Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Human behaviour'
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1
Hollmann, Claudia. "A cognitive human behaviour model for pedestrian behaviour simulation." Thesis, University of Greenwich, 2015. http://gala.gre.ac.uk/13831/.
Abstract:
Pedestrian behaviour simulation models are being developed with the intention to simulate human behaviour in various environments in both non-emergency and emergency situations. These models are applied with the objective to understand the underlying causes and dynamics of pedestrian behaviour and how the environment or the environment’s intrinsic procedures can be adjusted in order to provide an improvement of human comfort and safety. In order to realistically model pedestrian behaviour in complex environments, the specific human behaviour patterns which govern their behaviour need to be represented. It is thereby of importance to understand the causal chains between the surrounding conditions and the pedestrians’ behaviours: the impact of the environment’s purpose and facilities as well as the pedestrians’ individual goals on the pedestrians’ planning and route choice behaviour; the influence of emergent stimuli on the pedestrians’ plans and environment usage; the influence of the pedestrians’ environment usage under normal usage conditions on the pedestrians’ behaviour in response to a potential alarm event. In this thesis, a framework is developed for modelling advanced individual pedestrian behaviours and especially purpose-driven environment usage. The framework thereby aims to assist building and facility planners in improving a building’s layout in terms of pedestrian experience and walking routes. In this thesis, a comprehensive review on how individual pedestrian behaviour and the pedestrians’ environment usage are realised in current pedestrian behaviour simulation models has been undertaken. In addition, current theories on human decision making, goal-driven behaviour and emotion modelling have been surveyed from the research fields of artificial intelligence, virtual reality simulation, human psychology and human behavioural sciences. From this survey, theories suitable for this thesis’ cause have been identified and combined for the proposed Cognitive Pedestrian Agent Framework (CPAF). The proposed framework contains a sophisticated human decision making model, a multi-faceted individual knowledge representation, a model to realise situational and contextual awareness, and a novel realisation of a human path planning heuristic. The proposed framework has been demonstrated in the simulation of a building usage-cycle use case. Further, it has been outlined how the proposed framework could be used to model experiential alarm response behaviour.
2
McMillan, Anne Sinclair. "Human masseter motor unit behaviour." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/30673.
Abstract:
There is a dearth of knowledge on the functional organization of the anatomically complex human masseter muscle. Limited physiological studies suggest a functional organization which may differ significantly from human limb muscles. The present studies aimed to examine the putative relationship between structure and function in the human masseter muscle as a basis for understanding function and dysfunction in human jaw muscles.
In the first experiment single motor unit (SMU) activity was recorded from pairs of recording sites distributed throughout the masseter muscle. In each case SMU activity at a chosen location was used as a reference to search for synchronized SMU activity at another selected site. The locations of the needle tips were estimated in 3-dimensions (3-D) by means of an optical system, then transferred to 3-D reconstructions derived from Magnetic Resonance images. This approach permitted calculation of the linear distances between verified muscle recording sites. The mean separation of the sites from which synchronous SMU activity could be recorded was 8.8±3.4mm. The putative territories had a preferred orientation in the antero-posterior axis. Motor unit territories were larger than described previously, and appeared to be related to anatomical compartments.
The second experiment involved recording activity from stereotactically mapped masseter SMUs. In each case, the lowest sustainable firing frequency (LSFF) was reached by slow increases and decreases in voluntary firing rate, followed by sustained firing at the lowest possible rate. Pulse-discrimination and digital sampling of consecutive inter-spike intervals (ISIs) were then used to measure LSFF for 2-6 separate occlusal and postural tasks to which each unit contributed. There were significant differences between mean ISIs for the tasks performed by most units, which suggests descending drive to masseter units is highly task-dependent. There were also regional differences in unit task specificities.
In the third paradigm, reflex SMU activity was recorded from units in the masseter muscle and the inferior head of the lateral pterygoid muscle. Bipolar electrodes fixed to the gingiva near the maxillary canine delivered single pulses of 1ms duration at sub-noxious levels of intensity. At constrained firing frequencies (10, 15Hz), pulses were injected sequentially, with increasing delays, after preselected spikes. More profound inhibition occurred in units firing at 10 than 15Hz. There were significant differences in masseter inhibitory responses when the unit task varied. Reflex inhibition in masseter and lateral pterygoid SMUs is highly frequency-dependent, and also task-dependent in masseter units.
The fourth study involved recording activity from SMUs in the masseter muscle. A midline load cell was fixed to the incisor teeth and aligned either perpendicular (P) or 30 degrees anterior (A) to the occlusal plane, without altering jaw position. A rigid spike-triggered averaging (STA) paradigm was used to extract the contribution of individual SMUs to the overall force at load cell orientations P and A. Spikes preceded or followed by an interval of less than 100ms were rejected prior to averaging. At background bite forces from 0.06-8N, the isometric forces apparently developed by individual units varied randomly with load cell orientations, (P range 36.2±19.6mN; A range 38.2±28.4mN). All units could be fired slowly with varying degrees of muscle coactivation, in some instances without contact on the load cell. The use of STA as a method for determining SMU tension in the masseter muscle appears to be task-dependent and in the presence of coactivation may be inappropriate.
The findings collectively indicate the heterogeneous nature of SMU behaviour in the human masseter muscle which is consistent with internal muscle compartments based on anatomical features and functional behaviour. There thus appear to be both physiological and anatomical substrates for differential motor control of selected regions of the human masseter muscle.Dentistry, Faculty of
Graduate
3
Lawson, Glyn. "Predicting human behaviour in emergencies." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2011. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12027/.
Abstract:
The outcome of an emergency is largely determined by the behaviour of the people involved. To improve the safety of buildings and to increase the effectiveness of response procedures and training programmes it is often necessary to predict human behaviour in emergency situations. There are several approaches which can be used to make these predictions, but not all had previously been systematically analysed and therefore their appropriateness for any given application was unknown. This thesis describes an analysis of approaches for predicting human behaviour in emergencies. The research focussed on approaches which could be used by human factors professionals to extend the contribution this systems-oriented and user-focussed discipline can make to managing risks and reducing danger. The investigated approaches were evaluated against criteria for judging their quality, including validity, reliability, resources, sensitivity and ethics. In research conducted to test the approaches, fire drills, virtual environments (VEs) and a new talk-through approach, in which participants describe the hypothetical actions they would take in an emergency scenario, demonstrated potential for predicting behaviour in emergency situations. These approaches were subsequently evaluated in a standardised comparison, in which each one was applied to analyse the behaviour demonstrated during an evacuation from a university building. The observed frequencies of behaviour produced by each approach were significantly correlated, as were the sequences of behaviour. All of the approaches demonstrated replicability. The resources required to apply each approach were relatively low, especially for the talk-through approach. Based on the findings from this research, and drawing upon previous work from the scientific literature, guidance was provided for selecting approaches and methods for behavioural prediction in emergency situations. The talk-through approach is suitable for use during the concept phase of a design as it is quick to implement and requires low resources. VEs and simulation tools are more appropriate for design activities when detailed CAD models become available. Fire drills can provide useful measures of human behaviour in evacuation scenarios, but require a physical representation of the building or environment under investigation. Fire drills, VEs and simulation tools can be used to inform emergency response procedures. Predictions from all of the aforementioned approaches can support the development of training programmes. This guidance was previously unavailable to human factors professionals and now serves both to inform design work and support the evaluation of existing evacuation procedures and protocols.
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Syed, Shazali Syed Tarmizi. "Human behaviour modelling through Human Intelligent Movement Software (HIMs)." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2010. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/6382.
Abstract:
The concept of sustainable urban environments aims to provide urban facilities including transport interchanges that can accommodate a wide spectrum of the human population irrespective of gender, age or disability. A major objective is to reduce levels of social exclusion which arise from inadequacy in infrastructure that strongly affects certain members of society such as the elderly, disabled and poor. This research focuses on the particular aspect of crowded public spaces where it is envisaged that improvements in crowd flow could be achieved by a proper consideration of all the users of the space but particularly the elderly and disabled. The ultimate objective would be design tools that provide architects with the means to achieve inclusivity in design for the elderly and disabled with relative ease and speed. Therefore, this research has developed a methodology and a computing tool to implement aspects of human walking behaviour in public spaces. Human behaviours have been studied using a large-scale video observation involving over 17,000 subjects. The videos have been analysed to determine a number of different behaviours and their relationship to distinguishing characteristics of the subjects such as age, gender and disability. Algorithms for representing these behaviours have been developed and implemented as a simulation tool (HIMs) within commercially available gaming software. Two case studies, within shopping malls and a bus station, have been carried out to illustrate the feasibility of the work and simple examples of small environmental design changes that significantly affect crowd flow are shown.
