bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ERRATA: "ARMING ASIAN INTELLECTUALS FOR INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANCY"
Authors: CHANG CHIU-CHENG , CHEN GERALDINE
Published: September 2004

The ability to changes is vital for corporate survival and growth and knowledge is the engine of change. While consultancy is generally accociated with the West, we belive that the Asian heritage, particularly the Confucian reverence for knowledge and teachers, make Asian intellectuals best suited for performing the consultancy role effectively. But what exactly is the role of consultancy? What are the objectives and functions? And in what areas will Asian consultants stand out? Propective Asian consultants must be able to marry Westerm and Eastern business cultures and practices. The critical factors for success asd Asian international consultants will be examined.
INTERACTION BETWEEN AGENTS IN ROUTINE, FAMILIAR AND UNFAMILIAR SITUATION
Authors: CHAIB-DRAA B.
Published: September 2004

A framework for designing a Multiagent System (MAS) in which agents are capable of coordinating their activities in routine, familiar, and unfamiliar situations is proposed. This framework is based on the Skills, Rules and Knowledge (S-R-K) taxonomy of Rasmussen. Thus, the proposed framework should allow agents to prefer the lower skill-based and rule-based levels rather than the higher knowledge-based level because it is generally easier to obtain and maintain coordination between agents in routine and familiar situations than in unfamiliar situations. The framework should also support each of the three levels because complex tasks combined with complex interactions require all levels. To permit agents to rely on low levels, a suggestion is developed: agents are provided with social laws so as to guarantee coordination between agents and minimize the need for calling a central coordinator or for engaging in negotiation which requires intense communication. Finally, implementation and experiments demonstrated, on some scenarios of urban traffic, the applicability of major concepts developed in this article.
CONSENSUS AND COMPROMISE: PLANNING IN COOPERATING AGENTS
Authors: CLARK R. , GROSSNER C. , RADHAKRISHNAN T.
Published: September 2004

Resolving disparate viewpoints via planning is an important aspect of the distributed problem solving performed by the agents in Cooperative Intelligent Information Systems. We propose a distributed planning protocol called Consensus. Consensus specifies a methodology by which agents exchange information indicating their preferred actions, integrate these different sets of actions, resolve any conflicts that exist, and choose a joint set of actions. Within the framework of the Consensus protocol, two different heuristics are proposed for resolving conflicts which overcome the computational complexity of an exhaustive search. An implementation of the Consensus protocol is analyzed experimentally to assess its performance in resolving conflicts. The experimental results indicate the trade-off between the cost of planning and the quality of the plan produced with respect to the heuristics used for resolving conflicts.
A FRAMEWORK FOR OBJECT MATCHING IN FEDERATED DATABASES AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION
Authors: SEGEV ARIE , CHATTERJEE ABHIRUP
Published: September 2004

Manufacturing industries have recently started exploring the potential for sharing information across inter-organization database systems to increase productivity and gain strategic advantages. As manufacturing information is not well structured such systems bring together a diverse variety of databases that transcend organizational boundaries to include customers and suppliers. In this paper, we present a framework for object matching that uses rules and approximation schemes to support transparent user access to such heterogeneous databases. In the second part of the paper, we discuss how object matching can be implemented in an extensible DBMS. Several implementation options are described using the features supported by POSTGRES.
AGENT-BASED BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT
Authors: JENNINGS N. R. , FARATIN P. , JOHNSON M. J. , NORMAN T. J. , O'BRIEN P. , WIEGAND M. E.
Published: September 2004

This paper describes work undertaken in the ADEPT (Advanced Decision Environment for Process Tasks) project towards developing an agent-based infrastructure for managing business processes. We describe how the key technology of negotiating, service providing, autonomous agents was realized and demonstrate how this was applied to the BT (British Telecom) business process of providing a customer quote for network services.
AN EXPERIMENTAL MULTI-AGENT ENVIRONMENT FOR ENGINEERING DESIGN
Authors: SHEN WEIMING , BARTHES JEAN-PAUL A.
Published: September 2004

Real world engineering design projects require the cooperation of multidisciplinary design teams using sophisticated and powerful engineering tools. The individuals or the individual groups of the multidisciplinary design teams work in parallel and independently often for quite a long time with different tools located on various sites. In order to ensure the coordination of design activities in the different groups or the cooperation among the different tools, it is necessary to develop an efficient design environment. This paper discusses a distributed architecture for integrating such engineering tools in an open design environment, organized as a population of asynchronous cognitive agents. Before introducing the general architecture and the communication protocol, issues about an agent architecture and inter-agent communications are discussed. A prototype of such an environment with seven independent agents located in several workstations and microcomputers is then presented and demonstrated on an example of a small mechanical design.
MULTI-AGENT PLANNING AND COORDINATION FOR DISTRIBUTED CONCURRENT ENGINEERING
Authors: BALASUBRAMANIAN SIVARAM , MATURANA FRANCISCO P. , NORRIE DOUGLAS H.
Published: September 2004

