Computer Sciences Commons^™

Method And Apparatus For Detection And Prevention Of Calling Card Fraud, Hooshmand Afsar, David S. Janzen, Mark Ross Erickson, Hazel Suzanne Shirley, Christine Louise Fogarty, Michael Scott Nielsen, Douglas Alan Clark

Computer Science and Software Engineering

A method and apparatus for detection and prevention of calling card fraud is disclosed. The invention provides enhanced intelligence and efficiency in part applying by a fraud analysis associated with a calling card bill type or service provider as identified by originating partitions in network switches. Additionally, the invention incorporates a case-subcase arrangement of fraud analysis information and conducts fraud analysis on a case-by-case basis, thereby providing streamlined handling of suspected fraud. Still additionally, the invention includes an administrative monitor that continuously collects and reviews fraud system status information to detect abnormalities in the system.

Transition From Data To Information, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

It is often lamented that we human beings are suffering from an information overload. This is a myth; as shown in Fig.1, there is no information overload. Instead, we are suffering from a data overload. The confusion between data and information is not readily apparent and requires further explanation. Unorganized data are voluminous but of very little value. Over the past 15 years, industry and commerce have made significant efforts to rearrange this unorganized data into purposeful data, utilizing various kinds of database management systems. However, even in this organized form, we are still dealing with data and not …

From Rs-232 To Object Request Brokers: Incremental Object-Oriented Networking Projects, David S. Janzen

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Selecting an appropriate set of laboratory experiences and projects for a Data Communications and Computer Networks course can be difficult due to the broad and deep nature of the topics. Emphasis may be placed on many networking aspects including design, evaluation, efficiency, security, protocols, tools, and applications. This paper presents a set of projects that attempt to integrate software engineering and systems administration topics. The projects emphasize network application programming. Particular attention will be given to a sequence of incremental projects using an object-oriented approach including the use of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and a design pattern.

Modeling An Algebraic Stepper, John Clements, Mathew Flatt, Matthias Felleisen

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Programmers rely on the correctness of the tools in their programming environments. In the past, semanticists have studied the correctness of compilers and compiler analyses, which are the most important tools. In this paper, we make the case that other tools, such as debuggers and steppers, deserve semantic models, too, and that using these models can help in developing these tools. Our concrete starting point is the algebraic stepper in DrScheme, our Scheme programming environment. The algebraic stepper explains a Scheme computation in terms of an algebraic rewriting of the program text. A program is rewritten until it is in …

Seaway: A Multi-Agent Decision-Support System For Naval Expeditionary Logistic Operations, Anthony Wood, Kym Jason Pohl, Justin Crawford, Mark Lai, John Fanshier, Ken Cudworth, Tom Tate, Hisham Assal, Shawn Pan, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

This report describes work performed by CDM Technologies Inc. in conjunction with the Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center of California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), San Luis Obispo, for the Office of Naval Research (ONR), on the SEAWAY experimental system for planning, gaming and executing maritime logistic operations from a sea base. SEAWAY incorporates three fundamental concepts that distinguish it from existing (i.e., legacy) command and control applications. First, it is a collaborative system in which computer-based agents assist human operators by monitoring, analyzing and reasoning about events in near real-time. Second, SEAWAY includes an ontological model of the …

Immaccs: An Experimental Multi-Agent C2 System, Jens G. Pohl, Anthony A. Wood, Kym Jason Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

The Integrated Marine Multi-Agent Command and Control System (IMMACCS) is a multi-agent, distributed software system, designed to provide a Common Tactical Picture (CTP) with integrated and meaningful decision-support facilities to authorized operators at any access node. IMMACCS has been implemented as a three-tier architecture that distinguishes between information, logic and presentation. It utilizes an object-serving communication facility with subscription and multi-casting capabilities that is based on the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). With an emphasis on application, IMMACCS was designed and implemented in concert with its military users as an integral component of experiments conceived by the Marine Corps …

Semi-Regular Mesh Extraction From Volumes, Z. J. Wood, M. Desbrun, P. Schroder, D. Breen

Computer Science and Software Engineering

We present a novel method to extract iso-surfaces from distance volumes. It generates high quality semi-regular multiresolution meshes of arbitrary topology. Our technique proceeds in two stages. First, a very coarse mesh with guaranteed topology is extracted. Subsequently an iterative multi-scale force-based solver refines the initial mesh into a semi-regular mesh with geometrically adaptive sampling rate and good aspect ratio triangles. The coarse mesh extraction is performed using a new approach we call surface wavefront propagation. A set of discrete iso-distance ribbons are rapidly built and connected while respecting the topology of the iso-surface implied by the data. Subsequent multi-scale …

