O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar o modelo dos autômatos adaptativos de segunda ordem e mostrar a forte conexão desse modelo com o aprendizado indutivo no limite. Tal modelo é definido com a utilização de um conjunto de transformações sobre autômatos finitos não - determinísticos e a conexão com o aprendizado no limite á estabelecida usando o conceito de mutação composta, onde uma hipótese inicial dá início ao processo de aprendizagem, produzindo, após uma sequência de transformações sofridas por essa primeira hipótese, um modelo final que é o resultado correto do aprendizado. Será apresentada a prova de que um autômato adaptativos de segunda ordem, usado como um aprendiz, pode realizar o processo de aprendizado no limite. O formalismo dos autômatos adaptativos de segunda ordem é desenvolvido sobre o modelo dos autômatos adaptativos de primeira ordem, uma extensão natural do modelo dos autômatos adaptativos clássicos. Embora tenha o mesmo poder computacional, o autômato adaptativo de primeira ordem apresenta uma notação mais simples e rigorosa que o seu antecessor, permitindo derivar novas propriedades. Uma dessas propriedades é justamente sua capacidade de aprendizado. Como consequência, o modelo dos autômatos adaptativos de segunda ordem aumenta a expressividade computacional dos dispositivos adaptativos através da sua notação recursiva, e também através do seu potencial para o uso em aplicações de aprendizado de máquina, ilustrados nesta tese. Uma arquitetura de aprendizado de máquina usando os autômatos adaptativos de segunda ordem é proposto e um modelo de identificação no limite, aplicado em processos de inferência para linguagens livre de contexto, é apresentado. / The purpose of this work is to present the second-order adaptive automaton under an transformation automata approach and to show the strong connection of this model with learning in the limit. The connection is established using the adaptive mutations, in which any hypothesis can be used to start a learning process, and produces a correct final model following a step-by-step transformation of that hypothesis by a second-order adaptive automaton. Second-order adaptive automaton learner will be proved to acts as a learning in the limit. The presented formalism is developed over the first-order adaptive automaton, a natural and unified extension of the classical adaptive automaton. First-order adaptive automaton is a new and better representation for the adaptive finite automaton and to also show that both formulations the original and the newly created have the same computational power. Afterwards both formulations show to be equivalent in representation and in computational power, but the new one has a highly simplified notation. The use of the new formulation actually allows simpler theorem proofs and generalizations, as can be verified in this work. As results, the second-order adaptive automaton enhances the computational expressiveness of adaptive automaton through its recursive notation, and also its skills for the use in machine learning applications were illustrated here. An architecture of machine learning to use the adaptive technology is proposed and the model of identification in limit applied in inference processes for free-context languages.

Duas questões fundamentais no estudo da evolução pré-biótica (origem da vida) referem-se à estabilidade dos primeiros organismos ou replicadores e à possibilidade do surgimento de organismos complexos através de mutações de organismos mais simples. Esses problemas têm sido tratados quase que exclusivamente no contexto determinístico da cinética química de meios perfeitamente homogêneos, que é equivalente à formulação de campo médio da física estatística. Nesta tese, abordamos essas questões utilizando modelos de replicadores na rede que evoluem no tempo de forma síncrona (autômato celular), dando ênfase ao caso limite em que os replicadores são mantidos fixos nos sítios da rede (processo de contato). Encontramos dois regimes estacionários bem definidos: o regime absorvente ou vácuo e o regime ativo caracterizados, respectivamente, pela ausência e presença de replicadores na rede. Esses regimes são separados por transições de fase cuja natureza depende do mecanismo de reprodução dos replicadores. Essas transições são investigadas de maneira sistemática utilizando-se a técnica de espalhamento de Grassberger e de La Torre em que a evolução temporal de uma pequena colônia de replicadores colocada no centro de uma rede infinita vazia \\\'e acompanhada. Em particular, através do cálculo de expoentes críticos dinâmicos mostramos que, as transições contínuas observadas, pertencem à classe de universalidade da percolação direcionada. Complementamos esse estudo investigando a probabilidade de que uma pequena colônia de replicadores invada uma população de replicadores residentes de outra espécie. Ao contrário dos resultados de campo médio, mostramos que no caso de processos de contato, replicadores mais complexos (por exemplo, assexuados) podem invadir uma população estabelecida de replicadores mais simples (por exemplo, assexuados). Em concordância com os resultados de campo médio, encontramos que nunca ocorre coexistência entre replicadores distintos no