Research on data mining and knowledge management and its applications in China's economic development: Significance and trend From 1978 to 2004, China's GDP growth rate has been 9.4% annually. In 2005, China's GDP growth rate was 9.9%, which at $2,278 billion currently is ranked number four in the world. This paper discusses the significance of transforming research findings in data mining and knowledge management (DMKM) to support China's economic development as well as the trend of DMKM applications in China. It first reviews development of DTKM in international communities and industries, which includes academic activities and business applications tools. Second, this paper outlines the significance and needs of DTKM in China's economic development, as to promote further DMKM research, innovatively produce new business intelligence tools, and effectively adopt existing commercial software packages. Finally, the paper observes some problems and challenges of using DMKM to support China's economy.

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


On circulant thin Lehman matrices The class of Lehman matrices is a key structure of characterization of minimally non-ideal clutters. The notion of \(1\)-overlapped factorizations of cyclic groups produces an infinite family of circulant thin Lehman matrices. In this paper, we prove essential properties of the \(1\)-overlapped factorizations of cyclic groups and completely determine the shapes of circulant thin Lehman matrices with small constant line sum, which solves the ideal counterpart of the so-called Grinsteads conjecture for the circulant partitionable graphs in this case.

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

thin lehman matrix
\(1\)-overlapped factorization
cyclic group


fca-based approach for mining contextualized folksonomy We present a novel approach to build the contextualized folksonomy and concept hieracrhies from tags of blogosphere based on Formal Concept Analysis. Our approach is based on the assumption that if a blog has the relationships with others, they would use the similar set of tags. We collect the sample data from blogosphere randomly and then build the concept hierarchies on the basis of the inclusion relations(tags) between the extensions(bloggers). We propose the formalization of the contextualized folksonomy in terms of Formal Concept Analysis and show how our approach can be used to create the contextualized folksonmy for blogosphere. We evaluate our approach by considering an already existing tags of blogosphere.

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


Characterization of polyhedron monotonicity The notion of polygon monotonicity has been well researched to be used as an important property for various geometric problems. This notion can be more extended for categorizing the boundary shapes of polyhedrons, but it has not been explored enough yet. This paper characterizes three types of polyhedron monotonicity: strong-, weak-, and directional-monotonicity: (Toussaint, 1985). We reexamine the three types of polyhedron monotonicity by relating them with 3D manufacturing problems, and present their formulation with geometric problems on the sphere.

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

3d manufacturability
strongly-monotone
weakly-monotone
directionally-monotone


how much power oversubscription is safe and allowed in data centers Data centers attempt to maximize return on investment by achieving high levels of utilization. This means deploying the maximum number of servers possible within existing power supply capabilities. Therefore, a key problem is determining how many servers can be safely accommodated. Recently, a variety of power capping solutions have been proposed to safely allow oversubscription of available power, but they conservatively assume that peak power should never exceed the rated power distribution equipment capacity. Hence, the open question is: how much power oversubscription is indeed safe? In this paper, we focus on data center branch circuits and systematically study the tripping characteristics of their circuit breakers (CBs). Our results on a physical testbed show that instantaneous violations of the rated CB power limit are not necessarily fatal because CBs are designed to sustain a certain amount of power overload. Whether a CB trips or not depends primarily on the transient behaviors of a power overload, such as the magnitude and duration time, as well as ambient temperature. We propose two adaptive power control strategies that utilize the CB tripping characteristics to aggressively optimize the system performance without causing the CB to trip. Our extensive hardware results with SPEC CPU2006, SPECJBB, and LINPACK benchmarks show that the proposed CB-aware power control solutions achieve 38\%, 75\%, and 68\% better average performance, respectively, than a state-of-the-art baseline. A key contribution of our work is to provide a practical upper bound of the server power oversubscription allowed on branch circuits. As a result, our solutions allow a data center to host three times more servers than traditional static power provisioning schemes and 54\% more servers than the current power capping practice.

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

power provisioning
power capping
power oversubscription
data center


Interpretation of inequality constraints involving interval coefficients and a solution to interval linear programming The modem trend in Operations Research methodology deserves modelling of all relevant vague or uncertain information involved in a real decision problem. Generally, vagueness is modelled by a fuzzy approach and uncertainty by a stochastic approach. In some cases, a decision maker may prefer using interval numbers as coefficients of an inexact relationship. As a coefficient an interval assumes an extent of tolerance or a region that the parameter can possibly take. However, its use in the optimization problems is not much attended as it merits. This paper defines an interval linear programming problem as an extension of the classical linear programming problem to an inexact environment. On the basis of a comparative study on ordering interval numbers, inequality constraints involving interval coefficients are reduced in their satisfactory crisp equivalent forms and a satisfactory solution of the problem is defined. A numerical example is also given. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

interval number
inequality relation
mathematical programming


Automating the implementation of Kalman filter algorithms AUTOFILTER is a tool that generates implementations that solve state estimation problems using Kalman filters. From a high-level, mathematics-based description of a state estimation problem, AUTOFILTER automatically generates code that computes a statistically optimal estimate using one or more of a number of well-known variants of the Kalman filter algorithm. The problem description may be given in terms of continuous or discrete, linear or nonlinear process and measurement dynamics. From this description, AUTOFILTER automates many common solution methods (e.g., linearization, discretization) and generates C or Matlab code fully automatically. AUTOFILTER surpasses toolkit-based programming approaches for Kalman filters because it requires no low-level programming skills (e.g., to "glue" together library function calls). AUTOFILTER raises the level of discourse to the mathematics of the problem at hand rather than the details of what algorithms, data structures, optimizations and so on are required to implement it. An overview of AUTOFILTER is given along with an example of its practical application to deep space attitude estimation.

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

algorithm
kalman filters
state estimation


The stochastic stability and bifurcation behavior of an Internet congestion control model A stochastic differential equation modeling an Internet congestion control model is investigated. By analyzing the Lyapunov exponent, invariant measure and singular boundary theory, some new criteria ensuring stochastic stability and bifurcation are obtained. Numerical simulation results are given to support the theoretical predictions. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

stochastic stability
lyapunov exponent
invariant measure
internet congestion control model


Design of a linkless hyper-redundant manipulator and composite shape memory alloy actuator The design of a linkless hyper-redundant miniature manipulator driven by high-strain shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators is the focus of this research. The manipulator is composed of four identical modules connected in series, each providing three degrees of freedom from three symmetrically positioned actuators. The manipulator is withheld by the action of a positive air-pressure flow injected at the base of the manipulator. The internal pressure gives the manipulator its stiffness, provides the return force required by die SMA actuators, and, to a certain extent, acts as a coolant during post-actuation. High strain rates are achieved by submitting the SMA material to bending stress rather than pure tension. The controller is designed on the basis of the principle of binary actuation, which eliminates the need for sensing equipment and feedback control. The compliant nature of the manipulator and its lightweight construction enable the manipulator to perform complex tasks in constrained environments.

