Non-cooperative spectrum access in cognitive radio networks: A game theoretical model Cognitive radio networks provide the capability to share the wireless channel with licensed (primary) users in an opportunistic manner. Primary users have a license to operate in a certain spectrum band; their access can only be controlled by the primary operator and is not affected by any other unlicensed (secondary) user. On the other hand, secondary users (SUs) have no spectrum license, and they attempt to exploit the spectral gaps left free by primary users. This work studies the spectrum access problem in cognitive radio networks from a game theoretical perspective. The problem is modeled as a non-cooperative spectrum access game where secondary users access simultaneously multiple spectrum bands left available by primary users, optimizing their objective function which takes into account the congestion level observed on the available spectrum bands. As a key innovative feature with respect to existing works, we model accurately the interference between SUs, capturing the effect of spatial reuse. Furthermore, we consider both non-elastic and elastic user traffic, to model real-time as well as data transfer applications. Finally, we consider an alternative formulation of the spectrum access problem, where players use replicator dynamics to adjust their strategies, and we derive convergence conditions to Nash equilibrium points. We demonstrate the existence of the Nash equilibrium, and derive equilibrium flow settings. Finally, we provide numerical results of the proposed spectrum access game in several cognitive radio scenarios, and study the impact of the interference between SUs on the game efficiency. Our results indicate that the congestion cost functions we propose in this paper lead to small gaps between Nash equilibria and optimal solutions in all the considered network scenarios, thus representing a starting point for designing pricing mechanisms so as to obtain a socially optimal use of the network.

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

cognitive radio networks
spectrum access

game theory
price of anarchy
elastic/non-elastic traffic


Simplified block matching criteria for motion estimation In this paper, we propose fast block matching criteria to reduce the implementation complexity of motion estimation in VLSI video coders. Based on generalized quantization of pixel difference measures, the block matching criteria combined with bitmap exclusive-OR (XOR) concept can be realized by short length adders and a multi-input binary counter. The proposed approach can be treated as a generalization of the pixel difference classification (PDC) criterion. Simulation results show that the proposed block-matching criteria along with various block search algorithms achieve better results than the PDC and obtain nearly the same performance as the mean absolute difference (MAD) criterion. However, the complete gate-level synthesis of the proposed matching criterion is much less than those of the MAD and the PDC in the VLSI implementation.

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

block matching
vlsi
xor
pdc
mad
motion estimation


building semantic kernels for text classification using wikipedia Document classification presents difficult challenges due to the sparsity and the high dimensionality of text data, and to the complex semantics of the natural language. The traditional document representation is a word-based vector (Bag of Words, or BOW), where each dimension is associated with a term of the dictionary containing all the words that appear in the corpus. Although simple and commonly used, this representation has several limitations. It is essential to embed semantic information and conceptual patterns in order to enhance the prediction capabilities of classification algorithms. In this paper, we overcome the shortages of the BOW approach by embedding background knowledge derived from Wikipedia into a semantic kernel, which is then used to enrich the representation of documents. Our empirical evaluation with real data sets demonstrates that our approach successfully achieves improved classification accuracy with respect to the BOW technique, and to other recently developed methods.

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

semantic kernels
text classification
wikipedia


About the domino problem in the hyperbolic plane from an algorithmic point of view This paper is a contribution to the general tiling problem for the hyperbolic plane. It is an intermediary result between the result obtained by R. Robinson [Invent. Math. 44 (1978) 259-264] and the conjecture that the problem is undecidable.

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


Non-binary SOVA algorithms for decoding of block codes on a sectionalized trellis In this paper, we explore computationally efficient implementations of the soft output viterbi algorithm (SOVA) applied to Soft-Input Soft-Output (SISO) decoding of linear block codes. In order to simplify the trellis-based decoding of binary block codes with SOVA, we use the technique of sectionalization of the trellis, which has been successfully applied to the simplification of the MAP and Max-Log-MAP algorithms. Due to the branch complexity of the sectionalized trellis, we define a generalization of a non-binary version of SOVA. However, the computational complexity of directly applying this approach remains too high for efficient implementation; we thus introduce the concept of non-binary SOVA (NSOVA) with propagation of bit-level reliabilities (BLR). This new algorithm is analyzed from a computational complexity viewpoint. Both serial and parallel implementations are explored. Finally, optimal sectionalizations are derived for selected codes; since the normal SOVA decoding is a particular case of NSOVA with BLR, we show that our approach is more efficient than a bit-level trellis by showing that, for all the codes tested, the optimal trellis is a sectionalized one. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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 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


Vector opinion dynamics in a bounded confidence consensus model We study the continuum opinion dynamics of the compromise model of Krause and Hegselmann for a community of mutually interacting agents by solving numerically a rate equation. The opinions are here represented by two-dimensional vectors with real-valued components. We study the situation starting from a uniform probability distribution for the opinion configuration and for different shapes of the confidence range. In all cases, we find that the thresholds for consensus and cluster merging either coincide with their one-dimensional counterparts, or are very close to them. The symmetry of the final opinion configuration, when more clusters survive, is determined by the shape of the opinion space. If the latter is a square, which is the case we consider, the clusters in general occupy the sites of a square lattice, although we sometimes observe interesting deviations from this general pattern, especially near the center of the opinion 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 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


ensuring semantic spatial constraints in virtual environments using uml/ocl Spatial objects and relationships between them, compose a spatial model that is the backbone of virtual environments (VEs). However, due to the natural complexity of both spatial objects and spatial information, the modeling of such spatial relationships is still a difficult task. This paper presents a novel approach for representing semantic spatial relations in VEs using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and the Object Constraint Language (OCL). Our approach first uses the UML class model as a conceptual model for VEs. We then propose a spatial extension of OCL named VRX-OCL as a high-level and flexible language to cover multidimensional, manifold, and reference frame-dependent spatial constraints. We mainly focus on two important classes of spatial relations, namely, topological and projective relations that allow nonmetric representation of space. The applicability of our approach is demonstrated in the Virtual Physics Laboratory, a VE for learning physics. Based on the constraints satisfaction, the system is able to visualize abstract spatial information and thus provides educational assistance to the learners.

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 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

semantic virtual environments
domain knowledge visualization
spatial languages


Development and testing of a terrain-based hydrologic model for spatial Hortonian Infiltration and Runoff/On Efficient numerical simulation of process interactions between infiltration and Hortonian runoff is needed to evaluate patterns of internal state variables and fluxes within a watershed. A fully distributed rainfallrunoff model was developed for event-based studies of spacetime watershed processes. A routing hierarchy was defined over the watershed using the D-infinity contributing area algorithm. Computation of ponding time was included to handle variable run-on and rainfall intensity. The GreenAmpt model was adopted to calculate surface infiltration, and the kinematic wave model was used to route Hortonian runoff and channel flow. The model can handle input rainfall, soil parameters, and other properties that vary in space and time. The model was tested first against analytical solutions for idealized overland planes. After a sensitivity analysis to identify the most significant parameters, it was then calibrated and verified using rainfall and streamflow data from the USDA-ARS Walnut Gulch experimental watershed in Arizona, USA. The coefficients of efficiency for runoff volume, peak flow, and time to peak flow with respect to calibration/validation are 0.95/0.65, 0.85/0.09, and 0.69/0.88, respectively. Example applications of the model show its potential for simulating internal states and fluxes. The open-source model is provided for spacetime simulation and scaling of event-based Hortonian runoff and infiltration.

