Microcomputer-based expert systems: where we are, where we are headed

Abstract: While the idea of developing 'true' expert systems in the current microcomputer environment continues to be a subject of derision among serious AI researchers, undaunted developers and designers of microcomputer-based systems continue to make progress on the personal computer front. This article presents an overview of the current state of expert systems in a microcomputer environment and then offers some prognostications about the near-term future of expert systems on desktop and personal computers. It is suggested that the history of software developments on the small computers indicates that a pattern of growth exists. If this same pattern is applied to expert systems, the author contends, the near-term future of micro-based knowledge-based systems is at least forecastable if not predictable.     

IEEE Std 1149.1: where are we? where from here?

The authors discuss the status and celebrate the success of IEEE Std 1149.1, hoping to motivate discussion and action that will encourage further development of boundary scan-based testing. They offer the insight of experienced implementers of the standard working in competitive business environments     

Hot topics-eye-gaze computer interfaces: what you look at is whatyou get

As computers are becoming more powerful, the critical bottleneck in their use is often in the user interface, not in the computer processing. Research in human-computer interaction that seeks to increase the communication bandwidth between the user and the machine by using input from the user's eye movement is discussed. The speed potential, processing stages, interaction techniques, and problems associated with these eye-gaze interfaces are described     

Multimedia network protocols: where are we?

Protocols for multimedia communication are needed to integrate into a single network services intended to satisfy the different requirements of multiple types of traffic. An essential prerequisite for designing these protocols is that the services to be offered by the network must be selected and specified in detail. We present the service models proposed, or being developed, by the Internet community, by the ATM community, and by the Tenet Group. We compare their common characteristics, which reveal the characteristics of the first integrated services networks are likely to offer. The services referred to in this paper are those at the network and transport layers, which support the services to be offered to the system's end users.     

Vagueness: where degree-based approaches are useful, and where we can do without

The vagueness of a property becomes apparent when more than one level of granularity is addressed in a discourse. For instance, the adjective “tall” can be used to distinguish just two kinds of persons—those who are tall as opposed to those who are not. This coarse distinction contrasts with any finer one, in particular with the finest possible one, on which we specify sizes, beyond all limits of precision, by real numbers. We understand vagueness as a relative notion, causing a problem when information on a coarse level is to be transferred to a fine level. Under this viewpoint there is no problem to accept that, depending on the application, reasoning under vagueness may require different formal frameworks. In this paper, we consider the same kind of vague properties in two different contexts. We first discuss a version of the sorites paradox. In this case, it is necessary to combine reasoning on two levels of granularity in a single formalism. Following established practice, we choose an approach based on numerical degrees. Second, we consider generalised Aristotelian syllogisms. In this case, degree-based solutions are unnecessarily rich in structure and are not found adequate. We give preference to a formalism that stays entirely on the coarse level of argumentation. We conclude that there is no reason to call for a uniform formalism to cope with the problem of vagueness. In particular, degree-based approaches are usually applicable, but there can be simpler alternatives. Different problems may call for different solutions, and choosing diversity does not mean that we approach the problem of vagueness incoherently.     

IP over 2000: where have we been and where are we going?

Sometimes it seems that the whole field of IP-based network technology is moving at a pace that will out-distance even its most ardent and enthusiastic followers. Trying to keep up with all the new ideas, acronyms, vendor announcements, IETF happenings and conferences can create strong feelings of inadequacy. At times, buried under piles of industry literature and staring at hundreds of unread e-mails, I ask myself, “How did the simple process of forwarding an IP packet from one device to another become so complicated?” Before embarking on an earnest attempt to answer that question, I first step back and reflect on where this field has been and what has been accomplished. From there, we can look at where it might be going     

Distributed database systems: where are we now?

