ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Placement of replicated message mediation components
Authors: Ying Li, Rob Strom, Chitra Dorai
Venue: Proceedings of the 2007 ACM/IFIP/USENIX international conference on Middleware companion (2007)

In this paper, we propose a technique for placing components of mediation flows within a Message-Oriented Middleware where components can be replicated. A mediation flow is a directed acyclic graph of message transformations (also known as mediations) connecting sources and sinks of messages. The source nodes correspond to producers, who enter messages into the middleware; the sink nodes correspond to consumers, who receive results derived from the input messages. All other nodes in the graph represent transformations of messages in the middleware. A placement is an assignment of nodes of the mediation flow graph to physical machines (brokers) in a distributed network.
Userlands: New Fiction Writers from the Blogging Underground
Authors: Dennis Cooper
Venue:  (2007)

This anthology brings to light some of the new fiction writers who are using the Internets labyrinthine array of blogs and personal web pages to expose, test, and develop their work. They are gay, straight, young, old, and in some cases still searching for their identities.Written by Dennis Cooper
On the Symmetric Gaussian Multiple Description Rate-Distortion Function
Authors: Chao Tian, Soheil Mohajer, Suhas Diggavi
Venue: Proceedings of the Data Compression Conference (2008)

We consider symmetric multiple description coding for the Gaussian source, and provide upper and lower bounds for the individual description rate-distortion function. One of the main contributions of this work is a novel lower bound on the sum rate under symmetric distortion constraints, which yields a lower bound on the individualrate for the symmetric case. Two upper bounds are derived, the first of which is based on successive refinement coding coupled with multilevel diversity coding (SR-MLD), and the second is based on the multi-layer coding scheme proposed in literature. We show that the gaps between the lower bound and the upper bounds are no larger thancertain constants depending only on the number of descriptions, but not the distortion constraints. Moreover, regardless of the number of descriptions, the gap between the lower bound and the upper bound using the SR-MLD coding scheme is less than 1.5 bits, and for the other case, the gap is less than 1 bit.
Testing contractibility in planar rips complexes
Authors: Erin W. Chambers, Jeff Erickson, Pratik Worah
Venue: Proceedings of the twenty-fourth annual symposium on Computational geometry (2008)

The (Vietoris-)Rips complex of a discrete point-set P is an abstract simplicial complex in which a subset of P defines a simplex if and only if the diameter of that subset is at most 1. We describe an efficient algorithm to determine whether a given cycle in a planar Rips complex is contractible. Our algorithm requires O(m log n) time to preprocess a set of n points in the plane in which m pairs have distance at most 1; after preprocessing, deciding whether a cycle of k Rips edges is contractible requires O(k) time. We also describe an algorithm to compute the shortest non-contractible cycle in a planar Rips complex in O(n2log n + mn) time.
Modifying the output format for set classes in the Java collections
Authors: Wanwu Guo
Venue: Proceedings of the 10th WSEAS International Conference on APPLIED MATHEMATICS (2006)

In Java Collections, the Set interface is implemented using a balanced BST and a chained HT as TreeSet class and HashSet class, respectively. TreeSet produces sorted output for the values in the set, but does not support the output for the values in their insertion order. HashSet provides neither sorted nor insertion-order output, but a random sequence of values. LinkedHashSet, a subclass of HashSet, supports the insertion-order outputs for the values in the set, but does not produce sorted output. This paper proposes an application-level solution and two class-level solutions for making these classes accommodate the sorted and insertion-order output together in their most efficient ways. The application-level solution requires no change to the current configurations of the set classes in the Java Collections, but its flexibility and portability are restricted to the level of application code only. The Linked TreeSet solution requires a new class to be implemented using both a balanced BST and doubly linked list. The performance of its basic operations may be affected. By introducing an internal method for producing sorted output into the LinkedHashTable class, we can easily achieve the flexibility in output format without change any other configurations of the class. If this method is placed in the HashSet class, users can freely choose their preferred output format in random order, insertion order, or ascending order. This solution can also be applied to the hash map classes in the Java Collections.
Optimum design of water conveyance system by ant colony optimization algorithms
Authors: Habibeh Abbasi, Abbas Afshar, Saeed Alimohammadi
Venue: Proceedings of the 5th WSEAS/IASME International Conference on Systems Theory and Scientific Computation (2005)

