bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Predicting turning points in business cycles by detection of slope changes in the leading composite index
Authors: Jun Duk Bin , Joo Young Jin 
Published: July 2007

AbstractA Bayesian statistical method to detect turning points in the leading composite index is introduced. Under the assumption of causal priority of the leading composite index to the business cycle, the turning points in business cycles are predicted by detection of them in the index. The underlying process of the leading composite index is described by a dynamic linear model with random level and slope, where the random slope is distorted by a random shock at each turning point. The turning point is detected by obtaining a large value of the posterior probability that one of the previous slope components has undergone a major change. The intensity of the change causing a turn in the business cycle is quantified by estimating the size of the random shock. The application of the results to the US leading composite index are compared with results of earlier studies.
On scoring asymmetric periodic probability models of turning‐point forecasts
Authors: Ghysels Eric 
Published: July 2007

AbstractTo forecast the turnaround of an economy we do not usually take seasonal effects into account. Recently, the author showed that business cycle turning points as well as durations do not appear to be uniformly distributed throughout the year (see Ghysels, 1991a). In this paper we suggest improving the forecasting performance of turning‐point predictions by adopting periodic hazard models. Following Diebold and Rudebusch (1989), we construct several formal probability models and score their prediction performance. The results indicate that for sequential forecasting rules significant gains can be made by exploiting periodicities in turning‐point probabilities.
Virtual work space for assembly
Authors: Hirata Yukihiro , Mizuguchi Takehisa , Sato Makoto , Kawarada Hiroshi 
Published: July 2007

AbstractTo implement a human interface for efficiently modeling 3‐D shapes on a computer, a virtual works space enabling direct manipulation of a shape model on a computer similar to manipulating a real 3‐D object must be constructed. In this virtual work space, the tactile and force sensations arising while the object is manipulated must be fed back to the person. We previously proposed the space interface device SPIDAR capable of force feedback to the person's fingertips. However, only one finger could be used in SPIDAR, so operations where the object is held were not possible. In this paper, we extend SPIDAR and propose the space interface device SPIDAR II to implement a virtual work space where operations involving holding and moving objects are possible. This device measures the position of the minimum of the two fingers needed to manipulate objects and can provide tactile feedback to the fingertips while an object is being held. A prototype device is built and a virtual work space is constructed where holding and moving objects is possible. Further, an experiment is conducted to investigate the effect of tactile feedback to work operability in this virtual work space, and its effectiveness is confirmed.
A method of anaphora resolution based on the concept of observation
Authors: Yamamura Tsuyoshi , Ohnishi Noboru , Sugie Noboru 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe meaning of a sentence depends on the context in which it is used with other sentences. This results from the fact that several sentences are usually integrated to form a context. To date, the study of context structure has been concerned mostly with the semantic relation between the verbs (predicates) of the two sentences. It should be noted, however, that even if the verbs are semantically related, the relation may be felt to be unnatural and cannot be considered to form a context when the relation called discourse factor, such as the relationship between viewpoint, is not established. This study considers the context construction problem from the viewpoint of the natural relation between sentences. For this purpose, the concept of observation is introduced, this is an extension of viewpoint. Using that concept, it is shown how the interpretation of the sentence is helped by the preceding sentence. Then, the application to the resolution of anaphora is discussed. In other words, the anaphora is resolved by establishing the natural relation between sentences. It is shown that the anaphora problem which has not been resolved by the past method can now be resolved. The effectiveness of the anaphora resolution considered in this study is verified by examining actual examples.
Automatic tracking of highway road edge based on vehicle dynamics
Authors: Negishi Shinji , Ozawa Shinji , Chiba Masataka 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThere are many efforts being made toward the visual navigation system for the autonomous vehicle. When the highway road is considered, where the constraint for the road structure can be utilized, it is effective to extract the white line (lane marker), which is enforced to be drawn as the borderline of the lane.This paper considers the automatic extraction of the road edge from the white line in the road image taken by the vehicle camera. There is already proposed a technique which assumes that the road edge image is extracted from the white line, and estimates the horizontal curvature of the road and the vibration component of the vehicle (dynamic angle of the vehicle). It is adequate to use the break (end point) of the white dashed line as the feature point for estimation of the vehicle angle. To extract the road edge from the dashed line, however, it is required to trace the dashed line which moves between consecutive frames.From such a viewpoint, this paper utilizes the result obtained by the already proposed estimation method for the vehicle angle, and predicts the motion of the end‐point of the dashed line on the image due to the motion of a vehicle. By restricting the range of search based on the result, the end‐point is tracked. An experiment was conducted for the sequence of the image taken for the actual road. It is verified that a sufficient accuracy is obtained for the position prediction, so that the restricted range of search contains the end‐point, which will help the automatic extraction of the road edge. Then, a system is constructed as a cooperative system, which estimates the vehicle angle the road shape from the real image, using the automatically extracted road edge.It is verified by an on‐line experiment for the real image that the vehicle angle and the horizontal curvature of the road can effectively be estimated. Those results are reported in this paper.
Staging of awake and sleep based on feature map
Authors: Katayama Takafumi , Suzuki Eiji , Saito Masao 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe staging of sleep EEG is executed by the decision by human observations, and is utilized in the diagnosis of insomnia or psychiatric diseases. On the other hand, the sleep EEG includes a large amount of data, and the automation of the sleep staging is considered to be desirable. However, there has not been established a method for staging the biological state based on the awake EEG.This paper proposes an automatic method of staging the biological state based on the hypothesis that the biological state is the same if the same kind of waveforms occur with the same ratio. The proposed method is composed of two procedures: the first is to estimate the standard pattern for the waveform from the individual EEG and the cluster the waveforms; and the second is to examine the kind and ratio of the waveforms appearing in a specified interval of time so that the type of EEG can be identified. The results of staging the sleep EEG is compared to the result of the decision by a doctor, and an agreement of 79 percent is obtained. Generally, it is considered that there can be a difference of some 20 percent in the sleep staging by different doctors. Consequently, it is estimated that the proposed method has a performance comparable to that of the doctor. The staging of the awake EEG also is attempted, and the result is consistent with the skin potential response or the behavior of the subject. Thus it is concluded that the proposed method will be useful in the staging of the biological state.
Tree construction for compression of partially condensed one‐dimensional data in index space
Authors: Tanimizu Katsuyuki 
Published: July 2007

