Drag reduction in flow over a flat plate using active feedback control This paper focuses on two-dimensional incompressible Newtonian fluid flow over a flat plate and studies the problem of reducing the frictional drag exerted on the plate using active feedback control. Several alternative control configurations, including both pointwise and spatially uniform control actuation and sensing, are developed and tested through computer simulations. All control configurations use control actuation in the form of blowing/suction on the plate and measurements of shear stresses along the plate. The simulation results indicate that the use of active feedback control, which employs reasonable control effort, can significantly reduce the frictional drag exerted on the plate compared to the open-loop values. (C) 2002 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 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 O O O O O O O O O O O O

distributed parameter systems
flow control


SOFROP: Self-organizing and fair routing protocol for wireless networks with mobile sensors and stationary actors Wireless sensor and actor networks (WSAN) have become increasingly popular in recent years. The combined operation between sensor nodes and actors results in a major advantage compared to pure sensor networks extending the range of possible applications. One of the emerging applications is the Amazon scenario in which stationary actors are deployed at accessible points in a thick forest structure and sensor nodes are thrown in a river flowing through the forest to gather observations from unreachable areas. This unprecedented and unique setting exposes two important challenges: (a) the dynamics of the river forms a continuously varying topology of sensor nodes requiring a highly adaptive network organization and (b) the inherent features of sensor and actor nodes, combined with rapid changes in the link structure of the network requiring efficient bandwidth utilization and data transmission. In this paper, we address these challenges by introducing SOFROP, a self-organizing and fair routing protocol for WSANs. Through extensive simulations, we point out two highlights of SOFROP: the efficient lightweight routing that is optimized for fairness and the locally acting adaptive overlay network formation. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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 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

wireless sensor and actor networks
fairness


The piecewise polynomial partition of unity functions for the generalized finite element methods A partition of unity (PU) function is an essential component of the generalized finite element method (GFEM). The popular Shepard PU functions, which are rational functions, are easy to construct, but have difficulties in dealing with essential boundary conditions and require lengthy computing time for reasonable accuracy in numerical integration. In this paper, we introduce two simple PU functions. The first is a highly regular piecewise polynomial consisting of two distinct polynomials that is effective for uniformly partitioned patches. The second is a highly regular piecewise polynomial consisting of three distinct polynomials which is for arbitrary partitioned patches.

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

partition of unity finite element methods (pufem)

convolution partition of unity functions


Fast switching based medianmean filter for high density salt and pepper noise removal This paper proposes a fast switching based medianmean filter for high density salt and pepper noise in images. The extreme minimum value and extreme maximum value of the noisy image are used to identify the noise pixels. In the filtering stage, the corrupted pixel is replaced either by median value or mean value based on the number of noise free pixels in the filtering window. The qualitative and quantitative results show that the proposed filter outperforms the other switching based filters namely ACWMF, PSMF, AMF, DBA and MDBUTMF in terms of noise removal and edge preservation for noise densities varying from 10% to 90%.

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 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

image restoration
impulse detection
mean filter
median filter


Learning to listen to the right Information Retrieval system We present the results of an extensive study of the combination of multiple Information Retrieval systems, and also introduce a new fusion model (the Adaptive Combination of Evidence, or ACE, model) that determines which IR systems to listen to based on the content of the document being scored. We compare the results of using the ACE model on a standard data set from the Text Retrieval Conference (TREC) to two baseline models (a simple sum and a weighted sum) in a variety of tasks and settings. These settings are chosen to reflect a cross-product of various dimensions of both experimental inquiry and real-world IR environments, providing a comprehensive view of the role of fusion in IR. We verify that one baseline system does, on average, provide improvements in performance. Although the ACE model only outperforms the better of baselines in one setting (tying or slightly underperforming in others), our analysis shows that it exhibits interesting and desirable behaviour that could be exploited given enough training data.

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

combination
fusion
information retrieval


experience based sampling technique for multimedia analysis We present a novel experience based sampling or experiential sampling technique which has the ability to focus on the analysis's task by making use of the contextual information from the environment. In this technique, sensor samples are used to gather information about the current environment and attention samples are used to represent the current state of attention. The task-attended samples are inferred from experience and maintained by a sampling based dynamical system. The multimedia analysis task can then focus on the attention samples only. Moreover, past experiences and the current environment can be used to adaptively correct and tune the attention. Experimental results have been presented to demonstrate the efficacy of our technique.

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

dynamical systems
experiential computing


Syntactic N-grams as machine learning features for natural language processing In this paper we introduce and discuss a concept of syntactic n-grams (sn-grams). Sn-grams differ from traditional n-grams in the manner how we construct them, i.e., what elements are considered neighbors. In case of sn-grams, the neighbors are taken by following syntactic relations in syntactic trees, and not by taking words as they appear in a text, i.e., sn-grams are constructed by following paths in syntactic trees. In this manner, sn-grams allow bringing syntactic knowledge into machine learning methods; still, previous parsing is necessary for their construction. Sn-grams can be applied in any natural language processing (NLP) task where traditional n-grams are used. We describe how sn-grams were applied to authorship attribution. We used as baseline traditional n-grams of words, part of speech (POS) tags and characters; three classifiers were applied: support vector machines (SVM), naive Bayes (NB), and tree classifier J48. Sn-grams give better results with SVM classifier.

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

parsing
authorship attribution
svm
nb
j48

syntactic n-grams
sn-grams
classification features
syntactic paths


Fast computation of exact Zernike moments using cascaded digital filters Zernike moments have been extensively used and have received much research attention in a number of fields: object recognition, image reconstruction, image segmentation, edge detection and biomedical imaging. However, computation of these moments is time consuming. Thus, we present a fast computation technique to calculate exact Zernike moments by using cascaded digital filters. The novelty of the method proposed in this paper lies in the computation of exact geometric moments directly from digital filter outputs, without the need to first compute geometric moments. The mathematical relationship between digital filter outputs and exact geometric moments is derived and then they are used in the formulation of exact Zernike moments. A comparison of the speed of performance of the proposed algorithm with other state-of-the-art alternatives shows that the proposed algorithm betters current computation time and uses less memory.

B I O O B I 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 B I 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 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 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

zernike moments
geometric moments
fast computation
digital filters

exact zernike moments
exact geometric moments


Continuous strategy replicator dynamics for multi-agent Q-learning The problem of multi-agent learning and adaptation has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. It has been suggested that the dynamics of multi agent learning can be studied using replicator equations from population biology. Most existing studies so far have been limited to discrete strategy spaces with a small number of available actions. In many cases, however, the choices available to agents are better characterized by continuous spectra. This paper suggests a generalization of the replicator framework that allows to study the adaptive dynamics of Q-learning agents with continuous strategy spaces. Instead of probability vectors, agents' strategies are now characterized by probability measures over continuous variables. As a result, the ordinary differential equations for the discrete case are replaced by a system of coupled integral-differential replicator equations that describe the mutual evolution of individual agent strategies. We derive a set of functional equations describing the steady state of the replicator dynamics, examine their solutions for several two-player games, and confirm our analytical results using simulations.

