Arabic GramCheck: a grammar checker for Arabic

Arabic is a Semitic language that is rich in its morphology and syntax. The very numerous and complex grammar rules of the language may be confusing for the average user of a word processor. In this paper, we report our attempt at developing a grammar checker program for Modern Standard Arabic, called Arabic GramCheck. Arabic GramCheck can help the average user by checking his/her writing for certain common grammatical errors; it describes the problem for him/her and offers suggestions for improvement. The use of the Arabic grammatical checker can increase productivity and improve the quality of the text for anyone who writes Arabic. Arabic GramCheck has been successfully implemented using SICStus Prolog on an IBM PC. The current implementation covers a well‐formed subset of Arabic and focuses on people trying to write in a formal style. Successful tests have been performed using a set of Arabic sentences. It is concluded that the approach is promising by observing the results as compared to the output of a commercially available Arabic grammar checker. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The design of a hybrid cultural model for Arabic gamified systems

The growing popularity of gamification in the global environment increases the importance of balancing factors that affect user engagement, satisfaction and acceptability in different cultures. While the main motivation behind gamifying software systems is to improve user engagement, an adverse effect might happen if the design and functionality did not consider users' cultural requirements. This paper presents a hybrid cultural design model for localising Arabic systems that takes into consideration the visual elements of user interfaces as well as the functionality and cultural factors of Arabic countries. We start by introducing design guidelines for localising Arabic systems and then evaluate the designed localisation criteria by conducting questionnaires and interviews. We base our studies on the factors that could affect the productivity levels of software engineers who use gamified software project management tools in their workplace. 63 software engineers participated in a mood board based questionnaire composed by different visual elements, rewards and achievements. To validate our findings, seven experts were interviewed. Those were software developers and designers. Based on our results, we propose a hybrid cultural design model, composed of personalised elements, localised elements and non-localised elements. This paper also proposes the first comprehensive model for localising Arabic gamified systems.     

SLHAplus: A library for implementing extensions of the standard model

We provide a library to facilitate the implementation of new models in codes such as matrix element and event generators or codes for computing dark matter observables. The library contains an SLHA reader routine as well as diagonalisation routines. This library is available in CalcHEP and micrOMEGAs. The implementation of models based on this library is supported by LanHEP and FeynRules.

Program summary

Program title: SLHAplus_1.3Catalogue identifier: AEHX_v1_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEHX_v1_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.: 6283No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 52 119Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: CComputer: IBM PC, MACOperating system: UNIX (Linux, Darwin, Cygwin)RAM: 2000 MBClassification: 11.1Nature of problem: Implementation of extensions of the standard model in matrix element and event generators and codes for dark matter observables.Solution method: For generic extensions of the standard model we provide routines for reading files that adopt the standard format of the SUSY Les Houches Accord (SLHA) file. The procedure has been generalized to take into account an arbitrary number of blocks so that the reader can be used in generic models including non-supersymmetric ones. The library also contains routines to diagonalize real and complex mass matrices with either unitary or bi-unitary transformations as well as routines for evaluating the running strong coupling constant, running quark masses and effective quark masses.Running time: 0.001 sec     

Overall Wafer Effectiveness (OWE): A novel industry standard for semiconductor ecosystem as a whole

As semiconductor industry reached nanotechnology generation and consumer electronics era, the competition is no longer among individual semiconductor companies. Indeed, the collaborations among horizontally specialized value providers are critical for the success of the companies as well as the whole ecosystem. This paper aims to propose a novel index, i.e., Overall Wafer Effectiveness (OWE), to measure wafer productivity and drive various improvement directions for semiconductor ecosystem as a whole. Furthermore, the proposed OWE can be easily extended to incorporate additional attributes such as mask-field-utilization, throughput, and yield for effective management. We conducted a number of case studies in real settings. The results have shown that OWE can be employed as a semiconductor industry standard to drive collaborative efforts among IC designers, equipment vendors, and manufacturers in the ecosystem to enhance total wafer effectiveness. This paper concludes with discussions on value propositions of proposed OWE indices and future research directions.     

