The amount of information on the World Wide Web (WWW) is rapidly growing in pace and topic diversity. This has made it increasingly difficult, and often frustrating, for information seekers to retrieve the content they are looking for as information retrieval systems (e.g., search engines) are unable to decipher the relevance of the retrieved information as it pertains to the information they are searching for. This issue can be decomposed into two aspects: 1) variability of information relevance as it pertains to an information seeker. In other words, different information seekers may enter the same search text, or keywords, but expect completely different results. It is therefore, imperative that information retrieval systems possess an ability to incorporate a model of the information seeker in order to estimate the relevance and context of use of information before presenting results. Of course, in this context, by a model we mean the capture of trends in the information seeker's search behaviour. This is what many researchers refer to as the personalized search. 2) Information diversity. Information available on the World Wide Web today spans multitudes of inherently overlapping topics, and it is difficult for any information retrieval system to decide effectively on the relevance of the information retrieved in response to an information seeker's query. For example, the information seeker who wishes to use WWW to learn about a cure for a certain illness would receive a more relevant answer if the search engine was optimized into such domains of topics. This is what is being referred to in the WWW nomenclature as a 'specialized search'. This thesis maintains that the information seeker's search is not intended to be completely random and therefore tends to portray itself as consistent patterns of behaviour. Nonetheless, this behaviour, despite being consistent, can be quite complex to capture. To accomplish this goal the thesis proposes a Multi-Agent Personalized Information Retrieval with Specialization Ontology (MAPIRSO). MAPIRSO offers a complete learning framework that is able to model the end user's search behaviour and interests and to organize information into categorized domains so as to ensure maximum relevance of its responses as they pertain to the end user queries. Specialization and personalization are accomplished using a group of collaborative agents. Each agent employs a Reinforcement Learning (RL) strategy to capture end user's behaviour and interests. Reinforcement learning allows the agents to evolve their knowledge of the end user behaviour and interests as they function to serve him or her. Furthermore, REL allows each agent to adapt to changes in an end user's behaviour and interests. Specialization is the process by which new information domains are created based on existing information topics, allowing new kinds of content to be built exclusively for information seekers. One of the key characteristics of specialization domains is the seeker centric - which allows intelligent agents to create new information based on the information seekers' feedback and their behaviours. Specialized domains are created by intelligent agents that collect information from a specific domain topic. The task of these specialized agents is to map the user's query to a repository of specific domains in order to present users with relevant information. As a result, mapping users' queries to only relevant information is one of the fundamental challenges in Artificial Intelligent (AI) and machine learning research. Our approach employs intelligent cooperative agents that specialize in building personalized ontology information domains that pertain to each information seeker's specific needs. Specializing and categorizing information into unique domains is one of the challenge areas that have been addressed and various proposed solutions were evaluated and adopted to address growing information. However, categorizing information into unique domains does not satisfy each individualized information seeker. Information seekers might search for similar topics, but each would have different interests. For example, medical information of a specific medical domain has different importance to both the doctor and patients. The thesis presents a novel solution that will resolve the growing and diverse information by building seeker centric specialized information domains that are personalized through the information seekers' feedback and behaviours. To address this challenge, the research examines the fundamental components that constitute the specialized agent: an intelligent machine learning system, user input queries, an intelligent agent, and information resources constructed through specialized domains. Experimental work is reported to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed solution in addressing the overlapping information growth. The experimental work utilizes extensive user-centric specialized domain topics. This work employs personalized and collaborative multi learning agents and ontology techniques thereby enriching the queries and domains of the user. Therefore, experiments and results have shown that building specialized ontology domains, pertinent to the information seekers' needs, are more precise and efficient compared to other information retrieval applications and existing search engines.

The aim of this thesis is to show how to design a commercially successful website and what are the possibilities of its succesive promotion. First a user research and analysis of competition is done and on the basis of this a new website is designed and created. After its implementation this site is then supported by several online marketing tools.

