Abstracts:

Hossam ElGindy
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Newcastle, Newcastle NSW 2308, Australia hossam@ee.newcastle.edu.au

In this paper we present an algorithm for matrix multiplication on an array of processors with optical pipelined row and column buses(APPB) We show that two n*n matrices A and B with elements that can be represened by O(w) bits and where the number of nonzero elements of B is at most k[B]*n, 1<=k[B]<=n can be multiplied on an n*n*q APPC in time O(k[B]/q + max { log w, loglog n }). Our result improves some results obtained by Pavel and Akl on a reconfigurable array with optical buses (AROB) concerning the size of the array. Moreover, the APPB is a weaker model than the AROB.

Keywords: processor arrays, optical buses, matrix multiplication, sparse matrices.

Chih-Fang Wang
Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 Phone: 352-392-1527, Fax: 352-392-1220 wang@cise.ufl.edu

We show that the diameter of an N^2 processor OTIS-Hypercube (N=2^d) is 2d+1. OTIS-Hypercube algorithms for some commonly performed permutations-transpose, bit reversal, vector reversal, perfect shuffle, unshffle, shuffled row-major, and bit shuffle- are developed. We also propose an algorithm for general BPC permutaions.

Keywords: OTIS-Hypercube, BPC permutations, diameter

Raymond J. D'Amore
The Mitre Corporation, 1820 Dolley Madison Blvd., McLean,VA 22102-3481, USA Phone: 703-883-6899, Fax: 703-883-7978 rdamore@mitre.org

The Collaborative Electronic Library Framework (CELF) is an architecture enabling a group of users to build a specialized digital collection organized around a set of topical areas of interest to a community of users. The system provides services to collect network- based information and tools to publish collected information into different topical areas through both manual and automatic mechanisms. Services are also provided to enable users to locate and retrieve useful information from the repository by browse and search techniques. All access to CELF is via a Web browser.

Keywords: digital library, information retrieval, system architecture.

Eugene G. Sukhov
Institute of Control Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsooyuznaya 65, Moscow, Russia Phone: +095 334 79 51 sukhov@ipu.rssi.ru

In this paper we consider a parallel implementation of linear algebra algorithms for computer tomography and study two approaches for this purpose. The first concerns parallel Cholesky algorithm based on a block decomposition procedure. The second deals woth parallel iteration procedure in terms of so called sections, where each section is a subset of 2D array components. Formulations given are good suited to object-oriented programming. The FORTRAN-like implementation is considered.

Keywords: parallel programming, computer tomography, parallel computations, O-O programming.

Anton P. Zeleznikar
An Active Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, Volariceva ulica 8, SI-1111 Ljubljana, Slovenia anton.p.zeleznikar@ijs.si

A system, F , of different informational formulas, j , can possess various topological structures, D. By this, topological informational spaces of the form ( F ,D) can be constructed and the question arises: How can the topological structures be introduced reasonably for concrete system systems of informational formulas
A topology causes certain other concepts, e.g., those concerning closed topology, connetedness, continuum, interior, exterior,neighborhood, basis, subbasis, metric, space, etc. of systems, and especially the concept of meaning as a kind of the informational accumulation point. The paper treats topologies of three types of informational formula systems: F [ j ] , F [ x ],|= h , and F [ x ] . An example of bidirectional consciousness shell is presented enabling a comples engine modeling.

Keywords: basis, closed system, connectedness, covering, discrete space, exterior, indiscrete space, informational space: operand formula vector, vector distributiveness(orthogonality), metrics (meaning);interior, linkage, neighborhood, open system, subbasis; system of informational formulas, operands and basic transition formulas; topology of systems

Marjan Pivka
University of Maribor, School of Business and Economics Maribor, Razlagova 14, 620000 Maribor, Slovenia
Tel: ++ 386 62 2290247, Fax: ++ 386 62 26 681 pivka@uni-mb.si

The sosftware domain is faced with a number of quality assurance and process improvement models. Business managers are under pressure from many different kinds if assessments for their operations, products and services. Accounting departments are audited by financial auditors. What about Information Systems? Do we have a uiversal model on how to achieve required IS quality? This paper deals with the definition of IS quality and the influence of different control mechanisms on IS. The results of this empirical research are several. First of all, none of the control mechanisms are universal and applicable to all IS resources. Application of more than one of them could be redundant. Mutual recognition of results between them is required. IS managers are responsible to understand themm and use them with all limitations on specific IS resources.

