Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Consensus functions'

In this thesis we address the problem of distributed unconstrained convex optimization under separability assumptions, i.e., the framework where a network of agents, each endowed with local private convex cost and subject to communication constraints, wants to collaborate to compute the minimizer of the sum of the local costs. We propose a design methodology that combines average consensus algorithms and separation of time-scales ideas. This strategy is proven, under suitable hypotheses, to be globally convergent to the true minimizer. Intuitively, the procedure lets the agents distributedly compute and sequentially update an approximated Newton-Raphson direction by means of suitable average consensus ratios. We consider both a scalar and a multidimensional scenario of the Synchronous Newton-Raphson Consensus, proposing some alternative strategies which trade-off communication and computational requirements with convergence speed. We provide analytical proofs of convergence and we show with numerical simulations that the speed of convergence of this strategy is comparable with alternative optimization strategies such as the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers, the Distributed Subgradient Method and Distributed Control Method. Moreover, we consider the convergence rates of the Synchronous Newton-Raphson Consensus and the Gradient Descent Consensus under the simplificative assumption of quadratic local cost functions. We derive sufficient conditions which guarantee the convergence of the algorithms. From these conditions we then obtain closed form expressions that can be used to tune the parameters for maximizing the rate of convergence. Despite these formulas have been derived under quadratic local cost functions assumptions, they can be used as rules-of-thumb for tuning the parameters of the algorithms. Finally, we propose an asynchronous version of the Newton-Raphson Consensus. Beside having low computational complexity, low communication requirements and being interpretable as a distributed Newton-Raphson algorithm, the technique has also the beneficial properties of requiring very little coordination and naturally supporting time-varying topologies. Again, we analytically prove that under some assumptions it shows either local or global convergence properties. Through numerical simulations we corroborate these results and we compare the performance of the Asynchronous Newton-Raphson Consensus with other distributed optimization methods.
In questa tesi viene affrontato il problema dell'ottimizzazione distribuita non vincolata di funzioni convesse. Lo scenario è costituito da una rete di agenti interconnessi, ognuno dei quali è dotato di una funzione costo locale convessa ed è soggetto a vincoli di comunicazione. Ogni agente vuole collaborare per calcolare il minimo della somma dei costi locali. Viene proposta una soluzione che combina algoritmi di average consensus con concetti di separazione delle scale temporali, propri della teoria del controllo non lineare. Tale strategia, denotata come Newton-Raphson Consensus, si dimostra convergere globalmente al minimo richiesto, sotto opportune ipotesi. Intuitivamente, l'algoritmo permette agli agenti di calcolare in maniera distribuita e di aggiornare sequenzialmente una direzione approssimata alla Newton-Raphson, tramite specifici rapporti di average consensus. Viene proposta una versione sincrona del Newton-Raphson Consensus, validata sia per funzioni scalari che vettoriali, proponendo nel secondo caso alcune strategie alternative volte a bilanciare le prestazioni, in termini di requisiti computazionali e di comunicazione, con una adeguata velocità di convergenza. Vengono presentate prove analitiche di convergenza e simulazioni numeriche che evidenziano come la velocità di convergenza del Synchronous Newton-Raphson Consensus è comparabile con strategie di ottimizzazione alternative quali l'Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers, il Distributed Subgradient Method e il Distributed Control Method. La trattazione si completa con l'analisi della velocità di convergenza del Synchronous Newton-Raphson Consensus, comparata con quella di un Gradient Descent Consensus, sotto l'ipotesi semplificativa di funzioni costo quadratiche. Vengono derivate condizioni sufficienti che garantiscono la convergenza di tali algoritmi. Da queste condizioni si ottengono espressioni in forma chiusa che possono essere utilizzate per regolare i parametri che caratterizzano gli algoritmi e per massimizzare la velocità di convergenza. Si evidenzia che nonostante queste formule siano derivate assumendo funzioni di costo (locali) quadratiche, esse possono essere usate come metodologie di riferimento per la regolazione dei parametri degli algoritmi in situazioni generali. Infine, viene proposta una versione asincrona del Newton-Raphson Consensus. Oltre ad avere una ridotta complessità computazionale e minimi requisiti di comunicazione, questa tecnica richiede poca coordinazione tra gli agenti e si mantiene valida in topologie tempo-varianti. Ancora una volta, viene dimostrato analiticamente, sotto opportune ipotesi, che l'Asynchronous Newton-Raphson Consensus ha proprietà di convergenza locali o globali. Mediante simulazioni numeriche vengono corroborati tali risultati e vengono confrontate le prestazioni di tale algoritmo con altri metodi di ottimizzazione distribuita quali l'Asynchronous Fast Newton-Raphson Consensus, l'Asynchronous Distributed Subgradient Method, l'Asynchronous Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers e il Pairwise Equalizing Method.

