Understanding ?-Globin Gene Regulation: Aiming to Improve the Management of Thalassemia Abstract: Over the past 50 years, many advances in our understanding of the general principles controlling gene expression during hematopoiesis have come from studying the synthesis of hemoglobin. Discovering how the ?- and ?-globin genes are normally regulated and documenting the effects of inherited mutations that cause thalassemia have played a major role in establishing our current understanding of how genes are switched on or off in hematopoietic cells. Previously, nearly all mutations causing thalassemia have been found in or around the globin loci, but rare inherited and acquired trans-acting mutations are being found more often. Such mutations have demonstrated new mechanisms underlying human genetic disease. Furthermore, they are revealing new pathways in the regulation of globin gene expression that, in turn, may open up new avenues for improving the management of patients with common types of thalassemia.

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

alpha globin
atr-x syndrome
atmds syndrome
erythropoiesis


Future scenarios of mixed reality: the INTUITION roadmap scenarios INTUITION is a Network of Excellence that aims to integrate the European research efforts on the scientific and technological field of Virtual and Mixed Reality. To perform that, a series of activities have taken place in order to gather knowledge regarding actors and research profiles, projects and research results, products and patents. Having a clear view of research needs and technology trends the Network has envisioned the research goals that need to be pursued within the years to come. The starting point is a set of visionary scenarios which set out the picture for the technological and scientific advances that need to take place. Within this paper a set of indicative scenarios on a higher and descriptive level are provided and the way they contribute to the roadmap definition is explained. With this report we want to share these scenarios and our initial thoughts to stimulate a broader discussion and invite people from all relevant backgrounds to enter the knowledge creation process. The paper is a collective production of the INTUITION Consortium.

O O O B I O O O O O 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

virtual environments
augmented reality
technology roadmap
technology scenarios


Databases for recognition of handwritten Arabic cheques This paper describes an effort towards the development of Arabic cheque databases for research in the recognition of hand-written Arabic cheques. Databases of real-life Arabic legal amounts, Arabic sub-words, courtesy amounts, Indian digits, and Arabic cheques are described. This paper highlights some characteristics of the Arabic language and presents the various steps that have been completed to build these databases including segmentation, binarization and data tagging. It also describes a solid validation procedure including grammars and algorithms used to verify the correctness of the tagging process. Detailed descriptions of the database organization and class distribution are included. These databases aim to facilitate experimental comparisons between various recognition methods, and will be provided to all interested researchers upon request to CENPARMI.1

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

arabic ocr
cheque processing
image processing
databases of arabic handwriting
database of indian digits


A geometric aggregation operator for decision making We proposed an aggregation operator which is used to aggregate decision makers opinions in group decision making process. First, a Choquet integral-based distance between generalized interval-valued trapezoidal fuzzy numbers is defined. Then combining the generalized interval-valued trapezoidal fuzzy number aggregation operator with Choquet integral-based distance, an extension of technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution method is developed to deal with a multi-criteria generalized interval-valued trapezoidal fuzzy number group decision making problems, where inter-dependent or interactive characteristics among criteria preference of decision makers are also considered. Finally, an illustrative example is provided to elaborate the proposed method.

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


State-of-the-art eigensolvers for electronic structure calculations of large scale nano-systems ? The band edge states determine optical and electronic properties of semiconductor nano-structures which can be computed from an interior eigenproblem. We study the reliability and performance of state-of-the-art iterative eigensolvers on large quantum dots and wires, focusing on variants of preconditioned CG, Lanczos, and Davidson methods. One Davidson variant, the GD+k (Olsen) method, is identified to be as reliable as the commonly used preconditioned CG while consistently being between two and three times faster.

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

computational nano-technology
preconditioned conjugate gradients
implicitly restarted arnoldi
davidsons method


Inductive time-space lower bounds for SAT and related problems We improve upon indirect diagonalization arguments for lower bounds on explicit problems within the polynomial hierarchy. Our contributions are summarized as follows. 1. We present a technique that uniformly improves upon most known nonlinear time lower bounds for nondeterminism and alternating computation, on both subpolynomial (n(o(1))) space RAMs and sequential one-tape machines with random access to the input. We obtain improved lower bounds for Boolean satisfiability (SAT), as well as all NP-complete problems that have efficient reductions from SAT, and Sigma(k)-SAT, for constant k >= 2. For example, SAT cannot be solved by random access machines using n(root 3) time and subpolynomial space. 2. We show how indirect diagonalization leads to time-space lower bounds for computation with bounded nondeterminism. For both the random access and multitape Turing machine models, we prove that for all k >= 1, there is a constant c(k) > 1 such that linear time with n(1/k) nondeterministic bits is not contained in deterministic n(ck) time with subpolynomial space. This is used to prove that satisfiability of Boolean circuits with n inputs and n(k) size cannot be solved by deterministic multitape Turing machines running in n(k.ck) time and subpolynomial space.

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

lower bounds
satisfiability
diagonalization
bounded nondeterminism

time-space tradeoffs
polynomial-time hierarchy


Volatility forecast using hybrid Neural Network models An Artificial Neural Network model was used to improve financial forecasts. Significant reduction in the error of financial forecasts is demonstrated. Artificial Neural Network models outperformed a simple GARCH(1,1) in forecasting. Differences in performance increase varied across Latin American markets.

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

artificial neural networks
garch models
risk forecast
emerging markets
american stock markets


Adaptive Tracking Control Based on Online LS-SVM Identifier The paper proposes an adaptive tracking control scheme for completely unknown nonlinear system based on online least squares support vector machines (LS-SVM) identifier. An adaptive neural network (ANN) inverse controller is developed and the controller parameters are adjusted by gradient information of the unknown nonlinear system model. As well as, considering of the parameter regulating process of ANN, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller is combined to improve the control performance in initial stage and enhance the system stability. The simulation experimental results show that the adaptive neural network inverse control scheme based on online LS-SVM model and is effective. Moreover, the combined control scheme can improve effectively the control performance, especially in the initial control stage for completely unknown nonlinear system.

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

online ls-svm
adaptive neural network control


Bounds estimation and practical stability of AIMD/RED systems with time delays The Additive Increase and Multiplicative Decrease (AIMD) congestion control algorithm of TCP deployed in the end systems and the Random Early Detection (RED) queue management scheme deployed in the intermediate systems contribute to Internet stability and integrity. Previous research based on the fluid-flow model analysis indicated that, with feedback delays, the TCP/RED system may not be asymptotically stable when the time delays or the bottleneck link capacity becomes large [3]. However, as long as the system operates near its desired equilibrium, small oscillations around the equilibrium are acceptable, and the network performance (in terms of efficiency, loss rate, and delay) is still satisfactory. In this paper, we study the practical stability of AIMD/RED system with feedback delays and with both homogeneous and heterogeneous flows. We obtain theoretical bounds of the flow window size and the RED queue length, as functions of the number of flows, link capacity, RED queue parameters, and AIMD parameters. Numerical results with Matlab and simulation results with NS-2 are given to validate the correctness and demonstrate the tightness of the derived bounds. The analytical and simulation results provide important insights on which system parameters contribute to higher system oscillations and how to set parameters (such as buffer size and queue management parameters) to ensure system efficiency with bounded delay and loss. Our results can also help to predict and control the system performance for Internet with higher data rate links multiplexed with heterogeneous flows with different parameters.

