ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Experimental results on quadrangulations of sets of fixed points
Authors: Prosenjit Bose, Suneeta Ramaswami, Godfried Toussaint, Alain Turki
Venue: Computer Aided Geometric Design (2002)

We consider the problem of obtaining "nice" quadrangulations of planar sets of points. For many applications "nice" means that the quadrilaterals obtained are convex if possible and as "fat" or squarish as possible. For a given set of points a quadrangulation, if it exists, may not admit all its quadrilaterals to be convex. In such cases we desire that the quadrangulations have as many convex quadrangles as possible. Solving this problem optimally is not practical. Therefore we propose and experimentally investigate a heuristic approach to solve this problem by converting "nice" triangulations to the desired quadrangulations with the aid of maximum matchings computed on the dual graph of the triangulations. We report experiments on several versions of this approach and provide theoretical justification for the good results obtained with one of these methods. The results of our experiments are particularly relevant for those applications in scattered data interpolation which require quadrangulations that should stay faithful to the original data.
Reengineering: A Focus on Enterprise Integration
Authors: Sant Arora, Sameer Kumar
Venue: Interfaces (2000)

We surveyed industries to determine what factors trigger reengineering, the nature of reengineering projects, common causes of failure, some guidelines for reducing the chances of failure, and ways to minimize losses incurred while recovering from failed projects. Improving enterprise integration is essential to improving system performance. The advances in information technology make achieving integration feasible even in very complex systems. Decision makers, instead of striving to achieve local objectives can optimize extended value-added functions that include co-related customers. They can optimize entire supply chains reaching to end customers (both internal and external). Petrinets, tools for simulating complex systems, provide a useful frames for iteratively optimizing supply chains.
Correlating XML data streams using tree-edit distance embeddings
Authors: Minos Garofalakis, Amit Kumar
Venue: Proceedings of the twenty-second ACM SIGMOD-SIGACT-SIGART symposium on Principles of database systems (2003)

We propose the first known solution to the problem of correlating, in small space, continuous streams of XML data through approximate (structure and content) matching, as defined by a general tree-edit distance metric. The key element of our solution is a novel algorithm for obliviously embedding tree-edit distance metrics into an L1 vector space while guaranteeing an upper bound of O(log2 n log* n) on the distance distortion between any data trees with at most n nodes. We demonstrate how our embedding algorithm can be applied in conjunction with known random sketching techniques to: (1) build a compact synopsis of a massive, streaming XML data tree that can be used as a concise surrogate for the full tree in approximate tree-edit distance computations; and, (2) approximate the result of tree-edit distance similarity joins over continuous XML document streams. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first algorithmic results on low-distortion embeddings for tree-edit distance metrics, and on correlating (e.g., through similarity joins) XML data in the streaming model.
An XML assignment for a programming languages course
Authors: Terry A. Scott
Venue: Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges (2002)

This paper describes an XML lab that was assigned in a programming languages course. It explains why XML has become important. It briefly describes some related technologies. It gives information on what was needed by the students to complete the lab. It describes the required lab for the class. The lab assignment, and an example of each of the three files is given in the appendices.
Supply Chain Coordination when Demand Is Shelf-Space Dependent
Authors: Yunzeng Wang, Yigal Gerchak
Venue: Manufacturing Service Operations Management (2000)

Consider a manufacturer or wholesaler who supplies some item to retailers facing demand rates that depend on the shelf or display space that is devoted to that product by themselves and their competitors. The manufacturer, via the use of financial levers at her disposal, wishes to coordinate this decentralized chain while making a profit. We model the physical scenario as one of constant displayed inventory level (on which demand rate depends positively) and continuous replenishment. With a single retailer, we show that to coordinate the channel and make a profit the manufacturer needs to augment the wholesale price lever by another-an inventory holding costs subsidy offered to the retailer. When multiple retailers compete in that product's market, there are two ways to envision and model the demand and market split. One assumes that market demand depends on aggregate inventory displayed, and then splits according to individual display levels. The other "assigns" customers to retailers according to their display levels, and then assumes that purchases are a function of the display level at the retailer selected. We characterize retailers' Nash equilibria in these models, and we explore whether the manufacturer can coordinate such channels.
Resemblance is a nearness
Authors: Vladimír Janis
Venue: Fuzzy Sets and Systems (2003)

In (Fuzzy Sets and Systems 133 (2) (2003)) the authors claim that the transitivity condition usually used in the definition of a fuzzy equivalence of fuzzy equality is not suitable in a lot of real situations. The fuzzy relation of a resemblance in a metric space is defined in a different way in (Fuzzy Sets and Systems 133 (2) (2003)). The present paper shows that the same relation (called fuzzy nearness) as in (Fuzzy Sets and Systems 133 (2) (2003)) has been used by several authors in several works to study mainly properties of real function in more general context. A brief review of a variety of results achieved using the relation of a fuzzy nearness is provided.
A predicative semantics for real-time refinement
Authors: Ian Hayes
Venue: Programming methodology (2003)

