Coordination methodologies applied to RoboCup : a graphical definition of setplays

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informática e Computação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Situation based strategic positioning for coordinating a team of homogeneous agents

. In this paper we are proposing an approach for coordinating a team ofhomogeneous agents based on a flexible common Team Strategy as well as onthe concepts of Situation Based Strategic Positioning and Dynamic Positioningand Role Exchange. We also introduce an Agent Architecture including a specifichigh-level decision module capable of implementing this strategy. Ourproposal is based on the formalization of what is a team strategy for competingwith an opponent team having opposite goals. A team strategy is composed of aset of agent types and a set of tactics, which are also composed of several formations.Formations are used for different situations and assign each agent a defaultspatial positioning and an agent type (defining its behaviour at several levels).Agents reactivity is also introduced for appropriate response to the dynamicsof the current situation. However, in our approach this is done in a way thatpreserves team coherence instead of permitting uncoordinated agent behaviour.We have applied, with success, this coordination approach to the RoboSoccersimulated domain. The FC Portugal team, developed using this approach wonthe RoboCup2000 (simulation league) European and World championshipsscoring a total of 180 goals and conceding none

Chimbu Province: Text summaries, maps, code lists and village identification

The major purpose of the Papua New Guinea Agricultural Systems Project is to produce information on small holder (subsistence) agriculture at provincial and national levels (Allen et al 1995). Information was collected by field observation, interviews with villagers and reference to published and unpublished documents. Methods are described by Bourke et al. (1993). This Working Paper contains a written summary of the information on the Agricultural Systems in this Province, maps of the location of agriculture systems, a complete listing of all information in the database in coded form, and lists of villages with National Population Census codes, indexed by agricultural systems. This information is available as a map-linked database (GIS) suitable for use on a personal computer in ESRI and MapInfo formats. An Agricultural System is identified when a set of similar agricultural crops and practices occur within a defined area. Six criteria are used to distinguish one system from another: 1. Fallow type (the vegetation which is cleared from a garden site before cultivation). 2. Fallow period (the length of time a garden site is left unused between cultivations). 3. Cultivation intensity (the number of consecutive crops planted before fallow). 4. The staple, or most important, crops. 5. Garden and crop segregation (the extent to which crops are planted in separate gardens; in separate areas within a garden; or are planted sequentially). 6. Soil fertility maintenance techniques (other than natural regrowth fallows). Where one or more of these factors differs significantly and the differences can be mapped, then a separate system is distinguished. Where variation occurs, but is not able to be mapped at 1:500 000 scale because the areas in which the variation occurs are too small or are widely dispersed within the larger system, a subsystem is identified. Subsystems within an Agricultural System are allocated a separate record in the database, identified by the Agricultural System number and a subsystem number. Sago is a widespread staple food in lowland Papua New Guinea. Sago is produced from palms which are not grown in gardens. Most of the criteria above cannot be applied. In this case, systems are differentiated on the basis of the staple crops only. The Papua New Guinea Resource Information System (PNGRIS) is a GIS which contains information on the natural resources of PNG (Bellamy 1986). PNGRIS contains no information on agricultural practices, other than an assessment of land use intensity based on air photograph interpretation by Saunders (1993. The Agricultural Systems Project is designed to provide detailed information on agricultural practices and cropping patterns as part of an upgraded PNGRIS geographical information system. For this reason the Agricultural Systems database contains almost no information on the environmental settings of the systems, except for altitude and slope. The layout of the text descriptions, the database code files and the village lists are similar to PNGRIS formats (Cuddy 1987). The mapping of Agricultural Systems has been carried out on the same map base and scale as PNGRIS (Tactical Pilotage Charts, 1:500 000). Agricultural Systems were mapped within the areas of agricultural land use established by Saunders (1993) from aerial photography. Except where specifically noted, Agricultural Systems boundaries have been mapped without reference to PNGRIS Resource Mapping Unit (RMU) boundaries. Agricultural Systems are defined at the level of the Province (following PNGRIS) but their wider distribution is recognised in the database by cross-referencing systems which cross provincial borders. A preliminary view of the relationships between PNGRIS RMUs and the Agricultural Systems in this Province can be obtained from the listing of villages by Agricultural System, where RMU numbers are appended. Allen, B. J., R. M. Bourke and R. L. Hide 1995. The sustainability of Papua New Guinea agricultural systems: the conceptual background. Global Environmental Change 5(4): 297-312. Bourke, R. M., R. L. Hide, B. J. Allen, R. Grau, G. S. Humphreys and H. C. Brookfield 1993. Mapping agricultural systems in Papua New Guinea. Population Family Health and Development. T. Taufa and C. Bass. University of Papua New Guinea Press, Port Moresby: 205-224. Bellamy, J. A. and J. R. McAlpine 1995. Papua New Guinea Inventory of Natural Resources, Population Distribution and Land Use Handbook. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation for the Australian Agency for International Development. PNGRIS Publication No. 6, Canberra. Cuddy, S. M. 1987. Papua New Guinea Inventory of Natural Resources, Population Distribution and Land Use: Code Files Part 1 Natural Resources. Division of Water and Land Resources, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and Land Utilization Section, Department of Primary Industry, Papua New Guinea, Canberra