The centralized planning and control that has defined the traditional information processing structure of manufacturing systems is no longer suited to the current rapidly changing manufacturing environment. For efficient use of manufacturing resources and increased flexibility, it is necessary to migrate to a distributed information processing system in which individual entities can work cooperatively towards overall system goals. The next generation of manufacturing systems requires such an information technology framework to integrate the system components and activities into a larger collaborative enterprise. This paper describes a multi-agent approach to concurrent design, manufacturability analysis, process planning, routing and scheduling. A heterogeneous multi-agent concurrent engineering system consisting of multiple feature-based design sub-systems, multiple simulated shop-floor resource groups, a supervisory control interface and the coordination mechanisms for multi-agent cooperation, has been developed. The architecture of this distributed system and the associated implementation issues are discussed.
COORDINATION OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENT SOFTWARE AGENTS
Authors: SYCARA KATIA , ZENG DAJUN
Published: September 2004

We are investigating techniques for developing distributed and adaptive collections of information agents that coordinate to retrieve, filter and fuse information relevant to the user, task and situation, as well as anticipate user's information needs. In our system of agents, information gathering is seamlessly integrated with decision support. The task for which particular information is requested of the agents does not remain in the user's head but it is explicitly represented and supported through agent collaboration. In this paper we present the distributed system architecture, agent collaboration interactions, and a reusable set of software components for structuring agents. The system architecture has three types of agents: Interface agents interact with the user receiving user specifications and delivering results. They acquire, model, and utilize user preferences to guide system coordination in support of the user's tasks. Task agents help users perform tasks by formulating problem solving plans and carrying out these plans through querying and exchanging information with other software agents. Information agents provide intelligent access to a heterogeneous collection of information sources. We have implemented this system framework and are developing collaborating agents in diverse complex real world tasks, such as organizational decision making, investment counseling, health care and electronic commerce.
A MULTI-AGENT APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENT EXPLORATION
Authors: MAIO DARIO , RIZZI STEFANO
Published: September 2004

Exploration is a central issue for autonomous agents which must carry out navigation tasks in environments of which a description is not known a priori. In our approach the environment is described, from a symbolic point of view, by means of a graph; clustering techniques allow for further levels of abstraction to be defined, leading to a multi-layered representation. In this work we propose an unsupervised exploration algorithm in which several agents cooperate to acquire knowledge of the environment at the different abstraction levels. All agents are equal and pursue the same local exploration strategy; nevertheless, the existence of multiple levels of abstraction in the environment representation allows for the agents' behavior to differ. Agents carry out exploration at different abstraction levels, aimed at reproducing an ideal exploration profile; each agent dynamically selects its exploration level, based on the current demand. Inter-agent communication allows for the agents to share their knowledge and to record acquaintances of the other agents. A communication protocol for organizing teams of agents is provided.
ISSUES AND EXTENSIONS FOR INFORMATION MATCHMAKING PROTOCOLS
Authors: KUOKKA DANIEL R. , HARADA LARRY T.
Published: September 2004

As agents see more use in dynamic, distributed information networks, information sharing facilitators, such as the SHADE matchmaker, and underlying knowledge-based agent communication protocols, such as the Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language, will see increased use. We have created several communities of agents collaborating via KQML and matchmaking within the domains of collaborative engineering and satellite image retrieval. Based on these experiences, matchmaking has proven to be very beneficial for multi-agent systems, but we have also identified a number of issues and extensions that are not only vital to KQML-based matchmaking, but to inter-agent protocols in general. These include representational approaches to advertising complex databases, approaches to error recovery and response timing, maintaining consistency among information providers, scalability, security, persistent requests in information brokering, and the dilemma between explicit vs implicit brokering.
CAPTURING AND MODELING COORDINATION KNOWLEDGE FOR MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS
Authors: BARBUCEANU MIHAI , FOX MARK S.
Published: September 2004

The agent view provides a level of abstraction at which we envisage computational systems carrying out cooperative work by interoperating globally across networks connecting people, organizations and machines. A major challenge in building such systems is coordinating the behavior of the individual agents to achieve the individual and shared goals of the participants. As part of a larger project targeted at developing an Agent Building Shell for multiagent applications, we have designed and implemented a coordination language aimed at explicitly representing, applying and capturing coordination knowledge for multiagent systems. The language provides KQML-based communication, an agent definition and execution environment, support for modeling interactions as multiple structured conversations among agents, rule-based approaches to conversation selection and execution, as well as an interactive tool for in context acquisition and debugging of cooperation knowledge. The paper presents these components in detail and then shows how the coordination language is used in the Agent Building Shell to manage content-based information distribution scenarios among agents and the coordination aspects of conflict management processes that occur when agents encounter inconsistencies. The major application of the system is the construction and integration of multiagent supply chain systems for manufacturing enterprises. This application is used throughout the paper to illustrate the introduced concepts and language constructs.
FROM LOCAL ASSESSMENTS TO GLOBAL RATIONALITY
Authors: EKENBERG LOVE , DANIELSON MATS , BOMAN MAGNUS
Published: September 2004

