Performance comparison of multi-wavelength conversion using SOA-MZI and DSF for optical wavelength multicast

The electronic layer multicast is going to face the speed and capacity bottleneck of the future optical data networks. Transparent optical wavelength multicast by multi-wavelength conversion is an effective way of achieving data multicast in the optical domain without any optical-electronic-optical conversion. In this paper, two multiple wavelength conversion technologies for 10 Gb/s data rate are investigating and discussed. The first technology is based on cross-phase modulation in a semiconductor optical amplifier – Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and the second is based on four-wave mixing in a dispersion-shifted fiber. We present the simulated performance comparison of two approaches obtained using VPItransmissionMakerTMWDM simulator. Afterwards, we analyze these results in comparison with our previous experimental results of the same schemes

Load Generators for Automatic Simulation of Urban Fleets

[EN] To ensure cities sustainability, we must deal with, among other challenges, traffic congestion, and its associated carbon emissions. We can approach such a problem from two perspectives: the transition to electric vehicles, which implies the need for charging station infrastructure, and the optimization of traffic flow. However, cities are complex systems, so it is helpful to test changes on them in controlled environments like the ones provided by simulators. In our work, we use SimFleet, an agent-based fleet simulator. Nevertheless, SimFleet does not provide tools for easily setting up big experiments, neither to simulate the realistic movement of its agents inside a city. Aiming to solve that, we enhanced SimFleet introducing two fully configurable generators that automatize the creation of experiments. First, the charging stations generator, which allocates a given amount of charging stations following a certain distribution, enabling to simulate how transports would charge and compare distributions. Second, the load generator, which populates the experiment with a given number of agents of a given type, introducing them dynamically in the simulation, and assigns them a movement that can be either random or based on real city data. The generators proved to be useful for comparing different distributions of charging stations as well as different agent behaviors over the same complex setup.This work was partially supported by MINECO/FEDER RTI2018-095390-B-C31 project of the Spanish government. Pasqual Martí and Jaume Jordán are funded by UPV PAID-06-18 project. Jaume Jordán is also funded by grant APOSTD/2018/010 of Generalitat Valenciana - Fondo Social Europeo.Martí Gimeno, P.; Jordán, J.; Palanca Cámara, J.; Julian Inglada, VJ. (2020). Load Generators for Automatic Simulation of Urban Fleets. Springer. 394-405. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51999-5_33S394405Campo, C.: Directory facilitator and service discovery agent. FIPA Document Repository (2002)Dong, J., Liu, C., Lin, Z.: Charging infrastructure planning for promoting battery electric vehicles: an activity-based approach using multiday travel data. Transp. Res. Part C: Emerg. Technol. 38, 44–55 (2014)Jordán, J., Palanca, J., Del Val, E., Julian, V., Botti, V.: A multi-agent system for the dynamic emplacement of electric vehicle charging stations. Appl. Sci. 8(2), 313 (2018)Noori, H.: Realistic urban traffic simulation as vehicular Ad-hoc network (VANET) via Veins framework. In: 2012 12th Conference of Open Innovations Association (FRUCT), pp. 1–7. IEEE (2012)Palanca, J., Terrasa, A., Carrascosa, C., Julián, V.: SimFleet: a new transport fleet simulator based on MAS. In: De La Prieta, F., et al. (eds.) PAAMS 2019. CCIS, vol. 1047, pp. 257–264. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24299-2_22Skippon, S., Garwood, M.: Responses to battery electric vehicles: UK consumer attitudes and attributions of symbolic meaning following direct experience to reduce psychological distance. Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 16(7), 525–531 (2011)del Val, E., Palanca, J., Rebollo, M.: U-tool: a urban-toolkit for enhancing city maps through citizens’ activity. In: Demazeau, Y., Ito, T., Bajo, J., Escalona, M.J. (eds.) PAAMS 2016. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 9662, pp. 243–246. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39324-7_2

Normative Emotional Agents: a viewpoint paper

[EN] Human social relationships imply conforming to the norms, behaviors and cultural values of the society, but also socialization of emotions, to learn how to interpret and show them. In multiagent systems, much progress has been made in the analysis and interpretation of both emotions and norms. Nonetheless, the relationship between emotions and norms has hardly been considered and most normative agents do not consider emotions, or vice-versa. In this article, we provide an overview of relevant aspects within the area of normative agents and emotional agents. First we focus on the concept of norm, the different types of norms, its life cycle and a review of multiagent normative systems. Secondly, we present the most relevant theories of emotions, the life cycle of an agent¿s emotions, and how emotions have been included through computational models in multiagent systems. Next, we present an analysis of proposals that integrate emotions and norms in multiagent systems. From this analysis, four relationships are detected between norms and emotions, which we analyze in detail and discuss how these relationships have been tackled in the reviewed proposals. Finally, we present a proposal for an abstract architecture of a Normative Emotional Agent that covers these four norm-emotion relationships.This work was supported by the Spanish Government project TIN2017-89156- R, the Generalitat Valenciana project PROMETEO/2018/002 and the Spanish Goverment PhD Grant PRE2018-084940.Argente, E.; Del Val, E.; Pérez-García, D.; Botti Navarro, VJ. (2022). Normative Emotional Agents: a viewpoint paper. IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing. 13(3):1254-1273. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAFFC.2020.3028512S1254127313

