AI News and Guides

Explore the best AI News and Guides — independent reviews, comparisons, pricing and step-by-step how-to guides, curated by Aizhi.

SmarterChild

SmarterChild was a chatbot available on AOL Instant Messenger and Windows Live Messenger (previously MSN Messenger) networks. == History == SmarterChild was an apparently intelligent agent or "bot" developed by ActiveBuddy, Inc., with offices in New York and Sunnyvale. It was widely distributed across global instant messaging networks. SmarterChild became very popular, attracting over 30 million Instant Messenger "buddies" on AIM (AOL), MSN and Yahoo Messenger over the course of its lifetime. Founded in 2000, ActiveBuddy was the brainchild of Robert Hoffer and Timothy Kay, who later brought seasoned advertising executive Peter Levitan on board as CEO. The concept for conversational instant messaging bots came from the founder's vision to add natural language comprehension functionality to the increasingly popular AIM instant messaging application. The original implementation took shape as a demo that Kay programmed in Perl in his Los Altos garage to connect a single buddy name, "ActiveBuddy", to look up stock symbols, and later allow AIM users to play Colossal Cave Adventure, a word-based adventure game, and MIT's Boris Katz Start Question Answering System but quickly grew to include a wide range of database applications the company called 'knowledge domains' including instant access to news, weather, stock information, movie times, yellow pages listings, and detailed sports data, as well as a variety of tools (personal assistant, calculators, translator, etc.). None of the individual domains which the company had named “stocksBuddy”, “sportsBuddy”, etc. ever launched publicly. When Stephen Klein came on board as COO — and eventually CEO — he insisted that all of the disparate test “buddies” be launched together with the company’s highly-developed colloquial chat domain. He suggested using “SmarterChild”, a username coined by Tim Kay which Tim was using to test various things. The bundled domains were launched publicly as SmarterChild (on AIM initially) in June 2001. SmarterChild provided information wrapped in fun and quirky conversation. The company generated no revenue from SmarterChild, but used it as a demonstration of the power of what Klein called “conversational computing”. The company subsequently marketed Automated Service Agents—delivering immediate answers to customer service inquiries—-to large corporations, like Comcast, Cingular, TimeWarner Cable, etc. SmarterChild's popularity spawned targeted marketing-oriented bots for Radiohead, Austin Powers, Intel, Keebler, The Sporting News and others. ActiveBuddy co-founders, Kay and Hoffer, as co-inventors, were issued two controversial U.S. patents in 2002. ActiveBuddy changed its name to Colloquis (briefly Conversagent) and targeted development of consumer-facing enterprise customer service agents, which the company marketed as Automated Service Agents. Microsoft acquired Colloquis in October 2006 and proceeded to de-commission SmarterChild and kill off the Automated Service Agent business as well. Robert Hoffer, ActiveBuddy co-founder, licensed the technology from Microsoft after Microsoft abandoned the Colloquis technology.
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OpenSMILE

openSMILE is source-available software for automatic extraction of features from audio signals and for classification of speech and music signals. "SMILE" stands for "Speech & Music Interpretation by Large-space Extraction". The software is mainly applied in the area of automatic emotion recognition and is widely used in the affective computing research community. The openSMILE project exists since 2008 and is maintained by the German company audEERING GmbH since 2013. openSMILE is provided free of charge for research purposes and personal use under a source-available license. For commercial use of the tool, the company audEERING offers custom license options. == Application Areas == openSMILE is used for academic research as well as for commercial applications in order to automatically analyze speech and music signals in real-time. In contrast to automatic speech recognition which extracts the spoken content out of a speech signal, openSMILE is capable of recognizing the characteristics of a given speech or music segment. Examples for such characteristics encoded in human speech are a speaker's emotion, age, gender, and personality, as well as speaker states like depression, intoxication, or vocal pathological disorders. The software further includes music classification technology for automatic music mood detection and recognition of chorus segments, key, chords, tempo, meter, dance-style, and genre. The openSMILE toolkit serves as benchmark in manifold research competitions such as Interspeech ComParE, AVEC, MediaEval, and EmotiW. == History == The openSMILE project was started in 2008 by Florian Eyben, Martin Wöllmer, and Björn Schuller at the Technical University of Munich within the European Union research project SEMAINE. The goal of the SEMAINE project was to develop a virtual agent with emotional and social intelligence. In this system, openSMILE was applied for real-time analysis of speech and emotion. The final SEMAINE software release is based on openSMILE version 1.0.1. In 2009, the emotion recognition toolkit (openEAR) was published based on openSMILE. "EAR" stands for "Emotion and Affect Recognition". In 2010, openSMILE version 1.0.1 was published and was introduced and awarded at the ACM Multimedia Open-Source Software Challenge. Between 2011 and 2013, the technology of openSMILE was extended and improved by Florian Eyben and Felix Weninger in the context of their doctoral thesis at the Technical University of Munich. The software was also applied for the project ASC-Inclusion, which was funded by the European Union. For this project, the software was extended by Erik Marchi in order to teach emotional expression to autistic children, based on automatic emotion recognition and visualization. In 2013, the company audEERING acquired the rights to the code-base from the Technical University of Munich and version 2.0 was published under a source-available research license. Until 2016, openSMILE was downloaded more than 50,000 times worldwide and has established itself as a standard toolkit for emotion recognition. == Awards == openSMILE was awarded in 2010 in the context of the ACM Multimedia Open Source Competition. The software tool is applied in numerous scientific publications on automatic emotion recognition. openSMILE and its extension openEAR have been cited in more than 1000 scientific publications until today.
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Media aggregation platform

