Fabrication, characterization and mode locking application of single-walled carbon nanotube/polymer composite saturable absorbers We present the fabrication of a high optical quality single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) composite film. The composites demonstrate strong saturable absorption at ?1.5?m, the spectral range for optical communications. By measuring the nonlinear transmission of a sub-picosecond pump pulse through the film, we were able to deduce a saturation fluence of ?13.9?J/cm2 and a modulation depth ?16.9% (in absorption) at a high pulse fluence ?200?J/cm2. Transient saturable absorption is investigated by measuring the transmitted autocorrelation traces at various incident power levels. Observed side-peak suppression indicates a fast recovery time on the scale of ?1ps for our saturable absorber devices. Furthermore, we use these SWNT-PVA composite saturable absorbers as mode-lockers in an Er3+ fiber ring laser and achieve ?560fs pulse generation with good jitter performance and long term stability. The laser performance is also associated with the parameters of our SWNT based saturable absorber.

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

carbon nanotube
nonlinear optical properties


Laptopers in an educational practice: Promoting the personal learning situation In this article an ethnographical study of laptopers' activities during lectures in a university milieu is analyzed as different kinds of involvements. Through interviews and observations we have focused on how these involvements influence the laptopers' alignment towards the educational practice.'The analysis shows the importance of separating the educational practice and the personal learning situation. Studying students' learning intentions, rather than certain laptop related activities, we get a deeper understanding of the role the laptop can take during learning activities. Five general characteristics of laptoping are found. Negotiating the laptops' different roles in the educational practice opens up for an understanding of the students personal learning situation as being more than just listening to a lecturer. Additionally, competent integration of digital tools into the learning situation extends the dimensions of the lecture beyond the lecturing hours and personal note taking. Such knowledge is vital for creating foundations for digital competency in a digitized society. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

computer-mediated communication
cooperative/collaborative learning
improving classroom teaching
media in education


core schema mappings Research has investigated mappings among data sources under two perspectives. On one side, there are studies of practical tools for schema mapping generation; these focus on algorithms to generate mappings based on visual specifications provided by users. On the other side, we have theoretical researches about data exchange. These study how to generate a solution - i.e., a target instance - given a set of mappings usually specified as tuple generating dependencies. However, despite the fact that the notion of a core of a data exchange solution has been formally identified as an optimal solution, there are yet no mapping systems that support core computations. In this paper we introduce several new algorithms that contribute to bridge the gap between the practice of mapping generation and the theory of data exchange. We show how, given a mapping scenario, it is possible to generate an executable script that computes core solutions for the corresponding data exchange problem. The algorithms have been implemented and tested using common runtime engines to show that they guarantee very good performances, orders of magnitudes better than those of known algorithms that compute the core as a post-processing step.

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


Toward multimodal notation for mathematics: Why and how Notation is a tool of thought, recording and communicating concepts and activities related to a domain of knowledge. In the history of mathematical notation, written notation is usually considered. However, to be an effective thinking tool, notation must be properly perceived. Blind and partially sighted people run into difficulty in making, exploring and understanding mathematical concepts conceived for being represented in multi-dimensional space. In this paper, we capitalize on the multifaceted nature of digital symbols to define multimodal digital notation for graph structures that allows blind and partially sighted people to represent graph structures, reason about them and communicate their reasoning with sighted people as well as each other. As support tool for notation proposed we have designed a multimodal interactive system, in which haptic signals play a crucial role. An evolutionary prototype of the system has been developed and evaluated according to the star life cycle model.

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

visually impaired users
haptic i/o
interaction styles


Behavior-Oriented Data Resource Management in Medical Sensing Systems Wearable sensing systems have recently enabled a variety of medical monitoring and diagnostic applications in wireless health. The need for multiple sensors and constant monitoring leads these systems to be power hungry and expensive with short operating lifetimes. We introduce a novel methodology that takes advantage of contextual and semantic properties in human behavior to enable efficient design and optimization of such systems from the data and information point of view. This, in turn, directly influences the wireless communication and local processing power consumption. We exploit intrinsic space and temporal correlations between sensor data while considering both user and system contextual behavior. Our goal is to select a small subset of sensors that accurately capture and/or predict all possible signals of a fully instrumented wearable sensing system. Our approach leverages novel modeling, partitioning, and behavioral optimization, which consists of signal characterization, segmentation and time shifting, mutual signal prediction, and a simultaneous minimization composed of subset sensor selection and opportunistic sampling. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique on an insole instrumented with 99 pressure sensors placed in each shoe, which cover the bottom of the entire foot, resulting in energy reduction of 72% to 97% for error rates of 5% to 17.5%.

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

algorithm
performance
wearable medical systems
energy optimization
physiological behavior modeling
behavioral sensing


On perturbation of Banach frames A necessary and sufficient condition for the perturbation of a Banach frame by a nonzero functional to be a Banach frame has been obtained. Also a sufficient condition for the perturbation of a Banach frame by a sequence in E* to be a Banach frame has been given. Finally, a necessary condition for the perturbation of a Banach frame by a finite linear combination of linearly independent functionals in E* to be a Banach frame has been given.

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


A flexible FPGA implementation for illuminance-reflectance video enhancement Digital cameras, new generation phones, commercial TV sets and, in general, all modern devices for image acquisition and visualization can benefit from algorithms for image enhancement suitable to work in real time and preferably with limited power consumption. Among the various methods described in the scientific literature, Retinex-based approaches are able to provide very good performances, but unfortunately they typically require a high computational effort. In this article, we propose a flexible and effective architecture for the real-time enhancement of video frames, suitable to be implemented in a single FPGA device. The video enhancement algorithm is based on a modified version of the Retinex approach. This method, developed to control the dynamic range of poorly illuminated images while preserving the visual details, has been improved by the adoption of a new model to perform illuminance estimation. The video enhancement parameters are controlled in real time through an embedded microprocessor which makes the system able to modify its behavior according to the characteristics of the input images, and using information about the surrounding light conditions.

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

video and image enhancement
illuminance-reflectance
recursive median filter


Outlier detection from vehicle trajectories to discover roaming events Roaming, referring to the behavior of repeated observation of intended crime scenes before committing crimes, is a suspicious pattern often mentioned by experienced police investigators, but still remains a vague concept which needs to be well realized in video surveillance systems. This work first describes the scenario of roaming behaviors related to planned crimes, and then derives formal specifications for detecting suspicious roaming events from vehicle trajectories. Consequently, algorithms are designed for rapidly sorting out potential outliers and thoroughly examining their suspicious intention through circling activities, relative driving speed and time dispersion. Roaming trajectories and relevant trajectories are finally grouped into events and appropriately ranked. Furthermore, preliminary experiments and illustrative examples on synthetic data demonstrate the feasibility of our methods. The proposed approach enhances conventional vehicle plate analysis so that it becomes capable of discovering complex criminal behaviors and hence increasing investigation performance and decision quality.

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


hyperlink analysis on the world wide web We give a short survey of the use of hyperlink analysis in web search engine ranking and sketch other applications of hyperlink analysis in the web space.

