Hybrid particle swarm optimization incorporating fuzzy reasoning and weighted particle In conventional particle swarm optimization (PSO), the search behavior has two principal forces of the moving direction to guide the particles toward their personal best (pbest) and the global best (gbest) positions. However, if the particle lies too close to either pbest or gbest, the optimization of the swarm is likely to be trapped into a local optimum. To overcome the local optimum problem, this paper proposes a hybrid particle swarm optimization incorporating fuzzy reasoning and a weighted particle (HPSOFW) to establish a novel search behavior model to improve the searching capability of the conventional PSO algorithm. In the proposed search behavior model, a weighted particle is incorporated into the algorithm to modify the searching direction and fuzzy reasoning is used to adjust an attraction factor and inertia weight such that the particle has a better opportunity to find the optimal solution. Based on adjustment of the attraction factor and inertia weight, the proposed search behavior model takes into consideration of both search strategies of exploitation (local search) and exploration (global search) during the optimization. Simulation results show that the proposed HPSOFW has much better performance than that of the existing optimization algorithms for ten benchmark functions. To demonstrate its feasibility, the proposed HPSOFW is also applied to the learning of neural network for nonlinear system modeling before applying it to model an energy consumption system with satisfactory performance.

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

fuzzy reasoning
weighted particle
neural network


Information technologies and transitions in the lives of 55-65-year-olds: The case of colliding life interests More and more people entering the stage of retirement at around age 55-65 are healthy, active, and also very computer-literate. This trend is rapidly changing the common image of late-midlife technology users, which rests on the assumption that they find it difficult to embrace new technologies and also that their main interests are health related. Although technology use and lifestyles are changing, however, many other aspects of life remain the same. One of these aspects is that of the transitions, or life changes, that generally take place in these years. Besides retirement, these transitions include changes in health, housing, social interaction, work life, and personal finance. People develop different ways of coping with these transitions, which brings up interesting issues related to the late midlife stage. This paper presents a diary-aided interview study of late middle-age adults (N = 24) in Finland and Sweden with a focus on the interplay between technologies and transitions. Transitions were found to play a part in how the life interests of late middle-aged persons are often conflictive, forcing them to choose from among various 'possible selves'. At its best, technology can help alleviate these tensions. This finding is exemplified in the paper's discussion of two design implications associated with particular clashes of interests, related to how daily activities are organized and how contact is maintained with one's friends and family. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

colliding life interests
transitions
life changes

late middle age
later midlife
coping strategies


1 V all-MOS Sigma Delta A/D converters in the log-domain This paper presents novel low-voltage all-MOS analog circuit techniques for the synthesis of oversampling SigmaDelta A/D converters. The new approach exploits the possibilities of Log-domain processing by using the MOSFET in subthreshold operation. Based on this strategy, a complete set of very low-voltage (down to 1V) low-power (below 100 muW) all-MOS basic building blocks is proposed. The resulting analog circuit techniques allow the integration of SigmaDelta A/D converters for low-frequency ( below 100 KHz) applications in digital CMOS technologies. Examples are given for a standard 0.35 mum VLSI process.

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

1 v
cmos
subthreshold
sigma delta
converters
vlsi

low-voltage
low-power
all-mos
log
domain
companding
weak inversion
adc
audio


A Logical Approach to Home Healthcare with Intelligent Sensor-Network Support This paper describes an intelligent home healthcare system characterized by a wireless sensor network (WSN) and a reasoning component. The aim of the system is to allow constant and unobtrusive monitoring of a patient in order to enhance autonomy and increase quality of life. Data collected by the sensor network are used to support a reasoning component, which is based on answer set programming (ASP), in performing three main reasoning tasks: (i) continuous contextualization of the physical, mental and social state of a patient, (ii) prediction of possibly risky situations and (iii) identification of plausible causes for the worsening of a patient's health. Starting from different data sources (sensor data, test results, inference results) the reasoning component applies expressive logic rules aimed at correct interpretation of incomplete or inconsistent contextual information, and evaluates correlation rules expressed by clinicians. The expressive power of ASP allows efficient enough reasoning to support prevention, while declarativity simplifies rule-specification and allows automatic encoding of knowledge. Preliminary evaluations show that the combination of an ASP-based reasoning component and a WSN is a good solution for creating a home-based healthcare system.

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

knowledge representation
logic programming
wireless sensors networks
independent living


Secure group communication schemes for dynamic heterogeneous distributed computing User-Centric Networks can be used for dynamic heterogeneous distributed computing. We analyse key predistribution schemes for secure communications in those types of networks. We provide an evaluation and a performance comparison of those schemes. We look at the problem of identifying optimal values for parameters of such schemes. We improve one of those schemes with respect to the basic one.

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

heterogeneous distributed computing
secure group communication
key predistribution

sensor networks
ad-hoc networks
performance analysis


constraint-based xml query rewriting for data integration We study the problem of answering queries through a target schema, given a set of mappings between one or more source schemas and this target schema, and given that the data is at the sources. The schemas can be any combination of relational or XML schemas, and can be independently designed. In addition to the source-to-target mappings, we consider as part of the mapping scenario a set of target constraints specifying additional properties on the target schema. This becomes particularly important when integrating data from multiple data sources with overlapping data and when such constraints can express data merging rules at the target. We define the semantics of query answering in such an integration scenario, and design two novel algorithms, basic query rewrite and query resolution , to implement the semantics. The basic query rewrite algorithm reformulates target queries in terms of the source schemas, based on the mappings. The query resolution algorithm generates additional rewritings that merge related information from multiple sources and assemble a coherent view of the data, by incorporating target constraints. The algorithms are implemented and then evaluated using a comprehensive set of experiments based on both synthetic and real-life data integration scenarios.

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

scenario merging rewrite design data queries schema algorithm rules query

semantic
map
experience
relation
constraint
informal
combinational
coherence
integrability
query rewrite
data integrity


Economic yoyos'and Becker's Rotten Kid theorem Purpose - This paper aims to establish a systemic yoyo model for economic entities so that the most recent developments in systems research can be applied to the study of economics and finance. Design/methodology/approach - The concept and methods of whole systemic evolution are employed so that each economic entity, be it an individual, a family, a company, or any organization, can be analyzed with the help of systems research. Findings - It is first shown that, in a market of free competition, a concept as fundamental as demand and supply is about mutual reactions and mutual restrictions of different forces under equal quantitative effects. Second, each economic entity is modelled and simulated as an economic yoyo or a flow of such yoyos. Owing to the wide applicable scope and practical significance of the Rotten Kid theorem and the excellent analysis of Bergstrom concerning the fact that this theorem is not generally true, after developing the yoyo model for various economic entities, in this paper the main result is established, a sufficient and necessary condition under which the Rotten Kid theorem holds true in general in light of whole systems evolution. Originality/value - For the first time in history, the general structure of systems is employed to analyze topics in household economics and a long-sought-for sufficient and necessary condition is obtained successfully.

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


The Asian contribution to the Turkish population with respect to the Balkans: Y-chromosome perspective Admixture analysis is one of the methods that can be used to calculate the contribution of migrations. There are several admixture estimation methods. In the present study, Chikhi etal.s admixture method, which considers the effect of genetic drift, was used to estimate the male genetic contribution of Central Asia to hybrids. It was observed that the male contribution from Central Asia to Turkish population with reference to the Balkans was 13%. Comparison of the admixture estimate for Turkey with those of neighboring populations pointed out that the Central Asian contribution was lowest in Turkey. This observation might be explained by the homogenization between the males of the Balkans and Anatolia.

