A computational inverse technique for material characterization of a functionally graded cylinder using a progressive neural network A computational inverse technique of neural network (NN) by means of elastic waves to material characterization of functionally graded material (FGM) cylinder is presented. The displacement responses on the outer surface are used as the inputs for the NN model. The outputs of the NN are the material property of FGM cylinder. The analyticalnumerical method is used as the forward solver to calculate the displacement responses of FGM cylinder to an incident wave for the known material property. The NN model is trained using the results from the forward solver. Once trained by, the NN model can be used for on-line characterization of material property if the dynamic displacement responses on the outer surface of the cylinder can be obtained. The characterized material property is then used to calculate the displacement responses. The NN model would go through a progressive retraining process until the calculated displacement responses using the characterized result are sufficiently close to the actual responses. This procedure is examined for material characterization of an actual FGM cylinder composed of stainless steel and silicon nitride. It is found that the present procedure is very robust for determining the material property distribution in the thickness direction of FGM cylinders.

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

material characterization
functionally graded material
neural network


Using machine vision for investigation of changes in pig group lying patterns Group pig lying change detection using Delaunay triangulation is presented. Ellipse fitting algorithms were used to localize each pig body in the image. Delaunay triangulations were changed as the room temperature increased. Pig lying location is determined through ellipse centroids in the pen.

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

lying behaviour
image analysis
delaunay triangle


Preserving and Exploiting Genetic Diversity in Evolutionary Programming Algorithms Evolution programming (EP) is an important category of evolutionary algorithms. It relies primarily on mutation operators to search for solutions of function optimization problems (FOPs). Recently a series of new mutation operators have been proposed in order to improve the performance of EP. One prominent example is the fast EP (FEP) algorithm which employs a mutation operator based on the Cauchy distribution instead of the commonly used Gaussian distribution. In this paper, we seek to improve the performance of EP via exploring another important factor of EP, namely, the selection strategy. Three selection rules R1-R3 have been presented to encourage both fitness diversity and solution diversity. Meanwhile, two solution exchange rules R4 and R5 have been introduced to further exploit the preserved genetic diversity. Simple theoretical analysis suggests that through the proper use of R1-R5, EP is more likely to find high-fitness solutions quickly. Our claim has been examined on 25 benchmark functions. Empirical evidence shows that our solution selection and exchange rules can significantly enhance the performance of EP.

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

evolutionary optimization
evolutionary programming (ep)


Numerical solution of Brillouin and Raman fiber amplifiers using bvp6c Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate an effective and faster numerical solution for nonlinear-coupled differential equations describing fiber amplifiers which have no explicit solution. MATLAB boundary value problem (BVP) solver of bvp6c function is addressed for the solution. Design/methodology/approach - Coding method with the bvp6c is introduced, signal evolution, threshold calculation method is introduced, gain and noise figure are plotted and superiority of the bvp6c solver is compared with the Newton-Raphson method. Findings - bvp6c function appears to be an effective tool for the solution fiber amplifier equations and can be used for different pump configurations of BFAs and RFAs. The excellent agreement between the proposed and reported results shows the reliability of the proposed threshold power calculation method. Research limitations/implications - The paper eases the work of the fiber optic research community, who suffer from two point BVPs. Moreover, the stiffness of the signal evolution which is faced with high pump powers and/or long fiber lengths can be solved with continuation. This superiority of the solver can be used to overcome any stiff changes of the signals for the future studies. Practical implications - The main outcome of this paper is the numerically calculation of the threshold values of fiber amplifiers without the necessity of the experiment. The robustness improvement of the solution is that the solver is able to solve the equations even with the poor guess values and the solution can be obtained without the necessity of analytical Jacobian matrix. Originality/value - MATLAB bvp6c solver has proven to be effective for the numerical solution of nonlinear-coupled intensity differential equations describing fiber amplifiers with two-point boundary. values. Beside the signal evolution, thresholds of Brillouin and Raman fiber amplifiers can also be calculated by using the proposed solver. This is a notable and promising improvement of the paper, at least from a fiber optic amplifier designer point of view.

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

fiber amplifiers
threshold
bvp6c function

nonlinear differential equations
boundary value problems


Block effect reduction by the 1-D gray polynomial interpolation In this paper, the one-dimensional gray polynomial interpolation (1-D GPI) developed for image enlargement in Hsieh et al. (2007) [27] is applied to reduce the block effect in the block discrete cosine transform (BDCT) image/video coders. Note that the block effect in the BDCT coders results from insufficient bits for transform coefficients. An interpolation approach is proposed to relieve the block effect problem. The proposed approach consists of three stages. First, the input image/frame is down sampled by the direct down sampling (DDS) scheme to reduce the amount of data. Second, the down sampled image/frame is put into a BDCT coder, such as the JPEG and the MPEG-2. Finally, the 1-D GPI is applied to enlarge the decoded image. When the JPEG and the MPEG-2 are used as BDCT coders, the coding systems are called the JPEG-GPI and the MPEG-GPI, respectively. The proposed JPEG-GPI and MPEG-GPI are verified through examples. Simulation results indicate that both the JPEG-GPI and the MPEG-GPI are able to effectively reduce the block effect significantly and therefore the subjective visual quality improved in the given examples. Note that (i) the down sampling scheme in the first stage can be any down sampling scheme other than the DDS, and (ii) the interpolation approach in the third stage may be different from the 1-D GPI. Thus, various down sampling schemes, the nearest neighbor down sampling (NNDS), the bilinear down sampling (BLDS), and the bicubic down sampling (BCDS) schemes are under consideration. These down sampling schemes are used to replace the DDS in the JPEG-GPI and the MPEG-GPI to investigate the effect on the coding performance. The simulation results show that the DDS always gives the highest PSNR for all cases under same condition. Moreover, the 1-GPI is substituted by popular 2-D interpolation approaches, the nearest neighbor interpolation (NNI), the bilinear interpolation (BLI), and the bicubic interpolation (BCI). With the DDS scheme, the simulation results indicate that the JPEG-BLI has a little bit better PSNR than the JPEG-GPI for all cases while similar visual quality of reconstructed image is found. When compared with the MPEG-GPI, the MPEG-BCI has higher PSNR when the DDS is employed. And the reconstructed frames from the MPEG-GPI and the MPEG-BCI have similar visual quality. In summary, by the simulation results the proposed coding system, as expected, is able to significantly reduce the block effect happened in the cases of the low bit rate coding or high compression ratio.

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

polynomial interpolation
block effect
block discrete cosine transform
low bit rate coding


Which one should be chosen for the Mobile Geographic Information Service now, WAP vs. i-mode vs. J2ME? The concepts of MGIS (Mobile Geographic Information System), LBS (Location Based Service) and MGI Service (Mobile Geographic Information Service) were introduced first. Then the consistency of the three wireless Internet access technology, WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), i-mode and J2ME (Java(TM) 2 Micro Edition) were proposed not only from the surfaces, but also from the architectures. Based on the analysis of the WAP, i-mode and J2ME, the suggested suitable field of each technology was discussed. WAP and i-mode are adapted to fields of public services in wireless Internet field with Browser/Server structures, and J2ME is adapted to the fields of private services in wireless Internet field with Client/Server structure. There are no competitions among these three technologies, and each of the three is a tactical technology. They will coexist for a long period, and now we should focus more on how to use a new integrated architecture of different technologies to solve more complex spatial-related questions in the mobile service field than discussing which one is the best. And maybe all three will be replaced in the future when a brand-new direct-connected way to browse the Internet Geographic Information Web Service is developed.

