combining online algorithms for rejection and acceptance Resource allocation and admission control are critical tasks in a communication network, that often must be performed online. Algorithms for these types of problems have been considered both under benefit models (e.g., with a goal of approximately maximizing the number of calls accepted) and under cost models (e.g., with a goal of approximately minimizing the number of calls rejected). Unfortunately, algorithms designed for these two measures can often be quite different, even polar opposites (e.g., [1, 8]). In this work we consider the problem of combining algorithms designed for each of these objectives in a way that simultaneously is good under both measures. More formally, we are given an algorithm A which is c A competitive w.r.t. the number of accepted calls and an algorithm R which is c R competitive w.r.t. the number of rejected calls. We derive a combined algorithm whose competitive ratio is O ( c R c A ) for rejection and O ( c A 2 ) for acceptance. We also show building on known techniques that given a collection of k algorithms, we can construct one master algorithm which performs similar to the best algorithm among the k for the acceptance problem and another master algorithm which performs similar to the best algorithm among the k for the rejection problem. Using our main result we can combine the two master algorithms to a single algorithm which guarantees both rejection and acceptance competitiveness.

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


A branch-and-price algorithm for the robust graph coloring problem Given a graph G G , an integer k k , and a cost cuv c u v associated with all pairs uv u v of non-adjacent vertices in G G , the robust graph coloring problem is to assign a color in {1,,k} { 1 , , k } to every vertex of G G so that no edge has both endpoints with the same color, and the total cost of the pairs of vertices having the same color is minimum. We propose a branch-and-price algorithm for the solution of this problem. The pricing problem consists in finding a stable set of minimum total weight, and we propose both an exact and a heuristic algorithm for its solution. Computational experiments are reported for randomly generated and benchmark graph coloring instances.

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

robust solution
branch-and-price algorithm
tabu search


Effective vehicle detection technique for traffic surveillance systems Moving object detection is one of the key technologies for intelligent video monitoring systems. For real-time detection of moving object in the surveillance scene, the general and simple method is based on background image difference. However, it requires the accurate current background image and the approach for automatic background updating along with the illumination variance is difficult to design and implement. This limits its applications. To solve the above problem, a new self-adaptive background approximating and updating algorithm based on optical flow theory is presented for the traffic surveillance scene in this paper. To detect the moving regions of interest in the scene, the difference image between the current frame and the updating background is first obtained by using a color image difference model, and then a self-adaptive thresholding segmentation method for moving object detection based on the Gaussian model is developed and implemented. Moreover, an effective shadow-eliminating algorithm based on contour information and color features is developed. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed background updating method can update the background exactly and rapidly along with the variance of illumination, the self-adaptive thresholding segmentation method based on the Gaussian model can extract the moving object regions accurately and completely, and the shadow can be eliminated accurately. This is the foundation for further objects recognition and understanding. (C) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

moving object detection
optical flow
background updating


On advances in differential-geometric approaches for 2D and 3D shape analyses and activity recognition ? In this paper we summarize recent advances in shape analysis and shape-based activity recognition problems with a focus on techniques that use tools from differential geometry and statistics. We start with general goals and challenges faced in shape analysis, followed by a summary of the basic ideas, strengths and limitations, and applications of different mathematical representations used in shape analyses of 2D and 3D objects. These representations include point sets, curves, surfaces, level sets, deformable templates, medial representations, and other feature-based methods. We discuss some common choices of Riemannian metrics and computational tools used for evaluating geodesic paths and geodesic distances for several of these shape representations. Then, we study the use of Riemannian frameworks in statistical modeling of variability within shape classes. Next, we turn to models and algorithms for activity analysis from various perspectives. We discuss how mathematical representations for human shape and its temporal evolutions in videos lead to analyses over certain special manifolds. We discuss the various choices of shape features, and parametric and non-parametric models for shape evolution, and how these choices lead to appropriate manifold-valued constraints. We discuss applications of these methods in gait-based biometrics, action recognition, and video summarization and indexing. For reader convenience, we also provide a short overview of the relevant tools from geometry and statistics on manifolds in the Appendix.

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

analytic manifolds
riemannian shape metrics
elastic shape analysis
video analysis
static and video image data


Stability and fairness of explicit congestion control with small buffers Rate control protocols that utilise explicit feedback from routers are able to achieve fast convergence to an equilibrium which approximates processor-sharing on a single bottleneck link, and hence such protocols allow short flows to complete quickly. For a network, however, processor-sharing is not uniquely defined but corresponds with a choice of fairness criteria, and proportional fairness has a reasonable claim to be the network generalization of processor-sharing. In this paper, we develop a variant of RCP (rate control protocol) that achieves alpha-fairness when buffers are small, including proportional fairness as the case alpha = 1. At the level of theoretical abstraction treated, our model incorporates a general network topology, and heterogeneous propagation delays. For our variant of the RCP algorithm, we establish a simple decentralized sufficient condition for local stability. An outstanding question for explicit congestion control is whether the presence of feedback based on queue size is helpful or not, given the presence of feedback based on rate mismatch. We show that, for the variant of RCP considered here, feedback based on queue size may cause the queue to be less accurately controlled. A further outstanding question for explicit congestion control is the scale of the step-change in rate that is necessary at a resource to accommodate a new flow. We show that, for the variant of RCP considered here, this can be estimated from the aggregate flow through the resource, without knowledge of individual flow rates.

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 B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 of communication networks
theory
internet


Mechatronic design and injection speed control of an ultra high-speed plastic injection molding machine This paper presents pragmatic techniques for mechatronic design and injection speed control of an ultra high-speed plastic injection molding machine. Practical rules are proposed to select specifications of key mechatronic components in the hydraulic servo system, in order to efficiently construct an industry-level machine, With reasonable assumptions, a mathematical model of the injection speed control system is established and open-loop experimental data are then employed to validate the system model. By the model, a gain-scheduling PI controller and a fuzzy PI controller are presented, compared and then implemented into a digital signal processor (DSP) using standard C programming techniques. Experimental results are conducted to show that the two proposed controllers are capable of achieving satisfactory speed tracking performance. These developed techniques may provide useful references for engineers and practitioners attempting to design pragmatic, low-cost but high-performance ultra high-injection speed controllers. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

fuzzy control
gain-scheduling
hydraulic servoing
pi control


Nonlinear diffusion in Laplacian pyramid domain for ultrasonic speckle reduction A new speckle reduction method, i.e., Laplacian pyramid-based nonlinear diffusion (LPND), is proposed for medical ultrasound imaging. With this method, speckle is removed by nonlinear diffusion filtering of bandpass ultrasound images in Laplacian pyramid domain. For nonlinear diffusion in each pyramid layer, a gradient threshold is automatically determined by a variation of median absolute deviation (MAD) estimator. The performance of the proposed LPND method has been compared with that of other speckle reduction methods, including the recently proposed speckle reducing anisotropic diffusion (SRAD) and nonlinear coherent diffusion (NCD). In simulation and phantom studies, an average gain of 1.55 dB and 1.34 dB in contrast-to-noise ratio was obtained compared to SRAD and NCD, respectively. The visual comparison of despeckled in vivo ultrasound images from liver and carotid artery shows that the proposed LPND method could effectively preserve edges and detailed structures while thoroughly suppressing speckle. These preliminary results indicate that the proposed speckle reduction method could improve image quality and the visibility of small structures and fine details in medical ultrasound imaging.

