OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Artificial Neurons with Arbitrarily Complex Internal Structures
Venue: arXiv cs.NE 2001
Year: 2001

Artificial neurons with arbitrarily complex internal structure are introduced. The neurons can be described in terms of a set of internal variables, a set activation functions which describe the time evolution of these variables and a set of characteristic functions which control how the neurons interact with one another. The information capacity of attractor networks composed of these generalized neurons is shown to reach the maximum allowed bound. A simple example taken from the domain of pattern recognition demonstrates the increased computational power of these neurons. Furthermore, a specific class of generalized neurons gives rise to a simple transformation relating attractor networks of generalized neurons to standard three layer feed-forward networks. Given this correspondence, we conjecture that the maximum information capacity of a three layer feed-forward network is 2 bits per weight.
On Classes of Functions for which No Free Lunch Results Hold
Venue: arXiv cs.NE 2001
Year: 2001

In a recent paper it was shown that No Free Lunch results hold for any subset F of the set of all possible functions from a finite set X to a finite set Y iff F is closed under permutation of X. In this article, we prove that the number of those subsets can be neglected compared to the overall number of possible subsets. Further, we present some arguments why problem classes relevant in practice are not likely to be closed under permutation.
What's Fit To Print: The Effect Of Ownership Concentration On Product Variety In Daily Newspaper Markets
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2001
Year: 2001

This paper examines the effect of ownership concentration on product position, product variety and readership in markets for daily newspapers. US antitrust policy presumes that mergers reduce the amount and diversity of content available to consumers. However, the effects of consolidation in differentiated product markets cannot be determined solely from theory. Because multi-product firms internalize business stealing, mergers may encourage firms to reposition products, leading to more, not less, variety. Using data on reporter assignments from 1993-1999, results show that differentiation and variety increase with concentration. Moreover, there is evidence that additional variety increases readership, suggesting that concentration benefits consumers.
On the generalized dining philosophers problem
Venue: arXiv cs.PL 2001
Year: 2001

We consider a generalization of the dining philosophers problem to arbitrary connection topologies. We focus on symmetric, fully distributed systems, and we address the problem of guaranteeing progress and lockout-freedom, even in presence of adversary schedulers, by using randomized algorithms. We show that the well-known algorithms of Lehmann and Rabin do not work in the generalized case, and we propose an alternative algorithm based on the idea of letting the philosophers assign a random priority to their adjacent forks.
On Properties of Update Sequences Based on Causal Rejection
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2001
Year: 2001

We consider an approach to update nonmonotonic knowledge bases represented as extended logic programs under answer set semantics. New information is incorporated into the current knowledge base subject to a causal rejection principle enforcing that, in case of conflicts, more recent rules are preferred and older rules are overridden. Such a rejection principle is also exploited in other approaches to update logic programs, e.g., in dynamic logic programming by Alferes et al. We give a thorough analysis of properties of our approach, to get a better understanding of the causal rejection principle. We review postulates for update and revision operators from the area of theory change and nonmonotonic reasoning, and some new properties are considered as well. We then consider refinements of our semantics which incorporate a notion of minimality of change. As well, we investigate the relationship to other approaches, showing that our approach is semantically equivalent to inheritance programs by Buccafurri et al. and that it coincides with certain classes of dynamic logic programs, for which we provide characterizations in terms of graph conditions. Therefore, most of our results about properties of causal rejection principle apply to these approaches as well. Finally, we deal with computational complexity of our approach, and outline how the update semantics and its refinements can be implemented on top of existing logic programming engines.
Voice vs Data: Estimates of Media Usage and Network Traffic
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2001
Year: 2001

The popular conception is that data traffic nearly, if not already, exceeds voice traffic on backbone networks. However, the results of research reported in this paper imply that voice traffic greatly exceeds data traffic when real users are asked to estimate their usage of a wide variety of media. Media usage was surveyed for students in New York City and in Los Angeles. Other than significant differences in radio listening, e-mails, and downloads, the usage was quite similar. Telephone usage (wired and wireless) was nearly an hour per day. When converted to bits, the telephone traffic was much greater than the data traffic over the Internet. This paper reports on the details of the two user studies. The traffic implications of the results are estimated. The finding that voice exceeds data will then be reconciled with the popular opposite conception.
Assigning Satisfaction Values to Constraints: An Algorithm to Solve Dynamic Meta-Constraints
Venue: arXiv cs.PL 2001
Year: 2001

