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Though a computer professional, Meredith Broussard feels "that the way people talk about technology is out of touch with what digital technology can actually do", and that seeing the latter as a panacea has "resulted in a tremendous amount of poorly designed technology" (6), which needlessly complicates instead of improving or making life easier. Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World: by Meredith Broussard, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 2019, 248 pp., $15.95T/£12.99 (paper) Supported by extensive research, I Artificial Unintelligence i cogently challenges the prevailing technophile hype extolling the unlimited ways in which technology supposedly can "change the world for the better" and create a digital utopia with infinite benefits in every area of life. [Extracted from the article]

Wavelet transform and wavelet packet transform methods are studied for this purpose and fault disturbance detection in micro-grids. The next paper titled "Joint Throughput Optimization for Multichannel Multiradio Multirate Wireless Network with Network Coding", presents a network coding method to improve network throughput. These are two important performance parameters of a wireless sensor network that are considered together for optimization in this paper. [Extracted from the article]

Emotion is an important factor that decides the the state of the mind of an individual. However, there are many people who cannot express their emotions explicitly due to various psychological or physiological issues. The recent technology development in interdisciplinary techniques has made the emotion recognition easy. The main objective of this paper is to uncover the contribution of hybrid deep learning model in classifying the emotions. This novel hybrid Bi-LSTM model is applied to three dimensional VAD model to classify 16 emotions. In addition, this paper addresses their performance comparison with respect to other models. Deep learning models like CNN, LSTM, Hybrid Bi-LSTM, and Hybrid Bi-GRU were used for experimentation. FFT is used to convert from time domain to frequency domain in all the models. The performance measure of these models is estimated in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, and F1score. The estimated accuracy of different deep learning models are approximated to be 87.5% for CNN, 88.7 % for LSTM, 93.9% for Hybrid Bi-LSTM, and 92.2% for Hybrid GRU based on the number of subjects. These comparisons have helped to find the suitable deep learning model for emotion recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIn response to the challenge of high cognitive pressure and difficulty for commanders in cross-layer operations during the transition from traditional two-dimensional command and control system interfaces to mixed reality human-computer interaction interfaces, this paper conducts research on the information fusion display method for the human-computer interaction interface of the mixed reality command and control system. First, based on the findings of previous research, we developed a five-layer human-computer interaction interface for a mixed reality command and control system in typical combat scenarios. An evaluation experiment was designed and the resulting data analyzed. This analysis revealed that there are problems with low work efficiency and high cognitive load in the information acquisition process in cross-layer interaction operations. Consequently, we conducted research into the methods of integrating and displaying interactive interface information, integrating and displaying interactive and display interface information, and integrating and displaying complex situation interface information. The research findings indicate that: (1) The optimal display ratio for mixed reality 2D interface integration is 3:2. (2) The optimal display scheme for mixed reality 2D interface fusion is a combination of the main and secondary interfaces, with the main interface table displaying global information and the secondary interface displaying accurate information. (3) The optimal display scheme for mixed reality 2D and 3D interface fusion is the display of overall class information in 2D and the accurate identification of class information in 3D. The findings of this research can be applied to the design of human-computer interaction interfaces for mixed reality command and control systems in complex battlefield environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the entire BCI system, a big challenge is that information can be extracted from brain signals in a meaningful way. Therefore, most BCI studies are focused on brain signal processing, in which the stages are preprocessing, feature extraction, feature selection, and classification. Since each of the signal processing methods is subject-specific, it is necessary to select a specific subject group, that is, a data set, for an effective signal processing review. In this study, all stages of BCI signal processing studies that used the 2b data set recorded with the EEG method for the BCI Competition IV were compiled and compared comprehensively. To be an effective review, this paper organized into common components and showed how varying the four stages alter classification performance. Classification of performance obtained with the methods in the compiled studies was compared in terms of kappa values. The results demonstrate that combinations of different methods affect and improve the performance. This study presents comprehensive guidance by considering all stages for BCI Competition IV data set 2b. The purpose of the present study was to shed light on research with the aim to enhance BCI performance with signal processing using BCI Competition IV data set 2b. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, Brain Computer Interface has an important role in the life quality of paralyzed people. However, this technique is mainly affected by the quality of the recorded signal in each trial. This problem could be solved by rejecting low-quality trials. But developing the processing based on the recorded signal from the brain, which is a mixture of the target signal plus noise and artifact, would not be favourable in situations that all trials have low quality. This paper solves this problem by presenting a new fast algorithm for separating recorded source signals. Results indicate the improvement in classification accuracy of the proposed method compared with the well-known state of the art works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on mode in computer-mediated communication and language learning has primarily focused on mode-as-channel of communication such as audio- or videoconferencing. However, increasingly sophisticated technological tools now facilitate communication in multiple ways so that learners can convey and respond to peers and screen-based