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

turkish population
central asia
admixture
genetic drift


Synthesis of V-V sequences with a 2D biomechanical tongue model controlled by the Equilibrium Point Hypothesis An assessment of a target-based control model of speech production using Feldman's Equilibrium Point Hypothesis is presented. It consists of simulations of articulatory movements during Vowel-to-Vowel sequences with a 2D biomechanical tongue model. In the model the main muscles responsible for tongue movements and tongue shaping in the mid-sagittal plane are represented. The elastic properties are accounted through a Finite-Element modeling, while force generation principles an implemented according to the non-linear force-length Invariant Characteristics proposed by Feldman. Movement is produced through control variable shifts at rates that are constant throughout each transition. The external contours of the model an adjusted to approximate X-ray data collected on a native speaker of French, and it is inserted in the vocal tract contours of the speaker. Thus, from tongue shapes generated with the model, it was possible to produce formant trajectories compatible with the speaker's acoustic space. It permitted a comparison of simulations with real data collected on the speaker in the kinematic and acoustic domains. Emphasis is put on the realism of synthesized formant trajectories, and on the potential influence of biomechanical tongue properties on to measurable kinematic features. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

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

biomechanical modeling
speech motor control
velocity profiles


A direct approach to estimating surfaces in tomographic data Under ideal circumstances, the inverse of the radon transform is computable, and sequences of measured projections are sufficient to obtain accurate estimates of volume densities. In situations where the sinogram data is incomplete, the radon transform is noninvertable, and attempts to reconstruct greyscale density values result in reconstruction artifacts that can undermine the effectiveness of subsequent processing. This paper presents a direct approach to the segmentation of incomplete tomographic data. The strategy is to impose a fairly simple model on the data, and treat segmentation as a problem of estimating the interface between two substances of somewhat homogeneous density. The segmentation is achieved by simultaneously deforming a surface model and updating density parameters in order to achieve a best fit between the projected model and the measured sinograms. The deformation is implemented with level-set surface models, calculated at the resolution of the input data. Relative to previous work, this paper makes several contributions. First is a proper derivation of the deformation of surface models that move according to a gradient descent on a likelihood measure. We also present a series of computational innovations that make this direct surface-fitting approach feasible with state-of-the-art computers. Another contribution is the demonstration of the effectiveness of this approach on under-constrained tomographic problems, using both simulated and real datasets.

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

tomography
surface reconstruction
level sets


On the exact expression for single-stage CSMA/CA's idle period distribution The presence of CSMA/CA transmissions in a wired or wireless medium, as well as the number of active transmitters may be deducible via profiling energy level measurements in its band of operation. A distinct characteristic that may be useful in this application is its idle period distribution. In this paper, we propose an exact analytical model for this distribution for CSMA/CA with a single backoff stage, and verify its accuracy with simulation results alongside two approximation models. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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


What sort of community is the European Conference on Information Systems? A social network analysis 1993-2005 This paper presents a social network analysis ( SNA) of the European Conference on Information Systems ( ECIS) community based on patterns of co- authorship. ECIS contributions are separated into research papers and panels to create social networks that are then analyzed using a range of global network level and individual ego ( co- author, panellist) measures. The research community is found to have few properties of the ` small world' and to represent an agglomeration of co- authorships. The panels network has the properties of a ` small world' and displays a stronger sense of social cohesion. An analysis of individual actors ( egos) provides insight into who is central to the ECIS community. Based on the SNA, a range of possible interventions are proposed that could aid the future development of the ECIS community. The paper concludes by considering the usefulness of SNA as a method to support IS research.

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

social network analysis
information systems


Low-latency Mix Using Split and Merge Operations One of the methods to maintain the anonymity of communicating nodes in a network is the mix technique. Mix networks have been subject to various traffic analysis attacks that aim at compromising the identities of these communication nodes. Our focus in this paper is to propose mix network schemes that are more robust against these attacks. To this end, we propose using traffic re-distribution techniques. Traffic re-distribution involves changing the number and size of messages in the network by splitting and merging the messages at network nodes and using variable size messages to confuse the attacker. The security and anonymity of the proposed techniques are evaluated against traffic analysis attacks. Performance analysis is provided to determine the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.

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 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


Option-Based Monte Carlo Algorithm with Conditioned Updating to Learn Conflict-Free Task Allocation in Transport Applications In automated transport applications, the design of a task allocation policy becomes a complex problem when there are several agents in the system and conflicts between them may arise, affecting the system's performance. In this situation, to achieve a globally optimal result would require the complete knowledge of the system's model, which is infeasible for real systems with huge state spaces and unknown state-transition probabilities. Reinforcement Learning (RL) methods have done well approximating optimal results in the processing of tasks, without requiring previous knowledge of the system's model. However, to our knowledge, there are not many RL methods focused on the task allocation problem in transportation systems, and even fewer directly used to allocate tasks, considering the risk of conflicts between agents. In this paper, we propose an option-based RL algorithm with conditioned updating to make agents learn a task allocation policy to complete tasks while preventing conflicts between them. We use a multicar elevator (MCE) system as test application. Simulation results show that with our algorithm, elevator cars in the same shaft effectively learn to respond to service calls without interfering with each other, under different passenger arrival rates, and system configurations.

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

option framework
conflict prevention
multi-car elevators


Quantization analysis and enhancement of a VLSI gradient-based motion estimation architecture Despite more than 40 years of research, motion estimation is still considered an emerging field, a field especially relevant today because of its vast utility for real-world applications. Currently, even the best bio-inspired algorithms lack certain characteristics that are readily found, for example, naturally in, say, mammals. Furthermore, the vast computational resources required are not usually affordable in real-time application. We present here a useful framework for building bio-inspired systems in real-time environments, reducing computational complexity. A complete quantization study of neuromorphic robust optical flow architecture is performed, using properties found in the cortical motion pathway. This architecture is designed for VLSI systems. An extensive analysis is performed to avoid compromising the viability and the robustness of the final system. A set of simulations and techniques that can be helpful for designing real-time artificial vision embedded systems and, specifically, gradient-based optical flow systems is shown. This work includes the final error results, resource usage, and performance data.

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

neuromorphic systems
dsps
fpgas
filtering design
fixed-point vs. floating point


An accelerated K-means clustering algorithm using selection and erasure rules The K-means method is a well-known clustering algorithm with an extensive range of applications, such as biological classification, disease analysis, data mining, and image compression. However, the plain K-means method is not fast when the number of clusters or the number of data points becomes large. A modified K-means algorithm was presented by Fahim et al. (2006). The modified algorithm produced clusters whose mean square error was very similar to that of the plain K-means, but the execution time was shorter. In this study, we try to further increase its speed. There are two rules in our method: a selection rule, used to acquire a good candidate as the initial center to be checked, and an erasure rule, used to delete one or many unqualified centers each time a specified condition is satisfied. Our clustering results are identical to those of Fahim et al. (2006). However, our method further cuts computation time when the number of clusters increases. The mathematical reasoning used in our design is included.

