Space hierarchy theorem revised We show that, for an arbitrary function h(n) and each recursive function e(n), that are separated by a nondeterministically fully space constructible g(n), such that h(n) E Q(g(n)) but l(n) Q(g(n)), there exists a unary language L in NSPACE(h(n)) that is not contained in NSPACE(l(n)). The same holds for the deterministic case. The main contribution to the well-known Space Hierarchy Theorem is that (i) the language L separating the two space classes is unary (tally), (ii) the hierarchy is independent of whether h(n) or l(n) are in Omega(log n) or in o(log n), (iii) the functions h(n) or l(n) themselves need not be space constructible nor monotone increasing, (iv) the hierarchy is established both for strong and weak space complexity classes. This allows us to present unary languages in such complexity classes as, for example, NSPACE(log log n (.) log* n) \ NSPACE(log log n), using a plain diagonalization. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science 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 B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm with decomposition to solve constrained optimisation problems Pareto-domination was adopted to handle not only trade-off between objective and constraints but also trade-off between convergence and diversity on solving a constrained optimisation problem (COP) in this paper like many other researchers. But there are some differences. This paper converts a COP into an equivalent dynamic constrained multi-objective optimisation problem (DCMOP) first, then dynamic version of non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm with decomposition (NSGA/D) is designed to solve the equivalent DCMOP, consequently solve the COP. A key issue for the NSGA/D working effectively is that the environmental change should not destroy the feasibility of the population. With a feasible population, the NSGA/D could solve well the DCMOP just as a MOEA usually can solve well an unconstrained MOP. Experimental results show that the NSGA/D outperforms or performs similarly to other state-of-the-art algorithms referred to in this paper, especially in global search.

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

evolutionary algorithm
multi-objective optimisation
dynamic multi-objective optimisation
dynamic optimisation


selecting for evolvable representations Evolutionary algorithms tend to produce solutions that are not evolvable: Although current fitness may be high, further search is impeded as the effects of mutation and crossover become increasingly detrimental. In nature, in addition to having high fitness, organisms have evolvable genomes: phenotypic variation resulting from random mutation is structured and robust. Evolvability is important because it allows the population to produce meaningful variation, leading to efficient search. However, because evolvability does not improve immediate fitness, it must be selected for indirectly. One way to establish such a selection pressure is to change the fitness function systematically. Under such conditions, evolvability emerges only if the representation allows manipulating how genotypic variation maps onto phenotypic variation and if such manipulations lead to detectable changes in fitness. This research forms a framework for understanding how fitness function and representation interact to produce evolvability. Ultimately evolvable encodings may lead to evolutionary algorithms that exhibit the structured complexity and robustness found in nature.

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

modularity
estimation-of-distribution
genetic algorithms
indirect encodings
development


Modeling biocomplexity actors, landscapes and alternative futures Increasingly, models (and modelers) are being asked to address the interactions between human influences, ecological processes, and landscape dynamics that impact many diverse aspects of managing complex coupled human and natural systems. These systems may be profoundly influenced by human decisions at multiple spatial and temporal scales, and the limitations of traditional process-level ecosystems modeling approaches for representing the richness of factors shaping landscape dynamics in these coupled systems has resulted in the need for new analysis approaches. New tools in the areas of spatial data management and analysis, multicriteria decision-making, individual-based modeling, and complexity science have all begun to impact how we approach modeling these systems. The term biocomplexity has emerged as a descriptor of the rich patterns of interactions and behaviors in human and natural systems, and the challenges of analyzing biocomplex behavior is resulting in a convergence of approaches leading to new ways of understanding these systems. Important questions related to system vulnerability and resilience, adaptation, feedback processing, cycling, non-linearities and other complex behaviors are being addressed using models employing new representational approaches to analysis. The complexity inherent in these systems challenges the modeling community to provide tools that capture sufficiently the richness of human and ecosystem processes and interactions in ways that are computationally tractable and understandable. We examine one such tool, EvoLand, which uses an actor-based approach to conduct alternative futures analyses in the Willamette Basin, Oregon.

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


Computerised video tracking, movement analysis and behaviour recognition in insects The need for automating behavioural observations and the evolution of systems developed for that purpose are outlined. Automatic video tracking systems enable behaviour to be studied in a reliable and consistent way, and over longer time periods than if it is manually recorded. To overcome limitations of currently available systems and to meet researchers' needs as these have been identified, we have developed an integrated system (EthoVision) for automatic recording of activity, movement and interactions of insects. The system is described here, with special emphasis on file management, experiment design, arena and zone definition, object detection, experiment control, visualisation of tracks and calculation of analysis parameters. A review of studies using our system is presented, to demonstrate its use in a variety of entomological applications. This includes research on beetles, fruit flies, soil insects, parasitic wasps, predatory mites, ticks, and spiders. Finally, possible future directions for development are discussed.

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

video tracking
movement analysis
behaviour recognition
ethovision


A novel similarity measure on intuitionistic fuzzy sets with its applications The intuitionistic fuzzy set, as a generation of Zadeh fuzzy set, can express and process uncertainty much better, by introducing hesitation degree. Similarity measures between intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs) are used to indicate the similarity degree between the information carried by IFSs. Although several similarity measures for intuitionistic fuzzy sets have been proposed in previous studies, some of those cannot satisfy the axioms of similarity, or provide counter-intuitive cases. In this paper, we first review several widely used similarity measures and then propose new similarity measures. As the consistency of two IFSs, the proposed similarity measure is defined by the direct operation on the membership function, non-membership function, hesitation function and the upper bound of membership function of two IFS, rather than based on the distance measure or the relationship of membership and non-membership functions. It proves that the proposed similarity measures satisfy the properties of the axiomatic definition for similarity measures. Comparison between the previous similarity measures and the proposed similarity measure indicates that the proposed similarity measure does not provide any counter-intuitive cases. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the proposed similarity measure is capable of discriminating the difference between patterns.

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

intuitionistic fuzzy set
distance measure
similarity measure


An object-oriented simulation framework for real-time control of automated flexible manufacturing systems This paper describes an object-oriented simulation approach for the design of a flexable, manufacturing system that allows the implementation of control logic during the system design phase. The object-oriented design approach is built around the formal theory of supervisory control based on Finite Automata. The formalism is used to capture inter-object relationships that are difficult to identify in the object-oriented design approach. The system resources are modeled as object classes based on the events that have to be monitored for real-time control. Real-time control issues including deadlock resolution, resource failures in various modes of operation and recovery from failures while sustaining desirable logical system properties are integrated into the logical design for simulating the supervisory controller. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

object-oriented simulation
real-time control


A fully distributed architecture for large scale workflow enactment Standard client-server workflow management systems are usually designed as client-server systems. The central server is responsible for the coordination of the workflow execution and, in some cases, may manage the activities database. This centralized control architecture may represent a single point of failure, which compromises the availability of the system. We propose a fully distributed and configurable architecture for workflow management systems. It is based on the idea that the activities of a case (an instance of the process) migrate from host to host, executing the workflow tasks, following a process plan. This core architecture is improved with the addition of other distributed components so that other requirements for Workflow Management Systems, besides scalability, are also addressed. The components of the architecture were tested in different distributed and centralized configurations. The ability to configure the location of components and the use of dynamic allocation of tasks were effective for the implementation of load balancing policies.

