IDENTIFICATION OF AN OPEN SYSTEM BY ITS RESOURCES

The open thermodynamic system has been identified as an imprecise dynamical observer and as a rotator, each one with a heuristic function of behavior. These two identification models have been obtained by isolation of the open system. They have been determined as patterns with interpretation of the internalized plan and of the oscillations in the open system. The imprecise dynamical observer has been constructed by perceiving the internalized plan as a fuzzy controller of the speed of a mobile robot, by structuring the internalized plan as a dynamical observer and interpreting the internalized plan as a heuristic function for the remaining path to a goal. The rotator has been constructed by perceiving the oscillations as movement along a cycle, by structuring the oscillations as an autoregressive model and by interpreting the oscillations as a heuristic function for the remaining energy to a goal.     

FlexiMine – A Flexible Platform for KDD Research and Application Development

FlexiMine is a KDD system designed as a testbed for data-mining research, as well as a generic knowledge discovery tool for varied database domains. Flexibility is achieved by an open-ended design for extensibility, thus enabling integration of existing data-mining algorithms, new locally developed algorithms, and utility functions such as visualization and preprocessing. Support for new databases is simple and clean: the system interfaces with a standard database server via SQL queries and thus can handle any application database. With a view of serving remote, as well as local, users, internet availability was a design goal. By implementing the system in Java, minor modifications allow us to run the user-end of the system either as a Java applications or (with some limitations on the user) as a Java Applet. This paper reviews the architecture, design and operation of FlexiMine and presents some of the new ideas incorporated in the data-mining algorithms (Association rules, Decision trees, Bayesian knowledge-bases and Meta-queries).     

Learning Generative Models of Scene Features

We present a method for learning a set of generative models which are suitable for representing selected image-domain features of a scene as a function of changes in the camera viewpoint. Such models are important for robotic tasks, such as probabilistic position estimation (i.e. localization), as well as visualization. Our approach entails the automatic selection of the features, as well as the synthesis of models of their visual behavior. The model we propose is capable of generating maximum-likelihood views, as well as a measure of the likelihood of a particular view from a particular camera position. Training the models involves regularizing observations of the features from known camera locations. The uncertainty of the model is evaluated using cross validation, which allows for a priori evaluation of features and their attributes. The features themselves are initially selected as salient points by a measure of visual attention, and are tracked across multiple views. While the motivation for this work is for robot localization, the results have implications for image interpolation, image-based scene reconstruction and object recognition. This paper presents a formulation of the problem and illustrative experimental results.     

An attempt to design qualitative differential games†

Obviously enough, a differential game as an extension of a control system, as well as many other systems of dynamics, may be synthesized. In case of qualitative games this may lead to certain classes of differential systems of the game or certain classes of strategies, implying a prescribed outcome in the form of a prescribed qualitative property of the game path. The synthesis procedure may serve as a tool for solving games, as well as the game-methods may help in the synthesis; the proper relation, however, has to be defined.     

A structured marketplace for arbitrary services

Creating simple marketplaces with common rules, that enable the dynamic selection and consumption of functionality, is the missing link to allow small businesses to enter the cloud, not only as consumers, but also as vendors. In this paper, we present the concepts behind a hybrid service and process repository that can act as the foundation for such a marketplace, as well as a prototype that allowed us to test various real-world scenarios. The advantage of a hybrid service and process repository is that, it not only holds a flat list of services, but also exposes a generic set of use cases, that it obtains information on how specific services can be used to implement the use cases as well as information to select services at run-time according to customer’s goal functions.     

Negation as inconsistency. I

The notion of negation as inconsistency is motivated and introduced into PROLOG. This negation is fully compatible with classical negation and gives a version of PROLOG which is a stronger fragment of classical logic than ordinary PROLOG. It is intended that negation as inconsistency replace the notion of negation as failure. Negation as inconsistency can be generalized in a natural way and in its generalized form will include negation as failure as a special case.     

Requirements traceability: Theory and practice

Current literature as well as standards that mandate requirements traceability do not provide a comprehensive model of what information should be captured and used as a part of a traceability scheme, leading to wide variation in the quality and usefulness of traceability practice across systems development efforts. In this paper, we present a framework for representing and developing a traceability scheme. The experiences of an organization using traceability as an important component of a quality software engineering process are discussed. Models describing the traceability practice in the organization, as well as issues and lessons learned, both from organizational and technical perspectives, from implementing a comprehensive traceability practice are presented.     

