Relaxation of ACID properties in AuTrA, The adaptive user-defined transaction relaxing approach In this paper we introduce a new model for supporting transactions in a web environment. The model offers business benefits by increasing throughput of transactions. This is achieved by supporting the relaxation of various combinations of ACID properties according to the users requirements and the business needs. The model aims at improving transaction throughput at the same time as maintaining a reliable user service. A distinctive feature is that any or all of the ACID properties may be maintained or relaxed depending on user need. We tested the proposed model through various experiments and our results show that the proposed model is capable of increasing transaction throughput while supporting user and business needs.

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

adaptable architectures
computer supported cooperative work
transaction processing
user issues
web-based services


Flexible TDMA/WDMA passive optical network: Energy efficient next-generation optical access solution Access networks must further advance to address the intensification of the requirements of growing speeds and the usage of Internet applications, and time and wavelength division multiple access (TDMA/WDMA) based passive optical networks (TWDM-PONs) have been widely considered as one of the evolutionary steps of next-generation optical access (NGOA) networks. TWDM-PON combines the flexibility of TDMA with an increased capacity offered by the use of a WDM layer. Moreover, it offers interesting and challenging avenues to minimize energy consumption: especially, with current access networks consuming about 80% of the energy consumed in the Internet. Along with other efforts, reducing energy consumption of central offices is conspicuous as it directly minimizes the operational expenditures of network providers. In this paper, we explore the new paradigms to conserve energy at the central offices in TWDM-PONs. By extensive simulations, we evaluate the possible energy savings in the various flavors of TWDM-PON. Based on the findings, we propose a new architectural flavor of TWDM-PON and benchmark the architecture for cost, power consumption and reach. We also propose a novel energy saving scheme for the proposed architecture and evaluate the impact of the proposed algorithm on energy savings by extensive simulations. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

energy efficiency
pon architectures
tdma/wdma pon


Extraction of bibliography information based on the image of book cover This paper describes a new system for extracting and classifying bibliography regions from the color image of a book cover. The same as all the color image processing, the segmentation of color space is an essential and important step in our system; and here HSI color space is adopted rather than RGB color space. The color space is segmented into achromatic and chromatic regions first;; and the segmentation is completed after thresholding the intensity histogram of the achromatic region and the hue histogram of the chromatic region. Then text region extraction and classification follows. After detecting fundamental features (stroke width and local label width) text regions are determined by comparing smeared blocks to the original candidate image. Based on the general cover design model, text regions are classified into author region, title region, and publisher region furthermore, and a bibliography image is obtained as a result, without applying OCR. The appearance of the book is 3D reconstructed as well. In this paper, two examples are 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 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 B O B 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 B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

segmentation
achromatic
chromatic
text region


Usability evaluation methods for the web: A systematic mapping study ? In recent years, many usability evaluation methods (UEMs) have been employed to evaluate Web applications. However, many of these applications still do not meet most customers usability expectations and many companies have folded as a result of not considering Web usability issues. No studies currently exist with regard to either the use of usability evaluation methods for the Web or the benefits they bring. The objective of this paper is to summarize the current knowledge that is available as regards the usability evaluation methods (UEMs) that have been employed to evaluate Web applications over the last 14years. A systematic mapping study was performed to assess the UEMs that have been used by researchers to evaluate Web applications and their relation to the Web development process. Systematic mapping studies are useful for categorizing and summarizing the existing information concerning a research question in an unbiased manner. The results show that around 39% of the papers reviewed reported the use of evaluation methods that had been specifically crafted for the Web. The results also show that the type of method most widely used was that of User Testing. The results identify several research gaps, such as the fact that around 90% of the studies applied evaluations during the implementation phase of the Web application development, which is the most costly phase in which to perform changes. A list of the UEMs that were found is also provided in order to guide novice usability practitioners. From an initial set of 2703 papers, a total of 206 research papers were selected for the mapping study. The results obtained allowed us to reach conclusions concerning the state-of-the-art of UEMs for evaluating Web applications. This allowed us to identify several research gaps, which subsequently provided us with a framework in which new research activities can be more appropriately positioned, and from which useful information for novice usability practitioners can be extracted.

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

usability evaluation methods
web development
systematic mapping


A TWO-PHASED FUZZY MULTICRITERIA SELECTION AMONG PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENTS FOR POLICY-MAKING AND RISK GOVERNANCE Public transportation can be viewed as a key determinant and consequence of the social and spatial formation and development of contemporary cities and regions. Transportation policy generally combines four categories of instruments, i.e., investment, pricing, regulation and subsidy, to generate viable alternatives. Capital investment in public transportation supports the purchase of equipment and facilities including rolling stock, tracks, control equipment, and the construction of terminals, stations, parking lots, maintenance facilities and power generating facilities. Risk governance for public transportation investments looks at how risk-related decision-making unfolds when a range of actors is involved, requiring co-ordination and possibly reconciliation between a profusion of roles, perspectives, goals and activities. In this paper, a two-phased multicriteria methodology is proposed to select the best investment alternative for public transportation with respect to the predetermined criteria. In the first phase, a selection among transportation types is made, and in the second phase, a selection among transportation modes of the selected transportation type is made. A case study for Istanbul is given in the application section.

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

transportation investment
ahp
axiomatic design
policy making
fuzzy sets


A probabilistic model applied to emergency service vehicle location This paper is concerned with the formulation and the solution of a probabilistic model for determining the optimal location of facilities in congested emergency systems. The inherent uncertainty which characterizes the decision process is handled by a new stochastic programming paradigm which embeds the probabilistic constraints within the traditional two-stage framework. The resulting model drops simplifying assumptions on servers independence allowing at the same time to handle the spatial dependence of demand calls. An exact solution method and different tailored heuristics are presented to efficiently solve the problem. Computational experience is reported with application to various networks.

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


Cognitive complexity in data modeling: causes and recommendations Data modeling is a complex task for novice designers. This paper conducts a systematic study of cognitive complexity to reveal important factors pertaining to data modeling. Four major sources of complexity principles are identified: problem solving principles, design principles, information overload, and systems theory. The factors that lead to complexity are listed in each category. Each factor is then applied to the context of data modeling to evaluate if it affects data modeling complexity. Redundant factors from different sources are ignored, and closely linked factors are merged. The factors are then integrated to come up with a comprehensive list of factors. The factors that cannot largely be controlled are dropped from further analysis. The remaining factors are employed to develop a semantic differential scale for assessing cognitive complexity. The paper concludes with implications and recommendations on how to address cognitive complexity caused by data modeling.

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

data modeling
cognitive complexity
problem solving
design principles
information overload
systems theory


A Novel Low-Power Embedded Object Recognition System Working at Multi-Frames per Second One very important challenge in the field of multimedia is the implementation of fast and detailed Object Detection and Recognition systems. In particular, in the current state-of-the-art mobile multimedia systems, it is highly desirable to detect and locate certain objects within a video frame in real time. Although a significant number of Object Detection and Recognition schemes have been developed and implemented, triggering very accurate results, the vast majority of them cannot be applied in state-of-the-art mobile multimedia devices; this is mainly due to the fact that they are highly complex schemes that require a significant amount of processing power, while they are also time consuming and very power hungry. In this article, we present a novel FPGA-based embedded implementation of a very efficient object recognition algorithm called Receptive Field Cooccurrence Histograms Algorithm (RFCH). Our main focus was to increase its performance so as to be able to handle the object recognition task of today's highly sophisticated embedded multimedia systems while keeping its energy consumption at very low levels. Our low-power embedded reconfigurable system is at least 15 times faster than the software implementation on a low-voltage high-end CPU, while consuming at least 60 times less energy. Our novel system is also 88 times more energy efficient than the recently introduced low-power multi-core Intel devices which are optimized for embedded systems. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first system presented that can execute the complete complex object recognition task at a multi frame per second rate while consuming minimal amounts of energy, making it an ideal candidate for future embedded multimedia systems.

