Modeling intelligent agents for web-based information gathering

The recent emergence of intelligent agent technology and advances in information gathering have been the important steps forward in efficiently managing and using the vast amount of information now available on the Web to make informed decisions. There are, however, still many problems that need to be overcome in the information gathering research arena to enable the delivery of relevant information required by end users. Good decisions cannot be made without sufficient, timely, and correct information. Traditionally it is said that knowledge is power, however, nowadays sufficient, timely, and correct information is power. So gathering relevant information to meet user information needs is the crucial step for making good decisions. The ideal goal of information gathering is to obtain only the information that users need (no more and no less). However, the volume of information available, diversity formats of information, uncertainties of information, and distributed locations of information (e.g. World Wide Web) hinder the process of gathering the right information to meet the user needs. Specifically, two fundamental issues in regard to efficiency of information gathering are mismatch and overload. The mismatch means some information that meets user needs has not been gathered (or missed out), whereas, the overload means some gathered information is not what users need. Traditional information retrieval has been developed well in the past twenty years. The introduction of the Web has changed people's perceptions of information retrieval. Usually, the task of information retrieval is considered to have the function of leading the user to those documents that are relevant to his/her information needs. The similar function in information retrieval is to filter out the irrelevant documents (or called information filtering). Research into traditional information retrieval has provided many retrieval models and techniques to represent documents and queries. Nowadays, information is becoming highly distributed, and increasingly difficult to gather. On the other hand, people have found a lot of uncertainties that are contained in the user information needs. These motivate the need for research in agent-based information gathering. Agent-based information systems arise at this moment. In these kinds of systems, intelligent agents will get commitments from their users and act on the users behalf to gather the required information. They can easily retrieve the relevant information from highly distributed uncertain environments because of their merits of intelligent, autonomy and distribution. The current research for agent-based information gathering systems is divided into single agent gathering systems, and multi-agent gathering systems. In both research areas, there are still open problems to be solved so that agent-based information gathering systems can retrieve the uncertain information more effectively from the highly distributed environments. The aim of this thesis is to research the theoretical framework for intelligent agents to gather information from the Web. This research integrates the areas of information retrieval and intelligent agents. The specific research areas in this thesis are the development of an information filtering model for single agent systems, and the development of a dynamic belief model for information fusion for multi-agent systems. The research results are also supported by the construction of real information gathering agents (e.g., Job Agent) for the Internet to help users to gather useful information stored in Web sites. In such a framework, information gathering agents have abilities to describe (or learn) the user information needs, and act like users to retrieve, filter, and/or fuse the information. A rough set based information filtering model is developed to address the problem of overload. The new approach allows users to describe their information needs on user concept spaces rather than on document spaces, and it views a user information need as a rough set over the document space. The rough set decision theory is used to classify new documents into three regions: positive region, boundary region, and negative region. Two experiments are presented to verify this model, and it shows that the rough set based model provides an efficient approach to the overload problem. In this research, a dynamic belief model for information fusion in multi-agent environments is also developed. This model has a polynomial time complexity, and it has been proven that the fusion results are belief (mass) functions. By using this model, a collection fusion algorithm for information gathering agents is presented. The difficult problem for this research is the case where collections may be used by more than one agent. This algorithm, however, uses the technique of cooperation between agents, and provides a solution for this difficult problem in distributed information retrieval systems. This thesis presents the solutions to the theoretical problems in agent-based information gathering systems, including information filtering models, agent belief modeling, and collection fusions. It also presents solutions to some of the technical problems in agent-based information systems, such as document classification, the architecture for agent-based information gathering systems, and the decision in multiple agent environments. Such kinds of information gathering agents will gather relevant information from highly distributed uncertain environments.

An agent-based intelligent system for information gathering from world wide web environment

To use the vast amount of information efficiently and effectively from Web sites is very important for making informed decisions. There are, however, still many problems that need to be overcome in the information gathering research arena to enable the delivery of relevant information required by users. In this paper, an information gathering system is develop by means of multiple agents to solve those problems. We employed some ideas of Gaia's methodology and an open agent architecture to analyze and design the system. The system consists of a query preprocessing agent, information retrieval agent, information filtering agent, and information management agent. The filtering agent is trained with categorized documents and can provide users with the necessary information. The experimental results show that all agents in the system can work cooperatively to retrieve relevant information from the World Wide Web environment.

