Uniform computational complexity of the derivatives of C-infinity-functions We discuss the uniform computational complexity of the derivatives of Cinfinity-functions in the model of Ko and Friedman (Ko, Complexity Theory of Real Functions, Birkhauser, Basel, 1991; Ko, Friedman, Theor. Comput. Sci. 20 (1982) 323-352). We construct a polynomial time computable real function g epsilon C-infinity[-1,1] such that the sequence {\g((n))(0)\}(nepsilonN) is not bounded by any recursive function. On the other hand, we show that if f epsilon C-infinity[-1,1] is polynomial time computable and the sequence of the derivatives of f is uniformly polynomially bounded, i.e., \f((n))(x)\ is bounded by 2(p(n)) for all x epsilon [-1,1] for some polynomial p, then the sequence {f((n))}(nepsilonN) is uniformly polynomial time computable. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.

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

c-infinity-function
derivative
recursive analysis


An enhanced fuzzy linear regression model with more flexible spreads One of the deficiencies of previous fuzzy linear regression models is that with the increase of the magnitudes of independent variables, the spreads of estimated fuzzy dependent variables are increasing, even though the spreads of observed dependent variables actually decrease or remain unchanged. Some solutions have been proposed to solve this spreads increasing problem. However, those solutions still cannot model a decreasing trend in the spreads of the observed dependent variables as the magnitudes of the independent variables increase. In this paper we propose an enhanced fuzzy linear regression model (model FLR(FS)), in which the spreads of the estimated dependent variables are able to fit the spreads of the observed dependent variables, no matter the spreads of the observed dependent variables are increased, decreased or unchanged as the magnitudes and spreads of the independent variables change. Four numerical examples are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of model FLR(FS). (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

fuzzy number
linear programming
least-square method


ENRICHED mu-CALCULI MODULE CHECKING The model checking problem for open systems has been widely studied in the literature, for both finite-state (module checking) and infinite-state (pushdown module checking) systems, with respect to CTL and CTL*. In this paper, we further investigate this problem with respect to the mu-calculus enriched with nominals and graded modalities (hybrid graded mu-calculus), in both the finite-state and infinite-state settings. Using an automata-theoretic approach, we show that hybrid graded mu-calculus module checking is solvable in exponential time, while hybrid graded mu-calculus pushdown module checking is solvable in double-exponential time. These results are also tight since they match the known lower bounds for CTL. We also investigate the module checking problem with respect to the hybrid graded mu-calculus enriched with inverse programs (Fully enriched mu-calculus): by showing a reduction from the tiling problem, we show its undecidability. We conclude with a short overview of the model checking problem for the Fully enriched mu-calculus and the fragments obtained by dropping at least one of the additional constructs.

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

finite state machine
tree automaton
push down automaton
interactive and reactive computation
logics of programs
modal logic
mu-calculus
formal verification


Lower-order penalty methods for mathematical programs with complementarity constraints In this article, a smooth mathematical program with complementarity constraints (MPCC) is reformulated as a non-smooth constrained optimization problem by using the Fischer-Burmeister function. A lower-order penalty method is applied to transform the resulted constrained optimization problem into unconstrained optimization problems. Lower-order penalty functions may not be locally Lipschitz. However, they require weaker conditions to guarantee an exact penalization property than the classical l(1) penalty functions. We derive optimality conditions for the penalty problems using a smooth approximate variational principle, and establish that the limit point of a sequence of points that satisfy the second-order necessary optimality conditions of penalty problems is a strongly stationary point (hence a B-stationary point) of the original MPCC if the limit point is feasible to MPCC, and a linear independence constraint qualification for MPCC and an upper level strict complementarity condition hold at the limit point. Furthermore, the limit point also satisfies a second-order necessary condition of MPCC. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate and compare the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

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

penalty function
optimality condition
b-stationary point
convergence


A Gaussian noise generator for hardware-based simulations Hardware simulation offers the potential of improving code evaluation speed by orders of magnitude over workstation or PC-based simulation. We describe a hardware-based Gaussian noise generator used as a key component in a hardware simulation system, for exploring channel code behavior at very low bit error rates (BERs) in the range of 10(-9) to 10(-10). The main novelty is the design and use of nonuniform piecewise linear approximations in computing trigonometric and logarithmic functions. The parameters of the approximation are chosen carefully to enable rapid computation of coefficients from the inputs while still retaining high fidelity to the modeled functions. The output of the noise generator accurately models a true Gaussian Probability Density Function (PDF) even at very high sigma values. Its properties are explored using: 1) several different statistical tests, including the chi-square test and the Anderson-Darling test, and 2) an application for decoding of Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes. An implementation at 133MHz on a Xilinx Virtex-II XC2V4000-6 FPGA produces 133 million samples per second, which is seven times faster than a 2.6GHz Pentium-IV PC; another implementation on a Xilinx Spartan-IIE XC2S300E-7 FPGA at 62MHz is capable of a three times speedup. The performance can be improved by exploiting parallelism: An XC2V4000-6 FPGA with nine parallel instances of the noise generator at 105MHz can run 50 times faster than a 2.6GHz Pentium-IV PC. We illustrate the deterioration of clock speed with the increase in the number of instances.

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

algorithms implemented in hardware
error-checking
gate arrays


Large deviations of the interference. in a wireless communication model Interference from other users limits the capacity, and possibly the connectivity, of wireless networks. A simple model of a wireless ad hoc network, in which node locations are described by a homogeneous Poisson point process, and node transmission powers are random, is considered in this paper. A large deviation principle for the interference is presented under different assumptions on the distribution of transmission powers.

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

poisson shot noise
subexponential distributions
fading channels
code division multiple access (cdma)


MAP: Multiconstrained Anypath Routing in Wireless Mesh Networks Anypath routing has been proposed to improve the performance of unreliable wireless networks by exploiting the spatial diversity and broadcast nature of the wireless medium. Previous studies on anypath routing have concentrated on finding an anypath, which optimizes a single quality of service (QoS) parameter. In this paper, we study anypath routing subject to multiple constraints. We first prove that the problem is NP-hard when the number of constraints is larger than one. We then present a polynomial time K-approximation algorithm MAP, where K is the number of constraints. Our algorithm is as simple as Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm. Therefore, it is suitable for implementation in wireless routing protocols.

O O B I O B I I B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 mesh networks
anypath routing
multiple constraints


Global optimization of mixed-integer nonlinear (polynomial) programming problems: the Bernstein polynomial approach In this paper, we propose an algorithm for constrained global optimization of mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problems. The proposed algorithm uses the Bernstein polynomial form in a branch-and-bound framework. Ingredients such as continuous relaxation, branching for integer decision variables, and fathoming for each subproblem in the branch-and-bound tree are used. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested and compared with several state-of-the-art MINLP solvers, on two sets of test problems. The results of the tests show the superiority of the proposed algorithm over the state-of-the-art solvers in terms of the chosen performance metrics.

