ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Constructing knowledge in online discussions: supporting theory to practice in special education teacher education
Authors: Francine Shuchat Shaw
Venue:  (2008)

The purpose of this study was to explore instructional design of online discussions effective at fostering critical thinking. The participants were pre-service teachers enrolled in a special education teacher education program. Undergraduate juniors in a practicum participated in online discussions about case studies of children with emotional and behavioral disorders. One case study presented information about a child in an interactive multimedia learning program. The other case study was of a real child in the participants' student teaching field placement. Prior research indicated a growing use of online discussion in educational programs blended with face-to-face instruction. Advantages that have been cited for using online discussions include: (a) time to think-through more structured and in-depth responses before posting; (b) exposure to multiple perspectives; and, (c) increasing higher-order thinking by helping students make connections and become better at critiquing, questioning, and analyzing. Online discussions offer opportunities for discourse to help teacher-candidates reflect upon their beliefs, the perspectives of others, and how those beliefs may influence their teaching practices. The effectiveness of online discussions requires careful balancing among the task design, facilitation of the interaction process and scaffolding of participants. In this quasi-experimental research design of two course sections, critical thinking evident in online discussions structured around authentic roles involved in working with children with special needs was compared with the critical thinking resulting from open-ended discussion forums. Critical thinking was measured using the Interaction Analysis Model's five phases of knowledge construction wherein phases III to V denotes critical thinking. No statistically significant differences were found. Evidence suggests, however, that the task requirement for group summaries of key discussion points, conclusions, or recommendations advanced critical thinking for both course sections. Evidence also indicates that the treatment may have lead to participants' postings that represented deeper, more critical understanding of the concepts and issues of the course materials.
Automated Compositional Reasoning of Intuitionistically Closed Regular Properties
Authors: Yih-Kuen Tsay, Bow-Yaw Wang
Venue: Proceedings of the 13th international conference on Implementation and Applications of Automata (2008)

Analysis of infinitary safety properties with automated compositional reasoning through learning is discussed. We consider the class of intuitionistically closed regular languages and show that it forms a Heyting algebra and is finitely approximatable. Consequently, compositional proof rules can be verified automatically and learning algorithms for finitary regular languages suffice for generating the needed contextual assumptions. We also provide a semantic justification of an axiom to deduce circular compositional proof rules for such infinitary languages.
Brief Communication: Determination of helix orientations in proteins
Authors: Suren A. Tatulian
Venue: Computational Biology and Chemistry (2008)

Accurate description of helices, including curvature and bending, and determination of interhelical angles are essential for analysis of the three-dimensional fold and functionally important conformational changes in helical proteins. Here, a new computational method is presented that allows determination of angles between any helical stretches, the radius of curvature of curved helices, bending angle of bent helices, as well as symmetry relations within the protein molecule, using main chain atom coordinates. The method has been applied to describe changes in interhelical angles in calmodulin upon interaction with a target peptide, which reveals the conformational changes at a higher precision. Because subtle changes in helix-to-helix packing and interhelical angles often underlie significant functional transitions in proteins, this approach can serve as a useful tool for characterization of such conformational changes at an exceedingly high accuracy and thus provide detailed insight into the structure-function relationship of proteins.
Representation and automatic generation of contact state graphs between general solid objects
Authors: Jing Xiao
Venue:  (2007)

Information of contact geometry is useful and sometimes even necessary for a wide range of applications, from robotic tasks involving compliant motion to virtual prototyping and simulation. It is often necessary to know not only the relative contact location between two objects but also the high-level, discrete, topological contact state that is more descriptive of the topological and physical characteristics of contact shared by two or more contact locations. However, enumerating contact states or building a contact state graph by hand is tedious for even tasks of simple geometry and is practically infeasible for complex objects especially when curved objects are involved. Existing work related to representing and automatically generating the information of topological contact states has been limited to contact states between polyhedral objects. There is a lack of systematic study to represent discrete topological contact states between general curved objects or articulated objects and a lack of efficient means of generating topological contact states between such objects automatically. In this dissertation, first different models are introduced to represent contact states between a broad class of curved objects. Next, algorithms to automatically generate contact state graphs between curved objects are presented. Implementation and the experimental results are described. An application of the approach on generation of assembly contact state graph is also introduced. Moreover, a practical approach is presented to represent concisely and generate automatically graphs of contact states between a polygonal object and an articulated planar object, i.e., a planar kinematic chain. Our approach effectively exploits topological and geometrical constraints associated with contact states to ensure both correctness, completeness and efficiency.
Scalability study of cache access mechanisms in multiple-cell wireless networks
Authors: Hui Chen, Yang Xiao, Susan V. Vrbsky
Venue: Computer Networks: The International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking (2008)

