A multi-agent system for a bus crew rescheduling system

Unpredictable events (UE) are major factors that cause disruption to everyday bus operation. In the occurrence of UE, the main resources - crews and vehicles - are affected, and this leads to crew schedule disruption. One way to deal with the problem is crew rescheduling. Most of the current approaches are based on static schedules do not support rescheduling in a real-time scenario. They have the ability to reschedule but a new complete schedule is produced without concerning the real time situation. The mathematical approaches which are used by most scheduling packages have the ability to search for optimum or near optimum schedules but they are usually slow to produce results in real-time because they are computationally intensive when faced with complex situations. In practice, crew or bus rescheduling is managed manually, based on the supervisor's capabilities and experience in managing UE. However, manual rescheduling is complex, prone to error and not optimum, especially when dealing with many UE at the same time. This research proposes the CRSMAS (Crew Rescheduling System with Multi Agent System) approach as an alternative that may help supervisors to make quick rescheduling decisions by automating the crew rescheduling process. A Multi Agent System (MAS) is considered suitable to support this rescheduling because agents can dynamically adapt their behaviour to changing environments and they can find solutions quickly via negotiations and cooperation between them. To evaluate the CRSMAS, two types of experiment are carried out: Single Event and Multiple Events. The Single Event experiment is used to find characteristics of crew schedules that influence the crew rescheduling process while the Multiple Events experiment is used to test the capability of CRSMAS in dealing with numerous events that occur randomly. A wide range of simulation results, based on real-world data, are reported and analysed. Based on the experiment it is concluded that CRSMAS is suitable for automating the crew rescheduling process and capable of quick rescheduling whether facing single events or multiple events at the same time, the success of rescheduling is not only dependant on the tool but also to other factors such as the characteristics of crew schedules and the period of the UE, and one limitation of CRSMAS that was discovered is it cannot simulate different type of events at the same time. This limitation is because in different events there are different rules but, in Virtual World, agents can only negotiate with one set of rules at a time.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceUniversiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM)GBUnited Kingdo

A Critical Review on Potential Pharmacological Activity and Pharmacokinetic Perspective of Swertiamarin

Swertiamarin is a secoiridoid glycoside found extensively in Enicostemma littorale and Swertia chirata belonging to the family of Gentianaceae, which has been reported to cure many diseases including diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, arthritis, malaria and abdominal ulcers. The present review aimed to compile up-to-date information on the progress made in the protective role of swertiamarin and its metabolites such as gentianine and erythrocentaurin in diabetes mellitus and related complications to provide a guide for future research on this bioactive molecule. Information on the swertiamarin was collected from major scientific databases (Pubmed, Springer, Google Scholar and Web of Science) for publication in1974-2020. In this review, the role of swertiamarin and its metabolites in the management of diabetes mellitus and related complications was discussed. Swertiamarin and its metabolites reported exhibiting a wide range of biological activities such as antidiabetic, anti-atherosclerotic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. These activities were mainly due to their effect on various signalling pathways associated with swertiamarin such as PPAR-gene upregulation, P-407-induction, inhibition of HMG-Co A reductase, LDL oxidation, lipid peroxidation markers and stimulation of antioxidant enzymes. Swertiamarin and its metabolites exhibit a wide range of biological activities. This review presents evidence supporting the point of view that swertiamarin should be considered a potential therapeutic agent for the management of diabetes mellitus and related complications, giving rise to novel applications in their prevention and treatment

An investigation of geometrical defect of cold embossing part utilizing FEM and image processing technique

Accuracy of the forging parts becomes critical as the process depends on many factors. Defect may harm the assembly and tends to affect the performance of the parts. Therefore, it must be understood and detected as soon as the manufacturing begins. The size and complexity of the part limit the defect to be assessed. This study intent to investigate the defect of the cold embossing pin located at the head of a propeller blade. This is to ensure accurate assembly of the blade. In this work, the effects of design and process parameters on the formation of defect are studied using 2-D finite element analysis. The defect can be measured based on the incomplete filling of the region using the captured images from the FE result. The results seem to show that there is less effect from the diameter of punch and internal cavity, but more obvious due to the distance to the edge. The FE results are in good agreement with the experimental results

