Viewpoint: French Didactiques

Abstract

This article examines the role and function of so‐called quasi‐empirical methods in mathematics, with reference to some historical examples and some examples from my own personal mathematical experience, in order to provide a conceptual frame of reference for educational practice. The following functions are identified, illustrated, and discussed: conjecturing, verification, global refutation, heuristic refutation, and understanding. After some fundamental limitations of quasi‐empirical methods have been pointed out, it is argued that, in genuine mathematical practice, quasi‐empirical methods and more logically rigorous methods complement each other. The challenge for curriculum designers is, therefore, to develop meaningful activities that not only illustrate the above functions of quasi‐empirical methods but also accurately reflect an authentic view of the complex, interrelated nature of quasi‐empiricism and deductive reasoning.     

Health surveillance under adverse ergonomics conditions – validity of a screening method adapted for the occupational health service

A new health surveillance protocol for work-related upper-extremity musculoskeletal disorders has been validated by comparing the results with a reference protocol. The studied protocol, Health Surveillance in Adverse Ergonomics Conditions (HECO), is a new version of the reference protocol modified for application in the Occupational Health Service (OHS). The HECO protocol contains both a screening part and a diagnosing part. Sixty-three employees were examined. The screening in HECO did not miss any diagnosis found when using the reference protocol, but in comparison to the reference protocol considerable time savings could be achieved. Fair to good agreement between the protocols was obtained for one or more diagnoses in neck/shoulders (86%, k = 0.62) and elbow/hands (84%, k = 0.49). Therefore, the results obtained using the HECO protocol can be compared with a reference material collected with the reference protocol, and thus provide information of the magnitude of disorders in an examined work group.

Practitioner Summary: The HECO protocol is a relatively simple physical examination protocol for identification of musculoskeletal disorders in the neck and upper extremities. The protocol is a reliable and cost-effective tool for the OHS to use for occupational health surveillance in order to detect workplaces at high risk for developing musculoskeletal disorders.     

AGENT COORDINATION CONTEXTS IN A MAS COORDINATION INFRASTRUCTURE

In order to harness complexity in multi-agent systems (MAS), first-class entities that mediate interaction between agents and environment are required, which can encapsulate control over MAS behavior and evolution. To this end, MAS infrastructures should provide mediating artifacts, both enabling and constraining agent interactions, and possibly representing admissible agent perceptions and actions over the environment.

Along this line, in this paper, we take the notion of agent coordination context (ACC) as a means to model agent-environment interactions, and show how it can be embedded within a MAS infrastructure in terms of model and runtime structures. Then, we take the TuCSoN coordination infrastructure as a reference, and extend it with the ACC abstraction to integrate the support for coordination with organization and security.     

Reweighting anthropometric data using a nearest neighbour approach

When designing products and environments, detailed data on body size and shape are seldom available for the specific user population. One way to mitigate this issue is to reweight available data such that they provide an accurate estimate of the target population of interest. This is done by assigning a statistical weight to each individual in the reference data, increasing or decreasing their influence on statistical models of the whole. This paper presents a new approach to reweighting these data. Instead of stratified sampling, the proposed method uses a clustering algorithm to identify relationships between the detailed and reference populations using their height, mass, and body mass index (BMI). The newly weighted data are shown to provide more accurate estimates than traditional approaches. The improved accuracy that accompanies this method provides designers with an alternative to data synthesis techniques as they seek appropriate data to guide their design practice.Practitioner Summary: Design practice is best guided by data on body size and shape that accurately represents the target user population. This research presents an alternative to data synthesis (e.g. regression or proportionality constants) for adapting data from one population for use in modelling another.     

The Temporal Precedence Problem

In this paper we analyze the complexity of the Temporal Precedence Problem on pointer machines. The problem is to support efficiently two operations: insert and precedes. The operation insert (a) introduces a new element a , while precedes (a,b) returns true iff element a was temporally inserted before element b . We provide a solution to the problem with worst-case time complexity O( lg lg n) per operation, where n is the number of elements inserted. We also demonstrate that the problem has a lower bound of Ω( lg lg n) on pointer machines. Thus the proposed scheme is optimal on pointer machines. Received February 5, 1998; revised October 21, 1998.     