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

multi-agent reinforcement learning
continuous strategies


Practical issues for the implementation of survivability and recovery techniques in optical networks Failures in optical networks are inevitable. They may occur during work being done for the maintenance of other infrastructures, or on a larger scale as the result of an attack or large-scale disaster. As a result, service availability, an important aspect of Quality of Service (QoS), is often degraded. Appropriate fault recovery techniques are thus crucial to meet the requirements set by the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between carriers and their customers. In this paper, we focus on practical issues related to the deployment of fault recovery mechanisms in commercial optical networks. In particular, we outline the most important functionalities that, to the best of our knowledge, need to be implemented, as well as discuss the related problems making deployment of fault recovery mechanisms difficult. Investigated topics include fault recovery challenges (fault detection, location, and recovery), multiple failures recovery, as well as application of reliability mechanisms in Elastic Optical Networks, and in multiprovider multilevel networks.

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

reliability
availability
survivability
fault recovery
multiple failures

multilevel multiprovider optical networks


Hardware-Friendly Descreening Conventional electrophotographic printers tend to produce Moire artifacts when used for printing images scanned from printed material such as books and magazines. We propose a novel noniterative, nonlinear, and space-variant descreening filter that removes a wide range of Moire-causing screen frequencies in a scanned document while preserving image sharpness and edge detail. This filter is inspired by Perona-Malik's anisotropic diffusion equation. The amount of diffusion of the image intensity resulting from applying the filter is governed by an edge intensity estimate that is robust under halftone noise. More precisely, the filter extracts a spatial feature vector comprising local intensity gradients estimated from a local window in a presmoothed version of the noisy input image. Tunable nonlinear polynomial functions of this feature vector are then used to perform one iteration of a discrete diffusion controlled by the intensity gradient. The polynomial functions and feature extraction kernels are selected empirically in order to minimize computation while ensuring robust performance across a wide range of test images on a target imaging platform. The algorithm uses integer arithmetic, mostly relying on low-cost bit-wise shift and addition operations, and uses a strictly sequential architecture to provide a cost-effective and robust descreening solution in practical imaging devices including copiers and multifunction printers. We compare the performance of the proposed algorithm to other descreening solutions and demonstrate that the new algorithm improves quality over the existing methods while reducing computation.

O B 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 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 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 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 B 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

anisotropic diffusion
descreening
halftone
moire artifacts

hardware-friendly algorithm
resolution synthesis
susan filter


applying a theory of graphical presentation to the graphic design of user interfaces The increasing availability of computers with high-quality graphics and fonts has created an opportunity and an obligation for user interface designers. The opportunity is that designers can use graphical techniques to design more effective user interfaces. The obligation is that they must become experts at the design of graphical user interfaces. Current user interface toolkits provide very little design assistance. This paper describes a theory that supports automatic design of graphical presentations of relational information and shows how to extend it to support theory-driven design of graphical user interfaces. A picture worth a thousand words must first be a good picture [Bow68]

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

availability
use
graphic design
graphical user interfaces
design
theory
user interface
support
graphics
paper

present
quality
user-interface toolkit
computation
relation
informal
effect


Embedding learning capability in Lagrangean relaxation: An application to the travelling salesman problem This paper presents an effective procedure that finds lower bounds for the travelling salesman problem based on the 1-tree using a learning-based Lagrangian relaxation technique. The procedure can dynamically alter its step-size depending upon its previous iterations. Along with having the capability of expansioncontraction, the procedure performs a learning process in which Lagrange multipliers are influenced by a weighted cost function of their neighbouring nodes. In analogy with simulated annealing paradigm, here a learning process is equivalent to escaping local optimality via exploiting the structure of the problem. Computational results conducted on Euclidean benchmarks from the TSPLIB library show that the procedure is very effective.

O O O O O O O O O O O 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


Estimation of feature vectors in object recognition processing In most conventional pattern recognition methods, the first step is extracting features from objects. These features are always expressed in the form of feature vectors. Then, the distribution of feature vectors is estimated for each category. Finally, an unknown input pattern is assigned to the category with the maximum probability. In this work, we present a system that is able to recognize objects according to the likeness of feature vectors. A database, which consists of images that were identified from a vector of related features, is used by the system to discover these objects. If the resulting image features are compared with the ones included in the database, we obtain the object that has the highest similarity with the one we proposed The probability of success using our feature vector has been very high.

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

cybernetics
modelling
object-oriented methods


measuring website usability for visually impaired people-a modified goms analysis Web designers regularly wonder which version of a design would suit best their target groups' needs. This becomes even more complicated if the design is to comply with accessibility rules. This paper describes an interaction model of blind users' interaction strategies. This model is based on GOMS (Goals, Operators, Methods, Selection rules) and can be used to measure aspects of website usability for blind users. The model evolved from findings of user observations and field studies. It can be applied to specific layouts in order to find the 'best' alternative. 'Classic' GOMS models lack functions which are necessary for the presented GOMS model. Thus, new structures to extend the classic GOMS notation are proposed. Finally, an example GOMS analysis is run on a modified version of the ASSETS '06 web page.

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

blind users
usability
accessibility
goms

speech
visually impaired users
evaluation
screen reader
braille


Journal influence factors We performed a thorough comparison of four main indicators of journal influence, namely 2-year impact factor, 5-year impact factor, eigenfactor and article influence. These indicators have been recently added by Thomson Reuters to the Journal Citation Reports, in both science and social science editions, and are thus available for study and comparison over a sample of significative size. We find that the distribution associated with the eigenfactor largely differs from the distribution of the other surveyed measures in terms of deviation from the mean, concentration, entropy, and skewness. Moreover, it is the one that best fits to the lognormal theoretical model. Surprisingly, the eigenfactor is also the most variable indicator when computed across different fields of science and social science, while article influence is the most stable in this respect, and hence the most suitable metric to be used interdisciplinarily. Finally, the journal rankings provided by impact factors and article influence are relatively similar and diverge from the one produced by eigenfactor, which is closer to that given by the total number of received citations.

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

journal influence measures
eigenfactor metrics
cross-field variability


on-line video skimming based on histogram similarity This paper describes the method proposed for the TRECVID 2007 BBC rushes summarization task. Such method has been developed starting from an on-line summary generation approach which provides a fast way to generate a base summary that can be later reduced with an off-line summarization technique if the target summary size is not reached. The summarization algorithms aim to reduce the visual redundancy of the video by methods based on color similarity features and targeting to the generation of connected video skims (instead of providing isolated keyframes). The on-line summarization process provides a very fast method with low memory usage for video summary creation.

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 O O O O O O 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


Solving a multiresponse simulation problem using a dual-response system and scatter search method This research solves a multiresponse simulation problem by using a dual-response system and scatter-search method. The proposed dual-response system constructs a response surface for each response. It then transforms the dual-response problem into a standard non-linear programming formulation. The transformation treats the secondary response as a constraint. In addition, the sample variance from simulation replications is considered simultaneously by adding search area constraints to variance. The proposed scatter-search method uses the scatter-search algorithms as an embedded mechanism in a simulation program to guide the solution-search process. This is an iterative process between the scatter-search algorithms and the simulation program. A practical case study is adopted for empirical illustration. Both the proposed methods are efficient and effective in solving the case-study problem. Finally, the paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed methods, and suggests future research opportunities.

