bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A package for the implementation of static workload models
Authors: Bolzoni M. L. , Calzarossa M. C. , Mapelli P. , Serazzi G.
Published: January 2007

The general principles for constructing workload models are reviewed. The differences between static and dynamic workload models are introduced and the importance of the classification phase for the implementation of both types of workload models is pointed out. All the operations required for constructing static workload models have been connected in a package. Its main properties and fields of application are presented. The results of an experimental study performed with the package on a batch and interactive workload show its ease of use and the accuracy of the model obtained.
Stationary deterministic flows in discrete systems
Authors: Gelenbe Erol
Published: January 2007

We consider a deterministic system whose state space is the n-dimensional first orthant. It may be considered as a network of (deterministic) queues, a Karp-Miller vector addition system, a Petrinet, a complex computer system, etc. Weak assumptions are then made concerning the asymptotic or limiting behaviour of the instants at which events are observed accross a cut in the system : these instants may be considered as "arrival" or "departure" instants. Thus, like in operational analysis, we deal with deterministic and observable properties and we need no stochastic assumptions or restrictions (such as independence, identical distributions, etc.).

We consider however asymptotic or stationary properties, as in conventional queueing analysis. Under our assumptions a set of standard theorems are proved: concerning arrival and departure instant measures, concerning, "birth and death" type equations, and concerning Little's formula. Our intention is to set the framework for a new approach to performance modelling of computer systems in a context close to that used in actual measurements, but taking into account infinite time behaviour in order to take advantage of the useful mathematical properties of asymptotic results.
Fast approximate solution of multiprogramming models
Authors: Brandwajn Alexandre
Published: January 2007

Queueing network models of computer systems with multiprogramming constraints generally do not possess a product-form solution in the sense of Jackson. Therefore, one is usually led to consider approximation techniques when dealing with such models. Equivalence and decomposition is one way of approaching their solution. With multiple job classes, the equivalent network may be viewed as a set of interdependent queues. In general, the state-dependence in this equivalent network precludes a product-form solution, and the size of its state space grows rapidly with the number of classes and of jobs per class. This paper presents two methods for approximate solution of the equivalent state-dependent queueing network. The first approach is a manifold application of equivalence and decomposition. The second approach, less accurate than the first one, is a fast-converging iteration whose computational complexity grows near-linearly with the number of job classes and jobs in a class. Numerical examples illustrate the accuracy of the two methods.
Modeling reentrant and nonreentrant software
Authors: Agre Jon R. , Tripathi Satish K.
Published: January 2007

A description of software module models for computer systems is presented. The software module models are based on a two level description, the software level and the hardware level, of the computer system. In the software module level it is possible to model performance effects of software traits such as reentrant and nonreentrant type software modules. The resulting queueing network models are, in general, not of the product form class and approximation schemes are employed as solution techniques.

An example of a software module model of a hypothetical computer system is presented. The model is solved with a simulation program and three approximation schemes. The approximation results were compared with the simulation results and some schemes are found to produce good estimates of the effects of changing from reentrant to non-reentrant software modules.
HAM
Authors: Neuse Doug , Chandy K. Mani
Published: January 2007

An approximate analytical method for estimating performance statistics of general closed queueing network models of computing systems is presented. These networks may include queues with priority scheduling disciplines and non-exponential servers and several classes of jobs. The method is based on the aggregation theorem (Norton's theorem) of Chandy, Herzog and Woo.
An analysis of two flow control techniques
Authors: Tripathi Satish K. , Harbitter Alan
Published: January 2007

Queuing models can be useful tools in comparing the performance characteristics of different flow control techniques. In this paper the window control mechanism, incorporated in protocols such as X.25 is compared to the ARPAnet buffer reservation scheme. Multiclass queuing models are used to examine message throughput and delay characteristics. The analysis highlights the interaction of long and short message (in terms of length in packets) transmitters under the two flow control techniques.
How fair is queue prioritization?
Authors: Raz David , Avi-Itzhak Benjamin , Levy Hanoch
Published: January 2007

Customer classification and prioritization are commonly used in many applications to provide queue preferential service. Their influence on queuing systems has been thoroughly studied from the delay distribution perspective. However, the fairness aspects, which are inherent to any preferential system and highly important to customers, have hardly been studied and not been quantified to date. In this work we use the Resource Allocation Queueing Fairness Measure (RAQFM) to analyze such systems and derive their relative fairness values. We also analyze the effect multiple servers have on fairness, showing that multiple servers increase the fairness of the system.1
Content distribution for seamless transmission
Authors: Coffman E. G. , Constantinides Andreas , Rubenstein Dan , Shepherd Bruce , Stavrou Angelos
Published: January 2007

