Schema and constraints-based matching and merging of Topic Maps In this paper, we propose a multi-strategic matching and merging approach to find correspondences between ontologies based on the syntactic or semantic characteristics and constraints of the Topic Maps. Our multi-strategic matching approach consists of a linguistic module and a Topic Map constraints-based module. A linguistic module computes similarities between concepts using morphological analysis, string normalization and tokenization and language-dependent heuristics. A Topic Map constraints-based module takes advantage of several Topic Maps-dependent techniques such as a topic property-based matching, a hierarchy-based matching, and an association-based matching. This is a composite matching procedure and need not generate a cross-pair of all topics from the ontologies because unmatched pairs of topics can be removed by characteristics and constraints of the Topic Maps. Merging between Topic Maps follows the matching operations. We set up the MERGE function to integrate two Topic Maps into a new Topic Map, which satisfies such merge requirements as entity preservation, property preservation, relation preservation, and conflict resolution. For our experiments, we used oriental philosophy ontologies, western philosophy ontologies, Yahoo western philosophy dictionary, and Wikipedia philosophy ontology as input ontologies. Our experiments show that the automatically generated matching results conform to the outputs generated manually by domain experts and can be of great benefit to the following merging operations.

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

ontology matching
ontology merging
topic maps matching


understanding multimedia content using web scale social media data Nowadays, increasingly rich and massive social media data (such as texts, images, audios, videos, blogs, and so on) are being posted to the web, including social networking websites (e.g., MySpace, Facebook), photo and video sharing websites (e.g., Flickr, YouTube), and photo forums (e.g., Photosig.com and Photo.net). Recently, researchers from multidisciplinary areas have proposed to use data-driven approaches for multimedia content understanding by leveraging such unlimited web images and videos as well as their associated rich contextual information (e.g., tag, comments, category, title and metadata). In this three hour tutorial, we plan to introduce the important general concepts and themes of this timely topic. We will also review and summarize the recent multimedia content analysis methods using web-scale social media data as well as present insight into the challenges and future directions in this area. Moreover, we will also show extensive demos on image annotation and retrieval by using rich social media data.

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

social media data
multimedia content understanding


a stateless, content-directed data prefetching mechanism Although central processor speeds continues to improve, improvements in overall system performance are increasingly hampered by memory latency, especially for pointer-intensive applications. To counter this loss of performance, numerous data and instruction prefetch mechanisms have been proposed. Recently, several proposals have posited a memory-side prefetcher; typically, these prefetchers involve a distinct processor that executes a program slice that would effectively prefetch data needed by the primary program. Alternative designs embody large state tables that learn the miss reference behavior of the processor and attempt to prefetch likely misses.This paper proposes Content-Directed Data Prefetching, a data prefetching architecture that exploits the memory allocation used by operating systems and runtime systems to improve the performance of pointer-intensive applications constructed using modern language systems. This technique is modeled after conservative garbage collection, and prefetches "likely" virtual addresses observed in memory references. This prefetching mechanism uses the underlying data of the application, and provides an 11.3\% speedup using no additional processor state. By adding less than \% space overhead to the second level cache, performance can be further increased to 12.6\% across a range of "real world" applications.

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

speedup
applications
prefetching
memory allocation
performance
tables
paper
processor
cache
latency
systems
space
language
behavior
architecture
instruction
data

runtime system
collect
design
direct
program slicing
pointers
contention
exploit
operating system
memorialized
learning
virtualization
data prefetch


Real-time electrical variables estimation based on recursive wavelet transform A fast and accurate algorithm for frequency and phasor estimation was proposed. We constructed a new mother wavelet to extract a recursive equation. The algorithm reduces computational complexity compared to the DFT method. The algorithm response is faster than the recursive wavelet transform method. The algorithm characteristic makes it a good candidate for real-time applications.

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

phasor estimation
recursive wavelet transform

decaying dc component
discrete fourier transfer
digital filter
frequency estimation


a modular simulation framework for architectural exploration of on-chip interconnection networks Ever increasing complexity and heterogeneity of SoC platforms require diversified on-chip communication schemes beyond the currently omnipresent shared bus architectures. To prevent time consuming design changes late in the design flow, we propose the early exploration of the on-chip communication architecture to meet performance and cost requirements. Based on SystemC 2.0.1 we have defined a modular exploration framework, which is able to capture the effect on performance for different on-chip networks like dedicated point-to-point, shared bus, and crossbar topologies. Monitoring of performance parameters like utilization, latency and throughput drives the mapping of the inter-module traffic to an efficient communication architecture. The effectiveness of our approach is demonstrated by the exemplary design of a high performance Network Processing Unit (NPU), which is compared against a commercial NPU device.

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

communication requirements network framework design performance throughput topologies modular simulation systemc traffic heterogeneity exploration latency device architecture flow complexity effect cost

network-on-chip
point
platform
efficiency
high-performance
map
timing
change
sharing
module
process
architecture exploration
monitor
interconnection network
scheme


Towards energy-efficient parallel analysis of neural signals Recent advances of experimental methods and neuroscience research have made neural signals constantly massive and analysis of these signals highly compute-intensive. This study explore the possibility proposes a massively parallel approach for analysis of neural signals using General-purpose computing on the graphics processing unit (GPGPU). We demonstrate the uses and correctness of the proposed approach via a case of analyzing EEG with focal epilepsy. An experimental examination has been carried out to investigate (1) the GPGPU-aided approach's performance and (2) energy costs of the GPGPU-aided application versus the original CPU-only systems. Experimental results indicate that the proposed approach excels in both aspects.

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

general-purpose computing on the graphics processing unit


3D adaptive RKPM method for contact problems with elasticplastic dynamic large deformation The adaptive procedure of reproducing kernel particle method (RKPM) for 3D contact problems with elasticplastic dynamic large deformation is presented. In this study, a modified cell energy error (MCEE) estimate model is constructed to capture the high gradients of stresses behavior in large deformation. Refinement particles with a new proper refinement function are inserted into the high error distribution regions. A domain decomposition method is proposed to determine the support domain size for nodes. A collocation formulation is used in the discretization of the boundary integral of the contact constraint equations formulated by a penalty method. By the use of a particle-to-segment contact algorithm, the contact constraints are imposed directly on the new added contact nodes, consequently the contact forces and their associated stiffness matrices are formulated at the nodal coordinate. For verification of the simulation results, a general benchmark test is applied to justify the accuracy and efficiency of the adaptive RKPM method. Several numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the suggested approach.

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

rkpm
adaptive
refinement
support domain size
decomposition
contact


Beyond robotics: A new proactive research initiative from the EU IST program A research initiative on embodied artificial intelligence has been launched in 2004 by the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) arm of the Information Society Technologies (IST) programme of the European Union. The initiative is called "Beyond Robotics" to emphasize that the research projects funded are required to set ambitious objectives and to aim at breakthroughs going well beyond the state of the art. Four projects worth 20 ME of EC funding were selected for 2004-2008 to address the objectives of the initiative.

