基于张量积扩散与纹理元相似的医学图像检索

针对医学图像检索中相似性表达的自身困难,以及噪声影响的问题,提出一种通过张量积图进行扩散,利用其他数据点的上下信息改进基于纹理元的成对相似性度量的方法。首先,采用纹理元的统计方法进行医学图像特征描述和提取,并通过对纹理元相似性加权,得到图像的成对相似性;然后,利用张量积图沿着数据点的内在流形进行相似性的传播,实现全局的相似性度量。在ImageCLEFmed 2009上的实验结果表明,该算法与基于Gabor的检索算法相比,其类平均精度提高了32%,与基于尺度不变特征转换(SIFT)的检索算法相比,其类平均精度提高了19%,能良好地应用于医学图像检索。     

Design information retrieval: a thesauri-based approach for reuse of informal design information

Information is integral to the engineering design process, and gaining access to design knowledge is critical to effective design decision-making. This paper considers the indexing and retrieval of informal, unstructured information captured from electronic design logbooks. One of the key observations of informal design information is its evolutionary nature over time. While this characteristic makes informal information a rich source for reuse, it also makes it difficult to employ traditional information retrieval (IR) approaches. The work described in this paper is based on a framework developed specifically for the information handling requirements of designers. This manual method for indexing information is adapted to meet the evolutionary nature of design through the development of thesauri for design context. Several approaches to building thesauri are examined, including manual and automated methods. It is found that manual methods provide a high level of IR performance, but also have high overhead requirements. Machine methods, however, may provide a viable, low overhead alternative.

How to make a best-seller: Optimal product design problems

We formalize and analyze the computational complexity of three problems which are at the keystone of any marketing management process. Given the preferences of customers over the attribute values we may assign to our product (i.e. its possible features), the attribute values of products sold by our competitors, and which attribute values are available to each producer (due to e.g. technological limitations, legal issues, or availability of resources), we consider the following problems: (a) select the attributes of our product in such a way that the number of customers is maximized; (b) find out whether there is a feasible strategy guaranteeing that, at some point in the future before some deadline, we will reach a given average number of customers during some period of time; and (c) the same question as (b), though the number of steps before the deadline is restricted to be, at most, the number of attributes. We prove that these problems are Poly-APX-complete, EXPTIME-complete, and PSPACE-complete, respectively. After presenting these theoretical properties, heuristic methods based on genetic, swarm and minimax algorithms are proposed to suboptimally solve these problems. We report experimental results where these methods are applied to solve some artificially-designed problem instances, and next we present a case study, based on real data, where these algorithms are applied to a particular kind of product: we automatically design the political platform of a political party to maximize its numbers of votes in an election (problem (a)) and its number of supporters along time (problems (b) and (c)). The problem instances solved in this case study are constructed from publicly released polls on political tendencies in Spain.     

Effects of consumer characteristics on their acceptance of online shopping: Comparisons among different product types

Previous electronic commerce (EC) studies have found that consumer characteristics are important when considering issues related to the acceptance of online shopping. However, most studies have focused on a single product or similar products. The effects of different product types have been relatively neglected. Previous studies have limited the generalizability of their results to a few products at best. To overcome this limitation, the purpose of this study was to explore the effects of different product types. The Internet product and service classification grid proposed by Peterson, Balasubramanian and Bronnenberg (Peterson, R. A., Balasubramanian, S., & Bronnenberg, B. J. (1997). Exploring the implications of the Internet for consumer marketing. Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, 25(4), 329–346) was employed to examine the effects of consumer characteristic differences on online shopping acceptance in the context of different products and services. A survey-based approach was employed to investigate the research questions. Regression analysis demonstrated that the determinants of online shopping acceptance differ among product or service types. Additionally, personal innovativeness of information technology (PIIT), perceived Web security, personal privacy concerns, and product involvement can influence consumer acceptance of online shopping, but their influence varies according to product types.     

