Automatic thesaurus construction for spam filtering using revised back propagation neural network Email has become one of the fastest and most economical forms of communication. Email is also one of the most ubiquitous and pervasive applications used on a daily basis by millions of people worldwide. However, the increase in email users has resulted in a dramatic increase in spam emails during the past few years. This paper proposes a new spam filtering system using revised back propagation (RBP) neural network and automatic thesaurus construction. The conventional back propagation (BP) neural network has slow learning speed and is prone to trap into a local minimum, so it will lead to poor performance and efficiency. The authors present in this paper the RBP neural network to overcome the limitations of the conventional BP neural network. A well constructed thesaurus has been recognized as a valuable tool in the effective operation of text classification, it can also overcome the problems in keyword-based spam filters which ignore the relationship between words. The authors conduct the experiments on Ling-Spam corpus. Experimental results show that the proposed spam filtering system is able to achieve higher performance, especially for the combination of RBP neural network and automatic thesaurus construction.

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

spam filtering
back propagation neural network
automatic thesaurus construction


The importance of retrieval in creative design analogies Analogy is an important reasoning process in creative design. It enables the generation of new design artifacts using ideas from semantically distant domains. Candidate selection is a crucial process in the generation of creative analogies. Without a good set of candidate sources, the success of subsequent phases can be compromised. Two main types of selection have been identified: semantics-based retrieval and structure-based retrieval. This paper presents an empirical study on the importance of the analogy retrieval strategy in the domain of software design. We argue that both types of selection are important, but they play different roles in the process. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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


Assisting designer using feature modeling for lifecycle This paper presents a product dynamic model and design for X solution (DFX) developed in C++with the OpenCASCADE geometric kernel, allowing the designer not only to get feedback on the viability of his design choices but also to collect data for process and task planning, maintenance and end-of-life strategy planning. The implemented method evaluates automatically both the efficiency factors and the incompatibilities between development characteristics in order to optimize the design of the product for multiple domains. The framework of this DFX solution, based on the product data structure, consists of imposing integration constraints concerning the development process during the entire design product process. In this paper, simple assemblies are used as brief examples to demonstrate the application of the proposed integrated design solution, its effectiveness to improve the design for X and collecting useful data for entire lifecycle duration. The method developed has been formalized with the NIAM model.

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

concurrent engineering
product data management and collection


Autonomous and adaptive resource allocation among multiple nodes and multiple applications in heterogeneous wireless networks In the forthcoming future, various means of wireless communication, such as cellular, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and DSRC, will be available to mobile users and applications. With the development of wireless communication and mobile devices, more and more users and applications will be accommodated in mobile environment. Since mobile users and applications compete for the limited wireless resources whose communication quality dynamically change, we need an adaptive mechanism for mobile users and applications to share the available network resources while satisfying each application's QoS requirements. In this paper, we propose an adaptive resource allocation mechanism where each node autonomously determines wireless network resources to assign to each of networked applications running on it. For this purpose, we adopt an attractor composition model, which is based on an autonomous and adaptive behavior of biological systems. Through numerical analysis, we confirmed that our mechanism could adaptively and stably allocate wireless network resources to applications, while considering their QoS requirements and fairly sharing network resources with other nodes. It also is shown that our mechanism superiors to a mechanism where a node determines resource allocation by solving an optimization problem. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

heterogeneous wireless networks
adaptive resource allocation
attractor composition model


Approximating minimum-power edge-covers and 2,3 2 , 3 -connectivity ? Given a graph with edge costs, the power of a node is the maximum cost of an edge leaving it, and the power of a graph is the sum of the powers of its nodes. Motivated by applications in wireless networks, we consider several fundamental undirected network design problems under the power minimization criteria. The Minimum-Power Edge-Cover (MPEC) problem is: given a graph G=(V,E) G = ( V , E ) with edge costs {c(e):e?E} { c ( e ) : e ? E } and a subset S?V S ? V of nodes, find a minimum-power subgraph H H of G G containing an edge incident to every node in S S . We give a 3/2-approximation algorithm for MPEC, improving over the 2-approximation by [M.T. Hajiaghayi, G. Kortsarz, V.S. Mirrokni, Z. Nutov, Power optimization for connectivity problems, Mathematical Programming 110 (1) (2007) 195208]. For the Min-Powerk k -Connected Subgraph ( MP k CS ) problem we obtain the following results. For k=2 k = 2 and k=3 k = 3 , we improve the previously best known ratios of 4 [G. Calinescu, P.J. Wan, Range assignment for biconnectivity and k k -edge connectivity in wireless ad hoc networks, Mobile Networks and Applications 11 (2) (2006) 121128] and 7 [M.T. Hajiaghayi, G. Kortsarz, V.S. Mirrokni, Z. Nutov, Power optimization for connectivity problems, Mathematical Programming 110 (1) (2007) 195208] to 3 2 3 and 5 2 3 , respectively. Finally, we give a 4rmax 4 r max -approximation algorithm for the Minimum-Power Steiner Network (MPSN) problem: find a minimum-power subgraph that contains r(u,v) r ( u , v ) pairwise edge-disjoint paths for every pair u,v u , v of nodes.

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

approximation algorithms
minimum power
edge-cover
node-connectivity


A record-to-record travel algorithm for solving the heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem In the heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem (HVRP), several different types of vehicles can be used to service the customers. The types of vehicles differ with respect to capacity, fixed cost, and variable cost. We assume that the number of vehicles of each type is fixed and equal to a constant. We must decide how to make the best use of the fixed fleet of heterogeneous vehicles. In this paper, we review methods for solving the HVRP, develop a variant of our record-to-record travel algorithm for the standard vehicle routing problem that takes a heterogeneous fleet into account, and report computational results on eight benchmark problems. Finally, we generate a new set of five test problems that have 200360 customers and solve each new problem using our record-to-record travel algorithm.

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


The Directors' cut: a solution to collaborative multimedia management Web 2.0 applications allow rich media contents to be exposed and shared by users. Nevertheless, usually, a multimedia is provided as an unicum, made by synchronized media items. Sound tracks, video sequences, captions, cannot be customized "on-the-fly" by users. Managing multimedia in a deep way would meet the expectations of nowadays Web prosumers (i.e. producers and consumers), and it would widen the audience. Describing and synchronizing each medium, as well as specifying different alternative contents for it, are the keystones of multimedia customization and of audience widening. This paper presents a multimedia collaborative system, which provides support to the arrangement of medium into a multi-views composed multimedia. Each prosumer can add medium by juxtaposition or by defining it as an alternative (audio, video, textual) version of an existing one. The implementation of such a system is based on SMIL 3.0 specification but implements a new and compact syntax to let users manipulate the original multimedia synchronization and their alternatives. The proposed approach has been put to test in two different scenarios.

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

multimedia systems
multimedia computing
multimedia accessibility
multimedia collaborative editing


Bayesian sample size determination for case-control studies with misclassification We develop a Bayesian simulation based approach for determining the sample size required for a case-control study with misclassified data. Our method assumes a validation subsample is available. Using an average posterior variance criterion we consider both fixed cost and fixed variance procedures.