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

laplacian pyramid
nonlinear diffusion
speckle reduction
ultrasound imaging


SubsetTrio: An Evolutionary, Geometric, and Statistical Benchmark Subsetting Framework Motivated by excessively high benchmarking efforts caused by a rapidly expanding design space, increasing system complexity, and prevailing practices based on ad-hoc and subjective schemes, this article seeks to enhance architecture exploration and evaluation efficiency by strategically integrating a genetic algorithm, 3-Dgeometrical rendering, and multivariate statistical analysis into one unified methodology framework-SubsetTrio-capable of subsetting any given benchmark suite based on its inherent workload characteristics, desired workload space coverage, and the total execution time intended by the user. By encoding both representativity (i.e., workload space coverage represented by the volume of the convex hull of benchmarks) and efficiency (i.e., total run time) as a co-optimization objective of a survival-of-the-fittest evolutionary algorithm, we can systematically determine a globally "fittest" (i.e., most representative and efficient) benchmark subset according to the workload space coverage threshold specified by the user. We demonstrate the usage, efficacy, and efficiency of the proposed technique by conducting a thorough case study on the SPEC benchmark suite, and evaluate its validity based on 50 commercial computer systems. Compared to the state-of-the-art statistical subsetting approach based on the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), SubsetTrio could select a significantly more time-efficient subset, while covering the same or higher workload space.

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

benchmark
subsetting
convex hull
principal component analysis


Distributed

Lagrange

multiplier/fictitious

domain

method

in

the

framework

of

lattice

Boltzmann

method

for

fluidstructure

interactions

A

new

implementation

of

the

lattice

Boltzmann

method

(LBM)

for

fluidstructure

interactions

is

presented.

The

idea

of

the

distributed-Lagrange-multiplier/fictitious-domain

method

(DLM/FD)

is

introduced

in

the

framework

of

the

lattice

Boltzmann

algorithm.

This

implementation

employs

a

fixed

mesh

for

the

solution

of

the

fluid

problem

and

a

Lagrangian

formulation

for

the

solid

problem.

The

main

advantage

of

the

method

is

that

the

re-meshing

procedure

normally

required

in

the

ALE

method

is

circumvented.

Numerical

examples

are

provided

to

verify

the

algorithm

and

illustrate

the

capacity

of

the

method

to

deal

with

the

fluid/elasticsolid

interactions.

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

fluidstructure interactions
lattice boltzmann method

fictitious domain method
distributed lagrange multiplier


Detection and Characterization of Membrane-Bound Selenoproteins in the Kidney of the Rat The essential trace element selenium is of fundamental importance to human biology. Information on the membrane-bound selenoproteins was obtained by labeling of rats in vivo with 75Se-selenite, subcellular fractionation of the tissue homogenates, separation of the proteins by SDS-PAGE, two-dimensional electrophoresis, and selenium detection by autoradiography. In this way, in addition to already known membrane-bound selenoproteins three novel selenoproteins in the molecular mass range of 3840, 18, and 1213 kDa were detected in the microsomal membranes.

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

membrane selenoproteins
antioxidant
two-dimensional electrophoresis


A comparison of two home range modeling methods using Ugandan mountain gorilla data Home range is the area over which animals traverse in the course of their normal daily activities. Home range measures are essential to understanding a species' behavioral ecology and can be critical information for biological conservation. In the realm of mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) management at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home range is typically calculated using the minimum convex polygon (MCP) approach. However, geographic information system has enabled more robust measures of home range to be calculated from field data. In order to assess the potential utility of a new home range modeling method, local convex hull (LoCoH), we compared LoCoH home ranges with those derived from MCP for several different gorilla groups. First, we evaluated the sensitivity of each method to outliers. Second, we compared the size of yearly home ranges for groups with distinctively different ranging behavior. Third, we compared the proportion of yearly home range found outside the park for two different groups. As anticipated, we found that LoCoH ranges are smaller (similar to 50%) than MCP ranges, but contrary to expectation our data show that MCP is not more sensitive to outliers than LoCoH. Our comparison also illustrates that the two methods result in different proportions of home range found outside the park; overall, MCP had a tendency to underestimate relative to LoCoH. Our results illustrate the importance of selecting an appropriate home range model for the spatial pattern of the data being modeled, the environment and context where the data were collected, and the motivation of the research. Overall, we found LoCoH to be a more effective home range modeling method for mountain gorilla conservation management.

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

ranging behavior
bwindi impenetrable national park
minimum convex polygon
local convex hull
home range modeling


On binary linear codes which satisfy the two-way chain condition General constructions of binary linear codes satisfying the two-way chain condition are found, Sufficient conditions for their existence are determined, Some of these codes are proven to be Z(4)-linear. An expression for their state complexity profile is also found, Cases, when such codes have covering radius R = t[n, k] are shown.

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 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


bug isolation via remote program sampling We propose a low-overhead sampling infrastructure for gathering information from the executions experienced by a program's user community. Several example applications illustrate ways to use sampled instrumentation to isolate bugs. Assertion-dense code can be transformed to share the cost of assertions among many users. Lacking assertions, broad guesses can be made about predicates that predict program errors and a process of elimination used to whittle these down to the true bug. Finally, even for non-deterministic bugs such as memory corruption, statistical modeling based on logistic regression allows us to identify program behaviors that are strongly correlated with failure and are therefore likely places to look for the error.

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

applications
use
logistic regression
bug isolation
infrastructure
sampling
errors
user
failure
predict
users
code
process
cost
assertions
bugs

communities
examples
instrument
informal
feature selection
sharing
place
statistical models
random sampling
behavior
memorialized
statistical debugging
isolates


LVQ NEURAL NETWORKS APPLIED TO FACE SEGMENTATION Color-segmentation is quite sensitive to changes in light intensity. Many algorithms do not tolerate variations in color hue which correspond. in fact, to the same object. In this work an image segmentator algorithm based on Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) networks is proposed and tested on a tracking application. In LVQ networks, neighboring neurons learn to recognize neighboring sections of the input space. Neighboring neurons would correspond to object regions illuminated in a different manner. The segmentator involves it LVQ network that operate directly on the image pixels and a decision function. This algorithm has been applied to spotting and tracking human faces, and have shown more robustness on illumination changes than other standard algorithms.

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


SimTester: A Controllable and Observable Testing Framework for Embedded Systems In software for embedded systems, the frequent use of interrupts for timing, sensing, and I/O processing can cause concurrency faults to occur due to interactions between applications, device drivers, and interrupt handlers. This type of fault is considered by many practitioners to be among the most difficult to detect, isolate, and correct, in part because it can be sensitive to execution interleavings and often occurs without leaving any observable incorrect output. As such, commonly used testing techniques that inspect program outputs to detect failures are often ineffective at detecting them. To test for these concurrency faults, test engineers need to be able to control interleavings so that they are deterministic. Furthermore, they also need to be able to observe faults as they occur instead of relying on observable incorrect outputs. In this paper, we introduce SimTester, a framework that allows engineers to effectively test for subtle and non-deterministic concurrency faults by providing them with greater controllability and observability. We implemented our framework on a commercial virtual platform that is widely used to support hardware/software co-designs to promote ease of adoption. We then evaluated its effectiveness by using it to test for data races and deadlocks. The result shows that our framework can be effective and efficient at detecting these faults.

