Fuzzy Logic Foundations and Industrial Applications (ed. D. Ruan), Springer US, 1996, ISBN: 978-0-7923-9774-8 [Book review]

Abstract not available

In vitro-in vivo correlations of self-emulsifying drug delivery systems combining the dynamic lipolysis model and neuro-fuzzy networks

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the potential of the dynamic lipolysis model to simulate the absorption of a poorly soluble model drug compound, probucol, from three lipid-based formulations and to predict the in vitro-in vivo correlation (IVIVC) using neuro-fuzzy networks. An oil solution and two self-micro and nano-emulsifying drug delivery systems were tested in the lipolysis model. The release of probucol to the aqueous (micellar) phase was monitored during the progress of lipolysis. These release profiles compared with plasma profiles obtained in a previous bioavailability study conducted in mini-pigs at the same conditions. The release rate and extent of release from the oil formulation were found to be significantly lower than from SMEDDS and SNEDDS. The rank order of probucol released (SMEDDS approximately SNEDDS > oil formulation) was similar to the rank order of bioavailability from the in vivo study. The employed neuro-fuzzy model (AFM-IVIVC) achieved significantly high prediction ability for different data formations (correlation greater than 0.91 and prediction error close to zero), without employing complex configurations. These preliminary results suggest that the dynamic lipolysis model combined with the AFM-IVIVC can be a useful tool in the prediction of the in vivo behavior of lipid-based formulations.

A reified temporal logic

This paper presents a reified temporal logic for representing and reasoning about temporal and non-temporal relationships between non-temporal assertions. A clear syntax and semantics for the logic is formally provided. Three types of predicates, temporal predicates, non-temporal predicates and meta-predicates, are introduced. Terms of the proposed language are partitioned into three types, temporal terms, non-temporal terms and propositional terms. Reified propositions consist of formulae with each predicate being either a temporal predicate or a meta-predicate. Meta-predicates may take both temporal terms and propositional terms together as arguments or take propositional terms alone. A standard formula of the classical first-order language with each predicate being a non-temporal predicate taking only non-temporal terms as arguments is reified as just a propositional term. A general time ontology has been provided which can be specialized to a variety of existing temporal systems. The new logic allows one to predicate and quantify over propositional terms while according a special status of time; for example, assertions such as ‘effects cannot precede their causes’ is ensured in the logic, and some problematic temporal aspects including the delay time between events and their effects can be conveniently expressed. Applications of the logic are presented including the characterization of the negation of properties and their contextual sentences, and the expression of temporal relations between actions and effects.

The AGILE policy expression language for autonomic systems

This paper presents the AGILE policy expression language. The language enables powerful expression of self-managing behaviours and facilitates policy-based autonomic computing in which the policies themselves can be adapted dynamically and automatically. The language is generic so as to be deployable across a wide spectrum of application domains, and is very flexible through the use of simple yet expressive syntax and semantics. The development of AGILE is motivated by the need for adaptive policy mechanisms that are easy to deploy into legacy code and can be used by non autonomics-expert practitioners to embed self-managing behaviours with low cost and risk. A library implementation of the policy language is described. The implementation extends the state of the art in policy-based autonomics through innovations which include support for multiple policy versions of a given policy type, multiple configuration templates, and higher-level ‘meta-policies’ to dynamically select between differently configured business-logic policy instances and templates. Two dissimilar example deployment scenarios are examined.

Flexible and robust run-time configuration for self-managing systems

This paper describes a methodology for deploying flexible dynamic configuration into embedded systems whilst preserving the reliability advantages of static systems. The methodology is based on the concept of decision points (DP) which are strategically placed to achieve fine-grained distribution of self-management logic to meet application-specific requirements. DP logic can be changed easily, and independently of the host component, enabling self-management behavior to be deferred beyond the point of system deployment. A transparent Dynamic Wrapper mechanism (DW) automatically detects and handles problems arising from the evaluation of self-management logic within each DP and ensures that the dynamic aspects of the system collapse down to statically defined default behavior to ensure safety and correctness despite failures. Dynamic context management contributes to flexibility, and removes the need for design-time binding of context providers and consumers, thus facilitating run-time composition and incremental component upgrade.

A run-time configurable software architecture for self-managing systems

This paper describes a highly flexible component architecture, primarily designed for automotive control systems, that supports distributed dynamically- configurable context-aware behaviour. The architecture enforces a separation of design-time and run-time concerns, enabling almost all decisions concerning runtime composition and adaptation to be deferred beyond deployment. Dynamic context management contributes to flexibility. The architecture is extensible, and can embed potentially many different self-management decision technologies simultaneously. The mechanism that implements the run-time configuration has been designed to be very robust, automatically and silently handling problems arising from the evaluation of self- management logic and ensuring that in the worst case the dynamic aspects of the system collapse down to static behavior in totally predictable ways.