A model driven engineering process of platform neutral agents for ambient intelligence devices

Ambient intelligence (AmI) systems are now considered a promising approach to assist people in their daily life. AmI proposes the development of context aware systems equipped with devices that can recognize your context and act accordingly. Agents provide an effective way to develop such systems since agents are reactive, proactive and exhibit an intelligent and autonomous behavior. However, current agent approaches do not adequately fulfill the requirements posed by AmI systems. From a modeling point of view, the aim should be to help in the design by providing adequate tools that assist in the development of important properties of AmI systems, such as context-awareness; and from an implementation point of view, agent technologies must be adapted to the diversity of AmI devices and communication technologies. As a solution to these issues we propose a Model driven engineering process, which supports the automatic generation of agent-based AmI systems. The source metamodel is PIM4Agents, a general purpose agent metamodel that we have adapted to support the explicit modeling of context aware systems, and the target metamodel is Malaca, an aspect-oriented agent architecture. Aspect-orientation makes Malaca platform-neutral for FIPA compliant agent platforms, simplifying the model driven process. The solution generates MalacaTiny agents, an implementation of Malaca that is able to run in AmI devices. We have evaluated the convenience of applying a model driven approach by measuring the degree of automation of our process and we have evaluated MalacaTiny for mobile phones by assessing different parameters, related to the scarcity of resources in AmI systems. All the results obtained are satisfactory.     

On the suitability of Biological structure determination by electron microscopy to Grid Computing

The present contribution describes a potential application of Grid Computing in Bioinformatics. High resolution structure determination of biological specimens is critical in BioSciences to understanding the biological function. The problem is computational intensive. Distributed and Grid Computing are thus becoming essential. This contribution analyzes the use of Grid Computing and its potential benefits in the field of electron microscope tomography of biological specimens. Jose-Jesus Fernandez, Ph.D.: He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Granada, Spain, in 1992 and 1997, respectively. He was a Ph.D. student at the Bio-Computing unit of the National Center for BioTechnology (CNB) from the Spanish National Council of Scientific Research (CSIC), Madrid, Spain. He became an Assistant Professor in 1997 and, subsequently, Associate Professor in 2000 in Computer Architecture at the University of Almeria, Spain. He is a member of the supercomputing-algorithms research group. His research interests include high performance computing (HPC), image processing and tomography. Jose-Roman Bilbao-Castro: He received his M.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the University of Almeria in 2001. He is currently a Ph.D. student at the BioComputing unit of the CNB (CSIC) through a Ph.D. CSIC-grant in conjuction with Dept. Computer Architecture at the University of Malaga (Spain). His current research interestsinclude tomography, HPC and distributed and grid computing. Roberto Marabini, Ph.D.: He received the M.Sc. (1989) and Ph.D. (1995) degrees in Physics from the University Autonoma de Madrid (UAM) and University of Santiago de Compostela, respectively. He was a Ph.D. student at the BioComputing Unit at the CNB (CSIC). He worked at the University of Pennsylvania and the City University of New York from 1998 to 2002. At present he is an Associate Professor at the UAM. His current research interests include inverse problems, image processing and HPC. Jose-Maria Carazo, Ph.D.: He received the M.Sc. degree from the Granada University, Spain, in 1981, and got his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at the UAM in 1984. He left for Albany, NY, in 1986, coming back to Madrid in 1989 to set up the BioComputing Unit of the CNB (CSIC). He was involved in the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology as Deputy General Director for Research Planning. Currently, he keeps engaged in his activities at the CNB, the Scientific Park of Madrid and Integromics S.L. Immaculada Garcia, Ph.D.: She received her B.Sc. (1977) and Ph.D. (1986) degrees in Physics from the Complutense University of Madrid and University of Santiago de Compostela, respectively. From 1977 to 1987 she was an Assistant professor at the University of Granada, from 1987 to 1996 Associate professor at the University of Almeria and since 1997 she is a Full Professor and head of Dept. Computer Architecture. She is head of the supercomputing-algorithms research group. Her research interest lies in HPC for irregular problems related to image processing, global optimization and matrix computation.     

A comparison of formulations and solution methods for the minimum-envy location problem

We consider a discrete facility location problem with a new form of equity criterion. The model discussed in the paper analyzes the case where demand points only have strict preference order on the sites where the plants can be located. The goal is to find the location of the facilities minimizing the total envy felt by the entire set of demand points. We define this new total envy criterion and provide several integer linear programming formulations that reflect and model this approach. The formulations are illustrated by examples. Extensive computational tests are reported, showing the potentials and limits of each formulation on several types of instances. Finally, some improvements for all the formulations previously presented are developed, obtaining in some cases much better resolution times.     

Strong Stability for Runge–Kutta Schemes on a Class of Nonlinear Problems

In this paper we consider Strong Stability Preserving (SSP) properties for explicit Runge–Kutta (RK) methods applied to a class of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. We define new modified threshold factors that allow us to prove properties, provided that they hold for explicit Euler steps. For many methods, the stepsize restrictions obtained are sharper than the ones obtained in terms of the Kraaijevanger’s coefficient in the SSP theory. In particular, for the classical 4-stage fourth order method we get nontrivial stepsize restrictions. Furthermore, the order barrier $p\le 4$ for explicit SSP RK methods is not obtained. An open question is the existence of explicit RK schemes with order $p\ge 5$ and nontrivial modified threshold factor. The numerical experiments done illustrate the results obtained.     

