Extending and Implementing RASP In previous work we have proposed an extension to ASP (Answer Set Programming), called RASP, standing for ASP with Resources. RASP supports declarative reasoning on production and consumption of (amounts of) resources. The approach combines answer set semantics with quantitative reasoning and relies on an algebraic structure to support computations and comparisons of amounts. The RASP framework provides some form of preference reasoning on resources usage. In this paper, we go further in this direction by introducing expressive constructs for supporting complex preferences specification on aggregate resources. We present a refinement of the semantics of RASP so as to take into account the new constructs. For all the extensions, we provide an encoding into plain ASP. We prove that the complexity of establishing the existence of an answer set, in such an enriched framework, remains NP-complete as in ASP. Finally, we report on raspberry, a prototypical implementation of RASP. This tool consists of a compiler that, given a ground RASP program, produces a pure ASP encoding suitable to be processed by commonly available ASP-solvers.

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

answer set programming
quantitative reasoning
preferences


Design patterns for context-aware services Numerous context-aware applications were proposed in the literature. Relatively, little attention was paid to understanding how they are related. This paper introduces a framework for classifying context-aware services. We studied 48 context-aware service scenarios discussed in the literature, deriving a model of seven design patterns for context-aware services. This paper discusses the model and design patterns in detail. Also presented in this paper is a novel programming model for enabling the end-user to build context-aware services. The concept of Programming by Selection and its prototype implementation are presented. The feasibility of this method is demonstrated. It is argued that Programming by Selection offers an alternative end-user programming method for context-aware services.

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

context-aware
pervasive computing
uniquitous computing
end-user programming
smart home
smart space
design pattern


A new method of interpreting self-potential anomalies of two-dimensional inclined sheets ? A new method of interpreting self-potential anomalies of inclined sheet-like bodies of infinite strike length is presented in this study. In contrast to conventional schemes, the method does not explicitly make use of the magnitudes of the anomaly values during inversion. But, positions of a pair of points, at which the anomaly values differ from each other by a constant magnitude, are selected to construct some linear equations. The coefficients of these equations are functions of the model parameters, and hence the latter are solved from these coefficients. The method can be extended to gravity and magnetic anomalies of various models of simple geometry.

inversion of potential fields
self-potential anomalies
sheet-like bodies


Artificial wavelet neural network and its application in neuro-fuzzy models In the proposed work, two types of artificial neural networks are proposed by using well-known advantages and valuable features of wavelets and sigmoidal activation functions. Two neurons are derived by adding and multiplying the outputs of the wavelet and the sigmoidal activation functions. These neurons in a feed-forward single hidden layer network result summation wavelet neural network (SWNN) and multiplication wavelet neural network (MWNN). An algorithm is introduced for structure determination of the proposed networks. Approximation properties of SWNN and MWNN have been evaluated with different wavelet functions. The above networks in the consequent part of the neuro-fuzzy model result summation wavelet neuro-fuzzy (SWNF) and multiplication wavelet neuro-fuzzy (MWNF) models. Different types of wavelet function are tested with the proposed networks and fuzzy models on four different dynamical examples. Convergence of the learning process is also guaranteed by adaptive learning rate and performing stability analysis using Lyapunov function.

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

sigmoidal activation function
wavelet activation function
wavelet network
neuro-fuzzy model


Model-based breakdown of resist and mask contributions to local CDU for sub-30-nm contact holes in EUV lithography Local critical dimension uniformity of sub-30nm contact holes is a concern in EUVL. Resist and mask contributions to local CDU are assessed in three independent ways. Three budget breakdown methods show consistently 80% of resist contribution. Reduced PEB temperature accompanies 5% relative decrease of resist contribution. Experiments imply photon shot noise could potentially be the biggest contributor.

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

local critical dimension uniformity
photon shot noise

extreme ultra-violet lithography
mask error enhancement factor
post exposure bake


A parallel solver for unsteady incompressible 3D Navier-Stokes equations We describe some algorithms and software components that allow us to solve on parallel computers classical test cases for unsteady incompressible 3D Navier-Stokes equations. Our main focus is the design of robust and efficient parallel solvers for systems with singularly perturbed convection-reaction-diffusion and Laplace operators, which are important constituents of the Navier-Stokes solvers. The performance of the solvers on two parallel computers is examined. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

navier-stokes equations
overlapping domain decomposition
fictitious domain method
finite differences


The flow shop scheduling polyhedron with setup times This paper addresses the problem of improving the polyhedral representation of a certain class of machine scheduling problems. Despite the poor polyhedral representation of many such problems in general, it is shown that notably tighter linear programming representations can be obtained for many important models. In particular, we study the polyhedral structure of two different mixed-integer programming formulations of the flow shop scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setup times, denoted by SDST flow shop. The first is related to the asymmetric traveling salesman problem (ATSP) polytope. The second is less common and is derived from a model proposed by Srikar and Ghosh based on the linear ordering problem (LOP) polytope. The main contribution of this work is the proof that any facet-defining inequality (facet) of either of these polytopes (ATSP and LOP) induces a facet for the corresponding SDST flow shop polyhedron. The immediate benefit of this result is that all developments to date on facets and valid inequalities for both the ATSP and the LOP can be applied directly to the machine scheduling polytope. In addition, valid mixed-integer inequalities based on variable upper-bound flow inequalities for either model are developed as well. The derived cuts are evaluated within a branch-and-cut framework.

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

flow shop scheduling
setup times
asymmetric traveling salesman problem
linear ordering problem

polyhedral combinatorics
facet-defining inequalities


using the top500 to trace and project technology and architecture trends The TOP500 is a treasure trove of information on the leading edge of high performance computing. It was used in the 2008 DARPA Exascale technology report to isolate out the effects of architecture and technology on high performance computing, and lay the groundwork to project how current systems might mature through the coming years. Two particular classes of architectures were identified: "heavy-weight" (based on high end commodity microprocessors) and "lightweight," (primarily BlueGene variants), and projections made on performance, concurrency, memory capacity, and power. This paper updates those projections, and adds a third class of "heterogeneous" architectures (leveraging the emerging class of GPU-like chips) to the mix.

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 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

system projections
heterogeneous systems


A novel method for parallel image processing applications It is the aim of this paper to introduce a novel method for the calculation of 2-D convolution/correlation for image processing application. The technique combines a recently developed 2-D transform based on the Mersenne numbers with the 2-D Fermat number transform, using the 2-D mixed radix conversion. The resulting combination uses fast two dimensional residue transforms which can be implemented in parallel for high speed and high throughput rate. The technique is suitable for parallel calculation of 2-D convolution/correlation for digital image processing applications purposes.

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

fast algorithms
2-d transforms
parallel processing
2-d convolution/correlation


New interval methods for constrained global optimization Interval analysis is a powerful tool which allows to design branch-and-bound algorithms able to solve many global optimization problems. In this paper we present new adaptive multisection rules which enable the algorithm to choose the proper multisection type depending on simple heuristic decision rules. Moreover, for the selection of the next box to be subdivided, we investigate new criteria. Both the adaptive multisection and the subinterval selection rules seem to be specially suitable for being used in inequality constrained global optimization problems. The usefulness of these new techniques is shown by computational studies.