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

hyper-redundant manipulator
pneumatic structure


An analytical approach for design and performance evaluation of torsion beam rear suspension Torsion beam rear suspension systems have been widely used in small passenger cars owing to their compactness, light weight, and cost efficiency. To study the roll behavior of torsion beam suspension systems, analytical equations to obtain roll center height, roll steer, and roll camber have been developed in terms of geometry points through the kinematic consideration of the system on the assumption of rigid body motion. In most cases, commercial software for finite element methods or experimental equations for individual parts are utilized for the design and evaluation of the suspension systems. This paper, however, proposes an analytical method to calculate the torsional stiffness of a torsion beam for various loading conditions based on the assumption that a torsion beam is in the range of linear torsional angles with a constant cross section. The proposed method is useful for exploring suspension system design, especially in the early stage of vehicle system development in which detail design parameters such as layout, cross sections, and materials are not yet determined. It is shown that the torsional stiffness and roll stiffness predicted using the proposed method has sufficient precision with around four percent difference from the results of finite element analysis and bench tests.

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

rear suspension
torsion beam
roll steer
roll camber
roll center height
roll stiffness

section profile
shear center
warping constant


Learning Query-Specific Distance Functions for Large-Scale Web Image Search Current Google image search adopt a hybrid search approach in which a text-based query (e. g., "Paris landmarks") is used to retrieve a set of relevant images, which are then refined by the user (e. g., by re-ranking the retrieved images based on similarity to a selected example). We conjecture that given such hybrid image search engines, learning per-query distance functions over image features can improve the estimation of image similarity. We propose scalable solutions to learning query-specific distance functions by 1) adopting a simple large-margin learning framework, 2) using the query-logs of text-based image search engine to train distance functions used in content-based systems. We evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of our proposed system through comprehensive human evaluation, and compare the results with the state-of-the-art image distance function used by Google image search.

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

image processing
content based retrieval
search engine
distance learning.


A variant of Digital Signature Algorithm In this paper we present a variant of the Digital Signature Algorithm based on a factorization problem and two discrete logarithm problems. We prove that our signature scheme is at least as secure as the original Digital Signature Algorithm and withstands all known attacks.

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

digital signature algorithm
discrete logarithm
factorization

public key cryptography
elgamal signature


An efficient rearrangement of wavelet packet coefficients for embedded image coding based on SPIHT algorithm In this paper, we propose an efficient method for rearranging the wavelet packet coefficients of an image to form hierarchical trees, by which the well known SPIHT. algorithm can be applied. For images with textures, the high frequency wavelet coefficients are likely to become significant after several code passes of SPIHT, which degrades substantially the coding performance. As a result, the high frequency wavelet coefficients representing most of the high detail content of images need to be decomposed into wavelet packet coefficients for a further exploitation. The proposed rearrangement scheme has been applied to the highest frequency wavelet packet coefficients of images. Experimental results show that the performance of SPIHT can be improved, especially for fingerprint images.

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


A new modeling interface for the pen-input displays Sketch interactions based on interpreting multiple pen markings into a 3D shape is easy to design but not to use. First of all, it is difficult for the user to memorize a complete set of pen markings for a certain 3D shape. Secondly, the system will be waiting for the user to complete the sequence of the pen markings, often causing a certain mode error. To address these problems, we present a novel, interaction framework, suitable for interpretations based on single-stroke marking on pen-input display; within this framework 3D shape modeling operations are designed to create appropriate communication protocols.

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


coverage of course topics in a student generated mcq repository A recent approach to engaging students in deep learning involves an online tool, PeerWise, through which students contribute multiple-choice questions to a shared question bank. Earlier work demonstrated a strong correlation between the use of PeerWise and student performance. In this study we investigate the quality of the MCQ repository created by students in an introductory programming course by analysing the range of topics on which students chose to write questions (i.e.~the repository coverage) without guidance from an instructor. We assess the repository coverage by comparing it with a common list of typical introductory programming topics, and by looking at its extent. We find that, despite having freedom to choose any topic, students created a repository that covered all the major topics in the curriculum.

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

question test bank
peer assessment
contributing student
topic coverage
automated


Robust state estimation for discrete-time neural networks with mixed time-delays, linear fractional uncertainties and successive packet dropouts This paper is concerned with the robust state estimation problem for a class of discrete-time delayed neural networks with linear fractional uncertainties (LFUs) and successive packet dropouts (SPDs). The mixed time delays (MTDs) consisting of both discrete time-delays and infinite distributed delays enter into the model of the addressed neural networks. A Bernoulli distributed white sequence with a known conditional probability is introduced to govern the random occurrence of the SPDs. The main purpose of the problem under consideration is to design a state estimator such that the dynamics of the estimation error is globally asymptotically stable in the mean square. By using stochastic analysis and Lyapunov stability theory, the desired state estimator is designed to be robust against LFUs and SPDs. Finally, a simulation example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed state estimator design scheme.

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

neural networks
state estimation
successive packet dropouts
mixed time delays

fractional uncertainty
global asymptotic stability


Using Bayesian network on network tomography Network tomography aims to obtain link-level performance characteristics, such as loss rate and average delay on each link, by end-to-end measurement. The obtained information can help us to understand the dynamic nature of networks. A number of methods have been proposed in recent years, which can be divided into two classes: multicast-based and unicast-based. In this paper, we propose an approach in the multicast class that uses the Bayesian network to carry out statistical inference. Simulations based on the network simulator 2 (ns2) were conducted, which shows our approach produced almost identical result as that produced by the. maximum likelihood estimator previous proposed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

network tomography
statistical inference


Genetic algorithm hybridized with ruin and recreate procedure: application to the quadratic assignment problem Genetic algorithms (GAs) are among the widely used in various areas of computer science, including optimization problems. In this paper, we propose a GA hybridized with so-called ruin and recreate (R and R) procedure. We have applied this new hybrid strategy to the well-known combinatorial optimization problem, the quadratic assignment problem (QAP). The results obtained from the experiments on different QAP instances show that the proposed algorithm belongs to the best heuristics for the QAP. The power of this algorithm is also demonstrated by the fact that the new best known solutions were found for several QAP instances.

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

genetic algorithms
optimization
quadratic assignment problem


Optimizing Pairwise Box Intersection Checking on GPUs for Large-Scale Simulations Box intersection checking is a common task used in many large-scale simulations. Traditional methods cannot provide fast box intersection checking with large-scale datasets. This article presents a parallel algorithm to perform Pairwise Box Intersection checking on Graphics processing units (PBIG). The PBIG algorithm consists of three phases: planning, mapping and checking. The planning phase partitions the space into small cells, the sizes of which are determined to optimize performance. The mapping phase maps the boxes into the cells. The checking phase examines the box intersections in the same cell. Several performance optimizations, including load-balancing, output data compression/encoding, and pipelined execution, are presented for the PBIG algorithm. The experimental results show that the PBIG algorithm can process large-scale datasets and outperforms three well-performing algorithms.

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

box intersection checking
pipelined execution


Information-seeking trends of medical professionals and students from middle-income countries: a focus on the Philippines Increased emphasis has been given to the practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM) worldwide. Access to quality health information is essential to the practice of EBM in developing countries.

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

information seeking behaviour
doctors
asia
south east
medline


Feature selection in independent component subspace for microarray data classification A novel method for microarray data classification is proposed in this letter. In this scheme, the sequential floating forward selection (SFFS) technique is used to select the independent components of the DNA microarray data for classification. Experimental results show that the method is efficient and feasible.

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

independent component analysis (ica)
support vector machines (svm)
gene expression data


Fast neural network surrogates for very high dimensional physics-based models in computational oceanography We present neural network surrogates that provide extremely fast and accurate emulation of a large-scale circulation model for the coupled Columbia River, its estuary and near ocean regions. The circulation model has O(107) O ( 10 7 ) degrees of freedom, is highly nonlinear and is driven by ocean, atmospheric and river influences at its boundaries. The surrogates provide accurate emulation of the full circulation code and run over 1000 times faster. Such fast dynamic surrogates will enable significant advances in ensemble forecasts in oceanography and weather.

