Mirror writing in pre-school children: a pilot study Mirror writing refers to the production of individual letters, whole words or sentences in reverse direction. Unintentional mirror writing has been observed in young children learning to write and interpreted as the manifestation of different cognitive impairments. We report on mirror writing instances in a sample of 108 pre-school children. Results showed MW to be age-related but independent from handedness and left-right discrimination abilities. We propose an account of mirror writing as reflecting dissociation between acquired motor programmes for letter shape composition and unspecified spatial direction of hand movements. Before learning to write, the childs directional cognitive system is assumed to be dichotomous, thus inducing the production of randomly oriented asymmetrical letters.

B I O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O B I I I O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

mirror writing
children learning to write


Misunderstanding of the binomial distribution, market inefficiency, and learning behavior: Evidence from an exotic sports betting market We use bets on volleyball games to test people's understanding of binomial process. People underestimate probabilities corresponding to extreme ends of the distribution. This extremeness aversion bias causes market inefficiency and generates large return. There is some evidence of learning behavior, but not enough to eliminate the bias.

O O O B I O O O B I O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O

binomial distribution
learning behavior
sports betting


Distributed contract networks of sensor agents with adaptive reconfiguration: modelling, simulation, implementation and experiments As both sensors and communication technologies are becoming more powerful at decreasing costs, sensor networks are constantly growing in complexity, i.e. in the information they generate and in the need for coordinating network resources. In this paper we comparatively explore the performance of multi-level hierarchical networks and flat networks, i.e. arrays of sensor agents with specific competences but without predefined communication or control structures. We develop a model of the performance of these types of networks for analysing the throughput of sensing tasks depending on a variety of network and sensor parameters. This analytical model serves as the basis for numerical simulation runs, which reveal the specific advantages of the different network structures. Motivated by these results, we develop an adaptive control scheme, which enables the network to organise itself at run-time so as to achieve the highest result precision in minimum time with minimum communication overhead, maximum parallelism and maximum fault tolerance. This control scheme is a computer-operational version of the contract network, originally proposed for problem solving in distributed artificial intelligence, with agents teaming up dynamically after a negotiation phase following a task specification. The metaphor of contracting also holds the potential to integrate agents that control actuators, e.g. cooperating robots, by assigning appropriate competences to them. Hence the design of sensorimotor systems, whose behaviour is adaptively controlled in a situation-dependent way by a team of different sensors, is a straightforward extension. Moreover, it is also easy to extend the network by adding agents that do not have a sensing component and can only perform sensor data processing tasks. We introduce a complete software framework for implementing these kinds of networks. It consists of a formal specification of the requirements that the sensory component of an agent has to meet and a comprehensive library of C++ objects encapsulating all of the negotiation protocol and communications routines. In the experimental section of the paper we show how several uncalibrated cameras are used to estimate the trajectory of a manipulator in order to guide the manipulator towards a target in real time. We also illustrate how agent-teams may easily reconfigure during task execution in the case of unexpected events. We then go on to show how complex vision tasks can be broken down into tasks that identical agents may work on in parallel. Finally we show how fusion for vision at a symbolic, i.e. object description level, may contribute to solve the hard problem of recognising occluded objects from different view points. We conclude the paper by summarising our results and sketching future research, in particular the automatic mutual reprogramming of agents using a specifically developed ontology.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

multi-agent contract network
sensor-fusion
task adaptation
uncalibrated visual servoing
distributed vision systems


XML view materialization with deferred incremental refresh: the case of a restricted class of views A view mechanism can provide a user with an appropriate portion of a database through data filtering and aggregation. Views are often materialized for query performance improvement, and in that case, their consistency needs to be maintained against updates of the underlying data. They can be either recomputed or incrementally refreshed by reflecting only the relevant updates. With the emergence of XML as the standard for data exchange on the Web, active research is under way on efficient storing and querying of XML documents with the DBMS. In this paper, we investigate the materialization of XML views and their incremental refresh for the case of a restricted class of views. The object-relational DBMS is employed to store XML documents and their materialized views, and the update log is used for deferred view refresh. Algorithms for checking a logged update's relevance to a view and for generating the optimized SQL statements to refresh the materialized view stored in an object-relational database through scanning of the update log are described. Experimental results show that our approach can be very effective in providing views of a large-scale XML warehouse on the Web.

B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O B

deferred incremental view refresh
semistructured data


Planar object detection under scaled orthographic projection In this work, a new method to detect objects under scaled orthographic projections is presented. It also calculates the parameters of the transformations the object has undergone. The method is based on the use of the Generalized Hough Transform (GHT) that compares a template with a projected image. The computational requirements of the algorithm are reduced by restricting the transformation to the template edge points and using invariant information during the comparison process. This information is obtained from a precomputed table of the template that is directly transformed and compared with the image table. Moreover, a multiresolution design of the algorithm speeds-up parameter calculation. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

orthoperspective projection
gradient invariants


Project based learning in mechatronics education in close collaboration with industrial: Methodologies, examples and experiences The paper describes how the philosophy of project based learning (PBL) was integrated into the mechatronics capstone design course "Mechatronics Project Design and Management (MPDM)" at The Chinese-German School of Applied Sciences (Chinesisch-Deutsche Hochschule fur Angewandte Wissenschaften, CDHAW) of Tongji University, Shanghai, China. The course teaching philosophy, implementation methodologies, examples and experiences were discussed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

B I I O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

project based learning
mechatronics education

engineering education
industrial collaboration
hands-on experience
active learning


Analysis of Naive Bayes assumptions on software fault data: An empirical study ? Software defect prediction is important for reducing test times by allocating testing resources effectively. In terms of predicting the defects in software, Naive Bayes outperforms a wide range of other methods. However, Naive Bayes assumes the independence and equal importance of attributes. In this work, we analyze these assumptions of Naive Bayes using public software defect data from NASA. Our analysis shows that independence assumption is not harmful for software defect data with PCA pre-processing. Our results also indicate that assigning weights to static code attributes may increase the prediction performance significantly, while removing the need for feature subset selection.

O O B I O O O O O O B I O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

naive bayes
software defect prediction
empirical study


Robust stability of feedback linearised systems modelled with neural networks: dealing with uncertainty This paper presents a systematic procedure to analyse the stability robustness to modelling errors when a neural network model is integrated in an approximate feedback linearisation control scheme. The propagation through the control loop of the structured uncertainty from the neural network model parameters enables the construction of a polytopic uncertainty description for the overall linear closed-loop system. By using computationally efficient algorithms the solution of a set of linear matrix inequalities provides a Lyapunov function for the uncertain system, therefore proving robust stability of the overall control system. A nonlinear multivariable water vessel system is chosen as the case study for the application of this control strategy.

O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

feedback linearisation
neural networks
stability robustness
linear matrix inequalities


Robust range-free localization in wireless sensor networks In wireless sensor networks, sensors should have some mechanisms to learn their locations since sensed data without associated location information may be meaningless. While many sensor localization algorithms have been proposed, security issues in sensor localization are usually not addressed in their original design. Secure sensor localization is very challenging due to limited computation and energy resources in sensors. It is highly desirable that a localization scheme is robust and is able to detect malicious attacks without using complex cryptographic operations. In this paper, we present and analyze detection methods purely based on geometric constraints in sensor networks. Our detection methods can protect the localization algorithm from malicious attacks by detecting and eliminating the negative impact of fake information.

