ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Noise-Shaped Predictive Coding for Multiple Descriptions of a Colored Gaussian Source
Authors: Yuval Kochman, Jan Østergaard, Ram Zamir
Venue: Proceedings of the Data Compression Conference (2008)

It was recently shown that the symmetric multiple-description (MD) quadratic rate-distortion function for memoryless Gaussian sources and two descriptions can be achieved by dithered Delta-Sigma quantization combined with memoryless entropy coding. In this paper,we generalize this result to stationary (colored) Gaussian sources by combining noise shaping and source prediction. We first propose a new representation for the test channel that realizes the MD rate-distortion function of a Gaussian source, both in the white and in the colored source case. We then show that this test channel canbe materialized by embedding two source prediction loops, one for each description, within a common noise shaping loop. While the noise shaping loop controls the tradeoff between the side and the central distortions, the role of prediction (like in differential pulse code modulation) is to extract the source innovations from the reconstruction at each of the side decoders, and thus reduce the coding rate. Finally, we show that this scheme achieves the MD rate-distortion function at all resolutions and all side-to-central distortion ratios, in the limit of high dimensional quantization.
Text Clustering with Feature Selection by Using Statistical Data
Authors: Yanjun Li, Congnan Luo, Soon M. Chung
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering (2008)

Feature selection is an important method for improving the efficiency and accuracy of text categorization algorithms by removing redundant and irrelevant terms from the corpus. In this paper, we propose a new supervised feature selection method, named CHIR, which is based on the Chi-square statistic and new statistical data that can measure the positive term-category dependency. We also propose a new text clustering algorithm TCFS, which stands for Text Clustering with Feature Selection. TCFS can incorporate CHIR to identify relevant features (i.e., terms) iteratively, and the clustering becomes a learning process. We compared TCFS and the k-means clustering algorithm in combination with different feature selection methods for various real data sets. Our experimental results show that TCFS with CHIR has better clustering accuracy in terms of the F-measure and the purity.
The case for aspect-oriented reflective middleware
Authors: Paul Grace, Eddy Truyen, Bert Lagaisse, Wouter Joosen
Venue: Proceedings of the 6th international workshop on Adaptive and reflective middleware: held at the ACM/IFIP/USENIX International Middleware Conference (2007)

The emergence of applications domains such as pervasive and autonomic computing has increased the need for customisation and dynamic adaptation of both distributed systems, and the underlying middleware platforms. Two highly complementary technologies have been advocated to meet these challenges, namely: aspect oriented programming (AOP) and reflective middleware. However, these have so far been considered in isolation, or typically target a particular middleware challenge e.g. using aspects to customise a middleware implementation; or using reflection (or dynamic AOP) to alter runtime behaviour. We believe that in combination these technologies better support the engineering of dynamic distributed systems. In this paper, we explore how aspects and reflection have been utilised in both the programming language and middleware communities; building upon this work, we identify four core relationships that form the basis of our model for aspect-oriented reflective middleware. We then explore the potential of this model to i) increase support for the engineering of dynamic reconfigurations, and ii) improve the performance of adaptive systems.
CYBERNETIC MODEL (LOPI) SIMULATION OF DEMOGRAPHIC DYNAMICS OF CROATIAN POPULATION
Authors: Nikica Vilicic, Vladimir Ivkovic, Tomislav Janovic, Veljko Jovanovic
Venue: Cybernetics and Systems (2007)

The purpose of our research was to assess the actual contribution and the potential uses of the cybernetic approach to understanding and predicting demographic processes. Methodological premise used was that anthropologically relevant aspects of population change could be expressed as quantitative cybernetic relations. Conducted simulations were based on demographic data for population of the Republic of Croatia. Cybernetic model (LOPI) simulations achieve 90% congruence with recorded population dynamics over a period of several hundred years. Explanatory and predictive forces of the LOPI model are discussed for understanding complexity of emergent phenomena-interaction between genetic kinship, environment, resources, and socio-cultural factors.
Engaging constructions: family-based computing experiences for immigrant middle school students
Authors: Maureen Doyle, Kevin G. Kirby, Gary Newell
Venue: Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education (2008)

In this paper, we describe projects that engage Hispanic middle-school age students with computing, and cast these projects within the ECC ("Engagement, Capacity, Continuity") framework. Our projects were undertaken in the Midwestern United States, where recent heavy immigration from Latin America has caused rapid demographic shifts. We have conducted computing workshops that are cognizant of the cultural milieu of recent immigrants, in that they are family-based, are offered at familiar sites in the community, and give participants a chance to be constructors of technology rather than mere "end-users." We present these efforts as forces that generate a flow that carries immigrant youths up to the point of beginning an undergraduate major in computing.
HDWT-based grayscale watermark for copyright protection
Authors: Ester Yen, Kai-Shiang Tsai
Venue: Expert Systems with Applications: An International Journal (2008)

