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The World of Peer-to-Peer (P2P)/What is Peer-to-Peer (P2P)/Computer Science Perspective

From a Computer Science Perspective
Technically, a true peer-to-peer application must implement only peering protocols that do not recognize the concepts of "server" and "client". Such pure peer applications and networks are rare. Most networks and applications described as peer-to-peer actually contain or rely on some non-peer elements, such as DNS. Also, real world applications often use multiple protocols and act as client, server, and peer simultaneously, or over time.

P2P under a computer science perspective creates new interesting fields for research not on to the not so recent switch of roles on the networks components, but due to unforeseen benefits and resource optimizations it enables, on network efficiency and stability.

Peer-to-peer systems and applications have attracted a great deal of attention from computer science research; some prominent research projects include the Chord lookup service, the PAST storage utility, and the CoopNet content distribution system (see below for external links related to these projects).

It is also important to notice that the computer is primarily a information devices, whose primary function is to copy data from location to location, even more than performing other types of computations. This makes digital duplication something intrinsic to the normal function of any computer it is impossible to realize the goal of general purpose open computing with any type of copy protection. Enforcement of copyright in the digital era should not be seen as a technical issue but a new reality that society needs to adapt to.

Distributed Systems
Distributed systems are becoming key components of IT companies for data centric computing. A general example of these systems is the Google infrastructure or any similar system. Today most of the evolution of these systems if being focused on how to analyze and improve performance. A P2P system is also a distributed systems and share, depending on the implementation, the characteristics and problems of distributed systems (error/failure detection, aligning machine time, etc...).

Ganglia
Ganglia is a scalable distributed monitoring system for high-performance computing systems such as clusters and Grids. It is based on a hierarchical design targeted at federations of clusters. It leverages widely used technologies such as XML for data representation, XDR for compact, portable data transport, and RRDtool for data storage and visualization. It uses carefully engineered data structures and algorithms to achieve very low per-node overheads and high concurrency. Ganglia has been ported to an extensive set of operating systems and processor architectures, and is currently in use on thousands of clusters around the world. It has been used to link clusters across university campuses and around the world and can scale to handle clusters with 2000 nodes. ( http://ganglia.info/ )

Distributed Computation
The basic premise behind distributed computation is to spread computational tasks between several machines distributed in space, most of the new projects focus on harnessing the idle processing power of "personal" distributed machines, the normal home user PC. This current trends is an exciting technology area that has to do with a sub set of distributed systems (client/server communication, protocols, server design, databases, and testing).

This new implementation of an old concept has its roots in the realization that there is now a staggering number of computers in our homes that are vastly underutilized, not only home computers but there are few businesses that utilizes their computers the full 24 hours of any day. In fact, seemingly active computers can be using only a small part of their processing power. Using a word processing, email, and web browsing require very few CPU resources. So the "new" concept is to tap on this underutilized resource (CPU cycles) that can surpass several supercomputers at substantially lower costs since machines that individually owned and operated by the general public.

SETI@Home
One of the most famous distributed computation project,, hosted by the Space Sciences Laboratory, at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States. SETI is an acronym for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. SETI@home was released to the public on May 17, 1999.

In average it used hundreds of thousands of home Internet-connected computers in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The whole point of the programs is to run your free CPU cycles when it would be otherwise idle, the original project is now deprecated to be included into BOIC.

BOINC
BOINC has been developed by a team based at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley led by David Anderson, who also leads SETI@home.

Boinc stands for Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing, a non-commercial (free/open source software), released under the LGPL, middleware system for volunteer computing, originally developed to support the SETI@home project and still hosted at ( http://boinc.berkeley.edu/ ), but intended to be useful for other applications in areas as diverse as mathematics, medicine, molecular biology, climatology, and astrophysics. an open-source software platform for computing using volunteered resources that extends the original concept and lets you donate computing power to other scientific research projects such as:

 * Climateprediction.net: study climate change.
 * Einstein@home: search for gravitational signals emitted by pulsars.
 * LHC@home: improve the design of the CERN LHC particle accelerator.
 * Predictor@home: investigate protein-related diseases.
 * Rosetta@home: help researchers develop cures for human diseases.
 * SETI@home: Look for radio evidence of extraterrestrial life.
 * Folding@Home ( http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/ ): to understand protein folding, misfolding, and related diseases.
 * Cell Computing biomedical research. (Japanese; requires nonstandard client software)
 * World Community Grid: advance our knowledge of human disease. (Requires 5.2.1 or greater)

As a "quasi-supercomputing" platform, BOINC has over 435,000 active computers (hosts) worldwide. BOINC is funded by the National Science Foundation through awards SCI/0221529, SCI/0438443, and SCI/0506411.

It is also used for commercial usages, as there are some private companies that are beginning to use the platform to assist in their own research. The framework is supported by various operating systems: Windows (XP/2K/2003/NT/98/ME), Unix (GNU/Linux, FreeBSD) and Mac OS X.

World Community Grid (WCG)
Created by IBM, World Community Grid ( http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/ ) is similar to the above systems. Fourteen IBM servers serve as "command central" for WCG. When they receive a research assignment from an organization, they will scour it for security bugs, parse it into data units, encrypt them, run them through a scheduler and dispatch them out in triplicate to the army of volunteer PCs.

To be a volunteer one only needs to download a free, small software agent (similar to a screensaver).

Projects get selected based on the potential to benefit from WCG technology and address humanitarian concerns, and chosen by an independent, external board of philanthropists, scientists and officials.

The software is OpenSource (LGPL), C/C++ and wxWidgets and is available for Windows, Mac, or Linux.

Grid Networks
Grids first emerged in the use of supercomputers in the U.S., as scientists and engineers sought access to scarce high-performance computing resources that were concentrated at a few sites.

Open Science Grid
The Open Science Grid ( http://www.opensciencegrid.org/ ) was built and is operated by the OSG Consortium, it is a U.S. grid computing infrastructure that supports scientific computing via an open collaboration of science researchers and software developers from universities and national laboratories, storage and network providers.

Globus Alliance
The Globus Alliance ( http://www.globus.org/ ) is a community of organizations and individuals developing fundamental technologies behind the "Grid," which lets people share computing power, databases, instruments, and other on-line tools securely across corporate, institutional, and geographic boundaries without sacrificing local autonomy.

The Globus Alliance also provides the Globus Toolkit, an open source software toolkit used for building robust, secure, grid systems (peer-to-peer distributed computing on supercomputers, clusters, and other high-performance systems) and applications. A Wiki is available to the Globus developer community ( http://dev.globus.org/wiki/Welcome ).

High Throughput Computing (HTC)
As some scientists try extract more floating point operation per second (FLOPS) or minute from their computing environment, others concentrate on the same goal for larger time scales, like months or years, we refer these environments as High Performance Computing (HPC) environments.

The term HTC was coined in a seminar at the NASA Goddard Flight Center in July of 1996 as a distinction between High Performance Computing (HPC) and High Throughput Computing (HTC).

HTC focus is on the processing power and not on the network, but the systems can also be created over a network and so be seen as a Grid network optimized for processing power.

Condor Project
The goal of the Condor Project ( http://www.cs.wisc.edu/condor/ ) is to develop, implement, deploy, and evaluate mechanisms and policies that support High Throughput Computing (HTC) on large collections of distributively owned computing resources. Guided by both the technological and sociological challenges of such a computing environment, the Condor Team has been building software tools that enable scientists and engineers to increase their computing throughput.

IBM Grid Computing
IBM among other big fishes in the IT pond, spends some resources investigating Grid Computing. Their attempts around grid computing are listed in on the projects portal page ( http://www.ibm.com/grid ). All seem to attempt to leverage the enterprise position on server machines to provide grid services to costumers. The most active project is Grid Medical Archive Solution a scalable virtual storage solution for healthcare, research and pharmaceutical clients.

Content distribution/Hosting
The traditional method of distributing large files is to put them on a central server. The server and the client can then share the content across the network using agreed upon protocols (from HTTP, FTP to an infinite number of variations) when using IP connections the data can be sent over TCP or UDP connection or a mix of the two, this all depends mostly on the requirements on the service, machines, network and many security considerations.

The advantages regarding optimization of speed, availability and consistency of service in regards to optimal localization is nothing unheard off. Akamai Technologies and Limelight Networks among other similar solutions have attempted to commercially address this issue, even Google has distributed the location of its data centers to increase the response of its services. This has addressed the requirement of large content and service distribution but is not a fully decentralization of the control structure.

P2P evolved in to solve a distinct problem, that central servers do not scale well. Bandwidth, space and CPU constitute are a point of failure, that can easily bring the function of a system to an end, as any centralization of services.

Conferences and papers
P2P is not, yet, a well established field of research or even a computer science specific field. P2P technology covers too many subjects, that it is yet hard to restrict all interactions as a field on itself. As a result much relevant information is hard to find.