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Com a evolução e difusão do desenvolvimento de equipamentos utilizando microtecnologia e nanotecnologia, circuitos cada vez menores, mais eficientes e que consomem menos energia, são necessários. Os métodos de minimização de funções booleanas tornam-se relevantes por possibilitarem a otimização de circuitos lógicos, através da geração de circuitos que possuam a mesma funcionalidade, porém, minimizados. Estudos na área de minimização de funções booleanas são realizados há muito tempo, e estão sendo adaptados às novas tecnologias. A geração de implicantes primos de uma função booleana é um dos passos para a cobertura dos mintermos da função e, consequentemente, para a obtenção da função de custo mínimo. Neste trabalho, a Primeira Fase do Método de Quine-McCluskey para Funções Booleanas com Múltiplas Saídas (QMM) foi implementada para posterior comparação com os Métodos Propostos GPMultiplo e MultiGeraPlex (baseados na filosofia do algoritmo GeraPlex). Os métodos propostos geram os implicantes primos de uma função booleana com múltiplas saídas e utilizam a operação de consenso iterativo para comparar dois termos. Os resultados obtidos, através da comparação do GPMultiplo, MultiGeraPlex e da Primeira Fase do Método de QMM, puderam comprovar que a aplicação dos métodos propostos torna-se mais viável e vantajosa por permitir menor tempo de execução e uso de memória, menor quantidade de implicantes gerados e de comparações entre os termos.
With the evolution and spread of the development of equipment using microtechnology and nanotechnology, circuits in need are smaller, more efficient and consume less power. Methods of Minimizing Boolean Functions become important as they allow optimization of logic circuits by generating circuits having the same functionality, but minimized. Studies in Minimizing Boolean Functions area are carried out long ago, and are being adapted to new technologies. The generation of prime implicants of a Boolean function is one of the steps for covering the function of the minterms, and consequently to obtain the minimum cost function. In this work, the first phase of the Quine-McCluskey Method for Booleans Functions with Multiple Output (QMM) was implemented for comparison with Proposed Methods GPMultiplo and MultiGeraPlex (based on the philosophy of GeraPlex algorithm). The proposed methods generates the prime implicants of a Boolean Function with Multiple Output and using the iterative consensus operation to compare two terms. The results obtained by comparing the GPMultiplo, MultiGeraPlex and the first phase of the QMM Method, were able to prove that the application of the proposed methods becomes more feasible and advantageous, by allowing smaller execution time, number of implicants and number of comparisons.

Orientador: Alexandre Cesar Rodrigues Silva
Resumo: Com a evolução e difusão do desenvolvimento de equipamentos utilizando microtecnologia e nanotecnologia, circuitos cada vez menores, mais eficientes e que consomem menos energia, são necessários. Os métodos de minimização de funções booleanas tornam-se relevantes por possibilitarem a otimização de circuitos lógicos, através da geração de circuitos que possuam a mesma funcionalidade, porém, minimizados. Estudos na área de minimização de funções booleanas são realizados há muito tempo, e estão sendo adaptados às novas tecnologias. A geração de implicantes primos de uma função booleana é um dos passos para a cobertura dos mintermos da função e, consequentemente, para a obtenção da função de custo mínimo. Neste trabalho, a Primeira Fase do Método de Quine-McCluskey para Funções Booleanas com Múltiplas Saídas (QMM) foi implementada para posterior comparação com os Métodos Propostos GPMultiplo e MultiGeraPlex (baseados na filosofia do algoritmo GeraPlex). Os métodos propostos geram os implicantes primos de uma função booleana com múltiplas saídas e utilizam a operação de consenso iterativo para comparar dois termos. Os resultados obtidos, através da comparação do GPMultiplo, MultiGeraPlex e da Primeira Fase do Método de QMM, puderam comprovar que a aplicação dos métodos propostos torna-se mais viável e vantajosa por permitir menor tempo de execução e uso de memória, menor quantidade de implicantes gerados e de comparações entre os termos.
Mestre

The introduction of Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and lightweight consensus algorithms to aid in the bolstering of security and privacy in both IoT and IoE does show a great deal of promise not only in these areas, but in resource cost over traditional methods of blockchain.  However, several previous studies make claims regarding performance of novel solutions without providing detailed information as to the physical components of their experiments.  This comparative study shows that Proof of Authentication (PoAh) performs the best out of three selected consensus algorithms and that the claims made regarding the performance of PUFChain and Proof of PUF-enabled Authentication (PoP) could not be replicated in this instance.

