last day of the month..

the month of july is about to end.. and i'm looking forward to a lot of beautiful things to happen in august.. i wish the coming month would be a better one.. i've gone through some really serious problems and difficulties this month.. i really hope that as july ends, my sorrows and agonies would also end.. i don't know how else i could get through this.. oh God.. i know You can hear me.. i know You understand..

mahirap pala yung ganito.. mukha na akong tanga.. i've been crying and worrying over some stupid things.. i am hurting myself.. i know you won't understand.. sorry but i can't tell everything.. just let me write these stuffs.. it helps me somehow.. kaya nga i love blogging eh.. it serves as an outlet for me.. instead of drowning myself to alcohol, i'd rather write and type and write and type..

so.. that's it.. i have to go.. i have to wait for tomorrow's promise of a brighter and better day..

more of my thoughts next time..

God bless everyone!

..maskara..

this is my new composition.. galing sa kaibuturan ng aking puso.. galing sa matinding inspirasyon.. hehe..

Maskara

Sa likod ng bawat walang malay na mukha,
nakakubli ang malawak na karanasan.
Sa likod ng matatamis na ngiti,
nakatago ang isang naghihinagpis na damdamin.
Sa bawat pagpatak ng walang katumbas na luha,
saloobin ay malayang naihahayag.
Sa bawat pagtangis ng sugatang puso,
kaluluwa'y nalilinis, napapalaya nang husto.

Ang bawat segundo ng katahimikan,
katumbas ay malalim at matalinong kaisipan.
Ang bawat minuto ng kaligayahan,
nag-uugat sa pagdaig sa matinding kasawian at kalungkutan.
Ang bawat oras ng paghilom ng pusong nasaktan,
katumbas ay mahalagang aral mula sa nakaraan.
Ang bawat awiting nag-iiwan ng kurot sa puso't isipan,
nagmula sa karanasan at sumasalamin sa katotohanan.

Ito ang tunay na kahulugan ng buhay.
Pag-ibig, pangungulila, kabiguan, at tagumpay
Lahat ay bahagi ng pagiging nilalang sa mundong puno ng kahiwagaan.
Bawat isa'y may tinatagong lihim, may pinagtatakpan.
Hindi makakailang minsan sa ating paglalabay,
kailangang ikubli ang tunay na nararamdaman,
kailangang magsuot ng pananggalang,
kailangang mag-isip at magpahayag sa ibang pamamaraan,
kailangang magtago sa likod ng isang maskara.

11:10 AM 26July2006 Wednesday

..luha (tears)..

this is the new poem i just wrote the other night.. just wanna share it.. =)

malungkot masaktan.
mahirap umasa sa kawalan.
mapait ang dulot ng kasawian.

masaya mangarap ng pag-ibig na walang hanggan.
masarap makamit ang kalayaan.
matamis ang dulot ng tagumpay at karangalan.

simple.. i was about to sleep when a thought came into my mind.. so yun, i came up with this poem..

classes in UP are suspended tomorrow! that's good news! but i still have to make my paper in CS 180.. better go now.. til next time!

God bless everyone!

is my life boring? i don't think so..

who says my life is boring? i definitely disagree.. as a matter of fact, i'm enjoying every single bit of it.. and why wouldn't i? just recently, i was given the chance to meet the members of calla lily.. they're not yet that popular, but i know, soon they would be.. they're a bunch of cool college students who knows how to share their talents.. as a proof of that really fun experience, here's my pic with tatsi.. and one more pic with the rest of the members, with my friend, leyn..
I AM HAPPY and CONTENTED with what i have and for who i am right now.. yes, i may not be the type of person who spends her time in bars, malls, parties, and other social gatherings.. i may be simple, religious, and conservative..it may seem that my life's very routinary(school-home-church-tutees' house), but one thing's for sure: I AM ENJOYING everything! This is me.. and i don't have to change even a bit of myself just to please other people.. i accept and appreciate the fact that each of us has his/her own personality, something unique to him/her.. then why can't some people understand that i am different?! i don't know how to react anymore.. all i can say is that i love myself, i love my life, and i'm not going to change to fit into other's "taste". if you can't appreciate me, fine. its not like i'm gonna die.. and it doesn't mean i'm a loser nor a failure.. i'm just being a true person.. no pretentions, no disguises, no masks.. just ME.

another tickle test..

