bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
BEACONS IN PROGRAM COMPREHENSION
Authors: Wiedenbeck Susan , Evans Nancy J.
Published: January 2007

Beacons, as described by Brooks [1], are key features in a program that serve as typical indicators of a particular structure or operation. Beacons are highly recognizable and "carry a lot of the meaning" in the code.
CAN PEOPLE USE GESTURE COMMANDS?
Authors: Wolf Catherine G.
Published: January 2007

This paper reports initial results from a paper and pencil study of the use of hand-drawn gestures for simple editing tasks (see Wolf, 1986, for a more detailed report). Hand-drawn gestures are of particular interest in an interface which allows the user to write directly on the surface of a display with a stylus. In such an interface, the user can, for example, delete a word simply by crossing it out.
CLASSIFYING USERS
Authors: Koffler Richard P.
Published: January 2007

Rosson believes that, theoretically, user classifications are useful, but the sheer complexity of finding the relevant factors on which to categorize users in a way that is helpful to the designer makes the process impractical. Prior experience, the most often cited classification factor, is useful only to a limited extent in allowing designers to predict behavior with a system. Moreover, the situation is a moving target because the experience profiles of individuals are constantly changing.
On user interface reference models
Authors: Lantz Keith A
Published: January 2007

The proliferation of personal workstations and computer networks has enabled users to develop or otherwise access an ever wider range of applications. Unfortunately, the human-computer interface has not kept pace with the available hardware, nor with the aspirations of many users. Major advances are required with respect to the "style" of human-computer interaction -- advances in graphical techniques as well as other communications media. Moreover, this "style" should be as consistent as possible across applications. Much work remains to be done in achieving this consistency in the face of the wide variety of applications currently available. At the implementation level, much work remains to be done to accommodate heterogeneous hardware and software bases. For example, to what extent can we ensure that applications can run as well distributed over low-speed lines as over high-speed local area networks? How might we implement the human-computer interface in such a way as to be easily ported to a variety of operating systems, not just to a variety of machines running the same operating system?
Interactive recognition of handprinted characters for computer input
Authors: Ward Jean Renard , Blesser Barry
Published: January 2007

Recent development in real-time recognition of handprinted characters have resulted in a commercial device that reads "unconstrained," or free-form, handprinting. Unlike most devices that optically read machineprinted characters in finished text, this device is suitable for interactive system: It reads from a digitizing tablet while the user is writing.
A directory of sources for interactive technologies
Authors: Buxton William
Published: January 2007

The quality of human-computer dialogues is greatly affected by the transducers used. When we consider input, there is a broad range of technologies available to the designer. However, most of us have experience with only a small number of these devices. With such limited experience, how can we begin to make the best choices in our designs?
The RM-CELL: A set of old ideas that produce new results
Authors: de la Pena Casares G
Published: January 2007

This paper reports a system with unexpected features. Starting from scratch, it learns to synthesize the function between the input and the output of a black box, which receives N bits and produces one. After being trained with one pass of a random sample of inputs and outputs, the system reproduces the sample completely but, if the sample size is greater than, or equal to some minimum (that depends on the black box function), the system will forecast correctly outside of the learned sample. The system has been tested with functions that range from easy to difficult and it has survived (up to now) all the tests. One of them is here reported.
HCI and the inadequacies of direct manipulation systems
Authors: Buxton Bill
Published: January 2007

The Direct Manipulation (DM) style of user interface made popular by the Macintosh is becoming a de facto standard. Rather than being taken as a point of departure, it appears to be taken more as a standard to achieve. Using the specification of scope as an example, DM interfaces are shown to be deficient in supporting a transaction fundamental to word processing, information retrieval and CAD. This essay is a plea for designers to break out of the complacency that surrounds the DM approach. It also calls into question the methodologies of HCI for the very limited degree to which they have challenged the DM approach and their paucity of ideas for generating strong new alternatives.
Towards a guide to social action for computer professionals
Authors: Johnson Jeff , Pine Evelyn
Published: January 2007

The Rodney King video, trial, verdict, and subsequent riots jolted Americans in many ways besides showing us acts of violence committed by police and citizens. It also made the inequities of American society painfully clear, and provided a clea r response to Langston Hughes' question: "What happens to a dream deferred?" Answer : it explodes. This caused many people to rethink how they are conducting their lives, and how we are conducting our neighborhoods, our cities, our states, and our nation.
Measuring file access patterns in UNIX
Authors: Hu Irene
Published: January 2007

UNIX is a disk-based operating system, where only the system kernel is always memory-resident. A combination of small block size, limited read-ahead and numerous seeks can severely limit the file system throughput. This paper presents a tool to study the file access patterns. Information derived from the data collected can be used to determine the optimal disk block size and also to improve the block placement strategy. The tool is a software monitor, installed at the device driver level, and triggered by every physical request to the disk handler. The design approach used to measure the average number of logical records accessed sequentially is described. An evaluation of the tool is also presented.
Considerations on the insularity of performance evaluation
Authors: Ferrari Domenico
Published: January 2007

