Elderly Japanese computer users: assessing changes in usage,attitude, and skill transfer over a one-year period

Changes and interrelations among computer usage, computer attitude, and skill transfer of elderly Japanese computer users were investigated over a one-year period. Each participant, aged 60 to 76 years, was provided with one touchscreen-based computer specialized for e-mail handling for 12 months. Participants usage of the computer, mouse and/or keyboard, and computer attitudes were investigated. The results showed that the Liking factor of the computer attitude scale was a possible predictor of computer usage. The results suggested the existence of four different types of users adaptation to computers, according to a combination of the Liking and Confidence dimensions of computer attitude.     

Extended topology and systems

In this paper is indicated the possible utility of isotonic spaces as a background language for discussing systems. In isotonic spaces the basic duality between neighborhood and convergent first achieves a proper background permitting applications beyond the scope of topological spaces. A generalization of continuity of mappings based on ancestral relations is presented and this definition is applied to establish a necessary and sufficient condition that mappings preserve connectedness. Fortunately for systems theory, it is not necessary to have infinite sets or infinitary operators to apply definitions of neighborhood, convergents, continuity and connectedness.This work was supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation.     

Comparing text editions with the aid of the computer

The aim of this paper is to reveal the limitations of relying on fingerprint formulas or signature positions to identify printed editions, in the manner of the STCN project. The paper proposes that scanned images of texts be used to identify editions.Ben J. P. Salemans is a philologist with special interest in the use of the computer as a scientific tool in literary, philological and cultural-historical research. His Ph.D. project is a study of automated text-genealogical research. He works as a computer consultant at the UCI computer centre of the University of Nijmegen.Dedicated to the memory of Marcel te Wilt ( 1993).     

Fighting livelock in the GNU i-protocol: a case study in explicit-state model checking

The i-protocol, an optimized sliding-window protocol for GNU uucp, first came to our attention in 1995 when we used the Concurrency Factorys local model checker to detect, locate, and correct a non-trivial livelock in version 1.04 of the protocol. Since then, we have conducted a systematic case study on the protocol using four verification tools, viz. Cospan, Mur, Spin, and XMC, each of which supports some form of explicit-state model checking. Our results show that although the i-protocol is inherently complex – the size of its state space grows exponentially in the window size and it deploys several sophisticated optimizations aimed at minimizing control-message and retransmission overhead – it is nonetheless amenable to a number of general-purpose abstraction techniques whose application can significantly reduce the size of the protocols state space.     

The dynamic clusters method in nonhierarchical clustering

Given a finite setE R ⁿ, the problem is to find clusters (or subsets of similar points inE) and at the same time to find the most typical elements of this set. An original mathematical formulation is given to the problem. The proposed algorithm operates on groups of points, called samplings (samplings may be called multiple centers or cores); these samplings adapt and evolve into interesting clusters. Compared with other clustering algorithms, this algorithm requires less machine time and storage. We provide some propositions about nonprobabilistic convergence and a sufficient condition which ensures the decrease of the criterion. Some computational experiments are presented.     

Adding a temporal dimension to a logic system

We introduce a methodology whereby an arbitrary logic system L can be enriched with temporal features to create a new system T(L). The new system is constructed by combining L with a pure propositional temporal logic T (such as linear temporal logic with Since and Until) in a special way. We refer to this method as adding a temporal dimension to L or just temporalising L. We show that the logic system T(L) preserves several properties of the original temporal logic like soundness, completeness, decidability, conservativeness and separation over linear flows of time. We then focus on the temporalisation of first-order logic, and a comparison is make with other first-order approaches to the handling of time.     

Context-free text grammars

A text is a triple=(, ₁, ₂) such that is a labeling function, and ₁ and ₂ are linear orders on the domain of ; hence may be seen as a word (, ₁) together with an additional linear order ₂ on the domain of . The order ₂ is used to give to the word (, ₁) itsindividual hierarchical representation (syntactic structure) which may be a tree but it may be also more general than a tree. In this paper we introducecontext-free grammars for texts and investigate their basic properties. Since each text has its own individual structure, the role of such a grammar should be that of a definition of a pattern common to all individual texts. This leads to the notion of ashapely context-free text grammar also investigated in this paper.     

States and the free orthogonality monoid

Let (X, #) be an orthogonality space such that the lattice C(X, #) of closed subsets of (X, #) is orthomodular and let (, ) denote the free orthogonality monoid over (X, #). Let C₀(, ) be the subset of C(, ), consisting of all closures of bounded orthogonal sets. We show that C₀(, ) is a suborthomodular lattice of C(, ) and we provide a necessary and sufficient condition for C₀(, ) to carry a full set of dispersion free states.The work of the second author on this paper was supported by National Science Foundation Grant GP-9005.     

Decision procedures for elementary sublanguages of set theory: XIII. Model graphs,reflection and decidability

Positive solutions to the decision problem for a class of quantified formulae of the first order set theoretic language based on , , =, involving particular occurrences of restricted universal quantifiers and for the unquantified formulae of , , =, {...}, , where {...} is the tuple operator and is a general choice operator, are obtained. To that end a method is developed which also provides strong reflection principles over the hereditarily finite sets. As far as finite satisfiability is concerned such results apply also to the unquantified extention of , , =, {...}, , obtained by adding the operators of binary union, intersection and difference and the relation of inclusion, provided no nested term involving is allowed.     

