bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Kernel-based control of persistent web server connections
Authors: Voigt Thiemo , Gunningberg Per
Published: January 2007

Several overload admission control architectures have been developed to protect web servers from overload. Some of these architectures base their admission decision on information found in the HTTP header. In this context, persistent connections represent a challenging problem since the HTTP header of the first request does not reveal any information about the resource consumption of the requests that might follow on the same connection. In this paper, we present an architecture that prevents uncontrollable server overload caused by persistent connections. We evaluate our approach by various experiments.
Virtual operator based AAA in wireless LAN hot spots with ad-hoc networking support
Authors: Zhang Junbiao , Li Jun , Weinstein Stephen , Tu Nan
Published: January 2007

Sound and effective authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) schemes for convenient and secure mobile wireless accesses are of great importance given the increased popularity and business opportunities in public wireless LAN hot spots. One possible scheme, which uses the mobile users' service providers as the single point of contact for all AAA transactions, is emerging as a very promising solution. We refer to such service providers as "virtual operators". In this paper, we discuss various existing virtual operator AAA solutions and present our solution that is entirely based on IP. By converging both the AAA process and data transmission at the IP layer, our solution is extremely flexible and extensible. Compared with existing solutions, it works across multiple air interfaces and is interoperable with wireless LAN cards from different vendors. Further, it supports the scenario where access points use intermediate mobile terminals and ad-hoc networking to extend their service coverage. Service credits can be properly assigned to these intermediate terminals as incentives for providing relay services. Our solution is especially useful for a public access LAN environment where multiple wireless access technologies, a diverse set of wireless products and different types of wireless operators may coexist to provide mobile users with convenient and comprehensive wireless access solutions.
Evaluation of packet scheduling algorithms in mobile ad hoc networks
Authors: Chun Byung-Gon , Baker Mary
Published: January 2007

We examine the queuing dynamics at nodes in an ad hoc mobile network and evaluate network performance under different packet scheduling algorithms using Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) and Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (GPSR) as the underlying routing protocols. Typically, packet schedulers in ad hoc networks give priority to control packets over data packets and serve data packets in FIFO order. We find that setting priorities among data packets can decrease end-to-end packet delay significantly. In particular, we find that among the algorithms we studied, those that give priority to data packets with short distance metrics show the smallest delay and the highest throughput, without increasing routing overhead. In addition, we show that with both DSR and GPSR, giving priority to control packets over data packets affects the performance significantly when mobility is high. With DSR, giving priority to control packets reduces the average delay. In contrast, with GPSR, this scheduler increases the average delay.
Ad hoc on-demand distance-vector routing scalability
Authors: Lee Sung-Ju , Belding-Royer Elizabeth M. , Perkins Charles E.
Published: January 2007

As mobile networking continues to experience increasing popularity, the need to connect large numbers of wireless devices will become more prevalent. Many recent proposals for ad hoc routing have certain characteristics which may limit their scalability to large networks. This paper examines five different combinations of modifications which may be incorporated into virtually any on-demand protocol in order to improve its scalability. The scalability of current on-demand routing protocols is evaluated through the selection of a representative from this class of protocols. The performance of the un-modified on-demand protocol is compared against that of it combined with each of the scalability modifications. Each scheme's behavior is analyzed in networks as large as 10,000 nodes through detailed simulation. Based on the observations, conclusions are drawn as to the expected scalability improvement which can be achieved by each modification.
Supporting personal mobility for nomadic computing over the internet
Authors: Li Yalun , Leung Victor C. M.
Published: January 2007

This paper presents a new paradigm for nomadic computing over the Internet called universal personal computing (UPC), where mobile users can access computing resources, network services, and personalized computing environments anywhere using any available terminals. The concept of UPC and system design issues are discussed, and the required system architecture capable of managing different mobile objects, i.e., users and terminals, in the UPC environment is presented. Modifications of connection setup procedures between user application programs to enable addressing based on a global user identity are considered.
Event based resource estimation in admission control for wireless networks with heterogeneous traffic
Authors: Mišić Jelena , Chanson Samuel T. , Lai Frederick S.
Published: January 2007

A technique for estimating the resources needed to maintain an upper bound on handoff dropping probability in wireless networks with heterogeneous traffic is presented. The calculation is based on the number and characteristics of connections in the surrounding cells. The information is collected from the base stations in the S surrounding rings and is updated at handoff and call termination events which involves simple arithmetic operations only. Based on the resource requirement estimation, a distributed adaptive admission control algorithm is proposed. We have evaluated the performance of the admission algorithm for the single traffic type case and derived the performance bounds as functions of traffic descriptors, cell capacity and value of the tuning parameter. It is shown that by adjusting the tuning parameter, the constraints imposed on the handoff dropping probability for a given type of traffic can be met while maximizing the cell capacity utilization and minimizing the new call blocking probabilities.
A method of data transfer control during handoffs in mobile-IP based multimedia networks
Authors: Venkataram P. , Rajavelsamy R. , Laxmaiah S.
Published: January 2007

