Alshehri, M.D., Hussain, F. & Hussain, O. 2018, 'Clustering-Driven Intelligent Trust Management Methodologyfor the Internet of Things (CITM-IoT)', Mobile Networks and Applications, vol. 23.
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The growth and adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) is increasing day by day. The large number of IoT devices increases the risk of security threats such as (but not limited to) viruses or cyber-attacks. One possible approach to achieve IoT security is to enable a trustworthy IoT environment in IoT wherein the interactions are based on the trust value of the communicating nodes. Trust management and trust assessment has been extensively studied in distributed networks in general and the IoT in particular, but there are still outstanding pressing issues such as bad-mouthing of trust values which prevent them from being used in practical IoT applications. Furthermore, there is no research in ensuring that the developed IoT trust solutions are scalable across billions of IoT nodes. To address the above-mentioned issues, we propose a methodology for scalable trust management solution in the IoT. The methodology addresses practical and pressing issues related to IoT trust management such as trust-based IoT clustering, intelligent methods for countering bad-mouthing attacks on trust systems, issues of memory-efficient trust computation and trust-based migration of IoT nodes from one cluster to another. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.
Bai, L., Wang, J., Ma, X. & Lu, H. 2018, 'Air Pollution Forecasts: An Overview.', International journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 15, no. 4.
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Air pollution is defined as a phenomenon harmful to the ecological system and the normal conditions of human existence and development when some substances in the atmosphere exceed a certain concentration. In the face of increasingly serious environmental pollution problems, scholars have conducted a significant quantity of related research, and in those studies, the forecasting of air pollution has been of paramount importance. As a precaution, the air pollution forecast is the basis for taking effective pollution control measures, and accurate forecasting of air pollution has become an important task. Extensive research indicates that the methods of air pollution forecasting can be broadly divided into three classical categories: statistical forecasting methods, artificial intelligence methods, and numerical forecasting methods. More recently, some hybrid models have been proposed, which can improve the forecast accuracy. To provide a clear perspective on air pollution forecasting, this study reviews the theory and application of those forecasting models. In addition, based on a comparison of different forecasting methods, the advantages and disadvantages of some methods of forecasting are also provided. This study aims to provide an overview of air pollution forecasting methods for easy access and reference by researchers, which will be helpful in further studies.
Bano, M., Zowghi, D., Kearney, M., Schuck, S. & Aubusson, P. 2018, 'Mobile learning for science and mathematics school education: A systematic review of empirical evidence', Computers and Education, vol. 121, pp. 30-58.
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The ubiquity, flexibility, ease of access and diverse capabilities of mobile technologies make them valuable and a necessity in current times. However, they are under-utilized assets in mathematics and science school education. This article analyses the high quality empirical evidence on mobile learning in secondary school science and mathematics education. Our study employed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) using well-accepted and robust guidelines. The SLR resulted in the detailed analysis of 49 studies (60 papers) published during 2003–2016. Content and thematic analyses were used to ascertain pedagogical approaches, methodological designs, foci, and intended and achieved outcomes of the studies. The apps and technologies used in these studies were further classified for domain, type and context of use. The review has highlighted gaps in existing literature on the topic and has provided insights that have implications for future research.
Boixo, S., Isakov, S.V., Smelyanskiy, V.N., Babbush, R., Ding, N., Jiang, Z., Bremner, M.J., Martinis, J.M. & Neven, H. 2018, 'Characterizing Quantum Supremacy in Near-Term Devices'.
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A critical question for the field of quantum computing in the near future is
whether quantum devices without error correction can perform a well-defined
computational task beyond the capabilities of state-of-the-art classical
computers, achieving so-called quantum supremacy. We study the task of sampling
from the output distributions of (pseudo-)random quantum circuits, a natural
task for benchmarking quantum computers. Crucially, sampling this distribution
classically requires a direct numerical simulation of the circuit, with
computational cost exponential in the number of qubits. This requirement is
typical of chaotic systems. We extend previous results in computational
complexity to argue more formally that this sampling task must take exponential
time in a classical computer. We study the convergence to the chaotic regime
using extensive supercomputer simulations, modeling circuits with up to 42
qubits - the largest quantum circuits simulated to date for a computational
task that approaches quantum supremacy. We argue that while chaotic states are
extremely sensitive to errors, quantum supremacy can be achieved in the
near-term with approximately fifty superconducting qubits. We introduce cross
entropy as a useful benchmark of quantum circuits which approximates the
circuit fidelity. We show that the cross entropy can be efficiently measured
when circuit simulations are available. Beyond the classically tractable
regime, the cross entropy can be extrapolated and compared with theoretical
estimates of circuit fidelity to define a practical quantum supremacy test.
Bown, O. & Ferguson, S. 2018, 'Creative Media + the Internet of Things = Media Multiplicities', Leonardo, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 53-54.
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Bown, O. & Ferguson, S.J. 2018, 'Understanding media multiplicities', Entertainment Computing, vol. 25, pp. 62-70.
Cao, Z. & Lin, C.T. 2018, 'Inherent Fuzzy Entropy for the Improvement of EEG Complexity Evaluation', IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 1032-1035.
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© 2017 IEEE. In recent years, the concept of entropy has been widely used to measure the dynamic complexity of signals. Since the state of complexity of human beings is significantly affected by their health state, developing accurate complexity evaluation algorithms is a crucial and urgent area of study. This paper proposes using inherent fuzzy entropy (Inherent FuzzyEn) and its multiscale version, which employs empirical mode decomposition and fuzzy membership function (exponential function) to address the dynamic complexity in electroencephalogram (EEG) data. In the literature, the reliability of entropy-based complexity evaluations has been limited by superimposed trends in signals and a lack of multiple time scales. Our proposed method represents the first attempt to use the Inherent FuzzyEn algorithm to increase the reliability of complexity evaluation in realistic EEG applications. We recorded the EEG signals of several subjects under resting condition, and the EEG complexity was evaluated using approximate entropy, sample entropy, FuzzyEn, and Inherent FuzzyEn, respectively. The results indicate that Inherent FuzzyEn is superior to other competing models regardless of the use of fuzzy or nonfuzzy structures, and has the most stable complexity and smallest root mean square deviation.
