ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Hands-free vision-based interface for computer accessibility
Authors: Javier Varona, Cristina Manresa-Yee, Francisco J. Perales
Venue: Journal of Network and Computer Applications (2008)

Physically disabled and mentally challenged people are an important part of our society that has not yet received the same opportunities as others in their inclusion in the Information Society. Therefore, it is necessary to develop easily accessible systems for computers to achieve their inclusion within the new technologies. This paper presents a project whose objective is to draw disabled people nearer to new technologies. It presents a vision-based user interface designed to achieve computer accessibility for disabled users with motor impairments. The interface automatically finds the user's face and tracks it through time to recognize gestures within the face region in real time. Subsequently, a new information fusion procedure is proposed to acquire data from computer vision algorithms and its results are used to carry out a robust recognition process. Finally, we show how the system is used to replace a conventional mouse device for computer interaction and as a communication system for non-verbal children.
Minimum energy transmission scheduling subject to deadline constraints
Authors: Alessandro Tarello, Jun Sun, Murtaza Zafer, Eytan Modiano
Venue: Wireless Networks (2008)

We consider the problem of transmission scheduling of data over a wireless fading channel with hard deadline constraints. Our system consists of N users, each with a fixed amount of data that must be served by a common deadline. Given that, for each user, the channel fade state determines the throughput per unit of energy expended, our objective is to minimize the overall expected energy consumption while satisfying the deadline constraint. We consider both a linear and a strictly convex rate-power curve and obtain optimal solutions, based on dynamic programming (DP), and tractable approximate heuristics in both cases. For the special non-fading channel case with convex rate-power curve, an optimal solution is obtained based on the Shortest Path formulation. In the case of a linear rate-power curve, our DP solution has a nice "threshold" form; while for the convex rate-power curve we are able to obtain a heuristic algorithm with comparable performance with that of the optimal scheduling scheme.
A Technique for Accelerating Characteristic 2 Elliptic Curve Cryptography
Authors: Shay Gueron, Michael Kounavis
Venue: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations (2008)

In this paper we describe a novel approach for speeding up the computations of characteristic 2 elliptic curve cryptography. Using a projective space such as the Lopez-Dahab space [1] for representing point coordinates we accelerate point additions and point doublings by introducing a novel way for multiply elements in finite fields of the form GF(2m). Our technique uses a CPU instruction for carry-less multiplication (GFMUL) and single iteration Karatsuba-like formulae [2] for computing the carry-less product of large degree polynomials in GF(2). It then performs the reduction of the carry-less product of these polynomials by taking into account the fact that many curves specify fields with irreducible polynomials which are sparse. For example NIST curves specify polynomials with either three terms (trinomials) or five terms (pentanomials). We demonstrate results from a prototype implementation showing that our technique speeds up Elliptic Curve Diffie Hellman based on the NIST B-233 curve by 55% in software on a 3.6 GHz Pentium 4 processor. If a 3 clock latency GFMUL instruction is introduced to the CPU then the acceleration factor becomes 5.2X. We also show that further software optimizations have the potential to further increase the speedup beyond 10X.
Learning from others within the landscape of &#x201c;transitional economies&#x201d; and the challenge in ICT development for African countries
Authors: Thomas Odamtten, Jeremy Millard
Venue: AI Society (2008)

This paper presents the experience of good practices and bench learning in the EU for sustainable development in transitional economies. In exploring key issues of ICT development for economic growth in African countries, it will showcase how information and experience from different geographical/economic sectors within the EU have been collated into a comprehensive knowledge system, and shared among users, using both electronic and traditional methods&#x2014;see The BEEP Project http://www.beep-eu.org. It will then discuss how this good practice model could be developed further as a Pan-African Initiative, as part of the IST Africa Programme for participating countries, to enable them share experience and information in their attempt to narrow the digital divide for sustainable growth.
Lamination and laser structuring for a microwell array
Authors: Erik Jung, Dion Manessis, Alexander Neumann, Lars B&#x00f6;ttcher, Tanja Braun, J&#x00f6;rg Bauer, Herbert Reichl, Bruno Iafelice, Federica Destro, Roberto Gambari
Venue: Microsystem Technologies (2008)