We present a theory and a tool for the treatment of problems arising when a decision making agent faces a situation involving a choice between a finite set of strategies, having access to a finite set of autonomous agents reporting their opinions. Each of these agents may itself be a decision making agent, and the theory is independent of whether there is a specific coordinating agent or not. Any decision making agent is allowed to assign different credibilities to the statements made by the other autonomous agents. The theory admits the representation of vague and numerically imprecise information, and the evaluation results in a set of admissible strategies by using criteria conforming to classical statistical decision theory. The admissible strategies can be further investigated with respect to strength and also with respect to the range of values that makes them admissible.
USING PRIORITIES TO COMBINE KNOWLEDGE BASES
Authors: PRADHAN SHEKHAR , MINKER JACK
Published: September 2004

Two or more companies, each with its own knowledge base, may merge. In that case one option is to merge the knowledge bases into one knowledge base. It can happen that some of the information contained in one or more knowledge bases may be in conflict with information in the other knowledge bases. There may be several such points of conflict and any information may be involved in several different such points of conflict. In that case, the integrator of the knowledge bases may prefer a certain claim to another in one conflict-point without necessarily preferring that claim in another conflict-point.

Our work constructs a framework within which the consequences of a set of such preferences (expressed as priorities among sets of statements) can be computed. We give three types of semantics for priorities, two of which are shown to be equivalent to one another. The third type of semantics for priorities is shown to be more cautious than the other two. In terms of these semantics for priorities, we give a function for combining knowledge from different sources such that the combined knowledge is conflict-free and satisfies all the priorities.
CONCEPTUALIZING SEMANTIC INTEROPERABILITY: A PERSPECTIVE FROM THE KNOWLEDGE LEVEL
Authors: LEE JACOB L. , MADNICK STUART E. , SIEGEL MICHAEL D.
Published: September 2004

Currently, there is a proliferation of database integration approaches in response to the need to achieve semantic interoperability in heterogeneous, distributed and autonomous environments. To date, however, we lack abstract, formal descriptions of the task of semantic interoperation, independent of idiosyncratic implementation details. Such abstract descriptions are needed to aid our understanding of these various complex systems that are being constructed. Therefore, we argue that a knowledge level perspective of interoperable systems is desirable. The knowledge level serves as an abstract specification of what a system should do and facilitates the design and analysis of complex systems. In this paper, we show how an interoperable system, based on the Context Interchange Architecture, may be specified in terms of first-order logic which is an ideal specification language at the knowledge level. This specification represents a theoretical ideal which serves to formalize and communicate the key ideas behind the Context Interchange Approach, unencumbered by the details, limitations and compromises of specific implementations. As such, it provides a rigorous basis for implementing such systems. Similar specifications may also be developed for other models of interoperable systems. As a result, we have a rigorous means of understanding, comparing and analyzing these complex systems.
A HYPERRELATIONAL APPROACH TO INTEGRATION AND MANIPULATION OF DATA IN MULTIDATABASE SYSTEMS
Authors: LEE CHIANG , WU MING-CHUAN
Published: September 2004

The issue of interoperability among multiple autonomous databases has attracted a lot of attention from researchers in these years. The past research on this issue can be roughly divided into two main categories: the tightly-integrated approach that integrate databases by building an integrated schema and the loosely-integrated approach that achieves interoperability by using a multidatabase language. Most of the past efforts focused on the issues in the first approach. The problem with the first approach is, however, that it lacks a convenient representation of the integrated schema at the system level and a sound mathematical basis for data manipulation in a multidatabase system. In this paper, we propose to use hyperrelations as a powerful and succinct model for the global level representation of heterogeneous database schemas. A hyperrelation has the structure of a relation, but its contents are the schemas of the semantically equivalent local relations in the databases. With this representation, the metadata of the global database, local databases and the data of these databases are all representable by using the structure of a relation. The impact of such a representation is that all the elegant features of relational systems can be easily extended to multidatabase systems. A hyperrelational algebra is designed accordingly. This algebra is performed at the multidatabase systems (MDBS) level such that query transformation and optimization is supported on a sound mathematical basis. The major contributions of this paper include:

(1) Local relations of various schemas (even though they retain information of the same semantics) can be systematically mapped to hyperrelations. As the structure of a hyperrelation is similar to that of a relation, data manipulation and management tasks (such as design of the global query language and the view mechanism) are greatly facilitated.