In today's fast evolving Central and Eastern Europe, economic perspectives, especially European Union perspectives are indispensable to the success of the transformation process initiated in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Based on our research output, this thesis offers many such perspectives that can help understand the logic of the transformation and the subsequent business done by national and international enterprises. We have interwoven many information-rich threads of transformation principles with banking, dynamic cultural factors and tax policy that influence these new market-economy countries. We observe the role and the process of financial institutions and also consider the impact that information technology exerts on these economies and thus concluding that the significance of culture development and the betterment of the population are the central driving force within a wider Europe. This thesis offers fundamental notions that influence cross-cultural interactions also, providing a concrete basis for understanding the influence of Central and Eastern European countries on the European Union's political choices and vice versa. We examine the transformation and its significance, paradoxes and the interplay of economic approaches and entrepreneurship. In the specific, we look at how the European Union policy towards these countries evolved, suggesting that a trend towards a Bruxelles Consensus is the specific outcome of the European Union's attitudes towards Central and Eastern Europe. An extended evaluation of the consequences for all of us will also emerge as our approach has been that to present all these aspects in a way that inspire understanding of basic governing issues and expectations concerning the future on Central and Eastern Europe in the ever-growing European Union.

Motivation: A rapid technological development in the biosciences and in computer science in the last decade has enabled the analysis of high-dimensional biological datasets on standard desktop computers. However, in spite of these technical advances, common properties of the new high-throughput experimental data, like small sample sizes in relation to the number of features, high noise levels and outliers, also pose novel challenges. Ensemble and consensus machine learning techniques and data integration methods can alleviate these issues, but often provide overly complex models which lack generalization capability and interpretability. The goal of this thesis was therefore to develop new approaches to combine algorithms and large-scale biological datasets, including novel approaches to integrate analysis types from different domains (e.g. statistics, topological network analysis, machine learning and text mining), to exploit their synergies in a manner that provides compact and interpretable models for inferring new biological knowledge. Main results: The main contributions of the doctoral project are new ensemble, consensus and cross-domain bioinformatics algorithms, and new analysis pipelines combining these techniques within a general framework. This framework is designed to enable the integrative analysis of both large- scale gene and protein expression data (including the tools ArrayMining, Top-scoring pathway pairs and RNAnalyze) and general gene and protein sets (including the tools TopoGSA , EnrichNet and PathExpand), by combining algorithms for different statistical learning tasks (feature selection, classification and clustering) in a modular fashion. Ensemble and consensus analysis techniques employed within the modules are redesigned such that the compactness and interpretability of the resulting models is optimized in addition to the predictive accuracy and robustness. The framework was applied to real-word biomedical problems, with a focus on cancer biology, providing the following main results: (1) The identification of a novel tumour marker gene in collaboration with the Nottingham Queens Medical Centre, facilitating the distinction between two clinically important breast cancer subtypes (framework tool: ArrayMining) (2) The prediction of novel candidate disease genes for Alzheimer’s disease and pancreatic cancer using an integrative analysis of cellular pathway definitions and protein interaction data (framework tool: PathExpand, collaboration with the Spanish National Cancer Centre) (3) The prioritization of associations between disease-related processes and other cellular pathways using a new rule-based classification method integrating gene expression data and pathway definitions (framework tool: Top-scoring pathway pairs) (4) The discovery of topological similarities between differentially expressed genes in cancers and cellular pathway definitions mapped to a molecular interaction network (framework tool: TopoGSA, collaboration with the Spanish National Cancer Centre) In summary, the framework combines the synergies of multiple cross-domain analysis techniques within a single easy-to-use software and has provided new biological insights in a wide variety of practical settings.

Acetylation was previously thought to occur exclusively on histones, but recent high-throughput screens have identified thousands of non-histone substrates. Despite the identification of these sites, little is known about how these acetyltransferase enzymes target their substrates. Gcn5 is the catalytic acetyltransferase found within the highly conserved SAGA complex. Recently, a member of this complex, Ada2, was found to impact Gcn5 substrate selection. In the yeast model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a synthetic substrate developed from a proposed Gcn5-specific consensus sequence is used to identify regulators of Gcn5 substrate selection. This work is the first to demonstrate that addition of a consensus sequence is enough to confer acetylation of a non-substrate. With this method, Ada3 was identified as a key regulator, and acetylome profiling identified novel targets for Gcn5 dependent acetylation specifically regulated by Ada3. This system could be adapted for other acetyltransferases to identify regulators of substrate selection.

