ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Process education and continual process improvement at Western Michigan University (WMU)
Authors: M. W. Williams
Venue: Proceedings of the Frontiers in Education Conference, 2001. 31st Annual - Volume 02 (2001)

The College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) at Western Michigan University has initiated several strategic studies and programs to shape and direct the next five to ten years. With new leadership in the college and the University, the college began a major self-study and planning activity in Fall 1999 to re-assess mission, vision, goals, and objectives. One significant outcome of this activity was specific goals and objectives related to curriculum development and faculty professional development. Education of faculty in improved methods of teaching/learning was initiated in February 2000 when a group of six faculty, including several engineering department chairs, participated in a Teaching Institute (TI) led by Pacific Crest at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. This activity was followed by WMU's sponsorship of a TI for CEAS and other colleges within WMU at which the initial group served as mentors. An Advanced TI for curriculum design was conducted for the college, followed by another introductory TI in cooperation with a local community college and WMU's Center for Teaching and Learning. Finally, a Program Design and Assessment Institute was conducted in January 2001 to integrate the curriculum assessment systems within the college. Over two thirds of the faculty within the College of Engineering anal Applied Sciences, along with other faculty from the College of Education, College of Arts and Sciences, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, and several universities from across the country have now participated in workshops at WMU. These activities have seeded an ongoing plan of faculty development, program review, and continuous improvement of college programs and processes. The details and results are presented.
An estimation of speaker sampling in Voice Across Japan database
Authors: I. Kudo
Venue: Proceedings of the Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 1996. on Conference Proceedings., 1996 IEEE International Conference - Volume 02 (1996)

This paper discusses a speaker-sampling problem in data collection. In collecting a huge speaker-corpus, the sampling of the speakers becomes a very important problem. In the Voice Across Japan (VAJ) project, we have gathered 8,773 speakers' data through a telephone line in proportion to population as possible as we can, and also have collected the speakers' information such as gender, age, and growing area. We discuss the problem where the parameters of the speakers such as, the "age" or "growing place" influence the speech recognition. If such parameters are not so important, both data collection and product realization will be easier. In our experiments, it was clearly found that the "speakers' age" is the strongest factor and that the "growing area", also, have an influence in the range of 2-4%.
A new semi-fragile image watermarking with robust tampering restoration using irregular sampling
Authors: Xunzhan Zhu, Anthony T. S. Ho, Pina Marziliano
Venue: Image Communication (2007)

This paper presents a semi-fragile watermarking method for the automatic authentication and restoration of the content of digital images. Semi-fragile watermarks are embedded into the original image, which reflect local malicious tampering on the image. When tampered blocks are detected, the restoration problem is formulated as an irregular sampling problem. These blocks are then reconstructed, making use of the information embedded in the same watermarked image, through iterative projections onto convex sets. In contrast to previous methods, the restoration process is robust to common image processing operations such as lossy transcoding and image filtering. Simulation results showed that the scheme keeps the probability of false alarm to a minimum while maintaining the data integrity of the restored images.
On speech coding in a perceptual domain
Authors: G. Kubin
Venue: Proceedings of the Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 1999. on 1999 IEEE International Conference - Volume 01 (1999)

For speech coders which fall within the class of waveform coders, the reconstructed signal approaches the original with increasing bit rate. In such coders, the distortion criterion generally operates on the speech signal or a signal obtained by adaptive linear filtering of the speech signal. To satisfy computational and delay constraints, the distortion criterion must be reduced to a very simple approximation of the auditory system. This drawback of conventional approaches motivates a new speech coding paradigm in which the coding is performed in a domain where the single-letter squared-error criterion forms an accurate representation of perception. The new paradigm requires a model of the auditory periphery which is accurate, can be be inverted with relatively low computational effort, and which represents the signal with relatively few parameters. We develop such a model of the auditory periphery and discuss its suitability for speech coding. The results indicate that the new paradigm in general and our auditory model in particular form a promising basis for the coding of both speech and audio at low bit rates.
ConfiDNS: leveraging scale and history to improve DNS security
Authors: Lindsey Poole, Vivek S. Pai
Venue: Proceedings of the 3rd conference on USENIX Workshop on Real, Large Distributed Systems - Volume 3 (2006)

While cooperative DNS resolver systems, such as Co-DNS, have demonstrated improved reliability and performance over standard approaches, their security has been weaker, since any corruption or misbehavior of a single resolver can easily propagate throughout the system. We address this weakness in a new system called ConfiDNS, which augments the cooperative lookup process with configurable policies that utilize multi-site agreement and per-site lookup histories. Not only does ConfiDNS provide better security than cooperative approaches, but for up to 99.8% of unique lookups, ConfiDNS exceeds the security of standard DNS resolvers. ConfiDNS provides these benefits while retaining the other benefits of Co-DNS, such as incremental deployability, improved performance, and higher reliability.
Speaker-adaptation in a hybrid HMM-MLP recognizer
Authors: J. P. Neto
Venue: Proceedings of the Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 1996. on Conference Proceedings., 1996 IEEE International Conference - Volume 06 (1996)

