ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Interactive characterization of granulated materials
Authors: Marcos C. Andrade, Lucio C. M. Pinto
Venue: Computers Geosciences (2009)

This paper illustrates an interactive approach to digital characterization of granulated materials, based on mathematical morphology, digital topology and non-linear differential equations. The digital characterization is achieved using a three-step sequential process, namely: denoising, interactive segmentation and quantification, with emphasis in the interactive segmentation step, since it has significant impact on the characterization results. Denoising is used to extract foreground and background markers. Image segmentation results from an anisotropic region-growing and merging process based on immersion simulation. Region-growing evolves as a fully automated process, initiated at local image minima, while merging requires manual insertion of one single marker per region-of-interest. Non-significant regions are merged according to a hierarchy established by a set of markers and merging rules, which represent a robust solution to the over-segmentation problem inherent to immersion simulation algorithms. The sensitivity of the segmentation algorithm to local intensity variations allows the detection of the edges with high accuracy. Quantification is achieved using a suitable stereometric method, which computes the three-dimensional size distribution from the two-dimensional size distribution observed on the image. It is shown that this interactive approach represents a viable solution to digital characterization of granulated materials.
Scheduling with dependent setups and maintenance in a textile company
Authors: W. J. Chen
Venue: Computers and Industrial Engineering (2009)

This paper deals with a scheduling problem with machine maintenance in a textile company. In the production system, the sequence-dependent setup time of a job cannot be ignored when a switch between two different jobs occurs. This study presents a heuristic to minimize the completion time, or equivalently the total setup time subject to periodic maintenance and due dates. The performance of the heuristic is evaluated by comparing its solution with the solution of the branch-and-bound algorithm. The real data are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the heuristic.
Self Managed Security Cell, a Security Model for the Internet of Things and Services
Authors: Pierre de Leusse, Panos Periorellis, Theo Dimitrakos, Srijith K. Nair
Venue: Proceedings of the 2009 First International Conference on Advances in Future Internet (2009)

The Internet of Things and Services is a rapidly growing concept that illustrates that the ever increasing amount of physical items of our daily life which become addressable through a network could be made more easily manageable and usable through the use of Services. This surge of exposed resources along with the level of privacy and value of the information they hold, together with the increase of their usage make for an augmentation in the number of the security threats and violation attempts that existing security systems do not appear robust enough to address. In this paper, the authors underline this increase in risk and identify the requirements for resources to be more resilient in this type of environment while keeping an important level of flexibility. In addition, the authors propose an architectural model of Self Managed Security Cell, which leverages on current knowledge in large scale security systems, information management and autonomous systems.
MAC Reforgeability
Authors: John Black, Martin Cochran
Venue: Fast Software Encryption: 16th International Workshop, FSE 2009 Leuven, Belgium, February 22-25, 2009 Revised Selected Papers (2009)

Message Authentication Codes (MACs) are core algorithms deployed in virtually every security protocol in common usage. In these protocols, the integrity and authenticity of messages rely entirely on the security of the MAC; we examine cases in which this security is lost.In this paper, we examine the notion of "reforgeability" for MACs, and motivate its utility in the context of {power, bandwidth, CPU}-constrained computing environments. We first give a definition for this new notion, then examine some of the most widely-used and well-known MACs under our definition in a variety of adversarial settings, finding in nearly all cases a failure to meet the new notion. We examine simple counter-measures to increase resistance to reforgeabiliy, using state and truncating the tag length, but find that both are not simultaneously applicable to modern MACs. In response, we give a tight security reduction for a new MAC, WMAC, which we argue is the "best fit" for resource-limited devices.
Mobile Remittances: Design for Financial Inclusion
Authors: Supriya Singh
Venue: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Internationalization, Design and Global Development: Held as Part of HCI International 2009 (2009)

This paper investigates the design requirements for international mobile remittances in the context of users' money management and control in the household and the family. Through scenarios that draw on remittance literature, the paper suggests five design principles for mobile remittances that could be a US$ 41 billion market while empowering women, varying patterns of money management and control in transnational families and aiding financial inclusion.
An Improved Query Technique for Embedded Database Based on S-B Tree
Authors: Kai-yin Huang, Yan-shan He, Peng-fei Chen, Xiao-yun Chen, Long-jie Li
Venue: Proceedings of the 2009 First International Workshop on Database Technology and Applications (2009)