2016 - 2017
The overarching goal of this work has been that of devising novel methods for building functional neuromarkers from resting-state fMRI data to describe healthy and pathological human behaviour. Observing spontaneous uctuations of the BOLD signal, resting-state fMRI allows to have an insight into the functional organisation of the brain and to detect functional networks that are consistent across subjects. Studying how patterns of functional connectivity vary both in healthy subjects and in subjects a ected by a neurodegenerative disease is a way to shed light on the physiological and pathological mechanisms governing our nervous system. The rst part of this thesis is devoted to the description of fully data-driven feature extraction techniques based on clustering aimed at supporting the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson's disease). The high-dimensional nature of resting state fMRI data implies the need of suitable feature selection techniques. Traditional univariate techniques are fast and straightforward to interpret, but are unable to unveil relationships among multiple features. For this reason, this work presents a methodology based on consensus clustering, a particular approach to the clustering problem that consists in combining di erent partitions of the same data set to produce more stable solutions. One of the objectives of fMRI data analysis is to determine regions that show an abnormal activity with respect to a healthy brain and this is often attained with comparative statistical models applied to single voxels or brain parcels within one or several functional networks. Here, stochastic rank aggregation is applied to identify brain regions that exhibit a coherent behaviour in groups of subjects a ected by the same disorder. The proposed methodology was validated on real data and the results are consistent with previous literature, thus indicating that this approach might be suitable to support early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases... [edited by Author]
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Purpose: While there are diagnostic criteria for functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs), their evaluation is challenging. This is because criteria are based on symptoms, and the underlying pathophysiology is not clear; as such, there are no gold standard tests. Diagnosis is further challenged by considerable clinical overlap between different FGIDs as well as other organic diseases, while many people with FGIDs have more anxiety and depression than healthy individuals. I hypothesised that assessment of separate components of FGIDs that also indicate their effect on the patient could improve diagnosis. My aim was to investigate the evolution of opinions from experts involved in the development of FGID diagnostic criteria on the proposal for the development of multiaxial assessment criteria (MAC) for FGIDs. Methods: I conducted a web-based Delphi study using a group of purposively sampled experts identified from committees of the Rome Foundation and the International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders. From a systematic search of relevant articles, I generated132 items that were sent to experts as a first round survey. The items assessed risk and contributing factors, the therapeutic relationship, areas of evaluation and the advantages and disadvantages of multiaxial assessment. Consensus on an item was reached when 75% of experts indicated that they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement. Key results: 36 of 68 eligible participants (52%) responded to the first round. Consensus was reached on 96 items. Using participant feedback, thematic analysis was used to generate 33 additional items for round two. Thirty-one of 36 participants (86%) replied to rounds two and three. In round two, 19 items gained consensus, and in round three, nine items gained consensus. Participants agreed that multiaxial assessment was needed, using a systematic approach to establish the physiological and psychosocial components of FGIDs. Participants were unable to agree on the importance of physical risk factors such as previous surgery and genetic association. Overall, 124 of the 167 items achieved consensus. Conclusion and inferences: The key finding from my study shows that experts agree that multiaxial assessment of FGIDs is needed. I also identified expert agreement on the consideration of psychological risk factors and the importance of the impact of FGID symptoms on daily life. Findings also show that experts disagreed on the impact of physical risk factors, socioeconomic status and spirituality on people with FGIDs. While experts could not agree on genetic and gender-based risk factors, they considered that these areas are important and require further research.

A significant progress in the evolution of the computer systems and their interconnection over the past 70 years has allowed replacing the frequently used centralized architectures with the highly distributed ones, formed by independent entities fulfilling specific functionalities as one user-intransparent unit. This has resulted in an intense scientic interest in distributed algorithms and their frequent implementation into real systems. Especially, distributed algorithms for multi-sensor data fusion, ensuring an enhanced QoS of executed applications, find a wide usage. This doctoral thesis addresses an optimization and an analysis of the distributed systems, namely the distributed consensus-based algorithms for an aggregate function estimation (primarily, my attention is focused on a mean estimation). The first section is concerned with a theoretical background of the distributed systems, their evolution, their architectures, and a comparison with the centralized systems (i.e. their advantages/disadvantages). The second chapter deals with multi-sensor data fusion, its application, the classification of the distributed estimation techniques, their mathematical modeling, and frequently quoted algorithms for distributed averaging (e.g. protocol Push-Sum, Metropolis-Hastings weights, Best Constant weights etc.). The practical part is focused on mechanisms for an optimization of the distributed systems, the proposal of novel algorithms and complements for the distributed systems, their analysis, and comparative studies in terms of such as the convergence rate, the estimation precision, the robustness, the applicability to real systems etc.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à l’étude de la stabilité des systèmes à commutation qui évoluent sur un domaine de temps non uniforme en introduisant la théorie des échelles de temps. On s’intéresse essentiellement aux systèmes dynamiques linéaires à commutation définis sur une échelle de temps particulière T = P{tσk ,tk+1} = ∪∞k=0[tσk , tk+1]. Le système étudié commute entre un sous-système dynamique continu sur les intervalles ∪∞k=0[tσk , tk+1[ et un sous-système dynamique discret aux instants ∪∞k=0{tk+1} (à temps discret) avec un pas discret qui varie dans le temps. Dans une première partie, des conditions suffisantes sont données pour garantir la stabilité exponentielle de cette classe de systèmes à commutation. Ensuite, des conditions nécessaires et suffisantes de stabilité sont données en déterminant une région de stabilité exponentielle. Dans une deuxième partie, la stabilité de cette classe des systèmes à commutation avec des perturbations nonlinéaires a été traitée en utilisant des majorations de la solution, puis en introduisant l’approche de la fonction de Lyapunov commune. La troisième partie est consacrée au problème du consensus en présence d’interruptions de transmission d’informations où le système multi-agent en boucle fermée peut être représenté comme un système à commutation par une combinaison de modèles de systèmes linéaires à temps continu et de systèmes linéaires à temps discret
This thesis deals with the stability analysis of switched systems that evolve on non uniform time domain by introducing the time scale theory. We are interested mainly in dynamical linear switched systems defined on particular time scale T = P{tσk ,tk+1} = ∪∞k=0[tσk, tk+1]. The studied system switches between a continuous-time dynamical subsystem on the intervals ∪∞k=0[tσk, tk+1[ and a discrete-time dynamical subsystem on instants ∪∞k=0{tk+1} (a discrete time) with a time-varying discrete step. In a first part, sufficient conditions are given to guarantee the exponential stability of this class of switched systems. Then necessary and sufficient conditions for stability are given by determining a region of exponential stability. In the second part, the stability of this class of switched systems with nonlinear uncertainties, is treated using majoration of the solution, and after that by introducing the approach of a common Lyapunov function. The third part is devoted to the consensus problem under intermittent information transmissions where the closed-loop multi-agent system can be represented as a switched system using a combination of linear continuous-time and linear discrete-time systems