Water conveyance systems (WCSs) are costly infrastructure in terms of materials, construction, maintenance and energy requirements. Much attention has been given to the application of optimization methods to minimize the costs associated with such infrastructure. Historically, traditional optimization techniques have been used, such as linear and non-linear programming, but within the past decade the focus has shifted to the use of evolutionary algorithms, such as genetic algorithms, simulated annealing and more recently ant colony optimization (ACO). In this paper, application of ACO algorithm on the design of water supply pipeline systems is presented. Ant colony optimization algorithms, which are based on foraging behavior of ants, is successfully applied to optimize this problem. A computer model is developed that can receive pumping stations at any possible or predefined locations and optimize their specifications. As any direct search method, the model is quite sensitive to setup parameters, hence fine tuning of the parameters is recommended.
Saliency model-based face segmentation and tracking in head-and-shoulder video sequences
Authors: Hongliang Li, King N. Ngan
Venue: Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation (2008)

In this paper, a novel face segmentation algorithm is proposed based on facial saliency map (FSM) for head-and-shoulder type video application. This method consists of three stages. The first stage is to generate the saliency map of input video image by our proposed facial attention model. In the second stage, a geometric model and an eye-map built from chrominance components are employed to localize the face region according to the saliency map. The third stage involves the adaptive boundary correction and the final face contour extraction. Based on the segmented result, an effective boundary saliency map (BSM) is then constructed, and applied for the tracking based segmentation of the successive frames. Experimental evaluation on test sequences shows that the proposed method is capable of segmenting the face area quite effectively.
A realistic approach to source localization using a wireless robotic network
Authors: Christos Christodoulopoulos, Christos Kyriakopoulos, Athanasios G. Kanatas
Venue: Proceedings of the 1st international conference on Robot communication and coordination (2007)

This paper investigates the problem of target localizing by a communicating robotic swarm in an unknown environment. Robots have to collaboratively search for the target while avoiding obstacles in their way. Emphasis is given on how physical constraints such as obstacles and communication links affect the swarm's operation. Finally, simulation results of the proposed system in a small scale area are presented and evaluated and possible uses of the system are discussed.
Multi-Criteria Markets: An Exploratory Study of Market Process Design
Authors: Alea M. Fairchild, Philip O'reilly, Patrick Finnegan, Pieter M. Ribbers
Venue: Electronic Markets (2007)

This paper explores market process design for multi-criteria markets using the electronic market process design work of Ribbers et al. (2002) and Kambil and van Heck (1998). The study utilizes a case study of a market intermediary in the utilities sector to examine how multi-criteria markets differ from price-only alternatives. The study reveals significant differences in the role of the intermediary in the operation of multi-criteria markets, as well as marked differences in market process design in the areas of authentication, product representation and communications/computing. We conclude that these differences represent a fundamental shift in B2B procurement relationships from those described by Kaplan and Sawhney (2000) towards strategic sourcing.
Entering the mobile service market via mobile platforms: Qualcomm's BREW platform and Nokia's Preminet platform
Authors: Wen-Tzu Chen, Chih-Nan Hu
Venue: Telecommunications Policy (2008)

