4,326 research outputs found

    Human behaviour modelling in complex socio-technical systems : an agent based approach

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    For many years we have been striving to understand human behaviour and our interactions with our socio-technological environment. By advancing our knowledge in this area, we have helped the design of new or improved work processes and technologies. Historically, much of the work in analysing social interactions has been conducted within the social sciences. However, computer simulation has brought an extra tool in trying to understand and model human behaviours. Using an agent based approach this presentation describes my work in constructing computational models of human behaviour for informing design through simulation. With examples from projects in two main application areas of crisis and emergency management, and energy management I describe how my work addresses some main issues in agent based social simulation. The first concerns the process by which we develop these models. The second lies in the nature of socio-technical systems. Human societies are a perfect example of a complex system exhibiting characteristics of self-organisation, adaptability and showing emergent phenomena such as cooperation and robustness. I describe how complex systems theory may be applied to improve our understanding of socio-technical systems, and how our micro level interactions lead to emergent mutual awareness for problem-solving. From agent based simulation systems I show how context awareness may be modelled. Looking forward to the future, I discuss how the increasing prevalence of artificial agents in our society will cause us to re-examine the new types of interactions and cooperative behaviours that will emerge.Depuis de nombreuses années, nous nous sommes efforcés de comprendre le comportement humain et nos interactions avec l'environnement sociotechnique. Grâce à l'avancée de nos connaissances dans ce domaine, nous avons contribué à la conception de technologies et de processus de travail nouveaux ou améliorés. Historiquement, une part importante du travail d'analyse des interactions sociales fut entreprise au sein des sciences sociales. Cependant, la simulation informatique a apporté un nouvel outil pour tenter de comprendre et de modéliser les comportements humains. En utilisant une approche à base d'agents, cette présentation décrit mon travail sur la construction de modèles informatiques du comportement humain pour guider la conception par la simulation. A l'aide d'exemples issus de projets des deux domaines d'application que sont la gestion des crises et de l'urgence et la gestion de l'énergie, je décris comment mon travail aborde certains problèmes centraux à la simulation sociale à base d'agents. Le premier concerne le processus par lequel nous développons ces modèles. Le second problème provient de la nature des systèmes sociotechniques. Les sociétés humaines constituent un exemple parfait de système complexe possédant des caractéristiques d'auto-organisation et d'adaptabilité, et affichant des phénomènes émergents tels que la coopération et la robustesse. Je décris comment la théorie des systèmes complexes peut être appliquée pour améliorer notre compréhension des systèmes sociotechniques, et comment nos interactions au niveau microscopique mènent à l'émergence d'une conscience mutuelle pour la résolution de problèmes. A partir de systèmes de simulation à base d'agents, je montre comment la conscience du contexte peut être modélisée. En terme de perspectives, j'expliquerai comment la hausse de la prévalence des agents artificiels dans notre société nous forcera à considérer de nouveaux types d'interactions et de comportements coopératifs

    Li-BIM, an agent-based approach to simulate occupant-building interaction from the Building-Information Modelling

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    International audienceBuilding design involves many challenges and requires to take into account the interaction between the building and the users. Different occupant behaviour models implemented with building simulation tools (thermal, air quality, lighting) have been proposed. Among these, models based on the agent approach seem to be the most promising. However, existing models poorly describe human cognition and the social dimension. Moreover, they are often oriented towards a specific use (thermal simulation, waste management) without being transposable to another field, and they require a significant instantiation effort for each new case, making their use difficult. This article proposes an agent-based model called Li-BIM that simulates the behaviour of the occupants in a building and their indoor comfort. Li-BIM model is structured around the numerical modelling of the building-BIM-(with standard exchange format IFC), a high-resolution cognitive model, and the coupling with various physical models. Li-BIM simulates the reactive, deliberative and social behaviour of occupants in residential dwellings based on the Belief-Desire-Intention architecture. This model, thanks its ease of use and flexibility, is an operational and relevant tool to support building design process with a human-centred approach. An application of the model is presented, focusing on energy consumption and the inhabitants' comfort. In-situ data obtained from the instrumented house that served as case study have been compared with simulation results from Li-BIM and a standard energy simulation software, demonstrating the reliability of the proposed model

