ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Lessons from a failure: generating tailored smoking cessation letters
Authors: Ehud Reiter, Roma Robertson, Liesl M. Osman
Venue: Artificial Intelligence (2003)

STOP is a Natural Language Generation (NLG) system that generates short tailored smoking cessation letters, based on responses to a four-page smoking questionnaire. A clinical trial with 2553 smokers showed that STOP was not effective; that is, recipients of a non-tailored letter were as likely to stop smoking as recipients of a tailored letter. In this paper we describe the STOP system and clinical trial. Although it is rare for AI papers to present negative results, we believe that useful lessons can be learned from STOP. We also believe that the AI community as a whole could benefit from considering the issue of how, when, and why negative results should be reported; certainly a major difference between AI and more established fields such as medicine is that very few AI papers report negative results.
Contributions to an on-line exchange of environmental data
Authors: S. Stuffer
Venue: Development and application of computer techniques to environmental studies (2002)

Meanwhile in almost all countries automatic monitoring systems are installed and under operation in order to measure environmental data. Most of them are installed for local, regional, or national survey using different parameter and settings for data acquisition, transmission, evaluation, and storage. Due to the different and often non-compatible solutions scheduled transboundary data exchange is costly and up to now rarely realised.More and more, natural risks can be restricted only by strengthening the international co-operation. Supplementary to organisational and structural measures for precaution and protection, reliable decision support and forecast becomes essential. This requires the access to environmental data close to real time as well as to historic data beyond national borderlines.At present, financed by the Commission of the European Communities TechniData is realising an international on-line exchange of radiometeorological data and information being relevant for decision support, governmental and public information. The concept is based on the most modern data base and communication techniques using TCP/IP connections and the EURDEP file standard. The system is suitable to exchange measured data, information in form of figures and graphs, processed data, results of prediction models, and text information and operates in three modes (normal, intensive, test).The task is designed on different levels: Interfacing of all relevant national systems to one National Data Centre and concentration and standardisation of the related information, implementation of a Regional Data Centre associated to several NDCs and exchange the collected data and information on a regular basis, making data and information available to other RDCs.Pre-condition for the realisation of the international on-line data exchange is the multilateral agreement on standardisation and data provision.
Improved shortest path algorithms for nearly acyclic graphs
Authors: Shane Saunders, Tadao Takaoka
Venue: Theoretical Computer Science (2003)

Dijkstra's algorithm solves the single-source shortest path problem on any directed graph in O(m + n log n) time when a Fibonacci heap is used as the frontier set data structure. Here n is the number of vertices and m is the number of edges in the graph. If the graph is nearly acyclic, other algorithms can achieve a time complexity lower than that of Dijkstra's algorithm. Abuaiadh and Kingston gave a single-source shortest path algorithm for nearly acyclic graphs with O(m + n log t) time complexity, where the new parameter, t, is the number of delete-min operations performed in priority queue manipulation. If the graph is nearly acyclic, then t is expected to be small, and the algorithm out-performs Dijkstra's algorithm. Takaoka, using a different definition for acyclicity, gave an algorithm with O(m + n log k) time complexity. In this algorithm, the new parameter, k, is the maximum cardinality of the strongly connected components in the graph.The generalised single-source (GSS) problem allows an initial distance to be defined at each vertex in the graph. Decomposing a graph into r trees allows the GSS problem to be solved within O(m + r logr) time. This paper presents a new all-pairs algorithm with a time complexity of O(mn + nr log r), where r is the number of acyclic parts resulting when the graph is decomposed into acyclic parts. The acyclic decomposition used is setwise unique and can be computed in O(mn) time. If the decomposition has been pre-calculated, then GSS can be solved within O(m + r log r) time whenever edge-costs in the graph change. A second new all-pairs algorithm is presented, with O(mn + nr2) worst-case time complexity, where r is the number of vertices in a pre-calculated feedback vertex set for the nearly acyclic graph. For certain graphs, these new algorithms offer an improvement on the time complexity of the previous algorithms.
Statistical Estimation of Fast Varying Channels for Cellular Mobile Telecommunications Systems
Authors: I. Dayoub, M. Zaizouni, A. Rivenq, J. M. Rouvaen
Venue: Wireless Personal Communications: An International Journal (2003)

