bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Adapting virtual machine techniques for seamless aspect support
Authors: Bockisch Christoph , Arnold Matthew , Dinkelaker Tom , Mezini Mira
Published: January 2007

Current approaches to compiling aspect-oriented programs are inefficient. This inefficiency has negative effects on the productivity of the development process and is especially prohibitive for dynamic aspect deployment. In this work, we present how well-known virtual machine techniques can be used with only slight modifications to support fast aspect deployment while retaining runtime performance. Our implementation accelerates dynamic aspect deployment by several orders of magnitude relative to mainstream aspect-oriented environments. We also provide a detailed comparison of alternative implementations of execution environments with support for dynamic aspect deployment.
A flow-based approach for variant parametric types
Authors: Chin Wei-Ngan , Craciun Florin , Khoo Siau-Cheng , Popeea Corneliu
Published: January 2007

A promising approach for type-safe generic codes in the object-oriented paradigm is
variant parametric type
, which allows covariant and contravariant subtyping on fields where appropriate. Previous approaches formalise variant type as a special case of the existential type system. In this paper, we present a new framework based on
flow analysis
and
modular type checking
to provide a simple but accurate model for capturing generic types. Our scheme stands to benefit from past (and future) advances in flow analysis and subtyping constraints. Furthermore, it fully supports casting for variant types with a special reflection mechanism, called cast capture, to handle objects with unknown types. We have built a constraint-based type checker and have proven its soundness. We have also successfully annotated a suite of Java libraries and client code with our flow-based variant type system.
The database research group at the Max-Planck Institute for Informatics
Authors: Weikum Gerhard
Published: January 2007

The Max-Planck Institute for Informatics (MPI-INF) is one of 80 institutes of the Max-Planck Society, Germany's premier scientific organization for foundational research with numerous Nobel prizes in natural sciences and medicine. MPI-INF hosts about 150 researchers (including graduate students) and comprises 5 research groups on algorithms and complexity, programming logics, computational biology and applied algorithmics, computer graphics, and databases and information systems (DBIS). This report gives an overview of the DBIS group's mission and ongoing research.
A report on the first international workshop on best practices of UML
Authors: Trujillo Juan
Published: January 2007

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has been widely accepted as the standard object-oriented (OO) modeling language for modeling various aspects of software and information systems. The UML is an extensible language, in the sense that it provides mechanisms to introduce new elements for specific domains if necessary, such as web applications, database applications, business modeling, software development processes, data warehouses and so on. Furthermore, the latest work of the Object Management Group (OMG) on UML [1] resulted in a larger and more complicated specification, with even more diagrams for some good reasons. Although providing different diagrams for modeling specific parts of a software system, not all of them need to be applied in most cases. Therefore, heuristics, design guidelines, and lessons learned from experiences are extremely important for the effective use of UML and to avoid unnecessary complication.
Report on the International Provenance and Annotation Workshop
Authors: Bose Rajendra , Foster Ian , Moreau Luc
Published: January 2007

The
provenance
of a data item refers to its origins and processing history, while
annotation
is a term that refers to the process of adding notes or data to an existing structure. Because these terms are broad, and are used in slightly different ways by different communities, confusion is rampant. For example, consider that (1) annotating a data set with its provenance information, and (2) finding the provenance of a specific data annotation are both perfectly reasonable concepts.
Report on SciFlow 2006
Authors: Cooper Brian F. , Barga Roger
Published: January 2007

Computation has been described as the "third leg" of science, along with theory and experimentation. Certainly, modern information systems are vital to managing and processing the huge amounts of data produced by simulations and experiments. However, existing tools are only now beginning to catch up with the needs of today's scientists, and much more needs to be done to support the computational needs of tomorrow's scientists. In particular, scientists still need effective tools to deal with massive data sets that may be geographically scattered, to apply multiple complex and interacting transformations to the data, and to ensure the quality and repeatability of their computations. The IEEE SciFlow workshop brought together computing researchers who are exploring how to build the next generation of information systems to address these needs. The workshop was held on April 8, 2006, in conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Data Engineering in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Guest editor's foreword
Authors: Bonald T.
Published: January 2007

Performance 2005, the 24-th International Symposium on Computer Performance, Modeling, Measurements and Evaluation, was held in Juan-les-Pins, France, on October 3-7, 2005. In addition to the main technical program, a poster session was organized so that ongoing or recent research work could be presented and discussed in an informal setting.Submissions were solicited as extended abstracts and reviewed by members of the poster committee. A total of 12 posters were selected for presentation during the conference. This special issue of Performance Evaluation Review consists of the corresponding extended abstracts, which cover a wide range of topics in the area of performance evaluation, analytical modeling and simulation of computer systems and communication networks.
Extinction probability in peer-to-peer file diffusion
Authors: Hautphenne Sophie , Leibnitz Kenji , Remiche Marie-Ange
Published: January 2007