Keywords: software quality, IS manager, business.

Mario Radovan
University of Rijeka, Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Information Science, Omladinska 14, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia mradovan@mapef.pefri.hr

Philosophical discussions about the aims, possibilities and limitations of Artificial Intelligence (AI) can shed light on the plausibility of different approaches to cognition and computation, and with that, they can have great impact on the future development of computer technologies. However, we argue that such discussions are often based on the vaque concepts or on the unsafe assumptions. Intelligence and understanding are usually observed on the level of behaviour; we argue that these phenomena should be considered in terms of motivations; in that context, we hold it necessary to differentiate between authentic and functional cognitive abilities. Computation does not seem to be a plausible way toward authentic understanding and intelligence; however, computational systems do offer virtually unlimited possibilities to replicate and exceed human cognitive abilities on the functional level.

Keywords: mind, computation, subjectivity, understanding, thinking, intelligence, three worlds, care thesis, coping-with

Matjaz Gams
Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia mtjaz.gams@ijs.si

A significant weakness of rule-based production systems is large computational requirement for performing matching. Time complexity of algorithms is generally still NP-hard ( non-polynomial) to the number of rules in a rule base. LFA is a linear-chaining algorithm for rule-based systems which does not require a specific conflict resolution step for chaining. However, its applications are still restricted, e.g., it cannot process first-order rules efficiently.
This paper reviews the design of chaining algorithms for rule-based systems, and analyses some well-known chaining algorithms such as RETE and LFA. The central contribution is the design of a robust LFA algorithm, LFA+, which can processes first-order logic rules.

Keywords: expert systems, rule-based systems, fast chaining, conflict resolution

Bavy Li and James Liu
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, HK Phone: +852 2766 7273, Fax +852 2774 0842 csnlli@comp.polyu.edu.hk
csnkliu@comp.polyu.edu.hk

Honghua Dai
The University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, AUST Phone: +612 6773 3182, Fax: +612 6773 3312 dai@cs.une.edu.au

Accurate prediction is the most important issue in the study of machine learning and knowledge discovery. Various learning approaches fail to achieve a higher accuracy in new unseen cases due to various causes. Low quality data is one of them. This paper reports the results of applying Naive Bayesian classifiers to real meteorological data in Hong Kong to learn weather forecasting rules for the prediction of binary classification problems, such as rain/no-rain, and for the prediction of unlimited classification problems such as the prediction of precipitation. The comparison results show that among the methods we compared, Backpropagation Network (BPN) achieved a better accuracy rate on binary classification problems of the rain/no-rain average, while the Naive Bayesian Network with initial probability density approximation (NBN-IPD) achieved the highest rate of the average of the three classes and achieved a very competitive rate on unlimited class classification problems.

Keywords: machine learning, naive Bayes, neural network

Margot Postema, and Heinz W. Schmidt
School of Computer Science & Software Engineering, Monash University, 900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East, VIC 3145, Australia margot@csse.monash.edu.au
hws@csse.monash.edu.au

Extremely large software systems which have been developed and maintained by many different people are termed legacy systems. These legacy systems were traditionally developed using methods such as structured analysis and design, or even individual programming techniques and styles. Over time, maintenance has changed the original program structure and specifications. However, usually the specifications have not been maintained, and the current design and program understanding is lost. Maintenance of these systems becomes so costly, that they become candidate for reengineering. Reverse engineering of legacy systems aims at discovering design and specification of existing software program s. The recovered designs are then forward engineered to improved systems. This difficult task can be assisted by CASE tools, but still requires human expertise and domain knowledge. With a technology shift from structured to object-oriented software construction, an additional problem arises i.e. transforming the structured legacy system to an object-oriented system. We outline the current state of CASE tools, followed by research directions. Further, we indicate that a two staged approach may be advantageous, where self-contained subsystems can be abstracted for design recovery and object discovery.

Keywords:reverse engineering, legacy systems, transformation, abstraction

Anton P. Zeleznikar
An Active Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, Volariceva ulica 8, SI-1111 Ljubljana, Slovenia anton.p.zeleznikar@ijs.si

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