For conferences one of the locations that has update information from a non-commercial and platform agnostic viewpoints is the list provided by the project GNUnet project at https://gnunet.org/conferences.
 * Conferences

 * Papers


text: User talk:129.171.233.74

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title: User talk:129.171.233.74


text: User:Mike.lifeguard/UserboxesTop

title: User:Mike.lifeguard/UserboxesTop


text:
Rhetoric and Composition/Teacher's Handbook/Rhetorical Analysis

Designing a Unit of Study for Teaching Rhetorical Analysis

Have you ever planned a trip to a new destination? If you have, you know that it requires having some knowledge of where you are going, what you would like to do when you get there, where you will stay, and how you will get back home. Designing a unit on teaching rhetorical analysis is not so different from planning a trip. The assignment you give your students plots out the destination at which you want your students to arrive and this becomes their initial "map" for the task. Understanding the rhetorical vehicles of logos, ethos and pathos assists students on their way to analyzing a text. The critical thinking process students engage in to analyze a text results in the ability to focus on specific aspects. For example, determining textual citations and maneuvers of logos, ethos and pathos allows students to rhetorical analyze to determine which textual "souvenirs" might be effective in persuading an audience and which may not. Overall, though the student is given the tools to embark on their own analytical journey, this process can be fraught with obstacles and difficulties. Included here are some ideas for using this handbook, as well as ideas that may help you guide your students along their individual paths.

The Planning Stage

Guide Questions to Design the Unit (Samples)

Creating a Unit Timeline:

The key to teaching rhetorical analysis is to start small. Students need to understand the "building blocks" of ethos, pathos, and logos before analyzing text. Some helpful methods to include in a unit timeline are:

Just a few of the mediums to consider using here include magazine advertisements, commercials, films, and news clips.
 * Visual Analysis

To prepare students to analyze a large piece of text, it is helpful to start with small pieces of text, such as poetry or song lyrics.
 * Close Reading

Now that your students have a grasp on the concepts of analysis, it is time to practice these skills on large pieces of text, such as newspaper editiorials, magazine articles, etc.
 * Practice, Practice, Practice

Sample Lesson Plans With the above-mentioned units to cover, there are many different ways to tackle teaching them.

Teaching Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Lesson One

Knowing the ways in which these rhetorical stepping stones work in texts and visuals is key to being able to analyze any kind of rhetoric. Students should read the definitions of these terms located in an earlier section of this book. In order to make these terms "come to life" for the students, some sample lesson ideas are included here:

Visual Analysis Sample One

One of the first concepts to teach in rhetorical analysis is that rhetoric exceeds the boundaries of the written text. If "Everything is a text," as Derrida insists, students foremost should be instructed pay heed to the very things they may have previously, habitually overlooked. An effective method to bring students awareness and sight to things they may have been blind to is advertisement analysis.

Lesson: From a brief collection of magazines, allow students to individually choose advertisements that intrigue them. (This is the first step of the day's lesson—a coy mask should be donned in order that students' choose ads which compel them without knowing what the lesson will after entail). Upon a volunteering of an ad for class analysis, ask student(s) the following questions:

 * Who is the target audience of the ad?
 * Is it effective? (Do you/would you buy this product?) Why?  How does it do what it does to enact this effectiveness?
 * What is the tone of the ad?
 * What does the ad seem to be selling (other than the product)?
 * What else might you (the students) evaluate about the ad?

After this preliminary reading (in which the students' might feel they have exhausted analysis), attempt to interrogate the ad further through the following question prompts:
 * What is the overarching rhetorical appeal utilized in the ad? How does the text move you?  Through Logos, ethos or pathos?  Why?  What can be cited in the ad that demonstrates all three?  Can you find an example that might, at first glance, be cited as demonstrating logos, but upon further inspection may instead be imbued with pathos?  Can the same be done for ethos?
 * How are the above complications involving logos, ethos and pathos accomplished in the ad? Here typical "things unseen" can be brought to attention:  What is the appearance or absence of space, color, language, font, affect, clothing, skin, sex, gender, race, etc. doing and saying in the ad?  What does it mean?
 * Most provocatively, how does the ad portray a certain set of values? What are they?  Do these values confirm or repeal the status quo?  What connections or associations is the reader supposed to make through this ad that is not apparent through the text of the ad itself, but the common, social knowledge that the ad must be operating from?  In other words, how can the ad be held up as a social artifact?  (A successful lesson may be determined by student resistance, oftentimes heard as such, "Do we have to analyze everything to death?").

Finally, students might write a brief, one page, in-class response that addresses their primary, superficial analysis at the start of class vs. their final analysis. An attached assignment to this lesson might be to write a 500-750 word rhetorical analysis of an ad that mimics the formula conducted in-class.

Visual Analysis Sample Two

To prompt students to practice their ability to analyze a variety of visual rhetorics, it can be helpful to have students work with non-static images that engage dimensions beyond fixed pictures and words. For this lesson, conduct a viewing of a short (2–4 minutes) video (or clip [SNL is especially ripe for this type of analysis]). This lesson is most effective when a song is chosen that may have a deeper read than what can be garnered superficially, especially in relation to a discordance between the audio and visual tellings of the song. (I favor and find effective "Get Down" by P.O.S.; though, to be warned, this is a song for a class that will not be ill-moved by raw language). This viewing should be conducted in four parts:

1) Audio only: Play the video using a muted screen.  Students note reactions and observations while listening.  Discuss briefly:  What is the tone of the song?  Can you dance to it?  Cry to it?  Run to it?  What can you decipher of the lyrics?  What might the song be about?  What is the refrain? Who might listen to this song?  Might you?  Why or why not?  Begin prompting associations here that will fruit in the remaining two reads.

2) Visual only: Engage the aforementioned questions from the ad analysis.  Also:  What does the visual reveal that the audio does not?  Does the visual betray or align with the associations you might have made while listening (only)?  Is there discord apparent between the two mediums of text?  Say more.

3) Audio and visual: Reiterate prior questions.  What now arises?  What analysis can you make in this double reading about how logos, ethos and pathos are being engaged?

4) Lyric analysis: Display song lyrics.  Analyze collaboratively.  How does this fourth step yet further shift our understanding and ultimate analysis of the song?

Post-lesson: Brief, one page, in-class response, answering the following prompt:  What distinctions can you make between simple analysis and rhetorical analysis after the last two lessons? Explain and demonstrate.

Assignment: Again, students may conduct a similar rhetorical analysis of a song following the above steps. Briefly discuss what a thesis in such a rhetorical analysis might look like—collaborating on a thesis for the class lesson analysis might be an effective way to demonstrate and prompt this goal for students' own work.

Close Reading (Sample Assignments)

 * Bring samples readings of poetry to the class. As a class or in groups, have students conduct a line by line analysis of the poem. What does each line mean? How does it contribute the poem as a whole? Are there any words/phrases you do not understand? Are there any double meanings to any of the phrases or the poem as a whole?
 * A similar way to conduct a close reading is through isolating song lyrics for rhetorical analysis. Bring examples to class, or have students bring their own examples for a close reading. Analyze the piece line by line and also as a whole.

Practice, Practice, Practice (Sample Assignments)

 * Create an ad or logo for a company or product you admire. Keep your audience in mind and include visuals and text that they would find appealing. Attach to this visual a description of how you use each of the rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) in this ad to get your ideas across and persuade your audience. The descriptions for each appeal should be at least one paragraph in length.
 * Split students into groups and have each group create an ad for the same company or product, but each will target different age groups, categories, etc. For example, have each group create an ad for Nike.  How will one group appeal to teens, middle-aged people, men women, etc.? What can students glean from the distinctions between age brackets?  What can be inferred about assumed and enacted behavior patterns of each group?  Are these accurate?  How might ads, in addition to selling us products, prescribe us "how to be"?
 * Practicing rhetorical analysis with the class as a whole is important. Using editorials from newspapers and magazines, discuss as a class or in groups the elements of the piece.  What is the author's message?  What is the author's purpose?  What rhetorical devices does the author use? What kind of language? Is the author successful in relaying his or her message? Continue engaging these rhetorical questions throughout the semester, for every assignment and every text (which is every thing—even the classroom.  In fact, what might a rhetorical analysis of your classroom evaluate?).

Sample Rhetorical Analysis Assignments

Sample One

Rhetorical analysis is a way of understanding and interpreting texts by examining and interpreting rhetorical devices used in a piece of writing. You are to find a piece of published work that is persuasive in nature; in other words, it argues a point. Editorials and pieces from opinion/commentary sections of magazines or newspapers will generally work the best. You may find these online at sites such as startribune.com or sctimes.com., or in an actual publication. The piece you choose should be at least 350-500 words in length. Choosing an article that is too short may result in not having enough to write about in your paper, choosing something too long may not fit the parameters of this assignment. Write an essay in which you in which you ANALYZE the author's rhetorical effectiveness/ineffectiveness. How does the author appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos? You will need to consider the points we have discussed in class, as well as the strategies discussed in Chapters 10 and 11 in your book.

