Electronic community factories: the model and its application in the tourism sector

The electronic community factory (ECF) is proposed as an archetype for value creating cross-organization virtual communities of practice in which members engage actively and through domain-specific tools in the practice the community is about. In an ECF the reason for building the community is to appropriate the benefits of virtual networking for developing new products of added-value and collective ownership. In terms of engineering an ECF, the normative perspective adopted is that community management is distinctively different from engaging in the practice the community is about. Respectively, the tools needed for each function should embody this philosophy and be designed accordingly. The paper elaborates on the concept of the ECF and demonstrates its value through a pilot in regional tourism. Virtual ethnographic studies provide insights to operational aspects of the ECF and how it fosters community and practice management. Collectively, the results reported in the paper constitute an alternative model for community-based electronic commerce suitable for value-creating cross organization virtual communities of practice engaging in high quality product assembly in information based industries.     

虚拟环境中面向装配设计的数据场景图研究

作为虚拟环境中的数据结构，场景图的构建是虚拟现实技术领域的重要研究问题之一。针对虚拟装配设计系统的要求，讨论现有商业VR软件在开发虚拟装配设计时存在的限制，提出一个基于场景图的多层次虚拟装配设计模型VAM．在现有VR软件和VAM的基础上，说明了虚拟装配设计时的路径规划、序列生成、零件之间的约束关系等的表示和应用。     

某型武器系统虚拟操作训练系统

对虚拟现实技术及其软、硬件开发平台以及虚拟现实应用系统的一般开发思路进行了介绍，针对某型复杂装备，详细阐述了利用Vega工具开发虚拟操作训练系统的设计思路、系统构成及实现的关键技术。     

Distributing RePast agent‐based simulations with HLA

Large, experimental multi‐agent system (MAS) simulations are highly demanding tasks, both computationally and developmentally. Agent toolkits provide reliable templates for the design of even the largest MAS simulations, without offering a solution to computational limitations. Conversely, distributed simulation architectures offer performance benefits, but the introduction of parallel logic can complicate the design process significantly. The motivations of distribution are not limited to this question of processing power. True interoperation of sequential agent‐simulation platforms would allow agents designed using different toolkits to transparently interact in common abstract domains. This paper discusses the design and implementation of a system capable of harnessing the computational power of a distributed simulation infrastructure with the design efficiency of an agent toolkit. The system permits integration, through a higher‐level architecture (HLA) federation, of multiple instances of the Java‐based lightweight agent‐simulation toolkit RePast. This paper defines abstractly the engineering process necessary in creating such middleware, and reports on the experience in the specific case of the RePast toolkit. The paper also presents performance results that illustrate that significant speedup can be achieved through the integration of RePast with HLA. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Toolkit design for interactive structured graphics

Here, we analyze toolkit designs for building graphical applications with rich user interfaces, comparing polylithic and monolithic toolkit-based solutions. Polylithic toolkits encourage extension by composition and follow a design philosophy similar to 3D scene graphs supported by toolkits including JavaSD and Openlnventor. Monolithic toolkits, on the other hand, encourage extension by inheritance, and are more akin to 2D graphical user interface toolkits such as Swing or MFC. We describe Jazz (a polylithic toolkit) and Piccolo (a monolithic toolkit), each of which we built to support interactive 2D structured graphics applications in general, and zoomable user interface applications in particular. We examine the trade offs of each approach in terms of performance, memory requirements, and programmability. We conclude that a polylithic approach is most suitable for toolkit builders, visual design software where code is automatically generated, and application builders where there is much customization of the toolkit. Correspondingly, we find that monolithic approaches appear to be best for application builders where there is not much customization of the toolkit.     

Binding Virtual Environments to Toolkit Capabilities

There are many toolkits and development environments that aid the process of constructing virtual environment applications. Many of these development environments encourage customising a virtual environment's design while rapid prototyping within the confines of a toolkit's capabilities. Thus the choice of the technology and its associated support has been made independent of the end-use requirements of the final system. This can bias a virtual environment's design by implementation based constraints. We propose that an alternative approach is the consideration of virtual environment requirements in the context of an inspectable design model, to identify the requirements that a toolkit will need to support. In the context of an example, we present a selection of design requirements that we consider important for virtual environment design in general. We explore how these requirements might be mapped to different capabilities using Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) as a concrete example of a platform technology.     

Designing a toolkit to support dialogue in learning

Whilst the use of dialogue has many pedagogic advantages to offer Higher Education, implementing it effectively in teaching practice is a complex and problematic process that requires a wide range of expertise. This paper describes one strategy for addressing this issue: the development of a toolkit that supports the process of planning and reflection that practitioners must engage in when attempting to use dialogue in their teaching. After identifying and illustrating some of the issues relating to the use of dialogue, the notion of toolkits will be defined and a methodology for their development outlined. This is then exemplified with the specific case of the design of a toolkit for using dialogue in learning. A study is then described in which this prototype toolkit was evaluated, demonstrating its impact both in terms of changing practice and of developing a critical awareness of the issues relating dialogue and learning, before conclusions are drawn about the wider relevance of the work.     

