Information Processing Science Research Articles

Integrating entrepreneurial working life skills with foreign language teaching – two cases from the University of Oulu

Abstract This activity report describes two cases of Language teaching for degree students in the University of Oulu with new pedagogical approaches aiming towards authentic working life skills. Co-creation, collaborative learning and cooperation across borders are the building blocks for these innovative language teaching projects. Case 1 describes Entrepreneurial Language Studies in English and Swedish courses, co-created with the Ministry of Culture and Education Key Projects, which aim for fostering entrepreneurial culture and creating entrepreneurial learning environments at universities. Case 2 is about Teaching English and Course Cooperation in English language between the students of Information Processing Science in Finland and Russia. In both of these cases, students have been challenging themselves with new ways to learn the language and at the same time acquire important skills for working life, virtual learning, presentations, communication, problem solving and business idea creation. What unites these cases is the emphasis on authentic language learning, creativity and self-efficacy. Because career paths today are increasingly complex, multidisciplinary and diverse, the ability to adapt, innovate and be flexible is vital in evolving and collaborative working environments.

Kerr-nonlinearity-modulated dressed vortex four-wave mixing from photonic band gap

Considering the fact that the orbital angular momentum of light can be transferred through light-matter interactions, we experimentally induced a dressed vortex four-wave mixing (FWM) with the interaction between a vortex probe beam and an inverted Y-type four-level atomic system with a photonic band gap. Further, the Kerr-nonlinearity-modulated propagation behaviors of the probe and the dressed FWM vortices are investigated, including the spatial shift, splitting, and incompleteness of the vortex shape. Strikingly, the propagation behaviors of the vortex beams can be influenced by the interaction between the nonlinear phase and the spiral phase. This study would promote the development of optical computing and information processing science related to the interactions between optical vortices and samples.

All-optical vectorial control of multistate magnetization through anisotropy-mediated spin-orbit coupling

Abstract The interplay between light and magnetism is considered as a promising solution to fully steer multidimensional magnetic oscillations/vectors, facilitating the development of all-optical multilevel recording/memory technologies. To date, impressive progress in multistate magnetization instead of a binary level has been witnessed by primarily resorting to double laser beam excitation. Yet, the control mechanisms are limited to specific magnetic medium or intricate optical configuration as well as overlooking the crystallographic architecture of the media and the polarization-phase linkage of the light fields. Here, we theoretically present a novel all-optical strategy for generating arbitrary multistate magnetization through the inverse Faraday effect. This is achieved by strongly focusing a single vortex-phase configured beam with circular polarization onto the anisotropic magnetic medium. By judiciously tuning the topological charge effect, the optical anisotropic effect, and the anisotropic optomagnetic effect, the light-induced magnetic vector can be flexibly redistributed between its transverse and longitudinal components, thus enabling orientation-unlimited multilevel magnetization control. In this optomagnetic process, we also reveal the role of anisotropy-mediated spin-orbit coupling, another physical mechanism that enables the effective translation of the angular momentum of light fields to the magnetic system. Furthermore, the conceptual paradigm of all-optical multistate magnetization is verified. Our findings show great prospect in multidimensional high-density optomagnetic recording and memory devices and also in high-speed information processing science and technology.

Cognitive science in the era of artificial intelligence: A roadmap for reverse-engineering the infant language-learner

Spectacular progress in the information processing sciences (machine learning, wearable sensors) promises to revolutionize the study of cognitive development. Here, we analyse the conditions under which ’reverse engineering’ language development, i.e., building an effective system that mimics infant’s achievements, can contribute to our scientific understanding of early language development. We argue that, on the computational side, it is important to move from toy problems to the full complexity of the learning situation, and take as input as faithful reconstructions of the sensory signals available to infants as possible. On the data side, accessible but privacy-preserving repositories of home data have to be setup. On the psycholinguistic side, specific tests have to be constructed to benchmark humans and machines at different linguistic levels. We discuss the feasibility of this approach and present an overview of current results.

Computing as Empirical Science – Evolution of a Concept

Abstract This article presents the evolution of philosophical and methodological considerations concerning empiricism in computer/computing science. In this study, we trace the most important current events in the history of reflection on computing. The forerunners of Artificial Intelligence H.A. Simon and A. Newell in their paper Computer Science As Empirical Inquiry (1975) started these considerations. Later the concept of empirical computer science was developed by S.S. Shapiro, P. Wegner, A.H. Eden and P.J. Denning. They showed various empirical aspects of computing. This led to a view of the science of computing (or science of information processing) - the science of general scope. Some interesting contemporary ways towards a generalized perspective on computations were also shown (e.g. natural computing).