Robotic System Sensitivity To Neural Network Learning Rate: Theory, Simulation, And Experiments, Christopher M. Clark, James K. Mills

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Selection of neural network learning rates to obtain satisfactory performance from neural network controllers is a challenging problem. To assist in the selection of learning rates, this paper investigates robotic system sensitivity to neural network (NN) learning rate. The work reported here consists of experimental and simulation results. A neural network controller module, developed for the purpose of experimental evaluation of neural network controller performance of a CRS Robotics Corporation A460 robot, allows testing of NN controllers using real-time iterative learning. The A460 is equipped with a joint position proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) controller. The neural network module supplies …

An Inference Engine-Based Subscription Service, Kym J. Pohl, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

A Distributed Network Architecture (DNA) forms the basis of many decision-support systems available today. Such architecture excels at providing an application environment rich in transparency, performance, and expandability (Gray and Lievano 1997). However, efforts at the Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center in San Luis Obispo, California have found that for this architecture to be successfully applied to agent-based, decision-support systems two additional ingredients must be present, namely a query service and a subscription service. These two mechanisms support the extensive collaboration inherent in agent-based, decision-support systems. Although primarily utilized as a means of agent-to-agent interaction these two services can …

Adapting To The Information Age, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

This paper draws attention to the profound changes that human civilization is experiencing as it moves from an industrial environment into an information environment, in which unprecedented emphasis is placed on the knowledge and capabilities of the individual. A clear distinction is drawn between data and information in relationship to computer-based facilities, and the transition of data-processing to the higher levels of information and knowledge representation in quasi intelligent decision-support systems. It is argued that the cultivation of its human capital becomes a foundational requirement for the success of a knowledge-based organization. In such an organization traditional practices of hierarchical, …

Hybrid Probabilistic Programs, Alex Dekhtyar, V. S. Subrahmanian

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The precise probability of a compound event (e.g. e1 V e2,e1 Ʌ e2) depends upon the known relationships (e.g. independence, mutual exclusion, ignorance of any relationship, etc.) between the primitive events that constitute the compound event. To date, most research on probabilistic logic programming has assumed that we are ignorant of the relationship between primitive events. Likewise, most research in AI (e.g. Bayesian approaches) has assumed that primitive events are independent. In this paper, we propose a hybrid probabilistic logic programming language in which the user can explicitly associate, with any given probabilistic strategy, a conjunction and disjunction operator, and …

Proceedings Of The 2000 Onr Decision-Support Workshop Series: The Human-Computer Partnership In Decision-Support, Collaborative Agent Design Research Center

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

The Decision Support Workshop of May 2-4, 2000 held in San Luis Obispo, Cal., was the second in a series that was started one year earlier as a joint project of the Office of Naval Research and the Collaborative Agent Design Research Center of Cal Poly.

The goal of this series of Workshops is to provide a forum where connections can be established on one hand between developers and proponents of decision support tools, with potential users such as managers of large, complex organizations/systems on the other. Clearly, the military belong to this class of users and it is therefore …

Monitoring Of Distributed Processes With Mobile Agents, Ryan P. Kennedy, Franz J. Kurfess

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The proliferation of networked and distributed systems presents a need for more tool development with regard to the monitoring and maintenance of distributed processes. The goal of this paper is to present a mechanism used to collect detailed process information from various remote Unix hosts on a network. The interface to this mechanism, a GUI applet, is accessible through a Java enabled browser such as Netscape Navigator. It presents the user with a menu of choices such as which host to view, and what process information to retrieve (I/O-bound processes, numbers of processes, individual/total process usage, etc.). The requested information …

Branch Transition Rate: A New Metric For Improved Branch Classification Analysis, Michael Haungs, Phil Sallee, Matthew Farrens

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Recent studies have shown significantly improved branch prediction through the use of branch classification. By separating static branches into groups, or classes, with similar dynamic behavior, predictors may be selected that are best suited for each class. Previous methods have classified branches according to taken rate (or bias). We propose a new metric for branch classification: branch transition rate, which is defined as the number of times a branch changes direction between taken and not taken during execution. We show that transition rate is a more appropriate indicator of branch behavior than taken rate for determining predictor performance. When both …

Instructional Design Agents – An Integration Of Artificial Intelligence And Educational Technology, Erika Rogers, Carol Scheftic, Emilio Passi, Sharon Lanaghan

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a project whose goal is to design and develop a productivity tool which helps academic instructors in their course preparation. This tool will be composed of a number of “instructional design agents”, which combine techniques in human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence and educational theory. The first of these agents is based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, and a brief overview of this work in progress is presented.

