Papers by Hannes Werthner
Our work has clearly revealed the roots of qualitative reasoning in AI in its attempts to formali... more Our work has clearly revealed the roots of qualitative reasoning in AI in its attempts to formalize and model common-sense physical knowledge as well as human reasoning mechanisms. Since AI — as stated by [Newell 90] — provides a theoretical infrastructure for the study of human cognition, we may also conclude that qualitative reasoning aims at establishing a cognitive theory of “non-numerical” process description and at automating the phase of model building. And AI still constitutes the main background of qualitative reasoning. However, since qualitative reasoning deals with physical systems and their changes in time, basic concepts about dynamic systems such as state diagrams, trajectories, state variables or input — output relations have been introduced. Thus, simulation and system theory constitute a second basis of this approach. This does not seem to be surprising, as they both deal with the modeling of dynamic systems and the generation of their behavior. Nevertheless, although there exists an evident similarity between the semantics of both areas, the structural descriptions as well as the behavior generation mechanisms are derived from AI, based on mathematical concepts. And, as already stated, we can identify cognitive science as a further area close to qualitative reasoning. This is also shown by the discussion about the problem of causality. Because of shortcomings of the early developments — mainly the problem of ambiguity — further knowledge in the form of quantitative information and more elaborated reasoning techniques was integrated. However, these improvements were mainly based on well-known concepts of fields outside AI, as for example the non-crossing rules of trajectories or Markov chains, which we have introduced in this paper. Thus, we can identify qualitative reasoning as an interdisciplinary approach.
Computers in Human Behavior, Sep 1, 2015
@inproceedings{TUW-140125, author = {Ricci, Francesco and Werthner, Hannes}, title = {Case based ... more @inproceedings{TUW-140125, author = {Ricci, Francesco and Werthner, Hannes}, title = {Case based destination recommendation over an XML data repository}, booktitle = {Proceedings of ENTER Conference 2001}, year = {2001}, publisher = {Springer Verlag}, note = {Vortrag: ENTER Conference 2001, Montreal, Canada; 2001-00-00} } Erstellt aus der Publikationsdatenbank der Technischen Universität Wien.
Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, 1995
CABI eBooks, 2006
A behavioural framework for the development of destination recommendation systems (DRSs) is propo... more A behavioural framework for the development of destination recommendation systems (DRSs) is proposed that takes into account the specific characteristics of travel information search and decision making. Specifically, it outlines several design guidelines for destination recommendation systems that follow from the discussion of the various behavioural components. It is concluded that the success of a specific DRS will largely depend on its ability to anticipate and creatively respond to transformations in the personal and situational needs of its users.
Electronic Commerce and Web Technologies, Oct 1, 2006
... Yongjian Fu, Cleveland State University, USA Stephane Gagnon, New Jersey Institute of ... Vic... more ... Yongjian Fu, Cleveland State University, USA Stephane Gagnon, New Jersey Institute of ... Victoria Torres, Valencia University of Technology, Spain Pedro Valderas, Valencia University of ... 92 Gustavo Rossi, Andres Nieto, Luciano Mengoni, Liliana Nuno Silva Mobile Commerce ...
CABI eBooks, 2006
Although many e-commerce websites support travel information search and in particular travel plan... more Although many e-commerce websites support travel information search and in particular travel planning, most of them simply let users search (e.g. with keywords or with query forms) through their electronic catalogues of products. In fact, e-commerce travel and tourism websites often contain huge quantities of travel items with different characteristics and types. Hence, a user's search request often returns a potentially overwhelming set of options, causing an 'information overload' (Maes, 1994). This problem has at least three causes. First, some users may not have enough knowledge to express their needs in accordance with the system language and interface, i.e. to define a query to be processed by the system. Second, the preferences, which are collected at the time of a user's request, are typically a subset of the user's real 'needs and wants', because users (especially mobile users) usually do not like to input data. Third, users often receive poor support in analysing search results, in comparing products and in bundling final choices. Both leisure and business travellers need system support throughout all travel stages: from pre-travel planning to the on-the-move support during the travel, and even when the travel is finished (Ricci, 2002). We have developed two systems, NutKing and MobyRek, which cooperate to support travellers through their full travel life cycle. NutKing deals with the pre-and post-travel stages. It is a recommender system that combines content-based and collaborative-based filtering methods to support users in building the recommended travel plans (Ricci et al., 2002(Ricci et al., , 2003)). NutKing helps users in selecting one or more destinations to visit and then adding additional products related to the selected destinations (accommodations, activities, events). MobyRek, which is described in this chapter, deals with the on-tour stage. On-tour support is needed by travellers when they are on the move to, AQ1
CABI eBooks, 2006
Interface metaphors are credited with the capability of facilitating interface usability and lear... more Interface metaphors are credited with the capability of facilitating interface usability and learnability from the human-computer interaction (HCI) perspective. On travel-related websites, they can help travellers plan their trips and make the trip-planning process more entertaining and engaging. This chapter conceptualizes interface metaphors on travel-related websites by examining the functional roles they play. Implications for research on interface metaphors and travellers' trip-planning experience are also discussed.
This part describes the basic approaches used in qualitative reasoning as well as the underlying ... more This part describes the basic approaches used in qualitative reasoning as well as the underlying qualitative calculus and the different dimensions of mapping a quantitative model onto a qualitative one. Additionally, we provide a first classification of these methods. We separate the description of the modeling perspectives of the respective approaches in the next chapter from the detailed discussion of their specific reasoning techniques in chapter II.4 in order to underline the basic principles and their differences. However, also short descriptions of the reasoning mechanisms are provided in the first chapter. We use the following notation: if x denotes a variable or quantity in a numerical model, [x] or x denotes its qualitative equivalent. The same is true for operations: addition becomes ⨁, multiplication ⨂ and so on.6
International Conference on Electronic Commerce, Aug 19, 2008
Information technology (IT) changes our society and world, from the individual level up to the on... more Information technology (IT) changes our society and world, from the individual level up to the ongoing geopolitical powerplay. From an ontological point of view, it influences how we perceive the world and how we think about it. This transformation only happened in the short time span of about 80 years, and it is continuing. We highlight some of the major features of this process. Besides its enormous achievements, this development has serious shortcomings. We will discuss some of them and describe our positive answer: Digital Humanism, an approach that describes, analyzes, and, most importantly, influences the complex interplay of technology and humankind, for a better society and life, fully respecting universal human rights. It is a proactive approach, focusing on the integration of technical and social innovation. Then we will present our Digital Humanism initiative, discuss its research and innovation roadmap, and finish with a general framework integrating the different dimensions of this initiative. [Some arguments have already been partly expressed in other publications such as Werthner (
In this paper we analyze descriptions of group decision-making processes provided by 200 individu... more In this paper we analyze descriptions of group decision-making processes provided by 200 individuals organized in 55 groups. The goal of the paper is to show how such an analysis can be used when designing more efficient group recommender systems. To this end, we demonstrate that a) the provided group decision-making process descriptions can be systematically characterized by certain qualitatively identified aspects, b) the decision-making process that is adopted by a specific group is related to the characteristics of individuals in that group as well as to the characteristics of the group as a whole, and c) the decision reaching approach that a group naturally adopted can be determined, to a considerable extent, by certain characteristics of the group. Therefore, by examining real groups in a natural scenario, we can learn how a group recommender system should adapt when supporting group decision-making processes.
M ihály D om bi-István K u tiP éter B alo g h: Interpretation o f sustainability in the utilizati... more M ihály D om bi-István K u tiP éter B alo g h: Interpretation o f sustainability in the utilization o f renewable energy sources..
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Papers by Hannes Werthner