(2) The hyperrelational algebra provides a sound basis for query transformation and optimization in a MDBS.
A METHODOLOGY FOR QUERY REFORMULATION IN CIS USING SEMANTIC KNOWLEDGE
Authors: FLORESCU DANIELA , RASCHID LOUIQA , VALDURIEZ PATRICK
Published: September 2004

We consider Cooperative Information Systems (CIS) that are multidatabase systems (MDBMS), with a common object-oriented model, based on the ODMG standard, together with local databases that may be relational, object-oriented, or dedicated data servers. The MDBMS interface (or mediator interface) that describes this CIS could be different from the union of the local interfaces that describe each local database. In particular, the mediator interface may be defined by semantic knowledge that includes views over particular local databases, integrity constraints, and knowledge about data replication in local databases. We present a methodology for query reformulation which is based on the uniform representation of all semantic knowledge in the form of integrity assertions and mapping rules. A reformulation algorithm exploits this semantic knowledge, and performs semantic rewriting based on pattern-matching, to obtain a query on the union of the local interfaces. A decomposition algorithm then produces a composite query, and local sub-queries, one for each local interface. The reformulation is general enough to re-use the results of previously computed queries in the CIS. We have implemented this reformulation technique in our Flora compiler prototype which we used for validation and experimentation with O2 databases.
LANGUAGE FEATURES FOR COOPERATION IN AN OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASE ENVIRONMENT
Authors: EVEN SUSAN J. , FAASE FRANS J. , DE BY ROLF A.
Published: September 2004

We introduce the language LOTOS/TM for the formal specification of a network of cooperating agents with a shared data repository and private local data. LOTOS/TM is the orthogonal integration of the process-algebraic protocol specification language LOTOS and the functional, object-oriented database specification language TM. The specified world consists of a number of interacting LOTOS processes — describing the cooperating agents — and a special LOTOS process representing the shared data repository, which is modeled as a TM database. The data repository's functionality is made available to the other, cooperating processes through one or more external database gates. Interaction at such a gate corresponds to a method invocation in the database. In addition to shared persistent data, the TM language is used to specify the data encapsulated locally within processes, and the transient data communicated over gates.

Some features of LOTOS/TM are inherently suitable for describing cooperation, such as combinators for synchronization on specific methods. These features are illustrated by examples showing navigation events on a shared graph structure that resembles a hypertext. Emphasis in the examples is placed on coordination aspects of the scenario. LOTOS/TM serves as a formalism for a more user-friendly specification language by the name of CoCoA that is currently under construction.
AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE STATISTICAL PROPERTIES OF ROMANIAN EMERGING STOCK MARKET RASDAQ
Authors: GLIGOR MIRCEA
Published: September 2004

An empirical analysis of the Romanian emerging stock market RASDAQ based on the statistical study of the composite index RASDAQ-C reveals the leptokurtic profile of the probability density function (p.d.f.) of the stock index changes, the power law asymptotic behaviour of the p.d.f., the breakdown of scaling at long time scales, the absence of linear correlation in the stock index changes but existence of long-range correlation in nonlinear function such as the absolute value or the square of index changes (implicitly the long-range correlation in the index volatility). These results, consistent with the similar referring to the more liquid markets, suggest the presence of several universal features, in addition to several particularities related to the quickness of assimilation of the new information and its impact over the investors.
THE OPEN XY MODEL
Authors: GOUGH JOHN
Published: September 2004

Using the weak coupling limit as a quantum functional central limit (in the sense of Accardi, Frigerio and Lu), we give a quantum Markovian description of the open XY-model, followed by the large-N limit. The treatment is noteworthy for the fact that the harmonic decomposition of the stochastic dynamics is not that of the free evolution, but rather arises from the macroscopic variables being studied. We conclude with a simple Hilbert module formulation of the dynamics.
FRACTIONAL RANDOM FIELDS ON DOMAINS WITH FRACTAL BOUNDARY
Authors: RUIZ-MEDINA M. D. , ANGULO J. M. , ANH V. V.
Published: September 2004

For random fields with fractional regularity order (respectively, fractional singularity order), an orthogonal decomposition of the associated reproducing kernel Hilbert space with respect to domains with fractal boundary is derived. The approach presented is based on the theory of generalized random fields on fractional Sobolev spaces. The orthogonal decomposition derived is equivalent to the weak-sense Markov condition, in the second-order moment sense, studied in Ref. 50, and based on the concept of splitting Hilbert spaces. A mean-square fractional order differential representation on bounded domains with fractal boundary is also obtained. In the Gaussian case, the random fields studied have fractal sample paths (see Ref. 1). Examples of fractional-order differential models in the class considered are provided.
DIRECTIONAL COHERENCE INTERPOLATION FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL GRAY-LEVEL IMAGES
Authors: WANG YONGMEI MICHELLE , ZHANG JINGDAN , ZHANG ZHUNPING , GUO BAINING
Published: September 2004