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

model development
calibration
model testing


Introducing

PROFESS

An

advanced

program

for

orbital-free

density

functional

theory

molecular

dynamics

simulations

Orbital-free

density

functional

theory

(OFDFT)

is

a

linear-scaling

first-principles

quantum

mechanics

method

used

to

calculate

the

ground-state

energy

of

a

given

system.

Here

we

present

a

new

version

of

PRinceton

Orbital-Free

Electronic

Structure

Software

(PROFESS)

with

new

features.

First,

PROFESS

provides

a

set

of

new

kinetic

energy

density

functionals

(KEDFs)

which

are

designed

to

model

semiconductors

or

transition

metals.

Specifically,

PROFESS

includes

the

HuangCarter

(HC)

KEDF

a

density

decomposition

method

with

fixed

localized

electronic

density

the

WangGovindCarter

(WGC)

decomposition

KEDF

and

the

Enhanced

von

Weizscker

(EvW)-WGC

KEDF

Other

major

new

functions

are

included,

such

as

molecular

dynamics

with

different

statistical

mechanical

ensembles

and

spin-polarized

density

optimizers.

Program

title:

PROFESS

Catalogue

identifier:

Program

summary

Program

obtainable

from:

CPC

Program

Library,

Queens

University,

Belfast,

N.

Ireland

Licensing

provisions:

Standard

CPC

licence,

No.

of

lines

in

distributed

program,

including

test

data,

etc.:

No.

of

bytes

in

distributed

program,

including

test

data,

etc.:

Distribution

format:

tar.gz

Programming

language:

Fortran

Computer:

UNIX/Linux

with

ifort

or

gfortran.

Operating

system:

Linux.

Has

the

code

been

vectorized

or

parallelized?:

Yes

RAM:

Problem

dependent,

but

GB

is

sufficient

for

up

to

ions

using

default

settings.

Classification:

External

routines:

FFTW

Libxc

Lapack

Does

the

new

version

supersede

the

previous

version?:

Yes

Catalogue

identifier

of

previous

version:

Journal

reference

of

previous

version:

Comput.

Phys.

Comm.

Nature

of

problem:

Given

a

set

of

coordinates

describing

the

initial

ion

positions

under

periodic

boundary

conditions,

the

problem

is

to

determine

the

ground

state

energy,

electron

density,

ion

positions,

and

cell

lattice

vectors

predicted

by

OFDFT.

The

computation

of

all

terms

is

effectively

linear

scaling.

Parallelization

is

implemented

through

domain

decomposition,

and

up

to

around

ions

may

be

included

in

the

calculation

on

just

a

single

processor,

limited

by

RAM.

Solution

method:

Two

solutions

based

on

computing

energies

as

described

in

the

text.

The

first

method

is

to

minimize

the

energy

with

respect

to

the

electron

density,

ion

positions,

and

cell

lattice

vectors.

The

second

method

is

to

perform

molecular

dynamics

with

different

statistical

mechanical

ensembles.

Reasons

for

new

version:

Conventional

OFDFT

performs

excellently

for

light

metals,

such

as

aluminum,

lithium,

and

magnesium.

However,

for

semiconductors

or

transition

metals,

the

required

approximate

non-interacting

KEDFs

and

local

pseudopotentials

(LPSs)

limit

the

accuracy

of

OFDFT.

Here

we

present

an

updated

version

of

PROFESS

with

a

set

of

new

KEDFs

designed

to

model

semiconductors

or

transition

metals.

Other

newly

developed

functions,

such

as

molecular

dynamics

and

spin-polarized

optimizers,

are

included.

Summary

of

revisions:

Streamlining

PROFESS:

most

module

files

in

PROFESS

are

reconstructed,

including

splitting

large

modules

into

several

small

ones

but

with

clear

functions.

These

reconstructions

improve

the

readability

of

PROFESS,

reduce

the

compilation

time,

and

make

implementation

and

contribution

of

new

functions

to

PROFESS

easier

for

external

developers.

The

format

of

the

output

file

is

improved

to

be

more

informative

and

clear.

FFTW

is

replaced

with

interfaces,

in

serial

mode,

allowing

for

linking

against

either

or

a

recent

MKL

and

in

parallel

mode.

The

spin

polarized

Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof

(PBE)

functional

is

implemented

through

the

Libxc

library

A

subset

of

the

latest

Numerical

Analysis

Library

(NMS)

with

improvements

for

standard

compliance

is

imported.

The

HC

KEDF

is

fully

supported

(with

force

and

stress

evaluations)

A

density

decomposition

method

(DDM)

with

fixed

localized

electron

density

is

supported

(no

force

or

stress

yet)

The

WGC

decomposition

(WGCD)

KEDF

is

supported

(with

force

but

no

stress

yet)

The

EvW-WGC

KEDF

is

supported

(with

force

but

no

stress

yet)

A

new

KEDF

based

on

a

point-wise

KohnSham

kinetic

energy

density

and

electron

localization

function

is

supported

(with

force

but

no

stress

yet)

Spin-polarized

calculations

are

supported

Note

that

the

reference

density

and

therefore

the

kernels

of

the

non-local

KEDFs

(except

for

the

HC

KEDF

where

the

kernel

for

each

spin

channel

is

computed

on-the-fly

explicitly)

are

still

simply

derived

from

the

total

density,

not

from

the

electron

density

of

each

spin

channel.

The

Limited-memory

Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno

(L-BFGS)

method

is

added

for

density

optimization,

which

yields

better

stability

and

efficiency

for

spin-polarized

and

vacuum-containing

systems.

Molecular

dynamics

methods

with

three

ensembles

are

implemented

and

tested

the

microcanonical

NVE

(constant

number

of

particles

N,

constant

volume

V,

and

constant

energy

E),

the

canonical

NVT

(constant

number

of

particles

N,

constant

volume

V,

and

constant

temperature

T)

with

the

Nos-Hoover

thermostat

and

the

isothermalisobaric

NPT

(constant

number

of

particles

N,

constant

pressure

P,

and

constant

temperature

T)

with

the

ParrinelloRahman

thermostat

An

option

to

set

the

initial

density

as

a

superposition

of

atomic

densities

is

added.

A

bug

in

PROFESS

related

to

cutoff

functions

used

to

treat

the

vacuum

region

is

fixed.

The

ionion

interaction

using

the

Ewald

method

(without

the

cubic

b-spline

method)

is

now

parallelized.

PROFESS

cannot

use

non-local

(such

as

ultrasoft)

pseudopotentials.

A

variety

of

LPS

files

are

available

at

the

Carter

group

website

Running

time:

Problem

dependent.

Timing

results

for

large-scale

problems

are

given

in

the

PROFESS

paper

References:

C.

Huang,

E.

A.

Carter,

Phys.

Rev.

B

C.

Huang,

E.

A.

Carter,

Phys.

Rev.

B

J.

Xia,

E.

A.

Carter,

Phys.

Rev.

B

I.

Shin,

E.

A.

Carter,

J.

Chem.

Phys.

L.

Hung,

C.

Huang,

I.

Shin,

G.

S.

Ho,

V.

L.

Ligneres,

E.

A.

Carter,

Computer

Physics

Communications

J.

P.

Perdew,

K.

Burke,

M.

Ernzehof,

Phys.

Rev.

Lett.

M.

A.

Marques,

M.

J.

Oliveira,

T.

Burnus,

Comput.

Phys.

Comm.

Y.

A.