AbstractTree compression can be applied to the table of the index space that is used for the index method (image inspection method). The author presents a method of compressing a one‐dimensional string of quantized data that contains significant sequences of blocks. The data are equally divided into small areas and, if significant data exists, “1” is used to show its existence and division is performed for lower layers. Significant data are copied to the lowest layers. First, an equation to decide a two‐layer tree construction is obtained by considering the probability of the existence of significant data. Then by expanding the equation to a multilayer tree construction, equations are obtained that decide the optimal construction (number of layers and divisions) that minimizes memory. Examples for optimal tree construction are calculated for various data sizes. The relationship between the optimal tree and e is shown. Finally, variations of methods for applying the tree construction to the index space are shown using a sample image data and the validity of the method is confirmed.
Evaluation of multiple access scheduling for moving picture information
Authors: Fujii Hiroshi , Sakurai Norihiki , Ishikawa Atsushi 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIn the multiple access to moving picture data, there must be the simultaneous realization of the guarantee for the data transfer retaining the real‐time property, the fast response to the manipulation, and high multiplicity. For this purpose, there must be a multiple access scheduling method satisfying those requirements.In the first prototype of the video‐on‐demand server constructed by the authors, the fixed time‐slot scheduling (FTSS) is used. This system attempts to satisfy those requirements by utilizing the feature of the moving picture data that the access is continuous for the time interval of approximately one scene. FTSS, however, has a problem in that the efficiency is low, since the scheduling is made based on the worst timing of the mechanical operation, such as the varying the seek time and the rotational latency depending on the position of the disk access.This paper discusses the variable time‐slot scheduling (VTSS), which executes the scheduling based on the average time of the mechanical operation, and analyzes the efficiency. As a result of the analysis, it is seen that the multiplicity of VTSS is improved more remarkably with the improvement of the disk performance. In other words, the application can be expected to the video server in the future.
Cost coefficient control method for solving optimization problems on hopfield‐type neural networks
Authors: Tanaka Toshio , Higuchi Tetsuya , Furuya Tatsumi 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIn solving optimization problems on Hopfield‐type neural networks, a constraint coefficient and a cost coefficient of an energy function should be appropriately determined. Until recently, the values of these coefficients were decided on the basis of experience and trial and error. As a result, solutions that satisfy the constraints could not be obtained, and the quality of the solutions was not good. In order to avoid this problem, we propose a method to control cost coefficient values automatically while keeping the constraint coefficient constant. In this method, the constraint condition for a solution is changed gradually, when the last constraint condition is satisfied, the solution is obtained. Under each constraint condition, the maximum value of cost coefficient is calculated, leading the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) for 10 to 30 cities, and obtained near‐optimal solutions more efficiently than an ordinary TSP algorithm. The computation time was reduced 10‐fold, compared with an ordinary TSP algorithm.
A method for understanding intentions of indirect speech acts in natural language interfaces
Authors: Mima Hideki , Aoe Junichi , Fuketa Masao , Hayashi Yoshitaka 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIn an attempt to propose a robust method for understanding natural language (NL) interface commands, a scheme is proposed that infers intentions from an indirect speech‐act that does not express users' real intentions explicitly. This method classifies the real intentions of the indirect speech‐act into: 1) refusal; 2) reversal; 3) restriction; 4) benefit; and 5) disability. Further, concepts are abstracted for operations, e.g., displaying, moving, and deleting information systems; and constructing the operation knowledge base. This knowledge based comprises operational concepts and the relationships between them. These relationships are assigned the foregoing classifications for intentions. In addition, we construct the knowledge base of objects for the target of operations, e.g., files, figures, strings. This knowledge base contains the relationships: a) antonym; b) exclusive; c) part‐of, between the objects; and uses these relations to infer the transitions between the objects. An algorithm is the proposed to infer concepts for operations and concepts for target objects of operations that may represent the user's actual intentions.This proposal scheme was tested with requests on UNIX and a commercially available Japanese Word Processor. The system successfully inferred the intentions for approximately 80 percent of the user's indirect speech‐act.
A general solution for combinatorial problems by neural networks
Authors: Chikamatsu Yoshitomo , Ae Tadashi , Yamashita Masafumi 
Published: July 2007

