approaches to design of high level languages for microprogramming The development of a programming language for microprocessors (we will use the term microprocessor to refer to the hardware host to be microprogrammed) differs from the development of languages for conventional processors [5, 6]. The difference is traced to: (1) concurrency of hardware (2) limited writable local memory (3) main memory access delay and I/0 control (4) limited microprocessor instruction repertoire (5) special hardware characteristics that impact heavily upon machine efficiency. These features impose restrictions upon the compiler writer that have not been fully overcome [5, 6, 8, 10, 14]. Writable control memory, for example, places severe restrictions on the designer who wishes to implement a syntax driven compiler that produces many intermediate results that must be stored. It is not the intention of this paper to advocate a solution to any of the five problems listed above or to propose a particular language design . Instead we will present a basic compilation model (see Figure 1) and briefly discuss some of the alternatives to be considered at each level of the model. The discussion is broken into five areas: (a) syntax design, (b) phase I interface design, (c) intermediate language design, (d) phase II interface design, and (e) micro-instruction format considerations. In addition section 3 presents various arguments on timing and concurrency recognition. Finally, section 4 proposes a translator writing system to aid in microcompiler (a translator that produces microprograms) development.

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

use efficiency design delay timing access paper model writing control microprocessor recognition language concurrency instruction compilation hardware

examples
developer
intent
interface design
argument
locality
processor
place
translation
systems
language design
memorialized
feature
programming language


Girth of pancake graphs We consider four families of pancake graphs, which are Cayley graphs, whose vertex sets are either the symmetric group on n n objects or the hyperoctahedral group on n n objects and whose generating sets are either all reversals or all reversals inverting the first k k elements (called prefix reversals). We find that the girth of each family of pancake graphs remains constant after some small threshold value of n n .

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


efficient algorithms for minimizing tree pattern queries We consider the problem of minimizing tree pattern queries (TPQ) that arise in XML and in LDAP-style network directories. In [Minimization of Tree Pattern Queries, Proc. ACM SIGMOD Intl. Conf. Management of Data, 2001, pp. 497-508], Amer-Yahia, Cho, Lakshmanan and Srivastava presented an O ( n 4 ) algorithm for minimizing TPQs in the absence of integrity constraints (Case 1); n is the number of nodes in the query. Then they considered the problem of minimizing TPQs in the presence of three kinds of integrity constraints: required-child, required-descendant and subtype (Case 2). They presented an O ( n 6 ) algorithm for minimizing TPQs in the presence of only required-child and required-descendant constraints (i.e., no subtypes allowed; Case 3). We present O ( n 2 ), O ( n 4 ) and O ( n 2 ) algorithms for minimizing TPQs in these three cases, respectively, based on the concept of graph simulation. We believe that our O ( n 2 ) algorithms for Cases 1 and 3 are runtime optimal.

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

network
tree
simulation
integrity constraints
concept
presence
data
graph
queries
case
algorithm
runtime
subtype
management
query
pattern

efficiency
optimality
graph simulation
ldap queries
query minimization
xml queries
tree pattern queries
constraint


A guided local search metaheuristic for the team orienteering problem In the team orienteering problem (TOP) a set of locations is given, each with a score. The goal is to determine a fixed number of routes, limited in length, that visit some locations and maximise the sum of the collected scores. This paper describes an algorithm that combines different local search heuristics to solve the TOP. Guided local search (GLS) is used to improve two of the proposed heuristics. An extra heuristic is added to regularly diversify the search in order to explore more areas of the solution space. The algorithm is compared with the best known heuristics of the literature and applied on a large problem set. The obtained results are almost of the same quality as the results of these heuristics but the computational time is reduced significantly. Applying GLS to solve the TOP appears to be a very promising technique. Furthermore, the usefulness of exploring more areas of the solution space is clearly demonstrated.

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

guided local search
orienteering problem


Autonomous pool cleaning: Self localization and autonomous navigation for cleaning Cleaning is a major problem associated with pools. Since the manual cleaning is tedious and boring there is an interest in automating the task. This paper presents methods for autonomous localization and navigation for a pool cleaner to enable full coverage of pools. Path following cannot be ensured through use of internal position estimation methods alone; therefore sensing is needed. Sensor based estimation enable automatic correction of slippage. For this application we use ultrasonic sonars. Based on an analysis of the overall task and performance of the system a strategy for cleaning/navigation is developed. For the automatic localization a Kalman filtering technique is proposed: the Kalman filter uses sonar measurements and a dynamic model of the robot to provide estimates of the pose of the pool cleaner. Using this localization method we derive an optimal control strategy for traversal of a pool. The system has been implemented and successfully tested on the "WEDA B400" pool cleaner.

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

mobile robot
underwater environment
sonar system
state estimation
uncertainty


Vorticity-strain residual-based turbulence modelling of the Taylor-Green vortex This paper describes turbulence properties for a residual-based turbulence model using fine-scale approximations of strain and vorticity, emanating from a split of the non-linear term in the Navier-Stokes equations. We will discuss the modelling of the fine-scale terms and their impact in the light of simulation results of turbulent transition of the Taylor-Green vortex. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

finite element
residual-based turbulence modelling
taylor-green vortex


A non-Gaussian pattern matching based dynamic process monitoring approach and its application to cryogenic air separation process Principal component analysis (PCA) based pattern matching methods have been applied to process monitoring and fault detection. However, the conventional pattern matching approaches do not specifically take into account the non-Gaussian dynamic features in chemical processes. Furthermore, those techniques are more focused on fault detection instead of fault diagnosis. In this study, a non-Gaussian pattern matching based fault detection and diagnosis method is developed and applied to monitor cryogenic air separation process. First, independent component analysis (ICA) models are built on the normal benchmark and monitored data sets along sliding windows. The IC subspaces from the benchmark and monitored data are then extracted to evaluate the non-Gaussian patterns and detect process faults through a mutual information based dissimilarity index. Further, a difference subspace between the two IC subspaces is computed to characterize the divergence of the dynamic and non-Gaussian patterns between the benchmark and monitored data. Subsequently, the mutual information between the IC difference subspace and each process variable direction is defined as a new non-Gaussian contribution index for fault identification and diagnosis. The presented approach is applied to a simulated cryogenic air separation plant and the monitoring results are compared against those of PCA based pattern matching techniques and ICA based monitoring method. The application study demonstrates that the developed non-Gaussian pattern matching approach can effectively monitor the complex air separation process with superior fault detection and diagnosis capability. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

dynamic process monitoring
mutual information
independent component analysis
fault diagnosis
cryogenic air separation process


Non Abelian bent functions Perfect nonlinear functions from a finite group G to another one H are those functions f: G ?H such that for all nonzero ????G, the derivative \(d_{\alpha}f: x \mapsto f(\alpha x) f(x)^{-1}\) is balanced. In the case where both G and H are Abelian groups, f: G ?H is perfect nonlinear if, and only if, f is bent, i.e., for all nonprincipal character ? of H, the (discrete) Fourier transform of ????f has a constant magnitude equals to |G|. In this paper, using the theory of linear representations, we exhibit similar bentness-like characterizations in the cases where G and/or H are (finite) non Abelian groups. Thus we extend the concept of bent functions to the framework of non Abelian groups.

