Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Mtspo'

TSPO est une petite protéine membranaire translocatrice, ubiquitaire, composée de cinq hélices-α transmembranaires. Chez les mammifères, elle est principalement localisée dans la membrane externe des mitochondries, où elle jouerait un rôle dans le transport du cholestérol et la voie de synthèse des stéroïdes. Cette protéine présente un intérêt pharmacologique majeur en raison de sa forte affinité pour de nombreux ligands utilisés comme marqueurs de l'inflammation en neuro-imagerie. La seule structure atomique connue des TSPOs de mammifères est la structure RMN (2MGY.PDB) de la TSPO de souris (mTSPO). Cependant, cette structure est controversée, car obtenue en repliant la protéine dans une concentration forte de détergent DPC et en présence du ligand (R)-PK11195, qui la rigidifie fortement. En l'absence de ligand, la structure de mTSPO est trop flexible pour être résolue par RMN. De plus, à ce jour, aucune condition amphiphile n'a permis de cristalliser les TSPOs de mammifères, avec ou sans ligand, contrairement aux TSPOs bactériennes.L'objectif de cette étude est de déterminer, par une approche structure/fonction, l'effet de différents environnements amphiphiles sur la structure de mTSPO en condition “apo” (i.e. sans ligand). Nous avons sondé sa structure en solution à différentes échelles par des techniques de diffusion de rayonnement et de spectroscopie optique. En particulier, la diffusion de rayons X et de neutrons aux petits angles (SAXS et SANS), combinée à la chromatographie d'exclusion stérique (SEC), la variation de contraste en SANS et la modélisation ab initio, a permis d'obtenir la conformation du complexe entier mTSPO/amphiphiles et de sonder spécifiquement celles de la protéine et de la bouée d'amphiphiles. La quantité de molécules d'amphiphiles associés à mTSPO, mesurée par MALLS, a permis de valider les modèles proposés. L'effet de l'environnement sur l'affinité du ligand a été mesuré par thermophorèse à micro-échelle (MST).L'apo-mTSPO, produite par voie recombinante dans les corps d'inclusion de la bactérie E. coli, est partiellement dépliée suite à son extraction par le SDS. Nous montrons que la protéine se replie en DPC à la fois au niveau local (augmentation significative de la quantité et des interactions des hélices-α et de la fluorescence des tryptophanes) et au niveau tridimensionnel avec une conformation “apo” plus étendue que la structure RMN 2MGY.PDB. En ajoutant des phospholipides DMPC, pour obtenir un environnement de bicelles mixtes DMPC:DPC partiellement biomimétique, l'apo-mTSPO se structure davantage : la quantité d'hélices-α et leurs interactions augmentent significativement, ainsi que la fluorescence des tryptophanes. Ce repliement est associé à une augmentation significative de l'affinité de la protéine pour le ligand (R)-PK11195 (0.9 µM) comparée à celle en DPC (70 µM) et SDS (absence d'affinité). Nous démontrons ainsi la pertinence de l'utilisation de bicelles DMPC:DPC pour l'étude en solution des protéines membranaires et confirmons le rôle crucial des lipides dans la structure et la fonction de mTSPO. Enfin, nous montrons que cet environnement est favorable à la cristallisation de l'apo-mTSPO et à la reconstitution de la protéine dans des nanodisques de DMPC.Pour comparer ces résultats avec une protéine exprimée en condition native, nous avons développé un nouveau protocole de production de mTSPO en levures. Nous avons réussi à purifier la protéine en condition “apo” en DDM, un détergent connu pour solubiliser les protéines correctement repliées tout en conservant des lipides membranaires associés. Ces travaux de thèse (i) contribuent à une meilleure compréhension de la structure/fonction de mTSPO dans différents environnements amphiphiles, pour déterminer les conditions optimales à des études structurales à plus haute résolution, et (ii) constituent un apport méthodologique significatif pour l'étude des protéines membranaires en solution
TSPO is a small, ubiquitous, translocator membrane protein composed of five transmembrane α-helices. In mammals, it is primarily located in the outer mitochondrial membrane, where it is believed to play a role in cholesterol transport and steroid synthesis pathways. This protein has significant pharmacological interest due to its affinity for various ligands used as markers of inflammation in neuroimaging. The only known atomic structure of mammalian TSPOs is the NMR structure (2MGY.PDB) of mouse TSPO (mTSPO). However, this structure is controversial as it was obtained by refolding the protein using a high concentration of DPC and in the presence of the ligand (R)-PK11195, that stiffens it significantly. In the absence of ligand, the structure of mTSPO is too flexible to be resolved by NMR. Furthermore, to date, no amphiphilic condition has allowed the crystallization of mammalian TSPOs, with and without ligand, unlike bacterial TSPOs.The aim of the present study is to determine, using a structure/function approach, the effect of different amphiphilic environments on the structure of apo-mTSPO (i.e. without the ligand). We investigated mTSPO's structure in solution at different scales using radiation scattering and optical spectroscopy techniques. Small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS, SANS), combined with size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), contrast variation in SANS, and ab initio modeling, allowed us to obtain the conformation of the entire mTSPO/amphiphile complex and to specifically probe those of the protein and the amphiphilic belt within the complex. The quantity of amphiphile molecules associated with mTSPO, measured by MALS, allowed the validation of the proposed models. The effect of the environment on ligand affinity was measured by microscale thermophoresis (MST).The apo-mTSPO, produced by a recombinant way in E.coli bacteria inclusion bodies, is partially unfolded following its extraction by SDS. We show that the protein refolds in DPC, both locally (significant increase of content and interactions of α-helices and in tryptophan fluorescence) and three-dimensionally, with a more extended "apo" conformation than the NMR structure 2MGY.PDB. Adding DMPC phospholipids to create a partially biomimetic environment of mixed DMPC:DPC bicelles further structures apo-mTSPO: the quantity and interactions of α-helices, as well as tryptophan fluorescence, increase significantly. This refolding is associated with a significant increase in the protein's affinity for the ligand (R)-PK11195 (0.9 μM) compared to that in DPC (70 μM) and SDS (no affinity). Thus, we demonstrate the relevance of using DMPC:DPC bicelles for studying membrane proteins in solution and confirm the crucial role of lipids in the structure and function of mTSPO. Finally, we show that this environment is favorable for the crystallization of apo-mTSPO and for reconstituting the protein in DMPC nanodiscs.To compare these results with a protein expressed under native conditions, we developed a new protocol for producing mTSPO in yeast cells. We managed to purify the protein in “apo” condition in DDM, a detergent known for solubilizing properly folded proteins, while retaining associated membrane lipids.This thesis work (i) contributes to a better understanding of the structure/function of mTSPO in different amphiphilic environments to determine optimal conditions for higher-resolution structural studies, and (ii) provides a significant methodological contribution to the study of membrane proteins in solution

