ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Goals and design considerations for a mathematical laboratory
Authors: Erwin Engeler
Venue: ACM SIGSAM Bulletin (1987)

It seems obvious that the education of future scientists and engineers should include a facile familiarity with one of their present and future main tools, mathematical software. Less obvious is the methodology and the facilities which an institution of higher learning should provide for this educational goal. Since our 1985 report [1] on the ETH solution there developed a number of more or less closely collaborative efforts at other institutions. There were also some changes, additions and experiences, which we propose to briefly review and comment on.
Compliant motion planning with geometric models
Authors: C. Bajaj, M. Kim
Venue: Proceedings of the third annual symposium on Computational geometry (1987)

We present algebraic algorithms to generate the boundary of configuration space obstacles arising from the translatory motion of objects amongst obstacles. In particular we consider obtaining compliant motion paths where a curved convex object with fixed orientation moves in continuous contact with the boundary of curved convex obstacles in three Dimensions. Both the boundaries of the objects and obstacles are given by patches of algebraic surfaces. We also give a method to obtain approximate geodesic paths on convex C-space obstacles with algebraic boundary surfaces.
Constructive solid geometry: a symbolic computation approach
Authors: L. Leff, D. Y. Y. Yun
Venue: Proceedings of the fifth ACM symposium on Symbolic and algebraic computation (1986)

A method of parameterizing an object that is represented by constructive solid geometry (CSG) is provided. A method is developed for generating the constraint equations on the parameters which provides a sufficient condition so that the object remains geometrically similar as the parameters are varied. A canonical form for objects represented by CSG is developed. These are applied to the problem of geometric optimization which is part of Computer Aided Engineering.
Adaptive precision in texture mapping
Authors: Andrew Glassner
Venue: ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics (1986)

We introduce an adaptive, iterative technique for obtaining texture samples of arbitrary precision when synthesizing a computer-generated image. The technique is an improvement on the sum table texturing method. To motivate the technique we analyze the error properties of the sum-table method. Based on that analysis we propose using a combination of tables independently or together to obtain a better estimate, and analyze the error properties of such methods. We then propose a new technique for obtaining texture samples whose accuracy is a function of the texture and the image. As part of this technique we propose the use of an auxiliary table which contains local estimates of the texture variance. We show how the iteration of a given sample may be controlled by values from this table. We then analyze the error in this method, and present images which demonstrate the improvement.
A database design for musical information
Authors: W. Bradley Rubenstein
Venue: ACM SIGMOD Record (1987)

As part of our research into a general purpose data management system for musical information, a major focus has been the development of tools to support a data model for music. This paper first outlines the various types of information that fall under the purview of our proposed data manager. We consider extensions to the entity-relationship data model to implement the notion of hierarchical ordering, commonly found in musical data. We then present examples from our schema for representing musical notation in a database, taking advantage of these extensions.
A parallel pipelined relational query processor
Authors: Won Kim, Daniel Gajski, David J. Kuck
Venue: ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS) (1984)

This paper presents the design of a relational query processor. The query processor consists of only four processing PIPEs and a number of random-access memory modules. Each PIPE processes tuples of relations in a bit-serial, tuple-parallel manner for each of the primitive database operations which comprise a complex relational query. The design of the query processor meets three major objectives: the query processor must be manufacturable using existing and near-term LSI (VLSI) technology; it must support in a uniform manner both the numeric and nonnumeric processing requirements a high-level user interface like SQL presents; and it must support the query-processing strategy derived in the query optimizer to satisfy certain system-wide performance optimality criteria.
Bringing graphic dialogues to APL
Authors: Karl Soop
Venue: ACM SIGAPL APL Quote Quad (1986)

Most attempts to introduce graphic support into APL are limited to handling the composition and presentation of pictures. This paper proposes a model and a formalism encompassing also the other phases of a graphic dialog. The proposal involves a logical extension to structured programming, and is based largely upon already existing or hidden elements of the language. Even though its linguistic consequences are quite limited, the model opens up a new view on the implementation of an APL execution system.
End-user computing by top executives
Authors: Richard D. Hackathorn
Venue: ACM SIGMIS Database (1987)

