ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Crosswatch: A Camera Phone System for Orienting Visually Impaired Pedestrians at Traffic Intersections
Authors: Volodymyr Ivanchenko, James Coughlan, Huiying Shen
Venue: Proceedings of the 11th international conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs (2008)

Urban intersections are the most dangerous parts of a blind or visually impaired person's travel. To address this problem, this paper describes the novel "Crosswatch" system, which uses computer vision to provide information about the location and orientation of crosswalks to a blind or visually impaired pedestrian holding a camera cell phone. A prototype of the system runs on an off-the-shelf Nokia camera phone in real time, which automatically takes a few images per second, uses the cell phone's built-in computer to analyze each image in a fraction of a second and sounds an audio tone when it detects a crosswalk. Tests with blind subjects demonstrate the feasibility of the system and its ability to provide useful crosswalk alignment information under real-world conditions.
A Dynamic Labeling Scheme Using Vectors
Authors: Liang Xu, Zhifeng Bao, Tok Wang Ling
Venue: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications (2007)

The labeling problem of dynamic XML documents has received increasing research attention. When XML documents are subject to insertions and deletions of nodes, it is important to design a labeling scheme that efficiently facilitates updates as well as processing of XML queries. This paper proposes a novel encoding scheme, vector encoding which is orthogonal to existing labeling schemes and can completely avoid re-labeling. Extensive experiments show that our vector encoding outperforms existing labeling schemes on both label updates and query processing especially in the case of skewed updates. Besides, it has the nice property of being conceptually easy to understand through its graphical representation.
Bridging the Gap between Practitioners and E-Learning Standards: A Domain-Specific Modeling Approach
Authors: Yongwu Miao, Tim Sodhi, Francis Brouns, Peter Sloep, Rob Koper
Venue: Proceedings of the 3rd European conference on Technology Enhanced Learning: Times of Convergence: Technologies Across Learning Contexts (2008)

Developing a learning design using IMS Learning Design (LD) is difficult for average practitioners because a high overhead of pedagogical knowledge and technical knowledge is required. Through using peer assessment as an exemplary pedagogy, this paper presents a domain-specific modeling (DSM) approach to a new generation of LD authoring tools, for enabling practitioners to create learning designs. Adopting a DSM approach, on the one hand, pedagogic experts develop a pedagogy-specific modeling language, in which notations are directly chosen from the concepts and rules used to describe pedagogic approaches. On the other hand, technical experts develop transformation algorithms, which will map the models represented in the pedagogy-specific modeling language into machine-interpretable code represented in LD. This technical approach to a new generation of LD authoring tools has been illustrated through presenting the whole procedure of the development of a peer assessment authoring tool.
A service-oriented business performance evaluation model and the performance-aware service selection method
Authors: Bo Liu, Yushun Fan, Shuangxi Huang
Venue: Concurrency and Computation: Practice Experience (2008)

In service-oriented architecture, services and business processes are closely related and therefore the research on service-oriented business process (SOBP) attracts the attention of academia as well as industry. Because of the loosely coupled, autonomic and dynamic nature of services, the operation and the performance evaluation of business process meet some challenges, such as the definition of the key performance indicators (KPIs) and the alignment of business performance and IT performance. In this paper, we address these challenges. First, the definition and the characteristics of an SOBP are presented with a motivating scenario. Then a service-oriented business performance evaluation model is described, which integrates the performance of strategy layer, business process layer, business activity layer, service composition layer and IT infrastructure layer. The KPIs corresponding to each layer are also defined with their formal representations. The qualitative and quantitative performance analysis methods, based on the proposed model, are presented, respectively. Finally, the improved analytic hierarchy process is explicated to calculate the correlation between different KPIs and select the most suitable service. An online-shopping example is taken to prove the soundness and the feasibility of the method. Copyright &copy; 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Provisioning of parameterized quality of service in 802.11e based wireless mesh networks
Authors: Xiaowen Chu
Venue: Mobile Networks and Applications (2008)