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

global optimization
interval analysis
adaptive multisection

inequality constrained problems
subinterval selection criterion
computational study


Micromechanically based continuum damage mechanics material laws for fiber-reinforced ceramics A micromechanically based continuum damage mechanics material law is developed for fiber-reinforced ceramics. Its parameters and internal variables are obtained from micromechanical models rather than from macroscopic experiments. Micromechanical models are derived for the damage and failure mechanisms observed in 2D C/CSiC composite samples loaded by tension, shear and compression. In specimens subjected to tension, the early stage of damage is characterized by transverse cracking. Further load increase induces fiber failure in the longitudinal plies, what leads to fracture. Shear loading initiates cracks oriented at 0/90 and 45 to the fiber axes, the latter causing fracture. Specimens loaded in compression exhibit catastrophic failure due to microbuckling of fiber bundles. Simulation results show the ability of the developed model to describe the observed failure mechanism in experiments.

O O B I I 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

fiber ceramics
damage mechanisms
micromechanics


The geography and carbon footprint of mobile phone use in Cote dIvoire The newly released Orange D4D mobile phone data base provides new insights into the use of mobile technology in a developing country. Here we perform a series of spatial data analyses that reveal important geographic aspects of mobile phone use in Cote dIvoire. We first map the locations of base stations with respect to the population distribution and the number and duration of calls at each base station. On this basis, we estimate the energy consumed by the mobile phone network. Finally, we perform an analysis of inter-city mobility, and identify high-traffic roads in the country.

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

mobile phone
cote divoire
carbon footprint


Blended e-assessment: Migrating classical exams to the digital world Existing e-assessment tools may not be a panacea to address all assessment situations, as students might find the traditional pen-and-paper approach to provide their answers more convenient than typing them online. For example, constructed response or essay-based assessments will require the active participation of students and lecturers to demonstrate and grade knowledge acquisition, reasoning, evaluation or argumentation. We propose an e-assessment solution that combines mainstream e-assessment features with the classical assessment approach where students write down their responses in paper. This approach supports both grading and access to exams anytime and anywhere. Students attend assessment sessions and are tested the traditional way, but grading, reporting of results, and statistical analysis are performed in the digital world. The proposed approach also provides support to the automated generation of assessment reports, and the administrative management of student grades and their automated transfer to student files. This tool may also be seen as a cost-effective alternative to computer-supported e-assessment, in those cases where the use of computers to perform assessment is not convenient or possible. The tool enables both formative and summative assessment, and also facilitates the transition from classical paper-and-pen-based assessment scenarios to digital ones. The tool has been validated during the last three academic years at University of Vigo, Spain. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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


A normalized basis for quintic Powell-Sabin splines We construct a suitable normalized B-spline representation for C(2)-continuous quintic Powell-Sabin splines. The basis functions have a local support, they are nonnegative, and they form a partition of unity. The construction is based on the determination of a set of triangles that must contain a specific set of points. We are able to define control points and cubic control polynomials which are tangent to the spline surface. We also show how to compute the Bezier control net of such a spline in a stable way. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

control points
control polynomials
bezier control net

quintic powell-sabin splines
normalized b-splines


Stress intensity factor by p-adaptive refinement based on ordinary Kriging interpolation This paper aims at achieving two specific objectives. The first one is to examine the applicability of ordinary Kriging (OK) interpolation to the finite element method based on variogram modeling, and the second one is to present an adaptive procedure for hierarchical p-refinement in conjunction with a posteriori error estimator based on the modified superconvergent patch recovery (S.P.R.) method. For this purpose, the weighted least-square method is applied to predict the exact solution from derivative values computed at the Gauss points. The weight factor is determined by experimental and theoretical variogram-based interpolation of derivative data, in contrast to conventional interpolation methods based on an equal weight factors. In the p-refinement, the analytical domain is refined automatically to obtain an acceptable level of accuracy, by a selective increment of the p-level. To verify the performance of the modified S.P.R. method, a new error estimator based on the limit value is proposed. The validity of the proposed approach is tested by analyzing two-dimensional cracked plates under tension modeled with quadrilateral elements.

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

ordinary kriging
finite element
stress intensity factor


MD-ELM: Originally Mislabeled Samples Detection using OP-ELM Model This paper proposes a methodology for identifying data samples that are likely to be mislabeled in a c-class classification problem (dataset). The methodology relies on an assumption that the generalization error of a model learned from the data decreases if a label of some mislabeled sample is changed to its correct class. A general classification model used in the paper is OP-ELM; it also provides a fast way to estimate the generalization error by PRESS Leave-One-Out. It is tested on two toy datasets, as well as on real life datasets for one of which expert knowledge about the identified potential mislabels has been sought.

O O O 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 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


Anti-Cardiolipin and Anti-?2-Glycoprotein I Antibodies Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) are known to be pathogenic in experimental models and are predictive of thrombosis and miscarriages in patients, so it is important to correctly evaluate their presence for identifying patients at risk. Despite many years of work, the standardization of aPL ELISA remains an open problem, so evaluation of newly introduced commercial preparations is mandatory. A total of 80 sera were collected (10 primary antiphospholipid syndromes (APSs), 10 APSs associated with systemic lupus erythematosus, 20 infectious diseases, 20 rheumatoid arthritis and 20 normal blood donors) and tested for IgG/IgM anti-cardiolipin and anti-beta2GPI antibodies on commercial ELISA kits (ETI) by DiaSorin and on home-made ELISA. Both methods displayed good sensitivity and specificity for APS and were found to be concordant, especially in determining antibodies of IgG class

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

anti-cardiolipin antibodies
anti-?2-glycoprotein i antibodies
antiphospholipid elisa methods
antiphospholipid syndrome


Collaborative interdisciplinary astrobiology research: a bibliometric study of the NASA Astrobiology Institute This study aims to undertake a bibliometric investigation of the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) funded research that was published between 2008 and 2012 (by teams of Cooperative Agreement Notice Four and Five). For this purpose, the study creates an inventory of publications co-authored through NAI funding and investigates journal preferences, international and institutional collaboration, and citation behaviors of researchers to reach a better understanding of interdisciplinary and collaborative astrobiology research funded by the NAI. Using the NAI annual reports, 1210 peer-reviewed publications are analyzed. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) NAI researchers prefer publishing in high-impact multidisciplinary journals. (2) Astronomy and astrophysics are the most preferred categories to publish based on Web of Science subject categories. (3) NAI is indeed a virtual institution; researchers collaborate with other researchers outside their organization and in some cases outside the U.S. (4) There are prominent scholars in the NAI co-author network but none of them dominates astrobiology.

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

bibliometrics
social network analysis
citespace
vosviewer


Wireless outdoor personal area network using adaptive inquiry scanning for location-based services The Infopoint Explorer is an outdoor personal area network for location-based services that allows users to access locality information interactively using mobile computing devices such as PDAs and smartphones. The Infopoint explorer was used to study the limitations imposed by inexpensive and popular wireless technologies such as Bluetooth for outdoor location-based services. The Infopoint Explorer functioned as a multimedia guidebook that allowed access to location-specific information using wireless Infopoints. The Infopoints detect and attempt to transfer multimedia content to nearby mobile computing devices using Bluetooth connectivity. An adaptive Bluetooth Inquiry Access Code algorithm was developed to reduce the time taken for the Infopoint to detect nearby devices. The Infopoint was powered with solar panels and was deployed for a four-month trial. During the trial, over 8,000 Bluetooth connections were attempted, with 300 successful transfers.

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

location-based services
bluetooth wireless network
on-demand context-aware multimedia


An HMM-based over-sampling technique to improve text classification An over-sampling balancing method based on document content is proposed. The technique includes an HMM that generates samples based on existing documents. The model is tested with a SVM classifier in two medical document collections. Results show the method outperforms another well-used data balancing techniques.