This paper examines the activities and perspectives of top executives towards end-user computing. End-user computing (EUC) is defined as "an information processing activity in which the person has direct personal control over all stage of the activity." Hence, the end user directly uses personal computers and related technology and does not necesarily have technical experience and training in the management information systems (MIS) area.The key issue is whether top executives from a unique group of users or whether they can be considered similar to other users in terms of support and control policies.A field study was conducted resulting in 239 respondents from a variety of organizations. Using the executive level of each respondent as the independent variable, eight other variables were examined such as: the extent of PC usage, exchange of data with others, use of programs developed by others, development of programs for use by others, access to corporate data remotely, etc.The data analysis show that, for the most part, executives do act and feel similar to others relative to end-user computing, which is a significant result. In other words, executives are active adopters of EUC technology and probably have a strong influence on EUC activities in their organizations. They frequently exchange PC data with others and develop programs or models for others. Therefore, considerations about executives as end users should be an important part of EUC policies, both for support and control.
Use of software engineering tools in Japan
Authors: T. Nomura
Venue: Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Software Engineering (1987)

This paper describes the current status of software engineering tool usage by the Japanese software industry based upon statistics obtained from several surveys conducted by the Japan Information Services Industry Association and related organizations. It also analyzes various social and technical factors behind these statistics. Practical application of various software engineering tools in Japan currently seems to remain at a very low level. Some concluding comments will be made suggesting directions for possible future improvements.
Electronic conferencing&mdash;issues beyond software selection
Authors: Joan O'Bryan
Venue: Proceedings of the 15th annual ACM SIGUCCS conference on User Services (1987)

Electronic Conferencing is rapidly becoming a popular medium for communication. We have witnessed wide-spread installations of Electronic Conferencing systems on college campuses and in academic settings that provide information and resource sharing in a variety of ways. Probably you have already made the decision to purchase or develop an Electronic Conferencing package for your site. You may already be using it to meet some of the demands of your user community. But once the conferencing software has been chosen and installed, there still exists the potential for a myriad of problems to arise. Anticipating these issues and planning for them before-hand could determine whether Electronic Conferencing is considered a success at your installation. This paper examines a variety of issues on a multi-level basis. It focuses primarily on problems that are dealt with at the administrative level and at the individual conference-coordinator level. Issues such as qualifications of conference coordinators, selection procedures of coordinators, proposal guidelines for creation of new conferences, accessibility, and establishment of conference etiquette are discussed. The paper also looks at issues at the conference-user level, such as how first-time users react to the new medium and the degree of involvement of the users in the planning process. Every institution is unique in its resources, its climate, and its purpose. The types of issues raised by this paper are the kind that have unique answers for each community posing the questions. This paper discusses scenarios that can be resolved to satisfaction in many ways, depending on your own situation. It also presents a checklist of administrative-level considerations, and describes an example of a successful implementation of Electronic Conferencing.
Making concepts and phenomena visual in machine and assembly language programming
Authors: William F. Decker
Venue: Proceedings of the eighteenth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education (1987)

Some courses in computer organization and assembly language programming have evolved away from ones emphasizing proficiency with a particular machine. Instead, these courses attempt to build understanding for the way in which abstract concepts are ultimately realized through machine level programming. The advent of small computers offers an opportunity to further personalize this form of instruction and to improve its delivery and availability. This paper discusses a package of software for use on personal computers which supports the teaching of courses in computer organization and assembly language programming. The software permits visualization of various abstractions, concepts, and phenomena. Examples of its use in teaching are examined, and related directions in teaching courses of this type are examined.
Memory access buffering in multiprocessors
Authors: M. Dubois, C. Scheurich, F. Briggs
Venue: Proceedings of the 13th annual international symposium on Computer architecture (1986)

In highly-pipelined machines, instructions and data are prefetched and buffered in both the processor and the cache. This is done to reduce the average memory access latency and to take advantage of memory interleaving. Lock-up free caches are designed to avoid processor blocking on a cache miss. Write buffers are often included in a pipelined machine to avoid processor waiting on writes. In a shared memory multiprocessor, there are more advantages in buffering memory requests, since each memory access has to traverse the memory- processor interconnection and has to compete with memory requests issued by different processors. Buffering, however, can cause logical problems in multiprocessors. These problems are aggravated if each processor has a private memory in which shared writable data may be present, such as in a cache-based system or in a system with a distributed global memory. In this paper, we analyze the benefits and problems associated with the buffering of memory requests in shared memory multiprocessors. We show that the logical problem of buffering is directly related to the problem of synchronization. A simple model is presented to evaluate the performance improvement resulting from buffering.
A comparison of programming team performance on software development projects
Authors: Donald L. Jordan
Venue: ACM SIGCSE Bulletin (1987)

