On testing convexity and submodularity Convex and submodular functions play an important role in many applications, and in particular in combinatorial optimization. Here we study two special cases: convexity in one dimension and submodularity in two dimensions. The latter type off unctions are equivalent to the well-known Monge matrices. A matrix V = {v(i, j)} (i= n)(i,j,=0)(1, j= n2) is called a Monge matrix if for every 0 less than or equal to i R is convex (concave) has query complexity and running time of O ((log n)/epsilon). Our algorithm for testing whether an n(1) x n(2) matrix V is a Monge ( inverse Monge) matrix has query complexity and running time of O ((log n(1) . log n(2))/epsilon).

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

property testing
convex functions
approximation algorithms
randomized algorithms


computing the singularities of rational space curves In this paper, we discuss the singularities of rational space curves. Two methods are provided to compute the singularities of arbitrary degree curves. These methods are a generalization of the paper (Chen, Wang and Liu. Computing singular points of plane rational curves. Journal of Symbolic Computation 43, 92--117, 2008), which are based on the ?-basis of the rational space curve and on random technique. The ?-basis induces a matrix M which contains all the information about the singularities including the parameter values corresponding to the singularities, multiplicities and infinitely near singularities. These information can be obtained by computing the Smith form of the matrix M . We compare our methods with previous approaches such as generalized resultants, and provide some examples to illustrate the effectiveness of our methods.

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


Fundamental issues in the representation and propagation of uncertain equation of state information in shock hydrodynamics Uncertainty quantification (UQ) deals with providing reasonable estimates of the uncertainties associated with an engineering model and propagating them-to final engineering quantities of interest. We present a conceptual UQ framework for the case of shock hydrodynamics with Euler's equations where the uncertainties are assumed to lie principally in the equation of state (EOS). In this paper we consider experimental data as providing both data and an estimate of data uncertainty. We propose a specific Bayesian inference approach for characterizing EOS uncertainty in thermodynamic phase space. We show how this approach provides a natural and efficient methodology for transferring data uncertainty to engineering outputs through an EOS representation that understands and deals consistently with parameter correlations as sensed in the data. Historically, complex multiphase EOSs have been built utilizing tables as the delivery mechanism in order to amortize the cost of creation of the tables over many subsequent continuum scale runs. Once UQ enters into the picture, however, the proper operational paradigm for multiphase tables become much less clear. Using a simple single-phase Mie-Gruneisen model we experiment with several approaches and demonstrate how uncertainty can be represented. We also show how the quality of the tabular representation is of key importance. As a first step, we demonstrate a particular tabular approach for the Mie-Gruneisen model which when extended to multiphase tables should have value for designing a UQ-enabled shock hydrodynamic modeling approach that is not only theoretically sound but also robust, useful, and acceptable to the modeling community. We also propose an approach to separate data uncertainty from modeling error in the EOS. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

uncertainty quantification
uq
equation of state
eos


Adaptive beamforming based on covariance matrix reconstruction by exploiting interferences' cyclostationarity ? Adaptive beamforming is known to be sensitive to array system mismatch, especially when the sample covariance matrix is used and the desired signal is present in the training snapshot. To alleviate the sensitivity, in this paper, the sample covariance matrix is replaced by the interference-plus-noise covariance matrix (INCM), which is reconstructed by exploiting the cyclostationarity of interference signals. In contrast to the existing INCM reconstruction methods, the proposed technique is based on the knowledge of the interferences' cycle frequencies and needs no information of the array structure, thus it can deal with unknown perturbations in the array. The numerical simulations show that the proposed method improves the robustness of adaptive beamformers and has superior performance to the existing INCM reconstruction methods especially for strong interferences.

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

cyclostationarity
covariance matrix reconstruction


On the Deployment of Antenna Elements in Generalized Multi-User Distributed Antenna Systems In this paper, we focus on a generalized multi-user distributed antenna system (DAS), where the antenna elements (AEs) are divided into antenna clusters and the antenna clusters are randomly deployed in the coverage area. The mobile terminals equipped with M AEs each are supposed to be uniformly distributed in the coverage area. We are motivated to study the impact of the deployment of antenna elements on the system performance. In the model of consideration, the deployment of antenna elements is characterized by the antenna cluster size V, i.e., the number of AEs within each antenna cluster, and the distribution of the antenna clusters. With the assumption that the antenna clusters are uniformly deployed in the coverage area, the impact of the antenna cluster size V on the uplink sum rate capacity is particularly investigated. The mean square access distance (MSAD), a function of V, is proposed as a reasonable metric instead of the uplink sum rate capacity. From the analysis of the asymptotic behavior of MSAD, we derive an approximate closed-form expression for the expectation of MSAD over system topologies. Then, it is concluded that the ergodic uplink sum rate capacity can be improved due to access distance reduction by scattering AEs further only when V > M. An approximate closed-form expression for the relative variance of MSAD is also derived. And we conclude that the outage uplink sum rate capacity can be improved due to macro-diversity by scattering AEs further only when V a parts per thousand currency signaEuro parts per thousand M. In other words, when V a parts per thousand currency signaEuro parts per thousand M, the ergodic uplink sum rate capacity can not be improved by scattering AEs further, when V > M, the outage uplink sum rate capacity can not be improved by scattering AEs further. Finally, our analysis is well verified by Monte Carlo simulations.

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

antenna cluster size
access distance reduction

distributed antenna systems (das)
mean square access distance (msad)
macro-diversity


The Manager-Analyst Interface in Systems Development The user-analyst liaison function in system development was studied in thirty-eight large firms using a structured interviewing process. The study revealed that the most prevalent form of liaison is still the traditional systems representative and that the liaison function is generally performed much less formally than the IS literature would suggest. However, a trend toward greater formalism was detected. Other aspects of the liaison function, such as perceptions of the role, relevant career paths, and attitudes toward the function were also studied.

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

information analyst
project teams
user involvement


exploiting hierarchical clustering in evaluating multidimensional aggregation queries Multidimensional aggregation queries constitute the single most important class of queries for data warehousing applications and decision support systems. The bottleneck in the evaluation of these queries is the join of the usually huge fact table with the restricted dimension tables ( star-join ). Recently, a multidimensional hierarchical clustering schema for star schemas is suggested. Subsequently, query evaluation plans for multidimensional queries appeared that essentially implement a star join as a multidimensional range restriction.We present a number of transformations for such plans. The transformations place grouping/aggregation operations before joins and safely prune aggregated tuples. They can be applied at no or minimal extra I/O cost. We show how these transformations can be used to construct a new evaluation plan for grouping/aggregation queries over multidimensional hierarchically clustered schemas. The new plan improves previous results by grouping and aggregating tuples and by excluding aggregated tuples from further consideration at an early stage of the computation of a query.

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

query transformations
multidimensional aggregation query


Another look at "provable security" We give an informal analysis and critique of several typical "provable security" results. In some cases there are intuitive but convincing arguments for rejecting the conclusions suggested by the formal terminology and "proofs," whereas in other cases the formalism seems to be consistent with common sense. We discuss the reasons why the search for mathematically convincing theoretical evidence to support the security of public-key systems has been an important theme of researchers. However, we argue that the theorem-proof paradigm of theoretical mathematics is often of limited relevance here and frequently leads to papers that are confusing and misleading. Because our paper is aimed at the general mathematical public, it is self-contained and as jargon-free as possible.

