Ubiquitous Computing for Mobile Environments

The increasing role and importance of ubiquitous computing and mobile environments in our daily lives implies the need for new solutions. The characteristics of agents and multi-agent systems make them very appropriate for constructing ubiquitous and mobile systems. This chapter presents some of the advances in practical and theoretical applications of multi-agent systems in the fields of ubiquitous computing and mobile environments carried out by several AgentCities.ES research groups

Recommendations for treatment with recombinant human growth hormone in pediatric patients in Colombia

En Colombia, actualmente no existen parámetros claros para el diagnóstico de pacientes con talla baja, ni sobre el tratamiento de esta población con hormona de crecimiento recombinante humana (somatropina), lo cual se ve favorecido por la diversidad de programas de formación de profesionales en endocrinología pediátrica. En respuesta a esta problemática se realizó el primer acuerdo colombiano de expertos en talla baja liderado por la Asociación Colegio Colombiana de Endocrinología Pediátrica (ACCEP); este trabajo contó con la participación y el aval de expertos clínicos de importantes instituciones de salud públicas y privadas del país, además de expertos metodológicos del instituto Keralty, quienes garantizaron la estandarización del uso de la somatropina. Después de realizar una minuciosa revisión de la literatura, se propone la unificación de definiciones, un algoritmo diagnóstico, los parámetros de referencia de las pruebas bioquímicas y dinámicas, una descripción de las consideraciones de uso de la somatropina para el tratamiento de las patologías con aprobación por la entidad regulatoria de medicamentos y alimentos en Colombia y, por último, un formato de consentimiento informado y de ficha técnica del medicamento.In Colombia there are no guidelines for diagnosis and management of patients with short stature and for the use of recombinanthuman growth hormone, mainly caused by the diversity of training centers in pediatric endocrinology. In response to this situation,the Asociación Colegio Colombiana de Endocrinología Pediátrica leds the first colombian short stature expert committee in order tostandardize the use of human recombinant growth hormone. This work had the participation and endorsement of a consortium ofclinical experts representing the Sociedad Colombiana de Pediatría, Secretaría Distrital de Salud de Bogotá- Subred Integrada deServicios de Salud Suroccidente, Fundación Universitaria Sanitas, Universidad de los Andes and some public and private healthinstitutions in the country, in addition to the participation of methodological experts from the Instituto Global de Excelencia ClínicaKeralty. By reviewing the literature and with the best available evidence, we proposed to unify definitions, a diagnostic algorithm,biochemical and dynamic tests with their reference parameters, a description of the considerations about growth hormone use amongthe indications approved by regulatory agency for medications and food in Colombia and finally a proposal for an informed consentand a medication fact sheet available for parents and patients.https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7856-7213https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2241-7854Revista Nacional - Indexad

V.: A distributed architecture for enforcing norms in open mas

Abstract. Norms have been promoted as a coordination mechanism for controlling agent behaviours in open MAS. Thus, agent platforms must provide normative support, allowing both norm-aware and non normaware agents to take part in MAS controlled by norms. In this paper, the most relevant proposals on the definition of norm enforcement mechanisms have been analysed. These proposals present several drawbacks that make them unsuitable for open MAS. In response to these problems, this paper describes a new Norm-Enforcing Architecture aimed at controlling open MAS

Applying Multi-Agent System Modelling to the Scheduling Problem in a Ceramic Tile Factory

The actual ceramic tile sector needs dynamic production processes to offer its clients on-line programming. Thus, companies can manage real-time response about their services and delivery times of required products, tackling a Mass Customization process in which design and sales activities are done before the production stage. The customer service must cover all activities that can improve the client satisfaction (offers, orders, after-sales services, etc.). Moreover, production tasks scheduling in a ceramic tile factory is a complex problem which requires robust and flexible software applications. Recent advances in Multi-Agent Systems applied to general scheduling problems and industrial applications have demonstrated the advantages of the agent technology in complex distributed problems. In this work we present a Multi-Agent System modelling for a scheduling problem in a ceramic tile factory. Our approach tries to improve the production performance, increase the schedule reliability and keep updated schedules. We propose a multi-agent system in which the constituent agents cooperate to find a feasible schedule taking into account on-line orders, factory layout and capacity, time constraints, anticipated demands and constraints imposed by the master plan. The value of our approach is two fold. On the one hand it is useful for defining the production tasks schedule, while on the other hand it can be suitable for simulating purposes, for example to find out whether a customer order is feasible or to figure out different schedules for a specific production lot

Modelling with agents

Modelling is gaining relevance in Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) because of two main reasons. Firstly, the conceptual frameworks have reached a level of maturity that makes it reasonable to devote effort to seek a consensus in modelling languages, including tool support. Secondly, the influence of model-driven engineering emphasizes the potential value of having models at the core of development processes. This survey analyzes these changes in AOSE modelling languages along three dimensions. The semantic dimension refers to the concepts considered in the languages. The syntactic dimension covers the technical means by which languages are defined. The operational dimension regards the use of these languages, considering both their support and acceptance. The overall context for this discussion is the comparison of several modern AOSE approaches. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg