ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Formal requirements specification of process control systems
Authors: M. Hagemann
Venue: ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes (1987)

The increasing size of software systems requires methods and tools for their development. Currently only a few tools are practically used. This paper presents a system which was developed in order to support requirements specification of process control systems. The paper introduces a formal language and describes, how the system supports the steps from ideas to a formal requirements specification.
A successful support model for student consultants at Rutgers University
Authors: Blair C. Brenner
Venue: Proceedings of the 15th annual ACM SIGUCCS conference on User Services (1987)

In January 1986, a program which provided non-curriculum, general academic microcomputing for students began at Rutgers University. This consisted of 25 Apple Macintoshes, 24 AT T 6300s, laser printers, software, and consultants at four libraries on the New Brunswick campus. A support plan consisting of two full-time staff and approximately 40 students developed from the philosophy of a) you need technically qualified, personable consultants and staff to serve the users and associated departments, b) satisfied, challenged, and rewarded consultants have a higher probability of desiring continued employment, and c) if the consultants aren't happy, neither are your users. Student positions included clerical assistant, consultant, programmer, site manager, software preparer and technical writer. Four steps were used in managing the student staff: obtaining students with the necessary technical and people skills, training and maintaining the skills of the workers, retaining student employees, and evaluation. Obtaining student personnel involved determining job requirements, soliciting the appropriate potential applicants, interviewing and selective hiring. Interpersonal and communications skills were more important that technical skill for perspective student consultants. Humanities and liberal arts majors were encouraged to apply. All potential employees were subjected to a standardized interview for the job applied. All exceptional students were hired. Additional staff were hired to compensate for attrition and for substitution. Extensive training of student consultants was done. This included initial workshops, a consultant's handbook, monthly meetings, and training exercises. The ability to retain student employees depended on hiring the correct candidate, attractiveness of the job, and fate. Prioritizing work before social life, reporting to work faithfully, and carrying a reasonable course load were characteristics found in returning students.
Deterministic Learning Automata Solutions to the Equipartitioning Problem
Authors: B. J. Oommen, D. C. Y. Ma
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Computers (1988)

Three deterministic learning automata solutions to the problem of equipartitioning are presented. Although the first two are epsilon -optimal, they seem to be practically feasible only when a set of W objects is small. The last solution, which uses a novel learning automaton, demonstrates an excellent partitioning capability. Experimentally, this solution converges an order of magnitude faster than the best known algorithm in the literature.
An Empirical Study of Task Switching Locality in MVS
Authors: Makoto Kobayashi
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Computers (1986)

The "hit ratio" of a high-speed buffer (cache) depends on the "locality" of memory references. However, locality of reference is disturbed and the hit ratio decreases whenever a task switch occurs. This performance degradation can be minimized if "locality of task switching," the tendency for a small set of favored tasks to be frequently executed, exists and the cache is organized in such a way that it can hold blocks (lines) of multiple tasks. Locality of task switching and locality of memory references in individual tasks exhibit overall locality of memory references at a system level. This paper addresses the following questions. Does locality of task switching really exist? How can it be modeled? Task switching in IBM operating system/virtual storage with multiple virtual storage (OS/VS2 MVS) was measured using event traces for three different workloads to show that locality of task switching actually exists in MVS. Two different models of task switching are proposed. These models can be incorporated into cache multitasking models to predict more accurately the misses in real computer systems. A key parameter of these models is the task execution interval; measurements of execution intervals for the workloads used in the paper are presented and discussed.
Maintenance of stratified databases viewed as a belief revision system
Authors: K. Apt, J. M. Pugin
Venue: Proceedings of the sixth ACM SIGACT-SIGMOD-SIGART symposium on Principles of database systems (1987)

We study here declarative and dynamic aspects of non-monotonic reasoning in the context of deductive databases. More precisely, we consider here maintenance of a special class of indefinite deductive databases, called stratified databases, introduced in Apt, Blair and Walker [ABW] and Van Gelder [VG] in which recursion &ldquo;through&rdquo; negation is disallowed. A stratified database has a natural model associated with it which is selected as its intended meaning. The maintenance problem for these databases is complicated because insertions can lead to deletions and vice versa. To solve this problem we make use of the ideas present in the works of Doyle [D] and de Kleer [dK] on belief revision systems. We offer here a number of solutions which differ in the amount of static and dynamic information used and the form of support introduced. We also discuss the implementation issues and the trade-offs involved.
Please: a language combining imperative and logic programming
Authors: Robert B. Terwilliger
Venue: ACM SIGPLAN Notices (1988)