O O O O B I I O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


The Triform algorithm: improved sensitivity and specificity in ChIP-Seq peak finding Chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-Seq) is the most frequently used method to identify the binding sites of transcription factors. Active binding sites can be seen as peaks in enrichment profiles when the sequencing reads are mapped to a reference genome. However, the profiles are normally noisy, making it challenging to identify all significantly enriched regions in a reliable way and with an acceptable false discovery rate.

O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


Optimal restoration of altered habitats We describe a new conservation decision support tool: Optimal Restoration of Altered Habitats (OPRAH). OPRAH combines species landscape configuration preferences and habitat quality information to optimally select habitat restoration priorities for single or multiple species. OPRAH uses a simulated annealing algorithm and information about extant native vegetation, land use and rehabilitation costs, to find solutions to non-linear landscape-scale problems. The landscape is divided into planning units, some of which represent native vegetation, while others can be restored for a given budget. A habitat restoration problem for declining woodland bird species is demonstrated as a case study.

O B O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O

optimization
conservation planning
landscape metrics


THE WEAKEST FAILURE DETECTORS TO SOLVE QUITTABLE CONSENSUS AND NONBLOCKING ATOMIC COMMIT We define quittable consensus, a natural variation of the consensus problem, where processes have the option to agree on "quit" if failures occur, and we relate this problem to the well-known problem of nonblocking atomic commit. We then determine the weakest failure detectors for these two problems in all environments, regardless of the number of faulty processes.

O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O B O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

asynchronous distributed computing
atomic commit problem
fault-tolerant algorithms
failure detection


Solving 3D boundary element problems using constrained iterative approach Some major challenges for geophysicists and structural geologists using three-dimensional boundary element method codes (3D-BEM) are: (1) reducing the amount of memory required to solve large and dense systems and (2) incorporation of inequality constraints such as traction inequality constraints (TIC) and displacement inequality constraints (DIC). The latter serves two purposes. First, for example, inequality constraints can be used to simulate frictional slip (using TIC). Second, these constraints can prevent element interpenetration while allowing opening mode (using DIC). We have developed a method that simultaneously incorporates both types of functionality of the inequality constraints. We show that the use of an appropriate iterative solver not only avoids the allocation of significant memory for solving the system (allowing very large model computation and simplifying parallelization on multi-core processors), but also admits interesting features such as natural incorporation of TICs and DICs. Compared to other techniques of contact management (e.g., Lagrange multipliers, penalty method, or complementarity problem), this new simple methodology, which does not use any incremental trial-and-error procedures, brings more flexibility, while making the system more stable and less subject to round-off errors without any computational overhead. We provide validations and comparisons of the inequality constraints implementation using 2D analytical and numerical solutions.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O B I O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O


Schottky barrier formation at Al/TiB2/TiSi2/Si and Cu/TiB2/TiSi2/Si interfaces Diffusion barriers between Al or Cu and Si are indispensable in order to prevent contact deterioration. TiB2, in conjunction with a TiSi2 underlayer, was recently considered as a promising diffusion barrier. The Schottky barrier characteristics of Al/TiB2/TiSi2/Si and Cu/TiB2/TiSi2/Si were evaluated by room temperature IV measurements. Zero-bias barrier heights of as deposited and annealed Al/TiB2/TiSi2/Si, were in the range of 0.550.59 V for specimens annealed at 300723 K, whereas for specimens annealed at 773 and 748 K the room temperature values were 0.52 and 0.53 V, respectively. The room temperature barrier heights of Cu/TiB2/TiSi2/Si (when the TiSi2 is amorphous) were higher, in the range of 0.650.68 V at the annealing temperature interval of 300723 K, while at 773 and 873 K values of 0.56 and 0.58 V were obtained, respectively.

B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


WONDER: A resilient WDM packet network for metro applications This paper presents the architecture of a Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) optical packet network, called WONDER, that was designed and prototyped in the PhotonLab at Politecnico di Torino, Italy. The design and implementation of the WONDER network aim to assess the effectiveness of optical technologies with respect to electronic ones, trying to identify an optimal mix of the two technologies. The architecture shows interesting resilience properties that enable the design of fast fault-recovery schemes. In this paper, we present the physical topology and node structure of the prototype, and discuss the implementation and performance of a fault-recovery algorithm.

O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

optical testbed
optical packet switching
fault recovery


SPUR: A Trace-Based JIT Compiler for CIL Tracing just-in-time compilers (TJITs) determine frequently executed traces (hot paths and loops) in running programs and focus their optimization effort by emitting optimized machine code specialized to these traces. Prior work has established this strategy to be especially beneficial for dynamic languages such as JavaScript, where the TJIT interfaces with the interpreter and produces machine code from the JavaScript trace. This direct coupling with a JavaScript interpreter makes it difficult to harness the power of a TJIT for other components that are not written in JavaScript, e. g., the DOM implementation or the layout engine inside a browser. Furthermore, if a TJIT is tied to a particular high-level language interpreter, it is difficult to reuse it for other input languages as the optimizations are likely targeted at specific idioms of the source language. To address these issues, we designed and implemented a TJIT for Microsoft's Common Intermediate Language CIL (the target language of C#, VisualBasic, F#, and many other languages). Working on CIL enables TJIT optimizations for any program compiled to this platform. In addition, to validate that the performance gains of a TJIT for JavaScript do not depend on specific idioms of JavaScript that are lost in the translation to CIL, we provide a performance evaluation of our JavaScript runtime which translates JavaScript to CIL and then runs on top of our CIL TJIT.

O O O O O O B B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O B O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O B O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O B O O O B O O O B O O O B O B O O O O O O O B O

languages performance tracing cil javascript


A neural model of the temporal dynamics of figureground segregation in motion perception How does the visual system manage to segment a visual scene into surfaces and objects and manage to attend to a target object? Based on psychological and physiological investigations, it has been proposed that the perceptual organization and segmentation of a scene is achieved by the processing at different levels of the visual cortical hierarchy. According to this, motion onset detection, motion-defined shape segregation, and target selection are accomplished by processes which bind together simple features into fragments of increasingly complex configurations at different levels in the processing hierarchy. As an alternative to this hierarchical processing hypothesis, it has been proposed that the processing stages for feature detection and segregation are reflected in different temporal episodes in the response patterns of individual neurons. Such temporal epochs have been observed in the activation pattern of neurons as low as in area V1. Here, we present a neural network model of motion detection, figureground segregation and attentive selection which explains these response patterns in an unifying framework. Based on known principles of functional architecture of the visual cortex, we propose that initial motion and motion boundaries are detected at different and hierarchically organized stages in the dorsal pathway. Visual shapes that are defined by boundaries, which were generated from juxtaposed opponent motions, are represented at different stages in the ventral pathway. Model areas in the different pathways interact through feedforward and modulating feedback, while mutual interactions enable the communication between motion and form representations. Selective attention is devoted to shape representations by sending modulating feedback signals from higher levels (working memory) to intermediate levels to enhance their responses. Areas in the motion and form pathway are coupled through top-down feedback with V1 cells at the bottom end of the hierarchy. We propose that the different temporal episodes in the response pattern of V1 cells, as recorded in recent experiments, reflect the strength of modulating feedback signals. This feedback results from the consolidated shape representations from coherent motion patterns and the attentive modulation of responses along the cortical hierarchy. The model makes testable predictions concerning the duration and delay of the temporal episodes of V1 cell responses as well as their response variations that were caused by modulating feedback signals.