Mobile applications in an aging society: Status and trends

Today, many countries, including several European states, the USA, and Japan, are aging; both the number and the percentage of elderly people are increasing. To create a cohesive and inclusive intergenerational society, technological products and services must be adapted to the needs and preferences of these citizens. Mobile phones are promising tools to improve the quality of life for the elderly. This work presents a review of the status of mobile functionalities and applications that can satisfy the requirements and needs of older people and improve their quality of life. This analysis of the state of the art enables us to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current systems as well as discover trends and promising future lines of research. This paper outlines several needs that should be met to improve the quality of research in this area. This work provides a basis for researchers, designers, and mobile phone service providers to think about the existing needs of the elderly, the developing trends in the field and the opportunities that mobile applications offer to improve the quality of life of the elderly and to support a cohesive and inclusive society.     

Effect of dye auxiliaries on the kinetics of advanced oxidation UV/H2O2 of Acid Orange 7 (AO7)

BACKGROUND: The effect of four dye‐auxiliary chemicals, typically employed in acid dyeing, on the performance of UV/H₂O₂ decolouration of the model non‐biodegradable dye C.I. Acid Orange 7 (AO7) was investigated. The initial concentration of AO7 was 0.150 g L^?1, while the concentration of the auxiliary compounds (NaCl, Na₂SO₄, Na₂CO₃ and CH₃COOH) was varied in the range 1–10 g L^?1. RESULTS: The negative influence of the presence of the dye‐auxiliary compounds studied on the decolouration rate of AO7 decreased in the following order: CH₃COOH > Na₂SO₄ > NaCl > Na₂CO₃. Results were quantified in terms of the observed kinetic rate constant, k_obs (s^?1), of AO7 decolouration as a function of dye auxiliary chemical concentration. The decolouration rate of AO7 decreased as the concentration of dye‐auxiliary compound increased in the range 1–5 g L^?1, while higher concentrations had a minor effect. Upon addition of 5 g L^?1 of CH₃COOH, NaCl and Na₂SO₄, the kinetic rate constant decreased by 39%, 30% and 12%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that the presence of NaCl, Na₂SO₄ and above all of CH₃COOH should be considered in the design of the treatment of real dye‐bath effluents by UV/H₂O₂. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Volatile profile and potential of inactive dry yeast‐based winemaking additives to modify the volatile composition of wines

BACKGROUND: With the objective of determining the potential of winemaking additives based on inactive dry yeast (IDY) to modify the volatile composition of wines, gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry was employed to characterize the volatile profile of a widely used IDY preparation. To have the most accurate picture of the volatile compounds, pressurized liquid extraction technique (PLE) was used with different solvents and extraction temperatures. Complementary headspace solid‐phase microextraction was applied to gain insight into the volatile composition. In addition, the ability of some target volatile (pyrazines) to be released into model wines was investigated. RESULTS: The PLE technique was mainly suitable for the extraction of volatile compounds with a low to medium molecular weight and the best extraction yields were obtained by using apolar solvents (hexane) and high temperatures (150 °C). PLE in combination with solid‐phase microextraction allowed the identification of 35 volatile compounds, most of them heterocyclic‐containing nitrogen compounds formed during the processing of IDY that could be released into the wines: the signal of four target masses corresponding to 2,5‐dimethylpyrazine, trimethylpyrazine, methylbutylpyrazine and 2‐ethyl‐3,5‐dimethylpyrazine increased in the synthetic wines after 13 days when IDY was left in the model wines. CONCLUSION: The study confirmed that some volatile compounds identified in IDY which were formed during processing could be released into the wines which might modify wine aroma composition. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Materials for a Reliable Solid‐State Dye Laser at the Red Spectral Edge

In the search to extend the tuning range of solid‐state dye lasers (SSDLs) to the red‐edge spectral region, new photosensitive materials have been designed and synthesized based on six commercial dyes (sulforhodamine B, perylene red, rhodamine 640, LDS698, LDS722, and LDS730) incorporated into different linear, crosslinked, fluorinated, and sililated polymeric matrices. Under transversal pumping at 532 nm, these materials exhibit highly efficient, stable, as well as wavelength‐tunable laser action from the visible‐to‐NIR spectral region (575–750 nm). The lasing performance of the materials doped with perylene and xanthene dyes is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest achieved to date for these chromophores when incorporated into organic, inorganic, or hybrid matrices. Regarding the LDS derivatives, this is the first time that laser action from these dyes in solid‐state media is reported. These particular characteristics have impelled the building of the first prototype SSDL that is compact, versatile, and easy to handle.     

Surface changes in Ru/KL supported catalysts induced by the preparation method and their effect on the selective hydrogenation of citral

Several 2 wt.% Ru/KL supported catalysts were prepared by various methods with different ruthenium precursors and characterized by CO and H₂ chemisorption, N₂ adsorption, TPD of NH₃, TEM and XPS. Furthermore, CO chemisorbed species have been studied by FT-IR and microcalorimetry. Characterization measurements of catalyst IWI-Ru, prepared by incipient wetness impregnation from ruthenium acetylacetonate, evidence metal nanoparticles of 1 nm placed inside the zeolite channels, thus blocking the accessibility to part of ruthenium loading inside the micropores. Catalyst prepared by treating the KL zeolite with RuCl₃·xH₂O aqueous solution (I-Ru) exhibits nanoparticles in the range 6–8 nm at the external surface and clusters smaller that 1 nm, inside the micropores. These latter do not significantly affect the diffusion of probe molecules through the channels. Catalytic performances in the selective hydrogenation of citral in the liquid phase, at 323 K and 5 MPa, show that IWI-Ru is less active than I-Ru, but more selective towards unsaturated alcohols. Furthermore, for IWI-Ru, selectivity increases with the increasing conversion. On the other hand, removal of acid sites of the I-Ru catalyst enhances the hydrogenation activity and increases the selectivity towards citronellal. All these results are analyzed and discussed in terms of the size, shape and location of ruthenium particles in the catalysts, as well as of the metal–support interaction.