Cao, Z., Lai, K.-.L., Lin, C.-.T., Chuang, C.-.H., Chou, C.-.C. & Wang, S.-.J. 2018, 'Exploring resting-state EEG complexity before migraine attacks.', Cephalalgia: an international journal of headache, pp. 333102417733953-333102417733953.
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Objective Entropy-based approaches to understanding the temporal dynamics of complexity have revealed novel insights into various brain activities. Herein, electroencephalogram complexity before migraine attacks was examined using an inherent fuzzy entropy approach, allowing the development of an electroencephalogram-based classification model to recognize the difference between interictal and preictal phases. Methods Forty patients with migraine without aura and 40 age-matched normal control subjects were recruited, and the resting-state electroencephalogram signals of their prefrontal and occipital areas were prospectively collected. The migraine phases were defined based on the headache diary, and the preictal phase was defined as within 72 hours before a migraine attack. Results The electroencephalogram complexity of patients in the preictal phase, which resembled that of normal control subjects, was significantly higher than that of patients in the interictal phase in the prefrontal area (FDR-adjusted p < 0.05) but not in the occipital area. The measurement of test-retest reliability (n = 8) using the intra-class correlation coefficient was good with r1 = 0.73 ( p = 0.01). Furthermore, the classification model, support vector machine, showed the highest accuracy (76 ± 4%) for classifying interictal and preictal phases using the prefrontal electroencephalogram complexity. Conclusion Entropy-based analytical methods identified enhancement or "normalization" of frontal electroencephalogram complexity during the preictal phase compared with the interictal phase. This classification model, using this complexity feature, may have the potential to provide a preictal alert to migraine without aura patients.
Chen, S., Wang, Z., Yuan, X. & Liang, J. 2018, 'Uncertainty-aware Visual Analytics for Exploring Human Behaviors from Heterogeneous Spatial Temporal Data', Journal of Visual Languages and Computing.
Chi, L., Li, B., Zhu, X., Pan, S. & Chen, L. 2018, 'Hashing for Adaptive Real-Time Graph Stream Classification With Concept Drifts.', IEEE transactions on cybernetics, vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 1591-1604.
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Many applications involve processing networked streaming data in a timely manner. Graph stream classification aims to learn a classification model from a stream of graphs with only one-pass of data, requiring real-time processing in training and prediction. This is a nontrivial task, as many existing methods require multipass of the graph stream to extract subgraph structures as features for graph classification which does not simultaneously satisfy "one-pass" and "real-time" requirements. In this paper, we propose an adaptive real-time graph stream classification method to address this challenge. We partition the unbounded graph stream data into consecutive graph chunks, each consisting of a fixed number of graphs and delivering a corresponding chunk-level classifier. We employ a random hashing function to compress the original node set of graphs in each chunk for fast feature detection when training chunk-level classifiers. Furthermore, a differential hashing strategy is applied to map unlimited increasing features (i.e., cliques) into a fixed-size feature space which is then used as a feature vector for stochastic learning. Finally, the chunk-level classifiers are weighted in an ensemble learning model for graph classification. The proposed method substantially speeds up the graph feature extraction and avoids unbounded graph feature growth. Moreover, it effectively offsets concept drifts in graph stream classification. Experiments on real-world and synthetic graph streams demonstrate that our method significantly outperforms existing methods in both classification accuracy and learning efficiency.
Chotipant, S., Hussain, F.K. & Hussain, O.K. 2018, 'SERNOTATE: An automated approach for business service description annotation for efficient service retrieval and composition', Concurrency Computation, vol. 30, no. 1.
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Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Business service advertisements are today published online to convey essential information about services to customers. However, current Web search engines are unable to search and combine online service advertisements. Semantic service annotation is important for its ability to enable machines to understand the meaning of services and support in effective service retrieval and service composition. Existing research in the area of semantic service annotation has focused on the annotation of Web services in a semi-automated approach. It cannot be applied to business service information as it is not in the form of Web Services Description Language but in free text format. Moreover, semi-automated approaches are inappropriate for annotating a large amount of online service information which changes dynamically and they are therefore not suitable for the timely dissemination of service information to customers. To solve these issues, we propose SERNOTATE, which is an automated approach for business service description annotation for efficient service retrieval and composition. We propose new semantic-based linking approaches, namely, Extended Case-based Reasoning, vector-based, and classification-based, that automatically annotate business services to relevant service concepts. Each approach assists in the single-label and multi-label annotation of service terms to concept terms to provide a better representation of services. The experimental results test and validate the applicability of the proposed approaches to the automatic annotation of business service descriptions to service concepts on a real-world dataset.
Chou, K.P., Prasad, M., Wu, D., Sharma, N., Li, D.L., Lin, Y.F., Blumenstein, M., Lin, W.C. & Lin, C.T. 2018, 'Robust Feature-Based Automated Multi-View Human Action Recognition System', IEEE Access, vol. 6, pp. 15283-15296.
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© 2013 IEEE. Automated human action recognition has the potential to play an important role in public security, for example, in relation to the multiview surveillance videos taken in public places, such as train stations or airports. This paper compares three practical, reliable, and generic systems for multiview video-based human action recognition, namely, the nearest neighbor classifier, Gaussian mixture model classifier, and the nearest mean classifier. To describe the different actions performed in different views, view-invariant features are proposed to address multiview action recognition. These features are obtained by extracting the holistic features from different temporal scales which are modeled as points of interest which represent the global spatial-temporal distribution. Experiments and cross-data testing are conducted on the KTH, WEIZMANN, and MuHAVi datasets. The system does not need to be retrained when scenarios are changed which means the trained database can be applied in a wide variety of environments, such as view angle or background changes. The experiment results show that the proposed approach outperforms the existing methods on the KTH and WEIZMANN datasets.