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

mobile geographic information service
wap
j2me


relationship between performance parameters for transport and network services Various performance parameters are defined which characterize the quality of service offered by a layer of the OSI model. In particular the parameters for the Transport and Network are considered. The set of parameters are classified into: i) Connection related parameters; and ii) Access point related parameter; We further make an analysis of the relation between the parameters of the service provided by the Transport layer and the parameters of the Network service used by the Transport protocol, depending on the class of Transport protocol used. This is an example of a hierarchical approach to the evaluation of performance measures for the N-layer service in terms of performance measures of the (N-1)-layer service in conjunction with the performance measures of the N-layer protocol entity.

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

quality of service
transport protocol
performance parameters

transport service
protocols
osi reference model
performance analysis


The use of computers in preschools in Chile: Lessons for practitioners and policy designers This paper presents the results of survey of the availability and use of computers in a preschool sample in Chile, and compares them with similar results of primary and secondary schools. Results show that although preschools have relatively low access to computers and teachers have relatively low ICT competencies, they declare similar ICT related obstacles and impacts compared to their colleagues in secondary schools. Also, results show that preschool students seem to use computers in the classroom more frequently than their peers in primary and secondary schools and that the activities they implement are focused on developing key curriculum related areas implementing tasks that can be associated to the exercising of key competencies and skills. This specialised use of computers in preschools, which is much more focused than the activities with computers reported by teachers in higher levels, could be explained by the relative low variety of educational software available in these preschools, the availability of the computers in the classroom rather than in labs: the special type of teaching and learning activities implemented at this age level and/or due to the relative lack of teachers' ICT competencies. On the one hand, these results highlight the need for further research, and on the other, it constitutes an interesting lesson for policy designer that tend to advocate for considering computers as "multipurpose" technologies that should be used across subjects, levels and teaching strategies. In this case, computers seem to play a very specific and concrete role in preschools classrooms that, eventually, contributes to improve students' outcomes, which highlights the potential of considering the use of computers, software and other technologies to improve specific subject areas at particular levels while designing ICT in education policies for this age group. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

computers use in the classroom
improving classroom teaching


Case-deletion type diagnostics for calibration estimators in survey sampling Based on the use of calibration techniques as a way of handling nonresponse, case-deletion diagnostics for calibration estimators are proposed. A deleted case is dealt with as it were a nonresponse case. Two types of diagnostics are proposed: one compares the calibration weights and the other compares the estimates. These diagnostics are studied in depth for the general regression estimator, and can be calculated from quantities related to the full data set. They are related to the Cook distance and their similarities and differences are highlighted. Both an artificial and a real example are included as illustrations of the diagnostics proposed.

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


Optimal bin number for equal frequency discretizations in supervized learning While real data often comes in mixed format, discrete and continuous, many supervised induction algorithms require discrete data. Although efficient supervised discretization methods are available, the unsupervised Equal Frequency discretization method is still widely used by the statistician both for data exploration and data preparation. In this paper, we propose an automatic method, based on a Bayesian approach, to optimize the number of bins for Equal Frequency discretizations in the context of supervised learning. We introduce a space of Equal Frequency discretization models and a prior distribution defined on this model space. This results in the definition of a Bayes optimal evaluation criterion for Equal Frequency discretizations. We then propose an optimal search algorithm whose run-time is super-linear in the sample size. Extensive comparative experiments demonstrate that the method works quite well in many cases.

O O O O O O O O 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 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

data mining
machine learning
bayesianism
data analysis


Transformation techniques for OCL constraints Constraints play a key role in the definition of conceptual schemas. In the UML, constraints are usually specified by means of invariants written in the OCL. However, due to the high expressiveness of the OCL, the designer has different syntactic alternatives to express each constraint. The techniques presented in this paper assist the designer during the definition of the constraints by means of generating equivalent alternatives for the initially defined ones. Moreover, in the context of the MDA, transformations between these different alternatives are required as part of the PIM-to-PIM, PIM-to-PSM or PIM-to-code transformations of the original conceptual schema. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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


Method of machine technical state assessment on the basis of joint signal analysis Joint analysis of two signals which are observed during machine operation allows us to acquire information on such phenomena occurring within the machine which cannot be obtained as the results of an analysis of single signals. This knowledge makes it purposeful to assume that the joint analysis of a major number of signals allows us also to acquire new information on the machine state. In this paper the concept of joint signal analysis based on a signal analysis in both micro and macro time domains was described. In order to calculate values of joint features of signals and determine the machine state on the basis of the joint analysis results the generalized data window was introduced. In order to limit a number of simultaneously considered signals and determine a relation between signal feature values and machine states, the procedure based on an application of additional virtual signals was proposed. In order to verify the elaborated method an active diagnostic experiment was carried out. The experiment result was a set of learning data, which enables us to construct a diagnostic classifier. Exemplary results of classification of technical state of a machine were also presented.

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

generalized data window
additional virtual signals

multichannel signal analysis
rotating machinery
machinery diagnostics


Maximal profit dimensioning and tariffing of loss networks with cross-connects In this paper, we present an approach to optimal dimensioning and tariffing of communication networks. We choose link capacities, tariffs, and the routing strategy in order to maximise the profit for the company operating the network. The tariffs and grade of service are subject to regulatory constraints. It is assumed that we have an existing network structure consisting of a set of nodes and physical links. By cross-connecting traffic through nodes at a high bandwidth rather than multiplexing and demultiplexing it, a logical link (consisting of capacity on several physical links) is created. However, it may be better for an OD pair to take advantage of existing physical links rather than to initiate its own logical link. Several results will be presented. These include a simple formula for the optimal tariff and a result that only one of the possible routes for each OD pair will be used in the optimal solution. A numerical investigation will also be discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

loss networks
routing strategy
optimal dimensioning and tariffing

cross connecting
traffic elasticity function


improved image encryption technique using multi chaotic system This study establishes a new algorithm to perform chaos-based encryption over digital images. Gray-scaled images were used for experimental analysis of the algorithm. The proposed algorithm begins with the Extended Arnold's Chaotic Map (Extended-ACM) to shuffle the source image, which does not only permute the pixel coordinates but also modifies the corresponding intensity values using values from chaotic sequence. The shuffled image is then ciphered with Chen's Chaotic System (CCS) . The CCS's trajectory values are computed by fractional order method. Comparing with the existing similar encryption techniques, particularly, Guan et al. and Xiao D. et al. , it is noticed that the proposed technique presents more significant results. Moreover, the experimental analysis evidently supports the concluded remarks.

