- Updated URLs back to 2002.
- Switched to straight PDF for papers back to 2002.
- Fixed up DP2002-08 (finally!).
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Website/dp2002-abstracts-contents.htm
<h4>M. Purvis, S. Cranefield, M. Nowostawski and D. Carter</h4>
 
<p>The Opal architecture for software development is described that supports the use of agent-oriented concepts at multiple levels of abstraction. At the lowest level are micro-agents, streamlined agents that can be used for conventional, system-level programming tasks. More sophisticated agents may be constructed by assembling combinations of micro-agents. The architecture consequently supports the systematic use of agent-based notions throughout the software development process. The paper describes (a) the implementation of micro-agents in Java, (b) how they have been used to fashion the Opal framework for the construction of more complex agents based on the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) specifications, and (c) the Opal Conversation Manager that facilitates the capability of agents to conduct complex conversations with other agents.</p>
 
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-01.pdf.gz">Download</a> (gzipped PDF, 564KB)</p>
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-01.pdf">Download</a> (PDF, 643 KB)</p>
 
<hr>
 
<h3><a name="dp2002-02">2002/02: Interaction protocols for a network of environmental problem solvers</a></h3>
<h4>M. Purvis, P. Hwang, M. Purvis, S. Cranefield and M. Schievink</h4>
 
<p>Environmental management and emergency response often involves the joint cooperation of a network of distributed problem solvers, each of which may be specialised for a specific task or problem domain. Some of these problem solvers could be human, others could be &#8216;intelligent&#8217; environmental monitoring and control systems. Environmental software systems are needed not only for the provision of basic environmental information but also to support the coordination of these problem solvers. An agent architecture can support the requirement associated with disparate problem solvers. The various stakeholders in the process are represented by software agents which can collaborate with each other toward achieving a particular goal. The communication between agents can be accomplished by using interaction protocols which are represented by coloured Petri nets (CPN). This paper describes an approach for providing this support by employing a software agent framework for the modelling and execution of environmental process tasks in a networked environment.</p>
 
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-02.pdf.gz">Download</a> (gzipped PDF, 94KB)</p>
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-02.pdf">Download</a> (PDF, 114 KB)</p>
 
<hr>
 
<h3><a name="dp2002-03">2002/03: Spatio-temporal and object visualization in rugby union</a></h3>
representation,
object,
rugby</p>
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-03.pdf.gz">Download</a> (gzipped PDF, 2.3MB)</p>
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-03.pdf">Download</a> (PDF, 2.4 MB)</p>
 
<hr>
 
<h3><a name="dp2002-04">2002/04: Multi-agent system interaction protocols in a dynamically changing environment</a></h3>
<p><strong>Keywords: </strong>multi-agent systems,
agent conversations,
adaptive systems</p>
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-04.pdf.gz">Download</a> (gzipped PDF, 122KB)</p>
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-04.pdf">Download</a> (PDF, 142 KB)</p>
 
<hr>
 
<h3><a name="dp2002-05">2002/05: Hand-held computers in health care: What software programs are available?</a></h3>
<h4>W. Gillingham, A. Holt and J. Gillies</h4>
 
<p>The technology sector of healthcare is entering a new evolutionary phase. The medical community has an obligation to the public to provide the safest, most effective healthcare possible. This is more achievable with the use of computer technology at the point of care, and small, portable devices could fulfil this role. A Modern Physician/PricewaterhouseCoopers 2001 survey on information technology in Physician practices found that 60% of respondents say that physicians in their organisation use PDAs, compare this with 26% in the 2000 technology survey. This trend is expected to continue to the point where these devices will have their position on a physician&#8217;s desk next to their stethoscope. Once this electronic evolution occurs, the practice of medicine will change. Doctors will be able to practice medicine with greater ease and safety. In our opinion, the new generation of PDA mobile devices will be the tools to enable a transformation of healthcare to a paperless, wireless world.</p>
 
