Formal specification of information systems requirements

An organizational information system can be viewed, in a broad sense, as a computational model of organizational activity and function. Logical requirements of information systems are defined, according to this view, as constraints imposed by the logical structure of such a computational model on the design, implementation and operation of information systems. In this study a formal model for the specification of logical requirements is presented in detail and its role as a tool for systems development is discussed. Three main advantages of the specification of logical requirements that can be capitalized through the use of this formalism are: (1) logical requirements are invariant with respect to specific means in which information processing is actually accomplished; (2) they can be easily related to relevant aspects of organizational activity and function; and (3) they can be related to basic components of the corresponding software systems, either existing or being developed.     

Filtering search results using an optimal set of terms identified by an artificial neural network

Information filtering (IF) systems usually filter data items by correlating a set of terms representing the user’s interest (a user profile) with similar sets of terms representing the data items. Many techniques can be employed for constructing user profiles automatically, but they usually yield large sets of term. Various dimensionality-reduction techniques can be applied in order to reduce the number of terms in a user profile. We describe a new terms selection technique including a dimensionality-reduction mechanism which is based on the analysis of a trained artificial neural network (ANN) model. Its novel feature is the identification of an optimal set of terms that can classify correctly data items that are relevant to a user. The proposed technique was compared with the classical Rocchio algorithm. We found that when using all the distinct terms in the training set to train an ANN, the Rocchio algorithm outperforms the ANN based filtering system, but after applying the new dimensionality-reduction technique, leaving only an optimal set of terms, the improved ANN technique outperformed both the original ANN and the Rocchio algorithm.     

An Approach to Value-Based Modeling of Information Flows

This article presents a new approach to modeling information flows within today's information systems environments characterized by electronic commerce. We treat information as a resource whose value is fundamentally multidimensional in nature. In this article we consider the economic and psychological dimensions of the value of information. It is argued that it is meaningless to model the value of information in isolation away from the context and the specific parties between which this information is exchanged. We therefore focus exclusively on modeling information flows rather than information itself. To achieve this, we propose a formal framework for describing transactions involving information flows. The framework consists of a generalized model for representing information transactions and for defining a set of fundamental properties of multiparty transactions. These properties are fairness, constructiveness, and monopoly. Where applicable, they are defined for individuals, transactions, and a system of transactions. The proposed model reveals the nature of individual transactions and markets, and consequently has important implications for simulation of market scenarios and to help arrive at effective policies for pricing and market regulations.     

Fixed-time scaled consensus of multi-agent systems with input delay

The design of fixed-time scaled consensus protocol for multi-agent systems with input delay is developed in this article. First, by virtue of Artstein model reduction method, the time-delay system is converted into a delay-free one. Then, two novel controllers are designed such that the fixed-time scaled consensus of multi-agent systems can be realized for the undirected and directed topology, respectively. Sufficient conditions are derived to guarantee that all agents converge to the assigned ratios instead of the same value under any bounded input delay. Besides, an explicit estimate can be given for the uniform convergence time independent of the initial conditions. Moreover, it is proved that the convergence value of the system is not affected by the initial states of agents any more, but only related to initial states of the virtual agents set in advance. Finally, numerical simulations are given to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed algorithms.     

Elicitation of situated values: need for tools to help stakeholders and designers to reflect and communicate

Explicitly considering human values in the design process of socio-technical systems has become a responsibility of designers. It is, however, challenging to design for values because (1) relevant values must be identified and communicated between all stakeholders and designers and (2) stakeholders?? values differ and trade-offs must be made. We focus on the first aspect, which requires elicitation of stakeholders?? situated values, i.e. values relevant to a specific real life context. Available techniques to elicit knowledge and requirements from stakeholders lack in providing the context and means for reflection needed to elicit situated values as well as an explicit concept of value. In this paper we present our design of a tool to support active elicitation of stakeholders?? values and communication between stakeholders and designers. We conducted an exploratory user study in which we compared the suitability of methods used in social sciences for (1) eliciting situated values, (2) supporting people??s expressions of values and (3) being implemented in value elicitation tool. Based on the outcomes we propose a design for a value elicitation tool that consists of a mobile application used by stakeholders for data collection and in-situ self-reflection, and a website used collaboratively by designers and stakeholders to analyse and communicate values. Discussion focuses on contributions to value sensitive design.     