Microtechnology becomes a versatile tool for biological and biomedical applications. Microwells have been established long but remained non-intelligent up to now. Merging new fabrication techniques and handling concepts with microelectronics enables to realize intelligent microwells suitable for future improved cancer treatment. The described technology depicts the basis for the fabrication of electronically enhanced microwell. Thin aluminium sheets are structured by laser micro machining and laminated successively to obtain registration tolerances of the respective layers of <5&#x00a0;&#x03bc;m. The microwells lasermachined into the laminate are with 50&#x2013;350&#x00a0;&#x03bc;m diameter, allowing to contain individual cells within the microwell as well as provide access holes for the layer-to-layer contacting. A permeable membrane attached to the bottom of the microwell plate is used for fluid handling. The individual process steps are described and results on the microstructuring as well as on biocompatibility of the materials are given.
Relevance feedback for image retrieval in structured multi-feature spaces
Authors: Divna Djordjevic, Ebroul Izquierdo
Venue: Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Mobile multimedia communications (2006)

An approach for content-based image retrieval with relevance feedback based on a structured multi-feature space is proposed. It uses a novel kernel for merging multiple feature subspaces into a complementary space. The kernel exploits nature of the data by assigning appropriate weights for each feature set. The weights are dynamically adapted to user preferences in a relevance feedback scenario.
A new probabilistic retrieval model based on the dirichlet compound multinomial distribution
Authors: Zuobing Xu, Ram Akella
Venue: Proceedings of the 31st annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrieval (2008)

The classical probabilistic models attempt to capture the Ad hoc information retrieval problem within a rigorous probabilistic framework. It has long been recognized that the primary obstacle to effective performance of the probabilistic models is the need to estimate a relevance model. The Dirichlet compound multinomial (DCM) distribution, which relies on hierarchical Bayesian modeling techniques, or the Polya Urn scheme, is a more appropriate generative model than the traditional multinomial distribution for text documents. We explore a new probabilistic model based on the DCM distribution, which enables efficient retrieval and accurate ranking. Because the DCM distribution captures the dependency of repetitive word occurrences, the new probabilistic model is able to model the concavity of the score function more effectively. To avoid the empirical tuning of retrieval parameters, we design several parameter estimation algorithms to automatically set model parameters. Additionally, we propose a pseudo-relevance feedback algorithm based on the latent mixture modeling of the Dirichlet compound multinomial distribution to further improve retrieval accuracy. Finally, our experiments show that both the baseline probabilistic retrieval algorithm based on the DCM distribution and the corresponding pseudo-relevance feedback algorithm outperform the existing language modeling systems on several TREC retrieval tasks.
Ucigame, a java library for games
Authors: Daniel Frost
Venue: ACM SIGCSE Bulletin (2008)

Ucigame (pronounced OO-see-GAH-me) is a Java package that supports the programming of 2D sprite-based computer games. Designed for novice programmers, it enables students in an introductory class to write computer games that have animated sprites, music and sound effects, and event-driven keyboard and mouse handling. Ucigame has also been used successfully in a senior-level class for experienced programmers.
Combinatorial Test Case Selection with Markovian Usage Models
Authors: Sergiy A. Vilkomir, W. Thomas Swain, Jesse H. Poore
Venue: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations (2008)

