On the assessment of tolerance limits under inverse Gaussian distribution Inverse Gaussian distribution has been used in a wide range of applications in modeling duration and failure phenomena. In these applications, one-sided lower tolerance limits are employed, for instance, for designing safety limits of medical devices, Tang and Chang (1994) proposed lowersided tolerance limits via Bonferroni inequality when parameters in the inverse Gaussian distribution are unknown. However, their simulation results showed conservative coverage probabilities, and consequently larger interval width. In their paper, they also proposed an alternative to construct lesser conservative limits. But simulation results yielded unsatisfactory coverage probabilities in many cases. In this article, the exact lower-sided tolerance limit is proposed. The proposed limit has a similar form to that of the confidence interval for mean under inverse Gaussian. The comparison between the proposed limit and Tang and Chang's method is compared via extensive Monte Carlo simulations. Simulation results suggest that the proposed limit is superior to Tang and Chang's method in terms of narrower interval width and approximate to nominal level of coverage probability Similar argument can be applied to the formulation of two-sided tolerance limits, A summary and conclusion of the proposed limits is included.

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

tolerance limit
confidence interval
bonferroni inequality


Plastic deformation magnetic assembly of out-of-plane structures using vapour phase hydrofluoric (HF) acid release We report on the fabrication of out-of-plane microstructures using plastic deformation magnetic assembly (PDMA) and vapour phase HF release process. A 0.5?m thin silicon oxide (SiO2) layer deposited on blank silicon has been implemented as a sacrificial layer. A nickel film, 0.5?m thick, deposited on top of the SiO2 layer acts as the seed layer for the electrodeposition of a 4?m nickeliron permalloy film. The surface morphology and chemical composition of the permalloy film has been characterised using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. A dry vapour phase hydrofluoric (HF) acid release step has been employed to etch the sacrificial SiO2, producing out-of-plane microstructures with high yield in the absence of a post-release drying step.

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 I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


Requirements for belief models in cooperative dialogue Models of rationality typically rely on underlying logics that allow simulated agents to entertain beliefs about one another to any depth of nesting. Such models seem to be overly complex when used for belief modelling in environments in which cooperation between agents can be assumed, i.e., most HCI contexts. We examine some existing dialogue systems and find that deeply-nested beliefs are seldom supported, and that where present they appear to be unnecessary except in some situations involving deception. Use of nested beliefs is associated with nested reasoning (i.e., reasoning about other agents' reasoning). We argue that for cooperative dialogues, representations of individual nested beliefs of the third level (i.e., what A thinks B thinks A thinks B thinks) and beyond are in principle unnecessary unless directly available from the environment, because the corresponding nested reasoning is redundant. Since cooperation sometimes requires that agents reason about what is mutually believed, we propose a representation in which the second and all subsequent nesting levels are merged into a single category. In situations affording individual deeply-nested beliefs, such a representation restricts agents to human-like referring and repair strategies, where an unrestricted agent might make an unrealistic and perplexing utterance.

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

reference resolution
restricted inference


Consumers' responses to brand websites: an interdisciplinary review Purpose - The aims of this paper are to provide an integrated literature review of factors influencing consumers' responses to brand websites; to describe the state of research in the past ten years; and to give an overview of the theories used in brand website studies. Design/methodology/approach - Using a vote-counting procedure, 736 findings from 50 empirical studies are synthesized. In a vote-counting analysis the number of positive and negative significant relations between the same two variables is compared to the number of non-significant relationships. Findings - The analysis reveals which person-related factors (e.g. involvement or flow) and website-related factors (e.g. usability or interactivity) influence responses to websites and brands. To explain such responses many studies integrate new theoretical concepts (e.g. interactivity or telepresence) into traditional theories. Furthermore, the review shows that the current state of research is limited by the use of forced exposure, student samples and the measurement of affective responses. Practical implications - The present study investigates an increasingly popular approach to promote brands at the internet: the use of brand websites. The study gives insight into factors influencing the effectiveness of these websites. Marketers can use this knowledge to improve the effectiveness of their websites. Originality/value - The paper provides a valuable contribution to the literature on brand websites. The paper can form the basis for future research on this topic.

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


Exposure to sexualized media content and selective attention for sexual cues: An experimental study Experiment to test how sexualized media exposure affects later attention allocation. Participants watched a sexual or control video before completing dot and word tasks. All participants showed selective attention for explicitly displayed sexual cues. Participants in sexual video conditions were quicker to detect hidden sexual cues. Results may contribute to a better understanding of how sexual schemas are formed.

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

sexualized media content
selective attention

attention bias
dot detection
word search task
cognitive process


Decreased thalamo-cortical connectivity by alteration of neural information flow in theta oscillation in depression-model rats Alterations in oscillatory brain activity are strongly correlated with cognitive performance in various physiological rhythms. The present study investigated whether the directionality of neural information flow (NIF) could be used to characterize the synaptic plasticity in thalamocortical (TC) pathway, and examined which frequency field oscillations were mostly related to the cognitive deficiency in depression. Two novel algorithms were employed to determine the coupling interaction between the LD thalamus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in five frequency bands, using the phase signals of local field potentials (LFP) in these two regions. The results showed that the power of neural activity in mPFC was increased in delta, theta and beta frequency bands in depression. However, the nonlinear characteristics of LFP activity were weakened in depression by means of sample entropy measurements. In the analysis of phase dynamics, the phase synchronization values were reduced in theta rhythm in stressed rats. Importantly, the coupling direction index d and the unidirectional influence from LD thalamus to mPFC were significantly reduced at the theta rhythm in rats in depression, and increased after memantine treatment, which were associated with the LTP alterations and cognitive impairment in our previous report. Moreover, the fact that the reduced entropy value was only found in mPFC might implicate postsynaptic effect involved in synaptic plasticity alteration in the depression model. The results suggest that the effects of depression on cognitive deficits are mediated via profound alterations in information flow in the TC pathway, and the directional index at theta rhythm could be used as a measurement of synaptic plasticity.

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

neural information flow
synaptic plasticity
theta rhythm

local field potential
long-term potentiation
chronic unpredictable stress


Games for complexity of second-order call-by-name programs We use game semantics to show that program equivalence and program approximation in a second-order fragment of Idealized Algol are PSPACE-complete. The result relies on a MACE construction of deterministic finite automata representing strategies defined by second-order programs and is an improvement over the at least exponential space bounds implied by the work of other authors in which extended regular expressions were used. The approach makes it possible to study the contribution of various constructs of the language to the complexity of program equivalence and demonstrates a similarity between call-by-name game semantics and call-by-name interpreters. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

computational complexity
program analysis


Educational technology mapping the terrain with Bernstein as cartographer This paper uses the literature of educational technology as the site of analysis in order to map the field of educational technology. Having considered Kuhn and Bourdieu's theories, the paper frames the analysis of the field in Bernsteinian terms as a horizontal knowledge structure in a vertical knowledge discourse. Using the concepts of interacting discursive planes, the paper maps the field in terms of its general approach planes and its problem planes. Finally, the paper shows that researchers in the field themselves acknowledge its weak grammar, and calls for commensurability of approaches to be acknowledged in order for robust knowledge to be developed and the legitimacy of the field to be enhanced.

