Parallel solution of the obstacle problem in Grid environments The present study deals with the solution of the obstacle problem defined in a three-dimensional domain. In order to solve a large-scale obstacle problem, the use of parallelism is necessary. In this work we present a parallel synchronous iterative algorithm to solve this problem and its asynchronous version. For the considered problem, the convergence of parallel synchronous and asynchronous algorithms is analysed in a general framework. Finally, computational experiments on GRID'5000, the French national grid, are presented and analysed. They allow us to compare both synchronous and asynchronous versions with local and distributed clusters.

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

asynchronous iterations
grid computing
parallel iterative algorithms
richardson method


A two-stage approach for surgery scheduling A scheduling theory model is applied to study surgery scheduling in hospitals. If a surgical patient is regarded as a job waiting to be processed, and the related surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and surgical equipment as machines that are simultaneously needed for the processing of job, then the surgery scheduling can be described as a parallel machines scheduling problem in which a job is processed by multiple machines simultaneously. We adopt the two-stage approach to solve this scheduling problem and develop a computerized surgery scheduling system to handle such a task. This system was implemented in the Shanghai First Peoples Hospital and increased the quantity of average monthly finished operations by 10.33%, the utilization rate of expensive equipment by 9.66% and the patient satisfaction degree by 1.12%, and decreased the average length of time that patients wait for surgery by 0.46 day.

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

operations research
traditional surgery scheduling
surgical resource utilization
integer programming
resource weight


Object browsing using the Internet Imaging Protocol This paper builds on the results from the Viseum project where we built an image server/client system to allow browsing of very large images. In the follow-on European ACOHIR project we built systems capable of acquiring colour-calibrated high-resolution views of objects from many positions. A Java viewer allows the user to closely examine objects in a similar way to Quicktime VR but with much higher resolution. The Internet Imaging Protocol is used to allow the viewer to request 6464 pel tiles on demand to allow fast browsing of the objects in a Web browser. The original image data occupy typically around 200 MBytes yet we can provide almost instantaneous views with zooming and acceptable performance across the Internet or a modem. The approach taken in the Java viewer is modular and easily customised using JavaScript. Caching at both the server and client provide improved performance. This paper shows how the techniques developed for large images have been applied and modified to handle high-resolution object views.

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

java
javascript
internet imaging protocol


Influences of variable scales and activation functions on the performances of multilayer feedforward neural networks This paper gives insight into the methods about how to improve the learning capabilities of multilayer feedforward neural networks with linear basis functions in the case of limited number of patterns according to the basic principles of support vector machine (SVM), namely, about how to get the optimal separating hyperplanes. And furthermore, this paper analyses the characteristics of sigmoid-type activation functions, and investigates the influences of absolute sizes of variables on the convergence rate, classification ability and non-linear fitting accuracy of multilayer feedforward networks, and presents the way of how to select suitable activation functions. As a result, this proposed method effectively enhances the learning abilities of multilayer feedforward neural networks by introducing the sum-of-squares weight term into the networks error functions and appropriately enlarging the variable components with the help of the SVM theory. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through three classification examples as well as a non-linear mapping one.

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

neural networks
support vector machine
variable scales
activation functions


volume subdivision based hexahedral finite element meshing of domains with interior 2-manifold boundaries We present a subdivision based algorithm for multi-resolution Hexahedral meshing. The input is a bounding rectilinear domain with a set of embedded 2-manifold boundaries of arbitrary genus and topology. The algorithm first constructs a simplified Voronoi structure to partition the object into individual components that can be then meshed separately. We create a coarse hexahedral mesh for each Voronoi cell giving us an initial hexahedral scaffold. Recursive hexahedral subdivision of this hexahedral scaffold yields adaptive meshes. Splitting and Smoothing the boundary cells makes the mesh conform to the input 2-manifolds. Our choice of smoothing rules makes the resulting boundary surface of the hexahedral mesh as C 2 continuous in the limit (C 1 at extra-ordinary points), while also keeping a definite bound on the condition number of the Jacobian of the hexahedral mesh elements. By modifying the crease smoothing rules, we can also guarantee that the sharp features in the data are captured. Subdivision guarantees that we achieve a very good approximation for a given tolerance, with optimal mesh elements for each Level of Detail (LoD).

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

mesh generation
subdivision meshes
3d meshing


Combinatorial classification of optimal authentication codes with arbitration Unconditionally secure authentication codes with arbitration ( A(2)-codes) protect against deceptions from the transmitter and the receiver as well as that from the opponent. We first show that an optimal A(2)-code implies an orthogonal array and an affine alpha-resolvable design. Next we define a new design, an affine alpha-resolvable + BIBD, and prove that optimal A(2)-codes are equivalent to this new design. From this equivalence, we derive a condition on the parameters for the existence of optimal A(2)-codes. Further, we show tighter lower bounds on the size of keys than before for large sizes of source states which can be considered as an extension of the bounds on the related designs.

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


Effects of different test profiles of temperature cycling tests on the reliability of RFID tags We studied the effects of temperature cycling profiles on reliability of RFID tags. Different temperature cycling profiles affected the failure mechanisms. Primary failure mechanism with short transition and soak times was antenna cracking. Primary failure mechanism with long transition time was cracking of interconnection. Test parameters must therefore be carefully chosen.

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

radio frequency identification tags
accelerated life testing


Motivating and assisting physical exercise in independently living older adults: A pilot study With age reaction time, coordination and cognition tend to deteriorate, which may lead to gait impairments, falls and injuries. To reduce this problem in elderly and to improve health, well-being and independence, regular balance and strength exercises are recommended. However, elderly face strong barriers to exercise. We developed Active Lifestyle, an IT-based system for active and healthy aging aiming at improving elderly's balance and strength. Active Lifestyle is a proactive training application, running on a tablet, which assists, monitors and motivates elderly to follow personalized training plans autonomously at home, while integrating them socially. The objective is to run a pilot study to investigate: (i) the feasibility of assisting the autonomous, physical training of independently living elderly with the Active Lifestyle system, (ii) the adherence of the participants to the training plans, and (iii) the effectiveness of the motivation instruments built into the system. After three introductory meetings, 13 elderly adults followed personalized two-weeks strength and balance training plans using the Active Lifestyle app autonomously at home. Questionnaires were used to assess the technological familiarity of the participants, the feasibility aspects of the physical intervention, and the effectiveness of the motivation instruments. Adherence to the exercise plan was evaluated using the performance data collected by the app during the study. A total of 13 participants were enrolled, of whom 11 (85%) completed the study (mean age 777 years); predominantly females (55%), vocational educated (64%), and their past profession requiring moderate physical activity (64%). The Active Lifestyle app facilitated autonomous physical training at home (median=7 on a 7-point Likert scale), and participants expressed a high intention to use the app also after the end of the study (median=7). Adherence with the training plans was 73% (89% on the balance exercises and 60% on the strength exercises). The outcome from our questionnaires showed that without the app the participants did not feel motivated to perform exercises; with the support of the app they felt more motivated (median=6). Participants were especially motivated by being part of a virtual exercise group and by the capability to automatically monitor their performance (median=6 for both). This study shows that the Active Lifestyle app prototype has valuable potential to support physical exercise practice at home and it is worthwhile to further develop it into a more mature system. Furthermore, the results add to the knowledge base into mobile-based applications for elderly, in that it shows that elderly users can learn to work with mobile-based systems. The Active Lifestyle app proved viable to support and motivate independently living elderly to autonomously perform balance and strength exercises.