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

bernstein polynomials
branch-and-bound
mixed-integer nonlinear programming


A decentralised graphical implementation of mobile ambients We present a graphical implementation for finite processes of the mobile ambients calculus. Our encoding uses unstructured (i.e., non-hierarchical) graphs and it is sound and complete with respect to the structural congruence of the calculus (i.e.. two processes are equivalent iff mapped to isomorphic graphs). With respect to alternative proposals for the graphical implementation of mobile ambients, our encoding distinguishes the syntactic structure of a process from the activation order of its components. Our solution faithfully captures a basic feature of the calculus (ambients can be nested and reductions are propagated across the nesting) and it allows to model the reduction semantics via a graph transformation system containing just three rules. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

graph transformation
reduction semantics
structural congruence


Progress and investigation on lattice Boltzmann modeling of multiple immiscible fluids or components with variable density and viscosity ratios Lattice Boltzmann models for simulating multiphase flows are relatively new, and much work remains to be done to demonstrate their ability to solve fundamental test cases before they are considered for engineering problems. From this perspective, a hydrodynamic lattice Boltzmann model for simulating immiscible multiphase flows with high density and high viscosity ratios, up to O(1000) O ( 1000 ) and O(100) O ( 100 ) respectively, is presented and validated against analytical solutions. The method is based on a two phase flow model with operators extended to handle N immiscible fluids. The current approach is O(N) O ( N ) in computational complexity for the number of different gradient approximations. This is a major improvement, considering the O(N2) O ( N 2 ) complexity found in most works. A sequence of systematic and essential tests have been conducted to establish milestones that need to be met by the proposed approach (as well as by other methods). First, the method is validated qualitatively by demonstrating its ability to address the spinodal decomposition of immiscible fluids. Second, the model is quantitatively verified for the case of multilayered planar interfaces. Third, the multiphase Laplace law is studied for the case of three fluids. Fourth, a quality index is developed for the three-phase LaplaceYoungs law, which concerns the position of the interfaces between the fluids resulting from the different surface tensions. The current model is compatible with the analytical solution, and is shown to be first order accurate in terms of this quality index. Finally, the multilayered Couettes flow is studied. In this study, numerical results can recover the analytical solutions for all the selected test cases, as long as unit density ratios are considered. For high density and high viscosity ratios, the analytical solution is recovered for all tests, except that of the multilayered Couettes flow. Numerical results and a discussion are presented for this unsuccessful test case. It is believed that other LB models may have the same problem in addressing the simulation of multiphase flows with variable density ratios.

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

lattice boltzmann method
multiphase flow
multicomponent flow
rothmankeller type
fundamental validations
high density ratio
high viscosity ratio


A numerical model for wind loads simulation on long-span bridges A numerical model of the air flow problem around the girder of a long-span bridge is presented. The model is based on a finite volume formulation and it is able to simulate steady and non-steady wind loading conditions on the structure under the simplifying assumption, which is plausible for bridges with long spans, of a two-dimensional-like approaching flow. For a given bridge deck cross-section the proposed model allows the numerical evaluation of the flutter derivatives, which is useful to characterize in an analytical way the stability conditions of the overall wind-induced bridge response. In order to obtain satisfactory accuracy and stability of the numerical solution, a two-equation k? RNG turbulence model and special boundary conditions are employed. The accuracy and applicability of the model to wind engineering problems are successfully assessed by computing the aerodynamic behaviour of some simple cross-section shapes. Numerical results are also obtained for typical long-span bridge cross-sections and the comparison with the available wind tunnel measurements shows a good agreement.

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

numerical prediction of flutter derivatives


Atom position measurement in a four-level Lambda-shaped scheme with twofold lower-levels The two-dimensional position dependent probe absorption spectrum of a driven four-level ?-type atomic system with twofold lower-levels interacting with two orthogonal standing wave laser fields and one microwave field is investigated. It is found that due to the position dependent nature of atomfield interaction, the spatial distribution of the atom can be controlled by scanning the resulting absorption spectra of the weak probe field. The effect of different controlling parameters of the system such as detunings, the intensity of standing wave fields as well as the relative phase of applied fields on the position measurement uncertainty of the atom is then discussed. We show that by properly adjusting the system parameters, different spatial structures of localization as ?-like, spot-like, deltoid-like and elliptic like patterns can be designed, so that high-precision and high-resolution atom localization can be engineered.

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

two dimensional atom localization
high precision atom measurement


Full-waveform data for building roof step edge localization Airborne laser scanning data perfectly represent flat or gently sloped areas; to date, however, accurate breakline detection is the main drawback of this technique. This issue becomes particularly important in the case of modeling buildings, where accuracy higher than the footprint size is often required. This article covers several issues related to full-waveform data registered on building step edges. First, the full-waveform data simulator was developed and presented in this paper. Second, this article provides a full description of the changes in echo amplitude, echo width and returned power caused by the presence of edges within the laser footprint. Additionally, two important properties of step edge echoes, peak shift and echo asymmetry, were noted and described. It was shown that these properties lead to incorrect echo positioning along the laser center line and can significantly reduce the edge points accuracy. For these reasons and because all points are aligned with the center of the beam, regardless of the actual target position within the beam footprint, we can state that step edge points require geometric corrections. This article presents a novel algorithm for the refinement of step edge points. The main distinguishing advantage of the developed algorithm is the fact that none of the additional data, such as emitted signal parameters, beam divergence, approximate edge geometry or scanning settings, are required. The proposed algorithm works only on georeferenced profiles of reflected laser energy. Another major advantage is the simplicity of the calculation, allowing for very efficient data processing. Additionally, the developed method of point correction allows for the accurate determination of points lying on edges and edge point densification. For this reason, fully automatic localization of building roof step edges based on LiDAR full-waveform data with higher accuracy than the size of the lidar footprint is feasible.

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


Identifying distress among banks prior to a major crisis using non-oriented super-SBM We illustrate how data envelopment analysis (DEA) can be used as a forward-looking method to flag bank holding companies (BHCs) likely to become distressed. Various financial performance models are tested in the period leading up to the recent global financial crisis. Results generally support DEAs discriminatory and predictive power, suggesting that it can identify distressed banks up to 2years in advance. Robustness tests reveal that DEA has a stable efficient frontier and its discriminatory and predictive powers prevail even after data perturbations. DEA can be used as a preliminary off-site screening tool by regulators, by business managers to ascertain their standing among competitors, and by investors. Attention by regulators can be further directed at potentially distressed banks as some of them would be candidates for closer monitoring. In conclusion, DEA may be useful in making economic decisions because there is an identifiable link between inefficiency and financial distress. To the best of our knowledge, application of DEA to predict financial distress among BHCs prior to a major crisis has not been published.

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 B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 envelopment analysis
bank holding companies
financial crisis


b b -coloring of tight graphs ? A coloring c c of a graph G=(V,E) G = ( V , E ) is a b b -coloring if in every color class there is a vertex whose neighborhood intersects every other color class. The b b -chromatic number of G G , denoted ?b(G) ? b ( G ) , is the greatest integer k k such that G G admits a b b -coloring with k k colors. A graph G G is tight if it has exactly m(G) m ( G ) vertices of degree m(G)?1 m ( G ) ? 1 , where m(G) m ( G ) is the largest integer m m such that G G has at least m m vertices of degree at least m?1 m ? 1 . Determining the b b -chromatic number of a tight graph G G is NP-hard even for a connected bipartite graph Kratochvil etal. (2002) [18]. In this paper we show that it is also NP-hard for a tight chordal graph. We also show that the b b -chromatic number of a split graph can be computed in polynomial time. We then define the b b -closure and the partial b b -closure of a tight graph, and use these concepts to give a characterization of tight graphs whose b b -chromatic number is equal to m(G) m ( G ) . This characterization is used to propose polynomial-time algorithms for deciding whether ?b(G)=m(G) ? b ( G ) = m ( G ) for tight graphs that are complement of bipartite graphs, P4 P 4 -sparse and block graphs. We also generalize the concept of pivoted tree introduced by Irving and Manlove (1999) [13] and show its relation with the b b -chromatic number of tight graphs.

