Implementation of Web-based dynamic assessment in facilitating junior high school students to learn mathematics This research adopts the Graduated Prompting Assessment Module of the WATA system (GPAM-WATA) and applies it to the remedial teaching of junior high school mathematics. The theoretical basis of the development of GPAM-WATA is the idea of 'graduated prompt approach' proposed by Campione and Brown (1985; 1987, pp. 92-95). In GPAM-WATA, when examinees fail to answer items correctly, they obtain instructional prompts (IPs) in a graduated way. This research developed the contents of IPs based on the mathematical problem-solving theory of Mayer (1992, pp. 458-460). A quasi-experimental design was adopted. Ninety-six junior high school seventh graders from three different classes participated in this research. The three classes were randomly divided into the GPAM-WATA group (n = 31), the N-WBT group (n = 31) and the PPT group (n = 34). All students received traditional mathematics instruction from the same teacher. After traditional mathematics instruction, all students took the pre-test of the summative assessment. The students in the three different groups then respectively received remedial teaching in the form of GPAM-WATA, normal Web-based test (N-WBT), and paper-and-pencil test (PPT). After the remedial teaching, all students took the post-test of the summative assessment. The results indicate that compared with other groups, performing remedial teaching using GPAM-WATA has significantly better effectiveness. Moreover, it is found that the IPs in GPAM-WATA are effective in remedial teaching for not only those students most lacking in different types of mathematical problem-solving knowledge but also all the other students. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

gpam-wata
mathematics teaching
teaching/learning strategies
web-based dynamic assessment


Eigenmoments Moments and functions of moments are powerful general tools in a vast number of fields, and particularly in the field of image signal processing. In this paper, we present a method for obtaining a set of orthogonal, noise-robust, transformation invariant and distribution sensitive moments, which we call Eigenmoments (EM). EM are obtained by performing eigen analysis in the moment space generated by geometric moments (GM). This is done by transforming the moment space into the feature space where the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is maximized. This is equivalent to solving a generalized eigenvalue problem related to a Rayleigh quotient which characterize the SNR. The generalized eigenvalue problem can be decomposed into two eigenvalue problems. In the first eigenvalue problem, the moment space is transformed into the noise space where the noise components are removed. In the second eigenvalue problem a second transformation is performed to find the most expressive components. Experiments are performed to gauge the performance of EM and comparisons are made with some well known feature descriptors such as GM, DCT, Legendre moments and Tchebichef moments. The results show that EM give significant improvements in terms of accuracy and noise robustness as predicted by the theoretical framework.

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

moments
rayleigh quotient
generalized eigenvalue problem

orthogonalization
image representation
invariants
noise robust features


Performing DNA computation with RecA-mediated triple-stranded DNA structure A new method of DNA computing using an unusual triple-stranded DNA structure mediated by RecA protein is introduced and a minor 3-variable instance of the satisfiability (SAT) problem is solved. Separations were performed by using biotinylated oligodeoxynucleotide probes coated with RecA protein. During the computation, sequence-specific recognition of double-stranded DNA by homologous oligodeoxynucleotides was fulfilled in the presence of ATP?S. Captured by the magnetic particles coated with streptavidin, the desirable double-stranded DNA strands were retained and extracted. It is suggested that the methods employed here may help decrease the errors in DNA computation and solve some larger size NP- complete problems.

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

np-complete problems
satisfiability problem (sat)
triple-stranded dna structure


ANALYSIS OF OPTICAL WAVEGUIDES WITH ARBITRARY INDEX PROFILE USING AN IMMERSED INTERFACE METHOD A numerical technique is described that can efficiently compute solutions of interface problems. These are problems with data, such as the coefficients of differential equations, discontinuous or even singular across one or more interfaces. A prime example of these problems are optical waveguides, and as such the scheme is applied to Maxwell's equations as they are formulated to describe light confinement in Bragg fibers. It is based on standard finite differences appropriately modified to take into account all possible discontinuities across the waveguide's interfaces due to the change of the refractive index. Second- and fourth-order schemes are described with additional adaptations to handle matrix eigenvalue problems, demanding geometries and defects.

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 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

finite differences
immersed interface method
bragg fibers

high-order finite differences
coordinate stretching


Mobility-dependent bifurcations in capillarity-driven two-phase fluid systems by using a lattice Boltzmann phase-field model Bifurcations in capillarity-driven two-phase fluid systems, due to different mobilities in phase-field models for Such systems, are studied by using a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Specifically, two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) droplets on a flat wall with given wettability variations are investigated. It is found that the mobility controls the rate of diffusive relaxation of the phase field from non-equilibrium toward equilibrium, and similar to previous findings on mechanically driven two-phase systems, the mobility is closely related to the contact line velocity. For the cases investigated, different mobilities across a critical value result in fundamentally different system evolution routes and final stable equilibrium states. These results may provide some implications for phase-field study of droplet manipulations by surface wettability adjustments in microfluidics. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

droplet
mobility
contact line
lattice boltzmann method


Transient dynamic boundary element analysis using Gaussian-based mass matrix This paper presents a new boundary element formulation for transient dynamic analysis. The formulation is based on the solution of the problem using the static fundamental solution. The inertia term is approximated using particular solutions using radial bases functions. Another collocation scheme is preformed to determine suitable coefficients for the radial bases function approximation. The Gaussian radial bases function is used as it rapidly decays leading to better conditioned and sparse matrices. The necessary kernels are derived and their limiting values at the singular node are given. The formulation is implemented into a computer program that accounts for boundary and internal nodes. Two examples are presented to show the accuracy and the validity of the present formulation. A numerical discussion on using the Gaussian function with compact supported or cut-off radius is also given.

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

transient dynamic analysis
gaussian radial bases function
particular solutions
mass matrix

boundary element method
dual reciprocity method


A hybrid strategy to integrate surface-based and mutual-information-based methods for co-registering brain SPECT and MR images Co-registration of brain SPECT and MR images has been used extensively in clinical applications. The complementary features of two major co-registration methodssurface- and mutual-information-based (MI-based)motivated us to study a hybrid-based scheme that uses the surface-based method to achieve a quick alignment, followed by the MI-based method for fine tuning. Computer simulations were conducted to evaluate the accuracy and robustness of surface-, MI-, and hybrid-based registration methods by designing different levels of noise and mismatch in the registration experiments. Results demonstrated that the hybrid surface-MI-based scheme outperforms both the surface- and MI-based methods in providing superior accuracy and success rates. Specifically, the translational and rotational errors were no more than 1mm and 2, respectively, with consistent success rates over 98%. Besides, the hybrid-based method saved 1253% of the computation efforts, compared with using the MI-based method alone. We recommend the use of hybrid-based method when the orientational differences between the floating and reference images exceed 10.

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

single photon emission computed tomography


self-adaptive mutation in the differential evolution The Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm is an efficient and powerful evolutionary algorithm (EA) for solving optimization problems. However the success of DE in solving a specific problem is closely related to appropriately choosing its control parameters. Parameter tuning leads to additional computational costs because of time-consuming trial-and-error tests. Self-adaptation, in contrast, allows the algorithm to reconfigure itself, automatically adapting to the problem being solved. There are in the literature some self-adaptive versions of differential evolution, however they do not align completely with self-adaptation concepts. In this paper, some self-adaptive versions of DE in the literature are described and discussed, and then a new Self-Adaptive Differential Evolution with multiple mutation strategies is proposed; it is called Self-adaptive Mutation Differential Evolution (SaMDE) and aims at preserving the essential characteristics of self-adaptation. Some computational experiments which illustrate algorithm behaviour and a comparative test with the classical DE and with an important self-adaptive DE are presented. The results suggest that SaMDE is a very promising algorithm.

