Prological Language Processing

We describe a Prolog-based approach to the development of language processors (such as preprocessors, frontends, evaluators, tools for software modification and analysis). The design of the corresponding environment Laptob for prological language processing is outlined. Language processor definitions in Laptob are basically Prolog programs. The programs might contain grammars, that is, we consider logic grammars. The programs can be typed, and they can be higher-order. The adaptation and composition of the logic programs themselves is supported by meta-programming. The environment offers tool support for efficient scanning, testing, and application development based on a make-system. We report on recent and ongoing applications of the Prolog-based approach.     

Multigrid methods for discrete elliptic problems on triangular surfaces

We construct and analyze multigrid methods for discretized self-adjoint elliptic problems on triangular surfaces in ${\mathbb{R}^3}$ . The methods involve the same weights for restriction and prolongation as in the case of planar triangulations and therefore are easy to implement. We prove logarithmic bounds of the convergence rates with constants solely depending on the ellipticity, the smoothers and on the regularity of the triangles forming the triangular surface. Our theoretical results are illustrated by numerical computations.     

Electrokinetic microslit experiments to analyse the charge formation at solid/liquid interfaces

Electrokinetic effects play an important role in microfluidics and nanofluidics. Although the related phenomena are often utilized to control fluid flow and sample transport in lab-on-a-chip devices, their dependency on the surface charges on the channel walls often remain enigmatic. This is mainly due to the lack of adequate experimental methods to analyse the electrical charging of solid/liquid interfaces of interest. To address this need, an experimental set-up—designated as microslit electrokinetic set-up (MES)—has been recently developed and applied for the investigation of charge formation processes at planar solid/liquid interfaces. The device permits to perform streaming potential and streaming current measurements across a rectangular streaming channel formed by two parallel sample carriers (20×10×3 mm³) at variable distance allowing for the determination of the surface conductivity. Utilizing the MES, charge characteristics can be determined for a wide variety of materials prepared as thin films on top of planar glass substrates. Streaming potential and streaming current data permit to investigate the mechanisms of charge formation while surface conductivity data provide information about mobile charge carriers located in different zones at the interface. The applicability of this advanced experimental approach is demonstrated with examples obtained for surfaces with different levels of complexity:

1. Preferential ion adsorption onto unpolar fluoropolymer (Teflon^® AF) films was characterized in simple electrolyte solutions; the results were quantitatively evaluated with respect to interfacial ion concentrations.
2. Interrelation of charge density and conformation of grafted poly(L-glutamic acid layers) were unravelled from the determination of pH-depended variations of surface conductivity and layer thickness.
3. The impact of spatial confinements of surface functional groups on their acid–base behaviour was studied with self-assembled monomolecular films of alkanethiols chemisorbed on gold.
4. Charging of and ion mobility within poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) brushes prepared by a Langmuir–Blodgett technique were analysed at varied pH and ionic strength.
5. Interfacial modes of adsorbed proteins were distinguished at two polymer surfaces with varied hydrophobicity/charge density.

     

Visual signatures in video visualization

Video visualization is a computation process that extracts meaningful information from original video data sets and conveys the extracted information to users in appropriate visual representations. This paper presents a broad treatment of the subject, following a typical research pipeline involving concept formulation, system development, a path-finding user study, and a field trial with real application data. In particular, we have conducted a fundamental study on the visualization of motion events in videos. We have, for the first time, deployed flow visualization techniques in video visualization. We have compared the effectiveness of different abstract visual representations of videos. We have conducted a user study to examine whether users are able to learn to recognize visual signatures of motions, and to assist in the evaluation of different visualization techniques. We have applied our understanding and the developed techniques to a set of application video clips. Our study has demonstrated that video visualization is both technically feasible and cost-effective. It has provided the first set of evidence confirming that ordinary users can be accustomed to the visual features depicted in video visualizations, and can learn to recognize visual signatures of a variety of motion events.     