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


a formal framework handling the description and implementation of multigrid algorithms A formal approach to deal with several types of grids in the context of multigrid algorithms is presented. The approach serves as a framework for describing the definition and manipulation of grids as well as the specification of typical grid algorithms. Furthermore, it is useful to define the transformation of high-level grid algorithms into parallel programs. The proposed method is used within the Suspense specification and transformation system to handle simple and staggered logically rectangular grids .

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

pde software
specification languages
programming environments
multigrid methods


UV curing of resists for warm embossing The basis of our investigation is a modified UV curable negative tone resist (mr-L 6000 XP), which allows for warm embossing at a temperature as low as 50 C. UV curing serves to stabilise the imprinted pattern, either in a flood exposure or an exposure through a photomask. The latter may be used to combine embossing with a subsequent UV lithography step to define either two-level or three-level patterns. In the case of a patterned resist, the standard UV curing process is not applicable since it affects the edge steepness of the embossed structure. Distinctive phase shifting effects are observed, depending on the lateral periodicity of the embossed structures, resulting in trenches below steep edges when the effective exposure happens within a narrow wavelengthband. Especially for polychromatic illumination, the absorption of the photoresist has to be taken into account to circumvent these trenches. This is verified by simulation of the UV intensity distribution within the patterned resist.

B I O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 efficient and privacy-aware meeting scheduling scheme using common computational space Privacy is increasingly viewed as a key concern in multiagent based algorithms for Distributed Constraint Satisfaction Problems (DCSP) such as the Meeting Scheduling (MS) problem. Many algorithms aim for a global objective function and as a result, incur performance penalties in computational complexity and personal privacy. This paper describes a mobile agent-based scheduling scheme called Efficient and Privacy-aware Meeting Scheduling (EPMS), which results in a tradeoff among complexity, privacy, and global utility. It also introduces a privacy loss model for collaborative computation, multiple criteria for evaluating privacy in the MS problem, and a privacy measurement metric called the Min privacy metric. We have utilized a common computational space in EPMS for reducing the complexity and the privacy loss in the MS problem. The analytical results show that EPMS has a polynomial time computational complexity. In addition, simulation results show that the obtained global utility for scheduling multiple meetings with EPMS is close to the optimal level and the resulting privacy loss is less than for those in existing algorithms.

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

algorithm
distributed computing
mobile agent


Scaling group transformation for boundary-layer flow of a nanofluid past a porous vertical stretching surface in the presence of chemical reaction with heat radiation The steady boundary-layer flow of a nanofluid past a porous vertical stretching surface with variable stream conditions has been investigated numerically. The model used for the nanofluid incorporates the effects of Brownian motion with thermophoresis in the presence of variable stream conditions. On this regard, thermophoresis of nanoparticles effect on convective heat transfer on nanofluids are investigated simultaneously. Positive thermophoresis implies that nanoparticles move from a hot wall to a cold wall. The symmetry groups admitted by the corresponding boundary value problem are obtained by using a special form of Lie group transformations viz, scaling group of transformations. The conclusion is drawn that the flow field, temperature and nanoparticle volume fraction profiles are significantly influenced by Lewis number, Brownian motion number and thermophoresis number. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

scaling group transformation
brownian motion number
nanofluids
thermophoresis
chemical reaction
heat radiation


difficulty of linkage learning in estimation of distribution algorithms This paper investigates the difficulty of linkage learning, an essential core, in EDAs. Specifically, it examines allelicpairwise independent functions including the parity, paritywith-trap, and Walsh-code functions. While the parity function was believed to be difficult for EDAs in previous work, our experiments indicate that it can be solved by CGA within a polynomial number of function evaluations to the problem size. Consequently, the apparently difficult paritywith-trap function can be easily solved by ECGA, even though the linkage model is incorrect. A convergence model for CGA on the parity function is also derived to verify and support the empirical findings. Finally, this paper proposes a socalled Walsh-code function, which is more difficult than the parity function. Although the proposed function does deceive the linkage-learning mechanism in most EDAs, EDAs are still able to solve it to some extent.

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

estimation of distribution algorithms
linkage learning
parity function


how public key cryptography influences wireless sensor node lifetime In this paper we try to estimate the real influence of public key cryptography (PKC) to the lifetime of a sensor node in wireless sensor networks. We investigate four types of nodes; MICA2DOT, MICA2, MICAz and TelosB. For all these nodes we estimate the power consumption for most common RSA and ECC operations, i.e., signature generation and verification as well as key exchange mechanisms. We also estimate the power consumed by the transmission of their results. Our results show that the application of strong cryptography is feasible. Even for the most constrained node performing the ECC-160 signature once every 10 minutes increases the duty cycle only by about 0.5 per cent, i.e., the influence to the lifetime is not significant. Nevertheless, the public key cryptography shall be used with care.

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 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 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 O O O O O O O O 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

wireless sensor networks
cryptography
rsa

complexity
elliptic curve cryptography
performance


A framework and tool support for the systematic testing of model-based specifications Formal specifications can precisely and unambiguously define the required behavior of a software system or component. However, formal specifications are complex artifacts that need to be verified to ensure that they are consistent, complete, and validated against the requirements. Specification testing or animation tools exist to assist with this by allowing the specifier to interpret or execute the specification. However, currently little is known about how to do this effectively. This article presents a framework and tool support for the systematic testing of formal, model-based specifications. Several important generic properties that should be satisfied by model-based specifications are first identified. Following the idea of mutation analysis, we then use variants or mutants of the specification to check that these properties are satisfied. The framework also allows the specifier to test application-specific properties. All properties are tested for a range of states that are defined by the tester in the form of a testgraph, which is a directed graph that partially models the states and transitions of the specification being tested. Tool support is provided for the generation of the mutants, for automatically traversing the testgraph and executing the test cases, and for reporting any errors. The framework is demonstrated on a small specification and its application to three larger specifications is discussed. Experience indicates that the framework can be used effectively to test small to medium-sized specifications and that it can reveal a significant number of problems in these specifications.

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

verification
formal verification
specification animation
testgraphs


An exhaustive criterion for estimating quality of images in electrical impedance tomography with application to clinical imaging This study proposes a versatile criterion to estimate performance of EIT systems. The PSF is measured based on scattering of energy over the entire domain. This criterion regards all aspects of image measurement. It takes the positioning of the distributed artifacts into consideration. This criterion is more tolerant than existing criteria in measuring the PSF.