Applications that require untethered access, in real-time, to multimedia information sources are made possible by mobile multimedia networks. These include support for decision makers in the field, crisis management and response, law enforcement, etc. The multimedia applications demand constant and continuous flow of data from the integrated sources. So, the network should support continuous transfer of information to the mobile hosts. However, the handoffs initiated by the mobile hosts will not allow continuous data transfer and thus some data is lost during handoff. In case of real-time multimedia applications like Video-on-Demand(VoD), it is essential to consider the data transfer control during the handoffs to provide a reliable service to the mobile hosts.We propose a mechanism to maintain the continuity of data transfer during handoffs in mobile-IP environments and minimizes the data loss during the period. This method performs efficient buffering of the data at the Base-station by using toggled buffers and enables to calculate optimal playout time for multimedia applications. The method has been tested on in-house wired/wireless networks. The results of this method showed enormous improvement in the continuity of data transfer during multiple handoffs while running multimedia applications such as video-on-demand(VoD) and Audio-on-demand(AoD).
RNG and internal node based broadcasting algorithms for wireless one-to-one networks
Authors: Seddigh Mahtab , González Julio Solano , Stojmenovic Ivan
Published: January 2007

In a multihop wireless network, each node has a transmission radius and is able to send a message to one of its neighbors (one-to-one) or all of its neighbors (one-to-all) that are located within the radius. In a broadcasting task, a source node needs to send the same message to all the nodes in the network. In this paper, we propose to reduce the communication overhead of broadcasting algorithm for one-to-one model by applying the concepts of planar graphs such as RNG (relative neighborhood graphs) and connected dominating sets determined by internal nodes. Regular message exchanges between neighbors, which include location updates or signal strengths, suffice to maintain these structures, and they therefore do not impose additional communication overhead. In internal node based broadcasting, messages are forwarded on the edges that connect two internal nodes, and on edges that connect each non-internal node with its closest internal node. A neighbor elimination scheme is added to the internal node concept, to improve its performance. Similarly, only edges in a planar subgraph may be used for retransmissions. The reduction in communication overhead for broadcasting task, with respect to existing methods, is measured experimentally. The number of retransmissions is reduced to about 50% for sparse networks and to about 5% for dense networks, and the overhead with respect to ideal solution is up to 20% (for 100 nodes).
ACM SIGIR 2001 workshop "Information Retrieval Techniques for Speech Applications"
Authors: Coden Anni R. , Brown Eric , Srinivasan Savitha
Published: January 2007

We organized a workshop at SIGIR'01 to explore the area of information retrieval techniques for speech applications. Here we summarize the results of that workshop
Lines through a cure and tic-tac-toe
Authors: Smillie K. W.
Published: January 2007

This paper discusses the use of the primitive transpose function to enumerate the 76 diagonal lines passing through the cells of a 4×4×4 cube. Some simple properties of these lines are derived. The results are used for the construction of a simple algorithm for playing three-dimensional tic-tac-toe with a computer and its implementation in APL\360.
Analysis-of-variance calculations for factorial designs
Authors: Smillie K. W.
Published: January 2007

This paper describes a set of functions, written in
APLSV,
for performing analysis-of-variance calculations, including the determination of the means over an arbitrary set of factors, for a balanced factorial design of up to six factors, one of which may be replications, and with any crossing or nesting of factors specified by an algebraic representation of the linear model.
Programmed error recovery for APLSV
Authors: Grossman Richard
Published: January 2007

This paper describes a facility for programmed error recovery, comparable to PL/I
ON
conditions, which has been implemented in
APLSV.
One method of introducing APL
Authors: Smillie K. W.
Published: January 2007

A Summary of APL is given, together with a set of APL functions that allow the examples in the summary to be presented simply on an IBM 5100 computer.
Storage management in APL machines
Authors: Samson Denis , Reynaud Yves
Published: January 2007

This paper presents possible organizations for that part of an APL machine concerned with management of storage for all entities forming an APL workspace. Symbol-table organization is examined, and a scheme for representation of data is proposed that separates values from their description and permits sharing of both by any number of variables. Examples are given of how this allows the APL processor efficient use of storage and how a general framework is provided for efficient implementation of "non-naive" execution of statements containing selection functions.
Right to left or left to right!
Authors: Crick Michael F. C.
Published: January 2007