<p>This article focuses on <em>uses for PDAs in health care</em>. Healthcare software is categorised into the following groups; reference/text book, calculators, patient management/logbook and personal clinical/study notebook. With a focus on the healthcare audience (the user), which can be registrar, consultant, nurse, student, teacher, patient, medical director and surgical.</p>
<p>This article focuses on uses for PDAs in health care. Healthcare software is categorised into the following groups; reference/text book, calculators, patient management/logbook and personal clinical/study notebook. With a focus on the healthcare audience (the user), which can be registrar, consultant, nurse, student, teacher, patient, medical director and surgical.</p>
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-05.pdf.gz">Download</a> (gzipped PDF, 776KB)</p>
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-05.pdf">Download</a> (PDF, 810 KB)</p>
 
<hr>
 
<h3 class="note">(Discussion paper 2002/06 does not exist.)</h3>
<h3><a name="dp2002-07">2002/07: St John&#8217;s Ambulance Service, Southern Region: Control centre dispatch profile (1997&#8211;2001)</a></h3>
<h4>J. Hayes</h4>
 
<p>The St John&#8217;s Ambulance Service, Southern Region Control Centre (the control centre) is located in Dunedin City and controls 56 ambulances based in 26 regional stations. The Southern Region covers an area of approximately 54,000 square kilometres, which has a usually resident population of 272,541 (Census, 2001). This report focuses on the dispatch and workload profile of the control centre between the 1st January 1997 and the 31st December 2001. During this period the control centre dispatched ambulances on approximately 135,822 occasions to a total of 118,759 incidents (this includes both emergency incidents and patient transfers). Based on an analysis of these incidents several key findings are discussed in this report. These include:</p>
 
<ul>
<li>A 21.8% increase in the total number of incidents handled in the control centre between 1997 and 2001</li>
<li>A 44 second increase in average activation times between 1997 and 2001</li>
<li>A strong correlation between increased workload and increased activation times</li>
<li>A large increase in activation times during low and medium workload periods</li>
</ul>
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-07.pdf.gz">Download</a> (gzipped PDF, 128KB)</p>
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-07.pdf">Download</a> (PDF, 158 KB)</p>
 
<hr>
 
<h3><a name="dp2002-08">2002/08: Population density and spatially constrained selection in evolutionary computation</a></h3>
<h4>G. Dick and P. Whigham</h4>
 
<p>(No abstract.)</p>
 
<p><strong>Keywords: </strong>evolutionary computation,
selection,
spatial patterns</p>
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2002-08.pdf">Download</a> (PDF, 272 KB)</p>
 
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18
Website/dp2003-abstracts-contents.htm
<h4>B. Bruegge, M. Purvis, O. Creighton and C. Sandor</h4>
 
<p>The process for requirements elicitation has traditionally been based on textual descriptions or graphical models using UML. While these may have worked for the design of desktop-based systems, we argue, that these notations are not adequate for a dialog with mobile end users, in particular for end users in &#8220;blue collar&#8221; application domains. We propose an alternative modelling technique &#8220;Software Cinema&#8221; based on the use of digital videos. We discuss one particular example of using Software cinema in the design of a user interface for a navigation system of a mobile end user.</p>
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2003-01.pdf.gz">Download</a> (gzipped PDF, 244KB)</p>
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2003-01.pdf">Download</a> (PDF, 349 KB)</p>
 
<hr>
 
<h3><a name="dp2003-02">2003/02: Communicative acts and interaction protocols in a distributed information system</a></h3>
 
<p>In FIPA-style multi-agent systems, agents coordinate their activities by sending messages representing particular communicative acts (or performatives). Agent communication languages must strike a balance between simplicity and expressiveness by defining a limited set of communicative act types that fit the communication needs of a wide set of problems. More complex requirements for particular problems must then be handled by defining domain-specific predicates and actions within ontologies. This paper examines the communication needs of a multi-agent distributed information retrieval system and discusses how well these are met by the FIPA ACL.</p>
 
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2003-02.pdf.gz">Download</a> (gzipped PDF, 322KB)</p>
<p><a href="papers/dp2003-02.pdf">Download</a> (PDF, 377 KB)</p>
 
<hr>
 
<h3><a name="dp2003-03">2003/03: Time-line Hidden Markov Experts and its application in time series prediction</a></h3>
connectionist model,
expectation and maximization,
Gauss probability density distribution</p>
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2003-03.pdf.gz">Download</a> (gzipped PDF, 450KB)</p>
<p><a href="papers/dp2003-03.pdf">Download</a> (PDF, 550 KB)</p>
 
