6969387
Case- and Constraint-Based Project Planning for Apartment Construction
To effectively generate a fast and consistent apartment construction project network, Hyundai Engineering and Construction and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology developed a case- and constraint-based project-planning expert system for an apartment domain. The system, FAS-TRAK- APT, is inspired by the use of previous cases by a human expert project planner for planning a new project and the modification of these cases by the project planner using his/her knowledge of domain constraints. This large-scale, case-based, and mixed-initiative planning system, integrated with intensive constraint-based adaptation, utilizes semantic-level metaconstraints and human decisions for compensating incomplete cases imbedding specific planning knowledge. The case- and constraint-based architecture inherently supports cross-checking cases with constraints during system development and maintenance. This system has drastically reduced the time and effort required for initial project planning, improved the quality and completeness of the generated plans, and is expected to give the company the competitive advantage in contract bids for new contracts.
7110658
Automatic Rule Generation by the Transformation of Expert's Diagram: LIFT
Abstract To enhance the efficiency of revealing and refining an expert's knowledge, the Expert's Diagram approach is proposed. The Expert's Diagram proposed in this paper is specifically designed for rule-based consulting systems. Using the Expert's Diagram approach, the knowledge acquisition system LIFT is developed, which transforms the Expert's Diagram automatically to rules in the syntax of the shell SKI 2 that is developed for tax consulting-purposes. For the transformation, either the conclusion-directed approach or the condition-directed approach can be applied. The role of LIFT can be generalized to some extent to adapt to the changes in the Expert's Diagram and target shells. According to our experience in the acquisition of Korean corporate tax knowledge, experts could reveal their knowledge effectively using the Expert's Diagram after a short period of training. Thus the rules could be generated automatically by LIFT without the aid of knowledge engineers.
40201784
Case-based modification for optimization agents: AGENT-OPT
For the effective implementation of an inter-organizational supply chain on the Web, many optimization model agents need to be embedded in the distributed software agents. For instance, many suppliers make requests to a delivery scheduler who manages a model warehouse at the e-hub. The scheduler deals with the scheduling of many truckers and each trucker's agent must have its own routing optimization models. Since the formulations in the model warehouse vary depending upon the requirements, it is impossible to formulate all combinations in advance. Therefore, we need a case-based model modification scheme that can generate the required formulation from the semantically specified requirement in the agent communication language.This research deals with the issues of the architecture of an optimization model agent system AGENT-OPT, modeling request language in XML, optimization model representation in semantic-level objects using UNIK-OPT, a method of selecting a base model, an optimization model modification language (OMML), and rule-based modification reasoning. The approach is applied to the delivery scheduling to study the effect of base model selection policies on the modification effort. To determine whether to start with a primitive model, full model, or the most similar model, we experimented with the sensitivity of proximity to the primitive model on 24 cases and discovered the threshold for choosing the most efficient base model.
12830619
Image is everything: advancing HCI knowledge and interface design using the system image
As the field of human-computer interaction matures, the need for proven, dependable engineering processes for interface development becomes apparent. Our continuing work in developing LINK-UP, an integrated design and reuse environment, suggests that a better understanding of the system image is key to the successful evaluation of design prototypes, and an aide in applying knowledge from the repository. This paper describes our ongoing work to enhance LINK-UP by developing and augmenting the system image to make it the central communication point between different stages of design and between different stakeholders. We report on a study of the new task flow that demonstrated the value of the system image within a broader design context. Overall, our findings indicate that the effective creation and use of knowledge repositories by novice HCI designers hinges on successful application of existing HCI design concepts within a practical integrated design environment.
7460855
Automatic Code Mapping on an Intelligent Memory Architecture
This paper presents an algorithm to automatically map code on a generic intelligent memory system that consists of a high-end host processor and a simpler memory processor. To achieve high performance with this type of architecture, the code needs to be partitioned and scheduled such that each section is assigned to the processor on which it runs most efficiently. In addition, the two processors should overlap their execution as much as possible. With our algorithm, applications are mapped fully automatically using both static and dynamic information. Using a set of standard applications and a simulated architecture, we obtain average speedups of 1.7 for numerical applications and 1.2 for nonnumerical applications over a single host with plain memory. The speedups are very close and often higher than ideal speedups on a more expensive multiprocessor system composed of two identical host processors. Our work shows that heterogeneity can be cost-effectively exploited and represents one step toward effectively mapping code on heterogeneous intelligent memory systems.
11778998
The calder toolkit: wired and wireless components for rapidly prototyping interactive devices
Toolkits and other tools have dramatically reduced the time and technical expertise needed to design and implement graphical user interfaces (GUIs) allowing high-quality, iterative, user-centered design to become a common practice. Unfortunately the generation of functioning prototypes for physical interactive devices as not had similar support -- it still requires substantial time and effort by individuals with highly specialized skills and tools. This creates a divide between a designers' ability to explore form and interactivity of product designs and the ability to iterate on the basis of high fidelity interactive experiences with a functioning prototype. To help overcome this difficulty we have developed the Calder hardware toolkit. Calder is a development environment for rapidly exploring and prototyping functional physical interactive devices. Calder provides a set of reusable small input and output components, and integration into existing interface prototyping environments. These components communicate with a computer using wired and wireless connections. Calder is a tool targeted toward product and interaction designers to aid them in their early design process. In this paper we describe the process of gaining an understanding of the needs and workflow habits of our target users to generate a collection of requirements for such a toolkit. We describe technical challenges imposed by these needs, and the specifics of design and implementation of the toolkit to meet these challenges.
17246831
Use of Case-Based Reasoning in the Domain of Building Regulations
In traditional legal decision support systems, it has been regarded as natural to represent statutes in terms of decision rules and to link these to a separate case-based reasoning system for handling precedent. Statutory legal rules used in these systems are formal and prescriptive. Building regulations in Scotland are part of statute law and constitute part of a legal system together with case histories. In recent years, the regulations have been becoming less prescriptive and more emphasis has been put onto the interpretive use of the regulations. In developing a system which can assist domain experts in interpreting the regulations, this trend has presented us with difficulties in employing this traditional approach and has led us to a unified case-based model of the regulations and case histories. In this paper, we first describe the characteristics of the regulations and the activities involved in this domain. Second, we explain the reason why we abandoned the traditional approach. Third, we describe the system which has been developed using this case-based model.
33255633
Optimizing channel allocation in a unified video-on-demand system
Unified video-on-demand (UVoD) is an architecture that integrates multicast transmission with unicast transmission to improve system efficiency. Streaming channels in a UVoD system are divided into unicast and multicast channels, with the multicast channels further divided equally among all videos. This uniform channel-allocation scheme is simple to design and implement, but the performance may not be optimal due to differences in video popularity. This paper investigates this channel-allocation problem with the goal of optimizing system efficiency. First, the uniform allocation assumption is removed and the channel-allocation problem formulated as a nonlinear integer optimization problem. This optimization model results in nonuniform channel allocations that can save up to 10% of channels. Second, to reduce the computational complexity in solving the nonlinear optimization model, an approximate model is derived and solved under small-latency conditions to obtain a closed-form solution. Third, a much simpler class-based popularity model is proposed and shown to achieve good efficiency, even if the precise popularity of each video is not known. Lastly, a zero-multicast channel-optimization algorithm is introduced that can further reduce channel requirement for systems with a large number of video selections. Numerical results show that optimized nonuniform channel-allocation policies can achieve channel reduction over uniform channel allocation by as much as 50% for a 1000-video system.