Printed monopole antenna with tunable band-notched characteristic for use in mobile and ultra-wide band applications A tunable band-notch printed monopole antenna is presented, exhibiting a wide impedance bandwidth from 1.5 to 5.5 GHz with good impedance matching (VSWR???2) and a tunable rejected frequency band from 2.38 to 3.87 GHz. The band-notching is achieved by adding an inner chorded crescent element within a driven element of a similar shape. By varying the value of the varactor, which is placed between the inner and outer arcs, the desired variable rejected can be obtained. Simulated and measured results show wide impedance bandwidth with a tunable band notch, stable radiation patterns, and consistent nearly constant gain. The antenna is suitable for mobile and portable applications. 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:403412, 2015.

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

wideband antenna
tunable notch
varactor diode


proper tail recursion and space efficiency The IEEE/ANSI standard for Scheme requires implementations to be properly tail recursive . This ensures that portable code can rely upon the space efficiency of continuation-passing style and other idioms. On its face, proper tail recursion concerns the efficiency of procedure calls that occur within a tail context. When examined closely, proper tail recursion also depends upon the fact that garbage collection can be asymptotically more space-efficient than Algol-like stack allocation.Proper tail recursion is not the same as ad hoc tail call optimization in stack-based languages. Proper tail recursion often precludes stack allocation of variables, but yields a well-defined asymptotic space complexity that can be relied upon by portable programs.This paper offers a formal and implementation-independent definition of proper tail recursion for Scheme. It also shows how an entire family of reference implementations can be used to characterize related safe-for-space properties, and proves the asymptotic inequalities that hold between them.

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

efficiency recursion space code definition context complexity paper scheme allocation

program variability portability families formalism optimality language collect implementation standardization continuation ad-hoc


A modified lift-and-project procedure In recent years the lift-and-project approach has been used successfully within a branch-and-cut framework to solve large, difficult pure and mixed 0-1 programs that have resisted solution efforts by pure branch and bound codes. The approach uses a linear description in a higher dimensional space of the convex hull of the disjunctive set created by imposing one or several 0-1 conditions. By solving a linear program derived from this higher dimensional representation - the cut generating linear program (CGLP) - the standard lift-and-project procedure obtains a deepest cut in a well defined sense. We propose a modification of CGLP that allows us to generate not just one deepest cut, but a class of cuts with desirable properties, each at the cost of one extra pivot in the optimal tableau of the modified CGLP (C) 1997 The Mathematical Programming Society, Inc. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

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

lifting
projection
convexification
disjunctive programming


Nonparametric density estimation for multivariate bounded data using two non-negative multiplicative bias correction methods Two new multiplicative bias correction techniques for nonparametric multivariate density estimation in the context of positively supported data are proposed. Both methods reach an optimal rate of convergence of the mean squared error of order O(n?8/(8+d)) O ( n ? 8 / ( 8 + d ) ) , where d d is the dimension of the underlying data set. In addition, they overcome the boundary effect and their values are always non-negative. Asymptotic properties like bias and variance are investigated. Moreover, the performance of both estimators is studied in Monte Carlo simulations and in two real data examples.

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

bias correction
multivariate density estimation


probabilistic model for definitional question answering This paper proposes a probabilistic model for definitional question answering (QA) that reflects the characteristics of the definitional question. The intention of the definitional question is to request the definition about the question target. Therefore, an answer for the definitional question should contain the content relevant to the topic of the target, and have a representation form of the definition style. Modeling the problem of definitional QA from both the topic and definition viewpoints, the proposed probabilistic model converts the task of answering the definitional questions into that of estimating the three language models: topic language model, definition language model, and general language model. The proposed model systematically combines several evidences in a probabilistic framework. Experimental results show that a definitional QA system based on the proposed probabilistic model is comparable to state-of-the-art systems.

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

language model
probabilistic model
definitional question answering


Multicriteria programming in medical diagnosis and treatments This paper deals with a special case of multicriteria optimization problems. The problems studied come from the medical domain and are of a very important practical relevance. One of the problems refers to the ranking of treatments for the Trigeminal Neuralgia. The second problem refers to a hierarchy of risk factors for Bronchial Asthma. The most common way to deal with a multiobjective optimization problem is to apply Pareto dominance relationship between solutions. But in the cases studied here, a decision cannot be made just by using Pareto dominance. In one of the experiments, all the potential solutions are nondominated (and we need to clearly find a hierarchy of these solutions) and in the second experiment most of the solutions are nondominated between them. We propose a novel multiple criteria procedure and then an evolutionary scheme is applied for solving the problems. Results obtained by the proposed approach in a very simple way are same as the results (or even better) obtained by applying weighted-sum method. The advantage of the proposed technique is that it does not require any additional information about the problem (like weights for each criteria in the case of weighted-sumapproach).

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

pareto dominance
medical diagnosis
trigeminal neuralgia
bronchial asthma

multicriteria analysis
evolutionary algorithm
weighted sum method


The future of IPTV Connected, mobile, personal and social As more and more content migrates to the Internet, "personal" video choices are becoming the norm not the exception. The impact of Internet content and IP-based video distribution is still difficult to evaluate. However, there is obviously no turning back as this content pervades the home and the community. Driven in large part by the near-ubiquitous IP-based communication services, the TV experience has been extended over the years to embrace many of the same ancillary services provided by web applications. This new TV promises to deliver a world of content and services to "any device, anywhere, anytime." This article addresses the architecture, the value chain and the technical and business challenges of implementing this new connected mobile and social TV experience. To put the architecture into a context, this article also presents a use case of the distributed community Digital Video Recorder (DVR) as an implementation of this vision.

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

iptv
mobile
social
personal
value chain
dvr


CALoR: Context-Aware and Location Reputation model in AmI environments Spatial conditions of observation are considerably important for some services. Existing distance between the requester and provider agents, while interacting, may influence in a significant way the quality of the provided services. In these cases, recommendations and direct evaluation of services have to take into account such distances. The contribution of this paper is the development of a reputation system that takes into account spatial and temporal properties of interactions for ambient intelligence environments. The system was defined as an extension of an already existing Protege ontology for Ambient Intelligence domains: suggested the corresponding equations (inspired in previous works from other authors): validated the proposal with a case of use, we implemented the corresponding behaviors of JADE agents: and executed simulations to show how considering distance may improve reputation accuracy in Ambient Intelligence domains.

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

ubiquitous computing
trust models
autonomous agents


A feature construction approach for genetic iterative rule learning algorithm A method to include feature construction in a fuzzy rule learning algorithm is proposed. The feature construction incorporates relations and functions in the antecedent of fuzzy rules. This procedure allows to increase the amount of information extracted from the initial variables. The proposal NSLV-FR obtains results with a good balance among accuracy, interpretability and time needed to get the model.

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

genetic fuzzy systems
iterative learning approach
classification


scalable cross-module optimization Large applications are typically partitioned into separately compiled modules. Large performance gains in these applications are available by optimizing across module boundaries. One barrier to applying crossmodule optimization (CMO) to large applications is the potentially enormous amount of time and space consumed by the optimization process.We describe a framework for scalable CMO that provides large gains in performance on applications that contain millions of lines of code. Two major techniques are described. First, careful management of in-memory data structures results in sub-linear memory occupancy when compared to the number of lines of code being optimized. Second, profile data is used to focus optimization effort on the performance-critical portions of applications. We also present practical issues that arise in deploying this framework in a production environment. These issues include debuggability and compatibility with existing development tools, such as make . Our framework is deployed in Hewlett-Packard's (HP) UNIX compiler products and speeds up shipped independent software vendors' applications by as much as 71\%.

