On benefits and drawbacks of aging strategies for randomized search heuristics

Quite different search heuristics make use of the concept of assigning an age to search points and systematically remove search points that are too old from the search process. In evolutionary computation one defines some finite maximal lifespan and assigns age 0 to each new search point. In artificial immune systems static pure aging is used. There a finite maximal lifespan is defined but new search points inherit the age of their origin if they do not excel in function value. Both aging mechanisms are supposed to increase the capabilities of the respective search heuristics. A rigorous analysis for two typical difficult situations sheds light on similarities and differences. Considering the behavior on plateaus of constant function values and in local optima both methods are shown to have their strengths and weaknesses. A third aging operator is introduced that provably shares the advantages of both aging mechanisms. Experimental supplements are provided to point out practical implications of the theoretical results and discuss further issues concerning the considered aging strategies.     

Analyzing different variants of immune inspired somatic contiguous hypermutations

Artificial immune systems can be applied to a variety of very different tasks including function optimization. There are even artificial immune systems tailored specifically for this task. In spite of their successful application there is little knowledge and hardly any theoretical investigation about how and why they perform well. Here rigorous analyses for a specific class of mutation operators introduced for function optimization called somatic contiguous hypermutation is presented. Different concrete instantiations of this operator are considered and shown to behave quite differently in general. While there are serious limitations to the performance of this type of operator even for simple optimization tasks it is proven that for some types of optimization problems it performs much better than standard bit mutations most often used in evolutionary algorithms.     

Efficient search of combinatorial maps using signatures

In this paper, we address the problem of computing canonical representations of n-dimensional combinatorial maps and of using them for efficiently searching for a map in a database. We define two combinatorial map signatures: the first one has a quadratic space complexity and may be used to decide an isomorphism with a new map in linear time whereas the second one has a linear space complexity and may be used to decide an isomorphism in quadratic time. We show that these signatures can be used to efficiently search for a map in a database.     

Digital microfluidic design and optimization of classic and new fluidic functions for lab on a chip systems

This paper deals with microfluidic studies for lab-on-a-chip development. The first goal was to develop microsystems immediately usable by biologists for complex protocol integrations. All fluid operations are performed on nano-liter droplet independently handled solely by electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) actuation. A bottom-up architecture was used for chip design due to the development and validation of elementary fluidic designs, which are then assembled. This approach speeds up development and industrialization while minimizing the effort in designing and simplifying chip-fluidic programming. Dispensing reproducibility for 64 nl droplets obtained a CV below 3% and mixing time was only a few seconds. Ease of the integration was demonstrated by performing on chip serial dilutions of 2.8-folds, four times. The second part of this paper concerns the development of new innovative fluidic functions in order to extend EWOD-actuated digital fluidics’ capabilities. Experiments of particle dispensing by EWOD droplet handling are reported. Finally, work is shown concerning the coupling of EWOD actuation and magnetic fields for magnetic bead manipulation.     

Human pathogenic streptococcal proteomics and vaccine development

Gram-positive streptococci are non-motile, chain-forming bacteria commonly found in the normal oral and bowel flora of warm-blooded animals. Over the past decade, a proteomic approach combining 2-DE and MS has been used to systematically map the cellular, surface-associated and secreted proteins of human pathogenic streptococcal species. The public availability of complete streptococcal genomic sequences and the amalgamation of proteomic, genomic and bioinformatic technologies have recently facilitated the identification of novel streptococcal vaccine candidate antigens and therapeutic agents. The objective of this review is to examine the constituents of the streptococcal cell wall and secreted proteome, the mechanisms of transport of surface and secreted proteins, and describe the current methodologies employed for the identification of novel surface-displayed proteins and potential vaccine antigens.     

Capitalising Knowledge: Corporate Knowledge Management Investments

Knowledge is increasingly recognized as the key resource of business. Digital networks provide access to vast amounts of data and information but knowledge management tools and systems are required to translate this in a meaningful way. Knowledge management initiatives are unlikely to be successful unless they are integrated with business strategy, and related to the development of the core capabilities of the organisation. Sharing the discovery and synthesis of intellectual activity involves the creation of knowledge communities of practice. There is much evidence of commercially inspired corporate initiatives in this direction across all industrial sectors: leveraging existing intellectual capital; sharing best practice across multiple locations; data mining to build customer relationships; and creating knowledge networks to allow state–of–the–art solutions in professional services.     

Using visual cues of contact to improve interactive manipulation of virtual objects in industrial assembly/maintenance simulations

This paper describes a set of visual cues of contact designed to improve the interactive manipulation of virtual objects in industrial assembly/maintenance simulations. These visual cues display information of proximity, contact and effort between virtual objects when the user manipulates a part inside a digital mock-up. The set of visual cues encloses the apparition of glyphs (arrow, disk, or sphere) when the manipulated object is close or in contact with another part of the virtual environment. Light sources can also be added at the level of contact points. A filtering technique is proposed to decrease the number of glyphs displayed at the same time. Various effects--such as change in color, change in size, and deformation of shape- can be applied to the glyphs as a function of proximity with other objects or amplitude of the contact forces. A preliminary evaluation was conducted to gather the subjective preference of a group of participants during the simulation of an automotive assembly operation. The collected questionnaires showed that participants globally appreciated our visual cues of contact. The changes in color appeared to be preferred concerning the display of distances and proximity information. Size changes and deformation effects appeared to be preferred in terms of perception of contact forces between the parts. Last, light sources were selected to focus the attention of the user on the contact areas.     

Walking and steering control for a 3D biped robot considering ground contact and stability

This paper presents a stable walking control method for a 3D bipedal robot with 14 joint actuators. The overall control law consists of a ZMP (zero moment point) controller, a swing ankle rotation controller and a partial joint angles controller. The ZMP controller guarantees that the stance foot remains in flat contact with the ground. The swing ankle rotation controller ensures a flat foot impact at the end of the swinging phase. Each of these controllers creates 2 constraints on joint accelerations. As a consequence, the partial joint angles controller is implemented to track only 10 independent outputs. These outputs are defined as a linear combination of the 14 joint angles. The most important question addressed in this paper is how this linear combination can be defined in order to ensure walking stability. The stability of the walking gait under closed loop control is evaluated with the linearization of the restricted Poincare map of the hybrid zero dynamics. As a result, the robot can achieve an asymptotically stable and periodic walking along a straight line. Finally, another feedback controller is supplemented to adjust the walking direction of the robot and some examples of the robot steered to walk along different paths with mild curvature are given.     

Friendship Jealousy in Young Adolescents: Individual Differences and Links to Sex, Self-Esteem, Aggression, and Social Adjustment.

Children's vulnerability to jealousy surrounding their best friends was explored in 2 studies. Study 1 involved 94 adolescents who reported on their friendship jealousy on a newly created measure. Results indicated that the jealousy measure had sound psychometric properties and produced individual differences that were robust over time and free from socially desirable responding. As expected, girls and adolescents with low self-worth reported the greatest friendship jealousy. Study 2 involved 399 young adolescents and extended the measurement of self-report jealousy to a broader age range. In addition, Study 2 included assessments of jealousy provided by friends and other peers. Self- and peer-reported jealousy were only modestly associated and had somewhat distinct correlates. Structural modeling revealed that young adolescents' reputation for friendship jealousy was linked to behaving aggressively and to broader peer adjustment difficulties. Both self- and peer-reported jealousy contributed to loneliness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)