5
Rymill, Stephen Julian. "Psychologically-based simulation of human behaviour." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.614295.
6
Rando, C. J. "Human behaviour and the temporomandibular joint." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2011. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1322969/.
Abstract:
Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD), an umbrella term referring to a group of orofacial pain disorders, including disc displacement and osteoarthritis, affect a significant portion of the general population, with prevalence of temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJ OA) at around 30%. The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is intimately linked to mastication (and as such, diet), with research on animals and modern clinical studies suggesting that disorders of the TMJ may be connected to soft dietary composition and associated with a reduction of the craniofacial complex. Over the past 100,000 years, the size and shape of the human face has undergone marked changes, from large and robust, to relatively small and gracile. Concordantly, human diet has changed profoundly, first in the transition from hunter-gathering to agriculture, then again in the shift to the post-industrialised diet, markedly affecting the rate of caries and malocclusions, which have increased, and dental wear, the severity of which has notably decreased. The question remains as to whether these dietary shifts, particularly modernisation, have had an effect on the temporomandibular joint. This work aims to combine archaeological, evolutionary and clinical perspectives to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact changes in human behaviour (primarily those related to diet) have had on the prevalence and distribution of temporomandibular joint disorders, specifically osteoarthritis. Three different skeletal populations (modern Americans, Medieval and post-Medieval Londoners and Prehistoric Native Americans) were examined for the severity of tooth wear, presence of TMJ osteoarthritis, morphology of the TMJ and tooth loss, as well as undergoing a metric and geometric morphometric analysis. The results suggest that differing patterns of subsistence can impact the distribution and frequency of TMJ OA, with rates of OA highest in the contemporary populations, this seeming to contradict previous archaeological theories on TMJ OA, which typically associated high levels of OA with heavy tooth wear and using the teeth as tools. The results of this research also suggest that different methodological approaches need to be used when analyzing TMJ OA, utilising diagnostic techniques that are more clinically relevant, in part due to the unique and complex nature of the TM joint.
7
Boulay, Bernard. "Human posture recognition for behaviour understanding." Nice, 2007. http://www.theses.fr/2007NICE4000.
Abstract:
During this thesis, we have proposed a real-time, generic, and operational approach to recognising human posture with one static camera. The approach is fully automatic and independent from the view point of the camera. Human posture recognition from a video sequence is a difficult task. This task is part of the more general problem of video sequence interpretation. The proposed approach takes as input information provided by vision algorithms such as the silhouette of the observed person (a binary image representing the person and the background), or her/his position in the scene. The first contribution is the modeling of a 3D posture avatar. This avatar is composed of a human model (defining the relations between the different body parts), a set of parameters (defining the position of the body parts) and a set of body primitives (defining the visual aspect of the body parts). The second contribution is the proposed hybrid approach to recognise human posture. This approach combines the use of 3D posture avatar and 2D techniques. The 3D avatars are used in the recognition process to acquire a certain independence from the camera view point. The 2D techniques represent the silhouettes of the observed person to provide a real-time processing. The proposed approach is composed of two main parts: the posture detection which recognises the posture of the detected person by using information computed on the studied frame, and the posture temporal filtering which filters the posture by using information about the posture of the person on the previous frames A third contribution is the comparison of different 2D silhouette representations. The comparison is made in terms of computation time and dependence on the silhouette quality. Four representations have been chosen: geometric features, Hu moments, skeletonisation, and the horizontal and vertical projections. A fourth contribution is the characterisation of ambiguous postures. Ambiguities can happen by using only one camera. An ambiguous posture is defined as a posture which has visually similar silhouettes rather an other posture. Synthetic data are generated to evaluate the proposed approach for different point of view. The approach has also been evaluated on real data by proposing a ground truth model adapted to the posture recognition purpose. A fifth contribution has been proposed by applying the results of the recognition to human action detection. A method based on a finite state machine has been proposed to recognise self-action (action where only one person acts). Each state v of the machine is composed of one or several postures. This method has been successfully applied to detect falling and walking actions. The human posture recognition approach gives good results. However, the approach has some limitation. The main limitation, is that we are limited in terms of postures of interest for computation time and discrimination reasons. The second limitation is the computation time of the 3D posture avatar generation. By using information about the movement of the observed person in the scene, the approach is able to treat 5-6 frames by second. Some improvement can be done to solve these limitations. In particular, the set of interest postures can be adapted automatically at each frame by considering the previously recognised postures to decrease the number of 3D posture silhouette to extractDurant cette thèse nous avons proposé une approche temps réel, générique et fonctionnelle pour reconnaître la posture des personnes filmées par une caméra statique. Notre approche est conçue pour être complètement automatique et indépendante du point de vue de la caméra. La reconnaissance de posture à partir de séquence vidéo est un problème difficile. Ce problème s'inscrit dans le champ de recherche plus général de l'interprétation de séquence vidéo. L'approche proposée prend en entrée des informations provenant d'algorithmes de vision telles que la silhouette de la personne observée (une image binaire où une couleur représente la personne et l'autre le fond) ou sa position dans la scène. La première contribution est la modélisation d'un avatar 3D de posture. Un avatar 3D de posture est composé d'un modèle 3D humain (définissant les relations entre les différentes parties du corps), d'un ensemble de paramètre (définissant les positions des différentes parties du corps) et d'un ensemble de primitive (définissant l'aspect visuel des parties du corps). La seconde contribution est la proposition d'une approche hybride combinant l'utilisation de modèles 3D et de techniques 2D. Les avatars 3D de postures sont utilisés dans le processus de reconnaissance pour avoir une certaine indépendance du point de vue de la caméra. Les techniques 2D représentent les silhouettes des personnes détectées pour garder un temps réel de calcul. Cette thèse montre comment les avatars 3D peuvent être utilisés pour obtenir une approche générique et fonctionnelle pour reconnaître les postures. Cette approche est composée de deux parties : la détection de postures qui reconnaît la posture de la personne détectée en utilisant seulement l'information calculée sur l'image considérée, et le filtrage temporel de posture qui reconnaît la posture en utilisant l'information provenant des images précédentes. Une troisième contribution a été faite en comparant différentes représentations 2D des silhouettes au niveau du temps de calcul nécessaire et de leur dépendance à la qualité de la silhouette. Quatre représentations ont été retenues : une représentation combinant différentes valeurs géométriques, les moment de Hu, la skeletonisation et les projections horizontale et verticale. Une quatrième contribution est la caractérisation des cas ambigus. Des ambiguïtés au niveau de la reconnaissance peuvent se produire en utilisant seulement une caméra statique. Une posture ambiguë est définie par plusieurs postures vii qui ont des silhouettes visuellement similaires. Des données de synthèse sont générées pour évaluer l'approche proposée pour différents points de vue. Ainsi, les postures ambiguës sont identifiées en considérant la posture et son orientation. L'approche est aussi évaluée pour des données réelles en proposant un modèle de vérité terrain pour la reconnaissance de posture. Une cinquième contribution a été proposée en appliquant le résultat de notre approche à la reconnaissance d'action. Une méthode utilisant des machines à états finis a ainsi été proposée pour reconnaître des actions faisant intervenir une seule personne. Chaque état de la machine est composé d'une ou plusieurs postures. Cette méthode est appliquée avec succès pour détecter les chutes et la marche. Bien que notre approche donne de très bon taux de reconnaissance, il subsiste quelques limitations. La principale limitation de l'approche est qu'elle est limitée en nombre de postures d'intérêt pour des raisons de temps de calcul et de discrimination entre les postures considérées. La seconde limitation est le temps nécessaire à la génération des silhouettes des avatars 3D de posture. En utilisant l'information sur le déplacement de la personne dans la scène, l'algorithme de reconnaissance de posture traite entre 5 et 6 images par seconde. Des améliorations peuvent être faites pour résoudre ces limitations. En particulier, nous pourrions adapter automatiquement l'ensemble des postures d'intérêt au cas considéré, en utilisant par exemple la posture reconnue précédemment pour restreindre les postures 3D dont nous voulons extraire les silhouettes
8
Miszkiewicz, Justyna J. "Ancient human bone histology and behaviour." Thesis, University of Kent, 2014. https://kar.kent.ac.uk/38319/.
