ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Adaptive registration and atlas-based segmentation
Authors: Hyunjin Park
Venue:  (2003)

With the rapid developments in image registration techniques, registrations are applied not only as linear transforms but also as warping transforms with increasing frequency. The latter is especially suitable for soft tissue organs in the human body. When using Thin Plate Spline (TPS) as the warping transform of choice, a high degree of freedom (DOF) warping can be either manually specified by the placement of control points or implemented by using a dense grid of control points. The former leads to problems of operator bias, whereas the latter is very computationally expensive. Instead, we propose to automate the determination of DOF by locally increasing the density of control points in regions where they are needed rather than globally increasing the density of control points. Local estimates of Mutual Information (MI) and entropy are used to identify local regions requiring higher DOF. There have been significant efforts to build a probabilistic atlas of the brain and to use it for many common applications like segmentation and registration. Though the work related to brain atlases can be applied to non-brain organs, less attention has been paid to actually building an atlas for organs other than the brain. We present a method to construct a probabilistic atlas of an abdomen consisting of 4 organs (i.e., liver, kidneys and spinal cord). Using 32 non-contrast abdominal CT scans, 31 are mapped onto one individual scan using TPS as the warping transform and MI as the similarity measure. Except for an initial coarse placement of 4 control points by the operators, the MI based registration is automatic. Additionally, the four organs in each of the 32 CT data sets are manually segmented. The manual segmentations are warped onto the &ldquo;standard&rdquo; patient space using the same transform computed from their gray scale CT data set and a probabilistic atlas is calculated. Then the atlas is used to aid the segmentation of low contrast organs in additional 20 CT data sets not included in the atlas. By incorporating the atlas information into the Bayesian framework, segmentation results clearly showed improvements over a standard unsupervised segmentation method.
Methods for ranking information retrieval systems without relevance judgments
Authors: Shengli Wu, Fabio Crestani
Venue: Proceedings of the 2003 ACM symposium on Applied computing (2003)

In this paper we present some new methods of ranking information retrieval systems without relevance judgement. The common ground of these methods is using a measure we called reference count. An extensive experimentation was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed methods using various different standards Information Retrieval evaluation measures for the ranking, like average precision, R-precision, and precision and different document levels. We also compared the effectiveness of the proposed methods with the method proposed by Soboroff et al. The experimental results showed that the proposed methods are effective, and in many cases are more effective than Soboroff at al.'s method.
Use of personal computing technology by deaf-blind individuals
Authors: Dan Zuckerman
Venue: Issue 33 (Winter 1984) (1984)

This paper describes a system that enables deaf-blind people to work with micro-computers. This system utilizes the International Morse Code as a general communication medium. The deaf-blind person "hears" Morse Code via a vibrotactile device to "see" the computer's screen. This technique enables deaf-blind individuals to receive immediate feedback of their typing and scan the screen, thus making it possible for them to use the keyboard and screen in much the normal manner of seeing persons. A side benefit is that it provides a means for deaf-blind people to communicate with the sighted through a common medium: the sighted person can see the screen while the deaf-blind feels it. Hardware cost to equip a standard personal computer with this interface is negligible. Vibrotactile Morse Code is particularly viable because it can be adapted fro the individual's particular tactile sensitivities. Morse encoded tactile communication fits well in a social facilitation context for learning. It is technologically simple and standard. This work can significantly improve the quality of life for dear-blind individuals because it provides new opportunities for communication and vocation.
A graphical user interface for evolutionary algorithms
Authors: Zoltán Tóth
Venue: Acta Cybernetica (2003)

The purpose of Generic Evolutionary Algorithms Programming Library (GEA1) system is to provide researchers with an easy-to-use, widely applicable and extendable programming library which solves real-world optimization problems by means of evolutionary algorithms. It contains algorithms for various evolutionary methods, implemented genetic operators for the most common representation forms for individuals, various selection methods, and examples on how to use and expand the library. All these functions assure that GEA can be effectively applied on many problems. GraphGEA is a graphical user interface to GEA written with the GTK API. The numerous parameters of the evolutionary algorithm can be set in appropriate dialog boxes. The program also checks the correctness of the parameters and saving/restoring of parameter sets is also possible. The selected evolutionary algorithm can be executed interactively on the specified optimization problem through the graphical user interface of GraphGEA, and the results and behavior of the EA can be observed on several selected graphs and drawings. While the main purpose of GEA is solving optimization problems, that of GraphGEA is education and analysis. It can be of great help for students understanding the characteristics of evolutionary algorithms and researchers of the area can use it to analyze an EA's behavior on particular problems.
The west wing: fiction can serve politics
Authors: Jonathan Grudin
Venue: Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems (2003)