A CSP approach for the network of product lifecycle constraints consistency in a collaborative design context

In this paper, we are considering that the design process can be modelled in the form of a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). CSP modelling or resolution has proved its efficiency within the framework of single-designer design. We propose to extend the functions of CSP to the context of multi-concept design of the same artefact. We define CoCSP as cooperative constraint satisfaction problem including the actors of the design problem. We are presenting the operating principles of an algorithm for the real-time management of design decisions, based on a model described in the form of a CoCSP for the integration of supply-chain constraints. This algorithm enables the number of design decisions rejected at a given moment in design to be kept to a minimum. The algorithm forms the core of a prototype for an unsupervised, generic constraint-based collaborative design system. Our aim is to produce a platform centred on the notion of constraints that will enable a product design problem to be modelled and solved by integrating supply-chain constraints as far upstream as possible.     

Effects of consumer visit to online community and product channel on local sales of large consumer goods: Evidence from real estate industry

Online intermediaries have become important information sources for consumers’ purchase decision making. However, the economic values of consumer visits to two online intermediaries, namely, online community and product channel, have not been well studied. By collecting a dataset on consumer visits from a large real estate website to match with local offline housing sales data, we empirically explore the respective, relative, and interaction effects of consumer visits to online communities and product channels on sales of large consumer goods. We control for relevant factors, account for potential endogeneity issues, and perform various robustness checks to validate the consistency of our findings. Our results show that consumer visits to online communities have a more significant effect than those to product channels in driving sales. However, the interaction effect of consumer visits to these two online intermediaries on sales is negative. We also find that consumer website-related experience has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between consumer visits to product channels and sales. Our findings provide important theoretical contributions and managerial implications.     

Protection of intellectual property based on a skeleton model in product design collaboration

As markets are globalized and competition among companies increases, corporations strive to remain competitive by focusing their abilities on key parts of a new product, while outsourcing remaining parts to other companies. In these circumstances, relationships with business partners with regard to product design are not rigid and vertical, but rather, flexible and horizontal; thus, partners today can be competitors in the future. Therefore, the intellectual property of a participating company should be protected from other collaborating companies during the product design process. However, this safeguard should not be an obstacle to product design collaboration itself. As a solution to this problem, we propose a method to share a skeleton model among collaborating companies. By using this model, participating companies can share essential data required for the detail design of those components of a product for which they are responsible, while ensuring security of their intellectual property. The feasibility of the proposed method has been demonstrated through experiments in a development scenario involving a tub component of a washing machine.     

On the quality of resources on the Web: An information retrieval perspective

We use information from the Web for performing our daily tasks more and more often. Locating the right resources that help us in doing so is a daunting task, especially with the present rate of growth of the Web as well as the many different kinds of resources available. The tasks of search engines is to assist us in finding those resources that are apt for our given tasks. In this paper we propose to use the notion of quality as a metric for estimating the aptness of online resources for individual searchers.The formal model for quality as presented in this paper is firmly grounded in literature. It is based on the observations that objects (dubbed artefacts in our work) can play different roles (i.e., perform different functions). An artefact can be of high quality in one role but of poor quality in another. Even more, the notion of quality is highly personal.Our quality-computations for estimating the aptness of resources for searches uses the notion of linguistic variables from the field of fuzzy logic. After presenting our model for quality we also show how manipulation of online resources by means of transformations can influence the quality of these resources.     

Moderating effects of time pressure on the relationship between perceived value and purchase intention in social E-commerce sales promotion: Considering the impact of product involvement

How does customer perceived value influence purchase intention in online flash sales on social e-commerce platforms? This study investigates the role of time pressure and product involvement in the relationship between perceived value and purchase intention. Drawing on survey data from wjx.com in China, we found that perceived value is positively related to purchase intention, whereas time pressure negatively moderates the effect of emotional/social value on purchase intention. The three-way interaction among time pressure, perceived functional/emotional/social value, and product involvement was also statistically significant. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results.     

