bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Application of level changing to a multilevel storage organization
Authors: Morenoff Edward , McLean John B.
Published: July 2002

A technique for organizing the devices of a computer storage system is described. This technique, called the multilevel store, provides a means for economically satisfying the requirements for very large storage capacities of certain data management and information retrieval systems. The concept of level changing is introduced and its application to the multilevel store is discussed. A possible means for physically organizing the information for efficient use of the multilevel store is presented.
Error-free methods for statistical computations
Authors: Rodden B. E.
Published: July 2002

Neely has discussed computational error generated by some algorithms used to compute various statistics. In the present paper methods are described which are error-free, simple in concept, and usually less costly in machine time than those mentioned by Neely.
The Nebulous future of machine translation
Authors: Titus James P.
Published: July 2002

A report by the National Academy of Sciences that examines machine translation against the light of human translation has disturbed a good many research administrators in the government. So much bad publicity has been engendered by this report that the future of machine translation is uncertain, even though the technology is a scant twelve years old.
An experimental model of system/360
Authors: Katz Jesse H.
Published: July 2002

The problem of predicting the performance of modern computer systems is formidable. One general technique which can ease this problem is macroscopic simulation. This paper reports on the applicability of that technique to System/360.

The paper describes an experimental model of System/360—its hardware, software, and its environment. The measures of system performance produced by the model consist of statistics relating to turnaround time, throughput, hardware utilization, software utilization, and queueing processes.

The model is mechanized in SIMSCRIPT and consists of some 1750 statements. An auxiliary program, the Job Generator, creates automatically the properties of System/360 jobs that get simulated.
Transparent-mode control procedures for data communication, using the American standard code for information interchange—a tutorial
Authors: Gorn S.
Published: July 2002

This paper gives the considerations of Task Group X3.3.4 in the area of transparent-mode data communication control philosophy. The appearance of this paper was forecast (under the name of “second-level control”) in the earlier tutorial paper, “Control Procedures for Data Communications,” Task Group document X3.3.4.44, dated May 1964.

The present paper elaborates upon solutions to the problems of transparency to the basic ASCII communication control characters, as outlined in the previous paper mentioned above. Moreover, it goes on to cover the additional control problems of handling material such as offline encrypted data or non-ASCII codes by means of systems providing complete character transparency. It does not cover concepts of transparency in which the normal character structure or modulation rate of a system may be abandoned.

In conjunction with the earlier tutorial paper, this paper is expected to lead to a proposal for standardization of data communication control procedures using the American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
A system organization for resource allocation
Authors: Dahm D. M. , Gerbstadt T. H. , Pacelli M. M.
Published: July 2002

This paper introduces a system for resource management using the concepts of “process,” “facility,” and “event.” Except for the processor no attempt has been made to give serious suggestions for the policy to be followed for resource allocation. However, a basic framework is provided in which a system analyst can express solutions to resource management problems.

The paper is divided into a tutorial presentation, a description of the system primitives, and a small collection of examples of the use of the primitives.
A SIMSCRIPT-FORTRAN case study
Authors: Weinert Arla E.
Published: July 2002

Two programs for a vehicle dispatching model, one written in 7040 SIMSCRIPT and the other in 7040 FORTRAN IV are compared. The comparison is made in terms of basic program design decisions, storage requirements, computer time used, and the ease of making changes.

In the SIMSCRIPT program, the primary design considerations center around the choice of model variables, model changing events, and model testing. In the FORTRAN program, basic design problems relate to the representation of the passage of time, the allocation of storage, and the organization of input data.

The comparison of these differently designed programs shows that the SIMSCRIPT program uses more computer storage and more computer time, but requires fewer program changes to introduce model revisions.
A class of iterative techniques for the factorization of polynomials
Authors: Luther H. A.
Published: July 2002

A method of iteration is developed in terms of a function of somewhat arbitrary character. Sufficient conditions are given for convergence of the process, yielding factors of arbitrary degree for polynomials in one variable. Both Lin's method and Newton's method occur as special cases.
Digital data processor for tracking the partially illuminated moon
Authors: Wilcox H. James
Published: July 2002

A study of lunar tracking techniques and fabrication of a breadboard to assess the feasibility of the best technique selected was conducted to define a tracking system for observation of the sightline to the center of a partially illuminated moon. The data processing portion of the system is presented in detail and then described in general are the operation of the tracker head assembly for data readout, the operation of the entire system and the effect data processing considerations have on the design of the tracker system.

