AutomataEscape: Uma Proposta de Jogo Hardware/Software de Apoio a Aprendizagem de Aspectos Teóricos da Computação

A Teoria dos Autômatos é o estudo das máquinas abstratas ou autômatos, e dos problemas computacionais que podem ser solucionados utilizando tais ferramentas, e que faz parte do objeto de estudo dos Aspectos Teóricos da Computação (ATC)

Conceptualising a Library Chatbot using Open Source Conversational Artificial Intelligence

Conversational software, or chatbots in popular parlance, has been in vogue amongst organizations for a few decades now. In sync with the trend, various libraries and knowledge resource centres have also adopted them within their technological fold, with an aim to provide improved services to patrons. The only bottleneck towards such implementation has been the dearth of open source conversational software platforms. The purpose of the paper is to conceptualize a library chatbot using a recently developed, artificial intelligence-powered open source conversational software platform named Rasa Stack. It introduces the essence of chatbot technology and their present day application in libraries, illustrates how the technical underpinnings of Rasa Stack can be leveraged to develop a library chatbot, and reflects on the potential future research in this direction

Riding out of the storm: How to deal with the complexity of grid and cloud management

Over the last decade, Grid computing paved the way for a new level of large scale distributed systems. This infrastructure made it possible to securely and reliably take advantage of widely separated computational resources that are part of several different organizations. Resources can be incorporated to the Grid, building a theoretical virtual supercomputer. In time, cloud computing emerged as a new type of large scale distributed system, inheriting and expanding the expertise and knowledge that have been obtained so far. Some of the main characteristics of Grids naturally evolved into clouds, others were modified and adapted and others were simply discarded or postponed. Regardless of these technical specifics, both Grids and clouds together can be considered as one of the most important advances in large scale distributed computing of the past ten years; however, this step in distributed computing has came along with a completely new level of complexity. Grid and cloud management mechanisms play a key role, and correct analysis and understanding of the system behavior are needed. Large scale distributed systems must be able to self-manage, incorporating autonomic features capable of controlling and optimizing all resources and services. Traditional distributed computing management mechanisms analyze each resource separately and adjust specific parameters of each one of them. When trying to adapt the same procedures to Grid and cloud computing, the vast complexity of these systems can make this task extremely complicated. But large scale distributed systems complexity could only be a matter of perspective. It could be possible to understand the Grid or cloud behavior as a single entity, instead of a set of resources. This abstraction could provide a different understanding of the system, describing large scale behavior and global events that probably would not be detected analyzing each resource separately. In this work we define a theoretical framework that combines both ideas, multiple resources and single entity, to develop large scale distributed systems management techniques aimed at system performance optimization, increased dependability and Quality of Service (QoS). The resulting synergy could be the key 350 J. Montes et al. to address the most important difficulties of Grid and cloud management

A Real-Time Face and Writing Tracking System Based on the Combination of a PTZ Camera and a Static Camera

It is obvious that the excellence of education is boosted by the rise of E-learning, which provides electronic learning material through the Internet. The online education benefits more people than traditional classroom education by enabling anyone to participate in the learning process, regardless of the identity, location and personal schedule. The goal of lifetime study can be achieved in this way. In early years, the online lectures are recorded with static cameras placed at a fixed position, and result in visual effects of low quality. Currently, many online education systems employ operators to control static cameras or PTZ cameras to record lectures. The wages of operators increase the system cost, and the complex algorithm raises the computational power and slows down the running of the system. This thesis proposes a real-time face, upper body and writing detection and tracking system for online education. The recording equipment includes a PTZ camera and a static camera. It saves the hardware cost by lowering the number of cameras involved in the system and eliminating the need for operators. The controlling software makes use of OpenCv library to simplify and accelerate the image processing and execute face detection. The proposed system implements an efficient motion detection algorithm to detect writing action and rigorous controlling logic to switch views between the instructor and the board. The proposed system is thought to be economical from the perspective of hardware and efficient and accurate from the perspective of software. The recording is capable of keeping pace with the instructor and switching the view of the instructor to the view of the content written on the board smoothly as if an actual operator controls the camera. The proposed system brings competitive results regarding detection and tracking performance compared with conventional systems

