Engineering a prototype for a next-generation stock assessment modeling platform

Agent technology is still new and relatively unknown to many systems and applications programmers. An agent template would enable programmers to launch and program intelligent agents easily and effectively. Such a template, called Java Agent Alive (JAA), has been developed. It is a software infrastructure that supports communication (using KQML) between different agents incorporating the broadcast (multi-agent communication) and an intelligent shell (Jess). The system requirements, design and implementation of JAA are described. The functional components of JAA include agent template classes, initialization and activation, data packaging and transmission, agent conference architecture, the AI script player, and network class server and loader. The system helps agent developers to create their own agent-based applications. It demonstrates the viability of agents to undertake negotiations on behalf of human beings. Some illustrative features are: a conferencing feature for agents to negotiate; a template for agent developers to activate agents; free movement of agents from one station to another station; AI facilities for agents. A prototype has been developed to demonstrate a personal computer procurement (PCP) process. In PCP, most tasks are carried out by software agents. The extent to which these tasks are delegated largely depends on the extensive use of AI technology, and human trust in software agents. The programmer's platform and the prototype clearly establish the viability of the intelligent agent negotiation system for effective and convenient procurement with minimal human intervention.

The school library is essential for enhancing the educational process and fostering intellectual growth within the school community, serving as a key resource for teaching and learning. However, at SMK Lugina Rancaekek, library administration and data processing are still handled manually with books and Excel spreadsheets, causing inefficiencies in service speed, data management, and report generation. To address these issues, this research proposes the development of a web-based library application. The study aims to evaluate current procedures, identify the functional and non-functional requirements for the new system, and design the necessary hardware and software infrastructure. The goal is to improve library operations through technological advancement, with the expected outcome being a published scientific article and copyright registration.

Engineers in several observatories are now designing the next generation of optical telescopes, the Extremely Large Telescopes (ELT). These are very complex machines that will host sophisticated astronomical instruments to be used for a wide range of scientific studies. In order to carry out scientific observations, a software infrastructure is required to orchestrate the control of the multiple subsystems and functions. This paper will focus on describing the considerations, strategies and main issues related to the definition and analysis of the software requirements for the ELT's Instrument Control System using modern development processes and modelling tools like SysML.

MBARI's MOOS moored network is a state-of-the-art ocean observatory for interdisciplinary science, consisting of interconnected host nodes on the ocean surface, midwater, and seafloor. Each node can accommodate a wide variety of instruments. We describe some of the challenges posed by the system's functional requirements, and how those challenges are addressed by the design of the system's onboard hardware and software. Integration of diverse instruments and their protocols into the network poses major system integration and maintenance challenges, particularly in the areas of instrument installation and control, data retrieval, and data interpretation. All of these functions must be reliably performed in an often hostile environment on networked at-sea platforms that are generally power limited. We describe a distributed software architecture and implementation that addresses these challenges

Spatial distribution pattern changes of oasis soil types in Manasi River Basin, arid northwestern China

In this paper, some vital methodological issues of spatial microsimulation modelling for small area estimation have been addressed, with a particular emphasis given to the reweighting techniques. Most of the review articles in small area estimation have highlighted methodologies based on various statistical models and theories. However, spatial microsimulation modelling is emerging as a very useful alternative means of small area estimation. Our findings demonstrate that spatial microsimulation models are robust and have advantages over other type of models used for small area estimation. The technique uses different methodologies typically based on geographic models and various economic theories. In contrast to statistical model-based approaches, the spatial microsimulation model-based approaches can operate through reweighting techniques such as GREGWT and combinatorial optimization. A comparison between reweighting techniques reveals that they are using quite different iterative algorithms and that their properties also vary. The study also points out a new method for spatial microsimulation modelling

Concerns around herbicide resistance, human risk, and the environmental impacts of current weed control strategies have led to an increasing demand for alternative weed management methods. Many new weed management strategies are under development; however, the poor availability of accurate weed maps, and a lack of confidence in the outcomes of alternative weed management strategies, has hindered their adoption. Developments in field sampling and processing, combined with spatial modelling, can support the implementation and assessment of new and more integrated weed management strategies. Our review focuses on the biological and mathematical aspects of assembling within-field weed models. We describe both static and spatio-temporal models of within-field weed distributions (including both cellular automata (CA) and non-CA models), discussing issues surrounding the spatial processes of weed dispersal and competition and the environmental and anthropogenic processes that affect weed spatial and spatio-temporal distributions. We also examine issues surrounding model uncertainty. By reviewing the current state-of-the-art in both static and temporally dynamic weed spatial modelling we highlight some of the strengths and weaknesses of current techniques, together with current and emerging areas of interest for the application of spatial models, including targeted weed treatments, economic analysis, herbicide resistance and integrated weed management, the dispersal of biocontrol agents, and invasive weed species.

