Abstract: In mobile computing environments, there are many
new non existing problems in the distributed system, which is
consisted of stationary hosts because of host mobility, sudden
disconnection by handoff in wireless networks, voluntary
disconnection for efficient power consumption of a mobile host, etc.
To solve the problems, we proposed the architecture of Partial
Connection Manager (PCM) in this paper. PCM creates the limited
number of mobile agents according to priority, sends them in parallel
to servers, and combines the results to process the user request rapidly.
In applying the proposed PCM to the mobile market agent service, we
understand that the mobile agent technique could be suited for the
mobile computing environment and the partial connection problem
management.
Abstract: Markov games are a generalization of Markov
decision process to a multi-agent setting. Two-player zero-sum
Markov game framework offers an effective platform for designing
robust controllers. This paper presents two novel controller design
algorithms that use ideas from game-theory literature to produce
reliable controllers that are able to maintain performance in presence
of noise and parameter variations. A more widely used approach for
controller design is the H∞ optimal control, which suffers from high
computational demand and at times, may be infeasible. Our approach
generates an optimal control policy for the agent (controller) via a
simple Linear Program enabling the controller to learn about the
unknown environment. The controller is facing an unknown
environment, and in our formulation this environment corresponds to
the behavior rules of the noise modeled as the opponent. Proposed
controller architectures attempt to improve controller reliability by a
gradual mixing of algorithmic approaches drawn from the game
theory literature and the Minimax-Q Markov game solution
approach, in a reinforcement-learning framework. We test the
proposed algorithms on a simulated Inverted Pendulum Swing-up
task and compare its performance against standard Q learning.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate the chemical
degradation of the organophosphorus pesticide of parathion and
carbamate insecticide of methomyl in the aqueous phase through
Fenton process. With the employment of batch Fenton process, the
degradation of the two selected pesticides at different pH, initial
concentration, humic acid concentration, and Fenton reagent dosages
was explored. The Fenton process was found effective to degrade
parathion and methomyl. The optimal dosage of Fenton reagents (i.e.,
molar concentration ratio of H2O2 to Fe2+) at pH 7 for parathion
degradation was equal to 3, which resulted in 50% removal of
parathion. Similarly, the optimal dosage for methomyl degradation
was 1, resulting in 80% removal of methomyl. This study also found
that the presence of humic substances has enhanced pesticide
degradation by Fenton process significantly. The mass spectroscopy
results showed that the hydroxyl free radical may attack the single
bonds with least energy of investigated pesticides to form smaller
molecules which is more easily to degrade either through
physio-chemical or bilolgical processes.
Abstract: With the rapid usage of portable devices mobility in
IP networks becomes more important issue in the recent years. IETF
standardized Mobile IP that works in Network Layer, which involves
tunneling of IP packets from HA to Foreign Agent. Mobile IP suffers
many problems of Triangular Routing, conflict with private
addressing scheme, increase in load in HA, need of permanent home
IP address, tunneling itself, and so on. In this paper, we proposed
mobility management in Application Layer protocol SIP and show
some comparative analysis between Mobile IP and SIP in context of
mobility.
Abstract: The photochemical and photo-Fenton oxidation of 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol was performed in a batch reactor, at room temperature, using UV radiation, H2O2 as oxidant, and Fenton-s reagent. The effect of the oxidative agent-s initial concentration was investigated as well as the effect of the initial concentration of Fe(II) by following the target compound degradation, the total organic carbon removal and the chloride ion production. Also, from the kinetic analysis conducted and proposed reaction scheme it was deduced that the addition of Fe(II) significantly increases the production and the further oxidation of the chlorinated intermediates.
Abstract: In this study, Li4SiO4 powder was successfully
synthesized via sol gel method followed by drying at 150oC. Lithium
oxide, Li2O and silicon oxide, SiO2 were used as the starting
materials with citric acid as the chelating agent. The obtained powder
was then sintered at various temperatures. Crystallographic phase
analysis, morphology and ionic conductivity were investigated
systematically employing X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transform
Infrared, Scanning Electron Microscopy and AC impedance
spectroscopy. XRD result showed the formation of pure monoclinic
Li4SiO4 crystal structure with lattice parameters a = 5.140 Å, b =
6.094 Å, c = 5.293 Å, β = 90o in the sample sintered at 750oC. This
observation was confirmed by FTIR analysis. The bulk conductivity
of this sample at room temperature was 3.35 × 10-6 S cm-1 and the
highest bulk conductivity of 1.16 × 10-4 S cm-1 was obtained at
100°C. The results indicated that, the Li4SiO4 compound has
potential to be used as host for LISICON structured solid electrolyte
for low temperature application.
Abstract: We have developed a distributed asynchronous Web
based training system. In order to improve the scalability and robustness
of this system, all contents and functions are realized on mobile
agents. These agents are distributed to computers, and they can use
a Peer to Peer network that modified Content-Addressable Network.