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

hidden markov model
oversampling techniques


designing automated handheld navigation support Map usage on handheld devices suffers from limited screen size and the minimal attention that users can dedicate to them in mobile situations. This work examines effects of automating navigation features like zooming and panning as well as other features such as rotation, path finding and artifact representation on the mobile navigation experience. Described are five claims and early support for these features in the police work domain.

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

automated user interaction
mobile devices
loosely-directed navigation
adaptive user interfaces
navigation aids


An analytic study of tuning systems parameters in IEEE 802.11e enhanced distributed channel access In this paper, we derive, based on the analytical model developed by Cali et al., a multi-class model to study how to adaptively tune parameters in IEEE 802.11e EDCA and support service differentiation in WLANs. Through analytical modeling, we demonstrate that by assigning appropriate different attempt probabilities (or contention window sizes) to stations of different classes, it is feasible to provide (proportional) service differentiation and achieve pre-specified targeted throughput ratios among different classes, while at the same time, maximizing the total system capacity. We also extend the derived theoretical model to analyze the role of AIFS and TXOP values on service differentiation perceived by different traffic classes. We show that, to achieve QoS guarantees (i.e., throughput differentiation) and high channel utilization, it may not be desirable to allow tuning of multiple parameters (e.g., both the contention window sizes and the AIFS values). Instead, the design dimension should be kept small by turning only one set of parameters, while keeping the other two sets of parameters for all the access categories fixed (i.e., setting the AIFS values of all access categories to 2, which is equivalent to AIFS=DIFS). We also elaborate on how to incorporate our derived theoretical results into IEEE 802.11e. These include (i) how to reduce the computational complexity and practically calculate results on-line, (ii) how to convert the optimal parameters derived in the model that characterizes the p-persistent version of IEEE 802.11e to those in IEEE 802.11e (which is based on the notion of the contention window to determine whether or not to transmit in a slot), and (iii) how to on-line measure parameters needed for calculating the best value of the contention window size. Both the analytical models and the proposed approaches for practically incorporating theoretical findings into IEEE 802.11e EDCA are validated through detailed ns-2 simulations and empirical experimentation on a Linux-based MADWifi driver for wireless LAN devices with the Atheros chipset.

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

ieee 802.11e
wlan
system parameter tuning


Talairach-Tournoux brain atlas registration using a metalforming principle-based finite element method In this paper, a novel non-rigid registration method is proposed for registration of the Talairach-Tournoux brain atlas with MRI images and the Schaltenbrand-Wahren brain atlas. A metalforming principle-based finite element method with the large deformation problem is used to find the local deformation, in which finite element equations are governed by constraints in the form of displacements derived from the correspondence relationship between extracted feature points. Some detectable substructures, such as the cortical surface, ventricles and corpus callosum, are first extracted from MRI, forming feature points which are classified into different groups. The softassign method is used to establish the correspondence relationship between feature points within each group and to obtain the global transformation concurrently. The displacement constraints are then derived from the correspondence relationship. A metalforming principle-based finite element method with the large deformation problem is used in which finite element equations are reorganized and simplified by integrating the displacement constraints into the system equations. Our method not only matches the model to the data efficiently, but also decreases the degrees of freedom of the system and consequently reduces the computational cost. The method is illustrated by matching the Talairach-Tournoux brain atlas to MRI normal and pathological data and to the Schaltenbrand-Wahren brain atlas. We compare the results quantitatively between the force assignment-based method and the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method yields more accurate results in a fraction of the time taken by the previous method. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

brain atlas
finite element method
large deformation

non-rigid registration
metalforming principle-based


Molecular interactions of alcohols with zeolite BEA and MOR frameworks Zeolites can adsorb small organic molecules such as alcohols from a fermentation broth. Also in the zeolite-catalyzed conversion of alcohols to biofuels, biochemicals, or gasoline, adsorption is the first step. Several studies have investigated the adsorption of alcohols in different zeolites experimentally, but computational investigations in this field have mostly been restricted to zeolite MFI. In this study, the adsorption of C1-C4 alcohols in BEA and MOR was investigated using density functional theory (DFT). Calculated adsorption geometries and the corresponding energies of the designed cluster models were comparable to periodic calculations, and the adsorption energies were in the same range as the corresponding computational and experimental values reported in the literature for zeolite MFI. Thus, BEA and MOR may be good adsorption materials for alcohols in the field of downstream processing and catalysis. Aside from the DFT calculations, adsorption isotherms were determined experimentally in this study from aqueous solutions. For BEA, the adsorption of significant amounts of alcohol from aqueous solution was observed experimentally. In contrast, MOR was loaded with only a very small amount of alcohol. Although differences were found between the affinities obtained from gas-phase DFT calculations and those observed experimentally in aqueous solution, the computational data presented here represent molecular level information on the geometries and energies of C1-C4 alcohols adsorbed in zeolites BEA and MOR. This knowledge should prove very useful in the design of zeolite materials intended for use in adsorption and catalytic processes, as it allows adsorption behavior to be predicted via judiciously designed computational models.

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

adsorption
alcohols
bea
density functional theory
mor
zeolites


Reverse computation for rollback-based fault tolerance in large parallel systems Reverse computation is presented here as an important future direction in addressing the challenge of fault tolerant execution on very large cluster platforms for parallel computing. As the scale of parallel jobs increases, traditional checkpointing approaches suffer scalability problems ranging from computational slowdowns to high congestion at the persistent stores for checkpoints. Reverse computation can overcome such problems and is also better suited for parallel computing on newer architectures with smaller, cheaper or energy-efficient memories and file systems. Initial evidence for the feasibility of reverse computation in large systems is presented with detailed performance data from a particle (ideal gas) simulation scaling to 65,536 processor cores and 950 accelerators (GPUs). Reverse computation is observed to deliver very large gains relative to checkpointing schemes when nodes rely on their host processors/memory to tolerate faults at their accelerators. A comparison between reverse computation and checkpointing with measurements such as cache miss ratios, TLB misses and memory usage indicates that reverse computation is hard to ignore as a future alternative to be pursued in emerging architectures.

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

checkpointing
reverse computation
parallel
systems
fault tolerance


redefinable events for dynamic reconfiguration of communications in ubiquitous computing In ubiquitous computing systems, publish/subscribe communication paradigm is usually used to exchange information between applications, services and devices, for its ability to decouple communication participants. In these systems, dynamic reconfiguration is an important requirement, as participants, due to their mobile nature, are commonly added to the system or removed from it at run-time. In this paper, we present a model of redefinable events intended to support dynamic reconfiguration of communication schemes in ubiquitous systems. Additionally, we provide a set of techniques to support this model in the publish/ subscribe paradigm. Finally, we have implemented a middleware based on the model and techniques proposed to show the feasibility of the approach.

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

dynamic reconfiguration
communications
ubiquitous computing

software engineering
publish/subscribe
event


A Note on Projecting the Cubic Lattice It is shown that, given any (n-1)-dimensional lattice I >, there is a vector vaa"currency sign (n) such that the orthogonal projection of a"currency sign (n) onto v (aSyen) is, up to a similarity, arbitrarily close to I >. The problem arises in attempting to find the largest cylinder anchored at two points of a"currency sign (n) and containing no other points of a"currency sign (n) .

