The significance of the study is contingent upon two criteria. All objects in the actual world that can capture a researcher’s attention are inherently complicated. Furthermore, every commodity that an individual manufactures and every work of art that an individual develops are intricate in nature. The entirety of the processes that an individual perceives and instigates are intricate. Although many professions have established techniques for constructing intricate entities, there currently exists no universally applicable concepts or methodologies for comprehensively studying, designing, (...) producing, or generating complicated items.The objective of this work is two-fold: firstly, to develop a comprehensive methodology for analysing complex synthetic processes, and secondly, to propose universal models or synthesis mechanisms that can be used to systematically derive specific process synthesis algorithms for various practical applications. The ability to utilize generalized models and synthesis techniques is highly advantageous when designing realistic computer programming.The authors introduced a comprehensive process model and enumerated its characteristics. Using this concept, techniques for creating and suggesting processes have been formulated and put forward. The concept of a decomposition diagram enables the systematic design of intricate multi-level hierarchical processes. The multitude of processes and the intricacy of their combination give rise to the notion of formulating a synthesis theory. The acquired results can be regarded as the initial stage in the construction of such a theory. The authors’ proposed methods of process synthesis enable the deductive derivation of useful algorithms for application software. Although the concept of the breakdown scheme and synthesis procedures is relatively straightforward, this advancement has been suggested for the first time.In order to further this project, it is necessary to augment the generalized process model with supplementary traits and properties, as well as to further refine the synthesis procedures. A proposal is being made to initiate the development of a theory for synthesizing a comprehensive plan using the decomposition scheme and methods of synthesis and decomposition. (shrink)

A mass balance based model has been derived to represent the dynamical behavior of the ecosystem contained in an anaerobic digester. The model considers two bacterial populations: acidogenic and methanogenic bacteria. It forms the basis for the design of a software sensor considering both a model of the biological system and on-line gaseous measurements. The software sensor computes the concentration of inorganic carbon and volatile fatty acids (VFA) in the digester. Another software sensor is dedicated to the (...) estimation of the bacterial biomasses. The predictions of the software sensors for a real experiment are very close to the actual off-line measurements. The software sensors monitor the accumulation of VFA and thus very early detect a destabilization of the digester due to overloading. The presented methodology demonstrates the usefulness of advanced monitoring techniques for an improved understanding of the internal working of a biological system. (shrink)

Paper-based privacy policies fail to resolve the new changes posed by electronic healthcare. Protecting patient privacy through electronic systems has become a serious concern and is the subject of several recent studies. The shift towards an electronic privacy policy introduces new ethical challenges that cannot be solved merely by technical measures. Structured Patient Privacy Policy (S3P) is a software tool assuming an automated electronic privacy policy in an electronic healthcare setting. It is designed to simulate different access levels and (...) rights of various professionals involved in healthcare in order to assess the emerging ethical problems. The authors discuss ethical issues concerning electronic patient privacy policies that have become apparent during the development and application of S3P. (shrink)

Over the past 30 years, computer engineering has developed a lot. Currently, computer and software applications have a central role in business, medicine, security, communications, industry, education, and everyday life. Software developers, peoples who manage computer networks, data security analysts can do well, but they also have the potential to cause suffering and harm to the clients or ordinary peoples, willingly or not. For this reason, IT activities must be regulated by specific laws. From the beginning, we argue (...) that the law is not the same thing as ethics, even if both promote the good. Certain ethical principles can be strengthened by law. In the field of computer science and technology, can exists theft, privacy violations, violence and harassment. To combat and punish such actions and behaviors, law is needed. But is software engineering a profession? If so, are there codes of professional ethics whereby specialists in the field can regulate their professional activity, as is the case, for example, in areas such as justice or medicine? In relation with that, Gibbs and Ford have identified 8 components of a professional infrastructure. Some of that is: initial vocational training, professional accreditation, licensing, continuous vocational training, the existence of code of ethics.. With the fact that software engineering is a profession, in this article we present the main principles of behavior. The principles are not legally binding. This are grouped by interest categories depending on who or what is involved in the interaction with software engineering. (shrink)

Computation of seismic parameters and its interpretation from the recorded earthquake signal is empowered by digital data acquisition systems. This enables seismologist to automatically compute all the relevant parameters. Futuristic applications require extensive software development to implement seismic prediction and forecasting models. While developing such models, software developer prefer to write their own in-house analysis & modeling software with complete control over the required computations and models. This paper presents simplified mathematical framework of the seismic events and (...) back-end computational software logic & algorithm to provide a simple framework to software engineers develop customized seismic analysis & computation software. (shrink)

in Oct-14-1998 ordinance INDESP-IO4 established the federal software certification and verification requirements for gaming machines in Brazil. The authors present the rationale behind these criteria, whose basic principles can find applications in several other software authentication applications.

