bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Scaling Articulatory Behavior: Intraoral Air Pressure
Authors: Ringel Robert L. , House Arthur S. , Montgomery Allen A.
Published: November 2005

A talker's ability to evaluate certain aspects of his articulatory behavior was examined with magnitude-estimation methods. The task was to generate patterns of activity appropriate to the production of bilabial stop consonants, both in syllable initial (hold plus plosion) and syllable final (hold only) position, as well as some analogous nonspeech activities. During all activities, a measurement of air pressure in the oral cavity was obtained. The subjects monitored their production both in terms of pressure in the oral cavity, and degree of effort used in production. The findings indicate that subjects' estimation of the subjective magnitude of “pressure,” or “effect,” increases approximately as the 1.4 power of the intraoral pressure, a finding similar to other reported production magnitude functions. The absolute pressures used by the subjects at their “standard” levels in the plosion mode approximated values reported for stop consonant production, with higher pressures for /p/ than for /b/. In the unexploded mode of production, pressures tended to be higher, with /b/ pressures exceeding those used to produce /p/. [This study was supported in part by the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories under contract; and by a NIDR Research Career Development Award (RLR)].
A Cineradiographic Study of Aspiration
Authors: Kim Chin-Wu
Published: November 2005

The term aspiration has been variously defined as a “puff of air,” a glottal constriction,” “a heightened glottal pressure,” “a voicing lag,” etc. In this study, an analysis of a cineradiographic film (anterior views of the larynx) of Korean, which is said to have three degrees of distinctive aspiration, is presented, and it will be argued that aspiration is controlled by the intrinsic laryngeal muscles, and that it is a function of a glottal opening at the time of release of a stop, i.e., the degree of aspiration is directly proportional to the minimum time that is required for the glottis to close for phonation of the following vocalic segment. It will be claimed that several phonetic phenomena, such as the aspiration of a stop before h (e.g., t+h → th), neutralization of final stops (as in German, Korean), and the absence of aspiration after s in English, are explainable in the light of this new definition of aspiration. [This work was supported in part by U. S. Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories under contract and by the Joint Services Electronics Program.]
Sound Propagation Coherence Studies by Analysis of the Distortion of Explosive Pulses
Authors: Laval R.
Published: November 2005

As an acoustic communication channel the performance of the oceanic medium is severely limited by phenomena of a random nature in its volume (temperature microstructure, interval waves, turbulences, and scatterers) and at the boundaries (surface waves and bottom roughness). In the present era of sophisticated signal-processing techniques, these coherence-destroying factors are a critical limitation, and their better understanding is necessary in order to make optimum use of the medium. An experimental method of attacking this problem is described which consists of studying the random distortion of the impulse produced by an explosive charge after propagation along the various acoustic paths. The variation in space of this distortion is considered by using long lines of hydrophones towed from the receiving ship, or vertically suspended. It is shown that most of the coherence problems can be solved by this method provided that relatively advanced techniques are available for the statistical analysis of the collected acoustic signals, and that the necessary theoretical work is carried out for the interpretation of the results.
Under-Ice Acoustic Stability: Results of a Preliminary Experiment and a Proposed Method of Method of Measurement
Authors: Milne A. R.
Published: November 2005

Sound-paths under sea-ice, in particular situations, appear to be highly stable. The consequences of high stability can be an improved target resolution in reverberation limited echo-ranging applications. A preliminary experiment to test the stability of direct sound paths under springtime shore-fast sea-ice has shown that phase shifts at a frequency of 4 kHz over 12 mile paths were unresolved from instrumentation drift (±3°) in 8-min periods. An improved method for stability measurement is proposed. A set of N range-gated reverberation signals can exhibit “coherent” and “incoherent” components in its energy spectrum. The proportions of coherent and incoherent energy for narrow-band signals is shown to be simply related to the expectation of the time jitter of a sequence of echoes from a single reverberator located within the range gate.
Environmentally Related Amplitude Fluctuations at 420-Hz—Straits of Flordia Results
Authors: Clark John G. , Yarnall James R.
Published: November 2005

As part of the Straits of Florida underwater sound propagation studies (Project MIMI), a 5-mo period of nearly continuous cw transmission was completed in January 1967. Since a fixed system was used for the test, the observed transmission fluctuations are solely a consequence of time-varying processes in the ocean. Statistical descriptions are being attempted of the level fluctuations at hydrophones 3 and 43 nautical miles from the source. Completed studies have defined the contribution of surface waves and internal waves to the spectrum of acoustic amplitude fluctuations. Additional analyses are expected to describe contributions at tidal and tidal harmonic frequencies. Perhaps the most significant observations are “long-term” changes in the mean propagation loss of as great as 50 dB. Available evidence points to wind associated environmental changes which can be expected to occur in many coastal areas.
Sound-Speed Measurements aboard French Bathyscaph ARCHIMEDE in the Japan Trench
Authors: Mackenzie K. V.
Published: November 2005

