Efficient Communication and Coordination for Large-Scale Multi-Agent Systems

The growth of the computational power of computers and the speed of networks has made large-scale multi-agent systems a promising technology. As the number of agents in a single application approaches thousands or millions, distributed computing has become a general paradigm in large-scale multi-agent systems to take the benefits of parallel computing. However, since these numerous agents are located on distributed computers and interact intensively with each other to achieve common goals, the agent communication cost significantly affects the performance of applications. Therefore, optimizing the agent communication cost on distributed systems could considerably reduce the runtime of multi-agent applications. Furthermore, because static multi-agent frameworks may not be suitable for all kinds of applications, and the communication patterns of agents may change during execution, multi-agent frameworks should adapt their services to support applications differently according to their dynamic characteristics. This thesis proposes three adaptive services at the agent framework level to reduce the agent communication and coordination cost of large-scale multi-agent applications. First, communication locality-aware agent distribution aims at minimizing inter-node communication by collocating heavily communicating agents on the same platform and maintaining agent group-based load sharing. Second, application agent-oriented middle agent services attempt to optimize agent interaction through middle agents by executing application agent-supported search algorithms on the middle agent address space. Third, message passing for mobile agents aims at reducing the time of message delivery to mobile agents using location caches or by extending the agent address scheme with location information. With these services, we have achieved very impressive experimental results in large- scale UAV simulations including up to 10,000 agents. Also, we have provided a formal definition of our framework and services with operational semantics

Effective management of EFL(Executive Floor): An Investigation into quality-management on service

In a recent days the hotel industries, coping with the change of management environment swiftly, are turning to pursue the quality-management of service. The merchandises of hotel are fundamentally rooms, food and beverage, and subsidiary facilities. The hotel in modern times, laying stress on service radically, have being endeavored to minimize the difference between the actual service offered and the expectation of customers on it. Especially because of the essential qualities in hotel, the need of quality-management is demanded to increase. The EFL in hotel is not only the place where the difficulty of producing the merchandise focused on quality is reflected but also the department in which the endeavor of keeping up the service quality and the effective quality-management is demanded. The study on the quality-management, however, is not enough to satisfy the customers and the men engaging in hotels as well as the scholars. The purpose of this study are follows ; 1 . To disclose the signification of EFL in hotel management through the investigation into the conception, the importance and the character of EFL. 2. To know how to control the human resources to realize the improvement the quality service for customers and the quality-management of EFL in hotel. 3. To search the management and problem of EFL in hotel. Therefore, this study is being concentrating on the effective management of EFL and quality service to visualize the long-term profit in hotel business. Recently the environment around the hotel business is rapidly changing, especially in EFL market plan, and so the quality-management of EFL in hotel is regarded as the strategic enterprise to achieve the abiding improvement and development in hotel industries. Thus, the alternative proposal of EFL in hotel is as follows ; First, the EFL in hotel must be focused on offering the individual and differentiated service to induce the positive direction in perceived benefit of the customers psychologically. Second, the EFL in hotel should be aimed to maximize the VAT of hotel in a long-term rather than the statistical profit in a provisional period. Third, to succeed in improving EFL business, it should be necessary for the men engaging in hotel to take the special education, specially in quality service, for the proper education is essential to satisfy the customer\u27s expectation. Fourth, to satisfy EFL, it is very important for all men engaging in hotel to accept the conception of EFL at the unified mind, it is becoming the center of hotel business. Furthermore, the competition in hotel business is focused not only on quantification but also on qualification. I hope that the various studies on the theme will be continued to develop the hotel industries, focusing on customer\u27s satisfaction

Coarsening model of cavity nucleation and thin film delamination from single-crystal BaTiO3 with proton implantation

The layer splitting mechanism of a proton implanted single crystal ferroelectric BaTiO3 thin film layer from its bulk BaTiO3 substrate has been investigated. The single crystal BaTiO3 thin film layer splits as the hydrogen gas diffuses and the internal cavity pressure increases. Ripening mechanism driven by the pressurized hydrogen in the implantation-induced damage zone makes coarsening of the cavities and causes the delamination of the thin layer during the annealing. A unique criterion relation of blister nucleation and evolution has been derived and a simplified debonding criterion is proposed in terms of dimensionless parameters based on the force equilibrium condition. A numerical simulation of two-bubble evolution and delamination of thin film is performed using a finite element method

Constructing clandestine communities: oaths of collective secrecy and conceptual boundaries in the late antique Mediterranean

This article explores fourth- to seventh-century narratives about oaths of collective secrecy, which our sources typically frame negatively. By examining the terminology used in reference to these promises, the dynamics inherent in the practice and its relationship to oath-taking customs in other contexts, and the influence of Christianity on the discourses around such pledges, we can see that late antique authors routinely frame the swearing of these pacts as a transition to a liminal state of existence. Through this rhetoric, church and state authorities constructed conceptual boundaries between those who agreed and disagreed with their definitions of acceptable behaviours

Measuring ∣Vub∣|V_{ub}| at future B-Factories

We calculate the so--called Fermi motion parameter $p_{_F}$ of ACCMM model using the variational method in a potential model approach. We also propose hadronic invariant mass distribution as an alternative experimental observable to measure $V_{ub}$ at future asymmetric $B$ factories.Comment: 9 pages (1 fugure not included

Overlay Accuracy Limitations of Soft Stamp UV Nanoimprint Lithography and Circumvention Strategies for Device Applications

In this work multilevel pattering capabilities of Substrate Conformal Imprint Lithography (SCIL) have been explored. A mix & match approach combining the high throughput of nanoimprint lithography with the excellent overlay accuracy of electron beam lithography (EBL) has been exploited to fabricate nanoscale devices. An EBL system has also been utilized as a benchmarking tool to measure both stamp distortions and alignment precision of this mix & match approach. By aligning the EBL system to 20 mm x 20 mm and 8 mm x 8 mm cells to compensate pattern distortions of order of $3 \mu m$ over 6 inch wafer area, overlay accuracy better than $1.2 \mu m$ has been demonstrated. This result can partially be attributed to the flexible SCIL stamp which compensates deformations caused by the presence of particles which would otherwise significantly reduce the alignment precision

Finite Element Analysis of the Acoustic Field in an Axisymmetric Duct with Flow Using the Convected Wave Equation

Mechanical Engineerin

Developments in the method of finite spheres : efficiency and coupling to the traditional finite element method

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-183).In this thesis we develop some advances in the method of finite spheres which is a truly meshless numerical technique for the solution of boundary value problems on geometrically complex domains. We present the development of a preprocessor for the auto-generation of finite spheres on two-dimensional computational domains. The techniques enable to determine the radii of the spheres as well as to detect the boundary of the analysis domain. The numerical integration for the calculation of stiffness matrices is expensive. However, by utilizing the compact support characteristic it is possible to transform the integral equations into more efficient expressions. The improved equations reduce the effort of integration because for most terms, only line integrations are used. We also propose a new coupling scheme to couple finite element discretizations with finite spheres. The idea is that we can use finite elements and finite spheres simultaneously to utilize their mutual advantages. Hence, we can employ finite spheres only in areas where their use is efficient. In addition, we propose an enriching scheme which makes it possible to superpose spheres on conventional finite element topologies to reach a higher order of convergence in the numerical solution of problems.by Jung-Wuk Hong.Ph.D