O O O O O O O O B I O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O

motion perception
figureground segregation
feedback
area v1
attention

re-entrant processing
primary visual cortex
area mt
decision-making


Worsening file-drawer problem in the abstracts of natural, medical and social science databases The file-drawer problem is the tendency of journals to preferentially publish studies with statistically significant results. The problem is an old one and has been documented in various fields, but to my best knowledge there has not been attention to how the issue is developing in a quantitative way through time. In the abstracts of various major scholarly databases (Science and Social Science Citation Index (19912008), CAB Abstracts and Medline (1970s2008), the file drawer problem is gradually getting worse, in spite of an increase in (1) the total number of publications and (2) the proportion of publications reporting both the presence and the absence of significant differences. The trend is confirmed for particular natural science topics such as biology, energy and environment but not for papers retrieved with the keywords biodiversity, chemistry, computer, engineering, genetics, psychology and quantum (physics). A worsening file-drawer problem can be detected in various medical fields (infection, immunology, malaria, obesity, oncology and pharmacology), but not for papers indexed with strings such as AIDS/HIV, epidemiology, health and neurology. An increase in the selective publication of some results against some others is worrying because it can lead to enhanced bias in meta-analysis and hence to a distorted picture of the evidence for or against a certain hypothesis. Long-term monitoring of the file-drawer problem is needed to ensure a sustainable and reliable production of (peer-reviewed) scientific knowledge.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I

scientific knowledge
significant differences

history of science
meta-analysis
publication explosion
stm publishing


Indirect adaptive nonlinear control of a pH process This paper presents an indirect adaptive control scheme for a pH process, which is difficult to control due to its nonlinear dynamics with uncertainties. A nonlinear controller is designed using a backstepping technique, which can deal with a large class of nonlinear systems with parametric uncertainties. The nonlinear controller is combined with a parameter estimator to estimate the concentrations of the reaction invariants in the wastewater stream, and the stability of the proposed adaptive scheme is proved. Simulations show that uniform closed-loop performance is obtained despite the nonlinearitics and parametric uncertainties. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

parameter estimation
ph control
internal dynamics


A component model and infrastructure for a Fluid Web The Web is evolving from a space for publication/consumption of documents to an environment for collaborative work, where digital content can travel and be replicated, adapted, decomposed, fusioned, and transformed. We call this the Fluid Web perspective. This view requires a thorough revision of the typical document-oriented approach that permeates content management on the Web. This paper presents our solution for the Fluid Web, which allows moving from the document-oriented to a content-oriented perspective, where "content" can be any digital object. The solution is based on two axes: a self-descriptive unit to encapsulate any kind of content artifact-the Digital Content Component (DCC) and a Fluid Web infrastructure that provides management and deployment of DCCs through the Web, and whose goal is to support collaboration on the Web. Designed to be reused and adapted, DCCs encapsulate data and software using a single structure, thus allowing homogeneous composition and processing of any digital content, executable or not. These properties are exploited by our Fluid Web infrastructure, which supports DCC multilevel annotation and discovery mechanisms, configuration management, and version control. Our work extensively explores taxonomic ontologies and Semantic Web standards, which serve as a semantic bridge, unifying DCC management vocabularies, and improving DCC description/indexing/discovery. DCCs and infrastructure have been implemented and are illustrated by means of a running example, for a scientific application.

O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

semantic web
taxonomic ontologies
digital content
fluid web

knowledge engineering
version management
content reuse
digital content component


An HMM-Based Algorithm for Content Ranking and Coherence-Feature Extraction In this paper, we propose an algorithm called coherence hidden Markov model (HMM) to extract coherence features and rank content. Coherence HMM is a variant of HMM and is used to model the stochastic process of essay writing and identify topics as hidden states, given sequenced clauses as observations. This study uses probabilistic latent semantic analysis for parameter estimation of coherence HMM. In coherence-feature extraction, support vector regression (SVR) with surface features and coherence features is used for essay grading. The experimental results indicate that SVR can benefit from coherence features. The adjacent agreement rate and the exact agreement rate are 95.24% and 59.80%, respectively. Moreover, this study submits high-scoring essays to the same experiment and finds that the adjacent agreement rate and exact agreement rate are 98.33% and 64.50%, respectively. In content ranking, we design and implement an intelligent assisted blog writing system based on the coherence-HMM ranking model. Several corpora are employed to help users efficiently compose blog articles. When users finish composing a clause or sentence, the system provides candidate texts for their reference based on current clause or sentence content. The experimental results demonstrate that all participants can benefit from the system and save considerable time on writing articles.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

coherence-feature extraction
hidden markov model (hmm)
input devices and strategies
natural language processing (nlp)
predictive content


Experimental and computational studies indicate the mutation of Glu12 to increase the thermostability of oligomeric protease from Pyrococcus horikoshii The intracellular protease from Pyrococcus horikoshii (PhpI) is a member of the DJ-1/ThiJ/PfpI superfamily, which is suggested to be involved in cellular protection against environmental stresses. In this study, flexible docking approach was employed to dock the ligand into the active site of PhpI. By analyzing the results, active site architecture and certain key residues responsible for substrate specificity were identified on the enzyme. Our docking result indicates that Glu12 plays an important role in substrate binding. The kinetic experiment conducted by Zhan shows that the E12T mutant is more stable than that of the wild-type. We also predict that Glu15, Lys43, and Tyr46 may be important in the catalytic efficiency and thermostability of enzyme. The new structural and mechanistic insights obtained from computational study should be valuable for detailed structures and mechanisms of the member of the DJ-1 superfamily.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

intracellular protease pyrococcus horikoshii (phpi)


Augmented Numerical Manifold Method with implementation of flat-top partition of unity This paper formulates the flat-top partition of unity (PU)-based numerical manifold method (NMM). Through modifying the finite element PU into the flat-top PU, the linear dependence problem involved in finite element PU-based high-order polynomial approximations has been successfully alleviated. Moreover, the procedure to construct the flat-top PU is substantially simplified by taking full advantage of the unique features of the NMM, compared to that in other flat-top PU-based methods. The proposed method could also be treated as an improved version of the discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) by completely avoiding the additional strategies previously used to enforce the displacement compatibility between adjacent elements. The formulations are presented in details for 1-D, 2-D and 3-D cases. The discrete equations of the flat-top PU-based NMM are derived based on the minimum potential energy principle. The simplex integration technique and its variation are employed to evaluate the integration of the matrices of the discrete equations over arbitrarily shaped manifold elements. Seven representative examples have validated the proposed method in the aspects of approximation accuracy and efficiency.

