A Formal Study of Distributed Meeting Scheduling

Automating routine organizational tasks, such as meeting scheduling, requires a careful balance between the individual (respecting his or her privacy and personal preferences) and the organization (making efficient use of time and other resources). We argue that meeting scheduling is an inherently distributed process, and that negotiating over meetings can be viewed as a distributed search process. Keeping the process tractable requires introducing heuristics to guide distributed schedulers' decisions about what information to exchange and whether or not to propose the same tentative time for several meetings. While we have intuitions about how such heuristics could affect scheduling performance and efficiency, verifying these intuitions requires a more formal model of the meeting schedule problem and process. We present our preliminary work toward this goal, as well as experimental results that validate some of the predictions of our formal model. We also investigate scheduling in overconstrained situations, namely, scheduling of high priority meetings at short notice, which requires cancellation and rescheduling of previously scheduled meetings. Our model provides a springboard into deeper investigations of important issues in distributed artificial intelligence as well, and we outline our ongoing work in this direction.     

Consumer self‐construal and trust as determinants of the reactance to a recommender advice

Commercial recommendation agents (RAs) represent an important type of the decision support systems (DSSs) that are widely used by online retailers and firms. To date, little is known about the factors that shape the user's decision making and reactance toward the recommendations of these agents. Building on theories from psychology and information systems domains, this research proposes that a user's self‐construal and trust are two relevant factors that interact to shape the behavior toward the RA advice. Two studies, the first conducted using potential online customers and the second conducted at a behavioral laboratory, provided support to this proposition. The first study considered RA trust and showed that activating the interdependent self leads users with low (high) trust to exhibit high reactance behavior toward the RA advice. The second study variated trust using trust cues and corroborated the latter finding, while showing no important impact for the psychological reactance trait. As expected, in both studies the reactance behavior of independent users was not affected by trust. These results contribute by underscoring that social interdependence extends to RAs because the role of trust becomes salient when the interdependent self is activated for a user.     

空中异构战术网络IP通信架构及协议开销分析

空中异构战术无线网络由多种不同类型的无线数据链网络构成,IP通信技术可有效解决空中平台异构无线网络的互联互通问题。给出了空中异构战术无线网络模型,并根据不同类型的无线数据链网络特点,分析了端到端通信协议栈关系以及不同无线数据链网络间协议转换与适配方式。探讨了网络静态和动态IP地址分配方法以及网络的路由架构与寻址方式,提出了不同无线数据链网络间IP报文传输的打包方式。对传输的开销性能仿真对比分析表明,基于通用成帧协议的打包方式的协议开销性能较优。     

The Impact of Personality Variables,Prior Experience,and Training on Sales Agents' Internet Utilization and Performance

ABSTRACT

Emerging literature on the impact of the Internet on business-to-business (B2B) marketing has primarily focused on examining this issue from the perspective of manufacturers and buyers. This study focuses on the sales agent, a third prominent actor in B2B markets, and tests a conceptual model that relates a sales agent's personality, demographic, and user-situational constructs to that sales agent's Internet utilization for selling activities. Further, the model tested in this study relates a sales agent's Internet utilization to perceived sales performance. Findings in this study indicate that internal locus of control, learning orientation, and sales related Internet training relate positively to a sales agent's Internet utilization, and that a sales agent's age relates negatively to Internet utilization. Further, the results support a positive relationship between a sales agent's Internet utilization and sales performance. This study emphasizes that the Internet can be a productive tool for sales agents. The implications of the results of this study for sales agents with respect to training and recruitment are discussed and avenues for future research are suggested.     

