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1

Tyska, Carvalho Jônata. "Adaptive behaviour in evolving robots." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/10547.

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In this thesis, the evolution of adaptive behaviour in artificial agents is studied. More specifically, two types of adaptive behaviours are studied: articulated and cognitive ones. Chapter 1 presents a general introduction together with a brief presentation of the research area of this thesis, its main goals and a brief overview of the experimental studies done, the results and conclusions obtained. On chapter 2, I briefly present some promising methods that automatically generate robot controllers and/or body plans and potentially could help in the development of adaptive robots. Among these methods I present in details evolutionary robotics, a method inspired on natural evolution, and the biological background regarding adaptive behaviours in biological organisms, which provided inspiration for the studies presented in this thesis. On chapter 3, I present a detailed study regarding the evolution of articulated behaviours, i.e., behaviours that are organized in functional sub-parts, and that are combined and used in a sequential and context-dependent way, regardless if there is a structural division in the robot controller or not. The experiments performed with a single goal task, a cleaning task, showed that it is possible to evolve articulated behaviours even in this condition and without structural division of the robot controller. Also the analysis of the results showed that this type of integrated modular behaviours brought performance advantages compared to structural divided controllers. Analysis of robots' behaviours helped to clarify that the evolution of this type of behaviour depended on the characteristics of the neural network controllers and the robot's sensorimotor capacities, that in turn defined the capacity of the robot to generate opportunity for actions, which in psychological literature is often called affordances. In chapter 4, a study seeking to understand the role of reactive strategies in the evolution of cognitive solutions, i.e. those capable of integrating information over time encoding it on internal states that will regulate the robot's behaviour in the future, is presented. More specifically I tried to understand whether the existence of sub-optimal reactive strategies prevent the development of cognitive solutions, or they can promote the evolution of solutions capable of combining reactive strategies and the use of internal information for solving a response delayed task, the double t-maze. The results obtained showed that reactive strategies capable of offloading cognitive work to the agent/environmental relation can promote, rather than prevent the evolution of solutions relying on internal information. The analysis of these results clarified how these two mechanisms interact producing a hybrid superior and robust solution for the delayed response task.
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Dahl, Torbjørn Semb. "Behaviour based learning : evolution inspired development of adaptive robot behaviours." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.251543.

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3

Doensig, Jorgensen Thomas. "Adaptive behaviour of cooperative robotic systems." Thesis, University of Portsmouth, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.510767.

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Harvey, Inman. "The artificial evolution of adaptive behaviour." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.282998.

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Spier, Emmet. "From reactive behaviour to adaptive behaviour : motivational models for behaviour in animals and robots." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.364107.

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6

Åfeldt, Tom. "Adaptive Steering Behaviour for Heavy Duty Vehicles." Thesis, KTH, Reglerteknik, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-215134.

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Today the majority of the driver assistance systems are rule-basedcontrol systems that help the driver control the truck. But driversare looking for something more personal and exible that can controlthe truck in a human way with their own preferences. Machine learningand articial intelligence can help achieve this aim. In this studyArticial Neural Networks are used to model the driver steering behaviourin the Scania Lane Keeping Assist. Based on this, trajectoryplanning and steering wheel torque response are modelled to t thedriver preference. A model predictive controller can be used to maintainstate limitations and to weigh the two modelled driver preferencestogether. Due to the diculties in obtaining an internal plant modelfor the model predictive controller a variant of a PI-controller is addedfor integral action instead. The articial neural network also containsan online learning feature to further customize the t to the driverpreference over time.
Idag används till största del regelbaserade reglersystem förförarassistanssystem i lastbilar. Men lastbilschaufförer vill ha någotmer personligt och flexibelt, som kan styra lastbilen på ett mänskligtsätt med förarens egna preferenser. Maskininlärning och artificiell intelligenskan hjälpa till för att uppnå detta mål. I denna studie användsartificiella neurala nätverk för att modellera förarens styrbeteende genomScania Lane Keeping Assist. Med användning av detta modellerasförarens preferenser med avseende på placering på vägbanan och momentpåslag på ratten. En modell prediktiv kontroller kan användas föratt begränsa tillstånd och för att väga de två modellerade preferensernamot varann. Eftersom det var mycket svårt att ta fram den internaprocessmodellen som krävdes för regulatorn används istället en variantav en PI-kontroller för att styra lastbilen. De artificiella neuralanätverken kan också tillåtas att lära sig under körning för att anpassasig till förarens preferenser över tid.
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7

Jasinksi, Jennifer Anne, and n/a. "Teaching adaptive behaviour to 'behaviour problem' high school students : an exploratory study." University of Canberra. Education, 1986. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20060801.160735.

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The purpose of this study was to determine whether the Adaptive Behaviour group intervention effected a greater immediate positive change on 'poorly adapted' student locus of control, self esteem, group evaluation and perceived behaviour than Helping Skills, Relaxation Training or No Intervention group after eight weeks. The three independent variables - Adaptive Behaviour, Helping Skills and Relaxation Training Group Interventions - were devised and led by the Researcher and two school counsellors respectively. Measurement of the dependent variables was by the use of the following instruments pre-test and post-test: Locus of Control Scale for Children (Nowicki Strickland 1972); Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory (Coopersmith, 1982); and researcher designed questionnaires. A pre-test post-test group design was used in the study. The subjects were years 7-9 High School students identified by Student Year Advisers and the Assistant Principal Student Welfare as being 'poorly adapted' and 'well adapted' to the school environment. Students were randomly allocated - in year groups - to the intervention and control groups. Results indicated no short term significant positive change in locus of control for any intervention or controlgroup; no short term significant positive change in self esteem for any intervention group; no significant correlation between locus of control and self esteem scores for any intervention group; positive pre and post-test group evaluations for all groups; some positive short term change in teacher and student perceptions of student behaviour in regard to all three interventions. In some cases students' behaviour in the experimental group (Group A) was perceived more positively by teachers and students. Some recommendations for further research are: replication of the study over a longer period of time with some modification to the experimental programme, the research design and methods of measurement.
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Burchietti, Francesco. "A novel artificial hand with adaptive prehensile-behaviour." Master's thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2020.

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In this thesis report it will be discussed the design of a novel hand prosthesis with an innovative finger mechanism that would be able to imitate the prehensile behaviour of the human hand during the manipulation of objects. This artificial hand can act according to different strategies and trajectories during the manipulation of different types of objects, according to their size, shape and position in the environment. In any case, it is possible to distinguish two typical configurations for the manipu-lation of objects by the hand, namely a pinch action if the object is small (where the grabbing takes place by opposition of the index/middle fingers with the thumb) and a grasp action if the object has a relevant dimension if compared to the hand (where all the fingers of the hand will wrap around it, regardless of its particular shape, automatically adapting with a self-adaptive strategy) Referring to the use of soft and under-actuated mechanisms, however, it is possible to create anyway some kind of valid and effective devices, finding a simple solution for the previous critical factors. The aim of this work is therefore to propose a light and low-priced artificial mechanism that allows pinch and self-adaptive grasp in the same way, with the purpose to make the usage of the resulting artificial prosthesis as easy as possible for its final user regarding the prehensile purpose related to any type of object. For every characteristic of the target considered, the artificial hand can act in an adequate grasping strategy, despite the fact that the mechanism has a certain structure and that it is under-actuated. For releasing that the use of compliant elements instead of rigid joints was chosen with an actuation mechanism through cables, with two small electric motors to drive the whole the prosthesis, thus making the final device simple, light, cheap and effective.
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Wagener, Gérard. "Self-Adaptive Honeypots Coercing and Assessing Attacker Behaviour." Phd thesis, Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine - INPL, 2011. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00627981.

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Information security communities are always talking about "attackers" or "blackhats", but in reality very little is known about their skills. The idea of studying attacker behaviors was pioneered in the early nineties. In the last decade the number of attacks has increased exponentially and honeypots were introduced in order to gather information about attackers and to develop early-warning systems. Honeypots come in different flavors with respect to their interaction potential. A honeypot can be very restrictive, but this implies only a few interactions. However, if a honeypot is very tolerant, attackers can quickly achieve their goal. Choosing the best trade-off between attacker freedom and honeypot restrictions is challenging. In this dissertation, we address the issue of self-adaptive honeypots that can change their behavior and lure attackers into revealing as much information as possible about themselves. Rather than being allowed simply to carry out attacks, attackers are challenged by strategic interference from adaptive honeypots. The observation of the attackers' reactions is particularly interesting and, using derived measurable criteria, the attacker's skills and capabilities can be assessed by the honeypot operator. Attackers enter sequences of inputs on a compromised system which is generic enough to characterize most attacker behaviors. Based on these principles, we formally model the interactions of attackers with a compromised system. The key idea is to leverage game-theoretic concepts to define the configuration and reciprocal actions of high-interaction honeypots. We have also leveraged machine learning techniques for this task and have developed a honeypot that uses a variant of reinforcement learning in order to arrive at the best behavior when facing attackers. The honeypot is capable of adopting behavioral strategies that vary from blocking commands or returning erroneous messages, right up to insults that aim to irritate the intruder and serve as a reverse Turing Test distinguishing human attackers from machines. Our experimental results show that behavioral strategies are dependent on contextual parameters and can serve as advanced building blocks for intelligent honeypots. The knowledge obtained can be used either by the adaptive honeypots themselves or to reconfigure low-interaction honeypots.
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Kochenderfer, Mykel J. "Adaptive modelling and planning for learning intelligent behaviour." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/1408.