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

simulation optimization
dual-response system
integrated circuit packaging
integrated circuit ink-marking


A comparative analysis of several asymmetric traveling salesman problem formulations In this survey, a classification of 24 asymmetric traveling salesman problem (ATSP) formulations is presented. The strength of their LP relaxations is discussed and known relationships from the literature are reviewed. Some new relationships are also introduced, and computational results are reported.

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


geographic location tags on digital images We describe an end-to-end system that capitalizes on geographic location tags for digital photographs. The World Wide Media eXchange (WWMX) database indexes large collections of image media by several pieces of metadata including timestamp, owner, and critically, location stamp. The location where a photo was shot is important because it says much about its semantic content, while being relatively easy to acquire, index, and search.The process of building, browsing, and writing applications for such a database raises issues that have heretofore been un- addressed in either the multimedia or the GIS community. This paper brings all of these issues together, explores different options, and offers novel solutions where necessary. Topics include acquisition of location tags for image media, data structures for location tags on photos, database optimization for location-tagged image media, and an intuitive UI for browsing a massive location-tagged image database. We end by describing an application built on top of the WWMX, a lightweight travelogue-authoring tool that automatically creates appropriate context maps for a slideshow of location-tagged photographs.

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

metadata
media
applications
maps
data structures
context
photo
paper
gis
writing
timestamp
semantic
tags
multimedia
process
image
database

authoring tool
image databases
communities
collect
digital photography
imaging
browse
search
geographic interfaces
digitize
indexing
contention
systems
locatability
optimality


Automatic X-ray quarantine scanner and pest infestation detector for agricultural products This paper presents a new automatic and effective quarantine system for detecting pest infestation sites in agricultural products, e.g. fruits. This work integrated mechanical design, mechatronics instrumentation, X-ray and charge-coupled device (CCD) image acquisition devices, LabVIEW-based analysis and control software, and image diagnosis algorithms into the automatic X-ray quarantine scanner system. Based on the LabVIEW development platform, a friendly graphical user interface (GUI) was designed for assisting the operations of quarantine scanner system. To enhance the accuracy and efficiency of pest quarantine process, a control scheme for performing start-up procedure of the system, parameter setting and calibration of the X-ray source and line-scan sensor, and automatic inspection for pest were developed. A novel pest infestation detector consisted of image processing algorithms were also proposed to aid the operator in identifying possibly infested fruits. The image processing procedures include contrast enhancement, median filtering, mathematical morphology operators, and adaptive thresholding by statistical z-test for identifying the infested sites of fruit on an X-ray image. Experimental results show that the X-ray quarantine scanner and pest infestation detector are able to locate the infested sites with highly successful rate up to 94% on the 4th day after eggs implanted. Furthermore, both intact and egg-implanted fruits were used to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and precision of the proposed system. The evaluation results are respectively 96.8%, 98.6%, 97.7%, and 98.7%, which are significantly better than traditional visual inspection.

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

agricultural products
labview
quarantine


The truss-like discrete element method in fracture and damage mechanics Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to further develop the truss-like discrete element method (DEM) in order to make it suitable to deal with damage and fracture problems. Design/methodology/approach - Finite and boundary elements are the best developed methods in the field of numerical fracture and damage mechanics. However, these methods are based on a continuum approach, and thus, the modelling of crack nucleation and propagation could be sometimes a cumbersome task. Besides, discrete methods possess the natural ability to introduce discontinuities in a very direct and intuitive way by simply breaking the link between their discrete components. Within this context, the present work extends the capabilities of a truss-like DEM via the introduction of three novel features: a tri-linear elasto-plastic constitutive law; a methodology for crack discretization and the computation of stress intensity factors; and a methodology for the computation of the stress field components from the unixial discrete-element results. Findings - Obtained results show the suitability and the performance of the proposed methodologies to solve static and dynamic crack problems (including crack propagation) in brittle and elasto-plastic materials. Computed results are in good agreement with experimental and numerical results reported in the bibliography. Research limitations/implications - This paper demonstrates the versatility of the truss-like DEM to deal with damage mechanics problems. The approach used in this work can be extended to the implementation of time-dependent damage mechanisms. Besides, the capabilities of the discrete approach could be exploited by coupling the truss-like DEM to finite and boundary element methods. Coupling strategies would allow using the DEM to model the regions of the problem where crack nucleation and propagation occurs, while finite or boundary elements are used to model the undamaged regions. Originality/value - The scope of the truss-like DEM has been extended. New procedures have been introduced to deal with elastoplastic-crack problems and to improve the post processing of the stress results.

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 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 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 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

damage mechanics
stress intensity factors

truss-like discrete element method
fracture mechanics
elastoplastic analysis
numerical analysis


A statistical approach to estimating acceptance of electric vehicles and electrification of personal transportation The environmental and economic impact of electric vehicles (EVs) will depend on the fraction of users that can accept an EV of a given capability, and then in turn on how those EVs are actually used. Historically, estimates of the fraction of total travel that could be electrified as a function of EV range are based on vehicle usage data for large populations of vehicles, most often the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS). Two assumptions implicit in such estimates are subject to question: (1) that any user could accept an EV as a primary vehicle and would use it for all trips within its range, and (2) that the usage patterns of any individual EV user are the same as that exhibited by entire population. The first assumption is clearly unrealistic; willingness to accept an EV is dependent on the transportation needs and alternatives readily available to each individual user. As a surrogate for a priori knowledge of individual preferences, we use a crude metric of acceptance defined as a threshold frequency of need for alternative transportation above which all users would not accept the inconvenience. To test the validity of the second assumption and better estimate market and electrification potential, we analyze roughly 1year of usage data for each of 133 instrumented vehicles in MinneapolisSt. Paul. We find a characteristic individual usage pattern that does not resemble the average over a large number of vehicles. Using the surrogate metric of EV acceptance and a simple payback model, we show that although the market acceptance and electrification potential of EVs are severely limited by battery cost, it is possible to determine an optimal EV range. Using the same usage data and payback model, we show that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) can be much more effective than all-electric vehicles in electrifying personal transportation.

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

electric vehicle
plug-in hybrid
hybrid electric vehicle
driving range
electric range


Contracting for implementation of standard software Purpose - Traditional contract vehicles do not align well with enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation methodologies. The purpose of this paper is to identify different contract vehicles and how they map to ERP implementation methodologies. Traditional contract vehicles are more process-oriented than outcome-focused. Successful standard software implementations are dependent on the outcome. The misalignment of process-oriented contract vehicles and results-oriented implementation methodologies leads to many implementation problems with respect to scope creep and ill-defined interfaces. Design/methodology/approach - The study is based on research from public and private sector contracting documents, interviews and a review of case studies to show that there is a misalignment between contract vehicles, implementation methods and the eventual project plan. Findings - The research concluded that phased or life-cycle contracting is the best approach when implementing standard (off the shelf) software in an ERP solution. This approach mimics the recognized life-cycle approach to product/project management where a large project is broken up into several smaller stages. Research limitations/implications - The data analyzed are from primary and secondary sources such as direct interviews, case study and contract reviews. The primary focus is based on US Federal Agency acquisition and planning policies. Originality/value - Identifies different contract vehicles and how they map to ERP implementation methodologies.