The system basically consists of an optical sensor, digital computer and tracker drive mechanism. The three system units, connected in cascade, comprise the control loop. For this application, an optical telescope with a radial mechanical scanning mechanism was used that read out lunar sightline measurement information. This information is sequentially read into a special purpose digital computer that extracts the measurements and computes the error signals that drive the tracker to the appropriate attitude.
On declaring arbitrarily coded alphabets
Authors: Shaw Christopher J.
Published: July 2002

The inability of existing programming languages to handle character strings from more than one or two alphabets is mentioned and a scheme for declaring additional alphabets is proposed. The scheme provides for: many-to-one encodings, right or left justification, collating sequences different from numeric sequence, variations in character size (number of bits) from alphabet to alphabet, and arbitrary source-language character representation.
An experiment in a user-oriented computer system
Authors: Klerer Melvin , May Jack
Published: July 2002

A version of a software-hardware system for the purpose of facilitating the programming and analysis of well-formulated problems is described. A modified Flexowriter is used to generate computer-acceptable input when equations or computable requests are typed in much the same manner as they would appear in conventional mathematical texts. The typing and language rules are quite flexible and unrestrictive. While the compiler part is efficient, the system as a whole has much broader aspects as a tool for the study of problem solving and self-teaching systems.
Expand, a system for input card replication
Authors: Warrington James A. , Norris James H.
Published: July 2002

In an effort to reduce the volume of card handling at our installation, our operating system [1] was modified to include an EXPAND feature. The function of EXPAND is to eliminate the necessity of reproducing a card or a group of cards of the input dock to any particular job. Once a group of cards appears in an input deck, they may be caused to reappear subsequently by the inclusion of a single control card which calls for the “insertion” of cards by sequence numbers or letters. The user is permitted to specify minor modifications to the cards as they are being inserted. Hence, the user may easily run parameter studies, insert similar EQUIVALENCE, COMMON and DIMENSION statements in a multisubroutined FORTRAN program, or specify similar regions on a large mesh such as is needed for a thermal or nuclear study. Note also that when it is necessary to change a deck and rerun, it is only necessary to repunch the original card—every reappearance caused by EXPAND automatically reflects the new card.
A technique for reading gapless tapes makes electrocardiograph analysis feasible on the IBM 7090
Authors: Maher Alice S.
Published: July 2002

To study arrhythmias and higher frequency components of the electrocardiogram, long series of patient heart cycles must be examined before valid comparison of different heart beats can be made. A technique is presented for the automatic analysis of long series heart cycles via a digital computer.
BUGSYS
Authors: Ledley R. S. , Jacobsen J. , Belson M.
Published: July 2002

BUGSYS is a picture processing and measuring system that depends upon a pictorial input to the computer's memory. BUGSYS can be used for many types of applications. In particular, the authors have used the system for the analysis of linear graphs. The main concept of the system is the use of a collection of programmable pointers, which are visualized as a family of “bugs.”
Control procedures for data communication—an ASA progress report
Authors: Salton Gerhard
Published: July 2002

Sectional Committee X.3 of the American Standards Association, has charged one of its task groups, X3.3.4, with the responsibility to “Define and specify functional control requirements and characteristics governing the operation of digital data generating and receiving systems interconnected by communication system.” This effort is primarily directed toward systems employing the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII).

This paper represents a progress report on the work of this group toward a proposal for national and international standardization in the field of control procedures. It describes both the old and new work of the task group. The new work is presented in detail, while the work that has been presented in earlier papers [“Control Procedures for Data Communication,” Task Group document X3.3.4/44, May 1964: “Transparent-Mode Control Procedures for Data Communication,” Task Group document X3.3.4/58, December, 1964:
Comm
.
ACM 8
(Apr. 1965), 203-206; “Control Procedures for Data Communication,” Task Group document X3.3.4/60, March, 1965] is retained here in summary form. Many of the concepts and principles described herein have been submitted to the International Organization for Standardization via earlier papers and are now embodied in working papers of that organization.
The structure of programming languages
Authors: Raphael Bertram
Published: July 2002

The following are identified as major components of every programming language: (1) the elementary program statement, (2) mechanisms for linking elementary statements together, (3) the means by which a program can obtain data inputs. Several alternative forms of each of these components are described, compared and evaluated. Many examples, frequently from list processing languages, illustrate the forms described.

Elementary program statements usually take the form of
commands
,
requirements
, or
implicit specifications
. A
command
is an imperative statement that commands the action to be taken. A
requirement
describes the effect to be achieved without saying anything about the actions to be taken. An
implicit specification
is similar to a requirement, but the programmer must understand what actions will be taken to achieve the desired effect.

Subroutines may be entered
explicitly
, by
execute call
, or by
function composition
. Explicitly called subroutines generally require special linkage conventions. An
execute
subroutine call is syntactically indistinguishable from a basic instruction of the programming language.
Function composition
is a convenient alternative to the explicit call.

