38,423 research outputs found

    Digital Ecosystems: Ecosystem-Oriented Architectures

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    We view Digital Ecosystems to be the digital counterparts of biological ecosystems. Here, we are concerned with the creation of these Digital Ecosystems, exploiting the self-organising properties of biological ecosystems to evolve high-level software applications. Therefore, we created the Digital Ecosystem, a novel optimisation technique inspired by biological ecosystems, where the optimisation works at two levels: a first optimisation, migration of agents which are distributed in a decentralised peer-to-peer network, operating continuously in time; this process feeds a second optimisation based on evolutionary computing that operates locally on single peers and is aimed at finding solutions to satisfy locally relevant constraints. The Digital Ecosystem was then measured experimentally through simulations, with measures originating from theoretical ecology, evaluating its likeness to biological ecosystems. This included its responsiveness to requests for applications from the user base, as a measure of the ecological succession (ecosystem maturity). Overall, we have advanced the understanding of Digital Ecosystems, creating Ecosystem-Oriented Architectures where the word ecosystem is more than just a metaphor.Comment: 39 pages, 26 figures, journa

    Rapid inversion: running animals and robots swing like a pendulum under ledges.

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    Escaping from predators often demands that animals rapidly negotiate complex environments. The smallest animals attain relatively fast speeds with high frequency leg cycling, wing flapping or body undulations, but absolute speeds are slow compared to larger animals. Instead, small animals benefit from the advantages of enhanced maneuverability in part due to scaling. Here, we report a novel behavior in small, legged runners that may facilitate their escape by disappearance from predators. We video recorded cockroaches and geckos rapidly running up an incline toward a ledge, digitized their motion and created a simple model to generalize the behavior. Both species ran rapidly at 12-15 body lengths-per-second toward the ledge without braking, dove off the ledge, attached their feet by claws like a grappling hook, and used a pendulum-like motion that can exceed one meter-per-second to swing around to an inverted position under the ledge, out of sight. We discovered geckos in Southeast Asia can execute this escape behavior in the field. Quantification of these acrobatic behaviors provides biological inspiration toward the design of small, highly mobile search-and-rescue robots that can assist us during natural and human-made disasters. We report the first steps toward this new capability in a small, hexapedal robot

    Ontology as Product-Service System: Lessons Learned from GO, BFO and DOLCE

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    This paper defends a view of the Gene Ontology (GO) and of Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) as examples of what the manufacturing industry calls product-service systems. This means that they are products (the ontologies) bundled with a range of ontology services such as updates, training, help desk, and permanent identifiers. The paper argues that GO and BFO are contrasted in this respect with DOLCE, which approximates more closely to a scientific theory or a scientific publication. The paper provides a detailed overview of ontology services and concludes with a discussion of some implications of the product-service system approach for the understanding of the nature of applied ontology. Ontology developer communities are compared in this respect with developers of scientific theories and of standards (such as W3C). For each of these we can ask: what kinds of products do they develop and what kinds of services do they provide for the users of these products

    Smart vest for respiratory rate monitoring of COPD patients based on non-contact capacitive sensing

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    In this paper, a first approach to the design of a portable device for non-contact monitoring of respiratory rate by capacitive sensing is presented. The sensing system is integrated into a smart vest for an untethered, low-cost and comfortable breathing monitoring of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients during the rest period between respiratory rehabilitation exercises at home. To provide an extensible solution to the remote monitoring using this sensor and other devices, the design and preliminary development of an e-Health platform based on the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) paradigm is also presented. In order to validate the proposed solution, two quasi-experimental studies have been developed, comparing the estimations with respect to the golden standard. In a first study with healthy subjects, the mean value of the respiratory rate error, the standard deviation of the error and the correlation coefficient were 0.01 breaths per minute (bpm), 0.97 bpm and 0.995 (p < 0.00001), respectively. In a second study with COPD patients, the values were -0.14 bpm, 0.28 bpm and 0.9988 (p < 0.0000001), respectively. The results for the rest period show the technical and functional feasibility of the prototype and serve as a preliminary validation of the device for respiratory rate monitoring of patients with COPD.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PI15/00306Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación DTS15/00195Junta de Andalucía PI-0010-2013Junta de Andalucía PI-0041-2014Junta de Andalucía PIN-0394-201

    Quality and inspiration. A study of the diversification of rhetoric of quality in relation to different conceptual domains in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig

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    This article discusses the basic types of concepts of quality occurring in Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values. These terms refer to the different conceptual domains, creating diversi ed types of rhetoric. All kinds of rhetoric refer to the discovery and awakening of individuality. The quality of education at university or on a motorbike must extend to all possible levels of the Great Chain of Being, it can not only be addressed with abstractedness. Conceptual diversi cation means diversifying rhetoric and style, which possibly corresponds to different levels of quality for Pirsig. In this sense, his proposals of a metaphysics of quality is part of a current dispute about the crisis within the humanities and the need to give it meaning, practicality and socially responsible utility. A metaphysics of quality uses the rhetoric of conceptual schemata which include: road, inclusion and container.Artykuł omawia podstawowe typy pojęcia jakości występujące w powieści Roberta M. Pirsiga pt. Zen i sztuka obsługi motocykla. Rozprawa o wartościach. Te pojęcia odnoszą się do różnych domen konceptualnych, tworząc tym samym zdywersyfkowane typy retoryki. Wszystkie typy retoryki odnoszą się do odkrywania i przebudzenia jednostkowości. Jakość kształcenia na uniwersytecie czy na motocyklu musi sięgać do wszystkich możliwych poziomów Wielkiego Łańcucha Bytu, nie może adresować jedynie abstrakcji. Dywersyfkacja konceptualna oznacza zdywersyfkowanie retoryki i stylu, co może odpowiadać także różnym poziomom jakości u Pirsiga. W tym sensie jego propozycja metafzyki jakości wpisuje się w aktualne spory o kryzysie humanistyki i konieczności jej usensownienia, upraktycznienia i użycia społecznie odpowiedzialnego. Metafzyka jakości posługuje się retoryką schematów konceptualnych drogi, inkluzji i pojemnika

    Ecosystem-Oriented Distributed Evolutionary Computing

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    We create a novel optimisation technique inspired by natural ecosystems, where the optimisation works at two levels: a first optimisation, migration of genes which are distributed in a peer-to-peer network, operating continuously in time; this process feeds a second optimisation based on evolutionary computing that operates locally on single peers and is aimed at finding solutions to satisfy locally relevant constraints. We consider from the domain of computer science distributed evolutionary computing, with the relevant theory from the domain of theoretical biology, including the fields of evolutionary and ecological theory, the topological structure of ecosystems, and evolutionary processes within distributed environments. We then define ecosystem- oriented distributed evolutionary computing, imbibed with the properties of self-organisation, scalability and sustainability from natural ecosystems, including a novel form of distributed evolu- tionary computing. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the apparent compromises resulting from the hybrid model created, such as the network topology.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1112.0204, arXiv:0712.4159, arXiv:0712.4153, arXiv:0712.4102, arXiv:0910.067

    Sustainable car life cycle design, taking inspiration from natural systems and thermodynamics

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    This paper exposes the search for a tool and method, which from a systems approach, adopts the rules and logic that govern our physical context (biosphere) in order to provide guidelines that the car industry could use to achieve an ideal state for ecological, economical and social sustainability
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