Intelligent agent for formal modelling of temporal multi-agent systems

Software systems are becoming complex and dynamic with the passage of time, and to provide better fault tolerance and resource management they need to have the ability of self-adaptation. Multi-agent systems paradigm is an active area of research for modeling real-time systems. In this research, we have proposed a new agent named SA-ARTIS-agent, which is designed to work in hard real-time temporal constraints with the ability of self-adaptation. This agent can be used for the formal modeling of any self-adaptive real-time multi-agent system. Our agent integrates the MAPE-K feedback loop with ARTIS agent for the provision of self-adaptation. For an unambiguous description, we formally specify our SA-ARTIS-agent using Time-Communicating Object-Z (TCOZ) language. The objective of this research is to provide an intelligent agent with self-adaptive abilities for the execution of tasks with temporal constraints. Previous works in this domain have used Z language which is not expressive to model the distributed communication process of agents. The novelty of our work is that we specified the non-terminating behavior of agents using active class concept of TCOZ and expressed the distributed communication among agents. For communication between active entities, channel communication mechanism of TCOZ is utilized. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed agent using a real-time case study of traffic monitoring system

Efficient performative actions for e-commerce agents

The foundational features of multi-agent systems are communication and interaction with other agents. To achieve these features, agents have to transfer messages in the predefined format and semantics. The communication among these agents takes place with the help of ACL (Agent Communication Language). ACL is a predefined language for communication among agents that has been standardised by the FIPA (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agent). FIPA-ACL defines different performatives for communication among the agents. These performatives are generic, and it becomes computationally expensive to use them for a specific domain like e-commerce. These performatives do not define the exact meaning of communication for any specific domain like e-commerce. In the present research, we introduced new performatives specifically for e-commerce domain. Our designed performatives are based on FIPA-ACL so that they can still support communication within diverse agent platforms. The proposed performatives are helpful in modelling e-commerce negotiation protocol applications using the paradigm of multi-agent systems for efficient communication. For exact semantic interpretation of the proposed performatives, we also performed formal modelling of these performatives using BNF. The primary objective of our research was to provide the negotiation facility to agents, working in an e-commerce domain, in a succinct way to reduce the number of negotiation messages, time consumption and network overhead on the platform. We used an e-commerce based bidding case study among agents to demonstrate the efficiency of our approach. The results showed that there was a lot of reduction in total time required for the bidding process

Safety and effectiveness of electronic cigarettes: a narrative review

Objective: To current review the literature regarding safety and effectiveness of electronic cigarettes and to find out any con- tribution from Malaysia, regarding electronic cigarettes research field. Design: To commendably face this new challenge, health care providers need to become more familiar with the existing liter- ature. A narrative review studies conducted from 2004 to August 2014 through multiple electronic databases that available at the author's institution library conducted by using the terms, safety, effectiveness, efficacy, chemical analysis of e-cigs, electron- ic cigarettes or electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS). The databases searched only for full text papers published in English from 2004 to august 2014. Methods: 48 original articles identified with help of multiple electronic databanks, that linked to aim title were selected. Nation wise contribution included, USA(16), UK(07), Italy(6), Greece(5), New Zealand(5), Switzerland(4), Canada, Australia, Poland, south Korean, Czech republic each 1. We did not found any article from Malaysia, this indicate us there is a necessity of electronic cigarettes studies on Malaysian population. Conclusion: Due to limited studies with inadequate participants and short time exposure in some developed countries, e-cig cannot accomplish safe and effective in complete terms. In order to conclude firmly, still more research is needed globally in dif- ferent population to look at its long-term safety and effectiveness particularly on cardiovascular diseases and on smoker’s health from different parts of the world

Improving Productivity of Road Surfacing operations with the help of Lean and Discrete Event Simulation techniques; a UK case study

Road surfacing is an important module in Highways Development and Maintenance sector. The resurfacing and rehabilitation of road pavements has become a costly requirement due to large number of private and commercial vehicles using the roads that cause pavements to disintegrate rapidly. The roadworks incur not only direct work costs, but also indirect costs from factors such as congestion, motor accidents, traffic disturbance and pollution. Maintenance activities on the roads usually cause delays and queuing. There is obviously a need for quick and cost effective maintenance that minimizes the occurrences and duration of these disruptions. This research investigates the role of Discrete Event Simulation (DES) to enhance the productivity of the delivery of road surfacing operations through achieving higher production rates and minimum road closure times

Role of brain imaging in disorders of brain-gut interaction: a Rome Working Team Report.

Imaging of the living human brain is a powerful tool to probe the interactions between brain, gut and microbiome in health and in disorders of brain-gut interactions, in particular IBS. While altered signals from the viscera contribute to clinical symptoms, the brain integrates these interoceptive signals with emotional, cognitive and memory related inputs in a non-linear fashion to produce symptoms. Tremendous progress has occurred in the development of new imaging techniques that look at structural, functional and metabolic properties of brain regions and networks. Standardisation in image acquisition and advances in computational approaches has made it possible to study large data sets of imaging studies, identify network properties and integrate them with non-imaging data. These approaches are beginning to generate brain signatures in IBS that share some features with those obtained in other often overlapping chronic pain disorders such as urological pelvic pain syndromes and vulvodynia, suggesting shared mechanisms. Despite this progress, the identification of preclinical vulnerability factors and outcome predictors has been slow. To overcome current obstacles, the creation of consortia and the generation of standardised multisite repositories for brain imaging and metadata from multisite studies are required

Improving productivity of road surfacing operations using value stream mapping and discrete event simulation