O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

numerical manifold method
linear dependence problem

flat-top partition of unity
finite element partition of unity
high-order polynomial approximation


Methode fr Messungen und Messgren zur Darstellung des Ex-post Wertbeitrages von IT-Projekten Mit dem in dieser Arbeit vorgestellten ValueBoard wird eine strukturierte Methode fr Messungen und Messgren zur Darstellung des ex-post Wertbeitrages von IT-Projekten eingefhrt. Das ValueBoard nutzt etablierte Best Practice Methoden, setzt auf den Ebenen des Business Engineering (BE) auf und visualisiert die Ergebnisse entsprechend der Prinzipien industrieller Regelkarten.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

wertbeitrag der it
prozessmessgren
nutzungsintensitt


Retrospective evaluation of a topology preserving non-rigid registration method This paper proposes a comprehensive evaluation of a monomodal B-spline-based non-rigid registration algorithm allowing topology preservation in 3-D. This article is to be considered as the companion of [Noblet, V., Heinrich, C., Heitz, F., Armspach, J.-P., 2005. 3-D deformable image registration: a topology preservation scheme based on hierarchical deformation models and interval analysis optimization. IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, 14 (5), 553566] where this algorithm, based on the minimization of an objective function, was introduced and detailed. Overall assessment is based on the estimation of synthetic deformation fields, on average brain construction, on atlas-based segmentation and on landmark mapping. The influence of the model parameters is characterized. Comparison between several objective functions is carried out and impact of their symmetrization is pointed out. An original intensity normalization scheme is also introduced, leading to significant improvements of the registration quality. The comparison benchmark is the popular demons algorithm [Thirion, J.-P., 1998. Image matching as a diffusion process: an analogy with Maxwells demons. Medical Image Analysis, 2 (3), 243260], that exhibited best results in a recent comparison between several non-rigid 3-D registration methods [Hellier, P., Barillot, C., Corouge, I., Gibaud, B., Le Goualher, G., Collins, D.L., Evans, A., Malandain, G., Ayache, N., Christensen, G.E., Johnson, H.J., 2003. Retrospective evaluation of intersubject brain registration. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 22 (9), 11201130]. The topology preserving B-spline-based method proved to outperform the commonly available ITK implementation of the demons algorithms on many points. Some limits of intensity-based registration methods are also highlighted through this work.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

topology preservation
intensity normalization

non-rigid image registration
b-spline deformation model
evaluation and comparison


k-Anonymous data collection To protect individual privacy in data mining, when a miner collects data from respondents, the respondents should remain anonymous. The existing technique of Anonymity-Preserving Data Collection partially solves this problem, but it assumes that the data do not contain any identifying information about the corresponding respondents. On the other hand, the existing technique of Privacy-Enhancing k-Anonymization can make the collected data anonymous by eliminating the identifying information. However, it assumes that each respondent submits her data through an unidentified communication channel. In this paper, we propose k-Anonymous Data Collection, which has the advantages of both Anonymity-Preserving Data Collection and Privacy-Enhancing k-Anonymization but does not rely on their assumptions described above. We give rigorous proofs for the correctness and privacy of our protocol, and experimental results for its efficiency. Furthermore, we extend our solution to the fully malicious model, in which a dishonest participant can deviate from the protocol and behave arbitrarily.

O B I O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


Predicting menopausal symptoms with artificial neural network We build an artificial neural network model to analyze menopausal problem. The parameters are optimized for higher precision performance. Significant influencing factors are identified by sensitivity analysis.

O O O O B I I O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I

artificial neural network
sensitivity analysis


An analytical approach to the deployment quality of surveillance wireless sensor networks considering the effect of jammers and coverage holes The requirements of surveillance wireless sensor networks, such as latency and reliability provisions, are directly related to the deployment quality, which is an indicator of the sensing capability of the network. The determination of the deployment quality is hindered by various factors that cause coverage holes, such as the existence of jammers and destruction of sensors. This paper presents an analytical deployment quality measure in terms of network parameters, including the sensor count, sensing coverage, coverage hole count, coverage hole area size and deployment area size. Assuming a random deployment model for both sensors and holes, our method determines the probability of detection of a target following a linear trajectory by a single sensor and generalizes it to derive the probability of detection in a network with coverage holes. The overall probability of detection is used as the network quality measure and is proposed as a suitable metric under sensor loss assumptions. The proposed deployment quality metric (DQM) is based on the shortest path strategy to provide a conservative estimation for the intruder detection performance. We show that it provides a good estimation of the actual deployment quality with given coverage hole and jamming area properties. Our metric is suitable for real life and simulation scenarios and is computationally inexpensive compared to both simulation based and distributed quality measurements.

O O O O O O O O B I I I O O O O O O O O O O O B I I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

surveillance wireless sensor networks
deployment quality metric
coverage hole
jamming


Supply chain tracking: aligning buyer and supplier incentives Purpose - This paper aims to present how the success of inter-organizational systems (IOS) implementation projects can be increased by aligning the different incentives of buyers and suppliers. Design/methodology/approach - The research method employed is case study and its unit of analysis is a network of supplier and wholesaler (buyer) companies acting in the Finnish technical trade industry, which are implementing inter-organizational tracking. The implementation project followed an implementation process model developed to execute the case study. Findings - For a buyer, the challenge in IOS implementation is that suppliers feel the adoption more difficult and have less identifiable benefits. However, in the case study, suppliers were ready to implement tracking solution because they understand that improvements in IOS help to apply common industry data exchange standards and will lead to better supply chain collaboration, which also increases their operational performance in the long run. Research limitations/implications - This paper concentrates on supplier and buyer incentives but also the role of other supply chain members such as logistics providers could be analyzed to examine different factors for IOS implementation. Practical implications - If the buyer takes a cooperative approach to IOS integration, suppliers can be motivated to integrate tracking as a part of their own operations. This high-level integration offers more options to improve the management and hence the performance of the whole supply chain than low-level integration. Originality/value - IOS implementation projects are seldom studied from the perspectives of buyers and suppliers in the supply chain.

O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

information and communication technology


Towards a goal-driven approach to action selection in self-adaptive software Self-adaptive software is a closed-loop system, since it continuously monitors its context (i.e. environment) and/or self (i.e. software entities) in order to adapt itself properly to changes. We believe that representing adaptation goals explicitly and tracing them at run-time are helpful in decision making for adaptation. While goal-driven models are used in requirements engineering, they have not been utilized systematically yet for run-time adaptation. To address this research gap, this article focuses on the deciding process in self-adaptive software, and proposes the Goal-Action-Attribute Model (GAAM). An action selection mechanism, based on cooperative decision making, is also proposed that uses GAAM to select the appropriate adaptation action(s). The emphasis is on building a light-weight and scalable run-time model which needs less design and tuning effort comparing with a typical rule-based approach. The GAAM and action selection mechanism are evaluated using a set of experiments on a simulated multi-tier enterprise application, and two sample ordinal and cardinal action preference lists. The evaluation is accomplished based on a systematic design of experiment and a detailed statistical analysis in order to investigate several research questions. The findings are promising, considering the obtained results, and other impacts of the approach on engineering self-adaptive software. Although, one case study is not enough to generalize the findings, and the proposed mechanism does not always outperform a typical rule-based approach, less effort, scalability, and flexibility of GAAM are remarkable. Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

self-adaptive software
goal-driven model
run-time action selection


Ab initio analytic force constant using spherical Gaussian function Analytic second derivative of molecular energy with respect to all parameters for floating Gaussian type orbitals were proposed for the first time in our group.(1) In the present study, further simplification and application has been made and the viability of the method was demonstrated by writing a program and computing the analytic force constant of H-2, LiH and BH molecules. It is shown that this method is efficient both in accuracy and saving in computational time.

