An intelligent pascal editor for a graphical oriented workstation

A Pascal syntax directed screen editor, designed to run under PNX on an ICL Perq workstation is presented. The editor (Eliot) offers a structured approach to text editing and provides complete Pascal syntax checking. The exceptional graphic capabilities of the Perq are used to good effect in providing an efficient user interface by way of a hierarchy of pop-up menus. Using this interface, skeletal programs may be entered down to the assignment statement, or procedure call level without recourse to the keyboard, selections being made from menus using a graphics tablet and puck. Eliot encourages block structured programs with nested blocks by the use of a tree structured menu, representing the program structure. This allows for efficient movement around the program, again using the tablet and puck. Syntax checking is performed continually with errors reported and highlighted immediately for correction at will. For further error checking a variable scan option can be invoked which lists details of variable names which are not declared, or declared more than once, or declared and not used at all.     

An intelligent multi-agent e-services method—An international telecommunication example

The online services of B2B e-commerce have had to face a challenge resulting from the diverse services built on heterogeneous platforms that must work together in an integrated and seamless manner. Today, businesses have accumulated large numbers of online services that run and reside on a variety of environments. Furthermore, they have different workflows and operational support systems that need to interact with their legacy systems. The result has been chaotic and disruptive.We developed a new framework, artifact, and performance model with which to address this problem. A multi-agent e-service system was developed to cope with dynamics and upheaval. We used a customer-centric viewpoint with supply chains both upstream and downstream. An implementation was performed to determine problems in its development. Two simple live case studies were conducted to illustrate the model's feasibility and validity.     

Essex — An intelligent advisor for expert system shell selection

This paper described an advisory system for selecting expert system software. Some background into the problems that an organization might face in the selection of expert system software will first be presented. After this, the methodology and architecture of the system will be reviewed. Finally, an example consultation session will be conducted. The purpose of this paper is to show how knowledge-based systems and database management systems can be linked to form a uniform information processing environment.     

PIGS—A system for programming with interactive graphical support

This paper describes an implementation of a system for programming using structured charts with interactive graphical support. It provides a graphical editor for the user to interactively build and edit programs using Nassi-Shneiderman diagrams (NSD)¹ as the structured control constructs of logic flow. It can interpret a program in NSD chart form, and the execution sequence of the NSD is displayed at a graphical terminal. On-line debugging and testing facilities are available which allow the user to examine and modify the program under execution. The system has been designed with the aim of supporting the development, debugging, testing, documentation and maintenance of programs in the same environment.     

Fuzzy holons for intelligent multi-scale design in cloud-based design for configurations

Cloud-based design for configurations can be referred to as a service-oriented networked design for configurations model. However, cloud-based models also pose challenges such as reliability, availability, capability, ability, adaptability of resources, and services across spatial boundaries. Multi-scale design can presumably stimulate greater intelligence in cloud-based models. Using the concepts of the fuzzy holon and the fuzzy attractor, this paper proposes the fuzzy holonic approach to address multi-scale design for configurations. A fuzzy design holon is defined through two basic holons: fuzzy function holon and fuzzy solution holon. A fuzzy attractor is defined as a fuzzy function holon or fuzzy function solution toward which a design tends to evolve. The proposed fuzzy holon model is driven by two conflicting drives: (a) completeness of fuzzy function holons and fuzzy solution holons, and (b) discrimination of fuzzy function holons and fuzzy solution holons. Through simulations, four possible states of behavior of fuzzy holon design are found: (a) the impossibility state characterized by the impossibility of fuzzy holon creation; (b) the creation and destruction state sometimes characterized by the creation of fuzzy holons and sometimes the destruction of fuzzy holons, (c) the development state characterized by a natural creation and development of fuzzy holons and (d) the failure state characterized by the interruption of the development of the fuzzy design holon and the destruction of already created fuzzy design holon. The model explains that design is not an orderly and well behaved phenomenon. It shows that fuzzy holon design is a discontinuous phenomenon.     