A Media Aggregation Platform or Media Aggregation Portal (MAP) is an over the top service for distributing web-based streaming media content from multiple sources to a large audience. MAPs consist of networks of sources who host their own content which viewers can choose and access directly from a larger variety of content to choose from than a single source can offer. The service is used by content providers, looking to extend the reach of their content. Unlike multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) or multiple-system operators (MSO), MAPs rely on the Internet rather than cables or satellite. As more network television channels have moved online in the early 21st century, joining web-native channels like Netflix, MAPs aggregate content the way that MSOs and MVPDs have used cable, and to a lesser extent satellite and IPTV infrastructure. There are companies that offer a similar service for free, including Yidio and StreamingMoviesRight, while others charge a subscription fee like as FreeCast Inc's Rabbit TV Plus. When compared with MSOs and MVPDs, MAP networks have much lower costs due to lack of physical infrastructure. The majority of revenue from MAP services are retained by the content creators, and revenue is instead collected from advertisements, pay-per-view, and subscription-based content offerings instead of licensing and reselling content. MAP service consumers interact and purchase content directly from its source, without the markup added by a middleman.
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Learning augmented algorithm

A learning augmented algorithm (also called algorithm with predictions) is an algorithm that can make use of a prediction to improve its performance. Whereas in regular algorithms just the problem instance is inputted, learning augmented algorithms accept an extra parameter. This extra parameter often is a prediction of some property of the solution. This prediction is then used by the algorithm to improve its running time or the quality of its output. The most common application are online algorithms, where a prediction on the uncertain instance is provided. == Description == A learning augmented algorithm typically takes an input ( I , A ) {\displaystyle ({\mathcal {I}},{\mathcal {A}})} . Here I {\displaystyle {\mathcal {I}}} is a problem instance and A {\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}} is the prediction. A prediction can be any object. Common are the following types: Prediction of an optimal solution. The prediction gives a solution to the problem or characterizes an optimal solution. Prediction of the input. This is mainly used for online problems. Prediction of algorithmic actions. A prediction tailored to a specific algorithm that suggests a specific algorithm execution. Learning augmented algorithms usually satisfy the following three properties: Consistency. A learning augmented algorithm is said to be consistent if the algorithm can be proven to have a good performance when it is provided with an accurate prediction. Smoothness. A learning augmented algorithm is called smooth if its performance can be bounded by a function of the quality of the prediction. Here, the quality can be measured in a problem specific way. This is also called the prediction error. Robustness. A learning augmented algorithm is called robust if its worst-case performance can be bounded even if the given prediction is inaccurate. Learning augmented algorithms generally do not prescribe how the prediction should be done. For this purpose machine learning can be used. == Applications == A few examples of problems where learning augmented algorithms have been applied are the following. === Online algorithms === The ski rental problem The weighted paging problem The set cover problem Nonclairvoyant scheduling The online bipartite matching problem === Warm starting === ==== Data structures ==== The binary search algorithm is an algorithm for finding elements of a sorted list x 1 , … , x n {\displaystyle x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n}} . It needs O ( log ⁡ ( n ) ) {\displaystyle O(\log(n))} steps to find an element with some known value y {\displaystyle y} in a list of length n {\displaystyle n} . With a prediction i {\displaystyle i} for the position of y {\displaystyle y} , the following learning augmented algorithm can be used. First, look at position i {\displaystyle i} in the list. If x i = y {\displaystyle x_{i}=y} , the element has been found. If x i < y {\displaystyle x_{i} y {\displaystyle x_{i}>y} , do the same as in the previous case, but instead consider i − 1 , i − 2 , i − 4 , … {\displaystyle i-1,i-2,i-4,\ldots } . The error is defined to be η = | i − i ∗ | {\displaystyle \eta =|i-i^{}|} , where i ∗ {\displaystyle i^{}} is the real index of y {\displaystyle y} . In the learning augmented algorithm, probing the positions i + 1 , i + 2 , i + 4 , … {\displaystyle i+1,i+2,i+4,\ldots } takes log 2 ⁡ ( η ) {\displaystyle \log _{2}(\eta )} steps. Then a binary search is performed on a list of size at most 2 η {\displaystyle 2\eta } , which takes log 2 ⁡ ( η ) {\displaystyle \log _{2}(\eta )} steps. This makes the total running time of the algorithm 2 log 2 ⁡ ( η ) {\displaystyle 2\log _{2}(\eta )} . So, when the error is small, the algorithm is faster than a normal binary search. This shows that the algorithm is consistent. Even in the worst case, the error will be at most n {\displaystyle n} . Then the algorithm takes at most O ( log ⁡ ( n ) ) {\displaystyle O(\log(n))} steps, so the algorithm is robust. ==== More examples ==== The maximum weight matching problem === Approximation algorithms === The maximum cut problem The vertex cover problem === Mechanism Design === The facility location problem
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Cyber and Information Domain Service

