The FSN challenge: large-scale interactive TV

Developers at Time Warner Cable's Full Service Network in Orlando are quickly learning about the challenges of sending megabytes of video information across miles of fibre optic cables. Although the pilot project's video- and shopping-on-demand are up and running, the software developers must now determine how to send different news-on-demand requests to 4,000 homes by the end of the year     

The reusability challenge

The traditional “reuse or redo” dilemma is unacceptable; we need to reuse what is applicable to our current need and redo the rest. This is where object technology helps. The argument we examine-that object technology promotes reusability-has been one of the central claims of OO proponents since the field's emergence in the mid-1980s. The paper considers the features that make object oriented ideas so special in the quest for reusable software     

The ageing process: a challenge for design

Growing interest in the design of products for the over 50s suggests that it is important to assess what we know of older users in relation to product design. An evaluation of the research carried out in this field reveals that changes normally associated with ageing frequently occur in the 30s and 40s. It would appear to make economic sense if products were designed to be used by those with limited abilities as well by as the able-bodied. It is concluded that there are gaps in the research in this area which need to be addressed in order to guide designers in the specifications of products which are functional, efficient, safe and attractive to older and younger users alike.     

Development of physical selection procedures for the British Army. Phase 2: relationship between physical performance tests and criterion tasks

This paper is the second in a series of three to describe the development of physical selection standards for the British Army. The first paper defined criterion tasks (single lift, carry, repetitive lift and carry, and loaded march tasks) and set standards on the criterion tasks for all British Army trades. The principal objective was to determine which combination of physical performance tests could be best used to predict criterion task performance. Secondary objectives included developing so-called 'gender-free' and 'gender-unbiased' models. The objectives were met by analysing performance data on the criterion tasks and a large battery of physical performance tests collected from 379 trained soldiers (mean age 23.5 (SD 4.45) years, stature 1734 (SD 79.5) mm, body mass 71.4 (SD 10.58) kg). Objective 1 was met: the most predictive physical performance tests were identified for all criterion tasks. Both single lift tasks were successfully modelled using muscle strength and fat free mass scores. The carry model incorporated muscle endurance and body size data, but the errors of prediction were large. The repetitive lift models included measures of muscle strength and endurance, and body size, but errors of prediction were also large. The loaded march tasks were successfully modelled incorporating indices of aerobic fitness, supplemented by measures of strength, endurance or body size and composition. The secondary objectives were partially fulfilled, though limitations in the data hampered the process. Although only one model (a loaded march) was gender-free, three models were gender-related (i.e. contained 'gender' explicitly in the model). The remaining six were gender-specific (i.e. were appropriate for men or for women). Owing to both a lower accuracy of prediction in women's scores and a greater tendency for the women's scores to be distributed around the pass standards, a greater percentage of women than men were misclassified as passing or failing, resulting in indirect discrimination. A validation of the models in a separate sample of the user population of recruits is reported in the third paper in this series.     

Development of physical selection procedures for the British Army. Phase 2: Relationship between physical performance tests and criterion tasks

This paper is the second in a series of three to describe the development of physical selection standards for the British Army. The first paper defined criterion tasks (single lift, carry, repetitive lift and carry, and loaded march tasks) and set standards on the criterion tasks for all British Army trades. The principal objective was to determine which combination of physical performance tests could be best used to predict criterion task performance. Secondary objectives included developing so-called ‘gender-free’ and ‘gender-unbiased’ models. The objectives were met by analysing performance data on the criterion tasks and a large battery of physical performance tests collected from 379 trained soldiers (mean age 23.5 (SD 4.45) years, stature 1734 (SD 79.5) mm, body mass 71.4 (SD 10.58) kg). Objective 1 was met: the most predictive physical performance tests were identified for all criterion tasks. Both single lift tasks were successfully modelled using muscle strength and fat free mass scores. The carry model incorporated muscle endurance and body size data, but the errors of prediction were large. The repetitive lift models included measures of muscle strength and endurance, and body size, but errors of prediction were also large. The loaded march tasks were successfully modelled incorporating indices of aerobic fitness, supplemented by measures of strength, endurance or body size and composition. The secondary objectives were partially fulfilled, though limitations in the data hampered the process. Although only one model (a loaded march) was gender-free, three models were gender-related (i.e. contained ‘gender’ explicitly in the model). The remaining six were gender-specific (i.e. were appropriate for men or for women). Owing to both a lower accuracy of prediction in women's scores and a greater tendency for the women's scores to be distributed around the pass standards, a greater percentage of women than men were misclassified as passing or failing, resulting in indirect discrimination. A validation of the models in a separate sample of the user population of recruits is reported in the third paper in this series.     