Unaiza, your Good Heart makes you a real beauty

People consider themselves lucky to call you a friend...or even an acquaintance. Compassionate and caring, you're the first person to step up and help someone in need. You've got a sympathetic ear and are willing to listen to a friend gush about a tough breakup, a horrible workweek, or even just a bad hair day.But all this kindness doesn't mean you're a pushover. You've got the confidence and charisma to stand up for what you believe in, especially yourself. You want to make a difference in the world, and you're not afraid of doing a little hard work along the way. Now that's what we call heart.

i miss school already..

classes are still suspended due to the not so good weather.. i hope everything would be fine tomorrow.. i don't have much to say so i better end this thing..

til next time..

God bless everyone!

delayed post..

this post is due last monday, but i wasn't able to go online because of the bad weather and my busy sched.. nope i'm not a showbiz personality or something.. i'm just an ordinary person who works extraordinarily.. =) anyway, here goes my post..

july 10, 2006

i went down memory lane again as i answer sir leslie's question sa attendance sheet sa ES10.. everytime that he lets us sign the attendance sheet, we have to answer a question.. this time it was something like fill in the blanks.. the question was: complete the statement: batang 90's ka kung... (e.g. fan ka ng Eraserheads)

the first thing that got into my mind was my preschool and elementary days..

kaya naman, i decided to make my own list of the things which i remembered as part of the 90's chapter of my life..

1. boy & girl groups such as the following:
-Moffats (if life is so short, why won't you let me love you before we ran out of time..)
-Hansons (mmmbop..)
-Boyzone(i got a picture of you in my mind..)
-Spice Girls(mama, i love you.. mama, i care..)
-All Saints(never ever have i ever felt so low..)
-Code Red(this is our song..oooohhh.. this is our song we'll remember forever..)
-Damage(i'll be loving you forever, deep inside my heart you'll leave me never.. even if you took my heart, and tore it apart, i will love you still forever..)
-KC & Jojo(and all my life, i prayed for someone like you..)
-Roxette(she's so vulnerable, like China in my hands and she's so vulnerable.. and i don't understand.. i could never hurt the one i love she's all i got, but she's so vulnerable..)
-The Cranberries(does anybody care..)

2. solo singers including..
-Monica(i will cross the ocean for you, i will go and bring you the moon, i will be your hero, your strength, anything you need..)
-Joe(no one else comes close to you, no one makes me feel the way you do..)
-Mariah Carey(you'll always be a part of me, and i'm part of you indefinitely.. boy don't you know you can't escape me...ohh darling, 'coz you'll always be my baby..)
-Celine Dion(near, far, wherever you are..)
-Selena('coz i'm dreaming of you tonight, 'til tomorrow i'll be holding you tight..)
-Jim Photoglo(the will of the wind, you feel it ang then, it will pass you going steady, it comes and it goes and God only knows..)
-Alanis Morissette(it's like rain on your wedding day, it's a free ride, when you've already paid, it's a good advice, that you just didn't take..)

3. pinoy bands..
-Rivermaya(kumapit ka kaya, sa akin nang ikaw ay maitangay sa kalayaan ng ligaya, tayo na tayo na, ika'y magtiwala sapagkat ngayong gabi ako ang mahiwagang elesi..)
-Parokya ni Edgar(hoy buloy, nasaan ka man, siguradong kawawa ka, malamang walang alak dyan..)
-Eraserheads(magkahawak ang ating kamay at walang kamalay-malay, na tinuruan mo ang puso ko na umibig nang tunay..)
-Teeth(dalhin mo ako sa iyong palasyo.. maglakad tayo sa hardin ng iyong kaharian.. wala man akong pag-aari, pangako kong habambuhay kitang pagsisilbihan, o aking prinsesa..)
-Siakol(di mo ba alam, na ako'y nasasaktan.. sa tuwing ikaw ay aalis ng hindi nagpaalam..)
-Introvoys(if i ever had a line to heaven, i swear, i'll call you there..)
-AfterImage(so i sing this song to all of my age, for these are the questions we got to face, for in this cycle that we call life, we are the ones who are next in line..)