This thesis deals with the no-depot minmax Multiple Traveling Salesmen Problem (MTSP), which can be formulated as follows. Given a set of n cities and k salesmen,find k disjoint tours (one for each salesmen) such that each city belongs to exactly one tour and the length of the longest of k tours is minimized. The no-depot assumption means that the salesmen do not start from and return to one fixed depot. The no-depot model can be applied in designing patrolling routes, as well as in business situations, especially where salesmen work from home or the company has no central office. This model can be also applied to the job scheduling problem with n jobs and k identical machines. Despite its potential applicability to a number of important situations, the research literature on the no-depot minmax k-TSP has been limited, with no reports on computational experiments. The previously published results included the proof of NP-hardness of the problem of interest, which motivates using heuristics for its solution. This thesis proposes several construction heuristic algorithms, including greedy algorithms, cluster first and route second algorithms, and route first and cluster second algorithms. As a local search method for a single tour, 2-opt search and Lin-Kernighan were used, and for a local search method between multiple tours, relocation and exchange (edge heuristics) were used. Furthermore, to prevent the drawback of trapping in the local minima, the simulated annealing method is used. Extensive computational experiments were carried out using TSPLIB instances. Among construction algorithms, route first and cluster second algorithms including removing two edges method performed best. In terms of running time, clustering first and routing second algorithms took shorter time on large-scale instances. The simulated annealing could produce better solutions than the descent method, but did not always perform well in terms of average solution. To evaluate the performance of the proposed heuristic methods, their solutions were compared with the optimal solutions obtained using a mixed-integer programming formulation of the problem. For small-scale problems, heuristic solutions were equal to the optimal solution output by CPLEX.

