ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Several multi-criteria programming methods for classification
Authors: Juliang Zhang, Yong Shi, Peng Zhang
Venue: Computers and Operations Research (2009)

In this paper, we propose a general optimization-based model for classification. Then we show that some well-known optimization-based methods for classification, which were developed by Shi et al. [Data mining in credit card portfolio management: a multiple criteria decision making approac. In: Koksalan M, Zionts S, editors. Multiple criteria decision making in the new millennium. Berlin: Springer; 2001. p. 427-36] and Freed and Glover [A linear programming approach to the discriminant problem. Decision Sciences 1981; 12: 68-79; Simple but powerful goal programming models for discriminant problems. European Journal of Operational Research 1981; 7: 44-60], are special cases of our model. Moreover, three new models, MCQP (multi-criteria indefinite quadratic programming), MCCQP (multi-criteria concave quadratic programming) and MCVQP (multi-criteria convex programming), are developed based on the general model. We also propose algorithms for MCQP and MCCQP, respectively. Then we apply these models to three real-life problems: credit card accounts, VIP mail-box and social endowment insurance classification. Extensive experiments are done to compare the efficiency of these methods.
A wavelet-based approach to detect shared congestion
Authors: Min Sik Kim, Taekhyun Kim, Yong-June Shin, Simon S. Lam, Edward J. Powers
Venue: IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (TON) (2008)

Per-flow congestion control helps endpoints fairly and efficiently share network resources. Better utilization of network resources can be achieved, however, if congestion management algorithms can determine when two different flows share a congested link. Such knowledge can be used to implement cooperative congestion control or improve the overlay topology of a P2P system. Previous techniques to detect shared congestion either assume a common source or destination node, drop-tail queueing, or a single point of congestion. We propose in this paper a novel technique, applicable to any pair of paths on the Internet, without such limitations. Our technique employs a signal processing method, wavelet denoising, to separate queueing delay caused by network congestion from various other delay variations. Our wavelet-based technique is evaluated through both simulations and Internet experiments. We show that, when detecting shared congestion of paths with a common endpoint, our technique provides faster convergence and higher accuracy while using fewer packets than previous techniques, and that it also accurately determines when there is no shared congestion. Furthermore, we show that our technique is robust and accurate for paths without a common endpoint or synchronized clocks; more specifically, it can tolerate a synchronization offset of up to one second between two packet flows.
Type inference and type checking for queries on execution traces
Authors: Daniel Deutch, Tova Milo
Venue: Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment (2008)

This paper studies, for the first time, the management of type information for an important class of semi-structured data: nested DAGs (Directed Acyclic Graphs) that describe execution traces of business processes (BPs for short). Specifically, we consider here type inference and type checking for queries over BP execution traces. The queries that we consider select portions of the traces that are of interest to the user; the types describe the possible shape of the execution traces in the input/output of the query. We formally define and characterize here three common classes of BP execution traces and their respective notions of type inference and type checking. We study the complexity of the two problems for query languages of varying expressive power and present efficient type inference/checking algorithms whenever possible. Our analysis offers a nearly complete picture of which combinations of trace classes and query features lead to PTIME algorithms and which to NP-complete or undecidable problems.
A study on the application of data mining to disadvantaged social classes in Taiwan's population census
Authors: Chin-Jui Chang, Shiahn-Wern Shyue
Venue: Expert Systems with Applications: An International Journal (2009)

Data mining has been widely applied to different areas. For a country with a huge population and household census data, data mining is an ideal approach for analyzing this information. In Taiwan single-parent families, aborigines and the elderly have long been considered disadvantaged social classes, and their widening problems will have a tremendous impact and influence on society. This study aims to apply data mining techniques to investigate the demographic features of socially disadvantaged groups in Taiwan by using population and household data collected in the 2000 census to provide reference for social welfare decision makers in understanding these groups and forming policy. The demographic features, marital features and educational attainment of the heads of household in single-parent families were investigated. The demographic features, educational attainment and marital status of aborigines were analyzed. The marital features, educational attainment, care and life patterns of the elderly were studied.
Multi-core CPUs, Clusters, and Grid Computing: A Tutorial
Authors: Michael Creel, William L. Goffe
Venue: Computational Economics (2008)

The nature of computing is changing and it poses both challenges and opportunities for economists. Instead of increasing clock speed, future microprocessors will have "multi-cores" with separate execution units. "Threads" or other multi-processing techniques that are rarely used today are required to take full advantage of them. Beyond one machine, it has become easy to harness multiple computers to work in clusters. Besides dedicated clusters, they can be made up of unused lab computers or even your colleagues' machines. Finally, grids of computers spanning the Internet are now becoming a reality.
Urban pedestrian mobility for mobile wireless network simulation
Authors: Kumiko Maeda, Akira Uchiyama, Takaaki Umedu, Hirozumi Yamaguchi, Keiichi Yasumoto, Teruo Higashino
Venue: Ad Hoc Networks (2009)