O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 ontology based personal exposure history Health monitoring and disease surveillance systems can benefit from the integration of multiple data sources and semantic web technologies. The development and management of exposure histories is one particular area that requires integration of data from multiple sources. Exposure histories capture the spatial and temporal dimensions of possible disease exposure events and convey the dynamic factors within individuals' environments. Data sources for an exposure history might include numerous governmental, institutional and community records which document people's relationships with various locations. Existing monitoring networks and new wireless sensor networks also provide data on toxic agents in the environment. This paper describes the development of an ontology for a personal exposure history (PEH) that specifies explicit relationships between persons and locations and locations and putative environmental toxic agents. These relationships provide a foundation for making inferences about person to putative toxic exposure relationships. The PEH ontology defines a framework of concepts and relationships on which to integrate data from heterogeneous sources. The ontology does not capture a complete exposure profile as yet, but represents key spatial and temporal concepts and demonstrates how these can be queried using current semantic web technologies.

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


Tracing regulatory routes in metabolism using generalised supply-demand analysis Generalised supply-demand analysis is a conceptual framework that views metabolism as a molecular economy. Metabolic pathways are partitioned into so-called supply and demand blocks that produce and consume a particular intermediate metabolite. By studying the response of these reaction blocks to perturbations in the concentration of the linking metabolite, different regulatory routes of interaction between the metabolite and its supply and demand blocks can be identified and their contribution quantified. These responses are mediated not only through direct substrate/product interactions, but also through allosteric effects. Here we subject previously published kinetic models of pyruvate metabolism in Lactococcus lactis and aspartate-derived amino acid synthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana to generalised supply-demand analysis.

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

generalised supply-demand analysis
metabolic control analysis
metabolic modelling


Mathematical model of consumer homeostasis control in plant-herbivore dynamics Consumers must regulate the elemental composition of body tissue at ratios that differ from those of their food. This problem of elemental homeostasis is especially acute for herbivores for which elemental composition of food does not equal that of the consumer and changes widely throughout the lifespan. We extend work of Sterner [1] and Frost and Elser [2] using a dynamic model of homeostatic control within tolerance limits by consumers feeding on unbalanced diets based on nonlinear assimilation as a primary mechanism. Differential assimilation provides a suitable, if incomplete, mechanism for homeostasis where the limiting element defines the accumulation trajectory of nutrients incorporated into the consumer. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

mathematical ecology
digestion control
nutrient cycling
food quality and quantity


Wind turbine condition monitoring based on SCADA data using normal behavior models. Part 1: System description This paper proposes a system for wind turbine condition monitoring using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Interference Systems (ANFIS). For this purpose: (1) ANFIS normal behavior models for common Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) data are developed in order to detect abnormal behavior of the captured signals and indicate component malfunctions or faults using the prediction error. 33 different standard SCADA signals are used and described, for which 45 normal behavior models are developed. The performance of these models is evaluated in terms of the prediction error standard deviations to show the applicability of ANFIS models for monitoring wind turbine SCADA signals. The computational time needed for model training is compared to Neural Network (NN) models showing the strength of ANFIS in training speed. (2) For automation of fault diagnosis Fuzzy Interference Systems (FIS) are used to analyze the prediction errors for fault patterns. The outputs are both the condition of the component and a possible root cause for the anomaly. The output is generated by the aid of rules that capture the existing expert knowledge linking observed prediction error patterns to specific faults. The work is based on continuously measured wind turbine SCADA data from 18 turbines of the 2 MW class covering a period of 30 months. The system proposed in this paper shows a novelty approach with regard to the usage of ANFIS models in this context and the application of the proposed procedure to a wide range of SCADA signals. The applicability of the set up ANFIS models for anomaly detection is proved by the achieved performance of the models. In combination with the FIS the prediction errors can provide information about the condition of the monitored components. In this paper the condition monitoring system is described. Part two will entirely focus on application examples and further efficiency evaluation of the system.

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

anfis models
condition monitoring
wind turbine
scada data
normal behavior models


Dynamic sensor event segmentation for real-time activity recognition in a smart home context Activity recognition is fundamental to many of the services envisaged in pervasive computing and ambient intelligence scenarios. However, delivering sufficiently robust activity recognition systems that could be deployed with confidence in an arbitrary real-world setting remains an outstanding challenge. Developments in wireless, inexpensive and unobtrusive sensing devices have enabled the capture of large data volumes, upon which a variety of machine learning techniques have been applied in order to facilitate interpretation of and inference upon such data. Much of the documented research in this area has in the main focused on recognition across pre-segmented sensor data. Such approaches are insufficient for near real-time analysis as is required for many services, such as those envisaged by ambient assisted living. This paper presents a novel near real-time sensor segmentation approach that incorporates the notions of both sensor and time correlation.

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

activity recognition
sensor segmentation
smart home


Partial projection filter for signal restoration in the presence of signal space noise The problem of signal restoration in the presence of observation space noise has been tackled extensively. However, restoration of degraded signals in the presence of signal space noise leads to considerable complexity because it becomes difficult to distinguish between the original signal and the noise. In this paper, a partial projection filter has been devised for the restoration of signals degraded by both the signal space and the observation space noises. A closed form of the proposed filter has been derived and its performance has been verified experimentally.

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

partial projection filter
signal space noise
observation space noise


using cognitive conflict and visualisation to improve mental models held by novice programmers Recent research has found that many novice programmers often hold non-viable mental models of basic programming concepts such as assignment and object reference, which can limit their potential to develop programming skills. This paper proposes a constructivist-based teaching model that integrates cognitive conflict and program visualisation with the aim of supporting novice programmers in the formulation of appropriate mental models. The results of an initial empirical study produced three findings of note. Firstly, a teaching model based on either visualisation alone or cognitive conflict integrated with visualisation can help students develop viable models of value assignment. Secondly, there was evidence to suggest that cognitive conflict integrated with visualisation outperformed visualisation alone in helping students develop viable models of the more challenging concept of object reference assignment. And thirdly, there was evidence of an improvement in students' understanding of value and object reference assignment using the teaching model based on visualisation and cognitive conflict.

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


Computational modelling of flow around a circular cylinder in sub-critical flow regime with various turbulence models The numerical simulation of transitional flow around a two-dimensional stationary circular cylinder is presented using two groups of turbulence models in a sub-critical flow regime. In the first group, enhanced two-equation turbulence models based on the eddy viscosity concept are used. They include the non-linear k-epsilon model with extended models, such as renormalization group (RNG) and the anisotropic model. In the second group, flow simulation is carried out using the large eddy simulation (LES) method, which is based on a standard sub-grid scale (SGS) model with a near-wall approach. This near-wall model, without using the 'law of wall', is achieved in a finite element code. The numerical results extracted from these simulations are compared with each other and with the experimental data in order to determine the relative performance of these turbulence models and to find the best model for the flow of interest. Although most of the LES simulations have been previously carried out using finite volume methods, results from using the present model show that the finite element method (FEM) can also be used with confidence. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

circular cylinder
finite element method
les method
transitional flow


The Kernel of Maximum Agreement Subtrees A Maximum Agreement SubTree (MAST) is a largest subtree common to a set of trees and serves as a summary of common substructure in the trees. A single MAST can be misleading, however, since there can be an exponential number of MASTs, and two MASTs for the same tree set do not even necessarily share any leaves. In this paper, we introduce the notion of the Kernel Agreement SubTree (KAST), which is the summary of the common substructure in all MASTs, and show that it can be calculated in polynomial time (for trees with bounded degree). Suppose the input trees represent competing hypotheses for a particular phylogeny. We explore the utility of the KAST as a method to discern the common structure of confidence, and as a measure of how confident we are in a given tree set. We also show the trend of the KAST, as compared to other consensus methods, on the set of all trees visited during a Bayesian analysis of flatworm genomes.

