Hybrid BDI-POMDP Framework for Multiagent Teaming

Many current large-scale multiagent team implementations can be characterizedas following the belief-desire-intention (BDI) paradigm, with explicitrepresentation of team plans. Despite their promise, current BDI teamapproaches lack tools for quantitative performance analysis under uncertainty.Distributed partially observable Markov decision problems (POMDPs) are wellsuited for such analysis, but the complexity of finding optimal policies insuch models is highly intractable. The key contribution of this article is ahybrid BDI-POMDP approach, where BDI team plans are exploited to improve POMDPtractability and POMDP analysis improves BDI team plan performance. Concretely,we focus on role allocation, a fundamental problem in BDI teams: which agentsto allocate to the different roles in the team. The article provides three keycontributions. First, we describe a role allocation technique that takes intoaccount future uncertainties in the domain; prior work in multiagent roleallocation has failed to address such uncertainties. To that end, we introduceRMTDP (Role-based Markov Team Decision Problem), a new distributed POMDP modelfor analysis of role allocations. Our technique gains in tractability bysignificantly curtailing RMTDP policy search; in particular, BDI team plansprovide incomplete RMTDP policies, and the RMTDP policy search fills the gapsin such incomplete policies by searching for the best role allocation. Oursecond key contribution is a novel decomposition technique to further improveRMTDP policy search efficiency. Even though limited to searching roleallocations, there are still combinatorially many role allocations, andevaluating each in RMTDP to identify the best is extremely difficult. Ourdecomposition technique exploits the structure in the BDI team plans tosignificantly prune the search space of role allocations. Our third keycontribution is a significantly faster policy evaluation algorithm suited forour BDI-POMDP hybrid approach. Finally, we also present experimental resultsfrom two domains: mission rehearsal simulation and RoboCupRescue disasterrescue simulation.

Digitization at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, including an interview

The Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF) is the national library of France and is located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France and is a public establishment under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. Its mission is to build collections – especially copies of works published in France that must, by law, be deposited there – to conserve them, and make them available to the public. ‘Gallica’, the digital library for online users, was established in 1997. In early 2011, the BnF announced plans to digitize and make available for sale online a corpus of 500,000 books within five years. This article provides an overview of the digitization work of the BnF and features an interview with Bruno Delorme, International Sales Director of Jouve Group, the company tasked with this huge digitization undertaking.

A Study on the Analysis and Evaluation for the Life-cycle Model of Digital Content

This study aims to identify the core life-cycle elements for archiving digital content through analyzing the existing digital content life-cycle models and suggest the remedies for management the digital content of KISTI after a comparative study. As a result, the 10 core life-cycle categories consisted of 31 small elements were defined. Furthermore, the recommendations that digital content archiving should be set as a critical mission and archiving policy should be prepared in KISTI were proved.

The Oncologist Chinese Edition: A Global Mission, A Unifying Bond

Analysis of White Blood Cell Counts in Mice after Gamma- or Proton-Radiation Exposure

In the coming decades human space exploration is expected to move beyond low-Earth orbit. This transition involves increasing mission time and therefore an increased risk of radiation exposure from solar particle event (SPE) radiation. Acute radiation effects after exposure to SPE radiation are of prime importance due to potential mission-threatening consequences. The major objective of this study was to characterize the dose-response relationship for proton and γ radiation delivered at doses up to 2 Gy at high (0.5 Gy/min) and low (0.5 Gy/h) dose rates using white blood cell (WBC) counts as a biological end point. The results demonstrate a dose-dependent decrease in WBC counts in mice exposed to high- and low-dose-rate proton and γ radiation, suggesting that astronauts exposed to SPE-like radiation may experience a significant decrease in circulating leukocytes.

Pressure ulcer management and research priorities for patients with spinal cord injury: Consensus opinion from SCI QUERI Expert Panel on Pressure Ulcer Research Implementation

OVERVIEW Pressure ulcers (PUs) are a serious and costly complication for many individuals with reduced mobility and sensation. Some populations, such as those with spinal cord injury and disease (SCI/D), remain at high risk throughout their lifetimes. Clinical observations and research have demonstrated staggering costs and human suffering because of PUs, including profound negative effect on general physical health, socialization, financial status, body image, and level of independence and control [1-2]. The International Pressure Ulcer Prevalence Study from 2006 to 2009 demonstrated a change in PU prevalence in the U.S. healthcare facility population. Overall, PU prevalence was slightly lower in 2009 than in 2006, but prevalence of suspected deep-tissue injuries (DTIs) increased during the same period [3]. Further investigation into the cause of these changes is warranted. DTI diagnosis frequency may have been affected by the addition of suspected DTI to the revised National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) staging definitions in 2007 and rule changes for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. Consideration of current evidence-based practice (EBP) is vitally important in the development and implementation of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for PUs. A wealth of basic science is available, and early clinical trials are being carried out in the field of PU research; many of these trials were presented at the inaugural International Evidence Based Practice in Wound Care conference in 2006. The focus of the 2nd International Conference on Evidence Based Practice in Wound Care: The Effective Implementation of Pressure Ulcer Clinical Practice Guidelines (held in 2009) was the apparent "disconnect" between these early-stage research efforts and their implementation as routine clinical practice, as documented in current clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). EBP and expert opinion are frequently combined during the formulation of CPGs. The balance of expert opinion and EBP in a given CPG depends on the maturity and depth of the research base. Currently, there are multiple CPGs for ulcer prevention and treatment, including the Consortium for Spinal Cord Medicine Clinical Practice Guidelines on Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Treatment (SCICPG) [4]. The common goal of these CPGs is to reduce the incidence and prevalence of PUs. Unfortunately, Thomason et al. found that although SCI physicians and nurses generally agreed with the SCICPG recommendations as written, they did not believe that these recommendations were fully implemented in their respective clinical settings. Furthermore, clinical personnel identified lack of knowledge and organizational factors--such as communication difficulties across teams, shifts, and hospital departments--as the biggest barriers to implementing CPGs [5]. The effective selection and implementation of evidence-based guidelines for PU are critically important to improving rehabilitative and lifetime outcomes for people at risk for PU development. Education in the use and implementation of CPGs is an ongoing need. Additionally, a critical need exists to identify the remaining research gaps and pathways to effective implementation of research efforts in clinical practice. An invited expert panel met in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 4, 2009, in conjunction with the 2nd International Conference on Evidence Based Practice in Wound Care, to develop a research agenda based on critical knowledge gaps regarding PUs in individuals with SCI and on implementation of advanced clinical practice. We report a literature-based discussion of the consensus panel conclusions. The meeting was sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) SCI Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (SCI QUERI). The SCI QUERI works closely with the VA's SCI/D Strategic Health Group to identify the critical, time-sensitive issues important for Veterans Health Administration operations as part of the SCI QUERI mission: promotion of patient health, functioning, and quality of life through the implementation of evidence-based methods for enhancing patient self-management and disease prevention in the context of multidisciplinary care. …