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


Random Forest and Rotation Forest for fully polarized SAR image classification using polarimetric and spatial features Fully Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) has the advantages of all-weather, day and night observation and high resolution capabilities. The collected data are usually sorted in Sinclair matrix, coherence or covariance matrices which are directly related to physical properties of natural media and backscattering mechanism. Additional information related to the nature of scattering medium can be exploited through polarimetric decomposition theorems. Accordingly, PolSAR image classification gains increasing attentions from remote sensing communities in recent years. However, the above polarimetric measurements or parameters cannot provide sufficient information for accurate PolSAR image classification in some scenarios, e.g. in complex urban areas where different scattering mediums may exhibit similar PolSAR response due to couples of unavoidable reasons. Inspired by the complementarity between spectral and spatial features bringing remarkable improvements in optical image classification, the complementary information between polarimetric and spatial features may also contribute to PolSAR image classification. Therefore, the roles of textural features such as contrast, dissimilarity, homogeneity and local range, morphological profiles (MPs) in PolSAR image classification are investigated using two advanced ensemble learning (EL) classifiers: Random Forest and Rotation Forest. Supervised Wishart classifier and support vector machines (SVMs) are used as benchmark classifiers for the evaluation and comparison purposes. Experimental results with three Radarsat-2 images in quad polarization mode indicate that classification accuracies could be significantly increased by integrating spatial and polarimetric features using ensemble learning strategies. Rotation Forest can get better accuracy than SVM and Random Forest, in the meantime, Random Forest is much faster than Rotation Forest.

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

image classification
morphological profiles
ensemble learning
random forest
rotation forest


Cardiovascular Responses to Stress after Carotid Baroreceptor Denervation in Humans Iatrogenic bilateral denervation of carotid sinus baroreceptors may occur as a complication of carotid body tumor resection and radiation therapy of the neck. The acute phase of the resulting syndrome of baroreflex failure is characterized by a limited blood pressure buffering capacity against excessive rise or fall in response to emotional and physical stimuli like sexual arousal and cold. Paroxysms of severe hypertension and tachycardia, accompanied by excessive increments in sympathetic tone and catecholamine plasma levels, were ascribed to loss of tonic inhibitory influence of baroreceptors on sympathetic tone. Bilateral anesthetic blockade of baroreceptor afferent nerves was shown to result in a strong increase in muscle sympathetic nerve activity and disruption of its normal patterning. This chapter reviews our findings on the long-term effects of iatrogenic baroreflex trauma on the hemodynamic responses to pharmacological, physical, and emotional stress in the autonomic function laboratory as well as under daily life conditions. Chronic attenuation of baroreflex sensitivity after carotid body tumor resection and neck irradiation results in an increased blood pressure variability. However, unopposed sympathetic activation in response to physical and emotional stress appears to be limited to the acute phase of baroreflex failure.

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

sympathetic nervous system
cold pressor test
mental arithmetic


Adaptive cache coherence over a high bandwidth broadband mesh network Networks have traditionally been an obstacle to high performance distributed computing. Specific problems are insufficient bandwidth and long transaction latencies. While pipelining data can achieve high bandwidth, it does nothing for latency which is still a bottleneck in performance. One approach is to develop a cache coherence protocol which exploits recurring data sharing patterns to reduce the impact of latency. This paper proposes an adaptive cache coherence protocol which detects producer-consumer type sharing and maintains coherence on only those cache blocks which exhibit producer-consumer sharing via updates rather than invalidates. Execution driven simulations of this protocol show improved performance compared to a standard write-invalidate protocol protocol and a competitive update protocol. When there are no access patterns to exploit, the protocol does not degrade performance. When there is producer-consumer type sharing, the proposed protocol runs benchmarks up to 30% faster than the better of either write-invalidate or competitive update. As a side-effect, it shows improved tolerance of increasing network latency. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

distributed shared memory
adaptive protocol
producer-consumer sharing
performance evaluation
latency tolerance


Doubly-Generalized LDPC Codes: Stability Bound Over the BEC The iterative decoding threshold of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes over the binary erasure channel (BEC) fulfills an upper bound depending only on the variable and check nodes with minimum distance 2. This bound is a consequence of the stability condition, and is here referred to as stability bound. In this paper, a stability bound over the BEC is developed for doubly-generalized LDPC codes, where variable and check nodes can be generic linear block codes, assuming maximum a posteriori erasure correction at each node. It is proved that also in this generalized context the bound depends only on the variable and check component codes with minimum distance 2. A condition is also developed, namely, the derivative matching condition, under which the bound is achieved with equality. The stability bound leads to consider single, parity-check codes used as variable nodes as an appealing option to overcome common problems created by generalized check nodes.

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

extrinsic information transfer (exit) chart


Modeling and microstructural characterization of incubation, time-dependent drift and saturation during electromigration in AlSiCu stripes Resistance data of passivated AlSiCu contact electromigration test structures clearly show three different stages: incubation, time-dependent drift and ultimately saturation. A detailed model describing all three stages was developed and evidenced by a thorough analysis of the tested material. By using this model, a length dependent lifetime can be calculated and data obtained from different test structures can be compared directly with each other. Moreover, it can be predicted that due to the length dependent saturation, lines below a certain length will never reach the failure criterion! Taking this information into account during the design phase leads to very robust interconnects.

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


A physics-based semiconductor noise model suitable for efficient numerical implementation A semiconductor de,ice noise model in the framework of semiclassical transport and Pauli's exclusion principle is presented. Terminal current noise is modeled as a direct consequence of electron scattering taking place inside the device at the microscopic level. The approach directly connects electron scattering rates of semiclassical transport theory with the current spectral density at the device terminals. It is shown that the spectral density of steady-state current fluctuations can be obtained from the transient solution of the Boltzmann transport equation with special initial conditions. This formulation is inherently suitable for deterministic solution techniques, for instance, the computationally efficient spherical harmonics method. Approximating the instantaneous value of the occupation number by the occupation probability, this model is able to account far Pauli's principle and at the same time describe the behavior of the electron ensemble in terms of independent entities. As a practical demonstration, the model is employed to compute the current noise spectral density due to generation recombination and acoustic and optical phonon scattering for bulk n-type silicon material. Additionally, in order to add more physical insight and to verify results, the model is also employed to compute the low-frequency current spectral density as a function of the electric field and temperature, respectively. The results show good agreement with low-frequency noise measurements reported in literature.

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

noise
semiclassical transport
spherical harmonics

boltzmann equation
generation-recombination
stochastic differential equations


A mutual energy formulation for optimal structural design This paper presents a variational formulation for the design of elastic structures where the function to be minimized by the optimal design, i.e. the objective, is expressed in abstract form. The resulting statement of necessary conditions is uniformly applicable for all admissible objectives. Both state and adjoint state variables appear directly in the problem statement, and all objectives and the arguments of constraints are scalars. The adjoint pair of state variables appear in symmetric roles via the expression termed "mutual energy". Application of the generalized formulation is demonstrated by treatment of the following examples: design to minimize the maximum value of displacement or to minimize a global measure of stress, design for generalized compliance, design where self-weight is taken into account, and multicriterion design.

