fbufs: a high-bandwidth cross-domain transfer facility We have designed and implemented a new operating system facility for I/O buffer management and data transferacross protection domain boundaries on shared memory machines. This facility, called fast buffers (fbufs), combines virtual page remapping with shared virtual memory, and exploits locality in I/O traffic to achieve high throughput without compromising protection, security, or modularity. goal is to help deliver the high bandwidth afforded by emerging high-speed networks to user-level processes, both in monolithic and microkernel-based operating systems.This paper outlines the requirements for a cross-domain transfer facility, describes the design of the fbuf mechanism that meets these requirements, and experimentally quantifies the impact of fbufs on network performance.

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

requirements
network
help
shared memory
buffer management
protection
design
operating system
throughput
bandwidth
data
paper
traffic
locality

sharing
network performance
paging
exploit
process
memorialized
modular
secure
virtualization
user


VistAU.S. Department of Veterans Affairs national-scale HIS The Veterans Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has a long, successful, and interesting history of using information technology to meet its mission. Each medical center is computerized to a degree that surprises the uninitiated. For example, medical documentation and ordering are computerized at every facility. A sophisticated national infrastructure has been developed to replicate, support, and evolve single-center successes. With advances in inter-facility networking, data sharing, and specialized central support and technical tools, VistA is becoming a single, highly scalable national health information system (HIS) solution. In this paper, we present an historical overview of VistA's development, describe its current functionality, and discuss its emergence as a national-scale hospital information system.

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

medical records systems computerized
hospital information systems
information systems
u.s. department of veterans affairs


Supporting the discovery and labeling of non-taxonomic relationships in ontology learning Ontology learning (OL) from texts has been suggested as a technology that helps to reduce the bottleneck of knowledge acquisition in the construction of domain ontologies. In this learning process, the discovery, and possibly also labeling, of non-taxonomic relationships has been identified as one of the most difficult and often neglected problems. In this paper, we propose a technique that addresses this issue by analyzing a domain text corpus to extract verbs frequently applied for linking certain pairs of concepts. Integrated in an ontology building process, this technique aims to reduce the work-load of knowledge engineers and domain experts by suggesting candidate relationships that might become part of the ontology as well as prospective labels for them.

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


An overset-grid method for 3D unsteady incompressible flows A composite-grid numerical method is developed for simulating unsteady, three-dimensional (3D), incompressible flows in complex geometries. The governing equations are solved using a second-order accurate, finite-volume method based on the dual time-stepping artificial compressibility approach. Overset grids are employed to discretize arbitrarily complex geometries, and a new interface algorithm is developed to facilitate communication between neighboring grids. The algorithm is inspired by the necessary and sufficient conditions for satisfying global mass conservation in a composite domain and is simple to implement in 3D. Numerical experiments show that the new interpolation scheme is superior to straightforward, trilinear interpolation of all flow variables as it minimizes non-physical spurious oscillations in the overlap region, is less sensitive to grid refinement, and greatly enhances the computational efficiency of the iterative algorithm. The advantages of the new method are especially pronounced when adjacent overset subdomains are discretized with different spatial resolutions. The potential of the method as a powerful technique for simulating complex engineering flows is demonstrated by applying it to calculate vortex shedding from a circular cylinder mounted between two endplates and flow in a rectangular channel with two wall-mounted obstacles.

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


Representations of the extensions of many-valued equivalence relations Two fundamental questions on the extensions of many-valued equivalence relations, whose solutions have a crucial concern for the applications of many-valued equivalence relations, axe explicitly stated to characterize the extensions of many-valued equivalence relations. Thereafter introducing the satisfactory solutions of these questions, the desirable characterizations of the extensions of many-valued equivalence relations are pointed out.

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

extension of many-valued equivalence relation

extension of indistinguishability operator


finding partial orders from unordered 0-1 data In applications such as paleontology and medical genetics the 0-1 data has an underlying unknown order (the ages of the fossil sites, the locations of markers in the genome). The order might be total or partial: for example, two sites in different parts of the globe might be ecologically incomparable, or the ordering of certain markers might be different in different subgroups of the data. We consider the following problem. Given a table over a set of 0-1 variables, find a partial order for the rows minimizing a score function and being as specific as possible. The score function can be, e.g., the number of changes from 1 to 0 in a column (for paleontology) or the likelihood of the marker sequence (for genomic data). Our solution for this task first constructs small totally ordered fragments of the partial order, then finds good orientations for the fragments, and finally uses a simple and efficient heuristic method for finding a partial order that corresponds well with the collection of fragments. We describe the method, discuss its properties, and give empirical results on paleontological data demonstrating the usefulness of the method. In the application the use of the method highlighted some previously unknown properties of the data and pointed out probable errors in the data.

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

hidden ordering
consecutive ones property


using queuing theory to predict organizational metrics Most existing organizational design processes focus on either the qualitative or domain-independent features of candidate designs. This paper demonstrates the significance of domain-specific features through an examination of an organizationally-driven information retrieval network. The behavior of a distributed search process and the consequences of hierarchical control are described. A model capable of predicting these characteristics is created in the ODML framework using techniques from queuing theory. This model can be used to guide the search for an appropriate design.

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

organizational modeling
organizations
hierarchical systems
quantitative modeling


Comparative study of analytical and numerical algorithms for designing reinforced concrete sections under biaxial bending This paper presents a comparative study of different integration methods of stresses (both analytical and numerical) for concrete sections subjected to axial loads and biaxial bending. Such methods are applied to circular and rectangular sections. The constitutive equation used is a parabola-rectangle from the Eurocode-2. The comparison was performed with regard to the accuracy and the computational speed of each method. The objective of the paper is to determine which of the integration methods compared is more efficient in computing the interaction surfaces for rectangular and circular sections. The analytical method proposed by Barros et al. [Barros MHFM, Barros A, Ferreira C. Closed form solution of optimal design of rectangular reinforced concrete sections. Eng Comput 2004;21(7):76176] for rectangular sections is compared with the numerical method termed modified thick layer integration proposed by Bonet et al. [Bonet JL, Romero ML, Miguel PF, Fernandez MA. A fast stress integration algorithm for reinforced concrete sections with axial loads and biaxial bending. Comput Struct 2004;82(23):21325] and with the well-known fiber method. Furthermore, two new methods are proposed for circular sections: one analytical and one numerical based on the GaussLegendre quadrature. The results of both methods are compared with the classical layer decomposition method.

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

stress integration
reinforced concrete
biaxial bending

cross-section analysis
short columns
ultimate design


A design of real-time non-regular sequence generation algorithms and their implementations on cellular automata with 1-bit inter-cell communications We introduce a special new class of cellular automata(CA) whose inter-cell communication is restricted to 1-bit. Several design examples for 1-bit inter-cell communication cellular algorithms are given. It is shown that infinite non-regular sequences such as {2(n)/n = 1, 2, 3,..}, In {n(2)/n = 1, 2, 3,..} and Fibonacci sequences can be generated in real-time by cellular automata with 1-bit inter-cell communications. In addition, twice real-time prime generation algorithm is also given.