El empleo de softwares, aplicaciones y programas especializados ha cambiado la forma de desarrollar investigaciones, por lo que, en el ámbito universitario cobra especial importancia la inserción de estas herramientas en el aula. Así, en este trabajo se presentan dos programas informáticos ampliamente usados en la investigación lingüística y se expone la metodología seguida para su inclusión en una asignatura concreta. Finalmente, se comentan los resultados obtenidos y el grado de aceptación por parte del alumnado, a partir de los cuales (...) se extraen las conclusiones finales. (shrink)

Software agents that play a role in E-commerce and E-government applications involving the Internet often contain information about the identity of their human user such as credit cards and bank accounts. This paper discusses whether this is necessary: whether human users and software agents are allowed to be anonymous under the relevant legal regimes and whether an adequate interaction and balance between law and anonymity can be realised from both the perspective of Computer Systems and the perspective of (...) Law. (shrink)

We will present relational tools for analysing software systems, based on the Haskell datatype for relations defined in Chapter 5 of Doets and Van Eijck, The Haskell Road to Logic, Maths and Programming, King’s College Publications, London 2004 [DvE04]. The main purpose is to demonstrate some very concrete applications of abstract relations, and to make the point that functional programming is highly relevant to software engineering.

This paper discusses the meaning that interactive software agents and robots have in the context of mental therapy. This theoretical discussion is undertaken from a psychological and sociological perspective. It investigates what happens when interactive agents are introduced into current social situations. Methods of mental therapy vary from therapeutic conversation between clients and human therapists to interaction between clients and therapeutic animals such as dogs. This paper focuses on applications of interactive software agents and robots that substitute as (...) autonomous artifacts behaving like humans for human therapists. In addition, some implications and policies for applications of interactive software agents and robots in mental therapy are discussed. (shrink)

Accompanying the explosive growth of information technology is the increasing frequency of antisocial and criminal behavior on the Internet. Online software piracy is one such behavior, and this study approaches the phenomenon through the theoretical framework of neutralization theory. The suitability and applicability of nine techniques of neutralization in determining the act is tested via logistic regression analyses on cross-sectional data collected from a sample of university students in the United States. Generally speaking, neutralization was found to be weakly (...) related to experience with online software piracy; other elements which appear more salient are suggested and discussed in conclusion. (shrink)

Safety-critical systems manufacturers have the duty of care, i.e., they should take correct steps while performing acts that could foreseeably harm others. Commonly, industry standards prescribe reasonable steps in their process requirements, which regulatory bodies trust. Manufacturers perform careful documentation of compliance with each requirement to show that they act under acceptable criteria. To facilitate this task, a safety-centered planning-time framework, called ACCEPT, has been proposed. Based on compliance-by-design, ACCEPT capabilities permit to design Compliance-aware Engineering Process Plans, which are able (...) to show the planning-time allocation of standard demands, i.e., if the elements set down by the standard requirements are present at given points in the engineering process plan. In this paper, we perform a case study to understand if the ACCEPT produced models could support the planning of space software engineering processes. Space software is safety and mission-critical, and it is often the result of industrial cooperation. Such cooperation is coordinated through compliance with relevant standards. In the European context, ECSS-E-ST-40C is the de-facto standard for space software production. The planning of processes in compliance with project-specific ECSS-E-ST-40C applicable requirements is mandatory during contractual agreements. Our analysis is based on qualitative criteria targeting the effort dictated by task demands required to create a CaEPP for software development with ACCEPT. Initial observations show that the effort required to model compliance and processes artifacts is significant. However, such an effort pays off in the long term since models are, to some extend, reusable and flexible. The coverage level of the models is also analyzed based on design decisions. In our opinion, such a level is adequate since it responds to the information needs required by the ECSS-E-ST-40C framework. (shrink)