resources, both orally, visually and/or through touch with the screen. By highlighting learner-to-learner turns as well as screen related turns, this paper looks at how learners' oral meaning making is shaped through both verbal and non-verbal resources. This can provide a better understanding of how the interplay between modes and resources on interfaces might be harnessed to increase learners' oral turns and identify potential interface-related difficulties learners might face. Audio recordings of six dyads are analysed using discourse analysis, with notions from conversational analysis, alongside interface screenshots. Results reveal that screen-based resources become: 1) embedded or modified in oral turns; 2) resources to initiate and support oral turns; 3) diverse topics of talk. It was also found that learners orientate towards some resources as 4) agentive turn-takers (e.g. pop-ups, to initiate an action). Such multimodal experience reveal how peer-to-peer talk can occasionally resemble a multi-party encounter whereby some resources can act as participants in the interaction. It is proposed that a fuller understanding of this interplay can help teachers and designers optimize computer-mediating communicative language learning tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmented reality (AR) technologies have been introduced in manufacturing planning functions. Working in augmented environments, users usually select virtual objects with hand gestures that are associated with arm fatigue. In this paper, a Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) for 'hologram' selection in AR is proposed. The BCI and hand gesture performances, workload, and usability have been measured for 4 different tasks. Although the results showed that BCI were on average 2.52 seconds slower than hand gestures, the BCI was more precise than hand gestures, with accuracies close to 100%. The BCI had an overall workload of 38.52, that resulted to be lower than the hand gestures' one of 52.40. Finally, the BCI's System Usability Scale of 77.8 overcame the hand gestures one of 11.3 points. These results highlighted the potential of coupling together BCI and AR, demonstrating a possible future application of these technologies in industrial settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IEEE P2731 working group has spent much of 2020 working on a lexicography for Brain Computer Interface research. Concomitant with that glossary, has been work on a functional model for BCI. This special issue contains articles written by teams of the P2731 working group, each focusing on a different aspect of that functional model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive brain–computer interface (cBCI) is an emerging area with applications in neurorehabilitation and performance monitoring. cBCI works on the cognitive brain signal that does not require a person to pay much effort unlike the motor brain-computer interface (BCI) however existing cBCI systems currently offer lower accuracy than the motor BCI. Since attention is one of the cognitive signals that can be used to realise the cBCI, this work uses the multiple object tracking (MOT) task to acquire the desired electroencephalograph (EEG) signal from healthy subjects. The main objective of the paper is to explore the preliminary applications of support vector machine (SVM) classifier to classify the attentional load in multiple object tracking task. Results show that the attentional load can be classified using SVM with sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 94.03%, 92.50%, and 93.28%, respectively using the spectral entropy EEG feature. The classification performance promises the potential application of the current approach in the cognitive brain-computer interface for neurorehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of the Journal of Urban Technology brings together five articles that are based on presentations given at the Street Computing Workshop held on 24 November 2009 in Melbourne in conjunction with the Australian Computer-Human Interaction conference (OZCHI 2009). Our own article introduces the Street Computing vision and explores the potential, challenges, and foundations of this research trajectory. In order to do so, we first look at the currently available sources of information and discuss their link to existing research efforts. Section 2 then introduces the notion of Street Computing and our research approach in more detail. Section 3 looks beyond the core concept itself and summarizes related work in this field of interest. We conclude by introducing the papers that have been contributed to this special issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the effects of a technology-based engagement platform, referred to as IMPRES (Interactive Mobile Platform for Retaining and Engaging Students). IMPRES is a mobile application, backed by a set of data analysis services, which seeks to engage and retain its users to enhance their professional development. The primary goal of the application is to enhance students' engagement in their college and improve student retention. The method is influenced by and evaluated from the standpoints of four theoretical models previously used in research on the effect of a computer interface on user behavior. First, the self-determination theory perspective on digital games explains users' motivation. Second, social identity theory explains users' psychological connections to their college. Third, continuance theory explains continuity of users' engagement. Finally, the persuasive system design perspective associates IMPRES's features with users' motivation. By integrating these theories, we develop and find much support for a model of IMPRES's effects on students' intent to continue their studies. This research makes a unique contribution to continuance theory by demonstrating how an application's persuasive design features not only foster continued use of the application but also continued engagement with an organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years applications like CoveritLive have diffused with great speed throughout online newsrooms. Such technologies create an interface where audience participation and journalistic reporting potentially merge into a text-production system marked by a high degree of immediacy and interactivity. This paper investigates the consequences of such practices for the professional ideology of journalism. What norms and ideals do journalists who initiate and partake in such practices adhere to? To what degree does their practice conflict with traditional ideals of journalistic reporting? The paper analyses the “live” coverage of football matches in the two most popular Norwegian online newspapers, VG Nett and dagbladet.no. The findings suggest that the merger of audience participation and immediacy creates conflicts of ideals for the journalists