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Buss, Keno. "Behavioural patterns for the analysis of creative behaviour." Thesis, De Montfort University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2086/4938.
Abstract:
Analysing human creativity has always been a difficult undertaking. The reason for this is the vagueness of the term creativity itself. Philosophers and Researchers have tried to unveil the secrets behind creativity since centuries. Besides some principles e.g. defined by Finke, Ward, and Smith, there is no holistic understanding about term creativity and there will always be discussions between researchers of different disciplines about how creativity is achieved. Current approaches try to understand creativity through studying the creative artifact or the creative human himself. These approaches have not lead to any promising results. Instead of focussing on creativity itself, it is more promising to look at the creative process of creators. Through this, it is possible to analyse what happened during the creation of an artefact. The aim of the analysis is the identification of certain behaviours within the creative process, which lead to very creative results or in opposite hinder creativity. The gained knowledge is used for the creation of patterns, describing this specific behaviour. The analysis of the creative process is not only interesting for artists, but also for engineers, researchers, students and many others. Important target groups for this approach are schools and universities. Being able to early recognise problems in the learning curve of a student will enable a directed support, in order to improve the student's performance. Until now, the main problem for analysing the creative process of a creator is the lack of information on how an artefact was created. Most creators tend not to make many notes during their creative phase, even if there are famous exemptions like Beethoven who left behind a huge amount of notices and marked changes in his work. Hence, the challenge is the development of a powerful framework, which can cope effectively with the recording and presentation of this creative process, in order to enable detailed analyses. Modern computer technology fosters the recording of the creative process of a person. Much of today's creative work is achieved with computers and powerful software applications. Computer networks and the internet enable new ways of collaboration. The creation of a flexible, collaborative tool-set is the ideal approach for the mapping and analysis of the creative process. A novel approach, based on these ideas, was developed by the members of the Creative Technologies Research Programme at the Software Technology Research Laboratory (STRL). The central aim of the approach is the mapping of the human creativity with so-called creativity maps. A creativity map is basically transition system, which allows to store and represent the creative process as well as to hold each version of the artefact. The developed De Montfort Creativity Assistant (DMCA), is a collaborative, web-enabled state-of-the-art software framework, realising the theoretical concepts. This thesis represents a substantial contribution to the research project. The focus of the presented work lies on the analysis and the support of the creative process. Several novel techniques for the analysis of massive data sets have been developed. The presented techniques enable a domain-independent analysis and support of the creative process. This is huge improvement over previous concepts, which are highly specialised and focus on the creative artefact itself. The presented approach required the development of several novel techniques. The major contributions of the presented research are: - Behavioural Patterns Enable the description of constructs inside the creativity map. These constructs represent the creative behaviour of the creator. - Techniques for a Computer-supported Information Extraction A pattern description language enables the computer-supported information extraction from creativity maps. - Knowledge Repository Knowledge, gained through the analysis processes, is stored centrally and shared with other creators in order to stimulate further growing of knowledge. - Concepts for the Analysis and Support of the Creative Process Novel concepts allow the structured analysis and support of the creative process, regardless of the creator's domain. All developed techniques have been implemented in several tools, which aim to enrich the DMCA with the ability of a computer-supported analysis and support of the creative process.
10
James, Hannah Victoria Arnison. "Becoming human : the emergence of modern human behaviour within South Asia." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.609772.
11
Antley, A. "Human balance behaviour in immersive virtual environments." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2014. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1421067/.
Abstract:
Presence is defined as the illusion of being in a place depicted by an immersive virtual reality (IVR) system. A consequence of this illusion is that participants respond to places and events in an IVR as if they were real. Currently, there is no objective measure of presence that applies across all systems and applications. In this thesis we examine a particular type of response as if real, human balance behaviour (HBB), the actions that prevent the body’s centre of gravity from moving outside the base of support, as a way to measure presence in an IVR. Our first experiment was designed to investigate whether HBB can detect presence in IVRs. We used surface EMG to measure muscle activations and found an increase when subjects walked on a virtual raised platform compared to a virtual floor registered to the laboratory floor. A similar increase was found when subjects walked on a real raised platform. This provides evidence of real HBB induced by an IVR . In a second experiment HBB was used to compare partial-body and full-body tracking configurations. When participants viewed a lateral lean imposed on the torso of a synchronous virtual body (SVB), their stance angle changed in a compensatory direction. We found a weaker negative correlation indicating compensatory leaning in the partial-body tracking condition leaning. This suggests partial-body tracking may dampen the full-body illusion in IVRs. We carried out a case study to show the relevance of HBB for IVRs used for movement rehabilitation. Hemiparetic stroke patients observed a SVB that was colocated with their own. When an animation caused their virtual arms to rise up, we found evidence of counterbalancing in centre of pressure data that was not apparent when the subjects were told to simply imagine the movement. Here HBB directly indicates the effectiveness of an IVR application.
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Munro-Faure, Amy Louise. "Causes of variation in human cooperative behaviour." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31376.
Abstract:
This thesis investigates variation in human cooperative behaviour in naturally occurring contexts. I critically assess the prevailing consensus on human cooperation derived from laboratory games (such as the dictator and public goods games), by identifying real life analogues and conducting extensive field observation and experiments. My second chapter investigates the importance of context on social behaviour by taking a commonly used laboratory game, the dictator game, and studying analogous behaviour, giving to mendicants in the street. I conclude that individuals cooperate less in the wild than they do in the laboratory and that monetary pay-offs are important in cooperative decision-making. My third chapter examines how social cues influence peoples' likelihood of giving to mendicants. I conclude that increased group size and crowd density negatively affect donation behaviour. My fourth chapter investigates dog fouling in public parks to understand the causes of variation in cheating in a naturally occurring public goods game. I conclude that despite evidence that a social game is being played, the cues that influences decisions are unclear, and behaviour may depend on local social norms. My fifth chapter investigates social influences on red light jumping by cyclists at pedestrian crossings. I find that the probability of cheating is higher with fewer observers and when other cyclists also cheat.
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Botta, Federico. "Quantifying human behaviour using complex social datasets." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2016. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/88546/.
Abstract:
Being able to better understand and measure what is happening in the world is of great importance for a range of stakeholders, including policy makers. The recent explosion in the availability of data documenting our collective behaviour offers new opportunities to gain insights into our society. Here, we focus on a series of case studies to demonstrate how new forms of data may be used to help us better understand human behaviour. Data coming from financial transactions taking place in the stock market can help us better understand financial crises. We analyse a dataset comprising the stocks forming the Dow Jones Industrial Average at a second by second resolution. We investigate changes in stock market prices and how they arise at different time scales, showing a transition between power law and exponential decay in the tails of the distribution of logarithmic returns. Accurate and quick estimates of the size of a crowd are crucial for the avoidance of crowd disasters. However, existing approaches rely on human judgement and can be slow and costly. Our findings suggest that data from mobile phone networks and social media platforms may allow us to estimate the size of a crowd. Such data could potentially be accessed in real time, leading to shorter delays than those experienced with previous approaches to crowd size estimation. We also show how communities on a network constructed from our social interactions through smartphones capture the temporal evolution of our behaviour in everyday life. The complex datasets presented here also require complex methodologies to analyse them. Complexity science, and more specifically network science, has witnessed increasing attention within the scientific community in the last two decades. Here, we will present a new technique to analyse a common feature of many real world complex networks, namely community structure. We show how our methodology addresses many of the drawbacks of current techniques, and we also introduce an efficient algorithm which outperforms analogous methods on a set of standard benchmark networks. Our findings suggest that the analysis of large complex social datasets coupled with methodological advances can allow us to gain valuable measurements of human behaviour.
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Palaghias, Niklas. "Opportunistic sensing platforms to interpret human behaviour." Thesis, University of Surrey, 2017. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/841529/.