Recent measurement studies [8] have shown that peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing applications are the major traffic source in the Internet. P2P applications, such as eDonkey, Kazaa, or BitTorrent, form overlay networks on the application layer and offer its peers to download and share their files with other peers in a highly distributed way. As a consequence, peers act simultaneously as both clients and servers. For a comprehensive survey of P2P technology, we refer to [7].
Analysis of peer-to-peer file dissemination amongst users of different upload capacities
Authors: Mundinger J. , Weber R. R. , Weiss G.
Published: January 2007

In recent years, overlay networks have proven an effective way of disseminating a file from a single source to a group of end users via the Internet. A number of algorithms and protocols have been suggested, implemented and studied. In particular, much attention has been given to peer-to-peer (P2P) systems such as BitTorrent [2], Slurpie [10], SplitStream [1] and Bullet [5]. The key idea is that the file is divided into
M
parts of equal size and that a given user may download any one of these either from the server or from a peer who has previously downloaded it. More recently, a scheme based on network coding [3] has been suggested. Here, users down-load linear combinations of file parts rather than individual file parts.
The GAIA sensor
Authors: Besson Emmanuel , Gouget Aline , Sibert Hervé
Published: January 2007

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are a major network security threat. Most recent host-based DDoS detection mechanisms are dedicated to a particular set of attacks, focusing either on the recent dynamic of the traffic, or on its long range dependence. We propose a DDoS early detection component based on anomaly detection which combines static and dynamic behavior analysis, including experimental results.
Probability of connection in regular stochastic networks
Authors: Hardy G. , Lucet C. , Limnios N.
Published: January 2007

In this paper, we report experiments we did on network reliablity with the BDD-based exact method we present in [1].
Bounding transient and steady-state dependability measures through algorithmic stochastic comparison
Authors: Bušić Ana , Fourneau Jean-Michel
Published: January 2007

We are interested in bounding dependability measures like point and steady-state availability and reliability of systems modelled by very large Markov chains which are not numerically tractable. We suppose that the state space is divided into two classes, UP (system is operational) and DOWN states. The reliability at time
t
is defined as the probability that the system has always been operational between 0 and
t
. The point availability is the probability that the system is operational at time
t
, and the steady-state availability is the limit, if it exists, of this probability.
Buffer overflow calculations in a batch arrival queue
Authors: Chydzinski Andrzej
Published: January 2007

In this paper numerical calculations of the buffer overflow time in a batch arrival queueing system are presented. The results indicate that an auto-correlated input stream, heavy-tailed batch size or service time distribution have a critical influence on the frequency of buffer overflows.
Perfect simulation of index based routing queueing networks
Authors: Vincent Jean-Marc , Vienne Jérôme
Published: January 2007

Markovian queueing networks models are widely used for performance evaluation of computer systems, production lines, communication networks and so on. Routing strategies allocate clients to queues after the end of service. In many situations such as deterministic, probabilistic, or state dependent likeJoin the shortest queuerouting, the routing function could be written in terms of index scheduling functions introduced in [3, 6].
Finding your way in Computer Graphics
Authors: Westman Hans
Published: January 2007

Despite busy schedules, our many members find the time to in some way get involved with SIGGRAPH activities, most typically the annual conference. Blocking out a full week to attend is for most a willing sacrifice to further professional development, catch up with friends and colleagues, review new innovations or to view fascinating art and great films, all related to the nuances of what computer graphics has to offer.In the deeper folds of the membership, others volunteer to help develop and organize the resources ACM/SIGGRAPH provides to the full community. One of those is this newsletter, "Computer Graphics", which I am sure the majority of its readers considers as their membership "magazine", published four times a year.The article, "Making It Real: The Future of Stereoscopic 3D Film Technology" from Sony Pictures Imageworks, written by Eden Ashley Umble, was initiated by Sande Scoredos, Executive Director of Technical Training & Artist Development. Carlye Archibeque, Senior Coordinator of Marketing & Communications was instrumental in pulling all the pieces and people together and getting it approved by the Imageworks legal department for publication. I mention this only because most will not be aware of how much goes into putting together a seemingly straightforward article about behind the scenes operations at a movie studio.Douglas Easterly's excerpt from his most recent book on Macromedia Flash development is a wonderful read on how multimedia artist Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga uses the technology to create his internet based art and social commentaries.As you flip through the pages of this first issue, you find that there are still sections under the Table of Contents that still need to be addressed. This is where the greater ACM/SIGGRAPH community comes in. Unlike a magazine you would purchase at the market, this one is driven by its members and sent directly to their homes, now in digital form. We are still getting used to the new format and I know that as time goes by, many will start to understand the ease of contributing and the newsletter will grow.So I urge each and everyone reading these pages to think of how your quarterly can best serve your needs. Let your voice be heard by sharing articles and information that will interest our community at large. I welcome to hear from each and every one that wants to get involved.If you are interested in participating actively in preparing and publishing "Computer Graphics", we have a few volunteer positions that we are looking to fill.
Making it real
Authors: Westman Hans
Published: January 2007

