Using evolutionary design to interactively sketch car silhouettes and stimulate designer's creativity

An Interactive Genetic Algorithm is proposed to progressively sketch the desired side-view of a car profile. It adopts a Fourier decomposition of a 2D profile as the genotype, and proposes a cross-over mechanism. In addition, a formula function of two genes' discrepancies is fitted to the perceived dissimilarity between two car profiles. This similarity index is intensively used, throughout a series of user tests, to highlight the added value of the IGA compared to a systematic car shape exploration, to prove its ability to create superior satisfactory designs and to stimulate designer's creativity. These tests have involved six designers with a design goal defined by a semantic attribute. The results reveal that if “friendly” is diversely interpreted in terms of car shapes, “sportive” denotes a very conventional representation which may be a limitation for shape renewal.     

Using shared representations to improve coordination and intent inference

In groupware, users must communicate about their intentions and aintain common knowledge via communication channels that are explicitly designed into the system. Depending upon the task, generic communication tools like chat or a shared whiteboard may not be sufficient to support effective coordination. We have previously reported on a methodology that helps the designer develop task specific communication tools, called coordinating representations, for groupware systems. Coordinating representations lend structure and persistence to coordinating information. We have shown that coordinating representations are readily adopted by a user population, reduce coordination errors, and improve performance in a domain task. As we show in this article, coordinating representations present a unique opportunity to acquire user information in collaborative, user-adapted systems. Because coordinating representations support the exchange of coordinating information, they offer a window onto task and coordination-specific knowledge that is shared by users. Because they add structure to communication, the information that passes through them can be easily exploited by adaptive technology. This approach provides a simple technique for acquiring user knowledge in collaborative, user-adapted systems. We document our application of this approach to an existing groupware system. Several empirical results are provided. First, we show how information that is made available by a coordinating representation can be used to infer user intentions. We also show how this information can be used to mine free text chat for intent information, and show that this information further enhances intent inference. Empirical data shows that an automatic plan generation component, which is driven by information from a coordinating representation, reduces coordination errors and cognitive effort for its users. Finally, our methodology is summarized, and we present a framework for comparing our approach to other strategies for user knowledge acquisition in adaptive systems.     

Biasing behavioral activation with intent for an entertainment robot

Deliberate control of an entertainment robot presents a special problem in balancing the requirement for intentional behavior with the existing mechanisms for autonomous action selection. It is proposed that the intentional biasing of activation in lower-level reactive behaviors is the proper mechanism for realizing such deliberative action. In addition, it is suggested that directed intentional bias can result in goal-oriented behavior without subsuming the underlying action selection used to generate natural behavior. This objective is realized through a structure called the intentional bus. The intentional bus serves as the interface between deliberative and reactive control by realizing high-level goals through the modulation of intentional signals sent to the reactive layer. A deliberative architecture that uses the intentional bus to realize planned behavior is described. In addition, it is shown how the intentional bus framework can be expanded to support the serialization of planned behavior by shifting from direct intentional influence for plan execution to attentional triggering of a learned action sequence. Finally, an implementation of this architecture, developed and tested on Sony’s humanoid robot QRIO, is described.     

A behavioral approach to linear exact modeling

The behavioral approach to system theory provides a parameter-free framework for the study of the general problem of linear exact modeling and recursive modeling. The authors present the solution of the (continuous-time) polynomial-exponential time series modeling problem. Both recursive and nonrecursive solutions are provided and classified according to properties like complexity and controllability. It is shown, in particular, that recursive modeling corresponds to updating by means of a cascade inter-connection of systems. As a special case, the solution of several other problems, such as rational interpolation, realization, and modeling of arbitrary discrete-time time series, is obtained     

Using SCL to specify and check design intent in source code

Software developers often fail to respect the intentions of designers due to missing or ignored documentation of design intent. SCL (Structural Constraint Language) addresses this problem by enabling designers to formalize and confirm compliance with design intent. The designer expresses his intent as constraints on the program model using the SCL language. The SCL conformance checking tool examines developer code to confirm that the code honors these constraints. This paper presents the design of the SCL language and its checker, a set of practical examples of applying SCL, and our experience with using it both in an industrial setting and on open-source software.     