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


Summary of Product Characteristics content extraction for a safe drugs usage The use of medications has a central role in health care provision, yet on occasion, it may injure the person taking them as result of adverse drug events. A correct drug choice must be modulated to acknowledge both patients status and drug-specific information. However, this information is locked in free-text and, as such, cannot be actively accessed and elaborated by computerized applications. The goal of this work lies in extracting content (active ingredient, interaction effects, etc.) from the Summary of Product Characteristics, focusing mainly on drug-related interactions, following a machine learning based approach. We compare two state of the art classifiers: conditional random fields with support vector machines. To this end, we introduce a corpus of 100 interaction sections, hand annotated with 13 labels that have been derived from a previously developed conceptual model. The results of our empirical analysis demonstrate that the two models perform well. They exhibit similar overall performance, with an overall accuracy of about 91%.

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

conditional random fields
support vector machines
adverse drug events
summary of product characteristics

information extraction
medication errors


AVOIDING SHARED CLOCKS IN NETWORKS OF TIMED AUTOMATA Networks of timed automata (NTA) are widely used to model distributed real-time systems. Quite often in the literature, the automata are allowed to share clocks, i.e. transitions of one automaton may be guarded by conditions on the value of clocks reset by another automaton. This is a problem when one considers implementing such model in a distributed architecture, since reading clocks a priori requires communications which are not explicitly described in the model. We focus on the following question: given an NTA A(1)'parallel to A(2)' where A(2) reads some clocks reset by A(1), does there exist an NTA A(1)'parallel to| A(2)' without shared clocks with the same behavior as the initial NTA? For this, we allow the automata to exchange information during synchronizations only, in particular by copying the value of their neighbor's clocks. We discuss a formalization of the problem and define an appropriate behavioural equivalence. Then we give a criterion using the notion of contextual timed transition system, which represents the behavior of A(2) when in parallel with A(1). Finally, we effectively build A(1)' || A(2)' when it exists.

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

networks of timed automata
shared clocks
contextual timed transition system

implementation on distributed architecture

behavioral equivalence for distributed systems


regaining single sign-on taming the beast It has been our effort at Ringling school to provide our campus community with the capability to uniformly access resources across multiple platforms. Empowering the user with a single sign-on capability has multifold benefits. It greatly improves user experience and relieves the user from the burden of remembering multiple user-id and password pairs. On the administrative side, help desk costs are noticeably reduced and security improved, as users are not tempted to 'store' multiple passwords in written form.In the Fall of 1998 we implemented a single sign-on framework that utilized Sun RPC to synchronize accounts and passwords across multiple systems on the network. Our approach was easy to deploy, did not require any client level software and we did not introduce a single point of failure.It is our objective to consolidate user administration systems by adhering to a Light Weight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) based meta-directory model while preserving a common, single end-user authentication information and the coordinated management of user account information. Therefore, we are implementing a new single sign-on system that utilizes LDAP and SUN RPC protocols. Our approach is secure, does not store passwords and does not introduce a single point of failure. Password resetting can be done seamlessly and transparently without the need for additional client software.

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

account synchronization
single sign-on
active directory (ad)
password synchronization


Medical privacy protection based on granular computing ? Based on granular computing methodology, we propose two criteria to quantitatively measure privacy invasion. The total cost criterion measures the effort needed for a data recipient to find private information. The average benefit criterion measures the benefit a data recipient obtains when he received the released data. These two criteria remedy the inadequacy of the deterministic privacy formulation proposed in Proceedings of Asia Pacific Medical Informatics Conference, 2000; Int J Med Inform 2003;71:1723. Granular computing methodology provides a unified framework for these quantitative measurements and previous bin size and logical approaches. These two new criteria are implemented in a prototype system Cellsecu 2.0. Preliminary system performance evaluation is conducted and reviewed.

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


The dynamic simulation of organic farming development scenarios A case study in Slovenia We present the simulation model for organic farming development. For the simulation the system dynamics method was used. The case study explains how changes in policy scenarios can affect organic farming development.

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

system dynamics
organic farming
simulation
model


Design of progressively censored group sampling plans for Weibull distributions: An optimization problem Optimization algorithms provides efficient solutions to many statistical problems. Essentially, the design of sampling plans for lot acceptance purposes is an optimization problem with several constraints, usually related to the quality levels required by the producer and the consumer. An optimal acceptance sampling plan is developed in this paper for the Weibull distribution with unknown scale parameter. The proposed plan combines grouping of items, sudden death testing in each group and progressive group removals, and its decision criterion is based on the uniformly most powerful life test. A mixed integer programming problem is first solved for determining the minimum number of failures required and the corresponding acceptance constant. The optimal number of groups is then obtained by minimizing a balanced estimation of the expected test cost. Excellent approximately optimal solutions are also provided in closed-forms. The sampling plan is considerably flexible and allows to save experimental time and cost. In general, our methodology achieves solutions that are quite robust to small variations in the Weibull shape parameter. A numerical example about a manufacturing process of gyroscopes is included for illustration.

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

constrained optimization
minimal expected cost
operating characteristic function
producers and consumers risks
quality control


Fuzzy logic based game theory applications in multi-criteria decision making process Decision process can be summarized as a process that helps for choosing the optimal alternatives according to suggested objectives by evaluating all environmental effects in problem solving. Nowadays, since environmental effects are more complex, imprecise and multilateral, fuzzy set theory and game theory are widely preferred instruments in decision making process. The aim of this study is to present a hybrid multi-criteria decision making approach which uses artificial intelligence techniques such as fuzzy logic and game theory. This process is considered in two person non-constant sum game theory perspective. The methods in literature about related topics (such as scenario planning and fuzzy TOPSIS) are examined and a hybrid decision making methodology that comprises many decision methods is formed. All phases of this approach are executed in game theory perspective by evaluating mutual strategies of players. In the study, the methodology is explained and a fictitious international disagreement case is used as a numerical example to demonstrate the validity and applicability.

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


Augmented reality technologies, systems and applications This paper surveys the current state-of-the-art of technology, systems and applications in Augmented Reality. It describes work performed by many different research groups, the purpose behind each new Augmented Reality system, and the difficulties and problems encountered when building some Augmented Reality applications. It surveys mobile augmented reality systems challenges and requirements for successful mobile systems. This paper summarizes the current applications of Augmented Reality and speculates on future applications and where current research will lead Augmented Realitys development. Challenges augmented reality is facing in each of these applications to go from the laboratories to the industry, as well as the future challenges we can forecast are also discussed in this paper. Section1 gives an introduction to what Augmented Reality is and the motivations for developing this technology. Section2 discusses Augmented Reality Technologies with computer vision methods, AR devices, interfaces and systems, and visualization tools. The mobile and wireless systems for Augmented Reality are discussed in Section3. Four classes of current applications that have been explored are described in Section4. These applications were chosen as they are the most famous type of applications encountered when researching AR apps. The future of augmented reality and the challenges they will be facing are discussed in Section5.