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


Self-Organized Translational Wheeling Motion in Stochastic Self-Assembling Modules Self-organization is a phenomenon found in biomolecular self-assembly by which proteins are spontaneously driven to assemble and attain various functionalities. This study reports on self-organized behavior in which distributed centimeter-sized modules stochastically aggregate and exhibit a translational wheeling motion. The system consists of two types of centimeter-sized water-floating modules: a triangular-shaped module that is equipped with a vibration motor and a permanent magnet (termed the active module), which can quasi-randomly rove around; and circular modules that are equipped with permanent magnets (termed passive modules). In its quasi-random movement in water, the active module picks up passive modules through magnetic attraction. The contacts between the modules induce a torque transfer from the active module to the passive modules. This results in rotational motion of the passive modules. As a consequence of the shape difference between the triangular module and the circular module, the passive modules rotate like wheels, being kept on the same edges as the active module. The motion of the active module is examined, as well as the characteristics and behavior of the self-organization process.

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

self-organized behavior
self-assembly machines
stochasticity
magnetism


Fast progressive training of mixture models for model selection Finite mixture models (FMM) are flexible models with varying uses such as density estimation, clustering, classification, modeling heterogeneity, model averaging, and handling missing data. Expectation maximization (EM) algorithm can learn the maximum likelihood estimates for the model parameters. One of the prerequisites for using the EM algorithm is the a priori knowledge of the number of mixture components in the mixture model. However, the number of mixing components is often unknown. Therefore, determining the number of mixture components has been a central problem in mixture modelling. Thus, mixture modelling is often a two-stage process of determining the number of mixture components and then estimating the parameters of the mixture model. This paper proposes a fast training of a series of mixture models using progressive merging of mixture components to facilitate model selection algorithm to make appropriate choice of the model. The paper also proposes a data driven, fast approximation of the KullbackLeibler (KL) divergence as a criterion to measure the similarity of the mixture components. We use the proposed methodology in mixture modelling of a synthetic dataset, a publicly available zoo dataset, and two chromosomal aberration datasets showing that model selection is efficient and effective.

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

model selection
mixture models
kl divergence
training


Experiences of Faculty and Students Using an Audience Response System in the Classroom The advent of innovative technologies, such as the audience response system, provides an opportunity to engage students and enhance learning. Based on their experiences, three nursing faculty evaluated the use of an audience response system in four distinct nursing courses through the use of informal survey results. When using the audience response system, the faculty experienced an increased perception of student attentiveness and engagement, high level of class attendance, and enhanced learning. Faculty feelings were mixed concerning the burden in adapting to increased classroom time and increased preparation time. Students' perception of the value of audience response system use was mostly positive, except when responses were included as part of the grade. The majority of the students indicated that use of the audience response system enhanced learning and was a helpful learning method when used with NCLEX-style questions. Overall, faculty believed that the benefits of student engagement and enhanced learning outweighed the burdens of incorporating this new technology in the classroom.

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

computer-assisted instruction
educational technology
teaching methods


Mathematical Models to Reconstruct Phylogenetic Trees Under the Minimum Evolution Criterion A basic problem in molecular biology is to rebuild phylogenetic trees (PT) from a set of DNA or protein sequences. Among different criteria used for this purpose, the minimum evolution criterion is an optimality based criterion aiming to rebuild PT characterized by a minimal length. This problem is known to be NP-hard. We introduce in this article some mixed integer programming models, and we also study possible cuts and lower bounds for the optimal value. So far, the number of sequences that can be involved in optimal phylogenetic reconstruction is still limited to 10. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 53(2), 126-140 2009

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 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

phylogenetic estimation
network design
branch-and-bound


Improvement of piezoelectric transformer performances using SSHI and SSHI-max methods The piezoelectric transformers reach densities of power more significant than their magnetic counterparts. However, one of the principal factors limiting the density of power is the acceptable maximum deformation by material constituting the transformer. The heating of the piezoelectric transformers is mainly of mechanical origin. This heating generates a degradation of the characteristics which in its turn generates an additional heating being able to lead to a phenomenon of thermal avalanche. In this work, two nonlinear methods [synchronized switch harvesting on inductor (SSHI) and SSHI-max] have been explored to improve the performance of the Rosen transformer basing on the tension generated by the secondary so as to increase the capacity of mechanic-electric conversion. The simulation results show that SSHI and SSHI-max techniques significantly increase the capacity of mechanic-electric conversion of inserts stuck on a vibrating structure and consequently, the power recovered in electric form. The comparative results of voltage gain, efficiency and the transmitted power of the transformer, before and after SSHI-max and SSHI control are given. These ones indicated that the two nonlinear techniques are promising as applications to improve the performances of the piezo-transformers.

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

piezoelectric transformer
rosen transformer
sshi

non-linear methods
sshi-max
power optimization


Nonlinear integral synchronization of ring networks ? It is generally difficult to synchronize a ring network that features single nearest-neighbor coupling, if the number N N of nodes of the network is too large. In this paper, we consider a ring network of N N identical nodes, which are unidirectionally coupled through the first state variable of each node. We present a new nonlinear integral method for synchronization of such a network, and derive a sufficient condition for synchronization of this type of network with chaotic nodes. The entire ring network will synchronize by adding only one nonlinear integral feedback, even if the feedback gain is very small. As examples, we study the synchronization of such a network with Lorenz system nodes and Chuas system nodes. Our numerical simulations confirm the effectiveness of the new method.

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

complex network
chaotic system
coupling coefficient


Options for Victorian agriculture in a new climate: Pilot study linking climate change and land suitability modelling This pilot project determines the potential for growing Cool Climate Grapes, high yield pasture and blue gum across Gippsland (Victoria, Australia), and the likely shift in that potential as projected climate change occurs in the region. It provides an indication of the information that can be generated combining Land Suitability Analysis and climate change scenarios. By considering the changing suitability of a few key agricultural enterprises in this region, the project offers an important direction for the agricultural elements of the Victorian Greenhouse Strategy. This pilot project utilises Land Suitability Analysis (LSA) developed by the former Victorian Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) under the National Land and Water Resources Audit of Australia and further enhanced with Local Government and Catchment Management Authorities across Victoria. This modelling technique allows for an assessment of impacts on a wide range of commodities beyond the historic focus of cropping and pasture models. Following a series of workshops with agronomists, soil scientists, climate scientists, strategic planners and growers, a series of maps/overlays were prepared for Gippsland showing potential suitability of blue gum plantations, Cool Climate Grapes and high yield pasture, as an initial illustration of the methodology. This potential suitability has since been adjusted/modified using a variety of climate change scenarios developed by CSIRO Climate Impacts Group, resulting in an assessment of the change in potential suitability for each enterprise at years 2020 and 2050. The resultant work can be analysed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to consider change over time and space in the region. Combined with changes in water availability, this may act as an innovative and powerful decision support tool for policy makers in government and industry.

