Reflexive reasoning for distributed real-time systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goldstein, David

1994-01-01

This paper discusses the implementation and use of reflexive reasoning in real-time, distributed knowledge-based applications. Recently there has been a great deal of interest in agent-oriented systems. Implementing such systems implies a mechanism for sharing knowledge, goals and other state information among the agents. Our techniques facilitate an agent examining both state information about other agents and the parameters of the knowledge-based system shell implementing its reasoning algorithms. The shell implementing the reasoning is the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Toolkit, which is a derivative of CLIPS.

Agents for Plan Monitoring and Repair

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-04-01

events requires time and effort. In this paper, we describe how Heracles and Theseus , two information gathering and monitoring tools that we built...on an information agent platform, called Theseus , that provides the technology for efficiently executing agents for information gather- ing and...we can easily define a system for interactively planning a trip. The second is the Theseus information agent platform [Barish et al., 2000], which

Information of Complex Systems and Applications in Agent Based Modeling.

PubMed

Bao, Lei; Fritchman, Joseph C

2018-04-18

Information about a system's internal interactions is important to modeling the system's dynamics. This study examines the finer categories of the information definition and explores the features of a type of local information that describes the internal interactions of a system. Based on the results, a dual-space agent and information modeling framework (AIM) is developed by explicitly distinguishing an information space from the material space. The two spaces can evolve both independently and interactively. The dual-space framework can provide new analytic methods for agent based models (ABMs). Three examples are presented including money distribution, individual's economic evolution, and artificial stock market. The results are analyzed in the dual-space, which more clearly shows the interactions and evolutions within and between the information and material spaces. The outcomes demonstrate the wide-ranging applicability of using the dual-space AIMs to model and analyze a broad range of interactive and intelligent systems.

Automated monitoring of medical protocols: a secure and distributed architecture.

PubMed

Alsinet, T; Ansótegui, C; Béjar, R; Fernández, C; Manyà, F

2003-03-01

The control of the right application of medical protocols is a key issue in hospital environments. For the automated monitoring of medical protocols, we need a domain-independent language for their representation and a fully, or semi, autonomous system that understands the protocols and supervises their application. In this paper we describe a specification language and a multi-agent system architecture for monitoring medical protocols. We model medical services in hospital environments as specialized domain agents and interpret a medical protocol as a negotiation process between agents. A medical service can be involved in multiple medical protocols, and so specialized domain agents are independent of negotiation processes and autonomous system agents perform monitoring tasks. We present the detailed architecture of the system agents and of an important domain agent, the database broker agent, that is responsible of obtaining relevant information about the clinical history of patients. We also describe how we tackle the problems of privacy, integrity and authentication during the process of exchanging information between agents.

The distributed agent-based approach in the e-manufacturing environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sękala, A.; Kost, G.; Dobrzańska-Danikiewicz, A.; Banaś, W.; Foit, K.

2015-11-01

The deficiency of a coherent flow of information from a production department causes unplanned downtime and failures of machines and their equipment, which in turn results in production planning process based on incorrect and out-of-date information. All of these factors entail, as the consequence, the additional difficulties associated with the process of decision-making. They concern, among other, the coordination of components of a distributed system and providing the access to the required information, thereby generating unnecessary costs. The use of agent technology significantly speeds up the flow of information within the virtual enterprise. This paper includes the proposal of a multi-agent approach for the integration of processes within the virtual enterprise concept. The presented concept was elaborated to investigate the possible solutions of the ways of transmission of information in the production system taking into account the self-organization of constituent components. Thus it implicated the linking of the concept of multi-agent system with the system of managing the production information, based on the idea of e-manufacturing. The paper presents resulting scheme that should be the base for elaborating an informatics model of the target virtual system. The computer system itself is intended to be developed next.

The Generalization of Mutual Information as the Information between a Set of Variables: The Information Correlation Function Hierarchy and the Information Structure of Multi-Agent Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolf, David R.

2004-01-01

The topic of this paper is a hierarchy of information-like functions, here named the information correlation functions, where each function of the hierarchy may be thought of as the information between the variables it depends upon. The information correlation functions are particularly suited to the description of the emergence of complex behaviors due to many- body or many-agent processes. They are particularly well suited to the quantification of the decomposition of the information carried among a set of variables or agents, and its subsets. In more graphical language, they provide the information theoretic basis for understanding the synergistic and non-synergistic components of a system, and as such should serve as a forceful toolkit for the analysis of the complexity structure of complex many agent systems. The information correlation functions are the natural generalization to an arbitrary number of sets of variables of the sequence starting with the entropy function (one set of variables) and the mutual information function (two sets). We start by describing the traditional measures of information (entropy) and mutual information.

When more of the same is better

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fontanari, José F.

2016-01-01

Problem solving (e.g., drug design, traffic engineering, software development) by task forces represents a substantial portion of the economy of developed countries. Here we use an agent-based model of cooperative problem-solving systems to study the influence of diversity on the performance of a task force. We assume that agents cooperate by exchanging information on their partial success and use that information to imitate the more successful agent in the system —the model. The agents differ only in their propensities to copy the model. We find that, for easy tasks, the optimal organization is a homogeneous system composed of agents with the highest possible copy propensities. For difficult tasks, we find that diversity can prevent the system from being trapped in sub-optimal solutions. However, when the system size is adjusted to maximize the performance the homogeneous systems outperform the heterogeneous systems, i.e., for optimal performance, sameness should be preferred to diversity.

Observer-based distributed adaptive iterative learning control for linear multi-agent systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jinsha; Liu, Sanyang; Li, Junmin

2017-10-01

This paper investigates the consensus problem for linear multi-agent systems from the viewpoint of two-dimensional systems when the state information of each agent is not available. Observer-based fully distributed adaptive iterative learning protocol is designed in this paper. A local observer is designed for each agent and it is shown that without using any global information about the communication graph, all agents achieve consensus perfectly for all undirected connected communication graph when the number of iterations tends to infinity. The Lyapunov-like energy function is employed to facilitate the learning protocol design and property analysis. Finally, simulation example is given to illustrate the theoretical analysis.

Agent-based method for distributed clustering of textual information

DOEpatents

Potok, Thomas E [Oak Ridge, TN; Reed, Joel W [Knoxville, TN; Elmore, Mark T [Oak Ridge, TN; Treadwell, Jim N [Louisville, TN

2010-09-28

A computer method and system for storing, retrieving and displaying information has a multiplexing agent (20) that calculates a new document vector (25) for a new document (21) to be added to the system and transmits the new document vector (25) to master cluster agents (22) and cluster agents (23) for evaluation. These agents (22, 23) perform the evaluation and return values upstream to the multiplexing agent (20) based on the similarity of the document to documents stored under their control. The multiplexing agent (20) then sends the document (21) and the document vector (25) to the master cluster agent (22), which then forwards it to a cluster agent (23) or creates a new cluster agent (23) to manage the document (21). The system also searches for stored documents according to a search query having at least one term and identifying the documents found in the search, and displays the documents in a clustering display (80) of similarity so as to indicate similarity of the documents to each other.

Intelligent agents for adaptive security market surveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Kun; Li, Xin; Xu, Baoxun; Yan, Jiaqi; Wang, Huaiqing

2017-05-01

Market surveillance systems have increasingly gained in usage for monitoring trading activities in stock markets to maintain market integrity. Existing systems primarily focus on the numerical analysis of market activity data and generally ignore textual information. To fulfil the requirements of information-based surveillance, a multi-agent-based architecture that uses agent intercommunication and incremental learning mechanisms is proposed to provide a flexible and adaptive inspection process. A prototype system is implemented using the techniques of text mining and rule-based reasoning, among others. Based on experiments in the scalping surveillance scenario, the system can identify target information evidence up to 87.50% of the time and automatically identify 70.59% of cases depending on the constraints on the available information sources. The results of this study indicate that the proposed information surveillance system is effective. This study thus contributes to the market surveillance literature and has significant practical implications.

Multi-agent systems: effective approach for cancer care information management.

PubMed

Mohammadzadeh, Niloofar; Safdari, Reza; Rahimi, Azin

2013-01-01

Physicians, in order to study the causes of cancer, detect cancer earlier, prevent or determine the effectiveness of treatment, and specify the reasons for the treatment ineffectiveness, need to access accurate, comprehensive, and timely cancer data. The cancer care environment has become more complex because of the need for coordination and communication among health care professionals with different skills in a variety of roles and the existence of large amounts of data with various formats. The goals of health care systems in such a complex environment are correct health data management, providing appropriate information needs of users to enhance the integrity and quality of health care, timely access to accurate information and reducing medical errors. These roles in new systems with use of agents efficiently perform well. Because of the potential capability of agent systems to solve complex and dynamic health problems, health care system, in order to gain full advantage of E- health, steps must be taken to make use of this technology. Multi-agent systems have effective roles in health service quality improvement especially in telemedicine, emergency situations and management of chronic diseases such as cancer. In the design and implementation of agent based systems, planning items such as information confidentiality and privacy, architecture, communication standards, ethical and legal aspects, identification opportunities and barriers should be considered. It should be noted that usage of agent systems only with a technical view is associated with many problems such as lack of user acceptance. The aim of this commentary is to survey applications, opportunities and barriers of this new artificial intelligence tool for cancer care information as an approach to improve cancer care management.

The Role of Intelligent Agents in Advanced Information Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kerschberg, Larry

1999-01-01

In this presentation we review the current ongoing research within George Mason University's (GMU) Center for Information Systems Integration and Evolution (CISE). We define characteristics of advanced information systems, discuss a family of agents for such systems, and show how GMU's Domain modeling tools and techniques can be used to define a product line Architecture for configuring NASA missions. These concepts can be used to define Advanced Engineering Environments such as those envisioned for NASA's new initiative for intelligent design and synthesis environments.

Developing Secure Agent Systems Using Delegation Based Trust Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-01-01

delegation rules, so that the information in the SCM may be accessed only by authorized agents. Special intelligent agents called security agents are re... Bluetooth , IEEE 802.11, or Infrared, via any hand-held device, within a Vigil can also be used in wired systems, but the focal point of our re- search is

A multi-agent system for coordinating international shipping

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goldsmith, S.Y.; Phillips, L.R.; Spires, S.V.

1998-05-01

Moving commercial cargo across the US-Mexico border is currently a complex, paper-based, error-prone process that incurs expensive inspections and delays at several ports of entry in the Southwestern US. Improved information handling will dramatically reduce border dwell time, variation in delivery time, and inventories, and will give better control of the shipment process. The Border Trade Facilitation System (BTFS) is an agent-based collaborative work environment that assists geographically distributed commercial and government users with transshipment of goods across the US-Mexico border. Software agents mediate the creation, validation and secure sharing of shipment information and regulatory documentation over the Internet, usingmore » the World Wide Web to interface with human actors. Agents are organized into Agencies. Each agency represents a commercial or government agency. Agents perform four specific functions on behalf of their user organizations: (1) agents with domain knowledge elicit commercial and regulatory information from human specialists through forms presented via web browsers; (2) agents mediate information from forms with diverse otologies, copying invariant data from one form to another thereby eliminating the need for duplicate data entry; (3) cohorts of distributed agents coordinate the work flow among the various information providers and they monitor overall progress of the documentation and the location of the shipment to ensure that all regulatory requirements are met prior to arrival at the border; (4) agents provide status information to human actors and attempt to influence them when problems are predicted.« less

Integrated multimedia medical data agent in E-health.

PubMed

di Giacomo, P; Ricci, Fabrizio L; Bocchi, Leonardo

2006-01-01

E-Health is producing a great impact in the field of information distribution of the health services to the intra-hospital and the public. Previous researches have addressed the development of system architectures in the aim of integrating the distributed and heterogeneous medical information systems. The easing of difficulties in the sharing and management of medical data and the timely accessibility to these data is a critical need for health care providers. We have proposed a client-server agent that allows a portal to the every permitted Information System of the Hospital that consists of PACS, RIS and HIS via the Intranet and the Internet. Our proposed agent enables remote access into the usually closed information system of the hospital and a server that indexes all the medical data which allows for in-depth and complex search queries for data retrieval.

The Effect of Shared Information on Pilot/Controller And Controller/Controller Interactions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansman, R. John

1999-01-01

In order to respond to the increasing demand on limited airspace system resources, a number of applications of information technology have been proposed, or are under investigation, to improve the efficiency, capacity and reliability of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) operations. Much of the attention in advanced ATM technology has focused on advanced automation systems or decision aiding systems to improve the performance of individual Pilots or Controllers. However, the most significant overall potential for information technology appears to he in increasing the shared information between human agents such as Pilots, Controllers or between interacting Controllers or traffic flow managers. Examples of proposed shared information systems in the US include; Controller Pilot Databank Communication (CPDLC), Traffic Management Advisor (TMA); Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS); Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) and NAS Level Common Information Exchange. Air Traffic Management is fundamentally a human centered process consisting of the negotiation, execution and monitoring of contracts between human agents for the allocation of limited airspace, runway and airport surface resources. The decision processes within ATM tend to be Semistructured. Many of the routine elements in ATM decision making on the part of the Controllers or Pilots are well Structured and can be represented by well defined rules or procedures. However in disrupted conditions, the ATM decision processes are often Unstructured and cannot be reduced to a set of discrete rules. As a consequence, the ability to automate ATM processes will be limited and ATM will continue to be a human centric process where the responsibility and the authority for the negotiation will continue to rest with human Controllers and Pilots. The use of information technology to support the human decision process will therefore be an important aspect of ATM modernization. The premise of many of the proposed shared information systems is that the performance of ATM operations will improve with an increase in Shared Situation Awareness between agents (Pilots, Controller, Dispatchers). This will allow better informed control decisions and an improved ability to negotiate between agents. A common information basis may reduce communication load and may increase the level of collaboration in the decision process. In general, information sharing is expected to have advantages for all agents within the system. However there are important questions which remain to be,addressed. For example: What shared information is most important for developing effective Shared Situation Awareness? Are there issues of information saturation? Does information parity create ambiguity in control authority? Will information sharing induce undesirable or unstable gaming behavior between agents? This paper will explore the effect of current and proposed information sharing between different ATM agents. The paper will primarily concentrate on bilateral tactical interactions between specific agents (Pilot/Controller; Controller/Controller; Pilot/Dispatcher; Controller/Dispatcher) however it will also briefly discuss multilateral interaction and more strategic interactions.

An Intelligent Control for the Distributed Flexible Network Photovoltaic System using Autonomous Control and Agent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Sangsoo; Miura, Yushi; Ise, Toshifumi

This paper proposes an intelligent control for the distributed flexible network photovoltaic system using autonomous control and agent. The distributed flexible network photovoltaic system is composed of a secondary battery bank and a number of subsystems which have a solar array, a dc/dc converter and a load. The control mode of dc/dc converter can be selected based on local information by autonomous control. However, if only autonomous control using local information is applied, there are some problems associated with several cases such as voltage drop on long power lines. To overcome these problems, the authors propose introducing agents to improve control characteristics. The autonomous control with agents is called as intelligent control in this paper. The intelligent control scheme that employs the communication between agents is applied for the model system and proved with simulation using PSCAD/EMTDC.

Collective navigation of complex networks: Participatory greedy routing.

PubMed

Kleineberg, Kaj-Kolja; Helbing, Dirk

2017-06-06

Many networks are used to transfer information or goods, in other words, they are navigated. The larger the network, the more difficult it is to navigate efficiently. Indeed, information routing in the Internet faces serious scalability problems due to its rapid growth, recently accelerated by the rise of the Internet of Things. Large networks like the Internet can be navigated efficiently if nodes, or agents, actively forward information based on hidden maps underlying these systems. However, in reality most agents will deny to forward messages, which has a cost, and navigation is impossible. Can we design appropriate incentives that lead to participation and global navigability? Here, we present an evolutionary game where agents share the value generated by successful delivery of information or goods. We show that global navigability can emerge, but its complete breakdown is possible as well. Furthermore, we show that the system tends to self-organize into local clusters of agents who participate in the navigation. This organizational principle can be exploited to favor the emergence of global navigability in the system.

Competition of information channels in the spreading of innovations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kocsis, Gergely; Kun, Ferenc

2011-08-01

We study the spreading of information on technological developments in socioeconomic systems where the social contacts of agents are represented by a network of connections. In the model, agents get informed about the existence and advantages of new innovations through advertising activities of producers, which are then followed by an interagent information transfer. Computer simulations revealed that varying the strength of external driving and of interagent coupling, furthermore, the topology of social contacts, the model presents a complex behavior with interesting novel features: On the macrolevel the system exhibits logistic behavior typical for the diffusion of innovations. The time evolution can be described analytically by an integral equation that captures the nucleation and growth of clusters of informed agents. On the microlevel, small clusters are found to be compact with a crossover to fractal structures with increasing size. The distribution of cluster sizes has a power-law behavior with a crossover to a higher exponent when long-range social contacts are present in the system. Based on computer simulations we construct an approximate phase diagram of the model on a regular square lattice of agents.

Competition of information channels in the spreading of innovations.

PubMed

Kocsis, Gergely; Kun, Ferenc

2011-08-01

We study the spreading of information on technological developments in socioeconomic systems where the social contacts of agents are represented by a network of connections. In the model, agents get informed about the existence and advantages of new innovations through advertising activities of producers, which are then followed by an interagent information transfer. Computer simulations revealed that varying the strength of external driving and of interagent coupling, furthermore, the topology of social contacts, the model presents a complex behavior with interesting novel features: On the macrolevel the system exhibits logistic behavior typical for the diffusion of innovations. The time evolution can be described analytically by an integral equation that captures the nucleation and growth of clusters of informed agents. On the microlevel, small clusters are found to be compact with a crossover to fractal structures with increasing size. The distribution of cluster sizes has a power-law behavior with a crossover to a higher exponent when long-range social contacts are present in the system. Based on computer simulations we construct an approximate phase diagram of the model on a regular square lattice of agents.

Model of load balancing using reliable algorithm with multi-agent system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Afriansyah, M. F.; Somantri, M.; Riyadi, M. A.

2017-04-01

Massive technology development is linear with the growth of internet users which increase network traffic activity. It also increases load of the system. The usage of reliable algorithm and mobile agent in distributed load balancing is a viable solution to handle the load issue on a large-scale system. Mobile agent works to collect resource information and can migrate according to given task. We propose reliable load balancing algorithm using least time first byte (LFB) combined with information from the mobile agent. In system overview, the methodology consisted of defining identification system, specification requirements, network topology and design system infrastructure. The simulation method for simulated system was using 1800 request for 10 s from the user to the server and taking the data for analysis. Software simulation was based on Apache Jmeter by observing response time and reliability of each server and then compared it with existing method. Results of performed simulation show that the LFB method with mobile agent can perform load balancing with efficient systems to all backend server without bottleneck, low risk of server overload, and reliable.

Using Ontologies to Formalize Services Specifications in Multi-Agent Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Breitman, Karin Koogan; Filho, Aluizio Haendchen; Haeusler, Edward Hermann

2004-01-01

One key issue in multi-agent systems (MAS) is their ability to interact and exchange information autonomously across applications. To secure agent interoperability, designers must rely on a communication protocol that allows software agents to exchange meaningful information. In this paper we propose using ontologies as such communication protocol. Ontologies capture the semantics of the operations and services provided by agents, allowing interoperability and information exchange in a MAS. Ontologies are a formal, machine processable, representation that allows to capture the semantics of a domain and, to derive meaningful information by way of logical inference. In our proposal we use a formal knowledge representation language (OWL) that translates into Description Logics (a subset of first order logic), thus eliminating ambiguities and providing a solid base for machine based inference. The main contribution of this approach is to make the requirements explicit, centralize the specification in a single document (the ontology itself), at the same that it provides a formal, unambiguous representation that can be processed by automated inference machines.

Multi-agent autonomous system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fink, Wolfgang (Inventor); Dohm, James (Inventor); Tarbell, Mark A. (Inventor)

2010-01-01

A multi-agent autonomous system for exploration of hazardous or inaccessible locations. The multi-agent autonomous system includes simple surface-based agents or craft controlled by an airborne tracking and command system. The airborne tracking and command system includes an instrument suite used to image an operational area and any craft deployed within the operational area. The image data is used to identify the craft, targets for exploration, and obstacles in the operational area. The tracking and command system determines paths for the surface-based craft using the identified targets and obstacles and commands the craft using simple movement commands to move through the operational area to the targets while avoiding the obstacles. Each craft includes its own instrument suite to collect information about the operational area that is transmitted back to the tracking and command system. The tracking and command system may be further coupled to a satellite system to provide additional image information about the operational area and provide operational and location commands to the tracking and command system.

Multi-agent cooperation rescue algorithm based on influence degree and state prediction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Yanbin; Ma, Guangfu; Wang, Linlin; Xi, Pengxue

2018-04-01

Aiming at the multi-agent cooperative rescue in disaster, a multi-agent cooperative rescue algorithm based on impact degree and state prediction is proposed. Firstly, based on the influence of the information in the scene on the collaborative task, the influence degree function is used to filter the information. Secondly, using the selected information to predict the state of the system and Agent behavior. Finally, according to the result of the forecast, the cooperative behavior of Agent is guided and improved the efficiency of individual collaboration. The simulation results show that this algorithm can effectively solve the cooperative rescue problem of multi-agent and ensure the efficient completion of the task.

A Mobile Multi-Agent Information System for Ubiquitous Fetal Monitoring

PubMed Central

Su, Chuan-Jun; Chu, Ta-Wei

2014-01-01

Electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) systems integrate many previously separate clinical activities related to fetal monitoring. Promoting the use of ubiquitous fetal monitoring services with real time status assessments requires a robust information platform equipped with an automatic diagnosis engine. This paper presents the design and development of a mobile multi-agent platform-based open information systems (IMAIS) with an automated diagnosis engine to support intensive and distributed ubiquitous fetal monitoring. The automatic diagnosis engine that we developed is capable of analyzing data in both traditional paper-based and digital formats. Issues related to interoperability, scalability, and openness in heterogeneous e-health environments are addressed through the adoption of a FIPA2000 standard compliant agent development platform—the Java Agent Development Environment (JADE). Integrating the IMAIS with light-weight, portable fetal monitor devices allows for continuous long-term monitoring without interfering with a patient’s everyday activities and without restricting her mobility. The system architecture can be also applied to vast monitoring scenarios such as elder care and vital sign monitoring. PMID:24452256

Towards a mathematical theory of meaningful communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corominas-Murtra, Bernat; Fortuny, Jordi; Solé, Ricard V.

2014-04-01

Meaning has been left outside most theoretical approaches to information in biology. Functional responses based on an appropriate interpretation of signals have been replaced by a probabilistic description of correlations between emitted and received symbols. This assumption leads to potential paradoxes, such as the presence of a maximum information associated to a channel that creates completely wrong interpretations of the signals. Game-theoretic models of language evolution and other studies considering embodied communicating agents show that the correct (meaningful) match resulting from agent-agent exchanges is always achieved and natural systems obviously solve the problem correctly. Inspired by the concept of duality of the communicative sign stated by the swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, here we present a complete description of the minimal system necessary to measure the amount of information that is consistently decoded. Several consequences of our developments are investigated, such as the uselessness of a certain amount of information properly transmitted for communication among autonomous agents.

MFIRE-2: A Multi Agent System for Flow-Based Intrusion Detection Using Stochastic Search

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

attacks that are distributed in nature , but may not protect individual systems effectively without incurring large bandwidth penalties while collecting...system-level information to help prepare for more significant attacks. The type of information potentially revealed by footprinting includes account...key areas where MAS may be appropriate: • The environment is open, highly dynamic, uncertain, or complex • Agents are a natural metaphor—Many

Software agents and the route to the information economy.

PubMed

Kephart, Jeffrey O

2002-05-14

Humans are on the verge of losing their status as the sole economic species on the planet. In private laboratories and in the Internet laboratory, researchers and developers are creating a variety of autonomous economically motivated software agents endowed with algorithms for maximizing profit or utility. Many economic software agents will function as miniature businesses, purchasing information inputs from other agents, combining and refining them into information goods and services, and selling them to humans or other agents. Their mutual interactions will form the information economy: a complex economic web of information goods and services that will adapt to the ever-changing needs of people and agents. The information economy will be the largest multiagent system ever conceived and an integral part of the world's economy. I discuss a possible route toward this vision, beginning with present-day Internet trends suggesting that agents will charge one another for information goods and services. Then, to establish that agents can be competent price setters, I describe some laboratory experiments pitting software bidding agents against human bidders. The agents' superior performance suggests they will be used on a broad scale, which in turn suggests that interactions among agents will become frequent and significant. How will this affect macroscopic economic behavior? I describe some interesting phenomena that my colleagues and I have observed in simulations of large populations of automated buyers and sellers, such as price war cycles. I conclude by discussing fundamental scientific challenges that remain to be addressed as we journey toward the information economy.

Enabling private and public sector organizations as agents of homeland security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glassco, David H. J.; Glassco, Jordan C.

2006-05-01

Homeland security and defense applications seek to reduce the risk of undesirable eventualities across physical space in real-time. With that functional requirement in mind, our work focused on the development of IP based agent telecommunication solutions for heterogeneous sensor / robotic intelligent "Things" that could be deployed across the internet. This paper explains how multi-organization information and device sharing alliances may be formed to enable organizations to act as agents of homeland security (in addition to other uses). Topics include: (i) using location-aware, agent based, real-time information sharing systems to integrate business systems, mobile devices, sensor and actuator based devices and embedded devices used in physical infrastructure assets, equipment and other man-made "Things"; (ii) organization-centric real-time information sharing spaces using on-demand XML schema formatted networks; (iii) object-oriented XML serialization as a methodology for heterogeneous device glue code; (iv) how complex requirements for inter / intra organization information and device ownership and sharing, security and access control, mobility and remote communication service, tailored solution life cycle management, service QoS, service and geographic scalability and the projection of remote physical presence (through sensing and robotics) and remote informational presence (knowledge of what is going elsewhere) can be more easily supported through feature inheritance with a rapid agent system development methodology; (v) how remote object identification and tracking can be supported across large areas; (vi) how agent synergy may be leveraged with analytics to complement heterogeneous device networks.

A Distributed Ambient Intelligence Based Multi-Agent System for Alzheimer Health Care

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tapia, Dante I.; RodríGuez, Sara; Corchado, Juan M.

This chapter presents ALZ-MAS (Alzheimer multi-agent system), an ambient intelligence (AmI)-based multi-agent system aimed at enhancing the assistance and health care for Alzheimer patients. The system makes use of several context-aware technologies that allow it to automatically obtain information from users and the environment in an evenly distributed way, focusing on the characteristics of ubiquity, awareness, intelligence, mobility, etc., all of which are concepts defined by AmI. ALZ-MAS makes use of a services oriented multi-agent architecture, called flexible user and services oriented multi-agent architecture, to distribute resources and enhance its performance. It is demonstrated that a SOA approach is adequate to build distributed and highly dynamic AmI-based multi-agent systems.

Coordinating Decentralized Learning and Conflict Resolution across Agent Boundaries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, Shanjun

2012-01-01

It is crucial for embedded systems to adapt to the dynamics of open environments. This adaptation process becomes especially challenging in the context of multiagent systems because of scalability, partial information accessibility and complex interaction of agents. It is a challenge for agents to learn good policies, when they need to plan and…

A decentralised multi-agent approach to enhance the stability of smart microgrids with renewable energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, M. S.; Pota, H. R.; Mahmud, M. A.; Hossain, M. J.

2016-05-01

This paper presents the impact of large penetration of wind power on the transient stability through a dynamic evaluation of the critical clearing times (CCTs) by using intelligent agent-based approach. A decentralised multi-agent-based framework is developed, where agents represent a number of physical device models to form a complex infrastructure for computation and communication. They enable the dynamic flow of information and energy for the interaction between the physical processes and their activities. These agents dynamically adapt online measurements and use the CCT information for relay coordination to improve the transient stability of power systems. Simulations are carried out on a smart microgrid system for faults at increasing wind power penetration levels and the improvement in transient stability using the proposed agent-based framework is demonstrated.

Phase transitions in adaptive competitive environments: Theories and applications of the minority game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yi

It is of great scientific significance to study the complex systems of agents with adaptive strategies competing for resources. In many of such systems in social and biological environments, agents succeed by making innovative choices. In this thesis, we model this behavior by presenting the results and analysis of a class of games in which heterogeneous agents are rewarded for being in a minority group. Each agent possesses a number of fixed strategies, each of which takes publicly available information as input to predict next group. Commonly known as the minority game, this simple model manifests a maladaptive, informationally efficient phase in which the system performs poorly at generating resources and an inefficient phase in which there is an emergent cooperation among the agents, and the system more effectively generates resources. The best emergent coordination is achieved at the phase transition, which occurs when z, the ratio of the dimension of the strategy space to the number of agents, is about 0.34. This model also has similar properties to a spin glass system thus statistical mechanics methods were employed to provide analytical results. The phase structure persists under variations such as variable payoff schemes and evolutionary mechanisms. Agents in real life are subject to local connectivity and incomplete information. A framework based on bi-graph was proposed to model these factors. In the context of economics, we proposed a stock market model incorporating delayed majority dynamics and agents holding heterogeneous expectations. We found that for a range of parameter settings, minority dynamics are dynamically induced, effectively reducing market volatility. Finally, we introduce a version of the minority game played by human participants. We observed emergent coordination of players' choices leading to increased average reward. Furthermore, players with the simplest strategies reap the most wealth.

Autonomous Decentralized Voltage Profile Control of Super Distributed Energy System using Multi-agent Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsuji, Takao; Hara, Ryoichi; Oyama, Tsutomu; Yasuda, Keiichiro

A super distributed energy system is a future energy system in which the large part of its demand is fed by a huge number of distributed generators. At one time some nodes in the super distributed energy system behave as load, however, at other times they behave as generator - the characteristic of each node depends on the customers' decision. In such situation, it is very difficult to regulate voltage profile over the system due to the complexity of power flows. This paper proposes a novel control method of distributed generators that can achieve the autonomous decentralized voltage profile regulation by using multi-agent technology. The proposed multi-agent system employs two types of agent; a control agent and a mobile agent. Control agents generate or consume reactive power to regulate the voltage profile of neighboring nodes and mobile agents transmit the information necessary for VQ-control among the control agents. The proposed control method is tested through numerical simulations.

Access Scheme for Controlling Mobile Agents and its Application to Share Medical Information.

PubMed

Liao, Yu-Ting; Chen, Tzer-Shyong; Chen, Tzer-Long; Chung, Yu-Fang; Chen, Yu- Xin; Hwang, Jen-Hung; Wang, Huihui; Wei, Wei

2016-05-01

This study is showing the advantage of mobile agents to conquer heterogeneous system environments and contribute to a virtual integrated sharing system. Mobile agents will collect medical information from each medical institution as a method to achieve the medical purpose of data sharing. Besides, this research also provides an access control and key management mechanism by adopting Public key cryptography and Lagrange interpolation. The safety analysis of the system is based on a network attacker's perspective. The achievement of this study tries to improve the medical quality, prevent wasting medical resources and make medical resources access to appropriate configuration.

Mobile Agents Applications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martins, Rosane Maria; Chaves, Magali Ribeiro; Pirmez, Luci; Rust da Costa Carmo, Luiz Fernando

2001-01-01

Discussion of the need to filter and retrieval relevant information from the Internet focuses on the use of mobile agents, specific software components which are based on distributed artificial intelligence and integrated systems. Surveys agent technology and discusses the agent building package used to develop two applications using IBM's Aglet…

Learning comunication strategies for distributed artificial intelligence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kinney, Michael; Tsatsoulis, Costas

1992-08-01

We present a methodology that allows collections of intelligent system to automatically learn communication strategies, so that they can exchange information and coordinate their problem solving activity. In our methodology communication between agents is determined by the agents themselves, which consider the progress of their individual problem solving activities compared to the communication needs of their surrounding agents. Through learning, communication lines between agents might be established or disconnected, communication frequencies modified, and the system can also react to dynamic changes in the environment that might force agents to cease to exist or to be added. We have established dynamic, quantitative measures of the usefulness of a fact, the cost of a fact, the work load of an agent, and the selfishness of an agent (a measure indicating an agent's preference between transmitting information versus performing individual problem solving), and use these values to adapt the communication between intelligent agents. In this paper we present the theoretical foundations of our work together with experimental results and performance statistics of networks of agents involved in cooperative problem solving activities.

Nondestructive Intervention to Multi-Agent Systems through an Intelligent Agent

PubMed Central

Han, Jing; Wang, Lin

2013-01-01

For a given multi-agent system where the local interaction rule of the existing agents can not be re-designed, one way to intervene the collective behavior of the system is to add one or a few special agents into the group which are still treated as normal agents by the existing ones. We study how to lead a Vicsek-like flocking model to reach synchronization by adding special agents. A popular method is to add some simple leaders (fixed-headings agents). However, we add one intelligent agent, called ‘shill’, which uses online feedback information of the group to decide the shill's moving direction at each step. A novel strategy for the shill to coordinate the group is proposed. It is strictly proved that a shill with this strategy and a limited speed can synchronize every agent in the group. The computer simulations show the effectiveness of this strategy in different scenarios, including different group sizes, shill speed, and with or without noise. Compared to the method of adding some fixed-heading leaders, our method can guarantee synchronization for any initial configuration in the deterministic scenario and improve the synchronization level significantly in low density groups, or model with noise. This suggests the advantage and power of feedback information in intervention of collective behavior. PMID:23658695

A study on agent-based secure scheme for electronic medical record system.

PubMed

Chen, Tzer-Long; Chung, Yu-Fang; Lin, Frank Y S

2012-06-01

Patient records, including doctors' diagnoses of diseases, trace of treatments and patients' conditions, nursing actions, and examination results from allied health profession departments, are the most important medical records of patients in medical systems. With patient records, medical staff can instantly understand the entire medical information of a patient so that, according to the patient's conditions, more accurate diagnoses and more appropriate in-depth treatments can be provided. Nevertheless, in such a modern society with booming information technologies, traditional paper-based patient records have faced a lot of problems, such as lack of uniform formats, low data mobility, slow data transfer, illegible handwritings, enormous and insufficient storage space, difficulty of conservation, being easily damaged, and low transferability. To improve such drawbacks, reduce medical costs, and advance medical quality, paper-based patient records are modified into electronic medical records and reformed into electronic patient records. However, since electronic patient records used in various hospitals are diverse and different, in consideration of cost, it is rather difficult to establish a compatible and complete integrated electronic patient records system to unify patient records from heterogeneous systems in hospitals. Moreover, as the booming of the Internet, it is no longer necessary to build an integrated system. Instead, doctors can instantly look up patients' complete information through the Internet access to electronic patient records as well as avoid the above difficulties. Nonetheless, the major problem of accessing to electronic patient records cross-hospital systems exists in the security of transmitting and accessing to the records in case of unauthorized medical personnels intercepting or stealing the information. This study applies the Mobile Agent scheme to cope with the problem. Since a Mobile Agent is a program, which can move among hosts and automatically disperse arithmetic processes, and moves from one host to another in heterogeneous network systems with the characteristics of autonomy and mobility, decreasing network traffic, reducing transfer lag, encapsulating protocol, availability on heterogeneous platforms, fault-tolerance, high flexibility, and personalization. However, since a Mobile Agent contacts and exchanges information with other hosts or agents on the Internet for rapid exchange and access to medical information, the security is threatened. In order to solve the problem, this study proposes a key management scheme based on Lagrange interpolation formulas and hierarchical management structure to make Mobile Agents a more secure and efficient access control scheme for electronic patient record systems when applied to the access of patients' personal electronic patient records cross hospitals. Meanwhile, with the comparison of security and efficacy analyses being the feasibility of validation scheme and the basis of better efficiency, the security of Mobile Agents in the process of operation can be guaranteed, key management efficacy can be advanced, and the security of the Mobile Agent system can be protected.

Social adaptation in multi-agent model of linguistic categorization is affected by network information flow.

PubMed

Zubek, Julian; Denkiewicz, Michał; Barański, Juliusz; Wróblewski, Przemysław; Rączaszek-Leonardi, Joanna; Plewczynski, Dariusz

2017-01-01

This paper explores how information flow properties of a network affect the formation of categories shared between individuals, who are communicating through that network. Our work is based on the established multi-agent model of the emergence of linguistic categories grounded in external environment. We study how network information propagation efficiency and the direction of information flow affect categorization by performing simulations with idealized network topologies optimizing certain network centrality measures. We measure dynamic social adaptation when either network topology or environment is subject to change during the experiment, and the system has to adapt to new conditions. We find that both decentralized network topology efficient in information propagation and the presence of central authority (information flow from the center to peripheries) are beneficial for the formation of global agreement between agents. Systems with central authority cope well with network topology change, but are less robust in the case of environment change. These findings help to understand which network properties affect processes of social adaptation. They are important to inform the debate on the advantages and disadvantages of centralized systems.

Social adaptation in multi-agent model of linguistic categorization is affected by network information flow

PubMed Central

Denkiewicz, Michał; Barański, Juliusz; Wróblewski, Przemysław; Rączaszek-Leonardi, Joanna; Plewczynski, Dariusz

2017-01-01

This paper explores how information flow properties of a network affect the formation of categories shared between individuals, who are communicating through that network. Our work is based on the established multi-agent model of the emergence of linguistic categories grounded in external environment. We study how network information propagation efficiency and the direction of information flow affect categorization by performing simulations with idealized network topologies optimizing certain network centrality measures. We measure dynamic social adaptation when either network topology or environment is subject to change during the experiment, and the system has to adapt to new conditions. We find that both decentralized network topology efficient in information propagation and the presence of central authority (information flow from the center to peripheries) are beneficial for the formation of global agreement between agents. Systems with central authority cope well with network topology change, but are less robust in the case of environment change. These findings help to understand which network properties affect processes of social adaptation. They are important to inform the debate on the advantages and disadvantages of centralized systems. PMID:28809957

Information processing and dynamics in minimally cognitive agents.

PubMed

Beer, Randall D; Williams, Paul L

2015-01-01

There has been considerable debate in the literature about the relative merits of information processing versus dynamical approaches to understanding cognitive processes. In this article, we explore the relationship between these two styles of explanation using a model agent evolved to solve a relational categorization task. Specifically, we separately analyze the operation of this agent using the mathematical tools of information theory and dynamical systems theory. Information-theoretic analysis reveals how task-relevant information flows through the system to be combined into a categorization decision. Dynamical analysis reveals the key geometrical and temporal interrelationships underlying the categorization decision. Finally, we propose a framework for directly relating these two different styles of explanation and discuss the possible implications of our analysis for some of the ongoing debates in cognitive science. Copyright © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Learning to Predict Consequences as a Method of Knowledge Transfer in Reinforcement Learning.

PubMed

Chalmers, Eric; Contreras, Edgar Bermudez; Robertson, Brandon; Luczak, Artur; Gruber, Aaron

2017-04-17

The reinforcement learning (RL) paradigm allows agents to solve tasks through trial-and-error learning. To be capable of efficient, long-term learning, RL agents should be able to apply knowledge gained in the past to new tasks they may encounter in the future. The ability to predict actions' consequences may facilitate such knowledge transfer. We consider here domains where an RL agent has access to two kinds of information: agent-centric information with constant semantics across tasks, and environment-centric information, which is necessary to solve the task, but with semantics that differ between tasks. For example, in robot navigation, environment-centric information may include the robot's geographic location, while agent-centric information may include sensor readings of various nearby obstacles. We propose that these situations provide an opportunity for a very natural style of knowledge transfer, in which the agent learns to predict actions' environmental consequences using agent-centric information. These predictions contain important information about the affordances and dangers present in a novel environment, and can effectively transfer knowledge from agent-centric to environment-centric learning systems. Using several example problems including spatial navigation and network routing, we show that our knowledge transfer approach can allow faster and lower cost learning than existing alternatives.

Software agents and the route to the information economy

PubMed Central

Kephart, Jeffrey O.

2002-01-01

Humans are on the verge of losing their status as the sole economic species on the planet. In private laboratories and in the Internet laboratory, researchers and developers are creating a variety of autonomous economically motivated software agents endowed with algorithms for maximizing profit or utility. Many economic software agents will function as miniature businesses, purchasing information inputs from other agents, combining and refining them into information goods and services, and selling them to humans or other agents. Their mutual interactions will form the information economy: a complex economic web of information goods and services that will adapt to the ever-changing needs of people and agents. The information economy will be the largest multiagent system ever conceived and an integral part of the world's economy. I discuss a possible route toward this vision, beginning with present-day Internet trends suggesting that agents will charge one another for information goods and services. Then, to establish that agents can be competent price setters, I describe some laboratory experiments pitting software bidding agents against human bidders. The agents' superior performance suggests they will be used on a broad scale, which in turn suggests that interactions among agents will become frequent and significant. How will this affect macroscopic economic behavior? I describe some interesting phenomena that my colleagues and I have observed in simulations of large populations of automated buyers and sellers, such as price war cycles. I conclude by discussing fundamental scientific challenges that remain to be addressed as we journey toward the information economy. PMID:12011399

Introduction to Agent Mining Interaction and Integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Longbing

In recent years, more and more researchers have been involved in research on both agent technology and data mining. A clear disciplinary effort has been activated toward removing the boundary between them, that is the interaction and integration between agent technology and data mining. We refer this to agent mining as a new area. The marriage of agents and data mining is driven by challenges faced by both communities, and the need of developing more advanced intelligence, information processing and systems. This chapter presents an overall picture of agent mining from the perspective of positioning it as an emerging area. We summarize the main driving forces, complementary essence, disciplinary framework, applications, case studies, and trends and directions, as well as brief observation on agent-driven data mining, data mining-driven agents, and mutual issues in agent mining. Arguably, we draw the following conclusions: (1) agent mining emerges as a new area in the scientific family, (2) both agent technology and data mining can greatly benefit from agent mining, (3) it is very promising to result in additional advancement in intelligent information processing and systems. However, as a new open area, there are many issues waiting for research and development from theoretical, technological and practical perspectives.

Combining Human and Machine Intelligence to Derive Agents' Behavioral Rules for Groundwater Irrigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Y.; Quinn, C.; Cai, X.

2015-12-01

One major challenge of agent-based modeling is to derive agents' behavioral rules due to behavioral uncertainty and data scarcity. This study proposes a new approach to combine a data-driven modeling based on the directed information (i.e., machine intelligence) with expert domain knowledge (i.e., human intelligence) to derive the behavioral rules of agents considering behavioral uncertainty. A directed information graph algorithm is applied to identifying the causal relationships between agents' decisions (i.e., groundwater irrigation depth) and time-series of environmental, socio-economical and institutional factors. A case study is conducted for the High Plains aquifer hydrological observatory (HO) area, U.S. Preliminary results show that four factors, corn price (CP), underlying groundwater level (GWL), monthly mean temperature (T) and precipitation (P) have causal influences on agents' decisions on groundwater irrigation depth (GWID) to various extents. Based on the similarity of the directed information graph for each agent, five clusters of graphs are further identified to represent all the agents' behaviors in the study area as shown in Figure 1. Using these five representative graphs, agents' monthly optimal groundwater pumping rates are derived through the probabilistic inference. Such data-driven relationships and probabilistic quantifications are then coupled with a physically-based groundwater model to investigate the interactions between agents' pumping behaviors and the underlying groundwater system in the context of coupled human and natural systems.

Optimized Sensor Network and Multi-Agent Decision Support for Smart Traffic Light Management.

PubMed

Cruz-Piris, Luis; Rivera, Diego; Fernandez, Susel; Marsa-Maestre, Ivan

2018-02-02

One of the biggest challenges in modern societies is to solve vehicular traffic problems. Sensor networks in traffic environments have contributed to improving the decision-making process of Intelligent Transportation Systems. However, one of the limiting factors for the effectiveness of these systems is in the deployment of sensors to provide accurate information about the traffic. Our proposal is using the centrality measurement of a graph as a base to locate the best locations for sensor installation in a traffic network. After integrating these sensors in a simulation scenario, we define a Multi-Agent Systems composed of three types of agents: traffic light management agents, traffic jam detection agents, and agents that control the traffic lights at an intersection. The ultimate goal of these Multi-Agent Systems is to improve the trip duration for vehicles in the network. To validate our solution, we have developed the needed elements for modelling the sensors and agents in the simulation environment. We have carried out experiments using the Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO) traffic simulator and the Travel and Activity PAtterns Simulation (TAPAS) Cologne traffic scenario. The obtained results show that our proposal allows to reduce the sensor network while still obtaining relevant information to have a global view of the environment. Finally, regarding the Multi-Agent Systems, we have carried out experiments that show that our proposal is able to improve other existing solutions such as conventional traffic light management systems (static or dynamic) in terms of reduction of vehicle trip duration and reduction of the message exchange overhead in the sensor network.

Optimized Sensor Network and Multi-Agent Decision Support for Smart Traffic Light Management

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

One of the biggest challenges in modern societies is to solve vehicular traffic problems. Sensor networks in traffic environments have contributed to improving the decision-making process of Intelligent Transportation Systems. However, one of the limiting factors for the effectiveness of these systems is in the deployment of sensors to provide accurate information about the traffic. Our proposal is using the centrality measurement of a graph as a base to locate the best locations for sensor installation in a traffic network. After integrating these sensors in a simulation scenario, we define a Multi-Agent Systems composed of three types of agents: traffic light management agents, traffic jam detection agents, and agents that control the traffic lights at an intersection. The ultimate goal of these Multi-Agent Systems is to improve the trip duration for vehicles in the network. To validate our solution, we have developed the needed elements for modelling the sensors and agents in the simulation environment. We have carried out experiments using the Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO) traffic simulator and the Travel and Activity PAtterns Simulation (TAPAS) Cologne traffic scenario. The obtained results show that our proposal allows to reduce the sensor network while still obtaining relevant information to have a global view of the environment. Finally, regarding the Multi-Agent Systems, we have carried out experiments that show that our proposal is able to improve other existing solutions such as conventional traffic light management systems (static or dynamic) in terms of reduction of vehicle trip duration and reduction of the message exchange overhead in the sensor network. PMID:29393884

A methodology based on openEHR archetypes and software agents for developing e-health applications reusing legacy systems.

PubMed

Cardoso de Moraes, João Luís; de Souza, Wanderley Lopes; Pires, Luís Ferreira; do Prado, Antonio Francisco

2016-10-01

In Pervasive Healthcare, novel information and communication technologies are applied to support the provision of health services anywhere, at anytime and to anyone. Since health systems may offer their health records in different electronic formats, the openEHR Foundation prescribes the use of archetypes for describing clinical knowledge in order to achieve semantic interoperability between these systems. Software agents have been applied to simulate human skills in some healthcare procedures. This paper presents a methodology, based on the use of openEHR archetypes and agent technology, which aims to overcome the weaknesses typically found in legacy healthcare systems, thereby adding value to the systems. This methodology was applied in the design of an agent-based system, which was used in a realistic healthcare scenario in which a medical staff meeting to prepare a cardiac surgery has been supported. We conducted experiments with this system in a distributed environment composed by three cardiology clinics and a center of cardiac surgery, all located in the city of Marília (São Paulo, Brazil). We evaluated this system according to the Technology Acceptance Model. The case study confirmed the acceptance of our agent-based system by healthcare professionals and patients, who reacted positively with respect to the usefulness of this system in particular, and with respect to task delegation to software agents in general. The case study also showed that a software agent-based interface and a tools-based alternative must be provided to the end users, which should allow them to perform the tasks themselves or to delegate these tasks to other people. A Pervasive Healthcare model requires efficient and secure information exchange between healthcare providers. The proposed methodology allows designers to build communication systems for the message exchange among heterogeneous healthcare systems, and to shift from systems that rely on informal communication of actors to a more automated and less error-prone agent-based system. Our methodology preserves significant investment of many years in the legacy systems and allows developers to extend them adding new features to these systems, by providing proactive assistance to the end-users and increasing the user mobility with an appropriate support. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mobile agent location in distributed environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fountoukis, S. G.; Argyropoulos, I. P.

2012-12-01

An agent is a small program acting on behalf of a user or an application which plays the role of a user. Artificial intelligence can be encapsulated in agents so that they can be capable of both behaving autonomously and showing an elementary decision ability regarding movement and some specific actions. Therefore they are often called autonomous mobile agents. In a distributed system, they can move themselves from one processing node to another through the interconnecting network infrastructure. Their purpose is to collect useful information and to carry it back to their user. Also, agents are used to start, monitor and stop processes running on the individual interconnected processing nodes of computer cluster systems. An agent has a unique id to discriminate itself from other agents and a current position. The position can be expressed as the address of the processing node which currently hosts the agent. Very often, it is necessary for a user, a processing node or another agent to know the current position of an agent in a distributed system. Several procedures and algorithms have been proposed for the purpose of position location of mobile agents. The most basic of all employs a fixed computing node, which acts as agent position repository, receiving messages from all the moving agents and keeping records of their current positions. The fixed node, responds to position queries and informs users, other nodes and other agents about the position of an agent. Herein, a model is proposed that considers pairs and triples of agents instead of single ones. A location method, which is investigated in this paper, attempts to exploit this model.

Continuous Security and Configuration Monitoring of HPC Clusters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garcia-Lomeli, H. D.; Bertsch, A. D.; Fox, D. M.

Continuous security and configuration monitoring of information systems has been a time consuming and laborious task for system administrators at the High Performance Computing (HPC) center. Prior to this project, system administrators had to manually check the settings of thousands of nodes, which required a significant number of hours rendering the old process ineffective and inefficient. This paper explains the application of Splunk Enterprise, a software agent, and a reporting tool in the development of a user application interface to track and report on critical system updates and security compliance status of HPC Clusters. In conjunction with other configuration managementmore » systems, the reporting tool is to provide continuous situational awareness to system administrators of the compliance state of information systems. Our approach consisted of the development, testing, and deployment of an agent to collect any arbitrary information across a massively distributed computing center, and organize that information into a human-readable format. Using Splunk Enterprise, this raw data was then gathered into a central repository and indexed for search, analysis, and correlation. Following acquisition and accumulation, the reporting tool generated and presented actionable information by filtering the data according to command line parameters passed at run time. Preliminary data showed results for over six thousand nodes. Further research and expansion of this tool could lead to the development of a series of agents to gather and report critical system parameters. However, in order to make use of the flexibility and resourcefulness of the reporting tool the agent must conform to specifications set forth in this paper. This project has simplified the way system administrators gather, analyze, and report on the configuration and security state of HPC clusters, maintaining ongoing situational awareness. Rather than querying each cluster independently, compliance checking can be managed from one central location.« less

Computational Model for Ethnographically Informed Systems Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iqbal, Rahat; James, Anne; Shah, Nazaraf; Terken, Jacuqes

This paper presents a computational model for ethnographically informed systems design that can support complex and distributed cooperative activities. This model is based on an ethnographic framework consisting of three important dimensions (e.g., distributed coordination, awareness of work and plans and procedure), and the BDI (Belief, Desire and Intention) model of intelligent agents. The ethnographic framework is used to conduct ethnographic analysis and to organise ethnographically driven information into three dimensions, whereas the BDI model allows such information to be mapped upon the underlying concepts of multi-agent systems. The advantage of this model is that it is built upon an adaptation of existing mature and well-understood techniques. By the use of this model, we also address the cognitive aspects of systems design.

Agents in bioinformatics, computational and systems biology.

PubMed

Merelli, Emanuela; Armano, Giuliano; Cannata, Nicola; Corradini, Flavio; d'Inverno, Mark; Doms, Andreas; Lord, Phillip; Martin, Andrew; Milanesi, Luciano; Möller, Steffen; Schroeder, Michael; Luck, Michael

2007-01-01

The adoption of agent technologies and multi-agent systems constitutes an emerging area in bioinformatics. In this article, we report on the activity of the Working Group on Agents in Bioinformatics (BIOAGENTS) founded during the first AgentLink III Technical Forum meeting on the 2nd of July, 2004, in Rome. The meeting provided an opportunity for seeding collaborations between the agent and bioinformatics communities to develop a different (agent-based) approach of computational frameworks both for data analysis and management in bioinformatics and for systems modelling and simulation in computational and systems biology. The collaborations gave rise to applications and integrated tools that we summarize and discuss in context of the state of the art in this area. We investigate on future challenges and argue that the field should still be explored from many perspectives ranging from bio-conceptual languages for agent-based simulation, to the definition of bio-ontology-based declarative languages to be used by information agents, and to the adoption of agents for computational grids.

An Agent-Based Data Mining System for Ontology Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hadzic, Maja; Dillon, Darshan

We have developed an evidence-based mental health ontological model that represents mental health in multiple dimensions. The ongoing addition of new mental health knowledge requires a continual update of the Mental Health Ontology. In this paper, we describe how the ontology evolution can be realized using a multi-agent system in combination with data mining algorithms. We use the TICSA methodology to design this multi-agent system which is composed of four different types of agents: Information agent, Data Warehouse agent, Data Mining agents and Ontology agent. We use UML 2.1 sequence diagrams to model the collaborative nature of the agents and a UML 2.1 composite structure diagram to model the structure of individual agents. The Mental Heath Ontology has the potential to underpin various mental health research experiments of a collaborative nature which are greatly needed in times of increasing mental distress and illness.

TOXICITY-BASED CHEMICAL AGENT DETECTION SYSTEMS: CONTINUOUS MONITOR AND EXPOSURE HISTORY

EPA Science Inventory

This project will develop and characterize chemical agent detection systems that will provide broad toxicological screening information to first responders and building decontamination personnel. The primary goal for this technology is to detect the presence of airborne chemic...

A cognitive information processing framework for distributed sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Feiyi; Qi, Hairong

2004-09-01

In this paper, we present a cognitive agent framework (CAF) based on swarm intelligence and self-organization principles, and demonstrate it through collaborative processing for target classification in sensor networks. The framework involves integrated designs to provide both cognitive behavior at the organization level to conquer complexity and reactive behavior at the individual agent level to retain simplicity. The design tackles various problems in the current information processing systems, including overly complex systems, maintenance difficulties, increasing vulnerability to attack, lack of capability to tolerate faults, and inability to identify and cope with low-frequency patterns. An important and distinguishing point of the presented work from classical AI research is that the acquired intelligence does not pertain to distinct individuals but to groups. It also deviates from multi-agent systems (MAS) due to sheer quantity of extremely simple agents we are able to accommodate, to the degree that some loss of coordination messages and behavior of faulty/compromised agents will not affect the collective decision made by the group.

BTFS: The Border Trade Facilitation System

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Phillips, L.R.

The author demonstrates the Border Trade Facilitation System (BTFS), an agent-based bilingual e-commerce system built to expedite the regulation, control, and execution of commercial trans-border shipments during the delivery phase. The system was built to serve maquila industries at the US/Mexican border. The BTFS uses foundation technology developed here at Sandia Laboratories' Advanced Information Systems Lab (AISL), including a distributed object substrate, a general-purpose agent development framework, dynamically generated agent-human interaction via the World-Wide Web, and a collaborative agent architecture. This technology is also the substrate for the Multi-Agent Simulation Management System (MASMAS) proposed for demonstration at this conference. Themore » BTFS executes authenticated transactions among agents performing open trading over the Internet. With the BTFS in place, one could conduct secure international transactions from any site with an Internet connection and a web browser. The BTFS is currently being evaluated for commercialization.« less

Investigating accident causation through information network modelling.

PubMed

Griffin, T G C; Young, M S; Stanton, N A

2010-02-01

Management of risk in complex domains such as aviation relies heavily on post-event investigations, requiring complex approaches to fully understand the integration of multi-causal, multi-agent and multi-linear accident sequences. The Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork methodology (EAST; Stanton et al. 2008) offers such an approach based on network models. In this paper, we apply EAST to a well-known aviation accident case study, highlighting communication between agents as a central theme and investigating the potential for finding agents who were key to the accident. Ultimately, this work aims to develop a new model based on distributed situation awareness (DSA) to demonstrate that the risk inherent in a complex system is dependent on the information flowing within it. By identifying key agents and information elements, we can propose proactive design strategies to optimize the flow of information and help work towards avoiding aviation accidents. Statement of Relevance: This paper introduces a novel application of an holistic methodology for understanding aviation accidents. Furthermore, it introduces an ongoing project developing a nonlinear and prospective method that centralises distributed situation awareness and communication as themes. The relevance of findings are discussed in the context of current ergonomic and aviation issues of design, training and human-system interaction.

Space Transportation System Western Launch Site Construction Management Information System - A Case Study.

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-09-01

The Corps of Engineers Management Information System (COEMIS) is used by the Corps of Engineers in their role as Construction Agents on Air Force...California. The research concluded that the Corps of Engineers Management Information System can be an effective, efficient management tool which has the

Software for Sharing and Management of Information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, James R.; Wolfe, Shawn R.; Wragg, Stephen D.

2003-01-01

DIAMS is a set of computer programs that implements a system of collaborative agents that serve multiple, geographically distributed users communicating via the Internet. DIAMS provides a user interface as a Java applet that runs on each user s computer and that works within the context of the user s Internet-browser software. DIAMS helps all its users to manage, gain access to, share, and exchange information in databases that they maintain on their computers. One of the DIAMS agents is a personal agent that helps its owner find information most relevant to current needs. It provides software tools and utilities for users to manage their information repositories with dynamic organization and virtual views. Capabilities for generating flexible hierarchical displays are integrated with capabilities for indexed- query searching to support effective access to information. Automatic indexing methods are employed to support users queries and communication between agents. The catalog of a repository is kept in object-oriented storage to facilitate sharing of information. Collaboration between users is aided by matchmaker agents and by automated exchange of information. The matchmaker agents are designed to establish connections between users who have similar interests and expertise.