We introduce a new paradigm in information transmission, the concept of SEAMLESS TRANSMISSION, whereby any client in a network requesting a file starts receiving it immediately, and experiences no delays throughout the remainder of the downloading time. This notion is based on the partial caching concept [2] which was introduced to overcome some of the disadvantages of traditional cache replacement algorithms such as LRU and LRU-threshold [1]. The main idea of partial caching is to store an initial part of the file in the cache and to obtain the rest of the file from the origin server. To achieve the maximal retrieval performance of seamless transmission, clients must be prepared to re-sequence segments of the files received out of order. With this caveat, seamless transmission can be viewed as a way to implement strict quality of service (QoS) guarantees to all clients of a network. This paper gives a provably correct technique for achieving seamlessness for a given file located at the root node in a tree structured network.
Optimal distributed multicast routing using network coding
Authors: Cui Yi , Xue Yuan , Nahrstedt Klara
Published: January 2007

Optimal data routing in a network can be often understood as a multicommodity flow problem. Given a network and a set of commodities, i.e., a set of source-destination pairs, one tries to achieve certain optimization goal, such as minimum delay, maximum throughput, while maintaining certain fairness among all commodities. The constraints of such optimization problems are usually network link capacity and traffic demand of each commodity. Multicommodity flow problem has been well studied as a typical linear programming problem. Its distributed solutions have also been proposed[2].
Control and pricing in stochastic networks with concurrent resource occupancy
Authors: Li Xuan , Yao David D.
Published: January 2007

Concurrent resource occupancy pervades most engineering and service systems. For example, a multi-leg plane trip requires seat reservation on several connecting flights; a configure-to-order product demands the simultaneous processing of all its components; a file transfer on the Internet needs band-width on all the links along its route from source to destination. The object of our study is a network with stochastic concurrent occupancy of resources. The network can be physical (e.g., a telecommunication network), or virtual (e.g., the Worldwide Web), or relational (e.g., the bill of materials of a product, representing its configuration of all components); and both the demand/order arrivals and their processing times required of the resources are stochastic. Our goal is to do revenue optimization in the network through two decisions: (a) pricing: to determine the price charged to each job class and its dynamic adjustment over time; and (b) resource control: to regulate the distribution of resources among the job classes, in particular, when to accept/reject a job and from which class.

Below, we highlight a new fixed-point approximation for a network operating under a set of thresholds that control the access of jobs from each class. With this fixed-point approximation, the resource control problem takes the form of setting the optimal thresholds, which can be formulated and solved as a linear program. To determine the optimal prices then amounts to solving another set of optimality equations on top of the linear program. Furthermore, we can show that our approach via solving optimization problems based on the fixed-point approximation is optimal in some asymptotic sense.
SIGCPR membership survey
Authors: Willoughby T. C.
Published: January 2007

The executive committee of the Special Interest Group on Computer Personnel Research (SIGCPR) at the June 1970 annual conference had some difficulty in making plans for the organization because of a lack of knowledge of the abilities and needs of its membership. As a result a committee was established conduct a membership survey. The committee was composed of L. Allan Wright Chairman), Robert Dickmann and Theodore C. Willoughby. The membership survey committee prepared a questionnaire. The questionnaire together with a letter from Chairman Malcolm Gotterer was mailed to all SIGCPR members by the New York ACM office. Returns were mailed to Willoughby. 85 questionnaires were returned of the 375 mailed. Copies of the letter and questionnaire are shown in appendix A.
The computer as a subculture
Authors: Zabarenko Lucy , Williams Ellen
Published: January 2007

In return for the privilege of speaking at an interdisciplinary panel, the speakers owe the audience some information to allow a guess about identity and identifications. Thus: I am an experimental psychologist with psychoanalytic training. Some years of experience in educational research have convinced me and my colleague that we need all the methodological help we can get from other behavioral sciences expecially from anthropology.
Accessibility and design
Authors: Regan Bob
Published: January 2007

Web Accessibility and Web Design are two disciplines with a common theory and divergent practices. Both endeavors rely on a standard set of techniques to ensure a consistent experience of data and content across a diverse set of end users. Both rely on creative individuals to build and deliver great sites and great experiences that have an impact on the user. Both seek to extend the reach of the end user and link individuals together to form a stronger collective whole. However, despite the common theory that links them, web accessibility and web design do not share a common set of practices. Sites hailed for their accessibility are rarely noted for their design. Sites hailed for their design are rarely noteworthy as models of accessibility. Few sites are ever held up as models of both great accessibility and great design.
Peopleware
Authors: Oyer Paul D.
Published: January 2007