La présente thèse de doctorat en informatique propose un modèle pour une recherche d'information intelligente possibiliste des documents Web et son implémentation. Ce modèle est à base de deux Réseaux Petits Mondes Hiérarchiques (RPMH) et d'un Réseau Possibiliste (RP) : Le premier RPMH consiste à structurer les documents retrouvés en zones denses de pages Web thématiquement liées les unes aux autres. Nous faisons ainsi apparaître des nuages denses de pages qui traitent d'un sujet et des sujets connexes (assez similaires sémantiquement) et qui répondent toutes fortement à une requête. Le second RPMH est celui qui consiste à ne pas prendre les mots-clés tels quels mais à considérer une requête comme multiple en ce sens qu'on ne cherche pas seulement le mot-clé dans les pages Web mais aussi les substantifs qui lui sont sémantiquement proches. Les Réseaux Possibilistes combinent les deux RPMH afin d'organiser les documents recherchés selon les préférences de l'utilisateur. En effet, l'originalité du modèle proposé se décline selon les trois volets suivants qui synthétisent nos contributions. Le premier volet s'intéresse au processus itératif de la reformulation sémantique de requêtes. Cette technique est à base de relations de dépendance entre les termes de la requête. Nous évaluons notamment les proximités des mots du dictionnaire français « Le Grand Robert » par rapport aux termes de la requête. Ces proximités sont calculées par le biais de notre approche de recherche des composantes de sens dans un RPMH de dictionnaire de mots par application d'une méthode basée sur le dénombrement des circuits dans le réseau. En fait, l'utilisateur du système proposé choisit le nombre de mots sémantiquement proches qu'il désire ajouter à chaque terme de sa requête originelle pour construire sa requête reformulée sémantiquement. Cette dernière représente la première partie de son profil qu'il propose au système. La seconde partie de son profil est constituée des choix des coefficients de pertinence possibilistes affectés aux entités logiques des documents de la collection. Ainsi, notre système tient compte des profils dynamiques des utilisateurs au fur et à mesure que ces derniers utilisent le système. Ce dernier est caractérisé par son intelligence, son adaptativité, sa flexibilité et sa dynamicité. Le second volet consiste à proposer des relations de dépendance entre les documents recherchés dans un cadre ordinal. Ces relations de dépendance entre ces documents traduisent les liens sémantiques ou statistiques évaluant les distributions des termes communs à des paires ou ensembles de documents. Afin de quantifier ces relations, nous nous sommes basés sur les calculs des proximités entres ces documents par application d'une méthode de dénombrement de circuits dans le RPMH de pages Web. En effet, les documents peuvent ainsi être regroupés dans des classes communes (groupes de documents thématiquement proches). Le troisième volet concerne la définition des relations de dépendance, entre les termes de la requête et les documents recherchés, dans un cadre qualitatif. Les valeurs affectées à ces relations traduisent des ordres partiels de préférence. En fait, la théorie des possibilités offre deux cadres de travail : le cadre qualitatif ou ordinal et le cadre quantitatif. Nous avons proposé notre modèle dans un cadre ordinal. Ainsi, des préférences entre les termes de la requête se sont ajoutées à notre modèle de base. Ces préférences permettent de restituer des documents classés par préférence de pertinence. Nous avons mesuré aussi l'apport de ces facteurs de préférence dans l'augmentation des scores de pertinence des documents contenant ces termes dans le but de pénaliser les scores de pertinence des documents ne les contenant pas. Pour la mise en place de ce modèle nous avons choisi les systèmes multi-agents. L'avantage de l'architecture que nous proposons est qu'elle offre un cadre pour une collaboration entre les différents acteurs et la mise en œuvre de toutes les fonctionnalités du système de recherche d'information (SRI). L'architecture s'accorde parfaitement avec le caractère intelligent possibiliste et permet de bénéficier des capacités de synergie inhérente entre les différentes composantes du modèle proposé. Dans le présent travail, nous avons donc pu mettre en exergue à travers les expérimentations effectuées l'intérêt de faire combiner les deux RPMH via un réseau possibiliste dans un SRI, ce qui permet d'enrichir le niveau d'exploration d'une collection. Ce dernier n'est pas limité aux documents mais l'étend en considérant les requêtes. En effet, la phase de reformulation sémantique de requête permet à l'utilisateur de profiter des autres documents correspondants aux termes sémantiquement proches des termes de la requête originelle. Ces