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

fully distributed workflow architectures


Finite-difference model for one-dimensional electro-osmotic consolidation Small strain consolidation theories treat soil properties as being constant and uniform in the course of consolidation, which is not true in the case of electro-osmosis-induced consolidation practices. Electro-osmotic consolidation leads to large strain, which physically and electro-chemically affects to a non-negligible extent the nonlinear changes of the soil properties. For the nonlinear changes, iterative computations provide a mathematical approximation of the soil consolidation when the time steps and spatial geometry are intensively meshed. In this context, this paper presents a finite-difference model, EC1, for one-dimensional electro-osmotic consolidation, and this model is developed based on a fixed Eulerian co-ordinate system and uses a piecewise linear approximation. The model is able to account for the large-strain-induced nonlinear changes of the physical and electro-chemical properties in a compressible mass subjected to electro-osmotic consolidation and to predict the consolidation characteristics of the compressible mass. EC1 is verified against exact analytical solutions and test results obtained from an experimental program. Example problems are illustrated with respect to the numerical solutions of large-strain electro-osmotic consolidation.

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

electro-osmosis
electrical potential
pore pressure


Nonlinear characteristics of on-chip spiral inductors under high RF power This paper explores silicon CMOS on-chip spiral inductors performance degradation under high RF power. A novel methodology to calibrate and characterize on-chip spiral inductor with large signal inputs (high/medium power) is presented. Experiments showed 12% degradation of quality factor in a particular inductor design when 34dBm RF power was applied. The degradation of quality factor of inductor can be attributed to a local self heating effect. Thermal imaging of such an inductor under high RF power validates the hypothesis.

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


On d-Multiplicative Secret Sharing A multiplicative secret sharing scheme allows players to multiply two secret-shared field elements by locally converting their shares of the two secrets into an additive sharing of their product. Multiplicative secret sharing serves as a central building block in protocols for secure multiparty computation (MPC). Motivated by open problems in the area of MPC, we introduce the more general notion of d-multiplicative secret sharing, allowing to locally multiply d shared secrets, and study the type of access structures for which such secret sharing schemes exist. While it is easy to show that d-multiplicative schemes exist if no d unauthorized sets of players cover the whole set of players, the converse direction is less obvious for da parts per thousand yen3. Our main result is a proof of this converse direction, namely that d-multiplicative schemes do not exist if the set of players is covered by d unauthorized sets. In particular, t-private d-multiplicative secret sharing among k players is possible if and only if k > dt. Our negative result holds for arbitrary (possibly inefficient or even nonlinear) secret sharing schemes and implies a limitation on the usefulness of secret sharing in the context of MPC. Its proof relies on a quantitative argument inspired by communication complexity lower bounds.

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

secret sharing
secure multiparty computation


shortest path amidst disc obstacles is computable An open question in Exact Geometric Computation is whether there re transcendental computations that can be made "geometrically exact".Perhaps the simplest such problem in computational geometry is that of computing the shortest obstacle-avoiding path between two points p, q in the plane, where the obstacles re collection of n discs.This problem can be solved in O (n 2 log n)time in the Real RAM model, but nothing was known about its computability in the standard (Turing) model of computation. We first show the Turing-computability of this problem,provided the radii of the discs are rationally related. We make the usual assumption that the numerical input data are real algebraic numbers. By appealing to effective bounds from transcendental number theory, we further show single-exponential time upper bound when the input numbers are rational.Our result ppears to be the first example of non-algebraic combinatorial problem which is shown computable. It is also rare example of transcendental number theory yielding positive computational results.

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

real ram model
exact geometric computation
disc obstacles
shortest path

guaranteed precision computation
exponential complexity
robust numerical algorithms


A uniform approach to constraint-solving for lists, multisets, compact lists, and sets Lists, multisets, and sets are well-known data structures whose usefulness is widely recognized in various areas of computer science. They have been analyzed from an axiomatic point of view with a parametric approach in Dovier et al. [1998], where the relevant unification algorithms have been developed. In this article, we extend these results considering more general constraints, namely, equality and membership constraints and their negative counterparts.

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

theory
membership and equality constraints
compact lists


a competency framework for the stakeholders of a software process improvement initiative The competencies (a set of specific knowledges, skills, attitudes and behaviors; e.g. stress handling, commitment, collaboration and identification of conflicts) of the employees of software organizations are a fundamental element for the success of a Software Process Improvement (SPI) initiative. We performed three case studies to identify the competencies required for the stakeholders in an SPI initiative. To identify these competencies, we observed the activities that each stakeholder performs and the interactions among them. We also identified the competencies that are required to perform those activities. We performed a classification of the identified competencies and integrated them into a framework. This framework defines the competencies for seven roles involved in an SPI initiative and defines the level of expertise required by each role for each competency. To evaluate the framework, we performed ten interviews and two empirical tests. Preliminary results show that this framework is relevant in SPI initiatives, the use of this framework can raise the awareness about the competencies, and it can support some SPI activities.

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

software process improvement
skills
stakeholders
competency framework
competencies
spi
roles


Remote information concentration via \(W\) state: reverse of ancilla-free phase-covariant telecloning In this paper, we investigate generalized remote information concentration as the reverse process of ancilla-free phase-covariant telecloning (AFPCT) which is different from the reverse process of optimal universal telecloning. It is shown that the quantum information via \(1\rightarrow 2\) AEPCT procedure can be remotely concentrated back to a single qubit with a certain probability by utilizing (non-)maximally entangled \(W\) states as quantum channels. Our protocols are the generalization of Wangs scheme (Open J Microphys 3:1821. doi:10.?4236/?ojm.?2013.?31004, 2013). And von Neumann measure and positive operator-valued measurement are performed in the maximal and non-maximal cases respectively. Relatively the former, the dimension of measurement space in the latter is greatly reduced. It makes the physical realization easier and suitable.

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

ancilla-free phase-covariant teleclong
three-qubit asymmetric entangled \(w\)
nonmaximally entangled \(w\) state
projective measurement
povm


Simulation of continuous fibre reinforced thermoplastic forming using a shell finite element with transverse stress A shell finite element with transverse stress is presented in this paper in order to simulate the forming of thermoplastic composites reinforced with continuous fibres. It is shown by an experimental work that many porosities occurs through the thickness of the composite during the heating and the forming process. Consequently the reconsolidation i.e. the porosity removing by applying a compressive stress through the thickness is a main point of the process. The presented shell finite element keeps the five degrees of freedom of the standard shell elements and adds a sixth one which is the variation in thickness. A locking phenomenon is avoided by uncoupling bending and pinching in the material law. A set of classical validation tests will prove the efficiency of this approach. Finally a forming process is simulated. It shows that the computed transverse stresses are in good agreement with porosity removing in the experiments.

