Reliability optimization design using a hybridized genetic algorithm with a neural-network technique In this paper, we examine an optimal reliability assignment/redundant allocation problem formulated as a non-linear mixed integer programming (nMIP) model which should simultaneously determine continuous and discrete decision variables. This problem is more difficult than the redundant allocation problem represented by a nonlinear integer problem (nIP). Recently, several researchers have obtained acceptable and satisfactory results by using genetic algorithms (GAs) to solve optimal reliability assignment/redundant allocation problems. For large-scale problems, however, the GA has to enumerate a vast number of feasible solutions due to the broad continuous search space. To overcome this difficulty, we propose a hybridized GA combined with a neural-network technique (NN-hGA) which is suitable for approximating optimal continuous solutions. Combining a GA with the NN technique makes it easier for the GA to solve an optimal reliability assignment/redundant allocation problem by bounding the broad continuous search space by the NN technique. In addition, the NN-hGA leads to optimal robustness and steadiness and does not affect the various initial conditions of the problems. Numerical experiments and comparisons with previous results demonstrate the efficiency of our proposed method.

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

nonlinear mixed integer programming
genetic algorithm


using refactorings to automatically update component-based applications Frameworks and libraries change their APIs during evolution. Migrating an application to the new API is tedious and disrupts the development process. Although some tools and techniques have been proposed to solve the evolution of APIs, most updates are done manually. Our goal is to reduce the burden of reuse on maintenance by reducing the cost of adapting to change. We studied the API changes of three frameworks and one library and discovered that over 80\% of the changes the break existing applications are refactorings. This suggests that refactoring-based migration tools should be used to effectively update applications. We propose a methodology to automatically and safely update component-based applications with no overhead on the component producers.

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

framework
software maintenance
component reuse
backwards compatibility


Network-based analysis of comorbidities risk during an infection: SARS and HIV case studies Infections are often associated to comorbidity that increases the risk of medical conditions which can lead to further morbidity and mortality. SARS is a threat which is similar to MERS virus, but the comorbidity is the key aspect to underline their different impacts. One UK doctor says "Id rather have HIV than diabetes" as life expectancy among diabetes patients is lower than that of HIV. However, HIV has a comorbidity impact on the diabetes.

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

comorbidities infections
disease associations


Design evaluation model for display designs of automobiles Displays generally located into cars' dashboard are important equipment in terms of driving safety and interior design of cars. In the industry, there are various display designs. Some of them may have positive impacts on customers while some of them may not. The selection of design parameters such as location of displays (behind steering wheel or on the center console), colors (for background and symbols/lettering), types (digital or analog), and shapes (circle, semicircle, or quadrangle) diversify display designs in the industry. In this paper, a design evaluation model (DEM) has been proposed to the relevant literature. The design characteristics of display and priorities of design parameters of displays are put forward by using the proposed model. DEM is an integrated method including fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy Choquet integral. The fuzzy analytic hierarch process (AHP) is utilized to define the priorities of design parameters of displays by using subjective assessment of customers while fuzzy Choquet integral is used to determine design characteristics of displays by using linguistic evaluations of design team.

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

display design
human-machine interaction
linguistic evaluation
fuzzy ahp


Deriving discrete behavior of hybrid systems under incomplete knowledge We study analysis of hybrid systems under incomplete knowledge. The class of hybrid systems to be considered is assumed to have the form of a rectangular hybrid automaton such that each constant in invariants and guards is given as a parameter. We develop a method based on symbolic computation that computes an approximation of the discrete behaviour of the automaton. We also show an implementation on a constraint logic programming language.

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

hybrid systems
incomplete knowledge
approximation
constraint logic programming


Numerical calculation of electron energy states for nanoscopic InAs/GaAs quantum rings In this paper we study the electron energy states for nanoscopic semiconductor quantum rings. The effective one-band Hamiltonian approximation and the Ben Daniel-Duke boundary conditions axe simultaneously considered in our three-dimensional (3D) model. The rectangular and ellipsoidal torus-shaped rings have been investigated with the 3D model. The proposed model is numerically solved with nonlinear iterative method. This computational method calculates the solution without any fitting parameters and is robust for all simulation cases. For InAs/GaAs quantum rings, it is found that (1) there is a significant energy difference between the 2D and 3D models; (2) the electron energy state depends strongly on the ring shape and size; and (3) the dependency of the energy state on an external magnetic field is different from conventional 1D/2D periodical result. We find the electron energy state nonperiodically oscillates versus the applied magnetic field which is in agreement with the experimental observation.

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

nanoscopic inas/gaas quantum ring
nonperiodical oscillation
extended nonlinear iterative method
computer simulation


A new modification approach on bat algorithm for solving optimization problems Optimization can be defined as an effort of generating solutions to a problem under bounded circumstances. Optimization methods have arisen from a desire to utilize existing resources in the best possible way. An important class of optimization methods is heuristic algorithms. Heuristic algorithms have generally been proposed by inspiration from the nature. For instance, Particle Swarm Optimization has been inspired by social behavior patterns of fish schooling or bird flocking. Bat algorithm is a heuristic algorithm proposed by Yang in 2010 and has been inspired by a property, named as echolocation, which guides the bats movements during their flight and hunting even in complete darkness. In this work, local and global search characteristics of bat algorithm have been enhanced through three different methods. To validate the performance of the Enhanced Bat Algorithm (EBA), standard test functions and constrained real-world problems have been employed. The results obtained by these test sets have proven EBA superior to the standard one. Furthermore, the method proposed in this study is compared with recently published studies in the literature on real-world problems and it is proven that this method is more effective than the studies belonging to other literature on this sort of problems.

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

heuristics
real-world problems
unconstrained problems


Silicon interposer process development for advanced system integration 3D integration requires vertical stacking of dies while forming permanent electrical and mechanical connections between the input/output pins of the devices. Through silicon via (TSV) is one of the key elements for 3D integration. This paper presents different liner and barrier/seed approaches for realizing 10100?m void-free copper filled TSVs. It is found that the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) TEOS film shows high dielectric constant, high leakage current and low step coverage. The thermal oxide film offers near 100% step coverage and low leakage current, but the growth rate is very slow. Hence a thermal oxide/PECVD TEOS bi-layer is formed to combine the advantage of each layer. Apart from the conventional plasma vapor deposition (PVD) barrier/seed, a novel metallization scheme with an atomic layer deposition (ALD) barrier and electroless deposited (ELD) seed is also investigated, which shows big potential for further scaling up the aspect ratio of TSV. Finally, a silicon interposer with thousands of TSVs is fabricated and 2.5D integration of device chips is demonstrated, from which good eye diagram is observed.

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

silicon interposer
tsv
system integration


Evaluation of Record Linkage Methods for Iterative Insertions Objectives: There have been many developments and applications of mathematical methods in the context of record linkage as one area of interdisciplinary research efforts. However, comparative evaluations of record linkage methods are still underrepresented. In this paper improvements of the Fellegi-Sunter model are compared with other elaborated classification methods in order to direct further research endeavors to the most promising methodologies. Methods: The task of linking records can be viewed as a special form of object identification. We consider several non-stochastic methods and procedures for the record linkage task in addition to the Fellegi-Sunter model and perform an empirical evaluation on artificial and real data in the context of iterative insertions. This evaluation provides a deeper insight into empirical similarities and differences between different modelling frames of the record linkage problem. In addition, the effects of using string comparators on the performance of different matching algorithms are evaluated. Results: Our central results show that stochastic record linkage based on the principle of the EM algorithm exhibits best classification results when calibrating data are structurally different to validation data. Bagging, boosting together with support vector machines are best classification methods when calibrating and validation data have no major structural differences. Conclusions: The most promising methodologies for record linkage in environments. similar to the one considered in this paper seem to be stochastic ones.

