ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Robust minutia-based fingerprint verification
Authors: Huimin Deng
Venue:  (2006)

In a network connected world, security is becoming a more and more important issue. There are a number of means for enhancing the security, notably, biometrics, where fingerprint verification is the most popular and successful technology. Fingerprint verification technology has been improved continuously and widely regarded since the development of Fingerprint Verification Competition (FVC). But there are still a lot of open problems for this technology. The performance of fingerprint verification is still highly related to image quality. Immature sensor technology and distortion due to incorrect operation and physical skin scathe may result in poor image quality. Minutiae matching is generally used in fingerprint verification. In this thesis, our objective is to design a robust minutia-based fingerprint verification system which can make its determination with a high level of confidence. We have developed a minutia extraction algorithm which works well for FVC databases without setting database-dependent control parameters. We derive a quality measure for each candidate minutia to extract true minutiae and to remove false minutiae. For the matching stage, we have proposed a novel approach which is based on aligned-edge-guided triangle matching. We have proposed a structural approach and a dynamic time warping approach to calculate the similarity between two fingerprint images. A feature level fusion and a decision level fusion stage are proposed to improve performance. We conduct experiments on the databases of FVC2000, FVC2002 and FVC2004. The results show that our approaches perform very well with all these databases.
Computer-Supported Argument Maps as a Policy Memory
Authors: Alastair Renton, Ann Macintosh
Venue: The Information Society (2007)

This article investigates to what extent computer-supported argument visualization can be designed to encourage debate and deliberation by citizens on public issues. Such argument maps use icons and arrows to represent the structure of a series of related viewpoints, reducing the amount of text necessary to convey the ideas, thereby clarifying the issue under consideration. Argument maps have the potential to provide a readily accessible medium by which citizens can follow and join in public debates on policy issues. In this article we describe our approach and the type of maps we have chosen to use and then demonstrate the potential of a collection of maps to form a "policy memory" to support policy development. Our case study is the development of the "smoking in public places" policy in the Scottish Parliament. Our overall aim is to engage citizens in democratic decision making, leading to better policymaking and a more engaged citizenry.
Genetic algorithm-based feature selection in high-resolution NMR spectra
Authors: Hyun-Woo Cho, Seoung Bum Kim, Myong K. Jeong, Youngja Park, Thomas R. Ziegler, Dean P. Jones
Venue: Expert Systems with Applications: An International Journal (2008)

High-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has provided a new means for detection and recognition of metabolic changes in biological systems in response to pathophysiological stimuli and to the intake of toxins or nutrition. To identify meaningful patterns from NMR spectra, various statistical pattern recognition methods have been applied to reduce their complexity and uncover implicit metabolic patterns. In this paper, we present a genetic algorithm (GA)-based feature selection method to determine major metabolite features to play a significant role in discrimination of samples among different conditions in high-resolution NMR spectra. In addition, an orthogonal signal filter was employed as a preprocessor of NMR spectra in order to remove any unwanted variation of the data that is unrelated to the discrimination of different conditions. The results of k-nearest neighbors and the partial least squares discriminant analysis of the experimental NMR spectra from human plasma showed the potential advantage of the features obtained from GA-based feature selection combined with an orthogonal signal filter.
Teeth, But a Questionable Appetite: The Information Commissioner's Code of Practice and the Regulation of CCTV Surveillance
Authors: Thomas Murphy
Venue: International Review of Law, Computers and Technology (2007)

The Data Protection Act 1998 was not created for the purpose of regulating CCTV surveillance of public places yet, judging by the CCTV Code of Practice issued by the Information Commissioner, provides a detailed legal framework applicable to CCTV and encompasses all aspects of the surveillance process. Nevertheless, the 1998 Act was introduced principally to extend the remit of data protection to include paper records as well as computer records, yet maintaining a distinction between the two on the basis of whether data is processed by automatic or manual means. Exploring the nature of CCTV surveillance, involving interaction between human and machine, this article argues that CCTV surveillance is perhaps best regarded as a hybrid-neither automatic but not entirely manual either. Consequently, it is argued that this is a compromise that does not seem to fit easily under the legislative scheme with potential implications for data subjects.
Applying enhanced reality in fracture reduction with external fixation
Authors: G. A. Danieli, G. Fragomeni, G. Gatti, E. Giuzio
Venue: Proceedings of the 9th WSEAS International Conference on Systems (2005)