The Cyber and Information Domain Service (CIDS; German: Cyber- und Informationsraum, lit. 'Cyber and Information space', pronounced [ˈsaɪbɐ ʔʊnt ʔɪnfɔʁmaˈtsi̯oːnsʁaʊm] ; CIR) is the youngest branch of the German Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr. The decision to form an organizational unit was presented by Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen on 26 April 2016, becoming operational on 1 April 2017. It is headquartered in Bonn. == History == In November 2015, the German Ministry of Defense activated a Staff Group within the ministry tasked with developing plans for a reorganization of the Cyber, IT, military intelligence, geo-information, and operative communication units of the Bundeswehr. On 26 April 2016, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen presented the plans for the new military branch to the public and on 5 October 2016 the command's staff became operational as a department within the ministry of defense. On 1 April 2017, the Cyber and Information Domain Service (CIDS) was activated as a "military organizational unit" (Organisationsbereich), indicating its status below a full service branch. The CIDS Headquarters took command of all existing electronic warfare, signals, IT, military intelligence, geoinformation, and psychological operations units. As part of a wider restructuring of higher command in the Bundeswehr in 2024, it was decided to upgrade it from a military organizational unit to the fourth full military service branch, alongside Heer (army), Luftwaffe (air force) and Deutsche Marine (navy). == Organisation == The CIDS is commanded by the Chief of the Cyber and Information Domain Service (Inspekteur des Cyber- und Informationsraum InspCIR), a three-star general position, based in Bonn. As of April 2023, it is structured as follows: Cyber and Information Domain Service Command (Kommando Cyber- und Informationsraum KdoCIR), in Bonn Reconnaissance and Effects Command (Kommando Aufklärung und Wirkung KdoAufkl/Wirk), in Gelsdorf 911th Electronic Warfare Battalion 912th Electronic Warfare Battalion, mans the Oste-class SIGINT/ELINT and reconnaissance ships 931st Electronic Warfare Battalion 932nd Electronic Warfare Battalion, provides airborne troops for operations in enemy territory Cyber-Operations Centre (Zentrum Cyber-Operationen ZSO) Central Imaging Reconnaissance (Zentrale Abbildende Aufklärung ZAbbAufkl), operating the SAR-Lupe satellites Central Bundeswehr Investigation Authority for Technical Reconnaissance (Zentrale Untersuchungsstelle der Bundeswehr für Technische Aufklärung ZU-StelleBwTAufkl) Signals Reconnaissance Centre North (Fernmeldeaufklärungszentrale Nord FmAufklZentr NORD) Signals Reconnaissance Centre South (Fernmeldeaufklärungszentrale Süd FmAufklZentr SÜD) Information Technology Services Command (Kommando Informationstechnik-Services der Bundeswehr KdoIT-SBw), in Bonn 281st Information Technology Battalion 282nd Information Technology Battalion 292nd Information Technology Battalion 293rd Information Technology Battalion 381st Information Technology Battalion 383rd Information Technology Battalion Bundeswehr Geoinformation Centre (Zentrum für Geoinformationswesen der Bundeswehr), in Euskirchen Bundeswehr Cyber-Security Centre (Zentrum für Cyber-Sicherheit der Bundeswehr ZCSBw) Bundeswehr Software Digitalisation Centre (Zentrum Digitalisierung der Bundeswehr und Fähigkeitsentwicklung Cyber- und Informationsraum ZDigBw) Bundeswehr Operational Communications Centre (Zentrum Operative Kommunikation der Bundeswehr ZOpKomBw) Training Centre CIDS (Ausbildungszentrum CIR AusbZ CIR)
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HAKMEM