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

record linkage
object identification
support vector machines
em algorithm


the design of postgres This paper presents the preliminary design of a new database management system, called POSTGRES, that is the successor to the INGRES relational database system. The main design goals of the new system are to provide better support for complex objects, provide user extendibility for data types, operators and access methods, provide facilities for active databases (i.e., alerters and triggers) and inferencing including forward- and backward-chaining, simplify the DBMS code for crash recovery, produce a design that can take advantage of optical disks, workstations composed of multiple tightly-coupled processors, and custom designed VLSI chips, and make as few changes as possible (preferably none) to the relational model. The paper describes the query language, programming language interface, system architecture, query processing strategy, and storage system for the new system.

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

storage system
recovery
goals
design
model
paper
access
dbms
user
code
types
custom
data
support
system architecture
database
query processing
programming language

activation
database management systems
object
interfaces
optic
change
processor
strategies
method
systems
query languages
operability
relation
complexity
relational database


An autonomous active vision system for complete and accurate 3D scene reconstruction We propose in this paper an active vision approach for performing the 3D reconstruction of static scenes. The perception-action cycles are handled at various levels: from the definition of perception strategies for scene exploration downto the automatic generation of camera motions using visual servoing. To perform the reconstruction, we use a structure from controlled motion method which allows an optimal estimation of geometrical primitive parameters. As this method is based on particular camera motions, perceptual strategies able to appropriately perform a succession of such individual primitive reconstructions are proposed in order to recover the complete spatial structure of the scene. Two algorithms are proposed to ensure the exploration of the scene. The former is an incremental reconstruction algorithm based on the use of a prediction/verification scheme managed using decision theory and Bayes nets. It allows the visual system to get a high level description of the observed part of the scene. The latter, based on the computation of new viewpoints ensures the complete reconstruction of the scene. Experiments carried out on a robotic cell have demonstrated the validity of our approach.

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

scene reconstruction
active vision
bayes nets
exploration


An alternative strategy to improve the flicker severity measurement Flicker measurements exceeding planning levels without leading to users complaints. Deficiency of the IEC flickermeter with irregular analytical fluctuations. A new strategy is presented that overcomes the deficiencies of the IEC flickermeter. Results confirm the better response of this new strategy under nonuniform fluctuations.

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

power quality
nonuniform voltage fluctuations


Fuzzy mixture inventory model involving fuzzy random variable lead time demand and fuzzy total demand This article considers the mixture inventory model involving variable lead time with backorders and lost sales. We first fuzzify the random lead-time demand to be a fuzzy random variable and obtain the total cost in the fuzzy sense. Then, we further fuzzify the total demand to be the triangular fuzzy number and derive the fuzzy total cost. By the centroid method of defuzzification, we derive the estimate of total cost in the fuzzy sense. Also, we find the optimal solution for order quantity and lead time in the fuzzy sense such that the total cost has a minimum value. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the results of proposed model.

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

inventory
lead time
fuzzy random variable
fuzzy total cost


ordering by weighted number of wins gives a good ranking for weighted tournaments We consider the following simple algorithm for feedback arc set problem in weighted tournaments --- order the vertices by their weighted indegrees. We show that this algorithm has an approximation guarantee of 5 if the weights satisfy probability constraints (for any pair of vertices u and v, w uv + w vu = 1). Special cases of feedback arc set problem in such weighted tournaments include feedback arc set problem in unweighted tournaments and rank aggregation. Finally, for any constant ? > 0, we exhibit an infinite family of (unweighted) tournaments for which the above algorithm ( irrespective of how ties are broken) has an approximation ratio of 5 - ?.

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

tournaments
rank aggregation
feedback arc set problem


Adaptive control of a 3-DOF parallel manipulator considering payload handling and relevant parameter models Four dynamic reduced models of a robot were evaluated for on-line identification. An adaptive control scheme was implemented for 3-DOF parallel manipulator. The adaptive controller permits to study the cases in where uncertainties affect. The performance of the adaptive control is evaluated with a payload on the platform. The on-line update of the relevant parameters minimizes the absolute error.

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

parallel robot
model-based control
dynamic parameter identification


High-Performance Energy-Efficient Multicore Embedded Computing With Moore's law supplying billions of transistors on-chip, embedded systems are undergoing a transition from single-core to multicore to exploit this high-transistor density for high performance. Embedded systems differ from traditional high-performance supercomputers in that power is a first-order constraint for embedded systems; whereas, performance is the major benchmark for supercomputers. The increase in on-chip transistor density exacerbates power/thermal issues in embedded systems, which necessitates novel hardware/software power/thermal management techniques to meet the ever-increasing high-performance embedded computing demands in an energy-efficient manner. This paper outlines typical requirements of embedded applications and discusses state-of-the-art hardware/software high-performance energy-efficient embedded computing (HPEEC) techniques that help meeting these requirements. We also discuss modern multicore processors that leverage these HPEEC techniques to deliver high performance per watt. Finally, we present design challenges and future research directions for HPEEC system development.

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

high-performance computing (hpc)
energy-efficient computing
green computing
low power


Multivariate context collection in mobile sensor networks We focus on the treatment of quality-stamped contextual information in mobile sensor networks. Sensing nodes capture and forward context for consumption by mobile context aware applications. Due to the dynamic network topology the quality indicators seen by consumers vary over time. Context quality is a decreasing function of time and context can be consumed with a certain delay from its capturing time. We propose the sequential assessment of the network-circulated context information according to the Generalized Secretary Problem, a known paradigm in the Optimal Stopping Theory. The consumer node delays the processing (consumption) of incoming context until better quality is attained. We extend this basic model to include the cardinality of contextual components (i.e., different types of measurements coming from, possibly, different sources). Hence, the consumer node is interested not only in the higher possible quality of context but also in the widest possible range of context parameters (context quantity). We compare our findings to simple consumption strategies and pinpoint the advantages of the proposed model.

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

mobile sensor networks
optimal stopping theory

context-aware computing
context quality & quantity


A reduct derived from feature selection In this paper, the relationship between a selected subset of attribute set of a decision system via feature selection by an optimal algorithm and a reduct of attribute set under the meaning of Pawlaks rough set is discussed. This selected subset is considered as a solution of the optimal algorithm. It is verified that a locally optimal solution is surely not a reduct while a reduct must be a globally optimal solution. Based on these assertions, a new optimal algorithm, called blindly deleting algorithm with an inverse ordering (BDAIO), is proposed to find a real reduct of a decision information system by remedying the selected attribute subset. Several standard data sets from UCI repository are implemented showing validity of the proposal.

