ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
The LAICA Project: Supporting Ambient Intelligence via Agents and Ad-Hoc Middleware
Authors: Giacomo Cabri, Luca Ferrari, Letizia Leonardi, Franco Zambonelli
Venue: Proceedings of the 14th IEEE International Workshops on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprise (2005)

Users' environments are going to be disseminated of intelligent devices and sensors that will coordinate each other to help users in their activities. This leads to what is called "Ambient Intelligence", i.e., environments that exhibits a certain degree of intelligence. Software agents are the natural candidates for this kind of task, thanks to their autonomy and the capability to act on behalf of their owners, resulting thus appropriate in the Ambient Intelligence area. In this position paper we discuss the use of agents in Ambient Intelligence, and sketch the relevant aspects of the LAICA project. In particular we focus on the design of a middleware for Ambient Intelligence that connects several kinds of agents and other distributed components.
A Feature-Oriented Approach to Modeling Requirements Dependencies
Authors: Wei Zhang, Hong Mei, Haiyan Zhao
Venue: Proceedings of the 13th IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering (2005)

There are many researches on requirements dependencies. However, most of them limit their views to the requirements phase of software development, few focus on the roles of requirements dependencies in the solution space of software. This paper presents a feature-oriented approach to modeling requirements dependencies. A feature is a set of tight-related requirements from user/customer-views. The featureorientation provides a modular way to organize requirements and a proper granularity to analyze requirements dependencies. In this approach, we care about not only static feature dependencies (i.e. refinements and constraints), but also feature dependencies at the specification level (namely influences) and, furthermore, dynamic feature dependencies (namely interactions). Moreover, we also explore the underlying connections between these four kinds of feature dependency. By this way, this approach gives a more complete view of how requirements dependencies influence the whole process of software development.
Embedded Object Architecture
Authors: Tero Vallius, Juha Roning
Venue: Proceedings of the 8th Euromicro Conference on Digital System Design (2005)

Traditionally embedded system design process demands a considerable amount of expertise, time and money. This makes developing embedded systems impossible for many companies, and in research facilities it hinders the testing of new research results with real embedded systems. We have earlier presented an easy and fast embedded system development concept based on embedded objects. Embedded object concept (EOC) utilizes common object oriented methods used in software by applying them into combined Lego-like software-hardware entities. This concept enables people without comprehensive knowledge in electronics design to create new embedded systems. In this paper we present a physical and logical architecture for this concept.
Large margin non-linear embedding
Authors: Alexander Zien, Joaquin Quiñonero Candela
Venue: Proceedings of the 22nd international conference on Machine learning (2005)

It is common in classification methods to first place data in a vector space and then learn decision boundaries. We propose reversing that process: for fixed decision boundaries, we "learn" the location of the data. This way we (i) do not need a metric (or even stronger structure) - pairwise dissimilarities suffice; and additionally (ii) produce low-dimensional embeddings that can be analyzed visually. We achieve this by combining an entropy-based embedding method with an entropy-based version of semi-supervised logistic regression. We present results for clustering and semi-supervised classification.
Search and transitioning for motion captured sequences
Authors: Suddha Basu, Shrinath Shanbhag, Sharat Chandran
Venue: Proceedings of the ACM symposium on Virtual reality software and technology (2005)

Animators today have started using motion captured (mocap) sequences to drive characters. Mocap allows rapid acquisition of highly realistic animation data. Consequently animators have at their disposal an enormous amount of mocap sequences which ironically has created a new retrieval problem. Thus, while working with mocap databases, an animator often needs to work with a subset of ``useful'' clips. Once the animator selects a candidate working set of motion clips, she then needs to identify appropriate transition points amongst these clips for maximal reuse.In this paper, we describe methods for querying mocap databases and identifying transitions for a given set of clips. We preprocess clips (and clip subsequences), and precompute frame locations to allow interactive stitching. In contrast with existing methods that view each individual clips as nodes, for optimal reuse, we reduce the granularity.
A Case for Static Branch Prediction in Real-Time Systems
Authors: Claire Burguiere, Christine Rochange, Pascal Sainrat
Venue: Proceedings of the 11th IEEE International Conference on Embedded and Real-Time Computing Systems and Applications (2005)

Taking dynamic branch prediction into account in WCET determination turns out to be complex, particularly because of the possible interferences between branches. In this paper we argue the case for using static instead of dynamic branch prediction: the aliasing problem is swept away and, in many cases, the estimated worst-case numbers of branch mispredictions are reduced. We propose a method to predict each branch at compile time. Experimental results show how effective this approach can be.
E-Commerce Success Factors: Exploratory and Empirical Research on the Chinese Publishing Industry
Authors: Jinghua Huang, Hui Wang, Chunjun Zhao
Venue: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on e-Business Engineering (2005)