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


tradeoffs in supporting two page sizes As computer system main memories get larger and processor cycles-per-instruction (CPIs) get smaller, the time spent in handling translation lookaside buffer (TLB) misses could become a performance bottleneck. We explore relieving this bottleneck by (a) increasing the page size and (b) supporting two page sizes. We discuss how to build a TLB to support two page sizes and examine both alternatives experimentally with a dozen uniprogrammed, user-mode traces for the SPARC architecture. Our results show that increasing the page size to 32KB causes both a significant increase in average working set size (e.g., 60\%) and a significant reduction in the TLB's contribution to CPI, CPI TLB , (namely a factor of eight) compared to using 4KB pages. Results for using two page sizes, 4KB and 32KB pages, on the other hand, show a small increase in working set size (about 10\%) and variable decrease in CPI TLB , (from negligible to as good as found with the 32KB page size). CPI TLB when using two page sizes is consistently better for fully associative TLBs than for set-associative ones. Our results are preliminary, however, since (a) our traces do not include multiprogramming or operating system behavior, and (b) our page-size assignment policy may not reflect a real operating system's policy.

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

processor
translation
traces
policy
systems
factor
behavior
architecture
size
performance
assignment
operating system
reduction
support

variability paging association computation instruction memorialized timing buffers user exploration


Monitoring Virtual Nodes using mashups The use of virtualization technologies is one of major trends in computer networks. Up to now, most of monitoring tasks on Virtual Nodes, made up of several system virtualization environments and network virtualization environments, require manual intervention via non-standardized interfaces. Although monitoring based on proprietary command lines and graphical user interfaces may be enough for homogeneous Virtual Nodes, it is certainly not suitable for monitoring, in an integrated way, Virtual Nodes in which, the aforementioned environments use heterogeneous virtualization technologies, both in networks and systems. In this paper, we demonstrate that the mashup technology can be used to carry out the integrated monitoring of heterogeneous Virtual Nodes. In this sense, we present a mashup-based architecture targeted to monitor such type of Virtual Nodes, we introduce a reference implementation of the mashup-based architecture, and we develop on it, three monitoring mashups. The quantitative assessment of these mashups corroborates that they generate low traffic and have short response time. Furthermore, their qualitative assessment reveals that it is feasible to provide flexible and extensible mashups for monitoring Virtual Nodes.

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

mashups
network virtualization
system virtualization

monitoring mashups
virtual node
virtual node wrapper


Passivity analysis of discrete-time stochastic neural networks with time-varying delays ? In this paper, the problem of passivity analysis is investigated for a class of discrete-time stochastic neural networks with time-varying delays. For the neural networks under study, a generalized activation function is considered, where the traditional assumptions on the boundedness, monotony and differentiability of the activation functions are removed. By constructing proper LyapunovKrasovskii functional and employing a combination of the free-weighting matrix method and stochastic analysis technique, a delay-dependent passivity condition is derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Furthermore, when the parameter uncertainties appear in the discrete-time stochastic neural networks with time-varying delays, a delay-dependent robust passivity condition is also presented. An example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed criterion.

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

discrete-time neural network
time-varying delays
robust passivity


Efficient network management applied to source routed networks Current high-performance interconnects are switch-based systems using either distributed or source routing. They usually incorporate a set of management mechanisms in charge of detecting and assimilating any topological change. When a change occurs, in order to restore the connectivity among endpoints, these mechanisms must obtain the resulting topology, and compute and distribute a new set of valid fabric paths. It is desirable that the change assimilation process is fast, deadlock-free and with reduced contribution to the network service degradation. Traditional proposals, which are related to the path distribution phase, are only focused on networks that use distributed routing and, therefore, they are not directly applicable to source routed environments. The objective of this paper is to present and evaluate an efficient network management scheme applied to source routed networks, incorporating several mechanisms for all phases involved in the change assimilation process. The main novelty of this scheme is the proposal of a mechanism to dynamically update the routing paths.

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

high-performance networks
topology discovery
routing protocols
dynamic reconfiguration
performance evaluation


THE QUANTUM QUERY COMPLEXITY OF AC(0) We show that any quantum algorithm deciding whether an input function f from [n] to [n] is 2-to-1 or almost 2-to-1 requires Theta(n) queries to f. The same lower bound holds for determining whether or not a function f from [2n - 2] to [n] is surjective. These results yield a nearly linear Omega(n/log n) lower bound on the quantum query complexity of AC(0). The best previous lower bound known for any AC(0) function was the Omega(n/log n)(2/3)) bound given by Aaronson and Sin's Omega(n(2/3)) lower bound for the element distinctness problem [1].

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 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

constant-depth circuits
lower bounds
quantum adversary method


Speed-up and entanglement in quantum searching We investigate the issue of speed-up and the necessity of entanglement in Grover's quantum search algorithm. We find that in a pure state implementation of Grover's algorithm entanglement is present even though the initial and target states are product states. In pseudo-pure state implementations, the separability of the states involved defines an entanglement boundary in terms of a bound on the purity parameter. Using this bound we investigate the necessity of entanglement in quantum searching for these pseudo-pure state implementations. If every active molecule involved in the ensemble is 'charged for' then in existing machines speed-up without entanglement is not possible.

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

computational speed-up
quantum entanglement
grover's algorithm
pseudo-pure states


privacy-aware identity management for client-side mashup applications This paper concerns the problem of identity management in modern Web-2.0-based mashup applications. Identity management supports convenient access to information when mashups are used in sensitive environments, such an banking, investment and online shopping, by providing services such as single sign-on. We present Web2ID, a new identity management protocol tailored for mashup applications. Web2ID leverages a secure mashup framework and enables transfer of credentials between a service provider and a consumer. We also describe a new relay framework in which communication between two service providers is mediated by a relay agent within the mashup. We show that Web2ID is privacy-preserving and prevents service providers from learning a user's surfing habits. We present an implementation of Web2ID and the relay framework using a JavaScript-based library that executes within the browser. Our implementation does not require client-side changes and is therefore fully compatible even with legacy browsers. We also highlight the key challenges faced in creating a portable, in-browser library to support identity management in mashups.

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


A novel clustered MongoDB-based storage system for unstructured data with high availability More and more unstructured data are produced and consumed over network. How to maintain these data and improve the availability and scalability of the storage systems has become a considerable challenge. Although some NoSQL systems such as Dynamo, Cassandra, MongoDB have provided different advantages for unstructured data management, no one can provide flexible query functions like MongoDB, meanwhile guarantee the availability and scalability as Cassandra simultaneously. This paper presents a new high available distributed storage system called MyStore based on an optimized clustered MongoDB for unstructured data. Consistent hash is used to distribute data on multiple MongoDB nodes by applying virtual node method. NWR mode is applied to provide automatic backup operation and guarantee data consistency. And a gossip protocol is taken for exchanging information of failures in the system. Moreover, a user-friendly interface module and an efficient cache module are designed for improving the usability of the system. Based on above strategies, the system can realize high availability for unstructured data storage, while providing complex query functions like rational databases. Moreover, it is applied in a multi-discipline virtual experiment platform named VeePalms that has run practically. Experimental evaluation shows that the methodology is powerful enough not only to enhance the data availability, but also to improve the servers scalability.