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An intelligent agent must be capable of using its past experience to develop an understanding of how its actions affect the world in which it is situated. Given some objective, the agent must be able to effectively use its understanding of the world to produce a plan that is robust to the uncertainty present in the world. This thesis presents a novel computational framework called the Adaptive Modelling and Planning System (AMPS) that aims to meet these requirements for intelligence. The challenge of the agent is to use its experience in the world to generate a model. In problems with large state and action spaces, the agent can generalise from limited experience by grouping together similar states and actions, effectively partitioning the state and action spaces into finite sets of regions. This process is called abstraction. Several different abstraction approaches have been proposed in the literature, but the existing algorithms have many limitations. They generally only increase resolution, require a large amount of data before changing the abstraction, do not generalise over actions, and are computationally expensive. AMPS aims to solve these problems using a new kind of approach. AMPS splits and merges existing regions in its abstraction according to a set of heuristics. The system introduces splits using a mechanism related to supervised learning and is defined in a general way, allowing AMPS to leverage a wide variety of representations. The system merges existing regions when an analysis of the current plan indicates that doing so could be useful. Because several different regions may require revision at any given time, AMPS prioritises revision to best utilise whatever computational resources are available. Changes in the abstraction lead to changes in the model, requiring changes to the plan. AMPS prioritises the planning process, and when the agent has time, it replans in high-priority regions. This thesis demonstrates the flexibility and strength of this approach in learning intelligent behaviour from limited experience.
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Cooper, Benedict C. "The evolution of technology and adaptive economic behaviour." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1997. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:6b6fece5-fdc3-4ac5-ad38-ca94f6aea127.

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This thesis studies the role of learning as a mechanism of economic change. Two areas are considered where this would seem to be important. First, how firms learn about new technology; and secondly, how agents learn to behave in interactive situations. A model of research and development is presented which models the process by which firms solve specific design problems. This may be by individual experimental search or by partial imitation. In the latter case, a close parallel is drawn between biological evolution, based on genetic reproduction, and technological evolution, based on firms blending existing technologies. Some economic implications of these processes are explored, including their application to stochastic learning curves, patent design and the transfer of technology to developing countries. The thesis continues by critically assessing the analogy between biological and cultural evolution often used to model how agents learn to behave in interactive situations. It is argued that the methods used by economists exploiting this analogy are often ill-suited to an economic context. Models are presented which deal with specific issues in the transition from a biological context to an economic context, including models of partnership formation, models of imperfect imitation, and models without payoff-monotonic dynamics. The issue of imperfect imitation is expanded upon in an evolutionary model of the infinitely repeated prisoners' dilemma, where it is shown that the problem of inter-generational copying fidelity may allow one to restrict attention to strategies with a very simple stochastic structure.
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Moore, Kathryn. "Defining and measuring adaptive behaviour in deaf adults." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2016. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35888/.

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Introduction Adaptive behaviour has become increasingly important in the assessment of intellectual disabilities (ID), but is also useful in terms of developing individual behavioural goals. Although measures of adaptive behaviour are widely used, there is little agreement on how to conceptualise the construct and how this may vary cross-culturally. Researchers have previously noted methodological and validity difficulties with the assessment of ID. This research aimed to clarify the construct of adaptive behaviour and consider how to measure this with d/Deaf adults with suspected ID. Methods A systematic literature review, identification of critique of current measures, and gaps within the literature formed the structure of a new item pool. An expert panel (N = 13) were consulted about the usefulness and relevance of these items through a Delphi consensus methodology. Based on the feedback obtained throughout the research process, the design was modified from pursuing a statistics-driven approach to item refinement, to using mixed-methods to clarify issues of construct validity before the content could be further addressed. The second round of the Delphi comprised a feedback report, concluding with a working definition of adaptive behaviour. Participants were asked to comment upon the findings, and provide additional responses to develop a normal base standard of adaptability of a Deaf adult of average functioning. Results The first round of the Delphi consensus yielded wide variation in item ratings. A thematic analysis of the questionnaire comments identified two overarching themes related to the way in which adaptive behaviour was conceptualised: ‘structure’ and ‘content’. The theme of structure contained sub-themes of ‘assessment’, ‘language’, and ‘repetition’ which are arguably common to all psychometric development. The ‘content’ factors pertained to ‘accessibility’, ‘developmental factors’, and ‘cultural differences’, highlighting differences in the expression of adaptive behaviour based on the unique experiences of d/Deaf people. The second round of the Delphi procedure elicited feedback on a working definition of adaptive behaviour generated from the analysis, showing that the adaptive behaviour of d/Deaf people may be conceptualised differently, particularly in hearing contexts where there are differential communication demands. These research findings have been summarised to form initial guidelines for the assessment of adaptive behaviour in Deaf people. Discussion This research provided some insight into how adaptive behaviour may be measured with Deaf people. Limitations of this research included not being able to generate consensus through the Delphi methodology used and, due to the newly developed understanding of adaptability for this population advanced throughout the research process, it was not possible to subject the items from the proposed scale to further psychometric testing. However, recommendations for further research were made in terms of expanding and validating this preliminary work with a sample of Deaf adults.
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Polonioli, Andrea. "Towards a theory of adaptive rationality?" Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/19539.

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The idea that humans are prone to widespread and systematic biases has dominated the psychological study of thinking and decision-making. The conclusion that has often been drawn is that people are irrational. In recent decades, however, a number of psychologists have started to call into question key claims and findings in research on human biases. In particular, a body of research has come together under the heading of adaptive rationality (henceforth AR). AR theorists argue that people should not be assessed against formal principles of rationality but rather against the goals they entertain. Moreover, AR theorists maintain that the conclusion that people are irrational is unsupported: people are often remarkably successful once assessed against their goals and given the cognitive and external constraints imposed by the environment. The growth of literature around AR is what motivates the present investigation, and assessing the plausibility of the AR challenge to research on human biases is the goal of this thesis. My enquiry analyses several aspects of this suggested turn in the empirical study of rationality and provides one of the first philosophically-informed appraisals of the prospects of AR. First and foremost, my thesis seeks to provide a qualified defence of the AR project. On the one hand, I agree with AR theorists that there is room for a conceptual revolution in the study of thinking and decision-making: while it is commonly argued that behaviour and cognition should be assessed against formal principles of rationality, I stress the importance of assessing behaviour against the goals that people entertain. However, I also contend that AR theorists have hitherto failed to provide compelling evidence in support of their most ambitious and optimistic theses about people’s rationality. In particular, I present a great deal of evidence suggesting that people are often unsuccessful at achieving prudential and epistemic goals and I argue that AR theorists have not made clear how, in light of this evidence, optimistic claims about human rationality could be defended.
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Kofod-Petersen, Anders. "Adaptive Behaviour Based Robotics using On-Board Genetic Programming." Thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Computer and Information Science, 2002. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-247.

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This thesis investigates the use of Genetic Programming (GP) to evolve controllers for an autonomous robot.

GP is a type of Genetic Algorithm (GA) using the Darwinian idea of natural selection and genetic recombination, where the individuals most often is represented as a tree-structure. The GP is used to evolve a population of possible solutions over many generations to solve problems.

The most common approach used today, to develop controllers for autonomous robots, is to employ a GA to evolve an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). This approach is most often used in simulation only or in conjunction with online evolution; where simulation still covers the largest part of the process.

The GP has been largely neglected in Behaviour Based Robotics (BBR). The is primarily due to the problem of speed, which is the biggest curse of any standard GP. The main contribution of this thesis is the approach of using a linear representation of the GP in online evolution, and to establish whether or not the GP is feasible in this situation. Since this is not a comparison with other methods, only a demonstration of the possibilities with GP, there is no need for testing the particular test cases with other methods.

The work in this thesis builds upon the work by Wolfgang Banzhaf and Peter Nordin, and therefore a comparison with their work will be done.

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Greenwood, Dominic Piers Ashley. "Adaptive strategies for controlling nonlinear behaviour in communication networks." Thesis, Staffordshire University, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.338353.

