ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Reproducible testing of distributed software with middleware virtualization and simulation
Authors: Cyril Briquet, Pierre-Arnoul de Marneffe
Venue: Proceedings of the 6th workshop on Parallel and distributed systems: testing, analysis, and debugging (2008)

P2P Grids are Grids organized into P2P networks where participant exchange computing time so as to complete computational tasks. Evaluating the performance of scheduling algorithms enables one to deploy those that are efficient. Performance is often evaluated experimentally or through simulation because these algorithms (typically heuristics) are too complex to model analytically. Testing the implementation of P2P Grid middleware before it is deployed is also important: Reproducing configurations or conditions that lead to unexpected outcomes is thus valuable. A P2P Grid environment exhibits multiple sources of failure and is typically dynamic and uncontrollable. Reproducing even basic behavior of Grid nodes in a controllable and repeatable manner is thus exceedingly difficult. Such lack of control over the environment is a major challenge in the software engineering of P2P Grid middleware [7]. Simulators have been proposed to evaluate the performance of scheduling algorithms, but are often limited in scope, reusability and accuracy, i.e. they rely on simplified models. We introduce a software engineering pattern - that we call code once, deploy twice - to both reduce the distance between simulated and implemented algorithms and reproduce, at will, Grid configurations and environments: A simulator implementation of a Grid architecture is built by virtualizing its middleware implementation. An immediate benefit is that most of the code can be reused between both implementations; only communications between Grid nodes, multithreading within Grid nodes and actual task execution are coded differently. As a derived benefit, most of the code of the middleware can be tested within the controlled environment of the simulator, before it is deployed as-is. Another benefit is high simulation accuracy. We describe the implementation of a P2P Grid following the code once, deploy twice pattern, that we believe is also relevant to other Grid types (certainly Volunteer Grids [5, 4] and Desktop Grids [22], and possibly Globus-based Grids [3]).
A Comparison of Virtualization Technologies for HPC
Authors: John Paul Walters, Vipin Chaudhary, Minsuk Cha, Salvatore Guercio Jr., Steve Gallo
Venue: Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (2008)

Virtualization is a common strategy for improving the utilization of existing computing resources, particularly within data centers. However, its use for high performance computing (HPC) applications is currently limited despite its potential for both improving resource utilization as well as providing resource guarantees to its users. This paper systematically evaluates various VMs for computationally intensive HPC applications using various standard benchmarks. Using VMWare Server, Xen, and OpenVZ we examine the suitability of full virtualization, paravirtualization, and operating system-level virtualization in terms of network utilization, SMP performance, file system performance, and MPI scalability. We show that the operating system-level virtualization provided by OpenVZ provides the best overall performance, particularly for MPI scalability.
Missouri S&T Mote-Based Demonstration of Energy Monitoring Solution for Network Enabled Manufacturing Using Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)
Authors: James W. Fonda, Maciej J. Zawodniok, S. Jagannathan, Al Salour, Donald Miller Jr.
Venue: Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Information processing in sensor networks (2008)

In this work, an inexpensive electric utilities monitoring solution using wireless sensor networks is demonstrated that can easily be installed, deployed, maintained and eliminate unnecessary energy costs and effort. The monitoring solution is designed to support network enabled manufacturing (NEM) program using Missouri University of Science and Technology (MST), formerly the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR), motes.
On shortest path representation
Authors: Gábor Rétvári, József J. Bíró, Tibor Cinkler
Venue: IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (TON) (2007)

Lately, it has been proposed to use shortest path first routing to implement Traffic Engineering in IP networks. The idea is to set the link weights so that the shortest paths, and the traffic thereof, follow the paths designated by the operator. Clearly, only certain shortest path representable path sets can be used in this setting, that is, paths which become shortest paths over some appropriately chosen positive, integer-valued link weights. Our main objective in this paper is to distill and unify the theory of shortest path representability under the umbrella of a novel flow-theoretic framework. In the first part of the paper, we introduce our framework and state a descriptive necessary and sufficient condition to characterize shortest path representable paths. Unfortunately, traditional methods to calculate the corresponding link weights usually produce a bunch of superfluous shortest paths, often leading to congestion along the unconsidered paths. Thus, the second part of the paper is devoted to reducing the number of paths in a representation to the bare minimum. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that an algorithm is proposed, which is not only able to find a minimal representation in polynomial time, but also assures link weight integrality. Moreover, we give a necessary and sufficient condition to the existence of a one-to-one mapping between a path set and its shortest path representation. However, as revealed by our simulation studies, this condition seems overly restrictive and instead, minimal representations prove much more beneficial
Learning probabilistic prediction functions
Authors: A. DeSantis
Venue: Proceedings of the 29th Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (1988)