The Application of Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithms to an Educational Computational Model of Science Information Processing: a Computational Experiment in Science Education

Conflicting explanations and unrelated information in science classrooms increase cognitive load and decrease efficiency in learning. This reduced efficiency ultimately limits one’s ability to solve reasoning problems in the science. In reasoning, it is the ability of students to sift through and identify critical pieces of information that is of paramount importance in science and learning. Unfortunately, the ability to accomplish the identification of critical ideas is not one that develops without practice and assistance form teachers or tutors in the classroom. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the application of an evolutionary algorithm works within a cognitive computational model to solve problems in the science classroom and simulate human reasoning for research purposes. The research question is: does the combination of optimization algorithms and cognitive computational algorithms successfully mimic biological teaching and learning systems in the science classroom? Within this computational study, the author outlines and simulates the effects of teaching and learning on the ability of a “virtual” student to solve a science task. Using the STAC-M computational model the author completes a computational experiment that examines the role of cognitive retraining on student learning. The author also discusses the important limitations of this powerful new tool.

Examination of the Nonlinear Dynamic Systems Associated with Science Student Cognition While Engaging in Science Information Processing

A critical problem with the examination of learning in education is that there is an underlying assumption that the dynamic systems associated with student information processing can be measured using static linear assessments. This static linear approach does not provide sufficient ability to characterize learning. Much of the modern research within fields adjacent to education has embraced the idea that information processing and cognitive states are dramatically dynamic and nonlinear. The dynamic and nonlinear aspects of information processing makes current educational research methods ill equipped to examine cognitive processing. This is because many quantitative and qualitative methods of examination tacitly assume that “snap-shots” provide an appropriate view of student information processing during learning. This study examines the role of nonlinear dynamics as a descriptor of student learning in the science classroom. The purpose of this study is to establish explanatory mechanisms for understanding the variable outputs seen within student cognitive processing of science-based tasks. Initial parameterization of the subject response to the task sets presented in a serious educational game occurred using the DINA-N model. Drawing upon the tools from other disciplines such as computational modeling and artificial neural networks, it is possible for science education researchers to understand the interplay of multiple processing units known as a cognitive attributes. At this point, a limitation of this approach in education is the accuracy and lack of the model’s ability to represent the fractal dimensionality, emergent properties associated with cognition, and aspects of multiple interaction systems of the brain.

What in Fact Is the Role of Stylized Facts in Fundamental Research of Business and Information Systems Engineering?

In the discussion initiated by Winter on “What in fact is fundamental research in business and information systems engineering?” in issue 2/2009, Zelewski submitted the interesting proposal to use the concept of stylized facts as developed in economics in business and information systems engineering (BISE) in order to promote theory building within our discipline (Winter et al. 2009). Stylized facts constitute elements of knowledge in the form of generalized statements that describe the important characteristics and relationships in the context of a studied phenomenon and are widely supported empirically. For example, the empirically proven relationship between the longterm abstention from changing the employer in Japanese companies and a much larger salary increase compared to U.S. companies is a typical stylized fact in economics. When using stylized facts in the context of BISE, a number of interesting questions arise: What are the typical stylized facts within BISE? How can stylized facts be obtained systematically? What is the importance of stylized facts in design-oriented disciplines? Which role do stylized facts play in practice? What is the difference between technological rules and stylized facts? To what extent can we consider stylized facts to be “technological” knowledge about cause-effect-relationships that can be utilized for the construction of artifacts of information and communication technology? Which role do stylized facts play in empirical research? Which contribution can stylized facts make for building theories in BISE if a multiperspective research approach is assumed? Currently, only scattered experience exists in the application of stylized facts in BISE (Fettke et al. 2010; Houy et al. 2009, 2011). In order to achieve a broad perspective on the issue in the course of this discussion, well-known representatives from the field of business administration, the German-speaking BISE as well as from Information Systems Research were invited to comment on the topic. The following authors accepted our invitation to this discussion (in alphabetical order): Prof. Dr. Ulrich Frank, Chair of Information Systems and Enterprise Modelling, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; Prof. Dr. Armin Heinzl, Chair of General Management and Information Systems, Mannheim University, Germany; Prof. Dr. Juhani Iivari, Department of Information Processing Science, Oulu University, Finland; Prof. Dr. Barbara E. Weisenberger, Chair of Controlling and Business Accounting, Justus-Liebig University of Giesen, Germany; Prof. Dr. Stephan Zelewski, Institute of Production and Industrial Information Management, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Within their contributions the authors highlight different facets of the generation and application of stylized facts that appear relevant and important for BISE. Barbara E. Weisenberger outlines the concept and the derivation of stylized facts based on a case study in the field of IT-based controlling systems. Thus, several empirical studies have shown that the “increasing flexibility of IT systems in accounting and control has a positive impact on management accounting and control”. The author argues that the concept contributes to aggregate and structure fragmented knowledge in a research area, with particular emphasis on revealing research gaps. At the same time she points out that the derivation of stylized facts is the result of comprehensive research endeavors. The contribution by Stephan Zelewski considers the concept of stylized facts in the tension between the more designoriented German-speaking BISE on the one hand and the more behavioristic Anglo-Saxon Information Systems Research on the other. He argues that stylized facts are not directly but indirectly fruitful for the design-oriented BISE: Accordingly, stylized facts form a “seed of crystallization” for the development and testing of theories with causal explanatory power, making it possible to “explain and verify prognoses regarding alleged effects of the recommended design measures”. Despite the attractiveness of the concept, the author also points to difficulties in the implementation in current science. Armin Heinzl identifies application areas for stylized facts in BISE, especially