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

bayesian inference
posterior approximation
multiple sampling


Resonant modes and musical ratios in otoacoustic emissions The ratios between frequency components of evoked otoacoustic emissions (OAE) were investigated for 100 ears. The signals were decomposed by means of an adaptive approximation method into basic waveforms coming from a very large and redundant dictionary of Gabor functions. The high time-frequency resolution of the method and the parametric representation of the waveforms allowed for an estimation of the frequency ratios of the basic components. A repetitive occurrence of the "fifths", "fourths" and octaves connected with the Pythagorean temperament was found. The octaves containing "fifths" were identified. This kind of sequences in OAE tend to appear in the same form for tonal stimulations of different frequencies and for broadband stimuli. The significance of the results was confirmed by comparison to Monte Carlo simulations of the null hypothesis of random distribution of frequency modes. These findings support the resonance theory of hearing, which binds musical ratios with the geometrical spacing of outer hair cells in the cochlea.

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


Eigensensitivity analysis of damped systems with distinct and repeated eigenvalues A combined normalization which combines two traditional normalizations is presented. Design sensitivity analysis of viscously damped eigenproblems is studied. A compact and well-conditioned algebraic method in case of distinct eigenvalues is proposed. An N-space algorithm for computing eigensensitivity with repeated eigenvalues is proposed.

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

design sensitivity analysis
eigensensitivity
damped systems
repeated eigenvalues


A new multimedia-based instruction for hip arthroplasty in clinical practice With the aging of the population, patients with degenerative osteoarthritis are growing. Until now, artificial joint arthroplasty (HA) is the final treatment for such joint-related disease. Because of the implementation of case payment insurance policy, patients with artificial HA in Taiwan have higher post-operative infection, dislocation and readmission than those in other countries. It is more important, nowadays, to provide patients and their family appropriate care guide for operative preparation and post-operative rehabilitation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a multimedia-based instruction (MBI) videodisc and then apply it in the care guide instruction for HA patients. The MBI videodisc in this study created combined texts, pictures, film, animations, sound, etc. by using Ulead PhotoImpact package and CyberLink PowerDirector. Thirty-three subjects in the experimental group and an equal number of subjects in the control group were recruited to evaluate the efficacy of the HA MBI videodisc in patients learning. The results demonstrated that the HA MBI videodisc could improve patient self-care cognition in operative preparation and functional activity in post-operative rehabilitation.

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

care guide
hip arthroplasty
functional activity

multimedia-based instruction videodisc
self-care


A QSAR study on the biodegradation activity of PAHs in aged contaminated sediments The relationship between the chemical structure and biodegradation activity (-logt(1/2)) of 17 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was studied using density functional theory (DFT) and stepwise multiple linear regression analysis (SMLR) methods. The equilibrium geometries and vibration frequency have been investigated at B3LYP/6-31 + G(d,p) level. One high correlation coefficient was found between the wagging vibration frequency (Freq) of the whole molecule and - logt(1/2), which is resulted by the special structural characteristic with a big conjugated system. By means of regression analysis, the main factors influencing biodegradation activity were screened, and the equations of quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) were established. The evaluation of the developed QSAR showed that the relationships are significant and the model had good predictive ability. The QSAR model showed that the biodegradation activity was closely related to molecular structure: the chemical bond strength of benzene ring played an important role in biodegradation process; In addition, low molecular weight PAHs are more degradable than the high molecular weight compounds. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
density functional theory
biodegradation


An evolutionary factor analysis computation for mining website structures This paper explores website link structure considering websites as interconnected graphs and analyzing their features as a social network. Two networks have been extracted for representing websites: a domain network containing subdomains or external domains linked through the website and a page network containing webpages browsed from the root domain. Factor analysis provides the statistical methodology to adequately extract the main website profiles in terms of their internal structure. However, due to the large number of indicators, the task of selecting a representative subset of indicators becomes unaffordable. A genetic search of an optimum subset of indicators is proposed in this paper, selecting a multi-objective fitness function based on factor analysis results. The optimum solution provides a coherent and relevant categorization of website profiles, and highlights the possibilities of genetic algorithms as a tool for discovering new knowledge in the field of web mining.

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

link analysis
website structure
evolutionary computation


Abducing chances in hybrid humans as decision makers As a matter of fact, humans continuously delegate and distribute cognitive functions to the environment to lessen their limits. They build models, representations, and other various mediating structures that are considered to aid thought. In doing these, humans are engaged in a process of cognitive niche construction. In this sense, I argue that a cognitive niche emerges from a network of continuous interplays between individuals and the environment, in which people alter and modify the environment by mimetically externalizing fleeting thoughts, private ideas, etc. into external supports. Through mimetic activities, humans create external semiotic anchors that are the result of a process in which concepts, ideas, and thoughts are projected onto external structures. Once concepts and thoughts are externalized and projected, new chances and ways of inferring come up from the blend. For cognitive niche construction may also contribute to make available a great portion of chances in terms of information and knowledge that otherwise would remain simply unexpressed or unreachable. The central part of the paper will illustrate that abduction or reasoning to explanatory hypotheses is also central to understanding some features of the problem of action and decision-making. Abduction prompts action and plays a key role in decision-making, like Peirce teaches: the neurological perspective depicted in this paper also increases knowledge about the distinction between thought and motor action, seeing both aspects as fruit of brain activity. We can say that thought possesses an essential motor component reflected in brain action but not in actual movement. On the basis of this analysis, I can further illustrate some problems related to the role of abducting chances in decision-making, both in deliberate and in unconscious cases.

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

chance-seeking
cognitive niches
decision-making
affordances


Integration of UML and VHDL-AMS for analogue system modelling This paper details anew object-oriented methodology that permits a unified modelling language (UML) behavioural representation of analogue circuits at system level. The proposed method demonstrates a novel approach to the problem of behavioural representation of an analogue topology, by constructing a consistent set of rules for automated mapping of the UML model to a VHDL-AMS specification. The VHDL-AMS specification enables behavioural simulation of the UML model and the methodology is validated using an analogue subsystem level application.

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


Application of the active shape model in a commercial medical device for bone densitometry Osteoporosis is a common disorder characterised mainly by low bone mineral density (BMD), and leading to an increased risk of fracture. We have developed a new device that estimates BMD from ordinary hand radiographs. A crucial element of this method is the reconstruction of the metacarpals. This paper describes how this was solved using the active shape model (ASM). Standard ASM is unable to locate the metacarpal shafts in the direction along the bones. Therefore ASM was extended with a translation operator, which solved the problem. A hierarchical filtering method was used to construct a sufficient list of initial guesses for the ASM. The performance of ASM and the experience with the integration of ASM in a commercial medical device is reported. The ASM achieves 99.5% reconstruction success and is able to validate its own reconstruction in 97% of the cases. The system (Pronosco X-posure system, version 2.0) has been approved by the FDA, and more than 100 units have been sold. The concept of the translation operator is generalised to the more active shape model (MASM), which also allows a natural integration with the active appearance model.

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

active shape model
active appearance model
osteoporosis


A cyber forensics ontology: Creating a new approach to studying cyber forensics The field of cyber forensics, still in its infancy, possesses a strong need for direction and definition. Areas of specialty within a professional environment, certifications, and/or curriculum development are still questioned. With the continued need to standardize parts of the field, methodologies need to be created that will allow for uniformity and direction. This paper focuses on creating an ontological for the purpose of finding the correct layers for specialization, certification, and education within the cyber forensics domain. There is very little information available on this topic and what is present, seems to be somewhat varied. This underscores the importance of creating a method for defining the correct levels of education, certification and specialization. This ontology can also be used to develop curriculum and educational materials. This paper is meant to spark discussion and further research into the topic.

