An information retrieval model based on vector space method by supervised learning This paper proposes a method to improve retrieval performance of the vector space model (VSM) in part by utilizing user-supplied information of those documents that are relevant to the query in question. In addition to the user's relevance feedback information, information such as original document similarities is incorporated into the retrieval model, which is built by using a sequence of linear transformations. High-dimensional and sparse vectors are then reduced by singular value decomposition (SVD) and transformed into a low-dimensional vector space, namely the space representing the latent semantic meanings of words. The method has been tested with two test collections, the Medline collection and the Cranfield collection. In order to train the model, multiple partitions are created for each collection. Improvement of average precision of the averages over all partitions, compared with the latent semantic indexing (LSI) model, are 20.57% (Medline) and 22.23% (Cranfield) for the two training data sets, and 0.47% (Medline) and 4.78% (Cranfield) for the test data, respectively. The proposed method provides an approach that makes it possible to preserve user-supplied relevance information for the long term in the system in order to use it later.

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

information retrieval
supervised learning
vector space model
relevance feedback
singular value decomposition


Effect of team diversity on software project performance Purpose - This research seeks to investigate the relationship between knowledge diversity (KD) in software teams and project performance. Previous research has shown that member diversity affects team performance; most of that work, however, has focused on diversity in personal or social attributes, such as gender or social category. Current research targets at the knowledge level aim to facilitate the implementation of knowledge management in organizations. Design/methodology/approach - A research framework was developed based on conflict theory and empirically tested on software teams in Taiwan. Findings - It was found that KD increases task conflict, which in turn has significant positive effects on team performance and that value diversity (VD) increases relationship conflict, which in turn negatively affects team performance. Research limitations/implications - The findings indicate that task conflict can enhance team performance, while relationship conflict can reduce team performance. Therefore, it is important to maintain healthy relationships among team members. Practical implications - This research concludes that KD is beneficial and that VD is harmful to project outcome in software development. It is, therefore, useful for managers to form teams whose members encompass a broad knowledge base. Originality/value - This paper proposes a novel way to measure knowledge and VD in teams and reports the effects of these attributes on team performance. The work also shows that a proper level of task conflict in a software team is necessary for achieving high performance.

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


Approximate decoding for network coded inter-dependent data In this paper, we consider decoding of loss tolerant data encoded by network coding and transmitted over error-prone networks. Intermediate network nodes typically perform the random linear network coding in a Galois field and a Gaussian elimination is used for decoding process in the terminal nodes. In such settings, conventional decoding approaches can unfortunately not reconstruct any encoded data unless they receive at least as many coded packets as the original number of packets. In this paper, we rather propose to exploit the incomplete data at a receiver without major modifications to the conventional decoding architecture. We study the problem of approximate decoding for inter-dependent sources where the difference between source vectors is characterized by a unimodal distribution. We propose a mode-based algorithm for approximate decoding, where the mode of the source data distribution is used to reconstruct source data. We further improve the mode-based approximate decoding algorithm by using additional short information that is referred to as position similarity information (PSI). We analytically study the impact of PSI size on the approximate decoding performance and show that the optimal size of PSI can be determined based on performance requirements of applications. The proposed approach has been tested in an illustrative example of data collection in sensor networks. The simulation results confirm the benefits of approximate decoding for inter-dependent sources and further show that 93.3% of decoding errors are eliminated when the approximate decoding uses appropriate PSI.

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

inter-dependence source
ad hoc networks
loss-tolerant data


event-based approach to money laundering data analysis and visualization Crime specific event patterns are crucial in detecting potential relationships among suspects in criminal networks. However, current link analysis tools commonly used in detection do not utilize such patterns for detecting various types of crimes. These analysis tools usually provide generic functions for all types of crimes and heavily rely on the user's expertise on the domain knowledge of the crime for successful detection. As a result, they are less effective in detecting patterns in certain crimes. In addition, substantial effort is also required for analyzing vast amount of crime data and visualizing the structural views of the entire criminal network. In order to alleviate these problems, an event-based approach to money laundering data analysis and visualization is proposed in this paper. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated on a money laundering case from Taiwan.

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

crime detection
event-based data analysis


Brain Imaging Studies in Mood and Anxiety Disorders Human studies attempting to elucidate brain functioning in health and disease are crucial for our understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders. In the past, scientists relied heavily on neurological lesion studies to understand the functional roles of brain areas. In the last few decades, brain imaging research has made it possible to investigate the molecular and synaptic neuronal events as well as the functioning of neuronal networks in vivo, in patients with neuropsychiatric illnesses. In this context, the functional role of the amygdala has been a focus of neuroimaging studies by leading researchers. Several of these researchers presented papers at a conference, entitled The Amygdala in Brain Function

B I 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 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

pet
mri
fmri
mrs
depression
bipolar disorder
ptsd
panic disorder
phobia
ocd


Fast global and partial reflective symmetry analyses using boundary surfaces of mechanical components ? An approach to global and local reflective symmetry analyses for B-Rep CAD models. Use of a divide-and-conquer principle over the B-Rep faces as atomic entities. The symmetry accuracy obtained is of the order of the CAD kernel modeling accuracy. The process time is very low, and compatible with users interactions.

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

local symmetry
b-rep cad model
cad/cam
divide-and-conquer


a multi-expertise application-driven class In this paper we report on our experience of teaching a multi-expertise application-driven course in which upper-level undergraduate and entry-level graduate students from computer science, computer graphics technology, and educational science worked together to design, develop and evaluate a distance learning system. We describe the activities pursued in the class, the interactions between the various groups of students, as well as the challenges and advantages ensuing from the great variety of student backgrounds. The success of the course is measured in two ways. First, the class achieved the goal of building a distance learning system that surpasses the state of the art by improving the integration of the remote students into regular on-campus learning. Second, a survey conducted at the end of the course indicates that the application-driven, collaborative, and multi-expertise structure of the class provided a uniquely effective learning experience.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 information management system for forecasting environmental change Predicting environmental change give policy makers indications for a better allocation of natural, economic and social resources. Intensive use of these resources may lead to unpredictable results due to the highly non-deterministic characteristics of environmental data. An integrated model using Remote Sensing, Geographic Information System and Artificial Neural Network is proposed in order to assess possible causal relationships that lead to environmental modifications.

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

information management system
forecasting
environmental change
remote sensing
geographic information system
artificial neural network


A hybrid approach to self-management in a pervasive service middleware Self-management capabilities for pervasive computing systems are critical in improving dependability, usability, and autonomicity. However, realizing self-management is not an easy task due to complexities of implementing autonomous behaviors. It has been recognized that a single autonomicity handling mechanism is not sufficient to realize comprehensive self-management capabilities when different technologies are involved. Therefore, we propose a hybrid approach, the LinkSmart Three Layered architectural (LinkSmart-3L) style, in which different architecture styles are incorporated. The LinkSmart-3L style enables self-management at an architectural level. In our approach, semantic web technologies are used to achieve comprehensive context-awareness and extensibility of self-management capabilities, genetic algorithms are used to achieve configuration optimizations, and a planner is used to compute planning procedures on how to arrive at an optimum system configuration based on current architectural structure of the underlying system using an architectural query language. These technologies are integrated seamlessly based on the service oriented computing (SoC) paradigm. We have extensively evaluated both runtime and development time qualities of our implementation of the style. These evaluations can serve as guidelines for evaluating other middleware systems. We conclude that our approach is usable and effective in achieving these quality attributes.