The paper illustrates a technology under development at the Biomedical Laboratory of the Department of Mechanics of the University of Calabria, in cooperation with other centers, aimed, through the use of "Enhanced Reality", to the elimination of X ray exposure of Doctors and technicians, reducing it also to patients, during fracture reduction procedures. The term "Enhanced" is used instead of the more common "Virtual" since the system allows the relative position of the bone fragments to be measured, in order to compute and plot the actual position of the bones on a radiographic scale during the reduction process, and on two approximately perpendicular planes, even if this is not visible to the operators. The research is takes origin from two Italian patents and a PCT application, about to be released as European Patent.
Dangers of a fixed mindset: implications of self-theories research for computer science education
Authors: Laurie Murphy, Lynda Thomas
Venue: ACM SIGCSE Bulletin (2008)

Psychology studies have shown that students' beliefs about their own intelligence--whether they view intelligence as fixed or malleable-have an important influence on student development and achievement. Yet the impact of these theories on success in Computer Science (CS) has not been directly investigated. Self-theories research has shown that students with a fixed mindset are more likely to exhibit a helpless response to substantial challenges and to experience decreases in self-esteem during college. Those with a growth mindset welcome challenges, displaying a mastery-oriented response, and maintaining self-esteem, primarily because they attribute failure to a lack of effort rather than a lack of intellectual ability. This paper introduces self-theories research, and relates this research to several issues in CS Education. We then make suggestions for how CS educators can consider self-theories in their teaching and research.
SchemaScope: a system for inferring and cleaning XML schemas
Authors: Geert Jan Bex, Frank Neven, Stijn Vansummeren
Venue: Proceedings of the 2008 ACM SIGMOD international conference on Management of data (2008)

We present SchemaScope, a system to derive Document Type Definitions and XML schema from a corpus of sample XML documents. Tools are provided to visualize, clean and refine existing or inferred schemas. A number of use cases illustrate the versatility of the system, as well as various types of applications.
Organizing and delivering "real projects for real clients courses"
Authors: David Klappholz
Venue: Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges (2008)

An RPRCC is a course in which students work in teams to develop real software for real clients, that is, software that solves a problem for or provides a service to the client, e.g., a member of the university's faculty or staff, a not-for-profit organization, a local government agency or a local business. In this tutorial we will discuss reasons for teaching RPRCCs and methods for tailoring an RPRCC to the individual instructor's educational objectives and to the available infrastructure resources.
DocLine: A method for software product lines documentation development
Authors: D. V. Koznov, K. Yu. Romanovsky
Venue: Programming and Computing Software (2008)

The DocLine method designed for developing documentation for software product lines is presented. The method makes it possible to reuse document fragments with adaptation to a particular usage context. The method provides the Documentation Reuse Language (DRL) that has a graphical part (for designing the structure of documentation packages) and a text part (for implementing the documentation). It also describes a process for developing documentation and a toolset architecture based on the DSM approach and Eclipse GMF technology.
A preconditioned dual time-stepping procedure coupled with matrix-free LU-SGS scheme for unsteady low speed viscous flows with moving objects
Authors: Tianhang Xiao, Haisong Ang, Shaozhi Yu
Venue: International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics (2007)

In this paper an effective method is developed to solve unsteady low speed viscous flow problems with moving objects by using the governing equations of compressible fluids. The method is based on a dual time-stepping scheme, combined with low Mach number preconditioning and an implicit matrix-free Lower-Upper Symmetric Gauss-Seidel iteration on unstructured dynamic meshes. Because preconditioning modifies the governing equations, that induces the change of system's eigenvalues and eigenvectors, characteristic boundary conditions are also modified to suit the preconditioned characteristic system. Several test cases are simulated, including an in-line oscillating cylinder in a fluid at rest, flow over a flapping NACA0014 airfoil and low speed flow past a flapping-wing micro-air vehicle. Compared with experimental results whenever possible, the computed results indicate that this algorithm shows satisfactory improvement of solution efficiency and accuracy for low speed flow problems.
An ant colony optimization algorithm for scheduling virtual cellular manufacturing systems
Authors: K. L. Mak, P. Peng, X. X. Wang, T. L. Lau
Venue: International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (2007)

This paper presents a methodology to solve the manufacturing cell creation and the production scheduling problems for designing virtual cellular manufacturing systems (VCMSs). The objective is to minimize the total materials and components travelling distance incurred. The methodology consists of (i) a mathematical model that describes the characteristics of a VCMS and includes constraints such as delivery due dates of products, maximum capacities of resources, critical tools limitation, and (ii) an ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm for manufacturing cell formation and production scheduling. Since the proposed ACO algorithm does not indicate a feasible schedule explicitly, two simple heuristics are developed to assign workstations to the operations of the jobs, and to construct the final schedule. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, both the ACO algorithm and the genetic algorithm are applied to design manufacturing cells for a company in China producing internal combustion engine components. Comparison of the results obtained with the results supplied by the company on the existing manufacturing system show that both the ACO algorithm and the genetic algorithm together with the virtual cellular manufacturing concept perform better than the current manufacturing practice in terms of average workstation utilization, product completion time and system throughput. Also, the results of a set of randomly generated numerical experiments show that the proposed ACO algorithm generates excellent final solutions in a much shorter computation time when compared with the genetic algorithm. Therefore, the mathematical model and the ACO algorithm proposed in this paper form a simple, but effective and efficient methodology to solve the manufacturing cell creation and production scheduling problems for designing VCMSs.
A Haptic Enabled DNA Model
Authors: Dan Martin, Mohamad Eid, Abdulmotaleb El Saddik
Venue: Proceedings of the The International Symposium on Parallel Architectures, Algorithms, and Networks (2008)

