A new model for context-aware transactions in mobile services

With the ubiquity of handheld devices (such as smart phones and PDAs) and the availability of a wide range of mobile services (such as mobile banking, road traffic updates, and weather forecast), people can nowadays access information and conduct online transactions virtually anywhere and anytime. In such flexible, dynamic but less reliable environment, transaction management technology is believed to provide service reliability and data consistency. Indeed, in mobile and ubiquitous environments where devices as well as services can seamlessly join and leave the ubiquitous network; transaction management can be very helpful during the recovery of services from failure. Current transaction models and commit protocols do not take into account context information. However, in mobile environments, it is imperative to consider context information in the commit of a transaction—i.e., a transaction can be successfully completed if it meets the required context. In this paper, we propose a new model for context-aware transactions and their performance management in mobile environments. Unlike conventional transactions, context-aware transactions adapt to the required context. By context, we mean the service’s context as well as the users’ context that includes users’ needs and preferences. This paper designs and develops the proposed transaction model and evaluates its performance in terms of time and message complexities as well as transaction’s throughput.     

Multi agent architecture for dynamic incremental process planning in the flexible manufacturing system

Due to rapid changes of markets and pressures of competitions, industries are adopting their production ways to support diversity of customer’s needs and increase of new product developments. This paper deals with development of an agent-based architecture of dynamic systems for process planning in the manufacturing systems. In consideration of alternative manufacturing processes and machine tools, the process plans and the schedules of the manufacturing resources are generated incrementally and dynamically. A previously proposed negotiation protocol is customized and improved to generate suitable process plans for the target products real-timely and dynamically, based on the alternative manufacturing processes. The alternative manufacturing processes are presented by the process plan networks and the suitable process plans are searched and generated to cope with both the dynamic status and disturbances of the manufacturing systems. We initiatively combine the heuristic search algorithms of the process plan networks with the negotiation protocols, in order to generate suitable process plans.     

A Knowledge Discovery Framework for Civil Infrastructure: A Case Study of the Intelligent Workplace

Large databases are becoming increasingly common in civil infrastructure applications. Although it is relatively simple to specifically query these databases at a low level, more abstract questions like ‘How does the environment affect pavement cracking?’ are difficult to answer with traditional methods. Data mining techniques can provide a solution for learning abstract knowledge from civil infrastruc-ture databases. However, data mining needs to be performed within a systematic process to ensure correct and reproducible results. Many decisions must be made during this process, making it difficult for novice analysts to apply data mining techniques thoroughly. This paper presents an application of a knowledge discovery process to data collected for an ‘intelligent’ building. The knowledge discovery process is illustrated and explained through this case study. Additionally, we discuss the importance of this case study in the context of a research effort to develop an interactive guide for the knowledge discovery process.     

Towards Ontology-driven Knowledge Synthesis for Heterogeneous Information Systems

Information integration enables delivery of the right information to the right user in a timely manner giving manufacturers a competitive edge in today’s global manufacturing market. However, as enterprise information is usually aggregated from a variety of heterogeneous information sources, without using an adequate integration framework it is difficult to extract pertinent information and apply current knowledge to assessing production situations and making informed decisions. This paper investigates a method of facilitating knowledge synthesis in a distributed computing environment. A formal model of domain ontology and knowledge base is presented, which aims at providing a vehicle for representing information and knowledge using a common shared semantics in a given application domain. As a result, a common knowledge representation based architecture is proposed, creating a foundation for establishing a systematic approach for ease of knowledge synthesis in a manufacturing environment     