R U There? How to Reach a Virtual Audience Through Affordable Marketing Strategies

ABSTRACT

Virtual reference is a vital service component of many libraries. Whether serving college students or the general public, a real-time reference service demands highly trained staff and quality resources. What can administrators do to make sure their users make the most of this cutting-edge service? The University at Buffalo (UB) was one of the first universities to establish a virtual reference service. Known as Instant Librarian, the chat room thrives as a major public service without placing a drain on staff or budget. This article discusses the marketing strategies UB applies to chat reference, including advertising, use of icons, and user surveys for assessment.     

Chunking in Soar: The Anatomy of a General Learning Mechanism

In this article we describe an approach to the construction of a general learning mechanism based on chunking in Soar. Chunking is a learning mechanism that acquires rules from goal-based experience. Soar is a general problem-solving architecture with a rule-based memory. In previous work we have demonstrated how the combination of chunking and Soar could acquire search-control knowledge (strategy acquisition) and operator implementation rules in both search-based puzzle tasks and knowledge-based expert-systems tasks. In this work we examine the anatomy of chunking in Soar and provide a new demonstration of its learning capabilities involving the acquisition and use of macro-operators.     

Chat Reference

ABSTRACT

Internet Reference Services Quarterly is introducing a new column that will focus on current developments and practice concerns in chat reference. This first entry gives some background on the column's origins, and details the directions it will take.     

使用线约束运动最小二乘法的视差图像拼接

目的 图像配准是影响拼接质量的关键因素。已有的视差图象拼接方法没有解决匹配特征点对间的错误配准问题,容易引起不自然的拼接痕迹。针对这一问题,提出了使用线约束运动最小二乘法的配准算法,减少图像的配准误差,提高拼接质量。方法 首先,计算目标图像和参考图像的SIFT（scale-invariant feature transform）特征点,应用RANSAC（random sample consensus）方法建立特征点的匹配关系,由此计算目标到参考图像的最佳单应变换。然后,使用线约束运动最小二乘法分别配准两组图像：1）第1组是目标图像和参考图像;2）第2组是经单应变换后的目标图像和参考图像。第1组用逐点仿射变换进行配准,而第2组配准使用了单应变换加上逐点仿射变换。最后,在重叠区域,利用最大流最小割算法寻找最优拼接缝,沿着拼接缝评估两组配准的质量,选取最优的那组进行融合拼接。结果 自拍图库和公开数据集上的大量测试结果表明,本文算法的配准精度超过95%,透视扭曲比例小于17%。与近期拼接方法相比,本文配准算法精度提高3%,拼接结果中透视扭曲现象减少73%。结论 运动最小二乘法可以准确地配准特征点,但可能会扭曲图像中的结构对象。而线约束项则尽量保持结构,阻止扭曲。因此,线约束运动最小二乘法兼顾了图像结构的完整性和匹配特征点的对准精度,基于此配准模型的拼接方法能够有效减少重影和鬼影等人工痕迹,拼接结果真实自然。     

Page Us

ABSTRACT

When patron workstations are located far from the reference desk, service suffers because patrons can't easily contact staff. While in-house chat services offer a partial solution to this problem, these services fail to provide the face-to-face element that the literature shows is critical for effective reference service. This study analyzes NCSU Libraries' method for solving this problem, a hybrid service that combines features of in-person and virtual reference service.     

Automatic selection of control-points from shadow structures†

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe a procedure for the automatic selection of control-points in remote-sensing images of high-relief terrains for alignment with a reference map. This problem has been found to be of strategic importance whenever remote sensing images have to be integrated in a Geographic Information System (GIS) and processed in real time. The procedure described here is based on the recognition of shadow structures in the satellite image and on their comparison with the computer-generated shadows obtained from the Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the region. The procedure was developed for a Landsat TM image of the Aurina Valley (in the Pusteresi Alps) with the DTM obtained from an IGM (Istituto Geografico Militare) 1:25000 reference map, but with minor changes it can be extended to other remote-sensing images. Comparison of the shadow structures is performed by similarity evaluation of a simplified model of their shapes described by means of inertia ellipses. Each pair of shadow structures, recognized as similar and meeting a number of positional constraints, yields a pair of corresponding points whose coordinates provide input values for determining the parameters in the transformation of the input image into a planimetrically corrected one. The performance and robustness of the method and its boundary applicability are assessed. An example is given in which the automatically-determined control-points are directly inserted in a warping function, with reasonably good results.     

