Genetic learning of fuzzy cognitive maps Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) are a very convenient, simple, and powerful tool for simulation and analysis of dynamic systems. They were originally developed in 1980 by Kosko, and since then successfully applied to numerous domains, such as engineering, medicine, control, and political affairs. Their popularity stems from simplicity and transparency of the underlying model. At the same time FCMs are hindered by necessity of involving domain experts to develop the model. Since human experts are subjective and can handle only relatively simple networks (maps), there is an urgent need to develop methods for automated generation of FCM models. This study proposes a novel learning method that is able to generate FCM models from input historical data, and without human intervention. The proposed method is based on genetic algorithms, and requires only a single state vector sequence as an input. The paper proposes and experimentally compares several different design alternatives of genetic optimization and thoroughly tests and discusses the best design. Extensive benchmarking tests, which involve 200 FCMs with varying size and density of connections, performed on both synthetic and real-life data quantifies the performance of the development method and emphasizes its suitability. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

dynamic system modelling
decision analysis


New lower bounds and constructions for binary codes correcting asymmetric errors In this correspondence, we study binary asymmetric error-correcting codes. A general construction for binary asymmetric error-correcting codes is. presented. We show that some previously known lower bounds for binary asymmetric error-correcting codes can be obtained from this general construction. Furthermore, some new lower bounds for binary asymmetric error-correcting codes are obtained from this general construction. These new lower bounds improve the existing ones.

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

asymmetric error-correcting codes
code construction
polynomials


Scheduling multistage batch plants with parallel units and no interstage storage Scheduling production optimally in multistage multiproduct plants with parallel units is a very difficult but routine problem. While most batch plants avoid interstage storage due to minimize contamination, cleaning, waste, and so forth, the scheduling of plants with no interstage storage and mixed wait policies have received little attention compared to those with unlimited storage/wait. In this paper, we develop and evaluate several different mixed-integer linear programming formulations for scheduling plants with identical and nonidentical parallel processing units and unlimited and zero-wait interstage policies. Because the best approach for handling identical parallel units seems to be sequence-based and that for handling nonidentical units seems to be slot-based. we employ judicious mixes of these approaches to address real plants with mixes of stages with identical and nonidentical units. Our models also allow mixes of unlimited and zero interstage wait policies and scheduling objectives of makespan, tardiness, earliness, and weighted just-in-time. The weighted just-in-time scheduling seems to be more difficult than even the makespan scheduling, and more importantly, a modeling approach that does well for the former does not necessarily suit the latter. While the models presented in this paper do address successfully the scheduling needs of realistic batch plants, considerable future work is warranted for models that call solve large scheduling problems of this type. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

milp formulation
interstage storage configurations


BT's adoption of customer centric design Between 2005 and 2010 BT underwent a major transformation from a company with a special section devoted to older and disabled consumers to a company with an inclusive design strategy. The mainstreaming of these issues responded to a demand for better, more user-friendly communications products and growing awareness of the importance of previously marginalised consumer groups. It also took place alongside the development and publication of BS7000-6, a guide to inclusive design management. Based on several product design case studies, this paper reflects on how and why this transformation was seen as necessary for future success, and how the transformation was achieved. The evolution of BT's approach has continued since, but this paper looks back in time, and documents the transformation up to 2010 and reflects the state of the company in 2010 rather than at the time of publication.

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

inclusive design
customer centric design

business transformation
inclusive products


Assessing variation in utilization for acute myocardial infarction in New York State ? Wide variations exist in healthcare expenditures, though most prior studies have assessed aggregate utilization. We sought to examine healthcare utilization variation in New York State by assessing hospitals in peer groups of similar capabilities. Using charge data in New York State from the 2008 Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) and cost-to-charge ratios at the cost-center level drawn from Institutional Cost Reports, we calculated total, routine, and ancillary costs for patients discharged with an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) diagnosis in 2008. We assessed the correlation of these cost data to Hospital Referral Region (HRR) Medicare reimbursement data from the 2007 Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. After describing hospital level cost variability, we examined characteristics associated with higher costs within peer groups of similar cardiac care capabilities. We found greater costs in hospitals providing the highest level of cardiovascular services, with cardiac surgery capable hospitals and non-invasive hospitals having total costs of $21,166 and $9268 per AMI discharge, and ancillary costs of $12,006 and $4167 per AMI discharge, respectively. Substantial variability in utilization existed in all levels of hospitals and across individual departmental cost centers. The two factors most frequently associated with higher total and ancillary costs across peer groups were patient case mix index and major or minor teaching status. Significant variation in cost per AMI discharge exists even within peer groups of hospitals with similar cardiac care capabilities. These findings support measurement and analysis at the hospital level to further understand the reasons for variation in utilization.

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

utilization
expenditures
myocardial infarction


overcoming barriers among israeli and palestinian students via computer science The Middle East Education Through Technology (MEET) program is a non-profit organization based in Jerusalem, that aims to empower future Israeli and Palestinian leaders by teaching them computer science and business. From the perspective of MEET's instructors, this paper describes how MEET uses computer science education to foster professional and personal contact among Israeli and Palestinian high school students, two groups who otherwise would have little or no interaction with each other. MEET's primary method of overcoming the barrier is teamwork: students are divided into groups that include both Israelis and Palestinians and are assigned software engineering tasks. We believe that the techniques used by MEET can serve as examples for other computer science programs that overcome barriers between groups in the United States and other countries.

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

israeli-palestinian relations
ethnic conflict


Disc Covering Problem with Application to Digital Halftoning This paper considers the following geometric optimization problem: Input is a matrix R=(r (ij) ). Each entry r (ij) represents a radius of a disc with its center at (i,j) in the plane. We want to choose discs in such a way that the total area covered by exactly one disc is maximized. This problem is closely related to digital halftoning, a technique to convert a continuous-tone image into a binary image for printing. An exact algorithm is given for the one-dimensional version of the problem while approximation algorithms are given for the two-dimensional one. The approximation algorithms are verified to be satisfactory in practice through experiments in applications to digital halftoning.

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

approximation algorithm
computational geometry
voronoi diagram


A Blind Image Watermarking Based on Dual Detector This paper presents a blind image watermarking technique based on a novel detection scheme which contains two detectors aiming at the positive attack and negative attack, respectively. The analysis on signal processing attack indicates that there exist unreliable transformed coefficients in the attacked image which result in errors of the extraction of watermark data. The novel detection scheme removes the unreliable transformed coefficients and employs the remaining reliable coefficients for the extraction of embedded watermark. The experimental results indicate the proposed technique improves robustness significantly, as compared to the existing single detector scheme.

