Meta-APL: a general language for agent programming

A key advantage of BDI-based agent programming is that agents can deliberate about which course of action to adopt to achieve a goal or respond to an event. However while state-of-the-art BDI-based agent programming languages provide flexible support for expressing plans, they are typically limited to a single, hard-coded, deliberation strategy(perhaps with some parameterisation) for all task environments. In this thesis, we describe a novel agent programming language, meta-APL, that allows both agent programs and the agent’s deliberation strategy to be encoded in the same programming language. Key steps in the execution cycle of meta-APL are reflected in the state of the agent and can be queried and updated by meta-APL rules, allowing a wide range of BDI deliberation strategies to be programmed. We give the syntax and the operational semantics of meta-APL, focussing on the connections between the agent’s state and its implementation. Finally, to illustrate the flexibility of meta-APL, we show how Jason and 3APL programs and deliberation strategy can be translated into meta-APL to give equivalent behaviour under weak bisimulation equivalence

Meta-APL: a general language for agent programming

A key advantage of BDI-based agent programming is that agents can deliberate about which course of action to adopt to achieve a goal or respond to an event. However while state-of-the-art BDI-based agent programming languages provide flexible support for expressing plans, they are typically limited to a single, hard-coded, deliberation strategy(perhaps with some parameterisation) for all task environments. In this thesis, we describe a novel agent programming language, meta-APL, that allows both agent programs and the agent’s deliberation strategy to be encoded in the same programming language. Key steps in the execution cycle of meta-APL are reflected in the state of the agent and can be queried and updated by meta-APL rules, allowing a wide range of BDI deliberation strategies to be programmed. We give the syntax and the operational semantics of meta-APL, focussing on the connections between the agent’s state and its implementation. Finally, to illustrate the flexibility of meta-APL, we show how Jason and 3APL programs and deliberation strategy can be translated into meta-APL to give equivalent behaviour under weak bisimulation equivalence

Panel data analysis of foreign direct investment, control of corruption, and economic growth: Evidence from ASEAN-6 countrie

This research is to examine the role of management of foreign direct investment and control of corruption in economic growth. The research data were collected from the ASEAN-6 countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, and Vietnam during the period of 2002-2021. The research utilizes the panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) method developed by Abrrigo and Love (2015) [Abrigo, M. R. M., & Love, I. (2016). Estimation of panel vector autoregression in Stata.] to estimate the research model. The estimation results show that foreign direct investment and corruption control play an important role in promoting economic growth in the ASEAN-6 countries. Furthermore, foreign direct investment and corruption control are closely related to each other, indicating that economic growth is not only directly affected by foreign direct investment and corruption control but also indirectly influenced by each of these factors. This is a new finding of this research compared to previous studies. These findings provide significant empirical evidence for the ASEAN-6 countries, particularly in managing foreign direct investment and controlling corruption to promote economic growth. The implication of these results is that these countries identify appropriate policies to manage FDI and corruption control in order to maximize the level of economic growth

Verifying heterogeneous multi-agent programs

We present a new approach to verifying heterogeneous multi-agent programs — multi-agent systems in which the agents are implemented in different (BDI-based) agent programming languages. Our approach is based on meta-APL, a BDI-based agent programming language that allows both an agent’s plans and its deliberation strategy to be encoded as part of the agent program. The agent programs comprising a heterogeneous multi-agent program are first translated into meta-APL, and the resulting system is then verified using the Maude term rewriting system. We prove correctness of translations of Jason and 3APL programs and deliberation strategies into meta-APL. Preliminary experimental results indicate that our approach can significantly out-perform previous approaches to verification of heterogeneous multi-agent programs

Enzimatska obrada iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja i njihova primjena u proizvodnji čajnog peciva s velikim udjelom prehrambenih vlakana