For the issue that embedded devices have limited space, this paper proposes a static balanced tree--S-B tree to substitute B+-tree as index of embedded database. Based on some embedded databases do not have to insert and delete on the actual application, S-B tree combines the brilliant time efficiency of B+-tree and the space utilization of static tree to reduce space waste by B+-tree index. We use this technique in the Embedded database SQLite of Fixed Assets Management System. The results of experiment show, compared to B+-tree in the same conditions, the space utilization of S-B tree is above B+-tree about 30% on the average. S-B tree also has a better performance on sequence query and random query operations.
Design and Implementation of Augmented Reality Environment for Complex Anatomy Training: Inguinal Canal Case Study
Authors: Sophia Sakellariou, Ben M. Ward, Vassilis Charissis, David Chanock, Paul Anderson
Venue: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Virtual and Mixed Reality: Held as Part of HCI International 2009 (2009)

Adhering to contemporary requirements for reduction of cadaveric training of medical trainees we have developed a prototype augmented reality environment which investigates complex anatomical sections. A human 3D model has been implemented in order to facilitate educational tactics presented in a Virtual Reality (VR) environment. Opting for a sophisticated approach of interaction, the interface elements are based on simplified visual representation of real anatomical elements, and can be operated through haptic devices and surround auditory cues. This paper discusses the challenges involved in the development process of the augmented reality environment, and the HCI design, introduces the visual components of the interface and presents the outcome of a preliminary evaluation of the proposed VR training method on a group of twelve medical doctors. The paper concludes with a tentative plan of future work which aims to expand the context and interactivity of the system so as to enable the trainees to rehearse surgical methods in a simulated VR environment.
A Mixed Reality-Based Assembly Verification and Training Platform
Authors: Shiqi Li, Tao Peng, Chi Xu, Yan Fu, Yang Liu
Venue: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Virtual and Mixed Reality: Held as Part of HCI International 2009 (2009)

Mixed reality (MR) based human-machine interaction provides a seamless interface between user and application environment, which synthesizes the advantages of the convenient interaction of virtual reality, and the strong realistic of augmented reality. In this paper, MR is applied in the context of industrial assembly process, and a MR based assembly verification and training platform is proposed. In the MR based assembly environment, virtual model, real images and augmented information are jointly displayed on the assembly scene, accessorizing multi-video display windows of different angles of view to browse the real assembly scene. Additionally, constraint proxies figuratively reconstruct part's constraint relationship in the MR environment, and avoid the complex calculation of constraint's match. By using a virtual hand with constraints guided to assemble, an effective and realistic assembly process experience is provided to the user.
A P2P Service Management Model for Emergency Response Using Virtual Service Pool
Authors: Feng Yang, Hui Wen, Wei Cheng, Kangkang Zhang, Peiguang Lin
Venue: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Algorithms and Architectures for Parallel Processing (2009)

Emergency response is a time critical work that needs teams cooperate with various specialties from different organizations. It also needs to integrate existing information system to collect and assemble necessary knowledge and resources for critical emerging tasks and use it for collaborative problem solving. The model presented in this paper is the main result of an on-going national science foundation project of china, called Emergency-Driven Virtual Organization (EDVO), which aims at building and developing an innovative software infrastructure (software, models, services, etc.) for supporting collaborative work of events handling in emergency response systems. The model is to describe all kinds of resources in unified semantics and make knowledge sharing among various systems possible. With this basis, related resources and services can be flexibly and dynamically organized as a virtual organization to handle different kinds of emergent events.
PVS Embedding of cCSP Semantic Models and Their Relationship
Authors: Shamim H. Ripon, Michael J. Butler
Venue: Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS) (2009)

This paper demonstrates an embedding of the semantic models of the cCSP process algebra in the general purpose theorem prover PVS. cCSP is a language designed to model long-running business transactions with constructs for orchestration of compensations. The cCSP process algebra terms are defined in PVS by using mutually recursive datatype. The trace and the operational semantics of the algebra are embedded in PVS. We show how these semantic embeddings are used to define and prove a relationship between the semantic models by using the powerful induction mechanism of PVS.
The parameterized complexity of global constraints
Authors: C. Bessiere, E. Hebrard, B. Hnich, Z. Kiziltan, C.-G. Quimper, T. Walsh
Venue: Proceedings of the 23rd national conference on Artificial intelligence - Volume 1 (2008)

We argue that parameterized complexity is a useful tool with which to study global constraints. In particular, we show that many global constraints which are intractable to propagate completely have natural parameters which make them fixed-parameter tractable and which are easy to compute. This tractability tends either to be the result of a simple dynamic program or of a decomposition which has a strong backdoor of bounded size. This strong backdoor is often a cycle cutset. We also show that parameterized complexity can be used to study other aspects of constraint programming like symmetry breaking. For instance, we prove that value symmetry is fixed-parameter tractable to break in the number of symmetries. Finally, we argue that parameterized complexity can be used to derive results about the approximability of constraint propagation.
Graph Matching Algorithms for Business Process Model Similarity Search
Authors: Remco Dijkman, Marlon Dumas, Luciano García-Bañuelos
Venue: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Business Process Management (2009)