PLEASE is an Ada reg;-based, executable specification language which supports a formal development method similar to VDM. Like ANNA, PLEASE allows software to be annotated with formulae written in predicate logic; annotations can be used in proofs of correctness and to generate run-time assertion checks. PLEASE differs from ANNA by restricting the logic used in annotations to Horn clauses; therefore, PLEASE specifications can also be transformed into prototypes which use Prolog to "execute" pre- and post-conditions. We believe the early production of executable prototypes will enhance the development process. We also believe the restriction to Horn clauses will allow us to build on the significant research being performed on logic-based programming languages and databases. In this paper we give an overview of PLEASE, present an example specification, describe the translation of PLEASE specifications into Prolog procedures, and discuss some of the techniques used to obtain acceptable efficiency in the resultant prototypes.
Automatic generation of hypertext knowledge bases
Authors: Udo Hahn, Ulrich Reimer
Venue: Proceedings of the ACM SIGOIS and IEEECS TC-OA 1988 conference on Office information systems (1988)

A model of knowledge-based text condensation is presented which has been implemented as part of the text analysis system TOPIC. The condensation process transforms the text representation structures resulting from the text parse into a more abstract thematic description of what the text is about, filtering out irrelevant knowledge structures and preserving only the most salient concepts. The topical structure of a text, finally, is represented in a hierarchical text graph which supports variable degrees of abstraction for text summarization as well as content-oriented retrieval of text knowledge. Due to their non-linear organization, text graphs share a lot of similarities with hypertexts. Their contribution to this field incorporates a methodology for the automatic generation of hypertexts from given full-text files, a close coupling of basic hypertext notions (links, nodes) to the formal specifications of a frame representation model, and conceptual navigation and filtering facilities which allow a user-defined level of information granularity when accessing hypertext knowledge bases.
Expanders obtained from affine transformations
Authors: S Jimbo, A Maruoka
Venue: Proceedings of the seventeenth annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing (1985)

A bipartite graph Gn = (U, V, E) is said an (n, k, &dgr;) expander if |U| = |V| = n, |E| &le; kn, and for any X &subE; U, |&Ggr;Gn(X)| &ge; (1+&dgr;(1-|X|/n)) |X|, where &Ggr;Gn(X) is the set of nodes in V connected to nodes in X with edges in E. In this paper we show that the problem of estimating the coefficient &dgr; of a bipartite graph is reduced to that of estimating the eigenvalue of a matrix related to the graph. As a result we give an explicit construction of (n, 5, 1 - 5/8 &radic;2) expanders. By applying Gabber and Galil's construction to these expanders we obtain n-superconcentrators with 248n edges.
An implementation of operators for symbolic algebra systems
Authors: G. H. Gonnet
Venue: Proceedings of the fifth ACM symposium on Symbolic and algebraic computation (1986)

In this paper we propose a design and implementation of operators and their associated functionality for symbolic algebra systems. We believe that operators should blend harmoniously (syntactically and semantically) with the underlying language, in such a way that users will find them convenient and appealing to use. It is &ldquo;vox populi&rdquo; that operators are needed in a symbolic algebra system, although there is little consensus on what these should be, what the semantics should be, allowable operations, syntax, etc. All of these ideas, and examples, have been implemented and work as described in our current version of Maple Cha85. During the first Maple retreat83 we established a basic design for operators. The implementation of this design was delayed until some remaining crucial details were finally solved during the 1985 Maple retreat (Sept 1985). In this sense, this paper is the result of the collective work of all the participants of these two retreats. What is an operator? We would like to define an operator to be an abstract data type which describes (at various possible degrees: totally, partially or minimally) an operation to be performed on its arguments. This abstract data type is closely associated with the operations of application and composition, but will also allow most (or all) of the other algebraic operations. We it found useful to have some &ldquo;witness&rdquo; examples that we want to solve in an elegant and general form. The two main examples were: (a) How to represent the first derivative of &fnof;(x) at 0, i.e. &fnof;&prime;(0) (the above really boils down to an effective representation of the differentiation operator) (b) How to represent and to operate with a non-communative multiplication operator, for example matrix multiplication. Of course many systems solve the above problems, but in some cases (in particular for the first example) as an ad-hoc solution. By an ad-hoc solution we mean that, for the differentiation example, this operator cannot be written in terms of the primitives given by the language. It is important to note that there are three issues to resolve: a purely representational/syntactic argument: how to input/output these operators. a purely functional argument: how to perform all the operations we want performed. an integrational argument: how to join operators harmoniously with a symbolic algebra system.
Counting nodes in binary trees
Authors: Sami Khuri
Venue: ACM SIGCSE Bulletin (1986)

