Abstract intelligence: Embodying and enabling cognitive systems by mathematical engineering

Basic studies in denotational mathematics and mathematical engineering have led to the theory of abstract intelligence (aI), which is a set of mathematical models of natural and computational intelligence in cognitive informatics (CI) and cognitive computing (CC). Abstract intelligence triggers the recent breakthroughs in cognitive systems such as cognitive computers, cognitive robots, cognitive neural networks, and cognitive learning. This paper reports a set of position statements presented in the plenary panel (Part II) of IEEE ICCI*CC’16 on Cognitive Informatics and Cognitive Computing at Stanford University. The summary is contributed by invited panelists who are part of the world’s renowned scholars in the transdisciplinary field of CI and CC

A classification framework for software requirements prioritization approaches

The task of eliciting requirements has became extremely difficult because stakeholders have different perspectives on an expectation on a system. Besides, the time to obtain the final product is limited. To overcome this situation, a requirements ranking may help in planning releases by indicating which functions are critical and which ones can be added, and in what order, over successive releases. The prioritizing process must hold stakeholder satisfaction considering high-priority requirements first. However, practical experience shows that prioritizing requirements is not as straightforward task as the literature suggests. Considering that, this paper has two goals: the first one is to present a classification framework for software requirements prioritization approaches (emphasizing differences and similarities among eleven selected approaches); and the second one is to show the approaches' weaknesses and to propose possible improvements for future research on this line

Classifying software requirement prioritization approaches

Defining software requirements is a complex and difficult process, which often leads to costly project failures. Requirements emerge from a collaborative and interactive negotiation process that involves heterogeneous stakeholders (people involved in an elicitation process such as users, analysts, developers, and customers). Practical experience shows that prioritizing requirements is not as straightforward task as the literature suggests. A process for prioritizing requirements must not only be simple and fast, but it must obtain trustworthy results. The objective of this paper is to provide a classification framework to characterize prioritization proposals. We highlight differences among eleven selected approaches by emphasizing their most important featuresII Workshop de Ingeniería de Software y Bases de Datos (WISBD)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Factors affecting continued usage intention of electronic government among public servants in Iraq

Electronic government (eG) system has become an important component of Information and Communication Technology provided by governments to facilitate all the transactions. This system has gained the popularity in developed and developing countries alike. Due to the inconsistency of the findings regarding the antecedents and consequences of usage behaviour of eG services, this study attempted to further explain this phenomenon in an unstable environment. Specifically, this study attempted to investigate the mediating role of Usage Behaviour on the relationships between the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use Technology (UTAUT) antecedents and Continued Usage Intention. Additionally, this study attempted to investigate the moderating effect of Perceived Intensity of Civil Conflict (PICC) on the relationship between Usage Behaviour and Continued Usage Intention. In the relevant past literature, many theories have emphasized the necessity to establish the fit between various factors and Usage issues as the key success factor. However, this study integrated many theories such as the Expectation-Confirmation Theory, Conflict Theory, and UTAUT to examine the effect of various factors on Usage Behaviour and Continued Usage Intention of eG. To examine the hypothesized model, the data for this study were collected from the employees in the public universities. Out of 700 questionnaires distributed, 436 usable questionnaires were returned. This study employed the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to confirm the validity and reliability of the measurement model and to examine the structural relationships. The findings of the study confirmed the positive influence of Effort Expectancy, Performance Expectancy and Facilitating Conditions on the Usage Behaviour. In addition, the results supported the strong positive influence of usage behaviour on continued usage intention. While the moderating effect of PICC was not supported, usage behaviour was found to have a significant power to explain the effect of UTAUT variables on continued usage intention

When technology cares for people with dementia:A critical review using neuropsychological rehabilitation as a conceptual framework

Clinicians and researchers have become increasingly interested in the potential of technology in assisting persons with dementia (PwD). However, several issues have emerged in relation to how studies have conceptualized who the main technology user is (PwD/carer), how technology is used (as compensatory, environment modification, monitoring or retraining tool), why it is used (i.e., what impairments and/or disabilities are supported) and what variables have been considered as relevant to support engagement with technology. In this review we adopted a Neuropsychological Rehabilitation perspective to analyse 253 studies reporting on technological solutions for PwD. We analysed purposes/uses, supported impairments and disabilities and how engagement was considered. Findings showed that the most frequent purposes of technology use were compensation and monitoring, supporting orientation, sequencing complex actions and memory impairments in a wide range of activities. The few studies that addressed the issue of engagement with technology considered how the ease of use, social appropriateness, level of personalization, dynamic adaptation and carers' mediation allowed technology to adapt to PWD's and carers' preferences and performance. Conceptual and methodological tools emerged as outcomes of the analytical process, representing an important contribution to understanding the role of technologies to increase PwD's wellbeing and orient future research.University of Huddersfield, under grants URF301-01 and URF506-01

