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Adaptive System (adaptive + system)
Kinds of Adaptive System Selected AbstractsLanguage Is a Complex Adaptive System: Position PaperLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 2009The "Five Graces Group" Language has a fundamentally social function. Processes of human interaction along with domain-general cognitive processes shape the structure and knowledge of language. Recent research in the cognitive sciences has demonstrated that patterns of use strongly affect how language is acquired, is used, and changes. These processes are not independent of one another but are facets of the same,complex adaptive system,(CAS). Language as a CAS involves the following key features: The system consists of multiple agents (the speakers in the speech community) interacting with one another. The system is adaptive; that is, speakers' behavior is based on their past interactions, and current and past interactions together feed forward into future behavior. A speaker's behavior is the consequence of competing factors ranging from perceptual constraints to social motivations. The structures of language emerge from interrelated patterns of experience, social interaction, and cognitive mechanisms. The CAS approach reveals commonalities in many areas of language research, including first and second language acquisition, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, language evolution, and computational modeling. [source] If Language Is a Complex Adaptive System, What Is Language Assessment?LANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 2009Robert J. Mislevy Individuals' use of language in contexts emerges from second-to-second processes of activating and integrating traces of past experiences,an interactionist view compatible with the study of language as a complex adaptive system but quite different from the trait-based framework through which measurement specialists investigate validity, establish reliability, and ensure fairness of assessments. This article discusses assessment arguments from an interactionist perspective. We argue that the familiar concepts and methods of assessment that evolved under a trait perspective can be gainfully reconceived in terms of the finer-grained perspective of interactionism, and we illustrate how key ideas relate to familiar practices in language testing. [source] In search of simplicity: a self-organizing group communication overlayCONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 7 2010Matei Ripeanu Abstract Group communication primitives have broad utility as building blocks for distributed applications. The challenge is to create and maintain the distributed structures that support these primitives while accounting for volatile end-nodes and variable network characteristics. Most solutions proposed to date rely on complex algorithms or on global information, thus limiting the scale of deployments and acceptance outside the academic realm. This article introduces a low-complexity, self-organizing solution for building and maintaining data dissemination trees, which we refer to as Unstructured Multi-source Overlay (UMO). UMO uses traditional distributed systems techniques: layering, soft-state, and passive data collection to adapt to the dynamics of the physical network and maintain data dissemination trees. The result is a simple, adaptive system with lower overheads than more complex alternatives. We implemented UMO and evaluated it on a 100-node PlanetLab testbed and on up to 1024-node emulated ModelNet networks. Extensive experimental evaluations demonstrate UMOs low overhead, efficient network usage compared with alternative solutions, and the ability to quickly adapt to network changes and to recover from failures. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Spatio-temporal point process filtering methods with an applicationENVIRONMETRICS, Issue 3-4 2010ena Frcalová Abstract The paper deals with point processes in space and time and the problem of filtering. Real data monitoring the spiking activity of a place cell of hippocampus of a rat moving in an environment are evaluated. Two approaches to the modelling and methodology are discussed. The first one (known from literature) is based on recursive equations which enable to describe an adaptive system. Sequential Monte Carlo methods including particle filter algorithm are available for the solution. The second approach makes use of a continuous time shot-noise Cox point process model. The inference of the driving intensity leads to a nonlinear filtering problem. Parametric models support the solution by means of the Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, moreover the Cox model enables to detect adaptivness. Model selection is discussed, numerical results are presented and interpreted. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The oral ecosystem: implications for educationEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 4 2006H. M. Eriksen Abstract, We propose a model that is applicable to oral health education. The model describes the oral cavity in a complexity-based ecological context. This concept includes the premise that factors from different organisational levels (biological, individual, community, society) interact in a complex way with the potential to ,stress' the ecosystem and thereby provoke changes. This mode of action complies with the understanding of the oral cavity as a complex adaptive system. An ecological model is actively used in the undergraduate problem-based curriculum at the Faculty of Odontology, Malmö University, Sweden and has recently been applied as a conceptual basis for the new dental curriculum being established at the University of Tromsř in Northern Norway. The purpose is to encourage and promote an ecological, health-oriented view and to stimulate reflections on premises for oral health and diseases in an integrated context. [source] On-line dynamic security assessment to mitigate the risk of blackout in the Italian power systemEUROPEAN TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL POWER, Issue 8 2008Diego Cirio Abstract This paper provides a comprehensive survey of the major initiatives and research projects recently carried out by the Italian system operator, Cesi Ricerca, and Universities on power system monitoring, defense, and security assessment. The technological and methodological features of an advanced wide area measurement system (WAMS) are described and the main aspects of an adaptive system for event-based automatic load shedding are presented. Then preventive and corrective security assessment, with particular emphasis to dynamic security assessment,DSA, is introduced. Results from an EU project, where the Italian power system served as a test site for on-line experimentation, are reported. Considering the need for very fast assessment by stability indices, a complementary approach to the above "conventional" DSA, currently under way, is described in further detail. The methodology relies on a correlation model relating significant power system measurements with local loadability margins. Results of some tests on the Italian power system are presented and discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Tuning and parameter variation effects in MRAS based speed estimator for sensorless vector controlled induction motor drivesEUROPEAN TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL POWER, Issue 3 2002M. Wang A frequently applied method of speed-sensorless rotor flux oriented control of induction machines relies on utilisation of model reference adaptive system (MRAS) based speed estimation, where the outputs of the reference and the adjustable model are selected as rotor flux space phasors. Accuracy of the method heavily depends on correct setting of the machine parameters and adjustment of the filter and Pl controller parameters within the estimator. The paper at first describes tuning of various parameters of the estimator, using purely experimental data. The speed estimator is operated in parallel with a commercially available rotor flux oriented induction motor drive with speed sensor and sampled stator voltages and currents are used to tune induction motor parameters, various filters and the Pl controller within the estimator. The procedure is described and illustrated using a comparison between the measured actual speed response during acceleration transients and the corresponding speed estimate obtained from the speed estimator. In the second part of the paper, speed estimation error that will take place in the base speed region due to incorrect setting and/or variation of the parameters of the machine (stator resistance, rotor resistance and magnetising inductance) within the speed estimator is assessed using experimentally recorded data. The experimental results are found to be in very good agreement with previously published theoretical results. [source] Adaptive regulation of MIMO linear systems against unknown sinusoidal exogenous inputsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADAPTIVE CONTROL AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, Issue 6 2009Maurizio Ficocelli Abstract This paper deals with the adaptive regulation problem in linear multi-input multi-output systems subject to unknown sinusoidal exogenous inputs, where the frequencies, amplitudes, and phases of the sinusoids are unknown and where the number of sinusoids is assumed to be known. The design of an adaptive regulator for the system under consideration is performed within a set of Q -parameterized stabilizing controllers. To facilitate the design of the adaptive regulator, triangular decoupling is introduced in part of the closed-loop system dynamics. This is achieved through the proper selection of the controller state feedback gain and the structure of the Q parameter. Regulation conditions are then presented for the case where the sinusoidal exogenous input properties are known. For the case where the sinusoidal exogenous input properties are unknown, an adaptation algorithm is proposed to tune the Q parameter in the expression of the parameterized controller. The online tuning of the Q parameter allows the controller to converge to the desired regulator. Convergence results of the adaptation algorithm are presented. A simulation example involving a retinal imaging adaptive optics system is used to illustrate the performance of the proposed adaptive system. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A smooth switching adaptive controller for linearizable systems with improved transient performanceINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADAPTIVE CONTROL AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, Issue 9 2006Jeng Tze Huang Abstract The certainty equivalent control has achieved asymptotic tracking stability of linearizable systems in the presence of parametric uncertainty. However, two major drawbacks remain to be tackled, namely, the risk of running into singularity for the calculated control input and the poor transient behaviour arising frequently in a general adaptive system. For the first problem, a high gain control is activated in place of the certainty equivalent control until the risk is bypassed. Among others, it requires less control effort by taking advantages of the bounds for the input vector field. Moreover, the switching mechanism is smooth and hence avoids possible chattering behaviour. Next, to solve the second problem, a new type of update algorithm guaranteeing the exponential stability of the overall closed-loop system, on a weaker persistent excitation (PE) condition, is proposed. In particular, it requires no filtering of the regressor and hence is easier to implement. Simulation results demonstrating the validity of the proposed design are given in the final. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Robust adaptive tracking control of uncertain discrete time systemsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADAPTIVE CONTROL AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, Issue 9 2005Shengping Li Abstract In this paper, the problem of robust adaptive tracking for uncertain discrete-time systems is considered from the slowly varying systems point of view. The class of uncertain discrete-time systems considered is subjected to both ,,, to ,,, bounded unstructured uncertainty and external additive bounded disturbances. A priori knowledge of the dynamic model of the reference signal to be tracked is not completely known. For such problem, an indirect adaptive tracking controller is obtained by frozen-time controllers that at each time optimally robustly stabilize the estimated models of the plant and minimize the worst-case steady-state absolute value of the tracking error of the estimated model over the model uncertainty. Based on ,,, to ,,, stability and performance of slowly varying system found in the literature, the proposed adaptive tracking scheme is shown to have good robust stability. Moreover, a computable upper bound on the size of the unstructured uncertainty permitted by the adaptive system and a computable tight upper bound on asymptotic robust steady-state tracking performance are provided. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Developing interdisciplinary maternity services policy in Canada.JOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2010Evaluation of a consensus workshop Abstract Context, Four maternity/obstetrical care organizations, representing women, midwives, obstetricians and family doctors conducted interdisciplinary policy research under auspices of four key stakeholder groups. These projects teams and key stakeholders subsequently collaborated to develop consensus on strategies for improved maternity services in Ontario. Objectives, The objective of this study is to evaluate a 2-day research synthesis and consensus building conference to answer policy questions in relation to new models of interdisciplinary maternity care organizations in different settings in Ontario. Methods, The evaluation consisted of a scan of individual project activities and findings as were presented to an invited audience of key stakeholders at the consensus conference. This involved: participant observation with key informant consultation; a survey of attendees; pattern processing and sense making of project materials, consensus statements derived at the conference in the light of participant observation and survey material as pertaining to a complex system. The development of a systems framework for maternity care policy in Ontario was based on secondary analysis of the material. Findings, Conference participants were united on the importance of investment in maternity care for Ontario and the impending workforce crisis if adaptation of the workforce did not take place. The conference participants proposed reforming the current system that was seen as too rigid and inflexible in relation to the constraints of legislation, provider scope of practice and remuneration issues. However, not one model of interdisciplinary maternity/obstetrical care was endorsed. Consistency and coherence of models (rather than central standardization) through self-organization based on local needs was strongly endorsed. An understanding of primary maternity care models as subsystems of networked providers in complex health organizations and a wider social system emerged. The patterns identified were incorporated into a complexity framework to assist sense making to inform policy. Discussion, Coherence around core values, holism and synthesis with responsiveness to local needs and key stakeholders were themes that emerged consistent with complex adaptive systems principles. Respecting historical provider relationships and local history provided a background for change recognizing that systems evolve in part from where they have been. The building of functioning relationships was central through education and improved communication with ongoing feedback loops (positive and negative). Information systems and a flexible improved central and local organization of maternity services was endorsed. Education and improved communication through ongoing feedback loops (positive and negative) were central to building functioning relationships. Also, coordinated central organization with a flexible and adaptive local organization of maternity services was endorsed by participants. Conclusions, This evaluation used an approach comprising scoping, pattern processing and sense making. While the projects produced considerable typical research evidence, the key policy questions could not be addressed by this alone, and a process of synthesis and consensus building with stakeholder engagement was applied. An adaptive system with local needs driving a relationship based network of interdisciplinary groupings or teams with both bottom up and central leadership. A