31,724 research outputs found
Practical applications of multi-agent systems in electric power systems
The transformation of energy networks from passive to active systems requires the embedding of intelligence within the network. One suitable approach to integrating distributed intelligent systems is multi-agent systems technology, where components of functionality run as autonomous agents capable of interaction through messaging. This provides loose coupling between components that can benefit the complex systems envisioned for the smart grid. This paper reviews the key milestones of demonstrated agent systems in the power industry and considers which aspects of agent design must still be addressed for widespread application of agent technology to occur
Social e-learning in topolor : a case study
Social e-learning is a process through which learners achieve their learning goals via social interactions with each other by sharing knowledge, skills, abilities and educational materials. Adaptive e-learning enables adaptation and personalization of the learning process, based on learner needs, knowledge, preferences and other characteristics. In this paper, we present a case study that analyzes the social interaction features of a social personalized adaptive e-learning system developed at the University of Warwick, called Topolor. We discuss the results of a quantitative case study that
evaluates the perceived usefulness and usability. The results demonstrate a generally high level of learner satisfaction with their learning experience. We extend the discussion of the results to explore future research directions and suggest further improvements for the studied social personalized adaptive e-learning system
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A DSL For Logistics Clouds
Cloud is a new area of specialization in the computing world, and, as such, it has not been explicitly addressed by traditional programming languages and environments. Therefore, there is a need to create Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) for it. This paper presents such a DSL that targets logistics clouds, i.e. networked resources and systems of logistics organisations. The DSL is implemented on top of the functional concurrent language Erlang and its distributed data management system Mnesia. The paper presents features of the DSL that implement commonly occurring use cases in the logistics cloud such as message exchange, document sharing and notifications. We show how program features in this DSL map to the underlying Erlang/OTP runtime
Using an Architecture Description Language to Model a Large- Scale Information System â An Industrial Experience Report
An organisation that had developed a large Information System wanted to embark on a programme of significant evolution for the system. As a precursor to this, it was decided to create a comprehensive architectural
description. T his undertaking faced a number of challenges, including a low general awareness of software modelling and software architecture practices . The approach taken for this
project included the definition of a simple, specific, architecture description language. This paper describes the experiences of the project and the ADL created as part of it
MPICH-G2: A Grid-Enabled Implementation of the Message Passing Interface
Application development for distributed computing "Grids" can benefit from
tools that variously hide or enable application-level management of critical
aspects of the heterogeneous environment. As part of an investigation of these
issues, we have developed MPICH-G2, a Grid-enabled implementation of the
Message Passing Interface (MPI) that allows a user to run MPI programs across
multiple computers, at the same or different sites, using the same commands
that would be used on a parallel computer. This library extends the Argonne
MPICH implementation of MPI to use services provided by the Globus Toolkit for
authentication, authorization, resource allocation, executable staging, and
I/O, as well as for process creation, monitoring, and control. Various
performance-critical operations, including startup and collective operations,
are configured to exploit network topology information. The library also
exploits MPI constructs for performance management; for example, the MPI
communicator construct is used for application-level discovery of, and
adaptation to, both network topology and network quality-of-service mechanisms.
We describe the MPICH-G2 design and implementation, present performance
results, and review application experiences, including record-setting
distributed simulations.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figure
Addressing information flow in lean production management and control in construction
Traditionally, production control on construction sites has been a challenging area,
where the ad-hoc production control methods foster uncertainty - one of the biggest
enemies of efficiency and smooth production flow. Lean construction methods such
as the Last Planner System have partially tackled this problem by addressing the flow
aspect through means such as constraints analysis and commitment planning.
However, such systems have relatively long planning cycles to respond to the
dynamic production requirements of construction, where almost daily if not hourly
control is needed. New solutions have been designed by researchers to improve this
aspect such as VisiLean, but again these types of software systems require the
proximity and availability of computer devices to workers. Given this observation,
there is a need for a communication system between the field and site office that is
highly interoperable and provides real-time task status information. A High-level
communication framework (using VisiLean) is presented in this paper, which aims to
overcome the problems of system integration and improve the flow of information
within the production system. The framework provides, among other things, generic
and standardized interfaces to simplify the âpushâ and âpullâ of the right (production)
information, whenever needed, wherever needed, by whoever needs it. Overall, it is
anticipated that the reliability of the production control will be improve
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