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

barrier
framework
software
applications
space
code
performance
data structures
module
data
compatibility
practical
management

product
environments
scalability
optimality
memorialized
process
compilation
timing
critic
profiles
developer tools


Waiting time and other first-passage time measures in an (s,S) ( s , S ) inventory system with repeated attempts and finite retrial group In this paper we consider a continuous review inventory system in which unsatisfied demands, due to lack of stock, are sent to a pool and are repeated until being satisfied. The inventory is replenished according to an (s,S) ( s , S ) policy and the replenishment times follow an exponential distribution. We concentrate on performance measures related to the waiting time and first-passage times of the system. More concretely, we study the waiting time of a demand, the time between replenishment orders and the orbit idle time or interval without pending demands. Several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effect of the system parameters on these measures.

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

lead-time
repeated demands
first-passage times


Guerrilla tactics in information dissemination: developing a Web-based resource for NHS managers Information systems play a vital role in the NHS; however, not all are used to the fullness of their capacity. In order to inform the development of the National electronic Library for Health Management, the key elements of a successful, large-scale, corporate, Web-based resource were investigated through semi-structured interviews with colleagues working on intranets in different sectors. The conclusions drawn from these conversations are that the resource requires: creative and yet clear design, coupling attractive layouts, which appeal to the eye, with user-friendly routes into the content; pages containing information which can be found nowhere else; careful planning in the early stages in order to get the technology and scale right for the organisation; and, perhaps most importantly, promotion via some sort of face-to-face, human means, translating the seemingly abstract system on the screen into a useful resource with connections to the work on the desk and the team in the office.

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

knowledge management
information management
national health service


Automatic verification of recursive procedures with one integer parameter Context-free processes (BPA) have been used for dataflow analysis in recursive procedures with applications in optimizing compilers (Proceedings of FOSSaCS'99, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 1578, Springer, Berlin, 1999, pp. 14-30). We introduce a more refined model called BPA(Z) that can model not only recursive dependencies, but also the passing of an integer parameter to a subroutine. Moreover, this parameter can be tested against conditions expressible in Presburger arithmetic. This new and more expressive model can still be analyzed automatically. We define Z-input 1-CM, a new class of 1-counter machines (cm) that take integer numbers as input, to describe sets of configurations of BPA(Z). We show that the Post* (the set of successors) of a set of BPA(Z)-configurations described by a Z-input 1-CM can be effectively constructed. The Pre* (set of predecessors) of a regular set can be effectively constructed as well. However, the Pre* of a set described by a Z-input 1-CM cannot be represented by a Z-input 1-CM, in general, and has an undecidable membership problem. Then we develop a new temporal logic based on reversal-bounded counter machines (i.e. machines which use counters such that the change between increasing and decreasing mode of each counter is bounded (J. Assoc. Comput. Mach. 25 (1978) 116) that can be used to describe properties of BPA(Z) and show that the model-checking problem is decidable. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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


Optimal placement of valves in a water distribution network with CLP(FD) This paper presents a new application of logic programming to a real-life problem in hydraulic engineering. The work is developed as a collaboration of computer scientists and hydraulic engineers, and applies Constraint Logic Programming to solve a hard combinatorial problem. This application deals with one aspect of the design of a water distribution network, i.e., the valve isolation system design. We take the formulation of the problem by Giustolisi and Savic (2008 Optimal design of isolation valve system for water distribution networks. In Proceedings of the 10th Annual Water Distribution Systems Analysis Conference WDSA2008, J. Van Zyl, A. Ilemobade, and H. Jacobs, Eds.) and show how, thanks to constraint propagation, we can get better solutions than the best solution known in the literature for the Apulian distribution network. We believe that the area of the so-called hydroinformatics can benefit from the techniques developed in Constraint Logic Programming and possibly from other areas of logic programming, such as Answer Set Programming.

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

constraint logic programming
hydraulic engineering


Autocorrelation Values of Generalized Cyclotomic Sequences of Order Six Binary sequences with low autocorrelation have important applications in communication systems and cryptography. In this paper, the autocorrelation values of binary Whiteman generalized cyclotomic sequences of order six and period pq are discussed. Our result shows that the autocorrelation of these sequences is four-valued and that the corresponding values are in {-1, 3, -5, pq} if the parameters are chosen carefully.

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


Theoretical analysis for achieving high-order spatial accuracy in Lagrangian/Eulerian source terms In a fully coupled Lagrangian/Eulerian two-phase calculation, the source terms from computational particles must be agglomerated to nearby gas-phase nodes. Existing methods are capable of accomplishing this particle-to-gas coupling with second-order accuracy. However, higher-order methods would be useful for applications such as two-phase direct numerical simulation and large eddy simulation. A theoretical basis is provided for producing high spatial accuracy in particle-to-gas source terms with low computational cost. The present work derives fourth- and sixth-order accurate methods, and the procedure for even higher accuracy is discussed. The theory is also expanded to include two- and three-dimensional calculations. One- and two-dimensional tests are used to demonstrate the convergence of this method and to highlight problems with statistical noise. Finally, the potential for application in computational fluid dynamics codes is discussed. It is concluded that high-order kernels have practical benefits only under limited ranges of statistical and spatial resolution. Additionally, convergence demonstrations with full CFD codes will be extremely difficult due to the worsening of statistical errors with increasing mesh resolution. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

particle methods and lattice-gas methods


Integrating evidence into clinical information systems for nursing decision support To illustrate approaches for providing decision support for evidence-based nursing practice through integration of evidence into clinical information systems (CISs) with examples from our experience at Columbia University Medical Center. Examples are organized according to three types of decision support functions: information management, focusing attention, and patient-specific consultation. Three decision support tools that are integrated into three types of CISs are discussed: (1) infobuttons that provide context-specific access to digital sources of evidence; (2) automated Fall-Injury Risk Assessment; and (3) personal digital assistant-based screening reminders, screening assessments, and tailored documentation templates for the identification and management of obesity, depression, and tobacco cessation. The informatics infrastructure for implementing these decision support tools is described from the perspective of components identified in the published literature. Efforts to facilitate application of evidence into nursing practice are unlikely to be successful unless the approaches used are integrated into the clinical workflow. Our approaches use a variety of informatics methods to integrate evidence into CISs as a mechanism for providing decision support for evidence-based practice in a manner consistent with nursing workflow.

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

informatics
nursing
decision support
clinical information systems


A dynamically coupled neural oscillator network for image segmentation We propose a dynamically coupled neural oscillator network for image segmentation. Instead of pair-wise coupling, an ensemble of oscillators coupled in a local region is used for grouping. We introduce a set of neighborhoods to generate dynamical coupling structures associated with a specific oscillator. Based on the proximity and similarity principles, two grouping rules are proposed to explicitly consider the distinct cases of whether an oscillator is inside a homogeneous image region or near a boundary between different regions. The use of dynamical coupling makes our segmentation network robust to noise on an image, and unlike image processing algorithms no iterative operation is needed for noise removal. For fast computation, a segmentation algorithm is abstracted from the underlying oscillatory dynamics, and has been applied to synthetic and real images. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our oscillator network in image segmentation.

