ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Evaluating user simulations with the Cramér-von Mises divergence
Authors: Jason D. Williams
Venue: Speech Communication (2008)

User simulations are increasingly employed in the development and evaluation of spoken dialog systems. However, there is no accepted method for evaluating user simulations, which is problematic because the performance of new dialog management techniques is often evaluated on user simulations alone, not on real people. In this paper, we propose a novel method of evaluating user simulations. We view a user simulation as a predictor of the performance of a dialog system, where per-dialog performance is measured with a domain-specific scoring function. The divergence between the distribution of dialog scores in the real and simulated corpora provides a measure of the quality of the user simulation, and we argue that the Cramer-von Mises divergence is well-suited to this task. To demonstrate this technique, we study a corpus of callers with real information needs and show that Cramer-von Mises divergence conforms to expectations. Finally, we present simple tools which enable practitioners to interpret the statistical significance of comparisons between user simulations.
Spherical and Torus SOM Approaches to Metabolic Syndrome Evaluation
Authors: Peter K. Kihato, Heizo Tokutaka, Masaaki Ohkita, Kikuo Fujimura, Kazuhiko Kotani, Yoichi Kurozawa, Yoshio Maniwa
Venue: Neural Information Processing: 14th International Conference, ICONIP 2007, Kitakyushu, Japan, November 13-16, 2007, Revised Selected Papers, Part II (2008)

One of the threatening trends of health to the youth in recent years has been the metabolic syndrome. Many associate this syndrome to how big the fatty tissue around the belly is. Self-organizing maps (SOM) can be viewed as a visualization tool that projects high-dimensional dataset onto a two-dimensional plane making the complexity of the data be simplified and in the process disclose much of the hidden details for easy analyzes, clustering and visualization. This paper focuses on the analysis, visualization and prediction of the syndrome trends using both spherical and Torus SOM with a view to diagnose its trends, inter-relate other risk factors as well as evaluating the responses obtained from the two approaches of SOM.
Network Stability Assessment Using the Number of Tree Adjacent to an Articulation Node
Authors: Yonghyoun Kim, Hyuncheol Kim, Jin-Wook Chung, Kwang-Jong Cho, Ki-Sung Yu
Venue: Proceedings of the international conference on Computational Science and Its Applications, Part II (2008)

In this study, we examine the stability assessment of the current network by using the number of trees generated when an articulation node within the network becomes functional. As a consequence, we will be able to design networks with more stability using the same amount of resources. Previous studies assessed the stability of a network by using the number of nodes adjacent to a broken node but they were inapplicable to complex networks with more than two broken nodes. The network stability assessment method proposed in this study will be applicable to complex networks with two or more broken nodes and will offer a more detailed assessment by considering the distribution of network risk factors.
Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing
Authors: Jane Margolis
Venue:  (2008)

The number of African Americans and Latino/as receiving undergraduate and advanced degrees in computer science is disproportionately low, according to recent surveys. And relatively few African American and Latino/a high school students receive the kind of institutional encouragement, educational opportunities, and preparation needed for them to choose computer science as a field of study and profession. In Stuck in the Shallow End, Jane Margolis looks at the daily experiences of students and teachers in three Los Angeles public high schools: an overcrowded urban high school, a math and science magnet school, and a well-funded school in an affluent neighborhood. She finds an insidious "virtual segregation" that maintains inequality. Two of the three schools studied offer only low-level, how-to (keyboarding, cutting and pasting) introductory computing classes. The third and wealthiest school offers advanced courses, but very few students of color enroll in them. The race gap in computer science, Margolis finds, is one example of the way students of color are denied a wide range of occupational and educational futures. Margolis traces the interplay of school structures (such factors as course offerings and student-to-counselor ratios) and belief systemsincluding teachers' assumptions about their students and students' assumptions about themselves. Stuck in the Shallow End is a story of how inequality is reproduced in Americaand how students and teachers, given the necessary tools, can change the system.
Non-uniform Boolean Constraint Satisfaction Problems with Cardinality Constraint
Authors: Nadia Creignou, Henning Schnoor, Ilka Schnoor
Venue: Proceedings of the 22nd international workshop on Computer Science Logic (2008)

We study the computational complexity of Boolean constraint satisfaction problems with cardinality constraint. A Galois connection between clones and co-clones has received a lot of attention in the context of complexity considerations for constraint satisfaction problems. This connection fails when considering constraint satisfaction problems that support in addition a cardinality constraint. We prove that a similar Galois connection, involving a weaker closure operator and partial polymorphisms, can be applied to such problems. Thus, we establish dichotomies for the decision as well as for the counting problems in Schaefer's framework.
Simulation of the impact of pilot signals on OFDMA systems
Authors: M. Haridim, M. Bank
Venue: Proceedings of the 7th WSEAS International Conference on Electronics, Hardware, Wireless and Optical Communications (2008)