Distinguishing and quantifying the visual aesthetics of a product: An integrated approach of eye-tracking and EEG

Although some methods of measuring visual aesthetics have been established, such as subjective reporting, feature calculating, and physiological assessing, designers still lack an integrated and quantified method in measuring the visual aesthetics of their products. This study aims to integrate eye-tracking metrics and EEG measurements to distinguish and quantify the visual aesthetics of a product. Thirty-two 3D prototypes of LED desk lamp with multiple views were designed to simulate an aesthetic appreciation flow. Eye-tracking and EEG signals were simultaneously recorded when participants were freely browsing each lamp. The evaluation of subjective visual aesthetics was conducted after each browsing. The results demonstrated that fixation time ratio and dwell time ratio significantly differed among the three clusters of visual aesthetic lamps. Meanwhile, average fixation duration only significantly differed between low and high aesthetic lamps and pupil size had no significant variation. Moreover, low aesthetic lamps evoked significantly weakened relative alpha power and enhanced relative gamma power. Thus, the eye-tracking metrics and the EEG measurements can distinguish the visual aesthetics of lamps. Regarding the results of quantification, the integrated multimodal physiological signals achieved an improved and reasonable accuracy. It seems beneficial to integrate multimodal physiological signals involved in different flows of visual aesthetic appreciation in quantifying the visual aesthetics of a product.Relevance to industryAs a premise of attracting consumers’ attention, visual aesthetics has been identified as a crucial role in product design and marketing. Thus, thorough research on the variations of multimodal physiological signals involved in information retrieval and processing in appreciation flow can provide a distinction between product visual aesthetics. The quantification method can be utilized by designers in measuring the visual aesthetics of their products.     

An indexing scheme for energy-efficient processing of content-based retrieval queries on a wireless data stream

Wireless data broadcasting is a popular data delivery approach in mobile computing environments, where the broadcasting servers usually adopt indexing schemes for mobile clients to energy-efficiently access data on a wireless broadcast stream. However, conventional indexing schemes use primary key attribute values to construct tree structures. Therefore, these schemes do not support content-based retrieval queries such as partial-match queries and range-queries. This paper proposes an indexing method that supports content-based retrieval queries on a wireless data stream. The method uses a tree-structured index, called B2V-Tree, which is composed of bit-vectors that are generated from data records through multi-attribute hashing. Through analysis and experiments, the effectiveness of the proposed method is shown.     

Supply chain management: a modular Fuzzy Inference System approach in supplier selection for new product development

The critical objectives of purchasing departments include obtaining the product requested, at the right cost, in the right quantity, with the best quality, at the right time, from the right supplier. These goals require effective decisions concerning supplier selection at the early stage of product development. This work provides an application of fuzzy set theory in supply chain management, specifically in supplier selection for new product development. Here, a Fuzzy Inference System is proposed as an alternative approach to handle effectively the impreciseness and uncertainty that are normally found in supplier selection processes. This paper also shows that the proposed decision-making model is applicable to any supply chain system.     

The long road from performing word sense disambiguation to successfully using it in information retrieval: An overview of the unsupervised approach

The issue of whether or not word sense disambiguation (WSD) can improve information retrieval (IR) results has been intensely debated over the years, with many inconclusive or contradictory results and a majority of skeptical opinions. All three classes of WSD methods (supervised, unsupervised, and knowledge-based) have been considered by the literature with respect to IR. We hereby survey the unsupervised approach which, although relatively rarely used, has provided positive results at a large scale. Unsupervised WSD has already made proof of its utility in IR and it is our belief that it still holds a promise for this field. The two main existing types of unsupervised methods for IR, which are of completely different natures, are presented, within the scientific context in which they were born, and are compared. Regardless of the gap in time between these central approaches, we are of the opinion that the unsupervised solution to the discussed problem remains the most significant for IR applications. By surveying what we consider the most promising existing approach to usage of WSD in IR, and by discussing its possible extensions, we hope to stimulate continuation of this line of research, possibly at an even more successful level.     