Chuang, C.-.H., Cao, Z., King, J.-.T., Wu, B.-.S., Wang, Y.-.K. & Lin, C.-.T. 2018, 'Brain Electrodynamic and Hemodynamic Signatures Against Fatigue During Driving.', Frontiers in neuroscience, vol. 12, p. 181.
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Fatigue is likely to be gradually cumulated in a prolonged and attention-demanding task that may adversely affect task performance. To address the brain dynamics during a driving task, this study recruited 16 subjects to participate in an event-related lane-departure driving experiment. Each subject was instructed to maintain attention and task performance throughout an hour-long driving experiment. The subjects' brain electrodynamics and hemodynamics were simultaneously recorded via 32-channel electroencephalography (EEG) and 8-source/16-detector functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The behavior performance demonstrated that all subjects were able to promptly respond to lane-deviation events, even if the sign of fatigue arose in the brain, which suggests that the subjects were fighting fatigue during the driving experiment. The EEG event-related analysis showed strengthening alpha suppression in the occipital cortex, a common brain region of fatigue. Furthermore, we noted increasing oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) of the brain to fight driving fatigue in the frontal cortex, primary motor cortex, parieto-occipital cortex and supplementary motor area. In conclusion, the increasing neural activity and cortical activations were aimed at maintaining driving performance when fatigue emerged. The electrodynamic and hemodynamic signatures of fatigue fighting contribute to our understanding of the brain dynamics of driving fatigue and address driving safety issues through the maintenance of attention and behavioral performance.
Cui, L., Wu, J., Pi, D., Zhang, P. & Kennedy, P. 2018, 'Dual Implicit Mining-Based Latent Friend Recommendation', IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems.
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IEEE The latent friend recommendation in online social media is interesting, yet challenging, because the user-item ratings and the user-user relationships are both sparse. In this paper, we propose a new dual implicit mining-based latent friend recommendation model that simultaneously considers the implicit interest topics of users and the implicit link relationships between the users in the local topic cliques. Specifically, we first propose an algorithm called all reviews from a user and all tags from their corresponding items to learn the implicit interest topics of the users and their corresponding topic weights, then compute the user interest topic similarity using a symmetric Jensen-Shannon divergence. After that, we adopt the proposed weighted local random walk with restart algorithm to analyze the implicit link relationships between the users in the local topic cliques and calculate the weighted link relationship similarity between the users. Combining the user interest topic similarity with the weighted link relationship similarity in a unified way, we get the final latent friend recommendation list. The experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art latent friend recommendation methods under four different types of evaluation metrics.
Ding, W., Lin, C.T., Chen, S., Zhang, X. & Hu, B. 2018, 'Multiagent-consensus-MapReduce-based attribute reduction using co-evolutionary quantum PSO for big data applications', Neurocomputing, vol. 272, pp. 136-153.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The attribute reduction for big data applications has become an urgent challenge in pattern recognition, machine learning and data mining. In this paper, we introduce the multi-agent consensus MapReduce optimization model and co-evolutionary quantum PSO with self-adaptive memeplexes for designing the attribute reduction method, and propose a multiagent-consensus-MapReduce-based attribute reduction algorithm (MCMAR). Firstly, the co-evolutionary quantum PSO with self-adaptive memeplexes is designed for grouping particles into different memeplexes, which aims to explore the search space and locate the global best region during the attribute reduction of big datasets. Secondly, the four layers neighborhood radius framework with compensatory scheme is constructed to partition big attribute sets by exploiting the interdependency among multiple-relevant-attribute sets. Thirdly, a novel multi-agent consensus MapReduce optimization model is adopted to perform the multiple-relevance-attribute reduction, in which five kinds of agents are used to conduct the ensemble co-evolutionary optimization. So the uniform reduction framework of different agents' co-evolutionary game under the bounded rationality is further refined. Fourthly, the approximation MapReduce parallelism mechanism is permitted to formalize to the multi-agent co-evolutionary consensus structure, interaction and adaptation, which enhances different agents to share their solutions. Finally, extensive experimental studies substantiate the effectiveness and accuracy of MCMAR on some well-known benchmark datasets. Moreover, successful applications in big medical datasets are expected to dramatically scaling up MCMAR for complex infant brain MRI in terms of efficiency and feasibility.
Ding, W., Lin, C.T., Prasad, M., Cao, Z. & Wang, J.D. 2018, 'A Layered-Coevolution-Based Attribute-Boosted Reduction Using Adaptive Quantum Behavior PSO and Its Consistent Segmentation for Neonates Brain Tissue', IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems.
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IEEE The main challenge of attribute reduction in large data applications is to develop a new algorithm to deal with large, noisy, and uncertain large data linking multiple relevant data sources, structured or unstructured. This paper proposes a new and efficient layered-coevolution-based attribute-boosted reduction algorithm (LCQ-ABR*) using adaptive quantum behavior particle swarm optimization (PSO). First, the quantum rotation angle of an evolutionary particle is updated by a dynamic change of self-adapting step size. Second, a self-adaptive partitioning strategy is employed to group particles into different memeplexes, and the quantum-behavior mechanism with the particles & #x0027; states depicted by the wave function cooperates to achieve superior performance in their respective memeplexes. Third, a new layered co-evolutionary model with multi-agent interaction is constructed to decompose a complex attribute set, and it can self-adapt the attribute sizes among different layers and produce the reasonable decompositions by exploiting any interdependency among multiple relevant attribute subsets. Fourth, the decomposed attribute subsets are evolved to compute the positive region and discernibility matrix by using their best quantum particles, and the global optimal reduction set is induced successfully. Finally, extensive comparative experiments are provided to illustrate that LCQ-ABR* has better feasibility and effectiveness of attribute reduction on large-scale and uncertain dataset problems with complex noise, compared with representative algorithms. Moreover, LCQ-ABR* can be successfully applied in the consistent segmentation for neonatal brain 3D-MRI, and the consistent segmentation results further demonstrate its stronger applicability.