Neural Networks And Structured Knowledge: Rule Extraction And Applications, Franz J. Kurfess

Computer Science and Software Engineering

As the second part of a special issue on "Neural Networks and Structured Knowledge," the contributions collected here concentrate on the extraction of knowledge, particularly in the form of rules, from neural networks, and on applications relying on the representation and processing of structured knowledge by neural networks. The transformation of the low-level internal representation in a neural network into higher-level knowledge or information that can be interpreted more easily by humans and integrated with symbol-oriented mechanisms is the subject of the first group of papers. The second group of papers uses specific applications as starting point, and describes approaches …

Immaccs: A Military Decision-Support System, Jens G. Pohl, Anthony A. Wood, Kym Jason Pohl, Arthur J. Chapman

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

The Integrated Marine Multi-Agent Command and Control System (IMMACCS) is a multi-agent, distributed system, designed to provide a ‘common tactical picture’ with integrated and meaningful decision-support facilities to authorized operators at any access node. IMMACCS has been implemented as a three-tier architecture that distinguishes between information, logic and presentation. It utilizes an object-serving communication facility with subscription and multi-casting capabilities that is based on the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). With an emphasis on application, IMMACCS was designed and implemented in concert with its military users as an integral component of experiments conceived by the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory …

Mental Models For Introductory Csc Concepts, Jennifer J. Wheeler, Erika Rogers

Computer Science and Software Engineering

If is hypothesized that the development of mental models for a concept can lead to improved learning. The purpose of this paper is to identify, quantify, and analyze the mental models of students beginning to program in the UNIX environment. By focusing on 4 basic concept, this study abstracts current mental models from students and hypothesizes ways of improving these models. Ultimately, the results of the study will be incorporated into the design and implementation of a multimedia tutor. This tutor will attempt to teach people how to develop mental models in order to improve their learning.

Teaching Object Technology In Industry Short Courses, David S. Janzen

Computer Science and Software Engineering

No abstract provided.

Temporal Probabilistic Logic Programs, Alex Dekhtyar, Michael I. Dekhtyar, V. S. Subrahmanian

Computer Science and Software Engineering

There are many applications where the precise time at which an event will occur (or has occurred) is uncertain. Temporal probabilistic logic programs (TPLPs) allow a programmer to express knowledge about such events. In this paper, we develop a model theory, fixpoint theory, and proof theory for TPLPs, and show that the fixpoint theory may be used to enumerate consequences of a TPLP in a sound and complete manner. Likewise the proof theory provides a sound and complete inference system. Last, but not least, we provide complexity results for TPLPs, showing in particular, that reasonable classes of TPLPs have polynomial …

Some Notions Of Complex Adaptive Systems And Their Relationship To Our World, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

This paper assumes that the world we live in consists of many interwoven complex adaptive systems. In the literature such systems are characterized as comprising many moving parts and processes that interact significantly in a mostly non-linear manner. It is argued that the forces that act on such complex systems are not additive, and that their impact occurs along non-linear interactions within the system. In particular, many of these systems are adaptive in that they change their behavior (through their interactions) over time, so that if they are subjected to a similar force or event a second time they …

The Second Generation Integrated Collaborative Decision Making (Icdm) Model: A Three-Tier Approach To Agent-Based, Decision-Support Systems, Kym J. Pohl, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

Ten years ago the CAD Research Center at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, California identified a standard framework for agent-based, decision support systems. Employing inter-process and inference engine technologies of the time, the CAD Research Center termed this ‘blueprint’ the Integrated Collaborative Decision-Making (ICDM) framework. Over the past twelve years ICDM has been successfully used as a foundation in several systems. These systems focus on a wide range of domains of application including architectural design and ship cargo stowage. Success of the ICDM framework in conjunction with the availability of newer technologies has prompted an evolutionary leap in …

Re-Engineering A Software Development Organization As A Complex Adaptive System, Steven J. Gollery, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

This paper proposes that it is possible and desirable to restructure a software development organization as a complex adaptive system. Such a structure would increase the possibility that the organization would be able to survive and prosper in a rapidly-changing market place by shortening response time, increasing flexibility in the face of new and unexpected circumstances, and allowing the organization to learn quickly from its experiences.