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

bernstein
educational technology
field
knowledge


Surface reconstruction and landslide displacement measurements with Pliades satellite images Recent advances in image-matching techniques and VHR satellite imaging at submeter resolution theoretically offer the possibility to measure Earth surface displacements with decimetric precision. However, this possibility has yet not been explored and requirements of ground control and external topographic datasets are considered as important bottlenecks that hinder a more common application of optical image correlation for displacement measurements. This article describes an approach combining spaceborne stereo-photogrammetry, orthorectification and sub-pixel image correlation to measure the horizontal surface displacement of landslides from Pliades satellite images. The influence of the number of ground-control points on the accuracy of the image orientation, the extracted surface models and the estimated displacement rates is quantified through comparisons with airborne laser scan and in situ global navigation satellite measurements at permanent stations. The comparison shows a maximum error of 0.13m which is one order of magnitude more accurate than what has been previously reported with spaceborne optical images from other sensors. The obtained results indicate that the approach can be applied without significant loss in accuracy when no ground control points are available. It could, therefore, greatly facilitate displacement measurements for a broad range of applications.

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

image correlation
landslides
no ground control

vhr satellite images
stereo-photogrammetry
surface deformation


efficient evaluation of xml middle-ware queries We address the problem of efficiently constructing materialized XML views of relational databases. In our setting, the XML view is specified by a query in the declarative query language of a middle-ware system, called SilkRoute. The middle-ware system evaluates a query by sending one or more SQL queries to the target relational database, integrating the resulting tuple streams, and adding the XML tags. We focus on how to best choose the SQL queries, without having control over the target RDBMS.

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

queries
views
control
evaluation
relational database
query
tags
sql

query languages
addressing
systems
efficiency


Some scheduling problems with sum-of-proces sing-times-based and job-position-based learning effects In this paper we introduce a new scheduling model with learning effects in which the actual processing time of a job is a function of the total normal processing times of the jobs already processed and of the job's scheduled position. We show that the single-machine problems to minimize makespan and total completion time are polynomially solvable. In addition, we show that the problems to minimize total weighted completion time and maximum lateness are polynomially solvable under certain agreeable conditions. Finally, we present polynomial-time optimal solutions for some special cases of the m-machine flowshop problems to minimize makespan and total completion time. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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


The development of a SoftSeparator (TM) for a lameness diagnostic system Lameness in dairy herds is a critical economic factor and a crucial animal welfare issue. The authors, along with other scientists, developed an automatic lameness detection system named reaction force detection (RFD) system. The RFD performs lameness analysis based on measurements of ground reaction forces (GRF) as the animal walks freely through the system. This technology-based lameness analysis system is in its advanced commercialization stages, and it may prove to be a valid alternative to current animal scoring schemes that are observer dependent. The main outputs of the RFD are GRF and limb/floor contact locations of individual limbs. These GRF and limb/floor location records were used in the past to distinguish lame from sound cows. This paper further demonstrates that the very same records can be used to separate the RFD outputs, generated when a group of n cows walks through, into n files of a single animal in each. This file separation is a software-based algorithm that is based on induction. The induction-based animal separation process enables one to separate the records of any number, n, of animals that walk through as a single group. RFD outputs of a group of two and four animals are rewritten into multiple files, each one containing the records of a single animal. This animal separation algorithm could eliminate the need for gates that result in slowing down animal traffic. (C) 2004 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 B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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

automatic lameness detection
ground reaction forces
animal separation


Statistical timing and leakage power analysis of PD-SOI digital circuits This paper presents a fast statistical static timing and leakage power analysis in Partially-Depleted Silicon-On-Insulator (PD-SOI) CMOS circuits in BSIMSOI3.2 100 nm technology. The proposed timing analysis considers floating body effect on the propagation delay for more accurate timing analysis in PD-SOI CMOS circuits. The accuracy of modeling the leakage power in PD-SOI CMOS circuits is improved by considering the interactions between the subthreshold leakage and the gate tunneling leakage, the stacking effect, the history effect, and the fanout effect. The proposed timing and leakage power analysis algorithms are implemented in Matlab, Hspice, and C language. The proposed methodology is applied to ISCAS85 benchmarks, and the results show that the error is within 5% compared with random simulation results.

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

pd-soi (partially-depleted silicon on insulator)


An improved alignment-free model for dna sequence similarity metric DNA Clustering is an important technology to automatically find the inherent relationships on a large scale of DNA sequences. But the DNA clustering quality can still be improved greatly. The DNA sequences similarity metric is one of the key points of clustering. The alignment-free methodology is a very popular way to calculate DNA sequence similarity. It normally converts a sequence into a feature space based on words probability distribution rather than directly matches strings. Existing alignment-free models, e.g. k-tuple, merely employ word frequency information and ignore many types of useful information contained in the DNA sequence, such as classifications of nucleotide bases, position and the like. It is believed that the better data mining results can be achieved with compounded information. Therefore, we present a new alignment-free model that employs compounded information to improve the DNA clustering quality.

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

dna sequence similarity
clustering
classifications of nucleotide bases


On a convex operator for finite sets Let S be a finite set with m elements in a real linear space and let JS J S be a set of m intervals in R R . We introduce a convex operator co(S,JS) co ( S , J S ) which generalizes the familiar concepts of the convex hull, conv S , and the affine hull, aff S , of S . We prove that each homothet of conv S that is contained in aff S can be obtained using this operator. A variety of convex subsets of aff S with interesting combinatorial properties can also be obtained. For example, this operator can assign a regular dodecagon to the 4-element set consisting of the vertices and the orthocenter of an equilateral triangle. For two types of families JS J S we give two different upper bounds for the number of vertices of the polytopes produced as co(S,JS) co ( S , J S ) . Our motivation comes from a recent improvement of the well-known GaussLucas theorem. It turns out that a particular convex set co(S,JS) co ( S , J S ) plays a central role in this improvement.

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


NEAREST NEIGHBOR CLUSTERING OVER PARTITIONED DATA Most clustering algorithms assume that all the relevant data are available on a single node of a computer network. In the emerging distributed and networked knowledge environments, databases relevant for computations may reside on a number of nodes connected by a communication network. These data resources cannot be moved to other network sites due to privacy, security, and size considerations. The desired global computation must be decomposed into local computations to match the distribution of data across the network. The capability to decompose computations must be general enough to handle different distributions of data and different participating nodes in each instance of the global computation. In this paper, we present a methodology and algorithm for clustering distributed data in d-dimensional space, using nearest neighbor clustering, wherein each distributed data source is represented by an agent. Each such agent has the capability to decompose global computations into local parts, for itself and for agents at other sites. The global computation is then performed by the agent either exchanging some minimal summaries with other agents or traveling to all the sites and performing local tasks that can be done at each local site. The objective is to perform global tasks with a minimum of communication or travel by participating agents across the network.

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

vertically and horizontally partitioned data


Anti-periodic solutions for a class of CohenGrossberg neural networks ? In this paper, CohenGrossberg neural networks (CGNNs) with delays are considered. Some new sufficient conditions for the existence and exponential stability of anti-periodic solutions are established.