The three principal ways of getting inputs for routines are (1) by referring to the data itself, (2) by referring to the data by a “name”, and (3) by referring to it implicitly by means of variables or functions. Names are useful entry points into permanent data structures, but can be error-causing distractions in other contexts.

The author discusses advantages, disadvantages, and factors influencing the choice of a form of component for a language. He concludes by suggesting the evolution of programming languages toward one which will permit all
The next 700 programming languages
Authors: Landin P. J.
Published: July 2002

A family of unimplemented computing languages is described that is intended to span differences of application area by a unified framework. This framework dictates the rules about the uses of user-coined names, and the conventions about characterizing functional relationships. Within this framework the design of a specific language splits into two independent parts. One is the choice of written appearances of programs (or more generally, their physical representation). The other is the choice of the abstract entities (such as numbers, character-strings, list of them, functional relations among them) that can be referred to in the language.

The system is biased towards “expressions” rather than “statements.” It includes a nonprocedural (purely functional) subsystem that aims to expand the class of users' needs that can be met by a single print-instruction, without sacrificing the important properties that make conventional right-hand-side expressions easy to construct and understand.
Program translation viewed as a general data processing problem
Authors: Naur Peter
Published: July 2002

Efficiency dictates that the overall effectiveness of a compiler be increased by all means available. For a compiler to have a substantial useful life it needs a clear logical structure, reliability and sound data processing techniques. A compiler must be based on fixed conventions to preserve efficiency and reliability; empty options and default conventions violate this dictum. Use of structure to associate various parts of a program and economy of features promote clarity and reliability.
An ALGOL compiler
Authors: Boussard J. C.
Published: July 2002

An ALGOL translator has been prepared and integrated into the IBSYS Operating System. Assembly and “go” features of IBSYS permit immediate execution with optional listings, decks and debugging information. Using the chain feature of IBSYS, links written in MAP or FORTRAN as well as ALGOL may be called by the ALGOL main program. In addition, procedures coded in MAP may be included in any ALGOL program. Although assembly plus loading time exceeds compilation time, the total time is satisfactory and the user gets ease and facility which are fully compensating.
On a generalized language for file organization and manipulation
Authors: Bachman Charles W.
Published: July 2002

I would like to speak on what I call a unified or generalized language for file organization and manipulation. I call it unified because some ideas from which disk file languages were developed are perfectly applicable to magnetic tape files, and would be a great improvement on the way we address files on magnetic tape today.
A simple user-oriented compiler source language for programming automatic test equipment
Authors: Scheff Benson H.
Published: July 2002

For the nonprogrammer, difficulty in using a language increases rapidly with the number of nonproblem-oriented conventions. A simple language, even if inelegant, which considers the user's background as part of the problem may be more effective than a source language containing subtle and more powerful capabilities.

The language described in this paper is used to write computer programs which test electronic equipment. Because this testing process contains few complex ideas, there is little need for the elegance and redundancy of a highly syntax-oriented language. A simple and direct language will suffice for the problem. The eventual users of this language are military depot personnel who cannot be expected to have computer programming skill or significant programming training. For this nonprogramming-oriented user, it was essential to create a language using familiar engineering statements; programming-oriented conventions would have unnecessarily complicated his task.
Mechanization of the curve fitting process
Authors: Simonsen Roger H. , Anketell D. Louise
Published: July 2002

A process for fitting a curve to approximate data and the problem it creates for the engineer-programmer is defined. An approach has also been defined and a system has been written for the SRU 1107 to mechanize a major portion of this process. The techniques developed to accomplish the mechanization are largely empirical, and are dependent for their information only on the actual data points.
Automatic integration of a function with a parameter
Authors: Rabinowitz Philip
Published: July 2002

Two efficient methods for automatic numerical integration are Romberg integration and adaptive Simpson integration. For integrands of the form ƒ(
x
)
g
(
x, α
) where
α
is a parameter, it is shown that Romberg's method is more efficient. A FORTRAN program shows how to achieve this greater efficiency.
FLOWTRACE, a computer program for flowcharting programs
Authors: Sherman Philip M.
Published: July 2002

The FLOWTRACE system produces flowcharts of programs written in “almost any” programming language. One must describe the syntax of the control statements in his language; for this purpose a metalanguage is available. The resultant object deck is used to flowchart any programs in the language described.