Abstract:
Understanding human behaviour in an automatic but also non-intrusive manner, constitutes an important and emerging area for various fields. This requires collaboration of information technology with humanitarian sciences in order to transfer existing knowl- edge of human behaviour into self-acting tools to eliminate the human error. This work strives to shed some light in the area of Mobile Social Signal Processing by trying to understand if today’s mobile devices, given their advanced sensing and computational capabilities, are able to extract various aspects of human behaviour. Although one of the core aspects of human behaviour are social interactions, current tools do not pro- vide an accurate, reliable and real-time solution for social interaction detection, which constitutes a significant barrier in automatic human behaviour understanding. Towards filling the aforementioned gap in order to enable human behaviour under- standing through mobile devices, particular contributions were made. Firstly, an interpersonal distance estimation technique is developed based upon a non-intrusive opportunistic mechanism that solely relies on sensors and communication capabilities of off-the-shelf smartphones. Secondly, based on user’s interpersonal distance and relative orientation, a pervasive and opportunistic approach based on off-the-shelf smartphones for social interaction detection system is presented. Leveraging information provided by psychology, analytical and error models are proposed to estimate the probability of people having social interactions. Then, to showcase the ability of mobile devices to infer human behaviour, a trust relationship quantification mechanism is developed based on users’ behavioural traits and psychological models. Finally, a prediction and compensation mechanism for the device displacement error that leverages human loco- motion patterns to refine the device orientation is introduced. The above contributions were evaluated through experimentation and hard data collected from real-world environments to prove their accuracy and reliability as well as showing the applicability of the proposed approaches in daily situations. This work showed that mobile devices are able to accurately detect social interactions and further social and trust relationships among people, despite the noise induced in real-world situations. Close collaboration between informatics and social sciences is imperative, to overcome the significant barrier in the development of human behaviour understanding. This work could constitute a fundamental building block, as the computational power and battery autonomy of mobile devices increases, for the development of novel techniques towards understanding human behaviour, by including multiple behavioural traits and enabling the creation of socially-aware information systems.
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Najar, Anis. "Shaping robot behaviour with unlabeled human instructions." Thesis, Paris 6, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017PA066152.
Abstract:
La plupart des systèmes d'apprentissage interactifs actuels s'appuient sur des protocoles prédéfinis qui peuvent être contraignants pour l'utilisateur. Cette thèse aborde le problème de l'interprétation des instructions, afin de relâcher la contrainte de prédéterminer leurs significations. Nous proposons un système permettant à un humain de guider l'apprentissage d'un robot, à travers des instructions non labellisées. Notre approche consiste à ancrer la signification des signaux instructifs dans le processus d'apprentissage de la tâche et à les utiliser simultanément pour guider l'apprentissage. Cette approche offre plus de liberté à l'humain dans le choix des signaux qu'il peut utiliser, et permet de réduire les efforts d'ingénierie en supprimant la nécessité d'encoder la signification de chaque signal instructif.Nous implémentons notre système sous la forme d'une architecture modulaire, appelée TICS, qui permet de combiner différentes sources d'information: une fonction de récompense, du feedback évaluatif et des instructions non labellisées. Cela offre une plus grande souplesse dans l'apprentissage, en permettant à l'utilisateur de choisir entre différents modes d'apprentissage. Nous proposons plusieurs méthodes pour interpréter les instructions, et une nouvelle méthode pour combiner les feedbacks évaluatifs avec une fonction de récompense prédéfinie.Nous évaluons notre système à travers une série d'expériences, réalisées à la fois en simulation et avec de vrais robots. Les résultats expérimentaux démontrent l'efficacité de notre système pour accélérer le processus d'apprentissage et pour réduire le nombre d'interactions avec l'utilisateurMost of current interactive learning systems rely on predefined protocols that constrain the interaction with the user. Relaxing the constraints of interaction protocols can therefore improve the usability of these systems.This thesis tackles the question of interpreting human instructions, in order to relax the constraints about predetermining their meanings. We propose a framework that enables a human teacher to shape a robot behaviour, by interactively providing it with unlabeled instructions. Our approach consists in grounding the meaning of instruction signals in the task learning process, and using them simultaneously for guiding the latter. This approach has a two-fold advantage. First, it provides more freedom to the teacher in choosing his preferred signals. Second, it reduces the required engineering efforts, by removing the necessity to encode the meaning of each instruction signal. We implement our framework as a modular architecture, named TICS, that offers the possibility to combine different information sources: a predefined reward function, evaluative feedback and unlabeled instructions. This allows for more flexibility in the teaching process, by enabling the teacher to switch between different learning modes. Particularly, we propose several methods for interpreting instructions, and a new method for combining evaluative feedback with a predefined reward function. We evaluate our framework through a series of experiments, performed both in simulation and with real robots. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework in accelerating the task learning process, and in reducing the number of required interactions with the teacher
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Waldron, Julie A. "Human behaviour outdoors and the environmental factors." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2018. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52112/.
Abstract:
The study of human behaviour outdoors has been an area of interest examined from different perspectives. Even so, the study of human behaviour in outdoor public spaces still requires further input from the perspective of human factors. This thesis presents a literature review of behaviour in public spaces where the author evaluated the attendance to public squares, the activities performed by users, the time of permanence, the sitting preferences of users and people’s characteristics among other behaviours. Previous studies have reported a relationship between thermal comfort and human behaviour; however, there is a lack of studies approaching the study of human behaviour using observational methods which allows assessing human behaviours such as number of people, number of groups, time of permanence among others, taking into account environmental factors such as: air temperature, globe temperature, mean radiant temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, sun and shadow presence and illuminance. As part of this research, three studies were conducted in the city centre of Nottingham during summer and autumn of 2015 and winter of 2016 in order to collect data of human behaviour and find its relationship with the air and globe temperature, calculated mean radiant temperature, wind speed, relative humidity and illuminance. These studies were conducted using observational methods by creating a coding scheme after conducting video analysis of social and individual behaviours. A methodology was created to incorporate processes that allow gathering data for observational analysis, which was subsequently processed using multiple regression models and survival analyses. The overall analysis led to the identification of the main environmental factors influencing human behaviour across different environmental conditions. The studies and analyses conducted showed that various environmental factors work together to influence the decisions of the users of a public space. Accordingly, the models used to predict human behaviour should include the environmental variables that explain better its variability, based on the environmental data of the place. Moreover, this study showed that individual analysis should be performed on a seasonal basis using the environmental and human behaviour data of each season in addition to the analysis performed to the whole data set. The reason for this is that the seasonal data is better at explaining some human behaviours than the model built with the whole data set collected in various seasons. For instance, the relationship between wind speed and number of people is positive during summer and negative during autumn and winter; however, when the three seasons are analysed together, the relationship is negative, which does not explain accurately the phenomena in summer. Conversely, illuminance was found to be an important factor influencing behaviour across the seasons and also contributed to the prediction of behaviour in the all season’s analysis. Finally, this thesis presents an application of the results by presenting general recommendations of urban design based on the findings of analysing human behaviour in accordance with the thermal environment. The studies conducted during the three seasons presented a cross-internal validation of the multiple regression models. In addition, a final study which consisted of a mock scenario was conducted to perform an external validation of the previous results. A number of conclusions were drawn about the conditions required to perform further external validations, following the parameters identified that may affect the results of the validation.
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Haggard, Patrick. "The coordination of human prehension." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.239142.
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Potter, M. J. "Heart rate and behaviour in the domestic chick." Thesis, University of Reading, 1987. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.376787.
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Leach, Michael Jeremy Vincent. "Automatic human behaviour anomaly detection in surveillance video." Thesis, Heriot-Watt University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10399/3014.