involved, and that ideals of subjectivity and social cohesion are promoted by such practices of journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widespread use of Multichannel Electroencephalograph (MCEEG) in diversified fields ranging from clinical studies to Brain Computer Interface (BCI) application, has put in a lot of thrust in data processing concepts, for effective storage and transmission. The paper proposes a computationally simple and novel methodology Normalized Spatial Pseudo Codec (n-SPC) to compress MCEEG signals. The signals are first normalized followed by two operations namely the spatial coding and pseudo coding operating on integer part and fractional part of the normalized data respectively. The proposed method was evaluated on publicly available EEG databases and results indicate that the algorithm exhibits good storage efficiency with average Compression Ratio (CR) of 4.61 with a computational complexity of only O(zN). The algorithm offers significantly a better decompressed signal quality, quantified by average Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) of 21.42 dB. The average encoding and decoding time per sample is 0.3 and 0.04 ms, respectively with an average Percentage Root Mean Square Deviation (PRD) of 5.33. The efficacy was further evaluated using the decompressed signal to detect sleep spindle, from an excerpt of EEG recording and was compared with the visual scoring of two experts, available at the DREAMS Sleep Spindles Database. Hence, the proposed compression scheme can be used in practical MCEEG recording, archiving and BCI and neuromorphic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation of a subject, who is associated with the data acquisition of brain computer interface (BCI) experiment, is a very crucial parameter for executing a successful BCI application. This paper proposes a novel method to present the distribution of motivation of a subject during a BCI experiment. The proposed method was successfully applied to the BCI Competition 2003 Data Set III and the BCI Competition 2005 Data Set I using fast Fourier transform-based band power features with a linear discriminant analysis classifier. The results show that not only the motivation of the subject dramatically changes during the trial but also using highly motivated time segments provides 7.86% and 2.00% improvement in the classification accuracy of the BCI Competition 2003 Data Set III and the BCI Competition 2005 Data Set I, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to illustrate the interconnections between the different phases (or tools) within the cognitive work analysis framework; the benefits of extending an analysis across each of the five phases are highlighted through these interconnections. The paper uses a command and control micro-world example to describe how each of the five phases can be used to describe the constraints within the micro-world domain from a different perspective. Based upon the social organisation and cooperation analysis, design requirements are extracted in order to develop role specific customisable interfaces for use within the micro-world. The interfaces have been specifically developed to communicate real time reconfiguration of the network through each of the individual interfaces; the reallocations of functions or roles are communicated to the actors through changes to the interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive work analysis (CWA) is frequently advocated as an approach for the analysis of complex socio-technical systems. Much of the current CWA literature within the military domain pays particular attention to its initial phases; work domain analysis and contextual task analysis. Comparably, the analysis of the social and organisational constraints receives much less attention. Through the study of a helicopter mission planning system software tool, this paper describes an approach for investigating the constraints affecting the distribution of work. The paper uses this model to evaluate the potential benefits of the social and organisational analysis phase within a military context. The analysis shows that, through its focus on constraints, the approach provides a unique description of the factors influencing the social organisation within a complex domain. This approach appears to be compatible with existing approaches and serves as a validation of more established social analysis techniques. As part of the ergonomic design of mission planning systems, the social organisation and cooperation analysis phase of CWA provides a constraint-based description informing allocation of function between key actor groups. This approach is useful because it poses questions related to the transfer of information and optimum working practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an intelligent interface developed to assist in the task of collecting detailed information regarding daily travel behaviours. The computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) system, developed by the MADITUC Research Group for the Montreal large-scale travel surveys, is structured in three main screens (household, person and trip) and assists the interaction between an interviewer and a respondent during a phone interview. This tool enhances the quality of the data collected by performing real-time validation of the spatio-temporal details related to travel behaviours. In addition to describing the design of the CATI tool, this paper proposes some empirical measurements associated with the CATI use by the interviewers owing to the processing of numerical logs saving every action taken by the user during an interview. Using these data, variables significantly influencing interview duration are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic toxicity data from various sources were integrated into a rigorously designed database using the ToxML schema. The public database sources include the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) submission data from approved new drug applications, food contact notifications, generally recognized as safe food ingredients, and chemicals from the NTP and CCRIS databases. The data from public sources were then combined with data from private industry according to ToxML criteria. The resulting "integrated" database, enriched in pharmaceuticals, was used for data mining analysis. Structural features describing the database were used to differentiate the chemical spaces of drugs/candidates, food ingredients, and industrial chemicals. In general, structures for drugs/candidates and food ingredients are associated with lower frequencies of mutagenicity and clastogenicity, whereas industrial chemicals as a group contain a much higher proportion of positives. Structural features were selected to analyze endpoint outcomes of the genetic toxicity studies. Although most of the well-known genotoxic carcinogenic alerts