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

neural oscillator network
image segmentation

locally excitatory globally inhibitory oscillator networks


A risk management tool for tackling country-wide contingent disasters: A case study on Madagascar Only publicly available model for natural disaster risk management on the country level. Used and extended based on high-level workshops in more than 22 countries. In-depth example of cyclone risk in Madagascar given.

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

natural catastrophes
economic impacts
financial vulnerability
catastrophe modeling
catsim


On the classification of cyclic Hadamard sequences Binary sequences with two-level periodic autocorrelation correspond directly to cyclic (nu, k, lambda)-designs. When nu = 4t - 1, k = 2t - 1 and lambda = t - 1, for some positive integer t, the sequence (or design) is called a cyclic Hadamard sequence (or design). For all known examples, 0 is either a prime number, a product of twin primes, or one less than a power of 2. Except when nu = 2(k) - 1, all known examples are based on quadratic residues (using the Legendre symbol when v is prime, and the Jacobi symbol when nu = p(p+2) where both p and p + 2 are prime); or sextic residues (when nu is a prime of the form 4a(2) + 27). However, when nu = 2(k) - 1, many constructions are now known, including in-sequences (corresponding to Singer difference sets), quadratic and sextic residue sequences (when 2(k) - 1 is prime), GMW sequences and their generalizations (when k is composite), certain term-by-term sums of three and of five m-sequences and more general sums of trace terms. several constructions based on hyper-ovals in finite geometries (found by Segre, by Glynn, and by Maschietti), and the result of performing the Welch-Gong transformation on some of the foregoing.

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

cyclic hadantard difference sets
cyclic (v,k,lambda) designs
m-sequences
legendre sequences
welch-gong transformation
hyperoval constructions


A Deiminated Viral Peptide to Detect Antibodies in Rheumatoid Arthritis Abstract: The data presented suggest that a deiminated viral peptide is specifically recognized by antibodies contained in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) sera. Antipeptide antibodies are not associated with the presence or severity of specific manifestations of RA, but are more frequent in subjects with erosive arthritis. Taking into account the association with rheumatoid factor and with erosive arthritis, we can conclude that antipeptide antibodies are markers of severe forms of RA. Our data also show familial aggregation of anticitrullinated peptide antibodies.

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

antipeptide antibodies
deiminated viral peptide


Cubic GaN/AlGaN Schottky-barrier devices on 3C-SiC substrates In this work, we focus on the fabrication of cubic GaN based Schottky-barrier devices (SBDs) and measured current voltage (IV) characteristics and the critical field for electronic breakdown. Phase-pure cubic GaN and c-AlxGa1?xN/GaN structures were grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on 200?m thick free-standing 3C-SiC (100) substrates, which were produced by HOYA Advanced Semiconductor Technologies Co., Ltd. The thickness of the c-GaN and c-Al0.3Ga0.7N epilayers were about 600 and 30nm, respectively. Ni/In Schottky contacts 300?m in diameter were produced on c-GaN and c-Al0.3Ga0.7N/GaN structures by thermal evaporation using contact lithography. A clear rectifying behavior was measured in our SBDs and the IV behavior was analyzed in detail, indicating the formation of a thin surface barrier at the NiGaN interface. Annealing of the Ni Schottky contacts in air at 200C reduces the leakage current by three orders of magnitude. The doping density dependence of breakdown voltages derived from the reverse breakdown voltage characteristics of c-GaN SBDs is investigated. The experimental values of breakdown voltage in c-GaN are in good agreement with theoretical values and show the same dependence on doping level as in hexagonal GaN. From our experimental data, we extrapolate a blocking voltage of 600V in c-GaN films with a doping level ND=51015cm?3.

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


A scoring function for learning Bayesian networks based on mutual information and conditional independence tests We propose a new scoring function for learning Bayesian networks from data using score+search algorithms. This is based on the concept of mutual information and exploits some well-known properties of this measure in a novel way. Essentially, a statistical independence test based on the chi-square distribution, associated with the mutual information measure, together with a property of additive decomposition of this measure, are combined in order to measure the degree of interaction between each variable and its parent variables in the network. The result is a non-Bayesian scoring function called MIT (mutual information tests) which belongs to the family of scores based on information theory. The MIT score also represents a penalization of the Kullback-Leibler divergence between the joint probability distributions associated with a candidate network and with the available data set. Detailed results of a complete experimental evaluation of the proposed scoring function and its comparison with the well-known K2, BDeu and BIC/MDL scores are also presented.

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

bayesian networks
learning
mutual information
conditional independence tests


Surrogate relaxation of a fuzzy multidimensional 0-1 knapsack model by surrogate constraint normalization rules and a methodology for multi-attribute project portfolio selection In this paper, a multidimensional 0-1 knapsack model with fuzzy parameters is defuzzified using triangular norm (t-norm) and t-conorm fuzzy relations. In the first part of the paper, the surrogate relaxation models of the defuzzified models are developed, and the use of surrogate constraint normalization rules is proposed as the surrogate multipliers. A methodology is proposed to evaluate some surrogate constraint normalization rules proposed in the literature as well as one rule proposed in this paper. Three distance metrics are used to find the distance of fuzzy objective function from the surrogate models to the distance of fuzzy objective function from the original models. A numerical experiment shows that the rule proposed in this paper dominates the other rules considered in this paper for three distance metrics given the whole assumptions. In the second part of the paper, a methodology is proposed for multi-attribute project portfolio selection, and optimal solutions from the original defuzzified models as well as near-optimal solutions from their surrogate relaxation models are considered as alternatives. The aggregation of evaluation results is managed using a simple yet effective method so-called fuzzy Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method. Then, the methodology is applied to a hypothetical construction project portfolio selection problem with multiple attributes. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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


F-0 Estimation of Speech Using SRH Based on TV-CAR Speech Analysis This paper proposes novel robust speech F-0 estimation using Summation Residual Harmonics (SRH) based on TV-CAR (Time-Varying Complex AR) analysis. The SRH-based F-0 estimation was proposed by A. Alwan, in which the criterion is calculated from LP residual signals. The criterion is summation of residual spectrum value for harmonics. In this paper, we propose SRH-based F-0 estimation based on the TV-CAR analysis, in which the criterion is calculated from the complex AR residual. Since complex AR residual provides higher resolution of spectrum, it can be considered that the criterion is effective for F-0 estimation. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method performs better than conventional methods; weighted auto-correlation and YIN.

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

f-0 estimation
summation residual harmonics (srh)
complex analysis
analytic signal


video agents This project establishes an interactive environment in cyberspace in which users interact with autonomous agents generated from video images of real-world creatures. Each agent has autonomy, personality traits, and behaviors that reflect the results of various interactions, which are determined by an emotional model.