A novel three-dimensional gray-level interpolation method called the Directional Coherence Interpolation (DCI) is presented in the paper. The principal advantage of the proposed approach is that it leads to significantly higher visual quality in 3D rendering when compared with traditional image interpolation methods. The basis of DCI is a form of directional image-space coherence. DCI interpolates the missing image data along the maximum coherence directions (MCD), which are estimated from the local image intensity yet constrained by a generic smoothness term. In order to further improve both the algorithm efficiency and robustness, we also propose to apply a pyramidal search strategy for MCD estimation. This coarse-to-fine scheme requires less computation time by starting with the reduced amount of data and propagating searching results to finer resolutions. DCI can incorporate image shape and structure information without the prior requirement of explicit representation of object boundary/surface. Extensive experiments were performed on both synthetic and real medical images to evaluate the proposed approaches. The experimental results show that the proposed methods are able to handle general object interpolation, while achieving both accuracy and efficiency in interpolation compared with the existing techniques.
COMBINING 2D FEATURE TRACKING AND VOLUME RECONSTRUCTION FOR ONLINE VIDEO-BASED HUMAN MOTION CAPTURE
Authors: THEOBALT CHRISTIAN , MAGNOR MARCUS A. , SCHÜLER PASCAL , SEIDEL HANS-PETER
Published: September 2004

The acquisition of human motion data is of major importance for creating interactive virtual environments, intelligent user interfaces, and realistic computer animations. Today's performance of off-the-shelf computer hardware enables marker-free non-intrusive optical tracking of the human body. In addition, recent research shows that it is possible to efficiently acquire and render volumetric scene representations in real-time. This paper describes a system to capture human motion without the use of markers or scene-intruding devices. Instead, a 2D feature tracking algorithm and a silhouette-based 3D volumetric scene reconstruction method are applied directly to the image data. A person is recorded by multiple synchronized cameras, and a multi-layer hierarchical kinematic skeleton is fitted to each frame in a two-stage process. The pose of a first model layer at every time step is determined from the tracked 3D locations of hands, head and feet. A more sophisticated second skeleton layer is fitted to the motion data by applying a volume registration technique. We present results with a prototype system showing that the approach is capable of running at interactive frame rates.
LIGHTING AND SHADOW INTERPOLATION USING INTRINSIC LUMIGRAPHS
Authors: MATSUSHITA YASUYUKI , LIN STEPHEN , SHUM HEUNG-YEUNG , TONG XIN , KANG SING BING
Published: September 2004

Densely-sampled image representations such as the light field or Lumigraph have been effective in enabling photorealistic image synthesis. Unfortunately, lighting interpolation with such representations has not been shown to be possible without the use of accurate 3D geometry and surface reflectance properties. In this paper, we propose an approach to image-based lighting interpolation that is based on estimates of geometry and shading from relatively few images. We decompose light fields captured at different lighting conditions into intrinsic images (reflectance and illumination images), and estimate view-dependent scene geometries using multi-view stereo. We call the resulting representation an Intrinsic Lumigraph. In the same way that the Lumigraph uses geometry to permit more accurate view interpolation, the Intrinsic Lumigraph uses both geometry and intrinsic images to allow high-quality interpolation at different views and lighting conditions. The joint use of geometry and intrinsic images is effective in computing shadow masks for shadow prediction at new lighting conditions. We illustrate our approach with images of real scenes.
SURFACE CAMERA (SCAM) LIGHT FIELD RENDERING
Authors: YU JINGYI , MCMILLAN LEONARD , GORTLER STEVEN
Published: September 2004

In this article we present a new variant of the light field representation that supports improved image reconstruction by accommodating sparse correspondence information. This places our representation somewhere between a pure, two-plane parameterized, light field and a lumigraph representation, with its continuous geometric proxy. Our approach factors the rays of a light field into one of two separate classes. All rays consistent with a given correspondence are implicitly represented using a new auxiliary data structure, which we call a surface camera, or scam. The remaining rays of the light field are represented using a standard two-plane parameterized light field. We present an efficient rendering algorithm that combines ray samples from scams with those from the light field. The resulting image reconstructions are noticeably improved over that of a pure light field.
A UNIFIED APPROACH TO REAL-TIME, MULTI-RESOLUTION, MULTI-BASELINE 2D VIEW SYNTHESIS AND 3D DEPTH ESTIMATION USING COMMODITY GRAPHICS HARDWARE
Authors: YANG RUIGANG , POLLEFEYS MARC , YANG HUA , WELCH GREG
Published: September 2004

We present a new method for using commodity graphics hardware to achieve real-time, on-line, 2D view synthesis or 3D depth estimation from two or more calibrated cameras. Our method combines a 3D plane-sweeping approach with 2D multi-resolution color consistency tests. We project camera imagery onto each plane, compute measures of color consistency throughout the plane at multiple resolutions, and then choose the color or depth (corresponding plane) that is most consistent. The key to achieving real-time performance is our use of the advanced features included with recent commodity computer graphics hardware to implement the computations simultaneously (in parallel) across all reference image pixels on a plane.

