A software toolkit for web-based virtual environments based on a shared database

We propose a software toolkit for developing complex web-based user interfaces, incorporating such things as multi-user facilities, virtual environments (VEs), and interface agents. The toolkit is based on a novel software architecture that combines ideas from multi-agent platforms and user interface (UI) architectures. It provides a distributed shared database with publish-subscribe facilities. This enables UI components to observe the state and activities of any other components in the system easily. The system runs in a web-based environment. The toolkit is comprised of several programming and other specification languages, providing a complete suite of systems design languages. We illustrate the toolkit by means of a couple of examples

The crustal dynamics intelligent user interface anthology

The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) has initiated an Intelligent Data Management (IDM) research effort which has, as one of its components, the development of an Intelligent User Interface (IUI). The intent of the IUI is to develop a friendly and intelligent user interface service based on expert systems and natural language processing technologies. The purpose of such a service is to support the large number of potential scientific and engineering users that have need of space and land-related research and technical data, but have little or no experience in query languages or understanding of the information content or architecture of the databases of interest. This document presents the design concepts, development approach and evaluation of the performance of a prototype IUI system for the Crustal Dynamics Project Database, which was developed using a microcomputer-based expert system tool (M. 1), the natural language query processor THEMIS, and the graphics software system GSS. The IUI design is based on a multiple view representation of a database from both the user and database perspective, with intelligent processes to translate between the views

Extending domain-specific modeling editors with multi-touch interactions

L'ingénierie dirigée par les modèles (MDE) est une méthodologie d'ingénierie logiciel qui permet aux ingénieurs de définir des modèles conceptuels pour un domaine spécifique. La MDE est supportée par des outils de modélisation, qui sont des éditeurs pour créer et manipuler des modèles spécifiques au domaine. Cependant, l'état actuel de la pratique de ces éditeurs de modélisation offre des interactions utilisateur très limitées, souvent restreintes à glisser-déposer en utilisant les mouvements de souris et les touches du clavier. Récemment, un nouveau cadre propose de spécifier explicitement les interactions utilisateur des éditeurs de modélisation. Dans cette thèse, nous étendons ce cadre pour supporter les interactions multitouches lors de la modélisation. Nous proposons un catalogue initial de gestes multitouches pour offrir une variété de gestes tactiles utiles. Nous démontrons comment notre approche est applicable pour générer des éditeurs de modélisation. Notre approche permet des interactions plus naturelles pour l'utilisateur quand il effectue des tâches de modélisation types.Model-driven engineering (MDE) is a software engineering methodology that enables engineers to define conceptual models for a specific domain. Modeling is supported by modeling language workbenches, acting as editor to create and manipulate domain-specific models. However, the current state of practice of these modeling editors offers very limited user interactions, often restricted to drag-and-drop with mouse movement and keystrokes. Recently, a novel framework proposes to explicitly specify the user interactions of modeling editors. In this thesis, we extend this framework to support multi-touch interactions when modeling. We propose an initial set of multi-touch gesture catalog to offer a variety of useful touch gestures. We demonstrate how our approach is applicable for generating modeling editors. Our approach yields more natural user interactions to perform typical modeling tasks

Behavior Trees in Robotics and AI: An Introduction

A Behavior Tree (BT) is a way to structure the switching between different tasks in an autonomous agent, such as a robot or a virtual entity in a computer game. BTs are a very efficient way of creating complex systems that are both modular and reactive. These properties are crucial in many applications, which has led to the spread of BT from computer game programming to many branches of AI and Robotics. In this book, we will first give an introduction to BTs, then we describe how BTs relate to, and in many cases generalize, earlier switching structures. These ideas are then used as a foundation for a set of efficient and easy to use design principles. Properties such as safety, robustness, and efficiency are important for an autonomous system, and we describe a set of tools for formally analyzing these using a state space description of BTs. With the new analysis tools, we can formalize the descriptions of how BTs generalize earlier approaches. We also show the use of BTs in automated planning and machine learning. Finally, we describe an extended set of tools to capture the behavior of Stochastic BTs, where the outcomes of actions are described by probabilities. These tools enable the computation of both success probabilities and time to completion

The COPD Knowledge Base: enabling data analysis and computational simulation in translational COPD research