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

composites
forming
porosities
shell finite element
transverse stress
locking


twiki a collaboration tool for the lhc At the European Laboratory for High Energy Physics, CERN[1], the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)[2] accelerator is colliding beams of protons at energies of 3.5 TeV, recreating conditions close to those at the origin of the Universe. The four main LHC experiments, Alice, Atlas, CMS and LHCb are complex detectors with millions of output channels. These experiment detectors, "large as cathedrals", have been designed, built and are now operated by collaborations of physicists from universities and research institutes spread across the world. Wikis are a perfect match to the collaborative nature of CERN experiments and since TWiki[3] was installed at CERN in 2003 it has grown in popularity and the statistics from April 2011 show nearly 10000 registered editors and about 110000 topics (Figure 1). Since the start-up of the LHC more and more users are accessing TWiki requiring better server performance as well as finer control for read and write access and more features. This paper discusses the evolution of the use of TWiki at CERN.

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


A glimpse of symbolic-statistical modeling by PRISM We give a brief overview of a logic-based symbolic modeling language PRISM which provides a unified approach to generative probabilistic models including Bayesian networks, hidden Markov models and probabilistic context free grammars. We include some experimental result with a probabilistic context free grammar extracted from the Penn Treebank. We also show EM learning of a probabilistic context free graph grammar as an example of exploring a new area.

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 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

prism
probabilistic context free grammar


Improving validity and reliability in longitudinal case study timelines Management Information Systems researchers rely on longitudinal case studies to investigate a variety of phenomena such as systems development, system implementation, and information systems-related organizational change. However, insufficient attention has been spent on understanding the unique validity and reliability issues related to the timeline that is either explicitly or implicitly required in a longitudinal case study. In this paper, we address three forms of longitudinal timeline validity: time unit validity (which deals with the question of how to segment the timeline - weeks, months, years, etc.), time boundaries validity (which deals with the question of how long the timeline should be), and time period validity (which deals with the issue of which periods should be in the timeline). We also examine timeline reliability, which deals with the question of whether another judge would have assigned the same events to the same sequence, categories, and periods. Techniques to address these forms of longitudinal timeline validity include: matching the unit of time to the pace of change to address time unit validity, use of member checks and formal case study protocol to address time boundaries validity, analysis of archival data to address both time unit and time boundary validity, and the use of triangulation to address timeline reliability. The techniques should be used to design, conduct, and report longitudinal case studies that contain valid and reliable conclusions. European Journal of Information Systems (2012) 21, 160-175. doi:10.1057/ejis.2011.53; published online 6 December 2011

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

longitudinal case study
timeline validity
timeline reliability


Information privacy: Measuring individuals' concerns about organizational practices Information privacy has been called one of the most important ethical issues of the information age. Public opinion polls show rising levels of concern about privacy among Americans. Against this backdrop, research into issues associated with information privacy is increasing. Based on a number of preliminary studies, it has become apparent that organizational practices, individuals' perceptions of these practices, and societal responses are inextricably linked in many ways. Theories regarding these relationships are slowly emerging. Unfortunately, researchers attempting to examine such relationships through confirmatory empirical approaches may be impeded by the lack of validated instruments for measuring individuals' concerns about organizational information privacy practices. To enable future studies in the information privacy research stream, we developed and validated an instrument that identifies and measures the primary dimensions of individuals' concerns about organizational information privacy practices. The development process included examinations of privacy literature; experience surveys and focus groups; and the use of expert judges. The result was a parsimonious 15-item instrument with four subscales tapping into dimensions of individuals' concerns about organizational information privacy practices. The instrument was rigorously tested and validated across several heterogenous populations, providing a high degree of confidence in the scales' validity, reliability, and generalizability.

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

privacy
ethical issues
measures
reliability
validity


Using genetic programming and simulation to learn how to dynamically adapt the number of cards in reactive pull systems We show how to learn dynamically to adapt the number of cards in real time in token-based pull systems. We propose a Simulation-based Genetic Programming approach which does not need training sets. We illustrate how the approach can be implemented using Arena and ?GP. A reactive ConWIP example show the efficiency of the approach and of the knowledge extracted. The resulting decision tree can be used online by production managers or for self-adaptation issues.

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

conwip
reactive pull systems
simulation
genetic programming

kanban
manufacturing systems
self-adaptive systems
learning


A development and verification framework for the SegBus platform We describe the creation of a development framework for a platform-based design approach, in the context of the SegBus platform. The work intends to provide automated procedures for platform build-up and application mapping. The solution is based on a model-based process and heavily employs the UML. We develop a Domain Specific Language to support the platform modeling. An emulator is consequently introduced to allow an as much as possible accurate performance estimation of the solution, at high abstraction levels. Automated execution schedule generation is also featured. The resulting framework is applied to build actual design solutions for a MP3-decoder application.

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

model-based engineering
domain-specific languages
system emulation
code generation
system-on-chip


A neuro-fuzzy controller for speed control of a permanent magnet synchronous motor drive This paper introduces a neuro-fuzzy controller (NFC) for the speed control of a PMSM. A four layer neural network (NN) is used to adjust input and output parameters of membership functions in a fuzzy logic controller (FLC). The back propagation learning algorithm is used for training this network. The performance of the proposed controller is verified by both simulations and experiments. The hardware implementation of the controllers is made using a TMS320F240 DSP. The results are compared with the results obtain from a Proportional+Integral (PI) controller. Simulation and experimental results indicate that the proposed NFC is reliable and effective for the speed control of the PMSM over a wide range of operations of the PMSM drive.

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


On the sorting-complexity of suffix tree construction The suffix tree of a string is the fundamental data structure of combinatorial pattern matching. We present a recursive technique for building suffix trees that yields optimal algorithms in different computational models. Sorting is an inherent bottleneck in building suffix trees and our algorithms match the sorting lower bound. Specifically, we present the following results. (1) Weiner [1973], who introduced the data structure, gave an optimal O(n)-time algorithm for building the suffix tree of an n-character string drawn from a constant-size alphabet. In the comparison model, there is a trivial n(n log n)-time lower bound based on sorting, and Weiner's algorithm matches this bound. For integer alphabets, the fastest known algorithm is the O(n log n) time comparison-based algorithm, but no super-linear lower bound is known. Closing this gap is the main open question in stringology. We settle this open problem by giving a linear time reduction to sorting for building suffix trees. Since sorting is a lower-bound for building suffix trees, this algorithm is time-optimal in every alphabet model, in particular, for an alphabet consisting of integers in a polynomial range we get the first known linear-time algorithm. (2) All previously known algorithms for building suffix trees exhibit a marked absence of locality of reference, and thus they tend to elicit many page faults (I/Os) when indexing very long strings. They are therefore unsuitable for building suffix trees in secondary storage devices, where I/Os dominate the overall computational cost. We give a linear-I/O reduction to sorting for suffix tree construction. Since sorting is a trivial I/O-lower bound for building suffix trees, our algorithm is I/O-optimal.