This paper reviews computer-language order-of-execution rules with particular reference to those followed by APL. An extension of APL order-of-execution rules is proposed to improve the human engineering of the language.
A based system for general arrays
Authors: Mercer Randall
Published: January 2007

The "floating" and "grounded" systems for including general arrays in APL are compared, and their deficiencies discussed. Finally, an alternative grounded system, the "based" system, is defined; in it the floating and grounded systems can be modeled easily and these deficiencies do not appear.
From the convener of the International Fortran Standards Committee (WG5)
Authors: Reid John
Published: January 2007

The big news from WG5 is that the draft Fortran 2000 standard is now out for comment. This makes other news about what WG5 and its convener have been doing pale into insignificance, but I will nevertheless tell you about what happened since I last wrote an article here, a year ago.I will refer to several WG5 documents by their N numbers; these are all accessible from the WG5 website,
http://www.nag.co.uk/sc22wg5/
, and I would like once more to take the opportunity to thank Nag for providing this facility.
New primitive ∇ for APL-style structured control
Authors: van Batenburg F. H. D.
Published: January 2007

A control structure is described which is more APL-ish than the currently implemented keywords. It is much more in the spirit of APL because it merges all conventional control concepts into one single concept represented by one single symbol "∇". The result is more simple and yet more powerful. Various paragraphs will show how to do all the conventional control structuring with this new primitive. The theoretical exposition concludes with a practical paragraph that summarises how much of the proposal is currently available in the APL implementation APL2C.
Efficient fitting of long-tailed data sets into phase-type distributions
Authors: Riska Alma , Diev Vesselin , Smirni Evgenia
Published: January 2007

We propose a new technique for fitting long-tailed data sets into phase-type (PH) distributions. This technique fits data sets with non-monotone densities into a mixture of Erlang and hyperexponential distributions, and data sets with completely monotone densities into hyperexponential distributions. The method first partitions the data set in a divide and conquer fashion and then uses the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm to fit the data of each partition into a PH distribution. The fitting results for each partition are combined to generate the final fitting for the entire data set. The new method is accurate, efficient, and allows one to apply existing analytic tools to analyze the behavior of queueing systems that operate under workloads that exhibit long-tail behavior, such as queues in Internet-related systems.
GURPR - a method for Global Software pipelining
Authors: Su Boronr , Dink Shiyuan , Vank Jian , Xia Jinshi
Published: January 2007

The software pipelining technique is an effective approach to the optimization of loops in array processor programs and microprograms. In this paper we present a global URPR algorithm--GURPR to optimize loops of different structures based on the LURPR method we presented in 1986. We start with a brief introduction to LURPR, then discuss the pipelining of loops with abnormal entries, conditional exits, more than one path, nested loops and subroutine calls respectively. Finally we present the complete GURPR algorithms.
A case study in using two-level control stores
Authors: Menzilcioglu Onat
Published: January 2007

A two-level control store can reduce storage requirements of microprograms without affecting microprogrammability, which is important for a processor programmed directly in microcode. This paper presents a case study investigating how to use a two-level control store effectively. The study is based on Warp cell, a high-performance, microprogrammable processor used in a systolic array computer called Warp. Warp cell is programmed directly in microcode by an optimizing compiler and uses wide horizontal microinstructions with over 200 bits.Two methods which can increase the effectiveness of using a two-level control store have been considered. First, control store configuration can be adjusted so that the storage of an instruction can be partitioned among microstore and one or more nanostores to maximize storage efficiency. Second, it is possible to increase storage reduction of microprograms by exploiting insignificant and symmetric fields in instructions in mapping microprograms to the control store. It has been found that the average storage reduction for Warp cell programs can be increased from 41% in a straightforward two-level control store implementation to 72% by using these methods.
On tuning the microarchitecture of an HPS implementation of the VAX
Authors: Wilson James E. , Melvin Steve , Shebanow Michael , Hwu Wen-Mei , Patt Yale N.
Published: January 2007

The HPS Microarchitecture has been developed as an execution model for implementing various architectures at very high performance. A considerable amount of effort has gone into the use of HPS as a microarchitecture for the VAX. In this paper, we describe our first full simulation of the micro VAX subset, and report the results of varying (i.e. tuning) certain important parameters.
An algorithm for microcode compaction of VHDL behavioral descriptions
Authors: Bhasker Jayaram
Published: January 2007