Primary Audience: Educated readers who have not read the text you are analyzing.

Point of View: Objective

General Purpose: To help your readers understand the connections between purpose, audience, subject matter, and rhetorical techniques.

Things to consider when writing the rhetorical analysis: (Samples)
 * Take the time to find an article with a topic you can relate to. Don't just choose the first article you find.
 * Photocopy the article, because it will need to accompany all drafts.
 * This paper is NOT a summary. One will be included, but it should be no more than one paragraph in length.
 * Your focus is not to agree or disagree with the author's article, but to analyze how effective or ineffective the author is in presenting the argument.
 * Sample Peer Review For Rhetorical Analysis


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User talk:Ceros

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.– Mike.lifeguard  | talk 07:03, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Ceros


text:
Web 2.0 and Emerging Learning Technologies/Web 2.0 Learning Styles

Introduction

It seems in the twenty-first century new learning technologies are appearing every day for teachers to think about. With the advent of technology across all fields of learning, the ways in which learners store and retrieve information for further use has dramatically changed. Multimedia, interactive learning technologies, and collaborative learning are the new method which have been successfully deployed for conventional or unconventional learning. Previously, the different ways of learning were restricted to people who learn better visually, people who are more comfortable with words, and so on. These sensibilities are changing and are being tested by new ways of utilizing and integrating technology.

Adult learning is on the rise and the usual models for addressing student learning do not apply any more. Different learners come from varied backgrounds with a range of experiences and entry behaviors. For example, in case of conventional school learning, students definitely do not all have same the kind of interests. Some are more interested in sports, some in literature, and others in music or many other areas. Some people learn best through pictures and illustrations, while others find it easier to retain information in the form of verbal chunks. Still others prefer hands-on learning or reflective learning. In the case of technology mediated learning, the motivations, interests, and ways to retain information are different than in the conventional format. Therefore, it is necessary to understand that the learning styles of conventional learners are different than for digital new age learners.'''Different learner groups have different characteristics and learning styles. I think you can probably put emphasis on a specified group, like college and university students or K-12 students.'''

 Theory of Multiple Intelligences in Conventional Learning

Howard Gardner (1983) proposed a new view of looking at the concept of intelligence which included areas such as music, interpersonal knowledge, mathematical, linguistic ability, and other aeas. Gardner defines intelligence as "the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting" (Gardner & Hatch, 1989). In contrast to his views, the conventional education addresses and recognizes only two types of intelligences--verbal and computational. The seven intelligences which Gardner defines are-Logical Intelligence, Mathematical Intelligence, Linguistic Intelligence, Spatial Intelligence, Musical Intelligence, Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence, and Personal Intelligence. The proposed theory is called the Theory of Multiple Intelligences and is used to refer to the aptitude of a learner. On the basis of this theory, it has been suggested that none of the learning theories function in isolation. For students to learn effectively, all these intelligences need to be challenged and the instructor needs to create supporting exploration materials for it.

 Traditional Vs Neomillenial Model of Learning

In addition to theories of multiple intelligences and learning styles there are issues related to learner personalities. The widely accepted traditional model of education too often fails to consider all these areas. Some teachers, however, address the kind of senses (auditory, visual) the learner uses, the learner’s aptitude (Theory of Multiple Intelligences), and the personality type. The personality types are identified as the Myer-Briggs personality types-

1.	Extrovert vs. Introvert

2.	Sensing vs. Intuition

3.	Thinking vs. Feeling

4.	Judgment vs. Perception

Dieterle, Dede, and Schrier have proposed adding an additional aspect to the Traditional Model – a media based or a mediated learning style. The constant connectivity, content developed, updated, and propagated constantly, and the collaborative nature of the emerging technologies has made it essential to redefine the old concepts of learning. In effect, emerging technologies push educators to consider ways of learning with them. Some learners come to school with preset habits and expectations regarding technology use in their learning activities. Unfortunately, teachers and schools are too often not adapting to their needs and expecations.

 Catering to ‘digital’ intelligence

The main idea and the driving concept behind the digital way of learning is collaboration and placing the control in the learner’s hands. Encouraging them to be a part of their own learning and making them responsible for finding the necessary content. George Siemens's Connectivism illustrates digital learning effectively- "We derive our competence," writes Siemens, "from forming connections... Chaos is a new reality for knowledge workers... Unlike constructivism, which states that learners attempt to foster understanding by meaning-making tasks, chaos states that the meaning exists— the learner's challenge is to recognize the patterns which appear to be hidden. Meaning-making and forming connections between specialized communities are important activities." In effect, learners are learning through their connections, constructions, and communications of those knowledge constructions to those in their social connections or networks. Digital learning is about connections, not about isolated learning.

The emerging learning styles include:

1.	Fluency in multiple media and in simulation based virtual settings

2.	Communal learning involving diverse, tacit, situated learning, with knowledge distributed across a community and a context as well as within an individual

3.	A balance among experiential learning, guided mentoring, and collective reflection

4.	Expression through nonlinear association webs of representations

5.	Co-design of learning experiences personalized to individual needs and preferences

Some of the main signifiers of the Web 2.0 learners were sites like LiveJournal which led to the boom of other ‘social networking styles’ like Orkut, LinkedIn, and now Facebook. The fundamental idea behind these, apart from getting in touch with people was the willingness to share content, information, free software, etc. The Internet was no more just a medium, but a platform to create a community of sorts, on the basis of sharing and exchanging ideas. This formation of a community like network has given an extremely different twist for the learners. This generation is high on collaborating, expressing their opinions through blogs, and podcasting their views for the world to see.

The main characteristics of the Web 2.0 learners can be summarized as:

1.	Need for immediate feedback, responsiveness, and ideas from others. Learners want to know if they know something. They are used to instant gratification and rewards. They want to know if they succeeded. In effect, they want feedback on their work and ideas.

2.	Feeling of community, sharing, and exchange: a ‘give and take’ atmosphere, COLLABORATION and connections with others. To socially interact is simply part of living in the twenty-first century. There are constant opportunities for collaboration, sharing, and mixing.

3.	Controlled by the learner at all times: create his or her own world, time, references, community, etc. The learner is empowered to learn, which further nurtures self-motivation to learn other content.

4.	Exposure to different kinds of virtual media: ability to communicate with different interfaces with a fair amount of confidence. Such exposure raises the level of technology skills for the neomillennial learner and instructor.

5.	Flexible roles: changes from being a student, to a support for the group, to being a ‘in house’ help on certain topics, and being the instructor at times. There is a constant switching into and out of these roles.

6.	The need for ‘on demand’: the learners have access to content at all times with the help of various technologies which best fit their requirements or ease of use. The can call it up when and where needed!

One of the main by-products of this ‘social change’ is that probably for the first time, the end product is not the most important thing in the learning process. The process itself, the exposure, as well as the tools used along the way are, in some cases, much more important than the task itself. '''This section is very impressive. I think you can provide a case illustrating learning process of Web 2.0 learners. How/when do the learners work collaboratively in the wiki? For example, adding their notes, correcting what’s wrong, and reviewing the wiki before an exam.'''

 Motivation for Web 2.0 learners

A good learning scenario or a learning tool has to ensure learner motivation. It is the driving factor which decides whether the student will turn to the next page in a book, volunteer for additional work, or come back again for a second round of discussion. Much research has been done on how learners are motivated. The Web 2.0 addresses many aspects of motivation directly, including learner empowerment, choice, expression, variety, novelty, collaboration, and interactivity. So many motivational principles are addressed with the Web 2.0 technologies such as Chinswing, Mixxer, Scrapblog, VoiceThreads, etc.

In Web 2.0 sites, the content is constantly updated; people from different parts of the world are sharing their ideas and perspectives. There is never an element of boredom in the sharing process. In addition, the learners are free to access, construct, and share their own ideas and content. There is sense of responsibility for their learning, and there is not one right way of doing something. All kinds of answers are possible and perhaps accepted, with plausible explanations and data to support it. There are no apparent limitations to learning, topics to explore, or people to collaborate with. Equally important, the technology is easy to use, or can be learned easily. One of the most important factors is the variety of options in tools, technology, and the kinds of media. Learners can access websites, use their mobile phones to log in to update their blogs, and download podcasts onto their iPods. Not surprisingly, mobile learning is catching on in the form of some of the corporate ventures where major corporate giants make their courseware available to their employees via mobile phones.