Dong, F., Zhang, G., Lu, J. & Li, K. 2018, 'Fuzzy competence model drift detection for data-driven decision support systems', Knowledge-Based Systems, vol. 143, pp. 284-294.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. This paper focuses on concept drift in business intelligence and data-driven decision support systems (DSSs). The assumption of a fixed distribution in the data renders conventional static DSSs inaccurate and unable to make correct decisions when concept drift occurs. However, it is important to know when, how, and where concept drift occurs so a DSS can adjust its decision processing knowledge to adapt to an ever-changing environment at the appropriate time. This paper presents a data distribution-based concept drift detection method called fuzzy competence model drift detection (FCM-DD). By introducing fuzzy sets theory and replacing crisp boundaries with fuzzy ones, we have improved the competence model to provide a better, more refined empirical distribution of the data stream. FCM-DD requires no prior knowledge of the underlying distribution and provides statistical guarantee of the reliability of the detected drift, based on the theory of bootstrapping. A series of experiments show that our proposed FCM-DD method can detect drift more accurately, has good sensitivity, and is robust.
El-Sayed, H., Sankar, S., Prasad, M., Puthal, D., Gupta, A., Mohanty, M. & Lin, C.T. 2018, 'Edge of Things: The Big Picture on the Integration of Edge, IoT and the Cloud in a Distributed Computing Environment', IEEE Access, vol. 6, pp. 1706-1717.
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© 2013 IEEE. A centralized infrastructure system carries out existing data analytics and decision-making processes from our current highly virtualized platform of wireless networks and the Internet of Things (IoT) applications. There is a high possibility that these existing methods will encounter more challenges and issues in relation to network dynamics, resulting in a high overhead in the network response time, leading to latency and traffic. In order to avoid these problems in the network and achieve an optimum level of resource utilization, a new paradigm called edge computing (EC) is proposed to pave the way for the evolution of new age applications and services. With the integration of EC, the processing capabilities are pushed to the edge of network de vices such as smart phones, sensor nodes, wearables, and on-board units, where data analytics and knowledge generation are performed which removes the necessity for a centralized system. Many IoT applications, such as smart cities, the smart grid, smart traffic lights, and smart vehicles, are rapidly upgrading their applications with EC, significantly improving response time as well as conserving network resources. Irrespective of the fact that EC shifts the workload from a centralized cloud to the edge, the analogy between EC and the cloud pertaining to factors such as resource management and computation optimization are still open to research studies. Hence, this paper aims to validate the efficiency and resourcefulness of EC. We extensively survey the edge systems and present a comparative study of cloud computing systems. After analyzing the different network properties in the system, the results show that EC systems perform better than cloud computing systems. Finally, the research challenges in implementing an EC system and future research directions are discussed.
Gärdenfors, P. 2018, 'Levels of communication and lexical semantics', Synthese, pp. 1-21.
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The meanings of words are not permanent but change over time. Some changes of meaning are quick, such as when a pronoun changes its reference; some are slower, as when two speakers find out that they are using the same word in different senses; and some are very slow, such as when the meaning of a word changes over historical time. A theory of semantics should account for these different time scales. In order to describe these different types of meaning changes, I present an analysis of three levels of communication: instruction, coordination of common ground and coordination of meaning. My first aim is to show that these levels must be considered when discussing lexical semantics. A second aim is to use the levels to identify the communicative roles of some of the main word classes, in particular nouns, adjectives, verbs, indexicals and quantifiers. I argue that the existence of word classes can, to a large extent, be explained by the communicative needs that arise on the different levels. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
Graham, C., Smith, W., Moncur, W. & van den Hoven, E. 2018, 'Introduction: Mortality in design', Design Issues, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 3-14.
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Hou, Z., Wang, Y., Sui, Y., Gu, J., Zhao, T. & Zhou, X. 2018, 'Managing high-performance computing applications as an on-demand service on federated clouds', Computers and Electrical Engineering.
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© 2018 Elsevier Ltd There are several challenges (e.g., imbalance between supply and demand of hardware resources and software licenses, and usability) under modern High-Performance Computing (HPC) environment. As a means of providing an on-demand service for end users, we propose a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) approach for managing commercial HPC applications as a Web-based service deployed on top of federated clouds. Some inter-trusted private or public clouds are federated to create a unified service platform with a large amount of hardware resources. In addition, an on-demand, pay-per-use model for Web-service-enabled HPC applications is proposed. Further, we provide an economic analysis of the proposed approach from the perspective of end users, cloud service providers, and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). We conduct a simulation using two HPC application services on three federated clouds. A combined Quality of Service (QoS) and economic evaluation demonstrates a better effect of the proposed approach comparing with existing HPC platforms.
Hu, Y., Zheng, L., Yang, Y. & Huang, Y. 2018, 'Twitter100k: A Real-World Dataset for Weakly Supervised Cross-Media Retrieval', IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 927-938.
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© 2017 IEEE. This paper contributes a new large-scale dataset for weakly supervised cross-media retrieval, named Twitter100k. Current datasets, such as Wikipedia, NUS Wide, and Flickr30k, have two major limitations. First, these datasets are lacking in content diversity, i.e., only some predefined classes are covered. Second, texts in these datasets are written in well-organized language, leading to inconsistency with realistic applications. To overcome these drawbacks, the proposed Twitter100k dataset is characterized by two aspects: it has 100 000 image-text pairs randomly crawled from Twitter, and thus, has no constraint in the image categories; and text in Twitter100k is written in informal language by the users. Since strongly supervised methods leverage the class labels that may be missing in practice, this paper focuses on weakly supervised learning for cross-media retrieval, in which only text-image pairs are exploited during training. We extensively benchmark the performance of four subspace learning methods and three variants of the correspondence AutoEncoder, along with various text features on Wikipedia, Flickr30k, and Twitter100k. As a minor contribution, we also design a deep neural network to learn cross-modal embeddings for Twitter100k. Inspired by the characteristic of Twitter100k, we propose a method to integrate optical character recognition into cross-media retrieval. The experiment results show that the proposed method improves the baseline performance.