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

design
embedded design
computer vision
fpgas


Multitemporal fuzzy classification model based on class transition possibilities This paper proposes a new method to model temporal knowledge and to combine it with spectral and spatial knowledge within an integrated fuzzy automatic image classification framework for land-use land-cover map update applications. The classification model explores not only the object features, but also information about its class at a previous date. The method expresses temporal class dependencies by means of a transition diagram, assigning a possibility value to each class transition. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) carries out the class transition possibilities estimation. Temporal and spectral/spatial classification results are combined by means of fuzzy aggregation. The improvement achieved by the use of multitemporal knowledge rather than a pure monotemporal approach was assessed in a real application using LANDSAT images from Midwest Brazil. The experiments showed that the use of temporal knowledge markedly improved the classification performance, in comparison to a conventional single-time classification. A further observation was that multitemporal knowledge may subsume the knowledge related to steady spatial attributes whose values do not significantly change over time.

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

remote sensing
knowledge-base representation
multitemporal interpretation
fuzzy logic


Multidimensional analysis model for a document warehouse that includes textual measures A new multidimensional model that integrates text based on three textual measures. The granularity of proposed model is at document level. The model allows getting topics according to dimensions implied in the query. The model allows getting documents according to dimensions implied in the query. The model allows getting the words or terms for each topic.

O O O O O B I 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


A Newton-based approach for attributing tumor lethality in animal carcinogenicity studies A new Newton-based approach is proposed for finding the global maximum of a nonlinear function subject to various inequality constraints. This method can be applied to nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation problems to attribute tumor lethality in long-term carcinogenicity studies. This method is substantially faster and easier to implement than the Complex Method used in Ahn et al. (2000). This approach is very useful especially when there exist a large number of parameters of interest to be estimated and many nonlinear inequality constraints. A Monte Carlo simulation study is conducted to evaluate the computational efficiency and accuracy of the estimates obtained from the new approach. The advantages of using the Newton-based approach are illustrated with a real data set.

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

cause of death
inequality constraint
optimization
sacrifice


mesh-based content routing using xml We have developed a new approach for reliably multicasting time-critical data to heterogeneous clients over mesh-based overlay networks. To facilitate intelligent content pruning, data streams are comprised of a sequence of XML packets and forwarded by application-level XML routers. XML routers perform content-based routing of individual XML packets to other routers or clients based upon queries that describe the information needs of downstream nodes. Our PC-based XML router prototype can route an 18 Mbit per second XML stream.Our routers use a novel Diversity Control Protocol (DCP) for router-to-router and router-to-client communication. DCP reassembles a received stream of packets from one or more senders using the first copy of a packet to arrive from any sender. When each node is connected to n parents, the resulting network is resilient to ( n ? 1) router or independent link failures without repair. Associated mesh algorithms permit the system to recover to ( n ? 1) resilience after node and/or link failure. We have deployed a distributed network of XML routers that streams real-time air traffic control data. Experimental results show multiple senders improve reliability and latency when compared to tree-based networks.

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

communication
network
mesh
streams
use
router
air traffic control
control
failure
latency
reliability
diversity
prototype
resilience
data
routing
queries
distributed
sequence

tree
applications
data streaming
association
intelligence
multicast
timing
real-time
heterogeneity
linking
prune
contention
overlay network
experimentation
systems
information need
algorithm
critic


Oscillation of certain third-order difference equations Some new criteria for the oscillation of third-order difference equations of the form Delta (3)x(n) = p(n)Delta (2)x(n+m) + q(n)F(x(n-g), Deltax(n-h)) are presented. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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


Large deflection analysis of Reissner plate by boundary element method Geometrically nonlinear analysis of Reissner plates using the boundary element method is presented in this paper. The nonlinear terms are treated as body forces and a coupled boundary integral formulation for bending and two-dimensional plane stress elasticity is derived. The domain integrals resulting from nonlinear terms are transformed into boundary integrals using the dual reciprocity method. Increment technique for applied loads is developed to solve the nonlinear boundary integral equations. Two numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.

O O O O B I O B I 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

radial basis functions
large deformation


A multilevel local mesh refinement projection method for low Mach number flows This paper addresses a sub-problem of low Mach number reactive flows modelling: the solution of the mass and momentum balance equations for a pressure-independent variable density flow. For this objective, we develop a novel numerical scheme: the time discretisation is performed by an incremental projection method, using the original form of the mass balance equation for the projection step; the resulting two semi-discrete problems are then discretised in space by finite volumes on a MAC staggered mesh, with a multilevel local mesh refinement algorithm based on the Flux Interface Correction (FIC) method. The efficiency of this numerical scheme, which offers the opportunity to avoid computing with non-uniform grids or unstructured meshes, is assessed against a practical test case, specifically produced for this purpose. (C) 2002 IMACS. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

fic method
low mach number flows
multilevel local mesh refinement
projection method

finite volume scheme
variable density flows


Exploring e-learners perceptions of net-based peer-reviewed English writing This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a net-based peer review process for improving Chinese adult e-learners English writing ability. A class of 36 students participated in this study, which lasted one school year of two semesters. Participants were divided into three groups according to their English writing abilities at the beginning of the study. They attended regular synchronous classes and took writing assignments home. The feature of this experiment is that their writings were submitted for peers reviews from another group. At the end of each semester, an online writing contest was organized and all the participants took part in order to examine learning outcomes. A survey at the end of the study was also conducted to obtain students perceptions of the process. The result of the study shows that all the participants obtained satisfactory results, but the students with lower writing ability made more progress than those with higher ability. The finding also indicates that students with higher writing ability tend to become discouraged if they are grouped with lower-ability students for too long.

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

distance education
teaching/learning strategies
pedagogical issues


(Q,r,L) Inventory model with defective items This paper assumes that an arrival order lot may contain some defective items, and the number of defective items is a random variable. We derive a modified mixture inventory model with backorders and lost sales, in which the order quantity, the reorder point and the lead time are decision variables. in our studies, we first assume that the lead time demand follows a normal distribution, and then relax the assumption about the form of the distribution function of the lead time demand and apply the minimax distribution-free procedure to solve the problem. We develop an algorithm procedure to obtain the optimal ordering strategy. Furthermore, the effects of parameters are also included. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

crashing cost
minimax distribution-free procedure


Functional insights from molecular modeling, docking, and dynamics study of a cypoviral RNA dependent RNA polymerase Molecular modeling of a cypoviral RNA dependent RNA polymerase. Identification of important residues responsible for RNA synthesis. Docking of mRNA cap and RNA pentanucleotide and simulation analysis. Mechanism of de novo RNA synthesis.