equilíbrio. Finalmente, utilizando a técnica de espalhamento mencionada, investigamos de forma sistemática um modelo para formação de úlceras devido à infecção do vírus da herpes (HSV-I) no tecido epitelial da córnea. O modelo considerado tenta explicar as diferentes formas de úlceras-dendríticas e amebóides-resultantes desta infecção como um resultado natural do espalhamento do vírus num tecido epitelial formado por células com diferentes graus de susceptibilidade à infecção. Em particular, mostramos que a transição de fase separando os regimes caracterizados pelas diferentes morfologias pertence à classe de universalidade da percolação ordinária. / Two fundamental questions in the study of prebiotic evolution (origin of life) are concerned to the requisites for the persistence of small colonies of self-replicating molecules (replicators) and to the possibility that complex organisms evolve from simpler organisms as a result of mutations. These issues have been studied mainly in the chemical kinetics formulation of well-mixed medium, which is similar to the mean-field limit of statistical physics. In this work, we address these issues using a cellular automaton formulation, in which the replicators are kept fix in the lattice sites (contact process). In the stationary regime, we find that the system can be characterized by the presence (active phase) and the absence (empty phase) of replicators in the lattice. The detailed study of the phase transitions separating those two phases is carried out using the spreading analysis of Grassberger and de La Torre, in which one concentrates on the spreading behavior of a few active cells in the center of an otherwise empty infinite lattice. The nature of the phase transition, whether continuous or discontinuous, depends on the mechanisms of replication. In particular, in the case that the phase transition is continuous, we find that it is in the universality class of the directed percolation. Complementing this study, we irivestigate the possibility that a small colony of replicators invade a settled population of replicators of another species. Contrary to the results of the mean-field limit, we show that in the contact process limit, complex replicators (such as sexual reproducing ones) have a nonvanishing probability to invade a settled population of simpler replicators (such as asexual reproducing ones). In agreement with the mean-field results, we find that two different species of replicators can never coexist in an equilibrium situation. Finally, using the spreading analysis mentioned before we study the critical properties of a cellular automaton model proposed to describe the spreading of infection of the Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV-I) in the corneal tissue. The model takes into account different cell susceptibilities to the viral infection, as suggested by experimental findings, in order to explain the different shapes of the ulcers - dentritic and amoeboid - that result from the infection. We show that the phase transition separating the regimes where one of the shapes dominates is in the universality class of the ordinary percolation.

Angiogenesis is the process by which new blood vessels develop from existing vessels. Angiogenesis is important in a number of conditions such as embryogenesis, wound healing and cancer. It has been modelled phenomenologically at the macroscale, using the well-known 'snail-trail' approach in which trailing endothelial cells follow the paths of other, leading endothelial cells. In this thesis, we systematically determine the collective behaviour of endothelial cells from their behaviour at the cell-level during corneal angiogenesis. We formulate an agent-based model, based on the snail-trail process, to describe the behaviour of individual cells. We incorporate cell motility through biased random walks, and include processes which produce (branching) and annihilate (anastomosis) cells to represent sprout and loop formation. We use the transition probabilities associated with the discrete model and a mean-field approximation to systematically derive a system of non-linear partial differential equations (PDEs) of population behaviour that impose physically realistic density restrictions, and are structurally different from existing snail-trail models. We use this framework to evaluate the validity of a classical snail-trail model and elucidate implicit assumptions. We then extend our framework to explicitly account for cell volume. This generates non-linear PDE models which vary in complexity depending on the extent of volume exclusion incorporated on the microscale. By comparing discrete and continuum models, we assess the extent to which continuum models, including the classical snail-trail model, account for single and multi-species exclusion processes. We also distinguish macroscale exclusion effects introduced by each cell species. Finally, we compare the predictive power of different continuum models. In summary, we develop a microscale to macroscale framework for angiogenesis based on the snail-trail process, which provides a systematic way of deriving population behaviour from individual cell behaviour and can be extended to account for more realistic and/or detailed cell interactions.

