Items In Parallel Research Articles

A Lifetime of Collecting: Pietro M. Bardi and Lina Bo Bardi’s Archive

Thirty years after its creation, this article provides insights into the Instituto Bardi’s archive, responsible for over 40,000 items from Lina Bo and Pietro Maria Bardi’s collection. It discusses the Bardi couple’s intention of creating an archive within the space of their dwelling as part of a broader preservation plan of their design, which involved the foundation of a cultural institution and the historical listing of their residence, Casa de Vidro, in Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil, along with the furniture and artwork within it. Furthermore, this essay discusses the main challenges faced in the establishment and operation of an architectural archive in the Brazilian cultural, economic and political context, as well as the dynamics involved in the preservation of its items in parallel to the dissemination of Lina and Pietro’s oeuvre. In addition to discussing and examining matters specific to the Bardis’ archive collection, this essay raises questions of archival systematization that need to be addressed according to specific situations, such as accessibility of the contents, loan policies, and financial stability.

Lower Bounds for Total Storage of Multiset Combinatorial Batch Codes Using Linear Programming

The class of multiset combinatorial batch codes (MCBCs) was introduced by Zhang et al. (2018) as a generalization of combinatorial batch codes (CBCs), which are replication-based batch codes. The MCBCs allow multiple users to retrieve items in parallel in a distributed storage and a fundamental objective in this study is to determine the minimum total storage given certain requirements. We formulate linear programs so that the optimal solutions provide lower bounds on the total storage of MCBCs. Borrowing techniques from linear programming, we improve known lower bounds in some cases. Furthermore, for some parameters, we showed that these lower bounds are either tight or asymptotically tight by constructing the corresponding codes.

Subitizing, unlike estimation, does not process sets in parallel

Enumeration of very small quantities is a common task that we perform everyday. Much research has highlighted that in these conditions humans display fast, near errorless performance, a phenomenon dubbed subitizing. It has been suggested that this regime has a pivotal role in numerosity perception. Here we asked if this system can process multiple sets of items in parallel. At odds with what happens for moderate numerosities, we found a strong impairment caused already by the introduction of a second group of items marked by a different color. Adding shape as a cue provided no benefit. The only case in which subitizing was possible was when the target and distractor group were held constant through the experimental block. These results show the surprising fact that whilst being rapid and errorless, subitizing does not have the capability to disentangle multiple groups of items and deals only with coarse stimulus statistics.

Exploring Social Recommendations with Visual Diversity-Promoting Interfaces

The beyond-relevance objectives of recommender systems have been drawing more and more attention. For example, a diversity-enhanced interface has been shown to associate positively with overall levels of user satisfaction. However, little is known about how users adopt diversity-enhanced interfaces to accomplish various real-world tasks. In this article, we present two attempts at creating a visual diversity-enhanced interface that presents recommendations beyond a simple ranked list. Our goal was to design a recommender system interface to help users explore the different relevance prospects of recommended items in parallel and to stress their diversity. Two within-subject user studies in the context of social recommendation at academic conferences were conducted to compare our visual interfaces. Results from our user study show that the visual interfaces significantly reduced the exploration efforts required for given tasks and helped users to perceive the recommendation diversity. We show that the users examined a diverse set of recommended items while experiencing an improvement in overall user satisfaction. Also, the users’ subjective evaluations show significant improvement in many user-centric metrics. Experiences are discussed that shed light on avenues for future interface designs.