The increasingly popular design technique called 'personas' provides a natural way to introduce issues of diversity and power relationships in software development. Persona development is a powerful technique that must be used carefully. It may be the most effective way to introduce participative approaches into mass market software development. This is of broader significance because it is increasingly risky to work locally without carefully considering the directions of commercial software development.
A system for transcribing mathematics into braille
Authors: J. Meekel, M. Truquet
Venue: Issue 31 (Winter 1983) (1983)

Transcribing Mathematical documents into braille requires a knowledge and a mastery of mathematical braille which is very complex. Consequently editions of scientific books are very few in this area. This paper describes a system for transcribing automatically mathematical text into braille.
Finitely generated distribution algebras
Authors: F. I. Salimov
Venue: Discrete Applied Mathematics (2004)

We consider distribution algebras on rational vectors whose signatures are induced by systems of k-valued functions. For a family of algebras, we obtain a criterion for such algebras to be finitely generated.
Reconstructing a colossus of Ramesses II from laser scan data
Authors: Kevin Cain, Casondra Sobieralski, Philippe Martinez
Venue: ACM SIGGRAPH 2003 Sketches Applications (2003)

We present a new method to solve a 3D 'jigsaw puzzle', building a colossus from scans of its fragmentary ruins in Thebes, Egypt.
Transportation Bid Analysis Optimization with Shipper Input
Authors: Yunsong Guo, Andrew Lim, Brian Rodrigues
Venue: Proceedings of the 15th IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence (2003)

This paper extends carrier assignment models used in bid analysis for transportation procurement to incorporate shipper business considerations. These include restricting carrier numbers, favoring incumbents and performance considerations. We provide representative models and develop solutions for these which include the use of metaheuristics. Experimentation shows that our algorithms work well.
Multi-Modal Function Optimization Problem for Evolutionary Algorithm
Authors: Pan Hao, Yuan Jingling, Zhong Luo
Venue: Proceedings of the 15th IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence (2003)

In this paper, a new algorithm for solving multimodal function optimization problems- two-level subspace evolutionary algorithm is proposed. In the first level, the improved GT algorithm is used to do global recombination search so that the whole population can be separated into several niches according to the position of solutions; then, in the second level, the niche evolutionary strategy is used for local search in the subspaces gotten in the first level till solutions of the problem are found. The new algorithm has been tested on some hard problems and some good results are obtained.
On the Value of derivative evaluations and random walk suppression in Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms
Authors: Paul Gustafson, Ying C. Macnab, Sijin Wen
Venue: Statistics and Computing (2004)

Two strategies that can potentially improve Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms are to use derivative evaluations of the target density, and to suppress random walk behaviour in the chain. The use of one or both of these strategies has been investigated in a few specific applications, but neither is used routinely. We undertake a broader evaluation of these techniques, with a view to assessing their utility for routine use. In addition to comparing different algorithms, we also compare two different ways in which the algorithms can be applied to a multivariate target distribution. Specifically, the univariate version of an algorithm can be applied repeatedly to one-dimensional conditional distributions, or the multivariate version can be applied directly to the target distribution.
Enabling customized & personalized interfaces in mobile computing
Authors: M. J. O'Grady, G. M. P. O'Hare
Venue: Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces (2004)

Providing an intuitive and ubiquitous interface to those services aimed at the mobile computing community continues to pre-occupy both service providers and certain sections of the research community. In this short paper, we present a snapshot of a system that is under ongoing development and reflect briefly on the initial results of some user evaluations. Based on these, we identify some critical problems with the current implementation and present a design orientated towards significantly improving the end user experience and making the interface more adaptable such that it meets the expectations and requirements of the user.
Monic integer Chebyshev problem
Authors: P. B. Borwein, C. G. Pinner, I. E. Pritsker
Venue: Mathematics of Computation (2003)

We study the problem of minimizing the supremum norm by monic polynomials with integer coefficients. Let Mn(Z) denote the monic polynomials of degree n with integer coefficients. A monic integer Chebyshev polynomial Mn ∈ Mn(Z) satisfies ||Mn||E = infPn ∈ Mn(Z) ||Pn||E. and the monic integer Chebyshev constant is then defined by tM(E) := limn → ∞||Mn||E1/n. This is the obvious analogue of the more usual integer Chebyshev constant that has been much studied.We compute tM(E) for various sets, including all finite sets of rationals, and make the following conjecture, which we prove in many cases.Conjecture. Suppose [a2/b2,a1/b1] is an interval whose endpoints are consecutive Farey fractions. This is characterized by a1b2 - a2b1 = 1. Then tM[a2/b2,a1/b1] = max(1/b1, 1/b2).This should be contrasted with the nonmonic integer Chebyshev constant case, where the only intervals for which the constant is exactly computed are intervals of length 4 or greater.
Development and analysis of intelligent computation-based stock forecasting and trading systems
Authors: David Enke
Venue:  (2003)

