Embodied agents are agents acting in the physical world, such as persons, robots, unmanned air or ground vehicles and so on. These types of agents are subject to spatio-temporal constraints, which do not exist for agents acting in a virtual environment. The movement of embodied agents is limited by obstacles and maximum velocity, while their communication is limited by the transmission range of their wireless devices. This dissertation presents contributions to the techniques of coalition formation and teamwork coordination for embodied agents. We considered embodied agents in three different settings, each of them representative of a class of practical applications. First, we study coalition formation in the one dimensional world of vehicles driving on a highway. We assume that vehicles can communicate over short distances and carry agents which can advise the driver on convoy formation decisions. We introduce techniques which allow vehicles to influence the speed of the convoys, and show that this yields convoys which have a higher utility for the participating vehicles. Second, we address the problem of coalition formation in the two dimensional world. The application we consider is a disaster response scenario. The agents are forming coalitions through a multi-issue negotiation with spatio-temporal components where the coalitions maintain a set of commitments towards participating agents. Finally, we discuss a scenario where embodied agents form coalitions to optimally address dynamic, non-deterministic, spatio-temporal tasks. The application we consider is firefighters acting in a disaster struck city.

This thesis addresses the problems of collision avoidance and coalition formation of multiple UAVs in high density traffic environments, proposes simple and efficient algorithms as solutions, and discusses their applications in multiple UAV missions. First, the problem of collision avoidance among UAVs is considered and deconfliction algorithms are proposed. The efficacy of the proposed algorithms is tested using simulations involving random flights in high density traffic. Further, the proposed collision avoidance algorithms are implemented using realistic six degree of freedom UAV models. The studies in this thesis show that implementation of the proposed collision avoidance algorithms leads to a safer and efficient operational airspace occupied by multiple UAVs. Next, coalition formation in a search and prosecute mission involving a large number of UAVs and targets is considered. This problem is shown to be NP-hard and a sub-optimal but polynomial time coalition formation strategy is proposed. Simulations are carried out to show that this coalition formation algorithm works well. The coalition formation algorithm is then extended to handle situations where the UAVs have limited communication ranges. Finally, this thesis considers some multiple UAV missions that require the application of collision avoidance and coalition formation techniques. The problem of multiple UAV rendezvous is tackled by using (i) a consensus among the UAVs to attain rendezvous and (ii) the collision avoidance algorithm previously developed for safety. The thesis also considers a search and prosecute mission where the UAVs also have to avoid collisions among one another. In summary, the main contributions of this thesis include (a) novel collision avoidance algorithms, which are conceptually simple and easy to implement, for resolving path conflicts – both planar and three dimensional – in a high density traffic airspace with UAVs in free flight and (b) efficient coalition formation algorithms for search and prosecute task with large number of UAVs and targets where UAVs have limited communication ranges and targets are maneuvering. Simulations to evaluate the performance of algorithms based on these concepts to carry out realistic tasks by UAV swarms are also given.

The Pariah Party Influence on Local Government Formation in Swedish Municipalities 2002-2018 This paper studies the correlation between the rise of the radical right party The Sweden Democrats and the rise of minority governments and bloc transcending/cross-partisan coalitions in Swedish local governments; the role of the Sweden Democrats in this development is studied and further its impact in the relation between right/left-wing governments. Taking off in classical coalition- and government formation theory together with the concept of pariah parties, I also continue to discuss the setting of local government in Sweden and its implication on local government studies in general. Regression analysis of formed government in the 290 Swedish municipalities over the last five local elections, 2002-2018, is used to answer the question of how the pariah party that is the Sweden Democrats, have affected the types of local government in Sweden. The study finds that the rise of the Sweden Democrats in Swedish municipal parliaments to a large extent can explain both an increase of cross-partisan coalitions and of minority governments. This can however only be said when the party holds the balance of power; just the size or sheer presence of the party in local parliaments does not seem to have a significant impact on government type. When the party does hold the power of balance, one can observe a significant shift in favour of right-wing governments over left-wing governments. Albeit not participating in government and being considered a pariah party, or perhaps because of this fact, the rise of the Sweden Democrats has significantly affected the character of Swedish local governments.

This thesis discusses the basics of software agents and the way they form the multiagent coalitions. Genetic algorithms are introduced as one of the methods of solving the coalition formation problem. MAPC 2018 competition is introduced, which inspired the final design and implementation of the solution by using the tools described. A demo project was created, in which agents communicate with the MASSim server and gather data which is then used as an input into the genetic algorithm. Its purpose is to assign the agents to the tasks based on the input data, so that the tasks can be accomplished in the most effective manner possible. The results of this algorithm are evaluated in experiments which are focused on the quality of the solutions found as well as the time required for the calculation.

Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA), also known as Dynamic Spectrum Management, is the method of utilizing a set of spectrum techniques in real time to provide the ability to share wireless channels between Primary (or licensed) users (PUs) and Secondary (or unlicensed) users (SUs). The system is so designed that under normal circumstances, the PUs always get priority, but DSA enables the SUs to use the licensed bands as long as they do not create any interference on the PUs. Hence, the goal of utilizing the spectrum more efficiently can be achieved. Though DSA has been researched extensively as a new concept, it is still under development and several challenges remain unsolved. DSA is recognized as a vital component in 5G-and-beyond network deployment scenarios. Although 5G networks can work in sub-6GHz bands, higher frequency bands (like 28 GHz and 60 GHz) are particularly of interest as they offer much larger bandwidth and regulatory agencies have been announcing licensing plans for these emerging bands. These higher frequency bands could enable extremely high-speed wireless communication by leveraging the gains of highly directional antennas. Smart devices used worldwide has already surpassed 22 billion and is only going to increase in the coming years. Channel allocation and high-speed communication will be the backbone to drive this enormous network of devices, and DSA and directional antenna communication mechanisms will be the key factors governing the future communication infrastructure. In this dissertation, we show how omnidirectional DSA techniques can be applied towards directional cases, i.e., replacing the omnidirectional antennas with directional antennas working in the millimeter wave (mmWave) bands. MmWave enables ultra-high speed transmission and reception, but with some caveats; these antennas should be deployed in line-of-sight (LOS) and a lot of transmission and reception properties depend on how the antennas are aligned, their steering angle, beamwidth and field-of-view (FOV). It is a challenge to take into consideration all of these factors and come up with a solution of ideal signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) combination between a set of transmitters and receivers. This dissertation sets a guideline on how small cell mmWave transmitters and receivers can be deployed in a densely populated area by working in a coalition (such as by smartly allocating channels to coalitions with more users). Mobility and varying orientations of mmWave as part of dynamic coalitions present new challenges we undertake. Hence, an area where this research can be very apt is vehicular networks, leveraging the high-speed communication provided by mmWave networks. Since the nodes in this case, the vehicles, will be primarily in motion, our research can be applied especially, because we are investigating the antenna designs by considering their beamwidths, steering angles power budgeting.

Submitted by PPG Ci?ncia da Computa??o (ppgcc@pucrs.br) on 2018-05-28T12:31:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TABAJARA_KRAUSBURG_RODRIGUES_DIS.pdf: 4049392 bytes, checksum: 154302eff9df959cfa74d6c0faec5d4e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Sheila Dias (sheila.dias@pucrs.br) on 2018-06-06T13:05:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TABAJARA_KRAUSBURG_RODRIGUES_DIS.pdf: 4049392 bytes, checksum: 154302eff9df959cfa74d6c0faec5d4e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-06T13:35:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TABAJARA_KRAUSBURG_RODRIGUES_DIS.pdf: 4049392 bytes, checksum: 154302eff9df959cfa74d6c0faec5d4e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-26 / Esta disserta??o apresenta um estudo sobre forma??o de coaliz?es entre agentes heterog?neos para a competi??o de programa??o multiagente de 2017. Foi investigado e aplicado a forma??o de estruturas de coaliz?es entre agentes para resolver problemas log?sticos simulados sobre o mapa de uma cidade real. A fim de atingir o objetivo deste trabalho, foram integrados algoritmos formadores de coaliz?es na plataforma JaCaMo por meio de um artefato CArtAgO chamado CFArtefact. Foi utilizada a implementa??o provida pelo time SMART-JaCaMo (time participante da competi??o multiagente), para experimentar a forma??o de coaliz?es na competi??o. Tr?s abordagens foram avaliadas no dom?nio da competi??o em diferentes configura??es. A primeira abordagem utiliza somente aloca??o de tarefas para resolver o problema. A segunda e a terceira abordagem utilizam a t?cnica de forma??o de coaliz?es anteriormente ? aloca??o de tarefas; dentre estas abordagens, uma utiliza um algor?timo ?timo para resolver o problema e a outra um heur?stico. As an?lises dos experimentos realizados mostram que algor?timos formadores de coaliz?es podem melhorar a performance do time participante da competi??o quando a taxa de trabalhos gerados pelo simulador ? baixa. Entretanto, conforme a taxa de trabalhos aumenta, a abordagem que realiza somente aloca??o de tarefas obt?m um desempenho melhor quando comparada as demais. Mesmo a abordagem heur?stica tem desempenho pr?ximo ? abordagem ?tima para coaliz?es. Desta forma, ? poss?vel concluir que forma??o de coaliz?es possui grande valia para balancear os agentes para um conjunto de trabalhos que precisa ser completado. / This work focuses on coalition formation among heterogeneous agents for the 2017 multiagent programming contest. An agent is a computer system that is capable of independent action to achieve its goals. In order to increase the effectiveness of the agents, we can organise them into coalitions, in which the agents collaborate with each other to achieve individual or common goals. We investigate and apply coalition structure generation (the first activity of the coalition formation process) in simulated scenarios, specifically the 2017 contest scenario, where the agents forming a competing team cooperate to solve logistic problems simulated on the map of a real city. In order to achieve our goal, we integrate coalition formation algorithms into the JaCaMo platform by means of a CArtAgO artefact, named CFArtefact. We use the implementation of the SMART JaCaMo team for experimenting with the coalition formation approach in the contest scenario. We experiment on three approaches in the contest domain with different configurations. In the first, we use only a taskallocation mechanism, while the other approaches use an optimal coalition formation algorithm and a heuristic coalition formation algorithm. We conducted several experiments to compare the advantages of each approach. Our results show that coalition formation algorithms can improve the performance of a participating team when dealing with low job rates (i.e., how quickly new jobs are created by the simulation). However, as we increase the job rate, the approach using only task allocation has better performance. Even a heuristic coalition formation approach has close performance to the optimal one in that case. Coalition formation can play an important role when we aim to balance each group of agents to accomplish some particular goal given a larger team of cooperating agents.

