Independent learners in abstract traffic scenarios

Traffic is a phenomena that emerges from individual, uncoordinatedand, most of the times, selfish route choice made by drivers. In general, this leads topoor global and individual performance, regarding travel times and road network loadbalance. This work presents a reinforcement learning based approach for route choicewhich relies solely on drivers experience to guide their decisions. There is no coordinatedlearning mechanism, thus driver agents are independent learners. Our approachis tested on two abstract traffic scenarios and it is compared to other route choice methods.Experimental results show that drivers learn routes in complex scenarios with noprior knowledge. Plus, the approach outperforms the compared route choice methodsregarding drivers’ travel time. Also, satisfactory performance is achieved regardingroad network load balance. The simplicity, realistic assumptions and performance ofthe proposed approach suggests that it is a feasible candidate for implementation innavigation systems for guiding drivers decision regarding route choice

Demanda por transporte rodoviário urbano: um modelo computacional baseado em agentes

TCC (Graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro Socioeconômico. Curso de Graduação em Ciências Econômicas.O presente trabalho tem por objetivo elaborar um modelo computacional baseado em agentes aplicado à demanda por transporte rodoviário urbano em via única, de maneira a captar algumas características presentes no deslocamento diário de pessoas continente-ilha na cidade de Florianópolis. É proposto um modelo composto por agentes que se deparam com duas estratégias de modal de transporte ( carro ou ônibus) e duas estratégias de horário de saída. A escolha dos agentes é dada por um modelo de escolha discreta com externalidades de rede, no qual a decisão de cada um influencia a utilidade dos demais. A implementação computacional do modelo é feita através do programa Netlogo. Os resultados indicam a predominância do termo determinístico na escolha dos agentes e a convergência ao equilíbrio após poucas rodadas de interação

Passengers, Crowding and Complexity : Models for passenger oriented public transport

Passengers, Crowding and Complexity was written as part of the Complexity in Public Transport (ComPuTr) project funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). This thesis studies in three parts how microscopic data can be used in models that have the potential to improve utilization, while preventing excess crowding. _In the first part_, the emergence of crowding caused by interactions between the behavior of passengers and the public transport operators who plan the vehicle capacities is modeled. Using simulations the impact of the information disclosed to the passengers by public transport operators on the utilization and passenger satisfaction is analyzed. A quasi-experiment with a large group of students in a similar setting finds that four types of behavior can be observed. _In the second part_, algorithms that can extract temporal and spatial patterns from smart card data are developed and a first step to use such patterns in an agent based simulation is made. Furthermore, a way to generate synthetic smart card data is proposed. This is useful for the empirical validation of algorithms that analyze such data. _In the third and final part_ it is considered how individual decision strategies can be developed in situations where there exists uncertainty ab

The transformation of masculinity in contemporary black South African novels

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements of degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg, 2015The ways in which we have come to know the world through expressions and performances of dominant versions of masculine and feminine gendered identities is challenged, refracted and altered on a daily basis through social interactions. This work situates itself within the various spheres of dominant masculinity production such as neo-traditional African cultural practices, sexuality, the family unit, race and class, as well as other contributory factors such as migration and lack of social advancement opportunities. Through the use of the novelistic genre, this work examines how contemporary black South African novels of English expression engage with the production of dominant masculinity, in order to critique the taken-for-granted access by dominant men to social power over other men, women and children. Not only does this study concern itself with the extent to which core elements of dominant masculinities are being transformed, it tracks transformation in literary figurations of men, and is interested in the alternative masculine identities that these novels proffer. This works’ search for alternative identities is predicated on the primacy of a symbiotic relationship between strategies of self re-presentation, personal agency and the power of social structures. This study concludes that the central codes of contemporary dominant black masculinities are forced to change because their legitimising narratives are put under scrutiny. Fluctuating social, political and economic factors also mediate their constant breakdown and recreation. However, the development of the alternative gendered identities imagined in these novels is thwarted by the prevailing socio-cultural practices of the contemporary era

Personality representation: predicting behaviour for personalised learning support