Wang,

N.

Govind,

E.

A.

Carter,

Phys.

Rev.

B

P.

Hohenberg,

W.

Kohn,

Phys.

Rev.

W.

Kohn,

L.

J.

Sham,

Phys.

Rev.

J.

Xia,

E.

A.

Carter,

Phys.

Rev.

B

J.

Xia,

E.

A.

Carter,

J.

Chem.

Phys.

J.

Nocedal,

Math.

Comp.

D.

C.

Liu,

J.

Nocedal,

Math.

Program.

B

G.

J.

Martyna,

M.

E.

Tuckerman,

D.

J.

Tobias,

M.

L.

Klein,

Mol.

Phys.

M.

Chen,

L.

Hung,

C.

Huang,

J.

Xia,

E.

A.

Carter,

Mol.

Phys.

S.

Nose,

J.

Chem.

Phys.

W.

G.

Hoover,

Phys.

Rev.

A

G.

S.

Ho,

V.

L.

Ligneres,

E.

A.

Carter,

Comp.

Phys.

Comm.

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

orbital-free density functional theory
kinetic energy density functional
first-principles methods


threads and input/output in the synthesis kernal The Synthesis operating system kernel combines several techniques to provide high performance, including kernel code synthesis, fine-grain scheduling, and optimistic synchronization. Kernel code synthesis reduces the execution path for frequently used kernel calls. Optimistic synchronization increases concurrency within the kernel. Their combination results in significant performance improvement over traditional operating system implementations. Using hardware and software emulating a SUN 3/160 running SUNOS, Synthesis achieves several times to several dozen times speedup for UNIX kernel calls and context switch times of 21 microseconds or faster.

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

speedup
software
scheduling
synchronization
code
performance
operating system
context
concurrency
switch
hardware
synthesis

thread input high-performance implementation combinational


A critical review on idealization and modeling for interaction among soilfoundationstructure system The interaction among structures, their foundations and the soil medium below the foundations alter the actual behaviour of the structure considerably than what is obtained from the consideration of the structure alone. Thus, a reasonably accurate model for the soilfoundationstructure interaction system with computational validity, efficiency and accuracy is needed in improved design of important structures. The present study makes an attempt to gather the possible alternative models available in the literature for this purpose. Emphasis has been given on the physical modeling of the soil media, since it appears that the modeling of the structure is rather straightforward. The strengths and limitations of the models described in a single paper may be of help to the civil engineers to choose a suitable one for their study and design.

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

soilstructure interaction
winkler
continuum
elasto-plastic
nonlinear
viscoelastic
finite-element
seismic


Computer-supported negotiation of course content Students learn more effectively with personally meaningful tasks. Thus, students learn more if they have a say in deciding what specific topics and examples are being discussed in class. Naturally, the instructor knows what topics are important to cover in a course and which ones might be optional. Finding the right balance between students' preferences and the instructor's requirements is not so easy and thus may prevent this kind of shared control of the classroom from being realized. This article describes how the instructor's and students' interests can be used to generate a list of course topics that satisfies both parties. However, instead of adding technology to the classroom, technology is used to improve the classroom experiences. Specifically, it is shown how course topics can be assigned to specific students maximizing what is meaningful to the students and satisfies the course parameters as defined by the instructor. This problem can be formulated as a variation of the linear assignment problem and solved with a binary linear program. Results from actual and simulated courses are discussed and generalizations of the topic assignment problem presented. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

improving classroom teaching
interdisciplinary projects
teaching/learning strategies


Designing high-quality interactive multimedia learning modules Modern research has broadened scientific knowledge and revealed the interdisciplinary nature of the sciences. For today's students, this advance translates to learning a more diverse range of concepts, usually in less time, and without supporting resources. Students can benefit from technology-enhanced learning supplements that unify concepts and are delivered on-demand over the Internet. Such supplements, like imaging informatics databases, serve as innovative references for biomedical information, but could improve their interaction interfaces to support learning. With information from these digital datasets, multimedia learning tools can be designed to transform learning into an active process where students can visualize relationships over time, interact with dynamic content, and immediately test their knowledge. This approach bridges knowledge gaps, fosters conceptual understanding, and builds problem-solving and critical thinking skillsall essential components to informatics training for science and medicine. Additional benefits include cost-free access and ease of dissemination over the Internet or CD-ROM. However, current methods for the design of multimedia learning modules are not standardized and lack strong instructional design. Pressure from administrators at the top and students from the bottom are pushing faculty to use modern technology to address the learning needs and expectations of contemporary students. Yet, faculty lack adequate support and training to adopt this new approach. So how can faculty learn to create educational multimedia materials for their students? This paper provides guidelines on best practices in educational multimedia design, derived from the Virtual Labs Project at Stanford University. The development of a multimedia module consists of five phases: (1) understand the learning problem and the users needs; (2) design the content to harness the enabling technologies; (3) build multimedia materials with web style standards and human factors principles; (4) user testing; (5) Evaluate and improve design.

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

interactive teaching for biology and medicine


Elements of a mechatronic vehicle corner As partner in Sonderforschungsbereich 241 "New Integrated Mechanic-Electronic Solutions for Mechanical Engineering Systems" of Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft at Darmstadt University of Technology the Automotive Engineering Department (fzd) is doing research in its three SFB-projects: Tire with an Integrated Sensor (A3), Adaptive Wheel Suspension (A7) and Electrically Actuated Wheel Brake (B6). In this paper research targets, working principles, prototype performances and components' contributions to a smart interlinked so called mechatronic vehicle corner will be described. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

active brake control
active vehicle suspension
brakes
electronically controlled
networks
subsystems
tires
wheels


An economic analysis of electronic secondary markets: installed base, technology, durability and firm profitability The Internet has spawned a number of partially structured electronic secondary markets, which enable the trading of secondary goods between consumers. Many of these, such as Usenet groups, or WWW sites for niche products, tend to be self-administering; however, there has been significant recent growth in the number of more general web-based markets of this kind. These electronic secondary markets, while facilitating reliable and liquid trade of used goods, could also have an impact on the desirability of new products, as well as products that are complementary/compatible to those traded. We present an economic framework for analyzing how these markets affect the demand for a primary product. We examine when it is optimal for a firm to operate a market of this kind, and when its presence is socially optimal. Surprisingly, we find that in a number of cases, the presence of these markets has a primary positive effect on the profitability of a new good; this leads us to conjecture that there will soon be a number of such trading forums operated by manufacturers of primary goods. We also find that in a majority of cases, it is feasible for a third-party intermediary to profitably operate such a market. Key parameters that affect the desirability of the market are the existing installed customer base, the cost of information technology, the durability of the products in question, their rate of technological obsolescence and the nature of customer preferences.

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

electronic markets
electronic commerce
price formation
web-based trading
buyer welfare
market structure
mixed market model
information economics


A Distributed Deadlock Resolution algorithm for the AND model Previous proposals for Distributed Deadlock Detection/Resolution algorithms for the AND model have the main disadvantage of resolving false deadlocks, that is, nonexisting or currently being resolved deadlocks. This paper provides an algorithm free of false deadlock resolutions. A simple specification for a safe deadlock resolution algorithm is introduced, and the new distributed solution is developed in a hierarchical fashion from its abstract specification. The algorithm is probe-based, uses node priorities, and coordinates the actions of resolvers so that false deadlocks are not resolved. The solution is formally proven correct by using the Input-Output Automata Model. Finally, a study about the liveness of the algorithm is provided.

