Only connect: teaching, technology and telesis

Abstract This paper describes an approach to the design of interactive multimedia materials being developed in a European Community project. The developmental process is seen as a dialogue between technologists and teachers. This dialogue is often problematic because of the differences in training, experience and culture between them. Conditions needed for fruitful dialogue are described and the generic model for learning design used in the project is explained.     

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。     

Avoiding semantic and temporal gaps in developing software intensive systems

Development of software intensive systems (systems) in practice involves a series of self-contained phases for the lifecycle of a system. Semantic and temporal gaps, which occur among phases and among developer disciplines within and across phases, hinder the ongoing development of a system because of the interdependencies among phases and among disciplines. Such gaps are magnified among systems that are developed at different times by different development teams, which may limit reuse of artifacts of systems development and interoperability among the systems. This article discusses such gaps and a systems development process for avoiding them.     

Designing economic np control charts: A programmed simulation approach

This paper presents control charts models and the necessary simulation software for the location of economic values of the control parameters. The simulation program is written in FORTRAN, requires only 10K of main storage, and can run on most mini and micro computers. Two models are presented - one describes the process when it is operating at full capacity and the other when the process is operating under capacity. The models allow the product quality to deteriorate to a further level before an existing out-of-control state is detected, and they can also be used in situations where no prior knowledge exists of the out-of-control causes and the resulting proportion defectives.     

The development of robot art

Going through a few examples of robot artists who are recognized worldwide, we try to analyze the deepest meaning of what is called “robot art” and the related art field definition. We also try to highlight its well-marked borders, such as kinetic sculptures, kinetic art, cyber art, and cyberpunk. A brief excursion into the importance of the context, the message, and its semiotics is also provided, case by case, together with a few hints on the history of this discipline in the light of an artistic perspective. Therefore, the aim of this article is to try to summarize the main characteristics that might classify robot art as a unique and innovative discipline, and to track down some of the principles by which a robotic artifact can or cannot be considered an art piece in terms of social, cultural, and strictly artistic interest. This work was presented in part at the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 31–February 2, 2008     

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.     

Call for papers The 34th Chinese Control Conference & SICE Annual Conference 2015

正The 34th Chinese Control Conference and SICE Annual Conference 2015(CCCSICE2015)is organized by the Technical Committee on Control Theory(TCCT)of Chinese Association of Automation(CAA)and the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers(SICE)of Japan,and locally organized by Hangzhou Dianzi University(HDU).     

一种主题爬虫文本分类器的构建

该文利用DF与CHI统计量相结合的特征选取方法,针对互联网上对外汉语相关领域的网页进行特征提取,并在此基础上,构建了基于标题与正文相结合的两步式主题相关度判定分类器。基于该分类器做对外汉语相关主题的网页爬取工作,实验表明,效率和召回率比传统分类器都有较大程度的提高,目前该分类器已经用于为大型对外汉语语料库构建提供数据源。     

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.     

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.     

Ethical and legal issues for writing researchers in an age of media convergence

With the convergence of digital media into ever-widening social and technological networks for creation and distribution, the contexts for writing and the study of writing and writers have certainly changed. Researchers must navigate a dense matrix of ethical and legal issues in all phases of research when studying the ever-changing processes and products of digital communications. In this article, I draw from numerous sources to articulate a few of the challenges facing digital writing researchers in this age of convergence, focusing on issues of representation (researcher, participant, third-party), issues of informed consent, and issues of copyright and fair use.