Data were collected to depths of 7500 m during two dives in July 1967. Sound speeds were measured with two NUS TR-4 velocimeters. Corresponding temperatures were determined with a Hewlett-Packard oceanographic sensor, a Ramsay Engineering MK VIA deep sea probe, and reversing thermometers. Pressure was determined with a Fairchild strain gauge, reversing thermometers, and a precision pressure gauge. Iron shot fouled the water-sampling system; however, data on salinity are available from previous dives. Profiles were obtained in portions of the water column and measurements of all variables were conducted at the bottom. The data were recorded as frequency on a seven-channel tape recorder during the descent and at the bottom. A reference crystal frequency was simultaneously recorded for control. The frequencies were also counted while on the bottom.
Design of a High Amplitude Resonator
Authors: Martner J. G. , Hanagud S. V.
Published: November 2005

Design parameters and operation of a new type ultrasonic resonator are described. The resonator consists of a solid cylindrical body that contains a centrosimetric conic cavity, and is driven by a piezoelectric disk bonded to the base of the body. The system thus generated vibrates in a radial mode and the maximum amplitude is measured at the rim of the system. Optimum vibration conditions are obtained when the ratio of height to radius of the resonator is 1.24. An equation is derived for the frequency of vibration as a function of the properties of the material and the physical dimensions. A number of models were constructed and their capabilities as atomizers were studied. Aerosol conversion capabilities were found to be in excess of 22.5 gal of waterlike liquid per hour with an aerosol-generating area of approximately 45 cm2. The design of fourth enharmonic resonators whose cross sections are similar to the ones described is briefly discussed.
Dynamic Mechano-Electrical Cable Noise
Authors: Donovan J. E.
Published: November 2005

Measurements have been made on 11 samples of commercially available electroacoustic transducer cables to determine their electrical output as a function of dynamic mechanical deformation (i.e., bending twisting, crushing). Included were two “low-noise” cables. Voltages generated ranged from less than 10 μV to several hundred mV peak to peak when the cables were mechanically driven at 15 Hz. The outputs as a function of time varied over several orders of magnitude. This is an amplification of the work done by Perls [J. Appl. Phys. 674–680 (June 1952)], Rasmussen [Bell Lab. Record 305 (Aug. 1959)], and Hole [Elec. Eng. 770 (Dec. 1960)], with emphasis on the comparative effects of controlled parameters, especially time.
Transducer Pressure-Release Material for Deep Submergence Applications
Authors: Sullivan Shelby F. , Whitehouse Harper John
Published: November 2005

A new acoustic pressure-release material is proposed for use as a reflective backing in deep submergence transducer arrays. The material is high-temperature aviation insulation manufactured by Johns-Manville under the trade name Min-K 2000, available in several densities between 20 lb/ft3 and 35 lb/ft3. As purchased, the material is inelastic and is prestressed for transducer applications by uniaxial compression to a pressure greater than the design depth of the array structure. The material takes a permanent set depending on the initial density, the resulting material having a density that depends on the inelastic prestress and not on the initial density of the parent material. Similarly, acoustic velocity for longitudinal waves is dependent only on the inelastic prestress. The pressed material is rigid and machinable, having about half the impedance of acoustic backing paper at the same operating depth. A test array fabricated with this material and containing an air-filled cylinder at its center showed a 20 log10 E/E0 minor lobe level of −27 dB (the design level was −30 dB). The array was essentially pressure insensitive to the 2000-psi limit of the transducer test facility.
Some Acoustic Source Experiments Conducted in 1966
Authors: Craft William H.
Published: November 2005

In recognition of the need for a better high-intensity acoustic source capable of simulating rocket engine noise and in-flight aerodynamic noise, Lockheed conducted an experimental program during 1966 in an attempt to develop such a source. Most of the experiments performed were of a “Combustion Modulation” principle whereby acoustic energy is produced through control of the reactants in a combustion process. Peripheral tests were made including attempts to modulate low-volume air flow. In one peripheral experiment, a discovery was made that a worthwhile acoustic source is achieved when a stream of hydrogen and oxygen in detonatable proportions is subjected to a repeating electrical spark. Sonic pulses are produced at the frequency of the spark repetition rate. The device, called the “sonic detonator,” promises early application as a source of high-intensity, high-energy acoustic pressure. The paper describes the tests performed and results achieved.
Factors Contributing to the Loudness of Sonic Booms
Authors: Oncley P. B.
Published: November 2005

Most of the flyover tests on subjective reaction to sonic booms have relied only on peak overpressure as a measurement standard. Loudness is, however, greatly influenced by wave shape, and by rise time in particular. Oncley and Dunn [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (to be published)] have derived a simple expression for the energy spectral density of N waves with finite rise time. Loudness computations based on this expression agree well with the experimental results of Zepler and Harel, and also explain the extreme variation in loudness within a comparatively small range of overpressure. Actual sonic-boom analyses frequently show rise times of 10 msec or more, generally increasing with altitude. Since flyover tests have usually used fighter aircraft at 30 000 to 40 000 ft to simulate the pressure levels at twice that altitute from the SST, it is probable that on the average, booms were louder and sharper than the SST would produce. Conditions under which boom loudness can be reduced by configuration control will be considered.
Total Reflection of the Sonic Boom
Authors: Beitin C. I.
Published: November 2005