Industry case studies in the use of immersive virtual assembly

In this paper, we report on two engineering case studies that have been conducted as part of a Virtual Assembly Technology Consortium. The objectives of the case studies were to determine if immersive virtual assembly capabilities allow industry assembly situations to be modelled and studied realistically, and to demonstrate the downstream value of the virtual assembly capabilities in areas such as ergonomics, assembly installation, process planning, installation, and serviceability. What is of special significance is that instead of modelling simplified problems or perceived representative situations, the case studies were constructed from actual assembly floor projects and situations encountered at industry member sites and with considerable participation from industry engineers and manufacturing shop floor personnel. Based on the success of the case studies, the consortium members inferred that virtual assembly methods are poised to move out of the realm of special projects and test scenarios to deployment in the actual design and manufacturing cycle. However, in order to be truly accepted in industry, there are still issues to be addressed in terms of ease of use, portability of the applications, and preparation of the models for the evaluations. Thus, the case studies added a new dimension to the exploration and understanding of how this new technology could be of practical value in industry.     

安全工具包的设计及安全性分析

信息安全工具包是用于开发信息安全应用产品的工具.目前我国使用的工具包都是国外产品,安全可靠度不高,很难保证使用它们开发的安全产品的安全性.对一个国产信息安全工具包（CIST）的结构设计进行了研究.在CIST中,内部信息安全性是其主要需求.CIST有一个安全内核,该内核使用了多种安全策略.CIST的安全性进行评估表明它能够适用于安全强度要求高的场合.     

A graphical user‐interface and an image processing toolkit for Perl

Perl is a powerful language for writing portable programs on a wide range of platforms. In this article two stand‐alone Perl toolkits, Prima and IPA, are presented, which provide graphical user interface and image processing functionality with features not found in any other Perl toolkits. Prima is a platform‐independent Perl graphic toolkit with an object‐oriented interface. Its features include an extensive set of Perl‐coded interface elements, a wide range of image types and conversion routines, and a visual builder. IPA is an image processing toolkit based on Prima functionality, and it provides a set of common two‐dimensional operators. Prima and IPA are used as a base for biological research, where the effects of various peptide‐based preparations on neuron culture are studied. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

协同软件开发工具集综述

该文在分析协同软件开发工具的需求和关键技术的基础上,介绍并讨论了一些协同软件的研究状况和国外的系统、研究趋势,力图在高度概括的基础上对每个研究的热点给予一定的介绍和剖析。对国外系统的介绍中突出了各个系统的特点和优点,形成了一定的比较。     

Governing the data commons: Policy,practice, and the advancement of science

Property rights of shared scientific data are often analyzed by applying formal intellectual property law. However, the scales at which these laws apply are not necessarily relevant to data sharing practice among individuals (e.g., in virtual, social communities). Rather, the data sharing communities and their members often form their own policies, practices and norms governing data sharing. Using common property theory, our research objectives were to determine: (1) parallels between data sharing communities and natural resource-sharing communities; (2) factors that lead to successful data sharing; (3) circumstances under which rules, laws and policies govern data sharing. We used cases from two emerging data sharing communities in the environmental sciences—a micrometeorology community (FLUXNET) and a satellite remote sensing community. Cases of data sharing without conflict or irresolvable disputes had more principles in common with a successfully managed natural resource commons than did those characterized by conflict. Successful data sharing requires that biophysical scientists be more attentive to the social nature of data sharing.     

Understanding student participation in undergraduate course communities: A case study

Participation is the cornerstone of any community. Promoting, understanding and properly managing it allows not only keeping the community sustainable, but also providing personalized services to its members and managers. This article presents a case study in which student participation in a course community was motivated using two different extrinsic mechanisms, and mediated by a software platform. The results were compared with a baseline community of the same course, in which participation was not motivated by external means. The analysis of these results indicates that managing a partially virtual course community requires the introduction of monitoring services, community managers and extrinsic mechanisms to motivate participation. These findings allow community managers to improve their capability for promoting participation and keeping the community sustainable. The findings also raise several implications that should be considered in the design of software supporting this kind of community, when managing the participation of its members.     

