A multi-agent Mah Jong playing system : towards real-time recognition of graphic units in graphic representations

In architectural design, sketching is an important means to explore the first conceptual developments in the design process. It is necessary to understand the conventions of depiction and encoding in sketches and drawings if we want to support the architect in the sketching activity. The theory of graphic units provides a comprehensive list of conventions of depiction and encoding that are widely used among architects. These graphic units form useful building blocks to understand design drawings. We investigate whether it is possible to build a system that can recognize graphic units. The technology we are looking at is multi-agent systems. It was chosen for the following reasons: agents can specialize in graphic units, a multi-agent system can deal with ambiguity through negotiation and conflict resolution, and multi-agent systems function in dynamically changing environments. Currently there is no general approach or technology available for multi-agent systems. Therefore, in our research we first set out to make such a multi-agent system. In order to keep the complexity low, we first aim to make a system that can do something simple: playing Mahjong solitary. The Mahjong solitary system shares the following important features with a multi-agent system that can recognize graphic units: (1) specialized agents for moves; (2) negotiation between agents to establish the best move; (3) a dynamically changing environment; and (4) search activity for more advanced strategies. The paper presents the theoretical basis of graphic units and multi-agents systems, followed by a description of the multi-agent framework and its implementation. A number of systems that can play Mah Jong at various degrees of competence and accordingly degrees of complexity of multi-agent system, are distinguished. Finally, the paper demonstrates how the findings are informative for a system that can recognize graphic units

Agent architecture for simulating pedestrians in the built environment

The paper discusses an agent architecture for investigating visualized simulated pedestrian activity and behavior affecting pedestrian flows within the built environment. The approach will lead to a system that may serve as a decision support tool in the design process for predicting the likely impact of design parameters on pedestrian flows. UML diagrams are used to communicate about the interpretation of the agent architecture

Virtual Reality Design Information System : distributed interactive simulation

no abstrac

Bioresorbable Polymer-Coated Orsiro Versus Durable Polymer-Coated Resolute Onyx Stents (BIONYX):Rationale and design of the randomized TWENTE IV multicenter trial

Aim: The aim was to compare in a noninferiority trial the efficacy and safety of 2 contemporary drug-eluting stents (DESs): a novel, durable polymer-coated stent versus an established bioabsorbable polymer-coated stent. Methods and results: The BIONYX trial (ClinicalTrials.gov-no.NCT02508714) is an investigator-initiated, prospective, randomized, patient- and assessor-blinded, international, multicenter study in all-comer patients with all types of clinical syndromes and lesions who require percutaneous coronary interventions with DES. Patients at 7 study sites in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Israel were randomly assigned (1:1, stratified for gender and diabetes mellitus) to treatment with the novel, zotarolimus-eluting, durable polymer-coated Resolute Onyx stent that has a radiopaque, thin-strut, CoreWire stent platform versus the sirolimus-eluting, bioresorbable polymer-coated Orsiro stent (reference device) that has a very thin-strut, cobalt-chromium stent backbone. The primary end point is the 1-year incidence of the composite clinical end point target vessel failure consisting of cardiac death, target vessel–related myocardial infarction, or clinically indicated target vessel revascularization. A power calculation, assuming a target vessel failure rate of 6.0% (noninferiority margin 2.5%), revealed that 2,470 study patients would give the study 80% power (α level 5%), allowing for up to 3% loss to follow-up. The first patient was enrolled on October 7, 2015; on December 23, 2016, the last patient entered the study. Conclusions: BIONYX is a large-scale, prospective, randomized, international, multicenter trial comparing a novel DES with durable coating versus a reference DES with biodegradable coating in all-comers. The study is the first randomized assessment of the Resolute Onyx stent, which is an often-used DES outside the United States

Bifurcation treatment with novel, highly flexible drug-eluting coronary stents in all-comers: 2-year outcome in patients of the DUTCH PEERS trial

