Decision forest: Twenty years of research

A decision tree is a predictive model that recursively partitions the covariate’s space into subspaces such that each subspace constitutes a basis for a different prediction function. Decision trees can be used for various learning tasks including classification, regression and survival analysis. Due to their unique benefits, decision trees have become one of the most powerful and popular approaches in data science. Decision forest aims to improve the predictive performance of a single decision tree by training multiple trees and combining their predictions. This paper provides an introduction to the subject by explaining how a decision forest can be created and when it is most valuable. In addition, we are reviewing some popular methods for generating the forest, fusion the individual trees’ outputs and thinning large decision forests.     

Twenty years of telecommunications research in BIT

This paper reflects on 20 years of behavioural research in telecommunications published in BIT. The past 20 years have seen major changes in telecommunications technology and applications. They have also seen the deregulation of telecommunications markets and the pervasive penetration of the working environment by networked systems. Papers published in BIT have reflected these changes. Some research topics have attracted continuing interest throughout this period, and two are reviewed briefly: the effect of network delays on users and the relative effectiveness of different media and user choices between them. In addition many new technical and theoretical developments have been reported. Two major theoretical trends have been the convergence between behavioural research in telecommunications and computing, and the rise in social-science-based research. The question whether published behavioural research has been able to influence the development of the technologies studied is considered. Finally, the paper speculates on future topics for research.     

Twenty years of telecommunications research in BIT

This paper reflects on 20 years of behavioural research in telecommunications published in BIT. The past 20 years have seen major changes in telecommunications technology and applications. They have also seen the deregulation of telecommunications markets and the pervasive penetration of the working environment by networked systems. Papers published in BIT have reflected these changes. Some research topics have attracted continuing interest throughout this period, and two are reviewed briefly: the effect of network delays on users and the relative effectiveness of different media and user choices between them. In addition many new technical and theoretical developments have been reported. Two major theoretical trends have been the convergence between behavioural research in telecommunications and computing, and the rise in social-science-based research. The question whether published behavioural research has been able to influence the development of the technologies studied is considered. Finally, the paper speculates on future topics for research.     

Cosmic topology: Twenty years after

What is the shape of the Universe? Is it finite or infinite? Is space multi-connected to create ghost images of faraway cosmic sources? After a “dark age” period, the field of cosmic topology has now become one of the major concerns in astronomy and cosmology, not only from theorists but also from observational astronomers. Here I give a personal account of the spectacular progress in the field since the beginning of the 1990s, when I started to work in it.     

Twenty years of the European information systems academy at ECIS: emergent trends and research topics

While the information systems (IS) community is increasingly international, it is reasonable to expect that different regions might display different research approaches, interests and publication orientations. This paper contributes to the growing number of historical accounts in the IS field by further developing the profile of European IS research that was reported on in EJIS following the first 10 years of the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS). On the basis of an analysis of all papers published in ECIS proceedings during the 10-year period 2003–2012, the paper highlights three key characteristics of the developing European IS research profile: (1) continuation of the traditional European IS research profile as developed in the first decade; (2) convergence with aspects of the North American tradition and (3) development of a distinct approach to design science. We place these observed characteristics within broader historical and contextual features such as the changing European academic landscape, with increasing pressures to ‘publish or perish’ in order to be internationally competitive. Our contribution lies in providing a contemporaneous account of the dominant contextual factors influencing the European IS academy in recent years as well as our interpretation of the developing research profile, thus informing future understanding of European IS research and the choices facing individual IS researchers.     

Twenty years of artificial life art

This essay begins with discussion of four relatively recent works which are representative of major themes and preoccupations in Artificial Life Art: ‘Propagaciones’ by Leo Nuñez; ‘Sniff’ by Karolina Sobecka and Jim George; ‘Universal Whistling Machine’ by Marc Boehlen; and ‘Performative Ecologies’ by Ruari Glynn. This essay is an attempt to contextualise these works by providing an overview of the history and forms of Artificial Life Art as it has developed over two decades, along with some background in the ideas of the Artificial Life movement of the late 1980s and 1990s.1 A more extensive study of the theoretical history of Artificial Life can be found in my paper ‘Artificial Life Art—A Primer’, in the Proceedings of DAC09 and also at http://www.ace.uci.edu/Penny. Excerpts from that essay are included here.      

Enterprise architecture: Twenty years of the GERAM framework

Apart from the 20-year anniversary in 2014 of the first publication of the GERAM (‘Generalised Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology’) Enterprise Architecture Framework, the timeliness of this paper lies in the new interest in the use of systems theory in enterprise architecture (EA), and consequently, ‘light-weight’ architecture frameworks (AFs). Thus, this paper is about the use of systems thinking and systems theory in EA and about how it is possible to reconcile and understand, based on a single overarching framework, the interplay of two major enterprise change endeavours: on one hand enterprise engineering (i.e. deliberate change) and on the other hand evolutionary, organic change. The paper also demonstrates how such change processes can be illustrated by employing systems thinking to construct dynamic business models; the evolution of these concepts is exemplified using past applications in networked enterprise building, and more recent proposals in environmental-, disaster- and healthcare management. Finally, the paper attempts to plot the way GERAM, as a framework to think about the creation and evolution of complex socio-technical systems, will continue to contribute to the society in the context of future challenges and emerging opportunities.     