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

reliability experimentation languages kernels


Towards a community-based, social network-driven framework for Web services management We propose a framework to manage Web services taking part in compositions. This management is built upon community concept and social network metaphor. We use social networks for capturing all intra and inter community interactions. The proposed social networks include substitution, competition, and recommendation. The mining exercise over these social networks results in assigning social qualities to services.

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


A weighted cooperative spectrum sensing framework for infrastructure-based cognitive radio networks Spectrum sensing plays a critical role in cognitive radio networks. A good sensing scheme can reduce the false alarm probability and the miss detection probability, and thus improves spectrum utilization. This paper presents a weighted cooperative spectrum sensing framework for infrastructure-based cognitive radio networks, to increase the spectrum sensing accuracy. The framework contains two modules. In the first module, each cognitive radio performs local spectrum sensing and computes the total error probability, which combines the false alarm probability and the miss detection probability. The total error probability and the energy signal from the primary user are then sent to the base station. In the second module, the base station makes a final decision after combining the weighted energy signals from all cognitive radios. The final decision is then broadcasted back to all cognitive radios. To reduce the computation complexity and communication overhead, the base station also instructs the cognitive radios that have large total error probabilities not to report their local sensing results. We have developed a theoretical model for the proposed framework, and derived the optimal detection threshold, as well as the minimum number of cognitive radios required to participate in cooperative sensing, subject to a given total error probability. Numerical results verify that the proposed weighted cooperative spectrum sensing framework significantly improves the sensing accuracy. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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


A stabilized finite element method for the numerical simulation of multi-ion transport in electrochemical systems A stabilized finite element method for the simulation of instationary and stationary multi-ion transport in dilute electrolyte solutions is presented. The proposed computational approach accounts for all three ion-transport phenomena, that is, convection, diffusion and migration, as well as nonlinear electrode kinetics boundary conditions. The governing equations form a set of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations subject to an electroneutrality condition. The latter establishes an algebraic constraint to the problem formulation. Derived from the variational multiscale method, we introduce stabilization terms which prevent potential spurious oscillations arising in the convection-dominated case when a standard Galerkin finite element method is used. For various numerical examples, it is demonstrated that the proposed computational method is robust and provides accurate results.

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

electrochemical systems
variational multiscale method
stabilized finite element method

ion transport
electrolyte solution
computational electrochemistry


Permanence and global attractivity of the discrete Gilpin-Ayala type population model In this paper, we propose a discrete Gilpin-Ayala competition model and a discrete Gilpin-Ayala type multispecies competition-predator model. For general nonautonomous case, sufficient conditions which ensure the permanence and the global stability of the system are obtained; For periodic case, sufficient conditions which ensure the existence of an unique globally stable positive periodic solution of the system are obtained. An example together with its numeric simulations shows the feasibility of the main results. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

nonautonomous
positive periodic solution
discrete
permanence
global attractivity


Effect of Postmortem Delay on Imidazoline Receptor-Binding Proteins in Human and Mouse Brain Immunoreactive proteins of 45-kD and 29/30-kD doublet bands are candidate imidazoline receptor binding proteins (IRBP) based on associations with I1 or I2 binding sites, respectively. It was reported that the density of cortical membrane 29/30-kD I2 protein is diminished whereas a 45-kD I1 protein is increased in depressed suicide victims versus controls. IRBP immunoreactive bands of similar size have been suggested to be breakdown products of the 170-kD protein known as IRAS (putative full-length I1 receptor). This study compares nonpathologic human brains collected and frozen after postmortem delays of 13.4 hours 6 1.7 (SEM) with brains of longer postmortem delays (26.1 hours 6 1.2). The fresher human brains possessed more full-length IRAS (P5 0.05). In another study, the postmortem decay of IRBP bands in mouse brain was shown to be linear over time. The results are relevant to previous studies of IRBP bands in postmortem brains of depressed suicide victims.

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


Hybrid decision tree and naive Bayes classifiers for multi-class classification tasks In this paper, we introduce two independent hybrid mining algorithms to improve the classification accuracy rates of decision tree (DT) and nave Bayes (NB) classifiers for the classification of multi-class problems. Both DT and NB classifiers are useful, efficient and commonly used for solving classification problems in data mining. Since the presence of noisy contradictory instances in the training set may cause the generated decision tree suffers from overfitting and its accuracy may decrease, in our first proposed hybrid DT algorithm, we employ a nave Bayes (NB) classifier to remove the noisy troublesome instances from the training set before the DT induction. Moreover, it is extremely computationally expensive for a NB classifier to compute class conditional independence for a dataset with high dimensional attributes. Thus, in the second proposed hybrid NB classifier, we employ a DT induction to select a comparatively more important subset of attributes for the production of nave assumption of class conditional independence. We tested the performances of the two proposed hybrid algorithms against those of the existing DT and NB classifiers respectively using the classification accuracy, precision, sensitivity-specificity analysis, and 10-fold cross validation on 10 real benchmark datasets from UCI (University of California, Irvine) machine learning repository. The experimental results indicate that the proposed methods have produced impressive results in the classification of real life challenging multi-class problems. They are also able to automatically extract the most valuable training datasets and identify the most effective attributes for the description of instances from noisy complex training databases with large dimensions of attributes. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

data mining
classification
hybrid
decision tree


Applications of dual MRM for determining the natural frequencies and natural modes of a rod using the singular value decomposition method In this article, the dual multiple reciprocity method is employed to solve the natural frequencies and natural modes for a rod. The conventional approach using dual MRM is not qualified as a systematic method because of the following two reasons: (1) it needs to distinguish the spurious eigenvalue only after the corresponding eigenmode is obtained; (2) the possible indeterminancy of eigenvector may be encountered when the constraint equations chosen are highly dependent such that the rank of the leading coefficient matrix is insufficient. To construct a systematic way, we propose to consider all constraint equations together instead of using the singular or hypersingular equation alone as the conventional MRM uses. The singular value decomposition method is, then, used to solve the eigenproblem after combining the singular and hypersingular equations. This method can avoid the spurious eigenvalue problem and the possible indeterminancy of boundary eigenvectors at the same time. Three numerical examples are given to verify the validity of the present method.

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

dual multiple reciprocity method
rod
natural modes
singular value decomposition


Hybrid regrouping PSO based wavelet neural networks for characterization of acoustic signals due to surface discharges on H.V. glass insulators A hybrid algorithm combining particle swarm optimization with wavelet radial basis function neural network is presented. To detect, identify and characterize the acoustic signals due to discharge activity and hence differentiate abnormal operating conditions from the normal ones. A regrouping technique is used to help the swarm escape from the state of premature convergence. Results indicate that the proposed approach can make a quick response and yield accurate solutions. Comparisons with the existing conventional networks show that the proposed approach is efficient and reliable.