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


Toward a Perceptual Space for Gloss We design and implement a comprehensive study of the perception of gloss. This is the largest study of its kind to date, and the first to use real material measurements. In addition, we develop a novel multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) algorithm for analyzing pairwise comparisons. The data from the psychophysics study and the MDS algorithm is used to construct a low dimensional perceptual embedding of these bidirectional reflectance distribution functions (BRDFs). The embedding is validated by correlating it with nine gloss dimensions, fitted parameters of seven analytical BRDF models, and a perceptual parameterization of Ward's model. We also introduce a novel perceptual interpolation scheme that uses the embedding to provide the user with an intuitive interface for navigating the space of gloss and constructing new materials.

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

algorithms
experimentation
human factors
measurement
rendering
reflectance models
human perception


Learning of control in a neural architecture of grounded language processing Human cognition is characterized by three important features: productivity, dynamics and grounding. These features can be integrated in a neural architecture of language processing. The representations in this architecture always remain in situ, because they are grounded in perception, action, emotion, associations and (semantic) relations. The neural architecture shows how these representations can be combined in a productive manner, and how dynamics influences this process. The constraints that each of these features impose on each other result in an architecture in which local and global aspects interact in processing and learning. The architecture consists of neural binding mechanisms that produce (novel) sentence structures on the fly. Here, we discuss how the control of this binding process can be learned. We trained a feedforward network (FFN) for this task. The results show that information from the architecture is needed as input to learn control of binding. Thus, the control system is recurrent. We show that this recurrent system can learn control of binding for basic (but recursive) sentence structures. After learning, the binding process behaves well on a series of test sentences, including sentences with (unlimited) embeddings. However, for some of these sentences, difficulties arise due to dynamical binding conflicts in the architecture. We also discuss and illustrate the potential influence that the dynamics in the architecture could have on the binding process.

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

binding
learning
productivity
language
dynamics
neural architecture


A deterministic worst-case message complexity optimal solution for resource discovery ? We consider the problem of resource discovery in distributed systems. In particular we give an algorithm, such that each node in a network discovers the address of any other node in the network. We model the knowledge of the nodes as a virtual overlay network given by a directed graph such that complete knowledge of all nodes corresponds to a complete graph in the overlay network. Although there are several solutions for resource discovery, our solution is the first that achieves worst-case optimal work for each node, i.e. the number of addresses (O(n) O ( n ) ) or bits (O(nlog?n) O ( n log ? n ) ) a node receives or sends coincides with the lower bound, while ensuring only a linear runtime (O(n) O ( n ) ) on the number of rounds.

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

distributed algorithms
self-stabilization
clique network


De-noised estimation of the weather Doppler spectrum by the wavelet method In the aeronautics generally and in the aviation field particularly, the radar detection of hazardous and severe weather phenomenons as winds or microburst is very important. This detection allows the avoidance of these severe phenomenons and consequently will enhance the safety of the aircrafts flights. In this work, we have de-noised the weather radar signals by the wavelet method in order to estimate the mean velocity of winds. The results showed that the application of this method is promising compared with the classical estimators (pulse pair, Fourier, AR and ARMA).

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

signal processing
signal de-noising
wavelet transform
doppler spectrum estimation
estimate of the spectral moments


The Cauchy problem for the modified Kawahara equation in Sobolev spaces with low regularity This paper is concerned with the Cauchy problem of the modified Kawahara equation. By using the Fourier restriction norm method introduced by Bourgain, and using the I-method as well as the L(2) conservation law, we prove that the modified Kawahara equation is globally well-posed for the initial data in the Sobolev space H(s)(R) with s > -3/22. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

cauchy problem
modified kawahara equation
sobolev spaces


Adaptive cloth simulation using corotational finite elements ? We introduce a novel adaptive simulation method for continuous cloth models. We extend the 3 - refinement scheme by an efficient coarsening method. Our method allows a significant performance gain in complex garment simulations.

O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 Provably High-Probability White-Space Satisfaction Algorithm With Good Performance for Standard-Cell Detailed Placement In this paper, we propose an effective white-space (i.e., row length) constraint satisfaction technique embedded in a network flow based detailed placer for standard cell designs that is suitable for both incremental as well as full detailed placement. The highlight of our method is a provable high-probability of obtaining a legal placement even under tight white space (WS) constraints. This high success probability of our method stems from our flexibility of allowing a well-controlled temporary WS constraint violation in the detailed placement process. The flexibility also helps improve the solution quality of the detailed placer, measured by the deterioration of the optimization metric from the global placement solution. We tested our WS constraint-satisfaction method controlled temporary violations (CTV) on two sets of benchmarks for both incremental and full placement applications, and for timing as well as wire length (WL) optimization problems. We obtained legal solutions for all circuits in reasonable times under a 3% WS constraint. For example, for a 210 k-cell circuit td-ibm18: 1) for the timing-driven incremental placement application, we obtain the final placement in 900 secs with a 35.2% delay reduction compared to an initial WL-optimized placement done by Dragon 2.23 and 2) for the full timing-driven placement problem, we obtain the final placement in less than 2.5 h with a timing improvement of 29.8% compared to the state-of-the-art WL-driven detailed placer of NTUplace3-LE. We also tested two internal methods, one that disallows any temporary WS violation, and another which moves cells from WS violated rows to non-full rows in a heuristic manner. The first method cannot legalize all benchmarks, and CTV is 41%-86% relatively better in delay and WL metrics than the two internal methods.

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

discretized min-cost network flow
probabilistic analysis
timing and wirelength optimization
white space constraint satisfaction


Comparison of hp-adaptive methods in finite element electromagnetic wave propagation Purpose - This paper aims to show that simple geometry-based lip-algorithms using an explicit a posteriori error estimator are efficient in wave propagation computation of complex structures containing geometric singularities. Design/methodology/approach - Four different hp-algorithms are compared with common h- and p-adaptation in electrostatic and time-harmonic problems regarding efficiency in number of degrees of freedom and runtime. An explicit a posterio error estimator in energy norm is used for adaptive algorithms. Findings - Residual-based error estimation is sufficient to control the adaptation process. A geometry-based hp-algorithm produces the smallest number of degrees of freedom and results in shortest runtime. Predicted error algorithms may choose inappropriate kind of refinement method depending on p-enrichment threshold value. Achieving exponential error convergence is sensitive to the element-wise decision on h-refinement or p-enrichment. Research limitations/implications - Initial mesh size must be sufficiently small to confine influence of phase lag error. Practical implications - Information on implementation of hp-algorithm, and use of explicit error estimator in electromagnetic wave propagation is provided. Originality/value - The paper is a resource for developing efficient finite element software for high-frequency electromagnetic field computation providing guaranteed error bound.

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

electromagnetic fields
finite element analysis
algorithmic languages


Vulnerability analysis of networks to detect multiphase attacks using the actor-based language Rebeca Increasing use of networks and their complexity make the task of security analysis more and more complicated. Accordingly, automatic verification approaches have received more attention recently. In this paper, we investigate applying of an actor-based language based on reactive objects for analyzing a network environment communicating via Transport Protocol Layer (TCP). The formal foundation of the language and available tools for model checking provide us with formal verification support. Having the model of a typical network including client and server, we show how an attacker may combine simple attacks to construct a complex multiphase attack. We use Rebeca language to model the network of hosts and its model checker to find counter-examples as violations of security of the system. Some simple attacks have been modeled in previous works in this area, here we detect these simple attacks in our model and then verify the model to find more complex attacks which may include simpler attacks as their steps. We choose Rebeca because of its powerful yet simple actor-based paradigm in modeling concurrent and distributed systems. As the real network environment is asynchronous and event-based, Rebeca can be utilized to specify and verify the asynchronous systems, including network protocols.