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

bent functions
finite non abelian groups
fourier transform
linear representations


CORRELATIONS AND MULTIFRACTALITY IN AN EARTHQUAKE MODEL ON ASSORTATIVE SCALE-FREE NETWORKS FROM MONO- AND MULTI-FRACTAL ANALYSES The scaling properties of the avalanches' interevent time series in a modified Olami-Feder-Christensen (OFC) earthquake model on assortative scale-free networks have been investigated. We analyze the interevent time of avalanches with size larger than or equal to Sth by using rescaled range (R/S) analysis and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) methods. Our results demonstrate positive correlation and persistent feature of the interevent time series. The multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) has evidenced differences among the avalanches' interevents interval with different Sth. We determine generalized Hurst exponent and singularity spectrum and find that the interevent time series have multifractal nature.

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


device optimization for ultra-low power digital sub-threshold operation Digital circuits operated in the sub-threshold region (supply voltage less than the transistor threshold voltage) can have orders of magnitude power advantage over standard CMOS circuits for applications requiring ultra-low power and medium frequency of operation. It is possible to implement sub-threshold logic circuits using the standard transistors that are designed primarily for ultra high performance super-threshold logic design. However, a Si MOSFET so optimized for performance in the super-threshold regime is not the best device to use in the sub-threshold domain. In this paper, we propose device designs apt for sub-threshold operation. Results show that the optimized device improves the delay and power delay product (PDP) of an inverter chain by 44\% and 51\%, respectively, over the normal super-threshold device operated in the sub-threshold region.

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

sub-threshold operation
ultra-low power applications


Structure of energy landscape of short peptides We have simulated, as a showcase, the pentapeptide Met-enkephalin (Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Met) to visualize the energy landscape and to investigate the conformational coverage by the multicanonical method. We obtained a three-dimensional topographic picture of the whole energy landscape by plotting the histogram with respect to energy (temperature) and the order parameter, which gives the degree of resemblance of any created conformation with the global energy minimum.

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 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

conformational sampling
multicanonical simulation


Geometric stable laws: Estimation and applications Geometric stable laws constitute a class of limiting distributions of appropriately normalized random sums of i.i.d. random variables. We consider the problem of estimation of the parameters of univariate and multivariate geometric stable laws. Our estimation technique is based on the method of moments and yields consistent and asymptotically normal estimators. We apply our estimators to a currency exchange data and show that the geometric stable dominates Paretian stable and normal models. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

financial modeling
geometric compound
heavy-tail distribution
interval estimation
multivariate distribution
paretian stable distribution
random summation
sample characteristic function


The shrinking property for NP and coNP We study the shrinking and separation properties (two notions well-known in descriptive set theory) for NP and coNP and show that under reasonable complexity-theoretic assumptions, both properties do not hold for NP and the shrinking property does not hold for coNP. In particular we obtain the following results. 1. NP and coNP do not have the shrinking property unless PH is finite. In general, Sigma(P)(n), and Pi(P)(n) do not have the shrinking property unless PH is finite. This solves an open question posed by Selivanov (1994) [33]. 2. The separation property does not hold for NP unless UP subset of coNP. 3. The shrinking property does not hold for NP unless there exist NP-hard disjoint NP-pairs (existence of such pairs would contradict a conjecture of Even et al. (1984) [6]). 4. The shrinking property does not hold for NP unless there exist complete disjoint NP-pairs. Moreover, we prove that the assumption NP not equal coNP is too weak to refute the shrinking property for NP in a relativizable way. For this we construct an oracle relative to which P = NP boolean AND coNP, NP not equal coNP, and NP has the shrinking property. This solves an open question posed by Blass and Gurevich (1984) [3] who explicitly ask for such an oracle. (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 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

computational complexity
polynomial hierarchy
np-pairs
p-separability
multivalued functions


A computerized cellular imaging system for high content analysis in Monastrol suppressor screens In this paper, we describe a new bioimage informatics system developed for high content screening (HCS) applications with the goal to extract and analyze phenotypic features of hundreds of thousands of mitotic cells simultaneously. The system introduces the algorithm of multi-phenotypic mitotic analysis (MMA) and integrates that with algorithms of correlation analysis and compound clustering used in gene microarray studies. The HCSMMA system combines different phenotypic information of cellular images obtained from three-channel acquisitions to distinguish and label individual cells at various phases of mitosis. The proposed system can also be used to extract and count the number of cells in each phase in cell-based assay experiments and archive the extracted data into a structured database for more sophisticated statistical and data analysis. To recognize different mitotic phases, binary patterns are set up based on a known biological mitotic spindle model to characterize cellular morphology of actin, microtubules, and DNA. To illustrate its utility, the HCSMMA system has been applied to screen the quantitative response of 320 different drug compounds in suppressing Monastrol. The results are validated and evaluated by comparing the performance of HCSMMA with visual analysis, as well as clustering of the drug compounds under evaluation.

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 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 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

high content analysis
high content screening
compound clustering

cellular phenotyping
image analysis
pattern recognition


Shared decision support system on dental restoration Shared decision making (SDM) is an approach in which doctorpatient communication regarding available evidence and patient preferences is facilitated to enable the patient to participate in treatment decisions. SDM affords not only the inclusion of the ethical diversities involved in patient-centered care, but also the quality improvements in decision-making process. Though SDM has been studied extensively, there have been few practical implementations in real clinical environments. In this paper, we propose a shared decision-making system with its focus on dental restorative treatment planning. In our system, restorative treatment alternatives for SDM were generated by employing an ontology that had captured the clinical knowledge required for treatments. We considered patient preferences for treatment as an important support for mutual agreements between the patient and the doctor on healthcare decisions. We constructed a consistent and robust hierarchy of preferences using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method, to help determine treatment priorities. On the basis of our proposed system, we developed a Web-based application for the visualization of evidence-based treatment recommendations with preference-based weights. We tested our system using a scenario to illustrate how doctors and patients can make shared decisions. The application is of high value in supporting SDM between doctors and patients, and expedites effective treatments and enhanced patient satisfaction.

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

shared decision making
ontology
analytic hierarchy process
dental restoration


Measurement and modeling of paging channel overloads on a cellular network ? IP and cellular networks used to be isolated from each other. In recent decade however, the two networks have started to overlap with the emergence of devices that access the Internet using cellular infrastructures. One important question then is whether actions or threats on the Internet side can impact the telecom or cellular side. We address this problem in the paper and specifically consider the paging channel, which is a key conduit shared by both Internet and cellular traffic. Our contributions are as follows: we illustrate through experiments on a CDMA2000 cellular network that attacks launched from the Internet can significantly increase the paging load and increase the delay of paging messages including cellular call setup requests; we derive a simple but accurate queuing model for the paging system in a CDMA2000 network and use this model to demonstrate that the paging channel exhibits sharp rather than graceful degradation under load; and through this model, we identify critical parameters that impact paging performance. Although our study is focused on CDMA2000 networks, similar problems exist in other types of cellular networks that employ a single control channel with limited bandwidth for both synchronous and asynchronous control messages.

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

overload
attack
queuing systems
cdma
cellular network security


A data embedding method considering the finite word-length for high quality images A novel data embedding method for high-quality images, e.g., an image with a peak signal-to-noise ratio of better than 60 [dB] is proposed in this paper. The proposed method precisely generates a watermarked image of the desired and high quality for any images. To do this, this method considers the finite word-length of a luminance value of pixels, i.e., both quantization errors and the range limitation of luminance. The proposed method embeds a watermark sequence, modulated by the mechanism of a spread spectrum scheme, into the dc values of an image in the spatial domain. By employing spread spectrum technology as well as embedding a watermark into the dc values, this method guarantees the high image quality and, simultaneously, provides adequate JPEG tolerance.