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

augmented reality technologies
augmented reality systems
augmented reality applications
augmented reality iphone4
augmented reality on mobile devices


Facial expression recognition by supervised independent component analysis using MAP estimation Permutation ambiguity of the classical Independent Component Analysis (ICA) may cause problems in feature extraction for pattern classification. Especially when only a small subset of components is derived from data, these components may not be most distinctive for classification, because ICA is an unsupervised method. We include a selective prior for de-mixing coefficients into the classical ICA to alleviate the problem. Since the prior is constructed upon the classification information from the training data, we refer to the proposed ICA model with a selective prior as a supervised ICA (sICA). We formulated the learning rule for sICA by taking a Maximum a Posteriori (MAP) scheme and further derived a fixed point algorithm for learning the de-mixing matrix. We investigate the performance of sICA in facial expression recognition from the aspects of both correct rate of recognition and robustness even with few independent components.

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


Estimation of oil firm's systematic risk via composite time-varying models This paper examines the performance of alternative models in estimating systematic risk in the oil industry, considering the traditional market model, three time-varying models, and some combination methods of individual models. This study uses the world's top 10 oil firms' data series to find that the combination method outperforms other individual models in out-of-sample forecasting of returns. The results indicate that the forecasting performance of the regression method is superior to individual and simple average models. (C) 2011 IMACS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

O O O O B I 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


Exercise repetition detection for resistance training based on smartphones Regular exercise is one of the most important factors in maintaining a good state of health. In the past, different systems have been proposed to assist people when exercising. While most of those systems focus only on cardio exercises such as running and cycling, we exploit smartphones to support leisure activities with a focus on resistance training. We describe how off-the-shelf smartphones without additional external sensors can be leveraged to capture resistance training data and to give reliable training feedback. We introduce a dynamic time warping-based algorithm to detect individual resistance training repetitions from the smartphones acceleration stream. We evaluate the algorithm in terms of the number of correctly recognized repetitions. Additionally, for providing feedback about the quality of repetitions, we use the duration of an individual repetition and analyze how accurately start and end times of repetitions can be detected by our algorithm. Our evaluations are based on 3,598 repetitions performed by ten volunteers exercising in two distinct scenarios, a gym and a natural environment. The results show an overall repetition miscount rate of about 1% and overall temporal detection error of about 11% of individual repetition duration.

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

wearable systems
smartphone
accelerometer


A modelling shell for participatory assessment and management of natural resources Recent structural and jurisdictional developments in natural resources management have resulted in requirements for more open and inclusive management processes. These processes generally use participatory approaches to involve a wide stakeholder audience in management investigations and policy development. Along with these changes have come requirements for more open approaches to the combined spatial and temporal modelling often used in management, leading to the development of tools that are designed to meet the needs of managers and other stakeholders. This paper presents a modelling shell that has been developed to support the participatory assessment and management of natural resources. The modelling shell concept is based upon experience gained during development of a number of natural resources modelling applications over the past 10 years. The shell supports the basic functions of data manipulation, simulation management and output presentation, and is underlain by a simple, accessible and easily understood system of data storage and manipulation. By providing these common functions, the modelling shell allows the people involved in system model construction to concentrate on the important issues of algorithm selection and development, rather than the often messy and time consuming issues of inputoutput.

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

natural resources modelling
modelling shell

environmental modelling
environmental management
participatory modelling processes
software engineering


analysis of crosscutting features in software product lines Software Product Lines has emerged as a new technology to develop software product families related to a particular domain. The software products developed by this methodology are based on the combination of a set of common and variable assets. However, in order to combine these assets to build different products, coupling between common and variable parts must be highly reduced. In that sense, crosscutting features make evolution and adaptability of software difficult. In this paper we propose a framework to identify crosscutting features at early stages in order to use aspect-oriented techniques to modularize them and reduce their dependencies. This framework is based on a crosscutting pattern and uses traceability matrices to perform the analysis of crosscutting. Finally, applicability of the framework is shown by identifying crosscutting features in the Arcade Game Maker product line.

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

software product lines
crosscutting features


AUTOMATED AVERAGING OF AUDITORY EVOKED RESPONSE WAVEFORMS USING WAVELET ANALYSIS The auditory brainstem response (ABR) is widely used as an index to assist hearing and brain function diagnoses. In particular, in clinical applications, the rapid detection of ABR peak characteristics is required. One approach to improving the speed of detection is to decrease the number of signal averaging procedures while denoising during the detection of ABR waveforms; another approach is to extract the characteristics of ABR waveform components. In our previous study, to represent ABR waveform components, we obtained not only the frequency characteristics of an ABR but also the frequency characteristics of each component of the ABR based on the time (latency). Using a one-dimensional discrete wavelet transform (DWT) in this latency-frequency analysis, we described an approximate method of reproducing ABR signals with a low SNR from observed values obtained with a smaller number of averaging procedures. At the same time, using this multiple-level frequency decomposition of ABR signals according to the known frequency content of the ABR, we extracted the peak latency of the fast component of the ABR using fewer averagings of the ABR data. From these decomposition and reconstruction results for ABR signals, we proposed the optimal decomposition level of the ABR and explained how we used the waveform of the ABR reconstructed by the inverse DWT (IDWT). In this paper, we propose a method of automated averaging of the ABR using the waveform reconstructed by discrete wavelet multiresolution analysis (MRA). Our proposed method will be useful for the fast detection of ABR latency characteristics in hearing screening test.

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


The phoneless in the broadband age: A pilot study in Massachusetts Questions about universal service continue to evolve as information and communication technology advances, bringing new platforms, services, and business models. Concerns about exclusion remain, particularly in times of transition to new technologies and platforms. While the universal service literature is rich in econometric studies that indicate the drivers of household telephone penetration, without qualitative data directly from those households that experience phonelessness, we cannot understand the causes well enough to design effective policy. This research explores why people are phoneless in the current environment of increased platform and business model choices. Particular focus is placed on understanding the relationship between new technology, platforms and business models and phonelessness. Data is obtained from surveys completed by approximately 100 individuals in Massachusetts who are currently without any voice connection, either landline or mobile, or have been sometime in the past ten years. The survey includes questions about different platforms and communication services in order to learn how they have led to phonelessness. The results of the pilot study show that the vast majority of phoneless households do not choose to be phoneless. The study also shows that the most frequent causes of phonelessness in this population are unemployment and unpredictable bills. Many instances of unpredictable bills leading to phonelessness occur with wireless service or bundled services but are the result of business models for service provision rather than the platforms themselves. Prepaid wireless service is a market-based solution that helps households prevent phonelessness by reducing unpredictability. Universal service policy for voice and broadband can better reduce exclusion with greater attention to business models and practices versus technologies and platforms, and increased emphasis on prepaid service to reduce unpredictability.

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

universal service
wireless
bundled services
broadband


Beyond classical consensus clustering: The least squares approach to multiple solutions Clustering is one of the most important unsupervised learning problems and it consists of finding a common structure in a collection of unlabeled data. However, due to the ill-posed nature of the problem, different runs of the same clustering algorithm applied to the same data-set usually produce different solutions. In this scenario choosing a single solution is quite arbitrary. On the other hand, in many applications the problem of multiple solutions becomes intractable, hence it is often more desirable to provide a limited group of good clusterings rather than a single solution. In the present paper we propose the least squares consensus clustering. This technique allows to extrapolate a small number of different clustering solutions from an initial (large) ensemble obtained by applying any clustering algorithm to a given data-set. We also define a measure of quality and present a graphical visualization of each consensus clustering to make immediately interpretable the strength of the consensus. We have carried out several numerical experiments both on synthetic and real data-sets to illustrate the proposed methodology.

