Amorçage cognitif pour amélioration de l’acquisition de la connaissance dans un système tutoriel intelligent

Cette thèse vise à définir une nouvelle méthode d’enseignement pour les systèmes tutoriels intelligents dans le but d’améliorer l’acquisition des connaissances. L’apprentissage est un phénomène complexe faisant intervenir des mécanismes émotionnels et cognitifs de nature consciente et inconsciente. Nous nous intéressons à mieux comprendre les mécanismes inconscients du raisonnement lors de l’acquisition des connaissances. L’importance de ces processus inconscients pour le raisonnement est bien documentée en neurosciences, mais demeure encore largement inexplorée dans notre domaine de recherche. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons la mise en place d’une nouvelle approche pédagogique dans le domaine de l’éducation implémentant une taxonomie neuroscientifique de la perception humaine. Nous montrons que cette nouvelle approche agit sur le raisonnement et, à tour de rôle, améliore l’apprentissage général et l’induction de la connaissance dans un environnement de résolution de problème. Dans une première partie, nous présentons l’implémentation de notre nouvelle méthode dans un système tutoriel visant à améliorer le raisonnement pour un meilleur apprentissage. De plus, compte tenu de l’importance des mécanismes émotionnels dans l’apprentissage, nous avons également procédé dans cette partie à la mesure des émotions par des capteurs physiologiques. L’efficacité de notre méthode pour l’apprentissage et son impact positif observé sur les émotions a été validée sur trente et un participants. Dans une seconde partie, nous allons plus loin dans notre recherche en adaptant notre méthode visant à améliorer le raisonnement pour une meilleure induction de la connaissance. L’induction est un type de raisonnement qui permet de construire des règles générales à partir d’exemples spécifiques ou de faits particuliers. Afin de mieux comprendre l’impact de notre méthode sur les processus cognitifs impliqués dans ce type de raisonnement, nous avons eu recours à des capteurs cérébraux pour mesurer l’activité du cerveau des utilisateurs. La validation de notre approche réalisée sur quarante-trois volontaires montre l’efficacité de notre méthode pour l’induction de la connaissance et la viabilité de mesurer le raisonnement par des mesures cérébrales suite à l’application appropriée d’algorithmes de traitement de signal. Suite à ces deux parties, nous clorons la thèse par une discussion applicative en décrivant la mise en place d’un nouveau système tutoriel intelligent intégrant les résultats de nos travaux.