VsLattice: A vector-based conceptual index structure for web service retrieval

With the rising adoption of web services, effective management of web services becomes a critical issue in making the paradigm of service-oriented computing more practical. In this paper, a novel structure, called Vector-based service Lattice ( VsLattice), is devised to index web services in a semantic way. Each web service is modeled as a group of Service Operation Vectors (SOVs) in the vector space, and each SOV represents an operation provided by the service. The web services, SOVs and the relationship between web services and SOVs form the Conceptual Indexing Context (CIC) of a given service collection. In the CIC, web services that provide similar operations (functions) are conceptually indexed by the same Operation Vector Concepts (OVCs). The underlying relationships among the OVCs are captured with the VsLattice, which is constructed by adopting the traditional concept lattice in a CIC. By taking advantage of the information obtained from the VsLattice, a new representation of SOV is devised. Based on this representation, a novel service retrieval model and the implemental system are developed to retrieve web services efficiently. The performance and retrieving quality of the proposed approach has been evaluated through a series of experiments.

A Historical Overview of Internet Reference Services for Distance Learners

SUMMARY

The advent of library services and collections on the Internet revolutionized reference services to students enrolled in distance learning programs. Prior to the Internet, reference librarians who supported distance learning programs had few methods, and many of them costly, to provide the equivalent library services advocated by the ACRL Guidelines. Through the Internet, these librarians were able to approximate the services and resources that had always been available to students who came into the library. This article describes the development of reference services on the Internet in a variety of libraries that support distance learners.     

Internet Reference Services for Distance Education

SUMMARY

Published guidelines for distance learning library services provide a framework for distance education librarians to use in planning services for off-campus students. Other literature in the arena of distance education librarianship provides concrete examples of how reference services have been offered in real settings. This paper attempts to synthesize these two types of literature in order to offer models of reference service for distance learners.     

An efficient top-down search algorithm for learning Boolean networks of gene expression

Boolean networks provide a simple and intuitive model for gene regulatory networks, but a critical defect is the time required to learn the networks. In recent years, efficient network search algorithms have been developed for a noise-free case and for a limited function class. In general, the conventional algorithm has the high time complexity of O(2^{2k mn k+1}) where m is the number of measurements, n is the number of nodes (genes), and k is the number of input parents. Here, we suggest a simple and new approach to Boolean networks, and provide a randomized network search algorithm with average time complexity O ^{(mn k+1}/ (log m)^(k−1)). We show the efficiency of our algorithm via computational experiments, and present optimal parameters. Additionally, we provide tests for yeast expression data. Editor: David Page     

Polynomial Time Algorithms for 2-Edge-Connectivity Augmentation Problems

Abstract. Given a 2-edge-connected, real weighted graph G with n vertices and m edges, the 2-edge-connectivity augmentation problem is that of finding a minimum weight set of edges of G to be added to a spanning subgraph H of G to make it 2-edge-connected. While the general problem is NP-hard and 2 -approximable, in this paper we prove that it becomes polynomial time solvable if H is a depth-first search tree of G . More precisely, we provide an efficient algorithm for solving this special case which runs in O (M · α(M,n)) time, where α is the classic inverse of Ackermann's function and M=m · α(m,n) . This algorithm has two main consequences: first, it provides a faster 2 -approximation algorithm for the general 2 -edge-connectivity augmentation problem; second, it solves in O (m · α(m,n)) time the problem of restoring, by means of a minimum weight set of replacement edges, the 2 -edge-connectivity of a 2-edge-connected communication network undergoing a link failure.     

Use of portable ladders – field observations and self-reported safety performance in the cable TV industry

Abstract

Portable ladders incidents remain a major cause of falls from heights. This study reported field observations of environments, work conditions and safety behaviour involving portable ladders and their correlations with self-reported safety performance. Seventy-five professional installers of a company in the cable and other pay TV industry were observed for 320 ladder usages at their worksites. The participants also filled out a questionnaire to measure self-reported safety performance. Proper setup on slippery surfaces, correct method for ladder inclination setup and ladder secured at the bottom had the lowest compliance with best practices and training guidelines. The observation compliance score was found to have significant correlation with straight ladder inclined angle (Pearson’s r = 0.23, p < 0.0002) and employees’ self-reported safety participation (r = 0.29, p < 0.01). The results provide a broad perspective on employees’ safety compliance and identify areas for improving safety behaviours.