Several examples of FAP and SNOBOL flowcharts are given. However, it is not necessary to confine one's scope to existing languages. One may define his own language in any “well-structured” manner. This feature is particularly useful when it is desirable to chart only comments within a program. Such an approach permits the documentation of descriptive remarks and avoids the inclusion of coding details.
On the application of the process of equalization of maxima to obtain rational approximation to certain modified Bessel functions
Authors: Gargantini I.
Published: July 2002

The second Remes algorithm as originally established for polynomials, may converge or not when the approximating functions are rational. However, the few results known in this domain show how efficient the algorithm can be to obtain approximations with a small error, much more than in the polynomial case, in which the best approximation can be very nearly approached directly by a series development. The aim of this paper is to investigate the limitations of the applicability of certain extensions of the algorithm to the case where the approximations are rational as well as to present some numerical results.
Statistical computations based upon algebraically specified models
Authors: Schlater J. E. , Hemmerle W. J.
Published: July 2002

Based upon a machine-readable statistical model and related symbolic specifications, an efficient method of performing calculations for statistical models of a balanced complete nature is presented. Fixed, mixed, and random analysis of variance models are considered. A procedure for obtaining variance components and calculated
F
statistics for the model terms is included.
Levels of computer systems
Authors: Bryant Peter
Published: July 2002

In building current computer systems, we tend to break them down into “levels” of control, command and communication; in using the system, we break our problems down correspondingly.

The continued use of such a structure raises questions about its effects on the usefulness of future systems, particularly with regard to such trends as time sharing, parallel programming, and, eventually, systems which learn. In this essay some of these questions are posed, and the general attitude we must take in pursuing the problem further is discussed.
Internal and tape sorting using the replacement-selection technique
Authors: Goetz Martin A.
Published: July 2002

A general technique for sequencing unsorted records is presented. The technique is shown to be applicable for the first stage of a generalized sort program (the formation of initial strings) as well as for sorting records within a memory storage (an internal sort). It is shown that given
N
records in memory storage, records are sequenced using 1+log
2
N
tests per record, that initial string lengths will average 2
N
for random input records, and that reading, writing and processing can be accomplished simultaneously if the computer permits such overlap.
Multiphase sorting
Authors: Manker Harold H.
Published: July 2002

With a limited number of tape drives available for sorting, the polyphase technique of merging provides faster sorting than the conventional balanced method of merging. This paper is an attempt to describe the polyphase method used in the IBM 1401 Sort 2 program for a computer system with four tape drives available.
Sorting with large volume, random access, drum storage
Authors: Falkin Joel , Savastano Sal
Published: July 2002

An approach to sorting records is described using random access drum memory. The Sort program described is designed to be a generalized, self-generating sort, applicable to a variety of record statements. This description is divided into three parts. The first part presents the operating environment; the second defines the general solution; the third part describes the internal sort-merge technique.
Glossaries for computing and data processing
Authors: Grems Mandalay
Published: July 2002

At the present time, there is considerable interest and activity in the preparation of a comprehensive glossary of computing and data processing terms. This interest is generated by members of the various national and international professional associations, the computer manufacturers, and the American Standards Association.
A preplanned approach to a storage allocating compiler
Authors: O'Neill Robert W.
Published: July 2002

The preplanned approach to the storage allocation problem involves using a fixed method of analysis of a problem to produce an efficient computer program incorporating all necessary transfers of information within the multilevels of storage of the computer throughout the running of the object program. The initial description of the problem may be in any suitable source language (FORTRAN, ALGOL, etc.) but should not require any recognition of the limitations caused by the number, size, and speeds of the computer's storage devices (core, tape, disc, number of data channels, etc.) by the programmer. The object program produced should contain all necessary implementing instructions to utilize all of the computer's storage devices in such a manner as to minimize the cost of the program (i.e. maximize the speed of problem solving).
Comments on a recent paper0
Authors: Traub J. F.
Published: July 2002

Mr. Diran Sarafyan, in his paper “A New Method of Computation of Square Roots Without Using Divisions” (
Communications
, Nov. 1959) gave a way of computing square roots which converges faster than the standard Newton method. His technique can be generalized as follows.
Marriage—with problems
Authors: Shuchter James P.
Published: July 2002

In Newark, New Jersey, Federal Pacific Electric Company operates a complex of modern plants producing specialized electrical equipment for construction and industry. From its assembly lines pours an assortment of packaged products for the distribution and control of electric power—circuit breakers, load centers, switches, motor control, instruments—more than 2000 catalog items, ranging in price from one to several hundreds of dollars. Federal Pacific also operates an international network of other plants producing engineered electrical equipment approaching in bulk the size of a house, but these are not warehouse items and, as such, are not relevant to today's discussion.
The future of automatic digital computers
Authors: Booth Andrew D.
Published: July 2002