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Wege, Claudia. "Adaptive Eyes." Doctoral thesis, Universitätsbibliothek Chemnitz, 2015. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:ch1-qucosa-164158.

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Technology pervades our daily living, and is increasingly integrated into the vehicle – directly affecting driving. On the one hand technology such as cell phones provoke driver distraction and inattention, whereas, on the other hand, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) support the driver in the driving task. The question is, can a driver successfully adapt to the ever growing technological advancements? Thus, this thesis aimed at improving safe driver behaviour by understanding the underlying psychological mechanisms that influence behavioural change. Previous research on ADAS and human attention was reviewed in the context of driver behavioural adaptation. Empirical data from multiple data sources such as driving performance data, visual behaviour data, video footage, and subjective data were analyzed to evaluate two ADAS (a brake-capacity forward collision warning system, B-FCW, and a Visual Distraction Alert System, VDA-System). Results from a field operational test (EuroFOT) showed that brake-capacity forward collision warnings lead to immediate attention allocation toward the roadway and drivers hit the brake, yet change their initial response later on by directing their eyes toward the warning source in the instrument cluster. A similar phenomenon of drivers changing initial behaviour was found in a driving simulator study assessing a Visual Distraction Alert System. Analysis showed that a Visual Distraction Alert System successfully assists drivers in redirecting attention to the relevant aspects of the driving task and significantly improves driving performance. The effects are discussed with regard to behavioural adaptation, calibration and system acceptance. Based on these findings a novel assessment for human-machine-interaction (HMI) of ADAS was introduced. Based on the contribution of this thesis and previous best-practices, a holistic safety management model on accident prevention strategies (before, during and after driving) was developed. The DO-IT BEST Feedback Model is a comprehensive feedback strategy including driver feedback at various time scales and therefore is expected to provide an added benefit for distraction and inattention prevention. The central contributions of this work are to advance research in the field of traffic psychology in the context of attention allocation strategies, and to improve the ability to design future safety systems with the human factor in focus. The thesis consists of the introduction of the conducted research, six publications in full text and a comprehensive conclusion of the publications. In brief this thesis intends to improve safe driver behaviour by understanding the underlying psychological mechanisms that influence behavioral change, thereby resulting in more attention allocation to the forward roadway, and improved vehicle control
Technologie durchdringt unser tägliches Leben und ist zunehmend integriert in Fahrzeuge – das Resultat sind veränderte Anforderungen an Fahrzeugführer. Einerseits besteht die Gefahr, dass er durch die Bedienung innovativer Technologien (z.B. Mobiltelefone) unachtsam wird und visuell abgelenkt ist, andererseits kann die Nutzung von Fahrerassistenzsystemen die den Fahrer bei der Fahraufgabe unterstützten einen wertvollen Beitrag zur Fahrsicherheit bieten. Die steigende Aktualität beider Problematiken wirft die Frage auf: "Kann der Fahrer sich erfolgreich dem ständig wachsenden technologischen Fortschritt anpassen?" Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist der Erkenntnisgewinn zur Verbesserung des Fahrverhaltens indem der Verhaltensänderungen zugrunde liegende psychologische Mechanismen untersucht werden. Eine Vielzahl an Literatur zu Fahrerassistenzsystemen und Aufmerksamkeitsverteilung wurde vor dem Hintergrund von Verhaltensanpassung der Fahrer recherchiert. Daten mehrerer empirischer Quellen, z. B. Fahrverhalten, Blickbewegungen, Videomitschnitte und subjektive Daten dienten zur Datenauswertung zweier Fahrerassistenzsysteme. Im Rahmen einer Feldstudie zeigte sich, dass Bremskapazitäts-Kollisionswarnungen zur sofortigen visuellen Aufmerksamkeitsverteilung zur Fahrbahn und zum Bremsen führen, Fahrer allerdings ihre Reaktion anpassen indem sie zur Warnanzeige im Kombinationsinstrument schauen. Ein anderes Phänomen der Verhaltensanpassung wurde in einer Fahrsimulatorstudie zur Untersuchung eines Ablenkungswarnsystems, das dabei hilft die Blicke von Autofahrern stets auf die Straße zu lenken, gefunden. Diese Ergebnisse weisen nach, dass solch ein System unterstützt achtsamer zu sein und sicherer zu fahren. Die vorliegenden Befunde wurden im Zusammenhang zu Vorbefunden zur Verhaltensanpassung zu Fahrerassistenzsystemen, Fahrerkalibrierung und Akzeptanz von Technik diskutiert. Basierend auf den gewonnenen Erkenntnissen wurde ein neues Vorgehen zur Untersuchung von Mensch- Maschine-Interaktion eingeführt. Aufbauend auf den Resultaten der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde ein ganzheitliches Modell zur Fahrsicherheit und -management, das DO-IT BEST Feedback Modell, entwickelt. Das Modell bezieht sich auf multitemporale Fahrer-Feedbackstrategien und soll somit einen entscheidenen Beitrag zur Verkehrssicherheit und dem Umgang mit Fahrerunaufmerksamkeit leisten. Die zentralen Beiträge dieser Arbeit sind die Gewinnung neuer Erkenntnisse in den Bereichen der Angewandten Psychologie und der Verkehrspsychologie in den Kontexten der Aufmerksamkeitsverteilung und der Verbesserung der Gestaltung von Fahrerassistenzsystemen fokusierend auf den Bediener. Die Dissertation besteht aus einem Einleitungsteil, drei empirischen Beiträgen sowie drei Buchkapiteln und einer abschliessenden Zusammenfassung
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Greenwood, Philip James. "Achieving policy driven auto-adaptive behaviour using dynamic framed aspects." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.442726.

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Bentley, Katie Anne. "Adaptive behaviour through morphological plasticity in natural and artificial systems." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2006. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1444539/.

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Our concept of intelligence is changing. Embodiment has led to the rise of morphologies in Artificial Intelligence (AI) research. This thesis focuses on two research questions: 1) How can system morphologies, well-adapted to changing environments, be designed? 2) How can adaptive behaviour be generated through morphology? It is the fundamental argument of this thesis that morphological plasticity (MP), the environmentally induced variation in growth or development, can provide a solution to both questions. Specifically, this thesis is based around a detailed study of diatom valve morphogenesis. Diatoms, a unicellular organism, construct intricate siliceous structures (valves) around themselves which exhibit high plasticity to the environment. Diatom valve morphogenesis is a good example of how morphologies can be well-adapted to changing environments, an open problem in AI, and how adaptive behaviour can be generated through morphological processes alone. Through a constructivist approach this thesis contributes to both understanding of MP in natural systems and the design of MP algorithms for artificial adaptive systems. Several original models and frameworks are defined within this thesis: the Nature's Batik Model of basic diatom valve morphogenesis the Cellanimat, a 'Dynamic Morphology' based on the unicell, capable of MP driven adaptive behaviour through its unique 'Artificial Cytoskeleton' model of cytoskeletal dynamics the Environment-Phenotype Map framework and the Cellanimat Colony Model, which combines all previous models for the investigation of MP mechanisms during diatom colony formation. Cellanimat dynamics and optimization are thoroughly investigated and the model is shown to be multi functional, evolvable, scalable and reasonably robust.
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Fonseca, Rodrigues Pedro. "Compositional behaviour and reliability models for adaptive component-based architectures." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/26896.

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The increasing scale and distribution of modern pervasive computing and service-based platforms makes manual maintenance and evolution difficult and too slow. Systems should therefore be designed to self-adapt in response to environment changes, which requires the use of on-line models and analysis. Although there has been a considerable amount of work on architectural modelling and behavioural analysis of component-based systems, there is a need for approaches that integrate the architectural, behavioural and management aspects of a system. In particular, the lack of support for composability in probabilisitic behavioural models prevents their systematic use for adapting systems based on changes in their non-functional properties. Of these non-functional properties, this thesis focuses on reliability. We introduce Probabilistic Component Automata (PCA) for describing the probabilistic behaviour of those systems. Our formalism simultaneously overcomes three of the main limitations of existing work: it preserves a close correspondence between the behavioural and architectural views of a system in both abstractions and semantics; it is composable as behavioural models of composite components are automatically obtained by combining the models of their constituent parts; and lastly it is probabilistic thereby enabling analysis of non-functional properties. PCA also provide constructs for representing failure, failure propagation and failure handling in component-based systems in a manner that closely corresponds to the use of exceptions in programming languages. Although PCA is used throughout this thesis for reliability analysis, the model can also be seen as an abstract process algebra that may be applicable for analysis of other system properties. We further show how reliability analysis based on PCA models can be used to perform architectural adaptation on distributed component-based systems and evaluate the computational cost of decentralised adaptation decisions. To mitigate the state-explosion problem associated with composite models, we further introduce an algorithm to reduce a component's PCA model to one that only represents its interface behaviour. We formally show that such model preserves the properties of the original representation. By experiment, we show that the reduced models are significantly smaller than the original, achieving a reduction of more than 80\% on both the number of states and transitions. A further benefit of the approach is that it allows component profiling and probabilistic interface behaviour to be extracted independently for each component, thereby enabling its exchange between different organisations without revealing commercially sensitive aspects of the components' implementations. The contributions and results of this work are evaluated both through a series of small scale examples and through a larger case study of an e-Banking application derived from Java EE training materials. Our work shows how probabilistic non-functional properties can be integrated with the architectural and behavioural models of a system in an intuitive and scalable way that enables automated architecture reconfiguration based on reliability properties using composable models.
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Gonos, Theophile. "Bio-inspired adaptive sensing." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6217.