The theme of this symposium, "The Systems Approach: Key to Successful Computer Applications", attracted a significant response on the part of computer professionals, managers, and users. Twenty-four papers were selected from over 100 competing in traditional technical areas of hardware, software, simulation, information retrieval, and programming techniques. Increasing numbers of papers were submitted in areas recognized as keys to systems success including user involvement, modelling, novel and useful applications, data bases, security, management, communications and networks, social implications, and peopleware.
A validation report on the Wolfe
Authors: Wolfe Jack M.
Published: January 2007

This test was used in an experimental form in varying numbers by a total of 14 companies and government agencies that had administered the test and provided information subsequently on their supervisors' rankings of the persons tested after receiving our rankings based on the persons' performance on the test. The supervisors' evaluations were based on the persons actual performance in systems analysis.
System analysis skills hierarchy
Authors: Guimaraes Nestor
Published: January 2007

It is generally recognized that the bottle-neck to greater computer utilization is not caused by deficiencies of equipment performance but primarily by the shortage of properly trained professionals who can better define, design, develop and implement computer applications. Business organizations attempt to respond to this shortage by introducing company training programs (Guide International, 1976), (Goldstein, 1974), while educational institutions introduce courses requiring computer proficiency. A survey of schools accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (Cougar, 1977), indicates that 94 percent of the responding institutions now require at least one computer course of undergraduates, signifying a widely recognized need for training in this area.
Some problems regarding the implementation of a licensing procedure for computer personnel
Authors: Sapega August E.
Published: January 2007

This paper discusses some of the problems of establishing a licensing procedure for computer personnel. These problems are discussed drawing upon the author's experiences as a member of a State Engineering Registration Board. The need for a careful, precise definition of the computing field is shown to be a first step in the licensing process. This step leads naturally to the determination of the contents of the licensing examinations, and their administration by the licensing board. The handling of complaints of non-professional practice is discussed. The conclusion is drawn that a clear consensus as to the nature of the practice to be controlled, and the education and experience needed to qualify for registration, must precede the implementation of a licensing procedure.
The Fortran programming language
Authors: Meissner Loren P.
Published: January 2007

Fortran has been in use for some 25 years, and has remained the most widely used programming language in spite of challenges from many new arrivals in the field. An official American National Standard for the language was adopted in 1966 and revised in 1978.The 1978 Fortran standard, known as Fortran 77, introduced "structured" branching, replaced Hollerith with a character-string data type, changed the minimum trip-count for the DO loop to zero, and established compromise forms for many of the variants that had developed since 1966. Compilers for this current standard version of Fortran became widely available in 1980 and 1981. Fortran 77 will remain in wide use through the decade of the 1980's.Looking toward the 1990's, efforts are now under way to modernize and further extend the Fortran language. A significant part of this modernization consists of removing (to a "Fortran 77 Compatibility Module"), and replacing with modern equivalents, many of the old features such as: arithmetic IF; assigned and computed GO TO; statement functions; DIMENSION declarations; ENTRY and alternate return features; and the label-delimited looping construct. An optional replacement for the punched-card oriented source program form will also become available.Features to be added in the Fortran of the 1990's include: whole-array expressions and assignment; precision specification for REAL data; inhomogeneous data structures; and a CASE control structure. A modular language architecture is contemplated, which will facilitate adding major extensions to the language in special application areas.
When is an acronym more than an acronym
Authors: Rodman Robert
Published: January 2007

Acronyms are usually coined by specialists for use among themselves. Few achieve popularity, and fewer still permanence in the general vocabulary. Computer Science has certainly produced its share of acronyms, and a number of these have gained popular acceptance (e.g. FORTRAN).
Objective and alternatives for a computer assisted instruction system for the visually handicapped
Authors: Ballenger William L.
Published: January 2007

In computer assisted instruction (CAI), a dialogue of information can be maintained between the computer and a learner without dependence upon normal vision. This is possible because there are several media alternatives for information input to the learner. These alternatives include large print (visual), braille (tactile), the OPTACON reading system (tactile), and auding (auditory). The criteria used to evaluate each medium for information input include the percentage of the visually handicapped population that can use the medium, the requirements for recoding information for the medium, learner skill development for using the recoded information, the words-per-minute information transfer of the medium, and its instructional effectiveness. The criteria used to evaluate each medium for CAI application are the following: the technological feasibility of integrating it into a CAI system; the recoding of the instructional material for use through the medium; and the cost of the medium. The following discussion is divided into three main sections: the primary design objective of computer assisted instruction for the visually handicapped, alternatives to visual communication, and selection of a nonvisual medium for computer assisted instruction.
The SPIRIT collection
Authors: Joho Hideo , Sanderson Mark
Published: January 2007