O B I B 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 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 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 B O B 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

ontology
cyber forensics
curriculum
certification
specialization


V-NET: A versatile network architecture for flexible delay guarantees in real-time networks This paper proposes a Versatile Network Architecture (V-NET) to support flexible delay guarantees for applications in realtime networks. Applications communicate over the V-NET by using end-to-end network connections which support real-time and reliability characteristics tailored to meet the application's specified requirements. V-NET differs from other proposed architectures in that, in addition to addressing the issue of quality of service (QoS) feasibility for a wide spectrum of real-time applications, it also provides a mechanism to determine a network state dependent range of feasible delay values at each switching node along the routing path. These delay ranges can be used to assign per-node delays that reflect the resource availability of the node, thereby reducing the likelihood of bottlenecks along the routing path. The V-NET delay guarantees are provided for a variety of packet scheduling algorithms and traffic policing mechanisms. This flexibility is an important design consideration as a real-time network architecture must accommodate existing and future multimedia applications. with hard-, soft-, and non-real-time traffic. The performance evaluation results demonstrate the efficiency of this scheme in handling different traffic scenarios and QoS requirements. We have shown that it is possible, and indeed efficient, to determine an upper-bound on the delay of real-time traffic, when using our per-node delay assignment policies.

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

integrated service
qos guarantees
real-time scheduling
packet policing
channel admission control


The KRAFT architecture for knowledge fusion and transformation This paper describes the Knowledge Reuse And Fusion/Transformation (KRAFT) architecture which supports the fusion of knowledge from multiple, distributed, heterogeneous sources. The architecture uses constraints as a common knowledge interchange format, expressed against a common ontology. Knowledge held in local sources can be transformed into a common constraint language, and fused with knowledge from other sources. The fused knowledge is then used to solve some problem or deliver some information to a user. Problem solving in KRAFT typically exploits pre-existing constraint solvers. KRAFT uses an open and flexible agent architecture in which knowledge sources, knowledge fusing entities and users are all represented by independent KRAFT agents, communicating using a messaging protocol. Facilitator agents perform matchmaking and brokerage services between the various kinds of agent. KRAFT is being applied to an example application in the domain of network data services design.

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


A noise-shaping SAR ADC for energy limited applications in 90 nm CMOS technology In this paper, an ultra-low-power successive approximation register analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for energy limited applications is presented. The ADC resolution is enhanced by using a noise-shaping technique which does not need any integrator and only uses a finite impulse response (FIR) filter. To provide a first-order noise-shaping, the quantization error is firstly extracted by using the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) dummy capacitor and it is then employed in the error feedback scheme. The proposed structure employs a low-gain and low-swing operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) to realize the FIR filter which operates only at the sampling phase. To minimize the power consumption of the ADC analog part, the OTA is powered off during the conversion phase. The proposed ADC is designed and simulated in a 90 nm CMOS technology using Spectre with a 0.5 V single power supply. The simulated ADC uses a fully-differential 8-bit charge redistribution DAC with an oversampling ratio of 8 and achieves 10.7-bit accuracy. The simulated average power consumption is 4.53 mu W and the achieved maximum SNDR and SFDR are 66.1 and 73.1 dB, respectively, resulting in a figure of merit of 27.6 fJ/conversion-step.

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

analog-to-digital converters
noise-shaping
rail-to-rail comparator


Comparison of social media use for the U.S. and the Korean governments We compare two governments (U.S. and Korea) that have used social media. We examine the current status of social media usage in both Korean and U.S. governments. We present several issues (digital divide, security) and suggest future directions.

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

korean government
u.s. government
privacy
information network village


Real-time visuomotor update of an active binocular head In order for a binocular head to perform optimal 3D tracking, it should be able to verge its cameras actively, while maintaining geometric calibration. In this work we introduce a calibration update procedure, which allows a robotic head to simultaneously fixate, track, and reconstruct a moving object in real-time. The update method is based on a mapping from motor-based to image-based estimates of the camera orientations, estimated in an offline stage. Following this, a fast online procedure is presented to update the calibration of an active binocular camera pair. The proposed approach is ideal for active vision applications because no image-processing is needed at runtime for the scope of calibrating the system or for maintaining the calibration parameters during camera vergence. We show that this homography-based technique allows an active binocular robot to fixate and track an object, whilst performing 3D reconstruction concurrently in real-time.

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

real-time vision
active binocular vision
visual tracking


Mine blast algorithm for optimization of truss structures with discrete variables In this study a novel optimization method is presented, the so called mine blast algorithm (MBA). The fundamental concepts and ideas of MBA are derived from the explosion of mine bombs in real world. The efficiency of the proposed optimizer is tested via the optimization of several truss structures with discrete variables and its performance is compared with several well-known metaheuristic algorithms. The results show that MBA is able to provide faster convergence rate and also manages to achieve better optimal solutions compared to other efficient optimizers.

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

optimization
mine blast algorithm
truss structures
discrete variables
metaheuristic


Dynamic decision support graph - Visualization of ANN-generated diagnostic indications of pathological conditions developing over time Objectives: A common objection to using artificial neural networks in clinical decision support systems is that the reasoning behind diagnostic indications cannot be sufficiently well explained. This paper presents a method for visualizing diagnostic indications generated from an artificial neural network-based decision support algorithm (ANN-algorithm) in conditions developing over time. Methods: The main idea behind the method is first to calculate and graphically present the decision regions corresponding to the diagnostic indications given as output from the ANN-algorithm, in the space of two selected, clinically established 'display variables'. Secondly, the trajectory of time series measurement results of these, often biochemical markers, together with the respective 95% confidence intervals are superimposed on the decision regions. This wilt permit a nurse or clinician to grasp the diagnostic indication graphically at a glance. The indication is further presented in relation to clinical variables that the clinician is already familiar with, thus providing a sort of explanation. The predictive value of the indication is expressed by the proximity of the measurement result to the decision boundary, separating the decision regions, and by a numerically calculated individualized predictive value. Results: The method is illustrated as applied to a previously published ANN-algorithm for the early ruling-in and ruling-out of acute myocardial infarction, using monitoring of measurement results of myoglobin and troponin-1 in plasma. Conclusion: The method is appropriate when there is a limited number of clinically established variables, i.e. variables which the clinician is used to taking into account in clinical reasoning. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

visualization
acute myocardial infarction
myoglobin


on per-session end-to-end delay distributions and the call admission problem for real-time applications with qos requirements A crucial problem facing the designers and deployers of future high-speed networks is providing applications with quality of service (QOS) guarantees. For soft real-time applications, which are delay sensitive but loss tolerant, delay distribution is an important QOS measure of interest. In this paper we study (through simulation) the end-to-end delay distribution seen by individual sessions under simple first-come first-served (FCFS) multiplexing in a network model with two significant features: (1) all traffic is connection-oriented, (2) cross traffic along routes is representative of that seen by calls in a moderately sized wide area network (i.e., less than 100 switches). We compare these delay distributions with the worst case point-valued analytic delay bounds predicted by three different techniques for providing such bounds (two of which require a more sophisticated link-level scheduling policy). We also consider the per-hop delay distributions seen as a session progresses "deeper" into the network and determine the sensitivity of these delay distributions to the manner in which the interfering traffic is modeled. Finally, we use our delay distribution results to examine the tradeoff between the QOS requested by a call, the manner in which the QOS guarantee is provided, and the number of calls that are admitted at the requested QOS.

