Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Optimal Cryptographic Hardness Of Learning Monotone Functions, Dana Dachman-Soled, Homin K. Lee, Tal Malkin, Rocco A. Servedio, Andrew Wan, Hoeteck Wee

Publications and Research

Over the years a range of positive algorithmic results have been obtained for learning various classes of monotone Boolean functions from uniformly distributed random examples. Prior to our work, however, the only negative result for learning monotone functions in this model has been an information-theoretic lower bound showing that certain super-polynomial-size monotone circuits cannot be learned to accuracy 1/2+w(log n/ p n) (Blum, Burch, and Langford, FOCS’98). This is in contrast with the situation for nonmonotone functions, where a wide range of cryptographic hardness results establish that various “simple” classes of polynomial-size circuits are not learnable by polynomial-time algorithms.

In …

Pointcut Rejuvenation: Recovering Pointcut Expressions In Evolving Aspect-Oriented Software, Raffi T. Khatchadourian, Phil Greenwood, Awais Rashid, Guoqing Harry Xu

Publications and Research

Pointcut fragility is a well-documented problem in Aspect-Oriented Programming; changes to the base-code can lead to join points incorrectly falling in or out of the scope of pointcuts. We present an automated approach that limits fragility problems by providing mechanical assistance in pointcut maintenance. The approach is based on harnessing arbitrarily deep structural commonalities between program elements corresponding to join points selected by a pointcut. The extracted patterns are then applied to later versions to offer suggestions of new join points that may require inclusion. We demonstrate the usefulness of our technique by rejuvenating pointcuts in multiple versions of several …

Contributing Factors To Pointcut Fragility, Phil Greenwood, Awais Rashid, Raffi T. Khatchadourian

Publications and Research

Pointcut fragility is a well-documented problem of Aspect-Oriented Programming with changes to the base-code causing join points to incorrectly fall in or out of scope. In order to combat this problem a tool was developed that provides mechanical assistance to pointcut maintenance. This tool relied on the deep structural commonalities between program elements to detect when pointcut fragility occurs. During the assessment of this tool a number of common practices were uncovered that were employed both in the aspect and base-code that contributed to or prevented pointcut fragility. This paper documents the practices uncovered and describes how they can affect …

Quantum Computing: Selected Internet Resources For Librarians, Researchers, And The Casually Curious, Jill Cirasella

Publications and Research

This article is an annotated selection of the most important and informative Internet resources for learning about quantum computing, finding quantum computing literature, and tracking quantum computing news.

Lattice Operators And Topologies, Eva Cogan

Publications and Research

Working within a complete (not necessarily atomic) Boolean algebra, we use a sublattice to define a topology on that algebra. Our operators generalize complement on a lattice which in turn abstracts the set theoretic operator. Less restricted than those of Banaschewski and Samuel, the operators exhibit some surprising behaviors. We consider properties of such lattices and their interrelations. Many of these properties are abstractions and generalizations of topological spaces. The approach is similar to that of Bachman and Cohen. It is in the spirit of Alexandroff, Frolík, and Nöbeling, although the setting is more general. Proceeding in this manner, we …

Specifying Reusable Aspects, Neelam Soundarajan, Raffi T. Khatchadourian

Publications and Research

Aspect-Oriented Programming enables developers to manage, in a more modular fashion, implementations of crosscutting concerns that might be scattered or tangled if aspect-oriented techniques were not utilized. Our interest in this paper is in considering techniques for specifying precise properties of aspects. In particular, we are interested in specifying reusable aspects; i.e., aspects that correspond to crosscutting concerns that occur in many systems. These abstract aspects can be reused in various systems where a particular concern is applicable. Although there has been work on issues related to reasoning about aspects and the behaviors of aspect-oriented systems, specifying reusable abstract aspects …

A Symbolic Sonification Of L-Systems, Adam James Wilson

Publications and Research

This paper describes a simple technique for the sonification of branching structures in plants. The example is intended to illustrate a qualitative definition of best practices for sonification aimed at the production of musical material. Visually manifest results of tree growth are modelled and subsequently mapped to pitch, time, and amplitude. Sample results are provided in symbolic music notation.

Flocking In The Time-Dissonance Plane, Adam James Wilson

Publications and Research

This paper describes a technique for the sonification of an idealized model of the flocking behavior of birds, fish, and insects. Flocking agents are represented by pitches that move through time to produce chords of variable dissonance. The objective of each agent is to move toward more consonant chord formations with other agents. The output of the sonification is intended to provide material for use in musical composition.

Quirky, Not Quacky: Quantum Computing For Librarians, Jill Cirasella

Publications and Research

This slideshow introduces librarians and non-scientists to the relatively young field of quantum computing.