Practitioner Summary: A checklist was used while observing professional installers of a cable company for portable ladder usage at their worksites. Items that had the lowest compliance with best practices and training guidelines were identified. The results provide a broad perspective on employees’ safety compliance and identify areas for improving safety behaviours.     

Momentum of electromagnetic fields,speed of light in moving media,and the photon mass

In both the equations for matter and light wave propagation, the momentum of the electromagnetic fields P _e reflects the relevant electromagnetic interaction. As a review of possible applications of wave propagation properties in the scenarios of standard and stochastic electrodynamics, some relevant experiments are described. Moreover, P _e is also the link to the unitary vision of the quantum effects of the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) type, which provide a useful quantum approach for the limit of the photon mass m _ph . A bench-top experiment based on effects of the AB type that exploit new interferometric techniques, is foreseen to yield the limit m _ph ≃ 10⁻⁵⁴ g, a value that improves upon the results achieved with other approaches.     

正交约束多头自注意力的场景文本识别

目的 场景文本识别（scene text recognition，STR）是计算机视觉中的一个热门研究领域。最近，基于多头自注意力机制的视觉Transformer （vision Transformer，ViT）模型被提出用于STR，以实现精度、速度和计算负载的平衡。然而，没有机制可以保证不同的自注意力头确实捕捉到多样性的特征，这将导致使用多头自注意力机制的ViT模型在多样性极强的场景文本识别任务中表现不佳。针对这个问题，提出了一种新颖的正交约束来显式增强多个自注意力头之间的多样性，提高多头自注意力对不同子空间信息的捕获能力，在保证速度和计算效率的同时进一步提高网络的精度。方法 首先提出了针对不同自注意力头上Q （query）、K （key）和V （value）特征的正交约束，这可以使不同的自注意力头能够关注到不同的查询子空间、键子空间、值子空间的特征，关注不同子空间的特征可以显式地使不同的自注意力头捕捉到更具差异的特征。还提出了针对不同自注意力头上Q 、K 和V 特征线性变换权重的正交约束，这将为Q、K和V特征的学习提供正交权重空间的解决方案，并在网络训练中带来隐式正则化的效果。结果 实验在7个数据集上与基准方法进行比较，在规则数据集Street View Text （SVT）上精度提高了0.5%；在不规则数据集CUTE80 （CT）上精度提高了1.1%；在7个公共数据集上的整体精度提升了0.5%。结论 提出的即插即用的正交约束能够提高多头自注意力机制在STR任务中的特征捕获能力，使ViT模型在STR任务上的识别精度得到提高。本文代码已公开： https：//github.com/lexiaoyuan/XViTSTR。     

Efficient Reorganization of Binary Search Trees

We consider the problem of maintaining a binary search tree ({bst}) that minimizes the average access cost needed to satisfy randomly generated requests. We analyze scenarios in which the accesses are generated according to a vector of fixed probabilities which is unknown . Our approach is statistical. We devise policies for modifying the tree structure dynamically, using rotations of accessed records. The aim is to produce good approximations of the optimal structure of the tree, while keeping the number of rotations as small as possible. The heuristics that we propose achieve a close approximation to the optimal BST, with lower organization costs than any previously studied. We introduce the MOVE_ONCE rule. The average access cost to the tree under this rule is shown to equal the value achieved by the common rule Move to the Root (MTR). The advantage of MOVE_ONCE over MTR and similar rules is that it relocates each of the items in the tree at most once. We show that the total expected cost of modifying the tree by the MOVE_ONCE rule is bounded from above by 2(n+1)H _n -4n rotations (in a tree with n records), where H _n is the n th harmonic number. Extensive experiments show that this value is an overestimate, and in fact the number of rotations is linear for all the access probability vectors we tested. An approximate analysis is shown to match the experimental results, producing the expected number n((π ² /3)-2) - 2\ln n+0.1354 . Next we combine the MOVE_ONCE rule with reference counters, one per record, that provide estimates of the reference probabilities. We call the resulting reorganization rule MOUCS. We show that, for any δ , α >0 and sufficiently large n , it achieves a cost that approaches the optimum up to an absolute difference of δ with probability higher than 1- α , within a number of accesses that is proportional to n (\lg n) ² /(αδ ² ) . Received March 10, 2001; revised March 26, 2001.