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

climate change
land suitability analysis
victorian greenhouse strategy

ecologically sustainable agriculture initiative


Critical line-set configurations to epipolar geometry determination and application to image line transfer We address the issue of what linear line structures in space constitute critical configuration to three generally positioned cameras. By critical configuration we mean a set of lines in space whose image projections to the cameras do not allow unique determination of the cameras relative positions. The work is focused on the domain of a particular but common line structure group the linear line structures which include linear ruled surface, linear line congruence, and linear line complex, and more specifically line pencil, point star, and ruled plane. We tackle the issue by looking into the rank of a matrix that is related to the estimation of the trifocal tensor a quantity that captures the relative geometry of the cameras. Our result is a summary of the following: which of the linear line structure families are critical structures, how critical each of them is, and how many lines need be present minimally in each of the families for the full information of the particular family to be revealed in their image projections. Real image results are presented to illustrate the findings. The findings are important to the validity and stability of algorithms related to structure from motion and projective reconstruction using line correspondences. This article is an extended version of the report (Zhao and Chung, 2008) that received IAPRs Piero Zamperoni Best Paper Award in 2008.

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

linear line structures
image line transfer


Low-threshold, high SMSR tunable external cavity quantum cascade laser around \(4.7\,\upmu \hbox {m}\) Room-temperature pulsed and continuous-wave (cw) operation of a tunable external cavity (EC) quantum cascade laser (QCL) at an emitting wavelength of \(4.7\,\upmu \hbox {m}\) was presented. The effect of different external cavity lengths and grating angles of the ECQCL system were analyzed numerically. A wide tuning range greater than \(131\,\hbox {cm}^{-1}\) was obtained in pulsed mode at room temperature. Without the anti-reflection coating procedure, single-mode cw operation with a side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) above 20dB and a wide tuning range greater than \(116\, \hbox {cm}^{-1}\) were achieved. Near the center region, SMSR about 30 dB was also realized through designing the external cavity length. Strain-compensation combined with two-phonon resonance in an active region design and the high-reflection coating promised low threshold current density. A record low threshold current density of \(0.901\,\hbox {kA/cm}^{2}\) for an ECQCL operated in cw mode was realized.

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

external cavity length
tuning
low threshold current density


On normal approximation for maximum likelihood estimation from single server queues This paper is concerned with the rate of convergence of the distribution of the maximum likelihood estimators of the arrival and the service rates in a GI/G/1 queueing system.

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

gi/g/1 queue
exponential families
maximum likelihood estimator
asymptotic inference
asymptotic normality


Neighborhoods of a new class of harmonic multivalent functions We introduce and investigate a new subclass of harmonic multivalent functions defined by using a differential operator. We obtain coefficient conditions, distortion bounds, extreme points, convex combination for the above class of harmonic multivalent functions. We also, derive inclusion relationships involving the neighborhoods of harmonic multivalent functions.

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

harmonic
multivalent
differential operator


Efficient k-nearest neighbor search on moving object trajectories With the growing number of mobile applications, data analysis on large sets of historical moving objects trajectories becomes increasingly important. Nearest neighbor search is a fundamental problem in spatial and spatio-temporal databases. In this paper, we consider the following problem: Given a set of moving object trajectories D and a query trajectory mq, find the k nearest neighbors to mq within D for any instant of time within the lifetime of mq. We assume D is indexed in a 3D-R-tree and employ a filter-and-refine strategy. The filter step traverses the index and creates a stream of so-called units (linear pieces of a trajectory) as a superset of the units required to build the result of the query. The refinement step processes an ordered stream of units and determines the pieces of units forming the precise result. To support the filter step, for each node p of the index, in preprocessing a time-dependent coverage function C (p) (t) is computed which is the number of trajectories represented in p present at time t. Within the filter step, sophisticated data structures are used to keep track of the aggregated coverages of the nodes seen so far in the index traversal to enable pruning. Moreover, the R-tree index is built in a special way to obtain coverage functions that are effective for pruning. As a result, one obtains a highly efficient kNN algorithm for moving data and query points that outperforms the two competing algorithms by a wide margin. Implementations of the new algorithms and of the competing techniques are made available as well. Algorithms can be used in a system context including, for example, visualization and animation of results. Experiments of the paper can be easily checked or repeated, and new experiments be performed.

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

continuous nearest neighbor
filter-and-refine


THE ANONYMITY AND PROXIMITY FACTORS IN GROUP DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEMS A group decision support system (GDSS) is an interactive computer-based information system which combines the capabilities of communication technologies, database technologies, computer technologies, and decision technologies to support the identification, analysis, formulation, evaluation, and solution of semi-structured or unstructured problems by a group in an user-friendly computing environment. Following the completion of GDSS facilities, preliminary results on the effects and effectiveness of GDSSs on the group decision making process have been reported. This paper sets forth to critically evaluate recent literature on anonymity of proponents and proximity of group members in connection with the use of GDSSs in group meetings. It questions the assumptions made and research methodologies used in laboratory experiments. Some of the experimental results are found to be inconclusive and contradictory. It points out why some of the experiments are unrealistic, and thus the experimental results cannot be generalized. It is argued that group dynamics, organizational settings, social contexts, and behavioral aspects are all important ingredients in shaping the outcomes of using GDSSs at group meetings, and therefore cannot be ignored by GDSS researchers.

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

anonymity
proximity
group decision making process

group decision support system (gdss)
computer-mediated communication
impact of information technology


Fuzzy route choice model for traffic assignment In order to represent traffic assignment on a road network, we propose a new route choice model taking account of the imprecisions and the uncertainties lying in the dynamic choice process. This model makes possible a more accurate description of the process than those (deterministic or stochastic) used in the literature. We assume that drivers choose a path all the more than it is foreseen to have a lesser cost. The predicted cost for each path is modelled by a fuzzy subset which can represent imprecision on network knowledge (e.g. length of links) as well as uncertainty on traffic conditions (e.g. congested or uncongested network, incident...). The costs of all possible paths are compared and result in an attractiveness degree for each path. Various comparison indices can be used to represent the different possible natures of drivers when making their decisions (pessimistic/optimistic, risk-taking/risk-averting). The fuzzy choice model was compared with the LOGIT model (a widely used stochastic discrete choice model) and has been proved to be able to find the same results. The effect of Advanced Travellers Information Systems (ATIS) on drivers is modeled as a modification of the imprecision or the uncertainty of the predicted cost of a route. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

fuzzy numbers
comparison of fuzzy numbers
traffic information


The effect of academic inbreeding on scientific effectiveness In academia, the term inbreeding refers to a situation wherein PhDs are employed in the very same institution that trained them during their doctoral studies. Academic inbreeding has a negative perception on the account that it damages both scientific effectiveness and productivity. In this article, the effect of inbreeding on scientific effectiveness is investigated through a case study. This problem is addressed by utilizing Hirsch index as a reliable metric of an academics scientific productivity. Utilizing the dataset, constructed with academic performance indicators of individuals from the Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Departments, of the Turkish Technical Universities, we demonstrate that academic inbreeding has a negative impact on apparent scientific effectiveness through a negative binomial model. This model appears to be the most suitable one for the dataset which is a type of count data. We report chi-square statistics and likelihood ratio test for the parameter alpha. According to the chi-square statistics the model is significant as a whole. The incidence rate ratio for the variable inbreeding is estimated to be 0.11 and this ratio tells that, holding all the other factors constant, for the inbred faculty, the h-index is about 89% lower when compared to the non-inbred faculty. Furthermore, there exists negative and statistically significant correlation with an individuals productivity and the percentage of inbred faculty members at the very same department. Excessive practice of inbreeding adversely affects the overall productivity. Decision makers are urged to limit this practice to a minimum in order to foster a vibrant research environment. Furthermore, it is also found that scientific productivity of an individual decreases towards the end of his scientific career.