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

fast neural network dynamic surrogates
high-dimensional time series prediction
physics-based models
data assimilation
river estuary modelling


State-space mixing cell model of unsteady solute transport in unsaturated soil This state-space model enables application of stochastic linear systems theory to solute transport in soil. A series of mixing cells models one-dimensional, vertical, advective-dispersive transport. Cumulative soil water drainage is the index variable for application to unsteady flow in unsaturated soil. For each cell, solute transfer between mobile and immobile soil water, as well as equilibrium and non-equilibrium linear adsorption, are represented as lumped processes by two fractions linked by rate-limited transfer. Plant uptake of solutes is treated as an unknown disturbance. For a uniform soil, the model has four parameters and can be described in MATLAB(R) with about 10 lines of code. This software library is used to produce the discrete form of the model, which is unconditionally stable for any drainage interval, as well as to implement state estimation and control algorithms. The model is demonstrated with breakthrough curve data of N-15, Br-, and S-35 leached from an undisturbed field soil under pasture receiving rainfall and irrigation. Process knowledge is combined with estimates of measurement and process uncertainty, by means of the Kalman filter, to forecast the response of S-35 to the solute pulse application, beyond the available data record. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

solute transport
mixing cell
control
kalman filter


Investigations of three-dimensional flow characteristics in a liquid ramjet combustor using the PIV method Three-dimensional flow characteristics in a liquid fuel ramjet combustor were investigated using the PIV method. The combustor had two rectangular inlets that form a 90-degree angle with each other, with intake angles of 30 degrees. Three guide vanes were installed in each rectangular inlet to improve flow stability. The experiments were performed in a water tunnel test with the same Reynolds number as Mach 0.3 at the inlet. PIV software was developed to measure the characteristics of the flow field in the combustor. Accuracy of the developed PIV program was verified with a rotating disk experiment and standard data. The experimental results showed that the two main streams from the rectangular intakes collided near the plane of symmetry and generated two large longitudinal vortices, which was in agreement with three dimensional computational results. A large and complex three-dimensional recirculating flow was measured behind the intakes.

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


Optimal scheduling for data transmission between mobile devices and cloud Mobile cloud computing has emerged as a new computing paradigm promising to extend the capabilities of resource-constrained mobile devices. In this new paradigm, mobile devices are enabled to offload computing tasks, report sensing records, and store large files on the cloud through wireless networks. Therefore, efficient data transmission has become an important issue affecting user experiences on mobile cloud. Considering the limited battery energy of mobile devices and different application requirements on transmission delay, this study presents an online control algorithm (OPERA) based on the Lyapunov optimization theory for optimally scheduling data transmission between mobile devices and cloud. The OPERA algorithm is able to make control decisions on application scheduling, interface selection and packet dropping to minimize a joint utility of network energy cost and packet dropping penalty, without requiring any statistical information of traffic arrivals and link throughputs. Rigorous analysis and extensive simulations have demonstrated its distinguished performance in terms of utility optimality, system stability and service delay.

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 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

mobile cloud computing
lyapunov optimization

energy efficiency
dynamic scheduling
queue stability


The use of features selection and nearest neighbors rule for faults diagnostic in induction motors This paper deals with the diagnosis of induction motors by pattern recognition methods. The objective is to use existing theories to improve the diagnosis procedures in electrical engineering. First of all, a single signature is determined to monitor several different operating modes. For this purpose, features are extracted from the combination of the stator currents and voltages. Then, the sequential backward algorithm is applied in order to select the most relevant features. The classification is performed by the k-nearest neighbors rule with reject options. The methodology is applied on a 5.5kW motor in normal conditions, then with stator and rotor faults. The experimental results prove the efficiency of pattern recognition methods in condition monitoring of electrical machines.

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


Peer-to-peer service provisioning in cloud computing environments This paper aims to advance the management and delivery of services in large, heterogeneous, uncertain, and evolving cloud computing environments. The goal is important because such systems are becoming increasingly popular, yet existing service management methods do not scale well, and nor do they perform well under highly unpredictable conditions. If these problems can be solved, then Information Technology (IT) services can be made to operate in more scalable and reliable manner. In this paper, we present a peer-to-peer approach for managing services in large scale, dynamic, and evolving cloud computing environments. The system components such as virtualized services, computing servers, storage, and databases self-organize themselves using a peer-to-peer networking overlay. Inter-networking system components through peer-to-peer routing and information dissemination structure is essential to avoid the problems of management bottleneck and single point of failure that is predominantly associated with traditional centralized and hierarchical distributed (grids/clouds) system design approaches. We have validated our approach by conducting a set of rigorous performance evaluation study using the Amazon EC2 cloud computing environment. The results prove that managing services based on peer-to-peer routing and information dissemination structure is feasible and offers significant performance benefits as regards to overall system reliability, scalability, and self-management.

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


A low-cost fault-tolerant structure for the hypercube We propose a new, low-cost fault-tolerant structure for the hypercube that employs spare processors and extra links. The target of the proposed structure is to fully tolerate the first faulty node, no matter where it occurs, and "almost fully" tolerate the second, meaning that the underlying hypercube topology can be resumed if the second faulty node occurs at most locations-expectantly 92% of locations. The unique features of our structure are that (1) it utilizes the unused extra link-ports in the processor nodes of the hypercube to obtain the proposed topology, so that minimum extra hardware is needed in constructing the fault-tolerant structure and (2) the structure's node-degrees are low as desired-the primary and spare nodes all have node-degrees of n + 2 for an n-dimensional hypercube. The number of spare nodes is one fourth of primary nodes. The reconfiguration algorithm in the presence of faults is elegant and efficient. The proposed structure also effectively enhances the diagnosability of the hypercube system. It is shown that the diagnosability of the structure is increased to n + 2, whereas an ordinary n-dimensional hypercube has diagnosability n.

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

fault tolerance
hypercubes
interconnection networks
redundant systems


One-Class Support Vector Ensembles for Image Segmentation and Classification This paper presents an extension of the one-class support vector machines (OC-SVM) into an ensemble of soft OC-SVM classifiers. The idea consists in prior clustering of the input data with a kernel version of the deterministically annealed fuzzy c-means. This way partitioned data is trained with a number of soft OC-SVM classifiers which allow weight assignment to each of the training data. Weights are obtained from the cluster membership values, computed in the kernel fuzzy c-means. The method was designed and tested mostly in the tasks of image classification and segmentation, although it can be used for other one-class problems.