Presently the most important systems for large vocabulary, continuous speech recognition are speaker-independent. These systems deal with the inter-speaker variability through a large pool of speakers. However, this approach has several drawbacks due to its inability to cope with the individual speaker characteristics. The problem is more extreme for the cases of fast or non-native speakers. In this paper we present a technique for speaker-adaptation in the context of a hybrid HMM-MLP system for large vocabulary, speaker-independent, continuous speech recognition. This technique is implemented both in supervised and unsupervised modes. In the unsupervised case both static and incremental approaches are explored. The results show that speaker-adaptation within the hybrid HMM-MLP framework can substantially improve system performance. In the incremental unsupervised mode, the improvement is obtained without any extra demands on the speaker, i.e. without an enrolment phase.
XML transformation by tree-walking transducers with invisible pebbles
Authors: Joost Engelfriet, Hendrik Jan Hoogeboom, Bart Samwel
Venue: Proceedings of the twenty-sixth ACM SIGMOD-SIGACT-SIGART symposium on Principles of database systems (2007)

The pebble tree automaton and the pebble tree transducer are enhanced by additionally allowing an unbounded number of "invisible" pebbles (as opposed to the usual ("visible" ones). The resulting pebble tree automata recognize the regular tree languages (i.e., can validate all generalized DTD's) and hence can find all matches of MSO definable n-ary patterns. Moreover, when viewed as a navigational device, they lead to an XPath-like formalism that has a path expression for every MSO definable binary pattern. The resulting pebbletree transducers can apply arbitrary MSO definable tests to (the observable part of) their configurations, they (still) have a decidable typechecking problem, and they can model the recursion mechanism of XSLT. The time complexity ofthe typechecking problem for conjunctive queries that use MSO definable binary patterns can often be reduced through the use of invisible pebbles.
A self-recovery scheme in anti-jamming communications
Authors: M. Torlak
Venue: Proceedings of the Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 1996. on Conference Proceedings., 1996 IEEE International Conference - Volume 05 (1996)

By exploiting the spatial diversity among different signals, anti-jamming communications can be accomplishing using antenna arrays. In this paper, we discuss the self-recovery problem for antenna array wireless systems after the communication link is broken due to abrupt environmental changes. In particular, we derive a novel approach that can extract the desired signal from heavy interference without using a priori spatial information of the desired signal or jamming sources. We show how this new method can be modified to handle intersymbol interference and demonstrate its effectiveness using computer simulations. Results from field experiments show that the new approach can reliably reject interference or jamming sources and recover the desired signal under 0 dB C/I.
Replica Update Propagation for Grid Data Resources
Authors: Marek Ciglan, Ladislav Hluchy
Venue: Proceedings of the 15th IEEE International Workshops on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises (2006)

Data replication is a well established concept in the grid community to increase data availability and fault-tolerance in the grid environment. However, there is a lack of software tools for maintaining the consistency among distributed data resources suitable for the heterogeneous nature of the grid. In this paper, we try to address this gap by introducing service for data update propagation among distributed data replicas. Our replica update service provides basic functionality for higher level grid consistency services and virtualizes the underlying data resources. We discuss the possibility of integration of replica update service with legacy software, using legacy software functionality and, increasing the data availability by means of data replication.
A 14 kb/s wideband speech coder with a parametric highband model
Authors: A. McCree
Venue: Proceedings of the Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 2000. on IEEE International Conference - Volume 02 (2000)

This paper describes a new 14 kb/s wideband speech coder. The coder uses a split-band approach, where the input signal, sampled at 16 kHz, is split into two equal frequency bands from 0-4 kHz and 4-8 kHz, each of which is decimated to an 8 kHz sampling rate. The lower band is coded with a high-quality narrowband speech coder, the 11.8 kb/s G.729 Annex E, while the higher band is represented by a simple but effective parametric model. Two new features facilitate efficient coding of the high-band signal: noise modulation and high-frequency reversal. Since the encoding of the lower band is independent of the high-band signal, the narrowband encoder output can be embedded in the overall bitstream. Subjective test results show that this wideband speech coder is capable of producing high quality output speech.
High Performance Computational Environment for Real-Time Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation
Authors: Carlos Godoy
Venue: Proceedings of the HPCMP Users Group Conference (2006)