A new method for simulation of OFDMA systems is proposed. The method allows investigating the influence of loss of orthogonality between subcarriers, non-ideal synchronization and the phase noise of local oscillators. Using the proposed simulation we have studied the impact of pilot signals on OFDMA performance. Results are compared to the performance of OFDMA systems without pilot signals, e.g. FBS.
Acyclic systems of representatives and acyclic colorings of digraphs
Authors: Ron Aharoni, Eli Berger, Ori Kfir
Venue: Journal of Graph Theory (2008)

A natural digraph analog of the graph theoretic concept of &ldquo;an independent set&rdquo; is that of &ldquo;an acyclic set of vertices,&rdquo; namely a set not spanning a directed cycle. By this token, an analog of the notion of coloring of a graph is that of decomposition of a digraph into acyclic sets. We extend some known results on independent sets and colorings in graphs to acyclic sets and acyclic colorings of digraphs. In particular, we prove bounds on the topological connectivity of the complex of acyclic sets, and using them we prove sufficient conditions for the existence of acyclic systems of representatives of a system of sets of vertices. These bounds generalize a result of Tardos and Szab&oacute;. We prove a fractional version of a strong-acyclic-coloring conjecture for digraphs. &copy; 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 59: 177&ndash;189, 2008
Image Correction and Reconstruction for Breast Biopsy
Authors: Meritxell Tortajada, Robert Martí, Jordi Freixenet, Josep Fernández, Melcior Sentís
Venue: Proceedings of the 9th international workshop on Digital Mammography (2008)

A methodology for enhancing image quality for a given biopsy sensor is presented. Due to the specific characteristics of the sensor the raw image quality is non optimal. We propose an approach for image enhancement based on flat field intensity normalisation and detection and correction of dead pixels effects. Qualitative and quantitative evaluation is provided using phantom images in order to show the validity of the method.
New Model for Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithms
Authors: Bojin Zheng, Yuanxiang Li
Venue: Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Computational Science, Part IV: ICCS 2007 (2007)

Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) have been proved efficient to deal with Multi-objective Optimization Problems (MOPs). Until now tens of MOEAs have been proposed. The unified mode would provide a more systematic approach to build new MOEAs. Here a new model is proposed which includes two sub-models based on two classes of different schemas of MOEAs. According to the new model, some representatives algorithms are decomposed and some interesting issues are discussed.
Design and Implement Controllable Multicast Based Audio/Video Collaboration
Authors: Xuan Zhang, Dongtao Liu, Xing Li
Venue: Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Computational Science, Part IV: ICCS 2007 (2007)

Multicast based audio/video collaboration system is one of representative applications in next generation internet. Adopting multicast technique could save bandwidth for multipoint-to-multipoint audio/video communication. Lack of ubiquitous native multicast limits the application, and current multicast based A/V collaboration systems lack effective control mechanism. This paper introduces one controllable audio/video collaboration system based on multicast. The control and management on audio/video collaboration are presented. The system has been implemented and applied on CERNET.
Improve local tangent space alignment using various dimensional local coordinates
Authors: Jing Wang
Venue: Neurocomputing (2008)

In the past few years, the problem of nonlinear dimensionality reduction arises in many fields of information processing. The local tangent space alignment (LTSA) is one of the effective and efficient algorithms to perform nonlinear dimensionality reduction. It has a number of attractive features: simple geometric intuitions, straightforward implementation, and global optimization. However, LTSA may fail on the manifold with nonuniformly distributed noise or large curvatures. In this paper, LTSA is improved by introducing various dimensional local coordinates to represent the local geometry for each neighborhood. The modified LTSA (MLTSA) is much stable and theoretical analysis is given to show the improvement of MLTSA on noisy manifold. We also illustrate the effectiveness of our method on both synthetic and real-world data sets.
Dynamical Systems Account for Meta-level Cognition
Authors: Michail Maniadakis, Jun Tani
Venue: Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior: From Animals to Animats (2008)

The current paper studies possible neuronal mechanisms for meta-level cognition of rule switching. In contrast to the conventional approach of hand-designing the cognitive functions, our study employs evolutional processes to search for neuronal mechanisms accounting for meta-level cognitive functions required in the investigated robotic tasks. Our repeated simulation experiments showed that the different rules are embedded in separate self-organized attractors, while rule switching is enabled by the transitions among attractors. Furthermore, the results showed that although certain segregation between the lower sensory-motor level and the higher cognitive level enhance the task performance, meta-level cognition is significantly supported by the embodiment and the lower level sensory-motor properties.
Plenary lecture 3: clustering with an N-dimensional extension of Gielis superformula
Authors: Angel Kuri-Morales
Venue: Proceedings of the 7th WSEAS International Conference on Electronics, Hardware, Wireless and Optical Communications (2008)

