ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Local Features and Kernels for Classification of Texture and Object Categories: A Comprehensive Study
Authors: Jianguo Zhang, Marcin Marszalek, Svetlana Lazebnik, Cordelia Schmid
Venue: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshop (2006)

Recently, methods based on local image features have shown promise for texture and object recognition tasks. This paper presents a large-scale evaluation of an approach that represents images as distributions (signatures or histograms) of features extracted from a sparse set of keypoint locations and learns a Support Vector Machine classifier with kernels based on two effective measures for comparing distributions, the Earth Mover's Distance and the ÷2 distance. We first evaluate the performance of our approach with different keypoint detectors and descriptors, as well as different kernels and classifiers. We then conduct a comparative evaluation with several state-of-the-art recognition methods on 4 texture and 5 object databases. On most of these databases, our implementation exceeds the best reported results and achieves comparable performance on the rest. Finally, we investigate the influence of background correlations on recognition performance.
Interacting with Web Hierarchies
Authors: Saverio Perugini, Naren Ramakrishnan
Venue: IT Professional (2006)

Emerging design for hierarchical Web sites offer some insight into flexible, adaptive, andresponsive dialogs. The authors identify three features that interfaces to informationhierarchies should include: flexible navigation orders; the ability to expose and exploredependencies; and support for procedural tasks.
Learning the Threshold in Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering
Authors: Kristine Daniels, Christophe Giraud-Carrier
Venue: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications (2006)

Most partitional clustering algorithms require the number of desired clusters to be set a priori. Not only is this somewhat counter-intuitive, it is also difficult except in the simplest of situations. By contrast, hierarchical clustering may create partitions with varying numbers of clusters. The actual final partition depends on a threshold placed on the similarity measure used. Given a cluster quality metric, one can efficiently discover an appropriate threshold through a form of semi-supervised learning. This paper shows one such solution for complete-link hierarchical agglomerative clustering using the F-measure and a small subset of labeled examples. Empirical evaluation demonstrates promise.
The SwissBioGrid Project: Objectivse, Preliminary Results and Lessons Learned
Authors: Michael Podvinec, Sergio Maffioletti, Peter Kunszt, Konstantin Arnold, Lorenzo Cerutti, Bruno Nyffeler, Ralph Schlapbach, Can Turker, Heinz Stockinger, Arthur J. Thomas, Manuel C. Peitsch, Torsten Schwede
Venue: Proceedings of the Second IEEE International Conference on e-Science and Grid Computing (2006)

Modern biology has become a science of information, analysis and prediction, coalescing into computational biology -- a single discipline at the crossroads of life sciences, informatics, and mathematics. New developments in information and communications technology as well as high-performance computing enable researchers to address new demanding scientific problems which seemed far out of reach only a few years ago. The computational requirements of most applications in computational biology differ significantly from the requirements of other users of highthroughput computing such as high energy physics. To address these needs, the SwissBioGrid initiative, a collaboration among several partner institutions with a broad spectrum of expertise, was started over a year ago. In this paper, we report on its current status and achievements as well as the lessons learned which are of interest to the wider e-Science and Grid communities.
An Improved MyProxy System in Grid
Authors: Zhun Cai, Fanyu Kong, Jia Yu, Daxing Li
Venue: Proceedings of the 2006 International Conference on Hybrid Information Technology - Volume 01 (2006)

Globus, the most popular toolkit of grid, has been used to develop grid system conveniently. It comprises several security subsystems and MyProxy is an important one of them. As an online credential repository of GSI, MyProxy prevents the users from copying his credentials and private keys between computers. We provide a modified MyProxy by integrating hardware devices into it and construct a system to provide services of key management, crypto operations, etc. By using cryptography and network technologies, the security of the improved MyProxy is enhanced largely.
Fault-Tolerant Partitioning Scheduling Algorithms in Real-Time Multiprocessor Systems
Authors: Hakem Beitollahi, Geert Deconinck
Venue: Proceedings of the 12th Pacific Rim International Symposium on Dependable Computing (2006)