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

unstructured data
high availability
distributed storage
nosql


An endosymbiotic evolutionary algorithm for the integration of balancing and sequencing in mixed-model U-lines This paper proposes a new evolutionary approach to deal with both balancing and sequencing problems in mixed-model U-shaped lines. The use of U-shaped lines is an important element in Just-In-Time production. For an efficient operation of the lines, it is important to have a proper line balancing and model sequencing. A new genetic approach, called endosymbiotic evolutionary algorithm, is proposed to solve the two problems of line balancing and model sequencing at the same time. The algorithm imitates the natural evolution process of endosymbionts that is an extension of existing cooperative or symbiotic evolutionary algorithm. The distinguishing feature of the proposed algorithm is that it maintains endosymbionts that are a combination of an individual and its symbiotic partner. The existence of endosymbionts can accelerate the speed that individuals converge to good solutions. This enhanced capability of exploitation together with the parallel search capability of traditional symbiotic algorithms results in finding better quality solutions than existing hierarchical approaches and symbiotic algorithms. A set of experiments are carried out, and the results are reported.

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

endosymbiotic evolutionary algorithm
line balancing
model sequencing

evolutionary computations
mixed-model u-line


A novel visual landmark matching for a biologically inspired homing This paper presents a homing algorithm for an autonomous robot that uses only visual information. An image grabbed at the target position is compared with the perceived one to determine the position of the robot and its target. Visual landmarks are extracted autonomously from the images and a correlation criterion, based on a novel visual landmark descriptor equalization, is presented.

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


A lattice Boltzmann approach for free-surface-flow simulations on non-uniform block-structured grids In this paper, we present a hybrid volume-of-fluid-based algorithm for the simulation of free-surface-flow problems. For the solution of the flow field, the lattice Boltzmann method is used. The additional advection equation for the volume-of-fluid (VOF) fill level is discretized with a classical finite volume method. For the interface reconstruction, a piecewise linear interface reconstruction in 3D has been implemented. The free-surface-tracking algorithm is embedded into the 3D, non-uniform, lattice-Boltzmann-based solver VirtualFluids; Freudiger etal. (2009)[1], Freudiger (2009)[2]. The advection algorithm is verified and validated with well-known advection test cases. For the validation of the free-surface algorithm, we present simulations of a breaking-dam benchmark.

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

lattice boltzmann method
finite volume method
advection

free surface
volume of fluid
surface reconstruction
plic
multiphysics


A Composite Illumination Invariant Color Feature and Its Application to Partial Image Matching In camera-based object recognition and classification, surface color is one of the most important characteristics. However, apparent object color may differ significantly according to the illumination and surface conditions. Such a variation can be an obstacle in utilizing color features. Geusebroek et al.'s color invariants can be a powerful tool for characterizing the object color regardless of illumination and surface conditions. In this work, we analyze the estimation process of the color invariants from RGB images, and propose a novel invariant feature of color based on the elementary invariants to meet the circular continuity residing in the mapping between colors and their invariants. Experiments show that the use of the proposed invariant in combination with luminance, contributes to improve the retrieval performances of partial object image matching under varying illumination conditions.

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

photometric invariants
illumination invariant color features
image matching sift
ransac
cbir


Green information technology strategic justification and evaluation Green and sustainable information technology (GSIT) can be an important and strategic decision for many organizations. Strategic GSIT decisions can influence a variety of internal and external organizational stakeholders. GSIT justification and evaluation is critical to organizations, especially those seeking the ecological modernization win-win of introducing green technologies into organizations. The literature has seen very few tools and approaches to aid in the explicit justification of strategic GSIT. Although numerous models exist for regular IT, there are certain characteristics including a greater number of factors, especially intangible and socially focused factors, requiring greater investigation of tools for the evaluation and justification process. The identification of appropriate metrics and categorizations to use in advanced strategic appraisal techniques for GSIT is in itself a non-trivial exercise. Thus, in this paper issues facing the strategic justification of GSIT set the stage for introduction of a novel, flexible and comprehensive evaluation approach utilizing a grey systems, fuzzy, and TOPSIS multiple criteria foundation. An illustrative application for evaluating and selecting alternative green data center designs sets the stage for an illustrative example and sensitivity analysis. The results are evaluated including discussion of practical and research implications. Directions for future research are also identified.

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

strategic justification
information technology
topsis
ecological modernization

sustainability
multiple criteria decision making


A survey on Arabic character segmentation Arabic character segmentation is a necessary step in Arabic Optical Character Recognition (OCR). The cursive nature of Arabic script poses challenging problems in Arabic character recognition; however, incorrectly segmented characters will cause misclassifications of characters which in turn may lead to wrong results. Therefore, off-line Arabic character segmentation is a difficult research problem and little research has been achieved in this area in the past few decades. This is due to both the cursive nature of Arabic writing in both printed and handwritten forms and the scarcity of Arabic databases and dictionaries. Most of the character recognition methods used in the recognition of Arabic characters are adopted from available methods used on handwritten Latin and Chinese characters; however, other methods are developed only for Arabic character segmentation. This survey presents the description of the Arabic script characteristics with an overview on OCR systems and a comprehensive review mainly on off-line printed Arabic character segmentation techniques.

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

arabic ocr
off-line recognition
cursive script
arabic ocr software


Optimal frequency-hopping sequences via cyclotomy Using cyclotomic numbers, a simple construction is presented for frequency-hopping (FH) sequences having optimal autocorrelation with respect to the well-known Lempel-Greenberger bound. Some optimal families of FH sequences are constructed. The simplicity of this technique makes it attractive for practical use.

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


Global perspectives on structured research training in doctorates of design what do we value? The development of doctorates of design has generated debate about the characteristics of appropriate doctoral curriculum, including structured research training. While such training has long formed part of the North American doctorate it has more recently appeared as a component of European and Australian programs. Despite its significance, the global spread of structured coursework in doctorates of design and faculty and student attitudes to this remain unexamined. This study examined the significance of research training in doctorates of design (n=153) and attitudes to such training (n=102) among faculty and students. This study concludes with observations about the nature and growing significance of research training in doctoral design and the need for further detailed research of the issue.

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


(N,n) ( N , n ) -preemptive priority queues In this paper, we propose a new priority discipline, called the (N,n) ( N , n ) -preemptive priority discipline. Under this discipline, the preemption of the service of a low-class customer is determined by two thresholds N N and n n of the queue length of high-class customers. We consider M/G/1 priority queueing models with two customer classes under two different (N,n) ( N , n ) -preemptive priority disciplines and derive the Probability Generating Functions (PGFs) of queue lengths of each class. We also show that, under the (N,n) ( N , n ) -preemptive priority discipline, the QoS for high-class customers can be controlled within a certain bound, regardless of the restarting mode of a preempted service.