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

academic inbreeding
scientific effectiveness


Assessing relationship closeness online - Moving from an interval-scaled to continuous measure of including others in the self A continuous measure of relationship closeness inspired by the Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale was designed using Java. This new measure allows for closeness to be assessed on a continuous scale of zero to 100, with output values corresponding to the degree of overlap and distance between the objects in the applet. In addition, the applet includes options to enhance its flexibility and usefulness in research applications. In particular, the behavior of the applet, and properties of objects included in it, can be customized. The construction of the applet is described, and methodological and theoretical considerations regarding this new measure are discussed.

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

measurement scaling methodology programming


Structural, electronic, and elastic properties of K-As compounds: a first principles study First-principle calculations are performed to investigate the structural, elastic and electronic properties of K-As compounds (KAs in NaP, LiAs and AuCu-type structures, KAs2 in MgCu2-type structure, K3As in Na3As, Cu3P and Li3Bi-type structures, and K5As4 in A(5)B(4)-type structure). The lattice parameters, cohesive energy, formation energy, bulk modulus, and the first derivative of bulk modulus (to fit to the Murnaghan's equation of state) of the considered structures are calculated and reasonable agreement is obtained, and the phase transition pressure is also predicted. The repeated calculations on the electronic band structures and the related partial density of states are also given. The calculated second-order elastic constants based on the stress-strain method and the other related quantities such as Young's modulus, shear modulus, Poisson's ratio, sound velocities, Debye temperature, and shear anisotropy factors for considered structures are presented, and trends are discussed.

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

elastic properties
electronic properties


Fuzzy capital budgeting Fuzzy equivalents of all the classical capital budgeting (investment choice) methods are generalised or proposed. These equivalents can be used to evaluate and compare projects in which the cash flows, duration time and required rate of return (cost of capital) are given imprecisely, in the form of a fuzzy number. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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


A sliding window method for finding top-k path traversal patterns over streaming Web click-sequences Online mining of path traversal patterns from Web click-streams is one of the most important problems of Web usage mining. In this paper, we propose a sliding window-based Web data mining algorithm, called Top-SW (Top-kpath traversal patterns of Stream sliding Window), to discover the set of top-k path traversal patterns from streaming maximal forward references, where k is the desired number of path traversal patterns to be mined. A new summary data structure, called Top-list (a list of Top-kpath traversal patterns) is developed to maintain the essential information about the top-k path traversal patterns from the current maximal forward references stream. Experimental studies show that the proposed Top-SW algorithm is an efficient, single-pass algorithm for mining the set of top-k path traversal patterns from a continuous stream of maximal forward references.

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

data mining
web usage mining
path traversal patterns

data streams
top-k pattern mining
stream sliding windows


Near-optimal connectivity encoding of 2-manifold polygon meshes Encoders for triangle mesh connectivity based on enumeration of vertex valences are among the best reported to date. They are both simple to implement and report the best compressed file sizes for a large corpus of test models. Additionally they have recently been shown to be near-optimal since they realize the Tutte entropy bound for all planar triangulations. In this paper we introduce a connectivity encoding method which extends these ideas to 2-manifold meshes consisting of faces with arbitrary degree. The encoding algorithm exploits duality by applying valence enumeration to both the primal and the dual mesh in a symmetric fashion. It generates two sequences of symbols, vertex valences, and face degrees, and encodes them separately using two context-based arithmetic coders. This allows us to exploit vertex or face regularity if present. When the mesh exhibits perfect face regularity (e.g., a pure triangle or quad mesh) or perfect vertex regularity (valence six or four respectively) the corresponding bit rate vanishes to zero asymptotically. For triangle meshes, our technique is equivalent to earlier valence-driven approaches. We report compression results for a corpus of standard meshes. In all cases we are able to show coding gains over earlier coders, sometimes as large as 50%. Remarkably, we even slightly gain over coders specialized to triangle or quad meshes. A theoretical analysis reveals that our approach is near-optimal as we achieve the Tutte entropy bound for arbitrary planar graphs of two bits per edge in the worst case. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

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

compression algorithms
curves and surfaces


Combining Communications and Tracking: A New Paradigm of Smartphone Games The generalization trend of smartphones has brought many smartphone games into daily lives. These games are mainly dependent on the interactions on the display of the phone using finger touches. On the other hand, functions for detecting the positions and actions of the phones such as gyro-sensors have been rapidly developed over the former orientation sensors and acceleration sensors. Though it has become technologically possible to detect the users' motion via the smartphone devices and to use the phone device directly as the game device, it is hard to find the actualized cases. This paper proposes a new paradigm that includes basic frameworks and algorithms for the games combining the motion tracking and mutual communications on the smartphones and presents the details of its implementation and results.

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

smartphone
motion tracking
mutual communications


Improving the MITC3 shell finite element by using the Hellinger-Reissner principle The objective of this study is to improve the performance of the MITC3 shell finite element. The Hellinger-Reissner (HR) variational principle is modified in the framework of the MITC method, and a special approximated transverse shear strain field is proposed. The MITC3-HR shell finite element improved by using the Hellinger-Reissner functional passes all the basic tests (zero energy mode test, patch test, and isotropic element test). Convergence studies considering a fully clamped plate problem, a sixty-degree skew plate problem, cylindrical shell problems, and hyperboloid shell problems demonstrate the improved predictive capability of the new 3-node shell finite element. (c) 2012 Elsevier 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 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

shell structures
finite elements
hellinger-reissner principle


Open access: The global scene Significant achievements have been scored regarding Open Access (OA) and its worldwide adoption. The increasing numbers in the availability of OA repositories and journals (refereed and otherwise); publishers that embraced OA in different forms; universities and colleges that adopted OA as a matter of policy; and funding agencies that require authors and researchers to deposit their work in openly accessible digital repositories are all clear indications of the widespread adoption of OA practices. However, the practices are not well coordinated, largely project-based, and dictated by institutional circumstances. For the sake of disseminating and preserving scholarly publications and other forms of research outputs well into the future, it is critical that a consistent and uniform policy and technical framework that addresses the needs and concerns of all relevant stakeholders involved be adopted. Members of this panel will review the global OA practices and suggest ideas for the implementation of an international infrastructure that supports and sustains the future of open scholarly communication.

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

open access
oa practices
funding agencies

repository systems
oa policy
university libraries
sig iii
sig ifp


GENI: A federated testbed for innovative network experiments ? GENI, the Global Environment for Networking Innovation, is a distributed virtual laboratory for transformative, at-scale experiments in network science, services, and security. Designed in response to concerns over Internet ossification, GENI is enabling a wide variety of experiments in a range of areas, including clean-slate networking, protocol design and evaluation, distributed service offerings, social network integration, content management, and in-network service deployment. Recently, GENI has been leading an effort to explore the potential of its underlying technologies, SDN and GENI racks, in support of university campus network management and applications. With the concurrent deployment of these technologies on regional and national R&E backbones, this will result in a revolutionary new national-scale distributed architecture, bringing to the entire network the shared, deeply programmable environment that the cloud has brought to the datacenter. This deeply programmable environment will support the GENI research mission and as well as enabling research in a wide variety of application areas.