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

one-class support vector machine
kernel methods
ensemble of classifiers


A field-of-view generation algorithm using neural network In various works using vision system, if a field of view (FOV) of CCD camera cannot cover overall working area on a table or a floor, the overall working area must be divided into several areas whose sizes equal that of FOV. In this study, an effective FOV generation algorithm in which FOV is automatically made is proposed for vision system. Instead of existing sequential FOV generation method, we propose a new FOV generation method by using newly modified self-organizing map (SOM) which has multiple structure based on SOM of neural network and uses new training rule by introducing the movement, creation and deletion terms. In consequence of real experiment, we show that the proposed algorithm is able to decrease the number of created FOVs about 10% more than the existing sequential algorithm. This result is acquired by which the proposed algorithm minimizes overlaps between FOVs, assigns optimal positions of FOVs and eliminates the unnecessary FOVs. Consequently, as the number of FOVs decreases, we have been able to diminish the total working time using vision system. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

field of view
vision system
neural network

self-organizing map
solder joint inspection


A new numerical strategy with space-time adaptivity and error control for multi-scale streamer discharge simulations This paper presents a new resolution strategy for multi-scale streamer discharge simulations based on a second order time adaptive integration and space adaptive multiresolution. A classical fluid model is used to describe plasma discharges, considering drift-diffusion equations and the computation of electric field. The proposed numerical method provides a time-space accuracy control of the solution, and thus, an effective accurate resolution independent of the fastest physical time scale. An important improvement of the computational efficiency is achieved whenever the required time steps go beyond standard stability constraints associated with mesh size or source time scales for the resolution of the drift-diffusion equations, whereas the stability constraint related to the dielectric relaxation time scale is respected but with a second order precision. Numerical illustrations show that the strategy can be efficiently applied to simulate the propagation of highly nonlinear ionizing waves as streamer discharges, as well as highly multi-scale nanosecond repetitively pulsed discharges, describing consistently a broad spectrum of space and time scales as well as different physical scenarios for consecutive discharge/post-discharge phases, out of reach of standard non-adaptive methods. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

time adaptive integration
space adaptive multiresolution
error control


coping with errors in binary search procedures (preliminary report) We consider the problem of identifying an unknown value x&egr;{1,2,...,n} using only comparisons of x to constants when as many as E of 'the comparisons may receive erroneous answers. For a continuous analogue of this problem we show that there is a unique strategy that is optimal in the worst case. This strategy for the continuous problem is then shown to yield a strategy for the original discrete problem that uses log 2 n+E.log 2 log 2 n+O(E.log 2 E) comparisons in the worst case. This number is shown to be optimal even if arbitrary Yes-No questions are allowed. We show that a modified version of this search problem with errors is equivalent to the problem of finding the minimal root of a set of increasing functions. The modified version is then also shown to be of complexity log 2 n+E.log 2 log 2 n+0(E.log 2 E).

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

yield value version case complexity errors minimal search

strategies optimality continuation procedure


An integrated data mining and behavioral scoring model for analyzing bank customers Analyzing bank databases for customer behavior management is difficult since bank databases are multi-dimensional, comprised of monthly account records and daily transaction records. This study proposes an integrated data mining and behavioral scoring model to manage existing credit card customers in a bank. A self-organizing map neural network was used to identify groups of customers based on repayment behavior and recency, frequency, monetary behavioral scoring predicators. It also classified bank customers into three major profitable groups of customers. The resulting groups of customers were then profiled by customer's feature attributes determined using an Apriori association rule inducer. This study demonstrates that identifying customers by a behavioral scoring model is helpful characteristics of customer and facilitates marketing strategy development.

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

data mining
behavioral scoring model
neural network
association rule


Finite-dimensional dynamics of distributed optical systems with delayed feedback A mathematical approach for evaluation the complexity of spatio-temporal dynamics for delayed feedback optical systems is suggested, It is based on the concept of global attractor For discrete semigroups. Both the retarded differential-difference and retarded diffusion models of feedback optical systems are similarly investigated. Upper estimates for the number of determining modes and Hausdorff dimension of attractors are obtained. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

nonlinear optical systems
delay
retarded differential equations


determining activity patterns in retail spaces through video analysis Retail establishments want to know about traffic flow and patterns of activity in order to better arrange and staff their business. A large number of fixed video cameras are commonly installed at these locations. While they can be used to observe activity in the retail environment, assigning personnel to this is too time consuming to be valuable for retail analysis. We have developed video processing and visualization techniques that generate presentations appropriate for examining traffic flow and changes in activity at different times of the day. Taking the results of video tracking software as input, our system aggregates activity in different regions of the area being analyzed, determines the average speed of moving objects in the region, and segments time based on significant changes in the quantity and/or location of activity. Visualizations present the results as heat maps to show activity and object counts and average velocities overlaid on the map of the space.

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

video surveillance
activity segmentation
multiple security cameras


Fuzzy set-based methods in instance-based reasoning A formal framework of instance-based prediction is presented in which the generalization beyond experience is founded on the concepts of similarity and possibility. The underlying extrapolation principle is formalized within the framework of fuzzy rules. Thus, instance-based reasoning can be realized as fuzzy set-based approximate reasoning. More precisely, our model makes use of so-called possibility rules. These rules establish a relation between the concepts of similarity and possibility, which takes the uncertain character of similarity-based inference into account: Inductive inference is possibilistic in the sense that predictions take the form of possibility distributions on the set of outcomes, rather than precise (deterministic) estimations. The basic model is extended by means of fuzzy set-based modeling techniques. This extension provides the basis for incorporating domain-specific (expert) knowledge. Thus, our approach favors a view of instance-based reasoning according to which the user interacts closely with the system.

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

instance-based reasoning
linguistic modeling
possibility theory


The Small Octagons of Maximal Width The paper answers an open problem introduced by Bezdek and Fodor (Arch. Math. 74:75-80, 2000). The width of any unit-diameter octagon is shown to be less than or equal to and there are infinitely many small octagons having this optimal width. The proof combines geometric and analytical reasoning as well as the use of a recent version of the deterministic and reliable global optimization code IBBA based on interval and affine arithmetics. The code guarantees a certified numerical accuracy of .

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


Macrophages, Oxidation, and Endometriosis Retrograde menstruation has been suggested to be the cause for the presence of endometrial cells in the peritoneal cavity. However, little is known about the events that lead to the adhesion and growth of these cells that ultimately result in endometriosis, considering the fact that the disease occurs only in certain women despite the common occurrence of retrograde menstruation in most women. We postulate that, in normal women, the endometrial cells and tissue that arrive in the peritoneal cavity during menstruation are effectively removed by macrophages that are chemoattracted and become resident tissue macrophages in the peritoneal cavity. In contrast, the peritoneal macrophages in women with endometriosis are nonadherent and ineffectively scavenged, resulting in the sustained presence and growth of the endometrial cells. We also postulate that the peritoneal fluid is not a passive reservoir of the factors secreted by cells of the peritoneum, but actively promotes endometriosis. The peritoneal fluid is rich in lipoproteins, particularly low-density lipoprotein, which generates oxidized lipid components in a macrophage-rich inflammatory milieu. The oxidants exacerbate the growth of endometriosis by inducing chemoattractants such as MCP-1 and endometrial cell growth-promoting activity. We provide evidence for the presence of oxidative milieu in the peritoneal cavity of women with endometriosis, the nonscavenging properties of macrophages that are nonadherent, and the synergistic interaction between macrophages, oxidative stress, and the endometrial cells. For example, the peritoneal fluid lipoproteins of subjects with endometriosis have increased the propensity to undergo oxidation as compared with plasma lipoproteins, and the subjects also have increased titer of autoantibodies to oxidatively modified proteins. If the oxidative proinflammatory nature of the peritoneal fluid is an important mediator of endometriosis growth, anti-inflammatory agents and antioxidants might afford protection against endometriosis.