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

(n
n) ( n
n ) -preemptive priority (n
n ) (n
n ) ( n
n )
threshold-based control


Acoustic surface perception from naturally occurring step sounds of a dexterous hexapod robot Legged robots that exhibit dynamic dexterity naturally interact with the surface to generate complex acoustic signals carrying rich information on the surface as well as the robot platform itself. However, the nature of a legged robot, which is a complex, hybrid dynamic system, renders the more common approach of model-based system identification impractical. The present paper focuses on acoustic surface identification and proposes a non-model-based analysis and classification approach adopted from the speech processing literature. A novel feature set composed of spectral band energies augmented by their vector time derivatives and time-domain averaged zero crossing rate is proposed. Using a multi-dimensional vector classifier, these features carry enough information to accurately classify a range of commonly occurring indoor and outdoor surfaces without using of any mechanical system model. A comparative experimental study is carried out and classification performance and computational complexity are characterized. Different feature combinations, classifiers and changes in critical design parameters are investigated. A realistic and representative acoustic data set is collected with the robot moving at different speeds on a number of surfaces. The study demonstrates promising performance of this non-model-based approach, even in an acoustically uncontrolled environment. The approach also has good chance of performing in real-time.

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

legged robots
acoustic surface perception
classification
identification


Community structure detection in social networks based on dictionary learning Discovering community structures is a fundamental problem concerning how to understand the topology and the functions of complex network. In this paper, we propose how to apply dictionary learning algorithm to community structure detection. We present a new dictionary learning algorithm and systematically compare it with other state-of-the-art models/algorithms. The results show that the proposed algorithm is highly effectively at finding the community structures in both synthetic datasets, including three types of data structures, and real world networks coming from different areas.

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

community structure detection
dictionary learning

least squares error regression
nonnegative matrix factorization


e-business case as a tool for facilitating ict adoption in local government agencies A major challenge for Local Governments today is represented by the introduction of new networked service delivery models able to coordinate a number of different local actors for responding effectively to increasing community's expectations. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are instrumental here. Though, the implementation of ICTs in Local Government Agencies (LGA) is a challenge too. That's why effective new services delivery models and successful adoption of enabling ICTs within the LGA goes hand-in-hand. Following these considerations, this paper aims at illustrating a case of ICT-based solutions adoption into a Local Government Agency in charge of tourism promotion. More specifically the e-business case methodology crafted and used for this purpose will be shown. In doing so, the role of the e-business case will be advocated both as a tool to accompany Local Government Agencies into the process of introducing and using ICTs, both as a starting point for a wider strategy aimed at modernizing local communities though ICTs.

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

e-business case
local government agency (lga)


Color texture segmentation based on image pixel classification Image segmentation partitions an image into nonoverlapping regions, which ideally should be meaningful for a certain purpose. Thus, image segmentation plays an important role in many multimedia applications. In recent years, many image segmentation algorithms have been developed, but they are often very complex and some undesired results occur frequently. By combination of Fuzzy Support Vector Machine (FSVM) and Fuzzy C-Means (FCM), a color texture segmentation based on image pixel classification is proposed in this paper. Specifically, we first extract the pixel-level color feature and texture feature of the image via the local spatial similarity measure model and localized Fourier transform, which is used as input of FSVM model (classifier). We then train the FSVM model (classifier) by using FCM with the extracted pixel-level features. Color image segmentation can be then performed through the trained FSVM model (classifier). Compared with three other segmentation algorithms, the results show that the proposed algorithm is more effective in color image segmentation.

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

image segmentation
fuzzy support vector machine
local spatial similarity measure model


An iterative Riemann solver for systems of hyperbolic conservation laws, with application to hyperelastic solid mechanics ? In this paper, we present a general iterative method for the solution of the Riemann problem for hyperbolic systems of PDEs. The method is based on the multiple shooting method for free boundary value problems. We demonstrate the method by solving one-dimensional Riemann problems for hyperelastic solid mechanics. Even for conditions representative of routine laboratory conditions and military ballistics, dramatic differences are seen between the exact and approximate Riemann solution. The greatest discrepancy arises from misallocation of energy between compressional and thermal modes by the approximate solver, resulting in nonphysical entropy and temperature estimates. Several pathological conditions arise in common practice and modifications to the method to handle these are discussed. These include points where genuine nonlinearity is lost, degeneracies, and eigenvector deficiencies that occur upon melting.

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

shock waves
godunov method
elasticity
hyperelasticity


High-order finite element methods for moving boundary problems with prescribed boundary evolution A framework for building high-order methods for moving boundary problems is presented. Methods are built by blending standard elements with off-the-shelf time integrators. A universal mesh is used to maintain an exact representation of the moving domain. Unlike ALE schemes, the universal mesh can handle large domain deformations easily.

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


The Green500 list: escapades to exascale Energy efficiency is now a top priority. The first four years of the Green500 have seen the importance of energy efficiency in supercomputing grow from an afterthought to the forefront of innovation as we approach a point where systems become increasingly constrained by power consumption. Even so, the landscape of energy efficiency in supercomputing continues to shiftwith new trends emerging and unexpected shifts in previous predictions.

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

green supercomputing
performance
graphics processing unit (gpu)
the green index (tgi)
spec
exascale computing


Genetic algorithms produce individual robotic rat pup behaviors that match Norway rat pup behaviors at multiple scales We designed input/output cognitive architectures for individual robotic rat pups using genetic algorithms with the aim of achieving insight into Norway rat pup behavior. Our cognitive architectures were evolved using only metrics of Norway rat pup macro-behavior (e.g., percent of time spent in corners, along walls, and center of an arena during animal experiments). Robotic rat pups not only quantitatively matched Norway rat pups at the macro-level (by design), but additionally qualitatively matched Norway rat pup behavior at the micro-behavior scales (corner- snooping, punting). The complexity of the resulting deterministic inputoutput controllers may lend support to previous studies that show random-like control codes (possibly emerging from complex underlying inputoutput interactions, or brain-initiated spontaneous behavior) can produce apparently realistic rat pup behavior below a certain age.

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


Design of an irreversible DNA memory element We present the design of a novel, irreversible memory element for use in artificial DNA-based computing systems and provide wet-ware demonstrations of the validity of key assumptions of our design. The mechanism makes use of a DNA switch with a rotatable mid-section that contains a bacterial promoter and non-rotatable end sections, each of which contains a gene encoding a different fluorescent protein. The state (orientation) of the rotatable mid-section is therefore reported by the fluorescent colour produced when the plasmid is in a system that permits transcription and translation. Rotation of the mid-section from the unset to the set state is achieved by digestion of specific sites on the switch by the asymmetric restriction enzyme, Bpu10I, followed by ligation. Once set, the rotatable section cannot be cut again by the enzyme, so that state is held irreversibly even when exposed again to the switching signal. This mechanism has potential applications for permanently recording, in DNA, the occurrence of transient events.

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


reducing generational copy reserve overhead with fallback compaction As programming languages with managed runtimes become increasingly popular, it is essential that virtual machines are implemented efficiently. The performance of the memory management subsystem can be a defining factor in the performance of the virtualachine as a whole. We present a technique by which garbage collector performance can be improved. We describe an algorithm that combines a standard generational copying collector with a mark and compact collector. We observe that, since most objects do not survive a garbage collection, it is not necessary to reserve space to copy them all. The result is a generational copying collector that operates with a smaller copy reserve overhead than traditional Appel-style collectors. We maintain correctness in the worst case through the use of mark and compact collection. When the reduced copy reserve overflows, a compacting phase ensures that all data are accommodated. We have implemented this algorithm within the framework of Jikes RVM and MMTk. For most benchmarks examined, our experiments show that performance is comparable to or better than a standard generational copying collector.