This paper describes an original method for introducing linear recurrence relations. Boolean expressions are represented by binary trees and the counting of the internal nodes of these trees yield linear recurrence relations. The method allows the students to create their own family of Boolean expressions, to draw the corresponding binary trees, to deduce the recurrence relation representing the number of nodes in the trees, and finally, to solve and check the solutions of these relations.
Predicting performance in an introductory computer science course
Authors: D. F. Butcher, W. A. Muth
Venue: Communications of the ACM (1985)

A group of 269 first-semester freshmen was used to predict both performance in an introductory computer science course and first-semester college grade point average by using information regarding the students' programs and performance in high school along with American College Testing Program (ACT) test scores.
Data structures for quadtree approximation and compression
Authors: Hanan Samet
Venue: Communications of the ACM (1985)

A number of data structures for representing images by quadtrees without pointers are discussed. The image is treated as a collection of leaf nodes. Each leaf node is represented by use of a locational code corresponding to a sequence of directional codes that locate the leaf along a path from the root of the tree. Somewhat related is the concept of a forest which is a representation that consists of a collection of maximal blocks. It is reviewed and refined to enable the representation of a quadtree as a sequence of approximations. In essence, all BLACK and WHITE nodes are said to be of type GB and GW, respectively. GRAY nodes are of type GB if at least two of their sons are of type GB; otherwise, they are of type GW. Sequences of approximations using various combinations of locational codes of GB and GW nodes are proposed and shown to be superior to approximation methods based on truncation of nodes below a certain level in the tree. These approximations have two important properties. First, they are progressive in the sense that as more of the image is transmitted, the receiving device can construct a better approximation (contrast with facsimile methods which transmit the image one line at a time). Second, they are proved to lead to compression in the sense that they never require more than MIN(B, W) nodes where B and W correspond to the number of BLACK and WHITE nodes in the original quadtree. Algorithms are given for constructing the approximation sequences as well as decoding them to rebuild the original quadtree.
Polygon properties calculated from the vertex neighborhoods
Authors: W. R. Franklin
Venue: Proceedings of the third annual symposium on Computational geometry (1987)

Calculating properties of polyhedra given only the set of the locations and neighborhoods of the vertices is easy. Possible properties include volume, surface area, and point containment testing. No global topological information at all is explicitly needed (although the complete global topology could be recovered). The neighborhood of the vertex means the directions of the edges and faces on it but not their extents. These vertex-based formulae are dual to the usual formulae that use the faces. They have been implemented and the stability against inconsistent data tested. Alternative data structures and formulae for polyhedron calculation are important since special cases are a function partly of the data structure, and because different methods have different numerical accuracy and error detection properties.
Retraining teachers to teach high school computer science
Authors: H. G. Taylor
Venue: Proceedings of the 1987 Fall Joint Computer Conference on Exploring technology: today and tomorrow (1987)

During the last few years, computers have arrived in the high school. Most of this nation's high schools are now offering courses on some aspect of computer science. There is still a great degree of difference in what is taught in the high school and the selection and preparation of teachers to conduct these courses. The Education Board of the ACM has addressed the issue of teacher training in computer science in various ways over the past several years. Specifically, recommendations for standard courses and guidelines for certifying high school teachers were developed. A major outcome of the previous work was the realization that most of the high school computer science teachers were and would continue to be in-service rather than pre-service teachers. As a result, retraining of existing teachers rather than initial training of pre-service teachers became the real issue. In 1985, the Retraining Task Force was formed to study the issue of retraining teachers and make recommendations about the nature of such retraining. The Task Force was sponsored jointly by the Education Board of the ACM and the IEEE. The Task Force is now concluding its two years of study and is preparing a position paper on the results of the study. The members of the Task Force will discuss the study itself, the findings, and implications and recommendations for the future. Included will be results of several national surveys conducted to gather background information, identification of problem areas encountered, and a summary of the group's investigation and conclusions about retraining. The session will conclude with a discussion with the audience about retraining and goals for the future.
A DBMS prototype to support extended NF2 relations: an integrated view on flat tables and hierarchies
Authors: P. Dadam, K. Kuespert, F. Andersen, H. Blanken, R. Erbe
Venue: Proceedings of the 1986 ACM SIGMOD international conference on Management of data (1986)