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

macrophages
oxidation
endometriosis
endometrial cells
lipoproteins
peritoneal fluid


Comparison of eigenvector methods with classical and model-based methods in analysis of internal carotid arterial Doppler signals Doppler ultrasound is known as a reliable technique, which demonstrates the flow characteristics and resistance of arteries in various vascular disease. In this study, internal carotid arterial Doppler signals recorded from 105 subjects were processed by PC-computer using classical, model-based, and eigenvector methods. The classical method (fast Fourier transform), two model-based methods (Burg autoregressive, least-squares modified Yule-Walker autoregressive moving average methods), and three eigenvector methods (Pisarenko, multiple signal classification, and Minimum-Norm methods) were selected for processing internal carotid arterial Doppler signals. Doppler power spectra of internal carotid arterial Doppler signals were obtained using these spectrum analysis techniques. The variations in the shape of the Doppler power spectra were examined in order to obtain medical information. These power spectra were then used to compare the applied methods in terms of their frequency resolution and the effects in determination of stenosis and occlusion in internal carotid arteries.

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

doppler signal
spectral analysis
power spectral density
internal carotid artery


Development of a knowledge management initiative and system: A case study As knowledge emerges as the primary strategic resource in the 21st century, many firms in the manufacturing and service sectors alike are beginning to introduce and implement Knowledge Management (KM). Organisations can certainly benefit from its application for enhanced decision support, efficiency and innovation, thus helping them to realise their strategic mission. However, KM is an emerging paradigm, and not many organisations have a clear idea of how to proceed with it. This paper presents the results of a case study conducted in one company in the United Kingdom (UK), the major aim being to identify how it has developed a KM initiative and system. Hopefully, the information extracted from this study will be beneficial to other organisations that are attempting to implement KM or to those that are in the throes of adopting it.

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 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 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


The Fencing Issue Relative to the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Certain livestock diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, such as foot-and-mouth disease are difficult to control because of the large numbers of infected wildlife hosts. These wildlife disease reservoirs form a continuous hazard of transmittal of the diseases to domestic livestock, which limits the access of livestock products from southern Africa to international markets. The disease reservoirs are often found in border areas between countries with susceptible species and infected reservoir animals continuously crossing the border. A regional approach to disease control is probably the only way to achieve any real progress. Here we review the positive and negative attributes of fencing as a control mechanism for disease transmission.

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

foot-and-mouth disease (fmd)
cape buffalo
wildlife in southern africa
livestock in southern africa


An integrated 10 GHz low-noise phase-locked loop with improved PVT tolerance An integrated phase-locked loop (PLL) with low phase noise is presented, which is robust with respect to variations of device parameters with process, supply voltage, and temperature (PVT). The low-noise CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) employs two varactors for fine and coarse tuning. By using a CMOS charge pump with output biasing, the dc fine tuning voltage of the VCO and the loop dynamics of the PLL are well defined and fairly independent of PVT variations. Device noise in the charge pump and linearity of the phase detector are much improved by a two-transistor charge pump architecture for fine tuning. We measured a phase noise below -131 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz offset and below -94 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset over a tuning range of 1.2 GHz. An integrated phase error below 0.6A degrees was measured, corresponding to an rms jitter below 160 fs. The chip was produced in a 0.25 mu m low-cost SiGe BiCMOS technology, occupies a chip area of 2.25 mm(2) and draws 60 mA from a 3 V supply.

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

phase noise
charge pump
cmos
bicmos
pvt tolerance

phase-locked loop
frequency synthesizer
satellite communications


Fault detection and diagnosis of diesel engine valve trains Accurate results are produced for fault scenarios not previously studied. Nave-Bayes classification method produced the best overall performance. We introduce a novel feature for quantifying the valve and combustion impacts. Combinations of valve spring and clearance faults are investigated experimentally. We develop a fault detection and diagnosis system for diesel engine valve trains.

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

diagnostics of mechanical systems
engine fault diagnosis
signal processing
condition monitoring
automotive research


Aligning Two Convex Figures to Minimize Area or Perimeter Given two compact convex sets P and Q in the plane, we consider the problem of finding a placement I center dot P of P that minimizes the convex hull of I center dot Pa(a)Q. We study eight versions of the problem: we consider minimizing either the area or the perimeter of the convex hull; we either allow I center dot P and Q to intersect or we restrict their interiors to remain disjoint; and we either allow reorienting P or require its orientation to be fixed. In the case without reorientations, we achieve exact near-linear time algorithms for all versions of the problem. In the case with reorientations, we compute a (1+epsilon)-approximation in time O(epsilon (-1/2)log n+epsilon (-3/2)log (a) (1/epsilon)) if the two sets are convex polygons with n vertices in total, where aa{0,1,2} depending on the version of the problem.

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


Graph-reduction algorithm for finding shortest path in Geographic Information Systems Geographic Information Systems are computer systems that are used to store and manipulate information closely related to its geographical position. This technology has developed so rapidly in the past two decades that is already accepted as an essential tool for effective use of such information. An application of Geographic Information System is the shortest path search between two locations. The problem solved in this paper is to present a road network of a map (all objects) through a graph for subsequente network analysis, specifically for finding the shortest path and respond quickly to the users. We propose an algorithm for reducing a graph and an algorithm for searching shortest path in the reduced graph by the proposed algorithm. These results can be subsequently applied to Geographic Information Systems.

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

shortest path problem
network theory (graphs)
graph grammars
graph reduction


Estimating the relative contribution of dNTP pool imbalance and APOBEC3G/3F editing to HIV evolution in vivo The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has a genome that is rich in adenine, and its rapid evolution shows an observed bias of guanine (G) to adenine (A) mutations. Two mechanisms have been proposed to explain these properties: (1) an imbalance in dNTP pool concentrations which drives the misincorporation process during reverse transcription, and (2) cytidine deamination by the APOBEC3G/3F restriction factor, causing G to A mutations most notably in specific dinucleotide contexts. Although crucial to understanding HIV evolution, current estimates on misincorporation bias during the replication cycle are based on scarce in vitro measurements. In this work, HIV partial pol sequences obtained for drug resistance testing purposes are analyzed using likelihood methods to estimate various models of HIV misincorporation bias in vivo. The technique is robust to selection on the amino acid sequence and selection against CpG dinucleotides. A model where misincorporations are explained only by an imbalance in dNTP pool concentrations, together with a preference for transitions versus transversions, explained 98% (95% confidence interval [C.I.] 93-100) of the observed variation in freely estimated misincorporation rates. Although dinucleotide context was responsible for variation in misincorporation probabilities, this variation was not specific for G to A mutations implying that the footprint of APOBEC3G/3F editing could not be detected. These results indicate that an imbalance in dNTP pool concentrations explains most of the bias in HIV nucleotide misincorporations, while the effect of editing by APOBEC3G/3F on HIV evolution, based on its dinucleotide specificity, could not be observed in this study.

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


How much of the global information and communication explosion is driven by more, and how much by better technology? Technological change in the digital age is a combination of both more and better technology. This work quantifies how much of the technologically-mediated information and communication explosion during the period of digitization (19862007) was driven by the deployment of additional technological devices, and how much by technological progress in hardware and software. We find that technological progress has contributed between two to six times more than additional technological infrastructure. While infrastructure seems to reach a certain level of saturation at roughly 20 storage devices per capita and 2 to 3 telecommunication subscriptions per capita, informational capacities are still expanding greatly. Besides progress in better hardware, software for information compression turns out to be an important and often neglected driver of the global growth of technologically-mediated information and communication capacities.