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

cohengrossberg neural networks
exponential stability
delays


Automated detection of perinatal hypoxia using timefrequency-based heart rate variability features Perinatal hypoxia is a cause of cerebral injury in foetuses and neonates. Detection of foetal hypoxia during labour based on the pattern recognition of heart rate signals suffers from high observer variability and low specificity. We describe a new automated hypoxia detection method using timefrequency analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) signals. This approach uses features extracted from the instantaneous frequency and instantaneous amplitude of HRV signal components as well as features based on matrix decomposition of the signals timefrequency distributions using singular value decomposition and non-negative matrix factorization. The classification between hypoxia and non-hypoxia data is performed using a support vector machine classifier. The proposed method is tested on a dataset obtained from a newborn piglet model with a controlled hypoxic insult. The chosen HRV features show strong performance compared to conventional spectral features and other existing methods of hypoxia detection with a sensitivity 93.3%, specificity 98.3% and accuracy 95.8%. The high predictive value of this approach to detecting hypoxia is a substantial step towards developing a more accurate and reliable hypoxia detection method for use in human foetal monitoring.

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

heart rate variability
instantaneous frequency
matrix decomposition

foetal hypoxia detection
timefrequency distribution


light-weight xpath processing of xml stream with deterministic automata Several applications based on XML stream processing have recently emerged, such as those for air traffic control and the selective dissemination of information (SDI). Their common need is to process a large number of XPath expressions in continuous XML streams at high throughput.This paper proposes four techniques for XPath expression processing based on Deterministic Finite Automata (DFA) for two purposes: to improve the memory usage efficiency of the automata and to support the processing of branching XPath expressions. The first technique, called n-DFA , clusters the given XPath expressions into n clusters to reduce the number of DFA states. The second, called shared NFA state table , lets the Non-Deterministic Finite Automata (NFA) state set be shared among the DFA states. Our experiments show that memory usage in an 8-DFA can, with the shared NFA state table , be reduced to 1/40th that of the original 1-DFA. The optimized NFA conversion and general XPath expression processing algorithm techniques contribute to the processing of branching XPath expressions efficiently; overall performance is better than is possible with earlier approaches.

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

automata
xpath processing
selective dissemination of information


Talking condition recognition in stressful and emotional talking environments based on CSPHMM2s This work is aimed at exploiting second-order circular suprasegmental hidden Markov models (CSPHMM2s) as classifiers to enhance talking condition recognition in stressful and emotional talking environments (completely two separate environments). The stressful talking environment that has been used in this work uses speech under simulated and actual stress database, while the emotional talking environment uses emotional prosody speech and transcripts database. The achieved results of this work using mel-frequency cepstral coefficients demonstrate that CSPHMM2s outperform each of hidden Markov models, second-order circular hidden Markov models, and suprasegmental hidden Markov models in enhancing talking condition recognition in the stressful and emotional talking environments. The results also show that the performance of talking condition recognition in stressful talking environments leads that in emotional talking environments by 3.67% based on CSPHMM2s. Our results obtained in subjective evaluation by human judges fall within 2.14 and 3.08% of those obtained, respectively, in stressful and emotional talking environments based on CSPHMM2s.

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

emotional talking environments
hidden markov models
stressful talking environments

second-order circular hidden markov models

second-order circular suprasegmental hidden markov models


A Unified Analytic Framework Based on Minimum Scan Statistics for Wireless Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks Due to limitations on transmission power of wireless devices, areas with sparse nodes are decisive to some extreme properties of network topology. In this paper, we assume wireless ad hoc and sensor networks are represented by uniform point processes or Poisson point processes. Asymptotic analyses based on minimum scan statistics are given for some crucial network properties, including coverage of wireless sensor networks, connectivity of wireless ad hoc networks, the largest edge length of geometric structures, and local-minimum-free geographic routing protocols. We derive explicit formulas of minimum scan statistics. By taking the transmission radius as a major parameter, our results are applied to various network problems. This work offers a unified approach to solve various problems and reveals the evolution of network topology. In addition, boundary effects are thoroughly handled.

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

wireless ad hoc networks
wireless sensor networks
minimum scan statistics
poisson point processes
uniform point processes
coverage
connectivity

random deployment
grid routing
greedy forward routing
gabriel graphs
relative neighborhood graphs


Semi-automatic liver tumor segmentation with hidden Markov measure field model and non-parametric distribution estimation A novel liver tumor segmentation method for CT images is presented. The aim of this work was to reduce the manual labor and time required in the treatment planning of radiofrequency ablation (RFA), by providing accurate and automated tumor segmentations reliably. The developed method is semi-automatic, requiring only minimal user interaction. The segmentation is based on non-parametric intensity distribution estimation and a hidden Markov measure field model, with application of a spherical shape prior. A post-processing operation is also presented to remove the overflow to adjacent tissue. In addition to the conventional approach of using a single image as input data, an approach using images from multiple contrast phases was developed. The accuracy of the method was validated with two sets of patient data, and artificially generated samples. The patient data included preoperative RFA images and a public data set from "3D Liver Tumor Segmentation Challenge 2008". The method achieved very high accuracy with the RFA data, and outperformed other methods evaluated with the public data set, receiving an average overlap error of 30.3% which represents an improvement of 2.3% points to the previously best performing semi-automatic method. The average volume difference was 23.5%, and the average, the RMS, and the maximum surface distance errors were 1.87, 2.43, and 8.09 mm, respectively. The method produced good results even for tumors with very low contrast and ambiguous borders, and the performance remained high with noisy image data. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

liver tumor segmentation
hidden markov measure field model


The periodic boundary value problem for semilinear elastic beam equations: The resonance case This paper discusses the existence of generalized solutions to periodic boundary value problems for semilinear elastic beam equations under a resonance condition. The argument presented makes use of the global inverse theorem and Galerkins method.

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

periodic boundary value problem
resonance

elastic beam equation
generalized solution
unique existence


Tight bounds for testing bipartiteness in general graphs In this paper we consider the problem of testing bipartiteness of general graphs. The problem has previously been studied in two models, one most suitable for dense graphs and one most suitable for bounded-degree graphs. Roughly speaking, dense graphs can be tested for bipartiteness with constant complexity, while the complexity of testing bounded-degree graphs is (&UTheta;) over tilde (rootn), where n is the number of vertices in the graph (and (&UTheta;) over tilde (f(n)) means Theta (f(n) . polylog(f(n)))). Thus there is a large gap between the complexity of testing in the two cases. In this work we bridge the gap described above. In particular, we study the problem of testing bipartiteness in a model that is suitable for all densities. We present an algorithm whose complexity is (O) over tilde (min(rootn, n(2)/m)), where m is the number of edges in the graph, and we match it with an almost tight lower bound.

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


using student blogs for documentation in software development projects This poster will describe an ongoing attempt to encourage students to engage with the process of documentation and design within software development through the use of blogs.

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


On the weakest failure detector for hard agreement problems ? Chandra and Toueg [J. ACM 43 (1996) 225] and Fromentin et al. [Proc. IEEE Internat. Conf. on Distrib. Comput., 1999, p. 470], respectively, stated that the weakest failure detector for any of non-blocking atomic commitment and terminating reliable broadcast is the perfect failure detector P. Recently, Guerraoui [IPL 79 (2001) 99] presented a counterexample of those results, exhibiting a failure detector called Marabout (M) that is incomparable to P and yet solves those problems. In this paper we present three new perfect failure detector classes as alternatives to P and M. All our classes are weaker than P. Furthermore, two of them are also weaker than M, and yet solve non-blocking atomic commitment and terminating reliable broadcast. Interestingly, our failure detector classes are implementable whenever P is implementable (e.g., in a synchronous system), which is not the case with M.