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

rna dependent rna polymerase
molecular modeling

antheraea mylitta
cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus
double stranded rna virus
docking and simulation


Static frequency assignment in cellular networks A cellular network is generally modeled as a subgraph of the triangular lattice. In the static frequency assignment problem, each vertex of the graph is a base station in the network, and has associated with it an integer weight that represents the number of calls that must be served at the vertex by assigning distinct frequencies per call. The edges of the graph model interference constraints for frequencies assigned to neighboring stations. The static frequency assignment problem can be abstracted as a graph multicoloring problem. We describe an efficient algorithm to multicolor optimally any weighted even or odd length cycle representing a cellular network. This result is further extended to any outerplanar graph. For the problem of multicoloring an arbitrary connected subgraph of the triangular lattice, we demonstrate an approximation algorithm which guarantees that no more than 4/3 times the minimum number of required colors are used. Further, we show that this algorithm can be implemented in a distributed manner, where each station needs to have knowledge only of the weights at a small neighborhood.

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

frequency assignment
cellular networks
graph multicoloring

approximation algorithms
distributed algorithms


development of evaluation heuristics for web service user experience Positive user experience (UX), including its pragmatic and hedonic aspects, is a central design target for interactive products and services. Increasingly, Web services are developed for both PCs and mobile terminals to support user needs for media content management and social interaction. Even though many UX models have been developed over the last decade, the specific characteristics affecting UX of Web services have not been studied systematically. In this paper we present the first phase of our service UX study in which three Web services were evaluated by three UX experts each, using an initial set of service UX evaluation heuristics. We discuss how well these heuristics covered the positive and negative service UX evaluation findings, and how the heuristics and the expert evaluation approach of UX should be developed further.

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

expert evaluation
web services
evaluation heuristics


Fuzzy bilinear state feedback control design based on TS fuzzy bilinear model for DCDC converters This paper proposes a fuzzy bilinear state feedback controller based on TagakiSugeno (TS) fuzzy bilinear model for DCDC converters. The DCDC converters can be approximated to bilinear model via Taylor series expansion. For achieving the output voltage regulation, we formulate the extended system of bilinear DCDC converter model, one of whose state variables is the error between the output voltage and the reference output voltage. The extended system can be described to TS fuzzy bilinear model. We design a fuzzy bilinear state feedback controller to track the reference output voltage. The closed loop system is globally asymptotically stable via the proposed controller. Lyapunov theory is employed to guarantee the stability of the closed loop system. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the validity of our proposed control approach with comparative results.

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

ts fuzzy bilinear model
fuzzy bilinear state feedback control
dcdc converters


Achieving Guaranteed Anonymity in GPS Traces via Uncertainty-Aware Path Cloaking The integration of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and sensors into mobile devices has enabled collaborative sensing applications, which monitor the dynamics of environments through opportunistic collection of data from many users' devices. One example that motivates this paper is a probe-vehicle-based automotive traffic monitoring system, which estimates traffic congestion from GPS velocity measurements reported from many drivers. This paper considers the problem of achieving guaranteed anonymity in a locational data set that includes location traces from many users, while maintaining high data accuracy. We consider two methods to reidentify anonymous location traces, target tracking, and home identification, and observe that known privacy algorithms cannot achieve high application accuracy requirements or fail to provide privacy guarantees for drivers in low-density areas. To overcome these challenges, we derive a novel time-to-confusion criterion to characterize privacy in a locational data set and propose a disclosure control algorithm (called uncertainty-aware path cloaking algorithm) that selectively reveals GPS samples to limit the maximum time-to-confusion for all vehicles. Through trace-driven simulations using real GPS traces from 312 vehicles, we demonstrate that this algorithm effectively limits tracking risks, in particular, by eliminating tracking outliers. It also achieves significant data accuracy improvements compared to known algorithms. We then present two enhancements to the algorithm. First, it also addresses the home identification risk by reducing location information revealed at the start and end of trips. Second, it also considers heading information reported by users in the tracking model. This version can thus protect users who are moving in dense areas but in a different direction from the majority.

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

privacy
gps
traffic monitoring
anonymity
cloaking


A unified approach to linear estimation problems for nonstationary processes The linear least mean-square (LLMS) error estimation problem of a nonstationary signal corrupted by additive white noise is studied. The formulation of the problem is very general, in the sense that it deals with different estimation problems (smoothing, filtering, and prediction) involving correlation between the signal and the white noise and the possibility of estimating a linear operation (in quadratic mean) of the signal. The obtained solution is in the form of a suboptimum estimate and is derived by using the approximate series expansions for stochastic processes with the aim of solving the Wiener-Hopf equation in the general (nonstationary) case. The main characteristic of this new solution is that it can be computed efficiently using a recursive algorithm similar to the Kalman filter without requiring the signal to obey a state-space model.

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

approximate series representations of stochastic processes

linear least mean-square error estimation problems


Architectural enhancements for network congestion control applications Complex network protocols and various network services require significant processing capability for modern network applications. One of the important features in modern networks is differentiated service. Along with differentiated service, rapidly changing network environments result in congestion problems. In this paper, we analyze the characteristics of representative congestion control applications-scheduling and queue management algorithms, and we propose application-specific acceleration techniques that use instruction-level parallelism (ILP) and packet-level parallelism (PLP) in these applications. From the PLP perspective, we propose a hardware acceleration model based on detailed analysis of congestion control applications. In order to get large throughputs, a large number of processing elements (PEs) and a parallel comparator are designed. Such hardware accelerators provide large parallelism proportional to the number of processing elements added. A 32-PE enhancement yields 24x speedup for weighted fair queueing (WFQ) and 27x speedup for random early detection (RED). For ILP, new instruction set extensions for fast conditional operations are applied for congestion control applications. Based on our experiments, proposed architectural extensions show 10%-12% improvement in performance for instruction set enhancements. As the performance of general-purpose processors rapidly increases, defining architectural extensions (e.g., multi-media extensions (MMX) as in multimedia applications) for general-purpose processors could be an alternative solution for a wide range of network applications.

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

congestion control
hardware acceleration
parallelism


advertiser-centric approach to understand user click behavior in sponsored search Sponsored search is the major business model of commercial search engines. The number of clicks on ads is a key indicator of success for both advertisers and search engines, and increasing ad clicks is a goal of both of them. Many existing works stand on the view of search engines concerning how to help search engines to earn more revenue by accurately predicting ad clicks. Unlike the existing works, this paper aims at understanding user clicks on ads from "the view of advertisers", in order to help advertisers to improve their ad quality and therefore advertising effectiveness. To do this, a factor graph model is proposed, which considers two advertiser-controllable factors to understand user click behaviors: the relevance between a query and an ad, which has been well studied in previous literatures, and the "attractiveness" of the ad, which is a newly-proposed concept. The proposed model can be used to predict user clicks and also to mine a set of attractive words that could be leveraged to improve the quality of the ads. We have verified the effectiveness of the proposed approach using real-world datasets, through quantitative evaluations and informative case studies.

