Fabrication of ZnO nanorod-based hydrogen gas nanosensor We report a first work on nanofabrication of hydrogen nanosensor from single ZnO branched nanorods (tripod) using in-situ lift-out technique and performed in the chamber of focused ion beam (FIB) system. Self-assembled ZnO branched nanorod has been grown by a cost-effective and fast synthesis route using an aqueous solution method and rapid thermal processing. Their properties were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersion X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and micro-Raman spectroscopy. These analyses indicate high quality ZnO nanorods. Furthermore, our synthesis technique permits branched nanorods to be easily transferred to other substrates. This flexibility of substrate choice opens the possibility of using FIB system for handling. The main advantage of the proposed in-situ approach is a controllable lift-out procedure which permitted us to obtain a 90% success rate for building nanodevices. The fabricated nanosensor uses only single self-assembled ZnO branched nanorod (tripod) to gauge the 150ppm H2 in the air at room temperature. The hydrogen sensitivity is in the range of 0.62% depending on which two branches to use. The nanosensor has selectivity against other gases such as O2, CH4, CO and LPG, which shows sensitivity of <0.02%. The single ZnO branched nanorod sensor can operate at low power of <5?W.

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

nanofabrication
hydrogen
zno branched nanorod

nanoscale materials and structures
gas sensor


Measures of semantic similarity and relatedness in the biomedical domain Measures of semantic similarity between concepts are widely used in Natural Language Processing. In this article, we show how six existing domain-independent measures can be adapted to the biomedical domain. These measures were originally based on WordNet, an English lexical database of concepts and relations. In this research, we adapt these measures to the SNOMED-CT ontology of medical concepts. The measures include two path-based measures, and three measures that augment path-based measures with information content statistics from corpora. We also derive a context vector measure based on medical corpora that can be used as a measure of semantic relatedness. These six measures are evaluated against a newly created test bed of 30 medical concept pairs scored by three physicians and nine medical coders. We find that the medical coders and physicians differ in their ratings, and that the context vector measure correlates most closely with the physicians, while the path-based measures and one of the information content measures correlates most closely with the medical coders. We conclude that there is a role both for more flexible measures of relatedness based on information derived from corpora, as well as for measures that rely on existing ontological structures.

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

path based measures
context vectors
snomed-ct


Automated neuron model optimization techniques: a review The increase in complexity of computational neuron models makes the hand tuning of model parameters more difficult than ever. Fortunately, the parallel increase in computer power allows scientists to automate this tuning. Optimization algorithms need two essential components. The first one is a function that measures the difference between the output of the model with a given set of parameter and the data. This error function or fitness function makes the ranking of different parameter sets possible. The second component is a search algorithm that explores the parameter space to find the best parameter set in a minimal amount of time. In this review we distinguish three types of error functions: feature-based ones, point-by-point comparison of voltage traces and multi-objective functions. We then detail several popular search algorithms, including brute-force methods, simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, evolution strategies, differential evolution and particle-swarm optimization. Last, we shortly describe Neurofitter, a free software package that combines a phase-plane trajectory density fitness function with several search algorithms.

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

optimization
neuron
model
parameters
error function
fitness function


Information commitments: evaluative standards and information searching strategies in web-based learning environments Abstract Information commitments include both a set of evaluative standards that Web users utilize to assess the accuracy and usefulness of information in Web-based learning environments (implicit component), and the information searching strategies that Web users use on the Internet (explicit component). An Information Commitment Survey (ICS), consisting of aforementioned components, was developed. The participants of this study were 610 university students, coming from four universities in Taiwan, and their information commitments were surveyed. Through a series of structural equation modelling (SEM) analyses with Linear Structure RELationships (LISREL), this study confirmed the reliability and validity of ICS. More importantly, the causal relationships between the two components of ICS were also examined. The findings showed that learners' evaluative standards on Web materials (implicit component) had significant effects on their information searching strategies in Web-based learning environments (explicit component). For example, learners who utilized an advanced evaluative standard, such as using multiple sources to judge the accuracy of Web materials, were significantly more oriented toward using a sophisticated information searching strategy, such as carefully exploring and elaborating information in Web-based learning environments. In other words, learners' evaluative standards for Web materials should be viewed as important predictors for their searching strategies in Web-based learning environments.

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

evaluative standards
information commitments
information searching strategy

lisrel analysis
questionnaire
web-based learning


A sequential algorithm for recognition of a developing pattern with application in orthotic engineering This paper describes an algorithm for the recognition of the type of grip being formed by a subject wearing an intelligent orthotic glove. The signal is a growing multivariate sequence to be correctly classified as soon as the data permit, so the task may be called one of sequential classification or sequential discrimination. The algorithm uses a variant of the k k nearest neighbours principle with the dissimilarity measure being an exponentially weighted moving average of distances of the Mahalanobis type. The approach taken seems suitable for other problems of this kind.

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

exponential smoothing
grip recognition
intention recognition
k k nearest neighbours k k k k k
outliers
sequential classification
sequential discrimination
tetraplegia


a totally self-checking 1-out-of-3 code error indicator In this paper, an asynchronous TSC 1-out-of-3 (1/3) code error indicator is introduced that memorises erroneous 1/3 code inputs {000, 011, 101, 110, 111} with time duration greater than a discrimination time T. Such an error indicator is used to discriminate transient erroneous 1/3 code inputs from real ones as well as to detect not only faults that cause logical errors but also delay faults (short or long) that alter the circuit delay outside its specified limits (upper or lower bounds) without causing logical errors. To our knowledge, our error indicator is the first TSC 1/3 code error indicator proposed in the open literature.

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

1-out-of-3 code
circuits
totally self checking (tsc)


Optical multicast over wavelength-routed WDM networks: A survey With the rapid development of optical networking technology, it is now a realizable technique to support point-to-multipoint connections directly on the optical layer, giving rise to optical multicast. The topic of optical multicast has attracted much enthusiasm in recent years for the reason that it will not only make full use of the abundant bandwidth provided by optical fibers, but also take full advantage of multicast over the traditional point-to-point connection approach. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review of optical multicast over wavelength-routed WDM networks, covering the development of both data plane and control plane designs. In particular, we provide an up-to-date state-of-the-art review on the multicast routing and wavelength assignment problem. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most thorough and comprehensive review conducted so far on this topic in the literature.

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


Overconstrained mechanisms based on planar four-bar-mechanisms Particular four-bars have coupler quads homothetic throughout the motion. This property can be transferred to 3-space and defines a spatial mechanism. Any saturated chain of quads defines chains of interlinked spatial mechanisms. This construction delivers new overconstrained mechanisms. They generalize the well-known Fulleroid linkages.

