Increasing Reliability and Efficiency via Distributed Data Dissemination

As enterprises become more distributed, disseminating data in a timely manner between nodes of the enterprise becomes increasingly critical to doing business. Peer-to- peer technologies are one promising avenue for disseminating data to distributed nodes, while also limiting performance impact. This paper discusses Project MONSOON, a system which seeks to develop reliable and efficient distributed data dissemination within an enterprise, while also preserving data integrity. This paper discusses the motivation for developing the Project MONSOON system and the architecture behind it. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that the peer-to-peer approach not only increases performance as more nodes are added, but the overall reliability of the network is increased as additional nodes participate in the dissemination. This conclusion is reinforced by simulations presented in this paper

Sensing cognitive multitasking for a brain-based adaptive user interface

Multitasking has become an integral part of work environments, even though people are not well-equipped cognitive-ly to handle numerous concurrent tasks effectively. Systems that support such multitasking may produce better performance and less frustration. However, without understanding the user's internal processes, it is difficult to determine optimal strategies for adapting interfaces, since all multitasking activity is not identical. We describe two experiments leading toward a system that detects cognitive multitasking processes and uses this information as input to an adaptive interface. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy sensors, we differentiate four cognitive multitasking processes. These states cannot readily be distinguished using behavioral measures such as response time, accuracy, keystrokes or screen contents. We then present our human-robot system as a proof-of-concept that uses real-time cognitive state information as input and adapts in response. This prototype system serves as a platform to study interfaces that enable better task switching, interruption management, and multitasking. Copyright 2011 ACM