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


A new vision-based approach to differential spraying in precision agriculture One of the objectives of precision agriculture is to minimize the volume of herbicides by using site-specific weed management systems. To reach this goal, two major factors need to be considered: (1) the similarity of spectral signatures, shapes, and textures between weeds and crops and (2) irregular distribution of weeds within the crop. This paper outlines an automatic computer vision method for detecting Avena sterilis, a noxious weed growing in cereal crops, and differential spraying to control the weed. The proposed method determines the quantity and distribution of weeds in the crop fields and applies a decision-making strategy for selective spraying, which forms the main focus of the paper. The method consists of two stages: image segmentation and decision-making. The image segmentation process extracts cells from the image as the low-level units. The quantity and distribution of weeds in the cell are mapped as area and structural based attributes, respectively. From these attributes, a multicriteria decision-making approach under a fuzzy context allows us to decide whether any given cell needs to be sprayed. The method was compared with other existing strategies.

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

precision agriculture
image segmentation

machine vision
weed detection
multicriteria decision-making


Impulsively control complex networks with different dynamical nodes to its trivial equilibrium ? This paper investigates the stability of complex networks with different dynamical nodes by impulsive control. A model of complex network with different dynamical nodes is presented and then the impulsive controlled network is written as a whole vector equation. Specially, the coupling matrix in this model is not assumed to be diffusive or irreducible. Some criteria and corollary are derived for the presented impulsive controlled complex networks. Furthermore, the results are illustrated by a complex network composed of the chaotic Lorenz systems and Chuas circuit systems. All the numerical simulations verify the correctness of the theoretical results.

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

complex networks
impulsive control
different dynamical nodes
chuas circuit


Automatic band detection on pulsed-field gel electrophoresis images Automatic band detection is important for molecular subtyping on gel images. Automatic band detection has been conducted for many years, but only a few incomplete systems have been proposed. Here, we propose a completely automatic band detection system for pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) images. The proposed approach mainly comprises lane segmentation and band extraction. In lane segmentation, we characterized the structural features and the spatial distribution of bands in PFGE images to fit pairs of parallel lines. In band extraction, a polynomial fitting method was used to remove the uneven background in a lane; we then used local gradient information to split the stuck bands and extract all bands in every lane. We compared the results with existing semiautomatic methods based on 20 varied PFGE images. The proposed method was shown to be superior to previous methods in most cases; moreover, the proposed approach is a completely automatic processing method.

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

automatic detection
image segmentation
pulsed-field gel electrophoresis


A unified framework for adaptive filter algorithms with variable step-size Employing a recently introduced framework within which a large number of classical and modern adaptive filter algorithms can be viewed as special cases, we extend this framework to cover block normalized LMS (BNLMS) and normalized data reusing LMS (NDRLMS) adaptive filter algorithms. Accordingly, we develop a generic variable step-size adaptive filter. Variable step-size normalized LMS (VSSNLMS) and VSS affine projection algorithms (VSSAPA) are particular examples of adaptive algorithms covered by this generic variable step-size adaptive filter. In this paper we introduce two new VSS adaptive filter algorithms named the variable step-size BNLMS (VSSBNLMS) and the variable step-size NDRLMS (VSSNDRLMS) based on the generic VSS adaptive filter. The proposed algorithms show the higher convergence rate and lower steady-state mean square error compared to the ordinary BNLMS and NDRLMS algorithms. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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 B I I O O B I I I 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 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

adaptive filter
unified framework
block normalized lms
normalized data reusing lms


Tunneling performance prediction using an integrated GIS and neural network This paper presents the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) as an alternative tool for tunneling performance prediction required in routine tunnel design works. The proposed approach involves the development of ANNs using calibrated finite element models so that the trained ANNs can establish relationships between tunneling conditions and performance in terms of stability as well as impact on surrounding environment for a particular tunneling site. A novel feature of the proposed procedure is an ability to expedite the tunneling performance assessment process that otherwise requires significant time and effort, thus facilitating routine tunnel design works. The methodology was implemented using an urban high-speed railway tunnel design project to demonstrate its potential for use as a tunnel design tool. It is shown that ANNs, when generalized by the results of finite element analyses (FEAs), can make relevant predictions for routine design work with a comparable degree of accuracy of the FEA. This paper describes the concept and details of the proposed approach and its implementation to an urban tunnel design.

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

finite element method
geographical information system


Effect of bearing preloads on the modal characteristics of a shaft-bearing assembly: Experiments on double row angular contact ball bearings This article investigates the role of bearing preloads on the modal characteristics of a shaft-bearing assembly with a double row angular contact ball bearing. First, an analytical model is developed to comparatively evaluate the effects of axial bearing preloads on the vibratory responses of alternate double row configurations. The analytical model includes bearings via a five dimensional stiffness matrix. Changes in the resonant amplitudes with respect to the bearing preloads are examined for preload-independent and preload-dependent viscous damping models. The bearing preloads significantly affect the vibration characteristics of the shaft-bearing assembly due to major changes in both diagonal and off-diagonal elements of the stiffness matrix, and such effects depend on the bearing configuration. Second, a new experiment consisting of a vehicle wheel bearing assembly with a double row angular contact ball bearing in a back-to-back arrangement is designed. The bearing is subjected to axial or radial preloads in a controlled manner. Experiments with two preloading mechanisms show that the nature and extent of the bearing preloads considerably affect the natural frequencies and resonant amplitudes, thus influencing the vibration behavior of the bearing assembly. Finally, the new bearing stiffness model is validated using measurements from the modal experiment. Suggestions for further work are briefly discussed.

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

bearing dynamics
automotive wheel bearings


iterative-free program analysis Program analysis is the heart of modern compilers. Most control flow analyses are reduced to the problem of finding a fixed point in a certain transition system, and such fixed point is commonly computed through an iterative procedure that repeats tracing until convergence.This paper proposes a new method to analyze programs through recursive graph traversals instead of iterative procedures, based on the fact that most programs (without spaghetti GOTO) have well-structured control flow graphs, graphs with bounded tree width . Our main techniques are; an algebraic construction of a control flow graph, called SP Term , which enables control flow analysis to be defined in a natural recursive form, and the Optimization Theorem , which enables us to compute optimal solution by dynamic programming.We illustrate our method with two examples; dead code detection and register allocation. Different from the traditional standard iterative solution, our dead code detection is described as a simple combination of bottom-up and top-down traversals on SP Term. Register allocation is more interesting, as it further requires optimality of the result. We show how the Optimization Theorem on SP Terms works to find an optimal register allocation as a certain dynamic programming.

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

tree width
program analysis
control flow graph
sp term
dynamic programming
register allocation


on legalization of row-based placements Cell overlaps in the results of global placement are guaranteed to prevent successful routing. However, common techniques for fixing these problems may endanger routing in a different way --- through increased wirelength and congestion. We evaluate several such techniques with routability of row-based placements in mind, and propose new ones that, in conjunction with our detail placer, improve overall routability and routed wirelength. Our generic two-phase approach for resolving illegal placements calls for (i) balancing the numbers of cells in rows, (ii) removing overlaps within rows through a generic dynamic programming procedure. Relevant objectives include minimum total perturbation, minimum wirelength increase and minimum maximum movement. Additionally, we trace cell overlaps in min-cut placement to vertical cuts and show that, if bisection cut directions are varied, overlaps anti-correlate with improved wirelength.Empirical validation is performed using placers Capo and Cadence QPlace, followed by various legalizers and detail placers, with subsequent routing by Cadence WarpRoute. We use a number of IBMv2 benchmarks with routing information. Our legalizer reduces both Capo and QPlace placements' wirelength by up to 4\% compared to results of Capo legalized by Cadence's QPlace in the ECO mode.

