ABSTRACT:
The processing power available in current video graphics cards is approaching super computer levels. State-of-the-art graphical processing units (GPU) boast of computational performance in the range of 1.0-1.1 trillion floating point operations per second (1.0-1.1 Teraflops). Making this processing power accessible to the scientific community would benefit many fields of research. This research takes a relatively computationally expensive image-based iris segmentation algorithm and hosts it on a GPU using the High Level Shader Language which is part of DirectX 9.0. The selected segmentation algorithm uses basic image processing techniques such as image inversion, value squaring, thresholding, dilation, erosion and a computationally intensive local kurtosis (fourth central moment) calculation. Strengths and limitations of the DirectX rendering pipeline are discussed. The primary source of the graphical processing power, the pixel or fragment shader, is discussed in detail. Impressive acceleration results were obtained. The iris segmentation algorithm was accelerated by a factor of 40 over the highly optimized C++ version hosted on the computer’s central processing unit. Some parts of the algorithm ran at speeds that were over 100 times faster than their C++ counterpart. GPU programming details and HLSL code samples are presented as part of the acceleration discussion.

ABSTRACT:
The main objective of the paper is to analyse the author’s proposed model, which is adequate for stock prices and currency exchange rates markets stochasticity, as well as discuss its application to investor‘s possibilities research in those markets. The paper is grounded on the hypothesis of stratification of stock profitability ratios, traded on the market. In other words, the concept of stratification means concentration into certain groups in risk-profitability plane. If the hypothesis proved overall, then a constructive scheme for investor‘s possibilities research in exchange and capital markets would appear, as well as efficient investment strategies would develop.

ABSTRACT:
In a typical software development project, a requirements document summarizes the results of the requirements analysis and becomes the basis for subsequent software development. In many cases, the quality of the requirements documents dictates the success of the software development. The need for determining the quality of requirements documents is particularly acute when the target applications are large, complicated, and mission critical. The purpose of this research is to develop quality indicators to indicate the quality of requirements statements in a requirements document. To achieve the goal, the goodness properties of the requirements statements are adopted to represent the quality of requirements statements. A suite of complexity metrics of requirements statements is proposed as the quality indicators and is developed based upon research of noun phrase (NP) chunks. A two phased empirical case study is performed to evaluate the usage of the proposed metrics. By focusing upon the complexity metrics based on NP chunks, the research aided in development of complexity indicators of low quality requirements documents.

ABSTRACT:
A perspective on the very human process by which scientific paradigms change can help point the path forward in any science, or in an applied science, such as Structural Engineering. Understanding this process of change, we can examine earthquake engineering, seismic building codes and theories of structural engineering for earthquake loads. When we take this perspective, we recognize that Structural Engineering for earthquake resistance is in the midst of a number of revolutions, from paradigms embodied in current building codes in which earthquake demands are associated with forces, to a new paradigm in which earthquake demands are re-envisioned as resulting from structural displacements or drift. The new paradigm is embodied in the current national standard for the seismic rehabilitation of existing structures, ASCE 41 [2] and the emerging standards for performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE). Associated with this is the shift from design oriented towards life-safety to design for a range of performance objectives, such as life-safety, damage reduction, or immediate occupancy. With this perspective, we further recognize deficiencies in research and development. We have failed to systematically use the experimental and computational tools we possess to fill in the gaps of scientific knowledge. We have not developed and deployed appropriate frameworks to collect and share ideas and results. As one example, the formulation of performance-based codes now outstrips the knowledge-base needed to ensure that structures designed by the new tools will meet their performance objectives.

ABSTRACT:
Due to some intractability considerations, reasonable formulation of necessary and sufficient conditions for decomposability of a general multigraph G into a fixed connected multigraph H, is probably not feasible if the underlying simple graph of H has three or more edges. We study the case where H consists of two underlying edges. We present necessary and sufficient conditions for H- decomposability of G, which hold when certain size parameters of G lies within some bounds which depends on the multiplicities of the two edges of H. We also show this result to be "tight" in the sense that even a slight deviation of these size parameters from the given bounds results intractability of the corresponding decision problem.

ABSTRACT:
This paper reports on the on-going evaluation of a computer-assisted system (CEOTS) for the assessing of spoken English skills among Chinese university students. This system is being developed to deal with the negative backwash effects of the present system of assessment of speaking skills which is only available to a tiny minority. We present data from a survey of students at the developing institution (USTC), with follow-up interviews and further interviews with English language teachers, to gauge the reactions to the test and its impact on language learning. We identify the key issue as being one of validity, with a tension existing between construct and consequential validities of the existing system and of CEOTS. We argue that a computer-based system seems to offer the only solution to the negative backwash problem but the development of the technology required to meet current construct validity demands makes this a very long term prospect. We suggest that a compromise between the competing forms of validity must therefore be accepted, probably well before a computer-based system can deliver the level of interaction with the examinees that would emulate the present face-to-face mode.