A large scale collection of web pages has been essential for research in information retrieval and related areas. This paper provides an overview of a large web collection used in the SPIRIT project for the design and testing of spatially-aware retrieval systems. Several statistics are derived and presented to show the characteristics of the collection.
An experimental determination of the "purity" of a trivial algorithm
Authors: Halstead M. H.
Published: January 2007

Recent work in an area which might be designated as Software Physics [1,2,3,4,5,6] has suggested that the basic structure of algorithms may offer an interesting field for experimental research. Such an experiment is reported here. In an earlier paper [2], it was suggested that a "Second Law" might be stated as:"The internal quality, LV, of a pure algorithm is independent of the language in which it is expressed."
Why our approach to performance evaluation is SDRAWKCAB
Authors: Denning Peter J.
Published: January 2007

What does SDRAWKCAB mean? Some of you already know; some I have told; some have guessed. But many do not know. Those who do know, know it would be contrary to the theme of SDRAWKCAB to tell you immediately what it means, although it certainly would make things much easier if I told you now.
An analysis of measurement procedures for computer systems
Authors: Browne J. C.
Published: January 2007

This paper purports to be a partial record of the remarks made by the author at a panel session sponsored by SIGMETRICS at the 1974 ACM National Conference in San Diego. All of the material covered in the talk is not included here primarily because it appears in other contexts or in the presentations of other speakers.
A practical application of memory interference models
Authors: Bhandarkar Dileep P.
Published: January 2007

This paper briefly describes an approximate Markov chain model for memory interference in a multiprocessor system like C.mmp. The modeling assumptions explain the level of abstraction at which the analysis is carried out. Some empirical measurements are presented to determine the model parameters for C.mmp. The analytic results obtained from the model are compared with some measured and simulation results.
Measurements of the Philips P1400 multiprogramming system
Authors: Marrevée J. P.
Published: January 2007

A number of performance measurements have been made on a Philips P1000 computer under its Multiprogramming System (MPS) in a business applications environment. All measurements were collected by software monitoring programs which were developed with the following objectives in mind: general applicability; minimum overhead; and, as much as possible, independence of Monitor releases.
Study of the performance of RPS
Authors: Rafii Abbas
Published: January 2007

The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of RPS (Rotational Position Sensing) on the response time and utilization of multiple spindle disk drives with a shared channel. Simulation models are used to compare the effectiveness of the RPS scheme with the systems without RPS capability. Analytical models for the number of RPS rotation misses and the utilization of the channel at the saturation point are given.
A comparison of queuing network models and measurements of a multiprogrammed computer system
Authors: Price Thomas G.
Published: January 2007

Although there has been a substantial amount of work on analytical models of computer systems, there has been little experimental validation of the models. This paper investigates the accuracy of the models by comparing the results calculated using analytical models with measurements of an actual system. Models with and without overlapped seeks are compared. Also, we show how a model can be used to help interpret measurements of a real system.
MKM
Authors: Farmer William M.
Published: January 2007

Mathematical Knowledge Management
(MKM) is a new interdisciplinary field of research in the intersection of mathematics, computer science, library science, and scientific publishing. Its objective is to develop new and better ways of managing mathematical knowledge using sophisticated software tools. Its grand challenge is to create a
universal digital mathematics library
(UDML), accessible via the World-Wide Web, that contains essentially all mathematical knowledge (intended for the public). The challenges facing MKM are daunting, but a UDML, even just partially constructed, would transform how mathematics is learned and practiced.
A comparative evaluation of local area communication technology
Authors: Larsen R. L. , Agre J. R. , Agrawala A. K.
Published: January 2007

The builder of a local area network is immediately confronted with the selection of a communications architecture to interconnect the elements (hosts and terminals) of the network. This choice must often be made in the presence of great uncertainty regarding the available alternatives and their capabilities, and a dearth of comparative information. This was the situation confronting NASA upon seriously considering local area networks as an architecture for mission support operations. As a result, a comparative study was performed in which alternative communication architectures were evaluated under similar operating conditions and system configurations. Considered were: (1) the ring, (2) the cable-bus, (3) a circuit-switching system, and (4) a shared memory system. The principle performance criterion used was the mean time required to move a message from one host processor to another host processor. Local operations within each host, such as interrupt service time, were considered to be part of this overall time. The performance of each alternative was evaluated through simulation models and is summarized in this paper.
Page life measurements
Authors: Pechura Michael A.
Published: January 2007

