Conforming spectral methods for Poisson problems in cuboidal domains

A Chebyshev collocation strategy is introduced for the subdivision of cuboids into cuboidal subdomains (elements). These elements are conforming, which means that the approximation to the solution isC ⁰ continuous at all points across their interfaces.     

Iterative multi-party agreement negotiation for establishing collaborations

Inter-domain collaborations suffer not only from technological obstacles that hinder interoperability, but also from diverting business objectives of the involved domains. Today, hand-crafted contracts define the terms and conditions for service interactions. Electronic negotiation can serve as the enabler of dynamic interdomain collaborations by providing a large degree of freedom for the automation of agreement formation and electronic contracting. Negotiation by electronic means has been an area of intensive research for many years now. However, most effort was put on the determination of prices and neglected that real-world agreements also consist of complex dependencies of interdependent obligations. In this paper we present agreement negotiation as a tool to establish ad hoc services collaborations. Our novel protocol allows for the discovery of complex agreement options and for the formation of multi-party agreements. The protocol works through an iterative exchange of requirements and offers. A major benefit over existing bilateral negotiation protocols is that our protocol is capable of discovering potential collaborations between different parties. It will leave each negotiating party with a complete agreement document after a successful negotiation. This comprehensive agreement document defines the interdependent obligations between all parties and is well suited for E-Contracting.     

Benchmarking performance of machine and deep learning-based methodologies for Urdu text document classification

Neural Computing and Applications - In order to provide benchmark performance for Urdu text document classification, the contribution of this paper is manifold. First, it provides a publicly...     

Analysis of time-dependent flow-sensitive PC-MRI data

Many flow visualization techniques, especially integration-based methods, are problematic when the measured data exhibit noise and discretization issues. Particularly, this is the case for flow-sensitive phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC-MRI) data sets which not only record anatomic information, but also time-varying flow information. We propose a novel approach for the visualization of such data sets using integration-based methods. Our ideas are based upon finite-time Lyapunov exponents (FTLE) and enable identification of vessel boundaries in the data as high regions of separation. This allows us to correctly restrict integration-based visualization to blood vessels. We validate our technique by comparing our approach to existing anatomy-based methods as well as addressing the benefits and limitations of using FTLE to restrict flow. We also discuss the importance of parameters, i.e., advection length and data resolution, in establishing a well-defined vessel boundary. We extract appropriate flow lines and surfaces that enable the visualization of blood flow within the vessels. We further enhance the visualization by analyzing flow behavior in the seeded region and generating simplified depictions.     

A code tagging approach to software product line development

Software product line engineering seeks to systematise reuse when developing families of similar software systems so as to minimise development time, cost and defects. To realise variability at the code level, product line methods classically advocate usage of inheritance, components, frameworks, aspects or generative techniques. However, these might require unaffordable paradigm shifts for developers if the software was not thought at the outset as a product line. Furthermore, these techniques can be conflicting with a company’s coding practices or external regulations. These concerns were the motivation for the industry–university collaboration described in this paper in which we developed a minimally intrusive coding technique based on tags. The approach was complemented with traceability from code to feature diagrams which were exploited for automated configuration. It is supported by a toolchain and is now in use in the partner company for the development of flight-grade satellite communication software libraries.     

Evolving team behaviors with specialization

This article evaluates Collective Neuro-Evolution (CONE), a cooperative co-evolutionary method for solving collective behavior tasks and increasing task performance via facilitating behavioral specialization in agent teams. Specialization is used as a problem solving mechanism, and its emergence is guided and regulated by CONE. CONE is comparatively evaluated with related methods in a simulated evolutionary robotics pursuit-evasion task. This task required multiple pursuer robots to cooperatively capture evader robots. Results indicate that CONE is appropriate for evolving specialized behaviors. The interaction of specialized behaviors produces behavioral heterogeneity in teams and collective prey capture behaviors that yield significantly higher performances compared to related methods.     

Double necking in polymer tensile deformation

After initial necking of tensile polymer samples the deformation front moves along the gauge length at a stress which is smaller than the yield stress. The still undeformed parts of the sample are therefore subjected to conditions which favour deformation by a creep mechanism. If the extension rate is right, secondary necking becomes possible. Boundary conditions are discussed.     

Analysis of grain boundary movement analogous to dislocation movement – both with a matrix having precipitates

In the present investigation it has been shown exemplarily for an austenite microstructure containing carbonitrides that the specific restraining force of a grain boundary due to the distribution of precipitates can be described by a modified Orowan's law, so that the grain boundary movement is considered to be analogous to the dislocation movement. This is achieved by using a modified restraining force F_r (corresponding to the cubic geometry of the particles), a detailed thermodynamic analysis of the precipitates (in this case, carbonitrides) and selected relation for the interparticle spacing L_a. The specific restraining force and the interparticle spacing depend on temperature within the austenite range. Each temperature is attached to a couple (F_r/L_a). The plot F_r against shows straight lines for each steel and from their average slope, a shear module G' of grain boundaries, which is about 64300 N·cm^?2, is obtained. Hence, it is possible to describe the specific restraining force of a grain boundary with the help of Orowan's law or as it is conventionally done by using Zener's modell. At a critical temperature T*, which is different for each steel, the specific restraining force is equal to the driving force of the grain boundary. The corresponding values of L_a are also different for each steel and the steel which is the most resistant to grain coarsening is allowed to have the greatest value of L_a which still retains the capacity of impeding grain coarsening.     

Energy Metabolites as Biomarkers in Ischemic and Dilated Cardiomyopathy

With more than 25 million people affected, heart failure (HF) is a global threat. As energy production pathways are known to play a pivotal role in HF, we sought here to identify key metabolic changes in ischemic- and non-ischemic HF by using a multi-OMICS approach. Serum metabolites and mRNAseq and epigenetic DNA methylation profiles were analyzed from blood and left ventricular heart biopsy specimens of the same individuals. In total we collected serum from n = 82 patients with Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) and n = 51 controls in the screening stage. We identified several metabolites involved in glycolysis and citric acid cycle to be elevated up to 5.7-fold in DCM (p = 1.7 × 10⁻⁶). Interestingly, cardiac mRNA and epigenetic changes of genes encoding rate-limiting enzymes of these pathways could also be found and validated in our second stage of metabolite assessment in n = 52 DCM, n = 39 ischemic HF and n = 57 controls. In conclusion, we identified a new set of metabolomic biomarkers for HF. We were able to identify underlying biological cascades that potentially represent suitable intervention targets.