8,236 research outputs found
Evolving Fuzzy Rules for Relaxed-Criteria Negotiation
Get PDFIn the literature on automated negotiation, very few negotiation agents are designed with the flexibility to slightly relax their negotiation criteria to reach a consensus more rapidly and with more certainty. Furthermore, these relaxed-criteria negotiation agents were not equipped with the ability to enhance their performance by learning and evolving their relaxed-criteria negotiation rules. The impetus of this work is designing market-driven negotiation agents (MDAs) that not only have the flexibility of relaxing bargaining criteria using fuzzy rules, but can also evolve their structures by learning new relaxed-criteria fuzzy rules to improve their negotiation outcomes as they participate in negotiations in more e-markets. To this end, an evolutionary algorithm for adapting and evolving relaxed-criteria fuzzy rules was developed. Implementing the idea in a testbed, two kinds of experiments for evaluating and comparing EvEMDAs (MDAs with relaxed-criteria rules that are evolved using the evolutionary algorithm) and EMDAs (MDAs with relaxed-criteria rules that are manually constructed) were carried out through stochastic simulations. Empirical results show that: 1) EvEMDAs generally outperformed EMDAs in different types of e-markets and 2) the negotiation outcomes of EvEMDAs generally improved as they negotiated in more e-markets
BLGAN: Bayesian Learning and Genetic Algorithm for Supporting Negotiation With Incomplete Information
Get PDFAutomated negotiation provides a means for resolving
differences among interacting agents. For negotiation with
complete information, this paper provides mathematical proofs
to show that an agent’s optimal strategy can be computed using
its opponent’s reserve price (RP) and deadline. The impetus of
this work is using the synergy of Bayesian learning (BL) and
genetic algorithm (GA) to determine an agent’s optimal strategy
in negotiation (N) with incomplete information. BLGAN adopts:
1) BL and a deadline-estimation process for estimating an opponent’s
RP and deadline and 2) GA for generating a proposal
at each negotiation round. Learning the RP and deadline of an
opponent enables the GA in BLGAN to reduce the size of its search
space (SP) by adaptively focusing its search on a specific region
in the space of all possible proposals. SP is dynamically defined
as a region around an agent’s proposal P at each negotiation
round. P is generated using the agent’s optimal strategy determined
using its estimations of its opponent’s RP and deadline.
Hence, the GA in BLGAN is more likely to generate proposals
that are closer to the proposal generated by the optimal strategy.
Using GA to search around a proposal generated by its current
strategy, an agent in BLGAN compensates for possible errors in
estimating its opponent’s RP and deadline. Empirical results show
that agents adopting BLGAN reached agreements successfully,
and achieved: 1) higher utilities and better combined negotiation
outcomes (CNOs) than agents that only adopt GA to generate their
proposals, 2) higher utilities than agents that adopt BL to learn
only RP, and 3) higher utilities and better CNOs than agents that
do not learn their opponents’ RPs and deadlines
Grid Commerce, Market-Driven G-Negotiation, and Grid Resource Management
Get PDFAlthough the management of resources is essential
for realizing a computational grid, providing an efficient resource
allocation mechanism is a complex undertaking. Since Grid
providers and consumers may be independent bodies, negotiation
among them is necessary. The contribution of this paper
is showing that market-driven agents (MDAs) are appropriate
tools for Grid resource negotiation.MDAs are e-negotiation agents
designed with the flexibility of: 1) making adjustable amounts of
concession taking into account market rivalry, outside options,
and time preferences and 2) relaxing bargaining terms in the
face of intense pressure. A heterogeneous testbed consisting of
several types of e-negotiation agents to simulate a Grid computing
environment was developed. It compares the performance
of MDAs against other e-negotiation agents (e.g., Kasbah) in a
Grid-commerce environment. Empirical results show that MDAs
generally achieve: 1) higher budget efficiencies in many market
situations than other e-negotiation agents in the testbed and
2) higher success rates in acquiring Grid resources under high
Grid loadings
A simple disc wind model for broad absorption line quasars
No full textApproximately 20 per cent of quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) exhibit broad, blue-shifted absorption lines in their ultraviolet spectra. Such features provide clear evidence for significant outflows from these systems, most likely in the form of accretion disc winds. These winds may represent the ‘quasar’ mode of feedback that is often invoked in galaxy formation/evolution models, and they are also key to unification scenarios for active galactic nuclei (AGN) and QSOs. To test these ideas, we construct a simple benchmark model of an equatorial, biconical accretion disc wind in a QSO and use a Monte Carlo ionization/radiative transfer code to calculate the ultraviolet spectra as a function of viewing angle. We find that for plausible outflow parameters, sightlines looking directly into the wind cone do produce broad, blue-shifted absorption features in the transitions typically seen in broad absorption line (BAL) QSOs. However, our benchmark model is intrinsically X-ray weak in order to prevent overionization of the outflow, and the wind does not yet produce collisionally excited line emission at the level observed in non-BAL QSOs. As a first step towards addressing these shortcomings, we discuss the sensitivity of our results to changes in the assumed X-ray luminosity and mass-loss rate, Ṁwind. In the context of our adopted geometry, Ṁwind ∼ Ṁacc is required in order to produce significant BAL features. The kinetic luminosity and momentum carried by such outflows would be sufficient to provide significant feedback
Agent-based Cloud service composition
Get PDFService composition in multi-Cloud environments
must coordinate self-interested participants, automate
service selection, (re)configure distributed services, and deal
with incomplete information about Cloud providers and
their services. This work proposes an agent-based approach
to compose services in multi-Cloud environments for different
types of Cloud services: one-time virtualized services,
e.g., processing a rendering job, persistent virtualized services,
e.g., infrastructure-as-a-service scenarios, vertical services,
e.g., integrating homogenous services, and horizontal
services, e.g., integrating heterogeneous services. Agents
are endowed with a semi-recursive contract net protocol and
service capability tables (information catalogs about Cloud
participants) to compose services based on consumer requirements.