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Sensor array calibration is a major problem in engineering, to which a biological approach may provide alternative solutions. For animals, perception is relative. The aim of this thesis is to show that the relativity of perception in the animal kingdom could also be applied to robotics with promising results. This thesis explores through various behaviours and environments the properties of homeostatic mechanisms in sensory cells. It shows not only that the phenomenon can solve partial failure of sensors but also that it can be used by robots to adapt to their (changing) environment. Moreover the system shows emergent properties as well as adaptation to the robot body or its behaviour. The homeostatic mechanisms in biological neurons maintain fi ring activity between predefi ned ranges. Our model is designed to correct out of range neuron activity over a relatively long period of time (seconds or minutes). The system is implemented in a robot’s sensory neurons and is the only form of adaptability used in the central network. The robot was fi rst tested extensively with a mechanism implemented for obstacle avoidance and wall following behaviours. The robot was not only able to deal with sensor manufacture defects, but to adapt to changing environments (e.g. adapting to a narrow environment when it was originally in an open world). Emergence of non-implemented behaviours has also been observed. For example, during wall following behaviour, the robot seemed, at some point, bored. It changed the direction it was following the wall. Or we also noticed during obstacle avoidance an emerging exploratory behaviour. The model has also been tested on more complex behaviours such as skototaxis, an escape response, and phonotaxis. Again, especially with skototaxis, emergent behaviours appeared such as unpredictability on where and when the robot will be hiding. It appears that the adaptation is not only driven by the environment but by the behaviour of the robot too. It is by the complex feedback between these two things that non-implemented behaviours emerge. We showed that homeostasis can be used to improve sensory signal processing in robotics and we also found evidence that the phenomenon can be a necessary step towards better behavioural adaptation to the environment.
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21

Melidis, Christos. "Adaptive neural architectures for intuitive robot control." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/9998.

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This thesis puts forward a novel way of control for robotic morphologies. Taking inspiration from Behaviour Based robotics and self-organisation principles, we present an interfacing mechanism, capable of adapting both to the user and the robot, while enabling a paradigm of intuitive control for the user. A transparent mechanism is presented, allowing for a seamless integration of control signals and robot behaviours. Instead of the user adapting to the interface and control paradigm, the proposed architecture allows the user to shape the control motifs in their way of preference, moving away from the cases where the user has to read and understand operation manuals or has to learn to operate a specific device. The seminal idea behind the work presented is the coupling of intuitive human behaviours with the dynamics of a machine in order to control and direct the machine dynamics. Starting from a tabula rasa basis, the architectures presented are able to identify control patterns (behaviours) for any given robotic morphology and successfully merge them with control signals from the user, regardless of the input device used. We provide a deep insight in the advantages of behaviour coupling, investigating the proposed system in detail, providing evidence for and quantifying emergent properties of the models proposed. The structural components of the interface are presented and assessed both individually and as a whole, as are inherent properties of the architectures. The proposed system is examined and tested both in vitro and in vivo, and is shown to work even in cases of complicated environments, as well as, complicated robotic morphologies. As a whole, this paradigm of control is found to highlight the potential for a change in the paradigm of robotic control, and a new level in the taxonomy of human in the loop systems.
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22

Hines, Geneviève. "Simulation of the micromagnetic behaviour of nanaoelements by an adaptive wavelet method." Thesis, Bangor University, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.401873.

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23

Yamazaki, Ken Carleton University Dissertation Engineering Electrical. "Convergence behaviour of a jointly-adaptive transversal and memory- based echo canceller." Ottawa, 1989.

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24

Schoenberg, Geoff. "Examining the Relationships Between Individual Board Member Behaviours and Board Functions." Thesis, Griffith University, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366250.

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Scandals in sport organisations have drawn increasing attention to the governance processes used in sport. Governance ensures that an organisation is run properly through the joint effort of a collaborative network of stakeholders. One critical stakeholder is the board of directors. A board of directors is a group of individuals that work together to oversee and direct the organisation. The board members of sport organisations tend to be part-time volunteers who rely on their experience within the sport and the organisation to fulfil their board member role. Studies of individual board members have generally focused on attitudinal constructs and personal characteristics with minimal research conducted on board member behaviours. Identity theory was used to develop a model of board member behaviour. Identity theory dictates that individuals take action to meet the role expectations of different social structures. Within governance, the board was identified as a social structure that led individual board members to have individual, board, and organisational roles. These roles carried shared board expectations regarding following institutionalised practices, adapting to an uncertain environment, providing oversight, and providing direction. It was suggested that board members may use proficient, adaptive, and proactive types of behaviour to meet the expectations of being a board member. These three behaviours were combined with the individual, board, and organisational roles to develop a nine-dimension board member behaviour model.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Griffith Business School
Griffith Business School
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25

Wheeler, Michael. "The philosophy of situated activity." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.363345.

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26

Anderson, Carl. "The organisation of foraging in insect societies." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.286576.

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27

Eriksson, Torleif. "Migratory behaviour of Baltic salmon (Salmo salar L.) : adaptive significance of annual cycles." Doctoral thesis, Umeå universitet, Ekologi och geovetenskap, 1988. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-100715.

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This thesis evaluates the adaptive significance of annual cycles on the migratory behaviour of Baltic salmon (Salmo salar L.). The studies have included field experiments as well as laboratory studies gf maturity and migratory behaviour patterns of smolts and postsmolts mainly from the Angerman river population. Contrasting to the phenotypical elasticity in life-history traits, Baltic salmon was found to have a rather strict temporal organization of their annual behavioural patterns. Two year old smolted Baltic salmon showed drastic differences in migratory behaviour when compared in tanks containing either fresh or brackish water. Freshwater kept fish showed an annual cycle where downstream displacement in the upper water column was followed by a stationary behaviour, indicating a readaption to a freshwater life. Fish in brackish water behaved as a migratory fish throughout tne study. Baltic salmon also showed differences in maturation patterns in fresh and brackish water. Three summer old males detained in freshwater all matured sexually the following autumn. If transferred to sea and kept in net- pens a low proportion matured, mainly previously matured males. Furthermore there was a size- dependent relationship of sexual rematuration. Many small previously matured males did not migrate, similarly small previolusly matured males were unable to respond to shifts in the environment. With larger size the alternatives of sexual maturation and high growth rate wi more related to the environmental conditions the fish experienced. A hypothesis has been tested assuming that Baltic salmon migration is influenced by an annual time program. According to the hypothesis the migratory distance covered in the Baltic should be a result of a migratory activity sequence rather than a definite goal orientation. Fish detained before release generally showed a shorter distance between release point and area of recapture compared to fish released at normal time of smoltrun. The migratory distance appeared to be inversly related to the period of delay before release. A seasonal difference in migratory propensity was recorded. An instantaneous mortality curve for Baltic salmon during seaward migration and early sea-phase was estimated based on recapture data on sequentially related fish. The weekly mortality rate decreased from an initial mean of 271 during onset of migration, to 3.51 in mean during autumn. The high risk of mortality during the first part of migration indicated that strong selective forces act on a precise seasonal timing of migration.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 1988, härtill 5 uppsatser


digitalisering@umu
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28

Kennedy, Geraldine Louise. "Cognitive profiles and adaptive behaviour in high functioning children with autistic spectrum disorders." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.397535.

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29

Tibblin, Petter. "Migratory behaviour and adaptive divergence in life-history traits of pike (Esox lucius)." Doctoral thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för biologi och miljö (BOM), 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-42995.