We present as algorithm to transform a sequential (vertical microcode) VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) behavioral description of a digital system design into a parallel (horizontal microcode) VHDL description. Data dependency analysis is performed on the sequential code to identify the parallelism within the code. This parallel VHDL code is targeted for synthesis by the MIMOLA synthesis system.
Compacting MIMOLA microcode
Authors: Bhasker J. , Samad T.
Published: January 2007

We address the problem of reducing the word length of microprograms. Two techniques are described: overlaying of fields and encoding of the microprogram. Formal analysis are presented of different encoding methods, assuming a VLSI implementation. A maximal encoding strategy appears to be the most area-efficient. Field overlaying is formulated as a clique-partitioning problem, and an efficient and practical clique-partitioning algorithm is presented. Based on these results, a microward compaction strategy that consists of field overlaying followed by maximal encoding has been implemented for the MIMOLA synthesis system (a design tool that generates excessively long microinstructions). Some considerations that are relevant to MIMOLA, and probably general to other similar tools, are discussed.
Trace scheduling optimization in a retargetable microcode compiler
Authors: Howland Michael A. , Mueller Robert A. , Sweany Philip H.
Published: January 2007

We discuss the integration of a trace scheduling optimizer into a retargetable optimizing microcode compiler that handles complex timing relations. The trace scheduler requires no special treatment when retargeting the compiler, being constructed from machine independent algorithms that extract target micro-architecture details from a machine description used by the other compiler processes. We focus on the machine independent basis of the trace scheduler and demonstrate it on a hypothetical micro-architecture.
Improved user service - a 24 hour helpdesk
Authors: Biddle John , Tyler John
Published: January 2007

How do I do....? Where do I get....? What do I do....? These are some of the kinds of general questions that have flooded the Computer Center ever since it was first formed. While the nature of the questions has switched from cards to terminals and from batch to on-line, they still keep pouring in. These same questions are still being asked over and over again by both administrative and academic customers. In the past, the answer, right or wrong, depended as much upon the person providing the answer and how much they knew as it did on anything else. Also, customers may have been routed to several different individuals before their question was answered.
An on-line system for controlling and monitoring software usage in a microcomputer laboratory
Authors: Kreutzer Andrew N.
Published: January 2007

Prior to the Fall of 1984, the Academic Computing Center facilities at Allentown College consisted of a large minicomputer, a VAX/11-750. Rudimentary load statistics on the VAX were obtained by a program which periodically counted the number of users logged on at that time. The usage profiles generated helped management make decisions such as how many terminals were needed, when the computer center should be open, and when consultants could be used most effectively.
A network's work is never done
Authors: Mace Richard
Published: January 2007

Over the course of the last five or six years I've spent a good deal of my time working with institutions of higher education in the Bell-Atlantic Regional territory. I believe that the information-system model of higher education has done more to shape the direction of this industry, more to shape the direction that the major vendors are taking, than any other industry segment. That's why I spend a good deal of my time focusing on the activities that take place in higher education.
Geographic information systems (GIS) for microcomputers
Authors: Wheate Roger
Published: January 2007

At The University of Calgary, courses in Geographic Information Systems are offered in the departments of Geography and Surveying Engineering and the Faculty of Environmental Design. In this article. Roger Wheate describes how the development of the microcomputer as a standard has made this technology accessible to a wide body of users and provides details about the software currently available.
Acquisition of semantic patterns from a natural corpus of texts
Authors: Velardi P. , Pazienza M. T. , Magrini S.
Published: January 2007

In this paper we present a methodology and a program, PETRARCA, for the extensive acquisition of a case based semantic dictionary. The major limitation of existing NLP systems is a poor encoding of semantic knowledge; on the other side, it is unrealistic to assume a manual codification of word senses, including idiomatic expressions and metaphors.The system presented in this paper analyzes a large sample of sentences including a given word, and produces for that word one or more entries in the semantic dictionary (one entry for each word sense). Sentences are provided by an on-line corpus of press agency releases on finance and economics.In PETRARCA, a target word sense definition is represented by a detailed list of use-types, called
surface semantic patterns
(SSPs). SSPs mirror the way humans most naturally explain a new word sense; in fact, people tend to give associations related to words rather than to provide conceptual categories.To derive these associations, the system uses a high-coverage morphosyntactic analyzer, a catalogue of phrasal-patterns/semantic-interpretation pairs, and a set of selectional restriction rules on semantic interpretation types.This paper claims that surface semantics is a reasonable descriptive framework to build a working computer program for language processing. It is general, and makes it possible to establish in a systematic way the rules of semantic encoding. We believe this being a useful contribution towards a more complete system of language learning.
A cognitively valid knowledge acquisition tool
Authors: Lancaster J. S. , Westphal C. R. , McGraw K. L.
Published: January 2007