Real-time systems play an important role in many safety-critical systems. Hence it is essential to have a formal basis for the development of real-time software. In this chapter we present a predicative semantics for a real-time, wide-spectrum language. The semantics includes a special variable representing the current time, and uses timed traces to represent the values of external input and outputs over time so that reactive control systems can be handled. Because a real-time control system may be a nonterminating process, we allow the specification of nonterminating programs and the development of nonterminating repetitions. We present a set of refinement laws covering the constructs in the language. The laws make use of a relational style similar to that of Cliff Jones, although they have been generalised to handle nonterminating constructs.
Branch and peg algorithms for the simple plant location problem
Authors: Boris Goldengorin, Diptesh Ghosh, Gerard Sierksma
Venue: Computers and Operations Research (2003)

The simple plant location problem is a well-studied problem in combinatorial optimization. It is one of deciding where to locate a set of plants so that a set of clients can be supplied by them at the minimum cost. This problem often appears as a subproblem in other combinatorial problems. Several branch and bound techniques have been developed to solve these problems. In this paper we present two techniques that enhance the performance of branch and bound algorithms. The new algorithms thus obtained are called branch and peg algorithms, where pegging refers to fixing values of variables at each subproblem in the branch and bound tree, and is distinct from variable fixing during the branching process. We present exhaustive computational experiments which show that the new algorithms generate less than 60% of the number of subproblems generated by branch and bound algorithms, and in certain cases require less than 10% of the execution times required by branch and bound algorithms.
Improving topological segmentation of three-dimensional vector fields
Authors: Karim M. Mahrous, Janine C. Bennett, Bernd Hamann, Kenneth I. Joy
Venue: Proceedings of the symposium on Data visualisation 2003 (2003)

We present three enhancements to accelerate the extraction of separatrices of three-dimensional vector fields, using intelligently selected "sample" streamlines. These enhancements reduce the number of needed sample streamlines and their propagation length. Inflow/outflow matching supports the simultaneous extraction of topologically significant inflow and outflow separatrices in a single pass. An adaptive sampling approach is introduced and used to seed streamlines in a more meaningful and efficient manner. Cell-locking is a new concept that isolates regions of a data set that do not contain separatrices. This concept makes streamline propagation more efficient as streamlines are not propagated through cells that do not influence or contain separatrices. These enhancements enable us to perform separatrix construction for three-dimensional vector field data requiring less overall computation.
Capacity Optimization Planning System (Caps)
Authors: Stuart Bermon, Sarah Jean Hood
Venue: Interfaces (1999)

IBM's capacity optimization planning system (CAPS) is a decision-support system based on linear programming for strategic planning of semiconductor manufacturing capacity. CAPS finds the volume mix of products to maximize profit, constrained by the existing tool capacity, or identifies the tool capacity required to manufacture a specified mix of products. The major challenge was formulating the linear program to reflect the available manufacturing capacity. The formulation has to deal with parallel, unrelated tool groups that may perform the same operation at different rates, to capture the preferential order in which to use such tool groups, and to identify which are the true bottlenecks. Capacity planners use CAPS to reconcile product-demand forecasts with the available or planned manufacturing capacity and to generate requests for capital investments. The manager of site operations credits CAPS with identifying tens of millions of dollars in revenue opportunities and with avoiding significant unnecessary capital expenditures.
An empirical study of the effects of interactivity on web user attitude
Authors: Hock-Hai Teo, Lih-Bin Oh, Chunhui Liu, Kwok-Kee Wei
Venue: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (2003)

Despite the growing attention given to Web usability, little is understood as to what Web design features contribute to Web users' attitude, a major component of the usability of a Web site. This research investigates the effects of interactivity level on Web user's attitude towards commercial Web sites. It extends existing Web interface design and usability literature by empirically examining the critical roles of interactivity. Three Web sites with different levels of interactivity were compared in a controlled laboratory experiment. Three eighteen-person groups completed each treatment. The independent variable is the incremental levels of interactivity. The dependent variables are satisfaction, effectiveness, efficiency, value, and attitude towards the Web site. Results suggest that increased level of interactivity on a Web site have positive effects on user's perceived satisfaction, effectiveness, efficiency, value, and overall attitude towards a Web site. Implications for Web site designers and researchers are discussed.
Object-oriented programming and software development: a critical assessment
Authors: Manfred Broy
Venue: Programming methodology (2003)