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

autonomous agent
authoring tool
video agent
character animation


Signal propagation in Bayesian networks and its relationship with intrinsically multivariate predictive variables A set of predictor variables is said to be intrinsically multivariate predictive (IMP) for a target variable if all properly contained subsets of the predictor set are poor predictors of the target but the full set predicts the target with great accuracy. In a previous article, the main properties of IMP Boolean variables have been analytically described, including the introduction of the IMP score, a metric based on the coefficient of determination (CoD) as a measure of predictiveness with respect to the target variable. It was shown that the IMP score depends on four main properties: logic of connection, predictive power, covariance between predictors and marginal predictor probabilities (biases). This paper extends that work to a broader context, in an attempt to characterize properties of discrete Bayesian networks that contribute to the presence of variables (network nodes) with high IMP scores. We have found that there is a relationship between the IMP score of a node and its territory size, i.e., its position along a pathway with one source: nodes far from the source display larger IMP scores than those closer to the source, and longer pathways display larger maximum IMP scores. This appears to be a consequence of the fact that nodes with small territory have larger probability of having highly covariate predictors, which leads to smaller IMP scores. In addition, a larger number of XOR and NXOR predictive logic relationships has positive influence over the maximum IMP score found in the pathway. This work presents analytical results based on a simple structure network and an analysis involving random networks constructed by computational simulations. Finally, results from a real Bayesian network application are provided.

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

feature selection
intrinsically multivariate prediction


a graduate curriculum in business-oriented computing The Department of Computer Science at the University of Colorado has recently developed a graduate curriculum in Business-Oriented Computing. The program was developed in recognition of the increasing demand for individuals who are trained in both business methodology and computer science. The 30 semester hour program is designed to produce masters level computer scientists capable of integrating the needs of the business community with the technology of computer science. Prerequisites for the program include a Bachelor's degree in Business (or the equivalent), ten semester hours of computing, and nine semester hours of upper division mathematics. The prerequisite computing courses are: Introduction to Computer Science for Business Majors (CS 202), a four hour course in COBOL programming; Business Data Processing Methods (CS 312), a three hour course in FORTRAN emphasizing business applications; and Assembly Language and System Software (CS 400). The mathematics courses are typically in the areas of statistics, probability theory, mathematical programming, computability, and linear algebra. At the University of Colorado, the programming and mathematics courses can be taken in the undergraduate Computer Based Information Systems option of the Business School curriculum.

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

computer science
program
software
statistics
mathematics
systems
data processing
methodology
recognition
language
linear algebra
theory
probability
business
mathematical programming
curriculum

method
communities
technologies
computation
assemblers
information system


Automatic QSAR modeling of ADME properties: blood-brain barrier penetration and aqueous solubility In this article, we present an automatic model generation process for building QSAR models using Gaussian Processes, a powerful machine learning modeling method. We describe the stages of the process that ensure models are built and validated within a rigorous framework: descriptor calculation, splitting data into training, validation and test sets, descriptor filtering, application of modeling techniques and selection of the best model. We apply this automatic process to data sets of blood-brain barrier penetration and aqueous solubility and compare the resulting automatically generated models with 'manually' built models using external test sets. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the automatic model generation process for two types of data sets commonly encountered in building ADME QSAR models, a small set of in vivo data and a large set of physico-chemical data.

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

automatic model generation process
qsar modeling
adme properties
aqueous solubility
gaussian processes

blood-brain barrier penetration
drug discovery


Enhancing Lagrangian dual optimization for linear programs by obviating nondifferentiability We consider non differentiable optimization problems that arise when solving Lagrangian duals of large-scale linear programs. Different from traditional subgradient-based approaches, we design two new methods that attempt to circumvent or obviate the nondifferentiability of the objective function, so that standard differentiable optimization techniques could be used. These methods, called the perturbation technique and the barrier-Lagrangian reformulation, are implemented as initialization procedures to provide a warm start to a theoretically convergent nondifferentiable optimization algorithm. Our computational study reveals that this two-phase strategy produces much better solutions with less computation in comparison with both the stand-alone nondifferentiable optimization procedure employed, and the popular Held-Wolfe-Crowder subgradient heuristic. Furthermore, the best version of this composite algorithm is shown to consume only about 3.19% of the CPU time required by the commercial linear programming solver CPLEX 8.1 (using the dual simplex option) to produce the same quality solutions. We also demonstrate that this initialization technique greatly facilitates quick convergence in the primal space when used as a warm start for ergodic-type primal recovery schemes.

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

nondifferentiable optimization
lagrangian dual
perturbation technique

lagrangian relaxation
barrier-lagrangian reformulation


Cooperative method development The development of methods tools and process improvements is best to be based on the understanding of the development practice to be supported. Qualitative research has been proposed as a method for understanding the social and cooperative aspects of software development. However, qualitative research is not easily combined with the improvement orientation of an engineering discipline. During the last 6years, we have applied an approach we call cooperative method development, which combines qualitative social science fieldwork, with problem-oriented method, technique and process improvement. The action research based approach focusing on shop floor software development practices allows an understanding of how contextual contingencies influence the deployment and applicability of methods, processes and techniques. This article summarizes the experiences and discusses the further development of this approach based on several research projects in cooperation with industrial partners.

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

d.2.9 [software]: software engineering management


Face segmentation and tracking based on connected operators and partition projection A new technique for segmenting and tracking human faces in video sequences is presented, The algorithm relies on the concepts of connected operators and partition projection to tackle the problems of face segmentation and tracking, respectively. It uses a connected operator to extract the connected component that more likely belongs to a face. Such a connected operator is implemented by means of a Binary Partition Tree. A set of connected regions (a node in the tree) is selected maximizing the estimation of the likelihood of being part of a face. This way, a first estimate of the face is obtained. Final race segmentation is carried out by a face extraction step that applies the previous maximization in the partition space. Faces are tracked through the sequence based on the partition projection approach, Partition projection accommodates the partition or the previous image into the information of the current frame. The current image is classified into face, no face and uncertain regions by projecting the previous face partition. Therefore, the projection yields the first estimate of the face. The face core component is grown up to obtain the final face segmentation using the previous face extraction process. The technique has been successfully assessed using several test sequences in raw format (MPEG-4 database) as well as in MPEG-I format (from the MPEG-7 database). (C) 2001 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

face segmentation
connected operators
partition projection


Multiple testing methods for ChIP-chip high density oligonucleotide array data Cawley et al. (2004) have recently mapped the locations of binding sites for three transcription factors along human chromosomes 21 and 22 using ChIP-Chip experiments. ChIP-Chip experiments are a new approach to the genomewide identification of transcription factor binding sites and consist of chromatin (Ch) immunoprecipitation JP) of transcription factor-bound genomic DNA followed by high density oligonucleotide hybridization (Chip) of the IP-enriched DNA. We investigate the ChIP-Chip data structure and propose methods for inferring the location of transcription factor binding sites from these data. The proposed methods involve testing for each probe whether it is part of a bound sequence using a scan statistic that takes into account the spatial structure of the data. Different multiple testing procedures are considered for controlling the familywise error rate and false discovery rate. A nested-Bonferroni adjustment, which is more powerful than the traditional Bonferroni adjustment when the test statistics are dependent, is discussed. Simulation studies show that taking into account the spatial structure of the data substantially improves the sensitivity of the multiple testing procedures. Application of the proposed methods to ChIP-Chip data for transcription factor p53 identified many potential target binding regions along human chromosomes 21 and 22. Among these identified regions, 18% fall within a 3 kb vicinity of the 5'UTR of a known gene or CpG island and 31 % fall between the codon start site and the codon end site of a known gene but not inside an exon. More than half of these potential target sequences contain the p53 consensus binding site or very close matches to it. Moreover, these target segments include the 13 experimentally verified p53 binding regions of Cawley et al. (2004), as well as 49 additional regions that show higher hybridization signal than these 13 experimentally verified regions.

