Adaptive channel allocation for large-scale streaming content delivery systems

Scheduling algorithms are used in content delivery systems to control the resource allocation rate. They not only improve system efficiency, but also increase user satisfaction. Lower renege rate and less waiting time for users are the main goals for a scheduling algorithm. Among existing algorithms, On-Demand strategy does not perform well, while rate control channel allocation policies performs much better. Pure-Rate-Control (PRC) and Multiple-Service-Class (MSC) belong to the rate control algorithms. MSC performs well, but a drawback is that it uses the Hot Index, which is hard to decide and has significant effects on the performance. In order to solve this problem and to improve the overall system performance, two new algorithms, Modified MSC(MMSC) and Adaptive Algorithm (AA), are proposed in this paper. Both of them solved the problem of MSC very well and improved the overall performance. For example, the renege rate of AA is about 5.4% less than that of MMSC, and about 9.8% less than that of MSC.

Neuroproteomics and its applications in research on nicotine and other drugs of abuse

The rapidly growing field of neuroproteomics is able to track changes in protein expression and protein modifications underlying various physiological conditions, including the neural diseases related to drug addiction. Thus, it presents great promise in characterizing protein function, biochemical pathways, and networks to understand the mechanisms underlying drug dependence. In this article, we first provide an overview of proteomics technologies and bioinformatics tools available to analyze proteomics data. Then we summarize the recent applications of proteomics to profile the protein expression pattern in animal or human brain tissues after the administration of nicotine, alcohol, amphetamine, butorphanol, cocaine, and morphine. By comparing the protein expression profiles in response to chronic nicotine exposure with those appearing in response to treatment with other drugs of abuse, we identified three biological processes that appears to be regulated by multiple drugs of abuse: energy metabolism, oxidative stress response, and protein degradation and modification. Such similarity indicates that despite the obvious differences among their chemical properties and the receptors with which they interact, different substances of abuse may cause some similar changes in cellular activities and biological processes in neurons.     

Compositional pattern producing networks: A novel abstraction of development

Natural DNA can encode complexity on an enormous scale. Researchers are attempting to achieve the same representational efficiency in computers by implementing developmental encodings, i.e. encodings that map the genotype to the phenotype through a process of growth from a small starting point to a mature form. A major challenge in in this effort is to find the right level of abstraction of biological development to capture its essential properties without introducing unnecessary inefficiencies. In this paper, a novel abstraction of natural development, called Compositional Pattern Producing Networks (CPPNs), is proposed. Unlike currently accepted abstractions such as iterative rewrite systems and cellular growth simulations, CPPNs map to the phenotype without local interaction, that is, each individual component of the phenotype is determined independently of every other component. Results produced with CPPNs through interactive evolution of two-dimensional images show that such an encoding can nevertheless produce structural motifs often attributed to more conventional developmental abstractions, suggesting that local interaction may not be essential to the desirable properties of natural encoding in the way that is usually assumed.

Logical Representation of a Conceptual Model for Spatial Data Warehouses

The MultiDimER model is a conceptual model used for representing a multidimensional view of data for Data Warehouse (DW) and On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) applications. This model includes a spatial extension allowing spatiality in levels, hierarchies, fact relationships, and measures. In this way decision-making users can represent in an abstract manner their analysis needs without considering complex implementation issues and spatial OLAP tools developers can have a common vision for representing spatial data in a multidimensional model. In this paper we propose the transformation of a conceptual schema based on the MultiDimER constructs to an object-relational schema. We based our mapping on the SQL:2003 and SQL/MM standards giving examples of commercial implementation using Oracle 10g with its spatial extension. Further we use spatial integrity constraints to ensure the semantic equivalence of the conceptual and logical schemas. We also show some examples of Oracle spatial functions, including aggregation functions required for the manipulation of spatial data. The described mappings to the object-relational model along with the examples using a commercial system show the feasibility of implementing spatial DWs in current commercial DBMSs. Further, using integrated architectures, where spatial and thematic data is defined within the same DBMS, facilitates the system management simplifying data definition and manipulation.

Performance evaluation of a dental handpiece in simulation of clinical finishing using a novel 2DOF in vitro apparatus

This paper reports on the performance evaluation of a dental handpiece in simulation of clinical finishing using a novel two-degrees-of-freedom (2DOF) in vitro apparatus. The instrumented apparatus consisted of a two-dimensional computer-controlled coordinate worktable carrying a dental handpiece, a piezoelectric force dynamometer, and a high-speed data acquisition and signal conditioning system for simulating the clinical operations and monitoring the dental finishing processes. The performance of the dental handpiece was experimentally evaluated with respect to rotational speed, torque, and specific finishing energy under the applied clinical finishing conditions. The results show that the rotational speeds of the dental handpiece decreased by increasing either the depth of cut or the feed rate at a constant clinically applied air pressure and water flowrate. They also decreased when increasing both the tangential and normal finishing forces. The specific finishing energy decreased with an increase in either depth of cut or feed rate, while the finishing torque increased as either the depth of cut or the feed rate was increased. Implications of these results were to provide guidance for proper applications of dental handpieces in clinical practice.     

一种非线性和时滞系统自适应控制方法

提出一种新的基于高斯基函数(GPFN-G aussian potential function networks)网络的内模控制算法,并对高斯基函数网络内部模 型和内模控制器的建立进行了深入分析．仿真及实时控制结果表明该算法是有效的,具有很 好的自适应性和鲁棒性,可以应用于具有时滞和非线性时变系统中．     

Spatial interest pixels (SIPs): useful low-level features of visual media data

Visual media data such as an image is the raw data representation for many important applications. Reducing the dimensionality of raw visual media data is desirable since high dimensionality degrades not only the effectiveness but also the efficiency of visual recognition algorithms. We present a comparative study on spatial interest pixels (SIPs), including eight-way (a novel SIP detector), Harris, and Lucas‐Kanade, whose extraction is considered as an important step in reducing the dimensionality of visual media data. With extensive case studies, we have shown the usefulness of SIPs as low-level features of visual media data. A class-preserving dimension reduction algorithm (using GSVD) is applied to further reduce the dimension of feature vectors based on SIPs. The experiments showed its superiority over PCA.

An improved closed-loop stability related measure forfinite-precision digital controller realizations

The pole-sensitivity approach is employed to investigate the stability issue of the discrete-time control system, where a digital controller implemented with finite word length (FWL), is used. A stability related measure is derived, which is more accurate in estimating the closed-loop stability robustness of an FWL implemented controller than some existing measures for the pole-sensitivity analysis. This improved stability measure thus provides a better criterion to find the optimal realizations for a generic controller structure that includes output-feedback and observer-based controllers. A numerical example is used to verify the theoretical analysis and to illustrate the design procedure