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

communications media
communications networks
countries and regions


Formulas for Rnyi information and related measures for univariate distributions In a recent paper Song [J. Stat. Plan. Infer. 93 (2001) 51] considered Rnyi information of order ? and established its connection to the loglikelihood. From this relation an intrinsic distribution measure was proposed and analytic expressions of this measure and Rnyi information were derived for some standard continuous distributions. In this paper, we derive analytical formulas for Rnyi and Shannon entropies, as well as, for Songs measure for 26 flexible families of univariate continuous distributions. We believe that the results presented here will serve as an important reference for scientists and engineers in many areas.

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


How are XML-based Marc 21 and Dublin Core records indexed and ranked by general search engines in dynamic online environments? Purpose - The aim of this paper is to examine the indexing quality and ranking of XML content objects containing Dublin Core and MARC 21 metadata elements in dynamic online information environments by general search engines such as Google and Yahoo! Design/methodology/approach - In total, 100 XML content objects were divided into two groups: those with DCXML elements and those with MARCXML elements. Both groups were published on the web site www.marcdcmi.ir in late July 2009 and were online until June 2010. The web site was introduced to Google and Yahoo! search engines. The indexing quality of metadata elements embedded in the content objects in a dynamic online information environment and their indexing and ranking capabilities were compared and examined. Findings - Google search engine was able to retrieve fully all the content objects through their Dublin Core and MARC 21 metadata elements; Yahoo! search engine, however, did not respond at all. Results of the study showed that all Dublin Core and MARC 21 metadata elements were indexed by Google search engine. No difference was observed between indexing quality and ranking of DCXML metadata elements with that of MARCXML. The results of the study revealed that neither the XML-based Dublin Core Metadata Initiative nor MARC 21 demonstrate any preference regarding access in dynamic online information environments through Google search engine. Practical implications - The findings can provide useful information for search engine designers. Originality/value - The present study was conducted for the first time in dynamic environments using XML-based metadata elements. It can provide grounds for further studies of this kind.

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

dublin core
marc 21
indexing
ranking
dynamic online environments
search engines


Semi-blind image restoration using a local neural approach This work aims to define and experimentally evaluate an iterative strategy based on neural learning for semi-blind image restoration in the presence of blur and noise. Salient aspects of the proposed strategy are the use of a local error function derived from the conventional global constrained error measure and the assignment of a separate regularization parameter to each image pixel based on local gray level variance. This method can be viewed as a neural strategy where the pixels of the restored image are the synapse's weights the neural network tries to modify during learning to minimize the output error measurement. The method was experimentally evaluated in terms of restoration quality and speed using test images synthetically degraded and increasingly corrupted. To investigate whether the strategy can be considered an alternative to neural restoration procedures, the results were compared with those obtained by well known Hopfield-based restoration approaches. Results obtained show that our method performs significantly better and faster than other models considered.

O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 computer-based outpatient clinical referral system The process of generating a clinical referral for a patient, and the resulting transfer of information from the primary care physician to the specialist and back again, are key components in the struggle to deliver less costly and more effective clinical care. We have created a computer-based, outpatient clinical referral application that facilitates: (1) identifying an appropriate specialist; (2) collecting the clinical, demographic, and financial data required to generate a referral; and (3) transferring the information between the specialist and the primary care physician (PCP). This article describes the development of the application itself and several of the knowledge bases that were created to facilitate this process. Preliminary results indicate that the new computer-based referral process is faster to use than conventional methods. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd, All rights reserved.

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

ambulatory care information systems
consultation
software design


An Experimental Comparison of Chaotic and Non-chaotic Image Encryption Schemes During last few years, transmission of digital multimedia data (images, audios and videos) over Internet, wireless cell phones, television broadcasting etc., has been significantly evolved. The provision of security to store and transmit data with confidentiality, integrity, and authentication for multimedia data over wireless medium is attaining importance these days. Over a few decades, a number of image encryption schemes have been implemented, each with various features, pros and cons. So there is a need to carry out security analysis of these schemes through some standard parameters. In this paper, an effort is being made for comparison of traditional encryption algorithms via some security parameters rather than using just visual inspection. Through these security parameters, one can determine a better and highly secure image encryption scheme. Comparative analysis of Advanced Encryption Standard, Compression Friendly Encryption Scheme, Chaotically Coupled Chaotic Map Encryption Scheme and a Bernoulli Map Based Encryption Scheme are done. Results are finally compiled to conclude the optimum scheme to be used feasibly with high security level.

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 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


Model-based reliability analysis Testing has. typically been a key means of detecting anomalous performance and of providing a foundation for estimating reliability for weapon systems. The objective of model-based reliability analysis (MBRA) is to identify ways to capitalize on the insights gained from physical-response modeling both to supplement the information obtained from testing and to better-understand test results. Five general MBRA processes are identified which can capitalize on physical response modeling results to make both quantitative and qualitative statements about product reliability. A case study that explores. 1 of these 5 processes was completed and is described in detail. It had the benefits: MBRA can be used to determine a performance baseline against which current and future test results can be compared. During the design process, MBRA can provide tradeoff studies such that development time and required test assets can be reduced. MBRA can be used to evaluate the impact, of production and part changes, as well as aging degradation, if they arise during the product life cycle. MBRA lays the foundation to evaluate anomalies that are observed in a test program. Typically it has been challenging to determine how anomalous behavior can manifest itself under different-but still valid-conditions. One can use modeling to inject hypothesized behaviors under different conditions and observe the consequences.

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

cad/cae/cam/cim
design margin
electrical modeling
life-prediction
spice
weapon system


mastering combinatorial explosion with the tobias-2 test generator This paper briefly describes the second version of the Tobias combinatorial test generator. This version improves the architecture of the tool to include filtering and test selection mechanisms. These mechanisms, associated with an efficient implementation, allow to generate and filter test suites of up to 1 million test cases.

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

combinatorial testing
test suite reduction


An improved back propagation algorithm topredict episodes of poor air quality This paper deals with the problem of modelling air pollution time series recorded at a given point by using a multi-layer perceptron based approach. In particular it is shown that the traditional back propagation (BP) algorithm, widely considered in the literature for this kind of application, can be improved to predict episodes of poor air quality. A novel version of the BP algorithm is developed and its performance is compared with that of the traditional algorithm in a case study which refers to the modelling of 1h average maximum daily ozone concentration recorded in the industrial area of Melilli (Siracusa, Italy). The results obtained so far indicate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the traditional BP algorithm.

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 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

stochastic models
air quality forecast
neural networks


Continuous preconditioners for the mixed Poisson problem In this note, we show how to apply preconditioners designed for piecewise linear finite element discretizations of the Poisson problem as preconditioners for the mixed problem. Our preconditioner can be applied both to the original and to the reduced Schur complement problem. Combined with a suitable iterative method, the number of iterations required to solve the preconditioned system will have the same dependency on the mesh size as for the preconditioner applied to the Poisson problem. The presented theory is demonstrated by numerical examples.

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


optimal layer assignment for escape routing of buses Escape routing is a critical problem in PCB design. In IC-CAD'07, a layer assignment algorithm was proposed for escape routing of buses. The algorithm is optimal for single layer design in the sense that it determines if a set of buses can all be escaped on one layer. If they cannot, the algorithm is able to select a maximum subset of the buses that can be escaped on one layer. This, in turn, leads to a heuristic for the layer assignment problem with multiple layers, which is to repeatedly assign a maximum subset of the unassigned buses to a new layer. In this work, we present an algorithm that solves the multi-layer layer assignment problem optimally. Our algorithm guarantees to produce a layer assignment with minimum number of layers. We applied our algorithm on industrial data and obtained encouraging results.

