ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Novel reinforcement learning-based approaches to reduce loss probability in buffer-less OBS networks
Authors: Abdeltouab Belbekkouche, Abdelhakim Hafid, Michel Gendreau
Venue: Computer Networks: The International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking (2009)

Optical Burst Switching (OBS) is a promising switching paradigm for the next generation Internet. A buffer-less OBS network can be implemented simply and cost-effectively without the need for either wavelength converters or optical buffers which are, currently, neither cost-effective nor technologically mature. However, this type of OBS networks suffers from relatively high loss probability caused by wavelength contentions at core nodes. This could prevent or, at least, delay the adoption of OBS networks as a solution for the next generation optical Internet. To enhance the performance of buffer-less OBS networks, we propose three approaches: (a) a reactive approach, called Reinforcement Learning-Based Deflection Routing Scheme (RLDRS) that aims to resolve wavelength contentions, after they occur, using deflection routing; (b) a proactive multi-path approach, called Reinforcement Learning-Based Alternative Routing (RLAR), that aims to reduce wavelength contentions; and (c) an approach, called Integrated Reinforcement Learning-based Routing and Contention Resolution (IRLRCR), that combines RLAR and RLDRS to conjointly deal with wavelength contentions proactively and reactively. Simulation results show that both RLAR and RLDRS reduce, effectively, loss probability in buffer-less OBS networks and outperform the existing multi-path and deflection routing approaches, respectively. Moreover, simulation results show that a substantial performance improvement, in terms of loss probability, is obtained using IRLRCR.
An Intelligent Agent that Learns How to Tutor Students: Design and Results
Authors: Leen-Kiat Soh, Todd Blank
Venue: Proceeding of the 2005 conference on Towards Sustainable and Scalable Educational Innovations Informed by the Learning Sciences: Sharing Good Practices of Research, Experimentation and Innovation (2005)

In this paper, we describe an intelligent agent that presents different learning content such as tutorials, examples, and problems adaptively to individual students and learns from its interaction with the students how to improve its performance. We have built an end-to-end intelligent tutoring system, premised on the above goal, with a graphical user interface (GUI) front-end, an agent powered by case-based reasoning (CBR), and a mySQL database backend. We use a casebase to store the pedagogical strategies, embedded in the individual cases and the similarity retrieval and adaptation heuristics. Each case has situation, solution and outcome parameters. The situation parameters include the students' static and dynamic profiles and the instructional content's characteristics while the solution parameters specify the characteristics of the example or problem to be delivered to the student. We developed a set of CS1 content that includes five topics and deployed our system in the laboratories. Our results show that when the machine learning mechanism is activated, our agent is able to learn to tutor students more efficiently.
Designing intergenerational mobile storytelling
Authors: Allison Druin, Benjamin B. Bederson, Alex Quinn
Venue: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (2009)

Informal educational experiences with grandparents and other older adults can be an important component of children's education, especially in circumstances where high quality educational services and facilities are not readily available. Mobile devices offer unique capabilities to support such interactions. We report on an ongoing participatory design project with an intergenerational design group to create mobile applications for reading and editing books, or even creating all new stories on an Apple iPhone.
Comparative Study of Learning Effectiveness between a Mobile Learning Tool and Paper
Authors: Kanji Akahori, Yuuki Kato, Shogo Kato, Atsuhiko Sudo, Masayuki Ohmori
Venue: Proceeding of the 2005 conference on Towards Sustainable and Scalable Educational Innovations Informed by the Learning Sciences: Sharing Good Practices of Research, Experimentation and Innovation (2005)

This paper describes a comparative study between a mobile learning tool called “Pocket Challenge” and paper. The intention is to identify which between the two is more effective and acceptable to students. The experiment was conducted on 22 students to compare three factors; (1) Memorization of English words (2) Academic performance with regards to problem-solving, (3) Learning motivation and concentration, and media preference. In order to examine the validity and reproducibility, the experiment was repeated twice on each student. Students were requested to ask questions, solve problems, and learn words using the two media-“Pocket Challenge” and paper. Memorization of English words and academic performance were measured by written tests. Learning concentration was measured by the extent of decreasing concentration equivalent to the frequencies of students' taking their eyes away from the task at hand. Learning motivation and media preference were measured by subjective questions and answers. The results of both experiments show that the mobile learning tool is more superior to paper on (1) memorization of English words and (3) learning motivation, concentration and media preference. “Pocket Challenge” is slightly superior to paper in (2) academic performance of problem solving. Surprisingly, “Pocket Challenge” was regarded as the better media in comparison to paper, in all the questionnaire items.
Older adults' perceptions and experiences of online social support
Authors: Ulrike Pfeil, Panayiotis Zaphiris, Stephanie Wilson
Venue: Interacting with Computers (2009)

