Updating Views Over Recursive XML
We study the problem of updating XML views defined over XML documents. A view update is performed by finding the base updates over the underlying data sources that achieve the desired view update. If such base updates do not exist, the view update is said to be untranslatable and rejected. In SQL, determining whether a view update is translatable is performed using schema level analysis, where the view definition and the base schema are used. XML schemas are more complex than SQL schemas, and can specify recursive types and cardinality constraints. In this paper, we propose a solution based on schema level analysis for determining whether an update over XML views is translatable and for finding the translation if one exists, while considering the features of XML schemas.

title: An Optimized Two-Step Solution for Updating XML Views
abstract: View updating is a long standing difficult problem. Given a view defined over base data sources and a view update, there are several different updates over the base data sources, called translations, that perform the update. A translation is said to be correct if it performs the update and at the same time does not update any portion of the view not specified in the update (no view side-effects). The view update problem finds a correct translation for a given view update if one exists. In the relational scenario, previous research has attempted to study the view update problem either by utilizing only the schema knowledge, or by directly examining the base data. While utilizing only the schema knowledge is very efficient, we are not guaranteed to find a correct translation even if one exists. On the other hand, examining the base data is guaranteed to find a correct translation if one exists, but is very time-consuming. The view update problem is even more complex in the XML context due to the nested hierarchical structure of XML and the restructuring capabilities of the XQUERY view specification. In this paper we propose a schema-centric framework, named HUX, for efficiently updating XML views specified over relational databases. HUX is complete (always finds a correct translation if one exists) and is efficient. The efficiency of HUX is achieved as follows. Given a view update, HUX first exploits the schema to determine whether there will never be a correct translation, or there will always be a correct translation. Only if the update cannot be classified using the schema, HUX will examine the base data to determine if there is a correct translation. This data-level checking is further optimized in HUX, by exploiting the schema knowledge extracted in the first step to significantly prune the space of potential translations that is explored. Experiments illustrate the performance benefits of HUX over previous solutions.

title: A Modified Projection Neural Network for Linear Variational Inequalities and Quadratic Optimization Problems
abstract: Variational inequalities provide us with a tool to study a wide class of optimization arising in pure and applied sciences. In the paper,we present a neural network for solving linear variational inequalities and quadratic optimization by using a projection techniques. We also consider the global uniqueness of the solution of the neural network as well as the convergence of the modified projection neural network. Our results present a significant improvement of previously known projection methods for solving variational inequalities and related optimization problems. Two simulation examples are provided to show the effectiveness of the approach and applicability of the proposed criteria.

title: Automated extraction of fine features of kinetochore microtubules and plus-ends from electron tomography volume
abstract: Kinetochore microtubules (KMTs) and the associated plus-ends have been areas of intense investigation in both cell biology and molecular medicine. Though electron tomography opens up new possibilities in understanding their function by imaging their high-resolution structures, the interpretation of the acquired data remains an obstacle because of the complex and cluttered cellular environment. As a result, practical segmentation of the electron tomography data has been dominated by manual operation, which is time consuming and subjective. In this paper, we propose a model-based automated approach to extracting KMTs and the associated plus-ends with a coarse-to-fine scale scheme consisting of volume preprocessing, microtubule segmentation and plus-end tracing. In volume preprocessing, we first apply an anisotropic invariant wavelet transform and a tube-enhancing filter to enhance the microtubules at coarse level for localization. This is followed with a surface-enhancing filter to accentuate the fine microtubule boundary features. The microtubule body is then segmented using a modified active shape model method. Starting from the segmented microtubule body, the plus-ends are extracted with a probabilistic tracing method improved with rectangular window based feature detection and the integration of multiple cues. Experimental results demonstrate that our automated method produces results comparable to manual segmentation but using only a fraction of the manual segmentation time.

title: Iterative Joint Channel Estimation and Multi-User Detection for Multiple-Antenna Aided OFDM Systems
abstract: Multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems have recently attracted substantial research interest. However, compared to single-input-single-output (SISO) systems, channel estimation in the MIMO scenario becomes more challenging, owing to the increased number of independent transmitter-receiver links to be estimated. In the context of the Bell layered space-time architecture (BLAST) or space division multiple access (SDMA) multi-user MIMO OFDM systems, none of the known channel estimation techniques allows the number of users to be higher than the number of receiver antennas, which is often referred to as a "rank-deficient" scenario, owing to the constraint imposed by the rank of the MIMO channel matrix. Against this background, in this paper we propose a new genetic algorithm (GA) assisted iterative joint channel estimation and multi-user detection (GA-JCEMUD) approach for multi-user MIMO SDMA-OFDM systems, which provides an effective solution to the multi-user MIMO channel estimation problem in the above-mentioned rank-deficient scenario. Furthermore, the GAs invoked in the data detection literature can only provide a hard-decision output for the forward error correction (FEC) or channel decoder, which inevitably limits the system's achievable performance. By contrast, our proposed GA is capable of providing "soft" outputs and hence it becomes capable of achieving an improved performance with the aid of FEC decoders. A range of simulation results are provided to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed scheme.

title: Improved Results on Solving Quadratic Programming Problems with Delayed Neural Network
abstract: In this paper, in terms of a linear matrix inequality (LMI), using a delayed Lagrangian network to solve quadratic programming problems, sufficient conditions on delay-dependent and delay-independent are given to guarantee the globally exponential stability of the delayed neural network at the optimal solution. In addition, exponential convergence rate is estimated by the equation in the paper. Furthermore, the results in this paper improved the ones reported in the existing literatures and the proposed sufficient condition can be checked easily by solving LMI. Two simulation examples are provided to show the effectiveness of the approach and applicability of the proposed criteria.

title: Feature Mining Paradigms for Scientific Data
abstract: Numerical simulation is replacing experimentation as a means to gain insight into complex physical phenomena. Analyzing the data produced by such simulations is extremely challenging, given the enormous sizes of the datasets involved. In order to make efficient progress, analyzing such data must advance from current techniques that only visualize static images of the data, to novel techniques that can mine, track, and visualize the important features in the data. In this paper, we present our research on a unified framework that addresses this critical challenge in two science domains: computational fluid dynamics and molecular dynamics. We offer a systematic approach to detect the significant features in both domains, characterize and track them, and formulate hypotheses with regard to their complex evolution. Our framework includes two paradigms for feature mining, and the choice of one over the other, for a given application, can be determined based on local or global influence of relevant features in the data.