The ability to generate and control assembling structures built over many orders of magnitude is an unsolved challenge of engineering and science. Many of the presumed transformational benefits of nanotechnology and robotics are based directly on this capability. There are still significant theoretical difficulties associated with building such systems, though technology is rapidly ensuring that the tools needed are becoming available in chemical, electronic, and robotic domains. In this thesis a simulated, general-purpose computational prototype is developed which is capable of unlimited assembly and controlled by external input, as well as an additional prototype which, in structures, can emulate any other computing device. These devices are entirely finite-state and distributed in operation. Because of these properties and the unique ability to form unlimited size structures of unlimited computational power, the prototypes represent a novel and useful blueprint on which to base scalable assembly in other domains. A new assembling model of Computational Organization and Regulation over Assembly Levels (CORAL) is also introduced, providing the necessary framework for this investigation. The strict constraints of the CORAL model allow only an assembling unit of a single type, distributed control, and ensure that units cannot be reprogrammed - all reprogramming is done via assembly. Multiple units are instead structured into aggregate computational devices using a procedural or developmental approach. Well-defined comparison of computational power between levels of organization is ensured by the structure of the model. By eliminating ambiguity, the CORAL model provides a pragmatic answer to open questions regarding a framework for hierarchical organization. Finally, a comparison between the designed prototypes and units evolved using evolutionary algorithms is presented as a platform for further research into novel scalable assembly. Evolved units are capable of recursive pairing ability under the control of a signal, a primitive form of unlimited assembly, and do so via symmetry-breaking operations at each step. Heuristic evidence for a required minimal threshold of complexity is provided by the results, and challenges and limitations of the approach are identified for future evolutionary studies.

A current challenge in neuroscience and systems biology is to better understand properties that allow organisms to exhibit and sustain appropriate behaviours despite the effects of perturbations (behavioural robustness). There are still significant theoretical difficulties in this endeavour, mainly due to the context-dependent nature of the problem. Biological robustness, in general, is considered in the literature as a property that emerges from the internal structure of organisms, rather than being a dynamical phenomenon involving agent-internal controls, the organism body, and the environment. Our hypothesis is that the capacity for behavioural robustness is rooted in dynamical processes that are distributed between agent ‘brain', body, and environment, rather than warranted exclusively by organisms' internal mechanisms. Distribution is operationally defined here based on perturbation analyses. Evolutionary Robotics (ER) techniques are used here to construct four computational models to study behavioural robustness from a systemic perspective. Dynamical systems theory provides the conceptual framework for these investigations. The first model evolves situated agents in a goalseeking scenario in the presence of neural noise perturbations. Results suggest that evolution implicitly selects neural systems that are noise-resistant during coupling behaviour by concentrating search in regions of the fitness landscape that retain functionality for goal approaching. The second model evolves situated, dynamically limited agents exhibiting minimalcognitive behaviour (categorization task). Results indicate a small but significant tendency toward better performance under most types of perturbations by agents showing further cognitivebehavioural dependency on their environments. The third model evolves experience-dependent robust behaviour in embodied, one-legged walking agents. Evidence suggests that robustness is rooted in both internal and external dynamics, but robust motion emerges always from the systemin-coupling. The fourth model implements a historically dependent, mobile-object tracking task under sensorimotor perturbations. Results indicate two different modes of distribution, one in which inner controls necessarily depend on a set of specific environmental factors to exhibit behaviour, then these controls will be more vulnerable to perturbations on that set, and another for which these factors are equally sufficient for behaviours. Vulnerability to perturbations depends on the particular distribution. In contrast to most existing approaches to the study of robustness, this thesis argues that behavioural robustness is better understood in the context of agent-environment dynamical couplings, not in terms of internal mechanisms. Such couplings, however, are not always the full determinants of robustness. Challenges and limitations of our approach are also identified for future studies.

Oscillatory neural activity is closely related to cognition and behaviour, with synchronisation mechanisms playing a key role in the integration and functional organization of different cortical areas. Nevertheless, its informational content and relationship with behaviour - and hence cognition - are still to be fully understood. This thesis is concerned with better understanding the role of neuronal oscillations and information dynamics towards the generation of embodied cognitive behaviours and with investigating the efficacy of such systems as practical robot controllers. To this end, we develop a novel model based on the Kuramoto model of coupled phase oscillators and perform three minimally cognitive evolutionary robotics experiments. The analyses focus both on a behavioural level description, investigating the robot's trajectories, and on a mechanism level description, exploring the variables' dynamics and the information transfer properties within and between the agent's body and the environment. The first experiment demonstrates that in an active categorical perception task under normal and inverted vision, networks with a definite, but not too strong, propensity for synchronisation are more able to reconfigure, to organise themselves functionally, and to adapt to different behavioural conditions. The second experiment relates assembly constitution and phase reorganisation dynamics to performance in supervised and unsupervised learning tasks. We demonstrate that assembly dynamics facilitate the evolutionary process, can account for varying degrees of stimuli modulation of the sensorimotor interactions, and can contribute to solving different tasks leaving aside other plasticity mechanisms. The third experiment explores an associative learning task considering a more realistic connectivity pattern between neurons. We demonstrate that networks with travelling waves as a default solution perform poorly compared to networks that are normally synchronised in the absence of stimuli. Overall, this thesis shows that neural synchronisation dynamics, when suitably flexible and reconfigurable, produce an asymmetric flow of information and can generate minimally cognitive embodied behaviours.

