Semi-online scheduling with two GoS levels and unit processing time In this paper, we consider two semi-online scheduling problems of parallel machines with two GoS (grade of service) levels and unit processing time, in which the objective is to minimize the makespan. Assume that the GoS levels of the first s machines are 2 and that of the last (m?s) ( m ? s ) machines are 1 where m is the number of machines. The first problem is the lookahead version where an online algorithm is able to foresee the information of the next k jobs. The second problem is the buffer version where a buffer is available for storing at most g jobs. For the both versions, we prove that the lookahead ability or the buffer is useless for designing algorithm when k<m?s k < m ? s or g<min{s,m?s} g < min { s , m ? s } . We also show that no online algorithm has a competitive ratio less than m 2 m ( m ? s ) + s 2 for any constant k or g . Moreover, we present two optimal online algorithms for k = m 2 ? 1 s + s ? m and g = m ? m m ( m ? s ) + s 2 . At last, for the case with only two machines, we prove that the two algorithms can get their best possible competitive ratio when k=1 k = 1 and g=1 g = 1 .

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

grade of service
unit processing time
lookahead
buffer


Intertwining synchronous and asynchronous communication to support collaborative learningsystem design and evaluation This paper presents the design and evaluation of the CSCL-system KOLUMBUS 2 that integrates synchronous and asynchronous communication support and the joint work on material. The design is theory driven and is based on characteristics of collaborative learning, context-oriented communication theory and media synchronicity theory. The description of the design of the system follows a model that shows the interweavement of asynchronous and synchronous functionalities. The evaluation showed mixed acceptance: concerning the interweavement a successful technical solution with limitations in its usage was found. The technical functionalities were widely used but the usage also reveals potentials for improvements. Based on the description of the study and its results the paper ends with proposals for these improvements of the integration as well as for the redesign of the functionalities.

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

integration of different communication media


Computer-aided receptor modelling of human opioid receptors: (Mu, Kappa & Delta). Opioid receptors (OPRs) are important agents in the centeral nervous system (CNS) function. These receptors belong to ''G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs)'' which have structural similarity with the BACTERIORHODOPSIN (bR). Because of receptor location in the membrane, three dimensional (3D) structure of GPCRs are unknown. The Computer-Aided Receptor Modelling on the basis of amino acid sequence, accompanied by the experimental results is a useful method to understanding the structure and mechanism of these receptors. In this study we tried to modell three types of Human Opioid Receptors; Mu, Kappa and Delta. We applied several methods to predict secondary structure (such as Hydropathicity Plot) of opioid receptors and also determined the possible regions of transmembrane helices (TMHs). Results were confirmed by inclusion of other human GPCRs sequence in multiple alignment methods. Then similarity between these receptors and bR were calculated on the basis of parameters such as Mutation Matrix and Secondary Structure Scale. After calculation and refinment of geometric coordinates of atoms located in helices by computerized mutation method (on the basis of 3D structure of bR, as a template) these data were corrected and optimized using Molecular Mechanics Calculations (AMBER Force Field). We used Morphin, Naloxone, Ethylketazocine (EKC) and SKF-10047 as general/specific ligand for these receptors. We optimized conformation of ligands by Quantum Mechanical Semiemprical Calculations (MOPAC). In final step we tried to dock ligands into the receptor cavity with attention to Mutagenesis Data and Structure-Activity Relationships (SAR) information. Our results show that in Delat receptors 'ASP-96' in TMH-II is important to binding of agonists and antagonists. In Mu receptors charged amino acid residues in TMH-II (ASP-116), TMH-III (ASP-149) and TMH-VI (HIS-299) interact with agonists. In Kappa receptors TMH-VI (GLU-297) and TMH-II (ASP-106) play a major role in interaction with antagonists. All of the mentioned residues are located in or near the inner cavity of receptors. With attention to results we suggest that other sites of receptors (such as loops and terminals) may be interact with ligands.

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

opioid receptors
modelling
bacteriorhodopsin


distributed prefetching scheme for random seek support in peer-to-peer streaming applications Through analysis of large volume of user behavior logs during playing multimedia streaming, we extract a user viewing pattern. The pattern indicates that random seek is a pervasive phenomenon, contrary to the common assumptions that users would watch a video session sequentially and passively in most works on peer-to-peer streaming. We propose to use efficient prefetching to facilitate the random seek functionality. Because of the statistical nature of the user viewing pattern and the ignorance of the users to the content, we argue that the pattern should be used as a guidance to the random seek. Based on the pattern, we set up an analogy between the optimization problem of minimizing the seeking distance and the optimal scalar quantization problem. We then propose an optimal prefetching scheduling algorithm based on the optimal scalar quantization theory. We further propose a hierarchical prefetching scheme to carry out the prefetching more effectively. Real user viewing logs are used to drive the simulations which demonstrate that the proposed prefetching scheduling algorithm and the hierarchical prefetching scheme can improve the seeking performance significantly.

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


Less conservative results of state estimation for neural networks with time-varying delay In this paper, the state estimation problem is investigated for continuous-time neural networks with time-varying delay through available output measurements. By constructing more effective Lyapunov functionals, and combining with Jensen integral inequality or free-weighting matrix approach, several less conservative sufficient conditions for the existence of state estimator are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Finally, a numerical example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and the reduced conservatism of proposed results.

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

time-varying delay
linear matrix inequalities (lmis)


Synthetic biology: ensuring the greatest global value Synthetic biology (SynBio) has tremendous, transformative potential. Like other technologies, it can be used for good or ill. Currently, the structure of the allocation of potential benefits and risks is biased in favor of richer countries. The underlying problem is simple: most risks from SynBio are universal and affect both the rich and the poor with equal force; but benefits from SynBio can be expected to accrue chiefly to the rich. The risk/benefit balance is therefore skewed in a way that may lead to inefficient and unfair decisions. One potential solution is presented in this paper, using the principles that underlie the Health Impact Fund (HIF). The HIF is designed to reward companies based on assessed health impact, no matter where it occurs in the world, so that extending the life of a poor person is as profitable as extending the life of a rich person. This paper considers both the potential benefits and costs of SynBio; examines how the current global pharmaceutical industry is structured; introduces the HIF proposal; and finally explores how the principles underlying the HIF could be used productively with SynBio for global health.

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


A novel dual-modulus 2.8 GHz divide-by-127/128 prescaler using pull down transistor in 0.35 mu m CMOS technology Design of high divide-by-value dual-modulus prescaler remains a challenge in CMOS realization for high speed operation. Prior arts for dual modulus prescaler either divide by a low divide-by-value or cannot operate at high speed. The proposed topology is suitable for high divide-by-value operation at high speed.

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


Integration of medical applications: the 'mediator service' of the SynEx platform Interoperability is a key issue and a long-term domain of research for distributed healthcare information systems. The SynEx European project provides open and standard integration platform for both new and legacy medical applications. It aims to provide access to hospital information services, patient records, and to medical knowledge, in a seamless way, hiding the distribution aspects and the heterogeneity of the underlying systems. In this study, we describe the SynEx 'mediator service', a software engineering component, that is used to facilitate the development of mediators between any pair of SynEx components and to manage the corresponding interchange messages. Both a C+ + library and a Java package of a generic mediator model are provided with several ready-to-use specialisations for well-defined use. The use of the XML technology as a powerful data interchange format and as an efficient data structure converter is proposed and discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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


Quasi-Orthogonal Space-Time Block Codes Designs Based on Jacket Transform Jacket matrices(1), motivated by the complex Hadamard matrix, have played important roles in signal processing, communications, image compression, cryptography, etc. In this paper, we suggest a novel approach to design a simple class of space-time block codes (STBCs) to reduce its peak-to-average power ratio. The proposed code provides coding gain due to the characteristics of the complex Hadamard matrix, which is a special case of Jacket matrices. Also, it can achieve full rate and full diversity with the simple decoding. Simulations show the good performance of the proposed codes in terms of symbol error rate. For generality, a kind of quasi-orthogonal STBC may be similarly designed with the improved performance.

