ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Similar or Dissimilar Users? Or Both?
Authors: Cihan Kaleli, Huseyin Polat
Venue: Proceedings of the 2009 Second International Symposium on Electronic Commerce and Security - Volume 02 (2009)

E-commerce sites utilize collaborative filtering(CF) techniques to offer recommendations to their customers. To recruit new customers and keep the current ones, it is imperative for online vendors to provide accurate predictions efficiently without deeply violating users' privacy. To improve the overall performance of CF systems, it is important to use the appropriate data.We investigate how to improve naive Bayesian classifier(NBC)-based CF systems' online performance. For this purpose, we group users in various clusters so that predictions can be generated on similar or dissimilar; or both groups of users' data. Grouping users into clusters makes it possible to utilize smaller amount of data. We perform real data-based experiments to assess how overall performance changes with different data. Our results show that online time to generate referrals improves significantly when clustering is utilized to get proper data.
Economic hierarchical Q-learning
Authors: Erik G. Schultink, Ruggiero Cavallo, David C. Parkes
Venue: Proceedings of the 23rd national conference on Artificial intelligence - Volume 2 (2008)

Hierarchical state decompositions address the curse-of-dimensionality in Q-learning methods for reinforcement learning (RL) but can suffer from suboptimality. In addressing this, we introduce the Economic Hierarchical Q-Learning (EHQ) algorithm for hierarchical RL. The EHQ algorithm uses subsidies to align interests such that agents that would otherwise converge to a recursively optimal policy will instead be motivated to act hierarchically optimally. The essential idea is that a parent will pay a child for the relative value to the rest of the system for "returning the world" in one state over another state. The resulting learning framework is simple compared to other algorithms that obtain hierarchical optimality. Additionally, EHQ encapsulates relevant information about value tradeoffs faced across the hierarchy at each node and requires minimal data exchange between nodes. We provide no theoretical proof of hierarchical optimality but are able demonstrate success with EHQ in empirical results.
Proceedings of the European Computing Conference: Volume 1, 1st edition
Authors: Nikos Mastorakis, Valeri Mladenov, Vassiliki T. Kontargyri
Venue: Lecture Notes In Electrical Engineering (2009)

The European Computing Conference offers a unique forum for establishing new collaborations within present or upcoming research projects, exchanging useful ideas, presenting recent research results, participating in discussions and establishing new academic collaborations, linking university with the industry. Engineers and Scientists working on various areas of Systems Theory, Applied Mathematics, Simulation, Numerical and Computational Methods and Parallel Computing present the latest findings, advances, and current trends on a wide range of topics. This proceedings volume will be of interest to students, researchers, and practicing engineers.
TIELT: a testbed for gaming environments
Authors: Matthew Molineaux, David W. Aha
Venue: Proceedings of the 20th national conference on Artificial intelligence - Volume 4 (2005)

Many AI researchers want to test the utility of their systems in complex task environments defined by (e.g., real-time strategy) gaming simulators and/or simulators of computer-generated forces. Also, many developers of commercial and military gaming simulators seek behaviors that can be supported by these systems. However, these integrations require great effort. We will demonstrate the late Alpha version of TIELT, a testbed designed to fill these needs.
Multimedia Networking: From Theory to Practice, 1st edition
Authors: Jenq-Neng Hwang
Venue:  (2009)

This authoritative guide is the first to provide a complete system design perspective based on existing international standards and state-of-the-art networking and infrastructure technologies, from theoretical analyses to practical design considerations. The four most critical components involved in a multimedia networking system - data compression, quality of service (QoS), communication protocols, and effective digital rights management - are intensively addressed. Many real-world commercial systems and prototypes are also introduced, as are software samples and integration examples, allowing readers to understand practical tradeoffs in the design of multimedia architectures, and get hands-on experience learning the methodologies and procedures. Balancing just the right amount of theory with practical design and integration knowledge, this book is ideal for graduate students and researchers in electrical engineering and computer science, and also for practitioners in the communications and networking industry. It can also be used as a textbook for specialized graduate-level courses on multimedia networking. 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
Connectivity-based localization of large-scale sensor networks with complex shape
Authors: Sol Lederer, Yue Wang, Jie Gao
Venue: ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks (TOSN) (2009)