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

electrical impedance tomography
clinical imaging
exhaustive criterion

image quality
point spread function
energy scattering
weighted spatial variance
image attributes


Comparing predicted and observed spatial boundaries of geologic phenomena: Automated Proximity and Conformity Analysis applied to ice sheet reconstructions Comparing predicted with observed geologic data is a central element of many aspects of research in the geosciences, e.g., comparing numerical ice sheet models with geomorphic data to test ice sheet model parameters and accuracy. However, the ability to verify predictions using empirical data has been limited by the lack of objective techniques that provide systematic comparison and statistical assessment of the goodness of correspondence between predictions of spatial and temporal patterns of geologic phenomena and the field evidence. Much of this problem arises from the inability to quantify the level of agreement between straight or curvilinear features, such as between the modeled extent of some geologic phenomenon and the field evidence for the extent of the phenomenon. Automated Proximity and Conformity Analysis (APCA) addresses this challenge using a system of Geographic Information System-based buffering that determines the general proximity and parallel conformity between linear features. APCA results indicate which modeled output fits empirical data, based on the distance and angle between features. As a result, various model outputs can be sorted according to overall level of agreement by comparison with one or multiple features from field evidence, based on proximity and conformity values. In an example application drawn from glacial geomorphology, APCA is integrated into an overall model verification process that includes matching modeled ice sheets to known marginal positions and ice flow directions, among other parameters. APCA is not limited to ice sheet or glacier models, but can be applied to many geoscience areas where the extent or geometry of modeled results need to be compared against field observations, such as debris flows, tsunami run-out, lava flows, or flood extents.

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

boundaries
model verification
proximity
glacial geomorphology


Wide-range CTAT and PTAT sensors with second-order calibration for on-chip thermal monitoring This paper presents wide-range complementary to absolute temperature (CTAT) and proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) sensors with second-order calibration for on-chip thermal monitoring. Particularly, a current mirror and an n-well resistor are used in these sensors to eliminate the second-order term of the temperature coefficient to linearize the transfer function between the output voltage and the temperature. The proposed CTAT and PTAT sensors are implemented on silicon using a typical 0.18?m CMOS process. The core area of the CTAT and PTAT sensors is 0.0125mm2 and 0.0074mm2, respectively. In the range from ? 55 C to 155 C , the worst deviation of the CTAT and PTAT temperature sensors is measured to be ? 3.75 C to + 3.34 C and ? 3.73 C to + 3.85 C , respectively. The maximum non-linearity reduction of the CTAT and PTAT sensors is 59.84% and 87.48%, respectively, by the proposed second-order calibration. Notably, the overhead area of the CTAT and PTAT sensors is only 0.64% and 1.08%, respectively.

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

second-order effects
ptat sensor
ctat sensor
temperature sensor
low-cost
second-order calibration


Patuxent landscape model: integrated ecological economic modeling of a watershed The Patuxent Landscape Model (PLM) is designed to simulate fundamental ecological processes on the watershed scale, in interaction with an economic component that predicts the land use patterns. The paper focuses on the ecological component of the PLM and describes how the spatial and structural rescaling can be instrumental for calibration of complex spatially distributed models. The PLM is based on a modified General Ecosystem Model (GEM) that is replicated across a grid of cells that compose the rasterized landscape. Different habitats and land use types translate into different parameter sets to be fed into GEM. Cells are linked by horizontal fluxes of material and information, driven mostly by the hydrologic flows. This approach provides additional flexibility in scaling up and down over a range of spatial resolutions and is essential to track the land use change patterns generated by the economic component. Structural modularity is another important feature that is implemented in the general purpose software packages (Spatial Modeling Environment and Collaborative Modeling Environment), that the PLM employs.

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

landscape modeling
dynamic spatial modeling


The application of information systems for the design and operation of flexible machining cells The use of information systems in manufacturing applications has dramatically changed over the last few years. The design and implementation of somewhat dated relational databases has been replaced by the generation of information models, that can be simultaneously used for the development of information systems and satisfy their integration requirements. Over the last ten years the authors have been involved in a series of research programmes focusing on the design and operation of flexible machining cells. The use of information systems has been a central theme and the enabling technology to achieve a number of novel design concepts and operational strategies for such cells. The initial research was based on the utilization of relational databases to integrate a variety of modelling and design tools. However, the additional effort required to integrate such databases to manufacturing software tools, in the form of developing file translators, information gateways and interfaces, has made the authors adopt a new approach. With this approach the information requirements are represented in a neutral format within a data model, using a formal data specification language developed by the Standards for the Exchange of Product (STEP) committee. This paper describes these changes in the design and implementation of information systems in manufacturing applications, and provides an initial view of future research requirements.

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


A flexible optical switch architecture for efficient transmission of optical bursts In this paper, we propose a new optical switch architecture for optical WDM networks. Flexibility and efficiency in terms of controlling and utilizing optical power are key features of the architecture. The architecture uses switching components which have increased flexibility of how optical power received on an input port is managed when switching optical signals. Like the traditional optical switches, optical power can be directed towards one output port only. Further, unlike the traditional switches, on need basis, the power can be split on a desired sub-set of output ports, thus reducing power wastage on unwanted ports. Such split power can be directed fully towards a single output port as and when it is needed. This flexible and efficient power management makes the architecture a potential candidate for optical networks with its usage in several dimensions. The dimensions include (1) switching methods such as circuit level switching and bursty level switching, (2) network types such as core, metro, and access networks, (3) support for technologies such as Light-trails and Light-trees, and (4) support for functionalities such as survivability and multicasting with new features. Importantly, there is potential that the architecture enhances adaptability based on the needs, and it supports co-existence and seamless integration of different environments. In this paper, our focus is on investigating bursty level switching using the proposed switch architecture. We use the flexibility of the switch and adopt a new switching method for data bursts. This switching method is efficient for switching bursts while introducing new challenges. Unlike the traditional switching method, it switches bursts arriving on an input link with zero (or very small) time gaps to different output links in certain scenarios. Further, it also switches bursts from different input links to the same output link when they arrive with zero (or very small) time interval. Adopting such switching approaches has potential benefits in terms of delay-load performance and blocking performance. While the bursts are switched from the same input link to different output links in this approach, it creates some unwanted signals. We investigate scenarios in which the unwanted signals create any problems and this poses some challenges. To address such challenges, we develop a transmission protocol. We investigate the performance of our solutions using simulation studies and verify the two significant gains: (1) networks' capability to sustain traffic loads up to the maximum level in terms of the delay-load performance, which is similar to the performance seen for hypothetical ideal switches with zero switching time, and (2) improved blocking performance. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 collaborative problem-based graduate-level learning: Students perspectives on communication tool selection and efficacy There is growing interest in higher education into graduate-level learning at a distance, where participants are chosen not by where they live but by programmatic match in terms of interest, motivation, intelligence, and academic and professional background. Asynchronous, web-based educational programs have shown to be quite successful at providing quality education at a distance, however we question whether all activities necessary to build a strong academic community and give teachers and students adequate ability to engage in a wide variety of academic activities and discourse can be handled most efficaciously via asynchronous methods alone. As Internet bandwidth increases and richer media in this domain becomes more technologically efficient (requires less bandwidth with ever higher performance) the opportunity to re-introduce synchronous interaction at a distance becomes possible. At our institution a wide variety of synchronous and asynchronous tools are being developed for distance education purposes. This study tracks student selection of these tools for various types of instructional activities at varying cognitive levels, and tracks their reaction to the efficacy of the tool for the given tasks.