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

failure detector
terminating reliable broadcast

distributed computing
fault-tolerance
consensus
atomic commit


Static Analysis of Register File Vulnerability With continuous technology scaling, soft errors are becoming an increasingly important design concern even for earth-bound applications. While compiler approaches have the potential to mitigate the effect of soft errors with minimal runtime overheads, static vulnerability estimation-an essential part of compiler approaches-is lacking due to its inherent complexity. This paper presents a static analysis approach for register file (RF) vulnerability estimation. We decompose the vulnerability of a register into intrinsic and conditional basic-block vulnerabilities. This decomposition allows us to develop a fast, yet reasonably accurate RF vulnerability estimation mechanism. We validate and compare a linear equation based method and an iterative method. Also we demonstrate a practical application of RF vulnerability estimation to compiler optimizations. Our experimental results on benchmarks from MiBench suite indicate that not only our static RF vulnerability estimation is fast and accurate, but also compiler optimizations enabled by our static estimation can achieve very cost-effective protection of register files against soft errors.

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

architectural vulnerability factor
compilers
embedded systems
partially protected register file
soft error


Increasing the spatial resolution of near infrared chemical images (NIR-CI): The super-resolution paradigm applied to pharmaceutical products Near-infrared chemical imaging (NIR-CI) is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry not only to provide the concentration of a compound of interest but far more often to obtain the spatial distribution of different ingredients within the considered sample like a single tablet. For such sample characterization, having a high field of view is of major interest. As well as their high field of view, recent NIR-CI spectrometers have the ability to acquire thousands of spectra in a very short time due to focal plane array detector they use. Nevertheless, the spatial resolution is often limited which implies that generated chemical images are often biased. In view of this it was deemed appropriate to develop a new chemometrics methodology called "super-resolution" in order to increase the spatial resolution of spectroscopic images. The main idea is the fusion of several low-resolution images of the same sample observed from different point of view in order to generate one higher-resolution image. We offer here an objective and quantitative evaluation of the super-resolution concept with applications on pharmaceutical solid samples. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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


How do architecture patterns and tactics interact? A model and annotation Software architecture designers inevitably work with both architecture patterns and tactics. Architecture patterns describe the high-level structure and behavior of software systems as the solution to multiple system requirements, whereas tactics are design decisions that improve individual quality attribute concerns. Tactics that are implemented in existing architectures can have significant impact on the architecture patterns in the system. Similarly, tactics that are selected during initial architecture design significantly impact the architecture of the system to be designed: which patterns to use, and how they must be changed to accommodate the tactics. However, little is understood about how patterns and tactics interact. In this paper, we develop a model for the interaction of patterns and tactics that enables software architects to annotate architecture diagrams with information about the tactics used and their impact on the overall structure. This model is based on our in-depth analysis of the types of interactions involved, and we show several examples of how the model can be used to annotate different kinds of architecture diagrams. We illustrate the model and annotation by showing examples taken from real systems, and describe how the annotation was used in architecture reviews. Tactics and patterns are known architectural concepts; this work provides more specific and in-depth understanding of how they interact. Its other key contribution is that it explores the larger problem of understanding the relation between strategic decisions and how they need to be tailored in light of more tactical decisions.

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


Multiple Solutions for a Quasilinear Schrdinger Equation on \(\mathbb{R}^{N}\) The multiplicity of positive weak solutions is established for quasilinear Schrdinger equations ?L p u+(?A(x)+1)|u| p?2 u=h(u) in \(\mathbb{R}^{N}\), where L p u=? p ? p u+? p ? p (u 2)u, A is a nonnegative continuous function and nonlinear term h has a subcritical growth. We achieved our results by using minimax methods and Lusternik-Schnirelman theory of critical points.

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


a local greedy scheduling scheme with provable performance guarantee In recent years, there have been many efforts to develop low-complexity scheduling schemes that can approximate optimal performance in multi-hop wireless networks. A centralized sub-optimal scheduling policy, called Greedy Maximal Scheduling (GMS) is a good candidate because it achieves high throughput. However, its distributed realization requires O(|V|) complexity, which becomes a major obstacle for practical implementation, where |V| is the number of nodes in the network. In this paper, we develop a simple distributed scheduling policy for multi-hop wireless networks. It achieves O(log |V|) complexity by relaxing the global ordering requirement of GMS. Instead, it deterministically schedules only links that have the largest queue length among their local neighbors. We show that, it still guarantees a fraction of the optimal performance, which is no smaller than GMS. We also further improve its performance and address some important implementation issues. The simulation results confirm that the new scheduling scheme achieves the performance equivalent of GMS and significantly outperforms state-of-the-art distributed random access scheduling policies.

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

greedy algorithm
multi-hop wireless networks


Hybrid robot control and SLAM for persistent navigation and mapping For a mobile robot to operate autonomously in real-world environments, it must have an effective control system and a navigation system capable of providing robust localization, path planning and path execution. In this paper we describe work investigating synergies between mapping and control systems. We have integrated development of a control system for navigating mobile robots and a robot SLAM system. The control system is hybrid in nature and tightly coupled with the SLAM system; it uses a combination of high and low level deliberative and reactive control processes to perform obstacle avoidance, exploration, global navigation and recharging, and draws upon the map learning and localization capabilities of the SLAM system. The effectiveness of this hybrid, multi-level approach was evaluated in the context of a delivery robot scenario. Over a period of two weeks the robot performed 1143 delivery tasks to 11 different locations with only one delivery failure (from which it recovered), travelled a total distance of more than 40 km, and recharged autonomously a total of 23 times. In this paper we describe the combined control and SLAM system and discuss insights gained from its successful application in a real-world context.

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

hybrid robot control
slam
navigation
mapping


Location and allocation decisions for multi-echelon supply chain network - A multi-objective evolutionary approach This paper aims at multi-objective optimization of single-product for four-echelon supply chain architecture consisting of suppliers, production plants, distribution centers (DCs) and customer zones (CZs). The key design decisions considered are: the number and location of plants in the system, the flow of raw materials from suppliers to plants, the quantity of products to be shipped from plants to DCs, from DCs to CZs so as to minimize the combined facility location and shipment costs subject to a requirement that maximum customer demands be met. To optimize these two objectives simultaneously, four-echelon network model is mathematically represented considering the associated constraints, capacity, production and shipment costs and solved using swarm intelligence based Multi-objective Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization (MOHPSO) algorithm. This evolutionary based algorithm incorporates non-dominated sorting algorithm into particle swarm optimization so as to allow this heuristic to optimize two objective functions simultaneously. This can be used as decision support system for location of facilities, allocation of demand points and monitoring of material flow for four-echelon supply chain network. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

evolutionary approach
mohpso
swarm intelligence

four-echelon supply chain architecture
non-dominated sorting algorithm


Analysis and control of fuzzy discrete event systems using bisimulation equivalence In order to more effectively cope with the real-world problems of vagueness, impreciseness, and subjectivity, fuzzy discrete event systems (FDESs) were proposed recently. In this paper, we deal with the analysis and control of fuzzy discrete event systems by using bisimulation equivalence. In practice, we design a supervisor such that the controlled system is bisimilar to the specification. Also, a model theorem showing that a supervisor exists over a certain finite fuzzy state space is obtained. Furthermore, the notion of fuzzy state controllability is introduced as part of a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a supervisor. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 discrete event system
supervisory control


Reliability-based measures for a system with an uncertain parameter environment This article proposes a procedure to construct membership functions of the system characteristics of a repairable system with one primary machine, one standby machine and an unreliable service station. Failure and repair times of both the operating and standby machines are assumed to follow fuzzified exponential distributions. In addition, the failure and repair times of the service station also follow fuzzified exponential distributions. The alpha-cut approach is used to extract a family of conventional crisp intervals for the desired system characteristics from the fuzzy repairable system, determined with a set of parametric nonlinear programs using their membership functions. A numerical example successfully illustrates the practicality of the proposed approach. Because system characteristics are governed by the membership functions, more information is provided for use by designers and practitioners. The successful extension of the parameter spaces to fuzzy environments permits the repairable system to have wider practical applications.