The authors explain what is meant by a distributed database system and discuss its characteristics. They survey the state of distributed database technology, focusing on how well products meet the goals of transparent management of distributed and replicated data, reliability through distributed transactions, better performance, and easier, more economical system expansion. They then consider unsolved problems with regard to network scaling, distribution design, distributed query processing, distributed transaction processing, integration with distributed operating systems, and distributed multidatabase systems     

Grid programming: some indications where we are headed

Grid computing enables the development of large scientific applications on an unprecedented scale. Grid-aware applications, also called meta-applications or multi-disciplinary applications, make use of coupled computational resources that are not available at a single site. In this light, the Grids let scientists solve larger or new problems by pooling together resources that could not be coupled easily before. It is well known that the programmer’s productivity in designing and implementing efficient distributed/parallel applications on high-performance computers is still usually a very time-consuming task. Grid computing makes the situation worse. Consequently, the development of Grid programming environments that would enable programmers to efficiently exploit this technology is an important and hot research issue.

After an introduction on the main Grid programming issues, this paper will review the most important approaches/projects conducted in this field worldwide.     

On the almost sure and almost uniform Lp(p ≥ 1) stability

In this paper a class of stochastic non-linear system which can be described by n nun-linear stochastic Volterra integral equation is considered. The problems of almost uniform L_P(R₀)(p≥1) stability and almost sure L_p(R₀) (p≥1) stability of the system arc then considered in detail.

In § 2, the random Banach fixed point theorem is used to show the existence and uniqueness of solution of the system. This result is then used to establish the almost sure L_p(R₀) (p≥1) stability and almost uniform L_p(R₀)(p≥1) stability for the system under consideration.

For illustration, an example of a feedback control system containing a non-linear amplifier with random gain is considered.     

SqFreeEVAL: An (almost) optimal real-root isolation algorithm

Let f be a univariate polynomial with real coefficients, f∈R[X]. Subdivision algorithms based on algebraic techniques (e.g., Sturm or Descartes methods) are widely used for isolating the real roots of f in a given interval. In this paper, we consider a simple subdivision algorithm whose primitives are purely numerical (e.g., function evaluation). The complexity of this algorithm is adaptive because the algorithm makes decisions based on local data. The complexity analysis of adaptive algorithms (and this algorithm in particular) is a new challenge for computer science. In this paper, we compute the size of the subdivision tree for the SqFreeEVAL algorithm.The SqFreeEVAL algorithm is an evaluation-based numerical algorithm which is well-known in several communities. The algorithm itself is simple, but prior attempts to compute its complexity have proven to be quite technical and have yielded sub-optimal results. Our main result is a simple O(d(L+lnd)) bound on the size of the subdivision tree for the SqFreeEVAL algorithm on the benchmark problem of isolating all real roots of an integer polynomial f of degree d and whose coefficients can be written with at most L bits.Our proof uses two amortization-based techniques: first, we use the algebraic amortization technique of the standard Mahler-Davenport root bounds to interpret the integral in terms of d and L. Second, we use a continuous amortization technique based on an integral to bound the size of the subdivision tree. This paper is the first to use the novel analysis technique of continuous amortization to derive state of the art complexity bounds.     

Image information systems: where do we go from here?

A conceptual framework for image information systems is presented. Current research topics are surveyed, and application examples are presented. The design issues for the next generation of active image systems are discussed. It is suggested that the next generation of active image information systems should be designed on the basis of notions of generalized icons and active indexes, resulting in smart images     

Winskel is (almost) Right: Towards a Mechanized Semantics Textbook

We present a formalization of the first 100 pages of Winskel's textbook The Formal Semantics of Programming Languages in the theorem prover Isabelle/HOL: 2 operational, 2 denotational, 2 axiomatic semantics, a verification condition generator, and the necessary soundness, completeness and equivalence proofs, all for a simple imperative programming language. Received March 1997 / Accepted in revised form June 1998     

Find where you are: a new try in place recognition

LBS-based applications have become trending on mobile phones. It is useful and necessary to locate users location precisely from a digital image. However, gap exists between the query and the data set in scale, viewpoint, and lighting, or the noise existed in the foreground or background, etc. It is challenging for a location recognition or retrieval system to carry out real-time service. To address this problem, we design a place recognition system and a new building data set with ground truth labels. The algorithm not only significantly improves the efficiency, but also gives satisfied accuracy. The main contributions of our work can be concluded by three points: (1) By adding a fast geometric image matching as a filter procedure before applying Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC), we substantially improve the efficiency of spatial verification and recognition accuracy. (2) We apply a camera orientation algorithm to predict a probable retrieval failure. Salient region detection is applied to remove the confusing features in combination with term frequency–inverse document frequency (tf–idf) recovery. This significantly reduces the influence of noise. (3) We establish a new building data set of Tsinghua University to verify retrieval results. Experiments are conducted on several data sets and all achieve state-of-the-art results.     

