Value Creation of Business Process Management （BPM） and Managerial Accounting System （MAS）： A Case Study

This paper explores the value creation of business process management （BPM） and managerial accounting system （MAS） using a case study. The findings show that BPM shortens the management chain and increases the connections among functions in the organization by right reassignment. Accounting indicators in MAS provide necessary information about business processes, which assists performance evaluation in BPM, and meanwhile, incentive schemes give enough motives, which guide employees to take actions in accordance with the organizational strategies and processes＇ goals. The information effect and motive effect of MAS increase employees＇ work satisfaction and their cooperation with each other. In the end, the integration of BPM and MAS improves the organizational economic performance, thus creating value for the organization. The results explain the reason why so much BPM fails in practice, because right assignment, performance evaluation system, and incentive schemes constitute organizational architecture, which is critical to organizational value. Additionally, the value creation of BPM and MAS depends on their coordination with the external environment, the internal situation, and the organizational strategy. From the view of managerial accounting perspective, MAS not only changes with the organization development but also facilitates the organization development.

Production Management Modelling Based on MAS

Modelling based on multi-agent system （MAS） was built for the current production management and process of Shenyang Songyang Paper Cup Co., Ltd. It can transmit the information instantly via order agent （OA）, manager agent （MA）, production agent （PA）, and service agent （SA）, and realize information sharing. The PA is also built on MAS, and it includes two agents, task agent （TA）, and resource agent （RA）. It has been found that the modelling is superior to the old one. It can improve the working flow and production efficiency, and shorten the time of delivery.

Identification of QTLs Associated with Total Soyasaponin Content in Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)

Soyasaponins are valuable compounds in certain drugs, industry, food additives and surfactants. Selecting cultivars with higher-soyasaponin content along with agronomic traits is a main goal for many soybean breeders. The aim of the present study was to identify the quantitative trait loci （QTLs） associated with total soyasaponin content through a F2 population, which was derived from a cross between Ha 91016 （higher soyasaponin content cultivar, 16.8 mg gl） and N98-9445A （lower soyasaponin content, only 5.7 mg g-l）. A genetic linkage map including a total of 162 simple sequence repeat markers was constructed, which covered the total length 2 735.5 cM, and the average distance between markers was 16.96 cM. Two QTLs associated with total soyasaponin content were identified. One, qSAP1 （located in sat_044-satt102 of linkage group （LG） K）, could explain 12.6% of phenotypic variance. The other, qSAP_2, was located between satt368 and sat413 of LG Dla, which could explain 15.8% of phenotypic variance. It was concluded that the two QTLs would have some potential value for marker-assisted selection for high-soyasaponin content breeding in soybeans.

A Co-Dominant Marker BoE332 Applied to Marker-Assisted Selection of Homozygous Male-Sterile Plants in Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var.capitata L.)

The dominant genic male sterility （DGMS） gene CDMs399-3 derived from a spontaneous mutation in the line 79-399-3 of spring cabbage （Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.）, has been successfully applied in hybrid seed production of several cabbage cultivars in China. During the development of dominant male sterility lines in cabbage, the conventional identification of homozygous male-sterile plants （CDMs399-3/CDMs399-3） is a laborious and time-consuming process. For marker-assisted selection （MAS） of the gene CDMs399-3 transferred into key spring cabbage line 397, expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeats （EST-SSR） and SSR technology were used to identify markers that were linked to CDMs399-3 based on method of bulked segregant analysis （BSA）. By screening a set of 978 EST-SSRs and 395 SSRs, a marker BoE332 linked to the CDMs399-3 at a distance of 3.6 cM in the genetic background of cabbage line 397 were identified. 7 homozygons male-sterile plants in population P1170 with 20 plants were obtained finally via MAS of BoE332. Thus, BoE332 will greatly facilitate the transferring of the gene CDMs399-3 into the key spring cabbage line 397 and improve the application of DGMS in cabbage hybrid breeding.