We propose a new algorithm based on Harr discrete wavelet transform for the grayscale watermark. Digital watermark is a very popular research for copyright protection of electronic documents and media. With quick developing of information technology, more and more information was been hidden in electronic media. We propose visual cryptographic approach to generate two random shares of a watermark: one is embedded into the cover-image, another one is kept as a secret key for the watermark extraction later. This procedure would be dealt with Harr discrete wavelet transform and be left primary features of two shares. This approach is specially designed and is not easily changed and removed. After several attacks, it can still extract cognoscible graphic.
Introduction to SC123 assembly language, architecture, and computer organization: tutorial presentation
Authors: Robert Silverman
Venue: Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges (2008)

A new computer architecture and an ID3E tool was recently developed at California State University, Stanislaus. The new computer was designed specifically for teaching assembly language and related subjects in an undergraduate curriculum. The instruction set has only nineteen instructions, the instructions are simple, regular, orthogonal, and the instructions have a small number of addressing modes. Hence the language is easy to learn as a first assembly language. Yet, in spite of its simplicity, the instruction set is complete. If an instruction is not present (by design), such as the ROL (rotate left instruction), it can be easily synthesized from other instructions. The instruction set contains support for subroutine calls and a conditional jump mechanism. Because of the simplicity, SC123 is easy to use in the classroom to teach assembly language. The ID3E tool contains an integrated development environment to edit, develop, assemble, and debug programs, as well as an emulated execution engine that executes the machine code.
All-floating coupled data-sparse boundary and interface-concentrated finite element tearing and interconnecting methods
Authors: Ulrich Langer, Clemens Pechstein
Venue: Computing and Visualization in Science (2008)

Efficient and robust tearing and interconnecting solvers for large scale systems of coupled boundary and finite element domain decomposition equations are the main topic of this paper. In order to reduce the complexity of the finite element part from $${\mathcal{O}}((H/h)^{d})$$ to $${\mathcal{O}}((H/h)^{d-1})$$, we use an interface-concentrated hp finite element approximation. The complexity of the boundary element part is reduced by data-sparse approximations of the boundary element matrices. Finally, we arrive at a parallel solver whose complexity behaves like $${\mathcal{O}}((H/h)^{d-1})$$ up to some polylogarithmic factor, where H, h, and d denote the usual scaling parameters of the subdomains, the minimal discretization parameter of the subdomain boundaries, and the spatial dimension, respectively.
Using sound for monitoring wireless sensor network behavior
Authors: Deeksha Ganju, Loren Schwiebert
Venue: Proceedings of the 2007 ACM/IFIP/USENIX international conference on Middleware companion (2007)

To make any wireless sensor network robust, we must carefully evaluate its behavior. Here we present a monitoring tool that aims to make development of a sensor network application easier by using the auralization technique to portray its behavior. The human ability to discern different sounds makes it feasible to use these sounds in relation to different events in sensing and network communication. In particular, the discussion is focused on generating sounds of different dimensions, and mapping them to a range of events. Sound may be perceived as noise if the sound duration or events to be captured is inappropriate. The monitoring tool can be used for debugging, demonstrating, and profiling WSN, making it a suitable and cost-effective tool that researchers and other developers can use. For demonstration purposes, the tool has been implemented on time synchronization, and sensing and data propagation applications.
Communicating requirements for business: UML or problem frames?
Authors: Mark Vincent
Venue: Proceedings of the 3rd international workshop on Applications and advances of problem frames (2008)

We compared two prominent software development notations: Problem Frames and the UML, to establish which is more effective at conveying the problem domain and software requirements. The UML scored slightly higher in both the comprehension and perceived difficulty ratings, although the results varied considerably between the different participants and problems. In general the business participants seemed to find the Problem Frames diagrams more difficult than those from an IT background; this was evident from both the scores and the feedback. We have concluded that much of the effort in creating software development methods has been focused inwardly towards the needs of the software development teams, with less consideration for the needs of the non-specialists. Ultimately, the effectiveness of any development approach will be judged by those who need to use it and the true measure of success must surely lie in how widely it is adopted.
An analysis of convergence for nonstationary two-stage multisplitting waveform relaxation methods
Authors: Sheng Zhou, Ting-Zhu Huang
Venue: International Journal of Computer Mathematics (2007)

In this paper, we consider a nonstationary multisplitting two-stage strategy for waveform relaxation iterations, solving the initial value problem of ordinary differential equations. Convergence properties will be given when the coefficient matrix is an M-matrix or a Hermitian positive definite matrix. Finally numerical experiments are presented.
Towards robust and efficient planning execution
Authors: Paul Verstraete, P. Valckenaers, H. Van Brussel, B. Saint Germain, K. Hadeli, J. Van Belle
Venue: Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence (2008)

