Computing

Using complex adaptive systems and technology to analyse the strength of processes and cultural indicators: a method to improve sustained competitive advantage

E Ehmann et al. — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 02:29:29 PDT

This paper generalises and strengthens the investigation of capturing intangible data for the benefit of organisations encouraging learning environments and self-organisation practices. It suggests current technological and algorithmic analysis may aid an organisation’s quest for sustained competitive advantage through the identification of previously unobservable data including cultural nuances. However, the implementation of such an approach presents challenges of which we summarise in our conclusion.

A case study using a methodological approach to developing user interfaces for elderly and disabled people

Rich Picking et al. — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 01:54:15 PDT

In this paper, we present a case study on the development of interfaces for elderly and disabled users. The domain of the case study was situated in the home environment, where we focused on producing affordable technologies to enable users to interact with and to control home appliances. We have developed ambient user interfaces that are integrated in familiar home artefacts, such as televisions and digital picture frames. These interfaces are connected remotely to a home network and are adaptive to users’ expected increasing physical and cognitive needs. To support the development of the project, we created a novel methodology that is grounded in the ethical issues associated with a project of this nature. Our success with it has led to us presenting it here as a practical approach to developing user interfaces for a range of interactive applications, especially where there may be diverse user populations. This paper describes our journey through this project, how the methodology has been used throughout and the development of our user interfaces and their evaluation.

Approach of a UML Profile for Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC)

Christian Benjamin Ries et al. — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 01:35:34 PDT

Despite the current enormous hype and popularity of Grid Computing environments like Amazons EC2 or Microsoft’s Windows Azure, there exist open-source and free of cost software frameworks which allow to create high performance computing installation by means of Public Resource Computing (PRC). One PRC framework is BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing) for solving large scale and complex computational problems. Each computer works on its own workunits independently from each other and sends back its result to a project server. Installing, configuring, and maintaining a BOINC based project however is a highly sophisticated task.

Scientists and developers need a lot of experience regarding the underlying communication and operating system technologies, even if only a handful of BOINC related functions are actually needed for most applications. In this paper we present a Unified Modeling Language (UML) profile for BOINC called Visu@lGrid profile (VGP). A BOINC project installation for one or more hosts, a role-based access control, and modeling of scientific application is feasible by use of VGP. Based on our approach we provide a specification that allows the creation of BOINC projects with less development and implementation effort.

Simplicity, consistency, universality, flexibility and familiarity: the SCUFF principles for developing user interfaces for ambient computer systems

Rich Picking et al. — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 08:58:12 PDT

This paper describes the user interface design, and subsequent usability evaluation of the EU FP6 funded Easyline+ project, which involved the development of ambient assistive technology to support elderly and disabled people in their interaction with kitchen appliances. During this process, established usability design guidelines and principles were considered. The authors’ analysis of the applicability of these has led to the development of a new set of principles, specifically for the design of ambient computer systems. This set of principles is referred to as SCUFF, an acronym for simplicity, consistency, universality, flexibility and familiarity. These evaluations suggest that adoption of the SCUFF principles was successful for the Easyline+ project, and that they can be used for other ambient technology projects, either as complementary to, or as an alternative to more generic and partially relevant principles.

Optimization of delays experienced by packets due to ACLs within a domain

John N. Davies et al. — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:58:48 PDT

The infrastructure of large networks is broken down into areas that have a common security policy called a domain. Security within a domain is commonly implemented at all nodes however this has a negative effect on performance since it introduces a delay associated with packet filtering. Recommended techniques for network design imply that every packet should be checked at the first possible ingress points of the network. When access control lists (ACL's) are used within a router for this purpose then there can be a significant overhead associated with this process. The purpose of this paper is to consider the effect of delays when using router operating systems offering different levels of functionality. It considers factors which contribute to the delay particularly due to ACL. Using theoretical principles modified by practical calculation a model is created for packet delay for all nodes across a given path in a domain.

Psychology of Game Design: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards

Ian Sturrock et al. — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 08:51:40 PDT

In this paper, I take an overview of the convergence between psychology and game design, particularly the use of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards in game design.