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Population divergence shaped by natural selection is central to evolutionary ecology research and has been in focus since Darwin formulated “The origin of species”. Still, the process of adaptive divergence among sympatric populations is poorly understood. In this thesis I studied patterns of adaptive divergence among subpopulations of pike (Esox lucius) that are sympatric in the Baltic Sea but become short-term allopatric during spawning and initial juvenile growth in freshwater streams. I also examined causes and consequences of phenotypic variation among individuals within subpopulations to evaluate the contribution of natural selection to population divergence.   I first investigated homing behaviour and population structures of pike to assess the potential for adaptive divergence among sympatric pike that migrate to spawn in different streams. Mark-recapture data suggested that migrating pike displayed homing behaviour and repeatedly returned to the same stream. Analyses of microsatellite data revealed partial reproductive isolation among subpopulations spawning in different streams. These subpopulations, however, were truly sympatric during the life-stage spent in the Baltic Sea.   To address whether short-term allopatry has resulted in adaptive divergence among sympatric subpopulations I combined observational, experimental and molecular approaches. Observational data showed that subpopulations differed in morphological and life-history traits and common-garden experiments suggested that differences were, at least in part, genetically based. Moreover, QST-FST comparisons indicated that genetically based phenotypic differences has been driven by divergent selection, and a reciprocal translocation experiment showed that phenotypic variation represented local adaptations to spawning habitats. Finally, longitudinal and cross-sectional comparisons among individuals revealed associations between phenotypes, performance and fitness components.   In conclusion, my thesis illustrates how short-term allopatry due to migratory behaviour can result in adaptive divergence among sympatric subpopulations. These findings advance the understanding of evolutionary processes at the finest spatiotemporal scale and illustrate that local adaptations can arise in environments with high connectivity.  The results also emphasise that fine spatial scale population structures must be taken into consideration in management and conservation of biodiversity in the Baltic Sea.
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Bouucher, Christopher Charles. "The behaviour of multiple channel adaptive systems for the control of periodic sound." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.314988.

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31

Wang, Fang. "Study of an adaptive and multifunctional computational behaviour generation model for virtual creatures." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/13189.

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High fidelity virtual environments can be inhabited by virtual creatures. A virtual creature should be able to learn itself how to improve its old behaviors and produce new related behaviors so as to be more adaptive and autonomous and hence reduce human design work. This thesis presents a study of an adaptive and multifunctional Com­putational Behavior Generation (CBG) model for virtual creatures with the ultimate goal of enhancing a creature's adaptation and multifunctionality in behavior control by learning. Specifically, we require that the CBG model can learn to perform variable behavior tasks in various environments and situations. The design of the CBG model is inspired by the natural behavior control system in the brain. It can perform the whole procedure of decision, programming and execution of motor actions, and its hierarchical architecture provides the material basis for its adaptive and multifunctional learning implementation. The concrete achievement of adaptation and multifunctionality by learning is obtained with the help of a Multiagent based Evolutionary Artificial Neural Network with Lifetime Learning (MENL), which can learn to make correct action decisions for varied behavior tasks in varied situations. MENL takes advantage of the whole population information of evolution by maintaining a batch of multiagents in every evolutionary generation. These agents co-decide the decisions to be executed, and they are subject to evolutionary learning through all of their lifetime. The fitness function of MENL is designed without many specific constraints, and can be easily extended for a variety of behaviors. As a consequence, the CBG with MENL can obtain high adaptation and generalization in behavior. The CBG model combined with the MENL learning algorithm enables a virtual crea­ture to learn several general navigation functions independently and jointly in unknown environments. These functions include exploration, goal reaching, and wandering. The virtual creature is first asked to learn general exploration only in a series of increasing complex environments. This creature has adapted to various environments and nav­igated in them successfully. The whole successful exploration experiment is achieved due to the competition and emergent cooperation among multiagents and their con­tinuous lifetime learning.
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32

Bin, Ja'afar Mohamad Fakri Zaky. "Domestic air conditioning in Malaysia : night time thermal comfort and occupants adaptive behaviour." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2008. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1444280/.

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This is the first study of night time thermal comfort in Malaysia as well as the first study of sleeping comfort level. The focus of the investigation, the use of air-conditioners in homes clearly indicates a problem. Evidences of overcooling (76% of the cases) and sleep interruptions (45% of cases) to adjust control are found. In around 38% of the cases, the internal thermal profiles never reached a stable condition instead they keep cooling throughout the night until the units are turned off in the morning. The act of putting on a thicker, comforter type blanket, more of a psychological choice than a physiological need, during air-conditioned occupancy, results in people operating their air-conditioners at lower than the optimum temperature level. A thermal comfort field survey was conducted by monitoring 29 air-conditioned bedrooms, investigating the environmental conditions, the corresponding comfort perceptions and occupants' adaptive behaviour. Thermal neutralities and thermal acceptability for night-time occupancy in air-conditioned homes are established. Statistically significant difference is found between the neutral air temperature of normal blanket users (27.5 °C) and that of comforter users (25.2 °C). Thermal acceptability and comfort range for each group have also been established. A simulation study was conducted and it shows that the choice of using a comforter as opposed to a normal blanket results in an increase of up to 52% in the cooling load of a bedroom. This finding suggests that adaptive behaviour does not always result in less energy being used for comfort provision when active cooling is employed.
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33

Whiteley, Jervis. "Complex Adaptive Systems and Conversation Analysis: A New Perspective for Consumer Behaviour Research?" Thesis, Curtin University, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/734.

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The research question for this study is “Can concepts from complex adaptive systems and conversation analysis be used to research consumer behaviour?" This is, primarily, a theoretical question. After a wide-ranging literature search no scholarly publications linking the qualitative aspects of complex adaptive systems theory to marketing or consumer research were located. In addition, there appear to be few papers on consumer research which use conversation analysis. A theory for the research methodology was developed. It was argued that the production of a research theory and methodology to test the relevance and appropriateness of two very different theories - complex adaptive systems and conversation analysis was the major undertaking of this thesis. The problem of combining an essentially scientific perspective (complex adaptive systems) with an essentially qualitative one (ethnomethodology and conversation analysis) was resolved as part of the research process. A bridging theory was developed through the common ground offered by the sociology of scientific knowledge on the one hand and social-constructionist theory on the other. This methodology was successful in supporting the choice of conversation analysis as the data-collection method and provided the rationale for observing five characteristics of a complex adaptive system. The methodology was tested empirically and, in keeping with exploratory work, iteratively. It is not intended that this type of research will have predictive value. The complex adaptive system studied was consumers in a small group. There were two research locations with six data-collection sessions in each. The first location collected data from organisational groups. The second collected data from groups of consumers convened in a meeting room.Data were transcribed and analysed for all sessions according to the conventions of conversation analysis. In the meeting-room sessions, data were also collected by electronic-group-support-systems technology and subjected to a modified form of content analysis. The broad findings showed the following. The assumption that there was little evidence of interest in complex adaptive systems among consumer behaviour researchers was confirmed. Apart from one paper calling for the use of conversation analysis in consumer behaviour research, there appeared to have been no subsequent reports of its adoption. The potential for conversation analysis in consumer research has probably not been understood because it was seen as a data-collection method only within an ethnomethodological perspective. The discursive theoretical perspective, which gives a prime position to conversation analysis in the construction of factual accounts, was found to be an innovative way to study consumer behaviour. A discursive theoretical research perspective could have provided a more robust theoretical justification for the fieldwork carried out in this study than the theory of the methodology that was first developed for this study. Conversation analysis did meet the five criteria proposed for surfacing a complex adaptive system in a small group but in an unexpected way. It met these criteria through the research process. In other words, by setting up an appropriate research environment and using conversation analysis, it was shown that a complex adaptive system was in operation.An outcome of employing complex adaptive systems theory and conversation analysis is a new way of seeing groups of consumers as a self-organised, nonlinear, interactive entity. Conversation analysis has proven to be a method of empirically observing this entity, whilst preserving the consumer groups' complex adaptiveness. There were three conclusions. The first is that the discursive paradigm appears to be an alternative paradigm for consumer behaviour research that is appropriate for certain applications. For example, marketing communications and word-of-mouth communication. The second conclusion is that when small-group talk-in-interaction is recorded and analysed using conversation analysis, the characteristics of a complex adaptive system theorised in this study seem evident to the researcher. The third is that complex adaptive systems appear to be capable of being researched in the field, but more work is needed on defining the characteristics to be researched.
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34

Whiteley, Jervis. "Complex Adaptive Systems and Conversation Analysis: A New Perspective for Consumer Behaviour Research?" Curtin University of Technology, Graduate School of Business, 2002. http://espace.library.curtin.edu.au:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=12936.