We investigate the problem of ranking all process models in a repository according to their similarity with respect to a given process model. We focus specifically on the application of graph matching algorithms to this similarity search problem. Since the corresponding graph matching problem is NP-complete, we seek to find a compromise between computational complexity and quality of the computed ranking. Using a repository of 100 process models, we evaluate four graph matching algorithms, ranging from a greedy one to a relatively exhaustive one. The results show that the mean average precision obtained by a fast greedy algorithm is close to that obtained with the most exhaustive algorithm.
Does Branding Need Web Usability? A Value-Oriented Empirical Study
Authors: Davide Bolchini, Franca Garzotto, Fabio Sorce
Venue: Proceedings of the 12th IFIP TC 13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Part II (2009)

Does usability of a web-based communication artifact affect brand, i.e., the set of beliefs, emotions, attitudes, or qualities that people mentally associate to the entity behind that artifact? Intuitively, the answer is "yes": usability is a fundamental aspect of the quality of the experience with a website, and a "good" experience with a "product" or its reifications tends to translate into "good" brand perception. To date, however, the existence of a connection between web usability and brand perception is shown through anecdotic arguments, and is not supported by published systematic research. This paper discusses a study that empirically investigates this correlation in a more rigorous, analytical, and replicable way. Our main contribution is twofold: on the one hand, we provide empirical evidence to the heuristic principle that web usability influences branding, and we do that through four between subjects controlled experiments that involved 120 subjects. On the other hand, we inform the study with a systematic value-oriented approach to the user experience, and thus provide a conceptual framework that can be reused in other experimental settings, either for replicating our study, or for designing similar studies focusing on the correlation of web branding vs. design factors other than usability.
The Pedagogical Dimension of Metadata for Learning Resources: The POEM Model
Authors: Serena Alvino, Paola Forcheri, Maria Grazia Ierardi, Luigi Sarti
Venue: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Advances in Web Based Learning (2009)

This paper focuses on the pedagogical dimension of metadata for learning objects (LO). Devising a pedagogical metadata proposal suitable for different target users is still a hard challenge. In order to contribute towards this endeavour, we designed and evaluated an extensible model where alternative sets of metadata descriptors can be chosen, depending on the pedagogical role of the LO. We called it Pedagogy Oriented Educational Metadata (POEM) model. This paper presents the main lines of the POEM model, discussing the results of its latest validation with 120 pre-service teachers attending the Specialisation School for Upper Secondary School Teachers of the University of Genoa during the a. y. 2007-2008.
Scenarios in the Heuristic Evaluation of Mobile Devices: Emphasizing the Context of Use
Authors: Jari Varsaluoma
Venue: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Human Centered Design: Held as Part of HCI International 2009 (2009)

Varying contexts of use make the usability studies of mobile devices difficult. The existing evaluation methods, such as Heuristic Evaluation (HE), must be redesigned in order to create more awareness of the mobile context. Through the reworking of existing heuristics and use of written use scenarios, there have already been some promising results. In this study the context of use of mobile devices was examined with written scenarios. The main target was to improve the reliability of HE by increasing the number of right predictions and reducing the number of false positives produced by the evaluators. The results seem to differ from those of a previously conducted study as the scenarios did not improve the HE regarding the numbers of false positives or accurate predictions. There is a need for more research regarding the possible benefits of different scenarios and other factors that affect the outcomes of HE.
Optimizing XML Compression
Authors: Gregory Leighton, Denilson Barbosa
Venue: Proceedings of the 6th International XML Database Symposium on Database and XML Technologies (2009)

The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) provides a powerful and flexible means of encoding and exchanging data. As it turns out, its main advantage as an encoding format (namely, its requirement that all open and close markup tags are present and properly balanced) yields also one of its main disadvantages: verbosity. XML-conscious compression techniques seek to overcome this drawback. Many of these techniques first separate XML structure from the document content, and then compress each independently. Further compression gains can be realized by identifying and compressing together document content that is highly similar, thereby amortizing the storage costs of auxiliary information required by the chosen compression algorithm. Additionally, the proper choice of compression algorithm is an important factor not only for the achievable compression gain, but also for access performance. Hence, choosing a compression configuration that optimizes compression gain requires one to determine (1) a partitioning strategy for document content, and (2) the best available compression algorithm to apply to each set within this partition. In this paper, we show that finding an optimal compression configuration with respect to compression gain is an NP-hard optimization problem. This problem remains intractable even if one considers a single compression algorithm for all content. We also describe an approximation algorithm for selecting a partitioning strategy for document content based on the branch-and-bound paradigm.
Investigation on Three Dimensional Image Measurement for Geometrical Parameters of the Cutter
Authors: Yung-Cheng Wang, Chien-Cheng Chang, Jui-Chang Lin, Bee-Yin Lee, Wei-Shin Lin
Venue: Proceedings of the 2009 WRI Global Congress on Intelligent Systems - Volume 03 (2009)

