Volume 13 (2012): Issue 1 (November 2012)

- This paper focuses on the experimental analysts of Contract NET protocol for Multi-Robot task allocation. The problem domain consists of multiple vacuum cleaning robots that need to cooperate for cleaning an area that is beyond the capabilities of a single robot. A robot simulator has been used to experiment with various area and robot locations, and the summary of the effort required to process the tasks has been recorded. Experimental results show that using Contract NET protocol alone is not sufficient to achieve optimal results in task allocation. A more advanced strategy with or without involving the Contract NET protocol is required. Possible strategies are outlined and their analysis is the subject of the future work.

- Controlling robots using a multi-agent system is becoming an active research area which includes a lot of challenges regarding localization, management, coordination, task allocation, etc. It is a very important for a human to overview such a system visually - to monitor a robot status, performance and other characteristics. At the same time some concepts relate to all such systems - robots act in certain environment, where there are different kinds of obstacles and objects. In order to fasten initiation of such visualization tools, a new framework is proposed - “Mapclipse” which is based on the popular Eclipse framework. The purpose of the framework is to create a common domain model, API for its management (like reflecting object movements, environment modifications, etc.), a basis for common visualization tasks and provide a means to customize the figures of specific types of objects. This paper describes the concept of the system in detail, the current prototype of framework, some of its extensions, as well as highlights the main challenges in the future.

An important prerequisite for creation of an autonomous robot is the ability to create the map of the environment. While the use of robot teams becomes more and more widely used, the issue of robot coordination becomes one of the central questions to be addressed. If multiple robots are used for the exploration of the environment, their collected information has to be fused into one general global map. This problem is called map merging. In the case, when more than two robots map the environment, it is possible that the order of map merging can influence the quality of the result - the global map. However, most researches in the map merging field address the problem as if the recommended order of map merging were known. The goal of this paper is to prove that the merging order can greatly influence the resulting global map and discuss the consequences this knowledge makes in the mapping process.

- This paper proposes the approach to a concept map merging using methods and tools developed for the same task in the domain of ontologies. The developed method is based on ideas that concept maps and ontologies have structural similarities, and mutual transformations between them are possible therefore tools and methods suitable for ontologies can be applied to concept maps. Concept map merging is necessary to extend the functionality of intelligent concept map-based knowledge assessment system IKAS for reuse of captured concept maps.

In concept map-based assessment an expert’s concept map can be expanded using graph patterns to add hidden and inverse relations. This helps to avoid forcing a learner to use certain structures and names. Graph patterns are subgraphs that describe combinations of concept map elements, from which extra relations can be inferred. In this paper an enriched set of graph patterns is described along with their respective IF...THEN rules which can be used for automated knowledge assessment. Some of them are already implemented in the intelligent and adaptive knowledge assessment system IKAS.

Modern intelligent systems are built from intelligent agents, but usually agent interaction mechanisms are described at the general level omitting design and implementation details. The paper presents aspects of practical implementation of agent interaction mechanisms in JADE platform on the basis of the set of agents for modelling student’s emotions in intelligent tutoring systems. The concepts of an intelligent and affective tutoring system, agent, and agent interaction are explained, as well.

The tagging mechanism is a technique that can be used to implement the personalized collaboration in the e-Learning systems, thereby increasing the efficiency of such a system. Semantic Web technologies can be used to enhance tags with machine-readable annotations to improve the accuracy of tag-based recommendation services.

The novelty of the proposed approach is the combined use of the Semantic Web technologies and the reuse-oriented model in the development of the e-Learning environment.

the article addresses the existing problems found in the area of Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs). Being a widely adopted programming technique, DSL grammar creation process still lacks desirable traceability and automation. The paper proposes a sequential model transformation process based on Model-Driven Architecture concepts as one of the potential solutions to stated problem. One of the main results of the research work is the implementation of prototype of the full-cycle model transformation chain starting from the UML domainmodel and ending with internal Java-based DSL grammar implementation.

The paper discusses application of the topological functioning model (TFM) of the system for its automated transformation to behavioural specifications such as UML Activity Diagram, BPMN diagrams, scenarios, etc. The paper addresses a lack of formal specification of causal relations between functional features of the TFM by using inference means suggested by classical logic. The result is reduced human participation in the transformation as well as additional check of analysis and specification of the system.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) perform the computational processing of geographic data and store the geometry and the attributes of data that are geo-referenced, that is, situated on the earth surface and represented in a cartographic projection. Integral part of GIS functionality is an opportunity to make a complex analysis, which is able to integrate geo-referenced imagery as data layers or themes and link them to other data sets producing geospatial renderings of data. Based on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) GIS expose its capabilities as Web services with purpose to create a flexible and extensible GIS that can quickly respond to changing and future organizational needs. In that case client’s application sends specially formed requests to the GIS services and ensures visual processing of responses. But the drawback is the count of such requests, because imaginary data and data needed for analysis are received sequentially (not simultaneously). The purpose of this paper is to present the solution of decreasing the amount of geo-requests, enabling extensions to existing GIS visual analysis tools and bringing into GIS SOA synchronization mechanism designed on principles of concatenated steganography. This ensures that various geospatial data streams will be kept, transmitted and analytically processed together using concatenated steganography, strongly taking into account mutual relations between these streams.