Cette thèse porte sur les fondations de la théorie des préférences et de l'utilité utilisée dans les domaines du choix social et de la théorie de la décision. Le premier chapitre est l'introduction. Le second chapitre est composé d'une revue de la littérature et des résultats existants, d'une discussion des motivations pour envisager un nouveau cadre théorique permettant de combiner différentes approches de l'agrégation des préférences individuelles, et d'une proposition d'un modèle hybride appelé modèle de préférence-approbation. Le troisième chapitre pose la question du sens que l'on peut donner au consensus dans un tel cadre théorique. Pour y répondre, ce travail fournit une approche basée sur la notion de distance, c'est-à-dire d'une métrique définie sur le domaine des préférence-approbations, et examine différentes façons de mesurer l'homogénéité au sein d'un ensemble d'opinions individuelles. Dans cette nouvelle modélisation des opinions, les individus s'expriment à la fois à travers un classement défini sur l'ensemble des alternatives et par un niveau de seuil, permettant de distinguer dans ce classement les alternatives "approuvées" de celles qui sont "désapprouvées". Le quatrième chapitre comporte une analyse de la manipulabilité des règles d'agrégation définies sur un profil de votes composés de classements et d'évaluations binaires. En introduisant une nouvelle notion de non-manipulabilité, cette étude offre un résultat de possibilité, ainsi que certaines caractérisations d'impossibilités. La conclusion permet de discuter plusieurs questions de recherche future sur la manière de définir de nouveaux systèmes d'élections et mécanismes de votes, ainsi que leurs impacts potentiels sur la société
This thesis investigates the foundations of preference and utility theory used in Social Choice and Decision Theory. The First chapter is the introduction. The Second chapter is composed of a survey of the existing results, motivations for a new framework that can combine many different approaches to aggregation of individual preferences and a proposal of a hybrid model, called preference-approval framework. The third chapter asks the question of meaning of a consensus in such a framework. As an attempt to answer the question, this work provides a distance based approach, by a metric defined on the domain of preference-approvals and analyzes different ways of measuring homogeneity among the individual opinions. As a new modelling of these opinions, individuals are assumed to express themselves in terms of rankings over a set of options (alternatives) and threshold levels interpreted as the distinction between "approved" and "disapproved" alternatives. The fourth chapter includes a manipulation analysis of aggregation rules over a voting profile composed of rankings and binary evaluations. Proposing a new notion of non-manipulability, this study provides a possibility result and some characterizations of impossibilities. Finally, further research problems for the art of designing new election systems and voting mechanisms are discussed with their potential implications for the society

