[pt] Nesta dissertação, apresenta-se uma abordagem para regular a interação dos agentes que fazem parte de um sistema multi-agente aberto. Em sistemas abertos, os agentes podem ser não-cooperativos, estão imersos em um ambiente altamente imprevisível e, freqüentemente, os outros agentes que compõem o sistema não são conhecidos a priori. Para algumas classes de aplicações, esta imprevisibilidade não é adequada, podendo levar a falhas de software. Desta forma, é proposta uma abordagem baseada em leis de interação para construir sistemas multi-agentes abertos, onde um controle sobre o comportamento dos agentes é esperado. Propõe-se um modelo conceitual para a especificação da forma como as interações são reguladas em um sistema multi-agente. Este modelo conceitual trata conceitos como cenas, normas e restrições de forma integrada. Além disso, a interação entre os agentes deve ser monitorada e as leis que foram especificadas devem ser aplicadas. Para isto, propõe-se uma linguagem declarativa para a especificação da interação de acordo com os elementos do modelo conceitual e uma infra-estrutura de software que age como mediador das interações garantindo que elas estejam de acordo com as especificações. / [en] In this work, we propose an approach for regulating agents interaction on an open multi-agent system. In open systems, agents are immersed in a highly unpredictable environment, they can be self-interested, and other agents are frequently unknown beforehand. We argue that, in some applications, unexpected behavior may lead to system faults. For this reason, we propose a law enforcement approach to build open multi-agent systems where a certain degree of control over agents behavior is desirable. A conceptual model is proposed to specify how the interactions of an open multi-agent system should happen. This model deals with concepts such as norms, constraints and scenes in a integrated way. We also propose a declarative language that allows the interaction s specification according to the elements that compose the conceptual model, and a software infrastructure that acts as a mediator monitoring and enforcing agents interaction.

Nous nous intéressons dans cette thèse à certains modèles mathématiques permettant une description de systèmes ouverts classiques et quantiques. Dans l'étude de ces systèmes en interaction avec un environnement, nous montrons que la dynamique induite par l'environnement sur le système donne lieu à l'apparition de bruits. Dans une première partie de la thèse, dédiée aux systèmes classiques, le modèle décrit est le schéma d'interactions répétées. Etant à la fois hamiltonien et markovien, ce modèle en temps discret permet d'implémenter facilement la dissipation dans des systèmes physiques. Nous expliquons comment le mettre en place pour des systèmes physiques avant d'en étudier la limite en temps continu. Nous montrons la convergence Lp et presque sûre de l'évolution de certains systèmes vers la solution d'une équation différentielle stochastique, à travers l'étude de la limite de la perturbation d'un schéma d'Euler stochastique. Dans une seconde partie de la thèse sur les systèmes quantiques, nous nous intéressons dans un premier temps aux actions d'environnements quantiques sur des systèmes quantiques aboutissant à des bruits classiques. A cette fin, nous introduisons certains opérateurs unitaires appelés « classiques », que nous caractérisons à l'aide de variables aléatoires dites obtuses. Nous mettons en valeur comment ces variables classiques apparaissent naturellement dans ce cadre quantique à travers des 3-tenseurs possédant des symétries particulières. Nous prouvons notamment que ces 3-tenseurs sont exactement ceux diagonalisables dans une base orthonormée. Dans un second temps, nous étudions la limite en temps continu d'une variante des interactions répétées quantiques dans le cas particulier d'un système biparti, c'est-à-dire composé de deux systèmes isolés sans interaction entre eux. Nous montrons qu'à la limite du temps continu, une interaction entre ces sous-systèmes apparaît explicitement sous forme d'un hamiltonien d'interaction; cette interaction résulte de l'action de l'environnement et de l'intrication qu'il crée / This dissertation is dedicated to some mathematical models describing classical and quantum open systems. In the study of these systems interacting with an environment, we particularly show that the dynamics induced by the environment leads to the appearance of noises. In a first part of this thesis, devoted to classical open systems, the repeated interaction scheme is developed. This discrete-time model, being Hamiltonian and Markovian at the same time, has the advantage to easily implement the dissipation in physical systems. We explain how to set this scheme up in some physical examples. Then, we investigate the continuous-time limit of these repeated interactions. We show the Lp and almost sure convergences of the evolution of the system to the solution of a stochastic differential equation, by studying the limit of a perturbed Stochastic Euler Scheme. In a second part of this dissertation on quantum systems, we characterize in a first work classical actions of a quantum environment on a quantum system. In this study, we introduce some “classical” unitary operators representing these actions and we highlight a strong link between them and some random variables, called obtuse random variables. We explain how these random variables are naturally connected to some 3-tensors having some particular symmetries. We particularly show that these 3 tensors are exactly the ones that are diagonalizable in some orthonormal basis. In a second work of this part, we study the continuous-time limit of a variant of the repeated interaction scheme in a case of a bipartite system, that is, a system made of two isolated systems not interaction together. We prove that an explicit Hamiltonian interaction between them appears at the limit. This interaction is due to the action of the environment and the entanglement between the two systems that it creates