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

graph coloring
b b -coloring b b b b b
precoloring extension


Convergence of a residual based artificial viscosity finite element method We present a residual based artificial viscosity finite element method to solve conservation laws. The Galerkin approximation is stabilized by only residual based artificial viscosity, without any least-squares, SUPG, or streamline diffusion terms. We prove convergence of the method, applied to a scalar conservation law in two space dimensions, toward an unique entropy solution for implicit time stepping schemes. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

finite element method
convergence
artificial viscosity

nonlinear conservation laws
shock-capturing


Genetic algorithms and self-organizing maps: a powerful combination for modeling complex QSAR and QSPR problems Modeling non-linear descriptor-target activity/property relationships with many dependent descriptors has been a long-standing challenge in the design of biologically active molecules. In an effort to address this problem, we couple the supervised self-organizing map with the genetic algorithm. Although self-organizing maps are non-linear and topology-preserving techniques that hold great potential for modeling and decoding relationships, the large number of descriptors in typical quantitative structure--activity relationship or quantitative structure--property relationship analysis may lead to spurious correlation(s) and/or difficulty in the interpretation of resulting models. To reduce the number of descriptors to a manageable size, we chose the genetic algorithm for descriptor selection because of its flexibility and efficiency in solving complex problems. Feasibility studies were conducted using six different datasets, of moderate-to-large size and moderate-to-great diversity; each with a different biological endpoint. Since favorable training set statistics do not necessarily indicate a highly predictive model, the quality of all models was confirmed by withholding a portion of each dataset for external validation. We also address the variability introduced onto modeling through dataset partitioning and through the stochastic nature of the combined genetic algorithm supervised self-organizing map method using the z-score and other tests. Experiments show that the combined method provides comparable accuracy to the supervised self-organizing map alone, but using significantly fewer descriptors in the models generated. We observed consistently better results than partial least squares models. We conclude that the combination of genetic algorithms with the supervised self-organizing map shows great potential as a quantitative structure--activity/property relationship modeling tool.

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

neural networks
supervised self-organizing maps
variable selection


Design-in-play: improving the variability of indoor pervasive games Treasure is a pervasive game playing in the context of peoples daily living environments. Unlike previous pervasive games that are based on the predefined contents and proprietary devices, Treasure exploits the design-in-play concept to enhance the variability of a game in mixed-reality environments. Dynamic and personalized role design and allocation by players is enabled by exploring local smart objects as game props. The variability of the game is also enhanced by several other aspects, such as user-oriented context-aware action setting and playing environment redeployment. The effectiveness of the design-in-play concept is validated through a user study, where 15 subjects were recruited to play and author the trial game.

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

multimedia entertainment
pervasive gaming
context-aware computing
smart homes
human-computer interaction


A provably time-efficient parallel implementation of full speculation Speculative evaluation, including leniency and futures, is often used to produce high degrees of parallelism. Understanding the performance characteristics of such evaluation, however, requires having a detailed understanding of the implementation. For example, the particular implementation technique used to suspend and reactivate threads can have an asymptotic effect on performance.. With the goal of giving the users some understanding of performance without requiring them to understand the implementation, we present a provable implementation bound for a language based on speculative evaluation. The idea is (1) to supply the users with a semantics for a language that defines abstract costs for measuring or analyzing the performance of computations, (2) to supply the users with a mapping of these costs onto runtimes on various machine models, and (3) to describe an implementation strategy of the language and prove that it meets these mappings. For this purpose we consider a simple language based on speculative evaluation. For every computation, the semantics of the language returns a directed acyclic graph (DAG) in which each node represents a unit of computation, and each edge represents a dependence. We then describe an implementation strategy of the language and show that any computation with w work (the number of nodes in the DAG) and d depth (the length of the longest path in the DAG) will run on a p-processor PRAM in O(w/p + dlogp) time. The bounds are work efficient (within a constant factor of linear speedup) when there is sufficient parallelism, w/d greater than or equal to plogp. These are the first time bounds we know of for languages with speculative evaluation. The main challenge is in parallelizing the necessary queuing operations on suspended threads.

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

theory
abstract machines
parallel languages
profiling semantics


On generalized |A|k | A | k -summability factors The paper deals with absolute summability factors for infinite series. The main result obtained in this paper generalizes a recent paper of Rhoades and Savas [B. Rhoades, E. Savas, A summability factor theorem for generalized absolute summability, Real Anal. Exchange 31 (2) (20052006) 355363].

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

absolute summability
summability factors


ARMA: a scalable secure routing protocol with privacy protection for mobile ad hoc networks With the rapidly growing popularity of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), many security concerns have arisen from this type of network. In particular, malicious nodes will jeopardize the security of mobile networks if the issues of secure data exchange are not handled properly. Encryption cannot fully protect the data communicated between nodes, as routing information may expose the identities of the communicating nodes and put their relationships at risk. In this paper, we propose an efficient anonymous routing protocol that uses a mobile agent paradigm for MANETs, which we refer to as ARMA. In our protocol, we take advantage of a trust system to prevent effectively the misbehavior of malicious nodes so that only trustworthy nodes are allowed to participate in communications. Furthermore, we present the Malicious Encryption and Malicious ID attacks, as well as other attacks, and note how our scheme is robust to them. Through the proof of protocol correctness, our protocol is analyzed to show how it offers provable security properties. Finally, we provide its performance evaluation based on simulation experiments implemented in an ns-2 simulator. Compared to the secure distributed route construction protocol (SDAR) protocol, our experimental results demonstrate that our scheme not only achieves the necessary anonymity in wireless and mobile networks, but also provides more security with reasonably little additional overhead. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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


Robust joint optimization for MIMO AF multiple-relay systems with correlated channel uncertainties In the paper, robust joint optimization of the source/relays precoders and destination equalizer is proposed for non-regenerative dual-hop multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) amplify-and-forward (AF) multiple-relay systems with correlated channel uncertainties. By taking the imperfect channel state information (CSI) into consideration, the robust transceiver/relays joint optimization is developed based on the minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) criterion under individual power constraints at the source and relays. The optimization problem of precoding and amplifying matrices under power constraints belongs to neither concave nor convex so that a nonlinear matrix-form conjugate gradient (MCG) algorithm is applied to explore local optimal solutions. Simulation results illustrate that the robust transceiver/relays joint architecture for an AF-MIMO multiple-relay system outperforms the non-robust transceiver/relays design.