Effective Team Support: From Task and Cognitive Modeling to Software Agents for Time-Critical Complex Work Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Remington, Roger W. (Technical Monitor); John, Bonnie E.; Sycara, Katia

2005-01-01

The purpose of this research contract was to perform multidisciplinary research between CMU psychologists, computer scientists and NASA researchers to design a next generation collaborative system to support a team of human experts and intelligent agents. To achieve robust performance enhancement of such a system, we had proposed to perform task and cognitive modeling to thoroughly understand the impact technology makes on the organization and on key individual personnel. Guided by cognitively-inspired requirements, we would then develop software agents that support the human team in decision making, information filtering, information distribution and integration to enhance team situational awareness. During the period covered by this final report, we made substantial progress in completing a system for empirical data collection, cognitive modeling, and the building of software agents to support a team's tasks, and in running experiments for the collection of baseline data.

Distributed neural network control for adaptive synchronization of uncertain dynamical multiagent systems.

PubMed

Peng, Zhouhua; Wang, Dan; Zhang, Hongwei; Sun, Gang

2014-08-01

This paper addresses the leader-follower synchronization problem of uncertain dynamical multiagent systems with nonlinear dynamics. Distributed adaptive synchronization controllers are proposed based on the state information of neighboring agents. The control design is developed for both undirected and directed communication topologies without requiring the accurate model of each agent. This result is further extended to the output feedback case where a neighborhood observer is proposed based on relative output information of neighboring agents. Then, distributed observer-based synchronization controllers are derived and a parameter-dependent Riccati inequality is employed to prove the stability. This design has a favorable decouple property between the observer and the controller designs for nonlinear multiagent systems. For both cases, the developed controllers guarantee that the state of each agent synchronizes to that of the leader with bounded residual errors. Two illustrative examples validate the efficacy of the proposed methods.

Enhanced situational awareness in the maritime domain: an agent-based approach for situation management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brax, Christoffer; Niklasson, Lars

2009-05-01

Maritime Domain Awareness is important for both civilian and military applications. An important part of MDA is detection of unusual vessel activities such as piracy, smuggling, poaching, collisions, etc. Today's interconnected sensorsystems provide us with huge amounts of information over large geographical areas which can make the operators reach their cognitive capacity and start to miss important events. We propose and agent-based situation management system that automatically analyse sensor information to detect unusual activity and anomalies. The system combines knowledge-based detection with data-driven anomaly detection. The system is evaluated using information from both radar and AIS sensors.

Can Moral Hazard Be Resolved by Common-Knowledge in S4n-Knowledge?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsuhisa, Takashi

This article investigates the relationship between common-knowledge and agreement in multi-agent system, and to apply the agreement result by common-knowledge to the principal-agent model under non-partition information. We treat the two problems: (1) how we capture the fact that the agents agree on an event or they get consensus on it from epistemic point of view, and (2) how the agreement theorem will be able to make progress to settle a moral hazard problem in the principal-agents model under non-partition information. We shall propose a solution program for the moral hazard in the principal-agents model under non-partition information by common-knowledge. Let us start that the agents have the knowledge structure induced from a reflexive and transitive relation associated with the multi-modal logic S4n. Each agent obtains the membership value of an event under his/her private information, so he/she considers the event as fuzzy set. Specifically consider the situation that the agents commonly know all membership values of the other agents. In this circumstance we shall show the agreement theorem that consensus on the membership values among all agents can still be guaranteed. Furthermore, under certain assumptions we shall show that the moral hazard can be resolved in the principal-agent model when all the expected marginal costs are common-knowledge among the principal and agents.

Consensus for multi-agent systems with time-varying input delays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Chengzhi; Wu, Fen

2017-10-01

This paper addresses the consensus control problem for linear multi-agent systems subject to uniform time-varying input delays and external disturbance. A novel state-feedback consensus protocol is proposed under the integral quadratic constraint (IQC) framework, which utilises not only the relative state information from neighbouring agents but also the real-time information of delays by means of the dynamic IQC system states for feedback control. Based on this new consensus protocol, the associated IQC-based control synthesis conditions are established and fully characterised as linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), such that the consensus control solution with optimal ? disturbance attenuation performance can be synthesised efficiently via convex optimisation. A numerical example is used to demonstrate the proposed approach.

A problem of optimal control and observation for distributed homogeneous multi-agent system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kruglikov, Sergey V.

2017-12-01

The paper considers the implementation of a algorithm for controlling a distributed complex of several mobile multi-robots. The concept of a unified information space of the controlling system is applied. The presented information and mathematical models of participants and obstacles, as real agents, and goals and scenarios, as virtual agents, create the base forming the algorithmic and software background for computer decision support system. The controlling scheme assumes the indirect management of the robotic team on the basis of optimal control and observation problem predicting intellectual behavior in a dynamic, hostile environment. A basic content problem is a compound cargo transportation by a group of participants in the case of a distributed control scheme in the terrain with multiple obstacles.

FRIEND: a brain-monitoring agent for adaptive and assistive systems.

PubMed

Morris, Alexis; Ulieru, Mihaela

2012-01-01

This paper presents an architectural design for adaptive-systems agents (FRIEND) that use brain state information to make more effective decisions on behalf of a user; measuring brain context versus situational demands. These systems could be useful for alerting users to cognitive workload levels or fatigue, and could attempt to compensate for higher cognitive activity by filtering noise information. In some cases such systems could also share control of devices, such as pulling over in an automated vehicle. These aim to assist people in everyday systems to perform tasks better and be more aware of internal states. Achieving a functioning system of this sort is a challenge, involving a unification of brain- computer-interfaces, human-computer-interaction, soft-computin deliberative multi-agent systems disciplines. Until recently, these were not able to be combined into a usable platform due largely to technological limitations (e.g., size, cost, and processing speed), insufficient research on extracting behavioral states from EEG signals, and lack of low-cost wireless sensing headsets. We aim to surpass these limitations and develop control architectures for making sense of brain state in applications by realizing an agent architecture for adaptive (human-aware) technology. In this paper we present an early, high-level design towards implementing a multi-purpose brain-monitoring agent system to improve user quality of life through the assistive applications of psycho-physiological monitoring, noise-filtering, and shared system control.

Extinguishing agent for magnesium fire, phases 5 and 6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beeson, H. D.; Tapscott, R. E.; Mason, B. E.

1987-07-01

This report documents the validation testing of the extinguishing system for metal fires developed as part of Phases 1 to 4. The results of this validation testing form the basis of information from which draft military specifications necessary to procure the agent and the agent delivery system may be developed. The developed system was tested against a variety of large-scale metal fire scenarios and the capabilities of the system were assessed. In addition the response of the system to storage and to changes in ambient conditions was tested. Results of this testing revealed that the developed system represented a reliable metal fire extinguishing system that could control and extinguish very large metal fires. The specifications developed for the agent and for the delivery system are discussed in detail.

What Does God Know? Supernatural Agents' Access to Socially Strategic and Non-Strategic Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Purzycki, Benjamin G.; Finkel, Daniel N.; Shaver, John; Wales, Nathan; Cohen, Adam B.; Sosis, Richard

2012-01-01

Current evolutionary and cognitive theories of religion posit that supernatural agent concepts emerge from cognitive systems such as theory of mind and social cognition. Some argue that these concepts evolved to maintain social order by minimizing antisocial behavior. If these theories are correct, then people should process information about…

New approaches in agent-based modeling of complex financial systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Ting-Ting; Zheng, Bo; Li, Yan; Jiang, Xiong-Fei

2017-12-01

Agent-based modeling is a powerful simulation technique to understand the collective behavior and microscopic interaction in complex financial systems. Recently, the concept for determining the key parameters of agent-based models from empirical data instead of setting them artificially was suggested. We first review several agent-based models and the new approaches to determine the key model parameters from historical market data. Based on the agents' behaviors with heterogeneous personal preferences and interactions, these models are successful in explaining the microscopic origination of the temporal and spatial correlations of financial markets. We then present a novel paradigm combining big-data analysis with agent-based modeling. Specifically, from internet query and stock market data, we extract the information driving forces and develop an agent-based model to simulate the dynamic behaviors of complex financial systems.

Social dilemma structure hidden behind traffic flow with route selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanimoto, Jun; Nakamura, Kousuke

2016-10-01

Several traffic flows contain social dilemma structures. Herein, we explored a route-selection problem using a cellular automaton simulation dovetailed with evolutionary game theory. In our model, two classes of driver-agents coexist: D agents (defective strategy), which refer to traffic information for route selection to move fast, and C agents (cooperative strategy), which are insensitive to information and less inclined to move fast. Although no evidence suggests that the social dilemma structure in low density causes vehicles to move freely and that in high density causes traffic jams, we found a structure that corresponds to an n-person (multiplayer) Chicken (n-Chicken) game if the provided traffic information is inappropriate. If appropriate traffic information is given to the agents, the n-Chicken game can be solved. The information delivered to vehicles is crucial for easing the social dilemma due to urban traffic congestion when developing technologies to support the intelligent transportation system (ITS).

Tackling Information Asymmetry in Networks: A New Entropy-Based Ranking Index

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barucca, Paolo; Caldarelli, Guido; Squartini, Tiziano

2018-06-01

Information is a valuable asset in socio-economic systems, a significant part of which is entailed into the network of connections between agents. The different interlinkages patterns that agents establish may, in fact, lead to asymmetries in the knowledge of the network structure; since this entails a different ability of quantifying relevant, systemic properties (e.g. the risk of contagion in a network of liabilities), agents capable of providing a better estimation of (otherwise) inaccessible network properties, ultimately have a competitive advantage. In this paper, we address the issue of quantifying the information asymmetry of nodes: to this aim, we define a novel index—InfoRank—intended to rank nodes according to their information content. In order to do so, each node ego-network is enforced as a constraint of an entropy-maximization problem and the subsequent uncertainty reduction is used to quantify the node-specific accessible information. We, then, test the performance of our ranking procedure in terms of reconstruction accuracy and show that it outperforms other centrality measures in identifying the "most informative" nodes. Finally, we discuss the socio-economic implications of network information asymmetry.

A Decentralized Framework for Multi-Agent Robotic Systems

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Over the past few years, decentralization of multi-agent robotic systems has become an important research area. These systems do not depend on a central control unit, which enables the control and assignment of distributed, asynchronous and robust tasks. However, in some cases, the network communication process between robotic agents is overlooked, and this creates a dependency for each agent to maintain a permanent link with nearby units to be able to fulfill its goals. This article describes a communication framework, where each agent in the system can leave the network or accept new connections, sending its information based on the transfer history of all nodes in the network. To this end, each agent needs to comply with four processes to participate in the system, plus a fifth process for data transfer to the nearest nodes that is based on Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and data history. To validate this framework, we use differential robotic agents and a monitoring agent to generate a topological map of an environment with the presence of obstacles. PMID:29389849

Virtual expansion of the technical vision system for smart vehicles based on multi-agent cooperation model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krapukhina, Nina; Senchenko, Roman; Kamenov, Nikolay

2017-12-01

Road safety and driving in dense traffic flows poses some challenges in receiving information about surrounding moving object, some of which can be in the vehicle's blind spot. This work suggests an approach to virtual monitoring of the objects in a current road scene via a system with a multitude of cooperating smart vehicles exchanging information. It also describes the intellectual agent model, and provides methods and algorithms of identifying and evaluating various characteristics of moving objects in video flow. Authors also suggest ways for integrating the information from the technical vision system into the model with further expansion of virtual monitoring for the system's objects. Implementation of this approach can help to expand the virtual field of view for a technical vision system.

Toward detecting deception in intelligent systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, Eugene, Jr.; Johnson, Gregory, Jr.

2004-08-01

Contemporary decision makers often must choose a course of action using knowledge from several sources. Knowledge may be provided from many diverse sources including electronic sources such as knowledge-based diagnostic or decision support systems or through data mining techniques. As the decision maker becomes more dependent on these electronic information sources, detecting deceptive information from these sources becomes vital to making a correct, or at least more informed, decision. This applies to unintentional disinformation as well as intentional misinformation. Our ongoing research focuses on employing models of deception and deception detection from the fields of psychology and cognitive science to these systems as well as implementing deception detection algorithms for probabilistic intelligent systems. The deception detection algorithms are used to detect, classify and correct attempts at deception. Algorithms for detecting unexpected information rely upon a prediction algorithm from the collaborative filtering domain to predict agent responses in a multi-agent system.

Biological warfare agents

PubMed Central

Thavaselvam, Duraipandian; Vijayaraghavan, Rajagopalan

2010-01-01

The recent bioterrorist attacks using anthrax spores have emphasized the need to detect and decontaminate critical facilities in the shortest possible time. There has been a remarkable progress in the detection, protection and decontamination of biological warfare agents as many instrumentation platforms and detection methodologies are developed and commissioned. Even then the threat of biological warfare agents and their use in bioterrorist attacks still remain a leading cause of global concern. Furthermore in the past decade there have been threats due to the emerging new diseases and also the re-emergence of old diseases and development of antimicrobial resistance and spread to new geographical regions. The preparedness against these agents need complete knowledge about the disease, better research and training facilities, diagnostic facilities and improved public health system. This review on the biological warfare agents will provide information on the biological warfare agents, their mode of transmission and spread and also the detection systems available to detect them. In addition the current information on the availability of commercially available and developing technologies against biological warfare agents has also been discussed. The risk that arise due to the use of these agents in warfare or bioterrorism related scenario can be mitigated with the availability of improved detection technologies. PMID:21829313

Multi-agent integrated password management (MIPM) application secured with encryption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Awang, Norkhushaini; Zukri, Nurul Hidayah Ahmad; Rashid, Nor Aimuni Md; Zulkifli, Zuhri Arafah; Nazri, Nor Afifah Mohd

2017-10-01

Users use weak passwords and reuse them on different websites and applications. Password managers are a solution to store login information for websites and help users log in automatically. This project developed a system that acts as an agent managing passwords. Multi-Agent Integrated Password Management (MIPM) is an application using encryption that provides users with secure storage of their login account information such as their username, emails and passwords. This project was developed on an Android platform with an encryption agent using Java Agent Development Environment (JADE). The purpose of the embedded agents is to act as a third-party software to ease the encryption process, and in the future, the developed encryption agents can form part of the security system. This application can be used by the computer and mobile users. Currently, users log into many applications causing them to use unique passwords to prevent password leaking. The crypto agent handles the encryption process using an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128-bit encryption algorithm. As a whole, MIPM is developed on the Android application to provide a secure platform to store passwords and has high potential to be commercialised for public use.

An industrial information integration approach to in-orbit spacecraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Xiaoning; Wang, Hong; Du, Yuhao; Xu, Li Da; Chaudhry, Sohail; Bi, Zhuming; Guo, Rong; Huang, Yongxuan; Li, Jisheng

2017-01-01

To operate an in-orbit spacecraft, the spacecraft status has to be monitored autonomously by collecting and analysing real-time data, and then detecting abnormities and malfunctions of system components. To develop an information system for spacecraft state detection, we investigate the feasibility of using ontology-based artificial intelligence in the system development. We propose a new modelling technique based on the semantic web, agent, scenarios and ontologies model. In modelling, the subjects of astronautics fields are classified, corresponding agents and scenarios are defined, and they are connected by the semantic web to analyse data and detect failures. We introduce the modelling methodologies and the resulted framework of the status detection information system in this paper. We discuss system components as well as their interactions in details. The system has been prototyped and tested to illustrate its feasibility and effectiveness. The proposed modelling technique is generic which can be extended and applied to the system development of other large-scale and complex information systems.

Information driving force and its application in agent-based modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Ting-Ting; Zheng, Bo; Li, Yan; Jiang, Xiong-Fei

2018-04-01

Exploring the scientific impact of online big-data has attracted much attention of researchers from different fields in recent years. Complex financial systems are typical open systems profoundly influenced by the external information. Based on the large-scale data in the public media and stock markets, we first define an information driving force, and analyze how it affects the complex financial system. The information driving force is observed to be asymmetric in the bull and bear market states. As an application, we then propose an agent-based model driven by the information driving force. Especially, all the key parameters are determined from the empirical analysis rather than from statistical fitting of the simulation results. With our model, both the stationary properties and non-stationary dynamic behaviors are simulated. Considering the mean-field effect of the external information, we also propose a few-body model to simulate the financial market in the laboratory.

Algorithms of walking and stability for an anthropomorphic robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sirazetdinov, R. T.; Devaev, V. M.; Nikitina, D. V.; Fadeev, A. Y.; Kamalov, A. R.

2017-09-01

Autonomous movement of an anthropomorphic robot is considered as a superposition of a set of typical elements of movement - so-called patterns, each of which can be considered as an agent of some multi-agent system [ 1 ]. To control the AP-601 robot, an information and communication infrastructure has been created that represents some multi-agent system that allows the development of algorithms for individual patterns of moving and run them in the system as a set of independently executed and interacting agents. The algorithms of lateral movement of the anthropomorphic robot AP-601 series with active stability due to the stability pattern are presented.

Developing framework for agent- based diabetes disease management system: user perspective.

PubMed

Mohammadzadeh, Niloofar; Safdari, Reza; Rahimi, Azin

2014-02-01

One of the characteristics of agents is mobility which makes them very suitable for remote electronic health and tele medicine. The aim of this study is developing a framework for agent based diabetes information management at national level through identifying required agents. The main tool is a questioner that is designed in three sections based on studying library resources, performance of major organizations in the field of diabetes in and out of the country and interviews with experts in the medical, health information management and software fields. Questionnaires based on Delphi methods were distributed among 20 experts. In order to design and identify agents required in health information management for the prevention and appropriate and rapid treatment of diabetes, the results were analyzed using SPSS 17 and Results were plotted with FREEPLANE mind map software. ACCESS TO DATA TECHNOLOGY IN PROPOSED FRAMEWORK IN ORDER OF PRIORITY IS: mobile (mean 1/80), SMS, EMAIL (mean 2/80), internet, web (mean 3/30), phone (mean 3/60), WIFI (mean 4/60). In delivering health care to diabetic patients, considering social and human aspects is essential. Having a systematic view for implementation of agent systems and paying attention to all aspects such as feedbacks, user acceptance, budget, motivation, hierarchy, useful standards, affordability of individuals, identifying barriers and opportunities and so on, are necessary.

Decentralized regulation of dynamic systems. [for controlling large scale linear systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chu, K. C.

1975-01-01

A special class of decentralized control problem is discussed in which the objectives of the control agents are to steer the state of the system to desired levels. Each agent is concerned about certain aspects of the state of the entire system. The state and control equations are given for linear time-invariant systems. Stability and coordination, and the optimization of decentralized control are analyzed, and the information structure design is presented.

Intelligent agents as a basis for natural language interfaces

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chin, D.N.

1987-01-01

Typical natural-language interfaces respond passively to the users's commands and queries. They cannot volunteer information, correction user misconceptions, or reject unethical requests. In order to do these things, a system must be an intelligent agent. UC (UNIX Consultant), a natural language system that helps the user solve problems in using the UNIX operating system, is such an intelligent agent. The agent component of UC in UCEgo. UCEgo provides UC with its own goals and plans. By adopting different goals in different situations, UCEgo creates and executes different plans, enabling it to interact appropriately with the user. UCEgo adopts goals frommore » its themes, adopts subgoals during planning, and adopts metagoals for dealing with goal interactions. It also adopts goals when it notices that the user either lacks necessary knowledge, or has incorrect beliefs. In these cases, UCEgo plans to volunteer information or correct the user's misconception as appropriate. The user's knowledge and beliefs are modeled by the KNOME (KNOwledge Model of Expertise) component of UC. KNOME is a double-stereotype system which categorizes users by expertise and categorizes UNIX facts by difficulty.« less

Effects of Cueing by a Pedagogical Agent in an Instructional Animation: A Cognitive Load Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yung, Hsin I.; Paas, Fred

2015-01-01

This study investigated the effects of a pedagogical agent that cued relevant information in a story-based instructional animation on the cardiovascular system. Based on cognitive load theory, it was expected that the experimental condition with the pedagogical agent would facilitate students to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant…

Efficient Evaluation Functions for Multi-Rover Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agogino, Adrian; Tumer, Kagan

2004-01-01

Evolutionary computation can be a powerful tool in cresting a control policy for a single agent receiving local continuous input. This paper extends single-agent evolutionary computation to multi-agent systems, where a collection of agents strives to maximize a global fitness evaluation function that rates the performance of the entire system. This problem is solved in a distributed manner, where each agent evolves its own population of neural networks that are used as the control policies for the agent. Each agent evolves its population using its own agent-specific fitness evaluation function. We propose to create these agent-specific evaluation functions using the theory of collectives to avoid the coordination problem where each agent evolves a population that maximizes its own fitness function, yet the system has a whole achieves low values of the global fitness function. Instead we will ensure that each fitness evaluation function is both "aligned" with the global evaluation function and is "learnable," i.e., the agents can readily see how their behavior affects their evaluation function. We then show how these agent-specific evaluation functions outperform global evaluation methods by up to 600% in a domain where a set of rovers attempt to maximize the amount of information observed while navigating through a simulated environment.

Multi-Agent System for Recruiting Patients for Clinical Trials

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-01

between agents, i.e. the flow of information. To provide greater insight, the links are also anno - tated with example operations that occur through these...then to achieve a full system evaluation that explores the intricacies of the agents in in wild. 8. REFERENCES [1] L. B. Afrin, J . C. Oates, C. K...2003:16–20. [2] A. J . Butte, D. A. Weinstein, and I. S. Kohane. Enrolling patients into clinical trials faster using realtime recuiting. Proceedings

Design and Simulation of Material-Integrated Distributed Sensor Processing with a Code-Based Agent Platform and Mobile Multi-Agent Systems

PubMed Central

Bosse, Stefan

2015-01-01

Multi-agent systems (MAS) can be used for decentralized and self-organizing data processing in a distributed system, like a resource-constrained sensor network, enabling distributed information extraction, for example, based on pattern recognition and self-organization, by decomposing complex tasks in simpler cooperative agents. Reliable MAS-based data processing approaches can aid the material-integration of structural-monitoring applications, with agent processing platforms scaled to the microchip level. The agent behavior, based on a dynamic activity-transition graph (ATG) model, is implemented with program code storing the control and the data state of an agent, which is novel. The program code can be modified by the agent itself using code morphing techniques and is capable of migrating in the network between nodes. The program code is a self-contained unit (a container) and embeds the agent data, the initialization instructions and the ATG behavior implementation. The microchip agent processing platform used for the execution of the agent code is a standalone multi-core stack machine with a zero-operand instruction format, leading to a small-sized agent program code, low system complexity and high system performance. The agent processing is token-queue-based, similar to Petri-nets. The agent platform can be implemented in software, too, offering compatibility at the operational and code level, supporting agent processing in strong heterogeneous networks. In this work, the agent platform embedded in a large-scale distributed sensor network is simulated at the architectural level by using agent-based simulation techniques. PMID:25690550

Design and simulation of material-integrated distributed sensor processing with a code-based agent platform and mobile multi-agent systems.

PubMed

Bosse, Stefan

2015-02-16

Multi-agent systems (MAS) can be used for decentralized and self-organizing data processing in a distributed system, like a resource-constrained sensor network, enabling distributed information extraction, for example, based on pattern recognition and self-organization, by decomposing complex tasks in simpler cooperative agents. Reliable MAS-based data processing approaches can aid the material-integration of structural-monitoring applications, with agent processing platforms scaled to the microchip level. The agent behavior, based on a dynamic activity-transition graph (ATG) model, is implemented with program code storing the control and the data state of an agent, which is novel. The program code can be modified by the agent itself using code morphing techniques and is capable of migrating in the network between nodes. The program code is a self-contained unit (a container) and embeds the agent data, the initialization instructions and the ATG behavior implementation. The microchip agent processing platform used for the execution of the agent code is a standalone multi-core stack machine with a zero-operand instruction format, leading to a small-sized agent program code, low system complexity and high system performance. The agent processing is token-queue-based, similar to Petri-nets. The agent platform can be implemented in software, too, offering compatibility at the operational and code level, supporting agent processing in strong heterogeneous networks. In this work, the agent platform embedded in a large-scale distributed sensor network is simulated at the architectural level by using agent-based simulation techniques.

Intelligent Information Fusion in the Aviation Domain: A Semantic-Web based Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ashish, Naveen; Goforth, Andre

2005-01-01

Information fusion from multiple sources is a critical requirement for System Wide Information Management in the National Airspace (NAS). NASA and the FAA envision creating an "integrated pool" of information originally coming from different sources, which users, intelligent agents and NAS decision support tools can tap into. In this paper we present the results of our initial investigations into the requirements and prototype development of such an integrated information pool for the NAS. We have attempted to ascertain key requirements for such an integrated pool based on a survey of DSS tools that will benefit from this integrated pool. We then advocate key technologies from computer science research areas such as the semantic web, information integration, and intelligent agents that we believe are well suited to achieving the envisioned system wide information management capabilities.

Spatiotemporal trends in the discovery of new swine infectious agents.

PubMed

Fournié, Guillaume; Kearsley-Fleet, Lianne; Otte, Joachim; Pfeiffer, Dirk Udo

2015-09-28

A literature review was conducted to assess the spatiotemporal trend and diversity of infectious agents that were newly found in pigs between 1985 and 2010. We identified 173 new variants from 91 species, of which 73 species had not been previously described in pigs. These new species, of which one third was zoonotic, were taxonomically diverse. They were identified throughout the study period, predominantly in the main pork producing countries, with the rate of discovery of new virus variants doubling within the last 10 years of the study period. Whilst infectious agent species newly detected in high-income countries were more likely to be associated with higher virulence, zoonotic agents prevailed in low- and middle-income countries. Although this trend is influenced by factors conditioning infectious agent detection - diagnostic methods, surveillance efforts, research interests -, it may suggest that different scales and types of production systems promote emergence of certain types of infectious agents. Considering the rapid transformation of the swine industry, concerted efforts are needed for improving our understanding of the factors influencing the emergence of infectious agents. This information then needs to inform the design of risk-based surveillance systems and strategies directly mitigating the risk associated with these factors.

[The National Registry of Occupational Exposures to Carcinogens (SIREP): information system and results].

PubMed

Scarselli, Alberto

2011-01-01

The recording of occupational exposure to carcinogens is a fundamental step in order to assess exposure risk factors in workplaces. The aim of this paper is to describe the characteristics of the Italian register of occupational exposures to carcinogen agents (SIREP). The core data collected in the system are: firm characteristics, worker demographics, and exposure information. Statistical descriptive analyses were performed by economic activity sector, carcinogen agent and geographic location. Currently, the information recorded regard: 12,300 firms, 130,000 workers, and 250,000 exposures. The SIREP database has been set up in order to assess, control and reduce the carcinogen risk at workplace.

What does God know? Supernatural agents' access to socially strategic and non-strategic information.

PubMed

Purzycki, Benjamin G; Finkel, Daniel N; Shaver, John; Wales, Nathan; Cohen, Adam B; Sosis, Richard

2012-07-01

Current evolutionary and cognitive theories of religion posit that supernatural agent concepts emerge from cognitive systems such as theory of mind and social cognition. Some argue that these concepts evolved to maintain social order by minimizing antisocial behavior. If these theories are correct, then people should process information about supernatural agents' socially strategic knowledge more quickly than non-strategic knowledge. Furthermore, agents' knowledge of immoral and uncooperative social behaviors should be especially accessible to people. To examine these hypotheses, we measured response-times to questions about the knowledge attributed to four different agents--God, Santa Claus, a fictional surveillance government, and omniscient but non-interfering aliens--that vary in their omniscience, moral concern, ability to punish, and how supernatural they are. As anticipated, participants respond more quickly to questions about agents' socially strategic knowledge than non-strategic knowledge, but only when agents are able to punish. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

A Formal Characterization of Relevant Information in Multi-Agent Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-01

Conference iTrust. (2004) [17] Sadek, D.: Le dialogue homme-machine : de l’ ergonomie des interfaces à l’ agent intelligent dia- loguant. In: Nouvelles interfaces hommemachine, Lavoisier Editeur, Arago 18 (1996) 277–321

Effective Team Support: From Modeling to Software Agents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Remington, Roger W. (Technical Monitor); John, Bonnie; Sycara, Katia

2003-01-01

The purpose of this research contract was to perform multidisciplinary research between CMU psychologists, computer scientists and engineers and NASA researchers to design a next generation collaborative system to support a team of human experts and intelligent agents. To achieve robust performance enhancement of such a system, we had proposed to perform task and cognitive modeling to thoroughly understand the impact technology makes on the organization and on key individual personnel. Guided by cognitively-inspired requirements, we would then develop software agents that support the human team in decision making, information filtering, information distribution and integration to enhance team situational awareness. During the period covered by this final report, we made substantial progress in modeling infrastructure and task infrastructure. Work is continuing under a different contract to complete empirical data collection, cognitive modeling, and the building of software agents to support the teams task.

C3PO - A Dynamic Data Placement Agent for ATLAS Distributed Data Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beermann, T.; Lassnig, M.; Barisits, M.; Serfon, C.; Garonne, V.; ATLAS Collaboration

2017-10-01

This paper introduces a new dynamic data placement agent for the ATLAS distributed data management system. This agent is designed to pre-place potentially popular data to make it more widely available. It therefore incorporates information from a variety of sources. Those include input datasets and sites workload information from the ATLAS workload management system, network metrics from different sources like FTS and PerfSonar, historical popularity data collected through a tracer mechanism and more. With this data it decides if, when and where to place new replicas that then can be used by the WMS to distribute the workload more evenly over available computing resources and then ultimately reduce job waiting times. This paper gives an overview of the architecture and the final implementation of this new agent. The paper also includes an evaluation of the placement algorithm by comparing the transfer times and the new replica usage.

Limit cycles and the benefits of a short memory in rock-paper-scissors games.

PubMed

Burridge, James

2015-10-01

When playing games in groups, it is an advantage for individuals to have accurate statistical information on the strategies of their opponents. Such information may be obtained by remembering previous interactions. We consider a rock-paper-scissors game in which agents are able to recall their last m interactions, used to estimate the behavior of their opponents. At critical memory length, a Hopf bifurcation leads to the formation of stable limit cycles. In a mixed population, agents with longer memories have an advantage, provided the system has a stable fixed point, and there is some asymmetry in the payoffs of the pure strategies. However, at a critical concentration of long memory agents, the appearance of limit cycles destroys their advantage. By introducing population dynamics that favors successful agents, we show that the system evolves toward the bifurcation point.

Limit cycles and the benefits of a short memory in rock-paper-scissors games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burridge, James

2015-10-01

When playing games in groups, it is an advantage for individuals to have accurate statistical information on the strategies of their opponents. Such information may be obtained by remembering previous interactions. We consider a rock-paper-scissors game in which agents are able to recall their last m interactions, used to estimate the behavior of their opponents. At critical memory length, a Hopf bifurcation leads to the formation of stable limit cycles. In a mixed population, agents with longer memories have an advantage, provided the system has a stable fixed point, and there is some asymmetry in the payoffs of the pure strategies. However, at a critical concentration of long memory agents, the appearance of limit cycles destroys their advantage. By introducing population dynamics that favors successful agents, we show that the system evolves toward the bifurcation point.

Emergence of heterogeneity and political organization in information exchange networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guttenberg, Nicholas; Goldenfeld, Nigel

2010-04-01

We present a simple model of the emergence of the division of labor and the development of a system of resource subsidy from an agent-based model of directed resource production with variable degrees of trust between the agents. The model has three distinct phases corresponding to different forms of societal organization: disconnected (independent agents), homogeneous cooperative (collective state), and inhomogeneous cooperative (collective state with a leader). Our results indicate that such levels of organization arise generically as a collective effect from interacting agent dynamics and may have applications in a variety of systems including social insects and microbial communities.

Emergence of heterogeneity and political organization in information exchange networks.

PubMed

Guttenberg, Nicholas; Goldenfeld, Nigel

2010-04-01

We present a simple model of the emergence of the division of labor and the development of a system of resource subsidy from an agent-based model of directed resource production with variable degrees of trust between the agents. The model has three distinct phases corresponding to different forms of societal organization: disconnected (independent agents), homogeneous cooperative (collective state), and inhomogeneous cooperative (collective state with a leader). Our results indicate that such levels of organization arise generically as a collective effect from interacting agent dynamics and may have applications in a variety of systems including social insects and microbial communities.

Resilient distributed control in the presence of misbehaving agents in networked control systems.

PubMed

Zeng, Wente; Chow, Mo-Yuen

2014-11-01

In this paper, we study the problem of reaching a consensus among all the agents in the networked control systems (NCS) in the presence of misbehaving agents. A reputation-based resilient distributed control algorithm is first proposed for the leader-follower consensus network. The proposed algorithm embeds a resilience mechanism that includes four phases (detection, mitigation, identification, and update), into the control process in a distributed manner. At each phase, every agent only uses local and one-hop neighbors' information to identify and isolate the misbehaving agents, and even compensate their effect on the system. We then extend the proposed algorithm to the leaderless consensus network by introducing and adding two recovery schemes (rollback and excitation recovery) into the current framework to guarantee the accurate convergence of the well-behaving agents in NCS. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through case studies in multirobot formation control and wireless sensor networks.

An Autonomous Mobile Agent-Based Distributed Learning Architecture: A Proposal and Analytical Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahmed, Iftikhar; Sadeq, Muhammad Jafar

2006-01-01

Current distance learning systems are increasingly packing highly data-intensive contents on servers, resulting in the congestion of network and server resources at peak service times. A distributed learning system based on faded information field (FIF) architecture that employs mobile agents (MAs) has been proposed and simulated in this work. The…

Bipartite consensus for multi-agent systems with antagonistic interactions and communication delays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Xing; Lu, Jianquan; Alsaedi, Ahmed; Alsaadi, Fuad E.

2018-04-01

This paper studies the consensus problems over signed digraphs with arbitrary finite communication delays. For the considered system, the information flow is directed and only locally delayed information can be used for each node. We derive that bipartite consensus of this system can be realized when the associated signed digraph is strongly connected. Furthermore, for structurally balanced networks, this paper studies the pinning partite consensus for the considered system. we design a pinning scheme to pin any one agent in the signed network, and obtain that the network achieves pinning bipartite consensus with any initial conditions. Finally, two examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of our main results.

Application of online measures to monitor and evaluate multiplatform fusion performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stubberud, Stephen C.; Kowalski, Charlene; Klamer, Dale M.

1999-07-01

A primary concern of multiplatform data fusion is assessing the quality and utility of data shared among platforms. Constraints such as platform and sensor capability and task load necessitate development of an on-line system that computes a metric to determine which other platform can provide the best data for processing. To determine data quality, we are implementing an approach based on entropy coupled with intelligent agents. To determine data quality, we are implementing an approach based on entropy coupled with intelligent agents. Entropy measures quality of processed information such as localization, classification, and ambiguity in measurement-to-track association. Lower entropy scores imply less uncertainty about a particular target. When new information is provided, we compuete the level of improvement a particular track obtains from one measurement to another. The measure permits us to evaluate the utility of the new information. We couple entropy with intelligent agents that provide two main data gathering functions: estimation of another platform's performance and evaluation of the new measurement data's quality. Both functions result from the entropy metric. The intelligent agent on a platform makes an estimate of another platform's measurement and provides it to its own fusion system, which can then incorporate it, for a particular target. A resulting entropy measure is then calculated and returned to its own agent. From this metric, the agent determines a perceived value of the offboard platform's measurement. If the value is satisfactory, the agent requests the measurement from the other platform, usually by interacting with the other platform's agent. Once the actual measurement is received, again entropy is computed and the agent assesses its estimation process and refines it accordingly.

Design for interaction between humans and intelligent systems during real-time fault management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malin, Jane T.; Schreckenghost, Debra L.; Thronesbery, Carroll G.

1992-01-01

Initial results are reported to provide guidance and assistance for designers of intelligent systems and their human interfaces. The objective is to achieve more effective human-computer interaction (HCI) for real time fault management support systems. Studies of the development of intelligent fault management systems within NASA have resulted in a new perspective of the user. If the user is viewed as one of the subsystems in a heterogeneous, distributed system, system design becomes the design of a flexible architecture for accomplishing system tasks with both human and computer agents. HCI requirements and design should be distinguished from user interface (displays and controls) requirements and design. Effective HCI design for multi-agent systems requires explicit identification of activities and information that support coordination and communication between agents. The effects are characterized of HCI design on overall system design and approaches are identified to addressing HCI requirements in system design. The results include definition of (1) guidance based on information level requirements analysis of HCI, (2) high level requirements for a design methodology that integrates the HCI perspective into system design, and (3) requirements for embedding HCI design tools into intelligent system development environments.

The Use of Software Agents for Autonomous Control of a DC Space Power System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

May, Ryan D.; Loparo, Kenneth A.

2014-01-01

In order to enable manned deep-space missions, the spacecraft must be controlled autonomously using on-board algorithms. A control architecture is proposed to enable this autonomous operation for an spacecraft electric power system and then implemented using a highly distributed network of software agents. These agents collaborate and compete with each other in order to implement each of the control functions. A subset of this control architecture is tested against a steadystate power system simulation and found to be able to solve a constrained optimization problem with competing objectives using only local information.

Monitoring Agents for Assisting NASA Engineers with Shuttle Ground Processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Semmel, Glenn S.; Davis, Steven R.; Leucht, Kurt W.; Rowe, Danil A.; Smith, Kevin E.; Boeloeni, Ladislau

2005-01-01

The Spaceport Processing Systems Branch at NASA Kennedy Space Center has designed, developed, and deployed a rule-based agent to monitor the Space Shuttle's ground processing telemetry stream. The NASA Engineering Shuttle Telemetry Agent increases situational awareness for system and hardware engineers during ground processing of the Shuttle's subsystems. The agent provides autonomous monitoring of the telemetry stream and automatically alerts system engineers when user defined conditions are satisfied. Efficiency and safety are improved through increased automation. Sandia National Labs' Java Expert System Shell is employed as the agent's rule engine. The shell's predicate logic lends itself well to capturing the heuristics and specifying the engineering rules within this domain. The declarative paradigm of the rule-based agent yields a highly modular and scalable design spanning multiple subsystems of the Shuttle. Several hundred monitoring rules have been written thus far with corresponding notifications sent to Shuttle engineers. This chapter discusses the rule-based telemetry agent used for Space Shuttle ground processing. We present the problem domain along with design and development considerations such as information modeling, knowledge capture, and the deployment of the product. We also present ongoing work with other condition monitoring agents.

Learning in engineered multi-agent systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menon, Anup

Consider the problem of maximizing the total power produced by a wind farm. Due to aerodynamic interactions between wind turbines, each turbine maximizing its individual power---as is the case in present-day wind farms---does not lead to optimal farm-level power capture. Further, there are no good models to capture the said aerodynamic interactions, rendering model based optimization techniques ineffective. Thus, model-free distributed algorithms are needed that help turbines adapt their power production on-line so as to maximize farm-level power capture. Motivated by such problems, the main focus of this dissertation is a distributed model-free optimization problem in the context of multi-agent systems. The set-up comprises of a fixed number of agents, each of which can pick an action and observe the value of its individual utility function. An individual's utility function may depend on the collective action taken by all agents. The exact functional form (or model) of the agent utility functions, however, are unknown; an agent can only measure the numeric value of its utility. The objective of the multi-agent system is to optimize the welfare function (i.e. sum of the individual utility functions). Such a collaborative task requires communications between agents and we allow for the possibility of such inter-agent communications. We also pay attention to the role played by the pattern of such information exchange on certain aspects of performance. We develop two algorithms to solve this problem. The first one, engineered Interactive Trial and Error Learning (eITEL) algorithm, is based on a line of work in the Learning in Games literature and applies when agent actions are drawn from finite sets. While in a model-free setting, we introduce a novel qualitative graph-theoretic framework to encode known directed interactions of the form "which agents' action affect which others' payoff" (interaction graph). We encode explicit inter-agent communications in a directed graph (communication graph) and, under certain conditions, prove convergence of agent joint action (under eITEL) to the welfare optimizing set. The main condition requires that the union of interaction and communication graphs be strongly connected; thus the algorithm combines an implicit form of communication (via interactions through utility functions) with explicit inter-agent communications to achieve the given collaborative goal. This work has kinship with certain evolutionary computation techniques such as Simulated Annealing; the algorithm steps are carefully designed such that it describes an ergodic Markov chain with a stationary distribution that has support over states where agent joint actions optimize the welfare function. The main analysis tool is perturbed Markov chains and results of broader interest regarding these are derived as well. The other algorithm, Collaborative Extremum Seeking (CES), uses techniques from extremum seeking control to solve the problem when agent actions are drawn from the set of real numbers. In this case, under the assumption of existence of a local minimizer for the welfare function and a connected undirected communication graph between agents, a result regarding convergence of joint action to a small neighborhood of a local optimizer of the welfare function is proved. Since extremum seeking control uses a simultaneous gradient estimation-descent scheme, gradient information available in the continuous action space formulation is exploited by the CES algorithm to yield improved convergence speeds. The effectiveness of this algorithm for the wind farm power maximization problem is evaluated via simulations. Lastly, we turn to a different question regarding role of the information exchange pattern on performance of distributed control systems by means of a case study for the vehicle platooning problem. In the vehicle platoon control problem, the objective is to design distributed control laws for individual vehicles in a platoon (or a road-train) that regulate inter-vehicle distances at a specified safe value while the entire platoon follows a leader-vehicle. While most of the literature on the problem deals with some inadequacy in control performance when the information exchange is of the nearest neighbor-type, we consider an arbitrary graph serving as information exchange pattern and derive a relationship between how a certain indicator of control performance is related to the information pattern. Such analysis helps in understanding qualitative features of the `right' information pattern for this problem.

Collective states in social systems with interacting learning agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Semeshenko, Viktoriya; Gordon, Mirta B.; Nadal, Jean-Pierre

2008-08-01

We study the implications of social interactions and individual learning features on consumer demand in a simple market model. We consider a social system of interacting heterogeneous agents with learning abilities. Given a fixed price, agents repeatedly decide whether or not to buy a unit of a good, so as to maximize their expected utilities. This model is close to Random Field Ising Models, where the random field corresponds to the idiosyncratic willingness to pay. We show that the equilibrium reached depends on the nature of the information agents use to estimate their expected utilities. It may be different from the systems’ Nash equilibria.

Nature as a network of morphological infocomputational processes for cognitive agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dodig-Crnkovic, Gordana

2017-01-01

This paper presents a view of nature as a network of infocomputational agents organized in a dynamical hierarchy of levels. It provides a framework for unification of currently disparate understandings of natural, formal, technical, behavioral and social phenomena based on information as a structure, differences in one system that cause the differences in another system, and computation as its dynamics, i.e. physical process of morphological change in the informational structure. We address some of the frequent misunderstandings regarding the natural/morphological computational models and their relationships to physical systems, especially cognitive systems such as living beings. Natural morphological infocomputation as a conceptual framework necessitates generalization of models of computation beyond the traditional Turing machine model presenting symbol manipulation, and requires agent-based concurrent resource-sensitive models of computation in order to be able to cover the whole range of phenomena from physics to cognition. The central role of agency, particularly material vs. cognitive agency is highlighted.

Agent Architecture for Aviation Data Integration System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kulkarni, Deepak; Wang, Yao; Windrem, May; Patel, Hemil; Wei, Mei

2004-01-01

This paper describes the proposed agent-based architecture of the Aviation Data Integration System (ADIS). ADIS is a software system that provides integrated heterogeneous data to support aviation problem-solving activities. Examples of aviation problem-solving activities include engineering troubleshooting, incident and accident investigation, routine flight operations monitoring, safety assessment, maintenance procedure debugging, and training assessment. A wide variety of information is typically referenced when engaging in these activities. Some of this information includes flight recorder data, Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) reports, Jeppesen charts, weather data, air traffic control information, safety reports, and runway visual range data. Such wide-ranging information cannot be found in any single unified information source. Therefore, this information must be actively collected, assembled, and presented in a manner that supports the users problem-solving activities. This information integration task is non-trivial and presents a variety of technical challenges. ADIS has been developed to do this task and it permits integration of weather, RVR, radar data, and Jeppesen charts with flight data. ADIS has been implemented and used by several airlines FOQA teams. The initial feedback from airlines is that such a system is very useful in FOQA analysis. Based on the feedback from the initial deployment, we are developing a new version of the system that would make further progress in achieving following goals of our project.

Research Recommendations for Selected IARC-Classified Agents

EPA Science Inventory

History of the NORA process and framework for the meeting. This is a concerted effort to identify means of reducing the insufficiency of available data for classifying particular agents in the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) system by identifying information n...

5 CFR 293.502 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... medical research study conducted under the authority of the agency. Implementing instructions means any... information concerning employee exposure to toxic substances or harmful physical agents (as defined at 29 CFR... name) of a toxic substance of harmful physical agent. Employee Medical File System (EMFS) means the...

5 CFR 293.502 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... medical research study conducted under the authority of the agency. Implementing instructions means any... information concerning employee exposure to toxic substances or harmful physical agents (as defined at 29 CFR... name) of a toxic substance of harmful physical agent. Employee Medical File System (EMFS) means the...

5 CFR 293.502 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... medical research study conducted under the authority of the agency. Implementing instructions means any... information concerning employee exposure to toxic substances or harmful physical agents (as defined at 29 CFR... name) of a toxic substance of harmful physical agent. Employee Medical File System (EMFS) means the...

5 CFR 293.502 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... medical research study conducted under the authority of the agency. Implementing instructions means any... information concerning employee exposure to toxic substances or harmful physical agents (as defined at 29 CFR... name) of a toxic substance of harmful physical agent. Employee Medical File System (EMFS) means the...

Study on system dynamics of evolutionary mix-game models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gou, Chengling; Guo, Xiaoqian; Chen, Fang

2008-11-01

Mix-game model is ameliorated from an agent-based MG model, which is used to simulate the real financial market. Different from MG, there are two groups of agents in Mix-game: Group 1 plays a majority game and Group 2 plays a minority game. These two groups of agents have different bounded abilities to deal with historical information and to count their own performance. In this paper, we modify Mix-game model by assigning the evolution abilities to agents: if the winning rates of agents are smaller than a threshold, they will copy the best strategies the other agent has; and agents will repeat such evolution at certain time intervals. Through simulations this paper finds: (1) the average winning rates of agents in Group 1 and the mean volatilities increase with the increases of the thresholds of Group 1; (2) the average winning rates of both groups decrease but the mean volatilities of system increase with the increase of the thresholds of Group 2; (3) the thresholds of Group 2 have greater impact on system dynamics than the thresholds of Group 1; (4) the characteristics of system dynamics under different time intervals of strategy change are similar to each other qualitatively, but they are different quantitatively; (5) As the time interval of strategy change increases from 1 to 20, the system behaves more and more stable and the performances of agents in both groups become better also.

Autonomous System Technologies for Resilient Airspace Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Houston, Vincent E.; Le Vie, Lisa R.

2017-01-01

Increasing autonomous systems within the aircraft cockpit begins with an effort to understand what autonomy is and developing the technology that encompasses it. Autonomy allows an agent, human or machine, to act independently within a circumscribed set of goals; delegating responsibility to the agent(s) to achieve overall system objective(s). Increasingly Autonomous Systems (IAS) are the highly sophisticated progression of current automated systems toward full autonomy. Working in concert with humans, these types of technologies are expected to improve the safety, reliability, costs, and operational efficiency of aviation. IAS implementation is imminent, which makes the development and the proper performance of such technologies, with respect to cockpit operation efficiency, the management of air traffic and data communication information, vital. A prototype IAS agent that attempts to optimize the identification and distribution of "relevant" air traffic data to be utilized by human crews during complex airspace operations has been developed.

Agent Architectures for Compliance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burgemeestre, Brigitte; Hulstijn, Joris; Tan, Yao-Hua

A Normative Multi-Agent System consists of autonomous agents who must comply with social norms. Different kinds of norms make different assumptions about the cognitive architecture of the agents. For example, a principle-based norm assumes that agents can reflect upon the consequences of their actions; a rule-based formulation only assumes that agents can avoid violations. In this paper we present several cognitive agent architectures for self-monitoring and compliance. We show how different assumptions about the cognitive architecture lead to different information needs when assessing compliance. The approach is validated with a case study of horizontal monitoring, an approach to corporate tax auditing recently introduced by the Dutch Customs and Tax Authority.

The role of independent agents in the success of health insurance market reforms.

PubMed

Hall, M A

2000-01-01

The impact of reforms on the health insurance markets cannot be understood without more information about the role played by insurance agents and a closer analysis of their contribution. An in-depth, qualitative study of insurance-market reforms in seven illustrative states forms the basis for this report on how agents help to shape the efficiency and fairness of insurance markets. Different types of agents relate to insurers in their own ways and are compensated differently. This study shows agents to be almost uniformly enthusiastic about guaranteed-issue requirements and other components of market reforms. Although insurers devise strategies for manipulating agents in order to avoid undesirable business, these opportunities are limited and do not appear to be seriously undermining the effectiveness of market reforms. Despite the layer of cost that agents add to the system, they play an important role in making market reforms work, and they fill essential information and service functions for which many purchasers have no ready substitute.

The Role of Independent Agents in the Success of Health Insurance Market Reforms

PubMed Central

Hall, Mark A.

2000-01-01

The impact of reforms on the health insurance markets cannot be understood without more information about the role played by insurance agents and a closer analysis of their contribution. An in-depth, qualitative study of insurance-market reforms in seven illustrative states forms the basis for this report on how agents help to shape the efficiency and fairness of insurance markets. Different types of agents relate to insurers in their own ways and are compensated differently. This study shows agents to be almost uniformly enthusiastic about guaranteed-issue requirements and other components of market reforms. Although insurers devise strategies for manipulating agents in order to avoid undesirable business, these opportunities are limited and do not appear to be seriously undermining the effectiveness of market reforms. Despite the layer of cost that agents add to the system, they play an important role in making market reforms work, and they fill essential information and service functions for which many purchasers have no ready substitute. PMID:10834080

Autonomous Mission Operations for Sensor Webs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Underbrink, A.; Witt, K.; Stanley, J.; Mandl, D.

2008-12-01

We present interim results of a 2005 ROSES AIST project entitled, "Using Intelligent Agents to Form a Sensor Web for Autonomous Mission Operations", or SWAMO. The goal of the SWAMO project is to shift the control of spacecraft missions from a ground-based, centrally controlled architecture to a collaborative, distributed set of intelligent agents. The network of intelligent agents intends to reduce management requirements by utilizing model-based system prediction and autonomic model/agent collaboration. SWAMO agents are distributed throughout the Sensor Web environment, which may include multiple spacecraft, aircraft, ground systems, and ocean systems, as well as manned operations centers. The agents monitor and manage sensor platforms, Earth sensing systems, and Earth sensing models and processes. The SWAMO agents form a Sensor Web of agents via peer-to-peer coordination. Some of the intelligent agents are mobile and able to traverse between on-orbit and ground-based systems. Other agents in the network are responsible for encapsulating system models to perform prediction of future behavior of the modeled subsystems and components to which they are assigned. The software agents use semantic web technologies to enable improved information sharing among the operational entities of the Sensor Web. The semantics include ontological conceptualizations of the Sensor Web environment, plus conceptualizations of the SWAMO agents themselves. By conceptualizations of the agents, we mean knowledge of their state, operational capabilities, current operational capacities, Web Service search and discovery results, agent collaboration rules, etc. The need for ontological conceptualizations over the agents is to enable autonomous and autonomic operations of the Sensor Web. The SWAMO ontology enables automated decision making and responses to the dynamic Sensor Web environment and to end user science requests. The current ontology is compatible with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) Sensor Model Language (SensorML) concepts and structures. The agents are currently deployed on the U.S. Naval Academy MidSTAR-1 satellite and are actively managing the power subsystem on-orbit without the need for human intervention.

Stationary average consensus protocol for a class of heterogeneous high-order multi-agent systems with application for aircraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rezaei, Mohammad Hadi; Menhaj, Mohammad Bagher

2018-01-01

This paper investigates the stationary average consensus problem for a class of heterogeneous-order multi-agent systems. The goal is to bring the positions of agents to the average of their initial positions while letting the other states converge to zero. To this end, three different consensus protocols are proposed. First, based on the auxiliary variables information among the agents under switching directed networks and state-feedback control, a protocol is proposed whereby all the agents achieve stationary average consensus. In the second and third protocols, by resorting to only measurements of relative positions of neighbouring agents under fixed balanced directed networks, two control frameworks are presented with two strategies based on state-feedback and output-feedback control. Finally, simulation results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed protocols.

Distributed event-triggered consensus tracking of second-order multi-agent systems with a virtual leader

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jie, Cao; Zhi-Hai, Wu; Li, Peng

2016-05-01

This paper investigates the consensus tracking problems of second-order multi-agent systems with a virtual leader via event-triggered control. A novel distributed event-triggered transmission scheme is proposed, which is intermittently examined at constant sampling instants. Only partial neighbor information and local measurements are required for event detection. Then the corresponding event-triggered consensus tracking protocol is presented to guarantee second-order multi-agent systems to achieve consensus tracking. Numerical simulations are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61203147, 61374047, and 61403168).

Designing Agent Utilities for Coordinated, Scalable and Robust Multi-Agent Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tumer, Kagan

2005-01-01

Coordinating the behavior of a large number of agents to achieve a system level goal poses unique design challenges. In particular, problems of scaling (number of agents in the thousands to tens of thousands), observability (agents have limited sensing capabilities), and robustness (the agents are unreliable) make it impossible to simply apply methods developed for small multi-agent systems composed of reliable agents. To address these problems, we present an approach based on deriving agent goals that are aligned with the overall system goal, and can be computed using information readily available to the agents. Then, each agent uses a simple reinforcement learning algorithm to pursue its own goals. Because of the way in which those goals are derived, there is no need to use difficult to scale external mechanisms to force collaboration or coordination among the agents, or to ensure that agents actively attempt to appropriate the tasks of agents that suffered failures. To present these results in a concrete setting, we focus on the problem of finding the sub-set of a set of imperfect devices that results in the best aggregate device. This is a large distributed agent coordination problem where each agent (e.g., device) needs to determine whether to be part of the aggregate device. Our results show that the approach proposed in this work provides improvements of over an order of magnitude over both traditional search methods and traditional multi-agent methods. Furthermore, the results show that even in extreme cases of agent failures (i.e., half the agents failed midway through the simulation) the system's performance degrades gracefully and still outperforms a failure-free and centralized search algorithm. The results also show that the gains increase as the size of the system (e.g., number of agents) increases. This latter result is particularly encouraging and suggests that this method is ideally suited for domains where the number of agents is currently in the thousands and will reach tens or hundreds of thousands in the near future.

17 CFR 200.19a - Director of the Division of Trading and Markets.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... COMMISSION ORGANIZATION; CONDUCT AND ETHICS; AND INFORMATION AND REQUESTS Organization and Program Management... responsibilities include oversight of the national market system, the national clearance and settlement system, and... and dealers, transfer agents, and securities information processors. The functions involved in the...

18 CFR 37.2 - Purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT OPEN ACCESS SAME-TIME INFORMATION SYSTEMS § 37.2 Purpose. (a) The purpose of this part is to ensure that potential customers of open access transmission... Transmission Provider (or its agent) to create and operate an Open Access Same-time Information System (OASIS...

18 CFR 37.2 - Purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT OPEN ACCESS SAME-TIME INFORMATION SYSTEMS § 37.2 Purpose. (a) The purpose of this part is to ensure that potential customers of open access transmission... Transmission Provider (or its agent) to create and operate an Open Access Same-time Information System (OASIS...

The dynamics of perception and action.

PubMed

Warren, William H

2006-04-01

How might one account for the organization in behavior without attributing it to an internal control structure? The present article develops a theoretical framework called behavioral dynamics that integrates an information-based approach to perception with a dynamical systems approach to action. For a given task, the agent and its environment are treated as a pair of dynamical systems that are coupled mechanically and informationally. Their interactions give rise to the behavioral dynamics, a vector field with attractors that correspond to stable task solutions, repellers that correspond to avoided states, and bifurcations that correspond to behavioral transitions. The framework is used to develop theories of several tasks in which a human agent interacts with the physical environment, including bouncing a ball on a racquet, balancing an object, braking a vehicle, and guiding locomotion. Stable, adaptive behavior emerges from the dynamics of the interaction between a structured environment and an agent with simple control laws, under physical and informational constraints. ((c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

Representing situation awareness in collaborative systems: a case study in the energy distribution domain.

PubMed

Salmon, P M; Stanton, N A; Walker, G H; Jenkins, D; Baber, C; McMaster, R

2008-03-01

The concept of distributed situation awareness (DSA) is currently receiving increasing attention from the human factors community. This article investigates DSA in a collaborative real-world industrial setting by discussing the results derived from a recent naturalistic study undertaken within the UK energy distribution domain. The results describe the DSA-related information used by the networks of agents involved in the scenarios analysed, the sharing of this information between the agents and the salience of different information elements used. Thus, the structure, quality and content of each network's DSA is discussed, along with the implications for DSA theory. The findings reinforce the notion that when viewing situation awareness (SA) in collaborative systems, it is useful to focus on the coordinated behaviour of the system itself, rather than on the individual as the unit of analysis and suggest that the findings from such assessments can potentially be used to inform system, procedure and training design. SA is a critical commodity for teams working in industrial systems and systems, procedures and training programmes should be designed to facilitate efficient system SA acquisition and maintenance. This article presents approaches for describing and understanding SA during real-world collaborative tasks, the outputs from which can potentially be used to inform system, training programmes and procedure design.