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

transcription factor
p53
multiple testing
scan statistic
familywise error rate
false discovery rate

tail probability of the proportion of false positives


Temporally asymmetric Hebbian learning and neuronal response variability Recent experimental data have characterized a form of long-term synaptic modification that depends on the relative timing of pre- and post-synaptic action potentials. Modeling studies indicate that this rule can automatically adjust excitatory synaptic strengths so that the post-synaptic neuron receives roughly equal amount of excitation and inhibition and as a consequence fires irregular spike trains as observed in vivo. This rule also induces competition between different inputs and strengthens groups of synapes that are correlated over short time periods.

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

hebbian learning
variability
competition


On smoothing three-dimensional Monte Carlo ion implantation simulation results An algorithm for smoothing results of three-dimensional (3-D) Monte Carlo ion implantation simulations and translating them from the grid used for the Monte Carlo simulation to an arbitrary unstructured 3-D grid is presented. This algorithm is important for joining various process simulation steps, where data have to be smoothed or transferred from one grid to another. Furthermore, it is important for integrating the ion implantation simulator into a process flow. One reason for using different grids is that for certain Monte Carlo simulation methods, using orthogrids is mandatory because of performance reasons. The algorithm presented sweeps a small rectangular grid over the points of the new tetrahedral grid and uses approximation by generalized Bernstein polynomials. This approach was put on a mathematically sound basis by proving several properties of these polynomials. It does not suffer from the adverse effects of least squares fits of polynomials of fixed degree as known from the response surface method. The most important properties of Bernstein polynomials generalized to cuboid domains are presented, including uniform convergence, an asymptotic formula, and the variation diminishing property. The smoothing algorithm which works very fast is described and, in order to show its applicability, the resulting values of a 3-D real world implantation example are given and compared with those of a least squares fit of a multivariate polynomial of degree two, which yielded, unusable results.

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

approximation methods
integrated circuit ion implantation
monte carlo methods


Exchange Model and Exchange Object Concepts for Implementation of National BIM Standards The industry foundation class (IFC) standard building model schema is a necessary but not sufficient condition for achieving full interoperability between building information modeling (BIM) tools. Unless each information exchange within construction project workflows has its specific contents and level of detail defined, the breadth and flexibility of the IFC schema leaves room for errors. The national BIM standard approach for resolving the ambiguities of information exchange is based on "use cases," which precisely define the data required in each information exchange between disciplines in engineering workflows. In this paper, we define specific procedures for developing information delivery manuals (IDM), which capture the use cases and the precise information to be exchanged. We also identify some of the data semantics we found problematic that require workflow specification. We further propose details of the information capture that allow the IDM to serve as a specification for later implementation and testing. The procedures are illustrated using examples from an IDM specification developed for the domain of architectural precast concrete.

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

data communication
information technology (it)
standardization
three-dimensional models


Non-intrusive single-ended speech quality assessment in VoIP Evaluating speech quality in voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) in a non-intrusive manner is challenging, because it relies on a degraded speech signal only. In this paper, a parametric, non-intrusive VoIP speech quality assessment algorithm is proposed, which adopts a three-step strategy, impairment detection, individual effect modeling and an overall model. Mainly based on voice payload analysis, the algorithm also combines Internet protocol analysis approach and the ITU-T E-model. It quantifies the individual contributions to speech quality from several major VoIP impairments, including packet loss, temporal clipping and noise. Also, an overall assessment model is developed. The performance is evaluated through intensive simulations, and the results show that the algorithm is effective and accurate. For the overall model, the correlation between prediction and measurement is 0.90; the root mean square error (RMSE) is 0.27 mean opinion score (MOS). The algorithm aims to be implemented at the receive-end media gateway or IP terminal, for identifying the root causes of speech quality degradation as well as quality assessment in VoIP.

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

speech quality
voice over internet protocol

quality prediction model
non-intrusive model
objective method


optimal constant-time approximation algorithms and (unconditional) inapproximability results for every bounded-degree csp Raghavendra (STOC 2008) gave an elegant and surprising result: if Khot's Unique Games Conjecture (STOC 2002) is true, then for every constraint satisfaction problem (CSP), the best approximation ratio is attained by a certain simple semidefinite programming and a rounding scheme for it. In this paper, we show that similar results hold for constant-time approximation algorithms in the bounded-degree model. Specifically, we present the following: (i) For every CSP, we construct an oracle that serves an access, in constant time, to a nearly optimal solution to a basic LP relaxation of the CSP. (ii) Using the oracle, we give a constant-time rounding scheme that achieves an approximation ratio coincident with the integrality gap of the basic LP. (iii) Finally, we give a generic conversion from integrality gaps of basic LPs to hardness results. All of those results are unconditional. Therefore, for every bounded-degree CSP, we give the best constant-time approximation algorithm among all. A CSP instance is called ?-far from satisfiability if we must remove at least an ?-fraction of constraints to make it satisfiable. A CSP is called testable if there is a constant-time algorithm that distinguishes satisfiable instances from ?-far instances with probability at least 2/3 . Using the results above, we also derive, under a technical assumption, an equivalent condition under which a CSP is testable in the bounded-degree model.

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

rounding schemes
linear programmings
constant-time approximation
constraint satisfaction problems
property testing


Palmprint classification using principal lines This paper proposes a novel algorithm for the automatic classification of low-resolution palmprints. First the principal lines of the palm are defined using their position and thickness. Then a set of directional line detectors is devised. After that we use these directional line detectors to extract the principal lines in terms of their characteristics and their definitions in two steps: the potential beginnings (line initials) of the principal lines are extracted and then, based on these line initials, a recursive process is applied to extract the principal lines in their entirety. Finally palmprints are classified into six categories according to the number of the principal lines and the number of their intersections. The proportions of these six categories (16) in our database containing 13,800 samples are 0.36%, 1.23%, 2.83%, 11.81%, 78.12% and 5.65%, respectively. The proposed algorithm has been shown to classify palmprints with an accuracy of 96.03%.

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

palmprint classification
principal lines

biometrics
life line
head line
heart line


General Randi? matrix and general Randi? incidence matrix ? Let G G be a connected graph with vertex set V(G)={v1,,vn} V ( G ) = { v 1 , , v n } and edge set E(G)={e1,,em} E ( G ) = { e 1 , , e m } . Let di d i be the degree of the vertex vi v i . The general Randi? matrix R ? = ( ( R ? ) i j ) n n of G G is defined by ( R ? ) i j = ( d i d j ) ? if vertices vi v i and vj v j are adjacent in G G and 0 otherwise. The Randi? signless Laplacian matrix Q ? = D 2 ? + 1 + R ? , where ? ? is a nonzero real number and D D is the degree diagonal matrix of G G . The general Randi? energy RE? R E ? is the sum of absolute values of the eigenvalues of R ? . The general Randi? incidence matrix BR?=((BR?)ij)nm B R ? = ( ( B R ? ) i j ) n m of a graph G G is defined by ( B R ? ) i j = d i ? if vi v i is incident to ej e j and 0 otherwise. Naturally, the general Randi? incidence energy BE? B E ? is the sum of the singular values of BR? B R ? . In this paper, we investigate the connected graphs with s s distinct R ? -eigenvalues, where 2?s?n 2 ? s ? n . Moreover, we establish the relation between the Randi? signless Laplacian eigenvalues of G G and the general Randi? energy of its subdivided graph S(G) S ( G ) . Also we give lower and upper bounds on the general Randi? incidence energy. Finally, the general Randi? incidence energy of a graph and that of its subgraphs are compared.