Assessment could not be done without an organized infrastructure of personnel and software. This study examined this infrastructure in educator preparation programs (EPPs) across one state in the southeast United States. The results are compared to a similar survey conducted in the same state ten years ago to identify changes over time. Several findings emerged. Personnel leading assessment efforts in EPPs have assessment as only one of several other job duties they perform. A variety of assessment management systems (AMSs) are used across institutions, with most in use for over a decade. EPPs tend to use their AMS to collect student artifacts and enable the evaluations of those artifacts, then export this data to other software for analysis and reporting. The primary need in assessment systems is (and has been for some time) additional personnel resources. Implications of these for both EPPs and AMS vendors are discussed.

The Emken web application was created to address prolonged delays in accessing essential healthcare and guidance during emergencies, difficulties in connecting with healthcare practitioners, and the lack of information about nearby hospitals during medical crises. The React framework was selected for the front-end to provide a modern, responsive user interface. Firebase was chosen as the back-end platform for its real-time database, user authentication, and hosting services. Development followed secure, scalable, and maintainable software engineering standards, supported by continuous integration and systematic testing. Integration testing was conducted to ensure that both frontend and backend components function seamlessly together, while automated and manual unit testing were employed to identify and rectify bugs and issues. Version control was managed through Git and GitHub, ensuring effective collaboration, traceability, and structured code maintenance. This web application provides users with comprehensive information on the steps to take in any medical emergency, regardless of location, via wireless communication. It also features a map showing all nearby medical hospitals. Additionally, users can chat with an experienced doctor at any time of day regarding any medical emergencies or traumas they may be facing. With Emken's precise and comprehensive emergency instructions, users can respond promptly and effectively to critical situations. This feature could save lives by guiding individuals through essential steps before professional assistance arrives.

Many modern version control systems are designed to store program source code and provide an extensive functionality for this field of activity. This article describes an approach towards applying general version control concepts for storage of arbitrary file collections. The goal of this work is creation of a version control system that is applicable for storage of arbitrary file collections, performs a more efficient storage of frequently changed files and uses a more generic approaches towards version control, compared to version control systems of source code. Main concepts along with general algorithms of described system are presented in this paper. This paper also describes main applications of developed system and its system requirements.

Focusing on the topic of model integration, we develop a Workflow-based Spatial Modeling Environment (WF-SME) which enables scientists and modeling users easy to design and create of complex systems models through a drag-drop operation or editing mathematical formula in model constructor. WF-SME, a visual integrated modeling environment is mainly used for the rapid realization of model dynamic integration, in which we can implement the composition and connection of the existing models, and generate new model through graphical operation. The papers firstly introduce the framework of model integration designed for WF-SME as well as its supporting theory, and then explain in detail how the modules of WF-SME have been realized. WF-SME is a platform for spatial modelling, which was designed in four parts, Spatial Workflow Designer, Model builder, Spatial Calculation engine and Visualization of Modelling Output. The spatial workflow designer built-in WF-SME shipping with toolsets was adopted to create spatial workflow, reuse and aggregate models. Consisting of equation editor and data banding tool, the model builder enable modeller updates formulas on-demand. This editor parsed by MathML is powerful and flexible enough for the requirements of expressions of mathematical calculations. The spatial calculating engine developed based on component, through the map algebra language, executes mathematical calculations. The multi-form visualization module was developed to provide visual expression for a series of intermediate data and its result of the domain models. Finally, we illustrate how the typical practical application sample has been modeled in our modeling environment to validate the feasibility and efficiency of WF-SME. As a case study, grassland ecosystem productivity mechanism model whose input parameters include PAR (Photo synthetically active radiation), Temperature, Precipitation, Soil fertility etc, were build using WF-SME. By the experiments, it is shown that our research is a new attempt for model components reusing and complicated models integration, and WF-SME has been satisfied for complicatedly modeling in multi-domain of resource and environment.