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

least-squares consensus
data visualization


Content-adaptive digital music watermarking based on music structure analysis A novel content-adaptive music watermarking technique is proposed in this article. To optimally balance inaudibility and robustness when embedding and extracting watermarks, the embedding scheme is highly related to the music structure and human auditory system (HAS). A note-based segmentation method is proposed and used for music vocal/instrumental boundary detection. A multiple bit hopping and hiding scheme with different embedding parameters is applied to vocal and instrumental frames of the music. The experimental results in inaudibility and robustness are provided to support all novel features in the proposed watermarking scheme.

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

algorithms
experimentation
performance
content-adaptive
digital watermarking
note-based segmentation


Two-component Poisson mixture regression modelling of count data with bivariate random effects Two-component Poisson mixture regression is typically used to model heterogeneous count outcomes that arise from two underlying sub-populations. Furthermore, a random component can be incorporated into the linear predictor to account for the clustering data structure. However, when including random effects in both components of the mixture model, the two random effects are often assumed to be independent for simplicity. A two-component Poisson mixture regression model with bivariate random effects is proposed to deal with the correlated situation. A restricted maximum quasi-likelihood estimation procedure is provided to obtain the parameter estimates of the model. A simulation study shows both fixed effects and variance component estimates perform well under different conditions. An application to childhood gastroenteritis data demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed methodology, and suggests that neglecting the inherent correlation between random effects may lead to incorrect inferences concerning the count outcomes. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

bivariate random effects
mixture regression model

clustered data
overdispersion
variance components


ts: an optimizing compiler for smalltalk TS (Typed Smalltalk) is a portable optimizing compiler that produces native machine code for a typed variant of Smalltalk, making Smalltalk programs much faster. This paper describes the structure of TS, the kinds of optimizations that it performs, the constraints that it places upon Smalltalk, the constraints placed upon it by an interactive programming environment, and its performance.

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

optimizing compiler
structure
code
performance
smalltalk
paper
programming environment

interaction place program portability optimality constraint


Learning to classify by ongoing feature selection Existing classification algorithms use a set of training examples to select classification features, which are then used for all future applications of the classifier. A major problem with this approach is the selection of a training set: a small set will result in reduced performance, and a large set will require extensive training. In addition, class appearance may change over time requiring an adaptive classification system. In this paper, we propose a solution to these basic problems by developing an on-line feature selection method, which continuously modifies and improves the features used for classification based on the examples provided so far. The method is used for learning a new class, and to continuously improve classification performance as new data becomes available. In ongoing learning, examples are continuously presented to the system, and new features arise from these examples. The method continuously measures the value of the selected features using mutual information, and uses these values to efficiently update the set of selected features when new training information becomes available. The problem is challenging because at each stage the training process uses a small subset of the training data. Surprisingly, with sufficient training data the on-line process reaches the same performance as a scheme that has a complete access to the entire training data. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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


Fixed Polarity Linearly Independent Expansions for the Representation of Quaternary Functions A polynomial expansion based on a fixed polarity quaternary linearly independent (FPQLI) transform is presented. The FPQLI transforms built from six recursive basic transforms whose structures are directly derived from some linearly independent transforms over Galois Field(2) (GF(2)). For certain polarities the FPQLI transform for it-variable quaternary functions directly corresponds to the binary fixed polarity Reed-Muller (FPRM) transforms for 2n-variable binary functions. Due to the way the FPQLI transform for n>1 is constructed, the transform is inherently recursive and has a regular structure. Recursive equations, fast flow graph, and underlying basis functions for the transform are given. In addition, relations between different FPQLI spectral coefficient vectors are shown and applied to reduce the computational cost of obtaining the optimal FPQLI expansion. Experimental results of the FPQLI transform have been obtained for a set of quaternary test files. The results show that for the test files, the average number of nonzero spectral coefficients of optimal FPQLI transform is 39.05% smaller than the number for optimal FPRM over GF(4).

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

quaternary switching functions
multiple-valued logic
spectral techniques
transforms over gf(4)
fast transform
discrete transforms


Imprecise probabilities in engineering analyses Probabilistic uncertainty and imprecision in structural parameters and in environmental conditions and loads are challenging phenomena in engineering analyses. They require appropriate mathematical modeling and quantification to obtain realistic results when predicting the behavior and reliability of engineering structures and systems. But the modeling and quantification is complicated by the characteristics of the available information, which involves, for example, sparse data, poor measurements and subjective information. This raises the question whether the available information is sufficient for probabilistic modeling or rather suggests a set-theoretical approach. The framework of imprecise probabilities provides a mathematical basis to deal with these problems which involve both probabilistic and non-probabilistic information. A common feature of the various concepts of imprecise probabilities is the consideration of an entire set of probabilistic models in one analysis. The theoretical differences between the concepts mainly concern the mathematical description of the set of probabilistic models and the connection to the probabilistic models involved. This paper provides an overview on developments which involve imprecise probabilities for the solution of engineering problems. Evidence theory, probability bounds analysis with p-boxes, and fuzzy probabilities are discussed with emphasis on their key features and on their relationships to one another. This paper was especially prepared for this special issue and reflects, in various ways, the thinking and presentation preferences of the authors, who are also the guest editors for this special issue.

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

imprecise probabilities
evidence theory
probability bounds analysis
fuzzy probabilities


sharing code among instances of ada generics This paper describes the aspects of the Ada compiler for the Air Force Ada Integrated Environment (AIE) that are concerned with sharing code among generic instances. Sharing is achieved by forming equivalence classes of generic instances and sharing executable code among members of the class. This approach achieves the required efficiency for embedded applications while minimizing the storage consumed by the executable code of generic instances.

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

sharing applications efficiency code storage paper class generic

aspect environments compilation embedding integrability


Evaluation performance of genetic algorithm and tabu search algorithm for solving the Max-RWA problem in all-optical networks In this paper, we deal with the static Routing and Wavelength Assignment (RWA) problem in networks with no wavelength converters, and where a given static set of connection demands is prearranged. Our objective is to maximize the number of optical connection-requests that can be established for a given number of wavelengths. A mathematical formulation for Max-RWA was presented. In this article, we implement and compare the performance of two random search algorithms namely: the genetic algorithm and the tabu search algorithm. Using these metaheuristics we solved approximately the wavelength assignment problem for Max-RWA while we computed its routing by a deterministic method which is the backtracking. Therefore we conducted many extensive experiments under different circumstances. Diagrams and representative numerical examples indicate the accuracy of our algorithms.

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

routing and wavelength assignment
tabu search algorithm
genetic algorithm
backtracking
metaheuristics
random search algorithms


Automatic identification of butterfly species based on local binary patterns and artificial neural network A computer vision method was proposed for automatically identifying butterfly species. To our knowledge, it was the first study in identifying the butterfly species with computer vision. The method is based on local binary patterns and artificial neural network. Results demonstrated that the proposed method has achieved well recognition accuracy rates.