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

network requirements sensitive applications scheduling use policy simulation delay case paper traffic multiplexing future

measurement
point
real-time
wide-area network
linking
routing
network model
switch
distributed
feature
connection
quality-of-service


High-order local absorbing conditions for the wave equation: Extensions and improvements The solution of the time-dependent wave equation in an unbounded domain is considered. An artificial boundary S is introduced which encloses a finite computational domain. On 5 an absorbing boundary condition (ABC) is imposed. A formulation of local high-order ABCs recently proposed by Hagstrom and Warburton and based on a modification of the Higdon ABCs, is further developed and extended in a number of ways. First, the ABC is analyzed in new ways and important information is extracted from this analysis. Second, The ABCs are extended to the case of a dispersive medium, for which the Klein-Gordon wave equation governs. Third, the case of a stratified medium is considered and the way to apply the ABCs to this case is explained. Fourth, the ABCs are extended to take into account evanescent modes in the exact solution. The analysis is applied throughout this paper to two-dimensional wave guides. Two numerical algorithms incorporating these ABCs are considered: a standard semi-discrete finite element formulation in space followed by time-stepping, and a high-order finite difference discretization in space and time. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the performance of the extended ABCs using these two methods. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. 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 B I O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 boundary
absorbing boundary condition
higdon
stratified medium

waves
high-order
auxiliary variables
finite elements
finite differences
wave guide
dispersive waves
evanescent waves


An unusual 500,000 bases long oscillation of guanine and cytosine content in human chromosome 21 An oscillation with a period of around 500?kb in guanine and cytosine content (GC%) is observed in the DNA sequence of human chromosome 21. This oscillation is localized in the rightmost one-eighth region of the chromosome, from 43.5?Mb to 46.5?Mb. Five cycles of oscillation are observed in this region with six GC-rich peaks and five GC-poor valleys. The GC-poor valleys comprise regions with low density of CpG islands and, alternating between the two DNA strands, low gene density regions. Consequently, the long-range oscillation of GC% result in spacing patterns of both CpG island density, and to a lesser extent, gene densities.

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


Universal bufferless packet switching A packet-switching algorithm specifies the actions of the nodes in order to deliver packets in the network. A packet-switching algorithm is universal if it applies to any network topology and for any batch communication problem on the network. A long-standing open problem has concerned the existence of a universal packet-switching algorithm with near-optimal performance guarantees for the class of bufferless networks where the buffer size for packets in transit is zero. We give a positive answer to this question. In particular, we give a universal bufferless algorithm which is within a polylogarithmic factor from optimal for arbitrary batch problems: T = O(T* . log(3)(n + N)), where T is the packet delivery time of our algorithm, T* is the optimal delivery time, n is the size of the network, and N is the number of packets. At the heart of our result is a new deterministic technique for constructing a universal bufferless algorithm by emulating a store-and-forward algorithm on a transformation of the network. The main idea is to replace packet buffering in the transformed network with packet circulation in regions of the original network. The cost of the emulation on the packet delivery time is proportional to the buffer sizes used by the store-and-forward algorithm. We obtain the advertised result by using a store-and-forward algorithm with logarithmic sized buffer. The resulting bufferless algorithm is constructive and can be implemented in a distributed way.

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

optimal scheduling
routing
graph decomposition
deterministic bufferless emulation


Mixed-order interpolation for the Galerkin coarse-grid approximations in algebraic multigrid solvers An empirical investigation is made of AMG solver performance for the fully coupled set of Navier-Stokes equations. The investigation focuses on two different FV discretizations for the standard driven cavity test problem. One is a collocated vertex-based discretization; the other is a cell-centred staggered-grid discretization. Both employ otherwise identical orthogonal Cartesian meshes. It is found that if mixed-order interpolation is used in the construction of the Galerkin coarse-grid approximation (CGA), a close-to-optimum mesh-independent scaling of the AMG convergence is observed with similar convergence rates for both discretizations. If, on the other hand, an equal-order interpolation is used, convergence rates are mesh-dependent but the scaling differs in each case. For the collocated-grid case, it depends both on the mesh size, h (or bandwidth Q similar to h(-1)) and on the total number of grids, G, whereas for the staggered-grid case it depends only on Q. Comparing the two characteristics reveals that the Q-dependent parts are very similar; it is only in the G-dependent convergence for the collocated-grid case that they differ. This takes the form of stepped reductions in the AMG convergence rate (implying step reductions in the quality of the Galerkin CGA that correlate exactly with step increases in G). These findings reinforce previous evidence that, for optimum mesh-independent performance, mixed-order interpolations should be used in forming Galerkin CGAs for coupled Navier-Stokes problems. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

mixed-order interpolation
navier-stokes
fully-coupled solutions


Characterization of U-shape streamline fibers: Methods and applications A novel computational framework for characterization of U-shape fibers. Identification and characterization of U-shape fibers from DTI/HARDI/DSI data. Characterization of U-shape fibers from human, chimpanzee and macaque brains. Most U-shaped fibers connect neighboring gyri by coursing along cortical sulci. Reveal an evolutionarily-preserved common pattern of U-shape fiber connectivity.

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

dsi
hardi
dti
fiber shapes
shape analysis


Time constrained push strategies in client-server databases The widespread availability of networked environments and the arrival of high-speed networks have rekindled interest in the area of automatic data refresh/update mechanisms. In many application areas, the updated information has a limited period of usefulness. Therefore, the development of systems and protocols that can handle such update tasks within predefined deadlines is required. In this paper, we propose and evaluate two real-time update-propagation mechanisms in a client-server environment. The fundamental difference in these two time-constrained techniques, Client-Push and Server-Push, is in the location where the push-transactions are generated. In both these techniques, and in contrast to conventional methods, we propose the transport of the scripts of updating transactions in order to make client-cached data current. This avoids unnecessary shipments of data over the network. Instead, messages are used to maintain the consistency of cached data. In addition, the propagation of update transaction scripts to client sites is neither periodic nor mandatory, but is instead based on client-specific criteria. These criteria depend on the content of the database objects being updated. We carry out a comprehensive experimental evaluation of the suggested methods as we examine the following aspects: (a) time constrained push scheduling issues, (b) effects of various workloads on real-time push-transaction completion rates (efficiency), and (c) overheads imposed by push-transactions on the regular transaction processing. Our experiments show that Client-Push outperforms Server-Push only for a small number of clients. The opposite is true once the load is increased by attaching a large number of sites per server. The efficiency of the update push protocols is, as expected, dependent on the load on the system as well as the percentage of updates to the database. Surprisingly, the percentage of successfully completed real-time push-transactions is not affected very much by the strategy used to schedule them.

