bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Incentive Contracts in Logistics Outsourcing
Authors: Zhu Qin  , Fung Richard Y.K.
Published: February 2025

Recent development in logistics has led to wide use of external service providers. This paper aims to apply the agency theory to study the cooperative relationship between outsourcing enterprise and their logistics service providers through the use of incentive contracts. The problem is modeled as a risk-neutral outsourcing enterprise hiring multiple risk-averse service providers to conduct different logistics tasks. The outsourcing enterprise is regarded as principal, while their service providers are referred as agents. Each agent makes his own decision on the amount of additional work to exert into the project. The incentive provided by the principal is typically tied to the amount of time ahead of scheduled deadline. The goal of this paper is to study the design of optimal contracts that balance the incentives and risks of the agents from the view of the principal, in order to achieve maximized profits for all the parties.
A Multi-Agent Architecture for Health Information Systems
Authors: Palazzo Luca  , Rossi Matteo  , Dragoni Aldo Franco  , Claudi Andrea  , Dolcini Gianluca  , Sernani Paolo
Published: February 2025

The healthcare domain is wide and characterized by system and data herogeneity. To achieve high quality and efficiency standards, interoperability between different information systems is strongly required.
Modeling Value Co-creation Process in Complex Service Systems Using Kauffman's NKCS Architecture
Authors: Rajapakse Chathura  , Terano Takao
Published: February 2025

Despite its extensive use in emerging Service Science research, value co-creation in complex service systems still remains highly conceptual and ambiguous. Therefore, there exists a need of tools and techniques to model complex service systems making the process of value co-creation operational. Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation has been recognized as a powerful technique in studying complex adaptive systems and hence, becomes a potential approach in studying complex value co-creation interactions and emerging properties of service systems. However, the computational representation of the value co-creation process among agents of a complex service system still remains challenging. This paper proposes a candidate method to address this issue based on Kauffman's NKCS theoretical framework that mimics the co-evolution of multiple species in a biological ecosystem. The key aspects of value co-creation have been discussed using a toy example of two agents. Furthermore the extendibility of the method to model complex service systems has also been discussed.
A New Trial for Constructing A Reliable Decision Support System Utilizing Learning Automata and Soft Computing Techniques
Authors: Baba Norio
Published: February 2025

In this paper, we propose a new decision support system (DSS) utilizing “Learning Automata (LA)” and Soft Computing Techniques. In this paper, we show that Learning Automata and Soft Computing Techniques could be successfully utilized in order to let game playing be much more exciting and also in order to construct a reliable DSS for dealing stocks.
E-Services and the Aging Society: An Italian Perspective
Authors: Depaoli Paolo  , Sorrentino Maddalena  , De Marco Marco
Published: February 2025

The higher resources needed to provide a service portfolio that responds to the rapid growth of an aging population is a concern for many governments of developed countries. The paper explores the convergent insights of three conceptual frameworks to identify where age-aware eGovernment is more likely to be developed effectively. The authors show how the social and relational capital of the Italian “industrial districts” make them ideal settings, receptive to the implementation of age-aware eGovernment services, thanks to both the innovative mindset of the business communities and their rich social capital.
Quantitative Analysis of Non-Verbal Communication for Competence Analysis
Authors: Cepero Alvaro  , Clapés Albert  , Escalera Sergio
Published: February 2025

Oral communication competence is defined on the top of relevant skills for professional and personal life. Because of the importance of communication in our daily activities it is crucial to study methods to improve our communication capability and therefore learn how to express ourselves better. In this paper, we propose a multi-modal RGB, depth, and audio data description and fusion approach in order to recognize behavioral cues and train classifiers able to predict the quality of oral presentations. The system is tested on real defenses from Bachelor's thesis presentations and presentations from an 8th semester Bachelor's class at Universitat de Barcelona. Using as ground truth the scores assigned by the teachers, our system achieved high classification rates categorizing and ranking the quality of presentations into different groups.
Introducing a ‘Difficulty Factor’ for Dataset Bi-Classification Using SVM
Authors: Gonzalez-Abril Luis  , Angulo Cecilio
Published: February 2025

This paper analyses the difficulty associated to the task of binary classification when a Support Vector Machine is employed for the construction of the classifier. Derived from a business management framework, an index is introduced in terms of the Lagrange multipliers and the number of support vectors.
Towards Heuristic Based Mobility Policy Optimisation
Authors: Gómez-Sebastià Ignasi  , Alvarez-Napagao Sergio  , Vázquez-Salceda Javier
Published: February 2025