Meta-heuristic Solution Methods for Rich Vehicle Routing Problems

Le problème de tournées de véhicules (VRP), introduit par Dantzig and Ramser en 1959, est devenu l'un des problèmes les plus étudiés en recherche opérationnelle, et ce, en raison de son intérêt méthodologique et de ses retombées pratiques dans de nombreux domaines tels que le transport, la logistique, les télécommunications et la production. L'objectif général du VRP est d'optimiser l'utilisation des ressources de transport afin de répondre aux besoins des clients tout en respectant les contraintes découlant des exigences du contexte d’application. Les applications réelles du VRP doivent tenir compte d’une grande variété de contraintes et plus ces contraintes sont nombreuse, plus le problème est difficile à résoudre. Les VRPs qui tiennent compte de l’ensemble de ces contraintes rencontrées en pratique et qui se rapprochent des applications réelles forment la classe des problèmes ‘riches’ de tournées de véhicules. Résoudre ces problèmes de manière efficiente pose des défis considérables pour la communauté de chercheurs qui se penchent sur les VRPs. Cette thèse, composée de deux parties, explore certaines extensions du VRP vers ces problèmes. La première partie de cette thèse porte sur le VRP périodique avec des contraintes de fenêtres de temps (PVRPTW). Celui-ci est une extension du VRP classique avec fenêtres de temps (VRPTW) puisqu’il considère un horizon de planification de plusieurs jours pendant lesquels les clients n'ont généralement pas besoin d’être desservi à tous les jours, mais plutôt peuvent être visités selon un certain nombre de combinaisons possibles de jours de livraison. Cette généralisation étend l'éventail d'applications de ce problème à diverses activités de distributions commerciales, telle la collecte des déchets, le balayage des rues, la distribution de produits alimentaires, la livraison du courrier, etc. La principale contribution scientifique de la première partie de cette thèse est le développement d'une méta-heuristique hybride dans la quelle un ensemble de procédures de recherche locales et de méta-heuristiques basées sur les principes de voisinages coopèrent avec un algorithme génétique afin d’améliorer la qualité des solutions et de promouvoir la diversité de la population. Les résultats obtenus montrent que la méthode proposée est très performante et donne de nouvelles meilleures solutions pour certains grands exemplaires du problème. La deuxième partie de cette étude a pour but de présenter, modéliser et résoudre deux problèmes riches de tournées de véhicules, qui sont des extensions du VRPTW en ce sens qu'ils incluent des demandes dépendantes du temps de ramassage et de livraison avec des restrictions au niveau de la synchronization temporelle. Ces problèmes sont connus respectivement sous le nom de Time-dependent Multi-zone Multi-Trip Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (TMZT-VRPTW) et de Multi-zone Mult-Trip Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows and Synchronization (MZT-PDTWS). Ces deux problèmes proviennent de la planification des opérations de systèmes logistiques urbains à deux niveaux. La difficulté de ces problèmes réside dans la manipulation de deux ensembles entrelacés de décisions: la composante des tournées de véhicules qui vise à déterminer les séquences de clients visités par chaque véhicule, et la composante de planification qui vise à faciliter l'arrivée des véhicules selon des restrictions au niveau de la synchronisation temporelle. Auparavant, ces questions ont été abordées séparément. La combinaison de ces types de décisions dans une seule formulation mathématique et dans une même méthode de résolution devrait donc donner de meilleurs résultats que de considérer ces décisions séparément. Dans cette étude, nous proposons des solutions heuristiques qui tiennent compte de ces deux types de décisions simultanément, et ce, d'une manière complète et efficace. Les résultats de tests expérimentaux confirment la performance de la méthode proposée lorsqu’on la compare aux autres méthodes présentées dans la littérature. En effet, la méthode développée propose des solutions nécessitant moins de véhicules et engendrant de moindres frais de déplacement pour effectuer efficacement la même quantité de travail. Dans le contexte des systèmes logistiques urbains, nos résultats impliquent une réduction de la présence de véhicules dans les rues de la ville et, par conséquent, de leur impact négatif sur la congestion et sur l’environnement.

Evolutionäre Optimierung von Mensch-Maschine-Schnittstellen

Vorgestellt wird eine weltweit neue Methode, Schnittstellen zwischen Menschen und Maschinen für individuelle Bediener anzupassen. Durch Anwenden von Abstraktionen evolutionärer Mechanismen wie Selektion, Rekombination und Mutation in der EOGUI-Methodik (Evolutionary Optimization of Graphical User Interfaces) kann eine rechnergestützte Umsetzung der Methode für Graphische Bedienoberflächen, insbesondere für industrielle Prozesse, bereitgestellt werden. In die Evolutionäre Optimierung fließen sowohl die objektiven, d.h. messbaren Größen wie Auswahlhäufigkeiten und -zeiten, mit ein, als auch das anhand von Online-Fragebögen erfasste subjektive Empfinden der Bediener. Auf diese Weise wird die Visualisierung von Systemen den Bedürfnissen und Präferenzen einzelner Bedienern angepasst. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit kann der Bediener aus vier Bedienoberflächen unterschiedlicher Abstraktionsgrade für den Beispielprozess MIPS ( MIschungsProzess-Simulation) die Objekte auswählen, die ihn bei der Prozessführung am besten unterstützen. Über den EOGUI-Algorithmus werden diese Objekte ausgewählt, ggf. verändert und in einer neuen, dem Bediener angepassten graphischen Bedienoberfläche zusammengefasst. Unter Verwendung des MIPS-Prozesses wurden Experimente mit der EOGUI-Methodik durchgeführt, um die Anwendbarkeit, Akzeptanz und Wirksamkeit der Methode für die Führung industrieller Prozesse zu überprüfen. Anhand der Untersuchungen kann zu großen Teilen gezeigt werden, dass die entwickelte Methodik zur Evolutionären Optimierung von Mensch-Maschine-Schnittstellen industrielle Prozessvisualisierungen tatsächlich an den einzelnen Bediener anpaßt und die Prozessführung verbessert.