This paper presents the performance analysis of several well-known partitioning scheduling algorithms in real-time and fault-tolerant multiprocessor systems. Both static and dynamic scheduling algorithms are analyzed. Partitioning scheduling algorithms, which are studied here, are heuristic algorithms that are formed by combining any of the bin-packing algorithms with any of the schedulability conditions for the Rate-Monotonic (RM) and Earliest-Deadline-First (EDF) policies. A tool is developed which enables to experimentally evaluate the performance of the algorithms from the graph of tasks. The results show that among several partitioning algorithms evaluated, the RM-Small- Task (RMST) algorithm is the best static algorithm and the EDF-Best-Fit (EDF-BF) is the best dynamic algorithm, for non fault-tolerant systems. For faulttolerant systems which require about 49% more processors, the results show that the RM-First-Fit Decreasing Utilization (RM-FFDU) is the best static algorithm and the EDF-BF is the best dynamic algorithm. To decrease the number of processors in faulttolerant systems, the RMST is modified. The results show that the modified RMST decreases the number of required processors between 7% and 78% in comparison with the original RMST, the RM-FFDU and other well-known static partitioning scheduling algorithms.
Late Modelling: A Timing of Learning Activities Approach
Authors: Telmo Zarraonandia, Juan Manuel Dodero, Camino Fernandez, Paloma Diaz, Jorge Torres
Venue: Proceedings of the Sixth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (2006)

It is not always possible to foresee all properties values of a learning design process at design-time. Sometimes, it is not until its proper execution when those values can be established. Besides, some of the original definitions must be modified to adapt the learning process to its current execution context. This is especially necessary with properties related to the synchronization and temporization of the different activities that constitute the learning process. Due to the above, to successfully implement a learning process, the designers need to use a language expressive enough to allow a detailed description of the runtime behavior of the course and a mechanism to modify its definition during run-time.
"Strange nonchaotic attractor" in 3D autonomous differential system
Authors: M. V. Loginova, V. S. Anishchenko
Venue: Proceedings of the 2003 International Conference on Physics and Control - Volume 2 (2003)

Dynamic regimes of an autonomous chaotic system (oscillator with inertial nonlinearity) have been investigated. The new type of attractor was found, its characteristics (autocorrelation function, power spectra, Lyapunov exponents) were calculated. And it was found that they are close to that for strange nonchaotic attractor.
A Framework for Reengineering Software Development Methods
Authors: Marko Bajec, Rok Rupnik, Marjan Krisper
Venue: Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Engineering Advances (2006)

Empirical investigations clearly show that in contrast to the theory which implies that the use of methods in software development is beneficial, their use in practice is actually very low. Several reasons have been identified recently as contributing to this rather paradoxical situation. Most importantly: the socio-technical inappropriateness of a prescribed method to the company's actual ways of working, and the rigidity, i.e. inability of a prescribed method to be adapted to a particular problem. In this paper, we present a framework that deals with these issues. Its purpose is to help software development companies to reengineer their software development processes by establishing formalized and flexible methods based on the actual ways of working in that companies. The framework has been developed in cooperation with software development companies.
A New Symmetry Based Cluster Validity Index: Application to Satellite Image Segmentation
Authors: Sriparna Saha, Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, Ujjwal Maulik
Venue: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Information Technology (2006)

An important approach for image segmentation is clustering the pixels based on their spectral properties. In this paper, a newly developed point symmetry distance is used to propose a new cluster validity index named S-index (Symmetry distance based index) which can provide a measure of goodness of clustering on different partitions of a data set. We have used one genetic clustering algorithm for partitioning the data set. Results demonstrating the superiority of the S-index in appropriately determining the number of clusters as compared to two other recently proposed measures, namely the PS index and PBM index, are provided for automatically classifying different landcover regions in remote sensing imagery.
E-Services for an Electronic Education Market
Authors: Freimut Bodendorf
Venue: Proceedings of the International Conference on Systems and Networks Communication (2006)

More and more universities, companies and other organizations are supplying products and services for media-based education and training. The customers are not only students but also an increasing number of working people looking for continuing education. Supporting the convergence of supply and demand electronically in this context is truly challenging. The concept of an electronic market for e-learning is introduced. This marketplace offers services for both suppliers and customers applying the electronic commerce paradigm to the delivery of education and training.
A manager-friendly platform for simulation modeling and analysis of call center queueing systems
Authors: Robert Saltzman, Vijay Mehrotra
Venue: Proceedings of the 36th conference on Winter simulation (2004)

Call center operational performance is measured largely through queue times and customer abandonment rates, and thus managers have an acute need to understand how both management policies and stochastic factors affect these performance statistics. Simulation is an excellent vehicle for examining these relationships, but a lack of programming ability can be a barrier that prevents call center managers from making use of such models. To address this problem, we have developed a user-friendly Excel interface for a dynamic discrete event simulation model. The underlying model is a general queuing system for which analytical results are often unavailable, and the Excel interface enables managers to interactively specify a wide range of system parameters and analyze results, all without exposing them to the simulation model's components. Based on input from call center operations managers, we have also been able to utilize this framework to ask, and answer, some important empirical questions.
A Multi-agent Mechanism for Topology Balancing in Unstructured P2P Networks
Authors: Prithviraj Dasgupta
Venue: Proceedings of the IEEE/WIC/ACM international conference on Intelligent Agent Technology (2006)