An extensible simulation environment and movement metrics for testing walking behavior in agent-based models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Paul M. Torrens; Atsushi Nara; Xun Li

2012-01-01

Human movement is a significant ingredient of many social, environmental, and technical systems, yet the importance of movement is often discounted in considering systems complexity. Movement is commonly abstracted in agent-based modeling (which is perhaps the methodological vehicle for modeling complex systems), despite the influence of movement upon information exchange and adaptation in a system. In particular, agent-based models of urban pedestrians often treat movement in proxy form at the expense of faithfully treating movement behavior with realistic agency. There exists little consensus about which method is appropriate for representing movement in agent-based schemes. In this paper, we examine popularly-usedmore » methods to drive movement in agent-based models, first by introducing a methodology that can flexibly handle many representations of movement at many different scales and second, introducing a suite of tools to benchmark agent movement between models and against real-world trajectory data. We find that most popular movement schemes do a relatively poor job of representing movement, but that some schemes may well be 'good enough' for some applications. We also discuss potential avenues for improving the representation of movement in agent-based frameworks.« less

The Role of Cooperation and Information Exchange in Transnational River Basins: the Zambezi River case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castelletti, A.; Giuliani, M.; Soncini-Sessa, R.

2012-12-01

The presence of multiple, institutionally independent but physically interconnected decision-makers is a distinctive features of many water resources systems, especially of transnational river basins. The adoption of a centralized approach to study the optimal operation of these systems, as mostly done in the water resources literature, is conceptually interesting to quantify the best achievable performance, but of little practical impact given the real political and institutional setting. Centralized management indeed assumes a cooperative attitude and full information exchange by the involved parties. However, when decision-makers belong to different countries or institutions, it is very likely that they act considering only their local objectives, producing global externalities that negatively impact on other objectives. In this work we adopt a Multi-Agent Systems framework, which naturally allows to represent a set of self-interested agents (decision-makers and/or stakeholders) acting in a distributed decision-making process. According to this agent-based approach, each agent represents a decision-maker, whose decisions are defined by an explicit optimization problem considering only the agent's local interests. In particular, this work assesses the role of information exchange and increasing level of cooperation among originally non-cooperative agents. The Zambezi River basin is used to illustrate the methodology: the four largest reservoirs in the basin (Ithezhithezhi, Kafue-Gorge, Kariba and Cahora Bassa) are mainly operated for maximizing the economic revenue from hydropower energy production with considerably negative effects on the aquatic ecosystem in the Zambezi delta due to the alteration of the natural flow regime. We comparatively analyse the ideal centralized solution and the current situation where all the decision-makers act independently and non-cooperatively. Indeed, although a new basin-level institution called Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCON) should be established in the next future, Zambia recently refused to sign and ratify the ZAMCON Protocol and the road toward a fully cooperative framework is still long. Results show that increasing levels of information exchange can help in mitigating the conflict generated by a non-cooperative setting as it allows the downstream agents, i.e. Mozambique country, to better adapt to the upstream management strategies. Furthermore, the role of information exchange depends on the considered objectives and it is particularly relevant for environmental interests.

Volttron version 5.0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

VOLTTRON is an agent execution platform providing services to its agents that allow them to easily communicate with physical devices and other resources. VOLTTRON delivers an innovative distributed control and sensing software platform that supports modern control strategies, including agent-based and transaction-based controls. It enables mobile and stationary software agents to perform information gathering, processing, and control actions. VOLTTRON can independently manage a wide range of applications, such as HVAC systems, electric vehicles, distributed energy or entire building loads, leading to improved operational efficiency.

The Educational Information Consultant. Skills in Disseminating Educational Information. Training Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banathy, Bela H.; And Others

This instructional system is designed to train individuals in the role of Educational Information Consultant (EIC). The EIC serves as a linkage agent between the worlds of educational research and practice by (1) negotiating with a client concerning information need, (2) retrieving pertinent information, (3) transforming the information, (4)…

Computation of the target state and feedback controls for time optimal consensus in multi-agent systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mulla, Ameer K.; Patil, Deepak U.; Chakraborty, Debraj

2018-02-01

N identical agents with bounded inputs aim to reach a common target state (consensus) in the minimum possible time. Algorithms for computing this time-optimal consensus point, the control law to be used by each agent and the time taken for the consensus to occur, are proposed. Two types of multi-agent systems are considered, namely (1) coupled single-integrator agents on a plane and, (2) double-integrator agents on a line. At the initial time instant, each agent is assumed to have access to the state information of all the other agents. An algorithm, using convexity of attainable sets and Helly's theorem, is proposed, to compute the final consensus target state and the minimum time to achieve this consensus. Further, parts of the computation are parallelised amongst the agents such that each agent has to perform computations of O(N2) run time complexity. Finally, local feedback time-optimal control laws are synthesised to drive each agent to the target point in minimum time. During this part of the operation, the controller for each agent uses measurements of only its own states and does not need to communicate with any neighbouring agents.

Correlation between information diffusion and opinion evolution on social media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiong, Fei; Liu, Yun; Zhang, Zhenjiang

2014-12-01

Information diffusion and opinion evolution are often treated as two independent processes. Opinion models assume the topic reaches each agent and agents initially have their own ideas. In fact, the processes of information diffusion and opinion evolution often intertwine with each other. Whether the influence between these two processes plays a role in the system state is unclear. In this paper, we collected more than one million real data from a well-known social platform, and analysed large-scale user diffusion behaviour and opinion formation. We found that user inter-event time follows a two-scaling power-law distribution with two different power exponents. Public opinion stabilizes quickly and evolves toward the direction of convergence, but the consensus state is prevented by a few opponents. We propose a three-state opinion model accompanied by information diffusion. Agents form and exchange their opinions during information diffusion. Conversely, agents' opinions also influence their diffusion actions. Simulations show that the model with a correlation of the two processes produces similar statistical characteristics as empirical results. A fast epidemic process drives individual opinions to converge more obviously. Unlike previous epidemic models, the number of infected agents does not always increase with the update rate, but has a peak with an intermediate value of the rate.

A new class of finite-time nonlinear consensus protocols for multi-agent systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuo, Zongyu; Tie, Lin

2014-02-01

This paper is devoted to investigating the finite-time consensus problem for a multi-agent system in networks with undirected topology. A new class of global continuous time-invariant consensus protocols is constructed for each single-integrator agent dynamics with the aid of Lyapunov functions. In particular, it is shown that the settling time of the proposed new class of finite-time consensus protocols is upper bounded for arbitrary initial conditions. This makes it possible for network consensus problems that the convergence time is designed and estimated offline for a given undirected information flow and a group volume of agents. Finally, a numerical simulation example is presented as a proof of concept.

Distributed robust finite-time nonlinear consensus protocols for multi-agent systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuo, Zongyu; Tie, Lin

2016-04-01

This paper investigates the robust finite-time consensus problem of multi-agent systems in networks with undirected topology. Global nonlinear consensus protocols augmented with a variable structure are constructed with the aid of Lyapunov functions for each single-integrator agent dynamics in the presence of external disturbances. In particular, it is shown that the finite settling time of the proposed general framework for robust consensus design is upper bounded for any initial condition. This makes it possible for network consensus problems to design and estimate the convergence time offline for a multi-agent team with a given undirected information flow. Finally, simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance and effectiveness of our finite-time protocols.

oRis: multiagents approach for image processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodin, Vincent; Harrouet, Fabrice; Ballet, Pascal; Tisseau, Jacques

1998-09-01

In this article, we present a parallel image processing system based on the concept of reactive agents. This means that, in our system, each agent has a very simple behavior which allows it to take a decision (find out an edge, a region, ...) according to its position in the image and to the information enclosed in it. Our system lies in the oRis language, which allows to describe very finely and simply the agents' behaviors. In fact, oRis is an interpreted and dynamic multiagent language. First of all, oRis is an object language with the use of classes regrouping attributes and methods. The syntax is close to the C++ language and includes notions of multiple inheritance, oRis is also an agent language: every object with a method `main()' becomes an agent. This method is cyclically executed by the system scheduler and corresponds to the agent behavior. We also present an application made with oRis. This application allows to detect concentric striae located on different natural `objects' (age-rings of tree, fish otolith growth rings, striae of some minerals, ...). The stopping of the multiagent system is implemented through a technique issued from immunology: the apoptosis.

Energy Logic (EL): a novel fusion engine of multi-modality multi-agent data/information fusion for intelligent surveillance systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rababaah, Haroun; Shirkhodaie, Amir

2009-04-01

The rapidly advancing hardware technology, smart sensors and sensor networks are advancing environment sensing. One major potential of this technology is Large-Scale Surveillance Systems (LS3) especially for, homeland security, battlefield intelligence, facility guarding and other civilian applications. The efficient and effective deployment of LS3 requires addressing number of aspects impacting the scalability of such systems. The scalability factors are related to: computation and memory utilization efficiency, communication bandwidth utilization, network topology (e.g., centralized, ad-hoc, hierarchical or hybrid), network communication protocol and data routing schemes; and local and global data/information fusion scheme for situational awareness. Although, many models have been proposed to address one aspect or another of these issues but, few have addressed the need for a multi-modality multi-agent data/information fusion that has characteristics satisfying the requirements of current and future intelligent sensors and sensor networks. In this paper, we have presented a novel scalable fusion engine for multi-modality multi-agent information fusion for LS3. The new fusion engine is based on a concept we call: Energy Logic. Experimental results of this work as compared to a Fuzzy logic model strongly supported the validity of the new model and inspired future directions for different levels of fusion and different applications.

Quantum-Classical Hybrid for Information Processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zak, Michail

2011-01-01

Based upon quantum-inspired entanglement in quantum-classical hybrids, a simple algorithm for instantaneous transmissions of non-intentional messages (chosen at random) to remote distances is proposed. The idea is to implement instantaneous transmission of conditional information on remote distances via a quantum-classical hybrid that preserves superposition of random solutions, while allowing one to measure its state variables using classical methods. Such a hybrid system reinforces the advantages, and minimizes the limitations, of both quantum and classical characteristics. Consider n observers, and assume that each of them gets a copy of the system and runs it separately. Although they run identical systems, the outcomes of even synchronized runs may be different because the solutions of these systems are random. However, the global constrain must be satisfied. Therefore, if the observer #1 (the sender) made a measurement of the acceleration v(sub 1) at t =T, then the receiver, by measuring the corresponding acceleration v(sub 1) at t =T, may get a wrong value because the accelerations are random, and only their ratios are deterministic. Obviously, the transmission of this knowledge is instantaneous as soon as the measurements have been performed. In addition to that, the distance between the observers is irrelevant because the x-coordinate does not enter the governing equations. However, the Shannon information transmitted is zero. None of the senders can control the outcomes of their measurements because they are random. The senders cannot transmit intentional messages. Nevertheless, based on the transmitted knowledge, they can coordinate their actions based on conditional information. If the observer #1 knows his own measurements, the measurements of the others can be fully determined. It is important to emphasize that the origin of entanglement of all the observers is the joint probability density that couples their actions. There is no centralized source, or a sender of the signal, because each receiver can become a sender as well. An observer receives a signal by performing certain measurements synchronized with the measurements of the others. This means that the signal is uniformly and simultaneously distributed over the observers in a decentralized way. The signals transmit no intentional information that would favor one agent over another. All the sequence of signals received by different observers are not only statistically equivalent, but are also point-by-point identical. It is important to assume that each agent knows that the other agent simultaneously receives the identical signals. The sequences of the signals are true random, so that no agent could predict the next step with the probability different from those described by the density. Under these quite general assumptions, the entangled observers-agents can perform non-trivial tasks that include transmission of conditional information from one agent to another, simple paradigm of cooperation, etc. The problem of behavior of intelligent agents correlated by identical random messages in a decentralized way has its own significance: it simulates evolutionary behavior of biological and social systems correlated only via simultaneous sensoring sequences of unexpected events.

Markets, Herding and Response to External Information.

PubMed

Carro, Adrián; Toral, Raúl; San Miguel, Maxi

2015-01-01

We focus on the influence of external sources of information upon financial markets. In particular, we develop a stochastic agent-based market model characterized by a certain herding behavior as well as allowing traders to be influenced by an external dynamic signal of information. This signal can be interpreted as a time-varying advertising, public perception or rumor, in favor or against one of two possible trading behaviors, thus breaking the symmetry of the system and acting as a continuously varying exogenous shock. As an illustration, we use a well-known German Indicator of Economic Sentiment as information input and compare our results with Germany's leading stock market index, the DAX, in order to calibrate some of the model parameters. We study the conditions for the ensemble of agents to more accurately follow the information input signal. The response of the system to the external information is maximal for an intermediate range of values of a market parameter, suggesting the existence of three different market regimes: amplification, precise assimilation and undervaluation of incoming information.

How to build an information gathering and processing system: lessons from naturally and artificially intelligent systems.

PubMed

Chappell, Jackie; Demery, Zoe P; Arriola-Rios, Veronica; Sloman, Aaron

2012-02-01

Imagine a situation in which you had to design a physical agent that could collect information from its environment, then store and process that information to help it respond appropriately to novel situations. What kinds of information should it attend to? How should the information be represented so as to allow efficient use and re-use? What kinds of constraints and trade-offs would there be? There are no unique answers. In this paper, we discuss some of the ways in which the need to be able to address problems of varying kinds and complexity can be met by different information processing systems. We also discuss different ways in which relevant information can be obtained, and how different kinds of information can be processed and used, by both biological organisms and artificial agents. We analyse several constraints and design features, and show how they relate both to biological organisms, and to lessons that can be learned from building artificial systems. Our standpoint overlaps with Karmiloff-Smith (1992) in that we assume that a collection of mechanisms geared to learning and developing in biological environments are available in forms that constrain, but do not determine, what can or will be learnt by individuals. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Collectives for Multiple Resource Job Scheduling Across Heterogeneous Servers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tumer, K.; Lawson, J.

2003-01-01

Efficient management of large-scale, distributed data storage and processing systems is a major challenge for many computational applications. Many of these systems are characterized by multi-resource tasks processed across a heterogeneous network. Conventional approaches, such as load balancing, work well for centralized, single resource problems, but breakdown in the more general case. In addition, most approaches are often based on heuristics which do not directly attempt to optimize the world utility. In this paper, we propose an agent based control system using the theory of collectives. We configure the servers of our network with agents who make local job scheduling decisions. These decisions are based on local goals which are constructed to be aligned with the objective of optimizing the overall efficiency of the system. We demonstrate that multi-agent systems in which all the agents attempt to optimize the same global utility function (team game) only marginally outperform conventional load balancing. On the other hand, agents configured using collectives outperform both team games and load balancing (by up to four times for the latter), despite their distributed nature and their limited access to information.

Modelling financial markets with agents competing on different time scales and with different amount of information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wohlmuth, Johannes; Andersen, Jørgen Vitting

2006-05-01

We use agent-based models to study the competition among investors who use trading strategies with different amount of information and with different time scales. We find that mixing agents that trade on the same time scale but with different amount of information has a stabilizing impact on the large and extreme fluctuations of the market. Traders with the most information are found to be more likely to arbitrage traders who use less information in the decision making. On the other hand, introducing investors who act on two different time scales has a destabilizing effect on the large and extreme price movements, increasing the volatility of the market. Closeness in time scale used in the decision making is found to facilitate the creation of local trends. The larger the overlap in commonly shared information the more the traders in a mixed system with different time scales are found to profit from the presence of traders acting at another time scale than themselves.

Mortality Surveillance for Infectious Diseases in the U.S. Department of Defense (1998-2013).

PubMed

Potter, Robert N; Tremaine, Ladd A; Gaydos, Joel C

2017-03-01

The Mortality Surveillance Division (MSD) of the U.S. Armed Forces Medical Examiner System was established in 1998 to improve surveillance for all military deaths although emphasizing deaths from infectious diseases. Establishment of the MSD was part of the 1997 Department of Defense initiative to improve surveillance and response for emerging infectious diseases. Before 1998, mortality surveillance was limited to compiling information from death certificates, a system that provided limited useful information and lacked the timeliness needed to take meaningful action to address emerging infectious disease threats. The MSD was tasked to quickly identify all infectious disease deaths and the infecting agents. The system developed by the MSD staff identified deaths in near real-time and immediately notified military Public Health authorities of situations that warranted an investigation. Autopsy, medical, and investigative reports were collected. Testing specimens for agent identification was encouraged. The data and information collected were archived in the MSD-developed Medical Mortality Registry (MMR), a database that included all active duty Service Member deaths and contained manner and cause of death with medical, demographic, circumstantial, and diagnostic information. The MMR was the only comprehensive, autopsy-based source for mortality information on active duty military deaths. During 1998-2013, 217 (1.3%) infectious disease deaths were identified among 16,192 noncombat deaths. Of the 217 deaths, 29.5% were classified as respiratory, 18.0% cardiac, 15.2% blood borne, 12.9% nervous system, and 12.4% sepsis. A pathogen was identified for 64.5%. Agents of military interest identified included Neisseria meningitidis, influenza viruses, adenoviruses, and malaria. Neisseria meningitidis was identified in 10 fatal cases; grouping of the agent was done for eight cases. Four were group B, two were C, and two were Y. All eight had been immunized with a quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine. The most commonly detected respiratory agent was influenza virus (nine deaths), three of which were the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus. Adenoviruses were identified as the infectious agents in a total of nine deaths. Two deaths resulted from Plasmodium falciparum malaria infections acquired in Africa during military deployments. An important but unexplained finding was that Black Service Members made up only16.3% of all military personnel but accounted for 28.6% of all infectious disease deaths. The time lag between death and notification of the MSD at the start of this surveillance program was 24 to 48 hours. The lag at the end of the reported surveillance period was 8 to 24 hours. The MSD surveillance system identified an agent in 140 of 217 (64.5%) uniformed deaths. In a similar program by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 122 cases with specimens, an agent could be identified in 34 (28%). MMR data and information provided strong support for re-establishing the military recruit adenovirus vaccination program, which ceased in 1999 and was finally re-established in 2011. MMR data and information also assisted in monitoring the military meningococcal vaccine program, helped to describe the virulence of circulating influenza viruses, and identified areas where deadly malaria infections were not being prevented. Reprint & Copyright © 2017 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Multi-Level Cultural Models

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-05

usable simulations. This procedure was to be tested using real-world data collected from open-source venues. The final system would support rapid...assess social change. Construct is an agent-based dynamic-network simulation system design to allow the user to assess the spread of information and...protest or violence. Technical Challenges Addressed  Re‐use:    Most agent-based simulation ( ABM ) in use today are one-off. In contrast, we

High-level specification of a proposed information architecture for support of a bioterrorism early-warning system.

PubMed

Berkowitz, Murray R

2013-01-01

Current information systems for use in detecting bioterrorist attacks lack a consistent, overarching information architecture. An overview of the use of biological agents as weapons during a bioterrorist attack is presented. Proposed are the design, development, and implementation of a medical informatics system to mine pertinent databases, retrieve relevant data, invoke appropriate biostatistical and epidemiological software packages, and automatically analyze these data. The top-level information architecture is presented. Systems requirements and functional specifications for this level are presented. Finally, future studies are identified.

Agent-Based Models in Social Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quang, Le Anh; Jung, Nam; Cho, Eun Sung; Choi, Jae Han; Lee, Jae Woo

2018-06-01

We review the agent-based models (ABM) on social physics including econophysics. The ABM consists of agent, system space, and external environment. The agent is autonomous and decides his/her behavior by interacting with the neighbors or the external environment with the rules of behavior. Agents are irrational because they have only limited information when they make decisions. They adapt using learning from past memories. Agents have various attributes and are heterogeneous. ABM is a non-equilibrium complex system that exhibits various emergence phenomena. The social complexity ABM describes human behavioral characteristics. In ABMs of econophysics, we introduce the Sugarscape model and the artificial market models. We review minority games and majority games in ABMs of game theory. Social flow ABM introduces crowding, evacuation, traffic congestion, and pedestrian dynamics. We also review ABM for opinion dynamics and voter model. We discuss features and advantages and disadvantages of Netlogo, Repast, Swarm, and Mason, which are representative platforms for implementing ABM.

Discrete Model of Opinion Changes Using Knowledge and Emotions as Control Variables

PubMed Central

Sobkowicz, Pawel

2012-01-01

We present a new model of opinion changes dependent on the agents emotional state and their information about the issue in question. Our goal is to construct a simple, yet nontrivial and flexible representation of individual attitude dynamics for agent based simulations, that could be used in a variety of social environments. The model is a discrete version of the cusp catastrophe model of opinion dynamics in which information is treated as the normal factor while emotional arousal (agitation level determining agent receptiveness and rationality) is treated as the splitting factor. Both variables determine the resulting agent opinion, which itself can be in favor of the studied position, against it, or neutral. Thanks to the flexibility of implementing communication between the agents, the model is potentially applicable in a wide range of situations. As an example of the model application, we study the dynamics of a set of agents communicating among themselves via messages. In the example, we chose the simplest, fully connected communication topology, to focus on the effects of the individual opinion dynamics, and to look for stable final distributions of agents with different emotions, information and opinions. Even for such simplified system, the model shows complex behavior, including phase transitions due to symmetry breaking by external propaganda. PMID:22984516

Discrete model of opinion changes using knowledge and emotions as control variables.

PubMed

Sobkowicz, Pawel

2012-01-01

We present a new model of opinion changes dependent on the agents emotional state and their information about the issue in question. Our goal is to construct a simple, yet nontrivial and flexible representation of individual attitude dynamics for agent based simulations, that could be used in a variety of social environments. The model is a discrete version of the cusp catastrophe model of opinion dynamics in which information is treated as the normal factor while emotional arousal (agitation level determining agent receptiveness and rationality) is treated as the splitting factor. Both variables determine the resulting agent opinion, which itself can be in favor of the studied position, against it, or neutral. Thanks to the flexibility of implementing communication between the agents, the model is potentially applicable in a wide range of situations. As an example of the model application, we study the dynamics of a set of agents communicating among themselves via messages. In the example, we chose the simplest, fully connected communication topology, to focus on the effects of the individual opinion dynamics, and to look for stable final distributions of agents with different emotions, information and opinions. Even for such simplified system, the model shows complex behavior, including phase transitions due to symmetry breaking by external propaganda.

ISS method for coordination control of nonlinear dynamical agents under directed topology.

PubMed

Wang, Xiangke; Qin, Jiahu; Yu, Changbin

2014-10-01

The problems of coordination of multiagent systems with second-order locally Lipschitz continuous nonlinear dynamics under directed interaction topology are investigated in this paper. A completely nonlinear input-to-state stability (ISS)-based framework, drawing on ISS methods, with the aid of results from graph theory, matrix theory, and the ISS cyclic-small-gain theorem, is proposed for the coordination problem under directed topology, which can effectively tackle the technical challenges caused by locally Lipschitz continuous dynamics. Two coordination problems, i.e., flocking with a virtual leader and containment control, are considered. For both problems, it is assumed that only a portion of the agents can obtain the information from the leader(s). For the first problem, the proposed strategy is shown effective in driving a group of nonlinear dynamical agents reach the prespecified geometric pattern under the condition that at least one agent in each strongly connected component of the information-interconnection digraph with zero in-degree has access to the state information of the virtual leader; and the strategy proposed for the second problem can guarantee the nonlinear dynamical agents moving to the convex hull spanned by the positions of multiple leaders under the condition that for each agent there exists at least one leader that has a directed path to this agent.

A flocking algorithm for multi-agent systems with connectivity preservation under hybrid metric-topological interactions.

PubMed

He, Chenlong; Feng, Zuren; Ren, Zhigang

2018-01-01

In this paper, we propose a connectivity-preserving flocking algorithm for multi-agent systems in which the neighbor set of each agent is determined by the hybrid metric-topological distance so that the interaction topology can be represented as the range-limited Delaunay graph, which combines the properties of the commonly used disk graph and Delaunay graph. As a result, the proposed flocking algorithm has the following advantages over the existing ones. First, range-limited Delaunay graph is sparser than the disk graph so that the information exchange among agents is reduced significantly. Second, some links irrelevant to the connectivity can be dynamically deleted during the evolution of the system. Thus, the proposed flocking algorithm is more flexible than existing algorithms, where links are not allowed to be disconnected once they are created. Finally, the multi-agent system spontaneously generates a regular quasi-lattice formation without imposing the constraint on the ratio of the sensing range of the agent to the desired distance between two adjacent agents. With the interaction topology induced by the hybrid distance, the proposed flocking algorithm can still be implemented in a distributed manner. We prove that the proposed flocking algorithm can steer the multi-agent system to a stable flocking motion, provided the initial interaction topology of multi-agent systems is connected and the hysteresis in link addition is smaller than a derived upper bound. The correctness and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm are verified by extensive numerical simulations, where the flocking algorithms based on the disk and Delaunay graph are compared.

A flocking algorithm for multi-agent systems with connectivity preservation under hybrid metric-topological interactions

PubMed Central

Feng, Zuren; Ren, Zhigang

2018-01-01

In this paper, we propose a connectivity-preserving flocking algorithm for multi-agent systems in which the neighbor set of each agent is determined by the hybrid metric-topological distance so that the interaction topology can be represented as the range-limited Delaunay graph, which combines the properties of the commonly used disk graph and Delaunay graph. As a result, the proposed flocking algorithm has the following advantages over the existing ones. First, range-limited Delaunay graph is sparser than the disk graph so that the information exchange among agents is reduced significantly. Second, some links irrelevant to the connectivity can be dynamically deleted during the evolution of the system. Thus, the proposed flocking algorithm is more flexible than existing algorithms, where links are not allowed to be disconnected once they are created. Finally, the multi-agent system spontaneously generates a regular quasi-lattice formation without imposing the constraint on the ratio of the sensing range of the agent to the desired distance between two adjacent agents. With the interaction topology induced by the hybrid distance, the proposed flocking algorithm can still be implemented in a distributed manner. We prove that the proposed flocking algorithm can steer the multi-agent system to a stable flocking motion, provided the initial interaction topology of multi-agent systems is connected and the hysteresis in link addition is smaller than a derived upper bound. The correctness and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm are verified by extensive numerical simulations, where the flocking algorithms based on the disk and Delaunay graph are compared. PMID:29462217

MARS, a multi-agent system for assessing rowers' coordination via motion-based stigmergy.

PubMed

Avvenuti, Marco; Cesarini, Daniel; Cimino, Mario G C A

2013-09-12

A crucial aspect in rowing is having a synchronized, highly-efficient stroke. This is very difficult to obtain, due to the many interacting factors that each rower of the crew must perceive. Having a system that monitors and represents the crew coordination would be of great help to the coach during training sessions. In the literature, some methods already employ wireless sensors for capturing motion patterns that affect rowing performance. A challenging problem is to support the coach's decisions at his same level of knowledge, using a limited number of sensors and avoiding the complexity of the biomechanical analysis of human movements. In this paper, we present a multi-agent information-processing system for on-water measuring of both the overall crew asynchrony and the individual rower asynchrony towards the crew. More specifically, in the system, the first level of processing is managed by marking agents, which release marks in a sensing space, according to the rowers' motion. The accumulation of marks enables a stigmergic cooperation mechanism, generating collective marks, i.e., short-term memory structures in the sensing space. At the second level of processing, information provided by marks is observed by similarity agents, which associate a similarity degree with respect to optimal marks. Finally, the third level is managed by granulation agents, which extract asynchrony indicators for different purposes. The effectiveness of the system has been experimented on real-world scenarios. The study includes the problem statement and its characterization in the literature, as well as the proposed solving approach and initial experimental setting.

MARS, a Multi-Agent System for Assessing Rowers' Coordination via Motion-Based Stigmergy

PubMed Central

Avvenuti, Marco; Cesarini, Daniel; Cimino, Mario G. C. A.

2013-01-01

A crucial aspect in rowing is having a synchronized, highly-efficient stroke. This is very difficult to obtain, due to the many interacting factors that each rower of the crew must perceive. Having a system that monitors and represents the crew coordination would be of great help to the coach during training sessions. In the literature, some methods already employ wireless sensors for capturing motion patterns that affect rowing performance. A challenging problem is to support the coach's decisions at his same level of knowledge, using a limited number of sensors and avoiding the complexity of the biomechanical analysis of human movements. In this paper, we present a multi-agent information-processing system for on-water measuring of both the overall crew asynchrony and the individual rower asynchrony towards the crew. More specifically, in the system, the first level of processing is managed by marking agents, which release marks in a sensing space, according to the rowers' motion. The accumulation of marks enables a stigmergic cooperation mechanism, generating collective marks, i.e., short-term memory structures in the sensing space. At the second level of processing, information provided by marks is observed by similarity agents, which associate a similarity degree with respect to optimal marks. Finally, the third level is managed by granulation agents, which extract asynchrony indicators for different purposes. The effectiveness of the system has been experimented on real-world scenarios. The study includes the problem statement and its characterization in the literature, as well as the proposed solving approach and initial experimental setting. PMID:24036582

Integrating Information Extraction Agents into a Tourism Recommender System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esparcia, Sergio; Sánchez-Anguix, Víctor; Argente, Estefanía; García-Fornes, Ana; Julián, Vicente

Recommender systems face some problems. On the one hand information needs to be maintained updated, which can result in a costly task if it is not performed automatically. On the other hand, it may be interesting to include third party services in the recommendation since they improve its quality. In this paper, we present an add-on for the Social-Net Tourism Recommender System that uses information extraction and natural language processing techniques in order to automatically extract and classify information from the Web. Its goal is to maintain the system updated and obtain information about third party services that are not offered by service providers inside the system.

A case of malignant hyperthermia captured by an anesthesia information management system.

PubMed

Maile, Michael D; Patel, Rajesh A; Blum, James M; Tremper, Kevin K

2011-04-01

Many cases of malignant hyperthermia triggered by volatile anesthetic agents have been described. However, to our knowledge, there has not been a report describing the precise changes in physiologic data of a human suffering from this process. Here we describe a case of malignant hyperthermia in which monitoring information was frequently and accurately captured by an anesthesia information management system.

Agent-oriented privacy-based information brokering architecture for healthcare environments.

PubMed

Masaud-Wahaishi, Abdulmutalib; Ghenniwa, Hamada

2009-01-01

Healthcare industry is facing a major reform at all levels-locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Healthcare services and systems become very complex and comprise of a vast number of components (software systems, doctors, patients, etc.) that are characterized by shared, distributed and heterogeneous information sources with varieties of clinical and other settings. The challenge now faced with decision making, and management of care is to operate effectively in order to meet the information needs of healthcare personnel. Currently, researchers, developers, and systems engineers are working toward achieving better efficiency and quality of service in various sectors of healthcare, such as hospital management, patient care, and treatment. This paper presents a novel information brokering architecture that supports privacy-based information gathering in healthcare. Architecturally, the brokering is viewed as a layer of services where a brokering service is modeled as an agent with a specific architecture and interaction protocol that are appropriate to serve various requests. Within the context of brokering, we model privacy in terms of the entities ability to hide or reveal information related to its identities, requests, and/or capabilities. A prototype of the proposed architecture has been implemented to support information-gathering capabilities in healthcare environments using FIPA-complaint platform JADE.

Observer-based output consensus of a class of heterogeneous multi-agent systems with unmatched disturbances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jiancheng; Zhu, Fanglai

2018-03-01

In this paper, the output consensus of a class of linear heterogeneous multi-agent systems with unmatched disturbances is considered. Firstly, based on the relative output information among neighboring agents, we propose an asymptotic sliding-mode based consensus control scheme, under which, the output consensus error can converge to zero by removing the disturbances from output channels. Secondly, in order to reach the consensus goal, we design a novel high-order unknown input observer for each agent. It can estimate not only each agent's states and disturbances, but also the disturbances' high-order derivatives, which are required in the control scheme aforementioned above. The observer-based consensus control laws and the convergence analysis of the consensus error dynamics are given. Finally, a simulation example is provided to verify the validity of our methods.

A Mechanism to Avoid Collusion Attacks Based on Code Passing in Mobile Agent Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaimez, Marc; Esparza, Oscar; Muñoz, Jose L.; Alins-Delgado, Juan J.; Mata-Díaz, Jorge

Mobile agents are software entities consisting of code, data, state and itinerary that can migrate autonomously from host to host executing their code. Despite its benefits, security issues strongly restrict the use of code mobility. The protection of mobile agents against the attacks of malicious hosts is considered the most difficult security problem to solve in mobile agent systems. In particular, collusion attacks have been barely studied in the literature. This paper presents a mechanism that avoids collusion attacks based on code passing. Our proposal is based on a Multi-Code agent, which contains a different variant of the code for each host. A Trusted Third Party is responsible for providing the information to extract its own variant to the hosts, and for taking trusted timestamps that will be used to verify time coherence.

Application of foodborne disease outbreak data in the development and maintenance of HACCP systems.

PubMed

Panisello, P J; Rooney, R; Quantick, P C; Stanwell-Smith, R

2000-09-10

Five-hundred and thirty general foodborne outbreaks of food poisoning reported in England and Wales between 1992 and 1996 were reviewed to study their application to the development and maintenance of HACCP systems. Retrospective investigations of foodborne disease outbreaks provided information on aetiological agents, food vehicles and factors that contributed to the outbreaks. Salmonella spp. and foods of animal origin (red meat, poultry and seafood) were most frequently associated with outbreaks during this period. Improper cooking, inadequate storage, cross-contamination and use of raw ingredients in the preparation of food were the most common factors contributing to outbreaks. Classification and cross tabulation of surveillance information relating to aetiological agents, food vehicles and contributory factors facilitates hazard analysis. In forming control measures and their corresponding critical limits, this approach focuses monitoring on those aspects that are critical to the safety of the product. Incorporation of epidemiological data in the documentation of HACCP systems provides assurance that the system is based on the best scientific information available.

Infoethics for Leaders: Models of Moral Agency in the Information Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Martha Montague

1992-01-01

Discusses infoethics, i.e., the ethics of information systems that address the use of information in relation to human values. Topics addressed include models of moral agency; librarians and information professionals as moral agents; the professional ethical self; levels of ethical orientation in the workplace; and ethical selves in the global…

Directional Communication in Evolved Multiagent Teams

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-10

decentralized localization proposed by Franchi et al. [9]. Overall, the significant advantage of directional communication over non- directional...reception benefits the evolution of communicating autonomous agents because it simplifies the language required to express positional information, which...systems. This paper hypothesizes that such directional reception benefits the evolution of communicating autonomous agents because it simplifies the

A Cognitive Game Theoretic Analysis of Conflict Alerts in Air Traffic Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erev, Ido; Gopher, Daniel; Remington, Roger

1999-01-01

The current research was motivated by the recommendation made by a joint Government/Industry committee to introduce a new traffic control system, referred to as the Free Flight. This system is designed to use recent new technology to facilitate efficient and safe air transportation. We addressed one of the major difficulties that arise in the design of this and similar multi-agent systems: the adaptive (and slippery) nature of human agents. To facilitate a safe and efficient design of this multi-agent system, designers have to rely on assessments of the expected behavior of the different agents under various scenarios. Whereas the behavior of the computerized agents is predictable, the behavior of the human agents (including air traffic controllers and pilots) is not. Experimental and empirical observations suggest that human agents are likely to adjust their behavior to the design of the system. To see the difficulty that the adaptive nature of human agents creates assume that a good approximation of the way operators currently behave is available. Given this information an optimal design can be performed. The problem arises as the human operator will learn to adjust their behavior to the new system. Following this adjustment process the assumptions made by the designer concerning the operators behavior will no longer be accurate and the system might reach a suboptimal state. In extreme situations these potential suboptimal states might involve unnecessary risk. That is, the fact that operators learn in an adaptive fashion does not imply that the system will become safer as they gain experience. At least in the context of Safety dilemmas, experience can lead to a pareto deficient risk taking behavior.

The Role of Trust in Information Science and Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsh, Stephen; Dibben, Mark R.

2003-01-01

Discusses the notion of trust as it relates to information science and technology, specifically user interfaces, autonomous agents, and information systems. Highlights include theoretical meaning of trust; trust and levels of analysis, including organizational trust; electronic commerce, user interfaces, and static trust; dynamic trust; and trust…

Distributed decision-making in electric power system transmission maintenance scheduling using multi-agent systems (MAS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zhong

In this work, motivated by the need to coordinate transmission maintenance scheduling among a multiplicity of self-interested entities in restructured power industry, a distributed decision support framework based on multiagent negotiation systems (MANS) is developed. An innovative risk-based transmission maintenance optimization procedure is introduced. Several models for linking condition monitoring information to the equipment's instantaneous failure probability are presented, which enable quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness of maintenance activities in terms of system cumulative risk reduction. Methodologies of statistical processing, equipment deterioration evaluation and time-dependent failure probability calculation are also described. A novel framework capable of facilitating distributed decision-making through multiagent negotiation is developed. A multiagent negotiation model is developed and illustrated that accounts for uncertainty and enables social rationality. Some issues of multiagent negotiation convergence and scalability are discussed. The relationships between agent-based negotiation and auction systems are also identified. A four-step MAS design methodology for constructing multiagent systems for power system applications is presented. A generic multiagent negotiation system, capable of inter-agent communication and distributed decision support through inter-agent negotiations, is implemented. A multiagent system framework for facilitating the automated integration of condition monitoring information and maintenance scheduling for power transformers is developed. Simulations of multiagent negotiation-based maintenance scheduling among several independent utilities are provided. It is shown to be a viable alternative solution paradigm to the traditional centralized optimization approach in today's deregulated environment. This multiagent system framework not only facilitates the decision-making among competing power system entities, but also provides a tool to use in studying competitive industry relative to monopolistic industry.

Ambient agents: embedded agents for remote control and monitoring using the PANGEA platform.

PubMed

Villarrubia, Gabriel; De Paz, Juan F; Bajo, Javier; Corchado, Juan M

2014-07-31

Ambient intelligence has advanced significantly during the last few years. The incorporation of image processing and artificial intelligence techniques have opened the possibility for such aspects as pattern recognition, thus allowing for a better adaptation of these systems. This study presents a new model of an embedded agent especially designed to be implemented in sensing devices with resource constraints. This new model of an agent is integrated within the PANGEA (Platform for the Automatic Construction of Organiztions of Intelligent Agents) platform, an organizational-based platform, defining a new sensor role in the system and aimed at providing contextual information and interacting with the environment. A case study was developed over the PANGEA platform and designed using different agents and sensors responsible for providing user support at home in the event of incidents or emergencies. The system presented in the case study incorporates agents in Arduino hardware devices with recognition modules and illuminated bands; it also incorporates IP cameras programmed for automatic tracking, which can connect remotely in the event of emergencies. The user wears a bracelet, which contains a simple vibration sensor that can receive notifications about the emergency situation.

Ambient Agents: Embedded Agents for Remote Control and Monitoring Using the PANGEA Platform

PubMed Central

Villarrubia, Gabriel; De Paz, Juan F.; Bajo, Javier; Corchado, Juan M.

2014-01-01

Ambient intelligence has advanced significantly during the last few years. The incorporation of image processing and artificial intelligence techniques have opened the possibility for such aspects as pattern recognition, thus allowing for a better adaptation of these systems. This study presents a new model of an embedded agent especially designed to be implemented in sensing devices with resource constraints. This new model of an agent is integrated within the PANGEA (Platform for the Automatic Construction of Organiztions of Intelligent Agents) platform, an organizational-based platform, defining a new sensor role in the system and aimed at providing contextual information and interacting with the environment. A case study was developed over the PANGEA platform and designed using different agents and sensors responsible for providing user support at home in the event of incidents or emergencies. The system presented in the case study incorporates agents in Arduino hardware devices with recognition modules and illuminated bands; it also incorporates IP cameras programmed for automatic tracking, which can connect remotely in the event of emergencies. The user wears a bracelet, which contains a simple vibration sensor that can receive notifications about the emergency situation. PMID:25090416

Metareasoning and Social Evaluations in Cognitive Agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinyol, Isaac; Sabater-Mir, Jordi

Reputation mechanisms have been recognized one of the key technologies when designing multi-agent systems. They are specially relevant in complex open environments, becoming a non-centralized mechanism to control interactions among agents. Cognitive agents tackling such complex societies must use reputation information not only for selecting partners to interact with, but also in metareasoning processes to change reasoning rules. This is the focus of this paper. We argue about the necessity to allow, as a cognitive systems designers, certain degree of freedom in the reasoning rules of the agents. We also describes cognitive approaches of agency that support this idea. Furthermore, taking as a base the computational reputation model Repage, and its integration in a BDI architecture, we use the previous ideas to specify metarules and processes to modify at run-time the reasoning paths of the agent. In concrete we propose a metarule to update the link between Repage and the belief base, and a metarule and a process to update an axiom incorporated in the belief logic of the agent. Regarding this last issue we also provide empirical results that show the evolution of agents that use it.

Chronic Heart Failure Follow-up Management Based on Agent Technology.

PubMed

Mohammadzadeh, Niloofar; Safdari, Reza

2015-10-01

Monitoring heart failure patients through continues assessment of sign and symptoms by information technology tools lead to large reduction in re-hospitalization. Agent technology is one of the strongest artificial intelligence areas; therefore, it can be expected to facilitate, accelerate, and improve health services especially in home care and telemedicine. The aim of this article is to provide an agent-based model for chronic heart failure (CHF) follow-up management. This research was performed in 2013-2014 to determine appropriate scenarios and the data required to monitor and follow-up CHF patients, and then an agent-based model was designed. Agents in the proposed model perform the following tasks: medical data access, communication with other agents of the framework and intelligent data analysis, including medical data processing, reasoning, negotiation for decision-making, and learning capabilities. The proposed multi-agent system has ability to learn and thus improve itself. Implementation of this model with more and various interval times at a broader level could achieve better results. The proposed multi-agent system is no substitute for cardiologists, but it could assist them in decision-making.

Wireless structural monitoring for homeland security applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiremidjian, Garo K.; Kiremidjian, Anne S.; Lynch, Jerome P.

2004-07-01

This paper addresses the development of a robust, low-cost, low power, and high performance autonomous wireless monitoring system for civil assets such as large facilities, new construction, bridges, dams, commercial buildings, etc. The role of the system is to identify the onset, development, location and severity of structural vulnerability and damage. The proposed system represents an enabling infrastructure for addressing structural vulnerabilities specifically associated with homeland security. The system concept is based on dense networks of "intelligent" wireless sensing units. The fundamental properties of a wireless sensing unit include: (a) interfaces to multiple sensors for measuring structural and environmental data (such as acceleration, displacements, pressure, strain, material degradation, temperature, gas agents, biological agents, humidity, corrosion, etc.); (b) processing of sensor data with embedded algorithms for assessing damage and environmental conditions; (c) peer-to-peer wireless communications for information exchange among units(thus enabling joint "intelligent" processing coordination) and storage of data and processed information in servers for information fusion; (d) ultra low power operation; (e) cost-effectiveness and compact size through the use of low-cost small-size off-the-shelf components. An integral component of the overall system concept is a decision support environment for interpretation and dissemination of information to various decision makers.

Learning other agents` preferences in multiagent negotiation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bui, H.H.; Kieronska, D.; Venkatesh, S.

In multiagent systems, an agent does not usually have complete information about the preferences and decision making processes of other agents. This might prevent the agents from making coordinated choices, purely due to their ignorance of what others want. This paper describes the integration of a learning module into a communication-intensive negotiating agent architecture. The learning module gives the agents the ability to learn about other agents` preferences via past interactions. Over time, the agents can incrementally update their models of other agents` preferences and use them to make better coordinated decisions. Combining both communication and learning, as two complementmore » knowledge acquisition methods, helps to reduce the amount of communication needed on average, and is justified in situations where communication is computationally costly or simply not desirable (e.g. to preserve the individual privacy).« less

2018 New Drug Update.

PubMed

Hussar, Daniel A; Finn, Laura A

2018-04-01

Five new drugs marketed within the last year, which are used for medical problems often experienced by the elderly, have been selected for consideration in this review. The uses and most important properties of these agents are discussed, and a rating for each new drug is determined using the New Drug Comparison Rating system developed by the author (DAH). Advantages, disadvantages, and other important information regarding each new drug are identified and used as the basis for determining the rating. The drugs include an anticoagulant, an antiparkinson agent, an agent for tardive dyskinesia, an agent for psoriasis, and an agent for constipation. The drugs reviewed are betrixaban, safinamide mesylate, valbenazine tosylate, guselkumab, and plecanatide.

Learning Agents for Autonomous Space Asset Management (LAASAM)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scally, L.; Bonato, M.; Crowder, J.

2011-09-01

Current and future space systems will continue to grow in complexity and capabilities, creating a formidable challenge to monitor, maintain, and utilize these systems and manage their growing network of space and related ground-based assets. Integrated System Health Management (ISHM), and in particular, Condition-Based System Health Management (CBHM), is the ability to manage and maintain a system using dynamic real-time data to prioritize, optimize, maintain, and allocate resources. CBHM entails the maintenance of systems and equipment based on an assessment of current and projected conditions (situational and health related conditions). A complete, modern CBHM system comprises a number of functional capabilities: sensing and data acquisition; signal processing; conditioning and health assessment; diagnostics and prognostics; and decision reasoning. In addition, an intelligent Human System Interface (HSI) is required to provide the user/analyst with relevant context-sensitive information, the system condition, and its effect on overall situational awareness of space (and related) assets. Colorado Engineering, Inc. (CEI) and Raytheon are investigating and designing an Intelligent Information Agent Architecture that will provide a complete range of CBHM and HSI functionality from data collection through recommendations for specific actions. The research leverages CEI’s expertise with provisioning management network architectures and Raytheon’s extensive experience with learning agents to define a system to autonomously manage a complex network of current and future space-based assets to optimize their utilization.

Plan execution monitoring with distributed intelligent agents for battle command

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allen, James P.; Barry, Kevin P.; McCormick, John M.; Paul, Ross A.

2004-07-01

As military tactics evolve toward execution centric operations the ability to analyze vast amounts of mission relevant data is essential to command and control decision making. To maintain operational tempo and achieve information superiority we have developed Vigilant Advisor, a mobile agent-based distributed Plan Execution Monitoring system. It provides military commanders with continuous contingency monitoring tailored to their preferences while overcoming the network bandwidth problem often associated with traditional remote data querying. This paper presents an overview of Plan Execution Monitoring as well as a detailed view of the Vigilant Advisor system including key features and statistical analysis of resource savings provided by its mobile agent-based approach.

Mission Profiles and Evidential Reasoning for Estimating Information Relevancy in Multi-Agent Supervisory Control Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

artificial agents, their limited scope and singular purpose lead us to believe that human-machine trust will be very portable. That is, if one operator... Artificial Intelligence Review 2(2), 1988. [E88] M.R. Endsley. Situation awareness global assessment technique (SAGAT). In Proceedings of the National...1995. [F98] J. Ferber, Multi-Agent Systems: An Introduction to Distributed Artificial Intelligence, Addison- Wesley, 1998. [NP01] I. Niles and A

Data Aggregation in Multi-Agent Systems in the Presence of Hybrid Faults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Srinivasan, Satish Mahadevan

2010-01-01

Data Aggregation (DA) is a set of functions that provide components of a distributed system access to global information for purposes of network management and user services. With the diverse new capabilities that networks can provide, applicability of DA is growing. DA is useful in dealing with multi-value domain information and often requires…

Engaging Youth Through Spatial Socio-Technical Storytelling, Participatory GIS, Agent-Based Modeling, Online Geogames and Action Projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poplin, A.; Shenk, L.; Krejci, C.; Passe, U.

2017-09-01

The main goal of this paper is to present the conceptual framework for engaging youth in urban planning activities that simultaneously create locally meaningful positive change. The framework for engaging youth interlinks the use of IT tools such as geographic information systems (GIS), agent-based modelling (ABM), online serious games, and mobile participatory geographic information systems with map-based storytelling and action projects. We summarize the elements of our framework and the first results gained in the program Community Growers established in a neighbourhood community of Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, USA. We conclude the paper with a discussion and future research directions.

Markets, Herding and Response to External Information

PubMed Central

Carro, Adrián; Toral, Raúl; San Miguel, Maxi

2015-01-01

We focus on the influence of external sources of information upon financial markets. In particular, we develop a stochastic agent-based market model characterized by a certain herding behavior as well as allowing traders to be influenced by an external dynamic signal of information. This signal can be interpreted as a time-varying advertising, public perception or rumor, in favor or against one of two possible trading behaviors, thus breaking the symmetry of the system and acting as a continuously varying exogenous shock. As an illustration, we use a well-known German Indicator of Economic Sentiment as information input and compare our results with Germany’s leading stock market index, the DAX, in order to calibrate some of the model parameters. We study the conditions for the ensemble of agents to more accurately follow the information input signal. The response of the system to the external information is maximal for an intermediate range of values of a market parameter, suggesting the existence of three different market regimes: amplification, precise assimilation and undervaluation of incoming information. PMID:26204451

Modeling, Simulation, and Characterization of Distributed Multi-Agent Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

capabilities (vision, LIDAR , differential global positioning, ultrasonic proximity sensing, etc.), the agents comprising a MAS tend to have somewhat lesser...on the simultaneous localization and mapping ( SLAM ) problem [19]. SLAM acknowledges that externally-provided localization information is not...continually-updated mapping databases, generates a comprehensive representation of the spatial and spectral environment. Many times though, inherent SLAM

State Ombudsman Programs. Juvenile Justice Practices Series. Juvenile Justice Bulletin. NCJ 204607

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Judith; Cohn, Alvin W.

2005-01-01

"Ombudsman" is derived from the Swedish word meaning agent or representative. It has come to denote a trusted commissioner or agent who looks after the interests or legal affairs of a particular group. Through their unique access to information and investigative authority, ombudsmen often bring endemic problems within child serving systems to the…

IMAGE: A Design Integration Framework Applied to the High Speed Civil Transport

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hale, Mark A.; Craig, James I.

1993-01-01

Effective design of the High Speed Civil Transport requires the systematic application of design resources throughout a product's life-cycle. Information obtained from the use of these resources is used for the decision-making processes of Concurrent Engineering. Integrated computing environments facilitate the acquisition, organization, and use of required information. State-of-the-art computing technologies provide the basis for the Intelligent Multi-disciplinary Aircraft Generation Environment (IMAGE) described in this paper. IMAGE builds upon existing agent technologies by adding a new component called a model. With the addition of a model, the agent can provide accountable resource utilization in the presence of increasing design fidelity. The development of a zeroth-order agent is used to illustrate agent fundamentals. Using a CATIA(TM)-based agent from previous work, a High Speed Civil Transport visualization system linking CATIA, FLOPS, and ASTROS will be shown. These examples illustrate the important role of the agent technologies used to implement IMAGE, and together they demonstrate that IMAGE can provide an integrated computing environment for the design of the High Speed Civil Transport.

Multiagent Work Practice Simulation: Progress and Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clancey, William J.; Sierhuis, Maarten; Shaffe, Michael G. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Modeling and simulating complex human-system interactions requires going beyond formal procedures and information flows to analyze how people interact with each other. Such work practices include conversations, modes of communication, informal assistance, impromptu meetings, workarounds, and so on. To make these social processes visible, we have developed a multiagent simulation tool, called Brahms, for modeling the activities of people belonging to multiple groups, situated in a physical environment (geographic regions, buildings, transport vehicles, etc.) consisting of tools, documents, and a computer system. We are finding many useful applications of Brahms for system requirements analysis, instruction, implementing software agents, and as a workbench for relating cognitive and social theories of human behavior. Many challenges remain for representing work practices, including modeling: memory over multiple days, scheduled activities combining physical objects, groups, and locations on a timeline (such as a Space Shuttle mission), habitat vehicles with trajectories (such as the Shuttle), agent movement in 3D space (e.g., inside the International Space Station), agent posture and line of sight, coupled movements (such as carrying objects), and learning (mimicry, forming habits, detecting repetition, etc.).

Multiagent Work Practice Simulation: Progress and Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clancey, William J.; Sierhuis, Maarten

2002-01-01

Modeling and simulating complex human-system interactions requires going beyond formal procedures and information flows to analyze how people interact with each other. Such work practices include conversations, modes of communication, informal assistance, impromptu meetings, workarounds, and so on. To make these social processes visible, we have developed a multiagent simulation tool, called Brahms, for modeling the activities of people belonging to multiple groups, situated in a physical environment (geographic regions, buildings, transport vehicles, etc.) consisting of tools, documents, and computer systems. We are finding many useful applications of Brahms for system requirements analysis, instruction, implementing software agents, and as a workbench for relating cognitive and social theories of human behavior. Many challenges remain for representing work practices, including modeling: memory over multiple days, scheduled activities combining physical objects, groups, and locations on a timeline (such as a Space Shuttle mission), habitat vehicles with trajectories (such as the Shuttle), agent movement in 3d space (e.g., inside the International Space Station), agent posture and line of sight, coupled movements (such as carrying objects), and learning (mimicry, forming habits, detecting repetition, etc.).

A multi-agent architecture for geosimulation of moving agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vahidnia, Mohammad H.; Alesheikh, Ali A.; Alavipanah, Seyed Kazem

2015-10-01

In this paper, a novel architecture is proposed in which an axiomatic derivation system in the form of first-order logic facilitates declarative explanation and spatial reasoning. Simulation of environmental perception and interaction between autonomous agents is designed with a geographic belief-desire-intention and a request-inform-query model. The architecture has a complementary quantitative component that supports collaborative planning based on the concept of equilibrium and game theory. This new architecture presents a departure from current best practices geographic agent-based modelling. Implementation tasks are discussed in some detail, as well as scenarios for fleet management and disaster management.

The Study on Collaborative Manufacturing Platform Based on Agent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xiao-yan; Qu, Zheng-geng

To fulfill the trends of knowledge-intensive in collaborative manufacturing development, we have described multi agent architecture supporting knowledge-based platform of collaborative manufacturing development platform. In virtue of wrapper service and communication capacity agents provided, the proposed architecture facilitates organization and collaboration of multi-disciplinary individuals and tools. By effectively supporting the formal representation, capture, retrieval and reuse of manufacturing knowledge, the generalized knowledge repository based on ontology library enable engineers to meaningfully exchange information and pass knowledge across boundaries. Intelligent agent technology increases traditional KBE systems efficiency and interoperability and provides comprehensive design environments for engineers.

Integrating policy-based management and SLA performance monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Tzong-Jye; Lin, Chin-Yi; Chang, Shu-Hsin; Yen, Meng-Tzu

2001-10-01

Policy-based management system provides the configuration capability for the system administrators to focus on the requirements of customers. The service level agreement performance monitoring mechanism helps system administrators to verify the correctness of policies. However, it is difficult for a device to process the policies directly because the policies are the management concept. This paper proposes a mechanism to decompose a policy into rules that can be efficiently processed by a device. Thus, the device may process the rule and collect the performance statistics information efficiently; and the policy-based management system may collect these performance statistics information and report the service-level agreement performance monitoring information to the system administrator. The proposed policy-based management system achieves both the policy configuration and service-level agreement performance monitoring requirements. A policy consists of a condition part and an action part. The condition part is a Boolean expression of a source host IP group, a destination host IP group, etc. The action part is the parameters of services. We say that an address group is compact if it only consists of a range of IP address that can be denoted by a pair of IP address and corresponding IP mask. If the condition part of a policy only consists of the compact address group, we say that the policy is a rule. Since a device can efficiently process a compact address and a system administrator prefers to define a range of IP address, the policy-based management system has to translate policy into rules and supplements the gaps between policy and rules. The proposed policy-based management system builds the relationships between VPN and policies, policy and rules. Since the system administrator wants to monitor the system performance information of VPNs and policies, the proposed policy-based management system downloads the relationships among VPNs, policies and rules to the SNMP agents. The SNMP agents build the management information base (MIB) of all VPNs, policies and rules according to the relationships obtained from the management server. Thus, the proposed policy-based management system may get all performance monitoring information of VPNs and policies from agents. The proposed policy-based manager achieves two goals: a) provide a management environment for the system administrator to configure their network only considering the policy requirement issues and b) let the device have only to process the packet and then collect the required performance information. These two things make the proposed management system satisfy both the user and device requirements.

A task-based support architecture for developing point-of-care clinical decision support systems for the emergency department.

PubMed

Wilk, S; Michalowski, W; O'Sullivan, D; Farion, K; Sayyad-Shirabad, J; Kuziemsky, C; Kukawka, B

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to create a task-based support architecture for developing clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) that assist physicians in making decisions at the point-of-care in the emergency department (ED). The backbone of the proposed architecture was established by a task-based emergency workflow model for a patient-physician encounter. The architecture was designed according to an agent-oriented paradigm. Specifically, we used the O-MaSE (Organization-based Multi-agent System Engineering) method that allows for iterative translation of functional requirements into architectural components (e.g., agents). The agent-oriented paradigm was extended with ontology-driven design to implement ontological models representing knowledge required by specific agents to operate. The task-based architecture allows for the creation of a CDSS that is aligned with the task-based emergency workflow model. It facilitates decoupling of executable components (agents) from embedded domain knowledge (ontological models), thus supporting their interoperability, sharing, and reuse. The generic architecture was implemented as a pilot system, MET3-AE--a CDSS to help with the management of pediatric asthma exacerbation in the ED. The system was evaluated in a hospital ED. The architecture allows for the creation of a CDSS that integrates support for all tasks from the task-based emergency workflow model, and interacts with hospital information systems. Proposed architecture also allows for reusing and sharing system components and knowledge across disease-specific CDSSs.