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

attribute reduction
decision systems
rough sets
data mining


Modelling drug elution from stents: effects of reversible binding in the vascular wall and degradable polymeric matrix Today the most popular approach for the prevention of the restenosis consists in the use of the drug eluting stents. The stent acts as a source of drug, from a coating or from a reservoir, which is transported into and through the artery wall. In this study, the behaviour of a model of a hydrophilic drug (heparin) released from a coronary stent into the arterial wall is investigated. The presence of the specific binding site action is modelled using a reversible chemical reaction that explains the prolonged presence of drug in the vascular tissue. An axi-symmetric model of a single stent strut is considered. First an advection-diffusion problem is solved using the finite element method. Then a simplified model with diffusion only in the arterial wall is compared with: (i) a model including the presence of reversible binding sites in the vascular wall and (ii) a model featuring a drug reservoir made of a degradable polymeric matrix. The results show that the inclusion of a reversible binding for the drug leads to delayed release curves and that the polymer erosion affects the drug release showing a quicker elution of the drug from the stent.

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

reversible binding
finite element method


Conditions for the convergence of evolutionary algorithms ? This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the convergence conditions for evolutionary algorithms. The necessary and sufficient conditions, necessary conditions, and sufficient conditions for the convergence of evolutionary algorithms to the global optima are derived, which describe their limiting behaviors. Their relationships are explored. Upper and lower bounds of the convergence rates of the evolutionary algorithms are given.

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


Polynomial pseudo-random number generator via cyclic phase Fast and reliable pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) is required for simulation and other applications in scientific computing. In this work, a polynomial PRNG algorithm, based on a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) is presented. LFSR generator of order k determines a 2(k)-I Cyclic sequence period when the associated polynomial is primitive. The main drawback of this generator is the cyclicality of the shifted binary sequence. A non-linear transformation is proposed, which eliminates the underlying cyclicality and maintains both the characteristics of the original generator and the feedback function. The modified generator assures a good trade off between fastness and reliability and passes both graphical and statistical tests. (C) 2009 IMACS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

pseudo-random number generator shift register


Multipath Transmission for Wireless Internet Access - From an End-to-End Transport Layer Perspective With the growing demand of Internet services, network operators have put significant efforts to improve network error resilience and efficiency. Since there exist different wired/wireless technologies for Internet access such as digital subscriber line (DSL), Ethernet, and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMax), a mobile host can use multiple access networks simultaneously with multipath transmission. Taking the advantage of heterogeneous environment, multipath transmission through the Internet can improve service reliability and network flexibility. Ensuring a reliable end-to-end connection-oriented communication with satisfactory quality of service (QoS) and maintaining congestion control and flow control are the main responsibilities of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), the dominant transport layer protocol in the Internet. In this paper, we survey the state-of-the-art of multipath transmission techniques for QoS provisioning in wireless Internet access, focusing on the end-to-end transport layer protocols. The main challenges for the design of multipath TCP are reviewed, and the existing transport layer congestion control schemes are categorized. Multipath TCP and stream control transmission protocol (SCTP)-based transport layer protocols are discussed, and their limitations and/or impractical assumptions are addressed. Open research issues on the development of an effective, efficient, and practical multipath TCP protocol are summarized.

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

multipath
internet
transport layer
congestion control


Adaptive behavior in turning of an oscillator-driven biped robot This paper concentrates on a biped robot's turning behavior that consists of straight and curved walking and the transition between these two patterns. We investigate how a robot achieves adaptive walking during such turning by focusing on rhythm control and propose a locomotion control system that generates robot motions by rhythmic signals from internal oscillators and modulates signal generation based on touch sensor signals. First, we verify that the robot attains limit cycles of straight and curved walking by numerical simulations and hardware experiments. Second, we examine the transition between these walking patterns based on the basin of attraction of the limit cycles in numerical simulations. Finally, we verify whether the robot actually accomplishes transition and turning by hardware experiments. This paper clarifies that the robot establishes such turning motions by adequate modulation of walking rhythm and phase through interactions between the dynamics of its mechanical system, oscillators, and environment.

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

biped robot
adaptive behavior
turning
curved walking
basin of attraction

nonlinear oscillators
phase reset
limit cycle


Hybrid transformation for indexing and searching web documents in the cartographic paradigm As information becomes available on the World Wide Web in larger quantities and in more disparate formats and media, adequate search engines and portal services providing search and filtering modalities tailored to the needs of the various communities of users become essential components of the global information infrastructure. Global-Atlas is a geographical search engine leveraging the cartographic paradigm for the indexing and searching of World Wide Web documents. Documents are indexed according to their geographical footprint, i.e. the bounding box of the geographical region to which they are related. Documents are searched by interactively drawing bounding boxes on maps. The effectiveness of Global-Atlas depends on the capability to quickly and to accurately index documents and maps. Maps, however, come in a variety of unspecified coordinate systems and projections. In this paper, we evaluate various surface-fitting techniques for the calibration of maps and devise an original hybrid calibration method from the empirical results obtained. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

web-based geographical information system


A hybrid reasoning mechanism integrated evidence theory and set pair analysis in Swine-Vet Swine-Vet is a kind of a web-based expert system for swine disease diagnosis and has been promoted in north of China past 3years. The few issues relevant with low diagnosis efficiency and error have arisen during the system test and promotion due to the limitation of previous adopted reasoning techniques and immaturity of diagnosis domain knowledge. This paper proposes a hybrid multimodal reasoning mechanism to resolve the swine intercurrent diseases and improve the system diagnosis efficiency. The framework consists of two modules: one is the forward diagnosing module, information fusion method based on evidence theory is used to solve the barriers of syndrome in swine diagnosis field, and the other is the backward confirming module, set pair analysis (SPA) is adopted to resolve evidence conflict and distinguish uncertain and unknown symptom information during the process of diagnosis. Then, in order to demonstrate this model, a case study is given. Finally, the benefits and challenges of the hybrid multimodal reasoning application in expert system are discussed.

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

evidence theory
set pair analysis
hybrid multimodal reasoning
expert system
information fusion


adjusting route panoramas with condensed image slices Route panorama (RP) has become an image medium to archive and visualize cityscapes along streets. Collecting data from a sampling line of a video camera mounted on a moving vehicle, the route panorama may suffer from the vehicle shaking and varying speeds due to uneven roads and busy traffic respectively. These may jitter the route panorama and change object widths. To produce a high quality route panorama, we extract spatial-temporal information in the video volume and rectify the route panorama. In this paper, we propose two condensed image slices to record traces of horizontal and vertical scenes during the vehicle motion. Instead of matching video frames that requires cost computation and large storage, we track the feature traces in the condensed image slices to remove jitter and adjust the local length of route panoramas. The method is effective and efficient in acquiring and rectifying long distance route panoramas.

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

media editing
image representation
camera motion
video stabilization


Empirical Models of End-User Network Behavior from NETI@home Data Analysis The simulation of computer networks requires accurate models of user behavior. To this end, we present empirical models of end-user network traffic derived from the analysis of NETI@home (NETwork Intelligence at home) data. There are two forms of models presented. The first models traffic for a specific Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port. The second models all TCP or UDP traffic for an end-user. These models are meant to be network-independent and contain aspects such as bytes sent, bytes received, and user think time. The empirical models derived in this study can then be used to enable more realistic simulations of computer networks and are implemented in the Georgia Tech Network Simulator (GTNetS).

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

internet measurement
network traffic models


The complexity of dissociation set problems in graphs A subset of vertices in a graph is called a dissociation set if it induces a subgraph with a vertex degree of at most 1. The maximum dissociation set problem, i.e., the problem of finding a dissociation set of maximum size in a given graph is known to be NP-hard for bipartite graphs. We show that the maximum dissociation set problem is NP-hard for planar line graphs of planar bipartite graphs. In addition, we describe several polynomially solvable cases for the problem under consideration. One of them deals with the subclass of the so-called chair-free graphs. Furthermore, the related problem of finding a maximal (by inclusion) dissociation set of minimum size in a given graph is studied, and NP-hardness results for this problem, namely for weakly chordal and bipartite graphs, are derived. Finally, we provide inapproximability results for the dissociation set problems mentioned above.