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

self-adaptation
numerical optimization
evolutionary algorithms


maximum thick paths in static and dynamic environments We consider the problem of finding a maximum number of disjoint paths for unit disks moving amidst static or dynamic obstacles. For the static case we give efficient exact algorithms, based on adapting the "continuous uppermost path" paradigm. As a by-product, we establish a continuous analogue of Menger's Theorem. (In this extended abstract we only state these results.) Next we study the dynamic problem in which the obstacles may move, appear and disappear, and otherwise change with time in a known manner; in addition, the disks are required to enter/exit the domain during prescribed time intervals. We observe that (unless P=NP), for any ?,? > 0, one cannot decide in polynomial time whether there exist [??] paths for disks of radius ?R, where K is the maximum number of paths for radius- R disks. The problem is hard even if the obstacles are static, and only the entry/exit time intervals are specified for the disks. This motivates studying "dual" approximations, compromising on the radius of the disks and on the maximum speed of motion. Our main result is a pseudopolynomial-time dual-approximation algorithm: if K unit disks, each with unit bound on the speed, may be routed through an environment, our algorithm finds (at least) K paths for disks of radius ?(1) moving with speed O (1). The algorithm computes a maxflow with "forbidden pairs" in an "adaptive" grid, laid out in space-time. Although (as we show) in general finding even an approximation to the maxflow with forbidden pairs is not possible (unless P=NP), a careful choice of time discetization and a non-uniform grid of "way-points" allows us to give provable approximation guarantees on the quality of the solution produced by the algorithm. Our algorithm extends to higher dimensions and to finding paths for translational motion of arbitrary-shape objects.

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

approximation algorithms
motion planning


Lighting design for machine vision application Low-level image processing is an essential first step in any machine vision application. Low-level vision processing tasks need good lighting in the work environment for them to function robustly. Hence, good and uniform illumination from external light source is essential for machine vision applications to function. In this paper, we suggest a design procedure to obtain uniform illumination on the scene being imaged using several light sources. We pose the problem of determining the optimal position of the light sources as a minimisation problem. Simulation results show the effectiveness and suitability of the proposed procedure to illuminate the scene uniformly. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

B I O B I O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 light placement
simulated annealing


High-visibility debug-by-design for FPGA platforms The true measure of a general-purpose FPGA platform is user design productivity, not just raw hardware performance. User productivity is a function of several interdependent components of the design environment: system firmware, simulation models, debugging support, device drivers, APIs and so forth. The careful, coordinated design of these components determines the level of debugging visibility and, ultimately, the ease of development for the end user. This paper examines the innovative aspects of the development of the SLAAC FPGA platforms and programming environment. Several novel techniques are presented, including circuit designs for transparent clock stepping and host access to on-board memories; device driver strategies and a "register compiler" to ease the design and testing of the hardware-software interface; and a co-simulation approach for advanced debugging of firmware, device drivers and user applications.The true measure of a general-purpose FPGA platform is user design productivity, not just raw hardware performance. User productivity is a function of several interdependent components of the design environment: system firmware, simulation models, debugging support, device drivers, APIs and so forth. The careful, coordinated design of these components determines the level of debugging visibility and, ultimately, the ease of development for the end user. This paper examines the innovative aspects of the development of the SLAAC FPGA platforms and programming environment. Several novel techniques are presented, including circuit designs for transparent clock stepping and host access to on-board memories; device driver strategies and a "register compiler" to ease the design and testing of the hardware-software interface; and a co-simulation approach for advanced debugging of firmware, device drivers and user applications.

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


COMBINED APPROACH TO PROGRAM AND LANGUAGE EVOLUTION Program can be viewed as a sequence of statements that are aimed to produce some result. The execution is done by a platform that interprets the program sequence of statements. The new result of a computation can be achieved by modification of a program, a language interpreter, or both. Software evolution as long-term process can be supported by adaptive language and by environment, which offers reflective possibilities. This paper presents our adaptive approach to both program and language modification in order to support dynamic evolution. Effective software evolution needs to be supported by appropriate execution environment. We have proposed such experimental execution environment, which allows both run-time program and language modification. As we hope, mutating a programming language to a higher abstraction may decrease structural complexity of programs in the future.

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

software evolution
language modification

program modification
software language engineering
adaptive experimental environment


Gender discriminating models from facial surface normals In this paper, we show how to use facial shape information to construct discriminating models for gender classification. We represent facial shapes using 2.5D fields of facial surface normals, and investigate three different methods to improve the gender discriminating capacity of the model constructed using the standard eigenspace method. The three methods are novel variants of principal geodesic analysis (PGA) namely (a) weighted PGA, (b) supervised weighted PGA, and (c) supervised PGA. Our starting point is to define a weight map over the facial surface that indicates the importance of different locations in discriminating gender. We show how to compute the relevant weights and how to incorporate the weights into the 2.5D model construction. We evaluate the performance of the alternative methods using facial surface normals extracted from 3D range images or recovered from brightness images. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods. Moreover, the classification accuracy, which is as high as 97%, demonstrates the effectiveness of using facial shape information for gender classification.

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

gender classification
facial surface normals
principal geodesic analysis


Error estimates for least squares finite element methods A least squares finite element scheme for a boundary value problem associated with a second-order partial differential equation is considered. Previous work on this subject is generalized and improved by considering a larger class of equations, by working in the natural context, without additional smoothness conditions, and by deriving error estimates, not only in the H-1-norm and the H-div-norm, but also in the L-2-norm. Some of these estimates are sharpened by using finite element spaces with the grid decomposition property. The error estimates are supported by numerical results which extend previous numerical work. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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


A fast method for identification of symmetrical components for power system protection This paper presents a novel dynamic technique for identifying and measuring the symmetrical components of three-phase voltage or current waveforms in electrical power systems. The proposed technique is based on stochastic estimation theory. The problem is formulated as an estimation problem and presented in state space form. The algorithm is then used to estimate the active and reactive components of the positive, negative and zero components of unsymmetrical waveforms. The method is tested using practical study cases. Different factors affecting the identification process such as data window size, sampling frequency and number of samples are studied. Effects of bad data on the solution accuracy are also studied. The speed of convergence is examined by changing the estimator initial conditions. The results obtained show that the proposed technique can estimate and track the symmetrical components of non-stationary three-phase unbalance voltage or current waveforms in noisy environments. Fast accurate solutions are guaranteed regardless of the initial conditions. It is also shown that bad measurements have no effect on the final accuracy of the estimation.