As more (and more) knowledge-based systems are designed for operational use, it becomes apparent that the knowledge engineering (KE) process of transferring domain expertise into the system consumes the single largest block of development time (Feigenbaum, 1977; Hayes-Roth, Waterman, & Lenat, 1983). To reduce the time required for this stage, numerous tools have been developed that automate or systematize the elicitation and transfer of knowledge from expert to knowledge base. Among these advances are developments in machine learning that enable an expert system to acquire its knowledge from "experience" (Michalski, 1980; Michie, 1982), expert system shells that allow domain experts to write their own rules (e.g., MacSMARTS), and knowledge engineering tools that assist a knowledge engineer in his/her work. The material reported here describes BDM's development of a computer-based set of tools, known collectively as BDM-KAT.
Automated design data capture using relaxation techniques
Authors: Myler H. R. , Gonzalez A. J.
Published: January 2007

A method that converts a Computer Aided Design (CAD) database description of a process control system into a frame-oriented knowledge base for an automated diagnostic control system is introduced. The system is unique in that relaxation labeling techniques borrowed from research in computer vision are used to resolve the functional composition of the diagnostic frames. The target system for the automated knowledge generation process uses frames to represent structure and function data at the component level and does not use inference rules. Failure detection is performed by constant analysis of the output functions. Diagnosis of failure is performed via functional inversion of the component transfer function represented in the component frame. Capture of the functional knowledge of a component is the most difficult task in the building of this type of knowledge base. A CAD database constructed for a particular process control system contains all the structural information required to describe the system, but little or no functional data. A functional description can be inferred in some cases from the CAD data, however, the complexity of such a system for a domain as large as process control is extensive.
Learnability of CFLs: inferring syntactic models from constituent structure
Authors: Fass L. F.
Published: January 2007

Inductive inference is a learning process based on discovering models for bodies of knowledge, given sample information. The inference process we discuss here is concerned with inductive acquisition of syntactic models for context-free languages (CFLs), given appropriate language samples. The knowledge to be modeled in this case is any CFL
L,
with the model to be determined a recognitive or generative characterization of
L's
syntactic structure.
L
will be learned syntactically once a machine
M
recognizing
L,
or a context-free grammar (CFG)
G
generating
L,
is inductively inferred from a sentence sample. The capability of distinguishing between
L
and its complement, or of generating all and only
L
's sentences, is the knowledge acquired, with the learner (inference process) gaining this knowledge by acquiring
M
or
G.
An observer (informant, teacher, or oracle) has such knowledge of
L
and can provide the learner with appropriate sample information to ensure that
M
or
G
is correctly identified.
A system for the representation of theorems and proofs
Authors: Finley M. R. , Hausen-Tropper E. B.
Published: January 2007

In previous work, the authors (Hausen-Tropper and Finley, 1988) have developed an extension of classical frame systems using generalized interframe relationships and concepts borrowed from modal logic. Such extended frame systems, termed
modal frame systems
by the authors, for which a non-deterministic query paradigm was presented, were intended to provide a flexible knowledge representation mechanism that would handle effectively some of the problems arising from exceptions, conflictual information, and defaults in the encoded knowledge. In the present work, an example of a knowledge base using the full richness of the extended frame representation system is presented. The example chosen is taken from an axiomatic development of the existence of real numbers with the intention of representing theorems and their proofs in the extended frames. The intent is to bring out the "deep structure" of the proofs, which might help us to better understand the proof discovery process. Thus, a simple syntactic encoding is not sufficient, rather the choice of a deep representation is sought. With such a representation in hand, the acquisition process should be fairly straight forward. A knowledge base built up in this way will then contain a corpus of knowledge about the given field of mathematics and could be interrogated in order to display the theorems of the system, their proofs, and the interrelationships between the proofs, theorems, axioms, and definitions of the system.
Computer algebra in the life sciences
Authors: Barnett Michael P.
Published: January 2007

This note (1) provides references to recent work that applies computer algebra (CA) to the life sciences, (2) cites literature that explains the biological background of each application, (3) states the mathematical methods that are used, (4) mentions the benefits of CA, and (5) suggests some topics for future work.
Using publish/subscribe middleware for mobile systems
Authors: Cugola Gianpaolo , Jacobsen H.-Arno
Published: January 2007

