ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Rearrangement-function inequalities and interpolation theory
Authors: Y. Sagher, P. Shvartsman
Venue: Journal of Approximation Theory (2002)

Using the tools of Real Interpolation Theory, we develop a general method for proving rearrangement-function inequalities for important classes of operators.
Value Analysis and Optimization of Reusable Containers at Canada Post
Authors: Rochelle Duhaime, Diane Riopel, André Langevin
Venue: Interfaces (2001)

We analyzed the use and sharing of a logistics package, a returnable container, often out of stock, between Canada Post and its large mailing customers. Standardizing and sharing logistical packaging should bring members of a supply chain tangible benefits from productivity and efficiency gains. We determined that inventory imbalance between supply locations and demand locations caused the problem. We found that different accounting methods gave very different results in calculating the benefits. We concluded that there is always a benefit for the mailer. For Canada Post to benefit, however, the container must be returned quickly. We used a minimum-cost-flow model to confirm that the company has enough containers to satisfy demand. With better planning and control of the inventory, Canada Post can prevent disequilibrium between supply and demand.
Price-Directed Control of Remnant Inventory Systems
Authors: Daniel Adelman, George L. Nemhauser
Venue: Operations Research (1999)

Motivated by make-to-order cable manufacturing, we describe a remnant inventory system in which orders arrive for units of raw material that are produced-to-stock. As orders are satisfied, the partially consumed units of material, or remnants, are either scrapped or returned to inventory for future allocation to orders. We present a linear program that minimizes the long-run average scrap rate. Its dual prices exhibit many rational properties, including monotonicity and superadditivity. We use these prices in an integer-programming-based control scheme, which we simulate and compare with an existing control scheme previously used in practice.
Freedom to think and speak
Authors: Seth Johnson
Venue: Ubiquity (2002)

Under Microsoft's Digital Rights Management operating system, the ability to use information freely will be policed at the most intricate level.
Criticality in the network with imprecise activity times
Authors: Stefan Chanas, Pawel Zieliński
Venue: Technologies for constructing intelligent systems: Tasks (2002)

A review of the results obtained in the area of fuzzy network analysis is presented. The main approaches to the concept of criticality in a network with fuzzy activity times are described and classified. Against the background of this review some new results, obtained by the authors recently, are presented. The paper is an extended version of the work presented in IPMU'2000 (see [8]).
A Fully Polynomial Approximation Scheme for the Weighted Earliness-Tardiness Problem
Authors: Mikhail Y. Kovalyov, Wieslaw Kubiak
Venue: Operations Research (1999)

A fully polynomial approximation scheme for the problem of scheduling n jobs on a single machine to minimize total weighted earliness and tardiness is presented. A new technique is used to develop the scheme. The main feature of this technique is that it recursively computes lower and upper bounds on the value of partial optimal solutions. Therefore, the scheme does not require any prior knowledge of lower and upper bounds on the value of a complete optimal solution. This distinguishes it from all the existing approximation schemes.
Knowing in Practice: Enacting a Collective Capability in Distributed Organizing
Authors: Wanda J. Orlikowski
Venue: Organization Science (2002)

In this paper, I outline a perspective on knowing in practice which highlights the essential role of human action in knowing how to get things done in complex organizational work. The perspective suggests that knowing is not a static embedded capability or stable disposition of actors, but rather an ongoing social accomplishment, constituted and reconstituted as actors engage the world in practice. In interpreting the findings of an empirical study conducted in a geographically dispersed hightech organization, I suggest that the competence to do global product development is both collective and distributed, grounded in the everyday practices of organizational members. I conclude by discussing some of the research implications of a perspective on organizational knowing in practice.
Minimalist coherent swarming of wireless networked autonomous mobile robots
Authors: Julien Nembrini, Alan Winfield, Chris Melhuish
Venue: Proceedings of the seventh international conference on simulation of adaptive behavior on From animals to animats (2002)

This paper presents the results of simulations investigating a decentralised control algorithm able to maintain the coherence of a swarm of radio-connected robots. In this work the radius of communication is considerably less than the global diameter of the swarm. The study explores coherent movement towards a beacon while avoiding obstacles and maintaining global shape. All behaviours are emergent as the study constrains itself to using only a restricted range omnidirectional radio, a beacon sensor and avoiding sensors. In spite of such restrictions we achieve the proposed aims. Moreover, the fact that the algorithm relies only on local information makes it highly scalable with an increase in the number of robots. The proposed approach also shows graceful degradation in the presence of noise.
Strong convergence of estimators in nonlinear autoregressive models
Authors: Eckhard Liebscher
Venue: Journal of Multivariate Analysis (2003)