The model of Dynamic Meta-Constraints has special activity constraints which can activate other constraints. It also has meta-constraints which range over other constraints. An algorithm is presented in which constraints can be assigned one of five different satisfaction values, which leads to the assignment of domain values to the variables in the CSP. An outline of the model and the algorithm is presented, followed by some initial results for two problems: a simple classic CSP and the Car Configuration Problem. The algorithm is shown to perform few backtracks per solution, but to have overheads in the form of historical records required for the implementation of state.
Modelling Semantic Association and Conceptual Inheritance for Semantic Analysis
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2001
Year: 2001

Allowing users to interact through language borders is an interesting challenge for information technology. For the purpose of a computer assisted language learning system, we have chosen icons for representing meaning on the input interface, since icons do not depend on a particular language. However, a key limitation of this type of communication is the expression of articulated ideas instead of isolated concepts. We propose a method to interpret sequences of icons as complex messages by reconstructing the relations between concepts, so as to build conceptual graphs able to represent meaning and to be used for natural language sentence generation. This method is based on an electronic dictionary containing semantic information.
Competition and Price Dispersion in International Long Distance Calling
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2001
Year: 2001

This paper examines the relationship between changes in telecommunications provider concentration on international long distance routes and changes in prices on those routes. Overall, decreased concentration is associated with significantly lower prices to consumers of long distance services. However, the relationship between concentration and price varies according to the type of long distance plan considered. For the international flagship plans frequently selected by more price-conscious consumers of international long distance, increased competition on a route is associated with lower prices. In contrast, for the basic international plans that are the default selection for consumers, increased competition on a route is actually associated with higher prices. Thus, somewhat surprisingly, price dispersion appears to increase as competition increases.
Antitrust, Intellectual Property and Standard-Setting Organizations
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2001
Year: 2001

Standard-setting organizations (SSOs) regularly encounter situations in which one or more companies claim to own proprietary rights that cover a proposed industry standard. The industry cannot adopt the standard without the permission of the intellectual property owner (or owners). How SSOs respond to those who assert intellectual property rights is critically important. Whether or not private companies retain intellectual property rights in group standards will determine whether a standard is "open" or "closed." It will determine who can sell compliant products, and it may well influence whether the standard adopted in the market is one chosen by a group or one offered by a single company. SSO rules governing intellectual property rights will also affect how standards change as technology improves. Given the importance of SSO rules governing intellectual property rights, there has been surprisingly little treatment of SSOs or their intellectual property rules in the legal literature. My aim in this article is to fill that void. To do so, I have surveyed the intellectual property policies of dozens of SSOs, primarily but not exclusively in the computer networking and telecommunications industries.
Open Access beyond cable: The case of Interactive TV
Venue: arXiv cs.MM 2001
Year: 2001

In this paper we analyze the development of interactive TV in the U.S. and Western Europe. We argue that despite the nascent character of the market there are important regulatory issues at stake, as exemplified by the AOL/TW merger and the British Interactive Broadcasting case. Absent rules that provide for non-discriminatory access to network components (including terminal equipment specifications), dominant platform operators are likely to leverage ownership of delivery infrastructure into market power over interactive TV services. While integration between platform operator, service provider and terminal vendor may facilitate the introduction of services in the short-term, the lasting result will be a collection of fragmented "walled gardens" offering limited content and applications. Would interactive TV develop under such model, the exciting opportunities for broad-based innovation and extended access to multiple information, entertainment and educational services opened by the new generation of broadcasting technologies will be foregone
Intelligent Search of Correlated Alarms from Database containing Noise Data
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2001
Year: 2001

Alarm correlation plays an important role in improving the service and reliability in modern telecommunications networks. Most previous research of alarm correlation didn't consider the effect of noise data in Database. This paper focuses on the method of discovering alarm correlation rules from database containing noise data. We firstly define two parameters Win_freq and Win_add as the measure of noise data and then present the Robust_search algorithm to solve the problem. At different size of Win_freq and Win_add, experiments with alarm data containing noise data show that the Robust_search Algorithm can discover the more rules with the bigger size of Win_add. We also experimentally compare two different interestingness measures of confidence and correlation.
Profiling Internet Users' Participation in Social Change Agendas: An application of Q methodology
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2001
Year: 2001

