An empirical investigation of anti-spyware software adoption: A multitheoretical perspective

We performed an empirical investigation of factors affecting an individual's decision to adopt anti-spyware software. Our results suggested that an individual's attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and denial of responsibility significantly affected anti-spyware adoption intention. Also, relative advantage and compatibility showed a significant effect on attitude, visibility, and image on subjective norm, and trialability, self-efficacy, and computing capacity on perceived behavioral control. Interestingly, moral obligation, ease of use, and perceived cost were not as significant as was originally expected.     

Analysis of Two-Dimensional Non-Rigid Shapes

Analysis of deformable two-dimensional shapes is an important problem, encountered in numerous pattern recognition, computer vision and computer graphics applications. In this paper, we address three major problems in the analysis of non-rigid shapes: similarity, partial similarity, and correspondence. We present an axiomatic construction of similarity criteria for deformation-invariant shape comparison, based on intrinsic geometric properties of the shapes, and show that such criteria are related to the Gromov-Hausdorff distance. Next, we extend the problem of similarity computation to shapes which have similar parts but are dissimilar when considered as a whole, and present a construction of set-valued distances, based on the notion of Pareto optimality. Finally, we show that the correspondence between non-rigid shapes can be obtained as a byproduct of the non-rigid similarity problem. As a numerical framework, we use the generalized multidimensional scaling (GMDS) method, which is the numerical core of the three problems addressed in this paper.     

Control of 1-D parabolic PDEs with Volterra nonlinearities, Part I: Design

Boundary control of nonlinear parabolic PDEs is an open problem with applications that include fluids, thermal, chemically-reacting, and plasma systems. In this paper we present stabilizing control designs for a broad class of nonlinear parabolic PDEs in 1-D. Our approach is a direct infinite dimensional extension of the finite-dimensional feedback linearization/backstepping approaches and employs spatial Volterra series nonlinear operators both in the transformation to a stable linear PDE and in the feedback law. The control law design consists of solving a recursive sequence of linear hyperbolic PDEs for the gain kernels of the spatial Volterra nonlinear control operator. These PDEs evolve on domains T_n of increasing dimensions n+1 and with a domain shape in the form of a “hyper-pyramid”, 0≤ξ_n≤ξ_n−1?≤ξ₁≤x≤1. We illustrate our design method with several examples. One of the examples is analytical, while in the remaining two examples the controller is numerically approximated. For all the examples we include simulations, showing blow up in open loop, and stabilization for large initial conditions in closed loop. In a companion paper we give a theoretical study of the properties of the transformation, showing global convergence of the transformation and of the control law nonlinear Volterra operators, and explicitly constructing the inverse of the feedback linearizing Volterra transformation; this, in turn, allows us to prove L² and H¹ local exponential stability (with an estimate of the region of attraction where possible) and explicitly construct the exponentially decaying closed loop solutions.     

Robust supervisory control of timed discrete event systems under partial observation based on eligible time bounds: The existence conditions

This paper addresses a supervisory control problem for uncertain timed discrete event systems (DESs) under partial observation. An uncertain timed DES to be controlled is represented by a set of possible timed models based on the framework of Brandin and Wonham [(1994). Supervisory control of timed discrete event systems. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 39(2), 329-342]. To avoid the state space explosion problem caused by tick events in the timed models, a notion of eligible time bounds is proposed for a single timed model obtained from the set of all possible timed models. Based on this notion, we present the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a robust supervisor achieving a given language specification for the single timed model. Moreover, we show that the robust supervisor can also achieve the specification for any timed model in the set.     

Supervisory control of modular systems with global specification languages

The paper presents sufficient conditions for modular (supervisory) control synthesis to equal global control synthesis. In modular control synthesis a supervisory control is synthesized for each module separately and the supervisory control consists of the parallel composition of the modular supervisory controls. The general case of the specification that is indecomposable and not necessarily contained in the plant language, which is often the case in practice, is considered. The usual assumption that all shared events are controllable is relaxed by introducing two new structural conditions relying on the global mutual controllability condition. The novel concept used as a sufficient structural condition is strong global mutual controllability. The main result uses a weaker condition called global mutual controllability together with local consistency of the specification. An example illustrates the approach.     