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

garbage collection
copying collector
mark and compact


Shock capturing, level sets, and PDE based methods in computer vision and image processing: a review of Oshers contributions In this paper we review the algorithm development and applications in high resolution shock capturing methods, level set methods, and PDE based methods in computer vision and image processing. The emphasis is on Stanley Oshers contribution in these areas and the impact of his work. We will start with shock capturing methods and will review the EngquistOsher scheme, TVD schemes, entropy conditions, ENO and WENO schemes, and numerical schemes for HamiltonJacobi type equations. Among level set methods we will review level set calculus, numerical techniques, fluids and materials, variational approach, high codimension motion, geometric optics, and the computation of discontinuous solutions to HamiltonJacobi equations. Among computer vision and image processing we will review the total variation model for image denoising, images on implicit surfaces, and the level set method in image processing and computer vision.

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

level set method
computer vision
image processing


Using Dempster-Shafer theory and real options theory to assess competing strategies for implementing IT infrastructures: A case study This paper discusses the selection of a preferred strategy for implementing an IT infrastructure from a range of competing alternatives. The model presented here combines the use of an evidential reasoning approach based on the Dempster-Shafer theory of belief functions with real options analysis. We discuss the combined use of both theories and show that combining the Dempster-Shafer theory with real options analysis provides flexible support that takes account of the multi-dimensional nature of implementation decisions. We also go into the fundamental requirements that need to be met when selecting a strategy for implementing an IT infrastructure. We conclude by outlining a number of the model's limitations. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

it infrastructure implementation strategy


wms and gml based interoperable web mapping system Recently the World Wide Web has become a popular vehicle for information distributation and web based geographic information system (GIS) are rapidly evolving and adapting to these new environments. The main hindrance for building true interoperable distributed geographic information systems is the lack of any standard exchange mechanism between the diverse GISes connected over the web. Recent efforts by the OpenGIS Consortium have resulted in several specifications to alleviate these problems. Web Map Server (WMS) and Geographic Markup Language (GML) are such standards for developing interoperable web based Geographic Information Systems (Web-GIS). GML is an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) encoding for the transport and storage of geographic information, including both geometry and properties of geographic features. In this paper we describe a WMS compliant map server and GML based client. This integrated system leads to a true interoparable Web-GIS. GML based client for the first time offers client side query processing capabilities and at the same time provides several challenges. The parsing techniques have performance considerations since the size of GML documents is generally huge and often the queries result in multiple passes over these documents. In this study we also evaluated the two well known parsing approaches - simple API for XML (SAX) and the documents object model (DOM) for single and multiple passes. Our study shows that SAX performs better than DOM for single pass; thus for simple applications like visualization, subsetting, the SAX model is superior. However, for intensive applications involving queries requiring multiple passes over documents or integration of multiple documents in a distributed environment, DOM based parsing offers a better solution.

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


An ACS-based framework for fuzzy data mining Data mining is often used to find out interesting and meaningful patterns from huge databases. it may generate different kinds of knowledge such as classification rules, clusters, association rules, and among others. A lot of researches have been proposed about data mining and most of them focused on mining from binary-valued data. Fuzzy data mining was thus proposed to discover fuzzy knowledge from linguistic or quantitative data. Recently, ant colony systems (ACS) have been successfully applied to optimization problems. However, few works have been done on applying ACS to fuzzy data mining. This thesis thus attempts to propose an ACS-based framework for fuzzy data mining. In the framework. the membership functions are first encoded into binary-bits and then fed into the ACS to search for the optimal set of membership functions. The problem is then transformed into a multi-stage graph, with each route representing a possible set of membership functions. When the termination condition is reached, the best membership function set (with the highest fitness value) can then be used to mine fuzzy association rules from a database. At last, experiments are made to make a comparison with other approaches and show the performance of the proposed framework. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

ant colony system
fuzzy set
association rule


Predicting customer churn through interpersonal influence Preventing customer churn is an important task for many enterprises and requires customer churn prediction. This paper investigates the effects of interpersonal influence on the accuracy of customer churn predictions and proposes a novel prediction model that is based on interpersonal influence and that combines the propagation process and customers personalized characters. Our contributions include the following: (1) the effects of interpersonal influence on prediction accuracy are evaluated while including determinants that other researchers proved effective, and several models are constructed based on machine learning and statistical methods and compared, assuring the validity of the evaluation; and (2) a novel prediction model based on interpersonal influence and information propagation is proposed. The dataset used in the empirical study was obtained from a leading mobile telecommunication service provider and contains the traditional and network attributes of over one million customers. The empirical results show that traditional classification models that incorporate interpersonal influence can greatly improve prediction accuracy, and our proposed prediction model outperforms the traditional models.

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

churn prediction
interpersonal influence
propagation


Model checking temporal knowledge and commitments in multi-agent systems using reduction Though modeling and verifying Multi-Agent Systems (MASs) have long been under study, there are still challenges when many different aspects need to be considered simultaneously. In fact, various frameworks have been carried out for modeling and verifying MASs with respect to knowledge and social commitments independently. However, considering them under the same framework still needs further investigation, particularly from the verification perspective. In this article, we present a new technique for model checking the logic of knowledge and commitments (CTLKC+). The proposed technique is fully-automatic and reduction-based in which we transform the problem of model checking CTLKC+ into the problem of model checking an existing logic of action called ARCTL. Concretely, we construct a set of transformation rules to formally reduce the CTLKC+ model into an ARCTL model and CTLKC+ formulae into ARCTL formulae to get benefit from the extended version of NuSMV symbolic model checker of ARCTL. Compared to a recent approach that reduces the problem of model checking CTLKC+ to another logic of action called GCTL?, our technique has better scalability and efficiency. We also analyze the complexity of the proposed model checking technique. The results of this analysis reveal that the complexity of our reduction-based procedure is PSPACE-complete for local concurrent programs with respect to the size of these programs and the length of the formula being checked. From the time perspective, we prove that the complexity of the proposed approach is P-complete with regard to the size of the model and length of the formula, which makes it efficient. Finally, we implement our model checking approach on top of extended NuSMV and report verification results for the verification of the NetBill protocol, taken from business domain, against some desirable properties. The obtained results show the effectiveness of our model checking approach when the system scales up.

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

model checking
knowledge
social commitments
verification


Design and implementation of decentralised supervisory control for manufacturing system automation Supervisory control theory, which was first proposed by Ramadge and Wonahm, is a well-suited control theory for the control of complex systems such as semiconductor manufacturing systems, automobile manufacturing systems, and chemical processes because these are better modelled by discrete event models than by differential or difference equation models at higher levels of abstraction. Moreover, decentralised supervisory control is an efficient method for large complex systems according to the divide-and-conquer principle. This article presents a solution and a design procedure of supervisory control problem for the case of decentralised control. We apply the proposed design procedure to an experimental miniature computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) system. This article presents the design of fourteen modular supervisors and one high-level supervisor to control the experimental miniature CIM system. These supervisors are controllable, non-blocking, and non-conflicting. After the verification of the supervisors by simulation, the collision avoidance supervisors for automated guided vehicle system have been implemented to demonstrate their efficacy.