The author argues that systems performance evaluation, in the first twenty years of its existence, has developed in substantial isolation with respect to such disciplines as computer architecture, system organization, operating systems, and software engineering. The possible causes for this phenomenon, which seems to be unique in the history of engineering, are explored. Its positive and negative effects on computer science and technology, as well as on performance evaluation itself, are discussed. In the author's opinion, the drawbacks of isolated development outweigh its advantages. Thus, the author proposes instructional and research initiatives to foster the rapid integration of the performance evaluation viewpoint into the main stream of computer science and engineering.
Book review: LOGIC PROGRAMMING AND ITS APPLICATIONS. edited by Michel van Caneghem and David H. D. Warren. Ablex Series in Artificial Intelligence (Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1986)
Authors: Kalin Marty
Published: January 2007

The book brings together eighteen refereed papers grouped into six areas:* languages and formalisms* implementation* tools* applications* natural language* future directions
Interactive problem solving
Authors: Hodgson J P E
Published: January 2007

An interactive generation of a solution to a 3 × 3 × 2 cube-like problem is presented.
The eastern cardiac pacemaker surveillance center of the U. S. veterans administration
Authors: McManus D C , Fletcher D R
Published: January 2007

As a comprehensive center for pacemaker study, the VA Eastern Pacemaker Surveillance Center (EPSC) combines three responsibilities. First, EPSC actively monitors more than 3,500 persons in 28 states by telephone. EPSC also maintains the national VA Pacemaker Registry of over 20,000 patients. Additionally, EPSC is the VA national center for testing explanted pacemakers. The EPSC database is implemented in MUMPS on a PDP 11/44 mini-computer, using the public domain FileMan DBMS. Designed after development of multi-programmable pulse generators and dual chamber pacing, the EPSC database incorporates the expanding range of new pacing parameters. Data is entered interactively by pacemaker technicians. EPSC capabilities include a linked on-site Marquette MUSE D-300 computer system which analyzes and stores standard-lead ECGs, clinically-recorded pacemaker pulse waveforms and telephoned rhythm tracings. Comprehensive EPSC services include augmented monitoring of veterans with pacemakers and leads involved in advisory bulletins or recalls.
Survey of educational programs in medical information science
Authors: Glaser John P , Edgar Jane
Published: January 2007

The behavior of a VLSI device can be expressed in occam, a language based on communicating processes. It is then possible to establish that the design behaves as intended, by simulation and by proof techniques using the formal semantics of occam. Finally, the occam source can be directly compiled into correct silicon layout.
CAPS—Communication and Access to information for Persons with Special needs
Authors: Wesley Tom , Tobin Christopher
Published: January 2007

The SGML community is perfectly aware of the benefits International Standards bring to the interchange of digital information, especially when that information is textual in form. What the same community may be less aware of is the enormous group of individuals who have no access to such information because of visual disability. This paper will describe the efforts of a European Community funded project CAPS (Communication and Access to information for People with Special needs), to use SGML and its associated standards to fulfill the belief "that advancing computer based publishing and through adaptive computer technology for persons with disabilities offers the potential to make printed information accessible simultaneously and at no greater cost than the able bodied community enjoys."The paper will go on to describe how SGML has been used to define a DTD for the European Interchange Format (EIF) to enable print disabled access to newspapers
Book review: Machine Learning: A Theoretical Approach by Balas K. Natarajan (Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 1991)
Authors: O'Rourke Joseph , Hoff Amy
Published: January 2007

Valiant's PAC learning model surely must rank as one of the most fruitful ideas introduced into computer science in the last decade. "PAC" stands for "probably approximately correct," which, despite sounding like a grammatical joke, is a compelling model. It permits a learning algorithm two parameters of slack: precision ε ("approximately correct") and confidence δ ("probably"). The beauty of the model is that it lends itself to analysis, amply demonstrated in this book.
Book review: Bayes or Bust? A Critical Examination of Bayesian Confirmation Theory by John Earman (MIT Press Cambridge, MA 1992)
Authors: Klawonn Frank
Published: January 2007

Bayesianism is a theory for the representation of uncertain knowledge and provides a framework for the concept of learning from new evidence by conditionalization. The book Bayes or Bust by John Earman is not concerned with the application of Bayes-theory in the field of expert systems, but is devoted to modeling confirmation of scientific theories. Nevertheless, I can recommend it to all researchers interested in Bayesianism, since many of the problems discussed in this book do not only apply to the philosophical aspects of confirmation of scientific theories, but also to the treatment of uncertainty by Bayes-theory in knowledge based systems.
A performance evaluation on caching mechanisms for a persistent object system
Authors: Burdorf Christopher
Published: January 2007