Empirical results obtained from an agent-based
testbed show that agents in this work can: successfully compose
services to satisfy service requirements, autonomously
select services based on dynamic fees, effectively cope with
constantly changing consumers’ service needs that trigger
updates, and compose services in multiple Clouds even with
incomplete information about Cloud participants
Iris rossii var. latifolia J. K. Sim & Y. S. Kim 1992
No full textIris rossii var. latifolia J.K. Sim & Y.S. Kim (1992: 1) = I. rossii f. latifolia (J.K. Sim & Y.S. Kim) M. Kim (2017: 570) Holotype: KOREA, Jeollabuk-do: Chongup-gun, Ibam-myeon, Noryeong, 7 May 1987, J. K. Sim 87001 (NIBRVP815290). Isotypes: KOREA, Jeollabuk-do: Chongup-gun, Ibam-myeon, Noryeong, 7 May 1987, J. K. Sim 87003 (NIBRVP815291); 87004 (NIBRVP815288); 87005 (NIBRVP815289; Fig. 1 -36). Paratypes: KOREA, Daejeon-si: Mt. Bomunsan, 19 May 1990, J. K . Sim s.n. (4 sheets, NIBRVP815292, NIBRVP815293, NIBRVP815294, NIBRVP815295); Mt. Sikjangsan, 21 April 1990, J. K . Sim s.n. (4 sheets, NIBRVP815299, NIBRVP815300, NIBRVP815301, NIBRVP815302). Chungcheongnam-do: Gongju-si, Banpo-myeon, Oncheon-ri, Mt. Gapasan, 30 April 1992, Y. I . Kim 70 (NIBRVP815296); Gongju-si, Gyeryong-myeon, Mt. Gyeryongsan, 4 May 1987, J. K . Sim 27 (NIBRVP815297). Jeollanam-do: Mt. Daedunsan, 8 May 1987, B. J . Yu s.n. (NIBRVP815298). Note: These specimens were transferred to KB from the herbarium of Mokwon University. Some of the paratype specimens donated by Sim & Kim (1992) were not found in KB.Published as part of Jang, Hyun-Do, Hyun, Chang-Woo, Ryu, Seah & Lee, Sang-Jun, 2022, Type specimens of vascular plants in the herbarium of the National Institute of Biological Resources (II), pp. 229-243 in Phytotaxa 539 (3) on page 241, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.539.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/636408
An Overview of Service-Oriented Architecture
No full textThis report is a literature review of Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA). An SOA is a loosely couple network of communicating services. The key elements and characteristics of SOAs are outlined to guide the CORE project in creating a Virtual Research Environment (VRE). The benefits of using SOA concepts in implementing the VRE are presented and justifications of their use in the CORE project are also discussed
Expert Finding by Capturing Organisational Knowledge from Legacy Documents
No full textOrganisations capitalise on their best knowledge through the improvement of shared expertise which leads to a higher level of productivity and competency. The recognition of the need to foster the sharing of expertise has led to the development of expert finder systems that hold pointers to experts who posses specific knowledge in organisations. This paper discusses an approach to locating an expert through the application of information retrieval and analysis processes to an organization’s existing information resources, with specific reference to the engineering design domain. The approach taken was realised through an expert finder system framework. It enables the relationships of heterogeneous information sources with experts to be factored in modelling individuals’ expertise. These valuable relationships are typically ignored by existing expert finder systems, which only focus on how documents relate to their content. The developed framework also provides an architecture that can be easily adapted to different organisational environments. In addition, it also allows users to access the expertise recognition logic, giving them greater trust in the systems implemented using this framework. The framework were applied to real world application and evaluated within a major engineering company
Towards a Collaborative Orthopaedic Research Environment
No full textUntil recently, it has been the case that scientific findings are captured, summarized, and shared through manuscripts. Nevertheless, the practices of science have already been affected dramatically by Web technologies. Virtual learning and research environments have typically been implemented as monolithic systems in the past. Collaborative Orthopaedic Research Environment (CORE) is a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) which is designed based on the concept of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Grid/Web services. It aims to provide an infrastructure that combines clinical, educational and research in one working environment. This paper describes the VRE requirements and discusses the advantages that will be achieved by implementing it as Grid/Web services
An ultrasonic scanner to probe 3-D finger skin structures for biometric recognition
No full textTo use the three-dimensional (3-D) structure of finger skin for personal identification, a 3-D ultrasonic finger skin scanner is implemented by combining a commercial 25 MHz ultrasound transducer, a three-axis motor system, an analog-to-digital converter a field-programmable gate array, a Universal Serial Bus 3.0 interface, and a PC. The scanner was successfully applied to monitoring the deep-layer pattern 1500 μm below the surface of an artificial finger module, as well as the surface fingerprint pattern, with an axial resolution of 123 μm. The Hilbert transform and 50x interpolation were performed on the received ultrasound data to enhance the axial and lateral resolutions, respectively. B-mode and C-mode imaging and a contour plot were presented for the surface fingerprint and the deep-layer pattern. © 2019 Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers. All rights reserved.11Nscopuskc
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