Electrical Design: A Problem for Artificial Intelligence Research

This report outlines the problem of intelligent failure recovery in a problem-solver for electrical design. We want our problem solver to learn as much as it can from its mistakes. Thus we cast the engineering design process on terms of Problem Solving by Debugging Almost-Right Plans, a paradigm for automatic problem solving based on the belief that creation and removal of "bugs" is an unavoidable part of the process of solving a complex problem. The process of localization and removal of bugs called for by the PSBDARP theory requires an approach to engineering analysis in which every result has a justification which describes the exact set of assumptions it depends upon. We have developed a program based on Analysis by Propagation of Constraints which can explain the basis of its deductions. In addition to being useful to a PSBDARP designer, these justifications are used in Dependency-Directed Backtracking to limit the combinatorial search in the analysis routines. Although the research we will describe is explicitly about electrical circuits, we believe that similar principles and methods are employed by other kinds of engineers, including computer programmers.

Metacognitive experience and transfer of logical reasoning

The experiments examine the influence of metacognitive experience on the transfer of logical processes in a problem solving setting. Subjects were presented with two versions of Wason's (1966) selection task. Although they were able to perform successfully on the concrete tasks (following a minimal explanation of the correct solution on an initial trial), the majority were not able to transfer a successful method to the abstract tasks. Verbalization during, or following, the concrete tasks produced substantial transfer effects however. It is suggested that verbalization may lead to an increased awareness of past behaviour, particularly of those aspects necessary for successful solution.

Modelling complex systems for project planning - A semiotics motivated method

A large and complex IT project may involve multiple organizations and be constrained within a temporal period. An organization is a system comprising of people, activities, processes, information, resources and goals. Understanding and modelling such a project and its interrelationship with relevant organizations are essential for organizational project planning. This paper introduces the problem articulation method (PAM) as a semiotic method for organizational infrastructure modelling. PAM offers a suite of techniques, which enables the articulation of the business, technical and organizational requirements, delivering an infrastructural framework to support the organization. It works by eliciting and formalizing (e. g. processes, activities, relationships, responsibilities, communications, resources, agents, dependencies and constraints) and mapping these abstractions to represent the manifestation of the "actual" organization. Many analysts forgo organizational modelling methods and use localized ad hoc and point solutions, but this is not amenable for organizational infrastructures modelling. A case study of the infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer (IASI) will be used to demonstrate the applicability of PAM, and to examine its relevancy and significance in dealing with the innovation and changes in the organizations.

Attraktivt arbete ur enhetschefers perspektiv : En kvalitativ studie genomförd i Falu kommun

