TRAVOS: Trust and Reputation in the Context of Inaccurate Information Sources

In many dynamic open systems, agents have to interact with one another to achieve their goals. Here, agents may be self-interested, and when trusted to perform an action for another, may betray that trust by not performing the action as required. In addition, due to the size of such systems, agents will often interact with other agents with which they have little or no past experience. There is therefore a need to develop a model of trust and reputation that will ensure good interactions among software agents in large scale open systems. Against this background, we have developed TRAVOS (Trust and Reputation model for Agent-based Virtual OrganisationS) which models an agent’s trust in an interaction partner. Specifically, trust is calculated using probability theory taking account of past interactions between agents, and when there is a lack of personal experience between agents, the model draws upon reputation information gathered from third parties. In this latter case, we pay particular attention to handling the possibility that reputation information may be inaccurate.     

Update strategies for kriging models used in variable fidelity optimization

Many optimization methods for simulation-based design rely on the sequential use of metamodels to reduce the associated computational burden. In particular, kriging models are frequently used in variable fidelity optimization. Nevertheless, such methods may become computationally inefficient when solving problems with large numbers of design variables and/or sampled data points due to the expensive process of optimizing the kriging model parameters in each iteration. One solution to this problem would be to replace the kriging models with traditional Taylor series response surface models. Kriging models, however, were shown to provide good approximations of computer simulations that incorporate larger amounts of data, resulting in better global accuracy. In this paper, a metamodel update management scheme (MUMS) is proposed to reduce the cost of using kriging models sequentially by updating the kriging model parameters only when they produce a poor approximation. The scheme uses the trust region ratio (TR-MUMS), which is a ratio that compares the approximation to the true model. Two demonstration problems are used to evaluate the proposed method: an internal combustion engine sizing problem and a control-augmented structural design problem. The results indicate that the TR-MUMS approach is very effective; on the demonstration problems, it reduced the number of likelihood evaluations by three orders of magnitude compared to using a global optimizer to find the kriging parameters in every iteration. It was also found that in trust region-based method, the kriging model parameters need not be updated using a global optimizer—local methods perform just as well in terms of providing a good approximation without affecting the overall convergence rate, which, in turn, results in a faster execution time.     

An investigation of train driver visual strategies

Train driving is primarily a visual task; train drivers are required to monitor the dynamic scene visually both outside and inside the train cab. Poor performance on this visual task may lead to errors, such as signals passed at danger. It is therefore important to understand the visual strategies that train drivers employ when monitoring and searching the visual scene for key items, such as signals. Prior to this investigation, a pilot study had already been carried out using an eye tracking technique to investigate train drivers’ visual behaviour and to collect data on driver monitoring of the visual environment, Groeger et al. (2003) Pilot study of train drivers’ eye movements, University of Surrey. However, a larger set of data was needed in order to understand more fully train driver visual behaviour and strategies. In light of this need, the Transport Research Laboratory produced a methodology for the assessment of UK train driver visual strategies, on behalf of the Rail Safety and Standards Board and applied this methodology to conduct a large-scale trial. The study collected a wealth of data on train drivers’ visual behaviour with the aim of providing a greater understanding of the strategies adopted. The corneal dark-eye tracking system chosen for these trials tracks human visual search and scanning patterns, and was fitted to 86 drivers whilst driving in-service trains. Data collected include the duration and frequency of glances made towards different elements of the visual scene. In addition, the train drivers were interviewed after driving the routes, to try and understand the thought processes behind the behaviour observed. Statistical analysis of over 600 signal approaches was conducted. This analysis revealed that signal aspect, preceding signal aspect, signal type and signal complexity are important factors, which affect the visual behaviour of train drivers. Train driver interview data revealed that driver expectation also plays a significant role in train driving. The findings of this study have implications for the rail industry in terms of infrastructure design, design of the driving task and driver training. However, train driving is extremely complex and the data from this study only begin to describe and explain train driver visual strategies in the specific context of signal approaches. This study has provided a wealth of data and further analysis of it is needed to investigate the role of other factors and the complex relationships between factors during signal approaches and other driving situations systematically. Finally, there are important aspects of visual behaviour that cannot be examined using these data or this method. Investigation of other aspects of visual behaviour, such as peripheral vision, will require other methods such as simulation.     

煤层气产量预测和矿区优化的储层模拟

SIMEDⅡ煤层气储层模拟器是一个高精度的，可以对非稳态的储层状态、多组份气体以及三维立体的储层结构进行模拟的软件。本文具体阐述了SIMEDⅡ模拟器的工作流程。以及如何将它应用于预测气体产量以及模拟储层中煤层气的抽采过程。     

Professionals in mutual help groups: Impact on social climate and members' behavior.