The range of mobile computing applications comprises location-based services, sensor networks, and ad hoc networking. Middleware for these applications must effectively support the interaction of a priori anonymous entities, support timely decoupled processing, and mediate between potentially millions of mobile clients. These requirements are hard to achieve with traditional client/server middleware systems. We argue that the publish/subscribe paradigm effectively addresses many of the challenges raised by emerging mobile applications. In this paper, we give an overview of the publish/subscribe paradigm, present a detailed analysis of mobile application requirements, and discuss two proven implementations of this paradigm that address these requirements. We thus show that the publish/subscribe paradigm may effectively address most of the challenges raised by emerging mobile applications.
Middleware challenges for wireless sensor networks
Authors: Römer Kay , Kasten Oliver , Mattern Friedemann
Published: January 2007

Middleware for sensor networks aims to support the development of applications for large populations of wirelessly connected nodes capable of computation, communication, and sensing. We examine the purpose, functionality, and characteristics of such middleware.
Book review: Intelligent Tutoring Sytems---Lessons Learned by Joseph Psotka, L. Dan Massey, and Sharon Mutter (Lawrence Erlbaum Assocs. Inc.)
Authors: McGraw Karen
Published: January 2007

Introduction For many years the Sleeman/Brown text on inteligent tutoring systems was the sole offering in the field. During the past year a number of new ITS texts have been released. Although some of them, (e.g. Wenger, 1987) tie theory to application, many of them are redundant in their focus on the early systems and/or their computer science orientation. Furthermore, existing texts rarely mention the decade of relevant research and development in instructional design and computer-based training. This book changes things.
A centralized methodology for multi-level abstraction in simulation
Authors: Walczak Steven , Fishwick Paul
Published: January 2007

Simulation systems need to be able to serve the need of a large domain of users with varying requirements and expectations of a simulation system. The varying degree of requirements by a larger group of users will require the use of multiple abstraction levels within a simulation environment. A methodology for implementing simulation systems with multiple abstraction levels has been developed. This methodology permits the simulation system to have great flexibility in satisfying the requirements of a broad range of users.
The control of computerized information relating to branch manpower management follow-up systems for banks
Authors: Rushinek A. , Rushinek S.
Published: January 2007

The content of information control in complex organizations continues to be a source of interest for both researchers and business managers. This study attempts to demonstrate the application of model-sampling and its effects in relation to accuracy, frequency and recency of data under scrutiny. The study uses a linear model to measure and forecast. The findings of this study are applicable not only to banks but also to Accounting Information Systems (AIS) in general. Moreover, they are as applicable to a computerized follow-up survey as to the initial manual system survey. In fact, this study presents an approach for conducting a follow-up program using an on-line interactive evaluation system.
The standards factor
Authors: Billingsley P.
Published: January 2007

As the newly-appointed SIGCHI Standards Liaison, I hope to continue in the fine tradition established by Jon Meads over the past several years. As I see it, my primary task is to inform SIGCHI members about any standards activities that may affect them as designers and users of interactive software. I also hope to stimulate discussion and debate about the direction of various standards efforts, and to provide a forum for others to express their opinions. I will consider the column a great success if it encourages more people with a genuine interest in end user concerns to participate in the standards-making process.
Dynamic versus static menus: an exploratory comparison
Authors: Mitchell J. , Shneiderman B.
Published: January 2007

Sixty-three subjects completed 24 tasks using a menu driven computer program. The menu items appeared in a fixed (static) order during 12 of the tasks. During the other 12 tasks the menu item order changed dynamically such that the most frequently selected items always appeared at the top of the menu. All the subjects tried both dynamic and static menus.The subjects that used adaptive dynamic menus for the first set of tasks were significantly slower than those who used static menus on the first set of tasks. Subjects' performance during the second set of tasks was not affected by menu style. Eighty-one percent of the subjects preferred working with static menus to working with dynamic menus.
How would your favourite user model cope with these scenarios?
Authors: Young R. M. , Barnard P. , Simon T. , Whittington J.
Published: January 2007

In a paper presented at the 1987 CHI conference (Young & Barnard, 1987), we proposed the use of
scenarios
as one methodological route to the development of user models of broader scope. In this article we summarise the argument and present five such scenarios as a challenge to the state of the art in user modelling. We invite the reader to ponder the question: How well would your favourite user modelling technique handle some, most, or all of these scenarios? And have you any further scenarios to add to those presented here?
Including a user interface management system (UIMS) in the performance relationship model
Authors: Trumbly J. E , Arnett K. P.
Published: January 2007