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

structural optimization
variational formulations
general objectives
continuum design


New Approaches to Diagnosis and Therapy of Tularemia Francisella tularensis is a potent pathogen and a cause of severe human disease. The outcome of tularemia will depend on rapid insertion of appropriate antibiotics. Until recently, effective clinical handling was hampered by shortcomings in laboratory diagnostics. No suitable direct methods were available and, because of risks and isolate recovery difficulties associated with laboratory work, culture has been rarely practiced. Due to achievements from work on modern technology, however, tularemia can now be rapidly and specifically diagnosed. Conventional PCR has been successfully applied on wound specimens of patients acquiring tularemia, and prospects for application on other human specimens are promising. Besides allowing diagnostics at high sensitivity and specificity, the PCR technology will also facilitate the identification of cases of tularemia presenting with aberrant signs and symptoms. Antibiotics for efficacious treatment of tularemia have been available for several decades. Although highly valuable, these drugs are afflicted with adverse effects and/or are available only for parenteral therapy. Recently, quinolones have been shown to afford a new valuable option for treatment of tularemia caused by F. tularensis subsp. holarctica (type B). Experience in treating more severe disease caused by F. tularensis subsp. tularensis (type A) is currently limited. In essence, the clinical handling of tularemia is currently facilitated by new achievements in molecular diagnostics and, at least with regard to type B tularemia, by the introduction of quinolones for therapy

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

culture
francisella tularensis
pcr
tularemia


A novel rapid prototyping and finite element method-based development of the patient-specific temporomandibular joint implant Objective: The objective of this study was to fabricate a successful implant for temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder patients who could not be treated through conventional surgeries. Methods: A custom-made implant was fabricated using rapid prototyping (RP) for the TMJ surgery. The stability of the metallic implant was validated using a finite element analysis. Results: The results of finite elements were stable and the design of the TMJ implant was suitable as per the patient's need. The customised implant was made using a fused deposition modelling method of RP and a vertical machining centre. The implant has provided normal jaw function for over 2 years since surgery. Conclusions: The approach utilised will be helpful in providing successful treatment to the deformed mandible and the mandible joints. This method allows to customise and to accurately fabricatie the implant. Advantages of this approach are that the physical model of the implant was tested for stability before the implantation, the surgeon can plan and rehearse the surgery in advance, it is a less invasive and less time-consuming surgical procedure.

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

temporomandibular joint
rapid prototyping
customised implant
finite element analysis


Criteria of interface evaluation for computer assisted surgery systems Objectives: The evaluation of computer assisted surgery (CAS) systems in terms of clinical outcomes and ergonomic features is more and more relevant. The goal of this paper is to provide criteria to define effective evaluation protocols of HCI for CAS systems. Method: The proposed criteria include the use of two questionnaires prepared by the authors, aimed at analyzing the subjective feeling of the surgeons in using the systems tools, and objective aspects of the system. These questionnaire have to be submitted to systems end-users and to experts in HCI development iteratively during the system development or once at the end. A quantitative evaluation of the main parameters related to the surgical application is also required as an index of system efficacy. The demonstration application was planning software developed for the total knee replacement (TKR). Results and Conclusions: In our TKR planning software the proposed evaluation procedure provided useful indications about the efficacy of HCI and also about further developments of its design and functionality. Moreover, since surgical training systems and surgical navigation platforms also share data treatment and layout similar to the presented TKR planner, these kinds of applications can benefit directly from the proposed approach to HCI design and evaluation.

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

computer assisted surgery systems
surgical training systems

user interface evaluation
human computer interfaces (hci)
surgical planning


Stable multi-input multi-output adaptive fuzzy neural control In this letter, stable direct and indirect adaptive controllers are presented that use Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy systems, conventional fuzzy systems, or a class of neural networks to provide asymptotic tracking of a reference signal vector for a class of continuous time multi-input multi-output (MIMO) square nonlinear plants with poorly understood dynamics. The direct adaptive scheme allows for the inclusion of a priori knowledge about the control input in terms of exact mathematical equations or linguistics, while the indirect adaptive controller permits the explicit use of equations to represent portions of the plant dynamics. We prove that with or without such knowledge the adaptive schemes can "learn" how to control the plant, provide for bounded internal signals, and achieve asymptotically stable tracking of the reference inputs. We do not impose any initialization conditions on the controllers and guarantee convergence of the tracking error to zero.

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

direct adaptive control
fuzzy control
indirect adaptive control
mimo nonlinear systems


Binary quadratic programming formulation for routing and wavelength assignment problem in all-optical WDM networks Routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) is the most concern in wavelength routed optical networks. This paper proposes a novel binary quadratic programming (BQP) formulation for the static RWA problem in order to balance traffic load among a network links more fairly. Subsequently, a greedy heuristic algorithm namely variable-weight routing and wavelength assignment (VW-RWA) is proposed to solve the developed BQP problem. In this method, the weight of a link is proportional to the link congestion. Performance evaluation results for different practical network topologies show that our proposed algorithm can decrease the number of required wavelengths in the network, blocking rate and variance of used wavelengths in each link. Besides, it is shown that the number of required wavelengths to establish call requests for a given network topology can be reduced at lower cost compared to other heuristics.

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 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

static routing and wavelength assignment


A BROAD PROSPECTIVE ON FUZZY TRANSFORMS: FROM GAUGING ACCURACY OF QUANTITY ESTIMATES TO GAUGING ACCURACY AND RESOLUTION OF MEASURING PHYSICAL FIELDS Fuzzy transform is a new type of function transforms that has been successfully used in different applications. In this paper, we provide a broad prospective on fuzzy transform. Specifically, we show that fuzzy transform naturally appears when, in addition to measurement uncertainty, we also encounter another type of localization uncertainty: that, the measured value may come not only from the desired location x, but also from the nearby locations.

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 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

interval uncertainty
interval computations
hausdorff metric


Transistor realization of reversible ZS series gates and reversible array multiplier In order to reduce the redundant Toffoli gates and the line-crossings in the classical reversible full adder appearing in the present literatures, this paper gives a reconstructive structure of Fredkin gate, called RF gate, the corresponding quantum equivalent realization and electronic circuitry construction based on CMOS technology and pass-transistor of this gate are also designed in this paper. With the assistance of the RF gate and the basic reversible gates (including NOT gate, CNOT gate and Toffoli gate), we design new 44 reversible gates called ZS series gates and its corresponding electronic circuitry construction. The proposed ZS series gates have the ability to operate reversible add operation between two signed numbers by a single gate and at lower power consumption. At the same time, as an application of ZS series gates, this paper also designs reversible array multiplier in order to achieve the signed multiplication. It can be theoretically proved that the proposed reversible array multiplier can eliminate power loss associated with the irreversible operation of classical computer, and will be exponentially lower than reversible parallel multiplier with respect to time complexity.

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

rf gate
cmos technology
zs series gates
reversible array multiplier


Reversed order hybrid lithography of T-NIL and UVL For a simple and low-cost preparation of e.g. sensors featuring large areas of nano-scaled line fields connected to micron-sized contacts we propose hybrid lithography of thermal nanoimprint and optical lithography in a reversed order. In the reversed order process the first step is lithography, followed by thermal nanoimprint and finally development. When the imprint is performed into a positive tone resist with a minimum residual layer remaining, any residual polymer is cleared during development, thus avoiding an additional dry etch step. This allows easy metal definition by sputtering and lift-off directly after development. Compared to a conventional sequence, the reversed order process allows higher imprint temperatures and reduces the exposure doses needed substantially, thus improving the quality of the imprint and of the lithography step as well. Line fields of several millimetres length could be successfully prepared. Based on the results obtained a novel approach for low-cost sensor preparation is proposed.

