Simulation Based Optimisation of Ground Crews: Case of a Regional Airport

Paper presents the simulation models built within an airport ground crew scheduling automatization project at a regional airport. Our goal was to develop robust ground crew task scheduling and shift generation algorithms that would improve on existing heuristic rules. We have utilized simulation modeling to develop and validate the algorithms, starting with a model of the existing scheduling process coded and visualized in spreadsheet software and ending with a hybrid Discrete Event and Agent Based model used for the visualization and verification of the optimized processes. Explicit and tacit expert knowledge was recorded through meetings with airport personnel managers and observation of the ground crew processes. Gathered knowledge was combined with business rules, contractual limitations and labor legislation to develop the final version of the algorithms

Adaptive Bio-Inspired Control of Humanoid Robots — From Human Locomotion to an Artificial Biped Gait of High Performances

Non

Some Mean-Value Theorems of the Cauchy Type

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary 26A24, 26D15; Secondary 41A05Some mean-value theorems of the Cauchy type, which are connected with Jensen’s inequality, are given in [2] in discrete form and in [5] in integral form. Several further generalizations and applications of these results are presented here

Carboplatin-Induced Bilateral Papilledema: A Case Report

We report on a patient with carboplatin-induced bilateral papilledema, as it was described in the 1970s for cisplatin. Loss of visual accuracy up to full blindness, often loss of color vision and scotomas can be seen as a result of cortical blindness, macula degeneration, retrobulbar neuritis and papilledema. These symptoms are mostly unilateral and initially mild, so that more chemotherapy is given before the diagnosis is made. The symptoms are usually reversible within weeks to months after cessation of the platinum treatment. The therapeutic strategy is stopping the platinum treatment. In addition the empiric use of corticosteroids is suggested

Intelligent Distributed Agent Based Architecture

This thesis presents work done on the development of a multi-agent system architecture that facilitates coordination and a novel social networks based approach to coordination. The field of multi-agent system research is undergoing tremendous expansion and it would be impossible to address all the issues related to the field. Instead, this thesis focuses on the coordination aspect of multi-agent systems. The architecture presented here is named the INtelligent Distributed Agent Based Architecture, INDABA. INDABA, as a hybrid agent architecture, combines the sub-symbolic knowledge representation layered architecture with a symbolic layer that allows for deliberative reasoning and learning. INDABA also introduces a layer that facilitates coordination in a society of agents, namely the interaction layer. The new approach to coordination was inspired by social networks, as observed in higher mammalian societies. Two social relationships were explored, namely kinship and trust. Coordination is achieved through team selection. Using characteristics of social networks, such as learning and the ability to deal with uncertainties, the best team is selected for task execution. The experiments conducted for the purpose of this thesis were done on three levels. Firstly, an abstract simulated environment was created where a society of a large number of agents could be observed. Secondly, experiments were done in a more realistic simulated robot environment. The last set of experiments was done in a real-world environment, with the implementation of INDABA in embodied mobile agents (robots). The experiments have confirmed the applicability of INDABA as an agent architecture, as well as the validity of the social networks coordination approach.Thesis (PhD (Computer Science))--University of Pretoria, 2006.Computer Scienceunrestricte

Capacity needs to achieve the UN MDG target 10 in Asia

A preliminary study is conducted in Asia to assess the capacity needs to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goal 7, Target 10 on water supply and sanitation. Needs assessment methodology, compatible with that proposed by the UN Millennium Project, is adopted. Data is gathered by interviewing 66 selected respondents in Bangladesh, China, India and Nepal. In addition, a few projects are analysed for the involvement of professionals. Respondents find that engineers lack managerial skills as well as understanding of social realities. Engineering students are not enough exposed to real-life engineering practice. Curricula and research are insufficiently oriented towards local circumstances and needs. Institutions of higher education lack physical facilities and financial and, consequently, human resources. Analysis of several water supply and sanitation projects reveals that about 20% of professional staff is needed for community mobilisation, in order to ensure the success and sustainability of projects

« Écoutez mes chants d’universelle ivrognerie » : Alcools d’Apollinaire face au Dionysos nietzschéen

Si l’ivresse n’est pas une problématique nouvelle en poésie, du dithyrambe grec au « Bateau ivre » de Rimbaud, l’objet de cet article est de montrer que les sources d’inspiration d’Alcools ne sont pas seulement poétiques, mais également philosophiques. Sans aller jusqu’à prétendre qu’Apollinaire, ce poète au pseudonyme apollonien et au recueil au titre dionysiaque, est un nietzschéen affirmé ou même un poète-philosophe, il s’agit d’étudier les effets de résonances entre Alcools et la figure du Dionysos nietzschéen. Après avoir expliqué ce qui justifie, méthodologiquement, la comparaison entre Apollinaire et Nietzsche, nous déclinons différents versants de l’ivresse (l’ivresse comme ivrognerie, le rapport entre l’ivresse et l’art, l’ivresse comme affirmation inconditionnelle de la vie), avant de considérer Orphée comme figure d’union entre l’apollinien et le dionysiaque.While inebriation is not a new theme in poetry, as is evidenced from the Greek dithyramb to Rimbaud’s “Bateau ivre”, the objective of this article is to demonstrate that the sources of inspiration for Alcools are not only poetic, but also philosophical. Without going so far as to pretend that Apollinaire, the poet with an Apollonian pseudonym and a work of Dionysian title, is a confirmed Nietzschean or even a poet-philosopher, the aim remains to study the effects of resonances between Alcools and the Nietzschean figure of Dionysus. Having explained the methodological justification for a comparison between Apollinaire and Nietzsche, we will discover different versions of inebriation (drunkenness, the relationship between inebriation and art, inebriation as an unconditional affirmation of life), before considering Orpheus as a figure of union between the Apollonian and the Dionysian