A method of using Markov chain techniques for combinatorial test case selection is presented. The method can be used for statistical and coverage testing of many software programs, in particular for scientific computational software. The central point of the approach is modeling of dependencies between input parameters. Several different types of such dependencies are considered and models for each situation are created. Based on these models, test cases can be automatically generated and executed. Results of using the JUMBL tool for analyzing models and generating test cases are described.
Virtual Organization Support within a Grid-Wide Operating System
Authors: Massimo Coppola, Yvon Jégou, Brian Matthews, Christine Morin, Luis Pablo Prieto, Óscar David Sánchez, Erica Y. Yang, Haiyan Yu
Venue: IEEE Internet Computing (2008)

Despite grids' popularity, virtual organizations (VOs) have yet to become a commodity technology in modern computing environments due to the complexity of managing them and difficulty of assuring user and VO isolation. Here, the authors describe the VO management approach taken by XtreemOS, a new grid operating system with native support for VOs that supports a wide range of computing resources, from clusters to mobiles. They also discuss the requirements for the VO model and management within XtreemOS and introduce an expandable VO model and a system architecture that supports it.
An Evolutionary Approach to Speech Quality Estimation
Authors: Adil Raja, R. Muhammad Atif Azad, Colin Flanagan, Conor Ryan
Venue: Proceedings of the 2007 Frontiers in the Convergence of Bioscience and Information Technologies (2007)

Speech quality estimation is vital to the evaluation of quality of service offered by a telecommunications network. Traditionally, speech quality is estimated using subjective tests. In subjective tests, the quality of a speech signal under test is evaluated by a group of human listeners who assign an opinion score on an integral scale ranging between 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent). The average of these scores, termed the Mean Opinion Score (MOS), is considered as the ultimate determinant of the speech quality [1]. Subjective tests are, however, time consuming and expensive. To make up for these limitations, there has been a growing interest in devising software based objective assessment models. There are two kinds of objective assessment models, namely, intrusive and non-intrusive. Intrusive models evaluate the quality of a distorted speech signal in presence of a corresponding reference signal. The current ITU-T recommendation P.862 (PESQ) is an example of such an approach. Non-intrusive models, on the other hand, do not enjoy this privilege and base their results solely on the estimated features of the signal under test. For this reason, the results of the latter type of models are generally considered inferior to those of the former type.
Fast nearest neighbor retrieval for bregman divergences
Authors: Lawrence Cayton
Venue: Proceedings of the 25th international conference on Machine learning (2008)

We present a data structure enabling efficient nearest neighbor (NN) retrieval for bregman divergences. The family of bregman divergences includes many popular dissimilarity measures including KL-divergence (relative entropy), Mahalanobis distance, and Itakura-Saito divergence. These divergences present a challenge for efficient NN retrieval because they are not, in general, metrics, for which most NN data structures are designed. The data structure introduced in this work shares the same basic structure as the popular metric ball tree, but employs convexity properties of bregman divergences in place of the triangle inequality. Experiments demonstrate speedups over brute-force search of up to several orders of magnitude.
Desktop must-haves
Authors: Dan Sawyer
Venue: Linux Journal (2008)

Here's the guide to what you must have to slide easily into the Linux desktop experience.
Adaptive Gene Expression Programming Algorithm Based on Cloud Model
Authors: Yue Jiang, Chang-jie Tang, Hai-chun Zheng, Chuan Li, Yu Chen, Jiang Wu, Dong-lei Wang
Venue: Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on BioMedical Engineering and Informatics - Volume 01 (2008)

Standard Gene Expression Programming(GEP) works with fixed rate of mutation and crossover, ignoring the variation of the individual fitness, hence it works in the local optimum style with the low convergence speed. This paper aims to introduce cloud model to GEP. The main contributions include: (1)Formally describing the new concepts such as fitness degree, valid individual, the family measure and cloud mutation rate, etc. (2)Analysing mathematical properties for cloud mutation; (3)Proposing Adaptive Cloud Strategy(ACS). It determines mutation and crossover rate dynamically; (4) Proposing Valid Crossover Strategy (VCS) to keep good objects and improve the diversity; (5)Extensive experiments testify the better performance of the new method. The average fitness is increased by 9%, the minimal fitness is increased by 10% and the average generation for the best individual is decreased by 11%.
Comparing parallel programming models
Authors: John R. Graham
Venue: Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges (2008)