In the proposed system, only text data can be included in a exercise.
To make our proposed system more useful, the mechanism that it not
only adapts to multimedia data but also it doesn-t influence the user-s
learning even if the size of exercise becomes large is necessary.
Abstract: Recently, a model multi-agent e-commerce system based on mobile buyer agents and transfer of strategy modules was proposed. In this paper a different approach to code mobility is introduced, where agent mobility is replaced by local agent creation supplemented by similar code mobility as in the original proposal. UML diagrams of agents involved in the new approach to mobility and the augmented system activity diagram are presented and discussed.
Abstract: The effects of divers carbon substrates were
investigated for the tabtoxin production of an isolated pathogenic
Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci, the causal agent of wildfire of
tobacco and are discussed in relation to the bacterium growth. The
isolated organism was grown in batch culture on Woolley's
medium (28°C, 200 rpm, during 5 days). The growth has been
measured by the optical density (OD) at 620 nm and the tabtoxin
production quantified by Escherichia coli (K-12) bioassay
technique. The growth and the tabtoxin production were both
influenced by the substrates (sugars, amino acids, organic acids)
used, each, as a sole carbon source and as a supplement for the
same amino acids. The most significant quantities of tabtoxin were
obtained in presence of some amino acids used as sole carbon
source and/or as supplement.
Abstract: Inter-organizational Workflow (IOW) is commonly
used to support the collaboration between heterogeneous and
distributed business processes of different autonomous organizations
in order to achieve a common goal. E-government is considered as an
application field of IOW. The coordination of the different
organizations is the fundamental problem in IOW and remains the
major cause of failure in e-government projects. In this paper, we
introduce a new coordination model for IOW that improves the
collaboration between government administrations and that respects
IOW requirements applied to e-government. For this purpose, we
adopt a Multi-Agent approach, which deals more easily with interorganizational
digital government characteristics: distribution,
heterogeneity and autonomy. Our model integrates also different
technologies to deal with the semantic and technologic
interoperability. Moreover, it conserves the existing systems of
government administrations by offering a distributed coordination
based on interfaces communication. This is especially applied in
developing countries, where administrations are not necessary
equipped with workflow systems. The use of our coordination
techniques allows an easier migration for an e-government solution
and with a lower cost. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed
model, we present a case study of an identity card creation in Tunisia.
Abstract: The present paper discusses the basic concepts and the underlying principles of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) along with an interdisciplinary exploitation of these principles. It has been found that they have been utilized for lots of research and studies on various systems spanning across diverse engineering and scientific realms showing the need of development of a proper generalized framework. Such framework has been developed for the Multi-Agent Systems and it has been generalized keeping in mind the diverse areas where they find application. All the related aspects have been categorized and a general definition has been given where ever possible.
Abstract: Use of the Internet and the World-Wide-Web
(WWW) has become widespread in recent years and mobile agent
technology has proliferated at an equally rapid rate. In this scenario
load balancing becomes important for P2P systems. Beside P2P
systems can be highly heterogeneous, i.e., they may consists of peers
that range from old desktops to powerful servers connected to
internet through high-bandwidth lines. There are various loads
balancing policies came into picture. Primitive one is Message
Passing Interface (MPI). Its wide availability and portability make it
an attractive choice; however the communication requirements are
sometimes inefficient when implementing the primitives provided by
MPI. In this scenario we use the concept of mobile agent because
Mobile agent (MA) based approach have the merits of high
flexibility, efficiency, low network traffic, less communication
latency as well as highly asynchronous. In this study we present
decentralized load balancing scheme using mobile agent technology
in which when a node is overloaded, task migrates to less utilized
nodes so as to share the workload. However, the decision of which
nodes receive migrating task is made in real-time by defining certain
load balancing policies. These policies are executed on PMADE (A
Platform for Mobile Agent Distribution and Execution) in
decentralized manner using JuxtaNet and various load balancing
metrics are discussed.
Abstract: The efficacy of the separate mixing of four tropical spicy and medicinal plant products: Dennettia tripetala Baker (pepper fruit), Eugenia aromatica Hook (clove), Piper guineense (Schum and Thonn) (black pepper) and Monodora myristica (Dunal) (African nut-meg) with a household vegetable oil was evaluated under tropical storage conditions for the control and reproductive performance of Dermestes maculatus (De Geer) (hide beetle) and Necroba rufipes (De Geer) (copra beetle) on African catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell). Each of the plant materials was pulverized into powder and applied as a mix of 1ml of oil and plant powder at 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0g per 100g of dried fish, and allowed to dry for 6h. Each of the four oil-mixed powder treatments evoked significant (P < 05) mortalities of the two insects compared with the control (oil only) at 1, 3 and 7 days post treatment. The oil-powder mixture dosages did not prevent insect egg hatchability but while the emergent larvae on the treated samples died, the emergent larvae in the control survived into adults. The application of oil-mixed powders effectively suppressed the emergence of the larvae of the beetles. Similarly, each of the oil-powder mixtures significantly reduced weight loss in smoked fish that were exposed to D. maculatus and N. rufipes when compared to the control (P < 05). The results of this study suggest that the plant powders rather than the domestic oil demonstrated protective ability against the fish beetles and confirm the efficacy of the plant products as pest control agents.