Analysis of Reliability and Validity in Refereeing of Kumite in Karate-Do

Dissertation presented towards Master of Sports Science Degree with specialisation in Sports TrainingMaster's Supervisor: Félix Luís de Lima e Cunha Hopffer Romero PhDAbstract An investigation centered on referees has been relatively scarce or non-existent, particularly in regards to refereeing Kumite in Karate. The present study’s objective was to characterize Karate referees’ performance in a Kumite match along with its validity, as well as the intra and inter-observer reliability. This current investigation focused on observations made by Karate referees belonging to the FPKS and entailed a Karate match that lasted two minutes. Based on that match a eight minute video was put together, where it can be seen from the perspective and position of both the referee and each one of the judges. The data was collected during two different periods of time. The first data collected was to analyse the inter-observer’s reliability and the validity. The second data collection took place within a minimum sixty day interval, in order to verify the intra-observer’s reliability. In order to analyse the validity, a group of experts was commissioned with the purpose of putting together criteria of measure. A sample part of the video was observed individually by the referees, in a closed environment setting and documented with the use of the Match Vision Studio software. The Bellack Index was used to assess the intra and inter-observer’s reliability and validity, therefore accepting a result equal or superior to eighty percent as the guarantor of reliability (Aranha, 2007, Siedentop, 1983). The chi-squared test was used to verify if there were any significant differences in the validity between national and regional referees, as well as, in accordance with the position of the observation (referee or judge). The reliability results were (78,7%) and (77,2%) for the intra-observer and the inter-observer reliability, respectively. The results are in close proximity to each other and one can conclude that the variability between the various referees is not greater than the variations that occur in the same referee at two different periods of time. The validity is low (72,2%), seemingly there is a difference in the assessment criteria between the experts and the referees. This should be improved with the aid of specialised training, in order to better the uniformity of decision criteria. In both the intra and inter-observer’s reliability, no significant differences were found between the national and regional referees. A significant difference of (3,4%, Sig 0,004) was found between the national and regional referees regarding validity, and being even higher for the national referees. The difference between referees and judges is significant when it comes to the intra-observer’s reliability which was (9,9% Sig 0,002) and (9,8%, Sig 0,004) for validity, with the judges being even higher. A conclusion can be made that validity was always lower than the intra and inter-observer’s reliability, which denotes a divergence in the assessment criteria between referees and experts. The lack of the intra-observer’s reliability seems to be a major constraining factor for a better performance

Examining the Influences of Yutori Education in Japan on Opportunity to Learn (OTL) and Student Achievement on the TIMSS: A Multiple Cohort Analysis

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of yutori reforms on Opportunity to Learn (OTL), as defined by Stevens’ (1993, 1996) multidimensional framework, and to examine how the changes in OTL may have subsequently affected Japanese 8th graders’ mathematics achievement as measured by the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). This dissertation was a mixed-methods, multicohort study combining analyses of archival documents and interview-based data with analyses of quantitative TIMSS data on OTL and student achievement in mathematics in selected years. The study used three waves of TIMSS data (1999, 2003, and 2007) to examine the effects of yutori reforms on OTL levels at the classroom level over time, and their corresponding influence on student achievement levels on the TIMSS assessment with Hierarchical Linear Models (HLM). The three overarching findings of this study were: (a) the yutori reforms were not implemented in schools and classes as originally intended by the Ministry of Education, Sports, Culture and Technology in Japan, with ongoing shifts in policies and priorities at the national level; (b) there were significant changes in classroom-level OTL measures indicating reductions in instructional time dedicated to mathematics but improvements in the quality of instructional delivery were found to occur under the yutori reforms; and (c) the instructional time component of OTL was found to be positively associated with students’ mathematics achievement under yutori reforms, with the most socioeconomically disadvantaged students benefitting more in terms of achievement outcomes than those who were more advantaged

Placing trust: The political ecology of chicken meat in Japan

Ph.D.Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 201

Yosano Akiko and The Tale of Genji

Yosano Akiko (1878–1942) has long been recognized as one of the most important literary figures of prewar Japan. Her renown derives principally from the passion of her early poetry and from her contributions to 20th-century debates about women. This emphasis obscures a major part of her career, which was devoted to work on the Japanese classics and, in particular, the great Heian period text The Tale of Genji. Akiko herself felt that Genji was the bedrock upon which her entire literary career was built, and her bibliography shows a steadily increasing amount of time devoted to projects related to the tale. This study traces for the first time the full range of Akiko’s involvement with The Tale of Genji. The Tale of Genji provided Akiko with her conception of herself as a writer and inspired many of her most significant literary projects. She, in turn, refurbished the tale as a modern novel, pioneered some of the most promising avenues of modern academic research on Genji, and, to a great extent, gave the text the prominence it now enjoys as a translated classic. Through Akiko’s work Genji became, in fact as well as in name, an exemplum of that most modern of literary genres, the novel. In delineating this important aspect of Akiko’s life and her bibliography, this study aims to show that facile descriptions of Akiko as a “poetess of passion” or “new woman” will no longer suffice

Virtual Japanese : Enigmas of Role Language

Osaka University Humanities and Social Sciences Series『ヴァーチャル日本語　役割語の謎』の英語