 Criticism against Web 2.0

A lot of theories differentiating the types of learners and learning styles have come under heavy criticism in the UK. Baroness Greenfield, director of the Royal Institute and a Professor at Oxford University is of the opinion that differentiating learners on the basis of ‘learning styles’ is incorrect. According to Baroness Greenfield (and many other educational scholars and researchers), this practice is “nonsense” from a neuroscientific point of view. The Baroness argues that there is no independent evidence that people learn though visual, auditory, or kinesthetic styles (VAK). Frank Coffield, Professor at London University Institute of Education, reviewed 13 models of learning styles. He insists that the VAK approach is theoretically incoherent and confused.

There are some factors which may lead to further arguments and speculation about the accuracy and use of the different learning styles. Each learner has a unique way of learning, the ultimate goal is retention. There could be some differentiation of ‘grasping’ information on the basis of the senses used. Even if there is an apparent change in behavior due to the ‘learning’, it might be hard to pinpoint the sense or the learning style which has played a part in the retention and the ultimate change.

There could be a number of hypothetical points for change in a learner, but the very nature of learning in Web 2.0 makes it difficult to point out and justify the differentiation of learners. Web 2.0 is supposed to be collaborative, which makes the learners necessarily ‘social’ in their learning nature. But, in reality this might be so given the learning tools and resources we now possess. Of course, there is always an argument about virtual being just as real as the tangible world. Therefore, there can be many counter arguments against the differentiation, but none of them can be dismissed conclusively. The picture could be a lot more transparent in a few years when the Neomillenial learners grow up to exhibit higher levels of transfer of learning.

 Immersion

To understand the learning styles of the learners today, it is important to understand the significance of technology in their lives. The learner today can send and receive emails and phone calls, while listening to the iPod, and doing homework all at the same time. They operate at a ‘twitch’ speed expecting instant feedback. “On demand,” “Always on,” are some of the terms which are used especially to define these learners.

Some of the points required to understand the ‘immersive’ nature of Web 2.0 are:

1.	The “world to desktop” interface which provides access to online dictionaries, distant collaborative partners, and virtual communities of practice through the use of Internet. As such, there are many ways to address learning styles through the desktop. You can get learners to collaborate one minute and reflect on that collaboration in the next.

2.	Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE) interfaces in which participant’s avatars interact with computer based agents and digital artifacts in virtual contexts. Such agents might prompt learners to reflect on what they have accomplished or where they want to go or what they want to do next. They can also foster interaction and collaboration.

3.	Mobile wireless devices (MWDs) are used to gain access to the virtual world. Such mobile technologies include gaming devices, mobile phones, and PDAs. Now the learner can always be doing something! It is hands-on learning with devices in your hands which excite learners and foster their motivation to learn even more.

4.	MWDs would access all kinds of information right from finding people with similar interests in your community to information about the weather, stock markets, sports, comedy, etc. Now if one had a learning gap or need, it can be readily filled in.

5.	Extended alternate identities or augmented realities, like networking sites through which people are willing/able to express varied interests and aspects of their own personality. Now one can test ideas in different ways and with different personas. A learner can be a quiet person in a traditional classroom and an extrovert in Second Life, or vice versa.

The above factors and ideas exhibit the ‘immersive’ nature of Web 2.0 so that the learners have a virtual parallel to their lives. Their involvement with the World Wide Web is complete to the extent of constructing a different reality in the virtual world. Leading a ‘second life’, working with chosen avatars, listing your profile or intended identity exhibits the personalized, constructed, and immersive nature of the Internet. The possibility to create mediated situations which may not be possible in real life is a feature of immersive learning. Now one can test out different identities, learning styles, and various ways of knowing and interacting. Constructing hypothetical situations in a real-life atmosphere creates a sense of augmented reality.

 Learning Styles and Intelligence

The best way to correlate learning styles with Web 2.0 is to explore the tools which are used in Web 2.0. Blogs, podcasts, and collaborative writing are some of the latest ‘learning tools’ used in Web 2.0. Given below is a chart describing some of the tools in Web 2.0 and the kind of intelligence that tool uses.

 Conclusion

For the purpose of helping academics and other educators, it is vital to understand the learning styles and approaches of this new generation of learner. But no one can predict that a certain learner will learn as well in the same style tomorrow that he has learned in today. Learners are changing and adapting to the ever changing technology. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to predict that a particular style or type of intelligence will be used in a particular case. Blended learning is probably the most effective and efficient way to ensure that the learner receives a fantastic learning experience. The best part of a blend is that there is always something for somebody and that generally maintains the interest and the motivation of learners quite successfully. Find, experiment with, and share the how you address the learning styles of this new generation of student. With the emerging of the Web 2.0, there are many opportunities for you and many places to share to opportunities with others.

 References

1.	Tomlison, C. A. Differentiating Instruction for Advanced Learners in the Mixed-Ability Middle School Classroom. ERIC Digest E536. Retrieved on Sept 30, 2007, from http://www.ericdigests.org/1996-3/mixed.htm

2.	Brualdi, A. C. Multiple Intelligences: Gardner's Theory. ERIC Digest. Retrieved on 30 Sept, 2007, from http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-1/multiple.htm

3.	Giles. E, Pitre. S, & Womack. S, Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, University of Georgia. Retrieved on 4 Oct, 2007, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Multiple_Intelligences_and_Learning_Styles

4.	Dede, C. (2005). Planning for Neomillennial Learning Styles: Implications for Investments in Technology and Faculty. In D. G. Oblinger & J. L. Oblinger (Eds.), Educating the net generation. Retrieved November 20, 2006, from: http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?page_id=6069&bhcp=1

5.	Dede, C. (2005). Planning for Neomillennial learning styles: Shifts in students’ learning style will prompt a shift to active construction of knowledge through mediated immersion. Retrieved on Oct 4, 2007, from http://connect.educause.edu/library/abstract/PlanningforNeomillen/39899

6.	Baird. D, Learning Styles 2.0: Digital, Social, and Always On, 02 April 2006. Retrieved on Oct 4, 2007, from http://www.debaird.net/blendededunet/2006/04/learning_styles.html

7.	Downes, S, National Research Council of Canada, E-learning 2.0. Retrieved on Oct 10, 2007,from http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=29-1

8.	Dieterle, E., Dede, C., & Schrier, K. (forthcoming). “Neomillennial” learning styles propagated by wireless handheld devices. In M. Lytras & A. Naeve (Eds.), Ubiquitous and pervasive knowledge and learning management: Semantics, social networking and new media to their full potential. Hershey, PA: Idea Group, Inc. Retrieved on Oct 10, 2007, from http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/NeoMillennial+Learning+styles

9.	Henry. J, Professor pans 'learning style' teaching method. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/29/nteach129.xml

10.	Yap. R, VSL-Not just seeing or hearing alone. Retrieved on Oct 10, 2207, from http://blog.robinyap.com/2007/04/vsl_not_just_seeing_or_hearing_1.html

11.	http://www.schoolforge.org.uk/index.php/Effective_eLearning_through_Collaboration

12.	Low. L, Mobile Learning, an Online Reflective journal on Mobile Learning Practice. Retrieved from http://mlearning.edublogs.org/

13.	Dieterle, E. D., & Schrier, C. K Neomillennial” Learning Styles Propagated by Wireless Handheld Devices. Retrieved on Sept 2, 2007, from

http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~hdul/Dieterle-Dede-Schrier-NLS-2006.pdf 14.	Halsne. A. M, Gatta. L. A, Online Versus Traditionally-delivered Instruction: A Descriptive Study of Learner Characteristics in a Community College Setting. Retrieved on Oct 10, 2007, from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring51/halsne51.html

15.	Dede. C, Immersive, Collaborative Simulations and Neomillennial Learning Styles: Implications for Education and Training. Retrieved on 1 Oct, 2007, from www.lscconsortium.com/resources/ChrisDede.ppt


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Cookbook:Arjoli (Maltese Herbed Bread Dip)

Arjoli (alternately spelled Ajjoli) is a Maltese dip or spread. It is typically held together with bread.

Ingredients

 * 2 packets Maltese galletti (round hard Ship's Biscuit)
 * Fresh Basil, minced
 * Fresh mint, minced
 * Fresh parsley, minced
 * 4 cloves garlic, diced
 * Olives (black and green), diced
 * Capers, chopped
 * Anchovy paste
 * 1 tsp tomato paste (kunserva)

Procedure

 * 1) Let the galletti soak in water overnight to soften.
 * 2) Combine soaked galletti and all remaining ingredients in a mortar and pestle. Crush to a paste consistency.