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

direct current
correlation-based
block-based


Combining word problems through rewriting in categories with products We give an algorithm solving combined word problems (over non-necessarily disjoint signatures) based on rewriting of equivalence classes of terms. The canonical rewriting system we introduce consists of few transparent rules and is obtained by applying Knuth-Bendix completion procedure to presentations of pushouts among categories with products. It applies to pairs of theories which are both constructible over their common reduct (on which we do not make any special assumption). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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


Top is a reflective and coreflective subcategory of fuzzy topological spaces It is proved that the category Top of topological spaces is a mono-reflective and epi-coreflective subcategory of fuzzy topological spaces in the sense of Hutton. (C) 2000 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

topological space
topological fuzz
molecular
continuous order homomorphism


TSUG, the Thomson Scientific User Group in the UK The forerunner to the UK-based Thomson Scientific User Group (TSUG) was formed in 1990 as a professional interest group for patent information searchers using Derwent patent abstracts and related products. Although discussion and activities still revolve around this area, the group today also exchanges information on and searching experience with any other patent-related information products of interest and relevance to members. The group and its members maintain close links with Thomson Scientific for the purposes of product development and product evaluation.

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

tsug
thomson scientific user group
derwent


Data dependent circuit for subgraph isomorphism problem Although the subgraph isomorphism problem has various important applications, it is generally NP-complete and difficult to solve. Though a custom computing circuit can reduce the execution time substantially, it requires considerable hardware resources and is inapplicable to large problems. This paper examines the feasibility of data dependent designs, which are particularly suitable to a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The data dependent approach drastically reduces hardware requirements. For graphs of 32 vertices, the average logic scale of data dependent circuits is only 5% of the corresponding data independent circuit. The data dependent circuit is estimated to be maximally 460 times faster than the software. Even if the circuit generation time is included, a data dependent circuit is estimated to be 2.04 times faster than software for graphs of 32 vertices. The performance gain would increase for larger graphs.

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

np-complete
custom circuit
graph algorithm


Predictable service overlay networks: Predictability through adaptive monitoring and efficient overlay construction and management Providing bounded communication among participating nodes is significant for distributed systems. Internet-based applications suffer with lower performance due to absence of bounded latency. We describe PSON, an overlay network solution to this challenging problem. PSON has two components. The monitoring component, SyncProbe, utilizes efficient and adaptive monitoring techniques to measure latency, detect packet loss, and provide real-time estimates of maximum expected latency along paths of an Internet substrate. The QoSMap component constructs and manages overlay such that it yields application-level QoS and provides resilience against network failures. A distinctive feature of QoSMap is construction of QoS-compliant backup paths which facilitate in overlay management and operation during the period when primary overlay paths violate QoS. We evaluate PSON on PlanetLab to provide predictable communication for applications with different topology and QoS requirement. Our experiments confirm the effectiveness of PSON in providing an inexpensive and efficient application-layer solution to Internet's unpredictable behavior. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

predictable communication
bounded communication
overlay construction and management

synchronous communication
quality of service
reliable and dependable networks
effective network measurements


generating enhanced natural environments and terrain for interactive combat simulations (genetics) Virtual battlefields devoid of vegetation deprive soldiers of valuable training in the critical aspects of terrain tactics and terrain-based situational awareness. Creating believable landscapes by hand is notoriously expensive, requiring both proprietary tools and trained artists, which hampers rapid scenario generation and limits reuse. Our approach constructs large-scale natural environments at run-time using a procedural image-based algorithm without the need for artists or proprietary tools.This paper discusses the current state of the open source project GENETICS (Generating Enhanced Natural Environments and Terrain for Interactive Combat Simulations) and how simulationists can use GENETICS to quickly and cheaply build large-scale natural environments to improve training effectiveness. It will also briefly touch upon level-of-detail techniques and ecotype modeling.

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

run-time terrain database generation
automated vegetation placement
landscape visualization


Scheduling memory accesses through a shared bus Multiprocessors are becoming a common type of modern computers. In this work, we focus on the bus architecture, in which a shared bus is used for communication between processorsand between processors and memories. We consider the following optimization problem. Assume that k processors access m memory banks through a single bus. In order to fulfill an access request for bank i, the bus has to be connected to that bank; the bus can be connected at any time to at most one bank of memory. The cost of servicing a request to access bank i, 1?i ?m, is ?, if the bus is connected to bank i, and ?, if the bus is connected to some bank j?i; in this case ???>0 is a setup cost, or the cost of switching the bus from bank j to bank i. Given a sequence of memory access requests, we need to determine the order by which the requests will be serviced, so as to minimize one of the following objective functions: (i) makespan: the overall time until all the requests in the sequence have been completed, (ii) total completion time (TCT): sum of the completion times of all the processors, (iii) maximum response time: the maximal time that elapses between services of consecutive requests of processor i, 1?i?k. Using the k-client model, introduced by Alborzi et al. (1997), we study algorithms that schedule accesses to the memory banks in an offline and online fashion. In the offline case we show, that using dynamic programming our problem can be solved optimally for a large set of instances, for each of the above objective functions. For general inputs we give approximation algorithms, for the makespan and the TCT measures. In the online case, we show a lower bound of ?(?/?) on the competitive ratio of any deterministic algorithm, for each of the above measures. We also show that the bound is tight for all measures, by describing algorithms whose competitive ratios are O(?/?). Finally, we examine the performance of the algorithms studied in this work in real system environment, via simulation experiments.

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

shared bus
multiprocessors
memory accesses


PI-controlled bioreactor as a generalized Lienard system It is shown that periodic orbits can emerge in Cholette's bioreactor model working under the influence of a PI-controller. We find a diffeomorphic coordinate transformation that turns this controlled enzymatic reaction system into a generalized Lienard form. Furthermore, we give sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of limit cycles in the new coordinates. We also perform numerical simulations illustrating the possibility of the existence of a local center (period annulus). A result with possible practical applications is that the oscillation frequency is a function of the integral control gain parameter. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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


A context-constrained authorisation (CoCoA) framework for pervasive grid computing The paper discusses access control implications when bridging Pervasive and Grid computing, and analyses the limitations of current Grid authorisation solutions when applied to Pervasive Grid environments. The key authorisation requirements for Pervasive Grid computing are identified and a novel Grid authorisation framework, the context-constrained authorisation framework CoCoA, is proposed. The CoCoA framework takes into account not only users static attributes, but also their dynamic contextual attributes that are inherent in Pervasive computing. It adheres to open Grid standards, uses a modular layered approach to complement existing Grid authorisation systems, and inter-works with other Grid security building blocks. A prototype implementation of the CoCoA framework is presented and its performance evaluated.

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 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


Generating heuristics to control configuration processes Configuration is the process of composing a system from a set of components such that the system fulfills a set of desired demands. The configuration process relies on a particular component model, which is a useful abstraction of the domain and the technical system to be composed. In this paper we deal with configuration problems where the components involved are characterized by simplified functional dependencies, so-called resource-based descriptions. On the one hand, the resource-based component model provides for powerful and user-friendly mechanisms to formulate configuration tasks. On the other hand, the solution of resource-based configuration problems is NP-complete, which means that no efficient algorithms exist to solve a generic instance of that problem. In practice, given a concrete resource-based component model, the search for an optimum configuration can be realized efficiently by means of heuristics that have been developed by domain experts. The paper in hand picks up that observation. It presents a method to automatically generate heuristics that guide the search when solving complex resource-based configuration problems.