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

hybrid lithography
thermal nanoimprint
positive tone resist


Diffusion and perfusion MR imaging in acute ischemic stroke: a comparison to SPECT Diffusion (DWI) and perfusion (PWI) magnetic resonance imaging are relatively new methods of clinical imaging that probably can detect infarcted (DWI) and hypoperfused but still salvageable tissue (PWI) in acute human stroke. Forty-six acute stroke patients were imaged within 24 h of ictus, on the second day and after a week. SPECT was also performed on 23 patients in the acute phase (first or second day). On the first day, mean volume of hypoperfused tissue was significantly greater (P<0.001) than the infarcted tissue. The initial hypoperfusion volume correlated significantly with the final infarct size (P<0.001). The initial perfusiondiffusion mismatch correlated significantly with the infarct growth (P?0.001). The hypoperfusion volumes measured from PWI and SPECT correlated significantly (P<0.001). In conclusion, combined DWI and PWI is a powerful tool in evaluating the hemodynamics of acute ischemic stroke and can predict the infarct growth during 1 week.

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

acute ischemic stroke
perfusion mr imaging
spect


In Vivo Characterization of the Mechanics of Human Uterine Cervices The uterine cervix has to provide mechanical resistance to ensure a normal development of the fetus. This is guaranteed by the composition of its extracellular matrix, which functions as a fiber-reinforced composite. At term a complex remodeling process allows the cervical canal to open for birth. This remodeling is achieved by changes in the quality and quantity of collagen fibers and ground substance and their interplay, which influences the biomechanical behavior of the cervix but also contributes to pathologic conditions such as cervical incompetence (CI). We start by reviewing the anatomy and histological composition of the human cervix, and discuss its physiologic function and pathologic condition in pregnancy including biomechanical aspects. Established diagnostic methods on the cervix (palpation, endovaginal ultrasound) used in clinics as well as methods for assessment of cervical consistency (light-induced fluorescence, electrical current, and impedance) are discussed. We show the first clinical application of an aspiration device, which allows in vivo testing of the biomechanical properties of the cervix with the aim to establish the physiological biomechanical changes throughout gestation and to detect pregnant women at risk for CI. In a pilot study on nonpregnant cervices before and after hysterectomy we found no considerable difference in the biomechanical response between in vivo and ex vivo. An outlook on further clinical applications during pregnancy is presented

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

uterine cervix
biomechanical properties
aspiration device

remodeling in pregnancy
in vivo experiment


Document mosaicing Document scanning with an over-the-desk video camera offers an attractive alternative to the flat-bed scanner, photocopier or fax machine, since the documents need not be moved from their usual place of reading. However, standard CCD cameras can sample full A4 pages at only 50 dots per inch, which is not sufficient for anything more than the crudest reproduction. This motivates the use of mosaicing, whereby multiple, overlapping images of the document are stitched together seamlessly to form a high resolution composite. Here we present a novel mosaicing system optimized for use with documents. The user simply slides the paper under the camera: all subsequent processing is fully automatic. The quality of the resulting images is sufficient for OCR or printing, though some post-processing is necessary.

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


The Ovary A prerequisite to the understanding of the ovarian diseases and infertility is a thorough understanding of normal embryology and physiology of the ovary. Therefore, the objective of this review article is to provide brief and updated information on the molecular basis of the events that control gonadal development, germ cell formation, folliculogenesis, and ovulation.

O B 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 B


Logical Inference Techniques for Loop Parallelization This paper presents a fully automatic approach to loop parallelization that integrates the use of static and run-time analysis and thus overcomes many known difficulties such as nonlinear and indirect array indexing and complex control flow. Our hybrid analysis framework validates the parallelization transformation by verifying the independence of the loop's memory references. To this end it represents array references using the USR (uniform set representation) language and expresses the independence condition as an equation, S = empty set, where S is a set expression representing array indexes. Using a language instead of an array-abstraction representation for S results in a smaller number of conservative approximations but exhibits a potentially-high runtime cost. To alleviate this cost we introduce a language translation F from the USR set-expression language to an equally rich language of predicates (F(S) double right arrow S = empty set). Loop parallelization is then validated using a novel logic inference algorithm that factorizes the obtained complex predicates (F(S)) into a sequence of sufficient-independence conditions that are evaluated first statically and, when needed, dynamically, in increasing order of their estimated complexities. We evaluate our automated solution on 26 benchmarks from PERFECT-CLUB and SPEC suites and show that our approach is effective in parallelizing large, complex loops and obtains much better full program speedups than the Intel and IBM Fortran compilers.

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

performance
design
algorithms
auto-parallelization
independence predicates


A novel fast fractal decoding algorithm A novel fast fractal decoding algorithm is proposed. In the proposed algorithm, continuation of the decoding process is judged according to an image convergence criterion (ICC), instead of a predefined number of iterations. A selective decoding excludes the converged range blocks by measuring a block convergence criterion (BCC) of the range block. Initial image estimation is used and one-buffer decoding is applied to accelerate the convergence speed. Without loss of quality, the reconstructed image is obtained by computation corresponding to nearly three iterations of conventional decoding.

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

fast fractal decoding
convergence criterion
initial image estimation

contractive transform
fixed point theorem


From UML specifications to mapping and scheduling of tasks into a NoC, with reliability considerations This paper describes a technique for performing mapping and scheduling of tasks belonging to an executable application into a NoC-based MPSoC, starting from its UML specification. A toolchain is used in order to transform the high-level UML specification into a middle-level representation, which takes the form of an annotated task graph. Such an input task graph is used by an optimization engine for the sake of carrying out the design space exploration. The optimization engine relies on a Population-based Incremental Learning (PBIL) algorithm for performing mapping and scheduling of tasks into the NoC. The PBIL algorithm is also proposed for dynamic mapping of tasks in order to deal with failure events at runtime. Simulation results are promising and exhibit a good performance of the proposed solution when problem size is increased.

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

network-on-chip (noc)
unified modeling language (uml)
fault tolerance
application mapping
multiprocessor system-on-chip (mpsoc)


Using Single-Gene Deletions to Identify Checkpoints in the Progression of Systemic Autoimmunity Systemic lupus erythematosus is a multigenic disorder of unknown etiology. To investigate the roles that specific genes play in lupus, we have examined the disease profiles in mice with single-gene deletions. In total, some 17 genes have been studied. Absence of certain genes, such as CD40L, CD28, or Igh6, abrogated induction of autoimmunity. Other genes, such as Igh5, IL-4, or ICAM-1, had little effect on the development of disease. Intermediate effects were observed in IL-6-deficient mice, while absence of ?2-microglobulin resulted in loss of hypergammaglobulinemia and IgG1 autoantibodies, but produced little change in anti-chromatin antibodies or glomerular deposits. The most interesting observations were obtained with genes related to the expression or function of interferon-? (IFN-?). Reductions in IFN-? levels in murine lupus are associated with reductions in both autoantibody levels and immune-complex- mediated pathology. Genes involved in up-regulation of IFN-? expression, such as IL-12, STAT-4, or ICE, did not significantly influence autoimmunity, whereas absence of IFN-? or IFN-? receptor led to greatly reduced autoantibody response and immunopathology. Absence of IRF-1, a gene ex-pressed in response to IFN-?, resulted in selective retention of anti-chromatin antibodies but little glomerular pathology. These studies suggest that the presence of a baseline level of IFN-?, rather than increased expression, is important for autoimmunity. Furthermore, as the IRF-1 knockout demonstrates, specific defects in signaling pathways and gene expression subsequent to IFN-?/IFN-? receptor interaction may influence only certain disease parameters. It has not escaped our attention that IFN-? influences the expression and function of other immunologically relevant genes, such as IL-4, IL-6, and ?2-microglobulin. Thus, these genes may be part of the downstream events following IFN-?/IFN-? receptor interaction that promote the development of autoimmunity.

