An object-oriented approach for mechanical components design and visualization

In this paper, development of shape modeling tools for engineering design, analysis, simulation, and visualization is presented. The approach based on the idea of function-based shape modeling is combined with the power and versatility of the object-oriented programming (OOP). An OOP code, initially developed as a teaching and learning tool for educational use in an undergraduate Modeling and Simulation course, to generate mechanism components is presented. Different parametric, explicit, and implicit functions or their combination are used to generate mechanical components shapes. Using a blending process, sophisticated shapes have been generated on the graphical interface. However, the ideas and concept of the OOP mechanical components design presented in this paper can be applied to other application areas.     

Scheduling for electricity cost in a smart grid

We study an offline scheduling problem arising in demand response management in a smart grid. Consumers send in power requests with a flexible set of timeslots during which their requests can be served. For example, a consumer may request the dishwasher to operate for 1 h during the periods 8am to 11am or 2pm to 4pm. The grid controller, upon receiving power requests, schedules each request within the specified duration. The electricity cost is measured by a convex function of the load in each timeslot. The objective of the problem is to schedule all requests with the minimum total electricity cost. As a first attempt, we consider a special case in which the power requirement and the duration a for which a request needs service are both unit-size. For this problem, we present a polynomial time offline algorithm that gives an optimal solution and shows that the time complexity can be further improved if the given set of timeslots forms a contiguous interval.     

Multiplicity results for some elliptic problems with nonlinear boundary conditions involving variable exponents

In this paper we analyze an elliptic partial differential equation involving variable exponent growth conditions coupled with a nonlinear boundary condition. We show the existence of infinitely many bounded weak solutions provided there is a suitable oscillatory behavior of the nonlinearity either at infinity or at zero. Our proofs rely on a method due to Saint Raymond.     

Characterization of microdevices for ferrous chloride separation for biosensing applications

Ferrous chloride has a variety of applications such as a reducing flocculation agent in waste-water treatment, especially for wastes containing chromate, in the laboratory synthesis of iron complexes and it is employed as a reducing agent in many organic syntheses. The device used for experiment was fabricated on the silicon wafer as support for two electrodes in a SU8 polymer microchannel with an inlet, for the injection of aqueous solution of ferrous chloride, and two outlets, for the two by-products of separated solutions. The various parameters of the device were measured by White Light Interferometer (WLI) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The magnetic field created by applying different types of potential between two electrodes determined ferrous chloride to separate in ferrous oxide and chlorine (in gaseous form). If a protein is added in this solution we have the possibility to immobilize the protein on the iron particles and on the channel area. The electrical results were collected using a semiconductor system analyzer Keithley and were examined subsequently. The Fe complexes deposited on the electrodes were characterized by XRD analyses.     

Concepts and fuzzy logic

Weights are used to measure relative importance of multiple attributes or objectives, which influence evaluation or decision results to a great degree. Thus, analyzing weight sensitivity is an important work for a multi-attribute evaluation or decision. A measuring method based on the inclined angle of two vectors is proposed in this paper in order to solve the weight sensitivity of a multi-attribute evaluation with isotonicity characteristic. This method uses the cosine of the inclined angle to measure the weight sensitivity based on preferences or preference combinations. Concepts of sensitivity space, degree, and angle are given, and the relevant measurement method is discussed and proved. Also, this method is used for the choice of the water environment protection projects in Heyuan City.     

A new approach to predict ulcerative colitis activity through standard clinical–biological parameters using a robust neural network model

Neural Computing and Applications - Colonoscopy is the “gold” standard for evaluating disease activity in ulcerative colitis (UC). An important area of research is finding a...     

Educational recommender systems and their application in lifelong learning

The almost unlimited access to educational information plethora came with a drawback: finding meaningful material is not a straightforward task anymore. Recommender algorithms can be used to make smart decisions in complex information systems and help the users decide upon useful materials; therefore, they become a promising area in academia and industry. The current paper presents a survey on educational recommender systems (RS): a set of analysis criteria are exposed and the technological specifications and challenges of each analysed system are provided, in the context of the main trends in the development of RS. Also, an ontology-based educational recommendation mechanism is proposed and its application to lifelong learning is highlighted, proving that RS can successfully support new learning paradigms.     

Sensitivity of SAR data to post-fire forest regrowth in Mediterranean and boreal forests

Disturbed forests may need decades to reach a mature stage and optically-based vegetation indices are usually poorly suited for monitoring purposes due to the rapid saturation of the signal with increasing canopy cover. Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data provide an alternate monitoring approach since the backscattered microwave energy is sensitive to the vegetation structure. Images from two regions in Spain and Alaska were used to analyze SAR metrics (cross-polarized backscatter and co-polarized interferometric coherence) from regrowing forests previously affected by fire. TerraSAR-X X-band backscatter showed the lowest sensitivity to forest regrowth, with the average backscatter increasing by 1-2 dB between the most recent fire scar and the unburned forest. Increased sensitivity (around 3-4 dB) was observed for C-band Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture (ASAR) backscatter. The Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array-type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) L-band backscatter presented the highest dynamic range from unburned to recently burned forests (approximately 8 dB). The interferometric coherence showed low sensitivity to forest regrowth at all SAR frequencies. For Mediterranean forests, five phases of forest regrowth were discerned whereas for boreal forest, up to four different regrowth phases could be discerned with L-band SAR data. In comparison, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) provided reliable differentiation only for the most recent development stages. The results obtained were consistent in both environments.     

Subquadratic Algorithms for 3SUM

We obtain subquadratic algorithms for 3SUM on integers and rationals in several models. On a standard word RAM with w-bit words, we obtain a running time of . In the circuit RAM with one nonstandard AC ⁰ operation, we obtain . In external memory, we achieve O(n ²/(MB)), even under the standard assumption of data indivisibility. Cache-obliviously, we obtain a running time of . In all cases, our speedup is almost quadratic in the “parallelism” the model can afford, which may be the best possible. Our algorithms are Las Vegas randomized; time bounds hold in expectation, and in most cases, with high probability.     

Visual Interestingness Prediction: A Benchmark Framework and Literature Review

International Journal of Computer Vision - In this paper, we report on the creation of a publicly available, common evaluation framework for image and video visual interestingness prediction. We...