O Brasil é uma referência mundial na produção e exportação de citros, entretanto esse cultivo pode sofrer diversos problemas e perdas de produtividade por motivos diversos, como por exemplo, pragas. Para reduzir os riscos e perdas, torna-se interessante o uso de sistemas automatizados de monitoramento, justificando a necessidade de realizar a coleta de dados para determinar diversos fatores. Determinadas plantações, como a de citros, não podem ser monitoradas somente via solo ou somente via imagens aéreas, tornando necessário mesclar ambas as abordagens de acordo com o parâmetro a ser monitorado. Para a realização desse monitoramento devem ser utilizados robôs com habilidades distintas, robôs aéreos e robôs terrestres. Assim, é preciso designar as tarefas que cada robô realizará e também coordenar todos os robôs durante a execução do sistema como um todo, visando otimizar o processo de coleta de dados. Esse problema pode ser analisado e modelado como um problema de alocação de tarefas para robôs (Multi-Robot Task Allocation (MRTA)). Para resolver esse problema propõe-se um framework baseado em técnicas de cobertura de conjuntos e em mecanismo de mercado baseado em leilão. Teste simulados são realizados e demonstram que a presente proposta cumpre o papel na alocação das tarefas aos robôs. Além disso, visando a aplicação da solução proposta é projetado e desenvolvido uma plataforma robótica aérea (quadrirotor) de baixo custo utilizando peças prototipadas. Para o controle de estabilidade dessa plataforma, propõe-se um modelo matemático de acordo com os parâmetros inerciais do quadrirotor. Esse quadrirotor é utilizado em diversas aplicações reais, mostrando que o projeto desenvolvido pode ser reproduzido e destinado a execução de tarefas reais, como por exemplo a coleta de dados na agricultura de precisão.
Brazil is a world reference in the production and export of citrus, although this crop can suffer several problems and losses of productivity for diverse reasons, as for example, pests. In order to reduce risks and losses, it is interesting to use automated monitoring systems, justifying the need to perform data collection to determine several factors. Certain plantations, such as citrus plantations, can not be monitored only via soil or only via aerial images, making it necessary to merge both approaches according to the parameter to be monitored. To perform this monitoring, robots with different abilities, such asunmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and unmanned ground vehicle (UCV) should be used. Therefore, it is necessary to assign the tasks that each robot will perform and also to coordinate all the robots during the execution of the system as a whole, in order to optimize the process of data collection. The problem can be studied and modeled as a task allocation problem for robots (MRTA). To solve this problem we propose a framework based set covering techniques and auction-based market mechanism. Simulated tests are performed and demonstrate that the present proposal fulfills the role in assigning tasks to robots. In addition, aiming at the application of the proposed solution is designed and developed a low cost aerial robotic platform (quadrirotor) which use prototyped parts. This quadrirotor is used in several real applications, showing that the developed project can be reproduced and destined to perform real tasks, such as data collection in precision agriculture.