Research background. By-products of food industry have been studied as sources of high fibre and antioxidant ingredients for healthy food products, because of their economic and environmental benefits. However, the soluble dietary fibre content of these materials is usually lower than the recommended value that is claimed to bring positive health effects. Enzymatic treatment could be an efficient method for modifying insoluble and soluble dietary fibre contents of these materials. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of enzymatic treatment conditions on soluble, insoluble and total dietary fibre mass fractions in spent green tea leaves, and evaluate the quality of dough and cookies when different mass fractions of untreated and treated leaves were added to the recipe. Experimental approach. The mass fractions of soluble, insoluble and total dietary fibre in spent tea leaf powder was evaluated after the leaves were treated with cellulase amount of 0−25 U/g for 0 to 2 h. Wheat flour was replaced by untreated and treated spent tea leaf powder at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% in cookie formulation. Textural properties of dough, proximate composition, physical properties and overall acceptability of cookies were analysed. Results and conclusions. The appropriate conditions for enzymatic treatment were enzyme loading of 20 U/g and biocatalytic time of 1.5 h, under which the mass fraction of soluble dietary fibre in spent tea leaves increased by 144.5% compared to that of the control sample. The addition of spent tea leaves led to the increase in dough hardness. Increase in the spent tea leaf amount also enhanced fibre mass fraction, antioxidant activity and hardness of cookies but reduced their overall acceptability. Moreover, the enzymatic treatment of spent tea leaves improved the soluble to total dietary fibre ratio of the cookies, which influenced their textural properties and health benefits. The cookies with added 20% untreated or treated spent tea leaves were overall accepted by the panel. Novelty and scientific contribution. For the first time, spent tea leaves have been treated with enzymes to improve their soluble to total dietary fibre ratio. The treated spent tea leaves are a new promising high-fibre antioxidant ingredient for cookie preparation.Pozadina istraživanja. Nusproizvodi prehrambene industrije ispituju se iz ekonomskih i ekoloških razloga kao izvori sastojaka s velikim udjelom prehrambenih vlakana i antioksidacijskim učinkom koji se mogu upotrijebiti u proizvodnji zdrave hrane. Međutim, udjel topljivih prehrambenih vlakana u nusproizvodima je obično manji od preporučenih vrijednosti koje mogu imati pozitivan učinak na zdravlje. Enzimatska obrada bi mogla biti učinkovita metoda modificiranja netopljivih i topljivih prehrambenih vlakana iz otpada prehrambene industrije. Svrha je ovog rada bila ispitati utjecaj različitih uvjeta enzimatske obrade na masene udjele topljivih, netopljivih i ukupnih prehrambenih vlakana u iskorištenim listićima zelenog čaja, te procijeniti kakvoću tijesta i čajnog peciva s dodatkom različitih masenih udjela obrađenih i neobrađenih listića. Eksperimentalni pristup. Maseni udjeli topljivih, netopljivih i ukupnih prehrambenih vlakana u prahu od iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja mjereni su nakon njihove obrade s 0–25 U/g celulaze tijekom 0 do 2 h. U smjesi za čajno pecivo je pšenično brašno zamijenjeno s 0, 10, 20, 30 i 40 % obrađenog ili neobrađenog praha iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja. Ispitani su tekstura tijesta te kemijski sastav, fizikalna svojstva i ukupna prihvatljivost dobivenog čajnog peciva. Rezultati i zaključci. Pri povoljnim uvjetima enzimatske obrade, a to su 20 U/g enzima i vrijeme trajanja biokatalitičkog procesa od 1,5 sata, maseni udjel topljivih prehrambenih vlakana u iskorištenim listićima zelenog čaja porastao je za 144,5 % u usporedbi s kontrolnim uzorkom. Dodatkom iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja povećala se tvrdoća tijesta. Povećanjem količine listića čaja povećali su se i maseni udjel vlakana, antioksidacijska svojstva i tvrdoća čajnog peciva, ali se smanjila njihova prihvatljivost. Osim toga, enzimatskom se obradom iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja poboljšao omjer topljivih i ukupnih vlakana u čajnom pecivu, što je utjecalo na njegovu teksturu i pozitivan učinak na zdravlje. Panel ocjenjivača je okarakterizirao čajno pecivo s dodatkom 20 % obrađenih ili neobrađenih iskorištenih listića čaja kao prihvatljive. Novina i znanstveni doprinos. Prvi put je enzimatskom obradom iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja poboljšan njihov omjer topljivih i ukupnih prehrambenih vlakana. Obrađeni iskorišteni listići zelenog čaja novi su obećavajući sastojak s antioksidacijskim svojstvima koji se može upotrijebiti u pripremi čajnog peciva

The Status of Educational Sciences In Vietnam: A Bibliometric Analysis From Clarivate Web Of Science Database Between 1991 And 2018

Since 2013, Vietnam has implemented a plan to reform the whole education sector. However, there is little understanding on the status of educational research in Vietnam, which may lay the foundation for such plan. Thus, this research aims to analyze the whole picture of educational research from Vietnam, as seen from the Clarivate Web of Science (WOS) database: 215 publications were recorded, ranging from 1991 to 2018. These 215 publications were further analyzed from five perspectives: 1) number of publications by year; 2) research fields and levels of education; 3) top institutions with the highest number of publications; 4) international collaboration; and 5) quality. Some of the most notable results are: 1) the educational sciences in Vietnam have been still under-developed until recently; 2) among different research topics research among educational sciences, some (e.g., Vocational Education and Training or Early Childhood Education) seemed to be overlooked whereas others (e.g., Higher Education and Teaching and Learning) seemed to receive more attention from educational scholars; 3) all the most major education – specialized universities did not appear among the top five institutions with highest number of publications; 4) Australia, Thailand, the USA, New Zealand and China were the countries with the highest number of co-publications with Vietnamese researchers; and 5) The majority of publications belonged to low-ranked journals. Implications would be withdrawn for Vietnamese policymakers, education leaders, educational researchers and teachers in order to adjust their policies and/or action plans; thus, enhancing the performance and impacts of educational research in the future