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

acoustic signal
dry bands
glass insulator
rbf-nn
surface discharge and wavelet transform
pso and regpso


Simulations as a New Physics Teaching Tool In the past 15 years, physics education research has shed light on the difficulties students encounter in learning physics. In response, a wide variety of new models of physics instruction have become available. In the last 4 years, we developed a physics remedial course to decrease the dropout rate of university students while promoting more efficient learning of the principles and laws of physics. To motivate students to do research on physical phenomena we focused our attention on simulations to help students learn different subjects concerning physics word. This article presents examples of simulations generated by the authors using Modellus software for interactive learning of simple harmonic motion. In addition, videotapes, tests and other didactic material are available for students in a virtual environment. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 18: 757-761, 2010: View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com; DOI 10.1002/cae.20266

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


A robust topology control solution for the sink placement problem in WSNs Placing a certain number of sinks at appropriate locations in WSNs reduces the number of hops between a sensor and its sink resulting in less exchanged messages between nodes and consequently less energy consumption. Since finding the optimal number of the sinks to be added and their locations is an NP Hard problem, we propose in this paper, a topological level solution that uses a meta-heuristic based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to decide on the number of sinks and their locations; more specifically we use Discrete PSO (DPSO) with local search. Traffic Flow Analysis (TFA) is used to calculate the fitness function of the network defined as the maximum worst case delay. Since TFA is usually used to analyze networks with one sink, we present the extension that allows it to be used with multiple sinks. Furthermore, we formulated the problem, discretized it, and applied PSO while introducing local search to the inner workings of the algorithm. Extensive experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficiency of DPSO. DPSO was compared with Genetic Algorithm-based Sink Placement (GASP), which is considered the state-of-the-art in solving the multiple sink placement problem. In all scenarios, DPSO was 2 to 3 times faster than GASP. When compared with respect to delay, DPSO achieved less delay in most scenarios, except for few scenarios where it performed similar to GASP or a bit worst. Topologies with random as well as heavy tailed distribution were used in the experiments. Moreover, we present via simulation the substantial benefit of adding more sinks to a wireless network.

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

sink placement problem
particle swarm optimization

wireless sensor networks
genetic algorithms


Colour image encryption based on advanced encryption standard algorithm with two-dimensional chaotic map In this study, a novel scheme of advanced encryption standard (AES) is proposed. Its independent round key is generated by the two-dimensional (2D) Henon map and the 2D Chebyshev map. The goal is to improve the low security and conquer the defect of the traditional AES algorithm. Then, the improved algorithm is used to encrypt colour image, and the result shows that the encryption algorithm has better security by cryptanalysis.

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

cryptanalysis
2d chebyshev map
independent round key
advanced encryption standard algorithm
colour image encryption

chaos
cryptography
henon mapping
image coding
image colour analysis
two-dimensional heinon map
abs
two-dimensional chaotic map


The pleasure of being (there?): an explorative study into the effects of presence and identification on the enjoyment of an interactive theatrical performance using omnidirectional video This study explores how participants in an immersive theatrical performance perceive their role in the virtual environment (VE) and the effects of this perception on how they experience the performance as a whole. Using a quasi-experimental 22 design, narrative and task-based search was manipulated to explore the effects on spatial presence, social presence, identification and enjoyment. Results show that the effect of spatial presence on enjoyment of the performance is entirely mediated by identification with the role of the self in the VE. This could have interesting consequences for the experience of more narrative VEs and suggests that the role of identification is something to explore further in future presence research.

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

performance
virtual environment
presence
identification
enjoyment


A comparison of two approaches for solving unconstrained influence diagrams Influence diagrams and decision trees represent the two most common frameworks for specifying and solving decision problems. As modeling languages, both of these frameworks require that the decision analyst specifies all possible sequences of observations and decisions (in influence diagrams, this requirement corresponds to the constraint that the decisions should be temporarily linearly ordered). Recently, the unconstrained influence diagram was proposed to address this drawback. In this framework, we may have a partial ordering of the decisions. and a solution to the decision problem therefore consists not only of a decision policy for the various decisions, but also of a conditional specification of what to do next. Relative to the complexity of solving an influence diagram, finding a solution to an unconstrained influence diagram may be computationally very demanding w.r.t. both time and space. Hence, there is a need for efficient algorithms that can deal with (and take advantage of) the idiosyncrasies of the language. In this paper we propose two such solution algorithms. One resembles the variable elimination technique from influence diagrams, whereas the other is based on conditioning and supports any-space inference. Finally, we present an empirical comparison of the proposed methods. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

unconstrained influence diagrams
solution algorithms
variable elimination


Thresholding of a Digital Image by Free Terms The method of fuzzy segmentation of a digital image is generalized to the framework of L-fuzzy sets. Such an approach enables the use of various user-defined criteria for comparison of pairs of objects. These criteria are merged into a single mapping whose codomain is a poset. Then a free lattice structures are introduced and the procedure of L-fuzzy equivalence generation follows. The obtained L-fuzzy partition is then transformed into the resulting sets using the process of thresholding by terms from the free lattice. Discussion on applicability and computability of the results is presented and some examples are shown. Possible ways of improvements are suggested.

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

digital image
thresholding
segmentation
free lattice


Refinement of worst-case execution time bounds by graph pruning Recent work showed that often only small parts of real-time programs are relevant for their worst-case execution time (WCET). Following this observation an iterative graph-pruning algorithm is proposed to refine WCET bounds derived by static analysis. The precision of all WCET analysis phases is improved (analyses based on abstract interpretation and longest path search). Evaluation using a commercial, state-of-the-art tool (aiT) using well-established real-time benchmarks (Debie, Papabench). A proof-of-concept implementation shows considerable improvements (up to 12%) and even gains in analysis time.

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

worst-case execution time analysis
iterative refinement


The Outline of an Ontology for the Rough Set Theory and its Applications The paper gives the outline of an ontology for the rough set theory and its applications. This ontology will be applied in intelligent searching the Rough Set Database System. A specialized editor from the Protege system is used to define the ontology.

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

rough sets
data mining
knowledge discovery
database systems


An ant colony optimization for single-machine tardiness scheduling with sequence-dependent setups In many real-world production systems, it requires an explicit consideration of sequence-dependent setup times when scheduling jobs. As for the scheduling criterion, the weighted tardiness is always regarded as one of the most important criteria in practical systems. While the importance of the weighted tardiness problem with sequence-dependent setup times has been recognized, the problem has received little attention in the scheduling literature. In this paper, we present an ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm for such a problem in a single-machine environment. The proposed ACO algorithm has several features, including introducing a new parameter for the initial pheromone trail and adjusting the timing of applying local search, among others. The proposed algorithm is experimented on the benchmark problem instances and shows its advantage over existing algorithms. As a further investigation, the algorithm is applied to the unweighted version of the problem. Experimental results show that it is very competitive with the existing best-performing algorithms.

