A mobile-agent-based approach to software coordination in the HOOPE system

Software coordination is central to the construction of large-scale high-performance distributed applications with software services scattered over the decentralized Internet. In this paper, a new mobile-agent-based architecture is proposed for the utilization and coordination of geographically distributed computing resources. Under this architecture, a user application is built with a set of software agents that can travel across the network autonomously. These agents utilize the distributed resources and coordinate with each other to complete their task. This approach' s advantages include the natural expression and flexible deployment of the coordination logic, the dynamic adaptation to the network environment and the potential of better application performance. This coordination architecture, together with an object-oriented hierarchical parallel application framework and a graphical application construction tool, is implemented in the HOOPE environment, which provides a systematic support for the de     

Information visualization,physicality and intuitive use for tangible user interfaces

In the last two decades,tangible user interfaces(TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds.TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with digital information.First,this paper examines the existing body of work on tangible user interfaces and discusses their application domains,especially information visualization.Then it provides a definition of intuitive use and reviews formerly separated ideas on physicality.As interaction has an impact on the overall product experience,we also discuss whether intuitive use influences the users’ aesthetic judgements of such products.     

An Elastic Architecture Adaptable to Various Application Scenarios

The quantity of computer applications is increasing dramatically as the computer industry prospers. Meanwhile, even for one application, it has different requirements of performance and power in different scenarios. Although various processors with different architectures emerge to fit for the various applications in different scenarios, it is impossible to design a dedicated processor to meet all the requirements. Furthermore, dealing with uncertain processors significantly aggravates the burden of programmers and system integrators to achieve specific performance/power. In this paper, we propose elastic architecture （EA） to provide a uniform computing platform with high elasticity, i.e., the ratio of worst-case to best-case performance/power/performance-power trade-off, which can meet different requirements for different applications. It is achieved by dynamically adjusting architecture parameters （instruction set, branch predictor, data path, memory hierarchy, concurrency, status~zcontrol, and so on） on demand. The elasticity of our prototype implementation of EA, as Sim-EA, ranges from 3.31 to 14.34, with 5.41 in arithmetic average, for SPEC CPU2000 benchmark suites, which provides great flexibility to fulfill the different performance and power requirements in different scenarios. Moreover, Sim-EA can reduce the EDP （energy-delay product） for 31.14% in arithmetic average compared with a baseline fixed architecture. Besides, some subsequent experiments indicate a negative correlation between application intervals＇ lengths and their elasticities.     

BD-UIMS:How It Supports Semantic Feedback and Direct Manipulation

In this paper we present some results from our research on representation methods an architectural model of UIMS,suitable for accommodating various interactive styles.By roughly describing an experimental system of BD-UIMS,we lay emphasis on how to support irect manipulation and semanticfeedback,Particular attention is given to a simple conceptual model of user interface as well.Based on this model,the designing process of user interface is rather easy.Although current work is under DOS environment,the approach of transplanting it to UNIX is being developed.     

Chinese question-answering system

Traditional Chinese text retrieval systems return a ranked list of documents in response to a user‘s request. While a ranked list of documents may be an appropriate response for the user, frequently it is not.Usually it would be better for the system to provide the answer itself instead of requiring the user to search for the answer in a set of documents. Since Chinese text retrieval has just been developed lately, and due to various specific characteristics of Chinese language, the approaches to its retrieval are quite different from those studies and researches proposed to deal with Western language. Thus, an architecture that augments existing search engines is developed to support Chinese natural language question answering. In this paper a new approach to building Chinese question-answering system is described, which is the general-purpose, fully-automated Chinese question-answering system available on the web. In the approach, we attempt to represent Chinese text by its characteristics, and try to convert the Chinese text into ERE (E: entity, R: relation) relation data lists, and then to answer the question through ERE relation model. The system performs quite well giving the simplicity of the techniques being utilized. Experimental results show that question-answering accuracy can be greatly improved by analyzing more and more matching ERE relation data lists. Simple ERE relation data extraction techniques work well in our system making it efficient to use with many backend retrieval engines.     