HAKMEM, alternatively known as AI Memo 239, is a February 1972 "memo" (technical report) of the MIT AI Lab containing a wide variety of hacks, including useful and clever algorithms for mathematical computation, some number theory and schematic diagrams for hardware – in Guy L. Steele's words, "a bizarre and eclectic potpourri of technical trivia". Contributors included about two dozen members and associates of the AI Lab. The title of the report is short for "hacks memo", abbreviated to six upper case characters that would fit in a single PDP-10 machine word (using a six-bit character set). == History == HAKMEM is notable as an early compendium of algorithmic technique, particularly for its practical bent, and as an illustration of the wide-ranging interests of AI Lab people of the time, which included almost anything other than AI research. HAKMEM contains original work in some fields, notably continued fractions. == Introduction == Compiled with the hope that a record of the random things people do around here can save some duplication of effort -- except for fun. Here is some little known data which may be of interest to computer hackers. The items and examples are so sketchy that to decipher them may require more sincerity and curiosity than a non-hacker can muster. Doubtless, little of this is new, but nowadays it's hard to tell. So we must be content to give you an insight, or save you some cycles, and to welcome further contributions of items, new or used.
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Ontology merging

Ontology merging defines the act of bringing together two conceptually divergent ontologies or the instance data associated to two ontologies. This is similar to work in database merging (schema matching). This merging process can be performed in a number of ways, manually, semi automatically, or automatically. Manual ontology merging although ideal is extremely labour-intensive and current research attempts to find semi or entirely automated techniques to merge ontologies. These techniques are statistically driven often taking into account similarity of concepts and raw similarity of instances through textual string metrics and semantic knowledge. These techniques are similar to those used in information integration employing string metrics from open source similarity libraries.
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BuildingSMART Data Dictionary

buildingSMART Data Dictionary (bSDD) is a service provided by buildingSMART which offers free data dictionaries for the international standardization of construction planning. The structure of bSDD was defined by the Nonprofit organization Buildingsmart and is used to describe objects and their attributes in a BIM process. == Aim == The aim of bSDD is to enable architects and planners to exchange and share building data across different specialists and language boundaries and thus avoid misunderstandings caused by different interpretations of terms. The bSDD standard extends the more general IFC. Software developers can access and use the dictionaries. In May 2025 over 300 dictionaries are available, including IFC, extensions to it such as Airport Domain IFC extension module or classification systems like Uniclass. == Structure == The main structural parts of bSDD are: Dictionary: A dictionary is a collection of classes: Class: A class describes the various object types, such as Bag drop or Baggage conveyor in airport planning. A class contains properties: Property: A property describes a part of a class, e.g. color or weight. Related properties are organized in a group: GroupOfProperties: A group organizes related properties, e.g. environmental properties or electrical properties. == Creating and managing a directory == Every dictionary in bSDD must be published in the name of a registered organization. As soon as the content is activated, it receives an unchangeable URI. This means that the content remains permanently in bSDD and cannot be deleted - this ensures stable use of the dictionary. It is only possible to change the status to inactive if it is no longer to be used - however, the dictionary remains permanently.
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Flok (company)

Flok (formerly Loyalblocks) was an American tech startup based in New York City that provides marketing services such as chatbots/AI, customer loyalty programs, mobile apps and CRM services to local businesses. In January 2017, the company was acquired by Wix.com. Around March 2017, Flok ceased regular communication. At some point in 2019 Flok communicated to its customers that it would shut down in March 2020. == Background == Flok was founded in 2011 by Ido Gaver and Eran Kirshenboim and has offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. In May 2013, Flok secured a $9 million Series A Round from General Catalyst Partners with participation from Founder Collective and existing investor Gemini Israel Ventures. In total, Flok has raised over $18 million in venture capital in three rounds. In May 2014, Flok announced a self-service loyalty platform for SMBs to build their own programs with beacon integration. At that time, approximately 40,000 businesses were using the service. In 2016, Flok released a turnkey chatbot service for local businesses, and was featured in AdWeek for developing the first weed bot chatbot for a California cannabis business. == Services == Flok offered an eponymous customer-facing app, that consumers use to receive rewards and deals from partner businesses, and a Flok business app for merchants to manage the platform.
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BioCreative