We study the problem of localizing a large sensor network having a complex shape, possibly with holes. A major challenge with respect to such networks is to figure out the correct network layout, that is, avoid global flips where a part of the network folds on top of another. Our algorithm first selects landmarks on network boundaries with sufficient density, then constructs the landmark Voronoi diagram and its dual combinatorial Delaunay complex on these landmarks. The key insight is that the combinatorial Delaunay complex is provably globally rigid and has a unique realization in the plane. Thus an embedding of the landmarks by simply gluing the Delaunay triangles properly recovers the faithful network layout. With the landmarks nicely localized, the rest of the nodes can easily localize themselves by trilateration to nearby landmark nodes. This leads to a practical and accurate localization algorithm for large networks using only network connectivity. Simulations on various network topologies show surprisingly good results. In comparison, previous connectivity-based localization algorithms such as multidimensional scaling and rubberband representation generate globally flipped or distorted localization results.
The Complete Guide to Digital Night and Low-Light Photography
Authors: Tony Worobiec
Venue:  (2009)

A comprehensive guide to night and low-light photography for the modern digital photographer. Photographing at night or in poor lighting conditions presents a technical obstacle to the photographer but with the right technique can produce some of the most beautiful results. Tony Worobiec provides the essential technical advice for producing successful digital images in low light including advice on equipment choices and camera settings as well as invaluable post-production techniques. Whether capturing the vibrancy of the city at night or a misty landscape at dusk, practical hints and tips and the author's own award winning photography are sure to provide a wealth of inspiration. 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
Non-Accidental Features for Gesture Spotting
Authors: Adam Fourney, Richard Mann
Venue: Proceedings of the 2009 Canadian Conference on Computer and Robot Vision (2009)

In this paper we argue that gestures based on non-accidental motion features can be reliably detected amongst unconstrained background motion. Specifically, we demonstrate that humans can perform non-accidental motions with high accuracy, and that these trajectories can be extracted from video with sufficient accuracy to reliably distinguish them from the background motion. We demonstrate this by learning Gaussian mixture models of the features associated with gesture. Non-accidental features result in compact, heavily-weighted, mixture component distributions. We demonstrate reliable detection by using the mixture models to discriminate non-accidental features from the background.
Combining Facial and Postural Expressions of Emotions in a Virtual Character
Authors: Céline Clavel, Justine Plessier, Jean-Claude Martin, Laurent Ach, Benoit Morel
Venue: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (2009)

Psychology suggests highly synchronized expressions of emotion across different modalities. Few experiments jointly studied the relative contribution of facial expression and body posture to the overall perception of emotion. Computational models for expressive virtual characters have to consider how such combinations will be perceived by users. This paper reports on two studies exploring how subjects perceived a virtual agent. The first study evaluates the contribution of the facial and postural expressions to the overall perception of basic emotion categories, as well as the valence and activation dimensions. The second study explores the impact of incongruent expressions on the perception of superposed emotions which are known to be frequent in everyday life. Our results suggest that the congruence of facial and bodily expression facilitates the recognition of emotion categories. Yet, judgments were mainly based on the emotion expressed in the face but were nevertheless affected by postures for the perception of the activation dimension.
Optimal Vibration Control for Offshore Structures Subjected to Wave Loading with Input Delay
Authors: Hai-Hong Wang
Venue: Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on Measuring Technology and Mechatronics Automation - Volume 02 (2009)

The optimal vibration control of a jacket-type offshore platform system with input delay by using active mass damper (AMD) is considered. The linearized Morison equation is employed to estimate wave-induced forces, the dominant loads that offshore structures are subjected to, which can be taken as harmonic excitation for the system. Firstly, an Artstein model reduction method is applied to reduce the system free of delay. Secondly, a Feedback and Feedforward (FFOC) algorithm is brought forward to damp the forced oscillation in an optimal fashion. Finally, a numerical example of the FFOC law for a jacket-type offshore platform by using of AMD is studied. The simulation results show the algorithm proposed is efficient.
Compact E-Cash and Simulatable VRFs Revisited
Authors: Mira Belenkiy, Melissa Chase, Markulf Kohlweiss, Anna Lysyanskaya
Venue: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference Palo Alto on Pairing-Based Cryptography (2009)

Efficient non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs are a powerful tool for solving many cryptographic problems. We apply the recent Groth-Sahai (GS) proof system for pairing product equations (Eurocrypt 2008) to two related cryptographic problems: compact e-cash (Eurocrypt 2005) and simulatable verifiable random functions (CRYPTO 2007). We present the first efficient compact e-cash scheme that does not rely on a random oracle. To this end we construct efficient GS proofs for signature possession, pseudo randomness and set membership. The GS proofs for pseudorandom functions give rise to a much cleaner and substantially faster construction of simulatable verifiable random functions (sVRF) under a weaker number theoretic assumption. We obtain the first efficient fully simulatable sVRF with a polynomial sized output domain (in the security parameter).
Gem #56: creating Ada to Java calls using GNAT-AJIS
Authors: Quentin Ochem
Venue: ACM SIGAda Ada Letters (2009)