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

use
movement
legalization
placement
routing
dynamic programming
congestion
global
generic

traces
benchmark
min-cut placement
object
direct
relevance
detailed placement
informal
evaluation


Error-correcting codes and B-h-sequences We construct error-correcting (nonlinear) binary codes using a construction of Bose and Chowla in additive number theory. Our method extends a construction of Graham and Sloane for constant weight codes. The new codes improve 1028 of the 7168 best known h-error-correcting codes of word length less than or equal to 512 with 1 less than or equal to h less than or equal to 14. We give asymptotical comparisons to shortened Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes.

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


A practical approach for efficiently answering top-k relational queries An increasing number of application areas now rely on obtaining the best matches to a given query as opposed to exact matches sought by traditional transactions. This type of exploratory querying (also called top-k querying) can significantly improve the performance of web-based applications such as consumer reviews, price comparisons and recommendations for products/services. Due to the lack of support for specialized indexes and/or data structures in relational database management systems (RDBMSs), recent research has focused on utilizing summary statistics (histograms) maintained by RDBMSs for translating the top-k request into a traditional range query. Because the RDBMS query engines are already optimized for execution of range queries, such approach has both practical as well as efficiency advantages. In this paper, we review the strengths and weaknesses of common histogram construction techniques with regard to their structural characteristics, accuracy in approximating the true distribution of the underlying data, and implications for top-k retrieval. We also present our top-k retrieval strategy (Query-Level Optimal Cost Strategy QLOCS) and demonstrate its histogram-independent performance. Based on comparative experimental and statistical analyses with the best-known histogram-based strategy in the literature, we show that QLOCS is not only more efficient but also provides more consistent performance across commonly used histogram types in RDBMSs.

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

similarity search
top-k query
uncertainty modeling


A study on the comparison of CMP performance between a novel alkaline slurry and a commercial slurry for barrier removal Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is a vital process for the fabrication of advanced copper multilevel interconnects schemes. The formidable challenge in barrier CMP is that the copper lines suffer from dishing and erosion. There have been several efforts to reduce both dishing and erosion by extensive experimental investigations. However, most of the slurries applied in CMP processes are acidic and containing some kinds of inhibitors. In this paper, we have proposed a novel alkaline slurry without any inhibitors (namely slurry A) for barrier CMP and investigated its CMP performance by comparison with a commercial slurry (namely slurry B). The CMP performance is evaluated in terms of surface roughness, dishing and erosion values. The CMP results obtained from the roughness maps of copper blanket wafers show that the Cu films polished by slurry A has lower surface roughness values and good surface quality than that polished by slurry B. CMP data obtained from patterned wafers show that the amounts of dishing increases with the increment of line width, while the erosion has a slight decrease with increasing line width, the tendency is apparently the same by using the two different slurries, but slurry A provides a lower dishing and erosion values. The root mean square (RMS) roughness within 1010?m2 area of copper lines after being polished by slurry A and slurry B is 0.125 and 0.225nm, respectively. By comparison, the alkaline barrier slurry has a good planarization performance and can be useful for barrier CMP.

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

barrier cmp
novel alkaline slurry
by comparison
surface roughness
dishing
erosion


Super-Resolution: A Short Review, A New Method Based on Hidden Markov Modeling of HR Image and Future Challenges Super-resolution (SR) is the area of research and development which produces one or a set of high-resolution images from one or a set of low-resolution frames. In this paper, first, a short review of a variety of SR problems is presented. Then, starting by a single input single output case, we present different forward modeling of 1D or 2D SR problems. We focus then on the multi input single output and multi input multi output SR problems and provide a summary of recent contributions to them. Then, the SR problem is considered as an inverse problem. A general forward-modeling and inversion framework is presented, which gives the possibility to understand the basics of several classical SR methods and to discuss some important open problems of SR. Specifically, we discuss a different forward modeling, which leads to different classical methods and present our recent inversion methods based on the Bayesian estimation with different prior modeling. In particular, we give the details of a new method, particularly appropriate for piecewise homogeneous images, which provides not only an SR image, but also simultaneously an optimal segmentation of an HR image. Some comparisons of the relative performances of these methods are also presented. Finally, some future challenges in SR are outlined and discussed.

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

super-resolution
motion estimation
robust estimation
regularization
miso
mimo


Application of non-negative matrix factorization combined with Fisher's linear discriminant analysis for classification of olive oil excitation-emission fluorescence spectra Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is a technique that decomposes multivariate data into a smaller number of basis functions and encodings using non-negative constraints. These constraints make that only positive solutions can be obtained and thus this method provides a more realistic approximation to the original data than other factorization methods that allow positive and negative values. Here we show that NMF is a powerful technique for learning a meaningful parts-based representation of the fluorescence excitation-emission matrices (EEMs) of different sets of olive oils. The capabilities of NW used together with Fisher's LDA for discriminating between various types of oils were also studied. In all cases, good classifications were obtained (90-100%). The classification results obtained with the proposed method were compared to those obtained using two other classification methods (parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) combined with Fisher's LDA and discriminant multi-way partial least squares regression (DN-PLSR)). (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

non-negative matrix factorization
fisher's linear discriminant analysis


PSABC: A hybrid algorithm based on particle swarm and artificial bee colony for high-dimensional optimization problems A hybrid algorithm (PSABC) based on PSO and ABC is proposed. PSABC examines the aging degree of pbest to decide which type of search phase. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) serves as a local search phase. Onlooker and modified scout bee from the ABC serves as two global search phases. Our algorithm is effective in solving high-dimensional optimization problems.

O O B I 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 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

particle swarm optimization
artificial bee colony
hybrid algorithm


Baldwinian learning utilizing genetic and heuristic algorithms for logic synthesis and minimization of incompletely specified data with Generalized ReedMuller (ANDEXOR) forms This research applies a new heuristic combined with a genetic algorithm (GA) to the task of logic minimization for incompletely specified data, with both single and multi-outputs, using the Generalized ReedMuller (GRM) equation form. The GRM equation type is a canonical expression of the Exclusive-Or Sum-of-Products (ESOPs) type, in which for every subset of input variables there exists not more than one term with arbitrary polarities of all variables. This ANDEXOR implementation has been shown to be economical, generally requiring fewer gates and connections than that of ANDOR logic. GRM logic is also highly testable, making it desirable for FPGA designs. The minimization results of this new algorithm tested on a number of binary benchmarks are given. This minimization algorithm utilizes a GA with a two-level fitness calculation, which combines human-designed heuristics with the evolutionary process, employing Baldwinian learning. In this algorithm, first a pure GA creates certain constraints for the selection of chromosomes, creating only genotypes (polarity vectors). The phenotypes (GRMs) are then learned in the environment and contribute to the GA fitness (which is the total number of terms of the best GRM for each output), providing indirect feedback as to the quality of the genotypes (polarity vectors) but the genotype chromosomes (polarity vectors) remain unchanged. In this process, the improvement in genotype chromosomes (polarity vectors) is the product of the evolutionary processes from the GA only. The environmental learning is achieved using a human-designed GRM minimization heuristic. As much previous research has presented the merit of ANDEXOR logic for its high density and testability, this research is the first application of the GRM (a canonical ANDEXOR form) to the minimization of incompletely specified data.

