When immediate interactive feedback boosts optimization problem solving: a ‘human-in-the-loop’ approach for solving capacitated vehicle routing problems

In past, feedback in problem solving was found to improve human performance and focused mainly on learning applications. Interactive tools supporting decision-making and general problem-solving processes have long being developed to assist operations but not in optimization problem solving. Optimization problem solving is currently addressed within Operational Research (OR) through computational algorithms that aim to find the best solution in a problem (e.g. routing problem). Limited investigation there is on how computerized interactivity and metacognitive support (e.g. feedback and planning) can support optimization problem solving. This paper reports on human performance on Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problems (CVRPs) using paper-based problems and two different versions of an interactive computerized tool (one version with live explanatory and directive feedback alongside planning (strategy) support; one version without strategy support but with live explanatory feedback). Results suggest that human performance did not change when people were given paper-based post-problem feedback. On the contrary, participants' performance improved significantly when they used either version of the interactive tool that facilitated both live feedback support. No differences in performance across the two versions were observed. Implications on current theories and design implications for future optimization systems are discussed

Κοσμολογικές Αναγνώσεις τού Διαδόχου Πρόκλου στο Εἰς τὸν Τίμαιον Πλάτωνος (282.23-303.23)

Στο παρόν πόνημα, επιχειρούμε να εξετάσουμε κριτικά τις κοσμολογικές αναγνώσεις του νεοπλατωνικού Πρόκλου, όπως αυτές προκύπτουν από το Ὑπόμνημα εἰς Τίμαιον Πλάτωνος. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, επικεντρωνόμαστε στο χωρίο 282.23-303.23 του Υπομνήματος και καταγράφουμε την πρόκλεια ανάλυση του πλατωνικού κειμένου. Για τον Πρόκλο, ο κόσμος είναι τέλειος, μιμούμενος την τελειότητα του Πατέρα-Δημιουργού, έχει γεννηθεί και γίνεται διηνεκώς. Καθώς ο Πρόκλος δεν περιορίζεται στην μεταφορά και ανάλυση των πλατωνικών θέσεων, αλλά παράλληλα καταγράφει και συζητά θέσεις άλλων στοχαστών, πλατωνικών και μη, όσον αφορά στα θέματα τα οποία θίγονται εντός του πλατωνικού κειμένου, ελέγχουμε την κριτική η οποία ασκείται σε αυτές. Η παράθεση πλήθους πλατωνικών αποσπασμάτων βοηθά τον αναγνώστη να αναγνωρίσει την σχέση (ταύτιση ή και εξέλιξη) των θέσεων του Πλάτωνα με τις αντίστοιχες του Πρόκλου, ενώ η αναλυτική μεταφορά θέσεων διαφόρων σχολιαστών του πλατωνικού corpus δίδει τη δυνατότητα να σχηματίσουμε άποψη στο θέμα της επιρροής την οποία ήσκησε το πλατωνικό έργο μέχρι την εποχή του πλατωνικού Διαδόχου. Το απόσπασμα που αναλύουμε, αν και ιδιαιτέρως περιορισμένο σε σχέση με το σύνολο έργο του Πρόκλου, είναι ενδεικτικό του συστήματος υπομνηματισμού που ακολουθεί ο συγγραφεύς. Ως εκ τούτου, καταφέραμε να προσεγγίσουμε κριτικά τη γλώσσα και το ύφος του και, τέλος, να προβούμε σε μία αποτίμηση του έργου του, εντός του πλαισίου της Ιστορίας της Φιλοσοφίας.In this study, we attempt to critically examine the cosmological readings of the Neoplatonic Proclus, as they emerge from the Commentary on Platos Timaeus. More specifically, we focus on the passages 282.23-303.23 of the Commentary and record the proclean analysis of the platonic text. For Proclus, the world is perfect, imitating the perfection of the Father-Creator, it has been born and always becomes. As Proclus does not limit his work to the transfer and analysis of platonic positions, but, at the same time, records and discusses positions of other thinkers, platonic and non-platonic, regarding the issues raised within the platonic text, we examine the criticism that is made. The quotation of numerous platonic passages helps the reader to recognize the relationship of Plato's thesis with those of Proclus (identification or even evolution), while the analytical transfer of views of various commentators of the platonic corpus enables us to form an opinion on the subject about the influence of the platonic work, until the time of the Successor. The passage we analyze, although excessively limited, in relation to the whole work of Proclus, is indicative of the system of commentary followed by the author. Therefore, we managed to critically approach his language and style and to evaluate his work in the History of Philosophy

Encouraging serendipity in research: designing technologies to support connection-making

