Analysis and design of multiagent systems using MAS-CommonKADS

This article proposes an agent-oriented methodology called MAS-CommonKADS and develops a case study. This methodology extends the knowledge engineering methodology CommonKADSwith techniquesfrom objectoriented and protocol engineering methodologies. The methodology consists of the development of seven models: Agent Model, that describes the characteristics of each agent; Task Model, that describes the tasks that the agents carry out; Expertise Model, that describes the knowledge needed by the agents to achieve their goals; Organisation Model, that describes the structural relationships between agents (software agents and/or human agents); Coordination Model, that describes the dynamic relationships between software agents; Communication Model, that describes the dynamic relationships between human agents and their respective personal assistant software agents; and Design Model, that refines the previous models and determines the most suitable agent architecture for each agent, and the requirements of the agent network.

Classification of discrete systems on a square lattice

We consider the classification up to a Möbius transformation of real linearizable and integrable partial difference equations with dispersion defined on a square lattice by the multiscale reduction around their harmonic solution. We show that the A1, A2, and A3 linearizability and integrability conditions constrain the number of parameters in the equation, but these conditions are insufficient for a complete characterization of the subclass of multilinear equations on a square lattice.

The role of secretion systems and small molecules in soft-rot enterobacteriaceae pathogenicity

Soft-rot Enterobacteriaceae (SRE), which belong to the genera Pectobacterium and Dickeya, consist mainly of broad host-range pathogens that cause wilt, rot, and blackleg diseases on a wide range of plants. They are found in plants, insects, soil, and water in agricultural regions worldwide. SRE encode all six known protein secretion systems present in gram-negative bacteria, and these systems are involved in attacking host plants and competing bacteria. They also produce and detect multiple types of small molecules to coordinate pathogenesis, modify the plant environment, attack competing microbes, and perhaps to attract insect vectors. This review integrates new information about the role protein secretion and detection and production of ions and small molecules play in soft-rot pathogenicity.

Resilience analysis of networked systems-of-systems based on structural and dynamic interdependencies

Critical infrastructures support everyday activities in modern societies, facilitating the exchange of services and quantities of various nature. Their functioning is the result of the integration of diverse technologies, systems and organizations into a complex network of interconnections. Benefits from networking are accompanied by new threats and risks. In particular, because of the increased interdependency, disturbances and failures may propagate and render unstable the whole infrastructure network. This paper presents a methodology of resilience analysis of networked systems of systems. Resilience generalizes the concept of stability of a system around a state of equilibrium, with respect to a disturbance and its ability of preventing, resisting and recovery. The methodology provides a tool for the analysis of off-equilibrium conditions that may occur in a single system and propagate through the network of dependencies. The analysis is conducted in two stages. The first stage of the analysis is qualitative. It identifies the resilience scenarios, i.e. the sequence of events, triggered by an initial disturbance, which include failures and the system response. The second stage is quantitative. The most critical scenarios can be simulated, for the desired parameter settings, in order to check if they are successfully handled, i.e recovered to nominal conditions, or they end into the network failure. The proposed methodology aims at providing an effective support to resilience-informed design.

Benchmarking for stability evaluation of computer systems

In this paper we propose a new benchmark to drive making decisions in maintenance of computer systems. This benchmark is made from load average sample data. The main goal is to improve reliability and performance of a set of devices or components. In particular, the stability of the system is measured in terms of variability of the load. A forecast of the behavior of this stability is also proposal as part of the reporting benchmark. At the final stage, a more stable system is obtained and its global reliability and performance can be then evaluated by means of appropriate specifications.

Ontology driven description and engineering of autonomous systems: application to process system engineering

Autonomous systems refer to systems capable of operating in a real world environment without any form of external control for extended periods of time. Autonomy is a desired goal for every system as it improves its performance, safety and profit. Ontologies are a way to conceptualize the knowledge of a specific domain. In this paper an ontology for the description of autonomous systems as well as for its development (engineering) is presented and applied to a process. This ontology is intended to be applied and used to generate final applications following a model driven methodology.

A comparison of the two most popular word processors from the point of view of their conviviality

In this paper, we aim to prove, firstly, that the argument of the excess of complexity is not a whim. We will focous our attention on a particular and widespread case within the Tool Box, word processors, and on the most widely sold products inside this category respectively, the one a few years ago, the other at the present moment: WordStar y WordPerfect. The aspect of their complexity we are interested in is their user interface, because in the first place it is the aspect that most influences the human job.

Optimal polygonal L1 linearization and fast interpolation of nonlinear systems

The analysis of complex nonlinear systems is often carried out using simpler piecewise linear representations of them. A principled and practical technique is proposed to linearize and evaluate arbitrary continuous nonlinear functions using polygonal (continuous piecewise linear) models under the L1 norm. A thorough error analysis is developed to guide an optimal design of two kinds of polygonal approximations in the asymptotic case of a large budget of evaluation subintervals N. The method allows the user to obtain the level of linearization (N) for a target approximation error and vice versa. It is suitable for, but not limited to, an efficient implementation in modern Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), allowing real-time performance of computationally demanding applications. The quality and efficiency of the technique has been measured in detail on two nonlinear functions that are widely used in many areas of scientific computing and are expensive to evaluate.

