ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
A Formal Approach to Workflow Analysis
Authors: Amit Basu, Robert W. Blanning
Venue: Information Systems Research (2000)

Agile manufacturing, fast-response micromarketing, and the rise of the virtual organization have led managers to focus on cross-functional business processes that link various divisions and organizations. These processes may be realized as one or more workflows, each of which is an instantiation of a process under certain conditions. Because an ability to adapt processes to workflow conditions is essential for organizational responsiveness, identifying and analyzing significant workflows is an important activity for managers, organization designers, and information systems specialists. A variety of software systems have been developed to aid in the structuring and implementation of workflow systems, but they are mostly visualization tools with few analytical capabilities. For example, they do not allow their users to easily determine which information elements are needed to compute other information elements, whether certain tasks depend on other tasks, and how resource availability affects information and tasks. Analyses of this type can be performed by inspection, but this gives rise to the possibility of error, especially in large systems. In this paper, we show how a mathematical construct called a metagraph can be used to represent workflows, so that such questions can be addressed through formal operations, leading to more effective design of organizational processes.
A Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Why Organizations Downsize
Authors: J. T. Linderoth, M. W. P. Savelsbergh, Art Budros
Venue: Organization Science (1999)

Although downsizing has become an integral part of organizational life in the U.S., there is little serious theoretical or empirical work on this issue. Nearly all of the completed work addresses the effects of downsizing, whic h usually are negative. Therefore, an important yet unanswered question is: Why do organizations downsize in the first place? In addressing this question, I offer some systematic thoughts on the causes of downsizing. Specifically, I develop a conceptual f ramework for studying organizational innovation that draws on two overlooked dimensions associated with this phenomenon, the basis of social action (rational versus arational) and social context (organizational versus extraorganizational). I then characte rize downsizing as an organizational innovation and develop propositions that explain why organizations downsize. Finally, I emphasize that empirical evaluation of these propositions will help us to understand a pivotal organizational development of recent decades.
A Bi-Objective Median Location Problem With a Line Barrier
Authors: Kathrin Klamroth, Margaret M. Wiecek
Venue: Operations Research (2002)

The multiple objective median problem (MOMP) involves locating a new facility with respect to a given set of existing facilities so that a vector of performance criteria is optimized. A variation of this problem is obtained if the existing facilities are situated on two sides of a linear barrier. Such barriers, like rivers, highways, borders, or mountain ranges, are frequently encountered in practice. In this paper, theory of an MOMP with line barriers is developed. As this problem is nonconvex but specially structured, a reduction to a series of convex optimization problems is proposed. The general results lead to a polynomial algorithm for finding the set of efficient solutions. The algorithm is proposed for bicriteria problems with different measures of distance.
Computing Moments of the Exit Time Distribution for Markov Processes by Linear Programming
Authors: Kurt Helmes, Stefan Röhl, Richard H. Stockbridge
Venue: Operations Research (2001)

We provide a new approach to the numerical computation of moments of the exit time distribution of Markov processes. The method relies on a linear programming formulation of a process exiting from a bounded domain. The LP formulation characterizes the evolution of the process through the moments of the induced occupation measure and naturally provides upper and lower bounds for the exact values of the moments. The conditions the moments have to satisfy are derived directly from the generator of the Markov process and are not based on some approximation of the process. Excellent software is readily available because the computations involve finite dimensional linear programs.
Sustainability and the Firm
Authors: Forest Reinhardt
Venue: Interfaces (2000)

Macroeconomic definitions of sustainability focus on the need to maintain aggregate stocks of natural and manufactured capital constant over time, so that future generations have consumption possibilities similar to those of the current generation. Similar tests can be applied at the firm level. To be sustainable, a company must maintain on its balance sheet an undiminished level of total net assets, measured at their social costs. It must also pass a similar test when assets are valued at prevailing private costs. To make realistic assessments of a country's or firm's sustainability, therefore, one needs to consider its overall economic performance as well as its environmental performance. By this definition, sustainability is intimately linked to the fundamental preoccupations of business managers: productivity, investment, and profit.
Cultural Industries Revisited
Authors: Paul M. Hirsch
Venue: Organization Science (2000)