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

multiple-input multiple-output (mimo) system

quasi-orthogonal space-time block code (stbc)


Empirical likelihood confidence intervals for differences between two datasets with missing data Detecting differences between populations (or datasets) is an important research topic in machine learning, yet an common application means of evaluating, such as a new medical product by comparing with an old one. Previous researchers focus on change detection. In this paper, we measure the uncertainty of structural differences, such as mean and distribution function differences, between populations, using a confidence interval (CI), via an empirical likelihood approach. We present a statistically sound method for estimating CIs for differences between non-parametric populations with missing values, which are imputed by using simple random hot deck imputation method. We illustrate the power of CI estimation as a new machine learning technique for, such as, distinguishing spam from non-spam emails in spambase dataset downloaded from UCI.

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

empirical likelihood
confidence interval
missing data
imputation


Exploring and mitigating social loafing in online communities The motivation to share members knowledge is critical to an online communitys survival and success. Previous research has established that knowledge sharing intentions are based on group cohesion. Several studies also suggested that social loafing behavior will seriously corrode group cohesion. Therefore, social loafing is a key obstacle to fostering online community development. Although substantial studies have been performed on the critical factors that affect social loafing in the learning group, those on online communities are still lacking. By integrating two perspectives, social capital and perceived risk, a richer understanding of social loafing behavior can be gained. In the research model, social ties and perceived risk have been driven by anonymity, offline activities, knowledge quality, and media richness. Social ties and perceived risk are hypothesized to affect social loafing in the online community, which, in turn, is hypothesized as negatively affecting group cohesion. Data collected from 323 online users in online communities provide support for the proposed model. The study shows that social loafing is a significant negative predictor of the users group cohesion. The study also shows that social ties and perceived risk are important components of social loafing. Anonymity, offline activities, knowledge quality, and media richness all have strong effects on social ties and perceived risk in the online community. Implications for theory and practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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

social loafing
group cohesion
online community
social capital
perceived risk


multispectral/hyperspetral image compression using inter-band correlation and wavelet transform In present era the multi/hype spectral images are being increasingly used in traditional and key application areas such as remote sensing and geosciences. These images contain geographical information and reflect the complexity of geographical features and spatial structures. As the means of observing and describing geographical phenomena, the rapid development of remote sensing has provided an enormous amount of geographical information which is highly correlated. The massive wealth of information is very useful in a variety of applications but the sheer bulk of this information has increased beyond what can be analyzed and used efficiently and effectively. This uneven increase in the technologies of gathering and analyzing information has created difficulties in its storage, transfer, and processing. The paper attempts to develop an application-specific data compression technique that exploits inter-band correlation and then applies HAAR wavelet to selected bands of the multispectral image 'orlea_s.lan'. We finally calculate the loss functions in statistics like MSE, MAE, RMSE and PSNR.

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 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

inter-band correlation
multi/hyper spectral


A survey of recent research on location-routing problems The survey concerns the location-routing problems met in logistic networks design. It covers the literature since the last review by Nagy and Salhi (2007). 71 publications are analyzed and new problem variants are discussed and classified. A comparison of the best algorithms on standard benchmark problems is added.

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

location-routing problem
facility location
vehicle routing
distribution
truck and trailer routing problem


Adaptive robust control scheme for linear systems with structured uncertainties This paper deals with a design problem of an adaptive robust control system for linear systems with structured uncertainties. The control law consists of a state feedback with a fixed gain designed by using the nominal system, a state feedback with an adaptive gain tuned by a parameter adjustment law and a compensation input. We show the parameter adjustment law and that sufficient conditions for the existence of the compensation input are given in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Finally, a numerical example 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 O O B I O O O B I 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

error system
keeping desirable transient behavior


Nonlinear model identification and see-through cancelation from recto-verso data The problem of see-through cancelation in digital images of double-sided documents is addressed. We show that a nonlinear convolutional data model proposed elsewhere for moderate show-through can also be effective on strong back-to-front interferences, provided that the recto and verso pure patterns are estimated jointly. To this end, we propose a restoration algorithm that does not need any classification of the pixels. The see-through PSFs are estimated off-line, and an iterative procedure is then employed for a joint estimation of the pure patterns. This simple and fast algorithm can be used on both grayscale and color images and has proved to be very effective in real-world cases. The experimental results we report in this paper demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms the ones based on linear models with no need to tune free parameters and remains computationally inexpensive despite the nonlinear model and the iterative solution adopted. Strategies to overcome some of the residual difficulties are also envisaged.

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

document image processing
see-through cancelation
nonlinear image models


Haptic experience and the design of drawing interfaces Haptic feedback has the potential to enhance users' sense of being engaged and creative in their artwork. Current work on providing haptic feedback in computer-based drawing applications has focused mainly on the realism of the haptic sensation rather than the users' experience of that sensation in the context of their creative work. We present a study that focuses on user experience of three haptic drawing interfaces. These interfaces were based on two different haptic metaphors, one of which mimicked familiar drawing tools (such as pen, pencil or crayon on smooth or rough paper) and the other of which drew on abstract descriptors of haptic experience (roughness, stickiness, scratchiness and smoothness). It was found that users valued having control over the haptic sensation; that each metaphor was preferred by approximately half of the participants; and that the real world metaphor interface was considered more helpful than the abstract one, whereas the abstract interface was considered to better support creativity. This suggests that future interfaces for artistic work should have user-modifiable interaction styles for controlling the haptic sensation. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

haptic feedback
user experience
metaphors


Prediction of dual agents as an activator of mutant p53 and inhibitor of Hsp90 by docking, molecular dynamic simulation and virtual screening The new ligand was confirmed as a dual agent by molecular docking study and molecular dynamic simulations. Results were evaluated by molecular dynamic simulations on an Hsp90 pyrazole inhibitor and a p53 pyrazole activator that those activities had been confirmed through experimental research. A virtual screening was performed on ZINC database and a set of new dual agents has been proposed. These compounds show that substitution of pyrrole ring or any other group at position 3 of pyrazole ring is not necessary for the key interactions in two proteins. Phenyl segment at position 4 or 5 of pyrazole ring is important for hydrophobic interactions in both of them.