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

local binary patterns
artificial neural network

butterfly identification
texture features


teaching recursion using fractals in prolog Recursion has traditionally been a difficult concept for students to understand, both as a control structure and as an analytical tool. This paper explores recursion using Prolog (whose predominate control structure is recursion) and through fractals which possess a visually recursive form. We discuss several simple Turbo Prolog programs which demonstrate recursion graphically and whose resultant figures are fractals whose recursive nature is particularly easy to analyze in the Turbo Prolog environment.

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

structure recursion prolog concept tool teaching demonstrate paper control


Observation of vortex packets in direct numerical simulation of fully turbulent channel flow A number of experimental studies have inferred the existence of packets of inclined, hairpin-like vortices in wall turbulence on the basis of observations made in two-dimensional x-y planes using visualization and particle image velocimetry (PIV). However, there are very few observations of hairpins in existing three-dimensional studies made using direct numerical simulation (DNS), and no such study claims to have revealed packets. We demonstrate, for the first time, the existence of hairpin vortex packets in DNS of turbulent flow. The vortex packet structure found in the present study at low Reynolds number, Re-tau = 300, is consistent with and substantiates the observations and the results from two-dimensional PIV measurements at higher Reynolds numbers in channel, pipe and boundary layer flows. Thus, the evidence supports the view that vortex packets are a universal feature of wall turbulence, independent of effects due to boundary layer trips or critical conditions in the aforementioned numerical studies. Visualization of the DNS velocity field and vortices also shows the close association of hairpin packets with long low-momentum streaks and the regions of high Reynolds shear stress.

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

wall turbulence
structure
hairpin vortex packets
direct numerical simulation


Three-way component analysis with smoothness constraints Tucker3 Analysis and CANDECOMP/PARAFAC (CP) are closely related methods for three-way component analysis. Imposing constraints on the Tucker3 or CP solutions can be useful to improve estimation of the model parameters. In the present paper, a method is proposed for applying smoothness constraints on Tucker3 or CP solutions, which is particularly useful in analysing functional three-way data. The usefulness of smoothness constraints on Tucker3 and CP solutions is examined by means of a simulation experiment. Generally, the results of the experiments indicate better estimations of the model parameters. An empirical example illustrates the use of smoothness constraints. The constrained model is more stable and easier to interpret than the unconstrained model.

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

three-way data
longitudinal data
splines
smoother


searching across paths Observations of developers indicate that developers try to answer a variety of questions by searching across control flow paths through a program for statements matching search criteria. We believe that tools that better support this activity can help developers answer these questions more easily, quickly, and accurately.

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

developer questions
program comprehension
software maintenance
code navigation


Identification of uncertain MIMO Wiener and Hammerstein models Several approaches can be found in the literature to perform the identification of block oriented models (BOMs). In this sense, an important improvement is to achieve robust identification to cope with the presence of uncertainty. In this work, two special and widely used BOMs are considered: Hammerstein and Wiener models. The models herein treated are assumed to be described by parametric representations. The approach introduced in this work for the identification of the multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) uncertain model is performed in a single step. The uncertainty is described as a set of parameters which is found through the solution of an optimization problem. A distillation column simulation model is presented to illustrate the robust identification approach. This process is an interesting benchmark due to its well-known nonlinear dynamics. Both Hammerstein and Wiener models are used to represent this plant in the presence of uncertainty. A comparative study between these models is established. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

wiener models
hammerstein models
robust identification


Bayesian reconstruction of the missing failure times in exponential distribution In this paper, we consider the situations in which a middle part of the sample is lost or removed from the experiment. The left-censored sample and Type-II right-censored sample are special cases of this scheme. Point and interval reconstructors for lost failure times are obtained, while the underlying distribution is exponential. To illustrate the performance of the proposed procedures, two numerical examples based on the real data sets are presented. In the case of two-parameter, a simulation study has been done and also the sensitivity of the results to deviations from the true distribution is investigated.

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

reconstruction interval
point reconstructor
order statistics
conjugate prior


Joint reliability importance of k-out-of-n systems Joint Reliability Importance (JRI) is investigated to provide information on the type and the degree of interactions between two components by identifying the sign and the size of it. In specific, JRI is analyzed for k-out-of-n systems with (i) independently identically distributed (IID) components, (ii) non-identical and independent components and (iii) pair-wise dependent components. The closed form solution of JRI is derived for IID components. By using the solution, the variations of JRI are investigated with respect to the level of redundancy (n/k). In non-identical and independent case, the point of sign change of JRI is obtained. It is also shown that the sign of JRI can be determined by the relationships between the Schur-convexity (concavity) and the JRI. For dependent case, only the pair-wise dependence is considered. As a result, the error caused by assuming statistical independence between pair-wise dependent components is shown to be measured by their covariance and JRI.

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

k-out-of-n system
schur-convexity (concavity)


Computerized detection of malignant tumors on digital mammograms This paper presents a tumor detection system for fully digital mammography, The processing scheme adopted in the proposed system focuses on the solution of two problems. One is how to detect tumors as suspicious regions with a very weak contrast to their background and another is how to extract features which characterize malignant turners. For the first problem, a unique adaptive filter called the iris filter is proposed. It is very effective in enhancing approximately rounded opacities no matter what their contrasts might be. Clues for differentiation between malignant tumors and other tumors are believed to be mostly in their border areas. This paper proposes typical parameters which reflect boundary characteristics. To confirm the system performance for unknown samples, large scale experiments using 1212 CR images were performed. The results showed that the sensitivity of the proposed system was 90.5% and the average number of false positives per image was found to be only 1.3. These results show the effectiveness of the proposed system.

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

boundary detection
computer-aided diagnosis


towards securing xml web services Security is currently one of the main concerns about XML Web services. Several initiatives are currently ongoing aimed at achieving a standardized way for supporting integrity, confidentiality, and access control for XML Web services. This paper looks into these approaches and gives some hints for future research.

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


Intelligent classrooms and smart software: Teaching and learning in todays university The use of information and communication technologies in higher education is surrounded by contradictory, yet interrelated themes, that suggest that education is either experiencing a revolution or approaching its own demise. Undoubtedly, technologies are becoming embedded in academic life but patterns of adoption are more complex and nuanced than polarized themes suggest. The extreme polarity of a promises and fears spectrum is unable to fully account for why this is the case; neither can it be explained by economics, demographics, or the technology. This article argues that one of the most significant variables in the deployment of and adaptation to information technologies in the university is academic culture. In other words, unless we consider academic culture we cannot fully capture the relationship of technologies to education.

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


Surface roughness of rock faces through the curvature of triangulated meshes Mapping curvature highlights heavily fractured rock faces. Curvature-based roughness measures provide estimates of roughness in meshes. Colour-coding of mesh elements allows visualisation of rougher/smoother surfaces.