In my early "Processing Fads and Fashions: An Organization-Set Analysis of Cultural Industry Systems" (1972), the middle "throughput" phase, or most organizational aspect of cultural industries, was emphasized. In this depoliticized exploration of what Adorno (1991) had earlier characterized as the industrialization of high culture, and Powdermaker (1950) as Hollywood's "dream factory," I emphasized the key roles of gatekeeper and distributor organizations as critical in connecting the artist/creators to audience/consumers of mass, or "popular" culture (as it had more acceptingly come to be called). Altogether, this network of organizations--from creators (artists, musicians, actors, writers) and brokers (agents), through the cultural product's producers (publishers, studios), distributors (wholesalers, theaters), and media outlets--collectively constitutecultural industries. This article on industries producing "cultural products"--defined as " 'nonmaterial' goods directed at a public of consumers, for whom they generally serve an esthetic or expressive, rather than a clearly utilitarian function" (Hirsch 1972 p. 641)--appeared at the same time that organizational sociology's focus on what became known as the "production of culture" took off, and continued to flourish into the 1990s (Peterson 1994, Crane 1992).How has the study of cultural industries changed over the last generation? A simple answer is that the subject--the key role of distribution and the importance of organizational middlemen in the making and sale of popular culture--remains analytically the same. From actors, musicians, and writers; through studios, labels and publishers, to videocassettes, movie theaters, record stores, and booksellers (in stores or via the Internet)--cultural products flow. How this sequence is organized and traversed remains a fascinating forest of power plays and techniques, employed by role-occupants in the same positions as have existed since the advent of mass media. While this substantive field has changed little analytically, what we also see is a wondrous expansion in the disciplinary approaches being taken to examine the multitude of topics available for examination under the broad rubric and framing of the term, "cultural industries." Because I was a graduate student at the time (my roommate dared me to submit the "Processing..." paper to theAmerican Journal of Sociology), it is a great pleasure to find the concept has retained its value for other researchers since that time.In this article, I will (1) reexamine and discuss the original framing of the termcultural industries; (2) briefly review some of the more recent complementary perspectives which expand the possible arenas for studying this topic; and (3) append a short note on how the more recent inclusion ofnonprofit cultural products (e.g., symphonies, museums) in this framework poses interesting analytical questions and opportunities.
Color gamut matching for tiled display walls
Authors: Grant Wallace, Han Chen, Kai Li
Venue: Proceedings of the workshop on Virtual environments 2003 (2003)

This paper presents a non-parametric full-gamut color matching algorithm. Color matching is important for the seamless appearance of tiled displays. In particular we address the case where the tiled display is composed of different types of projectors or DLP projectors with white enhancement. White enhancement produces a non-additive color space that is difficult to model. We perform our calibration using an inexpensive colorimeter as opposed to a highly accurate spectroradiometer. Our results show that we can achieve good color balance with 1.47% variance between projectors. We present a method for applying this color gamut mapping in real-time on the newest commodity graphics cards.
From human decision making to DMSS architecture
Authors: Jean-Charles Pomerol, Frédéric Adam
Venue: Decision making support systems: achievements, trends and challenges for (2002)

In this chapter we begin by featuring the main characteristics of the human decision process. Then, from these traits, we separate the decision process between diagnosis and look-ahead. We explain why DMSSs are mainly look-ahead machines. We claim that look-ahead is generally performed via heuristic search and "what-if analysis" at different cognitive levels. This leads to a functional definition of DMSSs and to different architectures adapted to heuristic search and moreover, paves the way for an analysis of the decision support tools.
Service Design and Price Competition in Business Information Services
Authors: T. C. A. Bashyam
Venue: Operations Research (2000)

We examine two competing technologies for delivering business information to professional subscribers: first, a package service that delivers information using physical media, such as CD-ROMs; second, an online service that allows subscribers to access information over online networks. We model the information services market as a duopoly, where each information service provider is equipped with either packaged or online information delivery technology. They compete for potential subscribers characterized by their usage volume. Subscribers may also choose "self-service," wherein they collect and collate information directly from the source. Service design for information service providers must specify their information delivery technology and the size of the database they provide. Service providers first commit to a service design and then enter a price competition phase, where they choose the parameters of their feasible pricing strategies. Specifically, a package service provider chooses a fixed charge for subscription. An online provider chooses both a fixed charge and a marginal charge, because it is possible to meter usage in that technology. We show that the package provider serves high volume subscribers while the online provider serves low volume subscribers. We also derive bounds on equilibrium database sizes, prices, and market shares for each provider.
Undesirable effects of output normalization in multiple classifier systems
Authors: Hakan Altinçay, Mübeccel Demirekler
Venue: Pattern Recognition Letters (2003)

Incomparability of the classifier output scores is a major problem in the combination of different classification systems. In order to deal with this problem, the measurement level classifier outputs are generally normalized. However, empirical results have shown that output normalization may lead to some undesirable effects. This paper presents analyses for some most frequently used normalization methods and it is shown that the main reason for these undesirable effects of output normalization is the dimensionality reduction in the output space. An artificial classifier combination example and a real-data experiment are provided where these effects are further clarified.
On the Edge: Heeding the Warnings of Unusual Events
Authors: Alfred A. Marcus, Mary L. Nichols
Venue: Organization Science (1999)

