Construction of living cellular automata using the Physarum plasmodium

The plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum is a unicellular and multinuclear giant amoeba that has an amorphous cell body. To clearly observe how the plasmodium makes decisions in its motile and exploratory behaviours, we developed a new experimental system to pseudo-discretize the motility of the organism. In our experimental space that has agar surfaces arranged in a two-dimensional lattice, the continuous and omnidirectional movement of the plasmodium was limited to the stepwise one, and the direction of the locomotion was also limited to four neighbours. In such an experimental system, a cellular automata-like system was constructed using the living cell. We further analysed the exploratory behaviours of the plasmodium by duplicating the experimental results in the simulation models of cellular automata. As a result, it was revealed that the behaviours of the plasmodium are not reproduced by only local state transition rules; and for the reproduction, a kind of historical rule setting is needed.     

Categorization of risk factors for distributed agile projects

ContextOrganizations combine agile approach and Distributed Software Development (DSD) in order to develop better quality software solutions in lesser time and cost. It helps to reap the benefits of both agile and distributed development but pose significant challenges and risks. Relatively scanty evidence of research on the risks prevailing in distributed agile development (DAD) has motivated this study.ObjectiveThis paper aims at creating a comprehensive set of risk factors that affect the performance of distributed agile development projects and identifies the risk management methods which are frequently used in practice for controlling those risks.MethodThe study is an exploration of practitioners’ experience using constant comparison method for analyzing in-depth interviews of thirteen practitioners and work documents of twenty-eight projects from thirteen different information technology (IT) organizations. The field experience was supported by extensive research literature on risk management in traditional, agile and distributed development.ResultsAnalysis of qualitative data from interviews and project work documents resulted into categorization of forty-five DAD risk factors grouped under five core risk categories. The risk categories were mapped to Leavitt’s model of organizational change for facilitating the implementation of results in real world. The risk factors could be attributed to the conflicting properties of DSD and agile development. Besides that, some new risk factors have been experienced by practitioners and need further exploration as their understanding will help the practitioners to act on time.ConclusionOrganizations are adopting DAD for developing solutions that caters to the changing business needs, while utilizing the global talent. Conflicting properties of DSD and agile approach pose several risks for DAD. This study gives a comprehensive categorization of the risks faced by the practitioners in managing DAD projects and presents frequently used methods to reduce their impact. The work fills the yawning research void in this field.     

一种微博用户影响力的计算方法

针对微博中用户影响力分析这个问题,提出用户影响力的计算方法。该方法首先提出用户自身影响力以及用户被影响力的概念,并根据用户自身特征与用户粉丝情况得出其计算公式,从而可以综合考虑用户在微博中的所有信息,计算出用户影响力。实验结果表明,这种计算方法能比较好地反映用户在其粉丝中的影响力。     

环境星NDVI时间序列重构方法研究

利用目前时间序列曲线重构中较为常用的非对称高斯函数拟合、Double-Logistic曲线拟合、S-G滤波和时间序列谐波分析法对环境星NDVI时间序列进行重构处理。分析了上述4种植被指数时间序列重构方法对环境星数据的适用性。实验结果表明,对于环境星数据,在4种方法中非对称高斯函数拟合、Double-Logistic曲线拟合法更适用于对植被地物的时间序列进行重构,对照参考数据,其重构曲线对植被物候的表达有较高的一致性;而时间序列谐波分析法对原始数据的扰动最小,适用于非植被地物的时间序列重构;S-G滤波在4种方法中的重构效果最差。     

基于微博扩展的用户兴趣主题挖掘算法

为解决基于微博的用户兴趣建模存在建模不全面的问题,提出一种基于微博扩展的用户兴趣主题挖掘算法。通过结合用户自身兴趣及用户关注人的兴趣来扩充微博用户兴趣,将兴趣分为长期兴趣、过期兴趣、近期兴趣,利用改进的TF． IDF算法分析相关微博内容,利用基于时间及文档频率加权的主题词重要度计算兴趣主题词得分,得出综合全面的用户兴趣。实验结果表明,综合分析用户及用户关注人的兴趣,可以有效得到真实、全面、包含潜在兴趣的用户个人兴趣。     

个性化小学英语学习系统的设计与实现

针对目前资源学习系统缺乏个性化导致小学英语学习者的资源选择迷航问题,构建以个性化资源组织为核心的学习系统。通过纪录用户信息和个性化学习行为,建立小学英语学习者信息模型;以知识点标注的方式描述英语学习资源,建立学习资源库;运用学习偏好算法和学习水平算法计算学习者偏好,采用新型智能推荐技术,向用户推荐个性化的学习资源。通过原型系统运行实例,其结果验证了个性化学习和智能推荐的有效性。     

Tencent and Facebook Data Validate Metcalfe’s Law

In 1980s, Robert Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet, proposed a formulation of network value in terms of the network size (the number of nodes of the network), which was later named as Metcalfe’s law. ...     

H.264视频感兴趣区域加密算法

为了对视频的隐私区域进行加密,提出一种基于FMO和骑士巡游思想的H.264视频感兴趣区域加密的算法。首先确定视频中包含的感兴趣区域的范围,之后对感兴趣区域内部宏块的宏块类型参数使用SHA-1生成的流密码异或加密,并对条带组序号使用骑士巡游思想置乱加密。实验分析表明,该算法可以有效地保护视频中的隐私区域,并且可以在安全性、加密效率和编码效率取得较好的折中。     

一种女书手写字符规范字形自动生成方法

中国女书是具有鲜明民族特色的文字,目前国内还没有公认的女书规范字库。针对手写体文字规范化字体生成过程多采用人工修正方式、效率低下的现状,该文设计了一种女书手写字符规范字自动生成方法。基于手写文字样本,提取其单像素骨架,并结合字符轮廓信息进行骨架畸变点校正;然后提取骨架特征点和笔段,根据笔段连通性和交角情况建立笔段关联矩阵;基于笔段关联矩阵由笔段恢复笔画,获取笔画路径关键点序列;最后基于三次Bezier曲线重绘字符笔画并均匀加粗,形成笔画粗细一致、平滑无毛刺、无畸变的规范字体。实验结果表明,该方法自动便捷,效果良好,效率优于人工方式,经改进后可以推广到其他手写字符的规范化过程。     

A fuzzy framework to evaluate service quality in the healthcare industry: An empirical case of public hospital service evaluation in Sicily

A novel fuzzy evaluation framework is applied in this study to evaluate service quality in the public healthcare sector. In particular, the proposed framework is based on the ServQual disconfirmation paradigm and incorporates the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to elicit reliable estimations of service quality expectations. Moreover, degrees of uncertainty, subjectivity and vagueness on the part of stakeholders are addressed via linguistic evaluation scales parameterized by triangular fuzzy numbers. With reference to nine relevant public hospitals in the Sicilian Region (Italy), a detailed case study evaluating four core service criteria and 15 fundamental service items is conducted so as to discern dissatisfying aspects regarding the public healthcare service in the Region. Dissatisfaction reasons with the provided service are identified in the analysis as well, further demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed approach.