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


On the problem of characterizing derivatives for the fuzzy-valued functions In this paper, the concept of locally mean fuzzy Henstock integrability for the fuzzy-valued functions is presented; several necessary and sufficient conditions of differentiability for the fuzzy-valued functions are given by means of this concept. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

fuzzy number
fuzzy analysis
fuzzy-valued function
derivative


Gender-Specific Differences in Salivary Biomarker Responses to Acute Psychological Stress The stress response is regulated by two primary neuroendocrine systems, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) and sympathetic adrenomedullary (SAM) systems. This study investigated gender differences in the activities of these two systems in response to acute psychological stress. Subjects were categorized according to their score in Spielberger's Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), which assesses the predisposition to personal anxiety. High (STAI score ?55)- and low (STAI score ?45)-anxiety groups were selected. A video of corneal surgery was served as the stressor for 15 min. Salivary cortisol and amylase levels were used as indices of the HPA and SAM activities, respectively. ?-endorphin was also assayed as a possible index of HPA activity. There were no differences in the resting salivary parameters among the groups. As expected, cortisol and amylase levels were significantly increased in all groups after the stressful video viewing. There were no gender differences in amylase levels in either the high- or low-anxiety groups. However, cortisol levels in highly anxious females were significantly lower than those in highly anxious males. Our findings show that highly anxious females exhibited lower cortisol release than highly anxious males, suggesting that high trait anxiety in females may be associated with an inability to respond with sufficient activation of HPA under acute psychological stress

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


Development and validation of an average mammalian estrogen receptor-based QSAR model Development and evaluation of quantitative structure activity relationships (QSARs) for predicting estrogen receptor binding from chemical structure requires reliable algorithms for three-dimensional (3D) QSAR analysis and establishment of structurally diverse training sets of chemicals whose modes of action and measures of potency are well defined. One approach to selecting an appropriate training set is to minimize the biological variability in the model development, by using structurally restricted data sets. A second approach is to extend the structural diversity of chemicals at the cost of increased variability of biological assays. In this study, the second approach was used by organizing a training set of 151 chemicals with measured human alpha Estrogen Receptor (ERalpha), mouse uterine, rat uterine, and MCF7 cell Relative Binding Affinities (RBAs). The structurally augmented training set was submitted to a 3D pattern recognition analysis to derive a model for average mammalian ER binding affinity by employing the COmmon REactivity PAttern (COREPA) approach. Elucidation of this pattern required examination of the conformational flexibility of the compounds in an attempt to reveal areas in the multidimensional descriptor space, which are most populated by the conformers of the biologically active molecules and least populated by the inactive ones. The approach is not dependent upon a predetermined and specified toxicophore or an alignment of conformers to a lead compound. Reactivity patterns associated with mammalian ER binding affinity were obtained in terms of global nucleophilicity (E-HOMO), interatomic distances between nucleophilic sites, and local nucleophilicity (charges or delocalizabilities) of those sites. Based on derived patterns, descriptor profiles were established for identifying and ranking compounds with RBA of >150, 150-10, 10-1 and 1-0.1% relative to 17beta-estradiol. Specificity of reactivity profiles was found to increase gradually with increasing affinities associated with RBAs ranges under study. Using the results of this analysis, an exploratory expert system was developed for use in ranking relative mammalian ER binding affinity potential for large chemical data sets. The validity of the RBA predictions were confirmed by independent development and comparison with measured RBA values.

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 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 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


Non-apoptogenic Ca2+-Related Extrusion of Mitochondria in Anoxia/Reoxygenation Stress Tumor cells often develop molecular strategies for survival to anoxia/reoxygenation stress as part of tumor progression. Here we describe that the B lymphoma EpsteinBarr-positive cells E2r survive reoxygenation in spite of a very high and long-lasting increase in cytosolic Ca2+ and the loss of about half of their mitochondria due to specific extrusion of the organelles from the cells. The extrusion typically occurs 3 days after reoxygenation, and a regular mitochondrial asset is regained after further 24 h

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


Variable selection in clustering for marketing segmentation using genetic algorithms Marketing segmentation is widely used for targeting a smaller market and is useful for decision makers to reach all customers effectively with one basic marketing mix. Although clustering algorithms is popularly employed in dealing with this problem, it cannot be useful unless irrelevant variables are removed because irrelevant variables will distort the clustering structure and make the results useless. In this paper, genetic algorithms (GA) is used for variable selection and for determining the numbers of clusters. A real case of bank data set is used for illustrating the application of marketing segmentation. The results show that variable selection through GA can effectively find the global optimum solution, and the accuracy of the classified model is dramatically increased after clustering.

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

marketing segmentation
clustering algorithms
genetic algorithms


Numerical modeling of soil-structure interface of a concrete-faced rockfill dam Concrete-faced rockfill dams (CFRD) are widely used in large-scale hydraulic projects. The face slab, the key seepage-proof structure of great concern, has a strong interaction with the neighboring gravel cushion layer due to a significant difference in their stiffness. An elasto-plasticity damage interface element, a numerical format of the EPDI model, is described for numerical analysis of a CFRD that can trace the separation and re-contact between the face slab and the cushion layer at the interface. As verified by simulating slide block and direct shear interface tests, this element was confirmed to capture effectively the primary monotonic and cyclic behaviors of the interface. This element can easily be extended to the finite element method (FEM) programs that involve the Goodman interface element. The analysis of a typical CFRD showed that the interface model describes a significant effect on the stress response of the face slab under different conditions, including dam construction, water storage, and earthquake. Treatments of the cushion layer, such as an asphalt layer, changed the behavior of the interface between it and the face slab, which resulted in a significant effect on the stress response of the face slab. The top of the face slab exhibited a significant separation from the cushion layer during construction, induced mainly by construction of the neighboring dam body. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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


A framework for route configurability in power-constrained wireless mesh networks QoS support for power-constrained wireless mesh networks (WMNs) poses a significant challenge. WMNs are increasingly used as multi-purpose networks, i.e., they serve multiple objectives and different applications simultaneously. As a consequence, a one-size-fits-all routing solution is difficult to achieve, particularly when the performance and QoS expectations of these applications differ. This work proposes Configurable Mesh Routing (CMR), a toolkit that supports the discovery and management of routes based on any combination of a number of supported QoS metrics. This enables network users to deploy customized routes that meet their unique needs. Our experiment demonstrates how CMR is able to balance the network-wide goal of energy efficiency and application-specific QoS requirements.

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


An Analytical Study of Peer-to-Peer Media Streaming Systems Recent research efforts have demonstrated the great potential of building cost-effective media streaming systems on top of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. A P2P media streaming architecture can reach a large streaming capacity that is difficult to achieve in conventional server-based streaming services. Hybrid streaming systems that combine the use of dedicated streaming servers and P2P networks were proposed to build on the advantages of both paradigms. However, the dynamics of such systems and the impact of various factors on system behavior are not totally clear. In this article, we present an analytical framework to quantitatively study the features of a hybrid media streaming model. Based on this framework, we derive an equation to describe the capacity growth of a single-file streaming system. We then extend the analysis to multi-file scenarios. We also show how the system achieves optimal allocation of server bandwidth among different media objects. The unpredictable departure/failure of peers is a critical factor that affects the performance of P2P systems. We utilize the concept of peer lifespan to model peer failures. The original capacity growth equation is enhanced with coefficients generated from peer lifespans that follow an exponential distribution. We also propose a failure model under arbitrarily distributed peer lifespan. Results from large-scale simulations support our analysis.