4. dance hits..
-5,6,7,8 (Steps)
-Doctor Jones
-Shalala
-Turn Back Time(Aqua)
-songs ng Vengaboys

5. Lala chocolate (yung maraming squares.. ang sarap nun grabe.. hehe)

6. Dampa (it's a kind of game na goma ang gamit)

7. rollerblades.. muntik na akong mabalian ng buto dahil dito.. hehe..

waah.. ang saya!! na-miss ko tuloy classmates ko nun.. ang daming memories, and it would take me forever to list them down.. =)

basta, naalala ko pa, naging fan din ako ni Gil.. sikat din yung mga kanta ni Donna Cruz.. at syempre, i won't forget the movie "I Can" starring Regine, Donna, and Mikee.. at syempre nandyan din ang "Campus Girls" na naging name pa ng group ko nung grade 2..wahaha.. ang saya talaga..

wala lang.. eto pa.. naisip ko lang 'to, just now..

here are the memories i cherish the most during my kinder and elem days..

kinder:
-naging miss talent at first runner-up ako sa Miss Jenny's during our intrams sa Jenny's Day Care Center..
-ang galing ni Levi mag-drums..
-i met Randy Santiago.. hehe.. he's from the other class..

grade 1:
-i studied in Iloilo kasi supposedly, dun na kami titira..
-sobrang lapit lang ng school (Colomer Memorial Elementary School) sa bahay namin (ng lolo ko)..
-ako ang taga-lista ng noisy..
-pag wala si ma'am, actually kahit nandyan siya, minsan, ako pa rin ang nagtuturo sa classmates ko.. sosyal di ba? hehe..
-basta, masaya ako kasi nakasama ko si lolo nang matagal..

grade 2:
-campus girls.. yan ang group ko nun (4 kame, ako, si grace, si melanie, at si maricris)..
-crush daw ako ni r.. hehe.. basta, sya..
-ang cute ni nherson celis.. syempre tanda ko pa full name sya.. ang chubby nya saka ang puti, sobra.. he was like my big brother..
-naging crush ko ata si harry.. tama ba? basta, sya yung pinaka-cute sa class namin..
-sumayaw kami ng "Oh Carol".. partner ko si erick..

grade 3 - 6:
-hindi na kasi naiba yung environment ko from grades 3-6 kaya i'll treat them as one chapter..
-same classmates, same group of friends.. ronald, rowena, sigrid, razel, myra, erick, gladys, federick, nap.. basta our class was one big happy family.. -
eto, hindi ko talaga makakalimutan: nung grade 5, sort of niligawan ako ni rey.. and if i remember it right, nagpabigay pa sya ng white gumamela sken.. wahaha.. may matching tula pa nga na medyo corny.. hehe..
-nabuo ang love team namin ni yove.. grabe, feeling ng ibang people kami na..
-close ko halos lahat ng ka-service ko.. parang family kame at si ate nita ang 'nanay' namin..
-maraming contest na naipanalo namin!! =D

OMG!! miss ko na talaga sila.. hay.. pati yung childhood friends ko.. sina paolo, victor, bucho, julius, rj, at yung iba pa..

sad kasi marami ng nagbago sa mga buhay nila.. and i really don't know if i'm still part of their lives.. but one thing's for sure, everyone who has been part of my childhood and my school days, will always be in my heart..

the wildest day in my entire life.. (so far)

OMG! i saw them perform live! who else but the greatest Pinoy bands including the very popular Bamboo, Hale, and Kamikazee..

i really enjoyed it despite the fact that we waited for almost two hours before we got inside the world trade center..

the intensity inside is very different.. and i can't help but scream and slam with them.. i really loved it.. i really did.. =)

it was just unfortunate that i lost my beautiful umbrella.. oh well..

i should say that it's worth it.. i mean having the chance to see lots of bands in a sort of concert, free of charge - wow, that's really great.. and i love it!

thanks GMA (Kapuso, not the president)!

i just need to see one performance.. after that, i could say that i have lived a life.. =) i hope and i pray that i could see westlife in september.. i'm crazy over them, i swear.. although others may say that they've been out of the limelight.. i still believe that they're one of the legends in the british music industry..