Before discussing the future I want to talk about the past, which I find a source of disappointment. One of the things which prompted me to give the lecture its title was that a number of people who should know better have recently given tongue and pen to the statement that “new, second generation computers are with us” and that these machines are better than anything which has been thought of before. The first part of this lecture will attempt to disabuse you of this idea for, far from thinking that any second generation computer exists, I think that we are only just seeing the growing up of first generation computers. To justify this statement I remark that, in 1946-7, I worked with the late John von Neumann on the logical and physical design of computing machines. Von Neumann wrote, at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, two reports [1, 2] on aims and objectives to which we may look to see the type of computer which was envisaged at that time. This computer was in fact a machine having, in retrospect, certain rather interesting characteristics. The most obvious of these is speed of operation and this was desired to be such that a 40 bit addition or subtraction would take about 10 micro-seconds. There is no computing machine commercially available in this country which achieves this addition time. The multiplication time of the von Neumann machine varied from 400 micro-seconds for the crudest scheme to 50 micro-seconds for a more sophisticated logical device which still made no use of the steam-roller electronics to be seen in at least one machine of the present day, which achieves a rather worse performance. So much for second generation speed!
Algorithm 27: assignment
Authors: Silver Roland
Published: July 2002

The assignment problem is formulated and briefly discussed. An efficient algorithm for its solution is presented in ALGOL code. An empirical relation between solution time and the size of the problem is given, based on extensive experiments carried out on a digit computer.
The sumador chino
Authors: Rogers James L.
Published: July 2002

On a recent motor trip through Mexico, the writer came across an adding device which was referred to as a
sumador chino
(Chinese adder). A survey of the more available literature on the history of mathematics and on instruments of calculation has uncovered no reference to such a device. The purpose of this communication is to enlist the help of other members in bringing to light whatever may be known concerning the evolution and present status of the
sumador chino
.
Digital simulation of discrete flow systems0
Authors: Moore C. J. , Lewis T. S.
Published: July 2002

The discrete flow systems discussed are characterized by the movement of randomly arriving items along interacting channels. Programming a digital computer to simulate such systems utilizes some techniques not common in other approaches to physical problems.

The principal portion of the paper is a discussion of two simulation studies that illustrate some of the programming problems involved. One is of an extensive package-handling plant, with the objective being optimization of parameters such as storage capacities and processing rates. In the other, air traffic flow and control procedures are simulated to compare the effects of alternative control decisions.
Note on stochastic matrices
Authors: Dumey Arnold I.
Published: July 2002

A formula for numerical integration is prepared, which involves an exponential term. This formula is compared to two standard integration methods, and it is shown that for a large class of differential equations, the exponential formula has superior stability properties for large step sizes. Thus this formula may be used with a large step size to decrease the total computing time for a solution significantly, particularly in those engineering problems where high accuracy is not needed.
A semi-iterative process for evaluating arctangents
Authors: Chu Wen-Hwa , Saathoff Donald R.
Published: July 2002

The technique of obtaining arctangents by inverse interpolation [1] is a relatively long process not suitable for a subroutine. The Taylor series expansion for arguments less than unity converges rather slowly for those near unity. The method of small increments of the argument [2] is again inconvenient for a subroutine. A more rapid series expansion in terms of Chebyshev polynomial [3] is given in terms of a new argument, which is less than 0.1989. This method requires the storage of
π
, √2 - 1 and seven coefficients and is perhaps widely used. However, for multiple precision not only the coefficients have to be evaluated to the precision desired, but more must be used. Therefore the following alternative method may prove to be convenient and efficient.
Digital synthesis of correlated stationary noise
Authors: Peabody P. R. , Adorno D. S.
Published: July 2002

In this note we propose a method of generating stationary noise with a prescribed auto-covariance function by digital methods. The need for such a technique often arises in testing the performance of data processing and engineering systems, where inputs corrupted with correlated noise (of a known form) are required.

The technique is quite simple and produces strict-sense stationary noise which agrees approximately with
R
(
τ
), the prescribed auto-covariance function (acf), over an interval [-
T
0
,
T
0
]. The method consists of approximating the spectral density by a periodic process with spectral lines, and then synthesizing the periodic noise with random phases and appropriate amplitudes.

In order to simplify discussion of the statistical properties of the noise generated, the technique is first presented in terms of exact harmonic analysis. In practice, discrete harmonic analysis as presented in the third section is used.
USA participation in an international standard glossary on information processing
Authors: Traub J. F.
Published: July 2002

A considerable number of glossaries in the area of information processing have been produced in the USA in the last ten years [1, 2]. In some cases the glossaries were reworked versions of earlier glossaries, while in other cases major new contributions were made. All told, the glossary effort has cost thousands of man-hours of work.