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

computational complexity
forbidden induced subgraph
approximability


game theory-based opponent modeling in large imperfect-information games We develop an algorithm for opponent modeling in large extensive-form games of imperfect information. It works by observing the opponent's action frequencies and building an opponent model by combining information from a precomputed equilibrium strategy with the observations. It then computes and plays a best response to this opponent model; the opponent model and best response are both updated continually in real time. The approach combines game-theoretic reasoning and pure opponent modeling, yielding a hybrid that can effectively exploit opponents after only a small number of interactions. Unlike prior opponent modeling approaches, ours is fundamentally game theoretic and takes advantage of recent algorithms for automated abstraction and equilibrium computation rather than relying on domain-specific prior distributions, historical data, or a handcrafted set of features. Experiments show that our algorithm leads to significantly higher win rates (than an approximate-equilibrium strategy) against several opponents in limit Texas Hold'em --- the most studied imperfect-information game in computer science --- including competitors from recent AAAI computer poker competitions.

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


Evolution of a negative-rule fuzzy obstacle avoidance controller for an autonomous vehicle A fuzzy obstacle avoidance controller is designed for an autonomous vehicle. The controller is given the capability for obstacle avoidance by using negative fuzzy rules in conjunction with traditional positive ones. Negative fuzzy rules prescribe actions to be avoided rather than performed. A rule base of positive rules is specified by an expert for directing the vehicle to the target in the absence of obstacles, while a rule base of negative rules is experimentally determined from expert operation of the vehicle in the presence of obstacles. The consequents of the negative-rule system are codified into a chromosome, and this chromosome is evolved using an evolutionary algorithm. The resulting fuzzy system has far fewer rules than would be necessary for an obstacle avoidance controller using purely positive rules, while in addition retaining greater interpretability.

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

evolutionary algorithms
fuzzy control
positive/negative


coreference resolution using expressive logic models Coreference resolution is regarded as a crucial step for acquiring linkages among pieces of information extracted. Traditionally, coreference resolution models make use of independent attribute-value features over pairs of noun phrases. However, dependency and deeper relations between features can more adequately describe the properties of coreference relations between noun phrases. In this paper, we propose a framework of coreference resolution based on first-order logic and probabilistic graphical model, the Markov Logic Network. The proposed framework enables the use of background knowledge and captures more complex coreference linkage properties through rich expression of conditions. Moreover, the proposed conditions can capture the structural pattern within a noun phrase as well as contextual information between noun phrases. Our experiments show improvement with the use of the expressive logic models and the use of pattern-based conditions.

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


System designs to perform bioinformatics sequence alignment The emerging field of bioinformatics uses computing as a tool to understand biology. Biological data of organisms (nucleotide and amino acid sequences) are stored in databases that contain billions of records. In order to process the vast amount of data in a reasonable time, high-performance analysis systems are developed. The main operation shared by the analysis tools is the search for matching patterns between sequences of data (sequence alignment). In this paper, we present 2 systems that can perform pairwise and multiple sequence alignment operations. Through the optimized design methods, proposed systems achieve up to 3.6 times more performance compared to the previous designs. The proposed systems are modeled with VHDL; these models are simulated and then mapped on a Mezzanine card that contains an FPGA chip. The systolic processing core implemented on the Mezzanine card processes the data obtained from the PC and sends the results back to the PC. The practical functionality of the systems is tested and verified by comparing the system results with pure software results.

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


Discrete linear-time probabilistic logics: Completeness, decidability and complexity We introduce a propositional and a first-order logic for reasoning about discrete linear time and finitely additive probability. The languages of these logics allow formulae that say 'sometime in the future, alpha holds with probability at least s'. We restrict our study to so-called measurable models. We provide sound and complete infinitary axiomatizations for the logics. Furthermore, in the propositional case decidability is proved by establishing a periodicity argument for omega-sequences extending the decidability proof of standard propositional temporal logic LTL. Complexity issues are examined and a worst-case complexity upper bound is given. Extensions of the presented results and open problems are described in the final part of the paper.

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


Diversified local search strategy under scatter search framework for the probabilistic traveling salesman problem This paper focuses on introducing a concept of diversified local search strategy under the scatter search framework for the probabilistic traveling salesman problem (PTSP). Different combinations of three commonly used local search methods in the PTSP, i.e., 1-shift, 2-opt, and 3-opt, were used to investigate its effects. A set of numerical experiments were conducted to test the validity of the proposed strategy based on randomly generated test instances. The numerical results and the permutation test showed that the diversified local search strategy, especially by combining 1-shift and 2-opt algorithms, can most effectively solve the homogeneous and heterogeneous PTSP in most of the tested instances in comparison with the single local search strategy under scatter search framework.

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


From planning to searching for the shortest plan: An optimal transition If we want to find the shortest plan, then usually, we try plans of length 1, 2,..., until we find the first length for which such a plan exists. When the planning problem is difficult and the shortest plan is of a reasonable length, this linear search can take a long time; to speed up the process, it has been proposed to use binary search instead. Binary search for the value of a certain parameter x is optimal when for each tested value x, we need the same amount of computation time; in planning, the computation time increases with the size of the plan and, as a result, binary search is no longer optimal. We describe an optimal way of combining planning algorithms into a search for the shortest plan - optimal in the sense of worst-case complexity. We also describe an algorithm which is asymptotically optimal in the sense of average complexity.

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


Selecting The Best ERP system for SMEs using a combination of ANP and PROMETHEE methods ERP system selection is a complex multi-criteria decision making process. Imprecision and large-number of criteria are among the most important challenges. Use of a hybrid methodology improves the decision outcomes. ANP and PROMETHEE are collectively and synergistically used in this study. The proposed methodology produced satiating results for SMEs.

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

erp selection
multi-criteria decision making
sme


Live-Tweeting a Presidential Primary Debate: Exploring New Political Conversations Twitter offers a function called live-tweeting that allows users to communicate about events with each other in real time. This study examines the use of live-tweeting during a 2012 Republican Primary Debate by examining the 181,780 tweets posted during the nationally televised debate. Live-tweeting offers users an opportunity to engage in public conversation about political events and thus potentially influence the framing of what occurred. Our study examines whether citizens utilize the opportunity to contribute to the political narrative or if elite users dominate political conversations through an analysis of tweets used by both groups. Findings show that there were very few differences between the elite and nonelite social media conversations and that elite users views were spread farther than nonelite views.

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

presidential debates
2012 election
public sphere


hardware architecture and fpga implementation of a type-2 fuzzy system This paper presents an architectural proposal for a hardware-based interval type-2 fuzzy inference system. First, it presents a computational model which considers parallel inference processing and type reduction based on computing inner and outer bound sets. Taking into account this model, we conceived a hardware architecture with several pipeline stages for full parallel execution of type-2 fuzzy inferences. The architectural proposal is used for specifying a type-2 fuzzy processor with reconfigurable rule base, which is implemented over FPGA technology. Implementation results show that this processor performs more than 30 millions of type-2 fuzzy inferences per second.