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

arnold extended map
chen's chaotic system


dynamic perception-production oscillation model in human-machine communication The goal of the present article is to introduce a new concept of a perception-production timing model in human-machine communication. The model implements a low-level cognitive timing and coordination mechanism. The basic element of the model is a dynamic oscillator capable of tracking reoccurring events in time. The organization of the oscillators in a network is being referred to as the Dynamic Perception-Production Oscillation Model (DPPOM) . The DPPOM is largely based on findings in psychological and phonetic experiments on timing in speech perception and production. It consists of two sub-systems, a perception sub-system and a production sub-system. The perception sub-system accounts for information clustering in an input sequence of events. The production sub-system accounts for speech production rhythmically entrained to the input sequence. We propose a system architecture integrating both sub-systems, providing a flexible mechanism for perception-production timing in dialogues. The model's functionality was evaluated in two experiments.

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

timing oscillation perception production

rhythm
dialogue technology
dynamic systems


Solving k-cluster problems to optimality with semidefinite programming This paper deals with the computation of exact solutions of a classical NP-hard problem in combinatorial optimization, the -cluster problem. This problem consists in finding a heaviest subgraph with nodes in an edge weighted graph. We present a branch-and-bound algorithm that applies a novel bounding procedure, based on recent semidefinite programming techniques. We use new semidefinite bounds that are less tight than the standard semidefinite bounds, but cheaper to get. The experiments show that this approach is competitive with the best existing ones.

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 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

combinatorial optimization
semidefinite programming

k-cluster
exact resolution
lagrangian relaxation
branch-and-bound


A new analytical method for parallel, diffusion-type load balancing ? We propose a new proof technique which can be used to analyse many parallel load balancing algorithms. The technique is designed to handle concurrent load balancing actions, which are often the main obstacle in the analysis. We demonstrate the usefulness of the approach by analysing various natural diffusion-type protocols. Our results are similar to, or better than, previously existing ones, while our proofs are much easier. The key idea is to first sequentialise the original, concurrent load transfers, analyse this new, sequential system, and then to bound the gap between both.

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 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


Solving single-product economic lot-sizing problem with non-increasing setup cost, constant capacity and convex inventory cost in O(NlogN) time This paper considers an economic lot sizing model with constant capacity, non-increasing setup cost, and convex inventory cost function. Algorithms with computational time of O(NTDN)have been developed for solving the model, where N is the number of planning periods and TDN is the total demand. This study partially characterizes the optimal planning structure of the model. A new efficient algorithm with computational time of O(NlogN) has also been developed based on the partial optimal structure. Moreover, computational study demonstrates that the new algorithm is efficient.

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

dynamic programming
stochastic programming
algorithm complexity


Bi-capacities - II: the Choquet integral Bi-capacities arise as a natural generalization of capacities (or fuzzy measures) in a context of decision making where underlying scales are bipolar. They are able to capture a wide variety of decision behaviours, encompassing models such as cumulative prospect theory (CPT). The aim of this paper in two parts is to present the machinery behind bi-capacities, and thus remains on a rather theoretical level, although some parts are firmly rooted in decision theory, notably cooperative game theory. The present second part focuses on the definition of Choquet integral. We give several expressions of it, including an expression w.r.t. the Mobius transform. This permits to express the Choquet integral for 2-additive bi-capacities w.r.t. the interaction index. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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


Interactive SIGHT: textual access to simple bar charts Information graphics, such as bar charts and line graphs, are an important component of many articles from popular media. The majority of such graphics have an intention (a high-level message) to communicate to the graph viewer. Since the intended message of a graphic is often not repeated in the accompanying text, graphics together with the textual segments contribute to the overall purpose of an article and cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, these visual displays are provided in a format which is not readily accessible to everyone. For example, individuals with sight impairments who use screen readers to listen to documents have limited access to the graphics. This article presents a new accessibility tool, the Interactive SIGHT (Summarizing Information GrapHics Textually) system, that is intended to enable visually impaired users to access the knowledge that one would gain from viewing information graphics found on the web. The current system, which is implemented as a browser extension that works on simple bar charts, can be invoked by a user via a keystroke combination while navigating the web. Once launched, Interactive SIGHT first provides a brief summary that conveys the underlying intention of a bar chart along with the chart's most significant and salient features, and then produces history-aware follow-up responses to provide further information about the chart upon request from the user. We present two user studies that were conducted with sighted and visually impaired users to determine how effective the initial summary and follow-up responses are in conveying the informational content of bar charts, and to evaluate how easy it is to use the system interface. The evaluation results are promising and indicate that the system responses are well-structured and enable visually impaired users to answer key questions about bar charts in an easy-to-use manner. Post-experimental interviews revealed that visually impaired participants were very satisfied with the system offering different options to access the content of a chart to meet their specific needs and that they would use Interactive SIGHT if it was publicly available so as not to have to ignore graphics on the web. Being a language based assistive technology designed to compensate for the lack of sight, our work paves the road for a stronger acceptance of natural language interfaces to graph interpretation that we believe will be of great benefit to the visually impaired community.

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

accessibility
assistive technology
information graphics


Feature-Preserving Volume Data Reduction and Focus plus Context Visualization The growing sizes of volumetric data sets pose a great challenge for interactive visualization. In this paper, we present a feature-preserving data reduction and focus+context visualization method based on transfer function driven, continuous voxel repositioning and resampling techniques. Rendering reduced data can enhance interactivity. Focus+context visualization can show details of selected features in context on display devices with limited resolution. Our method utilizes the input transfer function to assign importance values to regularly partitioned regions of the volume data. According to user interaction, it can then magnify regions corresponding to the features of interest while compressing the rest by deforming the 3D mesh. The level of data reduction achieved is significant enough to improve overall efficiency. By using continuous deformation, our method avoids the need to smooth the transition between low and high-resolution regions as often required by multiresolution methods. Furthermore, it is particularly attractive for focus+context visualization of multiple features. We demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our method with several volume data sets from medical applications and scientific simulations.

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

data reduction
focus plus context visualization
interactive visualization

mesh deformation
transfer functions
volume rendering


On the k-error linear complexity over F-p of Legendre and Sidelnikov sequences We determine exact values for the k-error linear complexity L (k) over the finite field F-p of the Legendre sequence L of period p and the Sidelnikov sequence T of period p(m)-1. The results are [GRAPHICS] L-k(T)>= min((p+1/2)(m)-1, [p(m)-1/k+1]-(p+1/2)(m) +1) for 1 =(p(m)-1)/2. In particular we prove L-k(T)=(p+1/2)(m)-1, 1 <= k <= 1/2(3/2)(m)-1.

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 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

linear complexity
legendre sequence
sidelnikov sequence


Detection and identification of nonlinearities by amplitude and frequency modulation analysis This paper presents an amplitude and frequency modulation method (AFMM) for extracting characteristics of nonlinear systems and intermittent transient responses by processing stationary/transient responses using the empirical mode decomposition, HilbertHuang transform (HHT), and nonlinear dynamic characteristics derived from perturbation analysis. A sliding-window fitting (SWF) method is derived and used to show the physical implications of the proposed method and other methods for data processing and transformation. Similar to the wavelet transform, the SWF uses windowed regular harmonics and function orthogonality to extract time-localized regular and/or distorted harmonics, and then the amplitude and frequency modulations of the harmonics are used to identify system nonlinearities. On the other hand, the HHT uses the apparent time scales revealed by the signal's local maxima and minima and cubic splines of the extrema to sequentially sift components of different time scales, starting from high-frequency to low-frequency ones. Because HHT does not use predetermined basis functions and function orthogonality for component extraction, it provides more accurate instant amplitudes and frequencies of extracted components for accurate estimation of system characteristics and nonlinearities. Moreover, because the first component extracted by HHT contains all original discontinuities, its time-varying amplitude and frequency are excellent indicators for pinpointing times and locations of impulsive external loads. However, the discontinuity-induced Gibbs phenomenon makes HHT analysis inaccurate around the two data ends. On the other hand, the SWF analysis is not affected by Gibbs phenomenon, but it cannot extract accurate time-varying frequencies and amplitudes because of the use of predetermined basis functions, function orthogonality, and windowed curve fitting for component extraction. Numerical results show that the proposed AFMM can provide accurate estimation of softening and hardening effects, different orders of nonlinearity, linear and nonlinear system parameters, and time instants of intermittent transient responses.