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

membership functions
unreliable service station

availability
mean time to failure
uncertain parameters


Indistinguishability operators in measurement theory, Part I: Conversions of indistinguishability operators with respect to scales For two given ordinal scales in a measurement process, the present paper investigates how an indistinguishability operator evaluated according to one of these ordinal scales can be converted to another indistinguishability operator w.r.t. the other ordinal scale, and establishes the mathematical base of these conversions under the framework of measurement theory [Krantz, D.H., Luce, R.D., Suppes, P., Tversky, A. (1971) Foundations of Measurement , Vol. 1 (Academic Press, San Diego)]. Additionally, this work exposes the rudimentary facts behind the studies in ["Fuzzy Numbers and Equality Relations", Proc. FUZZ'IEEE 93 (1993) 1298-1301; "Fuzzy Sets and Vague Environments", Fuzzy Sets and Systems 66 (1994) 207-221; "Fuzzy Control on the Basis of Equality Relations-with an Example from Idle Speed Control", IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems 3 (1995) 336-350; and " T -partitions of the Real Line Generated by Idempotent Shapes", Fuzzy Sets and Systems 91 (1997) 177-184], and points out the measurement theoretic derivations of the results in these studies.

O O O B I O O O 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 B 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

indistinguishability operator
measurement theory
scale

fuzzy equivalence relation
fuzzy equality
scale transformation


Generic reflective feedback: An effective approach to developing clinical reasoning skills Problem-based learning can be an effective tool to develop clinical reasoning skills. However, it traditionally takes place in tutorial groups, giving students little flexibility in how and when they learn. This pilot study compared the effectiveness of generic reflective feedback (GRF) with tutorial-based reflective feedback on the development of students' clinical reasoning skills. Case studies were placed in an interactive software package, with GRF for the nine patient cases (36 GRF forms in total). The GRF contained information about common mistakes and omissions made by students in previous years. By design, the GRF left some clinical questions unanswered in order to prompt student reflection, enhance the development of their clinical reasoning skills and give the 2010 students (n?=?53) greater control over the way in which they engaged with the unit. Clinical reasoning skills development, assessed by responses to the 36 parts across the 9 cases and in the relevant section of the final exam, was compared with the 2009 tutorial cohort (n?=?47 students). GRF enabled student progression through each of the nine online cases with minimal tutor intervention. The cohort receiving GRF performed as well as those students engaging in tutorials with individualized feedback. GRF was associated with a significant increase in student satisfaction and flexibility in how and when they learned. We conclude that GRF enabled online enhancement of a case-based clinical reasoning unit. Further research on how GRF can optimize learning in different online settings is warranted.

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

case-based learning
clinical diagnosis
clinical reasoning skills
immediate feedback


Maximum balanced subgraph problem parameterized above lower bound ? We consider graphs without loops or parallel edges in which every edge is assigned + or ?. Such a signed graph is balanced if its vertex set can be partitioned into parts V1 V 1 and V2 V 2 such that all edges between vertices in the same part have sign + and all edges between vertices of different parts have sign ? (one of the parts may be empty). It is well-known that every connected signed graph with n vertices and m edges has a balanced subgraph with at least m 2 + n ? 1 4 edges and this bound is tight. We consider the following parameterized problem: given a connected signed graph G with n vertices and m edges, decide whether G has a balanced subgraph with at least m 2 + n ? 1 4 + k 4 edges, where k is the parameter. We obtain an algorithm for the problem of runtime 8k(kn)O(1) 8 k ( k n ) O ( 1 ) . We also prove that for each instance (G,k) ( G , k ) of the problem, in polynomial time, we can either solve (G,k) ( G , k ) or produce an equivalent instance (G?,k?) ( G ? , k ? ) such that k??k k ? ? k and |V(G?)|=O(k3) | V ( G ? ) | = O ( k 3 ) . Our first result generalizes a result of Crowston, Jones and Mnich (ICALP 2012) on the corresponding parameterization of Max Cut (when every edge of G has sign ?). Our second result generalizes and significantly improves the corresponding result of Crowston, Jones and Mnich for MaxCut: they showed that |V(G?)|=O(k5) | V ( G ? ) | = O ( k 5 ) .

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


A particle filter for joint detection and tracking of color objects Color is a powerful feature for tracking deformable objects in image sequences with complex backgrounds. The color particle filter has proven to be an efficient, simple and robust tracking algorithm. In this paper, we present a hybrid valued sequential state estimation algorithm, and its particle filter-based implementation, that extends the standard color particle filter in two ways. First, target detection and deletion are embedded in the particle filter without relying on an external track initialization and cancellation algorithm. Second, the algorithm is able to track multiple objects sharing the same color description while keeping the attractive properties of the original color particle filter. The performance of the proposed filter are evaluated qualitatively on various real-world video sequences with appearing and disappearing targets.

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

visual tracking
hybrid sequential estimation
multiple-target tracking


Efficient video denoising based on dynamic nonlocal means ? A video denoising algorithm, which is based on dynamic nonlocal means (DNLM), is developed. Firstly, the standard nonlocal means and Kalman filtering are reviewed briefly. Then, using the idea of nonlocal means and linear minimum variance fusion, a weighted translational motion model without the explicit motion estimation and a weighted translational observation model are proposed to modify the state transition and observation equations. Finally, the overall dynamic denoising algorithm under the Kalman filter framework is presented. The main contribution of our work is a dynamic nonlocal means algorithm that is developed for video denoising under the Kalman filtering framework. In this algorithm, all computations are pixel-wise and it is easy to realize an efficient recursive algorithm for real-time processing. Experimental results for different test videos demonstrate the power of proposed method based on peak signal-to-noise-ratio (PSNR), structural similarity (SSIM) and motion-based video integrity evaluation index (MOVIE). The proposed method performs better than SNLM with the average PSNR gain of 2.33dB, and outperforms SEQWT, 3DWTF and IFSM with the average SSIM gains of 0.033, 0.0087 and 0.049. It has competitive performance with STA, WRSTF and 3DSWDCT, but needs lower computational cost. Though the proposed DNLM is not competitive with several state-of-the-art video denoising algorithms such as VBM3D, K-SVD, 3D-Patch, and ST-GSM, it may be anyway valuable to readers working in this field as a source of inspiration for their further researches.