A method based on the linear theory of acoustics has been developed to determine changes in sonic boom signatures as a result of total reflection at the earth's surface. It can be shown that for Mach reflection when the slope of the terrain deviates less than 3°, from the horizontal, or for nearly grazing incidence, large spikes appear at the leading and trailing fronts of the signature. The size of these spikes, may be as high as five times the amplitude of the incident wave. The results agree very well with field measurements.
Wind Tunnel Study of Probes for Measuring Pressure Fluctuations on an Ablative Hypersonic Reentry Vehicle
Authors: Heller H. H.
Published: November 2005

The excessive heat development on the exterior structure of hypersonic reentry vehicles necessitates the use of heat-resistant pressure transducers for the measurement of boundary layer pressure fluctuations on the vehicle's surface. An appropriate acoustic probe configuration was developed and tested in windtunnel experiments. The frequency response of the probe configuration to flow excitation was studied under subsonic (M = 0.055) and supersonic (M = 2.92) flow conditions and was found to depend both on the probe interior geometry and on the physical characteristics of the flow. In addition, the influence of heat-shield ablation on the frequency response was studied under these same conditions. Widnall and Lyon's theory of the dynamics of the probe in the presence of hypersonic flow was confirmed by the experimental findings. [This work was sponsored by the Space and Missile System Organization.]
Interior Noise of Airline Aircraft
Authors: Stone Richard B.
Published: November 2005

Data gathered with an octave band analyzer is reported for many of the currently operated propeller, turboprop, and jet airline aircraft. The investigation dealt primarily with noise associated with the cockpit environment, however, a number of noise profiles in the passenger cabin are presented. Two criteria are the basis for evaluating the environment: damage risk criteria and speech interference level. Almost all airline cockpits rely on the unaided voice to communicate commands and therefore interference with speech is critical. Even recent models of jet aircraft cause cockpit communications, in some regimes of flight, to be carried out at a near shout. Many of the relatively new turboprop aircraft exceed the damage risk criteria in the cockpit.
On the Acceptability of Aircraft Noise Heard in the Presence of Speech
Authors: Williams Carl E. , Stevens Kenneth N. , Klatt Mary M.
Published: November 2005

Various aircraft flyovers were presented to listeners who were asked to rate them in terms of their acceptability in the home. Ratings were assigned on a scale having four categories: “of no concern,” “acceptable,” “barely acceptable,” and “unacceptable.” Judgments were obtained for two listening situations: (1) speech presented simultaneously with the noise, and (2) noise presented without speech. For a given maximum noise level, little difference was observed between ratings obtained in the absence of speech and ratings obtained with speech present at a comfortable level. When the noise reached a level that caused comprehension of the speech to deteriorate, it was judged to be worse than “barely acceptable.” Other data indicate that such a noise level produces a sharp drop in sentence intelligibility. Speech interference, whether actually present or estimated on the basis of past experience, appears to play a role in shaping the judgments individuals make regarding the acceptability of aircraft noise heard indoors. [K. N. Stevens is also at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Work supported by the Federal Aviation Agency.]
Evaluation of Fifteen Scaling Units for Estimating the “Annoyance” of Jet Aircraft Flyovers
Authors: Little J. W. , Mabry J. E.
Published: November 2005

Using the psychophysical method of constant stimuli, 36 subjects (18 males and 18 females) under two sets of instructions, made annoyance judgments for a total of 8496 pairs of recorded actual flyovers. Flyovers were selected on the basis of magnitude of tone element and 20 dB down duration. Fifteen different scaling units purporting to measure the relationship between physical acoustical properties and “annoyance” were applied to the various flyovers. Some of the scaling units applied were PNdB, PNdB with a tone correction, Effective PNL, Composite PNL, Stevens' phons, Stevens' phons with a pure tone correction, and so on. After applying each of the 15 different scaling approaches to the flyovers, each approach was related to the annoyance judgments obtained. Surprisingly, Stevens' phons with a pure tone correction predicted equal annoyance points better than any of the other 14 approaches. Possible application of the results to noise suppression devices for jet engines is also discussed.
Frequency Discrimination as a Function of Frequency
Authors: Henning G. Bruce , Forbes S. M.
Published: November 2005

The frequency resolution of the human auditory system at high frequencies has been difficult to measure because of the nonlinear response of earphones on real ears at frequencies above approximately 4000 cps. Variation of this response with frequency is sufficiently great that amplitude rather than frequency differences may govern discrimination. An experiment with random amplitude signals [Henning, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 39, 336–339 (1966)] indicated that frequency discrimination at high frequencies is almost an order of magnitude poorer than previous measures indicate. This finding is confirmed in experiments in which the amplitudes of the signals of different frequency to be discriminated are equalized under the earphones by means of a small probe microphone.
Bandwidth Limitations in Measurements of Cross-Spectral Density
Authors: Cox H. , Strasberg M.
Published: November 2005