were identified, some discrepancies from the classic Ashby-Tennant alerts were observed. Using these influential features as the independent variables, the results of four types of genotoxicity studies were correlated. High Pearson correlations were found between the results of Salmonella mutagenicity and mouse lymphoma assay testing as well as those from in vitro chromosome aberration studies. This paper demonstrates the usefulness of representing a chemical by its structural features and the use of these features to profile a battery of tests rather than relying on a single toxicity test of a given chemical. This paper presents data mining/profiling methods applied in a weight-of-evidence approach to assess potential for genetic toxicity, and to guide the development of intelligent testing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of mediated hugs that are achieved with a huggable communication medium on the brain activities of users during conversations. We measured their brain activities with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and evaluated them with two information theoretic measures: permutation entropy, an indicator of relaxation, and multiscale entropy, which captures complexity in brain activation at multiple time scales. We first verify the influence of lip movements on brain activities during conversation and then compare brain activities during tele-conversation through a huggable communication medium with a mobile phone. Our analysis of NIRS signals shows that mediated hugs decrease permutation entropy and increase multiscale entropy. These results suggest that touch interaction through a mediated hug induces a relaxed state in our brain but increases complex patterns of brain activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) has implemented and applied DSpace as a digital repository for project and programme outputs, including published articles, conference papers, research reports, briefings and press releases. The DSpace repository has become a major element in the user engagement strategy of the programme. The OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative) interface provides a basis for the development of a number of user applications and services for projects and other interested groups, including search interfaces, dynamic web content, RSS feeds and other services. These have also formed the basis of collaboration and communication between the TLRP and other research programmes, indexes and resources. The TLRP aims to enable collaboration between researchers and to foster individual, institutional and sector-wide research capacity. The OAI interface has been used as the basis of data visualisation tools, allowing the identification of distinctive patterns of collaboration across the diverse projects of the programme. The paper will conclude with some reflections on the relevance of the output of these tools to teachers and their practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last few years personas has become an established design technique within the IT-design field. Using personas has proven itself as a valuable approach for designers to switch between a developer's perspective and a user's perspective in the design process. The technique is claimed to help designers in keeping a clear focus and shaping a consistent user-interface by making 'the user' present in the design work- In this paper we report on a number of projects where we have elaborated on the persona approach for collaborative design. With the goal of creating 'user presence' in the design process, we have developed an approach building on a combination of ethnographic exploration, participatory inquiry, and collaborative design. This paper carries two interrelated points: the grounding of personas in existing practice; and the notion that 'the user' is created as an ongoing process throughout the design work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last issue of Volume 14, I explained how Behaviour and Information Technology publishes papers in a variety of form ats and styles, not just experimental studies. The rest of that issue contained a variety of styles of paper including field studies, theoretical analyses and models, short papers and reviews. However, in this issue, we have a preponderance of experim ental studies from the USA, UK and France with one Australian case study. To reinforce the point that non-experimental papers are entirely welcome, we start with that case study in a section devoted to papers from a sociotechnical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article announces a special issue of the journal Advanced Robotics on advanced technologies for augmenting canine-human communication. Canines have a unique understanding of humans and communicate with us through social signals and interactions. The issue includes papers on topics such as measuring emotions in dogs and cats, synchronizing canine and human breathing, using activity trackers to analyze canine behavior, training canines with mounted devices, tracking multiple animals, and using canine electroencephalography for human-canine communication. The authors express gratitude to the contributors and reviewers of the special issue. [Extracted from the article]

Providing electricity to telecom tower can be realised by hybrid green energy systems than extending a power line from grid. For a hybrid energy system, it is important to develop a converter to integrate different power sources and storage elements. Conventional systems use an individual converter for individual source thus leading to a relatively complex configuration, larger component count and reduced system efficiency. To address these issues green energy interface (GEI) converter is used. In this paper, a detailed component wise analysis and performance comparison between conventional and GEI converter using Matlab/Simulink is presented. GEI converter has linear and non-linear components. So, small signal model based on state space averaged model of the GEI topology is obtained. A lab level prototype for the GEI converter with programmable interface controller is implemented and tested under various input conditions to study the performance of the converter during seasonal changes. The simulation and experimental results showed that effective operation and control strategy of the hybrid power supply system. Abbreviations: BTS: base transceiver station; MSC: mobile switching centre; BSC: base station controller; CAPEX: capital expenditure; OPEX: operational expenditure; GEI: green energy interface [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective reading strategies, including using graphic organizers, question answering, and considering story structures, can help students improve reading comprehension. However, these reading strategies are not fully supported by both printed books and e-books. Students who master these