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

image watermarking
robustness
dual detector


Replenishment run time problem with machine breakdown and failure in rework This paper studies the optimal replenishment run time for a production system with stochastic machine breakdown and failure in rework. In most real world manufacturing processes, generation of defective items and random breakdown of equipment are inevitable. This research addresses such reliability issues by examining a production system with a Poisson breakdown rate and an imperfect reworking process. When machine breaks down, no-resumption policy is adopted. Under such a policy, the present production run is aborted and will be restarted only when all on-hand inventories are depleted. Mathematical modeling is used. Derivations of production- inventory cost functions and proofs of theorems and proposition are presented, with the objective of determination of the optimal replenishment run time and lot size that minimize the expected costs per unit time. An illustrating example is provided to show its practical usage. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

replenishment run time
failure in rework
machine breakdown

production planning and control
optimization


A Novel VLSI Architecture of SPIHT Using Breadth First Search for Real-Time Applications A bit-plane parallel architecture for a modified set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) without lists algorithm, which uses breadth first search scheme, is proposed. The breadth first search scheme is suitable for very large scale integration (VLSI) implementation based on the analysis of SPIHT algorithm. The architecture has advantages of high parallelism, no intermediate buffer as a single tree is scanned. After field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) synthesis and simulation, the throughput of the proposed architecture can reach 60 MSample/Sec. As the breadth first search scheme is very similar to that of SPIHT with lists, the quality of reconstructed images is almost the same with that of SPIHT with lists.

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


COSMIC: A real-time event-based middleware for the CAN-bus The paper describes the event model and the architecture of the COSMIC (COoperating SMart devICes) middleware. Based on the assumption of tiny smart sensors and actuators, COSMIC supports a distributed system of cooperating autonomous devices. COSMIC considers quality of service requirements in the event model and provides an application interface which allows to express the respective temporal and reliability attributes on a high, application related abstraction level. According to the need in most real-time systems, COSMIC supports event channels with different timeliness and reliability classes. Hard real-time event channels are considered to meet all temporal requirements under the specified fault assumptions. The resource requirements for this type of channel are statically assigned by an appropriate reservation scheme. Soft real-time event channels are scheduled by their deadlines, but they are not guaranteed under transient overload conditions. Non-real-time event channels are used for events without any specified timeliness requirements in a best-effort manner. The paper finally presents the layered COSMIC architecture to map the different channel classes to the CAN-Bus.

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

cooperative control
real-time event channel
message scheduling
can-bus


A strong user authentication scheme with smart cards for wireless communications Seamless roaming over wireless network is highly desirable to mobile users, and security such as authentication of mobile users is challenging. Recently, due to tamper-resistance and convenience in managing a password file, some smart card based secure authentication schemes have been proposed. This paper shows some security weaknesses in those schemes. As the main contribution of this paper, a secure and light-weight authentication scheme with user anonymity is presented. It is simple to implement for mobile user since it only performs a symmetric encryption/decryption operation. Having this feature, it is more suitable for the low-power and resource-limited mobile devices. In addition, it requires four message exchanges between mobile user, foreign agent and home agent. Thus, this protocol enjoys both computation and communication efficiency as compared to the well-known authentication schemes. As a special case, we consider the authentication protocol when a user is located in his/her home network. Also, the session key will be used only once between the mobile user and the visited network. Besides, security analysis demonstrates that our scheme enjoys important security attributes such as preventing the various kinds of attacks, single registration, user anonymity, no password/verifier table, and high efficiency in password authentication, etc. Moreover, one of the new features in our proposal is: it is secure in the case that the information stored in the smart card is disclosed but the user password of the smart card owner is unknown to the attacker. To the best of our knowledge, until now no user authentication scheme for wireless communications has been proposed to prevent from smart card breach. Finally, performance analysis shows that compared with known smart card based authentication protocols, our proposed scheme is more simple, secure and efficient. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

authentication
smart card
security
anonymity


Spatio-temporal spectrum modeling: Taxonomy and economic evaluation of context acquisition Much of the research in dynamic spectrum access (DSA) has focused on opportunistic access in the temporal domain. While this has been quite useful in establishing the technical feasibility of DSA systems, it has missed large sections of the overall DSA problem space. This paper argues that the spatio-temporal operating context of specific environments matters to the selection of the appropriate technology for learning context information. It identifies twelve potential operating environments and compares four context awareness approaches (on-board sensing, databases, sensor network, and cooperative sharing) for these environments. In order for operators, regulators, and users to be interested in deploying DSA based networks, the expected costs should be in proportion to what the users are realistically willing to pay for services. Consequently, it is important to conduct cost analysis for different DSA approaches in parallel with the technical research. Regulators and major stakeholders should pay attention to the operating environment of DSA systems when determining which approaches to context learning to encourage. The incremental capital costs; over a basic software radio; have been compared for the four context awareness approaches after an estimation analysis for each cost component. Since DSA is still a relatively new research field, there is a lot of uncertainty associated with incremental cost analyses. As a result, the cost analysis is parameterized to allow for explicit reasoning about the bounds of cost components.

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

dynamic spectrum access
cost analysis
context awareness


Collective variable driven molecular dynamics to improve proteinprotein docking scoring Proteinprotein interactions are fundamental in most cellular processes. Hydrogen bond networks play a key role in molecular recognition. MD is the tool by excellence to explore the protein potential energy landscape. Collective variable driven MD have been able to accelerate rare events.

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

proteinprotein
docking
scoring
collective variable
molecular dynamics


A Class of Complementary Sequences with Multi-Width Zero Cross-Correlation Zone A novel construction of complementary sequences with multi-width zero cross-correlation zone (ZCCZ) is presented based on the interleaving iteration of a basic kernel set. The presented multi-width ZCCZ complementary (MWZC) sequences can be divided into multiple sequence groups, the correlation functions of which possess one-width intragroup ZCCZ and multi-width intergroup ZCCZ. When an arbitrary orthogonal sequence set with set size equal to sequence length is used as a basic kernel set, the constructed MWZC sequence set and the combination sets of specific subsets with each subset including several groups can be optimal with respect to the theoretical bound on set size. In addition, the MWZC sequence set includes complementary sequence sets with one-width or two-width ZCCZ as special subsets, and allows a more flexible choice of sequence parameters.

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

complementary sequence
interleaving iteration

sequence design
cdma communication
zero cross-correlation zone


Hoare logic-based genetic programming Almost all existing genetic programming systems deal with fitness evaluation solely by testing. In this paper, by contrast, we present an original approach that combines genetic programming with Hoare logic with the aid of model checking and finite state automata, henceby proposing a brand new verification-focused formal genetic programming system that makes it possible to evolve reliable programs with mathematicallyverified properties.

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

genetic programming
hoare logic
model checking
finite state automata


Sznajd model with "social temperature" and defender on small-world networks The Sznajd model for the spread of opinions gives a good explanation of the influence among the neighbors, that is the external factor. In this paper, we add an internal factor to Sznajd model, which determines the probability of one's acceptance of other's opinion. We define this factor as social temperature, and we study the relationship between this temperature and time. We also consider the people who do not change their opinions as defenders and analyze their efforts.

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

opinion evolution
shortcutting neighbor
conservative
active
opinion consensus


A chaotic-based big bangbig crunch algorithm for solving global optimisation problems Big bangbig crunch (BBBC) algorithm is a fairly novel gradient-free optimisation algorithm. It is based on theories of evolution of the universe, namely the big bang and big crunch theory. The big challenge in BBBC is that it is easily trapped in local optima. In this paper, chaotic-based strategies are incorporated into BBBC to tackle this challenge. Five various chaotic-based BBBC strategies with three different chaotic map functions are investigated and the best one is selected as the proposed chaotic strategy for BBBC. The results of applying the proposed chaotic BBBC to different unimodal and multimodal benchmark functions vividly show that chaotic-based BBBC yields quality solutions. It significantly outperforms conventional BBBC, cuckoo search optimisation and gravitational search algorithm.