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

knowledge-based systems
heuristic search
preprocessing
design


Extending engineering data model for web-based fuzzy information modeling Being an information modeling language to support the STEP (Standard for Exchange of Product Model Data), EXPRESS has been developed to share and exchange product design, manufacturing and production data in product life cycle. Also being the de-facto standard of data representation and exchange over the Web, XML (eXtensible Markup Language) has been widely applied in Web-based engineering applications for product data exchange and share. It is essential to integrate EXPRESS data model and XML data model in engineering data modeling. EXPRESS-G is the graphical representation of EXPRESS and can serve as the conceptual design of Web-based engineering data models. Fuzzy engineering information is inherent in many engineering activities. In order to explicitly represent and handle fuzzy engineering information, this paper introduces an extended EXPRESS-G data model for different kinds of fuzziness modeling. After presenting the formal descriptions and corresponding representations of the fuzzy EXPRESS-G data model, the paper investigates the formal transformation from the fuzzy EXPRESS-G data model to the fuzzy XML model. The formal transformation approaches proposed in the paper are demonstrated with engineering application examples.

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

engineering data modeling
fuzzy xml model
transformation


Space-bot 21: Projektberblick ber das space-bot 21-Projekt an der hochschule 21 im Kontext des DLR SpaceBot Cup 2013 Das space-bot21-Projekt ist ein F&E-Projekt des Studiengangs Mechatronik DUAL an der hochschule21 in Buxtehude. Das Projekt ist Teil eines vom DLR Raumfahrtmanagement (http://?www.?dlr.?de/?rd/?) ins Leben gerufenen Wettbewerbs namens ,,SpaceBot Cup, an dem bundesweit zehn Teams teilnehmen. Jedes Team wird vom Bundesministerium fr Wirtschaft und Technologie gefrdert. In dem Zeitraum der Projektlaufzeit haben die Teams Zeit, einen oder mehrere (kooperierende) Roboter zu entwickeln, die bestimmte Aufgabenautonom zur Exploration planetarer Oberflchenerfllen. Das Projekt endet im November 2013 mit einem dreitgigen Wettbewerb. In diesem Report geben wir einen berblick ber das space-bot21-Projekt, das an der hochschule21 durchgefhrt wird.

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


AMROEBA: Computational astrophysics modeling enabled by dynamic lambda switching Many data and compute intensive Grid applications, such as computational astrophysics, may be able to benefit from networking supported by dynamically provisioned lightpaths. To date, the majority of high performance distributed environments have been based on traditional routed packet networks, provisioned as external services rather than as integrated components within those environments. Because this approach often cannot provide high performance capabilities required by these applications, an alternative distributed infrastructure architecture is being designed based on dynamic lightpaths, supported by optical networks. These designs implement communication services and infrastructure as integral components of distributed infrastructure. The resultant environments resemble large scale specialized instruments. Presented here is one such architecture, implemented on a wide-area, optical Grid test bed, featuring a closely integrated dedicated lightpath mesh. The test bed was used to conduct a series of experiments to explore its potential for supporting adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) astrophysics simulations. While preliminary, the results of these experiments indicate that this architecture may provide the deterministic capabilities required by a wide range of high performance distributed services and applications, especially for computational science.

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

grid
lightpath
distributed infrastructure
computational science

grid networking
optical networking
lambda grid
wavelength switching


A spatial hybrid motion compliant mechanism: Design and optimization A hybrid motion system is defined as a mechanical system that combines a macro motion and a micro motion into one system to achieve a large motion and high resolution with fast response simultaneously. In this paper, a spatial hybrid motion mechanism with 3-DOFs is developed that integrates two types of motion through only one compliant mechanism: a macro motion driven by DC servomotors for large workspace and a micro motion driven by PZT actuators for high precision. A unique feature of the developed hybrid motion compliant mechanism is the elimination of coupling interaction between the macro motion and the micro motion by properly structure design. Three issues are addressed in this paper: (1) design principle and implementation of the hybrid motion mechanism; (2) kinematic analysis and dynamic analysis: and (3) optimization design of the hybrid motion mechanism. A spatial hybrid motion mechanism is developed and the optimization is conducted. The Taguchi method is used to identify significant parameters in the design optimization, and finite element analysis results verify the design principle of the parallel architecture for the hybrid motion mechanism. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

hybrid motion
compliant mechanism
design
optimization
finite element analysis


Ordering Circuit Establishment in Multiplane NoCs Segregating networks-on-chips (NoCs) into data and control planes yields several opportunities for improving power and performance in chip-multiprocessor systems (CMPs). This article describes a hybrid packet/circuit switched multiplane network optimized to reduce latency in order to improve system performance and/or reduce system energy. Unlike traditional circuit preallocation techniques which require timestamps to reserve circuit resources, this article proposes an order-based preallocation scheme. By enforcing the order in which resources are scheduled and utilized rather than a fixed time, the NoC can take advantage of messages that arrive early while naturally tolerating message delays due to contention. Ordered circuit establishment is presented using two techniques. First, Deja Vu switching preestablishes circuits for data messages once a cache hit is detected and prior to the requested data becoming available. Second, using Red Carpet Routing, circuits are proactively reserved for a return data message as a request message traverses the NoC. The reduced communication latency over configured circuits enable system performance improvement or saving NoC energy by reducing voltage and frequency without sacrificing performance. In simulations of 16 and 64 core CMPs, Deja Vu switching enabled average NoC energy savings of 43% and 53% respectively. On the other hand, simulations of communication sensitive benchmarks using Red Carpet Routing show speedup in execution time of up to 16%, with an average of 10% over a purely packet switched NoC and an average of 8% over preconfiguring circuits using Deja Vu switching.

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


Organizational size and IT innovation adoption: A meta-analysis Organizational size has long been considered to be an important predictor of IT innovation adoption. However, empirical results on the relationship between them have been disturbingly mixed and inconsistent. Through a meta-analysis of 54 correlations derived from 21 empirical studies, we attempted to explain and resolve these mixed results by synthesizing across studies the effects of organizational size on IT innovation adoption and by examining the effects of six moderators on the relationship. The results suggested that, although a positive relationship generally existed between them, the relationship was moderated by five variables: type of IT innovation, type of organization, stage of adoption, scope of size, and type of size measure. This suggested that the mixed empirical results from previous studies can be explained by a lack of consideration of moderators.

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

it innovation adoption
organizational size

is department size
meta-analysis
moderating effect


adaptive variance scaling in continuous multi-objective estimation-of-distribution algorithms Recent research into single-objective continuous Estimation-of-Distribution Algorithms (EDAs)has shown that when maximum-likelihood estimationsare used for parametric distributions such as thenormal distribution, the EDA can easily suffer frompremature convergence. In this paper we argue thatthe same holds for multi-objective optimization.Our aim in this paper is to transfer a solutioncalled Adaptive Variance Scaling (AVS) from thesingle-objective case to the multi-objectivecase. To this end, we zoom in on an existing EDAfor continuous multi-objective optimization, theMIDEA, which employs mixturedistributions. We propose a means to combine AVSwith the normal mixture distribution, as opposedto the single normal distribution for which AVS wasintroduced. In addition, we improve the AVS schemeusing the Standard-Deviation Ratio(SDR) trigger. Intuitively put, variance scalingis triggered by the SDR trigger only ifimprovements are found to be far awayfrom the mean. For the multi-objective case,this addition is important to keep the variancefrom being scaled to excessively large values.From experiments performed on five well-knownbenchmark problems, the addition of SDR andAVS is found to enlarge the class of problems thatcontinuous multi-objective EDAs can solve reliably.