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

amplify-and-forward
channel uncertainty
precoding matrix
relay


An automated pipeline for cortical sulcal fundi extraction In this paper, we propose a novel automated pipeline for extraction of sulcal fundi from triangulated cortical surfaces. This method consists of four consecutive steps. Firstly, we adopt a finite difference method to estimate principal curvatures, principal directions and curvature derivatives, along the principal directions, for each vertex. Then, we detect the sulcal fundi segment in each triangle of the cortical surface based on curvatures and curvature derivatives. Afterwards, we link the sulcal fundi segments into continuous curves. Finally, we connect breaking sulcal fundi and smooth bumping sulcal fundi by using the fast marching method on the cortical surface. The proposed method can find the accurate sulcal fundi using curvatures and curvature derivatives without any manual interaction. The method was applied to 10 normal brain MR images on inner cortical surfaces. We quantitatively evaluated the accuracy of the sulcal fundi extraction method using manually labeled sulcal fundi by experts. The average difference between automatically extracted major sulcal fundi and the expert labeled results is consistently around 1.0mm on 10 subject images, indicating the good performance of the proposed method.

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

sulcal fundi extraction
cortical surface

geodesic path
fast marching on manifold
maximum principal curvature


Bayesian model selection of hyperelastic models for simple and pure shear at large deformations Ranking different hyperelastic models for pure and simple shear. Bayesian approach is used for parameters identification and to rank the models. Pure shear: all models demonstrated excellent agreement with the experimental data. Simple shear: not all models were suitable for describing the available experiments. The best models. For pure shear MooneyRivlin. For simple shear 2-terms Ogden.

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

hyperelastic models
pure shear
simple shear
bayesian model selection


A CAD system for the 3D location of lesions in mammograms A CAD system for estimating the 3D (three-dimensional) positions of lesions found in two mammographic views is described. The system is an extension of our previous method [Comput. Vis. Image Understand. 83 (2001) 38] which finds corresponding 2D positions in different mammographic views. The method calculates curved epipolar lines by developing a simulation of breast deformation into stereo camera geometry. Using such curved epipolar lines, not only can we determine point correspondences, but can estimate the 3D location of a lesion. In this paper, we first explain the underlying principles and system organisation. The correctness of the 3D positions calculated by the system is examined using a set of breast lesions, which appear both in mammograms and in MRI data. The experimental results demonstrate the clinical promise of the CAD system. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

mammogram
cad (computer-aided diagnosis)
cai (computer-aided intervention)
stereo images
3d localization
deformable objects


Handing Over a Cube Even though joint action is highly developed in humans, not much is known about motor control in physical joint-action tasks. Here we investigated a physical handover task: one subject sequentially passed wooden cubes to another without communicating verbally. Temporal parameters such as reaction time decreased on a trial-to-trial basis, showing that the efficiency of the task is optimized on-line by implicit negotiation between the partners. In contrast, the spatial position of the handover was found to be invariant and trial-independent. Thus, our results suggest that physical joint-action is guided by on-line adaptation and a priori assumptions.

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


Multisets and structural congruence of the pi-calculus with replication In the pi-calculus with replication, two processes are multiset congruent if they have the same semantics in the multiset transition system M pi. It is proved that (extended) structural congruence is the same as multiset congruence, and that it is decidable. (C) 1999-Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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


GIS-based data model and tools for creating and managing two-dimensional cross sections While modern Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software is robust in handling maps and data in plan view, the software generally falls short when representing features in section view. Further complicating the issue is the fact that geologic cross sections are often drawn by connecting a series of wells together that do not fall along a single straight line. In this case, the x-axis of the cross section represents the distance along the set of individual lines connecting the series of wells, effectively flattening out the cross section along this path to create a view of the subsurface with which geologists often work in printed folios. Even 3D-enabled GIS cannot handle this type of cross section. A GIS data model and tools for creating and working with two-dimensional cross sections are presented. The data model and tools create a framework that can be applied using ESRI's ArcGIS software, enabling users to create, edit, manage, and print two-dimensional cross sections from within one of the most well-known GIS software packages. The data model is a component of the arc hydro groundwater data model, which means all two-dimensional cross sections are inherently linked to other features in the hydrogeologic domain, including those represented by xyz coordinates in real world space. Thus, the creation of two-dimensional cross sections can be guided by or completely driven from standard GIS data, and geologic interpretations established on two-dimensional cross sections can be translated back to real world coordinates to create three-dimensional features such as fence diagrams, giving GIS users the capacity to characterize the subsurface environment in a variety of integrated views that was not possible before. A case study for the Sacramento Regional Model in California demonstrates the application of the methodology in support of a regional groundwater management plan.

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

geographic information systems
cross sections

subsurface characterization
geologic modeling


Interval arithmetic with containment sets The idea of containment sets (csets) is due to Walster and Hansen, and the theory is mainly due to the first author. Now that floating point computation with infinities is widely accepted, it is necessary to achieve the same for interval computation. The cset of a function over a set in its domain space is the set of all limits of normal function values over that set. Csets form a sound basis for defining a number of practical models for interval arithmetic that handle division by zero and related operations in an intuitive and consistent manner. Cset-based systems offer new opportunities for compiler optimization by rearranging interval expressions, achieving tighter bounds by reducing dependencies within the expression. This paper presents basic theory. It discusses division by zero, the case for a global flag to support "loose'' evaluation, performance, and semantics. It presents numerical examples using a trial Matlab implementation.

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

interval arithmetic
division by zero
cset

validated computation
infinity
containment set


Multiple TFRC connections based rate control for wireless networks Rate control is an important issue in video streaming applications for both wired and wireless networks. A widely accepted rate control method in wired networks is equation based rate control [1], in which the TCP friendly rate is determined as a function of packet loss rate, round trip time and packet size. This approach, also known as TCP friendly rate control (TFRC), assumes that packet loss in wired networks is primarily due to congestion, and as such is not applicable to wireless networks in which the bulk of packet loss is due to error at the physical layer. In this paper, we propose multiple TFRC connections as an end-to-end rate control solution for wireless video streaming. We show that this approach not only avoids modifications to the network infrastructure or network protocol, but also results in full utilization of the wireless channel. NS-2 simulations, actual experiments over 1 x RTT CDMA wireless data network, and and video streaming simulations using traces from the actual experiments, are carried out to validate, and characterize the performance of our proposed approach.

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

all-in-one tfrc
multfrc
parallel connections
streaming rate control
video transmission
video over wireless
wireless communications


Estimating the channel capacity of multi-hop IEEE 802.11 wireless networks ? In IEEE 802.11 wireless networks, the residual capacity of the wireless links should be accurately estimated to realize advanced network services such as flow admission control or load balancing. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that estimates the packet delivery failure probability by collecting transmission statistics from nearby nodes, and by using a basic collision detection mechanism. This probability is then used in an analytical model to calculate the maximum allowable traffic needed to reach the saturation condition. We show by simulations that estimation error is within 0.55.0%, which is significantly lower than the best performance of prior estimation methods. We also demonstrate that the flow admission control is successfully achieved in a realistic wireless network scenario by the help of accurate link residual bandwidth estimation, where the unsatisfied traffic demand remain bounded at a negligibly low level. A routing algorithm that finds maxmin residual bandwidth path between source and destination nodes is also implemented, and simulation results show that the network throughput achieved by this algorithm significantly exceeds that of other popular mesh routing protocols. Finally, we provide test results from the real implementation of our algorithm on 802.11 wireless equipment, which are consistent with the simulations.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 multi-hop networks
802.11 modeling
dcf modeling


Thermal Imaging as a Biometrics Approach to Facial Signature Authentication A new thermal imaging framework with unique feature extraction and similarity measurements for face recognition is presented. The research premise is to design specialized algorithms that would extract vasculature information, create a thermal facial signature, and identify the individual. The proposed algorithm is fully integrated and consolidates the critical steps of feature extraction through the use of morphological operators, registration using the Linear Image Registration Tool, and matching through unique similarity measures designed for this task. The novel approach at developing a thermal signature template using four images taken at various instants of time ensured that unforeseen changes in the vasculature over time did not affect the biometric matching process as the authentication process relied only on consistent thermal features. Thirteen subjects were used for testing the developed technique on an in-house thermal imaging system. The matching using the similarity measures showed an average accuracy of 88.46% for skeletonized signatures and 90.39% for anisotropically diffused signatures. The highly accurate results obtained in the matching process clearly demonstrate the ability of the thermal infrared system to extend in application to other thermal-imaging-based systems. Empirical results applying this approach to an existing database of thermal images prove this assertion.