Hua, J., Huang, M. & Wang, G. 2018, 'Applying Data Visualization Techniques for Stock Relationship Analysis', Filomat.
Hua, J., Huang, M. & Wang, G. 2018, 'Graph Layout Performance Comparisons of Force-directed Algorithms', International Journal of Performability Engineering.
Hussain, W., Hussain, F.K., Hussain, O., Bagia, R. & Chang, E. 2018, 'Risk-based framework for SLA violation abatement from the cloud service provider’s perspective', The Computer Journal.
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The constant increase in the growth of the cloud market creates new challenges for cloud service providers. One such challenge is the need to avoid possible service level agreement (SLA) violations and their consequences through good SLA management. Researchers have proposed various frameworks and have made significant advances in managing SLAs from the perspective of both cloud users and providers. However, none of these approaches guides the service provider on the necessary steps to take for SLA violation abatement; that is, the prediction of possible SLA violations, the process to follow when the system identifies the threat of SLA violation, and the recommended action to take to avoid SLA violation. In this paper, we approach this process of SLA violation detection and abatement from a risk management perspective. We propose a Risk Management-based Framework for SLA violation abatement (RMF-SLA) following the formation of an SLA which comprises SLA monitoring, violation prediction and decision recommendation. Through experiments, we validate and demonstrate the suitability of the proposed framework for assisting cloud providers to minimize possible service violations and penalties.
Ji, K., Chen, Z., Sun, R., Ma, K., Yuan, Z. & Xu, G. 2018, 'GIST: A generative model with individual and subgroup-based topics for group recommendation', Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 94, pp. 81-93.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd In this paper, a Topic-based probabilistic model named GIST is proposed to infer group activities, and make group recommendations. Compared with existing individual-based aggregation methods, it not only considers individual members’ interest, but also consider some subgroups’ interest. Intuition might seem that when a group of users want to take part in an activity, not every group member is decisive, instead, more likely the subgroups of members having close relationships lead to the final activity decision. That motivates our study on jointly considering individual members’ choices and subgroups’ choices for group recommendations. Based on this, our model uses two kinds of unshared topics to model individual members’ interest and subgroups’ interest separately, and then make final recommendations according to the choices from the two aspects with a weight-based scheme. Moreover, the link information in the graph topology of the groups can be used to optimize the weights of our model. The experimental results on real-life data show that the recommendation accuracy is significantly improved by GIST comparing with the state-of-the-art methods.
Li, H., Wang, J., Lu, H. & Guo, Z. 2018, 'Research and application of a combined model based on variable weight for short term wind speed forecasting', Renewable Energy, vol. 116, pp. 669-684.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Wind speed forecasting plays a prominent part in the operation of wind power plants and power systems. However, it is often difficult to obtain satisfactory prediction results because wind speed data comprise random nonlinear series. Current some statistical models are not proficient in predicting nonlinear time series, whereas artificial intelligence models often fall into local optima. For these reasons, a novel combined forecasting model, which combines hybrid models based on decomposed methods and optimization algorithms, is successfully developed with variable weighting combination theory for multi-step wind speed forecasting. In this model, three different hybrid models are proposed and to further improve the forecasting performance, a modified support vector regression is used to integrate all the results obtained by each hybrid model and obtain the final forecasting results. To verify the forecasting effectiveness of the proposed forecasting model, 10-min wind speed series from Penglai, China, are used as case studies. The experimental results indicate that the developed combined model not only outperforms other benchmark models but also can be satisfactorily used for planning for smart grids.
Li, Y., Qiao, Y., Wang, X. & Duan, R. 2018, 'Tripartite-to-Bipartite Entanglement Transformation by Stochastic Local Operations and Classical Communication and the Structure of Matrix Spaces', Communications in Mathematical Physics, vol. 358, no. 2, pp. 791-814.
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© 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. We study the problem of transforming a tripartite pure state to a bipartite one using stochastic local operations and classical communication (SLOCC). It is known that the tripartite-to-bipartite SLOCC convertibility is characterized by the maximal Schmidt rank of the given tripartite state, i.e. the largest Schmidt rank over those bipartite states lying in the support of the reduced density operator. In this paper, we further study this problem and exhibit novel results in both multi-copy and asymptotic settings, utilizing powerful results from the structure of matrix spaces. In the multi-copy regime, we observe that the maximal Schmidt rank is strictly super-multiplicative, i.e. the maximal Schmidt rank of the tensor product of two tripartite pure states can be strictly larger than the product of their maximal Schmidt ranks. We then provide a full characterization of those tripartite states whose maximal Schmidt rank is strictly super-multiplicative when taking tensor product with itself. Notice that such tripartite states admit strict advantages in tripartite-to-bipartite SLOCC transformation when multiple copies are provided. In the asymptotic setting, we focus on determining the tripartite-to-bipartite SLOCC entanglement transformation rate. Computing this rate turns out to be equivalent to computing the asymptotic maximal Schmidt rank of the tripartite state, defined as the regularization of its maximal Schmidt rank. Despite the difficulty caused by the super-multiplicative property, we provide explicit formulas for evaluating the asymptotic maximal Schmidt ranks of two important families of tripartite pure states by resorting to certain results of the structure of matrix spaces, including the study of matrix semi-invariants. These formulas turn out to be powerful enough to give a sufficient and necessary condition to determine whether a given tripartite pure state can be transformed to the bipa...
Lin, C.-.T., Chiu, T.-.C., Wang, Y.-.K., Chuang, C.-.H. & Gramann, K. 2018, 'Granger causal connectivity dissociates navigation networks that subserve allocentric and egocentric path integration.', Brain Research, vol. 1679, pp. 91-100.
