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Summary: This White Paper details the status of hip and knee arthroplasty care in Germany. Hip and knee replacements are amongst the most frequently performed procedures and usually become necessarily due to age-related wear of the joint, osteoarthritis and fractures of the femoral neck. In light of demographic change, demands with regard to standards of care and the procedures are likely to rise. This book addresses people involved in shaping and representing the healthcare system from a variety of fields including medical professions, health insurances and health sciences as well as journalists and patient representatives.

Summary: This open access book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the First International ISCIS Security Workshop 2018, Euro-CYBERSEC 2018, held in London, UK, in February 2018. The 12 full papers presented together with an overview paper were carefully reviewed and selected from 31 submissions. Security of distributed interconnected systems, software systems, and the Internet of Things has become a crucial aspect of the performance of computer systems. The papers deal with these issues, with a specific focus on societally critical systems such as health informatics systems, the Internet of Things, energy systems, digital cities, digital economy, mobile networks, and the underlying physical and network infrastructures.

Summary: This open access book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Computer and Information Sciences, EuroCybersec 2021, held in Nice, France, in October 2021. The 9 papers presented together with 1 invited paper were carefully reviewed and selected from 21 submissions. The papers focus on topics of security of distributed interconnected systems, software systems, Internet of Things, health informatics systems, energy systems, digital cities, digital economy, mobile networks, and the underlying physical and network infrastructures. This is an open access book.

Summary: This open access book constitutes revised selected papers from the International Workshops held at the 4th International Conference on Process Mining, ICPM 2022, which took place in Bozen-Bolzano, Italy, during October 23-28, 2022. The conference focuses on the area of process mining research and practice, including theory, algorithmic challenges, and applications. The co-located workshops provided a forum for novel research ideas. The 42 papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 89 submissions. They stem from the following workshops: - 3rd International Workshop on Event Data and Behavioral Analytics (EDBA) - 3rd International Workshop on Leveraging Machine Learning in Process Mining (ML4PM) - 3rd International Workshop on Responsible Process Mining (RPM) (previously known as Trust, Privacy and Security Aspects in Process Analytics) - 5th International Workshop on Process-Oriented Data Science for Healthcare (PODS4H) - 3rd International Workshop on Streaming Analytics for Process Mining (SA4PM) - 7th International Workshop on Process Querying, Manipulation, and Intelligence (PQMI) - 1st International Workshop on Education meets Process Mining (EduPM) - 1st International Workshop on Data Quality and Transformation in Process Mining (DQT-PM)

Summary: This open access proceedings presents new approaches to Machine Learning for Cyber Physical Systems, experiences and visions. It contains selected papers from the fifth international Conference ML4CPS - Machine Learning for Cyber Physical Systems, which was held in Berlin, March 12-13, 2020. Cyber Physical Systems are characterized by their ability to adapt and to learn: They analyze their environment and, based on observations, they learn patterns, correlations and predictive models. Typical applications are condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, image processing and diagnosis. Machine Learning is the key technology for these developments.

When performing quality inspection of recycled paper one phenomenon of concern is the appearance of macroscopic undulations on the paper sheet surface that may emerge shortly or some time after its production. In this paper we explore the detection and measurement of this defect by means of computer vision and statistical pattern recognition techniques that may allow early detection at the production site. We propose features computed from Gabor Filter Banks (GFB) and Discrete Wavelet Transforms (DWT) for the characterization of paper sheet surface bumpiness in recycled paper images. The lack of a precise definition of the defect and the great variability of the sheet deformation shapes and scales, both within each image and between images, introduce additional difficulties to the problem. We obtain, with both proposed modeling approaches (GFB and DWT), classification accuracies are comparable to the agreement between human observers. The best performance is obtained using DWT features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fluorescence spectra of historical and model paper samples, previously irradiated with the laser beam at wavelengths of 1,064, 532, 355, and 266 nm, are recorded under excitation at 266 nm, and the nonirradiated samples are used for reference. The spectral profiles obtained for the laser-treated model papers made of cotton and/or linen only reveal differences compared to the reference ones. After irradiation at 532 and 1,064 nm, a decrease of the band intensities of the entire spectral profile is observed. In contrary, the UV irradiation at 355nm of the same samples results in the increase of bands centered at 341 and 370nm compared to the visible region only. Prolonged treatment at 266nm results in the marked increase of band intensities in the visible region and corresponds to the independently observed yellowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main constituents of textiles, paper and parchment are proteins and polysaccharides. These organic matters are particularly sensitive to damage such as spotting, dimensional deformations, depolymerisation, and offer a surface particularly suitable towards the deposition of various materials. In the case of the paper and parchment cleaning, traditional techniques are well known, as well as the risk to make halos and shades when using the mechanical action of a scalpel or solvent mixtures to thin the spots. For textile artefacts the need to remove dust, spots, and mud residues is a duty though this action is quite difficult with traditional methods because the dense weft and warp structure does not allow a complete cleaning, without a minor damage of the artwork. The authors set up a research program to verify the possibility and the results of an Er:YAG laser equipment, emitting at 2,940 nm, following the results achieved previously in OPD on the treatment of organic materials (LACONA IV proceedings). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of test is looked at for IC Test to put in context the papers that are being highlighted at DATE. This paper focuses on the path that led to the adoption of structural test. ATE related historical aspects are not mentioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel application of a semantic annotation system, named Cerno, to analyze research publications in electronic format. Specifically, we address the problem of providing automatic support for authors who need to deal with large volumes of research documents. To this end, we have developed Biblio, a user-friendly tool based on Cerno. The tool directs the user's attention to the most important elements of the papers and provides assistance by generating automatically a list of references and an annotated bibliography given a collection of published research articles. The tool performance has been evaluated on a set of papers and preliminary evaluation results are promising. The backend of Biblio uses a standard relational database to store the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some of the most interesting developments within computer system design in recent years have emerged from an exploration of the ways everyday objects and artefacts can be augmented with computational resources. Often under the rubric of "ubiquitous computing", research programmes in Europe, North America and Japan have directed substantial funding towards these initiatives, and leading industrial and academic research laboratories have developed a diverse range of ubiquitous computing "solutions". These developments mark an important shift in system design, a shift that is having a corresponding impact on social science research. Surprisingly though, given the growing commitment to the ubiquitous and the tangible, there is a mundane, even humble artefact that pervades our ordinary lives that has received less attention than one might imagine. This artefact is paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explore new metaphors for interaction design on tabletop system. Tabletop systems are shared horizontal surface for co-located collaboration, which leads to original problems when designing interactions. We propose two metaphors based on the paper: the peeling metaphor, and the slot metaphor, and then suggest a way of using them to design new interactions for solving some of the problems of tabletop systems: documents organization, documents transmission and documents duplication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with a multi-resolution tool for screening paper formation variations in various frequency regions on production line. A paper web is illuminated by two red diode lasers and the reflected light recorded as two time series of high resolution measurements constitute the input signal to the papermaking process monitoring system. The time series are divided into blocks and each block is analyzed separately. The task is treated as kernel based novelty detection applied to a multi-resolution time series representation obtained from the band-pass filtering of the Fourier power spectrum of the series. The frequency content of each frequency region is characterized by a feature vector, which is transformed using the canonical correlation analysis and then categorized into the inlier or outlier class by the novelty detector. The ratio of outlying data points, significantly exceeding the predetermined value, indicates abnormalities in the paper formation. The tools developed are used for online paper formation monitoring in a paper mill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MIMO systems are of interest to meet the expected demand for higher data rates and lower delays in future wireless systems. In addition, multi-carrier systems are of interest to combat frequency-selective fading experienced over the larger bandwidth these future broadband systems will use. The introduction of these spatial and frequency resources adds extra dimensions and complexity for any scheduling algorithm in a multiuser system. In this paper, we investigate scheduling through utility functions implemented via genetic algorithms in order to reduce complexity. This paper extends our prior work for a single-carrier MIMO system using dirty paper coding to the multi-carrier case. Here, the users that are scheduled, the order they are encoded in, and the subcarrier frequencies they are assigned to will all affect the performance of the scheduling algorithm. We demonstrate that the genetic algorithm is still able to achieve a similar near-optimal performance relative to an exhaustive search with the same relative reduction in complexity. Additionally, with the use of OFDM, an increase in capacity is seen relative to the single-carrier case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we review two well-known citation methods to find relatedness between scientific papers: co-citation and bibliographic coupling. We propose a practical method to estimate the co-citation relatedness using the Google search engine. We call this method Web co-citation. We conducted experiments on a collection of scientific papers to compare the performances of different methods. The experimental results show that our approach, despite its simplicity, is efficient in discovering the relatedness between scientific papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter describes the development and structure of the NAPAP model and compares it to other forest sector models. The NAPAP model was based on PELPS and adapted to describe paper and paperboard product