A hybrid rule – neural approach for the automation of legal reasoning in the discretionary domain of family law in Australia

Few automated legal reasoning systems have been developed in domains of law in which a judicial decision maker has extensive discretion in the exercise of his or her powers. Discretionary domains challenge existing artificial intelligence paradigms because models of judicial reasoning are difficult, if not impossible to specify. We argue that judicial discretion adds to the characterisation of law as open textured in a way which has not been addressed by artificial intelligence and law researchers in depth. We demonstrate that systems for reasoning with this form of open texture can be built by integrating rule sets with neural networks trained with data collected from standard past cases. The obstacles to this approach include difficulties in generating explanations once conclusions have been inferred, difficulties associated with the collection of sufficient data from past cases and difficulties associated with integrating two vastly different paradigms. A knowledge representation scheme based on the structure of arguments proposed by Toulmin has been used to overcome these obstacles. The system, known as Split Up, predicts judicial decisions in property proceedings within family law in Australia. Predictions from the system have been compared to those from a group of lawyers with favourable results.     

Multi-User Collaborative Assembly Planning over the Internet

1 Introduction Assembly planning is an important issue of product design for assembly, and many achievements have been obtained. Techniques such as geometric reasoning [1,2], genetic algorithms (GA) [3], virtual assembly [4,5] and so on are employed to assembly planning of relatively simple products successfully. But for the more complex cases, there is a combinational complexity problem when the geometric reasoning method is used. The fitness function in GA cannot take into account various…     

Inventing the future – The vision of the Jericho Forum

The world of the future will be very different from today. We can expect to encounter radical changes as the Information Age transforms business, society and security. Information Security professionals must look ahead, embrace the challenges and develop new forward-looking security solutions. This paper explains why and how this can be done, and explains the vision and work of the Jericho Forum, a new group that is setting out to do just that.     

LectureLounge – experience education beyond the borders of the classroom

Capturing presentations (lectures, seminars, etc.) on video is on the brink of becoming a normal event in educational environments. However, a breakthrough has yet to occur. Why is this so? First, it seems that capturing purely video is not enough to capture the whole educational experience [4]. Second, while equipment is relatively cheap, the amount and quality of manual work needed to operate capturing and publication systems is very high, and thus so are the costs. Third, systems that support the capturing process by including additional metadata tend to be intrusive on the presenter’s way of working.We would like to introduce LectureLounge [3], a presentation capturing, management, and publication system that shows that it does not have to be this way.     

Concerning the knowledge domain of anticipation – awareness of early contributions in the context of defining the field

The knowledge domain of anticipation is still in the process of being defined, and is therefore subject to controversies. Science was never an endeavour of consensus but rather of debate. This additional argument to the debate integrates awareness of the early Soviet/Russian contributions to a science of anticipation. From this awareness derives the understanding of why anticipation faces opposition from established viewpoints. This article ascertains that anticipation advances a fundamental view of the living. Within this view, anticipation is always expressed in action. Short of this definitory condition, anticipation fades into the grey mass of speculative predictive methods.     

Acceptance of software process innovations – the case of extreme programming

Extreme programming (XP), arguably the most popular agile development methodology, is increasingly finding favor among software developers. Its adoption and acceptance require significant changes in work habits inculcated by traditional approaches that emphasize planning, prediction, and control. Given the growing interest in XP, it is surprising that there is a paucity of research articles that examine the factors that facilitate or hinder its adoption and eventual acceptance. This study aims to fill this void. Using a case study approach, we provide insights into individual, team, technological, task, and environmental factors that expedite or impede the organization-wide acceptance of XP. In particular, we study widely differing patterns of adherence to XP practices within an organization, and tease out the various issues and challenges posed by the adoption of XP. Based on our findings, we evolve factors and discuss their implications on the acceptance of XP practices.     

Disruptive factors in the evaluation of perceived quality aspects – consideration of the brand influence

The implementation of evaluation methods with the aim to gain knowledge of the perceived quality aspects is a challenging task because of versatile disruptive factors on the users’ cognition. Commonly known disruptive factors like the different level of experience in the usage of a system or the publicity of a brand name are considered in research approaches only marginally. This becomes even more important when the evaluated system stays in direct interaction with the evaluator and an increase of external influences can be expected. On the example of a system with strong user interaction, a research approach for an objective evaluation of quality aspects was developed with cordless drills. An experiment has been carried out with 50 craftsmen which are divided into two groups, whereby the first of which will be given original labeled and the other blinded cordless drills for rating the application quality. Evaluation was divided into a preliminary test and a practical test phase, in which selected applications were performed. Results for the preliminary evaluation of the cordless drills indicate a significant brand influence with a strong positive effect on well-known (p<.001, r=0.492, +30.7%) and a negative effect on unknown brands (p=0.029, r=0.309, -17.2%). Practical usage of the devices leads to a significant change of ratings (well-know brand: p=0.007, r=0.378, +1.9%; unknown brand: p=0.053, r=0.274, +12%). Using paired sample t-test it can be shown that the practical use of cordless drills reduces variances in evaluation and ratings become more precise.Relevance for industry: Given approaches can be used in industry to conduct field studies with real users and benchmark systems to identify new development goals (quality aspects) for user-optimized products that are not affected by disruptive factors such as the brand name.     

