A pattern language for goals

Previous work has established the value of goal-oriented approaches to requirements engineering. Achieving clarity and agreement about stakeholders’ goals and assumptions is critical for building successful software systems and managing their subsequent evolution. In general, this decision-making process requires stakeholders to understand the implications of decisions outside the domains of their own expertise. Hence it is important to support goal negotiation and decision making with description languages that are both precise and expressive, yet easy to grasp. This paper presents work in progress to develop a pattern language for describing goal refinement graphs. The language has a simple graphical notation, which is supported by a prototype editor tool, and a symbolic notation based on modal logic.

Multi-modal fingerprinting for multimedia assets: optimisation of media security protection in online distribution environments

Since the advent of the internet in every day life in the 1990s, the barriers to producing, distributing and consuming multimedia data such as videos, music, ebooks, etc. have steadily been lowered for most computer users so that almost everyone with internet access can join the online communities who both produce, consume and of course also share media artefacts. Along with this trend, the violation of personal data privacy and copyright has increased with illegal file sharing being rampant across many online communities particularly for certain music genres and amongst the younger age groups. This has had a devastating effect on the traditional media distribution market; in most cases leaving the distribution companies and the content owner with huge financial losses. To prove that a copyright violation has occurred one can deploy fingerprinting mechanisms to uniquely identify the property. However this is currently based on only uni-modal approaches. In this paper we describe some of the design challenges and architectural approaches to multi-modal fingerprinting currently being examined for evaluation studies within a PhD research programme on optimisation of multi-modal fingerprinting architectures. Accordingly we outline the available modalities that are being integrated through this research programme which aims to establish the optimal architecture for multi-modal media security protection over the internet as the online distribution environment for both legal and illegal distribution of media products.

Multi-level Input Fusion in multi-modal systems

Context-aware multimodal interactive systems aim to adapt to the needs and behavioural patterns of users and offer a way forward for enhancing the efficacy and quality of experience (QoE) in human-computer interaction. The various modalities that constribute to such systems each provide a specific uni-modal response that is integratively presented as a multi-modal interface capable of interpretation of multi-modal user input and appropriately responding to it through dynamically adapted multi-modal interactive flow management , This paper presents an initial background study in the context of the first phase of a PhD research programme in the area of optimisation of data fusion techniques to serve multimodal interactivite systems, their applications and requirements.

Cross-modal preference acquisition: evaluative conditioning of pictures by affective olfactory and auditory cues

In this research, a cross-model paradigm was chosen to test the hypothesis that affective olfactory and auditory cues paired with neutral visual stimuli bearing no resemblance or logical connection to the affective cues can evoke preference shifts in those stimuli. Neutral visual stimuli of abstract paintings were presented simultaneously with liked and disliked odours and sounds, with neutral-neutral pairings serving as controls. The results confirm previous findings that the affective evaluation of previously neutral visual stimuli shifts in the direction of contingently presented affective auditory stimuli. In addition, this research shows the presence of conditioning with affective odours having no logical connection with the pictures.

Web-based occupant feedback for building energy management systems using fuzzy logic

This paper describes the development and validation of a novel web-based interface for the gathering of feedback from building occupants about their environmental discomfort including signs of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). The gathering of such feedback may enable better targeting of environmental discomfort down to the individual as well as the early detection and subsequently resolution by building services of more complex issues such as SBS. The occupant's discomfort is interpreted and converted to air-conditioning system set points using Fuzzy Logic. Experimental results from a multi-zone air-conditioning test rig have been included in this paper.