demand, pulpwood and recovered paper supply, and production capacity and technology, with spatially dynamic market equilibria. We describe how the model predicts paper and paperboard product demands and trade flows over time, concurrently with regional capacity changes and corresponding shifts in process technology based on Tobin's q theory of capital investment. We describe how the model was tested and calibrated and then provide examples of applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dirty paper coding are relevant for wireless networks, multiuser channels, and digital watermarking. We show that the problem of dirty paper is essentially equivalent to some classes of constrained memories, and we explore the binary so-called nested codes, which are used for efficient coding and error-correction on such channels and memories. Keywords: dirty paper, constrained memory, nested codes, covering codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes certain uses of Binomial Probability Paper. This graph paper was designed to facilitate the employment of R.A. Fisher's inverse sine transformation for proportions. The transformation itself is designed to adjust binomially distributed data so that the variance will not depend on the true value of the proportion p, but only on the sample size n. In addition, binomial data so transformed more closely approximate normality than the raw data. The usefulness of plotting binomial data in rectangular coordinates, using a square-root scale for the number observed in each category, was first pointed out by Fisher and Mather [10]. The graph paper under discussion is specially ruled to make this mode of plotting both simple and rapid. A graduated quadrant makes the angular transformation (p = cos2φ or p = sin2 φ) easily available at the same time. Most tests of counted data can be made quickly, easily and with what is usually adequate accuracy with this paper. Some 22 examples are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this tutorial paper we summarise the key features of the multi-threaded Qu-Prolog language for implementing multi-threaded communicating agent applications. Internal threads of an agent communicate using the shared dynamic database used as a generalisation of Linda tuple store. Threads in different agents, perhaps on different hosts, communicate using either a thread-to-thread store and forward communication system, or by a publish and subscribe mechanism in which messages are routed to their destinations based on content test subscriptions. We illustrate the features using an auction house application. This is fully distributed with multiple auctioneers and bidders which participate in simultaneous auctions. The application makes essential use of the three forms of inter-thread communication of Qu-Prolog. The agent bidding behaviour is specified graphically as a finite state automaton and its implementation is essentially the execution of its state transition function. The paper assumes familiarity with Prolog and the basic concepts of multi-agent systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a tutorial describing the main features of the KGP (Knowledge-Goals-Plan) model of agency and giving user guidance on how the model can be used to develop applications. The KGP model is based on computational logic. It consists of an abstract component, a computational component and an implementation. This paper concentrates on the abstract component, which consists of formal specifications of a number of different modules, including the knowledge bases, capabilities, transitions and control. For each of these we summarise what is provided by the model, and through the platform implementing the model, and what is left to the users to specify according to the requirements of the applications for which they wish to use the KGP model to design agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many design activities depend on communicative activities around collaboratively produced prototypes. A common communication practice in producing text documents is to add annotation in the form of comments. Previous research indicates that electronic paper-prototyping can be used to rapidly create simple prototypes of interactive systems, such as websites. Little is known, however, about how to provide and maintain variety of communication channels around such electronic paper-prototypes to enable end-users and other stakeholders to contribute to design dialogues. This paper presents Gabbeh, an electronic paper-prototyping tool, and reports on an evaluation using the tool in a simulated design exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers from the same lab often spend a considerable amount of time searching for published articles relevant to their current project. Despite having similar interests, they conduct independent, time consuming searches. While they may share the results afterwards, they are unable to leverage previous search results during the search process. We propose a research paper recommender system that avoids such time consuming searches by augmenting existing search engines with recommendations based on previous searches performed by others in the lab. Most existing recommender systems were developed for commercial domains with millions of users. The research paper domain has relatively few users compared to the large number of online research papers. The two major challenges with this type of data are the large number of dimensions and the sparseness of the data. The novel contribution of the paper is a scalable subspace clustering algorithm (SCuBASCuBA: Subspace Clustering Based Analysis.) that tackles these problems. Both synthetic and benchmark datasets are used to evaluate the clustering algorithm and to demonstrate that it performs better than the traditional collaborative filtering approaches when recommending research papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wet paper codes were proposed as a tool for constructing steganographic schemes with an arbitrary selection channel that is not shared between the sender and the recipient. In this paper, we describe new approaches to wet paper codes that enjoy low computational complexity and improved embedding