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

decentralised control
supervisory control theory

discrete event systems
manufacturing automation


Solving fully fuzzy mathematical programming model of EOQ problem with a direct approach based on fuzzy ranking and PSO Inventory management is critical for many industries. A proper control of inventory can considerably enhance a company's profit margins. Determination of the Economic Order Quantities (EOQ) is important in order to achieve optimal operating conditions. There are various EOQ models which originate from the classical EOQ model in the literature. In reality, it is not easy to determine parameters of an EOQ model precisely. Fuzzy set theory gives an opportunity to represent the linguistic terms and vagueness in EOQ models. In the literature, various researchers solved different fuzzy versions of EOQ problem. In this study, a fully fuzzy constrained multi-item EOQ model is considered. The parameters of the problem are defined as triangular fuzzy numbers. The fuzzy constrained multi-item EOQ problem is tried to be solved directly by employing four different fuzzy ranking functions and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. One of the primary objectives of this study is to show that fuzzy mathematical programming models can also be solved directly by employing fuzzy ranking functions and meta-heuristic algorithms. Results obtained from both approaches (direct approach and transformation approach) are also reported in the paper.

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

fuzzy mathematical programming
fuzzy ranking
particle swarm optimization


A contract-based architecture for business networks Contracts coordinate the interactions between organizations in a business network. Conventional frame contracts often result in ambiguous agreements with operational details unspecified, making it hard to coordinate the network effectively and efficiently. This paper suggests a structured method for designing agreements and ensuring that their terms are observed in business transactions. Based on the assumption that governing a business network means managing the workflow between the member organizations, the contract consists primarily of process models at different levels of detail. A method is proposed for negotiating these models between the member organizations of the network and enacting them with the help of an interorganizational workflow system.

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

business networks
interorganizational workflow

e-contracting
enactment
frame contract
modeling
negotiation


toward highly-available wsns for assisted living In response to the consistent increase of elder people living in their apartments, and the need for innovative non-obtrusive tools to connect elders to their caregivers, we started an initiative with the Institute of Gerontology at Wayne State University to explore the application of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for the monitoring of elder people and the communication of potential emergency conditions to their remote caregivers. Motivated by the fact that sensor nodes are resource-constrained and error-prone on one hand, and mission urgency on the other hand, we argue that high availability is a vital requirement that viable WSNs for assisted living have to acquire. We propose the use of classical reliability theory techniques to tackle this issue in a systematic way. We develop analytical models of the WSN availability in terms of the availability of the underlying sensor nodes. These models help in planning for the required number of nodes and the way these nodes are scheduled ON and OFF Our preliminary results show that using node scheduling almost doubles the expected WSN total uptime.

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

node scheduling
wireless sensor networks


Efficient visibility processing for projective texture mapping Projective texture mapping is a powerful tool for image-based rendering. However, visibility information must be obtained in order to project correct textures onto the geometric sturcture. This paper presents a novel visibility algorithm for determining which polygons are visible from each camera position. It has object-space precision, but operates in both image-space and object-space to get better performance. It generates much less polygons than traditional object-space algorithms to help accelerate the speed of texture mapping. The techniques used to achieve these are conservative image-space occlusion testing and object-space shallow clipping. This algorithm has been successfully used to generate large-scale image-based rendering of a whole university campus, and image-based rendering of architectures under dynamic lighting.

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


Pacemaker Control of Heart Rate Variability: A Cyber Physical System Perspective Cardiac diseases, like those related to abnormal heart rate activity, have an enormous economic and psychological impact worldwide. The approaches used to control the behavior of modern pacemakers ignore the fractal nature of heart rate activity. The purpose of this article is to present a Cyber Physical System approach to pacemaker design that exploits precisely the fractal properties of heart rate activity in order to design the pacemaker controller. Towards this end, we solve a finite horizon optimal control problem based on the heartbeat time series and show that this control problem can be converted into a system of linear equations. We also compare and contrast the performance of the fractal optimal control problem under six different cost functions. Finally, to get an idea of hardware complexity, we implement the fractal optimal controller on a Virtex4 FPGA and report some preliminary results in terms of area overhead.

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

design
performance
heart rate variability
optimal control

algorithms
human factors
theory
cyber physical systems
fractional calculus
fractal behavior
non-stationary behavior


Design of coplanar waveguide multilayer square spiral inductors for monolithic microwave integrated circuits A square indicator using multilayer coplanar waveguide transmission lines on a GaAs fabricated by using monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC) technology is presented. The polyimide layer formation, curing and dry etching processes are used in an attempt to obtain high quality dielectric layers suitable for MMIC applications. The experimental fabrication progress provides two metal layers with two polyimide spacer dielectric layers. A brief overview of the electromagnetic design process is included. The performance of the proposed spiral inductor is investigated experimentally and with electromagnetic simulations (Sonnet em) up to 20 GHz using RF-on mater measurements. A very good agreement is achieved, despite the highly three-dimensional nature of the structure. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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


Computationally efficient 3D finite element modeling of RC structures A detailed finite element modeling is presented for the simulation of the nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete structures which manages to predict the nonlinear behavior of four different experimental setups with computational efficiency, robustness and accuracy. The proposed modeling method uses 8-node hexahedral isoparametric elements for the discretization of concrete. Steel rebars may have any orientation inside the solid concrete elements allowing the simulation of longitudinal as well as transverse reinforcement. Concrete cracking is treated with the smeared crack approach, while steel reinforcement is modeled with the natural beam-column flexibility-based element that takes into consideration shear and bending stiffness. The performance of the proposed modeling is demonstrated by comparing the numerical predictions with existing experimental and numerical results in the literature as well as with those of a commercial code. The results show that the proposed refined simulation predicts accurately the nonlinear inelastic behavior of reinforced concrete structures achieving numerical robustness and computational efficiency.

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

embedded reinforcement
natural beam-column element
flexibility element


A new trusted roaming protocol in wireless mesh networks Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) are a wireless broadband access technology based completely on IP technologies and has thus rapidly become a means for broadband access with the characteristics of high capacity, high speed and wide coverage. For trusted roaming in WMNs, the configuration of the access platforms must be checked first before access to the network can continue, and only those platforms whose configurations meet the security requirements of the network can be allowed to access the network. It is also required that mobile nodes complete access authentication not only in a timely manner, but also in a way in which the identities of the mobile nodes are well protected. In this paper, we propose a trusted roaming protocol that are based on several technologies such as hierarchical network model, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), trust evaluation, grey relevance analysis, etc. to ensure the security of roaming in WMNs. We also show the security properties of the proposed protocol through formal analysis and the performance by presenting some simulation results.

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

wmn
trusted computing
trusted network connect


Product development resource allocation with foresight ? Shortening project duration is critical to product development project success in many industries. As a primary driver of progress and an effective management tool, resource allocation among development activities can strongly influence project duration. Effective allocation is difficult due to the inherent closed loop flow of development work and the dynamic demand patterns of work backlogs. The Resource Allocation Policy Matrix is proposed as a means of describing resource allocation policies in dynamic systems. Simple system dynamics and control theoretic models of resource allocation in a product development context are developed. The control theory model is used to specify a foresighted policy, which is tested with the system dynamics model. The benefits of foresight are found to reduce with increasing complexity. Process concurrence is found to potentially reverse the impact of foresight on project duration. The model structure is used to explain these results and future research topics are discussed.

