ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
High-level languages: the future or a passing fad?
Authors: Mike Wirthlin, Misha Burich, Andrew Guyler, Brian Von Herzen
Venue: Proceedings of the 2007 ACM/SIGDA 15th international symposium on Field programmable gate arrays (2007)

There are several interesting compilation tools on the market for synthesizing FPGA circuits from "high" level languages. These tools advertise the ability to generate high-quality FPGA circuits from a variety of specification formats such procedural languages (C, Fortran, etc.), modeling languages (SystemC), or from signal flow graphs. These tools claim significant improvements in design productivity by allowing the designer to operate at higher levels of abstraction than available with traditional RTL-level synthesis.Some claim that these high-level tools will completely change the way we design FPGAs. Those with this view believe that these tools will replace today's design approaches and VHDL/Verilog design will "wither away" like assembly language programming. They believe that the FPGA designer of the future will only need basic programming skills to create a high-quality FPGA designs. The arcane RTL design methodology used today will be a thing of the past. Others believe that these tools are just another fad in the long line of failed high-level design tools. They suggest that procedural languages like C are ill-suited to express the fine-grain parallelism available in hardware. Further, the synchronization/timing semantics needed to implement parallel hardware are not available. Perhaps of most concern to those in this camp is the lower quality circuits synthesized by these tools. What good is a high-level tool if it can't meet your timing or performance constraint? If high-level tools are successful, those with this view believe they will be limited to small niche markets with limited appeal to the average designer.What is the future of FPGA design? Will higher-level design tools finally provide the productivity and quality that has been promised? Or, are these tools just another passing fad? This panel will address these questions and discuss the future FPGA design. The panel will include experts from a variety of perspectives including representatives from high-level tool vendors, FPGA manufacturers, and experienced designers. Each panelist will give a brief summary of their views on this topic, followed by questions and lively debate. Audience participation is actively encouraged and audience members will have the opportunity for asking questions and making statements.
The relative distance of key point based iris recognition
Authors: Li Yu, David Zhang, Kuanquan Wang
Venue: Pattern Recognition (2007)

Iris recognition has received increasing attention in recent years as a reliable approach to human identification. This paper makes an attempt to analyze the local feature structure of iris texture information based on the relative distance of key points. When preprocessed, the annular iris is normalized into a rectangular block. Multi-channel 2-D Gabor filters are used to capture the iris texture. In every filtered sub-image, we extract the points that can represent the local texture most effectively in each channel. The barycenter of these points in each channel is called the key point and a group of key points are obtained. Then, the distance between the center of key points of each sub-image and every key point is called relative distance, which is regarded as the iris feature vector. Iris feature matching is based on the Euclidean distance. Experimental results on public and private databases show that the performance of the proposed method is encouraging.
Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop CS2 (Real World)
Authors: Bruce Fraser
Venue:  (2006)

It's a sad but undeniable fact of life: Whether you scan, shoot, or capture, the process of digitizing images introduces softness, and to get great-looking results, you'll need to sharpen the great majority of digital images. The softness introduced during digitizing results from the very nature of the digitizing process. To represent images digitally, we must transform them from continuous gradations of tone and color to points on a grid. In the process details gets "averaged" into the pixels, softening the overall appearance. For some types of printed output, further softness is introduced when the image pixels are converted to dots of ink or toner. As a result, just about every digital image requires sharpening. But another sad fact of digital photography is that most images are sharpened badly--either not enough, too much, or using the wrong methods--creating chunky details and harsh edges. Author, Bruce Fraser is here to teach readers all they need to know about sharpening including when to use it, why it's needed, how to use the camera's features, how to recognize an image needs sharpening, how much to use, what's bad sharpening and how to fix over sharpening. For more on Sharpening: http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/11242.html
Free-Drop TCP
Authors: Yuliy Baryshnikov, Ed Coffman, Jing Feng, Vishal Misra
Venue: ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review (2006)

We introduce a new class of TCP congestion control algorithms that take a non-standard approach: instead of modifying AIMD parameters or exploiting traffic measurements, the new protocols modify the rule for deciding when to cut the congestion window. The class is defined by an additional window with a packet-count parameter w; the congestion window is reduced by half when a packet loss is detected, at time t say, if and only if there has been at least one dropped packet in the last w packet transmissions prior to time t. An algorithm in the class is called Free-Drop TCP, since dropped packets are "free" (they do not cause cuts in the window size) unless they are sufficiently bursty. We propose this new class as a means to achieve high utilizations in high bandwidth-delay product networks with small buffers. We analyze a fluid model which leads to explicit estimates of the average throughput for small loss probabilities. We then give the results of experiments, which show that, relative to TCP, a family of 'shifted' response functions of the form O(1/&radic;p - &epsilon;) can be obtained over a wide range of p by suitably varying w. Potential costs of these increases in throughput are also examined in terms of coefficents of variation and Jain's fairness measure. The costs range from negligible to moderate.
Mathematical simulation and computer-aided statistical analysis of biological systems
Authors: E. B. Senyuk, V. K. Yasinskii
Venue: Cybernetics and Systems Analysis (2006)

