Expert system application on preliminary design of water retaining structures

Design of liquid retaining structures involves many decisions to be made by the designer based on rules of thumb, heuristics, judgment, code of practice and previous experience. Various design parameters to be chosen include configuration, material, loading, etc. A novice engineer may face many difficulties in the design process. Recent developments in artificial intelligence and emerging field of knowledge-based system (KBS) have made widespread applications in different fields. However, no attempt has been made to apply this intelligent system to the design of liquid retaining structures. The objective of this study is, thus, to develop a KBS that has the ability to assist engineers in the preliminary design of liquid retaining structures. Moreover, it can provide expert advice to the user in selection of design criteria, design parameters and optimum configuration based on minimum cost. The development of a prototype KBS for the design of liquid retaining structures (LIQUID), using blackboard architecture with hybrid knowledge representation techniques including production rule system and object-oriented approach, is presented in this paper. An expert system shell, Visual Rule Studio, is employed to facilitate the development of this prototype system. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Medical marijuana initiatives - Are they justified? How successful are they likely to be?

The principal constituent of cannabis, Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is moderately effective in treating nausea and vomiting, appetite loss, and acute and chronic pain. Oral THC (dronabinol) and the synthetic cannabinoid, nabilone, have been registered for medical use in the US and UK, but they have not been widely used because patients find it difficult to titrate doses of these drugs. Advocates for the medical use of cannabis argue that patients should be allowed to smoke cannabis to relieve these above-mentioned symptoms. Some US state governments have legislated to allow the medical prescription of cannabis, but the US federal government has tried to prevent patients from obtaining cannabis and threatened physicians who prescribe it with criminal prosecution or loss of their licence to practise. In the UK and Australia, committees of inquiry have recommended medical prescription (UK) and exemption from criminal prosecution (New South Wales, Australia), but governments have not accepted these recommendations. The Canadian government allows an exemption from criminal prosecution to patients with specified medical conditions. It has recently legislated to provide cannabis on medical prescription to registered patients, but this scheme so far has not been implemented. Some advocates argue that legalising cannabis is the only way to ensure that patients can use it for medical purposes. However, this would be contrary to international drug control treaties and is electorally unpopular. The best prospects for the medical use of cannabinoids lie in finding ways to deliver THC that do not involve smoking and in developing synthetic cannabinoids that produce therapeutic effects with a minimum of psychoactive effects. While awaiting these developments, patients with specified medical conditions could be given exemptions from criminal prosecution to grow cannabis for their own use, at their own risk.

Sport-specific practice and the development of expert decision-making in team ball sports

The role of sport-specific practice in the development of decision-making expertise in the sports of field hockey, netball, and basketball was examined. Fifteen expert decision-makers and 13 experienced non-expert athletes provided detailed information about the quantity and type of sport-specific and other related practice activities they had undertaken throughout their careers. Experts accumulated more hours of sport-specific practice from age 12 years onwards than did non-experts, spending on average some 13 years and 4,000 hours on concentrated sport-specific practice before reaching international standard. A significant negative correlation existed between the number of additional activities undertaken and the hours of sportspecific training required before attaining expertise, suggesting a functional role for activities other than sport-specific training in the development of expert decision-making.

A coupled knowledge-based expert system for design of liquid-retaining structures

This paper describes a coupled knowledge-based system (KBS) for the design of liquid-retaining structures, which can handle both the symbolic knowledge processing based on engineering heuristics in the preliminary synthesis stage and the extensive numerical crunching involved in the detailed analysis stage. The prototype system is developed by employing blackboard architecture and a commercial shell VISUAL RULE STUDIO. Its present scope covers design of three types of liquid-retaining structures, namely, a rectangular shape with one compartment, a rectangular shape with two compartments and a circular shape. Through custom-built interactive graphical user interfaces, the user is directed throughout the design process, which includes preliminary design, load specification, model generation, finite element analysis, code compliance checking and member sizing optimization. It is also integrated with various relational databases that provide the system with sectional properties, moment and shear coefficients and final member details. This system can act as a consultant to assist novice designers in the design of liquid-retaining structures with increase in efficiency and optimization of design output and automated record keeping. The design of a typical example of the liquid-retaining structure is also illustrated. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

Atividade pioneira na Pol??cia Rodovi??ria Federal e no Brasil: fiscaliza????o de excesso de peso

