Aide à la Facilitation pour une prise de Décision Collective : Proposition d'un Modèle et d'un Outil

Decision Support Systems (DSS) were designed to resolve ill or non-structured decision problems. Problems where priorities, judgements, intuitions and experience of the decision-maker are essential, where the sequence of operations such as searching for a solution, formalization and structuring of problem is not beforehand known, when criteria for the decision making are numerous, in conflict or hard dependent on the perception of the user and where resolution must be acquired at restricted time. However, traditional DSS have been closed systems and are limited to the data and models contained within the system. In general, the type of support provided is relatively passive because decision makers are expected to scan internal and external data, and find discrepancies and deviations from expectations invoking ad hoc queries and reports that run on operational databases. In the other hand, Furthermore, many mission-critical, decision making situations happen in dynamic, rapidly changing, and often unpredictable distributed environments and require synchronous cooperative session. Unlike other decision making tools, decision support systems (DSS) designed for such situations are challenged by the need to access this decentralised information at time, from anywhere, under tight time constraints. In this thesis we consider, the paradigm of distributed decision-support systems where several decision-makers must reach a common decision. As a solution we propose an integrated framework based on a distributed architecture based on two cooperation modes: (1) Man-machine cooperation (2) Mediated man-man cooperation. According to the former cooperation mode, each decision-maker uses a specific cooperative intelligent decision support system allowing him to solve problem and to generate alternative solutions. The support system is viewed as a set of computer-based tools integrating expert knowledge and using collaboration technologies that help decision-makers and provide them with interactive capabilities to enhance their understanding and information base about options through use of models and data processing. By endowing the machine of additional capacities to intelligently guide the decision maker in its problem solving process, the system plays a collaborator's role with the decision-maker. This implies a human decision-maker and an automated system sharing dynamically the tasks and jointly working towards a decision. We assume that putting the human operator effectively in the loop of such decision support system represents the major guarantee of mastering efficiently the inherent complexity of the problems. Whilst considering the latter mode, The Group Decision Support (GDSS) tools allow the group of decision makers and the facilitator to make collective decision. This kind of cooperation uses a machine as an intermediate communication medium. As many group facilitation tasks can be automated, at least partially to increase the bandwidth of group communication and the ability of the facilitator to monitor and control the meeting process, an automated process to aid even the most inexperienced facilitator. The support to facilitators is considered by incorporating a model of the decision making process. The selected model provides a detailed view of decision making process. Having a model of the decision making process built into the system should enable intelligent decisional guidance. It enables the facilitator to appropriately choose and use the framework's tools and techniques in the group decision-making processes, to monitor group's behaviour, to know when to employ particular tools and techniques to move the group towards congruence. and to provide cues and customized explanations accordingly. We illustrate the applicability and relevance of this framework through a case study related to the management system of the boiler combustion which is one of the most critical systems for the good functioning of an oil plant. It has a high impact on the methods of thinking and apprehension of various problems related to maintenance. It is a multi-participant process with high level interactivity.Nous nous plaçons dans le contexte de situations décisionnelles critiques où les activités de prise de décision collective sont généralement caractérisées par des sessions de coopération synchrones au sein d'environnements distribués dynamiques, évolutifs et souvent imprévisibles. Au cours de ces sessions, les participants agissent simultanément et depuis des points d'accès distribués sur des objets partagés en suivant des règles de coordination pouvant être implicites ou explicites et en utilisant un ensemble d'outils qui leur permettent de progresser de façon coordonnée. Chacun des participants prend quelques décisions partielles, celles-ci servant de base aux suivantes. La prise de décision nécessite alors une synergie d'efforts de plusieurs membres afin que chacun d'eux mette à contribution son savoir-faire. Les membres ayant différents intérêts, compétences et expériences ne sont plus situés dans la même pièce mais utilisent des informations venant d'autres acteurs via des réseaux de type Internet ou intranet. D'ailleurs, c'est grâce à cette synergie que les membres peuvent atteindre des résultats supérieurs à ceux que qu'ils auraient pu réaliser individuellement. Ainsi l'outil pour décider devient l'outil pour décider ensemble. La contribution principale de cette thèse dans le domaine d'aide à la facilitation de la prise de décision collaborative se trouve dans la conception et la mise en œuvre d'un modèle et d'un système dédiée à la facilitation de la prise de décision de groupe synchrone distribuée. Cette structure collective entre agents humains permet d'une part d'additionner et de mutualiser les savoirs et les capacités créatrices, et d'autre part de limiter l'incertitude inhérente au processus de prise de décision par l'échange et la comparaison des points de vue. L'idée directrice de ce modèle est de renforcer la communication ainsi que la coopération entre les différents acteurs impliqués dans la prise de décision collective. Il s'agit d'une phase de production et de résolution créative de problème individuelle précédant la présentation des contributions au collectif. Cette dynamique d'éclatement puis de regroupement implique des mécanismes de coopération et de communication entre le groupe et l'individu

