Agent long-term coalition credit

Agent trust researches become more and more important because they will ensure good interactions among the software agents in large-scale open systems. Moreover, individual agents often interact with long-term coalitions such as some E-commerce web sites. So the agents should choose a coalition based on utility and trust. Unfortunately, few studies have been done on agent coalition credit and there is a need to do it in detail. To this end, a long-term coalition credit model (LCCM) is presented. Furthermore, the relationship between coalition credit and coalition payoff is also attended. LCCM consists of internal trust based on agent direct interactions and external reputation based on agent direct observation. Generalization of LCCM can be demonstrated through experiments applied in both cooperative and competitive domain environment. Experimental results show that LCCM is capable of coalition credit computation efficiently and can properly reflect various factors effect on coalition credit. Another important advantage that is a useful and basic property of credit is that LCCM can effectively filter inaccurate or lying information among interactions.     

Evaluation of Landsat 8 OLI imagery for unsupervised inland water extraction

The successful launch of the Landsat 8 satellite continues the Earth observation of the Landsat series, which has been taking place for nearly 40 years. With the increase in the band number and the improved spectral range compared with the previous Landsat imagery, it will be possible to expand the application of the new Landsat 8 imagery. The purpose of this study is to explore water extraction based on the new Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) imagery. According to the specific inland water conditions (clear water, turbid water, and eutrophic water), a number of highly adaptable water indices are assessed for water extraction using Landsat OLI imagery. The results show that clear water is the easiest to extract among the different types of waterbodies, with the highest average accuracy of 97%. The highest-accuracy methods are the automated water extraction index for shadow pixels (AWEI_sh), the normalized difference water index using bands 4 and 7 (NDWI₄₇), and the normalized difference water index using bands 3 and 7 (NDWI₃₇), with accuracies of 98.55%, 95.50%, and 96.61%, corresponding to clear water, turbid water, and eutrophic water, respectively. Through the analysis of the different methods for optimal band selection, the seventh band OLI7 (shortwave infrared 2, SWIR-2) of Landsat OLI shows the best performance in water identification. When applying the water indices to water extraction, Otsu’s algorithm has been used to automatically select the water threshold. Using extensive experiments with Otsu’s algorithm and a manual method, it was found that Otsu’s algorithm can replace manual selection and has the ability to select an accurate threshold for water extraction.     

Business processes in the agile organisation: a socio-technical perspective

This paper takes a cross-disciplinary view of the ontology of “business process”: how the concept is treated in the IS research literature and how related concepts (with stronger human behavioural orientation) from organisation and management sciences can potentially inform this IS perspective. In particular, is there room for socio-technical concepts such as technology affordance, derived from the constructivist tradition, in improving our understanding of operational business processes, particularly human-centric business processes? The paper presents a theoretical framework for understanding the role of business processes in organisational agility that distinguishes between the process-as-designed and the process-as-practiced. How this practice aspect of business processes also leads to the improvisation of various information technology enablers, is explored using a socio-technical lens. The posited theoretical framework is illustrated and validated with data drawn from an interpretive empirical case study of a large IT services company. The research suggests that processes within the organisation evolve both by top-down design and by the bottom-up routinisation of practice and that the tension between these is driven by the need for flexibility.     

SM45立式球磨机结构的改进

介绍球磨机的结构和工作机理，指出球磨机存在的问题，并对其轴封、轴头、进气口、吸料口等进行了技改，以提高设备的运行周期，满足生产需求。     

SVD-based Preisach hysteresis identification and composite control of piezo actuators

In this paper, the singular value decomposition (SVD) based identification and compensation of the hysteretic phenomenon in piezo actuators are addressed using a Preisach model. First, this paper presents an SVD-based least squares algorithm and a revision approach of the identification through updating the SVD. With the identified parameters and a log of the memory curve, a Preisach-based inversion compensator is constructed which is complemented with a feedback controller to address the inevitable and residual modeling errors. Experimental results are furnished for both the identification and compensation approaches. The Preisach-based feedforward controller significantly improves the tracking performance and reduces the root-mean-square (RMS) tracking error of a PID controller by 76.7% and 89% at 1 Hz and 25 Hz, respectively. With the proposed composite controller, the percent-RMS errors at 1 Hz and 25 Hz are reduced to 0.035% and 0.31%, respectively.     

All-hexahedral mesh generation via inside-out advancing front based on harmonic fields

The generation of hexahedral meshes is an open problem that has undergone significant research. This paper deals with a novel inside-out advancing front method to generate unstructured all-hexahedral meshes for given volumes. Two orthogonal harmonic fields, principal and radial harmonic fields, are generated to guide the inside-out advancing front process based on a few user interactions. Starting from an initial hexahedral mesh inside the given volume, we advance the boundary quadrilateral mesh along the streamlines of radial field and construct layers of hexahedral elements. To ensure high quality and uniform size of the hexahedral mesh, quadrilateral elements are decomposed in such a way that no non-hexahedral element is produced. For complex volume with branch structures, we segment the complex volume into simple sub-volumes that are suitable for our method. Experimental results show that our method generates high quality all-hexahedral meshes for the given volumes.     

四川餐饮业信息化人才状况调查与分析

四川餐饮业发展迅猛,为了解餐饮企业信息化发展情况,尤其是餐饮业信息化人才状况,课题组对四川餐饮企业进行了信息化抽样调查。调查涵盖餐饮企业信息化实施总体情况,包括信息化水平、运用效果以及餐饮企业对信息化的认识,调查侧重于餐饮企业现有信息化人才结构状况和需求期待,并对调查数据进行了科学和客观分析,旨在为信息化人才标准和培养模式探索提供依据、奠定基础。     

Thermodynamic considerations of " solid state engines" based on thermoelastic martensitic transformations and the shape memory effect

Engine applications of the shape memory ("Marmem" ) effect associated with thermoelastic transformations are discussed. Such devices potentially enable the direct conversion of heat(i.e., solar energy or waste heat) into mechanical work. It is shown that efficiencies on the order of 20 pct may be expected and can be improved with alloys having certain transformation hysteresis loop characteristics. Formerly with the University of Illinois     

Community intervention with the elderly: a social network approach

A technique is described for using the advantages of a social systems approach when working with elderly persons in psychiatric distress. The technique is based on the assumption that the solution to a variety of human predicaments lies within the collective instrumental and affective resources of the client's social network. The vehicle for accomplishing this objective is the "Network Session" during which a mental health professional meets with the elderly person and members of his/her social network to help resolve the difficulty. A case report demonstrating use of the technique is included.