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

resource management
contracts
method study


Gas-solid flow in cyclones: The Eulerian-Eulerian approach A computational fluid dynamic model was used to simulate the diluted gas-solid flow in a conventional; cyclone. Most of the studies published in the literature present the Lagrangian model for solid phase. In this work, the model is based on the Eulerian approach for both phases considering the two fluid assumption in a 3-D symmetrical domain. The mathematical model was completed using of the k-epsilon turbulence model which was used to predict the eddy viscosity for axial and radial components of the Reynolds stress of the gas phase. Also, for the tangential velocity of the gas phase, the Prandtl's mixture length theory was used to predict the tangential components of the Reynolds stress, and a wall function was used to predict the swirling near the wall. This turbulence model presents an anisotropic behaviour of the Reynolds stress on the gas phase. The solid phase flow was considered to be an inviscid flow, and only a drag force model was used for gas-solid interaction. Two physical situations were simulated to test the model proposed: one was clean air flow, and the other was air and spherical particles of glass in a diluted flow. The primary information obtained from the model was the influence of the solid phase on the gas phase. It was the possible to predict the reduction of the tangential velocity peak responsible for the pressure drop reduction due to the particle presence. (C) 1998 Published by 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 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 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

gas-solid flow
eulerian-eulerian model
computational fluid dynamics


An improvement to homotopy perturbation method for solving system of linear equations In this paper, we present an efficient numerical algorithm to find exact solutions for the system of linear equations based on homotopy perturbation method (HPM). A reliable modification is proposed, and the modified method is employed to solve the system of linear equations; the results are compared with those obtained by the original homotopy perturbation method. Two examples are given to illustrate the ability and reliability of the modified method. The results reveal that the modified method is very simple and effective.

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

homotopy perturbation method
system of linear equations

embedding parameter
accelerating vector
exact solution


A Context-Aware Similarity Search for a Handwritten Digit Image Database In this paper, we propose a context-aware similarity search algorithm for a handwritten digit image database. Though we apply our algorithm to the search of handwritten digit images, the devised technique is generally applicable to other types of content-based image retrieval (CBIR). One of the central problems regarding CBIR is the semantic gap between the low-level features computed automatically from images and the human interpretation of image content. Many search algorithms that are used in CBIR have used the Minkowski metric (or L(p)-norm) to measure similarity between image pairs. However those functions cannot adequately capture the aspects of the characteristics of the human visual system as well as the nonlinear relationships in contextual information given by images in a collection. Our new search algorithm tackles this problem by employing a new similarity measure and a ranking strategy that reflect the nonlinearity of human perception and contextual information in an image collection. Our search algorithm yields superior experimental results on a real handwritten digit image database and demonstrates its effectiveness.

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 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


BPELPowerA BPEL execution engine for geospatial web services The Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) has become a popular choice for orchestrating and executing workflows in the Web environment. As one special kind of scientific workflow, geospatial Web processing workflows are data-intensive, deal with complex structures in data and geographic features, and execute automatically with limited human intervention. To enable the proper execution and coordination of geospatial workflows, a specially enhanced BPEL execution engine is required. BPELPower was designed, developed, and implemented as a generic BPEL execution engine with enhancements for executing geospatial workflows. The enhancements are especially in its capabilities in handling Geography Markup Language (GML) and standard geospatial Web services, such as the Web Processing Service (WPS) and the Web Feature Service (WFS). BPELPower has been used in several demonstrations over the decade. Two scenarios were discussed in detail to demonstrate the capabilities of BPELPower. That study showed a standard-compliant, Web-based approach for properly supporting geospatial processing, with the only enhancement at the implementation level. Pattern-based evaluation and performance improvement of the engine are discussed: BPELPower directly supports 22 workflow control patterns and 17 workflow data patterns. In the future, the engine will be enhanced with high performance parallel processing and broad Web paradigms.

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 O O O 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 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

geospatial workflow
workflow control pattern
workflow data pattern
web service


modeling landscapes with ridges and rivers Generating realistic models of landscapes with drainage network is a major field in computer graphics. In this paper, we present a fractal based method which generates natural terrains using ridges and rivers information. As opposed to methods that compute water erosion for a given terrain model, our terrain mesh is generated constrained by a predefined set of ridge lines and rivers network. A new extension of the midpoint displacement model is used in this context. The resulting landscapes meshes leads to realistic rendering and our method seems to be very promising.

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


Kremlin: Like gprof, but for Parallelization This paper overviews Kremlin, a software profiling tool designed to assist the parallelization of serial programs. Kremlin accepts a serial source code, profiles it, and provides a list of regions that should be considered in parallelization. Unlike a typical profiler, Kremlin profiles not only work but also parallelism, which is accomplished via a novel technique called hierarchical critical path analysis. Our evaluation demonstrates that Kremlin is highly effective, resulting in a parallelized program whose performance sometimes outperforms, and is mostly comparable to, manual parallelization. At the same time, Kremlin would require that the user parallelize significantly fewer regions of the program. Finally, a user study suggests Kremlin is effective in improving the productivity of programmers.

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


Revisiting sequential composition in process calculi Sequential composition is not optimally defined in CCS, CSP, LOTOS, ACP, PSF, mCRL. We propose a novel solution that better matches the expectations of end-users. We show that traditional process calculi can easily be translated to our solution. Our solution is implemented in the LNT language of CADP and applied in real life.

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

concurrency theory
formal specification
formal semantics
process algebra
process calculus


Font recognition based on global texture analysis In this paper, we describe a novel texture-analysis-based approach toward font recognition. Existing methods are typically based on local typographical features that often, require connected components analysis. In our method, we take the document as an image containing some, specific textures, and regard font recognition as texture identification. The method is content-independent and involves no detailed local feature analysis. Experiments are, carried out by using 14,000 samples of 24 frequently used Chinese fonts (six typefaces combined with four styles), as welt as 32 frequently used English fonts (eight typefaces combine with four styles). An average recognition rate of 99.1 percent is achieved. Experimental results are also included on the robustness of the method against image degradation (e.g., Pepper and Salt noise) and on the comparison with existing methods.

B I 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 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


Query size estimation for joins using systematic sampling We propose a new approach to the estimation of query result sizes for join queries. The technique, which we have called "systematic sampling - SYSSMP", is a novel variant of the sampling-based approach. A key novelty of the systematic sampling is that it exploits the sortedness of data; the result of this is that the sample relation obtained well represents the underlying frequency distribution of the join attribute in the original relation. We first develop a theoretical foundation for systematic sampling which suggests that the method gives a more representative sample than the traditional simple random sampling. Subsequent experimental analysis on a range of synthetic relations confirms that the quality of sample relations yielded by systematic sampling is higher than those produced by the traditional simple random sampling. To ensure that sample relations produced by systematic sampling indeed assist in computing more accurate query result sizes, we compare systematic sampling with the most efficient simple random sampling called t cross using a variety of relation configurations. The results obtained validate that systematic sampling uses the same amount of sampling but still provides more accurate query result sizes than t cross. Furthermore, the extra sampling cost incurred by the use of systematic sampling pays off in a cheaper query execution cost at run-time.

