43 research outputs found

    Distributed reasoning for content-aware services

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    Traditional services nowadays offer a strict interface to predefined functionality. Given the current atmosphere of data-integration and interface adaption according to the user's profile and context, there is a clear need for a well-structured and organized approach. Ontologies, as a semantic and first-order-logic founded mechanism, are being used in our research to facilitate such a meaningful integration. However, it is still necessary to develop distributed mechanisms for such integration. The research presented in this paper focuses on the one hand on the development of efficient partitioning and distribution algorithms and on the other hand on the implementation of a scalable service platform for distributed semantic agents

    Author index of Volume 66

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    Task allocation in the Internet of Things

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    The last few years have been involved by the technological revolution represented by the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT vision aims to interconnect devices with different capabilities such as sensors, actuators, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, smart objects (e.g. smartphones), and servers, within the same heterogeneous network. The aim is to enable the network objects to dynamically cooperate and make their resources available, in order to reach a goal, i.e. the execution of one or more applications assigned to the network. As known since its invention, the Internet interconnects nodes with dissimilar characteristics without central authorities by introducing some simple yet effective protocols that allow for nodes' interoperability so that information is successfully exchanged and services are provided by servers to clients and among peers. Fortunately, the same happens among objects in the IoT so that interoperability is assured and the data sensed by objects distributed and connected to the physical world is now available for the benefit of the human users. The realization of the IoT paradigm relies on the implementation of systems of cooperative intelligent objects with key interoperability capabilities. However, to reach this goal, it's important to consider some key features that characterize many IoT objects: i) available nodes' resources (electrical energy, memory, processing, node capability to perform a given task) are often limited. This is the case, for example, of battery powered nodes, which have limited energy amounts. ii) sensors may provide information that is not unique but can be generated by set of different objects which for example are capable to sense the same physical measure of the same geographical. iii) the number of nodes in the IoT is quickly overcoming the number of hosts in the 'traditional' Internet and most of these have a low reliability due mostly to the mobility and energy. This entails for a new paradigm of communication according to which objects coordinate with the other objects in groups and provide a unified service to the external world (the application that requires the service), with the intent to distribute the load of the requested services according to specific community defined rules, which could be: lifetime extension, QoS (Quality of Service) maximization, reward maximization, or others. It is evident that an appropriate coordination of objects' resources utilization would consistently improve their performance. This foreword is necessary to introduce this thesis, which is defined as follows. Task allocation in the IoT: given the IoT paradigm and the requirements of IoT applications, the nodes involved in the execution of the same application should cooperate to reach the optimal allocation of tasks among them. They should execute tasks to reach the global application target and to satisfy the relevant requirements while optimizing the network performance in terms of resources used. This issue should be continuously addressed to dynamically adapt the system to changes in terms of application requirements and network topolog

    Proceedings of the 2004 ONR Decision-Support Workshop Series: Interoperability

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    In August of 1998 the Collaborative Agent Design Research Center (CADRC) of the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), approached Dr. Phillip Abraham of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) with the proposal for an annual workshop focusing on emerging concepts in decision-support systems for military applications. The proposal was considered timely by the ONR Logistics Program Office for at least two reasons. First, rapid advances in information systems technology over the past decade had produced distributed collaborative computer-assistance capabilities with profound potential for providing meaningful support to military decision makers. Indeed, some systems based on these new capabilities such as the Integrated Marine Multi-Agent Command and Control System (IMMACCS) and the Integrated Computerized Deployment System (ICODES) had already reached the field-testing and final product stages, respectively. Second, over the past two decades the US Navy and Marine Corps had been increasingly challenged by missions demanding the rapid deployment of forces into hostile or devastate dterritories with minimum or non-existent indigenous support capabilities. Under these conditions Marine Corps forces had to rely mostly, if not entirely, on sea-based support and sustainment operations. Particularly today, operational strategies such as Operational Maneuver From The Sea (OMFTS) and Sea To Objective Maneuver (STOM) are very much in need of intelligent, near real-time and adaptive decision-support tools to assist military commanders and their staff under conditions of rapid change and overwhelming data loads. In the light of these developments the Logistics Program Office of ONR considered it timely to provide an annual forum for the interchange of ideas, needs and concepts that would address the decision-support requirements and opportunities in combined Navy and Marine Corps sea-based warfare and humanitarian relief operations. The first ONR Workshop was held April 20-22, 1999 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Luis Obispo, California. It focused on advances in technology with particular emphasis on an emerging family of powerful computer-based tools, and concluded that the most able members of this family of tools appear to be computer-based agents that are capable of communicating within a virtual environment of the real world. From 2001 onward the venue of the Workshop moved from the West Coast to Washington, and in 2003 the sponsorship was taken over by ONR’s Littoral Combat/Power Projection (FNC) Program Office (Program Manager: Mr. Barry Blumenthal). Themes and keynote speakers of past Workshops have included: 1999: ‘Collaborative Decision Making Tools’ Vadm Jerry Tuttle (USN Ret.); LtGen Paul Van Riper (USMC Ret.);Radm Leland Kollmorgen (USN Ret.); and, Dr. Gary Klein (KleinAssociates) 2000: ‘The Human-Computer Partnership in Decision-Support’ Dr. Ronald DeMarco (Associate Technical Director, ONR); Radm CharlesMunns; Col Robert Schmidle; and, Col Ray Cole (USMC Ret.) 2001: ‘Continuing the Revolution in Military Affairs’ Mr. Andrew Marshall (Director, Office of Net Assessment, OSD); and,Radm Jay M. Cohen (Chief of Naval Research, ONR) 2002: ‘Transformation ... ’ Vadm Jerry Tuttle (USN Ret.); and, Steve Cooper (CIO, Office ofHomeland Security) 2003: ‘Developing the New Infostructure’ Richard P. Lee (Assistant Deputy Under Secretary, OSD); and, MichaelO’Neil (Boeing) 2004: ‘Interoperability’ MajGen Bradley M. Lott (USMC), Deputy Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command; Donald Diggs, Director, C2 Policy, OASD (NII