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

self-management
architectural styles
component control
goal management
change management


a physical notice board with digital logic and display A physical notice board is augmented with digital capabilities to provide additional functionality. The notice board retains its form factor, and when used with interactive pins with controllable lights it can be used to signal to the user information about the state of documents posted on the board. Both board and augmented pins are easy to deploy and cheap to produce.

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

pin&play
notice boards
interactive surfaces
physical interfaces


Gene Targeting Reveals Multiple Essential Functions of the Neuregulin Signaling System during Development of the Neuroendocrine and Nervous Systems Mice harboring targeted mutations in neuregulin-1 and its receptors (erbB2, erbB3, and erbB4) have been invaluable tools for testing the roles of these genes in vivo as well as for identifying unexpected functions for this signaling system. This review summarizes the advances in understanding the myriad functions of neuregulins in the nervous and neuroendocrine systems that have been revealed by examining gene-targeted mice.

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

peripheral nervous system
central nervous system
neuroendocrine system


Existence and computation of low Kronecker-rank approximations for large linear systems of tensor product structure In this paper we construct an approximation to the solution x of a linear system of equations Ax = b of tensor product structure as it typically arises for finite element and finite difference discretisations of partial differential operators on tensor grids. For a right-hand side b of tensor product structure we can prove that the solution x can be approximated by a SUM of phi(log(epsilon)(2)) tensor product vectors where E is the relative approximation error. Numerical examples for systems of size 1024(256) indicate that this method is suitable for high-dimensional problems.

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

data-sparse approximation
sylvester equation
low rank approximation
kronecker product
high-dimensional problems


Hybrid Associative Flash Translation Layer for the Performance Optimization of Chip-Level Parallel Flash Memory Flash memory is used widely in the data storage market, particularly low-price MultiLevel Cell (MLC) flash memory, which has been adopted by large-scale storage systems despite its low performance. To overcome the poor performance of MLC flash memory, a system architecture has been designed to optimize chip-level parallelism. This design increases the size of the page unit and the block unit, thereby simultaneously executing operations on multiple chips. Unfortunately, its Flash Translation Layer (FTL) generates many unused sectors in each page, which leads to unnecessary write operations. Furthermore, it reuses an earlier log block scheme, although it generates many erase operations because of its low space utilization. To solve these problems, we propose a hybrid associative FTL (Hybrid-FTL) to enhance the performance of the chip-level parallel flash memory system. Hybrid-FTL reduces the number of write operations by utilizing all of the unused sectors. Furthermore, it reduces the overall number of erase operations by classifying data as hot, cold, or fragment data. Hybrid-FTL requires less mapping information in the DRAM and in the flash memory compared with previous FTL algorithms.

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

design
performance
flash memory
flash translation layer

solid state drive
endurance
write amplification


Hybrid modes in cooperating distributed grammar systems: combining the t-mode with the modes <= k and =k We continue our research on hybrid derivation modes of cooperating distributed (CD) grammar systems started in (Fernau et al., Proc. 3rd Internal. Conf. Developments in Language Theory, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 1997, pp. 261-272; Theoret. Comput. Sci. 259 (2001) 405). Here, we focus on (hybrid) systems with context-free components working in a hybrid t- and Deltak-mode, Delta is an element of {less than or equal to, =}. We prove that CD grammar systems working in the mode (t Lambda =1), which means that each component cannot perform more than one derivation step in a row, characterize the context-free programmed languages with finite index. Moreover, we show that additional external hybridization of this mode with, e.g., the =1-mode (or =2-mode, respectively) leads to a characterization of the context-free ordered languages (or the context-free programmed languages with appearance checking, respectively). In particular, hybrid CD grammar systems with classical and internally hybrid modes have universal computational power, a result which is unknown for hybrid CD grammar systems whose components work only in classical modes, since such systems are computationally equivalent to recurrent programmed grammars with appearance checking, as shown in (Theoret. Computer. Sci. 259 (2001) 405). Furthermore, we obtain a characterization of ordered languages within the framework of CD grammar systems. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

grammar systems
hybrid modes
programmed grammars


Coloring based approach for matching unrooted and/or unordered trees ? We consider the problem of matching unrooted unordered labeled trees, which refers to the task of evaluating the distance between trees. One of the most famous formalizations of this problem is the computation of the edit distance defined as the minimum-cost sequence of edit operations that transform one tree into another. Unfortunately, this problem has been proved to be NP-complete. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm to measure distance between unrooted unordered labeled trees. This algorithm uses a specific graph coloring to decompose the trees into small components (stars and bistars). Then, it determines a distance between two trees by computing the edit distance between their components. We prove that the proposed distance is a pseudo-metric and we analyze its time complexity. Our experimental evaluations on large synthetic and real world datasets confirm our analytical results and suggest that the distance we propose is accurate and its algorithm is scalable.

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

graph matching
unrooted tree
unordered tree


A Survey of Context Data Distribution for Mobile Ubiquitous Systems The capacity to gather and timely deliver to the service level any relevant information that can characterize the service-provisioning environment, such as computing resources/capabilities, physical device location, user preferences, and time constraints, usually defined as context-awareness, is widely recognized as a core function for the development of modern ubiquitous and mobile systems. Much work has been done to enable context-awareness and to ease the diffusion of context-aware services; at the same time, several middleware solutions have been designed to transparently implement context management and provisioning in the mobile system. However, to the best of our knowledge, an in-depth analysis of the context data distribution, namely, the function in charge of distributing context data to interested entities, is still missing. Starting from the core assumption that only effective and efficient context data distribution can pave the way to the deployment of truly context-aware services, this article aims at putting together current research efforts to derive an original and holistic view of the existing literature. We present a unified architectural model and a new taxonomy for context data distribution by considering and comparing a large number of solutions. Finally, based on our analysis, we draw some of the research challenges still unsolved and identify some possible directions for future work.

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

context data distribution infrastructure


using evolutionary algorithms and dynamic programming to solve uncertain multi-criteria optimization problems with application to lifetime management for military platforms Microelectronics are typically critical components in a military platform, some of which may become obsolete, before the equipment life cycle end. Obsolete components may be required for a number of reasons. Components can become obsolete even before production of a platform commences. The selection of solutions for resolving obsolete components throughout a platform can be considered as a multi-criteria optimization problem where the aim is to select the most cost effective solutions for resolving a portfolio of obsolescence arisings. In this paper we consider the case where the criteria with which the options are evaluated are not point values, but probability distributions generated by a Bayesian Belief Network. We propose the use of an evaluation technique called measures of effectiveness (MOE), that can capture and use the probabilistic information associated with potential solutions. This is used with two candidate optimization techniques, Dynamic Programming (DP) and Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs), to identify cost effective solutions for resolving obsolescent components throughout a platform. Both optimization techniques were able to identify a number of solutions at different cost and MOE levels; the solutions that form the DP Pareto front dominate very slightly in places those that form the EA Pareto front.