A Challenge for a New Organization in Systems and Control Curricula

The traditional control curricula organization is not adequate for the new generations of students. This paper proposes the challenge to change completely the sequence of traditional control subjects. Firstly it proposes to develop control as a branch of information processing sciences. Paradigms for information are proposed: integral-differential paradigm, data-paradigm, linguistic paradigm. The control curricula in undergraduate education should start by fuzzy control, exploiting heuristics, games, intuition, in order to stimulate the student's interest for the area. Control may be faced as a branch of machine learning and controllers have learning capabilities that can be classified into a proposed hierarchical structure. One introductory course for systems and one for control are proposed with syllabus oriented by this view.

Natural and Artificial Flavors

COMPUTER SCIENCE Computer scientists have long worried that their field suffers from split personality disorder: is what they do mathematics or engineering? True, they work on problems such as writing software to carry out calculations on a machine, but they also grapple with the most abstract mathematical properties of computational procedures and the logic of algorithms. So the debate has raged: Is the field a science of the natural world or only a science of the artificial? Denning argues that computer science is decidedly a natural science. Information storage and processing have been found to be fundamental elements of many fields, from the biological data stored in DNA to the quantum information that is transmitted and modified as particles interact. In many areas, principles that transcend computing machines form a set of questions about the deep structure of computation. These questions, in turn, are driving innovative ways to teach computing, sometimes without using sophisticated computer gadgetry at all. The author concludes that the field encompasses a science of information processing in both natural and artificial systems. — DV Commun. ACM 50 , 13 (2007).

Vygotsky and cognitive science: Language and the unification of the social and computational mind. William Frawley. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997. Pp. 384.

Vygotsky's social psycholinguist approach is not incompatible with computational approaches to the study of mind. In this way William Frawley sets the stage for a Vygoskyan cognitive science. Socioculturalists' theorizing on the work of the human mind has long maintained boundaries against cognitive science's information processing approaches and language, and vice versa. Frawley argues that no such division is entirely necessary and offers powerful ways of linking the two ways of thinking. Frawley's background in both Vygotskyan and other sociocultural theories, as well as in cognitive science and computational theories, places him in an important position to make these links.

Hypertext functionality

article Free Access Share on Hypertext functionality Authors: Michael Bieber New Jersey Institute of Technology, Hypermedia Research Laboratory, Computer and Information Science Department, University Heights, Newark, New Jersey New Jersey Institute of Technology, Hypermedia Research Laboratory, Computer and Information Science Department, University Heights, Newark, New JerseyView Profile , Harri Oinas-Kukkonen University of Oulu, Department of Information Processing Science, FIN-90570 Oulu, Finland University of Oulu, Department of Information Processing Science, FIN-90570 Oulu, FinlandView Profile , V. Balasubramanian Contexture, Inc. Contexture, Inc.View Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM Computing SurveysVolume 31Issue 4esDec. 1999 pp 32–eshttps://doi.org/10.1145/345966.346032Published:01 December 1999Publication History 8citation838DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations8Total Downloads838Last 12 Months18Last 6 weeks3 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