In the design of programs, and the tuning of operating system performance, consideration is sometimes given to the effect of virtual memory behavior. An important but often overlooked statistic of virtual memory dynamics is that of page life (the real time required for an unreferenced page to be removed from memory). Page life values are related to page rates but are more easily compared with program timing and thus are easier to understand. Measurements of this parameter for an IBM VS/1 operating system are presented and discussed.
Performance measures for a local network
Authors: Rajaraman M. K.
Published: January 2007

Parameters that influence the performance of a local network consisting of three mainframes and an array processor are identified. Performance measures are developed for this network and their significance in the operation and use of the network are discussed. Some aspects of implementing such measures in a local network are examined.
Bayesian probabilistic risk analysis
Authors: Mosleh Ali , Hilton E. Richard , Browne Peter S.
Published: January 2007

As modern business and financial institutions have come to rely more and more on large scale computers for management support, the magnitude of the risks and their potential consequences has increased correspondingly. In addition, large systems involving multiprocessing, resource sharing, and distributed processing have given rise to a new generation of risks due to the increased vulnerabilities of such large scale systems and the potential for fraudulent or malicious misuse of their resources. Somehow, these risks must be managed since either deliberate or accidental impairment of these large scale systems can have serious consequences for the business. That is, threats must be identified, and the likelihood of their occurrences and the elements of the system vulnerable to each of these threats must be established. Any program for risk management must begin with a risk analysis to compare the vulnerabilities in order to pinpoint and rank the system's weaknesses and to provide a guide for the cost-effective, systematic reduction of the probability of the system's being subverted or otherwise impaired.
A note on computer system data gathering
Authors: Kleijnen Jack P. C.
Published: January 2007

Recently Orchard (1977) proposed a statistical technique for data collection in computer systems. A main idea was the use of random sampling, as opposed to traditional fixed periodic sampling. He further proceeded to derive confidence intervals for the resulting estimator. He also proposed the use of binary (Boolean) variables, e.g., q
it
=1 (or 0) if at sampling time t the ith "slot" of a queue is occupied (or empty respectively).
Performance prediction of a virtual machine
Authors: Rajaraman M. K.
Published: January 2007

Modeling and simulation of computer systems have two main objectives. First, to evaluate the performance of a given configuration of a machine and second, to derive a mechanism for prediction of performance when configuration parameters change. This paper addresses the second issue and reports the result of a recent investigation of a Virtual Memory Computer. The results indicate which variables or combination of variables have significant effect on the performance and which do not.
Development of credible computer system simulation models
Authors: Schwartz E.
Published: January 2007

The Problems encountered during a simulation effort are influenced by the objectives of the simulation. Verification and validation of the simulation model are two such problems which affect the credibility (and usability) of the model.A simulation methodology for Program Design Analysis is described. The goal of this simulation application is to test a design before it is implemented.Techniques are described which enhance the credibility of simulation models. The relationship between Program Design Analysis and the reliability of the system being developed is explored.
A feature analysis of performance evaluation texts
Authors: Clark Jon D.
Published: January 2007

Computer performance analysis, whether it be for design, selection or improvement, has a large body of literature to draw upon. It is surprising, however, that few texts exist on the subject. The purpose of this paper is to provide a feature analysis of the four major texts suitable for professional and academic purposes.
Synopsis of workshop on the theory and application of analytical models to ADP systemperformance prediction
Authors: Dowdy Lawrence W.
Published: January 2007

A workshop on the theory and application of analytical models to ADP system performance prediction was held on March 12-13, 1979, at the University of Maryland. The final agenda of the workshop is included as an appendix. Six sessions were conducted: 1) theoretical advances, 2) operational analysis, 3) effectiveness of analytical modeling techniques, 4) validation, 5) case studies and applications, and 6) modeling tools. A summary of each session is presented below. A list of references is provided for more detailed information.
Performance evaluation of a minicomputer-based data collection system
Authors: Pierson Daniel L.
Published: January 2007

This paper discussed the problems encountered and techniques used in conducting the performance evaluation of a multi-processor on-line manpower data collection system. The two main problems were: (1) a total lack of available software tools, and (2) many commonly used hardware monitor measures (e.g., CPU busy, disk seek in progress) were either meaningless or not available. The main technique used to circumvent these problems was detailed analysis of one-word resolution memory maps. Some additional data collection techniques were (1) time-stamped channel measurements used to derive some system component utilization characteristics and (2) manual stopwatch timings used to identify the system's terminal response times.
Knowledge-based distributed system architecture
Authors: Hać Anna
Published: January 2007