Enabling successful web-based information technology support for enterprise customers: a service provider perspective of stakeholder-based issues

An understanding by support organisations of the key factors enabling successful enterprise after-sales customer support provision when using Web-based Selfservice Systems (WSSs) is essential to making  improvements in such systems. This paper reports key stakeholder-oriented findings from an interpretive study of critical success factors (CSFs) for the transfer of after-sales support-oriented knowledge from an information technology (IT) service provider to enterprise customers when a WSS is used. The findings suggest that researchers and practitioners should consider WSSs within a complex network of service providers, business partners and customer firms. The paper also clearly points to a need for support organisations to engage in greater collaboration and integration of WSSs with enterprise customers and business partners.

A model for enhancing empowerment in farmers using mobile based information system

Farmers living in rural villages of Sri Lanka do not have proper access to information to make informed decisions about their livelihoods and as a result they face constant hardships in their lives. They use mobile phones to communicate but these are not currently connected to the Internet. We are investigating how to provide personalized information to farmers with the aim of empowering them to make informed decisions and take appropriate actions. In this paper we propose an empowerment model that has been designed to achieve their goals which have been identified using a scenario-based approach. The model examines several empowerment processes and supporting tools that would help them to achieve their goals with the hope that they would have an increased sense of control, self-efficacy, knowledge and competency. This empowerment model is applied to the development of a mobile based information system that is being developed by an international collaborative research group to address the issues of the farmers.

Families as carers-information needs in a cultural context

While the important role of family as a carer has been increasingly recognised in healthcare service provision, particularly for patients with acute or chronic illnesses, the carer’s information needs have not been well understood and adequately supported by current health information systems. In order to effectively provide continuous and home-based care for the patient, a family relative as the primary carer needs sufficient access to medical knowledge and patient’s health information. There are two challenges. First, being a family relative, the primary carer is often a non-medical practitioner. Second, in Australia, many primary carers are family relatives of patients from a non-English speaking background. They are often seen as interpreters in clinical consultation sessions. Their roles and responsibilities as an interpreter and a carer are often mixed and blurry.
Therefore, their information needs are often seen as secondary to the patient or neglected. The primary carer’s information needs are currently not yet well understood.

This paper reports finding from a case study which examines an on-line diary of a husband-carer who provided support and care for his wife, who at the time of care was a lung cancer patient. The case study examines an ongoing learning process that the husband went through, identifies information needs by the carer and cultural factors which played an important role in the husband’s interpretation of information, decision making and provision of care. The finding extends a current model of the user’s information needs in the literature and suggests implications for further research into developing health information systems to meet information needs by the family carer.

Requirements engineering for web-based information systems

This chapter overviews the existing methods of requirements analysis as prescribed by some of the best-known web-development methods. It also discusses the pre-eminent importance of stakeholder analysis, identification of stakeholder views and concerns, and the processes governing elicitation of web systems requirements. The chapter finally derives a model of concern-driven requirements evolution from several case studies undertaken in the area of web-enabled employee service systems.

Chalk and cheese: Grounded theory case studies of the introduction and usage of activity-based information in two British banks

During the conduct of a research project into influences on the use of management accounting information, the use of activity-based techniques and information in two British banks was studied by the application of grounded theory principles. Juxtaposition of these two case studies reveals insights about the managers' significantly different experiences of ongoing applications, and the different outcomes of implementation that may arise, despite commonality in the organization and industry environment. This paper presents these two case studies, highlights the similarities and differences between them, and draws some conclusions about the causes of the differences. Factors that can be managed to achieve a greater use of these particular management accounting techniques, and the information they generate, are revealed. In particular, the findings suggest that the introduction of transfer charging between the bank's internal units highlights the need for activity-based techniques, and that education, communication and implementor support are vital, both for implementation success and for the widespread continuing use of the resultant applications. Further, between the two cases the greatest consensus was found in a common concern about the amount of detail in the databank and reports.