Unstructured P2P networks can grow in an ad-hoc and give rise to scale-free graphs where most of the nodes form clusters or hubs around few resourceful nodes. This leads to congestion and bottleneck problems around the hubs ensuing search latencies for users' resource search queries. Here, we describe a multi-agent enabled P2P network setup protocol that maintains a small-world network structure to prevent the formation of scale-free graphs in unstructured P2P networks.
Short-Term Reorganization of Auditory Analysis Induced by Phonetic Experience
Authors: Einat Liebenthal, Jeffrey R. Binder, Rebecca L. Piorkowski, Robert E. Remez
Venue: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (2003)

Sine wave replicas of spoken words can be perceived both as nonphonetic auditory forms and as words, depending on a listener's experience. In this study, brain areas activated by sine wave words were studied with fMRI in two conditions: when subjects perceived the sounds spontaneously as nonphonetic auditory forms ("n&iuml;ve condition") and after instruction and brief practice attending to their phonetic attributes ("informed condition"). The test items were composed such that half replicated natural words ("phonetic items") and the other half did not, because the tone analogs of the first and third formants had been temporally reversed ("nonphonetic items"). Subjects were asked to decide whether an isolated tone analog of the second formant (T2) presented before the sine wave word (T1234) was included in it. Experience in attending to the phonetic properties of the sinusoids interfered with this auditory matching task and was accompanied by a decrease in auditory cortex activation with word replicas but not with the acoustically matched nonphonetic items. Because the activation patterns elicited by equivalent acoustic test items depended on a listener's awareness of their phonetic potential, this indicates that the analysis of speech sounds in the auditory cortex is distinct from the simple resolution of auditory form, and is not a mere consequence of acoustic complexity. Because arbitrary acoustic patterns did not evoke the response observed for phonetic patterns, these findings suggest that the perception of speech is contingent on the presence of familiar patterns of spectral variation. The results are consistent with a short-term functional reorganization of auditory analysis induced by phonetic experience with sine wave replicas and contingent on the dynamic acoustic structure of speech.
On the Complexity of Numerical Analysis
Authors: Eric Allender, Peter Burgisser, Johan Kjeldgaard-Pedersen, Peter Bro Miltersen
Venue: Proceedings of the 21st Annual IEEE Conference on Computational Complexity (2006)

We study two quite different approaches to understanding the complexity of fundamental problems in numerical analysis. We show that both hinge on the question of understanding the complexity of the following problem, which we call PosSLP: Given a division-free straight-line program producing an integer N, decide whether N gt 0. We show that PosSLP lies in the counting hierarchy, and combining our results with work of Tiwari, we show that the Euclidean Traveling Salesman Problem lies in the counting hierarchy - the previous best upper bound for this important problem (in terms of classical complexity classes) being PSPACE.
Modeling, analysis, measurement and experimentation with the Tangram-II integrated environment
Authors: Edmundo de S. e Silva, Ana P. C. da Silva, Antonio A. de A. Rocha, Rosa M. M. Leão, Flávio P. Duarte, Fernando J. S. Filho, Guilherme D. G. Jaime, Richard R. Muntz
Venue: Proceedings of the 1st international conference on Performance evaluation methodolgies and tools (2006)

A large number of performance evaluation tools have been developed over the years to support the analyst in the difficult task of model building. As systems increase in complexity, the need is critical for tools that are able to help the user throughout the whole modeling cycle, from model building to model solution and experimentation. In this work we describe the main features of the TANGRAM-II modeling environment. The tool has a powerful and flexible model interface, unique algorithms for the numerical solution of models, includes an event driven and fluid simulators that provides a variety of facilities useful for obtaining the measures of interest, and has a traffic engineering environment integrated with the other tool modules.
A template-based conceptual modeling infrastructure for simulation of physical security systems
Authors: Ashu Guru, Paul Savory
Venue: Proceedings of the 36th conference on Winter simulation (2004)

Although simulation is one of the most innovative and cost-effective tools for modeling and analyzing a system, simulation studies often fail to provide any useful results. One reason is attributed to the fact that model formulation depends on the skills of the analyst. This paper describes a research to develop a conceptual modeling infrastructure to assist a simulation analyst in specifying components for studying physical security systems. The modeling framework has been programmed as an internet-based web application. Using the application, the successful development and implementation of a physical security simulation model will be aided by a defined scientific methodology rather than simply the skills of the analyst. Further the modeling framework is simulation language independent, thus allowing for a top-down or bottom-up approach to developing the conceptual model. This offers support for an object-oriented modeling design.
Data structure repair using goal-directed reasoning
Authors: Martin C. Rinard
Venue:  (2006)