The need for personalised support systems comes from the growing number of students that are being supported within institutions with shrinking resources. Over the last decade the use of computers and the Internet within education has become more predominant. This opens up a range of possibilities in regard to spreading that resource further and more effectively. Previous attempts to create automated systems such as intelligent tutoring systems and learning companions have been criticised for being pedagogically ineffective and relying on large knowledge sources which restrict their domain of application. More recent work on adaptive hypermedia has resolved some of these issues but has been criticised for the lack of support scope, focusing on learning paths and alternative content presentation. The student model used within these systems is also of limited scope and often based on learning history or learning styles.This research examines the potential of using a personality theory as the basis for a personalisation mechanism within an educational support system. The automated support system is designed to utilise a personality based profile to predict student behaviour. This prediction is then used to select the most appropriate feedback from a selection of reflective hints for students performing lab based programming activities. The rationale for the use of personality is simply that this is the concept psychologists use for identifying individual differences and similarities which are expressed in everyday behaviour. Therefore the research has investigated how these characteristics can be modelled in order to provide a fundamental understanding of the student user and thus be able to provide tailored support. As personality is used to describe individuals across many situations and behaviours, the use of such at the core of a personalisation mechanism may overcome the issues of scope experienced by previous methods.This research poses the following question: can a representation of personality be used to predict behaviour within a software system, in such a way, as to be able to personalise support?Putting forward the central claim that it is feasible to capture and represent personality within a software system for the purpose of personalising services.The research uses a mixed methods approach including a number and combination of quantitative and qualitative methods for both investigation and determining the feasibility of this approach.The main contribution of the thesis has been the development of a set of profiling models from psychological theories, which account for both individual differences and group similarities, as a means of personalising services. These are then applied to the development of a prototype system which utilises a personality based profile. The evidence from the evaluation of the developed prototype system has demonstrated an ability to predict student behaviour with limited success and personalise support.The limitations of the evaluation study and implementation difficulties suggest that the approach taken in this research is not feasible. Further research and exploration is required –particularly in the application to a subject area outside that of programming

Unduly harsh and unworkably rigid: the death penalty in North Carolina, 1910-1961

Some contemporary observers believe that southern states' prolific execution record can be traced back to a violent southern past. But an examination of concerns about the pain inflicted by the noose, the electric chair, and the gas chamber; of the complex influence of race on the death penalty process; of recommendations of mercy by jurors and governors' acts of executive clemency; and of the controversy that these issues raised reveals that the history of the death penalty in North Carolina, the South, and the nation, is much more nuanced. Concerns about pain and its effects on an audience inspired lawmakers to try to make executions less painful and less visible. North Carolina became among the nation's first adopters of the electric chair and the gas chamber, but failed to dull public interest in executions and focused the conversation about the death penalty on methods rather than motivations. The racism of the Jim Crow South informed the death penalty, and North Carolina disproportionately executed African Americans, especially those who committed crimes against whites. However, all-white juries could show even African Americans accused of shocking crimes some leniency, applying a brutal logic that revealed the flexibility of the racial caste system. In an era when murder, rape, burglary, and arson carried mandatory death sentences, juries showed mercy by withholding guilty verdicts, formally recommending life sentences, following a guilty verdict with petitions to the governor for clemency. North Carolinians knew that their death penalty was capricious, and they exploited it to introduce mercy into the process. All the while, some North Carolinians were trying to persuade their fellow citizens to reject death as punishment. This dissertation invites a reconsideration of vengeance, justice, and race in one southern state. The death penalty's history in North Carolina is one of anxieties and ambivalence as much as racism and vengeance

Congestion-Clearing Payments to Passengers

Peak period motor vehicle traffic volume congests roads all over the world. This project hypothesizes implementing congestion- clearing payments to passengers as a permanent congestion-management solution. Ongoing congestion-free travel would be achieved by removing existing congestion, and absorbing (re)generated demand, at costs that would be expected to increase as the total number of travelers increases over time. The project develops a comprehensive, step-by-step methodology to calculate the benefits and costs of paying for drivers to become passengers at a congestion-clearing level and to maintain this level over time. The method is derived from the literature, analysis by the project team, and development of a case study. The case study, based on a long-standing bottleneck location in California, enabled the project team to think through the real challenges of developing and evaluating such a solution. The project finds that the conceptual underpinning of the solution is sound. Based on a survey, the case study finds that there is a level of payment that could clear congestion and maintain free-flow for twenty years, with benefits that outweigh costs on a net present value basis by about four to one—though calibration is required. After the initial reward clears the queue at the bottleneck, a significant intra-peak demand shift would occur as existing and new travelers depart home at times that are more to their liking, potentially causing the queue to re-form. A second incentive manages time of travel, rewarding people for traveling as passengers earlier (or later) than the preferred high demand peak-of-the-peak. In the case study, the high proportion of people who say they will only drive alone would eventually result in some periods of single-occupant-vehicle-only traffic during peak, which is an unintended and undesirable consequence. For the case study route, a limit on single-occupant-vehicle travel during the peak- of-the-peak would ensure that high-occupancy-vehicle travel is given preference and would reduce the overall cost of the solution. For the case study, the cost of the congestion-clearing payments-to-passengers solution on a net present value basis is within the estimated range of costs of the alternative of expanding the facility, and the benefits are expected to be greater than for facility expansion. Congestion-clearing payments to passengers can be implemented much sooner and will have greater positive long-term economic impacts. Facility expansion would provide lower and shorter-term benefits and would be expected to return to congested conditions within a year. The project team proposes a pilot project on the case study route to test and calibrate the solution, as well as recommending development of further case study routes to find out how different routes vary and determine the causes of any variations