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


Evaluating the intelligibility benefit of speech modifications in known noise conditions The use of live and recorded speech is widespread in applications where correct message reception is important. Furthermore, the deployment of synthetic speech in such applications is growing. Modifications to natural and synthetic speech have therefore been proposed which aim at improving intelligibility in noise. The current study compares the benefits of speech modification algorithms in a large-scale speech intelligibility evaluation and quantifies the equivalent intensity change, defined as the amount in decibels that unmodified speech would need to be adjusted by in order to achieve the same intelligibility as modified speech. Listeners identified keywords in phonetically-balanced sentences representing ten different types of speech: plain and Lombard speech, five types of modified speech, and three forms of synthetic speech. Sentences were masked by either a stationary or a competing speech masker. Modification methods varied in the manner and degree to which they exploited estimates of the masking noise. The best-performing modifications led to equivalent intensity changes of around 5dB in moderate and high noise levels for the stationary masker, and 34dB in the presence of competing speech. These gains exceed those produced by Lombard speech. Synthetic speech in noise was always less intelligible than plain natural speech, but modified synthetic speech reduced this deficit by a significant amount.

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

speech intelligibility
speech modification
synthetic speech


design and cad for 3d integrated circuits High density Through Silicon Vias (TSV) can be used to build 3DICs that enable unique applications in computing, signal processing and memory intensive systems. This paper presents several case studies that are uniquely enhanced through 3D implementation, including a 3D CAM, an FFT processor, and a SAR processor. The CAD flow used to implement for these designs is described. 3DIC requires higher fidelity thermal modeling than 2DIC design. The rationale for this requirement is established and a possible solution is presented.

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


A non-functional requirements tradeoff model in Trustworthy Software This paper proposes a fuzzy qualitative and quantitative softgoal interdependency graphs (FQQSIG) model for non-functional requirements (NFRs) correlations analysis in Trustworthy Software (TS), which is considered a critical issue by academia, government, and industry. First, the FQQSIG model constructs an NFRs criteria decomposition hierarchy graph in the complex TS situation. Subsequently, it draws on trapezoidal fuzzy number and introduces a simulation algorithm named RAGE (RAndom GEneration) to transform the qualitative degree of importance assessments on NFRs in the form of experts fuzzy linguistic variables into quantitative values. Using a new algorithm named Relationship Matrix, this model can calculate all NFRs contribution values by which developers could make tradeoff decisions among NFRs competing alternatives. The credibility and advantages of the FQQSIG model are discussed and an example is given to illustrate the FQQSIG model.

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

non-functional requirements (nfrs)
trustworthy software requirement
fuzzy linguistic variable
tradeoffs


Reliable workflow scheduling with less resource redundancy We examine the problem of reliable workflow scheduling with less resource redundancy. As scheduling workflow applications in heterogeneous systems, either for optimizing the reliability or for minimizing the makespan, are NP-Complete problems, we alternatively find schedules for meeting specific reliability and deadline requirements. First, we analyze the reliability of a given schedule using two important definitions: Accumulated Processor Reliability (APR) and Accumulated Communication Reliability (ACR). Second, inspired by the reliability analysis, we present three scheduling algorithms: RR algorithm schedules least Resources to meet the Reliability requirement; DRR algorithm extends RR by further considering the Deadline requirement; and dynamic algorithm schedules tasks dynamically: It avoids the "Chain effect" caused by uncertainties on the task execution time estimates, and relieves the impact from the inaccuracy on failure estimation. Finally, the empirical evaluation shows that our algorithms can save a significant amount of computation and communication resources when performing a similar reliability compared to Fault-Tolerant-Scheduling-Algorithm (FTSA) algorithm. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

workflow scheduling
reliability
redundancy
heterogeneous systems


Functional electrical stimulation-based cycling assisted by flywheel and electrical clutch mechanism: A feasibility simulation study A flywheel and electrical clutch assist mechanism is used in FES-cycling exercise. Fuzzy logic is used to control stimulation intensity on quadriceps in FES-cycling. The new mechanism suppresses speed fluctuation and reduces the cadence error. The new assist mechanism promotes prolonged FES-cycling and extended work rate. The fatigue monitor shows 14%17% delay in muscle fatigue using the new mechanism.

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functional electrical stimulation-based rehabilitation


An asymptotic lower bound for the maximal number of runs in a string An asymptotic lower bound for the maxrun function rho(n) = max {number of runs in string x I all strings x of length n} is presented. More precisely, it is shown that for any epsilon > 0, (alpha-epsilon)n is an asymptotic lower bound, where alpha = 3/1 + root 5 approximate to 0.927. A recent construction of an increasing sequence of binary strings "rich in runs" is modified and extended to prove the result.

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run
asymptotic lower run
maximum number of runs


Apoptosis and Modulation of Cell Cycle Control by Bile Acids in Human Leukemia T Cells Depending on the nature of chemical structures, different bile acids exhibit distinct biological effects. Their therapeutic efficacy has been widely demonstrated in various liver diseases, suggesting that they might protect hepatocytes against common mechanisms of liver damage. Although it has been shown to prevent apoptotic cell death in certain cell lines, bile acids significantly inhibited cell growth and induced apoptosis in cancer cells. To better understand the pharmacological potential of bile acids in cancer cells, we investigated and compared the effects of deoxycholic acid (DCA), ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), and their taurine-derivatives [taurodeoxycholic acid (TDCA) and tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), respectively] on the induction of apoptosis and inhibition of cell proliferation of a human T leukemia cell line (Jurkat cells). All the bile acids tested induced a delay in cell cycle progression. Moreover, DCA markedly increased the fraction of apoptotic cells. The effects of TDCA, UDCA, and TUDCA were different from those observed for DCA. Their primary effect was the induction of necrosis. These distinctive features suggest that the hydrophobic properties of DCA play a role in its cytotoxic potential and indicate that it is possible to create new drugs useful for cancer therapy from bile acid derivatives as lead compounds.

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

bile acids
leukemia
apoptosis
cell cycle


Improving learning accuracy of fuzzy decision trees by hybrid neural networks Although the induction of fuzzy decision tree (FDT) has been a very popular learning methodology due to its advantage of comprehensibility, it is often criticized to result in poor learning accuracy Thus, one fundamental problem is how to improve the learning accuracy while the comprehensibility is kept. This paper focuses on this problem and proposes using a hybrid neural network (HNN) to refine the FDT. This HNN, designed according to the generated FDT and trained by an algorithm derived in this paper, results in a FDT with parameters, called weighted FDT. The weighted FDT is equivalent to a set of fuzzy production rules with local weights (LWs) and global weights (GWs) introduced in our previous work. Moreover, the weighted FDT, in which the reasoning mechanism incorporates the trained LWs and GWs, significantly improves the FDTs learning accuracy while keeping the FDTs comprehensibility. The improvements are verified on several selected databases. Furthermore, a brief comparison of our method with two benchmark Learning algorithms, namely, fuzzy ID3 and traditional backpropagation, is made. The synergy between FDT induction and HNN training offers new insight into the construction of hybrid intelligent systems with higher learning accuracy.

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

fuzzy decision trees
hybrid neural networks
learning

approximate reasoning
knowledge acquisition
local and global weights