The Highways Infrastructure is one of the most valuable asset owned by the public sector. Efficient operations of Highways have the success of national and local economies as well as the quality of life of the general public, dependent on it. Ensuring smooth traffic operations requires maintenance and improvements of the highest standard. This research investigates integration of Discrete Event Simulation (DES) and Value Stream mapping (VSM) to enhance the productivity of the delivery of road surfacing operations by achieving higher production rates and minimum road closure times. Research approach involved use of primary data, collected from direct observation, interviews, review of archival records and productivity databases. Based on this, process maps and value stream maps were developed, which were subsequently used to produce discrete event simulation models, for exploration of different optimisation scenarios

Molecular Identification and Management of Rhizoctonia Fragariae the Pathogen of Black Root Rot of Strawberry Plant

Strawberry plants are susceptible to a large number of pests and diseases and this can affect the quality and yield value of the fruit. Black root rot is an important disease of strawberry caused by a complex of fungi including Rhizoctonia. The most recognizable species of Rhizoctonia are R. solani and R. fragariae which are multinucleate and binucleate species, respectively. This work is aimed to isolate, identify and control the strawberry root rot caused by R. fragariae. Infected strawberry samples were collected from Erbil, Slemani, Duhok and Garmiyan Provinces. The identification of isolated fungi was achieved by using traditional methods along with molecular methods using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In the later method, specific primers were designed and used to identify Rhizoctonia species. Several disease management options, including biological by using two species of Trichoderma, and chemical methods using Pristine fungicide, were also investigated. Sampling of strawberry plants revealed that the disease is prevalent in Kurdistan region and the isolated fungi, R. solani, Rhizoctonia sp., and R. fragariae, were pathogens of the disease causing crown and root rot of strawberry. PCR amplification was confirmed the identification of the species of Rhizoctonia. The results of control methods revealed that the most effective treatments were achieved using the fungicide followed by the use of the combination of T. harzianum and T. viride

Simulation Model of Enhancing Performance of TCP/AQM Networks by Using Matlab

Internet networks are becoming more crowded every day due to the rapid development of modern life, which causes an increase in the demand for data circulating on the Internet. This creates several problems, such as buffer overflow of intermediate routers, and packet loss and time delay in packet delivery. The solution to these problems is to use a TCP/AQM system. The simulation results showed that there were differences in performance between the different controllers used. The proposed methods were simulated along with the required conditions in nonlinear systems to determine the best performance. It was found that the use of optimization Department of Electro-mechanical Engineering, University of Technology - Iraq tools (GA, FL) with a controller could achieve the best performance. The simulation results demonstrated the ability of the proposed methods to control the behavior of the system. The controller systems were simulated using Matlab/Simulink. The simulation results showed that the performance was better with the use of GA-PIDC compared to both FL-PIDC and PIDC in terms of stability time, height, and overrun ratio for a network with a variable queue that was targeted for comparison. The results were: the bypass ratio was 0, 3.3 and 21.8 the settling time was 0.002, 0.055, and 0.135; and the rise time was 0.001, 0.004 and 0.008 for GA-PIDC, FL-PIDC and PIDC, respectively. These results made it possible to compare the three control techniques

Simulation Model of Enhancing Performance of TCP/AQM Networks by Using Matlab

Internet networks are becoming more crowded every day due to the rapid development of modern life, which causes an increase in the demand for data circulating on the Internet. This creates several problems, such as buffer overflow of intermediate routers, and packet loss and time delay in packet delivery. The solution to these problems is to use a TCP/AQM system. The simulation results showed that there were differences in performance between the different controllers used. The proposed methods were simulated along with the required conditions in nonlinear systems to determine the best performance. It was found that the use of optimization Department of Electro-mechanical Engineering, University of Technology - Iraq tools (GA, FL) with a controller could achieve the best performance. The simulation results demonstrated the ability of the proposed methods to control the behavior of the system. The controller systems were simulated using Matlab/Simulink. The simulation results showed that the performance was better with the use of GA-PIDC compared to both FL-PIDC and PIDC in terms of stability time, height, and overrun ratio for a network with a variable queue that was targeted for comparison. The results were: the bypass ratio was 0, 3.3 and 21.8 the settling time was 0.002, 0.055, and 0.135; and the rise time was 0.001, 0.004 and 0.008 for GA-PIDC, FL-PIDC and PIDC, respectively. These results made it possible to compare the three control techniques

Exercise Beliefs and Behaviours of Individuals with Joint Hypermobility Syndrome/ Ehlers Danlos Syndrome-Hypermobility Type

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Disability & Rehabilitation on 10 November 2017, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2017.1398278. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupPurpose: To explore exercise beliefs and behaviours of individuals with Joint Hypermobility syndrome/Ehlers–Danlos syndrome – hypermobility type and to explore patient experiences of physiotherapy.Methods: A cross sectional questionnaire survey design was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from adult members of the Hypermobility Syndromes Association and Ehlers–Danlos Syndrome Support UK. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Qualitative data was analysed thematically.Results: 946 questionnaires were returned and analysed. Participants who received exercise advice from a physiotherapist were 1.75 more likely to report high volumes of weekly exercise (odds ratio [OR] = 1.75, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.30–2.36, p < 0.001) than those with no advice. Participants who believed that exercise is important for long-term management were 2.76 times more likely to report a high volume of weekly exercise compared to the participants who did not hold this belief (OR = 2.76, 95% CI = 1.38–5.50, p = 0.004). Three themes emerged regarding experience of physiotherapy; physiotherapist as a partner, communication – knowledge, experience and safety.Conclusion: Pain, fatigue and fear are common barriers to exercise. Advice from a physiotherapist and beliefs about the benefits of exercise influenced the reported exercise behaviours of individuals with Ehlers–Danlos syndrome – hypermobility type in this survey.Peer reviewe