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

scheduling
ant colony optimization
weighted tardiness


Characterization and mapping of dwelling types for forest fire prevention In a context of risk of forest fire, the development of actions concerning wildfire prevention and land management is necessary and essential particularly in wildlandurban interfaces (WUI). The term WUI always includes components such as human presence and wildland vegetation. Both the hazard (probability of fire outbreak, distribution) and the vulnerability of urban areas can be characterized through the spatial organization of houses and vegetation. The first step required is to characterize and map WUI in large areas and at a large scale, which, in turn requires qualifying different types of dwellings and mapping them. With this goal in view, the paper presents a brief synthesis of results coming from an exploratory process for the characterization of dwelling types [Lampin, C., Long, M., Jappiot, M., & Morge, D. (2007). Dwellings characterization and mapping for forest fire risk prevention. UDMS annual 2007. In Proceedings of the urban data management society symposium 2007 (pp. 427440). Stuttgart, Germany, 1012 October 2007], and develops a method based on GIS-geo treatments to characterize different types of dwelling with regard to fire risk. Three types of dwellings were classified: isolated dwellings, scattered dwellings and clustered dwellings, using criteria based on the distance between houses, the size of clusters of houses and housing density, which can be mapped automatically. Within dwelling types, the density value of forest fire ignition changed and was twice as high for isolated dwellings as for clustered dwellings. The spatial organization of dwellings seems to have a real impact on fire occurrence. Thus maps of different dwelling types can be interpreted for use in developing fire-fighting strategies or prevention actions concerning end-users such as forest and land planning managers or fire-fighters.

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

spatial analysis
dwelling typology
gis
wildlandurban interface


Learning Bayesian network classifiers by risk minimization Bayesian networks (BNs) provide a powerful graphical model for encoding the probabilistic relationships among a set of variables, and hence can naturally be used for classification. However, Bayesian network classifiers (BNCs) learned in the common way using likelihood scores usually tend to achieve only mediocre classification accuracy because these scores are less specific to classification, but rather suit a general inference problem. We propose risk minimization by cross validation (RMCV) using the 0/1 loss function, which is a classification-oriented score for unrestricted BNCs. RMCV is an extension of classification-oriented scores commonly used in learning restricted BNCs and non-BN classifiers. Using small real and synthetic problems, allowing for learning all possible graphs, we empirically demonstrate RMCV superiority to marginal and class-conditional likelihood-based scores with respect to classification accuracy. Experiments using twenty-two real-world datasets show that BNCs learned using an RMCV-based algorithm significantly outperform the naive Bayesian classifier (NBC), tree augmented NBC (TAN), and other BNCs learned using marginal or conditional likelihood scores and are on par with non-BN state of the art classifiers, such as support vector machine, neural network, and classification tree. These experiments also show that an optimized version of RMCV is faster than all unrestricted BNCs and comparable with the neural network with respect to run-time. The main conclusion from our experiments is that unrestricted BNCs, when learned properly, can be a good alternative to restricted BNCs and traditional machine-learning classifiers with respect to both accuracy and efficiency. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

probabilistic graphical models
structure learning


A note on a deductive scheme of Dummett in classical and fuzzy logics The main subject of logic is the study of the processes of deductive reasoning and, in particular, the validity of the so-called 'schemes' of such type of reasoning. In this paper, a first and partial study of the validity of the following deductive scheme is presented, If A, then B If not-A, then B B. This study is done assuming that the statements A and B are representable in Boolean algebras, De Morgan algebras, orthomodular lattices, or in standard algebras of fuzzy sets, and with the conditional statements 'If/then' translated into several conditional operators by taking always into account the consequence operator. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

schemes of deductive reasoning
dummett's scheme
fuzzy logic
classical logic


Automated scheduling for clone-based refactoring using a competent GA Refactoring is a widely accepted technique to improve the software quality by restructuring its design without changing its behavior. In general, a sequence of refactorings needs to be applied until the quality of the code is improved satisfactorily. In this case, the final design after refactoring can vary with the application order of refactorings, thereby producing different quality improvements. Therefore, it is necessary to determine a proper refactoring schedule to obtain as many benefits as possible. However, there is little research on the problem of generating appropriate schedules to maximize quality improvement. In this paper, we propose an approach to automatically determine an appropriate schedule to maximize quality improvement through refactoring. We first detect code clones that are suitable for refactoring and generate the most beneficial refactoring schedule to remove them. It is straightforward to select the best from the exhaustively enumerated schedules. However, such a technique becomes NP-hard, as the number of available refactorings increases. We apply a genetic algorithm (GA) to generate the best refactoring schedule within a reasonable time to cope with this problem. We compare the GA-based approach with manual scheduling, greedy heuristic-based, and exhaustive approaches for four open systems. The results show that the proposed GA-based approach generates more beneficial schedules than the others. Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

refactoring
scheduling
genetic algorithm


Inventory management of multiple items with irregular demand: A case study We present the case of a Greek commercial enterprise facing the problem of managing the inventories of thousands of different items, supplied by more than 20 European and Asian manufacturers and sold to a large number of different-type customers. A key feature of the problem is that the demand for the vast majority of items is intermittent and lumpy, thus not allowing the use of the usual normal or Poisson distributions. The paper describes the solutions given to several practical problems in the course of developing an easy-to-use yet effective and all-encompassing inventory control system. Emphasis is placed on the accurate modeling of demand by means of a gamma distribution with a probability mass at zero or a package Poisson distribution for very-slow-moving items. Using those models and simple quantitative tools we develop an efficient procedure for approximate but quite accurate determination of the base stock levels that achieve the desired fill rates in the proposed periodic review system. We briefly describe the computerized implementation of the new system and the very encouraging results.

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

inventory
case study
gamma distribution
periodic review
base stock


vrmlgen: An R Package for 3D Data Visualization on the Web The 3-dimensional representation and inspection of complex data is a frequently used strategy in many data analysis domains. Existing data mining software often lacks functionality that would enable users to explore 3D data interactively, especially if one wishes to make dynamic graphical representations directly viewable on the web. In this paper we present vrmlgen, a software package for the statistical programming language R to create 3D data visualizations in web formats like the Virtual Reality Markup Language (VRML) and Live Graphics 3D .vrmlgen can be used to generate 3D charts and bar plots, scatter plots with density estimation contour surfaces, and visualizations of height maps, 3D object models and parametric functions. For greater fexibility, the user can also access low-level plotting methods through a unified interface and freely group different function calls to gether to create new higher-level plotting methods. Additionally, we present a web tool allowing users to visualize 3D data online and test some of vrmlgen's features without the need to install any software on their computer.

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


An optimality cut for mixed integer linear programs We derive the penalty cut, a simple optimality cut of general applicability in pure or mixed linear programs. This cut is tested on a number of examples and comparisons with the classical Gomory cut are provided.

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


data-flow skeleton filled with activities driven workflow design Using the same semantics on the same data is the basis of information sharing. Moreover, it is also the foundation of workflow cooperation and coordination. The data-flow of a workflow process should be focused on in workflow design. Prevalent workflow design methods are from functional perspective or both perspectives of functional and informational. The approach of Data-Flow Skeleton Filled with Activities(DFSFA) is proposed to construct a workflow process by automatically building a data-flow skeleton and then filling it with activities. DFSFA is easily understandable and the data-flow skeleton can be used as the foundation for cooperation and coordination among workflow processes. Data-flow skeleton can also be used as an evaluation criterion to identify a workflow process from others.

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

workflow cooperation and coordination
workflow design

data-flow dependency tree
data-flow skeleton


Prime: Byzantine Replication under Attack Existing Byzantine-resilient replication protocols satisfy two standard correctness criteria, safety and liveness, even in the presence of Byzantine faults. The runtime performance of these protocols is most commonly assessed in the absence of processor faults and is usually good in that case. However, faulty processors can significantly degrade the performance of some protocols, limiting their practical utility in adversarial environments. This paper demonstrates the extent of performance degradation possible in some existing protocols that do satisfy liveness and that do perform well absent Byzantine faults. We propose a new performance-oriented correctness criterion that requires a consistent level of performance, even with Byzantine faults. We present a new Byzantine fault-tolerant replication protocol that meets the new correctness criterion and evaluate its performance in fault-free executions and when under attack.