This paper discusses the bandwidth requirements for accurate estimates of cross-spectral density. The common way to reduce the statistical fluctuations occurring in measurements of auto-and cross-spectral density is to increase the analysis bandwidth and accept the resulting decrease in resolution. For cross-spectral estimates, however, there is a danger that the estimates will be low, low by perhaps orders of magnitude, if the analysis band is too wide. The band must be so narrow that both the phase angle and the magnitude of the cross spectrum remain relatively constant over the band. Because of the phase requirement, estimates of cross spectra usually require narrower bands than do autospectral estimates (which are insensitive to phase). This limitation is common to both digital and analog estimates. Several case histories are discussed where errors resulted from excessively wide bands. The bandwidth limitations associated with several physical systems are discussed in terms of phase velocities. It is shown that estimates of ocean-wave cross spectra require that the bandwidth decrease with increasing frequency. Finally, it is shown how the errors can be reduced by use of phase equalization.
Impedance at Mouth of Organ Pipe
Authors: Elder S. A. , Fasnacht W. E.
Published: November 2005

Using velocity and pressure probes, the complex impedances at the mouths of closed and open organ pipes have been measured just inside the mouth and just outside, on either side of the jet. Outside the pressure leads the velocity by roughly 90° at each harmonic frequency and impedance magnitude increases approximately proportional to frequency as expected from linear end correction theory. Inside, the fundamental component of pressure is only a few degrees ahead of velocity in phase, while the higher harmonic components have a somewhat larger phase difference. This is in qualitative agreement with results of Ingard for nonlinear orifice impedance made for similar range of parameters. Fourier analysis of jet driving-pulse phase indicates that discontinuous overblow of closed pipe as contrasted with relatively smooth overblow of open pipe is due to sudden increase in “active” impedance of the jet associated with critical amplitude of third harmonic at which jet begins to enter pipe twice in a cycle. [Work supported by ONR.]
Development and Evaluation of Methods for Measuring the Characteristics of Small Acoustic Filters
Authors: Gatley William S. , Cohen Raymond
Published: November 2005

Experimental methods are needed for determining the characteristics of small acoustic filters used in systems with pulsating gas flows, so that the performance of proposed filter designs in a particular system can be predicted according to plane-wave acoustic theory. Dependence on trial-and-error experimentation in solving noise control problems would thus be minimized. A literature survey revealed relatively little information useful for evaluating the acoustic performance of small filters and filter elements. Three methods for determining reflection and transmission factors are described, evaluated, and compared. A method employing a standing-wave tube of unique design is recommended for determination of reflection factors. Transmission factors are obtained from reflection factors and pressure measurements at the filter inlet and outlet. Use of an anechoic termination simplifies the calculations and increases accuracy; design and evaluation of such a termination is described.
On the Generation and Measurement of Acoustic Fields in Low Density Media
Authors: Mohanty Aswini Kumar , Oliver Calvin C.
Published: November 2005

The results of experimental studies of generation and measurement of acoustic fields in argon, nitrogen and air at room temperature and at pressures as low as 30 mm Hg absolute will be presented. The motivation for the investigation was based on observations from experiments on microwave ionization of low pressure gases. The problems of transmission and detection of pressure perturbations in low-density media have implications, however, for other areas of investigation. A notable example occurs in the development of the necessary technology in space programs to probe physically low-density planetary atmospheres. Data are given in graphical form for SPL in a half inch tube resonated at 2000 Hz as a function of power, pressure, and gaseous medium. For example, in argon with a power input of 0.3 W to the acoustic driver, the SPL was reduced from 148 dB at atmospheric pressure to 90 dB at 30 mm Hg. The effects of the parameters of the study on electromechanical conversion efficiency will be indicated. Data will also be given on the manner in which the parameters affect attenuation in a damped probe. Finally, additional studies that are required to completely explain the results of the present investigation will be outlined.
Experimental Results of Optical Holographic Testing of a Sonar Transducer
Authors: Jacobson Charles F. , Grant Ralph M.
Published: November 2005

A brief review of Powell and Stetson's original work on vibration holography [R. Powell and K. Stetson, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 55, 12 (1965)] will be given and the mathematics discussed for determining the relative displacement of the transducer surface from the vibration hologram. Experimental results of tests of a prototype sonar transducer (several models) using holographic interferometry are given. Hologram vibration patterns at various drive frequencies will be shown and corresponding displacement or flexure diagrams shown. Experimental comparison of unloaded (in air) and loaded (in water) operation [R. M. Grant et at., “Underwater Holography,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56, 8, 1142 (1966)] will also be given. The feasibility of predicting performance under loaded operation from unloaded holographic measurements will be discussed.
REVIEW OF SIGNAL PROCESSING IN GENETICS
Authors: BERRYMAN M. J. , ALLISON A. , WILKINSON C. R. , ABBOTT D.
Published: November 2005