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

hsp90 heat shock protein90
mds molecular dynamic simulations
rg radius of gyration
rmsd root mean square deviation
rmsf root mean square fluctuation
vs virtual screening


Mixed H-2/H-infinity autopilot design of bank-to-turn missiles using fuzzy basis function networks This paper presents a novel mixed H-2/H-infinity autopilot design for bank-to-turn missiles. Based on sliding control theory, the proposed autopilot utilizes a fuzzy basis function network to approximate the unknown nonlinear functions of bank-to-turn missile dynamics, enabling a mixed H-2/H-infinity controller with weight updating laws to be applied to attenuate the effects of approximation errors and external disturbances. Moreover, the mixed H-2/H-infinity autopilot design can minimize H-2 performance criteria under a desired Hoc disturbance rejection constraint. Unlike general mixed H-2/H-infinity control problems, the proposed H-2/H-infinity autopilot with self-tuning fuzzy basis function network can avoid solving coupled Riccati equations by adequately selecting diagonal weighting matrices in the H-2 performance criterion and Hoc constraint. Therefore, the proposed H-2/H-infinity control approach can be implemented efficiently. Computer simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed mixed H-2/H-infinity autopilot for BTT missiles. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

mixed h-2/h-infinity control algorithm
bank-to-turn (btt) missile
fuzzy basis function (fbf)


Partial Connection-Aware Topology Synthesis for On-Chip Cascaded Crossbar Network The crossbar (also called bus matrix) solution is known as one of the most effective communication architectures for modern high-performance embedded systems. To make it even more effective, several topology synthesis methods have been proposed. They mostly generate a crossbar network in a cascaded fashion under the assumption that each crossbar switch is fully connected (i.e., each input has a connection to every output). This assumption often limits optimizing the area efficiency and/or performance of the network due to the unnecessary connections inside the crossbar switches. Some existing methods marginally improve their synthesis results by eliminating the unnecessary connections after the synthesis step. Such postprocessing approaches make sense since considering partially connected crossbar switches earlier in the synthesis flow can greatly increase the optimal topology search space, thereby increasing the runtime. However, the result from these postprocessing techniques is typically far inferior to that from the exhaustive search. In this work, we tackle such limitations of previous methods by introducing a heuristic method based on iterative switch merging. To the best of authors' knowledge, none of previous methods consider the partial connection of crossbar switches in the middle of the topology synthesis. Our experimental results prove the effectiveness of the proposed method by showing up to 30.35 percent of area saving against those methods that consider the partial connection only in a postprocess. The results also show the superiority of the proposed method against the existing topology synthesis methods, showing up to 49.09 percent area saving and synthesis time reduction by several orders of magnitude.

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

crossbar
topology synthesis
partial connection

system-on-chip (soc)
on-chip interconnection network


Command Filter Based Robust Nonlinear Control of Hypersonic Aircraft with Magnitude Constraints on States and Actuators The command filter based robust nonlinear controller is designed for the longitudinal dynamics of a generic hypersonic aircraft in presence of parametric model uncertainty and magnitude constraints on the states and actuators. The functional subsystems are transformed into the linearly parameterized form and the controller is proposed based on dynamic inversion and adaptive gain. Since the dynamics are with cascade structure, the states are considered as virtual control and the signal is filtered to produce the limited command signal and its derivative. To eliminate the effect of the constraint, the auxiliary error compensation design is employed and the parameter projection estimation is proposed based on the compensated tracking error. The uniformly ultimately boundedness is guaranteed for the closed-loop control system. Simulation results show that the proposed approach achieves good tracking performance.

B I 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 B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 ensembles of decision trees to automate repetitive tasks in web applications Web applications such as web-based email, spreadsheets and form filling applications have become ubiquitous. However, many of the tasks that users try to accomplish with such web applications are highly repetitive. In this paper we present the design of a system we have developed that learns and thereafter automates users' repetitive tasks in web applications. Our system infers users' intentions using an ensemble of decision trees. This enables it to handle branching, generalization and recurrent changes of relative and absolute positions. Our evaluation shows that our system converges to the correct solution after 3--8 iterations when the pattern is noise-free, and after 3--14 iterations for a noise level between 5--35\%.

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

programming by example
end-user programming


Formation of HCl center dot 6H(2)O from ice and HCl under ultrahigh vacuum The interactions of hydrogen chloride (HCl) with ultrathin (10-100 monolayers thick) films of ice between 120 and 180 K were studied using temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and Fourier transform infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (FTIRAS). HCl is initially absorbed by ice at 120 K to form the stoichiometrically fixed hexahydrate phase, HCl . 6H(2)O. Infrared spectroscopic measurements suggest that the hexahydrate is present as an amorphous solid. Upon the conversion of ice to HCl . 6H(2)O, HCl is adsorbed to the thin film surface, possibly with the H-Cl bond intact. The amorphous hexahydrate can be crystallized by annealing at 165 K for several minutes. Infrared spectra of the resulting films closely resemble those reported elsewhere of authentic, macroscopic samples of crystalline HCl . 6H(2)O. If the H2O to HCl ratio is less than 1:6, two phases are present: pure or nearly pure ice, and pure or nearly pure HCl . 6H(2)O. The infrared spectra of such films were simulated by an appropriate linear combination of the spectra of ice and HCl . 6H(2)O. The sublimation kinetics of ice and HCl . 6H(2)O are analyzed, and the re suits used to infer that the enthalpy of HCl absorption by ice is -126 +/- 14 kJ mol(-1).

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

hydrochloric acid
hcl center dot 6h(2)o
fourier transform infrared spectroscopy


Checkpoint evolution for volatile correlation computing Given a set of data objects, the problem of correlation computing is concerned with efficient identification of strongly-related ones. Existing studies have been mainly focused on static data. However, as observed in many real-world scenarios, input data are often dynamic and analytical results have to be continually updated. Therefore, there is the critical need to develop a dynamic solution for volatile correlation computing. To this end, we develop a checkpoint scheme, which can help us capture dynamic correlation values by establishing an evolving computation buffer. In this paper, we first provide a theoretical analysis of the properties of the volatile correlation, and derive a tight upper bound. Such tight and evolving upper bound is used to identify a small list of candidate pairs, which are maintained as new transactions are added into the database. Once the total number of new transactions goes beyond the buffer size, the upper bound is re-computed according to the next checkpoint, and a new list of candidate pairs is identified. Based on such a scheme, a new algorithm named CHECK-POINT+ has been designed. Experimental results on real-world data sets show that CHECK-POINT+ can significantly reduce the computation cost in dynamic data environments, and has the advantage of compacting the use of memory space.

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

volatile correlation computing
checkpoint

pearson's correlation coefficient
correlation coefficient


Semiautomated segmentation of myocardial contours for fast strain analysis in cine displacement-encoded MRI The purposes of this study were to develop a semiautomated cardiac contour segmentation method for use with cine displacement-encoded MRI and evaluate its accuracy against manual segmentation. This segmentation model was designed with two distinct phases: preparation and evolution. During the model preparation phase, after manual image cropping and then image intensity standardization, the myocardium is separated from the background based on the difference in their intensity distributions, and the endo- and epi-cardial contours are initialized automatically as zeros of an underlying level set function. During the model evolution phase, the model deformation is driven by the minimization of an energy function consisting of five terms: model intensity, edge attraction, shape prior, contours interaction, and contour smoothness. The energy function is minimized iteratively by adaptively weighting the five terms in the energy function using an annealing algorithm. The validation experiments were performed on a pool of cine data sets of five volunteers. The difference between the semiautomated segmentation and manual segmentation was sufficiently small as to be considered clinically irrelevant. This relatively accurate semiautomated segmentation method can be used to significantly increase the throughput of strain analysis of cine displacement-encoded MR images for clinical applications.