Research on an active knowledge push service based on collaborative intent capture

The quality of a knowledge service influences the quality, efficiency and innovation of product conceptual design. Existing approaches lack intelligence and individuation when providing a knowledge retrieval service via rules and cases. In this paper, we propose a framework of an active knowledge service based on collaborative intent capture to assist product conceptual design. First, a collaborative intent capture model is constructed through the study of the expression and capture of collaborative intent; second, a framework and a process of active knowledge push based on collaborative intent capture are designed after analyzing the method of knowledge resources acquisition based on the constraint satisfaction theory. Finally, match algorithms for text content are studied. Based on the above research achievements, a prototype system of a collaborative design and active knowledge service platform (C-AKSP) has been developed for providing a knowledge service and assisting product conceptual design. An example, the conceptual design of a machine tool spindle system, is used to validate the proposed theories for the model, the framework and the algorithm. As a result, C-AKSP can provide a superior knowledge service that meets the designer's knowledge needs.     

Statistical simulation: adding efficiency to the computer designer's toolbox

Statistical simulation enables quick and accurate design decisions in the early stages of computer design, at the processor and system levels. it complements detailed but slower architectural simulations, reducing total design time and cost.     

Using recommender systems to improve proactive modeling

Software and Systems Modeling - This article investigates using recommender systems within graphical domain-specific modeling languages (DSMLs). The objective of using recommender systems within a...     

Using formal modeling to untangle security incidents

Over the past several months we have been discussing a couple of cutting edge approaches to digital investigation and post mortems. Something that has surprised me lately as I've been speaking on these topics at mainstream information security conferences is the enthusiasm with which the notion of formal modeling is being met. With that in mind, I thought that we'd take the next two or three columns to discuss this technique and then wrap up with a couple of examples including some model templates for your own use. Although we have introduced this concept in earlier articles, we have not spent much time on exactly how to build models.     

Using eye movement data to infer human behavioral intentions

Behavior-directed intentions can be revealed by certain biological signals that precede behaviors. This study used eye movement data to infer human behavioral intentions. Participants were asked to view pictures while operating under different intentions, which necessitated cognitive search and affective appraisal. Intentions regarding the pictures were non-specific or specific, specific intentions were cognitive or affective, and affective intentions were to evaluate either the positive or negative emotions expressed by the individuals depicted. The affective task group made more fixations and had a larger average pupil size than the cognitive task group. The positive appreciation group made more and shorter fixations, on average, than the negative appreciation group. However, support vector machine algorithms revealed low classification accuracy. This was due to large inter-individual variance and psychological factors underlying intentions. We demonstrated improvement in classification accuracy using individual repeated measures data, which helped infer participants’ self-selected intentions.     

Measurement modeling technology

Although rigorous measurement has become a necessity in the software industry, many measurement programs fail to deliver real benefit to software managers. The required data is often missing, invalid, or late. But a properly automated measurement system can deliver timely reports that enable proactive management. The measurement modeling technology introduced here supports such automation. It also establishes standard measurements and metrics that organizations can share and combine across projects, departments, and companies.     

驾驶舱飞行员认知行为一体化仿真建模

针对国内航空领域飞行员认知行为一体化建模研究较少,运用ACT-R认知架构对民机飞行员驾驶技能获得、提取和运用的内在机制进行建模。对飞行员驾驶飞机的认知过程进行划分;以驾驶舱中出现频率最高的典型飞行任务--飞行员告警信息感知、处理与决策为对象进行实验设计和一体化仿真;对实验操作和模拟仿真进行对比,表明ACT-R认知体系能够指导推进驾驶舱人机工效一体化中飞行员仿真理论与模型研究的发展,为驾驶舱优化设计与评估提供深层次的支撑。     

Using measurement-driven modeling to provide empirical feedback to software developers

Several authors have explored the application of classification methods to software development. These studies have concentrated on identifying modules that are difficult to develop or that have high fault density. While this information is important, it provides little help in determining appropriate corrective action. This article extends previous work by applying one classification method, classification tree analysis (CTA), to more a fine-grained problem routinely encountered by developers. In this article, we use CTA to identify software modules that have specific types of faults (e.g., logic, interface, etc.) We evaluate this approach using data collected from six actual software projects. Overall, CTA was able to correctly differentiate faulty modules from fault-free modules in 72% of cases. Furthermore, 82% of the faulty modules were correctly identified. We also show that CTA outperformed two simpler classification strategies.     