自适应网络学习用户界面设计和实现

An adaptive user interface helps to improve the quality of human-computer interaction. Most people at present join to Web-Based Learning by common browser. Due to the one-fits-all user interface, they have to face with the problem of lack of the support on personalized learning. The design and implementation of the adaptive user interface for Web-based learning in this paper is grounded in our work done before, for example interaction model,adaptive user models including domain models. The adaptivity is mainly expressed on learning contents and representation including layout as well as operation.     

Automatic generating test cases for testing Web applications

In order to ensure the security and reliability of Web application, the testing of Web application is one of the most effective methods. This work regards a Web application as the composition of different interactive Logical Components （LCs）. We combine LCs with agent to assist to automatic generate test cases for testing Web applications. From Pages-Flow-Diagram （PFD） of Web application under test, this research successively partitions Web applications into LCs, at different levels of abstraction, each of which is composed of Web pages and other LCs. We use an automaton to model each LC, and use compositions of automata to model interaction of LCs. Our approach supports concurrent access and interaction between LCs. It avoids the state space explosion problem effectively. It also enhances the reuse of component interactions and overcomes differences in actions between LCs by using an agent as a coordinator.     

Web应用服务器可扩展名字服务的设计和实现

Web application server provides the environment for transactional applications with a series of services(e. g. transaction, message, component container, etc. ). Naming services provide a means for application to locate objects and act as essential support in application server. However, users may use various naming service implementations in their applications, so Web application server needs to support multiple naming systems in a flexible way. With analyzing the naming requirements of application server, this paper presents a naming service mechanism that supports multiple naming systems in application server, which based on JNDI and JMX technologies.The implementation of the mechanism in WebFrame application server is introduced. The mechanism has good manageability and openness and extensibility, and satisfies the requirements of Web application server.     

Automatic Cage Building with Quadric Error Metrics

Modern computer graphics applications usually require high resolution object models for realistic rendering.However,it is expensive and difficult to deform such models in real time.In order to reduce the computational cost during deformations,a dense model is often manipulated through a simplified structure,called cage,which envelops the model.However,cages are usually built interactively by users,which is tedious and time-consuming.In this paper,we introduce a novel method that can build cages automatically for both 2D polygons and 3D triangular meshes.The method consists of two steps:1) simplifying the input model with quadric error metrics and quadratic programming to build a coarse cage;2) removing the self-intersections of the coarse cage with Delaunay partitions.With this new method,a user can build a cage to envelop an input model either entirely or partially with the approximate vertex number the user specifies.Experimental results show that,compared to other cage building methods with the same number of vertex,cages built by our method are more similar to the input models.Thus,the dense models can be manipulated with higher accuracy through our cages.     

Requirements model driven adaption and evolution of Internetware

Today’s software systems need to support complex business operations and processes.The development of the web-based software systems has been pushing up the limits of traditional software engineering methodologies and technologies as they are required to be used and updated almost real-time,so that users can interact and share the same applications over the internet as needed.These applications have to adapt quickly to the diversified and dynamic changing requirements in the physical,technological,economical and social environments.As a consequence,we are expecting a major paradigm shift in software engineering to reflect such changes in computing environment in order to better address the fundamental needs of organisations in this new era.Existing software technologies,such as model driven development,business process engineering,online(re-)configuration,composition and adaptation of managerial functionalities are being repurposed to reduce the time taken for software development by reusing software codes.The ability to dynamically combine contents from numerous web sites and local resources,and the ability to instantly publish services worldwide have opened up entirely new possibilities for software development.In retrospect to the ten years applied research on Internetware,we have witnessed such a paradigm shift,which brings about many changes to the developmental experience of conventional web applications.Several related technologies,such as cloud computing,service computing,cyber-physical systems and social computing,have converged to address this emerging issue with emphasis on different aspects.In this paper,we first outline the requirements that the Internetware software paradigm should meet to excel at web application adaptation;we then propose a requirement model driven method for adaptive and evolutionary applications;and we report our experiences and case studies of applying it to an enterprise information system.Our goal is to provide high-level guidelines to researchers and practitioners to meet the challenges of building adaptive industrial-strength applications with the spectrum of processes,techniques and facilities provided within the Internetware paradigm.     