AbstractYao et al. have proposed the Dynamic‐Static Neural network (DS‐net) which includes the Tank and Hopfield model for linear programming problems as its special case. This paper proposes a modified DS‐net which is capable of solving optimization problems with quadratic constraints. Because the 3‐satisfiability problem of Boolean formula can be transformed to problems of this type, the model is applied to the problem. The simulation experiments using a digital computer show that this formulation bring the merit of greedy methods to the neural network solution and the initial state satisfying constraints is excellent for obtaining the optimal solution.
A topology for discrete spaces and its application in scratch detection for surface inspections
Authors: Imura Hiroshi , Eguchi Masayoshi , Fuwa Yasushi , Nakamura Yatsuka 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIn conventional digital image processing, topological properties have been studied only for selected types of neighborhoods such as a 4‐ or 8‐pixels connection. This paper analyzes properties of a finite topological space by defining it as a topological space with no restriction on the shape of a neighborhood. This leads to the identification of topological properties which are independent of the shape of a neighborhood and can be applied to image processing using neighborhoods other than a 4‐ or 8‐connection. Since a finite topological space can treat only a single neighborhood this cannot be applied to image processing which uses multiple neighborhoods simultaneously. A finite topological space has been extended to a formal topological space having multiple neighborhoods, and its properties are analyzed in this paper.This theory is then applied to image processing. It has been difficult to detect scratches on a surface with patterns, such as a hard disk or a hairline‐finished metal, by using a conventional digital topology because the scratches often consist of many small blocks and their images are stained by noise. The properties obtained through the formal topology have successfully been applied to these problems, and its effectiveness has been confirmed.
Variable‐target‐time travel control algorithm of a robot vehicle by a neural network considering the centrifugal force
Authors: Kodaira Minoru , Ohtomo Teruhiko , Ohuchi Takao 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe derivation of mathematical models for robot vehicles is extremely difficult due to the high non‐linearity of the motion characteristics, making it hard to apply the conventional control theory without using approximation methods which assume constant speed, etc. In this paper, the motion control method using a neural model proposed by Uno, Kawato et al. is extended in such a way to allow its application to the travel control problem of a robot vehicle, which is highly nonlinear with respect to the driving force and steering angle, and a method that generates motion commands and performs trajectory planning at the same time is proposed. In this case, the internal coordinates of the identification module which learns the motion characteristics of the robot vehicle are viewed as motion coordinates, and a method to convert the absolute coordinates for each discrete time into motion coordinates is proposed, making it possible to reduce greatly the number of learning patterns. Furthermore, a variable target time algorithm is proposed that counteracts the centrifugal force effects which act on the robot vehicle when the curvature of the generated trajectory is large. The proposed algorithm restrains the centrifugal force and generates optimal motion commands and trajectory, producing results close to those obtained by a human driver. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by computer simulation.
A parsing method for context‐free languages using bottom‐up lookahead computation
Authors: Watanabe Yoshimichi , Tokuda Takehiro 
Published: July 2007

