Termites present a very good natural metaphor to evolutionary computation. While each individual’s computational power is small compared to more evolved species, it is the power of their colonies that inspires communication engineers. This paper presents a study of artificial termites in sensor networks for the purpose of solving its’ routing problem. The behaviours of each of the termites in t...

In highly regulated environments, where a set of norms defines accepted behaviour, protocols provide a way to reduce complexity by giving direct, step by step guidelines for behaviour, as long as the protocols comply with the norms. In this work we propose a formal framework to design a protocol from a normative specification. In order to be able to connect (descriptive) norms with (operational...

In this paper, a novel algorithm is proposed to transform a ROM diagram obtained from a design text into a FBS model. Each state of the transformation process is defined by four features: ROM (Recursive Object Model), POS (Part of Speech), PES (Product–Environment System), and FBS (Function–Behavior–State). The transformation algorithm is thus constituted by transition rules which change one tr...

The modelling of activities can easily originate numerous control flows and inter-dependencies among activities. This makes future model changes and, particularly, the addition of crosscutting requirements, especially complex and risky. This paper proposes the abstraction of those behaviour requirements as embedded activities invocations crosscutting the models. Those embedded activities are as...

This paper describes empirical research on the engineering design process as carried out by student and professional engineers. The use of design strategies plays a significant role in engineering design, and a commonly used strategy is decomposition/recomposition. This research studies design decomposition and recomposition strategies in the context of teams. This research differs from previou...

This paper presents a Bayesian network representation of the function-behavior-structure (FBS) framework [10], which is used to guide salespersons through conceptual design tasks in lead qualification situations. After we outline the lead qualification situation and state the need of design support for salespersons, a review of the related works shows the necessity for a knowledge representatio...

Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are capable of being used in human therapeutic procedures such as tissue repair and gene therapy due to their multipotency. However, the expansion of MSCs is limited by the restricted use of fetal bovine serum (FBS) as the nutritional supplement. Hence, contamination by pathogens from the xenogenic component can be eliminated if a serum-free media were used. ...

In this special issue we present a selection of papers from the Symposium on Natural/Unconventional Computing and its Philosophical Significance, held during the AISB/IACAP 2012 World Congress in Birmingham (UK). This article is an editorial, introducing the special issue of the journal with the selected papers and the research program of Natural/Unconventional Computing.

2.4 Invasive Diagnostic Tests .......................... 11 2.4.1 Amniocentesis ............................................. 11 2.4.2 Chorionic Villous Sampling (CVS) ............ 11 2.4.3 Prenatal Maternal Serum Screening ........... 11 2.4.4 Fetal Blood Sampling (FBS)....................... 12 2.4.5 Fetal Surgery ............................................... 12 2.4.6 Genetic Diagnoses .......

This document defines a number of Quality of Service (QoS) parameters that can be reused for conveying QoS information within Diameter. The defined QoS information includes data traffic parameters for describing a token bucket filter, a bandwidth parameter, and a per-hop behavior class object. Status of This Memo This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet comm...