The air feels hot and dry. You are watching an elaborate theatrical adaptation of Ray Bradbury's short story "The Veldt", a play you've wanted to experience for a long time, the set design so inviting it feels like the stage has been extended into the audience and you are standing amidst the cast in an environment so vivid it seems real. The performance ends, so you take off your polarized glasses equipped with an embedded chip for 3D viewing, put them away in their case and rise from your seat to leave the movie theater.The cover image chosen for this first online issue of "Computer Graphics" is a still from Robert Zemeckis' film "The Polar Express", also produced for IMAX 3D by Sony Imageworks. It is imaginable that in the not too distant future, the technology behind Stereoscopics and developments such as Real-D will bring cinema much closer to its audience, diminishing the difference between the movie house experience and a live, stage performance. Eden Ashley Umble has written an excellent article about "Making It Real: The Future of Stereoscopic 3D Film Technology", the feature article of this issue, which gives us a better understanding of what 3D cinematic experience is and where it is headed.
Making it real
Authors: Umble Eden Ashley
Published: January 2007

In this initial feature for the launch of SIGGRAPH Quarterly's online magazine, Sony Pictures Imageworks' Rob Engle and Rob Bredow discuss the subject of stereoscopic 3D film production and presentation, and offer their ideas as to where this increasingly important technology may be heading in the future.
Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga
Authors: Easterly Douglas
Published: January 2007

Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga is an artist and professor living in Brooklyn, NY and teaching at The College of New Jersey. His artwork employs a wide range of methods, including the use of software tools such as Macromedia Flash and Adobe Illustrator. But unlike many who work with the same technology, Ricardo elevates content and meaning over technical virtuosity and the prepackaged effects associated with new software releases. Through his artwork, Ricardo effectively asks his audience to reconsider their current positions on sociopolitical events by creatively revealing a critical perspective on issues such as: the history of U.S. involvement in Central America, the plight of immigrants into the United States, and the ill effects of unmitigated globalization.
Message from the president
Authors: Owen Scott
Published: January 2007

Welcome to the first edition of our new E-Quarterly. The volunteers in ACM SIGGRAPH have been quite busy the past several months and I would like to give you a brief progress report on our activities. We have put in a large amount of effort on the new website. It is based on Plone, which is an Open Source Content management system. We plan to offer expanded member services with this system.We have formed a new Digital Arts Committee (DAC), Chaired by Masa Inakage. They are working on a new SIGGRAPH Arts site to help better support the digital artists in our community. This site is currently in beta test and should go live within a few weeks.We have passed two new policies to enable better support for our small conferences. One policy reduces the costs and the other allows for succeeding conferences to use some of the profit from previous conferences. We want to significantly increase the number of small conferences and especially those that are co-located with the annual SIGGRAPH Conference. If you are interested in putting on a small conference please contact our Vice-President, Alyn Rockwood (rockwood (at) siggraph.org) or the Small Conference Coordinator Scott Lang (scott_lang (at) siggraph.org).This past year we have moved the International Resources Program (IRP) and Committee from a SIGGRAPH Conference Program to an ACM SIGGRAPH Program. This program is under the Vice President who has appointed Kirsten Cater as the IRP Chair. One objective of this transition is to engender more year round activities. Suggestions can be sent to Alyn or Kirsten (kirsten_cater (at) siggraph.org).Another major effort this year has been in strategic planning. We had an expanded meeting in January that included the Executive Committee (EC), the Conference Advisory Group and several members of the ACM SIGGRAPH Advisory Board. This resulted in the formation of three working groups: 1. the structure of the annual SIGGRAPH conference, lead by Rob Cook, 2. member programs and benefits, lead by Mk Haley, and 3.) the structure of ACM SIGGRAPH, lead by Tony Baylis. At the March EC meeting there was more discussion and this was followed by much email discussion. Most of the upcoming June EC meeting will be devoted to this topic. We plan to have draft plans by SIGGRAPH 2006 so we can solicit feedback from our members.I welcome any comments or suggestions so please email me at owen (at) siggraph.org.
Finding your way in computer graphics
Authors: Westman Hans
Published: January 2007

