Modeling and simulation will provide crucial capabilities for complex systems engineering, but existing languages, frameworks, and tools fall short of both fundamental and practical needs. This paper describes work-in-progress to fill these needs, based on a foundation of logic-based description and a system of concepts to describe complex dynamic systems. The modeling framework can include map...

Swarming behavior is ubiquitous in nature and society. It is of both theoretical and practical importance to investigate the underlying principles and mechanisms of coordination and cooperation emerging in swarms. In this paper we propose a simple isotropic range limited-perceive agents dynamic model to study collective and formation behavior of a group of mobile autonomous agents interacting t...

The loads and wheeling transactions are varying very rapidly in the deregulated power market. Hence the power producers must respond quickly to those changes without affecting the system security and stability. This paper presents an application of Fitness Distance Ratio Particle Swarm Optimization (FDR PSO) algorithm to determine the optimal generation dispatch of power producers with dynamic ...

My current research is focused around building frameworks for intelligent agents and agent-oriented software engineering. In my dissertation, I have developed a new formal framework for the analysis and implementation of multi-agent systems. Most of my other research activities are associated with applied computational intelligence—including fuzzy expert systems for natural language-based compu...

This paper presents a control strategy that allows a group of mobile robots to position themselves to optimize the measurement of sensory information in the environment. The robots use sensed information to estimate a function indicating the relative importance of different areas in the environment. Their estimate is then used to drive the network to a desirable placement configuration using a ...

This paper proposes a particle swarm optimization (PSO) method for solving the economic dispatch (ED) problem in power systems. Many nonlinear characteristics of the generator, such as ramp rate limits, prohibited operating zone, and nonsmooth cost functions are considered using the proposed method in practical generator operation. The feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated for thre...

In this paper, a location allocation (LA) problem in construction and demolition (C&D) waste management (WM) is studied. A bi-level model for this problem under a fuzzy random environment is presented where the upper level is the governments who sets up the processing centers, and the lower level are the administrators of different construction projects who control C&D waste and the after treat...

Human-swarm interaction is an emerging field encompassing questions related to biology, robotics, computer science, human-computer interaction, and psychology. Swarms are large groups of individual entities that enact group behaviors; biological examples include fish, birds and insects. Swarms overwhelm humans’ abilities to monitor and interact with each entity. Human-robot and human-computer i...

The robotics team at Utah State University has been working on incrementally building the capabilities needed to field an autonomous swarm of rescue robots. We believe a swarm of small, low-cost robots that can identify areas needing further investigation would be of great benefit to first responders to the scene of a disaster. Blue Swarm 3 is the latest iteration in this development process an...

Learning practical nursing skills is an important part of the baccalaureate in nursing. However, many newly qualified nurses lack practical skill proficiency required to ensure safe patient care. The invasive skill peripheral vein cannulation (PVC) is particularly challenging to learn and perform. This study explored conditions influencing nursing students' learning and performance of the techn...