Knowledge acquisition for systems based on knowledge can be called knowledge engineering, according to Feigenbaum (1980) who used the term to describe the reduction of a wide context of knowledge for a set of facts and rules. The term Knowledge…

In the restricted single-machine common due date problem the goal is to find a schedule for the n jobs which jointly minimizes the sum of earliness and tardiness penalties, while for the weighted tardiness problem the goal is to find…

Argumentative formalisms have been widely recognized as knowledge representation and reasoning tools able to deal with incomplete and potentially contradictory informa- tion. All such formalisms are computationally demanding. Hence, optimizing argumen- tative systems has been approached from di erent views.

Instruction may be seen as the intentional creation of conditions around learning so as to facilitate the achievement of determined goals. Normally, instruction is based upon certain educational strategies. It is well accepted in the field of educational technology that…

Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are merely blind search algorithms, which only make use of the relative fitness of solutions, but completely ignore the nature of the problem. Their performance can be improved by using new multirecombinative approaches, which provide a good…

Eugenia pruniformis Cambess. is an endemic species from Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Essential oils from leaves and fruits from this species were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GCMS/CG-FID. In all, 25 compounds were identified, with predominance of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons in…

Determining an optimal schedule to minimize the completion time of the last job abandoning the system (makespan) becomes a very difficult problem when there are more than two machines in the flow shop. Due both to its economical impact and…

The design of intelligent agents is a key issue for many applications. Although there is no universally accepted de nition of intelligence, a notion of rational agency has been proposed as an alternative for the characterization of intelligent agency.
Modeling…

Inside an organization there is information that can only be generated by people, then, when a decision maker in any time and anywhere of an organization requires this information, he/she has to solicit it to who has the ability of…

In a production system it is usual to stress minimum tardiness to achieve higher client satisfaction.
According to the client relevance, job processing costs and requirements, and various other considerations, a weight is assigned to each job. An important, non-trivial,…