Paulo Garrido

Business Sustainability and Collective Intelligence.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze to which point collective intelligence (CI) concepts and ideas, as applied to organizations, can contribute to enlarge the conceptual basis for business sustainability (BS).Design/methodology/approach – The paper is written from an engineer‐minded, systemic and cybernetic perspective. It begins by establishing a definition for business as a special type of organization and frames its sustainability on autopoietic theory. Next, it presents basic ideas on CI and of its application to businesses. Then, it singles out which concepts of CI are of interest to BS.Findings – Inside the autopoietic analysis of organizations, it is found that evolvability, understood as learning, is a concept with a potentially deeper and larger value than sustainability. Since evolvability (as learning) matches well the concept of intelligence, it is found that the application of CI ideas to businesses is relevant to BS. In particular, CI provides systemic arguments in favor of cha...

An Agent Based Propagation Model of Bank Failures

In this paper, we analyze a network model of banking relationships in the inter-banking market and with clients using an Agent Based approach. In order to study the relationships between different agents, accounting and financial concepts are used. The goal is to understand how propagation of failures in the banking network occurs in a very short run analysis. For this purpose, an outside credit shock on one of the banks is triggered and the cascade effect of failures is simulated. This approach contributes with three new aspects to existing literature. First, three different types of agents are used in the same simulation with their own micro-behaviors—banks, consumers and a central bank; second, both credit and liquidity shocks under market stress conditions are considered; and, third, a scale-free network topology for the inter-banking relationships is adopted, which is more consistent with reality. In order to create the model and run the simulations, Netlogo Software has been used. The simulations show the presence of systemic risk for certain setups and their analysis provide some insights for policy makers on questions about solvability minimum requirements along with market regulation.

Spiral inductors on silicon for wireless communications

This paper presents the design and fabrication of integrated micromachined inductors on silicon substrates. In order to reduce eddy currents in silicon substrates, bulk-micromachining technology is used to etch the silicon wafer. In this way, aluminum spiral micromachined inductors can achieve a quality factor Q of approximately 30 (0.6-2 nH @ 2-15 GHz). Also, the resistivity of the inductors material is discussed.

Control of a robot painting system using the multi-resolution architectural principle-a summary

The use of a multi-resolution control model for a robot painting system is reported in this paper. It gives a flexible and general framework for the control system design which eases software development and integration, as well as experimentation with different sensory behaviours.

Open design and knowledge integration in semiotic manufacturing integration

The purpose of this paper is to analyse Open Design from a perspective of knowledge integration in semiotic manufacturing integration. It proposes a framework for analysis based on the idea of distinguishing syntactical knowledge from semantic and pragmatic knowledge, as a conceptual tool to assess the issues involved. It reviews Free Software and Open Source Software as the origins of Open Design, and presents a brief survey of the current expression of Open Design in the Web. It analyses prospects for manufacturing integration set forth by Open Design at the inter-enterprise and market levels.

Cognitive cooperation facilitators

A conceptual model for cognitive cooperation facilitators, or agents specifically aimed at facilitating cooperation in societies of cognitive agents, is presented. The model explores the fact that cognitive agents make available descriptions of their interests to the communication domain of the society. Problems and issues related to the central operation of these facilitators-the detection of cooperation opportunities-are analyzed.

Amalgamating the Neural and Logic Computing Paradigms

Broadly conceived, the history of neural networks and that of symbolic logic and mechanical theorem proving is really the history of the idea of mechanising human thought. It is the purpose of this article to report on research about the relation between the computing paradigms of neural networks and logic programming. A correspondence between a neuronal computation and an automated deduction is defined to develop a logic model for neural computing. A preliminary result of practical interest - a neural network emulator written in Concurrent Prolog - is presented.

Inverted pendulum controlled by an analog PID controller: a framework for a laboratorial experiment

This paper presents the design of a framework for a didactic kit for control studies based on a rotary inverted pendulum. One of the challenges was to involve students in the design of the platform. This first version of the kit was developed by students of the Integrated Master on Industrial Electronics and Computers Engineering at the University of Minho. It considers the design and implementation of the control of the angular position of an inverted pendulum through an analog Proportional, Integral and Derivative (PID) controller. This Single Input Single Output (SISO) control system allows retrieving the equilibrium position of the pendulum when it is subjected to disturbances.

Systemic Coordination Through Numeraires: Initial Simulation Results

This paper presents initial results on the development of a paradigm for the coordination of large multi-agent systems abstracted from social coordination processes using money. We recall basic concepts and report on the development of a simulator for modeled systems. We present a “toy” example together with the determination and simulation of a steady-state for it. Next, we show results of perturbing the system parameters and the initial values of state variables in the steady-state. We conclude by reviewing the presented results, sketching a roadmap for development and considering the paradigm in a wider theoretical control perspective.

Concurrent Projects in Control Laboratorial Classes

This paper presents a laboratorial curricular unit program running in the 1st semester, 4th year of the Integrated Master in Industrial Electronics at the University of Minho. In Project I curricular unit, students designed, developed and implemented an inverted pendulum platform where different control algorithms were tested. Project specifications were formulated by the teachers and students were allowed to conceive different solutions. Some of the final platforms, as well as the perspectives of the students regarding this learning approach, are presented.