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

graduate-level problem-based learning
rich media


A convex optimisation framework for the unequal-areas facility layout problem The unequal-areas facility layout problem is concerned with finding the optimal arrangement of a given number of non-overlapping indivisible departments with unequal area requirements within a facility. We present a convex-optimisation-based framework for efficiently finding competitive solutions for this problem. The framework is based on the combination of two mathematical programming models. The first model is a convex relaxation of the layout problem that establishes the relative position of the departments within the facility, and the second model uses semidefinite optimisation to determine the final layout. Aspect ratio constraints, frequently used in facility layout methods to restrict the occurrence of overly long and narrow departments in the computed layouts, are taken into account by both models. We present computational results showing that the proposed framework consistently produces competitive, and often improved, layouts for well-known large instances when compared with other approaches in the literature.

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

semidefinite programming
convex programming
global optimisation


in search for contention-descriptive metrics in hpc cluster environment In this paper, we argue that the modern HPC cluster environments contain several bottlenecks both within cluster multicore nodes and between them in the cluster interconnects. These bottlenecks represent resources that can be of high demand to several jobs, concurrently executing on the cluster. As such, the jobs can compete for accessing these resources and experience performance degradation due to contention. We point out, that, although the contention for shared resources like memory hierarchy of the cluster nodes, accessing the cluster interconnects or sharing the floating point unit can incur severe performance degradation to the cluster workload, the state-of-the-art cluster schedulers do not contain adequate means of addressing it. To fill this gap, we propose a new set of metrics that models shared resource contention and represents a fine-grained information about each job's resource utilization and communication patterns. The necessary information can be obtained with the performance counters within cluster nodes and cluster interconnect monitoring between them.

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

hpc clusters
scheduling
multicore systems


Using characteristics of the optimisation problem to determine the Genetic Algorithm population size when the number of evaluations is limited ? The Genetic Algorithm (GA) parameter values that result in the best possible solutions being found are generally problem specific, and therefore expected to be related to the characteristics of the fitness function. In this work, statistics that characterise the fitness function have been related to the convergence of a GA population due to the repetitive application of tournament selection. Assuming that this operator has the dominant influence on the variance of the population, and that the computational time available is limited, the result can be used to determine a suitable population size. The methodology developed has been compared to other GA calibration methodologies, and was found to be the best of the different methods considered across a range of stopping criteria and problem formulations. This result demonstrates the potential usefulness of fitness function characteristics to inform the configuration of GAs, and in turn find the best possible solutions.

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

genetic algorithms
water resources
fitness function analysis
water distribution systems


An intelligent approach to monitor and control the blanking process Sensory fusion can be used to infer and analyse complex phenomena and detect changes in a process from a set of measurements. This paper proposes to use Neural Network modelling to monitor product quality of blanking by assessing changes in tool geometry, material quality and tool configuration. The approach may also be used to detect internal and external fractures in the products of blanking. The neural network model is fed with representative parameters, extracted from acoustic signals emitted during fracture, the corresponding waveform and force/displacement data. The neural network model is used, after training to correlate the extracted features of various signals to changes in blanking process parameters such as tool geometry, material hardness and tools clearance. A computerised data-acquisition system, using specialised software and hardware is used to draw from several transducers to record data of the experiments. A total of 192 experiments were performed, using different blanking configurations and materials. This data is used to train the neural network model, which may be integrated with other elements of the control system, to provide a fully automated, real-time supervisory system for blanking. The system could be used to sort components, shutdown the press or alert operators in the event of manufacturing-related defects in the operating cycle.

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

acoustic emission
data acquisition
feature extraction
force/displacement
neural networks


Asymptotic stability criteria for T-S fuzzy neural networks with discrete interval and distributed time-varying delays The aim of this paper is to study the problem of asymptotic stability analysis for T-S fuzzy neural networks with discrete interval and distributed time-varying delays by employing a further improved free-weighting matrix approach. Based on the new LyapunovKrasovskii functional with triple-integral term, using some integral inequality and convex combination technique, a new delay-dependent stability criteria are obtained in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) that can be checked easily by the LMI Control Toolbox in MATLAB. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the strength of the proposed method and an improvement over some existing results.

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

t-s fuzzy model
linear matrix inequality
time-varying delay


Flood inundation extent mapping based on block compressed tracing We have developed a block compressed tracing method for flood extent mapping. Run-length encoding and raster boundary tracing techniques are applied. The problem of flood extent mapping based on massive DEM datasets is solved. Our method has advantages of higher efficiency and lower memory requirements.

O O O O O O B I I 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

digital elevation model
inundation analysis
massive dataset
seeded region-growing


Expert model for detection of epileptic activity in EEG signature Seizure detection and classification using signal processing methods has been an important issue of research for the last two decades. In the present study, a novel scheme was presented to detect epileptic seizure activity with very fast and high accuracy from background electro encephalogram (EEG) data recorded from epileptic and normal subjects. The proposed scheme is based on discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and energy estimation at each node of the decomposition tree followed by application of probabilistic neural network (PNN) for classification. Normal as well as epileptic EEG epochs were decomposed into approximation and details coefficients till the sixth-level using DWT. Approximate energy (EDA) values of the wavelet coefficients at all nodes of the down sampled tree were used as a feature vector to characterize the predictability of the epileptic activity within the records of EEG data. In order to demonstrate the classification accuracy of the proposed probabilistic neural network, tenfold cross-validation was implemented in the expert model. Clinical EEG data recorded from normal as well as epileptic subjects were used to test the performance of this new scheme. It was found that with the proposed scheme, the detection is 99.33% accurate with sensitivity and specificity as 99.6% and 99%, respectively. The proposed model can be widely used in developing countries where there is an acute shortage of trained neurologist.

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 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

discrete wavelet transform (dwt)
approximate energy (edn)
probabilistic neural network (pnn)


Chaos, number theory, and computers A case study is presented in which the logistic map is shown to have anomalous, precision-dependent behavior. It is also demonstrated that using greater precision does not necessarily lead to greater accuracy and, in fact, the contrary can be true. Though the presention deals only with this particular map it illustrates that the actual math package being used should be examined and cannot be treated as a black box. (C) 2001 Academic Press.

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


certificateless onion routing Onion routing protocols allow users to establish anonymous channels to preserve their privacy over a public network. Several protocols implementing this primitive have been proposed in recent years, and TOR, a real-life implementation, provides an onion routing service to thousands of users over the internet. This paper presents Certificateless Onion Routing a new approach to the problem. Starting from the identity based solution (PB-OR) of Kate et al. [23], we adopt the certificateless setting introduced by Al-Riyami and Paterson [2]. Such a setting is particularly well suited in practice as it retains the good aspects of identity based cryptography (no PKI is required) and traditional public key cryptography (there is no key escrow). Next, we present a novel certificateless anonymous key-agreement (KA) protocol and we show how to turn it into a very efficient (and provably secure!) certificateless onion routing protocol. When compared with Tor and PB-OR, our protocol offers better performances, especially when current security levels (i.e. 128 bits) are considered. In particular, our scheme significantly improves the computational costs required from each router. In this sense our solution is up to 7 times faster than PB-OR and up to 11 times faster than Tor.