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

video denoising
nonlocal means
kalman filtering
linear minimum variance fusion


Systematic review of virtual speech therapists for speech disorders ? A systematic review on virtual speech therapists (VSTs) was presented. The comparison of VSTs and traditional speech therapy was discussed. We analyzed intervention methods used in VSTs such as articulation therapy. Hearing impairments was observed as the most frequent disorder targeted by VSTs. We explored 3D virtual heads and games as efficient therapy delivery 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

virtual speech therapist
computer-based speech therapy
speech and language disorders
computer-based intervention


Ubiquitous home: Retrieval of experiences in a home environment Automated capture and retrieval of experiences at home is interesting due to the wide variety and personal significance of such experiences. We present a system for retrieval and summarization of continuously captured multimedia data from Ubiquitous Home, a two-room house consisting of a large number of cameras and microphones. Data from pressure based sensors on the floor are analyzed to segment footsteps of different persons. Video and audio handover are implemented to retrieve continuous video streams corresponding to moving persons. An adaptive algorithm based on the rate of footsteps summarizes these video streams. A novel method for audio segmentation using multiple microphones is used for video retrieval based on sounds with high accuracy. An experiment, in which a family lived in this house for twelve days, was conducted. The system was evaluated by the residents who used the system for retrieving their own experiences; we report and discuss the 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 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 I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

personal experiences
life-log
ubiquitous environment
floor sensors


Characterization of gear faults in variable rotating speed using Hilbert-Huang Transform and instantaneous dimensionless frequency normalization The objective of this research is to investigate the feasibility of utilizing the instantaneous dimensionless frequency (DLF) normalization and Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) to characterize the different gear faults in case of variable rotating speed. The normalized DLF of the vibration signals are calculated based on the rotating speed of shaft and the instantaneous frequencies of Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) which are decomposed by Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) process. The faulty gear features on DLF-energy distribution of vibration signal can be extracted without the presence of shaft rotating speed, so that the proposed approach can be applied for characterizing the malfunctions of gearbox system under variable shaft rotating speed. A test rig of gear transmission system is performed to illustrate the gear faults, including worn tooth, broken tooth and gear unbalance. Different methods to determine the instantaneous frequency are employed to verify the consistence of characterization results. The DLF-energy distributions of vibration signals are investigated in different faulty gear conditions. The analysis results demonstrate the capability and effectiveness of the proposed approach for characterizing the gear malfunctions at the DLFs corresponding to the meshing frequency as well as the shaft rotating frequency. The support vector machine (SVM) is then employed to classify the vibration patterns of gear transmission system at different malfunctions. Using the energy distribution at the characteristic DLFs as the features, the different fault types of gear can be identified by SVM with high accuracy.

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

hht
instantaneous frequency
dimensionless frequency
variable rotating speed
support vector machine


automatic identification and organization of index terms for interactive browsing The potential of automatically generated indexes for information acces s has been recognized for several decades (e.g., Bush 1945 [2], Edmundson and Wyllys 1961 [4]), but the quantity of text and the ambiguity of natural language processing have made progress at this task more difficult than was originally foreseen. Recently, a body of work on development of interactive systems to support phrase browsing has begun to emerge (e.g., Anick and Vaithyanathan 1997 [1], Gutwin et al. [10], Nevill-Manning et al. 1997 [17], Godby and Reighart 1998 [9]). In this paper, we consider two issues related to the use of automatically identified phrases as index terms in a dynamic text browser (DTB), a user-centered system for navigating and browsing index terms: 1) What criteria are useful for assessing the usefulness of automatically identified index terms? and 2) Is the quality of the terms identified by automatic indexing such that they provide useful access to document content? The terms that we focus on have been identified by LinkIT, a software tool for identifying significant topics in text [7]. Over 90\% of the terms identified by LinkIT are coherent and therefore merit inclusion in the dynamic text browser. Terms identified by LinkIT are input to Intell-Index, a prototype DTB that supports interactive navigation of index terms. The distinction between phrasal heads (the most important words in a coherent term) and modifiers serves as the basis for a hierarchical organization of terms. This linguistically motivated structure helps users to efficiently browsing and disambiguate terms. We conclude that the approach to information access discussed in this paper is very promising, and also that there is much room for further research. In the meantime, this research is a contribution to the establishment of a solid foundation for assessing the usability of terms in phrase browsing applications.

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

task
applications
quality
use
usability
information access
input
inclusion
browser
paper
access
navigation
phrases
organization
indexing
research
structure
browsing
systems
users
prototype
dynamic
identification
text
support
natural language processing

ambiguities
genre
developer
software tools
informal
user
coherence
interaction
hierarchic
contention
interactive system
documentation


query forwarding in geographically distributed search engines Query forwarding is an important technique for preserving the result quality in distributed search engines where the index is geographically partitioned over multiple search sites. The key component in query forwarding is the thresholding algorithm by which the forwarding decisions are given. In this paper, we propose a linear-programming-based thresholding algorithm that significantly outperforms the current state-of-the-art in terms of achieved search efficiency values. Moreover, we evaluate a greedy heuristic for partial index replication and investigate the impact of result cache freshness on query forwarding performance. Finally, we present some optimizations that improve the performance further, under certain conditions. We evaluate the proposed techniques by simulations over a real-life setting, using a large query log and a document collection obtained from Yahoo!.

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

search engines
index replication
query forwarding

linear programming
result caching
optimization
distributed ir


capacity of ad hoc wireless networks Early simulation experience with wireless ad hoc networks suggests that their capacity can be surprisingly low, due to the requirement that nodes forward each others' packets. The achievable capacity depends on network size, traffic patterns, and detailed local radio interactions. This paper examines these factors alone and in combination, using simulation and analysis from first principles. Our results include both specific constants and general scaling relationships helpful in understanding the limitations of wireless ad hoc networks. We examine interactions of the 802.11 MAC and ad hoc forwarding and the effect on capacity for several simple configurations and traffic patterns. While 802.11 discovers reasonably good schedules, we nonetheless observe capacities markedly less than optimal for very simple chain and lattice networks with very regular traffic patterns. We validate some simulation results with experiments. We also show that the traffic pattern determines whether an ad hoc network's per node capacity will scale to large networks. In particular, we show that for total capacity to scale up with network size the average distance between source and destination nodes must remain small as the network grows. Non-local traffic-patterns in which this average distance grows with the network size result in a rapid decrease of per node capacity. Thus the question Are large ad hoc networks feasible? reduces to a question about the likely locality of communication in such networks.

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

communication
network
wireless networks
simulation
scale
analysis
forward
wireless ad hoc networks
experience
general
paper
traffic
locality
pattern
distance
relationships
ad hoc networks
lattice
size
capacities
effect

requirements help understandability scheduling combinational interaction optimality factor configurability ad-hoc


Numerical simulation of Rhonegletscher from 1874 to 2100 Due to climatic change, many Alpine glaciers have significantly retreated during the last century. In this study we perform the numerical simulation of the temporal and spatial change of Rhonegletscher, Swiss Alps, from 1874 to 2007, and from 2007 to 2100. Given the shape of the glacier, the velocity of ice u is obtained by solving a 3D nonlinear Stokes problem with a nonlinear sliding law along the bedrockice interface. The shape of the glacier is updated by computing the volume fraction of ice ?, which satisfies a transport equation. The accumulation due to snow fall and the ablation due to melting is accounted by adding a source term to the transport equation. A decoupling algorithm allows the two above problems to be solved using different numerical techniques. The nonlinear Stokes problem is solved on a fixed, unstructured finite element mesh consisting of tetrahedrons. The transport equation is solved using a fixed, structured grid of smaller cells. The numerical simulation, from 1874 to 2007, is validated against measurements. Afterwards, three different climatic scenarios are considered in order to predict the shape of Rhonegletscher until 2100. A dramatic retreat of Rhonegletscher during the 21st century is anticipated. Our results contribute to a better understanding of the impact of climatic change on mountain glaciers.

