European Community policy and the market

Abstract This paper starts with some reflections on the policy considerations and priorities which are shaping European Commission (EC) research programmes. Then it attempts to position the current projects which seek to capitalise on information and communications technologies for learning in relation to these priorities and the apparent realities of the marketplace. It concludes that while there are grounds to be optimistic about the contribution EC programmes can make to the efficiency and standard of education and training, they are still too technology driven.     

一种自适应子融合集成多分类器方法

融合集成方法已经广泛应用在模式识别领域,然而一些基分类器实时性能稳定性较差,导致多分类器融合性能差,针对上述问题本文提出了一种新的基于多分类器的子融合集成分类器系统。该方法考虑在度量层融合层次之上通过对各类基多分类器进行动态选择,票数最多的类别作为融合系统中对特征向量识别的类别,构成一种新的自适应子融合集成分类器方法。实验表明,该方法比传统的分类器以及分类融合方法识别准确率明显更高,具有更好的鲁棒性。     

煤矿井下安全监控分站的设计及其仿真实现

为了设计一种具有低成本、低功耗、易操作、功能强且可靠性高的煤矿井下安全分站,针对煤矿安全生产实际,文章提出了采用MCS-51系列单片机为核心、具有CAN总线通信接口的煤矿井下安全监控分站的设计方案;首先给出煤矿井下安全监控分站的整体构架设计,然后着重阐述模拟量输入信号处理系统的设计过程,最后说明单片机最小系统及其键盘、显示、报警、通信等各个组成部分的设计;为验证设计方案的可行性与有效性,使用Proteus软件对设计内容进行仿真验证,设计的煤矿井下安全监控分站具有瓦斯、温度等模拟量参数超标报警功能和电机开停、风门开闭等开关量指示功能;仿真结果表明:设计的煤矿井下安全监控分站具有一定的实际应用价值.     

Explanation and prediction: an architecture for default and abductive reasoning

Although there are many arguments that logic is an appropriate tool for artificial intelligence, there has been a perceived problem with the monotonicity of classical logic. This paper elaborates on the idea that reasoning should be viewed as theory formation where logic tells us the consequences of our assumptions. The two activities of predicting what is expected to be true and explaining observations are considered in a simple theory formation framework. Properties of each activity are discussed, along with a number of proposals as to what should be predicted or accepted as reasonable explanations. An architecture is proposed to combine explanation and prediction into one coherent framework. Algorithms used to implement the system as well as examples from a running implementation are given.     

Three Process Perspectives: Organizations, Teams, and People

This paper provides the author's personal views and perspectives on software process improvement. Starting with his first work on technology assessment in IBM over 20 years ago, Watts Humphrey describes the process improvement work he has been directly involved in. This includes the development of the early process assessment methods, the original design of the CMM, and the introduction of the Personal Software Process (PSP)^SM and Team Software Process (TSP){^SM}. In addition to describing the original motivation for this work, the author also reviews many of the problems he and his associates encountered and why they solved them the way they did. He also comments on the outstanding issues and likely directions for future work. Finally, this work has built on the experiences and contributions of many people. Mr. Humphrey only describes work that he was personally involved in and he names many of the key contributors. However, so many people have been involved in this work that a full list of the important participants would be impractical.     

基于复小波噪声方差显著修正的SAR图像去噪

提出了一种基于复小波域统计建模与噪声方差估计显著性修正相结合的合成孔径雷达(Synthetic Aperture Radar,SAR)图像斑点噪声滤波方法。该方法首先通过对数变换将乘性噪声模型转化为加性噪声模型,然后对变换后的图像进行双树复小波变换(Dualtree Complex Wavelet Transform,DCWT),并对复数小波系数的统计分布进行建模。在此先验分布的基础上,通过运用贝叶斯估计方法从含噪系数中恢复原始系数,达到滤除噪声的目的。实验结果表明该方法在去除噪声的同时保留了图像的细节信息,取得了很好的降噪效果。     

How do children do mathematics with LOGO?

Abstract  This paper considers some results of a study designed to investigate the kinds of mathematical activity undertaken by children (aged between 8 and 11) as they learned to program in LOGO. A model of learning modes is proposed, which attempts to describe the ways in which children used and acquired understanding of the programming/mathematical concepts involved. The remainder of the paper is concerned with discussing the validity and limitations of the model, and its implications for further research and curriculum development.     

Editorial: Special issue on recent advances in hybrid control theory and applications

正The demands of a rapidly advancing technology for faster and more accurate controllers have always had a strong influence on the progress of automatic control theory.In recent years control problems have been arising with increasing frequency in widely different areas,which cannot be addressed using conventional control techniques.The principal reason for this is the fact that a highly competitive economy is forcing systems to operate in regimes where     

Information for Authors

正Aim The Journals of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE(A/B/C)areedited by the international board of distinguished Chinese andforeign scientists,and are aimed to present the latest devel-opments and achievements in scientific research in China andoverseas to the world’s scientific circles,especially to stimulateand promote academic exchange between Chinese and for-eign scientists everywhere.     