New computer-mediated channels of communication are action oriented and have the ability to deliver information and dialogue - moderated and unmoderated - which can facilitate the bringing together of a series of society's stakeholders, opinion leaders and change agents, who have the ability to influence social action. However, existing online studies have been limited in explaining Internet users' willingness to participate in social change agendas online. They have relied predominately on basic demographic descriptors such as age, education, income and access to technology and have ignored, social, psychological and attitudinal variables that may explain online participation and social change. The authors propose a Q methodology research approach better evaluate Internet users participation in online social change agendas.
India Attempts to Give a Jump-start to its Derailed Telecommunications Liberalization Process
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2001
Year: 2001

After the 1991 economic policy made a shift from a closed economic model to a market-oriented model. The government invited private sector to participate in reforming its telecom sector. However, the government took a half-hearted approach in overhauling the legal and regulatory regime, suitable for competitive regime or in framing the 1994 Telecom Policy. Competition was allowed in cellular and basis services. The ministry and the incumbent (DOT) issued licenses to their competitors. Lack of transparency in issuing licenses and unrealistic license fee derailed the reforms process and led to wasteful litigation. The courts did not support the regulator and virtually made its role redundant.
On the Use of Vickrey Auctions for Spectrum Allocation in Developing Countries
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2001
Year: 2001

In this paper, we assess the applicability of auctions based on the Vickrey second price model for allocating wireless spectrum in developing countries. We first provide an overview of auction models for allocating resources. We then examine the experience of auctioning spectrum in different countries. Based on this examination, we posit some axioms that seem to have to be satisfied when allocating spectrum in most developing countries. In light of these axioms, we provide a critical evaluation of using Vickrey second- price auctions to allocate spectrum in developing countries. We suggest the use of a new auction mechanism, the Vickrey "share auction" which will satisfy many of these axioms.
National Information Infrastructure Development in Canada and the U.S.: Redefining Universal Service and Universal Access in the Age of Techno-Economic Convergence
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2001
Year: 2001

This exploratory and descriptive research compares the policy-making processes and policy recommendations regarding universal service and universal access developed by the U.S. National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIIAC) and the Canadian Information Highway Advisory Council (IHAC) in conjunction with related federal government agencies. Created in 1993 and 1994, respectively, the Councils were charged with "bringing forward" the concepts of universal service and universal access to adjust to the effects of deregulation, new and converged Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and neo-liberal economic competition and globalization that included acknowledging the private sector as the primary creator of the Information Highway.This qualitative study used as its methodology organizational, policy, narrative, and discourse analyses to create a picture of what universal service and universal access were and what they became in the hands of NIIAC, IHAC. The U.S. had started with a more clearly defined universal service tradition than Canada, and undertook a more complex policy-making process with more experienced personnel. It was also clear that IHAC had in many ways followed the U.S. model and arrived at many similar recommendations as NIIAC. Because of the inevitability of technical, economic, and social change related to the Information Highway, no definitive outcome to the Universal Service and Universal Access "story" can be determined. Because the Canadian government did not follow up on some of IHAC's most crucial recommendations, the Canadian Information Highway "story," in particular, has been left less complete than that of the U.S.
Electronic Access to Information and the Privacy Paradox: Rethinking :'Practical Obscurity'
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2001
Year: 2001

This article addresses the U.S. Supreme Court's central purpose formulation in Reporters Committee v. Department of Justice under the federal Freedom of Information Act. By examining all lower federal court opinions interpreting Reporters Committee and by analyzing the effects of the Court's opinion on the implementation of the FOIA, the paper finds that the Court's opinion has greatly narrowed the scope of the FOIA and limited the power of EFOIA to democratize electronic information. To assist in remedying the damage to the public interest in freedom of information, the author urges judicial consideration of a Privacy Act case, Tobey v. NRB, that more subtly treats information collected by government about individuals. The paper concludes that the Privacy Act demonstrates clearly that information, particularly computerized databases, can not be treated categorically for purposes of access.
The Internet and Community Networks: Case Studies of Five U.S. Cities
Venue: arXiv cs.DB 2001
Year: 2001