This study assessed the impact of professional involvement in mutual help groups for the mentally ill. Social climate data and behavioral data on members in groups led either by a mental health professional (n?=?36) or an indigenous group member (n?=?70) were compared. The results of the study indicated a more formal, psychologically directed approach in the professionally led groups. Although professional involvement in mutual help groups does not necessarily produce different member outcomes, it does seem to affect both the perceptions and the behavior of members. Professionals should be cautious when they get involved in mutual help groups to avoid professionalizing them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Traumatic brain injury and memory: The role of hippocampal atrophy.

In traumatically brain-injured (TBI) patients (n?=?83), memory performance was examined on the Warrington Recognition Memory Test, Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, and the Logical Memory and Visual Reproduction subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised in relationship to time postinjury and structural changes based on MRI volumetry, including hippocampus volume. Significant trauma-induced changes were observed, including hippocampal atrophy. Structure-function relationships generally became significant only after 90 days postinjury. Memory tended to relate more to the degree of hippocampal atrophy, particularly left hippocampus, than to nonspecific indicators such as the temporal horns or the ventricle-to-brain ratio. A stronger relationship with left versus right hippocampus was evident for measures of verbal and supposedly nonverbal memory. These results are discussed with regard to the role the hippocampus may play in a neural system of memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mathematical approximation techniques in biophysical models

The mathematical characterization of biophysical problems often leads to certain transcendental functions which must be evaluated to fully appreciate the significance of the mathematical model. In illustration, many mathematical models concerned with wave propagation and transmission of fluids through elastic tubes require treatment of the various kinds of Bessel functions and their ratios. In my recent work (The Special Functions and Their Approximations, Volumes 1 and 2, Academic Press, 1969) polynomial, rational and infinite series expansions in series of Chebyshev polynomials are developed for a wide class of transcendental functions which include Bessel functions as special cases. In numerous instances, tables of coefficients are presented. In the present paper, we show how these ideas can be exploited to yield economic methods for the evaluation of Bessel functions arising in the problems cited. As the approximations can be given in closed form, they can be easily applied to further simplify available closed form analyses.     

Chimeras of the homing endonuclease PI-SceI and the homologous Candida tropicalis intein: a study to explore the possibility of exchanging DNA-binding modules to obtain highly specific endonucleases with altered specificity

Homing endonucleases are extremely specific endodeoxyribonucleases. In vivo, these enzymes confer mobility on their genes by inducing a very specific double-strand cut in cognate alleles that lack the cooling sequence for the homing endonuclease; the cellular repair of the double-strand break with the endonuclease-containing allele as a template leads to integration of the endonuclease gene, completing the homing process. As a result of their extreme sequence specificity, homing endonucleases are promising tools for genome engineering. For this purpose, it is desirable to design enzymes with defined new specificities. To analyse which DNA-binding elements are potential candidates for use in the design of enzymes with modified or even new specificity, we produced several chimeric proteins derived from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae VMA1 intein (PI-SceI) and the related Candida tropicalis VMA1 intein. Although the mature Candida intein is devoid of endonucleolytic activity, the exchange of two DNA-binding modules of PI-SceI with the homologous elements from the Candida intein results in an active endonuclease. The low sequence homology in these modules indicates that different protein-DNA contacts are responsible for the recognition of related DNA sequences. This flexibility in DNA recognition should, in principle, allow endonucleases to be produced with new specificities useful for genome engineering.     

Influence of thermophysical properties on pool boiling heat transfer of refrigerants

The correct prediction of the heat transfer performance of the boiling liquid within the evaporator of a refrigeration unit is one of the essential features for the successful operation of the whole unit. A theoretically consistent calculation method for the heat transfer coefficient α in nucleate boiling, which should be based on the physical phenomena connected with vapour bubbles growing, departing and sliding on the wall and with the interactions of bubbles and of neighbouring nucleation sites within the microstructure of the heating surface, does not yet exist, despite the increasing number of papers on the subject in the recent past. Instead, the predictive methods for α available at present are empirical or semiempirical, especially for heat transfer conditions relevant in practice. Many of these correlations have been established in the form of power laws in which the relative influences of the main groups of variables on α are treated by separate factors. One of these may stand for the influence of the thermophysical properties of the boiling liquid or these properties will be included in several of the factors.New experimental results are presented for pool boiling heat transfer from a single horizontal copper tube (8 mm OD) to HFC-refrigerants (R32, 125, 134a, 143a, 152a, 227ea) and hydrocarbons (propane, i-butane). The results are compared to experimental data from the literature, and methods are discussed, how to incorporate the data in semiempirical correlations to describe the influence of the thermophysical properties of the fluids on the heat transfer performance.