When organizations pay inadequate attention to unusual events, the possibility of breaching a safety barrier increases. With hindsight it often appears that full advantage is not taken of what is known. Part of the reason organizations neglect apparent warnings is because of limited resources and the way resources are allocated. Drawing on concepts from the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, this paper examines situations where resource availability and use can compromise safety by initiating drift. Empirical evidence from the nuclear power industry is reviewed to demonstrate the relationship between resources, resource deployment, and drift. Drift is influenced by error signals, feedback loops, and imperfect watchfulness. Resource availability and use can initiate drift, but they do not necessarily yield catastrophe. Should organizations fall into a threatened position, they can enlist characteristics, behaviors, and capabilities to stabilize the situation, avoid breaching the safety border, and achieve greater security. Through an in-depth study of two plants with contrasting reputations for safety, this paper identifies the characteristics, behaviors, and capabilities that organizations on the edge exhibit. The characteristics, behaviors, and capabilities of the plant with the stronger safety reputation changed after a significant reduction of resources. Resource reduction led to movement toward the safety border, which in turn led to change. Evidence shows that organizations operating closer to the border of safety respond to warnings from unusual events in a resilient rather than anticipatory way. To overcome unexpected problems and limitations, they rely on after-the-fact intervention rather than preparation, foresight, and the provision of countermeasures. Once they recognize they have problems, they explore for novel approaches, typically seeking new knowledge and skills by dismissing old staff and hiring new people, buying advice from outside experts or consultants, and modeling, benchmarking, and copying other organizations' best practices. Organizations on the edge initiate change in response to external demands for change often only after painful public incidents. These organizations emphasize hierarchy and powerful headquarters staff, and their leaders tend to act as commanders and controllers rather than as catalysts and facilitators. The focus of this paper is not on the occurrence of accidents per se, nor on highly reliable operations, but on the precursors and consequences of drift within a safety border. Operating on the edge of the border extends beyond safety to other performance measures and beyond nuclear power to other industries. In settings as diverse as U.S. banks, hospitals, and universities, Israeli kibbutzim, Japanese kereitsu, and Korean chaebol, operating on the edge has become more common.
Should UML be used for declarative programming?
Authors: David A. Schmidt
Venue: Proceedings of the 3rd ACM SIGPLAN international conference on Principles and practice of declarative programming (2001)

Widely used in object-oriented programming, the Unified Modelling Language (UML) is largely ignored by the declarative programming community. this paper attempts to introduce the UML and provide reasons for its adoption by declarative programmers as both a design methodology and as a novel application area.
PRESPE: participatory requirements elicitation using scenarios and photo essays
Authors: Kentaro Go, Yasuaki Takamoto, John M. Carroll, Atsumi Imamiya, Hisanori Masuda
Venue: CHI '03 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems (2003)

We describe our ongoing investigation of the PRESPE (Participatory Requirements Elicitation using Scenarios and Photo Essays) method. PRESPE enables participants to reflect upon their personal experiences when using systems and create photo-essays based on this reflection. The participants can then analyze these experiences by forming design concepts, envision scenarios by imagining contexts of use, and create artifacts by sketching these scenarios. Our case study showed that PRESPE enabled participants, even those with no prior design education, to create novel ideas regarding system development.
Constructive modeling of G1 bifurcation
Authors: Xiuzi Ye, Yi-Yu Cai, Cheekong Chui, James H. Anderson
Venue: Computer Aided Geometric Design (2002)

This paper deals with the modeling of G1 bifurcation. A branch-blending strategy is applied to model the bifurcation such that the coherence among the individual branching segments is characterized. To achieve this, bi-cubic Bézier patches are first used to generate three half-tubular surfaces by sweeping operations. The bifurcation modeling is then converted to a problem of filling two triangular holes surrounded by the swept half-tubular surfaces. In order for the bifurcation model to be G1, the candidate surfaces for hole filling are required to have (i) an inter-patch tangential continuity along the so-called star-lines; and (ii) a cross-boundary tangential continuity with the surrounding half-tubular surfaces. For inter-patch tangential continuity, we use the method proposed by Gregory and Zhou (1994) to determine the center-point, the star-lines, and the associated vector-valued cross-boundary derivatives. The problem of ensuring the cross-boundary tangential continuity with the surrounding surfaces is more difficult. We first derive the conditions for the twist-compatibility from the requirements of cross-boundary tangential continuity. The solutions for the conditions derived are then developed. The hole boundaries, originally in cubic Bézier form, are constructively modified to the quintic form to ensure the twist-compatibility and uniqueness of the tangent planes at the hole corners. Subsequently, the half-tubular surfaces in bi-cubic Bézier form are degree-elevated to quintic form along the sweeping directions. This is followed by the modification of the second row control points with the half-tubular surfaces in order to retain a cubic form of the surfaces' cross-boundary derivatives. Vector-valued cross-boundary derivatives in quintic Bézier form are constructed for the hole patches. Using a Coons-Boolean sum approach, the derivatives are utilized to modify the three Bézier patches into the final bi-quintic form in the triangle fill area for each hole.
Visualizing model mappings in UML
Authors: Jan Hendrik Hausmann, Stuart Kent
Venue: Proceedings of the 2003 ACM symposium on Software visualization (2003)