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

overconstrained mechanisms
fulleroid linkages

special planar four-bar mechanism
homothetic coupler quadrangles


The Mediet Project Preliminary evidence from a case control study of healthy postmenopausal women living in Palermo, Sicily, is presented to investigate the potential impact of a traditional Mediterranean diet on the risk of developing breast cancer. Of the 230 women who fulfilled specific eligibility criteria, 115 were enrolled in the study based on serum testosterone values equal to or greater than the median population value (0.14 ?g/ml). Women were then individually randomized into a diet intervention (n= 58) and a control (n= 55) group. Women in the intervention group attended a weekly cooking course for 1 year, being trained by professional chefs in the correct use of the natural ingredients of the traditional Mediterranean diet, including whole cereals, legumes, seeds, fish, cruciferous vegetables, and many others. The intervention group was subsequently instructed to follow the learned diet at home, while the control group was only advised to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables, as recommended by WHO. The following measures were taken at the beginning, middle, and end of the study

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


AUTOMATIC PEDESTRIAN SEGMENTATION COMBINING SHAPE, PUZZLE AND APPEARANCE In this paper, we address the problem of automatically segmenting non-rigid pedestrians in still images. Since this task is well known difficult for any type of model or cue alone, a novel approach utilizing shape, puzzle and appearance cues is presented. The major contribution of this approach lies in the combination of multiple cues to refine pedestrian segmentation successively, which has two characterizations: (1) a shape guided puzzle integration scheme, which extracts pedestrians via assembling puzzles with constraint of a shape template; (2) a pedestrian refinement scheme, which is fulfilled by optimizing an automatically generated trimap that encodes both human silhouette and skeleton. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations on several public datasets verify the approach's effectiveness to various articulated bodies, human appearance and partial occlusion, and that this approach is able to segment pedestrians more accurately than methods based only on appearance or shape cue.

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

pedestrian segmentation
puzzle integration


Manager's attitude toward environment Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze corporate environmental awareness in an international cross-section and to explore whether attitudes towards environmental issues mirror the development of an economy. Thus, do more advanced societies represent more progressive attitudes? How significant are differences in perception between countries? Design/methodology/approach - The empirical research was conducted in three countries. In total, 200 managers in public and private corporations nationwide were selected in Australia and Ukraine. In Poland the population of managers was 250. The study instrument was a two-part survey. The first part concerned ecological awareness understood as a conglomerate of knowledge, values and attitudes. The second part of the survey concerned convictions and opinions pertaining to ecological issues. Responses were given in an interval response scale, on a 1-5 rating scale for a particular question. Findings - The research shows that in companies in some countries there are "gaps within awareness components", and hence between convictions, ecological values and a readiness to take action. Moreover, an awareness gap has been diagnosed between more and less developed countries. So, the studies conducted showed that the perception of a kind of environmental threats changes together with socio-economic development. Originality/value - Several analyses of attitudes towards various dimensions of the environment can be found in the literature. This paper focuses not on a general level of ecological awareness of the public but on managers' attitude towards environment. Issues concerning the ecological awareness of a selected group (population) are sporadically presented in the literature. Limited research to date has been undertaken with respect to managerial attitudes towards environmental issues. To the best of the author's knowledge there is no evidence which would enable a comparison of the level of awareness of Polish and Ukrainian managers and managers from other countries. The contribution of the paper to the literature is twofold: first, it complements the knowledge on managers' attitude towards environment in the studied countries. Second, it shows the relations between the level of socio-economic growth and the attitude.

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

corporate social responsibility
environmental management
austria


Heuristic procedures and mathematical models for cell loading and scheduling in a shoe manufacturing company This paper focuses on cell loading and scheduling issues in a shoe manufacturing company. It involves a three-phase solution methodology where first number of cells is determined, then cells arc loaded and finally detailed scheduling is performed. Three different family definitions ere used (subfamilies, families and superfamilies) during the cell loading process. Three cell loading heuristic procedures (H1, H2, and H3), a simple cell scheduling heuristic and two-level mathematical models are proposed and then compared with respect to makespen. An important observation is that better post-loading schedules did not lead to better post-scheduling results. As a result, the best schedule can only be known after both cell loading and cell scheduling functions are performed. The results showed that H1 led to the best post-scheduling makespan values and they were on the average within 3% of the optimal solution. The execution time for H1 was less than four seconds for the problems tested in the experimentation and this can be considered negligible for a manufacturing setting. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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

cell loading
cell scheduling
shoe manufacturing
mathematical models


Generalized topological derivative for the Navier equation and inverse scattering in the time domain In this work, the concept of generalized topological sensitivity, developed recently to deal with inverse elastodynamic scattering by penetrable obstacles in the frequency domain, is extended to permit non-invasive defect reconstruction and material characterization by means of transient elastic waves. This quantity, which signifies the first-order perturbation of a given cost functional due to nucleation of an infinitesimal elastic defect in the reference (defect-free) solid, is intended to be used as an obstacle indicator though an assembly of interior sampling points where it attains pronounced negative values. From an asymptotic analysis of the transient scattered field emanating from a defect with vanishing size in the reference elastic solid, the expression for topological sensitivity, explicit in terms of (i) the Greens function and (ii) the free (i.e. incident) field for the reference domain, is obtained by employing the so-called direct approach and a convolution-based boundary integral representation of the featured elastodynamic wavefields. For generality, the proposed formula is recast in terms of its adjoint-field counterpart that caters for general reference domains where the Greens function may not be available. Through numerical simulations, it is shown that the generalized topological sensitivity in the time domain provides an effective preliminary tool for the 3D reconstruction and material identification of discrete internal heterogeneities. The results also demonstrate that the defect illumination by transient elastic waveforms results in a higher quality of reconstruction relative to its time-harmonic (monotonal) counterpart.

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

inverse scattering
elastic waves
topological sensitivity
material identification

imaging
transmission problem
penetrable defects


Muscle-related differences in mechanomyography frequencyforce relationships are model dependent The purpose of this study was to examine the surface mechanomyographic mean power frequency (MMG MPF)force relationships with linear regression models applied to the absolute and log-transformed values for the first dorsal interosseous (FDI), vastus lateralis (VL) and rectus femoris (RF) muscles. Thirteen healthy males performed isometric ramp contractions of the leg extensors and index finger from 10 to 80% of their maximal voluntary contraction with MMG sensors positioned on the VL, RF, and FDI. Simple linear regression models were fit to the absolute and log-transformed MMG MPFforce relationships. Skinfold thickness measurements were taken at each sensor site. There were significant differences for the slopes from the log-transformed MMG MPFforce relationships between the FDI and the leg extensors (P<0.001) but not the absolute model (P=0.168). The Y-intercepts were greater for the FDI than the leg extensors for the absolute (P<0.001) and log-transformed models (P<0.001), which reflected similar muscle-related differences (P<0.001) for skinfold thickness. However, there were no significant correlations between Y-intercepts and skinfold thicknesses. Differences in the patterns of response between the FDI and leg extensors were only quantified with the log-transformed model.

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

log-transformed
motor unit activation strategies


Application of the Ramanujan Fourier transform for the analysis of secondary structure content in amino acid sequences Objective: A novel method is presented for the investigation of protein properties of sequences using Ramanuian Fourier Transform (RFT). Methods: The new methodology involves the preprocessing of protein sequence data by numerically encoding it and then applying the RFT. The RFT is based on projecting the obtained numerical series on a set of basis functions constituted by Ramanuian sums (RS). In RS components, periodicities of finite integer length, rather than frequency, (as in classical harmonic analysis) are considered. Results: The potential of the new approach is documented by a few examples in the analysis of hydrophobic profiles of proteins in two classes including abundance of alpha-helices (group A) or beta-strands (group B). Different patterns are provided as evidence. Conclusions: RFT can be used to characterize the structural properties of proteins and integrate complementary information provided by other signal processing transforms.