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

symmetrical components
identification
estimator


A scalable privacy-preserving recommendation scheme via bisecting k-means clustering A novel bisecting k-means clustering-based privacy-preserving CF scheme is proposed. A two-level preprocessing scheme is suggested to enhance scalability and accuracy. Effects of scalability and sparseness challenges are alleviated considerably. Accuracy of the solution is significantly better than knn-based CF and PPCF 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 B O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O

binary decision diagrams
clustering methods
data preprocessing
data privacy
recommender systems


ATP7A trafficking and mechanisms underlying the distal motor neuropathy induced by mutations in ATP7A Diverse mutations in the gene encoding the copper transporter ATP7A lead to X-linked recessive Menkes disease or occipital horn syndrome. Recently, two unique ATP7A missense mutations, T994I and P1386S, were shown to cause isolated adult-onset distal motor neuropathy. These mutations induce subtle defects in ATP7A intracellular trafficking resulting in preferential accumulation at the plasma membrane compared to wild-type ATP7A. Immunoprecipitation assays revealed abnormal interaction between ATP7AT994I and p97/VCP, a protein mutated in two autosomal dominant forms of motor neuron disease. Small-interfering RNA knockdown of valosin-containing protein corrected ATP7AT994I mislocalization. For ATP7AP1386S, flow cytometry documented that nonpermeabilized fibroblasts bound a C-terminal ATP7A antibody, suggesting unstable insertion of the eighth transmembrane segment due to a helix-breaker effect of the amino acid substitution. This could sabotage interaction of ATP7AP1386S with adaptor protein complexes. These molecular events appear to selectively disturb normal motor neuron function and lead to neurologic illness that takes years and sometimes decades to develop.

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

atp7a
distal motor neuropathy
adaptor protein complexes


The goal specificity effect on strategy use and instructional efficiency during computer-based scientific discovery learning Using a computer-based scientific discovery learning environment on buoyancy in fluids we investigated the effects of goal specificity (nonspecific goals vs. specific goals) for two goal types (problem solving goals vs. learning goals) on strategy use and instructional efficiency. Our empirical findings close an important research gap, because in earlier studies the goal specificity effect either was restricted to one goal type or goal type was confounded with goal specificity. In addition, there is hardly a study with empirical evidence for the goal specificity effect on strategy use, which counts even more for a cognitive cost-benefit ratio as a dependent variable. Instead, in earlier studies the goal specificity effect has been attributed to differences in strategy use and cognitive cost-benefit ratio in a rather theoretical way. In the present study for strategy use an interaction was found between goal specificity and goal type, indicating that the goal specificity effect occurs only in case of problem solving goals, but not in case of learning goals. Compared to students provided with specific problem solving goals, students who worked on nonspecific problem solving goals, used a control of variables-strategy more frequently. Additionally, we found a main effect of goal specificity on instructional efficiency for both of the goal types, pointing at a more favorable relationship between performance gain and cognitive load caused by nonspecific goals. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

scientific discovery learning
strategy use
instructional efficiency

coal specificity
computer-based learning environment


Identity verification through finger matching: A comparison of Support Vector Machines and Gaussian Basis Functions classifiers The paper presents a people identity verification system based on the matching of top view finger snapshots, supplementing purely geometrical finger shape comparison with textural information. Low dimensional feature vectors are used to train binary classifiers based on small Gaussian Basis Functions networks which, in this task, are able to match Support Vector Machines performance while outperforming them in runtime efficiency, thereby exposing a different facet in the comparison which complements available literature reports.

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

support vector machines
gaussian basis functions

regularization networks
classification
biometrics


A method for taxonomy development and its application in information systems A fundamental problem in many disciplines is the classification of objects in a domain of interest into a taxonomy. Developing a taxonomy, however, is a complex process that has not been adequately addressed in the information systems (IS) literature. The purpose of this paper is to present a method for taxonomy development that can be used in IS. First, this paper demonstrates through a comprehensive literature survey that taxonomy development in IS has largely been ad hoc. Then the paper defines the problem of taxonomy development. Next, the paper presents a method for taxonomy development that is based on taxonomy development literature in other disciplines and shows that the method has certain desirable qualities. Finally, the paper demonstrates the efficacy of the method by developing a taxonomy in a domain in IS.

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

typology
taxonomy development
research methodologies


Using a Visual Attention Model to Improve Gaze Tracking Systems in Interactive 3D Applications This paper introduces the use of a visual attention model to improve the accuracy of gaze tracking systems. Visual attention models simulate the selective attention part of the human visual system. For instance, in a bottom-up approach, a saliency map is defined for the image and gives an attention weight to every pixel of the image as a function of its colour, edge or intensity. Our algorithm uses an uncertainty window, defined by the gaze tracker accuracy, and located around the gaze point given by the tracker. Then, using a visual attention model, it searches for the most salient points, or objects, located inside this uncertainty window, and determines a novel, and hopefully, better gaze point. This combination of a gaze tracker together with a visual attention model is considered as the main contribution of the paper. We demonstrate the promising results of our method by presenting two experiments conducted in two different contexts: (1) a free exploration of a visually rich 3D virtual environment without a specific task, and (2) a video game based on gaze tracking involving a selection task. Our approach can be used to improve real-time gaze tracking systems in many interactive 3D applications such as video games or virtual reality applications. The use of a visual attention model can be adapted to any gaze tracker and the visual attention model can also be adapted to the application in which it is used.

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

gaze tracking
visual attention model
saliency
virtual environment


Bit-interleaved space-time-frequency coded modulation with general linear precoding A general linear precoding space-time-frequency bit-interleaved coded modulation (GLP-STF-BICM) is presented. By expanding the dimensions of linear precoding (LP) matrix we achieve the correlation between the adjacent code matrices, and further time diversity is realized, and by further time diversity higher diversity gain is realized which effectively avoids possible burst errors in block fading channels. Also, the Singleton bound, channel capacity and BER performances are theoretically analyzed. Then the optimum criterion of the precoding matrix to maximize both diversity and coding gain is given. Furthermore, to reduce the decoding complexity, we present an efficient sphere iterative decoding (SID) algorithm for our scheme. Finally, we consider the downlink multiuser system model for GLP-STF-BICM, the scheduling and capability of the three multi-access methods TDMA, F/TDMA, and S/F/TDMA are analyzed. The simulation results prove that the performance of the new scheme improved greatly in the frequency-selective block fading channels. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

general linear precoding
singleton bound
sphere iterative decoding


Survey on liver CT image segmentation methods The segmentation of liver using computed tomography (CT) data has gained a lot of importance in the medical image processing field. In this paper, we present a survey on liver segmentation methods and techniques using CT images, recent methods presented in the literature to obtain liver segmentation are viewed. Generally, liver segmentation methods are divided into two main classes, semi-automatic and fully automatic methods, under each of these two categories, several methods, approaches, related issues and problems will be defined and explained. The evaluation measurements and scoring for the liver segmentation are shown, followed by the comparative study for liver segmentation methods, pros and cons of methods will be accentuated carefully. In this paper, we concluded that automatic liver segmentation using CT images is still an open problem since various weaknesses and drawbacks of the proposed methods can still be addressed.

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

liver
segmentation
computed tomography
survey


Radiation models for thermal flows at low Mach number Simplified approximate models for radiation are proposed to study thermal effects in low Mach flow in open tunnels. The governing equations for fluid dynamics are derived by applying a low Mach asymptotic in the compressible NavierStokes problem. Based on an asymptotic analysis we show that the integro-differential equation for radiative transfer can be replaced by a set of differential equations which are independent of angle variable and easy to solve using standard numerical discretizations. As an application we consider a simplified fire model in vehicular tunnels. The results presented in this paper show that the proposed models are able to predict temperature in the tunnels accurately with low computational cost.