泛函网络神经元构造理论与方法

泛函网络是近年提出的一种对神经网络的有效推广.与神经网络不同,它处理的是一般的泛函模型,它在各个神经元之间的连接没有权值,并且神经元函数不固定的,往往是一给定的基函数的组合,泛函网络学习的目的就是求出神经元函数的精确表达式或近似表达式. 迄今关于泛函网络神经元基函数的存在性和选取方法缺乏理论依据.文中基于Banach空间中偏序理论,分析了泛函网络神经元基函数的存在性,给出了泛函网络神经元基函数选取方法,对于完善泛函网络的基础理论具有参考价值.     

一阶双曲构建Hill密码及计算机模拟

讨论用PDEs构建Hill密码的方法。以一阶线性非齐次双曲方程混合问题的形式给出加、解密问题的模型,由差分格式算法设计可用于加、解密的矩阵方程。改进的Hill密码系统中,矩阵变化多样、密钥空间大且便于传输和管理。用MatLab编制软件实现加、解过程并对部分结果进行分析。     

Partial oxidation of isobutene to methacrolein on Bi-W/Fe-Co-Mo-K catalysts

The partial oxidation of isobutene to methacrolein and methacrylic acid was studied on oxidic catalysts containing mainly a mixture of bismuth tungstate and iron-cobalt-potassium molybdate. Catalyst shaping was done by extrusion. The kinetic measurements were performed by monitoring the gas-phase composition along the length of a fixed bed of catalyst. The reactor was treated as an isothermal plug-flow system. The network of parallel and consecutive reactions taking place in this system can be described by a simplified scheme. It is possible to predict the gas-phase composition prevailing in the reactor using five different kinetic parameters. In the temperature range 380<<420°C grain selectivities as high as 85% combined with yields of methacrolein and methacrylic acid about 72% at 92% conversion were obtained.     

Algebraic nonlinearity and its applications to cryptography

The algebraic nonlinearity of an n-bit boolean function is defined as the degree of the polynomial f(X) Z ₂[x ₁, x ₂,..., x _n] that represents f. We prove that the average degree of an ANF polynomial for an n-bit function is n+o(1). Further, for a balanced n-bit function, any subfunction obtained by holding less than n-[log n]- 1 bits constant is also expected to be nonaffine. A function is partially linear if f(X) has some indeterminates that only occur in terms bounded by degree 1. Boolean functions which can be mapped to partially linear functions via a linear transformation are said to have a linear structure, and are a potentially weak class of functions for cryptography. We prove that the number of n-bit functions that have a linear structure is asymptotic .The author is presently employed by the Distributed System Technology Center, Brisbane, Australia.Project sponsored in part by NSERC operating Grant OGP0121648, and the National Security Agency under Grant Number MDA904-91-H-0012. The United States Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints notwithstanding any copyright notation hereon.     

Novel Lyapunov-based rapid and ripple-free MPPT using a robust model reference adaptive controller for solar PV system

The technological, economic, and environmental benefits of photovoltaic (PV) systems have led to their widespread adoption in recent years as a source of electricity generation. However, precisely identifying a PV system''s maximum power point (MPP) under normal and shaded weather conditions is crucial to conserving the maximum generated power. One of the biggest concerns with a PV system is the existence of partial shading, which produces multiple peaks in the P–V characteristic curve. In these circumstances, classical maximum power point tracking (MPPT) approaches are prone to getting stuck on local peaks and failing to follow the global maximum power point (GMPP). To overcome such obstacles, a new Lyapunov-based Robust Model Reference Adaptive Controller (LRMRAC) is designed and implemented to reach GMPP rapidly and ripple-free. The proposed controller also achieves MPP accurately under slow, abrupt and rapid changes in radiation, temperature and load profile. Simulation and OPAL-RT real-time simulators in various scenarios are performed to verify the superiority of the proposed approach over the other state-of-the-art methods, i.e., ANFIS, INC, VSPO, and P&O. MPP and GMPP are accomplished in less than 3.8 ms and 10 ms, respectively. Based on the results presented, the LRMRAC controller appears to be a promising technique for MPPT in a PV system.