In a previous Gem we introduced ada2java, which maps an Ada specification to a Java specification, to support calls from Java to Ada. Even though ada2java doesn't support creating Ada bindings of Java specs, it's still possible to use it to support calls from Ada to Java. In this Gem we'll look at a first possibility of doing this, using callbacks (in Ada terms, access-to-subprogram calls).
Fair Slack-Reclamation for Scheduling Periodic Tasks
Authors: Youlin Ruan, Gan Liu, Jianjun Han
Venue: Proceedings of the 2009 Eigth IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Computer and Information Science (2009)

In the past decades, many methods have been proposed for power-aware scheduling. This paper proposes a novel scheduling algorithm with fair slack reclaiming schemes, where tasks have the same arrival time and share a common deadline. Tasks are assigned to processor with priorities according to worst-case and average-case execution time of tasks, and the slack time is fairly reclaimed to slow down the following tasks for saving energy. Simulation results were performed to provide insights.
Leveraging a User Research Framework to Guide Research Investments: Windows Vista Case Study
Authors: Gayna Williams
Venue: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Part I: New Trends (2009)

During the development of Windows Vista we had the opportunity to invest in new methods to understand user behavior. We leveraged standard usability methods to work on feature areas during development; however, we had to invent and adapt new approaches to measure holistic experiences. In this area user research methods are evolving, due to the integration of technologies and changes in the definition of a successful experience. While considering the methods that suited our needs, a user research framework was created. This helped us manage investments in research activities. The framework is organized along two dimensions: perspective and time. Perspective refers to the breadth of the experience being considered: `narrow' defines a focus on an individual feature area or small product area, and `broad' defines a focus on an integrated experience. Time can indicate either a product cycle or real time. For product cycle most of the research is spent on the evaluation of the designs of the features and experiences related to predicting user behavior for a particular release of a product, whereas real time is our research investment into understanding how products are used in the wild without our intervention. Each quadrant of the two-dimensional framework highlights different research methods and purposes. It's important to realize that the value of the framework comes from the integration of findings that provides a rich holistic picture of our users to ultimately guide product decisions. This paper describes some of the methods that were evolved and created during the development of Windows Vista and their relationship to the user research framework. The methods described in the paper include user experience score-carding, measurement of desirability, and the impact of the consumer adoption program. These methods continued to be used today in the development of Windows 7.
Web Classification Mining Based on Radial Basic Probabilistic Neural Network
Authors: Meijuan Gao, Jingwen Tian
Venue: Proceedings of the 2009 First International Workshop on Database Technology and Applications (2009)

With the development and widely used of Internet and information technology, the Web has become one of the most important means to obtain information for people. According to the web document classification and the theory of artificial neural network, a web classification mining method based on radial basic probabilistic neural network is presented in this paper. We construct the structure of radial basic probabilistic neural network that used for web text information classification, and adopt the K-Nearest Neighbor algorithm and least square method to train the network. The structure of web classification mining system based on radial basic probabilistic neural network is given. With the ability of strong pattern classification and function approach and fast convergence of radial basic probabilistic neural network, the classification mining method can truly classify the web text information. The actual classification results show that this method is feasible and effective.
Syntactic kernels for natural language learning: the semantic role labeling case
Authors: Alessandro Moschitti
Venue: Proceedings of the Human Language Technology Conference of the NAACL, Companion Volume: Short Papers on XX (2006)

In this paper, we use tree kernels to exploit deep syntactic parsing information for natural language applications. We study the properties of different kernels and we provide algorithms for their computation in linear average time. The experiments with SVMs on the task of predicate argument classification provide empirical data that validates our methods.
Concurrently Non-malleable Black-Box Zero Knowledge in the Bare Public-Key Model
Authors: Yi Deng, Giovanni Crescenzo, Dongdai Lin, Dengguo Feng
Venue: Proceedings of the Fourth International Computer Science Symposium in Russia on Computer Science - Theory and Applications (2009)