An assessment of SPOT capability for cartographic applications in Indonesia

Abstract

An assessment of the operational cartographic capability of SPOT in Indonesia is presented from the points of view of (1) the size of the smallest distinguishable land cover units through computation of the percentages of pure pixels per unit and dominant unit per pixel and (2) planimetric accuracy. Generally speaking, units larger than 0.16 and 0.05ha can be distinguished with SPOT multispectral (XS) and panchromatic (P) data respectively. For full images, basic manipulations (bilinear transformation or shift, enlargement and rotation) of level-IB SPOT digital data and photographs provide standard deviation accuracies towards local Transverse Mercator (LTM) maps of 2 and 3 pixels, respectively. Due to the poor reliability of most LTM maps, SPOT should undoubtedly be used as a major cartographic data source in Indonesia.     

Mining the Generation Xers'' job attitudes by artificial neural network and decision tree—empirical evidence in Taiwan

This paper employs artificial neural network and decision tree to derive knowledge about the job attitudes of Generation Xers. The sample frame consisted of 1000 large Manufacturing Industries and 500 large Service Industries, randomly selected from the Common Wealth Magazine 1000 index of Taiwan Manufacturing Industries and Service Firms. Then, we exploited the ART2 neural model to take the collected data as inputs and form performance classes according to their similarities. Finally, the decision tree was employed to determine definitions for each class, resulting in 52 rules associated with certainty factors. The results could be used to develop an intelligent decision support system for the recruitment and management of Generation Xers.     

Multiple sequence comparison — a peptide matching approach

We present in this paper a peptide matching approach to the multiple comparison of a set of protein sequences. This approach consists in looking for all the words that are common to q of these sequences, where q is a parameter.

The comparison between words is done by using as reference an object called a model. In the case of proteins, a model is a product of subsets of the alphabet Σ of the amino acids. These subsets belong to a cover of Σ, that is, their union covers all of Σ. A word is said to be an instance of a model if it belongs to the model.

A further flexibility is introduced in the comparison by allowing for up to e errors in the comparison between a word and a model. These errors may concern gaps or substitutions not allowed by the cover. A word is said to be this time an occurrence of a model if the Levenshtein distance between it and an instance of the model is inferior or equal to e. This corresponds to what we call a Set-Levenshtein distance between the occurrences and the model itself. Two words are said to be similar if there is at least one model of which both are occurrences. In the special case where e = 0, the occurrences of a model are simply its instances. If a model M has occurrences in at least q of the sequences of the set, M is said to occur in the set.

The algorithm presented here is an efficient and exact way of looking for all the models, of a fixed length k or of the greatest possible length k_max, that occur in a set of sequences. It is linear in the total length n of the sequences and proportional to (e + 2)(2e+ 1)k^e+1p^e+1 g^k where k n is a small value in all practical situations, p is the number of sets in the cover and g is related to the latter's degree of nontransitivity.

Models are closely related to what is called a consensus in the biocomputing area, and covers are a good way of representing complex relationships between the amino acids.     

Bionics—An inspiration for intelligent manufacturing and engineering

Value creation in all its facets lies at the core of intelligent manufacturing and engineering. In the last 20 years the field of manufacturing has undergone many changes and refinements. Terms such as Integrated Management Systems (IMS), Just in Time (JIT), Toyota Production System (TPS) in the context of Lean Production and ‘Flow’ were parts of the toolset developed by the Toyota Corporation which pushed them to the forefront of world automotive production. While benchmarking the design production systems and their associated efficiencies is very worthwhile, there are other engineering design, lean production, just in time, and production and supply chain exemplars which are worth investigating. A primary source of best-practice engineering in flexible and intelligent manufacturing is to be found in the study of ‘Bionics’ (Biomimicry). The intelligence in design and operational efficiency which is brought to Bionics by design in nature was recognised by Leonardo DaVinci when he wrote: “… in her (design) nothing is lacking and nothing is superfluous” [1]… This paper examines how design and engineering can learn and apply through the study of bionics/biomimicry, a vast pool of knowledge of design and systems engineering strategies. Such strategies and exemplars will provide benchmarks which will result in inspirational approaches in design, efficiency and sustainable engineering solutions.     