In software engineering, object-oriented development is today the most popular programming, design and analysis approach. However, object orientation does not manage to address the needs of today's software construction in as radical and fundamental a way as is needed in highly distributed interoperating software applications. In the following, we argue that object orientation indeed offers interesting features, but continues to suffer from a number of severe shortcomings for the engineering of large distributed software systems. This shows that object-oriented techniques of today are not in accordance with the state of the art in scientific, well understood, programming methodology and software engineering.
Genesis of an anthill: wireless technology and self-organizing systems
Authors: Espen Andersen
Venue: Ubiquity (2003)

The future belongs to small, connected devices that will wirelessly allow the user -- and the technology -- to self-organize, creating something smart out of many small and simple nodes and connections.
Region removal and restoration using a genetic algorithm with isophote constraint
Authors: Jong Bae Kim, Hang Joon Kim
Venue: Pattern Recognition Letters (2003)

In this paper, we propose an efficient method for region removal and restoration based on a genetic algorithm (GA) with isophote constraint. The image restoration problem is modeled as an optimization problem, which in our case, is solved by a cost function with isophote constraint that is minimized using a GA. We consider that an image is decomposed into isophotes based on connected components of constant intensity. Our method creates an optimal connection of all pairs of isophotes in an image plane. In the proposed method, we estimate the value of the smoothness, given by the best chromosome of the GA, and project this value in the isophotes direction. The proposed method restores the inside of the region using a geometric feature of the image from the surrounding area. It can be used to make a natural scene in which a commercial advertisement caption, subtitle or logo in an advertisement scene are removed. Experimental results show a great possibility for automatic removal and restoration of a region in an advertisement scene.
On Optimal Allocation of Indivisibles Under Uncertainty
Authors: Vladimir I. Norkin, Yuri M. Ermoliev, Andrzej Ruszczynski
Venue: Operations Research (1998)

The optimal allocation of indivisible resources is formalized as a stochastic optimization problem involving discrete decision variables. A general stochastic search procedure is proposed, which develops the concept of the branch-and-bound method. The main idea is to process large collections of possible solutions and to devote more attention to the most promising groups. By gathering more information to reduce the uncertainty and by narrowing the search area, the optimal solution can be found with probability one. Special techniques for calculating stochastic lower and upper bounds are discussed. The results are illustrated by a computational experiment.
Neural network-based system for early keratoconus detection from corneal topography
Authors: P. Agostino Accardo, Stefano Pensiero
Venue: Journal of Biomedical Informatics (2002)

Some automatic methods have been proposed to identify keratoconus from corneal maps; among these methods, neural networks have proved to be useful. However, the identification of the early cases of this ocular disease remains a problem from both a diagnostic and a screening point of view. Another problem is whether a keratoconus screening must be performed taking into account both eyes of the same subject or each eye separately; hitherto, neural networks have only been used in the second alternative. In order to examine the differences of the two screening alternatives in terms of discriminative capability, several combinations of the number of input, hidden and output nodes and of learning rates have been examined in this study. The best results have been achieved by using as input the parameters of both eyes of the same subject and as output the three categories of clinical classification (normal, keratoconus, other alterations) for each subject, a low number of neurons in the hidden layer (lower than 10) and a learning rate of 0.1. In this case a global sensitivity of 94.1% (with a keratoconus sensitivity of 100%) in the test set as well as a global specificity of 97.6% (98.6% for keratoconus alone) have been reached.
Conflict driven learning in a quantified Boolean Satisfiability solver
Authors: Lintao Zhang, Sharad Malik
Venue: Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE/ACM international conference on Computer-aided design (2002)

Within the verification community, there has been a recent increase in interest in Quantified Boolean Formula evaluation (QBF) as many interesting sequential circuit verification problems can be formulated as QBF instances. A closely related research area to QBF is Boolean Satisfiability (SAT). Recent advances in SAT research have resulted in some very efficient SAT solvers. One of the critical techniques employed in these solvers is Conflict Driven Learning. In this paper, we adapt conflict driven learning for application in a QBF setting. We show that conflict driven learning can be regarded as a resolution process on the clauses. We prove that under certain conditions, tautology clauses obtained from resolution in QBF also obey the rules for implication and conflicts of regular (non-tautology) clauses; and therefore they can be treated as regular clauses and used in future search. We have implemented this idea in a new QBF solver called Quaffle and our initial experiments show that conflict driven learning can greatly speed up the solution process for most of the benchmarks we tested.
Effects of voice vs. remote on U.S. and Japanese user satisfaction with interactive HDTV systems
Authors: Garry Tan, Scott Brave, Clifford Nass, Masaru Takechi
Venue: CHI '03 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems (2003)