Abstract:
This thesis work focusses upon developing the capability to automatically evaluate and detect anomalies in human behaviour from surveillance video. We work with static monocular cameras in crowded urban surveillance scenarios, particularly air- ports and commercial shopping areas. Typically a person is 100 to 200 pixels high in a scene ranging from 10 - 20 meters width and depth, populated by 5 to 40 peo- ple at any given time. Our procedure evaluates human behaviour unobtrusively to determine outlying behavioural events, agging abnormal events to the operator. In order to achieve automatic human behaviour anomaly detection we address the challenge of interpreting behaviour within the context of the social and physical environment. We develop and evaluate a process for measuring social connectivity between individuals in a scene using motion and visual attention features. To do this we use mutual information and Euclidean distance to build a social similarity matrix which encodes the social connection strength between any two individuals. We de- velop a second contextual basis which acts by segmenting a surveillance environment into behaviourally homogeneous subregions which represent high tra c slow regions and queuing areas. We model the heterogeneous scene in homogeneous subgroups using both contextual elements. We bring the social contextual information, the scene context, the motion, and visual attention features together to demonstrate a novel human behaviour anomaly detection process which nds outlier behaviour from a short sequence of video. The method, Nearest Neighbour Ranked Outlier Clusters (NN-RCO), is based upon modelling behaviour as a time independent se- quence of behaviour events, can be trained in advance or set upon a single sequence. We nd that in a crowded scene the application of Mutual Information-based social context permits the ability to prevent self-justifying groups and propagate anomalies in a social network, granting a greater anomaly detection capability. Scene context uniformly improves the detection of anomalies in all the datasets we test upon. We additionally demonstrate that our work is applicable to other data domains. We demonstrate upon the Automatic Identi cation Signal data in the maritime domain. Our work is capable of identifying abnormal shipping behaviour using joint motion dependency as analogous for social connectivity, and similarly segmenting the shipping environment into homogeneous regions.
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Funk, Sebastian. "The dynamics of contagious diseases and human behaviour." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.521414.
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Rosetti, Sciutto Marcos Francisco. "Exploration of human search behaviour : a multidisciplinary perspective." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2011. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/7425/.
Abstract:
The following work presents an exploration of human search behaviour both from biological and computational perspectives. Search behaviour is defined as the movements made by an organism while attempting to find a resource. This work describes some of the principal procedures used to record movement, methods for analysing the data and possible ways of interpreting the data. In order to obtain a database of searching behaviour, an experimental setup was built and tested to generate the search paths of human participants. The test arena occupied part of a football field and the targets consisted of an array of 20 golf balls. In the first set of experiments, a random and regular distribution of targets were tested. For each distribution, three distinct conspicuity levels were constructed: a cryptic level, in which targets were painted the same colour as the grass, a semi-conspicuous level in which targets were left white and a conspicuous condition in which the position of each target was marked by a red flag, protruding one metre from the ground. The subjects tested were 9-11 year old children and their search paths were collected using a GPS device. Subjects did not recognise the spatial cues regarding the way targets were spatially distributed. A minimal decision model, the bouncing search model, was built based on the characteristics of the childrens search paths. The model produced an outstanding fit of the children's behavioural data. In the second set of experiments, a new group of children were tested for two new distributions obtained by arranging the targets in patches. Again, children appeared unable to recognise spatial information during the collection processes. The children's behaviour once again produced a good match with that of the bouncing search model. This work introduces several new methodological aspects to be explored to further understand the decision processes involved when humans search. Also, it illustrates that integrating biology and computational science can result in innovative research.
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Forster, A. S. "The human papillomavirus immunisation programme and sexual behaviour." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2011. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1301995/.
Abstract:
The introduction of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination has caused some parents to report concern that their daughters may change their sexual behaviour following vaccination. This concern consistently relates to vaccination acceptance, but had not been investigated in detail. Accordingly, five studies addressed the thesis objective: to explore parents’ concern about adolescent sexual behaviour following HPV vaccination in the context of the UK immunisation programme and to examine whether such concerns were justifiable. The first study examined discussions of risky sexual behaviour and HPV vaccination in news articles published over five years in British newspapers. The second study investigated mothers’ concern about their daughters engaging in risky sexual behaviour after vaccination by questioning a sample of mothers. The third study explored whether adolescents would interpret vaccination consent from parents as carte blanche approval for sexual activity, by surveying 162 girls. The fourth study prospectively investigated the impact of HPV vaccination and a fifth study compared differences between vaccinated girls and girls who had not been offered the vaccine. Concern about the impact of HPV vaccination on sexual behaviour was raised and countered in the media. A minority of mothers were apprehensive about girls’ sexual behaviour following vaccination, however these concerns did not relate to vaccine acceptance. Before the vaccination programme was introduced, some adolescents would infer implicit consent to sexual activity if their parents were to consent to vaccination but most would also take positive messages. Once the HPV immunisation programme was underway, girls’ sexual behaviour did not become more negative following vaccination, despite perceptions of risk lowering. Parents’ concerns may have resulted in reluctance to discuss sex with their daughters in the context of HPV vaccination so that implicit messages of approval for sexual activity are not conveyed. Risk perceptions were pertinent in HPV vaccination acceptability and when exploring behaviour change. These findings may help reduce resistance to HPV vaccination. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
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Aboukanda, Entisar. "A study of human behaviour in Libyan healthcare." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2014. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/338868/.
Abstract:
Overcrowding in Emergency Departments (ED) results in increased Lengths of Stay (LOS) and longer Waiting Times (WTs) for patients. These are ever-growing concerns in all hospitals around the world. Published literature shows many causes of this problem. This study, explores and identifies that one of the prominent causes can be attributed to human behaviour within EDs. It appears that patient behaviour has not been included in previous work as a cause of overcrowding. This thesis aims to present a method referred to as Discrete Event Simulation (DES) in an effort to explore and understand the effects of patient behaviour in the overcrowded ED of Tripoli Medical Centre (TMC). Firstly, a descriptive study was adopted, which collected data from different hospital sources, i.e. ED reports, ED's services time, staff and managers‘ opinions, and the observations of patients attending the ED of TMC. This identified the most significant behaviours impacting LOS and WT. Secondly, four different DES models were developed and analysed. Ultimately a hybrid model comprising of DES logic and Bayesian Network (BN) modelling was developed to capture and analyse a more accurate occurrence of human behaviour. Analysis of the hospital data reveals four behavioural factors are responsible for increasing WTs and LOS, leading to disruptions in patient flow. These factors include confrontation, challenges, passivity and illness belief. These behaviours are often appearing amongst the minor and non-urgent patients, who represent approximately 75% of all ED patients. The examination area within ED was found to be the place most commonly impacted by difficult behaviours, which is shown by the prolonged WTs in this area. A new strategy termed as Patient Behavioural Control (PBC) has been devised, developed and modelled. The PBC strategy aims to detect patient behavioural problems early and implements a revised patient flow procedure that results in overall reductions in LOS and WTs. This thesis contributes to the knowledge in this arena through consideration being directed towards patient behaviours from an operational perspective, utilising DES models in an effort to establish cause and effects, thus helping to devise a new approach in the healthcare sector. This new approach is not restricted in terms of application in only the healthcare arena, but can be adopted across other sectors for the management of human behaviours.
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Hillebrandt, H. F. "Bayesian hierarchical predictive coding of human social behaviour." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2014. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1435549/.
Abstract:
‘Bayesian hierarchical predictive coding of human social behaviour.’ Biological agents are the most complex systems humans encounter in their natural environment and it is critical to model other’s mental states correctly to predict their behaviour. To do this one has to generate a mental representation based on an internal neural model of the other agent (Chapter 1). Here we show, in a series experiments, that people use and update their Bayesian priors in social situations and explain how they create mental representations of others to guide action selection. We investigate the neural mechanisms and the brain connectivity that underlie these social processes and how they develop with age. In chapter 2, we show how experimentally induced prior experience with other people (here social inclusion or exclusion) influences the level of trust towards those people. In chapter 3, we describe an fMRI study using a social perspective-taking task that examines the developmental differences between adolescents and adults in the control of action selection by social information. Using the same task, in chapter 4, we investigate the effective connectivity between the activated regions with Dynamic causal modelling. In Chapter 5, we explore effective connectivity of fMRI data from the Human connectome project (Van Essen et al., 2012). During the task participants viewed animations of triangles moving either randomly or so that they evoke mental state attribution (Castelli et al., 2000). Chapter 6 concludes with a summary of the experiments and integrate them into existing research, as well as provide a critical synthesis of the findings in order to suggest future research directions. We interpret our findings in a hierarchical predictive coding framework, where agents try to create a neural model of the external world to minimize prediction errors, Bayesian surprise and free energy.
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Neumann, Wiebke. "Moose Alces alces behaviour related to human activity." Umeå : Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2009. http://epsilon.slu.se/200964.pdf.
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Colvin, Thomas. "Comparing computational models of vision to human behaviour." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2018. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50196/.