Approximate syllogisms – on the logic of everyday life

Since Aristotle it is recognised that a valid syllogism cannot have two particular premises. However, that is not how a lay person sees it; at least as long as the premises read many, most etc, instead of a plain some. The lay people are right if one considers that these syllogisms do not have strict but approximate (Zadeh) validity. Typically there are only particular premises available in everyday life and one is dependent on such syllogisms. – Some rules on the usage of particular premises are given below.     

System identification and control of the ground operationmode of a hybrid aerial–ground robot

This paper presents an in-depth analytical and empirical assessment of the performance of DoubleBee, a novel hybrid aerial–ground robot. Particularly, the dynamic model of the robot with ground contact is analyzed, and the unknown parameters inthe model are identified. We apply an unscented Kalman filter-based approach and a least square-based approach to estimatethe parameters with given measurements and inputs at every time step. Real data are collected and used to estimate theparameters; test data verify that the values obtained are able to model the rotation of the robot accurately. A gain-scheduledfeedback controller is proposed, which leverages the identified model to generate accurate control inputs to drive the systemto the desired states. The system is proven to track a constant-velocity reference signal with bounded error. Simulations andreal-world experiments using the proposed controller show improved performance than the PID-based controller in trackingstep commands and maintaining attitude under robot movement.     

Hardware-in-the-loop simulation for the design and verification of the control system of a series–parallel hybrid electric city-bus

Hybrid electric buses have been a promising technology to dramatically lower fuel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission, while energy management strategy (EMS) is a critical technology to the improvements in fuel economy for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). In this paper, a suboptimal EMS is developed for the real-time control of a series–parallel hybrid electric bus. It is then investigated and verified in a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation system constructed on PT-LABCAR, a commercial real-time simulator. First, an optimal EMS is obtained via iterative dynamic programming (IDP) by defining a cost function over a specific drive cycle to minimize fuel consumption, as well as to achieve zero battery state-of-charge (SOC) change and to avoid frequent clutch operation. The IDP method can lower the computational burden and improve the accuracy. Second, the suboptimal EMS for real-time control is developed by constructing an Elman neural network (NN) based on the aforementioned optimal EMS, so the real-time suboptimal EMS can be used in the vehicle control unit (VCU) of the hybrid bus. The real VCU is investigated and verified utilizing a HIL simulator in a virtual forward-facing HEV environment consisting of vehicle, driver and driving environment. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed real-time suboptimal EMS by the neural network can coordinate the overall hybrid powertrain of the hybrid bus to optimize fuel economy over different drive cycles, and the given drive cycles can be tracked while sustaining the battery SOC level.     

Object－Oriented Modeling of Virtual Assembly Process

Virtual assembly is a Virtual Reality (VR) based engineering application which allows engineers to evaluate, analyze, and plan the assembly of mechanical systems. To model the virtual assembly process, new methodology must be applied. Based on the idea that the virtual assembly system is an event driven system, the interactive behavior and information model is proposed to describe the dynamic process of virtual assembly. Definition of the object-oriented model of virtual assembly is put forward.     

Does the user behavior effect the productivity of hammer drilling? – Analysis of the influences of feed and lateral force

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between feed and lateral force with productivity in hammer drilling. Necessary user forces and vibration caused by hammer drilling leads to user fatigue and long-term injuries. Through an increase in productivity, the stress duration and thus injuries caused can be reduced. The user, who influences productivity, applies lateral forces in addition to the feed force during hammer drilling. Their influence and interaction with the feed force on productivity has not yet been investigated. In this study, a total of 1152 boreholes were performed on an automated test bench. Along with the feed and lateral forces, the setup, consisting of hammer drill and drill bit model, was varied in order to investigate interaction effects as well as discuss transferability of the findings. The productivity was evaluated by the rate of penetration (ROP). It was observed that the ROP decreased with increasing lateral forces (p < .001, r = 0.315) and increased with increasing feed force. The detailed courses of these relationships were setup-specific. At low feed forces, the feed and lateral force interacted on the ROP. The investigated relationships indicate an efficient operating range depending on the user forces and setup used, which enables a reduction of the user's stress duration. The findings help engineers develop power tools that provide more efficient and hence less fatiguing work, making them more ergonomic for the user.     