Fondée en 1846, la Mission du Tibet fut confiée aux prêtres de la Société des Missions Étrangères de Paris. Ils tentèrent de pénétrer au Tibet, sans succès, et s'installèrent dans les Marches tibétaines (Sichuan, Yunnan), et dans le sud du Sikkim. Durant plus d'un siècle, sous cinq épiscopats, les religieux furent les témoins, les victimes et parfois les acteurs d'événements politiques opposant Pékin et Lhassa. Ils furent aussi l'avant-garde de la France au coeur de l'Asie. Ce fut d'abord le temps des pionniers : Mgrs ThomineDesmazures (1857-1864), Chauveau (1864-1877) et Biet (1877-1901) lancèrent de vaines expéditions vers le Toit du monde et furent confrontés, dans les Marches tibétaines, au pouvoir des monastères bouddhistes et des seigneurs locaux. Puis, grâce à Mgr Giraudeau (1901-1936), à la faveur du soulèvement des populations tibétaines (1905), et malgré les demandes d'alliance faites par le Xllle Dalai Lama, la France espéra renforcer ses liens avec la Chine impériale.

La tesis analiza el corpus biográfico familiar y lo contrasta con el corpus biográfico generado asimismo por la figura del Dalai Lama (Takster, 1935). El objeto es demostrar el carácter seminal de “Mi vida y mi pueblo” (1962), epicentro textual de toda la auto/biografía posterior. Las tres autobiografías escritas por el Dalai Lama entre 1962 y 2009, son: “Mi vida y mi pueblo. Memorias del Premio Nobel de la Paz 1989, Libertad en el exilio. Autobiografía del Dalai Lama, y Mi biografía espiritual. A cargo de Sofía Stril – Rever. Asimismo, el Dalai Lama es protagonista de sucesivas biografías desde 1984 iniciadas con Great Ocean. Authorized biography of the Dalai Lama, hasta el presente, siempre con una colaboración occidental que hace accesible su relato a la comunidad internacional
The thesis analyzes the familiar biographical corpus and contrasts with the biographical corpus also generated by the figure of the Dalai Lama (Takster, 1935). The purpose is to demonstrate the seminal character of My Life and my People (1962), textual epicenter of all auto/biography back. The three autobiographies written by the Dalai Lama between 1962 and 2009, are: My Life and my People. Memoirs of the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Freedom in Exile. Autobiography of the Dalai Lama, and My spiritual biography. With Sofia Stril – Rever. Also, the Dalai Lama is the protagonist of successive biographies since 1984 started with Great Ocean. Authorized biography of the Dalai Lama, until now, always with a Western collaboration that makes his story accessible to the international community.

Ce mémoire a pour objectif d’étudier la démocratisation du gouvernement tibétain en exil de 1991 à 2013. Il vise à éclaircir les défis singuliers d’un gouvernement en exil dans ses efforts de démocratisation. En reliant les travaux sur la démocratisation de Dahl et sur les gouvernement en exil de Shain au contexte très particulier de la communauté tibétaine exilée, nous avons tenté d’éclaircir le paradoxe apparent entre un gouvernement par essence transitoire, le gouvernement en exil, et une transition démocratique, permettant une meilleure stabilité institutionnelle. Une attention particulière a été portée au contexte socioculturel tibétain, car le processus de démocratisation ne saurait être compris sans un souci du milieu qui l’accueille et l’a fait naître. En ce sens, nous avons tenté de mettre comprendre la structure politique avant l’exil, le gouvernement central de Lhassa, ainsi que les obstacles et les moteurs contextuels de la démocratisation du gouvernement tibétain en exil. Le conservatisme du gouvernement tibétain en exil, la participation politique tibétaine confrontée à l’imposante figure du dalaï-lama, le bouddhisme et finalement les institutions politiques de l’exil nous ont semblé autant d’obstacles aux élans démocratiques du gouvernement en exil. Malgré ces freins, d’autres facteurs encouragent au contraire la démocratisation du gouvernement, dont les organisations non gouvernementales indépendantistes tibétaines en exil, qui s’engagent dans le débat politique, la toile virtuelle offrant une plateforme d’échange et de débats accessible à l’ensemble de la diaspora tibétaine, les initiatives du gouvernement tibétains en exil en faveur de sa démocratisation institutionnelle remarquable et finalement la diaspora tibétaine, lentement actrice engagée dans la politique de son gouvernement en exil. En nous appuyant sur les indicateurs de démocratisation de Robert Allan Dhal nous avons pu remarquer que la démocratisation du gouvernement tibétain en exil de 1990 à 2013 s’est développée sensiblement. Ainsi, les deux indicateurs de démocratisation, la libéralisation et l’inclusion politique, ont été plus importants durant cette période, quoique les défis semblent encore bien présents en 2013. Afin d’approfondir les liens qu’entretiennent le gouvernement tibétain en exil et la communauté internationale durant notre période d’analyse, une étude de cas relative à l’appui de la communauté européenne envers le gouvernement tibétain en exil conclu notre recherche.