This paper reviews applications of signal processing techniques to a number of areas in the field of genetics. We focus on techniques for analyzing DNA sequences, and briefly discuss applications of signal processing to DNA sequencing, and other related areas in genetics that can provide biologically significant information to assist with sequence analysis.
Incomplete information in object-oriented databases
Authors: Zicari Roberto
Published: November 2005

We present a way to handle incomplete information both at schema and object instance level in an object-oriented database. Incremental schema design becomes possible with the introduction of
generic
classes. Incomplete data in an object instance is handled with the introduction of explicit
null values
in a similar way as in the relational and nested relations data models.
An optimal algorithm for querying tree structures and its applications in bioinformatics
Authors: Liu Hsiao-Fei , Chang Ya-Hui , Chao Kun-Mao
Published: November 2005

Trees and graphs are widely used to model biological databases. Providing efficient algorithms to support tree-based or graph-based querying is therefore an important issue. In this paper, we propose an optimal algorithm which can answer the following question: "Where do the root-to-leaf paths of a rooted labeled tree
Q
occur in another rooted labeled tree
T
?" in time
O
(
m
+
Occ
), where
m
is the size of
Q
and
Occ
is the output size. We also show the problem of querying a general graph is NP-complete and not approximable within

n
k

for any
k
< 1, where
n
is the number of nodes in the queried graph, unless P = NP.
Managing and analyzing carbohydrate data
Authors: Aoki Kiyoko F. , Ueda Nobuhisa , Yamaguchi Atsuko , Akutsu Tatsuya , Kanehisa Minoru , Mamitsuka Hiroshi
Published: November 2005

One of the most vital molecules in multicellular organisms is the carbohydrate, as it is structurally important in the construction of such organisms. In fact, all cells in nature carry carbohydrate sugar chains, or glycans, that help modulate various cell-cell events for the development of the organism. Unfortunately, informatics research on glycans has been slow in comparison to DNA and proteins, largely due to difficulties in the biological analysis of glycan structures. Our work consists of data engineering approaches in order to glean some understanding of the current glycan data that is publicly available. In particular, by modeling glycans as labeled unordered trees, we have implemented a tree-matching algorithm for measuring tree similarity. Our algorithm utilizes proven efficient methodologies in computer science that has been extended and developed for glycan data. Moreover, since glycans are recognized by various agents in multicellular organisms, in order to capture the patterns that might be recognized, we needed to somehow capture the dependencies that seem to range beyond the directly connected nodes in a tree. Therefore, by defining glycans as labeled ordered trees, we were able to develop a new probabilistic tree model such that sibling patterns across a tree could be mined. We provide promising results from our methodologies that could prove useful for the future of glycome informatics.
Automatic composite wrapper generation for semi-structured biological data based on table structure identification
Authors: Chen Liangyou , Jamil Hasan M. , Wang Nan
Published: November 2005

Biological data analyses usually require complex manipulations involving tool applications, multiple web site navigation, result selection and filtering, and iteration over the internet. Most biological data are generated from structured databases and by applications and presented to the users embedded within repeated structures, or tables, in HTML documents. In this paper we outline a novel technique for the identification of table structures in HTML documents. This identification technique is then used to automatically generate composite wrappers for applications requiring distributed resources. We demonstrate that our method is robust enough to discover standard as well as non-standard table structures in HTML documents. Thus our technique outperforms contemporary techniques used in systems such as XWrap and AutoWrapper. We discuss our technique in the context of our
PickUp
system that exploits the theoretical developments presented in this paper and emerges as an elegant automatic wrapper generation system.
Logic-based web information extraction
Authors: Gottlob Georg , Koch Christoph
Published: November 2005

The Web wrapping proble, i.e., the problem of extracting structured information from HTML documents, is one of great practical importance. The often observed
information overload
that users of the Web experience witnesses the lack of intelligent and encompassing Web services that provide high-quality collected and value-added inforamtion. The Web wrapping problem has been addressed by a significant amount of research work. Previous work can be classified into two categories, depending on whether the HTML input is regarded as a sequential character string (e.g., [34, 27, 24, 30, 23]) or a pre-parsed document tree (for instance, [35, 25, 22, 29, 3, 2, 26]). The latter category of work thus assumes that systems may make use of an existing HTML parser as a front and.
Database tuning principles, experiments, and troubleshooting techniques
Authors: Shasha Dennis , Bonnet Philippe , Bercich Nancy Hartline
Published: November 2005