This paper analizes the performance of caching mechanisms in a persistent object system. Techniques used in operating systems and developed by the author are investigated. Execution timings and analysis of results are presented.
Equal rights for functional objects or, the more things change, the more they are the same
Authors: Baker Henry G.
Published: January 2007

We argue that intensional
object identity
in object-oriented programming languages and databases is best defined operationally by side-effect semantics. A corollary is that "functional" objects have extensional semantics. This model of object identity, which is analogous to the normal forms of relational algebra, provides cleaner semantics for the value-transmission operations and built-in primitive equality predicate of a programming language, and eliminates the confusion surrounding "call-by-value" and "call-by-reference" as well as the confusion of multiple equality predicates.Implementation issues are discussed, and this model is shown to have significant performance advantages in persistent, parallel, distributed and multilingual processing environments. This model also provides insight into the "type equivalence" problem of Algol-68, Pascal and Ada.
A new approach to I/O performance evaluation
Authors: Chen Peter M. , Patterson David A.
Published: January 2007

Current I/O benchmarks suffer from several chronic problems: they quickly become obsolete, they do not stress the I/O system, and they do not help in understanding I/O system performance. We propose a new approach to I/O performance analysis. First, we propose a self-scaling benchmark that dynamically adjusts aspects of its workload according to the performance characteristic of the system being measured. By doing so, the benchmark automatically scales across current and future systems. The evaluation aids in understanding system performance by reporting how performance varies according to each of fie workload parameters. Second, we propose predicted performance, a technique for using the results from the self-scaling evaluation to quickly estimate the performance for workloads that have not been measured. We show that this technique yields reasonably accurate performance estimates and argue that this method gives a far more accurate comparative performance evaluation than traditional single point benchmarks. We apply our new evaluation technique by measuring a SPARCstation 1+ with one SCSI disk, an HP 730 with one SCSI-II disk, a Sprite LFS DECstation 5000/200 with a three-disk disk array, a Convex C240 minisupercomputer with a four-disk disk array, and a Solbourne 5E/905 fileserver with a two-disk disk array.
Efficient simulation of caches under optimal replacement with applications to miss characterization
Authors: Sugumar Rabin A. , Abraham Santosh G.
Published: January 2007

Cache miss characterization models such as the three Cs model are useful in developing schemes to reduce cache misses and their penalty. In this paper we propose the OPT model that uses cache simulation under optimal (OPT) replacement to obtain a finer and more accurate characterization of misses than the three Cs model. However, current methods for optimal cache simulation are slow and difficult to use. We present three new techniques for optimal cache simulation. First, we propose a limited lookahead strategy with error fixing, which allows one pass simulation of multiple optimal caches. Second, we propose a scheme to group entries in the OPT stack, which allows efficient tree based fully-associative cache simulation under OPT. Third, we propose a scheme for exploiting partial inclusion in set-associative cache simulation under OPT. Simulators based on these algorithms were used to obtain cache miss characterizations using the OPT model for nine SPEC benchmarks. The results indicate that miss ratios under OPT are substantially lower than those under LRU replacement, by up to 70% in fully-associative caches, and up to 32% in two-way set-associative caches.
Modeling and validation of the real-time Mach scheduler
Authors: Arakawa Hiroshi , Katcher Daniel I. , Strosnider Jay K. , Tokuda Hideyuki
Published: January 2007

Real-time scheduling theory is designed to providea prioriverification that all real-time tasks meet their timing requirements. However, this body of theory generally assumes that resources are instantaneously pre-emptable and ignores the costs of systems services. In previous work [1, 2] we provided a theoretical foundation for including the costs of the operating system scheduler in the real-time scheduling framework. In this paper, we apply that theory to the Real-Time (RT) Mach scheduler. We describe a methodology for measuring the components of the RT Mach scheduler in user space. We analyze the predicted performance of different real-time task sets on the target system using the scheduling model and the measured characteristics. We then verify the model experimentally by measuring the performance of the real-time task sets, consisting of RT Mach threads, on the target system, The experimental measurements verify the analytical model to within a small percentage of error. Thus, using the model we have successfully predicted the performance of real-time task sets using system services, and developed consistent methodologies to accomplish that prediction.
CSMS'93---COMPUTER-BASED MEDICAL SYSTEMS
Authors: Kruse John
Published: January 2007