The SIGGRAPH conference is a truly educational experience, and so it is again this week in Boston.Though my first time here, I love Boston. I love my hotel room overlooking the harbor, I love the water taxi that took me from Logan International Airport to the Boston World Trade Center and I love the family of educators, researchers, artists and vendors that collect for this yearly event celebrating the digital collaboration between art and science. Reflecting more closely, computer graphics is dependant on this collaboration as are the players that see computer graphics as both a part of their lives as well as a part of their identities.The longer one is involved in this community, the more clearly it is apparent how interdependent the different tribes are. Commercial studios need the technology as well as the talent to produce the quality and competitive products their customers expect. Vendors providing the solutions are dependent on the end users that both implement and promote the technology, just as schools need a reason to provide both the research and education that will support their for-profit brothers and sisters.More than ever, education has become the resource from which the other groups can draw. I refer to education in the institutional sense, which provides an organized forum for students, teachers and researchers to contribute to the whole in support of the computer graphics industry. The feature articles for this issue submitted by authors affiliated with three Pittsburgh educational centers would reflect just that, each one of them finding their own way in the field of computer graphics.University of Pittsburgh intern Matt Duncan with the help of Matthew Kelley and Jeffrey Jacobson has written about his experience learning the Unreal Editor as it relates to further development of Virtual Reality technologies.Eric Sloss has organized an article about the research that Ben Fry, the newly appointed Nierenberg Chair of Design at Carnegie Mellon University, intends to do in his new position.Students Thomas Netzband and Patrick Bannan from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh write about their experience in producing a 3D animated short as a group project during production classes.
Ben Fry finding methods of visualizing data accepts Nierenberg chair of design at Carnegie Mellon
Authors: Sloss Eric
Published: January 2007

The Carnegie Mellon School of Design has appointed graphic designer Ben Fry as the Nierenberg Chair of Design in its School of Design for 2006-2007. Widely regarded as the one of most prestigious appointments in design education in the U.S., the Carnegie Mellon University School of Design's Nierenberg Chair of Design is a visiting professorship at established through the generosity of Carnegie Mellon alumnus and Emeritus Life Trustee Theodore D. Nierenberg.
Evolutionary computation at Dow Chemical
Authors: Kordon Arthur
Published: January 2007

Dow Chemical is the largest US chemical company by sales ($46 billion in 2005). It is one of the most diversified global company in the business with more than 3000 products in the market, mostly plastics, polyurethanes, and different specialty chemicals. There are two key directions in introducing new emerging technologies, such as Evolutionary Computation (EC), in the company. The first direction is continuous improvement of manufacturing and supply-chain efficiency, which becomes critical in the current economic environment of skyrocketing energy prices. The second direction is faster invention of an attractive pipeline of new products, which is critical for the future competitiveness of the company. The more specific issues of the chemical industry in these two directions can be defined as:• high-dimensionality of plant data (thousands of variables and control loops),• scarcity of data in new product development,• low speed of data analysis in High-Throughput Screening (which is at the basis of new product discoveries),• increased requirements for model robustness toward process changes due to the cyclical nature of the industry,• multiple optima,• key process knowledge is in process operators and poorly documented,• high uncertainty in new material market response,• supply chain not as well developed as process modelingThere are tremendous opportunities for EC to satisfy these needs and contribute to process improvement and new product discovery. However, we need to take into account that as a result of the intensive modeling efforts in the last 20 years many manufacturing processes in the most profitable plants are already supplied by different types of models (steadystate, dynamic, model predictive control, etc.). This creates a culture of modeling "fatigue" and resistance to introduction of new solutions, especially based on unknown technologies. This makes the efforts of applying EC in the chemical industry especially challenging since demonstration of significant competitive advantages relative to the alternative modeling and hardware solutions is required.
Approximate factorization of linear partial differential operators
Authors: Winkler Ekaterina Shemyakova Franz
Published: January 2007

We investigate the problem of the approximate factorization of a linear partial differential operator of arbitrary order and in arbitrarily many variables. For such an operator, we define common obstacles and the associated ring of obstacles to factorizations of the operator, which extends some specified factorization of its symbol. We derive some facts about obstacles (for instance, they are stable, they cannot be of certain order) and give an exhaustive enumeration of obstacles for bivariate operators of order two and three (also a short form was found for these huge formulas).We notice that for a second-order strictly hyperbolic operator, obstacles are exactly the well-known invariants of Laplace. For operators of order three a generalization (not straightforward) is possible. It allows us to find a full system of invariants (with respect to operation conjugation) for operators of order three.
Factorization of self-conjugated and reducible linear differential operators
Authors: Berkovich L. M.
Published: January 2007

Well-known methods of factorization of differential operators are based on separating the first-order operator from the differential operator of the n-th order by left or by right. If the right-side differential operator of the first order is separated, we have generalized Riccati's equation of the (
n
- 1)th order (see [1]) for the "root" of factorization. If the left-side differential operator of the first order is separated, it is necessary to consider conjugate operator, for which generalized second kind Riccati's equation of the (
n
- 1)th order.
Solving structured linear systems of large displacement rank
Authors: Bostan Alin , Jeannerod Claude-Pierre , Schost Éric
Published: January 2007