O O O B I O O B I O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

second derivative
force constant
gaussian function


timed compiled-code simulation of embedded software for performance analysis of soc design In this paper, a new timing generation method is proposed for the performance analysis of embedded software. The time stamp generation of I/O accesses is crucial to performance estimation and architecture exploration in the timed functional simulation, which simulates the whole design at a functional level with timing. A portable compiler is modified to generate time-deltas, which are the estimated cycle counts between two adjacent I/O accesses, by counting the cycles of the intermediate representation (IR) operations and using a machine description that contains information on a target processor. Since the proposed method is based on the machine-independent IR of a compiler, the method can be applied to various processors by changing the machine description. The experimental results show that the proposed method is effective in that the average estimation error is about 2\% and the maximum speed-up over the corresponding instruction-set simulators is about 300 times. The proposed method is also verified in a timed functional simulation environment.

O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O

soc
timed functional simulation
compiler


Large-scale analytical water quality model coupled with GIS for simulation of point sourced pollutant discharges Water quality decision support model fully coupled with an open GIS. Represents pollutants released with distinct durations using a convolution schema. Useful at low data availability and large scale basins, common on Brazilian cases. Results are compared with observed data and critically analyzed. Considerations are presented about the adopted modeling approach usage.

O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O


An Ejection Chain Algorithm for the Quadratic Assignment Problem In this study, we present a new tabu search algorithm for the quadratic assignment problem (QAP) that utilizes an embedded neighborhood construction called an ejection chain. Our ejection chain approach provides a combinatorial leverage effect, where the size of the neighborhood grows multiplicatively while the effort of finding a best move in the neighborhood grows only additively. Our results illustrate that significant improvement in solution quality is obtained in comparison to the traditional swap neighborhood. We also develop two multistart tabu search algorithms utilizing the ejection chain approach in order to demonstrate the power of embedding this neighborhood construction within a more sophisticated heuristic framework. Comparisons to the best large neighborhood approaches from the literature are presented. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 56(3), 188-206 2010

O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O B I O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

tabu search
quadratic assignment problem

ejection chains
combinatorial optimization


power conservation for strongly connected topology control in wireless sensor network Topology control is one of the most elementary topics in wireless sensor networks. Typically, most of the research only considered the bidirectional communication and symmetric weighted communication model, while the real wireless world contains not only bidirectional but also unidirectional communication links and asymmetric weighted communication model. In this paper, we present two heuristics for the minimum power topology control problem on general model, i.e., given a set of sensors in the Euclidean plane and a transmission power threshold for each directed pair of sensors, to find a power assignment for each sensor to achieve a strong connectivity with minimum total transmission power. Extensive results in simulation evaluate the efficiency of the proposed algorithms.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

power threshold
wireless sensor networks
power assignment
minimum power topology control


A black hole novelty detector for video analysis A black hole is a region of space that has so much mass concentrated in it that there is no way training data for a nearby object to escape its gravitational pull. In this paper we are inspired by this phenomenon to create a new form of novelty detector. We consider the of a given class as a black hole. For multi-class data we are dealing with multiple black holes. A test point is pulled by the centroids of different black holes as well as its K nearest neighbours. The gravitational pull is modelled as an iterative process, where the forces acting on a point are constantly changing with time as the test point moves in multi-dimensional space corresponding to these forces. Once the algorithm has converged, a thresholding scheme is applied to determine whether the test point has been pulled within the boundary of the black hole or not. Any points that lie outside all known black holes are deemed to be novel. We compare this novelty detector with other well-known models of novelty detection on a video analysis application and show very promising results.

O B I O O O B I O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O B I O O O O O O

black hole
novelty detection
video analysis


On the bootstrap in misspecified regression models A resampling method is introduced to approximate the asymptotic distribution of the least-squares estimator when the fitted regression model is misspecified. Both theoretical and applied aspects are studied. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

confidence ellipsoids
least-squares estimation
mallows distance


Taxonomy and classification of automatic monitoring of program security vulnerability exploitations Software applications (programs) are implemented in a wide variety of languages and run on different execution environments. Programs contain vulnerabilities which can be detected before their deployment. Nevertheless, there exist some program vulnerabilities, which do not surface until a program is operational. No matter how much effort has been put during the development phases, building large vulnerability-free programs has proven extremely difficult in practice. Given that, it is very important to have a tool that can be used for online monitoring of programs in the operational stage. The tool can help to mitigate the consequences of some vulnerability exploitations, by early detection of attacks at runtime. Currently, many monitoring approaches have been proposed and applied in practice. However, there is no classification of these approaches to understand their common characteristics and limitations. In this paper, we present a taxonomy and classification of the state of the art approaches employed for monitoring program vulnerability exploitations (or attacks). We first classify the existing approaches based on a set of characteristics which are common in online attack detection approaches. Then, we present a taxonomy by classifying the approaches based on monitoring aspects that primarily differentiate among the approaches. We also discuss open issues and future research direction in the area of program vulnerability exploitation monitoring. The study will enable practitioners and researchers to differentiate among existing monitoring approaches. It will provide a guideline to consider the desired characteristics while developing monitoring approaches.

B O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O


A procedure for modelling the differences between the gravimetric geoid model and GPS/levelling data with an example in the north part of Algeria ? Local gravimetric geoid models from a combination of a global geopotential model and local gravity data generally contain errors of dm-level on the long wavelengths and sometimes they may be significantly higher in areas lacking accurate gravity information like Algeria where only few gravity data from Bureau Gravimtrique International (BGI) have been included in the development of the recent geopotential models. Consequently, these models do not have the required accuracy to transform the GPS ellipsoidal heights to orthometric heights. One of the main causes for this is the limited precision of the global and detailed DTM models. On the other hand, we can now measure by means of the space techniques, on land through a combination of GPS positioning and precise levelling and at sea through satellite altimetry, the geoid on some points on the earth's surface with very high absolute accuracy. These points can be used to correct the systematic effects, the medium and longer wavelength errors in the gravimetric geoid. The main goal of this study is to propose a procedure, for combination of available gravimetric geoid and external data from GPS and levelling in an optimal way and for estimating the gravimetric geoid accuracy using the collocation approach. So, the question is to find what is the adequate functional representation of the correction that should be applied to the gravimetric geoid? Several functions have been tested and the most suitable will be selected in test area from a statistical testing procedure. For this purpose, the improved Algerian gravimetric geoid computed by the Geodetic Laboratory of the National Center of Space Techniques from the gravity data supplied by the Geophysical Exploration Technology Ltd. (GETECH), and the precise GPS data collected from the international TYRhenian GEOdynamical NETwork (TYRGEONET), ALGerian GEOdynamical NETwork (ALGEONET) projects with baseline length ranging from about 1 to 1000km have been used. The comparisons based on different GPS campaigns provide after fitting a RMS of the differences 1.9cm and prove that a good fit in experimental area between the gravimetric geoid and GPS/levelling data using the seven-parameter model transformation has been reached. Moreover, the analysis of statistics shows that the residuals in benchmarks are due principally to gravimetric geoid errors. The main outlines of the Algerian geoid computation, the available GPS/levelling data, the developed procedure and the obtained results will be presented.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