Multi-agent Systems and Cloud Computing for Controlling and Managing Chemical and Food Processes

Cloud computing can offer a very powerful, reliable, predictable and scalable computing infrastructure for the execution of MAS （multi-agent systems） implementing complex agent-based applications such when modelling, simulation and real-time running of complex systems must be provided. Multi-agent systems appears as an adequate approach to current challenges in many areas. Between important qualities of MAS also belongs to, that they are open, interoperable, and heterogenous systems. The agent is active, a program entity, has its own ideas how to perform the tasks of the own agenda. Agents： perceive, behave ＂reasonably＂, act in the environment, communicate with other agents. Cloud infrastructures can offer an ideal platform where run MAS systems simulations, applications and real-time running because of its large amount of processing and memory resources that can be dynamically configured for executing large agent-based software at unprecedented scale. Cloud computing can help chemical and food companies drive operational excellence; meet growing and changing customer demands; accelerate new product innovation and ramp-to-volume manufacturing in key markets; reduce IT spending; manage and mitigate supply chain risks; and enable faster and more flexible delivery of new IT system. Production type of SOC （service-oriented computing） can be inspired by a ＂Cloud＂, for the production of ＂Cloud＂ offers an attractive and natural solutions in several computing trends such as delivery system over the Internet, use of utilities, flexibility, virtualization, a ＂grid＂ distributed computing, outsourcing, Web 2.0, etc.. Production of the ＂Cloud＂ is also considered as a new multidisciplinary field that includes ＂network＂ production, virtual manufacturing, agile manufacturing, and of course cloud computing. Examples of cloud computing and MAS applications in food and chemistry development and industry, proposition of using multi-agent systems in the control of batch processes, modified ACO （ant colony optimization） approach for the diversified service allocation and scheduling mechanism in cloud paradigma, examples of applications in a business area were studied in the paper.

Development of Insect-Resistant Hybrid Rice by Introgressing the Bt Gene from Bt Rice Huahui 1 into Ⅱ-32A/B,a Widely Used Cytogenic Male Sterile System

Huahui 1 is an elite transgenic male sterile restorer line of wild rice abortive-type that expresses a Bacillus thuringiensis （Bt） δ-endotoxin and provides effective and economic control oflepidopteran insects. To exploit Huahui 1 to develop a new Bt rice, the insertion site of the Bt gene was determined by thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR （TAIL-PCR）. Bt was located in the promoter region ofLOC. Os10g10360, approximately 5.35 Mb from the telomere of the short arm of chromosome 10. For the first time, a Bt cytoplasmic male sterile （CMS） system was developed by introgressing Bt from Huahui 1. The recipient CMS system used consisted of Indonesia paddy rice-type II-32B （maintainer line） and II-32A （male sterile line）. Marker-assisted selection was used to increase selection efficiency in the backcrossing program. In BC5F1, the Bt plant 85015-8 was selected for further analyses, as it had the highest SSR marker homozygosity. In addition, the linkage drag of the foreign Bt gene in 85015-8 was minimized to 8.01-11.46 Mb. The foreign Bt gene was then delivered from 85015-8 into II-32A. The resultant Bt II-32A and Bt II-32B lines were both resistant to lepidopteran in field trials, and agronomic traits were not disturbed. The maintainability of II-32B, and the male sterility and general combining ability of II-32A, were not affected by the Bt introgression. This study demonstrates a simple and fast approach to develop Bt hybrid rice.

Semantic-based dynamic positioning mechanism for problem solving in multi-agent systems

In multi-agent systems(MAS),finding agents which are able to service properly in an open and dynamic environment are the key issue in problem solving.However,it is difficult to find agent resources quickly and position agents accurately and complete the system integration by the keyword matching method,due to the lack of clear semantic information of the classical agent model.An semantic-based agent dynamic positioning mechanism was proposed to assist in the system dynamic integration.According to the semantic agent model and the description method,a two-stage process including the domain positioning stage and the service semantic matching positioning stage,was discussed.With this mechanism,proper agents that provide appropriate service to assign sub-tasks for task completion can be found quickly and accurately.Finally,the effectiveness of the positioning mechanism was validated through the in-depth performance analysis in the application of simulation experiments to the system dynamic integration.