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

terrestrial laser scanning
polygonal mesh
curvature analysis
spatial partitioning


A fuzzy outranking method in energy policy planning Natural gas, imported coal and nuclear power plants are compared in terms of long-term (1996-2010) production economy in this study. Calculation of an accurate unit production cost of a power plant is generally a hard task. Especially in countries without any previous production experience, unit production cost calculation becomes more difficult. Therefore, it is difficult to determine the "best" plant alternatives to make a judgment. Owing to the subjective and incomplete data, preference of alternatives is modeled with fuzzy preference relation. Three preferences models are developed to evaluate the nondominance set from a set of alternatives for further development. During the applications of preference models, if alternatives are outranked by other alternatives, they are removed and are not taken into consideration. The approach developed is very much suited for applications in the fuzzy and uncertain environment. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

fuzzy sets
decision making
energy planning


design pattern detection by template matching In this paper, we adopt a template matching method to detect design patterns from a software system by calculating their normalized cross correlation. Because design patterns document flexible design ideas, there can be various ways of implementing them. In our approach, not only the exact matches of pattern instances are detected from system source code, but also the variations of pattern candidates can be identified. Based on our method, we provide tool support and perform experiments on different large open-source systems.

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

cross correlation
design pattern
template matching


Identifying parametric controls and dependencies in integrated assessment models using global sensitivity analysis We present Sobol' sensitivity analyses of three climate policy scenarios. Parameter interactions are significant, evolve over time, and vary by policy. Key interactions and sensitivities misclassified in expert elicited assessments. Climate damages not sufficiently sensitive to climate/carbon cycle parameters. Costs of aggressive mitigation controlled by participation and renewables.

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

integrated assessment model
sobol' method
model diagnostics
climate change


finding influentials based on the temporal order of information adoption in twitter Twitter offers an explicit mechanism to facilitate information diffusion and has emerged as a new medium for communication. Many approaches to find influentials have been proposed, but they do not consider the temporal order of information adoption. In this work, we propose a novel method to find influentials by considering both the link structure and the temporal order of information adoption in Twitter. Our method finds distinct influentials who are not discovered by other methods.

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

influentials
twitter
information diffusion


A logic of categorization The reasoning system known as NARS constitutes a model of categorization. NARS is designed to be an adaptive system that works under the constraint of insufficient knowledge and resources. It consists of a categorical language, an experience-grounded semantics, a set of syllogistic inference rules, a dynamic memory structure, and a control mechanism that manages asynchronized parallel inference. In the system, reasoning and categorization are two aspects of the same underlying process. As a model of categorization, NARS unifies several existing theories.

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


AICAMS: artificial intelligence crime analysis and management system Expert systems and artificial intelligence technologies have a significant role to play in the development of tools to support police operations. Systems have been successfully demonstrated in the areas of breaking and entering, criminal profiling, tracking serial criminals and others. In this paper, we describe the development of a system that will support police investigations in several crime areas. The methodology has been adapted from that used in several North American breaking and entering projects, to meet the requirements of the Hong Kong police. The system is initially rule-based, with provisions for investigating machine-learning and neural network techniques to improve performance and makes extensive use of existing data sources. The development of the initial demonstration system is described and the methodology is discussed.

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


an analysis of multi-sampled issue and no-replacement tournament selection Standard tournament selection samples individuals with replacement. The sampling-with-replacement strategy has its advantages but also has issues. One of the commonly recognised issues is that it is possible to have the same individual sampled multiple times in a tournament. Although the impact of this multi-sampled issue on genetic programming is not clear, some researchers believe that it may lower the probability of some good individuals being sampled or selected. One solution is to use an alternative tournament selection ( no-replacement tournament selection ), which samples individuals in a tournament without replacement. This paper analyses no-replacement tournament selection to investigate the impact of the scheme and the importance of the issue. Theoretical simulations show that when common tournament sizes and population sizes are used, no-replacement tournament selection does not make the selection behaviour significantly different from that in the standard one and that the multi-sampled issue seldom occurs. In general, the issue is not crucial to the selection behaviour of standard tournament selection.

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

simulation
modelling
multi-sampled issue


Risk minimization in biometric sensor networks: an evolutionary multi-objective optimization approach Biometric systems aim at identifying humans by their characteristics or traits. This article addresses the problem of designing a biometric sensor management unit by optimizing the risk, which is modeled as a multi-objective optimization (MO) problem with global false acceptance rate and global false rejection rate as the two objectives. In practice, when multiple biometric sensors are used, the decision is taken locally at each sensor and the data are passed to the sensor manager. At the sensor manager, the data are fused using a fusion rule and the final decision is taken. The optimization process involves designing the data fusion rule and setting of the sensor thresholds. In this work, we employ a fuzzy dominance and decomposition-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) called MOEA/DFD and compare its performance with two state-of-the-art MO algorithms: MOEA/D and NSGA-II in context to the risk minimization task. The algorithm introduces a fuzzy Pareto dominance concept to compare two solutions and uses the scalar decomposition method only when one of the solutions fails to dominate the other in terms of a fuzzy dominance level. The MO algorithms are simulated on different number of sensor setups consisting of three, six, and eight sensors. The a priori probability of imposter is also varied from 0.1 to 0.9 to verify the performance of the system with varying degrees of threat. One of the most significant advantages of using the MO framework is that with a single run, just by changing the decision-making logic applied to the obtained Pareto front, one can find the required threshold and decision strategies for varying threats of imposter. However, with single-objective optimization, one needs to run the algorithms each time with change in the threat of imposter. Thus, multi-objective formulation of the problem appears to be more useful and better than the single-objective one. In all the test instances, MOEA/DFD performs better than all the other algorithms.

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

multi-objective optimization
decomposition technique
moea/d


0.5V bulk-driven analog building blocks Basic analog building blocks, such as voltage follower (VF), second generation Current Conveyor (CCII), and Current Feedback Operational Amplifier (CFOA), capable for operating under 0.5V supply voltage, are introduced in this paper. The input stage of the proposed blocks is based on bulk-driven pMOS devices, and simultaneously offers the advantages of almost rail-to-rail input/output voltage swing and capability for operation under the extremely low supply voltage. Their performances have been evaluated and compared through simulation results using a standard 0.18?m n-well process. The bandwidth of the voltage and current followers for both CCII and CFOA is 11MHz and 10MHz, respectively. The power consumption of CCII and CFOA is 30?W and 50?W, respectively.

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

low-voltage circuits
analog filters
current conveyors
current feedback operational amplifiers
voltage followers
input stages
bulk-driven transistors


Nonlinear analysis of EEGs of patients with major depression during different emotional states This is the first work defining emotional changes in complexity in MDDs brains. Higher complexity values were generated by MDD patients relative to controls The patients had higher complexities during noise than did the controls brains. Patients negative emotional bias was showed by their higher brain complexities.

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

eeg
major depressive disorder
emotion
music
entropy
fractal dimension


Applications of SVR to the Aveiro discretization method In Castro et al. (Mathematics without boundaries: surveys in pure mathematics. Springer, New York, 2014), authors proposed a method, called Aveiro discretization method, in their paper to determine whether a given function belongs to a certain reproducing kernel Hilbert space or not, depending on finite data of the given function. The method is effective for many cases where the data are noise free. However, it will loose efficacy if the data are noise corrupted. To deal with noise-corrupted data case, we combine two support vector regression (SVR) algorithms and Averio discretization method, respectively, to determine a given function whether belongs to a certain reproducing kernel Hilbert space. In the text, our approach is phrased as the SVR-based Aveiro discretization method which includes two algorithms, the SVR-Aveiro discretization algorithm and LS-SVR-Aveiro discretization algorithm. The proposed approach is compared with Aveiro discretization method and Linear-SVR-Aveiro discretization algorithm which is combined of linear-SVR and Aveiro discretization method; our approach shows promising results.