This paper introduces the learning system, the expert system and an information broadcasting protocol for designing and managing distributed systems. A knowledge-based system can be implemented as a part of operating system software to make decisions about process transfer and message routing in a hierarchical network. A knowledge-based system uses dynamic information about the state of processors and applications in the local and wide arca network. This information consists of processors' and applications' queue lengths, and it is broadcast to directly connected processors. The expert system uses broadcast information to make decisions about process transfer and message routing, considering processor availability and system security. The expert system causes processors' queue lengths to become balaced on each network hierachy level. The number of process transfers is calculated and depends on network partitioning and the threshold values used by the expert system. The convergence of the algorithms for the knowledge-based system is proven. Performance of the proposed system is evaluated analytically using the elapsed time of process transfer or message transfer and the waiting time to begin transfer.
Human factors communication
Authors: Hill D. R.
Published: January 2007

This paper examines psychological factors of communication, rather than of the interaction protocols, while still providing an equally explicit connection to practical systems design.
User behavior upon introduction of a network help system
Authors: Stoddard Mary , Berkbigler Kathy , Wheat Bob , Peter Eva
Published: January 2007

An online help system, called ICNHELP, was implemented on the large Los Alamos Integrated Computing Network. Users from three different operating systems could quickly access summary information on network capabilities. Usage was monitored for a five-month period, and users were given the opportunity to comment online. There were three times as many accesses as users. Most users accessed ICNHELP to jog their memories about specific command information, but a high number used it as a browsing tool to learn about network capabilities. The study reveals that the user interface is important in user acceptance of an online user assistance tool, but the established patterns of user behavior and mode of advertising also strongly affect the success of the system.
A proposal for an automated logical access control standard (ALACS)
Authors: Symons Charles R. , Schweitzer James A.
Published: January 2007

This paper is a proposal for a standard for the user-system interface protocol. The standard was developed when we noticed that clerical employees in business offices were being asked to use several different computer systems (via terminal-type devices). Each of these systems was implemented for unique applications. And, although in some cases multiple units were from the same manufacturer, each had a different sign-on protocol. Our interest is mostly in security, and we noticed that the result of this welter of varying processes was almost invariably the posting of "how to sign on" instructions, including passwords. Hence, the ALACS proposal.The proposal has been given to IEEE for consideration, and to the National Bureau of Standards, who are working on similar ideas.
RIPL
Authors: Cochran Duane R. , Stocker Frederick R.
Published: January 2007

Rapid prototyping of the User-System Interface (USI) has proven to be an effective design, validation, and optimization technique. This paper describes the conceptual design of the Rapid Intelligent Prototyping Language (RIPL) environment. RIPL provides an automated environment that supports the USI designer with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) System, Display and Dialogue Definition Systems, and a User-System Simulator. With RIPL, dialogues are specified and edited interactively using state transition model graphics. Also, prototypes can be automatically instrumented to measure human performance.The AI components of RIPL are its most significant and unique elements. The RIPL AI System includes an expert system for USI design as well as other designer aids. These tools not only result in faster generation of prototypes, but increase USI quality from the human factors perspective. The expert system uses a knowledge base codified from USI design guidelines to answer designer queries and perform USI evaluation.
Robot research in Japan
Authors: Gleason Jerry
Published: January 2007

As part of an international study sponsored by NSF to recommend hardware for artificial intelligence research, Victor Scheinman and I spent two weeks in Japan visiting universities, industrial research laboratories, and factories. We were impressed to find that a substantial effort is being devoted to image processing techniques and to the development of robots for industrial automation. The largest effort is an eight-year, 100 million dollar program sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). This is a National research and development program under the over-all direction of Dr. Hiroji Nishino of the Electrotechnical Laboratory (ETL). The PIPS project (Pattern Information Processing System) has five major goals to be accomplished by 1978: (i) Recognition of 2000 printed characters (including Chinese Kanji characters), (ii) Recognition of pictures, (iii) Recognition of 3-D objects, (iv) Recognition of voice, and (v) Recognition of sentences.
Efficient utilization of algorithms through heuristic learning
Authors: Shimizu Tamio
Published: January 2007

In the study of problem solving methods, problems have been classified into two broad categories:Structured Problems - for which it is possible to formulate one or more algorithms to find a solution of the problem.Ill-Structured Problems - in which, finding a solution is only possible through the application of a set of general rules and strategies.
Fourth United States computer chess championship from ACM-73 news release
Authors: Coles Steve
Published: January 2007

A record field of between twelve and sixteen teams will participate in the Fourth United States Computer Chess Championship. The tournament will be held as a Special Event at the ACM's Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The first two rounds of play will be held on Sunday, August 26, the third round on the evening of August 27, and the final round on the evening of August 28.
INTERLISP documentation
Authors: Teitelman Warren
Published: January 2007