Notes, tips, and variations

 * Use dry Maltese bread instead of the galletti.
 * Add one or two sun-dried tomatoes for a spicy taste.
 * Another Maltese version of Ajjoli (alternative spelling) mixes lots of diced tomato flesh (no skin or seeds) with very finely diced garlic and plenty of olive oil which should be left for flavors to blend for at least an hour.


text:
HSC Extension 1 and 2 Mathematics/Trigonometric functions

Radian measure of an angle
2π radians in a revolution

Arc length and area of a sector of a circle
$$l = r \theta \;$$

$$A = \frac{1}{2}r^2 \theta$$

 * Where θ is in radians

Minor segment
$$A = \frac{1}{2}r^2 ( \theta - \sin \theta )$$

 * Where θ is in radians

Major segment
$$A = \pi r^2 - \frac{1}{2}r^2 ( \theta - \sin \theta ) $$

 * Where θ is in radians

Definitions of trigonometric functions
In mathematics, the trigonometric functions (also called circular functions) are functions of an angle. They are used to relate the angles of a triangle to the lengths of the sides of a triangle. Trigonometric functions are important in the study of triangles and modeling periodic phenomena, among many other applications.

Derivative of sin x and cos x
$$\sin 'x = \cos x \;$$

$$\cos 'x = - \sin x \;$$

Derivative of tan x
$$\tan 'x = \sec^2 x \;$$

Derivative of sin (ax + b)
$$\sin '(ax + b) = a \cos (ax + b) \;$$

Derivative of cos (ax + b)
$$\cos '(ax + b) = -a \sin (ax + b) \;$$


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HSC Extension 1 and 2 Mathematics/Exponential and logarithmic functions

Index laws
$$a^x \times a^y = a^{(x+y)}$$

$$a^x \div a^y = a^{(x-y)}$$

Derivative of exponential functions
$$\frac{d}{dx}e^x = e^x$$

Derivative of ekx, k a constant
$$\frac{d}{dx}e^{kx} = ke^{kx}$$

$$\int e^{kx} dx = \frac{1}{k}e^{kx} + c$$

Derivative of logex
$$\frac{d}{dx}log_ex = \frac{1}{x}, x > 0$$

$$\int \frac{1}{x}dx = log_ex + c$$

Derivative of loge(ax), a > 0
$$\frac{d}{dx}log_e(ax) = \frac{1}{x}$$

Derivative of loge(ax+b)
$$\frac{d}{dx}log_e(ax + b) = \frac{a}{ax + b}$$

$$\frac{d}{dx}log_ef(x) = \frac{f'(x)}{f(x)}$$

$$\int \frac{f'(x)}{f(x)}dx = log_ef(x)$$


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HSC Extension 1 and 2 Mathematics/Tangent to a curve and derivative of a function

Informal discussion of continuity
The simplest graphs studied so far have consisted almost exclusively of unbroken curves. This is a sufficient basis for the intuitive idea of continuity. The behaviour of 1/x and | x | /x near the origin should be demonstrated, but discontinuities should not be further stressed.

The notion of the limit of a function and the definition of continuity in terms of this notion. Continuity of $$f + g$$, $$f-g$$, $$fg$$ in terms of continuity of $$f$$ and $$g$$
Intuitively a function is ‘continuous’ at a given point $$\left.x = c\right.$$ if the function value $$f(c)$$ is ‘approached continuously’ from ‘neighbouring’ values of x, that is, if the ‘limit of f(x) as x approaches c’ agrees with the actual function value f(c) when x is precisely equal to $$c$$. Otherwise, f(x) has a ‘jump’ at $$\left.x = c\right.$$. We use the notations $$ \lim_{x \to c} f(x)$$ and $$\lim_{h \to 0} f(c + h)$$

to mean the limit of the function as x → c. If f(x) is ‘continuous’ at x = c, then $$\lim_{x \rightarrow c} f(x) = f(c)$$, and

$$\lim_{h \to 0} f(c + h) = f(c)$$

for negative and positive values of h.

We use this intuitive notion to define continuity precisely as follows. A function f(x) is said to be continuous at x = c if:

 * 1) f(x) is defined at c;
 * 2) the limit of f(x) as x approaches c exists;
 * 3) f(c) is equal to this limit.

A function f(x) is called continuous or a continuous function if it is continuous at each point in its domain, i.e., if f(x) is continuous at x = c for every choice of c in the domain of the function. There should be light treatment of the formal proofs of the limits of the sum, difference and product of two functions, and of the corollaries that, given f is continuous and g is continuous, then f + g, f – g, fg are continuous.

Gradient of a secant to the curve y = f(x)
A secant is defined as the straight line passing through two given points on the curve. The gradients of secants for particular cases should be calculated. The general expression for the gradient of the secant through the two points P(c, f(c)) and Q(x, f(x)) on the curve y = f(x) should be derived.

Tangent as the limiting position of a secant. The gradient of the tangent. Equations of tangent and normal at a given point of the curve y = f(x)
By drawing secants through a given point P on the curve y = f(x), and through a succession of points Q1,Q2,Q3, …, on the curve, first on one side of P, then on the other, the idea of the tangent line at P as the limiting position of the secant is illustrated. The geometric picture strongly suggests that there is a limiting value for the gradient of the secant through P(c, f(c)) and Q(x, f(x)) as Q approaches P, although the formula derived in 8.3 becomes meaningless if x = c. This limiting value of the gradient of the secant is defined to be the gradient of the tangent line (or tangent) at P and is called simply the gradient of the curve at P.

The gradient of the tangent at a specified point on a given curve should be calculated as above in a few simple cases and verified graphically.

Formal definition of the gradient of y = f(x) at the point where x = c
Notations $$f'(c),\frac{dy}{dx}$$ at $$\left.x = c\right.$$

The intuitive notion of tangent to a curve, as described above, leads to a way of defining tangent in terms of a limit. Formally, the gradient of the curve y = f(x) at the point P(c, f(c)) is defined as the limiting value

$$\lim_{x \rightarrow c} \frac{f(x)-f(c)}{x-c} = f'(c)$$

provided this limit exists. Thus f'(c) is the slope of the tangent line to the curve y = f(x) at the point x = c.

The gradient of y = f(x) at x = c is also called the derivative or differential coefficient of f(x) at x = c. Note that the limit may fail to exist even for a continuous curve: the curve may have a vertical tangent (infinite slope), or a sharp bend, as in $$y = \left|x\right|$$ at x = 0.

By putting x = c + h, where h may be positive or negative, in the definition, we get the alternative and equivalent forms

$$f'(c) = \lim_{h \rightarrow 0} \frac{f(c + h)-f(c)}{h} = \lim_{\delta x \rightarrow 0} \frac{\delta y}{\delta x}$$

where $$\left.\Delta x = h\right.$$, $$\left.\Delta y = f(c + h)-f(c)\right.$$, $$\left.y = f(x)\right.$$.

A number of simple numerical examples of the following type should be given in order to facilitate understanding of the above definitions. Example. Find the derivative of the function f(x) = x3 + 5x at x = 1 and hence find the equation of the tangent line to the curve y = f(x) at the point (1, 6).

By the definition,

$$f'(1) = \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{f(1 + h)-f(1)}{h}$$

$$f'(1) = \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{(1+h)^3 + 5(1+h) - (1+5)}{h}$$

$$f'(1) = \lim_{h \to 0} \frac{6 + 8h + 3h^2 + h^3 - 6}{h}$$

$$f'(1) = \lim_{h \to 0} (8 + 3h + h^2)$$

$$f'(1) = 8$$

The equation of the required tangent line is therefore

$$y-6=8(x-1)$$

Examples should be chosen using the same function with several different (numerical) values of x, as a lead-in to the definition of the gradient function.

For the special case of the straight line y = mx + b, it should be verified that the definition of gradient yields the correct value m at any point P(c, mc + b) on the line.

The gradient or derivative as a function
Notations $$f'(x), \frac{dy}{dx}, \frac{d}{dx}f(x), y'$$

Given the function y = f(x), with domain D say, we may use the definition of gradient at each point (c, f(c)), c ε D, to find out if the function has a derivative at that point. Examples should be given (e.g. x2, x3 – x, |x |) leading to the understanding that for common functions, a derivative exists at all points in the domain or at all points with isolated exceptions which can be identified from a sketch of the function. That f '(c) is given by an expression involving c and related to the expression for f(c) should also be illustrated by examples.

After first showing on a sketch of y = f(x) the gradient f '(c) at various points c (illustrated as the slope of the tangent to the curve at (c, f(c))), the transition should then be made to sketching the gradient function or derivative y = f '(x), which is the function whose domain is the set of points x for which f '(x) exists, and whose value at x = c is f '(c). This function should be identified and drawn for a number of functions f(x) (for example, y = f(x) and y = f '(x) could be drawn on the same graph or one below the other, using the same line for the y-axis and different x-axes).

In adopting the usual x, y notation for the derivative function, care must be taken to avoid any confusion of notation and certainly to avoid nonsense such as

$$f'(x) = \lim{x \to x} \frac{f(x)-f(x)}{x-x}$$

(i.e. the replacing of c by x in the definition of f '(c)).