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

security analysis
vulnerability analysis
model checking
rebeca language


On lacunary sigma-statistical convergence The purpose of this paper is to introduce two new spaces and also to define st(sigma) and st(0sigma) of strongly sigma-statistically convergent and lacunary strongly sigma-statistically convergent sequences, respectively. Also, we give some inclusion relations involving these spaces. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

lacunary sequence
statistical convergence
invariant means and modulus functions


Noiseless VlasovPoisson simulations with linearly transformed particles We introduce a deterministic discrete-particle simulation approach, the Linearly-Transformed Particle-In-Cell (LTPIC) method, that employs linear deformations of the particles to reduce the noise traditionally associated with particle schemes. Formally, transforming the particles is justified by local first order expansions of the characteristic flow in phase space. In practice the method amounts of using deformation matrices within the particle shape functions; these matrices are updated via local evaluations of the forward numerical flow. Because it is necessary to periodically remap the particles on a regular grid to avoid excessively deforming their shapes, the method can be seen as a development of Denavit's Forward Semi-Lagrangian (FSL) scheme (Denavit, 1972 [8]). However, it has recently been established (Campos Pinto, 2012 [20]) that the underlying Linearly-Transformed Particle scheme converges for abstract transport problems, with no need to remap the particles; deforming the particles can thus be seen as a way to significantly lower the remapping frequency needed in the FSL schemes, and hence the associated numerical diffusion. To couple the method with electrostatic field solvers, two specific charge deposition schemes are examined, and their performance compared with that of the standard deposition method. Finally, numerical 1d1v simulations involving benchmark test cases and halo formation in an initially mismatched thermal sheet beam demonstrate some advantages of our LTPIC scheme over the classical PIC and FSL methods. Benchmarked test cases also indicate that, for numerical choices involving similar computational effort, the LTPIC method is capable of accuracy comparable to or exceeding that of state-of-the-art, high-resolution Vlasov schemes.

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

particle method
vlasovpoisson equation
plasma
noiseless method
beam halo simulations


participatory design and road safety and design Automobiles are the cause of millions of deaths every year. Enforcement, engineering and education have made significant impacts on accident rates, but many countries are now having difficulties further reducing casualties. Despite a possible wealth of knowledge, drivers are largely overlooked as a resource. This paper investigates the use of participatory design as a method to improve road designs, road safety, driver attitudes and driver behaviour.

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

driver behaviour
participatory design
driver attitudes
road safety


A comparison of different methods for the estimation of regression models with correlated binary responses In the present paper results of a simulation study designed to evaluate the small sample properties of three different estimators for regression models with correlated binary responses are presented. Throughout, binary panel probit models are considered, where an underlying latent continuous random variable crosses a threshold. The estimation procedures considered are (1) marginal maximum likelihood (ML) estimation using Gauss-Hermite quadrature, (2) generalized estimating equations (GEE) techniques and, (3) the MECOSA ('mean and covariance structure analysis' (1991)) approach proposed by Schepers et al. (1991). (The analysis of non-metric endogenous variables in latent variable models: the MECOSA approach. In: Gruber, J. (Ed.), Econometric Decision Models: New Methods of Modelling and Applications, Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, Vol. 366. Springer, Berlin, pp. 459-472.) for hierarchical mean and covariance structure models. The results show that for small and moderate sample sizes calculation of the MECOSA estimators is problematic because of convergence problems and a tendency to underestimate the root mean squared errors. On the other hand, the portion of data sets for which the ML and GEE estimation procedures failed to converge was low. In general, the MECOSA estimators are not as efficient as ML or GEE estimators. For small 'true' correlations, differences between ML and GEE estimators with respect to efficiency are negligible. However, for larger correlations, the ML estimator is more efficient than the GEE estimator. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

maximum likelihood
generalized estimating equations
mean and covariance structure analysis
correlated binary responses
simulation study

gauss-hermite quadrature
binary probit model
threshold model


ISOGAT: A 2D tutorial MATLAB code for Isogeometric Analysis A tutorial 2D MATLAB code for solving elliptic diffusion-type problems, including Poisson's equation on single patch geometries, is presented. The basic steps of Isogeometric Analysis are explained and two examples are given. The code has a very lean structure and has been kept as simple as possible, such that the analogy but also the differences to traditional finite element analysis become apparent. It is not intended for large-scale problems. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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


A novel all-neighbor fuzzy association approach for multitarget tracking in a cluttered environment This paper proposes a novel all-neighbor fuzzy association approach for multitarget tracking in a cluttered environment. It performs data association with a little prior knowledge and updates the predicted target state estimate using a fuzzy weighted sum of innovations. Unlike the joint probabilistic data association filter, in which the similarity measures are determined in terms of the conditional probability for all feasible data association hypothesis, the proposed fuzzy association approach determines the similarity measures between measurements and tracks in terms of possibility weights based on a partition matrix. The possibility weights are determined according to the fuzzy clustering algorithm. The proposed approach is able to perform all-neighbor association with a lower computational complexity in the expense of a little lower performance compared to the standard joint probabilistic data association filter. Computer simulation shows the feasibility and the efficiency of the proposed all-neighbor fuzzy association approach.

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

joint probabilistic data association
tracking in a clutter
maneuvering targets


Multi-criteria supplier segmentation using a fuzzy preference relations based AHP One of the strategic activities of a firm is supplier segmentation, whereby a firm creates groups of suppliers to handle them differently. Existing literature provides several typologies of suppliers, each of which uses different dimensions/variables. In this paper, different typologies are combined by distinguishing two overarching dimensions, the capabilities and the willingness of suppliers to cooperate with a particular firm. These dimensions cover almost all the existing supplier segmentation criteria mentioned in existing literature. For each particular situation, these dimensions can be specified using a multi-criteria decision-making method. A methodology is proposed that includes a fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) which uses fuzzy preference relations to incorporate the ambiguities and uncertainties that usually exist in human judgment. The proposed methodology is used to segment the suppliers of a broiler company. The result is a segmentation of suppliers based on two aggregated dimensions. Finally some strategies to handle different segments are discussed and concluding remarks and suggestions for future research are provided.

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

supplier segmentation
fuzzy preference relations


Regulatory Subunits of PKA and Breast Cancer Overexpression of the R subunits of PKA (in particular, RI) is associated with high proliferation in normal breast, malignant transformation in the breast, poor prognosis in established breast cancer, and resistance to antiestrogens. These data, together with the observation that successful antiestrogen therapy is associated with reduced expression of RI mRNA, suggest that targeting R subunits is an appropriate therapeutic strategy for breast cancer. Initial experimental results, using antisense RI oligonucleotides, are promising in terms of reducing the growth rate of breast cancer cells and xenografts. While clinical trials designed to target RI subunits have yet to be established (and interventions as preventative measures are even more distant), the concept of these approaches to prevent and treat breast cancer should be developed and exploited.

