IBM's Linux watch, the challenge of miniaturization

Nearly four years in development, the IBM Linux watch contains a complete computer system that runs Linux, displays X11 graphics, and has wireless connectivity. The system fits in a case that could pass as a slightly unusual analog timepiece with a somewhat odd shape and an extraordinarily brilliant face. The developers have created two versions of the watch, one with an organic light-emitting diode display and the other with a liquid crystal display. Still considered a research prototype, the watch already runs some personal information management applications, and it can communicate with PCs, PDAs, and other wireless-enabled devices, viewing condensed e-mail and directly receiving pager-like messages. Eventually, users will be able to access various Internet-based services, such as up-to-the-minute information about weather, traffic conditions, the stock market, and sports     

An improved version of ISICS: A program for calculating K-, L- and M-shell cross sections from PWBA and ECPSSR theory using a personal computer

The formatting of the M-shell atomic parameters imbedded in file XCSC.H in ISICS has been corrected. The problem only affected cross section calculations for Uranium and heavier elements. The corrected version of ISICS has been re-compiled and is now available.

New version program summary

Program title: ISICSCatalogue identifier: ADDS_v3_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADDS_v3_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.htmlNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 4645No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 106 731Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: C++Computer: 80486 or higher-level PCsOperating system: WINDOWS 98 through WINDOWS XPClassification: 16.7Does the new version supersede the previous version?: YesNature of problem: Ionization and X-ray production cross section calculations for ion-atom collisions.Solution method: Numerical integration of form factor using a logarithmic transform and Gaussian quadrature, plus exact integration limits.Reasons for new version: The formatting of the M-shell atomic parameters involving cross section calculations for Uranium and heavier elements needed to be corrected.Summary of revisions: The affected file XCSC.H in ISICS has been corrected and ISICS has been recompiled.Restrictions: The consumed CPU time increases with the atomic shell (K, L, M), but execution is still very fast.Running time: This depends on which shell and the number of different energies to be used in the calculation. For example, to calculate K-shell cross sections for protons striking carbon for 19 different proton energies it took less than 10 s; to calculate M-shell cross sections for protons on gold for 21 proton energies it took 4.2 min.     

Incremental Linear Discriminant Analysis Using Sufficient Spanning Sets and Its Applications

This paper presents an incremental learning solution for Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and its applications to object recognition problems. We apply the sufficient spanning set approximation in three steps i.e. update for the total scatter matrix, between-class scatter matrix and the projected data matrix, which leads an online solution which closely agrees with the batch solution in accuracy while significantly reducing the computational complexity. The algorithm yields an efficient solution to incremental LDA even when the number of classes as well as the set size is large. The incremental LDA method has been also shown useful for semi-supervised online learning. Label propagation is done by integrating the incremental LDA into an EM framework. The method has been demonstrated in the task of merging large datasets which were collected during MPEG standardization for face image retrieval, face authentication using the BANCA dataset, and object categorisation using the Caltech101 dataset.     

ISICS2011, an updated version of ISICS: A program for calculation K-, L-, and M-shell cross sections from PWBA and ECPSSR theories using a personal computer

In this new version of ISICS, called ISICS2011, a few omissions and incorrect entries in the built-in file of electron binding energies have been corrected; operational situations leading to un-physical behavior have been identified and flagged.