The paper is concerned with a mathematical model of a biological system. The cases of quasistationary state and transients are examined. The Laplace-transformed unknown parameters of the biological system are analyzed. A structural element associated with a quasistationary response of the biosystem to external disturbances is analyzed.
Levels of automation and user participation in usability testing
Authors: Kent L. Norman, Emanuele Panizzi
Venue: Interacting with Computers (2006)

This paper identifies a number of factors involved in current practices of usability testing and presents profiles for three prototype methods: think-aloud, subjective ratings, and history files. We then identify ideal levels to generate the profile for new methods. These methods involve either a human observer or a self-administration of the test by the user. We propose methods of automating the evaluation form by dynamically adding items and modifying the form and the tasks in the process of the usability test. For self-administration of testing, we propose similar ideas of dynamically automating the forms and the tasks. Furthermore, we propose methods of eliciting the user's goals and focus of attention. Finally, we propose that user testing methods and interfaces should be subjected to usability testing.
Database dependency discovery: a machine learning approach
Authors: Peter A. Flach, Iztok Savnik
Venue: AI Communications (1999)

Database dependencies, such as functional and multivalued dependencies, express the presence of structure in database relations, that can be utilised in the database design process. The discovery of database dependencies can be viewed as an induction problem, in which general rules (dependencies) are obtained from specific facts (the relation). This viewpoint has the advantage of abstracting away as much as possible from the particulars of the dependencies. The algorithms in this paper are designed such that they can easily be generalised to other kinds of dependencies.Like in current approaches to computational induction such as inductive logic programming, we distinguish between top-down algorithms and bottom-up algorithms. In a top-down approach, hypotheses are generated in a systematic way and then tested against the given relation. In a bottom-up approach, the relation is inspected in order to see what dependencies it may satisfy or violate. We give a simple (but inefficient) top-down algorithm, a bi-directional algorithm, and a bottom-up algorithm. In the case of functional dependencies, these algorithms have been implemented in the FDEP system and evaluated experimentally. The bottom-up algorithm is the most efficient of the three, and also outperforms other algorithms from the literature.
Medial axis based solid representation
Authors: Amir Shaham, Ariel Shamir, Daniel Cohen-Or
Venue: Proceedings of the ninth ACM symposium on Solid modeling and applications (2004)

The medial axis (MA) of an object and medial axis transform (MAT) have many applications in solid modeling, computer graphics and other areas. Exact computation of MA is complex and various medial axis approximation algorithms were studied. One of the most successful is based on the computation of the Voronoi diagram of a set of sample points on the boundary of the object. Based on this method we present a novel representation of solids, which we call a pair-mesh. The pair-mesh is a deformable manifold surface triangulation where each node deforms between a pair of vertices one on the MA approximation and one on the boundary. Consequently, it provides a continuous map between the inner Voronoi based structure and the boundary of the shape, encompassing the topological structures of them both. This representation can also be seen as a partitioning of the volume between the two, where each element in the partition is either a tetrahedron or a pyramid and includes vertices from both the MA approximation and the reconstructed boundary.
Simulation selection problems: overview of an economic analysis
Authors: Stephen E. Chick, Noah Gans
Venue: Proceedings of the 38th conference on Winter simulation (2006)

This paper summarizes a new approach that we recently proposed for ranking and selection problems, one that maximizes the expected NPV of decisions made when using stochastic or discrete-event simulation. The expected NPV models not only the economic benefit from implementing a selected system, but also the marginal costs of simulation runs and discounting due to simulation analysis time. Our formulation assumes that facilities exist to simulate a fixed number of alternative systems, and we pose the problem as a "stoppable" Bayesian bandit problem. Under relatively general conditions, a Gittins index can be used to indicate which system to simulate or implement. We give an asymptotic approximation for the index that is appropriate when simulation outputs are normally distributed with known but potentially different variances for the different systems.
A Study on Higher Order Differential Attack of KASUMI
Authors: Nobuyuki Sugio, Hiroshi Aono, Sadayuki Hongo, Toshinobu Kaneko
Venue: IEICE Transactions on Fundamentals of Electronics, Communications and Computer Sciences (2007)

