A Novel Multi-Agent Model for Robustness with Component Failure and Malware Propagation in Wireless Sensor Networks

A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a group of sensors connected with a wireless communications infrastructure designed to monitor and send collected data to the primary server. The WSN is the cornerstone of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0. Robustness is an essential characteristic of WSN that enables reliable functionalities to end customers. However, existing approaches primarily focus on component reliability and malware propagation, while the robustness and security of cascading failures between the physical domain and the information domain are usually ignored. This paper proposes a cross-domain agent-based model to analyze the connectivity robustness of a system in the malware propagation process. The agent characteristics and transition rules are also described in detail. To verify the practicality of the model, three scenarios based on different network topologies are proposed. Finally, the robustness of the scenarios and the topologies are discussed.

Silver telluride nanoparticles as biocompatible and enhanced contrast agents for X-ray imaging: an in vivo breast cancer screening study

Silver telluride nanoparticles (Ag2Te NPs) show good biocompatibility, enhanced contrast, and blood pool agent characteristics and thus could be used contrast agents for breast cancer screening.

The Development of a Simulation Model for Assessing the CI/CD Pipeline Quality in the Development of Information Systems Based on a Multi-Agent Approach

The need for the development of fast and efficient software requires the automation during the build, test and release stages. Thus, a methodology of the continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) emerges which using a continuous integration server which makes easier automatical build, test, and package of the new feature settings. Poor understanding and execution of CI/CD operations can slow down and even stop the pace of a software project. Many bottlenecks in the CI/CD pipeline can arise from misconfiguration, in other words, an inadequate level of automation, inappropriate agent characteristics, and a suboptimal queuing strategy. On the other hand, the finding a way to analyze and improve the settings of the CI/CD pipeline brings great management and economic benefits, since an optimal configuration ultimately implies high efficiency. In this regard, this study attempts to develop a simulation model that will provide a testing environment for a variety of factors that affect CI/ CD performance. The present study, therefore, aims to provide a pipeline simulation model based on the logic of a queuing system, which is based on a multi-agent approach and an experimental environment that allows you to test different settings and scenarios.

Human–Autonomy Teaming: A Review and Analysis of the Empirical Literature

Objective We define human–autonomy teaming and offer a synthesis of the existing empirical research on the topic. Specifically, we identify the research environments, dependent variables, themes representing the key findings, and critical future research directions. Background Whereas a burgeoning literature on high-performance teamwork identifies the factors critical to success, much less is known about how human–autonomy teams (HATs) achieve success. Human–autonomy teamwork involves humans working interdependently toward a common goal along with autonomous agents. Autonomous agents involve a degree of self-government and self-directed behavior (agency), and autonomous agents take on a unique role or set of tasks and work interdependently with human team members to achieve a shared objective. Method We searched the literature on human–autonomy teaming. To meet our criteria for inclusion, the paper needed to involve empirical research and meet our definition of human–autonomy teaming. We found 76 articles that met our criteria for inclusion. Results We report on research environments and we find that the key independent variables involve autonomous agent characteristics, team composition, task characteristics, human individual differences, training, and communication. We identify themes for each of these and discuss the future research needs. Conclusion There are areas where research findings are clear and consistent, but there are many opportunities for future research. Particularly important will be research that identifies mechanisms linking team input to team output variables.

Embodied Conversational Agent Appearance for Health Assessment of Older Adults: Explorative Study

Background Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) have great potential for health apps but are rarely investigated as part of such apps. To promote the uptake of health apps, we need to understand how the design of ECAs can influence the preferences, motivation, and behavior of users. Objective This is one of the first studies that investigates how the appearance of an ECA implemented within a health app affects users’ likeliness of following agent advice, their perception of agent characteristics, and their feeling of rapport. In addition, we assessed usability and intention to use. Methods The ECA was implemented within a frailty assessment app in which three health questionnaires were translated into agent dialogues. In a within-subject experiment, questionnaire dialogues were randomly offered by a young female agent or an older male agent. Participants were asked to think aloud during interaction. Afterward, they rated the likeliness of following the agent’s advice, agent characteristics, rapport, usability, and intention to use and participated in a semistructured interview. Results A total of 20 older adults (72.2 [SD 3.5] years) participated. The older male agent was perceived as more authoritative than the young female agent (P=.03), but no other differences were found. The app scored high on usability (median 6.1) and intention to use (median 6.0). Participants indicated they did not see an added value of the agent to the health app. Conclusions Agent age and gender little influence users’ impressions after short interaction but remain important at first glance to lower the threshold to interact with the agent. Thus, it is important to take the design of ECAs into account when implementing them into health apps.