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

support vector regression
reproducing kernel hilbert space

least square support vector regression
smooth functions
sobolev space


Optimization of a novel micro-opto-X-ray imaging lens A mechanically deformable reflection transmission MOEMS system is capable of focusing X-rays to sub micron spots. This paper considers the geometry of the proposed deformed slotted microcantilever lens element under thermally derived strain, using finite element analysis. The work shows that an optimized MOEMS design using a slotted polyimide/gold thermal bimorph cantilever is capable of achieving ideal geometry with a larger than expected number of focusing slots up to 111 at 2?m width.

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

microcantilever
thermal bimorph
finite element analysis

micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems
x-ray focusing


how to correctly use the protocol interference model for multi-hop wireless networks This paper tries to reconcile the tension between physical model and protocol model that have been used to characterize interference relationship in a multi-hop wireless network. The physical model (a.k.a. SINR model) is widely considered as a reference model for physical layer behavior but its application in multi-hop wireless networks is limited by its complexity. On the other hand, the protocol model (a.k.a. unified disk graph model) is simple but there have been doubts on its validity. This paper explores the following fundamental question: How to correctly use the protocol interference model? We show that in general, solutions obtained under the protocol model may be infeasible in practice and thus, results based on blind use of protocol model can be misleading. We propose a novel concept called "reality check" and present a method of using protocol model with reality check for wireless networks. Subsequently, we show that by appropriate setting of the interference range in the protocol model, it is possible to narrow the solution gap between the two models. Our simulation results confirm that this gap is indeed small (or even negligible). Thus, our methodology of joint reality check and interference range setting retains the protocol model as a viable approach to analyze multi-hop wireless networks.

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

interference modeling
multi-hop wireless network
cross-layer optimization


A study on design sensitivity analysis for general nonlinear eigenproblems A general nonlinear eigenproblem is considered in this paper. It is shown that the widely used undamped, viscously or nonviscously damped eigenproblem can be considered as a special case of the more general nonlinear eigenproblem. The existing formulas of the derivatives of eigensolutions of this nonlinear eigenproblem are very complex since the normalizations of undamped eigenproblems are considered in their studies. To simplify the computation of eigensensitivity, a new normalization of the general nonlinear eigenproblem is presented. The new normalization of the general eigenproblem derived here can degenerate to the familiar mass orthogonal relationship of undamped eigenvectors. Based on this normalization, the design sensitivity analysis for the general nonlinear eigenproblem with respect to arbitrary design parameters is studied. Moreover, this method can address the eigenproblem for both repeated and distinct eigenvalues. As it can be seen, under such general normalization the derivatives of eigensolutions can be expressed in a way similar to those of undamped systems. Finally, five numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the derived results. It is shown that the derivatives of eigensolutions can be treated in a unified way for different structural systems (i.e., undamped systems, viscously and nonviscously damped systems, and nonlinear systems).

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

sensitivity analysis
nonlinear eigenproblem

viscoelastic structure
eigenvector sensitivity
repeated eigenvalues
nonviscous damping


P(2)EDAS: Asynchronous, distributed event driven simulation algorithm with inconsistent event preemption for accurate execution of VHDL descriptions on parallel processors The DoD's Very high speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language, VHDL, is aimed at allowing hardware designers to accurately describe, simulate, and validate combinational and sequential hardware designs on computers prior to building a prototype. Since its conception in the early 1980s, an important goal of VHDL has been to execute complex models concurrently and efficiently on parallel processors. To achieve this objective while exploiting the maximum theoretical parallelism, one requires a deadlock-free, asynchronous, distributed, discrete event simulation algorithm. The YADDES approach, proposed in the literature, achieves deadlock-free, distributed, discrete event simulation, but suffers from an important limitation. YADDES assumes that every entity is characterized by a single propagation delay. In contrast, for hardware entities such as gates, flip-flops, ALUs, and microprocessors, two or more propagation delay values are used corresponding to every path between the input and output. While the use of multiple delays aims at accurate representation of reality, often inconsistent events may be generated that must be detected and preempted. This paper describes a new Asynchronous, Parallel, Event Driven Simulation algorithm with inconsistent event Preemption, P-2 EDAS. P-2 EDAS represents a significant advancement in that it permits the use of any number of propagation delays for every path between the input and output of every hardware entity. P-2 EDAS permits, for the first time, accurate, concurrent, asynchronous, and efficient, i.e., deadlock-free and null-message-free, execution of VHDL models of sequential and combinatorial digital designs on parallel processors. A model refers to a VHDL entity. It is a conservative algorithm in that only those output transitions, ii any, are asserted at the output of a model following its execution, that are guaranteed correct. In addition, it accurately detects and preempts inconsistent events. To achieve efficiency in the simulation of actual system designs, especially large-scale designs, P-2 EDAS is designed to exploit coarse-grain parallelism, focusing on entities with significant computational complexities. P-2 EDAS is not limited to VHDL models only, it extends to hardware descriptions described in any high-level hardware description language. This paper presents a detailed description of the algorithm, illustrative examples, and mathematical proofs of correctness, freedom from deadlock, and termination of simulation in finite time. P-2 EDAS is implemented for VHDL on both a multithreaded shared memory multiprocessor and a network of Pentium-based Linux workstations, configured as a loosely coupled parallel processor. Performance analysis reveals that P-2 EDAS achieves superior speedup for a number of representative digital designs, including a large computer system-the DLX architecture.

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

vhdl
discrete event simulation
event driven simulation

digital simulation
timing semantics
simulation of hardware descriptions
logic simulation
vlsi
inertial delays
descheduling
anticipatory scheduling
preemption of inconsistent events
parallel processing
distributed algorithms


Social support and leaving intention among computer professionals Although prior studies have established a number of reasons why computer professionals leave their organizations, they have rarely suggested that lack of social support may be one reason. This study attempted to explain why social support is salient to computer professionals leaving intention. It developed a model that posits that (i) social support is positively related to job satisfaction, (ii) social support is negatively related to leaving intention, and (iii) social affiliation needs moderate the relationship between social support and leaving intention. The model was tested using data from a questionnaire. The results indicated that social support from supervisor and colleagues were negatively related to leaving intention for computer professionals with high social affiliation needs, and that job satisfaction mediated the relationship between social support and leaving intention. Social support from family and friends was not related to leaving intention, but it was positively related to job satisfaction.