The question of how to learn rules, when those rules make probabilistic statements about the future, is considered. Issues are discussed that arise when attempting to determine what a good prediction function is, when those prediction functions make probabilistic assumptions. Learning has at least two purposes: to enable the learner to make predictions in the future and to satisfy intellectual curiosity as to the underlying cause of a process. Two results related to these distinct goals are given. In both cases, the inputs are a countable collection of functions which make probabilistic statements about a sequence of events. One of the results shows how to find one of the functions, which generated the sequence, the other result allows to do as well in terms of predicting events as the best of the collection. In both cases the results are obtained by evaluating a function based on a tradeoff between its simplicity and the accuracy of its predictions.
Mapping land cover from detailed aerial photography data using textural and neural network analysis
Authors: R. Cots-Folch, M. J. Aitkenhead, J. A. Martínez-Casasnovas
Venue: International Journal of Remote Sensing (2007)

Automated mapping of land cover using black and white aerial photographs, as an alternative method to traditional photo-interpretation, requires using methods other than spectral analysis classification. To this end, textural measurements have been shown to be useful indicators of land cover. In this work, a neural network model is proposed and tested to map historical land use/land cover (LUC) from very detailed panchromatic aerial photographs (5 m resolution) using textural measurements. The method is used to identify different land use and management types (e.g. traditional versus mechanized vineyard systems). These have been tested with known ground reference data. The results show the potential of the methodology to obtain automatic, historic, and very detailed cartography information from a complex landscape such as the mountainous and Mediterranean region to which it is applied here, and the advantages that this method has over traditional methods.
Automatic Detection of QRS Complexes using Quantum Neural Networks
Authors: Wang Shuyan
Venue: Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on BioMedical Engineering and Informatics - Volume 02 (2008)

The paper presents an approach to automatically detect QRS complexes using a novel type of neural networks, quantum neural networks(QNNs). QNNs are designed to achieve the goal through multilevel partitioning of the feature space. The capacity of QNNs for autonomously forming multilevel partitions of the feature space arises from their ability to create graded internal representations of the sample information provided by ECG signals. The fuzzy feature is expected to enhance the reliability of the network, which is critical for improving desirable diagnosis accuracy. The simulated results based on the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database confirmed the feasibility of the proposed approach.
A Data Warehousing Approach to Discover Knowledge in Peer-to-Peer Application
Authors: Min-Feng Wang, Jui-Hwa Feng, Meng-Feng Tsai
Venue: Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications - Workshops (2008)

Recently, BitTorrent has emerged as a very popular and scalable peer-to-peer file distribution mechanism. It has been successful at distributing large file quickly and efficiently. With an increasing number of users of BitTorrent, there should be much information about the user data flowing through the network. The rich information may imply the users’ habitual behaviors, data access patterns, interested files, and so on. The information is useful for general users, network managers, and designers, etc. Hence, we propose a framework on BitTorrent which combines data warehouse and data mining techniques to offer an efficient and systematic analysis for users.
Analysis of User Mobility Effects on Packet Level Performances in Next Generation Mobile Communication Networks
Authors: Furong Wang, Yasha Liu, Lai Tu, Peng Zhang
Venue: Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (2008)

Next generation cellular mobile networks will support heterogeneous packet switching traffic. For packet switching networks, packet level quality of service (QoS) should also be guaranteed apart from the call level QoS. In this paper, we investigate the effects of user mobility on the queueing performances of self-similar network traffic under new call bounding call admission control (CAC) scheme. We assume a general distribution of the cell residence time (CRT) to model the users’ mobility instead of the usually used exponential distribution. An easy-to-implement analytical method is employed to analyze the buffer overflow probability. Numerical results show that the expectation of CRT has great impact on the buffer overflow probability when the traffic load is high or the threshold of CAC scheme is low. And we also find that smaller variance of CRT has more significant impact on packet level performances.
Could Proactive Link-State Routed Wireless Networks Benefit from Local Fast Reroute?
Authors: Audun Fosselie Hansen, Geir Egeland, Paal Engelstad
Venue: Proceedings of the Communication Networks and Services Research Conference (2008)

The communication performance in wireless networks is often heavily influenced by failures caused by node mobility and radio disturbance. Proactive link state routing protocols like OLSR and OSPFv3 with wireless extensions (WOSPF) are currently relying on slow re-convergence to restore successful packet forwarding. This may not be appropriate for particular applications, and it may cause instability during transient failures. Support for fast and local reroute should therefore be added as a feature to proactive link-state based routing protocols. In this paper, we discuss the challenges and requirements that are associated with such solutions. In addition, we evaluate and discuss to what extent recent developments for fixed IP routing can serve as solutions.
Cross-cultural issues in a tutored video instruction course
Authors: Natalie Linnell, Richard Anderson, Jane Prey
Venue: Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education (2008)