The mobile telecommunication market has evolved from simple voice to multimedia services. In the past, the primary players in mobile services were local operators in different countries; international telecommunication vendors, such as Qualcomm and Nokia, were seldom involved in the mobile service market. In order to enter this market, Qualcomm and Nokia have separately introduced their mobile application platforms, called respectively BREW and Preminet. This paper examines how the two companies attempt to share the mobile service market through their mobile platforms and internationalized business models. This paper also analyzes their mobile platforms' business models and their strategic implications.
An efficient rectilinear Steiner tree algorithm with obstacles
Authors: Hsin-Hsiung Huang, Hui Yu Huang, De-Jing Huang, Tsai-Ming Hsieh
Venue: Proceedings of the 5th WSEAS International Conference on Circuits, Systems, Electronics, Control & Signal Processing (2006)

The paper presents the algorithm which constructs the Steiner tree in the presence of the obstacles. Two accomplishments which one effectively finds the result and the other efficiently obtains the solution are proposed in this study. The first proposed method connects the pins with obstacles using the spanning graph. At the first stage, the spanning graph is constructed by the given pins and the four corner points of the obstacles. At the second stage, the searching algorithm is performed to find a sub-graph, the spanning tree, and transform the spanning tree into a rectilinear Steiner tree at the third stage. The second proposed method which first builds a routing tree without the obstacles and then removes the intersection edge obtains efficiently the routing result. The objective of the problem, which is solved in this paper, is to minimize the total wire-length. Compared with the total wirelength without the obstacles, it shows experimentally that the graph-based algorithm can obtain the routing solution with only 1.26% extra total wire-length in the presence of obstacles. As to the two-stage heuristic method, it obtains on average 190000 × speedup over while takes the 6.4% extra total wirelength.
On the Suitable Domain for SVM Training in Image Coding
Authors: Gustavo Camps-Valls, Juan Gutiérrez, Gabriel Gómez-Pérez, Jesús Malo
Venue: The Journal of Machine Learning Research (2008)

Conventional SVM-based image coding methods are founded on independently restricting the distortion in every image coefficient at some particular image representation. Geometrically, this implies allowing arbitrary signal distortions in an n-dimensional rectangle defined by the ε-insensitivity zone in each dimension of the selected image representation domain. Unfortunately, not every image representation domain is well-suited for such a simple, scalar-wise, approach because statistical and/or perceptual interactions between the coefficients may exist. These interactions imply that scalar approaches may induce distortions that do not follow the image statistics and/or are perceptually annoying. Taking into account these relations would imply using non-rectangular ε-insensitivity regions (allowing coupled distortions in different coefficients), which is beyond the conventional SVM formulation. In this paper, we report a condition on the suitable domain for developing efficient SVM image coding schemes. We analytically demonstrate that no linear domain fulfills this condition because of the statistical and perceptual inter-coefficient relations that exist in these domains. This theoretical result is experimentally confirmed by comparing SVM learning in previously reported linear domains and in a recently proposed non-linear perceptual domain that simultaneously reduces the statistical and perceptual relations (so it is closer to fulfilling the proposed condition). These results highlight the relevance of an appropriate choice of the image representation before SVM learning.
Fast collision detection using the A-buffer
Authors: Hanyoung Jang, JungHyun Han
Venue: The Visual Computer: International Journal of Computer Graphics (2008)

This paper presents a novel and fast image-space collision detection algorithm with the A-buffer, where the GPU computes the potentially colliding sets (PCSs), and the CPU performs the standard triangle intersection test. When the bounding boxes of two objects intersect, the intersection is passed to the GPU. The object surfaces in the intersection are rendered into the A-buffer. Rendering into the A-buffer is up to eight-times faster than the ordinary approaches. Then, PCSs are computed by comparing the depth values of each texel of the A-buffer. A PCS consists of only two triangles. The PCSs are read back to the CPU, and the CPU computes the intersection points between the triangles. The proposed algorithm runs extremely fast, does not require any preprocessing, can handle dynamic objects including deformable and fracturing models, and can compute self-collisions. Such versatility and performance gain of the proposed algorithm prove its usefulness in real-time applications such as 3D games.
On agnostic boosting and parity learning
Authors: Adam Tauman Kalai, Yishay Mansour, Elad Verbin
Venue: Proceedings of the 40th annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing (2008)