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


Establishing connectivity among disjoint terminals using a mix of stationary and mobile relays In multiple application scenarios, need arises to connect a set of disjoint nodes or segments. Examples include connecting a sparsely located data sources, repairing a partitioned network topology after failure, and federating a set of standalone networks to serve an emerging event. Contemporary solutions either deploy stationary relay nodes (RN) to form data paths or employ one or multiple mobile data carriers (MDCs) that pick packets from sources and transport them to destinations. In this paper we investigate the interconnection problem when the number of available RNs is insufficient for forming a stable topology and a mix of RNs and MDCs is to be used. We present a novel algorithm for determining where the RNs are to be placed and planning optimized travel paths for the MDCs so that the data delivery latency as well as the MDC motion overhead are minimized. The performance of the algorithm is validated through simulation. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

repairing partitioned topology
federating disjoint network segments
relay node placement


The simulated evolution of biochemical guilds: Reconciling Gaia theory and natural selection Gaia theory, which states that organisms both affect and regulate their environment, poses an interesting problem to Neo-Darwinian evolutionary biologists and provides an exciting set of phenomena for artificial-life investigation. The key challenge is to explain the emergence of biotic communities that are capable, via their implicit coordination, of regulating large-scale biogeochemical factors such as the temperature and chemical composition of the biosphere, but to assume no evolutionary mechanisms beyond contemporary natural selection. Along with providing an introduction to Gaia. theory, this article presents simulations of Gaian emergence based on an artificial-lift model in involving genetic algorithms and guilds of simple metabolizing agents. In these simulations, resource competition leads to guild diversity; the ensemble of guilds then manifests life-sustaining nutrient recycling and exerts distributed control over environmental nutrient ratios. These results illustrate that standard individual-based natural selection is sufficient to explain Gaian self-organization, and they help clarify rile relationships between two key metrics of Gaian activity: recycling and regulation.

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

gaia theory
emergence
genetic algorithms


Locally identifying coloring in bounded expansion classes of graphs ? A proper vertex coloring of a graph is said to be locally identifying if the sets of colors in the closed neighborhood of any two adjacent non-twin vertices are distinct. The lid-chromatic number of a graph is the minimum number of colors used by a locally identifying vertex-coloring. In this paper, we prove that for any graph class of bounded expansion, the lid-chromatic number is bounded. Classes of bounded expansion include minor closed classes of graphs. For these latter classes, we give an alternative proof to show that the lid-chromatic number is bounded. This leads to an explicit upper bound for the lid-chromatic number of planar graphs. This answers in a positive way a question of Esperet etal. [L. Esperet, S. Gravier, M. Montassier, P. Ochem, A. Parreau, Locally identifying coloring of graphs, Electron. J. Combin. 19 (2) (2012)].

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

minor-closed classes
locally identifying chromatic number


Bridging the gap between the Kodak and the Flickr generations: A novel interaction technique for collocated photo sharing Passing around stacks of paper photographs while sitting around a table is one of the key social practices defining what is commonly referred to as the Kodak Generation. Due to the way digital photographs are stored and handled, this practice does not translate well to the Flickr Generation, where collocated photo sharing often involves the (wireless) transmission of a photo from one mobile device to another. In order to facilitate cross-generation sharing without enforcing either practice, it is desirable to bridge this gap in a way that incorporates familiar aspects of both. In this paper, we discuss a novel interaction technique that addresses some of the constraints introduced by current communication technology, and that enables photo sharing in a way, which resembles the passing of stacks of paper photographs. This technique is based on dynamically generated spatial regions around mobile devices and has been evaluated through two user studies. The results we obtained indicate that our technique is easy to learn and as fast, or faster than, current technology such as transmitting photos between devices using Bluetooth. In addition, we found evidence of different sharing techniques influencing social practice around photo sharing. The use of our technique resulted in a more inclusive and group-oriented behavior in contrast to Bluetooth photo sharing, which resulted in a more fractured setting composed of sub-groups.

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

collocated groups
mobile phone
visuospatial interaction


Identification of biological tissue using chirped probe THz imaging We consider the application of pulsed THz imaging systems in biomedical diagnostics and mail/packaging inspection. The sub-millimetre spectroscopic measurements obtained from T-ray systems contain a wealth of information about the sample under test. We demonstrate that different types of tissue can be classified based on their terahertz response measured with the chirped probe pulse technique. We demonstrate the performance of a quadratic classifier using linear filter models for feature extraction in the discrimination between different tissues. Modern THz systems are hindered by the slow acquisition speed. The chirped probe pulse technique offers a significant improvement in this context. We present the terahertz responses of biological samples measured using a chirped probe pulse, and discuss the problem of data processing and extracting sample characteristics.

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

t-ray imaging
chirped pulse
linear-filter modelling
classification


A fast, non-iterative and exact histogram matching algorithm A fast, non-iterative algorithm is presented for transforming an image so as to give it exactly a given target histogram. This is achieved for any original and target histogram combinations and examples of results are given in addition to a comparison with applying the earth mover's distance (EMD) method to this task.

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

image characteristics
exact histogram specification
non-iterative image transformation


Inductive modulated calorimetry: analytical model versus numerical simulation Purpose - To evaluate assumptions relevance of an analytical heat flow model used in indirect measurement of heat capacity and thermal conductivity by the modulated calorimetry technique. Design/methodology/approach - Assumptions are tested by comparing analytical prediction to numerical simulation results. Findings - This study validates the analytical model for a solid sample. Research limitations/implications - This research only focuses on solid samples. Originality/value - This paper allows a broader study on the relevance of modulated calorimetry on liquid samples.

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


Mining relational patterns from multiple relational tables In this paper, we present the concept of relational patterns and our approach to extract them from multiple relational tables. Relational patterns are analogous to frequent itemsets extracted by the Apriori algorithm [R. Agrawal, H. Mannila, R. Srikant, H. Toivonen, A.I. Verkamo, Advances in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, AAAI Press, 1995.] in the case of a single table. However, for the multiple relational tables, relational patterns capture co-occurrences of attributes as well as the relationships between these attributes, which are essential to avoid information loss. We describe our experiences from a test-bed implementation of our approach on a real hospital's discharge abstract database. This process raised issues, which were then implemented in order to enhance an analyst's ability to explore patterns while preventing high diversity and abundance of available data from blurring subtle patterns of interest. Finally, we evaluate the usefulness of relational patterns in the context of the discharge abstract data as well in other possible domains.