Urban Mobility Decision Support Systems help policy makers in designing the actions that will improve urban mobility. Typically, this is done via policy optimisation techniques. Current approaches to policy optimisation are based on iterative simulations of a model in order to find an optimal policy combination. Such approaches require fast simulation procedures, as the simulations are performed repetitively with varying parameters. Simulations at a micro level present higher accuracy but require longer execution times, and therefore they can not be applied to current approaches without resulting in slow optimisation operations. In this paper we present an approach for policy optimisation based on micro-level simulations where an heuristic provided by the policy maker guides the selection of the scenarios to be simulated. This allows to set a limit on a potentially big search space, and allows for a more accurate selection of the simulation scenarios.
Structural Bootstrapping of Large Scale Categorial Dependency Grammars
Authors: Dikovsky Alexander
Published: February 2025

Categorial Dependency Grammars (CDG) are classical categorial grammars adapted to surface syntactic dependencies. They generate unlimited projective and non-projective dependency structures, are completely lexicalized and analysed in polynomial time. We present an extension of the CDG, designed for elaboration of wide coverage hand-crafted grammars also analysed in polynomial time. Besides this, for the extended CDG, we introduce a specific method of “Structural Bootstrapping” consisting in incremental construction of extended CDG from representative samples of dependency structures. This method is supported by efficient algorithmic tools. We also outline a wide coverage dependency grammar of French developed by structural bootstrapping using these tools.
Comparing Rule-Based and Data-Driven Dependency Parsing of Learner Language
Authors: Krivanek Julia  , Meurers Detmar
Published: February 2025

We explore the performance of two dependency parsing approaches, the rule-based WCDG approach and the data-driven dependency parser MaltParser on texts written by language learners. We show that WCDG outperforms MaltParser in identifying the main functor-argument relations, whereas MaltParser is more successful than WCDG in establishing optional, adjunct dependency relations. This can be interpreted as a tradeoff between the rich, hand-crafted lexical resources capturing obligatory argument relations in WCDG and the ability of a data-driven parser to identify optional, adjunct relations based on the linguistic and world knowledge encoded in the gold-standard training corpora.
Reflex Responsibility of Agents
Authors: Smith Clara  , Rotolo Antonino  , Sartor Giovanni
Published: February 2025

There are occasions in which an agent lengthens its own action through the implementation of a foreign activity for its own interests. We focus on the occasional dependence relation between a principal agent and a helper agent. In particular, we are interested in the helper's harmful performance that has its origin in extra contractual situations e.g. factual and/or occasional situations based on trust or courtesy which may lead to the emergence of an obligation to compensate third parties.
Postal Services in the Digital Age
Authors: Finger Matthias
Published: February 2025

In the so-called “digital age,” postal services are yet again being challenged. While they had already faced a significant challenge during the “age of liberalization,” the present challenge appears to be more serious, particularly in terms of its effect on the letter segment of the postal services. The aim of this introductory chapter is to place the challenge of the digital age within a broader historical, commercial, and political context of postal operators. Indeed, while postal operators have been quite successful at mastering the challenge of liberalization, the question now is whether they will also be able to master the challenge of the digital age, which I believe is a more fundamental challenge. I will try to address this question by way of a more historical approach. The history of postal operators and the postal sector more generally can be broadly structured into three phases: the phase of “quiet life” before liberalization (that is, before the 1980s), the phase of liberalization (roughly between 1990 and 2005), and the digital age (starting around 2005). These three phases also constitute the structure of this chapter, although the chapter's main focus is on the recent challenge of the digital age. I will conclude with some considerations about the future of the postal sector in general and, in particular, the future of historical postal operators beyond the digital age.
How to Become a Best-Run Postal Service Organization
Authors: Hohlwein Michaela  , Landgraf Hans G.
Published: February 2025

The article outlines case studiesbest practices on how to survive in the digital age. It shows how best-run businesses have learned from the past and other industries, and how they used technology to change their operations. Lessons learned from transformation projects are shared.
Incremental Subset Construction Revisited
Authors: Balan Sergiu Iulian  , Lamperti Gianfranco  , Scandale Michele
Published: February 2025

Determinization of finite automata is performed by the Subset Construction algorithm (SC). However, some application domains, including monitoring and diagnosis of active systems in artificial intelligence, and model-based mutation testing in software engineering, require determinization to be performed incrementally, in real time. Making incremental determinization by means of SC is bound to poor performances. To this end, an algorithm called Incremental Subset Construction (ISC) was proposed a few years ago. Disturbingly, this algorithm was recently discovered to be incorrect is some instance problems. The incorrect behavior of ISC originates when the redirection of a transition causes a portion of the DFA to be disconnected from the initial state. This paper provides a revisited version of ISC, called Revised Incremental Subset Construction (RISC), operating in either busy or lazy mode. In busy mode, the disconnection is always avoided. In lazy mode, since no check of disconnection is performed, a garbage collector is eventually required.
Decoding Random Linear Codes in 0.091n
Authors: Abramov Andrey  , Krouk Eugeniy
Published: February 2025

