Computer Sciences Commons^™

Synergistic Ideation Through Pairing Participants In Facilitated Group Support Systems Sessions, John D. Murphy, Deepak Khazanchi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

Group Support Systems (GSS) have been used and studied in the support of facilitated ideation sessions for years. The norm for these sessions has been for participants to work individually at GSS workstations. A review of applicable literature suggests that pairing participants at GSS workstations could result in higher quality ideas and participant satisfaction. This paper reports the results of a lab experiment that tested for differences between paired and unpaired facilitated GSS sessions. These results suggest that pairing participants can yield higher quality ideas from facilitated ideation without negative consequences.

Incremental Procedures For Partitioning Highly Intermixed Multi-Class Datasets Into Hyper-Spherical And Hyper-Ellipsoidal Clusters, Qinglu Kong, Qiuming Zhu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Two procedures for partitioning large collections of highly intermixed datasets of different classes into a number of hyper-spherical or hyper-ellipsoidal clusters are presented. The incremental procedures are to generate a minimum numbers of hyper-spherical or hyper-ellipsoidal clusters with each cluster containing a maximum number of data points of the same class. The procedures extend the move-to-front algorithms originally designed for construction of minimum sized enclosing balls or ellipsoids for dataset of a single class. The resulting clusters of the dataset can be used for data modeling, outlier detection, discrimination analysis, and knowledge discovery.

Does Mutual Knowledge Affect Virtual Team Performance? Theoretical Analysis And Anecdotal Evidence, Alanah Davis, Deepak Khazanchi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

This paper describes the concept of mutual knowledge and its potential impact on virtual team performance. Based on an analysis of extant literature, we argue that there is a gap in our understanding of what is known about mutual knowledge as it impacts team dynamics and virtual team performance. Supporting literature, anecdotes, and case studies are used to discuss the importance of mutual knowledge for virtual team performance and the research issues that need to be addressed in the future.

A Trend Pattern Assessment Approach To Microarray Gene Expression Profiling Data Analysis, Kahai Cao, Qiuming Zhu, Javeed Iqbal, John W.C. Chan

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We study the problem of how to assess the reliability of a statistical measurement on data set containing unknown quantity of noises, inconsistencies, and outliers. A practical approach that analyzes the dynamical patterns (trends) of the statistical measurements through a sequential extreme-boundary-points (EBP) weed-out process is explored. We categorize the weed-out trend patterns (WOTP) and examine their relation to the reliability of the measurement. The approach is applied to the processes of extracting genes that are predictive to BCL2 translocations and to clinical survival outcomes of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) from DNA Microarray gene expression profiling data sets. Fisher’s …

A Three-Tier Knowledge Management Scheme For Software Engineering Support And Innovation, Richard Corbin, Christopher B. Dunbar, Qiuming Zhu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

To ensure smooth and successful transition of software innovations to enterprise systems, it is critical to maintain proper levels of knowledge about the system configuration, the operational environment, and the technology in both existing and new systems. We present a three-tier knowledge management scheme through a systematic planning of actions spanning the transition processes in levels from conceptual exploration to prototype development, experimentation, and product evaluation. The three-tier scheme is an integrated effort for bridging the development and operation communities, maintaining stability to the operational performance, and adapting swiftly to software technology innovations. The scheme combines experiences of academic researches …

The Influence Of Online Word Of Mouth On Product Sales In Retail E-Commerce: An Empirical Investigation, Alanah Davis, Deepak Khazanchi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

The ability to exchange opinions and experiences online is known as online word of mouth (WOM). Due to the high acceptance of consumers and their apparent reliance on online WOM it is important for organizations to understand how it works and what kind of impact it has on product sales. Using the well-established notions of volume and valence to describe online WOM, we empirically evaluate the hypothesized relationship between online WOM in a retail e-commerce site and actual product sales. Our analysis of the data shows that there is a significant change in the number of products sold following the …

An Information Technology Therapy Approach To Micro-Enterprise Adoption Of Icts, Peter Wolcott, Sajda Qureshi, Mehruz Kamal

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

The advent of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has opened up new opportunities for micro-enterprises to improve their businesses. However the challenges to using ICTs are impeding these businesses from growing into the drivers for development that they can be. This suggests that a potentially important driver of development needs to be supported. This paper investigates the adoption of ICTs in eight micro-enterprises in an underserved community of Omaha, Nebraska. Following an action research study, this research provides insight into the key challenges and opportunities facing micro-enterprises in their use of ICTs to create value for their businesses. Its contribution …

Hierarchical Collective Agent Network (Hcan) For Efficient 3 Fusion And Management Of Multiple Networked Sensors, Qiuming Zhu, Stuart L. Aldridge, Tomas N. Resha