Right from the beginning of work involving f(x) and f '(x) as functions, students must be encouraged to remember the geometrical significance of f'(x) in relation to the graph of f(x), and to relate properties of one graph to properties of the other. This relationship is further developed in Topic 10.

The notations $$f'(x), \frac{dy}{dx}, \frac{d}{dx}f(x), y'$$, and the use of different variables in place of x or y should be discussed and used in examples.

If f(x) possesses a derivative f'(x) for each x belonging to the domain of f, then f(x) is called a differentiable function. The statement ‘f(x) is differentiable’ means ‘f(x) has a derivative at each point of its domain’.

Differentiation of xn for positive integral n
the tangent to $$\left.y = x^n\right.$$

The geometric series xn–1 + cxn–2 + c2xn–3 + … + cn–2x + cn–1 has first term xn–1, and ratio c/x, so that the series has the sum (xn – cn)/(x–c). This identity and theorems on limits of sums and products may be used to find the derivative of xn for positive integral values of n. This result should be used to find the equation of the tangent to the curve y = xn at the point (c, cn), for positive integral values of n. Students should be asked to verify this result graphically for particular values of n and c, comparing the tangent drawn by eye with the straight line whose equation has been found analytically.

The derivative of a constant function y = c is the constant function y = 0.

==Differentiation of x1/2 and x–1 from first principles. For the two functions u and v, differentiation of Cu (C constant), u + v, u – v, uv. The composite function rule. Differentiation of u/v==

Although a few simple functions can be differentiated by straightforward use of the definition given in 8.5 i.e., differentiated ‘from first principles’, this procedure is in general far from easy. Even for such simple functions as √x and 1/x, we resort to the devices

$$\lim_{x \to c} \frac{x ^ \frac{1}{2} - c ^ \frac{1}{2}}{x-c} = \lim_{x \to c} \frac{x ^ \frac{1}{2} - c ^ \frac{1}{2}}{(x ^ \frac{1}{2} + c ^ \frac{1}{2})(x ^ \frac{1}{2} - c ^ \frac{1}{2})} = \lim_{x \to c} \frac{1}{x ^ \frac{1}{2} + c ^ \frac{1}{2}} = \frac{1}{2 c ^ \frac{1}{2}}$$

Quite apart from the frequent need for ingenuity, differentiation from first principles is in general a tedious procedure. Fortunately, there are theorems which allow us to find the derivatives of complicated functions, starting from derivatives of simpler functions.

These theorems are: if u,v are differentiable functions of x, then


text:
HSC Extension 1 and 2 Mathematics/Integration

Area

 * Fundamental Theorem of Calculus: $$\int_a^b f(x) dx = F(b) - F(a)$$, where $$\frac{d}{dx} F(x) = f(x)$$

Volume of solids of revolution
Recall that the volume of a solid can be found by $$V = Ad\ $$ where $$A$$ is the cross-sectional area and $$d\ $$ is the depth of the solid, which is perpendicular to the cross-sectional area.

Similarly, the volume of solids with circular cross sections can be calculated by
 * rotating a curve about an axis (generally $$x\ $$ or $$y\ $$ axis)
 * integrating to sum the areas of the slices of circles

Since the area of a circle is $$A = \pi r^2\ $$, then the integral to evaluate the volume of a solid generated by revolving it around the $$x$$-axis is $$V = \pi \int_a^b y^2 dx$$

Notice this is a sum of areas of the "slices" of circular cross sections of the solid, i.e. $$\sum \pi r^2 = \pi \sum r^2$$.

Trapezoidal rule

 * One interval (2 function values): $$\int_{a}^{b}f(x)dx \approx \frac{1}{2} \times \overbrace{\frac{b - a}{n}}^{= h} [f(a)+f(b)]$$
 * $$n\ $$-intervals ($$n + 1\ $$ function values): $$\int_{a}^{b}f(x)dx \approx \frac{h}{2}\left[f(a) + 2\sum f(x_i) + f(b)\right]$$

Simpson's rule
$$\int_{a}^{b}f(x)dx \approx \frac{b - a}{6} \left [ f(a) + 4f \left ( \frac{a + b}{2} \right ) + f(b) \right ]$$


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Template:Expert Systems/Page

 Expert Systems

title: Template:Expert Systems/Page


text:
Expert Systems/Resources

Wikibooks

 * Artificial Intelligence
 * Logic
 * Probability
 * Computer Programming

External Sources
Initial outline based in part on:
 * Turing, Allen, Computing Machinery and Intellegence, Mind, 1959, p433-460.
 * Minsky, Marvin, Why People Think Computers Can't, AI Magazine, Vol 3 No 4, Fall 1982.
 * Kurzweil, Ray, The Singularity is Near, Penguin Books, 2005. ISBN 0143037889
 * Giarratano, Joseph C., Riley, Gary D., Expert Systems: Principals and Programming, Fourth Edition, Thomson Course Technology, 2005. ISBN 0534384471

title: Expert Systems/Resources


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Expert Systems

Preface
This book is about expert systems, their use, and their construction. Expert systems are AI computer programs that use the knowledge and processes of a human expert to solve problems that computers have been incapable of solving efficiently.

This book is designed for students at the undergraduate level in the fields of computer science or computer engineering. Students are expected to have a background in high-level programming languages, although no single language is preferred.

Table of Contents

 * /Introduction/
 * /History of AI and Computing/
 * /Intelligent Systems/

Expert System Basics

 * /Introduction to Expert Systems/
 * /Types of Expert Systems/
 * /Components of Expert Systems/
 * /Knowledge Engineering/

Tools and Shells

 * /Tools/
 * /Shells/
 * /Languages/
 * /CLIPS/
 * /Jess/
 * /Prolog/

Knowledge

 * /What is Knowledge?/
 * /Productions/
 * /Semantic Nets/
 * /Frames/
 * /Propositional Logic/
 * /Quantifiers and Sets/

Inference Engines

 * /The Agenda/
 * /Forward Chaining/
 * /Backward Chaining/
 * /Refraction/
 * /Rule Selection/
 * /Deductive Reasoning/
 * /Resolution/

Uncertainty

 * /Probability/
 * /Backward Induction/
 * /Markov Chaining/
 * /Dempster-Shafer Theory/
 * /Fuzzy Logic/

Pattern Matching

 * /Rete Algorithm/

Expert System Examples

 * /DENDRAL/
 * /MYCIN/
 * /PROSPECTOR/
 * /Expert Tutoring Systems/

Resources

 * /Resources/
 * /Licensing/

title: Expert Systems


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Expert Systems/Licensing

License
The text of this book is released under the following license:

title: Expert Systems/Licensing


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Expert Systems/Introduction

About This Book
This book is all about Expert Systems, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) programming technique.

Target Audience
This book is designed for undergraduate and graduate students in computer science, computer engineering, or a related field. As this book is an introduction to the field of expert systems, and to artificial intelligence in general, students do not need to have a background in either of these areas.

Prerequisites
Readers of this book are expected to be familiar with computer programming, and know at least one high level language. Students are also expected to have a background in logic, and probability. Some sections may require additional mathematics skills, such as calculus.

title: Expert Systems/Introduction


text:
Expert Systems/Introduction to Expert Systems

Computer Intelligence
AI research has been one of the most frenzied areas of computer science since the inception of the discipline. However, despite the massive effort and money that has gone into research, computers are still unable to perform simple tasks that humans do on a regular basis. Many researchers believed that a comprehensive system of logic would enable computers to successfully complete high-level reasoning tasks that humans can perform. However, logical computer programs require knowledge on which to base decisions. Converting human knowledge into a form that is both meaningful and useful for a computer has proven to be a difficult task.

Expert Systems
Expert systems are an area of AI research that attempts to codify the knowledge and reasoning processes of a human expert into a computer program.

How Expert Systems Work
Expert systems interact with another entity, such as a human user or an application, to discover information about a problem, and evaluate possible solutions. The most simple form of an expert system is a question-and-answer system, where a human user is presented with questions. The user answers these questions, and those answers are used to further the reasoning process of the expert system.

Uses of Expert Systems
Expert systems are used for problems where there is incomplete data about a subject, and insufficient theory available for the creation of an algorithmic solution. Some problems, such as medical diagnosis, are not easily solved with an algorithm, but instead require reasoning and induction.

Numerical algorithms are more efficient than expert systems, and are typically more exact. However, many problems are not suited to being easily modeled mathematically, and in these cases numerical algorithms are not possible. Other AI techniques, such as artificial neural networks are suited for problems where there is very little theory but a wealth of experimental data.

Expert systems tend to be slow, and often require extensive human interaction. However, well-designed expert systems can be very rigorous, and some expert systems have been shown to outperform the human experts that helped to develop them.