Separating complexity classes related to bounded alternating ω-branching programs

We develop a theory of communication within branching programs that provides exponential lower bounds on the size of branching programs that are bounded alternating. Our theory is based on the algebraic concept of -branching programs, : , a semiring homomorphism, that generalizes ordinary branching programs, -branching programs [M2] andMOD _p-branching programs [DKMW].Due to certain exponential lower and polynomial upper bounds on the size of bounded alternating -branching programs we are able to separate the corresponding complexity classesN _ba ,co-N _{ba ba} , andMOD _p - _ba ,p prime, from each other, and from that classes corresponding to oblivious linear length-bounded branching programs investigated in the past.     

Toward Third Generation Threaded Discussions for Mobile Learning: Opportunities and Challenges for Ubiquitous Collaborative Environments

The mobile communication revolution has led to pervasive connectedness—as evidenced by the explosive growth of instant messaging in the home, and more recently, the enterprise–and, together with the convergence of mobile computing, provides a basis for extending collaborative environments toward truly ubiquitous immersion. Leveraging the true anytime/anywhere access afforded by mobile computing, it becomes possible to develop applications that not only are capable of responding to users whenever/wherever, on demand, but that also may actively seek out and engage users when the need arises. Thus, immersive environments need no longer be thought of strictly in terms of physical immersion with clearly discernable enter and exit events, but rather they may be extended, through mobile-enabled computing, toward ubiquity in terms of both time and space. Based on Media Synchronicity Theory, potential benefits are envisioned, particularly in the case of collaborative learning environments, from shortened response cycles and increased real time interaction opportunities. At the same time, a number of challenging issues must be addressed in designing such an environment to ensure user acceptance and to maximize realization of the potential. Third Generation (3G) Threaded Discussion has been conceptualized as an environment, well suited to mobile learning (m-learning) that could leverage mobile-enabled ubiquity to achieve a degree of extended immersion and thereby accrue the associated collaboration benefits. Exploring this conceptualization serves to help surface both the opportunities and the challenges associated with such environments and to identify promising design approaches, such as the use of intelligent agents.This revised version was published online in March 2005 with corrections to the cover date     

Explanations in cognitive science

Cognitive science may be loosely described as the activity of trying to model aspects of human behaviour upon a computer. It has emerged as a blending of the techniques of artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology but these two disciplines have different, and incompatible, philosophies. Searle has detected elements of behaviourism and operationism within artificial intelligence, whereas cognitive psychology is essentially anti-behaviourist. It is argued that cognitive science needs to distinguish between competence and performance in order to clarify this point, and that such a distinction has far-reaching effects on how we view computer simulations of behaviour.     

Software engineering education: issues and alternatives

Postgraduate degree programs in software engineering have been in existence for some time and now undergraduate degree programs with this title are beginning to appear. A number of questions and issues of only moderate importance with respect to the postgraduate programs now become critical and of overriding importance. While one could (and did) by and large gloss over these issues earlier, this will be much more difficult, and probably impossible, in the future. These issues must be resolved in a wider context than that in which they have been dealt with before, involving engineering in the universities and professional engineering societies in the larger social context. Much of the disagreement regarding these issues can, ultimately, be traced back to differing fundamental views and definitions of the term engineering and whether software engineering should be treated as just another engineering discipline or in a significantly and fundamentally different way. After examining two different definitions and views of engineering, this paper states and discusses a number of the questions and issues which planners of new undergraduate software engineering degree programs must deal with. Some pros and cons of various alternative answers are presented and a few answers suggested. The issues discussed here begin with questions of general policy and concept (e.g., which culture – that of the traditional engineering disciplines or that of computer science – should be instilled in the students in these new degree programs), include organizational matters (e.g., the position of the new degree program in the university hierarchy) and end with selected, more detailed questions regarding the curriculum (e.g., how to deal with programming, design and management topics). It is conjectured that, although the scientific foundation for the undergraduate software engineering degree programs must and will come from computer science, their culture and orientation must come from engineering if they and their graduates are to be successful in satisfying society's needs in the long term.     

The impact of artificial intelligence on leisure

Two views of AI in leisure and the work-place and two views of society are discussed. There is a conceptualisation of AI systems enhancing people in their work and leisure and another of AI automata which tends to degrade and replace human activity. Researchers tend to resolve into Optimists who work within a micro-sociological view and see AI systems as inevitable and beneficent. Others are Pessimists who adopt a macro-sociological view and see AI in its automata role and deliterious social consequences. These polarised perspectives must be integrated as only enhancing AI is socially acceptable.     