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

future internet
next generation networking
future internet testbeds
distributed cloud computing


Facebook fired: Legal perspectives and young adults opinions on the use of social media in hiring and firing decisions Most young adults do not support use of social media in hiring/firing decisions. Those with low self-control and high openness are likely to oppose this practice. Those who endorse the hookup culture are more likely to oppose this practice. Most young adults express liberal views of what is acceptable to post online.

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 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

social networking
job terminations
psychological characteristics


A distributed system for diabetic patient management This paper describes a telemedicine system for diabetic patients management, presenting its architecture, the technical solutions adopted and the methodologies on which it is based. The system, designed to provide decision support in a distributed environment, is composed of two modules, a Patient Unit and a Medical Unit, connected by telecommunication services. We outline how the two modules can interact to perform an effective monitoring and a cooperative control of glucose metabolism. In particular, we detail the data analysis tasks performed by the two units and how the results are exploited to assist patients and physicians in revising and adjusting the therapeutic protocol. We will finally describe the current prototypical implementation of the system that uses HTTP as the communication protocol and HTML pages as the graphical user interface.

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

telemedicine systems
decision support systems
intelligent data analysis


Improving judgmental adjustment of model-based forecasts Many managers have access to statistical model-based forecasts and can use these to create their own forecasts. To the analyst, who aims to evaluate forecast accuracy, it is usually unknown to what extent managers use those model forecasts. Moreover, in other situations the analyst may additionally not even have access to those model-based forecasts. The present survey reports on recent developments within this context which concern an understanding of the creation of such managers' forecasts given that model forecasts are potentially incorporated and the evaluation of their accuracy. A variety of further research topics are given. (c) 2012 IMACS. Published by 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 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

statistical model forecasts
expert forecasts


RESCUE: An energy-aware scheduler for cloud environments We propose RESCUE for data center energy saving by leveraging ASEE, which will rank physical nodes based on their energy efficiency. We evaluated RESCUE with three benchmarks: BS Seeker (CPU intensive), Matrix Stressmark (memory intensive), and TPC-W (e-commerce). The results show that with a non-aggressive control policy, RESCUE reduces the overall energy consumption by up to 16.7% on average for BS Seeker and Matrix Stressmark. For TPC-W, RESCUE saves up to 6.6% of the total energy. With an aggressive control policy, RESCUE-with-sleep can further reduces the total energy consumption by 51.5% for BS Seeker, 48.8% for Matrix Stressmark, and 21.3% for TPC-W compared to RESCUE.

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

power management of data centers
energy efficient scheduling
virtualization
cloud computing


Enhancing evidence-based practicea controlled vocabulary for nursing practice and research ? Evidence-based practice requires flexible systems for information retrieval. Search processes in electronic databases must be based on terms, which are familiar to professionals and describe accurately the problem to be solved. The paper describes the process of evolving a controlled nursing vocabulary for indexing and information retrieval purposes. The vocabulary is based on terms of the Medline thesaurus the medical subject headings (MeSH) by National Library of Medicine and the International Classification for Nursing Practice by the International Council of Nurses. The created vocabulary consists of 10 themes central to nursing domain. The content was compiled using Delphi technique. The expert panel had four rounds and at the first stage the vocabulary consists of 558 terms. The validity of the vocabulary has been tested for indexing nursing research and based on the validation the expert panel has made some changes for the hierarchy and content. The vocabulary will be added as an independent theme to the Finnish thesaurus the FinMeSH.

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

vocabulary
nursing
information retrieval
delphi technique


Including fluid shear viscosity in a structural acoustic finite element model using a scalar fluid representation An approximate boundary condition is developed in this paper to model fluid shear viscosity at boundaries of coupled fluidstructure system. The effect of shear viscosity is approximated by a correction term to the inviscid boundary condition, written in terms of second order in-plane derivatives of pressure. Both thin and thick viscous boundary layer approximations are formulated; the latter subsumes the former. These approximations are used to develop a variational formation, upon which a viscous finite element method (FEM) model is based, requiring only minor modifications to the boundary integral contributions of an existing inviscid FEM model. Since this FEM formulation has only one degree of freedom for pressure, it holds a great computational advantage over the conventional viscous FEM formulation which requires discretization of the full set of linearized NavierStokes equations. The results from thick viscous boundary layer approximation are found to be in good agreement with the prediction from a NavierStokes model. When applicable, thin viscous boundary layer approximation also gives accurate results with computational simplicity compared to the thick boundary layer formulation. Direct comparison of simulation results using the boundary layer approximations and a full, linearized NavierStokes model are made and used to evaluate the accuracy of the approximate technique. Guidelines are given for the parameter ranges over which the accurate application of the thick and thin boundary approximations can be used for a fluidstructure interaction problem.

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

fluidstructure interaction
structural acoustic
finite element method


A Lyapunov function for a two-chemical species version of the chemotaxis model We answer partially the question of global existence for a chemotaxis model involving two chemical species: a chemo-attractant and a stimulant. We introduce a Lyapunov function for this system and we show that it is non-decreasing assuming a family of threshold conditions.

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

chemotaxis
global existence
lyapunov function


An efficient implementation of the equilibrium algorithm for housing markets with duplicate houses We propose an asymptotically optimal implementation of the equilibrium algorithm for housing markets with duplicate houses and strict preferences. It is based on Tarjan's depth-first search algorithm for strongly connected components of a digraph. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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


Implementation and evaluation of the MSc course in health informatics in Greece Objectives: Health informatics is a well established and important multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary field that not only involves informatics but also medicine, nursing, engineering, biology and other-related subjects. The program has been organized on the basis of an inter-university approach with the participation of five Greek universities. The paper aims at providing a current description of the academic program and a preliminary evaluation of the implementation phase. Methods: The paper presents a case study of a curriculum implementation from the phase of curriculum development to the phase of implementation and evaluation. Due to the interdisciplinary character of the course appropriate procedures were undertaken to ensure that mixed backgrounds can assimilate the broad spectrum of the teaching material taught. In the first stages of the implementation international students mainly from Europe attended the course. In addition, local graduates provided an extra dimension to the multi-layered difficulties and challenges of such a course implementation. Results: The students registered in the course were from different backgrounds and disciplines. They were mainly from health sciences and engineering schools. The interdisciplinary arrangement of the course facilitated the proper exchange of thoughts, skills, and knowledge among and between students and teachers. Conclusions: The postgraduate course in health informatics at the University of Athens has now been running for more than fifteen consecutive years and is one of the first and longest standing courses in Europe. Continuous evaluation and adaptation is required to fit within the changing and evolving amazing field of biomedical and health informatics.

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

health and medical informatics education


Denoised P300 and machine learning-based concealed information test method In this paper, a novel P300-based concealed information test (CIT) method was proposed to improve the efficiency of differentiating deception and truth-telling. Thirty subjects including the guilty and innocent performed the paradigm based on three types of stimuli. In order to reduce the influence from the occasional variability of cognitive states on the CIT, several single-trials from Pz in probe stimuli within each subject were first averaged. Then the three groups of features were extracted from these averaged single-trials. Finally, two classes of feature samples were used to train a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. Meanwhile, the optimal number of averaged Pz waveforms and some other parameter values in the classifiers were determined by the cross validation procedures. Results show that if choosing accuracy of 90% as a detecting standard of P3 component to classify a subject's status (guilty or innocent), our method can achieve individual diagnostic rate of 100%. The individual diagnostic rate of our method was higher than the results of the other related reports. The presented method improves efficiency of CIT, and is more practical, lower fatigue and less countermeasure behavior in comparison with previous report methods, which could extend the laboratory study to the practical application.