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

deadlock detection resolution
distributed systems
hierarchical correctness proofs
input output automata model


A computational model for dynamics of desiring and feeling In this paper a computational model is presented for how a desire triggers responses and feelings. The model shows how these feelings can be biased, for example due to addicting experiences in the past. Both the strength of a response and of the associated feeling result from a converging dynamic pattern modeled by reciprocal causal interactions between the two. The model has been used to conduct a number of simulation experiments under varying circumstances. Moreover, it has been evaluated by formal analysis of emerging patterns entailed by the model. Furthermore, it has been pointed out how the computational model can be applied within an ambient agent system supporting a human in not being tempted. In a simple example scenario it is shown such an ambient agent system is able to predict and assess a human's desire state, and use this assessment to suggest alternatives to avoid falling for certain temptations. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.

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


Structural damage identification based on integration of information fusion and shannon entropy This paper proposes a damage identification method based on the combination of artificial neural network (ANN), DempsterShafer (DS) evidence theory-based information fusion and the Shannon entropy, to form a weighted and selective information fusion technique to reduce the impact of uncertainties on damage identification. The initial damage decision is first made by several individual ANNs with different inputs. Considering that damage identification accuracy is dependent on different ANNs, optimal weighting coefficients obtained by genetic algorithm (GA) are assigned to ANNs. The decision obtained from the ANN with the largest weighting coefficient is the most reliable. Damage identification-based DS evidence theory is carried out by combining the decision of the ANN with the largest weighting coefficient with that of the ANN with the second largest weighting coefficient. Next, Shannon entropies of the decisions of the ANN with the largest weighting coefficient and that obtained by the information fusion are calculated to measure the uncertainty level of the decisions, respectively. The decision with smallest entropy remains in the next information fusion operation because this decision has less uncertainty. The decision with smaller entropy will be combined with the decision of the ANN with the third largest weighting coefficient. The operation is repeated until the last ANN with the minimum-weighting coefficient is fused. Numerical study on the Binzhou Yellow River Highway Bridge was carried out to validate the accuracy of the proposed damage identification method. The simulated results indicate that the damage identification method based on the weighted and selective information fusion technique can improve damage identification accuracy in comparison with ANN alone and direct information fusion techniques when the measurement noise level is the same.

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

damage identification
information fusion
shannon entropy

dempstershafer evidence theory
artificial neural networks


Segmentation of complex geophysical structures with well data In many problems of geophysical interest, when trying to segment images (i.e., to locate interfaces between different regions on the images), one has to deal with data that exhibit very complex structures. This occurs, for instance, when describing complex geophysical images (with layers, faults,...); in that case, segmentation is very difficult. Moreover, the segmentation process requires to take into account well data to interpolate, which implies integrating interpolation condition in the mathematical model. More precisely, let I : Omega -> R be a given bounded image function, where Omega is an open and bounded domain that belongs to R-n. Let S = {x(i)}(i) is an element of Omega be a finite set of given points (well data). The aim is to find a contour Gamma subset of Omega such that Gamma is an object boundary interpolating the points from S. To do that, we combine the ideas of the geodesic active contour (Caselles et al., Int. J. Comput. Vision 22-1:61-87, 1997) and of interpolation of points (Zhao et al., Comput. Vis. Image Understand. 80:295-314, 1986) in a Level Set approach developed by Osher and Sethian (J. Comput. Phys. 79:12-49, 1988). We present modelling of the proposed method. Both theoretical results (viscosity solution) and numerical results (on a velocity model for a real seismic line) are given.

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

geodesic active contour
interpolation of points
viscosity solution


Global ?-stability of impulsive reactiondiffusion neural networks with unbounded time-varying delays and bounded continuously distributed delays ? This paper investigates the global ?-stability for impulsive cellular neural networks with reactiondiffusion terms and mixed delays, where mixed delays consist of unbounded time-varying delays and bounded continuously distributed delays. The model under consideration is more general than those investigated in most existing literature. By establishing a novel LyapunovKrasovskii functional and employing the delay differential inequality with impulsive initial conditions, boundary conditions and LMI, we obtain two concise and sufficient conditions ensuring global ?-stability of the impulsive reactiondiffusion cellular neural networks with mixed delays. The newly obtained criteria are concerned with the reactiondiffusion coefficients and the regional feature. However, they are independent of boundaries of variable time delays. Several corollaries are also presented. Finally, three concrete numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of our main results.

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

unbounded time-varying delays
mixed time delays
global ?-stability


Numerical cubature on scattered data by radial basis functions We study cubature formulas on relatively small scattered samples in the unit square, obtained by integrating radial basis function (RBF) interpolants. Numerical tests show that, due to the small size of the corresponding weights (which are not all positive in general), thin-plate splines and Wendland's compactly supported radial functions give the most reliable RBF cubature methods.

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


Affine equivalence of quartic monomial rotation symmetric Boolean functions in prime power dimension In this paper we analyze and exactly compute the number of affine equivalence classes under permutations for quartic monomial rotation symmetric functions in prime and prime power dimensions.

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

boolean functions
affine equivalence
permutations


securing xml data in third-party distribution systems Web-based third-party architectures for data publishing are today receiving growing attention, due to their scalability and the ability to efficiently manage large numbers of users and great amounts of data. A third-party architecture relies on a distinction between the Owner and the Publisher of information. The Owner is the producer of information, whereas Publisher provides data management services and query processing functions for (a portion of) the Owner's information. In such architecture, there are important security concerns especially if we do not want to make any assumption on the trustworthy of the Publishers. Although approaches have been proposed [4, 5] providing partial solutions to this problem, no comprehensive framework has been so far developed able to support all the most important security properties in the presence of an untrusted Publisher. In this paper, we develop an XML-based solution to such problem, which makes use of non-conventional digital signature techniques and queries over encrypted data.

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

third-party architecture
data outsourcing


Control of the Effects of Regularization on Variational Optic Flow Computations We consider a variational model for the determination of the optic-flow in a general setting of non-smooth domains. This problem is ill-posed and its solution with PDE techniques includes a regularization procedure. The goal of this paper is to study a method to solve the optic flow problem and to control the effects of the regularization by allowing, locally and adaptively the choice of its parameters. The regularization in our approach is not controlled by a single parameter but by a function of the space variable. This results in a dynamical selection of the variational model which evolves with the variations of this function. Such method consists of new adaptive finite element discretization and an a posteriori strategy for the control of the regularization in order to achieve a trade-off between the data and the smoothness terms in the energy functional. We perform the convergence analysis and the a posteriori analysis, and we prove that the error indicators provide, as, a by-product, a confidence measure which shows the effects of regularization and serves to compute sparse solutions. We perform several numerical experiments, to show the efficiency and the reliability of the method in the computations of optic flow, with high accuracy and of low density.

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

optic flow
regularization procedure
confidence measure

computer vision
adaptive finite elements


usability evaluation for history educational games The potential for integration of digital games and learning becomes ever more significant recently. One of the goals in educational game design is to create engaging and immersive learning experiences for delivering specified learning goals, outcomes and experiences. However, there is limited number of research done on game usability or quality of game user interface. Failure to design usable game interfaces can interfere with the larger goal of creating a compelling experience for users and can have a negative effect on the overall quality and success of a game. In this paper, we review usability problems identified by previous researchers and propose a history educational game design which includes pedagogical and game design component. Some snapshots of our game module are also presented. Finally we present a usability evaluation method for history educational game design. From our critical literature reviews, we also proposed six constructs which are interface, mechanics, gameplay, playability, feedback and immersion for usability evaluation.