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

frequency analysis
secondary structures
ramanujan series


Computation of incompressible flows with immersed bodies by a simple ghost cell method The incompressible Navier-Stokes, equations are solved by an implicit pressure correction method on Cartesian meshes with local refinement. A simple and stable ghost cell method is developed to treat the boundary condition for the immersed bodies in the flow field. Multigrid methods are developed for both velocity and pressure correction to enhance the stability and convergence of the solution process. It is shown that the spatial accuracy of the method is second order in L(2) norm for both velocity and pressure. Various steady and unsteady flows over a 2D circular cylinder and a 3D sphere are computed to validate the present method. The capability of the present. method to treat a moving body is also demonstrated. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

immersed boundary
cartesian mesh
incompressible flow
multigrid method


bus-pin-aware bus-driven floorplanning As the number of buses increase substantially in multi-core SoC designs, the bus planning problem has become the dominant factor in determining the performance and power consumption of SoC designs. To cope with the bus planning problem, it is desirable to consider this issue in early floorplanning stage. Recently, bus-driven floorplanning problem has attracted much attention in the literature. However, current algorithms adopt an over-simplified formulation ignoring the position and orientation of the bus pins may deteriorate the chip performance. In this paper, we propose the bus-driven floorplanning algorithm that fully considers the impacts of bus pins. By fully utilizing the position and orientation of bus pins, bus bendings are not restricted to occur at the modules on the bus that have more flexibilities in bus routing. With more flexibilities in the shapes of buses, the size of the solution space is increased and a better bus-driven floorplanning solution can be obtained. Compared with the state-of-the-art bus-driven floorplanner [5], the experimental results show that our algorithm performs better in runtime by 3.5x, success rate by 1.2x, wirelength by 1.8x, and reduced the deadspace by 1.2x.

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


An HVS-Directed neural-network-based image resolution enhancement scheme for image resizing In this paper, a novel human visual system (HVS)directed neural-network-based adaptive interpolation scheme for natural image is proposed. A fuzzy decision system built from the characteristics of the HVS is proposed to classify pixels of the input image into human perception nonsensitive class and sensitive class. Bilinear interpolation is used to interpolate the nonsensitive regions and a neural network is proposed to interpolate the sensitive regions along edge directions. High-resolution digital images along with supervised learning algorithms are used to automatically train the proposed neural network. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed new resolution enhancement algorithm can produce a higher visual quality for the interpolated image than the conventional interpolation methods.

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

fuzzy decision system
human visual system
neural network
resolution enhancement


enabling nutrition-aware cooking in a smart kitchen We present a smart kitchen that can enhance the traditional meal preparation and cooking process by raising awareness of the nutrition facts in food ingredients that go into a meal. The goal is to promote healthy cooking. Our smart kitchen is augmented with sensors to detect cooking activities and provides digital feedbacks to users about nutritional information on the used food ingredients. We have created a preliminary prototype for evaluation, and the result is promising.

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 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

interaction design
smart environments
context-aware computing
ubiquitous computing
home computing


Behavioral EMI models of complex digital VLSI circuits Increasing EMI potential of high-performance digital circuits like 32bit microcontrollers demand for switching current models and feasible ways to run netlist-based EMI simulations. A promising modeling approach for digital VLSI circuits is presented and a silicon test vehicle for correlation between models and measurements is described.

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

emc
ic emission models
bsim
behavioral models


Structural and functional characterization of AtPTR3, a stress-induced peptide transporter of Arabidopsis A T-DNA tagged mutant line of Arabidopsis thaliana, produced with a promoter trap vector carrying a promoterless gus (uidA) as a reporter gene, showed GUS induction in response to mechanical wounding. Cloning of the chromosomal DNA flanking the T-DNA revealed that the insert had caused a knockout mutation in a PTR-type peptide transporter gene named At5g46050 in GenBank, here renamed AtPTR3. The gene and the deduced protein were characterized by molecular modelling and bioinformatics. Molecular modelling of the protein with fold recognition identified 12 transmembrane spanning regions and a large loop between the sixth and seventh helices. The structure of AtPTR3 resembled the other PTR-type transporters of plants and transporters in the major facilitator superfamily. Computer analysis of the AtPTR3 promoter suggested its expression in roots, leaves and seeds, complex hormonal regulation and induction by abiotic and biotic stresses. The computer-based hypotheses were tested experimentally by exposing the mutant plants to amino acids and several stress treatments. The AtPTR3 gene was induced by the amino acids histidine, leucine and phenylalanine in cotyledons and lower leaves, whereas a strong induction was obtained in the whole plant upon exposure to salt. Furthermore, the germination frequency of the mutant line was reduced on salt-containing media, suggesting that the AtPTR3 protein is involved in stress tolerance in seeds during germination.

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

fold recognition
peptide transporter
wounding
arabidopsis


Sets of desirable gambles: Conditioning, representation, and precise probabilities The theory of sets of desirable gambles is a very general model which covers most of the existing theories for imprecise probability as special cases; it has a clear and simple axiomatic justification; and mathematical definitions are natural and intuitive. However, much work remains to be done until the theory of desirable gambles can be considered as generally applicable to reasoning tasks as other approaches to imprecise probability are. This paper gives an overview of some of the fundamental concepts for reasoning with uncertainty expressed in terms of desirable gambles in the finite case, provides a characterization of regular extension, and studies the nature of maximally coherent sets of desirable gambles, which correspond to finite sequences of probability distributions, each one of them defined on the set where the previous one assigns probability zero. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

zero probabilities
sets of probability measures


Google Generation II: web behaviour experiments with the BBC Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to report on continuing research undertaken on the way the Google Generation behave on the internet and to compare this with an earlier highly publicised study by the paper's authors. Design/methodology/approach - This research use a televised practical experiment and a remote web global test incorporating search, working memory and multi-tasking experiments. Findings - The Google Generation appears to behave very differently from older generations. By their own admission they are less confident about their searching prowess and this is also demonstrated by the fact that they viewed fewer pages, visited fewer domains and undertook fewer searches. Also, tellingly, their search statements were much more the product of cut and paste. The Google Generation also have poorer working memories and are less competent at multi-tasking, both of which may have implications for researching in an online environment. Originality/value - The paper introduces of multi-tasking and cognitive measurement in evaluating and describing information-seeking behaviour; comparing the web behaviour of young and old; the first time this has been shown on public television.

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

search engines
worldwide web
age groups
information media
group behaviour


extracting key frames from consumer videos using bi-layer group sparsity Compared to well-edited videos with predefined structures (e.g., news or sports videos), extracting key frames from unconstrained consumer videos remains a much more challenging problem due to their extremely diverse contents (no pre-imposed structure) and uncontrolled video quality (e.g., due to poor lighting or camera shake). In order to exploit spatio-temporal correlation present in the video for key frame extraction, we propose a bi-layer group sparse representation in which the input video frames are first segmented into homogeneous patches and group sparsity is imposed at two levels simultaneously: (i) patch-to-frame, and (ii) frame-to-sequence. The grouped sparse coefficients are further combined with frame quality scores to generate key frames. Extensive experiments are performed on videos from actual end users. Results obtained by the proposed approach compare favorably with existing methods to confirm its effectiveness.