Several years ago the ASA X3 sectional committee sponsored by BEMA was established to prepare standards for the USA in the information processing field. (See Appendix 1 for the meaning of abbreviations and acronyms. See also [3].) ASA X3.5 was assigned the double scope of advising the other X3.n subcommittees on the establishment of definitions required for their proposed standards and of establishing a standard glossary, pASGIP, for general use.

At the same time there was important British standardization activity. After reworking a number of earlier drafts, the BSI released the “Glossary of Terms Used in Automatic Data Processing,” British Standard 3527: 1962. The British effort differed in at least one very important respect from the USA glossaries. It was organized along subject rather than alphabetical lines. This was to have important consequences, as we shall see.
Recent improvements in MADCAP
Authors: Wells Mark B.
Published: July 2002

MADCAP is a programming language admitting subscripts, superscripts and certain forms of displayed formulas. The basic implementation of this language was described in a previous paper [MADCAP: A scientific compiler for a displayed formula textbook language,
Comm. ACM 4
(Jan. 61), 31-36]. This paper discusses recent improvements in the language in three areas: complex display, logical control, and subprogramming. In the area of complex display, the most prominent improvements are a notation for integration and for the binomial coefficients. In the area of logical control the chief new feature is a notation for variably nested looping. The discussion of subprogramming is focused on MADCAP's notation for and use of “procedures.”
IBM 704 code-nundrums
Authors: Grumette Murray
Published: July 2002

These CODE-NUNDRUMS are 704 coding puzzles, each of which contains an amusing twist. They are of the same category as chess end-problems, which often present artificial positions unlikely ever to be encountered in actual play, but the study of which undeniably sharpens one's performance in real games. So these puzzles, by pointing up the potentialities of the computing machine, should benefit the programmer who admittedly will never be called upon to “replace the contents of the AC with K, without using the letter A.”
A heuristic for page turning in a multiprogrammed computer
Authors: Weil John W.
Published: July 2002

One school of thought for future computer systems involves the use of large computer complexes, time-shared among many users. Because internal computer speeds are so much greater than communication speeds with the outside world, machine efficiency requires that a large system be capable of working on many programs at once, and working on each in turn while others are completing input-output operations. One approach [1] to a successful multi-programmed computer has been called “page turning”, where the object programs are automatically broken into blocks of a fixed size (pages) and these pages are then shuffled in and out of the main store automatically by the operator system as reference to the data or instructions contained in each page may dictate. Experience to date indicates that this process is prohibitively time-consuming if significant hardware features are not included to aid the executive program in carrying out this task. It is not the purpose of this note to discuss these hardware features but to address specifically a single aspect of the situation which remains a problem even if adequate hardware features are provided.
Online digital computer measurement of a neurological control system
Authors: Stark L. , Payne R. , Okabe Y.
Published: July 2002

Quantative measurements of the neurological control system for hand movement have shown results both of diagnostic value and of theoretical interest in understanding the underlying neural mechanisms and their system organization [1-4]. The requirement for dynamic analysis for a complex unpredictable input is necessary in order to distinguish between behavior attributable to the “neurological” system and that due to the powerful brain prediction apparatus.

In order to meet this need, reduce the hidden errors in analyzing filtered data, permit shorter experiments (and thus less dependence upon assumptions of time invariance) and eliminate painstaking pencil-and-ruler analysis, we have inaugurated an online digital computer system for this and related experiments. The RW-300 computer is a magnetic-drum (8000 18-bit words), solid-state computer that is often used in process control applications.
1
It has integral analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion facilities.
IRI-h, a Java-based distance education system
Authors: Maly R. , Abdel-Wahab H. , Wild C. , Overstreet C. M. , Gupta A. , Abdel-Hamid A. , Ghanem S. , Gonzalez A. , Zhu X.
Published: July 2002

We used our Original Interactive Remote Instruction (IRI) system to teach scores of university classes over the past years at sites up to 300 km apart. While this system is a prototype, its use in real classes allows us to deal with crucial issues in distributed education instruction systems. We describe our motivation and vision for a reimplementation of IRI that supports synchronous and asynchronous distance education. This new version, called IRI-h (h for hetergeneous), is coded in Java and executes on several different platforms. IRI-h extends IRI both to multiple platforms and heterogeneous network experiences with the developing prototype, including preliminary performance evaluation, and also unresolved issues still to be addressed.
Web-based multimedia tools for sharing educational resources
Authors: Shirmohammadi Shervin , El Saddik Abdulmotaleb , Georganas Nicolas D. , Steinmetz Ralf
Published: July 2002