Automatic detection of PV systems failures from monitoring validated on 10,000 BIPV systems in Europe

The installers and owners show a growing interest in the follow-up of the performance of their photovoltaic (PV) systems. The owners are requesting reliable sources of information to ensure that their system is functioning properly, and the installers are actively looking for efficient ways of providing them the most useful possible information from the data available. Policy makers are becoming increasingly interested in the knowledge of the real performance of PV systems and the most frequent sources of problems that they suffer to be able to target the identified challenges properly. The scientific and industrial PV community is also requiring an access to massive operational data to pursue the technological improvements further.

Bio-inspired enhancement of reputation systems for intelligent environments

Providing security to the emerging field of ambient intelligence will be difficult if we rely only on existing techniques, given their dynamic and heterogeneous nature. Moreover, security demands of these systems are expected to grow, as many applications will require accurate context modeling. In this work we propose an enhancement to the reputation systems traditionally deployed for securing these systems. Different anomaly detectors are combined using the immunological paradigm to optimize reputation system performance in response to evolving security requirements. As an example, the experiments show how a combination of detectors based on unsupervised techniques (self-organizing maps and genetic algorithms) can help to significantly reduce the global response time of the reputation system. The proposed solution offers many benefits: scalability, fast response to adversarial activities, ability to detect unknown attacks, high adaptability, and high ability in detecting and confining attacks. For these reasons, we believe that our solution is capable of coping with the dynamism of ambient intelligence systems and the growing requirements of security demands.

Design and technical evaluation of an enhanced location-awareness service enabler for spatial disorientation management of elderly with mild cognitive impairment

The progressive ageing of population has turned the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) into a prevalent disease suffered by elderly. Consequently, the spatial disorientation has become a significant problem for older people and their caregivers. The ambient-assisted living applications are offering location-based services for empowering elderly to go outside and encouraging a greater independence. Therefore, this paper describes the design and technical evaluation of a location-awareness service enabler aimed at supporting and managing probable wandering situations of a person with MCI. Through the presence capabilities of the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) architecture, the service will alert patient's contacts if a hazardous situation is detected depending on his location. Furthermore, information about the older person's security areas has been included in the user profile managed by IMS. In doing so, the service enabler introduced contribute to “context-awareness” paradigm allowing the adaptation and personalization of services depending on user's context and specific conditions or preferences.

Mathematical foundations for efficient structural controllability and observability analysis of complex systems

The relationship between structural controllability and observability of complex systems is studied. Algebraic and graph theoretic tools are combined to prove the extent of some controller/observer duality results. Two types of control design problems are addressed and some fundamental theoretical results are provided. In addition new algorithms are presented to compute optimal solutions for monitoring large scale real networks.

The relationship between young people's transit use and their perceptions of equity concepts in transit service provision

This study investigates the effect of price and travel mode fairness and spatial equity in transit provision on the perceived transit service quality, willingness to pay, and habitual frequency of use. Based on the theory of planned behavior, we developed a web-based questionnaire for revealed preferences data collection. The survey was administered among young people in Copenhagen and Lisbon to explore the transit perceptions and use under different economic and transit provision conditions. The survey yielded 499 questionnaires, analyzed by means of structural equation models. Results show that higher perceived fairness relates positively to higher perceived quality of transit service and higher perceived ease of paying for transit use. Higher perceived spatial equity in service provision is associated with higher perceived service quality. Higher perceived service quality relates to higher perceived ease of payment, which links to higher frequency of transit use.

Optimization of optical systems for LED spot lights concerning the color uniformity

Spotlighting is one illumination field where the application of light emitting diodes (LED) creates many advantages. Commonly, the system for spot lights consists of a LED light engine and collimating secondary optics. Through angular or spatial separated emitted light from the source and imaging optical elements, a non uniform far field appears with colored rings, dots or patterns. Many feasible combinations result in very different spatial color distributions. Several combinations of three multi-chip light sources and secondary optical elements like reflectors and TIR lenses with additional facets or scattering elements were analyzed mainly regarding the color uniformity. They are assessed by the merit function Usl which was derived from human factor experiments and describes the color uniformity based on the visual perception of humans. Furthermore, the optical systems are compared concerning efficiency, peak candela and aspect ratio. Both types of optics differ in the relation between the color uniformity level and other properties. A plain reflector with a slightly color mixing light source performs adequate. The results for the TIR lenses indicate that they need additional elements for good color mixing or blended light source. The most convenient system depends on the requirements of the application.

Identification of voting systems for the identification of preferences in public participation. Case Study: application of the Borda Count system for collective decision making at the Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Abstract:The aim of this paper is to review the literature on voting systems based on Condorcet and Borda. We compared and classified them. Also we referred to some strengths and weaknesses of voting systems and finally in a case study, we made use of the Borda voting system for collective decision making in the Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Resumen: el objetivo de este trabajo es hacer una revisión bibliográfica de los sistemas de votación basados en Condorcet y Borda. Se ha comparado y clasificado los mismos. Así mismo se ha hecho referencia a algunas debilidades y fortalezas de los sistemas de votación y por último en un caso de estudio, se ha hecho uso del sistema de votación de Borda para la toma de decisión colectiva en el Parque Nacional de Salonga en la República Democrática del Congo.