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

ice flow
finite elements
volume of fluid
free surface


Using data mining to find patterns in genetic algorithm solutions to a job shop schedule This paper presents a novel use of data mining algorithms for the extraction of knowledge from a large set of job shop schedules. The purposes of this work is to apply data mining methodologies to explore the patterns in data generated by a genetic algorithm performing a scheduling operation and to develop a rule set scheduler which approximates the genetic algorithm's scheduler. Genetic algorithms are stochastic search algorithms based on the mechanics of genetics and natural selection. Because of genetic inheritance, the characteristics of the survivors after several generations should be similar. In using a genetic algorithm for job shop scheduling, the solution is an operational sequence for resource allocation. Among these optimal or near optimal solutions, similar relationships may exist between the characteristics of operations and sequential order. An attribute-oriented induction methodology was used to explore the relationship between an operations' sequence and its attributes and a set of rules has been developed. These rules can duplicate the genetic algorithm's performance on an identical problem and provide solutions that are generally superior to a simple dispatching rule for similar problems. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

data mining
job shop scheduling
genetic algorithms


Performance analysis of distributed real-time databases In a distributed process control system, information about the behavior of physical processes is usually collected and stored in a real-time database which can be remotely accessed by human operators. In this paper we propose an analytic approach to compute the response-time distribution of operator consoles in a distributed process control environment. The technique we develop is based on Markov regenerative processes (MRGPs) and described with the assistance of deterministic and stochastic Petri nets (DSPNs). We construct exact models for performance analysis of centralized and decentralized database architectures. However, due to limitations on the exact solution, we also propose an approximate solution which is then used to study response-time distributions of large systems.

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

non-markovian models
mrgp
analytical modeling


Automatic description of complex buildings from multiple images We present an approach for detecting and describing complex buildings with flat or complex rooftops by using multiple, overlapping images of the scene. We find 3-D rooftop boundary hypotheses from the line and junction features of the images by applying consecutive grouping procedures. First, 3-D features are generated by grouping image features over multiple images, and rooftop hypotheses are generated by neighborhood searches on those features. Probabilistic reasoning, level-of-details, and cues from image-derived unedited elevation data are used at various stages to manage the huge search space for rooftop boundary hypotheses. Three-dimensional rooftop hypotheses generated by above procedures are verified with evidence collected from the images and the elevation data. Expandable Bayesian networks are used to combine evidence from multiple images. Finally, overlap and rooftop analyses are performed to find the final building models. Experimental results are shown on complex buildings.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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-dimensional object description
building detection and description
aerial image analysis
multi-view
feature grouping


A finite element method for the two-dimensional extended Boussinesq equations A new numerical method for Nwogu's (ASCE Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering 1993; 119:618) two-dimensional extended Boussinesq equations is presented using a linear triangular finite element spatial discretization coupled with a sophisticated adaptive time integration package. The authors have previously presented a finite element method for the one-dimensional form of these equations (M. Walkley and M. Berzins (International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids 1999; 29(2):143)) and this paper describes the extension of these ideas to the two-dimensional equations and the application of the method to complex geometries using unstructured triangular grids. Computational results are presented for two standard test problems and a realistic harbour model. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

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

extended boussinesq equations
finite element method
adaptive time integration


Combination of active learning and self-training for cross-lingual sentiment classification with density analysis of unlabelled samples We combine active learning and self-training for cross-lingual sentiment classification. Density analysis of unlabelled data is used to select representative examples in active learning. We test our proposed model on three different target languages. Results show that incorporating density analysis can speed up learning process. Results show that combination of two approaches outperforms each individual method.

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

sentiment classification
active learning

cross-lingual
self-training
density measure


Explaining extreme waves by a theory of stochastic wave groups It is well known that in a Gaussian sea an extreme wave event is a particular realization of the spacetime evolution of a well defined linear wave group, in agreement with the theory of quasi-determinism of Boccotti [Boccotti P. On mechanics of irregular gravity waves. Atti Acc Naz Lincei, Memorie 1989;19:11170] and the Slepian model of Lindgren [Kac M, Slepian D. Large excursions of Gaussian processes. Ann Math Statist 1959;30:121528; Lindgren G. Some properties of a normal process near a local maximum. Ann Math Statist 1970;4(6):187083]. In this paper, the concept of stochastic wave groups is proposed to explain the occurrence of extreme waves in nonlinear random seas, according to the dynamics imposed by the Zakharov equation [Zakharov VE. Statistical theory of gravity and capillary waves on the surface of a finite-depth fluid. J Eur Mech BFluids 1999;18(3):32744]. As a corollary, a new analytical solution for the probability of exceedance of the crest-to-trough height is derived for the prediction of extreme wave events in nonlinearly modulated long-crested narrow-band seas. Furthermore, a generalization of the Tayfun distribution [Tayfun MA. On narrow-band representation of ocean waves. Part I: Theory. J Geophys Res 1986;91(C6):774352] for the wave crest height is also provided. The new analytical distributions explain qualitatively well recent experimental results of Onorato et al. [Onorato M, Osborne AR, Cavaleri L, Brandini C, Stansberg CT. Observation of strongly non-Gaussian statistics for random sea surface gravity waves in wave flume experiments. Phys Rev E 2004;70:067302] and the numerical simulations of Socquet-Juglard et al. [Socquet-Juglard H, Dysthe K, Trulsen K, Krogstad HE, Liu J. Probability distributions of surface gravity waves during spectral changes. J Fluid Mech 2005;542:195216].

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

zakharov equation
probability of exceedance

extreme crest
benjaminfeir instability
freak wave
quasi-determinism


Equivalence and reduction of delay-differential systems A new direct method is presented which reduces a given high-order representation of a control system with delays to a first-order form that is encountered in the study of neutral delay-differential systems. Using the polynomial system description (PMD) setting due to Rosenbrock, it is shown that the transformation connecting the original PMD with the first-order form is Fuhrmann's strict system equivalence. This type of system equivalence leaves the transfer function and other relevant structural properties of the original system invariant.

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

polynomial matrix description
neutral delay-differential systems
determinantal ideals
grobner bases


Design of artificial neuron controller for STATCOM in dSPACE environment Reactive power compensation is an important issue in the control of electric power system. Reactive power from the source increases the transmission losses and reduces the power transmission capability of the transmission lines. Moreover, reactive power should not be transmitted through the transmission line to a longer distance. Hence Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) devices such as static compensator (STATCOM) unified power flow controller (UPFC) and static voltampere compensator (SVC) are used to alleviate these problems. In this paper, a voltage source converter (VSC) based STATCOM is developed with PI and Artificial Neural Network Controller (ANNC). The conventional PI controller has more tuning difficulties while the system parameter changes, whereas a trained neural network requires less computation time. The ANNC has the ability to generalize and can interpolate in between the training data. The ANNC designed was tested on a 75V, 3KVAR STATCOM in real time environment via state-of-the-art of digital signal processor advanced control engineering (dSPACE) DS1104 board and it was found that it was producing better results than the PI controller.

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

artificial neural network
dspace ds1104
statcom
pi controller


A stable and adaptive semi-Lagrangian potential model for unsteady and nonlinear ship-wave interactions We present an innovative numerical discretization of the equations of inviscid potential flow for the simulation of three-dimensional, unsteady, and nonlinear water waves generated by a ship hull advancing in water. The equations of motion are written in a semi-Lagrangian framework, and the resulting integro-differential equations are discretized in space via an adaptive iso-parametric collocation boundary element method, and in time via implicit backward differentiation formulas (BDF) with adaptive step size and variable order. When the velocity of the advancing ship hull is non-negligible, the semi-Lagrangian formulation (also known as Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian formulation or ALE) of the free-surface equations contains dominant transport terms which are stabilized with a streamwise upwind PetrovGalerkin (SUPG) method. The SUPG stabilization allows automatic and robust adaptation of the spatial discretization with unstructured quadrilateral grids. Preliminary results are presented where we compare our numerical model with experimental results on a Wigley hull advancing in calm water with fixed sink and trim.