This research studies the electronic commerce (EC) success factors of Chinese enterprises, and builds the assessment indicator system of EC success. Although there are already a large amount of similar researches in this field, the existing studies still have limitations. On the basis of literature review, as well as two rounds of survey to specialists, we propose 15 assessment indicators of EC success, and 33 impact factors affecting the EC success. The hypothesis is proposed that leadership, strategy, management, organization, technology, customers and supplier factors would affect EC success. Focusing on the Chinese publishing industry, we conduct the empirical study to verify this hypothesis. 305 questionnaires are sent out to the book publishing companies that have already implemented EC; 93 questionnaires are sent back. After regression and factor analysis, this research finds out several key factors and critical sub-factors affecting EC success.
Existence of Solutions and Star-shapedness in Minty Variational Inequalities
Authors: Giovanni P. Crespi, Ivan Ginchev, Matteo Rocca
Venue: Journal of Global Optimization (2005)

Minty Variational Inequalities (for short, Minty VI) have proved to characterize a kind of equilibrium more qualified than Stampacchia Variational Inequalities (for short, Stampacchia VI). This conclusion leads to argue that, when a Minty VI admits a solution and the operator F admits a primitive f (that is F= f¿), then f has some regularity property, e.g. convexity or generalized convexity. In this paper we put in terms of the lower Dini directional derivative a problem, referred to as Minty VI(f¿_,K), which can be considered a nonlinear extension of the Minty VI with F=f¿ (K denotes a subset of ¿n). We investigate, in the case that K is star-shaped, the existence of a solution of Minty VI(f'_,K) and increasing along rays starting at x* property of (for short, F ¿IAR (K,x*)). We prove that Minty VI(f'_,K) with a radially lower semicontinuous function fhas a solution x* ¿ker K if and only if F¿IAR(K, x*). Furthermore we investigate, with regard to optimization problems, some properties of increasing along rays functions, which can be considered as extensions of analogous properties holding for convex functions. In particular we show that functions belonging to the class IAR(K,x*) enjoy some well-posedness properties.
A Self-Adjusting Size-Based Load Balance Policy for Web Server Cluster
Authors: Zhi Xiong, Puliu Yan, Juntao Wang
Venue: Proceedings of the The Fifth International Conference on Computer and Information Technology (2005)

An efficient load balance policy should adjust its parameters as the arrival and service characteristics of the incoming workload change. In this paper, we propose a self-adjusting size-based load balance policy called SASB, and implement a prototype of SASB. In SASB, the dispatcher distributes requests according to the request content size and tries to balance the load, measured in "occupying resource time", among real servers. The dispatcher periodically predicts the statistical characteristics of future workload based on recent workload history, and then adjusts system parameters according to the prediction. By its locality-aware nature, SASB achieves high cache hit ratio in addition to balancing the load. For the sizes of realistic web documents follow heavy-tailed distribution, distributing "long" and "short" jobs to different real servers helps SASB reduce the average job slowdown. Experiments show that SASB, as compared with some existing classic load balance policies, achieves superior performance.
Fuzzy optimization of units products in mix-product selection problem using fuzzy linear programming approach
Authors: Pandian Vasant, N Barsoum
Venue: Soft Computing - A Fusion of Foundations, Methodologies and Applications (2006)

In this paper, the modified S-curve membership function methodology is used in a real life industrial problem of mix product selection. This problem occurs in the production planning management where by a decision maker plays important role in making decision in an uncertain environment. As analysts, we try to find a good enough solution for the decision maker to make a final decision. An industrial application of fuzzy linear programming (FLP) through the S-curve membership function has been investigated using a set of real life data collected from a Chocolate Manufacturing Company. The problem of fuzzy product mix selection has been defined. The objective of this paper is to find an optimal units of products with higher level of satisfaction with vagueness as a key factor. Since there are several decisions that were to be taken, a table for optimal units of products respect to vagueness and degree of satisfaction has been defined to identify the solution with higher level of units of products and with a higher degree of satisfaction. The fuzzy outcome shows that higher units of products need not lead to higher degree of satisfaction. The findings of this work indicates that the optimal decision is depend on vagueness factor in the fuzzy system of mix product selection problem. Further more the high level of units of products obtained when the vagueness is low.
Enumeration of Branched Coverings of Nonorientable Surfaces With Cyclic Branch Points
Authors: Jin Ho Kwak, Alexander Mednykh, Valery Liskovets
Venue: SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics (2005)