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

andexor forms
logic synthesis and minimization
baldwinian learning

incompletely specified generalized reedmuller forms


score adjustment for correction of pooling bias Information retrieval systems are evaluated against test collections of topics, documents, and assessments of which documents are relevant to which topics. Documents are chosen for relevance assessment by pooling runs from a set of existing systems. New systems can return unassessed documents, leading to an evaluation bias against them. In this paper, we propose to estimate the degree of bias against an unpooled system, and to adjust the system's score accordingly. Bias estimation can be done via leave-one-out experiments on the existing, pooled systems, but this requires the problematic assumption that the new system is similar to the existing ones. Instead, we propose that all systems, new and pooled, be fully assessed against a common set of topics, and the bias observed against the new system on the common topics be used to adjust scores on the existing topics. We demonstrate using resampling experiments on TREC test sets that our method leads to a marked reduction in error, even with only a relatively small number of common topics, and that the error decreases as the number of topics increases.

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


A piecewise linear chaotic map and sequential quadratic programming based robust hybrid particle swarm optimization This paper presents a novel robust hybrid particle swarm optimization (RHPSO) based on piecewise linear chaotic map (PWLCM) and sequential quadratic programming (SQP). The aim of the present research is to develop a new single-objective optimization approach which requires no adjustment of its parameters for both unconstrained and constrained optimization problems. This novel algorithm makes the best of ergodicity of PWLCM to help PSO with the global search while employing the SQP to accelerate the local search. Five unconstrained benchmarks, eighteen constrained benchmarks and three engineering optimization problems from the literature are solved by using the proposed hybrid approach. The simulation results compared with other state-of-art methods demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed RHPSO for both unconstrained and constrained problems of different dimensions.

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

particle swarm optimization
sequential quadratic programming
piecewise linear chaotic map
constrained optimization


structure and content of service courses in computer science for other disciplines The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the problems with, hopefully, some suggestions or lessons learned from past experiences to provide guidelines for workable solutions to these problems. Some universities, including the one where I am presently employed, permit graduate students in doctoral programs to take two courses in statistics and two courses in Computer Science in lieu of a satisfactory knowledge of two foreign languages. The courses in Computer Science and statistics are referred to as research tool courses.

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

computer science
tool
statistics
structure
knowledge
paper

program contention experience guideline language student


On the advice complexity of the online L(2,1) L ( 2 , 1 ) -coloring problem on paths and cycles ? In an L(2,1) L ( 2 , 1 ) -coloring of a graph, the vertices are colored with colors from an ordered set such that neighboring vertices get colors that have distance at least 2 and vertices at distance 2 in the graph get different colors. We consider the problem of finding an L(2,1) L ( 2 , 1 ) -coloring using a minimum range of colors in an online setting where the vertices arrive in consecutive time steps together with information about their neighbors and vertices at distance 2 among the previously revealed vertices. For this, we restrict our attention to paths and cycles. Offline, paths can easily be colored within the range {0,,4} { 0 , , 4 } of colors. We prove that, considering deterministic algorithms in an online setting, the range {0,,6} { 0 , , 6 } is necessary and sufficient while a simple greedy strategy needs range {0,,7} { 0 , , 7 } . Advice complexity is a recently developed framework to measure the complexity of online problems. The idea is to measure how many bits of advice about the yet unknown parts of the input an online algorithm needs to compute a solution of a certain quality. We show a sharp threshold on the advice complexity of the online L(2,1) L ( 2 , 1 ) -coloring problem on paths and cycles. While achieving color range {0,,6} { 0 , , 6 } does not need any advice, improving over this requires a number of advice bits that is linear in the size of the input. Thus, the L(2,1) L ( 2 , 1 ) -coloring problem is the first known example of an online problem for which sublinear advice does not help. We further use our advice complexity results to prove that no randomized online algorithm can achieve a better expected competitive ratio than 5 4 ( 1 ? ? ) , for any ?>0 ? > 0 .

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

online coloring
frequency assignment
randomized algorithms


Interval type-2 fuzzy PID load frequency controller using Big Bang-Big Crunch optimization This paper proposes an optimization based design methodology of interval type-2 fuzzy PID (IT2FPID) controllers for the load frequency control (LFC) problem. Hitherto, numerous fuzzy logic control structures are proposed as a solution of LFC. However, almost all of these solutions use type-1 fuzzy sets that have a crisp grade of membership. Power systems are large scale complex systems with many different uncertainties. In order to handle these uncertainties, in this study, type-2 fuzzy sets, which have a grade of membership that is fuzzy, have been used. Interval type-2 fuzzy sets are used in the design of a load frequency controller for a four area interconnected power system, which represents a large power system. The Big Bang-Big Crunch (BB-BC) algorithm is applied to tune the scaling factors and the footprint of uncertainty (FOU) membership functions of interval type-2 fuzzy PID (IT2FPID) controllers to minimize frequency deviations of the system against load disturbances. BB-BC is a global optimization algorithm and has a low computational cost, a high convergence speed, and is therefore very efficient when the number of optimization parameters is high as presented in this study. In order to show the benefits of IT2FPID controllers, a comparison to conventional type-1 fuzzy PID (T1FPID) controllers and conventional PID controllers is given for the four-area interconnected power system. The gains of conventional PID and T1FPID controllers are also optimized using the BB-BC algorithm. Simulation results explicitly show that the performance of the proposed optimum IT2FPID load frequency controller is superior compared to the conventional T1FPID and PID controller in terms of overshoot, settling time and robustness against different load disturbances. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

interval type-2 fuzzy pid controllers
big bang-big crunch optimization


SOME PROPERTIES OF PARTIAL FIDELITIES Basic properties of Uhlmann's partial fidelities are discussed. Statistical interpretation in terms of POVM measurements is established. Multiplicativity properties are considered. The relationship between partial fidelities and partitioned trace distances is derived. As it; is shown, the partial fidelities cannot decrease under unistochastic quantum operations. Thus, the partial fidelities have good properties in the sense of their use AS distinguishability measures.

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

quantum fidelity
ky fan's maximum principle
quantum measurement
sub-multiplicativity
quantum operation


Blog search engines Purpose - The purpose of this article is to explore the capabilities and limitations of weblog search engines. Design/methodology/approach - The features of a range of current blog search engines are described. These are then discussed and illustrated with examples that illustrate the reliability and coverage limitations of blog searching. Findings - Although blog searching is a useful new technique, the results are sensitive to the choice of search engine, the parameters used and the date of the search. The quantity of spam also varies by search engine and search type. Research limitations/implications - The results illustrate blog search evaluation methods and do not use a full-scale scientific experiment. Originality/value - Blog searching is a new technique, and one that is significantly different from web searching. Hence information professionals need to understand its strengths and weaknesses.

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

information retrieval
information services


Dynamic Output Feedback Predictive Control for Nonlinear Systems Represented by a Takagi-Sugeno Model This paper addresses the output feedback predictive control for a Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy system with bounded noise. The controller optimizes an infinite-horizon objective function respecting the input and state constraints. The control law is parameterized as a dynamic output feedback that is dependent on the membership functions, and the closed-loop stability is specified by the notion of quadratic boundedness. Online algorithms that guarantee the recursive feasibility of the convex optimization problem and the convergence of the augmented state to a neighborhood of the equilibrium point are proposed in this paper. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed output feedback controllers.