In order to perform precise evaluation of MANET applications in the real world, realistic mobility models are needed in wireless network simulation. In this paper, we propose a new method to create urban pedestrian flows (UPF) mobility scenarios, which reproduce the walking behavior of pedestrians in urban areas. From given densities of pedestrians observed at several points, our method derives a UPF mobility scenario that reproduces the walking behavior of pedestrians consistent with the observed densities, using linear programming techniques. We have developed a network simulator MobiREAL to design and evaluate MANET protocols and applications with this realistic mobility model. MobiREAL provides various functions and tools including a mobility model to describe the behavior of individual nodes, a GUI to assist with automatic generation of UPF mobility scenarios and a visualization tool. We have conducted some experiments using the MobiREAL simulator. Through the experiments, we have investigated the influence of node mobility on the performance of MANET protocols and have shown the usefulness of our method and the MobiREAL simulator.
Affordances in Conversational Interactions with Multimodal QA Systems
Authors: Andreea Niculescu
Venue: Proceedings of the 4th Symposium of the Workgroup Human-Computer Interaction and Usability Engineering of the Austrian Computer Society on HCI and Usability for Education and Work (2008)

Implementation of adequate conversational structures is a key issue in developing successful interactive user interfaces. A way of testing the adequacy of the structures is to prove the correct orientation of each communicative action towards a preceding action. We refer to this orientation leading to a certain response as the affordance of the communicative action. In this paper we present a case study where affordances of implemented conversational structures (including verbal and graphical elements) in a multimodal medical QA system are identified applying Conversation Analysis (CA) tools and tested using the Cognitive Walkthrough (CW) method. The CW method was modified to fit the conversational approach and tested with five expert evaluators. Results showed that the affordance analysis helps detecting inefficient constructions leading to disruptions in the dialog flow, spots unnecessary functions and provides important insights on systems easy-of-use.
Visualizations at First Sight: Do Insights Require Training?
Authors: Michael Smuc, Eva Mayr, Tim Lammarsch, Alessio Bertone, Wolfgang Aigner, Hanna Risku, Silvia Miksch
Venue: Proceedings of the 4th Symposium of the Workgroup Human-Computer Interaction and Usability Engineering of the Austrian Computer Society on HCI and Usability for Education and Work (2008)

Understanding novel visualizations can be a challenge even for experienced users. During iterative usability engineering phases in the DisCō project, visualizations of time-oriented data are explored by domain experts and non-experts. The aim of our study is to analyze the generation of knowledge and understanding by means of visualizations without previous user training. Focusing on applicability in various business domains for personnel planning and time scheduling, we tested mockups of visualizations with a method based on user-reported insights. Results show almost identical behavior of domain experts and non-experts when generating insights into the data from scratch. In the course of working with a visualization, an interchange of insights into the visualization and insights into the data was found.
Airborne SAR monitoring of tree growth in a coniferous plantation
Authors: C. S. Rowland, H. Balzter, T. P. Dawson, A. Luckman, G. Patenaude, L. Skinner
Venue: International Journal of Remote Sensing (2008)

This paper examines three empirically based methods of monitoring forest growth between 1991 and 2000 from airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR). In the first method, height change and volume change between 1991 and 2000 were estimated from the mean L-band stand backscatter difference between the two dates. Height change and volume change over the 9-year period were estimated with an accuracy of 0.23 m and 15 m3 ha-1, respectively, when the stands were below saturation point for the first date. The accuracy of the results was lower for stands beyond saturation in both data sets. In the second method, the height change is calculated from the estimated stand height in 2000 minus the estimated stand height in 1991. The second method produced poorer results than the first method, but better results than predicted by the error propagation equation. The difference between the observed accuracy and the expected error (based on the error propagation equation) appears to be due to a systematic bias in both the 1991 and 2000 estimates, as the residuals are correlated for stands below 20 years old (r = 0.71 for stand volume residuals). The third experiment investigates the utility of data from two dates to classify the stands into three age classes. The results show that, with two images separated by 9 years, 85% of stands were correctly classified compared with 69% for a single date L-HV image.
The generalized PSO: a new door to PSO evolution
Authors: J. L. Fernádez Martínez, E. García Gonzalo
Venue: Journal of Artificial Evolution and Applications (2008)