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


AutoGrow 3.0: An improved algorithm for chemically tractable, semi-automated protein inhibitor design We here present an improved version of AutoGrow (version 3.0), an evolutionary algorithm that works in conjunction with existing open-source software to automatically optimize candidate ligands for predicted binding affinity and other druglike properties. Though no substitute for the medicinal chemist, AutoGrow 3.0, unlike its predecessors, attempts to introduce some chemical intuition into the automated optimization process. AutoGrow 3.0 uses the rules of click chemistry to guide optimization, greatly enhancing synthesizability. Additionally, the program discards any growing ligand whose physical and chemical properties are not druglike. By carefully crafting chemically feasible druglike molecules, we hope that AutoGrow 3.0 will help supplement the chemist's efforts. To demonstrate the utility of the program, we use AutoGrow 3.0 to generate predicted inhibitors of three important drug targets: Trypanosoma brucei RNA editing ligase 1, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, and dihydrofolate reductase. In all cases, AutoGrow generates druglike molecules with high predicted binding affinities. AutoGrow 3.0 is available free of charge (http://autogrow.ucsd.edu) under the terms of the GNU General Public License and has been tested on Linux and Mac OS X. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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


The optimal linear transformation-based fMRI feature space analysis This paper proposes a method of extending the optimal linear transformation (OLT), an image analysis technique of feature space, from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) so as to improve the activation detection performance over conventional approaches of fMRI analysis. The method was: (1) ideal hemodynamic responses for different stimuli were generated by convolving the theoretical hemodynamic response model with the stimulus timing, (2) considering the ideal hemodynamic responses as hypothetical signature vectors for different activity patterns of interest, OLT was used to extract the features of fMRI data. The resultant feature space had particular geometric clustering properties. It was then classified into different groups, each pertaining to an activity pattern of interest; the applied signature vector for each group was obtained by averaging, (3) using the applied signature vectors, OLT was applied again to generate fMRI composite images with high SNRs for the desired activity patterns. Simulations and a blocked fMRI experiment were employed to validate the proposed method. The simulation and the experiment results indicated the proposed method was capable of improving some conventional methods to be more sensitive to activations, having strong contrast between activations and inactivations, and being more valid for complex activity patterns.

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

functional magnetic resonance imaging (fmri)


A neural network implementation of a saliency map model The saliency map model proposed by Itti and Koch [Itti, L., & Koch, C. (2000). A saliency-based search mechanism for overt and covert shifts of visual attention. Vision Research, 40, 14891506] has been a popular model for explaining the guidance of visual attention using only bottom-up information. In this paper we expand Itti and Kochs model and propose how it could be implemented by neural networks with biologically realistic dynamics. In particular, we show that by incorporating synaptic depression into the model, network activity can be normalized and competition within the feature maps can be regulated in a biologically plausible manner. Furthermore, the dynamical nature of our model permits further analysis of the time course of saliency computation, and also allows the model to calculate saliency for dynamic visual scenes. In addition to explaining the high saliency of pop-out targets in visual search tasks, our model explains attentional grab by sudden-onset stimuli, which was not accounted for by previous models.

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

saliency map
neural network
visual search
synaptic depression


EgoSpaces: Facilitating rapid development of context-aware mobile applications Today's mobile applications require constant adaptation to their changing environments, or contexts. Technological advances have increased the pervasiveness of mobile computing devices such as laptops, handhelds, and embedded sensors. The sheer amount of context information available for adaptation places a heightened burden on application developers as they must manage and utilize vast amounts of data from diverse sources. Facilitating programming in this data-rich environment requires a middleware that provides context information to applications in an abstract form. In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility of such a middleware that allows programmers to focus on high-level interactions among programs and to employ declarative abstract context specifications in settings that exhibit transient interactions with opportunistically encountered components. We also discuss the novel context-aware abstractions the middleware provides and the programming knowledge necessary to write applications using it. Finally, we provide examples demonstrating the infrastructure's ability to support differing tasks from a wide variety of application domains.

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

context-awareness
mobile ad hoc networks
programming abstraction


Dynamic Load Balancing and Job Replication in a Global-Scale Grid Environment: A Comparison Global-scale grids provide a massive source of processing power, providing the means to support processor intensive parallel applications. The strong burstiness and unpredictability of the available processing and network resources raise the strong need to make applications robust against the dynamics of grid environments. The two main techniques that are most suitable to cope with the dynamic nature of the grid are Dynamic Load Balancing (DLB) and job replication (JR). In this paper, we analyze and compare the effectiveness of these two approaches by means of trace-driven simulations. We observe that there exists an easy-to-measure statistic Y and a corresponding threshold value Y*, such that DLB consistently outperforms JR when Y > Y*, whereas the reverse is true for Y < Y*. Based on this observation, we propose a simple and easy-to-implement approach, throughout referred to as the DLB/JR method, that can make dynamic decisions about whether to use DLB or JR. Extensive simulations based on a large set of real data monitored in a global-scale grid show that our DLB/JR method consistently performs at least as good as both DLB and JR in all circumstances, which makes our DLB/JR method highly robust against the unpredictable nature of global-scale grids.

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


Decision making to solve multiple criteria optimization problems in computer networks The paper presents two new parallel solution strategies to solve complex multiple criteria problems by applying a computer network. The multiple criteria problem is iterated by selecting interactively different weight coefficients of the criteria. The process is organized by designating the computers as the master and the slaves. The experimental trials have been carried out to compare the effect of the designed strategies depending on the number of computers and experience of the researcher solving this optimization problem. The essence of the investigation is distribution of Jobs between the researcher and computer.

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


An efficient and secure agent code distribution service Mobile agents (MAs) are autonomous computing entities that dwell in agent platforms and have the ability to move to different locations as needed They are typically composed of code, data, and a state The performance of MA migrations is always penalized by the need of carrying these components to each visited location In contrast to the agent data and state, the agent code is static during the whole agent life Therefore, optimizing the agent code management, the agent migration performance can be improved The main contribution of this article is the definition of a global cache service has been developed, and its benefits have been extensively demonstrated by a set of performance tests carried out in different scenarios Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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

mobile agents
code distribution
performance


Gaussian message passing-based cooperative localization on factor graph in wireless networks A distributed cooperative localization based on message passing is proposed in the paper. Gaussian parametric messages are utilized to represent the messages on factor graph to reduce the communication overhead. Relying on the linearization on the nonlinear observation functions, messages are derived with Gaussian forms, which leads to efficient computations. To further reduce the communication overhead, a broadcast message scheme is considered. The proposed algorithm reaches superior performance compared to the SPAWN, EKF and ML.

O O O B I O B I 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 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

cooperative localization
factor graph
wireless networks


tractable negotiation in tree-structured domains Multiagent resource allocation is a timely and exciting area of research at the interface of Computer Science and Economics. One of the main challenges in this area is the high complexity of negotiation. In particular, the complexity of the task of identifying rational deals, i.e. deals that are beneficial for all participants, often hinders the successful transfer of theoretical results to practical applications. To address this issue, we propose several protocols designed to tame the complexity of negotiation by exploiting structural properties of the utility functions used by agents to model their preferences over alternative bundles of resources. In particular, we consider domains where utility functions are k-additive (that is, synergies between different resources are restricted to bundles of at most k items) and tree-structured in the sense that the bundles for which there are synergies do not overlap. We show how protocols exploiting these properties can allow for drastically simplified negotiation processes.

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

negotiation
multiagent resource allocation


MODIFIED ASPHALT FROM DOMESTIC WASTE OLD PLASTIC By in house experiment a study is made on the asphalt modifying agent made from plastic basin, stool and bucket so on domestic waste plastic and the effect of modifying asphalt. The result shows: (I) the modifying agent made of waste plastic can considerably improve softening point of asphalt and reduce needle penetration; (2) for the modifying asphalt made from waste plastic by different making method its storage stability differs and PMA modifying asphalt made from waste plastic grain by plastic extruder has severe segregation and poor storage stability. But the PMB waste plastic modifier specially made under given study can not only improve the high temperature stability of asphalt but also no segregation of modifying asphalt and has sound storage stability; (3) Waste plastic can apparently improve the degree of stability of asphalt mixture and the effect of stability degree improvement of PMB is better than that of PMA and the improvement of flow value is not obvious. The achievement of study has referential application value for reuse of waste plastic and improvement of asphalt road pavement performance.