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

energy minimization
magnetic resonance imaging (mri)


Sub mu W Noise Reduction for CIC Hearing Aids This paper presents a sub W noise reduction design to enhance speech for completely-in-the-canal (CIC) type hearing aids by optimizing its algorithm and associated architecture. In algorithm optimization, a low-complexity mixed perceptual-discrete wavelet packet transform (P-DWPT) and fast Hartley transform (FHT) are adopted for spectral decomposition and reconstruction. A simple yet efficient denoise method with 4-zone-voice activity detection (VAD) supports a consonant protection to improve speech quality and a skip scheme to reduce power consumption. In the designed architecture, mixed P-DWPT and FHT are folded into one 8-by-8 configurable butterfly computation unit with on-time scheduling for low power operation. The circuit is implemented with 0.18-mu m CMOS process and consumes only 0.65 mu W power at 1.0 V with a speech quality that is comparable to that achieved using other high-complexity algorithms.

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

acoustic noise
low power design
speech processing
vlsi


An algorithm for the recognition of levels of congestion in road traffic problems Detection and recognition of the level of congestion at an intersection is a very important problem and a valuable source of information in traffic management. Although it is just one of all the aspects that make up a traffic management system, it seems to be a crucial point for gathering information. In this paper, we present a technique based on a k-means clustering algorithm for classification, which has been already successfully used in a number of pattern recognition problems, namely: as an algorithm for face recognition problems and in a number of medical diagnosis problems and it compares very well with the state of the art techniques. (C) 2007 IMACS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

vehicle detection
image recognition
traffic information


Aligning the economic modeling of software reuse with reuse practices In contrast to current practices where software reuse is applied recursively and reusable assets are tailored trough parameterization or specialization, existing reuse economic models assume that (i) the cost of reusing a software asset depends on its size and (ii) reusable assets are developed from scratch. The contribution of this paper is that it provides modeling elements and an economic model that is better aligned with current practices. The functioning of the model is illustrated in an example. The example also shows how the model can support practitioners in deciding whether it is economically feasible to apply software reuse recursively.

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

reuse economic model
composition
variation


Protection by GDNF and Other Trophic Factors Against the Dopamine-Depleting Effects of Neurotoxic Doses of Methamphetamine Repeated methamphetamine (METH) administration to animals can result in long-lasting decreases in striatal dopamine (DA) content. It has previously been shown that glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) can reduce the DA-depleting effects of neurotoxic doses of METH. However, there are several other trophic factors that are protective against dopaminergic toxins. Thus, the present experiments further investigated the protective effect of GDNF as well as the protective effects of several other trophic factors. Male Fischer-344 rats were given an intracerebral injection of trophic factor (210 ?g) 1 day before METH (5 mg/kg, s.c., 4 injections at 2-h intervals). Seven days later DA levels in the striatum were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Initial experiments indicated that only intrastriatal GDNF, and not intranigral GDNF, was protective. Thereafter, all other trophic factors were administered into the striatum. Members of the GDNF family (GDNF, neurturin, and artemin) all provided significant protection against the DA-depleting effects of METH, with GDNF providing the greatest protection. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, neurotrophin-3, acidic fibroblast growth factor, basic fibroblast growth factor, ciliary neurotrophic factor, transforming growth factor-? (TGF-?), heregulin ?1 (HRG-?1), and amphiregulin (AR) provided no significant protection at the doses examined. These results suggest that the GDNF family of trophic factors can provide significant protection against the DA-depleting effects of neurotoxic doses of METH

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

gdnf
trophic factors
methamphetamine
striatum
dopamine


temporal skeletons for verifying time This paper presents an intermediate notation used in a framework for verification of real-time properties. The framework aims at overcoming the need for the framework user to have significant knowledge of the verification specific detail that formal verification at some level is bound to impose on a model. In order to accomplish this, model extraction from source code of an initial formal model, a timing skeleton, is made automatically. The model refinement needed to transform the temporal skeleton into a model that can be verified is not done immediately. This allows postponement of the abstraction and specialisation needed for the verification which further improves the readability of the skeleton. The purpose of the timing skeleton is that it easily can be validated to represent the source code it was created from. The timing skeleton is then automatically refined with verification detail, and then hidden for the user, transformed into the notation of a verification tool. This transformation is hidden from the user. In order to reduce the complexity of the application model the framework uses a formally verified run-time kernel with a clear separation from the application. The kernel supports preemption, dynamic priorities and multiple processors.

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 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 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


art and design student demos For the past five years, students from the Computer Related Design program at the Royal College of Art have demonstrated their work informally to an ever growing CHI audience. However, because of this informality many people have not been able to see the work properly and have suggested that it should have a more convenient and prominent setting.

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

masters' programs
student work
interaction design
artists/designers
education


Modeling clustered task graphs for scheduling large parallel programs in distributed systems The recent development of distributed processing platforms, such as clusters of workstations, makes the use of distributed applications more extensive. A fundamental issue affecting performance in distributed systems is the scheduling of tasks to processors. The problem of solving the scheduling of parallel programs modelled with a task precedence graph (TPG) has been extensively studied. Scheduling algorithms of TPGs can be solved by a one-step method when a fixed number of processors is considered or through a two-step method by first creating an unbounded number of groups of tasks (clusters) and subsequently assigning these clusters to a bounded number of processors. The goal of this work is to present a new mapping algorithm called TASC (Task ASsignment exploiting Concurrency) to solve this second step of assigning clusters to processors. The effectiveness of TASC is established through simulation for a set of synthetic graphs that model real 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 O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

static mapping
modelling parallel programs
cluster-mapping heuristics
message-passing computation model


The quasi-perspective model: Geometric properties and 3D reconstruction The paper investigates geometric properties of quasi-perspective projection model in one and two-view geometry. The main results are as follows. (i) Quasi-perspective projection matrix has nine degrees of freedom (DOF), and the parallelism along X and Y directions in world system are preserved in images. (ii) Quasi-fundamental matrix can be simplified to a special form with only six DOFs. The fundamental matrix is invariant to any non-singular projective transformation. (iii) Plane induced homography under quasi-perspective model can be simplified to a special form defined by six DOFs. The quasi-homography may be recovered from two pairs of corresponding points with known fundamental matrix. (iv) Any two reconstructions in quasi-perspective space are defined up to a non-singular quasi-perspective transformation. The results are validated experimentally on both synthetic and real images.

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

fundamental matrix
homography
3d reconstruction

quasi-perspective projection
essential matrix
projective geometry


In silico identification of the protein disulfide isomerase family from a protozoan parasite Protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) enzymes are eukaryotic oxidoreductases that catalyze the correct formation of disulfide bonds during protein folding. Structurally they are characterized by the presence of functional thioredoxin-like (Trx) domains. For the protozoan parasite causative of the human amebiasis (Entamoeba histolytica), the correct formation of disulfide bonds is important for an accurate folding of its proteins, including some virulence factors. However, little is known about the enzymes involved in this mechanism. We undertook a post-genomic approach to identify the PDI family of this parasite. The genome database survey revealed a set of 11 PDI-encoding sequences with predictable protein thiol/disulfide oxidoreductase activities. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

parasite
entamoeba histolytica
protein disulfide isomerase family


reducing resolution loss in two-pass rendering by optimal view directions and display-surface partitioning We describe a method for reducing the amount of aliasing or resolution loss in two-pass rendering for distortion and alignment correction of a projector-based display. Resolution loss is caused by the fact that the second rendering pass must resample the result of the first rendering pass, and the two procedures in general have sampling rates that vary differently. We show that for a flat display surface, it is possible to choose a viewing direction for the first-pass render so that its sampling-rate variations cancel with variations of the second-pass sampling rate. This means that the first-pass effectively samples the projector frame-buffer evenly, so an appropriate resolution for the first-pass render will provide uniformly low aliasing over the entire framebuffer. We also show that, for flat display surfaces, this choice of view direction can be combined with an appropriate first-pass intrinsics matrix to eliminate the need for a second pass. The resulting single-pass rendering algorithm is very similar to existing single-pass techniques, but has a few advantages that we discuss. For a non-flat display surface, relative sampling cannot be made perfectly uniform, but the optimal view direction for a best-fit plane provides an approximate solution when the display surface is almost flat. Although the approximation is poor when the display surface differs radically from a plane, we describe a technique for those cases, which automatically subdivides the display surface into partitions that are approximately planar. In common display-surface configurations, great improvements in rendering quality are obtained by using two or three partitions, which causes only modest rendering overhead.