An Embodied Conversational Agent in an eHealth Self-management Intervention for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Chronic Heart Failure: Exploratory Study in a Real-life Setting (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) have the potential to stimulate actual use of eHealth applications. An ECA’s design influences the user’s perception during short interactions, but daily life evaluations of ECAs in healthcare are scarce. OBJECTIVE this is an exploratory, long-term study on the design of ECAs for eHealth. The study investigates how patients perceive the design of the ECA over time with regard to the ECA’s characteristics – friendliness, trustworthiness, involvement, expertise and authority –, small talk interaction, and likeliness of following the agent’s advice. METHODS we developed an ECA within an eHealth self-management intervention for patients with both Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Chronic Heart Failure (CHF), which we offered for four months. Patients rated five agent characteristics and likeliness of following the agent’s advice before use and after three and nine weeks of use. The amount of patients’ small talk interaction was assessed by log data. Lastly, individual semi-structured interviews were used to triangulate results. RESULTS eleven patients (7 male and 4 female) with COPD and CHF participated (median age 70 years). Patients’ perceptions of the agent characteristics did not change over time (P > 0.05 for all characteristics) and only one participant finished all small talk dialogues. After three weeks of use, the patients were less likely to follow the agent’s advice (P = .01). The agent’s messages were perceived as non-personalized and the feedback as inappropriate, affecting the agent’s perceived reliability. CONCLUSIONS this exploratory study provides first insights into ECA design for eHealth. The impression of an ECA’s design seems to remain during long-term use. To investigate future added value of ECAs in eHealth, perceived reliability should be improved by managing users’ expectations of the ECA’s capabilities and creating ECA designs fitting individual needs. CLINICALTRIAL Netherlands Trial register, NL6480. Registered 14 August 2017, https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/6480

Only Time Will Tell: A Theory of Deferred Compensation

This article characterizes optimal compensation contracts in principal-agent settings in which the consequences of the agent’s action are only observed over time. The optimal timing of pay trades off the costs of deferred compensation arising from the agent’s relative impatience and potential consumption smoothing needs against the benefit of exploiting additional informative signals. By capturing this information benefit of deferral in terms of the likelihood ratio dynamics, our characterization covers general signal processes in a unified setting. With bilateral risk neutrality and agent limited liability, optimal contracts are high-powered and stipulate at most two payout dates. If the agent is additionally risk-averse, payouts are contingent on performance exceeding a hurdle that is increasing over time. We obtain clear-cut predictions on how the duration of optimal compensation depends on the nature of information arrival as well as agent characteristics and derive implications for the maturity structure of securities in financial contracting settings.

Embodied Conversational Agent Appearance for Health Assessment of Older Adults: Explorative Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) have great potential for health apps but are rarely investigated as part of such apps. To promote the uptake of health apps, we need to understand how the design of ECAs can influence the preferences, motivation, and behavior of users. OBJECTIVE This is one of the first studies that investigates how the appearance of an ECA implemented within a health app affects users’ likeliness of following agent advice, their perception of agent characteristics, and their feeling of rapport. In addition, we assessed usability and intention to use. METHODS The ECA was implemented within a frailty assessment app in which three health questionnaires were translated into agent dialogues. In a within-subject experiment, questionnaire dialogues were randomly offered by a young female agent or an older male agent. Participants were asked to think aloud during interaction. Afterward, they rated the likeliness of following the agent’s advice, agent characteristics, rapport, usability, and intention to use and participated in a semistructured interview. RESULTS A total of 20 older adults (72.2 [SD 3.5] years) participated. The older male agent was perceived as more authoritative than the young female agent (<i>P</i>=.03), but no other differences were found. The app scored high on usability (median 6.1) and intention to use (median 6.0). Participants indicated they did not see an added value of the agent to the health app. CONCLUSIONS Agent age and gender little influence users’ impressions after short interaction but remain important at first glance to lower the threshold to interact with the agent. Thus, it is important to take the design of ECAs into account when implementing them into health apps.

Electoral integrity – The winner takes it all? Evidence from three British general elections

Studies of electoral integrity typically focus on electoral evaluators (expert surveys), electoral consumers (electors) and, occasionally, electoral producers (electoral administrators). Using a unique new data set collected at the British general elections of 2010, 2015 and 2017, this article examines evaluations of electoral integrity among a previously unresearched group of electoral users – the election agents of candidates standing for election. Using measures of both negative and positive electoral integrity, the article models explanations of users’ evaluations, focusing on the agent characteristics, geography and electoral status of the district or constituency. It shows that evaluations of electoral integrity vary significantly and highlights both that questions of electoral integrity are more localised than widespread, and that despite the significant impact of winner/loser effects, issues of electoral integrity are strongly related to the urban characteristics of an electoral district. In so doing, it makes a significant contribution to the literature on electoral integrity.