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The research question for this study is “Can concepts from complex adaptive systems and conversation analysis be used to research consumer behaviour?" This is, primarily, a theoretical question. After a wide-ranging literature search no scholarly publications linking the qualitative aspects of complex adaptive systems theory to marketing or consumer research were located. In addition, there appear to be few papers on consumer research which use conversation analysis. A theory for the research methodology was developed. It was argued that the production of a research theory and methodology to test the relevance and appropriateness of two very different theories - complex adaptive systems and conversation analysis was the major undertaking of this thesis. The problem of combining an essentially scientific perspective (complex adaptive systems) with an essentially qualitative one (ethnomethodology and conversation analysis) was resolved as part of the research process. A bridging theory was developed through the common ground offered by the sociology of scientific knowledge on the one hand and social-constructionist theory on the other. This methodology was successful in supporting the choice of conversation analysis as the data-collection method and provided the rationale for observing five characteristics of a complex adaptive system. The methodology was tested empirically and, in keeping with exploratory work, iteratively. It is not intended that this type of research will have predictive value. The complex adaptive system studied was consumers in a small group. There were two research locations with six data-collection sessions in each. The first location collected data from organisational groups. The second collected data from groups of consumers convened in a meeting room.
Data were transcribed and analysed for all sessions according to the conventions of conversation analysis. In the meeting-room sessions, data were also collected by electronic-group-support-systems technology and subjected to a modified form of content analysis. The broad findings showed the following. The assumption that there was little evidence of interest in complex adaptive systems among consumer behaviour researchers was confirmed. Apart from one paper calling for the use of conversation analysis in consumer behaviour research, there appeared to have been no subsequent reports of its adoption. The potential for conversation analysis in consumer research has probably not been understood because it was seen as a data-collection method only within an ethnomethodological perspective. The discursive theoretical perspective, which gives a prime position to conversation analysis in the construction of factual accounts, was found to be an innovative way to study consumer behaviour. A discursive theoretical research perspective could have provided a more robust theoretical justification for the fieldwork carried out in this study than the theory of the methodology that was first developed for this study. Conversation analysis did meet the five criteria proposed for surfacing a complex adaptive system in a small group but in an unexpected way. It met these criteria through the research process. In other words, by setting up an appropriate research environment and using conversation analysis, it was shown that a complex adaptive system was in operation.
An outcome of employing complex adaptive systems theory and conversation analysis is a new way of seeing groups of consumers as a self-organised, nonlinear, interactive entity. Conversation analysis has proven to be a method of empirically observing this entity, whilst preserving the consumer groups' complex adaptiveness. There were three conclusions. The first is that the discursive paradigm appears to be an alternative paradigm for consumer behaviour research that is appropriate for certain applications. For example, marketing communications and word-of-mouth communication. The second conclusion is that when small-group talk-in-interaction is recorded and analysed using conversation analysis, the characteristics of a complex adaptive system theorised in this study seem evident to the researcher. The third is that complex adaptive systems appear to be capable of being researched in the field, but more work is needed on defining the characteristics to be researched.
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35

Gwynne, Steve. "The introduction of adaptive social decision-making in the mathematical modelling of egress behaviour." Thesis, University of Greenwich, 2000. http://gala.gre.ac.uk/6180/.

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This dissertation represents an attempt at increasing the behavioural sophistication of evacuation simulations, through the study of evacuation modelling, the development of new behavioural algorithms, their implementation within an existing evacuation model and the testing of the resulting model. This aim is achieved through a number of steps. Firstly, the range of human behaviour that are exhibited by occupants during the evacuation process is studied. Next, the sophistication of the available evacuation models is investigated and a suitable model is selected and thoroughly assessed (the buildingEXODUS evacuation model). The selected model is then used as a test bed in which to implement the advanced behavioural developments. The detailed behavioural analysis was conducted to provide the necessary framework, around which an eventual model might be formulated and implemented. This involved the examination of the factors that might influence the occupant's behaviour, the occupant's decision-making process and the eventual occupant behaviour. The mechanisms implemented within the evacuation models presently available were then investigated to determine the current effectiveness of evacuation modelling. This investigation generated possible ideas as to how the modelling process may be conducted and the possible limitations that would be inherent in this process. Rather than creating a completely new behavioural shell, during which time a significant amount of resources would have been diverted into software engineering, an existing behavioural shell was sought after. The buildingEXODUS model was selected as a shell within which the proposed behavioural developments could be analysed for both practical and technical reasons. The selected model was then validated against a number of experimental and real-life validation cases. This highlighted a variety of limitations and enabled the detailed workings of the selected model to become familiar. In this process, the sophistication and limitation of this shell (the current buildingEXODUS evacuation model) was established. This was required to properly examine the extent of the proposed behavioural development over the existing model. Once these limitations were established, the proposed developments then had a realistic basis for comparison. The new behavioural features were made in response to sociological, psychological and physical limitations that had been identified in the existing evacuation models. These developments included a more detailed representation of - The occupant's familiarity with the enclosure, - A representation of the occupant's motivation based on the occupant's perception of the surrounding conditions, - Occupant communication, - Collective behaviour - And the ability of the occupant to adapt according to the information available. These proposed behavioural actions and influential factors were then implemented into the buildingEXODUS model. These features were then examined to determine their satisfactory integration into the overall buildingEXODUS model and their impact upon the sensitivity of the model through the use of hypothetical and actual data-sets. Each of the new behavioural features provided new occupant capabilities and affected the outcome of the buildingEXODUS simulations. The differences may have been centred on qualitative and/or quantitative aspects of the evacuation, depending on the proposed behaviour in question. However, all of the behavioural features examined produced notable results that enhanced the performance of the model in some manner. Overall the behavioural developments were seen to increase the flexibility and functionality of the model without compromising the previously established ability of the model to cope with the fundamentals of human behaviour. These improvements were therefore seen to further advance the capability of the model to accurately determine the safety of an enclosure during an evacuation through a better understanding of the occupant response and a better and more thorough representation of human behaviour.
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36

Wu, Zhibo. "Effects of bedroom environment on sleep quality and adaptive behaviour in a transitional season." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2022. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29697.

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The last decade has seen a renewed interest into sleep environments and their impact on our sleep quality. Improvements in technology have enabled researchers to collect more sleep data in field studies, which are thought to be more representative of realistic sleep conditions. While there has been some progress surrounding the influence of sleep environments on sleep quality, most studies have concentrated on conditions during summer or winter. How people adapt to changes in their sleep environments through a transitional season has yet to be explored. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the dynamics of a transitional season influences sleep environments and sleep quality in a real-life scenario. This study conducted a field survey investigation with 30 participants in Sydney, Australia from late summer (February) to early winter (May) in 2021, to cover the transitional season of autumn. Sleep quality and sleep environments were evaluated using questionnaire surveys and field measurements throughout the study period. The statistical analysis showed that the indoor climate in a transition season was moderate compared to summer or winter, but still impacted sleep quality and adaptive behaviours. Environmental control behaviours, especially opening windows, was shown to decrease significantly during the transition from warm to cool indoor temperatures, which led to the deterioration of indoor air quality and further affected sleep quality. Maintaining cooler thermal conditions overall tended to improve participants’ subjective sleep quality in terms of ease of falling asleep and awakening, whist slightly decreasing their objective sleep quality. Overall, participants surveyed in this study were satisfied with the thermal, air quality, and acoustical aspects of their bedroom environment during the transitional season of autumn, even when objective measurements of noise and air quality exceeded recommended levels for optimal sleep.
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Livingstone, Dan. "Design strategies for adaptive social composition : collaborative sound environments." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/1252.

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In order to develop successful collaborative music systems a variety of subtle interactions need to be identified and integrated. Gesture capture, motion tracking, real-time synthesis, environmental parameters and ubiquitous technologies can each be effectively used for developing innovative approaches to instrument design, sound installations, interactive music and generative systems. Current solutions tend to prioritise one or more of these approaches, refining a particular interface technology, software design or compositional approach developed for a specific composition, performer or installation environment. Within this diverse field a group of novel controllers, described as ‘Tangible Interfaces’ have been developed. These are intended for use by novices and in many cases follow a simple model of interaction controlling synthesis parameters through simple user actions. Other approaches offer sophisticated compositional frameworks, but many of these are idiosyncratic and highly personalised. As such they are difficult to engage with and ineffective for groups of novices. The objective of this research is to develop effective design strategies for implementing collaborative sound environments using key terms and vocabulary drawn from the available literature. This is articulated by combining an empathic design process with controlled sound perception and interaction experiments. The identified design strategies have been applied to the development of a new collaborative digital instrument. A range of technical and compositional approaches was considered to define this process, which can be described as Adaptive Social Composition. Dan Livingstone
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38

Poulsen, Rebecca Elizabeth. "Parents’ perspectives on adaptive behaviour changes in their child with autism following their transition to school." Thesis, Griffith University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367165.