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


investigating generic network location service based on dht technology Networking technologies use several addressing/ identifification schemata (MAC addresses, IP addresses, DNS names, SIP URIs and E.164 numbers, GSM BTS identifications), efficient and reliable translations among them influence networking service. Older translation schemata are using tables and their hierarchies formed statically and dynamically (e.g. ARP, DNS, ENUM). Schemata for recent networking services (e.g. SIP which provides SIP URLs to IP addresses translation) are proposed on the basis of Distributed Hash Tables (DHTs). Our paper describes an alternative approach to address translations based on DHT usage. Identification record is formed of all identifcations that the network device has, and all these identifications are used to create keys for storing the record to a DHT. As a result, the record is stored in more copies and each copy provides access to others, allowing us to create efficient update and recovery mechanisms. Storing collections of network identifications has some advantages: straightforward implementation of all possible translations at the same time (provides a way to location services which are unavailable in current systems), and fault-tolerance to DHT's node and network failures due to inherent replication of identification records.

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


Characterization and recognition of P4 P 4 -sparse graphs partitionable into k k independent sets and ? ? cliques ? In this work, we focus on the class of P4 P 4 -sparse graphs, which generalizes the well-known class of cographs. We consider the problem of verifying whether a P4 P 4 -sparse graph is a (k,?) ( k , ? ) -graph, that is, a graph that can be partitioned into k k independent sets and ? ? cliques. First, we describe in detail the family of forbidden induced subgraphs for a cograph to be a (k,?) ( k , ? ) -graph. Next, we show that the same forbidden structures suffice to characterize P4 P 4 -sparse graphs which are (k,?) ( k , ? ) -graphs. Finally, we describe how to recognize (k,?) ( k , ? ) -P4 P 4 -sparse graphs in linear time by using special auxiliary cographs.

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

(k
?) ( k
? ) -graphs (k
? ) (k
? ) ( k
? )
p4 p 4 -sparse graphs p4 p 4 p4 p 4 p 4


Automatic rule learning exploiting morphological features for named entity recognition in Turkish Named entity recognition (NER) is one of the basic tasks in automatic extraction of information from natural language texts. In this paper, we describe an automatic rule learning method that exploits different features of the input text to identify the named entities located in the natural language texts. Moreover, we explore the use of morphological features for extracting named entities from Turkish texts. We believe that the developed system can also be used for other agglutinative languages. The paper also provides a comprehensive overview of the field by reviewing the NER research literature. We conducted our experiments on the TurkIE dataset, a corpus of articles collected from different Turkish newspapers. Our method achieved an average F-score of 91.08% on the dataset. The results of the comparative experiments demonstrate that the developed technique is successfully applicable to the task of automatic NER and exploiting morphological features can significantly improve the NER from Turkish, an agglutinative language.

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

automatic rule learning
morphological features
named entity recognition
turkish


Fitting multiplicative models by robust alternating regressions In this paper a robust approach for fitting multiplicative models is presented. Focus is on the factor analysis model, where we will estimate factor loadings and scores by a robust alternating regression algorithm. The approach is highly robust, and also works well when there are more variables than observations. The technique yields a robust biplot, depicting the interaction structure between individuals and variables. This biplot is not predetermined by outliers, which can be retrieved from the residual plot. Also provided is an accompanying robust R-2-plot to determine the appropriate number of factors. The approach is illustrated by real and artificial examples and compared with factor analysis based on robust covariance matrix estimators. The same estimation technique can fit models with both additive and multiplicative effects (FANOVA models) to two-way tables, thereby extending the median polish technique.

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 B I 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 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 B I 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 I O

biplot
alternating regression
factor analysis
fanova
median polish

exploratory data analysis
robustness
two-way table


Pentagons: A weakly relational abstract domain for the efficient validation of array accesses We introduce Pentagons (Pntg), a weakly relational numerical abstract domain useful for the validation of array accesses in byte-code and intermediate languages (IL). This abstract domain captures properties of the form of x epsilon [a, b] boolean AND x < y. It is more precise than the well known Interval domain, but it is less precise than the Octagon domain. The goal of Pntg is to be a lightweight numerical domain useful for adaptive static analysis, where Pntg is used to quickly prove the safety of most array accesses, restricting the use of more precise (but also more expensive) domains to only a small fraction of the code. We implemented the Pntg abstract domain in Clousot, a generic abstract interpreter for.NET assemblies. Using it, we were able to validate 83% of array accesses in the core runtime library mscorlib.d11 in a little bit more than 3 minutes. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. 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 O 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

abstract domains
abstract interpretation
bounds checking
numerical domains
.net framework


Neural networks for autonomous path-following with an omnidirectional image sensor This paper presents a path following system implemented with two different types of neural networks, that enables an autonomous mobile robot to return along a previously learned path in a dynamic environment. The path following is based on data provided by an omnidirectional conical visual system, derived from the COPIS sensor, but with different optical reflective properties. The system uses optical and software processing and a neural network to learn the path, described as a sequence of selected points. In the navigation phase it drives the robot along this learned path. Interesting results have been achieved using low cost equipment. Test and results are presented.

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

omnidirectional vision
robotic navigation


Combined projection and kernel basis functions for classification in evolutionary neural networks This paper proposes a hybrid neural network model using a possible combination of different transfer projection functions (sigmoidal unit, SU, product unit, PU) and kernel functions (radial basis function, RBF) in the hidden layer of a feed-forward neural network. An evolutionary algorithm is adapted to this model and applied for learning the architecture, weights and node typology. Three different combined basis function models are proposed with all the different pairs that can be obtained with SU, PU and RBF nodes: productsigmoidal unit (PSU) neural networks, productradial basis function (PRBF) neural networks, and sigmoidalradial basis function (SRBF) neural networks; and these are compared to the corresponding pure models: product unit neural network (PUNN), multilayer perceptron (MLP) and the RBF neural network. The proposals are tested using ten benchmark classification problems from well known machine learning problems. Combined functions using projection and kernel functions are found to be better than pure basis functions for the task of classification in several datasets.

O O O B I I O B 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 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

classification
kernel basis functions
evolutionary neural networks


Unified framework for fast exact and approximate search in dissimilarity spaces In multimedia systems we usually need to retrieve database (DB) objects based on their similarity to a query object, while the similarity assessment is provided by a measure which defines a (dis) similarity score for every pair of DB objects. In most existing applications, the similarity measure is required to be a metric, where the triangle inequality is utilized to speed up the search for relevant objects by use of metric access methods (MAMs), for example, the M-tree. A recent research has shown, however, that nonmetric measures are more appropriate for similarity modeling due to their robustness and ease to model a made-to-measure similarity. Unfortunately, due to the lack of triangle inequality, the nonmetric measures cannot be directly utilized by MAMs. From another point of view, some sophisticated similarity measures could be available in a black-box nonanalytic form (e. g., as an algorithm or even a hardware device), where no information about their topological properties is provided, so we have to consider them as nonmetric measures as well. From yet another point of view, the concept of similarity measuring itself is inherently imprecise and we often prefer fast but approximate retrieval over an exact but slower one. To date, the mentioned aspects of similarity retrieval have been solved separately, that is, exact versus approximate search or metric versus nonmetric search. In this article we introduce a similarity retrieval framework which incorporates both of the aspects into a single unified model. Based on the framework, we show that for any dissimilarity measure (either a metric or nonmetric) we are able to change the "amount" of triangle inequality, and so obtain an approximate or full metric which can be used for MAM-based retrieval. Due to the varying "amount" of triangle inequality, the measure is modified in a way suitable for either an exact but slower or an approximate but faster retrieval. Additionally, we introduce the TriGen algorithm aimed at constructing the desired modification of any black-box distance automatically, using just a small fraction of the database.