The science of haptics has received enormous attention in the last decade. One of the major application trends of haptics technology is data visualization and training. In this paper, we present our work towards developing a haptically enabled model for the structure of DNA. The graphic model of the DNA strand is made up of individual base pair models. The environment presents two views of the model: a global view that reflects the real stretching forces for a 5000 base pair strand and a 40 base pair portion of the strand to display the twisting of the molecules. The addition of the haptic model enables users to feel the stretching and twisting forces while manipulating the model through the PHANTOM® Desktop haptic device. Since the interaction forces are in the piconewton range, the forces applied by/to the user are scaled accordingly. The model can serve as a good instructional aid for helping users to understand the molecular structure of DNA through effective visual representation and interactive manipulation. In incorporating more physical details, it may also have a future use in simulating protein and enzyme interactions with DNA.
A formal ontology for temporal entities and its application in knowledge extraction
Authors: Chunxia Zhang, Guiping Wang, Zhendong Niu
Venue: Proceedings of the 8th ACM/IEEE-CS joint conference on Digital libraries (2008)

This poster will present a formal ontology of temporal entities for knowledge sharing and interoperability. This ontology captures the semantic intensions, attributes and properties of temporal entities and their relationships. And it has been applied into temporal knowledge acquisition from un-annotated Chinese texts.
A holonic approach for manufacturing execution system design: An industrial application
Authors: Pascal Blanc, Isabel Demongodin, Pierre Castagna
Venue: Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence (2008)

In the age of globalisation and virtual enterprises, industrial firms are challenged by a volatile and demanding market as well as an everyday more competitive environment. As a main actor of the enterprise integration, manufacturing control systems should be designed in order to answer these necessities of reactivity and profitability in a flexible way. Holonic manufacturing system (HMS) proposes a structure organized as a loosely coupled network of communicating and cooperating agents to solve this problem. Such approach offers concrete solutions to reconfigurability and evolvability issues of manufacturing control systems. This paper presents a manufacturing execution system (MES), using the HMS concepts, and illustrates this approach on a real industrial application. Such a structure is based on a typology of manufacturing system elements (products, resources, orders). Roles and behaviours for these manufacturing control elements are proposed. Product holons own reference models of products, for manufacturing execution and quality control. Resources holons are components used as bricks with local intelligent decision-making system embedded. Based on characteristics of the tasks they perform, a specialisation of resource holons is proposed. Specific heuristics are suggested for each class of resource holon. Finally, order holons are related to product demand, manufacturing task and product item. They own models of product item and a time model of the manufacturing task. Mechanisms are proposed to synchronize the execution of manufacturing tasks. These mechanisms guarantee the availability of components and enable to impose time constraints on task scheduling. This MES implements a product-centred approach, as shown by the active and opportunistic behaviour of order holons.
Micro-Blog: sharing and querying content through mobile phones and social participation
Authors: Shravan Gaonkar, Jack Li, Romit Roy Choudhury, Landon Cox, Al Schmidt
Venue: Proceeding of the 6th international conference on Mobile systems, applications, and services (2008)

Recent years have witnessed the impacts of distributed content sharing (Wikipedia, Blogger), social networks (Facebook, MySpace), sensor networks, and pervasive computing. We believe that significant more impact is latent in the convergence of these ideas on the mobile phone platform. Phones can be envisioned as people-centric sensors capable of aggregating participatory as well as sensory inputs from local surroundings. The inputs can be visualized in different dimensions, such as space and time. When plugged into the Internet, the collaborative inputs from phones may enable a high resolution view of the world. This paper presents the architecture and implementation of one such system, called Micro-Blog. New kinds of application-driven challenges are identified and addressed in the context of this system. Implemented on Nokia N95 mobile phones, Micro-Blog was distributed to volunteers for real life use. Promising feedback suggests that Micro-Blog can be a deployable tool for sharing, browsing, and querying global information.
Developing inclusive outreach activities for students with visual impairments
Authors: Stephanie Ann Ludi, Thomas Reichlmayr
Venue: Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education (2008)