The object standardization challenge

The real challenge in object standardization is to reconcile diverse views of what an object inherently ‘is’. This is harder than agreeing on definitions of secondary characteristics such as type and inheritance. User interfaces visualize objects as things in two-dimensional space. Programming thinks of objects as active things that communicate with each other, such as editors and print programs. Database leans more toward objects as participants in operations, such as documents and printers. Unifying these, in a kind of wave/particle dualism, is intellectually tempting, but leads to its own anomalies. Such fundamental questions need sorting out before we can converge on object standards spanning these disciplines.     

The challenge of poker

Poker is an interesting test-bed for artificial intelligence research. It is a game of imperfect information, where multiple competing agents must deal with probabilistic knowledge, risk assessment, and possible deception, not unlike decisions made in the real world. Opponent modeling is another difficult problem in decision-making applications, and it is essential to achieving high performance in poker.This paper describes the design considerations and architecture of the poker program Poki. In addition to methods for hand evaluation and betting strategy, Poki uses learning techniques to construct statistical models of each opponent, and dynamically adapts to exploit observed patterns and tendencies. The result is a program capable of playing reasonably strong poker, but there remains considerable research to be done to play at a world-class level.     

The ERP challenge in China: a resource-based perspective

Abstract. This paper introduces a resource‐based perspective (RBP) model on enterprise recourse planning (ERP) challenges to help make ERP decisions in China. While ERP aims at integrating functional‐area information systems within a company into a coherent, enterprise‐wide, and web‐enabled network, its implementation is especially challenging to enterprises in China because of high implementation costs, technical complexity, lack of information technology infrastructure, lack of well‐trained employees, lack of incentives to state‐owned enterprises, and a corporate culture different from that in the West. A RBP of a firm, however, posits that firms should compete on the basis of unique corporate resources that are valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and unsubstitutable. Thus, this research assesses major ERP challenges in China based upon a three‐tier decision process in pursuit of a sustainable competitive advantage. This RBP model is then embedded with data from a survey research to illustrate potential applications and managerial implications.     

The TempEval challenge: identifying temporal relations in text

TempEval is a framework for evaluating systems that automatically annotate texts with temporal relations. It was created in the context of the SemEval 2007 workshop and uses the TimeML annotation language. The evaluation consists of three subtasks of temporal annotation: anchoring an event to a time expression in the same sentence, anchoring an event to the document creation time, and ordering main events in consecutive sentences. In this paper we describe the TempEval task and the systems that participated in the evaluation. In addition, we describe how further task decomposition can bring even more structure to the evaluation of temporal relations.

The i486 CPU: executing instructions in one clock cycle

The author discusses the design goals of the i486 development program, which were to ensure binary compatibility with the 386 microprocessor and the 387 math coprocessor, increase performance by two to three times over a 386/387 processor system at the same clock rate, and extend the IBM PC standard architecture of the 386 CPU with features suitable for minicomputers. A cache integrated into the instruction pipeline lets this 386-compatible processor achieve minicomputer performance levels. The design and performance of the on-chip cache and the instruction pipeline are examined in detail     

The RoboCup humanoid challenge as the millennium challenge for advanced robotics

The ultimate goal of the RoboCup Initiative is to build a humanoid soccer team that can beat the human FIFA World Cup champions. In this paper, we presents reasons why this goal should be pursued, and analyze technical issues involved in getting a humanoid to play soccer. The analysis demonstrates the breadth of technologies needed to be developed through the course of the challenge, which has major impacts on industries in general.     

The challenge of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a relatively young discipline, yet it has already led to general-purpose problem-solving methods and novel applications. Ultimately, AI's goals of creating models and mechanisms of intelligent action can be realized only in the broader context of computer science. Creating mechanisms for sharing of knowledge, knowhow, and literacy is the challenge. The great Chinese philosopher Kuan-Tzu once said: “If you give a fish to a man, you will feed him for a day. If you give him a fishing rod, you will feed him for life.” We can go one step further: If we can provide him with the knowledge and the know-how for making that fishing rod, we can feed the whole village. Therein lies the promise-and the challenge-of AI     

The challenge of Wi-Fi roaming

Wi-Fi, consisting of the IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g technologies, has proven to be a fast wireless networking approach that is relatively easy and inexpensive to implement. Companies are working on a variety of approaches to extend Wi-Fi's capabilities, appeal, and potential for generating income. Industry observers say more people would use the technology more often if they could roam among networks, working with one carrier in numerous locations. Carriers would also support Wi-Fi roaming because it would extend the reach of their service and attract more customers.     

The RERS challenge: towards controllable and scalable benchmark synthesis

This paper (1) summarizes the history of the RERS challenge for the analysis and verification of reactive systems, its profile and intentions, its relation to other competitions, and, in particular, its evolution due to the feedback of participants, and (2) presents the most recent development concerning the synthesis of hard benchmark problems. In particular, the second part proposes a way to tailor benchmarks according to the depths to which programs have to be investigated in order to find all errors. This gives benchmark designers a method to challenge contributors that try to perform well by excessive guessing.