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

history educational game design
usability


Local search to improve coordinate-based task mapping Local search algorithm that improves on task mapping algs for stencil patterns. Algorithm shown to reduce total running time and running time variability. Improvement shown to depend on the allocation algorithm used. Number of swaps made shown to be reasonable in practice.

B I O O O B I 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

stencil communication pattern
non-contiguous allocation


A dynamical model for the pulsatile secretion of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis We propose a dynamical model for the pulsatile secretion of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis. This model takes into account both the binding of hormone with proteins in the plasma and tissues and mutual interactions of the hormones in the system. The deductions from this model are in good agreement with experiment results. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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


A usability analysis of municipal government website home pages in Alabama This study uses e-government and corporate usability benchmarks to compare municipal government websites in Alabama and examine correlations between usability scores and population, as well as usability scores and per capita income. E-government in Alabama is on the rise. At the state level, in 2008, Alabama ranked in the top 10 states in e-government after three years of being in the bottom three. Improvements in state-level e-government have not, however, necessarily trickled down to the municipal level, and this study found no correlation between usability and a municipality's population or per capita income. Indeed, the study reveals substantial problems with municipal website usability, including accessibility; such problems could erode the web credibility of municipalities trying to engage citizens, to create or strengthen sustainable practices, and to attract companies that can bring new jobs and improve the local economy.

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


Developing inclusive e-learning and e-entertainment to effectively accommodate learning difficulties The real-life training of people with learning difficulties is a highly challenging and demanding process that can be effectively improved with the deployment of special-purpose software instruments. This paper discusses the development and evaluation of two inclusive training applications and two games for people with learning difficulties. Namely, the four developed systems are: (a) a cashier training applications; (b) a sewing training applications; (c) an accessible pong game; and (d) an accessible action game. The main objective of the work was to investigate the hypothesis that computer games, as pleasant, motivating and highly engaging interactive experiences, can have a significant role on improving the training of people with learning difficulties, such as attention deficit disorder or Asperger syndrome. The obtained results are very positive and encouraging, and have led to the identification of new research directions, blending training and playing, via novel training techniques and purpose-specific game genres.

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

e-entertainment
e-learning
universal access
game development


Detecting multiple stochastic network motifs in network data Network motifs are referred to as the interaction patterns that occur significantly more often in a complex network than in the corresponding randomized networks. They have been found effective in characterizing many real-world networks. A number of network motif detection algorithms have been proposed in the literature where the interactions in a motif are mostly assumed to be deterministic, i.e., either present or missing. With the conjecture that the real-world networks are resulted from interaction patterns which should be stochastic in nature, the use of stochastic models is proposed in this paper to achieve more robust motif detection. In particular, we propose the use of a finite mixture model to detect multiple stochastic network motifs. A component-wise expectation maximization (CEM) algorithm is derived for the finite mixture of stochastic network motifs so that both the optimal number of motifs and the motif parameters can be automatically estimated. For performance evaluation, we applied the proposed algorithm to both synthetic networks and a number of online social network data sets and demonstrated that it outperformed the deterministic motif detection algorithm FANMOD as well as the conventional EM algorithm in term of its robustness against noise. Also, how to interpret the detected stochastic network motifs to gain insights on the interaction patterns embedded in the network data is discussed. In addition, the algorithms computational complexity and runtime performance are presented for efficiency evaluation.

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

finite mixture models
expectation maximization algorithms
social networks


Energy savings of integrated and coupled distillation systems Based on theoretical considerations and economically evaluated case studies for ternary mixtures it is demonstrated that the Petlyuk configuration and the dividing wall column scheme are not superior to the energy integrated configurations even in energy savings. Generally we can state that the sloppy separation path with external energy integration is always capable of achieving as much energy savings as that of the direct column coupling configurations. Short-cut estimation for the exergy losses is also outlined. This estimation prefers exergically the direct coupling in some areas but detailed studies do not confirm this result.

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

distillation
energy integration
exergy losses
petlyuk configuration
coupling


Calculation of shell frequency distributions obtained with shell-mapping schemes In order to calculate the transmit power in shell-mapping-based transmission schemes, the frequencies of the shells are required. In this correspondence, a simple but general method for the calculation of these frequencies is derived. The method has approximately the same complexity as the shell-mapping encoder. As an example, the method is shown in detail for the shell-mapping scheme specified for the international telephone-line V.34 modem standard. Moreover, a very simple approximation is given which is tight for large constellations.

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

average transmit power
frequencies of signal points
shell mapping


A new conceptual approach to the design of hybrid control architecture for autonomous mobile robots A detailed analysis and comparison of various control architectures is presented in order to meet the challenging design requirements targeted. All the present advanced control systems have certain advantages and disadvantages compared with each other. Due to the lack of an optimal control system with desired capabilities, such a control system has been the focus of recent robotics research programs. The new approach proposed in this paper is a hybrid control system that takes the advantages of various control structure types thereby integrating them in a way that results in an overall increase in synergy. The proposed control architecture presents a new approach to the design of supervisory control system that utilizes reactive, deliberative, distributed and centralised control approaches, and uses fuzzy logic as well as modular hierarchical structure. The architecture carries out supervision, modification and execution of commands generated by the centralised command arbitration module by conducting fuzzy logic integration of activated behaviours from distributed, independent asynchronous decision making processes that takes information from the user, sensory system and task description, thus providing goal-oriented, real-time responsive and tele-operable control system architecture. The resulting control system was experimented on and it was observed that not only was the response time sufficiently short, but also it exhibited robustness, flexibility, adaptability, portability and expandability.

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 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 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

mobile robot
artificial intelligence
sensor fusion
dead-reckoning
conceptual design


Low-Swing Differential Conditional Capturing Flip-Flop for LC Resonant Clock Distribution Networks In this paper we introduce a new flip-flop for use in a low-swing LC resonant clocking scheme. The proposed low-swing differential conditional capturing flip-flop (LS-DCCFF) operates with a low-swing sinusoidal clock through the utilization of reduced swing inverters at the clock port. The functionality of the proposed flip-flop was verified at extreme corners through simulations with parasitics extracted from layout. The LS-DCCFF enables 6.5% reduction in power compared to the full-swing flip-flop with 19% area overhead. In addition, a frequency dependent delay associated with driving pulsed flip-flops with a low-swing sinusoidal clock has been characterized. The LS-DCCFF has 870 ps longer data to output delay as compared to the full-swing flip-flop at the same setup time for a 100 MHz sinusoidal clock. The functionality of the proposed flip-flop was tested and verified by using the LS-DCCFF in a dual-mode multiply and accumulate (MAC) unit fabricated in TSMC 90-nm CMOS technology. Low-swing resonant clocking achieved around 5.8% reduction in total power with 5.7% area overhead for the MAC.

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


Causal inference for violence risk management and decision support in forensic psychiatry A Bayesian network model for violence risk analysis in psychotic patients. Proposes a causal framework for mental factors affecting violent behaviour. High predictive accuracy compared to other established models within this area. Allows for specific risk factors to be targeted for causal intervention. Interventions modelled allow for violence risk management.