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

big bangbig crunch algorithm
global optimisation


A new SavageHutter type model for submarine avalanches and generated tsunami In this paper, we present a new two-layer model of SavageHutter type to study submarine avalanches. A layer composed of fluidized granular material is assumed to flow within an upper layer composed of an inviscid fluid (e.g. water). The model is derived in a system of local coordinates following a non-erodible bottom and takes into account its curvature. We prove that the model verifies an entropy inequality, preserves water at rest for a sediment layer and their solutions can be seen as particular solutions of incompressible Euler equations under hydrostatic assumptions. Buoyancy effects and the centripetal acceleration of the grain movement due to the curvature of the bottom are considered in the definition of the Coulomb term. We propose a two-step Roe type solver to discretize the presented model. It exactly preserves water at rest and no movement of the sediment layer, when its angle is smaller than the angle of repose, and up to second order all stationary solutions. Finally, some numerical tests are performed by simulating submarine and sub-aerial avalanches as well as the generated tsunami.

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

savagehutter model
well-balance
finite volume methods


Surface Expression of Fractalkine Receptor (CX3CR1) on CD4+/CD28? T Cells in RA Patients and Correlation with Atherosclerotic Damage Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with accelerated atherosclerosis. Fractalkine, a CX3C/chemokine (CX3CL1), mediates monocytesmacrophage infiltration in activated endothelium, suggesting its specific role in atherosclerosis-related inflammation. In this study, we evaluate the following in early RA patient

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

rheumatoid arthritis
atherosclerosis
fractalkine


Investigation of multicast-based mobility support in all-IP cellular networks To solve the IP mobility problem, the use of multicast has been proposed in a number of different approaches, applying multicast in different characteristic ways. We provide a systematic discussion of fundamental options for multicast-based mobility support and the definition and experimental performance evaluation of selected schemes. The discussion is based on an analysis of the architectural, performance-related, and functional requirements. By using these requirements and selecting options regarding network architecture and multicast protocols, we identify promising combinations and derive four case studies for multicast-based mobility in IP-based cellular networks. These case studies include both the standard any-source IP multicast model as well as non-standard multicast models, which optimally utilize the underlying multicast. We describe network architecture and protocols as well as a flexible software environment that allows to easily implement these and other classes of mobility-supporting multicast protocols. Multicast schemes enable a high degree of flexibility for mobility mechanisms in order to meet the service quality required by the applications with minimal protocol overhead. We evaluate this overhead using our software environment by implementing prototypes and quantifying handoff-specific metrics, namely, handoff and paging latency, packet loss and duplication rates, as well as TCP goodput. The measurement results show that these multicast-based schemes improve handoff performance for high mobility in comparison to the reference cases: basic and hierarchical Mobile IP. Comparing the multicast-schemes among each other the performance for the evaluated metrics is very similar. As a result of the conceptual framework classification and our performance evaluations, we justify specific protocol mechanisms that utilize specific features of the multicast. Based on this justification, we advocate the usage of a source-specific multicast service model for multicast-based mobility support that adverts the weaknesses of the classical Internet any-source multicast service model. Copyright (C) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

mobile computing
performance measurements


Autonomous authoring tools for hypertext Autonomous authoring tools are routinely used to expedite the translation of large document collections into functioning hypertexts. They are also used to add hyperlinks to pre-existing hypertext structures. In this survey we describe a taxonomy of autonomous hypertext authoring tools. The classification of any given system is determined by the type and nature of the document analysis it performs.

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

automatic hypertext generation systems
link generation


homomorphic factorization of brdfs for high-performance rendering A bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) describes how a material reflects light from its surface. To use arbitrary BRDFs in real-time rendering, a compression technique must be used to represent BRDFs using the available texture-mapping and computational capabilities of an accelerated graphics pipeline. We present a numerical technique, homomorphic factorization, that can decompose arbitrary BRDFs into products of two or more factors of lower dimensionality, each factor dependent on a different interpolated geometric parameter. Compared to an earlier factorization technique based on the singular value decomposition, this new technique generates a factorization with only positive factors (which makes it more suitable for current graphics hardware accelerators), provides control over the smoothness of the result, minimizes relative rather than absolute error, and can deal with scattered, sparse data without a separate resampling and interpolation algorithm.

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

use pipeline graphics control capabilities factor rendering data material reflectance algorithm compression interpolation surface

high-performance
computation
acceleration
singular value decomposition (svd)
texture mapping
errors
lighting
posit
graphics hardware
product
dependencies
functional
real-time rendering
relation
smooth
distributed


a complete distance field representation Distance fields are an important volume representation. A high quality distance field facilitates accurate surface characterization and gradient estimation. However, due to Nyquist's Law, no existing volumetric methods based on the linear sampling theory can fully capture surface details, such as corners and edges, in 3D space. We propose a novel complete distance field representation (CDFR) that does not rely on Nyquist's sampling theory. To accomplish this, we construct a volume where each voxel has a complete description of all portions of surface that affect the local distance field. For any desired distance, we are able to extract a surface contour in true Euclidean distance, at any level of accuracy, from the same CDFR representation. Such point-based iso-distance contours have faithful per-point gradients and can be interactively visualized using splatting, providing per-point shaded image quality. We also demonstrate applying CDFR to a cutting edge design for manufacturing application involving high-complexity parts at un-precedented accuracy using only commonly available computational resources.

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

point-based models
polygonal surfaces
volume modeling
graphics


Using markets to engineer resource management for the information grid Information systems are continually expanding as evidenced by the doubling of Internet connections every year. Similar growth is exhibited by information systems in defense. The Air Force's goals to achieve global awareness, dynamic planning/execution, and global information exchange involve the technologies to provide information to the warrior anywhere, anytime, and for any mission. This far-reaching enterprise will necessarily span multiple networks and computing domains of both the commercial and military varieties. As a result, many users with different goals and priorities vie for the communication and computing resources of the information grid. Managing this vast system to assure dependable operation that maintains users' quality of service levels has led researchers to propose economic models to solve the resource management problem. Information technology has begun to fundamentally alter the way business is conducted, and there is synergy between e-commerce and the management of the underlying information resources on which it runs. This paper examines the envisioned market-based, large-scale information systems for defense. Due to their criticality, these systems must also manage resources to provide survivability in the presence of information attacks. This potential for technology transfer from the defense sector to the commercial sector are described. Conversely, the leveraging of research performed in the non-military realm of e-commerce to reach the Air Force's goals will also be explored.

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 B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 information systems
market-based control


Effects of geometry, applied hydrostatic pressure and magnetic field on the electronhole transition energy in a GaAsGa1?xAlxAs pillbox immersed in a system of Ga1?yAlyAs In this work, we study the behavior of the electronhole transition energy in a GaAsGa1?xAlxAs pillbox immersed in a system of Ga1?yAlyAs as a function of thickness of the ladder barrier potential for a fixed length of the pillbox, length of the pillbox, thickness of the ladder barriers and pillbox position in the host of Ga1?yAlyAs. The behavior of the electronhole transition energy as a function of an applied hydrostatic pressure and an applied magnetic field is also studied. For both electron and hole we found that in the strong confinement regime (L?10) energy of the ground state as function of the position of the pillbox relative to the ladder barrier potential presents a behavior similar to the binding energy of a hydrogenic impurity in quantum wells, quantum wires and quantum dots [L. Esaki, R. Tsu, IBM J. Res. Dev. 14 (1970) 61; G. Bastard, Phys. Rev. B 24 (1981) 4714; N. Porras-Montenegro, J. Lpez-Gondar, L.E. Oliveira, Phys. Rev. B 43 (1991) 1824]. Electronheavy hole transition energies increase with the applied magnetic field. Also, we have found that these transition energies, as a function of the applied hydrostatic pressure, present an excellent agreement with experimental reports by Venkateswaran et al. [phys. Rev. B 33 (1986) 8416].