Parallel force measurement with a polymeric microbeam array using an optical microscope and micromanipulator

An image analysis method and its validation are presented for tracking the displacements of parallel mechanical force sensors. Force is measured using a combination of beam theory, optical microscopy, and image analysis. The primary instrument is a calibrated polymeric microbeam array mounted on a micromanipulator with the intended purpose of measuring traction forces on cell cultures or cell arrays. One application is the testing of hypotheses involving cellular mechanotransduction mechanisms. An Otsu-based image analysis code calculates displacement and force on cellular or other soft structures by using edge detection and image subtraction on digitally captured optical microscopy images. Forces as small as 250+/-50 nN and as great as 25+/-2.5 microN may be applied and measured upon as few as one or as many as hundreds of structures in parallel. A validation of the method is provided by comparing results from a rigid glass surface and a compliant polymeric surface.     

Wearable computing: toward humanistic intelligence

Over the past 20 years, wearable computing has emerged as the perfect tool for embodying humanistic intelligence (HI). HI is intelligence that arises when a human is part of the feedback loop of a computational process in which the human and computer are inextricably intertwined. It is common in the field of human-computer interaction to think of the human and computer as separate entities. (indeed, the term "HCI" emphasizes this separateness by treating the human and computer as different entities that interact.) However, in HI theory, we prefer not to think of the wearer and the computer with its associated I/O apparatus as separate entities. Instead, we regard the computer as a second brain and its sensory modalities as additional senses, in which synthetic synesthesia merges with the wearer's senses. When a wearable computer functions in a successful embodiment of HI, the computer uses the human's mind and body as one of its peripherals, just as the human uses the computer as a peripheral. This reciprocal relationship is at the heart of HI.     

A graph-oriented object database model

A graph-oriented object database model (GOOD) is introduced as a theoretical basis for database systems in which manipulation as well as conceptual representation of data is transparently graph-based. In the GOOD model, the scheme as well as the instance of an object database is represented by a graph, and the data manipulation is expressed by graph transformations. These graph transformations are described using five basic operations and a method construct, all with a natural semantics. The basic operations add and delete objects and edges as a function of the matchings of a pattern. The expressiveness of the model in terms of object-oriented modeling and data manipulation power is investigated     

Generative regular-freeform surface recognition for generating material removal volume from stock model

The present paper illustrates the development of generative surface recognition for regular and freeform. To obtain the final form of product, material removal volume generation from a stock model is also discussed. Only a few studies integrated the regular and freeform surfaces to provide a comprehensive definition of surface recognition as well as for the volumetric estimation of removal material in finishing and roughing operations. The current research deploys a comprehensive surface recognition approach that can recognise both regular and freeform surfaces based on the geometry as well as loop entity of a face. In contrast to the regular surface that can be categorised into a particular group of geometrical shape, such as cylindrical shape, the proposed approach enables the recognition of a freeform surface that cannot be defined as a generic geometrical shape. In addition, the new method also simplifies the existing surface recognition for regular surfaces. The material removal volumes created consist of machining volumes for finishing and roughing operations needed to be machined to obtain the final form of the product. The present research provides a unique user customisation feature that enables user to specify the volumetric thickness for material removal volume in the finishing operation as well as the size for the stock model. These estimated volumes are prepared for subsequent manufacturing applications, such as sequencing of machining operation.     

Data as models: An approach to implementing model management

The concept of model management as a logical extension and parallel of data management has resulted in attempts to extend existing data models to incorporate modeling functionality. This fosters a data-oriented view which artificially restricts the domain of model management. This paper suggests that a model-oriented approach which views ‘data as a model’ not only expands the scope of model management but also offers a more integrated and balanced conceptual foundation from which to implement model management. On the organizational level, this approach recognizes the transition from informal modeling as exemplified by the use of spreadsheets to formal modeling which manages models as a resource in conjunction with data. The notion of information administration is introduced as an organizational mechanism for controlling this evolution. On the technological level, a generalized model management system (GMMS) is required for support of organizational modeling activities. Geoffrion's structured modeling is suggested as a foundation from which to build a model-oriented GMMS. The incorporation of artificial intelligence capabilities into a GMMS is seen as a second implementation step which require the development of a sufficiently flexible meta-level architecture. Model abstractions are introduced as a vehicle for implementing this architecture.     