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

waste and old plastic
marshell stability test


Adaptive quantized target tracking in wireless sensor networks This paper addresses target tracking in wireless sensor networks (WSN) where the observed system is assumed to evolve according to a probabilistic state space model. We propose to improve the use of the variational filtering (VF) by optimally quantizing the data collected by the sensors. Recently, VF has been proved to be suitable to the communication constraints of WSN. Its efficiency relies on the fact that the online update of the filtering distribution and its compression are executed simultaneously. However, this problem has been used only for binary sensor networks neglecting the transmission energy consumption in a WSN and the information relevance of sensor measurements. Our proposed method is intended to jointly estimate the target position and optimize the quantization level under fixed and variable transmitting power. At each sampling instant, the adaptive method provides not only the estimate of the target position by using the VF but gives also the optimal number of quantization bits per observation. The adaptive quantization is achieved by minimizing the predicted CramrRao bound if the transmitting power is constant for all sensors, and optimizing the power scheduling under distortion constraint if this power is variable. The computation of the predicted CramrRao bound is based on the target position predictive distribution provided by the VF algorithm. The proposed adaptive quantization scheme suggests that the sensors with bad channels or poor observation qualities should decrease their quantization resolutions or simply become inactive in order to save energy.

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

wireless sensor networks
variational filtering
adaptive method
cramrrao bound


A branch-and-bound algorithm for single machine scheduling with quadratic earliness and tardiness penalties This paper considers the problem of scheduling a single machine, in which the objective function is to minimize the weighted quadratic earliness and tardiness penalties and no machine idle time is allowed. We develop a branch and bound algorithm involving the implementation of lower and upper bounding procedures as well as some dominance rules. The lower bound is designed based on a lagrangian relaxation method and the upper bound includes two phases, one for constructing initial schedules and the other for improving them. Computational experiments on a set of randomly generated instances show that one of the proposed heuristics, used as an upper bound, has an average gap less than 1.3% for instances optimally solved. The results indicate that both the lower and upper bounds are very tight and the branch-and-bound algorithm is the first algorithm that is able to optimally solve problems with up to 30 jobs in a reasonable amount of time.

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

scheduling
single machine
quadratic earliness and tardiness


extracting moving regions from spatial data We provide an algorithm that can construct a valid moving region from snapshots of a region in time. Our algorithm is robust in the sense that given valid input regions, the generated moving region will define a valid region at every instant over the given time period.

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


Convergence properties of a new technique for estimating parameters in a nonlinear viscoelastic lung model in newborns The aim of this study was to develop a new technique to estimate parameters (airway resistance, inertance, tissue damping, and elastance; RIGH) of a viscoelastic lung model. The nonlinear RIGH-model was linearized by re-parametrization (model linearization, ML), and the parameters were calculated by one-dimensional line search of least-squares estimations. The convergence properties, the number of iterations, and computing time were compared between different search algorithms using the frequency responses of small animals and infants without and with added noise. While all of the algorithms converged in case of undisturbed frequency responses, only two algorithms converged in case of noise. ML provided always the lowest number of iterations and the shortest computing times. ML allows for reliable and accurate parameter estimation of the RIGH model.

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

lung mechanics
viscoelastic model
forced oscillation techniques


Optimal control for SIRC epidemic outbreak In this paper the mathematical SIRC epidemic model is considered. It efficiently describes diseases in which a cross immune class (C) is present, along with the susceptible (S), the infected (I) and the removed (R) ones. Controlling epidemic diseases corresponds to the introduction of vaccination, quarantine and treatment strategies; generally only one of these actions is considered. In this paper the possibility of optimal controls both over the susceptible and the infected subjects is assumed, taking into account also limitations of resources. A suitable cost index is introduced and via the Pontryagin's Minimum Principle the optimal control strategy is determined and the existence of the optimal solution is assessed. Numerical results are developed analyzing the effects of different control strategies.

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

epidemic models
sirc model
optimization
system analysis


Inhibition of Self-Renewal and Induction of Neural Differentiation by PACAP in Neural Progenitor Cells Several lines of evidence have suggested roles for pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) in the developing nervous system. Previously, we showed that mRNA for PACAP, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), and their three receptor subtypes, is differentially expressed in embryonic stem (ES) cells, ES cell-derived, neural stem cell-enriched cultures, and differentiated neurons, by using the five steps of the in vitro neuronal culture model of ES cell differentiation. Here, we examined the effects of PACAP on self-renewal and cell lineage determination of neural progenitor/stem cells. PACAP inhibited the basic fibroblast growth factor-induced proliferation (self-renewal), as assessed by neurosphere formation. PACAP increased microtubule-associated protein 2-positive neurons without affecting the number of cells positive for the neural stem cell marker nestin, astrocyte marker glial fibrillary acidic protein, and oligodendrocyte marker CNPase. These results suggest that PACAP inhibits self-renewal but, instead, induces early neuronal differentiation of neural progenitor cells

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

differentiation
neural progenitor cells
neurons
pacap


Good news: Partitioning a simple polygon by compass directions Motivated by geographic information retrieval, we study the problem of partitioning a simple polygon into four parts that can be considered as the North, East, West, and South. We list criteria for such partitionings, propose formalizations into geometric problems, and give efficient algorithms. An implementation and tests on country outlines show the results for three different partitionings.

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

equal-area partitioning
spatial information retrieval


The hierarchical model for load balancing on two machines Following previous work, we consider the hierarchical load balancing model on two machines of possibly different speeds. We first focus on maximizing the minimum machine load and show that no competitive algorithm exists for this problem. We overcome this barrier in two ways, both related to previously known models. The first one is fractional assignment, where each job can be arbitrarily split between the machines. The second one is a semi-online model where the sum of jobs is known in advance. We design algorithms of best possible competitive ratios for both these cases. Furthermore, we show that the combination of the two models leads to the existence of an optimal algorithm (i.e., an algorithm of competitive ratio 1). This algorithm is clearly optimal for the makespan minimization problem as well. For the latter problem, we consider the fractional assignment model and design an algorithm of best possible competitive ratio for it.

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

online algorithms
scheduling
restricted assignment
hierarchical machines


A fixed-parameter tractability result for multicommodity demand flow in trees We study an NP-hard (and MaxSNP-hard) problem in trees-MULTICOMMODITY DEMAND FLOW-dealing with demand flows between pairs of nodes and trying to maximize the value of the routed flows. This problem has been intensively studied for trees as well as for general graphs mainly from the viewpoint of polynomial-time approximation algorithms. By way of contrast, we provide an exact dynamic programming algorithm for this problem that works well whenever some natural problem parameter is small, a reasonable assumption in several applications. More specifically, we prove fixed-parameter tractability with respect to the maximum number of the input flows at any tree node. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

combinatorial problems
graph algorithms
np-hard problems
exact algorithms
fixed-parameter tractability


Development and Evaluation of Simulation-Based Training for Obstetrical Nursing Using Human Patient Simulators As the observation of obstetrical patients with diverse complications is increasingly rare in clinical training, computerized high-fidelity simulators can greatly benefit obstetrical nurse education. However, simulation scenarios in obstetrical nursing are not well studied. This study aims to develop simulation scenarios for obstetrical nursing that (1) demonstrate clinical situations from prenatal, labor and delivery, to postpartum phases and (2) provide educational tools for student evaluation and weakness identification. We developed four simulation scenarios: prenatal, labor and delivery I, labor and delivery II, and postpartum. Each scenario is designed to demonstrate students' knowledge, techniques, and interpersonal skills. One hundred thirty-eight second-year nursing students were trained with four scenarios using a high-fidelity simulator, after which each student was evaluated by one selected scenario. In the experiments, students' self-confidence increased after the program in all scenarios (P < .001). Students scored higher in prenatal and postpartum scenarios than labor and delivery I and II scenarios. In particular, most students could perform relevant actions, but many students failed to perform the actions correctly. Our results show that the designed scenarios are effectual for promoting students' self-confidence and improving the quality of obstetrical nursing education.