Anteriormente ?? implementa????o da iniciativa, a situa????o encontrada no trabalho de fiscaliza????o ao excesso de peso nos ve??culos que transitam nas rodovias federais era a de que as multas aplicadas n??o surtiam o efeito de inibir tal pr??tica, uma vez que destinavam-se somente aos propriet??rios dos ve??culos. Atualmente, ap??s a detec????o e autua????o do excesso de peso, confecciona-se um Boletim de Ocorr??ncia Policial que ?? encaminhado ao Minist??rio P??blico Federal, visando ?? responsabiliza????o das empresas que embarcaram as cargas. A partir da??, os envolvidos s??o acionados judicialmente e ?? apresentado o Termo de Ajuste de Conduta. Ap??s o acionamento judicial, as empresas se comprometem a n??o mais transitarem com excesso de peso e assim o fazem. Todo esse servi??o ?? divulgado pela m??dia (emissoras de TV, r??dios e jornais) e por meio da Assessoria de Comunica????o Social do Minist??rio P??blico Federal de Minas Gerais. Sempre acompanhada pelo Poder Judici??rio, essa inova????o j?? ?? vivenciada em algumas cidades e, em outras, est?? em fase de estudos

Sistema Nacional de Gest??o do Conhecimento em Seguran??a P??blica

Visando subsidiar o processo de gest??o do Sistema ??nico de Seguran??a P??blica, a Secretaria Nacional de Seguran??a P??blica (Senasp) investe esfor??os, desde 2003, na cria????o de sistemas nacionais de coleta de dados, na moderniza????o da infraestrutura de TI e na qualifica????o dos profissionais para a produ????o desses dados e o desenvolvimento de insumos, a fim de auxiliar na distribui????o de recursos do Fundo Nacional de Seguran??a P??blica. Todas essas iniciativas comp??em o Sistema Nacional de Gest??o do Conhecimento em Seguran??a P??blica. Em parceria com profissionais e pesquisadores da ??rea e gestores de outros ??rg??os p??blicos, foi estruturada uma nova forma de fazer seguran??a p??blica. As a????es come??aram a ser baseadas em diagn??sticos; a distribui????o de recursos passou a obedecer um sistema de incentivos calcado em indicadores estat??sticos, fundamentais na constru????o do conhecimento necess??rio para aprimorar a efici??ncia, a efic??cia e a efetividade das pol??ticas de seguran??a. Paralelamente, procurou-se difundir a cultura da transpar??ncia e divulga????o de estat??sticas criminais

Processos de qualifica????o do Cadastro ??nico de pol??ticas sociais do Governo Federal

Durante os anos de 2005 e 2006, a Secretaria Nacional de Renda de Cidadania (Senarc/MDS), por interm??dio do Departamento do Cadastro ??nico, conduziu uma s??rie de a????es com o objetivo de aprimorar os procedimentos envolvidos na gest??o do Cadastro ??nico (Cad??nico), contribuindo para a melhoria da fidedignidade e da qualidade dos dados cadastrais e, por conseguinte, dos mecanismos de sele????o e acompanhamento dos programas que utilizam o Cad??nico como base de identifica????o e sele????o de seu p??blico-alvo, em especial, do Programa Bolsa Fam??lia. Este trabalho apresenta as a????es conduzidas para a melhoria e o fortalecimento da gest??o do Cadastro ??nico entre janeiro de 2005 e outubro de 2006, bem como o impacto dessas a????es para a gest??o dos programas usu??rios do Cad??nico. Al??m das a????es diretas relativas ?? gest??o do Cad??nico, s??o tamb??m descritas outras a????es da Senarc que, embora n??o coordenadas pelo Departamento de Cadastro ??nico, influenciaram diretamente as a????es realizadas por esse Departamento

A????es premiadas no 17?? Concurso Inova????o na Gest??o P??blica Federal 2012

Este livro traz os relatos das 10 iniciativas premiadas no 17?? Concurso Inova????o na Gest??o P??blica Federal. Iniciativa da ENAP, em parceria com o MP, o Concurso conta com o apoio, para as premia????es, das embaixadas da Fran??a, da Noruega e da Nova Zel??ndia; da Coopera????o Alem?? para o Desenvolvimento (GIZ); e da Ag??ncia Brasileira de Coopera????o (ABC). Ao longo de 17 anos, o Concurso tem cumprido seu objetivo de estimular a implementa????o de iniciativas inovadoras de gest??o em organiza????es do governo federal; dissemin??-las e valorizar servidores p??blicos que atuam de forma criativa em suas atividades

A????es premiadas no 1?? Concurso de Experi??ncias Inovadoras de Gest??o na Administra????o P??blica Federal

Apresenta????o resumida dos 48 projetos vencedores do 1?? Concurso de Experi??ncias Inovadoras de Gest??o na Administra????o P??blica Federal, realizado conjuntamente pelo MARE e ENAP em 1996