Parallel computing has left the research arena and the domain of gaming programmers and joined the mainstream of popular computing. Software; from complex operating systems to mundane search and sort algorithms; needs to be examined to see where it can take advantage of hardware parallelism. Unfortunately, most undergraduate computing disciplines typically do not have the facilities or a comparative basis to help decide which hardware or software models to use to best integrate parallelism into modern curricula. This article enumerates various software models and parallel programming options that may be used to assist in integrating parallel software design techniques into the traditional software development training.
Autonomous learning for efficient resource utilization of dynamic VM migration
Authors: Hyung Won Choi, Hukeun Kwak, Andrew Sohn, Kyusik Chung
Venue: Proceedings of the 22nd annual international conference on Supercomputing (2008)

Dynamic migration of virtual machines on a cluster of physical machines is designed to maximize resource utilization by balancing loads across the cluster. When the utilization of a physical machine is beyond a fixed threshold, the machine is deemed overloaded. A virtual machine is then selected within the overloaded physical machine for migration to a lightly loaded physical machine. Key to such threshold-based VM migration is to determine when to move which VM to what physical machine, since wrong or inadequate decisions can cause unnecessary migrations that would adversely affect the overall performance. We present in this paper a learning framework that autonomously finds and adjusts thresholds at runtime for different computing requirements. Central to our approach is the previous history of migrations and their effects before and after each migration in terms of standard deviation of utilization. We set up an experimental environment that consists of extensive real world benchmarking problems and a cluster of 16 physical machines each of which has on average eight virtual machines. We demonstrate through experimental results that our approach autonomously finds thresholds close to the optimal ones for different computing scenarios and that such varying thresholds yield an optimal number of VM migrations for maximizing resource utilization.
An Empirical Approach for Semantic Web Services Discovery
Authors: Chen Wu, Elizabeth Chang, Ashley Aitken
Venue: Proceedings of the 19th Australian Conference on Software Engineering (2008)

Component retrieval/discovery is a well-established research direction in Software Engineering. With the surge of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), service discovery has become increasingly crucial. However, the public UDDI Business Registry – the primary service discovery mechanism over the Internet – has been shut down permanently since 2006. Moreover, keyword-based service discovery is insufficient in coping with complex discovery requirements posed by modern software developers. In this paper, we propose an empirical semantic-based Web service discovery approach. It provides an automatic Web service discovery mechanism that can locate relevant Web services based on concepts rather than keywords. The major contribution of this paper is three fold. First we articulate three requirements that software developers often raise during the component/service development and discovery process. Next, we propose the application of Latent Semantic Analysis into the area of Web services discovery. To our best knowledge, little work has been done in this area which leverages concept-based Information Retrieval models in service discovery. Last, we provide a proof-of-concept system prototype that can suffice three specific requirements of semantic service discovery.
Grid_strain and grid_strain3: Software packages for strain field computation in 2D and 3D environments
Authors: Giordano Teza, Arianna Pesci, Antonio Galgaro
Venue: Computers Geosciences (2008)

Two Matlab(TM) software packages for strain field computation, starting from displacements of experimental points (EPs), are here presented. In particular, grid_strain estimates the strain on the nodes of a regular planar grid, whereas grid_strain3 operates on the points of a digital terrain model (DTM). In both cases, the computations are performed in a modified least-square approach, emphasizing the effects of nearest points. This approach allows users to operate at different scales of analysis by introducing a scale factor to reduce or also exclude points too far from grid nodes. The input data are displacements (or velocities) that can be provided by several techniques (e.g. GPS, total topographical station, terrestrial laser scanner). The analysis can be applied to both regional- and local-scale phenomena, to study tectonic crustal deformations (strain ~10^-^8-10^-^6) or rapid landslide collapses (10^-^4-10^2), and to characterize the kinematics of the studied system. Errors on strains and geometric significance of the results are also provided.
Combining Physical Activities and Mobile Games to Promote Novel Learning Practices
Authors: Daniel Spikol, Marcelo Milrad
Venue: Proceedings of the Fifth IEEE International Conference on Wireless, Mobile, and Ubiquitous Technology in Education (2008)