Decoding random linear codes is one of the central problems in coding theory and code-based cryptography. In this paper a new algorithm for decoding random long linear codes is proposed. It has a lower decoding complexity exponent than other known algorithms for the codes with rates in a range from 0 to 0.6. This impromevent comes from two key ideas — one is a new approach to lower the dimension of decoding problem which is in some sense opposite to the concept that was proposed by Finiasz and Sendrier; and the second one is to use supercodes decoding algorithm proposed by Barg, Krouk and Van-Tilborg to solve that problem.
Web-Based Course and teaching evaluation system including dashboards and evolutions reporting
Authors: Le Ru Yann  , Gerval Jean-Pierre  , Le Ray Nathan  , Mulot Jean-Yves
Published: February 2025

This paper sets out a Web-Based System that aims to help both academic staff and students in the task of course and teaching assessments. The server implements LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) architecture. The system focuses on adaptability, scalability, simplicity and intends to give the fastest access to the information. This System implements various types of technologies: databases, web technologies, object oriented programming, responsive web design, design patterns…
Individual Learning Trajectories as a Key Educational Tool in the Information Society
Authors: Urintsov Arkadiy  , Dik Vladimir  , Dneprovskaya Natalia
Published: February 2025

The paper considers technologies that enable an individual to regulate his or her learning trajectory, so that a student can fashion his or path to knowledge provided that he or she can say: “I know that I do not know”. Such an approach to the educational process matches smart society concepts and offers new opportunities for universities in the future.
Innovative Technological Solutions for Blended Learning Approach
Authors: Rutkauskiene Danguole  , Gudoniene Daina
Published: February 2025

This document summarizes the desk-research on the current practice of smart blended learning approach in adult education. It identifies good practice in the use of blended learning by technologies based learning and methodologies. In the document it is analysed the problem of adults trainings by using innovative technologies. The problem identified that a lot of different aspects that apply to various studies (math, information technologies etc.) need to be analysed when exploring relationships between adult learners and innovative information communication technologies (ICT). The paper provides many challenges for adult learning in learning with innovative ICT.
Technological Ecosystem for Open Education
Authors: Llorens Faraón  , Molina Rafael  , Compañ Patricia  , Satorre Rosana
Published: February 2025

There are three key aspects that define the current times, and of course, the world of education: learning, digital and open. Those general ideas give support to the Educational Innovation and lead us to propose the basic matrix of our model, which organizes the different elements of what we think an open education model must consider. The main objective of Open Education is autonomous learning and, to achieve it, it is crucial to provide the learners with contents and tools that allow them to conduct their carrier. In the first times of technological tools for education the tendency was to develop monolithic platforms. From our point of view, the key is not uniformity and closed access but integration and open access for heterogeneous information and tools: a technological ecosystem for open education. Following the current trends and the needs of the users, we propose an open, adaptable system, ready to deal with the different user needs (teachers and students) and to the available tools. We propose a technological ecosystem where a community of open educational methods, policies, regulations, applications, and people teams can coexist so that their processes are interrelated and their implementation is based on the physical factors of the technological environment. As an example of application of the proposed model, we analyze the case of the University of Alicante in the period 2005–2012 and we show some indicators that prove the success of this proposal. Finally, some conclusions and proposals for the future are presented.
Imitative Leadsheet Generation with User Constraints
Authors: Pachet François  , Roy Pierre
Published: February 2025

We introduce the problem of generating musical leadsheets, i.e. a melody with chord labels, in the style of an arbitrary composer, that satisfy arbitrary user constraints. The problem is justified by the very nature of musical creativity, as many composers create music precisely by imitating a given style to which they add their own constraints. We propose a solution of this problem by formulating it as a Markov constraint problem. Markov constraints enable users to create stylistically imitative leadsheets that satisfy a large palette of constraints. We show that generated leadsheets are stylistically consistent by reclassifying them using Markov classifiers.
Credibility-Limited Improvement Operators
Authors: Booth Richard  , Fermé Eduardo  , Konieczny Sébastien  , Pérez Ramón Pino
Published: February 2025

In this paper we introduce and study credibility-limited improvement operators. The idea is to accept the new piece of information if this information is judged credible by the agent, so in this case a revision is performed. When the new piece of information is not credible then it is not accepted (no revision is performed), but its plausibility is still improved in the epistemic state of the agent, similarly to what is done by improvement operators. We use a generalized definition of Darwiche and Pearl epistemic states, where to each epistemic state can be associated, in addition to the set of accepted formulas (beliefs), a set of credible formulas. We provide a syntactic and semantic characterization of these operators.
Data interlinking through robust linkkey extraction
Authors: Atencia Manuel  , David Jérôme  , Euzenat Jérôme
Published: February 2025