制造业信息化建设

推进制造业信息化是落实"以信息化带动工业化"战略、走新型工业化道路的重要举措。推进制造业信息化是《国家中长期科学和技术发展规划纲要》提出的重要任务;是面向国民经济建设主战场,整合科技资源、实施"以信息化带动工业化"战略、走新型工业化道路的重要举措;是推进经济结构调整和经济增长方式转变的重要手段。制造业信息化将信息技术、自动化技术、现代管理技术与制造技术结合应用,推进设计制造数字化、生产过程智能化和企业经营管理信息化。用高新技术改造和提升制造业,促进制造业研发设计、生产制造、企业管理和市场营销的变革,带动产品设计和制造模式的创新、企业管理和经营模式的创新以及企业间协作模式的创新,是新时期我国制造业适应全球竞争环境、生存和发展的必由之路,对提升我国制造业的自主创新能力和市场竞争能力具有重要意义。     

Implications from customer behavior for manufacturing

Due to increasing competition caused by globalization manufacturers have to reduce costs and at the same time provide better products to their customers’ individual needs. This can only be done, if the companies are able to understand the behavior of their customers and forecast the sales numbers for their individual products. One way to get a better prognosis of customer behavior patterns are observations on public market places. But the companies have to link together the observations with events influencing the decisions of customers. This can be done by using a decision support system which was developed for retailers in combination with a data warehouse. The experiences from this project can be transferred to manufacturing companies as well, helping them to achieve better planning data for the manufacturing process.     

Leveraging temporal and spatial separations with the 24-hour knowledge factory paradigm

The 24-H Knowledge Factory facilitates collaboration between geographically and temporally distributed teams. The teams themselves form a strategic partnership whose joint efforts contribute to the completion of a project. Project-related tasks are likewise distributed, allowing tasks to be completed on a continuous basis, regardless of the constraints of any one team’s working hours. However, distributing a single task between multiple teams necessitates a handoff process, where one team’s development efforts and task planning are communicated from one team ending their shift to the next that will continue the effort. Data management is, therefore, critical to the success of this business model. Efficiency in data management is achieved through a strategic leveraging of key tools, models, and concepts.     

ICT-supported knowledge representation for development of routines in industry

Organizational Learning (OL) is important for a firm’s productivity growth. According to some literatures, information and communication technology do not support organizational learning and therefore not enhanced productivity. This research however has demonstrated that in the case of manufacturing companies some computer-based systems representing organizational knowledge—knowledge management systems (KMS) do support organizational learning. For OL to take place through KMS, our findings suggest that a deliberate organizational learning structure must be in place within the organization. This article demonstrates how knowledge management systems deliberately developed and implemented by management, can support the development of operating routines for manufacturing industries. KMS, if deliberately implemented for the purpose of empowering employee participation, may be a supporting mechanism for process and product improvement and innovation in manufacturing organizations. Such a structure may results, as our case demonstrates, in a dynamic and iterative employee—management knowledge development process resulting in productivity enhancement.     

Neural networks committee decision making for estimation of metal’s hardness properties from indentation data

In this paper the problem of metal’s hardness properties estimation from indentation data is concerned. This problem belongs to a class of ill-posed vector function approximation problems and can’t be solved by a single multilayered perceptron at the required precision level. A special neural networks committee architecture is developed in order to obtain precise estimates of metal’s hardness properties. This method involves well-posed direct indentation task solution and a quantile based idea for best estimates selection. Studies have shown the estimates produced by the committee to be stable even in the case of noise presence that is similar to the true experimental one.     

Modelling and analysing the functional behaviour of TCP’s connection management procedures

The transmission control protocol (TCP) is the most widely used transport protocol in the Internet. It provides a reliable data transfer service to many applications. In this paper, Coloured Petri Nets are used to model TCP’s connection management procedures. The model is created to verify TCP’s functional correctness (e.g. the absence of deadlocks and livelocks). We discuss different modelling approaches to motivate the approach taken. The paper defines the termination property of TCP’s connection management procedures, including the notions of desired and acceptable terminal states. Finally, we analyse TCP’s connection management procedures operating over re-ordering non-lossy and lossy channels. This is done incrementally and considers 11 different configurations. The analysis provides some insights into TCP’s behaviour where in certain circumstances the protocol fails to establish or terminate successfully. The majority of this article was written while Dr. Han was at the University of South Australia.     

