Separation of concerns can play an important role in empirical evaluation of systems with adaptation characteristics, that of clarifying what to evaluate in order to prepare the how to evaluate. This present proposal integrates different design perspectives to better understand adaptation assessment and design through a comprehensive framework with: abstract levels, necessary to step-by-step ap...

Already 30 years ago, Chvátal has shown that some instances of the zero-one knapsack problem cannot be solved in polynomial time using a particular type of branch-and-bound algorithms based on relaxations of linear programs together with some rudimentary cutting-plane arguments as bounding rules. We extend this result by proving an exponential lower bound in a more general class of branch-and-b...

An auction is an inevitable market mechanism to setup prices of goods or services in a competitive and dynamic environment. Anonymity of bidders is required to conceal their business strategies from competitors. However, it is also essential to provide the seller guarantees that a bidder is trustworthy and competent enough to perform certain tasks (e.g transports). This paper proposes an auctio...

In this paper I attempt to sketch the utility of space weaponry, primarily from the point of view of the United States. In this I draw upon the excellent RAND book, “Space Weapons, Earth Wars.” That study was commissioned by LGen Roger DeKok, DCS Plans and Programs, HQ USAF. I am guided also by the views expressed in presentations and discussions of which I am aware over the past year . But the...

Discovering correspondences between schema elements is a crucial task for data integration. Most matching tools are semi-automatic, e.g. an expert must tune some parameters (thresholds, weights, etc.). They mainly use several methods to combine and aggregate similarity measures. However, their quality results often decrease when one requires to integrate a new similarity measure or when matchin...

TO THE EDITOR: The “curse of Kelvin” casts its shadow over most medical research.1 This curse means that one’s insight, unless clothed with numbers, is unlikely to be widely accepted. This phenomenon ensures that matters that are obvious to children (like the Emperor’s new clothes) can be published only as a “Point of View” or a “Letter to the Editor”, instead of a scientific paper. One such ob...

In her dissertation, Janet Fodor has argued that the quantificational force and the intensional status of certain quantifier phrases can be evaluated independently. The proposal was only halfway accepted: the existence of non-specific transparent readings is well-established today, but specific opaque readings are deemed illusory. I argue that they are real and outline a semantic framework that...

Fujaba already provides sophisticated code generation concepts for UML associations. However, recent bug fixing work on associations has revealed that the Fujaba code generation mechanisms for associations have a maintenance problem. In addition, the excessive number of access methods generated for to-many association roles consume not only large amounts of memory space in the Fujaba tool but t...

T his is a troubling column to write. I hadn't planned to write on optimization , because what I have to say has already been said numerous times. Yet, when I give talks, I find there's still a surprising number of people who don't know, or at least don't follow, the advice I'm about to give. So, here goes. (Many of you have probably seen this advice before—my thought to you is to ponder why I ...

Children in the back seat on a long trip are not the only ones asking the question “Are we there yet?” At Murray State University (MSU) and other universities starting new programs, the question becomes one of validation of the program. In the late 90s, MSU, a midsize university, was entrusted with the responsibility of developing a program of distinction with financial support from special sta...