Rapid Ethical Assessment is an approach used to design context tailored consent process for voluntary participation of participants in research including human subjects. There is, however, limited evidence on the design of ethical assessment in studies targeting cancer patients in Ethiopia. REA was conducted to explore factors that influence the informed consent process among female cancer patients recruited for longitudinal research from Addis Ababa Population-based Cancer Registry. Qualitative study employing rapid ethnographic approach was conducted from May–July, 2017, at the Tikur (...) Anbessa Specialized Referral Hospital. In-depth and key informants’ interviews were conducted among purposively selected 16 participants. Regular de-briefings among the study team helped to identify emerging themes and ensure saturation. Interviews and debriefings were tape recorded in Amharic, and transcribed and translated to English. Coding of the transcripts was facilitated by use of NVivo software. Thematic analysis was employed to respond to the initial questions and interpret findings. Perceived barriers to voluntary study participation included lack of reporting back study results of previous studies, the decision making status of women, hopelessness or fatigue in the patients, shyness of the women, data collectors approach to the patient, and patient’s time constraints. Most of the patients preferred oral over written consent and face-to-face interview over telephone interview. Provision of detail information about the study, using short and understandable tool, competent, compassionate and respectful enumerators of the same gender were suggested to assure participation. Due to the perceived severity, the use of the term “cancer” was associated with fear and anxiety. Alternatively, uses of phrases like “breast or cervical illness/disease” were suggested during patient interviews. Voluntary participation is not straight forward but affected by different factors. Using competent, compassionate and respectful enumerators, short and precise questioning tools to limit the time of the interview could improve voluntary participation. Moreover, careful consideration of the patients and families concept of the disease such as wording and information has to be taken into account. This assessment helped in improving the consent process of the ongoing project on breast and cervical cancer patients. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to contribute to understanding software from a “continental” perspective. I argue that Paul Ricoeur’s philosophical hermeneutics can help in developing a new understanding of the nature of software, thus fueling the philosophical debate on digital technology. The core of the paper is the application of the Ricoeur’s notion of text to software. A hermeneutic understanding of software allows us to explain those aspects of software that escape a strictly (...) technical definition, such as the relationship with the user, the human being, and the social and cultural transformations that software produces, the same way that any text does. The hermeneutic understanding of software considers software as a social and cultural product. (shrink)

Remote sensing image simulation is a very effective method to verify the feasibility of sensor devices for ground observation. The key to remote sensing image application is that simultaneous interpreting of remote sensing images can make use of the different characteristics of different data, eliminate the redundancy and contradiction between different sensors, and improve the timeliness and reliability of remote sensing information extraction. The hotspots and difficulties in this direction are based on remote sensing image simulation of 3D scenes (...) on the ground. Therefore, constructing the 3D scene model on the ground rapidly and accurately is the focus of current research. Because different scenes have different radiation characteristics, therefore, when using MATLAB to write a program generated by 3D scenes, 3D scenes must be saved as different text files according to different scene types, and then extension program of the scene is written to solve the defect that the calculation efficiency is not ideal due to the huge amount of data. This paper uses POV ray photon reverse tracking software to simulate the imaging process of remote sensing sensors, coordinate transformation is used to convert a triangle text file to POV ray readable information and input the RGB value of the base color based on the colorimetry principle, and the final 3D scene is visualized. This paper analyzes the thermal radiation characteristics of the scene and proves the rationality of the scene simulation. The experimental results show that introducing the chroma in the visualization of the scene model makes the whole scene have not only fidelity, but also radiation characteristics in shape and color. This is indispensable in existing 3D modeling and visualization studies. Compared with the complex radiation transmission method, using the multiple angle two-dimensional image generated by POV rays to analyze the radiation characteristics of the scene, the result is intuitive and easy to understand. (shrink)

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) has a significant impact on modern businesses by enhancing productivity, automation, and streamlining of business processes, even accounting. Manufacturers can assure proper functioning and timely client demand using ERP software. Coordination, procurement control, inventory control, and dispatch of commodities are all features of supply chain management.

With the emergence of big data, cloud computing, and other technologies, artificial intelligence technology has set off a new wave in the field of education. The application of AI technology to deep learning in university teachers' teaching and students' learning processes is an innovative way to promote the quality of teaching and learning. This study proposed the deep learning-based assessment to measure whether students experienced an improvement in terms of their mastery of knowledge, development of abilities, and emotional experiences. (...) It also used comparative analysis of pre-tests and post-tests through online questionnaires to test the results. The impact of technology on teachers' teaching and students' learning processes, identified the problems in the teaching and learning processes in the context of the application of AI technology, and proposed strategies for reforming and optimizing teaching and learning. It recommends the application of software and platforms, such as Waston and Knewton, under the orientation of AI technology to improve efficiency in teaching and learning, optimize course design, and engage students in deep learning. The contribution of this research is that the teaching and learning processes will be enhanced by the use of intelligent and efficient teaching models on the teachers' side and personalized and in-depth learning on the students' side. On the one hand, the findings are helpful for teachers to better grasp the actual conditions of in-class teaching in real time, carry out intelligent lesson preparations, enrich teaching methods, improve teaching efficiency, and achieve personalized and precision teaching. On the other hand, it also provides a space of intelligent support for students with different traits in terms of learning and effectively improves students' innovation ability, ultimately achieving the purpose of “artificial intelligence + education.”. (shrink)