BioCreAtIvE (A critical assessment of text mining methods in molecular biology) consists in a community-wide effort for evaluating information extraction and text mining developments in the biological domain. It was preceded by the Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD) Challenge Cup for detection of gene mentions. == Community Challenges == === First edition (2004-2005) === Three main tasks were posed at the first BioCreAtIvE challenge: the entity extraction task, the gene name normalization task, and the functional annotation of gene products task. The data sets produced by this contest serve as a Gold Standard training and test set to evaluate and train Bio-NER tools and annotation extraction tools. === Second edition (2006-2007) === The second BioCreAtIvE challenge (2006-2007) had also 3 tasks: detection of gene mentions, extraction of unique idenfiers for genes and extraction information related to physical protein-protein interactions. It counted with participation of 44 teams from 13 countries. === Third edition (2011-2012) === The third edition of BioCreative included for the first time the InterActive Task (IAT), designed to evaluate the practical usability of text mining tools in real-world biocuration tasks. === Fifth edition (2016) === BioCreative V had 5 different tracks, including an interactive task (IAT) for usability of text mining systems and a track using the BioC format for curating information for BioGRID.
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Driver scheduling problem

The driver scheduling problem (DSP) is type of problem in operations research and theoretical computer science. The DSP consists of selecting a set of duties (assignments) for the drivers or pilots of vehicles (e.g., buses, trains, boats, or planes) involved in the transportation of passengers or goods, within the constraints of various legislative and logistical criteria. == Criteria and modelling == This very complex problem involves several constraints related to labour and company rules and also different evaluation criteria and objectives. Being able to solve this problem efficiently can have a great impact on costs and quality of service for public transportation companies. There is a large number of different rules that a feasible duty might be required to satisfy, such as Minimum and maximum stretch duration Minimum and maximum break duration Minimum and maximum work duration Minimum and maximum total duration Maximum extra work duration Maximum number of vehicle changes Minimum driving duration of a particular vehicle Operations research has provided optimization models and algorithms that lead to efficient solutions for this problem. Among the most common models proposed to solve the DSP are the Set Covering and Set Partitioning Models (SPP/SCP). In the SPP model, each work piece (task) is covered by only one duty. In the SCP model, it is possible to have more than one duty covering a given work piece. In both models, the set of work pieces that needs to be covered is laid out in rows, and the set of previously defined feasible duties available for covering specific work pieces is arranged in columns. The DSP resolution, based on either of these models, is the selection of the set of feasible duties that guarantees that there is one (SPP) or more (SCP) duties covering each work piece while minimizing the total cost of the final schedule.
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Information audit