The time variant environment in fast channels severely impacts on the performances of classical equalization techniques. A method is proposed here to circumvent this problem, particularly in the severe channel with fast behaviour. To improve the Bit Error Rate (BER) at the receiver, a new approach is proposed for the channel impulse response (CIR) estimation in the Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) cellular system. The computation of the CIR h(t) (finite impulse response filter) is performed by using the Least Squares algorithm. Then, a statistical estimation of the CIR is achieved to update the coefficients of the equalizer filter. Computer simulation results show that statistical estimation (CIR re-estimation) provides significant improvement with 250 km/h vehicle speed (RA250): the bit error rate (BER) is 20% lowered for data bits far from the middle of the burst.
Alternative "vision": a haptic and auditory assistive device
Authors: Daniel Morris, Neel Joshi
Venue: CHI '03 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems (2003)

We have used two cameras and a SensAble Technologies "Phantom" force-feedback haptic display to haptically render a three-dimensional surface that represents key aspects of a visual scene. In addition to rendering depth and contour information with the Phantom, we capture optic flow and present this to the user using sound cues. We propose that with further development, this system could be used as an assistive device that would allow visually impaired individuals to explore the "visual" world.
Functional programming in Java
Authors: David R. Naugler
Venue: Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges (2003)

In functional languages such as Scheme or ML functions can be passed as parameters, can be constructed in other functions and returned as values. This allows a style of programming that is quite distinct from that used with languages such as Pascal, C or C++. Superficially, Java has no functions; however, using interfaces and inner classes it is fairly easy to mimic some of the important features of functional programming. Using an interface for real functions, it is shown how to write functions that take functions as parameters and construct and return new function. It is not advocated that functional programming be taught in Java - languages such as ML are much superior for that task. Rather, students can use modes of thinking learned in a study of a functional languages directly in programmes written in Java.
Policies for content filtering in educational networks: the case of Greece
Authors: M. Avgoulea, C. Bouras, M. Paraskevas, G. Stathakopoulos
Venue: Telematics and Informatics (2003)

The Internet removes all barriers to sending and receiving information. An increasing number of nations connect their schools on the Internet as an acknowledgment of its importance in education. Despite its undeniable usefulness, it also has certain perils. This study specifies and evaluates these, finding the technologies that are currently available to address filtering issues and comparing them. We present our proposed solution for the Greek School Network, and illustrate to what extent our solution successfully addresses the issues discussed.
Double Auctions Across a Constrained Transmission Line
Authors: Joel I. Singer
Venue: Operations Research (2002)

Auctions are a common price-setting mechanism in many areas of the economy. Certain auctions, for example those in deregulated electric power networks, require that there exist sufficient capacity along the power lines connecting the buyers and the sellers. We investigate how auction participants modify their bidding strategies depending on the influence and behavior of a transmission line owner. We also investigate optimal strategic behavior when multiple buyers and sellers are separated by a possibly-constrained channel, and show that both sides' strategies converge to truth-telling behavior as the number of market participants increases, and price-taking behavior also emerges as the number of participants increases. We show that limited transmission capacity increases participants' misrepresentation and increases auction inefficiency, as players modify their bidding strategies in an attempt to increase their profit.
An empirical study of maintenance and development estimation accuracy
Authors: Barbara Kitchenham, Shari Lawrence Pfleeger, Beth McColl, Suzanne Eagan
Venue: Journal of Systems and Software (2002)

We analyzed data from 145 maintenance and development projects managed by a single outsourcing company, including effort and duration estimates, effort and duration actuals, and function points counts. The estimates were made as part of the company's standard project estimating process that involved producing two or more estimates for each project and selecting one estimate to be the basis of client-agreed budgets. We found that effort estimates chosen as a basis for project budgets were, in general, reasonably good, with 63% of the estimates being within 25% of the actual value, and an average absolute error of 0.26. These estimates were significantly better than regression estimates based on adjusted function points, although the function point models were based on a homogeneous subset of the full data set, and we allowed for the fact that the model parameters changed over time. Furthermore, there was little evidence that the accuracy of the selected estimates was due to their becoming the target values for the project managers.
Knowledge Partitioning in the Interfirm Division of Labor: The Case of Automotive Product Development
Authors: Akira Takeishi
Venue: Organization Science (2002)