For many decades, Buddhism in the West has been conceived as an ‘other-worldly’ religion with very little or –at least—limited authority in the public arena. This partial view of the Buddhist path overlooks the potential of Buddhism to interpret reality and help establish new causes and conditions to improve it. This thesis is rooted in Buddhism and seeks to develop a Buddhist theology in order to understand how international relations, as part of the contingent reality, are subject to change. Thus there is the possibility of reconstructing reality through the sum of individual will expressed in social groups, institutions and states. This Theology of International Relations follows a methodology of causality rooted in the dependent origination found in Buddhist theology. Thus, relative reality is conceived as the result of the interaction of different causes and conditions; individuals, through their thoughts and actions, provide new conditions which will be crystallized in particular social arrangements through an inter-subjective consensus. This arrangement is highly influenced by the individual’s allegiance with the sacred, however this is conceived, and thus establishes an ethical guideline in the individual’s relationship with other sentient beings and the ultimate level of existence. This dependent construction of reality goes from the individual level of analysis to the social, state, interstate and global levels in a chain of contingent reality. Therefore I suggest that states, institutions and society are the reflection of shared ideas, beliefs, goals and perceptions of reality between individuals. The human capacity to shape reality is rooted in the premise that they face a relative reality, one that is contingent on several causes and conditions. In Buddhism, all sentient beings play a key role in shaping reality but human beings play a unique role because they can overcome suffering when they recognize the interdependent relation of causes and conditions in a relative reality. If this is achieved, then absolute reality can be experienced, wherein the individual goes beyond all conceptions and senses in a state of emptiness of the self. These core ideas of a contingent reality, its construction through an inter-subjective consensus and the need to experience an absolute reality are premises which Buddhist theology developed and which this thesis explores. In chapter one this thesis considers the basis of Buddhist theology and how it explains the experience of the sacred, the role of religion and the potential for the construction of a relative reality. This thesis argues that religion is at the core of human existence as a vessel of faith which follows a particular theological path toward a communion with the divine. The Buddhist path, aware of the interaction of different levels of reality—relative and absolute—also conceives inner development and social change as key elements of an interdependent transformation. The idea of ‘world peace through inner peace’ is one advocated by ‘engaged Buddhists’ and found in the ethical code of Buddha’s message. Chapter two examines how international relations became the arena where individuals, institutions and states converge and reflect the basic premises of their world-views, whether rooted in anger, hatred and ignorance of the interdependent nature of all phenomena, or based in compassion and awareness of a shared common good. In addition, it addresses the issue of the resurgence of religion in international relations and how it is present or absent from political science theories and policy making. Through this analysis, several established elements such as the concept of the state, secularism and religion as a source of war, are challenged in a new era of multi-agency and mutual influence through religious ideas, groups and communities. Following this inter-subjective construction of the world, the thesis presents two case studies which argue that religious leaders exercise political influence through their actions, ideas and beliefs. The first is the life and works of Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in chapter three and the second is the life of Archbishop Desmond Tutu in chapter four. The former having suffered the violent occupation of Tibet and the continuous attacks on Tibetan culture that led him into exile, and the latter having faced the policies of hatred under apartheid, the Dalai Lama and Tutu managed to suggest a world where forgiveness is rooted in compassion and were human beings share the responsibility of creating a compassionate reality. The final chapter develops a new approach to the study of religion and politics providing new variables of study and new categories to understand how international relations are influenced by religious ideas and movements. This thesis argues that there is a need to study and understand this interdependent relation between religious and secular actors through theoretical approaches in international relations and opens the discipline to new paradigms such as the Buddhist theological approach. The outcome of this partnership depends on the individual’s decision to engage, whether in negative causation that leads to violence, fear, terror and the perpetuation of suffering or in a positive one which opens the possibility of peace and liberation from suffering through compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation, recognizing our common humanity and shared universal responsibility.