This paper reports an investigation of older adults' needs and preferences concerning online social support. We focused our analysis on seven different aspects of online support: Self disclosure, Deep support, Light support, Community building, Information/Facts, Off topic, and Technical issues. For each aspect we were interested in how older adults perceive this aspect of support, what they think are the similarities and differences of this aspect of support in online settings vs offline settings, and what they perceive are the advantages and disadvantages of communicating this aspect of support online. We did this by conducting detailed interviews with three groups of older adults (31 people in total) with different levels of expertise in using the internet and online communication (older adults who do not use the internet, older adults who use only email, and older adults who participate in online support communities). Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed. Our findings describe older adults' perception of different aspects of support and identify their motivation for turning to online support and the reasons for any reluctance to do so. Thus, our findings give insight into how online support communities could best be utilized to improve older people's experience with online support.
Information Systems for Managers: Texts and Cases, 1st edition
Authors: Gabriele Piccoli
Venue:  (2007)

Information Systems for Managers is a text for managerial/MBA students intended to actively engage them in discussions and activities around information systems and information technology. Piccoli has interwoven many real-world examples into the text that show students how IS will effect their futures in management positions. Each chapter starts off with a mini-case to get the student's attention, build excitement, and foster interactive discussions. A plethora of unique, full-length cases are also composed within the text to hold student's attention and show them how IS and IT are of great interest to them as managers. 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
Database analysis models used for studying the residential assemble market
Authors: Mirela-Catrinel Voicu, Andreea Bânciu, Mihai Dragota, Raul Turcu
Venue: WSEAS Transactions on Information Science and Applications (2009)

In this paper we present our own study on residential assemblies, starting from a particular set presented in [6]. We build a database and we present our results concerning these data. We present an algorithm for obtaining aggregated values sets. In order to exemplify its application we make a study on residential assemblies including apartments with three rooms.
Entropy of the Retina Template
Authors: A. Arakala, J. S. Culpepper, J. Jeffers, A. Turpin, S. Boztaş, K. J. Horadam, A. M. Mckendrick
Venue: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Advances in Biometrics (2009)

We compare two vessel extraction methods for creation of a retina template, using a database of 20 images of normal retinas. Each vessel in a well defined region is represented by a three dimensional feature, from which a retina template is built. Based on the sample distributions, we propose a preliminary theoretical model to predict the entropy of a retina template. We analyse by experimental and theoretical means the entropy present, and infer that entropy from our retina template compares sufficiently favourably with that of a minutia-based fingerprint template to warrant further study.
Proceedings of the First Workshop on Language Technologies for African Languages
Authors: Guy De Pauw, Gilles-Maurice de Schryver, Lori Levin
Venue: European Chapter Meeting of the ACL (2009)

In multilingual situations, language technologies are crucial for providing access to information and opportunities for economic development. With somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 different languages, Africa is a multilingual continent par excellence and presents acute challenges for those seeking to promote and use African languages in the areas of business development, education, research, and relief aid. In recent times a number of researchers and institutions, both from Africa and elsewhere, have come forward to share the common goal of developing capabilities in language technologies for the African languages. The goal of the workshop, then, is to provide a forum to meet and share the latest developments in this field. It also seeks to attract linguists who specialize in African languages and would like to leverage the tools and approaches of computational linguistics, as well as computational linguists who are interested in learning about the particular linguistic challenges posed by the African languages. The workshop consists of an invited talk on African language families and their structural properties by Prof. Sonja Bosch (UNISA, South Africa), followed by refereed research papers in computational linguistics. The call for papers specified that the focus would be on the less-commonly studied and lesser-resourced languages, such as those of sub-Saharan Africa. These could include languages from all four families: Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Khoisan and Afro-Asiatic, with the exception of Arabic (which is covered by the "Computational Approaches to Semitic Languages" workshop). Variants of European languages such as African French, African English or Afrikaans were also excluded from the call. The call was well answered, with 24 proposals being submitted. Following a rigorous review process, nine were withheld as full papers, and a further seven as poster presentations. These proceedings contain the double-blind, peer reviewed texts of the contributions that were withheld.
Convergence and Knowledge Processing in Multi-Agent Systems, 1st edition
Authors: Maria Chli, Philippe de Wilde
Venue: Advanced Information And Knowledge Processing (2009)