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

concealed information test (cit)
wavelet
support vector machine (svm)


Towards unrestricted lip reading Lip reading provides useful information in speech perception and language understanding, especially when the auditory speech is degraded. However, many current automatic lip reading systems impose some restrictions on users. In this paper, we present our research efforts in the Interactive System Laboratory, towards unrestricted lip reading. We first introduce a top-down approach to automatically track and extract lip regions. This technique makes it possible to acquire visual information in real-time without limiting the user's freedom of movement. We then discuss normalization algorithms to preprocess images for different lightning conditions (global illumination and side illumination). We also compare different visual preprocessing methods such as raw image, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), and Principle Component Analysis (PCA). We demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed methods by the development of a modular system for flexible human-computer interaction via both visual and acoustic speech. The system is based on an extension of the existing state-of-the-art speech recognition system, a modular Multiple State-Time Delayed Neural Network (MS-TDNN) system. We have developed adaptive combination methods at several different levels of the recognition network. The system can automatically track a speaker and extract his/her lip region in real-time. The system has been evaluated under different noisy conditions such as white noise, music, and mechanical noise. The experimental results indicate that the system can achieve up to 55% error reduction using visual information in addition to the acoustic signal.

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

lip reading
speech recognition
neural network

face tracking
multimodal human computer interaction.


Lagrangian domain reductions for the single machine earlinesstardiness problem with release dates This paper presents new elimination rules for the single machine problem with general earliness and tardiness penalties subject to release dates. These rules, based on a Lagrangian decomposition, allow to drastically reduce the execution windows of the jobs. We measure the efficiency of these properties by integrating them in a branch-and-bound. Tests show that instances with up to 70 jobs without release dates, and up to 40 jobs with release dates, can be optimally solved within 1000seconds.

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

scheduling
just-in-time
lagrangian relaxation
exact method


Application of global sensitivity analysis to a tire model with correlated inputs Sensitivity analysis of the well-known Pacejka tire model is carried out. This model is nonlinear and depends on correlated parameters. The approach consists in decorrelating the parameters using the Nataf transformation. Then, the output is expanded onto polynomial chaos. To improve the accuracy of the output, the most influent parameters are highlighted.

O O B I I 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 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

global sensitivity analysis
correlated parameters
tire model


Rate allocation and network lifetime problems for wireless sensor networks An important performance consideration for wireless sensor networks is the amount of information collected by all the nodes in the network over the course of network lifetime. Since the objective of maximizing the sum of rates of all the nodes in the network can lead to a severe bias in rate allocation among the nodes, we advocate the use of lexicographical max-min (LMM) rate allocation. To calculate the LMM rate allocation vector, we develop a polynomial-time algorithm by exploiting the parametric analysis (PA) technique from linear program (LP), which we call serial LP with Parametric Analysis (SLP-PA). We show that the SLP-PA can be also employed to address the LMM node lifetime problem much more efficiently than a state-of-the-art algorithm proposed in the literature. More important, we show that there exists an elegant duality relationship between the LMM rate allocation problem and the LMM node lifetime problem. Therefore, it is sufficient to solve only one of the two problems. Important insights can be obtained by inferring duality results for the other problem.

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

node lifetime
parametric analysis
rate allocation
sensor networks

energy constraint
flow routing
lexicographic max-min
linear programming
network capacity
theory


Accuracy estimate and optimization techniques for SimRank computation The measure of similarity between objects is a very useful tool in many areas of computer science, including information retrieval. SimRank is a simple and intuitive measure of this kind, based on a graph-theoretic model. SimRank is typically computed iteratively, in the spirit of PageRank. However, existing work on SimRank lacks accuracy estimation of iterative computation and has discouraging time complexity. In this paper, we present a technique to estimate the accuracy of computing SimRank iteratively. This technique provides a way to find out the number of iterations required to achieve a desired accuracy when computing SimRank. We also present optimization techniques that improve the computational complexity of the iterative algorithm from O(n(4)) in the worst case to min(O(nl), O(n(3)/log(2)n)), with n denoting the number of objects, and l denoting the number object-to-object relationships. We also introduce a threshold sieving heuristic and its accuracy estimation that further improves the efficiency of the method. As a practical illustration of our techniques, we computed SimRank scores on a subset of English Wikipedia corpus, consisting of the complete set of articles and category links.

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

simrank
algorithm
computational complexity


Natural human role in supervising complex control systems Large collections of communities such as those found in complex control systems necessitate sophisticated techniques for high-level human supervision due to their requirements of influence spanning over individuals, communities, and global system behaviours. We have developed psycho-socio-cultural models for mediation of system-level behaviours and interactions. The ensuing lowered human cognitive load will enable supervisors to effectively guide large systems with competing objectives. This model paves the way for developing the 'Man On The Loop' (MOTL) paradigm, a phrase we are proposing for a novel human supervision role that contrasts with typical micromanagement. We have highlighted and validated MOTL parameters through the implementation of a domain-neutral simulation and compared our results with those found in natural systems.

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

multi-agent system
supervisory control
social-psycho-cultural model
human agent interaction


Internet commentary Comments on the Internet, giving details of new facilities and provisions that are of specific interest to systemists and cyberneticians. They include: Computers for Net access, Personal Web site, International access, Choice of Internet service provider and the integral environment.

B 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 B O O O O O O


Guaranteed-quality all-quadrilateral mesh generation with feature preservation In this paper, a quadtree-based mesh generation method is described to create guaranteed-quality, geometry-adapted all-quadrilateral (all-quad) meshes with feature preservation for arbitrary planar domains. Given point cloud, our method generates all-quad meshes with these points as vertices and all the angles are within [45, 135]. For given planar curves, quadtree-based spatial decomposition is governed by the curvature of the boundaries and narrow regions. 2-refinement templates are chosen for local mesh refinement without creating any hanging nodes. A buffer zone is created by removing elements around the boundary. To guarantee the mesh quality, the angles facing the boundary are improved via template implementation, and two buffer layers are inserted in the buffer zone. It is proved that all the elements of the final mesh are quads with angles between 45? and 135? (??5) with the exception of badly shaped elements that may be required by the sharp angles in the input geometry. We also prove that the scaled Jacobians defined by two edge vectors are in the range of [sin(45??),sin90], or [0.64, 1.0]. Furthermore, sharp features and narrow regions are detected and preserved automatically. Boundary layer meshes are generated by splitting elements of the second buffer layer. We have applied our algorithm to a set of complicated geometries, including the Lake Superior map and the air foil with multiple components.

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

guaranteed quality
all-quadrilateral mesh
quadtree data structure
sharp feature
narrow region


A polynomial algorithm for solving system of inequalities in max-plus algebra ? This paper deals with the system of inequalities A?x?x A ? x ? x in which A is a square matrix, x x is a column vector and ? ? is a max-plus composition. It provides two algorithms which can be used to find a finite proper supereigenvectors of A corresponding to the eigenvalue ?=0 ? = 0 in a case of irreducible matrix A with the maximum cycle mean ?(A)>0 ? ( A ) > 0 and a finite solution of the system in a case of reducible matrix A, respectively, in a polynomial number of steps.