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

identification of nonlinearities
amplitude and frequency modulation
hilberthuang transform
wavelet transform
perturbation analysis


Impact of temporal coding of presynaptic entorhinal cortex grid cells on the formation of hippocampal place fields Many behavioural experiments have pointed out the important role played by the hippocampus in spatial navigation. This role was enlightened by the discovery of hippocampal cells in rodents firing only at very specific locations in an environment, the so-called 'place field'. Recently, it has been observed that one synapse upstream of the hippocampus, entorhinal cells fire when the rat is located at any of the vertices of grid fields covering the environment. Furthermore, it was reported that both hippocampal and entorhinal cells have firing activity modulated by the theta local field potential in term of theta phase precession. In a previous report, the authors Suggested that the temporal code driven by theta phase precession should play an important role in the building of hippocampal place cells from entorhinal grid cells. Here, with the help of a simpler computational model, we further investigate the implications of our hypothesis. We demonstrate that the nonlinear nature of the shape of the phase precession predicts that place field location are slightly backward shifted according to the direction of the rat. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

theta phase precession
entorhinal cortex
temporal code


Extending concurrent signature to multiple parties Since the introduction of concurrent signature, improved results have been obtained on constructing schemes with enhanced ambiguity, refined security models and better efficiency, while extending concurrent signature to multiple users, that is, allowing n parties (where n?2 n ? 2 ) to perform fair exchange of signatures concurrently, is still one of the most challenging problems that remain unsolved. In the literature, there is a three-party concurrent signature scheme which achieves a weaker form of ambiguity, that an ambiguous signature can either be generated by the real signer or jointly by the other two parties, but not by any single party of the rest. There are also two other multi-party concurrent signature schemes. However, both of them have been found insecure, that they could not achieve unforgeability, ambiguity, and fairness simultaneously. Furthermore, there is no formal security model available for Multi-party Concurrent Signature (MCS). In this paper, we propose an efficient MCS construction and show its security in the random oracle model under our newly proposed security model for MCS. The scheme is also comparable in efficiency to the best existing two-party concurrent signature schemes.

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


Boundary knot method for the Cauchy problem associated with the inhomogeneous Helmholtz equation In this paper, the boundary knot method is extended to the solution of inhomogeneous equations, and it is applied to the Cauchy problem associated with the inhomogeneous Helmholtz equation. Here, we assume that the boundary condition is specified only on a part of the boundary, and the boundary conditions on the remaining part of the boundary are to be determined with the assistance of additional data. Since the resulting matrix equation is highly ill-conditioned, a regularized solution is obtained by employing the truncated singular value decomposition to solve the matrix equation arising from the boundary knot method, with the regularization parameter determined by the L-curve method. Numerical results are presented for several examples with smooth and piecewise smooth boundaries. The numerical verification shows that the proposed numerical scheme is accurate, stable with respect to data noise, and convergent with respect to decreasing the amount of noise in the data.

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

boundary knot method
truncated singular value decomposition
inhomogeneous helmholtz equation

inverse problem
radial basis function
l-curve method


UNIVERSAL CODES OF THE NATURAL NUMBERS A code of the natural numbers is a uniquely-decodable binary code of the natural numbers with non-decreasing codeword lengths, which satisfies Kraft's inequality tightly. We define a natural partial order on the set of codes, and show how to construct effectively a code better than a given sequence of codes, in a certain precise sense. As an application, we prove that the existence of a scale of codes (a well-ordered set of codes which contains a code better than any given code) is independent of ZFC.

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


Epitaxial strontium oxide layers on silicon for gate-first and gate-last TiN/HfO2 gate stack scaling We show that a thin epitaxial strontium oxide (SrO) interfacial layer enables scaling of titanium nitride/hafnium oxide high-permittivity (high-k) gate stacks for field-effect transistors on silicon. In a low-temperature gate-last process, SrO passivates Si against SiO2 formation and silicidation and equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) of 5 is achieved, with competitive leakage current and interface trap density. In a gate-first process, Sr triggers HfO2SiO2 intermixing, forming interfacial high-k silicate containing both Sr and Hf. Combined with oxygen control techniques, we demonstrate an EOT of 6 with further scaling potential. In both cases, Sr incorporation results in an effective workfunction that is suitable for n-channel transistors.

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

mosfet
gate dielectrics
metal gate electrodes
replacement gate
molecular beam epitaxy
surface passivation


Performance of parameter-estimates in step-stress accelerated life-tests with various sample-sizes In accelerated life test (ALT) studies, the maximum likelihood (ML) method is commonly used in estimating model parameters, and its asymptotic variance is the key quantity used in searching for the optimum design of ALT plans and in making statistical inferences. This paper uses simulation techniques to investigate the required sample size for using the large sample Gaussian approximation s-confidence interval and the properties of the ML estimators in the finite sample situation with different fitting models. Both the likelihood function and its second derivatives needed for calculating the asymptotic variance are very complicated. This paper shows that a sample size of 100 is needed in practice for using large-sample inference procedures. When the model is Weibull with a constant shape parameter, fitting exponential models can perform poorly in large-sample cases, and fitting Weibull models with a regression function of shape parameters can give undesirable results in small-sample situations. When small fractions of the product-life distribution are used to establish warranties and service polices, the interests of the producer and consumer should be balanced with the resources available for conducting life tests. From the standpoint of safety, an unrealistically long projected service life could harm the consumer. Establishing a short warranty period protects the producer but hurts revenue. An overly generous warranty period could cost the producer in terms of product replacement. To estimate life-distribution parameters well, use more than 100 samples in for LSCI and life-testing plans derived from the asymptotic theory. When the model becomes complicated, as in this paper, monitor the convergence of the parameter estimation algorithm, and do not trust the computer outputs blindly. In many applications, the likelihood ratio test inverted confidence interval performs better than the usual approximate confidence interval in small samples; thus its performance in the step-stress ALT studies should be in future research.