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

autoimmunity
systemic lupus erythematosus


3D Wireless Network Localization from Inconsistent Distance Observations This paper presents a 3-dimensional algorithm for determining the node locations in ad-hoc wireless local area sensor networks capable of internodal distance measurement (ranging). In accordance with common classification of localisation strategies, the paper proposes a geometric centralised optionally anchor Free algorithm that is based on clusterisation, multilateration and geodetic network adjustment. The method avoids fold-ambiguities by statistical tests on the robustness of the minimally stable structure in 3D. Such a rigid cluster is expanded by a novel robust approach for multilateration. The algorithm developed is capable of obtaining the least-squares solution reliably even in the presence of measurement noise levels Of Lip to 7% of the ranges. Simulations with randomly deployed networks show that it is possible to reach the best achievable mean position deviation (i.e. the Cramer Rao bound).

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

ad-hoc networks
network localisation
error propagation


Which trees have a differentiating-paired dominating set? In this paper, we continue the study of paired-domination in graphs introduced by Haynes and Slater (Networks 32 (1998), 199-206). A paired-dominating set of a graph G with no isolated vertex is a dominating set S of vertices whose induced subgraph has a perfect matching. The set S is called a differentiating-paired dominating set if for every pair of distinct vertices u and v in V(G), N[u]a (c) S not equal N[v]a (c) S, where N[u] denotes the set consisting of u and all vertices adjacent to u. In this paper, we provide a constructive characterization of trees that do not have a differentiating-paired dominating set.

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 B O O O O O O O O


A modified boundary integral evolution formulation for the wave equation We apply a modified boundary integral formulation otherwise known as the Green element method (GEM) to the solution of the two-dimensional scalar wave equation. GEM essentially combines three techniques namely: (a) finite difference approximation of the time term (b) finite element discretization of the problem domain and (c) boundary integral replication of the governing equation. These unique and advantageous characteristics of GEM facilitates a direct numerical approximation of the governing equation and obviate the need for converting the governing partial differential equation to a Helmholtz-type Laplace operator equation for an easier boundary element manipulation. C1 continuity of the computed solutions is established by using Overhauser elements. Numerical tests show a reasonably close agreement with analytical results. Though in the case of the Overhauser GEM solutions, the level of accuracy obtained does not in all cases justify the extra numerical rigor.

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

green element method
wave equation
overhauser elements


An organizational approach to designing an intelligent knowledge-based system: Application to the decision-making process in design projects Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) approaches are designed to reduce the time and cost of product development by capturing, retaining and re-using design knowledge. They currently focus on repetitive design tasks where knowledge is considered as a static resource. However, knowledge is intrinsically linked to the organizations and people who use it. Thus, to be efficient, these knowledge-based systems (KBS) have to be able to take into account all the mechanisms of knowledge creation, sharing and evaluation made by the users. Using the agent paradigm, new knowledge-based systems can be designed in order to address this research issue. Indeed, the agents have social abilities and are able to achieve very complex tasks. These two features are necessary for making a knowledge-based system efficient. However, there still exists today a lack of approaches and methodologies to help design such applications. This paper presents DOCK, a methodology to design an intelligent knowledge-based system that aims to support the knowledge management process. In order to take into account all the mechanisms of knowledge generation, sharing and re-use, DOCK is based on the hypothesis that efficient modelling of human organizations, by highlighting their roles, collaborations, skills, goals and knowledge, will help the KBS designer to specify an adapted knowledge-based system. Finally, DOCK is implemented to design the SMA SNOTRA that is dedicated to supporting a decision-making process for design projects.

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

knowledge-based engineering
organizational modelling
multi-agent systems
knowledge-based system


Forensic memory analysis: From stack and code to execution history Forensics memory analysis has recently gained great attention in cyber forensics community. However, most of the proposals have focused on the extraction of important kernel data structures such as executive objects from the memory. In this paper, we propose a formal approach to analyze the stack memory of process threads to discover a partial execution history of the process. Our approach uses a process logic to model the extracted properties from the stack and then verify these properties against models generated from the program assembly code. The main focus of the paper is on Windows thread stack analysis though the same idea is applicable to other operating systems. (C) 2007 DFRWS. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

cyber forensics
stack
thread
process logic


Coupling of finite element method with material point method by local multi-mesh contact method ? As a Lagrangian particle method, the material point method (MPM) has the potential to model extreme deformation of materials, where the traditional finite element method (FEM) often encounters mesh distortion and element entanglement which lead to numerical difficulties. However, FEM is more accurate and efficient than MPM for problems with small deformation. It is therefore desirable to model the body with extreme deformation by MPM and the body with small deformation by FEM, respectively. In this paper, a method to handle the contact interaction between the MPM body and the FEM body is proposed, which is implemented on the background grid of MPM. By this method, FEM is coupled with MPM and a hexahedral element is incorporated into our 3D explicit MPM code MPM3D. Several numerical examples, including plate impact, sphere rolling, perforation of thick plate, and fluidstructure interaction problems, are studied and the numerical results are in good agreement with analytical solution and results available in the literature. The coupling of FEM and MPM offers advantages of both FEM and MPM.

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

material point method
finite element method
extreme deformation
contact


Slope limiting for discontinuous Galerkin approximations with a possibly non-orthogonal Taylor basis The use of high-order polynomials in discontinuous Galerkin (DG) approximations to convection-dominated transport problems tends to cause a violation of the maximum principle in regions where the derivatives of the solution are large. In this paper, we express the DG solution in terms of Taylor basis functions associated with the cell average and derivatives at the center of the cell. To control the (derivatives of the) discontinuous solution, the values at the vertices of each element are required to be bounded by the means. This constraint is enforced using a hierarchical vertex-based slope limiter to constrain the coefficients of the Taylor polynomial in a conservative manner starting with the highest-order terms. The loss of accuracy at smooth extrema is avoided by taking the maximum of the correction factors for derivatives of order p and higher. No free parameters, oscillation detectors, or troubled cell markers are involved. In the case of a non-orthogonal Taylor basis, the same limiter is applied to the vector of discretized time derivatives before the multiplication by the off-diagonal part of the consistent mass matrix. This strategy leads to a remarkable gain of accuracy, especially in the case of simplex meshes. A numerical study is performed for a 2D convection equation discretized with linear and quadratic finite elements. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

hierarchical basis functions non-diagonal mass matrix


Molecular Determinants of the Bacterial Resistance to Fluoroquinolones: A Computational Study Quinolones constitute a large class of antibacterial agents whose action is mediated through the formation of a ternary complex with DNA and either, DNA Gyrase or topoisomerase IV, resulting in the inhibition of DNA replication. In order to get a deeper insight into the features of the complex formation, we carried out docking studies of fifteen diverse quinolones to the cleaved topoisomerase IV-DNA complex. Docking studies were performed using the crystal structures of the cleaved complex with levofloxacin and moxifloxacin (pdb entries 3K9F and 2XKK, respectively) using the GOLD software. Ligands dock in positions similar to those of the crystal structures. Analysis of the results reveals that bound quinolones appear intercalated between the two nucleotides that are involved in the DNA cleavage and exhibit hydrogen bonds with Arg(117) and, the latter mediated though a water molecule. Arg(117) has not been described to be involved in resistance, since it is putatively involved in the enzymatic reaction and its mutation would be lethal for the organism. Mutants of Ser(79) exhibit resistance to quinolones which can be explained by the loss of an important anchoring point. Interestingly, quinolone resistance observed in Asp(83) mutants cannot be explained directly on the basis of the loss of a direct interaction, but could be explained on the basis of its involvement at the entrance of the ligands to their binding pocket since the residue is located at the mouth of the pocket. The results of the present study suggest that the 4-keto and 3-carboxyl groups of the fluoroquinolones bind a Mg2+ before binding to the cleaved topoisomarase IV-DNA complex and use Asp(83) for entry into the binding pocket. Accordingly, mutations that do not conserve the binding capacity for the quinolone-Mg2+ complex will prevent the binding of this class of ligands. The results we present here are also compared with the structure of PD0305970 a 2,4-dione active against the Ser(79) and Asp(83) mutants.