ABSTRACT:
The use of knowledge management (KM) and communication tools in an applied scientific arena where research is performed and knowledge must be managed within and across multidisciplinary teams and organizations is a challenge. Teams of scientists and engineers from up to 17 different technical specialties required knowledge management tools for developing multiple environmental impact statements under challenging circumstances. Factors that contributed to the success of the KM tools included 1) pairing of project staff with Knowledge Systems staff to determine system requirements, 2) the use of the tools by the team as they were being developed thus allowing many opportunities for feedback and interaction, 3) developing the tools to approximate the overall project structure and work flow already in place, 4) providing immediate assistance to the project team as they learned to use the new KM tools, and 5) replacing earlier practices with the new KM approach by “burning the bridges” to past practices after the team had learned to use the new KM tools.

ABSTRACT:
The reliable solution of nonlinear parameter es- timation problems is an important computational problem in many areas of science and engineering, including such applications as real time optimization. Its goal is to estimate accurate model parameters that provide the best fit to measured data, despite small- scale noise in the data or occasional large-scale mea- surement errors (outliers). In general, the estimation techniques are based on some kind of least squares or maximum likelihood criterion, and these require the solution of a nonlinear and non-convex optimiza- tion problem. Classical solution methods for these problems are local methods, and may not be reliable for finding the global optimum, with no guarantee the best model parameters have been found. Interval arithmetic can be used to compute completely and reliably the global optimum for the nonlinear para- meter estimation problem. Finally, experimental re- sults will compare the least squares, l2, and the least absolute value, l1, estimates using interval arithmetic in a chemical engineering application.

ABSTRACT:
Periodical contraction of a cultured muscle tube has been measured with laser in vitro. C2C12 (mouse myoblast cell line) was cultured with High-glucose Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium on a dish to make muscle tubes. Differentiation from myoblasts to myotubes was induced with an additional horse serum. Repetitive contraction of the tube was generated by electric pulses lower than sixty volts of amplitude with one milli-second of width through the electrodes of platinum, and observed with a phase-contrast microscope. A laser beam of 632.8 nm wavelength was restricted to 0.096 mm diameter, and applied to the muscle tubes on the bottom of the culture dish. Fluctuating intensity of the transmitted laser beam through the periodically contracting muscle tubes was measured, and its spectrum was analyzed. The analyzed data show that the repetitive contraction is synchronized with stimulation of the periodical electric pulses between 0.2 s and 2 s.

ABSTRACT:
A kind of discussing method of information contents taking account of the YUBITSUKIYI system embedded into the Life Support System

ABSTRACT:
New method for the failure probability of strict circular consecutive–k–out–of–n:F system

ABSTRACT:
In this paper, a cable-driven planar parallel haptic interface is pre- sented. First, the velocity equations are derived and the forces in the cables are obtained by the principle of virtual work. Then, an analysis of the wrench-closure workspace is performed and a ge- ometric arrangement of the cables is proposed. Control issues are then discussed and a control scheme is presented. The calibration of the attachment points is also discussed. Finally, the prototype is described and experimental results are provided.

ABSTRACT:
Three new methods are used for estimating missing data in a database using Neural Networks, Principal Component Analysis and Genetic Algorithms are presented. The proposed methods are tested on a set of data obtained from the South African Antenatal Survey. The data is a collection of demographic properties of patients. The proposed methods use Principal Component Analysis to remove redundancies and reduce the dimensionality in the data. Variations of autoassociative Neural Networks are used to further reduce the dimensionality of the data. A Genetic Algorithm is then used to find the missing data by optimizing the error function of the three variants of the Autoencoder Neural Network. The proposed system was tested on data with 1 to 6 missing fields in a single record of data and the accuracy of the estimated values were calculated and recorded. All methods are as accurate as a conventional feedforward neural network structure however the use of the newly proposed methods employs neural network architectures that have fewer hidden nodes.

ABSTRACT:
This paper presents research into the development of a new information management technique called Technical Risk Manager. Project management involves the use of processes and information management techniques to aid decision making in the pursuit of project success. Project success may be achieved by meeting time, cost or performance criteria. Current project management practices focus on achieving time and cost project success criteria by using three information management techniques developed in the 1950s: Gantt, PERT and Critical Path Method. Technical Risk Manager has been developed to provide an information management technique that may be used to aid project management decision making in the pursuit of achieving the performance project success criteria.

ABSTRACT:
This paper elaborates on a novel approach at preventing exploits from vulnerabilities which remain uncovered during the testing phase of a system’s development lifecycle. The combination of predicted usage patterns, a Provenance network model and a clustering methodology provide a secure failure mechanism for both known and unknown security issues within the system. The paper also addresses of the requisite supporting infrastructure and deployment issues related to the model. The idea is to approach the growing problem of newer and more complex vulnerabilities in an ever more intricate and vast set of systems using a generic software state mapping procedure for recognizable (and thus the complementary unrecognizable) patterns to judge the stability at each step in an operation sequence. Thus abstracting these vulnerabilities at a higher level provides us a generic technique to classify and handle such concerns in the future and in turn prevent exploits before a corrective patch is released.

ABSTRACT:
Stereoscopic PIV measurements investigating the effect of Vortex Generators on the lift force near stall and on glide ratio at best aerodynamic performance have been carried out in the LM Glasfiber wind tunnel on a DU 91-W2-250 profile. Measurements at two Reynolds numbers were analyzed; Re=0.9·10 6 and 2.4·10 6 . The results show that one can resolve the longitudinal vortex structures generated by the devices and that mixing is created close to the wall, transferring high momentum fluid into the near wall region. It is also seen that the vortex generators successfully can obstruct separation near stall.