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

radiation hydrodynamics
low mach number flows
simplified pn approximations
fires in vehicle tunnels


Decentralized Supervisory Control of Timed Discrete Event Systems In the framework of supervisory control of timed discrete event systems (TDESs), a supervisor decides the set of events to be enabled to occur and the set of events to be forced to occur in order for a given specification to be satisfied. In this paper, we consider decentralized supervisory control of TDESs where enforcement decisions of local supervisors are fused by the AND rule or the OR rule. We derive existence conditions of a decentralized supervisor under these decision fusion rules.

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

timed discrete event system
decentralized control
forcible event


Worktime control-dependent reductions in fatigue, sleep problems, and depression We investigated the association between worktime control and fatigue, sleep problems, and depressive symptoms in a sample of daytime and shift workers. A total of 3681 permanent daytime workers and 599 shift workers completed a questionnaire designed to assess the above variables. Worktime control was evaluated in terms of both control over daily working hours and control over days off. Worktime controlwork schedulegender analysis of covariance, adjusted for age and employment status, showed overall reductions in incomplete recovery, insomnia symptoms, daytime sleepiness, and depressive symptoms with increasing levels of worktime control. However, no associations between control over daily working hours and insomnia symptoms were observed in women. The reductions appeared to be more evident for control over days off. These results remained consistent after adjustments for other potential covariates. The present findings indicate that increased worktime control and enhanced control over days off in particular, may be associated with favorable health outcomes.

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

worktime control
fatigue
sleep
depression


Automatic refinement of an expressive speech corpus assembling subjective perception and automatic classification This paper presents an automatic system able to enhance expressiveness in speech corpora recorded from acted or stimulated speech. The system is trained with the results of a subjective evaluation carried out on a reduced set of the original corpus. Once the system has been trained, it is able to check the complete corpus and perform an automatic pruning of the unclear utterances, i.e. with expressive styles which are different from the intended corpus. The content which most closely matches the subjective classification remains in the resulting corpus. An expressive speech corpus in Spanish, designed and recorded for speech synthesis purposes, has been used to test the presented proposal. The automatic refinement has been applied to the whole corpus and the result has been validated with a second subjective test.

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

expressive speech databases
expression of emotion
speech technology
expressive speech synthesis


embrace system for remote counseling In counseling, non-verbal communication such as making physical contacts is an effective skill of role playing. In remote counseling via videophones, spacing and physical contacts cannot be used, and communication must be made only with expressions and words. This paper describes an embrace system for remote counseling, which consists of HyperMirror and vibrators and can provide effects similar to those by physical contacts in face-to-face counseling.

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


A MASS CUSTOMIZATION INFORMATION SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE FRAMEWORK Now that providing individual customization of products is an effective way to compete in the global economy, smart manufacturers are finding the way to overcome traditional mass production limitations. As the benefits of mass customization are realized through well designed information systems that provide direct links among value chain partners and integrate various business activities, the importance of information systems architecture in the delivery of customized goods can hardly be overemphasized. Drawing on concepts from the interrelated literature streams of organizational process-view, this paper examines the information systems requirements for mass customization and proposes an information system architecture framework for customized goods. This information systems architecture enables enterprise - wide integration, reduces systems complexity as well as the Bullwhip effect, and streamlines business processes in mass customization environment.

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

mass customization
mass production
information systems architecture


Character confidence based on N-best list for keyword spotting in online Chinese handwritten documents The posterior probabilities of candidate characters are computed based on the N-best list. The confidence parameter is estimated from the character confusion network. The proposed method outperforms those based on word confidence and text line recognition.

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

online chinese handwritten documents
keyword spotting
confusion network

posterior probability
n-best list
confidence measure


Imprint lithography using thermo-polymerisation of MMA We investigate a new approach for imprint lithography which consists in using a thermo-polymerisation reaction under the mold rather than the softening of a polymerised thermoplastic resist. We use as a demonstrator, methylmethacrylate (MMA) monomers. We show that the major problem of this technique is to keep a reasonable amount of the solution containing the monomer species in between the sample and the mold; this is due to its extreme fluidity and high evaporation rate. However, we demonstrate that the use of various silane molecular layers deposited on both the sample and the mold enables the achievement of the imprinting process. We found that under appropriate conditions, no residual layer of polymer is left under the imprinted features, due to the concept of a minimum activation volume allowing the polymerisation reaction to occur. This result opened the possibility to directly perform a transfer procedure like lift-off, without any need for a dry etching process.

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

imprint lithography
mma
activation volume
polymerisation


The role of methodologies to improve efficiency and effectiveness of care delivery processes for the year 2013 This paper aims at further expanding the vision of future health care delivery systems presented by Haux et al. (2002). Starting from the observation that information and communication technology (ICT) is deeply transforming the shape of organizations as expected, we argue that the coordination of work activities is a fundamental need for any organization. This is even more important for health care organizations since there is an increasing pressure to increase quality of care they deliver without further increasingits costs. However ICT by itself will not cause the desired changes without rethining the way of managing best practice biomedical knowledge and care delivery processes. Thus the paper focuses on the need of developing intense research efforts in the fields of knowledge management and workflow modelling, which have been identified as fundamental to provide suitable solutions to the problems of designing and building innovative health care information systems. Moreover, the paper discusses the role of mobile communication systems. Moreover, the paper dscusses the role of mobile communication and speech understanding technologies to suppport a satisfactory user-system interaction in daily work.

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

workflow technology
speech understanding technology


Energy Efficient Backoff Hierarchical Clustering Algorithms for Multi-Hop Wireless Sensor Networks Compared with flat routing protocols, clustering is a fundamental performance improvement technique in wireless sensor networks, which can increase network scalability and lifetime. In this paper, we integrate the multi-hop technique with a backoff-based clustering algorithm to organize sensors. By using an adaptive backoff strategy, the algorithm not only realizes load balance among sensor node, but also achieves fairly uniform cluster head distribution across the network. Simulation results also demonstrate our algorithm is more energy-efficient than classical ones. Our algorithm is also easily extended to generate a hierarchy of cluster heads to obtain better network management and energy-efficiency.

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


Modeling irregular boundary with transmission-line modeling method This work proposes a model to represent internal and external fractional boundary nodes without increasing the computational time and memory comparing to other techniques. The limiting effects on the simulation time steps are the same of the basic transmission-line nodes. This model is also indicated for parallel processing, once it does not produce branching in the algorithm stream. The processing time is the same as a basic transmission-line modeling (conventional TLM) mesh independent of the boundary complexity. The accuracy is higher than the one obtained with the basic TLM (full nodes). This model is suitable for hybrid and general TLM symmetrical condensed nodes. Validations are made against analytical results, numerical TLM results (conventional TLM), and other published results. 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2013.