Expression d’un mal législatif contemporain, les lois symboliques ne sont pas seulement des dispositions incantatoires sur le modèle des lois non normatives ou « mémorielles ». Elles peuvent aussi être des dispositions techniques, comme en comporte le droit de la propriété littéraire et artistique. Pour le comprendre, il convient, dans un premier temps, d’identifier les lois symboliques. Caractérisées par la disharmonie de leur discours et de leurs qualités normatives, ces lois donnent à voir un phénomène d’ineffectivité entendu en un sens large. Imprécises, irréalistes, menteuses, mais dotées d’un message vertueux, les lois symboliques sont le résultat d’un exercice instrumentalisé de l’action législative, davantage préoccupé par l’expression de valeurs que par la considération des effets concrets du texte. Dans un second temps, il importe de déterminer la manière dont les lois symboliques doivent être traitées. Signe d’une mutation de la production législative et du droit de la propriété littéraire et artistique, ces lois sont la figure d’un désordre : elles marquent le retrait du vrai symbolique et sa vaine compensation par un faux symbolique voyant. Cet enseignement commande une remise en ordre appelant au respect de règles de légistique et à la conscience morale des diseurs de normes animés par l’amour des lois. Alors que les réformes se multiplient en droit d’auteur et que la matière est attaquée par des revendications consuméristes et sociales, cette étude invite à une réflexion sur l’avenir de la discipline et à envisager des remèdes pour lutter contre l’apparition des lois symboliques
Symbolic laws are a recent manifestation of a contemporary legislative evil. They are not only incantatory declarations on the model of non-normative or "memorial" laws, since they can also be technical rulings, as intellectual property law is. To grasp this phenomenon, we must first identify what symbolic laws are. Characterized by the disharmony between their discourse and their normative qualities, these laws show a phenomenon of ineffective implementation. Unclear, unrealistic, sometimes lying, but endowed with a virtuous message, symbolic laws are the result of the instrumentalization of legislative action, an exercise where expressing values is more a concern than the concrete effects of the text. Secondly, it is important to determine how symbolic laws should be dealt with. As a sign of a change in legislative production and in intellectual property law, these laws are the figure of disorder: they mark the withdrawal of the true symbolism and its vain compensation by a false and flashy symbolism. This discovery calls for a restoration of order and the respect of legistic rules, where those who write the norms should be animated by the love of laws and guided by moral conscience. As intellectual property law is under attack by commercial and social demands, this study invites to think about its future and see how we could prevent the appearance of symbolic laws

Dans le cadre de cette thèse, notre objectif est de développer une approche multicritère d'aide à la coordination des décideurs pour la résolution des problèmes de sélection dans les chaines logistiques. En effet, nous considérons le cas où nous avons k décideurs/experts notés ST1,...,STk qui cherchent à classer un ensemble de m alternatives/choix notées A1,...,Am évaluées en termes de n critères conflictuels notés C1,..., Cn. L'ensemble des données manipulées est flou. Chaque décideur est amené à exprimer ses préférences pour chaque alternative par rapport à chaque critère à travers une matrice dite matrice des préférences. Notre approche comprend principalement deux phases, respectivement une phase de consensus qui consiste à trouver un accord global entre les décideurs et une phase de classement qui traite le problème de classement des différentes alternatives.Comme résultats, pour la première phase, nous avons adapté deux mécanismes de consensus, le premier est basé sur l'opérateur mathématique neat OWA et le second sur la mesure de possibilité. De même, nous avons développé un nouveau mécanisme de consensus basé sur la programmation par but goal programming. Pour la phase de classement, nous avons adapté dans un premier temps la méthode TOPSIS et dans un second, le modèle du goal programming avec des fonctions de satisfaction. Pour illustrer l'applicabilité de notre approche, nous avons utilisé différents problèmes de sélection dans les chaines logistiques comme la sélection des systèmes de formation, la sélection des fournisseurs, la sélection des robots et la sélection des entrepôts
This thesis presents a development of a multi-criteria group decision making approach to solve the selection problems in supply chains. Indeed, we start in the context where a group of k decision makers/experts, is in charge of the evaluation and the ranking of a set of potential m alternatives. The alternatives are evaluated in fuzzy environment while taking into consideration both subjective (qualitative) and objective (quantitative) n conflicting criteria. Each decision maker is brought to express his preferences for each alternative relative to each criterion through a fuzzy matrix called preference matrix. We have developed three new approaches for manufacturing strategy, information system and robot selection problem:1. Fuzzy consensus-based possibility measure and goal programming approach.2. Fuzzy consensus-based neat OWA and goal programming approach.3. Fuzzy consensus-based goal programming and TOPSIS approach.Finally, a comparison of these three approaches is conducted and thus was able to give recommendations to improve the approaches and provide decision aid to the most satisfying decision makers