Agent systems are being used to model complex systems like societies, markets and biological systems. In this book we investigate issues of agent systems related to convergence and interactivity using techniques from agent based modelling to simulate complex systems, and demonstrate that interactivity/exchange and convergence in multi-agent systems are issues that are significantly interrelated. Topic and features: - Introduces the state of the art in multi-agent systems, with an emphasis on agent-based computational economics. - Sheds light on the fundamental concepts behind the stability of multi-agent systems. - Investigates knowledge exchange among agents, the rationale behind it and its effects on the ecosystem. - Explores how information provided through interaction with the system can be used to optimise its performance. - Describes a pricing strategy for a realistic large-scale distributed system. This book supplies a comprehensive resource and will be invaluable reading for researchers and postgraduates studying this topic.
Cognitive learning with automatic goal acquisition
Authors: Josef Kittler, Mikhail Shevchenko, David Windridge
Venue: Proceeding of the 2006 conference on STAIRS 2006: Proceedings of the Third Starting AI Researchers' Symposium (2006)

Traditional algorithms of machine learning implemented in cognitive architectures demonstrate lack of autonomous exploration in an unknown environment. However, the latter is one of the most distinctive attributes of cognitive behaviour. The paper proposes an approach of self-reinforcement cognitive learning combining unsupervised goal acquisition, active Markov-based goal attaining and spatial-semantic hierarchical representation within an open-ended system architecture. The novelty of the method consists in division of goals into the classes of parameter goal, invariant goal and context goal. The system exhibits incremental learning in such a manner as to allow effective transferable representation of high-level concepts.
A VLSI 8 × 8 MIMO Near-ML Detector with Preprocessing
Authors: Geoff Knagge, Mark Bickerstaff, Brett Ninness, Steven R. Weller, Graeme Woodward
Venue: Journal of Signal Processing Systems (2009)

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems are of significant interest due to their ability to increase the capacity of wireless communications systems, but for these to be useful they must also be practical for implementation in VLSI circuits. A particularly difficult part of these systems is the detector, where the optimal maximum-likelihood solution is desirable, but cannot be directly implemented due to its exponential complexity. This paper addresses this challenge and presents a digital circuit design for an 8×8 MIMO detection problem. A key feature is the integrated channel preprocessing unit, which performs the channel decomposition functions that are either omitted or performed "off-line" in other designs. The proposed device achieves near maximum likelihood bit error rate results at 57.6 Mbps. Other novelties include a high speed sorting mechanism and power saving features.
A new developed method assisting mass transfer of Ni ions in via
Authors: L. M. Wang
Venue: Microsystem Technologies (2009)

This paper proposes an idea to assist the mass transfer of Ni ions in via during the electroplating process, which is considered difficult and still unsolved for a via with a high aspect ratio condition. In addition, a new and easier method is proposed to enable observation and analysis of the in situ phenomenon that arises in via plating. The function of selected important operational parameters influencing the electroplating process can be immediately evaluated. Studies show that the added surfactant FS can not only effectively decrease the surface tension of produced H2 bubbles, but also increase the disturbance within the via; therefore it can enable us to enhance the mass transfer of ions even within the via. This phenomenon confirms that the role of surfactant FS is advantageous in assisting the mass transfer of ions in via, and enables electroplating through the polymeric masks process to be effectively carried out without disruption occurring even at a high height-to-width aspect ratio 30 (AR&#x00a0;=&#x00a0;30) condition. 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
Letter to the editor: Stationary oscillation for high-order Hopfield neural networks with time delays and impulses
Authors: Yinping Zhang, Qing-Guo Wang
Venue: Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics (2009)

We investigate stationary oscillation for high-order Hopfield neural networks with time delays and impulses. In a recent paper [J. Zhang, Z. J. Gui, Existence and stability of periodic solutions of high-order Hopfield neural networks with impulses and delays, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 224 (2008) 602-613], the authors claim that they obtain a criterion of existence, uniqueness, and global exponential stability of periodic solution (i.e. stationary oscillation) for high-order Hopfield neural networks with time delays and impulses. In this paper, we point out that the main result of the recent paper is unture, and present a new sufficient condition of stationary oscillation for the neural networks. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained result.
BONDIN: a new engineering simulation software for ODE and DAE systems with symbolic notation based in the bond graph technique
Authors: G. Romero, J. Felez, J. M. Cabanellas, J. Maroto
Venue: Proceedings of the 8th WSEAS International Conference on Software engineering, parallel and distributed systems (2009)