Drawing on an empirical study on automakers' management of supplier involvement in product development in Japan, this paper shows that when the design of a component is outsourced to a supplier, how much automakers know about the component matters for them to gain a better outcome. While the actual tasks of designing and manufacturing components could be out-sourced, automakers should retain the relevant knowledge to obtain better component design quality. The paper argues that knowledge partitioning should be distinguished from task partitioning, and provides some implications for the knowledge-based theory of the firm.The results indicate that effective pattern of knowledge partitioning differs by the nature of component development project in terms of technological newness. For regular projects, it is more important for the automaker to have a higher level of architectural knowledge (how to coordinate various components for a vehicle) than of component-specific knowledge, which is supposed to be provided by the supplier. However, when the project involves new technology for the supplier, it is important for the automaker to have a higher level of component-specific knowledge to solve unexplored engineering problems together with the supplier. In innovative projects, effective knowledge partitioning seems to demand some overlap between an automaker and a supplier, rather than efficient and clear-cut boundaries that are optimal for regular projects. Such "fluid" nature of knowledge boundaries contingent on the project types poses a challenge for firms seeking both technological leadership and efficiency in established products.Developing and maintaining knowledge about an outsourced component is by no means easy. When the actual design tasks are outsourced, automakers miss substantial opportunities to gain relevant knowledge through learning by doing. Also, obtained knowledge may be diffused among competitors through shared suppliers. Another problem for automakers is that component-specific knowledge is important for only limited cases (innovative projects). Even worse, component-specific knowledge has a trade off relationship with architectural knowledge.Such an inherent dilemma of managing knowledge, however, may provide some automakers with the opportunity to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Additional analysis shows that one automaker managed both types of knowledge better than others in a manner that deals effectively with the dilemma. Its organizational mechanisms include career development policies, extensive documentation of technological information, internal training programs, and incentive schemes. The difficulty in implementing those mechanisms in a consistent and complementary manner seems to explain why there was a significant variance among automakers in knowledge level, even when the actual tasks were carried out by a shared supplier.
Relational Joins for Data on Tertiary Storage
Authors: Jussi Myllymaki, Miron Livny
Venue: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Data Engineering (1997)

Despite the steady decrease in secondary storage prices, the data storage requirements of many organizations cannot be met economically using secondary storage alone. Tertiary storage offers a lower-cost alternative but is viewed as a second-class citizen in many systems. For instance, the typical solution in bringing tertiary-resident data under the control of a DBMS is to use operating system facilities to copy the data to secondary storage, and then to perform query optimization and execution as if the data had been in secondary storage all along. This approach fails to recognize the opportunities for saving execution time and storage space if the data were accessed directly on tertiary devices and in parallel with other I/Os. In this paper we explore how to join two DBMS relations stored on magnetic tapes. Both relations are assumed to be larger than available disk space. We show how Grace Hash Join can be modified to handle a range of tape relation sizes. The modified algorithms access data directly on tapes and exploit parallelism between disk and tape I/Os. We also provide performance results of an experimental implementation of the algorithms.
Should Optional Properties Be Used in Conceptual Modelling? A Theory and Three Empirical Tests
Authors: François Bodart, Arvind Patel, Marc Sim, Ron Weber
Venue: Information Systems Research (2001)

An important feature of some conceptual modelling grammars is the features they provide to allow database designers to show real-world thingsmay ormay not possess a particular attribute or relationship. In the entity-relationship model, for example, the fact that a thing may not possess an attribute can be represented by using a special symbol to indicate that the attribute is optional. Similarly, the fact that a thing may or may not be involved in a relationship can be represented by showing the minimum cardinality of the relationship as zero. Whether these practices should be followed, however, is a contentious issue. An alternative approach is to eliminate optional attributes and relationships from conceptual schema diagrams by using subtypes that have only mandatory attributes and relationships.In this paper, we first present a theory that led us to predict that optional attributes and relationships should be used in conceptual schema diagrams only when users of the diagrams require a surface-level understanding of the domain being represented by the diagrams. When users require a deep-level understanding, however, optional attributes and relationships should not be used because they undermine users' abilities to grasp important domain semantics. We describe three experiments which we then undertook to test our predictions. The results of the experiments support our predictions.
Augmented Lagrangians with Adaptive Precision Control for Quadratic Programming with Simple Bounds and Equality Constraints
Authors: Z. Dostál, A. Friedlander, S. A. Santos
Venue: SIAM Journal on Optimization (2002)

In this paper we discuss a specialization of the augmented Lagrangian-type algorithm of Conn, Gould, and Toint to the solution of strictly convex quadratic programming problems with simple bounds and equality constraints. The new feature of the presented algorithm is the adaptive precision control of the solution of auxiliary problems in the inner loop of the basic algorithm which yields a rate of convergence that does not have any term that accounts for inexact solution of auxiliary problems. Moreover, boundedness of the penalty parameter is achieved for the precision control used. Numerical experiments illustrate the efficiency of the presented algorithm and encourage its usage.
A Low-Complexity Adaptive Multi-Beam Space-Time Receiver for CCI/ISI Cancellation over Frequency Selective MultipathChannels
Authors: Chung-Lien Ho, Ta-Sung Lee
Venue: Wireless Personal Communications: An International Journal (2003)