DCCR: Deep Collaborative Conjunctive Recommender for Rating Prediction

Recently, collaborative filtering combined with various kinds of deep learning models is appealing to recommender systems, which have shown a strong positive effect in an accuracy improvement. However, many studies related to deep learning model rely heavily on abundant information to improve prediction accuracy, which has stringent data requirements in addition to raw rating data. Furthermore, most of them ignore the interaction effect between users and items when building the recommendation model. To address these issues, we propose DCCR, a deep collaborative conjunctive recommender, for rating prediction tasks that are solely based on the raw ratings. A DCCR is a hybrid architecture that consists of two different kinds of neural network models (i.e., an autoencoder and a multilayered perceptron). The main function of the autoencoder is to extract the latent features from the perspectives of users and items in parallel, while the multilayered perceptron is used to represent the interaction between users and items based on fusing the user and item latent features. To further improve the performance of DCCR, an advanced activation function is proposed, which can be specified with input vectors. The extensive experiments conducted with two well-known real-world datasets and performances of the DCCR with varying settings are analyzed. The results demonstrate that our DCCR model outperforms other state-of-art methods. We also discuss the performance of the DCCR with additional layers to show the extensibility of our model.

Parallelizing uncertain skyline computation against n‐of‐N data streaming model

SummaryThe skyline query over uncertain data streams, as an important aspect of big data analysis, plays a significant role in domains such as environment monitoring, decision‐making, and data mining. The skyline query over uncertain data streams with sliding window model always focuses on the most recent N streaming items, which cannot meet the query requirements of different window scales at the same time. To improve the query flexibility and efficiency, we propose an efficient parallel method for processing uncertain n‐of‐N skyline queries; that is, computing the skyline for the most recent n (∀n ≤ N) items in parallel. Specifically, we first propose a framework for parallelizing the query computation for uncertain n‐of‐N skylines. Furthermore, we put forward a sliding window partitioning strategy as well as a streaming items mapping strategy to realize the load balance for each node. In addition, we define a spatial index structure RST based on R‐tree to organize the elements within each individual sliding window and candidate set in each which can significantly improve the dominance tests. Most importantly, we provide an encoding interval scheme to transform the n‐of‐N query into stabbing query in each compute node, which can greatly minimize the query scope and improve the query efficiency. In addition, we use a red‐black tree named RBI to store all stabbing intervals. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposals are efficient and can greatly meet the query requirement of users in real applications.

Establishing individual differences in perceptual capacity.

Limited capacity for visual perception results in various "inattentional blindness" phenomena across a wide variety of manipulations that load perception. Here, we propose that these phenomena are mediated by an underlying generalized capacity for visual perception, which also underlies subitizing: the ability to enumerate a limited number of items in parallel from a brief exposure. We tested this proposal by examining whether individual differences reveal common intraindividual variance between measures of visual perception as well as of subitizing capacity. Visual perception was measured in change blindness (Rensink, O'Regan, & Clark, 1997), load-induced blindness (Macdonald & Lavie, 2008), and multiple object tracking tasks. Subitizing capacity was measured as the number of items that could be reported in parallel in an enumeration task. Perceptual capacity as indexed by subitizing was consistently a unique predictor of performance in change blindness, load-induced blindness, and motion tracking beyond any general factors that apply to both subitizing and estimation of larger set sizes. Moreover, when measures of working memory were included, factor analysis indicated two orthogonal factors: perceptual and working memory. Overall, the results support the hypothesis of a generalized capacity for visual perception, and establish subitizing capacity as a predictor of individual susceptibility to inattentional blindness under load. (PsycINFO Database Record