Links are important for the publication of RDF data on the web. Yet, establishing links between data sets is not an easy task. We develop an approach for that purpose which extracts weak linkkeys. Linkkeys extend the notion of a key to the case of different data sets. They are made of a set of pairs of properties belonging to two different classes. A weak linkkey holds between two classes if any resources having common values for all of these properties are the same resources. An algorithm is proposed to generate a small set of candidate linkkeys. Depending on whether some of the, valid or invalid, links are known, we define supervised and non supervised measures for selecting the appropriate linkkeys. The supervised measures approximate precision and recall, while the non supervised measures are the ratio of pairs of entities a linkkey covers (coverage), and the ratio of entities from the same data set it identifies (discrimination). We have experimented these techniques on two data sets, showing the accuracy and robustness of both approaches.
Reasoning about Uncertainty and Explicit Ignorance in Generalized Possibilistic Logic
Authors: Dubois Didier  , Prade Henri  , Schockaert Steven
Published: February 2025

Generalized possibilistic logic (GPL) is a logic for reasoning about the revealed beliefs of another agent. It is a two-tier propositional logic, in which propositional formulas are encapsulated by modal operators that are interpreted in terms of uncertainty measures from possibility theory. Models of a GPL theory represent weighted epistemic states and are encoded as possibility distributions. One of the main features of GPL is that it allows us to explicitly reason about the ignorance of another agent. In this paper, we study two types of approaches for reasoning about ignorance in GPL, based on the idea of minimal specificity and on the notion of guaranteed possibility, respectively. We show how these approaches naturally lead to different flavours of the language of GPL and a number of decision problems, whose complexity ranges from the first to the third level of the polynomial hierarchy.
Human-Computer Negotiation in Three-Player Market Settings
Authors: Haim Galit  , Gal Ya'akov (Kobi)  , Kraus Sarit  , An Bo
Published: February 2025

This paper studies commitment strategies in three-player negotiation settings comprising human players and computer agents. We defined a new game called the Contract Game which is analogous to real-world market settings in which participants need to reach agreement over contracts in order to succeed. The game comprises three players, two service providers and one customer. The service providers compete to make repeated contract offers to the customer consisting of resource exchanges in the game. We formally analyzed the game and defined sub-game perfect equilibrium strategies for the customer and service providers that involve commitments. We conducted extensive empirical studies of these strategies in three different countries, the U.S., Israel and China. We ran several configurations in which two human participants played a single agent using the equilibrium strategies in various role configurations in the game (both customer and service providers). Our results showed that the computer agent using equilibrium strategies for the customer role was able to outperform people playing the same role in all three countries. In contrast, the computer agent playing the role of the service provider was not able to outperform people. Analysis reveals this difference in performance is due to the contracts proposed in equilibrium being significantly beneficial to the customer players, as well as irrational behavior taken by human customer players in the game.
How Hard is it to Compute Majority-Preserving Judgment Aggregation Rules?
Authors: Lang Jérôme  , Slavkovik Marija
Published: February 2025

Several recent articles have studied judgment aggregation rules under the point of view of the normative properties they satisfy. However, a further criterion to choose between rules is their computational complexity. Here we review a few rules already proposed and studied in the literature, and identify the complexity of computing the outcome.
The Complexity of Reasoning with Relative Directions
Authors: Lee Jae Hee
Published: February 2025

Whether reasoning with relative directions can be performed in NP has been an open problem in qualitative spatial reasoning. Efficient reasoning with relative directions is essential, for example, in rule-compliant agent navigation. In this paper, we prove that reasoning with relative directions is ∃R-complete. As a consequence, reasoning with relative directions is not in NP, unless NP=∃R.
Landmarks in Oversubscription Planning
Authors: Mirkis Vitaly  , Domshlak Carmel
Published: February 2025

In the basic setup of oversubscription planning (OSP), the objective is to achieve an as valuable as possible subset of goals within a fixed allowance of the total action cost [32]. Continuing from the recent successes in exploiting logical goal-reachability landmarks in classical planning, we develop a framework for exploiting such landmarks in heuristic-search OSP. We show how standard landmarks of certain classical planning tasks can be compiled into the OSP task of interest, resulting in an equivalent OSP task with a lower budget, and thus with a smaller search space. We then show how such landmark-based task enrichment can be combined in a mutually stratifying way with the BFBB search used for OSP planning. Our empirical evaluation confirms the effectiveness of the proposed landmark-based budget reduction scheme.
Design and Adoption of Standard Specifications using the V-Model
Authors: Mondorf Ansgar  , Wimmer Maria A.
Published: February 2025