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

biometric
face recognition
image registration
thermal imaging


Online Reinforcement Learning for Dynamic Multimedia Systems In our previous work, we proposed a systematic cross-layer framework for dynamic multimedia systems, which allows each layer to make autonomous and foresighted decisions that maximize the system's long-term performance, while meeting the application's real-time delay constraints. The proposed solution solved the cross-layer optimization offline, under the assumption that the multimedia system's probabilistic dynamics were known a priori, by modeling the system as a layered Markov decision process. In practice, however, these dynamics are unknown a priori and, therefore, must be learned online. In this paper, we address this problem by allowing the multimedia system layers to learn, through repeated interactions with each other, to autonomously optimize the system's long-term performance at run-time. The two key challenges in this layered learning setting are: (i) each layer's learning performance is directly impacted by not only its own dynamics, but also by the learning processes of the other layers with which it interacts; and (ii) selecting a learning model that appropriately balances time-complexity (i. e., learning speed) with the multimedia system's limited memory and the multimedia application's real-time delay constraints. We propose two reinforcement learning algorithms for optimizing the system under different design constraints: the first algorithm solves the cross-layer optimization in a centralized manner and the second solves it in a decentralized manner. We analyze both algorithms in terms of their required computation, memory, and interlayer communication overheads. After noting that the proposed reinforcement learning algorithms learn too slowly, we introduce a complementary accelerated learning algorithm that exploits partial knowledge about the system's dynamics in order to dramatically improve the system's performance. In our experiments, we demonstrate that decentralized learning can perform equally as well as centralized learning, while enabling the layers to act autonomously. Additionally, we show that existing application-independent reinforcement learning algorithms, and existing myopic learning algorithms deployed in multimedia systems, perform significantly worse than our proposed application-aware and foresighted learning methods.

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

layered markov decision process
reinforcement learning

cross-layer multimedia system optimization


SAT-based ATPG using multilevel compatible don't-cares cares are discarded before Technology Mapping or Automatic Test Pattern Generation ( ATPG). In this paper, we present two combinational ATPG algorithms for combinational designs. These algorithms utilize the multilevel don't cares that are computed for the design during technology independent logic optimization. They are based on Boolean Satisfiability ( SAT), and utilize the single stuck- at fault model. Both algorithms make use of the Compatible Observability Don't Cares ( CODCs) associated with nodes of the circuit, to speed up the ATPG process. For large circuits, both algorithms make use of approximate CODCs ( ACODCs), which we can compute efficiently. Our first technique speeds up fault propagation by modifying the active clauses in the transitive fanout ( TFO) of the fault site. In our second technique, we define new j-active variables for specific nodes in the transitive fanin (TFI) of the fault site. Using these j-active variables we write additional clauses to speed up fault justification. Experimental results demonstrate that the combination of these techniques ( when using CODCs) results in an average reduction of 45% in ATPG runtimes. When ACODCs are used, a speed-up of about 30% is obtained in the ATPG run-times for large designs. We compare our method against a commercial structural ATPG tool as well. Our method is slower for small designs, but for large designs, we obtain a 31% average speedup over the commercial tool.

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


Generalized Unequal Error Protection LT Codes for Progressive Data Transmission The original design of standard digital fountain codes assumes that the coded information symbols are equally important. In many applications, some source symbols are more important than others, and they must be recovered prior to the rest. Unequal error protection (UEP) designs are attractive solutions for such source transmissions. In this paper, we introduce a more generalized design for the first universal fountain code design, Luby transform (LT) codes, that make it particularly suited for progressive bit stream transmissions. We apply the generalized LT codes to a progressive source and show that it has better UEP properties than other published results in the literature. For example, using the proposed generalization, we obtained up to 1.7-dB peak signal to noise ratio gain in a progressive image transmission scenario over the two major UEP fountain code designs.

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

iterative decoding
lossy channels
progressive sources
unequal error protection (uep)
unequal iteration time (uit)
unequal recovery time (urt)


A method to evaluate routing policy through p minimal paths for stochastic case In this paper, a stochastic-flow network is presented to model a computer network in which each arc has various possible capacities and may fail. In order to shorten the transmission time, the transmission protocol allowing the data to be sent through multiple minimal paths simultaneously is utilized for the computer network. However, the minimum transmission time to send a given amount of data is not fixed due to the property of stochastic capacity. Accordingly, the first addressed issue is to evaluate the probability that the network is able to send the data within a time constraint by adopting the transmission protocol. Such a probability is named as transmission reliability that is regarded as a performance indicator to measure the QoS for a computer network. Without knowing all minimal paths in advance, an efficient solution procedure is proposed to calculate transmission reliability. The experimental results of 35 random networks show that the proposed algorithm can be executed efficiently. Moreover, in order to increase transmission reliability, the network administrator decides the routing policy to designate the first and the second priority p minimal paths. The second addressed issue is to evaluate transmission reliability associated with the routing policy. A sort criterion is subsequently presented to find an ideal routing policy.

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

routing policy
qos
protocol
stochastic
reliability
p minimal paths


authorizing and directing configuration updates in contemporary it infrastructures All security and non-security equipment in a IT infrastructure has to be consistent with the configuration of the entire IT infrastructure. System management tools are used to manage contemporary IT infrastructures in an efficient and secure manner, and ensure its configuration is consistent and correct. System configuration tools achieve this by using a central configuration model from which all configuration is derived. The central configuration model determines the configuration of the infrastructure and needs to be protected against unauthorised access and changes. In large IT infrastructures there are multiple administrators. Each manages an aspect of the infrastructure and thus requires access to the central model. We propose an approach that enforces access control on the changes that are made to the configuration model. Our approach also includes a method to enforce complex authorisation workflows on configuration model updates in federated infrastructures. We developed a prototype that transforms low level textual updates, to updates to the model. This transformation enables access control at the same abstraction level as the configuration model. The first results of this work have been evaluated and published. In this position paper we argue for further research on securing configuration models and applying access control on updates to the configuration model.

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


a new model to improve the performance of rrm Research interest of radio resource management is always focusing on the performance improvement of RRM algorithm. Paper proposed a new model, Integrated RRM Performance Increasing Model (IRPIM), for the operation on real network. Based on the integrated management of whole RRM parameters, IRPIM can enable the scenarios based parameter control and improve performance of each type RRM algorithms, such as handoff control algorithm, power control algorithm. Experiments results under GSM and TD-SCDMA network show that radio coverage rate and performance of handoff from TD-SCDMA to GSM was increased.