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

performance under attack
byzantine fault tolerance
replicated state machines
distributed systems


On a rule-based interpretation of default conditionals In nonmonotonic reasoning, a default conditional alpha ->beta has most often been informally interpreted as a defeasible version of a classical conditional, usually the material conditional. There is however an alternative interpretation, in which a default is regarded essentially as a rule, leading from premises to conclusion. In this paper, we present a family of logics, based on this alternative interpretation. A general semantic framework under this rule-based interpretation is developed, and associated proof theories for a family of weak conditional logics is specified. Nonmonotonic inference is easily defined in these logics. Interestingly, the logics presented here are weaker than the commonly-accepted base conditional approach for defeasible reasoning. However, this approach resolves problems that have been associated with previous approaches.

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

knowledge representation and reasoning
conditional logic


Relating IT strategy and organizational culture: an empirical study of public sector units in India This paper analyzes the relationships between selected aspects of organizational culture and IT-Strategy in public sector units (PSUs). Organization culture, which is treated as a shared set of norms and values, is analyzed with respect to IT-Strategies. Organizational culture is assessed in terms of innovative, supportive and bureaucratic cultures. IT strategy is viewed as comprising six generic strategies, namely, centrally planned, leading edge, scarce resource, necessary evil, monopoly and free market. The data on which conclusions were drawn arises from a nation-wide survey covering 72 public sector organizations in India. In addition to the survey research, we conducted an in-depth case study of State Bank of India. This yearlong study commenced in 1996. Statistically significant findings show that it is the innovative element of a PSUs organizational culture that is associated with a delineable IT strategy. Leading edge, free market, and monopoly IT-strategies are found to be related to innovative components of organizational culture. Monopoly and scarce resource strategies are associated with supportive and bureaucratic cultures, respectively. Our case study validates some of these findings in a large bank. Implications for practice as well as research are provided.

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

mis
survey and case study research
qualitative and quantitative research


Lot sizing and furnace scheduling in small foundries A lot sizing and scheduling problem prevalent in small market-driven foundries is studied. There are two related decision levels: (1) the furnace scheduling of metal alloy production, and (2) moulding machine planning which specifies the type and size of production lots. A mixed integer programming (MIP) formulation of the problem is proposed, but is impractical to solve in reasonable computing time for non-small instances. As a result, a faster relax-and-fix (RF) approach is developed that can also be used on a rolling horizon basis where only immediate-term schedules are implemented. As well as a MIP method to solve the basic RF approach, three variants of a local search method are also developed and tested using instances based on the literature. Finally, foundry-based tests with a real-order book resulted in a very substantial reduction of delivery delays and finished inventory, better use of capacity, and much faster schedule definition compared to the foundry's own practice.

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 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

lot sizing and scheduling
mixed integer programming


improving direct-mapped cache performance by the addition of a small fully-associative cache and prefetch buffers Projections of computer technology forecast processors with peak performance of 1,000 MIPS in the relatively near future. These processors could easily lose half or more of their performance in the memory hierarchy if the hierarchy design is based on conventional caching techniques. This paper presents hardware techniques to improve the performance of caches. Miss caching places a small fully-associative cache between a cache and its refill path. Misses in the cache that hit in the miss cache have only a one cycle miss penalty, as opposed to a many cycle miss penalty without the miss cache. Small miss caches of 2 to 5 entries are shown to be very effective in removing mapping conflict misses in first-level direct-mapped caches. Victim caching is an improvement to miss caching that loads the small fully-associative cache with the victim of a miss and not the requested line. Small victim caches of 1 to 5 entries are even more effective at removing conflict misses than miss caching. Stream buffers prefetch cache lines starting at a cache miss address. The prefetched data is placed in the buffer and not in the cache. Stream buffers are useful in removing capacity and compulsory cache misses, as well as some instruction cache conflict misses. Stream buffers are more effective than previously investigated prefetch techniques at using the next slower level in the memory hierarchy when it is pipelined. An extension to the basic stream buffer, called multi-way stream buffers , is introduced. Multi-way stream buffers are useful for prefetching along multiple intertwined data reference streams. Together, victim caches and stream buffers reduce the miss rate of the first level in the cache hierarchy by a factor of two to three on a set of six large benchmarks.

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

prefetching streams conflict performance design paper buffers cache factor data hardware future caches

benchmark
association
computation
pipeline
addressing
direct
map
extensibility
hierarchies
memory hierarchies
forecasting
processor
place
technologies
capacities
instruction caches
effect


The finite differences method for solving systems on irregular shapes A relatively simple and efficient symbolic-numerical procedure based on the finite differences method for solving partial differential equations on systems of irregular shapes is presented. The new concept is based on the spline parameterization of the irregular domain. The curvilinear domain of the real system is transformed to the rectangular domain by spline functions where the finite differences method is used to solve the transformed system of depended variables. The numerical results are then transported back to the original irregular shape of the system. In order to present the symbolic-numerical technique effectively, the Laplace's equation of heat transfer with the Dirichlet and the Neumann boundary conditions in different 2D curvilinear domains is considered. The proposed technique is applied for the non-steady-state heat transfer by conduction as well. Numerical experiments were performed to justify the proposed method. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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


Impact of GDSS: Opening the black box Previous research on Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) and its impacts have predominantly adopted a black box approach in which GDSS design or decision settings have been manipulated and the variation in their effects on decision quality, efficiency, or decision makers' attitudes have been measured. A decade of research in this area has failed to provide convergence of findings; results are mixed and to date, there is limited understanding of the phenomena. This study leans on the Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) and uses the Faithfulness of Appropriation (FOA) concept in the theory to explain why GDSS usage has resulted in such equivocal outcomes and perceptions. A process-oriented approach is taken to examine decisional outcomes in an experimental setting that uses a GDSS enriched with embedded decisional guidance. The study contributes to theory by providing better insight into the process of GDSS usage. It also indicates the need to tailor the training and decisional guidance in a manner that promotes faithful appropriation of the structure of the GDSS, thereby leading to better decision outcomes and perceptions of the decision process.

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

groupware
adaptive structuration theory (ast)
faithfulness of appropriation (foa)


Artificial neural networks to identify naturally existing disease severity status Classification is a central endeavour in Biology. Heterogeneity of biological systems makes classification more challenging, but this is crucial for effective disease control and management. This study is a computational modelling attempt to classify a plant disease using visual symptoms to ease crop management programmes. Weligama coconut leaf wilt disease (WCLWD), a phytoplasma-borne coconut disease characterised by three foliar symptoms (flaccidity (bending of leaflets), yellowing and marginal necrosis) found in Sri Lanka, was used to demonstrate its applicability. Self-organising map (SOM) was optimised to discover naturally existing categories of WCLWD using foliar symptoms. Ward clustering of SOM identified three distinct disease categories. Results agreed with the nature of disease progression and are supported by K-means clustering. Conversion of SOM clusters to a parsimonious multi-layer perceptron (MLP) supported by a novel efficient network pruning algorithm regenerated identical results proving that precise models can be developed for WCLWD classification using these approaches. The MLP (100%) outperformed counter propagation (CP) neural network (91%) in generalisation ability indicating the validity of the MLP model. The study identified flaccidity as the most influential symptom followed by yellowing and necrosis. Comparison of our results with expert decision on disease severity classification revealed 73.45% correspondence. In-depth investigation into the results from the two approaches using statistical methods revealed that when multiple symptoms are blended, expert decisions rely more on the intensely visible symptom and mainly on a single dimension, whereas the SOM/MLP classifier more accurately captures the average, variation and multi-dimensionality in data indicating that the model is more realistic and capable than the naked eye in detecting the disease.