Our method is relatively simple to implement, and flexible in term of the number and placement of cameras. With two cameras and an NVIDIA GeForce4 graphics card we can achieve 50–70 M disparity evaluations per second, including image download and read-back overhead. This performance matches the fastest available commercial software-only implementation of correlation-based stereo algorithms, while freeing up the CPU for other uses.
DMESH: FAST DEPTH-IMAGE MESHING AND WARPING
Authors: PAJAROLA RENATO , SAINZ MIGUEL , MENG YU
Published: September 2004

In this paper we present a novel and efficient depth-image representation and warping technique called DMesh which is based on a piece-wise linear approximation of the depth-image as a textured and simplified triangle mesh. We describe the application of a hierarchical multiresolution triangulation method to generate adaptively triangulated depth-meshes efficiently from reference depth-images, discuss depth-mesh segmentation methods to avoid occlusion artifacts and propose a new hardware accelerated depth-image rendering technique that supports per-pixel weighted blending of multiple depth-images in real-time. Applications of our technique include image-based object representations and the use of depth-images in large scale walk-through visualization systems.
INCORPORATING GEOMETRIC REGISTRATION WITH PC-CLUSTER RENDERING FOR FLEXIBLE TILED DISPLAYS
Authors: BROWN MICHAEL S. , SEALES W. BRENT
Published: September 2004

We describe a display system that automatically registers an array of casually positioned projectors and drives the display with a PC cluster. The display system uses a camera to compute the necessary transformations to geometrically align multiple overlapping projectors. Geometric alignment is realized through real-time corrective warping applied in the rendering pipeline. This combination of camera-aided display alignment with the PC-cluster rendering engine provides a display system that is easy to configure and reconfigure, accommodates casually tiled projectors and arbitrary display surfaces, and can be operational in a very short period of time.
IMAGE-BASED TEMPLATE GENERATION OF ROAD NETWORKS FOR VIRTUAL MAPS
Authors: SUN JING , BACIU GEORGE , YU XIAOBO , GREEN MARK
Published: September 2004

Modern urban regions are dynamic systems exhibiting complex patterns of transportation networks that can often be analyzed and synthesized from the superimposition of more basic network patterns. In this paper, we propose and investigate new methods for the synthesis of complex 3D traffic networks resembling the patterns of traffic networks in real urban regions. Our approach is based on two main synthesis tools: (1) image-derived templates, and (2) a rule-based generating system. Using 2D images as input maps, various road maps with varying patterns can be produced. The generating model accounts for restricted geographical areas, the terrain gradient and urban feature constraints. The generative model follows directions of elevation and connects road ends in such a way as to allow various types of breakpoints.
COMPLEXITY PERCEPTION — MODEL DEVELOPMENT AND ANALYSIS OF TWO TECHNICAL PLATFORM PROJECTS IN THE MOBILE PHONES INDUSTRY
Authors: DAWIDSON OLA , KARLSSON MARTIN , TRYGG LARS
Published: September 2004

This paper shows that underlying parameters of perceived complexity in the development of a technical platform in the mobile telecommunications industry can be presented in a model consisting of four parameters, divided into three levels. The parameters refer to the number of interrelated parts, type of dependency among these parts, uncertainty in goals, and uncertainty in methods. These complexity parameters can further be found on different levels — external organization, internal organization, and product.

The study also shows that these underlying parameters come into play differently in different settings, e.g. how these parameters are perceived is highly dependent on the specific situation. The settings analyzed in this paper concern two technical platform projects of mobile phones at Ericsson Communication Systems (ECS), Sweden.
ESTIMATING THE ATTRIBUTE WEIGHTS THROUGH EVIDENTIAL REASONING AND MATHEMATICAL PROGRAMMING
Authors: DENG MINGRONG , XU WEIXUAN , YANG JIAN-BO
Published: September 2004

An approach for estimating attribute weight is proposed, which is addressed to the problem inverse to the aggregation assessment based on a hierarchy of attributes. Evidential reasoning framework is employed since the assessment on some basic attributes may be uncertain and incomplete. As a by-product, a simple formula for evidence combination for our special case is obtained. The weights are estimated based on the preference given by the decision-maker, and represented as intervals. The more abundant preference the decision-maker shows, the clearer the relation among the basic attributes.
AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS OF THE NEED FOR USER-ACQUAINTED DIAGNOSTIC SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Authors: SAUTER VICKI L. , MADEO LAURENCE A.
Published: September 2004

This paper explores intelligent diagnostic support systems as debugging tools for end-users of computing. By analyzing error (fault) behavior of users and fault-diagnostic relationships of these errors, the authors identified patterns that could be exploited to provide electronic diagnostic assistance. This analysis showed that (a) error behavior differs considerably across end-users; and (b) individual end-users tend to make the same errors over time because they have difficulty identifying the causes of their errors. When viewed in light of the literatures on human-computer interface design and human error/diagnostic behavior, this analysis lead to some general conclusions about how diagnostic systems could be designed to provide better advice. Specifically, the empirical results suggest that diagnostic systems with firing rules based solely upon the aggregated behavior of all users will often provide individual users with poor advice. In contrast, diagnostic support systems could be improved by using user-specific data in the knowledge base. Such a deviation from conventional ideas about knowledge-base development seems consistent with other diagnostic situations, such as medical and machine diagnosis.
COMMIT TIME DECISION FOR MEASURING DEMAND SIDE QUALITY COSTS WITH LIMITED DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION
Authors: YUE JINFENG , WANG MIN-CHIANG , HUANG ZHIMIN
Published: September 2004