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

multi-objective optimization
estimation of distribution algorithms
evolutionary algorithms


A performance analysis of the ATM multiplexer with selective discarding of the cells during congestion In this paper, we present a discrete-time queuing analysis of the ATM multiplexer fed by independent binary Markov sources with two priority classes of cells. Each source alternates between On, Off periods and each On period consists of a random number of sub-periods. Each sub-period generates geometrically distributed number of cells, first cell of a sub-period is assigned high-priority while remaining cells are assigned low-priority. During normal operation the system delivers both high-and low-priority traffic while during congestion delivers only high-priority cells to their destinations and discard low-priority cells. We determine the performance of the system before and after discarding of the low-priority cells. We determine probability generating function of the queue length in both cases under infinite buffer assumption. Then, the mean delay for infinite buffer and approximate cell loss probabilities for the finite buffer cases are presented as a function of the percentage of the high-priority traffic load.

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

atm multiplexer
congestion
selective discarding
mean delay

high-and low-priority cells
cell loss probability


Models of magnetic circuits and their equivalent electrical diagrams The paper presents a method of creating electrical equivalent diagrams of magnetic circuits. The method is based on bond-graph techniques, using flux derivative as flow variable. Couplings between magnetic and electric part of the system are represented by gyrators. Simple models of magnetic branches, including non-linear effects due to saturation, hysteresis and eddy currents, are presented. These models can be easily combined into magnetic circuit models, which can be transformed into dual electric equivalent circuit. Various equivalent circuits of transformers are discussed. The proposed models are simple and particularly useful for system-level simulation of power electronic and motion control systems with magnetic elements. These models can be easily developed if needed. Theoretical considerations are illustrated by examples of digital simulation and experimental results.

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


A longitudinal analysis of citation distribution breadth for Chinese scholars Over the past 30years, the research behavior of Chinese scholars has continually evolved. This paper studied the citing behavior of Chinese scholars by employing three indicators of citation concentration from the perspective of citation breadth analysis. All the citations from 2,338,033 papers from the Chinese Citation Database (19792008) covering four disciplinesChemistry; Clinical Medicine; Library, Information and Archival Science; and Chinese Literature and World Literaturewere analyzed. Empirical results show a general weakening tendency towards citation concentration: (1) decreasing percentage of uncited published papers within a given year; (2) a higher percentage of papers required to account for the same proportion of citation than before; and (3) the steady decline in the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI) of citation distribution. All three measures indicate a decline in citing concentration or an increase in citation breadth. This phenomenon may be the result of increased access to materials, perhaps because of the ease with which scholarly materials can be accessed through the Internet.

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

citations analysis
bibliometrics
china
reform and opening up


Evolutionary multi-objective visual cortex for object classification in natural images We proposed a new methodology for image description. We present a multi-objective approach for brain programming. We match the state-of-the-art in classifying GRAZ-01 and outperform it in GRAZ-02.

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

artificial visual cortex
object detection
multi-objective brain programming


Strategies for conducting situated studies of technology use in hospitals Ethnographic methods are widely used for understanding situated practices with technology. When authors present their data gathering methods, they almost invariably focus on the bare essentials. These enable the reader to comprehend what was done, but leave the impression that setting up and conducting the study was straightforward. Text books present generic advice, but rarely focus on specific study contexts. In this paper, we focus on lessons learnt by non-clinical researchers studying technology use in hospitals: gaining access; developing good relations with clinicians and patients; being outsiders in healthcare settings; and managing the cultural divide between technology human factors and clinical practice. Drawing on case studies across various hospital settings, we present a repertoire of ways of working with people and technologies in these settings. These include engaging clinicians and patients effectively, taking an iterative approach to data gathering and being responsive to the demands and opportunities provided by the situation. The main contribution of this paper is to make visible many of the lessons we have learnt in conducting technology studies in healthcare, using these lessons to present strategies that other researchers can take up.

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

medical technology
research methods
qualitative research
observational studies


The relationships between automobile head-up display presentation images and drivers' Kansei This study explored the relationships between automobile head-up display (HUD) presentation image designs and drivers' Kansei. using quantitative and qualitative analysis. There were two major stages in this study. The objective of the first stage was to find representative Kansei factors from a large semantic space, using factor analysis and cluster analysis. In the second stage, a prediction model for the relationships between the representative Kansei factors and HUD physical image design properties were created, using Quantification Theory Type 1. Results were discussed based on the whole subject population, age differences, and gender differences. respectively. Finally, two existing HUD presentation images on the market were used to test the validity and feasibility of the prediction model, using a one-sample t-test. The results show that our model can successfully predict drivers' Kansei for a given HUD presentation image. The results can also be used to customize a HUD presentation image which caters to the drivers' feelings and emotions. (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 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 I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

presentation image design
kansei engineering
qt1


Performance analysis of different checkpointing and recovery schemes using stochastic model Several schemes for checkpointing and rollback recovery have been reported in the literature. In this paper, we analyze some of these schemes under a stochastic model. We have derived expressions for average cost of checkpointing, rollback recovery, message logging and piggybacking with application messages in synchronous as well as asynchronous checkpointing. For quasi-synchronous checkpointing we show that in a system with n processes, the upper bound and lower bound of selective message logging are O(n2) O ( n 2 ) and O(n) O ( n ) , respectively.

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

checkpointing
message logging
rollback recovery


Adoption of electronic trading at the International Securities Exchange Information technology is transforming financial trading, lowering costs, and increasing market transparency. Yet, new electronic trading ventures often fail to attract sufficient activity levels, and close down. Optimark, Tradepoint, Jiway, and BondConnect did not develop sufficient trading volume to survive. In contrast, the International Securities Exchange (ISE), an all-electronic options trading platform has gained trading volumes in the United States in competition with four incumbent markets, including the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). Compared with floor exchanges, electronic options markets offer immediate trading, direct user access to the market, and reduced costs. The paper describes the ISE and examines newly available data from brokerage firms to comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Rule 11Ac1-6. The order routing disclosures show that brokerage firms differ widely in the extent of their use of the ISE. Based on a sample of 188 quarterly disclosures from 20 major brokerage firms, OLS, Tobit, and fixed-effects models of ISE use are estimated to explain individual firms' adoption levels. Significant factors are whether the firm is an online discount broker, the firm's membership role in the ISE, and the network externality effect of the ISE market's growth. Firm-specific factors are shown to account for about 60% of ISE adoption explained by the model, with the remaining 40% accounted for by the network effects of growing market liquidity.

