Modeling habitat suitability is beneficial for management and conservation of a species. Although data-rich models are commonly used, opinion-based models may be a beneficial alternative to estimate suitable habitat locations. Despite the increasing use of habitat models, few studies have linked habitat model covariates (i.e., land cover, weather, and normalized difference vegetation indexes (NDVI)) to demographic parameters. This study evaluates model performance and transferability of maximum entropy (MaxEnt) and expert opinion models for predicting American beaver (Castor canadensis) distribution in the southeastern US. I also investigated the relationship of environmental and habitat model covariates to beaver survival. The model’s predictive performance and transferability were evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC) index. Both model approaches performed well at predicting beaver presence. While MaxEnt had better performance, the expert models predicted greater areas as suitable for beaver. Beaver survival was estimated for northern Alabama and was found to be influenced by NDVI and weather covariates in this study.

This thesis explores the problems raised by the aggregation of entities into a global, collective level, an old problem encountered in many fields of science. We work on three projects related to the aggregation problem in social systems, using tools derived from statistical physics, and more generally quantitative tools. The first project focus on a paradigmatic model of the emergence of puzzling macroscopic behavior from simple individual rules, Schelling's segregation model. We hence propose an analytical resolution of this model and we studied analytically and via simulations the effect of several forms of cooperation between individual agents on the collective behavior. These questions are tackled in a mutually beneficial way for both economics and physics. The second project is based on the exploration of huge databases on scientific literature. We hence produce several 'science maps' representing the fields of complex systems (its internal structure and coherence being analysed through the references used by ~140000 relevant articles) and the research carried out in a scientific institution such as the ENS de Lyon. Finally, the third project deals with the elaboration of models of social phenomena based on natural sciences tools but sociologically grounded. We hence present the elaboration process of a model built with a team of sociologists. We then propose an opinion model specifically designed to explore a single question: the existence of lasting structure from non lasting entities.

L'objectif principal de la thèse consiste à explorer des problématiques propres aux sciences sociales et à les étudier à l'aide d'outils issus du champ de la physique statistiques et des systèmes complexes. Le travail de la thèse s'est ainsi décliné sur trois grands sujets dont la problématique principale est la question de l'agrégation d'entités individuelles en une structure collective. Le premier sujet est centré sur un exemple paradigmatique de l'émergence d'un comportement collectif macroscopique inattendu à partir de règles individuelles simples: le modèle de ségrégation de Schelling. Nous avons notamment proposé une résolution analytique inédite de ce modèle et nous avons étudié analytiquement et via des simulations l'impact de différentes formes de coopération entre agents individuels sur le comportement collectif global. Cette thématique a été développée à la fois d'un point de vue économique et d'un point de vue physique. Le second sujet porte sur l'exploration de bases de données bibliométriques. Nous avons ainsi produit des 'cartes des sciences' représentant le champ des systèmes complexes (sa structure interne étant décrypté via une analyse des références utilisées par ~140000 articles) ou encore l'état de la recherche au sein d'un établissement tel que l'ENS de Lyon. Enfin, le troisième thème porte sur l'élaboration de modèles basés sur des outils des sciences 'dures' mais sociologiquement fondés. Nous présentons ainsi le processus d'élaboration d'un modèle construit avec une équipe de sociologues. Enfin, nous développons un modèle d'opinion répondant spécifiquement à une question: l'existence de structures qui durent à partir d'entités qui ne durent pas. / This thesis explores the problems raised by the aggregation of entities into a global, collective level, an old problem encountered in many fields of science. We work on three projects related to the aggregation problem in social systems, using tools derived from statistical physics, and more generally quantitative tools. The first project focus on a paradigmatic model of the emergence of puzzling macroscopic behavior from simple individual rules, Schelling's segregation model. We hence propose an analytical resolution of this model and we studied analytically and via simulations the effect of several forms of cooperation between individual agents on the collective behavior. These questions are tackled in a mutually beneficial way for both economics and physics. The second project is based on the exploration of huge databases on scientific literature. We hence produce several 'science maps' representing the fields of complex systems (its internal structure and coherence being analysed through the references used by ~140000 relevant articles) and the research carried out in a scientific institution such as the ENS de Lyon. Finally, the third project deals with the elaboration of models of social phenomena based on natural sciences tools but sociologically grounded. We hence present the elaboration process of a model built with a team of sociologists. We then propose an opinion model specifically designed to explore a single question: the existence of lasting structure from non lasting entities.