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

bayesian networks
belief networks
causal interventions
criminology
mental health


Newton's method with deflation for isolated singularities of polynomial systems We present a modification of Newton's method to restore quadratic convergence for isolated singular solutions of polynomial systems. Our method is symbolic-numeric: we produce a new polynomial system which has the original multiple solution as a regular root. Using standard bases, a tool for the symbolic computation of multiplicities, we show that the number of deflation stages is bounded by the multiplicity of the isolated root. Our implementation performs well on a large class of applications. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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 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

newton's method
numerical homotopy algorithms
symbolic-numeric computations
reconditioning


Visualizing and animating the winged-edge data structure The winged- and half-edge data structures are commonly used representations for polyhedron models. Due to the complexity, students in an introductory course to computer graphics usually have difficulty in handling these data structures and developing applications. This paper describes the authors' effort in the development of a visualization and animation tool for teaching and learning these data structures. This tool also includes a simple pseudo-code-like language for algorithm design. Instructors may employ this tool for presentation and demonstration purposes. Students may use the simple language to develop and experiment with new algorithms before their actual implementation. The visualization and animation system may be used to explore and understand the relationship among mesh elements and algorithm execution. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

winged-edge data structure
half-edge data structure
algorithm visualization and animation
computer graphics education


Choreographing Web Services This paper introduces the Multiagent Protocols (MAP) Web service choreography language and demonstrates how service choreographies can be specified, verified, and enacted with a comparatively simple process language. MAP is a directly executable specification, services do not have to be preconfigured at design-time. Instead, a choreography, specified in MAP, can be sent dynamically to a group of distributed peers to execute at runtime. Furthermore, MAP is based on a formal foundation, this allows model checking of the choreography definition prior to live distribution and enactment. A motivating scenario, taken from the AstroGrid science use-cases, serves as the focal point for the paper and highlights the benefits of choreography, through data flow optimization and lack of centralized server. The MAP formal syntax and model checking environment are discussed in the context of the motivating scenario, along with MagentA, an implementation of MAP which provides a concrete, and open-source framework for the enactment of distributed choreographies. MAP is evaluated by demonstrating the languages conformance to the Service Interaction Patterns, a collection of 13 recurring workflow patterns.

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


Classifying algorithms for SIFT-MS technology and medical diagnosis Selected Ion Flow Tube-Mass Spectrometry (SIFT-MS) is an analytical technique for realtime quantification of trace gases in air or breath samples. SIFT-MS system thus offers unique potential for early, rapid detection of disease states. Identification of volatile organic compound (VOC) masses that contribute strongly towards a successful classification clearly highlights potential new biomarkers. A method utilising kernel density estimates is thus presented for classifying unknown samples. It is validated in a simple known case and a clinical setting before-after dialysis. The simple case with nitrogen in Tedlar bags returned a 100% success rate, as expected. The clinical proof-of-concept with seven tests on one patient had an ROC curve area of 0.89. These results validate the method presented and illustrate the emerging clinical potential of this technology. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

kernel classifier
sift-ms
diagnostics
breath analysis


Crossing the hurdle: the determinants of individual scientific performance An original cross-sectional dataset referring to a medium-sized Italian university is implemented in order to analyze the determinants of scientific research production at individual level. The dataset includes 942 permanent researchers of various scientific sectors for a 3-year time-span (20082010). Three different indicatorsbased on the number of publications and/or citationsare considered as response variables. The corresponding distributions are highly skewed and display an excess of zero-valued observations. In this setting, the goodness-of-fit of several Poisson mixture regression models are explored by assuming an extensive set of explanatory variables. As to the personal observable characteristics of the researchers, the results emphasize the age effect and the gender productivity gapas previously documented by existing studies. Analogously, the analysis confirms that productivity is strongly affected by the publication and citation practices adopted in different scientific disciplines. The empirical evidence on the connection between teaching and research activities suggests that no univocal substitution or complementarity thesis can be claimed: a major teaching load does not affect the odds to be a non-active researcher and does not significantly reduce the number of publications for active researchers. In addition, new evidence emerges on the effect of researchers administrative taskswhich seem to be negatively related with researchers productivityand on the composition of departments. Researchers productivity is apparently enhanced by operating in department filled with more administrative and technical staff, and it is not significantly affected by the composition of the department in terms of senior/junior researchers.

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

academic research productivity
scientist productivity
poisson mixture distributions
hurdle models
zero-inflated models
sichel model
waring model
gender productivity gap


Ant Colony Heuristic for Mapping and Scheduling Tasks and Communications on Heterogeneous Embedded Systems To exploit the power of modern heterogeneous multiprocessor embedded platforms on partitioned applications, the designer usually needs to efficiently map and schedule all the tasks and the communications of the application, respecting the constraints imposed by the target architecture. Since the problem is heavily constrained, common methods used to explore such design space usually fail, obtaining low-quality solutions. In this paper, we propose an ant colony optimization (ACO) heuristic that, given a model of the target architecture and the application, efficiently executes both scheduling and mapping to optimize the application performance. We compare our approach with several other heuristics, including simulated annealing, tabu search, and genetic algorithms, on the performance to reach the optimum value and on the potential to explore the design space. We show that our approach obtains better results than other heuristics by at least 16% on average, despite an overhead in execution time. Finally, we validate the approach by scheduling and mapping a JPEG encoder on a realistic target architecture.

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

ant colony optimization (aco)
field programmable gate arrays (fpga)
multiprocessors


Visibility in international rankings. Strategies for enhancing the competitiveness of Spanish universities The world-wide popularity of university rankings has spurred the debate about the quality and performance of higher education systems and has had a considerable impact on global society in light of the internationalisation of higher education. While useful for policy makers, such rankings also furnish information on an institutions prestige, which may in turn contribute to more effective resource capture (students, funding, projects). Certain university profiles and missions may prevent many universities from climbing to higher positions, however. One important question in this regard is: how many of a countrys universities can stand at the top of international rankings? The present article attempts to answer this question on the grounds of a study of the Spanish higher education system, and more specifically of an institutional alliance consisting of four high quality universities. A series of research activity indicators drawn from the IUNE Observatory are used to compare this alliance to leading Spanish and international universities and explore whether their visibility and consequently their position in international rankings would be enhanced if they were able to appear under a joint identity. This prospective study also addresses a series of strategies that the Spanish higher education system might implement to successfully rise to the challenges posed by future scenarios.

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

university rankings
spanish universities
iune observatory


Regularized multiple-criteria linear programming with universum and its application Regularized multiple-criteria linear programming (RMCLP) model is a new powerful method for classification and has been used in various real-life data mining problems. In this paper, a new Universum-regularized multiple-criteria linear programming (called \({\mathfrak{U}}\)-RMCLP) was proposed and firstly applied to railway safety field, which is useful extension of RMCLP. Experiments in public datasets show that \({\mathfrak{U}}\)-RMCLP can get better results than its original model. Furthermore, experiment results in the trouble of moving freight car detection system (TFDS) datasets indicate that the accuracy of \({\mathfrak{U}}\)-RMCLP has been up to 91 %, which will provide great help for TFDS system.