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Purpose: Transitioning to school is one of the biggest changes in a child’s life. A successful transition can have an impact on future educational outcomes. Transition support is an educational need for a child with autism. There are many simultaneous changes in the environment and expectations placed on the child in the new environment, which can affect adaptive behaviour development. The aim of this study is to explore parents’ perceptions of the changes in a child’s adaptive functioning during the transition to school. Determining the reasons behind these changes can provide important insight into how the child is coping throughout the transition. Method: This study set out to qualitatively explore parent perspectives through semistructured interviews. The participants were 14 parents with a child with autism in the first year of school. Each parent was asked about their child’s transition to school including any perceived changes in the areas of daily living skills, social abilities, and language and communication skills; and possible explanations for any reported changes. The interviews were recorded then transcribed and underwent thematic analysis. Results: Three themes emerged from the thematic analysis. The themes represent factors that influenced changes in adaptive behaviour, as perceived by parents. Theme one was child willingness. Parents stated that when their child showed a desire to participate in school life there were gains in adaptive behaviour development. Theme two was quality stakeholder engagement, which captures the roles that each key stakeholder had when supporting adaptive behaviour during the transition. The role of the parent was coordinating the transition and advocating strategies for the transition to school. This included preparing a transition timeline and coordinating and advocating for high quality communication with educators. The educator’s role was as the collaborator and the implementer to support adaptive behaviour during the transition. This role involved developing high quality collaborative relationships with the parent, the child’s team, and the child’s preschool educators. Following this, the educator’s role was to implement any agreed individualised support strategies, utilising resources, and addressing the core characteristics of the child including adaptive behaviour to ensure inclusion while transitioning to the new school environment. Theme three was school-wide support. This theme defined the school’s role as the supplier and enabler of funding and environmental support during the transition, meeting the needs of the child and all the key stakeholders. Conclusion: Factors affecting adaptive behaviour development during the transition to school for a child with autism can be represented as an integrated model of support for a child-centred transition, starting with child willingness, extending to active engagement of parents as coordinators and collaborators, and teachers as collaborators and implementers, with all parties being supported through the supplying and enabling role of the school. The results are represented as an integrated model of support. These results highlight the value of identifying roles and responsibilities that ensure quality engagement of all involved, with a prepared transition to school using a transition timeline, child profile and the integrated model of support, to give the best opportunity for positive outcomes. Strategies for supporting child willingness, adaptive behaviour development and key stakeholders’ roles are discussed, along with implications for future practice and future research.
Thesis (Masters)
Master of Education and Professional Studies Research (MEdProfStRes)
School of Education and Professional Studies
Arts, Education and Law
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39

Navarro, Guerrero Nicolás Ignacio [Verfasser], and Stefan [Akademischer Betreuer] Wermter. "Neurocomputational Mechanisms for Adaptive Self-Preservative Robot Behaviour / Nicolás Ignacio Navarro Guerrero. Betreuer: Stefan Wermter." Hamburg : Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, 2016. http://d-nb.info/1101695730/34.

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Moser, Herwig Gerhard [Verfasser]. "A Context-sensitive Plan Execution Language for Adaptive Behaviour in Autonomous Systems / Herwig Gerhard Moser." Aachen : Shaker, 2012. http://d-nb.info/1069046108/34.

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41

Findlater, Kieran Mark. "Explaining climate-sensitive decision-making : on the relationship between cognitive logic and climate-adaptive behaviour." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/61329.

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The harmonization of climate-adaptive behaviour with pre-existing decision-making processes is central to the way climate change adaptation is described in the literature. Yet such behaviour is largely understudied, making it difficult to predict whether and how individuals can integrate (i.e., ‘mainstream’) climate change with risk management processes for weather and other ‘normal’ stressors. In this dissertation, I examine the decision-making processes of South Africa’s commercial grain farmers, as a uniquely informative case, through five complementary studies of two original datasets. I seek to better understand the relationship between risk perceptions and climate-adaptive behaviour in this group, who are known to be sensitive to weather risks and who are adopting climate-resilient farming practices (i.e., Conservation Agriculture (CA)), but who are nonetheless perceived by local experts to be insensitive to climate change risks. In doing so, I distinguish between weather-sensitive decision-making, in which farmers perceive and react to weather risks in conjunction with other ‘normal’ risks, and climate-sensitive decision-making, in which they also perceive and react to the anticipated effects of climate change. Using mental models interviews in the Western Cape province (N = 90), I first reconceptualise farmers’ risk-based decision-making processes, drawing on theories of risk perception and framing from cognitive psychology and behavioural economics to interpret the empirical evidence. Second, I explain the variation in farmers’ adoption of climate-resilient CA practices based on the different cognitive frames (expressed as linguistic frames) that they use to perceive, interpret and respond to weather risks. Third, I use these results to guide the quantitative analysis of a national survey (N = 441), with which I assess the utility of the CA concept in promoting, monitoring and evaluating sustainable and climate-resilient farming practices, as envisioned by the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Sustainable Intensification frameworks. Fourth, I use the interview data to evaluate whether and how farmers integrate climate change and weather risks in farm-level decision-making. Fifth, I build on these findings by using the survey data to quantitatively test whether farmers perceive weather and climate change as equivalent risks.
Science, Faculty of
Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for
Graduate
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42

Amoroso, Marissa D. "Level of adaptive behaviour according to the occupational status of foster adolescents in independent living." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/mq21873.pdf.

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43

Richards, Jan Peter Sheridan. "Exploring adaptive behaviour control with an animat inspired by the Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens)." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape2/PQDD_0022/MQ50481.pdf.

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44

Navarro, Guerrero Nicolás Ignacio Verfasser], and Stefan [Akademischer Betreuer] [Wermter. "Neurocomputational Mechanisms for Adaptive Self-Preservative Robot Behaviour / Nicolás Ignacio Navarro Guerrero. Betreuer: Stefan Wermter." Hamburg : Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, 2016. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:18-78900.

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45

Pichler, Peter-Paul. "Natural selection, adaptive evolution and diversity in computational ecosystems." Thesis, University of Hertfordshire, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2299/4006.

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The central goal of this thesis is to provide additional criteria towards implementing open-ended evolution in an artificial system. Methods inspired by biological evolution are frequently applied to generate autonomous agents too complex to design by hand. Despite substantial progress in the area of evolutionary computation, additional efforts are needed to identify a coherent set of requirements for a system capable of exhibiting open-ended evolutionary dynamics. The thesis provides an extensive discussion of existing models and of the major considerations for designing a computational model of evolution by natural selection. Thus, the work in this thesis constitutes a further step towards determining the requirements for such a system and introduces a concrete implementation of an artificial evolution system to evaluate the developed suggestions. The proposed system improves upon existing models with respect to easy interpretability of agent behaviour, high structural freedom, and a low-level sensor and effector model to allow numerous long-term evolutionary gradients. In a series of experiments, the evolutionary dynamics of the system are examined against the set objectives and, where appropriate, compared with existing systems. Typical agent behaviours are introduced to convey a general overview of the system dynamics. These behaviours are related to properties of the respective agent populations and their evolved morphologies. It is shown that an intuitive classification of observed behaviours coincides with a more formal classification based on morphology. The evolutionary dynamics of the system are evaluated and shown to be unbounded according to the classification provided by Bedau and Packard’s measures of evolutionary activity. Further, it is analysed how observed behavioural complexity relates to the complexity of the agent-side mechanisms subserving these behaviours. It is shown that for the concrete definition of complexity applied, the average complexity continually increases for extended periods of evolutionary time. In combination, these two findings show how the observed behaviours are the result of an ongoing and lasting adaptive evolutionary process as opposed to being artifacts of the seeding process. Finally, the effect of variation in the system on the diversity of evolved behaviour is investigated. It is shown that coupling individual survival and reproductive success can restrict the available evolutionary trajectories in more than the trivial sense of removing another dimension, and conversely, decoupling individual survival from reproductive success can increase the number of evolutionary trajectories. The effect of different reproductive mechanisms is contrasted with that of variation in environmental conditions. The diversity of evolved strategies turns out to be sensitive to the reproductive mechanism while being remarkably robust to the variation of environmental conditions. These findings emphasize the importance of being explicit about the abstractions and assumptions underlying an artificial evolution system, particularly if the system is intended to model aspects of biological evolution.
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46

Massera, Gianluca. "Evolution of grasping behaviour in anthropomorphic robotic arms with embodied neural controllers." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/1172.

