The goal of this thesis was to propose algorithms for procedural generation of realistic three-dimensional tree models and implement them as a library. This library uses a set of 92 mostly numerical parameters as an input and enables to export generated model into 3DS or OBJ file. It's an objective library, written in C++ language and designed mainly for MS Windows platform. Proposed algorithms are able to generate specific biologic species of broadleaf and coniferous trees.

This dissertation considers the possible impact of certain requirements of the National Credit Act 34 of 2005 (hereafter “NCA”) on ordinary civil procedural rules relating specifically to debt enforcement procedures. It further identifies problem areas created by some of the provisions of the NCA in this regard, and ultimately proposes potential solutions thereto. However, as indicated in various sections of the dissertation, it is not always clear what the legislature had in mind with certain provisions. This uncertainty calls for interpretation, which gives rise to further confusion in certain instances. In view of the aims of the NCA as stated in section 3 thereof, as well as various procedural provisions discussed in this dissertation, it is clear that the NCA mainly has the protection of the consumer at heart when devising procedures relating to, or ancillary to debt enforcement procedures utilised by credit providers to collect outstanding debt sounding in money. Since the NCA must operate within an existing legal system and procedural regime where certain terms have become entrenched, a broad background on some legal concepts and relevant civil procedures are provided where after the impact of the NCA thereon is considered and analysed. As the NCA will only affect general civil procedure where a credit provider attempts to enforce obligations to which the NCA applies, the exact application of the NCA and the general enforcement procedures contained therein are determined. Against this background the impact of specific procedures prescribed by the NCA on existing rules of civil procedure are critically analysed. This dissertation illustrates that although the NCA improves the position of the consumer in many ways, also with regard to debt enforcement procedures, the legislature should have drafted some provisions more carefully which would have resulted in some vital issues being clearer. Although practice and precedent will eventually even out many of the practical difficulties currently experienced it will take time and money to do so. It is therefore submitted that some areas should be reconsidered for amendment by the legislature in order to allow this significant piece of legislation to operate smoothly. Ultimately, two sets of conclusions are drawn together in this dissertation. Firstly, the general conclusions relating to the impact of the NCA on general civil debt enforcement procedures are stipulated and, secondly, specific areas that should be reconsidered by the legislature in order to allow the NCA to function optimally are identified. Copyright / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Procedural Law / unrestricted

La présente recherche porte sur l'analyse des voies de recours disponibles au niveau constitutionnel italien et français, en accordant une attention particulière à la voie incidente, élément commun aux deux pays ayant cependant des particularités constitutionnelles spécifiques dans chacun des ordre juridiques. Si, en droit italien, le contrôle incident constitue une voie de recours classique permettant une action au fond, il représente une nouveauté en droit français. Introduit en 2008, il se décline selon des règles procédurales diverses de celles présentes dans l'ordre constitutionnel italien. Pourquoi donc chercher à associer deux formes d'accès à la justice constitutionnelle? Si nous ouvrons le sujet, notons tout d'abord que ladite voie de recours représente un élément essentiel, primaire, du contrôle de constitutionnalité, à propos duquel la science juridique s'est beaucoup interrogée. En outre, un certain nombre d'arrêts récents en lien avec les voies de recours à la justice constitutionnelle, tant italienne que française, illustrent les nouvelles réflexions se faisant jour quant au potentiel et à la critique de la procédure par voie d'exception, soulignant à la fois les similarité des voies de recours des deux systèmes. Enfin, il est intéressant de s'interroger sur la possibilité de transmettre un modèle ou une règle même d'offrir des solutions efficaces, remédiant ainsi aux problèmes déjà rencontrés par l'un ou l'autre des systèmes juridiques. / The research focuses on the analysis of the access to the Italian and the French constitutional jurisdiction, with particular regard to the incidental model which is a communal and distinctive feature of both constitutional realities. ln the Italian law, the abovementioned model represents the classical structure of the judgment on laws, while in the French system the “question prioritaire de constitulionnalité” represents a novelty introduced in 2008 which is regulated by different procedural rules. ln particular, we believed that some recent events related to the Italian and French constitutional jurisdiction, allow some considerations on the potential and critical issues of the incidental proceeding. To make sure that the comparison is not limited to a theoretical study but has also a "practical" utility, we will analyze some of the areas that are hardly reachable by the model at hand, also trying to verify if, based on the results of already tested experiences of comparative law, we can "export" useful solutions.

