Agent Modeling in Antiair Defense

. This research addresses rational decision making and coordination among antiair units whose mission is to defend a specified territory from a number of attacking missiles. The automated units have to decide which missiles to attempt to intercept, given the characteristics of the threat, and given the other units' anticipated actions, in their attempt to minimize the expected overall damages to the defended territory. Thus, an automated defense unit needs to model the other agents, either human or automated, that control the other defense batteries. For the purpose of this case study, we assume that the units cannot communicate among themselves, say, due to an imposed radio silence. We use the Recursive Modeling Method (RMM), which enables an agent to select his rational action by examining the expected utility of his alternative behaviors, and to coordinate with other agents by modeling their decision making in a distributed multiagent environment. We describe how decision making usi..

Silicon chips detect intracellular pressure changes in living cells

20 p.4 fig.The ability to measure pressure changes inside different components of a living cell is important, because it offers an alternative way to study fundamental processes that involve cell deformation1. Most current techniques such as pipette aspiration2, optical interferometry3 or external pressure probes4 use either indirect measurement methods or approaches that can damage the cell membrane. Here we show that a silicon chip small enough to be internalized into a living cell can be used to detect pressure changes inside the cell. The chip, which consists of two membranes separated by a vacuum gap to form a Fabry–Pérot resonator, detects pressure changes that can be quantified from the intensity of the reflected light. Using this chip, we show that extracellular hydrostatic pressure is transmitted into HeLa cells and that these cells can endure hypo-osmotic stress without significantly increasing their intracellular hydrostatic pressure.This work was supported by the Spanish Government grants TEC2009-07687-E, TEC2011-29140-C03-01 and SAF2010-21879-C02-01.Peer reviewe

Acute pulmonary embolism in the era of multi-detector CT: a reality in sub-Saharan Africa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The advantages of multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) have made it the imaging modality of choice for some patients with suspected cardiothoracic disease, of which pulmonary embolism (PE) is an exponent. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of PE in patients with clinical suspicion of acute PE using MDCT in a sub-Saharan setting, and to describe the demographic characteristics of these patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Consecutive records of patients who underwent MDCT pulmonary angiography for suspected acute PE over a two-year period at the Radiology Department of a university-affiliated hospital were systematically reviewed. All MDCT pulmonary angiograms were performed with a 16-detector computed tomography (CT) scanner using real-time bolus tracking technique. Authorization for the study was obtained from the institutional authorities.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Forty-one MDCT pulmonary angiograms were reviewed of which 37 were retained. Of the 4 excluded studies, 3 were repeat angiograms and 1 study was not technically adequate. Twelve of 37 patients (32.4%) had CT angiograms that were positive for PE, of which 7 were males. The mean age of these patients was 47.6±10.5 years (age range from 33 to 65 years). Twenty five patients out of 37 (67.6%) had CT angiograms that were negative for PE. Eleven PE-positive patients (91.7%) had at least 1 identifiable thromboembolic risk factor whilst 5 PE-negative patients (20%) also had at least a thromboembolic risk factor. The relative risk of the occurrence of PE in patients with at least a thromboembolic risk factor was estimated at 14.4.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Acute PE is a reality in sub-Saharan Africa, with an increased likelihood of MDCT evidence in patients with clinical suspicion of PE who have at least a thromboembolic risk factor. The increasing availability of MDCT will help provide more information on the occurrence of PE in these settings.</p

Who’s that? - Social situation awareness for behaviour support agents: A feasibility study

Behaviour support agents need to be aware of the social environment of the user in order to be able to provide comprehensive support. However, this is a feature that is currently lacking in existing systems. To tackle it, first of all we explore literature from social sciences in order to find which elements of the social environment need to be represented. We structure this knowledge as a two-level ontology that models social situations. We formalize the elements that are needed to model social situations, which consist of different types of meetings between two people. We conduct an experiment to evaluate the lower level of the ontology using feedback from the subjects, and to test whether we can use the data to reason about the priority of different situations. Subjects found our proposed features of social relationships to be understandable and representative. Furthermore, we show these features can be combined in a decision tree to predict the priority of social situations.Interactive Intelligenc