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

wclwd
som
mlp
network pruning
ward
classification


model-based testing for applications derived from software product lines This paper describes an approach for mapping the models of an SPL (Software Product Line) to tests so that functional tests can be automatically generated and selected when an application is derived from an SPL. Information relevant for testing is added to and then extracted from the SPL models. A Hotel Product line example is used to illustrate the approach.

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


Energy saving dispatch with complex constraints: Prohibited zones, valve point effect and carbon tax Energy saving dispatch is solved based on OPF with complex constraints. An enhanced evolutionary algorithm, GSOICLW, has been proposed. The performance of GSOICLW has been tested on the IEEE 30-bus system. Energy saving rates under different constraints have been calculated.

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

optimal power flow
group search optimizer
intraspecific competition
lvy walk


Self-organization of spatiotemporal receptive fields and laterally connected direction and orientation maps Studies of orientation maps in primary visual cortex (V1) suggest that lateral connections mediate competition and cooperation between orientation-selective units, but their role in motion perception has not been established. Using a self-organizing model of V1 with moving oriented patterns, we show that (1) afferent weights of each neuron organize into Gabor-like spatiotemporal receptive fields with ON and OFF lobes, (2) these receptive fields form realistic joint direction and orientation maps, and (3) lateral connections develop between patches with similar orientation and direction preferences. These results suggest that a single self-organizing system may underlie the development of orientation selectivity, direction selectivity, and lateral connectivity.

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

orientation maps
spatiotemporal receptive fields
direction selectivity


Expert system for protection coordination of distribution system with distributed generators Distributed or dispersed generation may cause various complexities to the operation of distribution system. Therefore, it is of interest to propose an expert system for protection coordination of distribution system under the presence of distributed generators. The expert system employs knowledge base and inference process to improve coordination settings of protective devices in order to accommodate the penetration of distributed generators. The expert system feeds input data by using graphical user interface and develops coordination settings based on power flow and short-circuit analyses. The expert system has been developed and successfully tested with a 22-kV distribution system with multiple distributed generations.

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


Fragment-similarity-based QSAR (FS-QSAR) algorithm for ligand biological activity predictions Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) studies are useful computational tools often used in drug discovery research and in many scientific disciplines. In this study, a robust fragment-similarity-based QSAR (FS-QSAR) algorithm was developed to correlate structures with biological activities by integrating fragment-based drug design concept and a multiple linear regression method. Similarity between any pair of training and testing fragments was determined by calculating the difference of lowest or highest eigenvalues of the chemistry space BCUT matrices of corresponding fragments. In addition to the BCUT-similarity function, molecular fingerprint Tanimoto coefficient (Tc) similarity function was also used as an alternative for comparison. For validation studies, the FS-QSAR algorithm was applied to several case studies, including a dataset of COX2 inhibitors and a dataset of cannabinoid CB2 triaryl bis-sulfone antagonist analogues, to build predictive models achieving average coefficient of determination (r2) of 0.62 and 0.68, respectively. The developed FS-QSAR method is proved to give more accurate predictions than the traditional and one-nearest-neighbour QSAR methods and can be a useful tool in the fragment-based drug discovery for ligand activity prediction.

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

fingerprint
multiple linear regression
cox2
cannabinoid

quantitative structure-activity relationship (qsar)


An empirical study of the motivations for content contribution and community participation in Wikipedia We differentiate two types of participation behavior in Wikipedia, which are content contribution and community participation. We investigate differential effects of motivations on the two types of behavior. Content contribution is more driven by extrinsically oriented motivations. Community participation is more driven by intrinsically oriented motivations.

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


Exact and approximate Fourier rebinning algorithms for the solution of the data truncation problem in 3-D PET This paper presents an extended 3-D exact rebinning formula in the Fourier space that leads to an iterative reprojection algorithm (iterative FOREPROJ), which enables the estimation of unmeasured oblique projection data on the basis of the whole set of measured data. In first approximation, this analytical formula also leads to an extended Fourier rebinning equation that is the basis for an approximate reprojection algorithm (extended FORE). These algorithms were evaluated on numerically simulated 3-D positron emission tomography (PET) data for the solution of the truncation problem, i.e., the estimation of the missing portions in the oblique projection data, before the application of algorithms that require complete projection data such as some rebinning methods (FOREX) or 3-D reconstruction algorithms (3DRP or direct Fourier methods). By taking advantage of all the 3-D data statistics, the iterative FOREPROJ reprojection provides a reliable alternative to the classical FOREPROJ method, which only exploits the low-statistics nonoblique data. It significantly improves the quality of the external reconstructed slices without loss of spatial resolution. As for the approximate extended FORE algorithm, it clearly exhibits limitations due to axial interpolations, but will require clinical studies with more realistic measured data in order to decide on its pertinence.

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

image reconstruction
medical imaging
positron emission tomography (pet)


A distributed virtual MIMO coalition formation framework for energy efficient wireless networks In this paper, we consider a distributed virtual multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) coalition formation algorithm. Energy savings are obtained in the reverse link by forming multi-antenna virtual arrays for information transmission. Virtual arrays are formed by finding a stable match between two sets of single antenna devices such as mobile stations (MSs) and relay stations (RSs) based on a game theoretic approach derived from the concept of the college admissions problem. Thus, power savings are obtained through multi-antenna arrays by implementing the concepts of spatial diversity and spatial multiplexing for reverse link transmission. We focus on optimizing the overall consumed power rather than the transmitted power of MSs and RSs. Furthermore, it is shown analytically and by simulation that when the overall consumed power is considered, the energy efficiency of the single antennas devices is not always improved by forming a virtual MIMO array. Hence, single antenna devices may prefer to transmit on their own when channel conditions are favorable. In addition, the simulation results show that the framework we propose provides comparable energy savings and a lower implementation complexity when compared to a centralized exhaustive search approach.

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


The use of computer technology in university teaching and learning: a critical perspective Abstract? Despite huge efforts to position information and communication technology (ICT) as a central tenet of university teaching and learning, the fact remains that many university students and faculty make only limited formal academic use of computer technology. Whilst this is usually attributed to a variety of operational deficits on the part of students, faculty, and universities, this paper considers the wider social relations underpinning the relatively modest use of technology in higher education. The paper explores how university use of computer technology is shaped into marginalized and curtailed positions by a variety of actors. From the writing of ICT at a national policy level through to the marginalization of ICT within the lived student experience, a consistent theme emerges where computer technology use is constructed in limited, linear, and rigid terms far removed from the creative, productive, and empowering uses which are often celebrated by educational technologists. In the light of such constraints, the paper considers how these dominant constructions of a peripheral and limited use of ICT may be challenged by the higher education community. In particular, it concludes by reflecting on current critical thinking about how educational technologists can foster a more expansive and empowered use of computer technology within university settings.