Strong-consistent cache access algorithms have been proposed and studied for wireless networks. In this paper, we carry out a comprehensive study to compare four strong-consistent cache access algorithms including the invalidation report (IR), poll-each-read (PER), call-back (CB), and Lease schemes in multiple-cell wireless/mobile networks. The purpose of this study is to examine the scalability of the IR schemes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such study. We focus on the scalability issue of these four fundamental strong-consistent schemes in terms of network transmission costs regarding network size, database size, subscription ratio, and network traffic, through extensive computer simulations. Our results show that: (1) the IR schemes do not perform well in a multiple-cell wireless/mobile networks with a large update rate, database size, and IR window size, and with a small subscription ratio; (2) the IR schemes do scale up well with the IR period and the access rate; however, while good performance can be obtained when the IR period is large, this implies a large access latency; (3) the PER, the CB and the Lease schemes perform well with a large update rate, small subscription ratio, and large database size.
Combining Defense Graphs and Enterprise Architecture Models for Security Analysis
Authors: Teodor Sommestad, Mathias Ekstedt, Pontus Johnson
Venue: Proceedings of the 2008 12th International IEEE Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference (2008)

Security is dependent on a mixture of interrelated concepts such as technical countermeasures, organizational policies, security procedures, and more. To facilitate rational decision making, these concepts need to be combined into an overall judgment on the current security posture, as well as potential future ones. Decision makers are, however, faced with uncertainty regarding both what countermeasures that is in place, and how well different countermeasures contribute to mitigating attacks. This paper presents a security assessment framework using the Bayesian statistics-based Extended Influence Diagrams to combine attack graphs with countermeasures into defense graphs. The approach makes it possible to calculate the probability that attacks succeed based on an enterprise architecture model. The framework also takes uncertainties of the security assessment into consideration. Moreover, using the extended influence diagram formalism the expected loss from each attack can be calculated.
Relational Database Migration: A Perspective
Authors: Abdelsalam Maatuk, Akhtar Ali, Nick Rossiter
Venue: Proceedings of the 19th international conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications (2008)

This paper presents an investigation into approaches and techniques used for database conversion. Constructing object views on top of a Relational DataBase (RDB), simple database integration and database migration are among these approaches. We present a categorisation of selected works proposed in the literature and translation techniques used for the problem of database conversion, concentrating on migrating an RDB as source into object-based and XML databases as targets. Database migration from the source into each of the targets is discussed in detail including semantic enrichment, schema translation and data conversion. Based on a detailed analysis of the existing literature, we conclude that an existing RDB can be migrated into object-based/XML databases according to available database standards. We propose an integrated method for migrating an RDB into object-based/XML databases using an intermediate Canonical Data Model (CDM), which enriches the source database's semantics and captures characteristics of the target databases. A prototype has been implemented, which successfully translates CDM into object-oriented (ODMG 3.0 ODL), object-relational (Oracle 10g) and XML schemas.
Channel Perceptions and Usage: Beyond Media Richness Factors
Authors: Willem Pieterson, Marije Teerling, Wolfgang Ebbers
Venue: Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Electronic Government (2008)

In this paper, we asses how service channel perceptions affect channel choice and channel usage. Building on communication theories, such as the Media Richness Theory, we explore how different channel characteristics are perceived by citizens in a Dutch governmental service chain. The results of our study show that channel perceptions are variable along with channel usage (experience) and personal characteristics. This proves that the straightforward task-channel fit as suggested in some multi-channel management models is too simplistic. Besides the fact that theoretically some channels are better suited for particular types of services, multi-channel models should pay attention to the variances in channel perceptions. These insights are highly relevant for the design of the multi-channel and marketing strategies in order to seduce citizens to use the preferred service channels.
State complexity of basic language operations combined with reversal
Authors: Guangwu Liu, Carlos Martin-Vide, Arto Salomaa, Sheng Yu
Venue: Information and Computation (2008)

We study the state complexity of combined operations on regular languages. Each of the combined operations is a basic operation combined with reversal. We show that their state complexities are all very different from the compositions of state complexities of individual operations.
Classification of Local Surface Using Neural Network and Object Rotation of Two Degrees of Freedom
Authors: Takashi Kojima, Yuji Iwahori, Tsuyoshi Nakamura, Shinji Fukui, Robert J. Woodham, Hidenori Itoh
Venue: Proceedings of the 12th international conference on Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, Part II (2008)