The motivating problem is agnostically learning parity functions, i.e., parity with arbitrary or adversarial noise. Specifically, given random labeled examples from an *arbitrary* distribution, we would like to produce an hypothesis whose accuracy nearly matches the accuracy of the best parity function. Our algorithm runs in time 2O(n/log n), which matches the best known for the easier cases of learning parities with random classification noise (Blum et al, 2003) and for agnostically learning parities over the uniform distribution on inputs (Feldman et al, 2006). Our approach is as follows. We give an agnostic boosting theorem that is capable of nearly achieving optimal accuracy, improving upon earlier studies (starting with Ben David et al, 2001). To achieve this, we circumvent previous lower bounds by altering the boosting model. We then show that the (random noise) parity learning algorithm of Blum et al (2000) fits our new model of agnostic weak learner. Our agnostic boosting framework is completely general and may be applied to other agnostic learning problems. Hence, it also sheds light on the actual difficulty of agnostic learning by showing that full agnostic boosting is indeed possible.
Fabrication of microlens array with graduated sags using UV proximity printing method
Authors: H. Yang, C.-K. Chao, T.-H. Lin, C.-P. Lin
Venue: Microsystem Technologies (2005)

A graduated microlens array is presented in this paper. The proposed device has the same aperture microlens with a gradually increasing sag in the substrate. The design produces gradual decrease in the focal length and intensity when the light passes through the graduated microlens array. This paper presents a new graduated microlens array fabrication method that uses a variable printing gap in the UV lithography process. This method can precisely control the geometric profile of each microlens array without using the thermal reflow process. The angles between the mask and photoresist were placed at 5&#x00b0;, 8&#x00b0;, 10&#x00b0;, 15&#x00b0;, and 20&#x00b0; using a fixture designed in this study. The mask patterns were ellipses with an isosceles triangle arrangement to compensate for the partial geometry.
Beyond bags of words: effectively modeling dependence and features in information retrieval
Authors: Donald Metzler
Venue: ACM SIGIR Forum (2008)

Current state of the art information retrieval models treat documents and queries as bags of words. There have been many attempts to go beyond this simple representation. Unfortunately, few have shown consistent improvements in retrieval effectiveness across a wide range of tasks and data sets. Here, we propose a new statistical model for information retrieval based on Markov random fields. The proposed model goes beyond the bag of words assumption by allowing dependencies between terms to be incorporated into the model. This allows for a variety of textual and non-textual features to be easily combined under the umbrella of a single model. Within this framework, we explore the theoretical issues involved, parameter estimation, feature selection, and query expansion. We give experimental results from a number of information retrieval tasks, such as ad hoc retrieval and web search.
Detecting repeats for video structuring
Authors: Xavier Naturel, Patrick Gros
Venue: Multimedia Tools and Applications (2008)

Television daily produces massive amounts of videos. Digital video is unfortunately an unstructured document in which it is very difficult to find any information. Television streams have however a strong and stable but hidden structure that we want to discover by detecting repeating objects in the video stream. This paper shows that television streams are actually highly redundant and that detecting repeats can be an effective way to detect the underlying structure of the video. A method for detecting these repetitions is presented here with an emphasis on the efficiency of the search in a large video corpus. Very good results are obtained both in terms of effectiveness (98% in recall and precision) as well as efficiency since one day of video is queried against a 3 weeks dataset in only 1 s.
Parallel algorithms for chains and anti-chains of points on a plane
Authors: Gur Saran Adhar
Venue: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Systems - Volume 01 (2007)

In this paper we describe efficient parallel algorithms for computing canonical chains and canonical antichains partition of a set of points on a plane. The problem to compute chain and anti-chain partition is of interest in VLSI design [LS92], computational geometry [MW92] and in computational molecular biology [Pev01]. A new affine transformation on the set of points is defined which transforms chains in the original point set into anti-chains in the transformed point set.
GerAmi: Improving Healthcare Delivery in Geriatric Residences
Authors: Juan M. Corchado, Javier Bajo, Ajith Abraham
Venue: IEEE Intelligent Systems (2008)