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

cumulative exposure model
maximum likelihood estimation


Language operations with regular expressions of polynomial size This work deals with questions regarding to what extent regularity-preserving language operations affect the descriptional complexity of regular expressions. Some language operations are identified which are feasible for regular expressions in the sense that the result of the operation call be represented as a regular expression of size polynomial in that of the operands. We prove that taking language quotients, in particular the prefix and suffix closures, of a regular set can incur at most a quadratic blow-up on the required expression size. The circular shift operation can cause only a cubic increase ill size and at least a quadratic bloat can be necessary in the worst case. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

derivatives
language quotient
cyclic shift


Algorithms for the maximum k-club problem in graphs Given a simple undirected graph G, a k-club is a subset of vertices inducing a subgraph of diameter at most k. The maximum k-club problem (MkCP) is to find a k-club of maximum cardinality in G. These structures, originally introduced to model cohesive subgroups in social network analysis, are of interest in network-based data mining and clustering applications. The maximum k-club problem is NP-hard, moreover, determining whether a given k-club is maximal (by inclusion) is NP-hard as well. This paper first provides a sufficient condition for testing maximality of a given k-club. Then it proceeds to develop a variable neighborhood search (VNS) heuristic and an exact algorithm for MkCP that uses the VNS solution as a lower bound. Computational experiments with test instances available in the literature show that the proposed algorithms are very effective on sparse instances and outperform the existing methods on most dense graphs from the testbed.

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


A Secure ID-Based Authenticated Group Key Exchange Protocol Resistant to Insider Attacks Recently, several identity (ID)-based authenticated group key exchange (IDAGKE) protocols from bilinear pairings were proposed. However, they all suffered from different types of insider (participants) colluding attacks. In this paper, we present a new IDAGKE protocol from bilinear pairings. In the random oracle model and under some security assumptions, we demonstrate that the proposed protocol is a provably secure IDAGKE protocol providing forward secrecy. Meanwhile, it is secure against insider attacks.

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

authenticated group key exchange
bilinear pairings
insider attacks


An intelligent fast sales forecasting model for fashion products Sales forecasting is crucial in fashion business because of all the uncertainty associated with demand and supply. Many models for forecasting fashion products are proposed in the literature over the past few decades. With the emergence of artificial intelligence models, artificial neural networks (ANN) are widely used in forecasting. ANN models have been revealed to be more efficient and effective than many traditional statistical forecasting models. Despite the reported advantages, it is relatively more time-consuming for ANN to perform forecasting. In the fashion industry, sales forecasting is challenging because there are so many product varieties (i.e., SKUs) and prompt forecasting result is needed. As a result, the existing ANN models would become inadequate. In this paper, a new model which employs both the extreme learning machine (ELM) and the traditional statistical methods is proposed. Experiments with real data sets are conducted. A comparison with other traditional methods has shown that this ELM fast forecasting (ELM-FF) model is quick and effective. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

sales forecasting
extreme learning machine


Multi-depot Multiple TSP: a polyhedral study and computational results We study the Multi-Depot Multiple Traveling Salesman Problem (MDMTSP), which is a variant of the very well-known Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). In the MDMTSP an unlimited number of salesmen have to visit a set of customers using routes that can be based on a subset of available depots. The MDMTSP is an NP-hard problem because it includes the TSP as a particular case when the distances satisfy the triangular inequality. The problem has some real applications and is closely related to other important multi-depot routing problems, like the Multi-Depot Vehicle Routing Problem and the Location Routing Problem. We present an integer linear formulation for the MDMTSP and strengthen it with the introduction of several families of valid inequalities. Certain facet-inducing inequalities for the TSP polyhedron can be used to derive facet-inducing inequalities for the MDMTSP. Furthermore, several inequalities that are specific to the MDMTSP are also studied and proved to be facet-inducing. The partial knowledge of the polyhedron has been used to implement a Branch-and-Cut algorithm in which the new inequalities have been shown to be very effective. Computational results show that instances involving up to 255 customers and 25 possible depots can be solved optimally using the proposed methodology.

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

multiple depot traveling salesman problem


Duration modeling using cumulative duration probability A duration modeling technique is proposed for the HMM based connected digit recognizer. The proposed duration modeling technique uses a cumulative duration probability. The cumulative duration probability is defined as the partial sum of the duration probabilities which can be estimated from the training speech data. Two approaches of using it are presented. First, the cumulative duration probability is used as a weighting factor to the state transition probability of HMM. Second, it replaces the conventional state transition probability. In both approaches, the cumulative duration probability is combined directly to the Viterbi decoding procedure. A modified Viterbi decoding procedure is also presented. One of the advantages of the proposed duration modeling technique is that the cumulative duration probability rules the transitions of states and words at each frame. Therefore, an additional post-procedure is not required. The proposed technique was examined by recognition experiments on Korean connected digit. Experimental results showed that two approach achieved almost same performances and that the average recognition accuracy was enhanced from 83.60% to 93.12%.

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

duration modeling
cumulative duration probability

speech recognition
connected digit recognition


axiomatic definability and completeness for recursive programs The termination assertion p q means that whenever the formula p is true, there is an execution of the possibly nondeterministic program S which terminates in a state in which q is true. Termination assertions are more tractable technically than the partial correctness assertions usually treated in the literature. Termination assertions are studied for a programming language which includes local variable declarations, calls to undeclared global procedures, and nondeterministic recursive procedures with call-by-address and call-by-value parameters. By allowing formulas p and q to place conditions on global procedures, we provide a method for reasoning about programs with calls to global procedures based on hypotheses about procedure input-output behavior. The set of first-order termination assertions valid over all interpretations is completely axiomatizable without reference to the theory of any interpretation. Although uninterpreted assertions have limited expressive power, the set of valid termination assertions defines the semantics of recursive programs in the sense of Meyer and Halpern [10]. Thus the axiomatization constitutes an axiomatic definition of the semantics of recursive programs.

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

place
program
reasoning
method
procedure
interpretation
behavior
definition
correctness
theory
power
global
programming language

variability value order terminals recursion semantic input express addressing assert locality


Project management offices: A case of knowledge-based archetypes While Project Management Offices (PMOs) have become a mainstay in organizations, systematic research has not yet been undertaken to study their intricacies. In this paper, we conduct an exploratory and descriptive case study of PMOs, based on our interviews with senior managers and directors of PMOs in 32 IT organizations. The objectives are to: (1) outline the nature and characteristics of PMOs; (2) classify and derive archetypes of PMOs; and (3) enumerate critical success factors of PMOs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to systematically investigate PMOs from a knowledge archetype perspective. A novel and significant contribution of this paper is the case description of four PMO archetypes, which clearly delineate PMOs based on their knowledge management functions and capabilities.

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


A systematic approach to unstructured mesh generation for ocean modelling using GMT and Terreno ? A systematic approach to unstructured mesh generation for ocean modelling is presented. The method optimises unstructured meshes to approximate bathymetry to a user specified accuracy which may be defined as a function of longitude, latitude and bathymetry. GMT (Generic Mapping Tools) is used to perform the initial griding of the bathymetric data. Subsequently, the Terreno meshing package combines automated shoreline approximation, mesh gradation and optimisation methods to generate high-quality bathymetric meshes. The operation of Terreno is based upon clearly defined error measures and this facilitates the automation of unstructured mesh generation while minimising user intervention and the subjectivity that this can introduce.

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

bathymetry
shoreline
optimisation
unstructured mesh generation
ocean modelling


Section level search functionality in Europe PMC As the availability of open access full text research articles increases, so does the need for sophisticated search services that make the most of this new content. Here, we present a new feature available in Europe PMC that allows selected sections of full text articles to be searched, including figures and reference lists. Users can now search particular parts of an article, reducing noise and allowing fine-tuning of searches.