ROGET: A knowledge-based system for acquiring the conceptual structure of a diagnostic expert system

This paper describes ROGET, a knowledge-based system that assists a domain expert with an important design task encountered during the early phases of expert-system construction. ROGET conducts a dialogue with the expert to acquire the expert system's conceptual structure, a representation of the kinds of domain-specific inferences that the consultant will perform and the facts that will support these inferences. ROGET guides this dialogue on the basis of a set of advice and evidence categories. These abstract categories are domain independent and can be employed to guide initial knowledge acquisition dialogues with experts for new applications. This paper discusses the nature of an expert system's conceptual structure and describes the organization and operation of the ROGET system that supports the acquisition of conceptual structures.     

LinesLab: A Flexible Low‐Cost Approach for the Generation of Physical Monochrome Art

The desire for the physical generation of computer art has seen a significant body of research that has resulted in sophisticated robots and painting machines, together with specialized algorithms mimicking particular artistic techniques. The resulting setups are often expensive and complex, making them unavailable for recreational and hobbyist use. In recent years, however, a new class of affordable low‐cost plotters and cutting machines has reached the market. In this paper, we present a novel system for the physical generation of line and cut‐out art based on digital images, targeted at such off‐the‐shelf devices. Our approach uses a meta‐optimization process to generate results that represent the tonal content of a digital image while conforming to the physical and mechanical constraints of home‐use devices. By flexibly combining basic sets of positional and shape encodings, we are able to recreate a wide range of artistic styles. Furthermore, our system optimizes the output in terms of visual perception based on the desired viewing distance, while remaining scalable with respect to the medium size.     

Development of a micrometeorological model for the estimation of methane flux from paddy fields: Validation with standard direct measurements

This work has focussed on the development of an indirect method for estimating methane fluxes from paddy fields and wetlands. A micrometeorological model, based on an analytical solution of the Eulerian advection–diffusion equation for vertical diffusion, has been used; model parameters include the location of the methane analyser and standard surface layer scaling factors. Flux chambers, which are commonly used for measuring methane fluxes from agricultural sources, are usually mechanically operated with a rated induced-draft fan and as such cannot replicate the real world atmospheric conditions. The results are not very reliable due to leakages along the piping and at fittings, especially when these chambers are used over a relatively rough surface like an agricultural field or a wetland. The results of the model have been compared with those from the direct method. The seasonal average methane flux calculated by the indirect method, for the cultivar type “Sundari”, is 7.13E+05 g/ha, while cultivar type “Shatabdi” gives a little lower value of 5.22E+05 g/ha. In case of the direct chamber method also, the seasonal average methane flux for the cultivar type “Sundari” (6.20E+05 g/ha) is more than cultivar type “Shatabdi” (4.84E+05 g/ha). When the two methods of assessment were compared, season September–December 2004 gave r² = 0.91, RMSE = 0.16 and MNB = 0.13 while we got r² = 0.94, RMSE = 1.22 and MNB = 0.06 for the season September–December 2005.In very few experiments we could cover a huge aerial plot instead of a huge number of experiments necessary for the direct chamber method.     

Scheduling production for a sawmill: A comparison of a mathematical model versus a heuristic

Sawmill production scheduling is complex. It involves determining which logs to process taking into account the diameter, length, and grade of each log, on one hand, and the finished products that are needed to fulfill the orders, on the other. The cutting pattern determines which products are generated and also the yield, which is how much of the volume of the log ends as finished products. We used two approaches to solve the problem: a mathematical model, which calculates the volume and the schedule of various types of logs, and a heuristic that solves the problem by systematically applying the criteria used by a sawmill programmer in southern Chile. We compare the results of using both approaches under various scenarios in a 6 week planning horizon, with the mathematical model showing a superior performance in almost all instances except two, were both found the optimal solution. The proposed mathematical model can be solved in a relatively short time, which makes it a suitable basis of a practical optimization-based decision support system.     