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


Packet-based algorithms for stepping-stone detection with chaff perturbation Network intruders usually launch attacks indirectly by constructing a long connection via intermediary hosts, called stepping-stones, to hide their identities. In order to detect this type of malicious behavior, it is necessary to identify whether a host has been used as a stepping-stone. More sophisticated intruders even add extra superfluous packets, called chaff packets, to evade detection. In this paper, we introduce the packet-based approach to detect stepping-stones with chaff perturbation based on the range of a random walk model. Two algorithms, size-fluctuation and transformation, are proposed for this approach to distinguish the stepping-stone connections from the normal connections. The results show that both algorithms are able to identify the stepping-stone connections effectively under a larger number of chaff perturbation and with fewer monitored packets than the existing methods. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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 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 I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


Consensus measures constructed from aggregation functions and fuzzy implications We focus on the problem of constructing functions that are able to measure the degree of consensus for a set of inputs provided over the unit interval. When making evaluations based on inputs from multiple criteria, sources or experts, the resulting output can be seen as the value which best represents the individual contributions. However it may also be desirable to know the extent to which the inputs agree. Does the representative value reflect a universal opinion? Or has there been a high degree of tradeoff? We consider the properties relating to such consensus measures and propose two general models built component-wise from aggregation functions and fuzzy implications.

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

aggregation functions
consensus
fuzzy implications


A framework to integrate design knowledge reuse and requirements management in engineering design This paper presents a framework to integrate requirements management and design knowledge reuse. The research approach begins with a literature review in design reuse and requirements management to identify appropriate methods within each domain. A framework is proposed based on the identified requirements. The framework is then demonstrated using a case study example: vacuum pump design. Requirements are presented as a component of the integrated design knowledge framework. The proposed framework enables the application of requirements management as a dynamic process, including capture, analysis and recording of requirements. It takes account of the evolving requirements and the dynamic nature of the interaction between requirements and product structure through the various stages of product development.

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

engineering design
design reuse
requirements management


A new training method for support vector machines: Clustering k-NN support vector machines For training of support vector machines (SVMs) efficiently, a new training algorithm, clustering k-NN (k-nearest neighbor) support vector machines (CKSVMs) based on a Gaussian function regulated locally is proposed. In order to reflect degree of training data point as a support vector the Gaussian function is used with k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) method and Euclidean Distance measure. To add local control property to the training algorithm, a simple clustering scheme is implemented before Gaussian functions are constructed for each cluster. In addition, probabilistic SVM outputs are used for extension from binary classification to multi-class classification in pairwise approach. This training algorithm is applied to three commonly used classification problems. Experimental results show that the CKSVM has more classification accuracy than standard multi-class LS-SVM, FLS-SVM and LS-SVM with k-NN method which is proposed in our previous study. In addition to this, the training algorithm highly improved efficiency of the SVM classifier via simple algorithm.

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

support vector machines
gaussian functions

least squares support vector machines
k-nearest neighbor
probabilistic outputs


From data to knowledge mining Most past approaches to data mining have been based on association rules. However, the simple application of association rules usually only changes the user's problem from dealing with millions of data points to dealing with thousands of rules Although this may somewhat reduce the scale of the problem, it is not a completely satisfactory solution. This paper presents interest in exploring certain data sets to extract knowledge, in the form of semantic nets, from large data sets. The KC method has been successfully applied to mine causal relations from oil platform accident reports. In a comparison with association rule techniques for the same domain, KC has shown a significant improvement in the extraction of relevant knowledge, using processing complexity and knowledge manageability as the evaluation criteria.

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

knowledge cohesion
ontology
sense making
text mining


Design and Estimation of Coded Exposure Point Spread Functions We address the problem of motion deblurring using coded exposure. This approach allows for accurate estimation of a sharp latent image via well-posed deconvolution and avoids lost image content that cannot be recovered from images acquired with a traditional shutter. Previous work in this area has used either manual user input or alpha matting approaches to estimate the coded exposure Point Spread Function (PSF) from the captured image. In order to automate deblurring and to avoid the limitations of matting approaches, we propose a Fourier-domain statistical approach to coded exposure PSF estimation that allows us to estimate the latent image in cases of constant velocity, constant acceleration, and harmonic motion. We further demonstrate that previously used criteria to choose a coded exposure PSF do not produce one with optimal reconstruction error, and that an additional 30 percent reduction in Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of the latent image estimate can be achieved by incorporating natural image statistics.

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

blur estimation
computational photography


Identification of a Serine Protease Involved with the Regulation of Adrenal Growth The adrenal cortex is a dynamic organ in which the cells of the outer cortex continually divide. It is well known that this cellular proliferation is dependent on constant stimulation from peptides derived from the ACTH precursor pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) because disruption of pituitary corticotroph function results in rapid atrophy of the gland. Previous results from our laboratory have suggested that the adrenal mitogen is a fragment derived from the N-terminal of POMC not containing the ?-MSH sequence. Because such a peptide is not generated during processing of POMC in the pituitary, we proposed that the mitogen is generated from circulating pro-?-MSH by an adrenal protease. Using degenerate oligonucleotides, we identified a secreted serine protease expressed by the adrenal gland that we named adrenal secretory protease (AsP). In the adrenal cortex, expression of AsP is limited to the outer zona glomerulosa/fasciculata, the region where cortical cells are believed to be derived, and is significantly up-regulated during compensatory growth. Y1 adrenocortical cells transfected with a vector expressing an antisense RNA (and thus having reduced levels of endogenous AsP) were found to grow slower than sense controls while also losing their ability to utilize exogenous pro-?-MSH in the media supporting a role for AsP in adrenal growth. Digestion of an N-POMC peptide substrate encompassing the residues around the dibasic cleavage site at positions 49/50 with affinity-purified AsP showed cleavage not to occur at the dibasic site but two residues downstream leading us to propose the identity of the adrenal mitogen to be N-POMC (152).