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

projector-camera systems
projector calibration
shadow map


finding the visibility graph of a simple polygon in time proportional to its size Let P be a given simple polygon with n sides. The visibility graph of P has an edge between every pair of polygon vertices that can be connected by an open segment in the interior of P . We describe an algorithm that finds the visibility graph of P in &Ogr; ( m + n log log n ) time, where m is the number of edges in the visibility graph. Because m can be as small as &Ogr; ( n ), the algorithm improves on the more general visibility algorithms of Asano et al. [AAGHI] and Welzl [W], which take &THgr;( n 2 ) time.

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

graph general polygon algorithm log size visibility


The effect of signal normalization on entropy sums Using the entropy definition according to Shannon, the entropy sum in the time and frequency domains is studied. It is shown that normalization of the Fourier pair by absolute value integrals in time and frequency leads to a shift-and-scaling invariant entropy sum.

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

shannon entropy
fourier analysis
scaling invariance of entropy sums


A real-time hand detection system based on multi-feature This paper describes a real-time hand detection system which can reach high speed and accuracy. The system is based on Gentle Adaboost and cascade classifier. To improve the performance of the system, three efficient features are selected to describe the visual properties of human hands. In addition, the detection is accelerated due to several optimization methods, including the method for fast calculation of HOG features, improved cascade classifier and skin-color pre-detection. Experiments were performed on our self-constructed dataset, the results showed that the detection rate of the system can reach 0.889 while the false rate is 0.010 at the speed of 32.6339ms per frame on a Intel Core i5-2400 CPU running at 3.1GHz.

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 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


About the convergence rates of a class of gene expression programming This paper studies the convergence rates of gene expression programming based on maintaining elitist (ME-GEP) by means of Markov chain and spectrum analysis. We obtain the following results: (1) ME-GEP algorithm converges to the global optimum in probability. (2) The convergence rates of ME-GEP algorithm depend on the revised spectral radius of transition matrix of Markov chain corresponding to the algorithm. (3) The upper bounds of revised spectral radius are estimated, which are determined by the parameters of ME-GEP algorithm. (4) As an application of the theoretical results acquired in the paper, the convergence rates of ME-GEP for the polynomial function modeling problem are also analyzed, which verifies the relations between the convergence rates and the algorithm parameters.

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

convergence rates
markov chain
revised spectral radius


Development of non-keyboard input device checklists through assessments An assessment of non-keyboard input devices (NKID) was conducted to identify factors for good design in relation to operation, performance and comfort. Twenty-seven NKID users, working in health and safety, evaluated eight devices that included mice, trackballs and a joystick mouse. The factors considered important for good design were: (1) comfortable hand and finger position, (2) adequate control, (3) intuitive and easy to use, (4) ease of device, button and trackball movement, (5) good interaction with software, (6) provision of suitable accessories. Mice were rated more favourably than trackballs or the joystick mouse. The design of the standard 2-button mouse (D4) was considered most desirable to use; the 3-button mouse (D1) and 3-button curved mouse (D8) were also favoured. Assessment data and comments were drawn together with previously published research to produce useful tools for NKID purchasing (i.e. Device Purchasing Checklist) and assessment (i.e. Device Assessment Checklist).

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


An integrated multi-objective optimisation and fuzzy multi-attributive group decision-making technique for subdivision arrangement of RoRo vessels This paper focuses on developing a new multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) methodology for subdivision arrangement of RoRo vessels, which integrates the multi-objective optimisation with a fuzzy multi-attributive group decision-making (FMAGDM) technique. The study concentrates on the task of finding and then evaluating (or ranking) the finite number of pareto-optimal design alternatives (PODAs). A genetic algorithm based multi-objective optimisation technique, namely MOGA, is employed for optimisation purpose in terms of chosen design parameters such as damage stability, survivability, and cargo capacity. MOGA is the methodology where the solution space is searched for a set of PODAs, from which experts can express their opinions and choose the best PODA. The subjectiveness and imprecision of the ranking process is modelled as linear trapezoidal fuzzy numbers by means of linguistic terms. An attribute based aggregation technique for homogeneous and heterogeneous groups of experts is employed and used for dealing with the fuzzy opinion aggregation. Finally, a real case study on the subdivision arrangement of a RoRo vessel is conducted to illustrate the effectiveness of the approach.

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

multi-objective optimisation
genetic algorithms
pareto-optimal designs
fuzzy sets
group decision-making
consensus


A control-theoretic approach to distributed discrete-valued decision-making in networks of sensing agents We address the problem of global sensor fusion for the purpose of distributed decision-making, from a control-theoretic perspective. In particular, we introduce a quasi-linear stochastic distributed protocol, using which a network of sensing agents can reach agreement in order to take a collective action. Using control-theoretic methods, we design the parameters of our protocol - which include weights in the local update rules used by the agents and a finite stopping time - to achieve agreement in a fair and rapid manner. We show analytically that the developed protocol achieves fair agreement with certainty in the noise-free case and achieves fair agreement with high probability even in the presence of communication noise and assuming very little information storage capability for the agents. Our development is illustrated throughout with a canonical example motivated by autonomous vehicle control.

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

distributed algorithms
influence model
network control


Active point modification for sidelobe suppression with PAPR constraint in OFDM systems In this paper, we propose an active point modification (APM) scheme to suppress the sidelobe of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals, and the key idea of APM is slightly enlarging the amplitudes of constellation points on some sub-carriers while keeping unchanged the minimum distance between constellation points. Moreover, the peak-to-average power ratio of the OFDM signal is considered. We formulate the sidelobe suppression problem by APM as a quadratically constrained quadratic programming problem, which could be solved by numerical tools. Simulation results show that APM could provide well sidelobe suppression performance while the peak-to-average power ratio could be efficiently controlled at a desired level.

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

active point modification (apm)
peak-to-average power ratio (papr)


Design and design methods for unified multiplier and inverter and its application for HECC This paper describes two novel architectures for a unified multiplier and inverter (UMI) in GF(2m): the UMI merges multiplier and inverter into one unified data-path. As such, the area of the data-path is reduced. We present two options for hyperelliptic curve cryptography (HECC) using UMIs: an FPGA-based high-performance implementation (Type-I) and an ASIC-based lightweight implementation (Type-II). The use of a UMI combined with affine coordinates brings a smaller data-path, smaller memory and faster scalar multiplication. Both implementations use curves defined by h(x)=x and f(x)=x5+f3x3+x2+f0 f ( x ) = x 5 + f 3 x 3 + x 2 + f 0 . The high throughput version uses 2316 slices and 2016 bits of block RAM on a Xilinx Virtex-II FPGA, and finishes one scalar multiplication in 311 ? s . The lightweight version uses only 14.5kGates, and one scalar multiplication takes 450ms.