    Actors and factors - bridging social science findings and urban land use change modeling

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    Recent uneven land use dynamics in urban areas resulting from demographic change, economic pressure and the cities’ mutual competition in a globalising world challenge both scientists and practitioners, among them social scientists, modellers and spatial planners. Processes of growth and decline specifically affect the urban environment, the requirements of the residents on social and natural resources. Social and environmental research is interested in a better understanding and ways of explaining the interactions between society and landscape in urban areas. And it is also needed for making life in cities attractive, secure and affordable within or despite of uneven dynamics.\ud The position paper upon “Actors and factors – bridging social science findings and urban land use change modeling” presents approaches and ideas on how social science findings on the interaction of the social system (actors) and the land use (factors) are taken up and formalised using modelling and gaming techniques. It should be understood as a first sketch compiling major challenges and proposing exemplary solutions in the field of interest

    Modélisation du comportement humain réactif et délibératif avec une approche multi-agent pour la gestion énergétique dans le bâtiment

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    Energy consumption in buildings is affected by various factors including its physical characteristics, the appliances inside, and the outdoor environment, etc. However, inhabitants’ behaviour that determines the global energy consumption must not be forgotten. In most of the previous works and simulation tools, human behaviour is modelled as occupancy profiles. In this thesis the focus is more on detailed behaviour representation, particularly the cognitive, reactive, and deliberative mechanisms. The inhabitants’ dynamic behaviour is modelled and co-simulated together with the physical aspects of a building and an energy management system. The analysis of different household appliances has revealed that energy consumption patterns are highly associated with inhabitants’ behaviours. Data analysis of inhabitants’ actions and appliances’ consumptions is used to derive a model of inhabitants’ behaviour that impacts the energy consumption. This model represents the cognitive mechanisms that provide causes that motivate the actions, including the communication with other inhabitants. An approach based on multi-agent systems is developed along with a methodology for parameter tuning in the proposed behaviour model. These tools are used to co-simulate, not only the physical characteristics of the building, the reactive behaviour that is sensitive to physical data, and deliberative behaviour of the inhabitants, but also the building energy management system. The energy management system allows the direct adjustment of the building parameters or simply giving advice to the inhabitants. The impact of different types of inhabitants’ behaviours, with and without the inclusion of an energy management system is analyzed. This work opens new perspectives not only in the building simulation and in the validation of energy management systems but also in the representation of buildings in the smart grid where signals can be sent to end users advising them to modulate their consumption.La consommation énergétique dans le secteur bâtiment dépend de diverses facteurs parmi lesquels ses caractéristiques physique, ses équipements, l’environnement extérieur, etc… mais il ne faut pas oublier le comportement des habitants qui est déterminant pour la consommation énergétique globale. Or, la plupart des travaux et outils représentent les occupants par des profils d’occupation. Cette thèse s’intéresse à la représentation plus détaillée du comportement des occupants, en particulier les mécanismes cognitifs, réactifs et délibératifs. Le comportement dynamique des occupants est modélisé et co-simulé avec les aspects physiques et des éventuels systèmes de gestion énergétique. L’analyse de la consommation de différents équipements électroménagers met en évidence que le consommation énergétique est très dépendante des comportements des occupants. L’analyse des consommations et des actions des habitants permet d’élaborer un modèle du comportement des occupants impactant la consommation énergétique. Le modèle représente des mécanismes cognitifs, qui représente les causes qui motivent les actions, incluant des échange avec d’autres acteurs humains. Une approche à base d’agents logiciels a été développée. Outre les aspects techniques, une méthodologie de réglage des paramètres des modèles de comportement est proposée. Ces outils sont utilisés pour réaliser une co-simulation représentant la physique du bâtiment, le comportement réactif, c’est-à-dire sensible aux données physiques, et délibératif des habitants mais aussi un système de gestion énergétique qui peut ajuster directement la configuration du logement ou simplement conseiller ces occupants. L’impact de différents types de comportements, avec et sans gestionnaire énergétique est analysé. Ces travaux ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives dans la simulation bâtiment, dans la validation de gestionnaires énergétiques mais aussi dans la représentation des bâtiments dans les réseaux d’énergie dits intelligents, dans lesquels des signaux peuvent être envoyés aux utilisateurs finaux pour les inviter à moduler leur consommation

