Agent-Based Product Configuration: towards Generalized Consensus Seeking

This paper will present an evolution of a fuzzy agent based platform which performed products configuration. As a first step, we used the notion of consensus to establish robust results at the end of the configuration process. We implemented the concept of generalized consensus which implied the consideration of consensuses from the beginning, in this way robust data are treated during the entire process and the final result enables the designer to distinguish the robust components and flexible ones in a set of configurations.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 5 table

EFL Learners’ Perceptions of Grammar Knowledge and Grammar Instruction in Foreign Language Learning

The position that grammar should hold in L2 learning has been an issue of controversy among scholars and researchers resulting in teaching approaches and methods in which its role has been either overestimated or completely downplayed. Various studies have explored EFL teachers’ beliefs about the role of grammar in L2 learning and their classroom practices. However, very little research has been conducted on the learners’ perceptions regarding grammar knowledge and its instruction in the classroom. This study investigates Albanian EFL learners’ perceptions about the role of grammar knowledge in the language learning process and the learners’ acquisition of the target language. It also explores the learners’ attitudes towards grammar instruction in the classroom and how it affects their proficiency in the target language. 335 male and female high school students who participated in the study were asked to answer questions about the topic. The findings suggest that further research which considers learners’ beliefs will contribute to EFL grammar teaching methods. It might also encourage EFL teachers to reflect upon their beliefs about grammar instruction and employ grammar teaching approaches and classroom practices that do not overlook the learners’ perceptions of grammar and its position in L2 learning.Keywords: EFL learning, learners’ perceptions, grammar knowledge, grammar instruction

COMMUNICATING THROUGH TEXT MESSAGES

This article in a form of descriptive and comparative study aims at throwing light on one of the new areas of communicative language, the usage of text messages as an effective and frequent method in everyday communication worldwide. It elaborates on how the text messaging have evolved since the beginning and explores the main reasons it becomes more and more popular now days. Through a comprehensive but short history of text messaging, contributions and reviews of the scholars, research-driven literature on text messaging, and some cases of the usage of text messaging in everyday life, we highlight the impact its usage has in the way people communicate and understand each-other around the world, trying to give a full picture of where and why it is used mostly, in order to show also the effects of its usage.Keywords: communication, language, text messages

Multi-domain product modelling: from requirements to cad and simulation tools.

Today, in a very competitive industrial context, different companies have difficulties to respect delays in design and manufacturing of multi-domain product. These difficulties are most of time due to the non respect of requirements defined at the beginning of the project development, during the Function Performance Specifications phase. Furthermore, an important problem during multi-domain products design and development process is the communication between experts of different domains. To answer to this problem, the authors propose in this paper to describe and analyze this problematic through a meta-model. They focus only on mecatronic product. From the proposed meta-model analysis, they develop two possible links between both mechanical and electronic domains in a model: (1) between models and (2) between analysis tools of different domains. The application of this model to a concrete example shows that we can link all the main common data of a product design and development to the modeling and simulation tools of different domains

Multi-domain product modelling: from requirements to cad and simulation tools.

Today, in a very competitive industrial context, different companies have difficulties to respect delays in design and manufacturing of multi-domain product. These difficulties are most of time due to the non respect of requirements defined at the beginning of the project development, during the Function Performance Specifications phase. Furthermore, an important problem during multi-domain products design and development process is the communication between experts of different domains. To answer to this problem, the authors propose in this paper to describe and analyze this problematic through a meta-model. They focus only on mecatronic product. From the proposed meta-model analysis, they develop two possible links between both mechanical and electronic domains in a model: (1) between models and (2) between analysis tools of different domains. The application of this model to a concrete example shows that we can link all the main common data of a product design and development to the modeling and simulation tools of different domains

Tool based supporting collaborative design from specification development to CAD modelling

International audienceManagement of dynamic information interdependencies and as well as management of multiple perspectives from specification development to conceptual design, as well as from conceptual design to detailed design are critical elements of collaborative and distributed design. Supporting collaborative design with computer technology is a strategy to enhance the ability of actors to interact with each other and with computational resources during different phases of product design and development. However, many observations from the industry and research support the evidence that both specification development phase and conceptual design are poorly supported by collaborative tools. Furthermore, though CAD tools support detail design, it is imperative to develop new collaborative design tools or renovate traditional standalone CAD systems by making it collaborative-native. Consequently, the first goal of this paper is to propose the development of collaborative tools related to the conceptual design. The second goal is the development of a mechanism for communication between the developed collaborative conceptual design tools and actually CAD tools. The mechanism and architecture of the developed tool for collaborative conceptual design is presented. A design problem illustrates the concepts discussed in the paper

An intelligent system for the interactions analysis in a collaborative design process

International audienceDuring the collaborative design process, the cooperation between actors is variable and fluctuating. This paper proposes an agent-absed system for analyzing those interactions. The system reacts graphically according to the verbal exchanges between various actors. From this point of view, the system makes it possible to follow the privileged relations in a group and to make simulation of the selforganization inside this group. Our objectives are to provide each agent with some capacities of interpretation of the exchanges. In that case, we could be able to refine the deductions on the interactions between actors, by adjusting the functions of interpretations

Intelligent autism screening using fuzzy agent

In the diagnosis of diseases, either physical or psychological, there are situations causing reaching for second independent opinion very hard. This is especially true in the diagnosis of Autism due to the complex process of diagnosis. Apart from the complex process, the challenges include cost and the availability of experts. This, however, does not change the fact that having regular independent second opinions is crucial. Hence, this study proposes an intelligent autism screening model using fuzzy agent, to assist the expert and non-expert in making the diagnosis. In this study, the fuzzy inputs are assigned based on five categories, which are Communication, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Problem Solving, and Personal Social, and is specifically for three-year-old children only. The proposed model will be able to produce output in the form of sequences based on lowest to highest mark of the scores for each category. This output will then relate to the suggestion of activities to autistic children by priority (based on the scores obtained)