In the paper we prove rates of strong convergence of M-estimators for the parameters in a general nonlinear autoregressive model. In the proofs we utilize a variational principle from stochastic optimization theory which was proved by Shapiro (Ann. Oper. Res. 30 (1991) 169). The application of the general theory is illustrated in the case of continuous threshold models.
Wave motions in unbounded poroelastic solids infused with compressible fluids
Authors: Sara Quiligotti, Gérard A. Maugin, Francesco dell'Isola
Venue: Zeitschrift f&uuml;r Angewandte Mathematik und Physik (ZAMP) (2002)

Looking at rational solid-fluid mixture theories in the context of their biomechanical perspectives, this work aims at proposing a two-scale constitutive theory of a poroelastic solid infused with an inviscid compressible fluid. The propagation of steady-state harmonic plane waves in unbounded media is investigated in both cases of unconstrained solid-fluid mixtures and fluid-saturated poroelastic solids. Relevant effects on the resulting characteristic speed of longitudinal and transverse elastic waves, due to the constitutive parameters introduced, are finally highlighted and discussed.
Electronic access to information and the privacy paradox: rethinking practical obscurity and its impact on electronic freedom of information
Authors: Charles N. Davis
Venue: Social Science Computer Review (2003)

This article addresses the U.S. Supreme Court's formulation of "practical obscurity" in Reporters Committee v. Department of Justice, a seminal case interpreting the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). By examining lower federal court opinions interpreting Reporters Committee and by analyzing the effects of the Court's opinion on the implementation of the privacy exemptions of the FOIA, this article finds that the Court's opinion has greatly narrowed the scope of the FOIA and limited the power of the FOIA to democratize electronic information. Exemptions from the presumption of disclosure inherent in the FOIA were designed to balance the public's right to know against other competing interests. Historically, courts have balanced the public interest in disclosure against privacy interests when weighing privacy claims made under the FOIA. The Department of Justice argued for a change in this analysis, however, and in Reporters Committee successfully urged the adoption of a narrower definition of disclosable records. This new analysis expands the scope of privacy under the FOIA while it restricts the scope of acceptable public interest argurnents in favor of disclosure. This article demonstrates how the Court's decision in Reporters Committee-specifically, its formulation of practical obscurity as a value worth protecting-holds far-reaching implications for federal access law and for FOI laws around the world.
Continuous action systems as a model for hybrid systems
Authors: Ralph-Johan Back, Luigia Petre, Ivan Porres
Venue: Nordic Journal of Computing (2001)

Action systems have been used successfully to describe discrete systems, i.e., systems with discrete control acting upon a discrete state space. In this paper we define continuous action systems that extend the action system approach to also model hybrid systems, i.e., systems with discrete control over a continuously evolving state. The semantics of continuous action systems is defined in terms of traditional action systems and their properties are proved using standard action systems proof techniques. We describe the essential features of continuous action systems, show that they can be used to describe a diverse range of hybrid systems and illustrate the framework by a collection of examples.
High throughput overlapped message passing for low density parity check codes
Authors: Yanni Chen, Keshab K. Parhi
Venue: Proceedings of the 13th ACM Great Lakes symposium on VLSI (2003)

In this paper, a systematic approach is proposed to develop high throughput decoder for structured (quasi-cyclic) low density parity check (LDPC) block codes. Based on the properties of quasi-cyclic LDPC codes, the two stages of belief propagation decoding algorithm could be overlapped and thus the overall decoding latency is reduced. To avoid the memory access conflict, the maximum concurrency of the two stages is explored by a novel scheduling algorithm. Consequently, the decoding throughput could be increased by almost twice assuming dual-port memory is available.
A testbed for studying and choosing predictive tracking algorithms in virtual environments
Authors: Joseph J. LaViola
Venue: Proceedings of the workshop on Virtual environments 2003 (2003)

We present a testbed for comparing predictive tracking algorithms that allows virtual environment system developers to make better choices about which predictors to use in their environments and aids researchers in determining how predictors work across various virtual environment configurations. Our testbed saves the virtual environment developer and researcher both time and effort with the important task of reducing dynamic tracking error and masking latency. The testbed consists of three components: a prediction algorithm library, a motion data repository, and a graphical testing application which provides users with the ability to test different predictive tracking algorithms across a variety of user motion sequences. The testbed provides enough generality for testing across different algorithmic and system parameters such as sampling rate, prediction time, and noise variance. The paper describes the contents of the predictor library and how to extend it, the types of motion data sets collected thus far, the motion data preparation methodology, and the graphical testing application's functionality and architecture. A simple testing scenario showing output from the testbed is also presented.
Simulations of learning and behaviour in the Hawkmoth Deilephila Elpenor
Authors: Anna Balkenius, Almut Kelber, Christian Balkenius
Venue: Proceedings of the seventh international conference on simulation of adaptive behavior on From animals to animats (2002)

