MAS platforms as an enabler of enterprise mobilisation: The state of the art

One of the main application areas for multi-agent systems technology is enterprise mobilization, wherein the main business process actors are nomadic workers. An agent's autonomy, sociality and intelligence are highly prized features when it comes to supporting those mobile workers who are geographically isolated from the main knowledge source (i.e. the corporate Intranet) and are frequently moving from one location to another. Based on experience gained from two field trials of applications (built using for multi-agent systems technology and running on lightweight handheld devices) that support mobile business processes for telecommunications service provisioning and maintenance, this paper proposes desirable metrics for any multi-agent systems platform intended for enterprise mobilisation use. These metrics are then used to compare a number of existing multi-agent systems platforms, and based on the results, this paper identifies some areas for improvement

The GSFC NASTRAN thermal analyzer new capabilities

An overview of four analysis capabilities, which developed and integrated into the NASTRAN Thermal Analyzer, is given. To broaden the scope of applications, these additions provide the NTA users with the following capabilities: (1) simulating a thermal louver as a means of the passive thermal control, (2) simulating a fluid loop for transporting energy as a means of the active thermal control, (3) condensing a large sized finite element model for an efficient transient thermal analysis, and (4) entering multiple boundary condition sets in a single submission for execution in steady state thermal analyses

Influence of quality control variables on failure of graphite/epoxy under extreme moisture conditions

Tension tests on graphite/epoxy composites were performed to determine the influence of various quality control variables on failure strength as a function of moisture and moderate temperatures. The extremely high and low moisture contents investigated were found to have less effect upon properties than did temperature or the quality control variables of specimen flaws and prepreg batch to batch variations. In particular, specimen flaws were found to drastically reduce the predicted strength of the composite, whereas specimens from different batches of prepreg displayed differences in strength as a function of temperature and extreme moisture exposure. The findings illustrate the need for careful specimen preparation, studies of flaw sensitivity, and careful quality control in any study of composite materials

Renormalon Subtraction from the Average Plaquette and the Gluon Condensate

A Borel resummation scheme of subtracting the perturbative contribution from the average plaquette is proposed using the bilocal expansion of Borel transform. It is shown that the remnant of the average plaquette, after subtraction of the perturbative contribution, scales as a dim-4 condensate. A critical review of the existing procedure of renormalon subtraction is presented.Comment: 7pages,one figure; Journal version (added references and introductory remarks

Non-normal real estate return distributions by property type in the U.K.

Investment risk models with infinite variance provide a better description of distributions of individual property returns in the IPD database over the period 1981 to 2003 than Normally distributed risk models, which mirrors results in the U.S. and Australia using identical methodology. Real estate investment risk is heteroscedastic, but the Characteristic Exponent of the investment risk function is constant across time yet may vary by property type. Asset diversification is far less effective at reducing the impact of non-systematic investment risk on real estate portfolios than in the case of assets with Normally distributed investment risk. Multi-risk factor portfolio allocation models based on measures of investment codependence from finite-variance statistics are ineffectual in the real estate context

Crossflow in two-dimensional asymmetric nozzles

An experimental investigation of the crossflow effects in three contoured, two-dimensional asymmetric nozzles is described. The data were compared with theoretical predictions of nozzle flow by using an inviscid method of characteristics solution and two-dimensional turbulent boundary-layer calculations. The effect of crossflow as a function of the nozzle maximum expansion angle was studied by use of oil-flow techniques, static wall-pressure measurements, and impact-pressure surveys at the nozzle exit. Reynolds number effects on crossflow were investigated

Critical behavior of the three- and ten-state short-range Potts glass: A Monte Carlo study

We study the critical behavior of the short-range p-state Potts spin glass in three and four dimensions using Monte Carlo simulations. In three dimensions, for p = 3, a finite-size scaling analysis of the correlation length shows clear evidence of a transition to a spin-glass phase at T_c = 0.273(5) for a Gaussian distribution of interactions and T_c = 0.377(5) for a bimodal distribution. These results indicate that the lower critical dimension of the 3-state Potts glass is below three. By contrast, the correlation length of the ten-state (p = 10) Potts glass in three dimensions remains small even at very low temperatures and thus shows no sign of a transition. In four dimensions we find that the p = 3 Potts glass with Gaussian interactions has a spin-glass transition at T_c =0.536(3).Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, 6 table