Structured linear algebra techniques are a versatile set of tools; they enable one to deal at once with various types of matrices, with features such as Toeplitz-, Hankel-, Vandermonde- or Cauchy-likeness.
WWCA 2006 abstracts
Authors: Kotsireas Ilias S. , Zima Eugene A.
Published: January 2007

The Waterloo Workshop on Computer Algebra (WWCA 2006) http://www.cargo.wlu.ca/wwca/ was held April 10 - 12, 2006 at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. The workshop was intended to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners in the area of computer algebra. The workshop was devoted to the 60th birthday of Sergei Abramov (Dorodnicyn Computing Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia) whose influential contributions to symbolic methods are highly acknowledged and adopted by many Computer Algebra systems. The invited speakers were•Moulay Barkatou, University of Limoges, France•Jacques Carette, McMaster University, Canada•Jürgen Gerhard, Maplesoft, Canada•Gaston Gonnet, ETH Zurich, Switzerland•Kevin Hare, University of Waterloo, Canada•Claude-Pierre Jeannerod, INRIA Rhône-Alpes, France•Askold Khovanskii, University of Toronto, Canada•George Labahn, University of Waterloo, Canada•Ziming Li, Academy of Mathematics and System Sciences, China•Luc Rebillard, France•Bruno Salvy, INRIA Rocquencourt, France•Arne Storjohann, University of Waterloo, Canada•Serguei Tsarev, Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University, Russia•Mark van Hoeij, Florida State University, USA•Stephen Watt, University of Western Ontario, Canada•Thomas Wolf, Brock University, Canada•Doron Zeilberger, Rutgers University, USA
Certifying cryptographic protocols by abstract model-checking and proof concretization
Authors: Janvier R. , Lakhnech Y. , Périn M.
Published: January 2007

In this paper, we report on our effort in enhancing our model-checker for cryptographic protocols with the ability to automatically generate a deductive proof that the protocol meets its specification. More specifically, we discuss a technique that allows to transform an abstract proof extracted from the model-checker to a proof that can be checked independently of the abstracting and model-checking process.
From the chair
Authors: Sipior Janice C. , Lending Diane , Amoroso Donald L. , Shayo Conrad , Vowels Susan A.
Published: January 2007

I am pleased to announce the incoming editors of Data Base: Editor-in-Chief: Tom Stafford, University of Memphis, tstaffor@memphis.edu and Global Co-Editor: Patrick Y.K. Chau, The University of Hong Kong, pchau@business.hku.hk.Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Tom and Patrick. We look forward to their capable leadership and the continued success of Data Base.Our outgoing Co-Editors Wynne Chin, University of Houston, and Dorothy Leidner, Baylor University, will cycle off effective December 31, 2006 after serving a five year term. We wish to thank them again for the excellent job they have done in maintaining the high quality of this quarterly refereed publication.Please plan to attend our "Sixth Annual ACM-SIGMIS Reception," to be held as an ACM-SIGMIS event prior to the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS2006) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, December 10-13, 2006. Light refreshments will be served.

Where:
International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS2006)

The Hyatt Hotel, Room TBD, Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

When:
Saturday, December 9, 2006, 5:30 to 7:00 pm

Who:
All ACM-SIGMIS members and their invited guests are welcome

.As a reminder, the SIGMIS CPR'07 Conference will be held April 19-21, 2007 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. The theme of this year's conference is "The Global Information Technology Workforce." Please plan to attend. More information can be found at: http://www.sigmis.org/2007_CPR_Call_for_Papers.pdf.Finally, we invite you to consider hosting a future SIGMIS CPR (Computer Personnel Research) Conference. We are currently accepting Calls For Proposals for the SIGMIS CPR'08 Conference. If you are interested, please email me (janice.sipior@villanova.edu) or Conrad Shayo (cshayo@csusb.edu).Thanks for your interest in SIGMIS. We hope to see you at ICIS'06!
Hostile work environment.com
Authors: Tapia Andrea Hoplight
Published: January 2007

Data is presented from three cases studies of three small IT-focused businesses that were created and failed within the context of the Dot-Com era (1996-2001). This era can be characterized as a time in which the IT industry was facing an acute shortage of employees and yet, as the analysis shows, chose to create a culture that hired a gender, racially, ethnically, and culturally homogeneous workforce. From evidence drawn from interviews, observations, self-reported organizational charts and time diaries, I argue that the organizational cultures, created by the owners and managers of these three companies, made it nearly impossible for female employees to be hired trained and retained.. I also claim that once a small number of female employees were hired, the organizational culture made the work environment so hostile, it drove these employees to leave and seek alternative employment. The owners and managers of these three IT companies used the myths that were readily available in the wider American culture of the time to construct an organizational culture that would motivate and manipulate their employees. This culture may have satisfied the immediate needs of the Dot Com industry but were disastrous for traditional protectionist measures that protected women in the workforce, recruited and retained women in the workforce, and make the IT workplace hospitable to a variety of people, including women. The conclusions that I draw from this case study are that in the case of this business, the Dot-Com Bubble did more to impede entrance to women into the IT workforce than to facilitate it.
Visual effects in Sweden
Authors: Willstedt Anders
Published: January 2007