An Approximated Method of Auxiliary Sources for Large Dielectric Cylinder

In this paper, an efficient approximated method based upon the method of auxiliary sources （MAS） is proposed to solve the two-dimensional scattering problem of large, infinite dielectric cylinder. To reduce the size of the total computational cost, the formulation of the MAS is modified by minimizing the number of auxiliary sources considered to implement the solution. It is shown that the standard formulation of the method of auxiliary sources, based on placing a finite number of auxiliary sources in an interior cylinder and the same number in the exterior cylinder surrounding the physical boundary, can be replaced by a finite number of strips placed on the same interior and exterior cylinder. These strips, containing auxiliary sources, are separated by a constant angle. Thus, compared with the standard MAS, the number of auxiliary sources of the new approximated method is reduced; also the proposed method can greatly reduce the computational complexity and the memory requirement. The numerical results obtained in this paper reveal the validity of the proposed approximated method.

Multi-agent Based Hierarchy Simulation Models of Carrier-based Aircraft Catapult Launch

With the aid of multi-agent based modeling approach to complex systems, the hierarchy simulation models of carrier-based aircraft catapult launch are developed. Ocean, carrier, aircraft, and atmosphere are treated as aggregation agents, the detailed components like catapult, landing gears, and disturbances are considered as meta-agents, which belong to their aggregation agent. Thus, the model with two layers is formed i.e. the aggregation agent layer and the meta-agent layer. The information communication among all agents is described. The meta-agents within one aggregation agent communicate with each other directly by information sharing, but the meta-agents, which belong to different aggregation agents exchange their information through the aggregation layer first, and then perceive it from the sharing environment, that is the aggregation agent. Thus, not only the hierarchy model is built, but also the environment perceived by each agent is specified. Meanwhile, the problem of balancing the independency of agent and the resource consumption brought by real-time communication within multi-agent system （MAS） is resolved. Each agent involved in carrier-based aircraft catapult launch is depicted, with considering the interaction within disturbed atmospheric environment and multiple motion bodies including carrier, aircraft, and landing gears. The models of reactive agents among them are derived based on tensors, and the perceived messages and inner frameworks of each agent are characterized. Finally, some results of a simulation instance are given. The simulation and modeling of dynamic system based on multi-agent system is of benefit to express physical concepts and logical hierarchy clearly and precisely. The system model can easily draw in kinds of other agents to achieve a precise simulation of more complex system. This modeling technique makes the complex integral dynamic equations of multibodies decompose into parallel operations of single agent, and it is convenient to expand, maintain, and reuse the program codes.

Identification of a Resistance Gene bls1 to Bacterial Leaf Streak in Wild Rice Oryza rufipogon Griff

Bacterial leaf streak （BLS） of rice, caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola （Xoc） is a worldwide destructive disease. Development of resistant varieties is considered to be one of the most effective and eco-friendly ways to control the disease. However, only a few genes/QTLs having resistance to BLS have been identified in rice until now. In the present study, we have identified and primarily mapped a BLS-resistance gene, blsl, from a rice line DP3, derived from the wild rice species Oryza rufipogon Griff. A BC2F2 （9311/DP3//9311） population was constructed to map BLS-resistance gene in the rice line DP3. The segregation of the resistant and susceptible plants in BCzFz in 1：3 ratio （Z2=0.009, Z20 05,1=3.84, P〉0.05）, suggested that a recessive gene confers BLS resistance in DP3. In bulked segregant analysis （BSA）, two SSR markers RM8116 and RM584 were identified to be polymorphic in resistant and susceptible DNA bulks. For further mapping the resistance gene, six polymorphic markers around the target region were applied to analyze the genotypes of the BC2F2 individuals. As a result, the BLS-resistant gene, designated as blsl, was mapped in a 4.0-cM region flanked by RM587 and RM510 on chromosome 6.