Mobile applications have the ability to present information to users that is influenced by their surroundings, activities and interests. Such applications have the potential to influence the likelihood of individuals experiencing ‘serendipity’, through a combination of information, context, insight and activity. This study reports the deployment of a system that sends push text suggestions to users throughout the day, where the content of those messages is informed by users’ experience and interests. We investigated the responses to and interactions with messages that varied in format and relevance, and which were received at different times throughout the day. Sixteen participants were asked to use a mobile diary application to record their experiences and thoughts regarding information that was received over a period of five consecutive days. Results suggest that participants’ perception of the received suggestions was influenced by the relevance of the suggestion to their interests, but that there were also positive attitudes towards seemingly irrelevant information. Qualitative data indicates that participants, if in an appropriate time and place, are willing to accept and act upon push suggestions as long as the number of suggestions that they receive is not overwhelming. This study contributes towards an understanding of how mobile users make connections with new information, furthering our understanding of how serendipitous connections and insightful thinking could be accommodated using technology

Creativity Bento Box: a physical resource pack to support interaction in virtual space

The Creativity Bento Box is a physical resource pack, designed to support casual social interaction and break taking in an intensive, computer-mediated social activity. It was developed within the Creativity Greenhouse project, which piloted a mechanism to create research proposals and distribute funding at a distance. This involved facilitated phases of collaboration and competition over multiple days of computer-mediated work, where participants communicate and interact through a virtual world. During the iterative development process, the lack of time for socialising, the intense focus on virtual resources, and a lack of time spent away from the screen were reported as negative issues in feedback from participants. We report on the development of the Creativity Bento Box and how it helped to address these issues. By providing physical resources that contrasted with the properties of the virtual world, it supported people to socialise and take breaks from their primary activity, allowed them to include physical space and artefacts in their interactions, and provoked moves away from the otherwise intense focus on the computer. We reflect on the roles of the Bento Box as a gift, in bridging between physical and virtual contexts, its higher suitability during the earlier phases of ideation and group development, and its perception by participants as something ‘framed’. Through this, we highlight the underexplored potential of using physical, offline resources as a means to solve difficulties in distanced social interactions

Creativity Greenhouse: at-a-distance collaboration and competition over research funding

This paper describes the design and evaluation of a novel mechanism to develop research proposals and distribute funding: Creativity Greenhouse (CG). Building on an established funding sandpit mechanism for co-located participants, communication technologies and structures were designed to support similar activities at-a-distance. Given a particular topic, selected academic participants collaborate during an ideation phase, then form sub-groups around selected ideas to develop research proposals and compete for the available research funding. This paper details the motivations for developing a distributed approach, before describing our iterative design process and trials. We describe an iterative design and evaluation process to support at-a-distance ideation, group formation, and then competitive development of proposals in a shared virtual space, leading to the detailed evaluation of a full-scale CG event that resulted in the distribution of £1.85 Million of funding. This work contributes a novel, fully-developed mechanism to produce research projects, evaluated ‘In the Wild’. Our findings are explored with regards to distinctions and similarities between co-located and distributed events, participant well-being and pastoral care, and the capacity of technologies to mediate complex combinations of cooperative and competitive group work. Through this, we contribute knowledge of how to effectively support research funding events, and also to wider understanding of high-stakes, computer-mediated processes, that involve complex creative and social processes

Trusted autonomous vehicles: an interactive exhibit

Recent surveys about autonomous vehicles show that the public is concerned about the safety consequences of system or equipment failures and the vehicles' reactions to unexpected situations. We believe that informing about the technology and quality, e.g., safety and reliability, of autonomous vehicles is paramount to improving public expectations, perception and acceptance. In this paper, we report on the design of an interactive exhibit to illustrate (1) basic technologies employed in autonomous vehicles, i.e., sensors and object classification; and (2) basic principles for ensuring their quality, i.e., employing software testing and simulations. We subsequently report on a public engagement event involving this exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2019 in the exhibit titled "Trusted Autonomous Vehicles". We describe the process of designing and developing the artefacts used in our exhibit, the theoretical background associated to them, the design of our stand, and the lessons learned. The activities and findings of this study can be used by other educators and researchers interested in promoting trust in autonomous vehicles among the general public

CHESTNUT: Improve serendipity in movie recommendation by an Information Theory-based collaborative filtering approach

The term serendipity has been understood narrowly in the Recommender System. Applying a user-centered approach, user-friendly serendipitous recommender systems are expected to be developed based on a good understanding of serendipity. In this paper, we introduce CHESTNUT , a memory-based movie collaborative filtering system to improve serendipity performance. Relying on a proposed Information Theory-based algorithm and previous study, we demonstrate a method of successfully injecting insight, unexpectedness and usefulness, which are key metrics for a more comprehensive understanding of serendipity, into a practical serendipitous runtime system. With lightweight experiments, we have revealed a few runtime issues and further optimized the same. We have evaluated CHESTNUT in both practicability and effectiveness , and the results show that it is fast, scalable and improves serendip-ity performance significantly, compared with mainstream memory-based collaborative filtering. The source codes of CHESTNUT are online at https://github.com/unnc-idl-ucc/CHESTNUT/