E-Government vs. Ordinary Bureaucratic Government: A Comparative Study

Mohammad Rabiul Bashar et al. — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 03:59:03 PDT

In this century, e-government is drawing significant attention especially in administration and business and in other service organizations. This paper attempts to clarify the terms e-government, e-governance and bureaucratic government. It also pays the attention to establish the relationship between e-government and bureaucratic government, contrasts them and tries to clearly picturize each other. Both E-government and e-governance are based on ICTs whereas bureaucracy’s base concerns traditional pen-paper and hard-and-fast rigid rules and regulations. The authors finally found e-government more effective, efficient, and mature and time oriented. On the other hand, bureaucratic form takes care of inflexible constitution and it is afraid of change with time. However, the modified e-bureaucratic form was found to be better than ordinary bureaucratic one to replace its former version. This paper also searches for frameworks and adoption of e-government in this present time. Although e-government engulfs huge money in its initial stage for installation, it gives birth of huge benefits as compared to those from bureaucratic one in the long run.

Performance Evaluation of The Split Transmission in Multihop Wireless Networks

W Tu et al. — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 07:28:36 PDT

Multimedia applications in multihop wireless networks have great market potential. Multiple channels and multiple radios are commonly used to explore multimedia transmissions in multihop wireless networks. Split transmission allows multiple channels attached to different radios to be used simultaneously, and so to achieve a fundamentally improved transmission capacity. The goal of this paper is to present a theoretical background to justify the improved performance of split transmission. We theoretically study and derive formulae to study the improvement in worst-case delay, average throughput and average delay jitter when using split transmission as opposed to non-split transmission. We believe that this is the first attempt to consider split transmission in theory.

The Easyline+ Project: Evaluation of a User Interface Developed to Enhance Independent Living of Elderly and Disabled people

Rich Picking et al. — Mon, 28 May 2012 04:03:54 PDT

This paper reports the usability evaluation of interfaces developed to enable elderly and disabled people interact remotely with kitchen appliances in the home to enhance their independent living. A number of evaluation exercises were undertaken throughout the project’s development, including user-participative workshops and focus groups. This paper focuses on the summative usability evaluation exercise, which comprised a laboratory-based study in a simulated home environment, with a view to determining the appropriateness of employing this approach with potentially vulnerable participants. The study involved 27 participants interacting with the user interface. Their behaviour was observed and recorded, and their interaction with the system was analysed. They were also given a post-session questionnaire, where their opinions of the usability of the interface were solicited. The results of the usability testing were positive, and insight has been gained into how products of this nature can be further improved. The experience of conducting laboratory-based studies with vulnerable users was positive and led to propose in this paper a set of guidelines for future work in evaluating usability for work in this domain.

A Review of the Design Issues and Techniques for Radial-Flux Brushless Surface and Internal Rare-Earth Permanent Magnet Motors

D Dorrell et al. — Wed, 23 May 2012 07:14:56 PDT

This paper reviews many design issues and analysis techniques for the brushless permanent-magnet machine. It reviews the basic requirements for the use of both ac and dc machines and issues concerning the selection of pole number, winding layout, rotor topology, drive strategy, field weakening, and cooling. These are key issues in the design of a motor. Leading-edge design techniques are illustrated. This paper is aimed as a tutor for motor designers who may be unfamiliar with this particular type of machine.

Rule Dependencies in Access Control Lists

Vic Grout et al. — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 08:21:06 PST

This paper considers the effects of dependencies between rules in Access Control Lists (ACLs). Dependent rules may not be reordered in an ACL if the policies of the list are to be preserved. This is an obstacle to the optimisation of rule order intended to reduce the time taken matching packets against rules. In this paper, the concept of rule dependency is defined in relation to the problem of minimising processing latency. The concepts of dependence and possible dependence are introduced and the relationship between them considered. Two measures of dependency, the dependency index and the fragmented dependency index are defined and formulated and an upper bound for each is derived. Examples of real-world ACLs are studied and the implications for practical optimisation discussed.

Practical Large-Scale Network Design with Variable Costs for Links and Switches

Vic Grout et al. — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 07:35:08 PST

This paper considers communication network design problems that arise in the real world, with large numbers of nodes and link and switch costs dependent upon their traffic capacity. Such costs, in turn, depend upon network topology so are not fixed at the start of, or through, any optimisation process. Realistic topological restrictions are also discussed. The limitations of conventional approaches – both constructive and search based – are noted and the requirements of practical optimisation methods explored. Two workable approaches to network design - one an established local search variant, another a more novel geometric approach - are introduced. Five different algorithms, ranging from exhaustive search to fast heuristic are compared with experimental results given in conclusion.

Simplicity, consistency, universality and familiarity: applying ‘SCUF’ principles to technology for assisted living

Rich Picking et al. — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 04:20:37 PST

This paper describes the user interface design, and subsequent usability evaluation of assistive technology to support elderly and disabled people in their interaction with kitchen appliances in their homes. We have applied the four design principles of simplicity, consistency, universality and familiarity to a range of devices that can be used within the home environment. Our evaluations suggest that this approach has been successful.