This paper proposes novel calculuses of linearizing attack that can be applied to higher order differential attack. Higher order differential attack is a powerful and versatile attack on block ciphers. It can be roughly summarized as follows: (1) Derive an attack equation to estimate the key by using the higher order differential properties of the target cipher, (2) Determine the key by solving an attack equation. Linearizing attack is an effective method of solving attack equations. It linearizes an attack equation and determines the key by solving a system of linearized equations using approaches such as the Gauss-Jordan method. We enhance the derivation algorithm of the coefficient matrix for linearizing attack to reduce computational cost (fast calculus 1). Furthermore, we eliminate most of the unknown variables in the linearized equations by making the coefficient column vectors 0 (fast calculus 2). We apply these algorithms to an attack of the five-round variant of KASUMI and show that the attack complexity is equivalent to 228.9 chosen plaintexts and 231.2 KASUMI encryptions.
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 Unleashed
Authors: Zak Ruvalcaba
Venue:  (2005)

Macromedia Dreamweaverï¾ 8 Unleashed is your complete reference guide to developing dynamic, data-driven web sites and applications with Dreamweaver 8. Based on the newest version of Dreamweaver, you will find comprehensive and up-to-date instruction on developing complex applications, as wellï¾ as how to collect information from users, personalize their online experience, and use a variety of built-in site management tools to create the ultimate web site experience. With Macromedia Dreamweaverï¾ 8 Unleashed, you willï¾ learn how to fully exploit Dreamweaver 8 byï¾ working with frames and framesets, layers, incorporating multimedia and animation, and adding dynamicï¾ elements such as a shopping cart.
Towards an Aspect Oriented Approach for the Security Hardening of Code
Authors: Azzam Mourad, Marc-Andre Laverdiere, Mourad Debbabi
Venue: Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications Workshops - Volume 01 (2007)

In this paper, we present an approach revolving around aspect-oriented software development (AOSD) for the systematic security hardening of source code. It provides an abstraction over the actions required to improve the security of the program. Security architects can specify high level security hardening plans that leverages a priori defined security hardening patterns. These patterns describe the steps and actions required for hardening, including detailed information on how and where to inject the security code. We show the viability and relevance of our approach by: (1) Elaborating security hardening patterns and plans to common security hardening practices, (2) realizing these patterns by implementing them into aspect oriented languages, (3) applying them to secure applications, (4) testing the hardened applications.
Plan management in the medical domain
Authors: Silvia Miksch
Venue: AI Communications (1999)

The need to improve the quality of health care has led to a strong demand for clinical protocols and computer systems supporting both their creation and execution. Current approaches in the planning community concentrate on algorithmic improvements, but mostly fail in medical applications. Planning approaches are based on assumptions like deterministic behavior, which do not hold in medical domains. Additionally, they do not cover the problem area of acquisition and verifying complex domain knowledge. In the field of medicine there is a strong movement towards clinical protocols &ndash; resembling plans in AI &ndash; but computer support during execution of these plans (e.g., controlling, selection of alternatives) is still basic. We need to build complex plans, but also to reason about them in different ways in order to modify plans, to consider the effects of different plans over time, and to monitor execution. We call this range of reasoning tasks plan management. We describe the requirements for these intertwined tasks of plan management so as to respond to the practical demands, to compare approaches in planning and medical informatics to these requirements, and finally, to discuss how our Asgaard project can meet them.
A New Linear Method for Camera Self-Calibration with Planar Motion
Authors: Ferran Espuny
Venue: Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Vision (2007)

We consider the self-calibration (affine and metric reconstruction) problem from images acquired with a camera with unchanging internal parameters undergoing planar motion. The general self-calibration methods (modulus constraint, Kruppa equations) are known to fail with this camera motion. In this paper we give two novel linear constraints on the coordinates of the plane at infinity in a projective reconstruction for any camera motion. In the planar case, we show that the two constraints are equivalent and easy to compute, giving us a linear version of the quartic modulus constraint. Using this fact, we present a new linear method to solve the self-calibration problem with planar motion of the camera from three or more images.
Barriers to and driving forces for the implementation of manufacturing simulation in the Swedish foundry industry
Authors: Patrik Thollander
Venue: Proceedings of the 38th conference on Winter simulation (2006)