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


Selection of Candidate Support Vectors in incremental SVM for network intrusion detection ? In an Incremental Support Vector Machine classification, the data objects labelled as non-support vectors by the previous classification are re-used as training data in the next classification along with new data samples verified by KarushKuhnTucker (KKT) condition. This paper proposes Half-partition strategy of selecting and retaining non-support vectors of the current increment of classification named as Candidate Support Vectors (CSV) which are likely to become support vectors in the next increment of classification. This research work also designs an algorithm named the Candidate Support Vector based Incremental SVM (CSV-ISVM) algorithm that implements the proposed strategy and materializes the whole process of incremental SVM classification. This work also suggests modifications to the previously proposed concentric-ring method and reserved set strategy. Performance of the proposed method is evaluated with experiments and also by comparing it with other ISVM techniques. Experimental results and performance analyses show that the proposed algorithm CSV-ISVM is better than general ISVM classifications for real-time network intrusion detection.

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

incremental support vector machine
candidate support vector
network intrusion detection

karushkuhntucker condition
half-partition strategy


combining tasking and transaction This position paper discusses the issues in design and development of a transaction support for Ada 95. Transactions and other fault tolerance mechanisms are reviewed, and their applicability in a concurrent programming language is analyzed. Possible ways of integration are presented, and implementation problems are discussed.

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


Fuzzy simple additive weighting method by preference ratio Although simple additive weighting method (SAW) is the most popular approach for classical multiple attribute decision making (MADM), it is not practical any more if information is fuzzy. The existing methods of Fuzzy Simple Additive Weighting method (FSAW) apply defuzzification which distorts fuzzy numbers. Furthermore, most of the methods usually require lengthy and laborious manipulations. In this paper, we develop a new a fuzzy simple additive weighting method for multiple attribute decision making problems. To avoid defuzzification round off errors caused by multiplication or other arithmetic manipulations, fuzzy numbers are ranked prior to any fuzzy arithmetic in this method. The ranking is done by preference ratio concept which compares fuzzy numbers pairwise. Since this method eventually assigns crisp scores to alternatives, it is practical and more realistic. We also present three other algorithms for ranking or normalizing fuzzy numbers which are actually sub algorithms of the main method.

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

fsaw
madm
fuzzy numbers
preference ratio
decision making
ranking


Computational methods for underdetermined convolutive speech localization and separation via model-based sparse component analysis Model-based sparse component analysis exploits structured sparsity for source separation. Spectral sparsity structures are formulated upon the principles of auditory scene analysis. Spatial sparsity structures are formulated upon the image model of multipath propagation. Performance of greedy, convex and Bayesian sparse recovery are evaluated. Ad hoc microphone arrays may lead to significant improvement in SCA performance.

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

structured sparse representation
model-based sparse recovery
reverberation
source localization and separation
computational auditory scene analysis


Innovative approaches to integrated global change modelling ? Integrated models are important tools to investigate the interactions between planetary processes and the growing impacts of human populations in short: global change. Current models still have significant shortcomings, notably in their representation of socio-economic processes and the feedbacks between these and the environmental system. They are also often not designed with sufficient transparency to enable participation of interested parties or effective communication with stakeholders and policy makers. These deficiencies are discussed and possible directions for improvement are identified. This Thematic Issue provides a collection of papers that offer a number of innovative ideas for remedying these shortcomings using novel methods and approaches.

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

global change
modelling
innovative approaches

integrated assessment
research priorities


bayesian ignorance We quantify the effect of Bayesian ignorance by comparing the social cost obtained in a Bayesian game by agents with local views to the expected social cost of agents having global views. Both benevolent agents, whose goal is to minimize the social cost, and selfish agents, aiming at minimizing their own individual costs, are considered. When dealing with selfish agents, we consider both best and worst equilibria outcomes. While our model is general, most of our results concern the setting of network cost sharing (NCS) games. We provide tight asymptotic results on the effect of Bayesian ignorance in directed and undirected NCS games with benevolent and selfish agents. Among our findings we expose the counter-intuitive phenomenon that "gnorance is bliss": Bayesian ignorance may substantially improve the social cost of selfish agents. We also prove that public random bits can replace the knowledge of the common prior in attempt to bound the effect of Bayesian ignorance in settings with benevolent agents. Together, our work initiates the study of the effects of local vs. global views on the social cost of agents in Bayesian contexts.

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


Towards a Wi-Fi ecosystem: Technology integration and emerging service models ? This paper outlines emerging business models of heterogeneous wireless networks that are mainly Wi-Fi centric. Wi-Fi networks can be integrated with the Internet and cellular infrastructures to offer innovative services (data and voice) to individuals and businesses. In the metro area network or a hot city type of coverage, an integration of WiMAX and Wi-Fi technologies will provide the most cost-effective solution of backhaul and access, for both voice and data services. In the cellular arena, as mobile operators look for new ways to connect, Wi-Fi can easily be integrated with the existing mobile data networks (2.5G/3G). An integrated offering that combines the mobility of cellular and the speed of Wi-Fi is an ideal mix for mobile broadband subscribers. This article also analyzes how Wi-Fi technology is being complementary to other wireless technologies, leading to an expansion of an organized Wi-Fi ecosystem. From an integration standpoint, this article shows the importance of Wi-Fi for cellular operators and also shows how Wi-Fi is crucial for WiMAX technology to evolve, till the mobile version of WiMAX becomes a reality. Finally, the paper describes why regulators and policy makers should seek suitable strategies to promote or encourage Wi-Fi as an alternative broadband access technology.

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

wimax
cellular
integration
service models


Edge layer embedding algorithm for mitigating on-package variation in 3D clock tree synthesis A 3D stacked IC is made of multiple dies possibly with heterogeneous process technologies. Therefore, the die-to-die variation between the stacked dies creates on-package variation in a 3D chip. In this paper, we analyze the effect of on-package variation on the 3D clock trees and address the problem of on-package variation aware layer embedding in 3D clock tree synthesis. The layer embedding problem is divided into two sub-problems: clock node embedding and clock edge embedding. While the clock node embedded problem has been intensively investigated by the previous 3D clock tree synthesis flows because the solution directly determines the TSV allocation, the clock edge embedding problem has not been fully addressed yet. We show in this work that a careful clock edge embedding can greatly reduce the impact of on-package variation on the 3D clock skew, thereby enhancing chip yield, and propose a two-step solution to the problem of on-package variation aware layer embedding of clock edges. Specifically, we formulate the edge embedding problem into a problem of maximizing the sharing of layers among the clock paths to minimize the impact of on-package variation globally and solve it efficiently, followed by applying a fine-grained refinement technique to balance the clock latency locally among the clock paths. From the experiments with Benchmark circuits, we confirm that compared to the results produced by the conventional on-package variation unaware layer embedding of clock edges, the proposed algorithm is able to improve the chip yield by 6.225.8% and 5.344.4% for 2-layered and 4-layered 3D designs, respectively.