Sedan 1990- talet har de offentliga organisationerna genomgått flera stora förändringar som medfört att enhetschefer inom den kommunala verksamheten fått ökat ansvar och befogenheter, vilket gör enhetschefsrollen mer komplext. Rapporter visar på svårigheter att rekrytera och behålla chefer, därför är viktigt att undersöka hur enhetschefens arbete ska kunna utvecklas till ett mer attraktivt arbete. Ett attraktivt arbete skapas genom att ge medarbetarna bra förutsättningar inom arbetsinnehåll, arbetstillfredsställelse, samt arbetsförhållanden. I chefsyrket ingår tre roller varav en är medarbetarrollen som enligt teorin inte är speciellt prioriterad eller synliggjord. Studiens syfte är att identifiera vad som gör enhetschefyrket till ett attraktivt arbete samt hur det kan utvecklas. I studien har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod används för att uppnå en djupare förståelse kring enhetschefernas arbetssituation. Detta har bidragit till att ett hermeneutiska synsätt valts, då vi strävar efter att få en ökad förståelse. Studien genomfördes på Falu kommun, där sex enhetschefer inom omvårdnadsförvaltningen intervjuades. Resultatet visar att enhetscheferna är tillfredsställda med sin arbetssituation och upplever arbetet som attraktivt. Faktorer som varierande, handlingsfrihet, problemlösning, sociala kontakter och delar av erkänsla hör till attraktivitetsfaktorer i yrket. Enhetscheferna beskriver tre utvecklingsområden för att öka attraktiviteten. Det första innefattar ledarskapet i organisationen där brister förekommer inom kommunikation och planering. Andra utvecklingsområdet handlar om arbetstakten genom att individanpassa arbetsgruppernas storlek samt tid för reflektion och återhämtning. Tredje utvecklingsområdet enhetscheferna belyser är bristen på erkänsla från organisationen. Utöver enhetschefernas brister har vi identifierat ytterligare ett utvecklingsområde för att öka attraktiviteten. Under intervjuerna har det framkommit att det råder stor avsaknad av kollegor att "bolla idéer" med vilket i sin tur medför att arbetet upplevs som ensamt. För att motverka ensamheten är chefsgruppshandledning ett alternativ, där reflektion och feedback ingår. Forskningen visar att detta även leder till ökad självkänsla, engagemang.

Reinternações psiquiátricas no Rio Grande do Norte: implicações e impacto das novas estratégias de atenção à saúde mental

The Brazilian Psychiatric Reform based on the desinstitucionalization of the assistance, translated to the emphasis on community/territorial treatment and in the social inclusion of the mental suffering, promoted advances in the psychiatric restructuring. In the Rio Grande do Norte (RN), we can enumerate as advances of the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform the expansion of the mental health care chain and the implementation of some strategies that, together, aims to further the psychosocial attention of the individual with psych suffering and to reduce the indices of psychiatrics readmissions in the state. In the current Brazilian‟s mental health situation we were interesting in answered the following question: what the impact of the substitutes services‟ extension in the revolving door phenomenon? This search aims to analyze the revolving door phenomenon occurrences based on the news strategies of mental health care in the Rio Grande do Norte. This is a descriptive-exploratory study with a qualitative approach, oriented by the theoretical framework of critical-dialectical approach about the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform and using the thematic oral history as method of information collects. The search was realized on the Hospital João Machado (HJM), estate reference in psychiatric treatment, and the participants was 20 professionals that work on it. The collection of information had started after the approval of the UFRN Research Ethics Committee with the opinion number 216/2011 and CAAE number 0021.0.051.000-11 and was realized using the direct observation and semi-structured interview. The study‟s results were categorized in two categories and five subcategories of analysis. CATEGORY 1) Current situation of the mental health care chain in the RN, with the subcategories: 1.1 Impact of the new services of mental health care in the revolving door phenomenon in the RN; 1.2 Implications of the new services of mental health care in assisting user to the HJM; 1.3 Issues the permeate the mental health care chain in the RN. CATEORY 2) Main causes of the revolving door phenomenon in HJM, with the categories: 2.1 Family problems; 2.2 Lack of assistance after discharge from psychiatric hospital. In summary, we conclude that the extension of the mental health care chain contributed for the reduction of the psychiatrics re-hospitalization‟s indices in RN. However, we realized that territorial services of mental health care are not the only responsible for the revolving door phenomenon. Factors as family problems and the disarticulation of the assistance after the discharge from hospital influence on the perpetuation of hospitalizations and re-hospitalizations in the local scenario. To study the revolving door phenomenon that occur in the psychiatrics‟ assistance considering the news strategies of mental health care allowed us to approach the advances and challenges brought by the RPb and by the desinstitucionatization in the state, indicating the need for further discussions and problem-solving strategies of psychosocial care.