Coalitions are collections of agents that join together to solve a common problem that either cannot be solved individually or can be solved more efficiently as a group. Each individual agent has capabilities that can benefit the group when working together as a coalition. Typically, individual capabilities are joined together in an additive way when forming a coalition. This work will introduce a new operator that is used when combining capabilities, and suggest that the behavior of the operator is contextual, depending on the nature of the capability itself. This work considers six different capabilities of Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) and determines the nature of the new operator in the context of each capability as coalitions (squadrons) of UAVs are formed. Coalitions are formed using three different search algorithms, both with and without heuristics: Depth-First, Depth-First Iterative Deepening, and Genetic Algorithm (GA). The effectiveness of each algorithm is evaluated. Multi agent-based UAV simulation software was developed and used to test the ideas presented. In addition to coalition formation, the software aims to address additional multi-agent issues such as agent identity, mutability, and communication as applied to UAV systems, in a realistic simulated environment. Social potential fields provide a means of modeling a clustering attractive force at the same time as a collision-avoiding repulsive force, and are used by the simulation to maintain aircraft position relative to other UAVs.

Interactions involving multiple parties and necessitating their agreement are pervasive in both market and non-market settings. As the number of participants increases, these situations become progressively complex to describe and analyze. Despite the prolific nature of such scenarios, a comprehensive conceptual framework addressing such settings is often lacking. The focus of this dissertation lies in a distinct type of multilateral interaction, where a commitment of a group, or a coalition, of participants is required for achieving a positive surplus. The analysis encompasses three scenarios, namely, government formation in parliamentary democracies, bilateral trading on a market with multiple buyers and sellers, and resource allocation in the US presidential campaign. This dissertation proposes an approach that provides axiomatic foundations for a theory of coalition formation in these settings, and, for two of these scenarios, simultaneously provides an empirically accurate forecast methodology.

Internationale Kooperation zur Vermeidung von gefährlichem anthropogenen Klimawandel erweist sich als sehr komplex. Viele Schwierigkeiten, ein verbindliches internationales Abkommen mit ausreichenden Reduktionszielen zu erreichen, sind augenscheinlich und werden in bestehender ökonomischer Literatur ausführlich diskutiert. Es entstehen allerdings stetig neue Ansätze und Ideen um Klimakooperation zu fördern. Diese Arbeit untersucht neue Wege der internationalen Klimakooperation und erweitert den Horizont der spieltheoretischen Forschung zu internationalen Umweltabkommen um Ansätze aus der Global Governance, politischen Ökonomie und Außenhandelspolitik. Zudem wird die Übertragbarkeit spieltheoretischer Erkenntnisse aus der Forschung zum Klimaschutz für die transnationale Klimaanpassung diskutiert. Die Arbeit fundiert in großen Teilen auf analytisch-spieltheoretischer Modellierung. In der zu Grunde liegenden Spielstruktur entscheiden Länder anfangs, ob sie einer internationalen Koalition beitreten oder nicht. Anschließend wählen die Koalitionsmitglieder ihr Emissionsniveau in einem Spiel zwischen der Koalition und den Nichmitgliedern. In diesem Analyserahmen wird die Option mehrerer gleichzeitig parallel existierender Klimaklubs auf ihr Potenzial zur Verbesserung der Zusammenarbeit und Emissionsminderung untersucht. Darüber hinaus wird der Einfluss von politischen Interessengruppen (Lobbys), die die Interessen von Industrie und Umweltverbänden vertreten, auf die Stabilität internationaler Umweltabkommen analysiert. Dies geschieht durch eine politökonomische Ergänzung des Grundmodells. Die Eignung von Handelssanktionen als Mittel zur Förderung der internationalen Kooperation für den Klimaschutz wird ebenfalls in einem analytischen Model untersucht und die Auswirkungen dieser Maßnahmen anschließend in einem angewandten allgemeinen Gleichgewichtsmodell quantifiziert. / International cooperation to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change has proven to be very hard to achieve. The difficulties to reach a binding international agreement with sufficient reduction targets are evident and extensively discussed in the economic literature. Nevertheless, new ideas towards cooperation are evolving. This thesis offers an exploration of new avenues to international climate cooperation, widening the scope of game theoretic research on international environmental agreements towards global governance literature, political economy and trade. It also extends the potential applicability of the findings from the game theoretic literature on international environmental agreements for climate change mitigation as it discusses potential insights for cases of transnational climate adaptation. The analysis is based on analytical theoretical modelling, using a game theoretical model in which countries first choose between joining and not joining an international coalition. Then the coalition members choose their level of emissions cooperatively in a game between the coalition and the outsiders. It includes the possibility of multiple parallel climate clubs, focusing on their potential to enhance cooperation and emissions abatement. Further, the influence of political pressure groups (lobbies) that represent the interests of the industry and environmentalists on the stability of international environmental agreements is examined. This is done by augmenting the basic model of international environmental agreements with a politico-economic model of political contributions. The potential of trade sanctions to induce international cooperation for climate protection is assessed in an analytical model and the effects of these trade measures are then quantified in a static multi-region, multi-sector computable general equilibrium model of globaltrade and energy.