Le 22 decembre 1923, blo-bzang chos-kyi-nyi-ma (1883-1937), 6e panchen lama et seconde autorite spirituelle du tibet, s'enfuit de son monastere. Il est poursuivi par une armee de mille hommes sous les ordres du gouvernement tibetain. Apres diverses peripeties, il parvient a atteindre la province chinoise du gansu. Repere par les autorites locales, il est conduit jusqu'a pekin. En chine, il ne tardera pas a se trouver mele aux actions du gouvernement republicain et au monde politique international. Apres quatorze annees d'exil, il y mourra prematurement a l'age de 54 ans sans avoir eu l'occasion de revoir sa terre natale. Qui etait le 6e panchen lama et quelles furent son enfance et sa jeunesse au tibet ? pourquoi a-t-il quitte precipitamment le tibet ? quelles ont ete ses activites religieuses et politiques en chine ? pourquoi n'est-il jamais rentre chez lui ? au tibet, sa fuite a-telle nuit a l'elaboration d'un nouvel etat unifie ? en chine, le gouvernement republicain l'a-t-il recupere au profit de sa politique vis-a-vis du tibet et de la mongolie ? de son cote, le 6e panchen lama a-t-il manipule le gouvernement chinois, et si oui, dans quel but ? est-il devenu un pion dans le jeu diplomatique auquel se livraient la grandebretagne, la chine et le tibet ? enfin, d'un point de vue general, est-il possible de dire que le 6e panchen lama a trahi son pays au point de nuire a son independance ? basee sur des sources chinoises et tibetaines originales, cette etude s'efforce de repondre a autant de questions.

博士
大同大學
資訊工程學系(所)
107
The multiple traveling salesman problem (mTSP) is a combinatorial optimization problem and is an extension of the famous Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). Not only does the mTSP possess academic research value, but its application is extensive. For example, the vehicle routing problem (VRP) and operations scheduling can all be reduced to mTSP solutions. The mTSP is an NP-hard problem, and multifaceted discussions of its solutions are worthwhile. This study assigned ants to teams with mission-oriented approaches to enhance ant colony optimization algorithms. Missions were appointed to ant teams before they departed (each ant had a different focal search direction). In addition to attempting to complete its own mission, each ant used the Max-Min strategy to work together to optimize the solution. The goal of the appointing missions is to reduce the total distance,whereas the goal of using the max–min search method for paths was to achieve Min-Max, or the goal of labor balance. During the solving process, each ant will refer to the pheromone concentration on the paths and the mission tips as their action guidelines. After each round, the mission configuration will be changed in accordance with the state of solution obtained from each mission-coordinated team and the pheromone concentration on the path will be reconfigured. Four main elements were involved in the search process of the ant teams: mission pheromone, path pheromone, greedy factor, and Max-Min ant firing scheme. The experimental results revealed this novel approach to be innovative and effective.