One of the most important issues regarding the analysis of raw data is the adequate identification of groups within such data. There have been many attempts to define a measure of what is "adequate" clustering. In all published cases, however, the adequateness of a cluster depends on a measure of distance chosen a priori. A metric or distance function is a function which defines a distance between elements of a set (for instance, one of the Ln family or Mahalanobis' distances have been utilized). Once a metric has been defined it remains to prove that the resulting clusters do, indeed, correspond to a proper classification. An obvious disadvantage of this methodology is, however, that in the space of the metric all clusters are hyperspherical. The shortcoming is that this fact immediately invalidates the attempt to find irregular shapes in such N-dimensional space. A metric induces a topology on a set but not all topologies can be generated by a metric. Topological unmetrisable spaces correspond, in this case, to a family of formulas developed originally by Gielis which he called a "superformula" (S). By replacing a metric by the elements of the hull defined by S we allow the search for more general shapes for our clusters. We report on the application of Vasconcelos Genetic Algorithm to find the parameters of S whose hulls encompass a large number of observations and the application of this method to data mining.
Evaluating public administration e-portals
Authors: Anamarija Leben, Mateja Kunstelj, Marko Bohanec, Mirko Vintar
Venue: Information Polity (2006)

Electronic administration portals have become the basic platform for electronic administrative services for users (citizens and businesses). The quality and user-friendliness of this supply depends to a large extent on how well planned and developed it is. The first part of the paper presents some of the more notable approaches to measuring the development or sophistication of e-services and administrative e-portals. Part two presents a methodology for evaluating e-portals developed at the Faculty of Administration - its strength lies primarily in its attempt to provide a more comprehensive evaluation of life-event portals. It measures the level of sophistication, coverage, coordination and accessibility of a service and combines these into an overall portal score. The paper closes by presenting empirical results from the application of the methodology to assess 12 administrative portals from around the world.
Robustness of Isotropic Stable Mutations in a General Search Space
Authors: Przemysław Prętki, Andrzej Obuchowicz
Venue: Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing (2006)

One of the most serious problem concerning global optimization methods is their correct configuration. Usually algorithms are described by some number of external parameters for which optimal values strongly depend on the objective function. If there is a lack of knowledge on the function under consideration the optimization algorithms can by adjusted using trail-and-error method. Naturally, this kind of approach gives rise to many computational problems. Moreover, it can be applied only when a lot of function evaluations is allowed. In order to avoid trial-and-error method it is reasonable to use an optimization algorithm which is characterized by the highest degree of robustness according to the variations in its control parameters. In this paper, the robustness issue of evolutionary strategy with isotropic stable mutations is discussed. The experimental simulations are conducted with the help of special search environment - the so-called general search space.
Watson and Me: A Life at IBM
Authors: Don Black, Walter Dickson Jones
Venue: IEEE Annals of the History of Computing (2003)

Don Black's grandfather, Walter D. Jones, was an executive at IBM. Black contacted the IBM Corporate Archives to find out more about his grandfather's working life. They sent an article written by Jones in 1944, titled "Personal Observations and Comments Concerning the History and Development of IBM: The Perspective of Walter D. Jones." For Annals, Black edited the article, added sidebars, and rearranged Jones' stories chronologically.
A Framework for Situated Multiagent Systems
Authors: Danny Weyns, Tom Holvoet
Venue: Software Engineering for Multi-Agent Systems V: Research Issues and Practical Applications (2007)

In this paper, we present an object-oriented framework for situated multiagent systems. The framework integrates various mechanisms for adaptivity we have developed and applied in our research, including selective perception, protocol-based communication, behavior-based decision making with roles and situated commitments, and laws that mediate the activities of agents in the environment. The framework provides a reusable design asset that facilitates the development of new multiagent system applications that share the common base more reliable and cost efficiently. We give an overview of the framework, and we zoom in on two particular features: decision making with a free-flow tree and support for simultaneous actions. Finally, we show how the framework is applied to an experimental robot application.
An Algebraic Semantics for Contract-Based Software Components
Authors: Michel Bidoit, Rolf Hennicker
Venue: Proceedings of the 12th international conference on Algebraic Methodology and Software Technology (2008)