In this paper we present an executable approach to model interactions between agents that involve sensitive, privacy-related information. The approach is formal and based on deontic, epistemic and action logic. It is conceptually related to the Belief-Desire-Intention model of Bratman. Our approach uses the concept of sphere as developed by Waltzer to capture the notion that information is provided mostly with restrictions regarding its application. We use software agent technology to create an executable approach. Our agents hold beliefs (...) about the world, have goals and commitment to the goals. They have the capacity to reason about different courses of action, and communicate with one another. The main new ingredient of our approach is the idea to model information itself as an intentional agent whose main goal it is to preserve the integrity of the information and regulate its dissemination. We demonstrate our approach by applying it to an important process in the insurance industry: applying for a life insurance. In this paper we will: (1) describe the challenge organizational complexity poses in moral reasoning about informational relationships; (2) propose an executable approach, using software agents with reasoning capacities grounded in modal logic, in which moral constraints on informational relatio nships can be modeled and investigated; (3) describe the details of our approach, in which information itself is modeled as an intentional agent in its own right; (4) test and validate it by applying it to a concrete ‘hard case’ from the insurance industry; and (5) conclude that our approach upholds and offers potential for both research and practical application. (shrink)

The relevance of different concepts of computer software (henceforth SW) rights is analysed from the viewpoint of divergent sociopolitical doctrines. The question of software rights is considered from the ontological assumptions, on one extreme, to the relevance of current practical applications of SW rights (such as copyright and patent), on the other extreme. It will be argued (from a non-descriptive/non-cognitive account) that the current expression of SW rights in Western societies (namely copyright, excluding patent) can be seen to (...) be fair from the viewpoint of the theses of agreed rights and universalisability. Finally, given that such practice is neither immoral, nor irrelevant-but fair (based on the ad ignorantiam argument)-we have good reason to respect it rather than violate or demolish it. (shrink)

There is substantial evidence from many domains that visual representations aid various forms of cognition. We aimed to determine whether visual representations of argument structure enhanced the acquisition and development of critical thinking skills within the context of an introductory philosophy course. We found a significant effect of the use of argument diagrams, and this effect was stable even when multiple plausible correlates were controlled for. These results suggest that natural and relatively minor modifications to standard critical thinking courses could (...) provide substantial increases in student learning and performance. (shrink)

The aim of the article is to present the results of bibliometric analyzes of scientific papers on the quality management of medical services published in 2001–2017 and indexed in the Scopus database. The analysis uses basic techniques of bibliometric analysis with the technical support of VOSviewer software. The publication proposes an original procedure for analyzing the literature on the subject. The results of the study allowed to determine the trends in the number of publications from 2010 to 2017. At (...) the same time, an analysis of areas of science was presented, in which issues related to the management of the quality of medical services were analyzed, as well as citation of main authors and research centers. The whole analysis concerning the topic of quality management of medical services and bibliometric analysis of scientific works on the concepts and interrelations studied has identified the main six clusters that related to the management of quality of medical services ranging from broadly understood changes in healthcare organizations, internal quality management factors, development issues and education, regulation and standardization of the concept of quality improvement, and technological aspects of quality management in medical services. It seems, therefore, that the conducted studies can be considered as a specific guide for those interested in risk and uncertainty, despite the fact that they are not free of restrictions, for example, due to the narrowing of the time or criteria concerning the types of documents examined. In this context, the analyzes carried out give a wide range of opportunities to propose new research ideas on the above issues in contemporary organizations. (shrink)

In order to improve the effect of smart city construction, this paper combines smart buildings and ethical computing to conduct research on smart city edge computing. The new smart city architecture based on the flexible deployment of edge computing and data slicing capabilities provides support for the transformation of smart city construction from hardware embedded technology, access means, and software data processing. Moreover, this paper uses information technology to collect, process, analyze, use the information to achieve intelligence, and integrate (...) resources and information of cities and people to build a smart city functional architecture. Moreover, this paper combines simulation technology for experimental research. Through experimental analysis, it can be seen that the smart city edge computing method based on smart buildings and ethical computing proposed in this paper has good results. (shrink)

This paper describes a novel pedagogical software program that can be seen as an online companion to one of the standard textbooks of formal natural language semantics, Heim and Kratzer (1998). The Penn Lambda Calculator is a multifunctional application designed for use in standard graduate and undergraduate introductions to formal semantics: Teachers can use the application to demonstrate complex semantic derivations in the classroom and modify them interactively, and students can use it to work on problem sets (...) provided by the teacher. The program supports demonstrations and exercises in two main areas: (1) performing beta reduction in the simply typed lambda calculus; (2) application of the bottom-up algorithm for computing the compositional semantics of natural language syntax trees. The program is able to represent the full range of phenomena covered in the Heim and Kratzer textbook by function application, predicate modification, and lambda abstraction. This includes phenomena such as intersective adjectives, relative clauses and quantifier raising. In the student use case, emphasis has been placed on providing “live” feedback for incorrect answers. Heuristics are used to detect the most frequent student errors and to return specific, interactive suggestions. (shrink)

