ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Animated Talking Head with Personalized 3D Head Model
Authors: Jörn Ostermann, Lawrence S. Chen, Thomas S. Huang
Venue: Journal of VLSI Signal Processing Systems (1998)

Natural Human-Computer Interface requires integration of realistic audio and visual information for perception and display. An example of such an interface is an animated talking head displayed on the computer screen in the form of a human-like computer agent. This system converts text to acoustic speech with synchronized animation of mouth movements. The talking head is based on a generic 3D human head model, but to improve realism, natural looking personalized models are necessary. In this paper, we report a semi-automatic method for adapting a generic head model to 3D range data of a human head obtained from a 3D-laser range scanner. This personalized model is incorporated into the talking head system. With texture mapping, the personalized model offers a more natural and realistic look than the generic model. The model created with the proposed method compares favorable to generic models.
Price Versus Production Postponement: Capacity and Competition
Authors: Jan A. Van Mieghem, Maqbool Dada
Venue: Management Science (1999)

This article presents a comparative analysis of possible postponement strategies in a two-stage decision model where firms make three decisions: capacity investment, production (inventory) quantity, and price. Typically, investments are made while the demand curve is uncertain. The strategies differ in the timing of the operational decisions relative to the realization of uncertainty. We show how competition, uncertainty, and the timing of operational decisions influence the strategic investment decision of the firm and its value. In contrast to production postponement, price postponement makes the investment and production (inventory) decisions relatively insensitive to uncertainty. This suggests that managers can make optimal capacity decisions by deterministic reasoning if they have some price flexibility. Under price postponement, additional postponement of production has relatively small incremental value. Therefore, it may be worthwhile to consider flexible ex-post pricing before production postponement reengineering. While more postponement increases firm value, it is counterintuitive that this also makes the optimal capacity decision more sensitive to uncertainty. We highlight the different impact of more timely information, which leads to higher investment and inventories, and of reduced demand uncertainty, which decreases investment and inventories. Our analysis suggests appropriateness conditions for simple make-to-stock and make-to-order strategies. We also present technical sufficiency and uniqueness conditions. Under price postponement, these results extend to oligopolistic and perfect competition for which pure equilibria are derived. Interestingly, the relative value of operational postponement techniques seems to increase as the industry becomes more competitive.
Estimation of Packet Delivery Time Characteristics in an Ethernet-type LAN Management System
Authors: Jacques C. Bensimon, Yuri C. Zlotnikov
Venue: International Journal of Network Management (1996)

The objective of this article is to develop special tools for estimating packet delivery time over an Ethernet-type LAN segment.
Content-based book recommending using learning for text categorization
Authors: Raymond J. Mooney, Loriene Roy
Venue: Proceedings of the fifth ACM conference on Digital libraries (2000)

Recommender systems improve access to relevant products and information by making personalized suggestions based on previous examples of a user's likes and dislikes. Most existing recommender systems use collaborative filtering methods that base recommendations on other users' preferences. By contrast,content-based methods use information about an item itself to make suggestions.This approach has the advantage of being able to recommend previously unrated items to users with unique interests and to provide explanations for its recommendations. We describe a content-based book recommending system that utilizes information extraction and a machine-learning algorithm for text categorization. Initial experimental results demonstrate that this approach can produce accurate recommendations.
The Effect of (Mis-Specified) GARCH Filters on the Finite Sample Distribution of the BDS Test
Authors: Chris Brooks, Saeed M. Heravi
Venue: Computational Economics (1999)

This paper considers the effect of using a GARCH filter on the properties of the BDS test statistic as well as a number of other issues relating to the application of the test. It is found that, for certain values of the user-adjustable parameters, the finite sample distribution of the test is far-removed from asymptotic normality. In particular, when data generated from some completely different model class are filtered through a GARCH model, the frequency of rejection of iid falls, often substantially. The implication of this result is that it might be inappropriate to use non-rejection of iid of the standardised residuals of a GARCH model as evidence that the GARCH model &rsquo;fits&lsquo; the data.
Innovation in post graduate computer science education
Authors: Alison Young, Donald Joyce
Venue: ACM SIGCSE Bulletin (1999)

This presentation will outline the progress to date of the development of the Master of Computing degree program, the courses developed, the philosophy behind the development, the structure including the exit qualification and the proposed delivery. It will also outline the quality assurance process and the very stringent accreditation process required before it is approved for delivery.
Jotmail: a voicemail interface that enables you to see what was said
Authors: Steve Whittaker, Richard Davis, Julia Hirschberg, Urs Muller
Venue: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems (2000)