Gaussian curvature encodes important information about object shape. This paper presents a technique to classify a local surface into several classes from multiple images acquired under different conditions of illumination. Previous approaches require a separate calibration sphere as a reference object, while the proposed approach requires no calibration object like a sphere. Instead, a target object is rotated with some fixed angles in both the vertical and the horizontal directions and the target object itself generates a virtual sphere. In our recent work, only the geometrical calculation is employed to generate a virtual sphere, however this geometrical calculation causes the error between actual marker position and estimated position based on the assumption of the orthographic projection. To generate the virtual sphere with higher accuracy, we adopt a neural network approximation, which is introduced to achieve high accuracy of the virtual sphere image. Experiments with real data are demonstrated.
Service Discovery of IP Cameras Using SIP and Zeroconf Protocols
Authors: Yi-Chih Tung, Chien-Min Ou, Wen-Jyi Hwang, Wei-De Wu
Venue: Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Autonomic and Trusted Computing (2008)

This paper presents a novel framework for remote access of IP cameras with minimum pr-configuration cost. Although the usual service discovery protocols such as Zeroconf can be adopted for simplifying the pre-configuration procedures, the protocols are limited only for local services. The proposed protocol, termed STDP (Service Trader Discovery Protocol), is able to provide remote IP camera services while requiring minimum configuration complexity. The STDP is a hybrid combination of Zeroconf and SIP (session initial protocol). The Zeroconf is adopted for the discovery and/or publication of local services; whereas, the SIP is used for the delivery of local services to the remote nodes. With simple plug-and-play pre-configuration, services provided by IP cameras are then remotely available. This protocol is well-suited for high mobility applications where the fast deployment and low administration efforts of IP cameras are desired.
Making ProTools Accessible for Visually Impaired
Authors: Tomáš Zahradnický, Róbert Lórencz, Pavel Musil
Venue: Proceedings of the 11th international conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs (2008)

ProTools, an industry standard audio edit and mix software, is not accessible for visually impaired. Precisely, it was not accessible and this paper presents how was ProTools access enabled with the help of ProAccess application. ProAccess was created for this purpose and uses mach code injection techniques to load an access enabling bundle into ProTools and applies the method that was published 2 years ago. The paper also describes the relationships in between ProTools, ProAccess, and VoiceOver technology and what results we have obtained together with ProTools, timing of its learning process for a visually impaired person.
A Hybrid Approach to Ontology Relationship Learning
Authors: Jon Atle Gulla, Terje Brasethvik
Venue: Proceedings of the 13th international conference on Natural Language and Information Systems: Applications of Natural Language to Information Systems (2008)

Most ontology learning tools concentrate on extracting concepts and instances from text corpora. There are some recent tools that employ linguistics or data mining to uncover concept relationships, but the results are mixed. Since relationships are semantically complex notions, it seems interesting to combine approaches that address different aspects of concept relationships. In this paper we present a hybrid approach that combines the co-occurrence principle from association rules with contextual similarities from linguistics. The technique has been tested in an ontology engineering project, and the results show significant improvements over traditional techniques.
Improved Upper Bounds for λ-Backbone Colorings Along Matchings and Stars
Authors: Hajo Broersma, Bert Marchal, Daniel Paulusma, A. N. Salman
Venue: Proceedings of the 33rd conference on Current Trends in Theory and Practice of Computer Science (2007)

We continue the study on backbone colorings, a variation on classical vertex colorings that was introduced at WG2003. Given a graph G = (V,E) and a spanning subgraph H of G (the backbone of G), a ¿-backbone coloring for G and H is a proper vertex coloring V¿{1,2,...} of G in which the colors assigned to adjacent vertices in H differ by at least ¿. The main outcome of earlier studies is that the minimum number ¿ of colors for which such colorings V¿{1,2,...,¿} exist in the worst case is a factor times the chromatic number (for all studied types of backbones). We show here that for split graphs and matching or star backbones, ¿ is at most a small additive constant (depending on ¿) higher than the chromatic number. Despite the fact that split graphs have a nice structure, these results are difficult to prove. Our proofs combine algorithmic and combinatorial arguments. We also indicate other graph classes for which our results imply better upper bounds on ¿ than the previously known bounds.
Facilitating method on LDPC codes
Authors: Shahab Asoodeh
Venue: Proceedings of the 7th WSEAS International Conference on Electronics, Hardware, Wireless and Optical Communications (2008)

recent researches have shown that in designing the LDPC coding systems, optimizing the code's performance from the error correction view, makes the implementation of decoder and encoder circuits difficult. Also emphasizing on simplifying the decoder and encoder circuits will reduce the code's performance. Therefore in the designing process of a LDPC code, code's performance and implementation constraints must be considered simultaneously. In this paper first the parity-check matrix is introduced; which helps reducing the complexity and required memory volume of encoder circuit and also provides the opportunity of parallel implementation of the decoder circuit. Then the block-filling method for increasing the error correction performance is introduced and its operations on the parity-check matrix are discussed.
Incremental Learning of Planning Operators in Stochastic Domains
Authors: Javad Safaei, Gholamreza Ghassem-Sani
Venue: Proceedings of the 33rd conference on Current Trends in Theory and Practice of Computer Science (2007)