What Learning Systems do Intelligent Agents Need? Complementary Learning Systems Theory Updated.

PubMed

Kumaran, Dharshan; Hassabis, Demis; McClelland, James L

2016-07-01

We update complementary learning systems (CLS) theory, which holds that intelligent agents must possess two learning systems, instantiated in mammalians in neocortex and hippocampus. The first gradually acquires structured knowledge representations while the second quickly learns the specifics of individual experiences. We broaden the role of replay of hippocampal memories in the theory, noting that replay allows goal-dependent weighting of experience statistics. We also address recent challenges to the theory and extend it by showing that recurrent activation of hippocampal traces can support some forms of generalization and that neocortical learning can be rapid for information that is consistent with known structure. Finally, we note the relevance of the theory to the design of artificial intelligent agents, highlighting connections between neuroscience and machine learning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multiagent intelligent systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krause, Lee S.; Dean, Christopher; Lehman, Lynn A.

2003-09-01

This paper will discuss a simulation approach based upon a family of agent-based models. As the demands placed upon simulation technology by such applications as Effects Based Operations (EBO), evaluations of indicators and warnings surrounding homeland defense and commercial demands such financial risk management current single thread based simulations will continue to show serious deficiencies. The types of "what if" analysis required to support these types of applications, demand rapidly re-configurable approaches capable of aggregating large models incorporating multiple viewpoints. The use of agent technology promises to provide a broad spectrum of models incorporating differing viewpoints through a synthesis of a collection of models. Each model would provide estimates to the overall scenario based upon their particular measure or aspect. An agent framework, denoted as the "family" would provide a common ontology in support of differing aspects of the scenario. This approach permits the future of modeling to change from viewing the problem as a single thread simulation, to take into account multiple viewpoints from different models. Even as models are updated or replaced the agent approach permits rapid inclusion in new or modified simulations. In this approach a variety of low and high-resolution information and its synthesis requires a family of models. Each agent "publishes" its support for a given measure and each model provides their own estimates on the scenario based upon their particular measure or aspect. If more than one agent provides the same measure (e.g. cognitive) then the results from these agents are combined to form an aggregate measure response. The objective would be to inform and help calibrate a qualitative model, rather than merely to present highly aggregated statistical information. As each result is processed, the next action can then be determined. This is done by a top-level decision system that communicates to the family at the ontology level without any specific understanding of the processes (or model) behind each agent. The increasingly complex demands upon simulation for the necessity to incorporate the breadth and depth of influencing factors makes a family of agent based models a promising solution. This paper will discuss that solution with syntax and semantics necessary to support the approach.

Combining human and machine intelligence to derive agents' behavioral rules for groundwater irrigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Yao; Quinn, Christopher J.; Cai, Ximing; Garfinkle, Noah W.

2017-11-01

For agent-based modeling, the major challenges in deriving agents' behavioral rules arise from agents' bounded rationality and data scarcity. This study proposes a "gray box" approach to address the challenge by incorporating expert domain knowledge (i.e., human intelligence) with machine learning techniques (i.e., machine intelligence). Specifically, we propose using directed information graph (DIG), boosted regression trees (BRT), and domain knowledge to infer causal factors and identify behavioral rules from data. A case study is conducted to investigate farmers' pumping behavior in the Midwest, U.S.A. Results show that four factors identified by the DIG algorithm- corn price, underlying groundwater level, monthly mean temperature and precipitation- have main causal influences on agents' decisions on monthly groundwater irrigation depth. The agent-based model is then developed based on the behavioral rules represented by three DIGs and modeled by BRTs, and coupled with a physically-based groundwater model to investigate the impacts of agents' pumping behavior on the underlying groundwater system in the context of coupled human and environmental systems.

Bond Strength of Resin Cements to Dentin Using New Universal Bonding Agents

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-30

34Bond Strength of Resin Cements to Dentin Using New Universal Bonding Agents" Materials Repaired with Composite Resin" 7. Intended publication...DoD- or US Gov’t-level policy, communications systems or weapons issues review"). *Note: It is DoD policy that clearance of information or material...University-, DoD- or US Gov’t-level policy, communications systems or weapons issues review"). *Note: It is DoD po/icy that clearance of

Consensus-Based Formation Control of a Class of Multi-Agent Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Joshi, Suresh; Gonzalez, Oscar R.

2014-01-01

This paper presents a consensus-based formation control scheme for autonomous multi-agent systems represented by double integrator dynamics. Assuming that the information graph topology consists of an undirected connected graph, a leader-based consensus-type control law is presented and shown to provide asymptotic formation stability when subjected to piecewise constant formation velocity commands. It is also shown that global asymptotic stability is preserved in the presence of (0, infinity)- sector monotonic non-decreasing actuator nonlinearities.

Hypercompetitive Environments: An Agent-based model approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dias, Manuel; Araújo, Tanya

Information technology (IT) environments are characterized by complex changes and rapid evolution. Globalization and the spread of technological innovation have increased the need for new strategic information resources, both from individual firms and management environments. Improvements in multidisciplinary methods and, particularly, the availability of powerful computational tools, are giving researchers an increasing opportunity to investigate management environments in their true complex nature. The adoption of a complex systems approach allows for modeling business strategies from a bottom-up perspective — understood as resulting from repeated and local interaction of economic agents — without disregarding the consequences of the business strategies themselves to individual behavior of enterprises, emergence of interaction patterns between firms and management environments. Agent-based models are at the leading approach of this attempt.

Tenure and Asymmetric Information: An Analysis of an Incentive Institution for Faculty Development in Research Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Song, Jing

2008-01-01

From the perspective of asymmetric information, a principal-agent model is used to put forward a new theoretical explanation for the validity and effectiveness of tenure. Furthermore, through an analysis of the conditions of implementing an effective tenure system, it is argued that such a system is more efficient in research universities. Based…

The Impacts of Information-Sharing Mechanisms on Spatial Market Formation Based on Agent-Based Modeling

PubMed Central

Li, Qianqian; Yang, Tao; Zhao, Erbo; Xia, Xing’ang; Han, Zhangang

2013-01-01

There has been an increasing interest in the geographic aspects of economic development, exemplified by P. Krugman’s logical analysis. We show in this paper that the geographic aspects of economic development can be modeled using multi-agent systems that incorporate multiple underlying factors. The extent of information sharing is assumed to be a driving force that leads to economic geographic heterogeneity across locations without geographic advantages or disadvantages. We propose an agent-based market model that considers a spectrum of different information-sharing mechanisms: no information sharing, information sharing among friends and pheromone-like information sharing. Finally, we build a unified model that accommodates all three of these information-sharing mechanisms based on the number of friends who can share information. We find that the no information-sharing model does not yield large economic zones, and more information sharing can give rise to a power-law distribution of market size that corresponds to the stylized fact of city size and firm size distributions. The simulations show that this model is robust. This paper provides an alternative approach to studying economic geographic development, and this model could be used as a test bed to validate the detailed assumptions that regulate real economic agglomeration. PMID:23484007

Product Distribution Theory for Control of Multi-Agent Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Chia Fan; Wolpert, David H.

2004-01-01

Product Distribution (PD) theory is a new framework for controlling Multi-Agent Systems (MAS's). First we review one motivation of PD theory, as the information-theoretic extension of conventional full-rationality game theory to the case of bounded rational agents. In this extension the equilibrium of the game is the optimizer of a Lagrangian of the (probability distribution of) the joint stare of the agents. Accordingly we can consider a team game in which the shared utility is a performance measure of the behavior of the MAS. For such a scenario the game is at equilibrium - the Lagrangian is optimized - when the joint distribution of the agents optimizes the system's expected performance. One common way to find that equilibrium is to have each agent run a reinforcement learning algorithm. Here we investigate the alternative of exploiting PD theory to run gradient descent on the Lagrangian. We present computer experiments validating some of the predictions of PD theory for how best to do that gradient descent. We also demonstrate how PD theory can improve performance even when we are not allowed to rerun the MAS from different initial conditions, a requirement implicit in some previous work.

Agent oriented programming

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shoham, Yoav

1994-01-01

The goal of our research is a methodology for creating robust software in distributed and dynamic environments. The approach taken is to endow software objects with explicit information about one another, to have them interact through a commitment mechanism, and to equip them with a speech-acty communication language. System-level applications include software interoperation and compositionality. A government application of specific interest is an infrastructure for coordination among multiple planners. Daily activity applications include personal software assistants, such as programmable email, scheduling, and new group agents. Research topics include definition of mental state of agents, design of agent languages as well as interpreters for those languages, and mechanisms for coordination within agent societies such as artificial social laws and conventions.

Mobile agent application and integration in electronic anamnesis system.

PubMed

Liu, Chia-Hui; Chung, Yu-Fang; Chen, Tzer-Shyong; Wang, Sheng-De

2012-06-01

Electronic anamnesis is to transform ordinary paper trails to digitally formatted health records, which include the patient's general information, health status, and follow-ups on chronic diseases. Its main purpose is to let the records could be stored for a longer period of time and could be shared easily across departments and hospitals. Which means hospital management could use less resource on maintaining ever-growing database and reduce redundancy, so less money would be spent for managing the health records. In the foreseeable future, building up a comprehensive and integrated medical information system is a must, because it is critical to hospital resource integration and quality improvement. If mobile agent technology is adopted in the electronic anamnesis system, it would help the hospitals to make the medical practices more efficiently and conveniently. Nonetheless, most of the hospitals today are still using paper-based health records to manage the medical information. The reason why the institutions continue using traditional practices to manage the records is because there is no well-trusted and reliable electronic anamnesis system existing and accepted by both institutions and patients. The threat of privacy invasion is one of the biggest concerns when the topic of electronic anamnesis is brought up, because the security threats drag us back from using such a system. So, the medical service quality is difficult to be improved substantially. In this case, we have come up a theory to remove such security threats and make electronic anamnesis more appealing for use. Our theory is to integrate the mobile agent technology with the backbone of electronic anamnesis to construct a hierarchical access control system to retrieve the corresponding information based upon the permission classes. The system would create a classification for permission among the users inside the medical institution. Under this framework, permission control center would distribute an access key to each user, so they would only allow using the key to access information correspondingly. In order to verify the reliability of the proposed system framework, we have also conducted a security analysis to list all the possible security threats that may harm the system and to prove the system is reliable and safe. If the system is adopted, the doctors would be able to quickly access the information while performing medical examinations. Hence, the efficiency and quality of healthcare service would be greatly improved.

A security architecture for interconnecting health information systems.

PubMed

Gritzalis, Dimitris; Lambrinoudakis, Costas

2004-03-31

Several hereditary and other chronic diseases necessitate continuous and complicated health care procedures, typically offered in different, often distant, health care units. Inevitably, the medical records of patients suffering from such diseases become complex, grow in size very fast and are scattered all over the units involved in the care process, hindering communication of information between health care professionals. Web-based electronic medical records have been recently proposed as the solution to the above problem, facilitating the interconnection of the health care units in the sense that health care professionals can now access the complete medical record of the patient, even if it is distributed in several remote units. However, by allowing users to access information from virtually anywhere, the universe of ineligible people who may attempt to harm the system is dramatically expanded, thus severely complicating the design and implementation of a secure environment. This paper presents a security architecture that has been mainly designed for providing authentication and authorization services in web-based distributed systems. The architecture has been based on a role-based access scheme and on the implementation of an intelligent security agent per site (i.e. health care unit). This intelligent security agent: (a). authenticates the users, local or remote, that can access the local resources; (b). assigns, through temporary certificates, access privileges to the authenticated users in accordance to their role; and (c). communicates to other sites (through the respective security agents) information about the local users that may need to access information stored in other sites, as well as about local resources that can be accessed remotely.

Conserving analyst attention units: use of multi-agent software and CEP methods to assist information analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rimland, Jeffrey; McNeese, Michael; Hall, David

2013-05-01

Although the capability of computer-based artificial intelligence techniques for decision-making and situational awareness has seen notable improvement over the last several decades, the current state-of-the-art still falls short of creating computer systems capable of autonomously making complex decisions and judgments in many domains where data is nuanced and accountability is high. However, there is a great deal of potential for hybrid systems in which software applications augment human capabilities by focusing the analyst's attention to relevant information elements based on both a priori knowledge of the analyst's goals and the processing/correlation of a series of data streams too numerous and heterogeneous for the analyst to digest without assistance. Researchers at Penn State University are exploring ways in which an information framework influenced by Klein's (Recognition Primed Decision) RPD model, Endsley's model of situational awareness, and the Joint Directors of Laboratories (JDL) data fusion process model can be implemented through a novel combination of Complex Event Processing (CEP) and Multi-Agent Software (MAS). Though originally designed for stock market and financial applications, the high performance data-driven nature of CEP techniques provide a natural compliment to the proven capabilities of MAS systems for modeling naturalistic decision-making, performing process adjudication, and optimizing networked processing and cognition via the use of "mobile agents." This paper addresses the challenges and opportunities of such a framework for augmenting human observational capability as well as enabling the ability to perform collaborative context-aware reasoning in both human teams and hybrid human / software agent teams.

A Multi-Agent Approach to the Simulation of Robotized Manufacturing Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foit, K.; Gwiazda, A.; Banaś, W.

2016-08-01

The recent years of eventful industry development, brought many competing products, addressed to the same market segment. The shortening of a development cycle became a necessity if the company would like to be competitive. Because of switching to the Intelligent Manufacturing model the industry search for new scheduling algorithms, while the traditional ones do not meet the current requirements. The agent-based approach has been considered by many researchers as an important way of evolution of modern manufacturing systems. Due to the properties of the multi-agent systems, this methodology is very helpful during creation of the model of production system, allowing depicting both processing and informational part. The complexity of such approach makes the analysis impossible without the computer assistance. Computer simulation still uses a mathematical model to recreate a real situation, but nowadays the 2D or 3D virtual environments or even virtual reality have been used for realistic illustration of the considered systems. This paper will focus on robotized manufacturing system and will present the one of possible approaches to the simulation of such systems. The selection of multi-agent approach is motivated by the flexibility of this solution that offers the modularity, robustness and autonomy.

Distributed Optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macready, William; Wolpert, David

2005-01-01

We demonstrate a new framework for analyzing and controlling distributed systems, by solving constrained optimization problems with an algorithm based on that framework. The framework is ar. information-theoretic extension of conventional full-rationality game theory to allow bounded rational agents. The associated optimization algorithm is a game in which agents control the variables of the optimization problem. They do this by jointly minimizing a Lagrangian of (the probability distribution of) their joint state. The updating of the Lagrange parameters in that Lagrangian is a form of automated annealing, one that focuses the multi-agent system on the optimal pure strategy. We present computer experiments for the k-sat constraint satisfaction problem and for unconstrained minimization of NK functions.

An Intelligent Agent-Controlled and Robot-Based Disassembly Assistant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jungbluth, Jan; Gerke, Wolfgang; Plapper, Peter

2017-09-01

One key for successful and fluent human-robot-collaboration in disassembly processes is equipping the robot system with higher autonomy and intelligence. In this paper, we present an informed software agent that controls the robot behavior to form an intelligent robot assistant for disassembly purposes. While the disassembly process first depends on the product structure, we inform the agent using a generic approach through product models. The product model is then transformed to a directed graph and used to build, share and define a coarse disassembly plan. To refine the workflow, we formulate “the problem of loosening a connection and the distribution of the work” as a search problem. The created detailed plan consists of a sequence of actions that are used to call, parametrize and execute robot programs for the fulfillment of the assistance. The aim of this research is to equip robot systems with knowledge and skills to allow them to be autonomous in the performance of their assistance to finally improve the ergonomics of disassembly workstations.

Chronic Heart Failure Follow-up Management Based on Agent Technology

PubMed Central

Safdari, Reza

2015-01-01

Objectives Monitoring heart failure patients through continues assessment of sign and symptoms by information technology tools lead to large reduction in re-hospitalization. Agent technology is one of the strongest artificial intelligence areas; therefore, it can be expected to facilitate, accelerate, and improve health services especially in home care and telemedicine. The aim of this article is to provide an agent-based model for chronic heart failure (CHF) follow-up management. Methods This research was performed in 2013-2014 to determine appropriate scenarios and the data required to monitor and follow-up CHF patients, and then an agent-based model was designed. Results Agents in the proposed model perform the following tasks: medical data access, communication with other agents of the framework and intelligent data analysis, including medical data processing, reasoning, negotiation for decision-making, and learning capabilities. Conclusions The proposed multi-agent system has ability to learn and thus improve itself. Implementation of this model with more and various interval times at a broader level could achieve better results. The proposed multi-agent system is no substitute for cardiologists, but it could assist them in decision-making. PMID:26618038

Integrated Modeling of the Human-Natural System to Improve Local Water Management and Planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gutowski, W. J., Jr.; Dziubanski, D.; Franz, K.; Goodwin, J.; Rehmann, C. R.; Simpkins, W. W.; Tesfastion, L.; Wanamaker, A. D.; Jie, Y.

2015-12-01

Communities across the world are experiencing the effects of unsustainable water management practices. Whether the problem is a lack of water, too much water, or water of degraded quality, finding acceptable solutions requires community-level efforts that integrate sound science with local needs and values. Our project develops both a software technology (agent-based hydrological modeling) and a social technology (a participatory approach to model development) that will allow communities to comprehensively address local water challenges. Using agent-based modeling (ABM), we are building a modeling system that includes a semi-distributed hydrologic process model coupled with agent (stakeholder) models. Information from the hydrologic model is conveyed to the agent models, which, along with economic information, determine appropriate agent actions that subsequently affect hydrology within the model. The iterative participatory modeling (IPM) process will assist with the continual development of the agent models. Further, IPM creates a learning environment in which all participants, including researchers, are co-exploring relevant data, possible scenarios and solutions, and viewpoints through continuous interactions. Our initial work focuses on the impact of flood mitigation and conservation efforts on reducing flooding in an urban area. We are applying all research elements above to the Squaw Creek watershed that flows through parts of four counties in central Iowa. The watershed offers many of the typical tensions encountered in Iowa, such as different perspectives on water management between upstream farmers and downstream urban areas, competition for various types of recreational services, and increasing absentee land ownership that may conflict with community values. Ultimately, climate change scenarios will be incorporated into the model to determine long term patterns that may develop within the social or natural system.

The Healthcare Administrator's Associate: an experiment in distributed healthcare information systems.

PubMed Central

Fowler, J.; Martin, G.

1997-01-01

The Healthcare Administrator's Associate is a collection of portable tools designed to support analysis of data retrieved via the Internet from diverse distributed healthcare information systems by means of the InfoSleuth system of distributed software agents. Development of these tools is part of an effort to enhance access to diverse and geographically distributed healthcare data in order to improve the basis upon which administrative and clinical decisions are made. PMID:9357686

Fixed and flexible formularies as cost-control mechanisms.

PubMed

Dewa, Carolyn S; Hoch, Jeffrey S

2003-06-01

The purpose of this review is to consider the prevalent types of fixed and flexible formularies, the general economic principles on which they are based and the evidence for their effectiveness in controlling rising drug expenditures. The principal-agent relationship and economic model underlying the various types of formularies are described. The principal-agent model describes a relationship where there is an asymmetry of information between two parties involved in a particular task. As a result of this asymmetry of information, the party with less information (the principal) allows the party with more information (the agent) to make decisions about that task or activity for them. In the case of formularies and cost-control, the principal is the payer. Depending on the incentives offered by the formulary, the agent can alternately be the prescriber, dispenser or patient. The success of a formulary type to control costs is dependent on two main factors. First, the payer (the principal) must identify the agent for whom it is reasonable to create incentives that incorporate the financial risks associated with use of the drugs. Second, the payer must develop a structure that best aligns the principal and agent objectives. The principal-agent framework serves as the vehicle through which the authors examine five major types of formularies (i.e., closed, best available price, reference-based pricing, tiered and open formularies) and their inherent incentives and limitations. The evidence for their effectiveness as cost-control mechanisms is reviewed and the system factors that can affect formulary success will be discussed. Finally, the authors' observations are summarized and interpreted, and suggested implications for future use of formularies in controlling the costs of pharmaceutical use are offered.

Towards a model of temporal attention for on-line learning in a mobile robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marom, Yuval; Hayes, Gillian

2001-06-01

We present a simple attention system, capable of bottom-up signal detection adaptive to subjective internal needs. The system is used by a robotic agent, learning to perform phototaxis and obstacle avoidance by following a teacher agent around a simulated environment, and deciding when to form associations between perceived information and imitated actions. We refer to this kind of decision-making as on-line temporal attention. The main role of the attention system is perception of change; the system is regulated through feedback about cognitive effort. We show how different levels of effort affect both the ability to learn a task, and to execute it.

Distributed Optimization of Multi-Agent Systems: Framework, Local Optimizer, and Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zu, Yue

Convex optimization problem can be solved in a centralized or distributed manner. Compared with centralized methods based on single-agent system, distributed algorithms rely on multi-agent systems with information exchanging among connected neighbors, which leads to great improvement on the system fault tolerance. Thus, a task within multi-agent system can be completed with presence of partial agent failures. By problem decomposition, a large-scale problem can be divided into a set of small-scale sub-problems that can be solved in sequence/parallel. Hence, the computational complexity is greatly reduced by distributed algorithm in multi-agent system. Moreover, distributed algorithm allows data collected and stored in a distributed fashion, which successfully overcomes the drawbacks of using multicast due to the bandwidth limitation. Distributed algorithm has been applied in solving a variety of real-world problems. Our research focuses on the framework and local optimizer design in practical engineering applications. In the first one, we propose a multi-sensor and multi-agent scheme for spatial motion estimation of a rigid body. Estimation performance is improved in terms of accuracy and convergence speed. Second, we develop a cyber-physical system and implement distributed computation devices to optimize the in-building evacuation path when hazard occurs. The proposed Bellman-Ford Dual-Subgradient path planning method relieves the congestion in corridor and the exit areas. At last, highway traffic flow is managed by adjusting speed limits to minimize the fuel consumption and travel time in the third project. Optimal control strategy is designed through both centralized and distributed algorithm based on convex problem formulation. Moreover, a hybrid control scheme is presented for highway network travel time minimization. Compared with no controlled case or conventional highway traffic control strategy, the proposed hybrid control strategy greatly reduces total travel time on test highway network.

A BIOASSAY THAT IDENTIFIES POSTNATAL FUNCTIONAL DEFICITS IN MICE PRENATALLY EXPOSED TO XENOBIOTICS

EPA Science Inventory

Experimental strategies to evaluate adverse postnatal effects due to prenatal exposure exist for many organ systems. Often, however, there is insufficient information to suggest that a particular organ system(s) may be sensitive to the test agent. A single bioassay to identify ...

Error Generation in CATS-Based Agents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callantine, Todd

2003-01-01

This research presents a methodology for generating errors from a model of nominally preferred correct operator activities, given a particular operational context, and maintaining an explicit link to the erroneous contextual information to support analyses. It uses the Crew Activity Tracking System (CATS) model as the basis for error generation. This report describes how the process works, and how it may be useful for supporting agent-based system safety analyses. The report presents results obtained by applying the error-generation process and discusses implementation issues. The research is supported by the System-Wide Accident Prevention Element of the NASA Aviation Safety Program.

Collective circular motion in synchronized and balanced formations with second-order rotational dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jain, Anoop; Ghose, Debasish

2018-01-01

This paper considers collective circular motion of multi-agent systems in which all the agents are required to traverse different circles or a common circle at a prescribed angular velocity. It is required to achieve these collective motions with the heading angles of the agents synchronized or balanced. In synchronization, the agents and their centroid have a common velocity direction, while in balancing, the movement of agents causes the location of the centroid to become stationary. The agents are initially considered to move at unit speed around individual circles at different angular velocities. It is assumed that the agents are subjected to limited communication constraints, and exchange relative information according to a time-invariant undirected graph. We present suitable feedback control laws for each of these motion coordination tasks by considering a second-order rotational dynamics of the agent. Simulations are given to illustrate the theoretical findings.

Protecting software agents from malicious hosts using quantum computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reisner, John; Donkor, Eric

2000-07-01

We evaluate how quantum computing can be applied to security problems for software agents. Agent-based computing, which merges technological advances in artificial intelligence and mobile computing, is a rapidly growing domain, especially in applications such as electronic commerce, network management, information retrieval, and mission planning. System security is one of the more eminent research areas in agent-based computing, and the specific problem of protecting a mobile agent from a potentially hostile host is one of the most difficult of these challenges. In this work, we describe our agent model, and discuss the capabilities and limitations of classical solutions to the malicious host problem. Quantum computing may be extremely helpful in addressing the limitations of classical solutions to this problem. This paper highlights some of the areas where quantum computing could be applied to agent security.

Functional Information: Towards Synthesis of Biosemiotics and Cybernetics

PubMed Central

Sharov, Alexei A.

2012-01-01

Biosemiotics and cybernetics are closely related, yet they are separated by the boundary between life and non-life: biosemiotics is focused on living organisms, whereas cybernetics is applied mostly to non-living artificial devices. However, both classes of systems are agents that perform functions necessary for reaching their goals. I propose to shift the focus of biosemiotics from living organisms to agents in general, which all belong to a pragmasphere or functional universe. Agents should be considered in the context of their hierarchy and origin because their semiosis can be inherited or induced by higher-level agents. To preserve and disseminate their functions, agents use functional information - a set of signs that encode and control their functions. It includes stable memory signs, transient messengers, and natural signs. The origin and evolution of functional information is discussed in terms of transitions between vegetative, animal, and social levels of semiosis, defined by Kull. Vegetative semiosis differs substantially from higher levels of semiosis, because signs are recognized and interpreted via direct code-based matching and are not associated with ideal representations of objects. Thus, I consider a separate classification of signs at the vegetative level that includes proto-icons, proto-indexes, and proto-symbols. Animal and social semiosis are based on classification, and modeling of objects, which represent the knowledge of agents about their body (Innenwelt) and environment (Umwelt). PMID:22368439

Functional Information: Towards Synthesis of Biosemiotics and Cybernetics.

PubMed

Sharov, Alexei A

2010-04-27

Biosemiotics and cybernetics are closely related, yet they are separated by the boundary between life and non-life: biosemiotics is focused on living organisms, whereas cybernetics is applied mostly to non-living artificial devices. However, both classes of systems are agents that perform functions necessary for reaching their goals. I propose to shift the focus of biosemiotics from living organisms to agents in general, which all belong to a pragmasphere or functional universe. Agents should be considered in the context of their hierarchy and origin because their semiosis can be inherited or induced by higher-level agents. To preserve and disseminate their functions, agents use functional information - a set of signs that encode and control their functions. It includes stable memory signs, transient messengers, and natural signs. The origin and evolution of functional information is discussed in terms of transitions between vegetative, animal, and social levels of semiosis, defined by Kull. Vegetative semiosis differs substantially from higher levels of semiosis, because signs are recognized and interpreted via direct code-based matching and are not associated with ideal representations of objects. Thus, I consider a separate classification of signs at the vegetative level that includes proto-icons, proto-indexes, and proto-symbols. Animal and social semiosis are based on classification, and modeling of objects, which represent the knowledge of agents about their body (Innenwelt) and environment (Umwelt).

Beyond Information Retrieval: Ways To Provide Content in Context.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiley, Deborah Lynne

1998-01-01

Provides an overview of information retrieval from mainframe systems to Web search engines; discusses collaborative filtering, data extraction, data visualization, agent technology, pattern recognition, classification and clustering, and virtual communities. Argues that rather than huge data-storage centers and proprietary software, we need…

Opinion evolution influenced by informed agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Kangqi; Pedrycz, Witold

2016-11-01

Guiding public opinions toward a pre-set target by informed agents can be a strategy adopted in some practical applications. The informed agents are common agents who are employed or chosen to spread the pre-set opinion. In this work, we propose a social judgment based opinion (SJBO) dynamics model to explore the opinion evolution under the influence of informed agents. The SJBO model distinguishes between inner opinions and observable choices, and incorporates both the compromise between similar opinions and the repulsion between dissimilar opinions. Three choices (support, opposition, and remaining undecided) are considered in the SJBO model. Using the SJBO model, both the inner opinions and the observable choices can be tracked during the opinion evolution process. The simulation results indicate that if the exchanges of inner opinions among agents are not available, the effect of informed agents is mainly dependent on the characteristics of regular agents, including the assimilation threshold, decay threshold, and initial opinions. Increasing the assimilation threshold and decay threshold can improve the guiding effectiveness of informed agents. Moreover, if the initial opinions of regular agents are close to null, the full and unanimous consensus at the pre-set opinion can be realized, indicating that, to maximize the influence of informed agents, the guidance should be started when regular agents have little knowledge about a subject under consideration. If the regular agents have had clear opinions, the full and unanimous consensus at the pre-set opinion cannot be achieved. However, the introduction of informed agents can make the majority of agents choose the pre-set opinion.

49 CFR 40.331 - To what additional parties must employers and service agents release information?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... service agents release information? 40.331 Section 40.331 Transportation Office of the Secretary of... Release of Information § 40.331 To what additional parties must employers and service agents release information? As an employer or service agent you must release information under the following circumstances...

Sources of information on lymphoma associated with anti-tumour necrosis factor agents: comparison of published case reports and cases reported to the French pharmacovigilance system.

PubMed

Théophile, Hélène; Schaeverbeke, Thierry; Miremont-Salamé, Ghada; Abouelfath, Abdelilah; Kahn, Valentine; Haramburu, Françoise; Bégaud, Bernard

2011-07-01

Anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) agents, through their intense immunoregulatory effect, have been suspected to increase the risk of malignant lymphoma. However, the classical epidemiological approaches conducted over about the last 10 years have not totally succeeded in addressing the question of a causal or artifactual association. Therefore, the analysis of a substantial set of case reports, although usually considered as poorly generalizable to the general population, could be particularly informative. Two main sources of case reports in postmarketing settings are available; publications in medical journals and reports to pharmacovigilance systems. The aim of the study was to compare the characteristics of case reports from both these sources in order to understand whether they provided the same information for the investigation of the causal link between lymphoma and anti-TNF agents. All case reports of malignant lymphoma in patients treated with an anti-TNF agent published in MEDLINE and all reports to the French pharmacovigilance system up to 1 February 2010 were identified. Cases of malignant lymphoma identified in postmarketing surveillance from both sources were compared regarding the following variables: age, sex, anti-TNF agent involved, indication for use, type of lymphoma, prior or concomitant immunosuppressive drugs and time to onset of lymphoma. A total of 81 published case reports and 61 cases reported to the French pharmacovigilance system were compared. In published reports, patients were younger (p = 0.03) and more frequently receiving a first anti-TNF treatment (p = 0.03), particularly infliximab (p = 0.03). Conversely, in the pharmacovigilance system reports, a succession of different anti-TNFs (p = 0.03) and adalimumab (p < 0.0001) were more frequently reported. Lymphomas in patients treated with anti-TNF agents for Crohn's disease were more prevalent in published cases than in pharmacovigilance reports (p < 0.0001), and in particular involved hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma. Conversely, rheumatoid arthritis was the main indication for anti-TNF agents in pharmacovigilance reports (p = 0.01). Time to onset was markedly shorter in published cases (median 12 months) than in pharmacovigilance reports (median 30 months; p = 0.0001). Characteristics of published cases and those reported to the French pharmacovigilance system differed markedly for all characteristics tested, except sex and the use of prior or concomitant immunosuppressive drugs. Published case reports favoured convincing arguments for drug causation whereas cases reported to the pharmacovigilance system were more disparate but could describe more accurately the reality of lymphoma occurrence in this particular population. These results argue for the use of the pharmacovigilance reports when case reports are used to investigate the causal link between lymphoma and anti-TNF agents at the population level. Data from cases notified to the French pharmacovigilance system did not indicate an increased risk of lymphoma during the early phase of anti-TNF treatment. To confirm this hypothesis, a study combining pharmacovigilance reports from several countries, or, if feasible, a cohort study both with a large sample size and a long duration of follow-up would be required.

Sensor supervision and multiagent commanding by means of projective virtual reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossmann, Juergen

1998-10-01

When autonomous systems with multiple agents are considered, conventional control- and supervision technologies are often inadequate because the amount of information available is often presented in a way that the user is effectively overwhelmed by the displayed data. New virtual reality (VR) techniques can help to cope with this problem, because VR offers the chance to convey information in an intuitive manner and can combine supervision capabilities and new, intuitive approaches to the control of autonomous systems. In the approach taken, control and supervision issues were equally stressed and finally led to the new ideas and the general framework for Projective Virtual Reality. The key idea of this new approach for an intuitively operable man machine interface for decentrally controlled multi-agent systems is to let the user act in the virtual world, detect the changes and have an action planning component automatically generate task descriptions for the agents involved to project actions that have been carried out by users in the virtual world into the physical world, e.g. with the help of robots. Thus the Projective Virtual Reality approach is to split the job between the task deduction in the VR and the task `projection' onto the physical automation components by the automatic action planning component. Besides describing the realized projective virtual reality system, the paper will also describe in detail the metaphors and visualization aids used to present different types of (e.g. sensor-) information in an intuitively comprehensible manner.

Intelligent Software Agents: Sensor Integration and Response

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kulesz, James J; Lee, Ronald W

2013-01-01

Abstract In a post Macondo world the buzzwords are Integrity Management and Incident Response Management. The twin processes are not new but the opportunity to link the two is novel. Intelligent software agents can be used with sensor networks in distributed and centralized computing systems to enhance real-time monitoring of system integrity as well as manage the follow-on incident response to changing, and potentially hazardous, environmental conditions. The software components are embedded at the sensor network nodes in surveillance systems used for monitoring unusual events. When an event occurs, the software agents establish a new concept of operation at themore » sensing node, post the event status to a blackboard for software agents at other nodes to see , and then react quickly and efficiently to monitor the scale of the event. The technology addresses a current challenge in sensor networks that prevents a rapid and efficient response when a sensor measurement indicates that an event has occurred. By using intelligent software agents - which can be stationary or mobile, interact socially, and adapt to changing situations - the technology offers features that are particularly important when systems need to adapt to active circumstances. For example, when a release is detected, the local software agent collaborates with other agents at the node to exercise the appropriate operation, such as: targeted detection, increased detection frequency, decreased detection frequency for other non-alarming sensors, and determination of environmental conditions so that adjacent nodes can be informed that an event is occurring and when it will arrive. The software agents at the nodes can also post the data in a targeted manner, so that agents at other nodes and the command center can exercise appropriate operations to recalibrate the overall sensor network and associated intelligence systems. The paper describes the concepts and provides examples of real-world implementations including the Threat Detection and Analysis System (TDAS) at the International Port of Memphis and the Biological Warning and Incident Characterization System (BWIC) Environmental Monitoring (EM) Component. Technologies developed for these 24/7 operational systems have applications for improved real-time system integrity awareness as well as provide incident response (as needed) for production and field applications.« less

Counter-terrorism threat prediction architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lehman, Lynn A.; Krause, Lee S.

2004-09-01

This paper will evaluate the feasibility of constructing a system to support intelligence analysts engaged in counter-terrorism. It will discuss the use of emerging techniques to evaluate a large-scale threat data repository (or Infosphere) and comparing analyst developed models to identify and discover potential threat-related activity with a uncertainty metric used to evaluate the threat. This system will also employ the use of psychological (or intent) modeling to incorporate combatant (i.e. terrorist) beliefs and intent. The paper will explore the feasibility of constructing a hetero-hierarchical (a hierarchy of more than one kind or type characterized by loose connection/feedback among elements of the hierarchy) agent based framework or "family of agents" to support "evidence retrieval" defined as combing, or searching the threat data repository and returning information with an uncertainty metric. The counter-terrorism threat prediction architecture will be guided by a series of models, constructed to represent threat operational objectives, potential targets, or terrorist objectives. The approach would compare model representations against information retrieved by the agent family to isolate or identify patterns that match within reasonable measures of proximity. The central areas of discussion will be the construction of an agent framework to search the available threat related information repository, evaluation of results against models that will represent the cultural foundations, mindset, sociology and emotional drive of typical threat combatants (i.e. the mind and objectives of a terrorist), and the development of evaluation techniques to compare result sets with the models representing threat behavior and threat targets. The applicability of concepts surrounding Modeling Field Theory (MFT) will be discussed as the basis of this research into development of proximity measures between the models and result sets and to provide feedback in support of model adaptation (learning). The increasingly complex demands facing analysts evaluating activity threatening to the security of the United States make the family of agent-based data collection (fusion) a promising area. This paper will discuss a system to support the collection and evaluation of potential threat activity as well as an approach fro presentation of the information.

Modeling and simulating human teamwork behaviors using intelligent agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Xiaocong; Yen, John

2004-12-01

Among researchers in multi-agent systems there has been growing interest in using intelligent agents to model and simulate human teamwork behaviors. Teamwork modeling is important for training humans in gaining collaborative skills, for supporting humans in making critical decisions by proactively gathering, fusing, and sharing information, and for building coherent teams with both humans and agents working effectively on intelligence-intensive problems. Teamwork modeling is also challenging because the research has spanned diverse disciplines from business management to cognitive science, human discourse, and distributed artificial intelligence. This article presents an extensive, but not exhaustive, list of work in the field, where the taxonomy is organized along two main dimensions: team social structure and social behaviors. Along the dimension of social structure, we consider agent-only teams and mixed human-agent teams. Along the dimension of social behaviors, we consider collaborative behaviors, communicative behaviors, helping behaviors, and the underpinning of effective teamwork-shared mental models. The contribution of this article is that it presents an organizational framework for analyzing a variety of teamwork simulation systems and for further studying simulated teamwork behaviors.

76 FR 30092 - Notice of Request for Extension of Approval of an Information Collection; Select Agent Registration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-24

...] Notice of Request for Extension of Approval of an Information Collection; Select Agent Registration... . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information regarding the select agent registration process... Dr. Charles Divan, Branch Chief, Agriculture Select Agent Program, RIPPS, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road...

IRIS Toxicological Review of 1,4-Dioxane (with Inhalation ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is conducting a peer review and public comment of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of 1,4-Dioxane (with inhalation update) that when finalized will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. 1,4-Dioxane is commonly used as a solvent, cleaning agent, chemical stabilizer, surface coating, adhesive agent, and an ingredient in chemical manufacture.

Combining engineered cell-sensors with multi-agent systems to realize smart environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Mei

2013-03-01

The connection of everything in a sensory and an intelligent way is a pursuit in smart environment. This paper introduces the engineered cell-sensors into the multi-agent systems to realize the smart environment. The seamless interface with the natural environment and strong information-processing ability of cell with the achievements of synthetic biology make the construction of engineered cell-sensors possible. However, the engineered cell-sensors are only simple-functional and unreliable computational entities. Therefore how to combine engineered cell-sensors with digital device is a key problem in order to realize the smart environment. We give the abstract structure and interaction modes of the engineered cell-sensors in order to introduce engineered cell-sensors into multi-agent systems. We believe that the introduction of engineered cell-sensors will push forward the development of the smart environment.

Tumor characterization in small animals using magnetic resonance-guided dynamic contrast enhanced diffuse optical tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Yuting; Thayer, Dave; Nalcioglu, Orhan; Gulsen, Gultekin

2011-10-01

We present a magnetic resonance (MR)-guided near-infrared dynamic contrast enhanced diffuse optical tomography (DCE-DOT) system for characterization of tumors using an optical contrast agent (ICG) and a MR contrast agent [Gd-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)] in a rat model. Both ICG and Gd-DTPA are injected and monitored simultaneously using a combined MRI-DOT system, resulting in accurate co-registration between two imaging modalities. Fisher rats bearing R3230 breast tumor are imaged using this hybrid system. For the first time, enhancement kinetics of the exogenous contrast ICG is recovered from the DCE-DOT data using MR anatomical a priori information. As tumors grow, they undergo necrosis and the tissue transforms from viable to necrotic. The results show that the physiological changes between viable and necrotic tissue can be differentiated more accurately based on the ICG enhancement kinetics when MR anatomical information is utilized.

How nutrition policy affects food and agricultural policy.

PubMed

Johnson, S R

1994-09-01

The impact of the improved understanding of nutrition and the importance of the diet in nutrition status has had subtle but far-reaching consequences for food and agricultural policy. Many of the changes in the food supply are in response to increased consciousness of diet, nutrition and health status. The simple connection between nutrition policy and food and agricultural policy follows from the sovereignty of the consumer. Nutrition policy influences consumers' attitudes and choices. These impact the behavior of agents in the food and production system. And, if properly designed, food and agricultural policies can accelerate the process of adapting the production and distribution systems for agriculture and food to better meet the demands of the more informed consumer. Policies that reflect the behavior of consumers and supply better information to the agents in the food and agricultural system will be the most effective.

Overview of the arthritis Cost Consequence Evaluation System (ACCES): a pharmacoeconomic model for celecoxib.

PubMed

Pettitt, D; Goldstein, J L; McGuire, A; Schwartz, J S; Burke, T; Maniadakis, N

2000-12-01

Pharmacoeconomic analyses have become useful and essential tools for health care decision makers who increasingly require such analyses prior to placing a drug on a national, regional or hospital formulary. Previous health economic models of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been restricted to evaluating a narrow range of agents within specific health care delivery systems using medical information derived from homogeneous clinical trial data. This paper summarizes the Arthritis Cost Consequence Evaluation System (ACCES)--a pharmacoeconomic model that has been developed to predict and evaluate the costs and consequences associated with the use of celecoxib in patients with arthritis, compared with other NSAIDs and NSAIDs plus gastroprotective agents. The advantage of this model is that it can be customized to reflect local practice patterns, resource utilization and costs, as well as provide context-specific health economic information to a variety of providers and/or decision makers.

Managing a Common Pool Resource: Real Time Decision-Making in a Groundwater Aquifer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahu, R.; McLaughlin, D.

2017-12-01

In a Common Pool Resource (CPR) such as a groundwater aquifer, multiple landowners (agents) are competing for a limited resource of water. Landowners pump out the water to grow their own crops. Such problems can be posed as differential games, with agents all trying to control the behavior of the shared dynamic system. Each agent aims to maximize his/her own personal objective like agriculture yield, being aware that the action of every other agent collectively influences the behavior of the shared aquifer. The agents therefore choose a subgame perfect Nash equilibrium strategy that derives an optimal action for each agent based on the current state of the aquifer and assumes perfect information of every other agents' objective function. Furthermore, using an Iterated Best Response approach and interpolating techniques, an optimal pumping strategy can be computed for a more-realistic description of the groundwater model under certain assumptions. The numerical implementation of dynamic optimization techniques for a relevant description of the physical system yields results qualitatively different from the previous solutions obtained from simple abstractions.This work aims to bridge the gap between extensive modeling approaches in hydrology and competitive solution strategies in differential game theory.

Development and Evaluation of Sensor Concepts for Ageless Aerospace Vehicles: Report 5 - Phase 2 Implementation of the Concept Demonstrator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Batten, Adam; Dunlop, John; Edwards, Graeme; Farmer, Tony; Gaffney, Bruce; Hedley, Mark; Hoschke, Nigel; Isaacs, Peter; Johnson, Mark; Lewis, Chris;

An agent-oriented approach to automated mission operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truszkowski, Walt; Odubiyi, Jide

1994-01-01

As we plan for the next generation of Mission Operations Control Center (MOCC) systems, there are many opportunities for the increased utilization of innovative knowledge-based technologies. The innovative technology discussed is an advanced use of agent-oriented approaches to the automation of mission operations. The paper presents an overview of this technology and discusses applied operational scenarios currently being investigated and prototyped. A major focus of the current work is the development of a simple user mechanism that would empower operations staff members to create, in real time, software agents to assist them in common, labor intensive operations tasks. These operational tasks would include: handling routine data and information management functions; amplifying the capabilities of a spacecraft analyst/operator to rapidly identify, analyze, and correct spacecraft anomalies by correlating complex data/information sets and filtering error messages; improving routine monitoring and trend analysis by detecting common failure signatures; and serving as a sentinel for spacecraft changes during critical maneuvers enhancing the system's capabilities to support nonroutine operational conditions with minimum additional staff. An agent-based testbed is under development. This testbed will allow us to: (1) more clearly understand the intricacies of applying agent-based technology in support of the advanced automation of mission operations and (2) access the full set of benefits that can be realized by the proper application of agent-oriented technology in a mission operations environment. The testbed under development addresses some of the data management and report generation functions for the Explorer Platform (EP)/Extreme UltraViolet Explorer (EUVE) Flight Operations Team (FOT). We present an overview of agent-oriented technology and a detailed report on the operation's concept for the testbed.

Response to a Relational Agent by Hospital Patients with Depressive Symptoms

PubMed Central

Bickmore, Timothy W.; Mitchell, Suzanne E.; Jack, Brian W.; Paasche-Orlow, Michael K.; Pfeifer, Laura M.; ODonnell, Julie

2010-01-01

Depression affects approximately 15% of the US population, and is recognized as an important risk factor for poor outcomes among patients with various illnesses. Automated health education and behavior change programs have the potential to help address many of the shortcomings in health care. However, the role of these systems in the care of patients with depression has been insufficiently examined. In the current study, we sought to evaluate how hospitalized medical patients would respond to a computer animated conversational agent that has been developed to provide information in an empathic fashion about a patient’s hospital discharge plan. In particular, we sought to examine how patients who have a high level of depressive symptoms respond to this system. Therapeutic alliance—the trust and belief that a patient and provider have in working together to achieve a desired therapeutic outcome— was used as the primary outcome measure, since it has been shown to be important in predicting outcomes across a wide range of health problems, including depression. In an evaluation of 139 hospital patients who interacted with the agent at the time of discharge, all patients, regardless of depressive symptoms, rated the agent very high on measures of satisfaction and ease of use, and most preferred receiving their discharge information from the agent compared to their doctors or nurses in the hospital. In addition, we found that patients with symptoms indicative of major depression rated the agent significantly higher on therapeutic alliance compared to patients who did not have major depressive symptoms. We conclude that empathic agents represent a promising technology for patient assessment, education and counseling for those most in need of comfort and caring in the inpatient setting. PMID:20628581

Integration of design and manufacturing in a virtual enterprise using enterprise rules, intelligent agents, STEP, and work flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gilman, Charles R.; Aparicio, Manuel; Barry, J.; Durniak, Timothy; Lam, Herman; Ramnath, Rajiv

1997-12-01

An enterprise's ability to deliver new products quickly and efficiently to market is critical for competitive success. While manufactureres recognize the need for speed and flexibility to compete in this market place, companies do not have the time or capital to move to new automation technologies. The National Industrial Information Infrastructure Protocols Consortium's Solutions for MES Adaptable Replicable Technology (NIIIP SMART) subgroup is developing an information infrastructure to enable the integration and interoperation among Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Enterprise Information Systems within an enterprise or among enterprises. The goal of these developments is an adaptable, affordable, reconfigurable, integratable manufacturing system. Key innovative aspects of NIIIP SMART are: (1) Design of an industry standard object model that represents the diverse aspects of MES. (2) Design of a distributed object network to support real-time information sharing. (3) Product data exchange based on STEP and EXPRESS (ISO 10303). (4) Application of workflow and knowledge management technologies to enact manufacturing and business procedures and policy. (5) Application of intelligent agents to support emergent factories. This paper illustrates how these technologies have been incorporated into the NIIIP SMART system architecture to enable the integration and interoperation of existing tools and future MES applications in a 'plug and play' environment.

Controlling collective dynamics in complex minority-game resource-allocation systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ji-Qiang; Huang, Zi-Gang; Dong, Jia-Qi; Huang, Liang; Lai, Ying-Cheng

2013-05-01

Resource allocation takes place in various kinds of real-world complex systems, such as traffic systems, social services institutions or organizations, or even ecosystems. The fundamental principle underlying complex resource-allocation dynamics is Boolean interactions associated with minority games, as resources are generally limited and agents tend to choose the least used resource based on available information. A common but harmful dynamical behavior in resource-allocation systems is herding, where there are time intervals during which a large majority of the agents compete for a few resources, leaving many other resources unused. Accompanying the herd behavior is thus strong fluctuations with time in the number of resources being used. In this paper, we articulate and establish that an intuitive control strategy, namely pinning control, is effective at harnessing the herding dynamics. In particular, by fixing the choices of resources for a few agents while leaving the majority of the agents free, herding can be eliminated completely. Our investigation is systematic in that we consider random and targeted pinning and a variety of network topologies, and we carry out a comprehensive analysis in the framework of mean-field theory to understand the working of control. The basic philosophy is then that, when a few agents waive their freedom to choose resources by receiving sufficient incentives, the majority of the agents benefit in that they will make fair, efficient, and effective use of the available resources. Our work represents a basic and general framework to address the fundamental issue of fluctuations in complex dynamical systems with significant applications to social, economical, and political systems.

Influence of network topology on cooperative problem-solving systems.

PubMed

Fontanari, José F; Rodrigues, Francisco A

2016-09-01

The idea of a collective intelligence behind the complex natural structures built by organisms suggests that the organization of social networks is selected so as to optimize problem-solving competence at the group level. Here we study the influence of the social network topology on the performance of a group of agents whose task is to locate the global maxima of NK fitness landscapes. Agents cooperate by broadcasting messages informing on their fitness and use this information to imitate the fittest agent in their influence networks. In the case those messages convey accurate information on the proximity of the solution (i.e., for smooth fitness landscapes), we find that high connectivity as well as centralization boosts the group performance. For rugged landscapes, however, these characteristics are beneficial for small groups only. For large groups, it is advantageous to slow down the information transmission through the network to avoid local maximum traps. Long-range links and modularity have marginal effects on the performance of the group, except for a very narrow region of the model parameters.

Encoding geometric and non-geometric information: a study with evolved agents.

PubMed

Ponticorvo, Michela; Miglino, Orazio

2010-01-01

Vertebrate species use geometric information and non-geometric or featural cues to orient. Under some circumstances, when both geometric and non-geometric information are available, the geometric information overwhelms non-geometric cues (geometric primacy). In other cases, we observe the inverse tendency or the successful integration of both cues. In past years, modular explanations have been proposed for the geometric primacy: geometric and non-geometric information are processed separately, with the geometry module playing a dominant role. The modularity issue is related to the recent debate on the encoding of geometric information: is it innate or does it depend on environmental experience? In order to get insight into the mechanisms that cause the wide variety of behaviors observed in nature, we used Artificial Life experiments. We demonstrated that agents trained mainly with a single class of information oriented efficiently when they were exposed to one class of information (geometric or non-geometric). When they were tested in environments that contained both classes of information, they displayed a primacy for the information that they had experienced more during their training phase. Encoding and processing geometric and non-geometric information was run in a single cognitive neuro-representation. These findings represent a theoretical proof that the exposure frequency to different spatial information during a learning/adaptive history could produce agents with no modular neuro-cognitive systems that are able to process different types of spatial information and display various orientation behaviors (geometric primacy, non-geometric primacy, no primacy at all).

Report of a Planning Conference for Solar Technology Information Transfer in Kentucky (Frankfort, September 11-12, 1978).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Capps, Randall, Ed.

This summary of the deliberations of the Planning Conference for Solar Technology Information Transfer includes an outline of a functioning solar energy technology network for the State of Kentucky and a set of recommendations for future action. Four main types of information agents were identified: (1) the State Library System; (2) the State…

Evaluation of location and number of aid post for sustainable humanitarian relief using agent based modeling (ABM) and geographic information system (GIS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khair, Fauzi; Sopha, Bertha Maya

2017-12-01

One of the crucial phases in disaster management is the response phase or the emergency response phase. It requires a sustainable system and a well-integrated management system. Any errors in the system on this phase will impact on significant increase of the victims number as well as material damage caused. Policies related to the location of aid posts are important decisions. The facts show that there are many failures in the process of providing assistance to the refugees due to lack of preparation and determination of facilities and aid post location. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the number and location of aid posts on Merapi eruption in 2010. This study uses an integration between Agent Based Modeling (ABM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) about evaluation of the number and location of the aid post using some scenarios. The ABM approach aims to describe the agents behaviour (refugees and volunteers) in the event of a disaster with their respective characteristics. While the spatial data, GIS useful to describe real condition of the Sleman regency road. Based on the simulation result, it shows alternative scenarios that combine DERU UGM post, Maguwoharjo Stadium, Tagana Post and Pakem Main Post has better result in handling and distributing aid to evacuation barrack compared to initial scenario. Alternative scenarios indicates the unmet demands are less than the initial scenario.

Time-Coordination Strategies and Control Laws for Multi-Agent Unmanned Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Puig-Navarro, Javier; Hovakimyan, Naira; Allen, B. Danette

2017-01-01

Time-critical coordination tools for unmanned systems can be employed to enforce the type of temporal constraints required in terminal control areas, ensure minimum distance requirements among vehicles are satisfied, and successfully perform coordinated missions. In comparison with previous literature, this paper presents an ampler spectrum of coordination and temporal specifications for unmanned systems, and proposes a general control law that can enforce this range of constraints. The constraint classification presented con- siders the nature of the desired arrival window and the permissible coordination errors to define six different types of time-coordination strategies. The resulting decentralized coordination control law allows the vehicles to negotiate their speeds along their paths in response to information exchanged over the communication network. This control law organizes the different members in the fleet hierarchically per their behavior and informational needs as reference agent, leaders, and followers. Examples and simulation results for all the coordination strategies presented demonstrate the applicability and efficacy of the coordination control law for multiple unmanned systems.

Agent-based modeling of the immune system: NetLogo, a promising framework.

PubMed

Chiacchio, Ferdinando; Pennisi, Marzio; Russo, Giulia; Motta, Santo; Pappalardo, Francesco

2014-01-01

Several components that interact with each other to evolve a complex, and, in some cases, unexpected behavior, represents one of the main and fascinating features of the mammalian immune system. Agent-based modeling and cellular automata belong to a class of discrete mathematical approaches in which entities (agents) sense local information and undertake actions over time according to predefined rules. The strength of this approach is characterized by the appearance of a global behavior that emerges from interactions among agents. This behavior is unpredictable, as it does not follow linear rules. There are a lot of works that investigates the immune system with agent-based modeling and cellular automata. They have shown the ability to see clearly and intuitively into the nature of immunological processes. NetLogo is a multiagent programming language and modeling environment for simulating complex phenomena. It is designed for both research and education and is used across a wide range of disciplines and education levels. In this paper, we summarize NetLogo applications to immunology and, particularly, how this framework can help in the development and formulation of hypotheses that might drive further experimental investigations of disease mechanisms.

Sequential Nonlinear Learning for Distributed Multiagent Systems via Extreme Learning Machines.

PubMed

Vanli, Nuri Denizcan; Sayin, Muhammed O; Delibalta, Ibrahim; Kozat, Suleyman Serdar

2017-03-01

We study online nonlinear learning over distributed multiagent systems, where each agent employs a single hidden layer feedforward neural network (SLFN) structure to sequentially minimize arbitrary loss functions. In particular, each agent trains its own SLFN using only the data that is revealed to itself. On the other hand, the aim of the multiagent system is to train the SLFN at each agent as well as the optimal centralized batch SLFN that has access to all the data, by exchanging information between neighboring agents. We address this problem by introducing a distributed subgradient-based extreme learning machine algorithm. The proposed algorithm provides guaranteed upper bounds on the performance of the SLFN at each agent and shows that each of these individual SLFNs asymptotically achieves the performance of the optimal centralized batch SLFN. Our performance guarantees explicitly distinguish the effects of data- and network-dependent parameters on the convergence rate of the proposed algorithm. The experimental results illustrate that the proposed algorithm achieves the oracle performance significantly faster than the state-of-the-art methods in the machine learning and signal processing literature. Hence, the proposed method is highly appealing for the applications involving big data.

Pathophysiology of gadolinium-associated systemic fibrosis

PubMed Central

Drel, Viktor; Gorin, Yves

2016-01-01

Systemic fibrosis from gadolinium-based magnetic resonance imaging contrast is a scourge for the afflicted. Although gadolinium-associated systemic fibrosis is a rare condition, the threat of litigation has vastly altered clinical practice. Most theories concerning the etiology of the fibrosis are grounded in case reports rather than experiment. This has led to the widely accepted conjecture that the relative affinity of certain contrast agents for the gadolinium ion inversely correlates with the risk of succumbing to the disease. How gadolinium-containing contrast agents trigger widespread and site-specific systemic fibrosis and how chronicity is maintained are largely unknown. This review highlights experimentally-derived information from our laboratory and others that pertain to our understanding of the pathophysiology of gadolinium-associated systemic fibrosis. PMID:27147669

Partial information, market efficiency, and anomalous continuous phase transition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Guang; Zheng, Wenzhi; Huang, Jiping

2014-04-01

It is a common belief in economics and social science that if there is more information available for agents to gather in a human system, the system can become more efficient. The belief can be easily understood according to the well-known efficient market hypothesis. In this work, we attempt to challenge this belief by investigating a complex adaptive system, which is modeled by a market-directed resource-allocation game with a directed random network. We conduct a series of controlled human experiments in the laboratory to show the reliability of the model design. As a result, we find that even under a small information concentration, the system can still almost reach the optimal (balanced) state. Furthermore, the ensemble average of the system’s fluctuation level goes through a continuous phase transition. This behavior means that in the second phase if too much information is shared among agents, the system’s stability will be harmed instead, which differs from the belief mentioned above. Also, at the transition point, the ensemble fluctuations of the fluctuation level remain at a low value. This phenomenon is in contrast to the textbook knowledge about continuous phase transitions in traditional physical systems, namely, fluctuations will rise abnormally around a transition point since the correlation length becomes infinite. Thus, this work is of potential value to a variety of fields, such as physics, economics, complexity science, and artificial intelligence.

