Olga Štěpánková

Multi-Agent Systems and Applications II

This chapter aims to introduce the reader to the basic issues surrounding the design and implementation of intelligent agents. It begins by motivating the idea of an agent, presents a definition of agents and intelligent agents. The article then goes on to discuss four major approaches to building agents. First, logic based architectures are reviewed, in which decision-making is viewed as logical deduction. Second, reactive architectures are discussed, in which symbolic representations and models are eschewed in favour of a closer relationship between agent perception and action. Third, we discuss belief-desire-intention architectures, in which decision making is viewed as practical reasoning from beliefs about how the world is and will be to the options available to an agent, and finally to intentions and actions. Fourth, we review layered agent architectures, in which decision making is partitioned into a number of different decision making layers, each dealing with the agent’s environment at a different level of abstraction.

Hands-free interaction with a computer and other technologies

Hands-free interaction with technology is a dream for any person with limitations in the use of his/her arms and hands. This paper describes two new original low-cost hands-free computer peripheries—I4Control® and Magic Key, which use movements of the user’s eye or nose as an actuator of a computer cursor. Both systems emulate the PC mouse and thereby mediate direct access to any mouse-controlled computer application. Functionality of the presented systems is compared to that of PC mouse using one of the usability tests recommended by the ISO 9241 methodology. The data obtained as a result of testing a group of ten unimpaired novice users indicated that the users’ performance improves over time of usage of the system, but the process is rather slow. The paper describes several easy to use toy-applications intended to improve the user’s confidence in working with the considered devices. One of these applications demonstrates that I4Control® can be employed to control home appliances or a wheelchair.

Visualization of trends using RadViz

Data mining is sometimes treating data consisting of items representing measurements of a single property taken in different time points. In this case data can be understood as a time series of one feature. It is no exception when the clue for evaluation of such data is related to their development trends as observed in several successive time points. From the qualitative point of view one can distinguish three basic types of behaviour between two neighbouring time points: the value of the feature is stable (remains the same), it grows or it falls. This paper is concerned with identification of typical qualitative development patterns as they appear in the windows of given length in the considered time-stamped data and their utilization for specification of interesting subgroups.

Application of the multi-agent approach in production planning and modelling

Abstract The paper describes an experimental multi-agent system developed for and aimed at a computer-supported project-oriented production planning. The system is based on a heterogeneous hierarchy of agents of three types that reflect the managerial structure of the manufacturing enterprise. To improve the system efficiency, a new formalism—called tri-base model—of the multi-agent internal communication/negotiation mechanism has been introduced. The tri-base model that has been tested in an industrial environment is treated in detail in the paper.

Transformations of logic programs

Abstract This paper introduces a new concept of computation trees of logic programs that will be used in reasoning about programs. Three types of transformations improving the structure of logic programs are described. There are two natural measures of complexity suggested by computation trees, namely, the number of nodes called by recursion and the maximal number of AND/OR alternations on a branch. Both measures are shown to collapse, or more precisely, it is shown how every logic program can be transformed to a program computing the same function of which the computation tree has at most one called node and at most two alternations on every branch. Some conclusions related to this Normal Form Theorem are discussed. Theoretical results with the attempts to develop a practical methodology for the construction of logic programs are compared.

Improving cooperative behaviour in a multi-agent system

The paper briefly describes DISCIM — an environment for experiments in multi-agent systems characterized by peer-to-peer communication among all agents and including a super-agent watching the communication traffic within the system. There are identified some features of the agents and their community which seem to be decisive from the point of the system’s efficiency as well as the methods how to learn them from experimental data taken from the system’s history.

Visualization of Trends Using RadViz

Data mining is sometimes treating data consisting of items representing measurements of a single property taken in different time points. In this case data can be understood as a time series of one feature. It is no exception when the clue for evaluation of such data is related to their development trends as observed in several successive time points. From the qualitative point of view one can distinguish 3 basic types of behavior between two neighboring time points: the value of the feature is stable (remains the same), it grows or it falls. This paper is concerned with identification of typical qualitative development patterns as they appear in the windows of given length in the considered time-stamped data and their utilization for specification of interesting subgroups.

Eye as an actuator

The I4Control® device is a new type of computer peripheral enabling non-contact control of a personal computer through eye (or head) movement. The solution emulates the computer mouse and consequently it gives its user direct access to any mouse controlled SW system. One of those is a SW keyboard, which is nowadays a common part of computer operating system. In the same way the system can be combined with other text entering solutions. Section 4 provides a brief report on corresponding preliminary experiments as well as description of some edutainment applications, for which I4Control® device seems to be very well suited. The very same solution can be applied for design of a control element in a computer-driven working environment where the hands of the PC user have to be engaged in another (primary) activity (i.e., during medical surgery or when handling greasy components of a complex machine).

Application of the Multi-Agent Approach in Production Planning and Modelling

Abstract The paper describes an experimental multi-agent system developed for and aimed at a computer-supported project-oriented production planning. The system is based on a heterogeneous hierarchy of agents of three types that reflect the managerial structure of the manufacturing enterprise. To improve the systems efficiency, a new formalism - called tri-base model - of the multi-agent internal communication/negotiation mechanism has been introduced. The tri-base model, that has been tested in an industrial environment, is treated in far detail in the paper.

Optimized Management of BIG Data Produced in Brain Disorder Rehabilitation

Brain disorders resulting from injury, disease, or health conditions can influence function of most parts of human body. Necessary medical care and rehabilitation is often impossible without close cooperation of several diverse medical specialists who must work jointly to choose methods that improve and support healing processes as well as to discover underlying principles. The key to their decisions are data resulting from careful observation or examination of the patient. We introduce the concept of scientific dataspace that involves and stores numerous and often complex types of data, e.g., the primary data captured from the application, data derived by curation and analytic processes, background data including ontology and workflow specifications, semantic relationships between dataspace items based on ontologies, and available published data. Our contribution applies big data and cloud technologies to ensure efficient exploitation of this dataspace, namely, novel software architectures, algorithms and methodology for its optimized management and utilization. We present its service-oriented architecture using a running case study and results of its data processing that involves mining and visualization of selected patterns optimized towards big and complex data we are dealing with.