by Ann Margaret Bush., Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1991., Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-208).

As a growing number of firms , especially those in the United States, outsource more of their professional services across geographic and temporal boundaries. Using a multi-faceted framework for this study, this paper shows that very careful analysis is needed…

This paper analyzes the suitability of reinforcement learning (RL) for both programming and adapting situated agents. We discuss two RL algorithms: Q-learning and the Bucket Brigade. We introduce a special case of the Bucket Brigade, and analyze and compare its…

We develop a novel autonomous control synthesis strategy called Phase Space Navigator for the automatic synthesis of nonlinear control systems. The Phase Space Navigator generates global control laws by synthesizing flow shapes of dynamical systems and planning and navigating system…

We develop a qualitative method for understanding and representing phase space structures of complex systems and demonstrate the method with a program, MAPS --- Modeler and Analyzer for Phase Spaces, using deep domain knowledge of dynamical system theory. Given a…

The Triple β-Spiral is a novel protein structure that plays a role in viral attachment and pathogenesis. At present, there are two Triple β-Spiral structures with solved crystallographic coordinates - one from Adenovirus and the other from Reovirus. There is…

Since Robotics is the field concerned with the connection of perception to action, Artificial Intelligence must have a central role in Robotics if the connection is to be intelligent. Artificial Intelligence addresses the crucial questions of: what knowledge is required…

This paper describes an approach to supporting work in the office. Using and extending ideas from the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) we describe office work as a problem solving activity. A knowledge embedding language called Omega is used to…

It is obvious to anyone familiar with the rules of the game of chess that a king on an empty board can reach every square. It is true, but not obvious, that a knight can reach every square. Why is…

We describe the automatic synthesis of a global nonlinear controller for stabilizing a magnetic levitation system. The synthesized control system can stabilize the maglev vehicle with large initial displacements from an equilibrium, and possesses a much larger operating region than…