1,720,982 research outputs found

    Abstracting Soft Constraints

    No full text
    ing Soft Constraints S. Bistarelli 1 , P. Codognet 2 , Y. Georget 3 , F. Rossi 4 1: Universit`a di Pisa, Dipartimento di Informatica, Corso Italia 40, 56125 Pisa, Italy. E-mail: [email protected] 2: University of Paris 6, LIP6, case 169, 4, Place Jussieu, 75 252 Paris Cedex 05, France. E-mail: [email protected] 3: INRIA Roquencourt, BP 105, 78153 Le Chesnay, France. E-mail: [email protected] 4: Universit`a di Padova, Dipartimento di Matematica, Via Belzoni 7, 35131 Padova, Italy. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract. We propose an abstraction scheme for soft constraint problems and we study its main properties. Processing the abstracted version of a soft constraint problem can help us in many ways: for example, to find good approximations of the optimal solutions, or also to provide us with information that can make the subsequent search for the best solution easier. The results of this paper show that the proposed scheme is promising; thus they can b..

    An Abstraction Framework for Soft Constraints, And Its Relationship with Constraint Propagation

    Full text link
    Soft constraints are very flexible and expressive. However, they also are very complex to handle. For this reason, it may reasonable in several cases to pass to an abstract version of a given soft problem, and then to bring some useful information from the abstract problem to the concrete one. This will hopefully make the search for a solution, or for an optimal solution, of the concrete problem, faster. In this paper we review the main concepts and properties of our abstraction framework for soft constraints, and we show how it can be used to import constraint propagation algorithms from the abstract scenario to the concrete one. This may be useful when we don’t have any (or any efficient) propagation algorithm in the concrete setting

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

    Full text link
    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Abstracting Soft Constraints: Framework, Properties, Examples

    No full text
    AbstractSoft constraints are very flexible and expressive. However, they are also very complex to handle. For this reason, it may be reasonable in several cases to pass to an abstract version of a given soft constraint problem, and then to bring some useful information from the abstract problem to the concrete one. This will hopefully make the search for a solution, or for an optimal solution, of the concrete problem, faster.In this paper we propose an abstraction scheme for soft constraint problems and we study its main properties. We show that processing the abstracted version of a soft constraint problem can help us in finding good approximations of the optimal solutions, or also in obtaining information that can make the subsequent search for the best solution easier.We also show how the abstraction scheme can be used to devise new hybrid algorithms for solving soft constraint problems, and also to import constraint propagation algorithms from the abstract scenario to the concrete one. This may be useful when we don't have any (or any efficient) propagation algorithm in the concrete setting

    Variations on the Author

    Full text link
    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
    corecore