This study investigated the relationship between leadership style and group processes and dynamics with due consideration of the role of related systems in the context of organisational change. The theoretical assumptions and practical implications of the full range model of leadership were discussed. This model emphasises the transactional-transformational paradigm. In addition, approaches to studying and working with groups were covered, focusing specifically on group processes and group dynamics. In the case of the latter, the systems psychodynamic perspective was emphasised. The present study was conducted in a plant of a South African production organisation that had been experiencing transformation. An intervention was done at management level to identify behavioural and operational issues and to sensitise the members of the management team in terms of individual and group functioning. The conceptualisation of leadership styles in terms of the full range model of leadership was largely supported by means of associations with certain personality traits and behaviours. The latter also provided a profile of desired characteristics, especially in terms of interpersonal styles and work and social ethics. The theory on group processes and dynamics was used to explore group and organisational functioning. The context of change and the related insecurity resulted in efforts to deal with anxiety by means of excessive reliance on structure. Centralised leadership and a dynamic of control and dependency characterised all levels of the organisation. Cooperation in an interdependent manner was therefore problematic and there was also a struggle in terms of interrelatedness in and between systems. The unconscious defence strategy was related to the general reliance on transactional behaviours and the lack of authorisation of leadership in terms of transformational behaviours. Despite the successful application of theory in the present study and the contribution made by the results, it was concluded that the uniqueness and the realities of each situation need to be explored and provided for, and a system should be allowed to determine the progression in the system. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

A productive workforce is recognized as the primary resource for all organizations. Workforce training and constant retraining must be a priority. The trainers' role to add value in this process is recognised. The general aim of this research was to ascertain the correlation and difference between trainer competency and psychological optimisation. The following measurement instruments were used in the study - TCQ, POI, SOCq and SCS. This study was conducted among 57 trainers working for a large transport organisation. Through a literature survey, training and psychological optimisation were defined and a personality profile of the competent trainer integrated with that of the psychological optimal functioning individual. Through an empirical study, the correlation and difference between trainer competency and psychological optimisation were determined. Supporting evidence, although not enough, indicates a correlation between trainer competency and psychological optimisation, and a difference in psychological optimisation between the high and low trainer competency groups. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Admin. (Industrial Psychology)

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 17-20, 1994 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / The Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the only agency in Australia that performs the full spectrum of military flight testing and is the new custodian of the instrumented weapons range at Woomera. Receiving early attention will be the upgrade and integration of ARDU's telemetry systems with the meteorological and tracking data acquisition capabilities at Woomera to minimize overhead and data turnaround time. To achieve these goals, maximum modularity, extensibility, and product interoperability is being sought in the proposed architecture of all the systems that will need to cooperate on the forecast test programmes. These goals are also driven by the need to be responsive to a wide variety of tasks which presently include structural flight testing of fighter and training aircraft, weapons systems performance evaluation on a variety of combatant aircraft, and a host of other tasks associated with all fixed and rotary wing aircraft in the Army and Air Force inventory. Of all these tasks however, ARDU sees that responsiveness to future testing of F-111Cs fitted with unique Digital Flight Control Systems along with USAF standard F-111Gs may place the most significant demands on data handling —particularly in regard to providing an avionics bus diagnostic capability when performing Operational Flight Programme (OFP) changes to the mission computers. With the timely assistance and advice of Loral Test & Information Systems, who has long-term experience in supporting USAF F-111 test programmes, ARDU is confident of making wise design decisions that will provide the desired flexibility and, at the same time, minimize life-cycle costs by ensuring compliance with the appropriate telemetry and open systems standards. As well, via cooperative agreements with the USAF, the potential exists to acquire proven software products without needing to fund the development costs already absorbed by the USAF. This paper presents ARDU's perception of future needs, a view by LTIS of how best to meet those needs, and, based on ARDU data, a view of how LTIS' proposal will satisfy the requirement to provide maximum extensibility with minimum life-cycle costs.