碩士
國立中正大學
通訊工程研究所
93
Clock synchronization is very important for power management protocol in a multi-hop MANET. However, since MANET is a network temporarily formed by a collection of mobile nodes without the aid of any centralized coordinator, clock synchronization is very difficult to achieve. Therefore, most of previous works on power efficiency assumed asynchronous clock. As a consequence, a mobile node will waste a lot of power and time waiting for forwarding a packet to its neighbors, due to the lack of information of wakeup times of its neighbors. In IEEE 802.11 standard, time synchronization function (TSF) is defined to synchronize clocks of all mobile devices in a single hop ad hoc network. In this standard, devices generate beacons with timestamp and contend to send a beacon in each beacon interval. Based on the received timestamp, devices then can synchronize their clocks easily. However, the IEEE 802.11 TSF is not suitable for dense networks and will cause time partition problem when extended to multi-hop ad hoc networks. In this paper, we propose a multi-hop time synchronization protocol, referred to as MTSP, for IEEE 802.11 multi-hop ad hoc networks. The MTSP consists of two phases, namely the beacon window phase (BW-phase) and the SYN phase (SYN-phase). In beacon window phase (BW-phase), several devices, which can directly communicate with each others, form a synchronization group. And each group selects the device with fastest timer as the leader node of the group. In SYN phase (SYN-phase), leader nodes then synchronize with each other. Our simulation results show that MTSP is a distributed and effective multi-hop time synchronization protocol, especially for dense networks.

In this dissertation, the problem of planning the motion of m Unmanned Vehicles (UVs) (or simply vehicles) through n points in a plane is considered. A motion plan for a vehicle is given by the sequence of points and the corresponding angles at which each point must be visited by the vehicle. We require that each vehicle return to the same initial location(depot) at the same heading after visiting the points. The objective of the motion planning problem is to choose at most q(≤ m) UVs and find their motion plans so that all the points are visited and the total cost of the tours of the chosen vehicles is a minimum amongst all the possible choices of vehicles and their tours. This problem is a generalization of the wellknown Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) in many ways: (1) each UV takes the role of salesman (2) motion constraints of the UVs play an important role in determining the cost of travel between any two locations; in fact, the cost of the travel between any two locations depends on direction of travel along with the heading at the origin and destination, and (3) there is an additional combinatorial complexity stemming from the need to partition the points to be visited by each UV and the set of UVs that must be employed by the mission. In this dissertation, a sub-optimal, two-step approach to motion planning is presented to solve this problem:(1) the combinatorial problem of choosing the vehicles and their associated tours is based on Euclidean distances between points and (2) once the sequence of points to be visited is specified, the heading at each point is determined based on a Dynamic Programming scheme. The solution to the first step is based on a generalization of Held-Karp’s method. We modify the Lagrangian heuristics for finding a close sub-optimal solution. In the later chapters of the dissertation, we relax the assumption that all vehicles are homogenous. The motivation of heterogenous variant of Multi-depot, Multiple Traveling Salesmen Problem (MDMTSP) derives form applications involving Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or ground robots requiring multiple vehicles with different capabilities to visit a set of locations.

The 14th Dalai Lama-Tenzin Gyatso (DL) has expressed strong support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). While this may seem to be consistent with his outspoken promotion of basic "human values" and "universal responsibility" (Piburn, 2002), there is an unresolved metaphysical conflict between his endorsement of the UDHR and concomitant ideas like "inherent dignity" and "inalienable rights," on the one hand, and, on the other, his espousal of the Buddhist "Middle Way" or "Centrist" (Madhyamaka) thesis that all phenomena (i.e., persons, things, and ideas like "human rights") lack "intrinsic existence" (svabhāva). In this dissertation I argue that an "unforced consensus" (Taylor 2011) on rights can be achieved through an application of the Madhyamaka interpretation of the "two truths" (dvasatya; bden pa gnyis). Metaphysics, however, is only one dimension of the Madhyamaka account of reality. There is an equally (if not more) important "cognitive dimension" that pertains to how one sees and interacts with the world (Westerhoff, 2009). I believe this can be effectively applied to an analysis of the psychology of human rights foundationalism (i.e., the mindset that reifies rights). The DL believes that ultimately the safeguarding of human rights culture depends on a cognitive shift at the individual level. I explore the philosophical implications of this belief, and I contend that it is consistent with the concept of human development and education in the UDHR. I conclude that Tibetan Buddhist ideas and practices can potentially help bridge the divide between human rights foundationalism and anti-foundationalism in a manner that reinvigorates the utility of the UDHR, and yet does not philosophically yield to an essentialist world-view.