Voicemail is a pervasive, but under-researched tool for workplace communication. Despite potential advantages of voicemail over email, current phone-based voicemail UIs are highly problematic for users. We present a novel, Web-based, voicemail interface, Jotmail. The design was based on data from several studies of voicemail tasks and user strategies. The GUI has two main elements: (a) personal annotations that serve as a visual analogue to underlying speech; (b) automatically derived message header information. We evaluated Jotmail in an 8-week field trial, where people used it as their only means for accessing voicemail. Jotmail was successful in supporting most key voicemail tasks, although users' electronic annotation and archiving behaviors were different from our initial predictions. Our results argue for the utility of a combination of annotation based indexing and automatically derived information, as a general technique for accessing speech archives.
Beyond document similarity: understanding value-based search and browsing technologies
Authors: Andreas Paepcke, Hector Garcia-Molina, Gerard Rodriguez-Mula, Junghoo Cho
Venue: ACM SIGMOD Record (2000)

In the face of small, one or two word queries, high volumes of diverse documents on the Web are overwhelming search and ranking technologies that are based on document similarity measures. The increase of multimedia data within documents sharply exacerbates the shortcomings of these approaches. Recently, research prototypes and commercial experiments have added techniques that augment similarity-based search and ranking. These techniques rely on judgments about the 'value' of documents. Judgments are obtained directly from users, are derived by conjecture based on observations of user behavior, or are surmised from analyses of documents and collections. All these systems have been pursued independently, and no common understanding of the underlying processes has been presented. We survey existing value-based approaches, develop a reference architecture that helps compare the approaches, and categorize the constituent algorithms. We explain the options for collecting value metadata, and for using that metadata to improve search, ranking of results, and the enhancement of information browsing. Based on our survey and analysis, we then point to several open problems.
The Slack Method: A New Method for Static Allocation ofHard Real-Time Tasks
Authors: Peter Altenbernd, Hans Hansson
Venue: Real-Time Systems (1998)

This article presents and evaluates the Slack Method, a new constructive heuristic for the allocation (mapping) of periodic hard real-time tasks to multiprocessor or distributed systems. The Slack Method is based on task deadlines, in contrast with other constructive heuristics, such as List Processing. The presented evaluation shows that the Slack Method is superior to list-processing-based approaches with regard to both finding more feasible solutions as well as finding solutions with better objective function values.In a comparative survey we evaluate the Slack Method against several alternative allocation techniques. This includes comparisons with optimal algorithms, non-guided search heuristics (e.g. Simulated Annealing), and other constructive heuristics. The main practical result of the comparison is that a combination of non-guided search and constructive approaches is shown to perform better than either of them alone, especially when using the Slack Method.
Extension of Affine Shape
Authors: Rikard Berthilsson, Kalle Åström
Venue: Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision (1999)

In this paper, we extend the notion of affine shape, introduced by Sparr, from finite point sets to more general sets. It turns out to be possible to generalize most of the theory. The extension makes it possible to reconstruct, for example, 3D-curves up to projective transformations, from a number of their 2D-projections. An algorithm is presented, which is independent of choice of coordinates, is robust, does not rely on any preselected parameters and works for an arbitrary number of images. In particular this means that a solution is given to the aperture problem of finding point correspondences between curves.
The Maximum Principle for Partially Observed Optimal Control of Stochastic Differential Equations
Authors: Shanjian Tang
Venue: SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization (1998)

This paper concerns partially observed optimal control of possibly degenerate stochastic differential equations, with correlated noises between the system and the observation. The control is allowed to enter into all the coefficients. A general maximum principle is proved for the partially observed optimal control, and the relations among the adjoint processes are established. Adjoint vector fields, which are adapted to the past and present observations, are introduced as the solutions to some backward stochastic partial differential equations (BSPDEs), and their relations are established. Under suitable conditions, the adjoint processes are characterized in terms of the adjoint vector fields, their differentials and Hessians, along the optimal state process. Some other formulations of the partially observed stochastic maximum principle are then derived.
Implicit enumeration of strongly connected components
Authors: Aiguo Xie, Peter A. Beerel
Venue: Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE/ACM international conference on Computer-aided design (1999)

This paper presents a BDD-based implicit algorithm to compute all maximal strongly connected components of directed graphs. The algorithm iteratively applies reachability analysis and sequentially identifies SCCs. Experiments suggest that the algorithm dramatically outperforms the only existing implicit method which must compute the transitive closure of the adjacency-matrix of the graphs.
High-speed dynamic logic styles for scaled-down CMOS and MTCMOS technologies
Authors: Mohamed W. Allam, Mohab H. Anis, Mohamed I. Elmasry
Venue: Proceedings of the 2000 international symposium on Low power electronics and design (2000)