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 B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 Cryptosporidium and Giardia viability detection in treated water In the automatic detection of Cryptosporidium and Giardia (oo)cysts in water samples, low contrast and noise in the microscopic images can adversely affect the accuracy of the segmentation results. An improved partial differential equation (PDE) filtering that achieves a better trade-off between noise removal and edge preservation is introduced where the compass operator is utilized to attenuate noise while retaining edge information at the cytoplasm wall and around the nuclei of the (oo)cysts. Then the anatomically important information is separated from the unwanted background noise using the Otsu method to improve the detection accuracy. Once the (oo)cysts are located, a simple technique to classify the two types of protozoans using area, roundness metric and eccentricity is implemented. Finally, the number of nuclei in the cytoplasm of each (oo)cyst is counted to check the viability of individual parasite. The proposed system is tested on 40 microscopic images obtained from treated water samples, and it gives excellent detection and viability rates of 97% and 98%, respectively.

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

parasite calculation
parasite differentiation
nucleus calculation
automatic viability confirmation


Mechanism change in a simulation of peer review: from junk support to elitism Peer review works as the hinge of the scientific process, mediating between research and the awareness/acceptance of its results. While it might seem obvious that science would regulate itself scientifically, the consensus on peer review is eroding; a deeper understanding of its workings and potential alternatives is sorely needed. Employing a theoretical approach supported by agent-based simulation, we examined computational models of peer review, performing what we propose to call redesign, that is, the replication of simulations using different mechanisms. Here, we show that we are able to obtain the high sensitivity to rational cheating that is present in literature. In addition, we also show how this result appears to be fragile against small variations in mechanisms. Therefore, we argue that exploration of the parameter space is not enough if we want to support theoretical statements with simulation, and that exploration at the level of mechanisms is needed. These findings also support prudence in the application of simulation results based on single mechanisms, and endorse the use of complex agent platforms that encourage experimentation of diverse mechanisms.

B I 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 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 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

peer review
mechanism change
rational cheating

agent-based simulation
bdi approach
restrained cheaters


Multiple paradigms in affective computing This brief essay considers the three papers of the special issue of Interacting with Computers by Picard and colleagues, from several perspectives. First, I question two aspects of the work: the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) approach, and the use of psychophysiological measurements of emotion without a stated theory of emotion. Despite these criticisms, the contributions of Picard and colleagues are valuable and powerfully challenging. I suggest three convergent ways to pursue this important research program. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.

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

frustration
empathic interface
theories of emotion
psychophysiology of emotion
computers are social actors (casa)
spiritual life
ethnography
design explorations


Managing uncertainty in major equipment procurement in engineering projects A better management of time uncertainty in major equipment procurement in engineering construction projects can significantly contribute to project performance. A survey study shows that time buffer is a popularly used approach to protect project schedule from activity duration variation and uncertainty. The problem is that there are repetitive time allowances inserted in the procurement supply chain process and these time buffers are used ineffectively, thus leading to considerable time wastage. Relevant lessons from supply chain management and critical chain project management are combined and applied to create an enhanced critical supply chain management model for major equipment procurement to achieve better management of time uncertainty. This model does not perceive uncertainty purely as a threat, but also as an opportunity to reduce procurement cycle times.

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

supply chain management
critical chain project management


Preliminary forensic analysis of the Xbox One Video game consoles can no longer be viewed as just gaming consoles but rather as full multimedia machines, capable of desktop computer-like performance. The past has shown that game consoles have been used in criminal activities such as extortion, identity theft, and child pornography, but with their ever-increasing capabilities, the likelihood of the expansion of criminal activities conducted on or over the consoles increases. This research aimed to take the initial step of understanding the Xbox One, the most powerful Microsoft console to date. We report the outcome of conducting a forensic examination of the Xbox One, and we provide our Xbox One data set of hard drive images and unique files so that the forensic community may expand upon our work. The Xbox One was found to have increased security measures over its predecessor (Xbox 360). The encryption of the data and the new file types introduced made it difficult to discern potential digital evidence. While these added security features caused great difficulty in forensically acquiring digital forensic artifacts, some important and interesting digital evidence was gathered using open-source tools. We were able to find digital evidence such as times that the user initially set up the console, and times when the system was restored or shutdown. We were also able to determine what games and applications had been downloaded along with when the games were played. Finally, through our network forensic experiments, we were able to determine that various applications had different levels of security and that game traffic was encrypted.

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

video game console forensics
network forensics
digital forensics
ntfs


CRBAC: Imposing multi-grained constraints on the RBAC model in the multi-application environment Interactions between resources as well as services are one of the fundamental characteristics in the distributed multi-application environments. In such environments, attribute-based access control (ABAC) mechanisms are gaining in popularity while the role-based access control (RBAC) mechanism is widely accepted as a general mechanism for authorization management. This paper proposes a new access control model, CRBAC, which aims to combine the advantages of RBAC and ABAC, and integrates all kinds of constraints into the RBAC model. Unlike other work in this area, which only incorporates one or a few particular attribute constraints into RBAC, this paper analyses and abstracts the generic properties of the attribute constraints imposed on authorization systems. Based on these analyses and generalization, two constraints templates are presented, called authorization mapping constraint template and behaviour constraint template. The former template is able to automate the user-role and role-permission mapping, while the latter is used to restrict the behaviours of the authorization entities. The attribute constraints are classified into these two templates. Moreover, the state mechanism is introduced to build up the constraints among the statuses of the entities, and reflect the outcomes of the authorization control as well. Based on the presented templates and the state mechanism, the execution model is developed. A use case is proposed to show the authorization process of our proposed model. The extensive analyses are conducted to show its multi-grained constraints by comparing with other models. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

attribute constraint
authorization template
authorization state


Combining Feature Methods for Content-Based Classification of Mammogram Images Breast cancer is among the leading cause of death among females. Studies show that early detection allows for a better prognosis. Mammography is one of the successful ways for early detection of breast cancer. It mostly involves manual reading of mammograms, a process that is difficult and error-prone. This paper discusses a classification model for mammograms based on microcalcification characteristics, as a way of helping radiologists make quick and accurate diagnostic decisions by availing to them similar past cases. The images are pre-processed by Gaussian smoothing and median filtering with 5 x 5 and 3 x 3 kernels respectively. Gabor and Haralick features are then extracted to form the image signatures over which similarity measurements are made. Experimental results show an average precision value between 0.5 and 0.61 using Haralick features, 0.49 and 0.57 using Gabor features, and 0.51 and 0.78 using combination of Gabor and Haralick features.