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

design
theory
dam model
external-memory data structures
ram model
sorting complexity
suffix array


Quasi-BirthDeath Processes, Tree-Like QBDs, Probabilistic 1-Counter Automata, and Pushdown Systems ? We begin by observing that (discrete-time) Quasi-BirthDeath Processes (QBDs) are equivalent, in a precise sense, to probabilistic 1-Counter Automata (p1CAs), and both Tree-Like QBDs (TL-QBDs) and Tree-Structured QBDs (TS-QBDs) are equivalent to both probabilistic Pushdown Systems (pPDSs) and Recursive Markov Chains (RMCs). We then proceed to exploit these connections to obtain a number of new algorithmic upper and lower bounds for central computational problems about these models. Our main result is this: for an arbitrary QBD, we can approximate its termination probabilities (i.e.,its G G matrix) to within i i bits of precision (i.e.,within additive error 1/2i 1 / 2 i ), in time polynomial in both the encoding size of the QBD and in i i , in the unit-cost rational arithmetic RAM model of computation. Specifically, we show that a decomposed Newtons method can be used to achieve this. We emphasize that this bound is very different from the well-known linear/quadratic convergence of numerical analysis, known for QBDs and TL-QBDs, which typically gives no constructive bound in terms of the encoding size of the system being solved. In fact, we observe (based on recent results) that for the more general TL-QBDs such a polynomial upper bound on Newtons method fails badly. Our upper bound proof for QBDs combines several ingredients: a detailed analysis of the structure of 1-Counter Automata, an iterative application of a classic condition number bound for errors in linear systems, and a very recent constructive bound on the performance of Newtons method for strongly connected monotone systems of polynomial equations. We show that the quantitative termination decision problem for QBDs (namely, is Gu,v?1/2 G u , v ? 1 / 2 ?) is at least as hard as long-standing open problems in the complexity of exact numerical computation, specifically the square-root sum problem. On the other hand, it follows from our earlier results for RMCs that any non-trivial approximation of termination probabilities for TL-QBDs is sqrt-root-sum-hard.

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

quasi-birthdeath processes
tree-like qbds
probabilistic 1-counter automata


Composite kernel learning The Support Vector Machine is an acknowledged powerful tool for building classifiers, but it lacks flexibility, in the sense that the kernel is chosen prior to learning. Multiple Kernel Learning enables to learn the kernel, from an ensemble of basis kernels, whose combination is optimized in the learning process. Here, we propose Composite Kernel Learning to address the situation where distinct components give rise to a group structure among kernels. Our formulation of the learning problem encompasses several setups, putting more or less emphasis on the group structure. We characterize the convexity of the learning problem, and provide a general wrapper algorithm for computing solutions. Finally, we illustrate the behavior of our method on multi-channel data where groups correspond to channels.

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

supervized learning
structured kernels
feature selection and sparsity


recent progress in linear algebra and lattice basis reduction A general goal concerning fundamental linear algebra problems is to reduce the complexity estimates to essentially the same as that of multiplying two matrices (plus possibly a cost related to the input and output sizes). Among the bottlenecks one usually finds the questions of designing a recursive approach and mastering the sizes of the intermediately computed data. In this talk we are interested in two special cases of lattice basis reduction. We consider bases given by square matrices over K[x] or Z, with, respectively, the notion of reduced form and LLL reduction. Our purpose is to introduce basic tools for understanding how to generalize the Lehmer and Knuth-Schnhage gcd algorithms for basis reduction. Over K[x] this generalization is a key ingredient for giving a basis reduction algorithm whose complexity estimate is essentially that of multiplying two polynomial matrices. Such a problem relation between integer basis reduction and integer matrix multiplication is not known. The topic receives a lot of attention, and recent results on the subject show that there might be room for progressing on the question.

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

polynomial matrix
matrix reduction
lll basis reduction
euclidean lattice


quantifying content consistency improvements through opportunistic contacts Contacts between mobile users provide opportunities for data updates that supplement infrastructure-based mechanisms. While the benefits of such opportunistic sharing are intuitive, quantifying the capacity increase they give rise to is challenging because both contact rates and contact graphs depend on the structure of the social networks users belong to. Furthermore, social connectivity influences not only users' interests, i.e., the content they own, but also their willingness to share data with others. All these factors can have a significant effect on the capacity gains achievable through opportunistic contacts. This paper's main contribution is in developing a tractable model for estimating such gains in a content update system, where content originates from a server along multiple channels, with blocks of information in each channel updated at a certain rate, and users differ in their contact graphs, interests, and willingness to share content, e.g., only to the members of their own social networks. We establish that the added capacity available to improve content consistency through opportunistic sharing can be obtained by solving a convex optimization problem. The resulting optimal policy is evaluated using traces reflecting contact graphs in different social settings and compared to heuristic policies. The evaluation demonstrates the capacity gains achievable through opportunistic sharing, and the impact on those gains of the structure of the underlying social network.

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

consistency
optimization
social networks

dynamic content
dissemination
delay-tolerant networks


Study of the communication distance of a MEMS Pressure Sensor Integrated in a RFID Passive Tag The performance of a MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) Sensor in a RFID system has been calculated, simulated and analyzed. It documents the viability from the power consumption point of view- of integrating a MEMS sensor in a passive tag maintaining its long range. The wide variety of sensors let us specify as many applications as the imagination is able to create. The sensor tag works without battery, and it is remotely powered through a commercial reader accomplishing the EPC standard Class 1 Gen 2. The key point is the integration in the tag of a very low power consumption pressure MEMS sensor. The power consumption of the sensor is 12.5 mu W. The specifically developed RFID CMOS passive module, with an integrated temperature sensor, is able to communicate up to 2.4 meters. Adding the pressure MEMS sensor - an input capacity, a maximum range of 2 meters can be achieved between the RFID sensor tag and a commercial reader (typical reported range for passive pressure sensors are in the range of a few centimeters). The RFID module has been fabricated with a CMOS process compatible with a bulk micromachining MEMS process. So, the feasibility of a single chip is presented.

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

radiofrequency identification
sensor systems
low power electronics
wireless sensor networks


A hardware architecture for real-time image compression using a searchless fractal image coding method In this paper we present a novel hardware architecture for real-time image compression implementing a fast, searchless iterated function system (SIFS) fractal coding method. In the proposed method and corresponding hardware architecture, domain blocks are fixed to a spatially neighboring area of range blocks in a manner similar to that given by Furao and Hasegawa. A quadtree structure, covering from 3232 blocks down to 22 blocks, and even to single pixels, is used for partitioning. Coding of 22 blocks and single pixels is unique among current fractal coders. The hardware architecture contains units for domain construction, zig-zag transforms, range and domain mean computation, and a parallel domain-range match capable of concurrently generating a fractal code for all quadtree levels. With this efficient, parallel hardware architecture, the fractal encoding speed is improved dramatically. Additionally, attained compression performance remains comparable to traditional search-based and other searchless methods. Experimental results, with the proposed hardware architecture implemented on an Altera APEX20K FPGA, show that the fractal encoder can encode a 5125128 image in approximately 8.36ms operating at 32.05MHz. Therefore, this architecture is seen as a feasible solution to real-time fractal image compression.

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

fractal image encoding
real-time image compression


Distinguishing views in symmetric networks: A tight lower bound The view of a node in a port-labeled network is an infinite tree encoding all walks in the network originating from this node. We prove that for any integers n?D?1 n ? D ? 1 , there exists a port-labeled network with at most n nodes and diameter at most D which contains a pair of nodes whose (infinite) views are different, but whose views truncated to depth ?(Dlog?(n/D)) ? ( D log ? ( n / D ) ) are identical.