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

interval type-2 fuzzy systems
type-2 fuzzy logic
distributed arithmetic
fuzzy hardware


peer-to-peer architecture for content-based music retrieval on acoustic data In traditional peer-to-peer search networks, operations focus on properly labeled files such as music or video, and the actual search is often limited to text tags. The explosive growth of available multimedia documents in recent years calls for more flexible search capabilities, namely search by content. Most content-based search algorithms are computationally intensive, making them inappropriate for a peer-to-peer environment. In this paper, we discuss a content-based music retrieval algorithm that can be decomposed and parallelized efficiently. We present a peer-to-peer architecture for such a system that makes use of spare resources among subscribers, with protocols that dynamically redistribute load in order to maximize throughput and minimize inconvenience to subscribers. Our framework can be extended beyond the music retrieval domain and adapted to other scenarios where resource pooling is desired, as long as the underlying algorithm satisfies certain conditions.

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

content-based music retrieval
peer-to-peer
load balancing
distributed


Profit-based scheduling and channel allocation for multi-item requests in real-time on-demand data broadcast systems On-demand broadcast is a widely accepted approach for dynamic and scalable wireless information dissemination systems. With the proliferation of real-time applications, minimizing the request deadline miss ratio in scheduling multi-item requests has become an important task in the current architecture. In this paper, we prove the NP-hardness of broadcast scheduling of real-time multi-item requests in both single- and multi-channel environments. Furthermore, we propose two profit-based scheduling algorithms, PVC and SSA, for single- and multi-channel scheduling, respectively, both of which utilize our new concept profit of pending items and opportunity cost of pending requests. To the best of our knowledge, it is also the first time to introduce opportunity cost, which is derived from economics, into on-demand broadcast scheduling. Based on the scheduling result of PVC for pending requests, SSA is proposed to allocate selected items of scheduled requests to available channels. Finally, simulation results show great improvement in comparison with traditional algorithms. In general, PVC for single channel scheduling is superior to the best of other algorithms in terms of request deadline miss ratio. For multi-channel scheduling, SSA has larger advantage with increasing number of channels in terms of request deadline miss ratio than the best of other algorithms.

O O O B I O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 broadcast systems
channel allocation


Neurobiology of Rhythmic Motor Entrainment Timing is extremely important for movement, and understanding the neurobiological basis of rhythm perception and reproduction can be helpful in addressing motor recovery after brain lesions. In this quest, the science of music might provide interesting hints for better understanding the brain timing mechanism. The report focuses on the neurobiological substrate of sensorimotor transformation of time data, highlighting the power of auditory rhythmic stimuli in guiding motor acts. The cerebellar role of timing is addressed in subjects with cerebellar damage; subsequently, cerebellar timing processing is highlighted through an fMRI study of professional musicians. The two approaches converge to demonstrate that different levels of time processing exist, one conscious and one not, and to support the idea that timing is a distributed function. The hypothesis that unconscious motor responses to auditory rhythmic stimuli can be relevant in guiding motor recovery and modulating music perception is advanced and discussed.

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

timing
rhythm perception
music perception

time discrimination
cerebellum
motor rehabilitation


Energy-neutral scheduling and forwarding in environmentally-powered wireless sensor networks In environmentally-powered wireless sensor networks (EPWSNs), low latency wakeup scheduling and packet forwarding is challenging due to dynamic duty cycling, posing time-varying sleep latencies and necessitating the use of dynamic wakeup schedules. We show that the variance of the intervals between receiving wakeup slots affects the expected sleep latency: when the variance of the intervals is low (high), the expected latency is low (high). We therefore propose a novel scheduling scheme that uses the bit-reversal permutation sequence (BRPS) a finite integer sequence that positions receiving wakeup slots as evenly as possible to reduce the expected sleep latency. At the same time, the sequence serves as a compact representation of wakeup schedules thereby reducing storage and communication overhead. But while low latency wakeup schedule can reduce per-hop delay in ideal conditions, it does not necessarily lead to low latency end-to-end paths because wireless link quality also plays a significant role in the performance of packet forwarding. We therefore formulate expected transmission delay (ETD), a metric that simultaneously considers sleep latency and wireless link quality. We show that the metric is left-monotonic and left-isotonic, proving that its use in distributed algorithms such as the distributed BellmanFord yields consistent, loop-free and optimal paths. We perform extensive simulations using real-world energy harvesting traces to evaluate the performance of the scheduling and forwarding scheme.

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

energy-harvesting
wireless sensor network
dynamic wakeup scheduling
routing


identifying best practice by analyzing the evolution of the fiscan mtmsis software product line In the face of development of a software-intensive products family in a domain, Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) itself is a best practice that has been representatively demonstrated by the cases inducted into Software Product Line Hall of Fame. SPLE best practice is supported by various and vivid meta best practices generated from concrete activities through solution finding processes. This paper describes the evolution of the FISCAN MTMSIS software product line, nominated to the Hall of Fame at SPLC 2010. FISCAN applies SPLE in the security inspection domain and has identified SPLE best practices through years of experience in the past. This paper discusses some representative best practices and the lessons we learned during the process. More work, both development and research, are still in progress on the platform of the MTMSIS software product line and FISCAN will continue to apply SPLE in the future.

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

best practice
mtmsis
software product line engineering


reengineering legacy software products into software product line based on automatic variability analysis In order to deliver the various and short time-to-market software products to customers, the paradigm of Software Product Line (SPL) represents a new endeavor to the software development. To migrate a family of legacy software products into SPL for effective reuse, one has to understand commonality and variability among existing products variants. The existing techniques rely on manual identification and modeling of variability, and the analysis based on those techniques is performed at several mutually independent levels of abstraction. We propose a sandwich approach that consolidates feature knowledge from top-down domain analysis with bottom-up analysis of code similarities in subject software products. Our proposed method integrates model differencing, clone detection, and information retrieval techniques, which can provide a systematic means to reengineer the legacy software products into SPL based on automatic variability analysis.

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

legacy software
variability analysis
spl


Behavior analysis of neural network ensemble algorithm on a virtual machine cluster Ensemble learning has gained considerable attention in different learning tasks including regression, classification, and clustering problems. One of the drawbacks of the ensemble is the high computational cost of training stages. Resampling local negative correlation (RLNC) is a technique that combines two well-known methods to generate ensemble diversityresampling and error negative correlationand a fine-grain parallel approach that allows us to achieve a satisfactory balance between accuracy and efficiency. In this paper, we introduce a structure of the virtual machine aimed to test diverse selection strategies of parameters in neural ensemble designs, such as RLNC. We assess the parallel performance of this approach on a virtual machine cluster based on the full virtualization paradigm, using speedup and efficiency as performance metrics, for different numbers of processors and training data sizes.

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

artificial neural networks
multicore processor
parallel algorithms


Fundamental properties of intuitionistic fuzzy calculus The intuitionistic fuzzy set (A-IFS) introduced by Atanassov (1986) is a generalization of fuzzy set (Zadeh, 1965). The basic elements of an A-IFS are intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (IFNs) (Xu and Yager, 2006), each of which is described by a membership degree, a non-membership degree and a hesitancy degree. The IFN is an effective tool in expressing fuzzy information of things. Based on IFNs and their basic operations, the paper first defines the indefinite integral and antiderivative of intuitionistic fuzzy functions (IFFs), and then gives the concept of definite integral of IFFs. Finally, the paper deduces the NewtonLeibniz formula (the fundamental theorem of calculus) in Atanassovs intuitionistic fuzzy environment, and studies some basic properties of intuitionistic fuzzy calculus. Finally, this paper presents an aggregation method, which is based on the definite integral of IFFs, to deal with intuitionistic fuzzy information, and analyzes some basic properties of the method.