A practical use of model checking for synthesis: generating a dam controller for flood management

Program synthesis with automated methods has been an active research area for many years; however, we still lack well‐known and accepted techniques for this software engineering task. In this case, the design space to be considered is infinite, even when the solution is restricted to software that meets the requirements. In this paper we propose the use of model checking (MC) techniques to automatically synthesize controllers. Given a goal in the evolution of a plant, MC can be used to search for acceptable software controllers that enable the plant to evolve as desired. We also develop a realistic application in the context of a joint project with a major water reservoir management company. This application generates controllers for dam management during flood seasons. The controllers give the proper orders (open or close the outflow elements) at precise times in order to avoid disasters and to preserve the water level in the dam. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A model for Structure and Thermodynamics of ssDNA and dsDNA Near a Surface: a Coarse Grained Approach

New methods based on surfaces or beads have allowed measurement of properties of single DNA molecules in very accurate ways. Theoretical coarse grained models have been developed to understand the behavior of single stranded and double stranded DNA. These models have been shown to be accurate and relatively simple for very short systems of 6–8 base pairs near surfaces. Comparatively less is known about the influence of a surface on the secondary structures of longer molecules important to many technologies. Surface fields due to either applied potentials and/or dielectric boundaries are not in current surface mounted coarse grained models. To gain insight into longer and surface mounted sequences we parameterized a discretized worm-like chain model. Each link is considered a sphere of 6 base pairs in length for dsDNA, and 1.5 bases for ssDNA (requiring an always even number of spheres). For this demonstration of the model, the chain is tethered to a surface by a fixed length, non-interacting 0.536 nm linker. Configurational sampling was achieved via Monte Carlo simulation. Our model successfully reproduces end to end distance averages from experimental results, in agreement with polymer theory and all-atom simulations. Our average tilt results are also in agreement with all-atom simulations for the case of dense systems.     

论中国画中的“留白”艺术

绘画是重要的文化艺术形式,数千年以来,我国古代产生了大量的绘画作品,包含有丰富的文化、艺术、科学与历史价值,但是由于自然灾害（地震）与自然风化以及人类越来越多的经济活动等种种原因导致部分绘画作品存在或多或少的残损或者大块缺失,严重影响了基于这些绘画作品的鉴赏、文化创意、文化传播等活动. 与自然图像相比,古画图像的自相似性通常较高,有着明显的风格特点、丰富和细腻的纹理. 尽管目前在自然图像上的修复技术已经取得了令人印象深刻的进展,但是这些算法还不能直接用于中国古画的修复. 结合中国古画的特点对算法和模型结构进行设计,提出了基于多路编码器和双重注意力机制的中国古画修复算法,目标是对内容受损的古画进行自动化修复. 为了能够较好地从多个尺度来修复古画,采用了多路编码器来学习古画不同尺度的语义特征,通过学习到的宏观、中观、微观的语义特征来对古画进行修复,解决了古画丰富和细腻的纹理修复困难问题. 为了更好地学习古画的全局语义特征,使得修复后的古画整体更加和谐一致,采用了双重注意力模块分别从风格和内容2个方面来学习古画的全局语义特征. 为了验证提出的算法的先进性,制作了一个古画数据集,在该数据集上的实验证明,提出的算法相对于目前最先进的算法而言具有较好的修复质量.

     

A model of (en)action to approach embodiment: a cornerstone for the design of virtual environments for learning

This paper presents a model of (en)action from a conceptual and theoretical point of view. This model is used to provide solid bases to overcome the complexity of designing virtual environments for learning (VEL). It provides a common grounding for trans-disciplinary collaborations where embodiment can be perceived as the cornerstone of the project. Where virtual environments are concerned, both computer scientists and educationalists have to deal with the learner/user’s body; therefore the model provides tools with which to approach both human actions and learning processes within a threefold model. It is mainly based on neuroscientific research, including enaction and the neurophysiology of action.     

PLATYPUS: A code for reaction dynamics of weakly-bound nuclei at near-barrier energies within a classical dynamical model

A self-contained Fortran-90 program based on a three-dimensional classical dynamical reaction model with stochastic breakup is presented, which is a useful tool for quantifying complete and incomplete fusion, and breakup in reactions induced by weakly-bound two-body projectiles near the Coulomb barrier. The code calculates (i) integrated complete and incomplete fusion cross sections and their angular momentum distribution, (ii) the excitation energy distribution of the primary incomplete-fusion products, (iii) the asymptotic angular distribution of the incomplete-fusion products and the surviving breakup fragments, and (iv) breakup observables, such as angle, kinetic energy and relative energy distributions.

