Active networks: an evolution of the internet

Active Networks can be seen as an evolution of the classical model of packet-switched networks. The traditional and ”passive” network model is based on a static definition of the network node behaviour. Active Networks propose an “active” model where the intermediate nodes (switches and routers) can load and execute user code contained in the data units (packets). Active Networks are a programmable network model, where bandwidth and computation are both considered shared network resources. This approach opens up new interesting research fields. This paper gives a short introduction of Active Networks, discusses the advantages they introduce and presents the research advances in this field

Self-adaptive Grid Resource Monitoring and discovery

The Grid provides a novel platform where the scientific and engineering communities can share data and computation across multiple administrative domains. There are several key services that must be offered by Grid middleware; one of them being the Grid Information Service( GIS). A GIS is a Grid middleware component which maintains information about hardware, software, services and people participating in a virtual organisation( VO). There is an inherent need in these systems for the delivery of reliable performance. This thesis describes a number of approaches which detail the development and application of a suite of benchmarks for the prediction of the process of resource discovery and monitoring on the Grid. A series of experimental studies of the characterisation of performance using benchmarking, are carried out. Several novel predictive algorithms are presented and evaluated in terms of their predictive error. Furthermore, predictive methods are developed which describe the behaviour of MDS2 for a variable number of user requests. The MDS is also extended to include job information from a local scheduler; this information is queried using requests of greatly varying complexity. The response of the MDS to these queries is then assessed in terms of several performance metrics. The benchmarking of the dynamic nature of information within MDS3 which is based on the Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA), and also the successor to MDS2, is also carried out. The performance of both the pull and push query mechanisms is analysed. GridAdapt (Self-adaptive Grid Resource Monitoring) is a new system that is proposed, built upon the Globus MDS3 benchmarking. It offers self-adaptation, autonomy and admission control at the Index Service, whilst ensuring that the MIDS is not overloaded and can meet its quality-of-service,f or example,i n terms of its average response time for servicing synchronous queries and the total number of queries returned per unit time

Programming the MIRTO robot with neurons

MIRTO is a new, inexpensive, open-source robot. The specification, the necessary libraries, and sample code are freely available. It has been used to teach undergraduate students programming and as an extensible base platform for students engineering robots. While it is typically programmed in traditional programming languages, it has also been driven by simulated neurons; point neurons have been used to follow a line. Since neurons are the basis of animal cognition, using them as the basis of a cognitive architecture is a promising idea. The neural MIRTO line following system can be extended into a larger more cognitive neural agent as a way forward in neural cognitive architectures

A Review of Platforms for the Development of Agent Systems

Agent-based computing is an active field of research with the goal of building autonomous software of hardware entities. This task is often facilitated by the use of dedicated, specialized frameworks. For almost thirty years, many such agent platforms have been developed. Meanwhile, some of them have been abandoned, others continue their development and new platforms are released. This paper presents a up-to-date review of the existing agent platforms and also a historical perspective of this domain. It aims to serve as a reference point for people interested in developing agent systems. This work details the main characteristics of the included agent platforms, together with links to specific projects where they have been used. It distinguishes between the active platforms and those no longer under development or with unclear status. It also classifies the agent platforms as general purpose ones, free or commercial, and specialized ones, which can be used for particular types of applications.Comment: 40 pages, 2 figures, 9 tables, 83 reference

Towards the realisation of an integratated decision support environment for organisational decision making

Traditional decision support systems are based on the paradigm of a single decision maker working at a stand‐alone computer or terminal who has a specific decision to make with a specific goal in mind. Organizational decision support systems aim to support decision makers at all levels of an organization (from executive, middle management managers to operators), who have a variety of decisions to make, with different priorities, often in a distributed and dynamic environment. Such systems need to be designed and developed with extra functionality to meet the challenges such as collaborative working. This paper proposes an Integrated Decision Support Environment (IDSE) for organizational decision making. The IDSE distinguishes itself from traditional decision support systems in that it can flexibly configure and re‐configure its functions to support various decision applications. IDSE is an open software platform which allows its users to define their own decision processes and choose their own exiting decision tools to be integrated into the platform. The IDSE is designed and developed based on distributed client/server networking, with a multi‐tier integration framework for consistent information exchange and sharing, seamless process co‐ordination and synchronisation, and quick access to packaged and legacy systems. The prototype of the IDSE demonstrates good performance in agile response to fast changing decision situations

Programming the MIRTO robot with neurons

MIRTO is a new, inexpensive, open-source robot. The specification, the necessary libraries, and sample code are freely available. It has been used to teach undergraduate students programming and as an extensible base platform for students engineering robots. While it is typically programmed in traditional programming languages, it has also been driven by simulated neurons; point neurons have been used to follow a line. Since neurons are the basis of animal cognition, using them as the basis of a cognitive architecture is a promising idea. The neural MIRTO line following system can be extended into a larger more cognitive neural agent as a way forward in neural cognitive architectures