Documentation for INTERSLIP in the form of the INTERSLIP Reference Manual is now available and may be obtained from Warren Teitelman, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. The new manual replaces all existing documentation, and is completely up to date (as to January, 1974). The manual is available in either loose-leaf or bound form. The lose-leaf version (binders not supplied) comes with printed separator tabs between the chapters. The bound version also includes colored divider pages between chapters, and is printed on somewhat thinner paper than the loose-leaf version, in an effort to make it 'portable' (the manual being approximately 700 pages long). Both versions contain a complete master index (approximately 1600 entries), as well as a separate index for each chapter. Although the manual is intended primarily to be used for reference, many chapters, e.g., the programmer's assistant, do-what-I-mean, CLISP, etc., include introductory and tutorial material. The manual is available in machine-readable form, and an on-line question-answering system using the manual as a data base is currently being implemented.
The cyberiad
Authors: Lem Stanislaw , Wilber Mike
Published: January 2007

Stanislaw Lem's
Cyberiad
chronicles the adventures of Their Most Sublime and Radiant Constructorships Trurl and Klapaucius, Delight and Terror of the Universe, as they sally forth offtimes to bring to distant lands the benefit of their expertise. Their machines could do anything: the Gnostotron, an ontologue computer, with its theostats adjusted to the proper EMF (epistomotive force), at first claimed that omnipotence is most omnipotent when one does nothing at all, but with its loquacity increased, produced a recipe for Altruizine. Another of their constructions, a machine that could make anything with an N was quite happy doing Nothing. A backtracking machine, an electropoet, simulated the entire growth of civilization (necessary for the proper growth of the program to produce proper verse); after going from fish to amphibian to reptile to mammal, something odd took place among the primates and instead of great apes, he came out with gray drapes but finally managed somehow. A backtalking machine, the creator of the Nth degree, made needles, nankeens, narghiles filled with nepenthe, nymphs, and naiads, but balked at the Latin natrium: "Look, old boy, if I could do everything starting with N in every possible language, I'd be a Machine That Could Do Everything in the Whole Alphabet, since any item you care to mention undoubtedly starts with N in one foreign language or another. It's not that easy. I can't go beyond what you programmed. So no sodium."
Department of A.I. - Univ. of Edinburgh
Authors: Meltzer Bernard
Published: January 2007

As of October 1974, the field of A.I. studies at Edinburgh has been re-structured. The old School of Artificial Intelligence (with its four components, Department of Computational Logic, Department of Machine Intelligence, Bionics Research Laboratory and Theoretical Psychology Unit) has been legislated out of existence. In its place there are now a Department of Artificial Intelligence, which I head, and a Machine Intelligence Unit, headed by Professor D. Michie.
A comparison of natural and artificial intelligence
Authors: Klopf A. Harry
Published: January 2007

This paper was motivated, in part, by Price's recent (1975) tutorial comparing human and computer visual systems. While I found his comparisons interesting, a fundamental question continued to trouble me, as it has now for a number of years. Namely, does artificial intelligence (AI) really bear any fundamentally important relationship to natural intelligence? Or are the two sufficiently different so that a comparison of human and computer visual systems, for example, might be of the same significance as a comparison of locomotion in four-legged animals and four-wheeled vehicles?
GM research labs' machine perception project
Authors: Baird M. L. , Olsztyn J. T. , Perkins W. A. , Rossol L.
Published: January 2007

The Machine Perception project at the GM Research Laboratories is developing computer vision and manipulation techniques. The research is concentrated in particular on automatic part handling, computerized inspection, and assembly.
AL1
Authors: Michie Donald
Published: January 2007

A POP-2 package known as AL1 ("Advice Language 1") has been developed during the Spring semester by the CS397DM graduate class while the author was visiting the University of Illinois. The object was to facilitate the transfer of specialist knowledge about chess end-games into machine memory. The package comprises two main modules:
An Advice module
(input: a board-state; output: an advice-list). This module is partitioned into "Advice Tables" corresponding to a subdivision of the task domain into sub-domains.
A Search module
(inputs: a board-state and an advice-list; output: a "forcing-tree strategy" for securing specified goals). This module includes move-generation, the only part of the package which is specific to chess.For executing strategies, a tree-lookup routine generates play against an opponent. A Table-editor allows the user to display, modify, or extend the Tables. These are of two kinds: A single Master Table decides, on the basis of properties of the input board-state, to which of a "committee of experts" it should be referred. The "experts" themselves are the individual Advice Tables, each written for a specific sub-domain. A fully tested Table for the elementary sub-domain King and Rook versus King (elementary to play, not to program) showed an order-of-magnitude advantage over a conventional programming approach.
Planes
Authors: Waltz David , Goodman Brad
Published: January 2007