Many educational resources and objects have been developed as Java applets or applications, which can accessed by simply downloading them from various repositories. It is often necessary to share these resources in real time, for instance when an instructor teaches remote students how to use a certain resource explains the theory behind it. We have developed some tools for this purpose that emulate a virtual classroom, and are primarily designed for synchronous sharing of resources. They enable participants to share Java objects in real time and also allow the instructor to dynamically manage the telebearing session.
Texture-based visibility for efficient lighting simulation
Authors: Soler Cyril , Sillion F. X.
Published: July 2002

Lighting simulations using hierarchical radiosity with clustering can be very slow when the computation of fine and artifact-free shadows is needed. To avoid the high cost of mesh refinement associated with fast variations of visibility across receivers, we propose a new hierarchical algorithm in which partial visibility maps can be computed on the fly, using a convolution technique for emitter-receiver configurations where complex shadows are produced. Other configurations still rely on mesh subdivision to reach the desired accuracy in modeling energy transfer. In our system, therefore, radiosity is represented as a combination of textures and piecewise-constant or linear contributions over mesh elements at multiple hierarchical levels. We give a detailed description of the
gather
,
push
/
pull
, and
display
stages of the hierarchical radiosity algorithm, adapted to seamlessly integrate both representations. A new refinement algorithm is proposed, which chooses the most appropriate technique to compute the energy transfer and resulting radiosity distribution for each receiver/transmitter configuration. Comprehensive error control is achieved by subdividing either the source or receiver in a traditional manner, or by using a blocker subdivision scheme that improves the quality of shadow masks without increasing the complexity of the mesh. Results show that high-quality images are obtained in a matter of seconds for scenes with tens of thousands of polygons.
Enumeration of structured flowcharts
Authors: Bender Edward A. , Butler Jon T.
Published: July 2002

An analysis of structured flowcharts is presented, where size is measured by the number,
n
, of decision nodes (IF-THEN-ELSE and DO-WHILE nodes). For all classes of structured flowcharts considered, the number of charts is approximately,
cn
-3/2

γ
n

, for large
n
, where
c
>and
γ
are parameters that depend on the class. It is also shown that most large flowcharts consist of a short sequence of basic charts (IF-THEN-ELSE and DO-WHILE charts). The average length of such sequences is 2.5.
An extended transformation approach to inductive logic programming
Authors: Lavrač Nada , Flach Peter A.
Published: July 2002

Inductive logic programming (ILP) is concerned with learning relational descriptions that typically have the form of logic programs. In a transformation approach, an ILP task is transformed into an equivalent learning task in a different representation formalism. Propositionalization is a particular transformation method, in which the ILP task is compiled to an attribute-value learning task. The main restriction of propositionalization methods such as LINUS is that they are unable to deal with nondeterminate local variables in the body of hypothesis clauses. In this paper we show how this limitation can be overcome., by systematic first-order feature construction using a particular individual-centered feature bias. The approach can be applied in any domain where there is a clear notion of individual. We also show how to improve upon exhaustive first-order feature construction by using a relevancy filter. The proposed approach is illustrated on the “trains” and “mutagenesis” ILP domains.
A database design methodology and tool for information systems
Authors: King Roger , McLeod Dennis
Published: July 2002

A model and methodology for describing the information objects in an office information system and how such objects flow among the components of such a system are presented. The model and methodology support the specification of information objects at multiple levels of abstraction. An interactive prototype design tool based on the methodology and model has been designed and experimentally implemented.
Transportability to other languages: the natural language processing project in the AI program at MCC
Authors: Slocum Jonathan , Justus Carol F.
Published: July 2002

We discuss a recently launched, long-term project in natural language processing, the primary concern of which is that natural language applications be transportable among human languages. In particular, we seek to develop system tools and linguistic processing techniques that are themselves language-independent to the maximum extent practical. In this paper we discuss our project goals and outline our intended approach, address some cross-linguistic requirements, and then present some new linguistic data that we feel support our approach.
ASK is transportable in half a dozen ways
Authors: Thompson Bozena H. , Thompson Frederick B.
Published: July 2002

This paper is a discussion of the technical issues and solutions encountered in making the ASK System transportable. A natural language system can be “transportable” in a number of ways. Although transportability to a new domain is most prominent, other ways are also important if the system is to have viability in the commercial marketplace.

On the one hand, transporting a system to a new domain may start with the system prior to adding any domain of knowledge and extend it to incorporate the new domain. On the other hand, one may wish to add to a system that already has knowledge of one domain the knowledge concerning a second domain, that is, to extend the system to cover this second domain. In the context of ASK, it has been natural to implement extending and then achieve transportability as a special case.