On the role of the Facilitator in information security risk assessment

In organisations where information security has historically been a part of management and for which the risk assessment methodologies have been designed there are established methods for communicating risk. This is the case for example in the banking and military sectors. However in organisations where information security is not embedded into management thinking and where the relationship between information security and the business is less clear-cut, communicating the risks to the business is less straightforward. In such circumstances it has been observed during field research that information security risk assessments frequently output findings to which the business cannot relate and the process is consequently often viewed as a “tick box” exercise, as opposed to one that provides real value to the business. In such a situation the information security risk assessment is divorced from the business process and not embedded into the organisation’s processes or thinking. The research for this paper was undertaken in order to identify what needs to be done in order to ensure that businesses of this type find the risk assessment process valuable in practice. Lizzie Coles-Kemp is a postgraduate research student in Computer Science and Richard E. Overill is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science.     

Tool support for disseminating and improving development practices

Knowledge management in software engineering and software process improvement activities pose challenges as initiatives are deployed. Most existing approaches are either too expensive to deploy or do not take an organization’s specific needs into consideration. There is thus a need for scalable improvement approaches that leverage knowledge already residing in the organizations. This paper presents tool support for an Experience Factory approach for disseminating and improving practices used in an organization. Experiences from using practices in development projects are captured in postmortems and provide iteratively improved decision support for identifying what practices work well and what needs improvement. An initial evaluation of using the tool for organizational improvement has been performed utilizing both academia and industry. The results from the evaluation indicate that organizational characteristics influence how practices and experiences can be used. Experiences collected in postmortems are estimated to have little effect on improvements to practices used throughout the organization. However, in organizations where different practices are used in different parts of the organization, making practices available together with experiences from use, as well as having context information, can influence decisions on what practices to use in projects.     

An approach to regulating machine sharing in reconfigurable back-end semiconductor manufacturing

By complying with the operational philosophy of virtual production lines, a back-end semiconductor manufacturing system can be controlled and managed with better reconfigurability. However, due to the absence of a fully-integrated information system and the gaining popularity of distributed computing, machine reconfiguration decisions are made by machine controllers on the shop floor where heterarchical control architecture is typically used. This research investigates how non-cooperative game theory could be applied for facilitating the decision process reconfiguration decision-making at the machine controller level as machines are competed by multiple jobs streams. This paper presents how material flow traffic can be better regulated in a reconfigurable manufacturing environment. A study using an industrial pilot system is discussed to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach, in which heuristics are used to determine the game specification.     

Tactile interruption management: tactile cues as task-switching reminders

Tactile cuing has been suggested as a method of interruption management for busy visual environments. This study examined the effectiveness of tactile cues as an interruption management strategy in a multi-tasking environment. Sixty-four participants completed a continuous aircraft monitoring task with periodic interruptions of a discrete gauge memory task. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups; one group had to remember to monitor for interruptions while the other group received tactile cues indicating an interruption’s arrival and location. As expected, the cued participants evidenced superior performance on both tasks. The results are consistent with the notion that tactile cues transform the resource-intensive, time-based task of remembering to check for interruptions into a simpler, event-based task, where cues assume a portion of the workload, permitting the application of valuable resources to other task demands. This study is discussed in the context of multiple resource theory and has practical implications for systems design in environments consisting of multiple, visual tasks and time-sensitive information.     

A distributed architecture for reconfigurable control of continuous process operations