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


The impact of goods-classification and landmarks for spatial knowledge and goods-finding in the elderly within a 3D virtual store Online shopping has become quite popular since its first arrival on the internet. Although numerous studies have been performed to investigate various issues related to the internet store, some research issues relating to the spatial cognition of the elderly (the fastest growing internet group) when exploring a 3D virtual store still await further empirical investigation. The objective of this study was to examine how elderly users acquire spatial knowledge in an on-screen virtual store. Specifically, the impact of different types of landmarks on the acquisition of spatial knowledge was examined. In addition, in this study, goods-classification was seen as an implicit landmark associated with the acquisition of spatial knowledge. Therefore, it is worth observing the impact during the location of the goods and examining the combined effect with landmarks. The experimental results indicated that landmarks are important for the elderly as they attempt to locate goods within a 3D virtual store, no matter what types are used. However, landmarks are not the only resources for constructing spatial knowledge in a 3D virtual store; the classification of goods is also a good resource and may be more important than landmarks. In addition, the combined effect of goods-classification and landmarks in a 2D image would be best for the elderly in terms of acquired spatial cognition and the location of goods within a 3D virtual store.

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

goods-finding
goods-classification
route knowledge
survey knowledge


Novel stability of cellular neural networks with interval time-varying delay In this paper, the asymptotic stability is investigated for a class of cellular neural networks with interval time-varying delay (that is, 0 < h(1) < d(t) < h(2)). By introducing a novel Lyapunov functional with the idea of partitioning the lower bound h, of the time-varying delay, a new criterion of asymptotic stability is derived in terms of a linear matrix inequality (LMI), which can be efficiently solved via standard numerical software. The criterion proves to be less conservative than most of the existing results, and the conservatism could be notably reduced by thinning the delay partitioning. Two examples are provided to demonstrate the less conservatism and effectiveness of the proposed stability conditions. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

cellular neural networks
delay partitioning
linear matrix inequality

global asymptotic stability
interval time-varying delay


Simulating runoff behavior in an urbanizing watershed Land-use change in urbanizing watersheds has significant impacts on hydrolic processes and stream quality. Geographic information system (GIS) processing of spatial information is now commonly used to parameterize hydrologic models. We use and evaluate a system developed for the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), coupling Hydrologic Simulation Program Fortran (HSPF) with a commonly used GIS (ArcView) to assess the effects of land-use change on watershed behavior. We extend this anlaysis to investigate relationships beetween runoff ratio and baseflow as a function of percent impervious cover and percent soil saturation for upper Gwynns Falls watershed, Baltimore, MD, USA. Hydrologic model output is used to define summary expressions to describe these relationships and condense complex system behavior. The summary expressions for the runoff ratio and baseflow relationships show that in upper Gwynns Falls from pre-urbanized times to 1990: (1) baseflow had declined by as much as 20%; and (2) only small changes in runoff ratio had occurred. The summary expression for the runoff ratio relationship indicates the existence of a threshold percent impervious cover (?20%), above which the runoff ratio changes more dramatically. By 1990, the percent impervious cover for upper Gwynns Falls (?18%) has not yet exceeded this threshold and may explain why only small changes in the runoff ratio had occurred.

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


Asymptotic normality of sample covariance matrix for mixed spectra time series: Application to sinusoidal frequencies estimation This correspondence addresses the asymptotic normal distribution of the sample mean and the sample covariance matrix of mixed spectra time series containing a sum of sinusoids and a moving average (MA) process. Two central limit (CL) theorems are proved. As an application of this result, the asymptotic normal distribution of any sinusoidal frequencies estimator of such time series based on second-order statistics is deduced.

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

mixed spectra time series
sample covariance matrix

covariance-based sinusoidal frequencies estimation


QCD simulations with staggered fermions on GPUs We report on our implementation of the RHMC algorithm for the simulation of lattice QCD with two staggered flavors on Graphics Processing Units, using the NVIDIA CUDA programming language. The main feature of our code is that the GPU is not used just as an accelerator, but instead the whole Molecular Dynamics trajectory is performed on it. After pointing out the main bottlenecks and how to circumvent them, we discuss the obtained performances. We present some preliminary results regarding OpenCL and multiGPU extensions of our code and discuss future perspectives.

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


Compression of sparse matrices by blocked rice coding This correspondence considers the compression of matrices where the majority of the entries are a fixed constant (most typically zero), usually referred to as sparse matrices. We show that using Golomb or Rice encoding requires significantly less space than previous approaches. Furthermore, compared to arithmetic coding, the space requirements are only slightly increased but access is ten times faster for both Golomb and Rice encoding. By blocking the data, the access time can be kept constant as only a single block needs to be decoded to access any element. Although such blocking increases the space overheads, this is marginal until the block sizes become so small that only a few nonzero values will be Found in a block. We provide formulas giving the space overhead of blocked Rice encoding and validate these empirically.

B O B 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 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


A two-stage genetic algorithm for automatic clustering In this paper, a two-stage genetic clustering algorithm (TGCA) is proposed. This algorithm can automatically determine the proper number of clusters and the proper partition from a given data set. The two-stage selection and mutation operations are implemented to exploit the search capability of the algorithm by changing the probabilities of selection and mutation according to the consistence of the number of clusters in the population. First, the TGCA focuses on the search of the best number of clusters, and then gradually transfers towards finding the globally optimal cluster centers. Furthermore, a maximum attribute range partition approach is used in the population initialization so as to overcome the sensitivity of clustering algorithms to initial partitions. Finally, the efficiency of TGCA has been extensively compared with several automatic clustering algorithms, including hierarchical agglomerative k-means, automatic spectral algorithm and a standard genetic k-means clustering algorithm (SGKC). Experimental results on four artificial and seven real-life data sets show that the TGCA has derived better performance on the search of the cluster numbers and higher accuracy on clustering problems.

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

automatic clustering
genetic algorithm
mutation


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

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

fusion
sequential probability ratio test

multi-biometrics
sequential strategy
cost optimization


Robust real-time periodic motion detection, analysis, and applications We describe new techniques to detect and analyze periodic motion as seen from both a static and a moving camera. By tracking objects of interest, we compute an objects self-similarity as it evolves in time. For periodic motion, the self-similarity measure is also periodic and we apply Time-Frequency analysis to detect and characterize the periodic motion. The periodicity is also analyzed robustly using the 2D lattice structures inherent in similarity matrices. A real-time system has been implemented to track and classify objects using periodicity. Examples of object classification (people, running dogs, vehicles), person counting, and nonstationary periodicity are provided.

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

motion segmention
person detection
motion symmetries
motion-based recognition


The topological structures of membrane computing In its initial presentation, the P system formalism describes the topology of the membranes as a set of nested regions. In this paper, we present an algebraic structure developped in combinatorial topology that can be used to describe finer adjacency relationships between membranes. Using an appropriate abstract setting, this technical device enables us to reformulate also the computation within a membrane and proposes a unified view on several computational mechanisms initially inspired by biological processes. These theoretical tools are instantiated in MGS, an experimental programming language handling various types of membrane structures in a homogeneous and uniform syntax.