TỔNG HỢP VẬT LIỆU Ni/UiO-66 THEO PHƯƠNG PHÁP TRỰC TIẾP VÀ GIÁN TIẾP

An archetypal metal-organic framework, UiO-6,6, synthesized with the solvo-thermal method, has a large specific surface area of 1071 m2·g–1. This material was modified with NiCl2 in the direct (Nix(tt)/UiO-66) and indirect (Nix(gt)/UiO-66) methods. The two modified materials were characterized by using powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and infrared spectroscopy. Their crystalline and chemical structure is not much different. However, the thermal and porous properties differ from each other.UiO-66 là họ vật liệu khung hữu cơ kim loại tổng hợp bằng phương pháp nhiệt dung môi có diện tích bề mặt riêng lớn (1071 m2·g–1). Vật liệu UiO-66 này được biến tính bằng NiCl2 theo phương pháp trực tiếp (Nix(tt)/UiO-66) và gián tiếp (Niy(gt)/UiO-66). Kết quả đặc trưng hai vật liệu biến tính này bằng nhiễu xạ tia X, hiển vi điện tử quét và phổ hồng ngoại khác nhau không đáng kể. Tuy nhiên, phân tích nhiệt trọng lượng và đẳng nhiệt hấp phụ – khử hấp phụ N2 cho thấy có sự khác nhau giữa các phương pháp tổng hợp

Can a Short Food Supply Chain Create Sustainable Benefits for Small Farmers in Developing Countries? An Exploratory Study of Vietnam

A number of studies have indicated that short food supply chains could create economic, social, and environmental benefits, but most of those chains were implemented in developed countries. This research aims to find out the characteristics of short food supply chains and their benefits to small farmers in Vietnam, which is a developing country, based on the survey results from 338 small farmers in the third quarter of 2020, with the support of Stata 14 software. The results showed that the short food supply chains in the survey sample in Vietnam were characterized by two main actors: small farmers and distributors. Farmers could sell products flexibly at the local market. There was some initial evidence to prove that these chains helped to stabilize the input, output price, and revenue; formulated sustainable income; and increased the satisfaction and confidence of farmers. They eliminated gender discrimination in rural areas and improved livelihood for ethnic minorities. These chains also enhanced the mindset on green, organic, and clean production of farmers, which in turn created environmental benefits. COVID-19 has posed a negative impact on the income of farmers and made them change their production and sales method. Therefore, the research could suggest some policies to sustainably develop the short food supply chains in Vietnam in the future

Surveillance and treatment of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (aka. STOP HCC): protocol for a prospective cohort study of high-risk patients for HCC using GALAD-score.

Vietnam and Saudi Arabia have high disease burden of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Early detection in asymptomatic patients at risk for HCC is a strategy to improve survival outcomes in HCC management. GALAD score, a serum-based panel, has demonstrated promising clinical utility in HCC management. However, in order to ascertain its potential role in the surveillance of the early detection of HCC, GALAD needs to be validated prospectively for clinical surveillance of HCC (i.e., phase IV biomarker validation study). Thus, we propose to conduct a phase IV biomarker validation study to prospectively survey a cohort of patients with advanced fibrosis or compensated cirrhosis, irrespective of etiologies, using semi-annual abdominal ultrasound and GALAD score for five years. We plan to recruit a cohort of 1,600 patients, male or female, with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis (i.e., F3 or F4) and MELD ≤ 15, in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia (n = 800 each). Individuals with a liver mass ≥ 1 cm in diameter, elevated alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (≥ 9 ng/mL), and/or elevated GALAD score (≥ -0.63) will be scanned with dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and a diagnosis of HCC will be made by Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LiRADS) assessment (LiRADS-5). Additionally, those who do not exhibit abnormal imaging findings, elevated AFP titer, and/or elevated GALAD score will obtain a dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI annually for five years to assess for HCC. Only MRI nearest to the time of GALAD score measurement, ultrasound and/or AFP evaluation will be included in the diagnostic validation analysis. MRI will be replaced with an abdominal computed tomography scan when MRI results are poor due to patient conditions such as movement etc. Gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid-enhanced MRI will not be carried out in study sites in both countries. Bootstrap resampling technique will be used to account for repeated measures to estimate standard errors and confidence intervals. Additionally, we will use the Cox proportional hazards regression model with covariates tailored to the hypothesis under investigation for time-to-HCC data as predicted by time-varying biomarker data. The present work will evaluate the performance of GALAD score in early detection of liver cancer. Furthermore, by leveraging the prospective cohort, we will establish a biorepository of longitudinally collected biospecimens from patients with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis to be used as a reference set for future research in early detection of HCC in the two countries. Name of the registry: ClinicalTrials.gov Registration date: 22 April 2022 Trial registration number: NCT05342350 URL of trial registry record