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Agent-based software systems and applications are constructed by integrating diverse sets of components that are intelligent, heterogeneous, distributed, and concurrent. This paper describes a multi-agent system to assure the operation efficiency and reliability in data fusion and management of a set of networked distributive sensors (NDS). We discuss the general concept and architecture of a Hierarchical Collective Agent Network (HCAN) and its functional components for learning and adaptive control of the NDS. Sophistication of a HCAN control environment and an anatomy of the agent modules for enabling intelligent data fusion and management are presented. An exemplar HCAN is configured to …

The Influence Of Transactive Memory On Mutual Knowledge In Virtual Teams: A Theoretical Proposal, Alanah Davis, Deepak Khazanchi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Advancements in information technologies (IT) have enabled the ability to exchange knowledge within and across organizations through virtual teams. However, the ability to effectively communicate and share knowledge in virtual settings can become a difficult task due to the complex nature of both the virtual context and the technology used to support them. This paper argues that transactive memory theory can explain how mutual knowledge enhances virtual team performance. We present a conceptual model and theoretical propositions for the study of the relationship between transactive memory and mutual knowledge in virtual teams.

The Effects Of Pairing Participants In Facilitated Group Support Systems Sessions, John D. Murphy, Deepak Khazanchi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Group Support Systems (GSS) have been used to support facilitated ideation sessions for years and have been studied from a number of different perspectives. Throughout this time the norm for running electronic brainstorming sessions has been for participants to work on their own workstations. A review of applicable literature suggests that pairing participants at GSS workstations could result in higher quality inputs and participant satisfaction. This proposition is examined with a lab experiment to test for differences between paired and unpaired facilitated GSS sessions. The results of the experiment suggest that pairing participants does yield higher quality ideas from facilitated …

Employing Social Capital By Small & Medium Enterprises To Bear Fruit From Wireless Communications, Abdelnasser Abdelaal, Mehruz Kamal, Peter Wolcott

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Wireless and mobile communications can save Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) significant time, money, and effort due to the mobility, flexibility, and ease of use mobile devices provide. SMEs that use such innovations can improve productivity, decrease costs, and enhance the quality of the business process. Lacking technical skills and financial resources, SMEs need special support from local communities and governments in order to survive the severe competition of big chain stores. This paper proposes a model for SMEs to adopt new innovations—those of wireless communications—by employing social capital. We have used a case study approach to show that social …

Dynamic Energy Aware Task Scheduling Using Run-Queue Peek, Sachin Pawaskar, Hesham Ali

Computer Science Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Scheduling dependent tasks is one of the most challenging problems in parallel and distributed systems. It is known to be computationally intractable in its general form as well as several restricted cases. An interesting application of scheduling is in the area of energy awareness for mobile battery operated devices where minimizing the energy utilized is the most important scheduling policy consideration. A number of heuristics have been developed for this consideration. In this paper, we study the scheduling problem for a particular battery model. In the proposed work, we show how to enhance a well know approach of accounting for …

Cmodels: Sat-Based Answer Set Programming System, Yuliya Lierler, Marco Maratea

Computer Science Faculty Publications

CMODELS [1, 2] is an answer set programming [3] system that uses the same frontend LPARSE as answer set solver SMODELS (http://www.tcs.hut.fi/Software/smodels/). CMODELS main computational characteristics is that it computes answer sets using a SAT solver for search.

The use of SAT solvers for generating answer sets is based on the fact that for logic programs satisfying syntactic condition, tightness, the answer set semantics is equivalent to the Clark’s completion semantics. In addition, [4] introduced concept of a loop formula, and demonstrated that the answer sets of a logic program are exactly the models of its completion that satisfy the …

Head-Elementary-Set-Free Logic Programs, Martin Gebser, Joohyung Lee, Yuliya Lierler

Computer Science Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

The recently proposed notion of an elementary set yielded a refinement of the theorem on loop formulas, telling us that the stable models of a disjunctive logic program can be characterized by the loop formulas of its elementary sets. Based on the notion of an elementary set, we propose the notion of head-elementary-set-free (HEF) programs, a more general class of disjunctive programs than head-cycle-free (HCF) programs proposed by Ben-Eiiyahu and Dechter. that can still be turned into nondisjunct:ive programs in polynomial time and space by "shifting" the head atoms into the body. We show several properties of HEF programs that …

Sustainability Of Information Technology Therapy On Micro-Enterprise Development., Sajda Qureshi, Mehruz Kamal, Peter Wolcott

