This monograph is devoted to computational morphology, particularly to the construction of a two-dimensional or a three-dimensional closed object boundary through a set of points in arbitrary position. By applying techniques from computational geometry and CAGD, new results are developed in four stages of the construction process: (a) the gamma-neighborhood graph for describing the structure of a set of points; (b) an algorithm for constructing a polygonal or polyhedral boundary (based on (a)); (c) the flintstone scheme as a hierarchy for polygonal and polyhedral approximation and localization; (d) and a Bezier-triangle based scheme for the construction of a smooth piecewise cubic boundary.
Making systems easier to use implies increasingly complex management of communication between users and applications. An increasing part of the application program is devoted to the user interface. In order to manage this complexity, it is very important to have tools, notations, and methodologies that support the designer's work during the refinement process from specification to implementation. The purpose of this proceedings of the first (1994) Eurographics workshop on this area is to review the state of the art. It compares the different existing approaches in order to identify the principal requirements and the most suitable notations and methods, and indicates the relevant results.
In the ten years since the first MAAMAW was held in 1989, at King's College, Cambridge, the field of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) has flourished. It has attracted an increasing amount of theoretical and applied research. During this decade, important efforts have been made to establish the scientific and technical foundations of MAS. MAAMAW publications are testimony to the progress achieved in key areas such as agent modelling and reasoning, multi-agent interaction and communication, and multi-agent organisation and social structure. Research results have covered a wide range of inter-related topics in each area including agent architectures, reasoning models, logics, conflict resolution, negotiation, resource allocation, load balancing, learning; social behaviour and interaction, languages and protocols, interagent and agent-human communication, social models, agent roles, norms and social laws, and static and dynamic organisational structures. The feasibility and the viability of the proposed models and techniques have been demonstrated through MAS applications in heterogeneous domains including electronic commerce, co-operative work, telecommunications, social and biological systems, robotics, office and business automation, public administration, social simulations and banking. As the applicability of the technology became understood, the multi-agent paradigm has been progressively accepted by product managers and system developers, giving rise to a considerable amount of business expectation from industry. These expectations do not rest on the concept or metaphor of agent, but on the development of MAS useful in an industrial setting, with real-time systems presenting the biggest challenge.
This volume contains the best carefully revised full papers selected from the presentations accepted for the AI '93 and AI '94 Workshop on Evolutionary Computation held in Australia. The 21 papers included cover a wide range of topics in the field of evolutionary computation, from constrained function optimization to combinatorial optimization, from evolutionary programming to genetic programming, from robotic strategy learning to co-evolutionary game strategy learning. The papers reflect important recent progress in the field; more than half of the papers come from overseas.
Super-radiance: Multiatomic Coherent Emission provides a comprehensive, self-contained account of the theory and experiments of the quantum optic phenomenon of superradiance. Contributed by highly regarded researchers in the field, the book first presents the theory of superradiance at a level suitable for graduate physicists approaching the subject for the first time. This introduction is followed by a more rigorous treatment that is supported by the analysis of experiments dealing with superradiance and by a discussion on the possible uses of the effect in other areas of optics and electronics. The theoretical and experimental results presented in this book will introduce a wide audience to this important area of quantum optics.
This book presents a modern and attractive approach to computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) by stressing the crucial role of information management aspects. The 31 contributions contained constitute the final report on the EC Project TEMPUS No. 2609 aimed at establishing a new curriculum and regular education in the new field of information management in CIM at European universities. Much attention was paid to the style of writing and coverage of the important issues. Thus the book is particularly suited as a text for students and young scientists approaching CIM from different directions; at the same time, it is a comprehensive guide for industrial engineers in machine engineering, computer science, control engineering, artificial intelligence, production management, etc.
Robust control mechanisms customarily require knowledge of the system’s describing equations which may be of the high order differential type. In order to produce these equations, mathematical models can often be derived and correlated with measured dynamic behavior. There are two flaws in this approach one is the level of inexactness introduced by linearizations and the other when no model is apparent. Several years ago a new genre of control systems came to light that are much less dependent on differential models such as fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms. Both of these soft computing solutions require quite considerable a priori system knowledge to create a control scheme and sometimes complicated training program before they can be implemented in a real world dynamic system. Michie and Chambers’ BOXES methodology created a black box system that was designed to control a mechanically unstable system with very little a priori system knowledge, linearization or approximation. All the method needed was some notion of maximum and minimum values for the state variables and a set of boundaries that divided each variable into an integer state number. The BOXES Methodology applies the method to a variety of systems including continuous and chaotic dynamic systems, and discusses how it may be possible to create a generic control method that is self organizing and adaptive that learns with the assistance of near neighbouring states. The BOXES Methodology introduces students at the undergraduate and master’s level to black box dynamic system control , and gives lecturers access to background materials that can be used in their courses in support of student research and classroom presentations in novel control systems and real-time applications of artificial intelligence. Designers are provided with a novel method of optimization and controller design when the equations of a system are difficult or unknown. Researchers interested in artificial intelligence (AI) research and models of the brain and practitioners from other areas of biology and technology are given an insight into how AI software can be written and adapted to operate in real-time.
Information modelling is the essential part of information systems design. Design methods, specification languages, and tools tend to become application dependent, aiming at integration of methodologies stretching from traditional database design to knowledge bases, and including use of logical languages, and process oriented reactive systems description. The topics of the articles cover a wide variety of problems in the area of information modelling, information systems specification, and knowledge bases, ranging from foundations and theories to systems construction and application studies. The contributions are grouped into the following major categories: - Systems specification and information modelling schemes - User interfaces and multimedia - Knowledge organization database structuring - Formal systems - Knowledge and information - From conceptual modelling to software engineering - Description and organization of concepts and objects - Learning systems and applications This book is the eighth volume in the sub-series 'Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases'. This dates back to 1990 with annual publications now amounting to more than 200 reviewed articles. The current volume is intended for researchers, students and practitioners in the area of information systems.
This volume aims to pave the way to a greater understanding of the information system development process. Traditionally, information systems have been perceived as a slice of real world history. This has led to a strong emphasis on the development of conceptual models, the requirements specifications of which can readily be expressed. However, the route to such an expression, or the process of development, has not received any substantial attention. It is now agreed that a study of the development process affords notable benefits. Firstly, it helps to create an understanding of what a realistic development process is and how it proceeds from an initial specification to its acceptable representation. Secondly, the nature of guidance that can be provided by the next generation of CASE tools can be substantially improved. It can be expected that these tools will cease to be mere drafting aids and consistency checking programs. Instead it is likely that they will provide a procreative environment in which the development engineer will play an important role. This tool/user symbiosis should have a beneficial impact on both the productivity of the developer and on the quality of the product. In bringing together researchers and practitioners from such diverse areas as AI, Software Engineering, Decision Support and Information Systems, it is hoped this publication will take the quest to comprehend information system development processes a significant step forwards.
This volume includes the proceedings from Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference Fukuoka, Japan, June 4-7, 1996. This work represents a broad spectrum of new ideas in the field of applied artificial intelligence and expert systems, and serves to disseminate information regarding intelligent methodologies and their implementation in solving various problems in industry and engineering.