Significant research has demonstrated direct and indirect associations between substance use and sexual behaviour. Substance use is related to sexual risk-taking and HIV seroconversion among some substance-using MSM. It remains unclear what factors mediate or underlie this relationship, and which substances are associated with greater harm. Substance-related expectancies are hypothesised as potential mechanisms. A conceptual model based on social-cognitive theory was tested, which explores the role of demographic factors, substance use, substance-related expectancies and novelty-seeking personality characteristics in predicting unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) while under the influence, across four commonly used substance types. Phase 1, a qualitative study (N = 20), explored how MSM perceive the effects of substance use on their thoughts, feelings and behaviours, including sexual behaviours. Information was attained through discussion and interviews, resulting in the establishment of key themes. Results indicated MSM experience a wide range of reinforcing aspects associated with substance use. General and specific effects were evident across substance types, and were associated with sexual behaviour and sexual risk-taking. Phase 2 consisted of developing a comprehensive profile of substance-related expectancies for MSM (SEP-MSM) regarding alcohol, cannabis, amyl nitrite and stimulants that possessed sound psychometric properties and was appropriate for use among this group. A cross-sectional questionnaire with 249 participants recruited through gay community networks was used to validate these measures, and involved online data collection, participants rating expectancy items and subsequent factor analysis. Results indicated expectancies can be reliably assessed, and predicted substance use patterns. Phase 3 examined demographic factors, substance use, substance-related expectancies, and novelty-seeking traits among another community sample of MSM (N = 277) throughout Australia, in predicting UAI while under the influence. Using a cross-sectional design, participants were recruited through gay community networks and completed online questionnaires. The SEP-MSM, and associated substance use, predicted UAI. This research extends social-cognitive theory regarding sexual behaviour, and advances understanding of the role of expectancies associated with substance use and sexual risk-taking. Future applications of the SEP-MSM in health promotion, prevention, clinical interventions and research are likely to contribute to reducing harm associated with substance-using MSM (e.g., HIV transmission).

Les litigants sollicitent les centres d’arbitrage pour diriger l’arbitrage dans toutes ses phases afin de donner une garantie supplémentaire qui assure la validité de la sentence arbitrale. Compte tenu du rôle important que les centres d’arbitrage jouent pendant l’instance arbitrale, les litigants mécontents de la sentence arbitrale ou du jugement annulant la sentence tentent d’engager la responsabilité du centre d’arbitrage dès lors qu’il a surveillé, dirigé et participé au rendu de la sentence.De plus en plus la responsabilité des centres d’arbitrage est mise en cause devant les juridictions étatiques différentes, les fonctions et les pouvoirs exercés par les centres d’arbitrage ainsi que le régime de responsabilité leur est applicable font l’objet d’une attention critique de la part de la doctrine dans plusieurs systèmes juridiques. On s’interroge sur l’origine des rapports qui lient les centres d’arbitrage aux autres acteurs de l’arbitrage, sur les obligations et les pouvoirs conférés aux centres d’arbitrage, et sur les fonctions exercées par les centres d’arbitrage pour établir enfin un régime de responsabilité homogène et pertinent à l’égard des fonctions exercées par les centres d’arbitrage qui a une vocation à s’appliquer dans la majorité des systèmes juridiques
Parties to arbitration seek arbitral institutions to administrate their arbitration in order to have an extra guarantee that ensures the validity of the arbitral award. Given the role that arbitral institutions play during the arbitral procedure, parties unsatisfied either by the arbitral award or the annulment of the award tend to claim the liability of arbitral institution for the awards it had supervised, administered and participated in.The more the allegations of liability raise against the arbitral institutions before courts, the more the issue of arbitral institutions’ functions, powers and liability becomes controversial in different jurisdictions. Therefore, the present study tends to clarify the origin of the relationship existing between arbitral institutions and other parties involved in the arbitration at issue, the duties and powers assigned to the arbitral institutions and the functions performed by the arbitral intuitions, which helps eventually in establishing a kind of liability that complies with the functions performed by the arbitral institutions and can be applied in many jurisdictions

(in English): Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a very effective treatment procedure for patients with severe and treatment resistant psychiatric disorders. This Thesis deals with the impact of electroconvulsive therapy on cognitive function, specified as a measurement of cognitive function after electroconvulsive therapy, focusing on the monitoring of cognitive function, eventually their deficits with the passage of time after ECT. At several time points (T1 week after ECT completion; T2: 6-8 weeks after ECT completion) from ECT completion the progression of cognitive performance of patients was repeatedly measured. Respondents were divided according to their diagnosis (mood disorders groop and schizophrenia group). The groups were compared with each other. The aim of the Thesis is the observance of the cognitive changes in patients over time after electroconvulsive therapy. In the final stage 18 subjects were submissed into the study (10 women and 8 men). In terms of diagnosis 39% were diagnosed with the disease in the ICD category F20-F29; 33% were diagnosed with mood disorders (category ICD: F30-F39) and 28% were diagnosed with F06.3 organic affective disorder. The MCCB (MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery) was chosen as a method for data scan, it has very good psychometric properties also...

Nowadays, an intelligence is a widely applied concept. The authors' opinions on its possible unification with or strict separation from the specific cognitive functions vary throughout different fields of psychology. Simultaneously, schizophrenia is a mental disorder, which is often connected to a cognitive deficit. Its assessment is usually realized on an estimation of the intelligence level. The aim was to explore how the estimation of intelligence corresponds with a cognitive profile of a patient with schizophrenia. This purpose is firstly being attained by a description of various views and theoretical objects, for instance core characteristics of a schizophrenia, a description of intelligence and selected cognitive functions. The empirical part is focused on an exploration of the relationship between a cognitive profile and the estimation of actual and premorbid intelligence of a patient with schizophrenia. A total of 120 persons with a diagnose F20 were included in this study. A cognitive profile was assessed with the usage of MATRICS battery and the intelligence levels were evaluated by selected WASI tests and Czech reading test (CRT). Results indicates that despite the level of premorbid and actual intelligence level was identified within the normal range, respondents evinced a cognitive...