'til here.. God bless everyone! =)

profile? =) i wrote this some time during the summer break..

i'm unaiza, 19 going 20 (pero di naman halata.. i look younger than my age.. hehe.. walang kokontra! page ko 'to!)

computer science major po ako at hindi madali ang buhay ko sa unibersidad ng pilipinas.. but i'm glad to say that i've learned to love my course.. 3 years na ako sa engg at sa wakas ay nasanay na rin ako.. hay.. but wait, this is supposed to be about me.. enough of those school stuffs..

well, what could i say? why don't you just read the testimonials about me? lahat yun totoo.. well, yung magaganda lang pala.. wahehe..

seriously, if i were to describe myself, eto lang naman ang masasabi ko..

unaiza is...

– sweet & cute, like my email address.. =)
– very lovable.. hehe..
– very compassionate
– super sensitive
– super dedicated to whatever she commits to..
– God-fearing & God-loving
– very vulnerable lalo na when it comes to people she loves and cares for..
– a music lover
– a computer science major but interested in literature
– very much in love

intelligent agents paper..

Note: i made this paper for my CS 180 class this sem.. for anyone who's interested, you may read on.. this is based on franklin and graesser's paper.. references include sources from the net.. God bless everyone! =)

Intelligent agents - sounds cool and interesting! When I first read about them, I enjoyed the fact that these agents are "intelligent." How? By possessing several characteristics that could be associated with intelligence. So, what are intelligent agents? Before we get in-depth with the discussion of these agents, we must have a notion of what a software agent is.

Software agents are programs that perform task for the user. According to the definition provided by the ever-dependable Wikipedia, "a software agent is an abstraction, a logical model that describes software that acts for a user or other program in a relationship of agency. Such "action on behalf of" implies the authority to decide when (and if) an action is appropriate." A formal way of defining an agent would be as follows: an agent describes a software abstraction, an idea, or a concept, similar to OOP (object-oriented programming) terms such as methods, functions, and objects. But unlike objects, which are defined in terms of methods and attributes, an agent is defined in terms of its behavior.

Different authors have proposed their own definitions of an agent. But there are some similar concepts they have agreed on. These concepts are persistence (code is not executed on demand but runs continuously and decides for itself when it should perform some activity), autonomy (agents have capabilities of task selection, prioritization, goal-directed behaviour, decision-making without human intervention), social ability (agents are able to engage other components through some sort of communication and coordination, they may collaborate on a task), and reactivity (agents perceive the context in which they operate and react to it appropriately).

The above-mentioned information from Wikipedia gives us some background on the topic which I would discuss in this paper. I'm supposed to write something about a paper presented at the Third International Workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages - "Is it an Agent, or Just a Program?: A Taxonomy for Autonomous Agents" by Stan Franklin and Art Graesser of the Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis. My goal is to give a sort of review of Franklin and Graesser's work. Starting with the definition of an agent, which I got from an online encyclopedia, I would elaborate the topic using the data provided in the source article. But before that, let me state my thoughts upon reading the article's abstract and introduction.

As I mentioned in the first statements of this paper, I was interested to learn more of intelligent agents because I liked the fact that they are intelligent. But then I thought, "how are they different from programs?" Definitions have stated that they are meant to perform specific task from, and for the user - but so are programs. So what is the difference then when they have the same goals and purpose of 'existence'? Are they not similar because agents are said to be "intelligent"? But I think programs have a sense of intelligence too. How would they be able to run properly if they don't have the capability to "think"? What I mean is, in order for the programs to achieve their goals, they must, first of all, know what those goals are. Somehow, they have the thinking capacity, just like agents. Another confusion factor is the fact that both "exists" in order to simplify human tasks. Aren't the two concepts interchangeable? Well, the answer lies in the heart of the article, and it would be revealed as I go on with this paper.

The Ultimate Question: What is an Agent?

When I hear the word agent, what comes to my mind are the real-life agents such as promodizers/sales agents, realty agent, or simply an agency. In simple terms, apart from the computer science world, an agent is just some sort of a mediator or a link from one entity to another - from a company to a prospect, for example. These are some of our notions of what agents are in the real world, but what about the agents in the "artificial" world - that is, the world of computer science? Here are the ideas regarding agents, taken from different sources, and which Franklin and Graesser stated in their work.