The Sixth Annual IEEE Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems (CBMS '93) was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on June 13--16, 1993. Much of the conference focused on how to develop medical systems which are safe and usable. Tutorials covered 1) software quality assurance, including improved processes for software development, 2) industrial design, which included processes for incorporating the needs of customers and users early in the design process, and 3) Quality Function Deployment, which is a structured approach to tracking the relationship between users' needs and technical measures of a product.
Celebrating a decade of joyful innovation
Authors: Sheppard Sylvia B. , Murphy Elizabeth D.
Published: January 2007

With abundant joy and hospitality, the University of Maryland's Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCIL) marked its 10-year anniversary on June 10, 1993. Ben Shneiderman, Head of the HCIL, welcomed over 200 attendees to the symposium and open house. Azriel Rosenfeld, Director of the University's Center for Automation Research, greeted the audience. The Center includes the HCIL, which spans the departments of Computer Science and Psychology and the College of Library and Information Services.
Privacy considerations in CSCW
Authors: Clement Andrew
Published: January 2007

A central feature of CSCW applications is the electronic capture and dissemination of detailed personal information. Whether using e-mail, computer conferencing facilities, group decision support systems, media spaces, active badges, or other computerized means for aiding collective work activities, fine-grained information about individual's performance and behaviour is made available to others. This poses important questions about how the people involved may control information about themselves---information which can play an important role in fundamental notions of personal and collective dignity, identity and autonomy.
CSCW'92 workshop report
Authors: Karat John , Bennett John
Published: January 2007

Fifteen people participated in the one day workshop held at CSCW'92 in Toronto on October 31, 1992. The workshop announcement invited experienced practitioners and reflective researchers to submit short position papers as background for discussion. The focus was on how people doing software design activities in groups can be effectively supported. Our overall objective was to create a dialog within which we could characterize a microcosm of group work that takes place during the complex activity of design. If we could develop some understanding of design aspects, we could then identify different types of support and interventions that might be helpful. In this way each of us as individuals in our subsequent work might increase the probability of outcomes considered successful in terms of both design team results and design team processes.
A general-arrays implementation of association lists
Authors: Kent Michael
Published: January 2007

Association lists are a data structure in which arbitrary values can be bound to equally arbitrary keys, and from which the bound values can subsequently be retrieved by specifying the appropriate key. Association lists are quite easy to implement in APLs which support general arrays; the implementation here is as two-column matrices with keys in the first column and the corresponding values in the second.
Deja Vu
Authors: Katz Amnon
Published: January 2007

The Turing Test was conceived by Alan Turing [1] as a device to encourage skeptics to seriously consider the question of a computer that might behave intelligently. I have always wondered if Turing intended the pun: a
gedanken
test for thought. From the perspective of computing at mid-century, it was a daring and imaginative device, but today, if you listen carefully, you might hear Turing's crow-like laugh wherever AI experts gather to defend its contemporary utility.
Book review: Introduction to Computer System Performance Evaluation by Krishna Kant (McGraw-Hill, 1992)
Authors: Lipsky Lester
Published: January 2007

The purpose of this book, in the author's own words is "... two-fold. First, it should be usable as a text for a one or two semester graduate course in the theory and practice of performance evaluation with strong emphasis on analytic modeling. Second, it should be useful as a reference to both researchers and practitioners in the performance evaluation field". The recommended prerequisite courses are "probability theory, operating systems, and computer architecture." If one throws in a course in linear algebra or matrix theory (how can Markov chains be studied without it?) then one has the typical undergraduate major (or a good minor) degree in Computer Science/Engineering.
The DO WHILE reconsidered
Authors: Redwine Cooper
Published: January 2007

The article "Using the Fortran 90 DO WHILE," by Edward Reid (
Fortran Forum,
Vol. 12, No. 2, June 1993) started me thinking again about the issue of loop control. The article seems to encourage Fortran 90 programmers to try to think of loop control in terms of the

do while,

which is a very different viewpoint from that taken by the first two Fortran 90 books I read, both of which appeared to discourage its use under any conditions. I suppose that over the years I have come to take the

do while

pretty much for granted, so I was rather surprised by the attitudes of all these authors. In order to try to reconcile these writings with my own knowledge and experience, I decided to put down on paper some of my thoughts on the subject.
Human interaction for symbolic computation
Authors: Heck André
Published: January 2007

The Research Institute for Applications of Computer Algebra (
RIACA
), in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has as its goal the research of applications of computer algebra in the fields of mathematics and sciences, engineering, etc. It aims to be an institute with a strong international visibility.
EWHCI '93 (East-West international conference on Human-Computer Interaction)
Authors: Instone Keith , Cypher Allen , Unger Claus
Published: January 2007

The third annual East-West Human-Computer Interaction conference was held in Moscow in early August, 1993. The first meeting of this kind was a single-track symposium held just before the collapse of the USSR in 1991; the second used the East-West name and was held in St. Petersburg in 1992. The conference took place at the International Centre for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI), ICSTI, led by Juri Gornostaev, served as the Russian organizers of the conference. The western organization was chaired by Austin Henderson, with Len Bass and Claus Unger serving as the technical program chairs.
The
Grapheur
Authors: Hassenforder M. , Gissinger G.
Published: January 2007