This paper presents a holonic manufacturing execution system (MES) that cooperates with a planning system. This cooperation allows to combine the robustness and flexibility of the holonic MES with the optimisation performed by the planning system. The paper investigates the effect on the global performance of this cooperation for a specific manufacturing case in a series of experiments. It compares the effect of this cooperation when the planning is optimal with regard to the manufacturing case with situations where the planning system is not optimal. More precisely, it compares the performance of the HEMS in situations where the planning systems systematically misestimates the execution time of a workstation (e.g. a poorly maintained workstation or a partially operational workstation) to situations where this is not the case. The experiments are conducted under varying work loads. Also, the effort the Holonic MES puts in finding new solutions resembling the planning is varied. Finally, the paper reports the results of the experiments and draws conclusions.
Modified Gauss-Newton scheme with worst case guarantees for global performance
Authors: YU. Nesterov
Venue: Optimization Methods Software (2007)

In this paper, we suggest a new version of the Gauss-Newton method for solving a system of non-linear equations which combines the idea of sharp merit function with the idea of quadratic regularization. For this scheme, we prove general convergence results and, under a natural non-degeneracy assumption, local quadratic convergence. We analyze the behavior of this scheme on a natural problem class for which we get global and local worst-case complexity bounds. The implementation of each step of the scheme can be done by standard convex optimization technique.
Portable ECG Measurement Device based on MSP430 MCU
Authors: Hong Ming, Zhang Yajun, Hu Xiaoping
Venue: Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on BioMedical Engineering and Informatics - Volume 02 (2008)

We design a portable measurement device which can monitor electrocardiograph (ECG) and analyze arrhythmia. It is small, light, lower power, and consists of two parts: the main system and the sub. The device gets ECG signals by the electrode sticking to the chest skin. This make the device is suitable for monitoring in long time. 16-bits MCU-MSP430 is the most important part. Besides, there are amplifier circuit, filter circuit, wireless transmitting-receive circuit, data management part, keyboard and LCD display part, etc. The device can detect QRS complex and analyze ECG signals in real-time. For the MIT-BIH database and actual persons, the accuracy of monitor reaches above 99 percent of the QRS complex of ambulatory ECG signals.
Average consensus problems in networks of agents with delayed communications
Authors: Pierre-Alexandre Bliman, Giancarlo Ferrari-Trecate
Venue: Automatica (Journal of IFAC) (2008)

The present paper is devoted to the study of average consensus problems for undirected networks of dynamic agents having communication delays. By focusing on agents with integrator dynamics, the accent is put here on the study of the time-delay influence: both constant and time-varying delays are considered, as well as uniform and non-uniform repartitions of the delays in the network. The main results provide sufficient conditions (also necessary in most cases) for the existence of average consensus under bounded communication delays. Simulations are provided that show adequation with these results.
Active reinforcement learning
Authors: Arkady Epshteyn, Adam Vogel, Gerald DeJong
Venue: Proceedings of the 25th international conference on Machine learning (2008)

When the transition probabilities and rewards of a Markov Decision Process (MDP) are known, an agent can obtain the optimal policy without any interaction with the environment. However, exact transition probabilities are difficult for experts to specify. One option left to an agent is a long and potentially costly exploration of the environment. In this paper, we propose another alternative: given initial (possibly inaccurate) specification of the MDP, the agent determines the sensitivity of the optimal policy to changes in transitions and rewards. It then focuses its exploration on the regions of space to which the optimal policy is most sensitive. We show that the proposed exploration strategy performs well on several control and planning problems.
PIANO: a power saving strategy for cellular/VoWLAN dual-mode
Authors: Shiao-Li Tsao, E-Cheng Cheng
Venue: Wireless Networks (2008)

The integration of cellular and VoIP over WLAN (VoWLAN) systems recently has attracted considerable interest from both academia and industry. A cellular/VoWLAN dual-mode system enables users to access a low-cost VoIP service in a WLAN hotspot and switch to a wide-area cellular system without WLANs. Unfortunately, cellular/VoWLAN dual-mode mobiles suffer the power consumption problem that becomes one of the major concerns for commercial deployment of the dual-mode service. In this study, we present a novel power saving mechanism, called PIANO (paging via another radio), for the integration of heterogeneous wireless networks, and further apply the proposed methods to implement a cellular/VoWLAN dual-mode system. Based on the proposed mechanisms, a dual-mode mobile can completely switch off its WLAN interface, only leaving the cellular interface awake to listen to paging messages. When a mobile receives a paging message from its cellular interface, it wakes up the WLAN interface and responds to connection requests via WLAN networks. Therefore, a dual-mode mobile reduces the power consumption by turning off the WLAN interface during idle, and can also receive VoWLAN services. Measurement results based on the prototype system demonstrate that the proposed methods significantly extend the standby hours of a dual-mode mobile.
Introducing an experimental cognitive robotics curriculum at historically black colleges and universities
Authors: Andrew B. Williams, David S. Touretzky, Ethan J. Tira-Thompson, LaVonne Manning, Chutima Boonthum, Clement S. Allen
Venue: Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education (2008)