<hr>
 
<h3><a name="dp2003-04">2003/04: An effort prediction model for data-centred fourth-generation-language software development</a></h3>
<h4>C. van Koten</h4>
 
<p>Accurate effort prediction is often an important factor for successful software development. However, the diversity of software development tools observed today has resulted in a situation where existing effort prediction models&#8217; applicability appears to be limited. Data-centred fourth-generation-language (4GL) software development provides one such difficulty. This paper aims to construct an accurate effort prediction model for data-centred 4GL development where a specific tool suite is used. Using historical data collected from 17 systems developed in the target environment, several linear regression models are constructed and evaluated in terms of two commonly used prediction accuracy measures, namely the mean magnitude of relative error (MMRE) and pred measures. In addition, R<sup>2</sup>, the maximum value of MRE, and statistics of the absolute residuals are used for comparing the models. The results show that models consisting of specification-based software size metrics, which were derived from Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs) and Function Hierarchy Diagrams (FHDs), achieve good prediction accuracy in the target environment. The models&#8217; good effort prediction ability is particularly beneficial because specification-based metrics usually become available at an early stage of development. This paper also investigates the effect of developers&#8217; productivity on effort prediction and has found that inclusion of productivity improves the models&#8217; prediction accuracy further. However, additional studies will be required in order to establish the best productivity inclusive effort prediction model.</p>
<p>Accurate effort prediction is often an important factor for successful software development. However, the diversity of software development tools observed today has resulted in a situation where existing effort prediction models&#8217; applicability appears to be limited. Data-centred fourth-generation-language (4GL) software development provides one such difficulty. This paper aims to construct an accurate effort prediction model for data-centred 4GL development where a specific tool suite is used. Using historical data collected from 17 systems developed in the target environment, several linear regression models are constructed and evaluated in terms of two commonly used prediction accuracy measures, namely the mean magnitude of relative error (MMRE) and pred measures. In addition, R2, the maximum value of MRE, and statistics of the absolute residuals are used for comparing the models. The results show that models consisting of specification-based software size metrics, which were derived from Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs) and Function Hierarchy Diagrams (FHDs), achieve good prediction accuracy in the target environment. The models&#8217; good effort prediction ability is particularly beneficial because specification-based metrics usually become available at an early stage of development. This paper also investigates the effect of developers&#8217; productivity on effort prediction and has found that inclusion of productivity improves the models&#8217; prediction accuracy further. However, additional studies will be required in order to establish the best productivity inclusive effort prediction model.</p>
 
<p><strong>Keywords: </strong>prediction systems,
4GL,
effort,
metrics,
empirical analysis</p>
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2003-04.pdf.gz">Download</a> (gzipped PDF, 364KB)</p>
<p><a href="papers/dp2003-04.pdf">Download</a> (PDF, 397 KB)</p>
 
<hr>
 
<h3><a name="dp2003-05">2003/05: Colour and transparency on the Multi-Layer Display (MLD&#8482;)</a></h3>
<h4>A. Nees, R. Villanueva and W. Wong</h4>
 
<p>It is a standard aim to complete tasks efficiently and effectively. When technology is involved, the tools must be designed to facilitate optimal performance. The ActualDepth&#8482; Multi-Layer Display (MLD&#8482;) is a &#8216;new generation&#8217; display, consisting of two layered Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), with a region of space between them. The top LCD displays transparently, allowing both layers to be viewed simultaneously. This paper describes an experiment that investigated relative reading speeds, error detection, comprehension speeds and comprehension accuracy on the MLD&#8482;, including a comparison with standard single layered displays. A framework pertaining to colour and transparency usage on the MLD&#8482; was then developed, which is intended to enhance the usability and effectiveness of the display. In general, it was found that overall readability was improved on the MLD&#8482;, compared to a standard display, and different transparency levels and colours should be employed, depending on the purpose of reading the text.</p>
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2003-05.pdf.gz">Download</a> (gzipped PDF, 228KB)</p>
 
<p><a href="papers/dp2003-05.pdf">Download</a> (PDF, 248 KB)</p>
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