Distributed scheduling based on multi-agent systems and optimization methods

The increasing relevance of complex systems in dynamic environments has received special attention during the last decade from the researchers. Such systems need to satisfy products or clients desires, which, after accomplished might change, becoming a very dynamic situation. Currently, decentralized approaches could assist in the automation of dynamic scheduling, based on the distribution of control functions over a swarm network of decision-making entities. Distributed scheduling, in an automatic manner, can be answered by a service coordination architecture of the different schedule components. However, it is necessary to introduce the control layer in the solution, encapsulating an intelligent service that merge agents with optimization methods. Multi-agent systems (MAS) can be combined with several optimization methods to extract the best of the two worlds: the intelligent control, cooperation and autonomy provided by MAS solutions and the optimum offered by optimization methods. The proposal intends to test the intelligent management of the schedule composition quality, in two case studies namely, manufacturing and home health care.FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (UID/CEC/00319/2019

Towards industrial internet of things: Crankshaft monitoring, traceability and tracking using RFID

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing and the definitive published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rcim.2016.02.004.The large number of requirements and opportunities for automatic identification in manufacturing domains such as automotive and electronics has accelerated the demand for item-level tracking using radio-frequency identification technology. End-users are interested in implementing automatic identification systems, which are capable of ensuring full component process history, traceability and tracking preventing costly downtime to rectify processing defects and product recalls. The research outlined in this paper investigates the feasibility of implementing an RFID system for the manufacturing and assembly of crankshafts. The proposed solution involves the attachment of bolts with embedded RFID functionality by fitting a reader antenna reader to an overhead gantry that spans the production line and reads and writes production data to the tags. The manufacturing, assembly and service data captured through RFID tags and stored on a local server, could further be integrated with higher-level business applications facilitating seamless integration within the factory

Production Scheduling Requirements to Smart Manufacturing

The production scheduling has attracted a lot of researchers for many years, however most of the approaches are not targeted to deal with real manufacturing environments, and those that are, are very particular for the case study. It is crucial to consider important features related with the factories, such as products and machines characteristics and unexpected disturbances, but also information such as when the parts arrive to the factory and when should be delivered. So, the purpose of this paper is to identify some important characteristics that have been considered independently in a lot of studies and that should be considered together to develop a generic scheduling framework to be used in a real manufacturing environment.authorsversionpublishe

Reference data for ulnar nerve short segment conduction studies at the elbow

PubMed ID: 21953055Introduction: The aim of this study was to generate reference data for ulnar nerve short segment conduction studies (SSCSs) at 2-cm intervals. Methods: Ulnar nerve SSCS data were collected from dominant and non-dominant arms of 200 healthy volunteers. The effects of age, gender, weight, height, and body mass index (BMI) on SSCSs were also investigated. Results: High percentile values for short segment latency changes varied from 0.4 to 0.7 ms. Ulnar nerve conductions were slower in the segments 2 cm below and above the elbow compared with the other segments. The amplitude was found not to decrease by >15% in subsequent short segments. There were no significant effects of age and gender on the SSCS parameters. Conductions over the short segments tended to be faster as BMI increased. Conclusions: Reference values should be determined separately over each 2-cm segment, and the effect of BMI should be considered when interpreting SSCSs. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Self organizing mixture network in mixture discriminant analysis: An experimental study

In the recent works related with mixture discriminant analysis (MDA), expectation and maximization (EM) algorithm is used to estimate parameters of Gaussian mixtures. But, initial values of EM algorithm affect the final parameters' estimates. Also, when EM algorithm is applied two times, for the same data set, it can be give different results for the estimate of parameters and this affect the classification accuracy of MDA. Forthcoming this problem, we use Self Organizing Mixture Network (SOMN) algorithm to estimate parameters of Gaussians mixtures in MDA that SOMN is more robust when random the initial values of the parameters are used [5]. We show effectiveness of this method on popular simulated waveform datasets and real glass data set

Nuatigenin-Type Steroidal Saponins From Veronica Fuhsii And V. Multifida

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Amanicadol, a pimarane-type diterpene from Phlomis amanica Vierch

Fractionation of the methanol extract of Phlomis amanica resulted in the isolation of a new pimarane type diterpene, amanicadol (1), together with the known glycosides lamiide, verbascoside (= acteoside), syringaresinol-4-O-β- glucoside, liriodendrin, syringin, and a caffeic acid ester, chlorogenic acid. The structure of the new compound was established on the basis of extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic data interpretation. Molecular modeling studies on 1 were conducted and showed that it exhibited low conformational flexibility. Additionally, NMR chemical shifts were calculated for 1 in vacuo, and calculated values were in very close agreement with those found experimentally.Peer reviewe