efficiency (number of message bits per embedding change). Some applications of wet paper codes to steganography and data embedding in binary images are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates an aggressive back off strategy as part of the congestion management algorithms developed for Direct Broadcast Satellites with Return Channel Systems (DBS-RCS). The satellite architecture considered in this work is based on an asymmetric architecture with the high capacity forward link provided by the DBS and low speed return channel is provided by a constellation of Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites. The network carries both Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) coded video traffic and other data traf-fic having available bit rates (ABR) which is based on Reliable DBS Multicast Protocol (RDMP). Due to overwhelming complexity of real DBS-RCS systems, unless unduly simplifications are made, an exact analysis of this system be-comes impossible. Therefore, we rely on the testbed results for investigation of the proposed aggressive back off strategy. In this paper, we first present a brief background on adaptive resource allocation and management (ARAM) system developed in our earlier work [1]. Then, we provide the proof of concept ex-periments for the newly introduced aggressive back off strategy. We show that the distributed control provided by the watermarks provides performance com-parable to the baseline ARAM model. We also show that an aggressive back off strategy should be used for increased QoS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter is focused on the problem caused by the effluent discharges from paper and pulp mills. At present, three aspects should be considered in paper and pulp wastewater management: (1) the toxicity and high BOD5 of whitewaters and effluents; (2) the lack of knowledge on specific compounds responsible for the toxicity of the liquid and solid residue (sludge) and (3) the difficulty of treating whitewaters, which are characterized by the presence of suspended solids, colour odour, a high organic content, and an overall high toxicity. This chapter attempts to give an overview of organic compounds that contribute to the toxicity of paper mill waters and effluents, their levels, toxicological characterization and the methodologies used for their analysis. Families of compounds that are included are natural compounds such as resin and fatty acids, lignins, lignans and carbohydrates, and additives used during paper making such as surfactants, biocides and slimicides. In addition, part of the chapter is devoted to describing the wastewater treatment strategies used to decrease the toxicity and BOD5 of the effluents, which are used to indirectly phase out toxic organic pollutants from paper and pulp whitewaters (Table 1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple business factors have emerged to accelerate the necessity of event-driven functionality and make it part of the main-stream computing, instead of a niche technology. Consequently, there is now focus on using high-level software constructs to build these applications. This paper presents a vision for such high-level features and architecture. This paper explains why "event-driven applications" becomes an emerging area, explains the basic terminology of EDA, explains the relationship to business rules, and sets some directions for the future of this discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Office workers tend to produce paper piles of documents to read or to process sometime later. The information contained in these piles is often lost if it is not transferred to electronic format and connected to knowledge structures. Information that is not part of the knowledge worker's electronic information space is frequently overlooked because it is not proactively provided during actual processes or tasks he is involved in. This paper presents a novel prototype for an intelligent office appliance, which results from an integration of three state-of-the-art office applications/appliances: a workflow system, a document classification system, and a multi-functional peripheral. The resulting system allows for leveraging an office worker's papers to her personal knowledge space in order to realize a pro-active and context-sensitive information support within knowledge-intensive tasks and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To facilitate the transition from paper-based patient record (PPR) to computer-based patient record (CPR), engineers should try to improve the usability of CPR system. From the point of view of a physician, we reviewed PPRs written by 8 Japanese physicians. We revealed the characteristics of PPR to find out about the barrier to transition from PPR to CPR. Our findings may be helpful to the engineers who are aiming to develop a CPR system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we describe the design of a hybrid search that combines simple metadata search with a traditional keyword search over unstructured context data. This paradigm provides the inquirer additional options to narrow the search with some semantic aspects through the XML metadata query. We demonstrate a paper search for a case study of the hybrid search, and describe a data integration hub to integrate those data dispersed on the Net. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Production of lactic acid from paper sludge has been performed by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). The SSF process design was based on experimental data obtained from cellulose hydrolysis and fermentation. The SSF process was employed to avoid an excessively dense solution when the sludge content of the feed was higher than 15%; this is one of several benefits of SSF. The enzyme system used for hydrolysis of paper sludge for production of glucose was optimized. CMCase and α-glucosidase with activities of 2.5 and 10 U mL-1, respectively, were found to be optimum for hydrolyzing 5% sludge. In batch SSF 16 g L-1 lactic acid was produced from 5% paper sludge with an yield of 80%. Paper sludge which served as a feed seemed to have a buffering effect during SSF, probably because of the inorganic ash component in the sludge. The final product concentration by SSF was observed to be limited by the cellulose content of the system, which can probably be resolved by intermittent feeding of the paper sludge. SSF of paper sludge fed in batch mode, with intermittent feeding, produced lactic acid at 162 g L-1, with a yield of 74% and a productivity of 1.4 g L-1 h-1. The lactic acid production performance of the modified bioreactor improved after removal of indigestible solid materials from the upper compartment, which enabled the feed of paper sludge to be increased. A mathematical model is described which predicts glucose and subsequent lactic acid production on the basis of the rate expressions of each step of the SSF process. Saccharification kinetics were determined by experiments on enzymatic cellulose hydrolysis, by use of a Michaelis-Menten equation; growth kinetics of L. rhamnosus were determined by use of a Monod expression which incorporated lactic acid inhibition. The kinetic model is expected to predict the performance of the SSF process. For further use of the lactic acid, i.e. polylactic acid, it must be recovered and purified. Results from application of the simulated moving-bed (SMB) process for separation of lactic acid and acetic acid are given, as are several methods of lactic acid purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the properties and use of paper in everyday settings and discuss the motivation for retaining paper as an information medium. In particular, we consider the use of paper maps and guidebooks by tourists during city visits as an example of a mobile and collaborative environment. We then go on to present recent developments in technologies for digital paper and how they can be used to seamlessly integrate digital and printed information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Usability maturation manifests in terms of quality in software, in interaction, and in value, constituting the three parts of this volume. In this green paper, the three editors present a range of ideas drawn and synthesized from the fifteen preceding chapters. It is not just a review, but, more importantly, it is an invitation for interested individuals or organizations to contribute more views and information, providing answers to open questions, challenging existing opinions, raising new issues, and bridging the gaps. In the Introduction, a brief overview of the development of the field of HCI is presented. In each of the three following sections, the five chapters comprising the respective part are reviewed and attendant issues are discussed, leading to research agendas that can serve as a roadmap for the future work on usability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have been asked to provide general comments on our colleague's paper entitled, ‘How to win a WTO dispute based on non- WTO Law'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a Memetic Differential Evolution (MDE) for designing digital filters which aim at detecting defects of the paper produced during an industrial process. The MDE is an adaptive evolutionary algorithm which combines the powerful explorative features of Differential Evolution (DE) with the exploitative features of two local searchers. The local searchers are adaptively activated by means of a novel control parameter which measures fitness diversity within the population. Numerical results show that the DE framework is efficient for the class of problems under study and employment of exploitative local searchers is helpful in supporting the DE explorative mechanism in avoiding stagnation and thus detecting solutions having a high performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U-Healthcare promises increases in efficiency, accuracy and availability of medical treatment; however it also introduces the potential for serious abuses including major privacy violations, staff discrimination and even life-threatening attacks. In this position paper we highlight some potential threats and open the discussion about the security requirements of this new scenario. We take a few initial steps towards a U-Healthcare security policy and propose a system architecture designed to help enforce the policy's goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The softened rolling contact of two paper machine rolls is considered. A regenerative excitation source can exists in the system due to the finite relaxation time of the roll cover polymer materials. The modeling of the rolls is described by multibody substructuring methodology and the polymer cover layer between the rolls in contact is modeled by contact spring reaction forces calculated according to the stiffness of the layer. The regenerative excitation is introduced to the system as a time delay term and it is calculated from the penetration history of the cover layer. The solution of the system equations is obtained by numerical time integration by utilizing the method of steps time delay equation solution procedure. Some numerical results are illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global paper industry needs systems that can be used in all locations. International user studies can be helpful when integrating systems. Not only due to the lack of common language but also the differences in culture and the usage of systems, information from different countries needs to be collected and analyzed so that the integration development is not be biased and unilateral. During the study some food for thought was gathered on what to consider when planning an international user study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increased use of Internet and information technology all over the world, there is an increased amount of criminal activities that involve computing and digital data. These digital crimes (e-crimes) impose new challenges on prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of the corresponding offences. Computer forensics (also known as cyberforensics) is an emerging research area that applies computer investigation and analysis techniques to help detection of these crimes and gathering of digital evidence suitable for presentation in courts. This new area combines the knowledge of information technology, forensics