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

push-transactions
client-server databases
update propagation
real-time scheduling


An Image Based Auto-Focusing Algorithm for Digital Fundus Photography In fundus photography, the task of fine focusing the image is demanding and lack of focus is quite often the cause of suboptimal photographs. The introduction of digital cameras has provided an opportunity to automate the task of focusing. We have developed a software algorithm capable of identifying best focus. The auto-focus (AF) method is based on an algorithm we developed to assess the sharpness of an image. The AF algorithm was tested in the prototype of a semi-automated nonmydriatic fundus camera designed to screen in the primary care environment for major eye diseases. A series of images was acquired in volunteers while focusing the camera on the fundus. The image with the best focus was determined by the AF algorithm and compared to the assessment of two masked readers. A set of fundus images was obtained in 26 eyes of 20 normal subjects and 42 eyes of 28 glaucoma patients. The 95% limits of agreement between the readers and the AF algorithm were -2.56 to 2.93 and -3.7 to 3.84 diopter and the bias was 0.09 and 0.71 diopter, for the two readers respectively. On average, the readers agreed with the AF algorithm on the best correction within less than 3/4 diopter. The intraobserver repeatability was 0.94 and 1.87 diopter, for the two readers respectively, indicating that the limit of agreement with the AF algorithm was determined predominantly by the repeatability of each reader. An auto-focus algorithm for digital fundus photography can identify the best focus reliably and objectively. It may improve the quality of fundus images by easing the task of the photographer.

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

digital fundus photography
focus
sharpness


Power attacks in the presence of exponent blinding Exponent blinding has been known as an effective countermeasure against side-channel attacks on RSA. However, if single power traces reveal some exponent bits with certainty, an attack by Fouque et al. (Power attack on small RSA public exponent. Springer, Berlin, pp 339353, 2006) applies that recovers the exponent. Since this attack becomes infeasible if some of these assumed exponent bits are incorrect it has not been assumed to be a realistic threat in the context of side-channel attacks. In this paper we present three generic attack variants (basic attack, enhanced attack, alternate attack), which work in the presence of considerable error rates at each bit position, disproving the hypothesis that mere exponent blinding is always sufficient to protect SPA-resistant implementations against any type of power attacks. Simulation experiments confirm that for small blinding factors the basic attack permits error rates of more than \(25~\%\). The enhanced attack allows smaller error rates but requires much less power traces and computations. Unlike the basic attack and the enhanced attack the alternate attack (against ECC and RSA without CRT) cannot effectively be prevented by simply enlarging the blinding factor. This paper extends (Schindler and Itoh, Exponent blinding does not always lift (Partial) SPA resistance to higher-level security. Springer, Berlin, pp 7390, 2011) by many new results.

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


RFID sensors based on ubiquitous passive 13.56-MHz RFID tags and complex impedance detection Passive radio frequency identification (RFID) sensors are attractive in diverse applications where sensor performance is needed at a low cost and when battery-free operation is critical. We developed a general approach for adapting ubiquitous and cost-effective passive 13.56-MHz RFID tags for diverse sensing applications. In developed RFID sensors, the complex impedance of the RFID resonant antenna is measured and correlated to physical, chemical, or biological properties of interest. In contrast to known wireless sensors, developed RFID sensors combine several measured parameters from the resonant sensor antenna with multivariate data analysis and deliver unique capability for multianalyte sensing and rejection of environmental interferences with a single sensor. Theoretical calculations and experiments in an anechoic chamber demonstrate that the developed RFID sensors are immune to common electromagnetic interferences and the sensor/reader system operates within regulated emission levels. Performance of developed RFID sensors is illustrated in measurements of toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) in air with the detection limit (DL) of 80 parts per billion and in a non-invasive monitoring of milk spoilage. Sensors selectivity is demonstrated in the detection of different vapors with individual sensors. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

radio frequency identification (rfid) tag


Voltage distribution along a long ceramic insulator string in a high-voltage tower window Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to introduce an efficient model for analysis of the voltage distribution along the long ceramic insulator strings in a high-voltage tower window, especially when the structure and parameters of the ceramic insulator are unknown. The effect of the grading ring on the voltage distribution is also investigated. Design/methodology/approach - A circuit model composed of capacitors is used to analyze the voltage distribution along the ceramic insulator strings in a transmission tower window. The capacitances of the disk insulators, line conductors, and tower are obtained by using the finite element method, charge simulation method, boundary element method, and measurement according to their characteristics. Findings - The model is very efficient. The voltage distribution along insulator strings can be optimized by adjusting the parameters of the grading ring. The maximum amount of voltage applied to a single insulator disk can be reduced effectively by increasing either the diameter of the grading ring or the distance from the upper surface of the grading ring to the high-voltage end of the insulator string. Originality/value - The model is very efficient for analysis of the voltage distribution along the long ceramic insulator strings, especially when the structure and parameters of the ceramic insulator are unknown.

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

boundary-elements methods
circuit theory
electrical insulation devices
electric field effects


Parallel four-dimensional Haralick texture analysis for disk-resident image datasets Texture analysis is one possible method of detecting features in biomedical images. During texture analysis, texture-related information is found by examining local variations in image brightness. Four-dimensional (41)) Haralick texture analysis is a method that extracts local variations along space and time dimensions and represents them as a collection of 14 statistical parameters. However, application of the 4D Haralick method on large time-dependent image datasets is hindered by data retrieval, computation, and memory requirements. This paper describes a parallel implementation using a distributed component-based framework of 4D Haralick texture analysis on PC clusters. The experimental performance results show that good performance can be achieved for this application via combined use of task- and data-parallelism. In addition, we show that our 4D texture analysis implementation can be used to classify imaged tissues. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

biomedical image processing
distributed computing


To establish online shoppers' markets and rules for dynamic CRM systems An empirical case study in Taiwan Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to establish customers' markets and rules of dynamic customer relationship management (CRM) systems for online retailers. Design/methodology/approach - This research proposes a procedure to discover customers' markets and rules, which adopts the recency, frequency, monetary value (RFM) variables, transaction records, and socioeconomic data of the online shoppers to be the research variables. The research methods aim at the supervised apriori algorithm, C5.0 decision tree algorithm, and RFM model. Findings - This research discovered eight RFM markets and six rules of online retailers. Practical implications - The proposed framework and research results can help retailer managers to retain and expand high value markets via their dynamic CRM and POS systems. Originality/value - This research uses data mining technologies to extract high value markets and rules for marketing plans. The research variables are easy to obtain via retailers' systems. The found customer values, RFM markets, shopping association rules, and marketing decision rules can be discovered via the framework of this research.

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

taiwan
customer relationship management
apriori algorithm
rfm model
customer values

consumer behaviour
internet
c5.0 decision tree


Bi-connectivity augmentation for specified vertices of a graph with upper bounds on vertex-degree increase The 2-vertex-connectivity augmentation problem for a specified set of vertices of a graph with degree constraints, 2VCA-SV-DC, is defined as follows: "Given an undirected graph G = (V, E), a specified set of vertices S subset of V with vertical bar SI vertical bar >= 3 and a function g : V -> Z(+) boolean OR {infinity}, find a smallest set E' of edges such that (V, E boolean OR E') has at least two internally-disjoint paths between any pair of vertices in S and such that vertex-degree increase of each nu is an element of V by the addition of E' to G is at most g(nu), where Z(+) is the set of nonnegative integers." This paper shows a linear time algorithm for 2VCA-SV-DC.