Mobile outdoor games can be seen as fertile ground for conducting novel learning activities that involve children in different tasks including physical motion, problem solving, inquiry and collaboration; all those are activities that support different cognitive and social aspects of learning. Co-design and human centric design practices have been the focus of current research efforts in the field of educational technologies but not as prevalent in mobile games to support learning. In our current research we are exploring which design methods are appropriate for developing innovative ways of learning supported by mobile games. This paper presents all those aspects related to the design and implementation of a mobile game called Skattjakt (Treasure Hunt in Swedish). The outcome of our activities has provided us with valuable results that can help us to bridge the gap between learning in informal and formal settings. Moreover, we believe that involving children in the design process of mobile games may give us new insights regarding the nature of their learning practices while learning with games.
Reconstruction of a word from a multiset of its factors
Authors: Claribet Piña, Carlos Uzcátegui
Venue: Theoretical Computer Science (2008)

Let D"k(w) be the multiset containing all factors of w of length k including repetitions. One of the main results is that if D"k(w)=D"k(v) for all k@?@?|w|2@?+1, then w=v. The bound @?|w|2@?+1 is optimal; however we will also show that if D"k(w)=D"k(v) for all k@?@?|w|2@?, then w and v are structurally similar.
CoTe: A Software Tool for Compression Benchmarking
Authors: Jakub Swacha
Venue: Proceedings of the Data Compression Conference (2008)

The paper introduces CoTe, a software tool for compression benchmarking, aiding in preparation of the tests (that is, choosing a set of test files and programs, and setting run-time options), running the tests (executing the programs with appropriate command-line switches, measuring processing time and output file size), and maintaining the results (viewing and exporting them in portable XML format).
Web content adaptation classification and summarization in mobile devices
Authors: P. V. Sai Teja, T. H. V. Reddy, P. E. Rohit, Prashanth N, S. Mittal, S. Tapaswi
Venue: Proceedings of the 4th international conference on mobile technology, applications, and systems and the 1st international symposium on Computer human interaction in mobile technology (2007)

With the rapid growth of the small screen audience, the need for less cumbersome methods of browsing information on the Internet is growing too. Small screen devices provide portability in accessing huge information space on the Internet. It is unattainable to load and visualize large documents on hand held devices. Our objective is ultimately to provide mobile Internet users with a useful tool for web access. The paper proposes a model for adaptation of Web content and summarization and classification of text documents in specified categories. This paper describes the text classification and summarization based on user behavior and preferences. Experiments have been carried out on text database of 500 files and results are found to be quite satisfactory.
Cascaded decision-based median and un-symmetric trimmed mean filter for removal of high-density impulse noise in an image
Authors: K. S. Srinivasan, D. Ebenezer
Venue: Proceedings of the 9th WSEAS International Conference on Systems (2005)

A new two-stage cascaded filtering algorithm is proposed for removal of high-density impulse noise. The first stage is the Decision-based Median Filter (DMF) which is used to identify pixels likely to be contaminated by impulsive noise and replaces them by the median value. The second stage is the Unsymmetric Trimmed Mean Filter (UTMF), which uses a small, fixed window, to trim the impulse values lying at the extreme ends, in an unsymmetric manner. The proposed algorithm is tested on different images and is found to produce better results, both in terms of visual appearance and quantitative measures. In terms of edge preservation and noise suppression, the proposed algorithm shows a significant improvement in comparison with other non-linear filters even if the noise density is as high as 90%.