Quality of service and quality of control based protocol to distribute agents

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14883-5_10This paper describes an agent s movement protocol. Additionally, a distributed architecture to implement such protocol is presented. The architecture allows the agents to move in accordance with their requirements. The protocol is based on division and fusion of the agents in their basic components called Logical Sensors. The movement of the agents is based on the quality of services (QoS) and quality of control (QoC) parameters that the system can provides. The protocol is used to know the impact that the movement of the agents may have on the system and obtain the equilibrium points where the impact is minimal.The architecture described in this article is a part of the coordinated project SIDIRELI: Distributed Systems with Limited Resources. Control Kernel and Coordination. Education and Science Department, Spanish Government. CICYT: MICINN: DPI2008-06737-C02-01/02.Poza-Lujan, J.; Posadas-Yagüe, J.; Simó Ten, JE. (2010). Quality of service and quality of control based protocol to distribute agents. En Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence: 7th International Symposium. Springer. 73-80. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-14883-5_10S7380Posadas, J.L., Poza, J.L., Simó, J.E., Benet, G., Blanes, F.: Agent Based Distributed Architecture for Mobile Robot Control. In: Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, vol. 21(6), pp. 805–823. Pergamon Press Ltd., Oxford (2008)Object Management Group (OMG): Data Distribution Service for Real-Time Systems, v1.1. Document formal / 2005-12-04 (2005)Odum, E.P.: Fundamentals of Ecology, 3rd edn. W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia (1971)Aurrecoechea, C., Campbell, A.T., Hauw, L.: A Survey of QoS Architectures. ACM/Springer Verlag Multimedia Systems Journal, Special Issue on QoS Architecture 6(3), 138–151 (1998)Pardo-Castellote, G.O.: Data-Distribution Service: architectural overview. In: Proceedings of 23rd International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops, vol. 19-22, pp. 200–206 (2003)International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Terms and Definitions Related to Quality of Service and Network Performance Including Dependability. ITU-T Recommendation E.800 (0894) (1994)Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents. FIPA Quality of Service Ontology Specification, Experimental Doc: XC00094 (2002)Dorf, R.C., Bishop, R.H.: Modern Control Systems, 11th edn. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs (2008)Poza, J.L., Posadas, J.L., Simó, J.E.: Middleware with QoS Support to Control Intelligent Systems. In: 2nd International Conference on Advanced Engineering Computing and Applications in Sciences, ADVCOMP, pp. 211–216 (2008)Bellifemine, F., Poggi, A., Rimassa, G.: Jade: A FIPA-compliant agent framework. In: Proceedings of PAAM 1999, pp. 97–108 (1999)Poza, J.L., Posadas, J.L., Simó, J.E.: From the Queue to the Quality of Service Policy: A Middleware Implementation. In: Omatu, S., Rocha, M.P., Bravo, J., Fernández, F., Corchado, E., Bustillo, A., Corchado, J.M. (eds.) IWANN 2009. Part II. LNCS, vol. 5518, pp. 432–437. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents. FIPA Agent Management Specification, Doc: FIPA00023 (2000)Jeong, B., Cho, H., Kulvatunyou, B., Jones, A.: A Multi-Criteria Web Services Composition Problem. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Information Reuse and Integration, 2007 (IRI 2007), pp. 379–384. IEEE, Los Alamitos (2007)Poza, J.L., Posadas, J.L., Simó, J.E., Benet, G.: Distributed Agent Specification for an Intelligent control Architecture. In: 6th International Workshop on Practical Applications of Agents and Multiagent Systems. IWPAAMS (2007) ISBN 978-84-611-8858-

Magnetic anisotropy modulation of magnetite in Fe3O4/BaTiO3(100) epitaxial structures

Temperature dependent magnetometry and transport measurements on epitaxial Fe3O4 films grown on BaTiO3(100) single crystals by molecular beam epitaxy show a series of discontinuities, that are due to changes in the magnetic anisotropy induced by strain in the different crystal phases of BaTiO3. The magnetite film is under tensile strain at room temperature, which is ascribed to the lattice expansion of BaTiO3 at the cubic to tetragonal transition, indicating that the magnetite film is relaxed at the growth temperature. From the magnetization versus temperature curves, the variation in the magnetic anisotropy is determined and compared with the magnetoelastic anisotropies. These results demonstrate the possibility of using the piezoelectric response of BaTiO3 to modulate the magnetic anisotropy of magnetite films.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

UV-Casting on methacrylated PCL for the production of a peripheral nerve implant containing an array of porous aligned microchannels

Peripheral nerves are basic communication structures guiding motor and sensory information from the central nervous system to receptor units. Severed peripheral nerve injuries represent a large clinical problem with relevant challenges to successful synthetic nerve repair scaffolds as substitutes to autologous nerve grafting. Numerous studies reported the use of hollow tubes made of synthetic polymers sutured between severed nerve stumps to promote nerve regeneration while providing protection for external factors, such as scar tissue formation and inflammation. Few approaches have described the potential use of a lumen structure comprised of microchannels or microfibers to provide axon growth avoiding misdirection and fostering proper healing. Here, we report the use of a 3D porous microchannel-based structure made of a photocurable methacrylated polycaprolactone, whose mechanical properties are comparable to native nerves. The neuro-regenerative properties of the polymer were assessed in vitro, prior to the implantation of the 3D porous structure, in a 6-mm rat sciatic nerve gap injury. The manufactured implants were biocompatible and able to be resorbed by the host’s body at a suitable rate, allowing the complete healing of the nerve. The innovative design of the highly porous structure with the axon guiding microchannels, along with the observation of myelinated axons and Schwann cells in the in vivo tests, led to a significant progress towards the standardized use of synthetic 3D multichannel-based structures in peripheral nerve surgery

Wives’ roles among alcoholic partners in the Philippine context

Alcoholism, the most common form of addiction, can be considered a societal and familial problem. In controlling the alcoholic consumption of husbands, wives may play a significant role. The present study aimed to know the profile of selected couples, determine the wife’s effort in controlling the husband’s alcohol use, and assess the correlation of possible risk factors associated with husband’s alcohol use and wife’s effort in Talisay City, Cebu. A total of 97 couples were screened using inclusion criteria (18-60 years of age, living together for at least six months, and the husband must be an alcohol user). All couples satisfied most of the criteria except the criteria where the husband must be an alcohol user, leading to only 65 qualified couples (67%). Husbands and wives were interviewed separately using a structured questionnaire. Husbands were asked about their alcohol use and wives were asked regarding their efforts in controlling their husband’s alcohol use. Statistical analyses revealed significant differences between wives’ effort towards the alcohol-user ‎husband and their husbands’ type of alcohol use, level of alcohol use, and history of alcoholism in the family. ‎‎Moreover, significant positive relationships were found between the wife’s effort towards controlling the husband’s alcohol use and the number of children. Results imply that the wife’s effort to control the alcohol consumption of their husband has a relationship with the husband’s level of ‎alcohol use. The wife is seen to play a critical role in regulating alcoholism in the family and community. Thus, in increasing awareness and control of alcoholism in the community, housewives must also be targeted