    Mining a Small Medical Data Set by Integrating the Decision Tree and t-test

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    [[abstract]]Although several researchers have used statistical methods to prove that aspiration followed by the injection of 95% ethanol left in situ (retention) is an effective treatment for ovarian endometriomas, very few discuss the different conditions that could generate different recovery rates for the patients. Therefore, this study adopts the statistical method and decision tree techniques together to analyze the postoperative status of ovarian endometriosis patients under different conditions. Since our collected data set is small, containing only 212 records, we use all of these data as the training data. Therefore, instead of using a resultant tree to generate rules directly, we use the value of each node as a cut point to generate all possible rules from the tree first. Then, using t-test, we verify the rules to discover some useful description rules after all possible rules from the tree have been generated. Experimental results show that our approach can find some new interesting knowledge about recurrent ovarian endometriomas under different conditions.[[journaltype]]國外[[incitationindex]]EI[[booktype]]紙本[[countrycodes]]FI

    Business strategy driven IT systems for engineer-to-order and make-to-order manufacturing enterprises

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    This thesis reports research into the specification and implementation of an Information Technology (IT) Route Map. The purpose of the Route Map is to enable rapid design and deployment of IT solutions capable of semi-automating business processes in a manufacturing enterprise. The Map helps structure transition processes involved in “identification of key business strategies and design of business processes” and “choice of enterprise systems and supporting implementation techniques”. Common limitations of current Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are observed and incorporated as Route Map implications and constraints. Scope of investigation is targeted at Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) that employ Engineer-To-Order (ETO) and Make-To-Order (MTO) business processes. However, a feature of the Route Map is that it takes into account contemporary business concerns related to “globalisation”, “mergers and acquisitions” and “typical resource constraint problems of SMEs”. In the course of the research a “Business Strategy Driven IT System Concept” was conceived and examined. The main purpose of this concept is to promote the development of agile and innovative business activity in SMEs. The Road Map encourages strategy driven solutions to be (a) specified based on the use of emerging enterprise engineering theories and (b) implemented and changed using componentbased systems design and composition techniques. Part-evaluation of the applicability and capabilities of the Road Map has been carried out by conducting industrial survey and case study work. This assesses requirements of real industrial problems and solutions. The evaluation work has also been enabled by conducting a pilot implementation of the thesis concepts at the premises of a partner SME

    Flexible virtual learning environments: a schema-driven approach using sematic web concepts

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    Flexible e-Iearning refers to an intelligent educational mechanism that focuses on simulating and improving traditional education as far as possible on the Web by integrating various electronic approaches, technologies, and equipment. This mechanism aims to promote the personalized development and management of e-learning Web services and applications. The main value of this method is that it provides high-powered individualization in pedagogy for students and staff.Here, the thesis mainly studied three problems in meeting the practical requirements of users in education. The first question is how a range of teaching styles (e.g. command and guided discovery) can be supported. The second one is how varieties of instructional processes can be authored. The third question is how these processes can be controlled by learners and educators in terms of their personalized needs during the execution of instruction.In this research, through investigating the existing e-Iearning approaches and technologies, the main technical problems of current virtual learning environments (VLEs) were analyzed. Next, by using the Semantic Web concepts as well as relevant standards, a schema-driven approach was created. This method can support users' individualized operations in the Web-based education. Then, a flexible e-learning system based on the approach was designed and implemented to map a range of extensive didactic paradigms. Finally, a case study was completed to evaluate the research results. The main findings of the assessment were that the flexible VLE implemented a range of teaching styles and the personalized creation and control of educational processes