Modern design development and testing relies heavily on modeling and simulation (M&S). Today hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) simulation provides substantial savings to Navy systems designers. In particular, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center's (NUWC) Weapons Analysis Facility (WAF) provides these simulation capabilities for undersea weapon systems. The WAF has been designed to interface with weapon controllers and sensor packages to permit full spectrum testing from individual components through complete closed loop combat scenarios. These virtual scenarios address realistic acoustic propagation environments around the world containing the expected threat platforms, their countermeasures and related tactics.
Configurations of Web Services
Authors: Marco Antonio Barbosa, Luís Soares Barbosa
Venue: Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS) (2007)

The quest for sound foundations for the orchestration of web services is still open. To a great extent its relevance comes from the possibility of defining formal semantics for new language standards (like BPEL4WS or WS-CDL) in this emerging and challenging technology. As a step in that direction, this paper resorts to a notion of configuration, developed by the authors in the context of a Reo-like exogenous coordination model for software components, to formally express service orchestration. The latter is regarded as involving both the architectural assembly of independent services and the description of their interactions.
Policy-based Coordination in PAGODA: A Case Study
Authors: Carolyn L. Talcott
Venue: Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS) (2007)

PAGODA (Policy And GOal Based Distributed Autonomy) is a modular architecture for specifying and prototyping autonomous systems. A PAGODA node (agent) interacts with its environment by sensing and affecting, driven by goals to achieve and constrained by policies. A PAGODA system is a collection of PAGODA nodes cooperating to achieve some mutual goal. This paper describes a specification of PAGODA using the Russian Dolls model of policy-based coordination. In PAGODA there are two forms of coordination: local and global. Local coordination is used to compose the components of a PAGODA node. The local coordinator is concerned with ensuring component level synchronization constraints, cross component message ordering constraints, routing of notifications, and interaction with the external world. The global coordinator is concerned with dissemination of information, negotiation of responsibilities, and synchronization of activities. Requirements for a PAGODA node coordinator are given and an example set of policies is specified. Principles for showing that the policies satisfy the requirements are discussed as a first step toward a logic of policy-based coordination. Development of a distributed coordinator is the subject of ongoing work. Some challenges and possible solutions are discussed.
Murphy's law and computer security
Authors: Wietse Venema
Venue: Proceedings of the 6th conference on USENIX Security Symposium, Focusing on Applications of Cryptography - Volume 6 (1996)

This paper discusses lessons learned from a selection of computer security problems that have surfaced in the recent past, and that are likely to show up again in the future. Examples are taken from security advisories and from unpublished loopholes in the author's own work.
Underlying paths in interior point methods for the monotone semidefinite linear complementarity problem
Authors: Chee-Khian Sim, Gongyun Zhao
Venue: Mathematical Programming: Series A and B (2007)

An interior point method defines a search direction at each interior point of the feasible region. The search directions at all interior points together form a direction field, which gives rise to a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Given an initial point in the interior of the feasible region, the unique solution of the ODE system is a curve passing through the point, with tangents parallel to the search directions along the curve. We call such curves off-central paths. We study off-central paths for the monotone semidefinite linear complementarity problem (SDLCP). We show that each off-central path is a well-defined analytic curve with parameter&#x00a0;&#x03bc; ranging over (0, &#x221e;) and any accumulation point of the off-central path is a solution to SDLCP. Through a simple example we show that the off-central paths are not analytic as a function of $$\sqrt{\mu}$$ and have first derivatives which are unbounded as a function of&#x00a0;&#x03bc; at&#x00a0;&#x03bc; &#x00a0;=&#x00a0; 0 in general. On the other hand, for the same example, we can find a subset of off-central paths which are analytic at&#x00a0;&#x03bc; &#x00a0;=&#x00a0; 0. These &#x201c;nice&#x201d; paths are characterized by some algebraic equations.
Replacing Proprietary Software on the Desktop
Authors: Don Hardaway
Venue: Computer (2007)

Open source software and Web applications can be a cost-effective alternative for businesses.
Call admission control in multiservice high altitude platform (HAP) W-CDMA cellular systems
Authors: Stylianos Karapantazis, Fotini-Niovi Pavlidou
Venue: Computer Networks: The International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking (2007)

Of the various radio resource management functions, in this paper we focus on call admission control (CAC). We propose a CAC scheme for multiservice High Altitude Platform (HAP) wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) cellular systems that caters for multimedia services. HAPs have known increasing popularity during the past few years and are expected to play a pivotal role in the telecommunications arena by virtue of their appealing features. We first study the uplink capacity of a multiservice HAP W-CDMA cellular system taking into consideration power control imperfections and evaluate the degradation that a new call induces in the quality of service of ongoing calls. Based on the obtained statistics, we then develop a CAC scheme that takes account of power control imperfections and user mobility and compare it to a CAC scheme that is based on instantaneous energy per bit to noise power spectral density ratio (E"b/N"0) measurements. Additionally, we examine these algorithms for two different criteria that apply to both new and handoff call requests. The first criterion is based on the minimum E"b/N"0 of the first tier cells, while the second bases its decision upon the mean E"b/N"0 of the cells of the first tier. Simulation studies further document and confirm the positive characteristics of the proposed CAC scheme.
Linear dependence relations of nonrecurrent syndromes in decoding cyclic codes beyond their design distance
Authors: M. A. Armand, S. H. Ong
Venue: Proceedings of the The 8th International Conference on Communication Systems - Volume 01 (2002)