Novel optimized routing algorithm for LEO satellite IP networks

A lot of routing algorithms have been proposed for low earth orbit（LEO） satellite IP networks in recent years,but most of them cannot achieve global optimization.The dynamic characters of LEO satellite networks are reflected in two aspects：topology and traffic change.The algorithms mentioned above are ＂hard routing＂ which only realize local optimization.A distributed soft routing algorithm combined with multi-agent system（MASSR） is proposed.In MASSR,mobile agents are used to gather routing information actively,and blackboard is introduced to achieve direct information exchange between agents.MASSR provides traffic adaptive routing and tracks the change of LEO satellite network topology.The performance of ant colony optimization（ACO） and MASSR are compared in Iridium constellation,and MASSR presents better end-to-end delay as well as enhanced robustness.

Dynamic scheduling model of computing resource based on MAS cooperation mechanism

Allocation of grid resources aims at improving resource utility and grid application performance. Currently, the algorithms proposed for this purpose do not fit well the autonomic, dynamic, distributive and heterogeneous features of the grid environment. According to MAS （multi-agent system） cooperation mechanism and market bidding game rules, a model of allocating allocation of grid resources based on market economy is introduced to reveal the relationship between supply and demand. This model can make good use of the studying and negotiating ability of consumers＇ agent and takes full consideration of the consumer＇s behavior, thus rendering the application and allocation of resource of the consumers rational and valid. In the meantime, the utility function of consumer is given; the existence and the uniqueness of Nash equilibrium point in the resource allocation game and the Nash equilibrium solution are discussed. A dynamic game algorithm of allocating grid resources is designed. Experimental results demonstrate that this algorithm diminishes effectively the unnecessary latency, improves significantly the smoothness of response time, the ratio of throughput and resource utility, thus rendering the supply and demand of the whole grid resource reasonable and the overall grid load balanceable.

Step-coordination Algorithm of Traffic Control Based on Multi-agent System

Aiming at the deficiency of conventional traffic control method, this paper proposes a new method based on multi-agent technology for traffic control. Different from many existing methods, this paper distinguishes traffic control on the basis of the agent technology from conventional traffic control method. The composition and structure of a multi-agent system （MAS） is first discussed. Then, the step-coordination strategies of intersection-agent, segment-agent, and area-agent are put forward. The advantages of the algorithm are demonstrated by a simulation study.

Rough set based multi-agent system cooperation for industrial supervisory interface system

In this paper, rough set theory is introduced into the interface multi-agent system （MAS） for industrial supervisory system. Taking advantages of rough set in data mining, a cooperation model for MAS is built. Rules for avoiding cooperation conflict are deduced. An optimization algorithm is used to enhance security and real time attributes of the system. An application based on the proposed algorithm and rules are given.

Cooperative coalition for formation flight scheduling based on incomplete information

This study analyzes the cooperative coalition problem for formation scheduling based on incomplete information. A multi-agent cooperative coalition framework is developed to optimize the formation scheduling problem in a decentralized manner. The social class differentiation mech- anism and role-assuming mechanism are incorporated into the framework, which, in turn, ensures that the multi-agent system （MAS） evolves in the optimal direction. Moreover, a further differen- tiation pressure can be achieved to help MAS escape from local optima. A Bayesian coalition nego- tiation algorithm is constructed, within which the Harsanyi transformation is introduced to transform the coalition problem based on incomplete information to the Bayesian-equivalent coali- tion problem based on imperfect information. The simulation results suggest that the distribution of agents＇ expectations of other agents＇ unknown information approximates to the true distribution after a finite set of generations. The comparisons indicate that the MAS cooperative coalition algo- rithm produces a significantly better utility and possesses a more effective capability of escaping from local optima than the proposal-engaged marriage algorithm and the Simulated Annealing algorithm.