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


Improving tide-gauge data processing: A method involving tidal frequencies and inverted barometer effect ? Sea level measured at tide-gauge stations is affected by undesired events such as spikes, gaps, steps and time shifts. The presence of these instrumental failures seriously decreases the quality of each analysis done using the record. Furthermore, they can mask or disturb oceanographic phenomena of small amplitude. Identifying and filling gaps in the records have as consequence longer data sets, allowing the study and discrimination of long-term components. In this work, a method included in a reduction software package is presented. It is based on the oceanographic characteristics of the time series, mainly ocean tide and inverted barometer response. Raw data are interpolated using polynomial least-squares approximation, considering variable parameters, i.e. degree and number of used data, estimating the optimal ones by contrast tests. At the same time, estimation of errors and maximal length of the gaps to be interpolated are obtained. The determination of these parameters is done using Least-Squares Techniques. Since the vertical displacement of the oceanic surface due to atmospheric pressure variations is of considerable magnitude, the study is extended to the elimination of this effect prior to the interpolation. The preceding results, i.e. the adjusted parameters, are used to build up an error detection procedure based on classical polynomial interpolation, which has been programmed in Fortran 90. The correction is done at the residuals level, meaning that estimated minus observed values. The user has full control over the iterative adjustment process. Finally, the obtained results are compared with the results provided by other pre-processing methods.

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

data processing
inverted barometer effect

tide-gauge observations
ocean tides
sea-level changes


Asymptotic distribution of time-series intermittency estimates: applications to economic and clinical data The intermittency of a time series can be defined as its normalized difference in scaling parameters. We establish the central limit theorem for the estimates of intermittency under the null hypothesis of a random walk. Simulations of random walks indicate that the distribution of intermittency estimates is slightly negatively skewed and positively biased, but that the skewness and bias approach zero as the length n of the random walks increases. We provide a formula by which the sample variance of the intermittency estimates of these simulations can be used to approximate the standard error of the intermittency for any large n. These results can be used to test whether the intermittency estimate of an observed long time series is significantly greater than zero, the intermittency of a random walk. This test reveals that the intermittency estimates of the S&P 500 index and of the heart rate of a human adult are significantly positive. The hypothesis testing proposed in this paper can also be applied to other observed time series to determine whether their intermittency estimates are sufficiently high for the series to be considered intermittent, or whether their estimates are small enough to be consistent with a random walk.

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

time series analysis
multifractal scaling
stock market data
heart rate data


A low-jitter delay-locked loop with harmonic-lock prevention A multiphase low-jitter delay-locked loop (DLL) with harmonic-lock prevention, targeted at a gigabit parallel link interface, is delineated. A three-input four-state dynamic phase detector (PD) is proposed to obviate harmonic locking. Employing a low-jitter delay element and a new type of PD, the DLL is compact and feasible in its nature. The DLL is designed using a 0.35 mum 2P4M CMOS process with 3.3 V supply. Experimental results show that the circuit avoids false locking.

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


Collecting spectral data over cropland vegetation using machine-positioning versus hand-positioning of the sensor The paper describes an all-terrain motorized platform for deploying sensors and compares data collected by means of that system with those collected by means of hand-held sensors. The results not only highlight the greater variability in spectra that can be expected when deploying field radiometers by hand but, more importantly, they quantify the difference. Researchers should be aware of the potential for diminishing the validity of findings based on reflectance spectra acquired by means of hand-held sensors.

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

spectroradiometer
goliath working platform
boom-mounted sensors


A Multigrid Fluid Pressure Solver Handling Separating Solid Boundary Conditions We present a multigrid method for solving the linear complementarity problem (LCP) resulting from discretizing the Poisson equation subject to separating solid boundary conditions in an Eulerian liquid simulation's pressure projection step. The method requires only a few small changes to a multigrid solver for linear systems. Our generalized solver is fast enough to handle 3D liquid simulations with separating boundary conditions in practical domain sizes. Previous methods could only handle relatively small 2D domains in reasonable time, because they used expensive quadratic programming (QP) solvers. We demonstrate our technique in several practical scenarios, including nonaxis-aligned containers and moving solids in which the omission of separating boundary conditions results in disturbing artifacts of liquid sticking to solids. Our measurements show, that the convergence rate of our LCP solver is close to that of a standard multigrid solver.

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

boundary condition
fluid simulation
physics-based animation


Single-electron devices The basic principles of single-electron charging effects are explained. The fabrication of island and tunnel junction structures in which single-electron devices can be realised is described. Structures based on metals, GaAs/AlGaAs heterointerfaces, ?-doped GaAs, silicon and silicon-on-insulator have been considered and some of the applications of single electronics such as the current standard and the single electron memory are described in this review.

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

nanostructure
nanoelectronics
single-electron
coulomb blockade


A mathematical programming-based scheduling framework for multitasking environments A new paradigm along with a mixed (binary) integer-linear programming model is developed for scheduling tasks in multitasking environments, for which the number of completed tasks is not a good measure. One special case falls into the realm of deteriorating jobs. Polynomial time optimal solution algorithms are presented for this and one other special case. As the complexity of the original problem is believed to be strongly NP-hard, an efficient solution algorithm, based on tabu search, is developed to solve the problem. Small, medium, and large size problems are solved, and the solution obtained from the algorithm is compared with that of the optimal solution or the upper bound found from using the Lagrangian relaxation. Where it was measurable, the search algorithm gave quantifiably good quality solutions, and in all cases it had a much better time efficiency than the branch-and-bound enumeration method. A detailed statistical experiment, based on the split-plot design, is developed to identify the characteristics of the tabu search algorithm, thus guaranteeing a solution that is significantly better in quality. A conjecturing technique is introduced for problems with very large planning horizons. This technique had remarkable time efficiency with no apparent loss of quality.

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

(s) scheduling-single resource
modeling human behavior
(s) tabu search
(t) integer programming
(s) deteriorating jobs
(s) time dependent processing time
(s) preemptive scheduling


Platinum chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) characteristics for high density ferroelectric memory applications ? The key component of ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) is a capacitor including a ferroelectric thin film and electrode materials. Platinum is one of the suitable metals which meet requirements such as low resistivity, high thermal stability, and good oxygen resistance. Generally, the ferroelectric and the electrode materials were patterned by a plasma etching process. The application possibility of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) processes to the patterning of ferroelectric thin film instead of plasma etching was investigated in our previous study for improvement of an angled sidewall which prevents the densification of FeRAM. In this study, the characteristics of platinum CMP for FeRAM applications were also investigated by an approach as bottom electrode materials of ferroelectric material in CMP patterning. The removal rate was increased from 24.81nm/min by the only alumina slurry (0.0wt% of H2O2 oxidizer) to 113.59nm/min at 10.0wt% of H2O2 oxidizer. Electrochemical study of platinum and alumina slurry with various concentrations of H2O2 was performed in order to investigate the change of the removal rate. The decreased particle size in the alumina slurry with an addition of 10.0wt% H2O2 oxidizer made the improved surface roughness of the platinum thin films. Micro-scratches were observed in all polished samples.

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

chemical mechanical polishing (cmp)
platinum (pt)


An in vivo database model for pharmacological and physiological dosage for experimental animals We developed a database compiling in vivo doses of compounds for various activities in certain animal species. The related database covers almost 100 years of experiments. The conceptual scheme of the database was created using concepts of the entity-relationship modeling principles. Using published references, dosages and their effects on laboratory animals were entered as data. As the next stage of our work, we have started to examine the available literature to information about the experimental dosages of various drugs used in other studies. The database provides various interfaces, including graphical-user interfaces and interfaces for Internet access. The database will be useful as a knowledge infrastructure for researchers who have to perform dose-scan experiments for a specific pharmacological activity. The basic benefit of that knowledge infrastructure is that it will enable virtual pharmacological experiments that will be considerably less expensive than conventional laboratory experiments, because the number of animals used and the number of dose-scan experiments will be greatly reduced. The developed database will also be helpful for new drug development studies and for responding to queries about animal types, drugs used, drug interactions, and results.