Cette thèse s'intéresse particulièrement aux sites de vente en ligne et à leurs réseaux sociaux. La propension des utilisateurs utiliser ces sites Web tels qu'eBay et Amazon est de plus en plus importante en raison de leur fiabilité. Les consommateurs se réfèrent à ces sites Web pour leurs besoins et en deviennent clients. L'un des défis à relever est de fournir les informations utiles pour aider les clients dans leurs achats. Ainsi, une question sous-jacente à la thèse cherche à répondre est de savoir comment fournir une information complète aux clients afin de les aider dans leurs achats. C'est important pour les sites d'achats en ligne car cela satisfait les clients par ces informations utiles. Pour surmonter ce problème, trois études spécifiques ont été réalisées : (1) Trouver les utilisateurs influents, (2) Comprendre la propagation d'opinion et (3) Agréger les opinions. Dans la première partie, la thèse propose une méthodologie pour trouver les utilisateurs influents du réseau qui sont essentiels pour une propagation précise de l'opinion. Pour ce faire, les utilisateurs sont classés en fonction de deux scores : optimiste et pessimiste. Dans la deuxième partie, une nouvelle méthodologie de propagation de l'opinion est présentée pour parvenir à un accord et maintenir la cohérence entre les utilisateurs, ce qui rend l'agrégation possible. La propagation se fait en tenant compte des impacts des utilisateurs influents et des voisins. Enfin, dans la troisième partie, l'agrégation des avis est proposée pour rassembler les avis existants et les présenter comme des informations utiles pour les clients concernant chaque produit du site de vente en ligne. Pour ce faire, l'opérateur de calcul de la moyenne pondérée et les techniques floues sont utilisées. La thèse présente un modèle d'opinion consensuelle dans les réseaux. Les travaux peuvent s'appliquer à tout groupe qui a besoin de trouver un avis parmi les avis de ses membres. Par conséquent, le modèle proposé dans la thèse fournit un taux précis et approprié pour chaque produit des sites d'achat en ligne / Online Social Networks are increasing and piercing our lives such that almost every person in the world has a membership at least in one of them. Among famous social networks, there are online shopping websites such as Amazon, eBay and other ones which have members and the concepts of social networks apply to them. This thesis is particularly interested in the online shopping websites and their networks. According to the statistics, the attention of people to use these websites is growing due to their reliability. The consumers refer to these websites for their need (which could be a product, a place to stay, or home appliances) and become their customers. One of the challenging issues is providing useful information to help the customers in their shopping. Thus, an underlying question the thesis seeks to answer is how to provide comprehensive information to the customers in order to help them in their shopping. This is important for the online shopping websites as it satisfies the customers by this useful information and as a result increases their customers and the benefits of both sides. To overcome the problem, three specific connected studies are considered: (1) Finding the influential users, (2) Opinion Propagation and (3) Opinion Aggregation. In the first part, the thesis proposes a methodology to find the influential users in the network who are essential for an accurate opinion propagation. To do so, the users are ranked based on two scores namely optimist and pessimist. In the second part, a novel opinion propagation methodology is presented to reach an agreement and maintain the consistency among users which subsequently, makes the aggregation feasible. The propagation is conducted considering the impacts of the influential users and the neighbors. Ultimately, in the third part, the opinion aggregation is proposed to gather the existing opinions and present it as the valuable information to the customers regarding each product of the online shopping website. To this end, the weighted averaging operator and fuzzy techniques are used. The thesis presents a consensus opinion model in signed and unsigned networks. This solution can be applied to any group who needs to find a plenary opinion among the opinions of its members. Consequently, the proposed model in the thesis provides an accurate and appropriate rate for each product of the online shopping websites that gives precious information to their customers and helps them to have a better insight regarding the products.

This thesis deals with residential real estate market in the Austria and its development. The theoretical part defines the basic concepts of valuation, such as flat, family house, usual price, valuation legislation, expert opinion and summary methods of residential property valuation in Austria. The other part is targeted of the property market. The practical part deals with valuation of real estates in selected ways. In thesis attachment is processed an exemplar of the evalution report for a flat according to the standards and the methodologies used to by the evaluation in the Austria.