reading strategies can learn effectively. By contrast, students without effective reading strategies cannot grasp thinking contexts, which leads to unfavorable learning outcomes. This paper presents a novel e-book interface that features thinking maps and a question answering mechanism on the same page. The thinking maps and question answering mechanism can stimulate students to reflect on reading content, which in this study was college entrance exam compositions, and help students to more effectively understand the context of their reading content. After we developed our reading system, 61 participants were recruited for system evaluation. The results indicate that students in the treatment group acquired significantly more vocabulary and understood the story structure more competently than did students in the control group. Treatment group participants expressed that they were satisfied with the thinking maps and question answering mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly robots form part of a complex automation scheme, dictating a requirement for robot control systems which can communicate beyond their local working environment. This paper explains how MAP Version 2.1 broadband local area network interfaces have been used to facilitate robot integration with computer-integrated manufacturing systems and describes integration methodologies which can find widespread application. To illustrate the principles involved a robot-based flexible assembly system has been constructed to assemble and test printed circuit boards. Each machine element of the flexible assembly system has been linked to a MAP backbone through the use of 'OSI intelligent interfaces' (or gateways). The interfaces incorporate INI COMMengines and were constructed at Loughborough University to achieve MAP to machine-specific protocol conversion and where appropriate to provide enhanced front-end processing facilities in the locality of machines. The paper also describes the features and use of an AUTOMAtion Integration Language (AUTOMAIL) which is an integration tool which can be used to define information transfer in distributed manufacturing systems. AUTOMAIL allows the system builder to define a number of sequential manufacturing tasks and the necessary synchronization of these tasks. The resulting software accomplishes interprocessor communication on the network through use of MAP application layer primitives and runs on a cell supervisory computer which itself is linked to the MAP backbone. In this way, various application and information architectures have been devised and studied. For example, cell supervisory computers have been used to interpret work-to lists, generated by factory-wide production planning and control systems, and subsequently control and monitor the integrated functioning of robots, component transport, automatic testing and vision-based inspection systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper outlines the features of an 'intelligent' interface based on local area network (LAN) protocols, which was designed to enable a variety of computer controlled manufacturing machines to he linked together and integrated with supervisory computers performing control, data-base and production management functions. The use of this interface provides the basis of a general solution to the problems of flexibility and efficient utilization within manufacturing environments. To illustrate the use of the interface, the paper presents some examples of the utilization of shared resources on a computer network to improve the processing facilities available at robot controllers. Also included is a brief discussion of the nature of communication with computer controlled manufacturing machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider the use of permanent implanted magnets inserted into an individual’s fingers as a form of human computer interface, the magnets being excited by an external coil. Tests involving amplitude detection, amplitude discrimination, frequency discrimination, temporal discrimination, and temporal gap detection were performed on implanted subjects. As a comparison the same tests were performed on individuals who had identical magnets attached to the outside of their skin. Results indicated that much smaller stimulation currents were required to achieve a sensitivity response in the implanted subjects. It is apparent that different corpuscles are affected by complex signals at different frequencies and this has a considerable effect on the results obtained and hence on the type of stimulation that can best be applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a paradigm for interaction design, the ambient is different from the visual and intentional. Here you cannot always tell who is a user. Appropriate resolution becomes a significant cultural consideration. Data undergo formation and not just visualization. Human capacities for embodied non-visual cognition face new opportunities and challenges. Towards a synthesis of a cultural agenda for the ambient, this paper reviews fundamental principles of epistemology, cognition, ethnography and urbanism. As a starting point towards this agenda, neither embedded technology nor media-cultural critique seem so important as a better understanding of attention itself. Attention becomes scarce as information becomes superabundant. This paper explores common misconceptions about attention, at least with regard to ubiquitous media. It suggests some alternative first principle for understanding of the design challenge of more truly ambient information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web services exhibit major industrial benefit by their ability to participate in composition processes. Web services composition allows for automated exchange of information among remote processes through the service interface. A well-established end-to-end QoS infrastructure among the involved processes precludes confusion among the developers, vendors and consumers. Most of the research work conducted in this domain has focused on functional QoS requirements such as service response time, delay, cost, etc. This paper elaborates the QoS of web services from the perspective of data freshness and accuracy. Towards this aim, the 'Region Switching' (RS) algorithm is introduced in this paper. Within the context of the multiple web services composition scenario, the RS-algorithm allows for accurate identification of the point of information change and the appropriate re-computation over the subset of the pre-established, global service execution plan. Thereafter, a mathematical model is presented to verify the need for re-computation based on certain estimated factors, computed thresholds, and the model design. Such a selective re-computation is worth considering since some services may take a significant amount of time to produce results where a slight change to the