Knowledge-based sense disambiguation (almost) for all structures

Structural disambiguation is acknowledged as a very real and frequent problem for many semantic-aware applications. In this paper, we propose a unified answer to sense disambiguation on a large variety of structures both at data and metadata level such as relational schemas, XML data and schemas, taxonomies, and ontologies. Our knowledge-based approach achieves a general applicability by converting the input structures into a common format and by allowing users to tailor the extraction of the context to the specific application needs and structure characteristics. Flexibility is ensured by supporting the combination of different disambiguation methods together with different information extracted from different sources of knowledge. Further, we support both assisted and completely automatic semantic annotation tasks, while several novel feedback techniques allow us to improve the initial disambiguation results without necessarily requiring user intervention. An extensive evaluation of the obtained results shows the good effectiveness of the proposed solutions on a large variety of structure-based information and disambiguation requirements.     

Analysing information systems evaluation: another look at an old problem

Information systems (IS) evaluation is a thorny problem. In this paper we re-examine the area in light of recent developments in the field. Our examination begins with an example of a common contemporary IS assessment problem, viz. evaluating outsourcing. The example highlights the organizational and political issues that make evaluation fraught with difficulties. The paper argues that IS evaluation is a ‘necessary evil’ but the context in which IS are developed and used has become much more demanding and complex. A conceptual framework, first proposed in an earlier paper as a way to classify the literature, is presented and brought up to date. The framework is then used to re-examine the outsourcing example, demonstrating the usefulness of the framework.     

Iconic programming: where to go?

Pioneering work in iconic languages is briefly recounted, and arguments regarding the feasibility of their use as programming languages are examined. In particular, their usefulness to computer professionals and for large programs is discussed. Approaches to designing good iconic interfaces are examined. Progress to date in iconic programming research is summarized     

Automatic web accessibility metrics: Where we are and where we can go

The fact that several web accessibility metrics exist may be evidence of a lack of a comparison framework that highlights how well they work and for what purposes they are appropriate. In this paper we aim at formulating such a framework, demonstrating that it is feasible, and showing the findings we obtained when we applied it to seven existing automatic accessibility metrics. The framework encompasses validity, reliability, sensitivity, adequacy and complexity of metrics in the context of four scenarios where the metrics can be used. The experimental demonstration of the viability of the framework is based on applying seven published metrics to more than 1500 web pages and then operationalizing the notions of validity-as-conformance, adequacy and complexity. Our findings lead us to conclude that the Web Accessibility Quantitative Metric, Page Measure and Web Accessibility Barrier are the metrics that achieve the highest levels of quality (out of the seven that we examined). Finally, since we did not analyse reliability, sensitivity and validity-in-use, this paper provides guidance to address them in what are new research avenues.     

Exact,almost and optimal input decoupled (delayed) observers

The core of this paper deals with the construction of input-decoupled observers which seek asymptotic estimation of a desired output variable (a linear combination of state and input) of a time-invariant either continuous- or discrete-time system driven by unknown inputs and disturbances. Exact, almost, optimal (suboptimal) and constrained optimal estimation or filtering problems are formulated and studied. All the problems defined and studied here are inherently interconnected, and have a strong common thread of estimation and filtering in the face of the unknown input and external disturbance signals. They are interconnected from a variety of angles, e.g. they are motivated by one another, methods of obtaining the solvability conditions and their methods of solution rely on one another, etc. Thus, a hierarchy of problems and their solutions is built on top of one another. Some of the problems studied here are known in the literature but not in as general a form as is given here, while a majority of the problems studied here are new. A classical variation of all the above problems is also studied here by introducing an l-step delay in estimating the desired output from the measured output. The underlying philosophy throughout this work has been to study most if not all of the facets of estimation and filtering in one stretch under a single folder. Our study of all the above problems has been guided by three important perspectives: (1) obtaining the solvability conditions, both necessary and sufficient; (2) obtaining optimal performance whenever it applies; and (3) developing sound methodologies to design and construct appropriate observers or filters.