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

anonymous network
port-labeled network
quotient graph


cache injection for parallel applications For two decades, the memory wall has affected many applications in their ability to benefit from improvements in processor speed. Cache injection addresses this disparity for I/O by writing data into a processor's cache directly from the I/O bus. This technique reduces data latency and, unlike data prefetching, improves memory bandwidth utilization. These improvements are significant for data-intensive applications whose performance is dominated by compulsory cache misses. We present an empirical evaluation of three injection policies and their effect on the performance of two parallel applications and several collective micro-benchmarks. We demonstrate that the effectiveness of cache injection on performance is a function of the communication characteristics of applications, the injection policy, the target cache, and the severity of the memory wall. For example, we show that injecting message payloads to the L3 cache can improve the performance of network-bandwidth limited applications. In addition, we show that cache injection improves the performance of several collective operations, but not all-to-all operations (implementation dependent). Our study shows negligible pollution to the target caches.

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


Cryptanalysis and improvement of an access control in user hierarchy based on elliptic curve cryptosystem In a key management scheme for hierarchy based access control, each security class having higher clearance can derive the cryptographic secret keys of its other security classes having lower clearances. In 2008, Chung et al. proposed an efficient scheme on access control in user hierarchy based on elliptic curve cryptosystem [Information Sciences 178 (1) (2008) 230243]. Their scheme provides solution of key management efficiently for dynamic access problems. However, in this paper, we propose an attack on Chung et al.s scheme to show that Chung et al.s scheme is insecure against the exterior root finding attack. We show that under this attack, an attacker (adversary) who is not a user in any security class in a user hierarchy attempts to derive the secret key of a security class by using the root finding algorithm. In order to remedy this attack, we further propose a simple improvement on Chung et al.s scheme. Overall, the main theme of this paper is very simple: a security flaw is presented on Chung et al.s scheme and then a fix is provided in order to remedy the security flaw found in Chung et al.s scheme.

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

hierarchical access control
polynomial interpolation
exterior root finding attacks


Use of molecular modeling, docking, and 3D-QSAR studies for the determination of the binding mode of benzofuran-3-yl-(indol-3-yl)maleimides as GSK-3 beta inhibitors Molecular modeling and docking studies along with three-dimensional quantitative structure relationships (3D-QSAR) studies have been used to determine the correct binding mode of glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK-3 beta) inhibitors. The approaches of comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity index analysis (CoMSIA) are used for the 3D-QSAR of 51 substituted benzofuran-3-yl-(indol-3-yl)maleimides as GSK-3 beta inhibitors. Two binding modes of the inhibitors to the binding site of GSK-3 beta are investigated. The binding mode 1 yielded better 3D-QSAR correlations using both CoMFA and CoMSIA methodologies. The three-component CoMFA model from the steric and electrostatic fields for the experimentally determined pIC(50) values has the following statistics: R(2)(cv) = 0.386 nd SE(cv) = 0.854 for the cross-validation, and R(2) = 0.811 and SE = 0.474 for the fitted correlation. F (3,47) = 67.034, and probability of R(2) = 0 (3,47) = 0.000. The binding mode suggested by the results of this study is consistent with the preliminary results of X-ray crystal structures of inhibitor-bound GSK-3 beta. The 3D-QSAR models were used for the estimation of the inhibitory potency of two additional compounds.

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

benzofuran-3-yl-(indol-3-yl) maleimides
gsk-3beta inhibitors
3d-qsar
x-ray


On the numerical solution of some semilinear elliptic problems - II In the earlier paper [6], a Galerkin method was proposed and analyzed for the numerical solution of a Dirichlet problem for a semi-linear elliptic boundary value problem of the form -Delta U = F((.),U). This was converted to a problem on a standard domain and then converted to an equivalent integral equation. Galerkina's method was used to solve the integral equation, with the eigenfunctions of the Laplacian operator on the standard domain D as the basis functions. In this paper we consider the implementing of this scheme, and we illustrate it for some standard domains D.

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

elliptic
integral equation
galerkin method


supporting mobile work processes in logistics with wearable computing Logistics is a very dynamic and heterogeneous application area which generates complex requirements regarding the development of information and communication technologies (ICT). For this area, it is a challenge to support mobile workers on-site in an unobtrusive manner. In this contribution, wearable computing technologies are investigated as basis for a "mobile worker supporting system" for tasks at an automobile terminal. The features of wearable computing technologies are checked against the requirements of the application area to come to an usable and acceptable mobile solution in an user-centred design process.

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

logistics
wearable computing
mobile work processes

mobile usability
autonomous control
user-centred design


A nonlinear domain decomposition formulation with application to granular dynamics Simulation of granular media undergoing dynamic evolution involves nonsmooth problems when grains are modeled as rigid bodies. With dense samples, this nonsmoothness occurs everywhere in the studied domain, and large sized systems lead to computationally intensive simulations. In this article, we combine domain decomposition approaches and nonsmooth contact dynamics. Unlike the smooth continuum media case, a coarse space problem does not trivially increase the convergence rate, as it is exemplified in this article, with semi-analytical examples and real size numerical simulations. Nevertheless, the description of an underlying force network in the samples may guide the analysis for new approximation schemes or algorithms.

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

multicontact systems
scalability
multiscale
asymptotic analysis


Minimum cut linear arrangement of p-q dags for VLSI layout of adder trees Two algorithms for minimum cut linear arrangement of a class of graphs called p-q dags are proposed. A p-q dag represents the connection scheme of an adder tree, such as Wallace tree, and the VLSI layout problem of a bit slice of an adder tree is treated as the minimum cut linear arrangement problem of its corresponding p-q dag. One of the two algorithms is based on dynamic programming. It calculates an exact minimum solution within n(O(1)) time and space, where n is the size of a given graph. The other algorithm is an approximation algorithm which calculates a solution with O(log n) cutwidth. It requires O(n log n) time.

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

minimum cut linear arrangement
vlsi layout
adder tree


OPTIMIZATION OF ILLUMINATION ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS BASED ON ORTHOGONAL TEST This paper presents a comparative research of nine different combinations of imaging environmental factors using orthogonal test approach to gain optimal illumination in an image acquisition device which was self-designed. The effect of four different environmental factors such as shoot distance, lamp number, lamp height, lamp side distance have been investigated on the key parameters. Experimental results based on L(9)(3)(4) orthogonal test design shows that under different combination of environmental factors, there are obvious differences between illumination intensity and illumination uniformity of images and which are mainly affected by the shoot distance and lamp number. Based on these experiments, we get two preferable combinations. Attention is concentrated on finding the best. Through further analysis and discussion, the best combination is identified. Our experimental results indicate that orthogonal test here is very suitable for gaining optimal environmental factors.