This paper introduces a new kind of graphic page maker concept for curve drawing. The implemented tool is designed to handle scientific data, but the underlying structure enables it to be adapted to any kind of curve drawing. This tool is a filter translating numerical input data into a page of curves following a given page layout. The input data format is very flexible and the page layout is hierarchically split into sub elements. This hierarchy is displayed and can be modified in a specially designed editor. The tool is built with object oriented design allowing easy improvement. This feature has been tested, we have successfully added some new friendly objects, so future implementation is discussed.
Book review: Machine Models of Music Schwanauer, Stephan M. and David A. Levitt (eds.) (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 1993)
Authors: Kassler Michael
Published: January 2007

The carefree character of this compilation begins in the second sentence of its introduction where the editors confer a nonactual knighthood upon Charles Babbage and assert without evidence that Ada Lady Lovelace was his mistress.
Inductive logic programming
Authors: Muggleton Stephen
Published: January 2007

Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) is a research area which investigates the construction of first-order definite clause theories from examples and background knowledge. ILP systems have been applied successfully in a number of real-world domains. These include the learning of structure-activity rules for drug design, finite-element mesh design rules, rules for primary-secondary prediction of protein structure and fault diagnosis rules for satellites. There is a well established tradition of learning-in-the-limit results in ILP. Recently some results within Valiant's PAC-learning framework have also been demonstrated for ILP systems. In this paper it is argued that algorithms can be directly
derived
from the formal specifications of ILP. This provides a common basis for Inverse Resolution, Explanation-Based Learning, Abduction and Relative Least General Generalisation. A new general-purpose, efficient approach to predicate invention is demonstrated. ILP is underconstrained by its logical specification. Therefore a brief overview of extra-logical constraints used in ILP systems is given. Some present limitations and research directions for the field are identified.
Applications of inductive logic programming
Authors: Bratko Ivan , King Ross
Published: January 2007

Some applications of Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) are presented. Those applications are chosen that specifically benefit from
relational
descriptions generated by ILP programs, and from ILP's ability to accommodate background knowledge. Applications included are: drug design, predicting the secondary structure of proteins, and design of finite-element meshes. Some other applications are briefly described. The practical advantages and disadvantages of ILP learning are discussed.
A model of I/S partnering relationships
Authors: Klepper Robert
Published: January 2007

Outsourcing is becoming a more important way of providing Information System (I/S) services in organizations. Outsourcing relationships between a client and vendor which are long-lasting, involve coordinated client-vendor activity, and investment by both parties are known as partnerships. This paper proposes a model that can be used to analyze the forces that foster partnering arrangements in I/S outsourcing relationships. After it is tested the model will be useful to I/S personnel making outsourcing decisions and managing relationships with outsourcing vendors.
RATCHET: real-time address trace compression hardware for extended traces
Authors: Schieber Colleen D. , Johnson Eric E.
Published: January 2007

The address traces used in computer architecture research are commonly generated using software techniques that introduce time dilations of an order of magnitude or more. Such techniques may also omit classes of memory references that are important for accurate models of computer systems, such as instruction prefetches, operating system references, and interrupt activity.We describe a technique for capturing all classes of references in real time. RATCHET employs trace filtering hardware to reduce the bandwidth and storage requirements that have previously limited the usefulness of hardware-based tracing. In evaluating this technique using the ten SPEC89 benchmark programs running on a Sun-3/60 workstation, we found that a small filter cache achieves compression ratios in the 10-30 range during the startup section of the programs. Traces from the middle sections of the C programs achieved compression ratios of 20-30, while the FORTRAN codes produced ratios of 45-84. Traces from a smaller ionospheric simulator program were compressed by factors of 100.These filtered traces typically represent 36 million contiguous references.
Combined use of languages in object-oriented software construction
Authors: Karakostas V. , Pourkashani L.
Published: January 2007

This paper argues that a combined use of languages is needed for object-oriented software construction, since no single language can be ideal for all the phases of prototyping, design and implementation. The approach discussed in this paper is based on the combined use of two object-oriented languages. The first of them (
Amore
), a hybrid object and logic-based language, is used for specifications prototyping, whilst the second one, (C++) is used for the final system construction. An automatic tool transforms Amore specifications to C++ code templates which can be manually modified by the programmer. This approach improves time the consuming and error prone activity of manual translation of specifications into code, whilst at the same time improves the quality of the delivered system.
Book reivew: Simulating Humans: Computer Graphics Animation and Control by Norman I. Badler, Cary B. Phillips, and Bonnie L. Webber (Oxford University Press, 1993)
Authors: Marks Joe
Published: January 2007