In 1994, Feng at. al. gave a procedure for decoding cyclic codes that is bounded by the minimum distance of a code. The significance of their work lies in the fact that conventional decoding procedures based on the classical key equation are design distance-bounded and so do not exploit the full error-correcting capability of a code. A crucial step in Feng's decoding procedure is the computation of unknown syndromes using linear dependence relations. We present some results that may be used to carry out this important task.
Incremental ABV for functional validation of TL-to-RTL design refinement
Authors: Nicola Bombieri, Franco Fummi, Graziano Pravadelli
Venue: Proceedings of the conference on Design, automation and test in Europe (2007)

Transaction-level modeling (TLM) has been proposed as the leading strategy to address the always increasing complexity of digital systems. However, its introduction arouses a new challenge for designers and verification engineers, since there are no mature tools to automatically synthesize an RTL implementation from a transaction-level (TL) design, thus manual refinements are mandatory. In this context, the paper presents an incremental assertion-based verification (ABV) methodology to check the correctness of the TL-to-RTL refinement. The methodology relies on reusing assertions and already checked code, and it is guided by an assertion coverage metrics.
Algorithms for solution of systems of linear diophantine equations in residue fields
Authors: S. L. Kryvyi
Venue: Cybernetics and Systems Analysis (2007)

Algorithms are proposed for computing the basis of the solution set of a system of linear Diophantine homogeneous or inhomogeneous equations in the residue field modulo a prime number.
Improving a GMM speaker verification system by phonetic weighting
Authors: R. Auckenthaler
Venue: Proceedings of the Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 1999. on 1999 IEEE International Conference - Volume 01 (1999)

This paper compares two approaches to speaker verification, Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) and hidden Markov models (HMMs). The GMM based system outperformed the HMM system, this was mainly due to the ability of the GMM to make better use of the training data. The best scoring GMM frames were strongly correlated with particular phonemes, e.g. vowels and nasals. Two techniques were used to try and exploit the different amounts of discrimination provided by the phonemes to improve the performance of the GMM based system. Applying linear weighting to the phonemes showed that less than half of the phonemes were contributing to the overall system performance. Using an MLP to weight the phonemes provided a significant improvement in performance for male speakers but no improvement has yet been achieved for women.
Direct spread spectrum and its power spectrum
Authors: K. K. Pang, D. B. Keogh
Venue: Proceedings of the The 8th International Conference on Communication Systems - Volume 02 (2002)

The results on power density spectrum are depicted. This shows that for long sequence, its characteristic approaches that of a synchronous random telegraph signal. Interestingly for short sequence there is a depletion of power spectral density at DC. This principally arises out of the small but finite negative autocorrelation terms. For both long and short sequences, the nominal spectral bandwidth remains the chip rate. It has not been broadened at all by the multiplication process.
Evaluation of a Learning Management System for Adaptivity Purposes
Authors: Elvira Popescu, Philippe Trigano, Costin Badica
Venue: Proceedings of the International Multi-Conference on Computing in the Global Information Technology (2007)

Adaptive Web-based educational systems are a continuously growing area of research. However, despite the relatively numerous approaches, adaptivity from the point of view of student learning styles is not properly addressed. We therefore plan to create a framework for devising and deploying university courses that will take into account not only student's knowledge level but also his/her cognitive traits, interests and motivation. A first step towards achieving our objective is the choice of an existing LMS, suitable for being extended into an adaptive one. The netUniversité platform proved to be a successful candidate.
Self-Optimization of a DHT-Based Discovery Science
Authors: Piotr Karwaczynski, Jaka Mocnik
Venue: Proceedings of the International Multi-Conference on Computing in the Global Information Technology (2007)

Discovery in large, highly dynamic service oriented systems cannot be realized by traditional means, i.e. with a centralized index. Instead, distributed data structures are used, with a distributed hash table deployed on an overlay network being a typical example. The efficiency of overlay networks built on top of the IP network commonly suffers from the mismatch between the topologies of the overlay and the underlying IP network, resulting in unnecessary traffic and increased latencies. Substantial improvement can be achieved by optimizing the logical links between overlay nodes. In this paper, we propose a new method for self-optimization of a pervasive, DHT-based discovery service. Our method has no need for active measurement of inter-node latencies, thus minimizing network traffic costs of node insertion and topology maintenance. We verify our method by means of analysis of a large data sets of latency measurements between arbitrary nodes on the Internet, proving correlation among common IP prefix length of communicating nodes and latency.