AbstractA new parsing algorithm of context‐free languages using bottom‐up computation of lookahead information is presented. Earley's algorithm uses a great number of items during enumeration to recognize a context‐free language. If items with lookahead fields are used, the number of items can be reduced, but item spacing is considerably increased. The method presented here may reduce the number of items during enumeration without using lookahead fields of items. The computation of lookahead information takes place in a bottom‐up manner. It is not necessary to compute lookahead information until it is required during enumeration.
Between governance & under‐development: accumulation & Africa's ‘catastrophic corruption’
Authors: Szeftel Morris 
Published: July 2007

Capital eschews no profit, or very small profit, just as nature was formerly said to abhor a vacuum.With adequate profit, capital is very bold. A certain 10 per cent will ensure its employment anywhere; 20 per cent will produce eagerness; 50 per cent positive audacity; 100 per cent will make it ready to trample on all human laws; 300 per cent and there is not acrime at which it will scruple, nor a risk it will not run, even to the chance of its owner being hanged. If turbulence and strife will bring a profit, it will freely encourage both. Smuggling and the slave trade have amply proved all that is here stated.
T J Dunning, quoted in Karl Marx, Capital I (1976:926, fn.).

This paper explores aspects of the tension between, on the one hand, international efforts by multilateral and bilateral creditors and aid donors to reduce corruption in developing countries and, on the other, the role played by political corruption in promoting local accumulation of wealth, property and capital in Africa. The process of globalisation includes a concerted effort to reduce the costs and increase the predictability of international business activities. The effort has been particularly directed at countries undergoing economic restructuring and democratic change. The weak bargaining position of African states, where debt and underdevelopment make dependence on international creditors and aid donors especially acute, has led to a variety of direct, unsubtle pressures to force these states to undertake ‘governance’ reforms. While many of these measures address important problems undermining African development, they also misunderstand the nature of corruption as an African problem in two important ways.
First, they seek to impose rules and norms of proper public behaviour, developed for and within liberal democracies, in environments where liberal democracy is not established. And, second, they threaten the dependence of the African petty bourgeoisie on access to the state and its resources. In the context of underdevelopment, local accumulation rests heavily on political power and the ability it provides to appropriate public resources. Corruption provides a means of transferring public resources to the new middle class and bourgeois strata which emerged in the post‐colonial order. And underdevelopment ensures that dependence on political power for accumulation is continuous. Africa's development crisis has intensified dependence on the political domain even more and increased conflict as claimants fight over a diminishing pool of resources. Far from arresting the upward spiral of corruption, liberalisation and governance measures imposed by the donors have encouraged the development of new forms of corruption.
Don't touch, just listen! popular performance from Uganda
Authors: El‐Bushra Judy , Dolan Chris 
Published: July 2007

The power of ‘indigenous performance forms’ to mobilise popular energy and enthusiasm has led politicians, political activists and non‐government agencies in Africa and elsewhere to see them both as a threat and an opportunity. This article examines some of the ways in which ‘external’ actors have sought to harness ‐ and in the process either reinforce, redirect, or indeed at times to neutralise ‐ the power of popular expression.
The first section examines the importance of indigenous performance in charting people's history and reflecting popular world views, and then identifies some of the ways in which governments, political activists and NGOs have appropriated it for their programmes. The second section presents examples from Uganda, which exemplify some of the issues around the use of popular forms of expression in the service of external agendas. In the discussion and conclusions we take issue with the concept of ‘indigenous performance’, and warn against assuming that ‘indigenous performances’ are automatically authentic in what they have to say. We also argue that the subversive elements of ‘indigenous performance’ are likely to be highly resilient to such manipulation. Just as external actors may abuse the form by imposing a foreign content, so local actors may play with an apparently innocuous form to transmit critical messages ‐ to a limited range of peers. In the light of these discussions, the pros and cons of politicians and NGOs using indigenous performance forms as a development communication strategy are assessed.
Capitalism and hunger in Northern Nigeria
Authors: Shenton Bob , Watts Mike 
Published: July 2007

The Hausa areas of the Sudanic belt of West Africa certainly experienced food shortages, due mainly to weather or pestilence, but had a variety of social mechanisms to reduce their impact on any one family. Many of these mechanisms were undermined in the various transitions that resulted from colonialism without other measures to replace them.
From this experience the meaning of ‘crisis’ in peripheral capitalist societies is explored as some combination of the ‘economic’ crisis of overproduction of commodities in advanced capitalism with the crisis of underproduction of use values characteristic of pre‐capitalist society.