Abstract: "This paper investigates one-round secure computation between two distrusting parties: Alice and Bob each have private inputs to a common function, but only Alice, acting as the receiver, is to learn the output; the protocol is limited to one message from Alice to Bob followed by one message from Bob to Alice. A model in which Bob may be computationally unbounded is investigated, which corresponds to information-theoretic security for Alice. It is shown that 1. for honest-but-curious behavior and unbounded Bob, any function computable by a polynomial-size circuit can be computed securely assuming the hardness of the decisional Diffie-Hellman problem; 2. for malicious behavior by both (bounded) parties, any function computable by a polynomial-size circuit can be computed securely, in a public-key framework, assuming the hardness of the decisional Diffie-Hellman problem. The results are applied to secure autonomous mobile agents, which migrate between several distrusting hosts before returning to their originator. A scheme is presented for protecting the agent's secrets such that only the originator learns the output of the computation."

Abstract: "This paper evaluates the impact of task migration on gang-scheduling of parallel jobs for distributed systems. With migration, it is possible to move tasks of a job from their originally assigned set of nodes to another set of nodes, during the execution of jobs. This additional flexibility creates more opportunities for filling holes in the scheduling matrix. We conduct a simulation-based study of the effect of migration on average job slowdown and wait times for a larger distributed system under a variety of loads. We find that migration can significantly improve these performance metrics over an important range of operating points. We also analyze the effect of the cost of migrating tasks on overall system performance."

Abstract: "Expanding application demand for data mining of massive data warehouses has fueled recent advances in automated predictive methods. We first examine a few successful application areas and technical challenges they present. We discuss some theoretical developments in PAC learning and statistical learning theory leading to the emergence of support vector machines. We then examine some technical advances made in enhancing the performance of the models both in accuracy (boosting, bagging, stacking) and scalability of modeling through distributed model generation. Relatively new techniques for selecting good feature variables, feature discretization, generating probabilistic models, and the use of practical measures for performance will also be discussed."

Abstract: "An extraction tool determines redundant program constructs using static analysis, and eliminates these constructs in order to reduce application size. Library-based object-oriented applications typically use only part of the functionality of the class libraries they rely on, and are therefore likely to be excellent candidates for extraction. Thus far, extraction tools have targeted complete applications, and relied on ad-hoc solutions to accommodate 'dynamic' language features such as reflection and dynamic loading. We present a general approach for extracting applications ranging from complete programs to extendable class libraries, in which the user supplies additional information about these features using a modular specification language. We implemented our approach in the context of Jax, an industrial-strength extractor for Java that has been applied to several commercial applications."

Abstract: "Handheld computers are becoming increasingly popular not only for storing personal information, but to get access to corporate databases as well. As these devices become more and more powerful, financial services professionals are finding that these devices can indeed improve their productivity. Wireless connectivity from these devices to corporate databases will dramatically improve their usefulness. Corporate IT managers are faced with evaluating the various network services that are available and need to evaluate the different hand held devices and modems. This paper provides a quick summary of the the [sic] network services, handheld computers, wireless modems and identifies the important factors that need to be considered in selecting the technologies for wireless access to corporate data."

Abstract: "Intrusion-detection systems aim at detecting attacks against computer systems and networks, or in general against information systems. Indeed, it is difficult to provide provably secure information systems and to maintain them in such a secure state during their lifetime and utilization. Sometimes, legacy or operational constraints do not even allow the definition of a fully secure information system. Therefore, intrusion-detection systems have the task of monitoring the usage of such systems to detect apparition of insecure states. They detect attempts and active misuse, either by legitimate users of the information systems or by external parties, to abuse their privileges or exploit security vulnerabilities. In a previous paper [Computer Networks 31, 805-822 (1999)], we introduced a taxonomy of intrusion-detection systems that highlights the various aspects of this area. This paper extends the taxonomy beyond real-time intrusion detection to include additional aspects of security monitoring, such as vulnerability assessment."