Adaptation of an automotive dialogue system to users’ expertise and evaluation of the system

Spoken dialogue systems (SDSs) can be used to operate devices, e.g. in the automotive environment. People using these systems usually have different levels of experience. However, most systems do not take this into account. In this paper, we present a method to build a dialogue system in an automotive environment that automatically adapts to the user’s experience with the system. We implemented the adaptation in a prototype and carried out exhaustive tests. Our usability tests show that adaptation increases both user performance and user satisfaction. We describe the tests that were performed, and the methods used to assess the test results. One of these methods is a modification of PARADISE, a framework for evaluating the performance of SDSs [Walker MA, Litman DJ, Kamm CA, Abella A (Comput Speech Lang 12(3):317–347, 1998)]. We discuss its drawbacks for the evaluation of SDSs like ours, the modifications we have carried out, and the test results.

The partition of N-dimensional space,using shells

In the field of pattern recognition there are problems where a decision can be made upon a set of training patterns. A training pattern represents a particular known case of the problem under investigation. Here it is represented as a point in the n-dimensional space Rⁿ, where each coordinate denotes a particular parameter of an observation or measurement. Each pattern point belongs to a single answer, which is the solution of this case. In this way, solved examples of the problem under investigation are represented by points of training patterns in the n-dimensional space. The question arises how to make the decision in order to find the answer for a given unknown pattern, i.e. a case without an answer, upon a set of training patterns used as basic knowledge.By the proposed method, shells are used to divide the n-dimensional space into regions where points of training patterns are located. Each shell has the shape of an n-dimensional rectangle and covers pattern points of the same answer. The partition of the n-dimensional space is achieved first in the adaptation phase, where a single shell belongs to the same answer as the pattern points it covers. The coverage of the space obtained after the adaptation phase is then improved in the following self-adaptation phase. Here, pairs of shells belonging to the same answer are merged into substitute shells. Thus, the number of shells is reduced without damage to the obtained quality of the coverage of the space Rⁿ. Upon such a coverage, a decision can be made for a given pattern by searching a shell which covers its pattern point. The answer belonging to this shell is also the answer for that pattern.The efficiency of this model has been satisfactorily demonstrated in two medical fields: prognosis of acute pancreatitis and in the diagnosis of disseminated cancer of unknown origin.     

面向MPEG-21 DIA的适配决策模型

通用多媒体内容访问是未来多媒体服务的常用模式。针对这一访问模式,MPEG-21提出了DIA技术框架,以期实现相关技术标准化。但是,DIA现在只对上下文描述等元数据制定了标准,而适配决策引擎仍然是一个开放问题。针对已有适配决策模型存在的问题,提出了一种适配决策树模型,该模型将适配决策视为序列决策,并用决策树对其建模。为满足多媒体服务的个性化需求,利用用户偏好信息建立适配决策树。此外,利用优化模型构建决策空间,使参与决策的对象数缩小为模态数,从而减少了适配决策时间,满足了多媒体服务的实时性。通过仿真实验证明,该适配决策树模型在决策误差和平均迭代次数两个指标上都优于或相近于已有的适配决策模型。     

A reflective infrastructure for workflow adaptability

We present a flexible framework that enables workflow systems to adapt to changing conditions. The model is designed to reveal key aspects of the tasks involved in representing and enacting business processes. These fundamental characteristics are identified as state, behaviour, distribution, coordination and enactment. By isolating such core concepts in a way that allows them to be varied, we open up the general process of task coordination and execution, allowing for extensions in a planned way. By suitable manipulation of each of these aspects, at the appropriate level, a workflow system may be extensively modified in a way that minimises the effect of such change upon other aspects of the system.     

Failure to adapt or adaptations that fail: contrasting models on procedures and safety

This paper introduces two models on procedures and safety and assesses the practical consequences these have for organizations trying to make progress on safety through procedures. The application of procedures is contrasted as rote rule following versus substantive cognitive activity. It reveals a fundamental double bind: operators can fail to adapt procedures when adapting proved necessary, or attempt procedural adaptations that may fail. Rather than simply increasing pressure to comply, organizations should invest in their understanding of the gap between procedures and practice, and help develop operators' skill at adapting.     