In this full review paper, the recent emerging trends in Computing Structures, Software Science, and System Applications have been reviewed and explored to address the recent topics and contributions in the era of the Software and Computing fields. This includes a set of rigorously reviewed world-class manuscripts addressing and detailing state-of-the-art, framework, implemented approaches and techniques research projects in the areas of Software Technology & Automation, Networking, Systems, Computing Sciences and Software Engineering, Big Data and E-learning. (...) Based on this systematic review, we have put some recommendations and suggestions for researchers, practitioners and scholars to improve their research quality in this area. (shrink)

The popularity of empirical methods in software engineering research is on the rise. Surveys, experiments, metrics, case studies, and field studies are examples of empirical methods used to investigate both software engineering processes and products. The increased application of empirical methods has also brought about an increase in discussions about adapting these methods to the peculiarities of software engineering. In contrast, the ethical issues raised by empirical methods have received little, if any, attention in the (...) class='Hi'>software engineering literature. This article is intended to introduce the ethical issues raised by empirical research to the software engineering research community, and to stimulate discussion of how best to deal with these ethical issues. Through a review of the ethical codes of several fields that commonly employ humans and artifacts as research subjects, we have identified major ethical issues relevant to empirical studies of software engineering. These issues are illustrated with real empirical studies of software engineering. (shrink)

In this paper we present an executable approach to model interactions between agents that involve sensitive, privacy-related information. The approach is formal and based on deontic, epistemic and action logic. It is conceptually related to the Belief-Desire-Intention model of Bratman. Our approach uses the concept of sphere as developed by Waltzer to capture the notion that information is provided mostly with restrictions regarding its application. We use software agent technology to create an executable approach. Our agents hold beliefs (...) about the world, have goals and commitment to the goals. They have the capacity to reason about different courses of action, and communicate with one another. The main new ingredient of our approach is the idea to model information itself as an intentional agent whose main goal it is to preserve the integrity of the information and regulate its dissemination. We demonstrate our approach by applying it to an important process in the insurance industry: applying for a life insurance.In this paper we will: (1) describe the challenge organizational complexity poses in moral reasoning about informational relationships; (2) propose an executable approach, using software agents with reasoning capacities grounded in modal logic, in which moral constraints on informational relatio nships can be modeled and investigated; (3) describe the details of our approach, in which information itself is modeled as an intentional agent in its own right; (4) test and validate it by applying it to a concrete ‘hard case’ from the insurance industry; and (5) conclude that our approach upholds and offers potential for both research and practical application. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the integration of generic software such as enterprise resource planning into organisational life. These applications have gained prominence as the IT systems of choice in many organisations. The perspective that dominates the literature studying these applications reflects a rationality based on alignment of the software and organisational processes and fails to consider the ethical issues that arise when a new work system is being constructed, such as the possibilities for end‐user participation. Drawing on the (...) strand of research that studies implementations of new technologies as social relations, this paper considers the experiences of end user groups as they engage in adaptation of the software and embed technology in contexts of local use. Design and use activities are complex and multifaceted and the embedding of software for local use represents an overlap between them. This paper explores whether the shift towards large scale generic software allows for a blurring of a boundary between what are construed as design activities and use activities in applications for office work. It is significant to the construction of this boundary that office work is gendered female in the U.K. where clerical and secretarial work is usually done by and considered to be suited to women. The paper draws on a case study of the introduction and integration of a generic software application for supporting the administration of student records at a UK university to explore the social relations of end‐user participation in the implementation of these software packages. The paper presents an analysis of the implementation activity, IToffice worker relations, and the different constructions of skills and knowledge understood to be required as the workers attempted to deal with this software application. (shrink)

In the discipline of software development, effort estimation renders a pivotal role. For the successful development of the project, an unambiguous estimation is necessitated. But there is the inadequacy of standard methods for estimating an effort which is applicable to all projects. Hence, to procure the best way of estimating the effort becomes an indispensable need of the project manager. Mathematical models are only mediocre in performing accurate estimation. On that account, we opt for analogy-based effort estimation by means (...) of some soft computing techniques which rely on historical effort estimation data of the successfully completed projects to estimate the effort. So in a thorough study to improve the accuracy, models are generated for the clusters of the datasets with the confidence that data within the cluster have similar properties. This paper aims mainly on the analysis of some of the techniques to improve the effort prediction accuracy. Here the research starts with analyzing the correlation coefficient of the selected datasets. Then the process moves through the analysis of classification accuracy, clustering accuracy, mean magnitude of relative error and prediction accuracy based on some machine learning methods. Finally, a bio-inspired firefly algorithm with fuzzy analogy is applied on the datasets to produce good estimation accuracy. (shrink)