笔式用户界面开发工具研究

笔式用户界面提供给用户更为自然的交互方式,然而,笔式用户界面的构造是一项非常困难的工作,一个可用的笔式用户界面系统往往需要多领域、多学科的知识.系统地论述了一个支持笔式用户界面开发的工具系统Penbuilder的设计实现.它基于笔交互的特性以及无处不在的计算环境的要求而设计,为笔式用户界面的开发提供高级的支持.基于Penbuilder的支持,设计开发了一批典型的笔式用户界面原型系统.该研究为笔式用户界面的构造与快速原型提供了有力的支持.     

An exploration of pen tail gestures for interactions

In this paper, we performed an exploration on the design and evaluation of pen tail gesture, an interaction method that allows the use of pen tail movement to initiate interactions. Based on our interviews with some designers and researchers who regularly used pen-based tools, we conducted three experiments to establish baseline criteria to distinguish intentional pen tail gestures from incidental pen tail movements, and to understand the basic movement behaviors in pen tail gestures. We developed designs and recognition methods of pen gestures, and implemented three application prototypes based on them. Our research can inspire some new designs of pen-based tools and enrich the design repertoire of pen-based user interfaces.     

Evaluating the benefits of multimodal interface design for CoMPASS—a mobile GIS

The context of mobility raises many issues for geospatial applications providing location-based services. Mobile device limitations, such as small user interface footprint and pen input whilst in motion, result in information overload on such devices and interfaces which are difficult to navigate and interact with. This has become a major issue as mobile GIS applications are now being used by a wide group of users, including novice users such as tourists, for whom it is essential to provide easy-to-use applications. Despite this, comparatively little research has been conducted to address the mobility problem. We are particularly concerned with the limited interaction techniques available to users of mobile GIS which play a primary role in contributing to the complexity of using such an application whilst mobile. As such, our research focuses on multimodal interfaces as a means to present users with a wider choice of modalities for interacting with mobile GIS applications. Multimodal interaction is particularly advantageous in a mobile context, enabling users of location-based applications to choose the mode of input that best suits their current task and location. The focus of this article concerns a comprehensive user study which demonstrates the benefits of multimodal interfaces for mobile geospatial applications.     

一种新的笔式交互范式的可用性评估

笔式用户界面是Post—WIMP界面的一种重要形态，具有自然、和谐的交互特性。尽管笔式用户界面广泛应用于无处不在计算环境中，但很少专门对它的可用性进行评估。针对笔式用户界面的特征，提出了一种新的笔式用户界面范式，基于此范式设计并实现了一个面向教学的笔式交互系统(PenOffice)，利用此系统对范式从易学性、效率、出错率和用户满意度这几个方面进行了可用性评估，从中分析了笔式用户界面以及这种新的界面范式的优点和不足。     

协作笔式用户界面开发工具研究

笔式用户界面是一种重要的Post-WIMP(window icon menu pointer)界面,它给用户提供了自然的交互方式.然而,当前的笔式用户界面工具箱大多是面向单用户任务的,不能很好地支持协作应用场景.通过对笔式交互特征和协作环境功能需求的分析,设计并实现了一个工具箱CoPen Toolkit,用于支持协作笔式用户界面的开发.它提供了灵活的架构和可扩展的组件,支持笔迹描述、事件处理和网络协作等功能.基于CoPen Toolkit,构造了多个原型系统,实践表明,它能够很好地支持协作笔式用户界面的开发.     

