29445534
Gesture-enhanced information retrieval and presentation in a distributed learning environment
We describe a novel multimodal gesture-enhanced interface to provide immersive as well as non-immersive, non-intrusive and natural interaction between the user and the information system in a distributed learning environment. Different types of gestures are dynamically transformed into clues for spatial/temporal queries for multimedia information sources and databases. The transformation can depend upon the location, the time, the task, and the user profile. Using various transcoding schemes, the retrieved information can be presented to the user in a multi-resolution, multi-dimensional, and multimodal manner.
34016873
Parsing 2D Languages by a Pictorial GLR Parser
39945679
Iconic Language Design for People with Significant Speech and Multiple Impairments
17298481
Iconic language design for people with significant speech and multiple impairments
We present an approach of iconic language design for people with significant speech and multiple impairments (SSMI), based upon the theory of Icon Algebra and the theory of Conceptual Dependency (CD) to derive the meaning of iconic sentences. An interactive design environment based upon this methodology is described.
35519508
Extending Visual Languages for Multimedia
Visual languages, which let users customize iconic sentences, can be extended to accommodate multimedia objects, letting users access media dynamically. Teleaction objects, or multimedia objects with knowledge structures, can be designed using visual languages to automatically respond to events and perform tasks like "find related books" in a virtual library.
15816324
Multi-level specification and protocol design for distributed multimedia communication
The major challenge in the design of an efficient distributed multimedia system is the integration and support of a wide variety of applications. Investigating the basic issues involved in the design and specification of distributed muttimcdia systems is the focus of this paper. A basic layered network architecture is proposed as the uniform framework for the investigation of different levels of functionality typically associated with the communication network that supports multimedia communication. Within this framework, we propose to identify the communication requirements for multimedia applications and characterize a set of communication primitives which specify different qualities of scrvicc to reflect different real-time rcquircmcnts. ‘Ilis investigation is guided by an efficient and flexible multi-level specification model. We will characterize this model and show that the model can be amenable to the construction of a set of communication primitives that support synchronization and communication of multimedia applications.
28693312
A new architecture for motion-compensated image coding
Abstract In motion-compensated image coding (MCIC), the block matching algorithm requires a very complex computational procedure. To overcome this problem, several fast search procedures have been proposed. However, the resultant errors for these procedures may be too large unless small displacement is assumed. In order to reduce the computational complexity and preserve the quality of the original image, a new architecture for MCIC without the small displacement assumption is proposed in this paper. Based on a so-called characteristic mapping, certain important features of the block will be extracted and matched in the space of features. Hence, the procedure of matching any two blocks is very much simplified and the time required is drastically reduced. Moreover, the simulation results indicate that its performance is superior to those fast search procedures based on the error between the reconstructed image and the original one. This property will result in low bit rates for transmitting the error frame.
15655721
The Worst-case Analysis of the MULTIFIT Algorithm for Scheduling Nonsimultaneous Parallel Machines
Abstract In this paper we consider the nonsimultaneous multiprocessor scheduling problem, or NMSP for short. The NMSP is a makespan minimization scheduling problem which involves the nonpreemptive assignment of independent jobs on m parallel machines with different starting times. It is well known that the longest processing time (LPT) algorithm and the modified LPT(MLPT) algorithm yield schedules with makespans bounded by 3 2 − 1 2m and 4/3 times the optimum makespan, respectively. In this paper, we show that the best known worst-case performance bound, 4/3 of the MLPT, is tight by constructing a worst-case example. Then, we employ the bin-packing heuristic algorithm called the MULTIFIT to solve the NMSP and show that the makespan of the schedule generated by the MULTIFIT algorithm is bounded by 9/7+2−k times the optimum makespan, where k is the selected number of the major iterations in the MULTIFIT. This worst-case bound of the MULTIFIT algorithm is, so far, the best bound for the NMSP and the tightness of the bound is still an open question.
14323284
A Delphi examination of public sector ERP implementation issues
A Delphi survey of ERP life cycle management issues was conducted within five agencies of the Queensland government. The five agencies each implemented SAP Financials at around the same time using the services of a common implementation partner. Responses were elicited from ERP project participants, from managers at the agencies, and from users of the financial systems. Valid questionnaires were returned from 61respondents in the first round survey (response rate = 55%) and yielded 274 perceived issues. Through two rounds of the Delphi survey, these issues have been summarized and categorized into 10 major issue categories (with 38 sub-issues). The final survey round in which respondents will assign weights to these issues is currently underway. Lessons drawn from this study will assist in understanding the ERP life cycle and specific characteristics of the public sector ERP life cycle, and will provide insights into the strengths and weaknesses of ERP systems for public sector organizations.
20494586
The implementation of a secure and pervasive multimodal Web system architecture
While most users currently access Web applications from Web browser interfaces, pervasive computing is emerging and offering new ways of accessing Internet applications from any device at any location, by utilizing various modes of interfaces to interact with their end users. The PC and its back-end servers remain important in a pervasive system, and the technology could involve new ways of interfacing with a PC and/or various types of gateways to back-end servers. In this research, cellular phone was used as the pervasive device for accessing an Internet application prototype, a multimodal Web system (MWS), through voice user interface technology. This paper describes how MWS was developed to provide a secure interactive voice channel using an Apache Web server, a voice server, and Java technology. Securing multimodal applications proves more challenging than securing traditional Internet applications. Various standards have been developed within a context of Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) platform to secure multimodal and wireless applications. In addition to covering these standards and their applicability to the MWS system implementation, this paper also shows that multimodal user-interface page can be generated by using XSLT stylesheet which transforms XML documents into various formats including XHTML, WML, and VoiceXML.
16823669
Accessing and Browsing Information and Communication
This book contends that accessing and browsing information and communication are multidimensional and consequential aspects of the information user's entire experience and of general human behavior. Problems in information creation, processing, transmittal, and use often arise from an incomplete conceptualization of the "information seeking" process, where information seeking is viewed as the intentional finding of specific information. The process has traditionally been considered to begin with some kind of search query and end with some kind of obtained information. That, however, may be only the last, most easily observable--and perhaps not even primary--stage of a complex sequence of activities.This book reviews related theory, research, practice, and implications from a wide range of disciplines. It also analyzes converging forms of information, including mass media, online information services, the Internet and World Wide Web, libraries, public spaces, advertisements, and organizational communication. Extensive case studies illustrate the theoretical material.