Abstract: Online Communities are an example of sociallyaware,
self-organising, complex adaptive computing systems.
The multi-agent systems (MAS) paradigm coordinated by
self-organisation mechanisms has been used as an effective
way for the simulation and modeling of such systems. In this
paper, we propose a model for simulating an online health
community using a situated multi-agent system approach,
governed by the co-evolution of the social and spatial
organisations of the agents.
Abstract: The performance of modified Fenton (MF) treatment
to promote PAH oxidation in artificially contaminated soil was
investigated in packed soil column with a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)
delivery system simulating in situ injection. Soil samples were spiked
with phenanthrene (low molecular weight PAH) and fluoranthene
(high molecular weight PAH) to an initial concentration of 500
mg/kg dried soil each. The effectiveness of process parameters
H2O2/soil, iron/soil, chelating agent/soil weight ratios and reaction
time were studied using a 24 three level factorial design experiments.
Statistically significant quadratic models were developed using
Response Surface Methodology (RSM) for degrading PAHs from the
soil samples. Optimum operating condition was achieved at mild
range of H2O2/soil, iron/soil and chelating agent/soil weight ratios,
indicating cost efficient method for treating highly contaminated
lands.
Abstract: In this paper, the authors present architecture of a multi agent consultation system for obesity related problems, which hybrid the technology of an expert system (ES) and an intelligent agent (IA). The strength of the ES which is capable of pulling the expert knowledge is consulted and presented to the end user via the autonomous and friendly pushing environment of the intelligent agent.
Abstract: In this paper DJess is presented, a novel distributed production system that provides an infrastructure for factual and procedural knowledge sharing. DJess is a Java package that provides programmers with a lightweight middleware by which inference systems implemented in Jess and running on different nodes of a network can communicate. Communication and coordination among inference systems (agents) is achieved through the ability of each agent to transparently and asynchronously reason on inferred knowledge (facts) that might be collected and asserted by other agents on the basis of inference code (rules) that might be either local or transmitted by any node to any other node.
Abstract: Impaired fertility may be the result of indirect
consumption of anti-fertility agents through food. Monosodium
glutamate (MSG) has been widely used as food additive, flavour
enhancer and included in vaccines. This study focuses in determining
the gonadotoxic and cytotoxic effect of MSG on selected sperm
parameters such as sperm viability, sperm membrane integrity and
testes cytoarchitecture of male mice via histological examination to
determine its effect on spermatogenesis. Twenty-four Mus musculus
were randomly divided into 4 groups and given intraperitoneal
injections (IP) daily for 14 days of different MSG concentrations at
250, 500 and 1000mg/kg MSG to body weight to induce obesity.
Saline was given to control group. Mice were sacrificed and analysis
revealed abnormalities in values for sperm parameters and damages
to testes cytoarchitecture of male mice. The results recorded
decreased viability (p0.05) with degenerative structures in seminiferous tubule of
testes. The results indicated various implications of MSG on male
mice reproductive system which has consequences in fertility
potential.
Abstract: Collaborative problem solving in e-learning can take
in the form of discussion among learner, creating a highly social
learning environment and characterized by participation and
interactivity. This paper, designed a collaborative learning
environment where agent act as co-learner, can play different roles
during interaction. Since different roles have been assigned to the
agent, learner will assume that multiple co-learner exists to help and
guide him all throughout the collaborative problem solving process,
but in fact, alone during the learning process. Specifically, it answers
the questions what roles of the agent should be incorporated to
contribute better learning outcomes, how agent will facilitate the
communication process to provide social learning and interactivity
and what are the specific instructional strategies that facilitate learner
participation, increased skill acquisition and develop critical thinking.
Abstract: Lately there has been a significant boost of interest in
music digital libraries, which constitute an attractive area of research
and development due to their inherent interesting issues and
challenging technical problems, solutions to which will be highly
appreciated by enthusiastic end-users. We present here a DL that we
have developed to support users in their quest for classical music
pieces within a particular collection of 18,000+ audio recordings.
To cope with the early DL model limitations, we have used a refined
socio-semantic and contextual model that allows rich bibliographic
content description, along with semantic annotations, reviewing,
rating, knowledge sharing etc. The multi-layered service model
allows incorporation of local and distributed information,
construction of rich hypermedia documents, expressing the complex
relationships between various objects and multi-dimensional spaces,
agents, actors, services, communities, scenarios etc., and facilitates
collaborative activities to offer to individual users the needed
collections and services.