In this paper, we consider six ways in which the ASK System can be extended to include new capabilities:

Special-purpose applications, such as those to accommodate standard office tasks, would make use of these various means of extension.
Transportable natural language processing through simplicity—the PRE system
Authors: Epstein Samuel S.
Published: July 2002

PRE (Purposefully Restricted English) is a restricted English database query language whose implementation has addressed engineering goals, namely, habitability, interapplication transportability, performance, and use with a reliable database management system that supports large numbers of concurrent users and large databases. Habitability has not been demonstrated, but initial indications are encouraging. The other goals have clearly been achieved. The existence of the PRE system demonstrates that an explicitly “minimalist” approach to natural language processing can facilitate achievement of transportability.
The time complexity of maximum matching by simulated annealing
Authors: Sasaki Galen H. , Hajek Bruce
Published: July 2002

The random, heuristic search algorithm called simulated annealing is considered for the problem of finding the maximum cardinality matching in a graph. It is shown that neither a basic form of the algorithm, nor any other algorithm in a fairly large related class of algorithms, can find maximum cardinality matchings such that the average time required grows as a polynomial in the number of nodes of the graph. In contrast, it is also shown for arbitrary graphs that a degenerate form of the basic annealing algorithm (obtained by letting “temperature” be a suitably chosen constant) produces matchings with
nearly
maximum cardinality in polynomial average time.
Algorithm 659
Authors: Bratley Paul , Fox Bennett L.
Published: July 2002

We compare empirically accuracy and speed of low-discrepancy sequence generators of Sobol' and Faure. These generators are useful for multidimensional integration and global optimization. We discuss our implementation of the Sobol' generator.
Towards efficient implementation of singly-implicit methods
Authors: Butcher J. C.
Published: July 2002

It has been observed that for problems of low dimension the transformations used in the implementation of singly-implicit Runge-Kutta methods consume an unreasonable share of the total computational costs. Two proposals for reducing these costs are presented here. The first makes use of an alternative transformation for which the combined operation counts of the transformations together with the iterations themselves are lower than for the standard implementation scheme for singly-implicit methods. The second proposal is to use a Runge-Kutta method for which the first row of the coefficient matrix is zero but which still possesses acceptable stability properties. It is hoped that by combining these two proposals increased efficiency in the implementation of Runge-Kutta methods for stiff problems can be achieved.
An expert system for a resource allocation problem
Authors: Slagle James R. , Hamburger Henry
Published: July 2002

We describe an expert system for resource allocation in a particular military domain. The system incorporates variants of several important techniques of artificial intelligence and makes the first use of the Merit system for question selection. This technique enables the system to direct the acquisition of information by finding questions with a high ratio of probable importance to difficulty. In the current application, each resource is a military weapon, each task to which such a resource can be allocated is firing at a military target, and the objective function is the expected reduction in value of targets. The coefficients that relate a particular resource to a particular task are not provided explicitly. Instead, in the first phase of the allocation process, the system uses a computation network to determine the effectiveness of each individual weapon against each prospective target. The network, built by a domain expert in advance, allows reasoning with logical, Bayesian, and expert-defined operators. After the calculation of individual effectiveness values, portions of an allocation tree are constructed to determine good allocation plans for the set of weapons. The individual effectiveness values are used to direct the traversal and pruning of the allocation tree.
A nonlinear lower bound for random-access machines under logarithmic cost
Authors: Schönhage Arnold
Published: July 2002

For on-line random-access machines under logarithmic cost, the simple task of storing arbitrary binary inputs has nonlinear complexity. Even if all kinds of powerful internal operations are admitted and reading of storage locations is free of charge, just successively changing the storage contents for properly storing arbitrary
n
-bit inputs requires an average cost of order
n
· log
*
n
.
Busy periods for subnetworks in stochastic networks
Authors: Daduna Hans
Published: July 2002

The busy period of order
n
for a subnetwork, which for large
n
describes heavy traffic periods of that subnetwork, is described for queuing networks. The mean duration of such busy periods and efficient algorithms for computing these quantities are determined.
Algorithm 663: Translation of Algorithm 539: basic linear algebra subprograms for FORTRAN usage in FORTRAN 200 for the Cyber 205
Authors: Louter-Nool Margreet
Published: July 2002

This paper describes the vectorization of the BLAS, a set of basic linear algebra subprograms for FORTRAN usage. The efficiency of the BLAS, as standard available on the CDC Cyber 205, has been examined, and suggestions for improvements were given. This examination has led to the vectorized BLAS as presented here. Moreover, this version admits negative increment values; that is, vectors can also be treated in reverse order. The number of data movements has been kept to a minimum. This BLAS version has been written in CDC FORTRAN 200. It has been optimized for a 1-pipe Cyber 205, but is also appropriate for the 2- and 4-pipe versions.