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

mammogram
classification
haralick features

gabor filters
grey level co-occurrence matrix


A generalization of Hungarian method and Halls theorem with applications in wireless sensor networks In this paper, we consider various problems concerning quasi-matchings and semi-matchings in bipartite graphs, which generalize the classical problem of determining a perfect matching in bipartite graphs. We prove a generalization of Halls marriage theorem, and present an algorithm that solves the problem of determining a lexicographically minimum g g -quasi-matching (that is a set F F of edges in a bipartite graph such that in one set of the bipartition every vertex v v has at least g(v) g ( v ) incident edges from F F , where g g is a so-called need mapping, while on the other side of the bipartition the distribution of degrees with respect to F F is lexicographically minimum). We obtain that finding a lexicographically minimum quasi-matching is equivalent to minimizing any strictly convex function on the degrees of the A-side of a quasi-matching and use this fact to prove a more general statement: the optima of any component-based strictly convex cost function on any subset of L1 L 1 -sphere in Nn N n are precisely the lexicographically minimal elements of this subset. We also present an application in designing optimal CDMA-based wireless sensor networks.

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

quasi-matching
semi-matching
flow
augmenting path


Sibling-substitution-based BDD minimization using don't cares In many computer-aided design tools, binary decision diagrams (BDD's) are used to represent Boolean functions, To increase the efficiency and capability of these tools, many algorithms have been developed to reduce the size of the BDD's, This paper presents heuristic algorithms to minimize the size of the BDD's representing incompletely specified functions by intelligently assigning don't cares to binary values. Experimental results show that new algorithms yield significantly smaller BDD's compared with existing algorithms yet still require manageable run-times, These algorithms are particularly useful for synthesis application where the structure of the hardware/software is derived from the BDD representation of the function to implement because the minimization quality is more critical than the minimization speed in these applications.

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

binary decision diagrams (bdd's)
sibling-substitution


Automatic target image detection for morphing ? We design an algorithm to generate entire morphing process automatically. We find the best target animal face from the database considering human face as a source. Target detection results are compared with different feature based approaches.

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

3d texton
k means clustering
chi-square distance measure
facial features extraction
control points detection
delaunay triangulation
image morphing


a secure ubiquitous sensor network with dragon The creation of wireless sensor networks provides a capable solution for a range of ubiquitous information services. Its challenges like, data security and secrecy due to its hostile deployment nature of being flat to physical attacks with restricted source available. In order to competition the security pressure that sensor networks are exposed to, a cryptography algorithm is implemented at sensor nodes for node-to-node encryption, between nodes considering the data redundancy, energy constraint, and security requirement. In this paper, we analyze Dragon stream cipher and propose a new D-MAC secure data scheme which supports node-to-node encryption using Dragon based-privacy [3] for sensor networks. Our procedure regarded the entity verification and message authentication through the performance of authenticated encryption scheme in wireless sensor nodes.

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

authenticated encryption
dragon stream cipher

sensor network security
telos b sensor mote
estream's project


Reversible steganography using extended image interpolation technique ? By analysis of statistical properties of adjacent pixels as well as image interpolation techniques, a novel interpolation method is put forward. Under the conditions of ensuring the image quality, the proposed image interpolation method maximizes the difference values between neighboring pixels and improves the capacity. The proposed scheme still has the advantage of lower computing complexity and better results between interpolating pixels. The experimental results show that the performance of the proposed method is superior to several state-of-the-art methods.

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

steganography
image interpolation
neighboring pixels


A discrete gradient method to enhance the numerical behaviour of Hopfield networks ? This paper presents the construction of a numerical method for implementing algorithms that are based on a gradient flow. In particular, continuous Hopfield networks for solving optimization problems are considered as a case in point. The focus is the preservation of the favourable properties of the continuous system under discretization. Firstly, the conventional discretization is formulated as a non-standard numerical method that solves the continuous equation, depending on the step size. A rigourous theoretical analysis shows that it is a consistent method, but it fails to preserve the gradient nature, since periodic solutions occur, so no Lyapunov function can exist. Next we present the construction of a method that preserves the Lyapunov function of the original differential equation regardless of the step size. This procedure, based upon discrete gradients, yields an algorithm that preserves the Lyapunov function of the continuous system, thus reproducing the same qualitative behaviour, namely stability of equilibria and convergence to solutions. A remarkable property of the proposed technique is that it can be computed explicitly as long as the Lyapunov function is multi-linear, which is the case of Hopfield neural networks. This results in enhanced performance, compared to the conventional discretization, as shown in a comprehensive set of numerical experiments.

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

hopfield neural networks
discrete gradients

dynamical systems
numerical methods for odes


Dynamic Power Management for Multidomain System-on-Chip Platforms: An Optimal Control Approach Reducing energy consumption in multiprocessor systems-on-chip (MPSoCs) where communication happens via the network-on-chip (NoC) approach calls for multiple voltage/frequency island (VFI)-based designs. In turn, such multi-VFI architectures need efficient, robust, and accurate runtime control mechanisms that can exploit the workload characteristics in order to save power. Despite being tractable, the linear control models for power management cannot capture some important workload characteristics (e. g., fractality, nonstationarity) observed in heterogeneous NoCs; if ignored, such characteristics lead to inefficient communication and resources allocation, as well as high power dissipation in MPSoCs. To mitigate such limitations, we propose a new paradigm shift from power optimization based on linear models to control approaches based on fractal-state equations. As such, our approach is the first to propose a controller for fractal workloads with precise constraints on state and control variables and specific time bounds. Our results show that significant power savings can be achieved at runtime while running a variety of benchmark applications.

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 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

algorithms
human factors
theory
design
performance
network-on-chip
finite horizon optimal control


Optimized ink-jet printing condition for stable and reproducible performance of organic thin film transistor For fabrication OTFT device to optimize ink-jet printing condition. Temperature and spacing size had influence on the morphology of shape of dot and electrode line. To print electrode line without defect on active layer coated surface treatment. A substrate temperature of 80C was found suitable to prevent coffee ring effect. The device showed good electrode morphology and electrical properties.

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


Probabilistic analysis of interconnect coupling noise Noise simulators and noise avoidance tools are playing an increasingly critical role in the design of deep submicron circuits. However, noise estimates produced by these simulators are often very pessimistic. For large, high-performance industrial ICs, which can contain hundreds of thousands of nets, the worst case estimates of the noise results in thousands of reported violations, without any information about the likelihood of the possible noise violation. In this paper, we present a probabilistic approach to prioritize the violating nets based on the likelihood of occurrence of the reported noise. We derive an upper bound on the probability that the total noise injected on a given victim net by a specific set of aggressors exceeds a threshold. This is equivalent to a lower bound on the expected number of clock cycles required to realize the noise violation for the first time, i.e., mean time-to-failure. If the probability of a failure in a victim is sufficiently small, it,is possible that even during the operation of the part for a number of years, the probability of failure on the net is negligible and the net can be assigned a lower priority for the application of noise avoidance strategies. We demonstrate the utility of this approach through experiments carried out on an large industrial processor design using a state-of-the-art industrial noise analysis tool.

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

capacitive coupling
crosstalk noise
functional noise
interconnect analysis
noise estimation


Dynamic-mesh finite element method for Lagrangian computational fluid dynamics We present a novel method for simulation of flows with dynamic interfaces based on a Lagrangian flow formulation and dynamic finite element meshes. Dynamic interfaces are naturally resolved through the material flow description, which eliminates the need for complex dynamic structures to track the moving boundaries. However, the resulting dynamic meshes propagate with the flow and quickly become distorted. We resolve the mesh distortions by regenerating the mesh at each time step. The components include a Lagrangian nodal movement, local refinement/coarsening and triangulation. We have created a highly efficient parallel implementation, and successfully applied it to large-scale simulations of flows with numerous cellular bodies. The method easily handles interface-dominated flows and promises highly successful applications to complex flows including the target problem of microstructural blood flow simulation.