基于场景的笔式界面设计工具的设计和实现*

设计实现了一个基于数字笔的用户界面设计工具,该工具以面向笔式界面领域,基于场景的设计思想来设计系统中的界面场景组织关系以及场景之间的动态切换方式,设计者与工具间的交互自然流畅、快捷高效。通过手势识别技术,该工具可以将场景的设计结果转换为内部的界面描述语言,并通过相应的解释最终构造生成笔式用户界面。该工具可以快速生成界面原型,从而有效地提高了笔式交互系统的设计和开发效率。     

A portable toolkit for supporting end-user personalization and control in context-aware applications

A context-aware application in the pervasive computing environment provides intuitive user centric services using implicit context cues. Personalization and control are important issues for this class of application as they enable end-users to understand and configure the behavior of an application. However most development efforts for building context-aware applications focus on the sensor fusion and machine learning algorithms to generate and distribute context cues that drive the application with little emphasis on user-centric issues. We argue that, to elevate user experiences with context-aware applications, it is very important to address these personalization and control issues at the system interface level in parallel to context centric design. Towards this direction, we present Persona, a toolkit that provides support for extending context-aware applications with end-user personalization and control features. Specifically, Persona exposes a few application programming interfaces that abstract end-user customization and control mechanisms and enables developers to integrate these user-centric aspects with rest of the application seamlessly. There are two primary advantages of Persona. First, it can be used with various existing middlewares as a ready-to-use plug-in to build customizable and controllable context-aware applications. Second, existing context-aware applications can easily be augmented to provide end-user personalization and control support. In this paper, we discuss the design and implementation of Persona and demonstrate its usefulness through the development and augmentation of a range of common context-aware applications.     

Bringing context-aware access to the web through spoken interaction

The web has become the largest repository of multimedia information and its convergence with telecommunications is now bringing the benefits of web technology to hand-held devices. To optimize data access using these devices and provide services which meet the user needs through intelligent information retrieval, the system must sense and interpret the user environment and the communication context. In addition, natural spoken conversation with handheld devices makes possible the use of these applications in environments in which the use of GUI interfaces is not effective, provides a more natural human-computer interaction, and facilitates access to the web for people with visual or motor disabilities, allowing their integration and the elimination of barriers to Internet access. In this paper, we present an architecture for the design of context-aware systems that use speech to access web services. Our contribution focuses specifically on the use of context information to improve the effectiveness of providing web services by using a spoken dialog system for the user-system interaction. We also describe an application of our proposal to develop a context-aware railway information system, and provide a detailed evaluation of the influence of the context information in the quality of the services that are supplied.     

面向协作交互任务的资源模型

提出一种面向协作交互任务的资源模型.首先分析了现有协作任务分析方法和资源模型;然后在总结典型协作交互任务的基础上,提出了基于分布式认知的协作资源模型,描述了模型的组成结构和交互策略;最后给出了模型的使用模式和一个基于此模型的笔式协作概念图实例.分析表明,该模型能有效地支持协作交互,建立符合认知特点的协作用户界面.     

Designing audio-enhanced paper photos for older adult emotional wellbeing in communication therapy

This article introduces audio-enhanced paper photos enabled by digital pen technology as an interaction paradigm for supporting and understanding emotional wellbeing in late adulthood, particularly in the context of communication therapy activities and related social interactions. We describe the development of a multimodal pen-based system that enables creation of audio-enhanced paper photos and the application of this technology to two domains: older adults with aphasia working to regain expressive and receptive language after a stroke, and older adults wanting to interact with a family member of advanced age with memory loss. Our pen-based authoring software enables caregivers, both therapists and family members, to create audio-enhanced paper photos to encourage meaningful and emotionally appropriate interaction with the older adults they support. We examine the ways in which emotional information is embedded in audio-enhanced photos and how this approach addresses various aspects of emotional wellbeing in late adulthood.