Classification of 2D grayscale objects in a space of the multiresolution representations

A new approach is developed for fast voting-based classification of 2D patterns given by the grayscale images and represented by the trees of elliptic primitives. Due to a multiresolution property of the representations, the fast search algorithm is suggested to make voting-based decisions about the classes of the submitted objects and it is shown that this algorithm requires much smaller computations as compared with a full search algorithm for the decision. A computational complexity of the fast algorithm is O(KlogK) when a number of the classes K is large. An efficiency of the proposed approach is shown by experimental results on signature and hand gesture recognition in terms of the error rate as the function of the resolution level.     

An intelligent speech interface for personal assistants in R&D projects

Groupware and collaborative tools have been proposed to support cooperative work. However, they suffer from some rather severe limitations. Alternatively, multi-agent systems can be proposed to improve the situation. In the latter case, the user normally interacts with the system through a special agent called a personal assistant. In this paper, we describe the design of an ontology-based speech interface for personal assistants applied in the context of cooperative projects. We believe that this type of interface will improve the quality of assistance and increase collaboration between project members. We present the interface and its insertion into a multi-agent system designed for research and development projects. We describe the design of the interface, highlighting the role of ontologies for semantic interpretation. As a result of this conversational speech interface, we expect an increase in the quality of assistance and a reduction in the time needed to answer user’s requests.     

An architecture for a self-improving instructional planner for intelligent tutoring systems

Machine instructional planners use changing and uncertain data to incrementally configure plans and control the execution and dynamic refinement of these plans. Current instructional planners cannot adequately plan, replan, and monitor the delivery of instruction. This is due in part to the fact that current instructional planners are incapable of planning in a global context, developing competing plans in parallel, monitoring their planning behavior, and dynamically adapting their control behavior. In response to these and other deficiencies of instructional planners a generic system architecture based on the blackboard model was implemented. This self-improving instructional planner (SUP) dynamically creates instructional plans, requests execution of these plans, replans, and improves its planning behavior based on a student's responses to tutoring. Global planning was facilitated by explicitly representing decisions about past, current, and future plans on a global data structure called the plan blackboard. Planning in multiple worlds is facilitated by labeling plan decisions by the context in which they were generated. Plan monitoring was implemented as a set of monitoring knowledge sources. The flexible control capability for instructional planner was adapted from the blackboard architecture BB1. The explicit control structure of SUP enabled complex and flexible planning behavior while maintaining a simple planning architecture.     

An automatic rotoscopy system for human motion based on a biomechanic graphical model

A system for analysis and synthesis of human motion is presented. The whole system consists of an analysis part and a synthesis part. The analysis part includes the preprocessing phase, modeling phase, matching phase, and interpretation phase. The synthesis part reconstructs the same motion of the human body. A biomechanic graphical model is defined to represent the human body in 3D space which is matched with the real images to discover the motion. The synthesis part uses the result of the analysis part to reconstruct the same motion of the human body which can be viewed from any viewpoint and from any distance.     

An intelligent system for problem analysis in organizations

In this paper, we will present the work carried out in the field of Group Decision-making Systems, and in particular those problems that, because they are poorly defined (as are many of those encountered by organizations), require a previous analysis as systematized as possible. The work we are presenting was carried out in task 4.2. entitled ‘Negotiation Tools' of ESPRIT III Project no. 8749. The working group by which it was developed is still trying to introduce efficiently Knowledge Engineering techniques and methods so as to endow this system with greater flexibility and reliability. In this paper, we will try to describe the context of these types of problems, we will mention classic approaches to these problems and then we will describe the approach followed in the Project.     