    Transport Layer solution for bulk data transfers over Heterogeneous Long Fat Networks in Next Generation Networks

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    Aquesta tesi per compendi centra les seves contribucions en l'aprenentatge i innovació de les Xarxes de Nova Generació. És per això que es proposen diferents contribucions en diferents àmbits (Smart Cities, Smart Grids, Smart Campus, Smart Learning, Mitjana, eHealth, Indústria 4.0 entre d'altres) mitjançant l'aplicació i combinació de diferents disciplines (Internet of Things, Building Information Modeling, Cloud Storage, Ciberseguretat, Big Data, Internet de el Futur, Transformació Digital). Concretament, es detalla el monitoratge sostenible del confort a l'Smart Campus, la que potser es la meva aportació més representativa dins de la conceptualització de Xarxes de Nova Generació. Dins d'aquest innovador concepte de monitorització s'integren diferents disciplines, per poder oferir informació sobre el nivell de confort de les persones. Aquesta investigació demostra el llarg recorregut que hi ha en la transformació digital dels sectors tradicionals i les NGNs. Durant aquest llarg aprenentatge sobre les NGN a través de les diferents investigacions, es va poder observar una problemàtica que afectava de manera transversal als diferents camps d'aplicació de les NGNs i que aquesta podia tenir una afectació en aquests sectors. Aquesta problemàtica consisteix en el baix rendiment durant l'intercanvi de grans volums de dades sobre xarxes amb gran capacitat d'ample de banda i remotament separades geogràficament, conegudes com a xarxes elefant. Concretament, això afecta al cas d'ús d'intercanvi massiu de dades entre regions Cloud (Cloud Data Sharing use case). És per això que es va estudiar aquest cas d'ús i les diferents alternatives a nivell de protocols de transport,. S'estudien les diferents problemàtiques que pateixen els protocols i s'observa per què aquests no són capaços d'arribar a rendiments òptims. Deguda a aquesta situació, s'hipotetiza que la introducció de mecanismes que analitzen les mètriques de la xarxa i que exploten eficientment la capacitat de la mateixa milloren el rendiment dels protocols de transport sobre xarxes elefant heterogènies durant l'enviament massiu de dades. Primerament, es dissenya l’Adaptative and Aggressive Transport Protocol (AATP), un protocol de transport adaptatiu i eficient amb l'objectiu de millorar el rendiment sobre aquest tipus de xarxes elefant. El protocol AATP s'implementa i es prova en un simulador de xarxes i un testbed sota diferents situacions i condicions per la seva validació. Implementat i provat amb èxit el protocol AATP, es decideix millorar el propi protocol, Enhanced-AATP, sobre xarxes elefant heterogènies. Per això, es dissenya un mecanisme basat en el Jitter Ràtio que permet fer aquesta diferenciació. A més, per tal de millorar el comportament del protocol, s’adapta el seu sistema de fairness per al repartiment just dels recursos amb altres fluxos Enhanced-AATP. Aquesta evolució s'implementa en el simulador de xarxes i es realitzen una sèrie de proves. A l'acabar aquesta tesi, es conclou que les Xarxes de Nova Generació tenen molt recorregut i moltes coses a millorar causa de la transformació digital de la societat i de l'aparició de nova tecnologia disruptiva. A més, es confirma que la introducció de mecanismes específics en la concepció i operació dels protocols de transport millora el rendiment d'aquests sobre xarxes elefant heterogènies.Esta tesis por compendio centra sus contribuciones en el aprendizaje e innovación de las Redes de Nueva Generación. Es por ello que se proponen distintas contribuciones en diferentes ámbitos (Smart Cities, Smart Grids, Smart Campus, Smart Learning, Media, eHealth, Industria 4.0 entre otros) mediante la aplicación y combinación de diferentes disciplinas (Internet of Things, Building Information Modeling, Cloud Storage, Ciberseguridad, Big Data, Internet del Futuro, Transformación Digital). Concretamente, se detalla la monitorización sostenible del confort en el Smart Campus, la que se podría considerar mi aportación más representativa dentro de la conceptualización de Redes de Nueva Generación. Dentro de este innovador concepto de monitorización se integran diferentes disciplinas, para poder ofrecer información sobre el nivel de confort de las personas. Esta investigación demuestra el recorrido que existe en la transformación digital de los sectores tradicionales y las NGNs. Durante este largo aprendizaje sobre las NGN a través de las diferentes investigaciones, se pudo observar una problemática que afectaba de manera transversal a los diferentes campos de aplicación de las NGNs y que ésta podía tener una afectación en estos sectores. Esta problemática consiste en el bajo rendimiento durante el intercambio de grandes volúmenes de datos sobre redes con gran capacidad de ancho de banda y remotamente separadas geográficamente, conocidas como redes elefante, o Long Fat Networks (LFNs). Concretamente, esto afecta al caso de uso de intercambio de datos entre regiones Cloud (Cloud Data