Consider a single machine processing multiproducts situation when only the mean and standard deviation of processing time for each product are available. The bounds of optimal commit delivery time range are obtained. A decision of the robust commit delivery time is suggested. An extension to the situation with information of orders in queue is also discussed. Numerical examples show that the suggested decision performs well. The expected value of additional information, which measures the maximum amount a decision maker is willing to pay for knowledge of true distribution information, is small, and that further demonstrates the worthiness of the suggested robust decision.
PROJECTION METHOD FOR UNCERTAIN MULTI-ATTRIBUTE DECISION MAKING WITH PREFERENCE INFORMATION ON ALTERNATIVES
Authors: XU ZESHUI , DA QINGLI
Published: September 2004

In this paper, we study the uncertain multiple attribute decision making problems with preference information on alternatives (UMADM-PIA, for short), in which the information on attribute weights is not precisely known, but value ranges can be obtained. A projection method is proposed for the UMADM-PIA. To reflect the decision maker's preference information, a projection model is established to determine the weights of attributes, and then to select the most desirable alternative(s). The method can reflect both the objective information and the decision maker's subjective preferences, and can also be performed on computer easily. Finally, an illustrative example is given to verify the proposed method and to demonstrate its feasibility and practicality.
HANDLING IMPERFECT USER STATEMENTS IN REAL-LIFE DECISION ANALYSIS
Authors: DANIELSON MATS
Published: September 2004

Using established techniques from operations research (linear programming) and well-known measures of probability and value, we present a computational representation and evaluation of imperfect, imprecise user statements in decision analysis. The presentation starts with the structure of a decision problem and a model of the situation is discussed. The courses of action are represented by consequence sets in the decision structure. Statements could have an interval form to reflect the translation of the imperfect input data.

Statistical decision theory is utilized to discriminate between alternatives. Dealing with imprecise statements means encountering decision situations where different alternatives are to prefer in different parts of the consistent solution space to the constraints. Consequently, selection rules based on traditional admissibility are not enough to indicate preferred choices. New admissibility concepts and a procedure for analyzing such situations are discussed. An algorithm for optimizing bilinear functions that does not even require LP is presented.
MODELING INTERACTIVE MEMEX-LIKE APPLICATIONS BASED ON SELF-MODIFIABLE PETRI NETS
Authors: GUAN SHENG-UEI , LIU WEI
Published: September 2004

This paper introduces an interactive Memex-like application using a self-modifiable Petri Net model — Self-modifiable Color Petri Net (SCPN). The Memex ("memory extender") device proposed by Vannevar Bush in 1945 focused on the problems of "locating relevant information in the published records and recording how that information is intellectually connected". The important features of Memex include associative indexing and retrieval. In this paper, the self-modifiable functions of SCPN are used to achieve trail recording and retrieval. A place in SCPN represents a website and an arc indicates the trail direction. Each time when a new website is visited, a place corresponding to this website will be added. After a trail is built, users can use it to retrieve the websites they have visited. Besides, useful user interactions are supported by SCPN to achieve Memex functions. The types of user interactions include the following — forward, backward, history, search, etc. A simulator has been built to demonstrate that the SCPN model can realize Memex functions. Petri net instances can be designed to model trail record, back, and forward operations using this simulator. Furthermore, a client-server based application system has been built. Using this system, a user can surf online and record his surfing history on the server according to different topics and share them with other users.
A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR SUPPLIER SELECTION PROCESS
Authors: ONESIME OBOULHAS CONRAD TSAHAT , XU XIAOFEI , ZHAN DECHEN
Published: September 2004

Today's global business environment, characterized by unprecedented competitive pressures and sophisticated customers that demand speedy solution creates a bigger set of potential suppliers to evaluate and to choose from. To deal with the complexities of the supplier selection process, an integration of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Preemptive Goal Programming (PGP) techniques is proposed. A QFD matrix is used to display the degree of relationship between each pair of requirement for suppliers and supplier evaluating criterion. This paper employs the AHP first to measure the relative importance weighting for each of the requirements in the QFD process. Secondly, it is used to assess the evaluating score for each of the candidate suppliers for each particular supplier-evaluating criterion. PGP is built to deal with some suppliers' constraints such that the total value of purchase (TVP) becomes maximum and the total cost of purchase (TCP) minimum.
TRANSFORMING FROM A RESEARCHER INTO A LEADER IN HIGH-TECH INDUSTRIES
Authors: CHIANGLIN CHIEH-YOW , CHEN JOENG-SHEIN , YU PO LUNG
Published: September 2004