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

design
algorithms
approximate and exact search


Shadow detecting using particle swarm optimization and the Kolmogorov test An algorithm combining both gray level information and geometric features is introduced to detect cast shadows in gray level images. A simply connected candidate shadow region and a corresponding region are segmented by setting gray level thresholds, and neighbor-matching regions are constructed with a mathematical morphological algorithm. A shadownon-shadow region pair is obtained from the result of Kolmogorov test for statistical features of both candidate neighbor-matching regions. Shadow regions are obtained by selecting the region with relatively lower average gray level from the matched region pair. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to facilitate the feature extraction during the matching process. Experimental results showed the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm for cast shadow detecting in a single gray level image.

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 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 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 I O O O O O O


An efficient heuristic for the expansion problem of cellular wireless networks In this paper we propose a model for the expansion problem of the network subsystem (NSS) of a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) wireless cellular network considering an update in the base station subsystem (BSS). The objective is to minimize the expansion cost of the network subsystem while considering network performance (e.g., call and handover blocking). Since the network expansion problem is a generalization of the design problem, the proposed model can also be used for designing networks. In order to find good solutions, we propose a heuristic based on the tabu search principle. Finally, we present a performance analysis of the proposed heuristic. The analysis shows that quasi-optimal solutions are found with the proposed heuristic.

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

cellular networks
topological expansion
facility location and type selection


Video event description in scene context Video event description is an important research topic in video analysis with a vast amount of applications, such as visual surveillance, video retrieval, video annotation, video database indexing, and interactive system. In this paper, we present a framework for automated video event description, which features fused with the context knowledge to provide accurate and reliable event description. The processing framework is designed to describe the event and recognize objects activities composed of four components: object detection, classification, tracking, and semantic event description. Our contribution is to integrate the contextual cues into these components to facilitate the semantic video event description. Furthermore, in the tracking part, a novel adaptive shape kernel based mean shift tracking algorithm is proposed to improve object tracking performance under object deformation and background clutter. In the experiments, we show attractive experimental results, highlighting the system efficiency and tracking capability by using our video event description system on a real-world video for video event understanding application.

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 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

video understanding
video surveillance
visual event description


A sparse proximal implementation of the LP dual active set algorithm We present an implementation of the LP Dual Active Set Algorithm (LP DASA) based on a quadratic proximal approximation, a strategy for dropping inactive equations from the constraints, and recently developed algorithms for updating a sparse Cholesky factorization after a low-rank change. Although our main focus is linear programming, the first and second-order proximal techniques that we develop are applicable to general concave-convex Lagrangians and to linear equality and inequality constraints. We use Netlib LP test problems to compare our proximal implementation of LP DASA to Simplex and Barrier algorithms as implemented in CPLEX.

O O O O O O O B I I I 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 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

dual active set algorithm
linear programming

simplex method
barrier method
interior point method
equation dropping


Definition of 15nm half pitch grating structures by electron beam lithography double exposure techniques 15nm half pitch resist structures in 40nm HSQ resist. Using standard processing, without salty development or development at high temperatures. Realized using double exposure technique. Alignment accuracy between subsequent exposures better than 5nm.

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

electron beam lithography
double exposure
hsq
15nm half pitch


Building the component tree in quasi-linear time The level sets of a map are the sets of points with level above a given threshold. The connected components of the level sets, thanks to the inclusion relation, can be organized in a tree structure, that is called the component tree. This tree, under several variations, has been used in numerous applications. Various algorithms have been proposed in the literature for computing the component tree. The fastest ones (considering the worst-case complexity) have been proven to run in O(n ln(n)). In this paper, we propose a simple to implement quasi-linear algorithm for computing the component tree on symmetric graphs, based on Tarjan's union-find procedure. We also propose an algorithm that computes the n most significant lobes of a map.

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 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 I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

classification
connected operators
disjoint sets
filtering
image and signal processing
mathematical morphology
union-find


An efficient, error-bounded approximation algorithm for simulating quasi-statics of complex linkages Design and analysis of articulated mechanical structures, commonly referred to as linkages, is an integral part of any CAD/CAM system. The most common approaches formulate the problem as purely geometric in nature, though dynamics or quasi-statics of linkages should also be considered. Existing optimal algorithms that compute forward dynamics or quasi-statics of linkages have a linear runtime dependence on the number of joints in the linkage. When forces are applied to a linkage, these techniques need to compute the accelerations of all the joints and can become impractical for rapid prototyping of highly complex linkages with a large number of joints. We introduce a novel algorithm that enables adaptive refinement of the forward quasi-statics simulation of complex linkages. This algorithm can cull away joints whose contribution to the overall linkage motion is below a given user-defined threshold, thus limiting the computation of the joint accelerations and forces to those that contribute most to the overall motion. It also allows a natural trade-off between the precision of the resulting simulation and the time required to compute it. We have implemented our algorithm and tested its performance on complex benchmarks consisting of up to 50,000 joints. We demonstrate that in some cases our algorithm is able to achieve up to two orders of magnitude of performance improvement, while providing a high precision, error-bounded approximation of the quasi-statics of the simulated linkage.

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


PSD modifications of FHRV due to interpolation and CTG storage rate Cardiotocographic data provide physicians information about foetal development and permit to assess conditions such as foetal distress. An incorrect evaluation of the foetal status can be of course very dangerous. To improve interpretation of cardiotocographic recordings, great interest has been dedicated to foetal heart rate variability spectral analysis. It is worth reminding, however, that foetal heart rate is intrinsically an uneven series, so in order to produce an evenly sampled series a zero-order, linear or cubic spline interpolation can be employed. This is not suitable for frequency analyses because interpolation introduces alterations in the foetal heart rate power spectrum. In particular, interpolation process can produce alterations of the power spectral density that, for example, affects the estimation of the sympatho-vagal balance (computed as low-frequency/high-frequency ratio), which represents an important clinical parameter. In order to estimate the frequency spectrum alterations of the foetal heart rate variability signal due to interpolation and cardiotocographic storage rates, in this work, we simulated uneven foetal heart rate series with set characteristics, their evenly spaced versions (with different orders of interpolation and storage rates) and computed the sympatho-vagal balance values by power spectral density. For power spectral density estimation, we chose the Lomb method, as suggested by other authors to study the uneven heart rate series in adults. Summarising, the obtained results show that the evaluation of SVB values on the evenly spaced FHR series provides its overestimation due to the interpolation process and to the storage rate. However, cubic spline interpolation produces more robust and accurate results.