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


Advanced Glycation End Products/Peptides: An in Vivo Investigation Abstract: Advanced glycation end products/peptides (AGE/peptides) originate by in vivo enzymatic digestion of nonenzymatically glycated proteins, which are produced by reaction of glucose with primary amino groups present in the protein chain following the Maillard pattern. AGE/peptides are highly reactive species and can interact with tissue and circulating proteins, leading to tissue modification and impaired protein functionality. Serum levels of AGE/peptides are reported to be particularly high in diabetes (in terms of higher production) or in end-stage renal disease (in terms of accumulation). For these reasons, their structural identification is of high interest, giving information on their relationship with the pathological state and allowing the design of possible therapeutic interventions. We report here some preliminary results obtained by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (LC/ESI/MS) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization MS (MALDI-MS) investigations carried out on the low-molecular-weight serum peptide fraction from 10 healthy subjects, 10 patients with poorly controlled diabetes, and 10 patients with end-stage nephropathy.

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

age/peptides
lc/esi/ms
maldi/ms
end-stage renal disease
chronic complications


Applying an update method to a set of receivers In the context of object databases, we study the application of an update method to a collection of receivers rather than to a single one. The obvious strategy of applying the update to the receivers one after the other, in some arbitrary order, brings up the problem of order independence. On a very general level, we investigate how update behavior can be analyzed in terms of certain schema annotations, called colorings. We are able to characterize those colorings that always describe order-independent updates. We also consider a more specific model of update methods implemented in the relational algebra. Order-independence of such algebraic methods is undecidable in general, but decidable if the expressions used are positive. Finally, we consider an alternative parallel strategy for set-oriented application of algebraic update methods and compare and relate it to the sequential strategy.

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

algorithms
languages
theory
verification
database update
parallel update
schema coloring


an attribute-based access matrix model In traditional access control models like MAC, DAC, and RBAC, authorization decisions are determined according to identities of subjects and objects, which are authenticated by a system completely. Modern access control practices, such as DRM, trust management, and usage control, require flexible authorization policies. In such systems, a subject may be only partially authenticated according to one or more attributes. In this paper we propose an attribute-based access matrix model, named ABAM, which extends the access matrix model. We show that ABAM enhances the expressive power of the access matrix model by supporting attribute-based authorizations. Specifically, ABAM is comprehensive enough to encompass traditional access control models as well as some usage control concepts and specifications. On the other side, expressive power and safety are two fundamental but conflictive objectives in an access control model. We study the safety property of ABAM and conclude that the safety problem is decidable for a restricted case where attribute relationships allow no cycles. The restricted case is shown to be reasonable enough to model practical systems.

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


examining the redundancy of multimodal input Speech and gesture modalities can allow users to interact with complex applications in novel ways. Often users will adapt their multimodal behaviour to cope with increasing levels of domain complexity. These strategies can change how multimodal constructions are planned and executed by users. In the frame of Baddeley's Theory of Working Memory, we present some of the results from an empirical study conducted with users of a multimodal interface, under varying levels of cognitive load. In particular, we examine how multimodal behavioural features are sensitive to cognitive load variations. We report significant decreases in multimodal redundancy (33.6\%) and trends of increased multimodal complementarity, as cognitive load increases.

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 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 O O B I O

speech
cognitive load
gesture
multimodal interface


Efficiently implementable algebra for distributed in-network spatial analysis Existing sensor network query processors (SNQPs) have demonstrated that in-network processing is an effective and efficient means of interacting with wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for data collection tasks. Inspired by these findings, this article investigates the question as to whether spatial analysis over WSNs can be built upon established distributed query processing techniques, but, here, emphasis is on the spatial aspects of sensed data, which are not adequately addressed in the existing SNQPs. By spatial analysis, we mean the ability to detect topological relationships between spatially referenced entities (e.g. whether mist intersects a vineyard or is disjoint from it) and to derive representations grounded on such relationships (e.g. the geometrical extent of that part of a vineyard that is covered by mist). To support the efficient representation, querying and manipulation of spatial data, we use an algebraic approach. We revisit a previously proposed centralized spatial algebra comprising a set of spatial data types and a comprehensive collection of operations. We have redefined and re-conceptualized the algebra for distributed evaluation and shown that it can be efficiently implemented for in-network execution. This article provides rigorous, formal definitions of the spatial data types, points, lines and regions, together with spatial-valued and topological operations over them. The article shows how the algebra can be used to characterize complex and expressive topological relationships between spatial entities and spatial phenomena that, due to their dynamic, evolving nature, cannot be represented a priori.

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

wireless sensor networks
spatial algebra

in-network processing
distributed spatial analysis


knowledge base maintenance using knowledge gap analysis As the web and e-business have proliferated, the practice of using customer facing knowledge bases to augment customer service and support operations has increased. This can be a very efficient, scalable and cost effective way to share knowledge. The effectiveness and cost savings are proportional to the utility of the information within the knowledge base and inversely proportional to the amount of labor required in maintaining the knowledge. To address this issue, we have developed an algorithm and methodology to increase the utility of the information within a knowledge base while greatly reducing the labor required.In this paper, we describe an implementation of an algorithm and methodology for comparing a knowledge base to a set of problem tickets to determine which categories and subcategories are not well addressed within the knowledge base. We utilize text clustering on problem ticket text to determine a set of problem categories. We then compare each knowledge base solution document to each problem category centroid using a cosine distance metric. The distance between the "closest" solution document and the corresponding centroid becomes the basis of that problem category's "knowledge gap". Our claim is that this gap metric serves as a useful method for quickly and automatically determining which problem categories have no relevant solutions in a knowledge base. We have implemented our approach, and we present the results of performing a knowledge gap analysis on a set of support center problem tickets.

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


Pile foundation design using microsoft excel This article presents a program called Pile-D developed for the teaching of pile foundation design to undergraduate level geotechnical engineering students. The program performs drained and undrained analysis for frictional resistance of the pile in clay, and uses critical depth approach for the analysis of the pile in sand. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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

pile foundation
geotechnical engineering
clay
sand


Improving the Efficiency in Halftone Image Generation Based on Structure Similarity Index Measurement This paper presents two halftoning methods to improve efficiency in generating structurally similar halftone images using Structure Similarity Index Measurement (SSIM). Proposed Method I reduces the pixel evaluation area by applying pixel-swapping algorithm within inter-correlated blocks followed by phase block-shifting. The effect of various initial pixel arrangements is also investigated. Proposed Method II further improves efficiency by applying bit-climbing algorithm within inter-correlated blocks of the image. Simulation results show that proposed Method I improves efficiency as well as image quality by using an appropriate initial pixel arrangement. Proposed Method II reaches a better image quality with fewer evaluations than pixel-swapping algorithm used in Method I and the conventional structure aware halftone 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 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

structure aware halftoning
pixel-swapping
objective function
phase block-shifting
bit-climbing algorithm