1. MuBot Agent - The term agent is used to represent two orthogonal concepts. The first is the agent's ability for autonomous execution. The second is the agent's ability to perform domain oriented reasoning.
Points Raised: There are two things which I would like to note in this definition, autonomous execution, and domain oriented reasoning.

2. AIMA Agent - An agent is anything that can be viewed as perceiving its environment through sensors and acting upon that environment through effectors.
Points Raised: This is the agent I'm most familiar with. And so, this would serve as my basis for comparison and analysis in the latter part of this paper. Key concepts here are environment, sensors, and actuators/effectors. An additional factor, which was not mentioned here, but is given emphasis in the book, is the performance measure. I'll give a clearer explanation later.

3. Maes Agent - Autonomous agents are computational systems that inhabit some complex dynamic environment, sense and act autonomously in this environment, and by doing so realize a set of goals or tasks for which they are designed.
Points Raised: What I want to note here are the terms computational systems, complex dynamic environment, sense and act autonomously, and goals.

4. KidSim Agent - ...agent as a persistent software entity dedicated to a specific purpose. 'Persistent' distinguishes agents from subroutines; agents have their own ideas about how to accomplish tasks, their own agendas. 'Special purpose' distinguishes them from entire multi-function applications; agents are typically much smaller.
Points Raised: The first notable idea here is persistent, the next one is special purpose.

5. Hayes-Roth Agent - Intelligent agents continously perform three functions: perception of dynamic conditions in the environment; action to affect conditions in the environment; and reasoning to interpret perceptions, solve problems, draw inferences, and determine actions.
Points Raised: Key points raised here are the three functions of intelligent agents; perception, action, and reasoning.

6. IBM Agent - Intelligent agents are software entities that carry out some set of operations on behalf of a user or another program with some degree of independence or autonomy, and in so doing, employ some knowledge or representation of the user's goals or desires.
Points Raised: Important terms include set of operations, degree of independence/autonomy, knowledge, and goals.

7. Wooldridge & Jennings Agent - ...a hardware or (more usually) software-based computer system that enjoys the following properties:
-- autonomy: agents operate without the direct intervention of human or others, and have some kind of control over their actions and internal state;
-- social ability: agents interact with other agents (and possibly humans) via some kind of agent-communication language;
-- reactivity: agents perceive their environment, and respond in a timely fashion to changes that occur in it;
-- pro-activeness: agents do not simply act in response to their environment, they are able to exhibit goal-directed behavior by taking the initiative.
Points Raised: The essential points raised are the underlined ones.

8. SodaBot Agent - Software agents are programs that engage in dialogs [and] negotiate and coordinate transfer of information.
Points Raised: This definition is somehow distant to the other ones. But I would like to take note of the terms dialogs, negotiate, and transfer of information.

9. Foner Agent - A software agent is a program that performs tasks for its user. While this may sound just like any program, agents have somewhat special properties, which the enormous amount of media hype (and subsequent misuse of the term) has clouded in recent years.
Points Raised: In addition to the above definition, Foner added the notions of trust, personalizability, and autonomy, which I think would be helpful in my analysis.

10. Brustoloni Agent - Autonomous agents are systems capable of autonomous, purposeful action in the real world.
Points Raised: One important idea stated here is the existence of agents in the "real" world, and of course not to forget the notion of autonomy.

11. FAQ Agent - This FAQ will not attempt to provide an authoritative definition..
Points Raised: According to the article, the FAQ Agent does provide a list of attributes often found in agents. And the list includes the following: autonomous, goal-oriented, collaborative, flexible, self-starting, temporal continuity, character, communicative, adaptive, and mobile.

ANALYSIS & COMPARISONS

Based on the facts we've gathered, we're now ready to examine which definitions overlap, and which ones are the exact opposite of the other. I've listed down several terms which are common in the definitions. Here are the similar concepts raised:

1. Autonomy (MuBot, Maes, IBM, Wooldridge & Jennings, Foner, Brustoloni, FAQ). An agent is autonomous if it could learn what it can to compensate for partial or incorrect partial knowledge. An agent should not be dependent only on what information is fed on it. In simple terms, it should undergo a process of learning.