This book describes a continuing research effort at the University of Pennsylvania to model and control simulated humanoid figures. Profs. Badler and Webber have directed this work for many years; Dr. Phillips did his Ph.D. work under Prof. Badler. The Badler-Webber tandem was one of the first examples of what is now something of a trend in academe---collaboration between researchers in computer graphics and AI, especially natural-language processing. At Penn, this collaboration has focused on the long-term goal of:• creating a biomechanically realistic human model;• facilitating behavioral control of the model; and• using natural language to guide and instruct the model.
Mapping a complex temporal problem into a combination of static and dynamic neural networks
Authors: Catfolis Thierry
Published: January 2007

Until recently, time related artificial intelligence problems were considered difficult to tackle, and the element time was often eliminated from the core problem. Only during the last decades, researchers (Decortis & Cacciabue, [4]; Klopf & Morgan, [7]) started to explore the importance of time dependencies in artificial intelligence systems. Two different methods - 'time windows' or 'time buffers' and 'dynamic systems' - were experimented and improved in classic artificial intelligence problems like expert systems (Malkoff, [9]).The next step was to apply these two methods to artificial neural network algorithms. Initially, these algorithms (like back-propagation) used a 'time window' approach (Levin et al., [8]; Chakraborty et al., [3]) but recently dynamic network algorithms were developed (Hirsch, [6]; Reiss & Taylor, [10]; Schmidhuber, [13]; Williams & Zipser, [14]).We explain the advantages of these algorithms and the problems that occur due to their computational requirements. We introduce a method for lowering this requirement by splitting a temporal task into a (smaller) temporal part and a static or non-temporal part. By doing so we obtain the advantages of both methods: the inherent implementation of unknown time dependencies with the dynamic neural network and the low computational effort of the static neural network. We demonstrate this approach on a simple diagnosis problem.
A connectionist approach to rate adaptation
Authors: Nguyen Mai H. , Cottrell Garrison W.
Published: January 2007

In previous work [2], we presented a technique for automatically adapting to the rate of an incoming signal. The idea is as follows: First, a model of the signal is built using a recurrent neural network trained to predict its input at some delay, for a "typical" rate of the signal. Then, with the weights fixed, the time constant of the network is adapted using gradient descent. The time constant controls the processing speed of the network; thus, by adjusting the time constant, we adapt the network's processing rate to match that of the input signal.This method has previously been applied to several signals: sets of sine waves differing in frequency and in phase, a multidimensional signal representing the walking gait of children, and the energy contour of a simple speech utterance. This paper describes experiments on a voicing distinction task using simulated speech data. Results indicate that, using data at only a few rates, our rate adaptation technique can be used to train a system which can then adapt to other rates not represented in the training set. Furthermore, the network's time constant appropriately reflects rate changes in the input signal and can be used as a measure of the signal's rate. We will discuss how this technique can be used to build speech systems that are robust to speaking rate variation.
Rotating a graphics image with APL
Authors: Hart Charles W.
Published: January 2007

Graphic transformation is neatly accomplished by using matrices, and hence APL is an excellent language with which to write graphics routines. This paper is a brief tutorial and gives a sample rotation routine. The mathematical foundation and APL2 implementation are given.
Book review: From Animals to Animats 2. Edited by Jean-Arcady Meyer, Herbert L. Roiblat, and Stewart W. Wilson (MIT Press)
Authors: Hexmoor Henry
Published: January 2007

It is time animals lived side by side with animals. They can live, learn, build maps, evolve, and be our domesticated pets too. In the intersection of AI, Robotics, Philosophy and Psychology, traditions of building ever more complex systems that try to exhibit intelligent behavior or solve puzzles are giving way to systems that live simple lives, without pretending to reason deeply, or to act as if they were real animals. Instead, the system designer builds simple agents and endows them with basic shallow abilities to interact with the world. The point is that the designer doesn't solve all the problems that the system may encounter beforehand. Nor does the designer build a system that acts as if it is trying to talk to itself outloud. Many of the traditional symbolic systems are designed so that they can be made to generate a transcript of human understandable steps they take to decide on performing each and every action. Once deployed in a complex world, the animat (just as a device would) uses its repertoire of interactive behaviors as they become needed (e.g., a microwave oven responds to buttons pushed). The interactions that follow may appear intelligent. Such agents can also be made to learn from these interactions and enrich their range of capabilities.
End-user object-oriented programming by means of an object-oriented interface
Authors: Gordon Robert F.
Published: January 2007