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


The effect of task-individual-technology fit on user attitude and performance: An experimental investigation Decision support research explores interactions between individuals, tasks, and technology. In this paper, I deconstruct the task-technology-individual fit model into three two-way interactions and ascertain how these interactions affect user attitude and performance. Performance is conceptualized as consisting of two dimensions, technology performance and task performance. The paper reports a controlled laboratory experiment involving 94 subjects using a purpose built decision support system. The results demonstrate several important principles. User attitude is affected by the fit between individual and technology whereas technology performance is affected by the fit between task and technology, and task and individual. Users of technology fitted to them as an individual can perceive it as more useful than it actually is, in terms of improving task performance. Finally, technology performance translates into task performance. Technology performance is a necessary but not sufficient precursor to task performance. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

decision support
user attitude
performance

task-individual-technology fit
decisional guidance
task complexity


A fine-grained balancing scheme for improved scalability in P2P streaming In this paper, we relax the restriction imposed in our previously proposed balancing scheme that a peer is allowed to forward only one specific description to others, and propose the fine-grained balancing scheme to further improve the scalability of P2P live streaming systems based on multiple description coding (MDC) techniques. Like the balancing scheme, the fine-grained balancing scheme is capable of balancing the distribution of descriptions and streaming workload among peers by means of a centralized description allocation scheme. Moreover, relaxing the restriction on peers description provision enables the proposed fine-grained balancing scheme to utilize peers outbound bandwidth more flexibly and efficiently than the balancing scheme. The experiment results show that with the proposed scheme the utilization of peers bandwidth can be greatly improved, thereby reducing the server bandwidth consumption and the rejection rate. As a result, more peers can be served and peers are enabled to recover from failure mostly by themselves with little server involvement.

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

streaming
multiple description coding
scalability


PFClust: an optimised implementation of a parameter-free clustering algorithm A well-known problem in cluster analysis is finding an optimal number of clusters reflecting the inherent structure of the data. PFClust is a partitioning-based clustering algorithm capable, unlike many widely-used clustering algorithms, of automatically proposing an optimal number of clusters for the data.

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

clustering
cluster analysis
number of clusters


Electrostatic and structural similarity of classical and non-classical lactam compounds Various electrostatic and structural parameters for a series of classical and non-classical beta-lactams were determined and compared in order to ascertain whether some specific beta-lactams possess antibacterial or beta-lactamase inhibitory properties. The electrostatic parameters obtained, based on the Distributed Multipole Analysis (DMA) of high-quality wavefunctions for the studied structures, suggest that some non-classical beta-lactams effectively inhibit the action of beta-lactamases. As shown in this work, such electrostatic parameters provide much more reliable information about the antibacterial and inhibitory properties of beta-lactams than do structural parameters.

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

ab initio calculations
distributed multipoles
electrostatic similarity
beta-lactam compounds
gamma-lactam compounds
molecular electrostatic potential
non-classical lactam compounds


concept integration from the caties to i2b2 using the umls semantic network A tremendous wealth of valuable information is available in the plain text clinical reports and there are variety types of Natural Language Processing (NLP) platforms in place to generate concept codes and mine the reports. The information obtained from the reports has more value if it can be integrated with other clinical and genomics data. The Integrating Biology and the Bedside (i2b2) is being adopted by many institutions. Its open source based scalable framework allows research on genomics and clinical data. In this study, we have shown that any existing information extraction systems can be integrated to i2b2. In order to address this issue, the UMLS semantic network is adopted to map the concept codes generated by the Cancer Text Information Extraction System (caTIES) to i2b2. With the proposed approach, more than 200,000 sample records and 18,000 unique concept codes are made accessible and searchable instantly throughout the i2b2 infrastructure.

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

umls semantic network
the integrating biology and the bedside
i2b2
caties


Dynamic properties of an acoustic tube: Prediction of vowel systems Approaches to characterizing and explaining the diverse phonologies of the worlds languages usually begin with data from the analysis of speech signals or from the results of speech production and perception experiments. In the present paper, the dynamic acoustic properties that arise from changing the shape of a simple acoustic tube 18cm length (without any articulatory machinery) are explored to develop a simple and efficient acoustic communication system. By efficient we mean that minimum deformations of the tube lead to maximum acoustic variations. Intrinsic characteristics of the tube are derived from these specific gestural deformations associated with formant trajectories in the acoustic plane. This deductive approach (without reference to data on speech production or speech signals) leads to define an acoustic communication system characterized by its acoustic space and by several specific formant trajectories. The acoustic space fits well with the vowel triangle, and 18 oral vowels can be placed on the trajectories. From these deductive results a tentative explanation of vowel systems is proposed. The good match between deductive prediction and observation results encourages to make further predictions, formulating hypotheses about a unified view of vowel and consonant production, and reconsidering the relation between phonetics and phonology.

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

speech production
acoustic tube
dynamic properties
vowel systems


usability of overview-supported zooming on small screens with regard to individual differences in spatial ability While zoomable user interfaces can improve the usability of applications by easing data access, a drawback is that some users tend to become lost after they have zoomed in. Previous studies indicate that this effect could be related to individual differences in spatial ability. To overcome such orientation problems, many desktop applications feature an additional overview window showing a miniature of the entire information space. Small devices, however, have a very limited screen real estate and incorporating an overview window often means pruning the size of the detail view considerably. Given this context, we report the results of a user study in which 24 participants solved search tasks by using two zoomable scatterplot applications on a PDA - one of the applications featured an overview, the other relied solely on the detail view. In contrast to similar studies for desktop applications, there was no significant difference in user preference between the interfaces. On the other hand, participants solved search tasks faster without the overview. This indicates that, on small screens, a larger detail view can outweigh the benefits gained from an overview window. Individual differences in spatial ability did not have a significant effect on task-completion times although results suggest that participants with higher spatial ability were slowed down by the overview more than low spatial-ability users.

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


a pre-placement net length estimation technique for mixed-size circuits An accurate model for pre-placement wire length estimation can be a useful tool during the physical design of integrated circuits. In this paper, an a priori wire length estimation technique for mixed-size circuits is proposed. The proposed technique is capable of predicting the wire lengths for individual nets, and uses both relevant factors used in previous research as well as new factors that can affect the net lengths in mixed-size designs. The proposed model's main characteristics include reporting individual net lengths, suitability for mixed-size designs, and the power to predict pre-placement net lengths before and after clustering. The net lengths estimated by this model are shown to be an average of 10\% more correlated to after placement lengths compared to the most elaborated model of literature. The model can be used for a priori individual net length estimation and predicting the possible effects of clustering on lengths of individual nets during the placement stage.

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

wire length estimation
placement
physical design


A virtual collaborative maintenance architecture for manufacturing enterprises This paper presents a virtual collaborative maintenance architecture aimed at improving the performance of manufacturing systems. The proposed architecture incorporates maintenance elements such as operational reliability, maintenance economics, human factors in maintenance, maintenance program, and maintenance optimization in a virtual collaborative architecture. An analytical model is proposed to measure the relative performance of the proposed virtual collaborative architecture as well as that of the manufacturing enterprise. A numerical example is also presented to demonstrate the application of the proposed approach.