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

k-means clustering
acceleration
vector quantization


the use of mediation and ontology technologies for software component information retrieval Component Based Developed aims at constructing software through the inter-relationship between pre-existing components. However, these components should be bound to a specific application domain in order to be effectively reused. Reusable domain components and Their related documentation are usually stored in a great variety of data sources. Thus, a possible solution for accessing this information is to use a software layer that integrates different component information sources. We present a component information integration data layer, based on mediators. Through mediators, domain ontology acts as a technique/formalism for specifying ontological commitments or agreements between component users and providers, enabling more accurate software component information search.

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

domain engineering
component based engineering
component repositories


L- and ?-curve approaches for the selection of regularization parameter in geophysical diffraction tomography Since inverse problems are usually ill-posed it is necessary to use some method to reduce their deficiencies. The method that we choose is the regularization by derivative matrices. When a first derivative matrix is used the order is called the first. Then, second-order regularization is when the matrix is formed by second-order differences, and order zero means that the regularization matrix is the identity. There is a crucial problem in regularization, which is the selection of the regularization parameter ?. We used the L-curve as a tool for the selection of ?, and we propose a new extension, which we call the ?-curve. The tool was applied in geophysical diffraction tomography in two acquisition geometries: cross-hole and vertical seismic profile (VSP), where the goal is to obtain the 2-D velocity distribution from the measured values of the scattered acoustic field. We present several simulation results with synthetic data, for the three regularization orders mentioned above. We validate the necessity of some kind of regularization, as well as the feasibility of both parameter selection approaches.

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

inverse problems
diffraction tomography
regularization

regularization parameter
l-curve
?-curve


Recent advances in data-driven modeling of remote sensing applications in hydrology Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are very effective statistical models for (1) extracting significant features or characteristics from complex data structures and/or for (2) learning nonlinear relationships involved in any input-output mapping. Another interesting aspect of ANN modeling is the fact that overall performance of these models is not greatly hampered by the presence of error-corrupted values in some input nodes. ANNs have gained interest in remote sensing applications as valuable inverse models that can retrieve physical characteristics of interest, such as precipitation, from remote sensing measurements collected from radars or satellites. The spatial coverage and high resolution of remote sensing measurements relative to ground-based measurements can improve the hydrological modeling of the water cycle at both local and global scales. This review paper intends to present recent advances in artificial neural network modeling of remote sensing applications in hydrology. This paper focuses on precipitation and snow water equivalent (SWE) retrievals from remote sensing data.

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

artificial neural network
hydrology
remote sensing
snow water equivalent


Scalable approach for effective control of gene regulatory networks Objective: Interactions between genes are realized as gene regulatory networks (GRNs). The control of such networks is essential for investigating issues like different diseases. Control is the process of studying the states and behavior of a given system under different conditions. The system considered in this study is a gene regulatory network (GRN), and one of the most important aspects in the control of GRNs is scalability. Consequently, the objective of this study is to develop a scalable technique that facilitates the control of GRNs. Method: As the approach described in this paper concentrates on the control of GRNs, we argue that it is possible to improve scalability by reducing the number of genes to be considered by the control policy. Consequently, we propose a novel method that considers gene relevancy to estimate genes that are less important for control. This way, it is possible to get a reduced model after identifying genes that can be ignored in model-building. The latter genes are located based on a threshold value which is expected to be provided by a domain expert. Some guidelines are listed to help the domain expert in setting appropriate threshold value. Results: We run experiments using both synthetic and real data, including metastatic melanoma and budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). The reported test results identified genes that could be eliminated from each of the investigated GRNs. For instance, test results on budding yeast identified the two genes SWI5 and MCM1 as candidates to be eliminated. This considerably reduces the computation cost and hence demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed approach. Conclusion: Employing the proposed reduction strategy results in close to optimal solutions to the control of GRNs, which are otherwise intractable due to the huge state space implied by the large number of genes.

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

scalability technique
feature reduction
probabilistic boolean networks
markov decision problems


Enhanced dill exposure model for thick photoresist lithography Thick photoresist lithography is one of the most important techniques for micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS). In order to design and manufacture the novel and complex MEMS elements with a high aspect ratio, low cost and higher efficiency, it is necessary to develop a simulation approach for the thick photoresist in lithography process. However, the nonlinear factors presented in the thick photoresist during the exposure process affect the final resist profile severely. The conventional Dill model, which is suitable for describing the thin photoresist exposure process, will cause great deviations from its experiment results when it is used directly to thick photoresist exposure process. In this paper, an enhanced Dill model for the thick photoresist exposure process is presented. This model takes into account of the effects caused by the light diffraction or the scattering in the thick photoresist and the change of photoresist refractive index in the exposure process. The exposure parameters of thick photoresist AZ4562 have been extracted by experiment measurements with the aids of theoretical analysis. The simulation results of the latent exposure profile under the different exposure conditions for photoresist AZ4562 have been given with the enhanced exposure model.

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

mems
thick photoresist lithography
enhanced dill model
exposure parameters


Numerical algorithms for use in quantum information Quantum information theory is the new field of physics and electrical engineering that arose from the application of fundamental physics concepts in communications and computing. In this paper, aiming to calculate some properties of quantum communication systems and the quantum entanglement measure, for C2?C2 systems, based on relative entropy, two numerical algorithms are presented. The first one is based on the codification of the possible solution in a binary string and in the application, in that string, of an assembly algorithm, such as one used in DNA construction. The second one is the construction of a genetic algorithm where a string of density matrices and quantum gates in the reproduction stage are used. Both algorithms are used in situations where the best solution needs to be found. Numerical simulations are presented and the advantages and disadvantages of the algorithms are discussed.

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


a formal study of classification techniques on entity discovery and their application to opinion mining Entity discovery has become an important topic of study in recent years due to its wide range of applications. In this paper, we focus on examining the effectiveness of various classification techniques on entity discovery and their application to the opinion mining task. The initial and most important step in opinion mining is to identify and extract highly specific product related and opinion related entities from product reviews. We formulate this problem as a classification task and present a comprehensive study of classification techniques on identifying entities of interest. The impacts of linguistic features such as part-of-speech (POS), and context features such as surrounding contextual clues of words on the classification performance are carefully evaluated. The experimental results show that good classification performance is closely related to the use of classification techniques, linguistic features, and context features. The evaluation is presented based on processing the online product reviews from Amazon.

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


Near-optimal hardness results and approximation algorithms for edge-disjoint paths and related problems ? We study the approximability of edge-disjoint paths and related problems. In the edge-disjoint paths (EDP) problem, we are given a network G with sourcesink pairs , and the goal is to find a largest subset of sourcesink pairs that can be simultaneously connected in an edge-disjoint manner. We show that in directed networks, for any ?>0, EDP is NP-hard to approximate within m1/2??. We also design simple approximation algorithms that achieve essentially matching approximation guarantees for some generalizations of EDP. Another related class of routing problems that we study concerns EDP with the additional constraint that the routing paths be of bounded length. We show that, for any ?>0, bounded length EDP is hard to approximate within m1/2?? even in undirected networks, and give an -approximation algorithm for it. For directed networks, we show that even the single sourcesink pair case (i.e. find the maximum number of paths of bounded length between a given sourcesink pair) is hard to approximate within m1/2??, for any ?>0.