Ensino do processo de enfermagem: visão dos discentes de graduação de Natal/RN

The nursing process (NP) it s the systematized way of offering humanized care with the objective of reaching the expected results. The concern of the health and education institutions of elaborating implementation strategies of it is growing. The objective of this research was to know the vision of the senior students of the nursing graduation courses from Natal/RN, about the teaching of the NP. It s about a descriptive and exploratory study of the qualitative and quantitative type, done in five teaching institutions of the undergraduate nursing course of the municipality of Natal- RN in 2011. The research was composed by 48 students of the last 2 years of the nursing course. The gathering of the data was done through an online survey with open and closed questions via SurveyMonkey. For the quantitative data it was used the descriptive statistics from Microsoft Office Excel and for the qualitative data the Content Analysis of Bardin. The results pointed a predominance of female students (81,25%) with an age between 21- 39 years old (75,00%) and in the last year of the course (62,50%). As the opinion of the students about the NP two categories emerged: 1) Nursing Process as grounded method in scientific knowledge and established in two stages; 2) Nursing Assistance Quality, with two subcategories: Nursing Process as Nursing Practice and Nursing Process as instrument of improvement of the aid quality and promotion of well-being. In relation to the tuition of the NP the students (45,83%) said that the knowledge on the subject of the instructor was good; 81,25% reported that the professors use a traditional teaching methodology with the problem solving components and 45,83% answered that is addressed in specific disciplines in an isolated way starting from the professional line. The phase of NP that the nursing students have more difficulties of learning and implementing, being mentioned 22 times (29,70%). In relation to the student s difficulties, in the fields of supervised internships, in applying the NP it was stated for 83,50% that the barriers were related to the non implementation of the practice, overwork and the lack of trust of the nurse in the NP. The teaching-care strategies described as the internship fields were: the training of nurses to be able to contribute with the University in the implementation of the service and teaching; and the need of the universities to focus, continuously throughout the course, the NP with the involvement and incentive of the instructors in this process. These results show that the NP for the nursing students is a work methodology of the profession that needs to be implemented effectively in the practical reality for its teaching to turn effective and for the future professionals to be able to bring real contributions in the achievement of systematized actions trying to improve the assistance quality and the nursing actions. It is expected that this study could help bringing some strategies to facilitate the merging between theory and practice in teaching the NP and stimulate a discussion about the topic at the Nursing Schools where the research was held together with the coordinators, instructors and students

Optimal attitude corrections for cylindrical spacecraft

A first order analytical model for optimal small amplitude attitude maneuvers of spacecraft with cylindrical symmetry in an elliptical orbits is presented. The optimization problem is formulated as a Mayer problem with the control torques provided by a power limited propulsion system. The state is defined by Seffet-Andoyer's variables and the control by the components of the propulsive torques. The Pontryagin Maximum Principle is applied to the problem and the optimal torques are given explicitly in Serret-Andoyer's variables and their adjoints. For small amplitude attitude maneuvers, the optimal Hamiltonian function is linearized around a reference attitude. A complete first order analytical solution is obtained by simple quadrature and is expressed through a linear algebraic system involving the initial values of the adjoint variables. A numerical solution is obtained by taking the Euler angles formulation of the problem, solving the two-point boundary problem through the shooting method, and, then, determining the Serret-Andoyer variables through Serret-Andoyer transformation. Numerical results show that the first order solution provides a good approximation to the optimal control law and also that is possible to establish an optimal control law for the artificial satellite's attitude. (C) 2003 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prospecção e formação no domínio das competências e habilidades em tecnologia da informação: o caso do projeto metrópole digital em Natal/RN