Integrated optics for nulling interferometry in the thermal infrared

Modal filtering is based on the capability of single-mode waveguides to transmit only one complex amplitude function to eliminate virtually any perturbation of the interfering wavefronts, thus making very high rejection ratios possible in a nulling interferometer. In the present paper we focus on the progress of Integrated Optics in the thermal infrared [6-20 mu m] range, one of the two candidate technologies for the fabrication of Modal Filters, together with fiber optics. In conclusion of the European Space Agency's (ESA) "Integrated Optics for Darwin" activity, etched layers of clialcogenide material deposited on chalcogenide glass substrates was selected among four candidates as the technology with the best potential to simultaneously meet the filtering efficiency, absolute and spectral transmission, and beam coupling requirements. ESA's new "Integrated Optics" activity started at mid-2007 with the purpose of improving the technology until compliant prototypes can be manufactured and validated, expectedly by the end of 2009. The present paper aims at introducing the project and the components requirements and functions. The selected materials and preliminary designs, as well as the experimental validation logic and test benches are presented. More details are provided on the progress of the main technology: vacuum deposition in the co-evaporation mode and subsequent etching of chalcogenide layers. In addition., preliminary investigations of an alternative technology based on burying a chalcogenide optical fiber core into a chalcogenide substrate are presented. Specific developments of anti-reflective solutions designed for the mitigation of Fresnel losses at the input and output surface of the components are also introduced.

A framework towards multi-modal fingerprinting scheme for multimedia assets

Fingerprinting is a well known approach for identifying multimedia data without having the original data present but what amounts to its essence or ”DNA”. Current approaches show insufficient deployment of three types of knowledge that could be brought to bear in providing a finger printing framework that remains effective, efficient and can accommodate both the whole as well as elemental protection at appropriate levels of abstraction to suit various Foci of Interest (FoI) in an image or cross media artefact. Thus our proposed framework aims to deliver selective composite fingerprinting that remains responsive to the requirements for protection of whole or parts of an image which may be of particularly interest and be especially vulnerable to attempts at rights violation. This is powerfully aided by leveraging both multi-modal information as well as a rich spectrum of collateral context knowledge including both image-level collaterals as well as the inevitably needed market intelligence knowledge such as customers’ social networks interests profiling which we can deploy as a crucial component of our Fingerprinting Collateral Knowledge. This is used in selecting the special FoIs within an image or other media content that have to be selectively and collaterally protected.

Visualizing a logic of dependability arguments

This paper offers general guidelines for the development of effective visual languages. That is, languages for constructing diagrams that can be easily and readily interpreted and manipulated by the human reader. We use these guidelines first to examine classical AND/OR trees as a representation of logical proofs, and second to design and evaluate a visual language for representing proofs in LofA: a Logic of Dependability Arguments, for which we provide a brief motivation and overview.

Autonomous intelligent cruise control using a novel multiple-controller framework incorporating fuzzy-logic-based switching and tuning

This paper presents a novel intelligent multiple-controller framework incorporating a fuzzy-logic-based switching and tuning supervisor along with a generalised learning model (GLM) for an autonomous cruise control application. The proposed methodology combines the benefits of a conventional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller, and a PID structure-based (simultaneous) zero and pole placement controller. The switching decision between the two nonlinear fixed structure controllers is made on the basis of the required performance measure using a fuzzy-logic-based supervisor, operating at the highest level of the system. The supervisor is also employed to adaptively tune the parameters of the multiple controllers in order to achieve the desired closed-loop system performance. The intelligent multiple-controller framework is applied to the autonomous cruise control problem in order to maintain a desired vehicle speed by controlling the throttle plate angle in an electronic throttle control (ETC) system. Sample simulation results using a validated nonlinear vehicle model are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the multiple-controller with respect to adaptively tracking the desired vehicle speed changes and achieving the desired speed of response, whilst penalising excessive control action. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A framework towards a multi-modal fingerprinting scheme for multimedia assets

Fingerprinting is a well known approach for identifying multimedia data without having the original data present but instead what amounts to its essence or 'DNA'. Current approaches show insufficient deployment of various types of knowledge that could be brought to bear in providing a fingerprinting framework that remains effective, efficient and can accommodate both the whole as well as elemental protection at appropriate levels of abstraction to suit various Zones of Interest (ZoI) in an image or cross media artefact. The proposed framework aims to deliver selective composite fingerprinting that is powerfully aided by leveraging both multi-modal information as well as a rich spectrum of collateral context knowledge including both image-level collaterals and also the inevitably needed market intelligence knowledge such as customers' social networks interests profiling which we can deploy as a crucial component of our fingerprinting collateral knowledge.