Background Previously we generated a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) specific knowledge base (http://www.copdknowledgebase.eu) from clinical and experimental data, text-mining results and public databases. This knowledge base allowed the retrieval of specific molecular networks together with integrated clinical and experimental data. Results The COPDKB has now been extended to integrate over 40 public data sources on functional interaction (e.g. signal transduction, transcriptional regulation, protein-protein interaction, gene-disease association). In addition we integrated COPD-specific expression and co-morbidity networks connecting over 6 000 genes/proteins with physiological parameters and disease states. Three mathematical models describing different aspects of systemic effects of COPD were connected to clinical and experimental data. We have completely redesigned the technical architecture of the user interface and now provide html and web browser-based access and form-based searches. A network search enables the use of interconnecting information and the generation of disease-specific sub-networks from general knowledge. Integration with the Synergy-COPD Simulation Environment enables multi-scale integrated simulation of individual computational models while integration with a Clinical Decision Support System allows delivery into clinical practice. Conclusions The COPD Knowledge Base is the only publicly available knowledge resource dedicated to COPD and combining genetic information with molecular, physiological and clinical data as well as mathematical modelling. Its integrated analysis functions provide overviews about clinical trends and connections while its semantically mapped content enables complex analysis approaches. We plan to further extend the COPDKB by offering it as a repository to publish and semantically integrate data from relevant clinical trials. The COPDKB is freely available after registration at http://www.copdknowledgebase.eu

On the design of a multiagent user interface for Next Generation Geographic Information System

In this thesis, a multiagent user interface architecture is designed for the Next Generation Geographic Information System(NGGIS) which supports the following advanced features: multiple users, multiple views, direct manipulation, distribution, and intelligence. In this architecture, agent is a basic functional unit. Agents cooperate with each other by exchanging messages. The User is just a special agent who communicates with any other agents. The ShowCase and its cooperative agents are specialized to present the geographic objects in different views. The WorkShop and its cooperative agents provide a complete interface to allow the user to manipulate the GIS objects directly. The Monitor is specialized to enforce the semantic constrains and control the system consistency. The Interaction Expert interprets multimedia user input and generates multimedia output by driving other agents. The Selector is a cooperative agent of both WorkShop and ShowCase which allows users to select geographic objects with specific constraints

easyExon – A Java-based GUI tool for processing and visualization of Affymetrix exon array data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Alternative RNA splicing greatly increases proteome diversity and thereby contribute to species- or tissue-specific functions. The possibility to study alternative splicing (AS) events on a genomic scale using splicing-sensitive microarrays, including the Affymetrix GeneChip Exon 1.0 ST microarray (exon array), has appeared very recently. However, the application of this new technology is hindered by the lack of free and user-friendly software devoted to these novel platforms.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study we present a Java-based freeware, easyExon <url>http://microarray.ym.edu.tw/easyexon</url>, to process, filtrate and visualize exon array data with an analysis pipeline. This tool implements the most commonly used probeset summarization methods as well as AS-orientated filtration algorithms, e.g. MIDAS and PAC, for the detection of alternative splicing events. We include a biological filtration function according to GO terms, and provide a module to visualize and interpret the selected exons and transcripts. Furthermore, easyExon can integrate with other related programs, such as Integrate Genome Browser (IGB) and Affymetrix Power Tools (APT), to make the whole analysis more comprehensive. We applied easyExon on a public accessible colon cancer dataset as an example to illustrate the analysis pipeline of this tool.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>EasyExon can efficiently process and analyze the Affymetrix exon array data. The simplicity, flexibility and brevity of easyExon make it a valuable tool for AS event identification in genomic research.</p

Multi-user interface for co-located real-time work with digital mock-up: a way to foster collaboration?

Nowadays more and more industrial design activities adopt the strategy of Concurrent Engineering (CE), which changes the way to carry out all the activities along the product’s lifecycle from sequential to parallel. Various experts of different activities produce technical data using domain-specific software. To augment the interoperability among the technical data, a Digital Mock-Up (DMU), or a Building Information Model (BIM) in architectural engineering can be used. Through an appropriate Computer–Human Interface (CHI), each expert has his/her own point-of-view (POV) of a specific representation of DMU’s technical data according to an involved domain. When multiple experts work collaboratively in the same place and at the same time, the number of CHIs is also multiplied by the number of experts. Instead of multiple CHIs, therefore, a unique CHI should be developed to support the multiview and multi-interaction collaborative works. Our contributions in this paper are (a) a concept of a CHI system with multi-view and multi-interaction of DMU for multiple users in collaborative design; (b) a state of the art of multi-view and multi-interaction metaphors; (c) an experiment to evaluate a collaborative application using multi-view CHI. The experimental results indicate that, in multi-view CHI working condition, users are more efficient than in the other two working conditions (multiple CHIs and split view CHI). Moreover, in multi-view CHI working condition, the user, who is helping the other, takes less mutual awareness of where the other collaborator works than the other two working conditions.Bourse de thèse de CSC (China Scholarship Council