Combining geometrical and textured information to perform image classification In this paper, we propose a framework to carry out supervised classification of images containing both textured and non textured areas. Our approach is based on active contours. Using a decomposition algorithm inspired by the recent work of Y. Meyer, we can get two channels from the original image to classify: one containing the geometrical information, and the other the texture. Using the logic framework by Chan and Sandberg, we can then combine the information from both channels in a user definable way. Thus, we design a classification algorithm in which the different classes are characterized both from geometrical and textured features. Since natural images are combinations of both textured and non textured patterns, this integrative approach enlarges the scope of possible applications for active contours-based classification algorithms. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O

geometrical image
logic model
level-set
active contour
pde
wavelets


A data distributed parallel algorithm for nonrigid image registration ? Image registration is a technique for defining a geometric relationship between each point in images. This paper presents a data distributed parallel algorithm that is capable of aligning large-scale three-dimensional (3-D) images of deformable objects. The novelty of our algorithm is to overcome the limitations on the memory space as well as the execution time. In order to enable this, our algorithm incorporates data distribution, data-parallel processing, and load balancing techniques into Schnabels registration algorithm that realizes robust and efficient alignment based on information theory and adaptive mesh refinement. We also present some experimental results obtained on a 128-CPU cluster of PCs interconnected by Myrinet and Fast Ethernet switches. The results show that our algorithm requires less amount of memory resources, so that aligns datasets up to 10241024590 voxel images with reducing the execution time from hours to minutes, a clinically compatible time.

O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

nonrigid image registration
adaptive mesh refinement
data distribution
load balancing


Modelling long-memory volatilities with leverage effect: A-LMSV versus FIEGARCH A new stochastic volatility model, called A-LMSV, is proposed to cope simultaneously with leverage effect and long-memory in volatility. Its statistical properties are derived and compared with the properties of the FIEGARCH model. It is shown that the dependence of the autocorrelations of squares on the parameters measuring the asymmetry and the persistence is different in both models. The kurtosis and autocorrelations of squares do not depend on the asymmetry in the A-LMSV model while they increase with the asymmetry in the FIEGARCH model. Furthermore, the autocorrelations of squares increase with the persistence in the A-LMSV model and decrease in the FIEGARCH model. On the other hand, if the correlation between returns and future volatilities is negative, the autocorrelations of absolute returns increase with the magnitude of the asymmetry in the FIEGARCH model while they decrease in the A-LMSV model. Finally, the cross-correlations between squares and original observations are, in general, larger in absolute value in the FIEGARCH model than in the A-LMSV model. The results are illustrated by fitting both models to represent the dynamic evolution of volatilities of daily returns of the S&P500 and DAX indexes.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

autocorrelations of squares and of absolute values


local replanning in a team of cooperative agents This thesis aims at formalising the relationship between the team plan and individual agents' plans and the replanning process through the use of Petri nets.

O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O

hierarchical petri nets
teamwork
object petri nets


UCSA: a design framework for usable cognitive systems for the worried-well This paper presents a design framework that facilitates the development of usable cognitive stimulation applications for elders. A usable application considers various aspects for its design to suit its users, such as usefulness, ease of use and satisfactory user experience, in order to engage them in its use. The framework brings together the lessons learned over a period of 3years performing fieldwork and evaluating prototypes with elders. As proof of concept, and to gather feedback for the framework, we designed, developed and evaluated Abueparty, a cognitive wellness system that uses a game board metaphor to propose everyday entertainment activities for the cognitive stimulation of worried-well elders. The evaluation results provide evidence that participants perceived Abueparty as useful, easy to use and providing a pleasant user experience. These results provide evidence of the frameworks usefulness for the effective design of usable cognitive stimulation applications.

O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O B I O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O

elders
cognitive stimulation
design framework


The effects of national culture values on consumer acceptance of e-commerce: Online shoppers in China E-commerce is now international, and thus national culture can affect the behavior of customers. But e-commerce studies related to national culture are limited. Our study explored the effect of national culture on consumer acceptance of e-commerce in China. Our consumer e-commerce acceptance model considered the effect of culture on perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust, and intention to use. We adopted Hofstede's cultural dimensions (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation) as moderators. Our results showed that uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation had moderate effects on the relationship between trust and intention to use and that masculinity also had a moderate effect on the relationship between perceived usefulness and intention to use and the relationship between perceived ease of use and intention to use. Contrary to expectations, power distance and individualism had no significant effect.

O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


Relational expressive power of constraint query languages The expressive power of first-order query languages with several classes of equality and inequality constraints is studied in this paper. We settle the conjecture that recursive queries such as parity test and transitive closure cannot be expressed in the relational calculus augmented with polynomial inequality constraints over the reals. Furthermore, noting that relational queries exhibit several forms of genericity, we establish a number of collapse results of the following form: The class of generic Boolean queries expressible in the relational calculus augmented with a given class of constraints coincides with the class of queries expressible in the relational calculus (with or without an order relation). We prove such results for both the natural and active-domain semantics. As a consequence, the relational calculus augmented with polynomial inequalities expresses the same classes of generic Boolean queries under both the natural and active-domain semantics. In the course of proving these results for the active-domain semantics, we establish Ramsey-type theorems saying that any query involving certain kinds of constraints coincides with a constraint-free query on databases whose elements come from a certain infinite subset of the domain. To prove the collapse results for the natural semantics, we make use of techniques from nonstandard analysis and from the model theory of ordered structures.

O B I O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

constraints
expressive power
relational calculus


A statistical parts-based model of anatomical variability In this paper, we present a statistical parts-based model (PBM) of appearance, applied to the problem of modeling intersubject anatomical variability in magnetic resonance (MR) brain images. In contrast to global image models such as the active appearance model (AAM), the PBM consists of a collection of localized image regions, referred to as parts, whose appearance, geometry and occurrence frequency are quantified statistically. The parts-based approach explicitly addresses the case where one-to-one correspondence does not exist between all subjects in a population due to anatomical differences, as model parts are not required to appear in all subjects. The model is constructed through a fully automatic machine learning algorithm, identifying image patterns that appear with statistical regularity in a large collection of subject images. Parts are represented by generic scale-invariant features, and the model can, therefore, be applied to a wide variety of image domains. Experimentation based on 2-D MR slices shows that a PBM learned from a set of 102 subjects can be robustly fit to 50 new subjects with accuracy comparable to 3 human raters. Additionally, it is shown that unlike global models such as the AAM, PBM fitting is stable in the presence of unexpected, local perturbation.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

intersubject variability
invariant feature
parts-based model
statistical appearance model


High dimensional similarity joins: Algorithms and performance evaluation Current data repositories include a variety of data types, including audio, images, and time series. State-of-the-art techniques for indexing such data and doing query processing rely on a transformation of data elements into points in a multidimensional feature space. Indexing and query processing then take place in the feature space. In this paper, we study algorithms for finding relationships among points in multidimensional feature spaces, specifically algorithms for multidimensional joins. Like joins of conventional relations, correlations between multidimensional feature spaces can offer valuable information about the data sets involved. We present several algorithmic paradigms for solving the multidimensional join problem and we discuss their features and limitations. We propose a generalization of the Size Separation Spatial Join algorithm, named Multidimensional Spatial Join (MSJ), to solve the multidimensional join problem. We evaluate MSJ along with several other specific algorithms, comparing their performance for various dimensionalities on both real and synthetic multidimensional data sets. Our experimental results indicate that MSJ, which is based on space filling curves, consistently yields good performance across a wide range of dimensionalities.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

sort merge joins
multiple-key indexes
data structures


simulation of a flexible manufacturing cell American aerospace manufacturing operations are evaluating and implementing numerous Flexible Manufacturing Systems. Each application is a complex combination of various support systems found in a more traditional production environment. Predicting how these systems will work within the integrated framework of an FMS can be very complicated. Simulation is a valuable tool for not only evaluating a complex system for feasibility, but it can also be incorporated as a design aid. The following paper describes how a simulation model was used to assist in the design and planning of an FMS. A SLAM discrete event simulation model provided many insights into proposed system behavior and how it affected performance. In addition, this model functioned as a design tool during system development. Model development centered around a group participation concept. The model provided statistics for machine tool utilizations, manual station utilizations, inventory levels, product lead times, production levels, and queueing requirements. This particular FMS was dedicated to the machining of a complex product requiring special material handling and quality considerations often associated with high tolerance machining processes. Several simulation runs were dedicated to machine capacity and material handling capabilities. The system design process utilized much of the information obtained via modeling.