In this work we assume that there is an agent in an unknown environment (domain). This agent has some predefined actions and it can perceive its current state in the environment completely. The mission of this agent is to fulfill the tasks (goals) that are often assigned to it as fast as it can. Acting has lots of cost, and usually planning and simulating the environment can reduce this cost. In this paper we address a new approach for incremental induction of probabilistic planning operators, from this environment while the agent tries to reach to its current goals. It should be noted that there have been some works related to incremental induction of deterministic planning operators and batch learning of probabilistic planning operators, but the problem of incremental induction of probabilistic planning operators has not been studied yet. We also address some trade offs such as exploration (for better learning of stochastic operators, acting) and exploitation (for fast discovery of goals, planning), and we explain that a good decision in these trade offs is dependant on the stability and accuracy of the learned planning operators.
Using the Tandem Approach for AF Classification in an AVSR System
Authors: Tian Gan, Wolfgang Menzel, Jianwei Zhang
Venue: Proceedings of the 5th international symposium on Neural Networks: Advances in Neural Networks, Part II (2008)

This paper describes an audio visual speech recognition (AVSR) system based on articulatory features (AF). It implements a tandem approach where artificial neural networks (ANN), in particular multi-layer perceptrons (MLP), are used as posterior probability estimators for transforming raw input data into the more abstract articulatory features. Such an approach is particularly well suited if relatively few training data are available, a situation which is typical for AVSR. In addition, the MLP feature extraction results and some analysis in terms of recognition accuracy and confusions are presented. Our AF-based AVSR system has been trained on the audio-visual speech corpus VIDTIMIT, which contains conversational speech based on a medium size vocabulary including more than 1200 words.
Mid-fusiform activation during object discrimination reflects the process of differentiating structural descriptions
Authors: Xun Liu, Nicholas A. Steinmetz, Alison B. Farley, Charles D. Smith, Jane E. Joseph
Venue: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (2008)

The present study explored constraints on mid-fusiform activation during object discrimination. In three experiments, participants performed a matching task on simple line configurations, nameable objects, three dimensional (3-D) shapes, and colors. Significant bilateral mid-fusiform activation emerged when participants matched objects and 3-D shapes, as compared to when they matched two-dimensional (2-D) line configurations and colors, indicating that the mid-fusiform is engaged more strongly for processing structural descriptions (e.g., comparing 3-D volumetric shape) than perceptual descriptions (e.g., comparing 2-D or color information). In two of the experiments, the same mid-fusiform regions were also modulated by the degree of structural similarity between stimuli, implicating a role for the mid-fusiform in fine differentiation of similar visual object representations. Importantly, however, this process of fine differentiation occurred at the level of structural, but not perceptual, descriptions. Moreover, mid-fusiform activity was more robust when participants matched shape compared to color information using the identical stimuli, indicating that activity in the mid-fusiform gyrus is not driven by specific stimulus properties, but rather by the process of distinguishing stimuli based on shape information. Taken together, these findings further clarify the nature of object processing in the mid-fusiform gyrus. This region is engaged specifically in structural differentiation, a critical component process of object recognition and categorization.
Analysis of the Kurtosis-Sum Objective Function for ICA
Authors: Fei Ge, Jinwen Ma
Venue: Proceedings of the 5th international symposium on Neural Networks: Advances in Neural Networks (2008)

The majority of existing Independent Component Analysis (ICA) algorithms are based on maximizing or minimizing a certain objective function with the help of gradient learning methods. However, it is rather difficult to prove whether there is no spurious solution in ICA under any objective function as well as the gradient learning algorithm to optimize it. In this paper, we present an analysis on the kurtosis-sum objective function, i.e., the sum of the absolute kurtosis values of all the estimated components, with a kurtosis switching algorithm to maximize it. In two-source case, it is proved that any local maximum of this kurtosis-sum objective function corresponds to a feasible solution of the ICA problem in the asymptotic sense. The simulation results further show that the kurtosis switching algorithm always leads to a feasible solution of the ICA problem for various types of sources.