A between-participants (N=60) experiment explores the effect of input modality (voice with 100% recognition vs. remote) and culture (US vs. Japan) on user's opinions of an Interactive High Definition Television System (iHDTV). There was a significant interaction: .Japanese participants completed tasks more easily and thought the interface was better with a remote control. Conversely, United States participants completed tasks more easily and thought the interface was better with voice control. Participants from both cultures liked content more and felt more uncomfortable when using voice control.
Intellectual technology for the new generation
Authors: Ubiquity staff
Venue: Ubiquity (2001)

NetDay creator John Gage on the technological tools and foundational metaphors that will shape our future.
Designing Hierarchical Survivable Networks
Authors: Anantaram Balakrishnan, Thomas L. Magnanti, Prakash Mirchandani
Venue: Operations Research (1998)

As the computer, communication, and entertainment industries begin to integrate phone, cable, and video services and to invest in new technologies such as fiber-optic cables, interruptions in service can cause considerable customer dissatisfaction and even be catastrophic. In this environment, network providers want to offer high levels of service-in both serviceability (e.g., high bandwidth) and survivability (failure protection)-and to segment their markets, providing better technology and more robust configurations to certain key customers. We study core models with three types of customers (primary, primary but critical, and secondary) and two types of services/technologies (primary and secondary). The network must connect all primary customers using primary (high bandwidth) services and, additionally, contain a back-up path connecting the critical primary customers. Secondary customers require only single connectivity to other customers and can use either primary or secondary facilities. We propose a general multi-tier survivable network design model to configure cost effective networks for this type of market segmentation. When costs are triangular, we show how to optimally solve single-tier subproblems, with two critical customers, as a matroid intersection problem. We also propose and analyze the worst-case performance of tailored heuristics for several special cases of the two-tier model. Depending upon the particular problem setting, the heuristics have worst-case performance ratios ranging between 1.25 and 2.6. We also provide examples to show that the performance ratios for these heuristics are the best possible.
Does "Bait and Switch" Really Benefit Consumers? Advancing the Discussion...
Authors: William L. Wilkie, Carl F. Mela, Gregory T. Gundlach
Venue: Marketing Science (1998)

We applaud the advances in this colloquy and the areas of convergence that are emerging. However, this reply points out that the purported benefits of"bait and switch " found in Hess and Gerstner (1998) are predicated upon (i) only a single component (availability) within the broader domain of bait and switch; (ii) the assumption that one of the parameters in the consumer utility function differs with the availability of advertised brands; and (iii) a further assumption that no other parameters in the model will change when the availability condition changes. After assessing these developments, we conclude that i) the legal status of bait-and-switch schemes is fine as it stands; ii) when understood in their true complexity, parameters in the consumer utility functions likely will not differ with regard to availability, thus obviating the finding of increased consumer welfare; and iii) even if it is believed that utility functions would differ, effects on other model parameters clearly suggest that consumers will be worse off with bait and switch. Despite these differences, however, we are pleased with the developments the dialogue has produced.
The invention of concurrent programming
Authors: Per Brinch Hansen
Venue: The origin of concurrent programming: from semaphores to remote procedure calls (2002)

The author selects classic papers written by the computer scientists who made the major breakthroughs in concurrent programming. These papers cover the pioneering era of the field from the semaphores of the mid 1960s to the remote procedure calls of the late 1970s. The author summarizes the classic papers and puts them in historical perspective.
Maintaining partial sums in logarithmic time
Authors: Jochen Burghardt
Venue: Nordic Journal of Computing (2001)

We present a data structure that allows to maintain in logarithmic time all partial sums of elements of a linear array during incremental changes of elements' values.
Agency Relationships in Family Firms: Theory and Evidence
Authors: William S. Schulze, Michael H. Lubatkin, Richard N. Dino, Ann K. Buchholtz
Venue: Organization Science (2001)

Does owner management necessarily eliminate the agency costs of ownership? Drawing on agency literature and on the economic theory of the household, we argue that private ownership and owner management expose privately held, owner-managed firms to agency threats ignored by Jensen's and Meckling's (1976) agency model. Private ownership and owner management not only reduce the effectiveness of external control mechanisms, they also expose firms to a "self-control" problem created by incentives that cause owners to take actions which "harm themselves as well as those around them" (Jensen 1994, p. 43). Thus, shareholders have incentive to invest resources in curbing both managerialand owner opportunism. We extend this thesis to the domain of the family firm. After developing hypotheses which describe how family dynamics and, specifically, altruism, exacerbate agency problems experienced by these privately held, owner-managed firms, we use data obtained from a large-scale survey of family businesses to field test our hypotheses and find evidence which suggests support for our proposed theory. Finally, we discuss the implications of our theory for research on family and other types of privately held, owner-managed firms.