Software errors, hardware faults, and user errors can cause data structures in running applications to become damaged so that they violate key consistency properties. As a result of this violation, the application may produce unacceptable results or even crash. This dissertation presents a new data structure repair system that accepts a specification of key data structure consistency constraints; then generates repair algorithms that dynamically detect and repair violations of these constraints, enabling the application to continue to execute productively even in the face of otherwise crippling errors. We have successfully applied our system to five benchmarks: CTAS, an air traffic control tool: Abi Word, an open source word processing application; Freeciv, an online game; a parallel x86 emulator; and a simplified Linux file system. Our experience using our system indicates that the specifications are relatively easy to develop once one understands the data structures. Furthermore, for our set of benchmark applications, our experimental results show that our system can effectively repair inconsistent data structures and enable the application to continue to operate successfully. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
On a Theory of Media Processing Systems Behavior, with Applications
Authors: M. A. Weffers-Albu, J. J. Lukkien, E. F. M. Steffens, P. D. V. van der Stok
Venue: Proceedings of the 18th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (2006)

In this article we provide a model for the dynamic behavior of media processing chains of tasks communicating via bounded buffers. The aim is to find the overall behavior of a chain from which performance parameters (such as start time and response time of individual tasks, chain end-to-end response time, number of context switches and resource utilization) follow. This behavior is characterized in terms of the elementary actions of the tasks that make up the chain. From this we derive corollaries that give design guidelines, supporting the goal of improving chain end-to-end response time and the optimization of resources, which is achieved by minimizing contextswitching overhead and buffer sizes.
A field study of the Wheel-a usability engineering process model
Authors: James W. Helms, James D. Arthur, Deborah Hix, H. Rex Hartson
Venue: Journal of Systems and Software (2006)

Interactive system developers are increasingly including usability engineering as an integral part of interactive system development. With recognition of the importance of usability come attempts to structure this new aspect of overall system development, leading to a variety of processes and methodologies. Unfortunately, these processes often lack flexibility, customizability, completeness, and breadth of coverage. This paper describes our development of a meta process or process model that we call the Wheel. This innovative approach to creating and tailoring usability engineering processes addresses these shortcomings, and describes an evaluation of its application in a real-world commercial development environment. The Wheel process model for usability engineering is not a process itself, but instead, it provides a general framework into which developers can fit specific existing or new techniques, methods, or activities to apply ''best usability practices''. It grew out of our examination, adaptation, and extension of several existing usability engineering and software methodologies. The methods that most strongly guided creation of the Wheel were the LUCID framework of interaction design, the Star life cycle of usability engineering, and the waterfall and spiral models of software engineering. The resulting process model assumes the form of a sequence of distinct cycles (each of which produces a product form), allowing developers to focus on each cycle separately. Each cycle has the same four activity types: Analyze, Design, Implement, and Evaluate. Each activity type in a cycle is instantiated using an existing usability engineering technique. Working with an Internet technology company in northern Virginia under grant sponsorship from the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology (a research and development incubator for the Commonwealth of Virginia), we instantiated the Wheel process model and used it to develop a Web-based device management system. The process model performed remarkably well for this development environment, overcoming the tight constraints of budget and schedule cuts to produce an excellent process instance that resulted in a demonstration prototype of the company's target system.
User Programmable Virtualized Networks
Authors: Robert J. Meijer, Rudolf J. Strijkers, Leon Gommans, Cees de Laat
Venue: Proceedings of the Second IEEE International Conference on e-Science and Grid Computing (2006)

This paper introduces the concept of a User Programmable Virtualized Network, which allows networks to deliver application specific services using network element components that developers can program as part of a users application. The use of special tokens in data or control packets is the basis of a practical, yet powerful security and AAA framework. This framework allows for implementations with a low footprint that can operate in a multi domain network operator environment. We demonstrate the ease with which one can build applications and address networking problems as they appear for example in sensor networks.
Dynamic simulation of in-plane transverse displacement of tape
Authors: Ryan J. Taylor, Mo Chung, Frank E. Talke
Venue: Microsystem Technologies (2006)

In-plane transverse motion of an axially moving magnetic tape in a tape transport is investigated experimentally and compared with numerical predictions. The effects of tension and bending stiffness are evaluated for tension values on the order of 1&#x00a0;N and frequencies of lateral tape motion on the order of 1&#x00a0;kHz. The equation of motion for the displacement of a single span of tape between two reels is solved numerically subject to experimentally measured boundary and initial conditions. Very good agreement is found between measurement and numerical simulation in the frequency range of lateral tape displacement up to 1&#x00a0;kHz.