Mesh Selection for a Nearly Singular Boundary Value Problem

In this paper, we investigate the numerical solution of a model equation u _xx = exp(– ) (and several slightly more general problems) when 1 using the standard central difference scheme on nonuniform grids. In particular, we are interested in the error behaviour in two limiting cases: (i) the total mesh point number N is fixed when the regularization parameter 0, and (ii) is fixed when N. Using a formal analysis, we show that a generalized version of a special piecewise uniform mesh 12 and an adaptive grid based on the equidistribution principle share some common features. And the optimal meshes give rates of convergence bounded by |log()| as 0 and N is given, which are shown to be sharp by numerical tests.     

Deep X-ray lithography using mask with integrated electrothermal actuator

We present a deep X-ray mask with integrated bent-beam electrothermal actuator for the fabrication of 3D microstructures with curved surface. The mask absorber is electroplated on the shuttle mass, which is supported by a pair of 20-m-thick single crystal silicon bent-beam electrothermal actuators and oscillated in a rectilinear direction due to the thermal expansion of the bent-beams. The width of each bent-beam is 10 m or 20 m and the length and bending angle are 1 mm and 0.1 rad, respectively, and the shuttle mass size is 1 mm × 1 mm. For 10-m-wide bent-beams, the shuttle mass displacement is around 15 m at 180 mW (3.6 V) dc input power. For 20-m-wide bent-beams, the shuttle mass displacement is around 19 m at 336 mW (4.2 V) dc input power. Sinusoidal cross-sectional PMMA microstructures with a pitch of 40 m and a height of 20 m are fabricated by 0.5 Hz, 20-m-amplitude sinusoidal shuttle mass oscillation.This research, under the contract project code MS-02-338-01, has been supported by the Intelligent Microsystem Center, which carries out one of the 21st centurys Frontier R & D Projects sponsored by the Korea Ministry of Science & Technology. Experiments at PLS were supported in part by MOST and POSCO.     

Surface reconstruction from stereoscopy and “shape from shading” in SEM images

The computational reconstruction of surface topographies from scanning electron microscope (SEM) images has been extensively investigated in the past, but fundamental image processing problems still exist. Since conventional approaches adapted from general-purpose image processing have not sufficiently met the requirements in terms of resolution and reliability, we have explored combining different methods to obtain better results.This paper presents a least-squares combination of conventional stereoscopy with shape from shading and a way of obtaining self-consistent surface profiles from stereoscopy and stereo-intrinsic shape from shading using dynamic programming techniques. Results are presented showing how this combined analysis of multi-sensorial data yields improvements of the reconstructed surface topography that cannot be obtained from individual sensor signals alone.     

Recognition of handwritten musical notes by a modified Neocognitron

A neural network for recognition of handwritten musical notes, based on the well-known Neocognitron model, is described. The Neocognitron has been used for the what pathway (symbol recognition), while contextual knowledge has been applied for the where (symbol placement). This way, we benefit from dividing the process for dealing with this complicated recognition task. Also, different degrees of intrusiveness in learning have been incorporated in the same network: More intrusive supervised learning has been implemented in the lower neuron layers and less intrusive in the upper one. This way, the network adapts itself to the handwriting of the user. The network consists of a 13×49 input layer and three pairs of simple and complex neuron layers. It has been trained to recognize 20 symbols of unconnected notes on a musical staff and was tested with a set of unlearned input notes. Its recognition rate for the individual unseen notes was up to 93%, averaging 80% for all categories. These preliminary results indicate that a modified Neocognitron could be a good candidate for identification of handwritten musical notes.     

Mobile agents and intellectual property protection

Technical enforcemment of intellectual property (IP) rights often conflicts with the ability to use the IP. This is especially true when the IP is data, which may eaisly be copied while it is being accessed. As electronic commerce of data becomes more widespread, traditional approaches will prove increasingly problematic. In this paper, we show that the mobile agent architecture is an ideal solution to this dilemma: by providing full access to the data but charging for the transmission of results back to the user-reslts-based billing-we resulve the access versus protection conflict. We define new requirements for agent frameworks to implement results-based billing: data-aware accounting and data-tight sandboxing, which, along with the common requirements such as authentication, authorisation, agen self-monitoring, and efficiency, provide the mechanisms by which database owners can effectively grant users access to their intellectual property.     

On characterizing the “knee” of the Pareto curve based on Normal-Boundary Intersection

This paper deals with the issue of generating one Pareto optimal point that is guaranteed to be in a desirable part of the Pareto set in a given multicriteria optimization problem. A parameterization of the Pareto set based on the recently developed normal-boundary intersection technique is used to formulate a subproblem, the solution of which yields the point of maximum bulge, often referred to as the knee of the Pareto curve. This enables the identification of the good region of the Pareto set by solving one nonlinear programming problem, thereby bypassing the need to generate many Pareto points. Further, this representation extends the concept of the knee for problems with more than two objectives. It is further proved that this knee is invariant with respect to the scales of the multiple objective functions.The generation of this knee however requires the value of each objective function at the minimizer of every objective function (the pay-off matrix). The paper characterizes situations when approximations to the function values comprising the pay-off matrix would suffice in generating a good approximation to the knee. Numerical results are provided to illustrate this point. Further, a weighted sum minimization problem is developed based on the information in the pay-off matrix, by solving which the knee can be obtained.