Background: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in bifurcated lesions with second-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) was associated with increased myocardial infarction (MI) rates. Flexible stent designs that accommodate well to vessel tapering may be of benefit in challenging anatomies such as bifurcated target lesions, but so far data are scarce.Methods: We analyzed the 2-year follow-up data of the DUTCH PEERS (TWENTE II) trial, which randomized 1811 all-comer patients to PCI with newer generation resolute integrity zotarolimus-eluting (Medtronic) or promus element everolimus-eluting stents (Boston Scientific). In bifurcated lesions, provisional stenting was generally performed. Target vessel failure is a composite endpoint, consisting of cardiac death, target vessel MI, or target vessel revascularization.Results: Patients with at least one bifurcated lesion (n = 465, 25.7 %) versus patients with non-bifurcated target lesions only (n = 1346, 74.3 %) showed similar rates of clinical endpoints including target vessel failure (9.2 versus 7.9 %, p = 0.36) and definite stent thrombosis (0.4 versus 1.0 %, p = 0.38). Target vessel MI was more common in patients with bifurcated lesions (3.4 versus 1.6 %, p = 0.02); but after multivariate analysis with propensity score adjustment, bifurcation treatment was found not to be an independent predictor of target vessel MI (HR 1.40, 95 % CI 0.71–2.76; p = 0.34). Among patients with bifurcated lesions, DES type and side-branch size did not affect outcome, but periprocedural MI occurred more often after two-stent approaches (9.0 versus 2.1 %; p = 0.002).Conclusion: All-comer patients treated for bifurcated and non-bifurcated target lesions showed similar and low rates of clinical endpoints, suggesting that the DES used are efficacious and safe for treating bifurcated target lesions

TCT-588 2-Year Clinical Outcome of the Randomized, Multicenter DUTCH PEERS (TWENTE II) Trial, Comparing Cobalt-Chromium Zotarolimus-Eluting Resolute Integrity Stents and Platinum-Chromium Everolimus-Eluting Promus Element Stents in “All-Comer” Patients

Background: The multicenter, prospective, randomized, single-blinded, investigator-initiated DUTCH PEERS (TWENTE II) “All Comers” Trial demonstrated at 1-year follow-up the non-inferiority of third-generation Resolute Integrity zotarolimus-eluting stents (Medtronic Vascular, Santa Rosa, CA) versus Promus Element everolimus-eluting stents (Boston Scientific, Natick, MA), based on a similar incidence of the primary endpoint target vessel failure (TVF), a composite of cardiac death, target vessel revascularization (TVR), or myocardial infarction (MI). No other follow-up data beyond 12 months have been published from a randomized head-to-head comparison of both stents. Methods: In 4 study centers in the Netherlands, 1,811 patients were 1:1 randomly assigned to treatment with one of both stents. Patients with any clinical syndrome, any lesion type, and any number of lesions or vessels to be treated were included. Study monitoring and clinical event adjudication were performed by two independent Dutch contract research organizations (Diagram, Zwolle, and Cardialysis, Rotterdam, respectively). Results: DUTCH PEERS examines an all-comer patient population that included 59% of patients with acute coronary syndromes (20% of all patients presented with an acute STEMI) and 66% of patients with complex target lesions. We will compare for both stent groups the 2-year incidence of TVF (primary endpoint) and various secondary endpoints, including individual components of the primary endpoint, the incidence of stent thrombosis, and other composite endpoints, such as target lesion failure, major adverse cardiac events, and the patient-oriented composite endpoint. In addition, we will report the outcome of patients with longitudinal stent deformation after discontinuation of dual anti-platelet therapy. Conclusions: Clinical outcome of the DUTCH PEERS trial at 2-year follow-up will be presented

An Agent Framework for Recognition of Graphic Units in Drawings

Architects use graphic conventions in their drawings that have meaningful content to the design task. In previous work, such well-defined sets of graphic entities have been identified and defined. These sets are called graphic units. In this paper, we discuss how graphic unit recognition in drawings can take place using a multi-agent systems approach. This approach seems promising as singular agents may specialize in graphic unit-recognition, and multi-agent systems can address problems of ambiguity through negotiation mechanisms. We present an agent framework for this purpose, how it connects to the theory of graphic units, and how agents for recognizing graphic units are defined. The paper ends with a discussion of current findings and future work