A key benefit of standards and commonly shared technical specifications in ICT is their role in facilitating interoperability. However, standards need to achieve market acceptance to create real impact. Underlying interoperability architectures need to be further developed, improved and maintained. The aim of this paper is to analyze, which dependencies exist between the conceptual design of standards on the one hand and their adoption on the other hand. Research has shown that dependencies between standard settings and adoption are not clearly described yet. Accordingly, this paper aims to investigate how standard-based interoperability architectures can encounter feedback of various implementations. The customization of V-Model as a development methodology shown in this paper aims to highlight lifecycle aspects between design and adoption phases. The concept of Business Interoperability Interface is integrated into the V-Model approach to demonstrate architecture demands during the architecture development. The case of E-Procurement in Europe is used to proof the concept of the proposed architecture and development methodology.
Testing Communicability in Public e-Services – Process and Outcomes
Authors: Christiansson Marie-Therese  , Wik Malin
Published: February 2025

In this paper, a case of testing public e-Service communicability is analysed in terms of process as well as outcomes. Key elements in test processes are defined, together with the meaning of communicability identified in terms of information-oriented metrics. The purpose of our paper is to develop knowledge about how e-Service providers should improve their ability to communicate and support users in finding, understanding and using e-Services. The reconstructed test process design is based of an analysis of gaze replays in citizen test sessions by means of eyetracking technology. Empirical findings on communicability metrics are further grounded in theory. Our main contribution to the research community and the field of practice, are a test process and a communicability framework to support the assessing of e-Service information. The use of wireframes for the e-Service five layers, together with a multifunctional template for data collection, analysis and presentation are introduced.
User Experience as a Personalized Evaluation of an Online Information System
Authors: Scholl Margit
Published: February 2025

While online information systems and platforms are being increasingly used, user expectations or the specific demands that come out of the usage context have received scant attention in previous developments. Therefore a finely structured, analytical instrument for evaluating information artefacts with specific emphasis on actors and usage was implemented in the Moodle learning platform for Moodle course room evaluation and tested with different student groups. Some surprising results came out of the discussion between the instructor and students. Moreover, this instrument, TEDS*MOODLE, can be scaled and flexibly customized and thus also integrated into existing e-government services and administrative networks.
The Project “iBaMs – Barrier-Reduced Machines in Innovative Interaction”
Authors: Scholl Margit
Published: February 2025

The project iBaMs funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Technology (BMBF) examines the preconditions and requirements for the development of handicapped-accessible operation devices for computer-numeric-controlled (CNC) machines in facilities for mentally disabled people.
Workshop: eParticipation for Slum Upgrading in Mtwapa, Kenya
Authors: Torres Claudio  , Perucca Fabienne  , Mulandi Joshua
Published: February 2025

The proposed ePart2014 workshop focuses on an eParticipation tool being designed and piloted within an on-going slum upgrading programme in the coastal town of Mtwapa, Kenya. The Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP), implemented by UN-Habitat in Kenya and in other 32 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, has partnered for the development of this tool with FUPOL Consortium (Future Policy Modelling). In Mtwapa, half of the 60,000 population live in informal settlements and slums. PSUP-Mtwapa aims to address the five main deprivations that characterise slum dwellers' life: lack of improved sanitation, lack of access to drinking water, lack of sufficient living area, lack of durable housing and lack of security of tenure. The PSUP approach promotes community participation by bringing together slum communities and authorities to engage in participatory decision-making, planning and implementation of activities to improve the quality of life within slums, in the understanding that such a process is crucial to provide sustainability to slum upgrading. In line with this, the PSUP eParticipation tool is intended to be used as a platform to gather public inputs, judge consensus, disseminate key information, offer two-way discussions between residents and authorities, and to develop and monitor slum upgrading projects. The programme's implementation is envisaged for 2014–2015. The ePart2014 workshop is a timely opportunity to get an expert review of this tool.
Spatial Features Terms for Describing Lung Nodule Location in Chest X-Ray Images
Authors: Saad Mohd Nizam  , Muda Zurina  , Sahari Ashaari Noraidah  , Abdul Hamid Hamzaini
Published: February 2025

Spatial features have gained attention in CBIR researches as a mean to represent image properties currently. These features provide fine queries to locate object location as well as its relation with others within an image. In fact, spatial features which is portrayed by spatial features terms (SFT) such as left, right, on and in, have been applied in many research domains to denote image attributes. Although the features play an important role in representing image, yet, many researches still rely on visual features for that matter. This condition is also applied in medical image such as Chest X-ray (CXR) image. There is less effort done to identify the actual SFT that should be used to describe the anomalies like lung nodule in CXR image. To overcome this problem, collection of SFTs for describing CXR image must be identified. Hence, this paper presents the effort in identifying the type of SFT that should be used to describe lung nodule in CXR. In order to identify the term, ten radiologists were asked to describe lung nodules in ten CXR images. As a result, five SFTs that are frequently use to describe the image, i.e. left, right, upper, middle and lower were derived from the descriptions. These SFTs are able to visualize the lung region divisions vertically and horizontally within CXR image.
A Robust System Integration for Autonomous Evacuation Navigation
Authors: Abu Samah Khyrina Airin Fariza  , Hussin Burairah  , Hasan Basari Abd Samad
Published: February 2025