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

computer professionals
leaving intention
social support
job satisfaction
affiliation needs


EMPOWER MCDM BY HABITUAL DOMAINS TO SOLVE CHALLENGING PROBLEMS IN CHANGEABLE SPACES Challenging decision problems in changeable spaces are characterized by existence of complex decision parameters that are changing with time and situations, including criteria and alternatives. Some of these parameters may be critical for their effective solutions, but hidden in the depth of potential domains. In this rapidly changing world, including technology and attitude, without paying attention to the problems in changeable spaces, we could easily commit serious mistakes due to decision blinds, decision traps and/or decision shocks. The article starts with a brief description of the evolution of MCDM toward challenging problems in changeable spaces. Then it briefly sketches a dynamic human behavior mechanism and habitual domain theory which provide an effective list for us to search relevant decision parameters and pave the way for latter discussion. Competence set analysis, derived from habitual domain, is then introduced to exemplify decision blinds, decision traps and decision shocks in challenging decision problems. Checking lists and methods for discovering blinds and traps and for dealing with shocks are also provided. Innovation dynamics, a systematic network of thoughts, is introduced to further look out relevant key parameters in dynamic challenging problems. The related academic subjects in each link of the innovation dynamics are also explained, which allow us to see the complexity and interconnectivities among different challenging problems in changeable spaces. Finally we introduce three habitual domain tool boxes to empower ourselves to expand and enrich our thoughts into the depth of the potential domains of the challenging problems, which allows us to more effectively identify hidden parameters, problems and competence sets to reduce decision blinds, avoid decision traps and solve the problems, or dissolve the problems before they occur.

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

habitual domains
mcdm
evolution
decision blinds
decision traps
decision shocks
innovation dynamics

decision making in changeable spaces
competence sets analysis


To secure an anchor - a recovery planning approach to ambiguity in perceptual anchoring An autonomous robot using symbolic reasoning, sensing and acting in a real environment needs the ability to create and maintain the connection between symbols representing objects in the world and the corresponding perceptual representations given by its sensors. This connection has been named perceptual anchoring. In complex environments, anchoring is not always easy to establish: the situation may often be ambiguous as to which percept actually corresponds to a given symbol. In this paper, we extend perceptual anchoring to deal robustly with ambiguous situations by providing general methods for detecting them and recovering from them. We consider different kinds of ambiguous situations. We also present methods to recover from these situations based on automatically formulating them as conditional planning problems that then are solved by a planner. We illustrate our approach by showing experiments involving a mobile robot equipped with a color camera and an electronic nose.

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


recursive least squares and quadratic prediction in continuous multistep problems XCS with computed prediction, namely XCSF, has been recently extended in several ways. In particular, a novel prediction update algorithm based on recursive least squares and the extension to polynomial prediction led to significant improvements of XCSF. However, these extensions have been studied so far only on single step problems and it is currently not clear if these findings might be extended also to multistep problems. In this paper we investigate this issue by analyzing the performance of XCSF with recursive least squares and with quadratic prediction on continuous multistep problems. Our results show that both these extensions improve the convergence speed of XCSF toward an optimal performance. As showed by the analysis reported in this paper, these improvements are due to the capabilities of recursive least squares and of polynomial prediction to provide a more accurate approximation of the problem value function after the first few learning problems.

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

recursive least squares
multistep problems


modular definition of agent-oriented languages using action semantics Agent-oriented programming is a programming model proposed to design complex programs. To simplify the implementation of agent systems, several new agent-oriented programming languages (AOPL) have been proposed. Usually, these languages are developed using informal techniques and implemented in an "ad hoc" manner. The lack of formal methods and adequate analysis tools makes the design of these languages a hard and error prone task. This paper shows the advantages of using action semantics and related tools in the project of new AOPLs. Action semantics is a formalism used to describe programming languages that produces specifications that can be easily extended and reused in new projects. To demonstrate this action semantics approach, we have developed a specification of some basic agent concepts as well as a tool that aids the validation and execution of action semantics specifications. Using this approach, the programming language designer obtains a powerful design environment to propose and test new kinds of agent concepts, components and constructors.

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

formal methods
programming languages
action semantics


complexity of ambient intelligence in managerial work Recently, ambient intelligence a vision of information society of the future has become the subject of attention of many theorists and practitioners. The achievement of ambient intelligence postulates an adequate shift in thinking. The shift in thinking concerns also managerial work. The paper presents on field experience on how to test the meaningfulness of teaching systems thinking for managers.

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 B I O O O O O O 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

manager
information technology
questionnaire


Predictive Ensemble Pruning by Expectation Propagation An ensemble is a group of learners that work together as a committee to solve a problem. The existing ensemble learning algorithms often generate unnecessarily large ensembles, which consume extra computational resource and may degrade the generalization performance. Ensemble pruning algorithms aim to find a good subset of ensemble members to constitute a small ensemble, which saves the computational resource and performs as well as, or better than, the unpruned ensemble. This paper introduces a probabilistic ensemble pruning algorithm by choosing a set of "sparse" combination weights, most of which are zeros, to prune the ensemble. In order to obtain the set of sparse combination weights and satisfy the nonnegative constraint of the combination weights, a left-truncated, nonnegative, Gaussian prior is adopted over every combination weight. Expectation propagation (EP) algorithm is employed to approximate the posterior estimation of the weight vector. The leave-one-out (LOO) error can be obtained as a by-product in the training of EP without extra computation and is a good indication for the generalization error. Therefore, the LOO error is used together with the Bayesian evidence for model selection in this algorithm. An empirical study on several regression and classification benchmark data sets shows that our algorithm utilizes far less component learners but performs as well as, or better than, the unpruned ensemble. Our results are very competitive compared with other ensemble pruning algorithms.

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

ensemble learning
regression
classification

machine learning
probabilistic algorithms


An integrated artificial neural network algorithm for performance assessment and optimization of decision making units This study proposes a non-parametric efficiency frontier analysis method based on artificial neural network (ANN) for measuring efficiency as a complementary tool for the common techniques of the efficiency studies in the previous studies. The proposed ANN algorithm is able to find a stochastic frontier based on a set of inputoutput observational data and do not require explicit assumptions about the functional structure of the stochastic frontier. Furthermore, it uses a similar approach to econometric methods for calculating the efficiency scores. Moreover, the effect of the return to scale of decision making unit (DMU) on its efficiency is included and the unit used for the correction is selected based on its scale (under constant return to scale assumption). However, the proposed algorithm is capable of handling outliers and noise. This is shown by two examples related to outlier situations. It is also capable of performing optimization analysis and forecasting for a given set of data. The proposed approach is applied to a set of actual conventional power plants to show its applicability and superiority.

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

performance assessment
neural network
decision making units
optimization


On the efficient evaluation of probabilistic similarity functions for image retrieval Probabilistic approaches are a promising solution to the image retrieval problem that, when compared to standard retrieval methods, can lead to a significant gain in retrieval accuracy. However, this occurs at the cost of a significant increase in computational complexity. In fact, closed-form solutions for probabilistic retrieval are currently available only for simple probabilistic models such as the Gaussian or the histogram. We analyze the case of mixture densities and exploit the asymptotic equivalence between likelihood and Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence to derive solutions for these models. In particular, 1) we show that the divergence can be computed exactly for vector quantizers (VQs) and 2) has an approximate solution for Gauss mixtures (GMs) that, in high-dimensional feature spaces, introduces no significant degradation of the resulting similarity judgments. In both cases, the new solutions have closed-form and computational complexity equivalent to that of standard retrieval approaches.

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

maximum a posteriori probability (map) similarity