Approximate similarity retrieval with M-trees

Motivated by the urgent need to improve the efficiency of similarity queries, approximate similarity retrieval is investigated in the environment of a metric tree index called the M-tree. Three different approximation techniques are proposed, which show how to forsake query precision for improved performance. Measures are defined that can quantify the improvements in performance efficiency and the quality of approximations. The proposed approximation techniques are then tested on various synthetic and real-life files. The evidence obtained from the experiments confirms our hypothesis that a high-quality approximated similarity search can be performed at a much lower cost than that needed to obtain the exact results. The proposed approximation techniques are scalable and appear to be independent of the metric used. Extensions of these techniques to the environments of other similarity search indexes are also discussed. Received July 7, 1998 / Accepted October 13, 1998     

Efficient energy-based embedding models for link prediction in knowledge graphs

We focus on the problem of link prediction in Knowledge Graphs, with the goal of discovering new facts. To this purpose, Energy-Based Models for Knowledge Graphs that embed entities and relations in continuous vector spaces have been largely used. The main limitation in their applicability lies in the parameter learning phase, which may require a large amount of time for converging to optimal solutions. In this article, we first propose an unified view on different Energy-Based Embedding Models. Hence, for improving the model training phase, we propose the adoption of adaptive learning rates. We show that, by adopting adaptive learning rates during training, we can improve the efficiency of the parameter learning process by an order of magnitude, while leading to more accurate link prediction models in a significantly lower number of iterations. We extensively evaluate the proposed learning procedure on a variety of new models: our result show a significant improvement over state-of-the-art link prediction methods on two large Knowledge Graphs, namely WordNet and Freebase.     

Analysis of flamelet leading point dynamics in an inhomogeneous flow

Several studies have utilized “leading points” concepts to explain the augmentation of burning rates in turbulent flames by flow fluctuations. These ideas have been particularly utilized to explain the strong sensitivity of turbulent burning rates to fuel composition. Leading point concepts suggest that the burning velocity is controlled by the velocity of the points on the flame that propagate farthest out into the reactants – thus, they de-emphasize the classical idea that burning velocity enhancement is due to increases in flame surface area. Rather, within this interpretation, flame area creation is the effect, not the cause, of augmented turbulent burning velocities. However, the theory behind the implementation of leading point concepts in turbulent combustion modeling needs further development and the definition of “leading point” has not been fully clarified. For a certain class of steady shear flows, it is straightforward to demonstrate the leading point concept in an intuitive manner, but the problem becomes more complex when the leading points themselves evolve in time. In this paper, we use the G-equation to describe the flame dynamics and, utilizing results for Hamilton–Jacobi equations from the Aubry–Mather theory, demonstrate both the utility and limitations of leading points interpretations for front propagation, at least for deterministic problems. Specifically, we show how the large-time behavior of the solutions is controlled by discrete points on the flame under certain conditions and is, therefore, independent of the rest of the flow field details – a key hypothesis of leading points theories. However, it is possible to find other conditions where the large time behavior of the flame is not controlled by discrete points on the flame, but rather by the velocity field over its entire surface. Moreover, we also show that even in cases where the burning rate is controlled by discrete points, these points are not necessarily the most forward lying points in the flame front. Finally, we consider the case where the laminar flame speed is a function of flame front curvature and derive exact results for the sensitivity of the front speed to the Markstein length, ?, for ? > 0. These solutions explicitly illustrate how the reduction of front displacement speed for increasing ? can be interpreted in terms of leading points dynamics in some cases.     

Estimation of soil properties of shallow landslide source areas by dynamic penetration tests: first outcomes from Northern Tuscany (Italy)

In Northern Tuscany (Italy) rapid, shallow landslides often cause casualties and severe damage. Aimed at contributing to the characterisation of the source areas of rapid, shallow landslides, this paper deals with the geotechnical parameterisation of the mainly involved soil by means of dynamic penetration tests. The source areas are usually located in difficult access sites, where boring and undisturbed sampling are very hard and onerous. Therefore, the results of 177 dynamic penetration tests were analysed, including dynamic probing (DP) tests and standard penetration tests (SPT). The results of these tests were related to relative density D _r and friction angle Φ′ of the soil by means of empirical equations. The distribution and variability of these parameters were analysed and related to soil type, test type and probing depth. The D _r and Φ′ values coming from the DP and SPT tests were found to be comparable. The Φ′ values coming from DP tests and direct shear tests showed an acceptable correlation, confirming the utility of the DP tests. The DP test can thus be an effective tool in the estimation of the properties of potentially unstable soil slope covers.     