There has been a growing interest in the use of wireless mesh networks. Today's wireless technology enables very high data rate up to hundreds of Megabits per second, which creates the high demand of supporting real-time multimedia applications over wireless mesh networks. Hence it is imperative to support quality of service (QoS) in wireless mesh networks. In this paper, we design a framework to provide parameterized QoS in 802.11e based wireless mesh networks. Our framework consists of admission control algorithms and scheduling algorithms, which aim at supporting constant bit-rate (CBR) traffic flows, as well as variable bit-rate (VBR) traffic flows. We first present deterministic end-to-end delay bounds for CBR traffic. We then prove that the delay of VBR traffic can be bounded if the traffic flow conforms to a leaky-bucket regulator. We further study different admission control algorithms for VBR traffic. Our simulation results show that, by taking advantage of statistical multiplexing, much more traffic flows can be admitted.
Bender's Cuts Guided Large Neighborhood Search for the Traveling Umpire Problem
Authors: Michael A. Trick, Hakan Yildiz
Venue: Proceedings of the 4th international conference on Integration of AI and OR Techniques in Constraint Programming for Combinatorial Optimization Problems (2007)

This paper introduces the use of Bender's Cuts to guide a Large Neighborhood Search to solve the Traveling Umpire Problem, a sports scheduling problem inspired by the real-life needs of the officials of a sports league. At each time slot, a Greedy Matching heuristic is used to construct a schedule. When an infeasibility is recognized Bender's cuts are generated, which guides a Large Neighborhood Search to ensure feasibility and to improve the solution.
Can Patterns Improve i* Modeling? Two Exploratory Studies
Authors: Markus Strohmaier, Jennifer Horkoff, Eric Yu, Jorge Aranda, Steve Easterbrook
Venue: Proceedings of the 14th international conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (2008)

A considerable amount of effort has been placed into the investigation of i* modeling as a tool for early stage requirements engineering. However, widespread adoption of i* models in the requirements process has been hindered by issues such as the effort required to create the models, coverage of the problem context, and model complexity. In this work, we explore the feasibility of pattern application to address these issues. To this end, we perform both an exploratory case study and initial experiment to investigate whether the application of patterns improves aspects of i* modeling. Furthermore, we develop a methodology which guides the adoption of patterns for i* modeling. Our findings suggest that applying model patterns can increase model coverage, but increases complexity, and may increase modeling effort depending on the experience of the modeler. Our conclusions indicate situations where pattern application to i* models may be beneficial.
A Novel Approach to Extract Structured Motifs by Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm
Authors: Mehmet Kaya, Melikali Güç
Venue: Proceedings of the 2008 21st IEEE International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems (2008)

The functional motifs composed of several sequential blocks are difficult to find. Current mining methods might individually find each motif block but fail to connect them with large irregular gaps. In this paper we propose a novel method for the efficient extraction of structured motifs from DNA sequences using multi-objective genetic algorithm. The main advantage of our approach is that a large number of nondominated motifs can be obtained by a single run with respect to conflicting objectives: similarity and support maximization and gap minimization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first effort in this direction. The proposed method can be applied to any data set with a sequential character. Furthermore, it allows any choice of similarity measures for finding motifs. By analyzing the obtained optimal motifs, the decision maker can understand the tradeoff between the objectives. We compare our method with the two well-known structured motif extraction methods, EXMOTIF and RISOTTO. Experimental results on synthetics data set demonstrate that the proposed method exhibits good performance over the other methods in terms of runtime.
A Snake for Retinal Vessel Segmentation
Authors: L. Espona, M. J. Carreira, M. Ortega, M. G. Penedo
Venue: Proceedings of the 3rd Iberian conference on Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis, Part II (2007)