With the growing importance of the role of equities to institutional and individual investors, the selection of attractive stocks to reach a higher return performance is a complex challenge. A reliable tool that helps identify the top performing stocks with minimum effort in the selection process can be of great assistance to investors. This dissertation proposes a computation based forecasting system that integrates the generalized regression neural network and two supporting technologies, namely information gain and principal component analysis, to manage stock portfolios. The integrated forecasting system takes advantage of the synergy among these technologies to collect the relevant data from various financial variables, transform the data so that they will be uncorrelated, and estimate the daily expected stock return performance from the underlying data. As a test case, thirty stocks listed in Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJIA) were selected in this dissertation. In a simulation with out-of-sample data, two trading systems that were designed to form a portfolio of stocks were investigated. For the first trading system, portfolios were constructed from stocks that achieve expected returns of at least &plusmn;2% performance, representing a reasonable opportunity to take a position. The portfolios with the positive performance estimations, the negative performance estimations, and a combination of each were constructed. For the second trading system, the 30 individual stocks were ranked according to their expected return estimations. The four stocks with the best ranking, the worst ranking, and a combination of each were put into portfolios. The buy-and-hold strategy and the ARIMA model were used as benchmarks for both trading systems. These benchmarks helped evaluate whether an adoption of the systematic trading directed by the forecasting system leads to profitability improvement when constructing stock portfolios. Experimentations with different computational parameters of the forecasting system, as well as extended trading of the individual stocks and stock portfolios, were investigated to validate system robustness and performance. The sensitivity results of the stock portfolios constructed with different expected return performances and with a different number of stocks were also reported. The integrated forecasting and trading systems gave promising results for all stock portfolios evaluated in the research.
What online gamers really think of the Internet?
Authors: Manuel Oliveira, Tristan Henderson
Venue: Proceedings of the 2nd workshop on Network and system support for games (2003)

The Internet has provided a network infrastructure with global connectivity for the games industry to develop and deploy online games. However, unlike the document interface paradigm of the World Wide Web (WWW), these online games have more stringent requirements that are not fulfilled by the Internet's best effort service model.A key characteristic of online games is the possibility of having multiple participants share the same experience. Consequently, the volatile nature of the Internet can affect the enjoyment of all, or at the very least a few, of the users. To ameliorate the impact caused by network problems that may arise during game play, game developers have adopted adaptation techniques in the design and implementation of online games. However, little is known of how the user perceives these mechanisms.This paper presents the results of a questionnaire targeted at the online gaming community to provide insight into what users really think of the Internet and its impact on their playing experience. One of the main results is to demonstrate that the existing mechanisms fail to maintain the utility of the game at all times, leading to frustration on the part of the users. In spite of this, users are not willing to pay for any service guarantees.
Modulo 2n ± 1 Adder Design Using Select-Prefix Blocks
Authors: Costas Efstathiou, Haridimos T. Vergos, Dimitris Nikolos
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Computers (2003)

In this paper, we present new design methods for modulo 2n± 1 adders. We use the same select-prefix addition block for both modulo 2n - 1 and diminished-one modulo 2^n+1 adder design. VLSI implementations of the proposed adders in static CMOS show that they achieve an attractive combination of speed and area costs.
Multimodal user interfaces: who's the user?
Authors: Anil K. Jain
Venue: Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Multimodal interfaces (2003)

A wide variety of systems require reliable personal recognition schemes to either confirm or determine the identity of an individual requesting their services. The purpose of such schemes is to ensure that only a legitimate user, and not anyone else, accesses the rendered services. Examples of such applications include secure access to buildings, computer systems, laptops, cellular phones and ATMs. Biometric recognition, or simply biometrics, refers to the automatic recognition of individuals based on their physiological and/or behavioral characteristics. By using biometrics it is possible to confirm or establish an individual's identity based on "who she is", rather than by "what she possesses" (e.g., an ID card) or "what she remembers" (e.g., a password). Current biometric systems make use of fingerprints, hand geometry, iris, face, voice, etc. to establish a person's identity. Biometric systems also introduce an aspect of user convenience. For example, they alleviate the need for a user to remember multiple passwords associated with different applications. A biometric system that uses a single biometric trait for recognition has to contend with problems related to non-universality of the trait, spoof attacks, limited degrees of freedom, large intra-class variability, and noisy data. Some of these problems can be addressed by integrating the evidence presented by multiple biometric traits of a user (e.g., face and iris). Such systems, known as multimodal biometric systems, demonstrate substantial improvement in recognition performance. In this talk, we will present various applications of biometrics, challenges associated in designing biometric systems, and various fusion strategies available to implement a multimodal biometric system.
A Distributed and Pipelined Controller for a Modular and Scalable Hardware Emulator
Authors: Aditya Mittal, M. P. Desai
Venue: Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on VLSI Design (2004)