A generalized form of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is presented. Generalized PSO (GPSO) is derived from a continuous version of PSO adopting a time step different than the unit. Generalized continuous particle swarm optimizations are compared in terms of attenuation and oscillation. The deterministic and stochastic stability regions and their respective asymptotic velocities of convergence are analyzed as a function of the time step and the GPSO parameters. The sampling distribution of the GPSO algorithm helps to study the effect of stochasticity on the stability of trajectories. The stability regions for the second-, third-, and fourth-order moments depend on inertia, local, and global accelerations and the time step and are inside of the deterministic stability region for the same time step. We prove that stability regions are the same under stagnation and with a moving center of attraction. Properties of the second-order moments variance and covariance serve to propose some promising parameter sets. High variance and temporal uncorrelation improve the exploration task while solving ill-posed inverse problems. Finally, a comparison is made between PSO and GPSO bymeans of numerical experiments using well-known benchmark functions with two types of ill-posedness commonly found in inverse problems: the Rosenbrock and the "elongated" DeJong functions (global minimum located in a very flat area), and the Griewank function (global minimum surrounded by multiple minima). Numerical simulations support the results provided by theoretical analysis. Based on these results, two variants of Generalized PSO algorithm are proposed, improving the convergence and the exploration task while solving real applications of inverse problems.
Anonymizing bipartite graph data using safe groupings
Authors: Graham Cormode, Divesh Srivastava, Ting Yu, Qing Zhang
Venue: Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment (2008)

Private data often comes in the form of associations between entities, such as customers and products bought from a pharmacy, which are naturally represented in the form of a large, sparse bipartite graph. As with tabular data, it is desirable to be able to publish anonymized versions of such data, to allow others to perform ad hoc analysis of aggregate graph properties. However, existing tabular anonymization techniques do not give useful or meaningful results when applied to graphs: small changes or masking of the edge structure can radically change aggregate graph properties. We introduce a new family of anonymizations, for bipartite graph data, called (k, l)-groupings. These groupings preserve the underlying graph structure perfectly, and instead anonymize the mapping from entities to nodes of the graph. We identify a class of "safe" (k, l)-groupings that have provable guarantees to resist a variety of attacks, and show how to find such safe groupings. We perform experiments on real bipartite graph data to study the utility of the anonymized version, and the impact of publishing alternate groupings of the same graph data. Our experiments demonstrate that (k, l)-groupings offer strong tradeoffs between privacy and utility.
Correction to "On the linear combination of normal and Laplace random variables", by Nadarajah, S., Computational Statistics, 2006, 21, 63---71
Authors: Eloísa Díaz-Francés, José A. Montoya
Venue: Computational Statistics (2008)

In the above mentioned paper, some errors were found in the expressions given for the distribution of a linear combination of Normal and Laplace random variables, Z, given in formulae (3, Theorem 1), (6), and (7) that can lead to obtaining negative values for the mentioned distribution. The corrected versions for these expressions are presented here. In addition, the density function of Z is also provided.
Internet Resources on Weight Loss and Obesity, 1 edition
Authors: Lillian R Brazin
Venue:  (2007)

A seasoned medical librarian provides top Internet resources on health, eating, and nutrition! Obesity has reached epidemic proportions not only in the United States, but also around the world. How does someone with weight loss questions find the most up-to-date information available to make informed health decisions? Internet Resources on Weight Loss and Obesity provides you with a comprehensive list of the best Web sites, already evaluated for your convenience. The book helps you locate the correct information you need on obesity and ways to combat it--saving you time from having to resort to Google or other search engines. This valuable guide, written by a seasoned medical librarian, explains the dynamic nature of the Internet, how to correctly use it, how to easily find, evaluate, and use the latest health information on weight loss, and even how to detect medical fraud. Internet Resources on Weight Loss and ObesityInternet Resources on Weight Loss and Obesity provides important advice and instruction on mining information on this difficult health issue, and includes dozens of Web addresses that offer appropriate, free of charge information. The resource also explains ways to find additional information and support you may need using discussion groups, chat rooms, mailing lists, and newsgroups. Web sites are provided on diet and nutrition, health and diet assessment, eating disorders, obesity, weight-loss programs, bariatric (weight loss) surgery, available medications, spas and residential diet programs, and recipe information. This guide is written in clear, understandable language that even the Internet beginner can use, and provides vital information and help to anyone looking to lose weight and change his or her life. In Internet Resources on Weight Loss and Obesity, you will learn: how to determine whether medical and nutrition information is factual how to locate helpful Web sites where to begin researching particular diets or weight loss methods how to evaluate a Web site how to detect outright medical fraud when and how to use search engines what is the significance of Web site address "domains" proper etiquette in Internet discussion groups Internet Resources on Weight Loss and Obesity is a handy, easy-to-use resource that is invaluable to librarians, Internet users, or anyone needing important health information concerning weight loss and obesity.
Navigation support for learners in informal learning environments
Authors: Hendrik Drachsler, Hans Hummel, Rob Koper
Venue: Proceedings of the 2008 ACM conference on Recommender systems (2008)