The global oscillation network group site survey. II. Results

The Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) Project will place a network of instruments around the world to observe solar oscillations as continuously as possible for three years. The Project has now chosen the six network sites based on analysis of survey data from fifteen sites around the world. The chosen sites are: Big Bear Solar Observatory, California; Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, Hawaii; Learmonth Solar Observatory, Australia; Udaipur Solar Observatory, India; Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife; and Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, Chile. Total solar intensity at each site yields information on local cloud cover, extinction coefficient, and transparency fluctuations. In addition, the performance of 192 reasonable components analysis. An accompanying paper describes the analysis methods in detail; here we present the results of both the network and individual site analyses. The selected network has a duty cycle of 93.3%, in good agreement with numerical simulations. The power spectrum of the network observing window shows a first diurnal sidelobe height of 3 × 10⁻⁴ with respect to the central component, an improvement of a factor of 1300 over a single site. The background level of the network spectrum is lower by a factor of 50 compared to a single-site spectrum

The global oscillation network group site survey. II. Results

The Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) Project will place a network of instruments around the world to observe solar oscillations as continuously as possible for three years. The Project has now chosen the six network sites based on analysis of survey data from fifteen sites around the world. The chosen sites are: Big Bear Solar Observatory, California; Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, Hawaii; Learmonth Solar Observatory, Australia; Udaipur Solar Observatory, India; Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife; and Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, Chile. Total solar intensity at each site yields information on local cloud cover, extinction coefficient, and transparency fluctuations. In addition, the performance of 192 reasonable components analysis. An accompanying paper describes the analysis methods in detail; here we present the results of both the network and individual site analyses. The selected network has a duty cycle of 93.3%, in good agreement with numerical simulations. The power spectrum of the network observing window shows a first diurnal sidelobe height of 3 × 10⁻⁴ with respect to the central component, an improvement of a factor of 1300 over a single site. The background level of the network spectrum is lower by a factor of 50 compared to a single-site spectrum

Noise Cancellation using Selectable Adaptive Algorithm for Speech in Variable Noise Environment

Some of the teething problems associated in the use of two-sensor noise cancellation systems are the nature of the noise signals—a problem that imposes the use of highly complex algorithms in reducing the noise. The usage of such methods can be impractical for many real time applications, where speed of convergence and processing time are critical. At the same time, the existing approaches are based on using a single, often complex adaptive filter to minimize noise, which has been determined to be inadequate and ineffective. In this paper, a new mechanism is proposed to reduce background noise from speech communications. The procedure is based on a two-sensor adaptive noise canceller that is capable of assigning an appropriate filter adapting to properties of the noise. The criterion to achieve this is based on measuring the eigenvalue spread based on the autocorrelation of the input noise. The proposed noise canceller (INC) applies an adaptive algorithm according to the characteristics of the input signal. Various experiments based on this technique using real-world signals are conducted to gauge the effectiveness of the approach. Initial results illustrated the system capabilities in executing noise cancellation under different types of environmental noise. The results based on the INC technique indicate fast convergence rates; improvements up to 30 dB in signal-to-noise ratio and at the same time shows 65% reduction of computational power compared to conventional method

Management and outcomes of gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low, middle and high income countries: Protocol for a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Introduction Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of death in children <5 years of age globally, contributing an estimated half a million deaths per year. Very limited literature exists from low and middle income countries (LMICs) where most of these deaths occur. The Global PaedSurg Research Collaboration aims to undertake the first multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of a selection of common congenital anomalies comparing management and outcomes between low, middle and high income countries (HICs) globally. Methods and analysis The Global PaedSurg Research Collaboration consists of surgeons, paediatricians, anaesthetists and allied healthcare professionals involved in the surgical care of children globally. Collaborators will prospectively collect observational data on consecutive patients presenting for the first time, with one of seven common congenital anomalies (oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation and Hirschsprung''s disease). Patient recruitment will be for a minimum of 1 month from October 2018 to April 2019 with a 30-day post-primary intervention follow-up period. Anonymous data will be collected on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions and outcomes using REDCap. Collaborators will complete a survey regarding the resources and facilities for neonatal and paediatric surgery at their centre. The primary outcome is all-cause in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes include the occurrence of postoperative complications. Chi-squared analysis will be used to compare mortality between LMICs and HICs. Multilevel, multivariate logistic regression analysis will be undertaken to identify patient-level and hospital-level factors affecting outcomes with adjustment for confounding factors. Ethics and dissemination At the host centre, this study is classified as an audit not requiring ethical approval. All participating collaborators have gained local approval in accordance with their institutional ethical regulations. Collaborators will be encouraged to present the results locally, nationally and internationally. The results will be submitted for open access publication in a peer reviewed journal