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 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 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 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

on-package variation
3d ics
optimization
design methodology


Cluster Sculptor, an interactive visual clustering system This paper describes Cluster Sculptor, a novel interactive clustering system that allows a user to iteratively update the cluster labels of a data set, and an associated low-dimensional projection. The system is fed by clustering results computed in a high-dimensional space, and uses a two-dimensional (2D) projection, both as support for overlaying the cluster labels, and engaging user interaction. By easily interacting with elements directly in the visualization, the user can inject his or her domain knowledge progressively. Via interactive controls, the distribution of the data in the 2D space can be used to amend the cluster labels. Reciprocally, the 2D projection can be updated so as to emphasize the current clusters. The 2D projection updates follow a smooth physical metaphor that gives insight of the process to the user. Updates can be interrupted any time, for further data inspection, or modifying the input preferences. The interest of the system is demonstrated by detailed experimental scenarios on three real data sets.

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

interactive clustering
visual clustering


Distances based on neighbourhood sequences in non-standard three-dimensional grids Properties for distances based on neighbourhood sequences on the face-centred cubic (fcc) and the body-centred cubic (bcc) grids are presented. Formulas to both compute the distances and assure that the distances satisfy the conditions for being metrics are presented and proved to be correct. The formulas are used to calculate the neighbourhood sequences that generates distances with lowest deviation from the Euclidean distance.

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

distance functions
3d image processing
non-standard grids


Macro 64-regions for uniform grids on GPU Uniform grids are a spatial subdivision acceleration structure well suited for ray tracing. They are known for their fast build times and ease of use, but suffer from slow traversals in the presence of empty space. To address this issue, we present macro 64-regions, a new GPU based approach for finding and storing empty volumes in an underlying uniform grid. This allows for fast traversals through regions that do not contain scene geometry. Further, unlike previous solutions to this problem, we do not store a hierarchical structure and therefore the traversal steps are simplified. Because macro 64-regions are dependent on an underlying grid, we also introduce an improvement in the grid construction process. Our method does not rely on sorting as previous methods do, but instead uses atomic operators to manage bookkeeping during the build. Using our proposed methods, we show a substantial improvement in build time, trace time, as well as an improvement in the consistency of rendering times for randomly generated views.

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


physical synthesis methodology for high performance microprocessors Integrated logic synthesis and physical design (physical synthesis) continues to play a very important role in high performance microprocessor design methodologies. In this paper, we present the integrated physical synthesis timing closure methodology used in the current generation microprocessors. Physical synthesis techniques were aggressively used as part of logic and placement optimizations for performance, power and area. The design turn around times were significantly reduced and timing convergence was consistently acheived.

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

role
physical design
play
generation
methodology
performance
design
placement
logic synthesis
power
physical
logic
timing
paper
microprocessors
synthesis
convergence


The Java management extensions (JMX): Is your cluster ready for evolution? The arrival of commodity hardware configurations with performance rivaling that offered by RISC workstations is resulting in important advances in the slate of the art of building and running very large scalable clusters at "mass market" pricing levels. However, cluster middleware layers are still considered as static infrastructures which are not ready for evolution. In this paper, we claim that middleware layers based on both agent and Java technologies offer new opportunities to support clusters where services can be dynamically added, removed, and reconfigured. To support this claim, we present the Java management extensions, a new Java agent-based technology, and its application to implement two disjoint cluster management middleware services (a remote reboot service and a distributed infrastructure for collecting Log events) which share a unique agent-based infrastructure. (C) 2000 Academic Press.

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 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


DNA chips for species identification and biological phylogenies The codeword design problem is an important problem in DNA computing and its applications. Several theoretical analyses as well as practical solutions for short oligonucleotides (up to 20-mers) have been generated recently. These solutions have, in turn, suggested new applications to DNA-based indexing and natural language processing, in addition to the obvious applications to the problems of reliability and scalability that generated them. Here we continue the exploration of this type of DNA-based indexing for biological applications and show that DNA noncrosshybridizing (nxh) sets can be successfully applied to infer ab initio phylogenetic trees by providing a way to measure distances among different genomes indexed by sets of short oligonucleotides selected so as to minimize crosshybridization. These phylogenies are solidly established and well accepted in biology. The new technique is much more effective in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, cost and time than current methods. Second, it is demonstrated that DNA indexing does provide novel and principled insights into the phylogenesis of organisms hitherto inaccessible by current methods, such as a prediction of the origin of the Salmonella plasmid 50 as being acquired horizontally, likely from some bacteria somewhat related to Yesinia. Finally, DNA indexing can be scaled up to newly available universal DNA chips readily available both in vitro and in silico. In particular, we show how a recently obtained such set of nxh 16-mers can be used as a universal coordinate system in DNA spaces to characterize very large groups (families, genera, and even phylla) of organisms on a uniform biomarker reference system, a veritable and comprehensive Atlas of Life, as it is or as it could be on earth.

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 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


User-space auto-tuning for TCP flow control in computational grids With the advent of computational grids, networking performance over the wide-area network (WAN) has become a critical component in the grid infrastructure. Unfortunately, many high-performance grid applications only use a small fraction of their available bandwidth because operating systems and their associated protocol stacks are still tuned for yesterday's network speeds. As a result, network gurus undertake the tedious process of manually tuning system buffers to allow TCP flow control to scale to today's WAN environments. And although recent research has shown how to set the size of these system buffers automatically at connection set-up, the buffer sizes are only appropriate at the beginning of the connection's lifetime. To address these problems, we describe an automated and lightweight technique called Dynamic Right-Sizing that can improve throughput by as much as an order of magnitude while still abiding by TCP semantics. We show the performance of two user-space implementations of DRS: drsFTP and DRS-enabled GridFTP. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

flow-control
buffer tuning
auto-tuning
dynamic right-sizing
ftp


An Array-Based Test Circuit for Fully Automated Gate Dielectric Breakdown Characterization We propose an array-based test circuit for efficiently characterizing gate dielectric breakdown. Such a design is highly beneficial when studying this statistical process, where up to thousands of samples are needed to create an accurate time to breakdown Weibull distribution. The proposed circuit also facilitates investigations of any spatial correlation of dielectric failures, and can monitor a progressive decrease in gate resistance. Measurement results are presented from a 32 x 32 test array implemented in a 130-nm bulk CMOS process. Results show that this system is capable of taking accurate measurements across a range of voltages and temperatures, which is critical for extrapolating accelerated stress experiment results to expected device lifetimes under realistic operating conditions.

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

aging
circuit reliability
digital measurements


Automatic 3D tracking system for large swarm of moving objects We present a 3D tracking for a large number of targets. We propose a framework that resolves detection and stereo ambiguities effectively. We propose a 3D tracker that tracks targets in 3D space from 2D cues. We have conducted systematical evaluation experiments.

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

target swarm
particle filter
3d reconstruction
multiple hypothesis tracking


A self-adjusting primal-dual interior point method for linear programs In this paper, we propose a new proximity measure function based on the min-max principle, and use its optimality condition as the centering equation in a primal-dual path following algorithm. The basic idea is to create a self-adjusting mechanism in the perturbed equations themselves so as to adaptively tune current search directions according to information gained from the last iterate. Through computing the Netlib test problems and making numerical comparison with Lipsol software package, the efficiency of the proposed algorithm is justified.