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

bounded length edge-disjoint paths
edge-disjoint paths
hardness of approximation
multicommodity flow
network routing
unsplittable flow
vertex-disjoint paths


Recognition of spectral amplitude codes by frequency swept coherent detection for flexible optical label switching We propose a new method of recognizing spectral amplitude codes by using optical coherent detection with a frequency swept local light source oscillator. Our proposed method offer a substantial simplification in terms of required components to built optical label processing units with enhanced flexibility to accommodate for wavelength tuneability and a large number of labels. We present a performance analysis, comparison with conventional spectral codes recognition methods, based on computer simulation results. We consider a payload bit rate of 40 Gb/s.

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

frequency swept local oscillator coherent detection


Effect of varying concentration and temperature on steady and dynamic parameters of low concentration photovoltaic energy system Low concentration photovoltaic (LCPV) system is designed and developed. Commercially available crystalline silicon solar PV cells used under concentration. Dynamic behavior of LCPV system is modeled and estimated. Real-time analysis of LCPV system is presented.

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

low-concentration photovoltaic (lcpv) system


Analysing spatio-temporal autocorrelation with LISTA-Viz Many interesting analysis problems (e.g. disease surveillance) would become more tractable if their spatio-temporal structure was better understood. Specifically, it would be helpful to be able to identify autocorrelation in space and time simultaneously. Some of the most commonly used measures of spatial association are LISA statistics, such as the Local Moran's I or the Getis-Ord Gi*; however, these have not been applied to the spatio-temporal case (including many time steps) because of computational limitations. We have implemented a spatio-temporal version of the Local Moran's I and claimed two advances: first, we exploit the fact that there are a limited number of topological relationships present in the data to make Monte Carlo's estimation of probability densities computationally practical, and thereby bypass the 'curse of dimensionality'. We term this approach 'spatial memoization'. Second, we developed a tool (LISTA-Viz) for interacting with the spatio-temporal structure uncovered by the statistics that contains a novel coordination strategy. The potential usefulness of the method and the associated tool are illustrated by an analysis of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, with the finding that there was a critical spatio-temporal 'inflection point' at which the pandemic changed its character in the United States.

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

spatio-temporal autocorrelation
monte carlo simulation
moran's i


Trasformation-based bottom-up computation of the well-founded model We present a framework Cot, expressing bottom-up algorithms to compute the well-founded model of non-disjunctive logic programs. Our method is based on the notion of conditional facts and elementary program transformations studied by BRASS and DIX (Brass and Dix. 1994 Brass and Dix, 1999) for disjunctive programs, However. even if we restrict their framework to nondisjunctive programs. their 'residual program' can grow to exponential size. whereas for function-free programs our 'program\ remainder' is always polynomial in the size of the extensional database (EDB). We show that particular orderings of our transformations (we call them strategies) correspond to well-known computational methods like the alternating fixpoint approach (Van Gelder, 1989 Van Gelder, 1993), the kell-rounded magic sets method (Kemp et al., 1995) and the magic alternating fixpoint procedure (Morishita. 1996). Ho Never. due to the confluence of our calculi (first noted in Brass and Dix, 1998). we come up with computations of the well-founded model that are prod ably better than these methods. In contrast to other approaches. Our transformation method treats magic set transformed programs correctly. i.e. it always computes a relevant part of the Well-founded model of the original program. These results show that our approach is a valuable tool to analyze. compare, and optimize existing evaluation methods or to create new strategies that are automatically proven to be correct if they can be described by a sequence of transformations in our framework. We have also developed a prototypical implementation, Experiments illustrate that the theoretical results carry over to the implemented prototype and may be used to optimize real life 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 B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

alternating fixpoint
magic set
transformation

well-founded semantics
bottom-up evaluation


Joint adaptive mean-variance regularization and variance stabilization of high dimensional data The paper addresses a common problem in the analysis of high-dimensional high-throughput "omics" data, which is parameter estimation across multiple variables in a set of data where the number of variables is much larger than the sample size. Among the problems posed by this type of data are that variable-specific estimators of variances are not reliable and variable-wise tests statistics have low power, both due to a lack of degrees of freedom. In addition, it has been observed in this type of data that the variance increases as a function of the mean. We introduce a non-parametric adaptive regularization procedure that is innovative in that (i) it employs a novel "similarity statistic"-based clustering technique to generate local-pooled or regularized shrinkage estimators of population parameters, (ii) the regularization is done jointly on population moments, benefiting from C. Stein's result on inadmissibility, which implies that usual sample variance estimator is improved by a shrinkage estimator using information contained in the sample mean. From these joint regularized shrinkage estimators, we derived regularized t-like statistics and show in simulation studies that they offer more statistical power in hypothesis testing than their standard sample counterparts, or regular common value-shrinkage estimators, or when the information contained in the sample mean is simply ignored. Finally, we show that these estimators feature interesting properties of variance stabilization and normalization that can be used for preprocessing high-dimensional multivariate data. The method is available as an R package, called 'MVR' ('Mean-Variance Regularization'), downloadable from the CRAN website. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

inadmissibility
regularization
shrinkage estimators
normalization
variance stabilization


Effects of series compensation on spot price power markets The operation of a deregulated power market becomes more complex as the generation scheduling is dependent on suppliers' and consumers' bids. With large number of transactions in the power market changing in time, it is more likely for some transmission lines to face congestion. Series compensation, such as TCSC, with its ability to directly control the power flow can be very helpful to improve the operation of transmission networks. The effects of TCSC on the operation of a spot price power market are studied in this paper using the modified IEEE 14-bus system. Optimal Power Flow incorporating TCSC is used to implement the spot price market. Linear bids are used to model suppliers' and consumers' bids. Issues of location and cost of TCSC are discussed. The effects of levels of TCSC compensation on wide range of system quantities are studied. The effects on the total social benefit, the spot prices, transmission congestion, total generation and consumption, benefit to individual supplier and consumer etc. are discussed. It is demonstrated that though use of TCSC makes the system more efficient and augments competition in the market, it is not easy to establish general relationships between the levels of compensation and various market quantities. Simulation studies like these can be used to assess the effects of TCSC in specific systems.

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

power markets
spot price
optimal power flow

tcsc (thyristor controlled series compensator)


On the use of passive clustering in wireless video sensor networks Wireless Video Sensor Networks are foreseen to be of a paramount importance in realising a wide spectrum of applications, mainly surveillance, target tracking and environment monitoring. In this paper, we propose a combination of an improved clustering algorithm and Directed Diffusion (DD), a well-known data-centric routing paradigm in sensor networks. On one hand, clustering allows to save bandwidth required by rich and intensive data of video applications. On the other hand, the network lifetime is prolonged by implementing an energy-aware load-balancing feature through modifying Passive Clustering (PC) rules for building/maintaining its topology. We performed extensive computer simulations and show in this paper that our solution outperforms original DD as well as when it is combined with PC with energy considerations but without load balancing.