Coordinating Learning Agents for Active Information Collection

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-30

the experiments were not particularly sensitive to this parameter. By limiting the number of actions that are updated (DANT-L in black/ dark ), the...Bazzan, A. and Ossowski, S. (eds.), Applications of Agent Technology in Traffic and Transportation (Springer, 2005). [19] Mataric , M. J., Coordination...organizing market (1998), preprint cond- mat/9802177. [19] Jones, C. and Mataric , M. J., Adaptive division of labor in large-scale multi-robot systems, in IEEE

Sustainable medicines and global health care.

PubMed

Cordell, Geoffrey A

2011-07-01

The global population has now exceeded 7 billion, and forests and other resources around the world are being irreversibly depleted for energy, food, shelter, material goods, and drugs to accommodate population needs. For most of the world's population, plants, based on many well-established systems of medicine, in either crude or extract form, represent the foundation of primary health care for the foreseeable future. Contemporary harvesting methods for medicinal plants are severely depleting these critical indigenous resources. However, maintaining and enhancing the availability of quality medicinal agents on a sustainable basis is an unappreciated public health care concept. To accomplish these goals for future health care, and restore the health of the Earth, a profound paradigm shift is necessary: ALL medicinal agents should be regarded as a sustainable commodity, irrespective of their source. Several approaches to enhancing the availability of safe and efficacious plant-based medicinal agents will be presented including integrated strategies to manifest the four pillars (information, botany, chemistry, and biology) for medicinal plant quality control. These integrated initiatives involve information systems, DNA barcoding, metabolomics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, in-field analysis of medicinal plants, and the application of new detection techniques for the development of medicinal plants with enhanced levels of safe and reproducible biological agents. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Multi-Agent Patrolling under Uncertainty and Threats.

PubMed

Chen, Shaofei; Wu, Feng; Shen, Lincheng; Chen, Jing; Ramchurn, Sarvapali D

2015-01-01

We investigate a multi-agent patrolling problem where information is distributed alongside threats in environments with uncertainties. Specifically, the information and threat at each location are independently modelled as multi-state Markov chains, whose states are not observed until the location is visited by an agent. While agents will obtain information at a location, they may also suffer damage from the threat at that location. Therefore, the goal of the agents is to gather as much information as possible while mitigating the damage incurred. To address this challenge, we formulate the single-agent patrolling problem as a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) and propose a computationally efficient algorithm to solve this model. Building upon this, to compute patrols for multiple agents, the single-agent algorithm is extended for each agent with the aim of maximising its marginal contribution to the team. We empirically evaluate our algorithm on problems of multi-agent patrolling and show that it outperforms a baseline algorithm up to 44% for 10 agents and by 21% for 15 agents in large domains.

Agent-Supported Mission Operations Teamwork

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malin, Jane T.

2003-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the development of software agents to support of mission operations teamwork. The goals of the work was to make automation by agents easy to use, supervise and direct, manage information and communication to decrease distraction, interruptions, workload and errors, reduce mission impact of off-nominal situations and increase morale and decrease turnover. The accomplishments or the project are: 1. Collaborative agents - mixed initiative and creation of instructions for mediating agent 2. Methods for prototyping, evaluating and evolving socio-technical systems 3. Technology infusion: teamwork tools in mISSIons 4. Demonstrations in simulation testbed An example of the use of agent is given, the use of an agent to monitor a N2 tank leak. An incomplete instruction to the agent is handled with mediating assistants, or Intelligent Briefing and Response Assistant (IBRA). The IBRA Engine also watches data stream for triggers and executes Act-Whenever actions. There is also a Briefing and Response Instruction (BRI) which is easy for a discipline specialist to create through a BRI editor.

Suboptimal distributed control and estimation: application to a four coupled tanks system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orihuela, Luis; Millán, Pablo; Vivas, Carlos; Rubio, Francisco R.

2016-06-01

The paper proposes an innovative estimation and control scheme that enables the distributed monitoring and control of large-scale processes. The proposed approach considers a discrete linear time-invariant process controlled by a network of agents that may both collect information about the evolution of the plant and apply control actions to drive its behaviour. The problem makes full sense when local observability/controllability is not assumed and the communication between agents can be exploited to reach system-wide goals. Additionally, to reduce agents bandwidth requirements and power consumption, an event-based communication policy is studied. The design procedure guarantees system stability, allowing the designer to trade-off performance, control effort and communication requirements. The obtained controllers and observers are implemented in a fully distributed fashion. To illustrate the performance of the proposed technique, experimental results on a quadruple-tank process are provided.

From actors to agents in socio-ecological systems models

PubMed Central

Rounsevell, M. D. A.; Robinson, D. T.; Murray-Rust, D.

2012-01-01

The ecosystem service concept has emphasized the role of people within socio-ecological systems (SESs). In this paper, we review and discuss alternative ways of representing people, their behaviour and decision-making processes in SES models using an agent-based modelling (ABM) approach. We also explore how ABM can be empirically grounded using information from social survey. The capacity for ABM to be generalized beyond case studies represents a crucial next step in modelling SESs, although this comes with considerable intellectual challenges. We propose the notion of human functional types, as an analogy of plant functional types, to support the expansion (scaling) of ABM to larger areas. The expansion of scope also implies the need to represent institutional agents in SES models in order to account for alternative governance structures and policy feedbacks. Further development in the coupling of human-environment systems would contribute considerably to better application and use of the ecosystem service concept. PMID:22144388

Role-based access control permissions

DOEpatents

Staggs, Kevin P.; Markham, Thomas R.; Hull Roskos, Julie J.; Chernoguzov, Alexander

2017-04-25

Devices, systems, and methods for role-based access control permissions are disclosed. One method includes a policy decision point that receives up-to-date security context information from one or more outside sources to determine whether to grant access for a data client to a portion of the system and creates an access vector including the determination; receiving, via a policy agent, a request by the data client for access to the portion of the computing system by the data client, wherein the policy agent checks to ensure there is a session established with communications and user/application enforcement points; receiving, via communications policy enforcement point, the request from the policy agent, wherein the communications policy enforcement point determines whether the data client is an authorized node, based upon the access vector received from the policy decision point; and receiving, via the user/application policy enforcement point, the request from the communications policy enforcement point.

From actors to agents in socio-ecological systems models.

PubMed

Rounsevell, M D A; Robinson, D T; Murray-Rust, D

2012-01-19

The ecosystem service concept has emphasized the role of people within socio-ecological systems (SESs). In this paper, we review and discuss alternative ways of representing people, their behaviour and decision-making processes in SES models using an agent-based modelling (ABM) approach. We also explore how ABM can be empirically grounded using information from social survey. The capacity for ABM to be generalized beyond case studies represents a crucial next step in modelling SESs, although this comes with considerable intellectual challenges. We propose the notion of human functional types, as an analogy of plant functional types, to support the expansion (scaling) of ABM to larger areas. The expansion of scope also implies the need to represent institutional agents in SES models in order to account for alternative governance structures and policy feedbacks. Further development in the coupling of human-environment systems would contribute considerably to better application and use of the ecosystem service concept.

A framework for service enterprise workflow simulation with multi-agents cooperation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Wenan; Xu, Wei; Yang, Fujun; Xu, Lida; Jiang, Chuanqun

2013-11-01

Process dynamic modelling for service business is the key technique for Service-Oriented information systems and service business management, and the workflow model of business processes is the core part of service systems. Service business workflow simulation is the prevalent approach to be used for analysis of service business process dynamically. Generic method for service business workflow simulation is based on the discrete event queuing theory, which is lack of flexibility and scalability. In this paper, we propose a service workflow-oriented framework for the process simulation of service businesses using multi-agent cooperation to address the above issues. Social rationality of agent is introduced into the proposed framework. Adopting rationality as one social factor for decision-making strategies, a flexible scheduling for activity instances has been implemented. A system prototype has been developed to validate the proposed simulation framework through a business case study.

Evolution of Implicit and Explicit Communication in Mobile Robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Greeff, Joachim; Nolfi, Stefano

This work investigates the conditions in which a population of embodied agents evolved for the ability to display coordinated/cooperative skills can develop an ability to communicate, whether and to what extent the evolved communication system can complexify during the course of the evolutionary process, and how the characteristics of such communication system varies evolutionarily. The analysis of the obtained results indicates that evolving robots develop a capacity to access/generate information which has a communicative value, an ability to produce different signals encoding useful regularities, and an ability to react appropriately to explicit and implicit signals. The analysis of the obtained results allows us to formulate detailed hypothesis on the evolution of communication for what concern aspects such us: (i) how communication can emerge from a population of initially non-communicating agents, (ii) how communication systems can complexify, (iii) how signals/meanings can originate and how they can be grounded in agents' sensory-motor states.

The Atrial Fibrillation Health Literacy Information Technology System: Pilot Assessment.

PubMed

Magnani, Jared W; Schlusser, Courtney L; Kimani, Everlyne; Rollman, Bruce L; Paasche-Orlow, Michael K; Bickmore, Timothy W

2017-01-01

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a highly prevalent heart rhythm condition that has significant associated morbidity and requires chronic treatment. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have the potential to enhance multiple aspects of AF care, including education, monitoring of symptoms, and encouraging and tracking medication adherence. We have previously implemented and tested relational agents to improve outcomes in chronic disease and sought to develop a smartphone-based relational agent for improving patient-centered outcomes in AF. The objective of this study was to pilot a smartphone-based relational agent as preparation for a randomized clinical trial, the Atrial Fibrillation Health Literacy Information Technology Trial (AF-LITT). We developed the relational agent for use by a smartphone consistent with our prior approaches. We programmed the relational agent as a computer-animated agent to simulate a face-to-face conversation and to serve as a health counselor or coach specific to AF. Relational agent's dialogue content, informed by a review of literature, focused on patient-centered domains and qualitative interviews with patients with AF, encompassed AF education, common symptoms, adherence challenges, and patient activation. We established that the content was accessible to individuals with limited health or computer literacy. Relational agent content coordinated with use of the smartphone AliveCor Kardia heart rate and rhythm monitor. Participants (N=31) were recruited as a convenience cohort from ambulatory clinical sites and instructed to use the relational agent and Kardia for 30 days. We collected demographic, social, and clinical characteristics and conducted baseline and 30-day assessments of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with the Atrial Fibrillation Effect on Quality of life (AFEQT) measure; self-reported medication adherence with the Morisky 8-item Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8); and patient activation with the Patient Activation Measure (PAM). Participants (mean age 68 [SD 11]; 39% [12/31] women) used the relational agent for an average 17.8 (SD 10.0) days. The mean number of independent log-ins was 19.6 (SD 10.7), with a median of 20 times over 30 days. The mean number of Kardia uses was 26.5 (SD 5.9), and participants using Kardia were in AF for 14.3 (SD 11.0) days. AFEQT scores improved significantly from 64.5 (SD 22.9) at baseline to 76.3 (SD 19.4) units at 30 days ( P <.01). We observed marginal but statistically significant improvement in self-reported medication adherence (baseline: 7.3 [SD 0.9], 30 days: 7.7 [SD 0.5]; P =.01). Assessments of acceptability identified that most of the participants found the relational agent useful, informative, and trustworthy. We piloted a 30-day smartphone-based intervention that combined a relational agent with dedicated content for AF alongside Kardia heart rate and rhythm monitoring. Pilot participants had favorable improvements in HRQoL and self-reported medication adherence, as well as positive responses to the intervention. These data will guide a larger, enhanced randomized trial implementing the smartphone relational agent and the Kardia monitor system.

Computer-Assisted Organizing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brunner, David James

2009-01-01

Organizing refers to methods of distributing physical and symbolic tasks among multiple agents in order to achieve goals. My dissertation investigates the dynamics of organizing in hybrid information processing systems that incorporate both humans and computers. To explain the behavior of these hybrid systems, I develop and partially test a theory…

No-hardware-signature cybersecurity-crypto-module: a resilient cyber defense agent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaghloul, A. R. M.; Zaghloul, Y. A.

2014-06-01

We present an optical cybersecurity-crypto-module as a resilient cyber defense agent. It has no hardware signature since it is bitstream reconfigurable, where single hardware architecture functions as any selected device of all possible ones of the same number of inputs. For a two-input digital device, a 4-digit bitstream of 0s and 1s determines which device, of a total of 16 devices, the hardware performs as. Accordingly, the hardware itself is not physically reconfigured, but its performance is. Such a defense agent allows the attack to take place, rendering it harmless. On the other hand, if the system is already infected with malware sending out information, the defense agent allows the information to go out, rendering it meaningless. The hardware architecture is immune to side attacks since such an attack would reveal information on the attack itself and not on the hardware. This cyber defense agent can be used to secure a point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, a whole network, and/or a single entity in the cyberspace. Therefore, ensuring trust between cyber resources. It can provide secure communication in an insecure network. We provide the hardware design and explain how it works. Scalability of the design is briefly discussed. (Protected by United States Patents No.: US 8,004,734; US 8,325,404; and other National Patents worldwide.)

Towards an intelligent framework for multimodal affective data analysis.

PubMed

Poria, Soujanya; Cambria, Erik; Hussain, Amir; Huang, Guang-Bin

2015-03-01

An increasingly large amount of multimodal content is posted on social media websites such as YouTube and Facebook everyday. In order to cope with the growth of such so much multimodal data, there is an urgent need to develop an intelligent multi-modal analysis framework that can effectively extract information from multiple modalities. In this paper, we propose a novel multimodal information extraction agent, which infers and aggregates the semantic and affective information associated with user-generated multimodal data in contexts such as e-learning, e-health, automatic video content tagging and human-computer interaction. In particular, the developed intelligent agent adopts an ensemble feature extraction approach by exploiting the joint use of tri-modal (text, audio and video) features to enhance the multimodal information extraction process. In preliminary experiments using the eNTERFACE dataset, our proposed multi-modal system is shown to achieve an accuracy of 87.95%, outperforming the best state-of-the-art system by more than 10%, or in relative terms, a 56% reduction in error rate. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bee Swarm Optimization for Medical Web Information Foraging.

PubMed

Drias, Yassine; Kechid, Samir; Pasi, Gabriella

2016-02-01

The present work is related to Web intelligence and more precisely to medical information foraging. We present here a novel approach based on agents technology for information foraging. An architecture is proposed, in which we distinguish two important phases. The first one is a learning process for localizing the most relevant pages that might interest the user. This is performed on a fixed instance of the Web. The second takes into account the openness and the dynamicity of the Web. It consists on an incremental learning starting from the result of the first phase and reshaping the outcomes taking into account the changes that undergoes the Web. The whole system offers a tool to help the user undertaking information foraging. We implemented the system using a group of cooperative reactive agents and more precisely a colony of artificial bees. In order to validate our proposal, experiments were conducted on MedlinePlus, a benchmark dedicated for research in the domain of Health. The results are promising either for those related to Web regularities and for the response time, which is very short and hence complies the real time constraint.

Synchronisation effects on the behavioural performance and information dynamics of a simulated minimally cognitive robotic agent.

PubMed

Moioli, Renan C; Vargas, Patricia A; Husbands, Phil

2012-09-01

Oscillatory activity is ubiquitous in nervous systems, with solid evidence that synchronisation mechanisms underpin cognitive processes. Nevertheless, its informational content and relationship with behaviour are still to be fully understood. In addition, cognitive systems cannot be properly appreciated without taking into account brain-body- environment interactions. In this paper, we developed a model based on the Kuramoto Model of coupled phase oscillators to explore the role of neural synchronisation in the performance of a simulated robotic agent in two different minimally cognitive tasks. We show that there is a statistically significant difference in performance and evolvability depending on the synchronisation regime of the network. In both tasks, a combination of information flow and dynamical analyses show that networks with a definite, but not too strong, propensity for synchronisation are more able to reconfigure, to organise themselves functionally and to adapt to different behavioural conditions. The results highlight the asymmetry of information flow and its behavioural correspondence. Importantly, it also shows that neural synchronisation dynamics, when suitably flexible and reconfigurable, can generate minimally cognitive embodied behaviour.

NASA TileWorld manual (system version 2.2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Philips, Andrew B.; Bresina, John L.

1991-01-01

The commands are documented of the NASA TileWorld simulator, as well as providing information about how to run it and extend it. The simulator, implemented in Common Lisp with Common Windows, encodes a particular range in a spectrum of domains, for controllable research experiments. TileWorld consists of a two dimensional grid of cells, a set of polygonal tiles, and a single agent which can grasp and move tiles. In addition to agent executable actions, there is an external event over which the agent has not control; this event correspond to a 'gust of wind'.

77 FR 56845 - Multi-Agency Informational Meeting Concerning Compliance With the Federal Select Agent Program...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-14

... Informational Meeting Concerning Compliance With the Federal Select Agent Program; Public Webcast AGENCY... with the Federal Select Agent Program. The purpose of this notice is to notify all interested parties... changes to the select agent regulations; occupational health, information and physical security; personnel...

78 FR 56234 - Multi-Agency Informational Meeting Concerning Compliance with the Select Agent Regulations...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-12

... Informational Meeting Concerning Compliance with the Select Agent Regulations; Public Webcast AGENCY: Centers... purpose of the webcast is to provide guidance related to the select agent regulations established under... Justice Information Services. Changes to Section 11(Security) of the select agent regulations including...

Self-Learning Intelligent Agents for Dynamic Traffic Routing on Transportation Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadek, Add; Basha, Nagi

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are designed to take advantage of recent advances in communications, electronics, and Information Technology in improving the efficiency and safety of transportation systems. Among the several ITS applications is the notion of Dynamic Traffic Routing (DTR), which involves generating "optimal" routing recommendations to drivers with the aim of maximizing network utilizing. In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility of using a self-learning intelligent agent to solve the DTR problem to achieve traffic user equilibrium in a transportation network. The core idea is to deploy an agent to a simulation model of a highway. The agent then learns by itself by interacting with the simulation model. Once the agent reaches a satisfactory level of performance, it can then be deployed to the real-world, where it would continue to learn how to refine its control policies over time. To test this concept in this paper, the Cell Transmission Model (CTM) developed by Carlos Daganzo of the University of California at Berkeley is used to simulate a simple highway with two main alternative routes. With the model developed, a Reinforcement Learning Agent (RLA) is developed to learn how to best dynamically route traffic, so as to maximize the utilization of existing capacity. Preliminary results obtained from our experiments are promising. RL, being an adaptive online learning technique, appears to have a great potential for controlling a stochastic dynamic systems such as a transportation system. Furthermore, the approach is highly scalable and applicable to a variety of networks and roadways.

Information accumulation system by inheritance and diffusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shin, J. K.

2009-09-01

This paper suggests a new model, called as the IAS (Information Accumulation System), for the description of the dynamic process that people use to accumulate their information (knowledge or opinion) for specific issues. Using the concept of information, both the internal and the external mechanism of the opinion dynamics are treated on a unified frame. The information is quantified as a real number with fixed bounds. New concepts, such as inheritance and differential absorption, are incorporated in IAS in addition to the conventional diffusive interaction between people. Thus, the dynamics of the IAS are governed by following three factors: inheritance rate, diffusivity and absorption rate. The original set of equations was solved with an agent based modeling technique. In addition, the individual equations for each of the agents were assembled and transformed into a set of equations for the ensemble averages, which are greatly reduced in number and can be solved analytically. The example simulations showed interesting results such as the critical behavior with respect to diffusivity, the information polarization out of zero-sum news and the dependence of the solutions on the initial conditions alone. The results were speculated in relation to today’s modern society where the diffusivity of information has been greatly increased through the internet and mobile phones.

An Agent-Based Model for Navigation Simulation in a Heterogeneous Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shanklin, Teresa A.

2012-01-01

Complex navigation (e.g. indoor and outdoor environments) can be studied as a system-of-systems problem. The model is made up of disparate systems that can aid a user in navigating from one location to another, utilizing whatever sensor system or information is available. By using intelligent navigation sensors and techniques (e.g. RFID, Wifi,…

Interactive information retrieval systems with minimalist representation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Domeshek, E.; Kedar, S.; Gordon, A.

Almost any information you might want is becoming available on-line. The problem is how to find what you need. One strategy to improve access to existing information sources, is intelligent information agents - an approach based on extensive representation and inference. Another alternative is to simply concentrate on better information organization and indexing. Our systems use a form of conceptual indexing sensitive to users` task-specific information needs. We aim for minimalist representation, coding only select aspects of stored items. Rather than supporting reliable automated inference, the primary purpose of our representations is to provide sufficient discrimination and guidance to amore » user for a given domain and task. This paper argues, using case studies, that minimal representations can make strong contributions to the usefulness and usability of interactive information systems, while minimizing knowledge engineering effort. We demonstrate this approach in several broad spectrum applications including video retrieval and advisory systems.« less

Adaptive Multi-Agent Systems for Constrained Optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macready, William; Bieniawski, Stefan; Wolpert, David H.

2004-01-01

Product Distribution (PD) theory is a new framework for analyzing and controlling distributed systems. Here we demonstrate its use for distributed stochastic optimization. First we review one motivation of PD theory, as the information-theoretic extension of conventional full-rationality game theory to the case of bounded rational agents. In this extension the equilibrium of the game is the optimizer of a Lagrangian of the (probability distribution of) the joint state of the agents. When the game in question is a team game with constraints, that equilibrium optimizes the expected value of the team game utility, subject to those constraints. The updating of the Lagrange parameters in the Lagrangian can be viewed as a form of automated annealing, that focuses the MAS more and more on the optimal pure strategy. This provides a simple way to map the solution of any constrained optimization problem onto the equilibrium of a Multi-Agent System (MAS). We present computer experiments involving both the Queen s problem and K-SAT validating the predictions of PD theory and its use for off-the-shelf distributed adaptive optimization.

Pilot testing a digital pet avatar for older adults.

PubMed

Chi, Nai-Ching; Sparks, Olivia; Lin, Shih-Yin; Lazar, Amanda; Thompson, Hilaire J; Demiris, George

Social isolation in older adults is a major public health concern. An embodied conversational agent (ECA) has the potential to enhance older adults' social interaction. However, little is known about older adults' experience with an ECA. In this paper, we conducted a pilot study to examine the perceived acceptance and utility of a tablet-based conversational agent in the form of an avatar (termed "digital pet") for older adults. We performed secondary analysis of data collected from a study that employed the use of a digital pet in ten older adults' homes for three months. Most of the participants enjoyed the companionship, entertainment, reminders, and instant assistance from the digital pet. However, participants identified limited conversational ability and technical issues as system challenges. Privacy, dependence, and cost were major concerns. Future applications should maximize the agent's conversational ability and the system's overall usability. Our results can inform future designs of conversational agents for older adults, which need to include older adults as system co-designers to maximize usability and acceptance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exceptional circumstance drug dispensing: history and expenditures of the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

PubMed

Carias, Claudia Mezleveckas; Vieira, Fabíola Sulpino; Giordano, Carlos V; Zucchi, Paola

2011-04-01

To describe the technical aspects of the Exceptional Circumstance Drug Dispensing Program of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, especially with respect to the cost of dispensed medication. Technical information was obtained from the ordinances that regulate the Program. Expenditure from 2000 to 2007 was obtained from the Sistema Único de Saúde's (Unified Healthcare System) Outpatient Information System. All drugs dispensed between 1993 and 2009 and the amount and cost of each procedure were evaluated, based on information from the high-complexity procedure authorization of each of the country's states. The Program changed with the increase in the number of pharmacological agents and presentations distributed by, and the number of diseases contemplated in the program. In 1993, the program distributed 15 pharmacological agents in 31 distinct presentations. This number increased to 109 agents in 243 presentations in 2009. Total Ministry of Health expenditure with medications was R$1,410,181,600.74 in 2007, almost twice the amount spent in 2000, R$684,975,404.43. Diseases whose expenditure increased in the period included chronic renal insufficiency, transplantation, and hepatitis C. The Exceptional Circumstance Drug Dispensing Program is in constant transformation, aimed at building instruments and strategies that can ensure and expand access to medication among the population. Alternatives should be sought to decrease the financial impact of the Program to a level that does not impact other sectors of the health care system, given the high cost associated with novel interventions.

Information infrastructure for emergency medical services.

PubMed

Orthner, Helmuth; Mishra, Ninad; Terndrup, Thomas; Acker, Joseph; Grimes, Gary; Gemmill, Jill; Battles, Marcie

2005-01-01

The pre-hospital emergency medical and public safety information environment is nearing a threshold of significant change. The change is driven in part by several emerging technologies such as secure, high-speed wireless communication in the local and wide area networks (wLAN, 3G), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and powerful handheld computing and communication services, that are of sufficient utility to be more widely adopted. We propose a conceptual model to enable improved clinical decision making in the pre-hospital environment using these change agents.

Pervasive surveillance-agent system based on wireless sensor networks: design and deployment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martínez, José F.; Bravo, Sury; García, Ana B.; Corredor, Iván; Familiar, Miguel S.; López, Lourdes; Hernández, Vicente; Da Silva, Antonio

2010-12-01

Nowadays, proliferation of embedded systems is enhancing the possibilities of gathering information by using wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Flexibility and ease of installation make these kinds of pervasive networks suitable for security and surveillance environments. Moreover, the risk for humans to be exposed to these functions is minimized when using these networks. In this paper, a virtual perimeter surveillance agent, which has been designed to detect any person crossing an invisible barrier around a marked perimeter and send an alarm notification to the security staff, is presented. This agent works in a state of 'low power consumption' until there is a crossing on the perimeter. In our approach, the 'intelligence' of the agent has been distributed by using mobile nodes in order to discern the cause of the event of presence. This feature contributes to saving both processing resources and power consumption since the required code that detects presence is the only system installed. The research work described in this paper illustrates our experience in the development of a surveillance system using WNSs for a practical application as well as its evaluation in real-world deployments. This mechanism plays an important role in providing confidence in ensuring safety to our environment.

Constructing Agent Model for Virtual Training Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murakami, Yohei; Sugimoto, Yuki; Ishida, Toru

Constructing highly realistic agents is essential if agents are to be employed in virtual training systems. In training for collaboration based on face-to-face interaction, the generation of emotional expressions is one key. In training for guidance based on one-to-many interaction such as direction giving for evacuations, emotional expressions must be supplemented by diverse agent behaviors to make the training realistic. To reproduce diverse behavior, we characterize agents by using a various combinations of operation rules instantiated by the user operating the agent. To accomplish this goal, we introduce a user modeling method based on participatory simulations. These simulations enable us to acquire information observed by each user in the simulation and the operating history. Using these data and the domain knowledge including known operation rules, we can generate an explanation for each behavior. Moreover, the application of hypothetical reasoning, which offers consistent selection of hypotheses, to the generation of explanations allows us to use otherwise incompatible operation rules as domain knowledge. In order to validate the proposed modeling method, we apply it to the acquisition of an evacuee's model in a fire-drill experiment. We successfully acquire a subject's model corresponding to the results of an interview with the subject.

Local drug delivery agents as adjuncts to endodontic and periodontal therapy

PubMed Central

Puri, K; Puri, N

2013-01-01

Abstract In the treatment of intracanal and periodontal infections, the local application of antibiotics and other therapeutic agents in the root canal or in periodontal pockets may be a promising approach to achieve sustained/controlled drug release, high antimicrobial activity and low systemic side effects. The conventional method for the elimination of subgingival microbial infection includes mechanical debridement, irrigation with antimicrobial agents or surgical access. But, the effectiveness of conventional nonsurgical treatment is limited by lack of accessibility to bacteria in deeper periodontal pockets, and/or does not completely eliminate intracanal microorganisms. Surgical intervention may be beneficial but cannot be done in all cases, medically compromised cases and also in patients not willing to be subjected to surgical therapy. Development of local drug delivery systems provides an answer to all such difficulties. This comprehensive review tries to cover the detailed information about the latest advances in the various local drug delivery systems, their indications, contraindications and their advantages over systemic drug therapy. PMID:24868252

At-Risk Girls and Delinquency: Career Pathways

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Carla P.

2007-01-01

Through fieldwork and in-depth interviews examining the careers of adolescent girls in the juvenile justice system, this article reveals some of the interaction processes by which challenges to parental authority may facilitate contact, entry, and movement through the system. Parents or guardians act as informal agents of control until a breakdown…

An agent architecture for an integrated forest ecosystem management decision support system

Treesearch

Donald Nute; Walter D. Potter; Mayukh Dass; Astrid Glende; Frederick Maier; Hajime Uchiyama; Jin Wang; Mark Twery; Peter Knopp; Scott Thomasma; H. Michael Rauscher

2003-01-01

A wide variety of software tools are available to support decision in the management of forest ecosystems. These tools include databases, growth and yield models, wildlife models, silvicultural expert systems, financial models, geographical informations systems, and visualization tools. Typically, each of these tools has its own complex interface and data format. To...

Conceptualizing Debates in Learning and Educational Research: Toward a Complex Systems Conceptual Framework of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobson, Michael J.; Kapur, Manu; Reimann, Peter

2016-01-01

This article proposes a conceptual framework of learning based on perspectives and methodologies being employed in the study of complex physical and social systems to inform educational research. We argue that the contexts in which learning occurs are complex systems with elements or agents at different levels--including neuronal, cognitive,…

Intelligent Advanced Communications IP Telephony Feasibility for the U.S. Navy: Phase 2

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-03-31

PDAs) and smart phones. In addition, it considers how solutions integrate on-premise enterprise functions with the functions of mobile operators...and Control System GIG Global Information Grid GigE Gigabit Ethernet GIPS Global IP Solutions Inc. GMSK Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying GPHY Gigabit...Feasibility for the U.S. Navy – Phase 2 UAC User Agent Client UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter UAS User Agent Server UCR

Definition of an Ontology Matching Algorithm for Context Integration in Smart Cities

PubMed Central

Otero-Cerdeira, Lorena; Rodríguez-Martínez, Francisco J.; Gómez-Rodríguez, Alma

2014-01-01

In this paper we describe a novel proposal in the field of smart cities: using an ontology matching algorithm to guarantee the automatic information exchange between the agents and the smart city. A smart city is composed by different types of agents that behave as producers and/or consumers of the information in the smart city. In our proposal, the data from the context is obtained by sensor and device agents while users interact with the smart city by means of user or system agents. The knowledge of each agent, as well as the smart city's knowledge, is semantically represented using different ontologies. To have an open city, that is fully accessible to any agent and therefore to provide enhanced services to the users, there is the need to ensure a seamless communication between agents and the city, regardless of their inner knowledge representations, i.e., ontologies. To meet this goal we use ontology matching techniques, specifically we have defined a new ontology matching algorithm called OntoPhil to be deployed within a smart city, which has never been done before. OntoPhil was tested on the benchmarks provided by the well known evaluation initiative, Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative, and also compared to other matching algorithms, although these algorithms were not specifically designed for smart cities. Additionally, specific tests involving a smart city's ontology and different types of agents were conducted to validate the usefulness of OntoPhil in the smart city environment. PMID:25494353

Definition of an Ontology Matching Algorithm for Context Integration in Smart Cities.

PubMed

Otero-Cerdeira, Lorena; Rodríguez-Martínez, Francisco J; Gómez-Rodríguez, Alma

2014-12-08

In this paper we describe a novel proposal in the field of smart cities: using an ontology matching algorithm to guarantee the automatic information exchange between the agents and the smart city. A smart city is composed by different types of agents that behave as producers and/or consumers of the information in the smart city. In our proposal, the data from the context is obtained by sensor and device agents while users interact with the smart city by means of user or system agents. The knowledge of each agent, as well as the smart city's knowledge, is semantically represented using different ontologies. To have an open city, that is fully accessible to any agent and therefore to provide enhanced services to the users, there is the need to ensure a seamless communication between agents and the city, regardless of their inner knowledge representations, i.e., ontologies. To meet this goal we use ontology matching techniques, specifically we have defined a new ontology matching algorithm called OntoPhil to be deployed within a smart city, which has never been done before. OntoPhil was tested on the benchmarks provided by the well known evaluation initiative, Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative, and also compared to other matching algorithms, although these algorithms were not specifically designed for smart cities. Additionally, specific tests involving a smart city's ontology and different types of agents were conducted to validate the usefulness of OntoPhil in the smart city environment.

A Multi-Level Model of Information Seeking in the Clinical Domain

PubMed Central

Hung, Peter W.; Johnson, Stephen B.; Kaufman, David R.; Mendonça, Eneida A.

2008-01-01

Objective: Clinicians often have difficulty translating information needs into effective search strategies to find appropriate answers. Information retrieval systems employing an intelligent search agent that generates adaptive search strategies based on human search expertise could be helpful in meeting clinician information needs. A prerequisite for creating such systems is an information seeking model that facilitates the representation of human search expertise. The purpose of developing such a model is to provide guidance to information seeking system development and to shape an empirical research program. Design: The information seeking process was modeled as a complex problem-solving activity. After considering how similarly complex activities had been modeled in other domains, we determined that modeling context-initiated information seeking across multiple problem spaces allows the abstraction of search knowledge into functionally consistent layers. The knowledge layers were identified in the information science literature and validated through our observations of searches performed by health science librarians. Results: A hierarchical multi-level model of context-initiated information seeking is proposed. Each level represents (1) a problem space that is traversed during the online search process, and (2) a distinct layer of knowledge that is required to execute a successful search. Grand strategy determines what information resources will be searched, for what purpose, and in what order. The strategy level represents an overall approach for searching a single resource. Tactics are individual moves made to further a strategy. Operations are mappings of abstract intentions to information resource-specific concrete input. Assessment is the basis of interaction within the strategic hierarchy, influencing the direction of the search. Conclusion: The described multi-level model provides a framework for future research and the foundation for development of an automated information retrieval system that uses an intelligent search agent to bridge clinician information needs and human search expertise. PMID:18006383

The Computational Complexity of Valuation and Motivational Forces in Decision-Making Processes.

PubMed

Redish, A David; Schultheiss, Nathan W; Carter, Evan C

2016-01-01

The concept of value is fundamental to most theories of motivation and decision making. However, value has to be measured experimentally. Different methods of measuring value produce incompatible valuation hierarchies. Taking the agent's perspective (rather than the experimenter's), we interpret the different valuation measurement methods as accessing different decision-making systems and show how these different systems depend on different information processing algorithms. This identifies the translation from these multiple decision-making systems into a single action taken by a given agent as one of the most important open questions in decision making today. We conclude by looking at how these different valuation measures accessing different decision-making systems can be used to understand and treat decision dysfunction such as in addiction.

Contrast-enhanced photoacoustic tomography of human joints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Chao; Keswani, Rahul K.; Gandikota, Girish; Rosania, Gus R.; Wang, Xueding

2016-03-01

Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) provides a unique tool to diagnose inflammatory arthritis. However, the specificity and sensitivity of PAT based on endogenous contrasts is limited. The development of contrast enhanced PAT imaging modalities in combination with small molecule contrast agents could lead to improvements in diagnosis and treatment of joint disease. Accordingly, we adapted and tested a PAT clinical imaging system for imaging the human joints, in combination with a novel PAT contrast agent derived from an FDA-approved small molecule drug. Imaging results based on a photoacoustic and ultrasound (PA/US) dual-modality system revealed that this contrast-enhanced PAT imaging system may offer additional information beyond single-modality PA or US imaging system, for the imaging, diagnosis and assessment of inflammatory arthritis.

The California Oak Disease and Arthropod (CODA) Database

Treesearch

Tedmund J. Swiecki; Elizabeth A. Bernhardt; Richard A. Arnold

1997-01-01

The California Oak Disease and Arthropod (CODA) host index database is a compilation of information on agents that colonize or feed on oaks in California. Agents in the database include plant-feeding insects and mites, nematodes, microorganisms, viruses, and abiotic disease agents. CODA contains summarized information on hosts, agents, information sources, and the...

Intelligent microchip networks: an agent-on-chip synthesis framework for the design of smart and robust sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bosse, Stefan

2013-05-01

Sensorial materials consisting of high-density, miniaturized, and embedded sensor networks require new robust and reliable data processing and communication approaches. Structural health monitoring is one major field of application for sensorial materials. Each sensor node provides some kind of sensor, electronics, data processing, and communication with a strong focus on microchip-level implementation to meet the goals of miniaturization and low-power energy environments, a prerequisite for autonomous behaviour and operation. Reliability requires robustness of the entire system in the presence of node, link, data processing, and communication failures. Interaction between nodes is required to manage and distribute information. One common interaction model is the mobile agent. An agent approach provides stronger autonomy than a traditional object or remote-procedure-call based approach. Agents can decide for themselves, which actions are performed, and they are capable of flexible behaviour, reacting on the environment and other agents, providing some degree of robustness. Traditionally multi-agent systems are abstract programming models which are implemented in software and executed on program controlled computer architectures. This approach does not well scale to micro-chip level and requires full equipped computers and communication structures, and the hardware architecture does not consider and reflect the requirements for agent processing and interaction. We propose and demonstrate a novel design paradigm for reliable distributed data processing systems and a synthesis methodology and framework for multi-agent systems implementable entirely on microchip-level with resource and power constrained digital logic supporting Agent-On-Chip architectures (AoC). The agent behaviour and mobility is fully integrated on the micro-chip using pipelined communicating processes implemented with finite-state machines and register-transfer logic. The agent behaviour, interaction (communication), and mobility features are modelled and specified on a machine-independent abstract programming level using a state-based agent behaviour language (APL). With this APL a high-level agent compiler is able to synthesize a hardware model (RTL, VHDL), a software model (C, ML), or a simulation model (XML) suitable to simulate a multi-agent system using the SeSAm simulator framework. Agent communication is provided by a simple tuple-space database implemented on node level providing fault tolerant access of global data. A novel synthesis development kit (SynDK) based on a graph-structured database approach is introduced to support the rapid development of compilers and synthesis tools, used for example for the design and implementation of the APL compiler.

Nash Equilibrium of Social-Learning Agents in a Restless Multiarmed Bandit Game.

PubMed

Nakayama, Kazuaki; Hisakado, Masato; Mori, Shintaro

2017-05-16

We study a simple model for social-learning agents in a restless multiarmed bandit (rMAB). The bandit has one good arm that changes to a bad one with a certain probability. Each agent stochastically selects one of the two methods, random search (individual learning) or copying information from other agents (social learning), using which he/she seeks the good arm. Fitness of an agent is the probability to know the good arm in the steady state of the agent system. In this model, we explicitly construct the unique Nash equilibrium state and show that the corresponding strategy for each agent is an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) in the sense of Thomas. It is shown that the fitness of an agent with ESS is superior to that of an asocial learner when the success probability of social learning is greater than a threshold determined from the probability of success of individual learning, the probability of change of state of the rMAB, and the number of agents. The ESS Nash equilibrium is a solution to Rogers' paradox.

Exploring complex dynamics in multi agent-based intelligent systems: Theoretical and experimental approaches using the Multi Agent-based Behavioral Economic Landscape (MABEL) model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexandridis, Konstantinos T.

This dissertation adopts a holistic and detailed approach to modeling spatially explicit agent-based artificial intelligent systems, using the Multi Agent-based Behavioral Economic Landscape (MABEL) model. The research questions that addresses stem from the need to understand and analyze the real-world patterns and dynamics of land use change from a coupled human-environmental systems perspective. Describes the systemic, mathematical, statistical, socio-economic and spatial dynamics of the MABEL modeling framework, and provides a wide array of cross-disciplinary modeling applications within the research, decision-making and policy domains. Establishes the symbolic properties of the MABEL model as a Markov decision process, analyzes the decision-theoretic utility and optimization attributes of agents towards comprising statistically and spatially optimal policies and actions, and explores the probabilogic character of the agents' decision-making and inference mechanisms via the use of Bayesian belief and decision networks. Develops and describes a Monte Carlo methodology for experimental replications of agent's decisions regarding complex spatial parcel acquisition and learning. Recognizes the gap on spatially-explicit accuracy assessment techniques for complex spatial models, and proposes an ensemble of statistical tools designed to address this problem. Advanced information assessment techniques such as the Receiver-Operator Characteristic curve, the impurity entropy and Gini functions, and the Bayesian classification functions are proposed. The theoretical foundation for modular Bayesian inference in spatially-explicit multi-agent artificial intelligent systems, and the ensembles of cognitive and scenario assessment modular tools build for the MABEL model are provided. Emphasizes the modularity and robustness as valuable qualitative modeling attributes, and examines the role of robust intelligent modeling as a tool for improving policy-decisions related to land use change. Finally, the major contributions to the science are presented along with valuable directions for future research.

The Atrial Fibrillation Health Literacy Information Technology System: Pilot Assessment

PubMed Central

Magnani, Jared W; Schlusser, Courtney L; Kimani, Everlyne; Rollman, Bruce L; Paasche-Orlow, Michael K; Bickmore, Timothy W

2017-01-01

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a highly prevalent heart rhythm condition that has significant associated morbidity and requires chronic treatment. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have the potential to enhance multiple aspects of AF care, including education, monitoring of symptoms, and encouraging and tracking medication adherence. We have previously implemented and tested relational agents to improve outcomes in chronic disease and sought to develop a smartphone-based relational agent for improving patient-centered outcomes in AF. Objective The objective of this study was to pilot a smartphone-based relational agent as preparation for a randomized clinical trial, the Atrial Fibrillation Health Literacy Information Technology Trial (AF-LITT). Methods We developed the relational agent for use by a smartphone consistent with our prior approaches. We programmed the relational agent as a computer-animated agent to simulate a face-to-face conversation and to serve as a health counselor or coach specific to AF. Relational agent’s dialogue content, informed by a review of literature, focused on patient-centered domains and qualitative interviews with patients with AF, encompassed AF education, common symptoms, adherence challenges, and patient activation. We established that the content was accessible to individuals with limited health or computer literacy. Relational agent content coordinated with use of the smartphone AliveCor Kardia heart rate and rhythm monitor. Participants (N=31) were recruited as a convenience cohort from ambulatory clinical sites and instructed to use the relational agent and Kardia for 30 days. We collected demographic, social, and clinical characteristics and conducted baseline and 30-day assessments of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with the Atrial Fibrillation Effect on Quality of life (AFEQT) measure; self-reported medication adherence with the Morisky 8-item Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8); and patient activation with the Patient Activation Measure (PAM). Results Participants (mean age 68 [SD 11]; 39% [12/31] women) used the relational agent for an average 17.8 (SD 10.0) days. The mean number of independent log-ins was 19.6 (SD 10.7), with a median of 20 times over 30 days. The mean number of Kardia uses was 26.5 (SD 5.9), and participants using Kardia were in AF for 14.3 (SD 11.0) days. AFEQT scores improved significantly from 64.5 (SD 22.9) at baseline to 76.3 (SD 19.4) units at 30 days (P<.01). We observed marginal but statistically significant improvement in self-reported medication adherence (baseline: 7.3 [SD 0.9], 30 days: 7.7 [SD 0.5]; P=.01). Assessments of acceptability identified that most of the participants found the relational agent useful, informative, and trustworthy. Conclusions We piloted a 30-day smartphone-based intervention that combined a relational agent with dedicated content for AF alongside Kardia heart rate and rhythm monitoring. Pilot participants had favorable improvements in HRQoL and self-reported medication adherence, as well as positive responses to the intervention. These data will guide a larger, enhanced randomized trial implementing the smartphone relational agent and the Kardia monitor system. PMID:29473644

Improving Human/Autonomous System Teaming Through Linguistic Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meszaros, Erica L.

2016-01-01

An area of increasing interest for the next generation of aircraft is autonomy and the integration of increasingly autonomous systems into the national airspace. Such integration requires humans to work closely with autonomous systems, forming human and autonomous agent teams. The intention behind such teaming is that a team composed of both humans and autonomous agents will operate better than homogenous teams. Procedures exist for licensing pilots to operate in the national airspace system and current work is being done to define methods for validating the function of autonomous systems, however there is no method in place for assessing the interaction of these two disparate systems. Moreover, currently these systems are operated primarily by subject matter experts, limiting their use and the benefits of such teams. Providing additional information about the ongoing mission to the operator can lead to increased usability and allow for operation by non-experts. Linguistic analysis of the context of verbal communication provides insight into the intended meaning of commonly heard phrases such as "What's it doing now?" Analyzing the semantic sphere surrounding these common phrases enables the prediction of the operator's intent and allows the interface to supply the operator's desired information.

Decentralized Opportunistic Spectrum Resources Access Model and Algorithm toward Cooperative Ad-Hoc Networks.

PubMed

Liu, Ming; Xu, Yang; Mohammed, Abdul-Wahid

2016-01-01

Limited communication resources have gradually become a critical factor toward efficiency of decentralized large scale multi-agent coordination when both system scales up and tasks become more complex. In current researches, due to the agent's limited communication and observational capability, an agent in a decentralized setting can only choose a part of channels to access, but cannot perceive or share global information. Each agent's cooperative decision is based on the partial observation of the system state, and as such, uncertainty in the communication network is unavoidable. In this situation, it is a major challenge working out cooperative decision-making under uncertainty with only a partial observation of the environment. In this paper, we propose a decentralized approach that allows agents cooperatively search and independently choose channels. The key to our design is to build an up-to-date observation for each agent's view so that a local decision model is achievable in a large scale team coordination. We simplify the Dec-POMDP model problem, and each agent can jointly work out its communication policy in order to improve its local decision utilities for the choice of communication resources. Finally, we discuss an implicate resource competition game, and show that, there exists an approximate resources access tradeoff balance between agents. Based on this discovery, the tradeoff between real-time decision-making and the efficiency of cooperation using these channels can be well improved.

A food environments feedback system (FoodBack) for empowering citizens and change agents to create healthier community food places.

PubMed

Vandevijvere, Stefanie; Williams, Rachel; Tawfiq, Essa; Swinburn, Boyd

2017-11-14

This study developed a systems-based approach (called FoodBack) to empower citizens and change agents to create healthier community food places. Formative evaluations were held with citizens and change agents in six diverse New Zealand communities, supplemented by semi-structured interviews with 85 change agents in Auckland and Hamilton in 2015-2016. The emerging system was additionally reviewed by public health experts from diverse organizations. A food environments feedback system was constructed to crowdsource key indicators of the healthiness of diverse community food places (i.e. schools, hospitals, supermarkets, fast food outlets, sport centers) and outdoor spaces (i.e. around schools), comments/pictures about barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and exemplar stories on improving the healthiness of food environments. All the information collected is centrally processed and translated into 'short' (immediate) and 'long' (after analyses) feedback loops to stimulate actions to create healthier food places. FoodBack, as a comprehensive food environment feedback system (with evidence databases and feedback and recognition processes), has the potential to increase food sovereignty, and generate a sustainable, fine-grained database of food environments for real-time food policy research. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

[Gadolinium-based contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging].

PubMed

Carrasco Muñoz, S; Calles Blanco, C; Marcin, Javier; Fernández Álvarez, C; Lafuente Martínez, J

2014-06-01

Gadolinium-based contrast agents are increasingly being used in magnetic resonance imaging. These agents can improve the contrast in images and provide information about function and metabolism, increasing both sensitivity and specificity. We describe the gadolinium-based contrast agents that have been approved for clinical use, detailing their main characteristics based on their chemical structure, stability, and safety. In general terms, these compounds are safe. Nevertheless, adverse reactions, the possibility of nephrotoxicity from these compounds, and the possibility of developing nephrogenic systemic fibrosis will be covered in this article. Lastly, the article will discuss the current guidelines, recommendations, and contraindications for their clinical use, including the management of pregnant and breast-feeding patients. Copyright © 2014 SERAM. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

aCGH-MAS: Analysis of aCGH by means of Multiagent System

PubMed Central

Benito, Rocío; Bajo, Javier; Rodríguez, Ana Eugenia; Abáigar, María

2015-01-01

There are currently different techniques, such as CGH arrays, to study genetic variations in patients. CGH arrays analyze gains and losses in different regions in the chromosome. Regions with gains or losses in pathologies are important for selecting relevant genes or CNVs (copy-number variations) associated with the variations detected within chromosomes. Information corresponding to mutations, genes, proteins, variations, CNVs, and diseases can be found in different databases and it would be of interest to incorporate information of different sources to extract relevant information. This work proposes a multiagent system to manage the information of aCGH arrays, with the aim of providing an intuitive and extensible system to analyze and interpret the results. The agent roles integrate statistical techniques to select relevant variations and visualization techniques for the interpretation of the final results and to extract relevant information from different sources of information by applying a CBR system. PMID:25874203

49 CFR 40.329 - What information must laboratories, MROs, and other service agents release to employees?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... other service agents release to employees? 40.329 Section 40.329 Transportation Office of the Secretary... Confidentiality and Release of Information § 40.329 What information must laboratories, MROs, and other service agents release to employees? (a) As an MRO or service agent you must provide, within 10 business days of...

77 FR 44582 - Applications To Serve as Accountability Agents in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-30

... order to implement this Framework, member economies developed a voluntary system of Cross Border Privacy... email at [email protected] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 2004, Leaders of the 21 APEC economies... information between the 21 economies in APEC by promoting a common set of privacy principles that will enhance...

User Needs of Digital Service Web Portals: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heo, Misook; Song, Jung-Sook; Seol, Moon-Won

2013-01-01

The authors examined the needs of digital information service web portal users. More specifically, the needs of Korean cultural portal users were examined as a case study. The conceptual framework of a web-based portal is that it is a complex, web-based service application with characteristics of information systems and service agents. In…

Agent And Component Object Framework For Concept Design Modeling Of Mobile Cyber Physical Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-03-01

burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing...data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information . Send comments regarding this...burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information , including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters

Autonomous Information Fading and Provision to Achieve High Response Time in Distributed Information Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Xiaodong; Arfaoui, Helene; Mori, Kinji

In highly dynamic electronic commerce environment, the need for adaptability and rapid response time to information service systems has become increasingly important. In order to cope with the continuously changing conditions of service provision and utilization, Faded Information Field (FIF) has been proposed. FIF is a distributed information service system architecture, sustained by push/pull mobile agents to bring high-assurance of services through a recursive demand-oriented provision of the most popular information closer to the users to make a tradeoff between the cost of information service allocation and access. In this paper, based on the analysis of the relationship that exists among the users distribution, information provision and access time, we propose the technology for FIF design to resolve the competing requirements of users and providers to improve users' access time. In addition, to achieve dynamic load balancing with changing users preference, the autonomous information reallocation technology is proposed. We proved the effectiveness of the proposed technology through the simulation and comparison with the conventional system.

An information driven strategy to support multidisciplinary design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rangan, Ravi M.; Fulton, Robert E.

1990-01-01

The design of complex engineering systems such as aircraft, automobiles, and computers is primarily a cooperative multidisciplinary design process involving interactions between several design agents. The common thread underlying this multidisciplinary design activity is the information exchange between the various groups and disciplines. The integrating component in such environments is the common data and the dependencies that exist between such data. This may be contrasted to classical multidisciplinary analyses problems where there is coupling between distinct design parameters. For example, they may be expressed as mathematically coupled relationships between aerodynamic and structural interactions in aircraft structures, between thermal and structural interactions in nuclear plants, and between control considerations and structural interactions in flexible robots. These relationships provide analytical based frameworks leading to optimization problem formulations. However, in multidisciplinary design problems, information based interactions become more critical. Many times, the relationships between different design parameters are not amenable to analytical characterization. Under such circumstances, information based interactions will provide the best integration paradigm, i.e., there is a need to model the data entities and their dependencies between design parameters originating from different design agents. The modeling of such data interactions and dependencies forms the basis for integrating the various design agents.

Clustering recommendations to compute agent reputation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bedi, Punam; Kaur, Harmeet

2005-03-01

Traditional centralized approaches to security are difficult to apply to multi-agent systems which are used nowadays in e-commerce applications. Developing a notion of trust that is based on the reputation of an agent can provide a softer notion of security that is sufficient for many multi-agent applications. Our paper proposes a mechanism for computing reputation of the trustee agent for use by the trustier agent. The trustier agent computes the reputation based on its own experience as well as the experience the peer agents have with the trustee agents. The trustier agents intentionally interact with the peer agents to get their experience information in the form of recommendations. We have also considered the case of unintentional encounters between the referee agents and the trustee agent, which can be directly between them or indirectly through a set of interacting agents. The clustering is done to filter off the noise in the recommendations in the form of outliers. The trustier agent clusters the recommendations received from referee agents on the basis of the distances between recommendations using the hierarchical agglomerative method. The dendogram hence obtained is cut at the required similarity level which restricts the maximum distance between any two recommendations within a cluster. The cluster with maximum number of elements denotes the views of the majority of recommenders. The center of this cluster represents the reputation of the trustee agent which can be computed using c-means algorithm.

Phase transition of social learning collectives and the echo chamber.

PubMed

Mori, Shintaro; Nakayama, Kazuaki; Hisakado, Masato

2016-11-01

We study a simple model for social learning agents in a restless multiarmed bandit. There are N agents, and the bandit has M good arms that change to bad with the probability q_{c}/N. If the agents do not know a good arm, they look for it by a random search (with the success probability q_{I}) or copy the information of other agents' good arms (with the success probability q_{O}) with probabilities 1-p or p, respectively. The distribution of the agents in M good arms obeys the Yule distribution with the power-law exponent 1+γ in the limit N,M→∞, and γ=1+(1-p)q_{I}/pq_{O}. The system shows a phase transition at p_{c}=q_{I}/q_{I}+q_{o}. For pp_{c}), the variance of N_{1} per agent is finite (diverges as ∝N^{2-γ} with N). There is a threshold value N_{s} for the system size that scales as lnN_{s}∝1/(γ-1). The expected value of the number of the agents with a good arm N_{1} increases with p for N>N_{s}. For p>p_{c} and N

Hyperspectral fluorescence imaging with multi wavelength LED excitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luthman, A. Siri; Dumitru, Sebastian; Quirós-Gonzalez, Isabel; Bohndiek, Sarah E.

2016-04-01

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) can combine morphological and molecular information, yielding potential for real-time and high throughput multiplexed fluorescent contrast agent imaging. Multiplexed readout from targets, such as cell surface receptors overexpressed in cancer cells, could improve both sensitivity and specificity of tumor identification. There remains, however, a need for compact and cost effective implementations of the technology. We have implemented a low-cost wide-field multiplexed fluorescence imaging system, which combines LED excitation at 590, 655 and 740 nm with a compact commercial solid state HSI system operating in the range 600 - 1000 nm. A key challenge for using reflectance-based HSI is the separation of contrast agent fluorescence from the reflectance of the excitation light. Here, we illustrate how it is possible to address this challenge in software, using two offline reflectance removal methods, prior to least-squares spectral unmixing. We made a quantitative comparison of the methods using data acquired from dilutions of contrast agents prepared in well-plates. We then established the capability of our HSI system for non-invasive in vivo fluorescence imaging in small animals using the optimal reflectance removal method. The HSI presented here enables quantitative unmixing of at least four fluorescent contrast agents (Alexa Fluor 610, 647, 700 and 750) simultaneously in living mice. A successful unmixing of the four fluorescent contrast agents was possible both using the pure contrast agents and with mixtures. The system could in principle also be applied to imaging of ex vivo tissue or intraoperative imaging in a clinical setting. These data suggest a promising approach for developing clinical applications of HSI based on multiplexed fluorescence contrast agent imaging.

A Therapy System for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Using a Virtual Agent and Virtual Storytelling to Reconstruct Traumatic Memories.

PubMed

Tielman, Myrthe L; Neerincx, Mark A; Bidarra, Rafael; Kybartas, Ben; Brinkman, Willem-Paul

2017-08-01

Although post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is well treatable, many people do not get the desired treatment due to barriers to care (such as stigma and cost). This paper presents a system that bridges this gap by enabling patients to follow therapy at home. A therapist is only involved remotely, to monitor progress and serve as a safety net. With this system, patients can recollect their memories in a digital diary and recreate them in a 3D WorldBuilder. Throughout the therapy, a virtual agent is present to inform and guide patients through the sessions, employing an ontology-based question module for recollecting traumatic memories to further elicit a detailed memory recollection. In a usability study with former PTSD patients (n = 4), these questions were found useful for memory recollection. Moreover, the usability of the whole system was rated positively. This system has the potential to be a valuable addition to the spectrum of PTSD treatments, offering a novel type of home therapy assisted by a virtual agent.

Abstract-Reasoning Software for Coordinating Multiple Agents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clement, Bradley; Barrett, Anthony; Rabideau, Gregg; Knight, Russell

2003-01-01

A computer program for scheduling the activities of multiple agents that share limited resources has been incorporated into the Automated Scheduling and Planning Environment (ASPEN) software system, aspects of which have been reported in several previous NASA Tech Briefs articles. In the original intended application, the agents would be multiple spacecraft and/or robotic vehicles engaged in scientific exploration of distant planets. The program could also be used on Earth in such diverse settings as production lines and military maneuvers. This program includes a planning/scheduling subprogram of the iterative repair type that reasons about the activities of multiple agents at abstract levels in order to greatly improve the scheduling of their use of shared resources. The program summarizes the information about the constraints on, and resource requirements of, abstract activities on the basis of the constraints and requirements that pertain to their potential refinements (decomposition into less-abstract and ultimately to primitive activities). The advantage of reasoning about summary information is that time needed to find consistent schedules is exponentially smaller than the time that would be needed for reasoning about the same tasks at the primitive level.