In this paper, n-fold branched coverings of a closed nonorientable surface ${\mathcal S}$ of genus p with $r\geq 1$ cyclic branch points (that is, such that all ramification points over them are of multiplicity n) are considered. The number Np,r(n) of such coverings up to equivalence is evaluated explicitly in a closed form (without using any complicated functions such as irreducible characters of the symmetric groups). The obtained formulas depend on the parity of r and n. The method is based on some previous enumerative results and techniques for nonorientable surfaces. In particular, we generalize the approach developed for the counting of unbranched coverings of nonorientable surfaces and make use of the analytical method of roots-of-unity sums.
The effects of asynchronous computer voice conferencing on learners' anxiety when speaking a foreign language
Authors: Maria Isabel Charle Poza
Venue:  (2005)

This study investigated the influence of asynchronous computer voice conferencing on learners' anxiety when speaking in a foreign language. The technology chosen was the voice board powered by Wimba. Three research questions guided this study: Research Question 1: What is the learners' perception of their language anxiety when speaking in the asynchronous computer voice conferencing environment?, Research Questions 2: How empowered do the learners feel to take risks in the asynchronous computer voice conferencing environment?, and Research Question 3: How concerned are the learners about being evaluated by others when making oral mistakes in the foreign language in the asynchronous computer voice conferencing environment? The study involved both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The population for the quantitative component of this study consisted of 35 students enrolled in two sections of college-level Intermediate Spanish 2 (Spanish 204). Four questionnaires were used to gather the quantitative data of this study: A demographic survey, the Computer Anxiety Index (CAIN), the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), and the Wimba Anxiety Scale. Using purposeful sampling methods, four participants were interviewed for the qualitative component of this investigation. In addition, a rubric was designed and used for the evaluation of risk-taking in student contributions to the Wimba and classroom discussions. Results indicate that there was a strong potential for the reduction of anxiety associated with the voice board. A number of students experienced a reduction of their level of anxiety due to the elimination of the time pressure of the classroom and opportunity to edit their contributions. The conditions of the point of access to the technology were found to have a negative effect on student anxiety on the voice board. A negative attitude towards going to the language laboratory, technical difficulties during the Wimba activities, and instructional time had a negative effect on the level of anxiety. Increased risk-taking in oral contributions and reduced fear of negative evaluation were also found in the Wimba environment.
The Verification's Criterion of Learning Algorithm
Authors: Tymoteusz Bilyk
Venue: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Intelligent Systems Design and Applications (2005)

Construction of an effective real time learning algorithm is mostly needed for the Pulsed Neural Network nowadays. The learning algorithm should collect and convert the data from networks inputs into a PNN memory while network's working. Keeping of an Asynchronuos State int the background is a big challenge during learning PNN with a certain number of recurrent connections like Hebbian Cell Assemblies (HCA) or Synfire Chains (SFC) [5] [7]. This paper presents methods which are usable for refusing or accepting the examined learning algorithm in the relatively short timeof simulation and it gives us advice about direction of your research.
m-Mag: The Mobile Magazine Services Platform
Authors: Tom Pfeifer, Barry Downes
Venue: Proceedings of the Second IEEE International Workshop on Mobile Commerce and Services (2005)

The m-Mag platform advances the state of the art in mobile services by bridging the gap between mobile Operators and content Publishers, enabling the creation of a new category of mobile service called a mobile magazine. An m-Mag mobile magazine is a next generation mobile publishing service that is made available from a mobile operator's portal, that is integrated with value added mobile data services and that uses the operator's billing capabilities to charge consumers for access to the magazine. Using Parlay/OSA as an open approach, the m-Mag platform can integrate into an operator's network using standardised APIs and is portable across different operator networks. A discussion of the commercial potential analyses the route to the market.
Trusted P2P Transactions with Fuzzy Reputation Aggregation
Authors: Shanshan Song, Kai Hwang, Runfang Zhou, Yu-Kwong Kwok
Venue: IEEE Internet Computing (2005)

Internet commerce and online commodity exchanges suffer from distrust among sellers and buyers, who are often strangers to each other. The authors present a new P2P reputation system based on fuzzy logic inferences, which can better handle uncertainty, fuzziness, and incomplete information in peer trust reports.This system aggregates peer reputations with affordable message overhead. By testing the system using eBay transaction data in the public domain, the authors seek to demonstrate the efficacy and robustness of two P2P reputation systems¿FuzzyTrust and EigenTrust¿at establishing trust among the peers in P2P applications.
A unified description formalism for complex HCI-systems
Authors: Anke Dittmar, Peter Forbrig
Venue: Proceedings of the Third IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering and Formal Methods (2005)

This paper introduces higher-order processes as a means to describe complex human-computer interaction systems by integrating different HCI theories. A higher-order process consists of components, which are (sub-)processes themselves. The behaviour of a process results from the behaviour of its components and their interaction. While processes at the lowest level describe the essential units of a system, higher-level processes focus on the way their components interact and produce a new kind of behaviour. Such a behaviour can roughly be characterized as 'more planned'. We further propose a convenient specification formalism for higher-order processes based on partial equations.
Recognition and reproduction of gestures using a probabilistic framework combining PCA, ICA and HMM
Authors: Sylvain Calinon, Aude Billard
Venue: Proceedings of the 22nd international conference on Machine learning (2005)