An object-oriented interface (OOI) provides the capability of object-oriented programming to the end-user (non-programmer). In this paper, we provide an example of an OOI for the specific application area of simulation modeling. We describe how this OOI provides the end-user with the requisite tools for object-oriented programming in this domain. The end-user programs, compiles, runs, and analyzes the results of simulation models by using the objects and functions provided by the interface. We stipulate that the features associated with object-oriented programming (ie., instantiation, information hiding, inheritance, polymorphism, abstract data types, message-passing, and extensibility) are provided to the end-user by this interface and that they are the very features that make the resulting package powerful and easy to use.
Using Buchbergers algorithm in invariant theory
Authors: Göbel Manfred
Published: January 2007

This paper shows how Groebner bases theory could be used in invariant theory. It presents algorithms for representation, basis-construction and -test for the ring Inv

K/G
n

of

G
n

-invariant polynomials over the field
K
for any given group

G
n

of permutations.
Efficient factorization of linear ODE's
Authors: Schwarz Fritz
Published: January 2007

Factorization and testing for irreducibility has turned out to be one of the most important algorithms for handling linear ode's. The main hindrance for applying it is its tremendeous complexity originating to a large extent from solving certain Riccati equations which occur during the factorization. The solution procedure for these Riccati equations is much more manageable if it is subdivided into two major parts. At first so called
solution candidates
are determined each of which depends only on the parameters of a single irreducible denominator or the behavior at infinity. In a second step it is tried to complete each candidate into a genuine solution of the Riccati equation, possibly including an unspecified number of additional first order poles. Furthermore a scheme is proposed for running the factorization procedure in parallel on a two-processor machine in which possible factors are searched for both from the right and the left at the same time.
Shade: a fast instruction-set simulator for execution profiling
Authors: Cmelik Bob , Keppel David
Published: January 2007

Tracing tools are used widely to help analyze, design, and tune both hardware and software systems. This paper describes a tool called Shade which combines efficient instruction-set simulation with a flexible, extensible trace generation capability. Efficiency is achieved by dynamically compiling and caching code to simulate and trace the application program. The user may control the extent of tracing in a variety of ways; arbitrarily detailed application state information may be collected during the simulation, but tracing less translates directly into greater efficiency. Current Shade implementations run on SPARC systems and simulate the SPARC (Versions 8 and 9) and MIPS I instruction sets. This paper describes the capabilities, design, implementation, and performance of Shade, and discusses instruction set emulation in general.
Height as a coefficient bound for univariate polynomial factors
Authors: Liu Zhuojun , Wang Paul S.
Published: January 2007

A priori bound for the size of coefficients of the desired factors is important for modern polynomial factoring algorithms. Experts have long suspected that the maximum coefficient size in a given polynomial, called the
height
, is a good heuristic bound. Developed are sufficient conditions under which the simple height bound is actually valid. Efficient ways to check these conditions are investigated and implemented.
Object oriented methods using Fortran 90
Authors: Dupée Brian J.
Published: January 2007

The aims of this article are twofold. One is to show that numerical software may be implemented using object-oriented methods, and the other is to show that Fortran 90 provides a sufficient platform to achieve this. It is not to claim that Fortran 90 is an object oriented programming language --- there are major areas which are in no way supported by Fortran 90.
Proof post processor animation with SIMAN
Authors: McHaney Roger , White Doug
Published: January 2007

The use of computer graphics to dynamically display simulation entities and their activities is defined as animation. Animation has become an important component of the computer simulation modeling process. Industrial users of computer simulation have come to expect a visual component to complement traditional printed reports in the communication of results. This trend (Grant and Weiner, 1986) has been noticed by simulation software vendors prompting the release of tools and software enhancements to facilitate the development of high quality animation.
Book review: The Engineering of Knowledge-based Systems Theory and Practice by Avelino J. Gonzales and Douglas D. Dankel (Prentice Hall, 1993)
Authors: Martin David
Published: January 2007

The Engineering of Knowledge-based Systems --- Theory and Practice
is a textbook whose objective "is to serve as an introduction to the branch of AI known as knowledge-based systems." Comprising 523 pages, it provides a wide-ranging survey of the field in seventeen chapters, each including a number of examples, figures, and end-of-chapter problems. Several chapters include interesting historical perspectives on the field and brief case studies of real-world systems. In addition, the book is accompanied by PC diskettes which contain a copy of version 5.0 of NASA's CLIPS software (C Language Implementation Production System), and a demonstration version of the TI Personal Consultant Plus shell.
Book review: Neural Networks for Knowledge Representation and Inference by D. S. Levine and M. Aparicio (eds.) (Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., 1994)
Authors: Firschein Oscar
Published: January 2007

This book is the second of a series of books based on conferences sponsored by the Metroplex Institute for Neural Dynamics (MIND), an interdisciplinary conference of Dallas-Fort Worth area neural network professionals in both academia and industry. This book is based on the October 1990 conference - it's too bad that it took four years to reach publication.
HCI International '93: 5th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction
Authors: Salvendy Gavriel
Published: January 2007