The informative purpose of the research study is to describe the Applications of modern dance and creation in Chinese dance from dialectical materialist philosophy. This research study was conducted in china to measure Chinese and modern dance from materialist philosophy. Research based on primary data analysis for gathering the data developed almost 10 to 12 questions related to the variables. The Chinese dancers, department of Chinese dancers, film industries, etc., are all research study participants. For measuring, the research study used (...) smart PLS software, and run results included composite reliability, segmentations, smart PLS Algorithm, indicator correlations, and signification analysis related to the modern dance creation performance in China and the effect of dialectical materialist philosophy. Overall, the research found a positive and significant application of modern dance and creation from dialectical materialist philosophy. Modern dance and creation have a direct influence on dialectical materialist philosophy. (shrink)

An important perquisite for verification of the correctness of software is the ability to write mathematically precise documents that can be read by practitioners and advanced users. Without such documents, we won't know what properties we should verify. Tabular expressions, in which predicate expressions may appear, have been found useful for this purpose. We frequently use partial functions in our tabular documentation. Conventional interpretations of expressions that describe predicates are not appropriate for our application because they do not (...) deal with partial functions. Experience with this documentation has led us to choose a logic in which predicates are total but functions remain partial. We have found that this particular interpretation results in simpler expressions and is easily understood by practitioners. (shrink)

Although there are various ways to express actions and behaviors in natural languages, it is found in cognitive informatics that human and system behaviors may be classified into three basic categories: to be , to have , and to do . All mathematical means and forms, in general, are an abstract description of these three categories of system behaviors and their common rules. Taking this view, mathematical logic may be perceived as the abstract means for describing to be, set theory (...) for describing 'to have,' and algebras, particularly the process algebra, for describing to do. This is a fundamental view toward the formal description and modeling of human and system behaviors in general, and software behaviors in particular, because a software system can be perceived as a virtual agent of human beings, and it is created to do something repeatable, to extend human capability, reachability, and/or memory capacity. The author found that both human and software behaviors can be described by a three-dimensional representative model comprising action, time, and space. For software system behaviors, the three dimensions are known as mathematical operations, event/process timing, and memory manipulation. This paper introduces the real-time process algebra (RTPA) that serves as an expressive notation system for describing thoughts and notions of dynamic software behaviors. Experimental case studies on applications of RTPA in describing the equivalent software and human behaviors as a series of actions and cognitive processes are demonstrated with real-world examples. (shrink)

Although there are various ways to express actions and behaviors in natural languages, it is found in cognitive informatics that human and system behaviors may be classified into three basic categories: to be, to have, and to do. All mathematical means and forms, in general, are an abstract description of these three categories of system behaviors and their common rules. Taking this view, mathematical logic may be perceived as the abstract means for describing ‘to be,’ set theory for describing 'to (...) have,' and algebras, particularly the process algebra, for describing ‘to do.’ This is a fundamental view toward the formal description and modeling of human and system behaviors in general, and software behaviors in particular, because a software system can be perceived as a virtual agent of human beings, and it is created to do something repeatable, to extend human capability, reachability, and/or memory capacity. The author found that both human and software behaviors can be described by a three-dimensional representative model comprising action, time, and space. For software system behaviors, the three dimensions are known as mathematical operations, event/process timing, and memory manipulation. This paper introduces the real-time process algebra that serves as an expressive notation system for describing thoughts and notions of dynamic software behaviors. Experimental case studies on applications of RTPA in describing the equivalent software and human behaviors as a series of actions and cognitive processes are demonstrated with real-world examples. (shrink)

The authors present their experience and practices of introducing cloud services, as a means to simplify the adoption of ICT in education, using Free/Open Source Software. The solution creates a hybrid cloud infrastructure, in order to provide a pre-installed virtual machine, acting as a server inside the school, providing desktop environment based on the Software as a Service cloud model, where legacy PCs act as stateless devices. Classroom management is accomplished using the application “Epoptes.” To minimize administration (...) tasks, educational software is provided accordingly, either on-line or through repositories to automate software installation. The advantages of the hybrid cloud implementation, include services that are not completely dependent on broadband connections’ state, minimal cost, reusability of obsolete equipment, ease of administration, centralized management, patches and educational software provisioning and, above all, facilitation of the educational procedure. (shrink)

