IMGT®, the international ImMunoGeneTics information system®

IMGT®, the international ImMunoGeneTics information system® (http://www.imgt.org), was created in 1989 by Marie-Paule Lefranc, Laboratoire d'ImmunoGénétique Moléculaire LIGM (Université Montpellier 2 and CNRS) at Montpellier, France, in order to standardize and manage the complexity of immunogenetics data. The building of a unique ontology, IMGT-ONTOLOGY, has made IMGT® the global reference in immunogenetics and immunoinformatics. IMGT® is a high-quality integrated knowledge resource specialized in the immunoglobulins or antibodies, T cell receptors, major histocompatibility complex, of human and other vertebrate species, proteins of the IgSF and MhcSF, and related proteins of the immune systems of any species. IMGT® provides a common access to standardized data from genome, proteome, genetics and 3D structures. IMGT® consists of five databases (IMGT/LIGM-DB, IMGT/GENE-DB, IMGT/3Dstructure-DB, etc.), fifteen interactive online tools for sequence, genome and 3D structure analysis, and more than 10 000 HTML pages of synthesis and knowledge. IMGT® is used in medical research (autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, AIDS, leukemias, lymphomas and myelomas), veterinary research, biotechnology related to antibody engineering (phage displays, combinatorial libraries, chimeric, humanized and human antibodies), diagnostics (clonalities, detection and follow-up of residual diseases) and therapeutical approaches (graft, immunotherapy, vaccinology). IMGT is freely available at http://www.imgt.org

The extended ramp model: A biomimetic model of behaviour arbitration for lightweight cognitive architectures

In this article, we present an idea for a more intuitive, low-cost, adjustable mechanism for behaviour control and management. One focus of current development in virtual agents, robotics and digital games is on increasingly complex and realistic systems that more accurately simulate intelligence found in nature. This development introduces a multitude of control parameters creating high computational costs. The resulting complexity limits the applicability of AI systems. One solution to this problem is to focus on smaller, more manageable, and flexible systems which can be simultaneously created, instantiated, and controlled. Here we introduce a biologically inspired systems-engineering approach for enriching behaviour arbitration with a low computational overhead. We focus on an easy way to control the maintenance, inhibition and alternation of high-level behaviours (goals) in cases where static priorities are undesirable. The models we consider here are biomimetic, based on neuro-cognitive research findings from dopaminic cells responsible for controlling goal switching and maintenance in the mammalian brain. The most promising model we find is applicable to selection problems with multiple conflicting goals. It utilizes a ramp function to control the execution and inhibition of behaviours more accurately than previous mechanisms, allowing an additional layer of control on existing behaviour prioritization systems

Sensitivity and specificity of electronic databases: The example of searching for evidence on child protection issues related to pregnant women

Search and rescue operations often require complex coordination of a range of resources, including human and robotic resources. This paper discusses a proposed new framework that allows agent technology to be used in conjunction with a virtual environment to provide a human controller with an effective visualisation of the distribution of a collection of autonomous objects, in our case, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) so that they can be managed in a way that allows them to successfully complete the task in the minimum possible time. It is our contention that to do this effectively there needs to be two-way initiation of verbal conversations, but that it is not necessary for the system to completely understand the conversations required. An example scenario is presented that illustrates how such a system would be used in practice, illustrating how a single human can verbally communicate with a swarm of semi-autonomous actors verbally and envisage their activities in a swarm based on the visual cues provided within the virtual environment. An agent-based solution is proposed that meets the requirements and provides an effective command station that can manage a search using a collection of UAVs effectively

Posh tools for game agent development by students and non-programmers

Abstract — Agent based systems are becoming popular outside the agents research community, among biologist, artists and in the game industry. Yet tools are lacking that facilitate non-expert agent developers building complicated agents for modelling and systems. As a part of our own agent-based research programmes we have been developing such tools. In this paper, we review the progress made, highlighting issues of usability. Examples of agents developed in these tools are also given, with an emphasis on intelligent virtual combat agents situated in Unreal Tournament

Handling Agent Perception in Heterogeneous Distributed Systems: A Policy-Based Approach

Part 4: Agent-Oriented TechniquesInternational audienceMulti-agent systems technologies have been widely investigated as a promising approach for modelling and building distributed systems. However, the benefits of agents are not restricted to systems solely comprised of agents. This paper considers how to ease the task of developing agents that perceive information from asynchronously executing external systems, especially those producing data at a high frequency. It presents a design for a percept buffer that, when configured with domain-specific percept metadata and application-specific percept management policies, provides a generic but customisable solution. Three application case studies are presented to illustrate and evaluate the approach