7138939
A probabilistic extension to ontology language OWL
To support uncertain ontology representation and ontology reasoning and mapping, we propose to incorporate Bayesian networks (BN), a widely used graphic model for knowledge representation under uncertainty and OWL, the de facto industry standard ontology language recommended by W3C. First, OWL is augmented to allow additional probabilistic markups, so probabilities can be attached with individual concepts and properties in an OWL ontology. Secondly, a set of translation rules is defined to convert this probabilistically annotated OWL ontology into the directed acyclic graph (DAG) of a BN. Finally, the BN is completed by constructing conditional probability tables (CPT) for each node in the DAG. Our probabilistic extension to OWL is consistent with OWL semantics, and the translated BN is associated with a joint probability distribution over the application domain. General Bayesian network inference procedures (e.g., belief propagation or junction tree) can be used to compute P(C/spl bsol/e): the degree of the overlap or inclusion between a concept C and a concept represented by a description e. We also provide a similarity measure that can be used to find the most similar concept that a given description belongs to.
16963632
Agents Making Sense of the Semantic Web
Effective use of the vast quantity of available information and services on the Internet will require multi-agent systems to be tightly integrated with existing web infrastructure. This however will be impossible unless the information on the web is presented in a semantic language, such as the DARPA Agent Markup Language (DAML), which is one aim of the “Semantic Web”. As part of our exploration of Semantic Web technology, and DAML in particular, we have constructed ITTALKS, a web-based system for automatic and intelligent notification of information technology talks. In this paper, we describe the ITTALKS system, and discuss the numerous ways in which the use of Semantic Web concepts and DAML extend its ability to provide an intelligent online service to both the human community and, more interestingly, the agents assisting them.
9845111
Quantitative Agent Service Matching
The ultimate goal of service matching is to find the service provider(s) that would perform tasks of given description with the best overall degree of satisfaction. However, service description matching solves only part of the problem. Agents that match a given request may vary greatly in their actual capabilities to perform the tasks, and an agent may have strong and weak areas. In this work, we take a quantitative approach in which performance rating is considered an integral part of an agent's capability model and service distribution is taken into account in determining the degree of match. With the dynamic refinement of the agent capability model, the broker captures an agent's performance levels as well as its strong and weak areas. An experimental system has been designed and implemented within the OWL/OWL-S framework and the results statistics show significant advantage over other major levels of brokers.
5485929
ITTALKS: A Case Study in the Semantic Web and DAML
Effective use of the vast quantity of information now available on the web will require the use of "Semantic Web" markup languages such as the DARPA Agent Markup Language (DAML). Such languages will enable the automated gathering and processing of much information that is currently available but insufficiently utilized. Effectively, such languages will facilitate the integration of multi-agent systems with the existing information infrastructure. As part of our exploration of Semantic Web technology, and DAML in particular, we have constructed ITTALKS, a web-based system for automatic and intelligent notification of information technology talks. In this paper, we describe the ITTALKS system, and discuss the numerous ways in which the use of Semantic Web concepts and DAML extend its ability to provide an intelligent online service to both the human community and the agents assisting them.
18308344
Using Colored Petri Nets for Conversation Modeling
Conversations are a useful means of structuring communicative interactions among agents. The value of a conversation-based approach is largely determined by the conversational model it uses. Finite State Machines, used heavily to date for this purpose, are not sufficient for complex agent interactions requiring a notion of concurrency. We propose the use of Colored Petri Nets as a model underlying a language for conversation specification. This carries the relative simplicity and graphical representation of the former approach, along with greater expressive power and support for concurrency. The construction of such a language, Protolingua, is currently being investigated within the framework of the Jackal agent development environment. In this paper, we explore the use of Colored Petri Nets in modeling agent communicative interaction.