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

experimental animals dosage database design


A kinematic approach to Kokotsakis meshes A Kokotsakis mesh is a polyhedral structure consisting of an n-sided central polygon P-0 surrounded by a belt of quadrangles or triangles in the following way: Each side a(i) of P-0 is shared by an adjacent polygon P-i, and the relative motion between cyclically consecutive neighbor polygons is a spherical coupler motion. Hence, each vertex of P-0 is the meeting point of four faces. In the case n = 3 the mesh is part of an octahedron. These structures with rigid faces and variable dihedral angles were first studied in the thirties of the last century. However, in the last years there was a renaissance: The question under which conditions such meshes are infinitesimally or continuously flexible gained high actuality in discrete differential geometry. The goal of this paper is to revisit the well-known continuously flexible examples (Bricard, Graf, Sauer, Kokotsakis) from the kinematic point of view and to extend their list by a new family. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

kokotsakis mesh
spherical coupler motion

discrete conjugate net
overconstrained mechanism


Information technology management: the case of the Port of Singapore Authority The Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) used information technology (IT) extensively to create a high-tech port that has become the busiest port in the world. Now corporatised as a commercial port operator, PSA Corporation Ltd employs four key management success factors in managing IT to meet the demands and challenges facing port operators. They are: (1) having a business-driven IT investment; (2) aligning business and IT plans; (3) maintaining a flexible and extensible IT infrastructure; and (4) encouraging IT innovation and creativity. These management success factors are discussed and examples are given to illustrate how they help PSA more effectively leverage IT to streamline operations and sustain its competitive advantage. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

information technology
it infrastructure
it investment


exploring wearable ambient displays for social awareness Mobile phones represent not only a means of communication, but an increasingly omnipresent computing platform, enabling diverse modes of communication including ambient displays that are tied to bodies and social groups, rather than physical environments. As an example of such a display, we present Damage, a prototype device for mobile ambient awareness of a social group, and discuss design considerations for such devices.

O B 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

tangible interfaces
social computing
ambient display
group communication


Application of imperialist competitive algorithm with its modified techniques for multi-objective optimal power flow problem: A comparative study One of the major tools for power system operators is Optimal Power Flow (OPF) problem which is designed to optimize a certain objective over power network variables under certain constraints. One of the simplest but most powerful optimization algorithms is imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) outperforming many of the already existing optimization techniques. The original ICA method often converges to local optima. Therefore, in order to avoid this shortcoming, the interaction effects of colonies on each other are modeled to improve local search near the global optima. Also, a series of modifications is purposed to the assimilation policy rule of ICA method in order to further enhance algorithms rate of convergence for achieving a better solution quality. This article investigates the possibility of using recently emerged evolutionary-based approach as a solution for the OPF problems which is based on ICA method with its modified techniques for optimal settings of OPF control variables. The performance of this approach is studied and evaluated on the standard IEEE 57-bus test system with different objective functions and is compared to methods reported in the literature recently. The proposed modified techniques for ICA method provide better results compared to the original ICA and other methods recently reported in the literature as demonstrated by simulation results.

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

optimal power flow (opf)
imperialist competitive algorithm (ica)
modified technique


A novel block intensity comparison code for video classification and retrieval Appropriate organization of video databases is essential for pertinent indexing and retrieval of visual information. This paper proposes a new feature called block intensity comparison code (BICC) for video classification and retrieval. Block intensity comparison code represents the average block intensity difference between blocks of a frame. The extracted feature is further processed using principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the redundancy while exploiting the correlations between the feature elements. The temporal nature of video is modeled by hidden Markov model (HMM) with BICC as the features. It is found that, BICC outperforms other visual features such as edge, motion and histogram which are commonly used for video classification.

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

block intensity comparison code (bicc)
video retrieval


Using a Product Manifold distance for unsupervised action recognition This paper presents a method for unsupervised learning and recognition of human actions in video. Lacking any supervision, there is nothing except the inherent biases of a given representation to guide grouping of video clips along semantically meaningful partitions. Thus, in the first part of this paper, we compare two contemporary methods. Bag of Features (BOF) and Product Manifolds (PM), for clustering video clips of human facial expressions, hand gestures, and full-body actions, with the goal of better understanding how well these very different approaches to behavior recognition produce semantically relevant clustering of data. We show that PM yields superior results when measuring the alignment between the generated clusters and the nominal class labeling of the data set. We found that while gross motions were easily clustered by both methods, the lack of preservation of structural information inherent to the BOF representation leads to limitations that are not easily overcome without supervised training. This was evidenced by the poor separation of shape labels in the hand gestures data by BOF, and the overall poor performance on full-body actions. In the second part of this paper, we present an unsupervised mechanism for learning micro-actions in continuous video streams using the PM representation. Unlike other works, our method requires no prior knowledge of an expected number of labels/classes, requires no silhouette extraction, is tolerant to minor tracking errors and jitter, and can operate at near real-time speed. We show how to construct a set of training "tracklets," how to cluster them using the Product Manifold distance measure, and how to perform detection using exemplars learned from the clusters. Further, we show that the system is amenable to incremental learning as anomalous activities are detected in the video stream. We demonstrate performance using the publicly-available ETHZ Livingroom data set. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

unsupervised learning
product manifold
action recognition


Classification of binary spatial textures using stochastic geometry, nonlinear deterministic analysis and artificial neural networks Stereology and stochastic geometry can be used as auxiliary tools for diagnostic purposes in tumour pathology. The role of first-order parameters and stochastic-geometric functions for the classification of the texture of biological tissues has been investigated recently. The volume fraction and surface area per unit volume, the pair correlation function and the centred quadratic contact density function of epithelium were estimated in three case series of benign and malignant lesions of glandular tissues. This approach was further extended by applying the Laslett test, i.e. a point process statistic computed after transformation of the convex tangent points of sectioned random sets from planar images. This method has not yet been applied to histological images so far. Also the nonlinear deterministic approach to tissue texture was applied by estimating the correlation dimension as a function of embedding dimension. We used the stochastic-geometric functions, the first-order parameters and the correlation dimensions for the classification of cases using various algorithms. Learning vector quantization was applied as neural paradigm. Applications included distinction between mastopathy and mammary cancer, between benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostatic cancer, and between chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. The same data sets were also classified with discriminant analysis and support vector machines. The stereological estimates provided high accuracy in the classification of individual cases. The question: which category of estimator is the most informative, cannot be answered globally, but must be explored empirically for each specific data set. The results obtained by the three algorithms were similar.

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

artificial neural networks
learning vector quantization
pancreatic cancer
pathology
stereology
stochastic geometry

mammary carcinoma
pattern recognition
prostate cancer
support vector machine


Optical spectra of charged anisotropic quantum boxes We have developed a numerical scheme for exact diagonalization of the few-particle electronhole interaction Hamiltonians with a simultaneous resolution of several discrete conserved quantum numbers such as total electron or hole spins, total angular momentum, or parity. The method was applied to a simple model of a two-dimensional rectangular quantum box of arbitrary size and anisotropy, and containing either several electrons or several electrons and a single valence hole. In this model, effects of box size and anisotropy on the photoluminescence spectra are analyzed. Compared to earlier calculations, we were able to include enough single-particle shells in the many-body Hilbert space to observe the transitions between strong and weak spatial quantization regimes.

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