O O O O O 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

vertex-connectivity of a specified set of vertices


A framework for a distributed, hybrid, multiple-ontology clinical-guideline library, and automated guideline-support tools Clinical guidelines are a major tool in improving the quality of medical care. However, most guidelines are in free text, not in a formal, executable format, and are not easily accessible to clinicians at the point of care. We introduce a Web-based, modular, distributed architecture, the Digital Electronic Guideline Library (DeGeL), which facilitates gradual conversion of clinical guidelines from text to a formal representation in chosen target guideline ontology. The architecture supports guideline classification, semantic markup, context-sensitive search, browsing, run-time application, and retrospective quality assessment. The DeGeL hybrid meta-ontology includes elements common to all guideline ontologies, such as semantic classification and domain knowledge; it also includes four content-representation formats: free text, semi-structured text, semi-formal representation, and a formal representation. These formats support increasingly sophisticated computational tasks. The DeGeL tools for support of guideline-based care operate, at some level, on all guideline ontologies. We have demonstrated the feasibility of the architecture and the tools for several guideline ontologies, including Asbru and GEM.

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

digital libraries
knowledge representation


A method for deep etching in dielectric films for 3D-chip and photonics applications In this paper, RIE of thick undoped silicate glass (USG) films for various applications is described. Though moderate etch rates (?0.4?m/min) were achieved for USG film, process development was quite challenging due to stringent requirements of deep USG etching (>6?m) and vertical profile. Alternatively, etch process with higher etch rate (1.0?m/min) was also evaluated for profile angle and results were found not comparable to low etch rate process. However, low etch rate process was found to have tool limitations and an alternate method called discrete etching was proposed and successfully verified. Promising results were obtained with etch depth (6?m) and vertical profile (?89.50) in USG as well as SiON films. Based on the results discrete etching method was found to have provided advantage of unlimited capability for deep etching.

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

dielectric film etching
3d-chip integration
rfic devices


cmos encoder for scale-independent pattern recognition The present paper reports the design of a CMOS circuit capable of codifying the natural logarithm of an analog voltage in the relative phase of a train of pulses. The circuit is aimed to the implementation of a scale-independent pattern recognition system, based on the explanation provided by J. Hopfield for the human brain pattern-recognition computation in terms of stimuli representation through the phase of the action potentials. The circuit is designed targeting the AMS 0.35 ?m process, occupying a core area of 0.0049 mm 2 and with a power consumption of less than 14 ?W at a clock frequency of 3.3 MHz. The circuit codifies analog input voltages ranging form 1 to 5 V in phase differences between 2 and 2.7 ?s.

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

logarithmic encoding
neuromorphic
pulsed neural network


A method for solving nonlinear integro-differential equations Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a method for solving nonlinear integro-differential equations with constant/variable coefficients and with initial/boundary conditions. Design/methodology/approach - The method converts the given problem into a system of nonlinear algebraic equations. By solving this system, the solution is determined. Comparing the methodology with some known techniques shows that the present approach is simple, easy to use and highly accurate. Findings - The proposed technique allows an approximate solution in a series form to be obtained. Test problems are solved to illustrate the pertinent features of the method. The accuracy of the numerical results indicates that the technique is efficient and well suited for solving nonlinear integro-differential equations. Originality/value - The present approach provides a reliable technique which avoids the tedious work needed by the classical techniques.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 programming perspective of the membrane systems We present an operational semantics of the membrane systems, using an appropriate notion of configurations and sets of inference rules corresponding to the three stages of an evolution step in membrane systems: maximal parallel rewriting step, parallel communication of objects through membranes, and parallel membrane dissolving. We define various arithmetical operations over multisets in the framework of membrane systems, indicating their complexity and presenting the membrane systems which implement the arithmetic operations. Finally we discuss and compare various sequential and parallel software simulators of the membrane systems, emphasizing their specific features.

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

membrane systems
operational semantics
arithmetical operations over multisets


Integral equations, large and small forcing functions: Periodicity The defining property of an integral equation with resolvent R(t, s) is the relation between a(t) and integral(t)(0) R(t, s)a(s)ds for functions a (t) in a given vector space. We study the behaviour of a solution of an integral equation: x(t) = a(1)(t) + a(2)(t) - integral(t)(0) C(t, s)x(s)ds when a(1)(t) is periodic, C(t + T, s + T) = C(t, s), while a(2)(t) is typified by (t + 1)(beta) with 0 < beta < 1. There is a resolvent, T(t, s), so that x(t) = a(1)(t) + a(2)(t) - integral(t)(0) R(t, s)[a(1)(s) + a(2)(s)]ds. We show that the integral integral(t)(0) R(t, s)a(2)(s)ds so closely approximates a(2)(t) that the only trace of that large function, a(2)(t), in the solution is an L-P-function, p < infinity. In short, that large function a(2)(t) has essentially no long-term effect on the solution which turns out to be the sum of a periodic function, a function tending to zero, and an L-P-function. The noteworthy property here is that with great precision the integral integral(t)(0) R(t, s)a(s)ds can duplicate vector spaces of functions both large and small, both monotone and oscillatory; however, it cannot duplicate a given nontrivial periodic function a (t) other than k[1 + integral(t)(-infinity) C(t, s)ds] where k is constant. The integral integral(t)(0) R(t, s) sin(s + 1)(beta)ds is an L-P approximation to sin(t + 1)(beta) for 0 < beta < 1, but contraction mappings show us that precisely at beta = 1 that approximation fails and sin(t + 1) - integral(t)(0) R(t, s) sin(s + 1)ds approaches a nontrivial periodic function. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

resolvents
contractions
liapunov functions


University-Students Game The purpose of this paper is to formulate and study a game where there is a player who is involved for a long time interval and several small players who stay in the game for short time intervals. Examples of such games abound in practice. For example, a Bank is a long term player who stays in business for a very long time whereas most of its customers are affiliated with the Bank for relatively short time periods. A University and its Students provide another example and it is this model that we use here for motivating and posing the questions. The University is considered to have an infinite time horizon and the Students are considered as players who stay in the game for a fixed period of 5 years (indicative number). A class of Students who start their studies at a certain year is considered as one player/Student who is involved for 5years. This player overlaps in action with the other students who entered at different years and with the University. We study this game in a linear quadratic, deterministic, discrete and continuous time setups, where the players use linear feedback strategies and are in Nash or Stackelberg equilibrium, and where the Students have the same cost structure independently of the year they started their studies. An important feature of the solutions derived is that they lead to Riccati type equations for calculating the gains, which are interlaced in time i.e. their evolution depends on present and past values of the gains. In the continuous time setup this corresponds to integrodifferential equations.

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


Tutorials as a flexible alternative to GUIs: An example for advanced model calibration using Pilot Points Workflow and tutorial are provided for employing the Pilot Points method without a GUI. We demonstrate the application of Pilot Points calibration with HydroGeoSphere We compare methods to identify dependence of estimated parameters on observations.

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

gui
tutorial
model calibration
pilot points
hydrogeosphere


Improved grey-Markov chain algorithm for forecasting Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a method to accurately forecast the tendency of the gross amount of energy sources consumption Of the country and construct a new kind of algorithm for forecasting that synthesizes the advantages of the grey model, Markov chains, and least square method. Design/methodology/approach - With the application of this new algorithm, this paper have forecasted the trend of the gross amount of energy sources consumption of the country and come to the conclusions that the new algorithm is more precise than the grey model. It is proved that the improved grey-Markov chain algorithm is effective and can be used by authorities to make decision. Findings - It was found that combining the grey model, Markov chains, and least square method, can be a new algorithm for forecasting the trendency of the gross amount of energy sources consumption. Research limitations/implications - The new algorithm is only suitable for the short-term forecast. Originality/value - The grey forecasting method reflects the overall tendency of primitive data sequence of the gross amount of energy source, and the Markov chain forecasting method reflects the effect of the random fluctuation. The least square method reflects the tendency of increase. The new algorithm is more precise than the grey model.

