Resolving conflicts between personal and normative goals in normative agent systems

In this paper, we present a framework for resolving conflicts between personal and normative goals in normative agent systems. The conflicts occur in the decision making process of time-constrained tasks of those goals. The agents observe the environment, generate the tasks based on their obligation to an authority, their desires, and intentions. They select and execute the tasks from a set of pre-compiled tasks based on their beliefs of the reward and penalty associated with the selected tasks. To resolve the conflicts within the constraint of the tasks’ duration, we supplement the agents’ normative capacity with two essential functions: Sacrifice and Diligence. The Sacrifice function enables an agent to reason and discard any tasks that have lower priorities to make way for accomplishment of the normative goal. The Diligence function enables an agent to increase its effort in accomplishing the normative goal in time-constrained situations. We simulate these situations and present the results

The Effects of Zeolite X and Y on Cancer Cell Lines

Zeolites are hydrated silicates of aluminium that have been very useful in many industry because of its microporous property, absorbance ability and ion exchange capacity. It is currently viewed as a potential adjuvant in cancer therapy due to its ability to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells. Research on natural zeolite clinoptilolite application as anticancer agent has been proven by others. However, the effect of other types of zeolite on cancer cells is still uncertain. This study is performed to determine the effects of zeolite X and Y on cancer cell lines proliferation in vitro. Cancer cell lines HeLa, AsPC-1 and 911 cells were cultured in designated medium treated with zeolite X and zeolite Y at the concentration of 5 mg/ml and 50 mg/ml. Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) concentrations were modified to 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. After 72 hours incubation, the efficacy of zeolite to treat cancer cell lines were measured by means of cell viability test via MTT assay. Overall results showed that cancer cell lines cultivated in the medium treated with 50 mg/ml of zeolite X and 5% FBS exhibited the highest inhibition of cell proliferation and decrease in cell viability. This finding provides preliminary information in the study of determining the potential use of zeolite as anticancer agent for alternative or complementary therapy

Building norms-adaptable agents from Potential Norms Detection Technique (PNDT)

This paper presents a contribution to research on norms detection by proposing a technique, which is called the Potential Norms Detection Technique (PNDT). The literature proposes that an agent changes or updates its norms based on the variables of the local environment and the amount of thinking about its behaviour. Consequently, any changes on these two variables cause the agent to use the PNDT to update the norms in complying with the domain’s normative protocol. This technique enables an agent to update its norms even in the absence of sanctions from a third-party enforcement authority as found in some work, which entail sanctions by a third-party to detect and identify the norms. The PNDT consists of five components: agent’s belief base; observation process; Potential Norms Mining Algorithm (PNMA) to detect the potential norms and identify the normative protocol; verification process, which verifies the detected potential norms; and updating process, which updates the agent’s belief base with new normative protocol. The authors then demonstrate the operation of the algorithm by testing it on a typical scenario and analyse the results on several issues

Agent-based simulation in a normative environment using the EPMP domain.

Simulation is a way of doing thought experiments besides the deduction and induction methods. Agent-based Simulation (ABS) falls under the domain of artificial intelligence when agent is used to perform certain tasks such as behaviour prediction, optimization of functions or time-constrained work-flow management. This work discussed the use of ABS on a computational normative framework based on a set of empirical characteristics that influence agents’ performance in time-constrained environment. The ABS simulates a domain called the Examination Preparation and Moderation Process (EPMP) which entails document submission processes with deadlines. The simulation is conducted in six different environments and the results of the agent performance in each environment are presented and discussed. The results indicate that the simulation conducted in the EPMP is suitable and effective for evaluating normative agent-based systems

The exact number of conjugacy classes for 2 - generator p - groups of nilpotency class 2

An element x is conjugate to y in a group G if there exists an element g in G such that g-1xg = xg = y. The relation x is conjugate to y is an equivalence relation which induces a partition of G whose elements are called conjugacy classes. The general formula for the exact number of conjugacy classes for nilpotent groups does not exist. Researchers give only the lower bounds for the number of conjugacy classes of nilpotent groups. In this thesis, 2-generator p-groups of nilpotency class 2 (p an odd prime) are considered for their exact number of conjugacy classes. These groups have been classified by Bacon and Kappe in 1993. In 1999, Kappe, Visscher and Sarmin have corrected minor errors on the groups in the classification. Groups, Algorithms, and Programming (GAP) software is used in this research to gain insight into the structure of these groups. There are infinitely many of these groups which are partitioned into three types. For each type, there are infinitely many base groups. New structural results are found such that groups other than base groups are central extensions. As a result of this research, a general formula is derived for the exact number of conjugacy classes for each type of 2-generator p-groups of nilpotency class 2 (p an odd prime

Conjugacy and order classes of two-generator p-groups of nilpotency class two

For nilpotent groups, researchers only estimate the number of conjugacy classes by giving the lower bound of these groups. The difficulty of providing a formula for the exact number of conjugacy classes of these groups is because the structure of these groups are not easily understood. In this thesis, 2-generator p-groups of nilpotency class 2 (p an odd prime) are considered. These groups were classified by Bacon and Kappe in 1993 and Kappe, Sarmin and Visscher did a minor correction in 1999

The effects of zeolite X and Y on cancer cell lines

Zeolites are hydrated silicates of aluminium that have been very useful in many industry because of its microporous property, absorbance ability and ion exchange capacity. It is currently viewed as a potential adjuvant in cancer therapy due to its ability to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells. Research on natural zeolite clinoptilolite application as anticancer agent has been proven by others. However, the effect of other types of zeolite on cancer cells is still uncertain. This study is performed to determine the effects of zeolite X and Y on cancer cell lines proliferation in vitro. Cancer cell lines HeLa, AsPC-1 and 911 cells were cultured in designated medium treated with zeolite X and zeolite Y at the concentration of 5 mg/ml and 50 mg/ml. Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) concentrations were modified to 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. After 72 hours incubation, the efficacy of zeolite to treat cancer cell lines were measured by means of cell viability test via MTT assay. Overall results showed that cancer cell lines cultivated in the medium treated with 50 mg/ml of zeolite X and 5% FBS exhibited the highest inhibition of cell proliferation and decrease in cell viability. This finding provides preliminary information in the study of determining the potential use of zeolite as anticancer agent for alternative or complementary therapy

An integrated framework for knowledge audit and capture

In this paper, an integrated framework for knowledge audit and capture using the task analysis approach is presented.We first identify the types of knowledge that could be ascribed to tasks and analyze a task by breaking it down into subtasks and task elements. We then identify the skills and knowledge required to perform the tasks at this level.The framework is validated and tested on an expertise-based task, the findings of which are compiled as a knowledge-based document