B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O B B O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O B O O O O O O O B O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O B O O O B B O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O B B O O O O O O B O O O O B O O O B O O O B I O B I B O O O O B O B O B O B O O B O O O O O O B O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O B O O B O O B O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O B O B O O B B O O O O O O O O

requirements
framework
statistics
design tool
quality
simulation
design
performance
concept
tool
group
paper
model
system development
product
capabilities
systems
behavior
process
material
support

applications
plan
association
developer
complex systems
flexibility
queue
informal
combinational
participant
predict
discrete event simulation
system design
environments
manufacturability
capacities
operability
complexity
integrability


ePASS: An expressive attribute-based signature scheme with privacy and an unforgeability guarantee for the Internet of Things We describe ePASS, an expressive and privacy-preserving attribute-based signature scheme for IoT. We prove that ePASS is unforgeable for the computational DiffieHellman assumption. We prove user anonymity and attribute privacy for ePASS. We compare ePASS with existing attribute-based signature schemes. Our proposed ePASS scheme outperforms existing approaches in both functionality and performance.

O O O O O O O B O O B O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

internet of things
unforgeability
diffiehellman
privacy

policy
attribute-based signature
security


Existence and uniqueness of positive solutions for three-point boundary value problem with fractional q-differences In this paper, we consider the following nonlinear q-fractional three-point boundary value problem $$\begin{array}{l}(D_{q}^{\alpha}u)(t) + f(t,u(t))=0, \quad 0 < t < 1, 2 < \alpha< 3,\\ [2pt]u(0) = (D_qu)(0) = 0, \quad(D_qu)(1) = \beta(D_qu)(\eta),\end{array}$$ where 0<?? ?-2<1. By using a fixed-point theorem in partially ordered sets, we obtain sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of positive and nondecreasing solutions to the above boundary value problem.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


Separation-network synthesis: global optimum through rigorous super-structure The available algorithmic methods often fail to yield with certainty the global optima in solving even a relatively simple class of separation-network synthesis problem for which the cost functions are considered to be linear. This is attributable to two complications; firstly the super-structures on which the solutions are based are incomplete; and the secondly, the mathematical programming models derived for the problems are unnecessarily cumbersome. To circumvent these complications, a novel method is proposed here to generate the complete super-structure and the corresponding mathematical programming model necessary for the separation-network synthesis problem with linear cost function. The efficacy of the proposed method is demonstrated by re-examining Four published problems for which the optima obtained are claimed to be global. For all the problems re-examined, the costs of the solutions resulting from the present method are the same or as much as 30% lower than those of the published solutions. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

process synthesis
separation network
rigorous super-structure


Empirical evaluation of a calibration chart detector In this paper, we systematically assess the performance of an automatic calibration chart detector. Through simulation we establish the optimal set of control parameters and the rate of successful detection as a function of pose. We validate the simulation results on real images taken from a camera mounted on a robot arm. The results confirm the utility of such simulation studies. The feedback obtained suggested a number of modifications for the chart detection system, which led to a significant improvement in performance. In particular, the chart design was changed to accommodate wider range and better stability in detection.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

performance evaluation
feature extraction
object recognition
camera calibration
photogrammetry


Lanchesters equations in three dimensions This paper generalizes Lanchesters equations of warfare to partial differential equations involving time and two spatial variables. Unlike in Lanchesters original ordinary differential equations, the distribution of armies over the battlefield must be considered. Four different modes of attack are introduced, generalizing Lanchesters equations for area fire and for direct fire. The effect of the distribution of forces and their movement on the outcome is considered, and numerical simulations given.

B I O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O B I O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

lanchesters equations
area fire
direct fire

reactiondiffusion equations
battlefield simulation


Bandwidth allocation with differential pricing for flexible demands in data center networks ? This article addresses the problem of bandwidth sharing in data center networks. A promising approach is the use of advance bandwidth reservation systems. However, reservation systems are generally based on deterministic models that assume users to have precise knowledge of their demands, which is unlikely. Deviating from this, we propose a new model that allows a user to specify flexible bandwidth demands. A provider (in this model) is to reserve minimum bandwidth for the entire duration of an accepted request, while allocating additional bandwidth for a fraction of the duration, such that the fraction is within a flexibility range specified in the request. We tie up the model with differential pricing, and formulate bandwidth allocation as a two-phase optimization problem. The solution to the problem defines bandwidth profiles for accepted requests while maximizing revenue for providers. We show that problems in both phases are NP NP -hard, and develop computationally fast algorithms for the two phases. Numerical studies demonstrate that, in comparison to the deterministic model, our model brings down the number of rejected requests significantly, while increasing revenue for providers.

B O O O B O O O O B I O O O O O O O O B O O B I O O O O O O O O O B B O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

data center
bandwidth
reservation
pricing


An efficient decentralized clustering algorithm for aggregation of noisy multi-mean data We describe VarClust, a gossip-based decentralized clustering algorithm designed to support multi-mean decentralized aggregation in energy-constrained wireless sensor networks. We empirically demonstrate that VarClust is at least as accurate as, and requires less node-to-node communication (and hence consumes less energy) than, a state-of-the-art aggregation approach, affinity propagation. This superiority holds for both the clustering and aggregation phases of inference, and is demonstrated over a range of noise levels and for a range of random and small-world graph topologies.

O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O B I O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

decentralized aggregation
decentralized clustering
wireless sensor networks


An efficient and stable numerical method for the MaxwellDirac system In this paper, we present an explicit, unconditionally stable and accurate numerical method for the MaxwellDirac system (MD) and use it to study dynamics of MD. As preparatory steps, we take the three-dimensional (3D) MaxwellDirac system, scale it to obtain a two-parameter model and review plane wave solution of free MD. Then we present a time-splitting spectral method (TSSP) for MD. The key point in the numerical method is based on a time-splitting discretization of the Dirac system, and to discretize nonlinear wave-type equations by pseudospectral method for spatial derivatives, and then solving the ordinary differential equations (ODEs) in phase space analytically under appropriate chosen transmission conditions between different time intervals. The method is explicit, unconditionally stable, time reversible, time transverse invariant, and of spectral-order accuracy in space and second-order accuracy in time. Moreover, it conserves the particle density exactly in discretized level and gives exact results for plane wave solution of free MD. Extensive numerical tests are presented to confirm the above properties of the numerical method. Furthermore, the tests also suggest the following meshing strategy (or ?-resolution) is admissible in the `nonrelativistic' limit regime (0<??1): spatial mesh size h=O(?) and time step ?t=O(?2), where the parameter ? is inversely proportional to the speed of light.

