Digital Commons Network^™

Shifting Inference Control To User Side: Architecture And Protocol, Yanjiang Yang, Yingjiu Li, Robert H. Deng, Feng Bao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Inference has been a longstanding issue in database security, and inference control, aiming to curb inference, provides an extra line of defense to the confidentiality of databases by complementing access control. However, in traditional inference control architecture, database server is a crucial bottleneck, as it enforces highly computation-intensive auditing for all users who query the protected database. As a result, most auditing methods, though rigorously studied, are not practical for protecting large-scale real-world database systems. In this paper, we shift this paradigm by proposing a new inference control architecture, entrusting inference control to each user's platform that is equipped with …

Generating Synonyms Based On Query Log Data, Stelios Paparizos, Tao Cheng, Hady W. Lauw

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

An approach is described for generating synonyms to supplement at least one information item, such as, in one case, a set of related items. The approach can involve an expansion phase, a clean-up phase, and a reduction phase. In the expansion phase, the approach identifies, for each related item, a set of initial synonym candidates. In the clean-up phase, the approach removes noise from the set of initial synonym candidates (if such noise exists), to provide a set of filtered synonym candidate items. In the reduction phase, the approach ranks and applies a threshold (or thresholds) to the set of …

Data Mining Based Predictive Models For Overall Health Indices, Ridhima Rajkumar, Kyong Jin Shim, Jaideep Srivastava

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this study, we infer health care indices of individuals using their pharmacy medical and prescription claims. Specifically, we focus on the widely used Charlson Index. We use data mining techniques to formulate the problem of classifying Charlson Index (CI) and build predictive models to predict individual health index score. First, we present comparative analyses of several classification algorithms. Second, our study shows that certain ensemble algorithms lead to higher prediction accuracy in comparison to base algorithms. Third, we introduce cost-sensitive learning to the classification algorithms and show that the inclusion of cost-sensitive learning leads to improved prediction accuracy. The …

Pagesense: Style-Wise Web Page Advertising, Lusong Li, Tao Mei, Xiang Niu, Chong-Wah Ngo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper presents an innovative style-wise advertising platform for web page. Web page “style” mainly refers to visual effects, such as color and layout. Unlike the most popular ad-network such as Google AdSense which needs publishers to change the original structure of their pages and define the position and style of the embedded ads manually, stylewise page advertising aims to automatically deliver styleconsistent ads at proper positions within the web page, without breaking the layout of the original page. Our system is motivated from the fact that almost 90% web pages contain blank regions without any content. Given a web …

The Implications Of How We Tag Software Artifacts: Exploring Different Schemata And Metadata For Tags, Christoph Treude, Margaret-Anne Storey

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Social tagging has been adopted by software developers in various contexts from source code to work items and build definitions. While the success of tagging is usually attributed to the simplicity of tags, the implementation details of tagging systems vary significantly in terms of metadata, schemata and semantics. In this position paper, we argue that academia and industry should be aware of these differences and that we should start to examine their implications.

A Social Network Based Study Of Software Team Dynamics, Subhajit Datta, Vikrant S. Kaulgoud, Vibhu Saujanya Sharma, Nishant Kumar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Members of software project teams have specific roles and responsibilities which are formally defined during project inception or at the start of a life cycle activity. Often, the team structure undergoes spontaneous changes as delivery deadlines draw near and critical tasks have to be completed. Some members -- depending on their skill or seniority -- need to take on more responsibilities, while others end up being peripheral to the project's execution. We posit that this kind of ad hoc reorganization of a team's structure can be discerned from the project's bug tracker. In this paper, we extract a social network …

What Is Twitter, A Social Network Or A News Media?, Haewoon Kwak, Changhyun Lee, Hosung: Moon Park

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Twitter, a microblogging service less than three years old, commands more than 41 million users as of July 2009 and is growing fast. Twitter users tweet about any topic within the 140-character limit and follow others to receive their tweets. The goal of this paper is to study the topological characteristics of Twitter and its power as a new medium of information sharing.We have crawled the entire Twitter site and obtained 41.7 million user profiles, 1.47 billion social relations, 4,262 trending topics, and 106 million tweets. In its follower-following topology analysis we have found a non-power-law follower distribution, a short …

Information Search Patterns In E-Commerce Product Comparison Services, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, Weiyin Hong, Liqiang Chen, Hong-Hee Lee