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

arbitrary lagrangian eulerian formulation

unsteady ship-wave interaction
nonlinear free-surface problems
semi-lagrangian formulation


trajectory sampling for direct traffic observation Traffic measurement is a critical component for the control and engineering of communication networks. We argue that traffic measurement should make it possible to obtain the spatial flow of traffic through the domain, i.e., the paths followed by packets between any ingress and egress point of the domain. Most resource allocation and capacity planning tasks can benefit from such information. Also, traffic measurements should be obtained without a routing model and without knowledge of network state. This allows the traffic measurement process to be resilient to network failures and state uncertainty. We propose a method that allows the direct inference of traffic flows through a domain by observing the trajectories of a subset of all packets traversing the network. The key advantages of the method are that (i) it does not rely on routing state, (ii) its implementation cost is small, and (iii) the measurement reporting traffic is modest and can be controlled precisely. The key idea of the method is to sample packets based on a hash function computed over the packet content. Using the same hash function will yield the same sample set of packets in the entire domain, and enables us to reconstruct packet trajectories.

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

network
measurement
point
uncertainty
inference
resource allocation
direct
knowledge
model
traffic
sampling
control
component
yield
spatial
method
trajectories
communication networks
implementation
process
flow
routing
cost

traffic engineering
engine
internet traffic measurement
traffic measurement
hash functions
informal
failure
observability
capacity-planning
contention
resilience
critic
packet sampling


learning from preferences and selected multimodal features of players The influence of multimodal sources of input data to the construction of accurate computational models of user preferences is investigated in this paper. The case study presented explores player entertainment preferences of physical game variants incorporating two data modalities. The main findings of the paper reveal the benefit of multiple modalities of input data for the prediction of preferences and highlight the impact of feature selection on the construction of such models.

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

evolving artificial neural networks
preference learning
player satisfaction modeling
augmented reality games


Unconditional security in quantum cryptography Basic techniques to prove the unconditional security of quantum cryptography are described. They are applied to a quantum key distribution protocol proposed by Bennett and Brassard [1984]. The proof considers a practical variation on the protocol in which the channel is noisy and photons may be lost during the transmission. Each individual signal sent into the channel must contain a single photon or any two-dimensional system in the exact state described in the protocol. No restriction is imposed on the detector used at the receiving side of the channel, except that whether or not the received system is detected must be independent of the basis used to measure this system.

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

quantum information theory
unconditional security


On the synchronized derivation depth of context-free grammars We consider depth of derivations as a complexity measure for synchronized and ordinary context-free grammars. This measure differs from the earlier considered synchronization depth in that it counts the depth of the entire derivation tree. We consider (non-)existence of trade-offs when using synchronized grammars as opposed to non-synchronized grammars and establish lower bounds for certain classes of linear context-free languages. (C) 2009 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 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

context-free languages
regulated rewriting
derivation complexity


Retrospective Study (1998-2001) on Canine Babesiosis in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil The present work describes a retrospective study of clinical cases of babesiosis in dogs examined at the Veterinary Hospital (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais) from March 1998 to September 2001. From the clinical records of dogs with laboratory-confirmed Babesia canis infections, we analyzed

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

canine babeisosis
hemoparasites
rhipicephalus sanguineus (latreille)


Model checking active networks with SPIN Recent advances in languages and execution environments (EEs) for active networks make it now possible to develop applications with this new exciting approach. In particular, active networks have proven to be very suitable for multicast services. Nevertheless, to open the network nodes to the code written by users requires the use of analysis techniques to avoid the degradation of the network performance. Model checking is one of the most powerful techniques to ensure software reliability. This technique has been successfully applied to many protocols developed with the classic (non-active) approach. Our aim is to extend its application to the area of active protocols. The paper consists of two main contributions: (a) a clear scheme to use the language PROMELA in order to formalize different elements in the active service (network EE, capsules and user applications) and (b) the practical (and successful) application of the approach to analyze an active multicast protocol using the model checker SPIN. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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


Stochastic stability of discrete-time Markovian jump delay neural networks with impulses and incomplete information on transition probability The purpose of this letter is to investigate the stochastic stability for a class of discrete-time Markovian jump delay neural networks with impulses and incomplete information on transition probability. By using Lyapunov functionals, some new results are provided. The obtained results show that impulses can stochastically stabilize an unstable discrete-time Markovian jump delay neural network. The obtained results also show that the stability property of the impulse-free neural network can be retained even under certain destabilizing impulses. Two examples together with their simulations are also presented to show the effectiveness and the advantage of the obtained results.

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

impulse
discrete-time neural network
markovian jump parameter
lyapunov functional


The effect and strategy research of the secure E-commerce by the application of P2P In recent years, the P2P (peer to peer) application has been the main research focus and has been gaining popularity for the download of large sized content such as multimedia resources. A great deal of P2P users, especially young students, have started to operate in broadband and campus networks. P2P applications then have a critical problem because they consume too much network bandwidth, causing trouble for other applications such as mail, news, search engines as well as E-commerce (Electronic Commerce). Thus, how to facilitate the side-effects of P2P applications will be one of the most important research topics for network or E-commerce managers. In this paper, merging technology and management, we propose a comprehensive scheme to the problem above. This scheme consists of P2P traffic control, P2P port blockage, P2P download incentive measure and improvement of P2P data piece selection. An example of a BT (BitTorrent) download shows that the scheme can not only reduce average access time and increase download speed when compared with the existing BT peer selection process with randomly selected peers. In a word, the scheme can help to insure less infection of E-commerce from P2P applications. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

p2p traffic
technology
management
scheme


A visualization modeling framework for a CSP-based system In this paper, we draft a CSP-based language for our distributed software development system. A program model hierarchy, classified into three characteristic layer: specification layer, monitoring/debugging layer and code layer, is introduced to help users use appropriate modeling methods in the program development cycle. A hierarchical visualization interface-which contains our three-level visualization modeling framework with three different models: Petri nets, IPC Dataflow and Event Code View, transferred from the extended CSP-has been also designed and implemented. We could monitor a distributed application by using any coordinated combination of the constructs of the above models as a favorite view in a systematic manner. The transformation rules among the constructs of these visual models are also discussed. (C) 2000 Academic Press.

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


Feedback quantization strategies for multiuser diversity systems In a system utilizing multiuser diversity, regular feedback of channel-quality predictions to the base station is required for each user. Typically, the measure of channel quality must be quantized at each mobile station before it can be sent back. In this paper, we present two distributed scalar quantization schemes that optimize two different performance criteria: a) the minimization of the probability P-e of incorrectly identifying the user with the best channel quality and b) maximization of the resulting throughput R. For a typical Rayleigh-fading system with 30 users per sector, numerical optimization results show that the P-e and R realized by the uniform quantization strategy with 16 quantization levels for each user can be achieved by only three quantization levels using the two proposed strategies. A practical approximation of the proposed schemes is studied and is shown to provide near-optimal performance for both performance criteria as the number of quantization levels becomes large.

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

channel fading
distributed quantization
order statistics