L'auto-organisation des organismes vivants est d'une complexité et d'une efficacité étonnantes. Plus précisément, les systèmes biologiques abritent un nombre gigantesque de réactions très spécifiques qui nécessitent que la bonne biomolécule se retrouve à la bonne place, dans le bon ordre et en un temps suffisamment court pour permettre le fonctionnement cellulaire, et au-delà la vie cellulaire. D'un point de vue dynamique, cela pose la question fondamentale de savoir comment les biomolécules trouvent efficacement leur(s) cible(s) spécifique(s), ou encore, quels types de forces rassemblent tous ces partenaires de réaction spécifiques dans un environnement aussi dense et ionisé que les micro-environnements cellulaires. Dans cette thèse, nous explorons la possibilité que des biomolécules puissent interagir à travers des interactions électromagnétiques de longue-portée telles que ces dernières sont prédites à partir des premiers principes de la physique; ''longue-portée'' signifiant que les interactionsen question sont actives sur des distances bien plus larges que les dimensions typiques des molécules mises en jeu (i.e., plus grandes qu'environ 50 angströms dans les systèmes biologiques). Après avoir posé les fondements théoriques concernant les interactionsde longue-portée potentiellement actives sur de longue distances dans un contexte biologique, nous étudions la posssibilité de détecter leur éventuelle contribution à partir de dispositifs expérimentaux qui sont accessibles de nos jours. Sur ce dernier point, des résultats préliminaires encourageants tant sur le plan théorique qu'expérimental sont présentés. / Self-organization of living organisms is of an astonishing complexity and efficiency. More specifically, biological systems are the site of a huge number of very specific reactions thatrequire the right biomolecule to be at the right place, in the right order and in a reasonably short time to sustain cellular function and ultimately cellular life. From the dynamic point of view, this raises the fundamental question of how biomolecules effectively find their target(s); in other words, what kinds of forces bring all these specific cognate partners together in an environment as dense and ionized as cellular micro-environments. In the present thesis, we explore the possibility that biomolecules interact through long-range electromagnetic interactions as they are predicted from the first principles of physics; "long-range" meaning that the mentioned interactions are effective over distances much larger than the typical dimensions of the molecules involved (i.e., larger than about 50 angströms in biological systems).After laying the theoretical foundations about interactions that are potentially active over long distances in a biological context, we investigate the possibility of detecting their contribution from experimental devices which are nowadays available. On the latter point, encouraging preliminary results both at the theoretical and experimental levels are exposed.

[pt] Um dos desafios de desenvolvimento de software é produzir aplicativos que são projetados para evoluir reduzindo esforços de manutenção. Diversas técnicas desenvolvidas para a governança de leis de interação em sistemas multiagentes abertos foram propostas, no entanto a flexibilidade e a reutilização de leis não ocorrem de forma sistemática com estas técnicas. A tecnologia de gframeworks visa orientar o projeto e a implementação de leis de interação em sistemas multiagentes abertos, com o objetivo de produzir mecanismos de governança de leis de interação. A flexibilidade em g- frameworks é obtida através da introdução de incrementos específicos que as instâncias em desenvolvimento requerem, de modo a completar e adaptar as funcionalidades originais do g-framework. A reutilização em g-frameworks vem justamente do re-aproveitamento de um mesmo projeto e código de lei de interação em instâncias geradas a partir do g-framework. Os benefícios obtidos por tal abordagem podem impactar positivamente o desenvolvimento de software em termos do custo e tempo total de construção de uma família de mecanismos de governança de sistemas multiagentes. Para isto, são apresentadas técnicas de governança de sistemas multiagentes abertos e técnicas de reutilização de leis de interação. Um método de orientação é proposto para guiar o desenvolvimento de g-frameworks. Experimentos foram desenvolvidos e são descritos neste documento. / [en] One of the challenges of software development is to produce applications that are designed to evolve, reducing maintenance efforts. Many techniques developed to govern the interaction laws in open multi- agent systems were proposed, but the flexibility and reuse concerns of interaction laws were not systemically fulfilled by them. The technology of g- frameworks intends to guide the design and the implementation of interaction laws in open multi-agent systems, aiming to facilitate the production of interaction law governance mechanisms. The flexibility in g-frameworks is achieved by specific increments that the instances under development require, to complete and adapt the original functionalities of the g-framework. The reuse in g- frameworks is related to a common design and codification of that interaction laws that are shared by instances developed with the g-framework. The benefits of this approach might positively impact the development of software considering the costs and the necessary time to construct the family of governance mechanisms of multiagent systems. In this thesis, some techniques to promote reuse of interaction laws were propose to fulfill this goal. One method to orient the development of g-frameworks is proposed. Experiments were developed and they are described in this thesis.