Whenever multiple representations or models of a system exist, there is the possibility of defining how they relate. In model driven software development, it is essential that these mappings are defined precisely and automated as far as possible: they form the basis for generation of code and other models from a model, for reconciliation and management of consistency between models, and even for the definition of modeling languages themselves. A standard way of defining software modeling languages is metamodeling, which involves the construction of an object model of the syntax and, optionally, semantics of the language, using the diagrammatic syntax of the Unified Modeling Language (UML). This paper proposes an extension to UML for expressing mappings between models using diagrams, and illustrates how the extension can be used in metamodeling. The extension is inspired by mathematical relations and corrects a deficiency in the concept of association in class diagrams. The notation of object diagrams is also extended to allow particular instances of a relation to be presented.
Parallel Machine Scheduling by Column Generation
Authors: J. M. Van Den Akker, J. A. Hoogeveen, S. L. Van De Velde
Venue: Operations Research (1999)

Parallel machine scheduling problems concern the scheduling of n jobs on m machines to minimize some function of the job completion times. If preemption is not allowed, then most problems are not only NP-hard, but also very hard from a practical point of view. In this paper, we show that strong and fast linear programming lower bounds can be computed for an important class of machine scheduling problems with additive objective functions. Characteristic of these problems is that on each machine the order of the jobs in the relevant part of the schedule is obtained through some priority rule. To that end, we formulate these parallel machine scheduling problems as a set covering problem with an exponential number of binary variables, n covering constraints, and a single side constraint. We show that the linear programming relaxation can be solved efficiently by column generation because the pricing problem is solvable in pseudo-polynomial time. We display this approach on the problem of minimizing total weighted completion time on m identical machines. Our computational results show that the lower bound is singularly strong and that the outcome of the linear program is often integral. Moreover, they show that our branch-and-bound algorithm that uses the linear programming lower bound outperforms the previously best algorithm.
Multi-scale problems in the quantitative characterization of complex catalytic materials
Authors: G. S. Yablonsky, D. Constales, J. T. Gleaves
Venue: Systems Analysis Modelling Simulation (2002)

Different paradigms of multi-scale analysis and modeling in modern chemical engineering are described. First, the "sequential" (hierarchical) multi-scale mathematical modeling, which is based on the hidden assumption that the model on one level is independent of the model on the previous level; second, the multi-scale approach to a multiobjective task, in which experimental data on the different levels is obtained simultaneously, and the mathematical models are built up simultaneously as well. A new approach, the 'multi-scale characterization approach' is then proposed; it is a modification of the 'interrogative kinetics' approach recently developed on the basis of the TAP (Temporal Analysis of Products)-experiment technique. The essential features of this approach are the use of well-defined diffusion as a "measuring stick", the provision of non-steady state kinetic information, "state-defining" and "state-altering" experiments, minimal gradients of concentration for non-steady-state active materials, a special procedure to distinguish the non-steady-state activity characteristic from the transport characteristic (Y-procedure), the "Rate-Reactivity Model" as a standard form of the representation of the chemical activity of solid material. The corresponding models are mostly partial differential equations to the analysis of which computer algebra methods have been applied. This approach is related to heterogenous reactions, especially selective oxidation catalytic reactions.
Is IP going to take over the world (of communications)?
Authors: Pablo Molinero-Fernández, Nick McKeown, Hui Zhang
Venue: ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review (2003)

While it is technically pleasing to believe that IP will dominate all forms of communication, our delight in its elegance is making us overlook its shortcomings. IP is an excellent means to exchange data, which explains its success. It remains ill suited as a means to provide many other types of service; and is too crude to form the transport infrastructure in its own right. To allow the continued success of IP, we must be open-minded to it living alongside, and co-operating with other techniques (such as circuit switching) and protocols that are optimized to different needs. In this position paper, we question some of the folklore surrounding IP and packet switching. We conclude that while packet-switched IP will continue to dominate best-effort data services at the edge of the network, the core of the network will use optical circuit switching as a platform for multiple services.