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

bpm beat per minute
ctg cardiotocography
fft fast fourier transform
fhr foetal heart rate
fhrv foetal heart rate variability
hr heart rate
psd power spectral density
sd standard deviation
svb sympatho-vagal balance
uc uterine contractions


mining and monitoring patterns of daily routines for assisted living in real world settings In this paper we demonstrate a fully automated approach for discovering and monitoring patterns of daily activities. Discovering patterns of daily activities and tracking them can provide unprecedented opportunities for health monitoring and assisted living applications, especially for elderly and people with memory deficits. In contrast to most previous systems that rely on either pre-selected activities or labeled data for tracking and monitoring, we use an automated approach for activity discovery and recognition. We present a mining method that is able to find natural activity patterns in real life data, as well as variations of such patterns. We will also show how the discovered patterns can be recognized and monitored by our recognition component. In addition, we provide a visualization component to help the care-givers to better understand the activity patterns and their variations. To validate our algorithms, we use the data collected in two smart apartments.

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 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

sensor data mining
activity mining
smart environments
activity recognition


effect of storage allocation/reclamation methods on parallelism and storage requirements The write after read/write synchronizations (the anti- and output-dependence constraints) inhibit the parallelism exhibited by Fortran programs. These constraints can be avoided by allocating storage for the values generated in a program dynamically, so that multiple values associated with the same variable can co-exist. The additional parallelism obtained by dynamically allocating storage for a subset of variables in a program, and the extra storage required for doing so, are scrutinized for a set of scientific/engineering applications. It is shown that on allocating storage dynamically for all scalar variables in the program, several hundred Fortran statements can be executed concurrently per cycle. On allocating storage dynamically for array elements too, the further increase in parallelism is less than a factor of ten. Finally, if storage is allocated statically for all variables, the available parallelism is usually under 10 Fortran-statements/cycle. The storage required for dynamic allocation can be two orders of magnitude above that required for the execution of the program on a conventional machine.

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

requirements program applications values factor dynamic storage effect allocation

variability
dependencies
method
engine
association
parallel
arrays
constraint
read
storage allocation
writing


Synaptic depression enlarges basin of attraction Neurophysiological experiments show that synaptic depression controls a gain for presynaptic inputs. However, the functional roles of this gain control remain unknown. We propose that one of the functional roles is to enlarge basins of attraction. To verify this, we employ an associative memory model. An activity control is requisite for the stable retrieval of sparse patterns. We investigate a storage capacity and the basins of attraction. Consequently, the basins of attraction are enlarged while the storage capacity does not change. Thus, the synaptic depression might incorporate the activity control mechanism.

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

synaptic depression
storage capacity
basin of attraction


face recognition using dct coefficients selection This paper presents a face recognition method based on Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) coefficient's selection. Without a normalization phase, the proposed method uses, in its feature selection stage, a technique based only on the DCT coefficients amplitudes. Three coefficient selection criterions were analyzed: the first one is the average of the coefficients' amplitudes; the second one is based on counting the occurrence of each coefficient, which are stored in a set of lists containing the most significant coefficients; finally, the third criterion is based on the average position of the coefficients in a list of coefficients ordered by amplitude. Experimental tests on the ORL Face Database [1] achieved 99.00\% of recognition accuracy using only 50 DCT coefficients, with low computational cost. Additionally, the method achieved 100.00\% of recognition accuracy when the correct face is within a range of eight returned faces.

B I O 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 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

discrete cosine transform
feature selection
face recognition


resource-aware multi-format network security data storage Internet security systems like intrusion detection and intrusion prevention systems are based on a simple input-output principle: they receive a high-bandwidth stream of input data and produce summaries of suspicious events. This simple model has serious drawbacks, including the inability to attach context to security alerts, a lack of detailed historical information for anomaly detection baselines, and a lack of detailed forensics information. Together these problems highlight a need for fine-grained security data in the shortterm, and coarse-grained security data in the long-term. To address these limitations we propose resource-aware multi-format security data storage . Our approach is to develop an architecture for recording different granularities of security data simultaneously. To explore this idea we present a novel framework for analyzing security data as a spectrum of information and a set of algorithms for collecting and storing multi-format data. We construct a prototype system and deploy it on darknets at academic, Fortune 100 enterprise, and ISP networks. We demonstrate how a hybrid algorithm that provides guarantees on time and space satisfies the short and long-term goals across a four month deployment period and during a series of large-scale denial of service attacks.

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

darknet
network-wide traffic analysis
anomaly classification


Improved Demons Technique with Orthogonal Gradient Information for Medical Image Registration Accurate registration is crucial for medical image analysis In this letter we proposed an Improved Demons technique (IDT) for medical image registration The IDT improves registration quality using orthogonal gradient information The advantage of the proposed IDT is assessed using 14 medical image pairs Experimental results show that the proposed technique provides about 8% improvement over existing Demons based techniques in terms of registration accuracy

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 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

medical image processing
optical flow
demons algorithm


Existence of solutions for a third-order multipoint boundary value problem with p-Laplacian ? In this paper, we consider multipoint boundary value problem for third-order differential equations with p-Laplacian at resonance

O O O O O 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


Influence of bolt spacing and degree of anisotropy in single-lap joints This study concerns the effect of bolt spacing and degree of anisotropy on the bolt load distribution and nature of the failure mechanism. Bolt loads and failure prediction are determined using a solution method that treats the contact stresses and contact region as unknowns. Utilizing the boundary collocation technique, this method provides the non-linear solution while capturing the effects of finite geometry under general loading conditions. The nature of the failure mechanism is established by using the maximum strain criterion. Comparison of the predictions with experimental results reveals their close agreement.

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


Application of multicriteria decision-making techniques to manoeuvre planning in nonholonomic robots In the scientific literature, one can find different techniques for tackling the problem involved in generating manoeuvres in robots with nonholonomic restrictions. Among these, probabilistic generation methods have been widely used. This paper presents a new technique that enables the best paths to be selected from among a set provided by a probabilistic planning method (RRT). This selection involved the application of multicriteria decision-making techniques (MCDMT). The particularity of these MCDMT lies in the fact that they provide the same result as would arise if the decision had been taken by a human being. The application of these techniques (generation and ranking) has enabled the development of an automatic tool for finding the best manoeuvres for nonholonomic robots. Lastly, we present the application of these techniques to a real situation, obtaining excellent results. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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 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

multicriteria decision-making
mobile robots
nonholonomic systems


scan primitives for gpu computing The scan primitives are powerful, general-purpose data-parallel primitives that are building blocks for a broad range of applications. We describe GPU implementations of these primitives, specifically an efficient formulation and implementation of segmented scan , on NVIDIA GPUs using the CUDA API. Using the scan primitives, we show novel GPU implementations of quicksort and sparse matrix-vector multiply, and analyze the performance of the scan primitives, several sort algorithms that use the scan primitives, and a graphical shallow-water fluid simulation using the scan framework for a tridiagonal matrix solver.