The digital visual effects community in Sweden is small, having been driven mainly by its clients and their interests within advertising and the "commercial film" sector, which generally dictates shorter, intensive projects that must be cost effective. One big reason why the VFX industry has remained rather exclusive is because special effects have not been fully embraced as a part of Swedish film production culture. Traditionally, the focus has been rich in real life drama, playing off of socially realistic situations that would typically not have a need for special effects as extensive as in international success stories such as "Snakes on a Plane".
A conference much bigger than first perceived
Authors: Wardin Chuck
Published: January 2007

When I first saw the exhibition floor of the SIGGRAPH 2006 Conference, through a window from above, I was somewhat disappointed. For some reason it seemed to me to be smaller than in some past years. Later, at the keynote address I was surprised to hear that this year's conference had 75 new exhibitors. Maybe my first impression wasn't correct after all. Indeed it wasn't. I spent the better part of three full days walking the exhibition. In those three days I wasn't able to visit all of the exhibits even at the most rudimentary level, nor was I able to explore any single company to the depth I would have liked. The exhibition at SIGGRAPH 2006 was alive, well and as overwhelming as usual.
Videogames
Authors: Millar Hamish
Published: January 2007

Between 10:30am and 12:15pm a panel discussion was held regarding the content of videogames and the responsibilities surrounding them.
Augmented perception via cartoon rendering
Authors: Larnder Chris Isaac
Published: January 2007

The Emerging Technologies section of this year's conference includes two independent projects that convert live video into a cartoon-like image in real-time. In one system (Real-time video abstraction, Northwestern University), you can see your own face looking back at you like a cartoon character, complete with dark-line silhouette outlines and flat-color "fill" of various surface areas. When you turn your head, the cartoon character turns its head. Raise your right eyebrow and smile, the character does the same. He really looks like you, but in a cartoon kind of way. It is definitely a most peculiar sensation to see one's self as a cartoon avatar, as it were, face-to-face!
Archaic to modern 2
Authors: Nagle Dan
Published: January 2007

This is the second in a series of articles about converting archaic (66, 77) Fortran to modern (90, 95, 2003) Fortran. In the first, I discussed revision control (rcs), compilation control (make), and checking procedure interfaces and common blocks. The idea is to give an older, Fortran 77 (or earlier) code a check-up before trying to modify it. I also discussed automatic conversion of older Fixed Format source files to the modern Free Format. Free Format is easier to use, and can eliminate some problems present when using Fixed Format, mainly associated with searching for names. In this article, I'll discuss the Fortran kind mechanism for selecting types and the Fortran module for sharing data among procedures. Next, I'll try to tie the notions of agreement in type, kind, and rank, the use of procedure interfaces and common block consistency issues together with the use of modules.
Compiler switches for developing Fortran programs
Authors: Chivers Ian D , Sleightholme Jane
Published: January 2007

There was a thread on one of the news lists about debugging Fortran programs and the major source of information on the web is the Polyhedron site where they look at the diagnostic capability of a range of compilers under Windows and Linux. The following has been put together from some guidelines that we have developed from teaching Fortran within the University of London (Imperial College, Chelsea College, Queen Elizabeth College and King's College, from 1978 to the present) and the information at the Polyhedron site.
Gödel and computations
Authors: Pudlák Pavel
Published: January 2007

I will start with a brief biographical sketch. Kurt Gödel was born in Brno (
Brün
in German) in April 28, 1906. At that time it was in the Czech Kingdom which was a part of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Not much later, in 1918, Brno was a city in the new formed Czechoslovakia. His family belonged to a large German-speaking population in Brno.
ACM SIGACT news distributed computing column 24
Authors: Rajsbaum Sergio
Published: January 2007

The Distributed Computing Column covers the theory of systems that are composed of a number of interacting computing elements. These include problems of communication and networking, databases, distributed shared memory, multiprocessor architectures, operating systems, verification, Internet, and the Web. This issue consists of:• "Security and Composition of Cryptographic Protocols: A Tutorial (Part II)" by Ran Canetti.The first part appeared in the previous SIGACT News, the September 2006 issue. Many thanks to Ran for his contributions to this column.
SIGACT news online algorithms column 10
Authors: Chrobak Marek , Kenyon-Mathieu Claire
Published: January 2007