A space-time (ST) receiver is proposed for combating the cochannel interference (CCI) and intersymbol interference (ISI) in a frequency-selective multipath environment. The scheme involves two stages. First, a set of adaptive beamformers pointed at a prescribed angular sector in space is constructed on an oversampled antenna array, each providing effective suppression of CCI and reception of desired signals. Second, a fractionally-spaced decision feedback equalizer (DFE) follows to eliminate the ISI left in beamformer outputs. In particular, both the beamformers and DFE can be realized in the form of a generalized sidelobe canceller (GSC) with the aid of channel estimation, and partial adaptivity is incorporated for reduced complexity processing and improved convergence. The proposed ST receiver can be employed as a multi-beam smart antenna system which is suitable for cellular communications. Computer simulations demonstrate that it can achieve nearly the same performance as the optimal ST minimum mean square error (MMSE) DFE with a much lower implementation complexity.
Character traits and basic, cognitive, social, and technological skills for telecommuting: implications for the computing curriculum
Authors: Robert E. Beasley, Virginia R. Seubert, Ewuuk Lomo-David
Venue: Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges (2001)

Advances in the area of telecommunications technology have profoundly affected the options employees have in terms of where and how they perform their work, and the number of computing professionals who telecommute (i.e., work at least part of their workweek away from their regular office) continues to increase. Undoubtedly, many of our own computing students will eventually telecommute to some degree or another in the future. The purpose of this study was to identify the most important traits/skills required for an effective telecommuting experience as reported by experienced telecommuters and then to suggest ways of incorporating the learning of those traits/skills into the computing curriculum-all in hopes of assisting our students in becoming more effective telecommuters.
A case for associative peer to peer overlays
Authors: Edith Cohen, Amos Fiat, Haim Kaplan
Venue: ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review (2003)

The success of a P2P file-sharing network highly depends on the scalability and versatility of its search mechanism. Two particularly desirable search features are scope (ability to find infrequent items) and support for partial-match queries (queries that contain typos or include a subset of keywords). While centralized-index architectures (such as Napster) can support both these features, existing decentralized architectures seem to support at most one: prevailing protocols (such as Gnutella and FastTrack) support partial-match queries, but since search is unrelated to the query, they have limited scope. Distributed Hash Tables (such as CAN and CHORD) constitute another class of P2P architectures promoted by the research community. DHTs couple index location with the item's hash value and are able to provide scope but can not effectively support partial-match queries; another hurdle in DHT deployment is their tight control the overlay structure and data placement which makes them more sensitive to failures.Associative overlays are a new class of decentralized P2P architectures. They are designed as a collection of unstructured P2P networks (based on popular architectures such as gnutella or FastTrack), and the design retains many of their appealing properties including support for partial match queries, and relative resilience to peer failures. Yet, the search process is orders of magnitude more effective in locating rare items. Our design exploits associations inherent in human selections to steer the search process to peers that are more likely to have an answer to the query.
Integration of Multiple Levels of Contour Information for Chinese-Character Stroke Extraction
Authors: Chungnan Lee, Bohom Wu, Wen-Chen Huang
Venue: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (1997)

In this paper, we present a new stroke extraction algorithm that integrates all levels of contour information including boundary points, dominant points, corner points, segments, cross section sequence graph, character structure to extract strokes of Chinese characters. In the algorithm, first, the boundary points are extracted, then the dominant and corner points are detected. Third, the character structure including singular and regular regions are extracted by the contour information and a modified cross section sequence graph (CSSG). Finally, a Bezier curve taking dominant points and corner points as inputs is used to check the continuity of strokes. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can correctly extract the strokes up to 95% from a printed and handwritten test samples based on the human perception. This research provides a solid basis for the structural matching of Chinese characters.
Random channel assignment in the plane
Authors: Colin McDiarmid
Venue: Random Structures Algorithms (2003)

In the model for random radio channel assignment considered here, points corresponding to transmitters are thrown down independently at random in the plane, and we must assign a radio channel to each point but avoid interference. In the most basic version of the model, we assume that there is a threshold d such that, in order to avoid interference, points within distance less than d must be assigned distinct channels. Thus we wish to color the nodes of a corresponding scaled unit disk graph. We consider the first n random points, and we are interested in particular in the behavior of the ratio of the chromatic number to the clique number. We show that, as n → ∞, in probability this ratio tends to 1 in the "sparse" case [when d = d(n) is such that the average degree grows more slowly than In n] and tends to 2√3/π ˜ 1.103 in the "dense" case (when the average degree grows faster than In n). We also consider related graph invariants, and the more general channel assignment model when assignments must satisfy "frequency-distance" constraints.