New version program summary

Program title: ISICS2011Catalogue identifier: ADDS_v5_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADDS_v5_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen?s University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.htmlNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 6011No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 130 587Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: CComputer: 80486 or higher-level PCsOperating system: WINDOWS XP and all earlier operating systemsClassification: 16.7Catalogue identifier of previous version: ADDS_v4_0Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Commun. 180 (2009) 1716.Does the new version supersede the previous version?: YesNature of problem: Ionization and X-ray production cross section calculations for ion–atom collisions.Solution method: Numerical integration of form factor using a logarithmic transform and Gaussian quadrature, plus exact integration limits.Reasons for new version: General need for higher precision in output format for projectile energies; some built-in binding energies needed correcting; some anomalous results occur due to faulty read-in data or calculated parameters becoming un-physical; erroneous calculations could result for the L and M shells when restricted K-shell options are inadvertently chosen; to achieve general compatibility with ISICSoo, a companion C++ version that is portable to Linux and MacOS platforms, has been submitted for publication in the CPC Program Library approximately at the same time as this present new standalone version of ISICS [1].Summary of revisions: The format field for projectile energies in the output has been expanded from two to four decimal places in order to distinguish between closely spaced energy values. There were a few entries in the executable binding energy file that needed correcting; K shell of Eu, M shells of Zn, M1 shell of Kr. The corrected values were also entered in the ENERGY.DAT file. In addition, an alternate data file of binding energies is included, called ENERGY_GW.DAT, which is more up-to-date [2]. Likewise, an alternate atomic parameters data file is now included, called FLOURE_JC.DAT, which is more up-to-date [3] fluorescence yields for the K and L shells and Coster–Kronig parameters for the L shell. Both data files can be read in using the -f usage option. To do this, the original energy file should be renamed and saved (e.g., ENERGY_BB.DAT) and the new file (ENERGY_GW.DAT ) should be duplicated as ENERGY.DAT to be read in using the -f option. Similarly for reading in an alternate FLOURE.DAT file. As with previous versions, the user can also simply input different values of any input quantity by invoking the “specify your own parameters” option from the main menu. You can also use this option to simply check the values of the built-in values of the parameters. If it still happens that a zero binding energy for a particular sub-shell is read in, the program will not completely abort, but will calculate results for the other sub-shells while setting the affected sub-shell output to zero. In calculating the Coulomb deflection factor, if the quantity inside the radical sign of the parameter zs becomes zero or negative, to prevent the program from aborting, the PWBA cross sections are still calculated while the ECPSSR cross sections are set to zero. This situation can happen for very low energy collisions, such as were noticed for helium ions on copper at energies of E?11.2 keV. It was observed during the engineering of ISICSoo [1] that erroneous calculations could result for the L- and M-shell cases when restricted K-shell R or HSR scaling options were inappropriately chosen. The program has now been fixed so that these inappropriate options are ignored for the L and M shells. In the previous versions, the usage for inputting a batch data file was incorrectly stated in the Users Manual as -Bxxx; the correct designation is -Fxxx, or alternatively, -Ixxx, as indicated on the usage screen in running the program.A revised Users Manual is also available.Restrictions: The consumed CPU time increases with the atomic shell (K, L, M), but execution is still very fast.Running time: This depends on which shell and the number of different energies to be used in the calculation. The running time is not significantly changed from the previous version.References:

• [1] 

  M. Batic, M.G. Pia, S. Cipolla, Comput. Phys. Commun. (2011), submitted for publication.

• [2] 

  http://www.jlab.org/~gwyn/ebindene.html.

• [3] 

  J. Campbell, At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 85 (2003) 291.

     

Using Bounded Diameter Minimum Spanning Trees to Build Dense Active Appearance Models

We present a method for producing dense active appearance models (AAMs), suitable for video-realistic synthesis. To this end we estimate a joint alignment of all training images using a set of pairwise registrations and ensure that these pairwise registrations are only calculated between similar images. This is achieved by defining a graph on the image set whose edge weights correspond to registration errors and computing a bounded diameter minimum spanning tree. Dense optical flow is used to compute pairwise registration and a flow refinement method to align small scale texture is introduced. Further, given the registration of training images, vertices are added to the AAM to minimise the error between the observed flow fields and the flow fields interpolated between the AAM mesh points. We demonstrate a significant improvement in model compactness.     

Cold bending of advanced ferritic steels: ASTM grades T23, T91, T92

The metallurgical background of advanced ferritic steels must be considered during every stage of fabrication, including forming operations, such as cold bending, because they can negatively affect the high-temperature properties of the material when not performed properly.     

Synthesis,Molecular Modeling and Biological Evaluation of Metabolically Stable Analogues of the Endogenous Fatty Acid Amide Palmitoylethanolamide

Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) belongs to the class of N-acylethanolamine and is an endogenous lipid potentially useful in a wide range of therapeutic areas; products containing PEA are licensed for use in humans as a nutraceutical, a food supplement, or food for medical purposes for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties demonstrating efficacy and tolerability. However, the exogenously administered PEA is rapidly inactivated; in this process, fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) plays a key role both in hepatic metabolism and in intracellular degradation. So, the aim of the present study was the design and synthesis of PEA analogues that are more resistant to FAAH-mediated hydrolysis. A small library of PEA analogues was designed and tested by molecular docking and density functional theory calculations to find the more stable analogue. The computational investigation identified RePEA as the best candidate in terms of both synthetic accessibility and metabolic stability to FAAH-mediated hydrolysis. The selected compound was synthesized and assayed ex vivo to monitor FAAH-mediated hydrolysis and to confirm its anti-inflammatory properties. ¹H-NMR spectroscopy performed on membrane samples containing FAAH in integral membrane protein demonstrated that RePEA is not processed by FAAH, in contrast with PEA. Moreover, RePEA retains PEA’s ability to inhibit LPS-induced cytokine release in both murine N9 microglial cells and human PMA-THP-1 cells.