Virtual reality simulations and animations in a web-based interactive manufacturing engineering module This paper presents a web-based interactive teaching package that provides a comprehensive and conducive yet dynamic and interactive environment for a module on automated machine tools in the Manufacturing Division at the National University of Singapore. The use of Internet technologies in this teaching tool makes it possible to conjure visualisations that cannot be achieved using traditional teaching materials such as transparencies. Virtual reality simulations and animations were developed and appropriately placed in the teaching materials to enhance the student understanding of complex concepts. This is especially useful in teaching automated machine tools, which deals primarily with the numerical control (NC) of the motions of automated machine tools. These virtual reality simulations and animations provide the capability of training students in NC programming and operations without the need to work on actual NC machines in the laboratory. The simulations are suitably placed in the package to engage the students and enhance their concentration, while at the same time generate interactions. Customised question types were also designed and implemented with a tutorial monitoring application. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

interactive learning environments
multimedia/hypermedia systems


ZIP60: Further Explorations in the Evolutionary Design of Trader Agents and Online Auction-Market Mechanisms The zero-intelligence plus (ZIP) adaptive automated trading algorithm has been demonstrated to outperform human traders in experimental studies of continuous double auction (CDA) markets populated by mixtures of human and "software robot" traders. Previous papers have shown that values of the eight parameters governing behavior of ZIP traders can be automatically optimized using a genetic algorithm (GA), and that markets populated by GA-optimized traders perform better than those populated by ZIP traders with manually set parameter values. This paper introduces a more sophisticated version of the ZIP algorithm, called "ZIP60," which requires the values of 60 parameters to be set correctly. ZIP60 is shown here to produce significantly better results in comparison to the original ZIP algorithm (called "ZIP8" hereafter) when a GA is used to search the 60-dimensional parameter space. It is also demonstrated here that this works best when the GA itself has control over the dimensionality of the search-space, allowing evolution to guide the expansion of the search-space tip from 8 parameters to 60 via intermediate steps. Principal component analysis of the best evolved ZIP60 parameter-sets establishes that no ZIP8 solutions are embedded in the 60-dimensional space. Moreover, some of the results and analysis presented here cast doubt on previously published ZIP8 results concerning the evolution of new "hybrid" auction mechanisms that appeared to be improvements on the CDA: it now seems likely that those results were actually consequences of the relative lack of sophistication in the original ZIP8 algorithm, because "hybrid" mechanisms occur much less frequently when ZIP60s are used.

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

algorithmic trading
automated market mechanism design
adaptive trader-agents
genetic algorithms (gas)


Fraud detection using self-organizing map visualizing the user profiles We propose a fraud detection method based on the user accounts visualization and threshold-type detection. The visualization technique employed in our approach is the Self-Organizing Map (SOM). Since the SOM technique in its original form visualizes only the vectors, and the user accounts are represented in our work as the matrices storing a collection of records reflecting the user sequential activities, we propose a method of the matrices visualization on the SOM grid, which constitutes the main contribution of this paper. Furthermore, we propose a method of the detection threshold setting on the basis of the SOM U-matrix. The results of the conducted experimental study on real data in three different research fields confirm the advantages and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

B I O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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-organizing map
threshold classification
classification threshold setting
data visualization


Knowledge for network support Computer network support is a growing area of IT activities within most organisations. Even small businesses are typically moving towards computer networks rather than separate stand-alone PCs. However, the skills and knowledge required for effective computer network support are still largely uncertain. In this paper the results of a research exercise investigating the skills and knowledge required for computer network support, based on case studies in 25 organisations are reported.

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


Front tracking with moving-least-squares surfaces The representation of interfaces by means of the algebraic moving-least-squares (AMLS) technique is addressed. This technique, in which the interface is represented by an unconnected set of points, is interesting for evolving fluid interfaces since there is no surface connectivity. The position of the surface points can thus be updated without concerns about the quality of any surface triangulation. We introduce a novel AMLS technique especially designed for evolving-interfaces applications that we denote RAMLS (for Robust AMLS). The main advantages with respect to previous AMLS techniques are: increased robustness, computational efficiency, and being free of user-tuned parameters. Further, we propose a new front-tracking method based on the Lagrangian advection of the unconnected point set that defines the RAMLS surface. We assume that a background Eulerian grid is defined with some grid spacing h h . The advection of the point set makes the surface evolve in time. The point cloud can be regenerated at any time (in particular, we regenerate it each time step) by intersecting the gridlines with the evolved surface, which guarantees that the density of points on the surface is always well balanced. The intersection algorithm is essentially a ray-tracing algorithm, well-studied in computer graphics, in which a line (ray) is traced so as to detect all intersections with a surface. Also, the tracing of each gridline is independent and can thus be performed in parallel. Several tests are reported assessing first the accuracy of the proposed RAMLS technique, and then of the front-tracking method based on it. Comparison with previous Eulerian, Lagrangian and hybrid techniques encourage further development of the proposed method for fluid mechanics applications.

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

moving interface
free surface
lagrangian method
clouds of points
moving least squares


Two and three dimensional analysis of a slope failure in a lignite mine With about 9.3 billion tons of reserve, lignite is a major source for energy production in Turkey. The Af?inElbistan lignite basin, containing 47% of the overall lignite reserve in Turkey, lies in the Af?in and Elbistan districts as a part of Kahramanmara?. The new llolar opencast mine is in the AfsinElbistan lignite basin, and this mine will be the second mining activity in the basin after the active K??laky opencast mine. The new mine will meet the coal consumption of the Elbistan B power plant. Input parameters for slope stability analysis are essential, and so they must be determined accurately and precisely. Field investigations, laboratory testing and back analyses are vital instruments for the input parameters. This study presents the results of slope stability analysis via finite difference code and a limit equilibrium software for the soil slopes of the Elbistanllolar lignite mine. The basic input parameters, cohesion and friction angle, were determined in the soil mechanics laboratory. By back analyses of a large scale slope failure, mobilized friction angles for a critical weak clay layer under the lignite seam were determined accurately by using the 2D limit equilibrium method and 3D finite difference models. Results of the friction angles were compared in order to check the effectiveness of commonly used 2D approaches in handling the slope problems. Differences in the results of the mobilized friction angles for the weak clay layer were more than 30%. The 3D models indicated that the mobilized friction angle during the major slope failure was substantially lower than the friction angle generated by the 2D limit equilibrium method.

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


Generalizing Database Forensics In this article we present refinements on previously proposed approaches to forensic analysis of database tampering. We significantly generalize the basic structure of these algorithms to admit new characterizations of the "where" axis of the corruption diagram. Specifically, we introduce page-based partitioning as well as attribute-based partitioning along with their associated corruption diagrams. We compare the structure of all the forensic analysis algorithms and discuss the various design choices available with respect to forensic analysis. We characterize the forensic cost of the newly introduced algorithms, compare their forensic cost, and give our recommendations. We then introduce a comprehensive taxonomy of the types of possible corruption events, along with an associated forensic analysis protocol that consolidates all extant forensic algorithms and the corresponding type(s) of corruption events they detect. The result is a generalization of these algorithms and an overarching characterization of the process of database forensic analysis, thus providing a context within the overall operation of a DBMS for all existing forensic analysis algorithms.

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

algorithms
forensic cost
forensic analysis protocol

performance
security
compliant records
forensic analysis algorithm
monochromatic algorithm
a3d algorithm
page-based partitioning
attribute-based partitioning
corruption event taxonomy


a method for analyzing software product line ecosystems The ecosystem for a software product line includes all of the entities with which the software product line organization interacts. Information, artifacts, customers, money and products move among these entities as a part of the planning, development, and deployment processes. In this paper we present an analysis technique that uses the economic notion of a transaction to examine the transfers between the entities. The result of the analysis is data that is used to evaluate and structure the organization. We illustrate with an example.