The information audit (IA) extends the concept of auditing from a traditional scope of accounting and finance to the organisational information management system. Information is representative of a resource which requires effective management and this led to the development of interest in the use of an IA. Prior the 1990s and the methodologies of Orna, Henczel, Wood, Buchanan and Gibb, IA approaches and methodologies focused mainly upon an identification of formal information resources (IR). Later approaches included an organisational analysis and the mapping of the information flow. This gave context to analysis within an organisation's information systems and a holistic view of their IR and as such could contribute to the development of the information systems architecture (ISA). In recent years the IA has been overlooked in favour of the systems development process which can be less expensive than the IA, yet more heavily technically focused, project specific (not holistic) and does not favour the top-down analysis of the IA. == Definition == A definition for the Information Audit cannot be universally agreed-upon amongst scholars, however the definition offered by ASLIB received positive support from a few notable scholars including Henczel, Orna and Wood; “(the IA is a) systematic examination of information use, resources and flows, with a verification by reference to both people and existing documents, in order to establish the extent to which they are contributing to an organisation’s objectives” In summary, the term audit itself implies a counting, the IA being much the same yet it counts IR and analyses how they are used and how critical they are to the success of a given task. == Role and scope of an IA == In much the same way as the IA is difficult to define, it can be utilised in a range of contexts by the information professional, from complying with freedom of information legislation to identifying any existing gaps, duplications, bottlenecks or other inefficiencies in information flows and to understand how existing channels can be used for knowledge transfer In 2007 Buchanan and Gibb developed upon their 1998 examination of the IA process by outlining a summary of its main objectives: To identify an organisation’s information resource To identify an organisation’s information needs Furthermore, Buchanan and Gibb went on to state that the IA also had to meet the following additional objectives: To identify the cost/benefits of information resources To identify the opportunities to use the information resources for strategic competitive advantage To integrate IT investment with strategic business initiatives To identify information flow and processes To develop an integrated information strategy and/or policy To create an awareness of the importance of Information Resource Management (IRM) To monitor/evaluate conformance to information related standards, legislations, policy and guidelines. == Methodology evolution == === Overview === In 1976 Riley first published a definition of IA as a way of analysing IR based on a cost-benefit model. Since Riley, scholars have outlined further developed methodologies. Henderson took a cost-benefit approach hoping to draw focus from manpower-costing to information storage and acquisition which he felt was being overlooked. In 1985 Gillman focused upon identifying the relationships which existed between various components in order to map them to one another. Neither Henderson nor Gillman’s methods offered alternative approaches beyond the existing organisational frameworks. Quinn took a hybrid-approach combining Gillman and Henderson’s methods to identify the purpose of existing IR and to position them within the organisation, as did Worlock. The differentiator between Quinn and Worlock lay in Worlock’s consideration of solutions outside of the current organisational structure. These approaches had thus far had paid little attention to the needs of the user or in making structured recommendations for the development of a corporate information strategy. Therefore, here follows a brief outline and overall comparison of four published strategic approaches in order that one might understand the development of the IA methodology. === Burk and Horton === In 1988 Burk and Horton developed InfoMap, the first IA methodology developed for widespread use. It aimed to discover, map and evaluate the IR within an organisation using a 4-stage process: Survey staff using questionnaires/interviews Measure the IR against cost/value Analyse resources Synthesise the findings and map the strengths and weaknesses of the IR against the objectives of the organisation. Although the method inventoried all IR (and therefore met standard ISO 1779) this bottom-up approach revealed limited analysis of the organisation holistically and the steps were not explicit enough. === Orna === Orna produced a top-down methodology in contrast to Burk and Horton, placing emphasis upon the importance of organisational analysis and aimed to assist in the production of a corporate information policy. Initially the method had just 4-stages, this later revised to a 10-stage process which included pre and post-audit stages as below: Conduct a preliminary review to confirm operational/strategic direction Gain support/resource from management Gain commitment from the other stakeholders (staff) Planning including the project, team, tools and techniques Identify the IR, information flow and produce a cost/value assessment Interpret findings based upon current versus desired state Produce a report to present findings Implement recommendations Monitor effects of change Repeat the IA Orna’s method introduced the need for a cyclical IA to be put in place in order for the IR to be continually tracked and improvements made regularly. Again this method was criticised for lacking some practical application and in 2004 Orna revised the methodology once more to try to rectify this problem === Buchanan and Gibb === In 1998, similarly to Orna's earlier publication, Buchanan and Gibb took a top-down approach, drawing techniques from established management disciplines to provide a framework and a level of familiarity for information professionals. This set of techniques was a notable contribution to IA methodologies and understood the need to be flexible for each organisation. Theirs was a 5-stage process: Promote benefits of the IA through seminars/surveys/CEO letter for cooperation Identify the mission objectives of the organisation, define environment (PEST), map information flow and examine organisation culture. Analyse and formulate action plan for problem areas, flow diagrams and a report of findings and recommendations Account for cost of IR and related services using Activity Based Costing (ABC) and Output Based Specification (OBS). Synthesise the whole process in final audit report and provide an information strategy (strategic direction) in relation to the organisation’s mission statement. This was the introduction of a new approach to costing the IR and had an integrated strategic direction, yet the scholars admitted that this method may be impractical for smaller organisations. === Henczel === Henczel’s methodology drew upon the strengths of Orna and Buchanan and Gibb to produce a 7-stage process: Planning and submission of business case for approval to proceed Data collection and development of an IR database and population through survey techniques Structured data analysis Data evaluation, interpretation and formulation of recommendations Communication of recommendations through a report Implementing recommendations through a devised programme The IA as a continuum-establishment of a cyclical process Focus was made once more on the strategic direction of the organisation conducting the IA. Furthermore, Henczel made examination into the use of the IA as a first-step in the development of a knowledge audit or knowledge management strategy as discussed in the later section. == Case studies == Scholars and information professionals have since tested the above methodologies with varied results. An early case study produced by Soy and Bustelo in a Spanish financial institution in 1999 aimed to identify the use of information resources for qualitative and quantitative data analysis due to the rapid expansion of the organisation within a six-year period. Although the methodology was not explicitly credited to any of the above-mentioned scholars, it did follow a strategic (post 1990's) IA process including gaining support from management, the use of questionnaires for data collection, analysis and evaluation of the data, identification and mapping of the IR, cost-analysis and outlining recommendations to assist with the establishment of an Information policy. In addition the IA report suggested that the process would need to be continual (cyclical as Orna, Henczel and Buchanan and Gibb suggest). Conclusions of this case-study stated that th
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Time-compressed speech