Using position extrema points to capture shape in on-line handwritten signature verification

There is considerable interest in authentication based on handwritten signature verification (HSV) because of the long-standing tradition of its use in many common authentication tasks. HSV may be considered superior to many other biometric authentication techniques, for example fingerprints or retinal patterns, which are more reliable but also more intrusive. Furthermore, they require special and relatively expensive hardware to capture the image. The present paper is an attempt to develop a reliable HSV technique by capturing the shape of the signature using the position extrema points of a signature. The technique presented essentially captures the directions of pen motion during the writing of the signature and this is represented in a simple way by a string. The technique is evaluated and shown to be promising.     

Using structural and textual information to capture feature coupling in object-oriented software

Previous studies have demonstrated the relationship between coupling and external software quality attributes, such as fault-proneness, and the application of coupling to software maintenance tasks, such as impact analysis. These previous studies concentrate on class coupling. However, there is a growing focus on the study of features in software, and features are often implemented across multiple classes, meaning class-level coupling measures are not applicable. We ask the pertinent question, “Is measuring coupling at the feature-level also useful?” We define new feature coupling metrics based on structural and textual source code information and extend the unified framework for coupling measurement to include these new metrics. We also conduct three extensive case studies to evaluate these new metrics and answer this research question. The first study examines the relationship between feature coupling and fault-proneness, the second assesses feature coupling in the context of impact analysis, and the third study surveys developers to determine if the metrics align with what they consider to be coupled features. All three studies provide evidence that feature coupling metrics are indeed useful new measures that capture coupling at a higher level of abstraction than classes and can be useful for finding bugs, guiding testing effort, and assessing change impact.     

Using knowledge-based technology to integrate CIM databases

The authors propose a framework for using knowledge-based systems to integrate the heterogeneous multidatabases of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM). For each database, a corresponding knowledge-based system is designed for directing knowledge-processing of shared information. This one-to-one method reduces the complexity of the problem. Specifically, the structure, features, and knowledge representation for a knowledge-based system are presented. Then, a prototype of an interface between manufacturing planning and computer-aided design is described. Due to the potential for rapid changes in the manufacturing environment, the linkages among CIM databases are designed to be dynamic, flexible, and adaptive to a wide variety of situations     

Using behavioral patterns to assess the interaction of users and product

We hypothesized that users show different behavioral patterns at work when using interactive products, namely execute, engage, evolve and expand. These patterns refer to task accomplishment, persistence, task modification and creation of new tasks, each contributing to the overall work goal. By developing a questionnaire measuring these behavioral patterns we were able to demonstrate that these patterns do occur at work. They are not influenced by the users alone, but primarily by the product, indicating that interactive products indeed are able to support users at work in a holistic way. Behavioral patterns thus are accounted for by the interaction of users and product.     

Multiversion object constellations: A new approach to support a designer's database work

The logical organization of database support for CAD applications is considered, which has to account for specific requirements including versioning, consistency and design transactions. A new approach to the organization, manipulation and management of design objects in a design database is described, which is based on the notion of an objectconstellation. A constellation is a set of multiversion objects together with all their subobjects. Constellations can be versioned intoconfigurations, which comprise one version of each object of the underlying constellation. We argue that constellations are adequate units of allocation to individual designers, while configurations form appropriate units of consistency. We show how the constellation approach renders a flexible support of hierarchically organized, cooperative design processes possible, by employing specific transactions whose scope is limited to well-defined portions of a database. Most importantly, the approach provides new insight into the consistency problem for design databases, by providing an adequate approach to multilevel consistency, and by making consistency of a design context-dependent.     

Agent-based modeling of energy technology adoption: Empirical integration of social,behavioral, economic,and environmental factors

Agent-based modeling (ABM) techniques for studying human-technical systems face two important challenges. First, agent behavioral rules are often ad hoc, making it difficult to assess the implications of these models within the larger theoretical context. Second, the lack of relevant empirical data precludes many models from being appropriately initialized and validated, limiting the value of such models for exploring emergent properties or for policy evaluation. To address these issues, in this paper we present a theoretically-based and empirically-driven agent-based model of technology adoption, with an application to residential solar photovoltaic (PV). Using household-level resolution for demographic, attitudinal, social network, and environmental variables, the integrated ABM framework we develop is applied to real-world data covering 2004–2013 for a residential solar PV program at the city scale. Two applications of the model focusing on rebate program design are also presented.