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


Hereditary Disorders of Fibrinogen Fibrinogen, a 340-kDa plasma protein, is composed of two identical molecular halves each consisting of three non-identical A?-, B?- and ?-chain subunits held together by multiple disulfide bonds. Fibrinogen is shown to have a trinodular structure; that is, one central nodule, the E domain, and two identical outer nodules, the D-domains, linked by two coiled-coil regions. After activation with thrombin, a pair of binding sites comprising Gly-Pro-Arg is exposed in the central nodule and combines with its complementary binding site a in the outer nodule of another molecules. By using crystallographic analysis, the ?-amino group of ?Gly-1 is shown to be juxtaposed between ?Asp-364 and ?Asp-330, and the guanidino group of ?Arg-3 between the carboxyl group of ?Asp-364 and ?Gln-329 in the a site. Half molecule-staggered, double-stranded protofibrils are thus formed. Upon abutment of two adjacent D domains on the same strand, D-D self association takes place involving Arg-275, Tyr-280, and Ser-300 of the ?-chain on the surface of the abutting two D domains. Thereafter, carboxyl-terminal regions of the ?-chains are untethered and interact with those of other protofibrils leading to the formation of thick fibrin bundles and networks. Although many enigmas still remain concerning the exact mechanisms of these molecular interactions, fibrin assembly proceeds in a highly ordered fashion. In this review, these molecular interactions of fibrinogen and fibrin are discussed on the basis of the data provided by hereditary dysfibrinogens on introducing representative molecules at each step of fibrin clot formation.

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

hereditary dysfibrinogen
fibrin polymerization
functional abnormality
ultrastructure of fibrin clot


Color plane interpolation using alternating projections Most commercial digital cameras use color filter arrays to sample red, green, and blue colors according to a specific pattern. At the location of each pixel only one color sample is taken, and the values of the other colors must be interpolated using neighboring samples. This color plane interpolation is known as demosaicing; it is one of the important tasks in a digital camera pipeline. If demosaicing is not performed appropriately, images suffer from highly visible color artifacts. In this paper we present a new demosaicing technique that uses inter-channel correlation effectively in an alternating-projections scheme. We have compared this technique with six state-of-the-art demosaicing techniques, and it outperforms all of them, both visually and in terms of mean square error.

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


State constrained control of impulsive quadratic systems in integrated pest management In this paper, an approach based on the concept of finite-time stability is applied to the problem of designing optimal control strategies for an integrated pest management model with disease in the pest, which is subject to time-dependent impulsive control. The goal is to design a resetting law such that, given a set of admissible initial conditions, the state trajectories of the resulting impulsive quadratic system remain in a bounded region of the state space which is prescribed on the basis of some constraints on ecological balance and resource saving. The determination of an optimal resetting period, which is related to the release period of chemical pesticides, is reduced to the solution of a feasibility problem with linear matrix inequalities constraints.

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

impulsive dynamical systems
finite-time stability
predatorpest model
lmis


A multiphase level set framework for image segmentation using the Mumford and Shah model We propose a new multiphase level set framework for image segmentation using the Mumford and Shah model, for piecewise constant and piecewise smooth optimal approximations. The proposed method is also a generalization of an active contour model without edges based 2-phase segmentation, developed by the authors earlier in T. Chan and L. Vese (1999. In Scale-Space'99, M. Nilsen et al. (Eds.), LNCS, vol. 1682, pp. 141-151) and T. Chan and L. Vese (2001. IEEE-IP, 10(2):266-277). The multiphase level set formulation is new and of interest on its own: by construction, it automatically avoids the problems of vacuum and overlap; it needs only log n level set functions for n phases in the piecewise constant case; it can represent boundaries with complex topologies, including triple junctions; in the piecewise smooth case, only two level set functions formally suffice to represent any partition, based on The Four-Color Theorem. Finally, we validate the proposed models by numerical results for signal and image denoising and segmentation, implemented using the Osher and Sethian level set method.

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

energy minimization
multi-phase motion
level sets
curvature
pde's
edge detection
active contours


Privacy-preserving back-propagation and extreme learning machine algorithms Neural network systems are highly capable of deriving knowledge from complex data, and they are used to extract patterns and trends which are otherwise hidden in many applications. Preserving the privacy of sensitive data and individuals' information is a major challenge in many of these applications. One of the most popular algorithms in neural network learning systems is the back-propagation (BP) algorithm, which is designed for single-layer and multi-layer models and can be applied to continuous data and differentiable activation functions. Another recently introduced learning technique is the extreme learning machine (ELM) algorithm. Although it works only on single-layer models, ELM can out-perform the BP algorithm by reducing the communication required between parties in the learning phase. In this paper, we present new privacy-preserving protocols for both the BP and ELM algorithms when data is horizontally and vertically partitioned among several parties. These new protocols, which preserve the privacy of both the input data and the constructed learning model, can be applied to online incoming records and/or batch learning. Furthermore, the final model is securely shared among all parties, who can use it jointly to predict the corresponding output for their target data.

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

privacy preserving data mining
neural networks
machine learning
back-propagation
distributed data structures


A coalitional game approach for fractional cooperative caching in content-oriented networks In content-oriented networks, popular contents are replicated at the intermediate nodes to enhance content delivery performance. Under cooperative caching, the caching nodes collaborate to leverage one anothers cache capability and to reduce the amount of traffic transferring inside the network. This study considers the cooperation among service providers (SPs). The transferable-payoff coalitional game model is applied for analysis. We investigate the stability of the grand coalition and show that the dual-based cost allocation is in the core. A linear program (LP) minimizing the network bandwidth-expense is used for the characteristic function of the game model. However, solving the LP is a challenge because of a large amount of contents in the network. The DantzigWolfe decomposition approach is further applied to decompose the large-scale problem into many subproblems, which can be solved in parallel. The analysis provides not only a deeper insight into the cooperative cache among SPs but also content placement and distribution strategies as a solution to the LP.

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


Option valuation model with adaptive fuzzy numbers In this paper, we consider moment properties for a class of quadratic adaptive fuzzy numbers defined in Dubois and Prade [D. Dubois, H. Prade, Fuzzy Sets and Systems: Theory and Applications, Academic Press, New York, 1980]. The corresponding moments of Trapezoidal Fuzzy Numbers (Tr.F.Ns) and Triangular Fuzzy Numbers (T.F.Ns) turn out to be special cases of the adaptive fuzzy number [S. Bodjanova, Median value and median interval of a fuzzy number, Information Sciences 172 (2005) 7389]. A numerical example is presented based on the BlackScholes option pricing formula with quadratic adaptive fuzzy numbers for the characteristics such as volatility parameter, interest rate and stock price. Our approach hinges on a characterization of imprecision by means of fuzzy set theory.

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

adaptive fuzzy number
blackscholes option pricing formula

possibilistic mean
possibilistic variance
fuzzy volatility


Analysis of approaches to structured data on the web We present approaches for publishing machine readable data online. Presented approaches are: Microformats, Microdata, RDFa and Linked Data. The major contribution of the paper is a direct comparison of approaches. The comparison is for readers that are deciding which approach they should use.