Procedural Content Generation is now used in many games to generate a wide variety of content. It often uses players controlled by Artificial Intelligence for its evaluation. PCG content can also be used when training AI players to achieve better generalization. In both of these fields, evolutionary algorithms are employed, but they are rarely used together. In this thesis, we use the coevolution of AI players and level generators for platformer game Super Mario. Coevolution's benefit is, that the AI players are evaluated by adapting level generators, and vice versa, level generators are evaluated by adapting AI players. This approach has two results. The first one is a creation of multiple level generators, each generating levels of gradually increased difficulty. Levels generated using a sequence of these generators also mirror the learning curve of the AI player. This can be useful also for human players playing the game for the first time. The second result is an AI player, which was evolved on gradually more difficult levels. Making it learn progressively may yield better results. Using the coevolution also doesn't require any training data set.

Having witnessed significant advancement from an academic aspect and practical experiences, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in China is still undergoing a series of challenges. These challenges result from the legislative background or procedural arrangement. Moreover, with the increasing significance of spatial planning in China, the integration of SEA into the Chinese spatial planning system is becoming a hot topic; whereas, the practice of SEA in the Chinese spatial planning system is currently rather weak. Against these backgrounds - urgency of the integration of SEA into the spatial planning system, lack of related experiences and a SEA system with challenges in China, and SEA for the spatial planning with abundant experiences and lessons in Germany-, this research takes the form of a comparative study on SEA in China and Germany, using the example of spatial planning. Its primary concern is to identify legislative and institutional differences and similarities between SEA in the two countries and analyse the reasons causing these differences. Based upon these, feasible recommendations are proposed to address these challenges which the Chinese SEA is facing. A total of four SEA cases from China and Germany were described and analysed, and 22 experts were interviewed in the form of semi-structured interviews. The specific objectives of the research are to: • to obtain an overview of the SEA application in Chinese and German spatial planning systems; • to compare legal requirements, institutional and procedural arrangements for SEA between China and Germany, taking the examples of spatial planning; • to identify similarities and distinctions lying in both systems, and explore the reasons and motivations causing them; and • to propose recommendations and suggestions for the optimization of Chinese and German SEA, in particular in the aspects of legal requirements, institutional arrangements and operational procedures. Comparative outcomes indicate both SEA systems possess some similar general requirements while delivering differences as well. Main similarities are embodied in SEA understandings, the establishment of related national legislation and adoption of some common steps, reflecting the two SEA systems are influenced by international SEA development. However, significant differences exist in many aspects, especially regarding SEA modes, application of some stages owned by the individual country as well as the concrete requirements for the same stages which both nations have. Outcomes of this research show different SEA characteristics in the two countries. From the aspect of legislative background, German SEA legislation holds a dynamic nature and highlights communication and cooperation. This communication and cooperation can take place between the EU and Germany, the German federal government and the Federal States or even between Federal States. Comparably, Chinese SEA legislation has less interaction with other planning laws and is mainly dependent on the frequent formulation of related technical guidelines and rules. From procedural arrangements, Germany aims to develop an integrated, highly transparent, efficient and wide participation SEA process while China values the independence of the SEA approach, cherishes experts’ opinions and advantages of the intervention of environmental authorities. Based upon the comparative outcomes, several recommendations to improve the application of SEA in Chinese spatial planning are provided.