Geriatric Ambient Intelligence is an agent-based intelligent environment that facilitates healthcare in geriatric residences. GerAmi integrates multiagent systems with RFID, Wi-Fi technologies, and handheld devices. Its core is the geriatric agent (GerAg), an autonomous deliberative case-based agent that dynamically plans nurses' work schedules, maintains standard working reports about nurse activities, and guarantees that patients receive appropriate care. GerAgs operate in wireless devices and are integrated with complementary agents into the Geriatric Residence Multiagent System architecture. A system prototype was successfully implemented at the Alzheimer Santísima Trinidad Residence in Salamanca, Spain.
Proceedings of the twenty-first international symposium on Symbolic and algebraic computation
Venue: International Conference on Symbolic and Algebraic Computation (2008)

This volume contains the proceedings of the 21st annual meeting of the International Symposium on Symbolic Computation, ISSAC 2008. The first ISSAC took place in 1988, but it inherited the legacies of a number of earlier meetings, SYMSAM, SYMSAC, EUROSAM, EUROCAL, stretching back to 1966. In this extended tradition, ISSAC 2008 is the 33rd meeting. The meeting took place from the 20th to 23rd of July 2008 in Hagenberg, a pretty village 20 km north-east of Linz in Austria. The topics of the conference series include, but are not limited to: Algorithmic Mathematics: Algebraic, symbolic and symbolic-numeric algorithms. Simplification, function manipulation, summation, integration, linear algebra, number theory, polynomial/differential/difference equations, group and invariant theory, geometric computing. Computer Science: Theoretical and practical problems in symbolic computation. Systems, problem solving environments, user interfaces, software, libraries, concrete analysis, parallel/distributed computing and programming languages, benchmarking, theoretical and practical complexity, automatic differentiation, code generation, mathematical data structures and exchange protocols. Applications: Problem treatments using algebraic, symbolic or symbolic-numeric computation in an essential or a novel way. Engineering, economics and finance, physical and biological sciences, computer science, logic, mathematics and education. The ISSAC 2008 program contained invited talks, contributed papers, tutorials, poster sessions and software exhibitions. ISSAC was also part of RISC Summer 2008, and a number of related conferences were held at the same location and nearby in time. This volume contains all contributed papers as well as abstracts of the invited talks and tutorials. For ISSAC 2008, a total of 99 papers were accepted for review and each was distributed to members of the program committee and external reviewers. On average, 2.6 referee reports were obtained for each submission, and 40 papers were selected for presentation. They are representative of the many topics of research that make up the field of computer algebra. We wish to thank all the researchers who contributed papers for review, and to thank the many reviewers who generously gave their time to the selection process.
A progressive-ILP based routing algorithm for cross-referencing biochips
Authors: Ping-Hung Yuh, Sachin Sapatnekar, Chia-Lin Yang, Yao-Wen Chang
Venue: Proceedings of the 45th annual Design Automation Conference (2008)

Due to recent advances in microfluidics technology, digital microfluidic biochips and their associated CAD problems have gained much attention, most of which has been devoted to direct-addressing biochips. In this paper, we solve the droplet routing problem under the more scalable cross-referencing biochip paradigm, which uses row/column addressing scheme to activate electrodes. We propose the first droplet routing algorithm that directly solves the problem of routing in cross-referencing biochips. The main challenge of this type of biochips is the electrode interference which prevents simultaneous movement of multiple droplets. We first present a basic integer linear programming (ILP) formulation to optimally solve the droplet routing problem. Due to its complexity, we also propose a progressive ILP scheme to determine the locations of droplets at each time step. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our progressive ILP scheme on a set of practical bioassays.