Improvement of the human computer interface (HCI) is receiving increasing attention as a panacea for many information systems problems; particularly end-user performance. Several experimental research efforts have made significant contributions toward increasing user performance, and vendor implementation of early research findings into commerical applications software have apparently enhanced user satisfaction. This manuscript proposes a model designed to serve as a framework for HCI research efforts, thereby providing a unified structure for the collection and examination of variables utilized in such efforts. The empirical research supporting this model is also highlighted. The performance relationship model is capable of including the concept of a user interface management system (UIMS) very easily.
Mathematical formula editor for CAI
Authors: Nakayama Yasutomo
Published: January 2007

Many students in lower grades who study mathematics with computers have difficulty in inputting formulas by using existing methods. It would be much easier for them if they could input formulas naturally, as they appear in textbooks. This paper describes such an interface program module for use in CAI. This module makes it easy for students to input and edit complex formulas solely by key operations, without using a mouse. The difference between the module and existing mathematical expression editors is that it converts formulas into character strings syntactically. In this way, CAI programs can understand the meanings of the formulas.
Book review: A HISTORY OF PERSONAL WORKSTATIONS ed. by Adele Goldberg (ACM Press/Addison-Wesley, 1988)
Authors: Nielsen Jakob
Published: January 2007

This is an important book for user interface professionals. The basic reasons can be seen from the two parts of the book title: 1) History, and 2) Personal workstations. It is always important for professionals to be aware of the history of their field, and as long as we do not have a history of user interfaces as such, the history of personal workstations can serve as an acceptable substitute. Even though the design of mainframe user interfaces is of course important and has contributed significantly to the field, there is no doubt that most of the interesting events have been within the personal workstation area, especially when it is defined as broadly as in this book which includes computers like the 1963 MIT LINC and connectivity issues like the Arpanet.
Debugging: An Analysis of Bug-Location Strategies (Abstract Only)
Authors: Katz Irvin R. , Anderson John R.
Published: January 2007

This paper presents a series of four experiments investigating
students' debugging of LISP programs. The experiments involve a
population of subjects who know LISP reasonably well and whose
errors are best classified as slips (Brown & Van Lehn, 1980).
That is, students are unlikely to repeat the same errors either
within their program or across programs (Experiment 1). That the
students understand LISP is also reflected in their debugging
behavior: students can usually fix a bug once they locate it.
Students' difficulties are instead in locating the errorful line of
code. We observe that students use a variety of bug-location
strategies during debugging (Experiment 2) and that the choice of
strategy differs depending on whether students are debugging their
own programs or other students' programs (Experiment 3). In
addition, we observe that although the different bug-location
strategies affect which lines of a program are searched, once
students decide on a line, their ability to judge whether or not
the line is correct and their ability to correct an error are not
substantially affected by the strategy being used to locate the
line (Experiment 4). Finally, we argue that our results have
implications not only for debugging in other computer languages,
but for the general processes involved in troubleshooting as well.
An annotated bibliography on user interface design
Authors: Fraser P. , Lamb D. A.
Published: January 2007

This report is an annotated bibliography of material on user interface design literature, covering work available to us up to about May 1987. For each work there is a reference, a description of the work, and possibly a statement of the work's purpose. The description gives a summary of the work's content; the statement of purpose, or "goal," describes the intent of the work, and thus its overall tone. Some works do not have a "goal" paragraph. This is either because they build upon previous work (such as [Anson82] and [Anson80]) and have the same goal, or because they are purely expository (such as [Backus59]).
HyperHyper: developments across the field of hypermedia—a mini trip report
Authors: Nielsen J.
Published: January 2007

HyperHyper was a nice small meeting with about 70 participants, mostly from the UK but with a few participants from Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands as well as some Americans currently living in England. One of the organizers, Dianne Murray from the National Physical Laboratory introduced the workshop by quoting an article from InfoWorld which complained that every new product these days claim to have "hypertext-like" features. Actually I use one such product and am reasonably satisfied with it (Data Desk Professional which has hyperviews to connect related statistical analyses). I don't mind integrating hypertext ideas with other computational ideas. In fact, more hybrid interaction styles may achieve a better match with the way we work (a concept called task integration).
International Conference on Fifth Generation computer systems 1988
Authors: Nielsen J.
Published: January 2007

The
Fifth Generation project
is a large Japanese research project aiming at producing a new kind of computer by 1991. It was originally started after much debate about the necessity for significantly more usable computers which should proliferate "like air" throughout society and among other things take care of the ageing population and lifelong learning. The people in MITI
1
who sponsored the project must have had a good marketing consultant to pick the name of the project, for just its very name has inspired a lot of interest around the world.
Creating consistency in the user interface: opinions and procedures of software developments experts
Authors: Happ A. L. , Cohen K. C.
Published: January 2007