A generalized framework for interactive dynamic simulation for multirigid bodies

This paper presents a generalized framework for dynamic simulation realized in a prototype simulator called the Interactive Generalized Motion Simulator (I-GMS), which can simulate motions of multirigid-body systems with contact interaction in virtual environments. I-GMS is designed to meet two important goals: generality and interactivity. By generality, we mean a dynamic simulator which can easily support various systems of rigid bodies, ranging from a single free-flying rigid object to complex linkages such as those needed for robotic systems or human body simulation. To provide this generality, we have developed I-GMS in an object-oriented framework. The user interactivity is supported through a haptic interface for articulated bodies, introducing interactive dynamic simulation schemes. This user-interaction is achieved by performing push and pull operations via the PHANToM haptic device, which runs as an integrated part of I-GMS. Also, a hybrid scheme was used for simulating internal contacts (between bodies in the multirigid-body system) in the presence of friction, which could avoid the nonexistent solution problem often faced when solving contact problems with Coulomb friction. In our hybrid scheme, two impulse-based methods are exploited so that different methods are applied adaptively, depending on whether the current contact situation is characterized as "bouncing" or "steady." We demonstrate the user-interaction capability of I-GMS through on-line editing of trajectories of a 6-degree of freedom (dof) articulated structure.     

A CPU–GPU framework for optimizing the quality of large meshes

The automatic generation of 3D finite element meshes (FEM) is still a bottleneck for the simulation of large fluid dynamic problems. Although today there are several algorithms that can generate good meshes without user intervention, in cases where the geometry changes during the calculation and thousands of meshes must be constructed, the computational cost of this process can exceed the cost of the FEM. There has been a lot of work in FEM parallelization and the algorithms work well in different parallel architectures, but at present there has not been much success in the parallelization of mesh generation methods. This paper will present a massive parallelization scheme for re-meshing with tetrahedral elements using the local modification algorithm. This method is frequently used to improve the quality of elements once the mesh has been generated, but we will show it can also be applied as a regeneration process, starting with the distorted and invalid mesh of the previous step. The parallelization is carried out using OpenCL and OpenMP in order to test the method in a multiple CPU architecture and also in Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Finally we present the speedup and quality results obtained in meshes with hundreds of thousands of elements and different parallel APIs.     

Superlattices as Characterisation Tool for the Beginning of PS Formation

Initial stage of porous silicon (PS) formation has been studied in an original way. Multilayer structures constituting of very thin layers of low porosity and thick layers of high porosity have been fabricated and characterised by optical tools and electron microscopy. The non linear behaviour resulting in a change in the dissolution velocity has been quantified by using a stack layer structure. Finally using thermal oxidation it has been shown that, due to the selective oxidation as a function of the porosity, porous silicon can be used to produce a Si/SiO₂ like structure.     

Medium term market perspectives,goal prices and competitiveness of renewable resources in the Italian energy system

Using a multiperiodal LP model (MARKAL) the authors assessed the likely potential of solar thermal and biogas systems under various circumstances. The study covered the period 1980–2005, in five segments of five years. It focused only on the subsystem of the energy end-uses which can be substituted for by solar and biogas technologies. In this paper we show the main results of the study regarding the competitiveness of the single solar and biogas technologies in different scenarios and their sensitivity to incentives and prices, together with the essential technical data regarding demand and supply technologies which produced those results. The analysis performed of the potential penetration of renewable technologies into the Italian energy system shows that their contribution will remain very marginal if the price of conventional energy carriers remains constant in constant money. However, the objective of removing with renewable technologies 1.5 per cent of the total Italian energy consumption appears to be realistic in the short-medium term.     

Public-Key Encryption Based on Chebyshev Polynomials

We propose public-key encryption algorithms based on Chebyshev polynomials, which are secure, practical, and can be used for both encryption and digital signature. Software implementation and properties of the algorithms are discussed in detail. We show that our ElGamal-like and RSA-like algorithms (when Chebyshev polynomials are employed) are as secure as the original ElGamal and RSA algorithms.