183316
Modifying Bayesian Networks by Probability Constraints
This paper deals with the following problem: modify a Bayesian network to satisfy a given set of probability constraints by only change its conditional probability tables, and the probability distribution of the resulting network should be as close as possible to that of the original network. We propose to solve this problem by extending IPFP (iterative proportional fitting procedure) to probability distributions represented by Bayesian networks. The resulting algorithm E-IPFP is further developed to D-IPFP, which reduces the computational cost by decomposing a global E-IPFP into a set of smaller local E-IPFP problems. Limited analysis is provided, including the convergence proofs of the two algorithms. Computer experiments were conducted to validate the algorithms. The results are consistent with the theoretical analysis.
21181741
An alternative estimation method for the accelerated failure time frailty model
Frailty models based on the proportional hazards model are useful to analyze correlated or clustered failure time data. However, there has been some recent interest in a frailty model based on the popular accelerated failure time model for correlated failure time data ([Pan, W., 2001. Using frailties in the accelerated failure time model. Lifetime Data Anal. 7(1), 55-64], for example). In this paper we review recent advances on this model in the literature. We propose a general estimation method based on M-estimators and the EM algorithm to estimate the parameters in the model. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, we carry out a simulation study. The results of the simulation study show that the proposed method performs well in comparison with existing estimation methods. As an illustration, the model and the proposed method are applied to analyze the effects of sublingual nitroglycerin and oral isosorbide dinitrate on angina pectoris of coronary heart disease patients [Danahy, D.T., Burwell, D.T., Aronow, W.S., Prakash, R., 1977. Sustained hemodynamic and antianginal effect of high dose oral isosorbide dinitrate. Circulation 55, 381-387].
18457324
On the higher-order edge toughness of a graph
For an integer c, 1?c??V(G)??1, we define the cth-order edge toughness of a graph G as tc(G)=min|X|?(G?X)?cX?E(G) & ?(G?X)>c The objective of this paper is to study this generalized concept of edge toughness. Besides giving the of the cth-order edge toughness ?c(G) of a graph G, we prove that `?c(G)?k if and only if G has k edge-disjoint spanning forests with exactly c components?. We also study the `balancity? of a graph G of order p and size q, which is defined as the smallest positive integer c such that ?c(G) = p/(p?c).
36490919
Estimating baseline distribution in proportional hazards cure models
Semiparametric proportional hazards cure models have been proposed recently for survival data from some clinical trials where cure is a possibility. However, it is known that the estimated baseline distribution in the proposed methods will not be proper if there is no restriction on the tail of the distribution, which leads to the identifiability problem. In this work, we investigate several methods that impose restrictions on the tail of the baseline distribution. A simulation study shows that the proposed methods are useful in reducing estimation errors in the cure models. The impact of the different methods on the estimation of regression parameters and survival probabilities of patients who are not cured is detailed in the paper. The results provide useful guidelines for practitioners to select appropriate estimation methods for the semiparametric cure model. The application of the results is illustrated with a real data set from a clinical trial of breast cancer.
15008277
The interoperability problem: bringing together mobile agents and agent communication languages
Interoperability is a central issue far both the mobile agents community and the wider agents community. Unfortunately, the interoperability concerns are different between the two communities. As a result, inter-agent communication is an issue that has been addressed in a limited manner by the mobile agents community. Supplementing mobile agents with the ability to interact a a higher level with other mobile or static agents, or agentified information sources is a necessity in the vastly heterogeneous arena where mobile agents are called to compete. An agent communication language (ACL) has been interpreted by the agents community as a tool with the capacity to integrate disparate sources of information. Such a perspective does not seem to be shared by the mobile agents community. We investigate the origins of the differences of perspective on agent to agent communication and examine the reasons for the relative lack of interest on ACLs by mobile agents researchers and explore the integration of ACLs into mobile agents frameworks.
18522080
Example of supersonic solutions to a steady state Euler-Poisson system
Abstract We give an example of supersonic solutions to a one-dimensional steady state Euler–Poisson system arising in the modeling of plasmas and semiconductors. The existence of the supersonic solutions which correspond to large current density is proved by Schauder’s fixed point theorem. We show also the uniqueness of solutions in the supersonic region.