As our reliance on computers and computerized data has increased, we have come to expect more from our computers. We no longer expect our computers to act as large expensive calculators that merely spit out bills and paychecks. We now, additionally, expect our systems to rapidly access and interactively present us with large volumes of accurate data. In fact, our expectations have changed so much, in the past decade, that we no longer focus on what our systems are but rather on what they do. We no longer refer to our systems as computer systems but rather information systems. With these new expectations have come new responsibilities for the information systems professional. We can no longer concern ourselves merely with keeping our systems up and running. We now need to concern ourselves with subjective concepts such as response time and throughput. With current expectations what they are, performance tuning has become vitally important.
Branding yourself
Authors: Snodgrass Richard , Brucks Merrie
Published: November 2005

Our here in the western US a "brand" is distinctive symbol placed on livestock (cattle, horses) to indicate their ranch of origin. Brands originated in the 1800's to deter thieves and to place lost animals. The brand is applied by heating an iron template to red-hot and then burning the brand into the hide of the animal. In that context, the title of this essay may be quite disturbing.
Issues in mechanical engineering design management
Authors: Hislop Dave , Lacroix Zoé , Moeller Gerald
Published: November 2005

The Virtual Parts Engineering Research Center (VPERC), funded by the Army Research Office, focuses on building frameworks, tools, and technologies for making engineered systems sustainable and maintainable thanks to a virtual engineering environment intended to transform the engineering process, thus supporting extremely fast turnaround times for urgent part supply needs. One of its key research thrusts is data management targeted for the design process. The invitational VPERC workshop held at Arizona State University in June 2003, involved 38 participants from academia, governmental institutions and industry who discussed legacy systems engineering. This paper presents the data management needs to support mechanical engineering design as they were discussed at the meeting.
PC Notes
Authors: Styer Eugene
Published: November 2005

Now in segment ten we look at mass storage: disks, tapes and CD-ROMs.
Optimization of data stream processing
Authors: Getta Janusz R. , Vossough Ehsan
Published: November 2005

Efficient processing of unlimited and continuously expanding sequences of data items is one of the key factors in the implementations of Data Stream Management Systems (DSMS). Analysis of stream processing at the dataflow level reveals execution plans which are not visible at a logical level. This work introduces a new model of data stream processing and discusses a number of optimization techniques applicable to this model and its implementation. The optimization techniques include applications of containers with intermediate results, analysis of data processing rates, and efficient synchronization of elementary operations on data streams. The paper also describes the translation of logical level expressions on data streams into the sets of dataflow level expressions, syntax based optimization of dataflow expression, and scheduling of concurrent computations of the dataflow expressions.
Phil Bernstein speaks out on trends at industrial research labs
Authors: Winslett Marianne
Published: November 2005

This interview with Phil Bernstein was videotaped at SIGMOD 2002 in Madison, Wisconsin, and revised slightly in July 2004 to bring it up to date.
Report on the workshop on metadata management in grid and peer-to-peer systems, London, December 16 2003
Authors: Keenoy Kevin , Poulovassilis Alexandra , Christophides Vassilis , Loizou George , Kokkinidis Giorgos , Samaras George , Spyratos Nicolas
Published: November 2005

A workshop on Metadata Management in Grid and Peer-to-Peer Systems was held in the Senate House of the University of London on December 16 2003.1 The workshop was organised by the SeLeNe (Self e-Learning Networks) IST project as part of its dissemination activities.2 The goal of the workshop was to identify recent technological achievements and open challenges regarding metadata management in novel applications requiring peer-to-peer information management in a distributed or Grid setting. The target audience for this event were researchers from the Grid, peer-to-peer and e-learning communities, as well as other application areas requiring Grid and/or peer-to-peer support. The event attracted 43 participants from 8 different European countries, and we believe that it was an important step in coordinating research activities in these inter-related areas. The presentations at the workshop fell into one of four sessions, each of which we report on below.
Introduction to the special issue on semantic integration
Authors: Doan AnHai , Noy Natalya F. , Halevy Alon Y.
Published: November 2005

Semantic heterogeneity is one of the key challenges in integrating and sharing data across disparate sources, data exchange and migration, data warehousing, model management, the Semantic Web and peer-to-peer databases. Semantic heterogeneity can arise at the schema level and at the data level. At the schema level, sources can differ in relations, attribute and tag names, data normalization, levels of detail, and the coverage of a particular domain. The problem of reconciling schema-level heterogeneity is often referred to as
schema matching
or
schema mapping
. At the data level, we find different representations of the same real-world entities (e.g., people, companies, publications, etc.). Reconciling data-level heterogeneity is referred to as
data deduplication, record linkage
, and
entity/object matching
. To exacerbate the heterogeneity challenges, schema elements of one source can be represented as data in another. This special issue presents a set of articles that describe recent work on semantic heterogeneity at the schema level.
Multiplex, Fusionplex and Autoplex
Authors: Motro Amihai , Berlin Jacob , Anokhin Philipp
Published: November 2005