Shortcomings of Expert Systems
Expert systems are based on human knowledge and reasoning patterns. This knowledge must be extracted from a human expert by a specialized knowledge engineer. Knowledge engineers ask the expert questions about his knowledge and his reasoning processes, and attempts to translate that into a computer-readable format known as a knowledge base. Expert systems generated in this way will be flawed if the information received from the expert is flawed, or if it is incorrectly translated by the knowledge engineer.

Expert systems, because they are focused on a single problem area, tend to fail catastrophically if presented with a problem or information that is outside their domain.


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Expert Systems/Components of Expert Systems

Components of an Expert System
An expert system is typically composed of at least three primary components. These are the inference engine, the knowledge base, and the User interface. We will introduce these components below.

Knowledge Base
The knowledge base is a collection of rules or other information structures derived from the human expert. Rules are typically structured as If/Then statements of the form:

IF THEN

The antecedent is the condition that must be satisfied. When the antecedent is satisfied, the rule is triggered and is said to "fire". The consequent is the action that is performed when the rule fires.

Agenda
When rules are satisfied by the program, they are added to a queue called the agenda. The agenda is an unordered list of all the rules whose antecedents are currently satisfied.

Knowledge bases are typically not ordered, because order tends to play very little role in an expert system. Rules may be placed on the agenda in any order, and they may be fired in any order once they are on the agenda.

Interference Engine
The inference engine is the main processing element of the expert system. The inference engine chooses rules from the agenda to fire. If there are no rules on the agenda, the inference engine must obtain information from the user in order to add more rules to the agenda. It makes use of knowledge base, in order to draw conclusions for situations. It is responsible for gathering the information from the user, by asking various questions and applying it wherever necessary. It seeks information and relationships from the knowledge base and to provide answers, predictions and suggestions the way a human expert would.

User Interface
A user interface is the method by which the expert system interacts with a user. These can be through dialog boxes, command prompts, forms, or other input methods. Some expert systems interact with other computer applications, and do not interact directly with a human. In these cases, the expert system will have an interaction mechanism for transactions with the other application, and will not have a user interface.

Other Components
There are other components that are relatively common in an expert system, but are not strictly needed.

Working Memory
Working memory contains the data that is received from the user during the expert system session. Values in working memory are used to evaluate antecedents in the knowledge base. Consequences from rules in the knowledge base may create new values in working memory, update old values, or remove existing values.

Explanation Mechanism
The method by which an expert system reaches a conclusion may not be obvious to a human user, so many expert systems will include a method for explaining the reasoning process that lead to the final answer of the system.


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Expert Systems/Knowledge Engineering

Knowledge Engineering
Knowledge engineering is the task of extracting information from a human expert, typically through an interview, and translating that knowledge for use in an expert system.

title: Expert Systems/Knowledge Engineering


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User:Whiteknight/Notes/Expert Systems

< Book Foundry — Dormant Books
 * 25 November 2008:Book is a terrible stub. The TOC is mostly redlinks, and many of the pages that have been created are stubbish. Needs a lot of focused work and an influx of content.

title: User:Whiteknight/Notes/Expert Systems


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User:Smashshes

what if your at a young ago and have already figured out what you want to be such as a songwritter?

im young"so some people say" and im tierd of being looked down upon for being my age. i can't even enter in some songwritting contest because of how young i am...and im pretty sure there's more people my age out there that have the same problem... please responed back!

~§ΜÃŞĤes

title: User:Smashshes


text:
Talk:Japanese/Contents

Untitled
Hi,

I have been talking with other Japan-related bloggers about how we can work together to improve the Japan-related content available online and this wikibooks project came up as one of the things that would be great to contribute to.

I was wondering how we could be get involve and also if anyone who has worked on the project would like to comment on it and I will post the comments on my blog dailyj.net

Please let me know. Thanks (Toritaiyo 17:30, 29 November 2007 (UTC))

OHSHI--
Alright, so I'm pretty familiar with the Hiragana and pronunciation and everything... what now? I need a lesson for building a vocabulary, and I need it before I forget everything I've learned over the past week. There doesn't seem to be anything for learning words or grammar or anything. Just Kanji...
 * This is because the novices don't have enough knowledge, and the hardcore people don't stay long enough. I'll see if I can add something because the current layout for the lessons plans is even worse than the first.  --Retropunk (talk) 05:56, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Conjugation tables
I added the conjugation tables and give them free for use. In German Wikibooks there are also German versions. Feel free to help me translating it into other languages. Just send me the terms and I will create the PDF of it. In Wiki syntax you can do it by yourself if you want. Even when you found a mistake send me a message. If there is need for the original ODS also mail me. -- Kuroi-ryu (talk) 14:43, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Good book
I like this book. I'd be willing to nominate it as a featured book even though it's not finished. I guess before it could be nominated it would be very useful to include some sound files to help with pronunciation as currently featured language books all seem to have audio files. I love the tables which have been created to show the individual sounds and how to create the brush strokes. You seem to be explaining what is a complicated languages (for indo-european language speakers) very well!--ЗAНИA talk 00:32, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
 * The problem with sound files is the need for a native speaker. I know they exist, but they're probably not PD.  Strokes can be done, and they're somewhere on this book I believe.  The main problem is contribution to the lessons.  --Retropunk (talk) 07:08, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

title: Talk:Japanese/Contents


text:
User talk:70.164.247.2

-- Herby talk thyme 17:39, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:70.164.247.2


text:
User talk:220.226.25.64

-- Herby talk thyme 17:40, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:220.226.25.64


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User talk:AndreaEaston

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally.– Mike.lifeguard  | talk 17:43, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:AndreaEaston


text:
Using Your Dealer Management System/Reynolds and Reynolds

On October 2012, it was announced that Reynolds and Reynolds was shopping for a new order. It is unforeseen how this will affect their current clients.

Reynolds DMS support number is (800)767-0080.

Table of Contents

 * /Inventory Report/
 * /Screen Codes/
 * /Telnet/
 * /Internals/

Workflow
When the vehicle arrives on the lot the dealer add them to Reynolds screen 0064, and then they migrate to Vehicle Inventory to 4006.

Reynolds Generations Series
After release to its customers two years earlier, in July 19, 2005 the board of directors at Reynolds and Reynolds decided to drop the RGS platform. They reported $66.5 million dollars in software development. The Generation Series was set to be the successor to ERA built on .NET, and using a non-MV database. Reynolds spent an additional $27 million on reverse migration back to the older ERA platform in order to keep the 73 dealerships that adopted RGS.

There was at least two lawsuits alleging false claims and insider trading. The SEC began an investigation and stated the company's previously issued financial statements "should no longer be relied upon." The SEC was specifically investigating "company's classification of auction rate securities, the two-class method of reporting earnings per share and its revenue recognition policy".

VSS Package
VSS package, new program handled by the business group updates all of the color and model codes for you for the new year. This means you will not have to tell Reynolds what an "LT1" really is, or that GXU is Dark-Slate Green.

an amusing article about the development of the Reynolds product.

Third Party Lockouts
Under the guise of security Reynolds has taken numerous steps which have resulted in vendor lockout. Reynolds intentions to move this direction were first announced in 4Q 2007, when Reynolds sought to give Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) "secure access" to the DMS systems. On January 4th, 2010, modem dial-in was disabled and third parties were no longer be able to dial-in to pull an inventory report or perform other functions by way of modem dial in. The official supported means to connect to Reynolds, RCI, was forced onto the vendors. However, because RCI is cost-prohibitive with entrance fees as high $80,000, many vendors worked around this offering by Reynolds instead opting to fight their lock-out. Reacting to this, Reynolds began to aggressively turn off long abused features like the Preview functionality for reports on the 6910 screen. This functionality permitted third party vendors to screen-scrape and pull down and parse the text right from the report. Reynolds began in January 2011 disabling ERALink entirely by forcing users to access their servers with the ERAccess client which could automatically download future "security updates." This blocked out all third party text-restricted telnet clients that supported the Reynolds Terminal (ie. ProCom Plus, PowerTerm, WinTerm, and Reflections). With text-based third party clients now out of the way, Reynolds started using a proprietary extention to their terminal client that permitted graphical CAPTCHAs. The system of CAPTCHAs replaced their own database of preselected Manual System Access questions that they implemented in 2009. The Manual System Access questions were easily circumvented by cunning third-parties that couldn't afford official Reynolds integration. Subsequently, all users connected using Remote Desktop applications such GoToMyPC, LogMeIn, and Team Viewer to access their desktops with ERALink were locked out; proprietary Reynolds-labeled VPN solutions were pushed in their place. Rumors in Sept of 2012 indicate that Reynolds is next going to eliminate their "Query Builder" tool which many third parties use to pull reports. Further to "mitigate a security risk", Reynolds has withdrawn the ability to create free automated reports using their Report Scheduler tool.