Cooperative Robot Localization Using Event-Triggered Estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iglesias Echevarria, David I.

It is known that multiple robot systems that need to cooperate to perform certain activities or tasks incur in high energy costs that hinder their autonomous functioning and limit the benefits provided to humans by these kinds of platforms. This work presents a communications-based method for cooperative robot localization. Implementing concepts from event-triggered estimation, used with success in the field of wireless sensor networks but rarely to do robot localization, agents are able to only send measurements to their neighbors when the expected novelty in this information is high. Since all agents know the condition that triggers a measurement to be sent or not, the lack of a measurement is therefore informative and fused into state estimates. In the case agents do not receive either direct nor indirect measurements of all others, the agents employ a covariance intersection fusion rule in order to keep the local covariance error metric bounded. A comprehensive analysis of the proposed algorithm and its estimation performance in a variety of scenarios is performed, and the algorithm is compared to similar cooperative localization approaches. Extensive simulations are performed that illustrate the effectiveness of this method.

Ship to Shore Data Communication and Prioritization

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-01

First Out FTP File Transfer Protocol GCCS-M Global Command and Control System Maritime HAIPE High Assurance Internet Protocol Encryptor HTTP Hypertext...Transfer Protocol (world wide web protocol ) IBS Integrated Bar Code System IDEF0 Integration Definition IER Information Exchange Requirements...INTEL Intelligence IP Internet Protocol IPT Integrated Product Team ISEA In-Service Engineering Agent ISNS Integrated Shipboard Network System IT

Embodied artificial agents for understanding human social cognition.

PubMed

Wykowska, Agnieszka; Chaminade, Thierry; Cheng, Gordon

2016-05-05

In this paper, we propose that experimental protocols involving artificial agents, in particular the embodied humanoid robots, provide insightful information regarding social cognitive mechanisms in the human brain. Using artificial agents allows for manipulation and control of various parameters of behaviour, appearance and expressiveness in one of the interaction partners (the artificial agent), and for examining effect of these parameters on the other interaction partner (the human). At the same time, using artificial agents means introducing the presence of artificial, yet human-like, systems into the human social sphere. This allows for testing in a controlled, but ecologically valid, manner human fundamental mechanisms of social cognition both at the behavioural and at the neural level. This paper will review existing literature that reports studies in which artificial embodied agents have been used to study social cognition and will address the question of whether various mechanisms of social cognition (ranging from lower- to higher-order cognitive processes) are evoked by artificial agents to the same extent as by natural agents, humans in particular. Increasing the understanding of how behavioural and neural mechanisms of social cognition respond to artificial anthropomorphic agents provides empirical answers to the conundrum 'What is a social agent?' © 2016 The Authors.

Decision Facilitator for Launch Operations using Intelligent Agents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thirumalainambi, Rajkumar; Bardina, Jorge

2005-01-01

Launch operations require millions of micro-decisions which contribute to the macro decision of 'Go/No-Go' for a launch. Knowledge workers"(such as managers and technical professionals) need information in a timely precise manner as it can greatly affect mission success. The intelligent agent (web search agent) uses the words of a hypertext markup language document which is connected through the internet. The intelligent agent's actions are to determine if its goal of seeking a website containing a specified target (e.g., keyword or phrase), has been met. There are few parameters that should be defined for the keyword search like "Go" and "No-Go". Instead of visiting launch and range decision making servers individually, the decision facilitator constantly connects to all servers, accumulating decisions so the final decision can be decided in a timely manner. The facilitator agent uses the singleton design pattern, which ensures that only a single instance of the facilitator agent exists at one time. Negotiations could proceed between many agents resulting in a final decision. This paper describes details of intelligent agents and their interaction to derive an unified decision support system.

A geographic information system for characterizing exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam.

PubMed

Stellman, Jeanne Mager; Stellman, Steven D; Weber, Tracy; Tomasallo, Carrie; Stellman, Andrew B; Christian, Richard

2003-03-01

Between 1961 and 1971, U.S. military forces dispersed more than 19 million gallons of phenoxy and other herbicidal agents in the Republic of Vietnam, including more than 12 million gallons of dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange, yet only comparatively limited epidemiologic and environmental research has been carried out on the distribution and health effects of this contamination. As part of a response to a National Academy of Sciences' request for development of exposure methodologies for carrying out epidemiologic research, a conceptual framework for estimating exposure opportunity to herbicides and a geographic information system (GIS) have been developed. The GIS is based on a relational database system that integrates extensive data resources on dispersal of herbicides (e.g., HERBS records of Ranch Hand aircraft flight paths, gallonage, and chemical agent), locations of military units and bases, dynamic movement of combat troops in Vietnam, and locations of civilian population centers. The GIS can provide a variety of proximity counts for exposure to 9,141 herbicide application missions. In addition, the GIS can be used to generate a quantitative exposure opportunity index that accounts for quantity of herbicide sprayed, distance, and environmental decay of a toxic factor such as dioxin, and is flexible enough to permit substitution of other mathematical exposure models by the user. The GIS thus provides a basis for estimation of herbicide exposure for use in large-scale epidemiologic studies. To facilitate widespread use of the GIS, a user-friendly software package was developed to permit researchers to assign exposure opportunity indexes to troops, locations, or individuals.

A Watershed-Scale Agent-Based Model Incorporating Agent Learning and Interaction of Farmers' Decisions Subject to Carbon and Miscanthus Prices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ng, T.; Eheart, J.; Cai, X.; Braden, J. B.

2010-12-01

Agricultural watersheds are coupled human-natural systems where the land use decisions of human agents (farmers) affect surface water quality, and in turn, are affected by the weather and yields. The reliable modeling of such systems requires an approach that considers both the human and natural aspects. Agent-based modeling (ABM), representing the human aspect, coupled with hydrologic modeling, representing the natural aspect, is one such approach. ABM is a relatively new modeling paradigm that formulates the system from the perspectives of the individual agents, i.e., each agent is modeled as a discrete autonomous entity with distinct goals and actions. The primary objective of this study is to demonstrate the applicability of this approach to agricultural watershed management. This is done using a semi-hypothetical case study of farmers in the Salt Creek watershed in East-Central Illinois under the influence markets for carbon and second-generation bioenergy crop (specifically, miscanthus). An agent-based model of the system is developed and linked to a hydrologic model of the watershed. The former is based on fundamental economic and mathematical programming principles, while the latter is based on the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Carbon and second-generation bioenergy crop markets are of interest here due to climate change and energy independence concerns. The agent-based model is applied to fifty hypothetical heterogeneous farmers. The farmers' decisions depend on their perceptions of future conditions. Those perceptions are updated, according to a pre-defined algorithm, as the farmers make new observations of prices, costs, yields and the weather with time. The perceptions are also updated as the farmers interact with each other as they share new information on initially unfamiliar activities (e.g., carbon trading, miscanthus cultivation). The updating algorithm is set differently for different farmers such that each is unique in his processing of new information. The results provide insights on how differences in the way farmers learn and adapt affect their forecasts of the future, and hence, decisions. Farmers who are interacting, less risk averse, quick to adjust their expectations with new observations, and slow to reduce their forecast confidence when there are unexpected changes are more likely to practice conservation tillage (farmers may claim carbon credits for sale when practicing conservation tillage), and switch from conventional crops to miscanthus. The results, though empirically untested, appear plausible and consistent with general behavior by farmers. All this demonstrates the ability and potential of ABM to capture, at least partially, the complexities of human decision-making.

A Survey on Distributed Mobile Database and Data Mining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goel, Ajay Mohan; Mangla, Neeraj; Patel, R. B.

2010-11-01

The anticipated increase in popular use of the Internet has created more opportunity in information dissemination, Ecommerce, and multimedia communication. It has also created more challenges in organizing information and facilitating its efficient retrieval. In response to this, new techniques have evolved which facilitate the creation of such applications. Certainly the most promising among the new paradigms is the use of mobile agents. In this paper, mobile agent and distributed database technologies are applied in the banking system. Many approaches have been proposed to schedule data items for broadcasting in a mobile environment. In this paper, an efficient strategy for accessing multiple data items in mobile environments and the bottleneck of current banking will be proposed.

Antifibrinolytic agents and desmopressin as hemostatic agents in cardiac surgery.

PubMed

Erstad, B L

2001-09-01

To review the use of systemic hemostatic medications for reducing bleeding and transfusion requirements with cardiac surgery. Articles were obtained through computerized searches involving MEDLINE (from 1966 to September 2000). Additionally, several textbooks containing information on the diagnosis and management of bleeding associated with cardiac surgery were reviewed. The bibliographies of retrieved publications and textbooks were reviewed for additional references. Due to the large number of randomized investigations involving systemic hemostatic medications for reducing bleeding associated with cardiac surgery, the article selection process focused on recent randomized controlled trials, metaanalyses and pharmacoeconomic evaluations. The primary outcomes extracted from the literature were blood loss and associated transfusion requirements, although other outcome measures such as mortality were extracted when available. Although the majority of investigations for reducing cardiac bleeding and transfusion requirements have involved aprotinin, evidence from recent meta-analyses and randomized trials indicates that the synthetic antifibrinolytic agents, aminocaproic acid and tranexamic acid, have similar clinical efficacy. Additionally, aminocaproic acid (and to a lesser extent tranexamic acid) is much less costly. More comparative information of hemostatic agents is needed retative to other outcomes (eg., reoperation rates, myocardial infarction, stroke). There is insufficient evidence to recommend the use of desmopressin for reducing bleeding and transfusion requirements in cardiac surgery, although certain subsets of patients may benefit from its use. Of the medications that have been used to reduce bleeding and transfusion requirements with cardiac surgery, the antifibrinolytic agents have the best evidence supporting their use. Aminocaproic acid is the least costly therapy based on medication costs and transfusion requirements.

A cognitive robotic system based on the Soar cognitive architecture for mobile robot navigation, search, and mapping missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanford, Scott D.

Most unmanned vehicles used for civilian and military applications are remotely operated or are designed for specific applications. As these vehicles are used to perform more difficult missions or a larger number of missions in remote environments, there will be a great need for these vehicles to behave intelligently and autonomously. Cognitive architectures, computer programs that define mechanisms that are important for modeling and generating domain-independent intelligent behavior, have the potential for generating intelligent and autonomous behavior in unmanned vehicles. The research described in this presentation explored the use of the Soar cognitive architecture for cognitive robotics. The Cognitive Robotic System (CRS) has been developed to integrate software systems for motor control and sensor processing with Soar for unmanned vehicle control. The CRS has been tested using two mobile robot missions: outdoor navigation and search in an indoor environment. The use of the CRS for the outdoor navigation mission demonstrated that a Soar agent could autonomously navigate to a specified location while avoiding obstacles, including cul-de-sacs, with only a minimal amount of knowledge about the environment. While most systems use information from maps or long-range perceptual capabilities to avoid cul-de-sacs, a Soar agent in the CRS was able to recognize when a simple approach to avoiding obstacles was unsuccessful and switch to a different strategy for avoiding complex obstacles. During the indoor search mission, the CRS autonomously and intelligently searches a building for an object of interest and common intersection types. While searching the building, the Soar agent builds a topological map of the environment using information about the intersections the CRS detects. The agent uses this topological model (along with Soar's reasoning, planning, and learning mechanisms) to make intelligent decisions about how to effectively search the building. Once the object of interest has been detected, the Soar agent uses the topological map to make decisions about how to efficiently return to the location where the mission began. Additionally, the CRS can send an email containing step-by-step directions using the intersections in the environment as landmarks that describe a direct path from the mission's start location to the object of interest. The CRS has displayed several characteristics of intelligent behavior, including reasoning, planning, learning, and communication of learned knowledge, while autonomously performing two missions. The CRS has also demonstrated how Soar can be integrated with common robotic motor and perceptual systems that complement the strengths of Soar for unmanned vehicles and is one of the few systems that use perceptual systems such as occupancy grid, computer vision, and fuzzy logic algorithms with cognitive architectures for robotics. The use of these perceptual systems to generate symbolic information about the environment during the indoor search mission allowed the CRS to use Soar's planning and learning mechanisms, which have rarely been used by agents to control mobile robots in real environments. Additionally, the system developed for the indoor search mission represents the first known use of a topological map with a cognitive architecture on a mobile robot. The ability to learn both a topological map and production rules allowed the Soar agent used during the indoor search mission to make intelligent decisions and behave more efficiently as it learned about its environment. While the CRS has been applied to two different missions, it has been developed with the intention that it be extended in the future so it can be used as a general system for mobile robot control. The CRS can be expanded through the addition of new sensors and sensor processing algorithms, development of Soar agents with more production rules, and the use of new architectural mechanisms in Soar.

Scalable Hierarchical Network Management System for Displaying Network Information in Three Dimensions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

George, Jude (Inventor); Schlecht, Leslie (Inventor); McCabe, James D. (Inventor); LeKashman, John Jr. (Inventor)

1998-01-01

A network management system has SNMP agents distributed at one or more sites, an input output module at each site, and a server module located at a selected site for communicating with input output modules, each of which is configured for both SNMP and HNMP communications. The server module is configured exclusively for HNMP communications, and it communicates with each input output module according to the HNMP. Non-iconified, informationally complete views are provided of network elements to aid in network management.

Primary health care lessons from the northeast of Brazil: the Agentes de Saúde Program.

PubMed

Cufino Svitone, E; Garfield, R; Vasconcelos, M I; Araujo Craveiro, V

2000-05-01

Market-led economic reforms are usually viewed as being in conflict with government-stimulated socioeconomic development for disadvantaged groups. Nevertheless, Ceará, a poor state in the Northeast of Brazil, has since 1987 pursued both of those strategies simultaneously. One part of that approach has been a program of nurse-directed auxiliary health workers serving about 5 million people--almost all the persons outside the capital city and half of those in the capital. The system requires that the auxiliaries, called agentes de saúde, live in the local communities that they serve. The health agents visit each home once a month to carry out a small number of priority health activities. While health agent positions are in high demand, the minimum-wage salary that the agents receive makes up only a small portion of the state budget. A key aspect of the system is timely and comprehensive information, which is based on agent visits and is managed by trained nurses. Since the health agents system was launched, there has been a rapid decline in infant mortality, a rapid rise in immunization, identification of bottlenecks limiting the utilization of other medical resources, and timely interventions in times of crisis. The health agents system has combined administrative decentralization with financial centralization during a period of electoral democratization. The system has strengthened Ceará's commitment to primary care even as market-oriented changes have reduced the overall role of government. The Ceará program is being copied throughout the Northeast and other regions of Brazil. The key role that nurses play in the Ceará program in organizing and leading a system of basic primary care in poor neighborhoods and rural areas may provide useful lessons for other countries. In addition, Ceará does not have many of the favorable characteristics of other countries that have successfully invested in primary health care. Ceará thus represents a more achievable model for other countries, where, like Brazil, income, educational levels, and land tenure equity are limited.

Smart social adaptation prevents catastrophic ecological regime shifts in networks of myopic harvesters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donges, Jonathan; Lucht, Wolfgang; Wiedermann, Marc; Heitzig, Jobst; Kurths, Jürgen

2015-04-01

In the anthropocene, the rise of global social and economic networks with ever increasing connectivity and speed of interactions, e.g., the internet or global financial markets, is a key challenge for sustainable development. The spread of opinions, values or technologies on these networks, in conjunction with the coevolution of the network structures themselves, underlies nexuses of current concern such as anthropogenic climate change, biodiversity loss or global land use change. To isolate and quantitatively study the effects and implications of network dynamics for sustainable development, we propose an agent-based model of information flow on adaptive networks between myopic harvesters that exploit private renewable resources. In this conceptual model of a network of socio-ecological systems, information on management practices flows between agents via boundedly rational imitation depending on the state of the resource stocks involved in an interaction. Agents can also adapt the structure of their social network locally by preferentially connecting to culturally similar agents with identical management practices and, at the same time, disconnecting from culturally dissimilar agents. Investigating in detail the statistical mechanics of this model, we find that an increasing rate of information flow through faster imitation dynamics or growing density of network connectivity leads to a marked increase in the likelihood of environmental resource collapse. However, we show that an optimal rate of social network adaptation can mitigate this negative effect without loss of social cohesion through network fragmentation. Our results highlight that seemingly immaterial network dynamics of spreading opinions or values can be of large relevance for the sustainable management of socio-ecological systems and suggest smartly conservative network adaptation as a strategy for mitigating environmental collapse. Hence, facing the great acceleration, these network dynamics should be more routinely incorporated in standard models of economic development or integrated assessment models used for evaluating anthropogenic climate change.

Agent Interaction with Human Systems in Complex Environments: Requirements for Automating the Function of CapCom in Apollo 17

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clancey, William J.

2003-01-01

A human-centered approach to computer systems design involves reframing analysis in terms of people interacting with each other, not only human-machine interaction. The primary concern is not how people can interact with computers, but how shall we design computers to help people work together? An analysis of astronaut interactions with CapCom on Earth during one traverse of Apollo 17 shows what kind of information was conveyed and what might be automated today. A variety of agent and robotic technologies are proposed that deal with recurrent problems in communication and coordination during the analyzed traverse.

Multi-agent Negotiation Mechanisms for Statistical Target Classification in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Wang, Xue; Bi, Dao-wei; Ding, Liang; Wang, Sheng

2007-01-01

The recent availability of low cost and miniaturized hardware has allowed wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to retrieve audio and video data in real world applications, which has fostered the development of wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs). Resource constraints and challenging multimedia data volume make development of efficient algorithms to perform in-network processing of multimedia contents imperative. This paper proposes solving problems in the domain of WMSNs from the perspective of multi-agent systems. The multi-agent framework enables flexible network configuration and efficient collaborative in-network processing. The focus is placed on target classification in WMSNs where audio information is retrieved by microphones. To deal with the uncertainties related to audio information retrieval, the statistical approaches of power spectral density estimates, principal component analysis and Gaussian process classification are employed. A multi-agent negotiation mechanism is specially developed to efficiently utilize limited resources and simultaneously enhance classification accuracy and reliability. The negotiation is composed of two phases, where an auction based approach is first exploited to allocate the classification task among the agents and then individual agent decisions are combined by the committee decision mechanism. Simulation experiments with real world data are conducted and the results show that the proposed statistical approaches and negotiation mechanism not only reduce memory and computation requirements in WMSNs but also significantly enhance classification accuracy and reliability. PMID:28903223

Advances in antiplatelet therapy for acute coronary syndromes.

PubMed

Contractor, Hussain; Ruparelia, Neil

2012-07-01

Admissions to emergency care centres with acute coronary syndromes remain one of the principal burdens on healthcare systems in the Western world. Early pharmacological treatment in these patients is crucial, lessening the impact on both morbidity and mortality, with the cornerstone of management being antiplatelet agents. While aspirin and clopidogrel have been the drugs of choice for nearly a decade, an array of newer, more potent antiplatelet agents are now available or in late stage development. Data are rapidly gathering suggesting these agents have superior anti-ischaemic properties, improving patient outcomes, but that for some agents increased vigilance and appropriate patient selection may be necessary to guard against bleeding complications. In this review, the authors aim to deliver an overview of the changing field of antiplatelet therapy and provide information about the relative risks and benefits of these newer agents, many of which will be entering widespread clinical use imminently.

U.S. Patent Pending, Information Security Analysis Using Game Theory and Simulation, U.S. Patent Application No.: 14/097,840

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abercrombie, Robert K; Schlicher, Bob G

Vulnerability in security of an information system is quantitatively predicted. The information system may receive malicious actions against its security and may receive corrective actions for restoring the security. A game oriented agent based model is constructed in a simulator application. The game ABM model represents security activity in the information system. The game ABM model has two opposing participants including an attacker and a defender, probabilistic game rules and allowable game states. A specified number of simulations are run and a probabilistic number of the plurality of allowable game states are reached in each simulation run. The probability ofmore » reaching a specified game state is unknown prior to running each simulation. Data generated during the game states is collected to determine a probability of one or more aspects of security in the information system.« less

Using flow information to support 3D vessel reconstruction from rotational angiography

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Waechter, Irina; Bredno, Joerg; Weese, Juergen

2008-07-15

For the assessment of cerebrovascular diseases, it is beneficial to obtain three-dimensional (3D) morphologic and hemodynamic information about the vessel system. Rotational angiography is routinely used to image the 3D vascular geometry and we have shown previously that rotational subtraction angiography has the potential to also give quantitative information about blood flow. Flow information can be determined when the angiographic sequence shows inflow and possibly outflow of contrast agent. However, a standard volume reconstruction assumes that the vessel tree is uniformly filled with contrast agent during the whole acquisition. If this is not the case, the reconstruction exhibits artifacts. Here,more » we show how flow information can be used to support the reconstruction of the 3D vessel centerline and radii in this case. Our method uses the fast marching algorithm to determine the order in which voxels are analyzed. For every voxel, the rotational time intensity curve (R-TIC) is determined from the image intensities at the projection points of the current voxel. Next, the bolus arrival time of the contrast agent at the voxel is estimated from the R-TIC. Then, a measure of the intensity and duration of the enhancement is determined, from which a speed value is calculated that steers the propagation of the fast marching algorithm. The results of the fast marching algorithm are used to determine the 3D centerline by backtracking. The 3D radius is reconstructed from 2D radius estimates on the projection images. The proposed method was tested on computer simulated rotational angiography sequences with systematically varied x-ray acquisition, blood flow, and contrast agent injection parameters and on datasets from an experimental setup using an anthropomorphic cerebrovascular phantom. For the computer simulation, the mean absolute error of the 3D centerline and 3D radius estimation was 0.42 and 0.25 mm, respectively. For the experimental datasets, the mean absolute error of the 3D centerline was 0.45 mm. Under pulsatile and nonpulsatile conditions, flow information can be used to enable a 3D vessel reconstruction from rotational angiography with inflow and possibly outflow of contrast agent. We found that the most important parameter for the quality of the reconstruction of centerline and radii is the range through which the x-ray system rotates in the time span of the injection. Good results were obtained if this range was at least 135 deg. . As a standard c-arm can rotate 205 deg., typically one third of the acquisition can show inflow or outflow of contrast agent, which is required for the quantification of blood flow from rotational angiography.« less

Designing normative open virtual enterprises

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia, Emilia; Giret, Adriana; Botti, Vicente

2016-03-01

There is an increasing interest on developing virtual enterprises in order to deal with the globalisation of the economy, the rapid growth of information technologies and the increase of competitiveness. In this paper we deal with the development of normative open virtual enterprises (NOVEs). They are systems with a global objective that are composed of a set of heterogeneous entities and enterprises that exchange services following a specific normative context. In order to analyse and design systems of this kind the multi-agent paradigm seems suitable because it offers a specific solution for supporting the social and contractual relationships between enterprises and for formalising their business processes. This paper presents how the Regulated Open Multi-agent systems (ROMAS) methodology, an agent-oriented software methodology, can be used to analyse and design NOVEs. ROMAS offers a complete development process that allows identifying and formalising of the structure of NOVEs, their normative context and the interactions among their members. The use of ROMAS is exemplified by means of a case study that represents an automotive supply chain.

A comparison between metaheuristics as strategies for minimizing cyclic instability in Ambient Intelligence.

PubMed

Romero, Leoncio A; Zamudio, Victor; Baltazar, Rosario; Mezura, Efren; Sotelo, Marco; Callaghan, Vic

2012-01-01

In this paper we present a comparison between six novel approaches to the fundamental problem of cyclic instability in Ambient Intelligence. These approaches are based on different optimization algorithms, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Bee Swarm Optimization (BSO), micro Particle Swarm Optimization (μ-PSO), Artificial Immune System (AIS), Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Mutual Information Maximization for Input Clustering (MIMIC). In order to be able to use these algorithms, we introduced the concept of Average Cumulative Oscillation (ACO), which enabled us to measure the average behavior of the system. This approach has the advantage that it does not need to analyze the topological properties of the system, in particular the loops, which can be computationally expensive. In order to test these algorithms we used the well-known discrete system called the Game of Life for 9, 25, 49 and 289 agents. It was found that PSO and μ-PSO have the best performance in terms of the number of agents locked. These results were confirmed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. This novel and successful approach is very promising and can be used to remove instabilities in real scenarios with a large number of agents (including nomadic agents) and complex interactions and dependencies among them.

A Comparison between Metaheuristics as Strategies for Minimizing Cyclic Instability in Ambient Intelligence

PubMed Central

Romero, Leoncio A.; Zamudio, Victor; Baltazar, Rosario; Mezura, Efren; Sotelo, Marco; Callaghan, Vic

2012-01-01

In this paper we present a comparison between six novel approaches to the fundamental problem of cyclic instability in Ambient Intelligence. These approaches are based on different optimization algorithms, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Bee Swarm Optimization (BSO), micro Particle Swarm Optimization (μ-PSO), Artificial Immune System (AIS), Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Mutual Information Maximization for Input Clustering (MIMIC). In order to be able to use these algorithms, we introduced the concept of Average Cumulative Oscillation (ACO), which enabled us to measure the average behavior of the system. This approach has the advantage that it does not need to analyze the topological properties of the system, in particular the loops, which can be computationally expensive. In order to test these algorithms we used the well-known discrete system called the Game of Life for 9, 25, 49 and 289 agents. It was found that PSO and μ-PSO have the best performance in terms of the number of agents locked. These results were confirmed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. This novel and successful approach is very promising and can be used to remove instabilities in real scenarios with a large number of agents (including nomadic agents) and complex interactions and dependencies among them. PMID:23112643

A Multi-Agent System Architecture for Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Fuentes-Fernández, Rubén; Guijarro, María; Pajares, Gonzalo

2009-01-01

The design of the control systems for sensor networks presents important challenges. Besides the traditional problems about how to process the sensor data to obtain the target information, engineers need to consider additional aspects such as the heterogeneity and high number of sensors, and the flexibility of these networks regarding topologies and the sensors in them. Although there are partial approaches for resolving these issues, their integration relies on ad hoc solutions requiring important development efforts. In order to provide an effective approach for this integration, this paper proposes an architecture based on the multi-agent system paradigm with a clear separation of concerns. The architecture considers sensors as devices used by an upper layer of manager agents. These agents are able to communicate and negotiate services to achieve the required functionality. Activities are organized according to roles related with the different aspects to integrate, mainly sensor management, data processing, communication and adaptation to changes in the available devices and their capabilities. This organization largely isolates and decouples the data management from the changing network, while encouraging reuse of solutions. The use of the architecture is facilitated by a specific modelling language developed through metamodelling. A case study concerning a generic distributed system for fire fighting illustrates the approach and the comparison with related work. PMID:22303172

A multi-agent system architecture for sensor networks.

PubMed

Fuentes-Fernández, Rubén; Guijarro, María; Pajares, Gonzalo

2009-01-01

The design of the control systems for sensor networks presents important challenges. Besides the traditional problems about how to process the sensor data to obtain the target information, engineers need to consider additional aspects such as the heterogeneity and high number of sensors, and the flexibility of these networks regarding topologies and the sensors in them. Although there are partial approaches for resolving these issues, their integration relies on ad hoc solutions requiring important development efforts. In order to provide an effective approach for this integration, this paper proposes an architecture based on the multi-agent system paradigm with a clear separation of concerns. The architecture considers sensors as devices used by an upper layer of manager agents. These agents are able to communicate and negotiate services to achieve the required functionality. Activities are organized according to roles related with the different aspects to integrate, mainly sensor management, data processing, communication and adaptation to changes in the available devices and their capabilities. This organization largely isolates and decouples the data management from the changing network, while encouraging reuse of solutions. The use of the architecture is facilitated by a specific modelling language developed through metamodelling. A case study concerning a generic distributed system for fire fighting illustrates the approach and the comparison with related work.

Multi-agent based control of large-scale complex systems employing distributed dynamic inference engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Daili

Increasing societal demand for automation has led to considerable efforts to control large-scale complex systems, especially in the area of autonomous intelligent control methods. The control system of a large-scale complex system needs to satisfy four system level requirements: robustness, flexibility, reusability, and scalability. Corresponding to the four system level requirements, there arise four major challenges. First, it is difficult to get accurate and complete information. Second, the system may be physically highly distributed. Third, the system evolves very quickly. Fourth, emergent global behaviors of the system can be caused by small disturbances at the component level. The Multi-Agent Based Control (MABC) method as an implementation of distributed intelligent control has been the focus of research since the 1970s, in an effort to solve the above-mentioned problems in controlling large-scale complex systems. However, to the author's best knowledge, all MABC systems for large-scale complex systems with significant uncertainties are problem-specific and thus difficult to extend to other domains or larger systems. This situation is partly due to the control architecture of multiple agents being determined by agent to agent coupling and interaction mechanisms. Therefore, the research objective of this dissertation is to develop a comprehensive, generalized framework for the control system design of general large-scale complex systems with significant uncertainties, with the focus on distributed control architecture design and distributed inference engine design. A Hybrid Multi-Agent Based Control (HyMABC) architecture is proposed by combining hierarchical control architecture and module control architecture with logical replication rings. First, it decomposes a complex system hierarchically; second, it combines the components in the same level as a module, and then designs common interfaces for all of the components in the same module; third, replications are made for critical agents and are organized into logical rings. This architecture maintains clear guidelines for complexity decomposition and also increases the robustness of the whole system. Multiple Sectioned Dynamic Bayesian Networks (MSDBNs) as a distributed dynamic probabilistic inference engine, can be embedded into the control architecture to handle uncertainties of general large-scale complex systems. MSDBNs decomposes a large knowledge-based system into many agents. Each agent holds its partial perspective of a large problem domain by representing its knowledge as a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN). Each agent accesses local evidence from its corresponding local sensors and communicates with other agents through finite message passing. If the distributed agents can be organized into a tree structure, satisfying the running intersection property and d-sep set requirements, globally consistent inferences are achievable in a distributed way. By using different frequencies for local DBN agent belief updating and global system belief updating, it balances the communication cost with the global consistency of inferences. In this dissertation, a fully factorized Boyen-Koller (BK) approximation algorithm is used for local DBN agent belief updating, and the static Junction Forest Linkage Tree (JFLT) algorithm is used for global system belief updating. MSDBNs assume a static structure and a stable communication network for the whole system. However, for a real system, sub-Bayesian networks as nodes could be lost, and the communication network could be shut down due to partial damage in the system. Therefore, on-line and automatic MSDBNs structure formation is necessary for making robust state estimations and increasing survivability of the whole system. A Distributed Spanning Tree Optimization (DSTO) algorithm, a Distributed D-Sep Set Satisfaction (DDSSS) algorithm, and a Distributed Running Intersection Satisfaction (DRIS) algorithm are proposed in this dissertation. Combining these three distributed algorithms and a Distributed Belief Propagation (DBP) algorithm in MSDBNs makes state estimations robust to partial damage in the whole system. Combining the distributed control architecture design and the distributed inference engine design leads to a process of control system design for a general large-scale complex system. As applications of the proposed methodology, the control system design of a simplified ship chilled water system and a notional ship chilled water system have been demonstrated step by step. Simulation results not only show that the proposed methodology gives a clear guideline for control system design for general large-scale complex systems with dynamic and uncertain environment, but also indicate that the combination of MSDBNs and HyMABC can provide excellent performance for controlling general large-scale complex systems.

Characterizing emergent properties of immunological systems with multi-cellular rule-based computational modeling.

PubMed

Chavali, Arvind K; Gianchandani, Erwin P; Tung, Kenneth S; Lawrence, Michael B; Peirce, Shayn M; Papin, Jason A

2008-12-01

The immune system is comprised of numerous components that interact with one another to give rise to phenotypic behaviors that are sometimes unexpected. Agent-based modeling (ABM) and cellular automata (CA) belong to a class of discrete mathematical approaches in which autonomous entities detect local information and act over time according to logical rules. The power of this approach lies in the emergence of behavior that arises from interactions between agents, which would otherwise be impossible to know a priori. Recent work exploring the immune system with ABM and CA has revealed novel insights into immunological processes. Here, we summarize these applications to immunology and, particularly, how ABM can help formulate hypotheses that might drive further experimental investigations of disease mechanisms.

[Implementation of a community tele-epidemiological surveillance system using information and communication technologies in Paraguay].

PubMed

Galván, Pedro; Cane, Virgilio; Samudio, Margarita; Cabello, Agueda; Cabral, Margarita; Basogain, Xavier; Rivas, Ronald; Hilario, Enrique

2014-01-01

Report preliminary results of the application of the BONIS system in community tele-epidemiological surveillance in Paraguay. A study of viability and implementation carried out in the Family Health Unit located in Bañado Sur in the city of Asunción by the Paraguay River. The system automatically records personal data and symptoms of individuals who make telephone reports, and suspected cases of dengue are classified and prioritized. This information goes to community agents for follow-up and to specialists in charge of epidemiological surveillance. From April 2010 to August 2011, 1 028 calls to the system were logged. Of 157 reported cases of fever, home visits were made to 140 (89.2%); of these, fever and headache or body ache were confirmed in 52 (37.1%) cases, and headache or body ache without fever in 58 (41.4%) cases. Community agents referred 49 (35.0%) of them for medical consultation and blood tests, and they took blood samples in the homes of 19; of these, 56 (82.3%) were positive for dengue and 12 (17.4%) for influenza. Paraguay has a low-cost community tele-epidemiological surveillance system based on information and communication technologies and open-source software, which is scalable to other health symptoms and disorders of interest. To enable its acceptance and application, education programs should be developed to strengthen the management and promotion of community health.

DRINKING WATER MICROBIOLOGY - NEW DIRECTIONS TOWARD WATER QUALITY ENHANCEMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Many concerns result from information on new waterborne agents, treatment problems of raw water qualities, biofilm development in some distribution systems, and special quality needs unique to hospitals and industries. Protozoan cyst penetration after some disinfection practices ...

Autonomous Preference-Aware Information Services Integration for High Response in Integrated Faded Information Field Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Xiaodong; Mori, Kinji

The market and users' requirements have been rapidly changing and diversified. Under these heterogeneous and dynamic situations, not only the system structure itself, but also the accessible information services would be changed constantly. To cope with the continuously changing conditions of service provision and utilization, Faded Information Field (FIF) has been proposed, which is a agent-based distributed information service system architecture. In the case of a mono-service request, the system is designed to improve users' access time and preserve load balancing through the information structure. However, with interdependent requests of multi-service increasing, adaptability and timeliness have to be assured by the system. In this paper, the relationship that exists among the correlated services and the users' preferences for separate and integrated services is clarified. Based on these factors, the autonomous preference-aware information services integration technology to provide one-stop service for users multi-service requests is proposed. As compared to the conventional system, we show that proposed technology is able to reduce the total access time.

Buses of Cuernavaca—an agent-based model for universal random matrix behavior minimizing mutual information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warchoł, Piotr

2018-06-01

The public transportation system of Cuernavaca, Mexico, exhibits random matrix theory statistics. In particular, the fluctuation of times between the arrival of buses on a given bus stop, follows the Wigner surmise for the Gaussian unitary ensemble. To model this, we propose an agent-based approach in which each bus driver tries to optimize his arrival time to the next stop with respect to an estimated arrival time of his predecessor. We choose a particular form of the associated utility function and recover the appropriate distribution in numerical experiments for a certain value of the only parameter of the model. We then investigate whether this value of the parameter is otherwise distinguished within an information theoretic approach and give numerical evidence that indeed it is associated with a minimum of averaged pairwise mutual information.

Extended Neural Metastability in an Embodied Model of Sensorimotor Coupling

PubMed Central

Aguilera, Miguel; Bedia, Manuel G.; Barandiaran, Xabier E.

2016-01-01

The hypothesis that brain organization is based on mechanisms of metastable synchronization in neural assemblies has been popularized during the last decades of neuroscientific research. Nevertheless, the role of body and environment for understanding the functioning of metastable assemblies is frequently dismissed. The main goal of this paper is to investigate the contribution of sensorimotor coupling to neural and behavioral metastability using a minimal computational model of plastic neural ensembles embedded in a robotic agent in a behavioral preference task. Our hypothesis is that, under some conditions, the metastability of the system is not restricted to the brain but extends to the system composed by the interaction of brain, body and environment. We test this idea, comparing an agent in continuous interaction with its environment in a task demanding behavioral flexibility with an equivalent model from the point of view of “internalist neuroscience.” A statistical characterization of our model and tools from information theory allow us to show how (1) the bidirectional coupling between agent and environment brings the system closer to a regime of criticality and triggers the emergence of additional metastable states which are not found in the brain in isolation but extended to the whole system of sensorimotor interaction, (2) the synaptic plasticity of the agent is fundamental to sustain open structures in the neural controller of the agent flexibly engaging and disengaging different behavioral patterns that sustain sensorimotor metastable states, and (3) these extended metastable states emerge when the agent generates an asymmetrical circular loop of causal interaction with its environment, in which the agent responds to variability of the environment at fast timescales while acting over the environment at slow timescales, suggesting the constitution of the agent as an autonomous entity actively modulating its sensorimotor coupling with the world. We conclude with a reflection about how our results contribute in a more general way to current progress in neuroscientific research. PMID:27721746

Extended Neural Metastability in an Embodied Model of Sensorimotor Coupling.

PubMed

Aguilera, Miguel; Bedia, Manuel G; Barandiaran, Xabier E

2016-01-01

The hypothesis that brain organization is based on mechanisms of metastable synchronization in neural assemblies has been popularized during the last decades of neuroscientific research. Nevertheless, the role of body and environment for understanding the functioning of metastable assemblies is frequently dismissed. The main goal of this paper is to investigate the contribution of sensorimotor coupling to neural and behavioral metastability using a minimal computational model of plastic neural ensembles embedded in a robotic agent in a behavioral preference task. Our hypothesis is that, under some conditions, the metastability of the system is not restricted to the brain but extends to the system composed by the interaction of brain, body and environment. We test this idea, comparing an agent in continuous interaction with its environment in a task demanding behavioral flexibility with an equivalent model from the point of view of "internalist neuroscience." A statistical characterization of our model and tools from information theory allow us to show how (1) the bidirectional coupling between agent and environment brings the system closer to a regime of criticality and triggers the emergence of additional metastable states which are not found in the brain in isolation but extended to the whole system of sensorimotor interaction, (2) the synaptic plasticity of the agent is fundamental to sustain open structures in the neural controller of the agent flexibly engaging and disengaging different behavioral patterns that sustain sensorimotor metastable states, and (3) these extended metastable states emerge when the agent generates an asymmetrical circular loop of causal interaction with its environment, in which the agent responds to variability of the environment at fast timescales while acting over the environment at slow timescales, suggesting the constitution of the agent as an autonomous entity actively modulating its sensorimotor coupling with the world. We conclude with a reflection about how our results contribute in a more general way to current progress in neuroscientific research.

Imaging-related medications: a class overview

PubMed Central

2007-01-01

Imaging-related medications (contrast agents) are commonly utilized to improve visualization of radiographic, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance (MR) images. While traditional medications are used specifically for their pharmacological actions, the ideal imaging agent provides enhanced contrast with little biological interaction. The radiopaque agents, barium sulfate and iodinated contrast agents, confer “contrast” to x-ray films by their physical ability to directly absorb x-rays. Gadolinium-based MR agents enhance visualization of tissues when exposed to a magnetic field. Ferrous-ferric oxide–based paramagnetic agents provide negative contrast for MR liver studies. This article provides an overview of clinically relevant information for the imaging-related medications commonly in use. It reviews the safety improvements in new generations of drugs; risk factors and precautions for the reduction of severe adverse reactions (i.e., extravasation, contrast-induced nephropathy, metformin-induced lactic acidosis, and nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy/nephrogenic systemic fibrosis); and the significance of diligent patient screening before contrast exposure and appropriate monitoring after exposure. PMID:17948119

Roles for Agent Assistants in Field Science: Understanding Personal Projects and Collaboration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clancey, William J.

2003-01-01

A human-centered approach to computer systems design involves reframing analysis in terms of the people interacting with each other. The primary concern is not how people can interact with computers, but how shall we design work systems (facilities, tools, roles, and procedures) to help people pursue their personal projects, as they work independently and collaboratively? Two case studies provide empirical requirements. First, an analysis of astronaut interactions with CapCom on Earth during one traverse of Apollo 17 shows what kind of information was conveyed and what might be automated today. A variety of agent and robotic technologies are proposed that deal with recurrent problems in communication and coordination during the analyzed traverse. Second, an analysis of biologists and a geologist working at Haughton Crater in the High Canadian Arctic reveals how work interactions between people involve independent personal projects, sensitively coordinated for mutual benefit. In both cases, an agent or robotic system's role would be to assist people, rather than collaborating, because today's computer systems lack the identity and purpose that consciousness provides.

[Networks of experiences on community health as an information system in health promotion: lessons learned in Aragon (Spain)].

PubMed

Gállego-Diéguez, Javier; Aliaga Traín, Pilar; Benedé Azagra, Carmen Belén; Bueno Franco, Manuel; Ferrer Gracia, Elisa; Ipiéns Sarrate, José Ramón; Muñoz Nadal, Pilar; Plumed Parrilla, Manuela; Vilches Urrutia, Begoña

2016-11-01

Networks of community health experiences promote interaction and knowledge management in health promotion among their participants. These networks integrate both professionals and social agents who work directly on the ground in small environments, with defined objectives and inclusion criteria and voluntary participation. In this article, networks in Aragon (Spain) are reviewed in order to analyse their role as an information system. The Health Promotion Projects Network of Aragon (Red Aragonesa de Proyectos de Promoción de la Salud, RAPPS) was launched in 1996 and currently includes 73 projects. The average duration of projects is 12.7 years. RAPPS interdisciplinary teams involve 701 people, of which 89.6% are professionals and 10.6% are social agents. The Aragon Health Promoting Schools Network (Red Aragonesa de Escuelas Promotoras de Salud, RAEPS) integrates 134 schools (24.9% of Aragon). The schools teams involve 829 teachers and members of the school community, students (35.2%), families (26.2%) and primary care health professionals (9.8%). Experiences Networks boost citizen participation, have an influence in changing social determinants and contribute to the formulation of plans and regional strategies. Networks can provide indicators for a health promotion information and monitoring system on: capacity building services in the territory, identifying assets and models of good practice, cross-sectoral and equity initiatives. Experiences Networks represent an opportunity to create a health promotion information system, systematising available information and establishing quality criteria for initiatives. Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

[Exposure to biological agents used in Polish enterprises: analysis of data derived from the National Register of Biological Agent].

PubMed

Kozajda, Anna; Szadkowska-Stańczyk, Irena

2011-01-01

The National Register of Biological Agents at Work and the National Information Centre for Biological Agents Present at Workplaces were established in the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in 2005. The National Information Centre carries out consultation and education activities concerning occupational exposure and risk assessment, development and implementation of preventive programs and accurate registration of reliable information about the use of biological agents. Educational materials on biological exposure are published on the website. The National Register of Biological Agents (database) collects and periodically analyzes the information obtained from employers about the use of biological agents for research, diagnostic or industrial purposes. As of 10 December 2010 there were 240 notifications from companies, which use biological agents for the following purposes: research--69, industrial--30 and diagnostic--321. Near 75% of all notifications were obtained from different diagnostic laboratories (public and private). In total, 3226 workers, including 2967 (92%) women and 256 (8%) men were exposed to biological agents. In general, occupational exposure to 209 biological agents (186 of risk group 2 and 23 of risk group 3, of which 16 are additionally marked by 3**) were registered in the data base.

Agent Reasoning Transparency: The Influence of Information Level on Automation Induced Complacency

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-01

ARL-TR-8044 ● JUNE 2017 US Army Research Laboratory Agent Reasoning Transparency: The Influence of Information Level on...US Army Research Laboratory Agent Reasoning Transparency: The Influence of Information Level on Automation-Induced Complacency by Julia...collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources

VAS: A Vision Advisor System combining agents and object-oriented databases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eilbert, James L.; Lim, William; Mendelsohn, Jay; Braun, Ron; Yearwood, Michael

1994-01-01

A model-based approach to identifying and finding the orientation of non-overlapping parts on a tray has been developed. The part models contain both exact and fuzzy descriptions of part features, and are stored in an object-oriented database. Full identification of the parts involves several interacting tasks each of which is handled by a distinct agent. Using fuzzy information stored in the model allowed part features that were essentially at the noise level to be extracted and used for identification. This was done by focusing attention on the portion of the part where the feature must be found if the current hypothesis of the part ID is correct. In going from one set of parts to another the only thing that needs to be changed is the database of part models. This work is part of an effort in developing a Vision Advisor System (VAS) that combines agents and objected-oriented databases.

Distributed Optimization for a Class of Nonlinear Multiagent Systems With Disturbance Rejection.

PubMed

Wang, Xinghu; Hong, Yiguang; Ji, Haibo

2016-07-01

The paper studies the distributed optimization problem for a class of nonlinear multiagent systems in the presence of external disturbances. To solve the problem, we need to achieve the optimal multiagent consensus based on local cost function information and neighboring information and meanwhile to reject local disturbance signals modeled by an exogenous system. With convex analysis and the internal model approach, we propose a distributed optimization controller for heterogeneous and nonlinear agents in the form of continuous-time minimum-phase systems with unity relative degree. We prove that the proposed design can solve the exact optimization problem with rejecting disturbances.

A virtual therapeutic environment with user projective agents.

PubMed

Ookita, S Y; Tokuda, H

2001-02-01

Today, we see the Internet as more than just an information infrastructure, but a socializing place and a safe outlet of inner feelings. Many personalities develop aside from real world life due to its anonymous environment. Virtual world interactions are bringing about new psychological illnesses ranging from netaddiction to technostress, as well as online personality disorders and conflicts in multiple identities that exist in the virtual world. Presently, there are no standard therapy models for the virtual environment. There are very few therapeutic environments, or tools especially made for virtual therapeutic environments. The goal of our research is to provide the therapy model and middleware tools for psychologists to use in virtual therapeutic environments. We propose the Cyber Therapy Model, and Projective Agents, a tool used in the therapeutic environment. To evaluate the effectiveness of the tool, we created a prototype system, called the Virtual Group Counseling System, which is a therapeutic environment that allows the user to participate in group counseling through the eyes of their Projective Agent. Projective Agents inherit the user's personality traits. During the virtual group counseling, the user's Projective Agent interacts and collaborates to recover and increase their psychological growth. The prototype system provides a simulation environment where psychologists can adjust the parameters and customize their own simulation environment. The model and tool is a first attempt toward simulating online personalities that may exist only online, and provide data for observation.

Adaptive, Distributed Control of Constrained Multi-Agent Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bieniawski, Stefan; Wolpert, David H.

2004-01-01

Product Distribution (PO) theory was recently developed as a broad framework for analyzing and optimizing distributed systems. Here we demonstrate its use for adaptive distributed control of Multi-Agent Systems (MASS), i.e., for distributed stochastic optimization using MAS s. First we review one motivation of PD theory, as the information-theoretic extension of conventional full-rationality game theory to the case of bounded rational agents. In this extension the equilibrium of the game is the optimizer of a Lagrangian of the (Probability dist&&on on the joint state of the agents. When the game in question is a team game with constraints, that equilibrium optimizes the expected value of the team game utility, subject to those constraints. One common way to find that equilibrium is to have each agent run a Reinforcement Learning (E) algorithm. PD theory reveals this to be a particular type of search algorithm for minimizing the Lagrangian. Typically that algorithm i s quite inefficient. A more principled alternative is to use a variant of Newton's method to minimize the Lagrangian. Here we compare this alternative to RL-based search in three sets of computer experiments. These are the N Queen s problem and bin-packing problem from the optimization literature, and the Bar problem from the distributed RL literature. Our results confirm that the PD-theory-based approach outperforms the RL-based scheme in all three domains.

Information-Seeking Practices of County Extension Agents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bailey, Nikki; Hill, Alexandra; Arnold, Shannon

2014-01-01

The purpose of the study reported here was to examine the educational resources used by Montana State University Extension county agents. An online survey was administered to evaluate agents' informational needs. Agents reported client questions (93.8%) and program/workshop planning and presentations (91.7%) as the main reasons for seeking…

75 FR 23223 - Multi-Agency Informational Meeting Concerning Compliance With the Federal Select Agent Program...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-03

...] Multi-Agency Informational Meeting Concerning Compliance With the Federal Select Agent Program; Public... Select Agent Program established under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and... Roberson, Veterinary Permit Examiner, APHIS Select Agent Program, VS, ASAP, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 2...

76 FR 14896 - Multi-Agency Informational Meeting Concerning Compliance With the Federal Select Agent Program...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-18

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76 FR 17617 - Multi-Agency Informational Meeting Concerning Compliance With the Federal Select Agent Program...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-30

...] Multi-Agency Informational Meeting Concerning Compliance With the Federal Select Agent Program; Public... specific regulatory guidance related to the Federal Select Agent Program established under the Public.... Sarah Kwiatkowski, Veterinary Program Assistant, APHIS Select Agent Program, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit...

Evolution of natural agents: preservation, advance, and emergence of functional information.

PubMed

Sharov, Alexei A

2016-04-01

Biological evolution is often viewed narrowly as a change of morphology or allele frequency in a sequence of generations. Here I pursue an alternative informational concept of evolution, as preservation, advance, and emergence of functional information in natural agents. Functional information is a network of signs (e.g., memory, transient messengers, and external signs) that are used by agents to preserve and regulate their functions. Functional information is preserved in evolution via complex interplay of copying and construction processes: the digital components are copied, whereas interpreting subagents together with scaffolds, tools, and resources, are constructed. Some of these processes are simple and invariant, whereas others are complex and contextual. Advance of functional information includes improvement and modification of already existing functions. Although the genome information may change passively and randomly, the interpretation is active and guided by the logic of agent behavior and embryonic development. Emergence of new functions is based on the reinterpretation of already existing information, when old tools, resources, and control algorithms are adopted for novel functions. Evolution of functional information progressed from protosemiosis, where signs correspond directly to actions, to eusemiosis, where agents associate signs with objects. Language is the most advanced form of eusemiosis, where the knowledge of objects and models is communicated between agents.

Evolution of natural agents: preservation, advance, and emergence of functional information

PubMed Central

Sharov, Alexei A.

2016-01-01

Biological evolution is often viewed narrowly as a change of morphology or allele frequency in a sequence of generations. Here I pursue an alternative informational concept of evolution, as preservation, advance, and emergence of functional information in natural agents. Functional information is a network of signs (e.g., memory, transient messengers, and external signs) that are used by agents to preserve and regulate their functions. Functional information is preserved in evolution via complex interplay of copying and construction processes: the digital components are copied, whereas interpreting subagents together with scaffolds, tools, and resources, are constructed. Some of these processes are simple and invariant, whereas others are complex and contextual. Advance of functional information includes improvement and modification of already existing functions. Although the genome information may change passively and randomly, the interpretation is active and guided by the logic of agent behavior and embryonic development. Emergence of new functions is based on the reinterpretation of already existing information, when old tools, resources, and control algorithms are adopted for novel functions. Evolution of functional information progressed from protosemiosis, where signs correspond directly to actions, to eusemiosis, where agents associate signs with objects. Language is the most advanced form of eusemiosis, where the knowledge of objects and models is communicated between agents. PMID:27525048

The Price of Uncertainty in Security Games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grossklags, Jens; Johnson, Benjamin; Christin, Nicolas

In the realm of information security, lack of information about other users' incentives in a network can lead to inefficient security choices and reductions in individuals' payoffs. We propose, contrast and compare three metrics for measuring the price of uncertainty due to the departure from the payoff-optimal security outcomes under complete information. Per the analogy with other efficiency metrics, such as the price of anarchy, we define the price of uncertainty as the maximum discrepancy in expected payoff in a complete information environment versus the payoff in an incomplete information environment. We consider difference, payoffratio, and cost-ratio metrics as canonical nontrivial measurements of the price of uncertainty. We conduct an algebraic, numerical, and graphical analysis of these metrics applied to different well-studied security scenarios proposed in prior work (i.e., best shot, weakest-link, and total effort). In these scenarios, we study how a fully rational expert agent could utilize the metrics to decide whether to gather information about the economic incentives of multiple nearsighted and naïve agents. We find substantial differences between the various metrics and evaluate the appropriateness for security choices in networked systems.

Distributed Adaptive Control: Beyond Single-Instant, Discrete Variables

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolpert, David H.; Bieniawski, Stefan

2005-01-01

In extensive form noncooperative game theory, at each instant t, each agent i sets its state x, independently of the other agents, by sampling an associated distribution, q(sub i)(x(sub i)). The coupling between the agents arises in the joint evolution of those distributions. Distributed control problems can be cast the same way. In those problems the system designer sets aspects of the joint evolution of the distributions to try to optimize the goal for the overall system. Now information theory tells us what the separate q(sub i) of the agents are most likely to be if the system were to have a particular expected value of the objective function G(x(sub 1),x(sub 2), ...). So one can view the job of the system designer as speeding an iterative process. Each step of that process starts with a specified value of E(G), and the convergence of the q(sub i) to the most likely set of distributions consistent with that value. After this the target value for E(sub q)(G) is lowered, and then the process repeats. Previous work has elaborated many schemes for implementing this process when the underlying variables x(sub i) all have a finite number of possible values and G does not extend to multiple instants in time. That work also is based on a fixed mapping from agents to control devices, so that the the statistical independence of the agents' moves means independence of the device states. This paper also extends that work to relax all of these restrictions. This extends the applicability of that work to include continuous spaces and Reinforcement Learning. This paper also elaborates how some of that earlier work can be viewed as a first-principles justification of evolution-based search algorithms.

Analysis of DIRAC's behavior using model checking with process algebra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Remenska, Daniela; Templon, Jeff; Willemse, Tim; Bal, Henri; Verstoep, Kees; Fokkink, Wan; Charpentier, Philippe; Graciani Diaz, Ricardo; Lanciotti, Elisa; Roiser, Stefan; Ciba, Krzysztof

2012-12-01

DIRAC is the grid solution developed to support LHCb production activities as well as user data analysis. It consists of distributed services and agents delivering the workload to the grid resources. Services maintain database back-ends to store dynamic state information of entities such as jobs, queues, staging requests, etc. Agents use polling to check and possibly react to changes in the system state. Each agent's logic is relatively simple; the main complexity lies in their cooperation. Agents run concurrently, and collaborate using the databases as shared memory. The databases can be accessed directly by the agents if running locally or through a DIRAC service interface if necessary. This shared-memory model causes entities to occasionally get into inconsistent states. Tracing and fixing such problems becomes formidable due to the inherent parallelism present. We propose more rigorous methods to cope with this. Model checking is one such technique for analysis of an abstract model of a system. Unlike conventional testing, it allows full control over the parallel processes execution, and supports exhaustive state-space exploration. We used the mCRL2 language and toolset to model the behavior of two related DIRAC subsystems: the workload and storage management system. Based on process algebra, mCRL2 allows defining custom data types as well as functions over these. This makes it suitable for modeling the data manipulations made by DIRAC's agents. By visualizing the state space and replaying scenarios with the toolkit's simulator, we have detected race-conditions and deadlocks in these systems, which, in several cases, were confirmed to occur in the reality. Several properties of interest were formulated and verified with the tool. Our future direction is automating the translation from DIRAC to a formal model.

Future Oil Spills and Possibilities for Intervention: A Model for the Coupled Human-Environmental Resource Extraction System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shughrue, C. M.; Werner, B.; Nugnug, P. T.

2010-12-01

The catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill highlights the risks for widespread environmental damage resulting from petroleum resource extraction. Possibilities for amelioration of these risks depend critically on understanding the dynamics and nonlinear interactions between various components of the coupled human-environmental resource extraction system. We use a complexity analysis to identify the levels of description and time scales at which these interactions are strongest, and then use the analysis as the basis for an agent-based numerical model with which decadal trends can be analyzed. Oil industry economic and technological activity and associated oil spills are components of a complex system that is coupled to natural environment, legislation, regulation, media, and resistance systems over annual to decadal time scales. In the model, oil spills are produced stochastically with a range of magnitudes depending on a reliability-engineering-based assessment of failure for the technology employed, human factors including compliance with operating procedures, and risks associated with the drilling environment. Oil industry agents determine drilling location and technological investment using a cost-benefit analysis relating projected revenue from added production to technology cost and government regulation. Media outlet agents reporting on the oil industry and environmental damage from oil spills assess the impacts of aggressively covering a story on circulation increases, advertiser concerns and potential loss of information sources. Environmental advocacy group agents increase public awareness of environmental damage (through media and public contact), solicit memberships and donations, and apply direct pressure on legislators for policy change. Heterogeneous general public agents adjust their desire for change in the level of regulation, contact their representatives or participate in resistance via protest by considering media sources, personal experiences with oil spills and individual predispositions toward the industry. Legislator agents pass legislation and influence regulator agents based on interaction with oil industry, media and general public agents. Regulator agents generate and enforce regulations by responding to pressure from legislator and oil industry agents. Oil spill impacts on the natural environment are related to number and magnitude of spills, drilling locations, and spill response methodology, determined collaboratively by government and oil company agents. Agents at the corporate and government levels use heterogeneous prediction models combined with a constant absolute risk aversion utility for wealth. This model simulates a nonlinear adaptive system with mechanisms to self-regulate oil industry activity, environmental damage and public response. A comparison of model output with historical oil industry development and environmental damage; the sensitivity of oil spill damage to economic, political and social factors; the potential for the emergence of new and possibly unstable behaviors; and opportunities for intervening in system dynamics to alter expected outcomes will be discussed. Supported by NSF: Geomorphology and Land Use Dynamics Program

Optimal consensus algorithm integrated with obstacle avoidance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jianan; Xin, Ming

2013-01-01

This article proposes a new consensus algorithm for the networked single-integrator systems in an obstacle-laden environment. A novel optimal control approach is utilised to achieve not only multi-agent consensus but also obstacle avoidance capability with minimised control efforts. Three cost functional components are defined to fulfil the respective tasks. In particular, an innovative nonquadratic obstacle avoidance cost function is constructed from an inverse optimal control perspective. The other two components are designed to ensure consensus and constrain the control effort. The asymptotic stability and optimality are proven. In addition, the distributed and analytical optimal control law only requires local information based on the communication topology to guarantee the proposed behaviours, rather than all agents' information. The consensus and obstacle avoidance are validated through simulations.