Simulation and experimental characterization of SOA-MZI-based multiwavelength conversion

We present, for the first time, extensive simulation and experimental characterizations of single SOA-MZI-based multiwavelength conversion (MWC) of NRZ data at 10 Gb/s and RZ data at 40 Gb/s under various parametric conditions deploying ITU standard 100- and 200-GHz channel spacing. We analyze, in particular, the physical performance impairments caused by high-order four-wave mixing interference. Our simulation results indicate the promising performance of the MWC up to eight channels with 200-GHz channel spacing. We further experimentally demonstrate four-channel 10-Gb/s error-free MWC with signal regeneration possibilities and 40-Gb/s MWC with moderate penalties, based on commercially available integrated SOA-MZIs. We obtained clear, open converted eye diagrams and achieved negligible difference in channel performance among all MWC channels at both bit rates. Our results proved the excellent performance of a simple scheme for various future network and system applications, such as all-optical wavelength multicast and grid networking

Combination of self-organization mechanisms to enhance service discovery in open systems

Decentralized systems have emerged as an alternative to centralized approaches for dealing with dynamic requirements in new business models. These systems should provide mechanisms that contribute to flexibility and facilitate adaptation to changes in the environment. In this paper, we present two self-organization mechanisms for a decentralized service discovery system in order to improve its performance. These mechanisms are based on local actions of agents that only consider local information about queries they forward during the discovery process. The self-organization actions are chosen by each agent individually when the agent considers them to be appropriate. The actions are: remaining in the system, leaving the system, cloning, and changing structural relations with other agents. We have evaluated each self-organization mechanism separately but also the combination of the two as the environmental conditions in the service demand change. The results show that the proposed self-organization mechanisms considerably improve the performance of the service discovery systemDel Val Noguera, E.; Rebollo Pedruelo, M.; Botti Navarro, VJ. (2014). Combination of self-organization mechanisms to enhance service discovery in open systems. Information Sciences. 279:138-162. doi:10.1016/j.ins.2014.03.109S13816227

Promoting Cooperation in Service-Oriented MAS through Social Plasticity and Incentives

[EN] In distributed environments where entities only have a partial view of the system, cooperation plays a key issue. In the case of decentralized service discovery in open service-oriented multi-agent systems, agents only know about the services they provide and their direct neighbors. Therefore, they need the cooperation of their neighbors in order to locate the required services. However, cooperation is not always present in open and distributed systems. Non-cooperative agents pursuing their own goals could refuse to forward queries from other agents to avoid the cost of this action; therefore, the efficiency of the decentralized service discovery could be seriously damaged. In this paper, we propose the combination of local structural changes and incentives in order to promote cooperation in the service discovery process. The results show that, even in scenarios where the predominant behavior is not collaborative the cooperation emerges.Work partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through grants TIN2009-13839-C03-01, CSD2007-0022 (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010), FPU grant AP-2008-00601 awarded to E. del Val.Del Val Noguera, E.; Rebollo Pedruelo, M.; Botti, V. (2013). Promoting Cooperation in Service-Oriented MAS through Social Plasticity and Incentives. Journal of Systems and Software. 86(2):520-537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2012.09.031S52053786

Effectiveness of a comprehensive care protocol in patients with new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes mellitus and associated comorbidities in primary care : study protocol of a quasi-experimental trial

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a highly prevalent chronic disease in the Spanish population. Typically, T2DM is associated with other chronic conditions. Intensive medication at the time of diagnosis has proven effective in reducing cardiovascular risk, improving glycaemic control and preventing T2DM complications. However, it has not yet been demonstrated that a comprehensive and intensive health education protocol at the time of diagnosis has the benefits described previously. Currently, there is great variability in the practices of primary care nurses regarding health education at the time of disease diagnosis.We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a systematic protocol with a comprehensive care programme in people with newly diagnosed T2DM with associated comorbidities. A multicentre quasi-experimental design comparing a group of individuals taking part in the intervention (intervention group (IG)) with a similar group receiving standard diabetes care (comparison group (CG)) is planned. The intervention will take place during the 3 months after study enrolment. Data will be collected at baseline and at 3, 6 and 12 months. Ten primary care centres in Barcelona city will be selected for participation: 5 for the IG and 5 for the CG. The IG will include five structured individual visits postdiagnosis with the primary care nurse, during which aspects of diabetes education will be discussed with the patient and his/her family. The results will be measured in terms of health-related quality of life and the change in main outcomes (glycated haemoglobin and weight). The study fully met the requirements of the Ethical Committee of Clinical Investigation of the IDIAP Jordi Gol (approval code: P13/118). Patients will be informed that their data are confidential, and they have the right to withdraw at any time without penalty. Dissemination will include publishing the findings in peer-reviewed journals and sharing our findings at scientific conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03990857; Pre-results