This paper presents an innovative methodology to detect the vessel tree in retinal angiographies. The automatic analysis of retinal vessel tree facilitates the computation of the arteriovenous index, which is essential for the diagnosis of a wide range of eye diseases. We have developed a system inspired in the classical snake but incorporating domain specific knowledge, such as blood vessels topological properties. It profites mainly from the automatic localization of the optic disc and from the extraction and enhancement of the vascular tree centerlines. Encouraging results in the detection of arteriovenous structures are efficiently achieved, as shown by the systems performance evaluation on the publicy available DRIVE database.
Including the Past in `Topologic'
Authors: Bernhard Heinemann
Venue: Proceedings of the international symposium on Logical Foundations of Computer Science (2007)

In this paper, we extend Moss and Parikh's topo-logical view of knowledge. We incorporate a further modality, denoted P, into the original system. This operator describes the increase of sets. Regarding the usual logic of knowledge, P corresponds to no learning of agents. In the context of `topologic', however, P represents the reverse effort operator and is related to the past therefore. It is our objective to prove nice properties of the accompanying logic like soundness and completeness with respect to the intended class of structures, or decidability. To this end, we take up a hybrid logic point of view, among other things. This not only yields the desired results, but also has some interesting consequences with regard to applications.
Similarity-Based Object Retrieval Using Appearance and Geometric Feature Combination
Authors: Agnés Borràs, Josep Lladós
Venue: Proceedings of the 3rd Iberian conference on Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis, Part II (2007)

This work presents a content-based image retrieval system of general purpose that deals with cluttered scenes containing a given query object. The system is flexible enough to handle with a single image of an object despite its rotation, translation and scale variations. The image content is divided in parts that are described with a combination of features based on geometrical and color properties. The idea behind the feature combination is to benefit from a fuzzy similarity computation that provides robustness and tolerance to the retrieval process. The features can be independently computed and the image parts can be easily indexed by using a table structure on every feature value. Finally a process inspired in the alignment strategies is used to check the coherence of the object parts found in a scene. Our work presents a system of easy implementation that uses an open set of features and can suit a wide variety of applications.
Grounding of Human Observations as Uncertain Knowledge
Authors: Kamil Szymański, Grzegorz Dobrowolski
Venue: Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Computational Science, Part III (2008)

The article presents some methods of uncertain, human-originated knowledge grounding, accomplished with the use of ontologies with uncertainities and several ontology ABox joining techniques. Several people with uncertain knowledge about some domain write down their domain knowledge in a form of simple text in english. The goal is to obtain uncertain ontology ABoxes, representing their knowledge, and to join them, resulting in total, grounded, uncertain domain knowledge. The joining process takes care of different facts description details, possible facts conflicts as well as varied facts certainity degrees and people credibility.
Reactive Kripke Models and Contrary to Duty Obligations
Authors: Dov M. Gabbay
Venue: Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Deontic Logic in Computer Science (2008)

This is an intuitive description of our approach to modelling contrary to duty obligations. We shall describe our ideas through the analysis of typical problematic examples taken from Carmo and Jones [6], L. van der Torre [14] and Prakken and Sergot [5].
FastScat&trade;: An Object-Oriented Program for Fast Scattering Computation
Authors: Lisa Hamilton, Mark Stalzer, R. Steven Turley, John Visher, Stephen Wandzura
Venue: Scientific Programming (1993)

FastScat is a state-of-the-art program for computing electromagnetic scattering and radiation. Its purpose is to support the study of recent algorithmic advancements, such as the fast multipole method, that promise speed-ups of several orders of magnitude over conventional algorithms. The complexity of these algorithms and their associated data structures led us to adopt an object-oriented methodology for FastScat. We discuss the program's design and several lessons learned from its C++ implementation including the appropriate level for object-orientedness in numeric software, maintainability benefits, interfacing to Fortran libraries such as LAPACK, and performance issues.
A k-Anonymity Clustering Method for Effective Data Privacy Preservation
Authors: Chuang-Cheng Chiu, Chieh-Yuan Tsai
Venue: Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Advanced Data Mining and Applications (2007)