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

control theory
product development
resource allocation
system dynamics

project management and scheduling
concurrent development
rework cycle


Optimal information dispersal for probabilistic latency targets ? The goal of this work is to provide a framework for applications to probabilistically meet latency targets using redundancy and multipath routing. It investigates the amount of redundancy necessary to maximize the probability of constructing a copy of a file F no later than a given delay bound ? without any reservations. Redundancy is obtained from the information dispersal algorithm (IDA) of Rabin. Specifically, F is broken into b pieces, each of size s, and each piece is sent on one of the several (disjoint) paths from source to destination. Each piece contains some redundant information in such a way that any m?|F|/s pieces are enough to reconstruct the file. This work presents both analytical and computational results to determine the optimal values of b and s to maximize the success probability. It also examines the impact of various parameters such as the file size, delay bound, loss rate, distance from the destination, on the probabilistic quality of service (QoS) guarantee. This is a novel approach to QoS routing since it does not require any reservations or extra overhead at intermediate nodes and effectively shifts the burden from nodes to links.

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

information dispersal
multipath routing
qos routing


Bounds on structural system reliability in the presence of interval variables The failure of a structural system is usually governed by multiple failure criteria, all of which are to be taken into consideration for reliability estimation. If all the uncertain parameters are defined as random variables, then the system reliability can be estimated accurately by using existing techniques. However, when modeling variables with limited information as intervals with upper and lower bounds, the entire range of these bounds should be explored while estimating the system reliability. The computational cost involved in estimating reliability bounds increases tremendously because a single reliability analysis, which is a computationally expensive procedure, is needed for each configuration of the interval variables. To reduce the computational cost involved, high quality function approximations for individual failure functions and the joint failure surface are considered in this paper. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed technique are demonstrated with numerical examples.

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

system reliability
random variables
reliability bounds

uncertain intervals
fast fourier transforms
convolution integral


sub-SAT: A formulation for relaxed Boolean satisriability with applications in routing Advances in methods for solving Boolean satisfiability (SAT) for large problems have motivated recent attempts to recast physical design problems as Boolean SAT problems. One persistent criticism of these approaches is their inability to supply partial solutions, i.e., to satisfy most but not all of the constraints cast in the SAT style. In this paper, we present a formulation for "subset satisfiable" Boolean SAT: we transform a "strict" SAT problem with N constraints into a new, "relaxed" SAT problem which is satisfiable just if not more than k much less than N of these constraints cannot be satisfied in the original problem. We describe a transformation based on explicit thresholding and counting for the necessary SAT relaxation. Examples from field-programmable gate-array routing show how we can determine efficiently when we can satisfy "almost all" of our geometric constraints.

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


a scalable heuristic for evacuation planning in large road network Evacuation planning is of critical importance for civil authorities to prepare for natural disasters, but efficient evacuation planning in large city is computationally challenging due to the large number of evacuees and the huge size of transportation networks. One recently proposed algorithm Capacity Constrained Route Planner (CCRP) can give sub-optimal solution with good accuracy in less time and use less memory compared to previous approaches. However, it still can not scale to large networks. In this paper, we analyze the overhead of CCRP and come to a new heuristic CCRP++ that scalable to large network. Our algorithm can reuse search results in previous iterations and avoid the repetitive global shortest path expansion in CCRP. We conducted extensive experiments with real world road networks and different evacuation parameter settings. The result shows it can gives great speed-up without loosing the optimality.

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


The use of participatory research as an alternative approach for information needs research This article reports on a study undertaken to explore the feasibility of using a participatory research approach as a method for determining information needs. Dissatisfaction with the use of quantitative methods and techniques in information needs research resulted in a gradual move towards the use of qualitative methods focusing on the users themselves in determining their information needs. Participatory research is a qualitative research methodology that challenges the principles and practices of objective, detached, quantitative research approaches. The use of participatory research methods in this project resulted in the identification of reliable and relevant information needs. These results can serve as an example for the increasing use of qualitative techniques in information needs research and affirm that participatory research methods can be a valuable alternative in the area of information needs research.

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

participative action research
quality of working life
ethnic groups
women
south africa


Drugs, non-drugs, and disease category specificity: organ effects by ligand pharmacology(1) Important understanding can be gained from using molecular biology-based and chemistry-based techniques together. Bayesian classifiers have thus been developed in the present work using several statistically significant molecular properties of compiled datasets of drugs and non-drugs, including their disease category or organ. The results show they provide a useful classification and simplicity of several different ligand efficiencies and molecular properties. Early recall of drugs among non-drugs using the classifiers as a ranking tool is also provided. As the chemical space of compounds is addressed together with their anatomical characterization, chemical libraries can be improved to select for specific organ or disease. Eventually, by including even finer detail, the method may help in designing libraries with specific pharmacological or toxicological target chemical space. Alternatively, a lack of statistically significant differences in property density distributions may help in further describing compounds with possibility of activity on several organs or disease groups, and given their very similar or considerably overlapping chemical space, therefore wanted or unwanted side-effects. The overlaps between densities for several properties of organs or disease categories were calculated by integrating the area under the curves where they intersect. The naive Bayesian classifiers are readily built, fast to score, and easily interpretable.

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


Online exploratory behavior acquisition model based on reinforcement learning Discernment behavior is an exploratory behavior that supports object feature extraction and is a fundamental tool used by robots to orient themselves, operate objects, and establish knowledge. The main contribution of this paper is to propose an active perception model and analyzes the acquired motion patterns. In this study, we propose an active perception model in which a robot autonomously learns discernment behavior by interacting with multiple objects in its environment. During such interactions, the robot receives reinforcement signals according to the cluster distance of the observed data. In other words, we use a reinforcement learning approach to reward the successful recognition of objects. We apply our proposed model to a mobile robot simulation to observe its effectiveness. Results show that our proposed model effectively established intelligent strategies based on the relationship between object features and the robots configuration. In addition, we perform our experiments using real mobile robots and observe the suitability of the observed learned behaviors.

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

active perception
exploratory behavior
reinforcement learning
mobile robot


Complexity of the directed spanning cactus problem In this paper we study the complexity of finding a spanning cactus in various graphs. First, we show that the task of determining if there is a directed spanning cactus in a general unweighted digraph is NP-complete. The proof is a reduction from ONE-IN-THREE 3SAT. Secondly, we show that finding the minimum spanning cactus in a directed, weighted complete graph with triangle inequality is polynomial time equivalent to finding the minimum travelling salesman problem (TSP) tour in the same graph and that they have the same hardness in approximation.