75 FR 1634 - MMS Information Collection Activity: 1010-0176, Renewable Energy and Alternate Uses of Existing...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-12

... information or comments relative to alternative energy-related uses of the OCS; certified verification agents... evidence that agent is authorized to act for bidder; if applicable, submit information to support delay in... title, eligibility and other qualifications; and evidence that agent is authorized to execute assignment...

Mother ship and physical agents collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, Stuart H.; Budulas, Peter P.; Emmerman, Philip J.

1999-07-01

This paper discusses ongoing research at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory that investigates the feasibility of developing a collaboration architecture between small physical agents and a mother ship. This incudes the distribution of planning, perception, mobility, processing and communications requirements between the mother ship and the agents. Small physical agents of the future will be virtually everywhere on the battlefield of the 21st century. A mother ship that is coupled to a team of small collaborating physical agents (conducting tasks such as Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA); logistics; sentry; and communications relay) will be used to build a completely effective and mission capable intelligent system. The mother ship must have long-range mobility to deploy the small, highly maneuverable agents that will operate in urban environments and more localized areas, and act as a logistics base for the smaller agents. The mother ship also establishes a robust communications network between the agents and is the primary information disseminating and receiving point to the external world. Because of its global knowledge and processing power, the mother ship does the high-level control and planning for the collaborative physical agents. This high level control and interaction between the mother ship and its agents (including inter agent collaboration) will be software agent architecture based. The mother ship incorporates multi-resolution battlefield visualization and analysis technology, which aids in mission planning and sensor fusion.

Workflow management in large distributed systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Legrand, I.; Newman, H.; Voicu, R.; Dobre, C.; Grigoras, C.

2011-12-01

The MonALISA (Monitoring Agents using a Large Integrated Services Architecture) framework provides a distributed service system capable of controlling and optimizing large-scale, data-intensive applications. An essential part of managing large-scale, distributed data-processing facilities is a monitoring system for computing facilities, storage, networks, and the very large number of applications running on these systems in near realtime. All this monitoring information gathered for all the subsystems is essential for developing the required higher-level services—the components that provide decision support and some degree of automated decisions—and for maintaining and optimizing workflow in large-scale distributed systems. These management and global optimization functions are performed by higher-level agent-based services. We present several applications of MonALISA's higher-level services including optimized dynamic routing, control, data-transfer scheduling, distributed job scheduling, dynamic allocation of storage resource to running jobs and automated management of remote services among a large set of grid facilities.

A system of system lenses for leadership decision-making.

PubMed

Cady, Phil

2016-01-01

The sheer volume and dynamics among system agents in healthcare makes decision-making a daunting task at all levels. Being clear about what leaders mean by "healthcare system" is critical in aligning system strategy and leadership decision-making. This article presents an emerging set of lenses (ideology and beliefs, rational and irrational information processing, interpersonal social dynamics, process and value creation, and context) to help frame leadership decision-making in healthcare systems. © 2015 The Canadian College of Health Leaders.

75 FR 76460 - Lymphohematopoietic Cancers Induced by Chemicals and Other Agents: Overview and Implications for...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-08

... emphasis on leukemia and leukemia-inducing agents. In addition, the document also focuses on how mechanistic information on human leukemia-inducing agents can inform risk assessment. EPA is releasing this... primary emphasis on leukemia and leukemia-inducing agents. II. How to Submit Technical Comments to the...

Construction of Interaction Layer on Socio-Environmental Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torii, Daisuke; Ishida, Toru

In this study, we propose a method to construct a system based on a legacy socio-environmental simulator which enables to design more realistic interaction models in socio-environmetal simulations. First, to provide a computational model suitable for agent interactions, an interaction layer is constructed and connected from outside of a legacy socio-environmental simulator. Next, to configure the agents interacting ability, connection description for controlling the flow of information in the connection area is provided. As a concrete example, we realized an interaction layer by Q which is a scenario description language and connected it to CORMAS, a socio-envirionmental simulator. Finally, we discuss the capability of our method, using the system, in the Fire-Fighter domain.

An Agent-Based Information System for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Deployment

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-08-18

The current scarcity of public charging infrastructure is one of the major barriers to mass household adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). Although most PEV drivers can recharge their vehicles at home, the limited driving range of the vehicl...

Integrity mechanism for eHealth tele-monitoring system in smart home environment.

PubMed

Mantas, Georgios; Lymberopoulos, Dimitrios; Komninos, Nikos

2009-01-01

During the past few years, a lot of effort has been invested in research and development of eHealth tele-monitoring systems that will provide many benefits for healthcare delivery from the healthcare provider to the patient's home. However, there is a plethora of security requirements in eHealth tele-monitoring systems. Data integrity of the transferred medical data is one of the most important security requirements that should be satisfied in these systems, since medical information is extremely sensitive information, and even sometimes life threatening information. In this paper, we present a data integrity mechanism for eHealth tele-monitoring system that operates in a smart home environment. Agent technology is applied to achieve data integrity with the use of cryptographic smart cards. Furthermore, the overall security infrastructure and its various components are described.

Cooperatively surrounding control for multiple Euler-Lagrange systems subjected to uncertain dynamics and input constraints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Liang-Ming; Lv, Yue-Yong; Li, Chuan-Jiang; Ma, Guang-Fu

2016-12-01

In this paper, we investigate cooperatively surrounding control (CSC) of multi-agent systems modeled by Euler-Lagrange (EL) equations under a directed graph. With the consideration of the uncertain dynamics in an EL system, a backstepping CSC algorithm combined with neural-networks is proposed first such that the agents can move cooperatively to surround the stationary target. Then, a command filtered backstepping CSC algorithm is further proposed to deal with the constraints on control input and the absence of neighbors’ velocity information. Numerical examples of eight satellites surrounding one space target illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results. Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2012CB720000) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61304005 and 61403103).

Contingency theoretic methodology for agent-based web-oriented manufacturing systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Durrett, John R.; Burnell, Lisa J.; Priest, John W.

2000-12-01

The development of distributed, agent-based, web-oriented, N-tier Information Systems (IS) must be supported by a design methodology capable of responding to the convergence of shifts in business process design, organizational structure, computing, and telecommunications infrastructures. We introduce a contingency theoretic model for the use of open, ubiquitous software infrastructure in the design of flexible organizational IS. Our basic premise is that developers should change in the way they view the software design process from a view toward the solution of a problem to one of the dynamic creation of teams of software components. We postulate that developing effective, efficient, flexible, component-based distributed software requires reconceptualizing the current development model. The basic concepts of distributed software design are merged with the environment-causes-structure relationship from contingency theory; the task-uncertainty of organizational- information-processing relationships from information processing theory; and the concept of inter-process dependencies from coordination theory. Software processes are considered as employees, groups of processes as software teams, and distributed systems as software organizations. Design techniques already used in the design of flexible business processes and well researched in the domain of the organizational sciences are presented. Guidelines that can be utilized in the creation of component-based distributed software will be discussed.

Management of patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing chemotherapy: recommendations of the Associazione Italiana di Oncologia Medica (AIOM) and the Società Italiana di Nefrologia (SIN).

PubMed

Pedrazzoli, Paolo; Silvestris, Nicola; Santoro, Antonio; Secondino, Simona; Brunetti, Oronzo; Longo, Vito; Mancini, Elena; Mariucci, Sara; Rampino, Teresa; Delfanti, Sara; Brugnatelli, Silvia; Cinieri, Saverio

2017-01-01

The overall risk of some cancers is increased in patients receiving regular dialysis treatment due to chronic oxidative stress, a weakened immune system and enhanced genomic damage. These patients could benefit from the same antineoplastic treatment delivered to patients with normal renal function, but a better risk/benefit ratio could be achieved by establishing specific guidelines. Key considerations are which chemotherapeutic agent to use, adjustment of dosages and timing of dialysis in relation to the administration of chemotherapy. We have reviewed available data present in the literature, including recommendations and expert opinions on cancer risk and use of chemotherapeutic agents in patients with end-stage renal disease. Experts selected by the boards of the societies provided additional information which helped greatly in clarifying some issues on which clear-cut information was missing or available data were conflicting. Data on the optimal use of chemotherapeutic agents or on credible schemes of polychemotherapy in haemodialysed patients are sparse and mainly derive from case reports or small case series. However, recommendations on dosing and timing of dialysis can be proposed for the most prescribed chemotherapeutic agents. The use of chemotherapeutic agents as single agents, or in combination, can be safely given in patients with end-stage renal disease. Appropriate dosage adjustments should be considered based on drug dialysability and pharmacokinetics. Coordinated care between oncologists, nephrologists and pharmacists is of pivotal importance to optimise drug delivery and timing of dialysis.

Pathobiology and management of laboratory rodents administered CDC category A agents.

PubMed

He, Yongqun; Rush, Howard G; Liepman, Rachel S; Xiang, Zuoshuang; Colby, Lesley A

2007-02-01

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Category A infectious agents include Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), Clostridium botulinum toxin (botulism), Yersinia pestis (plague), variola major virus (smallpox), Francisella tularensis (tularemia), and the filoviruses and arenaviruses that induce viral hemorrhagic fevers. These agents are regarded as having the greatest potential for adverse impact on public health and therefore are a focus of renewed attention in infectious disease research. Frequently rodent models are used to study the pathobiology of these agents. Although much is known regarding naturally occurring infections in humans, less is documented on the sources of exposures and potential risks of infection to researchers and animal care personnel after the administration of these hazardous substances to laboratory animals. Failure to appropriately manage the animals can result both in the creation of workplace hazards if human exposures occur and in disruption of the research if unintended animal exposures occur. Here we review representative Category A agents, with a focus on comparing the biologic effects in naturally infected humans and rodent models and on considerations specific to the management of infected rodent subjects. The information reviewed for each agent has been curated manually and stored in a unique Internet-based database system called HazARD (Hazards in Animal Research Database, http://helab.bioinformatics.med.umich.edu/hazard/) that is designed to assist researchers, administrators, safety officials, Institutional Biosafety Committees, and veterinary personnel seeking information on the management of risks associated with animal studies involving hazardous substances.

Information security for compliance with select agent regulations.

PubMed

Lewis, Nick; Campbell, Mark J; Baskin, Carole R

2015-01-01

The past decade has seen a significant rise in research on high-consequence human and animal pathogens, many now known as "select agents." While physical security around these agents is tightly regulated, information security standards are still lagging. The understanding of the threats unique to the academic and research environment is still evolving, in part due to poor communication between the various stakeholders. Perhaps as a result, information security guidelines published by select agent regulators lack the critical details and directives needed to achieve even the lowest security level of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). While only government agencies are currently required to abide by the provisions of FISMA (unless specified as preconditions for obtaining government grants or contracts--still a relatively rare or narrowly scoped occurrence), the same strategies were recently recommended by executive order for others. We propose that information security guidelines for select agent research be updated to promulgate and detail FISMA standards and processes and that the latter be ultimately incorporated into select agent regulations. We also suggest that information security in academic and research institutions would greatly benefit from active efforts to improve communication among the biosecurity, security, and information technology communities, and from a secure venue for exchange of timely information on emerging threats and solutions in the research environment.

Information Security for Compliance with Select Agent Regulations

PubMed Central

Lewis, Nick; Campbell, Mark J.

2015-01-01

The past decade has seen a significant rise in research on high-consequence human and animal pathogens, many now known as “select agents.” While physical security around these agents is tightly regulated, information security standards are still lagging. The understanding of the threats unique to the academic and research environment is still evolving, in part due to poor communication between the various stakeholders. Perhaps as a result, information security guidelines published by select agent regulators lack the critical details and directives needed to achieve even the lowest security level of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). While only government agencies are currently required to abide by the provisions of FISMA (unless specified as preconditions for obtaining government grants or contracts—still a relatively rare or narrowly scoped occurrence), the same strategies were recently recommended by executive order for others. We propose that information security guidelines for select agent research be updated to promulgate and detail FISMA standards and processes and that the latter be ultimately incorporated into select agent regulations. We also suggest that information security in academic and research institutions would greatly benefit from active efforts to improve communication among the biosecurity, security, and information technology communities, and from a secure venue for exchange of timely information on emerging threats and solutions in the research environment. PMID:26042864

The utility of information collected by occupational disease surveillance systems.

PubMed

Money, A; Carder, M; Hussey, L; Agius, R M

2015-11-01

The Health and Occupation Research (THOR) network in the UK and the Republic of Ireland (ROI) is an integrated system of surveillance schemes collecting work-related ill-health (WRIH) data since 1989. In addition to providing information about disease incidence, trends in incidence and the identification of new hazards, THOR also operates an ad hoc data enquiry service enabling interested parties to request information about cases of WRIH reported to THOR. To examine requests for information made to a network of surveillance schemes for WRIH in the UK. Analysis via SPSS of data requests received by THOR between 2002 and 2014. A total of 631 requests were received by THOR between 2002 and 2014. Requests were predominantly submitted by participating THOR physicians (34%) and the main THOR funder-the UK Health & Safety Executive (HSE) (31%). The majority (67%) of requests were for information about work-related respiratory or skin disease with relatively few requests for other diagnoses, such as musculoskeletal or mental ill-health. Requests frequently related to a specific industry and/or occupation (42%) and/or a specific causal agent (58%). Data collected by occupational disease surveillance systems such as THOR are an extremely useful source of information, the use of which extends beyond informing government on disease incidence and trends in incidence. The data collected provide a framework that can assist a wide range of enquirers with clinical diagnoses, identification of suspected causative agents/exposures and to highlight growing risks in particular industrial and occupational sectors. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A Statistical Physics Characterization of the Complex Systems Dynamics: Quantifying Complexity from Spatio-Temporal Interactions

PubMed Central

Koorehdavoudi, Hana; Bogdan, Paul

2016-01-01

Biological systems are frequently categorized as complex systems due to their capabilities of generating spatio-temporal structures from apparent random decisions. In spite of research on analyzing biological systems, we lack a quantifiable framework for measuring their complexity. To fill this gap, in this paper, we develop a new paradigm to study a collective group of N agents moving and interacting in a three-dimensional space. Our paradigm helps to identify the spatio-temporal states of the motion of the group and their associated transition probabilities. This framework enables the estimation of the free energy landscape corresponding to the identified states. Based on the energy landscape, we quantify missing information, emergence, self-organization and complexity for a collective motion. We show that the collective motion of the group of agents evolves to reach the most probable state with relatively lowest energy level and lowest missing information compared to other possible states. Our analysis demonstrates that the natural group of animals exhibit a higher degree of emergence, self-organization and complexity over time. Consequently, this algorithm can be integrated into new frameworks to engineer collective motions to achieve certain degrees of emergence, self-organization and complexity. PMID:27297496

A Statistical Physics Characterization of the Complex Systems Dynamics: Quantifying Complexity from Spatio-Temporal Interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koorehdavoudi, Hana; Bogdan, Paul

2016-06-01

Biological systems are frequently categorized as complex systems due to their capabilities of generating spatio-temporal structures from apparent random decisions. In spite of research on analyzing biological systems, we lack a quantifiable framework for measuring their complexity. To fill this gap, in this paper, we develop a new paradigm to study a collective group of N agents moving and interacting in a three-dimensional space. Our paradigm helps to identify the spatio-temporal states of the motion of the group and their associated transition probabilities. This framework enables the estimation of the free energy landscape corresponding to the identified states. Based on the energy landscape, we quantify missing information, emergence, self-organization and complexity for a collective motion. We show that the collective motion of the group of agents evolves to reach the most probable state with relatively lowest energy level and lowest missing information compared to other possible states. Our analysis demonstrates that the natural group of animals exhibit a higher degree of emergence, self-organization and complexity over time. Consequently, this algorithm can be integrated into new frameworks to engineer collective motions to achieve certain degrees of emergence, self-organization and complexity.

Analysis of decentralized variable structure control for collective search by mobile robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldsmith, Steven Y.; Feddema, John T.; Robinett, Rush D., III

1998-10-01

This paper presents an analysis of a decentralized coordination strategy for organizing and controlling a team of mobile robots performing collective search. The alpha- beta coordination strategy is a family of collective search algorithms that allow teams of communicating robots to implicitly coordinate their search activities through a division of labor based on self-selected roles. In an alpha- beta team, alpha agents are motivated to improve their status by exploring new regions of the search space. Beta agents are conservative, and rely on the alpha agents to provide advanced information on favorable regions of the search space. An agent selects its current role dynamically based on its current status value relative to the current status values of the other team members. Status is determined by some function of the agent's sensor readings, and is generally a measurement of source intensity at the agent's current location. Variations on the decision rules determining alpha and beta behavior produce different versions of the algorithm that lead to different global properties. The alpha-beta strategy is based on a simple finite-state machine that implements a form of Variable Structure Control (VSC). The VSC system changes the dynamics of the collective system by abruptly switching at defined states to alternative control laws. In VSC, Lyapunov's direct method is often used to design control surfaces which guide the system to a given goal. We introduce the alpha- beta algorithm and present an analysis of the equilibrium point and the global stability of the alpha-beta algorithm based on Lyapunov's method.

Efficient Allocation of Resources for Defense of Spatially Distributed Networks Using Agent-Based Simulation.

PubMed

Kroshl, William M; Sarkani, Shahram; Mazzuchi, Thomas A

2015-09-01

This article presents ongoing research that focuses on efficient allocation of defense resources to minimize the damage inflicted on a spatially distributed physical network such as a pipeline, water system, or power distribution system from an attack by an active adversary, recognizing the fundamental difference between preparing for natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, or even accidental systems failures and the problem of allocating resources to defend against an opponent who is aware of, and anticipating, the defender's efforts to mitigate the threat. Our approach is to utilize a combination of integer programming and agent-based modeling to allocate the defensive resources. We conceptualize the problem as a Stackelberg "leader follower" game where the defender first places his assets to defend key areas of the network, and the attacker then seeks to inflict the maximum damage possible within the constraints of resources and network structure. The criticality of arcs in the network is estimated by a deterministic network interdiction formulation, which then informs an evolutionary agent-based simulation. The evolutionary agent-based simulation is used to determine the allocation of resources for attackers and defenders that results in evolutionary stable strategies, where actions by either side alone cannot increase its share of victories. We demonstrate these techniques on an example network, comparing the evolutionary agent-based results to a more traditional, probabilistic risk analysis (PRA) approach. Our results show that the agent-based approach results in a greater percentage of defender victories than does the PRA-based approach. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

78 FR 22256 - Proposed Information Collection Request; Comment Request; The National Oil and Hazardous...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-15

... Chemicals''). The use of bioremediation agents, dispersants, surface washing agents, surface collecting... basic categories: dispersants, surface washing agents, surface collecting agents, bioremediation agents..., manufacturers of bioremediation agents, dispersants, surface collecting agents, surface washing agents...

Electronic business model for small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SME): a case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuen, Karina; Chung, Walter W.

2001-10-01

This paper identifies three essential factors (information infrastructure, executive information system and a new manufacturing paradigm) that are used to support the development of a new business model for competitiveness. They facilitate changes in organization structure in support of business transformation. A SME can source a good manufacturing practice using a model of academic-university collaboration to gain competitive advantage in the e-business world. The collaboration facilitates the change agents to use information systems development as a vehicle to increase the capability of executives in using information and knowledge management to gain higher responsiveness and customer satisfaction. The case company is used to illustrate the application of a web-based executive information system to interface internal communications with external operation. It explains where a good manufacturing practice may be re-applied by other SMEs to acquire skills as a learning organization grows in an extended enterprise setting.

An Information Theoretic Framework and Self-organizing Agent- based Sensor Network Architecture for Power Plant Condition Monitoring

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Loparo, Kenneth; Kolacinski, Richard; Threeanaew, Wanchat

A central goal of the work was to enable both the extraction of all relevant information from sensor data, and the application of information gained from appropriate processing and fusion at the system level to operational control and decision-making at various levels of the control hierarchy through: 1. Exploiting the deep connection between information theory and the thermodynamic formalism, 2. Deployment using distributed intelligent agents with testing and validation in a hardware-in-the loop simulation environment. Enterprise architectures are the organizing logic for key business processes and IT infrastructure and, while the generality of current definitions provides sufficient flexibility, the currentmore » architecture frameworks do not inherently provide the appropriate structure. Of particular concern is that existing architecture frameworks often do not make a distinction between ``data'' and ``information.'' This work defines an enterprise architecture for health and condition monitoring of power plant equipment and further provides the appropriate foundation for addressing shortcomings in current architecture definition frameworks through the discovery of the information connectivity between the elements of a power generation plant. That is, to identify the correlative structure between available observations streams using informational measures. The principle focus here is on the implementation and testing of an emergent, agent-based, algorithm based on the foraging behavior of ants for eliciting this structure and on measures for characterizing differences between communication topologies. The elicitation algorithms are applied to data streams produced by a detailed numerical simulation of Alstom’s 1000 MW ultra-super-critical boiler and steam plant. The elicitation algorithm and topology characterization can be based on different informational metrics for detecting connectivity, e.g. mutual information and linear correlation.« less

Adapting forest health assessments to changing perspectives on threats--a case example from Sweden.

PubMed

Wulff, Sören; Lindelöw, Åke; Lundin, Lars; Hansson, Per; Axelsson, Anna-Lena; Barklund, Pia; Wijk, Sture; Ståhl, Göran

2012-04-01

A revised Swedish forest health assessment system is presented. The assessment system is composed of several interacting components which target information needs for strategic and operational decision making and accommodate a continuously expanding knowledge base. The main motivation for separating information for strategic and operational decision making is that major damage outbreaks are often scattered throughout the landscape. Generally, large-scale inventories (such as national forest inventories) cannot provide adequate information for mitigation measures. In addition to broad monitoring programs that provide time-series information on known damaging agents and their effects, there is also a need for local and regional inventories adapted to specific damage events. While information for decision making is the major focus of the health assessment system, the system also contributes to expanding the knowledge base of forest conditions. For example, the integrated monitoring programs provide a better understanding of ecological processes linked to forest health. The new health assessment system should be able to respond to the need for quick and reliable information and thus will be an important part of the future monitoring of Swedish forests.

Social influence, agent heterogeneity and the emergence of the urban informal sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Díaz, César; Moreno-Monroy, Ana I.

2012-02-01

We develop an agent-based computational model in which the urban informal sector acts as a buffer where rural migrants can earn some income while queuing for higher paying modern-sector jobs. In the model, the informal sector emerges as a result of rural-urban migration decisions of heterogeneous agents subject to social influence in the form of neighboring effects of varying strengths. Besides using a multinomial logit choice model that allows for agent idiosyncrasy, explicit agent heterogeneity is introduced in the form of socio-demographic characteristics preferred by modern-sector employers. We find that different combinations of the strength of social influence and the socio-economic composition of the workforce lead to very different urbanization and urban informal sector shares. In particular, moderate levels of social influence and a large proportion of rural inhabitants with preferred socio-demographic characteristics are conducive to a higher urbanization rate and a larger informal sector.

An overview of arthropod-associated fungi from Argentina and Brazil

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Arthropod pests in forest and agricultural systems are afflicted by a plethora of pathogenic organisms. Among them, entomopathogenic fungi are the most common control agents that regulate their populations. This review compiles the information available from Argentina and Brazil about the entomopath...

A Primer on Wastewater Treatment, July 1976 Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. Office of Public Affairs.

This general information pamphlet is concerned with the types of wastewater treatment systems, the need for further treatment, and advanced methods of treating waste. Current methods are described, illustrated and evaluated. Pollution problems from oxygen-demanding wastes, disease-causing agents, plant nutrients, synthetic chemicals, inorganic…

Trust Management and Accountability for Internet Security

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Wayne W.

2011-01-01

Adversarial yet interacting interdependent relationships in information sharing and service provisioning have been a pressing issue of the Internet. Such relationships exist among autonomous software agents, in networking system peers, as well as between "service users and providers." Traditional "ad hoc" security approaches effective in…

How Can We Use Bioinformatics to Predict Which Agents Will Cause Birth Defects?

EPA Science Inventory

The availability of genomic sequences from a growing number of human and model organisms has provided an explosion of data, information, and knowledge regarding biological systems and disease processes. High-throughput technologies such as DNA and protein microarray biochips are ...

Intelligent Agents: Information Strategies for the Information Society.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia-Sierra, A. J.

In the workplace of today which is increasingly being overloaded with information, the concept of intelligent information agents has been widely prescribed. This paper briefly looks at the United Kingdom Government's Information Society Initiative which has been fueled by the realization that information is the key component of the ongoing…

Modelling human decision-making in coupled human and natural systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feola, G.

2012-12-01

A solid understanding of human decision-making is essential to analyze the complexity of coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) and inform policies to promote resilience in the face of environmental change. Human decisions drive and/or mediate the interactions and feedbacks, and contribute to the heterogeneity and non-linearity that characterize CHANS. However, human decision-making is usually over-simplistically modeled, whereby human agents are represented deterministically either as dumb or clairvoyant decision-makers. Decision-making models fall short in the integration of both environmental and human behavioral drivers, and concerning the latter, tend to focus on only one category, e.g. economic, cultural, or psychological. Furthermore, these models render a linear decision-making process and therefore fail to account for the recursive co-evolutionary dynamics in CHANS. As a result, these models constitute only a weak basis for policy-making. There is therefore scope and an urgent need for better approaches to human decision-making, to produce the knowledge that can inform vulnerability reduction policies in the face of environmental change. This presentation synthesizes the current state-of-the-art of modelling human decision-making in CHANS, with particular reference to agricultural systems, and delineates how the above mentioned shortcomings can be overcome. Through examples from research on pesticide use and adaptation to climate change, both based on the integrative agent-centered framework (Feola and Binder, 2010), the approach for an improved understanding of human agents in CHANS are illustrated. This entails: integrative approach, focus on behavioral dynamics more than states, feedbacks between individual and system levels, and openness to heterogeneity.

Mobile Router Developed and Tested

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ivancic, William D.

2002-01-01

The NASA Glenn Research Center, under a NASA Space Act Agreement with Cisco Systems, has been performing joint networking research to apply Internet-based technologies and protocols to space-based communications. As a result of this research, NASA performed stringent performance testing of the mobile router, including the interaction of routing and the transport-level protocol. In addition, Cisco Systems developed the mobile router for both commercial and Government markets. The code has become part of the Cisco Systems Internetworking Operating System (IOS) as of release 12.2 (4) T--which will make this capability available to the community at large. The mobile router is software code that resides in a network router and enables entire networks to roam while maintaining connectivity to the Internet. This router code is pertinent to a myriad of applications for both Government and commercial sectors, including the "wireless battlefield." NASA and the Department of Defense will utilize this technology for near-planetary observation and sensing spacecraft. It is also a key enabling technology for aviation-based information applications. Mobile routing will make it possible for information such as weather, air traffic control, voice, and video to be transmitted to aircraft using Internet-based protocols. This technology shows great promise in reducing congested airways and mitigating aviation disasters due to bad weather. The mobile router can also be incorporated into emergency vehicles (such as ambulances and life-flight aircraft) to provide real-time connectivity back to the hospital and health-care experts, enabling the timely application of emergency care. Commercial applications include entertainment services, Internet protocol (IP) telephone, and Internet connectivity for cruise ships, commercial shipping, tour buses, aircraft, and eventually cars. A mobile router, which is based on mobile IP, allows hosts (mobile nodes) to seamlessly "roam" among various IP subnetworks. This is essential in many wireless networks. A mobile router, unlike a mobile IP node, allows entire networks to roam. Hence, a device connected to the mobile router does not need to be a mobile node because the mobile router provides the roaming capabilities. There are three basic elements in the mobile IP: the home agent, the foreign agent, and the mobile node. The home agent is a router on a mobile node's home network that tunnels datagrams for delivery to the mobile node when it is away from home. The foreign agent is a router on a remote network that provides routing services to a registered mobile node. The mobile node is a host or router that changes its point of attachment from one network or subnetwork to another. In mobile routing, virtual communications are maintained by the home agent, which forwards all packets for the mobile networks to the foreign agent. The foreign agent passes the packets to the mobile router, which then forwards the packets to the devices on its networks. As the mobile router moves, it will register with its home agent on its whereabouts via the foreign agent to assure continuous connectivity.

Automating CapCom Using Mobile Agents and Robotic Assistants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clancey, William J.; Sierhuis, Maarten; Alena, Richard L.; Graham, Jeffrey S.; Tyree, Kim S.; Hirsh, Robert L.; Garry, W. Brent; Semple, Abigail; Shum, Simon J. Buckingham; Shadbolt, Nigel;

Distributed Synchronization in Networks of Agent Systems With Nonlinearities and Random Switchings.

PubMed

Tang, Yang; Gao, Huijun; Zou, Wei; Kurths, Jürgen

2013-02-01

In this paper, the distributed synchronization problem of networks of agent systems with controllers and nonlinearities subject to Bernoulli switchings is investigated. Controllers and adaptive updating laws injected in each vertex of networks depend on the state information of its neighborhood. Three sets of Bernoulli stochastic variables are introduced to describe the occurrence probabilities of distributed adaptive controllers, updating laws and nonlinearities, respectively. By the Lyapunov functions method, we show that the distributed synchronization of networks composed of agent systems with multiple randomly occurring nonlinearities, multiple randomly occurring controllers, and multiple randomly occurring updating laws can be achieved in mean square under certain criteria. The conditions derived in this paper can be solved by semi-definite programming. Moreover, by mathematical analysis, we find that the coupling strength, the probabilities of the Bernoulli stochastic variables, and the form of nonlinearities have great impacts on the convergence speed and the terminal control strength. The synchronization criteria and the observed phenomena are demonstrated by several numerical simulation examples. In addition, the advantage of distributed adaptive controllers over conventional adaptive controllers is illustrated.

A simplified building airflow model for agent concentration prediction.

PubMed

Jacques, David R; Smith, David A

2010-11-01

A simplified building airflow model is presented that can be used to predict the spread of a contaminant agent from a chemical or biological attack. If the dominant means of agent transport throughout the building is an air-handling system operating at steady-state, a linear time-invariant (LTI) model can be constructed to predict the concentration in any room of the building as a result of either an internal or external release. While the model does not capture weather-driven and other temperature-driven effects, it is suitable for concentration predictions under average daily conditions. The model is easily constructed using information that should be accessible to a building manager, supplemented with assumptions based on building codes and standard air-handling system design practices. The results of the model are compared with a popular multi-zone model for a simple building and are demonstrated for building examples containing one or more air-handling systems. The model can be used for rapid concentration prediction to support low-cost placement strategies for chemical and biological detection sensors.

From synthetic modeling of social interaction to dynamic theories of brain-body-environment-body-brain systems.

PubMed

Froese, Tom; Iizuka, Hiroyuki; Ikegami, Takashi

2013-08-01

Synthetic approaches to social interaction support the development of a second-person neuroscience. Agent-based models and psychological experiments can be related in a mutually informing manner. Models have the advantage of making the nonlinear brain-body-environment-body-brain system as a whole accessible to analysis by dynamical systems theory. We highlight some general principles of how social interaction can partially constitute an individual's behavior.

Training Chrysalis: Applications of Special Forces Training in the Development of the Objective Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-06-06

refers constantly to an “adaptive enemy,” that is, one that will ferret out, analyze , and then exploit weaknesses within the OF systems , technologies...Department of the Army EAI Executive Agent Instruction FCS Future Combat System FTX Field Training Exercise G-chief Guerrilla Chief, leader of an...and lighter Army battle platforms will still have greater lethality and survivability than current systems . The information revolution will be

Product Recommendation System Based on Personal Preference Model Using CAM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murakami, Tomoko; Yoshioka, Nobukazu; Orihara, Ryohei; Furukawa, Koichi

Product recommendation system is realized by applying business rules acquired by data maining techniques. Business rules such as demographical patterns of purchase, are able to cover the groups of users that have a tendency to purchase products, but it is difficult to recommend products adaptive to various personal preferences only by utilizing them. In addition to that, it is very costly to gather the large volume of high quality survey data, which is necessary for good recommendation based on personal preference model. A method collecting kansei information automatically without questionnaire survey is required. The constructing personal preference model from less favor data is also necessary, since it is costly for the user to input favor data. In this paper, we propose product recommendation system based on kansei information extracted by text mining and user's preference model constructed by Category-guided Adaptive Modeling, CAM for short. CAM is a feature construction method that can generate new features constructing the space where same labeled examples are close and different labeled examples are far away from some labeled examples. It is possible to construct personal preference model by CAM despite less information of likes and dislikes categories. In the system, retrieval agent gathers the products' specification and user agent manages preference model, user's likes and dislikes. Kansei information of the products is gained by applying text mining technique to the reputation documents about the products on the web site. We carry out some experimental studies to make sure that prefrence model obtained by our method performs effectively.

Multi-Agent Modeling and Simulation Approach for Design and Analysis of MER Mission Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seah, Chin; Sierhuis, Maarten; Clancey, William J.

2005-01-01

A space mission operations system is a complex network of human organizations, information and deep-space network systems and spacecraft hardware. As in other organizations, one of the problems in mission operations is managing the relationship of the mission information systems related to how people actually work (practices). Brahms, a multi-agent modeling and simulation tool, was used to model and simulate NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission work practice. The objective was to investigate the value of work practice modeling for mission operations design. From spring 2002 until winter 2003, a Brahms modeler participated in mission systems design sessions and operations testing for the MER mission held at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He observed how designers interacted with the Brahms tool. This paper discussed mission system designers' reactions to the simulation output during model validation and the presentation of generated work procedures. This project spurred JPL's interest in the Brahms model, but it was never included as part of the formal mission design process. We discuss why this occurred. Subsequently, we used the MER model to develop a future mission operations concept. Team members were reluctant to use the MER model, even though it appeared to be highly relevant to their effort. We describe some of the tool issues we encountered.

Geographical influences of an emerging network of gang rivalries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hegemann, Rachel A.; Smith, Laura M.; Barbaro, Alethea B. T.; Bertozzi, Andrea L.; Reid, Shannon E.; Tita, George E.

2011-10-01

We propose an agent-based model to simulate the creation of street gang rivalries. The movement dynamics of agents are coupled to an evolving network of gang rivalries, which is determined by previous interactions among agents in the system. Basic gang data, geographic information, and behavioral dynamics suggested by the criminology literature are integrated into the model. The major highways, rivers, and the locations of gangs’ centers of activity influence the agents’ motion. We use a policing division of the Los Angeles Police Department as a case study to test our model. We apply common metrics from graph theory to analyze our model, comparing networks produced by our simulations and an instance of a Geographical Threshold Graph to the existing network from the criminology literature.

Linking MODFLOW with an agent-based land-use model to support decision making

USGS Publications Warehouse

Reeves, H.W.; Zellner, M.L.

2010-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey numerical groundwater flow model, MODFLOW, was integrated with an agent-based land-use model to yield a simulator for environmental planning studies. Ultimately, this integrated simulator will be used as a means to organize information, illustrate potential system responses, and facilitate communication within a participatory modeling framework. Initial results show the potential system response to different zoning policy scenarios in terms of the spatial patterns of development, which is referred to as urban form, and consequent impacts on groundwater levels. These results illustrate how the integrated simulator is capable of representing the complexity of the system. From a groundwater modeling perspective, the most important aspect of the integration is that the simulator generates stresses on the groundwater system within the simulation in contrast to the traditional approach that requires the user to specify the stresses through time. Copyright ?? 2010 The Author(s). Journal compilation ?? 2010 National Ground Water Association.

TANDEM: A Trust-Based Agent Framework for Networked Decision Making

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-10

selective (20–80 %), while the rest are good citizens, trust acts as a method to isolate misbehaving agents. If the majority of the agents have high...competence and low selectivity, then they can use trust to isolate route information around the misbehaving agents, improving Comm and Steps. The impact is...more dramatic when only 20–40 % of the agents are misbehaving . However, using trust results in reduced SA as the information available at the

Ontolology Negotiation Between Scientific Archives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailin, Sidney C.; Truszkowski, Walt; Obenschain, Arthur F. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This paper describes an approach to ontology negotiation between information agents. Ontologies are declarative (data driven) expressions of an agent's "world": the objects, operations, facts, and rules that constitute the logical space within which an agent performs. Ontology negotiation enables agents to cooperate in performing a task, even if they are based on different ontologies. 'Me process allows agents to discover ontology conflicts and then, though incremental interpretation, clarification, and explanation, establish a common basis for communicating with each other. The need for ontology negotiation stems from the proliferation of information sources and of agents with widely varying specialty expertise. The unmanageability of massive amounts of web-based information is already becoming apparent. It is starting to have an impact on professions that rely on distributed archived information. If the expansion continues at its present rate without an ontology negotiation process being introduced, there will soon be no way to ensure the accuracy and completeness of information that scientists obtain from sources other than their own experiments. Ontology negotiation is becoming increasingly recognized as a crucial element of scalable agent technology. This is because agents, by their very nature, are supposed to operate with a fair amount of autonomy and independence from their end-users. Part of this independence is the ability to enlist other agents for help in performing a task (such as locating information on the web). The agents enlisted for help may be "owned" by a different end-user or organization (such as a document archive), and there is no guarantee that they will use the same terminology or understand the same concepts (objects, operators, theorems, rules) as the recruiting agent. For NASA, the need for ontology negotiation arises at the boundaries between scientific disciplines. For example: modeling the effects of global warming might involve knowledge about imaging, climate analysis, ecology, demographics, industrial economics, and biology. The need for ontology negotiation also arises at the boundaries between scientific programs. For example, a Principal Investigator may want to use information from a previous mission to complement downloads from the instruments currently deployed.

Knowledge-based personalized search engine for the Web-based Human Musculoskeletal System Resources (HMSR) in biomechanics.

PubMed

Dao, Tien Tuan; Hoang, Tuan Nha; Ta, Xuan Hien; Tho, Marie Christine Ho Ba

2013-02-01

Human musculoskeletal system resources of the human body are valuable for the learning and medical purposes. Internet-based information from conventional search engines such as Google or Yahoo cannot response to the need of useful, accurate, reliable and good-quality human musculoskeletal resources related to medical processes, pathological knowledge and practical expertise. In this present work, an advanced knowledge-based personalized search engine was developed. Our search engine was based on a client-server multi-layer multi-agent architecture and the principle of semantic web services to acquire dynamically accurate and reliable HMSR information by a semantic processing and visualization approach. A security-enhanced mechanism was applied to protect the medical information. A multi-agent crawler was implemented to develop a content-based database of HMSR information. A new semantic-based PageRank score with related mathematical formulas were also defined and implemented. As the results, semantic web service descriptions were presented in OWL, WSDL and OWL-S formats. Operational scenarios with related web-based interfaces for personal computers and mobile devices were presented and analyzed. Functional comparison between our knowledge-based search engine, a conventional search engine and a semantic search engine showed the originality and the robustness of our knowledge-based personalized search engine. In fact, our knowledge-based personalized search engine allows different users such as orthopedic patient and experts or healthcare system managers or medical students to access remotely into useful, accurate, reliable and good-quality HMSR information for their learning and medical purposes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Referral hospitals in the Democratic Republic of Congo as complex adaptive systems: similar program, different dynamics.

PubMed

Karemere, Hermès; Ribesse, Nathalie; Kahindo, Jean-Bosco; Macq, Jean

2015-01-01

In many African countries, first referral hospitals received little attention from development agencies until recently. We report the evolution of two of them in an unstable region like Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo when receiving the support from development aid program. Specifically, we aimed at studying how actors' network and institutional framework evolved over time and what could matter the most when looking at their performance in such an environment. We performed two cases studies between 2006 and 2010. We used multiple sources of data: reports to document events; health information system for hospital services production, and "key-informants" interviews to interpret the relation between interventions and services production. Our analysis was inspired from complex adaptive system theory. It started from the analysis of events implementation, to explore interaction process between the main agents in each hospital, and the consequence it could have on hospital health services production. This led to the development of new theoretical propositions. Two events implemented in the frame of the development aid program were identified by most of the key-informants interviewed as having the greatest impact on hospital performance: the development of a hospital plan and the performance based financing. They resulted in contrasting interaction process between the main agents between the two hospitals. Two groups of services production were reviewed: consultation at outpatient department and admissions, and surgery. The evolution of both groups of services production were different between both hospitals. By studying two first referral hospitals through the lens of a Complex Adaptive System, their performance in a context of development aid takes a different meaning. Success is not only measured through increased hospital production but through meaningful process of hospital agents'" network adaptation. Expected process is not necessarily a change; strengthened equilibrium and existing institutional arrangement may be a preferable result. Much more attention should be given in future international aid to the proper understanding of the hospital adaptation capacities.

Biosecurity reference : CFR-listed agent and toxin summaries.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barnett, Natalie Beth

This reference document provides summary information on the animal, plant, zoonotic, and human pathogens and toxins regulated and categorized by 9 CFR 331 and 7 CFR 121, 'Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002; Possession, Use and Transfer of Biological Agents and Toxins,' and 42 CFR 73, 'Possession, Use, and Transfer of Select Agents and Toxins.' Summary information includes, at a minimum, a description of the agent and its associated symptoms; often additional information is provided on the diagnosis, treatment, geographic distribution, transmission, control and eradication, and impacts on public health.

ALADDIN: Research into Multi-Agent Solutions for Decentralised Information Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-01

estimate of trustworthiness. Of course, such an approach can lead to the problem of data incest in which because the provenance of each individual...which avoids data incest issues. These algorithms and others developed with Aladdin have subsequently been applied to the areas of: Sensor

Deterministic Walks with Choice

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beeler, Katy E.; Berenhaut, Kenneth S.; Cooper, Joshua N.

2014-01-10

This paper studies deterministic movement over toroidal grids, integrating local information, bounded memory and choice at individual nodes. The research is motivated by recent work on deterministic random walks, and applications in multi-agent systems. Several results regarding passing tokens through toroidal grids are discussed, as well as some open questions.

45 CFR 74.21 - Standards for financial management systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... performance data and develop unit cost information whenever practical. For awards that support research, unit... cost data. (Unit cost data are usually not appropriate for awards that support research.) (5) Written... part 205) apply, payment methods of State agencies, instrumentalities, and fiscal agents shall be...

INACTIVATION OF BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINANTS IN DRINKING WATER IN RESPONSE TO A TERRORIST ATTACK

EPA Science Inventory

In the event of an intentional biological contamination of a drinking water treatment and distribution system, information on the removal and/or inactivation of known biological agents by drinking water treatment processes is needed. This project was initiated to determine what i...

Toward the Style of the Community Change Educator.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franklin, Richard

Variations and implications of change agents' patterns or styles of interaction with client systems (individuals, groups, or multigroups) are discussed. Five styles are defined: (1) the instructor, who imparts information to clients and interacts only with his agency; (2) the paterfamilias, who exercises personal, paternalistic influence and…

Consentaneous Agent-Based and Stochastic Model of the Financial Markets

PubMed Central

Gontis, Vygintas; Kononovicius, Aleksejus

2014-01-01

We are looking for the agent-based treatment of the financial markets considering necessity to build bridges between microscopic, agent based, and macroscopic, phenomenological modeling. The acknowledgment that agent-based modeling framework, which may provide qualitative and quantitative understanding of the financial markets, is very ambiguous emphasizes the exceptional value of well defined analytically tractable agent systems. Herding as one of the behavior peculiarities considered in the behavioral finance is the main property of the agent interactions we deal with in this contribution. Looking for the consentaneous agent-based and macroscopic approach we combine two origins of the noise: exogenous one, related to the information flow, and endogenous one, arising form the complex stochastic dynamics of agents. As a result we propose a three state agent-based herding model of the financial markets. From this agent-based model we derive a set of stochastic differential equations, which describes underlying macroscopic dynamics of agent population and log price in the financial markets. The obtained solution is then subjected to the exogenous noise, which shapes instantaneous return fluctuations. We test both Gaussian and q-Gaussian noise as a source of the short term fluctuations. The resulting model of the return in the financial markets with the same set of parameters reproduces empirical probability and spectral densities of absolute return observed in New York, Warsaw and NASDAQ OMX Vilnius Stock Exchanges. Our result confirms the prevalent idea in behavioral finance that herding interactions may be dominant over agent rationality and contribute towards bubble formation. PMID:25029364

University of Colorado Dialog Systems for Travel and Navigation

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-01-01

understanding technologies using the DARPA Hub Architecture. Users are able to converse with an automated travel agent over the phone to retrieve up-to-date...travel information such as flight schedules, pricing, along with hotel and rental car availability. The CU Communicator has been under development...implementation of the DARPA Communicator task [3]. The system combines continuous speech recognition, natural language understanding and flexible dialogue

Consensus-based distributed estimation in multi-agent systems with time delay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdelmawgoud, Ahmed

During the last years, research in the field of cooperative control of swarm of robots, especially Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV); have been improved due to the increase of UAV applications. The ability to track targets using UAVs has a wide range of applications not only civilian but also military as well. For civilian applications, UAVs can perform tasks including, but not limited to: map an unknown area, weather forecasting, land survey, and search and rescue missions. On the other hand, for military personnel, UAV can track and locate a variety of objects, including the movement of enemy vehicles. Consensus problems arise in a number of applications including coordination of UAVs, information processing in wireless sensor networks, and distributed multi-agent optimization. We consider a widely studied consensus algorithms for processing sensed data by different sensors in wireless sensor networks of dynamic agents. Every agent involved in the network forms a weighted average of its own estimated value of some state with the values received from its neighboring agents. We introduced a novelty of consensus-based distributed estimation algorithms. We propose a new algorithm to reach a consensus given time delay constraints. The proposed algorithm performance was observed in a scenario where a swarm of UAVs measuring the location of a ground maneuvering target. We assume that each UAV computes its state prediction and shares it with its neighbors only. However, the shared information applied to different agents with variant time delays. The entire group of UAVs must reach a consensus on target state. Different scenarios were also simulated to examine the effectiveness and performance in terms of overall estimation error, disagreement between delayed and non-delayed agents, and time to reach a consensus for each parameter contributing on the proposed algorithm.

Networked Guidance and Control for Mobile Multi-Agent Systems: A Multi-terminal (Network) Information Theoretic Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-19

time , i.e., the state of the system is the input delayed by one time unit. In contrast with classical approaches, here the control action must be a...Transactions on Automatic Control , Vol. 56, No. 9, September 2011, Pages 2013-2025 Consider a first order linear time -invariant discrete time system driven by...1, January 2010, Pages 175-179 Consider a discrete- time networked control system , in which the controller has direct access to noisy

The arguments for and against cannabinoids application in glaucomatous retinopathy.

PubMed

Panahi, Yunes; Manayi, Azadeh; Nikan, Marjan; Vazirian, Mahdi

2017-02-01

Glaucoma represents several optic neuropathies leading to irreversible blindness through progressive retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss. Reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP) is known as the only modifiable factor in the treatment of this disorder. Application of exogenous cannabinoids to lower IOP has attracted attention of scientists as potential agents for the treatment of glaucoma. Accordingly, neuroprotective effect of these agents has been recently described through modulation of endocannabinoid system in the eye. In the present work, pertinent information regarding ocular endocannabinoid system, mechanism of exogenous cannabinoids interaction with the ocular endocannabinoid system to reduce IOP, and neuroprotection property of cannabinoids will be discussed according to current scientific literature. In addition to experimental studies, bioavailability of cannabinoids, clinical surveys, and adverse effects of application of cannabinoids in glaucoma will be reviewed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Mid-infrared gas absorption sensor based on a broadband external cavity quantum cascade laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Juan; Deng, Hao; Liu, Ningwu; Wang, Hongliang; Yu, Benli; Li, Jingsong

2016-12-01

We developed a laser absorption sensor based on a pulsed, broadband tunable external cavity quantum cascade laser (ECQCL) centered at 1285 cm-1. Unlike traditional infrared spectroscopy system, a quartz crystal tuning fork (QCTF) as a light detector was used for laser signal detection. Fast Fourier transform was applied to extract vibration intensity information of QCTF. The sensor system is successfully tested on nitrous oxide (N2O) spectroscopy measurements and compared with a standard infrared detector. The wide wavelength tunability of ECQCL will allow us to access the fundamental vibrational bands of many chemical agents, which are well-suited for trace explosive, chemical warfare agent, and toxic industrial chemical detection and spectroscopic analysis.

Learning Activity Models for Multiple Agents in a Smart Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crandall, Aaron; Cook, Diane J.

With the introduction of more complex intelligent environment systems, the possibilities for customizing system behavior have increased dramatically. Significant headway has been made in tracking individuals through spaces using wireless devices [1, 18, 26] and in recognizing activities within the space based on video data (see chapter by Brubaker et al. and [6, 8, 23]), motion sensor data [9, 25], wearable sensors [13] or other sources of information [14, 15, 22]. However, much of the theory and most of the algorithms are designed to handle one individual in the space at a time. Resident tracking, activity recognition, event prediction, and behavior automation becomes significantly more difficult for multi-agent situations, when there are multiple residents in the environment.

Mid-infrared gas absorption sensor based on a broadband external cavity quantum cascade laser.

PubMed

Sun, Juan; Deng, Hao; Liu, Ningwu; Wang, Hongliang; Yu, Benli; Li, Jingsong

2016-12-01

We developed a laser absorption sensor based on a pulsed, broadband tunable external cavity quantum cascade laser (ECQCL) centered at 1285 cm -1 . Unlike traditional infrared spectroscopy system, a quartz crystal tuning fork (QCTF) as a light detector was used for laser signal detection. Fast Fourier transform was applied to extract vibration intensity information of QCTF. The sensor system is successfully tested on nitrous oxide (N 2 O) spectroscopy measurements and compared with a standard infrared detector. The wide wavelength tunability of ECQCL will allow us to access the fundamental vibrational bands of many chemical agents, which are well-suited for trace explosive, chemical warfare agent, and toxic industrial chemical detection and spectroscopic analysis.

Animals as sentinels of chemical terrorism agents: an evidence-based review.

PubMed

Rabinowitz, Peter; Wiley, James; Odofin, Lynda; Wilcox, Matthew; Dein, F Joshua

2008-02-01

The goal of this systematic review was to identify evidence that animals could serve as sentinels of an attack with a chemical terrorism agent. The biomedical literature was systematically searched for evidence that wild or domestic animals exposed to certain chemical weapons of terrorism had either greater susceptibility, shorter latency period, or increased exposure risk versus humans. Additionally, we searched for documented reports of such animals historically serving as sentinels for chemical warfare agents. For a small number of agents, there was limited evidence that domestic and/or wild animals could provide sentinel information to humans following an airborne attack with chemical agents, usually related to increased potential for environmental exposure. Some of this evidence was based on anecdotal case reports, and in many cases high quality chemical terrorism agent evidence regarding comparative susceptibility, exposure, and latency between humans and sentinel animal species was not found. Currently, there is insufficient evidence for routine use of animals as sentinels for airborne chemical warfare agents. At the same time, Poison Center surveillance systems should include animal calls, and greater communication between veterinarians and physicians could help with preparedness for a chemical terrorism attack. Further analysis of comparative chemical warfare agent toxicity between sentinel animal species and humans is needed.

The prisoner’s dilemma on co-evolving networks under perfect rationality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biely, Christoly; Dragosits, Klaus; Thurner, Stefan

2007-04-01

We consider the prisoner’s dilemma being played repeatedly on a dynamic network, where agents may choose their actions as well as their co-players. This leads to co-evolution of network structure and strategy patterns of the players. Individual decisions are made fully rationally and are based on local information only. They are made such that links to defecting agents are resolved and that cooperating agents build up new links. The exact form of the updating scheme is motivated by profit maximization and not by imitation. If players update their decisions in a synchronized way the system exhibits oscillatory dynamics: Periods of growing cooperation (and total linkage) alternate with periods of increasing defection. The cyclical behavior is reduced and the system stabilizes at significant total cooperation levels when players are less synchronized. In this regime we find emergent network structures resembling ‘complex’ and hierarchical topology. The exponent of the power-law degree distribution ( γ∼8.6) perfectly matches empirical results for human communication networks.

Adaptive Critic-based Neurofuzzy Controller for the Steam Generator Water Level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fakhrazari, Amin; Boroushaki, Mehrdad

2008-06-01

In this paper, an adaptive critic-based neurofuzzy controller is presented for water level regulation of nuclear steam generators. The problem has been of great concern for many years as the steam generator is a highly nonlinear system showing inverse response dynamics especially at low operating power levels. Fuzzy critic-based learning is a reinforcement learning method based on dynamic programming. The only information available for the critic agent is the system feedback which is interpreted as the last action the controller has performed in the previous state. The signal produced by the critic agent is used alongside the backpropagation of error algorithm to tune online conclusion parts of the fuzzy inference rules. The critic agent here has a proportional-derivative structure and the fuzzy rule base has nine rules. The proposed controller shows satisfactory transient responses, disturbance rejection and robustness to model uncertainty. Its simple design procedure and structure, nominates it as one of the suitable controller designs for the steam generator water level control in nuclear power plant industry.

Collaborative Information Retrieval Method among Personal Repositories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamei, Koji; Yukawa, Takashi; Yoshida, Sen; Kuwabara, Kazuhiro

In this paper, we describe a collaborative information retrieval method among personal repositorie and an implementation of the method on a personal agent framework. We propose a framework for personal agents that aims to enable the sharing and exchange of information resources that are distributed unevenly among individuals. The kernel of a personal agent framework is an RDF(resource description framework)-based information repository for storing, retrieving and manipulating privately collected information, such as documents the user read and/or wrote, email he/she exchanged, web pages he/she browsed, etc. The repository also collects annotations to information resources that describe relationships among information resources and records of interaction between the user and information resources. Since the information resources in a personal repository and their structure are personalized, information retrieval from other users' is an important application of the personal agent. A vector space model with a personalized concept-base is employed as an information retrieval mechanism in a personal repository. Since a personalized concept-base is constructed from information resources in a personal repository, it reflects its user's knowledge and interests. On the other hand, it leads to another problem while querying other users' personal repositories; that is, simply transferring query requests does not provide desirable results. To solve this problem, we propose a query equalization scheme based on a relevance feedback method for collaborative information retrieval between personalized concept-bases. In this paper, we describe an implementation of the collaborative information retrieval method and its user interface on the personal agent framework.

A coupled duration-focused architecture for real-time music-to-score alignment.

PubMed

Cont, Arshia

2010-06-01

The capacity for real-time synchronization and coordination is a common ability among trained musicians performing a music score that presents an interesting challenge for machine intelligence. Compared to speech recognition, which has influenced many music information retrieval systems, music's temporal dynamics and complexity pose challenging problems to common approximations regarding time modeling of data streams. In this paper, we propose a design for a real-time music-to-score alignment system. Given a live recording of a musician playing a music score, the system is capable of following the musician in real time within the score and decoding the tempo (or pace) of its performance. The proposed design features two coupled audio and tempo agents within a unique probabilistic inference framework that adaptively updates its parameters based on the real-time context. Online decoding is achieved through the collaboration of the coupled agents in a Hidden Hybrid Markov/semi-Markov framework, where prediction feedback of one agent affects the behavior of the other. We perform evaluations for both real-time alignment and the proposed temporal model. An implementation of the presented system has been widely used in real concert situations worldwide and the readers are encouraged to access the actual system and experiment the results.

Dynamics of Complex Systems Built as Coupled Physical, Communication and Decision Layers

PubMed Central

Kühnlenz, Florian; Nardelli, Pedro H. J.

2016-01-01

This paper proposes a simple model to capture the complexity of multilayer systems where their constituent layers affect, and are affected by, each other. The physical layer is a circuit composed by a power source and resistors in parallel. Every individual agent aims at maximizing its own delivered power by adding, removing or keeping the resistors it has; the delivered power is in turn a non-linear function that depends on the other agents’ behavior, its own internal state, its global state perception, the information received from its neighbors via the communication network and a randomized selfishness. We develop an agent-based simulation to analyze the effects of number of agents (system size), communication network topology, communication errors and the minimum power gain that triggers a behavioral change on the system dynamic. Our results show that a wave-like behavior at macro-level (caused by individual changes in the decision layer) can only emerge for a specific system size. The ratio between cooperators and defectors depends on the minimum gain assumed—lower minimal gains lead to less cooperation, and vice-versa. Different communication network topologies imply different levels of power utilization and fairness at the physical layer, and a certain level of error in the communication layer induces more cooperation. PMID:26730590

Bibliography of Joint Aircraft Survivability Reports and Related Documents

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-07-01

report are: synthetic and preparative procedures for new materials developed; a new concept of fire-control by dry chemical agents; descriptions of...5001 Author: James T. Sweeten , Jr. Abstract: (U) This report provides information for users on the implementation of the MJU-7A/B, MJU-8A/B, MJU-10, MJU...John 0. Bennett, Code 4072 Crane Performing Organization: ARC Professional Services Group Information Systems Division Author: James T. Sweeten , Jr

Software agents for the dissemination of remote terrestrial sensing data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Toomey, Christopher N.; Simoudis, Evangelos; Johnson, Raymond W.; Mark, William S.