Discussão, avaliação e apresentação de parâmetros para a organização da informação científica e tecnológica (ICT) brasileira em meio eletrônico, enfocando os problemas do acesso à informação em sistemas abertos, especificamente a Plataforma Lattes do Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq). Para fundamentação teórico-conceitual da pesquisa fez-se um retrospecto da ICT brasileira a partir da evolução das suas políticas nacionais de Ciência e Tecnologia e, em seguida, analisaram-se criticamente os recursos relacionados à organização da informação. Um estudo exploratório é apresentado, desenvolvido a partir de currículos extraídos da Plataforma Lattes, para identificar se a natureza aberta do sistema compromete a consistência dos dados na recuperação da informação. A análise se deu em duas etapas: a primeira, a partir da lógica dos Arquivos Pessoais e, a segunda, observando-se as formas de preenchimento do sistema a partir de três categorias: campos com Autonomia Total, Autonomia Parcial, e Sem Autonomia. Conclui-se que há comprometimento da consistência na recuperação da informação em sistemas abertos. A partir da sistematização dos resultados, apresentam-se sugestões para aprimorar o sistema. / Discussion, assessment and presentation of parameters for organization of Brazilian Scientific and Technological Information (STI) on electronic means, focusing on the problems of access to information in open systems, specifically the Lattes Data Base of the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq). For the theoretical and conceptual well-grounding of this research, a retrospect of Brazilian STI was carried out from the evolution of its national Science and Technology politics, and then the resources related to the organization of information were critically analyzed. An explanatory study is presented, developed from CVs taken from the Lattes Data Base in order to identify if the open nature of the system puts the consistency of data at risk when information is retrieved. This analysis was carried out in two steps: the first one was done based on the logic of Personal Files, and the second one by observing the ways the system is fulfilled within three categories: fields with Total Autonomy, with Partial Autonomy and with No Autonomy. We conclude that consistency is at a risk when information is retrieved in open systems. From systemization of results we present suggestions to improve on the system.

Discussão, avaliação e apresentação de parâmetros para a organização da informação científica e tecnológica (ICT) brasileira em meio eletrônico, enfocando os problemas do acesso à informação em sistemas abertos, especificamente a Plataforma Lattes do Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq). Para fundamentação teórico-conceitual da pesquisa fez-se um retrospecto da ICT brasileira a partir da evolução das suas políticas nacionais de Ciência e Tecnologia e, em seguida, analisaram-se criticamente os recursos relacionados à organização da informação. Um estudo exploratório é apresentado, desenvolvido a partir de currículos extraídos da Plataforma Lattes, para identificar se a natureza aberta do sistema compromete a consistência dos dados na recuperação da informação. A análise se deu em duas etapas: a primeira, a partir da lógica dos Arquivos Pessoais e, a segunda, observando-se as formas de preenchimento do sistema a partir de três categorias: campos com Autonomia Total, Autonomia Parcial, e Sem Autonomia. Conclui-se que há comprometimento da consistência na recuperação da informação em sistemas abertos. A partir da sistematização dos resultados, apresentam-se sugestões para aprimorar o sistema. / Discussion, assessment and presentation of parameters for organization of Brazilian Scientific and Technological Information (STI) on electronic means, focusing on the problems of access to information in open systems, specifically the Lattes Data Base of the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq). For the theoretical and conceptual well-grounding of this research, a retrospect of Brazilian STI was carried out from the evolution of its national Science and Technology politics, and then the resources related to the organization of information were critically analyzed. An explanatory study is presented, developed from CVs taken from the Lattes Data Base in order to identify if the open nature of the system puts the consistency of data at risk when information is retrieved. This analysis was carried out in two steps: the first one was done based on the logic of Personal Files, and the second one by observing the ways the system is fulfilled within three categories: fields with Total Autonomy, with Partial Autonomy and with No Autonomy. We conclude that consistency is at a risk when information is retrieved in open systems. From systemization of results we present suggestions to improve on the system.

Denial of service attacks (DoS) are a common threat to many online services. These attacks aim to overcome the availability of an online service with massive traffic from multiple sources. By spoofing legitimate users, an attacker floods a target system with a high quantity of packets or connections to crash its network resources, bandwidth, equipment, or servers. Packet filtering methods are the most known way to prevent these attacks via identifying and blocking the spoofed attack from reaching its target. In this project, the extent of the DoS attacks problem and attempts to prevent it are explored. The attacks categories and existing countermeasures based on preventing, detecting, and responding are reviewed. Henceforward, a neural network learning algorithms and statistical analysis are utilized into the designing of our proposed packet filtering system.