A cooperative robotic platform for adaptive and immersive artistic installations

In this paper we shall review the major approaches done in the past concerning the development of immersive artistic installations. This will permit one to identify the basic features to be attained by this kind of installations and based on them a new cooperative and autonomous robotic platform will be proposed. The major novelty of the approach presented in this paper relies on its short- and long-term adaptation capabilities. The technical details of its basic building blocks and the results of the preliminary field tests will be provided, showing that it constitutes a very efficient platform for the construction of actual adaptive and immersive artistic installations.     

MobiTran:一种面向智能手机的PC版Web应用转化技术

随着移动互联网的快速发展,人们可以通过包括智能手机和平板电脑在内的移动计算设备来访问和使用Web应用。然而,目前已有的Web应用大多是针对PC设计的,因此通过移动计算设备直接访问时,可能出现信息显示不全、界面布局混乱、用户体验变差、需要耗费较多流量等问题。重新开发符合移动设备特性的Web应用是一种最直接的解决方案,但是开发成本和代价较大,并且同时维护PC版和移动版两个不同的应用版本也会带来更高的成本。提出一种面向开发者的Web应用移动版本半自动转化技术并实现了支持工具MobiTran:首先,对PC版本Web应用的界面进行自动转化,使之适应移动设备的屏幕尺寸;然后,通过支持开发者手工对界面的样式和布局进行修改,定制拆分子页面以控制数据流量,同时加入适应移动设备操控特点的元素;最终,生成一个供移动设备访问的移动版本Web应用。对主流网站的测试结果表明:MobiTran可以将原网页自动地转化为适合移动设备宽度的新网页,转化后的网页清晰无溢出并可以较大限度地维持新页面与原页面风格一致;在自动转化过程中,可以较少地丢失页面信息并较大限度地保证原页面的功能;转化后的新页面相比原页面消耗数据流量较小。     

Context-aware design of adaptable multimodal documents

In this paper we present a model and an adaptation architecture for context-aware multimodal documents. A compound virtual document describes the different ways in which multimodal information can be structured and presented. Physical features are associated to media instances, while properties describe the context. Concrete documents are instantiated from virtual documents by selecting and synchronizing proper media instances based on the user context: the situation, the environment, the device and the available communication resources. The relations between the context features and the media properties are described by a rule based system.     

Adapting system execution traces to support analysis of software system performance properties

UNITE is a method and tool that analyzes software system performance properties, e.g., end-to-end response time, throughput, and service time, via system execution traces. UNITE, however, assumes that a system execution trace contains properties (e.g., identifiable keywords, unique message instances, and enough variation among the same event types) to support performance analysis. With proper planning, it is possible to ensure that properties required to support such analysis are incorporated in the generated system execution trace. It, however, is not safe to assume this to be the case with many existing software systems.     

Measuring and modelling CO2 effects on sugarcane

In order to fully capture the benefits of rising CO₂ in adapting agriculture to climate change, we first need to understand how CO₂ affects crop growth. Several recent studies reported unexpected increases in sugarcane (C₄) yields under elevated CO₂, but it is difficult to distinguish direct leaf-level effects of rising CO₂ on photosynthesis from indirect water-related responses. A simulation model of CO₂ effects, based purely on changes in stomatal conductance (indirect mechanism), showed transpiration was reduced by 30% (initially) to 10% (closed canopy) and yield increased by 3% even in a well-irrigated crop. The model incorporated the results of a field experiment, and a glasshouse experiment designed to disentangle the mechanisms of CO₂ response: whole-plant transpiration and stomatal conductance were both 28% lower for plants growing with high-frequency demand-based watering at 720 vs 390 ppm CO₂, but there was no increase in biomass, indicating that indirect mechanisms dominate CO₂ responses in sugarcane.     

A capabilities-based model for adaptive organizations

Multiagent systems have become popular over the last few years for building complex, adaptive systems in a distributed, heterogeneous setting. Multiagent systems tend to be more robust and, in many cases, more efficient than single monolithic applications. However, unpredictable application environments make multiagent systems susceptible to individual failures that can significantly reduce its ability to accomplish its overall goal. The problem is that multiagent systems are typically designed to work within a limited set of configurations. Even when the system possesses the resources and computational power to accomplish its goal, it may be constrained by its own structure and knowledge of its member’s capabilities. To overcome these problems, we are developing a framework that allows the system to design its own organization at runtime. This paper presents a key component of that framework, a metamodel for multiagent organizations named the Organization Model for Adaptive Computational Systems. This model defines the requisite knowledge of a system’s organizational structure and capabilities that will allow it to reorganize at runtime and enable it to achieve its goals effectively in the face of a changing environment and its agent’s capabilities.     