View-based model-driven architecture for enhancing maintainability of data access services

In modern service-oriented architectures, database access is done by a special type of services, the so-called data access services (DAS). Though, particularly in data-intensive applications, using and developing DAS are very common today, the link between the DAS and their implementation, e.g. a layer of data access objects (DAOs) encapsulating the database queries, still is not sufficiently elaborated, yet. As a result, as the number of DAS grows, finding the desired DAS for reuse and/or associated documentation can become an impossible task. In this paper we focus on bridging this gap between the DAS and their implementation by presenting a view-based, model-driven data access architecture (VMDA) managing models of the DAS, DAOs and database queries in a queryable manner. Our models support tailored views of different stakeholders and are scalable with all types of DAS implementations. In this paper we show that our view-based and model driven architecture approach can enhance software development productivity and maintainability by improving DAS documentation. Moreover, our VMDA opens a wide range of applications such as evaluating DAS usage for DAS performance optimization. Furthermore, we provide tool support and illustrate the applicability of our VMDA in a large-scale case study. Finally, we quantitatively prove that our approach performs with acceptable response times.     

Call for Papers The 6^th International Conference on Grid and Cooperative Computing

Recent years have seen rapid advances in various grid-related technologies, middleware, and applications. The GCC conference has become one of the largest scientific events worldwide in grid and cooperative computing. The 6th international conference on grid and cooperative computing (GCC2007) Sponsored by China Computer Federation (CCF),Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICT) and Xinjiang University ,and in Cooperation with IEEE Computer Soceity ,is to be held from August 16 to 18, 2007 in Urumchi, Xinjiang, China.     

A pragmatic multi-method investigation of discrepant technological events: Coping,attributions, and ‘accidental’ learning

Discrepant technological events or situations that entail a problem, a misunderstanding or a difficulty with the Information Technology (IT) being employed, are common in the workplace, and can lead to frustration and avoidance behaviors. Little is known, however, about how individuals cope with these events. This paper examines these events by using a multi-method pragmatic approach informed by coping theory. The results of two studies – a critical incident study and an experiment – serve to build and test, respectively, a theoretical model that posits that individuals use a variety of strategies when dealing with these events: they experience negative emotions, make external attributions, and adopt engagement coping strategies directed at solving the event, eventually switching to a disengagement coping strategy when they feel they have no control over the situation. Furthermore, users’ efforts may result in ‘accidental’ learning as they try to overcome the discrepant IT events through engagement coping. The paper ends with a discussion of the results in light of existing literature, future opportunities for research, and implications for practice.     

The Distributed Time-Triggered Simulation Scheme: Core Principles and Supporting Execution Engine

Distributed real-time simulation is a young technology field but its practice is under increasing demands. In recent years the author and his collaborators have been establishing a new approach called the distributed time-triggered simulation (DTS) scheme which is conceptually simple and easy to use but widely applicable. The concept was initiated in the course of developing a new-generation object-oriented real-time programming scheme called the time-triggered message-triggered object (TMO) programming scheme. Some fundamental issues inherent in distributed real-time simulation that were learned during recent experimental studies are discussed along with some approaches for resolving the issues. An execution engine developed to support both the TMOs engaged in control computation and the TMOs engaged in DTS is also discussed along with its possible extensions that will enable significantly larger-scale DTSs.     

Software-Konfigurationsmanagement in großen Softwareprojekten

Zusammenfassung Mit zunehmender Größe der Softwaresysteme verschärfen sich die für die Software-Herstellung typischen Probleme: Beherrschen großer Objektmengen, Erhalten der Systemkonsistenz, Kontrolle der ständigen Änderungseinflüsse und Gewährleisten einer langen Lebensdauer. Die Disziplin Konfigurationsmanagement bildet den methodischen Ansatz, diese Probleme besser zu beherrschen. Software-Konfigurationsmanagement faßt die Herstellung von Softwaresystemen als eine Abfolge von kontrollierten Änderungen an gesicherten Zwischen- und Endergebnissen auf. Dargestellt werden die Objekte und Funktionen des Software-Konfigurationsmanagements sowie die hierfür in großen Software-Projekten benötigten Methoden, Instanzen und Hilfsmittel.     

Enhancing a leaf radiative transfer model to estimate concentrations and in vivo specific absorption coefficients of total carotenoids and chlorophylls a and b from single-needle reflectance and transmittance