In this article, we show that, in high-tech industries, there are significant differences in the Habitual Domains (HD) of technologists/researchers (T/R) and managers/leaders (M/L). The differences are measured specifically in the following: characteristics, attitudes toward career and life, perception of business problems, business competences and resources. We then describe how a T/R can effectively transform himself/herself into a successful M/L, by transforming his/her HD closer to that of a successful M/L.
PATTERNHUNTER II: HIGHLY SENSITIVE AND FAST HOMOLOGY SEARCH
Authors: LI MING , MA BIN , KISMAN DEREK , TROMP JOHN
Published: September 2004

Extending the single optimized spaced seed of PatternHunter20 to multiple ones, PatternHunter II simultaneously remedies the lack of sensitivity of Blastn and the lack of speed of Smith–Waterman, for homology search. At Blastn speed, PatternHunter II approaches Smith–Waterman sensitivity, bringing homology search methodology research back to a full circle.
RECONSTRUCTING GENETIC NETWORKS FROM TIME ORDERED GENE EXPRESSION DATA USING BAYESIAN METHOD WITH GLOBAL SEARCH ALGORITHM
Authors: WANG SUN-CHONG
Published: September 2004

Different genes of an organism are expressed to different levels at different times during the life cycle and in response to various environmental stresses. Elucidating the network of gene-gene interactions responsible for the expression helps understand living processes. Microarray technology allows concurrent genomic scale measurement of an organism's mRNA levels. We describe a power-law formalism to model the combinatorial effect of regulators on gene transcription. The dynamic model allows delayed transcription. We employ a principled network reconstruction approach that accounts for the high noise and low replicate characteristics of present day microarray data. An important feature of our approach is that the detail of the reconstructed network is limited to the noise level of the data. We apply the methodology to a microarray dataset of yeast cells grown in glucose and experiencing a diauxic transition upon glucose depletion. The reconstructed transcriptional regulations of yeast glycolytic genes are consistent with published findings.
SUPERSEQUENCES OF MASKS FOR OLIGO-CHIPS
Authors: GUÉNOCHE A.
Published: September 2004

On a very small surface, a chip, several thousands of oligonucleotides, can be synthesized using a mask technology. Given a set of oligos, the problems tackled here are:

• What is the minimum number of masks necessary to synthesize one copy of each oligo?

• How long will be the series of masks if each oligo is synthesized twice, such that the two copies are realized with two completely different series of masks?

We establish that, for 20,000 oligos of 20 bases a single copy can be synthesized with around 67 masks and for two copies with less than the double.
CooPPS: A SYSTEM FOR THE COOPERATIVE PREDICTION OF PROTEIN STRUCTURES
Authors: PALOPOLI LUIGI , TERRACINA GIORGIO
Published: September 2004

Predicting the three-dimensional structure of proteins is a difficult task. In the last few years several approaches have been proposed for performing this task taking into account different protein chemical and physical properties. As a result, a growing number of protein structure prediction tools is becoming available, some of them specialized to work on either some aspects of the predictions or on some categories of proteins; however, they are still not sufficiently accurate and reliable for predicting all kinds of proteins. In this context, it is useful to jointly apply different prediction tools and combine their results in order to improve the quality of the predictions. However, several problems have to be solved in order to make this a viable possibility. In this paper a framework and a tool is proposed which allows: (i) definition of a common reference applicative domain for different prediction tools; (ii) characterization of prediction tools through evaluating some quality parameters; (iii) characterization of the performances of a team of predictors jointly applied over a prediction problem; (iv) the singling out of the best team for a prediction problem; and (v) the integration of predictor results in the team in order to obtain a unique prediction. A system implementing the various steps of the proposed framework (CooPPS) has been developed and several experiments for testing the effectiveness of the proposed approach have been carried out.
PROTEIN CLASSIFICATION USING COMPARATIVE MOLECULAR INTERACTION PROFILE ANALYSIS SYSTEM
Authors: HAYASHI YOSHIHARU , KOBAYASHI MIME , SAKAGUCHI KATSUYOSHI , IWATA NAO , KOBAYASHI MASAKI , KIKUCHI YO , TAKAHASHI YOSHIMASA
Published: September 2004

We recently introduced a new molecular description factor, interaction profile Factor (IPF) that is useful for evaluating molecular interactions. IPF is a data set of interaction energies calculated by the Comparative Molecular Interaction Profile Analysis system (CoMIPA). CoMIPA utilizes AutoDock 3.0 docking program, and the system has shown to be a powerful tool in clustering the interacting properties between small molecules and proteins. In this report, we describe the application of CoMIPA for protein clustering. A sample set of 15 proteins that share less than 20% homology and have no common functional motifs in primary structure were chosen. Using CoMIPA, we were able to cluster proteins that bound to the same small molecule. Other structural homology-based clustering programs such as PSI-BLAST or PFAM were unable to achieve the same classification. The results are striking because it is difficult to find any common features in the active sites of these proteins that share the same ligand. CoMIPA adds new dimensions for protein classification and has the potential to be a helpful tool in predicting and analyzing molecular interactions.