Deep learning for graphics recognition: document understanding and beyond

International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition (IJDAR) -     

Twenty years of document image analysis in PAMI

The contributions to document image analysis of 99 papers published in the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI) are clustered, summarized, interpolated, interpreted, and evaluated     

Re-addressing practice-based research: funding and recognition

I argue that it is time to stop questioning whether arts practice is research and time to start campaigning to get practice-based research in the arts properly funded. The majority of research in art and design takes place in specialist institutions and post-1992 Universities in the UK. As a result the infrastructure for research is relatively poor and needs sustained investment from a variety of sources.     

Handwriting synthesis: classifications and techniques

Handwriting synthesis is the automatic generation of data that resemble natural handwriting. Although handwriting synthesis has recently gained increasing interest, the area still lacks a stand-alone review. This paper provides classifications for the different aspects of handwriting synthesis. It presents the applications, techniques, and evaluation methods for handwriting synthesis based on the several aspects that we identify. Then, it discusses various synthesis techniques. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the only stand-alone survey on this topic, and we believe it can serve as a useful reference for the researchers in the field of handwriting synthesis.     

Twenty years of publication of the International Journal of Remote Sensing

The present volume of the International Journal of Remote Sensing is volume 20. The opportunity has been taken to write something about the history and the development of the Journal over the past 20 years and to consider some aspects of its present operation. This is set in the context of the development of the subject of remote sensing (Earth observation) over the past 20 years, of the present state of the subject and of the expectations for the development of the subject over the next 10 or 20 years.     

Speech emotion recognition research: an analysis of research focus

This article analyses research in speech emotion recognition (“SER”) from 2006 to 2017 in order to identify the current focus of research, and areas in which research is lacking. The objective is to examine what is being done in this field of research. Searching on selected keywords, we extracted and analysed 260 articles from well-known online databases. The analysis indicates that SER research is an active field of research, dozens of articles being published each year in journals and conference proceedings. The majority of articles concentrate on three critical aspects of SER, namely (1) databases, (2) suitable speech features, and (3) classification techniques to maximize the recognition accuracy of SER systems. Having carried out association analysis of the critical aspects and how they influence the performance of the SER system in term of recognition accuracy, we found that certain combination of databases, speech features and classifiers influence the recognition accuracy of the SER system. We have also suggested aspects of SER that could be taken into consideration in future works based on our review.     

三维条码印刷与识别技术研究

针对三维条码的印刷与识别问题,研究了适合实际商品包装印刷需要的色彩空间选择方法,提出了面向三维条码图像固定颜色自适应阈值Canny边缘检测算法。以DataMatrix三维条码为例,通过预处理和图像定位从采集的图像中分割出条码图像,基于分割图像研究了固定颜色三维条码的识别算法。开发了相应的软件系统,通过实例验证了该算法的有效性。     

结合MFCC分析和仿生模式识别的语音识别研究

提出了一种基于MFCC系数分析和仿生模式识别的语音识别方法,该方法对训练样本MFCC相同分量在各类语音间距离进行了分析,并通过与传统选取方法的比较实验,说明在小词汇量的语音识别中,选取合适的MFCC系数,不仅能减小计算量,正确识别率也会得到一定程度的提高。运用仿生模式识别理论中同类样本连续的观点,通过在特征空间中对训练样本进行有效的覆盖,大大提高了识别结果。     

Sensory—motor coordination: The metaphor and beyond

Any agent in the real world has to be able to make distinctions between different types of objects, i.e. it must have the competence of categorization. In mobile agents, there is a large variation in proximal sensory stimulation originating from the same object. Therefore, categorization behavior is hard to achieve, and the successes in the past in solving this problem have been limited. In this paper it is proposed that the problem of categorization in the real world is significantly simplified if it is viewed as one of sensory—motor coordination, rather than one of information processing happening “on the input side”. A series of models are presented to illustrate the approach. It is concluded that we should consider replacing the metaphor of information processing for intelligent systems by the one of sensory-motor coordination. However, the principle of sensory-motor coordination is more than a metaphor. It offers concrete mechanisms for putting agents to work in the real world. These ideas are illustrated with a series of experiments.     

Twelve years of diagrams research

Research into the use of diagrams is an interdisciplinary endeavour, encompassing disciplines as diverse as psychology, architecture and artificial intelligence. It is also a relatively new research area, with the first meeting of like-minded researchers interested in studying diagrams taking place in 1997. Now that diagrams research is more established, it is timely to review its scope, nature and progress. This paper reviews diagrams research over the past twelve years, as represented in the proceedings of the International Conference on the Theory and Application of Diagrams. In summarising the contents of these proceedings, a taxonomy describing the scope of diagrams research is proposed, the several research issues covered are identified, and the extent to which layout and aesthetics form part of this body of research is discussed. In concluding, trends and under-represented areas are noted and discussed. The aim of the paper is not only to summarise the research covered in this particular conference, but to provide a basis for on-going discussion on the changing nature of diagrams research.     

The Internet’s impact on sexuality: A critical review of 15 years of research

The body of empirical research on Internet sexuality has grown steadily since 1993. The following paper provides an overview of the current state of research in this field in its full thematic breadth, addressing six areas of online sexuality: Pornography, sex shops, sex work, sex education, sex contacts, and sexual subcultures. Key research results are presented concerning Internet sexuality’s forms of manifestation, participant groups, opportunities, and risks. This paper shows that sexually related online activities have become routine in recent years for large segments of the population in the Western world. Internet sexuality also takes somewhat different forms based on the age, gender, and sexual orientation of the individual. Academic studies to date have focused overwhelmingly on the possible negative effects of Internet sexuality. By contrast, little research has been conducted on potential benefits. Consequently, a surprising number of gaps are evident in the scholarship on Internet sexuality.