Abstract:
Biological vision and computational models of vision can be split into three independent components (image description, decision process, and image set). The thesis presented here aimed to investigate the influence of each of these core components on computational model’s similarity to human behaviour. Chapter 3 investigated the similarity of different computational image descriptors to their biological counterparts, using an image matching task. The results showed that several of the computational models could explain a significant amount of the variance in human performance on individual images. The deep supervised convolutional neural net explained the most variance, followed by GIST, HMAX and then PHOW. Chapter 4 investigated which computational decision process best explained observers’ behaviour on an image categorization task. The results showed that Decision Bound theory produced behaviour the closest to that of observers. This was followed by Exemplar theory and Prototype theory. Chapter 5 examined whether the naturally differing image set between computational models and observers could partially account for the difference in their behaviour. The results showed that, indeed, the naturally differing image set between computational models and observers was affecting the similarity of their behaviour. This gap did not alter which image descriptor best fit observers’ behaviour and could be reduced by training observers on the image set the computational models were using. Chapter 6 investigated, using computational models of vision, the impact of the neighbouring (masking) images on the target images in a RSVP task. This was done by combining the neighbouring images with the target image for the computational models’ simulation for each trial. The results showed that models behaviour became closer to that of the human observers when the neighbouring mask images were included in the computational simulations, as would be expected given an integration period for neural mechanisms. This thesis has shown that computational models can show quite similar behaviours to human observers, even at the level of how they perform with individual images. While this shows the potential utility in computational models as a tool to study visual processing, It has also shown the need to take into account many aspects of the overall model of the visual process and task; not only the image description, but the task requirements, the decision processes, the images being used as stimuli and even the sequence in which they are presented.
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Navarathna, Rajitha Dharshana Bandara. "Robust recognition of human behaviour in challenging environments." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2014. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/66235/1/Rajitha%20Dharshana%20Bandara_Navarathna_Thesis.pdf.
Abstract:
Novel techniques have been developed for the automatic recognition of human behaviour in challenging environments using information from visual and infra-red camera feeds. The techniques have been applied to two interesting scenarios: Recognise drivers' speech using lip movements and recognising audience behaviour, while watching a movie, using facial features and body movements. Outcome of the research in these two areas will be useful in the improving the performance of voice recognition in automobiles for voice based control and for obtaining accurate movie interest ratings based on live audience response analysis.
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Hendriks-Jansen, Horst. "Situated activity, interactive emergence, and human thought." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.386443.
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Niebuhr, V. "The coordination of behaviour between breeding herring gull mates." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1985. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.355792.
30
Azzopardi, P. J. "Visually-mediated behaviour of the perch, Perca fluviatilis L." Thesis, University of Manchester, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.375058.
31
Pierce, G. J. "The foraging behaviour of the common shrew, Sorex araneus." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 1985. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk/R?func=search-advanced-go&find_code1=WSN&request1=AAIU362790.
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Gray, Richard William. "Hedonic factors in human food choice." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.388937.
33
Shin, H. D. "Switching the human-power back on : domesticating human-power to practice energy saving behaviour." Thesis, Nottingham Trent University, 2014. http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/88/.
Abstract:
This research took an exploration into particular products which use human-power as main power source. Against the problem of over consumption of energy, it views the ‘human-powered product’ (HPP) not merely as an object that simply generates ‘free energy’; but instead considers as an interactive artefact that people can make sense of, and as a tool to practice energy saving behaviour. Efforts to improve the knowledge on design aspect of HPP and its statistical benefit have been proved, but largely by scientifically driven approaches. No such theoretical framework has been discussed or explored in relation to how people use HPP in their daily practice. Therefore, current research undertook the work into substantive area of HPP study that is understanding the actual ‘use-phase’. It explored how design can help induce a better use of HPP, and how intended behaviour of generating human-power can be reproduced, maintained, and internalised. An explorative investigation of actual HPP use was carried out through multiplecase studies, along with cross-disciplinary literature review which contributed in building an explanatory conceptual framework. The framework serves as guideline to explain, the abstract, prediction about phenomenon of HPP use; formulating questions to further study; and developing a ‘HPP Internalisation Model’ which hypothesised the suggestive design strategy for prolonging the HPP use. The hypotheoretical state of ‘HPP Internalisation Model’ was empirically iterated and final recommendations was integrated into a research artefact. Through final case study, this artefact was utilised to produce knowledge and understanding for constructing a theory. The result of study described the relationship, process, and influences between phenomena that account the explanatory concept for each dimensions of ‘HPP Internalisation Model’. As a final result, the model suggests a three dimensional (Empowerment, Feedback, and Motivation), and interdependent to each other, constituent elements in HPP design for bringing internalisation of human-power use. This research has therefore contributed to current knowledge by bringing the social-psychological theories and strategies of ‘design for sustainable behaviour’ together to develop the theoretical model of ‘HPP Internalisation Model’.
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Watts, Leon Adam. "Understanding interactive behaviour : a quantitative approach." Thesis, University of York, 1998. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10859/.
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Hammond, David. "Human smoking behaviour, cigarette testing protocols, and constituent yields." Thesis, University of Waterloo, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/737.
Abstract:
The issue of how to test and ultimately regulate tobacco products represents a critical challenge for the public health community. Although the current international testing regime for conventional cigarettes is widely acknowledged to be seriously flawed, there is a lack of data to guide potential alternatives, particularly in the area of human puffing behaviour. The current study sought to: 1) collect naturalistic measures of smoking behaviour, 2) examine the extent to which levels of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide from each of five testing protocols were associated with measures of nicotine uptake among smokers, and 3) examine the validity of self-report measures of smoking behaviour. These questions were examined through two different studies. First, a field study of smoking behaviour was conducted with 59 adult smokers, who used a portable device to measure smoking topography over the course of 3 one-week trials. Participants were asked to smoke their usual ?regular-yield? brand through the device for Trial 1 and again, 6 weeks later, at Trial 2. Half the subjects were then randomly assigned to smoke a ?low-yield? brand for Trial 3. The smoke intake and constituent yield of each brand was then tested under five testing protocols: ISO, Massachusetts, Canadian, a Compensatory protocol, and a Human Mimic regime. Participants also completed self-report measures of puffing behaviour at recruitment and immediately following each of the three one-week smoking trials. Several of these self-report measures were subsequently included in the Waves 2 and 3 of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation (ITC) Survey?an international cohort survey of adult smokers from Canada, Australia, the US, and the UK. The results of the field study indicate a high degree of stability in puffing behaviour within the same smoker over time, but considerable variability between smokers, including those smoking the same brand. Puffing behaviour was strongly associated with cotinine levels, particularly when included in an interaction term with cigarettes per day (Part r = . 50, p<. 001). Smokers who were switched to a ?low-yield? cigarette increased their total smoke intake per cigarette by 40% (p=. 007), with no significant change in their in salivary cotinine levels.
The results indicate systematic differences between human puffing behaviour and the puffing regimes used by machine testing protocols. The puffing behaviour observed among participants during the one-week smoking trials was significantly more intense than the puffing parameters of the ISO and Compensatory testing regimes. When cigarette brands were machine tested using participants? actual puffing behaviour, the results suggest that participants ingested two to four times the level of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide indicated by the ISO regime, and twice the amounts generated by the Compensatory regime for ?regular-yield? brands. The Canadian and Massachusetts regimes produced yields much closer to the ?Human Mimic? yields, although nowhere near a maximum or intense standard, as they were designed to do. Only the nicotine yields from the Human Mimic regime were correlated with measures of nicotine uptake among smokers, and only moderately so (Part r = . 31, p=. 02).
Self-report measures of puffing behaviour collected during the field study were moderately correlated with physiological measures of puffing and exposure. Self-report measures of puff depth and puff number showed some promise as predictors of salivary cotinine, although the results are characterized by inconsistencies across models. The self-report measures included in the ITC survey were only weakly associated with age and cigarettes per day, with modest between-country differences.
Overall, this research highlights the importance of puffing behaviour as a determinant of smoke exposure, and provides strong evidence of compensatory smoking for ?low-yield? brands. The findings also highlight the variability in human smoking behaviour and the limitations associated with machine testing protocols. Perhaps most important, the findings underscore the immediate need to revise the ISO protocol, which systematically underestimates smoking behaviour among humans and exaggerates differences between cigarette brands.