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

options exchange trading systems and technology


A pitfall in fingerprint bio-cryptographic key generation The core of bio-cryptography lies in the stability of cryptographic keys generated from uncertain biometrics. It is essential to minimize every possible uncertainty during the biometric feature extraction process. In fingerprint feature extraction, it is perceived that pixel-level image rotation transformation is a lossless transformation process. In this paper, an investigation has been conducted on analyzing the underlying mechanisms of fingerprint image rotation processing and potential effect on the major features, mainly minutiae and singular point, of the rotation transformed fingerprint. Qualitative and quantitative analyses have been provided based on intensive experiments. It is observed that the information integrity of the original fingerprint image can be significantly compromised by image rotation transformation process, which can cause noticeable singular point change and produce a non-negligible number of fake minutiae. It is found that the quantization and interpolation process can change the fingerprint features significantly without affecting the visual image. Experiments show that up to 7% bio-cryptographic key bits can be affected due to this rotation transformation. (C) 2011 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 B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O

fingerprint features
minutiae
singular point
rotation transformation


Influence of head mass on temporo-parietal skull impact using finite element modeling The effect of head mass on its biomechanical response during lateral impact to the head is investigated in this computational study. The mass of the head of a state-of-the-art validated finite element head model is altered by 10% from the base value of 4.7kg. Numerical simulations of lateral head impacts for 30 cases (representing 15 human cadaver experiments2 mass configurations) are performed using the LS-DYNA solver at different velocities ranging from 2.4 to 6.5m/s and three impacting conditions representing different stiffness and shapes of the contact/impact surfaces. Results are compared with the original model using the baseline head mass, thus resulting in a total of 45 simulations. Present findings show that the head mass has greater influence for peak interaction forces and the force has a greater dependency on stiffness of contact surface than the shape. Mass variations have also influence on skull strain energy. Regardless of increase/decrease in skull strain energy influenced by head mass variations used in the computational study, the 50% fracture tolerance limit was unaltered, which was 544mJ. The present study gives a better understanding of the mechanism of temporo-parietal skull impact.

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

parametric study
temporo-parietal impact experiments
peak forces
finite element model
skull fracture


robustness optimization of a speech interface for child-directed embedded language tutoring This contribution describes the robustness evaluation and optimization steps for a speech interface which is suitable for embedded language tutoring with special focus on children's speech. The baseline algorithms are derived from the pronunciation tutoring system AzAR directed to adult learners of German. The first prototype LiSA (2008) - directed to young children starting at 3 years - is currently evaluated and optimized, mainly addressing following issues: (a) the challenge of ASR-based pronunciation assessment for children's speech, (b) the handling of noise and reverberation in an embedded application scenario, and (c) the extraction of additional information such as age or gender. The article summarizes evaluation results of the speech recognizer in laboratory and real-world room environment.

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

speech recognition
language learning
child


Characterization of server performance bottlenecks in distributed interactive simulation environments Servers running distributed simulation applications need to process a large number of small packets at the network level. This becomes a burden on the server CPUs and exhibits itself as high CPU utilization. In this paper, first, we confirm this phenomenon, then, we utilize performance analyzer tools from major processor vendors to characterize the major sources of CPU usage. In addition, the experiments run on real hardware reveal server bottlenecks within the context of new architectural features such as hyper-threading, hyper-transport and multi-core processors.

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

workload characterization
computer networks


Modelling trees and their interaction with the environment: A survey In this paper, we summarize some of the techniques used for modelling certain elements of nature such as trees. We describe some of the current methods in their order of appearance in the classification spectrum given in this survey. We discuss the geometrical and biological aspects that help us to identify the position of the work in our spectrum. The paper also identifies the interaction capability of the current techniques with the environmental factors and external forces.

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

geometric algorithms
languages and systems
physically based modelling
graphics data structures and data types
virtual reality
earth and atmospheric sciences


Kinship Algebra Expert System (KAES) - A software implementation of a cultural theory The computer program Kinship Algebra Expert System (KAES) provides a graphically based framework for constructing, if possible, a generative algebraic model for the structure of a kinship terminology (the terms used to refer to one's kin). The algebraic modeling is based on a theory of kinship terminologies elaborated through writing the software program. The theory relates the properties and structure of kinship terminologies to an underlying logic that the KAES program helps uncover and model as a generative structure. The program then relates the structural logic of a kinship terminology modeled by the KAES program to a genealogical space based on genealogical tracing of kin relations. The KAES program demonstrates the surprisingly logical character of kinship terminologies and challenges the received view of the primacy of genealogical relations in defining cultural kinship through showing how genealogical definitions of kin terms can be accurately predicted in the terminologies considered to date.

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

kinship
cultural theory
terminology
algebraic modeling


COMPUTATIONAL STUDY OF THE TRANSMISSION OF ENERGY IN A TWO-DIMENSIONAL LATTICE WITH NEAREST-NEIGHBOR INTERACTIONS In this work, we establish computationally the existence of the process of nonlinear supratransmission in the simplest generalization of the classical beta-Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chain to two-space dimensions, subject to harmonic boundary data in one end of the Dirichlet form. Our simulations employ a finite-difference scheme with multiple properties of consistency in the domains of the solutions, the local energy density and the total energy of the system. Moreover, our results establish the presence of the phenomenon of nonlinear infratransmission or lower-transmission, thus proving the existence of a bistable region where a conducting and an insulating regimes coexist.

O O O 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

fermi-pasta-ulam chains
two-dimensional system
finite-differencescheme
nonlinear bistability


The Effect of Automated Monitoring and Real-Time Prompting on Nurses' Hand Hygiene Performance Adequate hand hygiene compliance by healthcare staff is considered an effective method to reduce hospital-acquired infections. The electronic system developed at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute automatically detects hand hygiene opportunities and records hand hygiene actions. It includes an optional visual hand hygiene status indication, generates real-time hand hygiene prompting signals, and enables automated monitoring of individual and aggregated hand hygiene performance. The system was installed on a complex continuous care unit at the entrance to 17 patient rooms and a utility room. A total of 93 alcohol gel and soap dispensers were instrumented and 14 nurses were provided with the personal wearable electronic monitors. The study included three phases with the system operating in three different modes: (1) an inactive mode during the first phase when hand hygiene opportunities and hand hygiene actions were recorded but prompting and visual indication functions were disabled, (2) only hand hygiene status indicators were enabled during the second phase, and (3) both hand hygiene status and real-time hand hygiene prompting signals were enabled during the third phase. Data collection was performed automatically during all of the three phases. The system indicated significantly higher hand hygiene activity rates and compliance during the third phase, with both hand hygiene indication and real-time prompting functions enabled. To increase the efficacy of the technology, its use was supplemented with individual performance reviews of the automatically collected data.

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

electronic system
hand hygiene
monitoring


design principles and user interfaces of erkki kurenniemi's electronic musical instruments of the 1960's and 1970's This paper presents a line of historic electronic musical instruments designed by Erkki Kurenniemi in the 1960's and 1970's. Kurenniemi's instruments were influenced by digital logic and an experimental attitude towards user interface design. The paper presents an overview of Kurenniemi's instruments and a detailed description of selected devices. Emphasis is put on user interface issues such as unconventional interactive real-time control and programming methods.

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


Searching for the roots of non-contradiction and excluded-middle This paper tries to obtain frameworks in which one can prove as theorems, and with few assumptions, the laws of non-contradiction (NC) and excluded-middle (EM), for a large class of very general systems including orthocomplemented and De Morgan lattices, as well as the theories of L-fuzzy sets. Its goal is nothing else than to begin with a search for the algebraic roots of these laws. For such a goal, and similarly to ancient Aristotelian logic, the laws are referred to self-contradiction and not to falsity as it is done in modern logics. It is additionally shown that there are some structures where it is possible to find special operations that separate those operations that verify NC from those verifying EM.