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

lagrangian cfd
dynamic-mesh fem
mesh regeneration
parallel computing


Distributed cognition at the crime scene The examination of a scene of crime provides both an interesting case study and analogy for consideration of Distributed Cognition. In this paper, Distribution is defined by the number of agents involved in the criminal justice process, and in terms of the relationship between a Crime Scene Examiner and the environment being searched.

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

crime scene examination
eye-tracking
induction
deduction


transforming web pages to become standard-compliant through reverse engineering Developing Web pages following established standards can make the information more accessible, their rendering more efficient, and their processing by computer applications easier. Unfortunately, more than 95\% of the existing Web pages today are not "valid" in that they do not follow some of the recommendations (standards) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Fixing any Web page to make it standard-compliant is a major undertaking. There is now an open-source tool called HTML Tidy which will attempt to fix the invalid HTML code automatically. However, Tidy often changes the Web page's appearance after processing. It is not an effective tool to transform existing Web pages to make them standard-compliant.In this paper we report the design and implementation of PURE, a tool that cleans up an HTML document through reverse engineering. PURE starts with the rendering result of a given Web page and generates valid HTML code and CSS automatically to produce the same appearance. It is found to be effective for many existing Web pages. A prototype is now available for public testing and comments.

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

browser
rendering engine
cascade style sheets
w3c recommendations


Taxonomy-based partitioning of the Gene Ontology The Gene Ontology (GO) project is a collaborative effort to construct ontologies which facilitate biologically meaningful annotation of gene products. In some situations, only a generic or a species-specific subset of all GO terms is required to annotate and analyze the results of a particular biomedical experiment. We show that by defining explicit links between terms in the GO and terms in the Taxonomy of Species (TS) it is possible to automatically create partitions of the GO according to various taxonomic criteria. Our framework is based on three logically defined relationsvalidity, specificity, and relevanceused to link terms in the Gene Ontology with terms in the Taxonomy. The major advantages of this approach, as compared to the traditional GO slims methodology, are: unambiguous semantics of GOTS annotations, significant reduction of the effort needed to manually select GO terms appropriate for a particular taxonomic context, ability to generate views of the GO even for taxa for which no explicit links with GO terms exist, logical consistency of such views, and automated updates of TS-dependent GO subsets. Incorporation of the proposed framework into the GO may improve the usability of the ontology for those scientists who focus their research on a particular species or a specific class of organisms.

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

annotation
gene ontology
ontology
partitioning
taxonomy


A Basic Study on Stimulation Pulse Width Determination for Dynamic Presentation of Electrocutaneous Sensation Patterns In this study, we aimed to realize a method of presenting dynamic electrocutaneous sensation patterns as a user interface for persons with disabilities. In this study, the previously used pulse width (200 mu s) was used in pattern recognition testing on the forearm and was compared with the short pulse width (80 mu s) used for stimulation. A cathodic pulse with a frequency of 100pps, which was suggested to be suitable in our previous study, was used. Experimental results on neurologically intact subjects suggested that the previously used pulse width was suitable and that a short pulse width would not be effective for stabilizing the stimulation amplitude or for improving the pattern recognition ability of our method.

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

electrocutaneous sensation
pattern recognition


Generating correlated matrix exponential random variables In this paper, we focus on inter-arrival time autocorrelation and its impact on model performance. We present a technique to generate matrix exponential random variables that match first-order statistics (moments) and second-order statistics (autocorrelation) from an empirical distribution. We briefly explain the matrix exponential distribution and show that we can represent any empirical distribution arbitrarily closely as matrix exponential. We then show how we can incorporate an autocorrelation structure into our matrix exponential random variables using the autoregressive to anything technique. We present examples showing how we match first and second-order statistics from empirical distributions and finally we show that our autocorrelation matrix exponential random variables produce more accurate performance metrics from simulation models than traditional techniques. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

autocorrelation linear algebra queueing theory


CRAHNs: Cognitive radio ad hoc networks Cognitive radio (CR) technology is envisaged to solve the problems in wireless networks resulting from the limited available spectrum and the inefficiency in the spectrum usage by exploiting the existing wireless spectrum opportunistically. CR networks, equipped with the intrinsic capabilities of the cognitive radio, will provide an ultimate spectrum-aware communication paradigm in wireless communications. CR networks, however, impose unique challenges due to the high fluctuation in the available spectrum as well as diverse quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. Specifically, in cognitive radio ad hoc networks (CRAHNs), the distributed multi-hop architecture, the dynamic network topology, and the time and location varying spectrum availability are some of the key distinguishing factors. In this paper, intrinsic properties and current research challenges of the CRAHNs are presented. First, novel spectrum management functionalities such as spectrum sensing, spectrum sharing, and spectrum decision, and spectrum mobility are introduced from the viewpoint of a network requiring distributed coordination. A particular emphasis is given to distributed coordination between CR users through the establishment of a common control channel. Moreover, the influence of these functions on the performance of the upper layer protocols, such as the network layer, and transport layer protocols are investigated and open research issues in these areas are also outlined. Finally, a new direction called the commons model is explained, where CRAHN users may independently regulate their own operation based on pre-decided spectrum etiquette.

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

cognitive radio
ad hoc networks
spectrum sensing
spectrum sharing
spectrum decision
spectrum mobility
common control channel
commons model

medium access control protocol
routing protocol
transport protocol


RFID-enabled track and traceability in job-shop scheduling environment This study presents an RFID-based traceability approach to improve production scheduling. An in-depth study for a manufacturer is conducted to explore scheduling options enabled by an RFID-based traceability system. We propose a novel information visibility-based scheduling (VBS) rule that utilizes information generated from the real-time traceability systems for tracking work in processes (WIPs), parts and components, and raw materials to adjust production schedules. We then evaluate the performance of this information visibility-based schedule against the classical scheduling rules. The results of the simulation suggest that an RFID-based scheduling rule generates better performance compared to traditional scheduling rules with regard to cycle time, machine utilizations, backlogs, and penalty costs. We also observe that the value of this information visibility is more relevant when the demand varies widely and/or operational disruptions occur.