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


A framework for analyzing the cognitive complexity of computer-assisted clinical ordering Computer-assisted provider order entry is a technology that is designed to expedite medical ordering and to reduce the frequency of preventable errors. This paper presents a multifaceted cognitive methodology for the characterization of cognitive demands of a medical information system. Our investigation was informed by the distributed resources (DR) model, a novel approach designed to describe the dimensions of user interfaces that introduce unnecessary cognitive complexity. This method evaluates the relative distribution of external (system) and internal (user) representations embodied in system interaction. We conducted an expert walkthrough evaluation of a commercial order entry system, followed by a simulated clinical ordering task performed by seven clinicians. The DR model was employed to explain variation in user performance and to characterize the relationship of resource distribution and ordering errors. The analysis revealed that the configuration of resources in this ordering application placed unnecessarily heavy cognitive demands on the user, especially on those who lacked a robust conceptual model of the system. The resources model also provided some insight into clinicians interactive strategies and patterns of associated errors. Implications for user training and interface design based on the principles of humancomputer interaction in the medical domain are discussed.

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

medical errors
cognitive evaluation
distributed cognition
information systems


Parallel computing techniques applied to the simultaneous design of structure and material In this work a computational procedure for two-scale topology optimization problem using parallel computing techniques is developed. The goal is to obtain simultaneously the best structure and material, minimizing structural compliance. An algorithmic strategy is presented in a suitable way for parallelization. In terms of parallel computing facilities, an IBM Cluster 1350 is used comprising 70 computing nodes each with two dual core processors, for a total of 280 cores. Scalability studies are performed with mechanical structures of low/moderate dimensions. Finally the applicability of the proposed methodology is demonstrated solving a grand challenge problem that is the simulation of trabecular bone adaptation.

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

parallel computing
optimization
topology
bone


Improved IPsec performance utilizing transport-layer-aware compression architecture With the rapid growth of applications in Internet communication, the security for transmitting information on public network has become a fundamental issue. The Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) standard is developed by Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to provide the security services at the IP layer. IPSec solutions invariably result in a large-packet size and a long processing time. Accordingly, this paper proposes new compression architecture, designated as Efficient Secure Pipe (ES_PIPE), to improve both the security and the performance of IPv6 networks. In contrast to traditional IPsec compression schemes, ES_PIPE provides a transport-layer-aware compression capability for different types of packets (e.g., TCP or UDP/RTP packets). The experimental results show that the proposed scheme reduces 20--30% transmission time compared to IPsec. Furthermore, ES_PIPE scheme yields about 20% improvement in the efficiency of the encryption and decryption processes. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

ipsec
compression
encryption
efficient secure pipe


Object-oriented paradigm in programming for computer-aided analysis of structures The concept of object-oriented programming (OOP) has redefined the design and development of large-scale codes worldwide and is now the order of the day in the software industry. Although OOP offers enormous potential in the scientific software business, this innovative programming technique has yet to find a niche in the development of structural engineering software. The present paper is an attempt to highlight the superior programming capability offered by the OOP approach in computer-aided analysis and design of civil engineering structures. The paper presents a brief theoretical background on the important basic and advanced concepts of OOP within the context of structural engineering. The paper explains the relevant fundamentals of object-oriented modeling and design in structural engineering for the orientation of civil engineering professionals who are new to the concept of OOP. The paper provides simple examples of object-oriented programs for elementary structural analysis to illustrate implementation of the OOP paradigm for computational structural analysis. User-code fragments with accompanying commentary are included to provide more detailed directions to structural engineers who wish to adopt the OOP paradigm. The paper also includes a brief review of the evolution that the computational programming paradigm has undergone over the past few decades to cope with the increasing complexity of software. A comparison of currently prevalent programming paradigms is presented to illustrate the relative advantages of OOP for large-scale software applications in 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 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

object-oriented languages
computer programming
computer analysis


improved user authentication in off-the-record messaging Instant Messaging software is now used in homes and businesses by a wide variety of people. Many of these users would benefit from additional privacy, but do not have enough specialized knowledge to use existing privacy-enhancing software. There is a need for privacy software to be easy to understand, with complicated cryptographic concepts hidden from the user. We look at improving the usability of Off-the-Record Messaging, a popular privacy plugin for instant messaging software. By using a solution to the Socialist Millionaires' Problem, we are able to provide the same level of privacy and authentication as in older versions of OTR, but we no longer require that the user understand any difficult concepts such as keys or fingerprints.

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

authentication
fingerprints
instant messaging


Ply stacking sequence optimization of composite laminate by permutation discrete particle swarm optimization Stacking sequence optimization (SSO) of laminate will greatly improve its mechanical properties without weight penalty. In this paper, a novel permutation discrete particle swarm optimization (PDPSO) method was proposed to perform SSO. To improve the efficiency of the algorithm, the concepts and techniques of valid/invalid exchange, checking memory and Self-escape were introduced into the PDPSO. In total 11 examples were presented. First, eight examples were carried out by employing the proposed method. The results show that the computational efficiency of PDPSO is greatly improved compared with standard discrete particle swarm optimization (SDPSO), and is comparable with that of gene rank crossover (GR) and partially mapped crossover (PMX). Then, three extra examples were presented, in which the outermost plies in the optimum design are not +/- 45A degrees plies. The results show that the PDPSO has better stability and potential which demonstrate the better performance of PDPSO for laminates.

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

pso
self-escape idea
valid/invalid exchange


motion-path based in car gesture control of the multimedia devices The goal of this work is to create a simple and intuitive interaction scheme for the in-car multimedia devices. In fact, we propose a hand gestures control that aims to minimize the users distraction while driving. We devise a set of gesture vocabulary for a the multimedia device interaction. Users hand gestures are recognized by capturing the motion-path while they draw different symbols in the air. In order to capture the motion-path, we use Microsoft Kinect camera's 3D body tracking capability. As the camera tracks user's hands, it produces a sequence of motion-points of the body joints, which are then analyzed syntactically to recognize the intended hand gestures. The recognized gesture is further used to interact with the in-car multimedia devices for accessing various entertainment services. Browsing media playlists, changing the track of the audio player, and playing/pausing the media are few examples for which we have integrated the gesture-based interaction. The interaction scheme devoid of any graphical user interface, rather incorporates haptic and audio modality to provide selection feedbacks to the user. Our experiment shows that the proposed gesture recognition technique is robust and its simplified interaction scheme in the automobile environment is interesting and appealing to the people.

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

gesture interaction
multimodal
virtual world
multimedia system


query optimization by simulated annealing Query optimizers of future database management systems are likely to face large access plan spaces in their task. Exhaustively searching such access plan spaces is unacceptable. We propose a query optimization algorithm based on simulated annealing , which is a probabilistic hill climbing algorithm. We show the specific formulation of the algorithm for the case of optimizing complex non-recursive queries that arise in the study of linear recursion. The query answer is explicitly represented and manipulated within the closed semiring of linear relational operators. The optimization algorithm is applied to a state space that is constructed from the equivalent algebraic forms of the query answer. A prototype of the simulated annealing algorithm has been built and few experiments have been performed for a limited class of relational operators. Our initial experience is that, in general, the algorithm converges to processing strategies that are very close to the optimal. Moreover, the traditional processing strategies (e.g., the semi-naive evaluation ) have been found to be, in general, suboptimal.