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


Integrated Vehicle Configuration System-Connecting the domains of mass customization Configuration design for mass customized vehicles necessitates the coordination of customer requirements, product characteristics, production processes, and logistics networks, in order to achieve rapid response to customer orders. Existing product configurators are mainly used as sales tools, and fail to account for the requirements of the entire customer order fulfillment process. In this regard, this paper proposes an Integrated Vehicle Configuration System (IVCS) to facilitate customer order processing based on information from multiple domains in a mass customization environment. An IVCS business model is proposed to incorporate the decision factors for configuration design related to different planning stages. The business model is supported by a comprehensive ontology framework, which enhances communications between different stakeholders involved in the order fulfillment process. The configuration approach is based on combinations of selective and generative rules and can be integrated with existing ERP systems. it also provides mechanisms to handle configuration rules that allow users to convert soft preferences into product specifications, bill-of-materials, and, furthermore, into logistics configurations. An example of a computerized configuration system showcases the process from customer engineering to design and production. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

configuration
ontology
mass customization


Controlling chaos in a chaotic neural network The chaotic neural network constructed with chaotic neuron shows the associative memory function, but its memory searching process cannot be stabilized in a stored state because of the chaotic motion of the network. In this paper, a pinning control method focused on the chaotic neural network is proposed. The computer simulation proves that the chaos in the chaotic neural network can be controlled with this method and the states of the network can converge in one of its stored patterns if the control strength and the pinning density are chosen suitable. It is found that in general the threshold of the control strength of a controlled network is smaller at higher pinned density and the chaos of the chaotic neural network can be controlled more easily if the pinning control is added to the variant neurons between the initial pattern and the target pattern.

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

chaotic neural network
controlling chaos
pinning control method


text compression using prediction In the compression of the text files, the dependencies between the successive characters should be exploited to as great an extent as possible. There are two obvious possibilities: either to detect and encode often occurring character strings, or to encode successors of character blocks. This paper presents two methods based on the latter approach. In the first method we encode only the most probable successors of blocks, whereas in the second we encode them all, using the knowledge of their distribution. The second method uses recursion to store effectively the dependencies between the characters and this results in good compression gains in practical cases.

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

text character dependencies method knowledge paper recursion practical encode strings compression


Efficient and Secure Authenticated Key Exchange Using Weak Passwords Mutual authentication and authenticated key exchange are fundamental techniques for enabling secure communication over public, insecure networks. It is well known how to design secure protocols for achieving these goals when parties share high-entropy cryptographic keys in advance of the authentication stage. Unfortunately, it is much more common for users to share weak, low-entropy passwords which furthermore may be chosen from a known space of possibilities (say, a dictionary of English words). In this case, the problem becomes much more difficult as one must ensure that protocols are immune to off-line dictionary attacks in which an adversary exhaustively enumerates all possible passwords in an attempt to determine the correct one. We propose a 3-round protocol for password-only authenticated key exchange, and provide a rigorous proof of security for our protocol based on the decisional Diffie-Hellman assumption. The protocol assumes only public parameters-specifically, a "common reference string"-which can be "hardcoded" into an implementation of the protocol; in particular, and in contrast to some previous work, our protocol does not require either party to pre-share a public key. The protocol is also remarkably efficient, requiring computation only (roughly) 4 times greater than "classical" Diffie-Hellman key exchange that provides no authentication at all. Ours is the first protocol for password-only authentication that is both practical and provably-secure using standard cryptographic assumptions.

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


Dimensioning Drop-tail and AQM (RED) buffers at access networks for optimal performance with bulk data TCP traffic Dimensioning buffers is still an area open to research efforts and discussions and much study work has been conducted on this topic recently. Most of this work is focused on sizing buffers in core routers in which a huge number of flows compete. Different, sometimes contradictory theories and buffer dimensioning formulae are put forward, which take into account statistical properties when aggregating many TCP flows. In our study we also work under the widely accepted assumption that persistent TCP flows account for most of the buffer demand and short-lived (e.g. web-traffic) TCP or non-elastic (e.g. streaming) flows just add a little bit more to the buffer requirement. In the research dedicated to core routers, these are assumed as bottlenecks, which, given the high-bandwidth backbone networks today, is not very frequent. Very often, however, the narrow bandwidth last-mile network is the bottleneck for a TCP connection. Therefore, we explore buffers in the access network equipment (e.g. in a DSLAM access module), in which a few long-lived TCP-controlled connections compete, synchronization between flows is a frequent phenomenon, and we elaborate on the impact of buffer configuration on the access (down-) link performance. In this paper, a formula is presented for dimensioning access network (bottleneck) buffers for no loss on the flows competing through them, given the flows' parameters are known (number of flows, propagation delays, and advertized windows). The formula is validated against simulations. Further, we explore the sensitivity of this buffer dimensioning function to its parameters. As we show, in order to avoid buffer-incurred losses, the required buffer becomes easily very large, of the order of hundreds of packet units only for a few flows. This is not feasible for equipment implementation, nor is desirable because of other side-effects, e.g. like largely augmented delay. Therefore, we also study the impact of shorter buffers than necessary on the performance criteria: link utilization, fairness between flows. We also derive a formula for calculating the buffer fluctuation period, in particular Drop-tail buffer synchronization conditions. We show that Drop-tail buffers very often fail to meet the performance criteria. Further on, we present a methodology for optimally dimensioning RED-managed buffers. This is a compilation of other acknowledged works in the area, passed through the prism of our own research and we demonstrate that such buffers, if properly configured and working in a stable regime, can outperform Drop-tail buffers. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

persistent tcp flows
buffer dimensioning


Design of class DE amplifier with nonlinear shunt capacitances for any output Q This paper investigates the design curves of the class DE amplifier with the nonlinear shunt capacitances for any output Q and any grading coefficient in of the diode junction in the MOSFET. The design curves are derived by the numerical calculation using Spice. The results of this paper have two important meanings. Firstly, it is clarified that the nonlinearities of the shunt capacitances affect the design curves of the class DE amplifier, especially, for low output Q. Moreover, the supply voltage is a quite important parameter to design the class DE amplifier with the nonlinear shunt capacitances. Secondly, it is also clarified that the numerical design tool using Spice, which is proposed by authors, can be applied to the derivation of the design curves. This shows the possibility of the algorithm to be a powerful tool for the analysis of the class E switching circuits. The waveforms from Spice simulations denote the validity of the design curves.

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

class de amplifier
class e switching
spice simulations
grading coefficient

nonlinear capacitance on mosfet
quality factor


Classification based on specific rules and inexact coverage Association rule mining and classification are important tasks in data mining. Using association rules has proved to be a good approach for classification. In this paper, we propose an accurate classifier based on class association rules (CARs), called CAR-IC, which introduces a new pruning strategy for mining CARs, which allows building specific rules with high confidence. Moreover, we propose and prove three propositions that support the use of a confidence threshold for computing rules that avoids ambiguity at the classification stage. This paper also presents a new way for ordering the set of CARs based on rule size and confidence. Finally, we define a new coverage strategy, which reduces the number of non-covered unseen-transactions during the classification stage. Results over several datasets show that CAR-IC beats the best classifiers based on CARs reported in the literature.