A new high-speed Domino circuit, called HS-Domino is developed. HS-Domino resolves the trade-off between performance and noise margins in conventional CD-Domino logic while dissipating low dynamic power with minimal area overhead. A dual-threshold (MTCMOS) implementation of HS-Domino and DDCVS logic is also devised. This implementation achieves low leakage values during standby, while maintaining high performance and low dynamic power during the active mode.
Understanding and exploring formal specifications
Authors: Jawed Siddiqi, Ian Morrey, Richard Hibberd, Graham Buckberry
Venue: Annals of Software Engineering (1999)

Formal methods is seen as a means of applying scientific knowledge to software construction, thereby legitimating the use of mathematics within software engineering. However, the software engineering community faces numerous challenges before an effective transfer of this formal methods technology can take place because of the level of skill, expertise and effort required in their application. It is argued that at present the use of formal notations for system specification is a mature technology offering the greatest leverage. The relative benefits of a declarative approach with a &ldquo;getting it right the first time&rdquo; maxim versus an imperative approach coupled with an exploratory trial and error flavour are explored. Detailed characteristics of a teaching and learning environment developed to support the latter approach are provided. Its varied uses in the context of teaching and learning within undergraduate and postgraduate courses in software engineering are discussed. Exemplars from these uses show how users of the environment explore formal specifications to improve their understanding of specification and thereby illustrate the effectiveness of the environment. Implications of our approach on technology transfer and training are briefly explored.
Madura: A Language for Learning Vision Programs from Examples
Authors: Rhys A. Newman
Venue: Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision (1999)

Recently the idea of designing a computer system which automatically connects a number of independent vision modules together to solve a given computer vision problem has attracted significant interest. However the main assumption of this endeavour, namely that the modules used as the building blocks of the vision system are essentially fixed, is questionable in the light of previous experience. Therefore it is important to be able to modify even the detailed operation of the basic modules used, something which is not practical using conventional techniques.This paper constructs a general method by which the computer code of a vision module can be altered automatically to make it mimic a desired behaviour. The system which does this, termed L, modifies a basic module template using interaction with an Oracle as a guide. The Oracle is an entity which, when given an input value, produces the corresponding output of the function which is to be mimicked. The system developed is based upon a new model of computation which endows it with the important properties that extracting the template (i.e. structure) of any module&lsquo;s computer code, as well as determining the best questions to pose to the Oracle are both performed automatically. Thus the L described has significant advantages over many other models which might be used (e.g. Neural Networks).Dealing directly with this new model is not always convenient. Therefore a new computer language Madura is defined which provides a high-level interface to it. As Madura is syntactically similar to JAVA, it is simple to express the code of many basic vision modules in its terms and the results of L (the Madura code of a module which mimics the Oracle) are similarly simple to understand and use.This paper shows a number of results which demonstrate how the L developed can learn many state-of-the-art initial vision algorithms in a matter of minutes. The current and future impact of this work is also examined.
Multidimensional Exploration of Software Implementationsfor DSP Algorithms
Authors: Eckart Zitzler, Jürgen Teich, Shuvra S. Bhattacharyya
Venue: Journal of VLSI Signal Processing Systems (2000)

When implementing software for programmable digital signal processors (PDSPs), the design space is defined by a complex range of constraints and optimization objectives. Three implementation metrics that are crucial in many PDSP applications are the program memory requirement (code size), data memory requirement, and execution time. This paper addresses the problem of exploring the 3-dimensional space of trade-offs that is defined by these crucial metrics. Given a software library for a target PDSP, and a dataflow-based block diagram specification of a DSP application in terms of this library, our objective in this paper is to compute a full range of Pareto-optimal solutions. For solving this multi-objective optimization problem, an evolutionary algorithm based approach is applied. We illustrate our techniques by analyzing the trade-off fronts of a practical application for a number of well-known, commercial PDSPs.
Logit Demand Estimation Under Competitive Pricing Behavior: An Equilibrium Framework
Authors: David Besanko, Sachin Gupta, Dipak Jain
Venue: Management Science (1998)

Discrete choice models of demand have typically been estimated assuming that prices are exogenous. Since unobservable (to the researcher) product attributes, such as coupon availability, may impact consumer utility as well as price setting by firms, we treat prices as endogenous. Specifically, prices are assumed to be the equilibrium outcomes of Nash competition among manufacturers and retailers. To empirically validate the assumptions, we estimate logit demand systems jointly with equilibrium pricing equations for two product categories using retail scanner data and cost data on factor prices. In each category, we find statistical evidence of price endogeneity. We also find that the estimates of the price response parameter and the brand-specific constants are generally biased downward when the endogeneity of prices is ignored. Our framework provides explicit estimates of the value created by a brand, i.e., the difference between consumers' willingness to pay for a brand and its cost of production. We develop theoretical propositions about the relationship between value creation and competitive advantage for logit demand systems and use our empirical results to illustrate how firms use alternative value creation strategies to accomplish competitive advantage.
The Task Gallery: a 3D window manager
Authors: George Robertson, Maarten van Dantzich, Daniel Robbins, Mary Czerwinski, Ken Hinckley, Kirsten Risden, David Thiel, Vadim Gorokhovsky
Venue: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems (2000)