A successful collaboration between Spelman College and Carnegie Mellon University led to an NSF-funded Broadening Participation in Computing project to set up robotics education laboratories and introduce undergraduate instruction in cognitive robotics at three other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). We give a brief overview of cognitive robotics and the Tekkotsu software architecture, and describe our experiences teaching computer science students with no previous robotics exposure to program sophisticated mobile robots.
Track: a novel XML join algorithm for efficient processing twig queries
Authors: Dongyang Li, Chunping Li
Venue: Proceedings of the nineteenth conference on Australasian database - Volume 75 (2008)

In order to find all occurrences of a tree/twig pattern in an XML database, a number of holistic twig join algorithms have been proposed. However, most of these algorithms focus on identifying a larger query class or using a novel label scheme to reduce I/O operations, and ignore the deficiency of the root-to-leaf strategy. In this paper, we propose a novel twig join algorithm called Track, which adopts the opposite leaf-to-root strategy to process queries. It brings us two benefits: (i) avoiding too much time checking the element index to make sure all branches are satisfied before a new element comes, (ii)using the tree structure to encode final tree matches so as to avoid the merging process. Further experiments on diverse data sets show that our algorithm is indeed superior to current algorithms in terms of query processing performance.
An Implementation and Evaluation of the AMLS Method for Sparse Eigenvalue Problems
Authors: Weiguo Gao, Xiaoye S. Li, Chao Yang, Zhaojun Bai
Venue: ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software (TOMS) (2008)

We describe an efficient implementation and present a performance study of an automated multi-level substructuring (AMLS) method for sparse eigenvalue problems. We assess the time and memory requirements associated with the key steps of the algorithm, and compare it with the shift-and-invert Lanczos algorithm. Our eigenvalue problems come from two very different application areas: accelerator cavity design and normal-mode vibrational analysis of polyethylene particles. We show that the AMLS method, when implemented carefully, outperforms the traditional method in broad application areas when large numbers of eigenvalues are sought, with relatively low accuracy.
A Open Source Based General Framework for Virtual Surgery Simulation
Authors: Chunbo Bao, Boliang Wang
Venue: Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on BioMedical Engineering and Informatics - Volume 01 (2008)

With the development of computer technology, Virtual Surgery Simulation (VSS) becomes into reality. Virtual surgery is multi-disciplined and challenged. There have been some open source resources for VSS but they are all in progress. A new open source based VSS system is presented. An object oriented system analysis and design are described in detail including use case diagram, sequence diagrams, class diagram and a multi-level architecture that is multi platform. The system is a general framework that can be configured or customized by experts or developers resulting in a concrete XML scene file to prepare for another user – trainee training his/her surgical skills. The framework is based on open source libraries and existed VSS framework or codes. Some good ideas and good structures are integrated in this framework. It is extensible for developers or experts studying new algorithms and testing new methods. To test the framework lens capsule and liver simulator are configured. It is obvious that the presented framework needs further developing and perfecting.
Adaptive fault-tolerant control for a class of nonlinear systems with time delay
Authors: D. Ye, G. H. Yang
Venue: International Journal of Systems Science (2008)

This article deals with the problem of adaptive fault-tolerant control against unknown actuator faults for a class of nonlinear time delay systems with disturbance. The actuator faults are types of loss of effectiveness. The aim is to find an adaptive fault tolerant controller, such that the system is not only stabilized, but also the state vectors of normal and fault cases with disturbance track that of the normal case without disturbance, which has the designed performance. A new delay-dependent adaptive law is proposed to design the adaptive reconfigurable controller, which is excited to offset the effect of faults and disturbance automatically. Numerical and simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.
Experimental average-case performance evaluation of online algorithms for routing and wavelength assignment and throughput maximization in WDM optical networks
Authors: Keqin Li
Venue: Journal of Experimental Algorithmics (JEA) (2008)

We investigate the problem of online routing and wavelength assignment and the related throughput maximization problem in wavelength division multiplexing optical networks. It is pointed out that these problems are highly inapproximable, that is, the competitive ratio of any algorithm is at least a polynomial. We evaluate the average-case performance of several online algorithms, which have no knowledge of future arriving connection requests when processing the current connection request. Our experimental results on a wide range of optical networks demonstrate that the average-case performance of these algorithms are very close to optimal.