The deregulation of the European electricity market has led to increasing electricity prices in Sweden, and prices are expected to raise even further, posing a major threat to the Swedish foundries. This study present results from a study of barriers to and driving forces for the use of manufacturing simulation and optimization methods at nine Swedish foundries. The method used is in-depth interviews and a questionnaire. The largest barriers were found to be: lack of information regarding what opportunities manufacturing simulation may gain, lack of time or other priorities, and lack of staff awareness. The largest driving forces were found to be: lowered production costs, faster production periods, and possible simulation of the daily production plan.
A cooperative constructive method for neural networks for pattern recognition
Authors: Nicolás García-Pedrajas, Domingo Ortiz-Boyer
Venue: Pattern Recognition (2007)

In this paper, we propose a new constructive method, based on cooperative coevolution, for designing automatically the structure of a neural network for classification. Our approach is based on a modular construction of the neural network by means of a cooperative evolutionary process. This process benefits from the advantages of coevolutionary computation as well as the advantages of constructive methods. The proposed methodology can be easily extended to work with almost any kind of classifier. The evaluation of each module that constitutes the network is made using a multiobjective method. So, each new module can be evaluated in a comprehensive way, considering different aspects, such as performance, complexity, or degree of cooperation with the previous modules of the network. In this way, the method has the advantage of considering not only the performance of the networks, but also other features. The method is tested on 40 classification problems from the UCI machine learning repository with very good performance. The method is thoroughly compared with two other constructive methods, cascade correlation and GMDH networks, and other classification methods, namely, SVM, C4.5, and k nearest-neighbours, and an ensemble of neural networks constructed using four different methods.
Adaptive degraded document image binarization
Authors: B. Gatos, I. Pratikakis, S. J. Perantonis
Venue: Pattern Recognition (2006)

This paper presents a new adaptive approach for the binarization and enhancement of degraded documents. The proposed method does not require any parameter tuning by the user and can deal with degradations which occur due to shadows, non-uniform illumination, low contrast, large signal-dependent noise, smear and strain. We follow several distinct steps: a pre-processing procedure using a low-pass Wiener filter, a rough estimation of foreground regions, a background surface calculation by interpolating neighboring background intensities, a thresholding by combining the calculated background surface with the original image while incorporating image up-sampling and finally a post-processing step in order to improve the quality of text regions and preserve stroke connectivity. After extensive experiments, our method demonstrated superior performance against four (4) well-known techniques on numerous degraded document images.
CCIE Routing and Switching Official Exam Certification Guide (2nd Edition) (Exam Certification Guide)
Authors: Wendell Odom, Jim Geier, Naren Mehta
Venue:  (2006)

The official self-study test preparation guide for the CCIE Routing and Switching written exam CCIE Routing and Switching exam is the most popular CCIE exam track - the candidate now has a new edition of the best-selling series to prepare for the exam New edition aligns with all the topics covered in the CCIE Routing and Switching written exam More challenging exam questions included to match the difficulty of the actual examThe CCIE Routing and Switching certification is the most respected certification in the industry. The successful CCIE candidate must understand a broad range of network technologies that includes OSI model, bridging, LAN switching, IP and IP Routing protocols, multicast, WAN technologies, and performance management. The exam is notoriously difficult and CCIE candidates must first pass a qualifying written exam. The CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Certification Guide, Second Edition covers all of the topics of the written exam. In this updated edition there are content and alignment changes based on the revised exam and networking trends. For example, there is deeper and greater coverage of MPLS, security, and BGP and BGP designs. New chapters covering IPv6 and IS-IS will be included. Also new to this edition are more challenging exam questions to match the difficulty of the actual exam and the CD-ROM is enhanced with a 500-question exam engine from Boson Software. This book also contains all the elements and features of the best-selling Exam Certification Guide series. These elements include specially designed assessment and study features, such as "Do I Know This Already?" quizzes that assess readers' knowledge and help them decide how much time to spend on each section, Foundation Summary sections that highlight essential concepts for quick reference, and End-of-chapter questions to quiz readers.
Photoshop Finishing Touches
Authors: Dave Cross
Venue:  (2006)

If you're primarily interested in finishing touches--the million creative ways you can use your favorite software to improve, polish, and add pizzazz to your images--this is the book for you! The first book devoted exclusively to the topic, Finishing Touches for Photoshop CS2 offers a treasure chest of creative finishing techniques. With chapters on frames and border effects, color and artistic effects, presentation, sharpening, and printing, this full-color guide covers everything from creative cropping to dramatic lighting, stock photos, collage ideas, combining black-and-white and color, selective blurring, storybook layouts, PDF presentation, and more. Each technique is a stand-alone tutorial, so you can jump in at any point without weeding through a lot of info that's not relevant to the task at hand. Even better, author Dave Cross' two-column format--with simple instructions in one column and lavish, full-color photos and artwork running alongside--makes the techniques instantly accessible. You'll also find several variations for most techniques as well as instructions for creating reusable templates.