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


A bi-objective model to optimize reliability and cost of system with a choice of redundancy strategies Reliability problems are an important type of optimization problems that are motivated by different needs of real-world applications such as telecommunication systems, transformation systems, and electrical systems, so on. This paper studies a special type of these problems which is called redundancy allocation problem (RAP) and develops a bi-objective RAP (BORAP). The model includes non-repairable series-parallel systems in which the redundancy strategy is considered as a decision variable for individual subsystems. The objective functions of the model are (1) maximizing system reliability and (2) minimizing the system cost. Meanwhile, subject to system-level constraint, the best redundancy strategy among active or cold-standby, component type, and the redundancy level for each subsystem should be determined. To have a more practical model, we have also considered non-constant component hazard functions and imperfect switching of cold-standby redundant component. To solve the model, since RAP belong to the NP-hard class of the optimization problems, two effective multi-objective metaheuristic algorithms named non-dominated sorting genetic algorithms (NSGA-II) and multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) are proposed. Finally, the performance of the algorithms is analyzed on a typical case and conclusions are demonstrated. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

series-parallel systems
bi-objective
nsga-ii


Web-enabled supply chain management: Key antecedents and performance impacts Despite increased interest and growing investments in web-based supply chain management (SCM) applications, firms face numerous challenges in successfully web-enabling their SCM activities. In this research, we focus on two main objectives (i) to understand the key antecedents that affect the web-enablement of SCM activities; (ii) to document the performance impacts of web-enabled SCM efforts. Based on a large-scale, questionnaire survey of North American organizations, we assessed the influence of six factors namely supplier synergy, information intensity, managerial IT knowledge, interoperable IT infrastructure, perceived IT returns on investments (ROI) and formal governance mechanisms on the extent of web-enabled SCM. Our results revealed a strong positive influence of supplier synergy, information intensity, managerial IT knowledge, inter-operability and formal governance mechanisms on the extent of web-enabled SCM. We also found a negative association between relative costbenefit perceptions and the extent of web-enabled SCM. Further, we also found strong positive association between extent of web-enabled SCM and the benefits realized from SCM efforts. We discuss the implications of our results for research and practice.

O B I I 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 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

supply chain management
performance impacts

web-enabled
digital transformation
relational rents


Characterization of optics and masks for the EUV lithography In the frame of the French EUV program PREUVE, different studies are made on different key aspects of EUV lithography. Aspheric optics are fabricated for the exposure test bench as well as mask blanks. All these objects require Mo/Si multilayer coatings with optimized EUV characteristics. As project partner, SOPRA is developing a commercial table-top soft-X-ray/EUV reflectometer to measure, at wavelength, the reflectivity versus wavelength, angle of incidence and position on the sample. These MoSi multilayers are deposited by magnetron sputtering or ion beam sputtering for the optics and the masks, respectively. Hereafter, some structural characterizations of these two kinds of multilayers are measured and compared. The EUV reflectometer is described in detail and first results are presented in relation with the Mo/Si structural characterizations.

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


Self-reconfigurable multi-layer neural networks with genetic algorithms This paper addresses the issue of reconfiguring multilayer neural networks implemented in single or multiple VLSI chips. The ability to adaptively reconfigure network configuration for a given application, considering the presence of faulty neurons, is a very valuable feature in a large scale neural network. In addition, it has become necessary to achieve systems that can automatically reconfigure a network and acquire optimal weights without any help from host computers. However, self-reconfigurable architectures for neural networks have not been studied sufficiently. In this paper, we propose an architecture for a self-reconfigurable multi-layer neural network employing both reconfiguration with spare neurons and weight training by GAs. This proposal offers the combined advantages of low hardware overhead for adding spare neurons and fast weight training time. To show the possibility of self-reconfigurable neural networks, the prototype system has been implemented on a field programmable gate array.

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self-reconfiguration
multi-layer neural network
weight training by genetic algorithm
fpga


APPROXIMATE HALFSPACE RANGE COUNTING We present a simple scheme extending the shallow partitioning data structures of Matousek, which supports efficient approximate halfspace range-counting queries in R(d) with relative error epsilon. Specifically, the problem is, given a set P of n points in R(d), to preprocess them into a data structure that returns, for a query halfspace h, a number t so that (1- epsilon)vertical bar h boolean AND P vertical bar 0, and answers a query in time O(epsilon(-gamma)n(1-1)/(left perpendicular d/2 right perpendicular) 2(b) (log)* (n)) for any gamma > 2/left perpendicular d/2 right perpendicular; the choice of gamma and delta affects b and the implied constants. Several variants and extensions are also discussed. As presented, the construction of the structure is mostly deterministic, except for one critical randomized step, and so are the query, storage, and preprocessing costs. The quality of approximation, for every query, is guaranteed with high probability. The construction can also be fully derandomized, at the expense of increasing preprocessing time.

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geometric algorithms
relative approximations
range searching
approximation algorithms
partition trees
shallow partition trees
cuttings
shallow cuttings
hyper-plane arrangements
geometric sampling


Search engine competition with a knowledge-sharing service Knowledge-sharing services may change the result of search engine competition. Two similar search engines generally close their answer databases in equilibrium. Large search quality gap may result in open answer databases. Small online information generally implies closed answer databases.

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

compatibility
economics of information systems
knowledge sharing
two-sided markets


a privacy preserving web recommender system In this paper we propose a recommender system that helps users to navigate though the Web by providing dynamically generated links to pages that have not yet been visited and are of potential interest. To this end, traditional recommender systems use Web Usage Mining (WUM) techniques in order to automatically extract knowledge from Web usage data. Thanks to WUM techniques we are able to classify users and adaptively provide useful recommendations. The drawback of a user classification approach is that it makes the system prone to privacy breaches.Our contribution here is ? SUGGEST , a privacy enhanced recommender system that allows for creating serendipity recommendations without breaching users privacy. We will show that our system does not provide malicious users with any mean to track or detect users activity or preferences.

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web recommender systems
privacy preserving user modeling


Query-Enabled Behavior Trees Artificial intelligence in games is typically used for creating player's opponents. Manual editing of intelligent behaviors for nonplayer characters (NPCs) of games is a cumbersome task that needs experienced designers. Our research aims to assist designers in this task. Behaviors typically use recurring patterns, so that experience and reuse are crucial aspects for behavior design. The use of hierarchical structures like hierarchical state machines, behavior trees (BTs), or hierarchical task networks, allows working on different abstraction levels reusing pieces from the more detailed levels. However, the static nature of the design process does not release the designer from the burden of completely specifying each behavior. Our approach applies case-based reasoning (CBR) techniques to retrieve and reuse stored behaviors represented as BTs. In this paper, we focus on dynamic retrieval and selection of behaviors taking into account the world state and the underlying goals. The global behavior of the NPC is dynamically built at runtime querying the CBR system. We exemplify our approach through a serious game, developed by our research group, with gameplay elements from first-person shooter (FPS) games.

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behavior trees (bts)
case-based reasoning (cbr)
first-person shooter (fps)
nonplayer characters (npcs)