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


Automated Methods for Hippocampus Segmentation: the Evolution and a Review of the State of the Art The segmentation of the hippocampus in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been an important procedure to diagnose and monitor several clinical situations. The precise delineation of the borders of this brain structure makes it possible to obtain a measure of the volume and estimate its shape, which can be used to diagnose some diseases, such as Alzheimers disease, schizophrenia and epilepsy. As the manual segmentation procedure in three-dimensional images is highly time consuming and the reproducibility is low, automated methods introduce substantial gains. On the other hand, the implementation of those methods is a challenge because of the low contrast of this structure in relation to the neighboring areas of the brain. Within this context, this research presents a review of the evolution of automatized methods for the segmentation of the hippocampus in MRI. Many proposed methods for segmentation of the hippocampus have been published in leading journals in the medical image processing area. This paper describes these methods presenting the techniques used and quantitatively comparing the methods based on Dice Similarity Coefficient. Finally, we present an evaluation of those methods considering the degree of user intervention, computational cost, segmentation accuracy and feasibility of application in a clinical routine.

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

hippocampus segmentation
magnetic resonance imaging
alzheimers disease

neuroimaging
segmentation methods
medical images
evaluation of segmentation


Reaction monitoring using Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics The synthesis and hydrolysis of ethyl acetate was monitored with a Raman spectrometer equipped with a 785-nm laser, confocal optics, an optical fiber, a holographic transmission grating, and a charge coupled device (CCD) detector. In the Raman spectra, the signals were seen to vary in proportion to the concentrations of ethanol, acetic acid and ethyl acetate. First-order reaction, rate constants were determined for the hydrolysis reaction, under different experimental conditions according to a full factorial experimental design. The rate constants were determined either by using the peak height at one single wavelength, or by using score values from principal components analysis (PCA) or partial least squares (PLS). The rate constants determined agree well with literature values. It is shown that the single wavelength and the PCA/PLS approaches give similar reaction profiles, where the standard normal variate (SNV) transformation was used for spectral pretreatment. The use of Raman spectroscopy for reaction monitoring in opalescent mixtures is also shown and discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

raman
reaction monitoring
pca
pls
chemometrics
ethyl acetate


Fuzzy PWM based on Genetic Algorithm for battery charging A new fuzzy PWM controller for DC/DC buck converter is proposed. A leadacid battery charging is simulated. Fuzzy control with small rule obtains good enough effectiveness.

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


the thummer mapping project (thump) This paper presents the Thummer Mapping Project (ThuMP), an industry partnership project between ThumMotion P/L and The University of Western Sydney (UWS). ThuMP sought to developing mapping strategies for new interfaces for musical expression (NIME), specifically the Thummer, which provides thirteen simultaneous degrees of freedom. This research presents a new approach to the mapping problem resulting from a primary design research phase and a prototype testing and evaluation phase. In order to establish an underlying design approach for the Thummer mapping strategies, a number of interviews were carried out with high-level acoustic instrumental performers, the majority of whom play with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney, Australia. Mapping strategies were developed from analysis of these interviews and then evaluated in trial usability testing.

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


Fuzzy hyperlattices In this paper, we introduce the notion of fuzzy hyperlattices and establish connections between fuzzy hyperlattices and hyperlattices. Then we discuss the relations between the weak homomorphism of fuzzy hyperlattices and the weak homomorphism of corresponding hyperlattices. Moreover, we define and analyze the hypercongruence on hyperlattices and the fuzzy (strong) hypercongruence on fuzzy hyperlattices. And we study the interrelation between the (fuzzy) hypercongruence on (fuzzy) hyperlattices and the homomorphism of (fuzzy) hyperlattices. Also, a relation between the fuzzy hypercongruence on fuzzy hyperlattices and the hypercongruence on corresponding hyperlattices is obtained. Finally, we apply the hypercongruence and the fuzzy strong hypercongruence to construct quotient structures of hyperlattices and fuzzy hyperlattices, respectively.

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

hyperlattice
fuzzy hyperlattice
fuzzy (strong) hypercongruence


Climate change and optimal energy technology R&D policy Public policy response to global climate change presents a classic problem of decision making under uncertainty. Theoretical work has shown that explicitly accounting for uncertainty and learning in climate change can have a large impact on optimal policy, especially technology policy. However, theory also shows that the specific impacts of uncertainty are ambiguous. In this paper, we provide a framework that combines economics and decision analysis to implement probabilistic data on energy technology research and development (R&D) policy in response to global climate change. We find that, given a budget constraint, the composition of the optimal R&D portfolio is highly diversified and robust to risk in climate damages. The overall optimal investment into technical change, however, does depend (in a non-monotonic way) on the risk in climate damages. Finally, we show that in order to properly value R&D, abatement must be included as a recourse decision.

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

energy technology
climate change
public policy


Automatic speech recognition- an approach for designing inclusive games Computer games are now a part of our modern culture. However, certain categories of people are excluded from this form of entertainment and social interaction because they are unable to use the interface of the games. The reason for this can be deficits in motor control, vision or hearing. By using automatic speech recognition systems (ASR), voice driven commands can be used to control the game, which can thus open up the possibility for people with motor system difficulty to be included in game communities. This paper aims at find a standard way of using voice commands in games which uses a speech recognition system in the backend, and that can be universally applied for designing inclusive games. Present speech recognition systems however, do not support emotions, attitudes, tones etc. This is a drawback because such expressions can be vital for gaming. Taking multiple types of existing genres of games into account and analyzing their voice command requirements, a general ASRS module is proposed which can work as a common platform for designing inclusive games. A fuzzy logic controller proposed then is to enhance the system. The standard voice driven module can be based on algorithm or fuzzy controller which can be used to design software plug-ins or can be included in microchip. It then can be integrated with the game engines; creating the possibility of voice driven universal access for controlling games.

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

design for all
inclusive design
universal design
accessibility


Optimizing lifetime for continuous data aggregation with precision guarantees in wireless sensor networks This paper exploits the tradeoff between data quality and energy consumption to extend the lifetime of wireless sensor networks. To obtain an aggregate form of sensor data with precision guarantees, the precision constraint is partitioned and allocated to individual sensor nodes in a coordinated fashion. Our key idea is to differentiate the precisions of data collected from different sensor nodes to balance their energy consumption. Three factors affecting the lifetime of sensor nodes are identified: 1) the changing pattern of sensor readings; 2) the residual energy of sensor nodes; and 3) the communication cost between the sensor nodes and the base station. We analyze the optimal precision allocation in terms of network lifetime and propose an adaptive scheme that dynamically adjusts the precision constraints at the sensor nodes. The adaptive scheme also takes into consideration the topological relations among sensor nodes and the effect of in-network aggregation. Experimental results using real data traces show that the proposed scheme significantly improves network lifetime compared to existing methods.

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

data accuracy
energy efficiency
sensor network


can blog communication dynamics be correlated with stock market activity? In this paper, we develop a simple model to study and analyze communication dynamics in the blogosphere and use these dynamics to determine interesting correlations with stock market movement. This work can drive targeted advertising on the web as well as facilitate understanding community evolution in the blogosphere. We describe the communication dynamics by several simple contextual properties of communication, e.g. the number of posts, the number of comments, the length and response time of comments, strength of comments and the different information roles that can be acquired by people (early responders / late trailers, loyals / outliers). We study a "technology-savvy" community called Engadget (http://www.engadget.com). There are two key contributions in this paper: (a) we identify information roles and the contextual properties for four technology companies, and (b) we model them as a regression problem in a Support Vector Machine framework and train the model with stock movements of the companies. It is interestingly observed that the communication activity on the blogosphere has considerable correlations with stock market movement. These correlation measures are further cross-validated against two baseline methods. Our results are promising yielding about 78\% accuracy in predicting the magnitude of movement and 87\% for the direction of movement.