The Task Gallery is a window manager that uses interactive 3D graphics to provide direct support for task management and document comparison, lacking from many systems implementing the desktop metaphor. User tasks appear as artwork hung on the walls of a virtual art gallery, with the selected task on a stage. Multiple documents can be selected and displayed side-by-side using 3D space to provide uniform and intuitive scaling. The Task Gallery hosts any Windows application, using a novel redirection mechanism that routes input and output between the 3D environment and unmodified 2D Windows applications. User studies suggest that the Task Gallery helps with task management, is enjoyable to use, and that the 3D metaphor evokes spatial memory and cognition.
Congestion control for ABR traffic in an ATM network
Authors: Anna Hać, Hong Lin
Venue: International Journal of Network Management (1999)

This article presents a novel approach to ATM congestion control for ABR &lpar;Allowed Bit Rate&rpar; service. This approach can achieve a desired fair link utilization using adaptive filters to prevent both network collapse and the &lsquo;beat down&rsquo; problem. Copyright &copy; 1999 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.
Lower Bounds for Transversal Covers
Authors: Brett Stevens, Lucia Moura, Eric Mendelsohn
Venue: Designs, Codes and Cryptography (1998)

A transversal cover is a set of gk points in k disjoint groups of size g and a collection of b transversal subsets, called blocks, such that any pair of points not contained in the same group appears in at least one block. A central question is to determine, for given g, the minimum possible b for fixed k, or, alternatively, the maximum k for fixed b. The case g=2 was investigated and completely solved by Sperner sperner:28, R&eacute;nyi renyi:71, Katona katona:73, and Kleitman and Spencer kleitman:73. For arbitrary g, asymptotic results are known but little is understood for small values of k. Constructions exist but these only produce upper bounds on b. The present article is concerned with lower bounds on b. We develop three general lower bounds on b for fixedg and k. The first one is proved using one of the principal constructions brett:97a, the second comes from the study of intersecting set-systems, and the third is shown by a set packing argument. In addition, we investigate upper bounds on k for small fixed b. This proves useful to reduce or eliminate the gap between lower and upper bounds on b for some transversal covers with small k.
Digital Physics Simulations of Reactive Flow in a Catalytic Converter
Authors: M. Bernaschi, S. Succi, G. Bella, H. Chen
Venue: Journal of Scientific Computing (1999)

We describe the basic ideas behind the extension of the Digital Physics paradigm to include reactive flow capabilities. An application to catalytic conversion is presented.
Decision tables revisited: the DDLA decision table software system
Authors: Don Latour
Venue: ACM SIGAPL APL Quote Quad (1999)

Even though decision tables have been around since the late 1950's, they have been largely ignored in recent years. Nonetheless, they still can serve as a useful tool in building a computer application. This paper discusses decision table format and its practicality in the context of the DDLA Decision Table Software System, a PC-based APL+DOS implementation of a decision table editor, validater, file manager and mainframe (BAL) program generator.
A Hierarchical Block-Floating-Point Arithmetic
Authors: Shiro Kobayashi, Gerhard P. Fettweis
Venue: Journal of VLSI Signal Processing Systems (2000)

In order to give an answer to a question of the arithmetic in future DSP architectures for mobile communication applications, the signal processing quality of different arithmetic representations has been studied. Based on the result, a new approach for implementing block-floating-point arithmetic is proposed. This approach intends to preserve the least-significant-bits (LSBs) to improve signal processing quality. The preservation of LSBs is automatically and perfectly done by hardware. Serveral simulation results show that the proposed block-floating-point implementation provides improved SNRs over conventional block-floating-point implementations. For the same number of bits in the memory for each representation, the SNRs better than floating-point are also observed. For multiple datapath DSPs, this implementation also requires significantly less hardware complexity than floating-point.
Educating systems analysts emphasising the human factor
Authors: Hans Olav Omland
Venue: Proceedings of the 4th annual SIGCSE/SIGCUE ITiCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education (1999)

This paper argues that students in Information Systems (Systems Analysts) have learned methods, methodologies and techniques, but have less experience in self-reflection and self-awareness. Systems Analysts are central in developing Information Systems and need to communicate and understand people with many different backgrounds and perspectives concerning use of Information systems. The paper suggests a curriculum that may give the students a learning environment that opens up possibilities for self-reflection and self-awareness. These virtues can only be obtained as a by-product of something else and is best learned via learning in action. Hopefully they will improve the Systems Analyst's capabilities to construct good and useful Information Systems.