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

gamma
cham
l system
cellular automata
group based fields
rewriting
topological collection
declarative programming language


advanced thermal sensing circuit and test techniques used in a high performance 65nm processor Traditional inaccuracies during manufacturing test of the thermal sensor circuit require excessive guard-bands. These guard-bands increase the chance of unnecessary microprocessor throttling and could introduce a less-than optimum power and thermal design envelope. Circuit techniques that minimize these errors are discussed, including an improved temperature-independent voltage pump, a remote thermal sensing scheme for hot-spot to sensor offset reduction, and a self-heating error calibration method. Experimental data obtained on a high performance 65nm Intel Pentium 4 microprocessor demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of these techniques, providing a combined potential accuracy improvement of up to 17C.

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

temperature sensing
analog design
sensor calibration error
thermal management


WebQual: An instrument for consumer evaluation of Web sites Despite the critical need to know how consumers' perceptions of Web sites influence their behavior, and especially their intention to revisit or purchase, there is no extant general measure for evaluating Web sites and no consensus on what such an instrument should measure. The authors used the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Technology Acceptance Model to develop the WebQual instrument for consumer evaluation of Web sites. They refined it through a literature review and interviews with Web designers and users, and tested it using four samples of Web consumers. WebQual includes 12 dimensions (informational fit-to-task, tailored information, trust, response time, ease of understanding, intuitive operations, visual appeal, innovativeness, emotional appeal, consistent image, on-line completeness, relative advantage) and shows strong measurement validity. It is a highly validated instrument that can provide both wide- and fine-grained measurements of organizational Web sites.

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

consumer evaluation
technology acceptance model
theory of reasoned action

instrument development
tam
tra
web site evaluation


Integration of Multiple Bilingually-Trained Segmentation Schemes into Statistical Machine Translation This paper proposes an unsupervised word segmentation algorithm that identifies word boundaries in continuous source language text in order to improve the translation quality of statistical machine translation (SMT) approaches. The method can be applied to any language pair in which the source language is unsegmented and the target language segmentation is known. In the first step, an iterative bootstrap method is applied to learn multiple segmentation schemes that are consistent with the phrasal segmentations of an SMT system trained on the resegmented bitext. In the second step, multiple segmentation schemes are integrated into a single SMT system by characterizing the source language side and merging identical translation pairs of differently segmented SMT models. Experimental results translating five Asian languages into English revealed that the proposed method of integrating multiple segmentation schemes outperforms SMT models trained on any of the learned word segmentations and performs comparably to available monolingually built segmentation tools.

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

statistical machine translation
word segmentation
asian languages


A survey of automated techniques for formal software verification The quality and the correctness of software are often the greatest concern in electronic systems. Formal verification tools can provide a guarantee that a design is free of specific flaws. This paper surveys algorithms that perform automatic static analysis of software to detect programming errors or prove their absence. The three techniques considered are static analysis with abstract domains, model checking, and bounded model checking. A short tutorial on these techniques is provided, highlighting their differences when applied to practical problems. This paper also surveys tools implementing these techniques and describes their merits and shortcomings.

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

model checking
software verification
static analysis

bounded model checking (bmc)
predicate abstraction


mining hepatitis data with temporal abstraction The hepatitis temporal database collected at Chiba university hospital between 1982--2001 was recently given to challenge the KDD research. The database is large where each patient corresponds to 983 tests represented as sequences of irregular timestamp points with different lengths. This paper presents a temporal abstraction approach to mining knowledge from this hepatitis database. Exploiting hepatitis background knowledge and data analysis, we introduce new notions and methods for abstracting short-term changed and long-term changed tests. The abstracted data allow us to apply different machine learning methods for finding knowledge part of which is considered as new and interesting by medical doctors.

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


Some constacyclic codes over Z2k and binary quasi-cyclic codes The concept of negacyclic code was recently introduced in Wolfmann (IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory 45 (1999) 25272532), in which some relations between the negacyclic codes and their Gray map images are proved. In this note, for k?1 an isometry ?k between codes over and codes over is introduced and used to give a generalization of the Gray map equivalent to the one given in Carlet (IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory 44 (1998) 15431547). Furthermore, by means of this isometry, the concept of negacyclic codes is extended to codes over the ring , obtaining a class of constacyclic codes referred to as hpo-cyclic codes (half plus one-cyclic codes). A characterization of these codes in terms of their images under ?k is given. It is also proved that the generalized Gray map image of an hpo-cyclic code is a binary distance invariant (not necessarily linear) quasi-cyclic code. Finally, some linear hpo-cyclic codes are discussed and a few examples are given.

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

hpo-cyclic
quasi-cyclic and cyclic codes over


predicates for line transversals to lines and line segments in three-dimensional space When an observer is in a 3D scene, a topological change in the view arises when the line of sight is tangent to four objects. If we consider polyhedral scenes, the relevant lines of sight are transversals to some edges of the polyhedra. In this paper we investigate predicates about visibility events arising in this context. Namely, we consider the predicates for counting the number of line transversals to lines and segments in 3D and the predicate for determining whether a line of sight is intersected by a triangle. We also consider a predicate that order these visibility events in the rotating plane-sweep algorithm of Brnnimann et al. (2007) We present a new approach for solving these predicates and show that the degree of the resulting procedures are significantly smaller than the naive approach based on Plcker coordinates. All the degrees are considered here in the Cartesian coordinates of the points defining the lines and segments. In particular, we present a procedure of degree 12 (resp. 15) for determining the number of transversals to four (resp. five or more) segments. We present procedures of degree 15 for the occlusion predicate and of degree 36 for the ordering predicate. In comparison, the degree of the standard procedure based on the Plcker coordinates for solving these predicates range from 36 to 168 [Everett et al. 2006].

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


Two construction schemes for cubic hamiltonian 1-node-hamiltonian graphs A hamiltonian graph G = (V, E) is hamiltonian 1-node-hamiltonian if G-v is hamiltonian for any v is an element of V. An n-node hamiltonian 1-node-hamiltonian graph G is optimal if it contains the least number of edges among all n-node hamiltonian 1-node-hamiltonian graphs. The study of optimal 1-node-hamiltonian graphs is motivated by the design of optimal fault-tolerant token rings in computer networks. It is known that every cubic hamiltonian 1-node-hamiltonian graph is optimal. In this paper, we propose two construction schemes for cubic hamiltonian 1-node-hamiltonian regular graphs. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

interconnection network
graph theorem
hamiltonian 1-node-hamiltonian
hamiltonian cycle
fault tolerance


retrieving actions embedded in video In a number of applications including surveillance, there is a need to reliably retrieve an action-depicting segment in a video. This is an enormously difficult problem due to the variability in an action's appearance when seen at different times. It requires reliable object and action segmentation, and robust methods for indexing the action content in a video. In this paper, we present a novel approach to action retrieval that extracts salient action events in query and database videos. These events serve as anchor points to initiate action recognition. Actions are recognized by forming a spatio-temporal shape for an action called the action cylinder. Robust recognition is achieved by recovering the viewpoint transformation and time correspondence between a query action and a given action segment in the video. We demonstrate the versatility of our method for the retrieving of complex actions within videos.