Flexible CASE and hypertext

article Free Access Share on Flexible CASE and hypertext Author: Harri Oinas-Kukkonen University of Oulu, Department of Information Processing Science P.O. Box 3000, FIN-90401 Oulu, Finland University of Oulu, Department of Information Processing Science P.O. Box 3000, FIN-90401 Oulu, FinlandView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM Computing SurveysVolume 31Issue 4esDec. 1999 pp 7–eshttps://doi.org/10.1145/345966.345985Online:01 December 1999Publication History 3citation752DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations3Total Downloads752Last 12 Months2Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

Why are CASE tools not used?

article Free Access Share on Why are CASE tools not used? Author: Juhani Iivari Department of Information Processing Science, University of Oulu, Finland Department of Information Processing Science, University of Oulu, FinlandView Profile Authors Info & Claims Communications of the ACMVolume 39Issue 10Oct. 1996 pp 94–103https://doi.org/10.1145/236156.236183Published:01 October 1996Publication History 184citation2,995DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations184Total Downloads2,995Last 12 Months159Last 6 weeks39 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my Alerts New Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

The empirical object of medical informatics

Medical informatics is the science of information processing and the creation of information processing systems in medicine and health care delivery. Its methodological approach is based on the area specific applicability of a multidisciplinary theory of engineering and managing computerized information systems related to its empirical object. This paper gives a systemic view of the health care system, representing the empirical object of medical informatics.

Indivisibility and Variety of Medical Informatics

SummaryIn recent editorials it has been pointed out that medical informatics, seen as comprehensive health care informatics, should be understood as the science of information processing and engineering of automated information systems within the health care system.Since the health care system as a whole is the object system of medical informatics, its object of cognition will have to be seen in computerized medical information systems or information systems as components of socio-technical and biological object systems. Because of that and especially in view of the rapidly growing possibilities of data processing technology, the question arises how our discipline can cope with the variety in research and education. This is the subject of this opinion paper.

Towards new epistemological foundations for information systems

AbstractThe practices used to design information systems reveal the weaknesses of present scientific theories which justify them (information theory, automata theory, cybernetic theory, mathematical logic, decision‐making theory). The study of a specific information processing science shows the acuteness of the contemporary crisis of epistemology, and the relevance of questions brought up by information theory and computation theory. Three promising areas of development to improve the quality of “practices” are discussed: An epistemology of a science of design, a development of research in logic (particularly deontic and self‐referential), and a systematic consideration of memorization processes, in order to integrate, in the modeling process, both the functions (synchronic) and the transformations (diachronic) of organizational information systems.

The work of IFIP working group 6.1

IFIP is a multinational federation of professional-technical societies concerned with information processing. At present, thirty-five national societies are members of the federation, united to achieve the following aims: -to promote information science and technology; -to advance information cooperation in the field of information processing; -to stimulate research, development, and application of information processing in science and human activity; -to further the dissemination and exchange of information about information processing; and -to encourage education in information processing Thus, IFIP is both a catalyst and a focal point for conceptual and technological developments which advance the state of the information processing art. Within IFIP, the technical work is sponsored by a series of technical committees. Under their auspices, workshops, seminars, and conferences are organized to encourage research and technological progress, and to publish definitive texts on the state of that progress. At present, technical committees are working in such fields as: -information processing terminology -programming languages -applications in education -information processing in medicine -applications in technology -data communications -modelling and optimization -the effect of information processing on human institutions In addition to the specialized events organized by the technical committees, IFIP sponsors a Congress once every three years which provides an overall view of the state of information processing science. The next Congress will be held in Toronto, Canada in August 1977. The library of books published by IFIP now contains sixty volumes. They cover a variety of fields including applications in technology, administration and management, the description and use of programming languages, mathematical theory, computing education, applications in medicine and other human activities, terminology, and overview descriptions of the technological state of the art. Together they constitute a definitive view of research and applications for use by scientists, users, and associated organizations. Cooperation with CCITT (Commite Consultatif International pour Telephonie et Telegraphic -- a technical body of the International Telegraphics Union which makes recommendations for worldwide standards in the area of telecommunications) has been instituted by the IFIP Technical Committee studying Data Communications. One of the specialized working groups of TC6 coordinates research to clarify the problems and options for the international interconnection of packet switched networks. Results of this research are made available to Study Group VII of CCITT which is deliberating on the facilities and appropriate standards for new data networks (of which packet switched networks are only one type).