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

task
strategies
recursion
plan
database management systems
space
prototype
queries
simulated annealing
experience
case
general
access
algorithm
future
query optimization
class
query

optimality process operability relation complexity


Telomerase Expression Is Differentially Regulated in Birds of Differing Life Span Cellular senescence caused by telomere shortening has been suggested as one potential causal agent of aging. In some tissues, telomeres are maintained by telomerase; however, telomerase promotes tumor formation, suggesting a trade-off between aging and cancer. We predicted that telomerase activity should vary directly with life span. We determined telomerase activity in bone marrow in cross-sectional samples from two short-lived bird species and two long-lived bird species. The two short-lived species had high telomerase activity as hatchlings but showed a sharp downregulation in both the young and old adults, whereas the two long-lived species had relatively high telomerase activity in bone marrow that did not decrease with age. In zebra finches, the age-related change in telomerase activity varied in different tissues. Telomerase activity increased late in life in skeletal muscle, liver, and gonad, but not in blood or bone marrow.

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

telomerase
life span
bird
aging
telomere


Dynamic mean-variance and optimal reinsurance problems under the no-bankruptcy constraint for an insurer In this paper, we consider the optimal investment and optimal reinsurance problems for an insurer under the criterion of mean-variance with bankruptcy prohibition, i.e., the wealth process of the insurer is not allowed to be below zero at any time. The risk process is a diffusion model and the insurer can invest in a risk-free asset and multiple risky assets. In view of the standard martingale approach in tackling continuous-time portfolio choice models, we consider two subproblems. After solving the two subproblems respectively, we can obtain the solution to the mean-variance optimal problem. We also consider the optimal problem when bankruptcy is allowed. In this situation, we obtain the efficient strategy and efficient frontier using the stochastic linear-quadratic control theory. Then we compare the results in the two cases and give a numerical example to illustrate our results.

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

optimal investment
optimal reinsurance
efficient frontier
efficient strategy

mean-variance criterion
no-bankruptcy constraint


Effects of Air Pollution on Ecosystems and Biological Diversity in the Eastern United States Conservation organizations have most often focused on land-use change, climate change, and invasive species as prime threats to biodiversity conservation. Although air pollution is an acknowledged widespread problem, it is rarely considered in conservation planning or management. In this synthesis, the state of scientific knowledge on the effects of air pollution on plants and animals in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States is summarized. Four air pollutants (sulfur, nitrogen, ozone, and mercury) and eight ecosystem types ranging from estuaries to alpine tundra are considered. Effects of air pollution were identified, with varying levels of certainty, in all the ecosystem types examined. None of these ecosystem types is free of the impacts of air pollution, and most are affected by multiple pollutants. In aquatic ecosystems, effects of acidity, nitrogen, and mercury on organisms and biogeochemical processes are well documented. Air pollution causes or contributes to acidification of lakes, eutrophication of estuaries and coastal waters, and mercury bioaccumulation in aquatic food webs. In terrestrial ecosystems, the effects of air pollution on biogeochemical cycling are also very well documented, but the effects on most organisms and the interaction of air pollution with other stressors are less well understood. Nevertheless, there is strong evidence for effects of nitrogen deposition on plants in grasslands, alpine areas, and bogs, and for nitrogen effects on forest mycorrhizae. Soil acidification is widespread in forest ecosystems across the eastern United States and is likely to affect the composition and function of forests in acid-sensitive areas over the long term. Ozone is known to cause reductions in photosynthesis in many terrestrial plant species. For the most part, the effects of these pollutants are chronic, not acute, at the exposure levels common in the eastern United States. Mortality is often observed only at experimentally elevated exposure levels or in combination with other stresses such as drought, freezing, or pathogens. The notable exceptions are the acid/aluminum effects on aquatic organisms, which can be lethal at levels of acidity observed in many surface waters in the region. Although the effects are often subtle, they are important to biological conservation. Changes in species composition caused by terrestrial or aquatic acidification or eutrophication can propagate throughout the food webs to affect many organisms beyond those that are directly sensitive to the pollution. Likewise, sublethal doses of toxic pollutants may reduce the reproductive success of the affected organisms or make them more susceptible to potentially lethal pathogens. Many serious gaps in knowledge that warrant further research were identified. Among those gaps are the effects of acidification, ozone, and mercury on alpine systems, effects of nitrogen on species composition of forests, effects of mercury in terrestrial food webs, interactive effects of multiple pollutants, and interactions among air pollution and other environmental changes such as climate change and invasive species. These gaps in knowledge, coupled with the strong likelihood of impacts on ecosystems that have not been studied in the region, suggests that current knowledge underestimates the actual impact of air pollutants on biodiversity. Nonetheless, because known or likely impacts of air pollution on the biodiversity and function of natural ecosystems are widespread in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, the effects of air pollution should be considered in any long-term conservation strategy. It is recommended that ecologically relevant standards, such as critical loads, be adopted for air pollutants and the importance of long-term monitoring of air pollution and its effects is emphasized.

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

sulfur
nitrogen
mercury
ozone
eastern united states
forest


Throughput accounting and performance of a manufacturing company under stochastic demand and scrap rates Develops simulation model from original PQ company example. Modeled uncertainty leads in both product mix scenarios to significant losses. Scrap production should not be analyzed in isolation, but to ensure material flow. Preference on product Q leads to lower performance in nearly all measures. Scrap production is troublesome preferring product P due to higher volume.

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

product mix
throughput accounting
scrap production


A cellular learning automata-based deployment strategy for mobile wireless sensor networks One important problem which may arise in designing a deployment strategy for a wireless sensor network is how to deploy a specific number of sensor nodes throughout an unknown network area so that the covered section of the area is maximized. In a mobile sensor network, this problem can be addressed by first deploying sensor nodes randomly in some initial positions within the area of the network, and then letting sensor nodes to move around and find their best positions according to the positions of their neighboring nodes. The problem becomes more complicated if sensor nodes have no information about their positions or even their relative distances to each other. In this paper, we propose a cellular learning automata-based deployment strategy which guides the movements of sensor nodes within the area of the network without any sensor to know its position or its relative distance to other sensors. In the proposed algorithm, the learning automaton in each node in cooperation with the learning automata in the neighboring nodes controls the movements of the node in order to attain high coverage. Experimental results have shown that in noise-free environments, the proposed algorithm can compete with the existing algorithms such as PF, DSSA, IDCA, and VEC in terms of network coverage. It has also been shown that in noisy environments, where utilized location estimation techniques such as GPS-based devices and localization algorithms experience inaccuracies in their measurements, or the movements of sensor nodes are not perfect and follow a probabilistic motion model, the proposed algorithm outperforms the existing algorithms in terms of network coverage.

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

cellular learning automata
self-regulated deployment


Automated case creation and management for diagnostic CBR systems With the rapid development of case-based reasoning (CBR) techniques such as case retrieval and case adaptation, CBR has been widely applied to various real-world applications. A successful case-based reasoning system requires a high-quality case base, which provides rich and efficient solutions for solving real-world problems. How to automatically create and manage such a case base is a vital but unsolved problem. This paper tackles this important problem. We proposed a methodology for creating cases from readily available large-sized databases, which were collected in the routine operations. Building on techniques from case-based reasoning and natural language processing, we present a methodology for automatically creating cases at initial stage of a CBR system development. After the detailed description of the methodology, we introduce a case study for validating the usefulness of the methodology. The experimental results show that the proposed methodology significantly reduces the human effort required for authoring cases, and we are able to automatically create the high-quality cases for diagnostic CBR systems from historic maintenance and operational data at the initial stage of system development.