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

routing
passive clustering
network lifetime

wvsns
wireless video-based sensor networks
energy efficiency
load-balancing


Mixed mimetic spectral element method for Stokes flow: A pointwise divergence-free solution In this paper we apply the recently developed mimetic discretization method to the mixed formulation of the Stokes problem in terms of vorticity, velocity and pressure. The mimetic discretization presented in this paper and in Kreeft et al. [51] is a higher-order method for curvilinear quadrilaterals and hexahedrals. Fundamental is the underlying structure of oriented geometric objects, the relation between these objects through the boundary operator and how this defines the exterior derivative, representing the grad, curl and div, through the generalized Stokes theorem. The mimetic method presented here uses the language of differential k-forms with k-cochains as their discrete counterpart, and the relations between them in terms of the mimetic operators: reduction, reconstruction and projection. The reconstruction consists of the recently developed mimetic spectral interpolation functions. The most important result of the mimetic framework is the commutation between differentiation at the continuous level with that on the finite dimensional and discrete level. As a result operators like gradient, curl and divergence are discretized exactly. For Stokes flow, this implies a pointwise divergence-free solution. This is confirmed using a set of test cases on both Cartesian and curvilinear meshes. It will be shown that the method converges optimally for all admissible boundary conditions. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

mixed finite elements
exact mass conservation
spectral elements


Approximate dynamic programming via direct search in the space of value function approximations This paper deals with approximate value iteration (AVI) algorithms applied to discounted dynamic programming (DP) problems. For a fixed control policy, the span semi-norm of the so-called Bellman residual is shown to be convex in the Banach space of candidate solutions to the DP problem. This fact motivates the introduction of an AVI algorithm with local search that seeks to minimize the span semi-norm of the Bellman residual in a convex value function approximation space. The novelty here is that the optimality of a point in the approximation architecture is characterized by means of convex optimization concepts and necessary and sufficient conditions to local optimality are derived. The procedure employs the classical AVI algorithm direction (Bellman residual) combined with a set of independent search directions, to improve the convergence rate. It has guaranteed convergence and satisfies, at least, the necessary optimality conditions over a prescribed set of directions. To illustrate the method, examples are presented that deal with a class of problems from the literature and a large state space queueing problem setting.

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

markov decision processes
direct search methods


a 2.4ghz lna in a 90-nm cmos technology designed with acm model As part of a Low-IF ZigBee receiver, a 2.4GHz differential common source low noise amplifier, implemented in a 90nm mixed/RF 7M CMOS process and designed in moderate inversion, is presented in this work. Design methodology and simulation results from Spectre-RF simulator are presented. With 2.5V supply voltage, the LNA achieves a noise figure of 2.5dB, an IIP3 of 1dB and gain higher than 10dB, with a current consumption of 12mA. The LNA area without pads is 720?m x 710?m.

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

acm model
design methodology
low noise amplifier


Collaborative Object Workspaces (COWS): exploring the integration of collaboration technology The integration of multiple computer-based tools and technologies presents new design and usage challenges. This paper reports on a project focusing on integrating well-known collaborative features into a single usable tool. The results of the project are a set of design and behavioral propositions suitable for future research. The project also introduces the use of a research methodology that integrates the process of prototyping with the process of building theory. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

collaboration
integration
theory
research methodology

computer-supported cooperative work (cscw)


Visual object tracking via sample-based Adaptive Sparse Representation (AdaSR) When appearance variation of object and its background, partial occlusion or deterioration in object images occurs, most existing visual tracking methods tend to fail in tracking the target. To address this problem, this paper proposes a new approach for visual object tracking based on Sample-Based Adaptive Sparse Representation (AdaSR), which ensures that the tracked object is adaptively and compactly expressed with predefined samples. First, the Sample-Based Sparse Representation, which selects a subset of samples as a basis for object representation by exploiting L1-norm minimization, improves the representation adaptation to partial occlusion for tracking. Second, to keep the temporal consistency and adaptation to appearance variation and deterioration in object images during the tracking process, the object's Sample-Based Sparse Representation is adaptively evaluated based on a Kalman filter, obtaining the AdaSR. Finally, the candidate holding the most similar Sample-Based Sparse Representation to the AdaSR of the tracked object will be regarded as the instantaneous tracking result. In addition, we can easily extend the AdaSR for multi-object tracking by integrating the sample set of each tracked object (named Common Sample-Based Adaptive Sparse Representation Analysis (AdaSRA)). AdaSRA fully analyses Adaptive Sparse Representation similarity for object classification. Our experiments on public datasets show state-of-the-art results, which are better than those of several representative tracking methods.

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

object tracking
adaptive sparse representation


Providing support for decisions based on time series information under conditions of asymmetric loss In an experiment decision-makers used time series information on the past demand for products to decide on production levels to meet the next period's demand. Either shortages cost more per unit than surpluses or the asymmetry of losses was in the opposite direction. The decision-makers were either: (i) unsupported, (ii) provided with statistical point forecasts of the next period's demand or (iii) asked to estimate probability distributions of next period's demand using the fractile methodthe decisions were inferred from these distributions (Decomposition). Providing statistical forecasts led to decisions incurring significantly lower expected costs than those achieved by the unsupported decision makers. However, the decomposition procedure did not significantly reduce expected costs because, contrary to earlier evidence, the fractile method generally led to distributions that were too wide and flat. Decision-makers in both treatments (i) and (ii) also performed significantly better when shortages were more costly than surpluses.

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

decision analysis
forecasting
probability elicitation


Chemical Safety and Health Conditions among Hungarian Hospital Nurses In the present study genotoxicological and immunotoxicological follow-up investigations were made on 811 donors including 94 unexposed controls and 717 nurses with various working conditions from different hospitals (The Hungarian Nurse Study). The nurses were exposed to different chemical

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

cytostatics
anesthetics
sterilizing agents
chromosome aberrations
sister chromatid exchange
unscheduled dna synthesis
hprt mutations
genotoxicological monitoring
immune toxicology
tumors
health status
risk assessment


k-Chordal Graphs: From Cops and Robber to Compact Routing via Treewidth Cops and robber games, introduced by Winkler and Nowakowski (in Discrete Math. 43(23), 235239, 1983) and independently defined by Quilliot (in J. Comb. Theory, Ser. B 38(1), 8992, 1985), concern a team of cops that must capture a robber moving in a graph. We consider the class of k-chordal graphs, i.e., graphs with no induced (chordless) cycle of length greater than k, k?3. We prove that k?1 cops are always sufficient to capture a robber in k-chordal graphs. This leads us to our main result, a new structural decomposition for a graph class including k-chordal graphs.

O O O O O O O B I O B 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

treewidth
compact routing
cops and robber games


Higher order vagueness in geographical information: Empirical geographical population of type n fuzzy sets Fuzzy set theory has been suggested as a means for representing vague spatial phenomena, and is widely known for directly addressing some of the issues of vagueness such as the sorites paradox. Higher order vagueness is widely considered a necessary component of any theory of vagueness, but it is not so well known that it too is competently modelled by Type n Fuzzy sets. In this paper we explore the fuzzy representation of higher order vagueness with respect to spatial phenomena. Initially we relate the arguments on philosophical vagueness to Type n Fuzzy sets. As an example, we move on to an empirical generation of spatial Type 2 Fuzzy sets examining the spatial extent of mountain peaks in Scotland. We show that the Type 2 Fuzzy sets can be populated by using alternative parameterisations of a peak detection algorithm. Further ambiguities could also be explored using other parameters of this and other algorithms. We show some novel answers to interrogations of the mountain peaks of Scotland. The conclusion of this work is that higher order vagueness can be populated for Type 2 and higher fuzzy sets. It does not follow that it is always necessary to examine these higher order uncertainties, but a possible advantage in terms of the results of spatial inquiry is demonstrated.