An Approach to Value-Based Modeling of Information Flows

This article presents a new approach to modeling information flows within today's information systems environments characterized by electronic commerce. We treat information as a resource whose value is fundamentally multidimensional in nature. In this article we consider the economic and psychological dimensions of the value of information. It is argued that it is meaningless to model the value of information in isolation away from the context and the specific parties between which this information is exchanged. We therefore focus exclusively on modeling information flows rather than information itself. To achieve this, we propose a formal framework for describing transactions involving information flows. The framework consists of a generalized model for representing information transactions and for defining a set of fundamental properties of multiparty transactions. These properties are fairness, constructiveness, and monopoly. Where applicable, they are defined for individuals, transactions, and a system of transactions. The proposed model reveals the nature of individual transactions and markets, and consequently has important implications for simulation of market scenarios and to help arrive at effective policies for pricing and market regulations.     

基于TAM的虚拟团队信息沟通技术采纳模型研究

 选择适用的信息技术是虚拟团队实现有效沟通的关键。本文以“技术采纳模型”为基础,以适用性为切入点,分析虚拟团队采纳信息沟通技术的特征,构建虚拟团队的信息沟通技术采纳模型。该模型可作为虚拟团队采纳信息沟通技术的参考线路图,亦可用于虚拟团队信息沟通技术的适用性分析。     

The pits and falls of graphical presentation

Graphics are powerful tools to communicate research results and to gain information from data. However, researchers should be careful when deciding which data to plot and the type of graphic to use, as well as other details. The consequence of bad decisions in these features varies from making research results unclear to distortions of these results, through the creation of “chartjunk” with useless information. This paper is not another tutorial about “good graphics” and “bad graphics”. Instead, it presents guidelines for graphic presentation of research results and some uncommon, but useful examples to communicate basic and complex data types, especially multivariate model results, which are commonly presented only by tables. By the end, there are no answers here, just ideas meant to inspire others on how to create their own graphics.     

Probabilistic learning for selective dissemination of information

New methods and new systems are needed to filter or to selectively distribute the increasing volume of electronic information being produced nowadays. An effective information filtering system is one that provides the exact information that fulfills user's interests with the minimum effort by the user to describe it. Such a system will have to be adaptive to the user changing interest. In this paper we describe and evaluate a learning model for information filtering which is an adaptation of the generalized probabilistic model of Information Retrieval. The model is based on the concept of `uncertainty sampling', a technique that allows for relevance feedback both on relevant and nonrelevant documents. The proposed learning model is the core of a prototype information filtering system called ProFile.     

Understanding the efficiency of social media based crisis communication during hurricane Sandy

Rapid communication during extreme events is one of the critical aspects of successful disaster management strategies. Due to their ubiquitous nature, social media platforms are expected to offer a unique opportunity for crisis communication. In this study, about 52.5 million tweets related to hurricane Sandy posted by 13.75 million users are analyzed to assess the effectiveness of social media communication during disasters and identify the contributing factors leading to effective crisis communication strategies. Efficiency of a social media user is defined as the ratio of attention gained over the number of tweets posted. A model is developed to identify more efficient users based on several relevant features. Results indicate that during a disaster event, only few social media users become highly efficient in gaining attention. In addition, efficiency does not depend on the frequency of tweeting activity only; instead it depends on the number of followers and friends, user category, bot score (controlled by a human or a machine), and activity patterns (predictability of activity frequency). Since the proposed efficiency metric is easy to evaluate, it can potentially detect effective social media users in real time to communicate information and awareness to vulnerable communities during a disaster.     

大数据环境下战略性新兴产业个性化信息资源服务模型研究

【目的/意义】战略性新兴产业的发展离不开信息资源的支撑,信息资源的充分利用对战略性新兴产业的发 展意义重大。战略性新兴产业中不仅存在共性的信息资源需求,也存在个性化的信息资源需求。【方法/过程】首先 分析了战略性新兴产业的产业链和企业价值链中存在的个性化信息资源需求,然后分别构建了产业链和企业价 值链上的信息资源数据集模型。最后,在个性化信息资源需求分析和信息资源数据集模型构建的基础上,提出了 面向战略性新兴产业提供个性化信息服务的两种模式：平台自助式信息服务模式和企业联盟信息推荐服务模 式。【结果/结论】战略性新兴产业个性化的信息服务模式有助于满足产业发展过程中不同的信息需求,有助于产 业健康发展。     