Progress on stabilizing and controlling powered upper-limb prostheses

While the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (JRRD) is often a repository for research conducted with a large subject population to compare and validate the devices and treatments used in rehabilitation, it is also a means to keep clinicians and researchers up to date on the development of new devices and treatments. This issue, addressing the problem of upper-limb loss, emphasizes the device-development side of JRRD's mission. Compared with other forms of disability, upper-limb loss is relatively rare, and finding a large enough group of subjects is often difficult for studies that help researchers assess whether they are going in the right direction. When developing new devices are being developed, careful feasibility studies are important. Much that is reported here is preliminary and based on relatively few subjects. My objective is to quantify the state of development so that other researchers can move the field forward knowing which directions are the most promising. This issue of JRRD began with a collection of articles about any problems associated with upper-limb prostheses. However, I quickly realized that the researchers submitting articles were overwhelmingly interested in the control of powered prostheses. During the last decade, great advances have been made in acquiring more information from myoelectric signals. Many of the articles in this issue address the recognition of patterns within surface myoelectric signals to first discern the user's intent and then implement that intent in a working device. A careful look at this research shows that myoelectric control, whether of the simple two-muscle type or the more sophisticated pattern-recognition control of multiple degrees of freedom (DOFs), has a serious flaw--no inherent feedback of position, speed, or force is associated with myoelectric control. This means that the reader should pay particular attention to the articles that report on ways to use the relative motion of remaining body parts to achieve control with feedback. In the articles in this issue and in others that I will refer to, the research goal is intuitive control of prostheses. Users should have to think only about what they want to do, not about how to control their prostheses. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF AN UPPER-LIMB PROSTHESIS? The answer depends on the goal of the wearer. For most users, a prosthesis restores body image and cosmesis and also replaces as much function of the intact limb as possible; however, it must do so with the least possible discomfort and inconvenience. A successful prosthesis is one that can be incorporated into the user's lifestyle almost seamlessly. Just with this simple statement, many trade-offs become apparent. But what are the trade-offs between function and cosmesis? How much weight can be added to increase function without compromising comfort? How important is the stability of the socket interface? The articles in this issue show that researchers are aware of these trade-offs as they try to improve one aspect of prosthesis design at a time. In the end, no prosthesis will ever be "best." Users will always want to choose their own trade-offs. Thus, researchers must not only work to improve the individual prosthetic components and control schemes but also place their new devices on sufficient numbers of users so that the relative efficacy of the individual devices and control schemes can be determined. Such comparing of capabilities will allow the market to eliminate those devices that do not help enough users to justify their cost to society. MAKING MYOELECTRIC CONTROL INTUITIVE If a person loses the arm just above the elbow and if the muscle ends are properly attached to the distal humerus, the remaining muscles will respond to an attempt to move the missing forearm. Trying to raise the forearm will result in contraction of the biceps (and the brachialis, if still present). Likewise, an attempt to extend the forearm will result in contraction of the triceps. …

A Study on the Documentary Paintings and Figure Paintings of Joseon’s Cultural Mission to Japan in 1763-1764

Innovative mission of the social system modernization as a need for sustainable development of Russia

Girl On Tracks

Things I never noticed before: the ceiling above me is curved downward, tiled with blue and white squares. Some of the tiles are chipped, and beneath the veneer is a gray, concrete color that matches the grout, which in many places is stained black. The lighting is fluorescent, and one of the fixtures is plugged into a dirty orange extension cord that snakes through a rodentsized hole in the ceiling. The textured anti-slip strips at the edge of the platform are Crayola cerulean. The strips are some kind of plastic, and they seem to be glued to the dull granite slabs that are the floor. The edge of the strip behind me looks 71 to be coming unglued, a slight lip forming where it should be flush with the stone, a tripping hazard maybe. Maybe she tripped, I think, maybe. About half an hour ago, a girl standing on the platform just behind me, close to my shoulder, launched herself in front of the express train. I'm sitting here because this is where I was told to sit by the two policemen who seem to have taken charge of things. "They think you might have pushed her." There's another guy leaning against the adjacent side of the pillar. I don't know what he looks like. I wasn't paying attention when he sat down. His voice is deep, though, and in my head I picture him old, older than me. "I wouldn't worry, though," the voice says. "I saw it all." "Why would they think that?" I ask, my eyes on the ground. "I don't know. You were close enough to have done it. Anyways, the way I saw it, that girl was on a mission to die. It looked like you tried to grab her." "She knocked my phone out of my hand. It fell on the track." "I wonder if it survived."