Program summary

Program title: PLATYPUSCatalogue identifier: AEIG_v1_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEIG_v1_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.: 332 342No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 344 124Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: Fortran-90Computer: Any Unix/Linux workstation or PC with a Fortran-90 compilerOperating system: Linux or UnixRAM: 10 MBClassification: 16.9, 17.7, 17.8, 17.11Nature of problem: The program calculates a wide range of observables in reactions induced by weakly-bound two-body nuclei near the Coulomb barrier. These include integrated complete and incomplete fusion cross sections and their spin distribution, as well as breakup observables (e.g. the angle, kinetic energy, and relative energy distributions of the fragments).Solution method: All the observables are calculated using a three-dimensional classical dynamical model combined with the Monte Carlo sampling of probability-density distributions. See Refs. [1,2] for further details.Restrictions: The program is suited for a weakly-bound two-body projectile colliding with a stable target. The initial orientation of the segment joining the two breakup fragments is considered to be isotropic.Additional comments: Several source routines from Numerical Recipies, and the Mersenne Twister random number generator package are included to enable independent compilation.Running time: About 75 minutes for input provided, using a PC with 1.5 GHz processor.References:

• [1] 

  A. Diaz-Torres, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 (2007) 152701.

• [2] 

  A. Diaz-Torres, J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 37 (2010) 075109.

     

Impact of a system of material points against an absolutely rigid obstacle: A model for its impulsive action

The impact of a system of elastically linked material points against an absolutely rigid obstacle is analytically described and limit to an elastic homogeneous rod is studied.     

A four-band semi-analytical model for estimating chlorophyll a in highly turbid lakes: The case of Taihu Lake, China

Accurate estimation of phytoplankton chlorophyll a (Chla) concentration from remotely sensed data is particularly challenging in turbid, productive waters. The objectives of this study are to validate the applicability of a semi-analytical three-band algorithm in estimating Chla concentration in the highly turbid, widely variable waters of Taihu Lake, China, and to improve the algorithm using a proposed four-band algorithm. The improved algorithm is expressed as [Rrs(λ₁)^− 1 − Rrs(λ₂)^− 1][Rrs(λ₄)^− 1 − Rrs(λ₃)^− 1]^− 1. The two semi-analytical algorithms are calibrated and evaluated against two independent datasets collected from 2007 and 2005 in Taihu Lake. Strong linear relationships were established between measured Chla concentration and that derived from the three-band algorithm of [Rrs^− 1(660) − Rrs^− 1(692)]Rrs(740) and the four-band algorithm of [Rrs^− 1(662) − Rrs^− 1(693)][Rrs^− 1(740) − Rrs^− 1(705)]^− 1. The first algorithm accounts for 87% and 80% variation in Chla concentration in the 2007 and 2005 datasets, respectively. The second algorithm accounts for 97% of variability in Chla concentration for the 2007 dataset and 87% of variation in the 2005 dataset. The three-band algorithm has a mean relative error (MRE) of 43.9% and 34.7% for the 2007 and 2005 datasets. The corresponding figures for the four-band algorithm are 26.7% and 28.4%. This study demonstrates the potential of the four-band model in estimating Chla even in highly turbid case 2 waters.     

A statistical model of fracture for a 2D hexagonal mesh: The Cell Network Model of Fracture for the bamboo Guadua angustifolia

A 2D, hexagonal in geometry, statistical model of fracture is proposed. The model is based on the drying fracture process of the bamboo Guadua angustifolia. A network of flexible cells are joined by brittle junctures of fixed Young moduli that break at a certain thresholds in tensile force. The system is solved by means of the Finite Element Method (FEM). The distribution of avalanche breakings exhibits a power law with exponent −2.93(9), in agreement with the random fuse model (Bhattacharyya and Chakrabarti, 2006) [1].