Despite advances in assistive technology, relatively few visually impaired students participate in university-level computing courses. Significant factors in this under representation include lack of relevant precollege preparation, lack of role models, access to resources, and the highly visual nature of modern computing. This paper describes the development of inclusive activities and materials for use in a summer workshop for precollege students with visual impairments. All activities utilized commercial technologies in the areas of robotics and programming using Lego Mindstorms NXT. The workshop activities are designed to provide a foundation in computing that encourages students to pursue computing in high school and beyond. In addition to activity design, initial results and lessons learned from the summer workshop will be presented.
Design and Implementation of Wireless Sensor Network for Ubiquitous Glass Houses
Authors: Meong-hun Lee, Ki-bok Eom, Hyun-joong Kang, Chang-sun Shin, Hyun Yoe
Venue: Proceedings of the Seventh IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Computer and Information Science (icis 2008) (2008)

Recently, there are many researches to enable future ubiquitous environments based on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). Various sensing devices deployed in wireless sensor network collect meaningful data from physical environments and the data are delivered to neighbor node through radio interfaces for further processing. The representative application in WSN is a data collecting system, which monitors physical phenomena and gathers data around our life. In this system, sensor nodes can be considered as a kind of database and hosts connected to the Internet, in most cases, initiate some queries destined to WSN and collect query responses from WSN. In this study, the efficient use of limited energy efficiently for the WSN based large scale glass houses was researched. We designed an integration method which was based on WSN Gateway which integrated two different networks efficiently. To realize the proposed design, we implemented an efficient routing method and WSN Gateway in the wired and wireless integrated networks in ubiquitous glass houses.
Exploiting multilevel parallelism using OpenMP on a massive multithreaded architecture
Authors: David Ródenas, Xavier Martorell, Eduard Ayguadé, Jesús Labarta, George Almási, Călin Caşcaval, José Castaños, José Moreira
Venue: Journal of Embedded Computing (2006)

This paper evaluates and analyzes multilevel parallelism on a chip multiprocessor (CMP) architecture. The environment is based on the experimental IBM BG/Cyclops architecture, where we have run the multi-zone parallel benchmarks. Multilevel parallelism is spawned using the Nanos OpenMP execution environment. We have performed the analysis with different execution parameters in order to evaluate different hardware threads distributions, cache utilization, and thread grouping configurations. Our results demonstrate that a large number of thread groups and good balancing algorithms are critical for high performance. We also show that a small number of threads can share the same data cache to increase the performance, but a large number of threads should better not share the same data caches.
Experimental measurements and behavioral modeling of an electrostatically actuated bi-axial micromirror
Authors: Fabien Parrain, Souhil Megherbi, Gilles Raynaud, Herv&#x00e9; Mathias, Jean-Paul Gilles, Alain Bosseboeuf, Gerold Schr&#x00f6;pfer, Nicolas Faure, Pierre Cusin
Venue: Microsystem Technologies (2005)

Recent developments in micro-electro-mechanical systems and micromachining technologies have made possible the development and integration of micromirrors that can be employed for a number of consumer applications such as free space optical switching (Syms in J Lightwave Technol 20(7):1084&#x2013;1094, 2002; Pan in Micromech Microeng 14(1):129&#x2013;137, 2004), 2D scanning or image projection (Texas Instruments DLP http://www.dlp.com/). This high level of integration provides many advantages such as reproductivity and improved performance. Obviously, these increased levels of miniaturization raise new characterization and modeling concerns. We present in this paper the design, the fabrication process, the characterization and the behavioral modeling approach of a novel electrostatically actuated bi-axial micromirror. This micro-opto-electro-mechanical system is a result of a joint development between our partners Colibrys and Coventor companies (Colibrys http://www.colibrys.com/ ; Coventor http://www.coventor.com/). In the field of this work, two HDL multi-physics models using Verilog-A language and Matlab have been developed and validated by different experimental measurements.
Multi-data Delivery Based on Network Coding in On-demand Broadcast
Authors: Chung-Hua Chu, De-Nian Yang, Ming-Syan Chen
Venue: Proceedings of the The Ninth International Conference on Mobile Data Management (2008)

On-demand data broadcast is widely deployed to achieve high scalability in a mobile computing environment. However, traditional on-demand data broadcasting assumes that each time slot includes only one data item. Therefore, the above constraint requires the mobile users to wait until the next broadcast cycle to retrieve a data item if they miss the item in this cycle. The above constraint also limits the number of users that can be served in each time slot. In this paper, we propose a new on-demand data broadcast model with modified network coding. Our approach enables a server to encode multiple data items in each time slot, while each mobile user retrieves the data items by decoding the encoded data items with the locally stored data items. Our approach is different from the traditional network coding because each time slot encodes only a subset of data items, which are decided according to identities of the requested and stored data items of users. The simulation results show that our algorithm can reduce the access time by 66% as compared to the traditional schemes.