During an emergency evacuation, there are two subsystems involved: fire alarm control panel system (FACPS) and building floor plan system (BFPS). Fire indicator in FACPS reacts as proactive fire notification. Once detected any abnormalities, it sends the signal to the system, and alarm will trigger continuously. Thereafter, emergency evacuations take into the place immediately, without providing any information on the location of the hazard. The second subsystem, BFPS has to follow the standards regulation as visual static emergency navigation. However, in reality, it does not help the occupants to navigate out of the building towards the safest route. At present, both systems operate independently with specific functions, but based on logic thinking; it should be linked to each other. This argument is referring to the actual scenario in the event of fire; FACPS causes the disruption of the original BFPS. Consequently, this gap has led the evacuation process become more complex and challenging, especially for unfamiliar occupant. Therefore, this study proposed robust system integration for autonomous evacuation navigation (AEN) by integrates both systems, and adapting systems thinking (ST) approach. System integration (SI) is a combination of systems into one coherent system, linked the components, and finally able to achieve its purpose and mission. On the other hand, ST supersedes SI and explores the full pattern of the subsystem behavior, interrelate each other, and provide the outcome. As a result, it manages to eliminate human as an agent and non-compliance problem. At the meantime, FACPS provides the location of hazard as an input for BFPS. Through dynamic approach, floor plan layout system updates and blocks the hazardous location simultaneously. Finally, it provides a dynamic navigation to solve wayfinding problem, especially for unfamiliar occupants towards the safe and shortest route.
Exploring the Research Methods Employed for Investigating Current Challenges in E-learning Adoption in Universities: A Short Literature Review
Authors: Chukwunonso Franklyn  , Ibrahim Roliana  , Selamat Ali
Published: February 2025

E-learning adoption in universities is a very challenging field of Information Systems that consist of the adoption challenges at two levels – user level and institutional level. Various higher institutions of learning have come to terms with the eminent need for change in order to allow for a successful integration and impact of technology in education. The ability to cope with these changes, right from pre-to-post e-learning adoption, has been a major challenge for management of various higher education institutions (HEIs). This paper aims at revisiting the various Information Systems (IS) approaches previously employed by several studies for investigating the challenges in adopting these e-learning technologies from the user level to the institutional level in Universities, with the aim of identifying the gap between theory and practice in addressing these challenges. The review considered 13 international conference academic papers and 52 journal articles sourced from high ranked international journals in the relevant field of study, validated through a multi-step manual cross-checking based on carefully selected extraction and quality criteria. The results indicate that 37% of the reviewed papers employed the use of quantitative approach while 29% used qualitative method in their study on the current challenges faced in e-learning adoption by universities. This implies that there is a growing interest in the use of qualitative approach for research in the field of IS even though quantitative methods are still slightly dominant in this IS domain. Based on the review findings, there is a need for both practitioners and researchers to appreciate the differences between methodologies and their varying applicability. The study concludes that IS practitioners and researchers should come together to clearly redefine the scope of IS methodologies.
Biogeography-Based Optimisation For Data Clustering
Authors: Hammouri Abdelaziz I.  , Abdullah Salwani
Published: February 2025

Clustering is an important data analysis and data mining tool that is used in many fields and applications, which aims to find a homogeneous sets of objects based on the degree of similarity and dissimilarity of their attributes. One of the most popular techniques in data clustering is K-means, which is a simple, fast and efficient method that has been applied successfully in many fields. However, K-means has its own drawbacks like highly dependence on the initial solution and can easily trapped into local optima. In this paper, we investigate the behaviour of the newly created meta-heuristic optimisation algorithm called Biogeography-Based Optimisation (BBO) for data clustering with different initial solution generation mechanisms (random initial solution, sequential diversification initial solution, heuristic initial solution) that is based on the idea of migration of species between different habitats. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, six UCI Machine Learning Repository data sets were used. The performance of the BBO algorithm was compared with well-known data-clustering algorithms that available in the literature, the experimental results showed that the BBO algorithm was able to obtain comparable results.
Strategies in Dialogues: A Game-Theoretic Approach
Authors: Kacprzak Magdalena  , Dziubiński Marcin  , Budzynska Katarzyna
Published: February 2025

The aim of the paper is to propose a game-theoretic description of strategies available to players in dialogues. We show how existing dialogical systems can be formalized as Nash-style games, and how the game-theoretic concept of solutions (dominant strategies, Nash equilibrium) can be used to analyse these systems. Our first study, discussed in this article, describes the game DC introduced by Mackenzie.
Balanced Semantics for Argumentation based on Heider's Socio-Psychological Balance Theory
Authors: Sawamura Hajime  , Riche Jacques  , Oomidou Yutaka  , Hagiwara Takeshi
Published: February 2025