We propose a semantic foundation for the contract-based design of software components. Our approach focuses on the characteristic principles of component-oriented development, like provided and required interface specifications and strong encapsulation. Semantically, we adopt classical concepts of mathematical logic using models, in our framework given by labelled transition systems with "states as algebras", sentences, and a satisfaction relation which characterizes those properties of a component which are observable by the user in the "strongly reachable" states. We distinguish between models of interfaces and models of component bodies. The latter are equipped with semantic encapsulation constraints which guarantee, that if the component body is a correct user of the required interface operations, then it can safely rely on all properties of the required interface specification. Our model-theoretic semantics of interfaces and component bodies suggests two semantic views on a component, its external and its internal semantics which must be properly related to ensure the correctness of a component. We also study a refinement relation between required and provided interface specifications of different components used for component composition.
Model-Driven Generation of Performance Prototypes
Authors: Steffen Becker, Tobias Dencker, Jens Happe
Venue: Proceedings of the SPEC international workshop on Performance Evaluation: Metrics, Models and Benchmarks (2008)

Early, model-based performance predictions help to understand the consequences of design decisions on the performance of the resulting system before the system's implementation becomes available. While this helps reducing the costs for redesigning systems not meeting their extra-functional requirements, performance prediction models have to abstract from the full complexity of modern hard- and software environments potentially leading to imprecise predictions. As a solution, the construction and execution of prototypes on the target execution environment gives early insights in the behaviour of the system under realistic conditions. In literature several approaches exist to generate prototypes from models which either generate code skeletons or require detailed models for the prototype. In this paper, we present an approach which aims at automated generation of a performance prototype based solely on a design model with performance annotations. For the concrete realisation, we used the Palladio Component Model (PCM), which is a component-based architecture modelling language supporting early performance analyses. For a typical three-tier business application, the resulting Java EE code shows how the prototype can be used to evaluate the influence of complex parts of the execution environment like memory interactions or the operating system's scheduler.
Data Selection Using SASH Trees for Support Vector Machines
Authors: Chaofan Sun, Ricardo Vilalta
Venue: Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Machine Learning and Data Mining in Pattern Recognition (2007)

This paper presents a data preprocessing procedure to select support vector (SV) candidates. We select decision boundary region vectors (BRVs) as SV candidates. Without the need to use the decision boundary, BRVs can be selected based on a vector's nearest neighbor of opposite class (NNO). To speed up the process, two spatial approximation sample hierarchical (SASH) trees are used for estimating the BRVs. Empirical results show that our data selection procedure can reduce a full dataset to the number of SVs or only slightly higher. Training with the selected subset gives performance comparable to that of the full dataset. For large datasets, overall time spent in selecting and training on the smaller dataset is significantly lower than the time used in training on the full dataset.
Diagrammatic Reasoning System with Euler Circles: Theory and Experiment Design
Authors: Koji Mineshima, Mitsuhiro Okada, Yuri Sato, Ryo Takemura
Venue: Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Diagrammatic Representation and Inference (2008)

In this paper we are concerned with logical and cognitive aspects of reasoning with Euler circles. We give a proof-theoretical analysis of diagrammatic reasoning with Euler circles involving unification and deletion rules. Diagrammatic syllogistic reasoning is characterized as a particular class of the general diagrammatic proofs. Given this proof-theoretical analysis, we present some conjectures on cognitive aspects of reasoning with Euler diagrams. Then we propose a design of experiment for a cognitive psychological study.
An Affective Behavior Model for Intelligent Tutors
Authors: Yasmín Hernández, Enrique Sucar, Cristina Conati
Venue: Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (2008)

We describe an affective behavior model (ABM) for intelligent tutoring systems. The model is a Dynamic Decision Network that selects tutorial actions based on both the current affective and pedagogical state of a student, as well as on the assessment of the expected effect of each available action on the student. We integrated the ABM with an educational game to learn number factorization, and here we present the preliminary results of a user study to evaluate its effectiveness.
Combining Domain-Specific and Foundational Logics to Verify Complete Software Systems
Authors: Xinyu Feng, Zhong Shao, Yu Guo, Yuan Dong
Venue: Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Verified Software: Theories, Tools, Experiments (2008)

A major challenge for verifying complete software systems is their complexity. A complete software system consists of program modules that use many language features and span different abstraction levels (e.g. user code and run-time system code). It is extremely difficult to use one verification system (e.g. type system or Hoare-style program logic) to support all these features and abstraction levels. In our previous work, we have developed a new methodology to solve this problem. We apply specialized "domain-specific" verification systems to verify individual program modules and then link the modules in a foundational open logical framework to compose the verified complete software package. In this paper, we show how this new methodology is applied to verify a software package containing implementations of preemptive threads and a set of synchronization primitives. Our experience shows that domain-specific verification systems can greatly simplify the verification process of low-level software, and new techniques for combining domain-specific and foundational logics are critical for the successful verification of complete software systems.