These lockouts often extend to monetary damages to Reynolds clients. One dealer, Grogan's Towne Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram in Toledo, Ohio reported losing $20,000 in five days when Integralink was unable to poll Reynolds to feed third party marketing companies. This process of defeating third-party integration techniques under the guise of security is rather routine for Reynold's customers. The dealer principle remarked, "but Reynolds constantly discovers the new fixes and shuts out the vendor again."

Contacting Reynolds

 * Phone (Technical Assistance Center): +1 800.767.0080


text:
Using Your Dealer Management System/Reynolds and Reynolds/Inventory Report

Reynolds Era system does not have the ability to pull hybrid new-used reports. The Dealermade suggested report to extract inventory is:

Query
Typically you'll want to always have your query look like

The wildcard syntax for EraLink is kind of esoteric. Appending ] (wild to the right) or [ (wild to the left), will result in a wildcard. Match all stock numbers that begin with an L STOCK#-RIGHT        EQUAL                 L]                              OR

Status Codes
1: In-stock 9: On-Order

New inventory
SERIAL#;MILES;STOCK#;LIST PRICE;DAYS IN STOCK;MODEL NUMBER;COLOR/TRIM;EXTERIOR COLOR CODE;INTERIOR COLOR CODE;MFR PKG CODE;FACT ACCESSORY CODES;CODED COST;WHEEL BASE CODE;

Used inventory
SERIAL#;MILES;STOCK # - LEFT;LIST PRICE;MODEL NUMBER (10);COLOR/TRIM;COLOR CODE;EXTERIOR COLOR CODE;INTERIOR COLOR CODE;VEHICLE TRIM;DLR ACCESSORY CODE;CERTIFICATION NO.;CODED COST

Field definitions

 * CODED COST
 * Per Reynolds definition do not take anything less than X amount (preferred method for handling special price)
 * This can be thought of as special price, or internet price.

 * MEMO LN 1
 * This field is also often internet price. Though it can be either.

 * MEMO LN 2
 * This field is always a MEMO field.

 * TRIM (not available for new inventory)
 * You'll have to dedicate a user defined field in screen 4167 -- pulled as VU


text: User talk:216.162.91.75

title: User talk:216.162.91.75


text: User talk:204.228.23.254

title: User talk:204.228.23.254


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Talk:Rhetoric and Composition/Mechanics

I'm not sure what "parts of speech" is doing here. That's clearly grammar, not mechanics. This section should focus on punctuation and spelling. --Mattbarton.exe 20:27, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Rhetoric and Composition/Mechanics


text:
Celestia/Celx Scripting/Development Suggestions

Introduction
Once you've progressed beyond writing the simplest CELX "Hello World" scripts, development of your software can be a problem. Lua programming is just as complex as programming in any other language, and can be more challenging than many. Since Lua is an interpreted language with a runtime compiler, finding subtle bugs is often an issue. Here are a few suggestions to help make it easier to develop and debug Lua modules for Celestia.

Getting Started
Celestia is an amazing application in many ways, not the least of which is its extensibility in the form of Lua, its built-in programming language. Lua is fast and powerful and can augment the Celestia experience in ways that are only limited by the imagination. But as Uncle Ben once said to Peter Parker, with great power comes responsibility. Celestia’s Lua doesn’t hold your hand. It has an almost pathological adherence to letting you get away with almost anything without complaining. It’s like having a girl friend who’s so sweet she never complains about anything. Then one day she’s gone and you find a nasty note about never picking up your socks. Celestia’s Lua is like that. You can get away with almost anything, but there’s a heavy price to pay. And Lua doesn’t even leave a note. One day Lua will abandon you and you’ll have no idea why. But it’s not like Lua won’t tell you her problems if you ask. You just have to ask. (Good idea with your girlfriend too.)

The first thing you need to do is to get well acquainted with a Lua function called "pcall" Like all of Lua’s functions you can get a complete description in the "Lua Reference Manual" available either as a book or online, available at http://www.lua.org/manual/5.0/

One of the first functions you should write is something like where "f" is a function you’ve written. When you start programming you should get in the habit of calling all of your functions with pcall. Once your program is debugged, you can remove them if desired, but you should probably keep a copy of the program with the pcall statements in. Chances are, you’ll probably want to modify your baby.

What you’re essentially doing is duplicating the error reporting that most other languages have built in. The advantage here is you can remove the overhead of error detection when you’re through.

The next thing you should do, if you haven’t already, is to read Harald Schmidt’s online description of Lua/CELX scripting at http://celestia.h-schmidt.net/celx-summary-latest.html This gives all the available Celestia functionality with some tips on Lua, but I’d recommend also reading the Lua manual in conjunction with Harold’s description.

Extensible Programs
Programming Style is a matter of taste, of course, but if you going to write anything large, I’d recommend taking advantage of Lua’s ability to simply read in new code when it’s needed. For example, dofile below is an example. This function will compile the code in the file and issue an error if it fails.

You can take advantage of Lua’s garbage collector in this case. Lua does periodic garbage collection on any memory that your program no longer has a link to. "dofile" above could overwrite links and Lua would automatically (eventually) dispose of the memory, making your code almost infinitely extensible if you desire. This also applies to any text you might read in. Overwriting the links to strings frees up the old memory.

Simplicity is King
Lua follows the KISS principle: "Keep it simple, stupid." There are only eight types of data in Lua: nil, boolean, number, string, function, userdata, thread and table where "userdata" is just a block of undefined memory.

And, believe me, simplicity’s a good thing, for no other reason than it’s so much easier to design than to remember. The data type you’ll probably be using most is the table which is really an array that can be indexed by almost anything except nil.

Macintosh Tip
If you’re programming on a Mac, be aware there are some subtle differences from the PC version, the main one being how comments are handled. The manual says comments can start with a "[[" but that doesn’t work on a Mac.  The comment form I use on my Mac is

-- this is a comment

Note the "--" precedes the brackets. With multiline comments I use

--      The following code is the most magnificent piece of ... --

Note: this seems to be caused by Mac text editors acting as word processors. They assume that when you type two dashes followed by a space you really want an em-dash (a single, double-wide dash), and replace those two dashes by the single binary code for a double-wide dash. Unfortunately, this breaks the Lua commenting convention, which requires two separate dash characters. Fortunately, if you follow two dashes by anything other than a space or tab, Mac editors don't make the substitution.

Infinite Recursion
Celestia v1.5.0 cannot detect when a ScriptedOrbit or ScriptedRotation calls obj:getposition or obj:getorientation for an object which will have its position or orientation modified as a side effect of the ScriptedOrbit or ScriptedRotation.

As a result, one must not call obj:getposition ( or obj:getorientation ) from a Scripted function if the position (or orientation) of "obj" is determined, even indirectly, by that Scripted function. Doing so results in that getposition calling routines which call the Scripted function which calls getposition... ad infinitum. This quickly exhausts the stack space and crashes Celestia.

Suggestion: the Scripted code might simply return the previous position or orientation rather than trying to calculate a new one.

It is hoped that this situation will be detected in a future major release of Celestia.

Requiring a lua file in a celx script
When using the Lua 'require' function in a celx script, Lua uses the celestia base directory to look for Lua files. Then, one can define a different path in the celx script using:

To define the directory of the celx script as the default path, one just need to add the following line at the beginning of the script:


text:
Talk:Straw Bale Construction/Characteristics/Insulation

Hi,

To whoever watches this page: I have a question whose answer I can find nowhere on the web: what is the insulative value of loose straw? Does it matter whether the straw is packed in bales, or could you just pack it down inside chicken wire between studs? 65.73.184.51 22:50, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

im yet to see the full information with little jargon, on how straw can be converted from its raw state to a useful building material. and this will be used in the tropics, nigeria to be precise.

terminology
R-value is not thermal resistivity, it's thermal resistance. Furthermore, it's U-value not U-factor.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-value_(insulation)

More data with references please
A good source for improving this article with more data could be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulation_%28list_of_insulation_material%29 which is built on the data from http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Publications2/Housing-professionals/Insulation-and-ventilation/Insulation-materials-chart-thermal-properties-and-environmental-ratings --DuLithgow (discuss • contribs) 19:37, 21 January 2013 (UTC)


text:
Category talk:Chinese recipes

Chicken recipes?
I'd like to see some chicken recipes added. I'd add some myself, but I don't have much experience with cooking them. Particularly, Cookbook:Orange Chicken and Cookbook:General Tso's Chicken would be good additions. Here are some links to get started:

Orange Chicken recipe

General Tso's Chicken recipe

--Josh1billion 23:08, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

title: Category talk:Chinese recipes


title: User:Soxred93


text: User talk:65.100.120.209

title: User talk:65.100.120.209


text: User talk:68.214.216.108

title: User talk:68.214.216.108


text:
User talk:86.131.220.19

– Mike.lifeguard  | talk 23:24, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:86.131.220.19