We describe a behavioural experiment with the Hawkmoth Deilephila Elpenor and show how its behaviour in the experimental situation can be reproduced by a computational model. The aim of the model is to investigate what learning strategies are necessary to produce the behaviour observed in the experiment. Since very little is known about the nervous system of the animal, the model is mainly based on behavioural data and the sensitivities of its photoreceptors. The model consists of a number of interacting behaviour systems that are triggered by specific stimuli and control specific behaviours. The ability of the moth to learn the colours of different flowers and the adaptive processes involved in the choice between stimulus-approach and place-approach strategies is also modelled. The behavioural choices of the simulated model closely parallel those of the real animal. The model has implications both for the ecology of the animal and for robotic systems.
Optimal Lot-Sizing/Vehicle-Dispatching Policies Under Stochastic Lead Times and Stepwise Fixed Costs
Authors: Osman Alp, Nesim K. Erkip, Refik Güllü
Venue: Operations Research (2003)

We characterize optimal policies of a dynamic lot-sizing/vehicle-dispatching problem under dynamic deterministic demands and stochastic lead times. An essential feature of the problem is the structure of the ordering cost, where a fixed cost is incurred every time a batch is initiated (or a vehicle is hired) regardless of the portion of the batch (or vehicle) utilized. Moreover, for every unit of demand not satisfied on time, holding and backorder costs are incurred. Under mild assumptions we show that the demand of a period is satisfied from at most three distinct production (dispatching) epochs. We devise a dynamic programming algorithm to compute the production/dispatching quantities and times.
The Business of Sustainable Forestry: Meshing Operations with Strategic Purpose
Authors: Stuart Hart, Matthew Arnold, Rob Day
Venue: Interfaces (2000)

We developed a new framework for defining sustainable forest management (SFM) based on the literature on environmental strategy and a field study of forest-product companies. We applied the framework to 21 forest-industry business cases and found that a comprehensive and effective SFM approach meshes operations with strategic purpose. When SFM practices were embedded in core strategy, rather than appended as a matter of ethics or social responsibility, companies realized competitive and business advantages as well as environmental and social gains. Some firms have even begun to reinvent themselves as fiber-service companies as opposed to purely extractive forestry operations.
Distance in post algebras
Authors: Dragić Banković
Venue: Discrete Mathematics (2003)

We define a function d which is a distance in Post algebras. This distance is unique.
Structure preserving integration algorithms
Authors: B. A. Shadwick, Walter F. Buell, John C. Bowman
Venue: Scientific computing and applications (2001)

Often in physics and engineering one encounters systems of differential equations that have a non-trivial dynamic or kinematic structure, e.g., the flow generated by such a system may satisfy one or more algebraic or differential constraints. Moreover, this structure is often of physical significance, embodying an important concept such as conservation of energy. Traditional numerical methods for solving initial value problems typically do not preserve any structure possessed by the system and can be computationally less efficient than algorithms specifically designed to honour a system's structure. Also of interest are "near ideal" systems, where some conservation property is only weakly violated. Through a series of examples drawn from various physical systems, we discuss numerical algorithms which, in each case, are specifically constructed to preserve the structure of the system under consideration. These methods are shown to be of particular interest when the integration interval is significantly longer than the characteristic time scale(s) of the system.
A planning and scheduling methodology for the virtual enterprise
Authors: Florent Frederix
Venue: Managing virtual web organizations in the 21st century: issues and challenges (2002)

Virtual enterprises consisting of geographically dispersed, independent units are a reality in the global economy. These units concentrate on core technologies and create partner networks for the design, manufacturing and sale of their products. This chapter documents a methodology, more flexible and efficient than the more traditional techniques, to schedule activities in virtual enterprises and enterprise networks. The presented technique that stepwise searches for improved activity schedules has the advantage that in any stage of the iteration process a resource-feasible schedule is available. Investing in network and computation capacity will result in more efficient schedules. The virtual enterprise unit will view the platform as a time-phased capacity trading marketplace.
Think globally, act strategically
Authors: Ubiquity staff
Venue: Ubiquity (2001)

John Parkinson relays the challenges for a global financial services firm including anticipating technologies, winning the war for talent, and finding innovative ways to maintain a corporate presence in a worldwide market.
Profiles of Strategic Information Systems Planning
Authors: Albert H. Segars, Varun Grover
Venue: Information Systems Research (1999)