The Changing – and Unchanging – Face of the Digital Divide: an Application of Kohonen Self-Organizing Maps

The goal of this study is to trace the evolution of the digital divide, to begin to understand whether and how the divide is widening or closing, and in achieving this, begin to identify implications and further research moving forward. We are able to do this by using longitudinal data over a period of nine years (1999–2007). We employ the Kohonen self-organizing maps approach. This exploratory approach allows for clear visualization and interpretations of country's positions on the map and illustrates any changes that may have occurred over a given time period. We identify five clusters of countries, based on their digital development; economical; demographic and risk indicators. Our results indicate that a number of Eastern European countries such as Slovakia and Lithuania have made significant progress in the period 1995–2003, while we find that most African countries have made little or no improvement during this period – an issue requiring urgent attention. Overall, this study provides a clear visualization of the progression of digital development indicators alongside economic, demographic, infrastructural and risk factors in 179 countries over a nine-year time frame. These results are relevant as a basis for policy discussions as they highlight the success stories of some countries relative to others.     

It's all about the format – unleashing the power of RAW aerial photography

Current one-shot, handheld Digital Still Cameras (DSCs) generally offer different file formats to save the captured frames: Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), RAW and/or Tag(ged) Image File Format (TIFF). Although the JPEG file format is the most commonly used file format worldwide, it is incapable of storing all original data, something that also occurs, to a certain extent, for large TIFF files. Therefore, most professional photographers prefer shooting RAW files, often described as the digital photography's equivalent of a film negative. As a RAW file contains the absolute maximum amount of information and original data generated by the sensor, it is the only scientifically justifiable file format. In addition, its tremendous flexibility in both processing and post-processing also makes it beneficial from a workflow and image quality point of view. On the other hand, large file sizes, the required software and proprietary file formats remain hurdles that are often too difficult to overcome for many photographers. Aerial photographers who shoot with handheld DSCs should be familiar with both RAW and other file formats, as their implications cannot be neglected. By outlining the complete process from photon capture to the generation of pixel values, additionally illustrated by real-world examples, the advantages and particularities of RAW aerial photography should become clear.     

Dissecting SpyEye – Understanding the design of third generation botnets

Botnet malware is improving with the latest (3rd) generation exemplified by the SpyEye and Zeus botnets. These botnets are important to understand because they target online financial transactions, primarily with banks. In this paper, we analyze the components from multiple generations of the SpyEye botnet in order to understand both how it works and how it is evolving. SpyEye is a sophisticated piece of malware with a modular design that eases the incorporation of improvements. We will discuss in detail the complete framework of SpyEye botnet consisting of the Bot Development Kit (BDK), the plugin architecture, the backend storage server, the bot design and the web-based Command and Control (C&C) management system. In addition, we also examine the techniques used by SpyEye to steal money.     

A new theorem of the alternative – a location approach

This paper provides a new method to obtain theorems of the alternative, using a location approach. This consists of associating a location problem with the original system of linear inequalities. The paper introduces a dual optimization problem and strong duality is established. From the dual problem, there is derived a second system of equations and inequalities and for both systems the duality and solvability properties provide a conclusion of the general theorem of the alternative. The assigned location problem includes weighting factors and powers of the norms. These weighting factors and exponents may be considered as parameters appearing in the theorem of the alternative, which therefore represents a whole class of theorems of the alternative. The presented theorem of the alternative may be considered as a generalization of the well-known Gale's theorem of the alternative for linear inequalities.     

Fast Simulation of the Functional Failure of an s – t-Network with Repair

An s – t-network with highly reliable edges with repair and variable external load is considered. A fast simulation method is proposed to evaluate the probability of functional failure when the real capacity of the network is less than the required capacity. It is proved that under some conditions the estimate has a bounded relative error as edges reliability increases. The numerical example illustrates the efficiency of the method.     

Modelling the scatter of E–N curves using a serial hybrid neural network

If structural reliability is estimated by following a strain-based approach, a material’s strength should be represented by the scatter of the ε–N (E–N) curves that link the strain amplitude with the corresponding statistical distribution of the number of cycles-to-failure. The basic shape of the ε–N curve is usually modelled by the Coffin–Manson relationship. If a loading mean level also needs to be considered, the original Coffin–Manson relationship is modified to account for the non-zero mean level of the loading, which can be achieved by using a Smith–Watson–Topper modification of the original Coffin–Manson relationship. In this paper, a methodology for estimating the dependence of the statistical distribution of the number of cycles-to-failure on the Smith–Watson–Topper modification is presented. The statistical distribution of the number of cycles-to-failure was modelled with a two-parametric Weibull probability density function. The core of the presented methodology is represented by a multilayer perceptron neural network combined with the Weibull probability density function using a size parameter that follows the Smith–Watson–Topper analytical model. The article presents the theoretical background of the methodology and its application in the case of experimental fatigue data. The results show that it is possible to model ε–N curves and their scatter for different influential parameters, such as the specimen’s diameter and the testing temperature.