This paper looks at five U.S. cities (Austin, Cleveland, Nashville, Portland, and Washington, DC) and explores strategies being employed by community activists and local governments to create and sustain community networking projects. In some cities, community networking initiatives are relatively mature, while in others they are in early or intermediate stages. The paper looks at several factors that help explain the evolution of community networks in cities: 1) Local government support; 2) Federal support 3) Degree of community activism, often reflected by public-private partnerships that help support community networks. In addition to these (more or less) measurable elements of local support, the case studies enable description of the different objectives of community networks in different cities. Several community networking projects aim to improve the delivery of government services (e.g., Portland and Cleveland), some have a job-training focus (e.g., Austin, Washington, DC), others are oriented very explicitly toward community building (Nashville, DC), and others toward neighborhood entrepreneurship (Portland and Cleveland). The paper ties the case studies together by asking whether community technology initiatives contribute to social capital in the cities studied.
Realspace Sovereigns in Cyberspace: The Case of Domain Names
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2001
Year: 2001

In this piece, we take up the case of the domain name system as an example of challenges and solutions for realspace sovereigns in cyberspace. First, we analyze the 'in rem' provision of the US Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), which purports to expand the scope of the ACPA to encompass disputes with little direct connection with the United States. In reality, there exist no cases of foreign cybersquatting as to which the 'in rem' provision will be both applicable and constitutional. Instead the ACPA 'in rem' provision is notable primarily for its aggressive assertion of jurisdiction, leading us to consider the (often overlooked) role of realspace sovereigns in the regulation of the domain names system. By mapping the logical control over the domain names system-the distributed hierarchy that is the basis of the system's design-onto realspace territory, the potential for sovereign regulation of the system becomes apparent. We argue that the regulatory significance of geography, and the essentially arbitrary nature of the present territorial locations of the key components of the domain name system implies the future segmentation of the domain name system, and the resulting dramatic decrease in its value. Accordingly, we argue that realspace sovereigns (and especially the United States) have strong interests in avoiding segmentation, and thus must seek to coordinate the regulation of the system.
Is the Commercial Mass Media Necessary, or Even Desirable, for Liberal Democracy?
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2001
Year: 2001

Is a commercial mass media, dependent on the market for its sustenance, necessary, or even desirable, for liberal democracy? Yochai Benkler has argued that a decentralized, peer-to-peer system of communications and information is both possible with digital technology and preferable to a system based on commercial mass media. He has contended in fact that the presence of politically powerful, copyright-rich mass media imposes significant barriers to the development of peer-to-peer information-sharing networks. In contrast, I have argued that the commercial mass media play an important, and perhaps even vital, role in liberal democracy by galvanizing public opinion, serving as a watchdog against government and corporate wrongdoing, agenda-setting (which enables public discourse), and serving as a relatively trustworthy source of information. This paper seeks to push the ball forward on this issue. It first isolates and enumerates the contributions that the commercial mass media are said to make towards liberal democracy. It then briefly assesses the extent to which the commercial mass media actually fulfills these constitutive functions. It then asks whether alternative institutions might serve some or all of these functions just as well or better. In so doing, it looks both to the past and the future. First, it examines the political party-supported press that thrived in the United States through much of the 19th century. Second, it examines government-funded mass media. Third, it looks, skeptically, at possibilities for peer-to-peer sharing of information and opinion in the digital network environment. I conclude that, despite the weaknesses of commercial mass media, an information policy suitable to liberal democracy should include a plurality of types of voices, including commercial mass media.
Assessing the Effectiveness of Section 271 Five Years After the Telecommunications Act of 1996
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2001
Year: 2001

A major goal of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is to promote competition in both the local exchange and long distance wireline markets. In section 271 Congress permitted the Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) to enter the long distance market only if they demonstrate to the FCC that they have complied with the market-opening requirements of section 251. This paper examines the logic behind section 271, to determine if it is a reasonable means of achieving increased competition in both the local and long distance markets, given the technical characteristics of the industry and the legal and informational constraints on regulators who must ensure compliance. It also provides an update on the extent of competitive entry in the local exchange market five years after enactment of the Act. In this paper we examine a variety of schemes for ensuring BOC compliance that Congress could have used. Given the characteristics of the industry and the limitations on regulators' ability to observe BOC's efforts, we determine that the use of a prize such as BOC entry into long distance is a superior incentive mechanism. We further determine that conditioning a BOC's long distance entry on its demonstrating compliance with section 251 is a logical method of protecting the long distance market against a BOC discriminating against long distance competitors once it has gained entry. The statistical evidence we look at, using data we have collected on ILEC lines sold to CLECs for POTS services, appears to confirm that section 271 has thus far been effective in ensuring compliance.