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


Chimenea and other tools: Automated imaging of multi-epoch radio-synthesis data with CASA ? ?? In preparing the way for the Square Kilometre Array and its pathfinders, there is a pressing need to begin probing the transient sky in a fully robotic fashion using the current generation of radio telescopes. Effective exploitation of such surveys requires a largely automated data-reduction process. This paper introduces an end-to-end automated reduction pipeline, AMIsurvey, used for calibrating and imaging data from the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array. AMIsurvey makes use of several component libraries which have been packaged separately for open-source release. The most scientifically significant of these is chimenea, which implements a telescope-agnostic algorithm for automated imaging of pre-calibrated multi-epoch radio-synthesis data, of the sort typically acquired for transient surveys or follow-up. The algorithm aims to improve upon standard imaging pipelines by utilizing iterative RMS-estimation and automated source-detection to avoid so called Clean-bias, and makes use of CASA subroutines for the underlying image-synthesis operations. At a lower level, AMIsurvey relies upon two libraries, drive-ami and drive-casa, built to allow use of mature radio-astronomy software packages from within Python scripts. While targeted at automated imaging, the drive-casa interface can also be used to automate interaction with any of the CASA subroutines from a generic Python process. Additionally, these packages may be of wider technical interest beyond radio-astronomy, since they demonstrate use of the Python library pexpect to emulate terminal interaction with an external process. This approach allows for rapid development of a Python interface to any legacy or externally-maintained pipeline which accepts command-line input, without requiring alterations to the original code.

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

methods: data analysis
techniques: interferometric


Neuro-genetic prediction of software development effort Prediction of resource requirements of a software project is crucial for the timely delivery of quality-assured software within a reasonable timeframe. Many conventional (model-based) and AI-oriented (model-free) resource estimators have been proposed in the recent past. This paper presents a novel genetically trained neural network (NN) predictor trained on historical data. We demonstrate substantial improvement in prediction accuracy by the neuro-genetic approach as compared to both a regression-tree-based conventional approach, as well as backpropagation-trained NN approach reported recently. The superiority of this new predictor is established using n-fold cross validation and Student's t-test on various partitions of merged Cocomo and Kemerer data sets incorporating data from 78 real-life software projects.

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

neuro-genetic prediction
neural network predictor


segmentation and recognition of multi-attribute motion sequences In this work, we focus on fast and efficient recognition of motions in multi-attribute continuous motion sequences. 3D motion capture data, animation motion data, and sensor data from gesture sensing devices are examples of multi-attribute continuous motion sequences. These sequences have multiple attributes rather than only one attribute as time series data has. Motions can have different rates and durations, and the resulting data can thus have different lengths. Also, motion data can have noises due to transitions between successive motions. Hence, traditional distance measuring approaches used for time series data (such as Euclidean distances or dynamic time-warped distances) are not suitable for recognition in multi-attribute motion sequences. Hence, we have defined a similarity measure based on the analysis of singular value decomposition (SVD) properties of similar multi-attribute motions. A five-phase algorithm has then been proposed that gives good pruning power by exploiting the proximity of continuous motion data. We experimented this algorithm with data from different sources: 3D motion capture devices, animation motions, and CyberGlove gesture sensing device. These experiments show that our algorithm can segment and recognize long motion streams with high accuracy and in real time without knowing beforehand the number of motions in a stream.

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

singular value decomposition
gesture
segmentation

pattern recognition
multi-attribute motion


Scalable diagnosis in IP networks using path-based measurement and inference: A learning framework ? In this paper, we investigate scalability and performance of measurement-based network monitoring, focusing on failure and congestion diagnosis in IP networks for network-based multimedia applications. Path-based measurements using unicast probe-packets are obtained at end-hosts, and diagnosis is performed by exploiting the spatial dependence among those measurements. We formulate network monitoring in a machine learning framework using probabilistic graphical models which perform inference of the network states (on/off) using unicast measurements. We provide fundamental limits on the relationship between the number of probe packets, the size of a network and the ability to diagnose either failed links or congested network components. Specifically, the diagnosis problem is dealt in a two-fold manner. Initially for fault diagnosis, we construct a graphical model using a Bayesian belief network for path-based measurements. We then provide a lower bound on the average number of probes per edge for link failure diagnosis using variational inference under noisy probe measurements. Variational inference provides a feasible approximation to address the number of spatially dependent measurements needed for diagnosis in large networks. We then develop an entropy lower (EL) bound by drawing similarities between coding over a binary symmetric channel (BSC) and link failure diagnosis. Both bounds show that the number of measurements needed for diagnosis grows linearly with respect to the number of links. The analytical results are validated by simulation. On the other hand, for congestion diagnosis, we propose a solution based on decoding of linear error control codes on a BSC. In this scenario, we consider path-based probing experiments under both noiseless and noisy measurements and compare its performance against the fundamental limits. To identify the congested nodes we construct a factor graph, and congestion is inferred using belief-propagation algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate the ability of our approach to perfectly localize congested nodes using a scalable number of measurements and a computationally efficient algorithm. We believe that this study can ease the problem arising due to lack of QoS support and provide good-quality broadband multimedia services.

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

scalable diagnosis
machine learning
variational inference
inference
congestion
link failure
measurements

multimedia networks
bayesian belief networks
low density parity check codes


Automatic Renal Cortex Segmentation Using Implicit Shape Registration and Novel Multiple Surfaces Graph Search In this paper, we present an automatic renal cortex segmentation approach using the implicit shape registration and novel multiple surfaces graph search. The proposed approach is based on a hierarchy system. First, the whole kidney is roughly initialized using an implicit shape registration method, with the shapes embedded in the space of Euclidean distance functions. Second, the outer and inner surfaces of renal cortex are extracted utilizing multiple surfaces graph searching, which is extended to allow for varying sampling distances and physical constraints to better separate the renal cortex and renal column. Third, a renal cortex refining procedure is applied to detect and reduce incorrect segmentation pixels around the renal pelvis, further improving the segmentation accuracy. The method was evaluated on 17 clinical computed tomography scans using the leave-one-out strategy with five metrics: Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), volumetric overlap error (OE), signed relative volume difference (SVD), average symmetric surface distance (D-avg), and average symmetric rms surface distance (D-rms). The experimental results of DSC, OE, SVD, D-avg, and D-rms were 90.50% +/- 1.19% 4.38% +/- 3.93%, 2.37% +/- 1.72%, 0.14 mm +/- 0.09 mm, and 0.80 mm +/- 0.64 mm, respectively. The results showed the feasibility, efficiency, and robustness of the proposed method.

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

implicit shape registration
multiple surfaces graph searching
physical constraints
renal cortex
segmentation


The use of a modified Fedorov exchange algorithm to optimise sampling times for population pharmacokinetic experiments We propose a new algorithm for optimising sampling times for population pharmacokinetic experiments using D-optimality. The algorithm was used in conjunction with the population Fisher information matrix as implemented in MATLAB (PFIM 1.1 and 1.2) to evaluate population pharmacokinetic designs. The new algorithm based on the classical Fedorov exchange algorithm optimises the determinant of the population Fisher information matrix. The performance of the new algorithm has been compared with other existing algorithms including simplex, simulated annealing and adaptive random search. The new algorithm performed better especially when dealing with complex designs at the expense of longer computing times.