O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

maxwelldirac system
unconditionally stable
time reversible
plane wave

time-splitting spectral method
semiclassical


Does tailoring help people find the information they need? In this paper, we present an empirical study assessing the impact of tailoring on information-seeking tasks. Our aim was to evaluate whether providing tailored information would help people find the information they need more quickly and accurately. Our results show that tailored documents have an impact on information-seeking, at least when the information to be found is spread over a number of sources and needs to be synthesised. With documents tailored to their needs, people can find the information they seek more quickly, and overall, more accurately. In our study, we also investigated how people looked for information to gain a better understanding of the strategies employed by people to find information.

O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

user evaluation
effectiveness
information-seeking behaviour
document generation


on the reliability of safety message broadcastin urban vehicular ad hoc networks Road safety is one of the most important emerging applications envisioned for Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs). Generally, such applications involve the broadcast of safety messages, consisting of beacons transmitting vehicles' state (e.g. position and velocity) with a regular period, as well as emergency messages warning about unexpected critical events. From the perspective of safety, the application performance depends foremost on two metrics: for the event-driven warning messages, the probability of message reception; and for periodic messages, the variability of the inter-reception time (IRT), which ultimately determines the freshness of the information received by the driver. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to compute the above metrics in an urban traffic scenario. Focusing on a road segment linked to a signalized junction as a basic building block of urban traffic systems, we apply a novel road traffic density model to investigate the dynamics of the reliability metrics and characterize the region(s) on the road segment according to the achieved safety level. Our numerical study shows that in broadcast mode, the hidden terminal effect is the driving factor determining the reliability of transmissions. Furthermore, the impact of hidden terminals has the greatest effect in road sections where vehicles have high velocity, leading to the poorest performance in regions where reliable reception is needed the most in order to minimize the risk of accidents.

O O O O O O O O B I I I O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

safety applications
vehicular traffic density


Parallel remeshing of unstructured volume grids for CFD applications This paper presents a new approach towards the parallel local remeshing of unstructured tetrahedral grids on distributed memory parallel computers based on the message passing paradigm (MPI). The overall remeshing approach consisting of the parallel determination of the regions to be remeshed and the parallel local surface and volume remeshing is described in detail. An application of the remeshing algorithms in a time-accurate simulation of bodies in relative motion demonstrates the capabilities of the approach. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O B I I O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

parallel local remeshing
unstructured tetrahedral grids
cfd applications


Development of neuro-fuzzifiers for qualitative analyses of milk yield In fuzzy logic, the calibration of membership functions is often cumbersome and the use of univariate models, such as triangular or trapezoidal functions, is not always ideal. In this study, artificial neural networks were used as multivariate models for the fuzzification of milk yield, with the aim of providing a more convenient approach than traditional techniques. The objective was to develop a neuro-fuzzifier that would mimic an experts process of assigning dairy production records to fuzzy milk-yield sets and assessing their corresponding degrees of membership. Data consisted of 313 dairy production records fuzzified by an expert, according to herd-average 305-day milk yield, cow lactation number, days in lactation, standard milk yield on test day, test day milk-yield and deviation of test day production from a standard value. Five fuzzy sets for milk yield were predetermined as being very low, low, medium, high and very high. Two neuro-classifiers were first trained to identify the sets to which a record belonged and then, four specialized networks were devised to predict the corresponding degrees of membership. In order to evaluate this approach, network classification and predictions were compared with those obtained from a previously developed univariate model and results showed that it was generally better in both the classification of milk yields into fuzzy sets, and the determination of corresponding degrees of membership. These results suggest that the approach of neuro-fuzzification may be superior to traditional methods for applications that require multivariate fuzzifiers.

O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

neuro-fuzzification
dairy cattle production
test-day records


an ontology of diabetes self management This work is part of a planned larger project to develop an intelligent mobile personalised guidance service for the management of diabetes by harnessing the power of the new generation of smart phones. Existing mobile applications enable diabetic patients to record blood glucose readings, carbohydrates consumed, insulin dosage, physical activity undertaken, and other activities and observations. Our aim is to develop a lightweight ontology that captures the kinds of information recorded by such applications, and which would facilitate interoperation. In order to establish a list of terms that must be captured by the ontology, we have undertaken a systematic review of applications (limited, for the moment to the iOS platform). We use this list to establish suitable classes and properties for the ontology, and then investigate how it can be mapped on to existing standards such as HL7 RIM and OpenEHR.

O B O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


Taiwans National Health Insurance Research Database: administrative health care database as study object in bibliometrics The trend to use administrative health care databases as research material is increasing but not well explored. Taiwans National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), one of the largest administrative health care databases around the world, has been used widely in academic studies. This study analyzed 383 NHIRD studies published between 2000 and 2009 to quantify the effects on overall growth, scholar response, and spread of the study fields. The NHIRD studies expanded rapidly in both quantity and quality since the first study was published in 2000. Researchers usually collaborated to share knowledge, which was crucial to process the NHIRD data. However, once the fundamental problem had been overcome, success to get published became more reproducible. NHIRD studies were also published diversely in a growing number of journals. Both general health and clinical science studies benefited from NHIRD. In conclusion, this new research material widely promotes scientific production in a greater magnitude. The experience of Taiwans NHIRD should encourage national- or institutional-level data holders to consider re-using their administrative databases for academic purposes.

O B I I I I B I I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

national health insurance research database


temporal link prediction by integrating content and structure information In this paper we address the problem of temporal link prediction, i.e., predicting the apparition of new links, in time-evolving networks. This problem appears in applications such as recommender systems, social network analysis or citation analysis. Link prediction in time-evolving networks is usually based on the topological structure of the network only. We propose here a model which exploits multiple information sources in the network in order to predict link occurrence probabilities as a function of time. The model integrates three types of information: the global network structure, the content of nodes in the network if any, and the local or proximity information of a given vertex. The proposed model is based on a matrix factorization formulation of the problem with graph regularization. We derive an efficient optimization method to learn the latent factors of this model. Extensive experiments on several real world datasets suggest that our unified framework outperforms state-of-the-art methods for temporal link prediction tasks.

B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O

temporal link prediction
graph regularization


VMPlanner: Optimizing virtual machine placement and traffic flow routing to reduce network power costs in cloud data centers In recent years, the power costs of cloud data centers have become a practical concern and have attracted significant attention from both industry and academia. Most of the early works on data center energy efficiency have focused on the biggest power consumers (i.e., computer servers and cooling systems), yet without taking the networking part into consideration. However, recent studies have revealed that the network elements consume 1020% of the total power in the data center, which poses a great challenge to effectively reducing network power cost without adversely affecting overall network performance. Based on the analysis on topology characteristics and traffic patterns of data centers, this paper presents a novel approach, called VMPlanner, for network power reduction in the virtualization-based data centers. The basic idea of VMPlanner is to optimize both virtual machine placement and traffic flow routing so as to turn off as many unneeded network elements as possible for power saving. We formulate the optimization problem, analyze its hardness, and solve it by designing VMPlanner as a stepwise optimization approach with three approximation algorithms. VMPlanner is implemented and evaluated in a simulated environment with traffic traces collected from a data center test-bed, and the experiment results illustrate the efficacy and efficiency of this approach.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O