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

collaborative maintenance
maintenance optimization
operational reliability
human factors


Practical conditions of signal space alignment for generalized MIMO Y channel This paper proposes a generalization for applications of signal space alignment (SSA) in a generalized multiple input multiple output (MIMO) Y channel with K(K a (c) 3/4 2) nodes and an intermediate relay. Based on that generalization, a method is introduced to determine the practical conditions for SSA. We first study the generalized MIMO Y channel model with general signal demands; then, the degrees of freedom (DoF) achieved are given and are proved using SSA. Although SSA could decrease the number of antennas at the relay, it places new restrictions on the numbers of antennas at the nodes. We then introduce a method to compare the models with and without SSA network coding (SSA-NC), mainly from the perspective of the total number of antennas used. The results show that if each node must be able to exchange signals with all others, the model with SSA will definitely use more antennas to supply the same DoF, when K > 5. If it is not necessary for every node to exchange signals with all others, the comparison can still be made by using the method introduced here. As a result, the conditions under which SSA-NC is needed are presented.

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

signal space alignment
mimo y channel
degrees of freedom
number of antennas


Bound-based decision rules in multistage stochastic programming We study bounding approximations for a multistage stochastic program with expected value constraints. Two simpler approximate stochastic programs, which provide upper and lower bounds on the original problem, are obtained by replacing the original stochastic data process by finitely supported approximate processes. We model the original and approximate processes as dependent random vectors on a joint probability space. This probabilistic coupling allows us to transform the optimal solution of the upper bounding problem to a near-optimal decision rule for the original problem. Unlike the scenario tree based solutions of the bounding problems, the resulting decision rule is implementable in all decision stages, i.e., there is no need for dynamic reoptimization during the planning period. Our approach is illustrated with a mean-risk portfolio optimization model.

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

stochastic programming
bounds
decision rules
expected value constraints
portfolio optimization


Belief update in CLG Bayesian networks with lazy propagation In recent years, Bayesian networks with a mixture of continuous and discrete variables have received an increasing level of attention. In this paper, we focus on the restricted class of mixture Bayesian networks known as conditional linear Gaussian Bayesian networks (CLG Bayesian networks) and present an architecture for exact belief update for this class of mixture networks. The proposed architecture is an extension of lazy propagation using operations of Lauritzen and Jensen [S.L. Lauritzen, F. Jensen, Stable local computation with mixed Gaussian distributions, Statistics and Computing 11(2) (2001) 191-203] and Cowell [R.G. Cowell, Local propagation in conditional Gaussian Bayesian networks, journal of Machine Learning Research 6 (2005) 1517-1550]. By decomposing clique and separator potentials into sets of factors, the proposed architecture takes advantage of independence and irrelevance properties induced by the structure of the graph and the evidence. The resulting benefits are illustrated by examples and assessed by experiments. The performance of the proposed architecture has been evaluated using a set of randomly generated networks. The results indicate a significant potential of the proposed architecture. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

clg bayesian networks
belief update
propagation


Deterministic Measurement Matrix Generation for Compressive Data Gathering and Reconstruction in WSNs In this paper, a novel deterministic measurement matrix construction algorithm (DMMCA) within compressive sensing (CS) framework was introduced for gathering and reconstructing the compressive data in large scale of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Random measurement matrix (e.g., Gaussian matrix) has been widely used because it presents small coherence with almost any sparse basis. However, decreasing the coherence between the measurement matrix and the fixed sparse basis will improve the CS performance greatly. We achieve this purpose by adopting shrinking and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) technique iteratively. In addition, we conducted several experiments to measure the performance of the proposed algorithm and compare it with the existing algorithms. The recovery performance of greedy algorithms (e.g., orthogonal matching pursuit) with the proposed measurement matrix construction method outperforms the traditional random, Elad's [21], Abolghasemi's [25] and Xu's [26] algorithms. Finally, the practical experimental results in WSNs present the same positive results as the simulations.

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


An effective GA-based scheduling algorithm for FlexRay systems An advanced communication system, the FlexRay system, has been developed for future automotive applications. It consists of time-triggered clusters, such as drive-by-wire in cars, in order to meet different requirements and constraints between various sensors, processors, and actuators. In this paper, an approach to static scheduling for FlexRay systems is proposed. Our experimental results show that the proposed scheduling method significantly reduces up to 36.3% of the network traffic compared with a past approach.

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

real-time systems
distributed embedded systems
genetic algorithm


Mixed-initiative problem solving with decision trees We present a mixed-initiative approach to problem solving based on decision trees in which the user can answer unknown to any question she is asked by the intelligent system, or answer questions anywhere in the decision tree without waiting to be asked. Also in contrast to the traditional decision-tree approach, more than one of the rules in a decision tree may contribute to the solution of a problem for which the user is unable to provide a complete description. As shown by our results, increased coverage of incomplete problem descriptions is an important benefit for some decision trees. However, a potential risk in allowing a problem-solving dialogue to continue when relevant test results are not available is that no solution may be possible no matter what additional information the user can provide. This problem is addressed in our approach by using meta-level reasoning to recognize when no solution is possible.

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

mixed-initiative interaction
meta-level reasoning


Toward a programming theory for rational agents An important problem in agent verification is a lack of proper understanding of the relation between agent programs on the one hand and agent logics on the other. Understanding this relation would help to establish that an agent programming language is both conceptually well-founded and well-behaved, as well as yield a way to reason about agent programs by means of agent logics. As a step toward bridging this gap, we study several issues that need to be resolved in order to establish a precise mathematical relation between a modal agent logic and an agent programming language specified by means of an operational semantics. In this paper, we present an agent programming theory that provides both an agent programming language as well as a corresponding agent verification logic to verify agent programs. The theory is developed in stages to show, first, how a modal semantics can be grounded in a state-based semantics, and, second, how denotational semantics can be used to define the mathematical relation connecting the logic and agent programming language. Additionally, it is shown how to integrate declarative goals and add precompiled plans to the programming theory. In particular, we discuss the use of the concept of higher-order goals in our theory. Other issues such as a complete axiomatization and the complexity of decision procedures for the verification logic are not the focus of this paper and remain for future investigation.

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

rational agents
programming theory
verification logic
denotational semantics


Solving heat exchanger network synthesis problems with Tabu Search This paper describes the implementation of a meta-heuristic optimization approach, Tabu Search (TS), for heat exchanger networks (HEN) synthesis and compares this approach to others presented in the literature. TS is a stochastic optimization approach that makes use of adaptive memory in the form of Tabu lists. Both recency- and frequency-based Tabu lists are used to provide short- and long-term knowledge of search history. TS is shown to locate the global optima with a high probability and low computation times, demonstrating the algorithm's potential for solving a variety of other mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problems. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

optimization
tabu search
heat exchanger network


Bayesian Minimax Estimation of the Normal Model With Incomplete Prior Covariance Matrix Specification This work addresses the issue of Bayesian robustness in the multivariate normal model when the prior covariance matrix is not completely specified, but rather is described in terms of positive semi-definite bounds. This occurs in situations where, for example, the only prior information available is the bound on the diagonal of the covariance matrix derived from some physical constraints, and that the covariance matrix is positive semi-definite, but otherwise arbitrary. Under the conditional Gamma-minimax principle, previous work by DasGupta and Studden shows that an analytically exact solution is readily available for a special case where the bound difference is a scaled identity. The goal in this work is to consider this problem for general positive definite matrices. The contribution in this paper is a theoretical study of the geometry of the minimax problem. Extension of previous results to a more general case is shown and a practical algorithm that relies on semi-definite programming and the convexity of the minimax formulation is derived. Although the algorithm is numerically exact for up to the bivariate case, its exactness for other cases remains open. Numerical studies demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed algorithm and the robustness of the minimax solution relative to standard and recently proposed methods.