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

cybernetics
systems analysis
programming and algorithm theory
energy consumption
economic forecasting


Grss type inequalities for double integrals on time scales We prove some Grss type inequalities for double integrals on time scales and unify the corresponding continuous and discrete versions from the literature. We also apply our results to the quantum calculus case.

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

grss type inequality
double integral
partial derivative
time scale


Global and local information combined to detect singular points in fingerprint images An algorithm is proposed, which combines global and local information of fingerprint images to detect singular points. It's mathematically proven that normal lines of gradient of double orientation field(GDOF) pass through singular points. Normal lines of GDOF use rather global information to detect candidate singular points. Fingerprint image is divided into blocks and normal lines of GDOF are drawn. The number of normal lines that pass through each block is accumulated. The block that has the maximum number corresponds to a candidate singular point. It can be seen as a kind of Hough transform(HT). As candidate singular points detected by global information may have a little warp from their real positions, it's necessary to use local information to refine their positions. Poincare index is chosen, and uses local information to refine the candidate singular points. This makes our algorithm more robust to noise than methods that only use local information. What's more, the pairs of the detected singular points are used to classify fingerprint. Experimental results show that our algorithm performs well and fast enough for real time application in databases NIST-4.

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

global information
local information
normal lines of gdof
poincare index
singular points


A robust high-resolution details preserving denoising algorithm for meshes Finely captured meshes often contain details like sharp edges, corners and shallow features. In order to improve the quality of these meshes, we present a robust and efficient high-resolution details-preserving mesh denoising algorithm. Our method consists of three stages. For each triangular face and its face neighborhood, we improve a robust density-based clustering method and apply it to the face neighborhood to extract a subset of neighbors which belong to the same cluster as the central face. And then, we filter the central face normal iteratively within this subset to remove noise. Because the faces within the extracted subset are not distributed across high-resolution details, our normal filtering can preserve such details as much as possible. Finally, we update the vertex positions to be consistent with the filtered face normals using a least-squares formulation. Experiments on various types of meshes indicate that our method has advantages over previous surface denoising 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 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 B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

mesh denoising
face neighborhood
normal filtering

high-resolution details
normal clustering


A combined multiple-candidate likelihood decoding and error concealment scheme for compressed video transmission over noisy channels This paper presents a joint forward error correction (FEC) and error concealment (EC) scheme to enhance the quality of a compressed video signal transmitted over a noisy channel. A multiple candidate likelihood (MCL) channel decoding strategy is used in conjunction with redundancy in the compressed video (syntax validity and spatial discontinuity) to select the best-detected signal. Simulation results on both objective and subjective performance measures indicate a significant improvement provided by the proposed scheme.

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

error concealment
likelihood decoding
compressed video

combined error correction and error concealment


Design and implementation of a t-way test data generation strategy with automated execution tool support To ensure an acceptable level of quality and reliability of a typical software product, it is desirable to test every possible combination of input data under various configurations. However, due to the combinatorial explosion problem, exhaustive testing is practically impossible. Resource constraints, cost factors, and strict time-to-market deadlines are some of the main factors that inhibit such a consideration. Earlier research has suggested that a sampling strategy (i.e., one that is based on a t-way parameter interaction) can be effective. As a result, many helpful t-way sampling strategies have been developed and can be found in the literature. Several advances have been achieved in the last 15years, which have, in particular, served to facilitate the test planning process by systematically minimizing the test size required (based on certain t-way parameter interactions). Despite this significant progress, the integration and automation of strategies (from planning process to execution) are still lacking. Additionally, strategizing to sample (and construct) a minimum test set from the exhaustive test space is an NP-complete problem; that is, it is often unlikely that an efficient strategy exists that could regularly generate an optimal test set. Motivated by these challenges, this paper discusses the design, implementation, and validation of an efficient strategy for t-way testing, the GTWay strategy. The main contribution of GTWay is the integration of t-way test data generation with automated (concurrent) execution as part of its tool implementation. Unlike most previous methods, GTWay addresses the generation of test data for a high coverage strength (t>6).

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

software testing
t-way testing
combinatorial testing


Towards Integration of Biological, Psychological and Social Aspects in Agent-Based Simulation of Violent Offenders In the analysis of criminal behavior, a combination of biological, psychological and social aspects may be taken into account. Dynamical modeling methods developed in recent years often address biological, psychological or social dynamical systems separately. This paper makes the first step in the development of an agent-based modeling approach for criminal behavior in which these aspects are integrated in one dynamical system. It is shown how within a certain (multi-agent) social context, biological factors, such as certain brain deviations, testosterone levels and serotonin levels, affect cognitive and emotional functioning in such a way that a crime is committed when the perceived opportunity is there. This paper presents one generic model for the behavior of violent offenders with parameters that can be set to obtain simulation traces for three known types of offenders.

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

agent-based simulation
criminology
integrative modeling


Resource sharing architecture for cooperative heterogeneous P2P overlays Resource requirements and availability in heterogeneous networks may frequently vary over their lifetime; thus producing equally variant overloaded and under-loaded situations. Typical architectures cannot cope with the frequent availability fluctuation of reusable, non-replicable and highly dynamic resources (such as network capacity). This paper proposes an unstructured P2P overlay for sharing resources between underutilized and overloaded networks. Its aim is to satisfy the excessive resource demands of some networks by using free resources from others given the high failure rate and unstable availability of these resources in wide networks. We describe and analyze the proposed Capacity Sharing Overlay Architecture and show, with extensive simulations, its ability to provide remote underutilized capacity to underlying networks, even in the presence of high node failure rates, helping the networks to handle more user queries.

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

peer-to-peer
heterogeneity
reactive systems


knowledge-based acquisition of tradeoff preferences for negotiating agents A wide range of algorithms have been developed for various types of automated negotiation. In developing such algorithms the main focus has been on their efficiency and their effectiveness. However, this is only part of the picture. Agents typically negotiate on behalf of their owners and for this to be effective the agent must be able to adequately represent the owners' preferences. However, the process by which such knowledge is acquired is typically left unspecified. To remove this shortcoming, we present a case study indicating how the knowledge for a particular negotiation algorithm can be acquired. More precisely, according to the analysis on the automated negotiation model, we identified that user trade-off preferences play a fundamental role in negotiation in general. This topic has been addressed little in the research area of user preference elicitation for general decision making problems as well. In a previous paper, we proposed an exhaustive method to acquire user trade-off preferences. In this paper, we developed another method to remove the limitation of the high user workload of the exhaustive method. Although we cannot say that it can exactly capture user trade-off preferences, it models the main commonalities of trade-off relations and reflects users' individualities as well.