A Web vem se apresentando um meio cada vez mais promissor para o desenvolvimento de sistemas de ensino. Um dos grandes desafios é fazer uso das vantagens da Web, que torna a aprendizagem disponível em qualquer lugar e em qualquer momento, e criar para o aluno uma experiência de aprendizagem individualizada, que represente um significante melhoramento quando comparada à experiência de aprendizagem convencional de sala de aula. Nesse contexto, este trabalho apresenta o AdaptHA, um ambiente para autoria e ensino adaptativo na Web baseado no modelo Hyper-Automaton. Com o AdaptHA, objetiva-se colaborar para a melhoria da qualidade da educação prática pela Web. Acredita-se que isto seja possível através de um sistema de ensino que reúna ferramentas que auxiliam tanto o professor quanto o aluno, mas com um grande diferencial no que se refere à capacidade deste sistema de se adaptar às características do aluno. AdaptHA proporciona ao aluno uma experiência de aprendizagem individualizada ao apresentar o conteúdo adaptado e suportar a navegação adaptativa com base no modelo do aluno, utilizando para isto, técnicas da Hipermídia Adaptativa. Os mecanismos chave do AdaptHA que viabilizam tal adaptação são: sua estrutura do modelo do domínio, cujas principais características são flexibilidade e riqueza de metadados; e sua estrutura do modelo do aluno, que mantém o histórico detalhado de todas as interações do aluno com o ambiente. A essência deste trabalho consiste em promover um tipo de ensino que seja centrado no aluno. Entretanto, é indispensável levar em consideração que o professor possui um papel fundamental dentro do cenário educacional, sendo, portanto, imprescindível prover mecanismos que colaborem para a melhoria do seu trabalho, como por exemplo: ferramentas de autoria que facilitem a criação, manutenção e reutilização de cursos e material instrucional; e ferramentas que possibilitem o acompanhamento contínuo do desempenho dos alunos. A indisponibilidade de ferramentas que facilitam o trabalho do professor em um ambiente de ensino computadorizado, seja ele Web ou não, significa, em última instância, que a autoria de cursos e material instrucional irá exigir conhecimento de pessoal técnico, o que não é razoável. Evidentemente, este aspecto gera uma barreira quase que intransponível para a utilização desse tipo de ambiente por parte do professor. Neste sentido, o AdaptHA dispõe de um ambiente de autoria que reúne um rico conjunto de ferramentas que visa suprir essas necessidades. / Web has becoming more and more a promising environment for the development of learning systems. One of the big challenges is making use of Web advantages, that makes learning available anywhere and anytime, and create to the student an individualized learning experience, that represents a significant improvement when compared to the conventional classroom learning experience. In this context, this work presents AdaptHA, a Web adaptive authorship and learning environment based on Hyper-Automaton model. With AdaptHA, the goal is to collaborate to the improvement of Web practical education quality. This is possible through a learning system that groups tools that support teacher and student, but with a great plus that refers to the ability of this system to adapt itself to the student’s characteristics. AdaptHA provides to the student an individualized learning experience by presenting content adapted and supports adaptive navigation based on student model, making use of Adaptive Hypermedia techniques. AdaptHA’s key mechanisms that turn such adaptation possible are: its domain model structure, whose main features are flexibility and a rich metadata set; and its student model structure, that keeps a detailed history of all student interactions with the environment. The essence of this work is to promote a student-centered education. However, it must be taken in consideration that the teacher performs a fundamental role in the educational setting, so, it is necessary supplying mechanisms that collaborate for the improvement of his / her work, as for instance: authorship tools that facilitate the creation, maintenance and reuse of courses and instrucional material; and tools that enable the continuous accompaniment of students performance. The unavailability of tools that facilitate teacher work in a computer-based education environment, Web or not, means that courses and instructional material authorship will require knowledge of technical staff, what is not reasonable. Obviously, this aspect creates a great barrier for the use of this kind of environment by the teacher. In this sense, AdaptHA provides an authorship environment that groups a rich set of tools that supplies these needs.