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Studies on spatial navigation demonstrate a significant role of the retrosplenial complex (RSC) in the transformation of egocentric and allocentric information into complementary spatial reference frames (SRFs). The tight anatomical connections of the RSC with a wide range of other cortical regions processing spatial information support its vital role within the human navigation network. To better understand how different areas of the navigational network interact, we investigated the dynamic causal interactions of brain regions involved in solving a virtual navigation task. EEG signals were decomposed by independent component analysis (ICA) and subsequently examined for information flow between clusters of independent components (ICs) using direct short-time directed transfer function (sdDTF). The results revealed information flow between the anterior cingulate cortex and the left prefrontal cortex in the theta (4-7 Hz) frequency band and between the prefrontal, motor, parietal, and occipital cortices as well as the RSC in the alpha (8-13 Hz) frequency band. When participants prefered to use distinct reference frames (egocentric vs. allocentric) during navigation was considered, a dominant occipito-parieto-RSC network was identified in allocentric navigators. These results are in line with the assumption that the RSC, parietal, and occipital cortices are involved in transforming egocentric visual-spatial information into an allocentric reference frame. Moreover, the RSC demonstrated the strongest causal flow during changes in orientation, suggesting that this structure directly provides information on heading changes in humans.
Lin, C.T., Chiu, C.Y., Singh, A.K., King, J.T. & Wang, Y.K. 2018, 'A Wireless Multifunctional SSVEP-Based Brain Computer Interface Assistive System', IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems.
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IEEE Several kinds of brain-computer interface (BCI) systems have been proposed to compensate for the lack of medical technology for assisting patients who lose the ability to use motor functions to communicate with the outside world. However, most of the proposed systems are limited by their non-portability, impracticality and inconvenience because of the adoption of wired or invasive electroencephalography (EEG) acquisition devices. Another common limitation is the shortage of functions provided because of the difficulty of integrating multiple functions into one BCI system. In this study, we propose a wireless, non-invasive and multifunctional assistive system which integrates steady state visually evoked potential (SSVEP)-based BCI and a robotic arm to assist patients to feed themselves. Patients are able to control the robotic arm via the BCI to serve themselves food. Three other functions: video entertainment, video calling, and active interaction are also integrated. This is achieved by designing a functional menu and integrating multiple subsystems. A refinement decision-making mechanism is incorporated to ensure the accuracy and applicability of the system. Fifteen participants were recruited to validate the usability and performance of the system. The averaged accuracy and information transfer rate (ITR) achieved is 90.91% and 24.94 bit per min respectively. The feedback from the participants demonstrates that this assistive system is able to significantly improve the quality of daily life.
Lin, C.T., Hsieh, T.Y., Liu, Y.T., Lin, Y.Y., Fang, C.N., Wang, Y.K., Yen, G., Pal, N.R. & Chuang, C.H. 2018, 'Minority Oversampling in Kernel Adaptive Subspaces for Class Imbalanced Datasets', IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 950-962.
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© 1989-2012 I EEE. The class imbalance problem in machine learning occurs when certain classes are underrepresented relative to the others, leading to a learning bias toward the majority classes. To cope with the skewed class distribution, many learning methods featuring minority oversampling have been proposed, which are proved to be effective. To reduce information loss during feature space projection, this study proposes a novel oversampling algorithm, named minority oversampling in kernel adaptive subspaces (MOKAS), which exploits the invariant feature extraction capability of a kernel version of the adaptive subspace self-organizing maps. The synthetic instances are generated from well-trained subspaces and then their pre-images are reconstructed in the input space. Additionally, these instances characterize nonlinear structures present in the minority class data distribution and help the learning algorithms to counterbalance the skewed class distribution in a desirable manner. Experimental results on both real and synthetic data show that the proposed MOKAS is capable of modeling complex data distribution and outperforms a set of state-of-the-art oversampling algorithms.
Lin, C.T., King, J.T., Fan, J.W., Appaji, A. & Prasad, M. 2018, 'The Influence of Acute Stress on Brain Dynamics during Task Switching Activities', IEEE Access, vol. 6, pp. 3249-3255.
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© 2013 IEEE. Task switching is a common method to investigate executive functions such as working memory and attention. This paper investigates the effect of acute stress on brain activity using task switching. Surprisingly few studies have been conducted in this area. There is behavioral and physiological evidence to indicate that acute stress makes the participants more tense which results in a better performance. In this current study, under stressful conditions, the participants gave quick responses with high accuracy. However, unexpected results were found in relation to salivary cortisol. Furthermore, the electroencephalogram results showed that acute stress was pronounced at the frontal and parietal midline cortex, especially on the theta, alpha, and gamma bands. One possible explanation for these results may be that the participants changed their strategy in relation to executive functions during stressful conditions by paying more attention which resulted in a higher working memory capacity which enhanced performance during the task switching.
Lin, C.T., Prasad, M., Chung, C.H., Puthal, D., El-Sayed, H., Sankar, S., Wang, Y.K., Singh, J. & Sangaiah, A.K. 2018, 'IoT-Based Wireless Polysomnography Intelligent System for Sleep Monitoring', IEEE Access, vol. 6, pp. 405-414.
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© 2013 IEEE. Polysomnography (PSG) is considered the gold standard in the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The diagnosis of OSA requires an overnight sleep experiment in a laboratory. However, due to limitations in relation to the number of labs and beds available, patients often need to wait a long time before being diagnosed and eventually treated. In addition, the unfamiliar environment and restricted mobility when a patient is being tested with a polysomnogram may disturb their sleep, resulting in an incomplete or corrupted test. Therefore, it is posed that a PSG conducted in the patient's home would be more reliable and convenient. The Internet of Things (IoT) plays a vital role in the e-Health system. In this paper, we implement an IoT-based wireless polysomnography system for sleep monitoring, which utilizes a battery-powered, miniature, wireless, portable, and multipurpose recorder. A Java-based PSG recording program in the personal computer is designed to save several bio-signals and transfer them into the European data format. These PSG records can be used to determine a patient's sleep stages and diagnose OSA. This system is portable, lightweight, and has low power-consumption. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed PSG system, a comparison was made between the standard PSG-Alice 5 Diagnostic Sleep System and the proposed system. Several healthy volunteer patients participated in the PSG experiment and were monitored by both the standard PSG-Alice 5 Diagnostic Sleep System and the proposed system simultaneously, under the supervision of specialists at the Sleep Laboratory in Taipei Veteran General Hospital. A comparison of the results of the time-domain waveform and sleep stage of the two systems shows that the proposed system is reliable and can be applied in practice. The proposed system can facilitate the long-Term tracing and research of personal sleep monitoring at home.