This book explores the use of text and how people react to it. Many of the same issues that confront graphic designers in the print medium are similar to problems confronted by interface designers. Discussions of colour, typeface, and graphic layout are all transferable to the screen even though they are discussed in terms of the printed page. By using the same techniques as graphic artists, the interface designer can direct the user's attention to the most appropriate information and reduce confusion. Also, by looking at what designers in the graphic arts are doing, designers of interfaces can expand their scope and add more visceral appeal to their products.
Laying the foundation for the information super highway
Authors: Durbin Jim , Jacob Robert , Hinckley Ken
Published: January 2007

On June 13th, the University of Maryland's Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory held its 11th Annual Symposium and Open House, attended by 100-200 visitors. This article reviews the day for those who were unable to attend.
The Zen of interface design
Authors: Wadlow Maria G.
Published: January 2007

The other day several colleagues and I were discussing interface design and its impact on our society. Are we really making a difference? To some eyes, the interface design field seems to be at a standstill. Although we all conceded that we could see lots of activity in the field, there hasn't been any discernible forward progress recently. That conversation started me thinking about the process by which any technology comes to have a lasting impact on our society, the process by which a technology is integrated into our lives.
Modelling adaptive interaction of OPADE by Petri nets
Authors: De Carolis Berardina , de Rosis Fiorella
Published: January 2007

OPADE is a project aimed at prototyping and evaluating an intelligent, multilingual computerized drug prescription system. The several --- industrial and research --- partners involved, cooperate to design, implement and evaluate the system with specific roles. The interface is seen as a separate and crucial component, since its validity is essential to insure that the system is acceptable to potential users. Therefore, a method is needed to specify all interaction aspects, so that partners can cooperate in refining the design until an agreement is reached.
Specifying user interfaces in DisCo
Authors: Systä Kari
Published: January 2007

In this paper we introduce a new approach for specification of interactive systems at a high level of abstraction. We use an excutable specification language
DisCo
, for which we have developed support tools including an execution environment with graphical animations. In addition to validation by execution, the language allows us to use formal proofs for critical properties of the specifications. Another important aspect of DisCo is its support for stepwise refinement of specifications. This allows the addition of new properties in such a way that safety properties of previous stages are preserved. The approach is exemplified by a stepwise specification of an electronic mail system.
Book review: Intelligent Scheduling by M. Zweben and M. S. Fox (Morgan Kaufmann, 1994)
Authors: Van Dyke Parunak H.
Published: January 2007

As a domain for applied AI, scheduling combines a conceptually rich domain that lends itself well to symbolic manipulation; a set of problems that are provably NP-hard and thus good candidates for heuristics; a tradition of alternative solution techniques to permit comparison of results; and the potential for strong practical impact on industrial competitiveness. The editors of this volume, who are themselves leaders in this domain, have gathered twenty-five papers by prominent researchers and developers world- wide to provide a snapshot of the state-of-the-art in intelligent scheduling. The collection is more unified than many similar volumes, with a short (9 page) but meaty introduction and an integrated 24-page index. An integrated bibliography would be a helpful addition.
Teaching introductory AI from first principles
Authors: Epstein Susan L. , Teller Virginia
Published: January 2007

Hunter College teaches introductory AI as a one semester, advanced undergraduate elective that focuses on issues in three areas: state-space search and control, knowledge representation, and Lisp. The search component defines AI methodology and conveys how the computing world views the field; knowledge representation illustrates how AI sees the real world; and Lisp shows how to make AI happen. The history and format of the course as it has evolved over a period of fifteen years is covered, along with a description of the course content today and a rationale for teaching AI from this perspective.
How much AI does a cognitive science major need to know?
Authors: Batali John
Published: January 2007

Artificial intelligence has given the world a set of programming tools and practices, a set of experiments and models, a set of experiences, and a set of intuitions about what intelligence, representation, and computation are about and are not about. What of this legacy is still relevant and crucial to a cognitive science undergraduate?
Characterizing plans as a set of constraints—the  model—a framework for comparative analysis
Authors: Tate Austin
Published: January 2007

This paper presents an approach to representing and manipulating plans based on a model of plans as a set of constraints. The  model
1
is used to characterise the plan representation used within O-Plan and to relate this work to emerging formal analyses of plans and planning. This synergy of practical and formal approaches can stretch the formal methods to cover realistic plan representations as needed for real problem solving, and can improve the analysis that is possible for production planning systems. is intended to act as a bridge to improve dialogue between a number of communities working on formal planning theories, practical planning systems and systems engineering process management methodologies. It is intended to support new work on automatic manipulation of plans, human communication about plans, principled and reliable acquisition of plan information, and formal reasoning about plans.