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

fedorov exchange algorithm
population fisher information matrix

population pharmacokinetics
optimal design
d-optimality


SLurtles: Supporting constructionist learning in Second Life Constructionism places an emphasis on the process of constructing shareable artefacts. Many virtual worlds, such as Second Life, provide learners with tools for the construction of objects and hence may facilitate in-world constructionist learning experiences. However, the construction tools available present learners with a significant barrier (or 'high-floor') for the novice to first master. To address this problem, this paper presents the design concepts, first implementation and analysis of SLurtles (programmable turtles in Second Life), easy-to-use, programmable construction tools for use in Second Life. During a pilot study 24 postgraduate learners in pairs and working at distance from one another, programmed SLurtles to create interactive installations in Second Life over four weeks. Open interviews were conducted, chat logs recorded and learners artefacts and reflections were collected and analysed using qualitative methods. Findings show that SLurtles provide learners with a programmable, low-floor, high-ceiling and wide-wall construction tool, which supported their construction of a wide range of complex artefacts as part of a constructionist learning experience in Second Life. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

constructionism
construction
virtual worlds

interactive learning environments
pedagogy
programming


The generalized associative law in vague groups and its applicationsI Products of elements and integral powers of elements in vague groups have a significant concern for the development and the applications of vague algebra. Formulation of properties of these notions basically depends on a many-valued counterpart to the generalized associative law (called the generalized vague associative law in vague groups). For this reason, the present paper and the forthcoming paper [M. Demirci, The generalized associative law in vague groups and its applicationsII, Information Sciences, Submitted for publication] are devoted to the formulation of the generalized vague associative law and its applications in vague groups. The generalized vague associative law in vague semigroups, which is the main contribution of this exposition, and some elementary properties of the notion of a product of a finite number of elements in vague semigroups, which cover necessary preparatory results for Part II, are the subjects of this paper. Since the present paper forms an abstract foundation of the product and sum of a finite number of real numbers in vague arithmetic, some practical applications of the notions of product and sum of a finite number of real numbers in vague arithmetic are also given.

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

fuzzy groups
fuzzy arithmetic
fuzzy equivalence relations
fuzzy equalities


Learning high-dimensional networks with nonlinear interactions by a novel tree-embedded graphical model ? We propose a novel network learning method that can detect network structure with both linear and nonlinear interactions. Most existing network learning methods focus on linear interactions. Integration of generalized linear model, sparse learning, and decision tree learning. Interesting clinical associations are discovered from a real-world application using the proposed method.

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

high-dimensional network learning
sparse regression
decision tree model


The number of tree stars is O*(1.357(k)) Every rectilinear Steiner tree problem admits an optimal tree T* which is composed of tree stars. Moreover, the currently fastest algorithms for the rectilinear Steiner tree problem proceed by composing an optimum tree T* from tree star components in the cheapest way. The efficiency of such algorithms depends heavily on the number of tree stars ( candidate components). Fobmeier and Kaufmann (Algorithmica 26, 68-99, 2000) showed that any problem instance with k terminals has a number of tree stars in between 1.32(k) and 1.38(k) ( modulo polynomial factors) in the worst case. We determine the exact bound O*(rho(k)) where rho approximate to 1.357 and mention some consequences of this result.

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


Ranking MEDLINE documents BioTextRetriever is a Web-based search tool for retrieving relevant literature in Molecular Biology and related domains from MEDLINE. The core of BioTextRetriever is the dynamic construction of a classifier capable of selecting relevant papers among the whole MEDLINE bibliographic database. Relevant papers, in this context, means papers related to a set of DNA or protein sequences provided as input to the tool by the user.

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


Determination of Axonal and Dendritic Orientation Distributions Within the Developing Cerebral Cortex by Diffusion Tensor Imaging As neurons of the developing brain form functional circuits, they undergo morphological differentiation. In immature cerebral cortex, radially-oriented cellular processes of undifferentiated neurons impede water diffusion parallel, but not perpendicular, to the pial surface, as measured via diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, and give rise to water diffusion anisotropy. As the cerebral cortex matures, the loss of water diffusion anisotropy accompanies cellular morphological differentiation. A quantitative relationship is proposed here to relate water diffusion anisotropy measurements directly to characteristics of neuronal morphology. This expression incorporates the effects of local diffusion anisotropy within cellular processes, as well as the effects of anisotropy in the orientations of cellular processes. To obtain experimental support for the proposed relationship, tissue from 13 and 31 day-old ferrets was stained using the rapid Golgi technique, and the 3-D orientation distribution of neuronal proceses was characterized using confocal microscopic examination of reflected visible light images. Coregistration of the MRI and Golgi data enables a quantitative evaluation of the proposed theory, and excellent agreement with the theoretical results, as well as agreement with previously published values for locally-induced water diffusion anisotropy and volume fraction of the neuropil, is observed.

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

brain modeling
diffusion tensor imaging (dti)
inverse problems
optical microscopy


Abstracting the core subnet of weighted networks based on link strengths Most measures of networks are based on the nodes, although links are also elementary units in networks and represent interesting social or physical connections. In this work we suggest an option for exploring networks, called the h-strength, with explicit focus on links and their strengths. The h-strength and its extensions can naturally simplify a complex network to a small and concise subnetwork (h-subnet) but retains the most important links with its core structure. Its applications in 2 typical information networks, the paper cocitation network of a topic (the h-index) and 5 scientific collaboration networks in the field of water resources, suggest that h-strength and its extensions could be a useful choice for abstracting, simplifying, and visualizing a complex network. Moreover, we observe that the 2 informetric models, the Glnzel-Schubert model and the Hirsch model, roughly hold in the context of the h-strength for the collaboration networks.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 EFFECTIVENESS OF ONLINE SHOPPING CHARACTERISTICS AND WELL-DESIGNED WEBSITES ON SATISFACTION Electronic commerce has grown rapidly in recent years. However, surveys of online customers continue to indicate that many remain unsatisfied with their online purchase experiences. Clearly, more research is needed to better understand what affects customers' evaluations of their online experiences. Through a large dataset gathered from two online websites, this study investigates the importance of product uncertainty and retailer visibility in customers' online purchase decisions, as well as the mitigating effects of retailer characteristics. We find that high product uncertainty and low retailer visibility have a negative impact on customer satisfaction. However, a retailer's service quality, website design, and pricing play important roles in mitigating the negative impact of high product uncertainty and low retailer visibility. Specifically, service quality can mitigate the negative impacts of low retailer visibility and high product uncertainty in online markets. Website design, on the other hand, helps to reduce the impact of product uncertainty when experience goods are involved.

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

product uncertainty
retailer visibility
service quality
website design
customer satisfaction
experience goods


Optimization of microstrip interconnects containing additional capacitive coupling using least mean square method A suitable way to decrease far-end crosstalks in microstrip interconnects is to increase the capacitive coupling between two adjacent strip lines. In this paper a method is proposed to optimal design of microstrip interconnects containing additional discrete coupling capacitors. A suitable error function along with some constrained conditions is defined to determine optimal values of both interconnect parameters and the additional coupling capacitors. The method is verified using a comprehensive example.

B O B I O B I 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 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

microstrip interconnects
additional capacitive coupling
optimization


LinStat, a program for calculating finite strain from populations of lines, running simulations and an investigation of error behaviour ? LinStat, a C++ program, calculates finite strain from distributions of deformed lines and also calculates confidence intervals for finite strain estimates using the bootstrap method. LinStat also features a simulation capability which allows for study of error behaviour with varying applied finite strain and number of data. In a simulation study, it is shown that error associated with estimating the axial ratio of the finite strain ellipse (Rs) increases with increasing tectonic strain, but decreases as the number of data points increases. By contrast, errors for estimating the finite strain ellipse orientation (?s) decrease rapidly both with increasing applied strain and increasing number of data points. A set of 18 samples from the Western Gneiss Region of Norway were re-analysed using LinStat and validated the results provided by the software.

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

finite strain
program
lines
error behaviour