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

linear programming
central path
self-adjusting


An Integration of Cloud Transform and Rough Set Theory to Induction of Decision Trees Decision trees are one of the most popular data-mining techniques for knowledge discovery. Many approaches for induction of decision trees often deal with the continuous data and missing values in information systems. However, they do not perform well in real situations. This paper presents a new algorithm, decision tree construction based on the Cloud transform and Rough set theory under the characteristic relation (CR), for mining classification knowledge from a given data set. The continuous data is transformed into discrete qualitative concepts via the cloud transformation and then the attribute with the smallest weighted mean roughness under the characteristic relation is selected as the current splitting node. Experimental evaluation shows the decision trees constructed by the CR algorithm tend to have a simpler structure, much higher classification accuracy and more understandable rules than those by C5.0 in most cases.

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

rough set theory
cloud transform
decision trees
weighted mean roughness
characteristic relation


Corporate ergonomics programme at Ford Motor Company The use of ergonomic principles in automobile assembly and manufacturing operations has become an important part of a comprehensive health and safety process as well as an integral part of the engineering systems. Ford Motor Company has developed an ergonomics process to manage issues related to injury and illness (e.g., musculoskeletal diseases) and to ensure the appropriate use of human resources on the plant floor. The ergonomics programme uses joint labour and management teams to identify and evaluate jobs and develop and implement solutions. This paper summarises the efforts of the Ford Motor Company in implementing and maintaining the programme. Key strategies are outlined that provide important links to internal organisational units that are critical to fully utilise the ergonomics process. In addition, the paper outlines differences between proactive and reactive efforts and shows the importance of using the information generated by the initiatives for process improvement.

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


Multi-route railroad blocking problem by improved model and ant colony algorithm in real world In rail freight transportation, general merchandise freight cars may pass through many classification stations on their route from origin to destination. The Railroad Blocking Problem (RBP) is to reclassify inbound traffic from various origins in the classification stations and put them on outbound trains with the same or close destinations, the objective of the RBP is to minimize the total operating costs of delivering all traffic on the railway network while satisfying the resource and capacity constraints at the stations and the priority constraints for shipments. In this paper, we introduce a new mathematic model which can comprehensively describe the blocking strategy and various combinations of multi-route O-D pairs in large scale railway network. Furthermore, we propose an improved Ant Colony (AC) algorithm for RPB, and a computational experiment derived from the real life instances of coal heavy haul rail network in north China is given. Experimental results verified the validation of the model and effectiveness of the algorithm. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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 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

railroad blocking problem
ant colony algorithm

train blocking plan
transportation planning
optimization


contextual relevance feedback We present results of a preliminary study of a pile-based information retrieval interface that supports contextual relevance feedback. We designed two interfaces based on the pile metaphor, one which supported contextual relevance feedback and the other which did not, and conducted a within-subjects laboratory evaluation with 24 subjects. Results demonstrate support for the pile-based approach generally, with users indicating that it assisted them in structuring and managing their search results. There were significant differences between usability assessments of each interface and in the interactions in which subjects engaged while they were seeking information. Although we found no significant differences in performance between interfaces, subjects showed a strong preference for the contextual relevance feedback interface over the other, and believed that they did better with that interface.

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

user study
interactive ir
context
ir interfaces


Fuzzy programming approach to multi-objective stochastic programming problems when b(i)'s follow joint normal distribution In this paper, a multi-objective chance constrained programming problem has been considered when bi's are normal random variables and the constraints have a joint probability distribution. The probabilistic problem is converted into an equivalent deterministic non-linear programming problem. Then the fuzzy programming technique has been applied to obtain a compromise solution. A numerical example is also presented to illustrate the methodology. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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

chance constrained programming
normal distribution
fuzzy programming

joint constraint
incomplete gamma function


Lorentz gas cellular automata on graphs Lorentz Gas Cellular Automata (LGCA) are models of parallel many-tape Turing machines generated by the motion of localized (point) objects (particles, signals, wave trains, etc.) on a graph. In each vertex v of the graph we store a symbol. A read/write head of the Turing machine is represented as an object that hops from one vertex of the graph to another according to a rule (symbol) stored in the vertex. Thus, the symbols stored in the vertices represent scattering rules (or simply scatterers) of the lattice gas. It is assumed that initially the scatterers are randomly distributed among the vertices of the graph. The random environment formed by the scatterers may either be fixed or evolve due to collisions with the moving object. The collisions simulate storing of a new symbol in the vertex of the graph. We investigate these models with fixed environment in general types of graphs and the models with evolving environments on trees. Remarkably, it occurred that all models with fixed environments and many models with evolving environment behave like a depth-first search on the underlying graph. Observe that such behavior occurs for any initial random distribution of scatterers rather than for some "specially prepared" initial configurations of scatterers. We also give estimates of periods of orbits on finite graphs. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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 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

lorentz lattice gases
depth-first search


Bayesian estimation of state-space models using the MetropolisHastings algorithm within Gibbs sampling In this paper, an attempt is made to show a general solution to nonlinear and/or non-Gaussian state-space modeling in a Bayesian framework, which corresponds to an extension of Carlin et al. (J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 87(418) (1992) 493500) and Carter and Kohn (Biometrika 81(3) (1994) 541553; Biometrika 83(3) (1996) 589601). Using the Gibbs sampler and the MetropolisHastings algorithm, an asymptotically exact estimate of the smoothing mean is obtained from any nonlinear and/or non-Gaussian model. Moreover, taking several candidates of the proposal density function, we examine precision of the proposed Bayes estimator.

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

bayesian estimation
gibbs sampler
metropolishastings algorithm
proposal density

state-space model
markov chain monte carlo
nonlinear and/or non-gaussian smoothing


Hemodynamic Analysis for Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (TIPS) in the Liver Based on a CT-Image In this paper, we apply a 3-D flow model and a 1-D circulation model to the hemodynamic analysis of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS), the therapy for treating acute portal hypertension (PH) induced diseases. Using the 3-D model we are able to simulate the blood flow within a patient-specific TIPS system which was reconstructed from a computed tomography image, and quantify such hemodynamic data as the wall shear stress and flow velocity. The 1-D model is used for the investigation of generic TIPS-induced hepatic circulation phenomena. By incorporating physiological data into the 1-D model we can reproduce some complex flow patterns such as the increased arterial flow after TIPS implantation, the formation of retrograde flow in the portal vein, etc. In particular, our model gives a quantitative analysis of the interplay between TIPS and hepatic flows. In conclusion, the presented computational model can be used for the theoretical analysis of TIPS, in which clinical decisions are often made based on contradictory considerations to balance the procedure-induced complications and the urgency of relieving acute PH symptoms.