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

non-contradiction
excluded-middle
self-contradiction
l-fuzzy logic


An implementation of independent component analysis for 3D statistical shape analysis A unique ICA formulation for complex multi-dimensional continuous signals is shown. A novel framework to incorporate ICA for statistical shape analysis is shown. The ICA algorithm is validated for decomposition of 3D surfaces. ICA is compared to PCA for human right ventricle decomposition.

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

right ventricle
statistical shape analysis

function assessment
computer-aided diagnosis


teaching it in secondary education through problem-based learning could be really beneficial This article attempts to stress the need for extended research on the use of constructivist's elements for the teaching of Information Technology in Secondary Education. In our case study, we tried to draw conclusions by questioning adolescents for their Problem-Based Learning experience during a three-month Internet-Programming course.

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

constructivism
problem-based learning (pbl)


An exact algorithm for the single-machine total weighted tardiness problem with sequence-dependent setup times This study proposes an exact algorithm for the single-machine total weighted tardiness problem with sequence-dependent setup times. The algorithm is an extension of the authors' previous algorithm for the single-machine scheduling problem without setup times, which is based on the SSDP (Successive Sublimation Dynamic Programming) method. In the first stage of the algorithm, the conjugate subgradient algorithm or the column generation algorithm is applied to a Lagrangian relaxation of the original problem to adjust multipliers. Then, in the second stage, constraints are successively added to the relaxation until the gap between lower and upper bounds becomes zero. The relaxation is solved by dynamic programming and unnecessary dynamic programming states are eliminated to suppress the increase of computation time and memory space. In this study a branching scheme is integrated into the algorithm to manage to solve hard instances. The proposed algorithm is applied to benchmark instances in the literature and almost all of them are optimally solved.

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

exact algorithm
lagrangian relaxation
dynamic programming


ENERGY CAPACITY OF A VOLTAGE-DEPENDENT CAPACITOR FOR THE CALCULATION OF MOSFET's SWITCHING LOSS Energy capacity of a voltage-dependent capacitor is investigated and defined. An equation for the calculation of energy capacity of the MOSFET's parasitic capacitance is formulated. The defined energy capacity of a voltage-dependent capacitance can be used to calculate switching loss of resonant switches by simply calculating the energy transferred into or retrieved from the MOSFET. The validity of the proposed formula is verified by computer simulation. The discrepancy between energy capacity of the MOSFET's parasitic capacitance calculated from the formulated equation and that calculated from the results of computer simulation is negligible. Computer simulation is also used to validate the proposed switching-loss calculation technique.

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

mosfet
parasitic capacitance
energy capacity
switching loss


Numerical simulation of transitional flows The article deals with the numerical simulation of transitional flows. The aim is to evaluate two models for turbomachinery flows. The first model is a simple algebraic model developed by Straka and P?hoda and the second one is the three-equation \(k-k_L-\omega \) model of Walters and Cokljat. Both models were tested for shear flows over the flat plate (ERCOFTAC T3A, T3B, and T3A\(-\) cases) for natural and bypass transition, over two airfoils in a tandem for the transition due to incoming wake and finally for the flow through a subsonic turbine blade cascade. Both models are compared to available experimental data.

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


3-D Adaptive Nonlinear Complex-Diffusion Despeckling Filter This work aims to improve the process of speckle noise reduction while preserving edges and other relevant features through filter expansion from 2-D to 3-D. Despeckling is very important for data visual inspection and as a preprocessing step for other algorithms, as they are usually notably influenced by speckle noise. To that intent, a 3-D approach is proposed for the adaptive complex-diffusion filter. This 3-D iterative filter was applied to spectral-domain optical coherence tomography medical imaging volumes of the human retina and a quantitative evaluation of the results was performed to allow a demonstration of the better performance of the 3-D over the 2-D filtering and to choose the best total diffusion time. In addition, we propose a fast graphical processing unit parallel implementation so that the filter can be used in a clinical setting.

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

adaptive filters
biomedical imaging
image denoising
parallel programming


Interval methods for fault-tree analysis in robotics This paper describes a novel technique, based on interval methods, for estimating reliability using fault trees, The approach encodes inherent uncertainty in the input data by modeling these data in terms of intervals. Appropriate interval arithmetic is then used to propagate the data through standard fault trees to generate output distributions which reflect the uncertainty in the input data. Through a canonical example of reliability estimation for a robot manipulator system, we show how the use of this novel interval method appreciably improves the accuracy of reliability estimates over existing approaches to the problem of uncertain input data. This method avoids the key problem of loss of uncertainty inherent in some approaches when applied to noncoherent systems. It is further shown that the method has advantages over approaches based on partial simulation of the input-data space because it can provide guaranteed bounds for the estimates in reasonable times.

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

interval method
reliability estimation
robotics


3D object recognition in range images using hidden Markov models and neural networks This paper proposes an effective algorithm for 3D object recognition in range images using hidden Markov models (HMMs) and neural networks (NNs). Because an HMM trains each object independently, it is adequate to recognition applications in which a modelbase is frequently updated. Also NNs are employed as a postprocessing step to increase the recognition rate. To avoid the dependency of feature values on the viewing position, we employ 3D features such as surface type, moments, surface area, line length, and relationship between adjacent surfaces. In representing feature values, a fuzzy membership function is used to absorb variation of feature values caused by occlusion of the 3D object. Computer simulation results for synthetic and real range images show that the proposed HMM-based system combined with NNs can be successfully applied to recognition of 3D objects. (C) 1999 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

hidden markov model
neural network
range image


Optimal robust control of drug delivery in cancer chemotherapy: A comparison between three control approaches During the drug delivery process in chemotherapy, both of the cancer cells and normal healthy cells may be killed. In this paper, three mathematical cell-kill models including log-kill hypothesis, NortonSimon hypothesis and Emax hypothesis are considered. Three control approaches including optimal linear regulation, nonlinear optimal control based on variation of extremals and H?-robust control based on ?-synthesis are developed. An appropriate cost function is defined such that the amount of required drug is minimized while the tumor volume is reduced. For the first time, performance of the system is investigated and compared for three control strategies; applied on three nonlinear models of the process. In additions, their efficiency is compared in the presence of model parametric uncertainties. It is observed that in the presence of model uncertainties, controller designed based on variation of extremals is more efficient than the linear regulation controller. However, H?-robust control is more efficient in improving robust performance of the uncertain models with faster tumor reduction and minimum drug usage.

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

cancer chemotherapy
robust control
optimal control
linear regulation
variation of extremals


Modelling activities at a neurological rehabilitation unit A queuing model of a specialist neurological rehabilitation unit is studied. The application is to the Neurological Rehabilitation Centre at Rookwood Hospital (Cardiff, UK), the national rehabilitation unit for Wales. Due to high demand this 21-bed inpatient facility is nearly always at maximum occupancy, and with a significant bed-cost per day this makes it a prime candidate for mathematical modelling. Central to this study is the concept that treatment intensity has an effect on patient length of stay. The model is constructed in four stages. First, appropriate patient groups are determined based on a number of patient-related attributes. Second, a purpose-built scheduling program is used to deduce typical levels of treatment to patients of each group. These are then used to estimate the mean length of stay for each patient group. Finally, the queuing model is constructed. This consists of a number of disconnected homogeneous server queuing systems; one for each patient group. A Coxian phase-type distribution is fitted to the length of time from admission until discharge readiness and an exponential distribution models the remainder of time until discharge. Some hypothetical scenarios suggested by senior management are then considered and compared on the grounds of a number of performance measures and cost implications.