information set might not alter the outcome of the service. The proposed concept is implemented by utilising and extending the WS-Notification specification in order to elaborate a middleware that is capable of sensing and routing information change at the level of web services using the publish-subscribe mechanism. The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, it highlights the importance of qualifiable QoS aspect related to the issue of web services composition and monitoring. Second, it describes an algorithm capable of capturing and reflecting the state of web services involved in a composition process, thereby achieving higher QoS. Finally, the paper illustrates the use and extension of the WS-Notification concept in building such systems that would deliver up-to-date information to the user through selective re-computation of the web services composition plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the growing popularity of animated software agents as a rapidly evolving technology for supporting website users and particularly the tendency among designers to figure them as young women. While designers claim that animated/personified interfaces are more intuitive and natural than the traditional point-and-click interfaces that users encounter, this paper aims to show how virtual humans can enact familiar scripts about women's work, circumscribe the range of possible roles and personalities for women, invoke service to others as the primary context for women's work, and objectify women through a not-so-subtle process of linking technology-as-tool to the idea that women are tools, fetishized instruments to be used in the service of accomplishing users' goals. In conclusion, this study develops our field's tools for critiquing technical communication texts and interfaces by focusing attention on the implications of how technologies for interacting with website users are designed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A composite-metaphor interface is a computer interface consisting of a combination of two or more metaphors. As computer systems have become more sophisticated, researchers have proposed the use of multiple metaphors to design computer systems because they would better match the characteristics of complex target systems; however, due to the difficulty of designing interface metaphors and limited research in this area, there are few guidelines or accepted standards for generating and implementing composite metaphors for interface design. In this paper, the authors propose an approach for designing composite metaphors. We first present the metaphor design strategies as we interviewed eight game designers, then summarise the design considerations from the metaphor literatures. Finally, we propose the design approach for selecting and combining metaphors in designing composite-metaphor interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing the potential contribution that interactive software agents bring to everyday work applications, this paper reports on end-user adoption of animated interface agents in one particular work application environment: Microsoft® Office. The paper develops and empirically tests a theoretical model of the factors affecting an end-user's choice to adopt and utilize such interface agents. From this theoretical model, a survey instrument was adapted and administered to 261 participants, familiar with animated interface agents. Results from a partial least squares (PLS) analysis indicates that a variety of factors are at play, which inhibit or foster a person's choice to utilize and adopt animated interface agents. Of significance is that: (a) both perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment are important influencing factors; (b) users with high scores in innovativeness toward information technology are less likely to find animated interface agents enjoyable; (c) individuals with high animation predisposition scores perceive animated interface agents to be more enjoyable; and (d) users who perceive animated interface agents to be more enjoyable also perceive them to be more useful. Such insights can be used to leverage the introduction and rollout of animated interface agents in everyday work applications in ways that promote their avid adoption and use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 2003 Glasgow University Library joined with Innovative Interfaces and several other Innovative customers to develop a new Electronic Resource Management (ERM) module. This paper will outline the ways in which the development and implementation of ERM has acted as a catalyst and facilitator for further enhancements and developments in the area of e-journals at Glasgow University Library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object-oriented STEP-NC programming interface supports a bi-directional data exchange between computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) systems and computerized numerical controllers (CNCs), and by that helps to integrate the CNC into the CAx (Computer Aided technologies in general) world. In this context the current paper introduces the integration of measuring technology into the STEP-NC-based process chain, to be able to preserve the results of the manufacturing process in a set of data and feed them back to the planning process. In particular this paper describes the current draft of ISO 14649 part 16 (Data for touch probing based inspection), which allows the integration of inspection tasks into a sequence of machining operations. It gives a short overview of how part 16 fits in with other inspection data exchange standards and draft standards, such as STEP AP219, dimensional measuring interface standard (DMIS), dimensional markup language (DML) and I++DME. Furthermore, a prototype demonstration scenario for the closed-loop process chain is presented, which includes generation and execution of a STEP-NC program and feedback of measured results, achieved by automatically controlled STEP-NC inspection tasks, to the CAM system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hand signs are considered as one of the important ways to enter information into computers for certain tasks. Computers receive sensor data of hand signs for recognition. When using hand signs as computer inputs, we need to (1) train computer users in the sign language so that their hand signs can be easily recognized by computers, and (2) design the computer interface to avoid the use of confusing signs for improving user input performance and user satisfaction. For user training and computer interface design, it is important to have a knowledge of which signs can be easily recognized by computers and which signs are not distinguishable by computers. This paper presents a data mining technique to discover distinct patterns of hand signs from sensor data. Based on these patterns, we derive a group of indistinguishable signs