complexity framework enhanced sense making for the system approaches and understandings that emerged. [source] Language Is a Complex Adaptive System: Position PaperLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 2009The "Five Graces Group" Language has a fundamentally social function. Processes of human interaction along with domain-general cognitive processes shape the structure and knowledge of language. Recent research in the cognitive sciences has demonstrated that patterns of use strongly affect how language is acquired, is used, and changes. These processes are not independent of one another but are facets of the same,complex adaptive system,(CAS). Language as a CAS involves the following key features: The system consists of multiple agents (the speakers in the speech community) interacting with one another. The system is adaptive; that is, speakers' behavior is based on their past interactions, and current and past interactions together feed forward into future behavior. A speaker's behavior is the consequence of competing factors ranging from perceptual constraints to social motivations. The structures of language emerge from interrelated patterns of experience, social interaction, and cognitive mechanisms. The CAS approach reveals commonalities in many areas of language research, including first and second language acquisition, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, language evolution, and computational modeling. [source] If Language Is a Complex Adaptive System, What Is Language Assessment?LANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 2009Robert J. Mislevy Individuals' use of language in contexts emerges from second-to-second processes of activating and integrating traces of past experiences,an interactionist view compatible with the study of language as a complex adaptive system but quite different from the trait-based framework through which measurement specialists investigate validity, establish reliability, and ensure fairness of assessments. This article discusses assessment arguments from an interactionist perspective. We argue that the familiar concepts and methods of assessment that evolved under a trait perspective can be gainfully reconceived in terms of the finer-grained perspective of interactionism, and we illustrate how key ideas relate to familiar practices in language testing. [source] Convergence, Degeneracy, and ControlLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 2006David W. Green Understanding the neural representation and control of language in normal bilingual speakers provides insights into the factors that constrain the acquisition of another language, insights into the nature of language expertise, and an understanding of the brain as an adaptive system. We illustrate both functional and structural brain changes associated with acquiring other languages and discuss the value of neuroimaging data in identifying individual differences and different phenotypes. Understanding normal variety is vital too if we are to understand the consequences of brain damage in bilingual and polyglot speakers. [source] Organizational sticking points on NK LandscapesCOMPLEXITY, Issue 5 2002Jan W. Rivkin Abstract Scholars studying human organizations have recently adopted the notion of fitness landscapes, a concept pioneered in the biological and physical sciences. Such scholars have generally assumed that organizations will migrate toward the local peaks of these landscapes, as biological and physical entities do. We use an agent-based simulation to show, to the contrary, that a hierarchical human organization may very well come to rest at a "sticking point" that is not a local peak on the fitness landscape of the overall organization. Three pervasive features of human organizations create the distinction between sticking points and local peaks: the delegation of choices to separate decision makers, interdependencies between the domains of those decision makers, and differences between local incentives and global incentives. Our results illustrate both that it is valuable to use tools developed to study one type of complex adaptive system in order to examine another type and that researchers must adapt the tools with care as they attempt to do so. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Artificial neural networks for parameter estimation in geophysicsGEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING, Issue 1 2000Carlos Calderón-Macías Artificial neural systems have been used in a variety of problems in the fields of science and engineering. Here we describe a study of the applicability of neural networks to solving some geophysical inverse problems. In particular, we study the problem of obtaining formation resistivities and layer thicknesses from vertical electrical sounding (VES) data and that of obtaining 1D velocity models from seismic waveform data. We use a two-layer feedforward neural network (FNN) that is trained to predict earth models from measured data. Part of the interest in using FNNs for geophysical inversion is that they are adaptive systems that perform a non-linear mapping between two sets of data from a given domain. In both of our applications, we train FNNs using synthetic data as input to the networks and a layer parametrization of the models as the network output. The earth models used for network training are drawn from an ensemble of random models within some prespecified parameter limits. For network training we use the back-propagation algorithm and a hybrid back-propagation,simulated-annealing method for the VES and seismic inverse problems, respectively. Other fundamental