion and the Commitment (Joule, Girandola & Bernard, 2007).The interest of this approach is to combine two theoretical fields traditionally separated in the process connected to the attitude change and behavior. The theories of the Persuasion considerably contributed to the understanding of the mechanisms to the data processing, but also to those concerning the change of attitude. According to these theories, it is necessary to press on the ideas to reach the behavior. Conversely, the commitment recommends to act from the behavior to reach the cognitive activity. This activity leads behind an attitude change and it until the production of new behavior. Our reflection maybe put in these terms: in what measure the commitment in an act followed by the reading of a persuasive message, does it influence the cognitive aspect and the behavioral intention ?

Dans ce travail, l‟objet de notre étude a été la série de romans néo-policiers de l'écrivain Leonardo Padura - le plus grand représentant de ce type de textes à Cuba - dont les oeuvres, tout en conservant les traits qui permettent au lecteur de les reconnaître comme des romans policiers, révèlent une profonde transgression générique à tous les niveaux - modal, thématique et formel. Avec ces textes, Padura est parvenu à démanteler le canon du roman policier révolutionnaire, dont la pratique s‟est perpétuée à Cuba jusqu‟au milieu des années quatre-vingt, subventionnée par le régime révolutionnaire. Nous avons tenté de démontrer que la transformation générique entreprise par cet écrivain sur les modèles traditionnels du roman policier lui permet d'actualiser le genre et de l'utiliser comme instrument pour questionner l'ordre établi d‟un régime qui a prétendu uniformiser une société conçue comme multiple et hétérogène par l'auteur. En même temps, cette transformation lui permet d‟entrer dans la discussion sur la question générique, de revendiquer la nature systématiquement modificatrice des genres littéraires et de polémiquer sur le dogmatisme normatif qui se propose de classifier les genres en compartiments étanches et d‟enfermer le roman policier dans le cadre isolé de la « sous-littérature ». / The aim of our research is to study a series of neo-crime novels by the writer Leonardo Padura - the leading exponent of this genre on the island of Cuba-, whose works, while upholding the traits that enable them to be read as detective stories, feature a profound generic transgression at all levels - modal, thematic and formal. He sought to breathe new life into the genre Ŕwhich had been thoroughly exhausted on the island since the mid 1980sŔ and show that by relieving it of its entire political-ideological burden and treating it from a literary perspective, it could attain high artistic merit. In this way, and as we have set out to show, Padura has managed to revitalize the genre and use it as an instrument for questioning the order established by a regime that has sought to bring uniformity to a society that the author considers to be multiracial and heterogeneous. Furthermore, by transforming the formulas and the narrative structures of the crime novel in his own writings, which include and invert the genre‟s traditional models, Padura has managed to challenge the regulatory dogmatism that seeks to classify genres into watertight compartments and relegate the crime novel to the confines of “sub-literature”.

No description available.

The behaviour of employees is increasingly being recognised as the critical factor in achievement of organisational effectiveness. Therefore, the need to address inefficiencies that are derived from the organisation-employee relationship is being recognised as important to organisational success. For many years the concept of organisational commitment provided the means to develop theory in relation to organisation-employee relationships. More recently, however, other types of workrelated commitments have been identified as having importance to the organisationemployee relationship. In the contemporary political-economic context, professionals are increasingly becoming employees of organisations which operate according to market or quasi-market principles. There are some fundamental differences between professional occupations and non-professional occupations. These differences may have consequences for the relationship between professional employees and their employing organisation. The differences may also have consequences for other workrelated outcomes for professional employees in ways that are different from the work-related outcomes of non-professional employees. Importantly, for professional employees commitment to the profession is developed during the pre-workplace entry educational experiences and may have consequences for the retention of professional employees within organisations, as well as retention within the profession. Therefore, the commitment of professional employees to their occupation may be both an antecedent to and a consequence of other work-related outcomes. However, to date, professional commitment has not been studied from a developmental perspective and the effect of workplace exposure on professional commitment is not understood. This thesis reports the findings of a study in which a theoretical model of the relationship between professional commitment prior to workplace entry and professional turnover intention was evaluated using path analysis. The relationships included in the model were between commitment to the profession as both an antecedent to, and a consequence of organisational-professional conflict, job satisfaction and organisational commitment, as well as the relationship that each of these variables may have to organisational turnover intention and professional turnover intention. A repeated measures design was used with a sample of nursing professionals. Professional commitment before entry to the workplace was measured, and after a period of workplace exposure, professional commitment was again measured, as well as the other work-related outcomes identified in the model. The Blau (2003) occupational commitment measure was used to measure the pre-and-post workplace entry levels of professional commitment. The thesis also examined the factor structure of the Blau (2003) occupational commitment measure. The results of the model evaluation indicated that it is a plausible model of the identified relationships. Examination of the factor structure of the Blau (2003) occupational commitment measure indicated that it is best represented by five rather than four components. This research found that professional commitment was quite stable in the initial period of workplace exposure. The research findings also indicated that the relationship between professional commitment and organisational commitment was mediated by job satisfaction and that organisational-professional conflict and job satisfaction were directly related to organisational commitment. The research found that job satisfaction and professional commitment after a period of workplace exposure were related to organisational turnover intention, but that organisational commitment was not. The final major research finding was that organisational turnover intention was the only workplace variable in the model that was directly related to professional turnover intention. This research has contributed to the organisational behaviour literature through the development and initial evaluation of a model of the relationship between professional commitment prior to workplace entry and professional turnover intention. The results of the model suggested that when organisations provide professional employees with workplace experiences that are professionally, as well as personally satisfying, they promote retention of professional employees with their own organisation, as well as retention of professionals within the profession. This research recommends that for organisations that employ professionals, the model of the organisation-professional employee relationship that is likely to promote the retention of professional employees both within the organisation and within the profession, is a partnership model. Conflict resolution principles are recommended to inform the partnership model of the organisation-professional employee relationship. In addition, the empowering leadership style is recommended for organisations that employ professionals, because it is better matched to the employment mode and characteristics of professional employees.