Recently, extensions for relational database management systems (DBMS) have been proposed to support also hierarchical structures (complex objects). These extensions have been mainly implemented on top of an existing DBMS. Such an approach leads to many disadvantages not only from the conceptual point of view but also from performance aspects. Thus paper reports on a 3-year effort to design and prototype a DBMS to support a generalized relational data model, called extended NF2 (Non First Normal Form) data model which treats flat relations, lists, and hierarchical structures in a uniform way. The logical data model, a language for this model, and alternatives for storage structures to implement generalized relations are presented and discussed.
Semantics and implementation of schema evolution in object-oriented databases
Authors: Jay Banerjee, Won Kim, Hyoung-Joo Kim, Henry F. Korth
Venue: ACM SIGMOD Record (1987)

Object-oriented programming is well-suited to such data-intensive application domains as CAD/CAM, AI, and OIS (office information systems) with multimedia documents. At MCC we have built a prototype object-oriented database system, called ORION. It adds persistence and sharability to objects created and manipulated in applications implemented in an object-oriented programming environment. One of the important requirements of these applications is schema evolution, that is, the ability to dynamically make a wide variety of changes to the database schema. In this paper, following a brief review of the object-oriented data model that we support in ORION, we establish a framework for supporting schema evolution, define the semantics of schema evolution, and discuss its implementation.
Macro-by-example: Deriving syntactic transformations from their specifications
Authors: E. E. Kohlbecker, M. Wand
Venue: Proceedings of the 14th ACM SIGACT-SIGPLAN symposium on Principles of programming languages (1987)

This paper presents two new developments. First, it describes a &ldquo;macro-by-example&rdquo; specification language for syntactic abstractions in Lisp and related languages. This specification language allows a more declarative specification of macros than conventional macro facilities do by giving a better treatment of iteration and mapping constructs. Second, it gives a formal semantics for the language and a derivation of a compiler from the semantics. This derivation is a practical application of semantics-directed compiler development methodology.
Efficient Component Labeling of Images of Arbitrary Dimension Represented by Linear Bintrees
Authors: Hanan Samet, Markku Tamminen
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (1988)

An algorithm is presented to perform connected-component labeling of images of arbitrary dimension that are represented by a linear bintree. The bintree is a generalization of the quadtree data structure that enables dealing with images of arbitrary dimension. The linear bintree is a pointerless representation. The algorithm uses an active border which is represented by linked lists instead of arrays. This results in a significant reduction in the space requirements, thereby making it feasible to process three- and higher-dimensional images. Analysis of the execution time of the algorithm shows almost linear behavior with respect to the number of leaf nodes in the image, and empirical tests are in agreement. The algorithm can be modified easily to compute a (d-1)-dimensional boundary measure (e.g. perimeter in two dimensions and surface area in three dimensions) with linear performance.
Automatic Compiler Production: The Front End
Authors: Steven P. Reiss
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (1987)

This paper describes a system for automatically producing complete compiler front ends from simple, nonprocedural specifications of the source language. This system is based on a detailed model of a compiler front end that is presented first. The system itself is then described using a Pascal subset as an example. This work was part of a larger project aimed at producing complete compilers in a similar fashion.
Technology commercial from a state agency perspective: technology business development, a division of the Texas engineering experiment station
Authors: H. B. Dorsey, M. Aucoin
Venue: Proceedings of the 1987 Fall Joint Computer Conference on Exploring technology: today and tomorrow (1987)

This paper describes the technology commercialization activities of Technology Business Development, a division of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, the State's engineering R D agency located within the Texas A M University System. TBD helps to diversify the Texas economy through the commercial advancement of technology developed at the university and through other programs. Issues associated with the transfer of technology from the university to industry are discussed. A case study of a university technology transfer project is also presented.
Teaching a Software Design Methodology
Authors: David M. Weiss
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (1987)

This paper describes an approach to teaching a software design methodology used at The Wang Institute of Graduate Studies. The approach is general enough to be used with any of the currently popular design methodologies. Students are first taught the principles underlying the methodology, and the standards used with it. This phase is done in a series of lectures. In the second phase, students are presented with a real design problem, and asked to solve it using the methodology. They are monitored in this process by an expert in the methodology whose job is to assure that the students adhere to the methodology, but who makes no design decisions.