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

stock market
blogosphere
communication dynamics
information roles

support vector regression
social networks


An integrated semantic-based approach in concept based video retrieval Multimedia content has been growing quickly and video retrieval is regarded as one of the most famous issues in multimedia research. In order to retrieve a desirable video, users express their needs in terms of queries. Queries can be on object, motion, texture, color, audio, etc. Low-level representations of video are different from the higher level concepts which a user associates with video. Therefore, query based on semantics is more realistic and tangible for end user. Comprehending the semantics of query has opened a new insight in video retrieval and bridging the semantic gap. However, the problem is that the video needs to be manually annotated in order to support queries expressed in terms of semantic concepts. Annotating semantic concepts which appear in video shots is a challenging and time-consuming task. Moreover, it is not possible to provide annotation for every concept in the real world. In this study, an integrated semantic-based approach for similarity computation is proposed with respect to enhance the retrieval effectiveness in concept-based video retrieval. The proposed method is based on the integration of knowledge-based and corpus-based semantic word similarity measures in order to retrieve video shots for concepts whose annotations are not available for the system. The TRECVID 2005 dataset is used for evaluation purpose, and the results of applying proposed method are then compared against the individual knowledge-based and corpus-based semantic word similarity measures which were utilized in previous studies in the same domain. The superiority of integrated similarity method is shown and evaluated in terms of Mean Average Precision (MAP).

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

semantic knowledge
content-based analysis
search


Numerical and statistical analysis of elastic modulus of concrete as a three-phase heterogeneous composite We analyze the influence of aggregate and ITZ on elastic modulus of concrete. Ramesh model can theoretically estimate the elastic modulus of concrete. Soft ITZ can greatly cancel the enhancement of aggregate on elastic modulus. The RVE size of concrete is determined through numerical-statistical approach.

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

interfacial transition zone (itz)
representative volume element (rve)
finite element analysis (fea)


an analytic framework for specifying and analyzing imprecise requirements There are at least three challenges with requirements analysis. First, it needs to bridge informal requirements, which are often vague and imprecise, to formal specification methods. Second, requirements often conflict with each other. Third, existing formal requirement specification methodologies are limited in supporting trade-off analysis between conflicting requirements and identifying the impact of a requirement change to the rest of the system. In this paper, an analytic framework is developed for the specification and analysis of imprecise requirements. In this framework, the elasticity of imprecise requirements is captured using fuzzy logic and the relationships between requirements are formally classified into four categories: conflicting, cooperative, mutually exclusive and irrelevant. This formal foundation facilitates the inference of relationships between requirements for detecting implicit conflicts, to assess the relative priorities of requirements for resolving conflicts, and to assess the effect of a requirement change.

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

formal specification methods
requirements
implicit conflicts
framework
inference
relative priorities
conflict
requirement change
analysis
paper
informal
relationships
fuzzy logic
effect

challenge
conflicting requirements
cooperative requirements
irrelevant requirements
mutually exclusive requirements
imprecise requirements specification
informal requirements
formal specification
conflict resolution
requirements specification
change
method
systems
methodology
formalism
trade-off analysis
cooperation
relation
classifiation
systems analysis
priorities
requirements analysis


Scalable and efficient key management for heterogeneous sensor networks As typical wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have resource limitations, predistribution of secret keys is possibly the most practical approach for secure network communications. In this paper, we propose a key management scheme based on random key predistribution for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (HSNs). As large-scale homogeneous networks suffer from high costs of communication, computation, and storage requirements, the HSNs are preferred because they provide better performance and security solutions for scalable applications in dynamic environments. We consider hierarchical HSN consisting of a small number high-end sensors and a large number of low-end sensors. To address storage overhead problem in the constraint sensor nodes, we incorporate a key generation process, where instead of generating a large pool of random keys, a key pool is represented by a small number of generation keys. For a given generation key and a publicly known seed value, a keyed-hash function generates a key chain; these key chains collectively make a key pool. As dynamic network topology is native to WSNs, the proposed scheme allows dynamic addition and removal of nodes. This paper also reports the implementation and the performance of the proposed scheme on Crossbow's MicaZ motes running TinyOS. The results indicate that the proposed scheme can be applied efficiently in resource-constrained sensor networks. We evaluate the computation and storage costs of two keyed-hash algorithms for key chain generation, HMAC-SHA1 and HMAC-MD5.

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 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 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

security
key management
heterogeneous sensor networks
random key predistribution


Simple algorithms for decoding systematic Reed-Solomon codes A simple algorithm for decoding nonsystematic Reed-Solomon codewords was proposed by A. Shiozaki and independently by S. Gao. We first exhibit the companion algorithm for decoding systematic Reed-Solomon codes. Next, we improve this algorithm into one that is identical to traditional Reed-Solomon decoding. The algorithm will then be adjusted to work with nonstandard Reed-Solomon codes. Finally, we modify the algorithm into one that decodes Reed-Solomon codes with erasures that is slightly more efficient than existing techniques.

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

reed-solomon codes
euclidean algorithm
erasure decoding
bch codes
systematic codes


Universal access to awareness information: using smart artefacts to mediate awareness in distributed teams This paper presents a set of design recommendations for team awareness systems based on fundamental social and technical requirements. The work was motivated by recurring usability problems identified in evaluations of state-of-the-art awareness systems. Based on these findings, it is argued that the limited success of existing systems is mostly caused by conceptual shortcomings, which can be overcome by adhering to a set of design recommendations elaborated in this paper. To demonstrate the validity of this argumentation, the development and evaluation of an ambient awareness system is illustrated.

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

ambient intelligence
ubiquitous computing
informal communication
distributed teamwork


A map characterizing the fuzzy points and columns of a T-indistinguishability operator A new map (Lambda(E)) between fuzzy subsets of a universe X endowed with a T-indistinguishability operator E is introduced. The main feature of Lambda(E) is that it has the columns of E as fixed points, and thus it provides us with a new criterion to decide whether a generator is a column. Two well known maps (phi(E) and psi(E)) are also reviewed, in order to compare them with Lambda(E). Interesting properties of the fixed points of Lambda(E) and Lambda(E) are studied. Among others, the fixed points of Lambda(E) (Fix(Lambda(E))) are proved to be the E maximal fuzzy points of (X, E) and the fixed points of Lambda(2)(E) coincide with the Image of E Lambda(E). An isometric embedding of X into Fix(Lambda(E)) is established and studied.