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

The use of information technology in microenterprises has been shown to bring about improvements in accessing new markets, in achieving administrative efficiencies, increased productivity and competitiveness. To benefit from IT, micro-enterprises require specialized intervention and support. At the same time these micro-enterprises require skill sets that can translate their unique needs to IT solutions. This paper provides an IT Therapy approach to addressing micro-enterprise needs through IT. Following an action research approach to investigating micro-enterprises, this paper provides insights into how IT can bring about sustained improvements in micro-enterprises. The contribution of this paper is in guidelines of how IT …

Quantifying Position Accuracy Of Multimodal Data From Global Positioning System–Enabled Cell Phones, David P. Aguilar, Sean J. Barbeau, Miguel A. Labrador, Alfredo J. Perez, Rafael A. Perez

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The emergence of cell phones with embedded Global Positioning System (GPS) chips provides opportunities to push personalized real-time travel information subject to an individual's current location. One such application, a travel assistant device, notifies cognitively disabled public transportation users when it is time to request a stop and exit the vehicle. GPS-enabled cell phones must provide highly accurate real-time location data for this type of service. The components used in the data-collection process are identified, and a quantitative analysis of real-time GPS data obtained with a cell phone while walking, driving a vehicle, and riding public transportation is provided. The …

Best Practices For Implementing Agile Methods: A Guide For Department Of Defense Software Developers, Ann L. Fruhling, Alvin E. Tarrell

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

Traditional plan-driven software development has been widely used in the government because it's considered to be less risky, more consistent, and structured. But there has been a shift from this approach to Agile methods which are more flexible, resulting in fast releases by working in an incremental fashion to adapt to the reality of the changing or unclear requirements.

This report describes the Agile software development philosophy, methods, and best practices in launching software design projects using the Agile approach. It is targeted to Defense Department software developers because they face broad challenges in creating enterprise-wide information systems, where Agile …

Min–Max Hyperellipsoidal Clustering For Anomaly Detection In Network Security, Suseela T. Sarasamma, Qiuming Zhu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

A novel hyperellipsoidal clustering technique is presented for an intrusion-detection system in network security. Hyperellipsoidal clusters toward maximum intracluster similarity and minimum intercluster similarity are generated from training data sets. The novelty of the technique lies in the fact that the parameters needed to construct higher order data models in general multivariate Gaussian functions are incrementally derived from the data sets using accretive processes. The technique is implemented in a feedforward neural network that uses a Gaussian radial basis function as the model generator. An evaluation based on the inclusiveness and exclusiveness of samples with respect to specific criteria is …

Information Availability And Security Policy, Andrew P. Martin, Deepak Khazanchi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Information availability is a key element of information security. However, information availability has not been addressed with the same enthusiasm as confidentiality and integrity because availability is impacted by many variables which cannot easily be controlled. The principal goal of this research is to characterize information availability in detail and investigate how effective enterprise security policy can ensure availability.

An Approach To The Optimization Of Convergent Networks On Ip/Mpls With An Optical Gmpls Backbone In Multicast, Yezid Donoso, Carolina Alvarado, Alfredo J. Perez, Ivan Herazo

Computer Science Faculty Publications

This paper shows the solution of a multiobjective scheme for multicast transmissions in MPLS networks with a GMLS optical backbone using evolutive algorithms. It has not been showed models that optimize one or more parameters integrating these two types of networks. Because the proposed scheme is a NP-Hard problem, an algorithm has been developed to solve the problem on polynomial time. The main contributions of this paper are the proposed mathematical model and the algorithm to solve it.

Mutual Knowledge And Its Impact On Virtual Team Performance, Alanah Davis, Deepak Khazanchi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

This paper describes the notion of mutual knowledge and its potential impact on virtual team performance. Based on a review of the literature, including proponents and opponents for the concept of mutual knowledge in group interaction, we suggest that there is a gap in our understanding of what is known about mutual knowledge as it impacts team dynamics and ultimately virtual team performance. We conclude the paper by discussing the importance of mutual knowledge for virtual team performance and the research issues that need to be addressed in this domain.

Electronic Medical Records: Barriers To Adoption And Diffusion, Halbana Tarmizi, Deepak Khazanchi, Cherie Noteboom

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

The primary goal of this paper is to explore why information technology (IT) solutions such as electronic medical records (EMR) have failed to gain a foothold in the healthcare sector. Based on a review of extant research, we propose a framework for classifying the barriers to the adoption and diffusion of EMR in the healthcare sector. We map all barriers reported in the literature onto the classification scheme to demonstrate its efficacy. We conclude by suggesting potential opportunities for applying the classification framework to research and practice.