by computers. Such information can in turn assist in user training and computer interface design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has compared different usability evaluation methods with respect to their effectiveness and efficiency. The paper analyses the impact of different usability evaluation methods on design problem-solving processes of individual designers and evaluators. It is proposed that usability evaluation methods have to be divided into two categories according to their fundamentally different way of supporting the design for usability: (1) guideline-based methods and (2) methods based on the mental generation of scenarios and anticipation of user goals. We present data from an experimental study that shows that these two types of methods entail differences in the perspective-taking processes. Furthermore, the results indicate that the methods have a differential impact on the general problem-solving strategy, i.e. whether to use a top-down, breadth-first or a depth-first approach. Possible implications for the development of techniques that support the design of usable systems are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a portable and cost-effective 16-channel EEG acquisition system with multiple analog front ends cascaded was designed. Channels required were selected according to chip selecting signal to configure each in a dynamic and personalized manner. In order to test system performance, EEG signals of five subjects from spontaneous state were sent to the host computer through the high-speed wireless module. Related steady-state visual evoked experiment was collected and analyzed. It was observed that obvious alpha rhythm appears during eyes-closed in spontaneous EEG signals; and peak values appears at the corresponding stimulating frequency and harmonics in steady-state visual evoked experiment. The results show that the acquisition system can accurately collect spontaneous EEG signals and evoked EEG signals. Therefore, it is suggested this system can be used in applications of brain computer interface and have certain theoretical and practical values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decoding visual information, such as visual imagery and perception, from EEG data can be used to improve understanding of the neural representation of visual information and to provide commands for BCI systems. The appeal of EEG as a neuroimaging tool lies in its high temporal resolution, cost-effectiveness, and portability. Nevertheless, the feasibility of using EEG for visual information decoding remains a subject of ongoing inquiry. In this review, we explore the neural correlates of this visual information, specifically focusing on visual features such as colour, shapes, texture, and also naturalistic whole objects. We begin to examine which visual features can be effectively measured using EEG, taking into account its inherent characteristics, such as its measurement depth, limited spatial resolution, and high temporal resolution. Using a systematic approach, the review provides an in-depth analysis of the current state-of-the-art in EEG-based decoding of visual features for BCI purposes. Finally, we address some potential methodological improvements that can be made to the experimental design in EEG visual information decoding studies, such as palette cleansing, augmentation to bolster dataset size, and fusion of neuroimaging techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generally, time series data is referred to as the sequential representation of data that observes from different applications. Therefore, such expertise can use Electroencephalography (EEG) signals to fetch data regarding brain neural activities in brain–computer interface (BCI) systems. Due to massive and myriads data, the signals are appealed in a non-stationary format that ends with a poor quality resolution. To overcome this existing issue, a new framework of enhanced deep learning methods is proposed. The source signals are collected and undergo feature extraction in four ways. Hence, the features are concatenated to enhance the performance. Subsequently, the concatenated features are given to probability ratio-based Reptile Search Algorithm (PR-RSA) to select the optimal features. Finally, the classification is conducted using Enhanced Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory (EBi-LSTM), where the hyperparameters are optimized by PR-RSA. Throughout the result analysis, it is confirmed that the offered model obtains elevated classification accuracy, and thus tends to increase the performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a secure electronic medical record (EMR) service system, named the ECC-based Secure EMR Transmission System (ESEMRT for short) which employs a cloud database, an elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) integration unit, a smart card, and portable devices to provide users with a secure environment for EMR transmission. The ECC integration unit, which integrates a 256-bit ECC chip, wireless transceiver, smart card reader, and USB interface for fast computing and reducing the communication load of a portable device, can securely protect the EMRs when these EMRs are delivered between the cloud database and the portable device so as to enhance their transmission security and the patient care quality. Besides, the data leakage prevention scheme is also implemented in the ESEMRT to avoid illegal duplication. Our simulation shows that the proposed system can provide a higher security level and reduce portable devices’ hardware resource requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmented reality (AR) provides a seamless interface between the virtual and real worlds, and it has been applied to various domains, e.g., product design, manufacturing, maintenance and repair, etc. In these AR systems, 3D graphics or other contents can be registered in the real environment to provide information to the users. Context-awareness can improve the usability of such AR systems through adapting the information rendered to the contexts so that the provided information can be more useful to the users. However, many AR product maintenance systems lack an authoring system that requires little programming skills to create context-aware AR contents. In this paper, an authoring system, authoring for context-aware AR (ACAAR), which provides concepts and techniques to author AR contents for context-aware AR applications, is proposed. Using ACAAR, the users can add and arrange various contents spatially, e.g., texts, images and computer-aided design (CAD) models, and specify the logical relationships between the AR contents and the maintenance contexts. In addition, a user study has been conducted to demonstrate the usability of the proposed system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robust optimization aims at pushing optimization