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

automated case creation
methodology
natural language processing


Delegate the smartphone user? Security awareness in smartphone platforms Smartphone users increasingly download and install third-party applications from official application repositories. Attackers may use this centralized application delivery architecture as a security and privacy attack vector. This risk increases since application vetting mechanisms are often not in place and the user is delegated to authorize which functionality and protected resources are accessible by third-party applications. In this paper, we mount a survey to explore the security awareness of smartphone users who download applications from official application repositories (e.g. Google Play, Apple's App Store, etc.). The survey findings suggest a security complacency, as the majority of users trust the app repository, security controls are not enabled or not added, and users disregard security during application selection and installation. As a response to this security complacency we built a prediction model to identify users who trust the app repository. The model is assessed, evaluated and proved to be statistically significant and efficient.

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

application markets
security survey
smartphone security


Case-based approach using behavioural biometrics aimed at Assisted Living Behavioural biometrics aims at providing means of automating the recognition of a persons behavioral traits in every-day life, derived from specific actions, attitude, expressions and general conduct. Behavioural biometrics recognition and profiling systems should incorporate reliable schemes to determine and ascertain the psychological and physical status of a person. Behavioural biometrics find a special field of application in the case of Assisted Living, in which individuals suffering from various diseases in different stages need supervision in their daily activities as they cannot function on their own or are in need of helpminor or not. By using biometrics, unobtrusive support for daily life activities can be provided to elderly people through smart interfaces incorporating emotion classification, movement detection, person identification, pattern and activity recognition techniques integrated in their personal environment. Thus, an elderly individuals mood and activities could be determined and appropriate solutions suggested by the system, such as calls for help in case of a fall and alarms to relatives or doctors, and all this inside the framework of what are the patients actions and status.

O O O B I 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 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 B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 decision-theoretic approach to the evaluation of information retrieval systems Evaluation research on information retrieval (IR) systems has thus far been narrowly focused and disjointed. This research attempts to narrow the gap by providing a comprehensive and integrated multiple criteria decision-theoretic approach for the evaluation of IR systems. The approach, which is based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), is illustrated in the context of a domain-specific IR system. The novelty of this approach lies in the focus on the user aspect and the application of decision-making theories in the IR field.

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 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

information retrieval system
information search process
decision making
multi-criteria model


New complexity results for parallel identical machine scheduling problems with preemption, release dates and regular criteria We study preemptive parallel identical machine scheduling problems with release dates. Solutions having a permutation flow shop structure are dominant. Completion times of all jobs can be ordered in an optimal solution. We provide new results on polynomially solvable problems.

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

identical machines
preemptive problems
dominant structure
agreeability
common due date


deconstructing an old master painting using photoshop's advanced toolset An old master painting is a highly 'made' thing and every aspect of its appearance has been subject to careful consideration and evaluation before its manufacture. These aspects can be very hard to grasp but using Photoshop's advanced toolset they can be visualized and made easier for the student of art history to visualize. Interesting applications of the Adjustments menu, the blend modes and different color spaces will all be covered.

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

old masters
teaching
digital art
photoshop


TCP-friendly congestion control to guarantee smoothness by Slack Term With the rapid advance of network technologies over the past decade, more and more real-time multimedia applications, such as telephony and video conference, are widely deployed in the Internet. These multimedia applications are commonly implemented using UDP because some characteristics of TCP, for example, the burst transmission and frequent window variation, are not suitable for them. However, since UDP does not employ any congestion control, the unfair treatment towards TCP occurs. For these reasons, a new concept, "TCP-friendliness" is advocated. A TCP-friendly flow will share bandwidth similar to competing TCP flows. In this paper, we present a new TCP-friendly congestion control, Slack Term, by patching TCP-Friendly Rate Control (TFRC) and TCP Emulation At Receivers (TEAR). Slack Term limits the variation of sending rate to guarantee the smoothness, records the deficit/excess of bandwidth, and then compensates/returns it in the future to assure the friendliness. Simulation results show that our algorithm can enhance TFRC and TEAR with the smoother transmission rate and achieve the similar TCP-friendliness. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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


Total flow time minimization in a flowshop sequence-dependent group scheduling problem We have developed a mathematical programming model for minimizing total flow time of the flow shop sequence dependent group scheduling (FSDGS) problem, typically classified as Fm|fmls, Splk, prmu|?Cj. As the problem is shown to be strongly NP-hard, a tabu search (TS) algorithm as well as a hybrid ant colony optimization (HACO) algorithm have been developed to heuristically solve the problem. A lower bounding (LB) method based on the Branch-and-Price algorithm is also developed to evaluate the quality of the metaheuristic algorithms. In order to compare the performance of metaheuristic algorithms, random test problems, ranging in size from small, medium, to large are created and solved by both the TS and the HACO algorithms. A comparison shows that the HACO algorithm has a better performance than the TS algorithm. The results of the heuristic algorithms are also compared with the results of the LB method to evaluate the quality of the solutions. The LB method presented in this paper can be generalized to solve the FSDGS problem with other objective functions.

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

sequence dependent scheduling
branch and price
metaheuristics
lower bound


Stability-based validation of bicluster solutions Bicluster analysis is an unsupervised learning method to detect homogeneous or uniquely characterized two-way subsets of objects and attributes from a data set. It is useful in finding groups that may not be found by the traditional cluster analysis and in interpreting the groups intuitively, especially for high-dimensional data sets. Because of these advantages, over the last few years, various biclustering algorithms have been developed and applied to bioinformatics and text mining area. However, research into validation of bicluster solutions is rare. We propose a new procedure of validating bicluster solutions by developing a stability index to measure the reproducibility of the solution under variation in the input data set. By generating random resample data sets from the input data set, obtaining bicluster solutions from them, and evaluating the expected agreement of the solutions to the bicluster solution for the original input data set, we quantify the stability of the bicluster solution. Experiments using three artificial data sets and two real gene expression data sets indicate that the proposed method is suitable to validate bicluster solutions.

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


Delay-based TCP congestion avoidance: A network calculus interpretation and performance improvements In delay-based TCP congestion avoidance mechanisms, a source adjusts its window size to adapt to changes in network conditions as measured through changing queueing delays. Although network calculus (NC) has been used to study window flow control and determine performance bounds, there is a lack of a bridge between NC theory and the practical issues of delay-based TCP congestion avoidance. In this paper, we use an NC-based approach to derive ideal congestion controllers for representative delay-based window flow control models with time-variant feedback delays. We show that the basic delay-based TCP congestion avoidance mechanisms in TCP Vegas, Enhanced TCP Vegas, and FAST TCP can be viewed as different approaches to approximating a certain NC controller. Moreover, we derive another NC controller that is explicitly constructed to address the throughput degradation of the current delay-based methods due to delayed acknowledgement (ACK) packets caused by network traffic in the reverse path (ACK packet) direction. The approximation of this F-model NC-based controller is shown to provide better throughput and fairness over the existing delay-based methods for a variety of network topologies in ns-2 simulations.

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

deterministic network calculus
congestion control
reverse path congestion
transport protocols
high-speed networking


iterative identification of fault-prone binaries using in-process metrics Code churn, the amount of code change taking place within a software unit over time, has been correlated with fault-proneness in software systems. We investigate the use of code churn and static metrics collected at regular time intervals during the development cycle to predict faults in an iterative, in-process manner. We collected 159 churn and structure metrics from six, four-month snapshots of a 1 million LOC Microsoft product. The number of software faults fixed during each period is recorded per binary module. Using stepwise logistic regression, we create a prediction model to identify fault-prone binaries using three parameters: code churn (the number of new and changed blocks); class Fan In and class Fan Out (normalized by lines of code). The iteratively-built model is 80.0\% accurate at predicting fault-prone and non-fault-prone binaries. These fault-prediction models have the advantage of allowing the engineers to observe how their fault-prediction profile evolves over time.