面向虚拟装配的三维交互平台

针对当前装配领域的特点，提出一个面向虚拟装配的三维交互平台（Virtual Assembly Toolkit,VAT），VAT中包含了新的三维交互思想，定义了装配领域中常有的三维交互原语，设计和实现了交互原语的捕获，解释和处理框架，同时，VAT封装了三维图形构造，零件间的约束和碰撞检测等功能，VAT可以大大简化虚拟装配应用的构造，便于应用的快速生成。     

Lessons learned from programmers' experiences with one‐way constraints

One‐way constraints have been incorporated in many graphical user interface toolkits because they are simple to learn, easy to write, and can express many types of useful graphical relationships. This paper is an evaluative paper that examines users' experience with one‐way constraints in two user interface development toolkits, Garnet and Amulet, over a 15‐year time span. The lessons gained from this examination can help guide the design of future constraint systems. The most important lessons are that (1) constraints should be allowed to contain arbitrary code that is written in the underlying toolkit language and does not require any annotations, such as parameter declarations, (2) constraints are difficult to debug and better debugging tools are needed, and (3) programmers will readily use one‐way constraints to specify the graphical layout of an application, but must be carefully and time‐consumingly trained to use them for other purposes. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Community or Colony: The Case of Online Newspapers and the Web

Although the development of relationships on the Net may be seen as "community," the increasing global presence from commercial media such as online newspapers suggest that another metaphor may be jousting for preeminence – colonization. Findings from an on-going case study of online newspapers suggest the early ideals of democratic community-building in cyberspace are encountering resistance as newspaper organizations delineate "virtual geographic space" and stake out "territory" on the web by subtly discouraging access to other sites (i.e., a type of virtual "homesteading"). Additionally, changes in the production practices of print journalists due to the emergence of electronic newspapers are discussed.     

基于LabVIEW的远程数据库访问策略及其应用研究

为提高虚拟实验室设计中的远程数据库访问的有效性,分析了LabView访问远程数据库方法的特点和不足,提出了Lab SQL工具包和ADO技术的集成应用策略.结合一个网络虚拟实验室的应用开发,给出了基于LabSQL的数据库访问步骤和虚拟实验室的设计过程.该策略及设计具有较高的实用价值.     

An Integrated Success Factor Model of Professional Virtual Communities: Incorporation of the Operators,Members, and Life Cycle Perspectives

Due to the growing importance of professional virtual communities (PVCs) to share professional knowledge in practice, this research proposes an integrated success factor model of PVCs encompassing (1) the componential aspect of a VC system from the operator’s perspective, (2) the knowledge-sharing aspect of a professional community from the members’ perspective, and (3) the VC’s life cycle perspective. An analytical framework was established from theories integrating dimensions from the perspective of operators and members and the virtual community life cycle. To collect and categorize the detailed items of success factors, a systematic literature review and a deductive content analysis were conducted with 64 selected articles. The content analysis results represented the specific perspective of PVCs distinguished from general virtual communities, highlighting factors such as reciprocity, content quality, self-efficacy, and recognition of contributions. Moreover, the inherent patterns in the model contingent to PVC life cycle stages were captured. First, different priorities in the relevant success factor dimensions were identified. Second, the patterns of changing values along with the life- cycle were recognized differently from the operators’ and member’s standpoints. This model can be utilized for the service providers of PVCs in terms of the business and design of PVCs as a strategic management tool and a design guideline.     

DaisyViz: A model-based user interface toolkit for interactive information visualization systems

While information visualization technologies have transformed our life and work, designing information visualization systems still faces challenges. Non-expert users or end-users need toolkits that allow for rapid design and prototyping, along with supporting unified data structures suitable for different data types (e.g., tree, network, temporal, and multi-dimensional data), various visualization, interaction tasks. To address these issues, we designed DaisyViz, a model-based user interface toolkit, which enables end-users to rapidly develop domain-specific information visualization applications without traditional programming. DaisyViz is based on a user interface model for information (UIMI), which includes three declarative models: data model, visualization model, and control model. In the development process, a user first constructs a UIMI with interactive visual tools. The results of the UIMI are then parsed to generate a prototype system automatically. In this paper, we discuss the concept of UIMI, describe the architecture of DaisyViz, and show how to use DaisyViz to build an information visualization system. We also present a usability study of DaisyViz we conducted. Our findings indicate DaisyViz is an effective toolkit to help end-users build interactive information visualization systems.     

虚拟制造环境下VE型分配泵的研发

介绍了虚拟制造技术及其分类，探讨了以设计为中心的虚拟制造技术在汽车零部件研发中的实践．利用该技术，以柴油发动机VE型分配泵为研究对象，重点分析了传动部件易断裂问题，研究内容涉及产品全生命周期的各个阶段，包括虚拟样机设计、虚拟样机运动学动力学仿真、虚拟装配、有限元分析和零件虚拟加工仿真等，并对研究结果进行了实验验证．结合企业实际，给出了解决方案．