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

intuitionistic fuzzy numbers
intuitionistic fuzzy calculus
newtonleibniz formula
intuitionistic fuzzy set
intuitionistic fuzzy functions


Enhanced Generation of Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species in Cybrids Containing 4977-bp Mitochondrial DNA Deletion Abstract: The poor bioenergetic state in mitochondria containing mtDNA with the 4977-bp deletion has been well documented. However, information on mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation at rest or under intense oxidative stress in mitochondria lacking the 4977-bp mtDNA fragment inside intact living cells was insufficient. We used cybrids containing truncated mtDNA lacking the 4977-bp fragment and measured ROS levels inside cybrids by fluorescence probe, 2?,7?-dichlorodihydrofluorescein (DCF), and confocal microscopy. Mitochondrial ROS at resting state was slightly higher in cybrids containing 4977-bp deletion mtDNA as compared to cybrids without mtDNA defects. For intense oxidative stress treatment, cybrids were treated with 5 mM H2O2 for 10 min. Consecutive DCF images were acquired after H2O2 had been washed away. Progressive increase of DCF signals, especially in the mitochondrial area, was observed in cybrids containing 4977-bp deletion mtDNA, even long after the brief, intense H2O2 treatment. This result suggests that a feed-forward, self-accelerating vicious cycle of mitochondrial ROS production could be initiated in cybrids containing 4977-bp deletion fragment mitochondria after brief, intense H2O2 treatment. This mechanism may play an important role in the pathophysiology of the disease process caused by mitochondria containing mtDNA with the 4977-bp deletion.

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

mitochondrial dna deletion
cybrids
oxidative stress
reactive oxygen species
confocal microscopy


Wholesale pricing and evolutionarily stable strategies of retailers with imperfectly observable objective This paper develops a one-population (indirect) evolutionary game model of a supply chain with one manufacturer/supplier and many (a sufficiently large number of) retailers to study how the retailers marketing objective depends on the wholesale price, its observability, the error probability of the observed result on the rivals preference, the market scale and the retailers bargaining power. This paper also presents an algorithm for computing the optimal wholesale price of the manufacturer. We find that the profit (revenue) maximization behavior is an evolutionarily stable marketing strategy if the wholesale price is sufficiently high (low). Given an appropriate wholesale price, the revenue maximization behavior coexists with the profit maximization behavior in the retailers population. The larger the market scale, the stronger the motivation of the retailer to take profit maximization behavior due to a higher wholesale price. The cross effects of the retailers reservation payoff and the other factors should be considered in the decision process.

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

evolutionarily stable strategy
game theory


HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION AND VERIFICATION OF FIR FILTER UTILIZING M-BIT PDA An efficient architecture for a FPGA symmetry FIR filter is proposed that employs the M-bit parallel-distributed arithmetic (M-bit PDA). The partial product is pre-calculated and saved into the distributed ROM to eliminate a large amount of multiplications. Altera Stratix II EP2S60 is used as a target device to implement the M-bit PDA. The hardware implementation requires 936 adaptive look-up tables (ALUTs), 888 registers, 1 PLL, 40960 memory bits for the FIR filter implementation with the M-bit PDA (in this case M = 2). Additionally, the maximum clock rate for this implementation can be achieved up to 155.36 MHz. In comparison with the parallel multiplier/adder cell (MAC) and serial distributed arithmetic (SDA), the proposed architecture consumes a smaller area and operates with a higher speed due to omitting the multipliers.

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


Feature points matching for face reconstruction based on the window unique property of pseudo-random coded image Structured light vision systems have been successfully used for accurate measurement of the 3D surfaces of an object, in which a pseudo-random coded structured light image pattern is projected onto the target object through a projector, and the coded information image produced by its surface is captured by a CCD camera in order to recover its 3D surfaces. In this kind of computer vision technology, 3D face reconstruction is a hot research topic. This paper presents a method for feature points matching used in 3D reconstruction. In this method, the feature points can be identified exclusively taking advantage of the window unique property of a pseudo-random array. Thus, the matching problem can be solved by finding the correspondence between 2D coordinates of feature points in the pixel image and those in the code of the projected template. Then, the 3D reconstruction can be carried out with only a single image with the benefit of easy operation and simple calculation. An experiment for 3D face reconstruction with simulated data is given. The performances show that this method has high matching precision for object matching of feature points. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

face reconstruction
coded structured light
feature points matching
window unique property


Cognitive-based evaluation of consumption fads: An analytical approach Integrate the framework of informational cascade and cognitive process. Give insight on the stability of consumption fads. Explain information aggregation and diminishing sensitivity. Investigate the influence of product complexity. Discuss the information revealing effect on the market.

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

informational cascade
information aggregation
stability


Particle methods for maximum likelihood estimation in latent variable models Standard methods for maximum likelihood parameter estimation in latent variable models rely on the Expectation-Maximization algorithm and its Monte Carlo variants. Our approach is different and motivated by similar considerations to simulated annealing; that is we build a sequence of artificial distributions whose support concentrates itself on the set of maximum likelihood estimates. We sample from these distributions using a sequential Monte Carlo approach. We demonstrate state-of-the-art performance for several applications of the proposed approach.

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

latent variable models
maximum likelihood
sequential monte carlo
simulated annealing


exploring emotions and multimodality in digitally augmented puppeteering Recently, multimodal and affective technologies have been adopted to support expressive and engaging interaction, bringing up a plethora of new research questions. Among the challenges, two essential topics are 1) how to devise truly multimodal systems that can be used seamlessly for customized performance and content generation, and 2) how to utilize the tracking of emotional cues and respond to them in order to create affective interaction loops. We present PuppetWall, a multi-user, multimodal system intended for digitally augmented puppeteering. This application allows natural interaction to control puppets and manipulate playgrounds comprising background, props, and puppets. PuppetWall utilizes hand movement tracking, a multi-touch display and emotion speech recognition input for interfacing. Here we document the technical features of the system and an initial evaluation. The evaluation involved two professional actors and also aimed at exploring naturally emerging expressive speech categories. We conclude by summarizing challenges in tracking emotional cues from acoustic features and their relevance for the design of affective interactive systems.

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

affective computing
interactive installations
gestural interaction


modality switching and performance in a thought and speech controlled computer game Providing multiple modalities to users is known to improve the overall performance of an interface. Weakness of one modality can be overcome by the strength of another one. Moreover, with respect to their abilities, users can choose between the modalities to use the one that is the best for them. In this paper we explored whether this holds for direct control of a computer game which can be played using a brain-computer interface (BCI) and an automatic speech recogniser (ASR). Participants played the games in unimodal mode (i.e. ASR-only and BCI-only) and multimodal mode where they could switch between the two modalities. The majority of the participants switched modality during the multimodal game but for the most of the time they stayed in ASR control. Therefore multimodality did not provide a significant performance improvement over unimodal control in our particular setup. We also investigated the factors which influence modality switching. We found that performance and peformance-related factors were prominently effective in modality switching.