This study deals with cognitive competences and abilities that are relevant to selection and education regarding Information Technology (IT). These competences relate to problem solving, decision making, and practical intelligence that regard scholar and extracurricular knowledge mobilization. The research aimed to contribute for the improvement of a selection instrument, consisting of five arrays of skills (dealing with objectives and prospection), as well as the development and comprehension of those skills that are involved in IT education. This is done by means of an analysis on the selection instrument used in the first selective process that occurred at Metropole Digital an Institute at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil. This was evaluated aiming to acknowledge IT education (with basic training and emphasis on Web programming and electronics). The methodology used was of quantitative method involving performance scores relating education delivery. An Anova analysis of variance was done along with descriptive analysis involving socioeconomic data that was not observed in the meaningful relations between parental instruction and student performance in the graduate course. These analyses were able to point out the importance and need of the policies for vacancy reservation on behalf of public school students. A Spearman correlation analysis was done considering the instrument selection performance in the training course. The instrument is presented as a predictor that is significantly moderate and presents a good performance in the course as a whole. A Cluster and Regression analysis was also realized in the process. The first analysis allowed finding performance groups (Clusters) that ranged from medium and inferior. The regression analysis was able to point out association amongst criterion variables and the (average performance in basic and advanced modules) and explanatory (five matrixes). Regression analysis indicated that matrix 1 and matrix 3 were pointed out as being the strongest ones. In all the above analysis, the correlation between the instrument and the course was considered moderate. Thus this can be related in some of the aspects present in the course such as emphasis on evaluation itself as well as in technical contents and practical skills (educational ones) and competences and selection skills. It is known that the mediation of technological artifact in cultural context can foster the development of skills and abilities relevant to IT training. This study provides subsidies to reflect on the adoption of selection instrument and IT training in the Institute. Thus the research offers means to achieve a interdisciplinary discussion and enriching of areas such as Psychology and Information Technology; all of which regarding competencies and skills relevant in IT training

Algorithms for network piecewise-linear programs: A comparative study

Piecewise-Linear Programming (PLP) is an important area of Mathematical Programming and concerns the minimisation of a convex separable piecewise-linear objective function, subject to linear constraints. In this paper a subarea of PLP called Network Piecewise-Linear Programming (NPLP) is explored. The paper presents four specialised algorithms for NPLP: (Strongly Feasible) Primal Simplex, Dual Method, Out-of-Kilter and (Strongly Polynomial) Cost-Scaling and their relative efficiency is studied. A statistically designed experiment is used to perform a computational comparison of the algorithms. The response variable observed in the experiment is the CPU time to solve randomly generated network piecewise-linear problems classified according to problem class (Transportation, Transshipment and Circulation), problem size, extent of capacitation, and number of breakpoints per arc. Results and conclusions on performance of the algorithms are reported.

Concept of Matching Parallelepiped and its use in the correspondence problem

In this paper, the concept of Matching Parallelepiped (MP) is presented. It is shown that the volume of the MP can be used as an additional measure of `distance' between a pair of candidate points in a matching algorithm by Relaxation Labeling (RL). The volume of the MP is related with the Epipolar Geometry and the use of this measure works as an epipolar constraint in a RL process, decreasing the efforts in the matching algorithm since it is not necessary to explicitly determine the equations of the epipolar lines and to compute the distance of a candidate point to each epipolar line. As at the beginning of the process the Relative Orientation (RO) parameters are unknown, a initial matching based on gradient, intensities and correlation is obtained. Based on this set of labeled points the RO is determined and the epipolar constraint included in the algorithm. The obtained results shown that the proposed approach is suitable to determine feature-point matching with simultaneous estimation of camera orientation parameters even for the cases where the pair of optical axes are not parallel.

Conservation laws for non-potential operators

A study was developed in order to build a function M invariant in time, by means of Hamiltonian's formulation, taking into account the equation associated to the problem, showing that starting from this function the equation of motion of the system with the contour conditions for non-conservative considered problems can be obtained. The Hamiltonian method is extended for these kind of systems in order to validate for non-potential operators through variational approach.