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

framework
applications
use
performance
implementation
scan
fluid simulation

sorting
vectorization
efficiency
computation
sparse matrix
building block
graphics
general
data parallelism
algorithm


Convergence of inexact inverse iteration with application to preconditioned iterative solves In this paper we study inexact inverse iteration for solving the generalised eigenvalue problem A x=lambda M x. We show that inexact inverse iteration is a modified Newton method and hence obtain convergence rates for various versions of inexact inverse iteration for the calculation of an algebraically simple eigenvalue. In particular, if the inexact solves are carried out with a tolerance chosen proportional to the eigenvalue residual then quadratic convergence is achieved. We also show how modifying the right hand side in inverse iteration still provides a convergent method, but the rate of convergence will be quadratic only under certain conditions on the right hand side. We discuss the implications of this for the preconditioned iterative solution of the linear systems. Finally we introduce a new ILU preconditioner which is a simple modification to the usual preconditioner, but which has advantages both for the standard form of inverse iteration and for the version with a modified right hand side. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the theoretical results.

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

newton's method
preconditioned iterative methods


impulsive data association with an unknown number of targets First- and second-order solution methods for the multi-target data association problem with an unknown number of targets are presented. It is shown that by considering a single continuous measurement signal with impulsive switching between measuring the position of different objects, the data association problem can be recast as a continuous optimization over the impulse times and magnitudes. First- and second-order adjoint formulations are derived which reduce the calculation of the either the first- or second-order derivative of the cost function to a single integration (over any number of impulse times and magnitudes). These adjoint formulations as well as a method for estimating the total number of impulses which occur are the main contributions of this work.

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 O O O O O B I 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


Segmentation and range sensing using a moving-aperture lens The use of a novel motorized lens to perform segmentation of image sequences is presented in this paper. The lens has the effect of introducing small, repeating movements of the camera center so that objects appear to translate in the image by an amount that depends on the distance from the plane of focus. For a stationary scene, optical flow magnitudes are therefore directly related to three-dimensional object distance from the observer. We describe a segmentation procedure that exploits these controlled observer movements and present experimental results that demonstrate the successful extraction of objects at different depths. Potential applications of our approach include image compositing, teleconferencing, and range estimation.

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 O O O O O O O O O O


Implicit algorithms for multilayer J2-plasticity In this paper two implicit algorithms for multilayer deviatoric plasticity based on the closest point projection iteration are introduced. The algorithmic elastoplastic tangents, in order to preserve the second-order convergence in Newton algorithms based on converged steps, are also developed. An implicit Mrz translation rule is formulated and serves as a basis for the construction of the traditional return mapping schemes. The main differences between the proposed procedures lay on a forward update of the active surface and the construction of the return mapping only at the end of the step or each time there is a surface update. The first option yields a scheme closer to that of a virtual bounding surface model and to that of explicit algorithms while the second one contributes with a mathematically more attractive and robust layout. Both of them allow a way to perform implicit unconditionally-stable, second-order-convergent multiaxial analysis using multilayer plasticity and they present an alternative to virtual bounding surface plasticity to which the examples are also compared.

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

computational plasticity
finite elements
computational mechanics
non-linear behavior
mathematical models
multiaxial loading


Raffinee in the Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury: An Open-Labeled Clinical Trial Abstract: The purpose of this preliminary clinical trial was to assess the safety and therapeutic trend of Raffinee, a mixture of free radical scavengers derived from natural products, on subacute spinal cord injury (SCI). SCI patients (three females and seven males) were enrolled from three medical centers in Taiwan. Their ages ranged from 18 to 76 years, with an average of 47.6 19.0 years. There were four incomplete and six complete cases in this study. Standard regimens for SCI at acute stage were given at each hospital. Approximately 7 weeks (35.4 13.9 days) after SCI, 2 U of Raffinee was given orally before meals three times a day for 6 weeks. Patients received motor, sensory, and activities of daily living (ADL) assessments before and after the treatment with Raffinee every week for 6 weeks. The Wilcoxon signed-ranks test was used for statistical analysis. Significant motor and sensory recovery began in the second week of Raffinee treatment, and significant ADL recovery was also noted in the third week. Functional recovery was more prominent in incomplete cases. Raffinee appeared to be safe in the subacute stage of SCI and may be an effective adjuvant therapy for enhancing functional recovery. Further clinical studies including double-blinded randomized placebo-controlled trials with follow-up for more than 1 year are necessary to validate the effectiveness of Raffinee in SCI.

B 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 B 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 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 B 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 B O O

free radical scavenger
lipid peroxidation


Three-phase multi-pulse converter StatCom analysis This paper is aimed to present the analysis of operating characteristics of the static synchronous compensator (Statcom) based on a multi-pulse voltage-source inverter (VSI). A detailed analysis of voltages and currents on both 6- and 12-pulses is presented and equations describing the performance of each circuit are derived. Finally a comparison between digital simulations using the EMTDC/PSCAD and analytical results is shown, verifying the validity of the derived expressions. The device is now being implemented in the laboratory, based on IGBT's.

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 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


Computing agents for decision support systems Applicability of agent-oriented metaheuristics to decision support systems. Functional-programming based prototypes of agent-based computing systems. Experiments regarding scalability and performance of the implemented systems.

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

decision support systems
scalability
performance


Integer linear programming models for the skiving stock problem The formulation of three new models for the one-dimensional skiving stock problem. The equivalence of the continuous relaxations (standard, arcflow and onestick model). Characterization of lexicographic order by linear inequalities and binary variables. Theoretical and numerical investigations on the complexities of the models.

O O O O O O B I I 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

packing
dual bin packing
modeling
continuous relaxation


An atlas-based method to compensate for brain shift: Preliminary results Compensating for intraoperative brain shift using computational models has shown promising results. Since computational time is an important factor during neurosurgery, a priori knowledge of the possible sources of deformation can increase the accuracy of model-updated image-guided systems. In this paper, a strategy to compensate for distributed loading conditions in the brain such as brain sag, volume changes due to drug reactions, and brain swelling due to edema is presented. An atlas of model deformations based on these complex loading conditions is computed preoperatively and used with a constrained linear inverse model to predict the intraoperative distributed brain shift. This relatively simple inverse finite-element approach is investigated within the context of a series of phantom experiments, two in vivo cases, and a simulation study. Preliminary results indicate that the approach recaptured on average 93% of surface shift for the simulation, phantom, and in vivo experiments. With respect to subsurface shift, comparisons were only made with simulation and phantom experiments and demonstrated an ability to recapture 85% of the shift. This translates to a remaining surface and subsurface shift error of 0.70.3mm, and 1.00.4mm, respectively, for deformations on the order of 1cm.

O O O O O O B I 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 B I 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

sparse data
finite elements
image-guided surgery


Auto-scaled ISL tracking for region based rate control infrastructure and applications in video surveillance Object tracking and video rate control are usually challenge tasks for the infrastructure and applications of standard video surveillance systems. In this paper, we proposed a novel auto-seated incremental subspace learning (ISL) to track the salient distortion areas continually in the video and employ this tracking mechanism to serve the purpose of region based rate control of video surveillance applications. Compared to other tracking/locating methods, the auto-scaled ISL tracking can track the salient distortion areas more robustly and accurately, and specifically in real-time. In addition, for the case that there exists the overlap/occlusion between different salient distortion areas, the proposed method can also obtain accurate results, which could make the region based rate control and bit allocation to reach higher efficiency in many applications. The experiment results of the proposed approach demonstrate the subject visual quality of the video has been improved greatly.

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

incremental subspace learning
region based
tracking
video surveillance