Seven HCI Grand Challenges

This article aims to investigate the Grand Challenges which arise in the current and emerging landscape of rapid technological evolution towards more intelligent interactive technologies, coupled with increased and widened societal needs, as well as individual and collective expectations that HCI, as a discipline, is called upon to address. A perspective oriented to humane and social values is adopted, formulating the challenges in terms of the impact of emerging intelligent interactive technologies on human life both at the individual and societal levels. Seven Grand Challenges are identified and presented in this article: Human-Technology Symbiosis; Human-Environment Interactions; Ethics, Privacy and Security; Well-being, Health and Eudaimonia; Accessibility and Universal Access; Learning and Creativity; and Social Organization and Democracy. Although not exhaustive, they summarize the views and research priorities of an international interdisciplinary group of experts, reflecting different scientific perspectives, methodological approaches and application domains. Each identified Grand Challenge is analyzed in terms of: concept and problem definition; main research issues involved and state of the art; and associated emerging requirements

Human Public-Key Encryption

This paper proposes a public-key cryptosystem and a short password encryption mode, where traditional hardness assumptions are replaced by specific refinements of the CAPTCHA concept called Decisional and Existential CAPTCHAs. The public-key encryption method, achieving 128-bit security, typically requires from the sender to solve one CAPTCHA. The receiver does not need to resort to any human aid. A second symmetric encryption method allows to encrypt messages using very short passwords shared between the sender and the receiver. Here, a simple 5-character alphanumeric password provides sufficient security for all practical purposes. We conjecture that the automatic construction of Decisional and Existential CAPTCHAs is possible and provide candidate ideas for their implementation

Agile development in cloud computing for eliciting non-functional requirements

Agile is a popular and growing software development methodology. In the agile methodology, requirements are refined based on collaborations with customers and team members. However, the agile process faces a lack of visibility across the development and delivery processes, has complex and disjointed development processes and lacks communication agility between disconnected owners, development teams, and users. Furthermore, Non-Functional Requirements (NFR) are ignored due to the nature of agile development that lacks knowledge of the user and developer about NFR. In addition, extraction of the NFR is difficult and this difficulty is increased because the agile methodology promotes change in requirement at any stage of the development. Cloud computing services have helped solve some of the issues in the agile process. However, to address the issues in agile development, this research developed a framework for Agile Development in Cloud Computing (ADCC) that uses the facilitation of cloud computing to solve the above-mentioned issues. An Automated NFR eXtraction (ANFRX) method was developed to extract NFR from the software requirement documents and interview notes wrote during requirement gathering. The ANFRX method exploited the semantic knowledge of words in the requirement to classify and extract the NFR. Furthermore, an NFR Elicitation (NFRElicit) approach was developed to help users and development teams in elicitation of NFR in cloud computing. NFRElicit approach used components such as an organization’s projects history, ANFRX method, software quality standards, and templates. The ADCC framework was evaluated by conducting a case study and industrial survey. The results of the case study showed that the use of ADCC framework facilitated the agile development process. In addition, the industrial survey results revealed that the ADCC framework had a positive significant impact on communication, development infrastructure provision, scalability, transparency and requirement engineering activities in agile development. The ANFRX method was evaluated by applying it on PROMISE-NFR dataset. ANFRX method improved 40% and 26% in terms of f-measure from the Cleland and Slankas studies, respectively. The NFRElicit approach was applied to eProcurement dataset and evaluated in terms of more “Successful”, less “Partial Success” and “Failure” to identify NFR in requirement sentences. The NFRElicit approach improved 11.36% and 2.27% in terms of increase in “Successful” NFR, decrease of 5.68% and 1.14% in terms of “Partial success” and decrease of 5.68% and 1.13% in terms of “Failure” from the Non-functional requirement, Elicitation, Reasoning and Validation (NERV) and Capturing, Eliciting and Predicting (CEP) methodologies, respectively. The findings have shown the process was able to elicit and extract NFR for agile development in cloud computing

El mundo de las ciencias de la complejidad

La situación es verdaderamente apasionante. Mientras que en el mundo llamado real –y entonces se hace referencia a dominios como la política, la economía, los conflictos militares y sociales, por ejemplo–, la percepción natural –digamos: de los medios y la opinión pública– es que el país y el mundo se encuentran en condiciones difíciles; en algunos casos, dramática; y en muchas ocasiones trágica, en el campo del progreso del conocimiento asistimos a una magnífica vitalidad. Esta vitalidad se expresa en la ciencia de punta y, notablemente, en las ciencias de la complejidad. Mientras que la ciencia normal –para volver a la expresión de Kuhn– se encuentra literalmente a la defensiva en numerosos campos, temas y problemas –digamos, a la defensiva con respecto al decurso de los acontecimientos y a las dinámicas del mundo contemporáneo–, en el contexto del estudio de los sistemas complejos adaptativos asistimos a una vitalidad que es prácticamente desconocida para la corriente principal de académicos –independientemente de los niveles en los que trabajan–, de científicos, de administradores de educación y de ciencia y tecnología (por ejemplo rectores, vicerrectores, decanos, directores de departamentos, tomadores de decisión, políticos y gobernantes). La corriente principal del conocimiento (mainstream) desconoce una circunstancia, un proceso, una dinámica que sí es conocida por parte de quienes trabajan e investigan activamente en el campo de las ciencias de la complejidad