自适应超媒体系统探析

1.引言二十年来,超媒体已从实验原型发展成为世界上最流行的计算机应用,其中最成功的超媒体系统World Wide Web几乎成为信息高速公路的代名词。随着超媒体系统的类型、规模及复杂性的与日俱增,信息空间日益宠大,如何快速准确地展示用户所需信息成为当前研究的热点。传统的超媒体系统中采用一成不变(one-size-fits-all)的方法提供静态超媒体文档,要求超媒体文档的作者为不同用户撰写不同文档,以适应     

适应性软件体系结构中构件连接的概念、特点和作用

构件连接对软件体系结构的适应性有重要影响。目前人们对它的认识尚不统一，文章对构件连接的概念、特点和作用进行了论述，以期对适应性软件体系结构的进一步研究有所裨益。     

自动分词在智能答疑系统中的作用

随着Intenet的发展，远程教育也得到了进一步的发展，并且成为了现代教学中的一个部分。其中发展最快的为网络在线教学系统，本文首先通过对国内外现有的网络在线教学系统的现状进行分析，然后阐述自动分词在智能答疑系统中的应用。     

自适应BDI主体研究

该文首先通过对两种智能主体的介绍,分析当前智能主体研究处理非预期情况的两种主要途径,即反应式和慎思式,指出各自存在的问题。进而提出自适应BDI主体的基本框架,在此基础上,论述建立慎思式智能主体适应机制的必要性和可能性。通过引入原子以及公式的相关性,给出意图、目标的一个基于逻辑概念的形式刻画,进而给出“愿望保持性”和“承诺可传递性”的一个近似规范。基于这一规范,可以实现非预期情况下的愿望修正,并支持承诺调整,给出其若干关键问题的形式化结论。     

On the performance of high-gain observers with gain adaptation under measurement noise

We address the problem of state observation for a system whose dynamics may involve poorly known, perhaps even nonlocally Lipschitz functions and whose output measurement may be corrupted by noise. It is known that one way to cope with all these uncertainties and noise is to use a high-gain observer with a gain adapted on-line. The proposed method, while presented for a particular case, relies on a “generic” analysis tool based on the study of differential inequalities involving quadratic functions of the error system in two coordinate frames plus the gain adaptation law. We establish that, for bounded system solutions, the estimated state and the gain are bounded. Moreover, we provide an upper bound for the mean value of the error signals as a function of the observer parameters. Since due to perturbations the gain adaptation law may drive the observer/plant interconnection to nearby boundary of its stability region, oscillatory behavior may emerge. To overcome this issue, we suggest an adaptive procedure based on a space averaging technique involving several copies of the observer.     

自适应细分方法进行曲面造型*

充分利用可调控CatmullClark细分规则与均匀的CatmullClark细分规则的优点,提出了自适应细分方法。该方法简单,比传统的单一细分方法有更好的灵活性,通过适当调节控制因子,可使得曲面造型比较灵活。通过分析曲面上点的曲率来控制细分,可以在较低的细分次数下达到良好的曲面造型效果,为曲面造型提供了一个新的方法。     

一种基于历史信息的自适应动态网格作业调度方法

目前,国内外围绕着网格中的作业调度算法已做了大量研究,先后提出了很多调度算法.但是,这些算法并不能很好地适应网格的动态性、自治性和分布性等特征.对此,提出了一种动态的网格作业调度方法-基于历史信息的自适应动态网格作业调度方法ASHI.该方法利用每个资源上最近作业的执行信息自适应调整预测模型,然后再根据网格的动态性和实时性等因素,对资源进行反馈选择后将作业提交负载较轻的资源上执行.实验证明,ASHI不但能及时有效地对作业进行调度,而且还可有效提高整个网格的吞吐量和均衡系统的负载.     

伪标签不确定性估计的源域无关鲁棒域自适应

无监督域自适应是解决训练集(源域)和测试集(目标域)分布不一致的有效途径之一.现有的无监督域自适应的理论和方法在相对封闭、静态的环境下取得了一定成功,但面向开放动态任务环境时,在隐私保护、数据孤岛等限制条件下,源域数据往往不可直接获取,现有无监督域自适应方法的鲁棒性将面临严峻的挑战.鉴于此,研究了一个更具挑战性却又未被...