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

mountains
geomorphometry
type 2 fuzzy sets
uncertainty


On behavior of two-dimensional cellular automata with an exceptional rule Several studies [A.R. Khan, P.P. Choudhury, K. Dihidar, S. Mitra, P. Sarkar, VLSI architecture of a cellular automata, Comput. Math. Appl. 33 (1997) 7994; A.R. Khan, P.P. Choudhury, K. Dihidar, R. Verma, Text compression using two-dimensional cellular automata, Comput. Math. Appl. 37 (1999) 115127; K. Dihidar, P.P. Choudhury, Matrix algebraic formulae concerning some exceptional rules of two-dimensional cellular automata, Inf. Sci. 165 (2004) 91101] have explored a new rule convention for two-dimensional (2-D) nearest neighborhood linear cellular automata (CA) with null and periodic boundary conditions. A variety of applications of the rule convention have been illustrated, and the VLSI architecture of cellular automata machine (CAM) has been proposed. However, most of the studies address the issue of the kernel dimension of 2-D CA, and many other important characteristics of CA, such as Garden of Eden (GOE), maximal transient length, maximal cycle length, etc., have not been explored. In this paper, by exploiting matrix algebra in GF(2) (the Galois field with two elements), we attempt to characterize the behavior of a specific rule, which is not covered in existing work but accords with the same convention. A necessary and sufficient condition is given to ensure that a given configuration is a GOE. Meanwhile, we propose some algorithms to determine the number of GOEs, the maximal transient length, and the maximal cycle length in a 2-D CA.

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

cellular automata
garden of eden
maximal transient length
maximal cycle length


A Fingerprint Recognition Scheme Based on Assembling Invariant Moments for Cloud Computing Communications In cloud computing communications, information security entails the protection of information elements (e. g., multimedia data), only authorized users are allowed to access the available contents. Fingerprint recognition is one of the popular and effective approaches for priori authorizing the users and protecting the information elements during the communications. However, traditional fingerprint recognition approaches have demerits of easy losing rich information and poor performances due to the complex inputs, such as image rotation, incomplete input image, poor quality image enrollment, and so on. In order to overcome these shortcomings, in this paper, a new fingerprint recognition scheme based on a set of assembled invariant moment (geometric moment and Zernike moment) features to ensure the secure communications is proposed. And the proposed scheme is also based on an effective preprocessing, the extraction of local and global features and a powerful classification tool, thus it is able to handle the various input conditions encountered in the cloud computing communication. The experimental results show that the proposed method has a higher matching accuracy comparing with traditional or individual feature based methods on public databases.

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

assembling
cloud computing communications
fingerprint recognition scheme
invariant moments


CNC Partner: A Novel Training System for NC Machining CNC Partner, a novel training system on NC machining, is presented in this paper. It creates a semi-immersive desktop virtual training environment with a sense of high reality at a low cost. With the CNC Partner, a trainee can learn the knowledge of NC programming and acquire the practical operation skills on a CNC machine tool prior to operate a real one. The framework of CNC Partner is established and described in detail. And its functions on training are summarized. The functions of CNC Partner-assisted teaching are also introduced. Up to now, over 200 sets of CNC Partner systems have been installed in several vocational education schools in China. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 19: 466-474, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae; DOI 10.1002/cae.20326

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

training
nc machining
nc programming
machine tool


Impact analysis of array weight error on the antenna array aided multicarrier DS-CDMA with synchronous uplink transmissions In this letter, we analyze the effects of array weight error (AWE) on the antenna array (AA) aided uplink synchronous multicarrier DS-CDMA system. The bit error rate performance is evaluated in terms of the important factors such as the number of antennas, the variance of AWE, and the number of users. Furthermore, the scenario of synchronous uplink with AA is compared with asynchronous scheme. Numerical results show that the performance employing synchronous transmission with AA in uplink can be further improved, even at high level of AWE.

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

uplink synchronous
asynchronous
antenna array
array weight error


Intelligent graphical user interface design utilizing multiple fuzzy agents A novel approach for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of human-computer interactions through an intelligent graphical user interface (GUI) is presented in this paper. It is demonstrated that through monitoring the user's actions, the system can determine the intents of the user, transforming the deduced intentions into system actions. Understanding of the user's implicit actions can reduce the burden on the user in terms of required explicit commands. Hence, a human friendlier computer system is built. One method to assess the effectiveness of the user interface enhancements is by reduction in the number of operations performed by the user in achieving a specific goal while using the GUI. The enhanced graphical user interface described in this paper is a conventional GUI enhanced with an intelligent control module. The intelligent component is composed of a group of software agents that cooperate and compete to control the system. A computer mouse is used as the input device, through which the user performs a number of clicks and drag-and-drop tasks, while selecting and moving objects on the computer screen. The intelligent module monitors the movements and states of the mouse and the cursor, and aids the user based on the multiple agents' determinations of the user's sub-goals. Experimental results are presented, where human subjects achieved specific goals using the GUI, with and without the intelligent control module. Initial experiments have confirmed that the novel technique is a feasible approach for designing an effective and efficient intelligent GUI, as it reduces the amount of work required from the human user who is interacting with the computer. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

human-computer interaction
intelligent user interface
multi-agent technologies
fuzzy logic control
human intention understanding


Logic-based interpretation of geometrically observable changes occurring in dynamic scenes The work presented here is about employing a theory of updates to study geometrically observable changes that occur in spatial information about image sequences of a dynamic scene. The logical framework consists of a formalism for specifying the geometrical content of a scene, as well as the changes that occur in this geometry, and an algorithm for constructing a description for such changes from logical deductions. In this approach, a database state represents the available sensor data at a particular time instant. Transitions in sensor data are modeled by changes in the database and interpreted based on axioms encoding commonsense spatial reasoning. The main contribution of this work is that it provides the theoretical foundations for symbolically interpreting long sequences of sensor data transitions. For testing the framework and its implementation, the problem of interpreting rotational movements of objects in a sequence of images was used. Our experiments show that the system correctly interprets rotational movements for objects of different colors and provides satisfactory results for interpreting such movements from perceptually indistinguishable objects.

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

logic
knowledge representation
qualitative spatial reasoning
machine vision
reasoning about actions and change


traversing a set of points with a minimum number of turns Given a finite set of points S in R d , consider visiting thepoints in S with a polygonal path that makes a minimum number ofturns, or equivalently, has the the minimum number of segments(links). We call this minimization problem the minimum linkspanning path problem. This natural problem has appeared severaltimes in the literature under different variants. The simplest oneis where the allowed paths are axis-aligned. Let L(S) be theminimum number of links of an axis-aligned path for S denote by G d n the d-dimensional grid of size n. Kranakis, Krizanc andMeertens (Ars Combinatoria, vol. 38, pp. 177--192, 1994)showed that in 2-dimensions L(G 2 n )=2n-1 and in three dimensions 4/3 n 2 -O(n)< L(G 3 n ) < 3/2 n 2 +O(n). Kranakiset al. conjectured that, for all d ? 3, L(G d n )= d/d-1 n d-1 O(n d-2 ). We prove theconjecture for d=3 by showing that L(G 3 n ) ? 3/2 n 2 -O(n). For d=4, we prove that 4/3 n 3 -O(n 2 ) ? L(G 4 n ) ? 4/3 n 3 +O(n 5/2 ).For general d, we give new estimates on L(G d n ), that bring usvery close to the conjectured value. The new lower bound of (1+ 1/d)n d-1 -O(n d-2 ) improves previous result byCollins and Moret (Information Processing Letters, vol. 68,pp. 317--319, 1998), while the new upper bound of (1+ 1/d-1)n d-1 +O(n d-3/2 ) differs from the conjecturedvalue only in the lower order terms. For arbitrary point sets, we give an exact bound on the minimumnumber of links needed in an axis-aligned path traversing any planar n-point set. We obtain similar tight estimates (within 1) in anynumber of dimensions d. For the general problem of traversing anarbitrary set of points in R d with an axis-aligned spanning pathhaving a minimum number of links, we present a constant ratio(depending on the dimension d) approximation algorithm.