In this paper we discuss cultural issues encountered while offering an Algorithms course from a US university at a Chinese university using Tutored Video Instruction (TVI). TVI is a distance learning methodology where lectures are recorded at one site and then shown to a group of students at a remote site by Teaching Assistants (TAs) who stop the video periodically for questions and discussion. In conducting this cross-cultural class, we were interested in determining if we could overcome the issues of using English language materials for Chinese students, achieve a sense of local ownership of the course, and create an interactive classroom environment. We were generally successful in achieving these goals by providing supporting materials and working closely with the Teaching Assistants who served as facilitators.
Comment on the article on 'Within-field wheat yield prediction from IKONOS data, a new matrix approach' by E. A. Enclona, P. S. Thenkabail, D. Celis and J. Diekmann, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 25, 377-388 (2004)
Authors: H. P. Piepho
Venue: International Journal of Remote Sensing (2007)

This article comments on a method of within-field yield prediction from IKONOS data published in this Journal (International Journal of Remote Sensing, 25, 377-388). The authors propose what they call a new matrix approach, which solves a system of linear equations relating actual yield to expected yield in four classes defined based on spectral characteristics and the relative areas for these classes as measured by remote sensing. The authors use five observations to estimate four unknown parameters, and they propose that generally p+1 observations could be used to estimate p parameters. This article shows that this approach will lead to very unreliable predictions of class yield. The problem is shown to be a standard multiple regression problem. It is argued that sample size must be considerably larger than the number of classes in order to obtain reliable yield estimates for the classes. Due to the very nature of the regressor variables, the relative areas of the classes, multicollinearity is expected to be a severe problem. Therefore, it may be useful to reduce the number of regressor variables using standard model selection procedures.
Influence of mechanical stress on adhesion properties of DC magnetron sputtered Ti/NiV/Ag layers on n+Si substrate
Authors: D. Resnik, D. Vrtačnik, U. Aljančič, M. Moek, S. Penič, S. Amon
Venue: Microelectronic Engineering (2008)

Due to insufficient adhesion of sputtered Ti/NiV/Ag metallization scheme on n^+Si substrate when annealed below 550^oC, investigation was focused on the influence of process parameters on adhesion properties. Adhesion between metallic stack and Si substrate was found to be a strong function of annealing temperature. Additional investigations showed that the cause for poor adhesion was also rather high residual stress in metal thin layers, particularly stress in sputtered NiV layer. High residual stress was measured for NiV (1883+/-252MPa) and lower for Ti (334+/-60MPa) and Ag (310+/-10MPa) layer, respectively. The influence of sputtering parameters on the stress behavior was experimentally verified. By reducing the cathode DC power and Ar working pressure during NiV sputtering we were able to reduce the stress within the structure. A clear correlation was found between the residual stress magnitude and adhesion properties within the temperature range from room temperature to 550^oC. By residual stress reduction within a metallic stack, the necessary annealing temperature to obtain optimal adhesion was reduced from 550 to 500^oC.
Seams 2008: software engineering for adaptive and self-managing systems
Authors: Marin Litoiu, Holger Giese
Venue: Companion of the 30th international conference on Software engineering (2008)

The Software Engineering for Adaptive and Self-managing Systems (SEAMS) workshop aims at consolidating the interest in the software engineering community on self-adaptive and self-managing systems. SEAMS provides a forum for researchers and practitioners to share new results, discuss challenging issues, raise awareness, and promote collaboration within the community. The SEAMS 2008 workshop builds on the success of SEAMS 2006 at ICSE in Shanghai and SEAMS 2007 at ICSE in Minneapolis.
Examining a supramodal network for conflict processing: A systematic review and novel functional magnetic resonance imaging data for related visual and auditory stroop tasks
Authors: Katherine L. Roberts, Deborah A. Hall
Venue: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (2008)