Combined discrete control systems

Combined control dynamic systems comprise both parts of discrete systems: real-time activated discrete dynamic systems as well as discrete event dynamic systems. The combination of cyclically recurring processes with stochastically generated events significantly intervenes into the control, while also affecting the choice of the right sample period, as it is necessary to process all the generated interruptions within the cycle. The current monograph focuses on the analysis of combined control systems and determination of the stochastic event element of the sample period. It proposes an appropriate sample period for combined control systems and introduces a methodology for determining the impact of a stochastic element on the system stability and properties. The main contribution of the monograph is the design of an adaptive algorithm for events processing and auto-correction of the event element of sample period

18ème Atelier "Raisonnement à Partir de Cas" RàPC 2010

National audienceLe raisonnement à partir de cas (RàPC) est un paradigme de résolution de problèmes s'appuyant sur la réutilisation d'expériences passées pour résoudre de nouveaux problèmes. Les applications du RàPC sont nombreuses et la recherche est particuli'erement active en France et dans le monde. Les rencontres annuelles de la communauté fran¸caise ont été organisées depuis 1992 par le groupe français de recherche en RàPC, sous la forme d'ateliers d'un à deux jours, permettant de présenter et de discuter les travaux, théoriques ou appliqués, à différents stades d'avancement. Cette année 2010, le 18ème atelier RàPC est organisé à Strasbourg, en amont des assises du GDR I3 (" Information, Interaction, Intelligence "). À cette occasion, l'atelier RàPC partage une demi-journée avec les rencontres du thème IAF " Intelligence Artificielle Fondamentale " du GDR I3. Le programme complet est ainsi constitué de neuf présentations, huit soumises à l'atelier RàPC et une soumise aux journées IAF. Ces présentations sont réparties en quatre sessions : une première session porte sur des applications du RàPC à l'espace et aux déplacements ; une deuxième session (en deux temps) regroupe différents travaux sur l'adaptation ; les deux autres sessions sont consacrées pour l'une à la réutilisation d'expériences et à la remémoration, et pour l'autre à la comparaison du RàPC à d'autres méthodes appuyées sur l'expérience

Investigations into microgrid sizing and energy management strategies

PhD ThesisThe evolution of microgrids represents a significant step towards the transition to more sustainable power systems. Recent trends in microgrids include the integration of renewable energy resources (RERs), alternative energy resources (AERs) and energy storage systems (ESSs). However, the integration of these systems creates new challenges on microgrid operation because of their stochastic and intermittent nature. To mitigate these challenges, determining the appropriate size together with the best energy management strategy (EMS) systems are essential to ensure economic and optimal performance. This thesis presents an investigation into sizing and energy management of microgrids. In the first part of the thesis, an analytical and economic sizing (AES) approach is developed to find the optimal size of a grid-connected photovoltaicbattery energy storage system (PV-BESS). The proposed approach determines the optimal size based on the minimum levelised cost of energy (LCOE). Fundamental to this approach obtains an improved formula of LCOE which includes new parameters for reflecting the impact of surplus PV energy and the energy purchased from the grid. In the second part of this thesis, an integrated framework is proposed for finding the best size-EMS combination of a stand-alone hybrid energy system (HES). The HES consists of PV, BESS, diesel generator, fuel cell, electrolyser, and hydrogen tank. The proposed framework includes three consecutive steps; first, performing the AES to obtain the initial size of the HES, second, implementing the initial EMS using finite automata (FA) and instantiating multiple EMSs; and third, developing an evaluation model to assess the instantiated EMSs and extract the featured conditions to produce an improved EMS. Then the AES approach is re-exercised using the improved EMS to obtain the best size-EMS combination. The core of this framework is utilising FA to implement various EMSs and capturing the impact of selecting the best EMS on the sizing of the HES. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is performed to address the uncertainty in demand and solar radiation data showing their effect on the HES performance. The analysis is carried out by assuming variations in solar radiation and demand annual data. Several scenarios are generated from the sensitivity analysis, and a number of performance indices are computed for each scenario. Following that, a vii fuzzy logic controller is designed using the performance indices as fuzzy input sets. The objective of this controller is to modify the EMS obtained from the integrated framework. This can be accomplished by detecting any changes in the demand and solar radiation and accordingly modify the operating conditions of the diesel generator, fuel cell, and electrolyser. The performance of the proposed approaches is validated using real datasets for both demand and solar radiation. The results show the optimal size and EMS for both grid-connected and stand-alone microgrids. Moreover, the designed fuzzy logic controller enables the microgrid to mitigate the uncertainty in the demand and generation data. The proposed approaches can be used with various scales of microgrids to extract manifold benefits where reliability, environmental and cost requirements can not be tolerated.Applied Science Private University in Jorda