Currently, there are no computerized tools enabling objective interpretation of observational gait assessment based on Wisconsin Gait Scale, which is a reliable and well-tested tool. The solution envisaged by us may provide a practical tool for assessing gait deviations in patients with hemiparesis after stroke. The present study assessed agreement between a new application software for computerized WGS and 3-dimensional gait analysis, and reliability of the application. The study involved 33 individuals with hemiparesis after stroke. The (...) class='Hi'>software was developed based on a model designed taking into account components of the WGS and incorporating auxiliary lines passing through the relevant anthropometric points on the patient’s body, as well as measurements of angular values, distances and duration of the specific gait phases, which make it possible to substantiate assessment based on this scale. Series of videos were made to record gait of the qualified patients. After the gait evaluation was carried out using the app, the data were retrieved from the software. The gait assessment was performed separately by three independent examiners who reviewed the video recording using the new app twice. Additionally, 3DGA was carried out for all the subjects, and the results of the app-aided assessment were compared to those acquired using 3DGA. The findings show statistically significant correlations between majority of the WGS items measured using the new app, and the relevant spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters identified by 3DGA. Agreement between the scores reported by the three examiners was high in both measurements, as reflected by Cronbach’s alpha exceeding 0.8. The findings reflect very good intra-observer reliability and inter-observer reliability of the new application software for computerized WGS. The opportunities offered by the observational gait scale objectified through our new software for computerized WGS result from the fact that the tool provides a useful low-cost and time-effective feedback to monitor ongoing treatments or formulate hypotheses. (shrink)

This paper critically investigates the ethical perspectives and practices of individuals and organizations who make persuasive technologies. An organization that claims to be at the forefront of ethical persuasion is behavioral software company Boundless Mind. Yet Boundless Mind sells ostensibly oxymoronic software products: an Application Programming Interface for third-party applications that optimizes the capture of end user attention, and an application for end users on how to make third-party applications less persuasive. Drawing upon Foucault’s interpretation of (...) ethics as an “aesthetics of existence” and the related concept of “therapeutic authority,” I argue Boundless Mind justify the “poaching” and “protecting” of user attention based on a view of the human subject as fixable and their capability to instrumentalize user subjectivity to socially desirable ends. I walkthrough Boundless Mind’s technology-habit-breaking application Space and highlight a behavioral technique administered by Space called stimulus devaluation, which enables the user to develop a transformative relationship with their technology habits and persuasive applications. I conclude the paper by arguing that a persuasive technology ethics based on fixing the user obfuscates the power of persuasive technologists by limiting the scope of ethical inquiry to the activities of the user. (shrink)

This paper addresses the possibility of measuring perceived usability in an absolute way. It studies the impact of the nature of the tasks performed in perceived software usability evaluation, using for this purpose the subjective evaluation of an application’s performance via the Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI). The paper reports on the post-hoc analysis of data from a productivity study for testing the effect of changes in the graphical user interface (GUI) of a market leading drafting (...) class='Hi'>application. Even though one would expect similar evaluations of an application’s usability for same releases, the analysis reveals that the output of this subjective appreciation is context sensitive and therefore mediated by the research design. Our study unmasked a significant interaction between the nature of the tasks used for the usability evaluation and how users evaluate the performance of this application. This interaction challenges the concept of absolute benchmarking in subjective usability evaluation, as some software evaluation methods aspire to provide, since subjective measurement of software quality will be affected most likely by the nature of the testing materials used for the evaluation. (shrink)

In order to design and implement electronic institutions that incorporate norms governing the behavior of the participants of those institutions, some crucial steps should be taken. The first problem is that human norms are (on purpose) specified on an abstract level. This ensures applicability of the norms over long periods of time in many different circumstances. However, for an electronic institution to function according to those norms, they should be concrete enough to be able to check them run time. A (...) second problem is that norms describe which behavior is desirable and permitted, but not how this is achieved in an institution. In the “real world" regulations often indicate procedures for implementing and enforcing the law. Likewise we should devise means to annotate the norms with practical aspects such as enforcement mechanisms, sanctions, etc. in order to get requirements for an institution that will enforce norms (by either constraining behavior within the norms or reacting to violation of the norms). The choice of which kind of mechanism is chosen is not a normative one, but usually based on criteria of efficiency and/or feasibility of the mechanism. In this paper we present our view on how to approach these problems and other related issues to be solved in order to develop e-institutions capable to operate in complex, highly regulated scenarios. (shrink)

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Theory and Applications of Satisfiability Testing, SAT 2011, held in Ann Arbor, MI, USA in June 2011.The 25 revised full papers presented together with ...