IT能力构建及其对企业和谐信息化的影响研究

基于和谐管理理论，对基于资源基础理论和动态能力理论的IT能力进行了重新构建，并进行了维度划分，阐述了其意义所在。基于和谐管理理论与和谐信息化体系理论，和谐信息化有了新内涵，提出了和谐信息化是企业信息化的绩效，也是企业信息化的一个发展方向。通过对华南地区281个中国企业样本的实证研究，验证了IT能力量表构建的信度和效度，实证结果表明，IT人物互动能力是实现企业和谐信息化的最重要因素，由此表明，企业更应注重IT人物互动能力的提升。案例研究也印证了此结论。在今后研究中，可以IT人物互动能力为和谐主题，分析其在企业信息化各阶段的具体表现，并制定科学的提升计划，以促使企业和谐信息化绩效的实现。     

Human capabilities and information and communication technology: the communicative connection

The potential contributions information and communication technology (ICT) can make to advancing human capabilities are acknowledged by both the capability approach (CA) and ICT communities. However, there is a lack of genuine engagement between the two communities. This paper addresses the question: How can a collaborative dialogue between the CA and ICT communities be advanced? A prerequisite to exploring collaboratively the potential use of particular technologies with specific capabilities is a conceptual framework within which a dialogue can be undertaken to advance the operationalization of capabilities through the use of ICT. A communicative connection constituted of a dialogic space consisting of the CA and ICT communities and a set of normative values and objectives is proposed. The normative values of the communicative connection are derived from the human right to communicate (RTC) which serves as axiomatic principle of the communicative connection. The shared objectives are to operationalize through the use of ICT both the capability and the right to communicate, which are distinct but present in and reinforce each other. Alternative concepts of communication and freedom of expression to those held by the two communities is presented along with a comparison of the values embodied in the RTC and found in the CA.     

Q-learning solution for optimal consensus control of discrete-time multiagent systems using reinforcement learning

This paper investigates a Q-learning scheme for the optimal consensus control of discrete-time multiagent systems. The Q-learning algorithm is conducted by reinforcement learning (RL) using system data instead of system dynamics information. In the multiagent systems, the agents are interacted with each other and at least one agent can communicate with the leader directly, which is described by an algebraic graph structure. The objective is to make all the agents achieve synchronization with leader and make the performance indices reach Nash equilibrium. On one hand, the solutions of the optimal consensus control for multiagent systems are acquired by solving the coupled Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation. However, it is difficult to get analytical solutions directly of the discrete-time HJB equation. On the other hand, accurate mathematical models of most systems in real world are hard to be obtained. To overcome these difficulties, Q-learning algorithm is developed using system data rather than the accurate system model. We formulate performance index and corresponding Bellman equation of each agent i. Then, the Q-function Bellman equation is acquired on the basis of Q-function. Policy iteration is adopted to calculate the optimal control iteratively, and least square (LS) method is employed to motivate the implementation process. Stability analysis of proposed Q-learning algorithm for multiagent systems by policy iteration is given. Two simulation examples are experimented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

On the intrinsic value of information objects and the infosphere

What is the most general common set ofattributes that characterises something asintrinsically valuableand hence as subject to some moral respect, andwithout which something would rightly beconsidered intrinsically worthless or even positivelyunworthy and therefore rightly to bedisrespected in itself? Thispaper develops and supports the thesis that theminimal condition of possibility of an entity'sleast intrinsic value is to be identified with itsontological status as an information object.All entities, even when interpreted as only clusters ofinformation, still have a minimal moral worthqua information objects and so may deserve to be respected. Thepaper is organised into four main sections.Section 1 models moral action as an information systemusing the object-oriented programmingmethodology (OOP). Section 2 addresses the question of whatrole the several components constituting themoral system can have in an ethical analysis. If theycan play only an instrumental role, thenComputer Ethics (CE) is probably bound to remain at most apractical, field-dependent, applied orprofessional ethics. However, Computer Ethics can give rise to amacroethical approach, namely InformationEthics (IE), if one can show that ethical concern should beextended to include not only human, animal orbiological entities, but also information objects. Thefollowing two sections show how this minimalistlevel of analysis can be achieved. Section 3 provides anaxiological analysis of information objects. Itcriticises the Kantian approach to the concept ofintrinsic value and shows that it can beimproved by using the methodology introduced in the first section.The solution of the Kantian problem prompts thereformulation of the key question concerningthe moral worth of an entity: what is theintrinsic value of x qua an object constituted by itsinherited attributes? In answering thisquestion, it is argued that entitiescan share different observable propertiesdepending on the level of abstraction adopted,and that it is still possible to speak of moral value even at thehighest level of ontological abstractionrepresented by the informational analysis. Section 4 develops aminimalist axiology based on the concept ofinformation object. It further supports IE's position byaddressing five objections that may undermineits acceptability.     