documents peuvent exister dans d'autres classes des thèmes. En conséquence, une reclassification proposée par le système s'avère pertinente afin d'adapter les résultats d'une requête aux nouveaux besoins des utilisateurs. / This Ph.D. thesis proposes a new model for a multiagent possibilistic Web information retrieval and its implementation. This model is based on two Hierarchical Small-Worlds (HSW) Networks and a Possibilistic Networks (PN): The first HSW consists in structuring the founded documents in dense zones of Web pages which strongly depend on each other. We thus reveal dense clouds of pages which "speak" more or less about the same subject and related subjects (semantically similar) and which all strongly answer user's query. The second HSW consists in considering the query as multiple in the sense that we don't seek only the keyword in the Web pages but also its semantically close substantives. The PN generates the mixing of these two HSW in order to organize the searched documents according to user's preferences. Indeed, the originality of the suggested model is declined according to three following shutters' which synthesize our contributions. The first shutter is interested in the iterative process of query semantic reformulation. This technique is based on relationship dependence between query's terms. We evaluate in particular the semantics proximities between the words of the French dictionary "Le Grand Robert" and query's terms. These proximities are calculated via our approach of research of the semantics components in the HSW of dictionary of words by application of our method of enumeration of circuits in the HSW of dictionary. In fact, the user of the suggested system chooses the number of close words that he desire to add to each word of his initial query to build his semantically reformulated query. This one represents the first part of user's profile which he proposes to the system. The second part of its profile makes up of its choices of the coefficients of relevance possibilistic of the logical entities of the documents of the collection. Thus, our system takes account of the dynamic profiles of its users progressively they use the system, which proves its intelligence, its adaptability, its flexibility and its dynamicity. The second shutter consists in proposing relationship dependence between documents of the collection within an ordinal framework. These relationships dependence between these documents represent the semantic or statistical links evaluating the distributions of the general terms to pairs or sets of documents.  In order to quantify these relationships, we are based on the calculations of the proximities between these documents by application of a method enumerating of circuits in the HSW of Web pages. Indeed, the documents can thus be clustered in common classes (groups of close documents). The third shutter is related to the definition of the relationships dependence between query's terms and documents of the collection, within a qualitative framework. The assigned values to these relations translate preferably partial orders. In fact, possibilistic theory offers two working frameworks:  the qualitative or ordinal framework and the numerical framework.  We proposed our model within an ordinal framework. Thus, we add to our basic model preferences between query's terms. These preferences make it possible to restore documents classified by relevance's preference. We also measured the contribution of these preferably factors in the increase of the relevance's scores of  documents containing these terms with an aim of penalizing the relevance's scores of the documents not containing them. For the installation of this model we chose multiagent systems. The advantage of the proposed architecture is that it offers a framework for collaboration between the various actors and the implementation of all the functionalities of the information retrieval system. Architecture agrees perfectly with the possibilistic intelligent character and makes it possible to profit from the capacities of inherent synergy in the suggested model. We thus could put forward, through the carried out experiments, the goal of combining the two HSW via a possibilistic network in an information retrieval system, which makes it possible to enrich the exploration level of a collection. This exploration is not only limited to the documents but it extends by considering also the query. Indeed, the semantic query reformulation phase makes it possible to benefit user from other documents which contain some close terms of the initial query. These documents can exist in other topics classes. Consequently, a reclassification suggested by the system proves its relevance in order to adapt query's results to new user's needs.