Improving strategic planning within the realm of information technology management is consistently identified by top corporate executives as a critical competitive issue. While relevant literature in the area is replete with descriptions of planning tools and methodologies, investigations that examine this activity from the perspective of process-based characteristics, or "profiles," are still in the formative stages. Through multivariate analysis of data gathered from 253 organizations, the findings of this study suggest that five distinct profiles of strategic planning can be identified based on dimensions of comprehensiveness (extent of solution search), formalization (existence of rules and procedures), focus (extent of innovation versus integration), flow (top-down, bottom-up), participation (number and variety of planners), and consistency (frequency of planning). While each profile exhibits strength across particular measures of planning effectiveness, the profile associated with all measures of planning effectiveness seems to incorporate elements of rationality (high comprehensiveness, high formalization, control focus, top-down flow) and adaptation (high participation, high consistency). Post-survey field study of selected firms suggests that the five approaches may represent distinct "schools" of thought that are reflective of deep-seated beliefs and attitudes about strategic planning. These schools (design, planning, positioning, learning, and political) are founded on very different assumptions and provide substantive interpretation for the empirical findings.
Component-by-component construction of good lattice rules
Authors: I. H. Sloan, A. V. Reztsov
Venue: Mathematics of Computation (2002)

This paper provides a novel approach to the construction of good lattice rules for the integration of Korobov classes of periodic functions over the unit s-dimensional cube. Theorems are proved which justify the construction of good lattice rules one component at a time - that is the lattice rule for dimension s + 1 is obtained from the rule for dimension s by searching over all possible choices of the (s + 1)th component, while keeping all the existing components unchanged. The construction, which goes against accepted wisdom, is illustrated by numerical examples. The construction is particularly useful if the components of the integrand are ordered, in the sense that the first component is more important than the second, and so on.
The politics of intranet usability: can one size fit all?
Authors: Scott Gallacher Robin Williams, Rob Procter
Venue: The usability business: making the web work (2001)

This case study follows the twists and turns in a corporate intranet application project within a large UK bank. It reveals decision-making-from the project's inception through to its development and testing-to be a highly politicized process as various players sought to use the project as a vehicle for pushing forward their own particular agendas. A key consequence of this was that usability issues-if they were considered at all at this time - often took second place to the needs of political deal making. That these deals were critical to gaining approval for the project seems undeniable, but they also jeopardized the prospects of achieving a usable application, often leaving usability staff to "pick up the pieces".The case study illustrates the often highly political character of organizational IT projects, and demonstrates the importance for usability experts of getting involved at the earlier, formative stages of the project life cycle, when many of the decisions that will map out a project's organizational and technical trajectories are actually made. Though it is unlikely to challenge radically the political character of project decision-making processes, it would at least enable usability experts to become players. As other IT professionals have found out before them, to have responsibility without power is an unenviable position in which to find oneself in any organization (Fincham et al., 1994). Names have been changed throughout.
Comparative expert reviews
Authors: Rolf Molich, Robin Jeffries
Venue: CHI '03 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems (2003)

In this workshop we will try to obtain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the expert review and heuristic inspection methods. We will do this by comparing results of independent expert reviews, heuristic inspections and usability tests of the same state-of-the-art website carried out by participating expert usability professionals.
Web data retrieval and extraction
Authors: Zoé Lacroix
Venue: Data Knowledge Engineering (2003)

We present the Object-Web Mediator to querying integrated Web data sources composed of a retrieval component based on an intermediate object view mechanism and search views, and an XML engine. Search views map the source capabilities to attributes defined at object classes, and parsers that process retrieved documents and cache them in XML format. The XML engine queries cached documents, extracts data, and returns extracted data for evaluation. The originality of this approach consists of a generic view mechanism to access data sources with limited data access and complex capabilities, and an XML engine to support data extraction and reorganization. This approach has been developed and demonstrated as part of the multi-database system supposing queries via uniform Object Protocol Model interfaces against public Web data sources of interest to the biologists.
The effect of diffusion for the multispecies Lotka-Volterra competition model
Authors: Salomé Martínez
Venue: Nonlinear Analysis: Real World Applications (2003)

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of diffusion in the existence of non-constant steady states for the Lotka-Volterra competition-diffusion system with three species, under Neumann boundary conditions. It will be shown that two large diffusion rates prevent the appearance of non-constant steady states, while if just one species diffuses fast non-constant equilibria may arise. The existence is shown by two methods, degree theory and bifurcation techniques. The stability of bifurcating steady states will be established.
Definitive XSL-FO
Authors: G. Ken Holman
Venue:  (2003)

:G. KEN HOLMAN is Chief Technology Officer for Crane Softwrights Ltd. and Canadian chair of the ISO SGML standards group. Ken is an invited expert to the W3C®, a member of the W3C Working Group that developed XML, and founder of the OASIS Technical Committees for XML and XSLT conformance. His many books on XML technologies include Definitive XSLT and XPath.About the Series EditorCHARLES F. GOLDFARB is the father of XML technology. He invented SGML, the Standard Generalized Markup Language on which both XML and HTML are based. You can find him on the Web at www.xmlbooks.com.
The Smarandache friendly natural number pairs
Authors: Maohua Le
Venue: Smarandache Notions Journal (2002)

In this paper we completely determinate all the Smarandache friendly natural number pairs.