Thesis. 1976. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Engineering. / Bibliography: leaves 414-421. / Ph.D.

La vérification automatique est aujourd'hui devenue un domaine central de recherche en informatique. Depuis plus de 25 ans, une riche théorie a été développée menant à de nombreux outils, à la fois académiques et industriels, permettant la vérification de propriétés booléennes - celles qui peuvent être soit vraies soit fausses. Les besoins actuels évoluent vers une analyse plus fine, c'est-à-dire plus quantitative. L'extension des techniques de vérification aux domaines quantitatifs a débuté depuis 15 ans avec les systèmes probabilistes. Cependant, de nombreuses autres propriétés quantitatives existent, telles que la durée de vie d'un équipement, la consommation énergétique d'une application, la fiabilité d'un programme, ou le nombre de résultats d'une requête dans une base de données. Exprimer ces propriétés requiert de nouveaux langages de spécification, ainsi que des algorithmes vérifiant ces propriétés sur une structure donnée. Cette thèse a pour objectif l'étude de plusieurs formalismes permettant de spécifier de telles propriétés, qu'ils soient dénotationnels - expressions régulières, logiques monadiques ou logiques temporelles - ou davantage opérationnels, comme des automates pondérés, éventuellement étendus avec des jetons. Un premier objectif de ce manuscript est l'étude de résultats d'expressivité comparant ces formalismes. En particulier, on donne des traductions efficaces des formalismes dénotationnels vers celui opérationnel. Ces objets, ainsi que les résultats associés, sont présentés dans un cadre unifié de structures de graphes. Ils peuvent, entre autres, s'appliquer aux mots et arbres finis, aux mots emboîtés (nested words), aux images ou aux traces de Mazurkiewicz. Par conséquent, la vérification de propriétés quantitatives de traces de programmes (potentiellement récursifs, ou concurrents), les requêtes sur des documents XML (modélisant par exemple des bases de données), ou le traitement des langues naturelles sont des applications possibles. On s'intéresse ensuite aux questions algorithmiques que soulèvent naturellement ces résultats, tels que l'évaluation, la satisfaction et le model checking. En particulier, on étudie la décidabilité et la complexité de certains de ces problèmes, en fonction du semi-anneau sous-jacent et des structures considérées (mots, arbres...). Finalement, on considère des restrictions intéressantes des formalismes précédents. Certaines permettent d'étendre l'ensemble des semi-anneau sur lesquels on peut spécifier des propriétés quantitatives. Une autre est dédiée à l'étude du cas spécial de spécifications probabilistes : on étudie en particulier des fragments syntaxiques de nos formalismes génériques de spécification générant uniquement des comportements probabilistes. / Automatic verification has nowadays become a central domain of investigation in computer science. Over 25 years, a rich theory has been developed leading to numerous tools, both in academics and industry, allowing the verification of Boolean properties - those that can be either true or false. Current needs evolve to a finer analysis, a more quantitative one. Extension of verification techniques to quantitative domains has begun 15 years ago with probabilistic systems. However, many other quantitative properties are of interest, such as the lifespan of an equipment, energy consumption of an application, the reliability of a program, or the number of results matching a database query. Expressing these properties requires new specification languages, as well as algorithms checking these properties over a given structure. This thesis aims at investigating several formalisms, equipped with weights, able to specify such properties: denotational ones - like regular expressions, first-order logic with transitive closure, or temporal logics - or more operational ones, like navigating automata, possibly extended with pebbles. A first objective of this thesis is to study expressiveness results comparing these formalisms. In particular, we give efficient translations from denotational formalisms to the operational one. These objects, and the associated results, are presented in a unified framework of graph structures. This permits to handle finite words and trees, nested words, pictures or Mazurkiewicz traces, as special cases. Therefore, possible applications are the verification of quantitative properties of traces of programs (possibly recursive, or concurrent), querying of XML documents (modeling databases for example), or natural language processing. Second, we tackle some of the algorithmic questions that naturally arise in this context, like evaluation, satisfiability and model checking. In particular, we study some decidability and complexity results of these problems depending on the underlying semiring and the structures under consideration (words, trees...). Finally, we consider some interesting restrictions of the previous formalisms. Some permit to extend the class of semirings on which we may specify quantitative properties. Another is dedicated to the special case of probabilistic specifications: in particular, we study syntactic fragments of our generic specification formalisms generating only probabilistic behaviors.