Argumentation, whether philosophical or formal and mathematical, is a discipline of interdisciplinary nature, per se. The recent works on the computational argumentation formalism and their foundations, however, have rested only on logic or logical account. In this paper, we reconsider Dung's seminal argument acceptability notion in the context of Heider's socio-psychological balance theory, where there can be 4 balanced (stable) interaction rules of the form of a triad: (1) the friend of my friend is my friend, (2) the friend of my enemy is my enemy, (3) the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and (4) the enemy of my friend is my enemy. The third one may be a counterpart of Dung's argument acceptability. We propose an innovative argumentation semantics named balanced semantics, taking into account all of the four balanced triads. It naturally leads to an argumentation framework with both attack and support incorporated from the start.
Evaluation of the Estonian Audiovisual Speech Synthesis
Authors: Meister Einar  , Metsvahi Rainer  , Fagel Sascha
Published: February 2025

In the current paper we report the first evaluation results of the Estonian virtual talking head. The testing scenario involved perceptual experiments with unimodal audio and bimodal audiovisual speech stimuli in five noise conditions. As expected, in the presence of noise, the scores of consonant recognition of audiovisual stimuli were always higher than the scores of audio stimuli. The average recognition error in audio-only presentation was reduced by 42%–65% when the virtual talking head was displayed along with audio.
Statistical Parametric Speech Synthesis for Online Dictionaries – Problems and Solutions
Authors: Piits Liisi  , Kudritski Elgar  , Kiissel Indrek  , Hein Indrek
Published: February 2025

This paper describes an attempt to use Estonian statistical parametric speech synthesis for audio pronunciation of words and word forms in online dictionaries. Two new HTS-voices were created and compared for this purpose. The paper gives an overview of a design and evaluation process for these voices. Different errors were detected including quantity errors, bad sound quality, accent errors, gemination at the boundary of compound word components, etc. The level of correctness and sound quality for the two parametric speech synthesisers ranged from 69% to 76%. The paper demonstrates that voice Eva-2, which can accept text with diacritics as input, produces fewer errors. Still, the error rate of both new voices is too high to fill the criteria of orthoepy in learner's dictionaries.
On the derivation of weights using the geometric mean approach for set-valued matrices
Authors: Torra Vicenç
Published: February 2025

Several approaches have been proposed to derive the weights for the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). These methods can be used for any problem in which we need to determine weights for an aggregation operator and we interview an expert to obtain them. For example, they can be used for weighted means, ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operators, and quasi-arithmetic means.
A System for Generation and Visualization of Resource-Constrained Projects
Authors: Bofill Miquel  , Coll Jordi  , Suy Josep  , Villaret Mateu
Published: February 2025

In this paper we present a system for solving the Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) by means of reformulation into SMT. We extend previous results to RCPSP/max, where maximum delays between tasks are considered in addition to minimum delays. We also present a tool for easy modeling and solving of RCPSP/max instances, which allows a graphical representation of the solution obtained. The system is modular in the sense that new solvers, not necessarily based on SMT, can be plugged-in as external executables.
Intelligent System for Optimisation in Golf Course Maintenance
Authors: Pons Gerard  , Compta Marc  , Berjaga Xavier  , Lulli Filippo  , Lopez Josep Maria
Published: February 2025

The use of conventional water resources for golf course activities is increasingly contested. As a result, in recent years there has been a considerable demand for golf courses to adopt environmentally sustainable strategies. Moreover, other exploitation-derived resources of turfgrass treatment have important economic costs. Thus, a major optimisation in resources and time is required, which is covered by the WATERGOLF project through different modules. This paper presents an intelligent system to optimise water consumption in golf courses, as well as to improve their management. Hence, the system is designed to suggest corrective actions through an expert system to the greenkeeper, as well as to trigger alarms in risky situations in four different modules: irrigation, weeds, diseases, and fertility. These suggestions are based on expert knowledge acquired from turfgrass experts and a set of measurements gathered by advanced sensors placed in the golf course. Although the intelligent system is currently being developed, it is expected that a further evaluation in real conditions will help golf facilities to reduce their maintenance costs and environmental impact.
On Privacy-Preserving E-Invoicing in Physical Channels via NFC
Authors: Cha Shi-Cho  , Chen Jyun Fu  , Tseng Chih-Teng
Published: February 2025