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

directed cacti
spanning cacti
np-complete
asymmetric tsp


An effective treatment of nonlinear differential equations with linear boundary conditions using the homotopy analysis method In this paper, we provide an effective technique to treat nonlinear differential equations with linear boundary conditions that are reduced from a nonlinear problem describing the steady-state boundary-layer flow of a micropolar fluid near the forward stagnation point of a two-dimensional plane surface. The analytical approximations with high accuracy are obtained using the homotopy analysis method, which agree well with the numerical results. This indicates the validity and great potential of the proposed method for solving nonlinear differential equations with linear boundary conditions. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

linear boundary conditions
micropolar fluid
stagnation point
homotopy analysis method


Coupled fluid-structure solver: The case of shock wave impact on monolithic and composite material plates An unstructured adaptive mesh flow solver, a finite element structure solver and a moving mesh algorithm were implemented in the numerical simulation of the interaction between a shock wave and a structure. In the past, this interaction is mostly considered as one-way in the sense that the shock causes a transient load on the structure while it is reflected uneffected by the impact. A fully coupled approach was implemented in the present work which can account for the effects associated with a mutual interaction. This approach included a compressible flow Eulerian solver of second order accuracy in finite volume formulation for the fluid and a Langargian solver in finite element formulation for the solid structure. A novel implementation of advancing front moving mesh algorithm was made possible with the introduction of a flexible and efficient quad-edge data structure. Adaptive mesh refinement was introduced into the flow solver for improved accuracy as well. Numerical results are further validated by theoretical analysis, experimental data and results from other numerical simulations. Grid dependency study was performed and results showed that the physical phenomena and quantities were independent of the numerical grid chosen in the simulations. The results illuminated complicated flow phenomena and structure vibration patterns, which in order to be detected experimentally require capabilities beyond those of the current experimental techniques. The numerical simulations also successfully modelled the aero-acoustic damping effects on the structure, which do not exist in previous numerical models. Further analysis of the results showed that the mutual interaction is not linear and that the non-linearity arises because the wave propagation in the fluid is not linear and it cascades a non-linear and non-uniform loading on the plate. Non-linearity intensifies when the plate is vibrating at high frequency while the wave propagation speed is low. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

fluid-structure interactions
composite materials
shock waves
modes
resonance
acoustics
aeroelastic response


A tight bound on the performance of Fisher's linear discriminant in randomly projected data spaces We consider the problem of classification in non-adaptive dimensionality reduction. Specifically, we give an average-case bound on the classification error of Fisher's linear discriminant classifier when the classifier only has access to randomly projected versions of a given training set. By considering the system of random projection and classifier together as a whole, we are able to take advantage of the simple class structure inherent in the problem, and so derive a non-trivial performance bound without imposing any sparsity or underlying low-dimensional structure restrictions on the data. Our analysis also reveals and quantifies the effect of class 'flipping' - a potential issue when randomly projecting a finite sample. Our bound is reasonably tight, and unlike existing bounds on learning from randomly projected data, it becomes tighter as the quantity of training data increases. A preliminary version of this work received an IBM Best Student Paper Award at the 20th International Conference on Pattern Recognition. (C) 2011 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 B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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

random projection
dimensionality reduction

fisher discriminant analysis
curse of dimensionality
performance bounds


From the model of El Sistema in Venezuela to current applications: learning and integration through collective music education Over the last years, El Sistemathe Venezuelan project started in 1975 and now acknowledged worldwide as the most significant example of collective music educationhas inspired a profusion of remarkable initiatives on all continents. From the original impulse by founder Jos Antonio Abreu, strong social principles of integration are combined with specific musical approaches to achieve individual empowerment as a large-scale alternative to endemic juvenile crime, counteracting the risk factors of social unease, serving as a stimulating example toward emancipation, and providing professional opportunities to the talented. Such a network, in turn, proves to be a powerful instrument of cultural progress: the tenets of Sistema become shared values able to foster development, reaching into issues of disability and rehabilitation. This paper presents continuities and contrasts in various ramifications of such a successful trend and outlines perspectives for further impact of this powerful transformational agent.

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

el sistema
venezuela
music education
jos
antonio abreu


Finite element dynamic analysis of geometrically exact planar beams We present a new strain-based finite element formulation for the dynamic analysis of highly flexible elastic planar beams. The formulation employs the geometrically exact Reissner planar beam theory which accounts for finite displacements and rotations, and finite membrane, shear and bending strains. The system of semi-discrete dynamic equations of motion is derived from the modified Hamilton principle in which only the strain variables are interpolated. Such a choice of the interpolated variables is an advantage over approaches, in which the displacements and rotations are interpolated, since the field consistency problem and related locking phenomena do not arise. The performance and accuracy of the formulation are illustrated by several numerical examples.

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

structural dynamics
reissner beam theory
strain-based finite element
time integration


Shapes and Self-Movement in Protocell Systems The effect of shapes on self-movement has been studied with an extended model of autopoiesis. Autopoiesis is known as a theory of self-boundary maintenance. In this study, not only the autopoietic generation of the self-boundary, but also the emergence of self-motility, has been examined. As a result of computer simulations, it has been found that different membrane shapes cause different types of self-movement. A kind of chemotaxis has been observed for some shapes. The mechanism of chemotaxis is discussed by studying the internal chemical processes within the shape boundaries.

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


Automatic guidance of a farm tractor relying on a single CP-DGPS Precision agriculture involves very accurate farm vehicle control along recorded paths, which are not necessarily straight lines. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of achieving this task with a CP-DGPS as the unique sensor. The vehicle heading is derived according to a Kalman state reconstructor, and a nonlinear velocity independent control law is designed, relying on chained systems properties. Field experiments, demonstrating the capabilities of our guidance system, are reported and discussed.

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

mobile robots
nonlinear control systems
gps


Four-dimensional matrix transformation and rate of A-statistical convergence of periodic functions In this paper, using the concept of A-statistical convergence for double real sequences, we obtain a Korovkin type-approximation theorem for double sequences of positive linear operators defined on the space of all 2 pi-periodic and real valued continuous functions on the real two-dimensional space. Furthermore, we display an application which shows that our new result is stronger than its classical version. Also, we study rates of A-statistical convergence of a double sequence of positive linear operators acting on this space. Finally, displaying an example, it is shown that our statistical rates are more efficient than the classical aspects in the approximation theory. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

rates of a-statistical convergence for double sequences


state space abstraction for parameterized self-stabilizing embedded systems Self-stabilizing systems are systems that automatically recover from any transient fault. Proving the correctness of a parameterized self-stabilizing system, i.e., a system composed of an arbitrary number of processes, is a challenging task. For the verification of parameterized systems the method of control abstraction has been developed. However, control abstraction can only be applied to systems in which each process has a fixed number of observable variables. In this article, we propose a technique to abstract a parameterized self-stabilizing system, whose processes have a parameterized number of observable variables, to a system with fixed number of observable variables. This enables the use of control abstraction for verification. The proposed technique targets low-atomicity, shared-memory, asynchronous systems. We establish the completeness of the method under reasonable conditions and demonstrate its effectiveness by applying it on a number of self-stabilizing distributed systems.

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

parameterized systems
abstraction
verification

network invariants
self-stabilizing systems


Square hash with a small key size This paper shows an improvement of square hash function family proposed by Etzel et al. [5]. In the new variants, the size of keys is much shorter while the collision probability is slightly larger. Most of the main techniques used to optimize the original square hash functions work on our variants as well. The proposed algorithms are applicable to fast and secure message authentication.

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

message authentication codes
universal hash