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

bayesian point estimate
gamma-minimax
minimax estimator
prior uncertainty
robust bayesian analysis
shrinkage method


a new distributed dynamic algorithm for mobility patterns prediction Deployment of future ALL-IP mobile communication networks requires overcoming many challenges. One of them is how to provide QoS guarantee in such high dynamic environments. Basic principle is to couple between mobility and QoS solutions, so that handoffs are executed and simultaneously resources reserved. Most approaches doing such coupling optimize the performance by constructing neighbor groups to enable achieving in-advance actions accelerating the handoff as well as resources reservation. Optimizing the groups constructed based on Mobile Nodes' (MNs) mobility and traffic characteristics will result in an optimized performance and minimized network resources consumption. This paper proposes a new mechanism capable of achieving such an optimization. The new mechanism optimizes neighbor groups without requiring the storage of mobility patterns of individual MNs or forcing MNs to do lots of measurements. The basic idea is to extend the well-known Neighbor Graph (NG) to consider MNs' traffic and mobility characteristics. The extension lies in weighting the edges of the NG based on the services the network offers as well as movements patterns of MNs residing in the network. In such a way, each MN is associated with a neighbor group updated over the time based on the variation in its traffic characteristics. Our algorithm is fully distributed and highly improves the performance.

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

mobility patterns prediction
qos
neighbor graph


Evolutionary optimization of energy systems using population graphing and neural networks This paper examines the simultaneous use of graph based evolutionary algorithms (GBEAs) and a real-time estimate of the final fitness for evolutionary optimization of systems modeled using computational fluid dynamics (CFDs). GBEAs are used to control the rate at which information travels, enabling the diversity of the population to be tuned to match the solution space. During each fitness evaluation, the CFD solver iteratively solves the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of the proposed design. In this paper, an artificial neural network is used to develop a real-time estimate of the final fitness and error bounds at each iteration of the solver. Using these estimates, the evolutionary algorithm can determine when the fitness of the design is known with sufficient accuracy for the evolutionary process. This significantly reduces the overall compute time. These techniques are demonstrated by optimizing the spatial temperature profile of the cooking surface of a biomass cookstove. In this cookstove, hot gases from biomass combustion flow under the cooking surface. Within this flow area, a set of baffles direct the flow of hot gases and establish the spatial temperature profile of the stove's cooking surface. The location and size of a series of baffles within the hot gas flow area are determined by the optimization routine. In this design problem, it is found that the two techniques are compatible; both the number of fitness evaluations and the time required for each CFD fitness evaluation are reduced while utilizing GBEAs to preserve the diversity of the population.

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

computational fluid dynamics
neural networks
optimization


B-Cube, behavioural modelling of technical artefacts A new model, B-Cube, is described for managing knowledge at the behaviour level of the function-behaviour-structure framework. The model proposes a three-dimensional approach to the behavioural modelling of technical artefacts using definitions based mainly on the meta-ontology DOLCE as concepts of behaviour. The present work aims to show how these terms and those from the NIST functional basis can complement each other in functional design. It is assumed that this model achieves similar objectives with behaviours to those obtained by the NIST functional basis with functions, i.e. the representation of behaviours in CAD and KBS, a scheme for the modelling of behaviours and a universal set of behaviours. The modelling language IDEF was adapted to be able to produce a graphic example of the modelling of technical artefacts in the FBS framework using B-Cube terminology at the behaviour level. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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


Positive and negative penalty parameters in optimisation subjected to continuous constraints In solving variational, differential and optimisation equations subject to constraints, the penalty method is a well known procedure. Recent publications show that with a combination of positive and negative penalty parameters, constraint violations can be determined and controlled. This relies on the monotonic nature of convergence of the penalised model towards the constrained system, which has been proven and demonstrated for systems with discrete constraints. This paper investigates the use of this approach for systems with continuous constraints. It addresses the questions of whether the number of critical penalty parameters for continuous constraints is finite, and whether the positive and negative penalty method result in monotonic and bounded convergence towards the constrained solution, and compares the use of penalty functions in integral form and discrete forms to represent continuous constraints.

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


On design, verification, and dynamic modification of the problem-based scientific workflow model A science process is a process to solve complex scientific problems which usually have no mature solving methods. Science processes if modeled in workflow forms, i.e. scientific workflows, can be managed more effectively and performed more automatically. However, most current workflow models seldom take account of specific characteristics of science processes and are not very suitable for modeling scientific workflows. Therefore, a new workflow model named problem-based scientific workflow model (PBSWM) is proposed in this paper to accommodate those specific characteristics. Corresponding soundness verification and dynamic modification are discussed accordingly based on the new modelling method. This paper makes three main contributions: (1) three new constructs are proposed for special logic semantics in science processes; (2) verification is deployed with the consideration from both data-specific perspective and control-specific perspective; and (3) a set of rules are provided to automatically infer passive modifications caused by other modifications.

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

scientific workflow
modelling
verification
dynamic modification


Estimating spatial logistic model: A deterministic approach or a heuristic approach? This paper evaluates the performance of a deterministic method (NewtonRaphson, NR) and a heuristic method (Genetic Algorithm, GA) for solving the maximum likelihood estimation in spatial logistic analysis. A spatial logistic regression model equipped with a filtering process is formulated to examine the relationship between land use change and various spatial determinants such as population density, distance to road, distance to commercial center and neighborhood characteristics. Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to acquire spatial samples and perform spatial analysis. The NR method and GA are utilized, respectively, to estimate the coefficients that maximize the likelihood of the spatial logistic regression model. Both methods are compared in terms of the maximum likelihood and computing time. The experimental results show that the NR method can achieve a better likelihood and is also much faster than the GA method. Therefore, the NR method is recommended for estimating a spatial logistic regression model although GA can also be employed.

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

logistic regression model
genetic algorithm
land use

spatial sampling and filtering
newton-raphson method


a resource optimized physical movement monitoring scheme for environmental and on-body sensor networks Perhaps the most significant challenge in design of on-body sensors is the wearability concern. This concern requires that the size of the nodes (sensors, processing units and batteries) is minimized. Therefore, the computation and communication executed in on-body nodes must be moderated significantly. In this paper, we propose a collaborative signal processing scheme for physical movement monitoring that utilizes on-body and environmental sensors. The environmental sensor nodes perform the bulk of the signal processing and provide feedback to the on-body sensor nodes. This is due to the fact that the environmental sensor nodes have access to more powerful processing units and an unlimited energy supply. The feedback simplifies the signal processing on the on-body nodes significantly. We achieve this by performing a hierarchical classification and introducing a probabilistic measure on likelihood of possible classes for the final level of classification on on-body sensor nodes. The experimental results show the effectiveness of our method. On average the classification accuracy is reduced by 3\% while the computational complexity can be scaled down by one order of magnitude compared to a global and comprehensive classification scheme.

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

sensor networks
physical movement monitoring