《中国科学院院刊》30年回顾与展望

《中国科学院院刊》创刊于1986年,30年来《院刊》始终坚持"国家使命,科学担当"的价值理念。文章对《院刊》30年发展历程进行了回顾,1986—2005年作为中科院的机关刊,2005年以来定位调整为"国家科学思想库核心媒体"。文章分析了国外知名智库同时重视研究工作与传播工作,全媒体传播成为智库传播的重要手段,介绍了《院刊》从纸刊向全媒体、多品牌转型的实践和作为智库媒体的影响力。最后对《院刊》在中科院建设国家高端科技智库的背景下如何进一步做好科学思想库的传播工作进行了展望。     

A conceptualisation of privacy risk and its influence on the disclosure of check-in services information

Check-in services (CISs) are a highly relevant part of location-based services that provide customer value greater than other mobile services due to their technical possibilities; conversely, CISs also create various risks to privacy, as they enable the continuous live tracking of users. We investigate these risks and develop a third-order privacy risk construct based on communication privacy management (CPM) theory to explain how a set of concerns violates privacy boundary mechanisms and generates perceived privacy risk. A developmental mixed-method design is used to qualitatively derive the construct qualitatively through 20 interviews and evaluate it quantitatively using a privacy calculus model with structural equation modelling (N = 431). The results confirm the third-order privacy risk construct and reveal new underlying concerns that create this risk. The results of this study are useful for both practitioners and academics, as they provide insights into how context-specific privacy concerns emerge in advanced mobile services, such as CISs.     

Ethics in e-trust and e-trustworthiness: the case of direct computer-patient interfaces

In this paper, I examine the ethics of e-trust and e-trustworthiness in the context of health care, looking at direct computer-patient interfaces (DCPIs), information systems that provide medical information, diagnosis, advice, consenting and/or treatment directly to patients without clinicians as intermediaries. Designers, manufacturers and deployers of such systems have an ethical obligation to provide evidence of their trustworthiness to users. My argument for this claim is based on evidentialism about trust and trustworthiness: the idea that trust should be based on sound evidence of trustworthiness. Evidence of trustworthiness is a broader notion than one might suppose, including not just information about the risks and performance of the system, but also interactional and context-based information. I suggest some sources of evidence in this broader sense that make it plausible that designers, manufacturers and deployers of DCPIs can provide evidence to users that is cognitively simple, easy to communicate, yet rationally connected with actual trustworthiness.     

A multimodal time-series method for gifting prediction in live streaming platforms

Viewer gifting is an important business mode in live streaming industry, which closely relates to the income of the platforms and streamers. Previous studies on gifting prediction are often limited to cross-section data and consider the problem from the macro perspective of the whole live streaming. However, the multimodal information and the time accumulation effect of live streaming content on viewer gifting behavior are ignored. In this paper, we put forward a multimodal time-series method (MTM) for predicting real-time gifting. The core module of the method is the multimodal time-series analysis (MTA), which targets at effectively fusing multimodal information. Specifically, the proposed orthogonal projection (OP) model can promote cross-modal information interaction without introducing additional parameters. To achieve the interaction of multi-modal information at the same level, we also design a stackable joint representation layer, which makes each target modality's representation (visual, acoustic and textual modality) can benefit from all the other modalities. The residual connections are introduced as well to ensure the integration of low-level and high-level information. On our dataset, our model shows improved performance compared to other advanced models by at least 8% on F1. Meanwhile, the MTA is able to meet the real-time requirements of the live streaming setting, and has demonstrated its robustness and transferability in other tasks. Our research may offer some insights about how to efficiently fuse multimodal information, and contribute to the research on viewer gifting behavior prediction in the live streaming context.     

高精度智能力敏传感器测控系统的设计

介绍了一种高精度智能力敏传感器测控系统的设计。该系统实现了数据采集、信息处理和数据通信与控制。该集成化的系统具有精确度高、多功能、数字化、使用方便、操作简单等特点。通过对软、硬件充分的调试,各项性能指标均满足用户要求,在相关领域测控系统中有着广阔的应用前景。