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

cavity resonators
time-domain analysis
transmission-line matrix method
hybrid symmetric condensed node
computational modeling


policy learning in resource-constrained optimization We consider an optimization scenario in which resources are required in the evaluation process of candidate solutions. The challenge we are focussing on is that certain resources have to be committed to for some period of time whenever they are used by an optimizer. This has the effect that certain solutions may be temporarily non-evaluable during the optimization. Previous analysis revealed that evolutionary algorithms (EAs) can be effective against this resourcing issue when augmented with static strategies for dealing with non-evaluable solutions, such as repairing, waiting, or penalty methods. Moreover, it is possible to select a suitable strategy for resource-constrained problems offline if the resourcing issue is known in advance. In this paper we demonstrate that an EA that uses a reinforcement learning (RL) agent, here Sarsa(?), to learn offline when to switch between static strategies, can be more effective than any of the static strategies themselves. We also show that learning the same task as the RL agent but online using an adaptive strategy selection method, here D-MAB, is not as effective; nevertheless, online learning is an alternative to static strategies.

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

evolutionary computation
dynamic optimization
bandit algorithms
closed-loop optimization


Agent-mediated electronic commerce Electronic commerce has been one of the traditional arenas for agent technology. The complexity of these applications has been a challenge for researchers that have developed methodologies, products, and systems, having in mind the specificities of trade, the interaction particularities of commerce, the strict notion of commitment and contract, and the clearly shaped conventions and norms that structure the field. In this paper I survey some key areas for agent technology which, although general, are of special importance in electronic commerce, namely, solid development methodologies, negotiation technologies and trust-building mechanisms. I give examples of systems in which I have directly participated, although I also try to refer to the work of other AgentLink Special Interest Group members over the last few years.

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

agent-mediated electronic commerce
organizational theory
trust and reputation


Distributed ARTMAP: a neural network for fast distributed supervised learning1 Distributed coding at the hidden layer of a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) endows the network with memory compression and noise tolerance capabilities. However, an MLP typically requires slow off-line learning to avoid catastrophic forgetting in an open input environment. An adaptive resonance theory (ART) model is designed to guarantee stable memories even with fast on-line learning. However, ART stability typically requires winner-take-all coding, which may cause category proliferation in a noisy input environment. Distributed ARTMAP (dARTMAP) seeks to combine the computational advantages of MLP and ART systems in a real-time neural network for supervised learning. An implementation algorithm here describes one class of dARTMAP networks. This system incorporates elements of the unsupervised dART model, as well as new features, including a content-addressable memory (CAM) rule for improved contrast control at the coding field. A dARTMAP system reduces to fuzzy ARTMAP when coding is winner-take-all. Simulations show that dARTMAP retains fuzzy ARTMAP accuracy while significantly improving memory compression.

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

distributed artmap
adaptive resonance
art
artmap
distributed coding
supervised learning
neural network


tcp behavior across multihop wireless networks and the wired internet Emerging wireless ad hoc networks find their most important applications in untethered, mobile, multihop scenarios where there is no wired infrastructure. Yet, when the wired infrastructure (say, the Internet) is within reach, opportunistic connections to Internet sites may be established across the multihop network to transfer files and update databases. These file transfers use TCP for reliability and congestion control. However, recent experiments with ad hoc, multihop 802.11 networks have exposed serious instabilities when TCP connections span both wired and wireless domains. In particular, some TCP connections capture the wireless channel and drive the throughput on other connections virtually to zero. This is most surprising in view of the fact that connections between 802.11 (single hop) wireless LAN stations and the Internet are well behaved. In fact they are routinely used in most Campuses, Businesses and Research Labs. This paper is an experimental study of the unstable behavior of TCP across 802.11 ad hoc networks and the wired Internet. We investigate the fairness issues of multiple TCP flows as well as the coexistence of TCP flows and video streams in the wired/wireless scenario. Detailed analysis of the measurement results is also presented. The paper will prove very valuable to future commercial and military ad hoc networks.

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

measurement
network
wireless networks
scenario
applications
video
use
drive
analysis
wireless ad hoc networks
throughput
paper
infrastructure
congestion control
fairness
wireless
research
reliability
behavior
internet
future
update

mobility
domain
manet
experience
tcp performance
experimentation
connection
database
ad hoc network
ad-hoc


On solving unreliable planar location problems In this paper, we generalize conventional P-median location problems by considering the unreliability of facilities. The unreliable location problem is defined by introducing the probability that a facility may become inactive. We proposed efficient solution methods to determine locations of these facilities in the unreliable location model. Space-filling curve-based algorithms are developed to determine initial locations of these facilities. The unreliable P-median location problem is then decomposed to P 1-median location problems; each problem is solved to the optimum. A bounding procedure is used to monitor the iterative search, and to provide a consistent basis for termination. Extensive computational tests have indicated that the heuristics are efficient and effective for solving unreliable location problems. This paper addresses an important class of location problems, where p unreliable facilities are to be located on the plane, so as to minimize the expected travel distance or related transportation cost between the customers and their nearest available facilities. The unreliable location problem is defined by introducing the probability that a facility may become inactive. Potential application of the unreliable location problem is found in numerous areas. The facilities to be located can be fire station or emergency shelter, where it fails to provide service during some time window, due to the capacity or resource constraints. Alternatively, the facilities can be telecommunication posts or logistic/distribution centers, where the service is unavailable due to breakdown, repair, shutdown of unknown causes. In this paper, we prescribed heuristic procedures to determine the location of new facilities in the unreliable location problems. The numerical study of 2800 randomly generated instances has shown that these solution procedures are both efficient and effective, in terms of computational time and solution quality.

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

location model
unreliable facilities
heuristic


First-order periodic impulsive semilinear differential inclusions: Existence and structure of solution sets In this paper, we present some existence results of mild solutions and study the topological structure of solution sets for the following first-order impulsive semilinear differential inclusions with periodic boundary conditions: {(y' - Ay (t) is an element of F(t,y(t)), a.e.t is an element of J backslash {t(1), ... , t(m)}(,) y(t(k)(+)) - y(t(k)(-)) = I(k)(y(t(k)(-))), k=1, ... , m, y(0) = y(b) where J = [0, b] and 0 = t(0) < t(1) < ... < t(m) < t(m+1) = b (m is an element of N*) A is the infinitesimal generator of a C(0)-semigroup T on a separable Banach space E and F is a multi-valued map. The functions I(k) characterize the jump of the solutions at impulse points t(k) (k = 1, ... , m). We will have to distinguish between the cases when either or neither 1 lies in the resolvent of T (b). Accordingly, the problem is either formulated as a fixed point problem for an integral operator or for a Poincare translation operator. Our existence results rely on fixed point theory and on a new nonlinear alternative for compact u.s.c. maps respectively. Then, we present some existence results and investigate the topological structure of the solution set. A continuous version of Filippov's theorem is provided and the continuous dependence of solutions on parameters in both convex and nonconvex cases are examined. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

periodic solutions
filippov's theorem
poincare operator
contractibility
acyclicity


cps foundations This paper argues that cyber-physical systems present a sub-stantial intellectual challenge that requires changes in both theories of computation and dynamical systems theory. The CPS problem is not the union of cyber and physical problems, but rather their intersection , and as such it demands models that embrace both. Two complementary approaches are identified: cyberizing the physical (CtP) means to endow physical subsystems with cyber-like abstractions and interfaces; and physicalizing the cyber (PtC) means to endow software and network components with abstractions and interfaces that represent their dynamics in time.