Answer Set Programming Based On Propositional Satisfiability, Enrico Giunchiglia, Yuliya Lierler, Marco Maratea

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Answer set programming (ASP) emerged in the late 1990s as a new logic programming paradigm that has been successfully applied in various application domains. Also motivated by the availability of efficient solvers for propositional satisfiability (SAT), various reductions from logic programs to SAT were introduced. All these reductions, however, are limited to a subclass of logic programs or introduce new variables or may produce exponentially bigger propositional formulas. In this paper, we present a SAT-based procedure, called ASPSAT, that (1) deals with any (nondisjunctive) logic program, (2) works on a propositional formula without additional variables (except for those possibly introduced …

Model Generation For Generalized Quantifiers Via Answer Set Programming, Yuliya Lierler, Günther Görz

Computer Science Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

For the semantic evaluation of natural language sentences, in particular those containing generalized quantifiers, we subscribe to the generate and test methodology to produce models of such sentences. These models are considered as means by which the sentences can be interpreted within a natural language processing system. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate that answer set programming is a simple, efficient and particularly well suited model generation technique for this purpose, leading to a straightforward implementation.

Topologies Of Agents Interactions In Knowledge Intensive Multi-Agentsystems For Networked Information Services, Qiuming Zhu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Agents in a multi-agent system (mAS) could interact and cooperate in many different ways. The topology of agent interaction determines how the agents control and communicate with each other, what are the control and communication capabilities of each agent and the whole system, and how efficient the control and communications are. In consequence, the topology affects the agents’ ability to share knowledge, integrate knowledge, and make efficient use of knowledge in MAS. This paper presents an overview of four major MAS topologic models, assesses their advantages and disadvantages in terms of agent autonomy, adaptation, scalability, and efficiency of cooperation. Some …

Elementary Sets For Logic Programs, Martin Gebser, Joohyung Lee, Yuliya Lierler

Computer Science Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

By introducing the concepts of a loop and a loop formula, Lin and Zhao showed that the answer sets of a nondisjunctive logic program are exactly the models of its Clark’s completion that satisfy the loop formulas of all loops. Recently, Gebser and Schaub showed that the Lin-Zhao theorem remains correct even if we restrict loop formulas to a special class of loops called “elementary loops.” In this paper, we simplify and generalize the notion of an elementary loop, and clarify its role. We propose the notion of an elementary set, which is almost equivalent to the notion of an …

Experiments With Sat-Based Answer Set Programming, Enrico Giunchiglia, Yuliya Lierler, Marco Maratea, A. Tacchella

Computer Science Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Answer Set Programming (ASP) emerged in the late 1990s as a new logic programming paradigm which has been successfully applied in various application domains. Propositional satisfiability (SAT) is one of the most studied problems in Computer Science. ASP and SAT are closely related: Recent works have studied their relation, and efficient SAT-based ASP solvers (like assat and Cmodels) exist. In this paper we report about (i) the extension of the basic procedures in Cmodels in order to incorporate the most popular SAT reasoning strategies, and (ii) an extensive comparative analysis involving also other state-of-the-art answer set solvers. The experimental analysis …

Organizational Transformation Through Business Models: A Framework For Business Model Design, Peter Keen, Sajda Qureshi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Organizations are increasingly inter-connected as they source talent, goods and services from other organizations located in disparate parts of the world. They seek new ways of creating value for themselves, customers and partners. They operate outside and across traditional industry boundaries and definitions. These innovations have lead to a focus on business models as a fundamental statement of direction and identity. This paper highlights what is known about the business model concept and where and why it differs from more established concepts of business strategy. It illustrates how the application of business models has transformed organizations. The contribution of this …

Information Systems And Health Care Xiii: Examining The Critical Requirements, Design Approaches And Evaluation Methods For A Public Health Emergency Response System, Ann L. Fruhling

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

Research pertaining to emergency response systems has accelerated over the past few years, particularly since 9/11 events, and more recently due to Hurricane Katrina and concern over a potential of an avian flu pandemic. This study examines the requirements that are the most demanding with respect to software and hardware, and the associated design strategies for a public health emergency response system (ERS) for electronic laboratory diagnostics consultation. In addition, this study illustrates ways to evaluate the design decisions.

An important goal of a public health ERS is to improve the communication and notification of life-threatening diseases and harmful agents. …

The Impacts Of The Cascading Style Sheet Standard On Mobile Computing, Matt Germonprez, Michel Avital, Nikhil Srinivasan

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

By design, mobile computing aims to support numerous expressions of varying interfaces, contexts, and automation. Thus, as mobile computing becomes more prevalent, it is important that designers build systems in support of as many as possible unique, in-use, and user-defined characteristics. We explore these requirements and propose to support them with two existing standardized technologies: Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and cascading style sheets (CSS). Whereas we investigate the impact of the CSS standard in the context of computing in general and mobile computing in particular, we also focus on two emerging roles of this standard: device independence and usability. Our …