The contribution of data mining to information science

The information explosion is a serious challenge for current information institutions. On the other hand, data mining, which is the search for valuable information in large volumes of data, is one of the solutions to face this challenge. In the past several years, data mining has made a significant contribution to the field of information science. This paper examines the impact of data mining by reviewing existing applications, including personalized environments, electronic commerce, and search engines. For these three types of application, how data mining can enhance their functions is discussed. The reader of this paper is expected to get an overview of the state of the art research associated with these applications. Furthermore, we identify the limitations of current work and raise several directions for future research

Evolution of NICNET as an incrementally intelligent network

The evolution of NICNET, the Computer-Communication network of the National Informatics Centre, is so oriented that integration and globalization are progessively implemented utilizing the latest cost-effective technologies available In the international market. With the choice of SSMA/CDMA based VSAT technology utilizing a C-band transponder, during the nucleating stage of NICNET, the top 500 cities and towns in India have been linked apart from more than 100 sites of mega projects and economically important locations. In the next step, high speed SCPC based VSATs with two-way as well as data broadcast capabilities utilizing a Ku-band transpoder is enabling the realisation of the NICNET InfoHighway linking metropolises and big cities as an overlay network over tile low speed NICNET. Dedicated high speed external gateways provide initial infrastructure for globalization of NICNET. In the next phase, it is planned to introduce software based information networking architecture on NICNET for which the concept of structure-function matrix based incrementally intelligent network design is proposed in this paper. As the demand for sophisticated services like CUGs, virtual private network Service, universal personal communications, mobile communication and multimedia services increase, NICNET will be required to respond with more flexible access, intelligent management and versatile charging regimes than what is possible currently, all within the frame-work of an open system architecture. Imperatives of globalization and service creation will be rendered incrementally intelligent utilising an approach based on intelligent hypermedia with imbedded expert system for realising intelligent navigation and integration. The same AI approach is determined to be advantageous for intelligent integration of traffic and facility with adaptive flexible routing. The design of NICNET as an intelligent global network providing a versatile local infrastructure with multiple gateway hooks to a global network employing low or medium earth orbiting satellite constellation, is identified as a desirable long term goal

The 1990 progress report and future plans

This document describes the progress and plans of the Artificial Intelligence Research Branch (RIA) at ARC in 1990. Activities span a range from basic scientific research to engineering development and to fielded NASA applications, particularly those applications that are enabled by basic research carried out at RIA. Work is conducted in-house and through collaborative partners in academia and industry. Our major focus is on a limited number of research themes with a dual commitment to technical excellence and proven applicability to NASA short, medium, and long-term problems. RIA acts as the Agency's lead organization for research aspects of artificial intelligence, working closely with a second research laboratory at JPL and AI applications groups at all NASA centers

Changing User Interests through Prior-Learning of Context

The paper presents an algorithm for learning drifting and recurring user interests. The algorithm uses a prior-learning level to find out the current context. After that, searches into past observations for episodes that are relevant to the current context, ‘remembers’ them and ‘forgets’ the irrelevant ones. Finally, the algorithm learns only from the selected relevant examples. The experiments conducted with a data set about calendar scheduling recommendations show that the presented algorithm improves significantly the predictive accuracy

Supporting Adaptive and Adaptable Hypermedia Presentation Semantics

Having the content of a presentation adapt to the needs, resources and prior activities of a user can be an important benefit of electronic documents. While part of this adaptation is related to the encodings of individual data streams, much of the adaptation can/should be guided by the semantics in and among the objects of the presentation. The semantics involved in having hypermedia presentations adapt can be divided between adaptive hypermedia, which adapts autonomously, and adaptable hypermedia, which requires presentationexternal intervention to be adapted. Understanding adaptive and adaptable hypermedia and the differences between them helps in determining the best manner with which to have a particular hypermedia implementation adapt to the varying circumstances of its presentation. The choice of which type of semantics to represent can affect speed of the database management system processing them. This paper reflects on research and implementation approaches toward both adaptive and adaptable hypermedia and how they apply to specifying the semantics involved in hypermedia authoring and processing. We look at adaptive approaches by considering CMIF and SMIL. The adaptable approaches are represented by the SGML-related collection of formats and the Standard Reference Model (SRM) for IPMS are also reviewed. Based on our experience with both adaptive and adaptable hypermedia, we offer recommendations on how each approach can be supported at the data storage level