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 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

linear matrix inequality (lmi)
model predictive control (mpc)
quadratic boundedness (qb)
takagi-sugeno (t-s) fuzzy model


Coefficients for studying one-step rational schemes for IVPs in ODEs: III. Extrapolation methods This paper considers extrapolation of rational methods for the numerical solution of initial value problems (IVPs) in ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The extrapolation code, DIFEX2 of Fatunla [1], which is a modification of the automatic extrapolation code, DIFEXI of Deuflhard [2], is further modified to accommodate the basic integrators. The extrapolation method which we refer to as DIFEX2+ for reference purposes is compared with results from DIFEXI and DIFEX2, and GBS extrapolation method. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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


Nouse use your nose as a mouse perceptual vision technology for hands-free games and interfaces Due to recent increase of computer power and decrease of camera cost, it became very common to see a camera on top of a computer monitor. This paper presents the vision-based technology which allows one in such a setup to significantly enhance the perceptual power of the computer. The described techniques for tracking a face using a convex-shape nose feature as well as for face-tracking with two off-the-shelf cameras allow one to track faces robustly and precisely in both 2D and 3D with low resolution cameras. Supplemented by the mechanism for detecting multiple eye blinks, this technology provides a complete solution for building intelligent hands-free input devices. The theory behind the technology is presented. The results from running several perceptual user interfaces built with this technology are shown.

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


A co-evolutionary complex systems perspective on information systems The co-evolution of information systems (IS) and the processes that underpin the construction and development of IT systems are explained from a complex systems perspective. Evolution operates at the microscopic level; in organizations, this is the individual or agent. Each agent has an idiosyncratic view of the organization, using to some extent personal constructs in dealing with the reality of organizational life. These objects or constructs can be described and measured by most agents; they are well defined. Many of these objects are represented in electronic, IT systems. Each agent also has their own view as to how they know what they know, that is, their epistemology, which we argue is their IS, and is wider than the IT systems they use. The IS of each agent co-evolves, by interaction with other agents, based on the agent's view of reality. The interaction of all agents constitutes the organization. Even more importantly, different values and interests motivate each agent. This is their axiology and it is what motivates them to learn and to develop their IS. An agent-based axiological framework is essential to understanding the evolution of organizations. It is the interaction of agents that builds consensus as to the shared reality of the organization, and this affects each agent's ability and motivation to evolve IS further. In addition, we propose that it is time that IT systems included modelling capabilities, based on multi-agent representations of the organization and its context, to explore and support strategic thinking and decision making.

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

information systems
epistemology
axiology

complexity science
ontology
agent-based modelling


Dynamic packaging in e-retailing with stochastic demand over finite horizons: A Q-learning approach This paper investigates how intelligent an agent may utilize a Q-learning approach, a simulation-based stochastic technique, to make optimal dynamic packaging decision in e-retailing setting. When the practical application of dynamic packaging involves a large number of products, normal Q-learning approach would encounter two major problems due to excessively large state space. First, learning the Q-values in tabular form may be infeasible because of the excessive amount of memory needed to store the table. Second, rewards in the state space may be so sparse that with random exploration they will only be discovered extremely slowly. This paper first describes the state-dependent and event-driven nature of the dynamic packaging problem with a Markov decision process model, then proposes a states generalization approach based on distortion measure, and finally puts forward a heuristic based exploration/exploitation policy which is used to improve the convergence in Q-learning. We validate our approach in a simulated test.

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


steady and fair rate allocation for rechargeable sensors in perpetual sensor networks Renewable energy enables sensor networks with the capability to recharge and provide perpetual data services. Due to low recharging rates and the dynamics of renewable energy such as solar and wind power, providing services without interruptions caused by battery runouts is non-trivial. Most environment monitoring applications require data collection from all nodes at a steady rate. The objective of this paper is to design a solution for fair and high throughput data extraction from all nodes in presence of renewable energy sources. Specifically, we seek to compute the lexicographically maximum data collection rate for each node, such that no node will ever run out of energy. We propose a centralized algorithm and an asynchronous distributed algorithm that can compute the optimal lexicographic rate assignment for all nodes. The centralized algorithm jointly computes the optimal data collection rate for all nodes along with the flows on each link, while the distributed algorithm computes the optimal rate when the routes are pre-determined. We prove the optimality for both the centralized and the distributed algorithms, and use a testbed with 155 sensor nodes to validate the distributed algorithm.

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

sensor
distributed algorithms
applications
use
design
throughput
presence
paper
rate assignment
optimality
data collection
data extraction
energy
testbed
data
power
algorithm
allocation

batteries
computation
centrality
sensor networks
object
service
rechargeable sensor networks
linking
environments
asynchronicity
dynamic
assignment
interrupt
routing
monitor


A Functional Verification Methodology Based on Parameter Domains for Efficient Input Stimuli Generation and Coverage Modeling Modern Integrated Circuit (IC) design is characterized by a strong trend of Intellectual Property (IP) core integration into complex system-on-chip (SOC) architectures. These cores require thorough verification of their functionality to avoid erroneous behavior in the final device. Formal verification methods are capable of detecting any design bug. However, due to state explosion, their use remains limited to small circuits. Alternatively, simulation-based verification can explore hardware descriptions of any size, although the corresponding stimulus generation, as well as functional coverage definition, must be carefully planned to guarantee its efficacy. In general, static input space optimization methodologies have shown better efficiency and results than, for instance, Coverage Directed Verification (CDV) techniques, although they act on different facets of the monitored system and are not exclusive. This work presents a constrained-random simulation-based functional verification methodology where, on the basis of the Parameter Domains (PD) formalism, irrelevant and invalid test case scenarios are removed from the input space. To this purpose, a tool to automatically generate PD-based stimuli sources was developed. Additionally, we have developed a second tool to generate functional coverage models that fit exactly to the PD-based input space. Both the input stimuli and coverage model enhancements, resulted in a notable testbench efficiency increase, if compared to testbenches with traditional stimulation and coverage scenarios: 22% simulation time reduction when generating stimuli with our PD-based stimuli sources (still with a conventional coverage model), and 56% simulation time reduction when combining our stimuli sources with their corresponding, automatically generated, coverage models.

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

functional verification
functional coverage
parameter domains

system-on-chip
random-constrained simulation
testbench code automation


A study of crowdsourced segment-level surgical skill assessment using pairwise rankings Currently available methods for surgical skills assessment are either subjective or only provide global evaluations for the overall task. Such global evaluations do not inform trainees about where in the task they need to perform better. In this study, we investigated the reliability and validity of a framework to generate objective skill assessments for segments within a task, and compared assessments from our framework using crowdsourced segment ratings from surgically untrained individuals and expert surgeons against manually assigned global rating scores.