This paper offers an extended abstract of a PhD project that focuses on supporting learners in finding most suitable learning activities in informal learning environments. For this purpose we aim to develop a personal recommender system, which will recommend most suitable learning activities to learners regarding their personal needs and preferences. As a theoretical framework for informal learning environments we use the concept of Learning Networks [1]. Learning Networks can be filled with lots of learning activities stemming from different providers. Such networks are dynamic, because each member could add or delete content at any time. A personal recommender system is needed to support learners in selecting learning activities from a Learning Network that will enable them to achieve their learning goals in a specific domain. It is expected that such support will minimize the amount of time learners need for finding suitable learning activities. A better alignment of the characteristics of learners and learning activities is expected to increase both effectiveness and efficiency of learning progress of the learners.
An approach for extracting a small unsatisfiable core
Authors: Roman Gershman, Maya Koifman, Ofer Strichman
Venue: Formal Methods in System Design (2008)

The article addresses the problem of finding a small unsatisfiable core of an unsatisfiable CNF formula. The proposed algorithm, CoreTrimmer, iterates over each internal node d in the resolution graph that `consumes' a large number of clauses M (i.e., a large number of original clauses are present in the unsat core with the sole purpose of proving d) and attempts to prove them without the M clauses. If this is possible, it transforms the resolution graph into a new graph that does not have the M clauses at its core. CoreTrimmer can be integrated into a fixpoint framework similarly to Malik and Zhang's fix-point algorithm run_till_ fix. We call this option trim_till_fix. Experimental evaluation on a large number of industrial CNF unsatisfiable formulas shows that trim_till_fix doubles, on average, the number of reduced clauses in comparison to run_till_fix. It is also better when used as a component in a bigger system that enforces short timeouts.
Concurrency emulation and analysis of parallel applications for multi-processor system-on-chip co-design
Authors: Giovanni Beltrame, Luca Fossati, Donatella Sciuto
Venue: Proceedings of the 6th IEEE/ACM/IFIP international conference on Hardware/Software codesign and system synthesis (2008)

This paper presents a novel technique for the modeling and the simulation of parallel applications for Multi-Processor Systems-on-Chip (MPSoCs). This technique consists of an application-transparent emulation of OS primitives, including task creation, scheduling, synchronization etc.; this emulation guarantees compatibility with any program compiled against the standard POSIX library, independently of the target OS. This methodology can be used to perform initial HW/SW partitioning and concurrent engineering of a given application, as it allows any software routine to be transparently emulated with SystemC modules. The proposed approach has been verified on a large set of multi-threaded benchmarks, with both POSIX Threads and OpenMP programming styles. Results show that our methodology enables (a) fast simulation of POSIX applications, (b) accurate analysis of multi-threaded applications, and (c) co-design and fast preliminary hardware-software partitioning.
The aesthetics of emergence: Co-constructed interactions
Authors: Melanie Baljko, Nell Tenhaaf
Venue: ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI) (2008)

In this article, we describe the aesthetics of emergence, which is our theoretical framework for an aesthetics of interaction and the underpinning of LoFi, an interactive A-life artwork that we are developing. We provide a survey of relevant concepts from the A-life and new media research communities, and we establish threads of commonalities with the HCI research community and especially the subset of that community that emphasizes aspects of user experience other than those that are characterized by performance-based measures. We describe and discuss several exemplar A-life artworks that are drawn from the last decade of jury selections of the annual Vida Art and Artificial Life Competition, conducted by Fundaci&oacute;n Telefonica. We conclude with a discussion of issues that are common to the A-life and HCI research communities.
Keyword-Labeled Classification with Auxiliary Unlabeled Documents
Authors: Congle Zhang, Dikan Xing, Ke Zhou
Venue: Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology - Volume 03 (2008)

To reduce the human effort in labeling the training set for document classification, some learning algorithms ask users to give the representative keywords for each class rather than any labeled documents. The key challenge in such \emph {keyword-labeled classification} is how to learn the high quality classifier with very small number of keywords. In this paper, we propose a novel co-clustering based classification algorithm for keyword-labeled classification (CCKC) by utilizing auxiliary unlabeled documents. The experimental results show our algorithm greatly improves the classification performance over existing approaches.