In this paper we study the possibility of reducing the setup assumptions under which concurrent non-malleable zero knowledge protocol can be realized. A natural model choice is the bare public-key (BPK) model of [6], a model with very minimal setup assumptions. Our main contribution is to show in this model the following about constant-round concurrent non-malleable black-box zero-knowledge arguments. They can be constructed from any one-way function for any language in $\mathcal{NP}$. Here, our construction takes 5 rounds, and we can reduce it to a 4-round (round-optimal) argument under existence of one-way permutations. Under number-theoretic assumptions, they admit a time-efficient instantiation for some specific $\mathcal{NP}$ languages (e.g., all languages having efficient Σ protocols, for which we can implement our construction using only $\mathcal{O}(1)$ modular exponentiations). Compared to the non-black-box construction in a concurrent work of [OPV, ICALP 2008] in this model, our protocol (even the construction from one-way function) is significantly more time- and round-efficient and can be based on more general assumptions.
Low-voltage electricity customer profiling based on load data clustering
Authors: Francesco Gullo, Giovanni Ponti, Andrea Tagarelli, Salvatore liritano, Massimiliano Ruffolo, Diego Labate
Venue: Proceedings of the 2009 International Database Engineering & Applications Symposium (2009)

Current deregulated energy market requires that utilities have to face challenging issues that mainly arise from conceiving new customercentric frameworks instead of early supplier-centric frameworks. Enel, a large international energy utility, is able to measure and store load profiles of their mass-market low-voltage (LV) customers in a flexible and effective way thanks to the well-established Telegestore project [3, 12]. In this paper, we present a study on the characterization of LV customers based on their consumption data. A time series based model is used to suitably represent load profiles and enable the detection of their characteristic trends. Besides this primary data, we also exploit meta-data associated to the load profiles, which is useful to enrich a-priori knowledge on the customers. We conceived a clustering framework for detecting groups of customers having similar consumption behavior. We experimentally evaluated the proposed framework on a real application concerning the characterization of Enel customers according to their load profiles. Preliminary experiments have shown results which are significant in terms of clustering validity and potentially useful to practitioners from the Enel utility.
Collective intelligence, data routing and braess' paradox
Authors: David H. Wolpert, Kagan Tumer
Venue: Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (2002)

We consider the problem of designing the the utility functions of the utility-maximizing agents in a multi-agent system (MAS) so that they work synergistically to maximize a global utility. The particular problem domain we explore is the control of network routing by placing agents on all the routers in the network. Conventional approaches to this task have the agents all use the Ideal Shortest Path routing Algorithm (ISPA). We demonstrate that in many cases, due to the side-effects of one agent's actions on another agent's performance, having agents use ISPA's is suboptimal as far as global aggregate cost is concerned, even when they are only used to route infinitesimally small amounts of traffic. The utility functions of the individual agents are not "aligned" with the global utility, intuitively speaking. As a particular example of this we present an instance of Braess' paradox in which adding new links to a network whose agents all use the ISPA results in a decrease in overall throughput. We also demonstrate that load-balancing, in which the agents' decisions are collectively made to optimize the global cost incurred by all traffic currently being routed, is suboptimal as far as global cost averaged across time is concerned. This is also due to "side-effects", in this case of current routing decision on future traffic. The mathematics of Collective Intelligence (COIN) is concerned precisely with the issue of avoiding such deleterious side-effects in multi-agent systems, both over time and space. We present key concepts from that mathematics and use them to derive an algorithm whose ideal version should have better performance than that of having all agents use the ISPA, even in the infinitesimal limit. We present experiments verifying this, and also showing that a machine-learning-based version of this COIN algorithm in which costs are only imprecisely estimated via empirical means (a version potentially applicable in the real world) also outperforms the ISPA, despite having access to less information than does the ISPA. In particular, this COIN algorithm almost always avoids Braess' paradox.
Coupa: operation with pen linking on mobile devices
Authors: Kun Yu, Feng Tian, Kongqiao Wang
Venue: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (2009)

This paper proposes Coupa, a novel pen interaction design to support operations of users on portable devices. The design arranges a plurality of labels on the interface, each of which has an identity. The user forms a coupling by linking two graphical items together, and thus performs an action dependent on the identities of the coupled items. During the course of operation, any item on the screen is ready for linking and coupling. To reduce mal-operations, two principles for linking are proposed, with their effectiveness proved in the usability tests. Compared with traditional systems with hierarchical menu structure and point-and-click interaction, the proposed design prominently improves the efficiency and accuracy of pen-based systems with enhanced usability.