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Jebara, Tony (Tony S. ). 1974. "Action-reaction learning : analysis and synthesis of human behaviour." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29544.
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Borg, Jacqueline. "Molecular imaging of the serotonin system in human behaviour /." Stockholm, 2007. http://diss.kib.ki.se/2007/978-91-7357-134-0/.
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Wright, James Robert. "Beyond equilibrium : predicting human behaviour in normal form games." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/22506.
Abstract:
It is standard in multiagent settings to assume that agents will adopt Nash equilibrium strategies. However, studies in experimental economics demonstrate that Nash equilibrium is a poor description of human players' actual behaviour. In this study, we consider a wide range of widely-studied models from behavioural game theory. For what we believe is the first time, we evaluate each of these models in a meta-analysis, taking as our data set large-scale and publicly-available experimental data from the literature. We then propose a modified model that we believe is more suitable for practical prediction of human behaviour.
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Roberts, Samuel George Bradley. "Hiding behaviour and social sensitivity in non-human primates." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.406616.
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Barnes, Dermot. "Schedules of reinforcement and human behaviour : a contextualistic perspective." Thesis, University of Ulster, 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.292805.
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D'Souza, Antonia Danila Clara. "Assessing evolutionary explanations of human behaviour using visual cognition." Thesis, University of Essex, 2018. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/22465/.
Abstract:
The ‘hunter gatherer hypothesis’ posits that prehistoric environments and social roles have resulted in the evolution of specific, yet distinct cognitive abilities in men and women (Silverman & Eals, 1992). The majority of previous research however has focused solely on sex differences in spatial cognition. In a series of eight experiments, the present thesis examined the hunter gatherer hypothesis using visual cognition paradigms. Chapters 2 and 3 failed to support the hunter gatherer hypothesis when assessed by attentional and perceptual paradigms respectively. For instance, men are not better at tracking moving object relative to women, as would be predicted by the theory. Chapter 4 does however find support for the hunter gatherer notion; a task and effect that is thought to be related to foraging (i.e., social inhibition of return) is larger when undertaken by pairs of women, as opposed to pairs of men or mixed-sex pairings. Overall, the results from the present work show limited support for the hunter gatherer hypothesis.
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Grindle, Mark. "The power of digital storytelling to influence human behaviour." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/21800.
Abstract:
The aim of this multi-disciplinary research was to explore the power of digital, interactive or participatory storytelling to influence human behaviour in the context of public health. It addressed three related questions: RQ1: Does digital storytelling have the power to influence human behaviour? RQ2: If digital storytelling can influence human behaviour then how might it do so? RQ3: Is a ‘digital storytelling framework’ feasible as an approach to behaviour change? Four linked qualitative studies were conducted: a scoping review, in-depth interviews with 11 international ‘digital storytellers’, two case studies of ‘digital storytelling designed to influence human behaviour’ and six focus groups with 35 adolescent ‘digital story participants’. The research found that: RA1: Digital storytelling appears to influence human behaviour. RA2: Digital storytelling appears to influence by engaging at ever deepening emotional and non-conscious levels. Commerce appears to understand and embrace this power: But public health appears to rely on traditional uni-directional, non-participatory message led approaches and appeals to cognition. This presents threats and opportunities to public health. RA3: The proposed ‘digital storytelling framework’ is feasible and desirable as a behaviour change paradigm. The thesis concludes that Digital Storytelling appears to influence human behaviour. It appears to derive its power to influence by facilitating unprecedented depths of emotional engagement potentially en route to behaviour change. The current imbalance in how commerce and public health corral the power of digital storytelling suggests that the latter might embrace its potential; and tougher regulation might constrain how the former uses it to market harmful products. The proposed digital storytelling framework makes a valuable creative, analytical and critical contribution to both of these ends. Its core principles have informed the design of numerous story-led digital health interventions; and they now sit at the core of a counter-marketing campaign to reduce harmful effects of marketing on children’s health.
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Shen, Qiming. "Motor interference and behaviour adaptation in human-humanoid interactions." Thesis, University of Hertfordshire, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2299/10313.
Abstract:
This thesis proposes and experimentally demonstrates an approach enabling a humanoid robot to adapt its behaviour to match a human’s behaviour in real-time human-humanoid interaction. The approach uses the information distance synchrony detection method, which is a novel method to measure the behaviour synchrony between two agents, as the core part of the behaviour adaptation mechanism to guide the humanoid robot to change its behaviour in the interaction. The feedback of the participants indicated that the application of this behaviour adaptation mechanism could facilitate human-humanoid interaction. The investigation of motor interference, which may be adopted as a possible metric to quantify the social competence of a robot, is also presented in this thesis. The results from two experiments indicated that both human participants’ beliefs about the engagement of the robot and the usage of rhythmic music might affect the elicitation of the motor interference effects. Based on these findings and recent research supporting the importance of other features in eliciting the interference effects, it can be hypothesized that the overall perception of a humanoid robot as a social entity instead of any individual feature of the robot is critical to elicit motor interference in a human observer’s behaviour. In this thesis, the term ‘overall perception’ refers to the human observer’s overall perception of the robot in terms of appearance, behaviour, the observer’s belief and environmental features that may affect the perception. Moreover, it was found in the motor coordination investigation that humans tended to synchronize themselves with a humanoid robot without being instructed to do so. This finding, together with the behaviour adaptation mechanism, may support the feasibility of bi-directional motor coordination in human-humanoid interaction.
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Watson, Benjamin W. "Towards an understanding of human behaviour for design action." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2011. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/10169.
Abstract:
It can be shown that exceeding both utilitarian and hedonic needs of consumers leads towards greater satisfaction, delight and enduring consumer loyalty. If designers are to meet the progressively diverse needs of consumers, then access to consumer values, aspirations and the underlying logic of their social practice become increasingly important. If we accept that what people say, do and think are often different things, gaining access to these requirements is clearly a challenge. The challenge is not only concerned with how these requirements are accessed at source, through widely adopted ethnographically inspired techniques, but more towards how these requirements are communicated to the designer. There is a clear disconnect between the collection of consumer requirements and how these requirements are arranged and communicated as implications for design. This thesis details a governance framework for the output of ethnographically inspired research methods to provide an understanding of the arrangement and attributes a communication tool for ethnographic work should possess, particularly towards the more technical area of new product development. The framework bridges a gap between consumer research and design action, which may be used as an approach to facilitate innovation, targeted problem solving and offer creative direction for new product development. Following an exploratory review of the literature and a series of way-finding interviews with domestic appliance and consumer goods manufacturers, a pilot study was conducted to identify the philosophical and practical barriers faced by designers, when designing for consumer requirements beyond the functional. A detailed second level literature review explored the emergent themes and led towards a desktop review of over 30 different creative thinking design tools from the design & emotion movement, 24 different communication approaches for ethnographic work in design and a two year case study on communication within the design process.
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Townsend, J. S. "Algorithms for multi-modal human movement and behaviour monitoring." Thesis, Nottingham Trent University, 2011. http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/136/.
Abstract:
This thesis describes investigations into improvements in the field of automated people tracking using multi-modal infrared (IR) and visible image information. The research question posed is; “To what extent can infrared image information be used to improve visible light based human tracking systems?” Automated passive tracking of human subjects is an active research area which has been approached in many ways. Typical approaches include the segmentation of the foreground, the location of humans, model initialisation and subject tracking. Sensor reliability evaluation and fusion methods are also key research areas in multi-modal systems. Shifting illumination and shadows can cause issues with visible images when attempting to extract foreground regions. Images from thermal IR cameras, which use long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) sensors, demonstrate high invariance to illumination. It is shown that thermal IR images often provide superior foreground masks using pixel level statistical extraction techniques in many scenarios. Experiments are performed to determine if cues are present at the data level that may indicate the quality of the sensor as an input. Modality specific measures are proposed as possible indicators of sensor quality (determined by foreground extraction capability). A sensor and application specific method for scene evaluation is proposed, whereby sensor quality is measured at the pixel level. A neuro-fuzzy inference system is trained using the scene quality measures to assess a series of scenes and make a modality decision. Results show a high degree of accuracy in selecting the optimum modality in a number of separate environmental conditions. The use of colour to identify subjects post-occlusion is typical in tracking. Effectiveness is reduced as the subject count increases with a consequent increased likelihood of similarity between subjects. Experiments are proposed to determine whether a specific histogram parameter configuration, capable of discriminating between subjects in multiple environmental conditions, can be established. An exhaustive search approach for establishing an improved histogram configuration is undertaken using a novel evaluation metric, which assesses the separation of results from intra-subject and intersubject histogram comparisons. Multi-modal, multi-dimensional results show that a 2-D Hue and IR configuration provides greater discrimination than either visible or IR configurations. A tracking system is developed to demonstrate that the methods and configurations can be applied holistically in a real situation. The system is evaluated in a variety of scenarios using challenging subject data aimed at establishing the limits of the system’s capabilities. Through addressing the research question, contributions to the field have been made consisting of: demonstrating the use of a trained neuro-fuzzy inference system to evaluate modality attributes, and the establishment of a generalised multi-modal histogram-based similarity measure to assist in re-establishing subject identity postocclusion. The modular nature of these methods has been demonstrated by inclusion in a developed feature-rich tracking system.