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

queuing theory
markov modelling
or in health services


The design and development of a novel flyback planar transformer for high frequency switch mode DCDC converter applications In this work a 2cm2cm novel thick film planar transformer is designed and developed. The planar transformer height effect on the power density was studied. This planar transformer was used in a Flyback switch-mode DCDC converter with a pulse width modulator feedback control circuit. The switch mode converter and the planar transformer showed a high efficiency of 90 and 99% at 2MHz operating frequency, respectively.

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

flyback planar transformer
dcdc converter
power density


Decentralized fuzzy inference method for estimating thermal boundary condition of a heated cylinder normal to a laminar air stream A decentralized fuzzy inference (DFI) method based on the fuzzy theory is proposed in this study for estimating the heat flux distribution of a heated cylinder experiencing conjugate heat transfer. A group of fuzzy inference units (FIUs) are designed. The deviations between the calculated and measured temperature at each measurement point are taken as the input parameters of FIUs, and the corresponding fuzzy inference components corresponding to the measured temperature are obtained by the FIUs. According to the importance of the various measured temperatures, the fuzzy inference components are then weighted and synthesized to gain the compensations of the guessed heat flux distribution. Ultimately, the prediction of the heat flux is accomplished. Numerical tests are performed to study the effect of initial guessed heat flux, measurement point numbers, measurement errors and the coupling of measurement point numbers and measurement errors on the estimated results. The results show that the DFI method can estimate the heat flux availably and possesses a better anti-ill-posed character and higher accuracy than the conjugate gradient method (CGM). The DFI method shows superiority.

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

thermal boundary behavior
inverse problem


A scalable tool architecture for diagnosing wait states in massively parallel applications When scaling message-passing applications to thousands of processors, their performance is often affected by wait states that occur when processes fail to reach synchronization points simultaneously. As a first step in reducing the performance impact, we have shown in our earlier work that wait states can be diagnosed by searching event traces for characteristic patterns. However, our initial sequential search method did not scale beyond several hundred processes. Here, we present a scalable approach, based on a parallel replay of the target applications communication behavior, that can efficiently identify wait states at the previously inaccessible scale of 65,536 processes and that has potential for even larger configurations. We explain how our new approach has been integrated into a comprehensive parallel tool architecture, which we use to demonstrate that wait states may consume a major fraction of the execution time at larger scales.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 analysis
scalability
event tracing
pattern search


A 3-approximation algorithm for the k-level uncapacitated facility location problem In the k-level uncapacitated facility location problem, we have a set of demand points where clients are located. The demand of each client is known. Facilities have to be located at given sites in order to service the clients, and each client is to be serviced by a sequence of k different facilities, each of which belongs to a distinct level. There are no capacity restrictions on the facilities. There is a positive fixed cost of setting up a facility, and a per unit cost of shipping goods between each pair of locations. We assume that these distances are all nonnegative and satisfy the triangle inequality. The problem is to find an assignment of each client to a sequence of k facilities, one at each level, so that the demand of each client is satisfied, for which the sum of the setup costs and the service costs is minimized. We develop a randomized algorithm for the k-level facility location problem that is guaranteed to find a feasible solution of expected cost within a factor of 3 of the optimum cost. The algorithm is a randomized rounding procedure that uses an optimal solution of a linear programming relaxation and its dual to make a random choice of facilities to be opened. We show how this algorithm can be derandomized to yield a 3-approximation algorithm. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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


Implantable measurement technique dedicated to the monitoring of electrode-nerve contact in bladder stimulators A fully integrated electrode-nerve contact monitoring circuit intended to increase safety and reliability in implantable bladder stimulators is described. The proposed integrated circuit converts a measurement of the impedance of two electrode-nerve contacts into frequency. The measurement is derived from a test current generated by the stimulation current source. The obtained result is the frequency of a square wave signal. This frequency is then converted into 8-bit data, which are serially transmitted to an external controller through an inductive link. The whole circuit can be set in idle mode during stimulation, ensuring low energy consumption. It is fully testable, and an internal calibration technique makes it possible to reduce errors due to temperature and process variations. The total area of the proposed monitoring circuit is 0.1 mm(2) when fabricated with a 0.35 mu m technology, including a digitally controlled, current source. The design has been fabricated and successfully tested.

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

electrical stimulation
bladder dysfunctions
electrode-nerve contacts
implantable devices
fns
cmos integrated circuits


Numerical experience with the finite speed of gravitational interaction We discuss numerical solution of a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations with a time-varying delay. This system describes the mutual influence between mass bodies in the case of a finite speed of the gravitational interaction. We show that this fact has to be taken into account in interplanetary flights, because minor changes in the velocity are continuously cumulated during a long time, which affects the position of a satellite. A method to determine an approximate value of the speed of gravitational interaction is introduced. We observed that in two-body problems with delays, there are no periodic solutions as in the classical two-body problem. We also demonstrate that the finite speed of gravitational interaction contributes to the expansion of the universe, slightly protects stars against collisions and thus makes, e.g., globular clusters more stable. (C) 1999 IMACS/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

nonautonomous odes
nonconstant delays
einstein theory of relativity
effects of cumulation
celestial mechanics


A self-managing wide-area data streaming service Efficient and robust data streaming services are a critical requirement of emerging Grid applications, which are based on seamless interactions and coupling between geographically distributed application components. Furthermore the dynamism of Grid environments and applications requires that these services be able to continually manage and optimize their operation based on system state and application requirements. This paper presents a design and implementation of such a self-managing data-streaming service based on online control strategies. A Grid-based fusion workflow scenario is used to evaluate the service and demonstrate its feasibility and performance.

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

scientific data streaming
autonomic computing
grid computing
model based online control


Universal augmentation schemes for network navigability Augmented graphs were introduced for the purpose of analyzing the "six degrees of separation between individuals" observed experimentally by the sociologist Standley Milgram in the 60's. We define an augmented graph as a pair (G, M) where G is an n-node graph with nodes labeled in (1,..., n), and M is an n x n stochastic matrix. Every node u is an element of V(G) is given an extra link, called a long range link, pointing to some node v, called the long range contact of u. The head v of this link is chosen at random by Pr {u -> v} = M(u,v). In augmented graphs, greedy routing is the oblivious routing process in which every intermediate node chooses from among all its neighbors (including its long range contact) the one that is closest to the target according to the distance measured in the underlying graph G. and forwards to it. The best augmentation scheme known so far ensures that, for any n-node graph G, greedy routing performs in O(root n) expected number of steps. Our main result is the design of an augmentation scheme that overcomes the O(root n) barrier. Precisely, we prove that for any n-node graph G whose nodes are arbitrarily labeled in 11,..., n 1, there exists a stochastic matrix M such that greedy routing in (G. M) performs in (O) over bar (n(1/3)), where the 6 notation ignores the polylogarithmic factors. We prove additional results when the stochastic matrix M is universal to all graphs. In particular, we prove that the O(root n barrier can still be overcame for large graph classes even if the matrix M is universal. This however requires an appropriate labeling of the nodes. If the node labeling is arbitrary, then we prove that the O(root n) barrier cannot be overcome with universal matrices. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

small world phenomenon
informative labeling schemes