    Multi-Agent Systems Applications in Energy Optimization Problems: A State-of-the-Art Review

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    [EN] This article reviews the state-of-the-art developments in Multi-Agent Systems (MASs) and their application to energy optimization problems. This methodology and related tools have contributed to changes in various paradigms used in energy optimization. Behavior and interactions between agents are key elements that must be understood in order to model energy optimization solutions that are robust, scalable and context-aware. The concept of MAS is introduced in this paper and it is compared with traditional approaches in the development of energy optimization solutions. The different types of agent-based architectures are described, the role played by the environment is analysed and we look at how MAS recognizes the characteristics of the environment to adapt to it. Moreover, it is discussed how MAS can be used as tools that simulate the results of different actions aimed at reducing energy consumption. Then, we look at MAS as a tool that makes it easy to model and simulate certain behaviors. This modeling and simulation is easily extrapolated to the energy field, and can even evolve further within this field by using the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. Therefore, we can argue that MAS is a widespread approach in the field of energy optimization and that it is commonly used due to its capacity for the communication, coordination, cooperation of agents and the robustness that this methodology gives in assigning different tasks to agents. Finally, this article considers how MASs can be used for various purposes, from capturing sensor data to decision-making. We propose some research perspectives on the development of electrical optimization solutions through their development using MASs. In conclusion, we argue that researchers in the field of energy optimization should use multi-agent systems at those junctures where it is necessary to model energy efficiency solutions that involve a wide range of factors, as well as context independence that they can achieve through the addition of new agents or agent organizations, enabling the development of energy-efficient solutions for smart cities and intelligent buildings

    An analysis of UK policies for domestic energy reduction using an agent based tool

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    This paper introduces a new agent-based model, which incorporates the actions of individual homeowners in a long-term domestic stock model, and details how it was applied in energy policy analysis. The results indicate that current policies are likely to fall significantly short of the 80% target and suggest that current subsidy levels need re-examining. In the model, current subsidy levels appear to offer too much support to some technologies, which in turn leads to the suppression of other technologies that have a greater energy saving potential. The model can be used by policy makers to develop further scenarios to find alternative, more effective, sets of policy measures. The model is currently limited to the owner-occupied stock in England, although it can be expanded, subject to the availability of data

    Recreation, tourism and nature in a changing world : proceedings of the fifth international conference on monitoring and management of visitor flows in recreational and protected areas : Wageningen, the Netherlands, May 30-June 3, 2010

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    Proceedings of the fifth international conference on monitoring and management of visitor flows in recreational and protected areas : Wageningen, the Netherlands, May 30-June 3, 201

    Sustainable consumption: towards action and impact. : International scientific conference November 6th-8th 2011, Hamburg - European Green Capital 2011, Germany: abstract volume

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    This volume contains the abstracts of all oral and poster presentations of the international scientific conference „Sustainable Consumption – Towards Action and Impact“ held in Hamburg (Germany) on November 6th-8th 2011. This unique conference aims to promote a comprehensive academic discourse on issues concerning sustainable consumption and brings together scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines. In modern societies, private consumption is a multifaceted and ambivalent phenomenon: it is a ubiquitous social practice and an economic driving force, yet at the same time, its consequences are in conflict with important social and environmental sustainability goals. Finding paths towards “sustainable consumption” has therefore become a major political issue. In order to properly understand the challenge of “sustainable consumption”, identify unsustainable patterns of consumption and bring forward the necessary innovations, a collaborative effort of researchers from different disciplines is needed
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