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

transjugular intrahepatical portocaval shunting (tips)


Performing comprehensive reception, staging, onward movement, and integration analysis in a theater of operations The enhanced logistics support tool (ELIST) is a comprehensive information management and discrete event simulation program for analyzing the deployment of military units into a theater of operations. ELIST performs a detailed vehicle-level simulation of the reception, staging, onward movement, and integration of forces. This simulation receives loaded ships and planes at the ports, unloads them, and transports the personnel and cargo using air, water, rail, road, and pipeline modes of transportation. ELIST then generates a variety of reports and graphs that are structured to be multilevel, allowing the users to navigate through the results to determine the problems or constraints of the scenario. (C) 2004 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 B O O O O B O B O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

military deployment simulation transportation


towards a system for reusable 3d interaction techniques Although 3D interaction techniques (3DITs) such as the Go-Go technique for object manipulation can be conceptually very simple, implementing these techniques can be a difficult task. Hidden complexities are often revealed at the low-level implementation stage. VR toolkits, which are commonly used to implement 3DITs, solve the problem of allowing applications to run in any hardware environment, but rarely provide support for the technique development process or technique reuse. Because VR toolkits are not interoperable, 3DIT developers cannot share their working techniques with others. In this paper, we describe IFFI, a toolkit that has been designed specifically to support 3DIT development and to allow for reuse of techniques in different VR toolkits. We are using IFFI to move towards the goal of implementing a library of reusable 3DITs to help increase their usage, increase consistency, and provide a foundation for future technique development.

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


Fusion of appearance-based face recognition algorithms Although many algorithms have been proposed, face recognition and verification systems can guarantee a good level of performances only for controlled environments. In order to improve the performance and robustness of face recognition and verification systems, multi-modal and mono-modal systems based on the fusion of multiple recognisers using different or similar biometrics have been proposed, especially for verification purposes. In this paper, a recognition and verification system based on the combination of two well-known appearance-based representations of the face, namely, principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA), is proposed. Both PCA and LDA are used as feature extractors from frontal view images. The benefits of such a fusion are shown for different environmental conditions, namely, ideal conditions, characterised by a very limited variability of environmental parameters, and real conditions with a large variability of lighting, scale and facial expression.

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

biometrics
face recognition and verification
principal component analysis
linear discriminant analysis

fusion of multiple classifiers
multi-modal and mono-modal biometrics


On the Construction of Efficiently Navigable Tag Clouds Using Knowledge from Structured Web Content In this paper we present an approach to improving navigability of a hierarchically structured Web content. The approach is based on an integration of a tagging module and adoption of tag clouds as a navigational aid for such content. The main idea of this approach is to apply tagging for the purpose of a better highlighting of cross-references between information items across the hierarchy. Although in principle tag clouds have the potential to support efficient navigation in tagging systems, recent research identified a number of limitations. In particular, applying tag clouds within pragmatic limits of a typical user interface leads to poor navigational performance as tag clouds are vulnerable to a so-called pagination effect. In this paper, a solution to the pagination problem is discussed, implemented as a part of an Austrian online encyclopedia called Austria-Forum, and analyzed. In addition, a simulation-based evaluation of the new algorithm has been conducted. The first evaluation results are quite promising, as the efficient navigational properties are restored.

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

tagging
tag clouds
algorithm
navigation
navigability
online encyclopedia


Defect evolution in a product line environment One mechanism used for monitoring the development of the Space Shuttle flight control software, in order to minimize any risks to the missions, is the independent verification and validation (IV&V) process. Using data provided by both the Shuttle software developer and the IV&V contractor, in this paper we describe the overall IV&V process as used on the Space Shuttle program and provide an analysis of the use of metrics to document and control this process over multiple releases of this software. Our findings reaffirm the value of IV&V, show the impact of IV&V on multiple releases of a large complex software system, and indicate that some of the traditional measures of defect detection and repair are not applicable in a multiple-release environment such as this one. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. 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 B I I O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

software independent verification and validation


Nested splitting conjugate gradient method for matrix equation AXB = C and preconditioning In this paper, we present a nested splitting conjugate gradient (NSCG) iteration method for solving a class of matrix equations with nonsymmetric coefficient matrices. This method is actually inner/outer iterations, which employs a CG-like method as inner iteration to approximate each outer iterate, while each outer iteration is induced by a convergent and symmetric positive definite splitting of the coefficient matrices. Convergence conditions of this method are studied in depth and numerical experiments show the efficiency of this method. Moreover, we show that the use of the quasi-Hermitian splitting as a pre-conditioner can induce an accurate, robust and effective preconditioned Krylov subspace method. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

conjugate gradient
matrix equations
preconditioning


Pair-copula based mixture models and their application in clustering A pair-copula based mixture model. Separation of margins and dependence structures of a multivariate distribution. Design of an EM parameter estimation framework that allows online selection of margins and copulas. Application of pair-copula mixture distribution to the problem of model based clustering.

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


Systematic Approach to Evaluating Trade-Offs among Fuel Options The fuel additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) has been used in an effort to improve air quality in the United States, but other undesirable effects, particularly the contamination of water resources, were eventually judged to outweigh any air quality benefits it may have offered. The experience with MTBE offers many lessons, including the need to evaluate potential positive and negative environmental impacts associated with fuel choices using a comprehensive approach that combines a product life-cycle perspective with the risk assessment paradigm. Such an approach, referred to as comprehensive environmental assessment (CEA), is illustrated here by highlighting some of the issues that might be considered in evaluating reformulated gasoline (RFG) produced with MTBE, ethanol, or no oxygenate

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

mtbe
methyl tertiary butyl ether
ethanol
risk assessment
comprehensive environmental assessment

oxygenates
alkylates
life-cycle assessment
multimedia assessment
comparative assessment


Sparse Gaussian Process regression model based on ? 1/2 regularization Gaussian Process (GP) model is an elegant tool for the probabilistic prediction. However, the high computational cost of GP prohibits its practical application on large datasets. To address this issue, this paper develops a new sparse GP model, referred to as GPHalf. The key idea is to sparsify the GP model via the newly introduced ? 1/2 regularization method. To achieve this, we represent the GP as a generalized linear regression model, then use the modified ? 1/2 half thresholding algorithm to optimize the corresponding objective function, thus yielding a sparse GP model. Weproof that the proposed model converges to a sparse solution. Numerical experiments on both artificial and real-world datasets validate the effectiveness of the proposed model.

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

gaussian process
regularization
regression


Mood swings: Expressive speech animation Motion capture-based facial animation has recently gained popularity in many applications, such as movies, video games, and human-computer interface designs. With the use of sophisticated facial motions from a human performer, animated characters are far more lively and convincing. However, editing motion data is difficult, limiting the potential of reusing the motion data for different tasks. To address this problem, statistical techniques have been applied to learn models of the facial motion in order to derive new motions based on the existing data. Most existing research focuses on audio-to-visual mapping and reordering of words, or on photo-realistically matching the synthesized face to the original performer. Little attention has been paid to modifying and controlling facial expression, or to mapping expressive motion onto other 3D characters. This article describes a method for creating expressive facial animation by extracting information from the expression axis of a speech performance. First, a statistical model for factoring the expression and visual speech is learned from video. This model can be used to analyze the facial expression of a new performance or modify the facial expressions of an existing performance. With the addition of this analysis of the facial expression, the facial motion can be more effectively retargeted to another 3D face model. The blendshape retargeting technique is extended to include subsets of morph targets that belong to different facial expression groups. The proportion of each subset included in a final animation is weighted according to the expression information. The resulting animation conveys much more emotion than if only the motion vectors were used for retargeting. Finally, since head motion is very important in adding liveness to facial animation, we introduces an audio-driven synthesis technique for generating new head motion.