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


DC-DC Converter-Aware Task Scheduling and Dynamic Reconfiguration for Energy Harvesting Embedded Systems Energy-harvesting devices are materials that allow ambient energy sources to be converters into usable electrical power. While a battery powers the modern embedded systems, these energy-harvesting devices power the energy-harvesting embedded systems. This claims a new energy efficient management techniques for the energy-harvesting systems dislike the previous management techniques. The higher entire system efficiency in an energy-harvesting system can be obtained by a higher generating efficiency, a higher consuming efficiency, or a higher transferring efficiency. This paper presents a generalized technique for a dynamic reconfiguration and a task scheduling considering the power loss in DC-DC converters in the system. The proposed technique minimizes the power loss in the DC-DC converter and charger of the system. The proposed technique minimizes the power loss in the DC-DC converters and charger of the system. Experiments with actual application demonstrate that our approach reduces the total energy consumption by 22% in average over the conventional approach.

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 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

power loss reduction
dc-dc converter
reconfigurable
pv cell
supercapacitor


Sketch2Jewelry: Semantic feature modeling for sketch-based jewelry design A sketch-based semantic feature modeling prototype system Sketch2Jewelry is proposed for jewelry design. A semantic feature classes are augmented with oriented relations, procedural rules, and shape descriptors to support sketches. The rich semantics are applied to semantic feature retrieval and instantiation.

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

sketch-based modeling
feature-based modeling
semantic retrieval


evaluating, combining and generalizing recommendations with prerequisites We consider the problem of recommending the best set of k items when there is an inherent ordering between items, expressed as a set of prerequisites (e.g., the movie 'Godfather I' is a prerequisite of 'Godfather II'). Since this general problem is computationally intractable, we develop 3 approximation algorithms to solve this problem for various prerequisite structures (e.g., chain graphs, AND graphs, AND-OR graphs). We derive worst-case bounds for these algorithms for these structures, and experimentally evaluate these algorithms on synthetic data. We also develop an algorithm to combine solutions in order to generate even better solutions, and compare the performance of this algorithm with the other three.

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


Semismooth Newton Schwarz iterative methods for the linear complementarity problem Semismooth Newton method is an effective method for solving a nonsmooth equation, which arises from a reformulation of the complementarity problem. Under appropriate conditions, we verify the monotone convergence of the method. We also present semismooth Newton Schwarz iterative methods for the nonsmooth equation. Under suitable conditions, the methods exhibit monotone and superlinear convergence properties.

O O O O 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 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

linear complementarity problem
nonsmooth equation
monotone convergence


enabling nfc technology to support activities in an alzheimer's day center Alzheimer's patients need a large amount of varied types of attention by carers, due to the disorders of memory and orientation they present. Knowledge about the particular state of each individual day-care patient is sometimes deficient, however, as assistants have no time to supervise patients' records because they do not wish to have their attention distracted from care. In this work we present a proposal to solve this problem. A complement to support the information management routine by adapting Near Field Communication Technology is offered here... By means of touching tags with mobile phones, day center assistants carry out this management. This is done via tags placed throughout the context, which means on patients, places, devices and applications. With this simple interaction, some aspects of the routine in this kind of context, such as information about the patient's basic status, orientation, door security, therapy and other activities can be dealt with. In addition, this proposal concludes with an information-filtering process whose purpose is to achieve an easy interaction method with mobile phones and provide recommendations to assistants and family. Finally, our process offers appropriate information to physicians.

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

natural interaction
mobile and ubiquitous computing


Deterministic approximate inference techniques for conditionally Gaussian state space models We describe a novel deterministic approximate inference technique for conditionally Gaussian state space models, i.e. state space models where the latent state consists of both multinomial and Gaussian distributed variables. The method can be interpreted as a smoothing pass and iteration scheme symmetric to an assumed density filter. It improves upon previously proposed smoothing passes by not making more approximations than implied by the projection onto the chosen parametric form, the assumed density. Experimental results show that the novel scheme outperforms these alternative deterministic smoothing passes. Comparisons with sampling methods suggest that the performance does not degrade with longer sequences.

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

state space models
approximate inference

conditionally gaussian state space models


A hybrid metaheuristic algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with simultaneous delivery and pick-up service This article addresses a vehicle routing problem variant which considers customers to require simultaneous delivery and pick-up service (VRPSPD). The objective of this problem is to determine the optimal set of routes to totally satisfy both the delivery and pick-up demand of the customer population. VRPSPD is an NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem; therefore exact methods are incapable of dealing with large scale VRPSPD instances arising in a wide variety of practical operations. We propose a hybrid solution approach incorporating the rationale of two well-known metaheuristics which have proven to be effective for routing problem variants, namely tabu search and guided local search. The intelligence of the proposed hybrid was designed to achieve a vast exploration of the search space, by escaping from local optima and intensifying at promising solution regions. The performance of our metaheuristic algorithm was tested on benchmark instances involving from 50 to 400 customers. It produced high quality results, improving several best solutions previously reported.

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

vehicle routing
simultaneous
metaheuristics
tabu search
guided local search


Beta Testing of a Network-Based Health Literacy Program Tailored for Older Adults With Hypertension A touch screen-enabled "Personal Education Program" was modified to the "next generation" to capture self-medication behaviors of older adults. with hypertension and assess related knowledge and self-efficacy. The program analyzes patient-entered information and delivers interactive educational content tailored to the reported behaviors. Summaries of self-reported symptoms, medication use (including frequency/time), drug interactions, and corrective strategies with "an illustration of the drug interaction are printed to inform the provider before the primary care visit and for the patient to take home for self-study. After formative research during development and formal diagnostic and verification usability studies with advanced practice nurses and older adults, a beta test was conducted with older adults with hypertension over a 3-month period. Findings from the beta test suggest that older adult user satisfaction was high. Blood pressure declined over the four visits for 82% of the participants. The next generation of the Personal Education Program had a large effect size in increasing knowledge and self-efficacy for avoiding adverse self-medication behaviors. Behavior risk score did not change significantly but-was significantly correlated with systolic blood pressure on the fourth visit. The positive results found in this small sample suggest that the next generation of the Personal Education Program could play a central role in facilitating patient-provider communication and medication adherence.

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

health literacy
hypertension
older adults


robotics operator performance in a military multi-tasking environment We simulated a military mounted environment and examined the performance of the combined position of gunner and robotics operator and how aided target recognition (AiTR) capabilities (delivered either through tactile or tactile + visual cueing) for the gunnery task might benefit the concurrent robotics and communication tasks. Results showed that participants' teleoperation task improved significantly when the AiTR was available to assist them with their gunnery task. However, the same improvement was not found for semi-autonomous robotics task performance. Additionally, when teleoperating, those participants with higher spatial ability outperformed those with lower spatial ability. However, performance gap between those with higher and lower spatial ability appeared to be narrower when the AiTR was available to assist the gunnery task. Participants' communication task performance also improved significantly when the gunnery task was aided by AiTR. Finally, participant's perceived workload was significantly higher when they teleoperated a robotic asset and when their gunnery task was unassisted.

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

ugv
individual differences.
simulation
tactile display
human robot interaction
reconnaissance