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

To facilitate product selection and purchase decisions on e-commerce Web sites, the presentation of product information is very important. In this research, the authors study how disposition styles influence users’ search patterns in product comparison services of e-commerce Web sites. The results show that people use relatively more feature paths and less product paths in vertical disposition style than horizontal disposition style. The findings also indicate that there are relatively more feature paths and less product paths in the first half than second half of the information search paths. This is consistent with Gensch’s two-stage choice model which suggests that …

Playing With Recognizers: A Call For An Extensible Editor, Richard C. Davis

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The sketch recognition interface community has not produced a -killer‖ application, because access to sketch recognition technology has been too restricted. If recognition technologies were more freely available for experimentation, powerful new applications would evolve. This paper proposes a rough architecture for an extensible graphical editor that facilitates collaboration between recognition technology developers, user interface designers, and early adopters of sketch recognition interfaces. Only by serving all three communities will we reach the critical mass necessary for killer applications to emerge.

Managing Media Rich Geo-Spatial Annotations For A Map-Based Mobile Application Using Clustering, Khasfariyati Razikin, Dion Hoe-Lian Goh, Ee Peng Lim, Aixin Sun, Yin-Leng Theng, Thi Nhu Quynh Kim, Kalyani Chatterjea, Chew-Hung Chang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the prevalence of mobile devices that are equipped with wireless Internet capabilities and Global Positioning System (GPS) functionality, the creation and access of user-generated content are extended to users on the go. Such content are tied to real world objects, in the form of geospatial annotations, and it is only natural that these annotations are visualized using a map-based approach. However, viewing maps that are filled with annotations could hinder the serendipitous discovery of data, especially on the small screens of mobile devices. This calls for a need to manage the annotations. In this paper, we introduce a mobile …

Adaptive Ensemble Classification In P2p Networks, Hock Hee Ang, Vivekanand Gopalkrishnan, Steven C. H. Hoi, Wee Keong Ng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Classification in P2P networks has become an important research problem in data mining due to the popularity of P2P computing environments. This is still an open difficult research problem due to a variety of challenges, such as non-i.i.d. data distribution, skewed or disjoint class distribution, scalability, peer dynamism and asynchronism. In this paper, we present a novel P2P Adaptive Classification Ensemble (PACE) framework to perform classification in P2P networks. Unlike regular ensemble classification approaches, our new framework adapts to the test data distribution and dynamically adjusts the voting scheme by combining a subset of classifiers/peers according to the test data …

Continuous Spatial Assignment Of Moving Users, Hou U Leong, Kyriakos Mouratidis, Nikos Mamoulis

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Consider a set of servers and a set of users, where each server has a coverage region (i.e., an area of service) and a capacity (i.e., a maximum number of users it can serve). Our task is to assign every user to one server subject to the coverage and capacity constraints. To offer the highest quality of service, we wish to minimize the average distance between users and their assigned server. This is an instance of a well-studied problem in operations research, termed optimal assignment. Even though there exist several solutions for the static case (where user locations are fixed), …

Oral History Interview With Tan Teck Meng: Conceptualising Smu, Teck Meng Tan

Oral History Collection

The interview covered: first involvement with SMU, concept for SMU, parent engagement, third university, design of campus, city campus, private university, research, collaboration with Wharton, challenges.

Biography:

Professor of Accounting, 2000–2011

Deputy President, SMU, 1999–2001

Head of start-up team for SMU

Professor Tan Teck Meng was a key player in the conceptualising and formation of Singapore’s third university. In 1997, he was appointed chairman of a task force to look into the feasibility of setting up SMU. Subsequently he became SMU’s first employee and was appointed SMU’s founding deputy president (1999—2001).

After his term in administration, Professor Tan …

Model-Based Methods For Linking Web Service Choreography And Orchestration, Jun Sun, Yang Liu, Jin Song Dong, Geguang Pu, Tian Huat Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In recent years, many Web service composition languages have been proposed. Web service choreography describes collaboration protocols of cooperating Web service participants from a global view. Web service orchestration describes collaboration of the Web services in predefined patterns based on local decision about their interactions with one another at the message/execution level. In this work, we present model-based methods to close the gap between the two views. Building on the strength of model checking techniques, Web service choreography and orchestration are verified against temporal properties or against each other (to show that they are consistent). Specialized optimization techniques are developed …

Cca-Secure Unidirectional Proxy Re-Encryption In The Adaptive Corruption Model Without Random Oracles, Jian Weng, Minrong Chen, Yanjiang Yang, Robert H. Deng, Kefei Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Proxy re-encryption (PRE), introduced by Blaze, Bleumer and Strauss in Eurocrypt’98, allows a semitrusted proxy to convert a ciphertext originally intended for Alice into an encryption of the same message intended for Bob. PRE has recently drawn great interest, and many interesting PRE schemes have been proposed. However, up to now, it is still an important question to come up with a chosen-ciphertext secure unidirectional PRE in the adaptive corruption model. To address this problem, we propose a new unidirectional PRE scheme, and prove its chosen-ciphertext security in the adaptive corruption model without random oracles. Compared with the best known …