Data privacy preservation has drawn considerable interests in data mining research recently. The k-anonymity model is a simple and practical approach for data privacy preservation. This paper proposes a novel clustering method for conducting the k-anonymity model effectively. In the proposed clustering method, feature weights are automatically adjusted so that the information distortion can be reduced. A set of experiments show that the proposed method keeps the benefit of scalability and computational efficiency when comparing to other popular clustering algorithms.
Quantum and Randomized Lower Bounds for Local Search on Vertex-Transitive Graphs
Authors: Hang Dinh, Alexander Russell
Venue: Proceedings of the 11th international workshop, APPROX 2008, and 12th international workshop, RANDOM 2008 on Approximation, Randomization and Combinatorial Optimization: Algorithms and Techniques (2008)

We study the problem of local search on a graph. Given a real-valued black-box function f on the graph's vertices, this is the problem of determining a local minimum of f--a vertex v for which f(v) is no more than f evaluated at any of v's neighbors. In 1983, Aldous gave the first strong lower bounds for the problem, showing that any randomized algorithm requires ¿(2 n/2 ¿ o(1) ) queries to determine a local minima on the n-dimensional hypercube. The next major step forward was not until 2004 when Aaronson, introducing a new method for query complexity bounds, both strengthened this lower bound to ¿(2 n/2/n 2) and gave an analogous lower bound on the quantum query complexity. While these bounds are very strong, they are known only for narrow families of graphs (hypercubes and grids). We show how to generalize Aaronson's techniques in order to give randomized (and quantum) lower bounds on the query complexity of local search for the family of vertex-transitive graphs. In particular, we show that for any vertex-transitive graph G of N vertices and diameter d, the randomized and quantum query complexities for local search on G are $\Omega\left(\frac{\sqrt{N}}{d\log N}\right)$ and $\Omega\left(\frac{\sqrt[4]{N}}{\sqrt{d\log N}}\right)$, respectively.
On the "Whats" and "Hows" of "Where": The Role of Salience in Spatial Descriptions
Authors: Laura A. Carlson
Venue: Proceedings of the international conference on Spatial Cognition VI: Learning, Reasoning, and Talking about Space (2008)

According to Clark [1] language is a joint activity between speaker and listener, undertaken to accomplish a shared goal. In the case of spatial descriptions, one such goal is for a speaker to assist a listener in finding a sought-for object. For example, imagine misplacing your keys on a cluttered desktop, and asking your friend if s/he knows where they are. In response, there are a variety of spatial descriptions that your friend can select that vary in complexity, ranging from a simple deictic expression such as "there" (and typically accompanied by a pointing gesture), to a much more complicated description such as "its on the desk, under the shelf, to the left of the book and in front of the phone." Between these two extremes are descriptions of the form "The keys are by the book", consisting of three parts: the located object that is being sought (i.e., the keys); the reference object from which the location of the located object is specified (i.e., the book) and the spatial term that conveys the spatial relation between these two objects (i.e., by). For inquiries of this type ("where are my keys?"), the located object is pre-specified, but the speaker needs to select an appropriate spatial term and an appropriate reference object. My research focuses on the representations and processes by which a speaker selects these spatial terms and reference objects, and the representations and processes by which a listener comprehends these ensuing descriptions. The ACM Portal is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. Copyright © 2010 ACM, Inc. Terms of Usage Privacy Policy Code of Ethics Contact Us Useful downloads: Adobe Acrobat QuickTime Windows Media Player Real Player
Cooperation in Co-evolving Networks: The Prisoner's Dilemma and Stag-Hunt Games
Authors: Enea Pestelacci, Marco Tomassini
Venue: Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature: PPSN X (2008)

Interactions giving rise to dilemmas are widespread in society. Starting from the observation that individuals interact through networks of acquaintances, we study the co-evolution of the agents' strategies and of the social network itself using two prototypical games: the Prisoner's Dilemma and the Stag Hunt. We find that cooperation and coordination can be achieved through the self-organization of the social network into strong and stable clusters of identical strategies.
Adaptive data aggregation scheme in clustered wireless sensor networks
Authors: Huifang Chen, Hiroshi Mineno, Tadanori Mizuno
Venue: Computer Communications (2008)