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


deep integration of spatial query processing into native rdf triple stores Semantic Web technologies, most notably RDF, are well-suited to cope with typical challenges in spatial data management including analyzing complex relations between entities, integrating heterogeneous data sources and exploiting poorly structured data, e.g., from web communities. Also, RDF can easily represent spatial relationships, as long as the location information is symbolic, i.e., represented by places that have a name. What is widely missing is support for geographic and geometric information, such as coordinates or spatial polygons, which is needed in many applications that deal with sensor data or map data. This calls for efficient data management systems which are capable of querying large amounts of RDF data and support spatial query predicates. We present a native RDF triple store implementation with deeply integrated spatial query functionality. We model spatial features in RDF as literals of a complex geometry type and express spatial predicates as SPARQL filter functions on this type. This makes it possible to use W3C's standardized SPARQL query language as-is, i.e., without any modifications or extensions for spatial queries. We evaluate the characteristics of our system on very large data volumes.

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


when does an abbreviation become a word? and related questions An experiment is reported in which subjects previously naive to text editing learned to use a set of editing commands. Some subjects used abbreviations from the beginning. Others began by using full command names, then switched to the (optional) use of abbreviations, either of their own devising or of our selection. We found significant differences in the number and nature of the errors produced by subjects in the different conditions. People who created their own abbreviations did most poorly, and did not appear to learn from this experience. Those who used abbreviations from the start were more likely to fall into error through misrecalling the referent names. The results suggest aspects of the underlying cognitive representations, with implications for the design of software interfaces.

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

text interfaces software experience use errors design


Multiple-kernel SVM based multiple-task oriented data mining system for gene expression data analysis Gene expression profiling using DNA microarray technique has been shown as a promising tool to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Recently, many computational methods have been used to discover maker genes, make class prediction and class discovery based on gene expression data of cancer tissue. However, those techniques fall short on some critical areas. These included (a) interpretation of the solution and extracted knowledge. (b) Integrating various sources data and incorporating the prior knowledge into the system. (c) Giving a global understanding of biological complex systems by a complete knowledge discovery framework. This paper proposes a multiple-kernel SVM based data mining system. Multiple tasks, including feature selection, data fusion, class prediction, decision rule extraction, associated rule extraction and subclass discovery, are incorporated in an integrated framework. ALL-AML Leukemia dataset is used to demonstrate the performance of this system. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

feature selection
data fusion
decision rule
associated rule
subclass discovery
gene expression

support vector machine
multiple-kernel learning


A novel estimator with moving ants In the traditional ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm, ants are utilized to solve various combinatorial optimization problems regardless of their individual velocities. In this work, however, a moving ant estimator (MAE) is developed on the premise that the issue of moving velocity of each ant is considered. The determination of the velocity of each ant depends directly on the normalized weights between the one-step prediction of the ant starting position and the selected one-step position. Besides this, the velocity of each ant is further adjusted locally based on its individual moving ability, which is defined in the corresponding pheromone update process just as the traditional ACO algorithm. To improve the accuracy of the proposed estimator, two improved versions are investigated. Numerical simulations show that the moving ant estimator, as well as its two improved versions, could estimate adaptively the state of maneuvering or non-maneuvering target. To verify the effectiveness of the MAE, the obtained results are compared with those from PF, IMMPF, etc.

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


Exponential stability of switched stochastic delay systems with non-linear uncertainties This article considers the robust exponential stability of uncertain switched stochastic systems with time-delay. Both almost sure (sample) stability and stability in mean square are investigated. Based on Lyapunov functional methods and linear matrix inequality techniques, new criteria for exponential robust stability of switched stochastic delay systems with non-linear uncertainties are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities and average dwell-time conditions. Numerical examples are also given to illustrate the results.

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

stochastic systems
exponential stability
linear matrix inequality

switched systems
time-delay system
non-linear uncertainties
average dwell-time


Constructing Graphs with No Immersion of Large Complete Graphs In 1989, Lescure and Meyniel proved, for , that every d-chromatic graph contains an immersion of , and in 2003 Abu-Khzam and Langston conjectured that this holds for all d. In 2010, DeVos, Kawarabayashi, Mohar, and Okamura proved this conjecture for . In each proof, the d-chromatic assumption was not fully utilized, as the proofs only use the fact that a d-critical graph has minimum degree at least . DeVos, Dvo?k, Fox, McDonald, Mohar, and Scheide show the stronger conjecture that a graph with minimum degree has an immersion of fails for and with a finite number of examples for each value of d, and small chromatic number relative to d, but it is shown that a minimum degree of 200d does guarantee an immersion of .In this paper, we show that the stronger conjecture is false for and give infinite families of examples with minimum degree and chromatic number , , or that do not contain an immersion of . Our examples can be up to -edge-connected. We show that two of Hajs' operations preserve immersions of . We conclude with some open questions, and the conjecture that a 2-edge-connected graph G with minimum degree and more than vertices of degree at least has an immersion of .

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

graph immersion
edge-connectivity
hajs conjecture
hadwiger conjecture
graph minor
subdivision
05c15
05c40
05c07


A Business-Oriented Management Framework for Mobile Communication Systems The incremental efforts needed to manage low-level radio access network decisions from a business-perspective have received little attention so far. This paper considers the influence of business-level indicators on network management decisions related to low-level network control mechanisms. It provides a formal understanding of all involved aspects, the representation of the adjustable parameters, and the network control mechanisms that enable the reconfiguration of access network entities from a business perspective (i.e., users information, operators goals). The effectiveness of our approach is validated through a simulation environment that we developed on OPNET.

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

mobility management
radio resource management
service management
business-oriented management


Some theorems on IF-compact linear operators The purpose of this paper to introduce IF-compact operators in IF-normed linear spaces in the sense of Lael and Nourouzi [7]. Also classical compact operator by means of IF-concept have investigated.

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

if-normed linear space
if-compact operator


issues in applying data mining to grid job failure detection and diagnosis As grid computation systems become larger and more complex, manually diagnosing failures in jobs becomes impractical. Recently, machine-learning techniques have been proposed to detect a variety of application failures in grids. While this is a promising approach, there are many options as to how to apply machine learning to this problem, and it not always obvious which approaches are feasible or effective. We explore some issues that arise when we try to apply existing implementations of data mining algorithms to diagnose as well as predict job failures in grids. We demonstrate that a) it is feasible to gather enough data in real-time to train useful classifier algorithms, using only a small fraction of the grid's computational resources, b) it is important to choose the features used for classification with care, and c) it is useful to have both per-user and system-wide classifiers, as they diagnose different kinds of problems. We illustrate all these issues using a prototype system that runs over the Condor grid computation platform [3].