Trench-Hall devices

A trench-Hall device sensitive to magnetic inductions parallel to the chip surface is reported in this paper. The vertically oriented active region is defined by two parallel trenches with a distance of only 2.4 μm. Deep contacts connect the active region of the device at its bottom at a depth of 20 μm. These deep contacts allow a symmetrical operating condition of the active region analogous to a lateral symmetrical Hall plate, which is favorable for dynamic offset reduction. With the presented technology, trench-Hall devices with a sensitivity of 320 V/A with a nonlinearity below 0.1% are realized. Additionally, the presented fabrication technique enables the electrically insulated cointegration of sensor and circuitry on a single CMOS chip     

Remote sensing of canopy light use efficiency in temperate and boreal forests of North America using MODIS imagery

Light use efficiency (LUE) is an important variable characterizing plant eco-physiological functions and refers to the efficiency at which absorbed solar radiation is converted into photosynthates. The estimation of LUE at regional to global scales would be a significant advantage for global carbon cycle research. Traditional methods for canopy level LUE determination require meteorological inputs which cannot be easily obtained by remote sensing. Here we propose a new algorithm that incorporates the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and a modified form of land surface temperature (T_m) for the estimation of monthly forest LUE based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagery. Results demonstrate that a model based on EVI × T_m parameterized from ten forest sites can provide reasonable estimates of monthly LUE for temperate and boreal forest ecosystems in North America with an R² of 0.51 (p < 0.001) for the overall dataset. The regression coefficients (a, b) of the LUE–EVI × T_m correlation for these ten sites have been found to be closely correlated with the average EVI (EVI_ave, R² = 0.68, p = 0.003) and the minimum land surface temperature (LST_min, R² = 0.81, p = 0.009), providing a possible approach for model calibration. The calibrated model shows comparably good estimates of LUE for another ten independent forest ecosystems with an overall root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.055 g C per mol photosynthetically active radiation. These results are especially important for the evergreen species due to their limited variability in canopy greenness. The usefulness of this new LUE algorithm is further validated for the estimation of gross primary production (GPP) at these sites with an RMSE of 37.6 g C m^? 2 month^? 1 for all observations, which reflects a 28% improvement over the standard MODIS GPP products. These analyses should be helpful in the further development of ecosystem remote sensing methods and improving our understanding of the responses of various ecosystems to climate change.     

Satisfying customer preferences via mass customization and mass production

Two operational formats namely mass customization and mass production can be implemented to satisfy customer preference-based demand. The mass customization system consists of two stages: the initial build-to-stock phase and the final customize-to-order phase. The mass production system has a single stage: building products with pre-determined specifications to stock. In each case, the company makes decisions on the number of initial product variants, product specifications, production quantities and product pricing. Under a uniform customer preference distribution, the optimal number of base-product variants resembles the well known economic order quantity solution, and the optimal product specifications are equally spaced. We characterize three possible benefits of mass customization: (i) the gained surplus from offering each customer her ideal product; (ii) extra revenue from price discrimination; and (iii) reduced costs due to risk pooling under stochastic demand.     

Science and technology in the region: The output of regional science and technology, its strengths and its leading institutions

Summary We operationalize scientific output in a region by means of the number of articles (as in the SciSearch database) per year and technology output by means of the number of patent applications (as in the database of the European Patent Office) per priority year. All informetric analyses were done using the DIALOG online-system. The main research questions are the following: Which scientific and technological fields or topics are most influent within a region and which institutions or companies are mainly publishing articles or holding patents? Do the distributions of regional science and technology fields and of publishing institutions follow the well-known informetric function? Are there - as it is expected - only few fields and few institutions which dominate the region? Is there a connection between the economic power of a region and the regional publication and patent output? Examples studied in detail are seven German regions: Aachen, D&uuml;sseldorf, Hamburg, K&ouml;ln (Cologne), Leipzig - Halle - Dessau, M&uuml;nchen (Munich), and Stuttgart. Three different indicators were used, science and technology attraction of a region (number of scientific articles and patents), science and technology intensity (articles and patents per 1,000 inhabitants), and science and technology density (articles and patents per 1 billion EURO gross value added). Top region concerning both attraction and intensity is Munich, concerning density it is Aachen.