O O O O O O O O B I 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 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

data mining
class association rules
association rule mining


On (L,M) ( L , M ) -fuzzy convergence spaces ? This paper presents a definition of (L,M) ( L , M ) -fuzzy convergence spaces. It is shown that the category (L,M) ( L , M ) -FC of (L,M) ( L , M ) -fuzzy convergence spaces, which embeds the category (L,M) ( L , M ) -FTop of (L,M) ( L , M ) -fuzzy topological spaces as a reflective subcategory, is a Cartesian closed topological category. Further, it is proved that the category of (topological) pretopological (L,M) ( L , M ) -fuzzy convergence spaces is isomorphic to the category of (topological) (L,M) ( L , M ) -fuzzy quasi-coincident neighborhood spaces. Moreover, the relations among (L,M) ( L , M ) -fuzzy convergence spaces, pretopological (L,M) ( L , M ) -fuzzy convergence spaces and topological (L,M) ( L , M ) -fuzzy convergence spaces are investigated in the categorical sense.

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

m ) -fuzzy quasi-coincident neighborhood system (l


comparative analysis of proxy mipv6 and fast mipv6 Ubiquitous access to information anywhere, anytime and anyhow is a main feature of the upcoming 4G mobile communication networks, which will interconnect existing and future networks via common IP core. 4G networks are termed, therefore, as All-IP and are expected to provide higher bandwidth than currently obtained from 3G networks at lower costs. One of the main challenges arising while deploying these networks is the guarantee of fast and smooth mobility support for customers so that seamless functionality for ongoing applications can be guaranteed. As the mobility in heterogeneous network environments is becoming more complex to be handled by Mobile Nodes (MNs), network-based mobility management solutions are of major interest. Such solutions are currently being developed by the IETF working group "NETLMM". The basic idea is to develop a new modular mobility management architecture that better accommodates any changes in technologies while reducing the complexity of the MN's stack software. The well-known proposal of the NETLMM working group is Proxy MIPv6 (PMIPv6), which tries to support mobility without involving MNs. This paper analyzes this proposal and evaluates it compared to the well-known Fast MIPv6 (FMIPv6) protocol in different radio access technologies. The comparison has been achieved with respect to the experienced handoff latency, resulting handoff interruption time and expected number of dropped packets per handoff. This analysis takes the dropping of control messages into account and has been done using mathematical models developed for both protocols. The obtained results show that the best performance can be seen by FMIPv6 in predictive mode. Access technology affects significantly the handoff interruption time. PMIPv6 performs almost comparable to FMIPv6 in reactive mode using a fast radio access technology. However, for slower radio access technologies, PMIPv6 performs better than FMIPv6 in reactive mode. PMIPv6 shows more robustness against control messages dropping than FMIPv6. Similar results are noticed with respect to the expected number of dropped packets per handoff. A main property of PMIPv6 is that there is no remarkable impact of radio access technologies on the number of dropped packets per handoff for downlink traffic.

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

network-based mobility management
proxy mip


Optimum heart sound signal selection based on the cyclostationary property Noise often appears in parts of heart sound recordings, which may be much longer than those necessary for subsequent automated analysis. Thus, human intervention is needed to select the heart sound signal with the best quality or the least noise. This paper presents an automatic scheme for optimum sequence selection to avoid such human intervention. A quality index, which is based on finding that sequences with less random noise contamination have a greater degree of periodicity, is defined on the basis of the cyclostationary property of heart beat events. The quality score indicates the overall quality of a sequence. No manual intervention is needed in the process of subsequence selection, thereby making this scheme useful in automatic analysis of heart sound signals.

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

heart sound signal
cyclostationary property
quality index


Spectral decomposition for the search and analysis of RNA secondary structure Scales in RNA, based on geometrical considerations, can be exploited for the analysis and prediction of RNA structures. By using spectral decomposition, geometric information that relates to a given RNA fold can be reduced to a single positive scalar number, the second eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix corresponding to the tree-graph representation of the RNA secondary structure. Along with the free energy of the structure, being the most important scalar number in the prediction of RNA folding by energy minimization methods, the second eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix can be used as an effective signature for locating a target folded structure given a set of RNA folds. Furthermore, the second eigenvector of the Laplacian matrix can be used to partition large RNA structures into smaller fragments. An illustrative example is given for the use of the second eigenvalue to predict mutations that may cause structural rearrangements, thereby disrupting stable motifs.

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

second eigenvalue of the laplacian matrix

algebraic connectivity
spectral bisection
deleterious mutations


weight illusion by tangential deformation of forearm skin When we perform exercise or undergo rehabilitation, it is helpful to be supported by another person. To get this support, we normally take hold of a person's arm, and pull it. In this paper, we investigate the use of a special device to produce a "pulling arm" sensation on the forearm. Using a weight comparison task, we performed an experiment to confirm the sensation of illusory external force with our device. We concluded that our current device presented about 10g to 20g weight perception.

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


A Novel Low Area Overhead Direct Adaptive Body Bias (D-ABB) Circuit for Die-to-Die and Within-Die Variations Compensation A direct adaptive body bias (D-ABB) circuit is proposed in this paper. The D-ABB is used to compensate for die-to-die (D2D) and within-die (WID) parameter variations, and accordingly, improves the circuit yield regarding the speed, the dynamic power, and the leakage power. The D-ABB circuit consists of threshold voltage estimation circuits and direct control of the body bias performed by on-chip direct controller circuits. Circuit level simulation results of a circuit block case study, extracted from a real microprocessor critical path, referring to an industrial hardware-calibrated 65-nm CMOS technology transistor model, are presented. These results show that the proposed D-ABB reduces the standard deviations of the frequency, the dynamic power, and the leakage power by factors of 5.5X, 6.4X, and 4.5X, respectively, when both D2D and WID variations are considered. In addition, in the presented case study, initial total yields of 16.8% and 13% are improved to 100% and 91.4%, respectively. The proposed D-ABB circuit exhibits lower area overhead compared to the other ABB circuits reported in the literature.

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

adaptive body bias (abb)
die-to-die (d2d)
microprocessors
process variations compensation
within-die (wid)
yield improvement


Use of Sentinel Herds to Study the Epidemiology of Vesicular Stomatitis in the State of Colorado Approximately 20 sentinel premises in Colorado were visited quarterly during a 3-year prospective study to investigate the persistence of VS viruses in horses. A survey to assess management practices, health events, animal movements and environmental data was completed at each visit. Collection of serum samples and oral swabs along with a clinical examination of sentinel horses were performed at each visit. Serum samples were tested by 2 or more of 4 available serological tests. The data collected for two years (August 1998 to August 2000) are reported here. During this period there was seroconversion in 1 and 8 horses based on capture IgM tests for seroytpes New Jersey and Indiana, respectively. Kaplan-Meier curves were generated for those premises with horses that seroconverted and the mean survival time was 4.17 quarters (range 1.85-7.0). The occurrence of seroconversions during periods when no clinical disease was observed suggests the persistence of vesicular stomatitis viruses in the environment of the sentinel premises.

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


a diagrammatic inference system for the web We developed a diagrammatic inference system for the World Wide Web. Our system enables the creation of diagrams such that the information contained in them can be searched and inference can be performed on it. We developed an XMLSchema for bar, line, and pie charts. Based on it, we developed software that transforms a corresponding XML file into an SVG image, which in turn is rendered by the client as an image. Additionally, we developed a search engine which enables a user to find information explicitly contained in the XML file, and as such in the image. Furthermore, we developed an inference engine which enables a user to locate information that is implicitly contained in the image.