Para uma comparação intercultural das influências do contexto sobre a codificação de etnia, duas variações do Protocolo de Confusão de Memória (PCM) foram aplicadas em brasileiros. Ambas as variações consistem em uma exibição de slides de uma discussão entre duas equipes esportivas rivais, com membros negros e brancos em ambos os times, em duas condições: Controle (times com roupas de cores idênticas) e Experimental (times com roupas de cores distintas). As variações são: Traduzida, com fotos de jogadores de basquete usadas no experimento original e diálogo traduzido; e Adaptada, com fotos de brasileiros com camisetas de futebol e com o diálogo reelaborado visando consistência com o esporte. O estudo foi dividido em três fases: (I) exposição de 84 participantes, do estado de São Paulo ao PCM Traduzido (II) exposição de 569 participantes em sete estados brasileiros (BA, ES, MT, RJ, RN, SC, SP) ao PCM Traduzido (III) exposição de 77 participantes do estado de São Paulo ao PCM Adaptado. Na Fase I, a codificação etnia acompanhou o aumento da intensidade da codificação de coalizão (condição experimental), em contraposição ao experimento original (Kurzban et al., 2001). Na Fase II, a codificação de etnia diminuiu de intensidade quando a codificação de coalizão aumentou, em taxa similar à da aplicação original, mas a codificação de coalizão manteve taxa mais baixa, em ambas as condições, em relação aos dados originais. Na Fase III os resultados em ambas as dimensões foram análogos aos da aplicação original. O conjunto de dados reforça a teoria da universalidade do módulo de codificação de coalizão e que a codificação de etnia seja subproduto deste. Também refletem a importância de uma adaptação cuidadosa em estudos interculturais. / For a cross-cultural comparison of context influences in ethnicity encoding, two variations of the Memory Confusion Protocol (MCP) were applied on Brazilians. Both variations consist in a slide-show exposition of a discussion between two rival teams, with black and white players on both sides, in two forms: Control (teams with identical grey colour) and Experimental (teams with different colours). The two variations were: Translated Only, with photographs of basketball players used in the original experiment, and the respective translated dialog; and Adapted, with photographs of Brazilian models with soccer uniforms and a re-elaborated dialog, more fitting to this sport. The research was divided, then, in three different phases: (I) a 84 participants experiment with the Translated MCP, in the state of São Paulo (II) a 569 participants experiment with the Translated MCP, in seven different Brazilian states (BA, ES, MT, RJ, RN, SC, SP); and (III) a 77 participants experiment with the Adapted MCP, in the state of São Paulo. In Phase I, the ethnicity encoding, contrary to the original experiment (Kurzban et al., 2001), accompanied the intensity grown of the coalition encoding. In Phase II ethnicity encoding lowered in intensity during a the raise of intensity of coalition encoding, but coalition encoding kept a lower intensity, in both conditions, if compared to the original experiment coalition encoding rates. In Phase III, the results of both dimensions are analogue to those of the Kurzban et al., 2001 experiment. The data obtained strengthens the theory of a universal coalition encoding module, and encoding ethnicity as a byproduct of it. The data also reveals the importance of a carefully planned adaptation in order to run cross-cultural studies.