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


Stable volumetric features in deformable shapes Region feature detectors and descriptors have become a successful and popular alternative to point descriptors in image analysis due to their high robustness and repeatability, leading to a significant interest in the shape analysis community in finding analogous approaches in the 3D world. Recent works have successfully extended the maximally stable extremal region (MSER) detection algorithm to surfaces. In many applications, however, a volumetric shape model is more appropriate, and modeling shape deformations as approximate isometries of the volume of an object, rather than its boundary, better captures natural behavior of non-rigid deformations. In this paper, we formulate a diffusion-geometric framework for volumetric stable component detection and description in deformable shapes. An evaluation of our method on the SHREC'11 feature detection benchmark and SCAPE human body scans shows its potential as a source of high-quality features. Examples demonstrating the drawbacks of surface stable components and the advantage of their volumetric counterparts are also presented. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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 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

diffusion geometry
component tree
level sets
mser feature descriptor
non-rigid shapes
maximally stable components
intrinsic geometry


Simulating forest plantation co-management with a multi-agent system Co-management of forest resources is a process of governance that enables all relevant stakeholders to participate in the decision-making processes. Illegal logging and forest degradation are currently increasing, and logging bans are ineffective in reducing forest degradation. At the same time interest in forest plantations and concern about poverty problems of neighboring people whose livelihoods depend on forest services and products continue to increase rapidly. Governments have identified the development of small forest plantations as an opportunity to provide wood supplies to forest industries and to reduce poverty. However, the development of small plantations is very slow due to an imbalance of power and suspicion between communities and large companies. This paper proposes a framework for linking social, economic and biophysical dynamics to create multi-agent simulations and explore scenarios of collaboration for plantations. Multi-agent simulation is a branch of artificial intelligence that offers a promising approach to dealing with multi-stakeholder management systems, such as common pool resources. It provides a framework which allows analysis of stakeholders' (or agents') interactions and decision making. Each stakeholder has explicit communication capacities, behaviors and rationales from which emerge specific actions. The purpose of this modeling is to create a common dynamic representation to facilitate negotiations for growing trees. A system of governance involving multi-stakeholders, especially local communities and wood based industries appearing to offer the most promising pathway to accelerating plantation development, local community poverty alleviation and forest landscape improvement. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

forest plantation
simulation
stakeholder


Enhanced structural and magnetic ordering of FePt/TiOx bilayers by ion-beam deposition and annealing The effect of annealing temperature on the microstructure and magnetic properties of FePt/TiOx bilayers was systemically studied. The grain sizes decreased and the surface roughness increased as the annealing temperatures increased; at the meanwhile, the interface between the FePt and TiOx layer became more graded, indicating there were more interdiffusion processes as the annealing temperature increased. The coercivity increased as the annealing temperature was raised, indicating more face center tetragonal-phase FePt was formed with higher annealing temperatures. Coercivities over 11kOe were acquired in both in-plane and out-of-plane directions after annealing at 650C for 10min. TiOx-capped FePt samples tended to possess higher coercivities after annealing at higher temperatures, which is favorable for high areal density recording applications.

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


Exponential stability and robust H-infinity control of a class of discrete-time switched non-linear systems with time-varying delays via T-S fuzzy model This paper deals with stability and robust H control of discrete-time switched non-linear systems with time-varying delays. The T-S fuzzy models are utilised to represent each sub-non-linear system. Thus, with two level functions, namely, crisp switching functions and local fuzzy weighting functions, we introduce a discrete-time switched fuzzy systems, which inherently contain the features of the switched hybrid systems and T-S fuzzy systems. Piecewise fuzzy weighting-dependent Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals (PFLKFs) and average dwell-time approach are utilised in this paper for the exponentially stability analysis and controller design, and with free fuzzy weighting matrix scheme, switching control laws are obtained such that H performance is satisfied. The conditions of stability and the control laws are given in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) that are numerically feasible. The state decay estimate is explicitly given. A numerical example and the control of delayed single link robot arm with uncertain part are given to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method.

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

exponential stability
robust h control
pflkfs

switched non-linear systems
time-varying delay
t-s fuzzy model


dynamic voltage scaling for real-time multi-task scheduling using buffers This paper proposes energy efficient real-time multi-task scheduling (EDF and RM) algorithms by using buffers. The buffering technique overcomes a drawback of previous approaches by utilizing the slack time of a system fully. It increases the CPU utilization and averages the workload of a system, so it enhances the effectiveness of the DVS technique. We target multimedia applications where a slight buffering delay is tolerable within a latency constraint. We modify the state transition and queue handling mechanism of multi-task scheduling in the kernel. In experiments, our algorithms achieve up to 44\% of energy consumption saving for EDF scheduling and 49\% for RM scheduling with realistic task set configurations and reasonable machine specifications.

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


MPM: a hierarchical clustering algorithm using matrix partitioning method for non-numeric data Clustering has been widely adopted in numerous applications, including pattern recognition, data analysis, image processing, and market research. When performing data mining, traditional clustering algorithms which use distance-based measurements to calculate the difference between data are unsuitable for non-numeric attributes such as nominal, Boolean, and categorical data. Applying an unsuitable similarity measurement in clustering may cause some valuable information embedded in the data attributes to be lost, and hence low quality clusters will be created. This paper proposes a novel hierarchical clustering algorithm, referred to as MPM, for the clustering of non-numeric data. The goals of MPM are to retain the data features of interest while effectively grouping data objects into clusters with high intra-similarity and low inter-similarity. MPM achieves these goals through two principal methods: (1) the adoption of a novel similarity measurement which has the ability to capture the "characterized properties" of information, and (2) the application of matrix permutation and matrix participation partitioning to the results of the similarity measurement (constructed in the form of a similarity matrix) in order to assign data to appropriate clusters. This study also proposes a heuristic-based algorithm, the Heuristic_MPM, to reduce the processing times required for matrix permutation and matrix partitioning, which together constitute the bulk of the total MPM execution time.

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


The multiscenario lot size problem with concave costs The dynamic single-facility single-item lot size problem is addressed. The finite planning horizon is divided into several time periods. Although the total demand is assumed to be a fixed value, the distribution of this demand among the different periods is unknown. Therefore, for each period the demand can be chosen from a discrete set of values. For this reason, all the combinations of the demand vector yield a set of different scenarios. Moreover, we assume that the production/reorder and holding cost vectors can vary from one scenario to another. For each scenario, we consider as the objective function the sum of the production/reorder and the holding costs. The problem consists of determining all the Pareto-optimal or non-dominated production plans with respect to all scenarios. We propose a solution method based on a multiobjective branch and bound approach. Depending on whether shortages are considered or not, different upper bound sets are provided. Computational results on several randomly generated problems are reported.

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

inventory
multiple objective programming


Fault diagnosis of diesel engine based on adaptive wavelet packets and EEMD-fractal dimension Propose a novel method for signal processing using the integrated approach. Combine signal de-noising method with EEMD and CD for engine fault diagnosis. Present the role of noise reduction in CD computation. Present a comparative study of diagnosis results obtained from EMD and EEMD.

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

engine fault diagnosis
signal processing

adaptive wavelet threshold
ensemble empirical mode decomposition
correlation dimension


executable requirements for embedded systems An approach to requirements specification for embedded systems, based on constructing an executable model of the proposed system interacting with its environment, is proposed. The approach is explained, motivated, and related to data-oriented specification techniques. Portions of a specification language embodying it are introduced, and illustrated with an extended example in which the requirements for a process-control system are developed incrementally.

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

requirements
systems
model
specification language

requirements specification
process
data
examples
environments
embedded systems
control systems


Determination of critical buckling load for elastic columns of constant and variable cross-sections using variational iteration method In this paper, variational iteration method (VIM) is applied to the problem of determination of critical buckling loads for Euler columns with constant and variable cross-sections. VIM is a powerful method for the solution of nonlinear ordinary and partial differential equations and integral equations. Hence it is a suitable approach for the analysis of engineering problems where an exact solution is difficult to obtain. This study presents the application of VIM to various buckling cases and results are produced for columns with different support conditions and with different variation of cross-sections. The results obtained are accurate which show that variational iteration method is a very efficient technique in the analysis of elastic stability problems.