생활의 경험을 표현한 수업활동

The present study was designed for learners to bring and use their life experiences in class. The purpose was to determine whether the use of learners" own experiences was helpful for active learning, whether learners felt it was practical, and whether what learners felt increased learning motivation by their evaluation after the application in class. After the class activities were applied to some learning items in parallel with traditional lecture-style classes in a Japanese course for one semester, the achievement of the research goal was evaluated by collecting and classifying learners’ opinions at the end of the semester. The results of learners’ opinions and instructor’s evaluation showed that first, ‘It helped active learning’, although the number of this answer was small. Second, the most prevalent answer was ‘It was practical because sentences related to their own real life were used in practice’. In addition, asimilar number of answers stated that‘ It helped to improve my skills’. Through the answers, improvement of learning motivation was confirmed. Third, the class activities served the role of improving learners’ motivation, but it was seen that more thoughtful considerations should be given to learners who have difficulty in catching up with class activities. Fourth, the class activities are more effective for classes with small numbers of students, and for large numbers of students, assistive measures that can supplement interactions with the instructor were found to be necessary. 本研究は韓国の日本語授業において学習者が持つ社会的文脈を活用する授業活動の実践報告である。学習者が持つ生活の経験を日本語で表現する授業活動を設計し、講義中心型の伝統的授業に授業活動を組み合わせて行った後、学習者と教師の評価を通して、授業活動が学習の動機づけ·能動的な学びを引き起こしたのかを確認することを目的とした。 2017年度１学期に行われた初級日本語の授業の、C大学とS大学の学習者総計92人を対象に、後半の5週間にわたって授業活動を実施した。学習項目は動詞文の練習であった。自分の一日を韓国語で書き、それを日本語に翻訳していった。新しい表現を学びつづけ、文章を修正し、拡張して自分の文章を書いてもらう活動であった。 授業活動の後、学習者の意見と教師の意見を総合し、「創意的で実生活で使える日本語を学んで良かった」のように「実用的だ」という意見、「実力が伸た」という意見があった。これを通して、本授業活動が実用的であるという印象を受け、この印象が動機づけになったことが確認できた。なお、「自分で工夫を凝らして作成した」のような意見から、能動的学びを引き起こす働きがあったことが確認できたが、意見の数は多くなかった。これはクラスの学習者数が多すぎ、教師との相互作用が十分行われなかったことに原因があると思われる。従って、本授業活動は学習者数を考慮した上で取り入れた方が効率高いということがわかった。なお、「勉強量が増え、手に負えなかった」のように「難しさ」を指摘した意見からはもっと細かい心遣が必要であることがわかった。 本授業活動は学習内容が自らの話だからこそ、学習者ごとにより具体的な形を取ることになるので、教師との相互作用にもっと力を入れるべきであると思われる。

Effort in Multitasking: Local and Global Assessment of Effort.

When performing multiple tasks in succession, self-organization of task order might be superior compared to external-controlled task schedules, because self-organization allows optimizing processing modes and thus reduces switch costs, and it increases commitment to task goals. However, self-organization is an additional executive control process that is not required if task order is externally specified and as such it is considered as time-consuming and effortful. To compare self-organized and externally controlled task scheduling, we suggest assessing global subjective and objectives measures of effort in addition to local performance measures. In our new experimental approach, we combined characteristics of dual tasking settings and task switching settings and compared local and global measures of effort in a condition with free choice of task sequence and a condition with cued task sequence. In a multi-tasking environment, participants chose the task order while the task requirement of the not-yet-performed task remained the same. This task preview allowed participants to work on the previously non-chosen items in parallel and resulted in faster responses and fewer errors in task switch trials than in task repetition trials. The free-choice group profited more from this task preview than the cued group when considering local performance measures. Nevertheless, the free-choice group invested more effort than the cued group when considering global measures. Thus, self-organization in task scheduling seems to be effortful even in conditions in which it is beneficiary for task processing. In a second experiment, we reduced the possibility of task preview for the not-yet-performed tasks in order to hinder efficient self-organization. Here neither local nor global measures revealed substantial differences between the free-choice and a cued task sequence condition. Based on the results of both experiments, we suggest that global assessment of effort in addition to local performance measures might be a useful tool for multitasking research.

Self-Sorting Map: An Efficient Algorithm for Presenting Multimedia Data in Structured Layouts

This paper presents the Self-Sorting Map (SSM), a novel algorithm for organizing and presenting multimedia data. Given a set of data items and a dissimilarity measure between each pair of them, the SSM places each item into a unique cell of a structured layout, where the most related items are placed together and the unrelated ones are spread apart. The algorithm integrates ideas from dimension reduction, sorting, and data clustering algorithms. Instead of solving the continuous optimization problem that other dimension reduction approaches do, the SSM transforms it into a discrete labeling problem. As a result, it can organize a set of data into a structured layout without overlap, providing a simple and intuitive presentation. The algorithm is designed for sorting all data items in parallel, making it possible to arrange millions of items in seconds. Experiments on different types of data demonstrate the SSM's versatility in a variety of applications, ranging from positioning city names by proximities to presenting images according to visual similarities, to visualizing semantic relatedness between Wikipedia articles.