A senior level course for software project developments is offered every semester at Lamar University. The design and programming teams formed in the class are analyzed. The purpose of this paper is to present some statistics and key parameters from that analysis to compare the performance of large and small size programming teams on software development projects.
An optimized contention protocol for broadband networks
Authors: W. Worth Kirkman
Venue: ACM Transactions on Computer Systems (TOCS) (1987)

This paper describes the concepts underlying an alternative link-level protocol for broadband local networks. The protocol uses implicit slotting of the contention channel to support larger networks, improve performance, and provide reliable distributed collision recognition without reinforcement. It is designed such that compatible interfaces to existing CSMA/CD-based systems can be provided.
A computer science/mathematics major for liberal arts colleges
Authors: Nancy L. Hagelhans
Venue: ACM SIGCSE Bulletin (1987)

The concepts of the model curriculum for computer science in a liberal arts college [3] and a traditional mathematics major are combined to form a computer science/mathematics major. This major is particularly suited to the mathematics faculty retrained in computer science, and it provides the students with strong preparation for graduate study or employment in computer science. The major's requirements include six computer science courses (the model's introductory and core courses), six mathematics courses, one advanced computer science elective and a year of introductory physics.
Iteration and abstract data types
Authors: J D Eckart
Venue: ACM SIGPLAN Notices (1987)

Numerous languages have been developed which support the creation of abstract data types. Introductions to such languages typically provide the standard stack and complex number examples to demonstrate their respective expressive power. While such examples fit neatly into the framework of these languages, only a few have attempted to deal with the problems of iterating through an abstraction, such as the elements of a list. Two approaches to this problem are examined: action importation and data exportation. It is shown that data exportation is the more flexible of the two and a language construct supporting it is presented.
Managing expert systems projects: factors critical for successful implementation
Authors: Dave Dibble, Robert P Bostrom
Venue: Proceedings of the conference on The 1987 ACM SIGBDP-SIGCPR Conference (1987)

Over the last decade, the Artificial Intelligence research community has successfully created a number of &ldquo;expert&rdquo; systems capable of solving problems in limited domains. Noting the demonstrated feasibility of such an approach to problem solving, a number of firms have moved toward incorporating this technology into their portfolio of information system tools. The scarcity and geographic limitations of human expertise, coupled with the tirelessness of machines, are the motivations suggested as reasons organizations investigate the technology. In fact, a number of real world applications have already been developed and placed into daily operation. Successful management of the systems development process (from design through implementation and evaluation) is critical to the success of an Information Systems (IS) organization. The evolution of new information technologies tend to complicate this process. Expert Systems (ES) is a new technology with development characteristics of its own. This paper addresses the development issues faced by the IS manager who is considering using this technology in a business context. It is understood that ES technology itself will continue to grow and change. But if it is to become a viable IS technology over the long run, it will have to achieve some degree of manageability. Because of the newness of the technology, little research has been conducted on the management of ES projects. Instead most of the effort has been focused on various attributes (uncertainty, different reasoning techniques, structuring of the knowledge, etc.) of ill-structured problems, and how ESs could be constructed to deal with these attributes. Still, despite the lack of rigorous research on the management of such projects per se, the literature does suggest a number of variables crucial to successful implementation. This paper discusses a framework based on existing systems development models, within which the management of ES projects can be considered. This framework will serve to organize the issues, relative to the development of ES, that have been reported to date. It will also suggest other important issues not yet reported in the literature. The framework is used to categorize existing lines of research and to discuss how they could be appropriately extended. Since the interest is the use of ESs in a business context, the focus will be on those research issues best addressed by the IS community.
An Efficient Unsorted VLSI Dictionary Machine
Authors: Arun K. Somani, Vinod K. Agarwal
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Computers (1985)