2. Environment (AIMA, Maes, Hayes-Roth, Wooldridge & Jennings). Environments are where agents operate. Task environments are essentially, the 'problems' to which agents are 'solutions.' Although they all mentioned about environments, their attacks to the topic were not the same. AIMA Agent described a broad environment, which could either be observable or not, deterministic or stochastic, episodic or sequential, multiagent or single-agent, static or dynamic, and discrete or continuous. Maes specified that the environment is a complex dynamic one, and Hayes-Roth said it is a dynamic environment. One broader view of an environment is given by Wooldridge & Jennings. According to them, an environment could be a physical world, a user via a graphical user interface, the Internet, or all of these combined. Wooldridge & Jennings' environment has less limitations and wider scope.

3. Sensors & Actuators (AIMA, Maes, Hayes-Roth, Wooldridge & Jennings, SodaBot, Brustoloni). Agents use sensors to perceive the environment and actuators to act upon that environment. In the AIMA agent, the sensors are responsible for receiving input and actuators for the output. The Maes agent senses and acts autonomously in the dynamic environment, in order to realize a set of goals. Similarly, one of the functions performed by the Hayes-Roth agent is acting to affect conditions in the environment. Reactivity (agents perceive their environment, and respond to it) as a property of a Wooldridge & Jennings agent can also be associated with sensors and actuator, and thus belong to the same group. Another agent that could be listed here is the SodaBot. Negotiating and coordinating transfer of information as an ability of software agents, require sensing and acting. Although quite different from the others because of the idea that agents must perform purposeful actions in the real world, a Brustoloni agent still belongs to this group because of the actions involved in fulfilling its purpose.

4. Goals. Every agent is meant to achieve certain goals. They're created for a purpose, either in the artificial or in the real world.

5. Reasoning (MuBot, Hayes-Roth). The MuBot agent has the ability to perform domain
oriented reasoning and the Hayes-Roth performs reasoning to interpret perceptions, solve problems, draw conclusions, and determine actions.

STRUCTURE & ARCHITECTURE OF SOME AGENTS

1. Maes Agent. Pattie Maes has developed an agent architecture in which an agent is defined as
a set of competence modules. Each module is specified by the designer in terms of pre- and post-conditions, and an activation level, which gives a real-valued indication of the relevance of the module in a particular situation. The higher the activation level of a module, the more likely it is that this module will influence the behaviour of the agent. Once specified, a set of competence modules is compiled into a spreading activation network, in which the modules are linked to one-another in ways defined by their pre- and post-conditions.
There are obvious similarities between the agent network architecture and neural network architectures. Perhaps the key difference is that it is difficult to say what the meaning of a node in a neural net is; it only has a meaning in the context of the net itself. Since competence modules are defined in declarative terms, however, it is very much easier to say what their meaning is.

2. Hayes-Roth Agent. Barbara Hayes-Roth proposed that an intelligent agent must be adaptable, versatile, and exhibit coherent behavior. Adaptive in the sense that it has the ability to respond to an event in a dynamic environment with an acceptable response time. The agent must be versatile, meaning the agent has the ability to vary its responses in proportion to what it has already learned and on the current environmental context. Coherency requires that all the distinct systems the agent utilizes to adapt to its environment, and all the strategies the agent can take advantage of to be versatile must be integrated with a coherent overall plan of action developed by the agent.
The dynamic control architecture consists of a cognition system and independent perception and action systems. All subsystems operate concurrently and asynchronously and communicate through an independent but globally accessible communications interface(CI). This underlying modular structure allows for more appropriate (to the environment) response times by interacting with subsets of the environment concurrently thereby reducing the overall complexity each subsystem must be able to deal with.
The input and output modules consist of limited size buffers and dynamically modifiable perceptual filters, determined by the cognition component. The limited input buffers, located in the CI, are fed information at varying rates depending on the perceptive filter. Therefore the more important the data, the more often the system will see it. However, the CI has limited buffer size and therefore if the cognitive system does not look at the buffer often enough, events may go by in the world without notice. This strategy serves to further limit the environmental complexity encountered by first focusing the agents attention (perceptual filters) and then limiting the number of environmental events which can be active at one time (limited I/O buffers). Therefore, it is important for the cognitive system to function in real time and reason about the resources available to it.
The cognition system can also be broken into two subsystems. First is the knowledge base, which contains all knowledge, including factual, procedural and reasoning strategies for particular tasks. The second is the satisfactory reasoning cycle, which itself is composed of three parts. The first is the agenda manager, responsible for identifying and prioritizing reasoning tasks. The second is the scheduler, which interrupts the agenda manager when it is 'ready', and schedules the next best operation on the third component, the executor. Operations can have multiple possible effects, including modifications to the perceptual filters, intended actions, new conclusions for ongoing reasoning, etc. This enables the agent to apply multiple reasoning methods to the same problem, work on multiple problems simultaneously, and to trade off the quality for a timely response.. Within the knowledge base is a control plan which is developed by the agent in accordance with its goals, and is used to focus the reasoning cycle on completing the task at hand. This includes determining which actions have priority on the agenda, when the scheduler should interrupt, and what the perceptual filters should contain. The only changes to the control plan are those made by the agent, and hence were determined necessary by the control plan and environment at that time. This provides for a global coherence of reasoning, perception, and action within the agent while still allowing a wide variety of strategies to be applied to a specific task, including opportunistic actions and reactions.
Russell and Norvig's Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach clearly stated the structure of agents. They outlined four basic kinds of agent programs that embody the principles underlying almost all intelligent systems. These are simple reflex agents, model-based reflex agents, goal-based agents, and utility-based agents. If we are to classify each agent mentioned in the article according to these four structures, then we would have the following.