The paper shows how a common information repository can be used to provide decision support to developers and managers, and discusses the relationship between decision support systems and complex adaptive systems.

Neural Networks And Structured Knowledge: Knowledge Representation And Reasoning, Franz J. Kurfess

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This collection of articles is the first of two parts of a special issue on "Neural Networks and Structured Knowledge." The contributions to the first part shed some light on the issues of knowledge representation and reasoning with neural networks. Their scope ranges from formal models for mapping discrete structures like graphs or logical formulae onto different types of neural networks, to the construction of practical systems for various types of reasoning. In the second part to follow, the emphasis will be on the extraction of knowledge from neural networks, and on applications of neural networks and structured knowledge to …

Ismis: A Military Transportation Decision-Support Framework, Stephen Goodman, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

This paper discusses the challenges that the Information Revolution poses to transportation planning, execution and training in the US military services. Attention is drawn to the opportunities provided by global connectivity and the manner in which these opportunities can be applied to advantage in an integrated, collaborative, decision-support framework. The characteristics of military deployment operations are discussed in respect to system requirements such as parallel activities, internal representation of information (rather than data), intelligent assistance, and the integration of planning, execution and training functions.

The Integrated Strategic Mobility Interface System (ISMIS) is described as a framework that is designed to …

Proceedings Of The 1999 Onr Decision-Support Workshop Series: A Decision-Making Tools Workshop, Collaborative Agent Design Research Center

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

The rationale of the Workshop rests on some very simple observations. It is well known that every situation encountered by individuals and organizations demands an appropriate response. The choice of such a response from among a multitude of options is the decision-making process. Simple situations that give rise to a small number of options allow the decision maker to decide on a course of action without great effort. This state of affairs changes dramatically when the situations are complex and involve a large number of factors. In this case, an extensive field of options is engendered that makes it impossible …

Collaborative Decision-Support And The Human-Machine Relationship, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

Human beings are inquisitive creatures who seek explanations for all that they observe and experience in their living environment. While this quest for understanding is central to our success in adapting to a changing environment, it is also a major cause of our willingness to accept partial understandings and superficial explanations when the degree of complexity of the problem situation confounds our current cognitive capabilities. In other words, a superficial or partial explanation is considered better than no explanation at all. As flawed as this approach may be, it has helped us to solve difficult problems in stages. By first …

Monitoring Distributed Processes With Intelligent Agents, Franz J. Kurfess, Klaus Holthaus, Dhaval P. Shah, Felip Miralles

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This paper describes a platform-independent application for the monitoring of distributed applications. The tool is intended for system administrators to properly distribute the components of a distributed application onto particular machines. An essential part of this tool is based on intelligent mobile agent technology used to access the target systems. Although a full implementation turned out to be infeasible due to security considerations, the implementation and experimentation indicate the suitability of intelligent agents technology for such purposes.

Green Manufacturing Of Ammunition Through Knowledge Management With Distributed Access, Ali H. Dogru, Murat M. Tanik, Franz J. Kurfess, Marcus Healey, Leon Jololian

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This paper describes a distributed software requirements gathering methodology dealing with knowledge management for environmentally safer production and lifecycle aspects of tank ammunition. A requirements elicitation methodology is adapted and implemented as a distributed access tool on the Internet. This tool is used for gathering the requirements related information for a specific ammunition production process. During product development, requirements negotiation is the process where the customer needs are identified. This process is regarded as one of the most important parts of building a system because during this stage it is decided precisely what will be built. The concept has been …

Collaborative Decision Support Systems For Facility Management, Arthur J. Chapman, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

Agent-based collaborative decision support is a methodology of utilizing domain specific intelligent systems, interacting in a common environment, to partner with one or more human decision makers to reach a consensus solution to a complex problem. An example is the recently developed Collaborative Infrastructure Assessment Tool (CIAT) that provides a collaborative planning facility management tool in support of military pier and port management. This methodology is applicable to many similar dynamic facility management problems where the complexity of issues and the number of decision makers result in the need for domain specific agents, a common view of the data, and …