A systolic binary tree machine which can handle all the dictionary machine and priority queue operations such as Insert, Delete, Extract-Min, Extract-Max, Member, and Near is designed in this paper. The operations can be fed into the tree machine in a pipeline manner at a constant rate and the output is correspondingly generated in a pipeline manner. Each processor in the machine stores at most one data element, which consists of a key value and a record associated with the key. The machine has optimal performance since if the number of data elements present in the tree is n, then each operation takes O(log n) steps. Unlike some recent designs, this machine does not use any links other than the binary tree links, provides optimal performance without the need to store data elements in any sorted order by exploiting dynamic rebalancing, has higher throughput, and keeps the logical last level of the tree on one physical level of the tree.
The temporal query language TQuel
Authors: Richard Snodgrass
Venue: ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS) (1987)

Recently, attention has been focused on temporal databases, representing an enterprise over time. We have developed a new language, Tquel, to query a temporal database. TQuel was designed to be a minimal extension, both syntactically and semantically, of Quel, the query language in the Ingres relational database management system. This paper discusses the language informally, then provides a tuple relational calculus semantics for the TQuel statements that differ from their Quel counterparts, including the modification statements. The three additional temporal constructs defined in Tquel are shown to be direct semantic analogues of Quel's where clause and target list. We also discuss reducibility of the semantics to Quel's semantics when applied to a static database. TQuel is compared with ten other query languages supporting time.
Activities for advanced workstations in Japan
Authors: F. Kamijo, L. A. Belady
Venue: Proceedings of the 1987 Fall Joint Computer Conference on Exploring technology: today and tomorrow (1987)

There are many software tools designed to meet requirements of specific stages of software life cycle. They help rather limited problems of software productivity. Needs to integrate such tools according to a good discipline have been growing. Lots of efforts to integrate software tools to systematically effective means are under way. Major Japanese mainframes have been working for the integrated tools. 'Eagle' by Hitachi Ltd., 'SEA/I' by Nippon Electric, and 'Sigma System' by Japanese software houses are among the examples. In the next decade, integrated tools will be combined with hardware to a workstation. A software workstation will be the one that help software engineers to achieve a high productivity. We can find some examples of such workstations in different technical areas. They are knowledge base machines and automatic drawing readers which indicate the future of technology as the forerunners.
GAMS: a framework for the management of scientific software
Authors: Ronald F. Boisvert, Sally E. Howe, David K. Kahaner
Venue: ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software (TOMS) (1985)

The Guide to Available Mathematical Software (GAMS) provides a framework for both a scientist-end-user and a librarian-maintainer to deal with large quantities of mathematical and statistical software. This framework includes a classification scheme for mathematical and statistical software, a database system to manage information about this software, and both an on-line interactive consulting system and a printed catalog for providing users with access to this information. A description is given of GAMS and its use at the National Bureau of Standards.
The concurrent logic programming language CP: Definition and operational semantics
Authors: V. A. Saraswat
Venue: Proceedings of the 14th ACM SIGACT-SIGPLAN symposium on Principles of programming languages (1987)

In this paper we present some of the control constructs of the language CP, which is based on a concurrent interpretation of Horn logic programming. We present a formal structural operational semantics and relate the meaning of programs in this language to the underlying (pure) Horn clause axioms.
A performance analysis of automatically managed top of stack buffers
Authors: T. J. Stanley, R. G. Wedig
Venue: Proceedings of the 14th annual international symposium on Computer architecture (1987)

In this paper, the feasibility of using register banks as a top of stack (TOS) buffer is demonstrated. A quantitative performance evaluation is made of three automatic TOS buffer management algorithms: a simple single pointer algorithm, an intelligent single pointer algorithm, and a sophisticated double pointer algorithm. An automatically managed TOS buffer can effectively cache local data accesses resulting in a large memory traffic reduction. Results demonstrate that a small (with respect to the size of the benchmark data set) TOS buffer provides a very high data reference hit ratio and requires minimal processor intervention for TOS buffer management. The simple single pointer algorithm is shown to provide the best overall performance for various metrics including memory bandwidth, TOS buffer hit ratio, processor intervention, and processor execution speed.
Logical authentication method
Authors: David Lipton
Venue: ACM SIGSAC Review (1986)

A logical authentication test requires no special hardware. As a proof of identity, the accessor is required to know or to use secret information. In a generalized model of logical authentication, the user learns an encryption algorithm whose functional description is secret. This model includes new tests of secret knowledge which induce larger forgery costs in certain environments than methods currently in wide-spread use.