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


Web search behavior of Internet experts and newbies Searching for relevant information on the World Wide Web is often a laborious and frustrating task for casual and experienced users. To help improve searching on the Web based on a better understanding of user characteristics, we investigate what types of knowledge are relevant for Web-based information seeking, and which knowledge structures and strategies are involved. Two experimental studies are presented, which address these questions from different angles and with different methodologies. In the first experiment, 12 established Internet experts are first interviewed about search strategies and then perform a series of realistic search tasks on the World Wide Web. From this study a model of information seeking on the World Wide Web is derived and then tested in a second study. In the second experiment two types of potentially relevant types of knowledge are compared directly. Effects of Web experience and domain-specific background knowledge are investigated with a series of search tasks in an economics-related domain (introduction of the Euro currency). We find differential and combined effects of both Web experience and domain knowledge: while successful search performance requires the combination of the two types of expertise, specific strategies directly related to Web experience or domain knowledge can be identified.

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

information retrieval
internet search engines
logfile analysis


On the monotonicity of hierarchical sum-product fuzzy systems Motivated by the authors' previous work on the control of queueing systems, the assessment of sustainable development, and the measurement of material recyclability, this paper provides sufficient conditions on the parameters of hierarchical fuzzy systems under which the output of the system is monotonic with respect to its inputs. This property could be useful in designing multistage fuzzy inference systems and fuzzy controllers. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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


mobilenin combining a multi-track music video, personal mobile phones and a public display into multi-user interactive entertainment This paper introduces a novel and creative approach for coupling multimedia art with a non-conventional distributed human-computer interface for multi-user interactive entertainment. The proposed MobiLenin system allows a group of people to interact simultaneously with a multi-track music video shown on a large public display using their personal mobile phones, effectively empowering the group with the joint authorship of the video. The system is realized with a client-server architecture which includes server-driven real-time control of the client UI to guarantee ease of use and a lottery mechanism as an incentive for interaction. Our analysis of the findings of an empirical user evaluation conducted in a true environment of use shows that the MobiLenin system is successful, addressing many of the challenges identified in the literature. The proposed system offers a new form of interactive entertainment for pubs and other public places, and the underlying architecture provides a framework for realizing similar installations with different types of multimedia content.

O O O O O 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

hybrid interfaces
experimental evaluation


ASIS&T annual meeting pre-conference activities: SIG/IFP-SIG/III pre-conference workshop trust in the age of data: Big and small EDITOR'S SUMMARY

information policy
ethics
data collection
international aspects


Combining cluster analysis with classifier ensembles to predict financial distress The ability to accurately predict business failure is a very important issue in financial decision-making. Incorrect decision-making in financial institutions is very likely to cause financial crises and distress. Bankruptcy prediction and credit scoring are two important problems facing financial decision support. As many related studies develop financial distress models by some machine learning techniques, more advanced machine learning techniques, such as classifier ensembles and hybrid classifiers, have not been fully assessed. The aim of this paper is to develop a novel hybrid financial distress model based on combining the clustering technique and classifier ensembles. In addition, single baseline classifiers, hybrid classifiers, and classifier ensembles are developed for comparisons. In particular, two clustering techniques, Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs) and k-means and three classification techniques, logistic regression, multilayer-perceptron (MLP) neural network, and decision trees, are used to develop these four different types of bankruptcy prediction models. As a result, 21 different models are compared in terms of average prediction accuracy and Type I & II errors. By using five related datasets, combining Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs) with MLP classifier ensembles performs the best, which provides higher predication accuracy and lower Type I & II errors. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

financial distress
machine learning
classifier ensembles
hybrid classifiers
bankruptcy prediction
credit scoring


Interaction in collaborative computer supported diagram development A number of computer programs have been developed to allow multiple people to work on the same document at the same time from different computers possibly in different locations. These allow groups to create and modify text and diagrams. A problem for people using these programs is that the physical constraints of working together are removed. For example, there is no pen to share, and everyone can access any part of the diagram without bumping into another person. Without being able to see each other, two people might try to make changes to the same word or shape in a diagram. While this might be good cooperative work, there is a risk that they have different intentions, which results in interfering actions. CoDiagram, a program to allow multi-person drawing of diagrams, was used to measure the interactions between people working together to create a diagram to solve a design problem. Understanding this interaction is an important aspect of designing collaborative software that will be easy to use and that people will like. It was found that the people readily adapted to using the multi-person diagram software. About 65% of the shapes in the diagram were manipulated by more than one of the people in a group, showing widespread sharing of the work. While it was found that interference is relatively rare, the people rated the impact of the interference as significant.

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

collaborative editing
usability
computer supported cooperative work


1-D fast normalized cross-correlation using additions A new fast algorithm for the computation of the normalized cross-correlation (NCC) is presented. For a search window of size M and a template of size N , our fast NCC requires only approximately 3N?(M?N+1) 3 N ? ( M ? N + 1 ) additions/subtractions without multiplications. Numerical results with 100,000 test signals show that the use of the fast NCC instead of the traditional approaches for the determination of the degree of similarity between a test signal and a reference signal (template) brings about a significant improvement in terms of false negative rate, identification rate and computational cost without a significant increase in false positive rate, especially when signal to noise ratio (SNR) is higher than 4 dB.

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

normalized cross-correlation
correlation coefficient
scaling factor
signal to noise ratio (snr)


building media overlay service paths In this paper we discuss the challenges in constructing composite media service paths on an overlay network, and outline our approach. We consider the possibility of serial and parallel, convergent and non-convergent paths, due to the potential presence of content adaptation services that are able to multiplex and de-multiplex independently routable media streams. We outline the major issues, and propose a distributed search based approach that facilitates the discovery of directed serial and parallel composed service paths on a media routing overlay.

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


a compact representation of graph databases Graph databases have emerged as an alternative data model with applications in many complex domains. Typically, the problems to be solved in such domains involve managing and mining huge graphs. The need for efficient processing in such applications has motivated the development of methods for graph compression and indexing. However, most methods aim at an efficient representation and processing of simple graphs (without attributes in nodes or edges, or multiple edges for a given pair of nodes). In this paper we present a model for compact representation of general graph databases. It represents an attractive alternative due to the compression rates it achieves and its efficient navigation operations.

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


A Quadratic Spline based Interface (QUASI) reconstruction algorithm for accurate tracking of two-phase flows A new Quadratic Spline based Interface (QUASI) reconstruction algorithm is presented which provides an accurate and continuous representation of the interface in a multiphase domain and facilitates the direct estimation of local interfacial curvature. The fluid interface in each of the mixed cells is represented by piecewise parabolic curves and an initial discontinuous PLIC approximation of the interface is progressively converted into a smooth quadratic spline made of these parabolic curves. The conversion is achieved by a sequence of predictorcorrector operations enforcing function (C0) and derivative (C1) continuity at the cell boundaries using simple analytical expressions for the continuity requirements. The efficacy and accuracy of the current algorithm has been demonstrated using standard test cases involving reconstruction of known static interface shapes and dynamically evolving interfaces in prescribed flow situations. These benchmark studies illustrate that the present algorithm performs excellently as compared to the other interface reconstruction methods available in literature. Quadratic rate of error reduction with respect to grid size has been observed in all the cases with curved interface shapes; only in situations where the interface geometry is primarily flat, the rate of convergence becomes linear with the mesh size. The flow algorithm implemented in the current work is designed to accurately balance the pressure gradients with the surface tension force at any location. As a consequence, it is able to minimize spurious flow currents arising from imperfect normal stress balance at the interface. This has been demonstrated through the standard test problem of an inviscid droplet placed in a quiescent medium. Finally, the direct curvature estimation ability of the current algorithm is illustrated through the coupled multiphase flow problem of a deformable air bubble rising through a column of water.