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


Predicting HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibody epitope networks using neutralization titers and a novel computational method Recent efforts in HIV-1 vaccine design have focused on immunogens that evoke potent neutralizing antibody responses to a broad spectrum of viruses circulating worldwide. However, the development of effective vaccines will depend on the identification and characterization of the neutralizing antibodies and their epitopes. We developed bioinformatics methods to predict epitope networks and antigenic determinants using structural information, as well as corresponding genotypes and phenotypes generated by a highly sensitive and reproducible neutralization assay.

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

hiv-1 antibody
thick patch analysis
bioinformatics algorithms
boosting algorithm
machine learning
in-silico epitope mapping
structural mapping
sequence and structure analysis


A quiet NICU for improved infants health, development and well-being: a systems approach to reducing noise and auditory alarms Noise is a direct cause of health problems, long-lasting auditory problems and development problems. Preterm infants are, especially, at risk for auditory and neurocognitive development. Sound levels are very high at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and may contribute to the frequently observed detrimental outcomes of prematurely born infants. Despite efforts to reduce noise level at the NICU, these have not changed over the past years. Although many authors indicate that a systems approach could solve such interrelated problems, methods to do so are generally lacking for the complicated situation in a critical care setting. A new approach was developed, that is, combining Fuzzy Front End earliest stage product development and human factors methods, with a focus on all Human-tech levels and on their interaction. A concept built up from several emerging technologies was developed, including tactile alarms, artificial intelligence for medicine, multimodal alarm system and mobile communication in critical care. Current and envisioned nursing work was modelled. Outcome of the study is an overview of investigations to develop the measures.

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

user interfaces
ergonomics
behaviour
medical systems
alarm handling
system design


On Compaction Utilizing Inter and Intra-Correlation of Unknown States Unknown (X) states are increasingly often identified as having potential for rendering semiconductor tests useless. One of the key requirements for a reliable test response compactor is, therefore, to preserve observability of any scan cell for a wide range of X-profiles while maintaining very high-compaction ratios, providing ability to detect a variety of failures found in real silicon, and assuring design simplicity. We have proposed a fully X-tolerant test response compaction scheme which is based on a flexible scan chain selection mechanism. This new approach delivers extremely high compression of test results by observing that X states are typically not randomly distributed in test responses. Identical or similar patterns of correlated X states let the proposed scheme reduce the size of a scan chain selector and the amount of test data used to control it. It handles, moreover, a wide range of unknown state profiles such that all X states, including those being clustered and of high density, are suppressed in a per-cycle mode without compromising the test quality.

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 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

output compaction
test data compression
x-masking


Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease by Transposition of the Omentum There is increasing evidence that cerebral hypoperfusion plays a key role in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). As one ages, cerebral blood flow (CBF) decreases as a direct reflection of a normal aging process. Coupled with this expected drop in CBF are a host of other factors, such as hypertension, stress, smoking, diabetes, cholesterol buildup, etc., which further decrease blood flow to the brain. Maintaining a critical level of CBF is essential if adequate amounts of oxygen and glucose are to be presented to neurons to sustain their cellular energy production (ATP). If CBF drops below a critical flow level, insufficient ATP will be produced and, if this situation is not corrected, neurons will deteriorate and eventually die. When a critical mass of neurons die in areas of the brain involved with cognition and memory, AD will result. Omentum transposition to the brain is a surgical procedure by which a large volume of blood and other biological agents can be delivered to the brain over an indefinite period of time. The omentum gives metabolic support to deteriorating neurons and its presence on the brain has resulted in the reversal of AD symptoms. Additionally, omentum transposition to the brain can markedly reduce senile plaque accumulation, but has no apparent effect on reducing neurofibrillary tangles. Omental transposition may play an important role in the future treatment of AD, especially in early and moderate cases.

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

alzheimer's disease (ad)
cerebral blood flow (cbf)


Optimal allocation of multi-sensor passive localization To improve multi-sensor passive localization precision, the optimal allocation form of multi-sensor bearing-only localization is analyzed from the perspective of the geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) of the least squares (LS) algorithm. This paper indicates that whether the target lies inside the closed region formed by the sensors or not, the optimal allocation is when each adjacent cut angle between a sensor pair is identical, and all sensors are located on the border of the circle that has the target (which is also the origin of the coordinate system) as its center. When there is no restriction on the adjacent cut angle in the above allocation, the optimal estimate of the LS algorithm in the sense of minimum variance can be acquired. When the LS algorithm achieves the optimal estimate and the sensors present the optimal allocation, the respective consistencies are analyzed. Simulation results verify the analysis of the optimal allocation form above, which can be used in multi-sensor passive localization algorithms based on sensor management.

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

optimal allocation
geometric dilution of precision
cut angle
optimal estimate

multi-sensor passive localization
consistency


A short-term fair MAC protocol for WLANs Designing a medium access control (MAC) protocol that simultaneously provides high throughput and allows individual users to share limited spectrum resources fairly, especially in the short-term time horizon, is a challenging problem for wireless LANs. In this paper, we propose an efficient cooperative MAC protocol with very simple state information that considers only collisions, like the standard IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol. However, contrary to the IEEE 802.11 MAC, the cooperative MAC gives collided users priority to access the channel by assigning them shorter backoff counters and inter-frame-spaces than users who did not participate in the collision event. In other words, collided users are the only ones allowed to transmit in the following contention period. For the cooperative MAC protocol, we utilize an analytical throughput model to obtain the optimal parameter settings. Simulation results show that the cooperative MAC provides significant improvement in short-term fairness and access delay, while still providing high network throughput. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

short-term fairness
protocol design and analysis


secure and portable database extensibility The functionality of extensible database servers can be augmented by user-defined functions (UDFs). However, the server's security and stability are concerns whenever new code is incorporated. Recently, there has been interest in the use of Java for database extensibility. This raises several questions: Does Java solve the security problems? How does it affect efficiency? We explore the tradeoffs involved in extending the PREDATOR object-relational database server using Java. We also describe some interesting details of our implementation. The issues examined in our study are security, efficiency, and portability. Our performance experiments compare Java-based extensibility with traditional alternatives in the native language of the server. We explore a variety of UDFs that differ in the amount of computation involved and in the quantity of data accessed. We also qualitatively compare the security and portability of the different alternatives. Our conclusion is that Java-based UDFs are a viable approach in terms of performance. However, there may be challenging design issues in integrating Java UDFs with existing database systems.

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

stability use portability affect efficiency language code design computation performance implementation data extensibility secure database server

database system
functional
object
experience
relational database
user
exploration


high speed search for large-scale digital forensic investigation The most common forensic activity is searching a hard disk for string of data. Nowadays, investigators and analysts are increasingly experiencing large, even terabyte sized data sets when conducting digital investigations. Therefore consecutive searching can take weeks to complete successfully. There are two primary search methods: index-based search and bitwise search. Index-based searching is very fast after the initial indexing but initial indexing takes a long time. In this paper, we discuss a high speed bitwise search model for large-scale digital forensic investigations. We used pattern matching board, which is generally used for network security, to search for string and complex regular expressions. Our results indicate that in many cases, the use of pattern matching board can substantially increase the performance of digital forensic search tools.

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

regular expression
digital forensics
hidden data