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

facial animation
expression
retargeting
motion


Multiple regression, ANN and ANFIS models for prediction of backbreak in the open pit blasting Backbreak is one of the undesirable effects of blasting operations causing instability in mine walls, falling down the machinery, improper fragmentation and reduction in efficiency of drilling. Backbreak can be affected by various parameters such as the rock mass properties, blasting geometry and explosive properties. In this study, the application of the artificial neural network (ANN), an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for prediction of backbreak, was described and compared with the traditional statistical model of multiple regression. The performance of these models was assessed through the root mean square error, correlation coefficient (R 2) and mean absolute percentage error. As a result, it was found that the constructed ANFIS exhibited a higher performance than the ANN and multiple regression for backbreak prediction.

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


Magnetic nanoparticle imaging by means of minimum norm estimates from remanence measurements In magnetic nanoparticle imaging, magnetic nanoparticles are coated and functionalized to bind to specific targets. After measuring their magnetic relaxation or remanence, their distribution can be determined by means of inverse methods. The reconstruction algorithm presented in this paper includes first a dipole fit using a LevenbergMarquardt optimizer to determine the reconstruction plane. Secondly, a minimum norm estimate is obtained on a regular grid placed in that plane. Computer simulations involving different parameter sets and conditions show that the used approach allows for the reconstruction of distributed sources, although the reconstructed shapes are distorted by blurring effects. The reconstruction quality depends on the signal-to-noise ratio of the measurements and decreases with larger sensor-source distances and higher grid spacings. In phantom measurements, the magnetic remanence of nanoparticle columns with clinical relevant sizes is determined with two common measurement systems. The reconstructions from these measurements indicate that the approach is applicable for clinical measurements. Our results provide parameter sets for successful application of minimum norm approaches to Magnetic Nanoparticle Imaging.

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

magnetic nanoparticle
imaging
minimum norm estimate
magnetic remanence


A methodological approach to supporting organizational learning Many organizations need to respond quickly to change and their workers need to regularly develop new knowledge and skills. The prevailing approach to meeting these demands is on-the-job training, but this is known to be highly ineffective, cause stress and devalue workplace autonomy. Conversely, organizational learning is a process through which workers learn gradually in the work context through experience, reflection on work practice and collaboration with colleagues. Our approach aims to support and enhance organizational learning around enriched work representations. Work representations are tools and documents used to support collaborative working and learning. These are enriched through associations with formal knowledge models and informal discourse. The work representations, informal discourse and associated knowledge models together form on organizational memory from which knowledge can be retrieved later. Our methodological approach to supporting organizational learning is drawn from three industrial case studies concerned with machine maintenance, team planning and hotline support. The methodology encompasses development and design activities, a description of the roles and duties required to sustain the long-term use of the tools, and applicability criteria outlining the kind of organizations that can benefit from this approach. (C) 2001 Academic Press.

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

organizational learning
work representations


A generic approach of integrating 3D models into virtual manufacturing Various 3D modeling software has been developed for design and manufacturing. Most of the commercially available software uses native file formats, which may not be able to be read or understood by other software. This paper deals with the development of a generic approach of a 3D model conversion program for virtual manufacturing (VM), using a lexical analyzer generator Lex and the Open Graphic Library (OpenGL). The program is able to convert 3D mesh data between four universal file formats, i.e., Stereolithography (STL), Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), eXtensible Markup Language (XML), and Object (OBJ). Simple assembly functions can be applied to the imported models. The quaternion angle is used for object rotation to overcome the problem of gimbal lock or a loss of one degree of rotational freedom. The program has been validated by importing the neutral format models into the program, applying the transformation, saving the new models with a new coordinate system, and lastly exporting into other commercial software. The results showed that the program is able to render and re-arrange accurately the geometry data from the different universal file formats and that it can be used in VM. Therefore, the output models from a VM system can be transferred or imported to another VM system in a universal file format.

O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O 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 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 I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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 manufacturing
lex
opengl
quaternion
neutral format


surfel stripping This paper presents an efficient combination of techniques for fast stripping and multiresolution rendering of Point-Based Surfaces (PBS) called Surfel Stripping. Surfel Strips are small triangle strips that interpolate the PBS. There are two major contributions. First, at loading time, we efficiently convert the PBS into triangle strips. This is done by first generating a set of overlapping small triangular meshes that interpolate the PBS, then removing redundant triangles and finally stripping the small triangular meshes by using a cache-friendly stripping method. All these operations are performed by using an octree data structure. Second, we reuse this data structure for providing a multiresolution interactive visualization of the surfel strips at rendering time. Since Surfel Stripping is local and very fast, it can be used in a lot of situations as an object-space alternative to the image-space surface splatting and thus be considered half way between point-based rendering and local polygonal generation. Rendering Surfel Strips is very efficient since it neither requires multi-pass rendering nor time-consuming vertex/fragment shaders compared to surface splatting. We show also how to exploit the locality of the surfel strips for maintaining compatibility with point-based modeling tools, such as local deformations of surfaces. We finally give some examples of well known visual enrichments developed for polygons, directly applied to PBS thanks to surfel strips.

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

graphics data structure
fast surface conversion
triangle stripping
point-based graphics


Foreground-Adaptive Motion Detection in Broad Surveillance Environments In this letter we propose a novel motion detection method in order to accurately perform the detection of moving objects in the automatic video surveillance system. Based on the proposed Background Generation Mechanism the presence of either moving object or background in formation is firstly checked in order to supply the selective updating of the high quality adaptive background model which facilitates the further motion detection using the Laplacian distribution model. The overall results of the detection accuracy will be demonstrated that our proposed method attains a substantially higher degree of efficacy outperforming the state of the art method by average Similarity accuracy rates of up to 56 64% 27 78% 50 04% 43 33% and 44 09% 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

video surveillance motion detection background model


Randomized nonuniform sampling and reconstruction in fractional Fourier domain The randomized nonuniform sampling is equivalent to the uniform sampling after a pre-filter. The randomized sinc interpolation reconstruction in the FRFD is proposed. The MSE of the reconstruction is analyzed by the equivalent system in the sense of statistics. The randomized reconstruction of the chirp period stationary signal is represented by a finite summation. Special cases of the randomized sampling and reconstruction are discussed.

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

fractional fourier transform
fractional power spectrum
fractional correlation


Complex environments, complex behaviour A convincing argument has been made in the literature for the advantages gained by using modular neural networks (NN) instead of homogeneous structures. Here, a modular NN design was used in conjunction with evolutionary algorithm methods to evolve an animat capable of learning behavioural patterns at several levels of complexity. A parallel was drawn between the training of the animat and the stages of learning experienced by the young of many animals. Following movement learning, the animat was eventually capable of navigating an environment and avoiding obstacles. Discussion is made of how such an animat with many degrees of freedom can develop complex behavioural patterns.

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

neural network
navigation
evolutionary algorithms


Neuro-fuzzy systems for function approximation We present a neuro-fuzzy architecture for function approximation based on supervised learning. The learning algorithm is able to determine the structure and the parameters of a fuzzy system. The approach is an extension to our already published NEFCON and NEFCLASS models which are used for control or classification purposes. The proposed extended model, which we call NEFPROX, is more general and can be used for any application based on function approximation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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 B I O O O O O O O O

neuro-fuzzy system
structure learning
parameter learning