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

multiphase
interface reconstruction
quadratic spline


Validation of overlapping clustering: A random clustering perspective As a widely used clustering validation measure, the F-measure has received increased attention in the field of information retrieval. In this paper, we reveal that the F-measure can lead to biased views as to results of overlapped clusters when it is used for validating the data with different cluster numbers (incremental effect) or different prior probabilities of relevant documents (prior-probability effect). We propose a new IMplication Intensity (IMI) measure which is based on the F-measure and is developed from a random clustering perspective. In addition, we carefully investigate the properties of IMI. Finally, experimental results on real-world data sets show that IMI significantly alleviates biased incremental and prior-probability effects which are inherent to the F-measure.

O O O 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

cluster validation
f-measure
implication intensity (imi)
incomplete beta function


Early Capacity Testing of an Enterprise Service Bus An enterprise service-oriented architecture is typically done with a messaging infrastructure called an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). An ESB is a bus which delivers messages from service requesters to service providers. Since it sits between the service requesters and providers, it is not appropriate to use any of the existing capacity planning methodologies for servers, such as modeling, to estimate the capacity of an ESB. There are programs that run on an ESB called mediation modules. Their functionalities vary and depend on how people use the ESB. This creates difficulties for capacity planning and performance evaluation. This article proposes a capacity planning methodology and performance evaluation techniques for ESBs, to be used in the early stages of the system development life cycle. The authors actually run the ESB on a real machine while providing a pseudo-environment around it. In order to simplify setting up the environment they provide ultra-light service requestors and service providers for the ESB under test. The authors show that the proposed mock environment can be set up with practical hardware resources available at the time of hardware resource assessment. Their experimental results showed that the testing results with our mock environment correspond well with the results in the real environment.[ Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]

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

capacity planning
enterprise service bus

is performance evaluation
service-oriented architecture
system evaluation


Role of CEACAM1 as a Regulator of T Cells A major inmmunological attribute of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is the presence of unrestrained activation of T cells that produce a variety of inflammatory cytokines and other mediators. Gaining an understanding of T cell regulation is therefore fo major importance to IBD. Carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 CEACAM1) is a novel protein that has been recently recognized as being expressed by immune cells and T lymphocytes, in particular; this protein appears to function as a coinhibitory receptor after T cell activation. Ligation of CEACAM1 on T cells induces a signal cascade that leads inhibition of T cell cytokine production and IBD. CEACAM1 is thus a novel potential therapeutic target in the treatment of IBD

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 B I O O O O 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

t lymphocytes
inhibition
inflammatory bowel disease


Histology Image Retrieval in Optimized Multifeature Spaces Content-based histology image retrieval systems have shown great potential in supporting decision making in clinical activities, teaching, and biological research. In content-based image retrieval, feature combination plays a key role. It aims at enhancing the descriptive power of visual features corresponding to semantically meaningful queries. It is particularly valuable in histology image analysis where intelligent mechanisms are needed for interpreting varying tissue composition and architecture into histological concepts. This paper presents an approach to automatically combine heterogeneous visual features for histology image retrieval. The aim is to obtain the most representative fusion model for a particular keyword that is associated with multiple query images. The core of this approach is a multiobjective learning method, which aims to understand an optimal visual-semantic matching function by jointly considering the different preferences of the group of query images. The task is posed as an optimization problem, and a multiobjective optimization strategy is employed in order to handle potential contradictions in the query images associated with the same keyword. Experiments were performed on two different collections of histology images. The results show that it is possible to improve a system for content-based histology image retrieval by using an appropriately defined multifeature fusion model, which takes careful consideration of the structure and distribution of visual features.

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

histology image retrieval
multiobjective optimization

content-based image retrieval (cbir)
feature fusion


Periodic BVP for integer/fractional order nonlinear differential equations with non-instantaneous impulses In this paper, we investigate periodic BVP for integer/fractional order nonlinear differential equations with non-instantaneous impulses. Several new existence results are obtained under different conditions via fixed point methods. Finally, two examples are given to illustrate our main results.

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

periodic bvp
nonlinear differential equations


automatically identifying localizable queries Personalization of web search results as a technique for improving user satisfaction has received notable attention in the research community over the past decade. Much of this work focuses on modeling and establishing a profile for each user to aid in personalization. Our work takes a more query-centric approach. In this paper, we present a method for efficient, automatic identification of a class of queries we define as localizable from a web search engine query log. We determine a set of relevant features and use conventional machine learning techniques to classify queries. Our experiments find that our technique is able to identify localizable queries with 94\% accuracy.

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


Joint input-response estimation for structural systems based on reduced-order models and vibration data from a limited number of sensors An algorithm is presented for jointly estimating the input and state of a structure from a limited number of acceleration measurements. The algorithm extends an existing joint input-state estimation filter, derived using linear minimum-variance unbiased estimation, to applications in structural dynamics. The filter has the structure of a Kalman filter, except that the true value of the input is replaced by an optimal estimate. No prior information on the dynamic evolution of the input forces is assumed and no regularization is required, permitting online application. The effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed algorithm are demonstrated using data from a numerical cantilever beam example as well as a laboratory experiment on an instrumented steel beam and an in situ experiment on a footbridge.

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

state estimation
response prediction
input estimation
force identification


Meta itemset: a new concise representation of frequent itemset The sheer size of all frequent itemsets is one challenging problem in data mining research. Based on both closed itemset and maximal itemset, meta itemset which is a new concise representation of frequent itemset is proposed. It is proved that both closed itemset and maximal itemset are special cases of meta itemset. The set of all closed itemsets and the set of all maximal itemsets form the upper bound and the lower bound of the set of all meta itemsets. Then, property and pruning strategies of meta itemset are discussed. Finally, an efficient algorithm for mining meta itemset is proposed. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is effective and efficient.

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

data mining
closed itemset
maximal itemset
meta itemset


Attribute selection based on information gain ratio in fuzzy rough set theory with application to tumor classification Tumor classification based on gene expression levels is important for tumor diagnosis. Since tumor data in gene expression contain thousands of attributes, attribute selection for tumor data in gene expression becomes a key point for tumor classification. Inspired by the concept of gain ratio in decision tree theory, an attribute selection method based on fuzzy gain ratio under the framework of fuzzy rough set theory is proposed. The approach is compared to several other approaches on three real world tumor data sets in gene expression. Results show that the proposed method is effective. This work may supply an optional strategy for dealing with tumor data in gene expression or other applications.

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

attribute selection
gain ratio
tumor classification


How do more golay sequences arise? In 1999, Davis and Jedwab gave a direct construction of Golay complementary sequences over Z(2h) of length 2(rn). Recently, Li and Chu found 1024 more quaternary Golay complementary sequences of length 16, that cannot be obtained by the direct construction, using exhaustive computer enumeration. It is shown how these sequences arise from interleaving and concatenation of two classes of Golay complementary sequences given as an example by Davis and Jedwab. These examples spawn new Golay sequences over Z(2h) of length 2(m) for all h >= 2 and or m >= 4.