1. Simple reflex agents. These are the simplest kind of agent. They select actions based on the current percept, without minding the rest of the percept history. An example is the MuBot agent.

2. Model-based reflex agents. These agents maintain internal state to track aspects of the world that are not evident in the current percept. Hayes-Roth and Wooldridge & Jennings agents are (I believe) model-based reflex ones.

3. Goal-based agents. They keep track of the world state as well as a set of goals it is trying to achieve, and chooses an action that will (eventually) lead to the achievement of its goals. Almost every agent is goal-based. Examples include the Maes, KidSim, IBM, and Brustoloni agents.

4. Utility-based agents. An agent of this kind uses a model of the world, along with a utility function that measures its preferences among states of the world. Then it chooses the action that leads to the best expected utility. Expected utility is computed by averaging over all possible outcome states, weighted by the probability of the outcome. AIMA agent having its performance measure, is an example of a utility-based agent.
And of course, there is the process of learning through which the agents achieve better performance. Ideal agents are the learning ones.

ON THE ESSENCE OF AGENCY
Based on the information they have gathered, the authors gave a formal definition of an autonomous agent. They stated: An autonomous agent is a system situated within and a part of an environment that senses that environment and acts on it, over time, in pursuit of its own agenda and so as to effect what it senses in the future.
If I am to analyze this definition, I would say that it is more than enough. It has organized the key ideas presented earlier into one thought. Its a sort of summary and an intersection of all the definitions provided by the various sources. It has mentioned the environment, the goals (agenda), the sensors, and actuators. It is the closest, most definite, most concise definition that we could get. In terms of being realistic, my view is that it is somehow ambitious. But that's science. I mean, in the field of technology & computer science, that is all that matters - ambitious goals, which workers aim to achieve. Without ambition, science wouldn't exist. Regarding standards, its natural to have high ones. Its not proper to settle for the mediocre, one ought to be the best and the most outstanding. If we are to make an agent, we must make it better than what we already have, or at least on the same level of intelligence as humans. In order to check these qualifications, performance measures are readily available. But as I have said, they may be too ambitious. Nonetheless, science defies limitations and impossibilities. It could go beyond what we think is possible.

CONCLUSION
Having stated everything that I have understood from the source article, it became clearer to me the difference between a program and an agent. Franklin and Graesser stressed the idea that an agent need not be a program at all; it could be a robot or a school teacher. However, software agents are, by definition, programs, but a program must measure up to several marks to be an agent. Simply, an agent is a program, but the reverse is not always true.
Agents adapt to their environment, they are flexible and autonomous - they have a sense of independence, somehow they have a 'life' and they are capable of thinking. Programs on the other hand are constants. They could vary, yes, but that would depend on the programmer. Unless the programmer changes or alters the program, it would stay in its original state.
I would like to add that while doing this paper, it came to me that humans are just like agents. We learn from the experiences that we've had, from socializing with our environment that is the community. And we adapt to changes, we are flexible. And as long as we live, we would never stop learning, in the same way as agents do.

isn't it ironic?