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

negotiation
preference elicitation
tradeoff

e-commerce
decision making software agent


Modeling porous scaffold microstructure by a reaction-diffusion system and its degradation by hydrolysis One of the most important areas of Tissue Engineering is the research about bone regeneration and the replacement of its function. To meet this requirement, scaffolds have been developed to allow the cell migration, the growth of bone tissue, the transport of growth factors and nutrients and the renovation of the mechanical properties of bone. Scaffolds are made of different biomaterials and manufactured using various techniques that, in some cases, do not allow full control over the size and orientation of the pores that characterize the scaffold microstructure. From this perspective, we propose a novel hypothesis that a reaction-diffusion system can be used to design the geometrical specifications of the bone matrix. The validation of this hypothesis is performed by simulations of the reaction-diffusion system in a representative tridimensional unit cell, coupled with a model of scaffold degradation by hydrolysis. The results show the possibility that a Reaction-Diffusion system can control features such as the percentage of porosity, trabecular size, orientation, and interconnectivity of pores. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

bone materials
reaction-diffusion
finite elements


On the negative value of information in informationally inefficient markets: Calculations for large number of traders ? In informationally inefficient markets, classical decision theory assumes the value of information to be positive. Recent developments, however, contradict this paradigm. Schredelseker [Schredelseker, K., 2001. Is the usefulness approach useful? Some reflections on the utility of public information. In: McLeay, S., Riccaboni, A. (Eds.), Contemporary Issues in Accounting Regulation, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, pp. 135153] proposed a simulation model wherein a single security is traded among non-cooperating and asymetrically informed traders. One of the main results was the fact that badly informed traders could expect higher returns than traders with more information. But Schredelseker was able to give exact results for a small number of traders only. The aim of this paper is to give reliable results for a sufficiently large number of traders for both the expected gain and the probability of gain larger than zero. We are using combinatorial methods in order to get exact results for badly informed traders and simulation techniques for results of traders with higher level of information. The exact results are used (error between exact results and simulation results for the first traders) to determine the number of samples which have to be drawn with the simulation algorithm. As a result it was possible to verify the negative value of information on gain for a sufficient large number of traders. Furthermore a partition of expected gain is given. Traders with less information seem to be in advantage because of that part of information which is unknown to them.

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

value of information
inefficient markets

stochastic processes
asymmetric information
simple random walk


Quantifying the Evolutionary Self-Structuring of Embodied Cognitive Networks We outline a possible theoretical framework for the quantitative modeling of networked embodied cognitive systems. We note that: (1) information self-structuring through sensory-motor coordination does not deterministically occur in R-n vector space, a generic multivariable space, but in SE(3), the group structure of the possible motions of a body in space; (2) it happens in a stochastic open-ended environment. These observations may simplify, at the price of a certain abstraction, the modeling and the design of self-organization processes based on the maximization of some informational measures, such as mutual information. Furthermore, by providing closed form or computationally lighter algorithms, it may significantly reduce the computational burden of their implementation. We propose a modeling framework that aims to give new tools for the design of networks of new artificial self-organizing, embodied, and intelligent agents and for the reverse engineering of natural networks. At this point, it represents largely a theoretical conjecture, and must still to be experimentally verified whether this model will be useful in practice.

O O O O 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 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

self-organization
embodiment
stochasticity
lie groups
theoretical models


Geometry of Synthesis IV Compiling Affine Recursion into Static Hardware Abramsky's Geometry of Interaction interpretation (GoI) is a logical-directed way to reconcile the process and functional views of computation, and can lead to a dataflow-style semantics of programming languages that is both operational (i.e. effective) and denotational (i.e. inductive on the language syntax). The key idea of Ghica's Geometry of Synthesis (GoS) approach is that for certain programming languages (namely Reynolds's affine Syntactic Control of Interference-SCI) the GoI processes-like interpretation of the language can be given a finitary representation, for both internal state and tokens. A physical realisation of this representation becomes a semantics-directed compiler for SCI into hardware. In this paper we examine the issue of compiling affine recursive programs into hardware using the GoS method. We give syntax and compilation techniques for unfolding recursive computation in space or in time and we illustrate it with simple benchmark-style examples. We examine the performance of the benchmarks against conventional CPU-based execution models.

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


On the role of tests in test-driven development: a differentiated and partial replication Background: Test-Driven Development (TDD) is claimed to have positive effects on external code quality and programmers productivity. The main driver for these possible improvements is the tests enforced by the test-first nature of TDD as previously investigated in a controlled experiment (i.e. the original study). Aim: Our goal is to examine the nature of the relationship between tests and external code quality as well as programmers productivity in order to verify/ refute the results of the original study. Method: We conducted a differentiated and partial replication of the original setting and the related analyses, with a focus on the role of tests. Specifically, while the original study compared test-first vs. test-last, our replication employed the test-first treatment only. The replication involved 30 students, working in pairs or as individuals, in the context of a graduate course, and resulted in 16software artifacts developed. We performed linear regression to test the original studys hypotheses, and analyses of covariance to test the additional hypotheses imposed by the changes in the replication settings. Results: We found significant correlation (Spearman coefficient= 0.66, with p-value= 0.004) between the number of tests and productivity, and a positive regression coefficient (p-value= 0.011). We found no significant correlation (Spearman coefficient= 0.41 with p-value= 0.11) between the number of tests and external code quality (regression coefficient p-value= 0.0513). For both cases we observed no statistically significant interaction caused by the subject units being individuals or pairs. Further, our results are consistent with the original study although there were changes in the timing constraints for finishing the task and the enforced development processes. Conclusions: This replication study confirms the results of the original study concerning the relationship between the number of tests vs. external code quality and programmer productivity. Moreover, this replication allows us to identify additional context variables, for which the original results still hold; namely the subject unit, timing constraint and isolation of test-first process. Based on our findings, we recommend practitioners to implement as many tests as possible in order to achieve higher baselines for quality and productivity.

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

test-driven development
software quality
softwaretesting


Toxic Effects of Opioid and Stimulant Drugs on Undifferentiated PC12 Cells Cell death and reactive oxygen species production have been suggested to be involved in neurodegeneration induced by the drugs of abuse. In this study we analyze the toxicity of the following drugs of abuse

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

amphetamine cocaine dopamine heroin morphine


Evaluation of biometric system performance in the context of Common Criteria Guidelines to apply Common Criteria (CC) for evaluating security in biometrics. Description of biometric systems in the context of Common Criteria. Guidelines to check functional operation of biometric recognition mechanisms. Guidelines to test countermeasures for impersonation and disguise attacks. Proposals are fully compliant with CC, CEM and relevant ISO/IEC standards.

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

security evaluation
common criteria (cc)
common evaluation methodology (cem)
biometric performance testing
vulnerability


Fluid approximation of a controlled multiclass tandem network A two-station, four-class queueing network with dynamic scheduling of servers is analyzed. It is shown that the corresponding Markov decision problem converges under fluid scaling to a fluid optimal control model. The structure of the optimal policy for the fluid network, and of an asymptotically optimal policy for the queueing network are derived in an explicit form. They concur with the tandem mu-rule, if this policy gives priority to the same flow of customers in both stations. In general, they are monotone with a linear switching surface.

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

stochastic dynamic scheduling
markov decision chain
pontryagin maximum principle
tandem mu c-rule


A Modified Monkey Algorithm for Real-Parameter Optimization Swarm intelligence is an active research field that simulates the collective intelligence in swarms of insects or animals. Recently, several swarm-based search algorithms have been proposed. The monkey algorithm (MA) is one of the most recent swarm intelligence based algorithms which simulates the mountain climbing behavior of monkeys. In this article, an improved version of the monkey algorithm (IMA) is presented. In order to improve the algorithm performance, we modify climb and somersault processes which promote the exploration and exploitation abilities of the algorithm. The proposed IMA is applied on standard benchmark real-valued optimization problems. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is able to produce higher quality solutions with faster convergence than the original MA.

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

monkey algorithm
exploration
exploitation

heuristic algorithms
climb process
somersault process