Energy efficiency has been known as the most important issue in all facets of wireless sensor network (WSN) operations because of the limited and unrechargeable energy provision of sensor nodes. And WSN has emerged as an event-driven paradigm based on the collective effort of numerous sensing nodes. Data aggregation, eliminating data redundancy to improve the energy efficiency, is essential for WSNs. Moreover, due to dynamic topology and random deployment, incorporating adaptive behavior into protocols for WSNs is very important. Hence, we propose an adaptive data aggregation (ADA) scheme for clustered WSNs in this paper. In ADA scheme, the temporal aggregation degree controlled by the reporting frequency at sensor nodes and the spatial aggregation degree controlled by the aggregation ratio at cluster heads (CHs) are determined by the current scheme state according to the observed reliability. Furthermore, the function of the ADA scheme is mainly performed at sink node, with a little function at CHs and sensor nodes. Performance results show that the scheme state converges to the desired reliability starting from any initial state.
Auditory-Induced Emotion: A Neglected Channel for Communication in Human-Computer Interaction
Authors: Ana Tajadura-Jiménez, Daniel Västfjäll
Venue: Affect and Emotion in Human-Computer Interaction: From Theory to Applications (2008)

Interpreting and responding to affective states of a user is crucial for future intelligent systems. Until recently, the role of sound in affective responses has been frequently ignored. This article provides a brief overview of the research targeting affective reactions to everyday, ecological sounds. This research shows that the subjective interpretation and meaning that listeners attribute to sound, the spatial dimension, or the interactions with other sensory modalities, are as important as the physical properties of sound in evoking an affective response. Situation appraisal and individual differences are also discussed as factors influencing the emotional reactions to auditory stimuli. A study with heartbeat sounds exemplifies some of the introduced ideas and research methodologies, and shows the potential of sound in inducing emotional states.
Minimal Trellis Construction for Finite Support Convolutional Ring Codes
Authors: Margreta Kuijper, Raquel Pinto
Venue: Proceedings of the 2nd international Castle meeting on Coding Theory and Applications (2008)

We address the concept of "minimal polynomial encoder" for finite support linear convolutional codes over ${\mathbb Z}_{p^r}$. These codes can be interpreted as polynomial modules which enables us to apply results from the 2007-paper [8] to introduce the notions of "p-encoder" and "minimal p-encoder". Here the latter notion is the ring analogon of a row reduced polynomial encoder from the field case. We show how to construct a minimal trellis representation of a delay-free finite support convolutional code from a minimal p-encoder. We express its number of trellis states in terms of a degree invariant of the code. The latter expression generalizes the wellknown expression in terms of the degree of a delay-free finite support convolutional code over a field to the ring case. The results are also applicable to block trellis realization of polynomial block codes over ${\mathbb Z}_{p^r}$, such as CRC codes over ${\mathbb Z}_{p^r}$.
Brief paper: Rigorous parameter reconstruction for differential equations with noisy data
Authors: Tomas Johnson, Warwick Tucker
Venue: Automatica (Journal of IFAC) (2008)

We present a method that-given a data set, a finitely parametrized system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs), and a search space of parameters-discards portions of the search space that are inconsistent with the model ODE and data. The method is completely rigorous as it is based on validated integration of the vector field. As a consequence, no consistent parameters can be lost during the pruning phase. For data sets with moderate levels of noise, this yields a good reconstruction of the underlying parameters. Several examples are included to illustrate the merits of the method.
Transforming Legacy Systems into Software Product Lines
Authors: Danilo Beuche
Venue: Proceedings of the 2008 12th International Software Product Line Conference (2008)

Often organizations face the problem that after a while their software system is deployed in several variants and the need arises to migrate to systematic variability and variant management using a software product line approach.