A new weighted approach to imbalanced data classification problem via support vector machine with quadratic cost function

In this paper, a new weighted approach on Lagrangian support vector machine for imbalanced data classification problem is proposed. The weight parameters are embedded in the Lagrangian SVM formulation. The training method for weighted Lagrangian SVM is presented and its convergence is proven. The weighted Lagrangian SVM classifier is tested and compared with some other SVMs using synthetic and real data to show its effectiveness and feasibility.     

Measuring the degree of eyestrain caused by watching LCD and PDP devices

In this paper, we propose a new way of measuring the degree of eyestrain caused by watching LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and PDP (Plasma Display Panel) devices. In the experiments, we used a head-mounted eye capturing device and an illumination setup that was designed to avoid specular reflections caused by glasses or contact lenses. Using the captured eye images, we analyzed the eye blinking and changes of pupil sizes (pupil accommodation), using a real-time image processing algorithm. Then we analyzed the degree of eyestrain based on the calculated blinking rate and the pupil accommodation speed. The proposed method offers five improvements over previous methods. First, we perform a comparative analysis of LCD and PDP devices based on the degree of eyestrain. Second, to analyze the degree of eyestrain, we use quantitative data such as the blinking rate and the pupil accommodation speed. Third, we measure the accurate eye blinking and changes of pupil sizes by using high-resolution and zoomed eye image sequences. Fourth, since the camera and illuminative system are based on a specular reflective model, the proposed method can be used with subjects that wear glasses or contact lenses. Fifth, the proposed method is performed at real-time speed.Experimental results showed that the degree of eyestrain when watching LCD devices was greater than that when watching PDP devices.

Relevance to industry

In the large display industry, LCD and PDP devices have become more and more prevalent. In the past, LCD devices have been compared to PDP devices in terms of factors such as spatial resolution, brightness, contrast levels, etc. To perform more accurate comparisons based on human factor, we are proposing a new way of comparing LCD to PDP devices based on the degree of eyestrain.     

Multiresolution-based bilinear recurrent neural network

A multiresolution-based bilinear recurrent neural network (MBLRNN) is proposed in this paper. The proposed MBLRNN is based on the BLRNN that has robust abilities in modeling and predicting time series. The learning process is further improved by using a multiresolution-based learning algorithm for training the BLRNN so as to make it more robust for the prediction of time series data. The proposed MBLRNN is applied to the problems of network traffic prediction and electric load forecasting. Experiments and results on both practical problems show that the proposed MBLRNN outperforms both the traditional multilayer perceptron type neural network (MLPNN) and the BLRNN in the prediction accuracy.

User utility discovery for priority-based network resource pricing

While equilibrium analysis has been commonly used for network pricing under the assumption that user utility functions are precisely known, many researchers have criticized the validity of the assumption. In this paper, we propose a solution for bridging the gap between the existing theoretical work on optimal pricing and the unavailability of precise user utility information in real networks. In the proposed method, the service provider obtains increasingly more accurate estimates of user utility functions by iteratively changing the prices of service levels and observing the users’ service-level choices under various prices. Our study’s contribution is twofold. First, we have developed a general principle for estimating user utility functions. Especially, we present the utility estimation for dynamic user population. Second, we have developed a method for setting prices that can optimize the extraction of information about user utility functions. The extensive simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.     

Health Outcomes and Socio-economic Status Among the Elderly in China: Evidence from the CHARLS Pilot

We are concerned in this paper with measuring health outcomes among the elderly in Zhejiang and Gansu provinces, China, and examining the relationships between different dimensions of health status and measures of socio-economic status (SES). We are CHARLS pilot data to document health conditions, using a very rich set of health indicators that include both self-reported measures and biomarkers. We also examine correlations between these health outcomes and two important indicators of socio-economic status (SES): education and log of per capita expenditure (log pce), our preferred measure of household resources. In general education tends to be positively correlated with better health outcomes, as it is in other countries. However, unmeasured community influences turn out to be highly important, much more so than one usually finds in other countries. While it is not yet clear which aspects of communities matter and why they matter, we set up an agenda for future research on this topic. We also find a large degree of under-diagnosis of hypertension, a major health problems that afflicts the aged. This implies that the current health system is not well prepared to address the rapid aging of the Chinese population, at least not in Gansu and Zhejiang.     

Obesity does not reduce maximum acceptable weights of lift

The maximum acceptable weights of lift (MAWL) of obese and non-obese participants were empirically investigated. Three obesity levels were considered: non-obese (18.5 kg/m(2)< or= body mass index (BMI)or= 40 kg/m(2)). Ten male and 10 female participants were recruited for each obesity level. The participants determined their MAWL for 18 different lifting task conditions (six lifting frequencies x three lifting heights). An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine the effects of obesity level, gender, lifting height, lifting frequency and their interactions on MAWL. Overall, the ANOVA results indicated that obesity does not reduce MAWL, and thus, suggested that the existing MAWL data can be used to accommodate both general and obese workers. However, further studies based on the biomechanical and physiological approaches are required to provide more complete understanding of obesity effects on lifting tolerance limits.     

Catching two rabbits: adaptive real‐time support for embedded Linux

The trend of digital convergence makes multitasking common in many digital electronic products. Some applications in those systems have inherent real‐time properties, while many others have few or no timeliness requirements. Therefore the embedded Linux kernels, which are widely used in those devices, provide real‐time features in many forms. However, providing real‐time scheduling usually induces throughput degradation in heavy multitasking due to the increased context switches. Usually the throughput degradation becomes a critical problem, since the performance of the embedded processors is generally limited for cost, design and energy efficiency reasons. This paper proposes schemes to lessen the throughput degradation, which is from real‐time scheduling, by suppressing unnecessary context switches and applying real‐time scheduling mechanisms only when it is necessary. Also the suggested schemes enable the complete priority inheritance protocol to prevent the well‐known priority inversion problem. We evaluated the effectiveness of our approach with open‐source benchmarks. By using the suggested schemes, the throughput is improved while the scheduling latency is kept same or better in comparison with the existing approaches. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Design and implementation of light-weight mobile multicast for fast MIPv6

Mobile multicast is a research hotspot and can provide many applications. Some mobile multicast schemes have been proposed, but most of them introduce new entities and study construction algorithms of the dynamic multicast delivery structure which is heavyweight for wireless devices. In this paper, we propose a light-weight mobile multicast (LMM) scheme for Fast Mobile IPv6 which reduces the redundant operational overhead by simplifying multicast listener discovery (MLD) proxying. The LMM scheme implements simplified MLD proxying function on home agent to reduce the complicated multicast routing protocol and modifies MLD host part function on mobile node to reduce the multicast membership messages interaction. In order to solve the tunnel convergence problem, LMM also introduces a multicast tunnel combination and reconstruction algorithm. We set up a test-bed to evaluate the performance of LMM, and compare it with other mobile multicast schemes. The experimental results show that LMM reduces the multicast disruption time at handover. Based on the experimental results, we analyze the cost of LMM, and the results show that it has lower protocol cost than other schemes.     

Tilt detection and servo control method for the holographic data storage system

Recently photopolymer with disk type substrate is selected as a media of the holographic data storage system. Because shape of the media is a disk, a disk tilt must be occur when the media rotates. When disk tilt occurs the angle between the reference beam and the media is changed by the tilt, thus the data can not be recorded with a right angle or another data page is retrieved. The holographic data storage system is very weak to the tilt disturbance by the Bragg effect, therefore it is necessary to detect the disk tilt angle and compensate it. In this study, we measure the amount of the tilt error using external photo detector and compensate it by rotating the angle of galvano mirror with our own algorithm.