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

general randi? matrix
general randi? energy
general randi? incidence matrix
general randi? incidence energy


Solving two-stage hybrid flow shop using climbing depth-bounded discrepancy search This paper investigates how to adapt a discrepancy-based search method to solve two-stage hybrid flowshop scheduling problems in which each stage consists of several identical machines operating in parallel. The objective is to determine a schedule that minimizes the makespan. We present an adaptation of the Climbing Depth-bounded Discrepancy Search (CDDS) method based on Johnson's rule and on dedicated lower bounds for the two-stage hybrid flow shop problem. We report the results of extensive computational experiments, which show that the proposed adaptation of the CDDS method solves instances in restrained CPU time and with high quality of makespan. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

two-stage hybrid flow shop
discrepancy search methods
heuristics


Algorithms for clique-independent sets on subclasses of circular-arc graphs A circular-arc graph is the intersection graph of arcs on a circle. A Helly circular-arc graph is a circular-arc graph admitting a model whose arcs satisfy the Helly property. A clique-independent set of a graph is a set of pairwise disjoint cliques of the graph. It is NP-hard to compute the maximum cardinality of a clique-independent set for a general graph. In the present paper, we propose polynomial time algorithms for finding the maximum cardinality and weight of a clique-independent set of a 3 K 2 -free CA graph. Also, we apply the algorithms to the special case of an HCA graph. The complexity of the proposed algorithm for the cardinality problem in HCA graphs is O(n) O ( n ) . This represents an improvement over the existing algorithm by Guruswami and Pandu Rangan, whose complexity is O(n2) O ( n 2 ) . These algorithms suppose that an HCA model of the graph is given.

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 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 B O O O O O O O O O O

circular-arc graphs
clique-independent sets
helly circular-arc graphs


An objective comparison of the cost effectiveness of three testing methods Branch testing is a well established method for exercising software. JJ-path testing, whilst employed by some practitioners, is less popular, and the testing of JJ-pairs finds few adherents. In this paper an objective, practical study of the cost-effectiveness of these three testing methods is reported. The effectiveness of each method is assessed, in the presence of infeasible paths, not only on its ability to cover the specific structural element of code that it targets, but also on its ability to cover the structural elements targeted by the other two methods the collateral coverage it achieves. The assessment is based on the results derived from experiments in which each of the three methods is applied to 35 units of program code.

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

jj-path testing
jj-pair testing
white box testing
cost-effectiveness
structural testing


Workflows for quantitative data analysis in the social sciences The background is given as to how statistical analysis is used by quantitative social scientists. Developing statistical analyses requires substantial effort, yet there are important limitations in current practice. This has motivated the authors to create a more systematic and effective methodology with supporting tools. The approach to modelling quantitative data analysis in the social sciences is presented. Analysis scripts are treated abstractly as mathematical functions and concretely as web services. This allows individual scripts to be combined into high-level workflows. A comprehensive set of tools allows workflows to be defined, automatically validated and verified, and automatically implemented. The workflows expose opportunities for parallel execution, can define support for proper fault handling, and can be realised by non-technical users. Services, workflows and datasets can also be readily shared. The approach is illustrated with a realistic case study that analyses occupational position in relation to health.

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

quantitative data analysis
statistical analysis

e-social science
scientific workflow
service-oriented architecture


Distributed computing using Java: A comparison of two server designs This paper proposes a new concurrent data structure, called parallel hash table, for synchronizing the access of multiple threads to resources stored in a shared buffer. We prove theoretically the complexity of the operations and the upper limit on the thread conflict probability of the parallel hash table. To empirically evaluate the proposed concurrent data structure, we compare the performance of a TCP multi-threaded parallel hash table-based server to a conventional TCP multi-threaded shared buffer-based server implemented in Java. The experimental results on a network of 36 workstations running Windows NT, demonstrate that the parallel hash table-based server outperforms the conventional multi-threaded server.

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

networking
clientserver
concurrent programming


Global exponential stability of delayed Hopfield neural networks In this paper, we discuss delayed Hopfield neural networks, investigating their global exponential stability. Sufficient conditions ensuring global exponential stability of delayed Hopfield neural networks are given.

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


A non-topological view of dcpos as convergence spaces The category TOP of topological spaces is not cartesian closed, but can be embedded into the cartesian closed category CONV of convergence spaces, It is well known that the category DCPO of dcpos and Scott continuous functions can be embedded into TOP, and so into CONV, by considering the Scott topology. We propose a different, "cotopological" embedding of DCPO into CONV, which, in contrast to the topological embedding, preserves products. If X is a cotopological dcpo, i.e. a dcpo with the cotopological CONV-structure, and Y is a topological space, then [X --> Y] is again topological, and conversely, if X is a topological space, and Y a cotopological complete lattice, then [X --> Y] is again a cotopological complete lattice. For a dcpo D, the topological and the cotopological convergence structures coincide if and only if D is a continuous dcpo. Moreover, cotopological dcpos still enjoy some of the properties which characterise continuous dcpos. For instance, all cotopological complete lattices are injective spaces (in CONV) w.r.t. topological subspace embeddings. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

domains
topology convergence spaces
function spaces


Exponential stability of uncertain stochastic fuzzy BAM neural networks with time-varying delays Among the various fuzzy models, the well-known TakagiSugeno (TS) fuzzy model is recognized as a popular and powerful tool in approximating a complex nonlinear system. TS model provides a fixed structure to some nonlinear systems and facilitates the analysis of the system. This paper concerns with the global exponential stability of uncertain stochastic bidirectional associative memory (BAM) neural networks with time-varying delays which are represented by the TS fuzzy models. The stability conditions are derived using LyapunovKrasovskii approach, in combination with the linear matrix inequality (LMI) techniques. Finally, numerical examples are given to demonstrate the correctness of the theoretical results.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 Source Coding Using Abelian Group Codes: A New Achievable Rate-Distortion Region A distributed source coding problem with a joint distortion criterion that depends on the sources and the reconstruction is considered in this work. While the prevalent trend in information theory has been to prove achievability results using Shannon's random coding arguments, using structured random codes offer rate gains over unstructured random codes for many problems. Motivated by this, a new achievable rate-distortion region (an inner bound to the performance limit) is presented for this problem for discrete memoryless sources based on "good" structured random nested codes built over abelian groups. For certain sources and distortion functions, the new rate region is shown to be strictly bigger than the Berger-Tung rate region, which has been the best known achievable rate region for this problem till now. This is done using numerical plots. Achievable rates for single-user source coding using abelian group codes are also obtained as a corollary of the main coding theorem. It is shown that nested linear codes achieve the Shannon rate-distortion function in the arbitrary discrete memoryless case.

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

distributed source coding
nested linear codes
group codes
abelian groups


Edge detection by scale multiplication in wavelet domain This paper proposes a wavelet based edge detection scheme by scale multiplication. The dyadic wavelet transforms at two adjacent scales are multiplied as a product function to magnify the edge structures and suppress the noise. Unlike many multiscale techniques that first form the edge maps at several scales and then synthesize them together, we determined the edges as the local maxima directly in the scale product after an efficient thrsholding. It is shown that the scale multiplication achieves better results than either of the two scales, especially on the localization performance. The dislocation of neighboring edges is also improved when the width of detection filter is set large to smooth noise. Experiments on natural images are compared with the Laplacian of Gaussian and Canny edge detection algorithms.