The User Interface Technology department of IBM, Boca Raton, recently commissioned a study on the topic of consistency in the user interface. Of interest were general principles related to consistency, the methods of developing and/or attaining it in product development, and the relative effectiveness of IBM's Systems Application Architecture manual,
Common User Access - Panel Design and Interaction (CUA V 1.0 1987)
, in helping independent software vendors achieve consistency in their products.
A transfer of skill between programming languages
Authors: Scholtz J. C.
Published: January 2007

Experienced programmers transferring to a new programming language have a far easier time than the novice learning a first language; however, they still experience considerable difficulties. The objective in this study is to characterize the kinds of learning and transfer that take place in the early stages of using a new programming language and when difficulties develop. Thinking aloud protocols have been collected from novice, intermediate and expert programmers. Half of the subjects were observed transferring to a language similar to Pascal. The other half were observed while transferring to a language dissimilar to Pascal.
BOOK REVIEW: Cognitive Science and Its Applications for Human-Computer Interaction. Ed. by Raymonde Guindon (LEA NJ, 1988)
Authors: Gray Wayne D. , Atwood Michael E.
Published: January 2007

The goal of this book, as stated in Raymonde Guindon's introduction, is to highlight the multidisciplinary nature of research on human-computer interaction by showing that different methodologies can be used to investigate similar questions and that different questions can be investigated with similar methodologies. This goal is met by the chapters selected for this book. Beyond meeting this goal, Guindon's book makes other points that we feel are significant; it also misses points that we would like to see emphasized more.
An HCI continuing education curriculum for industry
Authors: Mantei M. M.
Published: January 2007

A field becomes a valid science by having a body of knowledge which its members recognize as basic to the field. This knowledge includes a set of research questions which the field addresses, a set of methodologies applicable to the research questions, the small number of basic theories that guide the research and a large amount of detail on techniques, phenomenon and field specific definitions. The methodologies and the theories they embody are what constitutes the paradigm of the field. As research and serendipitous discoveries take place close to and within the membership of the field, the body of knowledge is expanded, remolded, revised and restructured.
Modeling human-computer decision making with covariance structure analysis
Authors: Coovert M. D. , LaLomia J.
Published: January 2007

The development of a complete theory of human-computer interaction has been hindered by the lack of full scale testable models. To date, those models which have been tested are primarily low-level (e.g., key-stroke; Card, Moran, & Newell, 1983). Although providing clear predictions, they rarely provide information on more than just a few low level variables. Other models, such as those provided by mental representations (e.g., Gentner & Stevens, 1983), are often not testable or do not provide quantified information concerning the importance of variables and their interrelations.
Decentralizing university computer facilities: some UK experience
Authors: Brady P. , Startup R.
Published: January 2007

At this time there is a need for cost effective ways of extending access to computer facilities in higher education. This paper reports on an experiment whereby clusters of terminals were provided in differing kinds of student residences and is concerned with the educational and social implications of computer use in higher educational settings. This British study was funded by the "Computers in Teaching" initiative of the United Kingdom Computer Board and University Grants Committee. It was apparent that students were allowed greater flexibility in organizing their study schedules. There is evidence of more economical and more widespread use of computer facilities and a better working relationship between users and staff of the Computer Center. There was a rapid growth of electronic mail both to seek help and for administrative purposes. A majority of those coming to the university now have prior experience of computing and attitudes towards it are predominantly favorable. Against this background there is a tendency towards dispersed facilities, associated with changes in students' academic lives. The University of Wales project has attracted considerable interest within the UK higher education community and provides a model being adopted elsewhere.
Computer support for transcribing recorded activity
Authors: Trigg R. H.
Published: January 2007

For many researchers studying human activity, the diverse media and technologies used for recording, viewing and analysis place heavy demands on analysts who want to stay "close" to their primary data. At the same time, the analyses themselves can require very different representational media, posing difficulties for researchers wanting to juxtapose and compare multiple perspectives on their work. The tool described here is intended to address some of these issues by providing an extensible computer environment in which multiple chronologically organized representations of a single sequence of activity can be edited, juxtaposed, and aligned.
Use of the EVTA process in the evaluation of human/system interaction and performance
Authors: Shaffer M. T.
Published: January 2007

The EVTA process generates a task-descriptive data base (Dury et al., 1987, page 375) from a detailed analysis of operator's observable activities and communications. The essential features of the EVTA process are the use of video/audio equipment to gather permanent records of operator activities from operational environments, and the generation of an empirical record of activity times through a software package which builds, manages and analyzes the resulting data base.