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

antibiotic resistance
antibiotics mode of action


Evolution strategy based adaptive Lq penalty support vector machines with Gauss kernel for credit risk analysis Credit risk analysis has long attracted great attention from both academic researchers and practitioners. However, the recent global financial crisis has made the issue even more important because of the need for further enhancement of accuracy of classification of borrowers. In this study an evolution strategy (ES) based adaptive Lq SVM model with Gauss kernel (ES-ALqG-SVM) is proposed for credit risk analysis. Support vector machine (SVM) is a classification method that has been extensively studied in recent years. Many improved SVM models have been proposed, with non-adaptive and pre-determined penalties. However, different credit data sets have different structures that are suitable for different penalty forms in real life. Moreover, the traditional parameter search methods, such as the grid search method, are time consuming. The proposed ES-based adaptive Lq SVM model with Gauss kernel (ES-ALqG-SVM) aims to solve these problems. The non-adaptive penalty is extended to (0, 2] to fit different credit data structures, with the Gauss kernel, to improve classification accuracy. For verification purpose, two UCI credit datasets and a real-life credit dataset are used to test our model. The experiment results show that the proposed approach performs better than See5, DT, MCCQP, SVM light and other popular algorithms listed in this study, and the computing speed is greatly improved, compared with the grid search method.

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

support vector machine
evolution strategy

adaptive penalty
credit risk classification


Influence of openings on horizontal load-carrying capacity of timber-frame wall elements with fibre-plaster sheathing boards The paper presents an experimental analysis of timber framed wall panels with openings, coated with single fibre-plaster boards fastened to a timber frame. The present study is a continuation of the research work realized in the last years in reinforcing of the prefabricated timber-frame wall panels without any openings. The aim of the study presented here was to provide the information about the influence of the openings on the walls racking load-carrying capacity as well as on the horizontal stiffness of the timber-frame wall panels. The tests were carried out on three groups of full-scale wall panels with different areas of openings. The measured results were compared to the results of wall panels without openings. Subsequently, the strength/stiffness ratios, defined as the ratios of strength/stiffness of wall panels with openings to those of no-opening wall panels were calculated. Finally, the obtained results were compared to three analytical procedures from the literature, namely the equations proposed by Yasumura and Sugiyama, by the Method B from Eurocode 5 and by the equations presented in upek, Duji? and arni?. The presented experimental study also emphasizes the conclusion that the timber-frame wall panels containing an opening may be accounted to contribute to the overall horizontal load-carrying capacity, especially when a considerable part of the structure is made of such panels.

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

timber structures
timber-frame wall panels
fibre-plaster boards
experiments
load-carrying capacity


Vitamin D: a new anti-infective agent? Before the antibiotic era, treatment of tuberculosis patients was restricted to sun exposure in sanatoria. Years later, it was found that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 stimulates production of cathelicidins, a family of polypeptides found in lysosomes of macrophages and polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Cathelicidins serve a critical role in innate immune defense, which plays an important role in the suppression of Mycobacterium infections and other pathogens. It is believed that the increased incidence of the common cold and pneumonia during winter is related, in part, to decreased exposure to sunlight, resulting in a decreased synthesis of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. An association has been established between low levels of vitamin D and upper respiratory and enteric infections, pneumonia, otitis media, Clostridium infections, vaginosis, urinary tract infections, sepsis, influenza, dengue, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV infections. Accumulating evidence suggests that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 exerts protective effects during infections by upregulating the expression of cathelicidin and ?-defensin 2 in phagocytes and epithelial cells. Vitamin D may be acting as a panaceal antibiotic agent and thus may be useful as an adjuvant therapy in diverse infections.

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


A methodology for security assurance-driven system development In this work, we introduce an assurance methodology that integrates assurance case creation with system development. It has been developed in order to provide trust and privacy assurance to the evolving European project PICOS (Privacy and Identity Management for Community Services), an international research project focused on mobile communities and community-supporting services, with special emphasis on aspects such as privacy, trust, and identity management. The leading force behind the approach is the ambition to develop a methodology for building and maintaining security cases throughout the system development life cycle in a typical system engineering effort, when much of the information relevant for assurance is produced and feedback can be provided to system developers. The first results of the application of the methodology to the development of the PICOS platform are presented.

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

security engineering
security assurance
assurance cases
built-in assurance


Towards a dynamic expression recognition system under facial occlusion Facial occlusion is a challenging research topic in facial expression recognition (FER). This has resulted in the need to develop some interesting facial representations and occlusion detection methods in order to extend the FER to uncontrolled environments. It should be noted that most of the previous work focuses on these two issues separately, and on static images. We are thus motivated to propose a complete system consisting of facial representations, occlusion detection, and multiple feature fusion in video sequences. For achieving a robust facial representation, we propose an approach deriving six feature vectors from eyes, nose and mouth components to form a facial representation. These features with temporal cues are generated by the dynamic texture and structural shape feature descriptors. On the other hand, occlusion detection is still mainly realized by the traditional classifiers or model comparison. Recently, sparse representation has been proposed as an efficient method against occlusion, while it is correlated with facial identity in FER, unless using an appropriate facial representation. Thus, we present an evaluation demonstrating that the proposed facial representation is independent of facial identity. Inspired by Mercier et al. (2007), we then exploit the use of the sparse representation and residual statistics to occlusion detection of the image sequences. As concatenating six feature vectors into one causes the curse of dimensionality, we propose multiple feature fusion consisting of fusion module and weight learning. Experimental results on the Extended CohnKanade database and its simulated database demonstrate that our framework outperforms the state-of-the-art methods for FER in normal videos, and especially, in partial occlusion videos.

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


distributing streaming media content using cooperative networking In this paper, we discuss the problem of distributing streaming media content, both live and on-demand, to a large number of hosts in a scalable way. Our work is set in the context of the traditional client-server framework. Specifically, we consider the problem that arises when the server is overwhelmed by the volume of requests from its clients. As a solution, we propose Cooperative Networking (CoopNet) , where clients cooperate to distribute content, thereby alleviating the load on the server. We discuss the proposed solution in some detail, pointing out the interesting research issues that arise, and present a preliminary evaluation using traces gathered at a busy news site during the flash crowd that occurred on September 11, 2001.

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

news
framework
traces
research
streaming media
live
crowd
flash
context
paper
evaluation
server

network
point
contention
content distribution networks
scalability
multiple description coding
cooperation
client-server
peer-to-peer networks