We describe three generations of information integration systems developed at George Mason University. All three systems adopt a
virtual database
design: a global integration schema, a mapping between this schema and the schemas of the participating information sources, and automatic interpretation of global queries. The focus of Multiplex is rapid integration of very large, evolving, and heterogeneous collections of information sources. Fusionplex strengthens these capabilities with powerful tools for resolving data inconsistencies. Finally, Autoplex takes a more proactive approach to integration, by "recruiting" contributions to the global integration schema from available information sources. Using machine learning techniques it confronts a major cost of integration, that of mapping new sources into the global schema.
Report on the seventh EDBT summer school
Authors: Torlone Riccardo , Atzeni Paolo
Published: November 2005

The Seventh EDBT Summer School 2004 was held in Santa Margherita di Pula, Sardinia, Italy, September 6-10, 2004. It continued a successful series of international schools promoted by the EDBT Association and dedicated to the dissemination of latest advances in database management. Indeed, the EDBT Association (a Europe-based non-profit organization also known as the EDBT Endowment) has the purpose of promoting and supporting the progress and the study of the database technology and application. Its two major initiatives are the EDBT Conference (International Conference on Extending Data Base Technology), held every two years since 1988, and the EDBT Summer School, held almost with the same regularity, since 1991. Previous schools took place in Alghero (Italy) in 1991, Leysin (Switzerland) in 1993, Gubbio (Italy) in 1995, Capri (Italy) in 1997, La Baule (France) in 1999, and Cargèese (France) in 2002. Some information on the previous editions is available at the EDBT Association site (www.edbt.org), which also illustrates the goals and structure of the association.
Report on the first twente data management workshop on XML databases and information retrieval
Authors: Hiemstra Djoerd , Mihajlović Vojkan
Published: November 2005

The Database Group of the University of Twente initiated a new series of workshops called Twente Data Management workshops (TDM), starting with one on XML Databases and Information Retrieval which took place on 21 June 2004 at the University of Twente. We have set ourselves two goals for the workshop series: i) To provide a forum to share original ideas as well as research results on data management problems; ii) To bring together researchers from the database community and researchers from related research fields
In memory of Seymour Ginsburg 1928 - 2004
Authors: Abiteboul S. , Hull R. , Vianu V.
Published: November 2005

Seymour Ginsburg, a pioneer of formal language theory and database theory, passed away on December 5 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.
A snapshot of public web services
Authors: Fan Jianchun , Kambhampati Subbarao
Published: November 2005

Web Service Technology has been developing rapidly as it provides a flexible application-to-application interaction mechanism. Several ongoing research efforts focus on various aspects of web service technology, including the modeling, specification, discovery, composition and verification of web services. The approaches advocated are often conflicting---based as they are on differing expectations on the current status of web services as well as differing models of their future evolution. One way of deciding the relative relevance of the various research directions is to look at their applicability to the currently available web services. To this end, we took a snapshot of the currently publicly available web services. Our aim is to get an idea of the number, type, complexity and composability of these web services and see if this analysis provides useful information about the near-term fruitful research directions.
Research issues in automatic database clustering
Authors: Guinepain Sylvain , Gruenwald Le
Published: November 2005

While a lot of work has been published on clustering of data on storage medium, little has been done about automating this process. This is an important area because with data proliferation, human attention has become a precious and expensive resource. Our goal is to develop an automatic and dynamic database clustering technique that will dynamically re-cluster a database with little intervention of a database administrator (DBA) and maintain an acceptable query response time at all times. In this paper we describe the issues that need to be solved when developing such a technique.
RedBD
Authors: Illarramendi Arantza , Marcos Esperanza , Costilla Carmen
Published: November 2005

During the last decade, the Database research community in Spain has grown significantly in the quantity of groups interested in the area, and especially in the quality of those groups. Those database research groups are not in general very large; usually five or six full-time researchers compose them. The economic resources for supporting the researching activity came from public organisms like the Spanish government, the European Union or local governments, and in a less rate from the industry. Research is carried out mainly at the Informatics Departments of the Universities. As the different groups usually share research topics and also fields of applications, in the last years there has been an important movement to join research efforts.
Report from the first international workshop on computer vision meets databases (CVDB 2004)
Authors: Amsaleg Laurent , Jónsson Björn Pór , Oria Vincent
Published: November 2005

This report summarizes the presentations and discussions of the First International Workshop on Computer Vision meets Databases, or CVDB 2004, which was held in Paris, France, on June 13, 2004. The workshop was co-located with the 2004 ACM SIGMOD/PODS conferences and was attended by forty-two participants from all over the world.
The atomic manifesto
Authors: Jones Cliff , Lomet David , Romanovsky Alexander , Weikum Gerhard , Fekete Alan , Gaudel Marie-Claude , Korth Henry F. , de Lemos Rogerio , Moss Eliot , Rajwar Ravi , Ramamritham Krithi , Randell Brian , Rodrigues Luis
Published: November 2005