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

image acquisition
orthogonal test
illumination intensity
illumination uniformity


Linear B cell epitope prediction for epitope vaccine design against meningococcal disease and their computational validations through physicochemical properties Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B is predominantly known for its leading role in bacterial meningitis and septicemia worldwide. Although, polysaccharide conjugate vaccines have been developed and used successfully against many of the serogroups of N. meningitidis, such strategy has proved ineffective against group B meningococci. Here, we proposed to develop peptide epitope-based vaccine candidates from outer membrane (OM) protein contained in the outer membrane vesicles (OMV) based on our in silico analysis. In OMV, a total of 236 proteins were identified, only 15 (6.4%) of which were predicted to be located in the outer membrane. For the preparation of specific monoclonal antibodies against pathogenic bacterial protein, identification and selection of B cell epitopes that act as a vaccine target are required. We selected 13 outer membrane proteins from OMV proteins while taking into consideration the removal of cross-reactivity. Epitopia web server was used for the prediction of B cell epitopes. Epitopes are distinguished from non-epitopes by properties such as amino acid preference on the basis of amino acid composition, secondary structure composition, and evolutionary conservation. Predicted results were subject to verification with experimental data and we performed string-based search through IEDB. Our finding shows that epitopes have general preference for charged and polar amino acids; epitopes are enriched with loop as a secondary structure element that renders them flexible and also exposes another view of antibodyantigen interaction.

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

b cell epitopes
meningococcal
vaccine candidates

neisseria meningitides
structural features


Object recognition using proportion-based prior information: Application to fisheries acoustics This paper addresses the inference of probabilistic classification models using weakly supervised learning. The main contribution of this work is the development of learning methods for training datasets consisting of groups of objects with known relative class priors. This can be regarded as a generalization of the situation addressed by Bishop and Ulusoy (2005), where training information is given as the presence or absence of object classes in each set. Generative and discriminative classification methods are conceived and compared for weakly supervised learning, as well as a non-linear version of the probabilistic discriminative models. The considered models are evaluated on standard datasets and an application to fisheries acoustics is reported. The proposed proportion-based training is demonstrated to outperform model learning based on presence/absence information and the potential of the non-linear discriminative model is shown.

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 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

generative classification model
discriminative classification model


Hes frequencyamplitude formulation for nonlinear oscillators with an irrational force In this paper, Hes frequencyamplitude formulation is applied to determine the periodic solution for a nonlinear oscillator system with an irrational force. Comparison with the exact solution shows that the result obtained is of high accuracy.

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


The effectiveness of a training method using self-modeling webcam photos for reducing musculoskeletal risk among office workers using computers An intervention study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of an innovative self-modeling photo-training method for reducing musculoskeletal risk among office workers using computers. Sixty workers were randomly assigned to either: 1) a control group; 2) an office training group that received personal, ergonomic training and workstation adjustments or 3) a photo-training group that received both office training and an automatic frequent-feedback system that displayed on the computer screen a photo of the workers current sitting posture together with the correct posture photo taken earlier during office training. Musculoskeletal risk was evaluated using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) method before, during and after the six weeks intervention. Both training methods provided effective short-term posture improvement; however, sustained improvement was only attained with the photo-training method. Both interventions had a greater effect on older workers and on workers suffering more musculoskeletal pain. The photo-training method had a greater positive effect on women than on men.

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

occupational exposure
ergonomics
telemedicine
feedback
task performance and analysis
algorithm


the influence of feedback on egocentric distance judgments in real and virtual environments A number of investigators have reported that distance judgments in virtual environments (VEs) are systematically smaller than distance judgments made in comparably-sized real environments. Many variables that may contribute to this difference have been investigated but none of them fully explain the distance compression. One approach to this problem that has implications for both VE applications and the study of perceptual mechanisms is to examine the influence of the feedback available to the user. Most generally, we asked whether feedback within a virtual environment would lead to more accurate estimations of distance. Next, given the prediction that some change in behavior would be observed, we asked whether specific adaptation effects would generalize to other indications of distance. Finally, we asked whether these effects would transfer from the VE to the real world. All distance judgments in the head-mounted display (HMD) became near accurate after three different forms of feedback were given within the HMD. However, not all feedback sessions within the HMD altered real world distance judgments. These results are discussed with respect to the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms that may be involved in the observed adaptation effects as well as the benefits of feedback for VE applications.

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

adaptation
virtual environments
feedback


synchronous versus asynchronous collaboration in situated multi-agent systems According to the taxonomy for agent activity, proposed by V. Parunak, a collaboration is an interaction between agents of a multi-agent system (MAS) whereby the agents explicitly coordinate their actions before they cooperate. We discuss two sub-types of collaboration in the context of situated MASs, namely asynchronous and synchronous collaboration. After setting up collaboration, the interaction between the agents in an asynchronous collaboration happens indirectly through the environment. Agents direct their actions via the perceived state change of their environment. On the other hand, during a synchronous collaboration agents have to act simultaneously and this requires an additional agreement about which actions should be executed. Although they both fit the characteristics of collaboration, the requirements for their implementation is quite different. Whereas agents in an asynchronous collaboration can be implemented as separate processes that act directly into the environment, the implementation of synchronous collaboration is more complex since it requires support for simultaneous actions. In the paper we give examples of both kinds of collaborations and outline the necessary support for their implementation.

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


Web Services Compositions Modelling and Choreographies Analysis In Rouached et al. (2006) and Rouached and Godart (2007) the authors described the semantics of WSBPEL by way of mapping each of the WSBPEL (Arkin et al., 2004) constructs to the EC algebra and building a model of the process behaviour. With these mapping rules, the authors describe a modelling approach of a process defined for a single Web service composition. However, this modelling is limited to a local view and can only be used to model the behaviour of a single process. The authors further the semantic mapping to include Web service composition interactions through modelling Web service conversations and their choreography. This paper elaborates the models to support a view of interacting Web service compositions extending the mapping from WSBPEL to EC, and including Web service interfaces (WSDL) for use in modelling between services. The verification and validation techniques are also exposed while automated induction-based theorem prover is used as verification back-end.

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

choreography
semantic mapping
verification and validation
web service composition


PnP problem revisited Perspective-n-Point camera pose determination, or the PnP problem, has attracted much attention in the literature. This paper gives a systematic investigation on the PnP problem from both geometric and algebraic standpoints, and has the following contributions: Firstly, we rigorously prove that the PnP problem under distance-based definition is equivalent to the PnP problem under orthogonal-transformation-based definition when n > 3, and equivalent to the PnP problem under rotation-transformation-based definition when n = 3. Secondly, we obtain the upper bounds of the number of solutions for the PnP problem under different definitions. In particular, we show that for any three non-collinear control points, we can always find out a location of optical center such that the P3P problem formed by these three control points and the optical center can have 4 solutions, its upper bound. Additionally a geometric way is provided to construct these 4 solutions. Thirdly, we introduce a depth-ratio based approach to represent the solutions of the whole PnP problem. This approach is shown to be advantageous over the traditional elimination techniques. Lastly, degenerated cases for coplanar or collinear control points are also discussed. Surprisingly enough, it is shown that if all the control points are collinear, the PnP problem under distance-based definition has a unique solution, but the PnP problem under transformation-based definition is only determined up to one free parameter.

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

perspective-n-point camera pose determination


Example-driven animation synthesis We introduce an easy and intuitive approach to create animations by assembling existing animations. Using our system, the user needs only to simply scribble regions of interest and select the example animations that he/she wants to apply. Our system will then synthesize a transformation for each triangle and solve an optimization problem to compute the new animation for this target mesh. Like playing a jigsaw puzzle game, even a novice can explore his/her creativity by using our system without learning complicated routines, but just using a few simple operations to achieve the goal.