Complexity Issues in Control Software Design: A practical perspective

Stuart Cunningham et al. — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 03:05:21 PST

There is a tendency to overlook or play down software issues in industrial systems design. However the very best hardware will only be as effective as the programs that control it. The search for a software solution to a problem should not stop with the discovery of the first approach that works, or appears to work. Many problems support good and bad methods of solution and determining the best often requires deeper consideration. In this paper we present some rudimentary introductions and examples of common computational challenges. We aim to highlight key issues for consideration when implementing control systems which otherwise might be unintentionally overlooked.

Spanning Tree Objective Functions and Algorithms for Wireless Networks

Mike J. Morgan et al. — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 06:40:05 PST

This paper considers various forms of objective function that may be applied in the calculation of spanning trees in different network situations. Conventional link and path cost approaches are compared to those based on switch or bridge costs more appropriate for wireless applications. Variant objectives are formulated and compared. Although efficient exact algorithmic approaches exist only for the link cost objectives, reasonable approximations for the switch/bridge equivalents are to be found with simple greedy heuristics and better results still through various forms of iterated local search such as tabu search and simulated annealing.

Realistic Large-Scale Network Optimisation

Vic Grout et al. — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 03:17:04 PST

This paper considers communication network design problems that arise in the real world, with large numbers of nodes - and link and switch costs dependent upon their traffic capacity. Such costs, in turn, depend upon network topology so are not fixed at the start of, or through, any optimisation process. Realistic topological restrictions are also discussed. The limitations of conventional approaches – both constructive and search based – are noted and the requirements of practical optimisation methods explored. Two workable approaches to network design - one an established local search variant, another a more novel geometric approach – are introduced and combined. Various simple and compound algorithms, ranging from exhaustive search to fast heuristic are compared with experimental results given in conclusion.

Remote-Controlled Home Automation Systems with Different Network Technologies

Armando Roy Delgado et al. — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 02:12:43 PST

This paper describes an investigation into the potential for remote controlled operation of home automation systems. It considers problems with their implementation, discusses possible solutions through various network technologies and indicates how to optimize the use of such systems. The home is an eternal, heterogeneous, distributed computing environment, which certainly requires a careful study before developing any suitable Home Automation System (HAS) that will accomplish its requirements. Nevertheless the latest attempts at introducing Home Automation Systems in actual homes for all kinds of users are starting to be successful thanks to the continuous standardization process that is lowering the prices and making devices more useful and easier to use for the end user. Even so several important issues are always to be handled strictly before developing and installing a Home Automation System; factors like security, reliability, usefulness, robustness and price are critical to determine if the final product will accomplish the expected requirements.

Optimisation Techniques for Wireless Networks

Mike J. Morgan et al. — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 01:59:42 PST

This paper introduces two new algorithms for the minimum connected dominating set problem. The problem and its relevance to various aspects of wireless network optimisation are briefly outlined followed by a description of the suggested techniques. Results show that these algorithms outperform a number of previous approaches in terms of solution quality and potential for future work is discussed.

Emotion, Content & Context in Sound and Music

Stuart Cunningham et al. — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 07:37:55 PST

Computer game sound is particularly dependent upon the use of both sound artefacts and music. Sound and music are media rich in information. Audio and music processing can be approached from a range of perspectives which may or may not consider the meaning and purpose of this information. Computer music and digital audio are being advanced through investigations into emotion, content analysis, and context, and this chapter attempts to highlight the value of considering the information content present in sound, the context of the user being exposed to the sound, and the emotional reactions and interactions that are possible between the user and game sound. We demonstrate that by analysing the information present within media and considering the applications and purpose of a particular type of information, developers can improve user experiences and reduce overheads while creating more suitable, efficient applications. Some illustrated examples of our research projects that employ these theories are provided. Although the examples of research and development applications are not always examples from computer game sound, they can be related back to computer games. We aim to stimulate the reader’s imagination and thought in these areas, rather than attempt to drive the reader down one particular path.

Virtual Backbone Configuration in Wireless Mesh Networks

Mike Morgan et al. — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 06:38:23 PST

This paper introduces methods for the minimisation of virtual backbone size in wireless mesh networks, subject to practical constraints. The methods are centralised, which limits their usage to static applications. Four algorithms are presented, one exact and three heuristic. The exact method guarantees to find an optimal solution but runs in exponential time. Of the three heuristics, one is shown to match the performance of the optimal algorithm for all problem instances tested. The problem is constrained to introduce potentially massive levels of redundancy into the network topology, making the designs survivable.