"Foundations of the Formal Sciences" is a series of interdisciplinary conferences in mathematics, philosophy, computer science and linguistics. The main goal is to reestablish the traditionally strong links between these areas of research that have been lost in the past decades. The second conference in the series had the subtitle "Applications of Mathematical Logic in Philosophy and Linguistics" and brought speakers from all parts of the Formal Sciences together to give a holistic view of how mathematical methods can improve our (...) philosophical and technical understanding of language and scientific discourse, ranging from the theoretical level up to applications in language recognition software. Audience: This volume is of interest to all formal philosophers and theoretical linguists. In addition to that, logicians interested in the applications of their field and logic students in mathematics, computer science, philosophy and linguistics can use the volume to broaden their knowledge of applications of logic. (shrink)

The collaboration of Language and Computing nv (L&C) and the Institute for Formal Ontology and Medical Information Science (IFOMIS) is guided by the hypothesis that quality constraints on ontologies for software ap-plication purposes closely parallel the constraints salient to the design of sound philosophical theories. The extent of this parallel has been poorly appreciated in the informatics community, and it turns out that importing the benefits of phi-losophical insight and methodology into application domains yields a variety of improvements. (...) L&C’s LinKBase® is one of the world’s largest medical domain ontologies. Its current primary use pertains to natural language processing ap-plications, but it also supports intelligent navigation through a range of struc-tured medical and bioinformatics information resources, such as SNOMED-CT, Swiss-Prot, and the Gene Ontology (GO). In this report we discuss how and why philosophical methods improve both the internal coherence of LinKBase®, and its capacity to serve as a translation hub, improving the interoperability of the ontologies through which it navigates. (shrink)

Agreement technologies refer to a novel paradigm for the construction of distributed intelligent systems, where autonomous software agents negotiate to reach agreements on behalf of their human users. Smart Cities are a key application domain for agreement technologies. While several proofs of concept and prototypes exist, such systems are still far from ready for being deployed in the real-world. In this paper we focus on a novel method for managing elements of smart road infrastructures of the future, namely (...) the case of auction-based road intersections. We show that, even though the key technological elements for such methods are already available, there are multiple non-technical issues that need to be tackled before they can be applied in practice. For this purpose, we analyse legal and ethical implications of auction-based road intersections in the context of international regulations and from the standpoint of the Spanish legislation. From this exercise, we extract a set of required modifications, of both technical and legal nature, which need to be addressed so as to pave the way for the potential real-world deployment of such systems in a future that may not be too far away. (shrink)

The pandemic has altered accounting education with the widespread adoption of remote evaluation platforms. We apply the lens of the fraud triangle to consider how the adoption of remote evaluation influences accounting students’ ethical values by measuring the incidence of cheating behavior as well as capturing their perceptions of their opportunity to cheat and their rationalization of cheating behavior. Consistent with prior research, our results show that cheating is higher in the online environment compared to remote evaluation, although the use (...) of proctoring software in online evaluation appears to mitigate but not eliminate students’ the unethical behavior. However, cheating was not reduced when students attest to an honor code during the beginning of an exam. Nonetheless, we find that the use of both proctoring software and honor codes reduces students’ perceptions of opportunity and rationalization of cheating behavior. It follows that the remote evaluation environment may unintentionally be negatively influencing the ethicality of students and future accounting professionals by promoting cheating behavior and, by so doing, negatively influencing the development of unethical values of accounting students and future accounting professionals. Educators should consider the use of appropriate educational interventions to reduce the incidence and opportunities for unethical behavior and, by so doing, help promote the development of ethical values in future accounting professionals. Further implications for teaching and the accounting profession are discussed. (shrink)

Automatized scalable healthcare support solutions allow real-time 24/7 health monitoring of patients, prioritizing medical treatment according to health conditions, reducing medical appointments in clinics and hospitals, and enabling easy exchange of information among healthcare professionals. With recent health safety guidelines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting the elderly has become imperative. However, state-of-the-art health wearable device platforms present limitations in hardware, parameter estimation algorithms, and software architecture. This paper proposes a complete framework for health systems composed of multi-sensor wearable (...) health devices, high-resolution parameter estimation, and real-time monitoring applications. The framework is appropriate for real-time monitoring of elderly patients' health without physical contact with healthcare professionals, maintaining safety standards. The hardware includes sensors for monitoring steps, pulse oximetry, heart rate, and temperature using low-power wireless communication. In terms of parameter estimation, the embedded circuit uses high-resolution signal processing algorithms that result in an improved measure of the HR. The proposed high-resolution signal processing-based approach outperforms state-of-the-art HR estimation measurements using the photoplethysmography sensor. (shrink)