issues for obtaining accurate model parameter estimates using trained FNNs are the size of the training data, the network configuration, the description of the data and the model parametrization. Our simulations indicate that FNNs, if adequately trained, produce reasonably accurate earth models when observed data are input to the FNNs. [source] Use of Kullback,Leibler divergence for forgettingINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADAPTIVE CONTROL AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, Issue 10 2009Miroslav Kárný Abstract Non-symmetric Kullback,Leibler divergence (KLD) measures proximity of probability density functions (pdfs). Bernardo (Ann. Stat. 1979; 7(3):686,690) had shown its unique role in approximation of pdfs. The order of the KLD arguments is also implied by his methodological result. Functional approximation of estimation and stabilized forgetting, serving for tracking of slowly varying parameters, use the reversed order. This choice has the pragmatic motivation: recursive estimator often approximates the parametric model by a member of exponential family (EF) as it maps prior pdfs from the set of conjugate pdfs (CEF) back to the CEF. Approximations based on the KLD with the reversed order of arguments preserves this property. In the paper, the approximation performed within the CEF but with the proper order of arguments of the KLD is advocated. It is applied to the parameter tracking and performance improvements are demonstrated. This practical result is of importance for adaptive systems and opens a way for improving the functional approximation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Management of diabetes using adaptive controlINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADAPTIVE CONTROL AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, Issue 5 2005Roman Hovorka Abstract The review focuses on adaptive systems for insulin treatment in type 1 diabetes. The review consists of two parts. First, adaptive approaches are described, which exploit infrequent glucose measurements (four to seven measurements per day). Second, adaptive approaches are described, which exploit frequent or continuous glucose measurements (every hour or more often). Each part is further divided into two subparts separating off-line and on-line adaptive techniques. The latter represents treatment strategies, which rely on continuous re-assessment of the glucoregulatory system. The former refers to treatment strategies, which are fixed for a day or longer and are revisited from time to time. It is concluded that the role of adaptive approaches will increase as new continuous glucose-sensing monitors reach the market. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] On a class of switched, robustly stable, adaptive systemsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADAPTIVE CONTROL AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, Issue 3 2001Felipe M. Pait Abstract A class of switched algorithms for adaptive control of siso linear systems is described. The systems considered are assumed to belong to one among a finite number of classes of admissible process models, and each class is robustly stabilizable by some linear time-invariant controller. The control used is chosen in real time by a tuner or supervisor, according to observations of suitably defined ,identification errors.' The method preserves the robustness properties of the linear control design in an adaptive context, thus extending earlier ideas in multiple-model adaptive control by presenting a more flexible and less conservative framework for considering such systems. One motivating application is fault-tolerant control. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Organizational emergence in networked collaborationINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, Issue 7 2002Ari-Pekka Hameri Abstract Research on complex adaptive systems has generated several conceptual parables to explain systems with emergent behaviour. One prominent use for terms such as self-organization, evolutionary trajectories, co-evolution and punctuated equilibrium has been in understanding human organizations. In such systems, emergent behaviour is demonstrated in novel structures, processes and spin-offs that cannot be explained just by studying single components of the organization and the intelligence embedded in them. Instead of solely exploiting the qualitative explanatory power of the evolutionary concepts, this paper focuses also on quantitative methods to track emergent behaviour in a globally distributed, constantly fluctuating and highly networked project organization. The underlying case is that of CERN (CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Israel, the Russian Federation, Turkey, Yugoslavia (status suspended after the UN embargo, June 1992), the European Commission and UNESCO have observer status.) and its decade long accelerator project, which strongly relies on electronic communication and networking to achieve its major objectives due to be accomplished by the year 2006. By using time series and self-organizing maps to analyse the global interaction among project groups and individuals the paper provides new insight to the understanding of emergent behaviour in human organizations. The key result of the study concerns the rigid deep structure of each case organization that seems to remain intact for the duration of the whole project. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The facilitating factors for organizational learning: bringing ideas from complex adaptive systemsKNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT: THE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION, Issue 2 2003Ricardo Chiva-Gómez The importance of the factors that facilitate organizational learning have traditionally been outlined in the literature. However, there is no agreement about what the essential facilitating factors are, as each author emphasizes different features. Complexity science is increasingly being used by researchers and practitioners to improve their understanding of organizations. This exploratory study tries to determine the essential facilitating factors for organizational learning, and demonstrate the importance of the ideas from complex adaptive systems (CAS) to it. In order to do this, we put forward a comparative case study of four heterogeneous companies from the Spanish ceramic tile sector in which we analyzed the facilitating factors for organizational learning, by relating them with ideas from CAS. As a result, we determined that the five attributes suggested by CAS to facilitate organizational learning were present in the innovative companies, which had the most organizational learning facilitating factors, and three of them were only present in the company with the highest performance and the most innovative approach: individuals' relationship with the environment; cultural diversity; and state of equilibrium between formal and informal structures. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Introduction: Second Language Development as a Dynamic ProcessMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2008KEES DE BOT In this contribution, some of the basic characteristics of complex adaptive systems, collectively labeled Dynamic Systems Theory (DST), are discussed. Such systems are self-organizing, dependent on initial conditions, sometimes chaotic, and they show emergent properties. The focus in DST is on development over time. Language is seen as a dynamic system, and language development, both acquisition and attrition, as a dynamic process. A number of examples of possible applications of DST in the field of applied linguistics are mentioned. After a short presentation of each of the individual articles, some possible lines of research are discussed. [source] Mazes, Conflict, and Paradox: Tools for Understanding Chronic PainPAIN PRACTICE, Issue 3 2009Cary A. Brown PhD Abstract This article presents an argument for framing chronic pain within a complex adaptive systems (CAS) paradigm. The first aim of this article is to demonstrate how chronic pain can be framed as a CAS and how paradox, one of the core characteristics of a CAS, exists within the chronic pain experience. The second aim is to illustrate how paradox exists at multiple levels within the health care encounter and ongoing experience of chronic pain. Finally, the article will use the example of interactions at the patient/clinician level to illustrate how health care workers' efforts to deal with issues emergent from the range of paradoxes have for the most part been ineffective, and at times harmful, to persons experiencing chronic pain. This article uses the example of chronic pain to explore how the manner in which health care providers and patients recognize and deal with paradoxes can either worsen the pain experience or help generate creative new ways to manage the chronic pain condition. The CAS principles discussed in this article hold application across a range of chronic conditions for which a traditional biomedical paradigm proves insufficient. [source] Management Strategies for Complex Adaptive Systems Sensemaking, Learning, and ImprovisationPERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2007Reuben R. McDaniel Jr. Misspecification of the nature of organizations may be a major reason for difficulty in achieving performance improvement. Organizations are often viewed as machine-like, but complexity science suggests that organizations should be viewed as complex adaptive systems. I identify the characteristics of complex adaptive systems and give examples of management errors that may be made when these characteristics are ignored. Command, control and planning are presented as managerial tasks that come to the fore when a machine view of organizations dominates thinking. When we treat organizations as complex adaptive systems the focus of managerial activity changes, and sensemaking, learning and improvisation become appropriate strategies for performance improvement. Each of these is defined and described. A modest research agenda is presented. [source] Finding aid as interface?PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2003Enhancing K-12 access to digitized cultural heritage resources through adaptive systems technology: An exploratory study To what extent must diverse users adapt themselves to singular one-interface systems, and in what ways does this impede access and use? In a perfect world of adaptive systems, backend architecture structuring digital information would be accessible through multiple user interfaces that support the literacy levels, technological capabilities and other characteristics of different user groups. Collaborating with the California Digital Library, usability testing was conducted with 4th and 12th graders to compare the effectiveness of an existing finding aid-based interface with a newly developed prototype interfaco in retrieving cultural heritage information. Findings inform the growing number of efforts by cultural heritage communities,including libraries, archives, museums, and community organizations,to create broader access to their rich resources through digitization. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||