We discuss what we refer to, tentatively, as the "doubling" method for designing online and offline approximation algorithms. The rough idea is to use geometrically increasing estimates on the optimal solution to produce fragments of the algorithm's solution. The term "doubling" is a little misleading, for often factors other than 2 are used, and suggestions for a better name will be appreciated.
Merging interactive visualizations with hypertextbooks and course management
Authors: Rößling Guido , Naps Thomas , Hall Mark S. , Karavirta Ville , Kerren Andreas , Leska Charles , Moreno Andrés , Oechsle Rainer , Rodger Susan H. , Urquiza-Fuentes Jaime , Velázquez-Iturbide J. Ángel
Published: January 2007

As a report of a working group at ITiCSE 2006, this paper provides a vision of how visualizations and the software that generates them may be integrated into hypertextbooks and course management systems. This integration generates a unique synergy that we call a Visualization-based Computer Science Hypertextbook (VizCoSH). By borrowing features of both traditional hypertextbooks and course management systems, VizCoSHs become delivery platforms that address some of the reasons why visualizations have failed to find widespread use in education.The heart of the paper describes these features and explains, from both a student and teacher perspective, how each feature adds educational value to a visualization. In some cases, this value focuses on pedagogical issues, taking advantage of known strategies for making visualizations more engaging and effective. In other cases, the emphasis is on making it easier for teachers to use visualizations. A set of possible use scenarios and approaches for increasing interest in adopting a VizCoSH are also presented.
Report on the first 5 years of the track on information access and retrieval of the ACM Symposium on Applied Computing
Authors: Crestani Fabio , Pasi Gabriella
Published: January 2007

We briefly report on 5 years of successfully running the ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC) track on Information Access and Retrieval (IAR). We believe the track plays a valuable role as a forum for the presentation of research and development work in Information Retrieval. The growing number of submissions indicates that there is a need for such forum.
The sixth Dutch-Belgian Information Retrieval workshop
Authors: Kraaij Wessel , de Jong Franciska
Published: January 2007

The 6th issue of the Dutch-Belgian Information Retrieval workshop took place at March 13 and 14, 2006 and was hosted by TNO Information and Communication Technology in Delft, The Netherlands. The primary aim of the DIR workshops is to provide an international meeting place where researchers from the domain of information retrieval and related disciplines, can exchange information and present new research developments. This year, there was a special focus on contributions focusing on domain-specific retrieval tasks.
Public involvement in technology policy
Authors: Winter Jenifer S.
Published: January 2007

This paper examines the role of the general public in informing technology policy, observing that public involvement often occurs only through the electoral process or via feedback after plans have been implemented. Planners and policymakers are not necessarily in touch with the feelings and desires of the public who will be affected by their decisions. For this reason it is important to seek a clearer understanding of the views of citizens who are not typically involved in the planning or design process in order to guide the evolution of technology, as well as to highlight areas where there may be some discrepancy between planners and the needs of everyday users. To broaden the inputs into discussion of emerging problems related to pervasive computing in the State of Hawaii, both information and communication technology specialists (including government policy makers) and members of the general population were invited to participate in a multi-phase study. Differences in perception between specialists and the general public were identified in all phases of research. Specialists were identified as being more focused on near-term issues related to barriers affecting the growth of high-technology industries within the State. Non-specialists showed greater concern for "human" issues, including issues related to the control of technology. Importantly, both groups independently described a need for increased public participation in the process of technological development. Analysis also revealed that both groups found the problem statements generated by non-specialists to be valuable contributions, arguing for their inclusion in the process of problem identification and further supporting the use of participatory planning methods.
An addressing independent networking structure favorable for all-optical packet switching
Authors: Jiang Shengming
Published: January 2007

All-optical packet switching (AOPS) technology is essential to fully utilize the tremendous bandwidth provided by advanced optical communication techniques through forwarding packets in optical domain for the next generation network. However, long packet headers and other complex operations such as table lookup and packet header re-writing still have to be processed electronically for lack of cost-effective optical processing techniques. This not only increases system complexity but also limits packet forwarding speed due to optical-electronic-optical conversion. Lots of work of improving optical processing techniques to realize AOPS is reported in the literature. Differently, this paper proposes a new networking structure to facilitate AOPS realization and support various existing networks through simplifying networking operations. This structure only requires an AOPS node to process a short packet header to forward packets across it with neither table lookup nor header re-writing. Furthermore, it moves high layer addressing issues from packet forwarding mechanisms of routers. Consequently, any changes in addressing schemes such as address space extension do not require changes in the AOPS nodes. It can also support both connection-oriented and connectionless services to carry various types of traffic such as ATM and IP traffic. This structure is mainly based on the hierarchical source routing approach. The analytical results show that average packet header sizes are still acceptable even for long paths consisting of many nodes each of which has a large number of output ports.
DVB
Authors: Bürklin Helmut , Schäfer Ralf , Westerkamp Dietrich
Published: January 2007

This paper gives a brief overview of the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) project. Starting in 1993, this project produced standards for digital broadcasting in all media (satellite, cable, terrestrial) using return channels of various kinds. In the current phase, DVB has also embraced Internet Protocol (IP) based delivery on telco and cable.
Book Review: Brainerd, Goldberg, and Adams: Programmer's Guide to Fortran 90
Authors: Meissner Loren P.
Published: January 2007