Thinking Of Leading? Think About Winning First!, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

A successful leader is not one who wins the most votes, but rather, someone who lives by a “winning mindset”. A leader who instils this “winning mindset” within his or her organisation can make all the difference between running a profitable business or a floundering one. In a recent talk at Singapore Management University, Pradeed Pant, President of Kraft Foods Asia Pacific, distils his take on the “winning mindset”, following more than three decades of experiences in the FMCG arena.

Rewriting The World Order: China's Footprint On The Credit Crisis And International Affairs, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Tired of reading conventional theories to what caused the recent financial crisis? How about a theory that places the blame on China, for a change? Giles Chance, author of “China and the Credit Crisis”, dances between the fine lines as he gives a fresh spin on the crisis, blind Western policymakers, a global currency and the world order that is to come as the "China effect" dominates familiar Western models of capitalism, politics and diplomacy.

Switching It Outsourcing Suppliers: Enhancing Transition Readiness, Siew Kien Sia, Wee-Kiat Lim, Kanapaty Pelly Periasamy

CCX Research

As IT outsourcing continues to gather momentum and mature, the decision to change suppliers at the end of a contract, or even earlier, has become an inevitable reality for many. This article sheds light on the management challenges associated with transitioning from one outsourcing supplier to another. Based on the “painful” experience of a large public-sector organization that chose not to renew its contract with a supplier that had operated its online portal and call center for five years, we provide insights into what makes a client organization “transition-ready.” We then describe the actions an organization can take before, during, …

A Self-Organizing Neural Architecture Integrating Desire, Intention And Reinforcement Learning, Ah-Hwee Tan, Yu-Hong Feng, Yew-Soon Ong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper presents a self-organizing neural architecture that integrates the features of belief, desire, and intention (BDI) systems with reinforcement learning. Based on fusion Adaptive Resonance Theory (fusion ART), the proposed architecture provides a unified treatment for both intentional and reactive cognitive functionalities. Operating with a sense-act-learn paradigm, the low level reactive module is a fusion ART network that learns action and value policies across the sensory, motor, and feedback channels. During performance, the actions executed by the reactive module are tracked by a high level intention module (also a fusion ART network) that learns to associate sequences of actions …

A Multi-Key Pirate Decoder Against Traitor Tracing Schemes, Yongdong Wu, Robert H. Deng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper we introduce an architecture for a multi-key pirate decoder which employs decryption keys from multiple traitors. The decoder has built-in monitoring and self protection functionalities and is capable of defeating most multiple-round based traitor tracing schemes such as the schemes based on the black-box confirmation method. In particular, the proposed pirate decoder is customized to defeat the private key and the public key fully collusion resistant traitor tracing (FTT) schemes, respectively. We show how the decoder prolongs a trace process so that the tracer has to give up his effort. FTT schemes are designed to identify all …

Monetary Policy Cooperation To Support Asian Economic Integration, Hwee Kwan Chow, Peter Nicholas Kriz, Roberto S. Mariano, Augustine H. H. Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper considers the form of monetary policy coordination and regional exchange rate arrangement that would best support economic and financial integration in East Asia. In view of the region's economic diversity, we propose a graduated program of informal policy cooperation from weak forms of cooperation to more intensive modes of cooperation such as the adoption of common monetary policy objectives. An array of informal monetary arrangements rooted to the degree of institutional development can improve the effectiveness of both sovereign and regional institutions, and promote integration in East Asia. Drawing upon the European experience with the Exchange Rate Mechanism …

‘Customary Internet-Ional Law’: Creating A Body Of Customary Law For Cyberspace. Part 2: Applying Custom As Law To The Internet Infrastructure, Warren B. Chik

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The shift in socio-economic transactions from real space to cyberspace through the emergence of electronic communications and digital formats has led to a disjuncture between the law and practices relating to electronic transactions. The speed at which information technology has developed require a faster, more reactive and automatic response from the law that is not currently met by the existing law-making framework. This paper suggests the development of special rules to enable Internet custom to form legal norms to fulfill this objective. In Part 2 of this article, I will construct the customary rules to Internet law-making that are applicable …

The Way We Think: Ethics, Health And The Environment In International Business, David Nathan Smith