its like rain on your wedding day
its a free ride when you've already paid
its a good advice that you just didn't take..

i hate them! i hate those people na member ng Alpha Kapal Muks! grabe, to the highest level ang kakapalan ng mukha.. oh well, wala na nga siguro talaga akong magagawa pa but to accept the fact that this world is not kind anymore.. this is such a cruel and harsh world.. survival of the fittest is the prevailing principle.

i got the title of this post from alanis morisette's song, which i think best suits my mood.. its the perfect song that could express how exactly I feel right now..it describes the situation i'm currently in to.. IRONIC..

what does that word mean? ironic.. its synonymous with the terms 'sardonic', 'sarcastic', 'wry'.. its when you don't get what you deserve or what you expect, seems like everything's a mess.. the situation turns out to be the exact opposite of what should happen.. some kind of black humor.. black in the sense that there's something bad about it, something which the humor tries to hide.. that's life.. funny, yet deceiving..

think about this as an example:
a broken heart is the single greatest pain you will ever have to endure, in fact, the most hurtful thing you can imagine, and the one who commits this emotional crime is not someone you hate; its not even someone you dislike.. no, because the only person who is capable of breaking your heart is the one who holds it precariously in his hands, the one with whom you have shared your dreams, your secrets, your fears - the one you love more than anybody else in the world - and therein lies the irony..

why am i saying this? why am i talking about irony and all these painful stuffs?

the answer lies in the essence of nothingness..

there's no special reason, whatsoever.. i just wanna express how i feel about some things which i can't control..

i'm just confused, a bit disappointed perhaps.. makes me want to vanish.. away from the hurtful realities of the earth..

if not for some people i care for and who have also shown the beauty of the world, i would say that i don't want to belong here anymore..

i've suffered enough.. nakakapagod din pala.. lalo na pag sobrang daming irony sa life mo.. you can't help but ask why.. why do these things happen when you've been the kindest person you could ever be?

i feel that i don't deserve this..

i've tried my best to be as patient, as understanding, as kind as i could be.. but unfortunately, people took advantage of my 'silence'.. i don't fight back.. i just cry my heart out, talk to God, and pray for more strength..

pero parang sobra na.. hindi na tama.. masyado na akong nasasaktan.. and what hurts me more is the fact that the people who have failed me are those whom i trusted and held dear..

but i guess i have learned my lessons..

1. don't ever give your full trust to anyone
2. nobody will ever be your 'best' friend
3. the only person you could rely on is yourself
4. if you do good to others, that doesn't mean they'll do good too
5. if you treat others well, never expect them to treat you the same
6. life isn't always fair.. it is never fair
7. always expect for the worst things to happen, so you won't get disappointed
8. no one could love you as much as God can

may sense naman di ba?

God bless everyone! =)

tweet2 girls

mars, leyn, chai, and unai at the megastrip during our first bonding moment for this sem.. =) i love these girls.. sayang, wala si alpha.. hindi tuloy kami kumpleto..

intelligent agents

i'm doing a paper for my AI class.. its about intelligent agents.. i was just wondering if someone could provide me with my own agent - an intelligent one. =) i really need a software agent that could do this paper for me.. hehe..

it's so unfortunate that i'm not motivated in doing this thing.. i don't know why.. during the summer break, i was so excited to enroll in this class.. pero bakit ganun? parang.. hay.. basta..

i hope maging ok pa rin.. the sem has just begun.. i still have enough time to convince myself that this subject is fun and interesting.. umm.. i hate to say this, but i think the topic itself is undoubtedly interesting, the problem is the 'environment' and the way it is handled.. there isn't sufficient time to enjoy the topic.. wala ng games, puro lengthy lectures na lang.. oh well..

i better go.. got to read lots of stuffs.. from software agents to intelligent agents to everything else.. i'm enjoying it.. yes, i got to convince myself that i'm loving what i'm doing..

God bless everyone! =)

school matters

i'm a bit busy now.. there have been some important things that i need to fix/do/attend to.. well, i should have accepted that fact already.. that's part of my life as a student.. i just get some kind of encouragement by telling myself that i'll get over all of these.. well, that's the least i could do..

i really don't know if this post makes sense.. but i hope it does.. i'll do better next time.. =)

God bless everyone!