The size and complexity of digital systems doubles fromone generation to the next. This has made verification a difficulttask. In order to build future digital systems designerswill need verification tools that are fast and can accommodatelarge designs. In this paper we present a novel partitioningand control scheme of an emulation system for whichthe response time, seen by the environment, for the designbeing emulated can be made independent of the design size.Coupled with the fact that this technique also results in amodular control scheme, this, in principle, promises unlimitedscalability.The individual emulation modules operating under thiscontrol scheme resemble a particular form of an asynchronouspipeline. We show, using simulations that thethroughput performance of this pipeline is dominated by theworst-case behaviour of individual modules (in the samemanner as is observed for a normal pipeline). We argue thatthis pipelined architecture enables the construction of arbitrarilylarge emulation systems in a natural and structuredmanner.
Solutions for Two Conjectures on the Inverse Problem of the Wiener Index of Peptoids
Authors: Xueliang Li, Lusheng Wang
Venue: SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics (2004)

In this paper, we give solutions for the two conjectures on the inverse problem of the Wiener index of peptoids proposed by Goldman et al. We give the first conjecture a positive proof and the second conjecture a negative answer.
Fast Construction of Robustness Degradation Function
Authors: Xinjia Chen, Kemin Zhou, Jorge L. Aravena
Venue: SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization (2003)

We develop a fast algorithm to construct the robustness degradation function, which describes quantitatively the relationship between the proportion of systems guaranteeing the robustness requirement and the radius of the uncertainty set. This function can be applied to predict whether a controller design based on an inexact mathematical model will perform satisfactorily when implemented on the true system.
Text chat in action
Authors: Jacki O'Neill, David Martin
Venue: Proceedings of the 2003 international ACM SIGGROUP conference on Supporting group work (2003)

Synchronous text communication is becoming recognized as a valuable workplace communication medium yet some studies of group text chat indicate that its properties can lead to interactional incoherence. We consider this issue through a detailed analytic examination of text chat transcripts by showing how participants manage their interactions through considering multiple threads, turn taking and topic change. We reveal the routine practices that participants employ to create and manage coherent interaction. These practices arise from the turn taking system in operation, which facilitates straightforward repair of misunderstandings. We conclude by considering the implications of this for design and for the organisation and management of interactions of various forms.
Absolute stability for multiple delay general Lur'e control systems with multiple nonlinearities
Authors: Yong He, Min Wu
Venue: Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics (2003)

In this paper, necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence of Lyapunov functional of extended Lur'e form to guarantee absolute stability for multiple delay general Lur'e control systems with multiple nonlinearities, and the existence reduces to a problem of solving a group of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). When the LMIs are feasible, the free parameters in the Lyapunov functional are given by the solution of these LMIs. Otherwise, this class of Lyapunov functional does not exist.
Sharing Culture - Enabling technologies for Communication Support
Authors: Thomas Grill, Reinhard Kronsteiner, Gabriele Kotsi
Venue: Proceedings of the 2003 International Conference on Cyberworlds (2003)

In cyberworlds as well as in real world environmentsthere is a need to enable cooperation and communication.While IT support has enabled us to overcome the barriersof time and place in communication over distance, thereis still the problem of bridging the gap across differentcultures. In this paper we will study the possibility of ITsupport for "sharing culture", i.e. for communicationacross different cultures.Our attempt to realize this goal is the creation of alearning, proactive agent that keeps track of thecommunication in virtual environments. We try to supportthe communication partners during their interactions byproviding information based on the type and content ofthe communication. The information provided by theagent is based on cultural differences that could lead topotential misunderstandings within a communicationscenario.The idea is to design a pluggable agent to support cross-culturalcommunication for virtual communities indistributed environments.
Regular sets of infinite message sequence charts
Authors: Dietrich Kuske
Venue: Information and Computation (2003)

This paper resumes the study of regular sets of message sequence charts (MSC) initiated by Henriksen et al. [Technical Report, BRICS RS-99-52, 1999]. Differently from their results, we consider infinite MSCs. It is shown that for bounded sets of infinite MSCs, the notions of recognizability, axiomatizability in monadic second order logic, and acceptance by a deterministic message passing automaton with Muller acceptance condition coincide. We furthermore characterize the expressive power of first order logic and of its extension by modulo-counting quantifiers over bounded infinite MSCs. In order to prove our results, we exhibit a new connection to the theory of Mazurkiewicz traces using relabeling techniques.