Time-compressed speech refers to an audio recording of verbal text in which the text is presented in a much shorter time interval than it would through normally-paced real time speech. The basic purpose is to make recorded speech contain more words in a given time, yet still be understandable. For example: a paragraph that might normally be expected to take 20 seconds to read, might instead be presented in 15 seconds, which would represent a time-compression of 25% (5 seconds out of 20). The term "time-compressed speech" should not be confused with "speech compression", which controls the volume range of a sound, but does not alter its time envelope. == Methods == While some voice talents are capable of speaking at rates significantly in excess of general norms, the term "time-compressed speech" most usually refers to examples in which the time-reduction has been accomplished through some form of electronic processing of the recorded speech. In general, recorded speech can be electronically time-compressed by: increasing its speed (linear compression); removing silences (selective editing); a combination of the two (non-linear compression). The speed of a recording can be increased, which will cause the material to be presented at a faster rate (and hence in a shorter amount of time), but this has the undesirable side-effect of increasing the frequency of the whole passage, raising the pitch of the voices, which can reduce intelligibility. There are normally silences between words and sentences, and even small silences within certain words, both of which can be reduced or removed ("edited-out") which will also reduce the amount of time occupied by the full speech recording. However, this can also have the effect of removing verbal "punctuation" from the speech, causing words and sentences to run together unnaturally, again reducing intelligibility. Vowels are typically held a minimum of 20 milliseconds, over many cycles of the fundamental pitch. DSP systems can detect the beginning and end of each cycle and then skip over some fraction of those cycles, causing the material to be presented at a faster rate, without changing the pitch, maintaining a "normal" tone of voice. The current preferred method of time-compression is called "non-linear compression", which employs a combination of selectively removing silences; speeding up the speech to make the reduced silences sound normally-proportioned to the text; and finally applying various data algorithms to bring the speech back down to the proper pitch. This produces a more acceptable result than either of the two earlier techniques; however, if unrestrained, removing the silences and increasing the speed can make a selection of speech sound more insistent, possibly to the point of unpleasantness. == Applications == === Advertising === Time-compressed speech is frequently used in television and radio advertising. The advantage of time-compressed speech is that the same number of words can be compressed into a smaller amount of time, reducing advertising costs, and/or allowing more information to be included in a given radio or TV advertisement. It is usually most noticeable in the information-dense caveats and disclaimers presented (usually by legal requirement) at the end of commercials—the aural equivalent of the "fine print" in a printed contract. This practice, however, is not new: before electronic methods were developed, spokespeople who could talk extremely quickly and still be understood were widely used as voice talents for radio and TV advertisements, and especially for recording such disclaimers. === Education === Time-compressed speech has educational applications such as increasing the information density of trainings, and as a study aid. A number of studies have demonstrated that the average person is capable of relatively easily comprehending speech delivered at higher-than-normal rates, with the peak occurring at around 25% compression (that is, 25% faster than normal); this facility has been demonstrated in several languages. Conversational speech (in English) takes place at a rate of around 150 wpm (words per minute), but the average person is able to comprehend speech presented at rates of up to 200-250 wpm without undue difficulty. Blind and severely visually impaired subjects scored similar comprehension levels at even higher rates, up to 300-350 wpm. Blind people have been found to use time-compressed speech extensively, for example, when reviewing recorded lectures from high school and college classes, or professional trainings. Comprehension rates in older blind subjects have been found to be as good, or in some cases better than those found in younger sighted subjects. Other studies have determined that the ability to comprehend highly time-compressed speech tends to fall off with increased age, and is also reduced when the language of the time-compressed speech is not the listener's native language. Non-native speakers can, however, improve their comprehension level of time-compressed speech with multiday training. === Voice Mail === Voice mail systems have employed time-compressed speech since as far back as the 1970s. In this application, the technology enables the rapid review of messages in high-traffic systems, by a relatively small number of people. === Streaming Multimedia === Time-compressed speech has been explored as one of a variety of interrelated factors which may be manipulated to increase the efficiency of streaming multimedia presentations, by significantly reducing the latency times involved in the transfer of large digitally encoded media files.
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OpenWSN