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 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

structured data online
semantic web
resource description framework
query languages


Attitude toward Death: Does It Influence Dental Fear? The possible influence of fear of death and attitude toward death were studied related to dental anxiety in Hungarian elementary and secondary school subjects (n= 277; 114 males, 163 females; age between 8 and 18 years). Dental fear and anxiety scores were DA

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

dental fear
attitude toward death
fear of death


Topological model of membrane domain of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator1 The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator is a cAMP-regulated chloride channel. We used molecular modelling to predict 3-D models for the CFTR membrane domain. Hydropathy and residue conservation in all CFTRs as well as in other proteins suggested that the membrane domain is a 12-helix bundle. If the domain is enclosing a channel for chloride, it could be made of five helices. We propose two structural models in which both lumenal and cytoplasmic entrances to the chloride pore have a ring of positively charged residues. The inner surface of the channel is covered with neutral polar plus one or two charged residues. Helices that are not directly involved in the chloride channel could organise to form a second channel; a dimeric symmetrical structure is proposed. Analysis raised interest for helix 5: this hydrophobic fragment is conserved in all CFTRs and aligns with segments present in several different ion channels and transporters. The existence of an FFXXFFXXF motif is proposed. Helix 5 could be an important domain of CFTRs. The models agree with available data from pathological mutations but does not account for the membrane insertion of a hydrophilic fragment of NBD1.

O O 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

channel protein
homology
sequence alignment


Noise-tolerant speech recognition: the SNN-TA approach Neural network learning theory draws a relationship between learning with noise and applying a regularization term in the cost function that is minimized during the training process on clean (non-noisy) data. Application of regularizers and other robust training techniques are aimed at improving the generalization capabilities of connectionist models, reducing overfitting. In spite of that, the generalization problem is usually overlooked by automatic speech recognition (ASR) practioners who use hidden Markov models (HMM) or other standard ASR paradigms. Nonetheless, it is reasonable to expect that an adequate neural network model (due to its universal approximation property and generalization capability) along with a suitable regularizer can exhibit good recognition performance whenever noise is added to the test data, although training is accomplished on clean data. This paper presents applications of a variant of the so called segmental neural network (SNN), introduced at BBN by Zavaliagkos et al. for rescoring the N-best hypothesis yielded by a standard continuous density HMM (CDHMM). An enhanced connectionist model, called SNN with trainable amplitude of activation functions (SNN-TA) is first used in this paper instead of the CDHMM to perform the recognition of isolated words. Viterbi-based segmentation is then introduced, relying on the level-building algorithm, that can be combined with the SNN-TA to obtain a hybrid framework for continuous speech recognition. The proposed paradigm is applied to the recognition of isolated and connected Italian digits under several noisy conditions, outperforming the CDHMMs.

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

snn with trainable amplitude
speech recognition


A comparison of real-time object-oriented modeling methods ROOM and OCTOPUS ROOM and OCTOPUS ave two real-time object-oriented modeling methods used commonly. The paper analyses and compares ROOM and OCTOPUS based on details where philosophies of both methods are in sharper contrast, such as model representation, class and object and inheritance, concurrency, and state charts.

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

formal method
informal method
semiformal method
modeling languages
modeling methodology
object-orientation
object-oriented modeling method
real-time systems


Exploiting tag similarities to discover synonyms and homonyms in folksonomies Tag-based systems are widely available, thanks to their intrinsic advantages, such as self-organization, currency, and ease of use. Although they represent a precious source of semantic metadata, their utility is still limited. The inherent lexical ambiguities of tags strongly affect the extraction of structured knowledge and the quality of tag-based recommendation systems. In this paper, we propose a methodology for the analysis of tag-based systems, addressing tag synonymy and homonymy at the same time in a holistic approach: in more detail, we exploit a tripartite graph to reduce the problem of synonyms and homonyms; we apply a customized version of Tag Context Similarity to detect them, overcoming the limitations of current similarity metrics; finally, we propose the application of an overlapping clustering algorithm to detect contexts and homonymies, then evaluate its performances, and introduce a methodology for the interpretation of its results. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

tag clustering
tag disambiguation
tag similarity


Classification of gear faults using cumulants and the radial basis function network Every tooth in a gearbox is alternately meshing and detaching during its operation. Hence, the loading condition of the tooth is alternately changing. Such a condition will make the tooth easily subject to spalling and worn. Moreover, Gaussian type of noise which is always embedded in the measurements makes the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the collected data low and difficult to extract in fault-related features. This paper aims to propose an approach for gear fault classification by using cumulants and the radial basis function (BRF) network. The use of cumulants can minimize Gaussian noise and increase the SNR. The RBF network has proven to be superior to back-propagation networks. The RBF network provides better functions to approximate non-linear inputs and faster in convergence. In this paper, experiments have been conducted on a real gearbox. The cumulants calculated from the vibration signal collected from the inspected gearbox are used as input features. The RBF network is then used as a classifier for various kinds of operating conditions of the gearbox. Results show that the method of classification by combining cumulants and the RBF network is promising and achieved better accuracy.

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

artificial neural networks
fault diagnosis
high-order statistical analysis


Soft computing in engineering design A review The present paper surveys the application of soft computing (SC) techniques in engineering design. Within this context, fuzzy logic (FL), genetic algorithms (GA) and artificial neural networks (ANN), as well as their fusion are reviewed in order to examine the capability of soft computing methods and techniques to effectively address various hard-to-solve design tasks and issues. Both these tasks and issues are studied in the first part of the paper accompanied by references to some results extracted from a survey performed for in some industrial enterprises. The second part of the paper makes an extensive review of the literature regarding the application of soft computing (SC) techniques in engineering design. Although this review cannot be collectively exhaustive, it may be considered as a valuable guide for researchers who are interested in the domain of engineering design and wish to explore the opportunities offered by fuzzy logic, artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms for further improvement of both the design outcome and the design process itself. An arithmetic method is used in order to evaluate the review results, to locate the research areas where SC has already given considerable results and to reveal new research opportunities.

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

engineering design
soft computing
fuzzy logic
neural networks


Present it like it is here: Creating local presence to improve online product experiences Emerging product presentation technologies create perceptions of local presence. Local presence brings the online product experience to offline settings. Virtual mirrors outperform 360-spin and pictures in terms of local presence. Local presence increases perceptions of product tangibility and product likability.

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

product presentation
local presence
online product experience
product tangibility
product likability


State-dependent call admission control in hierarchical wireless multiservice networks State-dependent call admission control (SDCAC) is proposed to make efficient use of scarce wireless resource in a hierarchical wireless network with heterogeneous traffic. With SDCAC, new calls are accepted according to an acceptance probability taking account of not only cell dwell time but also call holding time and system state (i.e., occupied bandwidth). An analytical method is developed to calculate performance measures of interest, e.g., new call blocking probability, forced termination probability, overall weighted blocking probability. Numerical results with not only stationary but nonstationary traffic loads are presented to show the robustness of SDCAC. It is shown that SDCAC performs much better than the other considered schemes under nonstationary traffic load.

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

average call holding time
hierarchical network
overflowed traffic


Round security and super-pseudorandomness of MISTY type structure The security of an iterated block cipher heavily depends on its structure as well as each round function. Matsui showed that MISTY type structure is faster and more robust than Feistel structure in terms of its resistance against linear and differential cryptanalysis. On the other hand, Luby and Rackoff proved that the four round Feistel structure is super-pseudorandom if each round function f(i) is a random function. This paper proves that the five round MISTY type structure is super-pseudorandom. We also characterize its round security.