Development of a web-based information system for cascading utilisation of construction materials

This paper presents a Web-based information system for promoting the cascading utilisation of construction materials in order to mitigate the increasing environmental pressure by the construction industry. First, this paper points out me weaknesses of current waste material exchange systems. Then, a new approach is introduced to reuse demolished materials, by which the utilisation of demolished materials may be ascertained before the demolition is actually produced.. Information technologies, including web-based intelligent and distributed systems, are applied to actua1ise this approach. Finally, the development and implementation of the system is described in detail.

Developing a web-based information resource for palliative care : an action-research inspired approach

Background : General Practitioners and community nurses rely on easily accessible, evidence-based online information to guide practice. To date, the methods that underpin the scoping of user-identified online information needs in palliative care have remained under-explored. This paper describes the benefits and challenges of a collaborative approach involving users and experts that informed the first stage of the development of a palliative care website.

Method : The action research-inspired methodology included a panel assessment of an existing palliative care website based in Victoria, Australia; a pre-development survey (n = 197) scoping potential audiences and palliative care information needs; working parties conducting a needs analysis about necessary information content for a redeveloped website targeting health professionals and caregivers/patients; an iterative evaluation process involving users and experts; as well as a final evaluation survey (n = 166).

Results : Involving users in the identification of content and links for a palliative care website is time-consuming and requires initial resources, strong networking skills and commitment. However, user participation provided crucial information that led to the widened the scope of the website audience and guided the development and testing of the website. The needs analysis underpinning the project suggests that palliative care peak bodies need to address three distinct audiences (clinicians, allied health professionals as well as patients and their caregivers).

Conclusion : Web developers should pay close attention to the content, language, and accessibility needs of these groups. Given the substantial cost associated with the maintenance of authoritative health information sites, the paper proposes a more collaborative development in which users can be engaged in the definition of content to ensure relevance and responsiveness, and to eliminate unnecessary detail. Access to volunteer networks forms an integral part of such an approach.

An extended multivariate autoregressive framework for EEG-based information flow analysis of a brain network

Recently effective connectivity studies have gained significant attention among the neuroscience community as Electroencephalography (EEG) data with a high time resolution can give us a wider understanding of the information flow within the brain. Among other tools used in effective connectivity analysis Granger Causality (GC) has found a prominent place. The GC analysis, based on strictly causal multivariate autoregressive (MVAR) models does not account for the instantaneous interactions among the sources. If instantaneous interactions are present, GC based on strictly causal MVAR will lead to erroneous conclusions on the underlying information flow. Thus, the work presented in this paper applies an extended MVAR (eMVAR) model that accounts for the zero lag interactions. We propose a constrained adaptive Kalman filter (CAKF) approach for the eMVAR model identification and demonstrate that this approach performs better than the short time windowing-based adaptive estimation when applied to information flow analysis.

Blended learning and the flipped classroom: The affordances of cloud based, located, and virtual world environments to support student learning

In this paper the author reports on the introduction of the flipped classroom integrating located, online and virtual world learning environments to support the collaborative lived experiences of a group of students and the educator participating in a higher education undergraduate art unit, Navigating the Visual World. A qualitative narrative methodology, A/r/tography, incorporating both image making and textual recording is used to explore and identify interwoven aspects of the artist/ researcher/ educator relationship in the creative artistic process of exploring concepts of identity within inquiry based art practice. Selected student examples, including a collaborative group assessment project demonstrate effective student engagement with experiential blended learning within the flipped classroom.

A video-based real-time vehicle detection method by classified background learning

A new two-level real-time vehicle detection method is proposed in order to meet the robustness and efficiency requirements of real world applications. At the high level, pixels of the background image are classified into three categories according to the characteristics of Red, Green, Blue (RGB) curves. The robustness of the classification is further enhanced by using
line detection and pattern connectivity. At the lower level, an exponential forgetting algorithm with adaptive parameters for different categories is utilised to calculate the background and reduce the distortion by the small motion of video cameras. Scene tests show that the proposed method is more robust and faster than previous methods, which is very suitable for real-time vehicle detection in outdoor environments, especially concerning locations where the level of illumination changes frequently and speed detection is important.