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

minimum link spanning path
approximation algorithms
computational geometry


A thyristor-only input ESD protection scheme for CMOS RF ICs We propose an input protection scheme composed of thyristor devices only avoiding usage of a clamp NMOS device to minimize the area consumed by an input pad structure in CMOS RF ICs. For this purpose, we suggest low-voltage triggering thyristor protection device structures assuming usage of standard CMOS processes, and attempt an in-depth comparison study with a conventional thyristor protection scheme incorporating a clamp NMOS device in the input pad. The comparison study mainly focuses on robustness against the human body model electrostatic discharge (HBM ESD) in terms of peak voltages applied to gate oxides in an input buffer and lattice heating inside protection devices based on DC and mixed-mode transient analyses utilizing a 2-dimensional device simulator. We constructed an equivalent circuit for the input HBM test environment of the CMOS chip equipped with the input ESD protection devices, and by executing mixed-mode simulations including up to four protection devices and analyzing the results for five different test modes, we attempt a detailed analysis on the problems which can occur in real HBM tests. We figure out strength of the proposed thyristor-only protection scheme, and suggest guidelines relating the design of the protection devices and circuits.

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


an experimental evaluation of a qos signaling api for network-aware multimedia applications in ngn Heterogeneous environment of the Next Generation Network, involving diverse user devices and access options, as well as versatile network infrastructure, calls for closer cooperation between network entities and multimedia applications in achieving end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS). This typically involves a signaling mechanism, as a means for an application to request a certain QoS from the network, and in return to receive notifications related to various network conditions of interest, hence possibly adapting to them. This so-called "network-aware" approach served as the basis for designing the Dynamic Service Adaptation (DSA) Model for signaling, negotiation, and adaptation of QoS parameters for multimedia services. Based on DSA Model, the DSA API was developed. It encompasses generic functionality related to session-level QoS signaling. The paper presents designed signaling scenarios and an experimental evaluation of DSA API in a laboratory environment, using a prototype network-aware multimedia application that features a virtual 3D Web-based environment.

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

ip multimedia subsystem (ims)
application programming interface (api)


Holistic Boolean-Twig Pattern Matching for Efficient XML Query Processing Twig pattern matching is a critical operation for XML query processing, and the holistic computing approach has shown superior performance over other methods. Since Bruno et al. introduced the first holistic twig join algorithm, TwigStack, numerous so-called holistic twig join algorithms have been proposed. Yet practical XML queries often require support for more general twig patterns, such as the ones that allow arbitrary occurrences of an arbitrary number of logical connectives (AND, OR, and NOT); such types of twigs are referred to as B-twigs (i.e., Boolean-Twigs) or AND/OR/NOT-twigs. We have seen interesting work on generalizing the holistic twig join approach to AND/OR-twigs and AND/NOT-twigs, but have not seen any further effort addressing the problem of AND/OR/NOT-Twigs at the full scale, which therefore forms the main theme of this paper. In this paper, we investigate novel mechanisms for efficient B-twig pattern matching. In particular, we introduce "B-twig normalization" as an important first-step in our approach toward eventually conquering the complexity of B-twigs, and then present BTwigMerge-the first holistic twig join algorithm designed for Bt-wigs. Both analytical and experimental results show that BTwigMerge is optimal for B-twig patterns with AD (Ancestor-Descendant) edges and/or PC (Parent-Child) edges.

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

database management
xml data querying
boolean twig
logical predicate


Virtual functions of the space-time finite element method in moving mass problems Classical time integration schemes fail in vibration analysis of complex problems with moving concentrated parameters. Moving mass problems and moving support problems belong to this group. Commercial systems of dynamic simulations do not support such an analysis. Moreover, the classical finite element method with the Newmark-type time integration method does not allow us to obtain convergent results at all. The reason lies in the impossibility of full mathematical consideration of the time integration stage and the analysis of inertial terms of a travelling mass. Both of them, unfortunately, are decoupled. In this paper we propose an efficient and exact numerical approach to the problem by using the space-time finite element method. We derive characteristic matrices of the discrete element of the string and the Bemoulli-Euler beam that carry the concentrated mass. We present four types of virtual functions in time and we apply two of them to the practical analysis. Displacements in time obtained numerically are compared with semi-analytical results. Almost perfect coincidence proves the efficiency of the approach. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

space-time finite element method
vibrations
virtual function


Bridging the length scales: Micromechanics of granular media Aristotle's statement that "the whole is more than the sum of its parts" aptly describes the essence of a granular material's rich and complex behaviour, which ultimately arises from internal mechanisms developed on many length scales. Recently, non-invasive experimental studies have given remarkable insight into the evolution of these mechanisms, thereby providing benchmarks and a unique opportunity for the theoretical modelling of these systems. This paper focuses on the challenges of capturing these multiscale mechanisms within the framework of continuum theory. In particular, a new approach toward developing a non-local micropolar constitutive model of granular media using micromechanics and internal variable theory is discussed. To demonstrate the predictive potential of these models, we present their application in the analysis of two fundamental problems to the mechanics of granular media: (i) formation and evolution of shear bands ( the precursors of material failure), (ii) the classical Flamant problem. Finally, we briefly discuss the computational challenges in bridging the gap between micromechanical studies of granular media and the applications of continuum theory on the macro-scale via a finite element analysis of the. at punch problem. In practice, this problem is used to assess the load bearing capacity of a material and is fundamental to civil and structural engineering.

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

micropolar
internal variable theory
granular materials

microstructure
shear band
finite element method


Detection of anomalous bids in procurement auctions Procurement auctions may be affected by abnormally low bids, whose acceptance may have negative consequences on the auctioneer. A method, based on the average submitted bid, is considered to detect such anomalous bids and aid the auctioneer in the possible rejection decision. Analytical expressions or simulation results are provided for the detection probability and for the false alarm probability. The performances heavily depend on the number of tenderers and on the dispersion of bid values. Both performance indices improve as the number of tenderers grows and generally degrade as the dispersion grows. The presence of multiple anomalous bids leads to a significant worsening of the performance, while courtesy bids raise both the false alarm probability and the detection probability. The use of the average-bid criterion, though officially endorsed in national legislations, is therefore recommended as a strongly precautionary criterion, i.e. when the need to avoid anomalous bids is considered much more relevant than the costs associated to deeper investigation of anomalous bids or to the erroneous rejection of regular bids.