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Breaches of ethics and social responsibility in domestic and international business are typically thought to be anchored in such phenomena as greed, dishonesty and conflict of interest. While these forces are frequently at work in international business transactions, there is often another major force at work when failures of ethics and social responsibility occur. This article addresses the question of what is it about the way that transnational company managers and government officials think or don’t think that leads to breaches of ethics and social responsibility – breaches that often result in major health, environmental and social tragedies. The article …

Homophily In The Digital World: A Livejournal Case Study, Hady W. Lauw, John C. Shafer, Rakesh Agrawal, Alexandros Ntoulas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Are two users more likely to be friends if they share common interests? Are two users more likely to share common interests if they're friends? The authors study the phenomenon of homophily in the digital world by answering these central questions. Unlike the physical world, the digital world doesn't impose any geographic or organizational constraints on friendships. So, although online friends might share common interests, a priori there's no reason to believe that two users with common interests are more likely to be friends. Using data from LiveJournal, the authors show that the answer to both questions is yes.

Local Coordination Under Bounded Rationality: Coase Meets Simon, Finds Hayek, C. Jason Woodard

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper explores strategic behavior in a network of firms using an agent-based model. The model exhibits a tension between economic efficiency and the stability of the network in the face of incentives to change its configuration. This tension is to be expected because the conditions of the Coase theorem are violated: the boundedly rational firms in the model lack the ability to discover efficient network configurations or achieve them through collective action. In computational experiments, as predicted by theory, firms frequently became locked into inefficient outcomes or endless cycles of mutual frustration. However, simple institutional innovations such as property …

Fuzzy Matching Of Web Queries To Structured Data, Tao Cheng, Hady W. Lauw, Stelios Paparizos

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Recognizing the alternative ways people use to reference an entity, is important for many Web applications that query structured data. In such applications, there is often a mismatch between how content creators describe entities and how different users try to retrieve them. In this paper, we consider the problem of determining whether a candidate query approximately matches with an entity. We propose an off-line, data-driven, bottom-up approach that mines query logs for instances where Web content creators and Web users apply a variety of strings to refer to the same Web pages. This way, given a set of strings that …

Efficient Verification Of Shortest Path Search Via Authenticated Hints, Man Lung Yiu, Yimin Lin, Kyriakos Mouratidis

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Shortest path search in transportation networks is unarguably one of the most important online search services nowadays (e.g., Google Maps, MapQuest, etc), with applications spanning logistics, spatial optimization, or everyday driving decisions. Often times, the owner of the road network data (e.g., a transport authority) provides its database to third-party query services, which are responsible for answering shortest path queries posed by their clients. The issue arising here is that a query service might be returning sub-optimal paths either purposely (in order to serve its own purposes like computational savings or commercial reasons) or because it has been compromised by …

Top-K Aggregation Queries Over Large Networks, Xifeng Yan, Bin He, Feida Zhu, Jiawei Han

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Searching and mining large graphs today is critical to a variety of application domains, ranging from personalized recommendation in social networks, to searches for functional associations in biological pathways. In these domains, there is a need to perform aggregation operations on large-scale networks. Unfortunately the existing implementation of aggregation operations on relational databases does not guarantee superior performance in network space, especially when it involves edge traversals and joins of gigantic tables. In this paper, we investigate the neighborhood aggregation queries: Find nodes that have top-k highest aggregate values over their h-hop neighbors. While these basic queries are common in …

K-Anonymity In The Presence Of External Databases, Dimitris Sacharidis, Kyriakos Mouratidis, Dimitris Papadias

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The concept of k-anonymity has received considerable attention due to the need of several organizations to release microdata without revealing the identity of individuals. Although all previous k-anonymity techniques assume the existence of a public database (PD) that can be used to breach privacy, none utilizes PD during the anonymization process. Specifically, existing generalization algorithms create anonymous tables using only the microdata table (MT) to be published, independently of the external knowledge available. This omission leads to high information loss. Motivated by this observation we first introduce the concept of k-join-anonymity (KJA), which permits more effective generalization to reduce the …

The Way We Think: Ethics, Health And The Environment In International Business, David N. Smith

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Breaches of ethics and social responsibility in domestic and international business are typically thought to be anchored in such phenomena as greed, dishonesty and conflict of interest. While these forces are frequently at work in international business transactions, there is often another major force at work when failures of ethics and social responsibility occur. This article addresses the question of what is it about the way that transnational company managers and government officials think or don't think that leads to breaches of ethics and social responsibility - breaches that often result in major health, environmental and social tragedies. The article …