An Agent-Based Variogram Modeller: Investigating Intelligent, Distributed-Component Geographical Information Systems

Geo-Information Science (GIScience) is the field of study that addresses substantive questions concerning the handling, analysis and visualisation of spatial data. Geo- Information Systems (GIS), including software, data acquisition and organisational arrangements, are the key technologies underpinning GIScience. A GIS is normally tailored to the service it is supposed to perform. However, there is often the need to do a function that might not be supported by the GIS tool being used. The normal solution in these circumstances is to go out and look for another tool that can do the service, and often an expert to use that tool. This is expensive, time consuming and certainly stressful to the geographical data analyses. On the other hand, GIS is often used in conjunction with other technologies to form a geocomputational environment. One of the complex tools in geocomputation is geostatistics. One of its functions is to provide the means to determine the extent of spatial dependencies within geographical data and processes. Spatial datasets are often large and complex. Currently Agent system are being integrated into GIS to offer flexibility and allow better data analysis. The theis will look into the current application of Agents in within the GIS community, determine if they are used to representing data, process or act a service. The thesis looks into proving the applicability of an agent-oriented paradigm as a service based GIS, having the possibility of providing greater interoperability and reducing resource requirements (human and tools). In particular, analysis was undertaken to determine the need to introduce enhanced features to agents, in order to maximise their effectiveness in GIS. This was achieved by addressing the software agent complexity in design and implementation for the GIS environment and by suggesting possible solutions to encountered problems. The software agent characteristics and features (which include the dynamic binding of plans to software agents in order to tackle the levels of complexity and range of contexts) were examined, as well as discussing current GIScience and the applications of agent technology to GIS, agents as entities, objects and processes. These concepts and their functionalities to GIS are then analysed and discussed. The extent of agent functionality, analysis of the gaps and the use these technologies to express a distributed service providing an agent-based GIS framework is then presented. Thus, a general agent-based framework for GIS and a novel agent-based architecture for a specific part of GIS, the variogram, to examine the applicability of the agent- oriented paradigm to GIS, was devised. An examination of the current mechanisms for constructing variograms, underlying processes and functions was undertaken, then these processes were embedded into a novel agent architecture for GIS. Once the successful software agent implementation had been achieved, the corresponding tool was tested and validated - internally for code errors and externally to determine its functional requirements and whether it enhances the GIS process of dealing with data. Thereafter, its compared with other known service based GIS agents and its advantages and disadvantages analysed

High Energy Physics Forum for Computational Excellence: Working Group Reports (I. Applications Software II. Software Libraries and Tools III. Systems)

Computing plays an essential role in all aspects of high energy physics. As computational technology evolves rapidly in new directions, and data throughput and volume continue to follow a steep trend-line, it is important for the HEP community to develop an effective response to a series of expected challenges. In order to help shape the desired response, the HEP Forum for Computational Excellence (HEP-FCE) initiated a roadmap planning activity with two key overlapping drivers -- 1) software effectiveness, and 2) infrastructure and expertise advancement. The HEP-FCE formed three working groups, 1) Applications Software, 2) Software Libraries and Tools, and 3) Systems (including systems software), to provide an overview of the current status of HEP computing and to present findings and opportunities for the desired HEP computational roadmap. The final versions of the reports are combined in this document, and are presented along with introductory material.Comment: 72 page

Multi-Agent Systems

A multi-agent system (MAS) is a system composed of multiple interacting intelligent agents. Multi-agent systems can be used to solve problems which are difficult or impossible for an individual agent or monolithic system to solve. Agent systems are open and extensible systems that allow for the deployment of autonomous and proactive software components. Multi-agent systems have been brought up and used in several application domains

Context-aware Personal Learning Environment

Research is now shifting away from Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and towards the use of the Personal Learning Environment (PLE). A review of a number of PLE architectures are presented in the literature, and while they convey well the concept of a PLE, nevertheless they could best be described as high-level architectures, (sometimes referred to as frameworks in the literature), which focus mainly the functionality of PLEs. In particular, there is little published which gives a detailed designed of a PLE architecture. Moreover, the published work focuses largely on the support for lifelong learning and formal / informal learning; these are two of the main limitations of VLEs. However, this study argues that unexplored potential remains, as there is scope for PLEs to cover more areas. To the best of our knowledge, none of the existing PLE architectures have context-aware systems embedded within their architecture. There is no intelligence in these architectures to filter the e-resources and to predict the user need. In addition, the current PLE architectures are not dynamic; it cannot adopt the user current situation. The user of the current PLE architectures receives too much e-resource. The architecture proposed in this research incorporates a context-aware engine. Thus there is intelligence built into the architecture and thus the PLE system is automatically responsive to the context information. There are three types of sensors in any context-aware system (physical, virtual and logical), and these are the elements of the system that gather the context information. In this research, the emphasis will be on virtual sensors which gather the information from virtual space; virtual space here includes any systems which produce information as a set of results. Thus, the context-aware architecture and the implementation of the context-aware engine are major contributions of the work

Decision Support Systems

Decision support systems (DSS) have evolved over the past four decades from theoretical concepts into real world computerized applications. DSS architecture contains three key components: knowledge base, computerized model, and user interface. DSS simulate cognitive decision-making functions of humans based on artificial intelligence methodologies (including expert systems, data mining, machine learning, connectionism, logistical reasoning, etc.) in order to perform decision support functions. The applications of DSS cover many domains, ranging from aviation monitoring, transportation safety, clinical diagnosis, weather forecast, business management to internet search strategy. By combining knowledge bases with inference rules, DSS are able to provide suggestions to end users to improve decisions and outcomes. This book is written as a textbook so that it can be used in formal courses examining decision support systems. It may be used by both undergraduate and graduate students from diverse computer-related fields. It will also be of value to established professionals as a text for self-study or for reference

Intelligent agents, markets and competition

Strategisch onderzoek naar de ontwikkelingen op de markt voor intelligent agents. Intelligent Agents kunnen enorme invloed krijgen in de business-to-consumer Internethandel. Veel hangt daarbij af van hoe aanbieders hun producten aanbieden op het Internet. In de reisbranche zijn de mogelijkheden voor productori�ntatie en -aankoop op de websites van reisaanbieders nog beperkt. Op boekensites is meer informatie voorhanden. Hier hebben agents slechts een beperkte functie, omdat onderscheid tussen boekaanbieders enkel op prijs is te maken.

The needs of industry and future technologies landscapes and the resultant requirements for the graduate profile

This report presents current and future technology landscapes that can be affected by design for all in the field of ICT, and how these landscapes can affect the future graduate profile. It also presents an overview of current industry awareness about the topic, and a summary of the industry needs