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


Macroblock and Motion Feature Analysis to H.264/AVC Fast Inter Mode Decision One fast inter mode decision algorithm is proposed in this paper. The whole algorithm is divided into two stages. In the pre-stage, by exploiting spatial and temporal information of encoded macrobocks (MBs), a skip mode early detection scheme is proposed. The homogeneity of current MB is also analyzed to filter out small inter modes in this stage. Secondly, during the block matching stage, a motion feature based inter mode decision scheme is introduced by analyzing the motion vector predictor's accuracy, the block overlapping situation and the smoothness of SAD (sum of absolute difference) value. Moreover, the rate distortion cost is checked in an early stage and we set some constraints to speed up the whole decision flow. Experiments show that our algorithm can achieve a speed up factor of up to 53.4% for sequences with different motion type. The overall bit increment and quality degradation is negligible compared with existing works.

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


the design of parsers for incremental language processors An incremental language processor is one that accepts as input a sequence of substrings of the source language and maps them independently onto fragments in some object code. The ordered sequence of these object code fragments are then either compiled, in which case we have an incremental compiler, or interpreted. In the first case the advantage resulting is that subsequent changes in the source program entail only reprocessing the source fragments affected and recompiling the updated collection of object code fragments. In an environment where small changes are made frequently to large programs, e.g. debugging, the curtailment of reprocessing is attractive. In the second case the object code fragments are the actual run-time program representation, and hence inter-fragment relations are transiently evaluated as needed in the process of execution, with no long-term preservation of these relationships beyond the scope of their immediate need in execution time. This permits the possibility of program recomposition in the midst of execution, one of the principal characteristics of conversational computing. Many conversational language processors execute a program representation functionally analogous to parse trees, i.e. the syntax analysis of a fragment, insofar as it is possible, is done at fragment load time. This representation choice is popular because many of the expensive aspects of interpretation, including character string scanning, symbol table lookup, and parsing, are performed once only and do not contribute to the execution overhead. This paper is devoted to examining the question of the construction of such a parser in a general manner for an arbitrary source language.

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

parser input analysis maps design object trees case general paper representation incremental processor program character preservation relationships interpretation code language process sequence debugging parsing

collect computation timing scan strings change fragmentation aspect environments compilation


On the computation of all supported efficient solutions in multi-objective integer network flow problems This paper presents a new algorithm for identifying all supported non-dominated vectors (or outcomes) in the objective space, as well as the corresponding efficient solutions in the decision space, for multi-objective integer network flow problems. Identifying the set of supported non-dominated vectors is of the utmost importance for obtaining a first approximation of the whole set of non-dominated vectors. This approximation is crucial, for example, in two-phase methods that first compute the supported non-dominated vectors and then the unsupported non-dominated ones. Our approach is based on a negative-cycle algorithm used in single objective minimum cost flow problems, applied to a sequence of parametric problems. The proposed approach uses the connectedness property of the set of supported non-dominated vectors/efficient solutions to find all integer solutions in maximal non-dominated/efficient facets.

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

multi-objective linear and integer programming


Two-objective method for crisp and fuzzy interval comparison in optimization In real optimization we always meet two main groups of criteria: requirements of useful outcomes increasing or expenses decreasing and demands of lower uncertainty or, in other words, risk minimization. Therefore, it seems advisable to formulate optimization problem under conditions of uncertainty, at least, two-objective on the basis of local criteria of outcomes increasing or expenses reduction and risk minimization. Generally, risk may be treated as the uncertainty of obtained result. In the considered situation, the degree of risk (uncertainty) may be defined in a natural way through the width of final interval objective function at the point of optimum achieved. To solve the given problem, the two-objective interval comparison technique has been developed taking into account the probability of supremacy of one interval over the other one and relation of compared widths of intervals. To illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method, the simple examples of minimization of interval double-extreme discontinuous cost function and fuzzy extension of Rosenbrock's test function are presented.

O O O O O B I 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 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 B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 interval
interval comparison
optimization


Development of head detection and tracking systems for visual surveillance This paper proposes a technique for the detection of head nod and shake gestures based on eye tracking and head motion decision. The eye tracking step is divided into face detection and eye location. Here, we apply a motion segmentation algorithm that examines differences in moving peoples faces. This system utilizes a Hidden Markov Model-based head detection module that carries out complete detection in the input images, followed by the eye tracking module that refines the search based on a candidate list provided by the preprocessing module. The novelty of this paper is derived from differences in real-time input images, preprocessing to remove noises (morphological operators and so on), detecting edge lines and restoration, finding the face area, and cutting the head candidate. Moreover, we adopt a K-means algorithm for finding the head region. Real-time eye tracking extracts the location of eyes from the detected face region and is performed at close to a pair of eyes. After eye tracking, the coordinates of the detected eyes are transformed into a normalized vector of x-coordinate and y-coordinate. Head nod and shake detector uses three hidden Markov models (HMMs). HMM representation of the head detection can estimate the underlying HMM states from a sequence of face images. Head nod and shake can be detected by three HMMs that are adapted by a directional vector. The directional vector represents the direction of the head movement. The vector is HMMs for determining neutral as well as head nod and shake. These techniques are implemented on images, and notable success is notified.

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

head detection
eye location
hidden markov models


Scheduling of printed circuit board (PCB) assembly systems with heterogeneous processors using simulation-based intelligent optimization methods The complexity of printed circuit boards (PCBs), as an important sector of the electronics manufacturing industry, has increased over the last three decades. This paper focuses on a practical application observed at a PCB assembly line of electronics manufacturing facility. It is shown that this problem is equivalent to a flowshop scheduling with multiple heterogeneous batch processors where processors can perform multiple tasks as long as the sizes of jobs in a batch do not violate the processors capacity. The equivalent problem is mathematically formulated as a mixed integer programming model. Then, a Monte Carlo simulation is incorporated into high-level genetic algorithm-based intelligent optimization techniques to assess the performance of makespan-oriented system under uncertain processing times. At each iteration of algorithm, the output of simulator is used by optimizers to provide online feedbacks on the progress of the search and direct the search toward a promising solution zone. Furthermore, various parameters and operators of the algorithm are discussed and calibrated by means of Taguchi statistical technique. The result of extensive computational experiments shows that the solution approach gives high-quality solutions in reasonable computational time.

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

electronics manufacturing
pcb assembly
monte carlo simulation


Multi-agent systems with reinforcement hierarchical neuro-fuzzy models This paper introduces a new multi-agent model for intelligent agents, called reinforcement learning hierarchical neuro-fuzzy multi-agent system. This class of model uses a hierarchical partitioning of the input space with a reinforcement learning algorithm to overcome limitations of previous RL methods. The main contribution of the new system is to provide a flexible and generic model for multi-agent environments. The proposed generic model can be used in several applications, including competitive and cooperative problems, with the autonomous capacity to create fuzzy rules and expand their own rule structures, extracting knowledge from the direct interaction between the agents and the environment, without any use of supervised algorithms. The proposed model was tested in three different case studies, with promising results. The tests demonstrated that the developed system attained good capacity of convergence and coordination among the autonomous intelligent agents.