In this investigation, image measurement technology is applied for development of an image measurement system for geometrical parameters of the cutter. CCD, LED light source, servo motor and x-y bi-axial stage have been integrated in this system. It can be utilized for measuring geometrical parameters of the milling cutter and drill. The measured parameters include diameter, helix angle, arc radius and point angle. To analyze repeatability and reproducibility of the system, long form is introduced.Measurement results by the system have been compared with that by ZOLLER. The analysis results show that dimensional precision of 19 µm and the angle precision of 0.4° can be achieved by this measurement system. There are 40 µm differences in dimensional measurement, and 0.8 °differences in angle measurement between the results of the system and ZOLLER.The advantages of this measurement system are compact, lower cost and easier operation. And with the above measurement characteristics, this system can be available for cutter manufacture and inspection.
Application of Cascade Control System for Density Adjustment of Starch Production-Line
Authors: Gang Shen, Jing-feng He, Peter Ogbobe, Jun-wei Han, Kai Zhao, En-yong Xu
Venue: Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on Measuring Technology and Mechatronics Automation - Volume 01 (2009)

This paper presents the implementation of the PID based cascade control system for the adjustment of density of starch production line. The control system involves the design of RSLogix500 and RSView32 and was used to adjust the density of the starch production-line. The principle of the starch production-line was analyzed and the mathematical model of cascade control loop of starch production-line was built and designed. The two controllers and their outer and inner loop controller were simulated; using traditional PID. The product results show that the PID based on cascade control system is very effective when used to control the density of the starch production-line. The simulation results show that the cascade control system performs better than traditional single loop PID. The control effect and its robustness are higher than traditional PID.
SemEval-2007 task 04: classification of semantic relations between nominals
Authors: Roxana Girju, Preslav Nakov, Vivi Nastase, Stan Szpakowicz, Peter Turney, Deniz Yuret
Venue: Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Semantic Evaluations (2007)

The NLP community has shown a renewed interest in deeper semantic analyses, among them automatic recognition of relations between pairs of words in a text. We present an evaluation task designed to provide a framework for comparing different approaches to classifying semantic relations between nominals in a sentence. This is part of SemEval, the 4th edition of the semantic evaluation event previously known as SensEval. We define the task, describe the training/test data and their creation, list the participating systems and discuss their results. There were 14 teams who submitted 15 systems.
A New Approach to Mouth Detection Using Neural Network
Authors: Pham The Bao, Huynh Nguyen, Duy Nhan
Venue: Proceedings of the 2009 IITA International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems Engineering (case 2009) (2009)

This paper proposes a new method to detect mouth in color image. Instead of segmenting images based on lip color (like other methods often do), we segment images based on skin. After that, we add some specific techniques to approach the mouth in color image efficiently to determine mouth candidates quickly and then classify mouth candidates by neural network. Therefore, the runtime of method is improved remarkably and the result is good (about 85.5%). Moreover, this method allows robust mouth detection under different light conditions and with any particular make-up.
First-order algorithm with O(ln(1/ε )) convergence for ε -equilibrium in two-person zero-sum games
Authors: Andrew Gilpin, Javier Peña, Thomas Sandholm
Venue: Proceedings of the 23rd national conference on Artificial intelligence - Volume 1 (2008)

We propose an iterated version of Nesterov's first-order smoothing method for the two-person zero-sum game equilibrium problem minx∈Q1 maxy∈Q2 xT Ay = maxy∈Q2 minx∈Q1 xTAy. This formulation applies to matrix games as well as sequential games. Our new algorithmic scheme computes an Ε-equilibrium to this min-max problem in O(κ(A) In(1/Ε)) first-order iterations, where κ(A) is a certain condition measure of the matrix A. This improves upon the previous first-order methods which required O(1/Ε) iterations, and it matches the iteration complexity bound of interior-point methods in terms of the algorithm's dependence on Ε. Unlike the interior-point methods that are inapplicable to large games due to their memory requirements, our algorithm retains the small memory requirements of prior first-order methods. Our scheme supplements Nesterov's algorithm with an outer loop that lowers the target Ε between iterations (this target affects the amount of smoothing in the inner loop). We find it surprising that such a simple modification yields an exponential speed improvement. Finally, computational experiments both in matrix games and sequential games show that a significant speed improvement is obtained in practice as well, and the relative speed improvement increases with the desired accuracy (as suggested by the complexity bounds).