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


Click-boosting multi-modality graph-based reranking for image search Image reranking is an effective way for improving the retrieval performance of keyword-based image search engines. A fundamental issue underlying the success of existing image reranking approaches is the ability in identifying potentially useful recurrent patterns from the initial search results. Ideally, these patterns can be leveraged to upgrade the ranks of visually similar images, which are also likely to be relevant. The challenge, nevertheless, originates from the fact that keyword-based queries are used to be ambiguous, resulting in difficulty in predicting the search intention. Mining useful patterns without understanding query is risky, and may lead to incorrect judgment in reranking. This paper explores the use of click-through data, which can be viewed as the footprints of user searching behavior, as an effective means of understanding query, for providing the basis on identifying the recurrent patterns that are potentially helpful for reranking. A new reranking algorithm, named click-boosting multi-modality graph-based reranking, is proposed. The algorithm leverages clicked images to locate similar images that are not clicked, and reranks them in a multi-modality graph-based learning scheme. Encouraging results are reported for image reranking on a real-world image dataset collected from a commercial search engine with click-through data.

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

search reranking
click-boosting
multi-modality graph-based learning


THE PREDICATES FOR THE EXACT VORONOI DIAGRAM OF ELLIPSES UNDER THE EUCLIDIEAN METRIC This article examines the computation of the Delaunay graph and its dual Voronoi diagram of a set of ellipses in the Euclidean plane. We propose the first complete methods, under the exact computation paradigm, for the predicates of an incremental algorithm: kappa(1) decides which one of two given ellipses is closest to a given exterior point; kappa(2) decides the position of a query ellipse relative to an external bitangent line of two given ellipses; kappa(3) decides the position of a query ellipse relative to a Voronoi circle of three given ellipses; kappa(4) determines the type of conflict between a Voronoi edge, de fined by four given ellipses, and a query ellipse. The article is restricted to non-intersecting ellipses, but the extension to arbitrary ones is possible. The ellipses are input in parametric representation, i.e., constructively in terms of their axes, center and rotation. For kappa(1) and kappa(2) we derive algebraic conditions optimal in terms of the degree of the algebraic numbers involved, and provide efficient implementations in C++. For kappa(3) we compute a tight bound on the number of complex tritangent circles and design an exact symbolic-numeric algorithm, which is implemented in Maple. This essentially answers kappa(4) as well. We conclude with further work on lifting the condition of non-intersecting ellipses.

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

voronoi diagram
ellipse
delaunay graph
parametric representation
exact computation


Stochastic numerical treatment for solving Troeschs problem In this article, the numerical techniques are presented for the solution of Troeschs problem based on neural networks optimized with three different methods including particle swarm optimization (PSO), active set (AS) and PSO hybridized with AS (PSO-AS) algorithms. The variable transformation is applied in order to convert the original problem to a transformed problem which is relatively less stiff to solve. Feed-forward artificial neural networks are used to model the transformed problem. Learning of adjustable parameters is made with PSO, AS and PSO-AS algorithms. The proposed methodologies are applied to a number of cases for stiff and non-stiff boundary value problems. The comparative analyses are carried out with other standard numerical solutions, as well as approximate analytical solver.

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

non-linear ode
artificial neural network
particle swarm optimization algorithm
active set algorithm
hybrid technique


A multi-objective approach to facility layout problem by genetic search algorithm and Electre method Classical approaches to layout design problem tend to maximise the efficiency of layout, measured by the handling cost related to the interdepartmental flow and to the distance among the departments. However, the actual problem involves several conflicting objectives hence requiring a multi-objective formulation. Multi-objective approaches, recently proposed, in most cases lead to the maximisation of a weighted sum of score functions. The poor practicability of such an approach is due to the difficulty of normalising these functions and of quantifying the weights. In this paper, this difficulty is overcome by approaching the problem in two subsequent steps: in the first step, the Pareto-optimal solutions are determined by employing a multi-objective constrained genetic algorithm and the subsequent selection of the optimal solution is carried out by means of the multi-criteria decision-making procedure Electre. This procedure allows the decision maker to express his preferences on the basis of the knowledge of candidate solution set. Quantitative (handling cost) and qualitative (adjacency and distance requests between departments) objectives are considered referring to a bay structure-based layout model, that allows to take into account also practical constraints such as the aspect ratio of departments. Results obtained confirm the effectiveness of the proposed procedure as a practicable support tool for layout designers.

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


Comparative Results on Stabilization of the Quad-rotor Rotorcraft Using Bounded Feedback Controllers In the recent years autonomous flying vehicles are being increasingly used in both civil and military areas. With the advancement of the technology it has become possible to test efficiently and cost-effectively different autonomous flight control concepts and design variations using small-scale aerial vehicles. In this paper the stabilization problem of the quad-rotor rotorcraft using bounded feedback controllers is investigated. Five different types of nonlinear feedback laws with saturation elements, previously proposed for global control of systems with multiple integrators, are applied and tested to control the quad-rotor rotorcraft roll and pitch angles. The results obtained from autonomous flight simulations and real time experiments with the Draganflyer V Ti four-rotor mini-rotorcraft are analyzed with respect to the structural simplicity of the control schemes and the transient performance of the closed-loop system.

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

unmanned aerial vehicles
quad-rotor rotorcraft
nonlinear control


On solving linear programs with the ordered weighted averaging objective The problem of aggregating multiple criteria to form overall objective functions is of considerable importance in many disciplines. The most commonly used aggregation is based on the weighted sum. The ordered weighted averaging (OWA) aggregation, introduced by Yager, uses the weights assigned to the ordered values (i.e. to the worst value, the second worst and so on) rather than to the specific criteria. This allows to model various aggregation preferences, preserving simultaneously the impartiality (neutrality) with respect to the individual criteria. In this paper we analyze solution procedures for linear programs with the OWA objective functions. Two alternative linear programming formulations are introduced and their computational efficiency is analyzed.

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

multiple criteria
ordered weighted averaging
linear programming


A local search method for periodic inventory routing problem A new mathematics model for a periodic IRP is formulated. Inventory cost is obtained by a novel method without referring to the inventory levels. A local search method without referring to the inventory level is proposed.

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 B I O O O O O O O O O


A Workflow-Oriented Framework-Driven Implementation and Local Adaptation of Clinical Information Systems A Case Study of Nursing Documentation System Implementation at a Tertiary Rehabilitation Hospital Health information systems are often designed and developed without integrating users' specific needs and preferences. This decreases the users' productivity, satisfaction, and acceptance of the system and increases the necessity for a local adaptation process to reduce the unwanted outcomes after implementation. A workflow-oriented framework developed in a previous study indicates that users' needs and preferences could be incorporated into the system when implementation follows the steps of the framework, eventually increasing satisfaction with and usefulness of the system. The overall goal of this study was to demonstrate application of the workflow-oriented framework to the implementation of a nursing documentation system at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. In this case study, we present specific steps of implementing and adapting a health information system at a local site and raise critical questions that need to be answered in each step based on the workflow-oriented framework.