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


Hierarchical Collective Agent Network (HCAN) for efficient fusion and management of multiple networked sensors Agent-based software systems and applications are constructed by integrating diverse sets of components that are intelligent, heterogeneous, distributed, and concurrent. This paper describes a multi-agent system to assure the operation efficiency and reliability in data fusion and management of a set of networked distributive sensors (NDS). We discuss the general concept and architecture of a Hierarchical Collective Agent Network (HCAN) and its functional components for learning and adaptive control of the NDS. Sophistication of a HCAN control environment and an anatomy of the agent modules for enabling intelligent data fusion and management are presented. An exemplar HCAN is configured to support dynamic data fusion and automated sensor management in a simulated distributive and collaborative military sensor network for Global Missile Defense (GMD) application. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

data fusion
sensor management
learning and adaptive control
hierarchical collective agent network


THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH LIBRARY BUILDINGS The principles of research library building planning established in the late 1940s emphasized flexibility of design; interspersal of books and readers; collaboration between librarians and architects; and an increased role for the library in education. Planning a medical research library in today's electronic environment requires attention to these principles as well as dealing with new and emerging technologies; economic constraints; new modes of scholarly research and communication; and the convergence of library science and information services on the campus. The social role of the library and the celebration of the book are factors common to both generations.

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

medical libraries
research libraries
scholarly communication


Solving multiobjective problems using cat swarm optimization This paper proposes a new multiobjective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) by extending the existing cat swarm optimization (CSO). It finds the nondominated solutions along the search process using the concept of Pareto dominance and uses an external archive for storing them. The performance of our proposed approach is demonstrated using standard test functions. A quantitative assessment of the proposed approach and the sensitivity test of different parameters is carried out using several performance metrics. The simulation results reveal that the proposed approach can be a better candidate for solving multiobjective problems (MOPs).

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

multiobjective problems
evolutionary algorithm
swarm optimization
pareto dominance

cat swarm optimization
multiobjective cat swarm optimization


On statistical distance based testing of pseudo random sequences and experiments with PHP and Debian OpenSSL ? Extensive testing shows that NIST's state of the art testing techniques for pseudorandom generators are not sufficient. Design and implementation of LIL based testing techniques. Comprehensive documentation of OpenSSL pseudorandom generators and entropy collection process. Based on the comprehensive documentation, identification of potential attacks and flaws on OpenSSL pseudorandom generators.

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

pseudorandom generators
statistical distance
openssl

statistical testing
the law of the iterated logarithm
web security
nist randomness testing
php random generator


Process parameters optimization for micro end-milling operation for CAPP applications In Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP), process parameters selection for the given manufacturing feature is the final activity and it is the key area for research and development. In this work, an attempt has been made to optimize parameters for micro end-milling operation as a part of CAPP system development for micromachining processes using Artificial Intelligence (AI) approach. Genetic Algorithm (GA) has been found to be the robust and efficient tool to solve nonlinear optimization problems involved in process planning. Microfeatures of size 0.7 and 1mm are considered and polymethyl methacrylate is chosen as the work material due to its potential application in microparts fabrication. Initially, experimental investigation has been carried out to analyze the impact of process conditions such as spindle speed and feed rate on surface roughness and machining time. Further multiobjective optimization for minimization of responses is carried out using GA. Finally, confirmation experiments are carried out to validate the accuracy of GA results. The optimized process parameters are stored in the database and it ensures foolproof parameters for micro end-milling operation for CAPP applications apart from manuals and catalogues. The proposed approach can be repeated for various other end mill features and for different work and tool material combination to ensure a complete parameters selection module for CAPP system applications.

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

process planning
genetic algorithm
optimization

micro end-milling
response surface methodology


vrml visualization in a surgery planning and diagnostics application In this paper we want to analyze how the high-level languages Java and VRML can be used for 3D medical imaging and simulation on a PC. We want to compare two different approaches to use Java combined with VRML. One approach is to use Java locally inside VRML (JSAI), the other is to control a VRML environment externally from Java (EAI). We also examine the usefulness of VRML animation used for surgery simulation. First we describe a VRML centered application using Java for behavior processing through the JSAI script interface. This is done using the best publicly available browsers. This approach causes problems due to difficulties in handling the very complex models needed and in the limited Java support. A second implementation is centered around a Java application, where the VRML browser is handled as a Java component. The VRML browser is controlled from Java through the EAI external application interface. VRML animation is used in both prototypes. We use our in-house developed VRML library Hybris for the second implementation, where we have full control over the VRML engine and rendering engine which allows better handling of larger models.

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

use
simulation
engine
browser
surgery planning
java
paper
control
component
visualization
script
rendering
behavior
implementation
support
3d
vrml
animation

applications
medical image
plan
interfaces
medical visualization
acetabular dysplasia
model
libraries
environments
prototype
language
process
complexity


Modeling and control of a cascaded doubly-fed induction generator based on dynamical equivalent circuits This paper deals with the control of an autonomous cascaded doubly-fed induction generator operating in a variable speed constant frequency mode. The proposed structure is a full stand-alone generating system dedicated to isolated grids in embedded systems or in small-scale renewable energy systems such as windmill and hydropower generators. The study is focused on the CDFIG. Its behavior against several design parameters (numbers of pole pairs and rotor interconnection) is recalled. A model, based on dynamical equivalent circuits, is also given for the design of the controller. Finally, the synthesized controller is validated by simulations and experimental results. (C) 2010 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 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

cascaded doubly-fed induction generator
isolated grid
aircraft applications
topology analysis
modeling, control


Efficient compilation strategy for object-oriented languages under the closed-world assumption Reaching the best level of runtime performance from a high-level, object-oriented language is often considered challenging if not unattainable. The closed-world assumption involves considering all of the source code of an application together at compile time. That assumption makes it possible to produce an efficient code. For instance, multiple inheritance can be implemented as efficiently as single inheritance. Our compilation strategy is the result of a prolonged project, tying together several compilation techniques: call graph analysis, dead code elimination, type flow analysis, code customization, implementation of dynamic dispatch, inlining, pointer optimization, switch optimization, objects layout, and so on. Merging all of these techniques into a global strategy appears to be quite problematic. Throughout the paper, two real-world compilers are used as benchmarks to provide measurements for compiler writers to evaluate the applicability of our approach. Type flow analysis is a fundamental aspect of our strategy to resolve method calls. We have extended type flow analysis to deal with the content of arrays, enabling us to process additional expressions and thus making it possible to obtain a true global analysis. Typically, more than 90% of method call sites are statically resolved. Our experience indicates that the closed-world assumption is suitable for numerous applications. Surprisingly, even library-defined control statements from dynamic languages are perfectly processed with our strategy. The Smalltalk ifTrue:ifFalse:, whileTrue:, to:do:, and so on are, for the very first time, perfectly translated. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

compiler
type flow analysis
dynamic dispatch
code customization
inlining


Adaptive web site agents We discuss the design and evaluation of a class of agents that we call adaptive web site agents. The goal of such an agent is to help a user find additional information at a particular web site, adapting its behavior in response to the actions of the individual user and the actions of other visitors to the web site. The agent recommends related documents to visitors and we show that these recommendations result in increased information read at the site. It integrates and coordinates among different reasons for making recommendations including user preference for subject area, similarity between documents, frequency of citation, frequency of access, and patterns of access by visitors to the web site. We argue that this information is best used not to change the structure or content of the web site but rather to change the behavior of an animated agent that assists the user.

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


a quantitative model of the learning and performance of text editing knowledge A model of manuscript editing, implemented as a simulation program, is described in this paper. The model provides an excellent, quantitative description of learning, transfer, and performance data from two experiments on text editing methods. Implications of the underlying theory for the design process are briefly discussed.

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

simulation
performance
text
data
theory
learning
model
knowledge
paper
design process