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

variational iteration method
buckling
elastic stability


Thermal curved boundary treatment for the thermal lattice Boltzmann equation In this paper, a recent curved non-slip wall boundary treatment for isothermal Lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE) [Z. Guo, C. Zheng and B. Shi, Phys. Fluids 14(6) (2002)] is extended to handle the thermal curved wall boundary for a double-population thermal lattice Boltzmann equation (TLBE). The unknown distribution population at a wall node which is necessary to fulfill streaming step is decomposed into its equilibrium and non-equilibrium parts. The equilibrium part is evaluated according to Dirichlet and Neumann boundary constraints, and the non-equilibrium part is obtained using a first-order extrapolation from fluid lattices. To validate the thermal boundary condition treatment, we carry out numerical simulations of Couette flow between two circular cylinders, the natural convection in a square cavity, and the natural convection in a concentric annulus between an outer square cylinder and an inner circular cylinder. The results agree very well with analytical solution or available data in the literature. Our numerical results also demonstrate that the TLBE together with the present boundary scheme is of second-order accuracy.

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

lattice boltzmann
thermal
curved boundary


Solving haplotype inference problem with non-genotyped founders via integer linear programming In Cheng et al. (Acta Math. Appl. Sin. (English Ser.), 25:475-486, 2009), the authors present a cubic time zero-recombination haplotyping algorithm that can handle some incomplete pedigrees. More specifically, the algorithm can handle pedigrees with non-genotyped founders, provided that for each nuclear family at least one parent is genotyped and each non-genotyped founder appears in at most one nuclear family. The importance of this lies in that such cases frequently happen in real data, because some founders may have passed away and their genotype data can no longer be collected. In this paper, we further generalize the above algorithm by removing the first restriction. We present a new integer linear programming based algorithm that handles pedigrees with non-genotyped founders. The new algorithm allows the pedigrees to have nuclear families where both parents are non-genotyped founders, provided that each non-genotyped founder appears in at most one nuclear family.

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

haplotype inference
integer linear programming


Supporting Awareness in Groupware through an Aspect-Oriented Middleware Service Solutions have been proposed to support awareness in groupware. Frequently, this requirement is fulfilled by similar functionalities that are implemented in different modules within these collaborative applications. These solutions usually represent crosscut concerns related to awareness by the use of object-oriented programming. As a result, tightly coupled components are generated as well as code redundancy and scattering. Flexibility and agility, related to awareness maintenance and evolution can be considered a challenge. This paper presents an awareness service named Aw2SOA, which was developed to support awareness functionalities in a Web-based Groupware Service-Oriented Architecture (WGWSOA) environment. The WGWSOA infrastructure is based on middleware services for collaborative applications. Aw2SOA is a middleware specific service which was implemented according to service-oriented architecture (SOA) principles and aspect-oriented programming (AOP) concepts. Case studies were carried out focusing on service integration activities as well as using groupware application development in order to evaluate this solution.

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

awareness
soa
groupware
middleware services


Quo vadis, data privacy? Society can gain much value from Big Data. We can study census data to learn where to allocate public resources, medical records from hospitals to fight diseases, or data about students and teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of various approaches to learning and teaching. In all of these scenarios, we need to limit statistical disclosure: we want to release accurate statistics about the data while preserving the privacy of the individuals who contributed it. This paper gives an overview of recent advances and open challenges in the field, focusing on methods that probably limit how much an adversary can learn from a data release.

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


remote attribute updating for language-based editors A major drawback to the use of attribute grammars in language-based editors has been that attributes can only depend on neighboring attributes in a program's syntax tree. This paper concerns new attribute-grammar-based methods that, for a suitable class of grammars, overcome this fundamental limitation. The techniques presented allow the updating algorithm to skip over arbitrarily large sections of the tree that more straightforward updating methods visit node by node. These techniques are then extended to deal with aggregate values, so that the attribute updating procedure need only follow dependencies due to a changed component of an aggregate value. Although our methods work only for a restricted class of attribute grammars, satisfying the necessary restrictions should not place an undue burden on the writer of the grammar.

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

place
value
tree
dependencies
use
values
aggregate
attributes
paper
algorithm
attribute grammars
class
grammar
component


Authoring Social-aware Tasks on Active Spaces Social-aware computing is an emerging trend based on ubiquitous computing technologies and collaborative work. A successful design demands a better understanding of group tasks, adaptation mechanisms and support for dynamic changes in a nomadic computing paradigm. This paper proposes the use of a hypermedia model to describe and support group activities in intelligent environments. The resulting system integrates adaptive context-aware information on the basis of user/group models in order to provide a structured access to dynamic task scheduling. In particular, we propose the use of the calendar metaphor as an ongoing connection between active spaces and collaborative tasks. This proposal provides the appropriate support for an easier human coordination to achieve common objectives in blended learning scenarios, and thus, extending authoring social tasks to physical spaces.

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 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

hypermedia authoring
collaboration
ambient intelligence
social-aware computing


The average running time of an algorithm as a midpoint between fuzzy sets In 2003, Nieto and Torres introduced the notions of segment and midpoint between fuzzy sets with the aim of giving applications to medicine [J.J. Nieto, A. Torres, Midpoints for fuzzy sets and their application in medicine, Artif. Intell. Med. 27 (2003) 81-101]. Since then the interest in the study of such concepts have grown significantly because of their applicability to model real problems where the solution can be associated with a range of "middle ways'' between two given positions. Recently, J. Casasnovas and F. Rosello have generalized the previous work of Nieto and Torres, giving an explicit description of segments and midpoints between fuzzy sets for, among others, the well-known weighted maximum distance [J. Casasnovas, F. Rosello, Averaging fuzzy biopolymers, Fuzzy Sets Syst. 152 (2005) 139-158].

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

fuzzy set
asymmetric distance
running time of computing


An accurate closed-expression model for FinFETs parasitic resistance Physical modeling and analysis of parasitic resistance in FinFETs. Modeling based in the real source and drain contact shapes. Model evaluation through experimental and three-dimensional simulation data.

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


Optimal shape error analysis of the matching image for a free-form surface When using an optical non-contact scanning system to measure an object that has a large surface, large curvature, or a full 360 profile, one can acquire only one set of sectional measurement points each time. For reconstructing the entire object, every set of sectional measurement points acquired at different positions must match. Therefore, the optimal shape error analysis for the matching image of two or more sets of sectional measurement points is desired. This paper presents a measurement system that combines two CCD cameras, one line laser and a three-axis motion stage. It forms an optical non-contact scanning system in association with the mathematical method of direct shape error analysis for the use in reverse engineering. This analysis and measurement system can be used for the profile measurements of free-form objects. It analyzes the matching image of a free-form surface with high efficiency and accuracy. The validity and applicability of this system are demonstrated by two practical examples.

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

surface fitting
image matching
optimization


L-class enumeration algorithms for a discrete production planning problem with interval resource quantities ? A discrete production planning problem which may be formulated as the multidimensional knapsack problem is considered, while resource quantities of the problem are supposed to be given as intervals. An approach for solving this problem based on using its relaxation set is suggested. Some L-class enumeration algorithms for the problem are described. Results of computational experiments are presented.