Cognitive control over conflicting information has been studied extensively using tasks such as the color-word Stroop, flanker, and spatial conflict task. Neuroimaging studies typically identify a fronto-parietal network engaged in conflict processing, but numerous additional regions are also reported. Ascribing putative functional roles to these regions is problematic because some may have less to do with conflict processing per se, but could be engaged in specific processes related to the chosen stimulus modality, stimulus feature, or type of conflict task. In addition, some studies contrast activation on incongruent and congruent trials, even though a neutral baseline is needed to separate the effect of inhibition from that of facilitation. In the first part of this article, we report a systematic review of 34 neuroimaging publications, which reveals that conflict-related activity is reliably reported in the anterior cingulate cortex and bilaterally in the lateral prefrontal cortex, the anterior insula, and the parietal lobe. In the second part, we further explore these candidate “conflict” regions through a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, in which the same group of subjects perform related visual and auditory Stroop tasks. By carefully controlling for the same task (Stroop), the same to-be-ignored stimulus dimension (word meaning), and by separating out inhibitory processes from those of facilitation, we attempt to minimize the potential differences between the two tasks. The results provide converging evidence that the regions identified by the systematic review are reliably engaged in conflict processing. Despite carefully matching the Stroop tasks, some regions of differential activity remained, particularly in the parietal cortex. We discuss some of the task-specific processes which might account for this finding.
Evaluation of techniques for visualizing mathematical expression recognition results
Authors: Joseph J. LaViola,  Jr., Anamary Leal, Timothy S. Miller, Robert C. Zeleznik
Venue: Proceedings of graphics interface 2008 (2008)

We present an experimental study that evaluates four different techniques for visualizing the machine interpretation of handwritten mathematics. Typeset in Place puts a printed form of the recognized expression in the same location as the handwritten mathematics. Adjusted Ink replaces what was written with scaled-to-fit, cleaned up handwritten characters using an ink font. The Large Offset technique scales a recognized printed form to be just as wide as the handwritten input, and places it below the handwritten mathematical expression. The Small Offset technique is similar to Large Offset but the printed form is set to be a fixed size which is generally small compared to the written expression. Our experiment explores how effective each technique is with assisting users in identifying and correcting recognition mistakes with different types and quantities of mathematical expressions. Our evaluation is based on task completion time and a comprehensive post-questionnaire used to solicit reactions on each technique. The results of our study indicate that, although each technique has advantages and disadvantages depending on the complexity of the handwritten mathematics, subjects took significantly longer to complete the recognition task with Typeset in Place and generally preferred Adjusted Ink or Small Offset.
Research on an improved FIR-ALE method for sinusoidal phase jitter compensation
Authors: Qing-Feng Jing, Qing Guo, Xue-Mai Gu
Venue: Digital Signal Processing (2008)

Based on the least mean square (LMS) algorithm, an improved compensation method for finite impulse response-adaptive line enhancer (FIR-ALE) method has been proposed. In order to compare these two compensation methods, their power spectrums, bit error rate-signal-to-noise ratios (BER-SNR), learning curves, and signal constellations have been studied through Matlab simulations, while taking the 8PSK modulation signal as an example. The results of the comparison illustrate that the improved method enhances the compensation ability of the FIR-ALE method by 18 and 25 dB, when the jitter amplitude is 5^o and 15^o, respectively. Some factors influencing the compensation ability are studied by theoretical analysis and simulation under the condition of one-sinusoidal jitter and multiple-sinusoidal jitter. These factors include the phase jitter amplitude, the phase jitter frequency, the number of the filter taps, and the number of the pilot symbols. The results indicate that the compensation ability is unrelated to the phase jitter frequency and that the system becomes useless when the geometric sum of sinusoidal jitter amplitudes exceeds the hard decision distance.
Solution of eighth-order boundary value problems using the non-polynomial spline technique
Authors: Shahid S. Siddiqi, Ghazala Akram
Venue: International Journal of Computer Mathematics (2007)

The non-polynomial spline technique is used for the numerical solution of eighth-order linear special case boundary value problems. The method presented in this paper has also been proven to be second-order convergent. To compare the method developed in this paper with those developed by Inc and Evans, and Siddiqi and Twizell, two examples are considered and it is observed that our method is more efficient.
Empirical observations on video editing in the mobile context
Authors: Tero Jokela, Kaj Mäkelä, Minna Karukka
Venue: Proceedings of the 4th international conference on mobile technology, applications, and systems and the 1st international symposium on Computer human interaction in mobile technology (2007)

Today's mobile devices enable the users to capture video clips with integrated digital cameras. However, capturing a video clip exactly as intended is often challenging -- in many cases, the possibility to edit the clip after capture would be useful. Earlier we have presented the Mobile Video Editor, an application that allows the users to edit video clips instantly after capture on their mobile devices. In this paper, we describe a field trial that we arranged to further evaluate the Mobile Video Editor concept and to better understand the usage patterns of video editing in the mobile context. The results indicate that especially the teenagers and younger adults found the capability to edit captured video clips a beneficial feature in mobile devices. In addition to being a practical tool to prepare the videos for sharing with others, the Mobile Video Editor was used as a form of entertainment.