一种Ka频段高密度高集成瓦式T组件的设计

介绍了一种Ka频段瓦式T组件的设计方法和关键技术。采用多层印制电路板(Printed Circuit Board,PCB)技术,实现了无源网络和馈电网络集成在同一块多层电路板上,滤波功能层和天线一体化集成,利用毛纽扣实现了组件的三维垂直互联。采用互补金属氧化物半导体(Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor,CMOS)工艺与砷化镓（GaAs）工艺相结合的芯片异构集成方案,成功研制出16通道带滤波功能层天线的T组件,体积为22 mm×22 mm×12 mm,质量不超过13 g。与同频段同功能的砖式T组件相比,体积缩减75%,质量降至10%。该组件充分发挥CMOS工艺强大的数模混合集成能力和化合物半导体工艺优异的射频性能,并将两类芯片在平面内直接异构拼装,在集成密度、功能密度、射频性能以及可实现性等多个方面获得了良好的平衡。     

LTE-A中异构网络的切换分析

在传统网络数据流量爆发性增长、频谱效率已接近极限值的形式下,异构组网是增加网络容量、提高数据速率的有效方式。LTE-A系统中异构组网引入低功率节点,缩短了网络与用户间距离,提高了无线链路质量和频谱效率,逐渐成为LTE-A系统中的关键技术之一,但同时也带来复杂的移动性管理等问题。在深入分析3GPP E-UTRA协议规范的基础上,首先建立了LTE-A Macro-Pico异构网络拓扑模型,然后对Macro-to-Pico和Pico-to-Macro双向切换概率进行了分析和仿真。在此基础上,给出了用户及其相关网络参数对于切换成功概率的影响分析。     

Forecasting artificial intelligence on online customer assistance: Evidence from chatbot patents analysis

The main goal of this research is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the actual progresses in artificial intelligence, with emphasis on chatbots as emerging forms of customer assistance in online retailing. Drawing upon an analysis of the chatbot patents in the past 20 years, our findings show the increasing technology push towards the adoption of new conversational agents based on natural language. Findings also highlight the extent to which the research and development efforts are attempting to improve artificial intelligence systems that characterize chatbots. To this end, technology advancements are mainly focusing on: (i) improving chatbot ability to automatically draw inferences on users starting from multiple data sources, and (ii) using consumers’ knowledge adaptively to provide more customized solutions. Finally, results show the tight relationship between the digital assistants’ analytical skills and their ability to automatically interact with the users.     

The influence of personal and social identity on the clothing consumption of adolescents

We consider the influence of personal and social identity among adolescents on the importance they attach to clothing products and brands. The conceptual framework includes more conventional variables such as socialization (family, peers, media, and celebrities) and individual characteristics (gender and grade level). Based on a sample of 1,596 French high school adolescents, our results highlight: (i) the influence of identity on the importance attached to product and brand; (ii) the mediating effects of personal and social identities; and (iii) the moderating effects of gender and grade level. We conclude with an analysis of theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future research directions. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

认知型飞蜂窝网络中的子信道分配与功率控制

为了解决宏蜂窝与飞蜂窝构成的两层异构网络上行干扰与资源分配问题,提出了一种在认知型飞蜂窝的双层异构网中结合子信道分配和功率控制进行资源分配的框架。通过对异构网中跨层干扰问题进行分析与建模,将求解最优子信道分配矩阵和用户发射功率矩阵作为干扰管理问题的解决方法。模型中认知型飞蜂窝网络子信道和飞蜂窝网络用户构成非合作博弈,双方利用效用函数最优值进行匹配,构成初始信道分配矩阵;再由接入控制器根据接入条件从初始信道分配矩阵中筛选用户,并优化接入用户的发射功率矩阵,得到最优子信道分配矩阵和功率矩阵。仿真结果表明,优化框架提高了双层异构网络中飞蜂窝网络用户的吞吐量和接入率,降低了异构网中跨层干扰。     

信号级协同计算平台架构及应用思考

针对智能化作战对军事电子信息系统计算能力提升的迫切需求,结合云计算的资源虚拟化、大数据的分布式计算等技术,提出了基于嵌入式CPU+ALL（DSP、FPGA、PPC、GPU、AI处理器等）的异构处理的信号级协同计算平台架构,包括弹性、轻量级异构资源虚拟化模型、分布式实时计算框架和智能计算框架等,形成了一套架构统一、资源共用、使用简便的协同计算和智能计算环境。通过战术级无线电认知和智能信号与信息处理两个典型应用场景,探讨了该信号级协同计算平台可能带来的颠覆性效用。