Scalable Intelligence for Scheduling Systems

A personalização é um aspeto chave de uma interação homem-computador efetiva. Numa era em que existe uma abundância de informação e tantas pessoas a interagir com ela, de muitas maneiras, a capacidade de se ajustar aos seus utilizadores é crucial para qualquer sistema moderno. A criação de sistemas adaptáveis é um domínio bastante complexo que necessita de métodos muito específicos para ter sucesso. No entanto, nos dias de hoje ainda não existe um modelo ou arquitetura padrão para usar nos sistemas adaptativos modernos. A principal motivação desta tese é a proposta de uma arquitetura para modelação do utilizador que seja capaz de incorporar diferentes módulos necessários para criar um sistema com inteligência escalável com técnicas de modelação. Os módulos cooperam de forma a analisar os utilizadores e caracterizar o seu comportamento, usando essa informação para fornecer uma experiência de sistema customizada que irá aumentar não só a usabilidade do sistema mas também a produtividade e conhecimento do utilizador. A arquitetura proposta é constituída por três componentes: uma unidade de informação do utilizador, uma estrutura matemática capaz de classificar os utilizadores e a técnica a usar quando se adapta o conteúdo. A unidade de informação do utilizador é responsável por conhecer os vários tipos de indivíduos que podem usar o sistema, por capturar cada detalhe de interações relevantes entre si e os seus utilizadores e também contém a base de dados que guarda essa informação. A estrutura matemática é o classificador de utilizadores, e tem como tarefa a sua análise e classificação num de três perfis: iniciado, intermédio ou avançado. Tanto as redes de Bayes como as neuronais são utilizadas, e uma explicação de como as preparar e treinar para lidar com a informação do utilizador é apresentada. Com o perfil do utilizador definido torna-se necessária uma técnica para adaptar o conteúdo do sistema. Nesta proposta, uma abordagem de iniciativa mista é apresentada tendo como base a liberdade de tanto o utilizador como o sistema controlarem a comunicação entre si. A arquitetura proposta foi desenvolvida como parte integrante do projeto ADSyS - um sistema de escalonamento dinâmico - utilizado para resolver problemas de escalonamento sujeitos a eventos dinâmicos. Possui uma complexidade elevada mesmo para utilizadores frequentes, daí a necessidade de adaptar o seu conteúdo de forma a aumentar a sua usabilidade. Com o objetivo de avaliar as contribuições deste trabalho, um estudo computacional acerca do reconhecimento dos utilizadores foi desenvolvido, tendo por base duas sessões de avaliação de usabilidade com grupos de utilizadores distintos. Foi possível concluir acerca dos benefícios na utilização de técnicas de modelação do utilizador com a arquitetura proposta.Personalization is a key aspect of effective Human-Computer Interaction. The ability to adjust itself to its users is crucial to any modern system, in an era where there is so much information and so many people interacting in so many ways. The creation of adaptable systems is a complex domain that requires very specific methods in order to be successful. However, still today there is no standard model or architecture to use on a modern adaptive system. The main motivation of this dissertation is to propose an architecture for user modelling that is able to incorporate separate modules required to create a scalable intelligence system with user modelling techniques. The modules cooperate in order to analyse users and characterize their behaviour, using that information to provide a customized system experience that will increase not only the usability of the system but also the user’s productivity and knowledge. The proposed architecture is composed by three components: a user information unit, a mathematical structure able to classify users and the technique to use when adapting content. The user information unit is responsible for knowing the several types of individuals that can use the system, for capturing every part of relevant interaction between itself and its users and also contains the database which stores that information. The mathematical structure is the user classifier and is in charge of analysing the users and classifying them into one of three roles: beginner, intermediate or expert. Both Bayesian and Artificial Neural Networks are used, and an explanation on how to prepare and train them to deal with user information is provided. With the user role defined, a proper technique to adapt system’s content is required. In this work, a Mixed-Initiative approach is detailed which is based on allowing both the user and the system to gain control in the communication between them. The proposed architecture was developed as part of the ADSyS project. ADSyS is a Dynamic Scheduling system to solve scheduling problems subject to dynamic events. It has a high complexity even for frequent users, hence the need for the adaptation of its content to increase its usability. In order to evaluate the contribution of this work, a computational study of the user recognition was developed, as well as two usability evaluation sessions with distinct users. It was possible to conclude about the benefits of employing user modelling techniques with the proposed architecture

Distributed multimedia systems

A distributed multimedia system (DMS) is an integrated communication, computing, and information system that enables the processing, management, delivery, and presentation of synchronized multimedia information with quality-of-service guarantees. Multimedia information may include discrete media data, such as text, data, and images, and continuous media data, such as video and audio. Such a system enhances human communications by exploiting both visual and aural senses and provides the ultimate flexibility in work and entertainment, allowing one to collaborate with remote participants, view movies on demand, access on-line digital libraries from the desktop, and so forth. In this paper, we present a technical survey of a DMS. We give an overview of distributed multimedia systems, examine the fundamental concept of digital media, identify the applications, and survey the important enabling technologies.published_or_final_versio

Collaboration in the Semantic Grid: a Basis for e-Learning

The CoAKTinG project aims to advance the state of the art in collaborative mediated spaces for the Semantic Grid. This paper presents an overview of the hypertext and knowledge based tools which have been deployed to augment existing collaborative environments, and the ontology which is used to exchange structure, promote enhanced process tracking, and aid navigation of resources before, after, and while a collaboration occurs. While the primary focus of the project has been supporting e-Science, this paper also explores the similarities and application of CoAKTinG technologies as part of a human-centred design approach to e-Learning