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Howells, James Anthony. "Biophysical Determinants of the Behaviour of Human Myelinated Axons." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/10268.
Abstract:
This thesis investigates the role of the hyperpolarization-activated current, Ih, on the excitability of human axons. It exploits the unique characteristics of the underlying hyperpolarization-activated cyclic-nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels to improve existing and create new techniques for studying Ih. An isolated amplifier with low-noise and high common-mode rejection was developed, and threshold tracking techniques were modified to allow the measurement of the excitability of low-threshold sensory axons and of cutaneous afferents close to their receptors. These developments open up the possibility of studying changes in polyneuropathies, where symptoms and possibly the underlying pathology are more apparent distally in the limbs. Strong and long-lasting hyperpolarization was used to open more HCN channels and to examine their contribution to the excitability of motor and sensory axons. A mathematical model of myelinated motor axons was adapted to account for the response to strong and long-lasting hyperpolarization. Without structural changes the model was then modified to fit the observed excitability of sensory axons. Changes in the excitability and safety margin during focal hyperthermia were studied in both motor and sensory axons of the median nerve, and the underlying mechanisms were explored using the new mathematical model. Finally, the involvement of Ih in the frequency preference of oscillation in human axons was investigated by developing resonance techniques that have hitherto never been used to study axonal function.
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Chaaraoui, Alexandros Andre. "Vision-based Recognition of Human Behaviour for Intelligent Environments." Doctoral thesis, Universidad de Alicante, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10045/36395.
Abstract:
A critical requirement for achieving ubiquity of artificial intelligence is to provide intelligent environments with the ability to recognize and understand human behaviour. If this is achieved, proactive interaction can occur and, more interestingly, a great variety of services can be developed. In this thesis we aim to support the development of ambient-assisted living services with advances in human behaviour analysis. Specifically, visual data analysis is considered in order to detect and understand human activity at home. As part of an intelligent monitoring system, single- and multi-view recognition of human actions is performed, along several optimizations and extensions. The present work may pave the way for more advanced human behaviour analysis techniques, such as the recognition of activities of daily living, personal routines and abnormal behaviour detection.
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LICIOTTI, Daniele. "Human Behaviour Understanding using Top-View RGB-D Data." Doctoral thesis, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11566/252901.
Abstract:
I moderni sistemi di visione sono in grado di individuare in maniera automatica gli spostamenti delle persone in modo da poterne comprendere i comportamenti.
Questa tesi si focalizza sullo sviluppo di algoritmi di visione e di modelli matematici basati su dati provenienti da sensori RGB-D posti in modalità top-view.
Dopo uno studio approfondito sullo stato dell'arte, verranno presentate due tipologie di approcci per l'individuazione delle persone all'interno delle immagini di profondità. Esse sfruttano algoritmi che si basano su tecniche di image processing e su recenti metodi di deep learning.
Ulteriori informazioni presenti nell'immagine a colori verranno usate per identificare i soggetti anche in un secondo momento e per individuare eventuali interazioni che questi hanno con l'ambiente circostante.
Infine, gli algoritmi verranno testati in diversi casi d'uso reali al fine di valutarne le prestazioni.The capability of automatically detecting people and understanding their behaviours is an important functionality of intelligent video systems. The interest in behaviour understanding has effectively increased in recent years, motivated by a societal needs. This thesis is focused on the development of algorithms and solutions for different environments exploiting top-view RGB-D data. In particular, the addressed topics refer to HBU in different research areas. The first goal is to implement people detection algorithms in order to monitor the people activities. To this aim, a thorough study of the state of the art has been conducted to identify the advantages and weakness. An initial approach, proposed in this thesis, is based on CV techniques, it regards the extraction the head of each person using depth data. Another approach is based on deep learning and is proposed to simplify the heads detection implementation in chaotic environments and in the presence of people with different heights. These solutions are validated with a specific dataset. The second goal is to extract several feature from subject and to identify possible interactions that they have with the surrounding environment. Finally, in order to demonstrate the actual contribution of algorithms for understanding the human behaviour in different environments, several use cases have been realized and tested.
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Ohman, Anna Maria Caroline <1980>. "Human bone: the tissue characteristics determining its mechanical behaviour." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2011. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/3784/1/Ohman_Anna_Maria_Caroline_tesi.pdf.
Abstract:
The present thesis illustrates the research carried out during the PhD studies in Bioengineering. The research was aimed to characterise the human bone tissue, with particular regard to the differences between cortical and trabecular bone. The bone tissue characteristics that affect its mechanical properties were verified or identified, using an experimental approach, to corroborate or refute hypotheses based on the state of the art in bone tissue biomechanics.
The studies presented in the present PhD thesis were designed to investigate aspects of bone tissue biomechanics, which were in need of a more in-depth examination since the data found in the literature was contradictory or scarce. In particular, the work was focalised on the characterisation of the basic structure of the bone tissue (groups of lamellae), its composition, its spatial organisation (trabecular bone microarchitecture) and their influence on the mechanical properties.
In conclusion, the present thesis integrates eight different studies on the characterisation of bone tissue. A more in-depth examination of some of the aspects of bone tissue biomechanics where the data found in the literature was contradictory or scarce was performed. Bone tissue was investigated at several scales, from its composition up to its spatial organization, to determine which parameters influence the mechanical behaviour of the tissue. It was found that although the composition and real density of bone tissue are similar, the differences in structure at different levels cause differences between the two types of bone tissue (cortical and trabecular) in mechanical properties. However, the apparent density can still be considered a good predictor of the mechanical properties of both cortical and trabecular bone. Finally, it was found that the bone tissue characteristics might change when a pathology is present, as demonstrated for OA.
50
Ohman, Anna Maria Caroline <1980>. "Human bone: the tissue characteristics determining its mechanical behaviour." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2011. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/3784/.
Abstract:
The present thesis illustrates the research carried out during the PhD studies in Bioengineering. The research was aimed to characterise the human bone tissue, with particular regard to the differences between cortical and trabecular bone. The bone tissue characteristics that affect its mechanical properties were verified or identified, using an experimental approach, to corroborate or refute hypotheses based on the state of the art in bone tissue biomechanics.
The studies presented in the present PhD thesis were designed to investigate aspects of bone tissue biomechanics, which were in need of a more in-depth examination since the data found in the literature was contradictory or scarce. In particular, the work was focalised on the characterisation of the basic structure of the bone tissue (groups of lamellae), its composition, its spatial organisation (trabecular bone microarchitecture) and their influence on the mechanical properties.
In conclusion, the present thesis integrates eight different studies on the characterisation of bone tissue. A more in-depth examination of some of the aspects of bone tissue biomechanics where the data found in the literature was contradictory or scarce was performed. Bone tissue was investigated at several scales, from its composition up to its spatial organization, to determine which parameters influence the mechanical behaviour of the tissue. It was found that although the composition and real density of bone tissue are similar, the differences in structure at different levels cause differences between the two types of bone tissue (cortical and trabecular) in mechanical properties. However, the apparent density can still be considered a good predictor of the mechanical properties of both cortical and trabecular bone. Finally, it was found that the bone tissue characteristics might change when a pathology is present, as demonstrated for OA.