Lin, C.T., Prasad, M., Gupta, A., Ma, Z., Lin, J.W., Singh, A.K., Machado, A.M.C., Appaji, A. & King, J.T. 2018, 'Voice Navigation Effects on Real-World Lane Change Driving Analysis using an Electroencephalogram', IEEE Access.
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OAPA Improving the degree of assistance given by in-car navigation systems is an important issue for the safety of both drivers and passengers. There is a vast body of research that assesses the usability and interfaces of the existing navigation systems but very few investigations study the impact on the brain activity based on navigation-based driving. In this study, a real-world experiment is designed to acquire the electroencephalography (EEG) and in-car information to analyze the dynamic brain activity while the driver is performing the lane-changing task based on the auditory instructions from an in-car navigation system. The results show that auditory cues can influence the speed and increase the frontal EEG delta and beta power which is related to motor preparation and decision making during a lane change. However, there were no significant results on the alpha power. A better lane-change assessment can be obtained using specific vehicle information (lateral acceleration and heading angle) with EEG features for future naturalized driving study.
Liu, Y.T., Pal, N.R., Marathe, A.R. & Lin, C.T. 2018, 'Weighted Fuzzy Dempster-Shafer Framework for Multimodal Information Integration', IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 338-352.
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© 1993-2012 IEEE. This study proposes an architecture based on a weighted fuzzy Dempster-Shafer framework (WFDSF), which can adjust weights associated with inconsistent evidence obtained by different classification approaches, to realize a fusion system for integrating multimodal information. The Dempster-Shafer theory (D-S theory) of evidence enables us to integrate heterogeneous information from multiple sources to obtain collaborative inferences for a given problem. To conquer various uncertainties associated with the collected information, our system assigns beliefs and plausibilities to possible hypotheses of each decision maker and uses a combination rule to fuse multimodal information. For information fusion, an important step in D-S aggregation is to find an appropriate basic probability assignment scheme for allocating support to each possible hypothesis/class, which remains an arduous and unsolved problem. Here, we propose a mathematical structure to aggregate weighted evidence extracted from two different types of approaches: fuzzy Naïve Bayes and nearest mean classification rule. Further, an intuitionistic belief assignment is employed to address uncertainties between hypotheses/classes. Finally, 12 benchmark problems from the UCI machine learning repository for classification are employed to validate the proposed WFDSF-based scheme. In addition, an application of WFDSF to a practical brain-computer interface problem involving multimodal data fusion is demonstrated in this study. The experimental results show that the WFDSF is superior to several existing methods.
Manzoor, M., Hussain, W., Sohaib, O., Hussain, F.K. & Alkhalaf, S. 2018, 'Methodological investigation for enhancing the usability of university websites', Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, pp. 1-19.
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For university websites to be successful and to increase the chance of converting a prospective student into a current student, it is necessary to increase the visibility and accessibility of all related content so that a student can achieve their desired task in the fastest possible time. The criteria for evaluating university websites are very vague and are usually unknown to most developers, which adversely impacts the user-experience of the students visiting such websites. To solve this problem, we devised a usability metric and examined the leading university websites to analyze whether these websites were able to meet the requirements of students. In this research, we applied qualitative and quantitative approaches by considering 300 students and evaluating 86 university websites (26 from Canada, 30 from the United States, and 30 from Europe) based on a six-attribute metric comprising navigation, organization, ease of use (simplicity), design (layout), communication and content. From the evaluation results, we find that the 88% of the students are satisfied with our proposed usability attributes, but that most universities fail to meet basic standards of usability as desired by the students. The findings also show that the usability evaluation score for each usability feature varies from country to country, such as for (1) multiple language support − 23% of the Canadian websites, 63% of the European websites and none of the USA websites has the feature; for (2) Scholarships/Funding/Financial Aid link − 24% of the Canadian websites, 80% of the European and the USA websites has the feature; for (3) admission link − 88% of the Canadian websites, 20% of the European websites and 90% of the USA websites has the feature. In addition, from the evaluative result we find that our proposed approach will not only increase the usability of academic websites but will also provide an easiest way to covert prospective student inquiries into enrollment opportunities.
Nawaz, F., Janjua, N.K., Hussain, O.K., Hussain, F.K., Chang, E. & Saberi, M. 2018, 'Event-driven approach for predictive and proactive management of SLA violations in the Cloud of Things', Future Generation Computer Systems, vol. 84, pp. 78-97.
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© 2018 Elsevier B.V. In a dynamic environment such as the cloud-of-things, one of the most critical factors for successful service delivery is the QoS under defined constraints. Even though guarantees in the form of service level agreements (SLAs) are provided to users, many services exhibit dynamic Quality of Service (QoS) variations. This QoS variation as well as changes in the behavior and state of the service is caused by some internal events (such as varying loads) and external events (such as location and weather), which results in frequent SLA violations. Most of the existing violation prediction approaches use historic data to predict future QoS values. They do not consider dynamic changes and the events that cause these changes in QoS attributes. In this paper, we propose an event-driven-based proactive approach for predicting SLA violations by combining logic-based reasoning and probabilistic inferencing. The results show that our proposed approach is efficient and proactively identifies SLA violations under uncertain QoS observations.
