A note on the complexity of program evaluation

A simple problem concerning evaluation of programs is shown to be nonelementary recursive. The problem is the following: Given an input-free programP (i.e. all variables are initially 0) without nested loops using only instructions of the formx ← 1, x ← x + y, \(x \leftarrow x\dot - y\) ,do x... end, doesP output 0? This problem has time complexity \(2^{2^{ {\mathinner{\mkern2mu\raise1pt\hbox{.}\mkern2mu \raise4pt\hbox{.}\mkern2mu\raise7pt\hbox{.}\mkern1mu}} ^2 } } \) }cn-levels for some constantc. Other results are presented which show how the complexity of the 0-evaluation problem changes when the nonlooping instructions are varied. For example, it is shown that 0-evaluation is PSPACE-complete even for the case when the nonlooping instructions are onlyx ← x + 1,if x = 0then y ←y \(y \leftarrow y\dot - 1\) .     

On restricted one-counter machines

Let be the class of real-time nondeterministic one-counter machines whose counters make at mostone reversal. Let ₁ (respectively, ₂) be the subclass consisting of machines whose only nondeterministic move is in the choice of when to reverse the counter (respectively, when to start using the counter). ₁ and ₂ are among the simplest known classes of machines for which the universe problem has been shown undecidable. (The universe problem for a class of machines is the problem of deciding if an arbitrary machine in the class accepts all its inputs.) Here, we show that the classes of languages accepted by machines in ₁ and ₂ are incomparable. Moreover, the union of the language classes is properly contained in the class defined by . We also, briefly, look at the closure properties of these machines.This research was supported in part by NSF Grant MCS78-01736.     

Re-engineering the Engineering Change Management process for a drawing-less environment

Currently, 3D models and 2D drawings are the main basic elements that together form and carry the product definition throughout the product lifecycle. With the advent of the Digital Product Definition trend, industries have been interested in adopting a Model-based Definition (MBD) approach that enables the integration of drawing annotations directly onto a 3D model, thereby minimizing the need to generate engineering drawings. This drawing-less environment requires a way to adequately carry the product definition throughout a product's lifecycle while supporting all of the downstream users’ specific needs. The objective of this article is to present a solution to carry the Engineering Change Management (ECM) process in a drawing-less environment. Therefore, based on ECM process requirements from two Canadian aerospace companies, we propose an MBD dataset which consists of an MBD model and a distribution file. The proposed MBD dataset is evaluated and the MBD-driven ECM process is outlined.     

Impairment in long-term retention but not short-term performance on a water maze reversal task following hippocampal or mediodorsal striatal n-methyl-d-aspartate receptor blockade.

Male Long-Evans rats were injected with 32 ng/μl of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist 3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl) propyl-1-phosphonic acid (CPP) or vehicle and trained to locate a hidden platform in a different location (reversal training) than used on the initial 4 days of training. Rats treated with vehicle or CPP into the dorsal hippocampus, basolateral amygdala, or mediodorsal striatum had similar latencies to locate the platform on the reversal day. Rats infused with CPP into the dorsal hippocampus or mediodorsal striatum failed to search preferentially in the novel location during a 24-hr, drug-free retention test, whereas all other groups searched preferentially in this location. Therefore, blocking dorsal hippocampal or mediodorsal striatal NMDA receptors selectively blocked long-term spatial retention without producing short-term performance deficits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Web sites of the Fortune 500 companies: Facing customers through home pages

The growing popularity of the information superhighway has opened up exciting opportunities for companies looking to, not only maintain their current customer base, but also to reach new customers. One of the most popular methods to enter into cybermarketing has been to establish a home page or Web site on the Internet. Almost two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies currently maintain home pages on the Web. An analysis of the content of corporate home pages provides useful insights. Over four-fifths of the companies display products and services (93.2%) and company overview (86.1%) information. Roughly three-fourths of the companies present interactive feedback (79.3%) and what's new (71.1%). Less than one-third (26.2%) of Fortune 500 companies provide for online business. An analysis of the data also provides valuable insight into the future trends of home page usage by large business organizations.     

Piecewise H infinity: controller design of discrete time fuzzy systems.

This paper presents a new H infinity controller design method for the discrete time fuzzy systems based on the piecewise Lyapunov functions. The basic idea of the proposed approach is to construct the controller for the fuzzy systems in such a way that a discrete time piecewise Lyapunov function can be used to establish the global stability with H infinity-disturbance attenuation performance of the resulting close loop fuzzy control systems. It is shown that the control laws can be obtained by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) that is numerically tractable with commercially available software. Numerical example is given to demonstrate the advantage of the proposed method.     

噪声对贝叶斯频谱估计精度的影响

研究了贝叶斯频谱估计的基本理论和基本方法 ,分别对无噪声和有噪声的简谐正弦信号进行了频谱估计。计算结果显示 :无噪声信号频率估计偏倚为零 ;当信号噪声系数S/N =1时 ,贝叶斯频率估计的偏倚与Jaynes的理论值一致     

Personality Organizations, Psychiatric Severity, and Self and Object Representations.

This study examined the hypothesis that psychotic, borderline, and neurotic personality organizations (POs) present a progressive differentiation between self and object representations and an increasing integration of their bad and good aspects. Fifty patients participated in the study. Measures included scales of self and object representations (S. J. Blatt, S. A. Bers, & C. E. Schaffer, 1993; S. J. Blatt, H. Wiseman, E. Prince-Gibson, & C. Gatt, 1991), as well as the Personality Organization Diagnostic Form (L. Diguer & L. Normandin, 1997) and estimations of psychiatric severity. Results showed that PO groups differed in terms of the integration of the object and its valence. It was also observed that although object and self representations were closely intertwined, the latter showed more discrimination between POs than the former. Psychiatric severity was shown to correlate more with object representations than self representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discriminative Stimulus, Reinforcing, Physical Dependence, and Antinociceptive Effects of Oxycodone in Mice, Rats, and Rhesus Monkeys.

Despite oxycodone's (4,5-epoxy-14-hydroxy-3-methoxy-17-methylmorphinan-6-one) history of clinical use and the attention it has received as a drug of abuse, few reports have documented its pharmacology's relevance to its abuse or its mechanism of action. The purposes of the present study were to further characterize the analgesic effects of oxycodone, its mechanism of action, and its effects in terms of its relevance to its abuse liability. The results indicate that oxycodone had potent antinociceptive effects in the mouse paraphenylquinone writhing, hot-plate, and tail-flick assays, in which it appeared to be acting as a μ-opioid receptor agonist. It generalized to the heroin discriminative stimulus and served as a positive reinforcer in rats and completely suppressed withdrawal signs in morphinedependent rhesus monkeys. These results suggest that the analgesic and abuse liability effects of oxycodone are likely mediated through μ-opioid receptors and provide the first laboratory report of its discriminative stimulus, reinforcing, and morphine cross-dependency effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)