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

robotic surgery
training
feedback
task flow
crowdsourcing
pairwise comparisons
activity segments
task decomposition


Quantitative relationships between molecular structures, environmental temperatures and octanolair partition coefficients of polychlorinated biphenyls A quantitative model that incorporates information on both environmental temperatures (T) and molecular structures, for logarithm of octanolair partition coefficient to base 10 (logKOA) of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was developed. Partial least squares (PLS) analysis together with 16 theoretical molecular structural descriptors was used to develop the Quantitative relationships between structures, environmental temperatures and properties (QRSETP) model. The cross-validated Qcum2 value for the optimal QRSETP model is 0.976, indicating a good predictive ability for logKOA of PCBs at different environmental temperatures. T, ELUMO (the energy of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital), molecular size or average molecular polarizability (?), and the net atomic charges on chlorine, hydrogen and carbon atoms of PCB molecules, are major factors governing logKOA. The lower the ELUMO, the greater the intermolecular interactions between octanol and PCB molecules, and thus the greater the logKOA values. Because of intermolecular dispersive forces, the more chlorine atoms in PCB molecules, the greater the molecular size or ?, the greater the logKOA. The largest negative net atomic charge on a carbon atom (qC?) and molecular size or average molecular polarizability (?) are major factors governing temperature dependence of logKOA. PCB molecules with low qC? values and more chlorines (big size or ?) tend to have strong temperature dependence, due to intermolecular electrostatic interactions and dispersive forces, respectively.

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


Morphological Computation and Morphological Control: Steps Toward a Formal Theory and Applications Morphological computation can be loosely defined as the exploitation of the shape, material properties, and physical dynamics of a physical system to improve the efficiency of a computation. Morphological control is the application of morphological computing to a control task. In its theoretical part, this article sharpens and extends these definitions by suggesting new formalized definitions and identifying areas in which the definitions we propose are still inadequate. We go on to describe three ongoing studies, in which we are applying morphological control to problems in medicine and in chemistry. The first involves an inflatable support system for patients with impaired movement, and is based on macroscopic physics and concepts already tested in robotics. The two other case studies (self-assembly of chemical microreactors; models of induced cell repair in radio-oncology) describe processes and devices on the micrometer scale, in which the emergent dynamics of the underlying physical system (e.g., phase transitions) are dominated by stochastic processes such as diffusion.

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

embodiment
analogue computation
systems medicine
prosthetics


Automatic 3D vascular tree construction in CT angiography This study presents an automatic method for 3D reconstruction of vascular trees using computed-tomography angiographic (CTA) images. The program starts with the CTA slices, performs a sequential procedure of 3D image formation, preprocessing, segmentation, thinning, skeleton pruning and tree construction. It ends with vascular trees along with quantitative data about the trees such as values of diameter, length and bifurcation angles. All the involved algorithms are presented with the emphasis given to the skeleton pruning and tree construction algorithms. The skeletons obtained using a 3D thinning algorithm may contain cycles, spurs, isolated sticks, and non-unit-width parts, which hinder tree construction. As a solution to this problem, a skeleton pruning and tree construction algorithm is proposed. At each stage of the automatic procedure, 3D rendering is provided for visual inspection of the computed results. In the final output, the constructed vascular trees are visualized by rendering the 3D trees and the 3D binary image together in a transparent display mode. The program is carried out in a fully automatic fashion, with a few default settings. Occasionally, user intervention is needed at the 3D segmentation stage to impose an appropriate threshold when the automatic 3D segmentation is obviously sub-optimal for vessel delineation. Experimental demonstrations on both coronary artery phantom and a cast of coronary artery tree of a swine animal model are provided.

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

vascular tree
3d thinning
skeleton pruning

computed-tomography angiography
quantitative analysis


Potentials and potential energies of systemic yoyos Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the quantitative properties of systemic yoyos both with and without their internal structures. Design/methodology/approach - This entire paper is based on the idea of the infinitesimals so that some of the well-developed concepts and methods of calculus can be adequately employed to address some of the local properties of spinning yoyos. Findings - The concepts of potential energies and yoyo potentials of both particle yoyos and general systemic yoyos are introduced and investigated. Originality/value - This work is expected to pave the necessary ground for further deepened studies along the idea of rotational kinetic energies and rotational momentums.

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

cybernetics
systems theory
modelling
rotational motion


Key performance indicators for the evaluation of RFID-enabled B-to-B e-commerce applications: the case of a five-layer supply chain This paper attempts to track key performance indicators in order to assess the impacts of RFID technology in a five layer supply chain in the utility sector. Findings point to some performance improvements especially when RFID enables more integrated and more collaborative B-to-B e-commerce solutions. The research design involves multiple units and levels of analysis, and relies on diverse data collection methods and generates a vast amount of data. The concept of a living laboratory proved to be an insightful approach for exploring issues related to inter-company connectedness and relationship management.

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

supply chain
performance
rfid technology


DCHORD: AN EFFICIENT AND ROBUST PEER TO PEER LOOKUP SYSTEM Dynamic Hash Tables (DHTs) are distributed systems that maintain key-value pairs and provide efficient lookup services. Traditional DHTs usually rely on a random ID distribution of the keys to achieve such efficiency. Uniformly random hash functions are typically used to create uniformly random ID distributions from non-random key distributions. However, there are many cases where such random hash functions cannot be applied. For example, those systems that provide range queries over the keys cannot apply random hash functions on the keys, otherwise, the range query is very difficult to support. In this paper, we present a new lookup system called DChord, which does not depend on the randomness assumption to achieve its performance. To show the performance of the proposed system, we provide mathematical analysis and extensive simulation results in a highly non-random USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network) metadata identifier space. To be specific, we show that DChord has high regularity in terms of in-degree and out-degree distributions. Thus, the system is robust against random node failures. We also show that query processing load is well balanced among nodes and the lookup speed is deterministic in such a way that the number of nodes to visit for a query is at most log(2)(N).

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


A performance evaluation methodology for robotic machine tools used in large volume manufacturing The manufacture of large components in various industries can create health, safety and economic challenges as a result of machining operations. A potential solution is the replacement of conventional large machine tools with low-cost and portable robotic machine tools, although these lack accuracy and precision in comparison. Effort is therefore required to develop robotic machining technology to a state where it can be implemented in high tolerance applications using a variety of materials. A barrier to implementation is that there is not a standardised procedure available to robustly assess current robotic machining performance, which makes it challenging to assess the impact of technological developments. This paper develops a methodology to determine robotic machining performance based upon reviews of standards available that currently specify such guidelines for robotics and machine tool technologies used independently. It is found that useful elements from each theme can be combined and applied to robotic machine tool performance evaluation. These are presented here with the aim of forming a conceptual foundation on which the technology can be developed for large volume manufacturing.

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


cartographic generalisation using cooperative agents We use a multi-agent approach to automatically perform cartographic generalisation, a task of the cartography domain that aims to simplify a digital map in order to produce another digital map with less details. Our agents are geographical objects such as houses, roads, rivers, etc. The agents interact so that each of them finds a new place and geometric representation that fits to the final map requirements. The principles of our approach are described here and some preliminary results are shown.

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

situated agents
gis
resolution of spatialised problem
conversation protocols
multi-agent aystems


VoIP encryption module for securing privacy A VoIP encryption module was designed to prevent eavesdropping on Internet telephones communications and involved encoding/decoding the output data at the transmitter and receiver of the Internet telephone. To reduce the voice delay, a 128 bit AES was used and an RSA algorithm for an asymmetric encoding system was used during the key exchange, which is the first process of the encryption system operation. In order to test the speech quality in the encryption system, a Mean Opinion Score (MOS) value and R-value (E Model) Score were measured and resulted in values of 4.18~4.20 (Good) and 91.77~92.92 (Good), respectively.

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