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

fuzzy relation
column of a fuzzy relation
t-norm
t-indistinguishability operator
fuzzy point


Support vector regression with noisy data: a second order cone programming approach A robust convex optimization approach is proposed for support vector regression (SVR) with noisy input data. The data points are assumed to be uncertain, but bounded within given hyper-spheres of radius eta. The proposed Robust SVR model is equivalent to a Second Order Cone Programming (SOCP) problem. SOCP formulation with Gaussian noise models assumption is discussed. Computational results are presented both on real world and synthetic data sets. The robust SOCP approach is compared with several other regression algorithms such as SVR, least-square SVR, and artificial neural networks by injecting Gaussian noise to each of the data points. The proposed approach out performs the other regression algorithms for some data sets. Moreover, the generalization behavior of the SOCP method is better than the traditional SVR with increasing the uncertainty level eta until a threshold value.

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

robustness
parameter estimation
kernel functions
support vector machines


Distribution modeling and evaluation of product design problems This paper proposes a framework for the modeling and evaluation of product design problems in a computer network-oriented design environment. The framework is intended to integrate designer-specified mathematical models for multidisciplinary and multiobjective design problems. The goal is to provide the ability to rapidly construct integrated design problem models to facilitate collaborative design work, improve product quality and reduce development time. Ultimately, it should allow specialized engineering applications and design problem models to operate under a common design environment. A product design problem is modeled in terms of interacting objects, called modules, each representing a specific aspect of the problem. Modules interact with one another through services that allow the exchange of information. Modules can encapsulate engineering models and data or software applications. The method is extended using a standard network communication protocol to create a distributed object-based modeling and evaluation framework for design problems.

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

network-centric
object-based distributed modeling
integrated product design


Encrypted Pointers in Protection System Design A salient aspect of protection system design is the set of the mechanisms for the representation, distribution, verification and revocation of access privileges. With reference to a segmented virtual memory space, we present an approach that is based on the use of symmetric-key cryptography to represent segment pointers, including access right specifications. Our design effort has been guided by three main objectives: (i) to maintain the simplicity of access privilege representation that characterizes classical capability and password-capability systems; (ii) to keep the memory requirements low even in the case of complex access privileges expressed in terms of several access rights; and (iii) to allow an easy implementation of effective techniques for access privilege review and revocation.

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


Sentence alignment using feed forward neural network Parallel corpora have become an essential resource for work in multi lingual natural language processing. However, sentence aligned parallel corpora are more efficient than non-aligned parallel corpora for cross language information retrieval and machine translation applications. In this paper, we present a new approach to align sentences in bilingual parallel corpora based on feed forward neural network classifier. A feature parameter vector is extracted from the text pair under consideration. This vector contains text features such as length, punctuate score, and cognate score values. A set of manually prepared training data has been assigned to train the feed forward neural network. Another set of data was used for testing. Using this new approach, we could achieve an error reduction of 60% over length based approach when applied on English-Arabic parallel documents. Moreover this new approach is valid for any language pair and it is quite flexible approach since the feature parameter vector may contain more/less or different features than that we used in our system such as lexical match feature.

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

sentence alignment
parallel corpora
machine translation


Formal verification of an intrusion-tolerant group membership protocol The traditional approach for establishing the correctness of group communication protocols is through rigorous arguments. While this is a valid approach, the likelihood of subtle errors in the design and implementation of such complex distributed protocols is not negligible. The use of formal verification methods has been widely advocated to instill confidence in the correctness of protocols. In this paper, we describe how we used the SPIN model checker to formally verify a group membership protocol that is part of an intrusion-tolerant group communication system. We describe how we successfully tackled the state-space explosion problem by determining the right abstraction level for formally specifying the protocol. The verification exercise not only formally showed that the protocol satisfies its correctness claims, but also provided information that will help us make the protocol more efficient without violating correctness.

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

intrusion tolerance
group communication systems
validation
formal methods


LED PWM dimming linearity investigation LED PWM dimming application for large scale LED video displays is analyzed. The need for short light pulse duration is outlined. PWM dimming with short driving pulses is investigated experimentally. The LED response time skew introduces the nonlinearity for PWM dimming. For LED response time skew estimation, a method is suggested that has been successfully applied to measure some of todays market representative LEDs. PWM dimming nonlinearity can be forecasted using the estimated skew. For a particular driving configuration, it is indicated that LED PWM dimming fails to satisfy the required 14bit output coding together with the image refresh frequency of 400Hz. A rough investigation demonstrates that the skew is quite stable. Therefore, the nonlinearity correction for the PWM pulse durations shorter than the skew value should be possible.

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


Adapting traditional software processes to virtual environments development Virtual environments (VEs) are special kinds of interactive systems currently used in many fields such as education, training and medicine. However, as VE development is relatively recent, there is little experience in the area. Software engineering, the discipline which assures quality software, has not been successfully applied to date. In developing VEs, the object-oriented software engineering paradigm is the most suitable even though principles and techniques are insufficient. In this paper, we will demonstrate this inadequacy through the development of two different VEs, identify the processes to be improved, offer a set of guidelines to improve them (coined SENDA), and present the results obtained with SENDA. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

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

virtual environments
software engineering

virtual worlds development, process models


Window consensus PCA for multiblock statistical process control: adaption to small and time-dependent normal operating condition regions, illustrated by online high performance liquid chromatography of a three-stage continuous process A method for multiblock statistical process control is described, involving the computation of Q and D statistics both for individual blocks and for the overall process using window consensus principal components analysis (WCPCA). The approach overcomes two common problems. The first is a small normal operating conditions (NOC) region, which is done by determining the Q-statistic limits and D statistics using leave-one-out (100) residuals and scores, rather than employing the residuals and scores of a single training set model obtained from the entire NOC region. The second overcomes the problem of temporal drift of the process and/or measurement technique by updating the NOC covariance matrix to adapt to normal process changes. The unifying multiblock statistical process control and relevant statistics are adapted to cope with these issues and are illustrated in this paper using CPCA as applied to online high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) of a three-stage continuous process. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

process monitoring
consensus principal component analysis
windowing
multiblock methods
q statistic
d statistic
control limits
time-dependent covariance


Toward a comprehensive theory of problematic Internet use: Evaluating the role of self-esteem, anxiety, flow, and the self-rated importance of Internet activities Problematic Internet use (PIU) has long been a matter of public concern. Study 1 examined the correlates of a well-validated measure of Internet addiction [Young, K. S. (1998). Caught in the net. New York: John Wiley and Sons] with 315 students (39% male). Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that low self-esteem, unrealistic optimism, and the importance of 7-positive activities (I7PA) all contributed to the prediction of PIU. The inclusion of controls for aspects of Internet uses and demographic characters showed a clear distinction between PIU and frequent Internet use. Subjects who anticipated that negative outcomes were more likely to happen to them than to peers were none-the-less more likely to engage in PIU. The more important positive activities were, the greater the PIU. SEM model suggested that unrealistic optimism was best treated as part of PIU and that low self-esteem and the I7PA were the powerful predictors of PIU. Study 2 tested SEM models of psychosocial characteristics with 279 students (48% male). Anxiety and flow were added as predictors and the felt safety for social contacts was added to Global PIU following Caplan [Caplan, S. E. (2002). Problematic Internet use and psychosocial well-being: Development of a theory-based cognitive-behavioral measurement instrument. Computers in Human Behavior, 18, 553575]. The more complex model provided excellent fit and showed that low self-esteem, anxiety, and the I7PA were positively related to PIU. The relationship both of flow and sensation-seeking was mediated by the 17PA. Research on the topic has been relatively atheoretical. We propose a theoretical template to guide future research on PIU.