techniques to practical applicability by including data uncertainty. Thus, it is crucial to collect algorithms and concepts for robust optimization, and to make them publicly available while being easy-to-use for the practitioner without working deeply into the theoretical background. With ROPI, a robust optimization programming interface for C++, we try to commit to this process. This paper gives an overview on current approaches to robust optimization, outlines the basic properties and functionalities of ROPI, and discusses the differences to other available libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underlying vision of the Digital Earth (DE) calls for applications that can embed vast quantities of geo-referenced data and allow users to study and analyse of our planet. Since the declaration of this vision in the late 90s, a significant number of DE data-sets have been created by the industry, governments, non-governmental organisations and individuals. An overwhelming majority of the successful applications that use DE data-sets has its end-user applications running on the desktop. While these applications are great tools, they remain inaccessible to the community as a whole. In this paper, we present a framework for the development of cyber-applications. We define an abstract architecture for cyber-applications based on the model-view-controller paradigm, which allows the dynamic inclusion of functional and data components into its execution engine at run-time. We define the operational characteristics of cyber-applications. We also specify the interface of pluggable components to the architecture. Finally, we demonstrate the appropriateness of the abstract architecture by means of a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, the parallel implementation of the iterative alternating direction explicit method by D'Yakonov (IADE-DY) and the Mitchell and Fairweather double sweep method (DS-MF) compared with the alternative direction implicit (ADI) method for solving the 2D telegraphic problem on a distributed system of Armadillo cluster and geranium Cadcam cluster using the parallel virtual machine and message passing interface is presented. We implement the scheduling of n tridiagonal system of equations with the above methods to show improvement on speedup and efficiency with parallel strategies across the two platforms. The single program multiple data model was employed for the implementation. The IADE-DY, DS-MF and ADI are developed by the splitting of the implicit equation using the finite difference discretization on the 2D telegraphic problem. The implementation is discussed in relation to means of the performance parallel strategies and analysis. The model enhances overlap communication and computation to avoid unnecessary synchronization, hence, the method yields significant speedup by the use of the non-blocking communication. We present some analyses that are helpful for speedup and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The City-Climber robot is a novel wall-climbing robot developed at The City College of New York that has the capability to move on floors, climb walls, walk on ceilings and transit between them. In this paper, we first develop the dynamic model of the City-Climber robot when it travel on different surfaces, i.e., floors, walls and ceilings, respectively. Then, we present a path planning method for the City-Climber robot using mixed integer linear programming (MILP) in three-dimensional (3-D) building environments that consist of objects with primitive geometrical shapes. MILP provides an optimization framework that can directly incorporate dynamic constraints with logical constraints such as obstacle avoidance and waypoint selection. In order to use MILP to solve the obstacle avoidance problem, we simplify and decouple the robot dynamic model into a linear system by introducing a restricting admissible controller. The decoupled model and obstacle can be rewritten as a linear program with mixed-integer linear constraints that account for the collision avoidance. A key benefit of this approach is that the path optimization can be readily solved using the AMPL and CPLEX optimization software with a MATLAB interface. Simulation results show that the framework of MILP is well suited for path planning and obstacle avoidance problems for the wall-climbing robot in 3-D environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data are central to scientific research and practices. The advance of experiment methods and information retrieval technologies leads to explosive growth of scientific data and databases. However, due to the heterogeneous problems in data formats, structures and semantics, it is hard to integrate the diversified data that grow explosively and analyse them comprehensively. As more and more public databases are accessible through standard protocols like programmable interfaces and Web portals, Web-based data integration becomes a major trend to manage and synthesise data that are stored in distributed locations. Mashup, a Web 2.0 technique, presents a new way to compose content and software from multiple resources. The paper proposes a layered framework for integrating pharmacogenomics data in a service-oriented approach using the mashup technology. The framework separates the integration concerns from three perspectives including data, process and Web-based user interface. Each layer encapsulates the heterogeneous issues of one aspect. To facilitate the mapping and convergence of data, the ontology mechanism is introduced to provide consistent conceptual models across different databases and experiment platforms. To support user-interactive and iterative service orchestration, a context model is defined to capture information of users, tasks and services, which can be used for service selection and recommendation during a dynamic service composition process. A prototype system is implemented and cases studies are presented to illustrate the promising capabilities of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how and to what extent digital multimodal text production can play a role in project work. The focus is upon describing and understanding how teachers and learners view multimodal text production as part of a learning process. Group-based project work has been used extensively in Norwegian schools since the 1970s. One criticism of this learning approach has been that peers are too passive and show a lack of enthusiasm during presentations; another is that group work is not a real form of collaboration, but only cooperation in order to divide the workload. The authors argue that when learners are offered the opportunity to create their presentations as multimodal digital texts it leads to an improvement of both group work processes and the level of engagement in the presentation of the final product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]