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

ssvep
brain-computer interface
multimodal interaction
hybrid bci


Fuzzy optimal control of sit-to-stand movement in a biomechanical model The Physiological studies illustrate that human sit-to-stand (STS) movement consists of different phases that are distinguishable by their kinematics constraints and stability requirements. We propose to use a fuzzy TSK biomechanical model to analyze, integrate, and study biomechanical STS movement. The fuzzy model combines two local linear models defined at the initiation and termination points of STS using Gaussian membership functions that operate on measurement of knee flexion. Further, we develop TSK fuzzy controllers that employ H-2 and H-infinity optimal control techniques for effective regulation of biomechanical STS. The fuzzy controllers similarly combine knowledge from local linear optimal controllers via membership functions. Our simulation results show that fuzzy TSK modeling is useful for the synthesis of STS movement because of its relevance with physiological principles and the use of localized control strategies for the joint torques.

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


Self adaptive routing for dynamic spectrum access in cognitive radio networks Cognitive radio technology inherently possesses self adaptivity. In order to design self adaptive mobile cognitive radio networks, routing is one of the key challenging issues to be addressed. In this paper, a novel self adaptive routing (SAR) algorithm for multi-hop cognitive radio ad hoc networks is proposed. The proposed routing algorithm incorporates with routing metrics and autonomous distributed adaptive transmission range control mechanism to provide self adaptivity. SAR aims to choose optimal routes at the outset of routing and aims to retain optimal route by the use of route adaptation and route preservation. SAR is compared with previously suggested algorithms to indicate performance differences. Extensive experimental evaluations are performed in the ns2 simulator. It is shown that the SAR provides better adaptability to the environment than the previously suggested algorithms and maximizes throughput, minimizes end-to-end delay in a number of realistic scenarios and significantly improves routing performance.

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


A domain analysis model for eIRB systems: Addressing the weak link in clinical research informatics We developed a domain analysis model for electronic IRB systems. We evaluated the models ability to represent real-world IRB forms. This model fills a gap in standardization and modeling efforts in the IRB domain. Development of the model paves the way for future automated IRB workflow.

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

irb
domain analysis model
clinical research informatics

electronic data processing
electronic irb


Mapping MMOFPS over heterogeneous distributed systems This paper evaluates the effects on performance of taking the heterogeneity of nodes into account, in terms of number of cores, when MMOFPS (Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter) game services are distributed. Two mapping strategies, Non_Heterogeneity_aware and Heterogeneity_aware, are integrated in a system, called OnDeGaS (On Demand Game Service), which is a hybrid between Client-Server and P2P topologies. Through simulation, we show that the Heterogeneity_aware mechanism has more impact in communication costs, but it is more efficient in exploiting the nodes of the P2P area, as it maps players faster and it creates less computing zones with latency values under the acceptable threshold for MMOFPS games.

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


Detecting cow's lameness using force sensors Our aim is to automatically detect cow's leg problems. The first system is a four-balance system, where each of the legs is weighed when a cow is in a milking robot. Its functionality is limited to milking robot and complications in interpreting results occur, since often not all of the legs are properly in each balance or the cow is leaning the robot. Therefore, we introduce a new system. It is a mat made of electromechanical film, Emfit, which can detect only dynamic forces. Its benefit is that its use is not limited to milking robot, but it can be set up in any corridor along which the cows walk. Preliminary tests with walking cows indicate that it has potentiality to separate lame cows from healthy cows by different forcetime behaviour.

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

dairy lameness
automatic health monitoring
precision livestock farming
four-balance system


THE WEALTH DISTRIBUTION MODEL WITH THE KICKBACK RATE We define an asset exchange model by adding the kickback rate to the trade, and discuss the Gini index with different kickback rates. It is found that for every kickback rate, the related Gini index tends to be steady; thus, the kickback rate-Gini index curve may be obtained. Furthermore, it is shown that the Gini index decreases when the kickback rate increases, so that the fair degree of social wealth distribution gets better. The Gini index reaches a minimum when the kickback rate is 0.58, and then it increases, as the accretion of the kickback rate destroys the fair degree of social wealth distribution. However, in all situations, the Gini index with kickback rate is less than the one without kickback. This means that the introduction of kickback rate is favorable to the raising of the fair degree of wealth distribution. We also define a moral index similar to the Gini index to weigh the differences of social moral level, and find that the differences of social moral level increase with time for the model with kickback rate.

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


Efficient Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Using Network Coding in MANET Mobile peer-to-peer (P2P) systems have recently got in the limelight of the research community that is striving to build efficient and effective mobile content addressable networks. Along this line of research, we propose a new peer-to-peer file sharing protocol suited to mobile ad hoc networks (MANET). The main ingredients of our protocol are network coding and mobility assisted data propagation, i.e., single-hop communication. We argue that network coding in combination with single-hop communication allows P2P file sharing systems in MANET to operate in a more efficient manner and helps the systems to deal with typical MANET issues such as dynamic topology and intermittent connectivity as well as various other issues that have been disregarded in previous MANET P2P researches such as addressing, node/user density, non-cooperativeness, and unreliable channel. Via simulation, we show that our P2P protocol based on network coding and single-hop communication allows shorter file downloading delays compared to an existing MANET P2P protocol.

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

file swarming
mobile ad hoc networks (manet)
mobility-assisted
peer-to-peer (p2p)
random linear code


A linear time recognition algorithm for proper interval graphs We propose a linear time recognition algorithm for proper interval graphs. The algorithm is based on certain ordering of vertices, called bicompatible elimination ordering (BCO). Given a BCO of a biconnected proper interval graph G, we also propose a linear time algorithm to construct a Hamiltonian cycle of G. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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 B I O O O O O O O O O

chordal graphs
proper interval graphs
algorithms


A multiscale method for the reassembly of two-dimensional fragmented objects We describe here an efficient procedure for reassembling unknown two-dimensional objects that have been broken or torn into a large number of irregular fragments-a problem that often arises in archaeology, art restoration, forensics, and other disciplines. The procedure compares the curvature-encoded fragment outlines, at progressively increasing scales of resolution, using an incremental dynamic programming sequence-matching algorithm. The total cost gets reduced by a factor proportional to the mean number of samples per segment, which makes the method viable for problems of practical size (thousands of fragments). The performance of our method is illustrated with an artificial but realistic example.

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

outline matching
planar shape matching
multiscale analysis
planar shape invariants
ceramic fragments
fracture analysis


Exponential convergence of SICNNs with delays and oscillating coefficients in leakage terms This paper considers the convergence problem of shunting inhibitory cellular neural networks with delays and oscillating coefficients in leakage terms. Based on a new integral inequality technique, some sufficient conditions are derived to ensure that all solutions of the addressed system converge exponentially to zero vector. Also, two examples and their numerical simulations are given to illustrate the main results.

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


Inhibitor Development in Patients with Hemophilia A after Continuous Infusion of FVIII Concentrates Abstract: Continuous infusion (CI) of coagulation factor concentrates has been used since the early 1990s. Recent reports of the occurrence of an inhibitor after CI have raised concerns about this method of treatment. We conducted a retrospective study to investigate the development of inhibitors after CI of Factor VIII concentrates in Germany. So far, 13 hemophilia centers have been contacted, and data have been collected by a questionnaire. Of the 13 centers, CI had never been performed in three, no inhibitors had been detected in five, and inhibitor development after CI was recorded in 10 patients in the remaining five centers. Of these 10 patients (ages 7 months to 57 years), five were suffering from severe, one from moderate, and four from mild hemophilia. Indications for treatment were major bleeds and surgical procedures. Plasma-derived (6 cases) and recombinant (4 cases) factor concentrates were given in various infusion sets. Data concerning amount infused (4300 to > 100,000 IU), number of days of exposure to factor concentrates (1 to > 100), and inhibitor characteristics (alloantibodies, 3 LR, 7 HR) were collected. Regarding hemophilia genotype, we found missense mutations in four patients, intron-22 inversions in two, and one small deletion in one; the genotype in three was unknown. In conclusion, only 3 out of 10 patients who developed an inhibitor after CI showed the typical risk profile for inhibitor formation, which is severe hemophilia A with a severe gene defect and less than 50 days of exposure to coagulation factor concentrates. Especially striking was the finding that 50% of the patients who developed inhibitors had mild to moderate hemophilia A. Our data point to the existence of a so-far unknown factor, related to CI, that might lead to inhibitor formation.