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

edge detection
scale multiplication
wavelet transforms


A mathematical analysis of SELEX ? Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) is a procedure by which a mixture of nucleic acids that vary in sequence can be separated into pure components with the goal of isolating those with specific biochemical activities. The basic idea is to combine the mixture with a specific target molecule and then separate the targetNA complex from the resulting reaction. The targetNA complex is then separated by mechanical means (for example by filtration), the NA is then eluted from the complex, amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the process repeated. After several rounds, one should be left with a pool of [NA] that consists mostly of the species in the original pool that best binds to the target. In Irvine et al. [Irvine, D., Tuerk, C., Gold, L., 1991. SELEXION, systematic evolution of nucleic acids by exponential enrichment with integrated optimization by non-linear analysis. J. Mol. Biol. 222, 739761] a mathematical analysis of this process was given. In this paper we revisit Irvine et al. [Ibid]. By rewriting the equations for the SELEX process, we considerably reduce the labor of computing the round to round distribution of nucleic acid fractions. We also establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the SELEX process to converge to a pool consisting solely of the best binding nucleic acid to a fixed target in a manner that maximizes the percentage of bound target. The assumption is that there is a single nucleic acid binding site on the target that permits occupation by not more than one nucleic acid. We analyze the case for which there is no background loss (no support losses and no free [NA] left on the support). We then examine the case in which such there are such losses. The significance of the analysis is that it suggests an experimental approach for the SELEX process as defined in Irvine et al. [Ibid] to converge to a pool consisting of a single best binding nucleic acid without recourse to any a priori information about the nature of the binding constants or the distribution of the individual nucleic acid fragments.

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


Coordination of wavelength and time-window assignment in WDM-based TDM hybrid-PONs In passive optical networks (PONs), the low effectiveness in terms of service utilization and network evolution have been important design issues. In this article, we introduce a hybrid access network architecture, so called scalable WDM-based Ethernet hybrid-PON (SWE-PON), which features a wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) feeder network using a combination of tunable laser device (TLD) and cyclic arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) and time-division-multiplexed (TDM) distribution network based on a reflective transmission mode. Necessary conditions needed to guarantee flawless packet transmission through normal WDM/TDM hierarchical PONs including the SWE-PON, are analyzed. We also propose a hierarchical fair time-window allocation mechanism which coordinates wavelength assignment and time-window bandwidth allocation so that high link utilization and fair bandwidth allocation are guaranteed in every multiplexing level.

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

seamless services
time-window allocation
wdm-based tdm hybrid-pons


Multi-layer topology control for long-term wireless sensor networks Due to the inefficiency of a flat topology, most wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have a cluster or tree structure; but this causes an imbalance of residual energy between nodes, which gets worse over time as nodes become defunct and replacements are inserted. Multiple layers are better then the typical two-layer cluster-based topology, because it can better accommodate nodes with different levels of residual energy. We propose that each node should periodically determine its own layer, as its situation and the network topology changes. We introduce a topology control scheme for long-term WSNs with these features. Simulations show that this scheme can balance node energy levels, and thus extend network lifetime.

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

hierarchical topology
wireless sensor network
energy adaptive routing
long-term wsn


Elements of the Fibrinolytic System The blood fibrinolytic system comprises an inactive proenzyme, plasminogen, that can be converted to the active enzyme, plasmin. Plasmin degrades fibrin into soluble fibrin degradation products, by two physiological plasminogen activators (PA), the tissue type PA (t-PA) and the urokinase type PA (u-PA). t-PA mediated plasminogen activation is mainly involved in the dissolution of fibrin in the circulation. u-PA binds to a specific cellular receptor (u-PAR), resulting in enhanced activation of cell bound plasminogen. Inhibition of the fibrinolytic system may occur either at the level of the PA, by specific plasminogen activator inhibitors (PAI), or at the level of plasmin, mainly by ?2-antiplasmin. Several molecular interactions have been observed between the fibrinolytic and the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) system; both systems may cooperate in generating proteolytic activity. Thus, stromelysin-1 (MMP-3) cleaves a 55-kDa kringle 14 fragment, containing the lysine binding site(s) involved in cellular binding, from plasminogen and removes a 17-kDa NH2-terminal fragment, containing the cellular receptor binding site, from urokinase (u-PA). Thereby, MMP-3 may downregulate cell associated plasmin activity by decreasing the amount of activatible plasminogen, without affecting cell bound u-PA activity.

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

blood fibrinolytic system
plasminogen activators


Quadratic-mean pseudo almost periodic solutions to some stochastic differential equations in a Hilbert space This paper introduces the concept of quadratic-mean pseudo almost periodicity and gives some fundamental properties. In particular, it establishes a composition theorem of this kind of functions. As an application, and by virtue of the theory of the semi-groups of the operators, the Banach fixed point theorem and the stochastic analysis techniques, this paper investigates the existence of the quadratic-mean pseudo almost periodic solutions for a general class of delayed stochastic evolution equations in a Hilbert space.

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


Risk transmission assessment of electricity price chain in China based on ISM and ECM Electricity price is influenced by a number of factors. The power pricing mechanism currently in place in China does not reflect the scientific relationship between the price and those factors, so that a rational assessment of the electricity price chain is a major problem for China. This paper will argue from a system point of view that a comprehensive electricity price risk assessment model can be established which is based the Interpretative Structural Modelling (ISM) and Error Correction Modelling (ECM). The factors which influence the chain of electricity price were first analysed from an ISM perspective, after which the layered structure diagram and transmission chain of risk factors to power sale price (PSP) were constructed and sorted. The influences of various risk factors were quantified based on the inputoutput method and ECM, while the sequence and the comprehensive influence coefficients of various factors known to affect PSP were calculated. Based on analysis of the case study, the power generation sector and the fluctuations of alternative energy prices are seen to have greater influences on PSP as compared to other risk chains, while coal price is the most direct and critical risk factor, with a comprehensive influence coefficient of 0.37. Avoiding electricity price risk can be achieved by first improving the mechanism of the coalelectricity price linkage. This model describes a new way to assess electricity price risk, which in turn can provide a decision basis for electricity price management and risk prevention in developing countries.

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

electricity price
ism
ecm
risk transmission assessment


Optimal Forwarding and Beaconing Control of Epidemic Routing in Delay Tolerant Networks Routing algorithms in Delay Tolerant Networks (DTN) need nodes to forward the message to others based on the opportunistic contact. The contact depends on the beaconing rate of nodes, and bigger beaconing rate can bring more contacts. However, this needs more energy. In addition, bigger forwarding rate can make the message be transmitted much faster, but this also needs more energy. Therefore, how to control the forwarding and beaconing rates efficiently to get a trade-off between the expenditure (e.g., energy consumption) and efficiency is very important. This paper proposes a theoretical model to evaluate the performance of the epidemic routing (ER) algorithm under different forwarding and beaconing rates, and then formulates a joint optimization problem. Through Pontryagin's Maximum Principle, this paper obtains the optimal policy and proves that both the optimal forwarding and beaconing rates conform to the threshold form in certain cases. Simulations show the accuracy of the theoretical model. Extensive numerical results show that the optimal policy obtained in this paper is the best among all the policies in the numerical results.