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


page placement in hybrid memory systems Phase-Change Memory (PCM) technology has received substantial attention recently. Because PCM is byte-addressable and exhibits access times in the nanosecond range, it can be used in main memory designs. In fact, PCM has higher density and lower idle power consumption than DRAM. Unfortunately, PCM is also slower than DRAM and has limited endurance. For these reasons, researchers have proposed memory systems that combine a small amount of DRAM and a large amount of PCM. In this paper, we propose a new hybrid design that features a hardware-driven page placement policy. The policy relies on the memory controller (MC) to monitor access patterns, migrate pages between DRAM and PCM, and translate the memory addresses coming from the cores. Periodically, the operating system updates its page mappings based on the translation information used by the MC. Detailed simulations of 27 workloads show that our system is more robust and exhibits lower energy-delay 2 than state-of-the-art hybrid systems.

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


Improved boundary conditions for the direct numerical simulation of turbulent subsonic flows. I. Inviscid flows In the context of compressible flows, the standard non-reflecting boundary conditions of Hedstrom [J. Comput. Phys. 30 (1979) 222237] produce spurious pressure oscillations when applied to turbulent flows. In this paper, we present an analysis of the characteristics used to define non-reflecting boundary conditions. The analysis is conducted in terms of a low Mach number asymptotic series. It is shown that the Hedstrom condition is not necessary for non-reflecting boundary conditions. Based on this analysis, new boundary conditions are presented. Crucially, the revised boundary conditions allow the specification of non-reflecting outflows and inflows. The new conditions are tested for three 2-dimensional inviscid flows: an inviscid vortex crossing an outflow boundary, an evolving vortex pair crossing an outflow, and a two dimensional turbulent flow with a prescribed energy spectrum. The new boundary conditions are found to perform considerably better than standard treatments in flows where vorticity crosses the boundary.

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


Revisiting caffeate's capabilities as a complexation agent to silver cation in mining processes by means of the dual descriptor-a conceptual DFT approach Caffeic acid (C9H8O4) and its conjugate base C9H7O4 (-) (anionic form-known as caffeate) were analyzed computationally through the use of quantum chemistry to assess their intrinsic global and local reactivity using the tools of conceptual density functional theory. The anionic form was found to be better at coordinating the silver cation than caffeic acid thus suggesting the use of caffeate as a complexation agent. The complexation capability of caffeate was compared with that of some of the most common ligand agents used to coordinate silver cations. Local reactivity descriptors allowed identification of the preferred sites on caffeate for silver cation coordination thus generating a plausible silver complex. All silver complexes were analyzed thermodynamically considering interaction energies in both gas and aqueous phases; the complexation free energy in aqueous phase was also determined. These results suggest that more attention be paid to the caffeate anion and its derivatives because this work has shed new light on the behavior of this anion in the recovery of silver cations that could be exploited in silver mining processes in a environmentally friendly way.

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

caffeate anion
ligand
complexation agent
local reactivity
conceptual dft
silver complexes
environmentally friendly

dual descriptor
silver exploitation
mining chemicals


Methane as Fuel for Anaerobic Microorganisms Methane has long been known to be used as a carbon and energy source by some aerobic alpha- and delta-proteobacteria. In these organisms the metabolism of methane starts with its oxidation with O2 to methanol, a reaction catalyzed by a monooxygenase and therefore restricted to the aerobic world. Methane has recently been shown to also fuel the growth of anaerobic microorganisms. The oxidation of methane with sulfate and with nitrate have been reported, but the mechanisms of anaerobic methane oxidation still remains elusive. Sulfate-dependent methane oxidation is catalyzed by methanotrophic archaea, which are related to the Methanosarcinales and which grow in close association with sulfate-reducing delta-proteobacteria. There is evidence that anaerobic methane oxidation with sulfate proceeds at least in part via reversed methanogenesis involving the nickel enzyme methyl-coenzyme M reductase for methane activation, which under standard conditions is an endergonic reaction, and thus inherently slow. Methane oxidation coupled to denitrification is mediated by bacteria belonging to a novel phylum and does not involve methyl-coenzyme M reductase. The first step in methane oxidation is most likely the exergonic formation of 2-methylsuccinate from fumarate and methane catalyzed by a glycine-radical enzyme.

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

anaerobic oxidation of methane
methyl-coenzyme m reductase
nickel cofactor f430
glycyl-radical enzymes
methylsuccinate synthase
methanotrophic bacteria


Tree kernel-based semantic role labeling with enriched parse tree structure Shallow semantic parsing assigns a simple structure (such as WHO did WHAT to WHOM, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, and HOW) to each predicate in a sentence. It plays a critical role in event-based information extraction and thus is important for deep information processing and management. This paper proposes a tree kernel method for a particular shallow semantic parsing task, called semantic role labeling (SRL), with an enriched parse tree structure. First, a new tree kernel is presented to effectively capture the inherent structured knowledge in a parse tree by enabling the standard convolution tree kernel with context-sensitiveness via considering ancestral information of substructures and approximate matching via allowing insertion/deletion/substitution of tree nodes in the substructures. Second, an enriched parse tree structure is proposed to both well preserve the necessary structured information and effectively avoid noise by differentiating various portions of the parse tree structure. Evaluation on the CoNLL2005 shared task shows that both the new tree kernel and the enriched parse tree structure contribute much in SRL and our tree kernel method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art tree kernel methods. Moreover, our tree kernel method is proven rather complementary to the state-of-the-art feature-based methods in that it can better capture structural parse tree information.

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

semantic role labeling
enriched parse tree structure
convolution tree kernel
approximate matching


Arbitrary Importance Functions for Metropolis Light Transport We present a generalization of the scalar importance function employed by Metropolis Light Transport (MLT) and related Markov chain rendering algorithms. Although MLT is known for its user-designable mutation rules, we demonstrate that its scalar contribution function is similarly programmable in an unbiased manner. Normally, MLT samples light paths with a tendency proportional to their brightness. For a range of scenes, we demonstrate that this importance function is undesirable and leads to poor sampling behaviour. Instead, we argue that simple user-designable importance functions can concentrate work in transport effects of interest and increase estimator efficiency. Unlike mutation rules, these functions are not encumbered with the calculation of transitional probabilities. We introduce alternative importance functions, which encourage the Markov chain to aggressively pursue sampling goals of interest to the user. In addition, we prove that these importance functions may adapt over the course of a render in an unbiased fashion. To that end, we introduce multi-stage MLT, a general rendering setting for creating such adaptive functions. This allows us to create a noise-sensitive MLT renderer whose importance function explicitly targets noise. Finally, we demonstrate that our techniques are compatible with existing Markov chain rendering algorithms and significantly improve their visual efficiency.

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


Security Mechanisms and Access Control Infrastructure for e-Passports and General Purpose e-Documents Traditional paper documents are not likely to disappear in the near future as they are present everywhere in daily life, however, paper-based documentation lacks the link with the digital world for agile and automated processing. At the same time it is prone to cloning, alteration and counterfeiting attacks. E-passport defined by ICAO and implemented in 45 countries is the most relevant case of hybrid documentation (i.e. paper format with electronic capabilities) to date, but, as the advantages of hybrid documentation are recognized more and more will undoubtedly appear. In this paper, we present the concept and security requirements of general-use e-documents, analyze the most comprehensive security solution (i.e. ePassport security mechanisms) and its suitability for general-purpose e-documentation. Finally, we propose alternatives for the weakest and less suitable protocol from ePassports: the BAC (Basic Access Control). In particular, an appropriate key management infrastructure for access control to document memory is discussed in conjunction with a prototype implementation. Keywords: electronic documents, e-documents, e-Passport, RFID technology, RFID

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

electronic documents
rfid technology
security mechanisms
access control infrastructure
security

e-documents
e-passport
rfid security
pervasive computing