As advances of smartphones and near field communication (NFC) technologies, sellers can deliver e-invoices to buyers' smartphones via NFC to reduce paper consumption. Therefore, buyers can use the received e-invoices for further warranty service as well as for returning and exchanging products. To identify buyers of e-invoices, current e-invoicing systems usually embed identities of buyers in e-invoices. Therefore, a merchant can make sure that a person is the buyer of a transaction based on the buyer identity in an e-invoice associated to the transaction. However, from the privacy perspective, one may not wish his identity to be recorded in an e-invoice. Even the identity in an e-invoice contains no personal identifiable information, people may still worry that retailers track their purchasing behaviors based on the buyer identities in e-invoices. Therefore, people may prefer to paying cash and using traditional paper-based invoices. To address this issue, this work proposes a privacy-preserving scheme for customers to generate secrets for different transactions and use the secrets to generate identities for e-invoicing. Therefore, a customer can claim that he is the recipient of an e-invoice by proving that he owns the secret to generate the identity in the e-invoice without revealing the secrets.
A Data-driven Axes Creation Model for Correlation Measurement on Big Data Analytics
Authors: Nakanishi Takafumi
Published: February 2025

In this paper, we design a new model for Big data analytics – data-driven axes creation model. In Big data environment, the one of the important technologies is a correlation measurement. We cannot define a protocol of measurement on Big data era, because there are many varieties of data. However, almost current data analytics and data mining method cannot apply to Big data environment, because the big data environment is opened assumption and we have to consider new methods for opened assumption. That is, we have to design a new data-driven axes creation model for correlation measurement method. Our proposed model creates axes for correlation measurement on Big data analytics. Specifically, this model infers in the Bayesian network and measures correlation in the coordinate axes. Therefore, this model maps the Bayesian network into measure correlation mutually. This model contributes to a paradigm shift of Big data analytics.
A Dengue Location-Contraction Risk Calculation Method for Analyzing Disease-Spread
Authors: Sesulihatien Wahjoe T.  , Kiyoki Yasushi
Published: February 2025

Dengue fever is the fastest spreading communicable disease in the world. The virus has been increasing its geographic reach, partly due to increased urbanization and partly due to climate change. From the viewpoint of human movement, population density the most suspected factor in spreading, but some results nowadays show that the relationship between population density and dengue fever is unclear. This paper presents a new approach in measuring human involvement by modelling contagious places. The proposed system includes (1) statistical analysis about correlations between contagious places and Dengue fever cases, (2) a multi-layer weighting method for determining the weight of each cell (3) a ranking and classification method for places' human-mingling, and (4) building a risk-map of contagious places as a control method in Dengue spreading. The result is new dimension to measure vulnerability of land use concerning with pattern of human moving. Our new approach is advantageous for effecting monitoring in change of public facilities, in comparison to the approach based on the population density, It is more useful in urban planning due to priority in evacuation, and control dengue based on places that attract people.
A Multi-Agent Intelligence Hybrid System Technique for Detection and Defense of DDoS Attacks
Authors: Chen Hsia-Hsiang  , Huang Shih-Kun
Published: February 2025

In the paper, we propose the distributed detection and identification multi-agent system (DDIMAS) framework that is the first attempt to apply in solving distributed denial of service (DDoS) problem. It includes three stages which are information heuristic rule, meta-heuristic algorithm and backward and forward search (BFS) rule, respectively. Moreover, the framework is a flexible architecture that can incorporate into other algorithms or rules to improve the overall performance. From the evaluation design, the experiment results show that our method is with higher detection rate and better accuracy than standard repositories. The proposed framework resolves issues in other swarm optimization algorithms and reveals that the performance of DDIMAS is better than existing methods and the adaptive meta-heuristic algorithm framework outperforms other methods for detecting DDoS attacks.
Efficient Coding Unit and Mode Decision Algorithm for HEVC Intra Prediction
Authors: Tai Kuang-Han  , Li Xin-Zhi  , Chen Mei-Juan
Published: February 2025

High efficiency video coding (HEVC) is the state-of-the-art video coding standard and better than the previous video coding standard H.264/AVC on coding efficiency. Under the similar image quality, HEVC can reduce data amount in the bit-stream around 50% compared with H.264/AVC. In terms of intra coding, HEVC can reduce data amount around 36% on average with respect to that of H.264/AVC. The expense of these improvements is a significant increase in the computational complexity. To reduce the computational burden, we propose an efficient intra coding algorithm based on edge information and spatial correlation for high efficiency video coding. We utilize the edge information applied in MPEG-7 and analyze the correlation of intra modes on the spatial domain to reduce the search numbers of Coding Unit(CU) and Prediction Unit(PU). In addition, our algorithm uses the rate-distortion cost(RD-cost) correlation between the current CU and adjacent CUs to early terminate computation for CU partition. Experimental results show that our algorithm can save 31.66% total time on average in HEVC encoder and maintain great video quality and similar bit-rate compared to HM11.0, and perform better than previous work.