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

anxiety
flow
problematic internet use
theory


Numerical simulation of heat and mass transfer in pneumatic conveying dryer Two-dimensional Eulerian-Lagrangian model is presented for heat and mass transfer in pneumatic conveying dryer. The model takes into account the particle-particle and particle-wall collisions, lift forces, particle rotation, turbulence modulation and turbulence dispersion (i.e., four-way coupling). The drying simulation is based on a two-stage drying model. Different correlations for heat transfer coefficient are tested and assessed in terms of their accuracy. The model is validated against the available experimental data and good agreement is obtained. The model predictions are compared to other models from literature and it produces better results than existing models. It is also found that the turbulence dispersion has greater effect on the model predictions than particle-particle collision. However, neglecting either particle-particle collision or turbulence dispersion results in a lower heat transfer and drying rates. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

heat and mass transfer
numerical simulation


Controlled composition and abstraction for bottom-up integration and verification of abstract components This work proposes a method for improving the scalability of model-checking compositions in the bottom-up construction of abstract components. The approach uses model checking in the model construction process for testing the composite behaviors of components, including process deadlock and inconsistency in inter-component call sequences. Assuming a single processor model, the scalability issue is addressed by introducing operational models for synchronous/asynchronous inter-component message passing, which are designed to reduce spurious behaviors caused by typical parallel compositions. Together with two abstraction techniques, synchronized abstraction and projection abstraction, that hide verified internal communication behavior, this operational model helps to reduce the complexity of composition and verification. The approach is supported by the Marmot development framework, where the soundness of the approach is assured through horizontal verification as well as vertical verification. Application of the approach on a wireless sensor network application shows promising performance improvement with linear growth in memory usage for the vertically incremental verification of abstract components.

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

controlled composition
abstraction
verification


Triaxial behavior of sand-mica mixtures using genetic programming This study investigates an application of genetic programming (GP) for modeling of coarse rotund sand-mica mixtures. An empirical model equation is developed by means of GP technique. The experimental database used for GP modeling is based on a laboratory study of the properties of saturated coarse rotund sand and mica mixtures with various mix ratios under a 100 kPa effective stresses, because of its unusual behavior. In the tests, deviatoric stress, and pore pressure generation, and strain have been measured in a 100 mm diameter conventional triaxial testing apparatus. The input variables in the developed GP models are the mica content, and strain, and the outputs are deviatoric stress, pore water pressure generation. The performance of accuracies of proposed GP based equations is observed to be quite satisfactory. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

mica
triaxial testing
genetic programming
modeling


Integrating human observer inferences into robot motion planning Our goal is to enable robots to produce motion that is suitable for humanrobot collaboration and co-existence. Most motion in robotics is purely functional, ideal when the robot is performing a task in isolation. In collaboration, however, the robots motion has an observer, watching and interpreting the motion. In this work, we move beyond functional motion, and introduce the notion of an observer into motion planning, so that robots can generate motion that is mindful of how it will be interpreted by a human collaborator. We formalize predictability and legibility as properties of motion that naturally arise from the inferences in opposing directions that the observer makes, drawing on action interpretation theory in psychology. We propose models for these inferences based on the principle of rational action, and derive constrained functional trajectory optimization techniques for planning motion that is predictable or legible. Finally, we present experiments that test our work on novice users, and discuss the remaining challenges in enabling robots to generate such motion online in complex situations.

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

humanrobot collaboration
predictability
legibility
trajectory optimization
action interpretation


A visual interpretation rating scale for validation of numerical models Purpose - The comparison of large volumes of complex data resulting from numerical modelling in computational electromagnetics is a demanding task, especially when validating the performance of numerical models against experimental results and testing experimental repeatability. "By-eye" comparisons can lead to inconsistencies and inherent subjectivity. This paper establishes a "visual" benchmark by which comparisons can be made and therefore used to assist in the development of an algorithmic approach to data comparison. Design/methodology/approach - This new method presented here is based on the Cooper-Harper Rating Scale, which is a test pilot's evaluation-rating instrument. This has been modified through qualitative research. The assertion that the rating scale will leave the group mean response unaltered but will reduce the variance has been statistically tested. Findings - The proposed rating scale provides a calibration technique by which to benchmark comparisons. The scale also reduces subjectivity by producing an overall quantitative measure of similarity. The paper concludes with an application of the rating scale to assessment of a candidate algorithmic approach against correlation. Research limitations/implications - The research findings are based on small data sets, which is a limit imposed by the industrial environment in which this scale will be used. Practical implications - This paper provides a tool to overcome some of the key substantial difficulties in communicating similarity or difference, namely that "similarity" and "difference" have no stand-alone definition, there is a lack of a shared language for the comparisons and little commonality for a decision-making framework. Originality/value - This paper provides modellers and experimentalists in computational electromagnetics (particularly electromagnetic compatibility) with a structured approach to quantifying the quality of comparative 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 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

numerical analysis
simulation
electromagnetism


A mathematical representation of economic evolution This paper analyzes a formalization of economic evolution by means of discrete dynamical systems. An evolutionary process is seen as a sequence of values of the structural parameters of the economy. Environmental pressures or internal conflicts may force structural changes. The source of changes in the last case can be found in the conflicts among structures, which can-be traced back to conflicts between the agents' models of the economy and the actual structures. As usual in evolutionary processes, there exist a variety of possibilities, but as changes respond to unfulfilled requirements,an ordering can be defined on trajectories. The maximal ones will be called progress-efficient. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

economic evolution
discrete dynamical systems


Bayesian sequential inference for stochastic kinetic biochemical network models As postgenomic biology becomes more predictive, the ability to infer rate parameters of genetic and biochemical networks will become increasingly important. In this paper, we explore the Bayesian estimation of stochastic kinetic rate constants governing dynamic models of intracellular processes. The underlying model is replaced by a diffusion approximation where a noise term represents intrinsic stochastic behavior and the model is identified using discrete-time (and often incomplete) data that is subject to measurement error. Sequential MCMC methods are then used to sample the model parameters on-line in several data-poor contexts. The methodology is illustrated by applying it to the estimation of parameters in a simple prokaryotic auto-regulatory gene network.

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 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

bayesian inference
particle filter
missing data
nonlinear diffusion
differential equation


Local approximation of scalar functions on 3D shapes and volumetric data In this paper, we tackle the problem of computing a map that locally interpolates or approximates the values of a scalar function, which have been sampled on a surface or a volumetric domain. We propose a local approximation with radial basis functions, which conjugates different features such as locality, independence of any tessellation of the sample points, and approximation accuracy. The proposed approach handles maps defined on both 3D shapes and volumetric data and has extrapolation capabilities higher than linear precision methods and moving least-squares techniques with polynomial functions. It is also robust with respect to data discretization and computationally efficient through the solution of a small and well-conditioned linear system. With respect to previous work, it allows an easy control on the preservation of local details and smoothness through both interpolating and least-squares constraints. The main application we consider is the approximation of maps defined on grids, 3D shapes, and volumetric data. (C) 2012 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 B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

function approximation
shape analysis
spectral analysis