A system called PLANES (for Programmed LANguage-Based Enquiry System) is under development at the University of Illinois Coordinated Science Laboratory [1,2]. The primary objective of PLANES is to allow a non-programmer to obtain information from a large data base with minimal prior training or experience. Such a system must understand a substantial degree of a user's natural language and guide and educate him to formulate requests in a form that the system can comprehend. The system must handle complex syntactic structures, abbreviations, pronoun reference and ellipsis. The system must also give back explicit answers and not just retrieve a file. Minor errors - such as spelling and grammatical errors - should be tolerated. The system should be interactive and on-line, provide clarifying dialogues, operate fairly rapidly, and should be relatively easy to extend.
Lifer
Authors: Hendrix Gary G.
Published: January 2007

This note describes LIFER, a practical facility for creating natural language interfaces to other computer software. Emphasizing human engineering, LIFER has bundled natural language specification and parsing technology into one convenient package.
Pronoun resolution
Authors: Hobbs Jerry R.
Published: January 2007

Two approaches to the problem of pronoun resolution are presented. The first is a naive algorithm that works by traversing the surface parse trees of the sentences of the text in a particular order looking for noun phrases of the correct gender and number. The algorithm is shown to incorporate many, though not all, of the constraints on co-referentiality between a nonreflective pronoun and a possible antecedent, which have been discovered recently by linguists. The algorithm clearly does not work in all cases, but the results of an examination of several hundred examples from published texts show that it performs remarkably well.In the second approach, it is shown how pronoun resolution is handled in a comprehensive system for semantic analysis of English texts. The system consists of four basic semantic operations which work by accessing a data base of 'World knowledge" inferences, which are drawn selectively and in a context-dependent way in response to the operations. The first two operations seek to satisfy the demands made by predicates on the nature of their arguments and to discover the relations between sentences. The third operation - knitting - recognizes and merges redundant expressions. These three operations frequently result in a pronoun reference being resolved as a by-product. The fourth operation seeks to resolve those pronouns not resolved by the first three. It involves a bidirectional search of the text and 'World knowledge" for an appropriate chain of inference and utilizes the efficiency of the naive algorithm.Four examples, including the classic examples of Winograd and Charniak, are presented that demonstrate pronoun resolution within the semantic approach.
HAM-RPM
Authors: Wahlster Wolfgang
Published: January 2007

During the past two years we designed and implemented an understanding system named HAM-RPM, which belongs to a class of natural language systems commonly referred to as parsed, contentmotivated (Wilks) or second generation systems (Winograd). The current system is operating within a question-answering environment and allows the complete comprehension process from the understanding of the German input to the generation of a conversationally appropriate response to take place.
Transforming medical records into a structured data base
Authors: Sager Naomi , Hirschman Lynette , Grishman Ralph , Insolio Cynthia
Published: January 2007

The N.Y.U. Linguistic String Project (LSP) is presently engaged in applying its programs for natural language processing to medical records. The programs transform the free narrative input into a structured data base suitable for automatic information processing, such as question answering, editing of records, or statistical summaries of the data. In order to determine the appropriate structures for a given type of material we first perform a manual linguistic analysis on a sample of the texts prior to processing. From this we obtain a set of word classes and a tabular form (called an information format) for this type of material. We then apply the series of processing programs to the sentences of the texts. Each sentence is parsed with the Linguistic String Parser English grammar in order to obtain its grammatical structure; then certain standard English transformations are applied to regularize the grammatical form of the sentence. Finally a set of "formatting transformations" map the words of the sentence into the slots of the information format, or table, for this material in such a way that the sentence is reconstructible up to paraphrase from its representation in the table.
CAI, dialogues about HEX
Authors: Gorz G.
Published: January 2007

Our group is working on computer-aided instruction. Within this framework I try to use algorithms for natural language interaction. We are doing some experiments with a syntax-based approach using PROGRAMMAR and a more semantics-based approach using a modified Riesbeck-type parser. Till now some work has been done on implementing a system for natural language dialogue on situations on a game-board with a nexagonal pattern (Piet Hein's Game HEX). Currently we are planning to incorporate strategical knowledge in the inference part, which consists of an interpreter on the deep representation using MICRO-PLANNER.
ILL
Authors: Lacroix Michel , Pirotte Alain
Published: January 2007

A retrieval language for relational data bases is presented and its similarity, both syntactic and semantic, with a particular form of queries in English is shown. A definition of the essential features of the language is given and it is illustrated with examples. Queries in ILL always have a straightforward paraphrase in English.