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The works reported in this thesis focus upon synthesising neural controllers for anthropomorphic robots that are able to manipulate objects through an automatic design process based on artificial evolution. The use of Evolutionary Robotics makes it possible to reduce the characteristics and parameters specified by the designer to a minimum, and the robot’s skills evolve as it interacts with the environment. The primary objective of these experiments is to investigate whether neural controllers that are regulating the state of the motors on the basis of the current and previously experienced sensors (i.e. without relying on an inverse model) can enable the robots to solve such complex tasks. Another objective of these experiments is to investigate whether the Evolutionary Robotics approach can be successfully applied to scenarios that are significantly more complex than those to which it is typically applied (in terms of the complexity of the robot’s morphology, the size of the neural controller, and the complexity of the task). The obtained results indicate that skills such as reaching, grasping, and discriminating among objects can be accomplished without the need to learn precise inverse internal models of the arm/hand structure. This would also support the hypothesis that the human central nervous system (cns) does necessarily have internal models of the limbs (not excluding the fact that it might possess such models for other purposes), but can act by shifting the equilibrium points/cycles of the underlying musculoskeletal system. Consequently, the resulting controllers of such fundamental skills would be less complex. Thus, the learning of more complex behaviours will be easier to design because the underlying controller of the arm/hand structure is less complex. Moreover, the obtained results also show how evolved robots exploit sensory-motor coordination in order to accomplish their tasks.
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47

Pittola, Patrick. "Division of labour in a group of agents inspired by ants' foraging behaviour." Bachelor's thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2012. http://amslaurea.unibo.it/3059/.

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Questa tesi prende spunto da altri studi realizzati nel campo delle esattamente nel campo delle “Swam Intelligence”, una branca delle intelligenze artificiali prende spunto dal comportamento di animali sociali, sopratutto insetti come termini, formiche ed api, per trarne interessanti metafore per la creazione di algoritmi e tecniche di programmazione. Questo tipo di algoritmi, come per gli esempi tratti dalla biologia, risultano dotati di interessanti proprietà adatte alla risoluzione di certi problemi nell'ambito dell'ingegneria. Lo scopo della tesi è quello di mostrare tramite un esempio pratico le proprietà dei sistemi sviluppati tramite i principi delle Swarm Intelligence, evidenziando la flessibilità di questi sistemi. Nello specifico, la mia tesi analizzerà il problema della suddivisione del lavoro in una colonia di formiche, fornendo un esempio pratico quale il compito di cattura di prede in un determinato ambiente. Ho sviluppato un'applicazione software in Java che simula tale comportamento, i dati utilizzati durante le diverse simulazioni possono essere modificati tramite file di testo, in modo da ottenere risultati validi per diversi contesti.
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48

Maw, Htoo Aung. "A trust-based adaptive access control model for wireless sensor networks." Thesis, University of Hertfordshire, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2299/16564.

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Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have recently attracted much interest in the research community because of their wide range of applications. One emerging application for WSNs involves their use in healthcare where they are generally termed Wireless Medical Sensor Networks (WMSNs). In a hospital, fitting patients with tiny, wearable, wireless vital sign sensors would allow doctors, nurses and others to continuously monitor the state of those in their care. In the healthcare industry, patients are expected to be treated in reasonable time and any loss in data availability can result in further decline in the patient's condition or can even lead to death. Therefore, the availability of data is more important than security concerns. The overwhelming priority is to take care of the patient, but the privacy and confidentiality of that patient's medical records cannot be neglected. In current healthcare applications, there are many problems concerning security policy violations such as unauthorised denial of use, unauthorised information modification and unauthorised information release of medical data in the real world environment. Current WSN access control models used the traditional Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) or cryptographic methods for data access control but the systems still need to predefine attributes, roles and policies before deployment. It is, however, difficult to determine in advance all the possible needs for access in real world applications because there may be unanticipated situations at any time. This research proceeds to study possible approaches to address the above issues and to develop a new access control model to fill the gaps in work done by the WSN research community. Firstly, the adaptive access control model is proposed and developed based on the concept of discretionary overriding to address the data availability issue. In the healthcare industry, there are many problems concerning unauthorised information release. So, we extended the adaptive access control model with a prevention and detection mechanism to detect security policy violations, and added the concept of obligation to take a course of action when a restricted access is granted or denied. However, this approach does not consider privacy of patients' information because data availability is prioritised. To address the conflict between data availability and data privacy, this research proposed the Trust-based Adaptive Access Control (TBA2C) model that integrates the concept of trust into the previous model. A simple user behaviour trust model is developed to calculate the behaviour trust value which measures the trustworthiness of the users and that is used as one of the defined thresholds to override access policy for data availability purpose, but the framework of the TBA2C model can be adapted with other trust models in the research community. The trust model can also protect data privacy because only a user who satisfies the relevant trust threshold can get restricted access in emergency and unanticipated situations. Moreover, the introduction of trust values in the enforcement of authorisation decisions can detect abnormal data access even from authorised users. Ponder2 is used to develop the TBA2C model gradually, starting from a simple access control model to the full TBA2C. In Ponder2, a Self-Managed Cell (SMC) simulates a sensor node with the TBA2C engine inside it. Additionally, to enable a full comparison with the proposed TBA2C model, the Break-The-Glass Role Based Access Control (BTGRBAC) model is redesigned and developed in the same platform (Ponder2). The proposed TBA2C model is the first to realise a flexible access control engine and to address the conflict between data availability and data privacy by combining the concepts of discretionary overriding, the user behaviour trust model, and the prevention and detection mechanism.
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Rauwolf, Paul. "Understanding the ubiquity of self-deception : the evolutionary utility of incorrect information." Thesis, University of Bath, 2016. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.690743.

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When making decisions, individuals rarely possess all the facts. This can be forgiven in a world where action is time sensitive; life rarely affords the luxury of comprehending all the nuances of an environment. However, individuals do not just ignore valuable information when it is costly to acquire, individuals often ignore veridical information even when it is freely available. Instead of employing an accurate understanding of a situation, individuals frequently make decisions with the aid of ignorance and misunderstanding. This dissertation attempts to examine why. I argue against the notion that such behaviour is always caused by cognitive limitations. Instead, I demonstrate that ignoring veridical information can be advantageous in a variety of contexts. Throughout this work, I examine several settings where research has shown that individuals consistently ignore freely available information. Using a combination of formal analysis and simulations, I demonstrate that such behaviour can be advantageous. Lacking veridical knowledge can be functional in order to navigate cooperative societies (Chapter 3), unpredictable environments (Chapter 4), investment markets (Chapter 5-7), and inefficient institutions (Chapter 8). Not only does this work contribute to explaining previously confusing human behaviour, it offers insight into the potential advantages of self-deception (Chapter 2).
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Chen, Rongweixin. "Adaptive thermal comfort and its application in mixed mode buildings : the case of a hot-summer and cold-winter climate in China." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2018. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/285426.

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It is widely recognised that one's ability of adaptation is remarkable and thermal comfort is significantly related to such adaptations. This study proposes an alternative method of predicting adaptive thermal comfort based on the availability of adaptations, in particular behavioural adaptations, which needs quantifications of individual adaptation processes and of interactions between them. The fundamental argument of this method is that exercising an adaptive behaviour leads to an increase in comfort temperature, which is termed adaptive increment in this study. Apart from adaptive increments, this method also determines a baseline thermal comfort temperature (the thermal comfort temperature without adaptations) and a correction factor that considers the factors affecting adaptive behaviours, based on which, the highest operative temperature at which people may still feel thermally comfortable. This may be applied in mixed mode (MM) buildings to achieve a higher air-conditioning (AC) setpoint which may lead to a significant reduction in cooling energy. This method is believed to be flexible in dealing with different environments with various levels of adaptations and likely to be advantageous over the steady-state and adaptive models in predicting thermal comfort temperature of an environment with abundant adaptive opportunities. This study also evaluates ways of promoting the use of adaptive opportunities. It explores how adaptive thermal comfort theories may be used for behaviour modelling and in turn be applied to enhance the energy performances and comfort levels of real buildings. To improve the feasibility of this method key effective adaptive behaviours are studied in detail through lab experiments and field studies. The lab experiment has found the adaptive increment of taking cold water to be 1.5°C which is more significant than the previous literature suggests. When all the studied adaptive behaviours are exercised, the overall adaptive increment is as high as 4.7°C. However, the research has identified some issues associated with the adaptive opportunities studied. These include the existence of constraints on the use of adaptive behaviours, the low availability of some effective adaptive opportunities, the low operation frequency of desk fans and the misuse of windows and AC systems. Despite this, the availability of more adaptive opportunities has been verified to be capable of increasing the highest operative temperature at which people may still feel thermally comfortable: the lab experiment shows that over 80% of the participants can still find it thermally comfortable at an operative temperature of 30°C on the condition that adequate adaptive opportunities are provided; the field study shows that the thermal comfort temperature of occupants increases by at least 1°C when desk fans and cool mats are available. Based on these analyses, it proposes an MM system which encourages occupants to exercise adaptive opportunities and improves both comfort levels and energy efficiency. Building performance simulation results show that the proposed MM system is effective in reducing the reliance on AC systems and promotes effective uses of windows and AC systems. By applying the MM system and the associated passive energy-saving strategies, an office can cut cooling energy by about 90% and the peak cooling load by over 80% during transitional seasons.
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