Introduction: Hospital information system (HIS) plays an important role in improving the quality of treatment in hospitals. These systems are considered as an information system that can have a great influence on the efficiency and effectiveness of hospital management. Assessment system as one of the most important debates in the hospital management system has received great emphasis. The present study was aimed to assess HISs of Isfahan academic hospitals and was performed using Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) standard. Methods: This study is an applied descriptive cross-sectional study, in which 11 academic HISs of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences were surveyed by using a CCHIT standard checklist with three areas (information management, patient management, and technical management). Obtained data were analyzed with SPSS software V. 18 (IBM), and descriptive statistics was used to examine measures of central tendencies. Results: Data analysis revealed that the mean score of information management, patient management, and technical management areas in compliance with CCHIT standard were 66.1, 63.5, and 64.6 percent, respectively. Conclusions: According to the results of this study, it can be expressed that the criteria of HIS has been implemented in a rather favorable way. Hence, to achieve the desired mode, planning must be done on designing systems to increase the efficiency of information management, patient management, and software and technical infrastructures.

First launched as the Climate Data Store (CDS) supporting the Climate Change Service (C3S) and later instantiated as the Atmosphere Data Store (ADS) for the Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), the shared underlaying Climate & Atmosphere Data Store Infrastructure (CADS) represents the technical backbone for the implementation of Copernicus services entrusted to ECMWF on behalf of the European Commission. CDS in addition also offer access to a selection of datasets from the Emergency Management Service (CEMS).  As the flagship instance of the infrastructure, CDS counts with more than 160k registered users and delivers a daily average over 100 TBs of data from a catalogue of 141 datasets.CADS Software Infrastructure is designed as a distributed system and open framework that facilitates improved access to a broad spectrum of data and information via a powerful service-oriented architecture offering seamless web-based and API-based search and retrieve capabilities. CADS also provides a generic software toolbox that allow users to make use of available datasets and a series of state-of-the-art data tools that can be combined into more elaborated processes, and present results graphically in the form of interactive web applications.  CADS Infrastructure is hosted in an on-premises Cloud physically located within ECMWF Data Centre and implemented using a collection of virtual machines, networks and large data volumes.  Fully customized instances of CADS, including dedicated Virtual Hardware Infrastructure, Software Application and Catalogued content can be easily deployed thanks to implemented automatization and configuration software tools and a set of configuration files which are managed by a distributed version control system. Tailored scripts and templates allow to easily accommodate different standards and interoperate with external platforms.ECMWF in partnership with EUMETSAT, ESA and EEA also implement the Data and Information Access Services (DIAS) platform called WEkEO, a distributed cloud-computing infrastructure used to process and make the data generated by Copernicus Services accessible to users together with derived products and all satellite data from the Copernicus Sentinels. Within the partnership ECMWF is responsible for the procurement of the software to implement Data Access Services, Processing and Tools which specifications build on the same fundamentals than CADS.  Adoption of FAIR principles has demonstrated cornerstone to maximize synergies and interactions between CADS, WEkEO and other related platforms. Driven by the increasing demand and the evolving landscape of platforms and services a major project for the modernization of the CADS infrastructure is currently underway. The coming CADS 2.0 aims to capitalize experience, feedbacks, lesson learned, know-how from current CADS, embrace advanced technologies, engage with a broader user community, make the current platform more versatile and cloud oriented, improve workflows and methodologies, ensure compatibility with state-of-the-art solutions such as machine learning, data cubes and interactive notebooks, consolidate the adoption of FAIR principles and strength synergies with related platforms. As complementary Infrastructures, WEkEO will allow users to harness compute resources without the networking and storage costs associated with public Cloud offerings in where CADS Toolbox 2.0  will deploy and run allowing heavy jobs (retrieval and reduction) to be submitted to CADS 2.0 core infrastructure as services.

Effects of land abandonment and climate change on soil erosion—An example from depopulated agricultural lands in the Sudetes Mts., SW Poland

Progress in Quaternary archive studies of the Iberian Peninsula