Run-Time Selection of Coordination Mechanisms in Multi-Agent Systems

This paper presents a framework that enables autonomous agents to dynamically select the mechanism they employ in order to coordinate their inter-related activities. Adopting this framework means coordination mechanisms move from the realm of being imposed upon the system at design time, to something that the agents select at run-time in order to fit their prevailing circumstances and their current coordination needs. Empirical analysis is used to evaluate the effect of various design alternatives for the agent's decision making mechanisms and for the coordination mechanisms themselves

Giant monopole resonance and nuclear compression modulus for 40Ca and 16O

Using a collective potential derived on the basis of the Generator Coordinate Method with Skyrme interactions we obtain values for the compression modulus of 40Ca which are in good agreement with a recently obtained experimental value. Calculated values for the compression modulus for 16O are also given. The procedure involved in the derivation of the collective potential is briefly reviewed and discussed.Comment: 14 pages, no figures, two tables, REVTE

She Would Not Be Silenced: Mae West\u27s Struggle Against Censorship

Mae West, an actress during Hollywood\u27s Golden Age, used her fame on stage, in films, and on the radio to offer social commentary on relationships between men and women in society. Her irreverent style of addressing issues of female sexuality and power certainly caught peoples attention and made them think about these issues in new ways. At the same time, her racy delivery made her a target of stage, film, and radio censorship. She refused to be silenced and continually pushed against restrictions to deliver he message of empowerment in her trademark provocative manner

She Would Not Be Silenced: Mae West\u27s Struggle Against Censorship

Mae West, an actress during Hollywood\u27s Golden Age, used her fame on stage, in films, and on the radio to offer social commentary on relationships between men and women in society. Her irreverent style of addressing issues of female sexuality and power certainly caught peoples attention and made them think about these issues in new ways. At the same time, her racy delivery made her a target of stage, film, and radio censorship. She refused to be silenced and continually pushed against restrictions to deliver he message of empowerment in her trademark provocative manner

Lipid-modulated assembly of magnetized iron-filled carbon nanotubes in millimeter-scale structures

Biomolecule-functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) combine the molecular recognition properties of biomaterials with the electrical properties of nanoscale solid state transducers. Application of this hybrid material in bioelectronic devices requires the development of methods for the reproducible self-assembly of CNTs into higher-order structures in an aqueous environment. To this end, we have studied pattern formation of lipid-coated Fe-filled CNTs, with lengths in the 1–5 µm range, by controlled evaporation of aqueous CNT-lipid suspensions. Novel diffusion limited aggregation structures composed of end-to-end oriented nanotubes were observed by optical and atomic force microscopy. Significantly, the lateral dimension of assemblies of magnetized Fe-filled CNTs was in the millimeter range. Control experiments in the absence of lipids and without magnetization indicated that the formation of these long linear nanotube patterns is driven by a subtle interplay between radial flow forces in the evaporating droplet, lipid-modulated van der Waals forces, and magnetic dipole–dipole interactions. Keywords

A Gradient Projection Algorithm for Side-constrained Traffic Assignment

Standard static traffic assignment models do not take into account the direct effects of capacities on network flows. Separable link performance functions cannot represent bottleneck and intersection delays, and thus might load links with traffic volumes, which far exceed their capacity. This work focuses on the side-constrained traffic assignment problem (SCTAP), which incorporates explicit capacity constraints into the traffic assignment framework to create a model that deals with capacities and queues. Assigned volumes are bounded by capacities, and queues are formed when capacity is reached. Delay values at these queues are closely related to Lagrange multipliers values, which are readily found in the solution. The equilibrium state is defined by total path travel times, which combine link travel times and delays at bottlenecks and intersections for which explicit capacity constraints have been introduced. This paper presents a new solution procedure for the SCTAP based on the inner penalty function method combined with a path-based adaptation of the gradient projection algorithm. This procedure finds a solution at the path level as well as at the link level. All intermediate solutions produced by the algorithm are strictly feasible. The procedure used to ensure that side-constraints are not violated is efficient since it is only performed on constrained links that belong to the shortest path

A Monge–Kantorovich mass transport problem for a discrete distance

AbstractThis paper is concerned with a Monge–Kantorovich mass transport problem in which in the transport cost we replace the Euclidean distance with a discrete distance. We fix the length of a step and the distance that measures the cost of the transport depends of the number of steps that is needed to transport the involved mass from its origin to its destination. For this problem we construct special Kantorovich potentials, and optimal transport plans via a nonlocal version of the PDE formulation given by Evans and Gangbo for the classical case with the Euclidean distance. We also study how these problems, when rescaling the step distance, approximate the classical problem. In particular we obtain, taking limits in the rescaled nonlocal formulation, the PDE formulation given by Evans–Gangbo for the classical problem

Tratamiento de las complicaciones vasculares tras aplicación del método de Ilizarov: Aportación de tres casos

Entre 1987 y 1991 fueron intervenidos 209 pacientes mediante el método de Ilizarov en nuestra institución. Tres de los pacientes presentaron complicaciones vasculares durante el tratamiento. Todos ellos eran adultos y habían sido tratados por pseudoartrosis de un hueso largo. La lesión vascular ocurrió en la arteria femoral superficial en un caso, la arteria poplítea en otro y la arteria tibial posterior en el último de ellos. El signo clínico del problema vascular fue la presencia de la hemorragia en el punto de salida cutánea de las agujas de Kirschner de transfixión. Se realizó exploración arteriográfica en todos los casos, pero su interpretación fue difícil debido a la presencia del fijador externo. El tratamiento de la complicación vascular fue: en el caso de la lesión de la arteria femoral fue retirado el fijador y realizado un by-pass con un injerto invertido obtenido de la vena safena; en el caso de lesión de la arteria poplítea, se realizó la misma técnica pero sin retirar el fijador. En el último caso la lesión de la arteria tibial posterior se trató mediante ligadura de la misma. En todos los casos, la evolución del tratamiento vascular fue excelente, siendo posible finalizar el tratamiento ortopédico.From 1987 to 1991, 209 patients were operated on by the Ilizarov method in our institution. Among them, 3 patients presented vascular complications during the treatment. All were adults and have been treated for long bone pseudoarthrosis. The vascular lesion ocurred at the femoral superficial artery in one case, at the popliteal artery in other case, and at the posterior tibial artery in the third case. The clinical sign of vascular damage was bleeding through the cutaneous point of the Kirschnner transfixion wires in all cases. Arteriography was done in all cases but its interpretation was very difficult because of the presence of the external fixator. In the case of femoral artery, injury the external fixator was removed and a vascular by-pass was performed with an inverted graft of the saphenous vein. The same procedure was done in the case with a popliteal artery injury but without removal of the external fixator. The case with lesion of the posterior tibial artery was treated by arterial hgature. In all cases, outcome was satisfactory, allowing completion of the orthopaedic treatment