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

block cipher
round security
misty type structure


On the ability of complexity metrics to predict fault-prone classes in object-oriented systems Many studies use logistic regression models to investigate the ability of complexity metrics to predict fault-prone classes. However, it is not uncommon to see the inappropriate use of performance indictors such as odds ratio in previous studies. In particular, a recent study by Olague et al. uses the odds ratio associated with one unit increase in a metric to compare the relative magnitude of the associations between individual metrics and fault-proneness. In addition, the percents of concordant, discordant, and tied pairs are used to evaluate the predictive effectiveness of a univariate logistic regression model. Their results suggest that lesser known complexity metrics such as standard deviation method complexity (SDMC) and average method complexity (AMC) are better predictors than the two commonly used metrics: lines of code (LOC) and weighted method McCabe complexity (WMC). In this paper, however, we show that (1) the odds ratio associated with one standard deviation increase, rather than one unit increase, in a metric should be used to compare the relative magnitudes of the effects of individual metrics on fault-proneness. Otherwise, misleading results may be obtained; and that (2) the connection of the percents of concordant, discordant, and tied pairs with the predictive effectiveness of a univariate logistic regression model is false, as they indeed do not depend on the model. Furthermore, we use the data collected from three versions of Eclipse to re-examine the ability of complexity metrics to predict fault-proneness. Our experimental results reveal that: (1) many metrics exhibit moderate or almost moderate ability in discriminating between fault-prone and not fault-prone classes; (2) LOC and WMC are indeed better fault-proneness predictors than SDMC and AMC; and (3) the explanatory power of other complexity metrics in addition to LOC is limited.

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

complexity
metrics
logistic regression
odds ratio


In-line detection of apple defects using three color cameras system Identification of apple stem-ends and calyxes from defects on process grading lines is a challenging task due to the complexity of the process. An in-line detection of the apple defect is developed in this article. Firstly, a computer controlled system using three color cameras is placed on the line. In this system, the apples placed on rollers are rotating while moving, and each camera is capturing three images from each apple. In total nine images are obtained for each apple allowing the total surface to be scanned. Secondly, the apple image is segmented from the black background by multi-threshold methods. The defects, including the stem-ends and calyxes, called regions of interest (ROIs), are segmented and counted in each of the nine images. Thirdly, since a calyx and stem-end cannot appear at the same image, an apple is defective if any one of the nine images has two or more ROIs. There are no complex imaging processes or pattern recognition algorithms in this method, because it is only necessary to know how many ROIs are there in a given apple's image. Good separation between normal and defective apples was obtained. The classification error of unjustified acceptance of blemished apples reduced from 21.8% for a single camera to 4.2% for the three camera system, at the expense of rejecting a higher proportion of good apples. Averaged over false positive and false negative, the classification error reduced from 15 to 11%. The disadvantage of this method is that it could not distinguish different defect types. Defects such as bruising, scab, fungal growth, and disease, are treated as the same.

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


Reduction of capsule endoscopy reading times by unsupervised image mining The screening of the small intestine has become painless and easy with wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) that is a revolutionary, relatively non-invasive imaging technique performed by a wireless swallowable endoscopic capsule transmitting thousands of video frames per examination. The average time required for the visual inspection of a full 8-h WCE video ranges from 45 to 120min, depending on the experience of the examiner. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to WCE reading time reduction by unsupervised mining of video frames. The proposed methodology is based on a data reduction algorithm which is applied according to a novel scheme for the extraction of representative video frames from a full length WCE video. It can be used either as a video summarization or as a video bookmarking tool, providing the comparative advantage of being general, unbounded by the finiteness of a training set. The number of frames extracted is controlled by a parameter that can be tuned automatically. Comprehensive experiments on real WCE videos indicate that a significant reduction in the reading times is feasible. In the case of the WCE videos used this reduction reached 85% without any loss of abnormalities.

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

wireless capsule endoscopy
video
summarization


An Integrated Design Framework of Fault-Tolerant Wireless Networked Control Systems for Industrial Automatic Control Applications In this paper, a design framework of fault-tolerant wireless networked control systems (NCSs) is developed for industrial automation applications. The main objective is to achieve an integrated parameterization and design of the communication protocols, the control and fault diagnosis algorithms aiming at meeting high real-time requirements in industrial applications. To illustrate the design framework, a laboratory wireless fault-tolerant NCS platform is presented.

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

fault detection
fault-tolerant systems
time-varying systems
wireless networks


The case of EAI in facilitating e-Government services in a Welsh authority This case focuses on enterprise application integration (EAI) in facilitating integrated electronic Government (e-Government) service delivery in a Welsh local authority. Whilst the development of a heterogeneous information technology (IT) infrastructure in the case organisation caused several integration problems, following a non-EAI approach was regarded as satisfactory by the management. The empirical findings illustrate that although the argument for EAI adoption was initially not seen as cost effective, strategically the decision not to implement EAI caused difficulties in the long term for realising integrated e-Government services.

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


Effective domain partitioning for multi-clock domain IP core wrapper design under power constraints The rapid advancement of VLSI technology has made it possible for chip designers and manufacturers to embed the components of a whole system onto a single chip, called System-on-Chip or SoC. SoCs make use of pre-designed modules, called IP-cores, which provide faster design time and quicker time-to-market. Furthermore, SoCs that operate at multiple clock domains and very low power requirements are being utilized in the latest communications, networking and signal processing devices. As a result, the testing of SoCs and multi-clock domain embedded cores under power constraints has been rapidly gaining importance. In this research, a novel method for designing power-aware test wrappers for embedded cores with multiple clock domains is presented. By effectively partitioning the various clock domains, we are able to increase the solution space of possible test schedules for the core. Since previous methods were limited to concurrently testing all the clock domains, we effectively remove this limitation by making use of bandwidth conversion, multiple shift frequencies and properly gating the clock signals to control the shift activity of various core logic elements. The combination of the above. techniques gains us greater flexibility when determining an optimal test schedule under very tight power constraints. Furthermore, since it is computationally intensive to search the entire expanded solution space for the possible test schedules, we propose a heuristic 3-D bin packing algorithm to determine the optimal wrapper architecture and test schedule while minimizing the test time under power and bandwidth constraints.

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

multi-clock domain
embedded core test
test scheduling


Hierarchical Numbering Based Addressing and Stateless Routing Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks Due to energy and other relevant constraints, addressing of nodes and data routing techniques in sensor networks differ significantly from other networks. In this article, we present an energy-efficient addressing and stateless routing paradigm for wireless sensor networks. We propose a dynamic and globally unique address allocation scheme for sensors in such a way that these addresses can later be used for data routing. We build a tree like organization of sensors rooted by the sink node based on their transmission adjacency and then set labels on each sensor with a number according to the preorder traversal of the tree from the root. In this addressing process, each sensor keeps necessary information so that they can later route data packets to the destination depending on these addresses, without keeping the large routing table and running any no route discovery phase. Moreover, the scheme does not use location information as well (as done by geo-routing) and can be used in the indoor environment. We conduct simulations to measure the soundness of our approach and make a comparison with another similar technique TreeCast. Simulation results reveal that our approach performs better than its counterpart in several important performance metrics like address length and communication energy.

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

addressing in sensor networks
energy-efficient routings
preorder traversal of trees