An architecture of knowledge management system based on agent and ontology

To solve the problems in knowledge management system （KMS）, such as information sharing, the ability to extend and re-engineer, and the reusable ability of legacy systems in distributed and heterogeneous environments. This article presents a method based on agent and ontology of designing KMS. This method consists of two agencies. One is knowledge agency with three agents supporting knowledge management process. The other is application agency with three agents supporting knowledge application. In this method, ontology is used to represent the knowledge in knowledge base and the content in the message exchanged among agents. To demonstrate the advantages of this method, experiments have been carried out and the results imply that this method is efficient and effective for small and medium-size enterprises to design KMS.

Coordination Model Research Based on Command Decision Joint Intension

Command Decision Simulation （CDS） is not only an important and difficult issue in the field of simulation, but also a technique issue to be tackled in the course of collective Modeling and Simulation in Joint Operations Experiment Center. CDS can give support to all kinds of simulation. Using computer to realize the Blue side＇s command deci- sion automatic execution in the operation training simulation system can improve training effect. Using computer to realize the lower level command unit＇s automatic command deci- sion can help to reduce the number of controllers and release them from heavy work. It can also enlarge simulation scale and increase the freedom of the simulation entity especially the command entity, thus enhance the authenticity and credibility of the simulation. Ac- cording to the command decision structure and the Joint Intention Theory, the thesis puts forward the method of making use of Coordination Matrix （CM） to realizing cooperation among the entities in CDS and constructs the calculation sketch of Task Execution, Task Monitoring and Task Replanning. At the same time, the thesis brings forward the CDS structure vision based on Partial Global Planning（PGP）. As CM is an indispensable part of combat simulation, the theory and the method of CDS will become an important part for the theory of Combat Simulation.

Mobile robot SLAM method based on multi-agent particle swarm optimized particle filter

To overcome particle impoverishment, a simultaneous localization and mapping（SLAM） method based on multi-agent particle swarm optimized particle filter（MAPSOPF） was presented by introducing the idea of multi-agent to the particle swarm optimized particle filter（PSOPF） which is an algorithm for SLAM. In MAPSOPF, agents can communicate and compete with each other and learn from each other. The MAPSOPF algorithm can update the prediction of particle, adjust the proposal distribution of particles, improve localization precision and fault tolerance, and propel the particles to concentrate on the robot＇s true pose. Compared with standard particle filter（PF）, the proposed method can achieve better SLAM precision by fewer particles. Simulations verify its effectiveness and feasibility.

Toward understanding genetic mechanisms of complex traits in rice

Rice is the primary carbohydrate staple cereal feeding the world population. Many genes, known as quantitative trait loci （QTLs）, con- trol most of the agronomically important traits in rice. The identification of QTLs controlling agricultural traits is vital to increase yield and meet the needs of the increasing human population, but the progress met with challenges due to complex QTL inheritance. To date, many QTLs have been detected in rice, including those responsible for yield and grain quality; salt, drought and submergence tolerance; disease and insect resistance; and nutrient utilization efficiency. Map-based cloning techniques have enabled scientists to successfully fine map and clone approximately seventeen QTLs for several traits. Additional in-depth functional analyses and characterizations of these genes will provide valuable assistance in rice molecular breeding.

A new power coordination method for islanded micro-grid basing on multi-agent system

Multi-agent system (MAS) can provide flexible and intelligent control for micro-grid (MG). In this paper, a new power coordination method of MAS is presented for MG. New way for dispatching controllable generations (CGs) and direct cooperation between storages and CGs are designed. Real-time emulations of the coordination, including the usage of both CGs and storages, have been carried out in islanded situation basing on this method, and much higher performance than conventional method is found.