This paper considers a new distributed approach to reconfigurable control of continuous process operations such as in chemical plants. The research is set on a premise that emerging business pressures of product customization and industrial globalization will lead to increased need for reconfigurability in process plants. The ability of processes to support dynamic and smooth reorganization of process schemes in tandem with the changing requirements of supply chains will become important in future. Conventional control approaches based on hierarchical architectures are limited in dealing with such emerging requirements due to their inflexible structures and operating rules. Instead, more distributed approaches are required which can support increased level of reconfigurability in control systems, especially at the lower levels in hierarchy where the visibility to disturbances remains high. In this paper, one such distributed approach is considered based on the concepts of holonic manufacturing and supply chain management. The proposed approach distributes the functionality of process control into several reconfigurable process elements. These elements, while having a stand-alone capability for making their own control decisions, are also able to reconfigure themselves into alternative process schemes which evolve with the changing requirements of production. An analogy between process plants and so-called dynamic supply networks or virtual enterprises is used in this paper to define the composition of reconfigurable process elements and their operations. The proposed approach is shown to offer improved process control system reconfigurability and a control architecture which is compatible with the supply chain management needs at the next higher level. The purpose of this paper is qualitative and motivational. It is aimed to propose a new research direction in the field of reconfigurable process control.     

Specifications in Context: Stakeholders, Systems and Modelling of Conflict

This paper looks from an ethnographic viewpoint at the case of two information systems in a multinational engineering consultancy. It proposes using the rich findings from ethnographic analysis during requirements discovery. The paper shows how context – organisational and social – can be taken into account during an information system development process. Socio-technical approaches are holistic in nature and provide opportunities to produce information systems utilising social science insights, computer science technical competence and psychological approaches. These approaches provide fact-finding methods that are appropriate to system participants’ and organisational stakeholders’ needs.  The paper recommends a method of modelling that results in a computerised information system data model that reflects the conflicting and competing data and multiple perspectives of participants and stakeholders, and that improves interactivity and conflict management.     

Cable harness design, assembly and installation planning using immersive virtual reality

Earlier research work using immersive virtual reality (VR) in the domain of cable harness design has shown conclusively that this technology had provided substantial productivity gains over traditional computer-aided design (CAD) systems. The follow-on work in this paper was aimed at understanding the degree to which various aspects of the immersive VR system were contributing to these benefits and how engineering design and planning processes could be analysed in detail as they are being carried out; the nature of this technology being such that the user’s activities can be non-intrusively monitored and logged without interrupting a creative design process or a manufacturing planning task. This current research involved the creation of a more robust CAD-equivalent VR system for cable harness routing design, harness assembly and installation planning which could be functionally evaluated using a set of creative design-task experiments to provide detail about the system and users’ performance. A design task categorisation scheme was developed which allowed both a general and detailed breakdown of the design engineer’s cable harness design process and associated activities. This showed that substantial amounts of time were spend by the designer in navigation (41%), sequence breaks (28%) and carrying out design-related activities (27%). The subsequent statistical analysis of the data also allowed cause and effect relationships between categories to be examined and showed statistically significant results in harness design, harness design modification and menu/model interaction. This insight demonstrated that poorly designed interfaces can have adverse affects on the productivity of the designer and that 3D direct manipulation interfaces have advantages. Indeed, the categorisation scheme provided a valuable tool for understanding design behaviour and could be used for comparing different design platforms as well as examining other aspects of the design function, such as the acquisition of design decision intent. The system also demonstrated the successful automatic generation of cable harness assembly and cable harness installation plans from non-intrusive user-system interaction logging, which further demonstrates the potential for concurrent design and manufacturing planning to be carried out.     

Genetic Optimization of JIT Operation Schedules for Fabric-cutting Process in Apparel Manufacture

Fashion products require a significant amount of customization due to differences in body measurements, diverse preferences on style and replacement cycle. It is necessary for today’s apparel industry to be responsive to the ever-changing fashion market. Just-in-time production is a must-go direction for apparel manufacturing. Apparel industry tends to generate more production orders, which are split into smaller jobs in order to provide customers with timely and customized fashion products. It makes the difficult task of production planning even more challenging if the due times of production orders are fuzzy and resource competing. In this paper, genetic algorithms and fuzzy set theory are used to generate just-in-time fabric-cutting schedules in a dynamic and fuzzy cutting environment. Two sets of real production data were collected to validate the proposed genetic optimization method. Experimental results demonstrate that the genetically optimized schedules improve the internal satisfaction of downstream production departments and reduce the production cost simultaneously. Received: November 2004 / Accepted: September 2005