The relative concentrations of different pigments within a leaf have significant physiological and spectral consequences. Photosynthesis, light use efficiency, mass and energy exchange, and stress response are dependent on relationships among an ensemble of pigments. This ensemble also determines the visible characteristics of a leaf, which can be measured remotely and used to quantify leaf biochemistry and structure. But current remote sensing approaches are limited in their ability to resolve individual pigments. This paper focuses on the incorporation of three pigments—chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and total carotenoids—into the LIBERTY leaf radiative transfer model to better understand relationships between leaf biochemical, biophysical, and spectral properties.Pinus ponderosa and Pinus jeffreyi needles were collected from three sites in the California Sierra Nevada. Hemispheric single-leaf visible reflectance and transmittance and concentrations of chlorophylls a and b and total carotenoids of fresh needles were measured. These data were input to the enhanced LIBERTY model to estimate optical and biochemical properties of pine needles. The enhanced model successfully estimated reflectance (RMSE = 0.0255, BIAS = 0.00477, RMS%E = 16.7%), had variable success estimating transmittance (RMSE = 0.0442, BIAS = 0.0294, RMS%E = 181%), and generated very good estimates of carotenoid concentrations (RMSE = 2.48 µg/cm², BIAS = 0.143 µg/cm², RMS%E = 20.4%), good estimates of chlorophyll a concentrations (RMSE = 10.7 µg/cm², BIAS = − 0.992 µg/cm², RMS%E = 21.1%), and fair estimates of chlorophyll b concentrations (RMSE = 7.49 µg/cm², BIAS = − 2.12 µg/cm², RMS%E = 43.7%). Overall root mean squared errors of reflectance, transmittance, and pigment concentration estimates were lower for the three-pigment model than for the single-pigment model. The algorithm to estimate three in vivo specific absorption coefficients is robust, although estimated values are distorted by inconsistencies in model biophysics. The capacity to invert the model from single-leaf reflectance and transmittance was added to the model so it could be coupled with vegetation canopy models to estimate canopy biochemistry from remotely sensed data.     

Mr. Twinn’s bombes

This article discusses the history and design of the special versions of the bombe key-finding machines used by Britain’s Government Code & Cypher School (GC&CS) during World War II to attack the Enigma traffic of the Abwehr (the German military intelligence service). These special bombes were based on the design of their more numerous counterparts used against the traffic of the German armed services, but differed from them in important ways that highlight the adaptability of the British bombe design, and the power and flexibility of the diagonal board. Also discussed are the changes in the Abwehr indicating system that drove the development of these machines, the ingenious ways in which they were used, and some related developments involving the bombes used by the U.S. Navy’s cryptanalytic unit (OP-20-G).     

一种面向查询的多文档摘要方法

面向查询的多文档摘要技术有两个难点 第一,为了保证摘要与查询密切相关,容易造成摘要内容重复,不够全面;第二,原始查询难以完整描述查询意图,需进行查询扩展,而现有查询扩展方法多依赖于外部语义资源。针对以上问题,该文提出一种面向查询的多文档摘要方法,利用主题分析技术识别出当前主题下的子主题,综合考虑句子所在的子主题与查询的相关度以及子主题的重要度两方面因素来选择摘要句,并根据词语在子主题之间的共现信息,在不使用任何外部知识的情况下,进行查询扩展。在DUC2006评测语料上的实验结果表明,与Baseline系统相比,该系统取得了更高的ROUGE评价值,基于子主题的查询扩展方法则进一步提高了摘要的质量。     

CONFLUENT POSSIBILITY DISTRIBUTIONS AND THEIR REPRESENTATIONS

Possibilistic distributions admit both measures of uncertainty and (metric) distances defining their information closeness. For general pairs of distributions these measures and metrics were first introduced in the form of integral expressions. Particularly important are pairs of distributions p and q which have consonant ordering—for any two events x and y in the domain of discourse p(x)⪋ p(y) if and only if q(x) ⪋ q(y). We call such distributions confluent and study their information distances.

This paper presents discrete sum form of uncertainty measures of arbitrary distributions, and uses it to obtain similar representations of metrics on the space of confluent distributions. Using these representations, a number of properties like additivity. monotonicity and a form of distributivity are proven. Finally, a branching property is introduced, which will serve (in a separate paper) to characterize axiomatically possibilistic information distances.     

Software malpractice — a distasteful experience

A sequence of events is described, leading to the severe deterioration of an initially well conceived and cleanly implemented compiler. It is shown how an initial “optimization” implanted a latent bug in the compiler, how the bug was subsequently activated through innocent compiler modification, and how the compiler then deteriorated because of the incompetent correction of the bus manifestation. This exceedingly negative case history is presented in the hope of conveying to the reader a better feeling for the complex problems inherent to industrial software production and maintenance. The difficulty in proposing any constructive (and complete!) software engineering methodology is known and acknowledged; the study of an episode such as described in this paper might help put the difficulties, with which we are confronted, into better perspective.     

How Client Capabilities,Vendor Configuration,and Location Impact BPO Outcomes

Despite the increasing use of onshore and offshore business process outsourcing (BPO), a comprehensive literature review [38] finds that there has been limited empirical research on BPO outcomes. This article responds to the call for research by developing and testing a conceptual model for BPO outcomes using data from 50 firms publicly traded in the U.S., including 38 firms in the Forbes Global 2000. We find that client firm capabilities, vendor configuration, and country location lead to interesting tradeoffs in the BPO quality, cost, and time outcomes. For example, while multi-sourcing offers advantages such as risk mitigation, client firms encounter reduced BPO time benefits when they use multiple vendors. While onshore BPO can lead to an improved quality, higher onshore labor costs result in lower BPO cost savings. And while offshore destinations such as India offer lower labor costs, time zone differences lead to reduced BPO time benefits.