2059756
Design of a Cognitive Complexities Measurement and Analysis Tool
The complexities of software systems are more prominent now than ever, due to progression of simple software applications to large integrated systems, either centralized or distributed. The challenges to software engineer somehow to understand and manage such large software systems and deal with software cognitive complexities. Although there are research areas such as human machine interface or human factor engineering, there is still little research on how to quantitatively measure and analyze human cognitive complexities in comprehending and understanding complex software systems. This paper studies human interaction with software programs in the cognitive perspective on software complexity. Based on the findings, a pilot software cognitive complexity measurement and analyses tool (CCMAT) is presented
29450095
Cognitive models of the brain
The human brain is the most complicated organ in the universe and a new frontier yet to be explored in an interdisciplinary approach. Investigation of the brain is a unique problem that requires recursive mental power to explore the brain using the brain. This paper attempts to develop functional and cognitive models of the brain by using cognitive informatics and formal methodologies. This paper adopts a memory-based approach to explore the brain, and to demonstrate that memory is the foundation for any natural intelligence. Structures of memories are explored and cognitive models of the natural intelligence are proposed. Cognitive mechanisms of the brain, including hypotheses and theories on the thinking engine of the brain, long-term memory establishment, and roles of sleep in long-term memory development, are investigated. The models and theories are applied to explain a number of fundamental physiological and psychological phenomena.
21184887
The cognitive processes of abstraction and formal inferences
Theoretical research is predominately an inductive process; while applied research is mainly a deductive process. Both inference processes are based on the cognitive process and means of abstraction. This paper describes the cognitive processes of abstraction and formal inferences such as deduction, induction, abduction, and analogy. The hierarchy of abstraction and the descriptivity of abstract means at different levels are analyzed. A set of mathematical models of formal inference methodologies are developed. Formal descriptions of the five cognitive processes of abstraction and inferences are presented using real-time process algebra (RTPA). Applications of abstraction and formal inferences in dealing with complicated problems in large-scale software system development in software engineering are discussed.
21455681
A layered reference model of the brain
Based on the advances of research in cognitive informatics and related fields, this paper attempts to develop a layered reference model of the brain that explains the functional mechanisms and cognitive processes of the natural intelligence. A variety of life functions and cognitive processes have been identified in cognitive informatics, cognitive science, neuropsychology, and neurophilosophy. In order to formally and rigorously describe a comprehensive and coherent set of mental processes and their relationships, an integrated reference model of the brain is established, which encompasses 37 cognitive processes at six layers known as the sensation, memory, perception, action, meta and higher cognitive layers from bottom up. The reference model of the brain may be applied to explain a wide range of physiological, psychological, and cognitive phenomena in cognitive informatics, particularly relationships between the inherited and the acquired life functions, as well as the subconscious and conscious cognitive processes.
40360434
Measurement of the cognitive functional complexity of software
One of the central problems in software engineering is its inherited complexity. It is recognized that cognitive informatics plays an important role in understanding the fundamental characteristics of software. This paper models the cognitive weights of basic control structures of software, and develops a new concept of cognitive functional size for measuring software complexity. Comparative case studies between the cognitive functional size and physical sizes of 20 programs are conducted. It is found that for a given design, although the physical sizes of software may vary in a wide range, the cognitive functional sizes are much stable and independent from implementation technologies and programming languages. Therefore, the cognitive functional size provides a novel, stable and practical software complexity measurement and is helpful to explain the fundamental nature of software complexity in the phase of design, implementation, or maintenance in software engineering.
16244688
Formal Description of Time Management in Real-Time Operating Systems
This paper describes the formal specification of the time management subsystem of a real-time operating system. Real-time process algebra (RTPA) is adopted to formally specify the system. The architecture, static behaviors, and dynamic behaviors of a CPU time manager are systematically specified that form an abstract model of the system. The formal specifications are implemented in C, on which the system performance can be tested and verified
1363812
Models For Dependable Computation with Multiple Inputs and Some Hardness Results
We consider the problem of dependable computation with multiple inputs. The goal is to study when redundancy can help to achieve survivability and when it cannot. We use AND/OR graphs to model fault tolerant computations with multiple inputs. While there is a polynomial time algorithm for finding vertex disjoint paths in networks, we will show that the equivalent problem in computation systems with multiple inputs is NP-hard. Our main results are as follows. (1) We present a general model for fault tolerant computation systems with multiple inputs: AND/OR graphs. (2) We show that it is NP-hard to find two vertex disjoint solution graphs in an AND/OR graph. It follows that in the general case redundancy cannot help to achieve survivability, assuming P≠NP.
62532074
A decision-theoretic approach to the evaluation of information retrieval systems
Evaluation research on information retrieval (IR) systems has thus far been narrowly focused and disjointed. This research attempts to narrow the gap by providing a comprehensive and integrated multiple criteria decision-theoretic approach for the evaluation of IR systems. The approach, which is based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), is illustrated in the context of a domain-specific IR system. The novelty of this approach lies in the focus on the user aspect and the application of decision-making theories in the IR field.
13960849
NTS6: IPv6 based Network Topology Service System of CERNET2
In this paper, we propose NTS6, an IPv6 based network topology service system, which provides a query and response service of network topology information between any pair of hosts accessing IPv6 Internet via CERNET2. The NTS6 system periodically collects the latest OSPF, BGP and SNMP information of CERNET2. Based on these information, NTS6 provides network topology information such as net distance, available bandwidth and path packet loss in response to users' query. The real-world experiment on CERNET2 confirms the accuracy of our system. Also, NTS6 now performs well on large deployed maze P2P file-sharing system. We believe NTS6 will be a powerful middleware for other applications.
17187868
Towards dependable home networking: an experience report
As the success of the Web increasingly brings us towards a fully connected world, home networking systems that connect and manage home appliances become the natural next step to complete the connectivity. Although there has been fast-growing interest in the design of smart appliances and environments, there has been little study on the dependability issues, which is essential to making home networking part of our daily lives. The heterogeneity of various in-home networks, the undependable nature of consumer devices, and the lack of knowledgeable system administrators in the home environment introduce both opportunities and challenges for dependability research. We report the dependability problems we encountered and the solutions we adopted in the deployment of the Aladdin home networking system. We propose the use of a soft-state store as a shared heartbeat infrastructure for monitoring the health of diverse hardware and software entities. We also describe a system architecture for connecting powerline devices to enhance dependability, and a monitoring tool for detecting unusual powerline activities potentially generated by intruders, interferences, or ill-behaved devices.
14242069
Approximate inverse frequent itemset mining: privacy, complexity, and approximation
In order to generate synthetic basket datasets for better benchmark testing, it is important to integrate characteristics from real-life databases into the synthetic basket datasets. The characteristics that could be used for this purpose include the frequent itemsets and association rules. The problem of generating synthetic basket datasets from frequent itemsets is generally referred to as inverse frequent itemset mining. In this paper, we show that the problem of approximate inverse frequent itemset mining is NP-complete. Then we propose and analyze an approximate algorithm for approximate inverse frequent itemset mining, and discuss privacy issues related to the synthetic basket dataset. In particular, we propose an approximate algorithm to determine the privacy leakage in a synthetic basket dataset.