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

framework
local adaptation
system implementation


Software chrestomathies Program versus software chrestomathies. Examples of software chrestomathies. Research challenges on software chrestomathies.

program chrestomathy
software chrestomathy
programming languages
software engineering
understanding software


An impulsive controlled eco-epidemic model with disease in the prey In this paper, we investigate the dynamic behavior of an eco-epidemic model with impulsive control strategy. By using Floquet theorem of impulsive differential equation, we show there is a globally stable prey eradication periodic solution when the impulsive period is less than some critical value. We study the permanence of the system. Numerical simulations show that the complex dynamics of the system depends on the values of impulsive period and impulsive perturbation, for example double period, triple period solutions.

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

impulsive control strategy
periodic solution
permanence


Shape from shading using graph cuts In this paper, we investigate the applicability of graph cuts to the SFS (shape-from-shading) problem. We propose a new semi-global method for SFS using graph cuts. The new algorithm combines the local method proposed by Lee and Rosenfeld [C.H. Lee, A. Rosenfeld, Improved methods of estimating shape from shading using the light source coordinate system, Artif. Intell. 26 (1985) 125143] and a global method using an energy minimization technique. By employing a new global energy minimization formulation, the convex/concave ambiguity problem of Lee and Rosenfeld's method can be resolved efficiently. A new combinatorial optimization technique, the graph cuts method, is used for the minimization of the proposed energy functional. Experimental results on a variety of synthetic and real-world images show that the proposed algorithm reconstructs the 3-D shape of objects very efficiently.

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


the concept of change in technology transfer In this paper we describe two case studies of technology transfer, both of which address the adoption of Extreme Programming, the most prevalent agile software development method. The first case takes place in an industrial setting; the second -- in academia. For the analysis of these cases, we use two concepts: a software development method lifestyle and the concept of change. We propose that these concepts, as well as a combination thereof, can serve as a framework within which change processes in general, and technology transfer events in particular, can be analyzed.

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

technology transfer
agile software development
change processes
extreme programming


Damping optimisation of hybrid activepassive sandwich composite structures Optimisation of active and passive damping is presented in this paper, using a new mixed layerwise finite element model developed for the analysis and optimisation of hybrid activepassive laminated sandwich plates. Optimisation is conducted through maximisation of modal loss factors, using as design variables the viscoelastic core thickness, the constraining elastic layers ply thicknesses and orientation angles, as well as the position of co-located sensor and actuator pairs. Optimal results for passive damping are compared with an alternative optimisation model, based on 3D finite elements included in commercial package ABAQUS. Optimal location for sensoractuator pairs is also presented and results are discussed.

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 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

sandwich structures
active damping
gradient optimisation
genetic algorithms
co-located control


An expert system for job matching of the unemployed This paper presents an expert system for evaluation of the unemployed at certain offered posts. The expert application uses Neuro-Fuzzy techniques for analyzing a corporate database of unemployed and enterprises profile data. The process of matching an unemployed with an offered job is performed through a Sugeno type Neuro-Fuzzy inference system. Large training sets of old historical records of unemployed (belonging to the same social class), rejected or approved at several posts, (provided by the Greek General Secretariat of Social Training) were used to define the weights of the system parameters. New instances of rejected or approved cases arriving become part of the training set. Retraining is performed after a standard amount of new cases available. The system output is a measure of the unemployed suitability for the certain job (evaluation mark).

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


Planning in domains with derived predicates through rule-action graphs and local search The ability to express derived predicates in the formalization of a planning domain is both practically and theoretically important. In this paper, we propose an approach to planning with derived predicates where the search space consists of "Rule-Action Graphs", particular graphs of actions and rules representing derived predicates. We propose some techniques for representing such rules and reasoning with them, which are integrated into a framework for planning through local search and rule-action graphs. We also present some heuristics for guiding the search of a rule-action graph representing a valid plan. Finally, we analyze our approach through an extensive experimental study aimed at evaluating the importance of some specific techniques for the performance of the approach. The results of our experiments also show that our planner performs quite well compared to other state-of-the-art planners handling derived predicates.

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

automated planning
domain-independent planning
efficient planning
heuristic search for planning


A framework of multilayer social networks for communication behavior with agent-based modeling Agent-based modeling and simulation play an important role in sociological analysis for complex phenomena. The social communication behaviors can be reproduced by interactive agents, who can behave like human beings. In this paper, we propose a simulation framework of multilayer social networks to model high-resolution interaction between agents. The agent model contains three components: social networks, a demographic-based population and a schedule-based behavior. A common description of multilayer heterogeneous networks is presented. To evaluate the performance of the proposed framework, we reproduce the transmission of influenza H1N1 in an artificial classroom, and compare the simulation results with a real outbreak of influenza H1N1 at one university in Langfang, 2009. The simulation results show high correlation between social networks and the transmission of influenza, and demonstrate that individual-based social network models can well reproduce and analyze complex interacting behavior. Furthermore, experiments under controlled conditions are carried out to analyze the sensitivity of alternative parameters. The framework is able to model high-resolution, social communications from multiple aspects.

O O O B I 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 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

multilayer social networks
communication behavior

agent-based modeling
influenza transmission


soundscapes

The

inspiration

for

this

work

is

loosely

based

on

Aboriginal

creation

myths,

which

told

of

legendary

totemic

beings

who

wandered

over

the

continent

in

the

Dreamtime,

singing

out

the

names

of

everything

that

crossed

their

path

birds,

animals,

plants

rocks

etc.

and

so

singing

the

world

into

existence.Soundscapes

is

a

contemporary

exploration

of

this

theme,

by

re-synthesising

and

giving

voice

to

images

of

the

environments

within

which

we

exist,

the

open

landscapes,

cityscapes

and

urban

sprawls

the

work

re-interprets

our

surroundings

through

the

generation

of

sound.Soundscapes

consists

of

a

database

(catalogue)

of

looped

moving

image

sequences

of

ten

second

durations

that

can

be

selected

and

onto

which

are

superimposed

five

moveable

'targets'

whose

velocity

and

location

can

be

controlled

by

the

user.

As

these

targets

scan

across

the

image,

data

is

collected

from

the

colour,

tonality

and

patterns

of

the

underlying

image

information

and

used

within

sound

generation

and

compositional

algorithms,

so

creating

the

interactive

soundscape.Soundscapes

generates

its

own

compositions

in

real-time

in

conjunction

with

the

image

data

that

is

being

processed,

as

opposed

to

using

pre-recorded

or

sampled

sounds.

Soundscapes

also

processes

the

selected

image

data

in

real-time

and

applies

a

compositional

strategy

(algorithm)

or

'mood'

that

has

been

chosen

by

the

user.

These

moods

therefore

form

the

basic

building

blocks

of

the

work

and

can

vary

considerably

from

simple

melodic

forms

and

natural

sounds

to

abrupt

discordant

passages

that

have

little

relationship

to

classical

music

scales,

harmony

or

melody.

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

interactive art
generative sound
real-time composition
experimental


Intrinsically motivating employees online knowledge sharing: Understanding the effects of job design Job characteristics influence intrinsic motivation through affective commitment. Skill variety has an n-shaped curvilinear effect. Job autonomy, task feedback, and task significance have a positive linear effect. Managers can intrinsically motivate employees knowledge sharing through job design.

O O O B I I 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

online knowledge sharing
intrinsic motivation
affective commitment