This is a textbook at the tutorial rather than the comprehensive level: some language features are barely mentioned (for example, the syntax of construct names is described but they do not appear in any of the examples).
Book Review: Metcalf and Reid: Fortran 90 Explained
Authors: Meissner Loren P.
Published: January 2007

This book is intended to be a comprehensive exposition of the Fortran 90 language. While pedagogical aspects are not paramount, neither are they ignored. Examples play a supporting role to discursive explanation. Tutorial exercises are included.
Whither Fortran?
Authors: Metcalf Michael , Reid John
Published: January 2007

Programming in the early days of computing was tedious in the extreme. Programmers required a detailed knowledge of the instructions, registers, and other aspects of the central processing unit (CPU) of the computer for which they were writing code. The
source code
itself was written in a numerical notation, so called
octal code.
In the course of time mnemonic codes were introduced, a form of coding known as
machine
or
assembly code.
These codes were translated into the instruction words by programs known as
assemblers.
In the 1950s it became increasingly apparent that this form of programming was highly inconvenient, if only because of the length of time required to write and test a program, although it did enable the CPU to be used in a very efficient way.
A comparison between Watfor-77 and Fortran 90
Authors: Redish K. A.
Published: January 2007

The focus is on extensions in Watfor-77 that are also in Fortran 90. (Watfor-87 is a version that uses the Intel 8087 chip or equivalent.)
The NSFNET and the evolution of a national research and education network
Authors: Gale Doug
Published: January 2007

Computer networks have become fashionable. The literature is filled with articles about the NSFNET and the emerging National Research and Education Network (NREN). In this article I would like to review the evolution of the NSFNET before speculating on the emerging NREN.
Computers and health—issues and protective measures
Authors: Updegrove Kimberly H. , Updegrove Daniel A.
Published: January 2007

Within the past year, substantial media attention has been directed at the potential adverse health effects of long-term computer use. Unfortunately, long-term effects require long-term studies, and much research in this area is either incomplete or inconsistent. Nevertheless, because so many Penn staff, faculty, and students are spending an increasing amount of time---both on campus and at home---working with keyboards and video display terminals (VDTs), and because some health effects are thought to be cumulative, we believe it is important for all computer users, lab managers, and supervisors to be aware of these issues and the protective measures that can be taken "while the jury is out."
Book review: Computer Systems Performance Management and Capacity Planning by J. Cady and B. Howarth (Prentice-Hall, 1990)
Authors: Finkel David
Published: January 2007

I reviewed this book from the author's manuscript. The book is now being typeset, and the author tells me that it is due to appear in February, 1991.
Book review: The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis by R. Jain (Wiley-Interscience, 1991)
Authors: Finkel David
Published: January 2007

This book grew out of the authors' experience teaching a course in performance evaluation to final year undergraduates. This heritage of undergraduate origins shows up throughout the book. The mathematics is presented very gently. For example, several complex formulas are written out twice, once without summation notation (i.e., a
1
+a
2
...+a
n
) and then again with summation notation (Σ a
i
). There are numerous worked out examples, and a wide range of exercises, from simple ones that just use the formulas in the text to more challenging exercises.
Book review: Computer and Communication Systems Performance Modelling by Peter J.B. King (Prentice Hall 1990)
Authors: Finkel David
Published: January 2007

The preface to this book sets out the author's thesis, that "computer science students tend to view performance analysis as a practical discipline ... [and] often prefer to rely on physical insight and intuition rather than formal insights." Accordingly, the author's approach is to emphasize useful methods and applications, rather than formal mathematical derivations. The background expected of students is basic operating systems, machine architecture, data structures, and elementary calculus and basic probability theory.
Optimal scheduling policies for a class of Queues with customer deadlines to the beginning of service
Authors: Panwar Shivendra S. , Towsley Don , Wolf Jack K.
Published: January 2007

This paper treats the problem of queueing packets which have an assigned expiration date. If a packet does not begin processing within the specified time limit, it is discarded as useless. The primary example is transmission of voice or video frames over a packet-switched network, where the illusion of realtime transmission is to be maintained. The occasional loss of a packet will reduce transmission quality, but the voice or video reception should remain intelligible.
A Real-Time Monitor for a Distributed Real-Time Operating System
Authors: Tokuda Hideyuki , Kotera Makato , Mercer Clifford
Published: January 2007

Distributed real-time systems are difficult to develop. External events occur independently of internal control, and the real-time system must be designed to accommodate them correctly. Two problems emerging from this are the
logical
correctness and the
timing
correctness of the system software: not only must it process the real-time events correctly, but the program timing must prevent the task of processing from interfering with the task of monitoring.