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

hemophilia a
inhibitor development
continuous infusion


Distributed Video Coding: an overview of basics, research issues and solutions Distributed Video Coding (DVC) is an emerging field that offers a brand-new paradigm for answering challenging questions in video coding applications. The unique potentials of DVC lie in its particular structure, targeting low encoding complexity and error robustness. DVC shows good prospects especially in wireless video sensor network, video monitoring, mobile camera, satellitic video communication and the other energy supply limited video applications. There has been amount of activities both in research and industry. Following the evolving stages, this paper provides an overview of DVC, including the theoretical foundation: Slepian-Wolf Theorem and Wyner-Ziv Theorem, the framework foundation: Distributed Source Coding (DSC) and the relation between DSC and DVC, and unique technologies comparison to conventional compressed method, including side information, channel coding, joint decoding and motion estimation, which highlight critical research issues. Additionally, five representative encoder are introduced as implementation aspects. Finally, several active research areas in the state of the art are reviewed with open challenging issues.

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

dvc
distributed video coding
side information


performance modelling of computer networks This paper intends to present an overview of the main problems that appear when we wish to estimate the performance of a non existing system or a future situation of an existing system. The main techniques used for representing the workload and the system performance will be also presented. It will start with a definition of the main problems existing in this field, then present the main techniques used for modelling computer networks and their workload and the methods used to obtain solutions from them. Finally a simple example will show the use of all of these techniques and methods.

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

solving techniques
workload characterisation


On stretching the interval simplex-permutohedron A family of polytopes introduced by E.M.Feichtner, A.Postnikov, and B.Sturmfels, which were named nestohedra, consists in each dimension of an interval of polytopes starting with a simplex and ending with a permutohedron. This paper investigates a problem of changing and extending the boundaries of these intervals. An iterative application of FeichtnerKozlov procedure of forming complexes of nested sets is a solution of this problem. By using a simple algebraic presentation of members of nested sets it is possible to avoid the problem of increasing the complexity of the structure of nested curly braces in elements of the produced simplicial complexes.

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

building set
nested set
hypergraph
simple polytope
truncation
stellar subdivision
combinatorial blowup
associahedron
cyclohedron


A one-dimensional model for nonexponential relaxation in a spin glass or glassy system In this research, we have presented the phase space of the so-called spin glass or glassy systems with a one-dimensional randomly-oriented diode network (RODN) in which the bonds between the lattice points are represented with diodes and these diodes are assumed to be fully conducting in the forward biased direction, whereas they are assumed to have some constraints, in the reverse direction, depending on the temperature and/or some other external effects. Thus, a particle's conduction (or transition) probability in the reverse direction through a diode like bond, p(r), can be assumed to have values between zero and one. By employing the Monte Carlo simulation technique to the diffusion of particles through this network we have explored the relaxation mechanism, and their functional forms. Our simulation data indicates that for reverse transition probability values of p(r) = 1.0 and 0.9, the time dependence of the relaxation data is exponential, on the other hand for pr 0, is very interesting, since it is almost the same as the critical exponent, 1/3, reported in the literature for the lowest occupation probability of site points spanning percolation clusters.

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

random diode network
random walk
stretched exponential


Reputation features for trust prediction in social networks Trust prediction in Social Networks is required to solve the cold start problem, which consists of guessing a Trust value when the truster has no direct previous experience on the trustee. Trust prediction can be achieved by the application of machine learning approaches applied to reputation features, which are extracted from the available Trust information provided by witness users. Conventional machine learning methods work on a fixed dimension space, so that variable size reputation information must be reduced to a fixed size vector. We propose and give validation results on two approaches, (1) a nave selection of reputation features, and (2) a probabilistic model of these features. We report experimental results on trust prediction over publicly available Epinions and Wikipedia adminship voting databases achieving encouraging results.

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

reputation features
social networks
trust prediction


Display-camera calibration using eye reflections and geometry constraints In this paper, we describe a novel method for calibrating display-camera setups from reflections in a users eyes. Combining both devices creates a capable controlled illumination system that enables a range of interesting vision applications in non-professional environments, including object/face reconstruction and humancomputer interaction. One major issue barring such systems from average homes is the geometric calibration to obtain the pose of the display which requires special hardware and tedious user interaction. Our proposed approach eliminates this requirement by introducing the novel idea of analyzing screen reflections in the cornea of the human eye, a mirroring device that is always available. We employ a simple shape model to recover pose and reflection characteristics of the eye. Thorough experimental evaluation shows that the basic strategy results in a large error and discusses possible reasons. Based on the findings, a non-linear optimization strategy is developed that exploits geometry constraints within the system to considerably improve the initial estimate. It further allows to automatically resolve an inherent ambiguity that arises in image-based eye pose estimation. The strategy may also be integrated to improve spherical mirror calibration. We describe several comprehensive experimental studies which show that the proposed method performs stably with respect to varying subjects, display poses, eye positions, and gaze directions. The results are feasible and should be sufficient for many applications. In addition, the findings provide general insight on the application of eye reflections for geometric reconstruction.

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

display-camera system
image analysis
visual system
human eye model
corneal reflection
catadioptric imaging


Associative and commutative tree representations for Boolean functions ? Since the 1990s, the probability distribution on Boolean functions, induced by some random formulas built upon the connectives And and Or, has been intensively studied. These formulas rely on plane binary trees. We extend all the results, in particular the relation between the probability and the complexity of a function, to more general formula structures: non-binary or non-plane trees. These formulas satisfy the natural properties of associativity and commutativity.

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

boolean functions
probability distribution

random boolean formulas
random trees
asymptotic ratio
analytic combinatorics


Sliding mode based feedback linearizing controller for grid connected multiple fuel cells scenario More realistic modeling of SOFC is done and different converters design is given. A robust FBLSMC scheme is designed for the control of SOFC units. Integrated control of multiple DGs is carried out using masterslave scheme. Frequency, uncertain load disturbances, load dispatches are considered for study. Superiority of developed control architecture to conventional is demonstrated.

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

distributed generation
feedback linearization
fuel cell
masterslave control
sliding mode control


Numerical analysis of Brazilian split test on concrete cylinder The paper presents simulations of the Brazilian test using two numerical models. Both models are regularized in order to obtain results independent of discretization. The first one, called gradient damage, is refined by additional averaging equation which contains gradient terms and an internal length scale as localization limiter. In the second one, called viscoplastic consistency model, the yield function depends on the viscoplastic strain rate. In this model regularization properties are governed by the assumed strain rate. The two models are implemented in the FEAP finite element package and compared in this paper. Parameter studies of the split test are performed in order to point out the features of each model.

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

brazilian test
gradient damage
viscoplastic consistency
localization
concrete