두 형태의 데이터를 이용하여 시스템의 신뢰도를 추정하는 방법

Reliability analysis for various forms of data obtained from complicated electronic circuits is a necessary process for guaranteeing reliability of the system. Reliability assessment of a system starts from the estimation of failure function. A system can be composed of one item, but in most cases, several items are correlated to each other in one system. This study suggests an estimation method of failure function and reliabilities for infrequent failure events, by considering different form of data obtained from different systems. Estimates of failure function and reliabilities for complex systems composed of two or more items in parallel or in mixed connections can be done by further application of proposed method.

Finding frequent items in parallel

AbstractWe present a deterministic parallel algorithm for the k‐majority problem, that can be used to find in parallel frequent items, i.e. those whose multiplicity is greater than a given threshold, and is therefore useful to process iceberg queries and in many other different contexts of applied mathematics and information theory. The algorithm can be used both in the online (stream) context and in the offline setting, the difference being that in the former case we are restricted to a single scan of the input elements, so that verifying the frequent items that have been determined is not allowed (e.g. network traffic streams passing through internet routers), while in the latter a parallel scan of the input can be used to determine the actual k‐majority elements. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first parallel algorithm solving the proposed problem. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Parallel pipelined histogram architectures

Proposed is a unique cell histogram architecture which will process k data items in parallel to compute 2 q histogram bins per time step. An array of m/2 q cells computes an m-bin histogram with a speed-up factor of k; k≥2 makes it faster than current dual-ported memory implementations. Furthermore, simple mechanisms for conflict-free storing of the histogram bins into an external memory array are discussed.

Visual working memory is better characterized as a distributed resource rather than discrete slots

A recent important debate in the field of visual working memory has focused on whether it represents a small set of high-precision representations (the "slot" model) or all items in parallel (the "resource" model). When faced with a large number of items, the slot model claims that high-precision representations of several items are stored and no information is retained about the other items, whereas the resource model claims that some imperfect information about each of the items can be stored. In this study, the observers tried to memorize and then recall six (out of eight possible) colors. The distribution of their scores (i.e., the number of correct responses) was modeled, and the empirical pattern of distribution fitted precisely with the prediction of the resource model but clearly differed from that of the slot model. Dependence analysis also revealed that the reports of items were approximately independent of each other, suggesting that all of the items were represented in parallel, as predicted by the resource model but not by the slot model. Overall, the data favored the resource model, not the slot model.

Subitizing sets and set-based selection: Early visual features determine what counts as an individual for visual processing

Human adults can select a set of items that share an early visual feature (e.g. the red dots) from a scene that contains many spatially overlapping sets (e.g. different colored dots completely spatially intermixed) and encode set-based summary representations for this selected set, e.g. approximate number of items (Halberda et al, 2006). This selection appears to take place in parallel for all items in the set across the visual field. While it is well known which features support pop-out for a single item among distractors, virtually nothing is known about which features will support the selection of an entire set of items in a visual scene. Adults viewed brief presentations of spatially overlapping sets that differed in a single feature (e.g. tilted lines among verticals) and estimated the approximate number of targets. A wide variety of features were tested separately including all those considered to support item “pop-out” and key ones that do not (e.g. complex shape). Results indicate that, just as early visual features support parallel search for a single item, they support the selection of an entire set of items in parallel (e.g. 13 tilted lines intermixed with 15 verticals) (Experiment 1). This set-based selection also shows classic asymmetry effects (e.g. tilted easier than vertical) (Experiment 2). And, as further evidence that sets function as individuals for attention, adults showed classic “subitizing” signatures for precisely enumerating up to 3 sets accurately and in parallel (Experiment 3). These results extend what counts as an “individual” for visual processing to include entire sets of items that share an early visual feature.