This paper is based on a five-day workshop on "Atomicity in System Design and Execution" that took place in Schloss Dagstuhl in Germany [5] in April 2004 and was attended by 32 people from different scientific communities. The participants included researchers from the four areas of•
database and transaction processing systems,
•
fault tolerance and dependable systems,
•
formal methods for system design and correctness reasoning, and
• to a smaller extent,
hardware architecture and programming languages.
Report on MobiDE 2003
Authors: Banerjee Sujata , Cherniack Mitch , Chrysanthis Panos K. , Kumar Vijay , Labrinidis Alexandros
Published: November 2005

The 3rd International ACM Workshop on Data Engineering for Wireless and Mobile Access (MobiDE 2003 for short) took place on September 19, 2003 at the Westin Horton Plaza Hotel in San Diego, California in conjunction with MobiCom 2003. The MobiDE workshops serve as a bridge between the data management and network research communities, and have a tradition of presenting innovations on mobile as well as wireless data engineering issues (such as those found in sensor networks). This workshop was the third in the MobiDE series, MobiDE 1999 having taken place in Seattle in conjunction with MobiCom 1999, and MobiDE 2001 having taken place in Santa Barbara in conjunction with SIGMOD 2001.
PC Note
Authors: Styer Eugene
Published: November 2005

In this fifth installment in the series, we will start looking at instructions added by the 286 through the Pentium processors. Many of the new instructions are used only (or mostly) by the operating system when running
protected mode
programs. I will identify these instructions with the label (system). Because of this, the first thing I am going to describe is how protected mode works.
A tribute to Professor Hongjun Lu
Authors: Carey Michael J. , Han Jiawei
Published: November 2005

Dr. Hongjun Lu, Professor of Computer Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, lost his brave fight against cancer and left us in the evening of March 3, 2005. The world lost a dedicated and brilliant computer scientist. The database research community lost a respected and prolific researcher, an effortless organizer and promoter of database research in the world, a friend cherished by many colleagues and researchers, and a wonderful teacher who deeply affected and was revered by his students.
Analytical processing of XML documents
Authors: Bordawekar Rajesh R. , Lang Christian A.
Published: November 2005

Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) has been a valuable tool for analyzing trends in business information. While the multi-dimensional cube model used by OLAP is ideal for analyzing structured business data, it is not suitable for representing and analyzing complex semi-structured data, such as, XML documents. Need for analyzing XML documents is gaining urgency as XML has become the language of choice for data representation across a wide range of application domains. This paper describes a proposal for analyzing XML documents using the abstract XML tree model. We argue that OLAP's multi-dimensional aggregation operators can not express structurally complex analytical operations on XML documents. Hence, we outline new extensions to XQuery for supporting such complex analytical operations. Finally, we discuss various challenges in implementing XML analysis in a real system.
Building data mining solutions with OLE DB for DM and XML for analysis
Authors: Tang Zhaohui , Maclennan Jamie , Kim Peter Pyungchul
Published: November 2005

A data mining component is included in Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005, one of the most popular DBMSs. This gives a push for data mining technologies to move from a niche towards the mainstream. Apart from a few algorithms, the main contribution of SQL Server Data Mining is the implementation of OLE DB for Data Mining. OLE DB for Data mining is an industrial standard led by Microsoft and supported by a number of ISVs. It leverages two existing relational technologies: SQL and OLE DB. It defines a SQL language for data mining based on a relational concept. More recently, Microsoft, Hyperion, SAS and a few other BI vendors formed the XML for Analysis Council. XML for Analysis covers both OLAP and Data Mining. The goal is to allow consumer applications to query various BI packages from different platforms. This paper gives an overview of OLE DB for Data Mining and XML for Analysis. It also shows how to build data mining application using these APIs.
Guest editors' introduction to the special section on scientific workflows
Authors: Ludäscher Bertram , Goble Carole
Published: November 2005

Business-oriented workflows have been studied since the 70's under various names (office automation, workflow management, business process management) and by different communities, including the database community. Much basic and applied research has been conducted over the years, e.g. theoretical studies of workflow languages and models (based on Petri-nets or process calculi), their properties, transactional behavior, etc.
Integrating databases and workflow systems
Authors: Shankar Srinath , Kini Ameet , DeWitt David J. , Naughton Jeffrey
Published: November 2005

There has been an information explosion in fields of science such as high energy physics, astronomy, environmental sciences and biology. There is a critical need for automated systems to manage scientific applications and data. Database technology is well-suited to handle several aspects of workflow management. Contemporary workflow systems are built from multiple, separately developed components and do not exploit the full power of DBMSs in handling data of large magnitudes. We advocate a holistic view of a WFMS that includes not only workflow modeling but planning, scheduling, data management and cluster management. Thus, it is worthwhile to explore the ways in which databases can be augmented to manage workflows in addition to data. We present a language for modeling workflows that is tightly integrated with SQL. Each scientific program in a workflow is associated with an active table or view. The definition of data products is in relational format, and invocation of programs and querying is done in SQL. The tight coupling between workflow management and data-manipulation is an advantage for data-intensive scientific programs.