Policy reforms and productivity change in the judiciary system: a cost function approach applied to time series of the Dutch judiciary system between 1980 and 2016

The judiciary is constantly undergoing change in order to respond to a wide range of social developments that have brought the sector under increasing pressure. In order to deal with the constant call for enhancing budgets, different policy measures have been taken to downsize the appeal to the judiciary and to improve productivity. One of the central questions hereby is whether these measures have actually contributed to a more productive sector. This paper focuses on the development of productivity in the judiciary and how policy measures have affected productivity. In this empirical analysis, we apply a cost function model to time series data of the Dutch judiciary between 1980 and 2016. The results show a dramatic decline of productivity over the entire period (?50%), in spite of various policy measures. The year 2001 can be regarded as a turning point, as since then productivity has remained more or less stable. It seems that this is largely due to the establishment of the Council for the Judiciary and the associated increase in (financial and operational) autonomy for the judiciary. Another striking result is that technical change is biased toward using more personnel through time.     

An experimental approach to the performance penalty of the use of classes in Fortran 95

Fortran 95 is used often for “number crunching”: scientific and engineering applications where performance is important and which operate with large datasets. The language allows the implementation of certain elements of object oriented design, which facilitate code expansion, reuse and maintenance. In this paper we discuss two series of tests to measure how different object oriented design elements of Fortran 95 affect overall performance. The first series of tests consists of several implementations for multiplying two matrices. These tests are focused exclusively on computation time, not considering other parts of the object life cycle such as construction and destruction. The second series consists of computing a finite element matrix for a diffusion term. A more complex environment with different classes is studied. Here, we consider not only the time spent doing useful computations but the integral object life cycle. Results show that object oriented design comes at a cost in all cases. However, given the right compiler, using the right compiler optimization techniques and keeping the amount of objects and method calls low, Fortran 95 designs can benefit from object oriented design techniques with a less than 10% running time increase.     

What should a corporate website look like? The influence of Gestalt principles and visualisation in website design on the degree of acceptance and recommendation

Internet users decide within seconds, whether to elaborate on a website, or to go on to a new page. This calls for investigation of the factors influencing this decision. In two studies, we presented websites for 3 s and analysed the effect implementation of Gestalt principles (GPs) and visualisation of an interaction partner has on acceptance, recommendation of the site by the user, and social presence. Study 1 implemented a 3 (Gestalt principle of proximity: no, medium and strong implementation) × 3 (Gestalt principle of a common region: no, medium and strong implementation) – design and found more acceptance and recommendation with more GPs used. Study 2, using a 2 (GPs: implemented and not implemented) × 3 (visualisation: no, drawing and photograph) – design, showed more social presence with more realistic visualisation and more recommendation with higher social presence. Thus, GPs and realistic visualisation should be implemented in web design to intensify interaction with the user.     

Quality management in product recovery using the Internet of Things: An optimization approach

Internet of Things, by reducing or almost eliminating uncertainty regarding existence, types, conditions and remaining lives of components in an end-of-life product (EOLP), can mitigate planning of remanufacturing operations. Remaining useful life can be taken into account as a good measure of quality. Therefore, immediate determination of remaining useful life allows optimal recovery decisions to guarantee a minimum quality level on recovered products while satisfying various system criteria.     

How cues of what can be done in a virtual world influence learning: An affordance perspective

What we know about learning outcomes for collaborative tasks in virtual environments is a confusing set of results. Many organizations have been hesitant about their use of virtual environments for this reason. Virtual worlds (VWs) have received attention as environments for learning, yet little is known about their attributes, or how they affect learning in collaborative tasks. James Gibson proposed a theory of affordance to explain how cues in an environment are perceived and lead to some course of action. Based on his theory, we developed a model to describe how cues of what can be done in a VW influence learning. In doing so, we focused on the situativity afforded by VWs through context and social facilitation. We showed how VW artifacts and cues make it easier for users to understand the conditions and interactions in a VW.