science, and law and gives rise to a number of interesting and challenging problems related to computer security and cryptography that are yet to be solved. In this paper, we present and discuss some of these problems together with two successful cases of computer forensics technology developed in Hong Kong that enable the law enforcement departments to detect and investigate digital crimes more efficiently and effectively. We believe that computer forensics research is an important area in applying security and computer knowledge to build a better society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with a multi-resolution tool for analysis of a time series aiming to detect abnormalities in various frequency regions. The task is treated as a kernel based novelty detection applied to a multi-level time series representation obtained from the discrete wavelet transform. Having a priori knowledge that the abnormalities manifest themselves in several frequency regions, a committee of detectors utilizing data dependent aggregation weights is build by combining outputs of detectors operating in those regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amongst several fundamental aspects in multi-agent systems design, the definition of the agent interaction space is of the utmost importance. The specification of the agent interaction has several facets: syntax, semantics, and compliance verification. In an open society, heterogenous agents can participate without showing any credentials. Accessing their internals or their knowledge bases is typically impossible, thus it is impossible to prove a priori that agents will indeed behave according to the society rules. Within the SOCS (Societies Of ComputeeS) project, a language based on abductive semantics has been proposed as a mean to define interactions in open societies. The proposed language allows the designer to define open, extensible and not over-constrained protocols. Beside the definition language, a software tool has been developed with the purpose of verifying at execution time if the agents behave correctly with respect to the defined protocols. This paper provides a tutorial overview of the theory and of the tools the SOCS project provided to design, define and test agent interaction protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on the tutorial given as part of the tutorial programme of CLIMA-VI. The tutorial aimed at giving an overview of the various features available in Jason, a multi-agent systems development platform that is based on an interpreter for an extended version of AgentSpeak. The BDI architecture is the best known and most studied architecture for cognitive agents, and AgentSpeak is an elegant, logic-based programming language inspired by the BDI architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the simplest protocols for clock synchronization in wireless ad hoc and sensor networks is the converge-to-max protocol, which has the simple logic of adjusting each node's clock to be at least as large as any neighbor's. This paper examines the converge-to-max protocol, showing it to be stabilizing even when node clocks have skew, bounded domains, and dynamic communication links. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All papers have been typed and translated trying to reproduce as much as possible their original aspect. We only used common fonts and the same style for the titles, the abstracts and the bibliography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Privacy-preserving classification mining is one of the fast-growing sub-areas of data mining. How to perturb original data and then build a decision tree based on perturbed data is the key research challenge. By applying transition probability matrix this paper proposes a novel privacy-preserving classification mining algorithm which suits all data types, arbitrary probability distribution of original data, and perturbing all attributes (including label attribute). Experimental results demonstrate that decision tree built using this algorithm on perturbed data has comparable classifying accuracy to decision tree built using un-privacy-preserving algorithm on original data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an improvement to TCP-Peach+, called TCP-Peach++, is proposed to improve the throughput performance for satellite IP networks with asymmetrical bandwidth and persistent fades. The delayed SACK scheme is adopted to address the problems due to bandwidth asymmetrical satellite links. A new protocol procedure, Hold State, is developed to address the link outages due to persistent fades. The simulation results show that TCP-Peach++ improves the throughput performance during rain fades and addresses the bandwidth asymmetry problems in Satellite IP Networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the request for multimedia broadband services via satellite has been rapidly increasing. We envisage a group of terminals that have to transmit (uplink) to a Network Control Center (NCC) via a geostationary bent-pipe satellite; the NCC is interconnected to the Internet through a router. Terminals employ the DVB-RCS standard to communicate with the NCC. Due to both the intrinsic propagation delay and the presence of a lossy radio channel, the Transport Control Protocol (TCP) is particularly inefficient in the satellite scenario. Therefore, we propose a novel cross-layer mechanism where resources are allocated by the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer at the NCC depending on the TCP behavior at remote terminals. Moreover, the MAC layer can also intervene on the TPC data injection rate to avoid system congestion. Simulation results show that: (i) our scheme prevents the occurrence of TCP timeouts (due to the satellite network congestion), thus improving the utilization of radio resources; (ii) it reduces the mean file transfer time for ftp applications with respect to a classical allocation scheme. This paper has been carried out within A&TCP research group of the "SatNEx" NoE project (URL: www.satnex.org; contract No. 507052) belonging to the 6-th framework of the European Commission. Index Terms:Satellite Networks, DVB-RCS, TCP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]