RATFOR—a preprocessor for a rational fortran

Although Fortran is not a pleasant language to use, it does have the advantages of universality and (usually) relative efficiency. The RATFOR language attempts to conceal the main deficiencies of Fortran while retaining its desirable qualities, by providing decent control flow statements and some ‘syntactic sugar’. RATFOR is implemented as a preprocessor which translates this language into Fortran Once the control flow and cosmetic deficiencies of Fortran are hidden, the resulting language is remarkably pleasant to use. RATFOR programs are markedly easier to write, and to read, and thus easier to debug, maintain and modify than their Fortran equivalents It is readily possible to write RATFOR programs which are portable to other environments. RATFOR is written in itself in this way, so it is also portable; versions of RATFOR are now running on computers of six different manufacturers This paper discusses design criteria for a Fortran preprocessor, the RATFOR language and its implementation, and user experience.     

An intelligent model for the classification of children’s occupational therapy problems

Objectives

In Taiwan, the classification of real problems of children with appropriate occupational therapy is a difficult job for the therapist. The complexities of 127 attribute values to be evaluated in the assessment, the misleading diagnosis which may be made by the pediatrician and the shortage of manpower cause of high workload for the therapist. The design of an easy to use and effective classification model is therefore an important issue in children’s occupational therapy treatment. This study accordingly applies an artificial neural network (ANN) and classification and regression tree (CART) techniques to skeleton an intelligent classification model in order to provide a comprehensive framework to assist the therapist to raise the accuracy when categorizing children’s problems for occupational therapy. These categories with critical attributes under the guidelines of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) are discussed, in order to assist the therapist for precise assessment and appropriate treatment. To the best of our knowledge, no research has yet been conducted on the problems’ characteristics in children’s occupational therapy.

Methods

Based on the advice and assistance of the therapists and occupational therapy treatment needed, 127 outpatients from a regional hospital in Taiwan between 2007 and 2010 were selected as the data sets for problems in children occupation classification. This study accordingly suggests an intelligent model for the classification which integrates ANN and CART. The major steps in applying the model include: (1) building an ANN higher performance trained model; and (2) adopting CART to the trained model and building in previous steps, to extract the critical attributes of children occupational problems.

Results

The results showed that artificial neural network had a higher accuracy, up to 84%, with evenly distributed datasets. Then high performance of the trained neural network had been extracted for the rules by using the classification tree approach in the classification and regression trees application. Most important of all, this study indicated that some of the rules can correctly identify up to 67% of the problems of the children with 100% confidence, which is much better than the current evaluations being used. Moreover, the tree with a binary variable of age and 8 predicators were found and listed afterward, such as, gross coordination, upper left muscle tone, interpersonal skill, proprioceptive and vestibular, visual, visual stimulus input for influence of emotional and movement, swallowing, and dressing. Actual implementation showed that the intelligent classification model is capable of integrating ANN and CART techniques to clarify children’s occupational therapy problems with considerable accuracy.

Conclusions

The model could be employed as a supporting system in making decisions regarding children problems with occupational therapy classifications and treatment. The rules extracted from CART were helpful to therapists in classifying what category the real problems of the children belonged to. This study expected that more machine learning techniques will certainly play an essential role in future children occupational therapy applications.     

An information age opportunity — Providing information for customers

Evolutionary growth of the use of information technology in business operations now provides a new information-age opportunity for managers, that of providing information for customers (PIC). In the PIC applications, information is a product not a resource and the product is information, not data. Pertinent examples of firms using PIC and steps to be taken by any firm that desires to implement this concept are explained in some detail. This application of computer technology usually can be implemented at minimal costs. PIC provide competitive advantages to the firm by tangibilizing various information services for customers.     

An intelligent distortion-detection algorithm for restoring data in a holographic data storage system

In a holographic data storage system (HDSS), misalignment of the optical components causes data distortion, including barrel, pincushion, and rotation distortion. Because holographic data storage systems are very sensitive, misalignment inevitably results in data distortion. It is important to acquire accurate distortion-free data from a HDSS system. This paper proposes an intelligent distortion-detection algorithm for restoring data in HDSSs. We used a fuzzy system and subtractive clustering algorithm to generate fuzzy rules for the detection algorithm. The proposed algorithm determines a value indicating how distorted the data image is. Using this algorithm, it is possible to compensate for data distortion. A simulation performed well using barrel, pincushion and rotation images.