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

delay tolerant networks
epidemic routing

optimal control
pontryagin's maximum principle


Explanation of two non-blocking shared-variable communication algorithms Simpson and Harris have described multi-slot algorithms implementing a single-place buffer, each operating without explicit hardware synchronisation mechanisms. Conventional refinement and proof techniques have explained that these algorithms work, but do not give convincing descriptions of how they work. An unconventional refinement process starting from the classic single-variable buffer, using both data and atomicity refinement and drawing information from unsuccessful steps, derives each algorithm. The logic used is RGSep, a marriage of rely/guarantee and concurrent separation logic. Extensive detailed verifications are described. The result is an explanation of how the algorithms work and some pointers to how such algorithms might be devised.

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

separation logic
proof
refinement
atomicity


A hybrid neural network model in handwritten word recognition A hybrid neural network model is developed and applied to handwritten word recognition. The word recognition system requires a module that assigns character class confidence values to segments of images of handwritten words. The module must accurately represent ambiguities between character classes and assign low confidence values to a wide variety of non-character segments resulting from erroneous segmentations. The proposed hybrid neural model is a cascaded system. The first stage is a self-organizing feature map algorithm (SOFM). The second stage maps distances into allograph membership values using a gradient descent learning algorithm. The third stage is a multi-layer feedforward network (MLFN). The new system performs better than the baseline system. Experiments were performed on a standard test set from the SUNY/USPS Database.

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

hybrid model
self-organizing feature map
handwriting recognition
unsupervised clustering


A new caching technique to support conjunctive queries in P2P DHT P2P DHT (Peer-to-Peer Distributed Hash Table) is one of typical techniques for realizing an efficient management of shared resources distributed over a network and a keyword search over such networks in a fully distributed manner. In this paper, we propose a new method for supporting conjunctive queries in P2P DHT. The basic idea of the proposed technique is to share a global information on past trials by conducting a local caching of search results for conjunctive queries and by registering the fact to the global DHT. Such a result caching is expected to significantly reduce the amount of transmitted data compared with conventional schemes. The effect of the proposed method is experimentally evaluated by simulation. The result of experiments indicates that by using the proposed method, the amount of returned data is reduced by 60% compared with conventional P2P DHT which does not support conjunctive queries.

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


a rate selection algorithm for quantized undithered dynamic supply voltage scaling (poster session) In this paper we propose a novel rate calculation algorithm called Quantized Rate Selection (QRS) for quantized undithered dynamic supply voltage scaling (DSVS) systems. The algorithm monitors the total buffered workload, and where possible selects a rate value equal to a quantized rate value. At quantized rate values, energy dissipation of quantized DSVS systems approaches continuous voltage level DSVS systems. Our experimental work on FMIDCT computation using nine video sequences and a 4-level quantized undithered system shows that additional energy savings of 1.4\% to 18.5\% can be achieved from QRS , compared to the existing averaging technique.

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

averaging value video systems values workload dynamic computation energy algorithm paper

select
experimentation
dynamic supply voltage scaling
voltage-scaling
monitor
continuation
sequence
quantization and dithering
energy saving


Economic, environmental and mixed objective functions in non-linear process optimization using simulated annealing and tabu search Screening of topologies developed by hierarchical heuristic procedures can be carried out by comparing their optimal performance. In this work we will be exploiting mono-objective process optimization using two algorithms, simulated annealing and tabu search, and four different objective functions: two of the net present value type, one of them including environmental costs and two of the global potential impact type. The hydrodealkylation of toluene to produce benzene was used as case study, considering five topologies with different complexities mainly obtained by including or not liquid recycling and heat integration. The performance of the algorithms together with the objective functions was observed, analyzed and discussed from various perspectives: average deviation of results for each algorithm, capacity for producing high purity product, screening of topologies, objective functions robustness in screening of topologies, trade-offs between economic and environmental type objective functions and variability of optimum solutions. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

economic objective function
environmental objective function


Tuning cost and performance in multi-biometric systems: A novel and consistent view of fusion strategies based on the Sequential Probability Ratio Test (SPRT) In this paper we propose a novel sequential score fusion strategy for multi-biometric systems. The strategys aim is to reduce the cost of a multi-biometric system by dynamically fusing the optimal number of systems required to take the final decision. This way we optimise at the same time cost and performance in the system. The novelty of this paper lies in the automatic tuning of the decision parameters (thresholds) at a desired level of performance by revisiting the Sequential Probability Ratio Test (SPRT).

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

fusion
sequential probability ratio test

multi-biometrics
sequential strategy
cost optimization


Implementation of a hybrid particle code with a PIC description in rz and a gridless description in ? into OSIRIS For many plasma physics problems, three-dimensional and kinetic effects are very important. However, such simulations are very computationally intensive. Fortunately, there is a class of problems for which there is nearly azimuthal symmetry and the dominant three-dimensional physics is captured by the inclusion of only a few azimuthal harmonics. Recently, it was proposed [1] to model one such problem, laser wakefield acceleration, by expanding the fields and currents in azimuthal harmonics and truncating the expansion. The complex amplitudes of the fundamental and first harmonic for the fields were solved on an rz grid and a procedure for calculating the complex current amplitudes for each particle based on its motion in Cartesian geometry was presented using a Marder's correction to maintain the validity of Gauss's law. In this paper, we describe an implementation of this algorithm into OSIRIS using a rigorous charge conserving current deposition method to maintain the validity of Gauss's law. We show that this algorithm is a hybrid method which uses a particles-in-cell description in rz and a gridless description in ?. We include the ability to keep an arbitrary number of harmonics and higher order particle shapes. Examples for laser wakefield acceleration, plasma wakefield acceleration, and beam loading are also presented and directions for future work are discussed.

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


AN EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM OF THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING USING THE DATABASE ON PERSONAL-COMPUTER The present paper describes a educational system in the information processing using the relational database. The target in this system is the construction of a self-teaching system of the way to handle coding errors. Personal data and the information to correct coding errors are managed in the system. The attempt is discussed in which beginners efficiently learn programming skills up to eliminating translation errors by correcting errors using the system. Using the relational database has the validity in the usability for beginners and the facilitation of the security protection on personal information.

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

educational system
information processing
relational database


evaluating the effectiveness of spatial memory in 2d and 3d physical and virtual environments User interfaces can improve task performance by exploiting the powerful human capabilities for spatial cognition. This opportunity has been demonstrated by many prior experiments. It is tempting to believe that providing greater spatial flexibility-by moving from flat 2D to 3D user interfaces-will further enhance user performance. This paper describes an experiment that investigates the effectiveness of spatial memory in real-world physical models and in equivalent computer-based virtual systems. The different models vary the user's freedom to use depth and perspective in spatial arrangements of images representing web pages. Results show that the subjects' performance deteriorated in both the physical and virtual systems as their freedom to locate items in the third dimension increased. Subjective measures reinforce the performance measures, indicating that users found interfaces with higher dimensions more 'cluttered' and less efficient

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

task use performance human interfaces paper user spatial capabilities systems users 3d physical

measurement
efficiency
information visualization
document management
computation
flexibility
experience
imaging
physical model
model
3d user interfaces
spatial memory
web page
performance measurement
virtual environment
arrangement
user interface
spatial cognition
virtualization
effect


Selfish routing in public services A connection is made between public service choice and routing games. Theoretical results are obtained as to the effect of demand and worth of service. In general a public service system should expect a high price of anarchy. The above ideas are demonstrated with a large scale real world case study.

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

game theory
queueing theory
health care
or in health services