Dans les petites îles en développement soumises à de fortes pressions humaines, comme l'archipel des Comores, les usages qui favorisent l'érosion côtière sont un facteur aggravant de vulnérabilité du littoral face au changement climatique et à l'élévation du niveau de la mer. À Anjouan, les profils topographiques des plages et la construction de géoindicateurs paysagers montrent qu'une grande partie du littoral meuble est très érodée, notamment dans les zones de forte pression anthropique où les plages sont soumises à l'extraction de sédiments. Il en résulte des impacts négatifs dans l'économie, la société et l'environnement de l'île, notamment une dégradation généralisée des services écosystémiques sur lesquels les pouvoirs publics pourraient s'appuyer pour amorcer le développement d'Anjouan. Pour réduire la vulnérabilité du trait de côte à l'érosion, des murs sont construits avec le soutien financier des partenaires internationaux et régionaux, au risque d'accentuer encore plus la dégradation du littoral. Les usagers des plages considèrent que les causes de l'érosion sont plus à rechercher dans l'action de l'homme que dans celle de nature et demandent des mesures socio-économiques pour réduire les dégradations d'origine anthropique. Cette étude montre que toute politique de GIZC à Anjouan comme ailleurs aux Comores ne sera efficace que si les personnes chargées de sa mise en œuvre tiennent compte des réalités locales et des perceptions des usagers du littoral. / In the context of climate change and sea level rising, the activities of coastal communities can increase the vulnerability of the seashore to coastal erosion particularly in small developing islands as Anjouan in the Comoros archipelago where the human density on the coast is quite heavy. This thesis focuses on sandy beaches, studied as a system. The monitoring of topographic profiles of beaches and landscaped geoindicators show that a large part of the sandy coast of Anjouan is very degraded and eroded. The erosion is mainly localized to areas of high human pressure, including beaches subjected to the extraction of sediments . Combined with natural hazards, the erosion due to human activities generates serious damages for the economy, society and environment of Anjouan, including the degradation of ecosystem services on which the government could draw to initiate the development of the island . To reduce the vulnerability of the coastline to erosion, walls are built with the financial support of international and regional bodies, but they are inefficient and the risk of coastal degradation is even greater. For beach users, causes erosion are to be found in the work of the man and not in nature. Minimizing this risk requires socio-economic measures to reduce anthropogenic degradations. This study shows that a policy of ICZM in Anjouan in the Comoros and elsewhere will only be effective if those responsible for its implementation take into account local realities and perceptions of coastal users.

This thesis concerns methods of research, user's satisfaction and methods and tools for measuring quality and performance in the libraries of the Czech Republic and the Nordic countries, especially the library institutions of Norway, Sweden and Finland. The theoretical part focuses on the basic concepts related to research in general. Furthermore, the thesis clarifies specific tools and methods for measuring the quality and performance in an environment of the Czech and Nordic libraries and it also comments on the research methods of the user's satisfaction in the libraries of the Czech Republic. The practical part is composed of an exploration in the Czech libraries by using different kinds of research methods.

面對大量習慣用嘗試錯誤方式去學習使用複雜線上遊戲功能的使用者，如果沒有一個好的網頁佈局設計，會妨礙讓使用者易於上手。本研究試圖綜合以往在電腦學習認知方面的模板比對理論、CoLiDeS Model、及資訊氣味等相關研究，增強對線上遊戲介面設計的了解。本研究設計一個線上遊戲介面認知的實驗，用「仙劍Online」多人線上遊戲的介面為實驗工具，運用眼動儀去觀察受試者的瀏覽行為。「功能的群組位置」(Location)與圖像(Icon)皆為介面設計的重要因素；這兩項因素可能會影響受試者對任務難易的知覺判斷與瀏覽行為的Pattern。這些差異會顯示在任務的「間隔多久時間看到正確區域位置」、「凝視次數」、「凝視正確區域佔全部的比例」、任務的「完成率」與任務的「使用時間」等資料上。經過本研究驗證可以明確的知道「功能的群組位置」(Location)與圖像(Icon)何者為設計者首要考量之因素，在學術上能加強對CoLiDeS Model的了解，提出兩階段修正的認知模式；在實務上幫助介面設計師進行更有效的頁面設計和實用的建議。 / A large amount of users practice the trial and error approach to learn to use complicated online games. This leads to low user perception of "easy to use" when the game lacks good webpage layout design. This study attempts to integrate previous studies on cognitive learning through computer including Template Matching, Information Scent, and Comprehension-based Linked model of Deliberate Search Model ( CoLiDes Model), to enhance the understanding on online game interface design. A cognitive experiment of online game interface was designed utilizing the multiplayer simulation game "Chinese Paladin Online" in an attempt to observe and record user’s browsing behaviors through the eye tracker. "Location of functional group " and "Icon" are important factor of interface design and affect user’s browse behavior pattern . These differences will appear in "Time spent", "Accuracy", "Frequency of fixation ", “ and "Time spent before first fixation on the correct position" of the tasks. We expect the results extended the CoLiDeS Model, enhanced understanding of the interface layout user cognition, and provided fruitful suggestions in how to further design on effective WebPages.

This research work concentrate on developing digital soil maps to support field based plant phenotyping research. We have developed soil organic matter content (OM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), natural soil drainage class, and tile drainage line maps using topographic indices and aerial imagery. Various prediction models (universal kriging, cubist, random forest, C5.0, artificial neural network, and multinomial logistic regression) were used to estimate the soil properties of interest.