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

integer programming
interval data
regular partitions


offline partial evaluation for shift and reset This paper presents an offline partial evaluator for the ?-calculus with the delimited continuation constructs shift and reset . Based on Danvy and Filinski's type system for shift and reset, we first present a type system that specifies well-annotated terms. We then show a specializer that receives an annotated term and produces the output in continuation-passing style (CPS). The correctness of our partial evaluator is established using the technique of logical relations. Thanks to the explicit reference to the type of continuations, we can establish the correctness using the standard proof technique of structural induction, despite the fact that the specializer itself is written in CPS. The paper also shows an efficient constraint-based binding-time analysis as well as how to extend the present work to richer language constructs, such as recursion and conditionals.

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 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

logical relations
offline partial evaluation

binding-time analysis (bta)
continuation-passing style (cps)
delimited continuations
cps transformation


pointing without a pointer We present a method for performing selection tasks based on continuous control of multiple, competing agents who try to determine the user's intentions from their control behaviour without requiring an explicit pointer. The entropy in the selection process decreases in a continuous fashion -- we provide experimental evidence of selection from 500 initial targets. The approach allows adaptation over time to best make use of the multimodal communication channel between the human and the system. This general approach is well suited to mobile and wearable applications, shared displays and security conscious settings.

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

communication selection applications use human general evidence control method entropy process

point agent mobility wearability probabilistic intent timing pointers user sharing multimodality adapt experimentation systems secure display continuation


Queuing network of scale free topology: on modelling large scale network The analytical performance model of networks with scale free structure is studied in this paper. The key issue is the mathematical relation between the performance measure and the network structure. A stochastic model of closed queuing network (SQN) within which customer routing between queues may depend on the local information of complex network is presented. In the model, the complex network is decomposed into sub-networks with scale-free characteristics called SN. Given the rule of preferential attachment, the routing probabilities allowed are formulated by the rational functions of the degrees of various neighbors which reside within SN. It is proved that the introduction of these functions will preserve the product form of the equilibrium state distribution. The product form yields the convolution expression of normalizing constant accordingly. A recursive algorithm is adopted to solve the expression effectively. Therefore, the performance measures are presented based on the exact solution of the normalizing constant. Finally, the model is applied to the design and evaluation of communication infrastructure of real large-scale network deployed on Internet.

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

closed queuing network
complex network
product form


continuous software quality supervision using sourceinventory and columbus Several tools and methods for source code quality assurance based on static analysis finally reached a state when they are applicable in practice and recognized by the industry. However, most of these tools are used in an isolated manner and very rarely as organic parts of the quality assurance process. Furthermore, little or no help is provided in interpreting the outputs of these tools. This paper presents SourceInventory , a system for source code-based software quality assessment and monitoring, which is able to collect, store and present measurement data including metrics, coding problems and other kinds of data like bug numbers and test coverage information. It helps software developers, architects and managers to take control over their software's quality by performing continuous code scans, fault detection, coding style verification, architecture violation detection, and automatic report generation considering metric baselines.

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

continuous measurement
software metrics
static verification
bug detection


Complexity of unique list colorability Given a list L(nu) for each vertex nu, we say that the graph G is L-colorable if there is a proper vertex coloring of G where each vertex nu takes its color from L(nu). The graph is uniquely k-list colorable if there is a list assignment L such that vertical bar L(nu) vertical bar= k for every vertex nu and the graph has exactly one L-coloring with these lists. Mahdian and Mahmoodian [M. Mahdian, E.S. Mahmoodian, A characterization of uniquely 2-list colorable graphs, Ars Combin.51 (1999) 295-305] gave a polynomial-time characterization of uniquely 2-list colorable graphs. Answering an open question from [M. Ghebleh, E.S. Mahmoodian, On uniquely list colorable graphs, Ars Combin. 59 (2001) 307-318; M. Mahdian, E.S. Mahmoodian, A characterization of uniquely 2-list colorable graphs, Ars Combin. 51 (1999) 295-305], we show that uniquely 3-list colorable graphs are unlikely to have such a nice characterization, since recognizing these graphs is Sigma(p)(2)-complete. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

graph coloring
list coloring
unique coloring
polynomial hierarchy


from algebras to programming languages This paper gives an informal presentation of constructions which, when combined, enable one to construct high level programming languages from algebras or, equivalently, from collections of primitive operations on some set (e.g. from the arithmetic, vector and logical operations on the set of integers, integer vectors, and truth values). Using this approach one can construct languages with block structure, procedures, procedure calls by both name and value, plus essentially simpler concepts such as assignment statements and conditional transfers. The constructions are algebraic in the sense that they are constructions on algebras which yield new algebras. However, for the sake of comprehensibility, we present them in this paper in a more informal manner as constructions on black boxes. This paper is a continuation of work presented earlier in [3] and [4] and owes much to the joint work to be reported in [5].

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

yield value present structure values procedure assignment paper continuation informal

vectorization
language
collect
concept
operability
algebra
comprehension
blocking
programming language


Designing parity check matrix to achieve linear encoding time in LDPC codes Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have become the part of various communication standards due to their excellent error correcting performance. Existing methods require matrix inverse computation for obtaining a systematic generator matrix from parity check matrix. With the change in code rate or code length the process is repeated and hence, a large number of pre-processing computations time and resources are required. In the existing methods, the complexity of encoding is essentially quadratic with respect to the block length. In this paper, it is shown that the parity check matrix can be constructed using patterned sub-matrix structure such that the matrix inverse operation is replaced by matrix multiplication of sparse matrices. The sparseness of matrices is then utilized to obtain efficient encoders which can achieve encoding in real time with reduced pre-computation complexity. Hardware implementation of encoder and simulation results show that the proposed encoder achieves throughput in excess of 1 Gbps with the same error correcting performance as the conventional designs.

O O O O O O O O O O O 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 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

error correction coding
low-density parity-check codes
permutation matrix


A practical approach to the design and control of active endoscopes Actual endoscopes and boroscopes, widely used in industry and in minimal invasive surgery, have considerable limitations, mainly due to their low number of degrees of freedom and their manual operation Two different solutions for the electrical actuation of articulated endoscopes are presented in this paper. The technical constraints for this kind of application are very limited space for the actuators and high performance in terms of torque and angular reach The first solution classically consists in a 2 d o f structure steered by two pairs of antagonist shape memory alloy (SMA) wires. The sizing and preload determination for those actuators follow an original analytical approach. The second solution consists in a multi-d.o.f. structure actuated by thin NiTi springs mounted in an antagonist configuration and directly integrated in the structure of the endoscope The geometry of the springs is obtained by optimization through genetic algorithms and finite elements method. Experiments show good adequacy between real behaviour and numerical model and also validate the approach This study is also enhanced by a control scheme specifically developed for SMA actuators in an antagonist configuration. It is based on a first order sliding mode scheme, which has the advantage of a great structural simplicity. The experimental results show that this solution can reach a good compromise between the dynamic behaviour of the actuator, its energy consumption and the structural lifetime of the endoscope (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

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

minimal invasive surgery
genetic algorithms

active endoscope
shape memory alloys
sliding mode control