On graphs of central episturmian words

Episturmian sequences are a natural extension of Sturmian sequences to the case of finite alphabets of arbitrary cardinality. In this paper, we are interested in central episturmian words, or simply, epicentral words, i.e., the palindromic prefixes of standard episturmian sequences. An epicentral word admits a variety of faithful representations including as a directive word, as a certain type of period vector, as a Parikh vector, as a certain type of Fine and Wilf extremal word, as a suitable modular matrix, and as a labeled graph. Various interconnections between the different representations of an epicentral word are analyzed. In particular, we investigate the structure of the graphs of epicentral words proving some curious and surprising properties.     

A New FIR Filter for State Estimation and Its Application

This paper proposes a new FIR （finite impulse response） filter under a least squares criterion using a forgetting factor. The proposed FIR filter does not require information of the noise covariances as well as the initial state, and has some inherent properties such as time-invariance, unbiasedness and deadbeat. The proposed FIR filter is represented in a batch form and then a recursive form as an alternative form. Prom discussions about the choice of a forgetting factor and a window length, it is shown that they can be considered as useful parameters to make the estimation performance of the proposed FIR filter as good as possible. It is shown that the proposed FIR filter can outperform the existing FIR filter with incorrect noise covariances via computer simulations. Finally, as a useful application, an image sequence stabilization problem is considered. Through this application, the FIR filtering based approach is shown to be superior to the Kalman filtering based approach.     

迈向管理服务化

Internet上越来越多的应用都具有Web风格,Web本身正逐步成为Internet上各类应用的运行平台,这种现象可称为"Web平台化","Web平台化"为信息技术的发展带来机遇和挑战。文章立足于探讨"Web平台化"所面临的关键技术挑战之一,即Web管理。首先从Web的特征出发,总结其对Web管理的要求;其次提出将"管理服务化"作为Web管理的解决方案,并指出"管理服务化"面临的技术挑战;最后以PKUAS支持的面向服务的管理为例展示"管理服务化"的可行性。     

Quantale-based autoassociative memories with an application to the storage of color images

In recent years, lattice computing has emerged as a new paradigm for processing lattice ordered data such as intervals, Type-1 and Type-2 fuzzy sets, vectors, images, symbols, graphs, etc. Here, the word “lattice” refers to a mathematical structure that is defined as a special type of a partially ordered set (poset). In particular, a complete lattice is a poset that contains the infimum as well as the supremum of each of its subsets. In this paper, we introduce the quantale-based associative memory (QAM), where the notion of a quantale is defined as a complete lattice together with a binary operation that commutes with the supremum operator. We show that QAMs can be effectively used for the storage and the recall of color images.     

A unifying model involving a categorical and/or dimensional reduction for multimode data

A unifying model is presented that implies a categorical and/or dimensional reduction of one or several modes of a multiway data set. The model encompasses a broad range of (existing as well as to be developed) discrete, continuous, as well as hybrid discrete-continuous reduction models as special cases, which all imply a decomposition of the reconstructed data on the basis of quantifications of the different data modes and a linking array. An analysis of the objective or loss function associated with the model leads to two generic algorithmic strategies, the possibilities and limitations of which are the object of a subsequent discussion.     

A study on local search neighborhoods for the job shop scheduling problem with total weighted tardiness objective

In this paper we consider the job shop scheduling problem with total weighted tardiness objective (JSPTWT). This objective reflects the goal to achieve a high service level which is of increasing importance in many branches of industry. The paper concentrates on a class of baseline heuristics for this problem, known as neighborhood search techniques. An approach based on disjunctive graphs is developed to capture the general structure of neighborhoods for the JSPTWT. Existing as well as newly designed neighborhoods are formulated and analyzed. The performance and search ability of the operators (as well as combinations thereof) are compared in a computational study. Although no dominant operator is identified, a transpose-based perturbation on multiple machines turns out as a promising choice if applied as the only operator. Combining operators improves the schedule quality only slightly. But, the implementation of operators within a meta-heuristic enables to produce a higher schedule quality. A structural classification of neighborhood operators and some new analytical results are presented as well.