This study illustrates the link between foreign policy, public diplomacy and the media, with reference to the South African Government’s refusal in 2009 and 2011 to issue visas to the Dalai Lama. The research question is: How do the South African media frame foreign policy and how do administrators react to this actuality? As there seems to be a void in South African international political communications, this is where this study purports to contribute. The aim is to investigate how the media frames foreign policy, specifically regarding the case study. Therefore, the media, human rights and foreign policies, and the diplomatic practices of the South African government are studied. The objective is not necessarily to prove or disprove the causal effect of media and public opinion on foreign policy but rather to illustrate the interaction between these elements in the case of the South African government’s denial of visas to the Dalai Lama.
Political Sciences
M.A. (International Politics)

This study illustrates the link between foreign policy, public diplomacy and the media, with reference to the South African Government’s refusal in 2009 and 2011 to issue visas to the Dalai Lama. The research question is: How do the South African media frame foreign policy and how do administrators react to this actuality? As there seems to be a void in South African international political communications, this is where this study purports to contribute. The aim is to investigate how the media frames foreign policy, specifically regarding the case study. Therefore, the media, human rights and foreign policies, and the diplomatic practices of the South African government are studied. The objective is not necessarily to prove or disprove the causal effect of media and public opinion on foreign policy but rather to illustrate the interaction between these elements in the case of the South African government’s denial of visas to the Dalai Lama.
Political Sciences
M.A. (International Politics)

The motion planning problem can be formulated as a Markov decision process (MDP), if the uncertainties in the robot motion and environments can be modeled probabilistically. The complexity of solving these MDPs grow exponentially as the dimension of the problem increases and hence, it is nearly impossible to solve the problem even without constraints. Using hierarchical methods, these MDPs can be transformed into a semi-Markov decision process (SMDP) which only needs to be solved at certain landmark states. In the deterministic robotics motion planning community, sampling based algorithms like probabilistic roadmaps (PRM) and rapidly exploring random trees (RRTs) have been successful in solving very high dimensional deterministic problem. However they are not robust to system with uncertainties in the system dynamics and hence, one of the primary objective of this work is to generalize PRM/RRT to solve motion planning with uncertainty. We first present generalizations of randomized sampling based algorithms PRM and RRT, to incorporate the process uncertainty, and obstacle location uncertainty, termed as "generalized PRM" (GPRM) and "generalized RRT" (GRRT). The controllers used at the lower level of these planners are feedback controllers which ensure convergence of trajectories while mitigating the effects of process uncertainty. The results indicate that the algorithms solve the motion planning problem for a single agent in continuous state/control spaces in the presence of process uncertainty, and constraints such as obstacles and other state/input constraints. Secondly, a novel adaptive sampling technique, termed as "adaptive GPRM" (AGPRM), is proposed for these generalized planners to increase the efficiency and overall success probability of these planners. It was implemented on high-dimensional robot n-link manipulators, with up to 8 links, i.e. in a 16-dimensional state-space. The results demonstrate the ability of the proposed algorithm to handle the motion planning problem for highly non-linear systems in very high-dimensional state space. Finally, a solution methodology, termed the "multi-agent AGPRM" (MAGPRM), is proposed to solve the multi-agent motion planning problem under uncertainty. The technique uses a existing solution technique to the multiple traveling salesman problem (MTSP) in conjunction with GPRM. For real-time implementation, an ?inter-agent collision detection and avoidance? module was designed which ensures that no two agents collide at any time-step. Algorithm was tested on teams of homogeneous and heterogeneous agents in cluttered obstacle space and the algorithm demonstrate the ability to handle such problems in continuous state/control spaces in presence of process uncertainty.