L'espérance de vie a augmenté dans les dernières décennies et devrait continuer à croître dans les prochaines années. Cette augmentation entraîne de nouveaux défis concernant l'autonomie et l'indépendance des personnes âgées. Le développement d'habitats intelligents est une piste pour répondre à ces défis et permettre aux personnes de vivre plus longtemps dans un environnement sûr et confortable. Rendre un habitat intelligent consiste à y installer des capteurs, des actionneurs et un contrôleur afin de pouvoir prendre en compte le comportement de ses habitants et agir sur leur environnement, pour améliorer leur sécurité, leur santé et leur confort. La plupart de ces approches s'appuient sur la localisation en temps réel des habitants dans leur habitat. Dans cette thèse, une nouvelle approche complète permettant la localisation d'un nombre a priori inconnu d'habitants basée sur le modèle est proposée. Cette approche tire parti des paradigmes, de la théorie et des outils des Systèmes à Événements Discrets. L'utilisation des automates à états finis pour modéliser le mouvement détectable des habitants ainsi que des méthodes permettant de construire ces modèles ont été développées. A partir de ces modèles automates finis, plusieurs algorithmes permettant de localiser de manière efficace les habitants ont été définis. Enfin, plusieurs approches pour l'évaluation des performances de l'instrumentation d'un habitat intelligent pour un objectif de localisation ont été proposées. La méthode a également été totalement implémentée et mise à l'épreuve. Tout au long de cette thèse, les différentes contributions sont illustrées à l'aide de cas d'étude. / Life expectancy has continuously increased in most countries over the last decades and will probably continue to increase in the future. This leads to new challenges relative to the autonomy and the independence of elderly. The development of Smart Homes is a direction to face these challenges and to enable people to live longer in a safe and comfortable environment. Making a home smart consists in placing sensors, actuators and a controller in the house in order to take into account the behavior of their inhabitants and to act on their environment to improve their safety, health and comfort. Most of these approaches are based on the real-time indoor Location Tracking of the inhabitants. In this thesis, a whole new approach for model-based Location Tracking of an a priori unknown number of inhabitants is proposed. This approach is based on Discrete Event Systems paradigms, theory and tools. The usage of Finite Automata (FA) to model the detectable motion of the inhabitants as well as different methods to create such FA models have been developed. Based on these models, algorithms to perform efficient Location Tracking are defined. Finally, several approaches aiming at evaluating the relevance of the instrumentation of a Smart Home with the objective of Location Tracking are proposed. The approach has also been fully implemented and tested. Throughout the thesis, the different contributions are illustrated on case studies. / In den meisten Industrieländern ist die Lebenserwartung in den letzten Jahrzehnten fortlaufend gestiegen und wird höchstwahrscheinlich noch weiter steigen. Dieser Anstieg führt zu neuen Herausforderungen hinsichtlich der Autonomie und Unabhängigkeit von älteren Menschen. Die Entwicklung von intelligenten Wohnungen ist ein Weg diesen Herausforderungen zu begegnen und es den Menschen zu ermöglichen länger in einer sicheren und komfortablen Umgebung zu leben. Dazu stattet man solcheWohnungen mit Sensoren, Aktoren sowie einem Controller aus. Dies erm öglicht es, in Abhängigkeit vom Verhalten der Bewohner, dieWohnumgebung so zu beein_ussen, dass sich Sicherheit, Gesundheit und Komfort verbessern. Ansätze, die dies zum Ziel haben, basieren meistens auf Methoden, die es ermöglichen Menschen innerhalb ihrer Wohnung in Echtzeit zu lokalisieren. In dieser Dissertation wird daher ein neuer Ansatz für eine modellbasierte Lokalisierung einer a priori unbekannten Anzahl von Bewohnern vorgestellt. Dieser Ansatz fuÿt auf der Theorie, den Paradigmen und den Werkzeugen aus dem Gebiet der ereignisdiskreten Systeme. Es werden endliche Automaten eingesetzt, um die von den Sensoren erfassbaren Bewohnerbewegungen zu modellieren. Verschiedene Verfahren zur Erzeugung solcher Automaten werden gezeigt. Basierend auf diesen Modellen warden Algorithmen de_niert, mittels derer die Bewohner wirksam lokalisiert werden können. Abschlieÿend werden Methoden vorgeschlagen, die dazu dienen die Relevanz der Sensorinstrumentierung für die Lokalisierung zu bewerten. Die entwickelten Verfahren werden in der Dissertation durchgehend anhand von Fallbeispielen erläutert. Der gesamte Ansatz wurde implementiert und erprobt.