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

intelligent agents
reinforcement learning

multi-agent systems (mas)
hierarchical neuro-fuzzy


Possibilistic meanvariance models and efficient frontiers for portfolio selection problem In this paper, it is assumed that the rates of return on assets can be expressed by possibility distributions rather than probability distributions. We propose two kinds of portfolio selection models based on lower and upper possibilistic means and possibilistic variances, respectively, and introduce the notions of lower and upper possibilistic efficient portfolios. We also present an algorithm which can derive the explicit expression of the possibilistic efficient frontier for the possibilistic mean-variance portfolio selection problem dealing with lower bounds on asset holdings.

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

possibility theory
possibilistic mean
possibilistic variance
optimization


Millennials among the Professional Workforce in Academic Libraries: Their Perspective on Leadership This study explores possible leadership perceptions of Millennials working in academic libraries, specifically their definition, the attributes they associate with leadership, whether they want to assume formal leadership roles, whether they perceive themselves as leaders, and whether they perceive leadership opportunities within their organizations and LIS professional associations. An online survey was utilized to gather the responses and the study participants comprised of Millennials (born 1982 or after) currently working full-time in libraries that were a member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), a consortium of the Big Ten universities and the University of Chicago in 201112.

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

leadership millennials academic leaders perceptions


Mesh fusion using functional blending on topologically incompatible sections Three-dimensional mesh fusion provides an easy and fast way to create new mesh models from existing ones. We introduce a novel approach of mesh fusion in this paper based on functional blending. Our method has no restriction of disk-like topology or one-ring opening on the meshes to be merged. First of all, sections with boundaries of the under-fusing meshes are converted into implicit representations. An implicit transition surface, which joins the sections together while keeping smoothness at the boundaries, is then created based on cubic Hermite functional blending. Finally, the implicit surface is tessellated to form the resultant mesh. Our scheme is both efficient and simple, and with it users can easily construct interesting, complex 3D models.

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


Imaging spectrometry and asphalt road surveys This study integrates ground spectrometry, imaging spectrometry, and in situ pavement condition surveys for asphalt road assessment. Field spectra showed that asphalt aging and deterioration produce measurable changes in spectra as these surfaces undergo a transition from hydrocarbon dominated new roads to mineral dominated older roads. Several spectral measures derived from field and image spectra correlated well with pavement quality indicators. Spectral confusion between pavement material aging and asphalt mix erosion on the one hand, and structural road damages (e.g. cracking) on the other, poses some limits to remote sensing based mapping. Both the common practice methods (Pavement management system-PMS, in situ vehicle inspections), and analysis using imaging spectrometry are effective in identifying roads in good and very good condition. Variance and uncertainty in all survey data (PMS, in situ vehicle inspections, remote sensing) increases for road surfaces in poor condition and clear determination of specific (and expensive) surface treatment decisions remains problematic from these methods.

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

imaging spectrometry
pavement management
remote sensing

asphalt road survey
spectral library
hyperspectral


Conceptions of learning versus conceptions of web-based learning: The differences revealed by college students Past research has shown the variations of students' conceptions of learning, but little has been especially undertaken to address students' conceptions of web-based learning and to make comparisons between students' conceptions of learning in general and their conceptions of web-based learning in particular. By interviewing 83 Taiwanese college students with some web-based learning experiences, this study attempted to investigate the students' conceptions of learning, conceptions of web-based learning, and the differences between these conceptions. Using the phenomenographic method of analyzing student interview transcripts, several categories of conceptions of learning and of web-based learning were revealed. The analyses of interview results suggested that the conceptions of web-based learning were often more sophisticated than those of learning. For example, much more students conceptualized learning in web-based context as pursuing real understanding and seeing in a new way than those for learning in general. This implies that the implementation of web-based instruction may be a potential avenue for promoting students' conceptions of learning. By gathering questionnaire responses from the students, this study further found that the sophistication of the conceptions toward web-based learning was associated with better searching strategies as well as higher self-efficacy for web-based learning. (C) 2009 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 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

post-secondary education
distance education and telelearning


on the behaviour of weighted multi-recombination evolution strategies optimising noisy cigar functions Cigar functions are convex quadratic functions that are characterised by the presence of only two distinct eigenvalues of their Hessian, the smaller one of which occurs with multiplicity one. Their ridge-like topology makes them a useful test case for optimisation strategies. This paper extends previous work on modelling the behaviour of evolution strategies with isotropically distributed mutations optimising cigar functions by considering weighted recombination as well as the effects of noise on optimisation performance. It is found that the same weights that have previously been seen to be optimal for the sphere and parabolic ridge functions are optimal for cigar functions as well. The influence of the presence of noise on optimisation performance depends qualitatively on the trajectory of the search point, which in turn is determined by the strategy's mutation strength as well as its population size and recombination weights. Analytical results are obtained for the case of cumulative step length adaptation.

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

weighted recombination
cumulative step length adaptation
noise


Human emotion recognition from videos using spatio-temporal and audio features In this paper, we present human emotion recognition systems based on audio and spatio-temporal visual features. The proposed system has been tested on audio visual emotion data set with different subjects for both genders. The mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) and prosodic features are first identified and then extracted from emotional speech. For facial expressions spatio-temporal features are extracted from visual streams. Principal component analysis (PCA) is applied for dimensionality reduction of the visual features and capturing 97% of variances. Codebook is constructed for both audio and visual features using Euclidean space. Then occurrences of the histograms are employed as input to the state-of-the-art SVM classifier to realize the judgment of each classifier. Moreover, the judgments from each classifier are combined using Bayes sum rule (BSR) as a final decision step. The proposed system is tested on public data set to recognize the human emotions. Experimental results and simulations proved that using visual features only yields on average 74.15% accuracy, while using audio features only gives recognition average accuracy of 67.39%. Whereas by combining both audio and visual features, the overall system accuracy has been significantly improved up to 80.27%.

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

human computer interface (hci)
multimodal system
support vector machines (svm)
spatio-temporal features


Fortification of rice: technologies and nutrients This article provides a comprehensive review of the currently available technologies for vitamin and mineral rice fortification. It covers currently used technologies, such as coating, dusting, and the various extrusion technologies, with the main focus being on cold, warm, and hot extrusion technologies, including process flow, required facilities, and sizes of operation. The advantages and disadvantages of the various processing methods are covered, including a discussion on micronutrients with respect to their technical feasibility during processing, storage, washing, and various cooking methods and their physiological importance. The microstructure of fortified rice kernels and their properties, such as visual appearance, sensory perception, and the impact of different micronutrient formulations, are discussed. Finally, the article covers recommendations for quality control and provides a summary of clinical trials.

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

rice fortification
technologies
nutrients


A perceptual mapping procedure for analysis of proximity data to determine common and unique product-market structures Traditional techniques of perceptual mapping hypothesize that products are differentiated in a common perceptual space of attributes. This paper suggests that each product is differentiated not only in a common perceptual space, but also a unique perceptual space consisting of as many dimensions as the number of products. It provides a model and estimation procedure based on alternating least squares for estimating the model parameters.

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

product differentiation
product uniqueness
brand image
three-way data
multidimensional scaling
proximities