OpenWSN aims to build an open standard-based and open source implementation of a complete constrained network protocol stack for wireless sensor networks and Internet of Things. The project was created at the University of California Berkeley and extended at the INRIA and at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). The root of OpenWSN is a deterministic MAC layer implementing the IEEE 802.15.4e TSCH based on the concept of Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH). Above the MAC layer, the Low Power Lossy Network stack is based on IETF standards including the IETF 6TiSCH management and adaptation layer (a minimal configuration profile, 6top protocol and different scheduling functions). The stack is complemented by an implementation of 6LoWPAN, RPL in non-storing mode, UDP and CoAP, enabling access to devices running the stack from the native IPv6 through open standards. OpenWSN is related to other projects including the following: RIOT OpenMote OpenWSN is available for Linux, Windows and OS X platforms. Current release of OpenWSN is 1.14.0.
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Materials informatics

Materials informatics is a field of study that applies the principles of informatics and data science to materials science and engineering to improve the understanding, use, selection, development, and discovery of materials. The term "materials informatics" is frequently used interchangeably with "data science", "machine learning", and "artificial intelligence" by the community. This is an emerging field, with a goal to achieve high-speed and robust acquisition, management, analysis, and dissemination of diverse materials data with the goal of greatly reducing the time and risk required to develop, produce, and deploy new materials, which generally takes longer than 20 years. This field of endeavor is not limited to some traditional understandings of the relationship between materials and information. Some more narrow interpretations include combinatorial chemistry, process modeling, materials databases, materials data management, and product life cycle management. Materials informatics is at the convergence of these concepts, but also transcends them and has the potential to achieve greater insights and deeper understanding by applying lessons learned from data gathered on one type of material to others. By gathering appropriate meta data, the value of each individual data point can be greatly expanded. == Databases == Databases are essential for any informatics research and applications. In material informatics many databases exist containing both empirical data obtained experimentally, and theoretical data obtained computationally. Big data that can be used for machine learning is particularly difficult to obtain for experimental data due to the lack of a standard for reporting data and the variability in the experimental environment. This lack of big data has led to growing effort in developing machine learning techniques that utilize data extremely data sets. On the other hand, large uniform database of theoretical density functional theory (DFT) calculations exists. These databases have proven their utility in high-throughput material screening and discovery. Some common DFT databases and high throughput tools are listed below: Databases: MaterialsProject.org, MaterialsWeb.org (University of Florida) HT software: Pymatgen, MPInterfaces, Matminer == Beyond computational methods? == The concept of materials informatics is addressed by the Materials Research Society. For example, materials informatics was the theme of the December 2006 issue of the MRS Bulletin. The issue was guest-edited by John Rodgers of Innovative Materials, Inc., and David Cebon of Cambridge University, who described the "high payoff for developing methodologies that will accelerate the insertion of materials, thereby saving millions of investment dollars." The editors focused on the limited definition of materials informatics as primarily focused on computational methods to process and interpret data. They stated that "specialized informatics tools for data capture, management, analysis, and dissemination" and "advances in computing power, coupled with computational modeling and simulation and materials properties databases" will enable such accelerated insertion of materials. A broader definition of materials informatics goes beyond the use of computational methods to carry out the same experimentation, viewing materials informatics as a framework in which a measurement or computation is one step in an information-based learning process that uses the power of a collective to achieve greater efficiency in exploration. When properly organized, this framework crosses materials boundaries to uncover fundamental knowledge of the basis of physical, mechanical, and engineering properties. == Challenges == While there are many who believe in the future of informatics in the materials development and scaling process, many challenges remain. Hill, et al., write that "Today, the materials community faces serious challenges to bringing about this data-accelerated research paradigm, including diversity of research areas within materials, lack of data standards, and missing incentives for sharing, among others. Nonetheless, the landscape is rapidly changing in ways that should benefit the entire materials research enterprise." This remaining tension between traditional materials development methodologies and the use of more computationally, machine learning, and analytics approaches will likely exist for some time as the materials industry overcomes some of the cultural barriers necessary to fully embrace such new ways of thinking. == Analogy from Biology == The overarching goals of bioinformatics and systems biology may provide a useful analogy. Andrew Murray of Harvard University expresses the hope that such an approach "will save us from the era of "one graduate student, one gene, one PhD". Similarly, the goal of materials informatics is to save us from one graduate student, one alloy, one PhD. Such goals will require more sophisticated strategies and research paradigms than applying data-science methods to the same tasks set currently undertaken by students.
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