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


TuLP: A Family of Lightweight Message Authentication Codes for Body Sensor Networks A wireless sensor network (WSN) commonly requires lower level security for public information gathering, whilst a body sensor network (BSN) must be secured with strong authenticity to protect personal health information. In this paper, some practical problems with the message authentication codes (MACs), which were proposed in the popular security architectures for WSNs, are reconsidered. The analysis shows that the recommended MACs for WSNs, e.g., CBCMAC (TinySec), OCB-MAC (MiniSec), and XCBC-MAC (SenSec), might not be exactly suitable for BSNs. Particularly an existential forgery attack is elaborated on XCBC-MAC. Considering the hardware limitations of BSNs, we propose a new family of tunable lightweight MAC based on the PRESENT block cipher. The first scheme, which is named TuLP, is a new lightweight MAC with 64-bit output range. The second scheme, which is named TuLP-128, is a 128-bit variant which provides a higher resistance against internal collisions. Compared with the existing schemes, our lightweight MACs are both time and resource efficient on hardware-constrained devices.

O O O O O O 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

message authentication code
low-resource implementation


Improving network performance on multicore systems: Impact of core affinities on high throughput flows Affinity, or core binding, maps processes to cores in a multicore system. We characterized the effect of different receiving flow and application affinities. We used OProfile as an introspection tool to examine software bottlenecks. The location of the end-system bottleneck was dependent on the choice of affinity. There are multiple sources of end-system bottlenecks on commodity hardware.

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

networks
end-system bottleneck
traffic shaping
gridftp
flow control
congestion avoidance


Study on absorption of Angelica sinensis in rabbit plasma by HPLC-DAD-MS and multicomponent spectral correlative chromatography In this paper, study on the absorbable bioactive components of Angelica sinensis (AS) in rabbit was carried out. Based on two-dimensional spectrochromatograms obtained from HPLC-DAD-MS, multicomponent spectral correlative chromatography (MSCC) algorithm was used to detect the common components in chromatographic fingerprints from A. sinensis and rabbit plasma samples after AS administration. This procedure was introduced particularly to detect whether two overlapping peaks were spectrally correlated with each other. The results have shown that the proposed method makes the common components found in different chromatographic fingerprints more efficient and reliable, especially for the cocluted or unknown compounds within some chromatographic peak clusters. With the help of MSCC algorithm upon the chromatographic fingerprints of both AS and rabbit plasma samples after AS administration, it was found that over 40 chemical ingredients in AS were absorbed into rabbit body after AS administration. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

multicomponent spectral correlative chromatography (mscc)


NERVES OF GOOD COVERS ARE ALGORITHMICALLY UNRECOGNIZABLE A good cover in R-d is a collection of open contractible sets in R-d such that the intersection of any subcollection is either contractible or empty. Motivated by an analogy with convex sets, intersection patterns of good covers were studied intensively. Our main result is that intersection patterns of good covers are algorithmically unrecognizable. More precisely, the intersection pattern of a good cover can be stored in a simplicial complex called a nerve which records which subfamilies of the good cover intersect. A simplicial complex is topologically d-representable if it is isomorphic to the nerve of a good cover in R-d. We prove that it is undecidable whether a given simplicial complex is topologically d-representable for any fixed d >= 5. The result remains valid if we replace good covers with acyclic covers or with covers by open d-balls. As an auxiliary result we prove that if a simplicial complex is piecewise-linearly embeddable into R-d, then it is topologically d-representable. We also supply this result with showing that if a "sufficiently fine" subdivision of a k-dimensional complex is d-representable and k <= 2d-3/3, then the complex is piecewise-linearly embeddable into R-d.

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

algorithmic undecidability
piecewise-linear embedding


Mesh deformation-based multi-tissue mesh generation for brain images Multi-tissue meshing is necessary for the realistic building of a biomechanical model of the brain, which has been widely used in brain surgery simulation, brain shift, and non-rigid registration. A two step multi-tissue mesher is developed. First, a coarse multi-tissue mesh is generated by redistributing labels of a body-centered cubic (BCC) mesh. Second, all the surfaces of the submeshes are deformed to their corresponding tissue boundaries. To deform the mesh, two strategies are developed. One is based on a point-based registration (PBR) and the other is based on a robust point matching (RPM). The PBR method explicitly calculates the correspondence, which takes both smoothing and quality into account, then resolves the displacement vector by minimizing an energy function. Unlike PBR method, RPM does not require the correspondence between the source points and the target points to be known in advance. To simultaneously resolve the displacement vector and the correspondence, the Expectation and Maximization optimization is employed to alternately estimate the correspondence and the displacement vector. To effectively cope with outliers, least trimmed square, a robust regression technique, is employed to correct the regression bias induced by outliers. Both methods are effective in deforming the multi-tissue mesh. However, the PBR method favors quality and smoothing, and the RPM method favors fidelity. The resulting mesh is characterized by its flexible control of four mesh properties: (1) tissue-dependent resolution, (2) fidelity to tissue boundaries, (3) smoothness of mesh surfaces, and (4) element quality. Each mesh property can be controlled on a tissue level. Our experiments conducted on synthetic data, clinic MRI, visible human data, and brain atlas effectively demonstrate these features of this multi-tissue mesher.

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

multi-tissue mesh
mesh deformation
homogeneous biomechanical model
heterogeneous biomechanical model
finite element method


Social media analytics for competitive advantage Big Data Analytics is getting a great deal of attention in the business and government communities. If it lives up to its name, visual analytics will be a prime path by which visualization competes successfully in this arena. This paper discusses some fundamental work we have done in this area through integration of interactive visualization and automated analysis methods and the applications that have resulted.

B I O O O O O 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 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

visual analytics
visualization
social media


3-D multimodal cardiac data superimposition using 2-D image registration and 3-D reconstruction from multiple views ? Tomoscintigraphy (3-D data representing the myocardium perfusion) and coronarography (X-ray image sequences acquired from several viewpoints and providing information about the coronary artery tree state) are widespread examinations used standardly for the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. Currently, the data of both examinations are separately analyzed by the specialists who are often not able to visually link the information of the two modalities. The aim of this work is to facilitate the diagnosis by providing the specialist with 3-D representations highlighting the relationship between stenoses (artery narrowing, disease cause) and perfusion defaults (muscle necrosis, consequence). In such representations, the structure of a schematic artery tree and the stenosis positions are 3-D reconstructed and set onto the perfusion volume. The reconstruction algorithm starts with the projection of the perfusion volume on planes parallel to the X-ray images. In this way, 2-D tomographic images are generated for each viewpoint of the coronarography. The borders of the myocardium shadow visible in the X-ray images are then segmented with an active contour method. These contours are registered with their homologuous structures from the corresponding 2-D tomographic images. The geometrical transformations obtained for each coronarographic viewpoint are used to place artery points marked by cardiologists in the X-ray images (stenoses, artery beginnings, ends and bifurcations) in their corresponding positions in the tomographic images. Finally, the schematic artery tree is set on the perfusion volume using the homologous points of the different viewpoints and a parallel projection model. The main advantage of this method is that the clinical acquisition protocols remain unchanged, no calibration of the acquisition systems being needed. Results are given for a phantom and a database of patients in order to validate 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 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

coronary angiography
tomoscintygraphy
active contours
distance map
cardiac data segmentation
3-d reconstruction
3-d data superimposition
multimodal data registration