The principle of party disposition and its restriction in civil proceedings Abstract in English The submitted diploma thesis deals with the principle of party disposition in civil proceedings which is a guiding principle of civil proceedings, however, it is heavily restricted in the Code of Civil Procedure. The main aim of this thesis is to emphasise the importance of the principle of party disposition in civil proceedings, identify the number of institutes which are restricted, deal with reasons of this restriction of the principle of party disposition, and propose possible changes, which would preserve the principle of party disposition completely. The first part of the thesis presents a theoretical definition of the principle of party disposition. It is also necessary to discuss other legal principles which are connected to the principle of party disposition because it never appears alone, as it is always accompanied by another general principle. This part of the thesis also focuses on the history of the principle of party disposition in civil proceedings. The crucial period for discussed principle was the first half of the 20th century because the disposition principle was not restricted at all. On the other hand, the second half of the 20th century represents a period of strict restrictions of the...

Procedural content generation is a method that is sometimes used in video games to increase their replayability. In our previous work (Nepožitek, 2018), we implemented an algorithm for procedural generation of 2D dungeons, with the main focus on giving game designers complete control over the structure of generated levels. The algorithm takes a set of user-defined building blocks as input and produces levels that all follow the structure of a specified level connectivity graph. In the first part of the thesis, we address some shortcomings of our previous work. We improve the algorithm with several new features such as better support for corridors between rooms or the possibility to generate platformer levels. We also propose several performance improvements and analyze the speed of the algorithm on various inputs. In the second part of the thesis, we present an integration of our algorithm into the Unity game engine. In the final part of the thesis, we demonstrate that our generator is able to produce levels that are similar to what we can see in two popular games - Enter the Gungeon and Dead Cells. The resulting algorithm is much faster than the previous version, contains new features and is ready to be used in the Unity game engine.

Procedural content generation is present in many games today. However, little has been written about generating combat encounters in role playing video games (RPG). In these games the player's combat ability varies greatly from person to person and there are many different enemies that could be spawned for the player to fight. These factors make generation of combat encounters difficult. In this thesis we create a small game in which we implement a new algorithm for generating combat encounters. We then distribute this game to the general public. From the data we gather we conclude that this algorithm is at least as good at generating combat encounters as the author of the thesis and that it is a good starting point for further research.

Temporary postponement of criminal prosecution Abstract The diploma thesis deals with the procedural institute of temporary postponement of criminal prosecution, while providing a complete analysis of situations in which individual forms of this institute can be used. Furthermore, the diploma thesis offers a basic digression into the issue of corruption and organized crime, with a special focus on legal instruments which are able to make the fight against these adverse criminal phenomena more efficient. The diploma thesis analyses in detail the process of application of temporary postponement of criminal prosecution, highlights the pros and cons of this procedure, while the work does not omit the process of enshrining this institute in Czech law or its legal predecessor. The thesis tries to answer the question of whether the temporary postponement of criminal prosecution is the most helpful and effective tool, and therefore, last but not least, it also deals with other options that can be considered as suitable alternatives to this institute. Key words opportunity, corruption, organized crime, procedural instruments

Context. Creating resources for games and 3D environments is an effort consuming process. Some are looking to procedural algorithms to aid in this endeavour but the effort to configure the algorithms can be time consuming in itself. This paper will continue from a set of papers written by Frade et al. where they surrender the process of configuration to the algorithm by using genetic optimization together with a set of fitness functions. This is then tested on procedural generation of height maps.Objectives. The original algorithm utilizes a tree of functions that generates height maps using genetic optimization and a set of fitness functions. The output of the original algorithm is highly dependent on a specic noise function.This paper will investigate if the inverse Fourier transform can be used as an intermediate phenotype in order to decrease the relationship between the set of functions in the algorithm and the types of output.Methods. A reference implementation was first produced and verified. The Fourier transform was then added to the algorithm as an intermediate phenotype together with improvements on the original algorithm. The new algorithm was then put to the test via five experiments, where the output was compared with the reference implementation using manual review.Results. The implementation of Fourier transform that was attempted in this paper exclusively produced noisy output.Conclusions. The modified algorithm did not produce viable output. This most likely due to the behaviour of the Fourier transform in itself and in relation to the implementation of fitness calculation.