In majority of schizophrenia patients, from the first episode of psychosis throughout the entire span of the illness, a cognitive deficit is one of the core symptoms. Assessing cognitive performance with empirically based methods is a vital part of clinical practice. Until recently, Czech adaptations of the MATRICS battery (standardly used for assessing cognition in schizophrenia worldwide) and the Tower of London, ToL (a basic test measure of executive planning ability) were absent. The primary aim of this dissertation thesis was to provide these methods for research and clinical use in Czech professional environment. This goal was achieved with both ToL and MATRICS in two basic steps. Firstly, Czech adaptations of both tests were carried out, namely translation of test instructions and establishment of standard administration and scoring. Secondly, complex psychometric analyses were conducted for both tests, including validation of their Czech versions for the purpose of assessing cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. The results suggest that ToL is a suitable tool for recognising executive planning deficit in general as well as in schizophrenia patients specifically. Also, the planning ability in schizophrenia patients, as measured by ToL, is one standard deviation below average when compared...

Technological, political and economical developments have fostered the spread of transnational media since the latter part of the 20th century. Despite that, most studies of media effects are still nationally bound. This dissertation discusses some of the effects that both national and transnational news media can have on people’s thoughts and feelings. It explores the particular effect of consensus building as a consequence of second level agenda-setting. The main focus of this dissertation is how national and transnational news media can bring different demographic groups closer in their perceptions of major topics in the news. This dissertation analyzes consensus building effects through the European Union’s reaction to the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States. It analyzes how the use of national and transnational media brought EU demographic groups in closer agreement regarding the attributes of the terrorism issue and of the Muslim and Arab communities, as they related to the events of 9-11 and its aftermaths for the EU community. This study is based on a secondary data analysis of a survey conducted in the close aftermath of 9-11. It is an extensive replication of Shaw and Martin’s (1992) consensus model based on a cross-national analysis of 15 European Union nations and their patterns of national and transnational news media use among four demographic groups in relation to the substantive and affective dimensions of attribute agendas regarding the aftermath of 9-11. This study found evidence that national media bring the segments of society to closer agreement regarding the attributes of terrorism and the attributes of the Muslim and Arab communities. This was especially true for those indicating they used national television. Transnational media also have some potential for similar effects, though less than for national media. Borders still matter but it will be interesting in the future to see if the increasing availability of transnational media translates into increased influence as well.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1994.
Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (225-231).

碩士
國立臺北科技大學
生物科技研究所
99
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia characterized by progressive cognitive impairment in the elderly. It is a chronic, slowly progressive neurodegenerative disorder. The gradual loss of memory, decline in other cognitive functions, and decrease in functional capacity result in death approximately 8-10 years after the onset of the symptoms. It is accompanied by dysfunctions in the cholinergic neurotransmission of the central nervous system. Hence, most of the drugs approved for AD treatment are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs), which can enhance cholinergic neurotransmission by increasing acetylcholine availability in the synaptic cleft. In this study, molecular docking experiments combined with a consensus scoring function were conducted to predict the binding affinities of a total of 88 AChEIs, in which 68 and 20 compounds were used in the training and test sets, respectively, and to characterize the structural features of the catalytic gorge of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) toward binding. Our results yielded correlation coefficients R2 = 0.8439 and 0.9573 for the training and test sets, respectively, after partial least squares regression and leave-one-out cross-validation coefficient Q2 = 0.6291, indicating that the consensus scoring function developed here is applicable to bioactivity prediction and structural characterization for AChE inhibition. The identification of the protein-ligand interactions produces a list of those residues within the dual binding site of AChE, which make the most important hydrogen bond,

The emerging Blockchain technology has the potential to shift the traditional centralized systems to become more flexible, efficient and decentralized. An important area to apply this capability is supply chain. Supply chain visibility and transparency has become an important aspect of a successful supply chain platform as it becomes more complex than ever before. The complexity comes from the number of participants involved and the intricate roles and relations among them. This puts more pressure on the system and the customers in terms of system availability and tamper-resistant data. This thesis presents a private and permisioned application that uses Blockchain and aims to automate the shipping processes among different participants in the supply chain ecosystem. Data in this private ledger is governed with the participants’ invocation of their smart contracts. These smart contracts are designed to satisfy the participants’ different roles in the supply chain. Moreover, this thesis discusses the performance measurements of this application results in terms of the transaction throughput, transaction average latency and resource utilization.
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