1994-01-01

Remote terrestrial sensing (RTS) data is constantly being collected from a variety of space-based and earth-based sensors. The collected data, and especially 'value-added' analyses of the data, are finding growing application for commercial, government, and scientific purposes. The scale of this data collection and analysis is truly enormous; e.g., by 1995, the amount of data available in just one sector, NASA space science, will reach 5 petabytes. Moreover, the amount of data, and the value of analyzing the data, are expected to increase dramatically as new satellites and sensors become available (e.g., NASA's Earth Observing System satellites). Lockheed and other companies are beginning to provide data and analysis commercially. A critical issue for the exploitation of collected data is the dissemination of data and value-added analyses to a diverse and widely distributed customer base. Customers must be able to use their computational environment (eventually the National Information Infrastructure) to obtain timely and complete information, without having to know the details of where the relevant data resides and how it is accessed. Customers must be able to routinely use standard, widely available (and, therefore, low cost) analyses, while also being able to readily create on demand highly customized analyses to make crucial decisions. The diversity of user needs creates a difficult software problem: how can users easily state their needs, while the computational environment assumes the responsibility of finding (or creating) relevant information, and then delivering the results in a form that users understand? A software agent is a self-contained, active software module that contains an explicit representation of its operational knowledge. This explicit representation allows agents to examine their own capabilities in order to modify their goals to meet changing needs and to take advantage of dynamic opportunities. In addition, the explicit representation allows agents to advertize their capabilities and results to other agents, thereby allowing the collection of agents to reuse each others work.

Management of patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing chemotherapy: recommendations of the Associazione Italiana di Oncologia Medica (AIOM) and the Società Italiana di Nefrologia (SIN)

PubMed Central

Pedrazzoli, Paolo; Silvestris, Nicola; Santoro, Antonio; Secondino, Simona; Brunetti, Oronzo; Longo, Vito; Mancini, Elena; Mariucci, Sara; Rampino, Teresa; Delfanti, Sara; Brugnatelli, Silvia; Cinieri, Saverio

2017-01-01

Background The overall risk of some cancers is increased in patients receiving regular dialysis treatment due to chronic oxidative stress, a weakened immune system and enhanced genomic damage. These patients could benefit from the same antineoplastic treatment delivered to patients with normal renal function, but a better risk/benefit ratio could be achieved by establishing specific guidelines. Key considerations are which chemotherapeutic agent to use, adjustment of dosages and timing of dialysis in relation to the administration of chemotherapy. Methods We have reviewed available data present in the literature, including recommendations and expert opinions on cancer risk and use of chemotherapeutic agents in patients with end-stage renal disease. Experts selected by the boards of the societies provided additional information which helped greatly in clarifying some issues on which clear-cut information was missing or available data were conflicting. Results Data on the optimal use of chemotherapeutic agents or on credible schemes of polychemotherapy in haemodialysed patients are sparse and mainly derive from case reports or small case series. However, recommendations on dosing and timing of dialysis can be proposed for the most prescribed chemotherapeutic agents. Discussion The use of chemotherapeutic agents as single agents, or in combination, can be safely given in patients with end-stage renal disease. Appropriate dosage adjustments should be considered based on drug dialysability and pharmacokinetics. Coordinated care between oncologists, nephrologists and pharmacists is of pivotal importance to optimise drug delivery and timing of dialysis. PMID:29209521

An Agent-Based Dynamic Model for Analysis of Distributed Space Exploration Architectures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sindiy, Oleg V.; DeLaurentis, Daniel A.; Stein, William B.

2009-07-01

A range of complex challenges, but also potentially unique rewards, underlie the development of exploration architectures that use a distributed, dynamic network of resources across the solar system. From a methodological perspective, the prime challenge is to systematically model the evolution (and quantify comparative performance) of such architectures, under uncertainty, to effectively direct further study of specialized trajectories, spacecraft technologies, concept of operations, and resource allocation. A process model for System-of-Systems Engineering is used to define time-varying performance measures for comparative architecture analysis and identification of distinguishing patterns among interoperating systems. Agent-based modeling serves as the means to create a discrete-time simulation that generates dynamics for the study of architecture evolution. A Solar System Mobility Network proof-of-concept problem is introduced representing a set of longer-term, distributed exploration architectures. Options within this set revolve around deployment of human and robotic exploration and infrastructure assets, their organization, interoperability, and evolution, i.e., a system-of-systems. Agent-based simulations quantify relative payoffs for a fully distributed architecture (which can be significant over the long term), the latency period before they are manifest, and the up-front investment (which can be substantial compared to alternatives). Verification and sensitivity results provide further insight on development paths and indicate that the framework and simulation modeling approach may be useful in architectural design of other space exploration mass, energy, and information exchange settings.

Hazard Classification of Household Chemical Products in Korea according to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and labeling of Chemicals.

PubMed

Kim, Kyung-Hee; Song, Dae-Jong; Yu, Myeong-Hyun; Park, Yuon-Shin; Noh, Hye-Ran; Kim, Hae-Joon; Choi, Jae-Wook

2013-07-16

This study was conducted to review the validity of the need for the application of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) to household chemical products in Korea. The study also aimed to assess the severity of health and environmental hazards of household chemical products using the GHS. 135 products were classified as 'cleaning agents and polishing agents' and 98 products were classified as 'bleaches, disinfectants, and germicides.' The current status of carcinogenic classification of GHS and carcinogenicity was examined for 272 chemical substances contained in household chemical products by selecting the top 11 products for each of the product categories. In addition, the degree of toxicity was assessed through analysis of whether the standard of the Republic of Korea's regulations on household chemical products had been exceeded or not. According to GHS health and environmental hazards, "acute toxicity (oral)" was found to be the highest for two product groups, 'cleaning agents and polishing agents', and 'bleaches, disinfectants, and germicides' (result of classification of 233 household chemical products) at 37.8% and 52.0% respectively. In an analysis of carcinogenicity assuming a threshold of IARC 2B for the substances in household chemical products, we found 'cleaning agents and polishing agents' to contain 12 chemical substances and 'bleaches, disinfectants, and germicides' 11 chemical substances. Some of the household chemical products were found to have a high hazard level including acute toxicity and germ cell mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, and reproductive toxicity. Establishing a hazard information delivery system including the application of GHS to household chemical products in Korea is urgent as well.

Information-theoretic decomposition of embodied and situated systems.

PubMed

Da Rold, Federico

2018-07-01

The embodied and situated view of cognition stresses the importance of real-time and nonlinear bodily interaction with the environment for developing concepts and structuring knowledge. In this article, populations of robots controlled by an artificial neural network learn a wall-following task through artificial evolution. At the end of the evolutionary process, time series are recorded from perceptual and motor neurons of selected robots. Information-theoretic measures are estimated on pairings of variables to unveil nonlinear interactions that structure the agent-environment system. Specifically, the mutual information is utilized to quantify the degree of dependence and the transfer entropy to detect the direction of the information flow. Furthermore, the system is analyzed with the local form of such measures, thus capturing the underlying dynamics of information. Results show that different measures are interdependent and complementary in uncovering aspects of the robots' interaction with the environment, as well as characteristics of the functional neural structure. Therefore, the set of information-theoretic measures provides a decomposition of the system, capturing the intricacy of nonlinear relationships that characterize robots' behavior and neural dynamics. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

75 FR 42487 - Supplementary Identifying Information of Previously-Designated Individual, Foreign Narcotics...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-21

... Director, Compliance Outreach & Implementation, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Department of the... their businesses and agents access to the U.S. financial system and the benefits of trade and..., the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation...

78 FR 18814 - Amendment to the Export Administration Regulations: List of Items Classified Under Export Control...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-28

... RIN 0694-AF73. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Sangine, Director, Chemical and Biological... detection, identification, warning or monitoring of biological agents that is subject to the licensing... approved collections: (1) The Simplified Network Application Processing + System (control number 0694-0088...

Beta-Blockers and the Kidney: Implications for Renal Function and Renin Release.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Epstein, Murray; And Others

1985-01-01

Reviews and discusses current information on the human renal response as related to beta-blockers (antihypertension agents). Topic areas considered include cardioselectivity, renal hemodynamics, systemic hemodynamics, changes with acute and chronic administration, influence of dose, and others. Implications and an 11-item multiple-choice self-quiz…

Extension Agents' Awareness of Climate Change in Ethiopia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abegaz, Dagmawi M.; Wims, Padraig

2015-01-01

Purpose: The fact that highly vulnerable countries like Ethiopia face far greater challenges from climate change makes agricultural adaptation a top priority. Even though the public agriculture extension system in Ethiopia plays a central role in facilitating and supporting adaptation, very limited information is available on how aware the actual…

The Dynamics of Perception and Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warren, William H.

2006-01-01

How might one account for the organization in behavior without attributing it to an internal control structure? The present article develops a theoretical framework called behavioral dynamics that integrates an information-based approach to perception with a dynamical systems approach to action. For a given task, the agent and its environment are…

Leadership Metaphors: School Principals' Sense-Making of a National Reform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schechter, Chen; Shaked, Haim; Ganon-Shilon, Sherry; Goldratt, Miri

2018-01-01

During reforms, principals often experience ambiguity, contradicting demands, and lack of information. As critical change agents and system players, principals interpret reform demands and translate them into school practices through a process of sense-making. The current qualitative research explored 59 elementary school principals' sense-making…

User modeling for distributed virtual environment intelligent agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banks, Sheila B.; Stytz, Martin R.

1999-07-01

This paper emphasizes the requirement for user modeling by presenting the necessary information to motivate the need for and use of user modeling for intelligent agent development. The paper will present information on our current intelligent agent development program, the Symbiotic Information Reasoning and Decision Support (SIRDS) project. We then discuss the areas of intelligent agents and user modeling, which form the foundation of the SIRDS project. Included in the discussion of user modeling are its major components, which are cognitive modeling and behavioral modeling. We next motivate the need for and user of a methodology to develop user models to encompass work within cognitive task analysis. We close the paper by drawing conclusions from our current intelligent agent research project and discuss avenues of future research in the utilization of user modeling for the development of intelligent agents for virtual environments.

Distributed reconfigurable control strategies for switching topology networked multi-agent systems.

PubMed

Gallehdari, Z; Meskin, N; Khorasani, K

2017-11-01

In this paper, distributed control reconfiguration strategies for directed switching topology networked multi-agent systems are developed and investigated. The proposed control strategies are invoked when the agents are subject to actuator faults and while the available fault detection and isolation (FDI) modules provide inaccurate and unreliable information on the estimation of faults severities. Our proposed strategies will ensure that the agents reach a consensus while an upper bound on the team performance index is ensured and satisfied. Three types of actuator faults are considered, namely: the loss of effectiveness fault, the outage fault, and the stuck fault. By utilizing quadratic and convex hull (composite) Lyapunov functions, two cooperative and distributed recovery strategies are designed and provided to select the gains of the proposed control laws such that the team objectives are guaranteed. Our proposed reconfigurable control laws are applied to a team of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) under directed switching topologies and subject to simultaneous actuator faults. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed distributed reconfiguration control laws in compensating for the effects of sudden actuator faults and subject to fault diagnosis module uncertainties and unreliabilities. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Patient and health care professional views and experiences of computer agent-supported health care.

PubMed

Neville, Ron G; Greene, Alexandra C; Lewis, Sue

2006-01-01

To explore patient and health care professional (HCP) views towards the use of multi-agent computer systems in their GP practice. Qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews and analysis of transcriptions. Urban health centre in Dundee, Scotland. Five representative healthcare professionals and 11 patients. Emergent themes from interviews revealed participants' attitudes and beliefs, which were coded and indexed. Patients and HCPs had similar beliefs, attitudes and views towards the implementation of multi-agent systems (MAS). Both felt modern communication methods were useful to supplement, not supplant, face-to-face consultations between doctors and patients. This was based on the immense trust these patients placed in their doctors in this practice, which extended to trust in their choice of communication technology and security. Rapid access to medical information increased patients' sense of shared partnership and self-efficacy. Patients and HCPs expressed respect for each other's time and were keen to embrace technology that made interactions more efficient, including for the altruistic benefit of others less technically competent. Patients and HCPs welcomed the introduction of agent technology to the delivery of health care. Widespread use will depend more on the trust patients place in their own GP than on technological issues.

A distributed automatic target recognition system using multiple low resolution sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yue, Zhanfeng; Lakshmi Narasimha, Pramod; Topiwala, Pankaj

2008-04-01

In this paper, we propose a multi-agent system which uses swarming techniques to perform high accuracy Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) in a distributed manner. The proposed system can co-operatively share the information from low-resolution images of different looks and use this information to perform high accuracy ATR. An advanced, multiple-agent Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems-based approach is proposed which integrates the processing capabilities, combines detection reporting with live video exchange, and swarm behavior modalities that dramatically surpass individual sensor system performance levels. We employ real-time block-based motion analysis and compensation scheme for efficient estimation and correction of camera jitter, global motion of the camera/scene and the effects of atmospheric turbulence. Our optimized Partition Weighted Sum (PWS) approach requires only bitshifts and additions, yet achieves a stunning 16X pixel resolution enhancement, which is moreover parallizable. We develop advanced, adaptive particle-filtering based algorithms to robustly track multiple mobile targets by adaptively changing the appearance model of the selected targets. The collaborative ATR system utilizes the homographies between the sensors induced by the ground plane to overlap the local observation with the received images from other UAVs. The motion of the UAVs distorts estimated homography frame to frame. A robust dynamic homography estimation algorithm is proposed to address this, by using the homography decomposition and the ground plane surface estimation.

Workflow Agents vs. Expert Systems: Problem Solving Methods in Work Systems Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clancey, William J.; Sierhuis, Maarten; Seah, Chin

2009-01-01

During the 1980s, a community of artificial intelligence researchers became interested in formalizing problem solving methods as part of an effort called "second generation expert systems" (2nd GES). How do the motivations and results of this research relate to building tools for the workplace today? We provide an historical review of how the theory of expertise has developed, a progress report on a tool for designing and implementing model-based automation (Brahms), and a concrete example how we apply 2nd GES concepts today in an agent-based system for space flight operations (OCAMS). Brahms incorporates an ontology for modeling work practices, what people are doing in the course of a day, characterized as "activities." OCAMS was developed using a simulation-to-implementation methodology, in which a prototype tool was embedded in a simulation of future work practices. OCAMS uses model-based methods to interactively plan its actions and keep track of the work to be done. The problem solving methods of practice are interactive, employing reasoning for and through action in the real world. Analogously, it is as if a medical expert system were charged not just with interpreting culture results, but actually interacting with a patient. Our perspective shifts from building a "problem solving" (expert) system to building an actor in the world. The reusable components in work system designs include entire "problem solvers" (e.g., a planning subsystem), interoperability frameworks, and workflow agents that use and revise models dynamically in a network of people and tools. Consequently, the research focus shifts so "problem solving methods" include ways of knowing that models do not fit the world, and ways of interacting with other agents and people to gain or verify information and (ultimately) adapt rules and procedures to resolve problematic situations.

Oral Administration and Detection of a Near-Infrared Molecular Imaging Agent in an Orthotopic Mouse Model for Breast Cancer Screening

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Molecular imaging is advantageous for screening diseases such as breast cancer by providing precise spatial information on disease-associated biomarkers, something neither blood tests nor anatomical imaging can achieve. However, the high cost and risks of ionizing radiation for several molecular imaging modalities have prevented a feasible and scalable approach for screening. Clinical studies have demonstrated the ability to detect breast tumors using nonspecific probes such as indocyanine green, but the lack of molecular information and required intravenous contrast agent does not provide a significant benefit over current noninvasive imaging techniques. Here we demonstrate that negatively charged sulfate groups, commonly used to improve solubility of near-infrared fluorophores, enable sufficient oral absorption and targeting of fluorescent molecular imaging agents for completely noninvasive detection of diseased tissue such as breast cancer. These functional groups improve the pharmacokinetic properties of affinity ligands to achieve targeting efficiencies compatible with clinical imaging devices using safe, nonionizing radiation (near-infrared light). Together, this enables development of a “disease screening pill” capable of oral absorption and systemic availability, target binding, background clearance, and imaging at clinically relevant depths for breast cancer screening. This approach should be adaptable to other molecular targets and diseases for use as a new class of screening agents. PMID:29696981

Oral Administration and Detection of a Near-Infrared Molecular Imaging Agent in an Orthotopic Mouse Model for Breast Cancer Screening.

PubMed

Bhatnagar, Sumit; Verma, Kirti Dhingra; Hu, Yongjun; Khera, Eshita; Priluck, Aaron; Smith, David E; Thurber, Greg M

2018-05-07

Molecular imaging is advantageous for screening diseases such as breast cancer by providing precise spatial information on disease-associated biomarkers, something neither blood tests nor anatomical imaging can achieve. However, the high cost and risks of ionizing radiation for several molecular imaging modalities have prevented a feasible and scalable approach for screening. Clinical studies have demonstrated the ability to detect breast tumors using nonspecific probes such as indocyanine green, but the lack of molecular information and required intravenous contrast agent does not provide a significant benefit over current noninvasive imaging techniques. Here we demonstrate that negatively charged sulfate groups, commonly used to improve solubility of near-infrared fluorophores, enable sufficient oral absorption and targeting of fluorescent molecular imaging agents for completely noninvasive detection of diseased tissue such as breast cancer. These functional groups improve the pharmacokinetic properties of affinity ligands to achieve targeting efficiencies compatible with clinical imaging devices using safe, nonionizing radiation (near-infrared light). Together, this enables development of a "disease screening pill" capable of oral absorption and systemic availability, target binding, background clearance, and imaging at clinically relevant depths for breast cancer screening. This approach should be adaptable to other molecular targets and diseases for use as a new class of screening agents.

Evacuation Simulation in Kalayaan Residence Hall, up Diliman Using Gama Simulation Software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Claridades, A. R. C.; Villanueva, J. K. S.; Macatulad, E. G.

2016-09-01

Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) has recently been adopted in some studies for the modelling of events as a dynamic system given a set of events and parameters. In principle, ABM employs individual agents with assigned attributes and behaviors and simulates their behavior around their environment and interaction with other agents. This can be a useful tool in both micro and macroscale-applications. In this study, a model initially created and applied to an academic building was implemented in a dormitory. In particular, this research integrates three-dimensional Geographic Information System (GIS) with GAMA as the multi-agent based evacuation simulation and is implemented in Kalayaan Residence Hall. A three-dimensional GIS model is created based on the floor plans and demographic data of the dorm, including respective pathways as networks, rooms, floors, exits and appropriate attributes. This model is then re-implemented in GAMA. Different states of the agents and their effect on their evacuation time were then observed. GAMA simulation with varying path width was also implemented. It has been found out that compared to their original states, panic, eating and studying will hasten evacuation, and on the other hand, sleeping and being on the bathrooms will be impedances. It is also concluded that evacuation time will be halved when path widths are doubled, however it is recommended for further studies for pathways to be modeled as spaces instead of lines. A more scientific basis for predicting agent behavior in these states is also recommended for more realistic results.

Balancing Human and Inter-Agent Influences for Shared Control of Bio-Inspired Collectives

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

the higher-level intelligence and ingenuity of a human operator as well as the collective intelligence and robustness of a bio-inspired collective...for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway...agents, or that receive information from, but are not directly controlled by, a human operator . Unlike, agents in the human-controlled partition, agents

Joint Atomic Information Exchange Group information management project. Briefing outlining functions and specifications of JAIEG automated information management system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smith, M.G.

1983-07-20

The Joint Atomic Information Exchange Group (JAIEG) was formed in 1959. JAIEG's charter was to be the agent to determine the transmissibility of atomic information to foreign governments or regional defense organizations. JAIEG, operating from the joint policy direction of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Military Application under the Department of Energy and of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy under the Department of Defense, determines in a uniform and consistent manner the transmissibility of Restricted Data (RD) and Formerly Restricted Data (FRD). JAIEG also maintains records of all transmittal of such data, and maintains recordmore » copies of all information reviewed. This information exists only on paper and must be processed manually. JAIEG's work load has grown continuously with the size of its filing system. This has prompted an investigation of the potential benefits of automating JAIEG activities. Science Applications, Inc. (SAI) has studied JAIEG procedures and has identified several areas where JAIEG information processing activities can be automated to achieve greater system efficiency.« less

42 CFR 2.17 - Undercover agents and informants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Undercover agents and informants. 2.17 Section 2.17 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GENERAL PROVISIONS CONFIDENTIALITY OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE PATIENT RECORDS General Provisions § 2.17 Undercover agents and...

42 CFR 2.17 - Undercover agents and informants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Undercover agents and informants. 2.17 Section 2.17 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GENERAL PROVISIONS CONFIDENTIALITY OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE PATIENT RECORDS General Provisions § 2.17 Undercover agents and...

42 CFR 2.17 - Undercover agents and informants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Undercover agents and informants. 2.17 Section 2.17 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GENERAL PROVISIONS CONFIDENTIALITY OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE PATIENT RECORDS General Provisions § 2.17 Undercover agents and...

42 CFR 2.17 - Undercover agents and informants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Undercover agents and informants. 2.17 Section 2.17 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GENERAL PROVISIONS CONFIDENTIALITY OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE PATIENT RECORDS General Provisions § 2.17 Undercover agents and...

42 CFR 2.17 - Undercover agents and informants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Undercover agents and informants. 2.17 Section 2.17 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GENERAL PROVISIONS CONFIDENTIALITY OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE PATIENT RECORDS General Provisions § 2.17 Undercover agents and...

Development of Account Receivable and Payable System for Travel Bureau Company

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karma, I. G. M.; Susanti, J.

2018-01-01

Sales and purchases of products on credit made by travel bureau companies require serious handling because it involves a lot of money and many parties. This research aims to build information systems to handle account payables and receivables related to the purchase and sale of tour packages on credit. The methodology is object-oriented approach, by using MS. Visual Basic. Net as a programming language and MySQL as its database package. As the results are the Account Receivable information system that is used to handle accounts receivable on agents who have purchased a tour package on credit for the guests it sends, and the Account Payable information system that is used to handle company’s account payable to suppliers who provided products or services to guests who purchase tour packages. Both of these systems handle the interrelated matter of a particular guest. Therefore, if both systems are integrated with the reservation system will be able to provide income statement on the reservation of certain guests.

Communicative mind-reading in preverbal infants.

PubMed

Tauzin, Tibor; Gergely, György

2018-06-22

Pragmatic theories of communication assume that humans evolved a species-unique inferential capacity to express and recognize intentions via communicative actions. We show that 13-month-old non-verbal infants can interpret the turn-taking exchange of variable tone sequences between unfamiliar agents as indicative of communicative transfer of goal-relevant information from a knowledgeable to a naïve agent pursuing the goal. No such inference of information transfer was drawn by the infants, however, when a) the agents exchanged fully predictable identical signal sequences, which does not enable transmission of new information, or b) when no goal-relevant contextual change was observed that would motivate its communicative transmission. These results demonstrate that young infants can recognize communicative interactions between third-party agents and possess an evolved capacity for communicative mind-reading that enables them to infer what contextually relevant information has been transmitted between the agents even without language.

The Agent of extracting Internet Information with Lead Order

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mo, Zan; Huang, Chuliang; Liu, Aijun

In order to carry out e-commerce better, advanced technologies to access business information are in need urgently. An agent is described to deal with the problems of extracting internet information that caused by the non-standard and skimble-scamble structure of Chinese websites. The agent designed includes three modules which respond to the process of extracting information separately. A method of HTTP tree and a kind of Lead algorithm is proposed to generate a lead order, with which the required web can be retrieved easily. How to transform the extracted information structuralized with natural language is also discussed.

Heterogeneous information-based artificial stock market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pastore, S.; Ponta, L.; Cincotti, S.

2010-05-01

In this paper, an information-based artificial stock market is considered. The market is populated by heterogeneous agents that are seen as nodes of a sparsely connected graph. Agents trade a risky asset in exchange for cash. Besides the amount of cash and assets owned, each agent is characterized by a sentiment. Moreover, agents share their sentiments by means of interactions that are identified by the graph. Interactions are unidirectional and are supplied with heterogeneous weights. The agent's trading decision is based on sentiment and, consequently, the stock price process depends on the propagation of information among the interacting agents, on budget constraints and on market feedback. A central market maker (clearing house mechanism) determines the price process at the intersection of the demand and supply curves. Both closed- and open-market conditions are considered. The results point out the validity of the proposed model of information exchange among agents and are helpful for understanding the role of information in real markets. Under closed market conditions, the interaction among agents' sentiments yields a price process that reproduces the main stylized facts of real markets, e.g. the fat tails of the returns distributions and the clustering of volatility. Within open-market conditions, i.e. with an external cash inflow that results in asset price inflation, also the unitary root stylized fact is reproduced by the artificial stock market. Finally, the effects of model parameters on the properties of the artificial stock market are also addressed.

Detection/classification/quantification of chemical agents using an array of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milner, G. Martin

2005-05-01

ChemSentry is a portable system used to detect, identify, and quantify chemical warfare (CW) agents. Electro chemical (EC) cell sensor technology is used for blood agents and an array of surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors is used for nerve and blister agents. The combination of the EC cell and the SAW array provides sufficient sensor information to detect, classify and quantify all CW agents of concern using smaller, lighter, lower cost units. Initial development of the SAW array and processing was a key challenge for ChemSentry requiring several years of fundamental testing of polymers and coating methods to finalize the sensor array design in 2001. Following the finalization of the SAW array, nearly three (3) years of intensive testing in both laboratory and field environments were required in order to gather sufficient data to fully understand the response characteristics. Virtually unbounded permutations of agent characteristics and environmental characteristics must be considered in order to operate against all agents and all environments of interest to the U.S. military and other potential users of ChemSentry. The resulting signal processing design matched to this extensive body of measured data (over 8,000 agent challenges and 10,000 hours of ambient data) is considered to be a significant advance in state-of-the-art for CW agent detection.

Information Security Analysis Using Game Theory and Simulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schlicher, Bob G; Abercrombie, Robert K

Information security analysis can be performed using game theory implemented in dynamic simulations of Agent Based Models (ABMs). Such simulations can be verified with the results from game theory analysis and further used to explore larger scale, real world scenarios involving multiple attackers, defenders, and information assets. Our approach addresses imperfect information and scalability that allows us to also address previous limitations of current stochastic game models. Such models only consider perfect information assuming that the defender is always able to detect attacks; assuming that the state transition probabilities are fixed before the game assuming that the players actions aremore » always synchronous; and that most models are not scalable with the size and complexity of systems under consideration. Our use of ABMs yields results of selected experiments that demonstrate our proposed approach and provides a quantitative measure for realistic information systems and their related security scenarios.« less

ID201202961, DOE S-124,539, Information Security Analysis Using Game Theory and Simulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abercrombie, Robert K; Schlicher, Bob G

Information security analysis can be performed using game theory implemented in dynamic simulations of Agent Based Models (ABMs). Such simulations can be verified with the results from game theory analysis and further used to explore larger scale, real world scenarios involving multiple attackers, defenders, and information assets. Our approach addresses imperfect information and scalability that allows us to also address previous limitations of current stochastic game models. Such models only consider perfect information assuming that the defender is always able to detect attacks; assuming that the state transition probabilities are fixed before the game assuming that the players actions aremore » always synchronous; and that most models are not scalable with the size and complexity of systems under consideration. Our use of ABMs yields results of selected experiments that demonstrate our proposed approach and provides a quantitative measure for realistic information systems and their related security scenarios.« less

A multiagent system enhancing home-care health services for chronic disease management.

PubMed

Koutkias, Vassilis G; Chouvarda, Ioanna; Maglaveras, Nicos

2005-12-01

In this paper, a multiagent system (MAS) is presented, aiming to enhance monitoring, surveillance, and educational services of a generic medical contact center (MCC) for chronic disease management. In such a home-care scenario, a persistent need arises for efficiently monitoring the patient contacts and the MCC's functionality, in order to effectively manage and interpret the large volume of medical data collected during the patient sessions with the system, and to assess the use of MCC resources. Software agents were adopted to provide the means to accomplish such real-time information-processing tasks, due to their autonomous, reactive and/or proactive nature, and their effectiveness in dynamic environments by incorporating coordination strategies. Specifically, the objective of the MAS is to monitor the MCC environment, detect important cases, and inform the healthcare and administrative personnel via alert messages, notifications, recommendations, and reports, prompting them for actions. The main aim of this paper is to present the overall design and implementation of a proposed MAS, emphasizing its functional model and architecture, as well as on the agent interactions and the knowledge-sharing mechanism incorporated, in the context of a generic MCC.

Process-oriented integration and coordination of healthcare services across organizational boundaries.

PubMed

Tello-Leal, Edgar; Chiotti, Omar; Villarreal, Pablo David

2012-12-01

The paper presents a methodology that follows a top-down approach based on a Model-Driven Architecture for integrating and coordinating healthcare services through cross-organizational processes to enable organizations providing high quality healthcare services and continuous process improvements. The methodology provides a modeling language that enables organizations conceptualizing an integration agreement, and identifying and designing cross-organizational process models. These models are used for the automatic generation of: the private view of processes each organization should perform to fulfill its role in cross-organizational processes, and Colored Petri Net specifications to implement these processes. A multi-agent system platform provides agents able to interpret Colored Petri-Nets to enable the communication between the Healthcare Information Systems for executing the cross-organizational processes. Clinical documents are defined using the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture. This methodology guarantees that important requirements for healthcare services integration and coordination are fulfilled: interoperability between heterogeneous Healthcare Information Systems; ability to cope with changes in cross-organizational processes; guarantee of alignment between the integrated healthcare service solution defined at the organizational level and the solution defined at technological level; and the distributed execution of cross-organizational processes keeping the organizations autonomy.

Intelligence, mapping, and geospatial exploitation system (IMAGES)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moellman, Dennis E.; Cain, Joel M.

1998-08-01

This paper provides further detail to one facet of the battlespace visualization concept described in last year's paper Battlespace Situation Awareness for Force XXI. It focuses on the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) goal to 'provide customers seamless access to tailorable imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information.' This paper describes Intelligence, Mapping, and Geospatial Exploitation System (IMAGES), an exploitation element capable of CONUS baseplant operations or field deployment to provide NIMA geospatial information collaboratively into a reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA) environment through the United States Imagery and Geospatial Information System (USIGS). In a baseplant CONUS setting IMAGES could be used to produce foundation data to support mission planning. In the field it could be directly associated with a tactical sensor receiver or ground station (e.g. UAV or UGV) to provide near real-time and mission specific RSTA to support mission execution. This paper provides IMAGES functional level design; describes the technologies, their interactions and interdependencies; and presents a notional operational scenario to illustrate the system flexibility. Using as a system backbone an intelligent software agent technology, called Open Agent ArchitectureTM (OAATM), IMAGES combines multimodal data entry, natural language understanding, and perceptual and evidential reasoning for system management. Configured to be DII COE compliant, it would utilize, to the extent possible, COTS applications software for data management, processing, fusion, exploitation, and reporting. It would also be modular, scaleable, and reconfigurable. This paper describes how the OAATM achieves data synchronization and enables the necessary level of information to be rapidly available to various command echelons for making informed decisions. The reasoning component will provide for the best information to be developed in the timeline available and it will also provide statistical pedigree data. This pedigree data provides both uncertainties associated with the information and an audit trail cataloging the raw data sources and the processing/exploitation applied to derive the final product. Collaboration provides for a close union between the information producer(s)/exploiter(s) and the information user(s) as well as between local and remote producer(s)/exploiter(s). From a military operational perspective, IMAGES is a step toward further uniting NIMA with its customers and further blurring the dividing line between operational command and control (C2) and its supporting intelligence activities. IMAGES also provides a foundation for reachback to remote data sources, data stores, application software, and computational resources for achieving 'just-in- time' information delivery -- all of which is transparent to the analyst or operator employing the system.

Drugs dispensed at the Division of Neonatology at University Hospital in Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina.

PubMed

Fungo, Marta Stella Maris; Vega, Elena María

2013-04-01

The objective was to analyze the number of drugs dispensed by the Pharmacy Department to the Neonatology Division, to find out if the use of these drugs is described on the package insert approved by the Administración Nacional de Medicamentos, Alimentos y Tecnología, ANMAT (Drug, Food and Technology Administration of Argentina) and to compare such information with that provided by Medical Associations and Commissions. Analytical, observational and retrospective study in which drugs were analyzed based on dosage units, costs and relevance in the 2011 annual budget. We analyzed the information found in ANMAT-approved label inserts, in the Neonatal Pharmacopeia of the Sociedad Argentina de Pediatría and in the Formularies of the Confederación Médica Argentina and the Comisión Nacional del Medicamento (National Medication Commission). A total of 102 drugs (91 drug substances) were dispensed throughout 2011. Drugs most commonly supplied were: antiinfective agents for systemic use (24.51%), agents for the blood and blood forming organs, cardiovascular system, and nervous system (12.72% each). The total expenditure was ARS 263,285.52. Only 21 drugs accounted for 90.73% of the cost. Out of the 14 drugs in this group, only 1 had information related to its use in neonatology in all its labels (package inserts), only 4 in some of their product information and there was no information at all in any of the remaining 9 drugs. The Neonatal Pharmacopeia reported on 12 of the 14 drugs, while the Formularies made a reference to 9 of the 14 drugs. The most widely used drugs were antiinfectives for systemic use. A total of 21 drugs accounted for 90.73% of the annual cost in drugs. Out of 14, only 1 had information of its use in neonatology in all its labels and 9 corresponded to off-label use.

Fire Suppression M and S Validation (Status and Challenges), Systems Fire Protection Information Exchange

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-14

rate Kinetics •14 Species & 12 reactionsCombustion Model •Participating Media Discrete Ordinate Method •WSG model for CO2, H2O and SootRadiation Model...Inhibition of JP-8 Combustion Physical Acting Agents • Dilute heat • Dilute reactants Ex: water, nitrogen Chemical Acting Agents • Reduce flame...Release; distribution is unlimited 5 Overview of Reduced Kinetics Scheme for FM200 • R1: JP-8 + O2 => CO + CO2 + H2O • R2: CO + O2 <=> CO2 • R3: HFP + JP-8

An in vivo model for evaluating the response of pulp to various biomaterials.

PubMed

McClugage, S G; Holmstedt, J O; Malloy, R B

1980-09-01

An in vivo model has been designed to study the acute response of exposed or unexposed dental pulp to the topical application of various biomaterials. This model permits sequential microscopic observations of the microvascular system of dental pulp before and after application of pulp capping agents, cementing agents, or cavity liners. The use of this experimental model provides useful information related to the tolerability of dental pulp to various biomaterials used in dentistry. Furthermore, this model serves as a useful supplement to more traditional long term methods for evaluating the biocompatability of dental materials.

Coordinating complex problem-solving among distributed intelligent agents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adler, Richard M.

1992-01-01

A process-oriented control model is described for distributed problem solving. The model coordinates the transfer and manipulation of information across independent networked applications, both intelligent and conventional. The model was implemented using SOCIAL, a set of object-oriented tools for distributing computing. Complex sequences of distributed tasks are specified in terms of high level scripts. Scripts are executed by SOCIAL objects called Manager Agents, which realize an intelligent coordination model that routes individual tasks to suitable server applications across the network. These tools are illustrated in a prototype distributed system for decision support of ground operations for NASA's Space Shuttle fleet.

System of Objectified Judgement Analysis (SOJA) as a tool in rational and transparent drug-decision making.

PubMed

Janknegt, Robert; Scott, Mike; Mairs, Jill; Timoney, Mark; McElnay, James; Brenninkmeijer, Rob

2007-10-01

Drug selection should be a rational process that embraces the principles of evidence-based medicine. However, many factors may affect the choice of agent. It is against this background that the System of Objectified Judgement Analysis (SOJA) process for rational drug-selection was developed. This article describes how the information on which the SOJA process is based, was researched and processed.

Quorum Sensing: A Transcriptional Regulatory System Involved in the Pathogenicity of Burkholderia mallei

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-11-01

contributes to the pathogenicity of B. mallei in vivo. Burkholderia mallei , the etiologic agent of glanders , is a Many gram-negative bacteria possess...A Transcriptional Regulatory System that Contributes to the Virulence of Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei. Submission Information... Burkholderia mallei Ricky L. Ulrich,’* David DeShazer,1 Harry B. lines,2 and Jeffrey A. Jeddelohi* Bacteriology Division’ and ToxinoloSy/Aerobiology

The complex field of interplay between vasoactive agents.

PubMed

Hansen, Pernille B

2009-11-01

Lai et al. provide important new information regarding the interaction between the sympathetic and renin-angiotensin systems in the regulation of glomerular afferent arteriolar contractility. Their study demonstrates a calcium-independent enhanced contractile response to angiotensin II following norepinephrine administration. The interplay between the norepinephrine- and angiotensin II-stimulated pathways could potentially be important in physiological as well as pathophysiological situations with increased sympathetic nervous system activity, such as hypertension.

A Neural Network Approach to Intention Modeling for User-Adapted Conversational Agents

PubMed Central

Griol, David

2016-01-01

Spoken dialogue systems have been proposed to enable a more natural and intuitive interaction with the environment and human-computer interfaces. In this contribution, we present a framework based on neural networks that allows modeling of the user's intention during the dialogue and uses this prediction to dynamically adapt the dialogue model of the system taking into consideration the user's needs and preferences. We have evaluated our proposal to develop a user-adapted spoken dialogue system that facilitates tourist information and services and provide a detailed discussion of the positive influence of our proposal in the success of the interaction, the information and services provided, and the quality perceived by the users. PMID:26819592

Applications of Multi-Agent Technology to Power Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagata, Takeshi

Currently, agents are focus of intense on many sub-fields of computer science and artificial intelligence. Agents are being used in an increasingly wide variety of applications. Many important computing applications such as planning, process control, communication networks and concurrent systems will benefit from using multi-agent system approach. A multi-agent system is a structure given by an environment together with a set of artificial agents capable to act on this environment. Multi-agent models are oriented towards interactions, collaborative phenomena, and autonomy. This article presents the applications of multi-agent technology to the power systems.

The immune response against Candida spp. and Sporothrix schenckii.

PubMed

Martínez-Álvarez, José A; Pérez-García, Luis A; Flores-Carreón, Arturo; Mora-Montes, Héctor M

2014-01-01

Candida albicans is the main causative agent of systemic candidiasis, a condition with high mortality rates. The study of the interaction between C. albicans and immune system components has been thoroughly studied and nowadays there is a model for the anti-C. albicans immune response; however, little is known about the sensing of other pathogenic species of the Candida genus. Sporothrix schenckii is the causative agent of sporotrichosis, a subcutaneous mycosis, and thus far there is limited information about its interaction with the immune system. In this paper, we review the most recent information about the immune sensing of species from genus Candida and S. schenckii. Thoroughly searches in scientific journal databases were performed, looking for papers addressing either Candida- or Sporothrix-immune system interactions. There is a significant advance in the knowledge of non-C. albicans species of Candida and Sporothrix immune sensing; however, there are still relevant points to address, such as the specific contribution of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) for sensing by different immune cells and the immune receptors involved in such interactions. This manuscript is part of the series of works presented at the "V International Workshop: Molecular genetic approaches to the study of human pathogenic fungi" (Oaxaca, Mexico, 2012). Copyright © 2013 Revista Iberoamericana de Micología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Modelling of robotic work cells using agent based-approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sękala, A.; Banaś, W.; Gwiazda, A.; Monica, Z.; Kost, G.; Hryniewicz, P.

2016-08-01

In the case of modern manufacturing systems the requirements, both according the scope and according characteristics of technical procedures are dynamically changing. This results in production system organization inability to keep up with changes in a market demand. Accordingly, there is a need for new design methods, characterized, on the one hand with a high efficiency and on the other with the adequate level of the generated organizational solutions. One of the tools that could be used for this purpose is the concept of agent systems. These systems are the tools of artificial intelligence. They allow assigning to agents the proper domains of procedures and knowledge so that they represent in a self-organizing system of an agent environment, components of a real system. The agent-based system for modelling robotic work cell should be designed taking into consideration many limitations considered with the characteristic of this production unit. It is possible to distinguish some grouped of structural components that constitute such a system. This confirms the structural complexity of a work cell as a specific production system. So it is necessary to develop agents depicting various aspects of the work cell structure. The main groups of agents that are used to model a robotic work cell should at least include next pattern representatives: machine tool agents, auxiliary equipment agents, robots agents, transport equipment agents, organizational agents as well as data and knowledge bases agents. In this way it is possible to create the holarchy of the agent-based system.

Advanced Approach of Multiagent Based Buoy Communication

PubMed Central

Gricius, Gediminas; Drungilas, Darius; Dzemydiene, Dale

2015-01-01

Usually, a hydrometeorological information system is faced with great data flows, but the data levels are often excessive, depending on the observed region of the water. The paper presents advanced buoy communication technologies based on multiagent interaction and data exchange between several monitoring system nodes. The proposed management of buoy communication is based on a clustering algorithm, which enables the performance of the hydrometeorological information system to be enhanced. The experiment is based on the design and analysis of the inexpensive but reliable Baltic Sea autonomous monitoring network (buoys), which would be able to continuously monitor and collect temperature, waviness, and other required data. The proposed approach of multiagent based buoy communication enables all the data from the costal-based station to be monitored with limited transition speed by setting different tasks for the agent-based buoy system according to the clustering information. PMID:26345197

Complexities, Catastrophes and Cities: Emergency Dynamics in Varying Scenarios and Urban Topologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Narzisi, Giuseppe; Mysore, Venkatesh; Byeon, Jeewoong; Mishra, Bud

Complex Systems are often characterized by agents capable of interacting with each other dynamically, often in non-linear and non-intuitive ways. Trying to characterize their dynamics often results in partial differential equations that are difficult, if not impossible, to solve. A large city or a city-state is an example of such an evolving and self-organizing complex environment that efficiently adapts to different and numerous incremental changes to its social, cultural and technological infrastructure [1]. One powerful technique for analyzing such complex systems is Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) [9], which has seen an increasing number of applications in social science, economics and also biology. The agent-based paradigm facilitates easier transfer of domain specific knowledge into a model. ABM provides a natural way to describe systems in which the overall dynamics can be described as the result of the behavior of populations of autonomous components: agents, with a fixed set of rules based on local information and possible central control. As part of the NYU Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response (CCPR1), we have been exploring how ABM can serve as a powerful simulation technique for analyzing large-scale urban disasters. The central problem in Disaster Management is that it is not immediately apparent whether the current emergency plans are robust against such sudden, rare and punctuated catastrophic events.

Ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxides (USPIOs): a future alternative magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agent for patients at risk for nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF)?

PubMed Central

Neuwelt, Edward A.; Hamilton, Bronwyn E.; Varallyay, Csanad G.; Rooney, William R.; Edelman, Robert D.; Jacobs, Paula M.; Watnick, Suzanne G.

2008-01-01

Gadolinium (Gd) based contrast agents (GBCAs) in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are used in daily clinical practice and appear safe in most patients; however, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) is a recently recognized severe complication associated with GBCAs. It affects primarily patients with renal disease, such as stage 4 or 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD; glomerular filtration rate <30 ml/min per 1.73 m2), acute kidney injury, or kidney and liver transplant recipients with kidney dysfunction. Contrast-enhanced MRI and computed tomography (CT) scans provide important clinical information and influence patient management. An alternative contrast agent is needed to obtain adequate imaging results while avoiding the risk of NSF in this vulnerable patient group. One potential alternative is ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) nanoparticles, which provide enhancement characteristics similar to GBCAs. We review our experience in approximately 150 patients on the potential benefits of the USPIOs ferumoxtran-10 and ferumoxytol. We focus on central nervous system (CNS) MRI but also review imaging of other vascular beds. Safety studies, including USPIO administration (ferumoxytol) as iron supplement therapy in CKD patients on and not on dialysis, suggest that decreased kidney function does not alter the safety profile. We conclude that for both CNS MR imaging and MR angiography, USPIO agents like ferumoxytol are a viable option for patients at risk for NSF. PMID:18843256

Distance-Based Behaviors for Low-Complexity Control in Multiagent Robotics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pierpaoli, Pietro

Several biological examples show that living organisms cooperate to collectively accomplish tasks impossible for single individuals. More importantly, this coordination is often achieved with a very limited set of information. Inspired by these observations, research on autonomous systems has focused on the development of distributed control techniques for control and guidance of groups of autonomous mobile agents, or robots. From an engineering perspective, when coordination and cooperation is sought in large ensembles of robotic vehicles, a reduction in hardware and algorithms' complexity becomes mandatory from the very early stages of the project design. The research for solutions capable of lowering power consumption, cost and increasing reliability are thus worth investigating. In this work, we studied low-complexity techniques to achieve cohesion and control on swarms of autonomous robots. Starting from an inspiring example with two-agents, we introduced effects of neighbors' relative positions on control of an autonomous agent. The extension of this intuition addressed the control of large ensembles of autonomous vehicles, and was applied in the form of a herding-like technique. To this end, a low-complexity distance-based aggregation protocol was defined. We first showed that our protocol produced a cohesion aggregation among the agent while avoiding inter-agent collisions. Then, a feedback leader-follower architecture was introduced for the control of the swarm. We also described how proximity measures and probability of collisions with neighbors can also be used as source of information in highly populated environments.

Meeting the Informal Learning Challenges of the Free Agent Learner: Drawing Insights from Research-Based Lessons Learned. Innovative Session 1. [Concurrent Innovative Session at AHRD Annual Conference, 2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsick, Victoria J.; Volpe, F. Marie; Brooks, Ann; Cseh, Maria; Lovin, Barbara Keelor; Vernon, Sally; Watkins, Karen E.; Ziegler, Mary

The concept of the free agent learner, which has roots in self-directed and informal learning theory, has recently emerged as a factor important to attracting, developing, and keeping knowledge workers. The literature on free agent learning holds important lessons for today's free agent learners, human resource developers, and work organizations.…

Controlled teleportation with the control of two groups of agents via entanglement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Xiao-Ling; Liu, Man; Yang, Chui-Ping

2015-03-01

We present a way for implementing controlled teleportation of an arbitrary unknown pure state of a qutrit with the control of two groups of agents via entanglement. In our proposal, the sender can successfully teleport the qutrit state to a distant receiver with the help of all agents. However, if one agent in each group does not cooperate, the receiver cannot gain any information (including amplitude information or phase information or both) about the qutrit state to be teleported. Since a qubit is a special case of a qutrit when the state lies in a fixed two-dimensional subspace of the qutrit, the present proposal can be also applied in the implementation of controlled teleportation of an arbitrary unknown pure state of a qubit with many control agents in two groups. We note that our proposal is the first one to use two groups of agents to achieve controlled teleportation.

Sensitivity to the Sampling Process Emerges From the Principle of Efficiency.

PubMed

Jara-Ettinger, Julian; Sun, Felix; Schulz, Laura; Tenenbaum, Joshua B

2018-05-01

Humans can seamlessly infer other people's preferences, based on what they do. Broadly, two types of accounts have been proposed to explain different aspects of this ability. The first account focuses on spatial information: Agents' efficient navigation in space reveals what they like. The second account focuses on statistical information: Uncommon choices reveal stronger preferences. Together, these two lines of research suggest that we have two distinct capacities for inferring preferences. Here we propose that this is not the case, and that spatial-based and statistical-based preference inferences can be explained by the assumption that agents are efficient alone. We show that people's sensitivity to spatial and statistical information when they infer preferences is best predicted by a computational model of the principle of efficiency, and that this model outperforms dual-system models, even when the latter are fit to participant judgments. Our results suggest that, as adults, a unified understanding of agency under the principle of efficiency underlies our ability to infer preferences. Copyright © 2018 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Extraction of Aerosol-Deposited Yersinia pestis from Indoor Surfaces To Determine Bacterial Environmental Decay.

PubMed

Gut, Ian M; Bartlett, Ryan A; Yeager, John J; Leroux, Brian; Ratnesar-Shumate, Shanna; Dabisch, Paul; Karaolis, David K R

2016-05-01

Public health and decontamination decisions following an event that causes indoor contamination with a biological agent require knowledge of the environmental persistence of the agent. The goals of this study were to develop methods for experimentally depositing bacteria onto indoor surfaces via aerosol, evaluate methods for sampling and enumerating the agent on surfaces, and use these methods to determine bacterial surface decay. A specialized aerosol deposition chamber was constructed, and methods were established for reproducible and uniform aerosol deposition of bacteria onto four coupon types. The deposition chamber facilitated the control of relative humidity (RH; 10 to 70%) following particle deposition to mimic the conditions of indoor environments, as RH is not controlled by standard heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Extraction and culture-based enumeration methods to quantify the viable bacteria on coupons were shown to be highly sensitive and reproducible. To demonstrate the usefulness of the system for decay studies,Yersinia pestis persistence as a function of surface type at 21 °C and 40% RH was determined to be >40%/min for all surfaces. Based upon these results, at typical indoor temperature and RH, a 6-log reduction in titer would expected to be achieved within 1 h as the result of environmental decay on surfaces without active decontamination. The developed approach will facilitate future persistence and decontamination studies with a broad range of biological agents and surfaces, providing agent decay data to inform both assessments of risk to personnel entering a contaminated site and decontamination decisions following biological contamination of an indoor environment. Public health and decontamination decisions following contamination of an indoor environment with a biological agent require knowledge of the environmental persistence of the agent. Previous studies on Y. pestis persistence have utilized large liquid droplet deposition to provide persistence data. As a result, methods were developed to deposit aerosols containing bacteria onto indoor surfaces, reproducibly enumerate bacteria harvested from coupons, and determine surface decay utilizing Y. pestis The results of this study provide foundational methods required to evaluate surface decay of bacteria and potentially other biological agents, such as viruses, in aerosol particles as a function of surface type and environment. Integrating the data from both aerosol and liquid deposition surface decay studies will provide medical and public health personnel with a more complete understanding of agent persistence on surfaces in contaminated areas for assessment of health risks and to inform decontamination decisions. Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Extraction of Aerosol-Deposited Yersinia pestis from Indoor Surfaces To Determine Bacterial Environmental Decay

PubMed Central

Bartlett, Ryan A.; Yeager, John J.; Leroux, Brian; Ratnesar-Shumate, Shanna; Dabisch, Paul

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Public health and decontamination decisions following an event that causes indoor contamination with a biological agent require knowledge of the environmental persistence of the agent. The goals of this study were to develop methods for experimentally depositing bacteria onto indoor surfaces via aerosol, evaluate methods for sampling and enumerating the agent on surfaces, and use these methods to determine bacterial surface decay. A specialized aerosol deposition chamber was constructed, and methods were established for reproducible and uniform aerosol deposition of bacteria onto four coupon types. The deposition chamber facilitated the control of relative humidity (RH; 10 to 70%) following particle deposition to mimic the conditions of indoor environments, as RH is not controlled by standard heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Extraction and culture-based enumeration methods to quantify the viable bacteria on coupons were shown to be highly sensitive and reproducible. To demonstrate the usefulness of the system for decay studies, Yersinia pestis persistence as a function of surface type at 21°C and 40% RH was determined to be >40%/min for all surfaces. Based upon these results, at typical indoor temperature and RH, a 6-log reduction in titer would expected to be achieved within 1 h as the result of environmental decay on surfaces without active decontamination. The developed approach will facilitate future persistence and decontamination studies with a broad range of biological agents and surfaces, providing agent decay data to inform both assessments of risk to personnel entering a contaminated site and decontamination decisions following biological contamination of an indoor environment. IMPORTANCE Public health and decontamination decisions following contamination of an indoor environment with a biological agent require knowledge of the environmental persistence of the agent. Previous studies on Y. pestis persistence have utilized large liquid droplet deposition to provide persistence data. As a result, methods were developed to deposit aerosols containing bacteria onto indoor surfaces, reproducibly enumerate bacteria harvested from coupons, and determine surface decay utilizing Y. pestis. The results of this study provide foundational methods required to evaluate surface decay of bacteria and potentially other biological agents, such as viruses, in aerosol particles as a function of surface type and environment. Integrating the data from both aerosol and liquid deposition surface decay studies will provide medical and public health personnel with a more complete understanding of agent persistence on surfaces in contaminated areas for assessment of health risks and to inform decontamination decisions. PMID:26944839

Analysis of Decentralized Variable Structure Control for Collective Search by Mobile Robots

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Feddema, J.; Goldsmith, S.; Robinett, R.

1998-11-04

This paper presents an analysis of a decentralized coordination strategy for organizing and controlling a team of mobile robots performing collective search. The alpha-beta coordination strategy is a family of collective search algorithms that allow teams of communicating robots to implicitly coordinate their search activities through a division of labor based on self-selected roIes. In an alpha-beta team. alpha agents are motivated to improve their status by exploring new regions of the search space. Beta a~ents are conservative, and reiy on the alpha agents to provide advanced information on favorable regions of the search space. An agent selects its currentmore » role dynamically based on its current status value relative to the current status values of the other team members. Status is determined by some function of the agent's sensor readings, and is generally a measurement of source intensity at the agent's current location. Variations on the decision rules determining alpha and beta behavior produce different versions of the algorithm that lead to different global properties. The alpha-beta strategy is based on a simple finite-state machine that implements a form of Variable Structure Control (VSC). The VSC system changes the dynamics of the collective system by abruptly switching at defined states to alternative control laws . In VSC, Lyapunov's direct method is often used to design control surfaces which guide the system to a given goal. We introduce the alpha-beta aIgorithm and present an analysis of the equilibrium point and the global stability of the alpha-beta algorithm based on Lyapunov's method.« less

Self-Organized Percolation and Critical Sales Fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weisbuch, Gérard; Solomon, Sorin

There is a discrepancy between the standard view of equilibrium through price adjustment in economics and the observation of large fluctuations in stock markets. We study here a simple model where agents decisions not only depend upon their individual preferences but also upon information obtained from their neighbors in a social network. The model shows that information diffusion coupled to the adjustment process drives the system to criticality with large fluctuations rather than converging smoothly to equilibrium.

Molecular Imaging and Contrast Agent Database (MICAD): evolution and progress.

PubMed

Chopra, Arvind; Shan, Liang; Eckelman, W C; Leung, Kam; Latterner, Martin; Bryant, Stephen H; Menkens, Anne

2012-02-01

The purpose of writing this review is to showcase the Molecular Imaging and Contrast Agent Database (MICAD; www.micad.nlm.nih.gov ) to students, researchers, and clinical investigators interested in the different aspects of molecular imaging. This database provides freely accessible, current, online scientific information regarding molecular imaging (MI) probes and contrast agents (CA) used for positron emission tomography, single-photon emission computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray/computed tomography, optical imaging and ultrasound imaging. Detailed information on >1,000 agents in MICAD is provided in a chapter format and can be accessed through PubMed. Lists containing >4,250 unique MI probes and CAs published in peer-reviewed journals and agents approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration as well as a comma separated values file summarizing all chapters in the database can be downloaded from the MICAD homepage. Users can search for agents in MICAD on the basis of imaging modality, source of signal/contrast, agent or target category, pre-clinical or clinical studies, and text words. Chapters in MICAD describe the chemical characteristics (structures linked to PubChem), the in vitro and in vivo activities, and other relevant information regarding an imaging agent. All references in the chapters have links to PubMed. A Supplemental Information Section in each chapter is available to share unpublished information regarding an agent. A Guest Author Program is available to facilitate rapid expansion of the database. Members of the imaging community registered with MICAD periodically receive an e-mail announcement (eAnnouncement) that lists new chapters uploaded to the database. Users of MICAD are encouraged to provide feedback, comments, or suggestions for further improvement of the database by writing to the editors at micad@nlm.nih.gov.

Molecular Imaging and Contrast Agent Database (MICAD): Evolution and Progress

PubMed Central

Chopra, Arvind; Shan, Liang; Eckelman, W. C.; Leung, Kam; Latterner, Martin; Bryant, Stephen H.; Menkens, Anne

2011-01-01

The purpose of writing this review is to showcase the Molecular Imaging and Contrast Agent Database (MICAD; www.micad.nlm.nih.gov) to students, researchers and clinical investigators interested in the different aspects of molecular imaging. This database provides freely accessible, current, online scientific information regarding molecular imaging (MI) probes and contrast agents (CA) used for positron emission tomography, single-photon emission computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, x-ray/computed tomography, optical imaging and ultrasound imaging. Detailed information on >1000 agents in MICAD is provided in a chapter format and can be accessed through PubMed. Lists containing >4250 unique MI probes and CAs published in peer-reviewed journals and agents approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as a CSV file summarizing all chapters in the database can be downloaded from the MICAD homepage. Users can search for agents in MICAD on the basis of imaging modality, source of signal/contrast, agent or target category, preclinical or clinical studies, and text words. Chapters in MICAD describe the chemical characteristics (structures linked to PubChem), the in vitro and in vivo activities and other relevant information regarding an imaging agent. All references in the chapters have links to PubMed. A Supplemental Information Section in each chapter is available to share unpublished information regarding an agent. A Guest Author Program is available to facilitate rapid expansion of the database. Members of the imaging community registered with MICAD periodically receive an e-mail announcement (eAnnouncement) that lists new chapters uploaded to the database. Users of MICAD are encouraged to provide feedback, comments or suggestions for further improvement of the database by writing to the editors at: micad@nlm.nih.gov PMID:21989943