Dressing Your Online Auction Business for Success: An Experiment Comparing Two eBay Businesses

Businesses can choose who they want to be online. Product and company attributes that are directly perceivable in the real world can be manipulated to make a favorable impression on online buyers. This study examines whether creating a more professional online e-image can signal consumers about unobservable product or company quality, and whether this signal influences their willingness to transact with the company, and ultimately the prices they are willing to pay for the company's goods and services. An empirical study is presented that examines two online auction businesses utilizing different company names and auction listing styles to sell items in parallel over the course of one year. The findings suggest that increasing the quality of an auction business's e-image does increase consumers' willingness to transact with the business, and increases prices received at auction. The study also demonstrates the ability to use eBay as an experimental laboratory for testing a variety of hypotheses about purchasing behavior online.

Cognitive changes in short-term hypothyroidism assessed with event-related brain potentials

Hypothyroidism is a common clinical problem during 131Iodine-therapy of thyroid cancer. In the present investigation, possible cognitive dysfunction during hypothyroid state was assessed by means of neuropsychological tests and the recording of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Fifteen patients undergoing therapy for thyroid cancer were examined twice: (1) substituted with thyroid hormones, (2) during hypothyroid state immediately prior to treatment. Standard neuropsychological tests were applied during both sessions and subjects showed a mild-to-moderate impairment in their hypothyroid state. In addition, ERPs were recorded from 19 scalp sites while subjects performed two visual search tasks. The serial task required the effortful one-by-one scanning of several items within a visual array, while the parallel task allowed processing of all stimulus items in parallel and automatically. ERPs showed a marked amplitude decrement and delay of the P3 component known to index the speed of stimulus evaluation and the amount of available processing resources. This effect was present only for the serial search task, while no changes were seen in the parallel search task. These data show that hypothyroidism during 131Iodine-therapy is associated with clinically relevant cognitive dysfunctions, especially with effortful attention demanding tasks.

Cross-modal, auditory-visual Stroop interference and possible implications for speech memory.

This study examines effects of auditory color-word interference on a visual Stroop task with a spoken response. The presence of cross-modal interference indicates that subjects could not prevent the processing of irrelevant, spoken color words. Additional aspects of the results (e.g., lack of effects from noncolor items and additivity of auditory and visual interference) are used to support a description of processing in which multiple verbal items enter a prespeech buffer and a selection mechanism examines buffer items in parallel.

Open & Short Circuit Reliability of Systems of Identical Items

The paper is about reliability and risk analysis of systems of s-identical, s-independent items in terms of their probabilities of failure in open and short circuit. It is importantly assumed that the system is operational while at least one (or as a special case, more) operational item is connected physically to the input and output of the system either directly or through other good or shorted items and there is no overall system short-circuit. Two or more items so connected, whether in physical series or parallel or any combination have the same effect as a single item, and such redundancy does not alter the item failure probabilities. The probabilities could be those arising from identical, s-independent distributions (iid) over a fixed period with fixed starting conditions or alternatively probabilities of failure upon switching on. The work applies therefore to systems of adjustable or self-adjusting items such as amplifiers, rheostats, or fluid control valves, but not, for example, to systems of fixed resistors if the output values of voltage and current are important. Methods are developed for finding the most reliable physical arrangements of 2, 3, 4, items given the item failure probabilities. These display symmetry arising from the equivalence of the reliability block diagrams for items in physical series failing short and items in physical parallel failing open and vice versa. Three or four items are often sufficient to meet reliability requirements.

A Heuristic Algorithm for the Multi-Item Lot-Sizing Problem with Capacity Constraints

Abstract A heuristic algorithm is presented for solving the scheduling of several items in parallel under capacity constraints with setup and carrying costs. The method is based upon finding a lower bound solution for these costs, securing the feasibility of the solution, and improving the feasible solution so obtained until no further improvements can be made. Comparison of the performance of the proposed heuristic algorithm to that of an exact mixed-integer programming model showed that best solution costs found by the heuristic deviated on an average by 1% from the optimal values, while the computing time was on an average 1/140 of that required by the exact method.