This paper explores the issue of recognizing, generalizing and reproducing arbitrary gestures. We aim at extracting a representation that encapsulates only the key aspects of the gesture and discards the variability intrinsic to each person's motion. We compare a decomposition into principal components (PCA) and independent components (ICA) as a first step of preprocessing in order to decorrelate and denoise the data, as well as to reduce the dimensionality of the dataset to make this one tractable. In a second stage of processing, we explore the use of a probabilistic encoding through continuous Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), as a way to encapsulate the sequential nature and intrinsic variability of the motions in stochastic finite state automata. Finally, the method is validated in a humanoid robot to reproduce a variety of gestures performed by a human demonstrator.
Towards multilateral secure digital rights distribution infrastructures
Authors: André Adelsbach, Markus Rohe, Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi
Venue: Proceedings of the 5th ACM workshop on Digital rights management (2005)

Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems and applications appear to increasingly attract the interest of e-commerce business developers. DRM systems aim at secure distribution of digital content and commonly comprise a huge variety of different technologies. Current DRM systems focus mainly on right-holder's security needs and commonly neglect those of consumers. In particular, these systems even lack reliable means for users to verify that they purchase usage-rights on works (licenses) from the rightful authors (rights-holder). This seems to be simply achievable in centralistic systems where only global players or a few large collecting societies control the distribution of licenses. However, in a large distributed system with many unknown and potentially untrusted sellers/distributors of digital content it is crucial from the legal and security perspectives that any user/device of the DRM platform can reliably verify that a purchased license is authorised by the rightful author/rights-holder.In this paper we introduce a formal model and the corresponding schemes for establishing a multilateral secure rights-distribution infrastructure. The key features of our proposal are: firstly, consumers can directly verify that a seller is indeed authorised to grant certain usage-rights. Secondly, the authorship and rights licenses are invariant with respect to perceptibly similar works, i.e., they are not only valid for the original work but also for a set of closely related similar works which are modifications of the original work (e.g., different resolutions or encodings of an image or a video). The reason for providing this property is that these works are still considered to be under the copyright of the author.Our scheme provides an enabling technology for decentralised right distribution infrastructures for intellectual property with multilateral security.
A Path-Diversity Protocol for the Invocation of Distributed Transactions over the Web
Authors: Paolo Romano, Francesco Quaglia
Venue: Proceedings of the Joint International Conference on Autonomic and Autonomous Systems and International Conference on Networking and Services (2005)

The notion of path-diversity has been widely used in the context of Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to improve system responsiveness by leveraging inherent features of multi-hop networks to reduce the likelihood to incur link congestions or failures. In this work we address the issue of how to exploit path-diversity in the context of Application Delivery Networks (ADNs), namely the evolution of CDNs where the edge servers additionally host transactional logic for the access and manipulation of data on back-end data centers. As we will discuss, path-diversity based solutions are not trivial for Web-based transactional applications, especially in the case of transactions spanning multiple, autonomous data centers. In such a context we need in fact to deal with a set of issues not present in classical content delivery applications, such as distributed deadlocks potentially occurring for the processing of instances of a transactional request sent to multiple edge servers along different network paths. In this paper we propose a simple and lightweight path-diversity based protocol for the invocation of distributed transactions over the Web, which addresses all those issues in a scalable manner by requiring no form of coordination among the edge servers over the ADN.
Transparent Resource Allocation to Exploit Idle Cluster Nodes in Computational Grids
Authors: Marco A. S. Netto, Rodrigo N. Calheiros, Rafael K. S. Silva, Cesar A. F. De Rose, Caio Northfleet, Walfredo Cirne
Venue: Proceedings of the First International Conference on e-Science and Grid Computing (2005)

Clusters of workstations are one of the most suitable resources to assist e-scientists in the execution of large-scale experiments that demand processing power. The utilization rate of these machines is usually far from 100%, and hence this should motivate administrators to share their clusters to Grid communities. However, exploiting these resources in Computational Grids is challenging and brings several problems. This paper presents a transparent resource allocation strategy to harness idle cluster resources aimed at executing grid applications. This novel approach does not make use of a formal allocation request to cluster resource managers. Moreover, it does not interfere with local cluster users, being non-intrusive, and hence motivating cluster administrators to publish their resources to grid communities. We present experimental results regarding the effects of the proposed strategy on the attendance time of both cluster and grid requests and we also analyze its effectiveness in clusters with different utilization rates.