A flexible architecture for distributed knowledge based systems with nomadic access through handheld devices

Nowadays any Knowledge Based System (KBS) realization needs of intercommunication among distributed components and to use non-connected and distributed data sources, which poses several challenges to the classical Artificial Intelligence field of KBS.

The multiagent paradigm and the use of ontologies are considered to be suitable tools to face the problems of designing and developing today KBS. On the other hand, using such networked KBS through handheld devices makes more efficient exploitation and interaction with the system.

This paper presents an open and flexible architecture for a distributed KBS and an application of it to construct a system for Psychological Disorders consulting, the so called PDA² (Psychological Disorder Assistant through PDA). We analyze the main features of the architecture as well as the agent tools we may use to construct it. Additionally, we present a support ontology for Psychological Disorders.     

A new stereological principle for test lines in three-dimensional space

A new principle is presented to generate isotropic uniform random (IUR) test lines hitting a geometric structure in three-dimensional space (3D). The principle therefore concerns the estimation of surface area, volume, membrane thickness, etc., of arbitrary structures with piecewise smooth boundary. The principle states that a point-sampled test line on an isotropic plane through a fixed point in 3D is effectively an invariant test line in 3D. Particular attention is devoted to the stereology of particles, where an alternative to the surfactor method is obtained to estimate surface area. An interesting case arises when the particle is convex. The methods are illustrated with synthetic examples.     

Stabilizing decentralized model predictive control of nonlinear systems

This note presents a stabilizing decentralized model predictive control (MPC) algorithm for nonlinear discrete time systems. No information is assumed to be exchanged between local control laws. The stability proof relies on the inclusion of a contractive constraint in the formulation of the MPC problem.     

An adaptive tracking problem for a family of retarded time-delay plants

Most of the existing switching control techniques are developed specifically for finite-dimensional linear time-invariant (LTI) systems. In many practical applications, however, it is essential to take time delay into consideration in the modelling as the control system can be highly sensitive to delay. In this paper, a multi-model switching control algorithm is proposed for retarded time-delay systems. It is assumed that the plant is represented by a family of known multi-input multi-output, observable, LTI models with multiple delays in the states, and that corresponding to each model in the known family, there exists a high-performance finite-dimensional LTI controller. In addition, it is supposed that a bound on the magnitude of the external inputs and disturbances is available. It is then shown that the proposed switching controller can stabilize the uncertain system, and that under some mild conditions, output tracking can be achieved in the given problem setting. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

DCOP FOR SMART HOMES: A CASE STUDY

The aim of this article is to bring forth the issue of integrating the services provided by intelligent artifacts in Ambient Intelligence applications. Specifically, we propose a Distributed Constraint Optimization procedure for achieving a functional integration of intelligent artifacts in a smart home. To this end, we employ Adopt-N , a state-of-the-art algorithm for solving Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems (DCOP). This article attempts to state the smart home coordination problem in general terms, and provides the details of a DCOP-based approach by describing a case study taken from the RoboCare project. More specifically, we show how (1) DCOP is a convenient metaphor for casting smart home coordination problems, and (2) the specific features which distinguish Adopt-N from other algorithms for DCOP represent a strong asset in the smart home domain.     

What does the object decision task measure? Reflections on the basis of evidence from semantic dementia.

The authors investigated the impact of semantic knowledge on visual object analysis by assessing the performance of patients with semantic dementia on a different-views object matching test and on 2 object decision tests differing, for example, in whether the nonreal items were nonsense objects or chimeras of 2 real objects. On average, the patients scored normally on both the object matching and the object decision test including nonsense objects but were impaired on the object decision test including chimeras; this latter was also the only visual object test that correlated significantly with degree of semantic impairment. These findings demonstrate that object decision is not a single task or ability and that it is not necessarily independent of conceptual knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A novel distributed approach to robust fault detection and identification

In this paper, we propose a novel distributed robust fault detection and identification (RFDI) scheme for a class of nonlinear systems. Firstly, a detection and identification estimator—robust fault tracking approximator (RFTA) is designed for online health monitoring. A novel feature of the RFTA is that it can simultaneously detect and accurately identify the shape and magnitude of the fault and disturbance. Moreover, it takes less online training time compared with the traditional neural network based fault diagnosis schemes. For some distributed systems, a network of distributed estimators is constructed where the RFTA is embedded into each estimator. Then we use consensus filter to filter the outputs of each estimator. One of the most important merits of the consensus filter is that its outputs can dramatically improve the accuracy of fault detection and identification. Next, the stability of the distributed RFDI scheme is rigorously investigated. Finally, two numerical examples are given to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Development of a fuzzy decision model for manufacturability evaluation

A manufacturability evaluation decision model is formulated and analyzed based on fuzzy logic and multiple attribute decision-making under the concurrent engineering environment. The study emphasizes on the treatment of the linguistic and vagueness at the early product development stage. The study also considers the function integration of the total life cycle of a product. Hence, the integrated decision model covers the multi-level, multi-goal requirements of the products. Multiple criteria such as the goal space, the decision space, the function space, the development (i.e., product & process design) space, and the activity space, are then applied under different analysis of decision-making methods. For instances, the fuzzy multiple attribute decision-making (FMADM) combined with activity-based costing (ABC) can be used in the activity decision space. The fuzzy logic decision model can be applied in the goal decision space. The results of this study point out the importance of early decision making capability. An example of a high-pressure vessel is provided to demonstrate the proposed model for evaluating the manufacturability.     

Feedback tuning of bifurcations

The present paper studies a feedback regulation problem that arises in at least two different biological applications. The feedback regulation problem under consideration may be interpreted as an adaptive control problem for tuning bifurcation parameters, and it has not been studied in the control literature. The goal of the paper is to formulate this problem and to present some preliminary results.