Data use case). Es por ello que se estudió este caso de uso y las diferentes alternativas a nivel de protocolos de transporte. Se estudian las diferentes problemáticas que sufren los protocolos y se observa por qué no son capaces de alcanzar rendimientos óptimos. Debida a esta situación, se hipotetiza que la introducción de mecanismos que analizan las métricas de la red y que explotan eficientemente la capacidad de la misma mejoran el rendimiento de los protocolos de transporte sobre redes elefante heterogéneas durante el envío masivo de datos. Primeramente, se diseña el Adaptative and Aggressive Transport Protocol (AATP), un protocolo de transporte adaptativo y eficiente con el objetivo maximizar el rendimiento sobre este tipo de redes elefante. El protocolo AATP se implementa y se prueba en un simulador de redes y un testbed bajo diferentes situaciones y condiciones para su validación. Implementado y probado con éxito el protocolo AATP, se decide mejorar el propio protocolo, Enhanced-AATP, sobre redes elefante heterogéneas. Además, con tal de mejorar el comportamiento del protocolo, se mejora su sistema de fairness para el reparto justo de los recursos con otros flujos Enhanced-AATP. Esta evolución se implementa en el simulador de redes y se realizan una serie de pruebas. Al finalizar esta tesis, se concluye que las Redes de Nueva Generación tienen mucho recorrido y muchas cosas a mejorar debido a la transformación digital de la sociedad y a la aparición de nueva tecnología disruptiva. Se confirma que la introducción de mecanismos específicos en la concepción y operación de los protocolos de transporte mejora el rendimiento de estos sobre redes elefante heterogéneas.This compendium thesis focuses its contributions on the learning and innovation of the New Generation Networks. That is why different contributions are proposed in different areas (Smart Cities, Smart Grids, Smart Campus, Smart Learning, Media, eHealth, Industry 4.0, among others) through the application and combination of different disciplines (Internet of Things, Building Information Modeling, Cloud Storage, Cybersecurity, Big Data, Future Internet, Digital Transformation). Specifically, the sustainable comfort monitoring in the Smart Campus is detailed, which can be considered my most representative contribution within the conceptualization of New Generation Networks. Within this innovative monitoring concept, different disciplines are integrated in order to offer information on people's comfort levels. . This research demonstrates the long journey that exists in the digital transformation of traditional sectors and New Generation Networks. During this long learning about the NGNs through the different investigations, it was possible to observe a problematic that affected the different application fields of the NGNs in a transversal way and that, depending on the service and its requirements, it could have a critical impact on any of these sectors. This issue consists of a low performance operation during the exchange of large volumes of data on networks with high bandwidth capacity and remotely geographically separated, also known as Elephant networks, or Long Fat Networks (LFNs). Specifically, this critically affects the Cloud Data Sharing use case. That is why this use case and the different alternatives at the transport protocol level were studied. For this reason, the performance and operation problems suffered by layer 4 protocols are studied and it is observed why these traditional protocols are not capable of achieving optimal performance. Due to this situation, it is hypothesized that the introduction of mechanisms that analyze network metrics and efficiently exploit network’s capacity meliorates the performance of Transport Layer protocols over Heterogeneous Long Fat Networks during bulk data transfers. First, the Adaptive and Aggressive Transport Protocol (AATP) is designed. An adaptive and efficient transport protocol with the aim of maximizing its performance over this type of elephant network.. The AATP protocol is implemented and tested in a network simulator and a testbed under different situations and conditions for its validation. Once the AATP protocol was designed, implemented and tested successfully, it was decided to improve the protocol itself, Enhanced-AATP, to improve its performance over heterogeneous elephant networks. In addition, in order to upgrade the behavior of the protocol, its fairness system is improved for the fair distribution of resources among other Enhanced-AATP flows. Finally, this evolution is implemented in the network simulator and a set of tests are carried out. At the end of this thesis, it is concluded that the New Generation Networks have a long way to go and many things to improve due to the digital transformation of society and the appearance of brand-new disruptive technology. Furthermore, it is confirmed that the introduction of specific mechanisms in the conception and operation of transport protocols improves their performance on Heterogeneous Long Fat Networks
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