The concept of Bond Graph (BG), introduced by Paynter and perfected by Karnopp and Rosenberg [1] contributed a unified method to describe dynamic models of multidisciplinary systems since they can be modelled using elements possessing the properties of generation (Se, Sf), storage (I, C), dissipation (R) and transformation of energy (TF, GY). These elements interrelate in a conservative energy field by means of bonds that indicate the energy transfer and bonds (0, 1), which symbolise the system's dynamic behaviour. The resulting structure offers a global view of the system and its physical structure. Moreover, after obtaining causality, this technique also offers the computational structure and reveals any possible mathematical problems in simulating it. The entire system remains open and accessible unlike the classical methods. Starting out from a study of the different simulation programs available, this paper presents a simulation program based on the BG technique, which represents a considerable advance towards improving current automatic modelling methods. As will be seen in the following pages, the technique contributes a causal assignation algorithm specifically designed to allow the modeller maximum freedom without their having to take any kind of decision that might affect the end calculation. It also automatically provides the optimised, reduced state equations required to symbolically analyse linear and non-linear systems. To do so, it solves the problems arising when simulating models with differential causality without any need to modify the graph charts and reduces the model to the set of differential equations required to perform the simulation, eliminating where possible the restriction equations, thereby reducing the computation time used in the simulation.
Indexing Factors with Gaps
Authors: Costas S. Iliopoulos, M. Sohel Rahman
Venue: Algorithmica (2009)

Indexing of factors or substrings is a widely used and useful technique in stringology and can be seen as a tool in solving diverse text algorithmic problems. A gapped-factor is a concatenation of a factor of length k, a gap of length d and another factor of length k&#x2032;. Such a gapped factor is called a (k&#x2212;d&#x2212;k&#x2032;)-gapped-factor. The problem of indexing the gapped-factors was considered recently by Peterlongo et al. (In: Stringology, pp.&#x00a0;182&#x2013;196, 2006). In particular, Peterlongo et al. devised a data structure, namely a gapped factor tree (GFT) to index the gapped-factors. Given a text $\mathcal{T}$of length n over the alphabet &#x03a3; and the values of the parameters k, d and k&#x2032;, the construction of GFT requires O(n|&#x03a3;|) time. Once GFT is constructed, a given (k&#x2212;d&#x2212;k&#x2032;)-gapped-factor can be reported in O(k+k&#x2032;+Occ) time, where Occ is the number of occurrences of that factor in&#x00a0; $\mathcal{T}$. In this paper, we present a new improved indexing scheme for the gapped-factors. The improvements we achieve come from two aspects. Firstly, we generalize the indexing data structure in the sense that, unlike GFT, it is independent of the parameters k and k&#x2032;. Secondly, our data structure can be constructed in O(nlog&#x2009;1+&#x03b5; n) time and space, where 0<&#x03b5;<1. The only price we pay is a slight increase, i.e. an additional log&#x2009;log&#x2009;n term, in the query time.
Multi-agent systems for the real world
Authors: Rajiv Maheswaran, Craig Milo Rogers, Romeo Sanchez, Pedro Szekely, Gergely Gati, Kevin Smyth, Chris VanBuskirk
Venue: Proceedings of The 8th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems - Volume 2 (2009)

To support real world applications, a multi-agent system must deal with all relevant issues from the environment, the problem, the users and the technological infrastructure. The real world introduces restrictions and noise at all levels. The communication network may provide intermittent connectivity, variable latency and limited bandwidth. Devices have limited computation. The world is uncertain and dynamic. Tasks, resources and the team objective can change. The software may give incorrect advice. Users can make errors and initiate unplanned actions.
Legal text analysis of the modification provisions: a pattern oriented approach
Authors: Raffaella Brighi, Monica Palmirani
Venue: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law (2009)

One of the main emerging research challenge in the legal documentation is to penetrate in the meaningful and in the semantic of the norm content using NLP techniques and isolate relevant part of the linguistic speech. This paper wants present a methodology for modeling the modificatory provisions in deep in order to provide all the necessary formalization for managing semi-automatically the consolidation process.
NOBLE: non-blocking programming support via lock-free shared abstract data types
Authors: Hakan Sundell, Philippas Tsigas
Venue: ACM SIGARCH Computer Architecture News (2009)

An essential part of programming for multi-core and multi-processor includes ef cient and reliable means for sharing data. Lock-free data structures are known as very suitable for this purpose, although experienced to be very complex to design. In this paper, we present a software library of non-blocking abstract data types that have been designed to facilitate lock-free programming for non-experts. The system provides: i) ef cient implementations of the most commonly used data types in concurrent and sequential software design, ii) a lock-free memory management system, and iii) a run time-system. The library provides clear semantics that are at least as strong as those of corresponding lock-based implementations of the respective data types. Our software library can be used for facilitating lockfree programming; its design enables the programmer to: i) replace lock-based components of sequential or parallel code easily and ef ciently , ii) use well-tuned concurrent algorithms inside a software or hardware transactional system. In the paper we describe the design and functionality of the system. We also provide experimental results that show that the library can considerably improve the performance of software systems.