Online Deception Detection Using BDI Agents

This research has two facets within separate research areas. The research area of Belief, Desire and Intention (BDI) agent capability development was extended. Deception detection research has been advanced with the development of automation using BDI agents. BDI agents performed tasks automatically and autonomously. This study used these characteristics to automate deception detection with limited intervention of human users. This was a useful research area resulting in a capability general enough to have practical application by private individuals, investigators, organizations and others. The need for this research is grounded in the fact that humans are not very effective at detecting deception whether in written or spoken form. This research extends the deception detection capability research in that typical deception detection tools are labor intensive and require extraction of the text in question following ingestion into a deception detection tool. A neural network capability module was incorporated to lend the resulting prototype Machine Learning attributes. The prototype developed as a result of this research was able to classify online data as either deceptive or not deceptive with 85% accuracy. The false discovery rate for deceptive online data entries was 20% while the false discovery rate for not deceptive was 10%. The system showed stability during test runs. No computer crashes or other anomalous system behavior were observed during the testing phase. The prototype successfully interacted with an online data communications server database and processed data using Neural Network input vector generation algorithms within second

Two Degrees Celsius, Assessing the Potential of Urban Commercial Buildings in Canada to Reach the 2°C Climate Change Target

To avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change, scientific consensus and international convention have determined that the mean rise in global temperatures must be limited to between 1.5°C and 2.0°C. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggests the building sector possesses the most immediate mitigation potential and has proven technological and design capability at hand. To meet this goal, a 55% reduction is required compared to a proposed Business-As-Usual Scenario forecast in emissions between 2005 and 2050. For Canadian commercial buildings, this is equivalent to emissions dropping from 88.4 MtCO₂e to 39.8 MtCO₂e/yr. Between 2005 and 2050, the floor area of commercial building is expected to double from 654.2 million m² to 1,139.5 million m² while the emissions are to be halved. The proposed model suggests that, by 2050, new and substantially renovated buildings should emit 15.3 kgCO₂e/m² /yr to achieve this. When combined with existing buildings, the blended emissions cap is expected to be 34.9 kgCO₂e/m²/yr. Given that in 2013 new, renovated, and existing buildings in Canada was 46.67 kgCO₂e/m²/yr, this ambitious target implies a significant transformation of commercial buildings. When consistently applied to every building, the 15.3 kgCO₂e/m²/yr rate suggests an evolving approach to design. This is especially true for urban sites where passive design and renewable energy opportunities are limited. Although there are a number of built projects that meet the criteria, they remain the exception rather than the norm and deploy a maximum of energy efficient technologies and design strategies. A full range of innovative passive and active building technologies is leveraged, and many examples are most often not situated in a dense urban environment. Using an emission rate per square metre reflects a "bottom-up" approach to transforming Canadian commercial buildings. Rather than relying on sweeping policy intervention or mandating particular technologies, this metric can be used to bring the various drivers of emissions together for a particular building, thus allowing the most applicable technologies and strategies to be selected on a case-by-case basis. The thesis will demonstrate that a suite of measures focused on the combination of energy conservation and fuel choice can not only achieve this target on urban projects with limited passive means but suggest that the adoption of further passive and active technologies could push performance even further. To investigate the implications of the emission cap in this context, a demonstration project is proposed and sited in three different locations on a prototypical urban block. Located on a north-facing end-block, a mid-block, and a south-facing end-block site, each is designed to both current code requirements and the 2°C scenario emission limit. The selection of an urban context bridges the gap between the ideal conditions of rural or campus buildings, where few obstructions to leveraging passive design and implementing extensive on-site renewable energy systems exist, and urban buildings with tight sites and limited passive opportunities. With the world now predominantly urban, these sites are expected to represent the norm. Pablo Picasso saw constraints as sources of inspiration and invention rather than limitations to creativity. Similarly, rather than being a limitation to design, this thesis will show that it has the opportunity to become a foundational design driver motivating invention and innovation within the field’s practical and conceptual foundations

Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Energy Efficiency in Domestic Appliances and Lighting

At the EEDAL'15 conference 128 papers dealing with energy consumption and energy efficiency improvements for the residential sector have been presented. Papers focused policies and programmes, technologies and consumer behaviour. Special focus was on standards and labels, demand response and smart meters. All the paper s have been peer reviewed by experts in the sector.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc

Environmental impact assessment for sustainable cement production

Cement production requires intensive use of natural raw materials and energy. It also results in emissions to the atmosphere, the most significant being COZ. Studies estimate that the cement industry is responsible for 5% of global man-made COZ emissions.Managing and reducing these emissions is therefore a key priority. Cement emissions come from the following sources: chemical clinker-making process (50%-60 %), combustion of fossil fuels (40%), and indirect emissions from purchased electrical power (5%). This research has been carried out with the main objective of assessing the environmental impact of cement production and the potential for reducing its CO2 emissions. To achieve this objective, the performances of three cement companies were investigated and specific indicators set to measure the development of each company and benchmark the performances against each other. The research takes into account social, economic and environmental factors. The assessment used in this study is based on the WBCSD initiatives and its sustainability approach to cement production.This assessment has been conducted by indicating the best performance cement company and displaying the weak points of each of the benchmarked companies. This benchmark was used not only to estimate the environmental impact of cement operations and production among best performance companies, but also to determine new opportunities for efficient cement production, energy efficiency consumption, and low COZ emissions. This study used the benchmark to analyse the Lafarge, Holcim, and Taiheiyo cement companies. The research investigation is based on the review and analyses of data collected during authorised visits to the operating sites of each of these cement companies. Further required data was obtained from the companies' Sustainable Development Reports. A procedure for developing comparable environmental performance indicators, useful for benchmarking, has been described. This procedure has been used to develop key Environmental Performance Indicators, also taking into account economic and social performance. Both strengths and weaknesses are pointed out in different sections of the case studies. First, the benchmark, the resources to be included and the return figures play a determinant role in the quality of the results. Second, the assessment of environmental performance was evaluated by using specific indicators, including the imperatives indicators to investigate options for reducing COZ emissions throughout the process of manufacturing.The chief original contribution of this research is to identify the opportunities and potential for reducing the CO2 released from cement production, and to develop a model to allow evaluations to be made at different times during the cement manufacturing process of different cement companies, with varying priority levels of selected environmental performance indicators. Recommendations are made to manufacturers and the cement market in order to achieve higher levels of environmental performance (that is, less COZ emissions). This work opens new horizons for further research in this field

Proceedings of the First Houston Technology Transfer Conference

Commercially successful applications of NASA developed aerospace technology to industrial processes are discussed

Oil, state-capital and labour : work and work relations in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation

This study is, above all, about the men and women whose labour form the basis of Nigeria's economy and social stability: the petroleum workers. Those we will come across here, work in perhaps the most important single enterprise in Nigeria; the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The study itself was inspired by (i) an attempt to understand what work and work relations mean for these people, and (ii) by my dissatisfaction with the conventional wisdom in Industrial Relations analysis; which in the past years has inspired the regulation of the working lives of these petroleum workers as much as any group of employees in Nigeria. The study is on the NNPC, with special attention to the NNPC Refinery at Warri. The work itself is divided into three main parts; Part I, which is the Introductory section, is further divided in four chapters. Chapter 1 explores the main conceptual issues of this study, explains the research methods and examines some methodological issues that derive from the fieldwork. In Chapter 2, the labour process literature is reviewed, and this forms the analytical basis for the discussions in Parts II and III, while Chapters 3 and 4 provide the background information on Nigeria and NNPC respectively. Part U examines, under four chapters, the nature of work and processes of shopfloor relations in NNPC generally, with particular emphasis on the Refinery. Chapters 5 and 6 examine the nature of work and the internal labour market, while Chapters 7 and 8 look at the specific forms of relations on the shopfloor and their implications for shopfloor struggles. In Part III, I focus on unionism in the industry and the processes of interest mediation within the NNPC. The study takes conceptual issues with the main contributions to the Labour Process debate and argues for a more studied and coherent re-assesment of Braverman's work, by recognizing its theoretical and methodological objectives. The study concludes with a re-exposition of the main conceptual issues; first by emphasizing that it is only within the framework of a rigorous conceptual redefinition of production relations that we can overcome the limitations of conventional Industrial Relations discourse. Second, and central to this, is a re-conceptualized method of theory, which enables us to understand the socio-cultural peculiarities of each national or regional context, and overcome the limited vision of liberal-pluralist industrial relations ideology. In this sense, the study places strong emphasis on Marx's method of abstraction, both as a method of different levels of abstraction, and of one-sided abstraction. The Refinery, where the bulk of the field research was done, is located in the riverine belt of southern Nigeria. Although often referred to as Warri Refinery, the plant is situated in the Ethiope local government area of Bendel State, outside Warri (see Map A). This complication is a result of the settlement pattern in this area of southern Nigeria; Warri, for instance, is surrounded by tiny pockets of settlements, each with distinct lineage/clan history and traditional political autonomy. Two of such settlements are Jeddo and Ekpan villages which share the north-western borders with Warri, but in a separate local government area. It is on the territories of these two villages that the Refinery is located, although I will continue to refer to the plant as Warri Refinery