Niu, T., Wang, J., Lu, H. & Du, P. 2018, 'Uncertainty modeling for chaotic time series based on optimal multi-input multi-output architecture: Application to offshore wind speed', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 156, pp. 597-617.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Wind energy is attracting more attention with the growing demand for energy. However, the efficient development and utilization of wind energy are restricted due to the intermittency and randomness of wind speed. Although abundant investigations concerning wind speed forecasting have been conducted by numerous researchers, most of the studies merely attach importance to point forecasts, which cannot quantitatively characterize the uncertainties as developing intervals. In this study, a novel interval prediction architecture has been designed, aiming at constructing effective prediction intervals for a wind speed series, composed of a preprocessing module, a feature selection module, an optimization module, a forecast module and an evaluation module. The feature selection module, in cooperation with the preprocessing module, is developed to determine the optimal model input. Furthermore, the forecast module optimized by the optimization module is considered a predictor for giving prediction intervals. The experimental results shed light on the architecture that not only outperforms the benchmark models considered, but also has great potential for application to wind power systems.
Oberst, S. & Tuttle, S. 2018, 'Nonlinear dynamics of thin-walled elastic structures for applications in space', Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 110, pp. 469-484.
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Driven by the need for multi-functionality and increasing demands for low mass and compact-stowing, unfolding, self-deploying or –morphing smart mechanical structures have become popular space engineering
designs for flexible appendages. Extensive research has been conducted on the use of tape springs as hinge deployment mechanisms for space booms, solar sails, or optical membranes or directly for used as antennas.
However, the vibrational behaviour of tape springs and its related dynamics have rarely been addressed in detail, even though missions are underway with similarly flexible appendages installed.
By conducting quasi-static bending tests on a tape spring antenna, we evidence hysteresis behaviours in both the opposite- and equal sense bending directions. Apart from the well-known snap-through buckling, the
structure exhibits torsional buckling in the equal sense bending direction before collapsing. Micro-vibrational excitation triggers nonlinear jump phenomena and the period-doubling route to chaos. Using a computational tape spring model and simplified environmental loads similar to those encountered in near-Earth orbits, coupling between the first bending and torsional modes generates a dynamic instability which is predicted by a complex eigenvalue analysis step. The current study highlights that high perturbation sensitivity and system-inherent nonlinearities can lead to stability issues.
In the course of designing a spacecraft with thin-walled appendages, system-level trade-offs are routinely performed. Since it is unclear how severely the vibrations of flexible appendages might affect their proper
functioning or the control of the spacecraft, it is of paramount importance to validate experimentally thin-walled structures thoroughly for their dynamic and stability behaviours.
Oberst, S., Baetz, J., Campbell, G., Lampe, F., Lai, J.C.S., Hoffmann, N.P. & Morlock, M. 2018, 'Vibro-acoustic and nonlinear analysis of cadavric femoral bone impaction in cavity preparations', MATEC Web of Conferences, vol. 148, pp. 14007-14007.
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Owing to an ageing population, the impact of unhealthy lifestyle, or simply congenital or gender specific issues (dysplasia), degenerative bone and joint disease (osteoarthritis) at the hip pose an increasing problem in many countries. Osteoarthritis is painful and causes mobility restrictions; amelioration is often only achieved by replacing the complete hip joint in a total hip arthroplasty (THA). Despite significant orthopaedic progress related to THA, the success of the surgical process relies heavily on the judgement, experience, skills and techniques used of the surgeon. One common way of implanting the stem into the femur is press fitting uncemented stem designs into a prepared cavity. By using a range of compaction broaches, which are impacted into the femur, the cavity for the implant is formed. However, the surgeon decides whether to change the size of the broach, how hard and fast it is impacted or when to stop the excavation process, merely based on acoustic, haptic or visual cues which are subjective. It is known that non-ideal cavity preparations increase the risk of peri-prosthetic fractures especially in elderly people.
This study reports on a simulated hip replacement surgery on a cadaver and the analysis of impaction forces and the microphone signals during compaction. The recorded transient signals of impaction forces and acoustic pressures (≈ 80 μs - 2 ms) are statistically analysed for their trend, which shows increasing heteroscedasticity in the force-pressure relationship between broach sizes.
TIKHONOV regularisation, as inverse deconvolution technique, is applied to calculate the acoustic transfer functions from the acoustic responses and their mechanical impacts. The extracted spectra highlight that sys- tem characteristics altered during the cavity preparation process: in the high-frequency range the number of resonances increased with impacts and broach size. By applying nonlinear time series analysis the system dy- namics increase in c...
Oberst, S., Tuttle, S., Griffith, D., Lambert, A. & Boyce, R. 2018, 'Experimental validation of tape springs to be used as thin-walled space structures', Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 419, pp. 558-570.
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With the advent of standardised launch geometries and off-the-shelf payloads, space programs utilising nano-satellite platforms are growing worldwide. Thin-walled, flexible and self-deployable structures are commonly used for antennae, instrument booms or solar panels owing to their lightweight, ideal packaging characteristics and near zero energy consumption. However their behaviour in space, in particular in Low Earth Orbits with continually changing environmental conditions, raises many questions. Accurate numerical models, which are often not available due to the difficulty of experimental testing under 1g-conditions, are needed to answer these questions.
In this study, we present on-earth experimental validations, as a starting point to study the response of a tape spring as a representative of thin-walled flexible structures under static and vibrational loading. Material parameters of tape springs in a singly (straight, open cylinder) and a doubly curved design, are compared to each other by combining finite element calculations, with experimental laser vibrometry within a single and multi-stage model updating approach. While the determination of the Young's modulus is unproblematic, the damping is found to be inversely proportional to deployment length. With updated material properties the buckling instability margin is calculated using different slenderness ratios. Results indicate a high sensitivity of thin-walled structures to miniscule perturbations, which makes proper experimental testing a key requirement for stability prediction on thin-elastic space structures. The doubly curved tape spring provides closer agreement with experimental results than a straight tape spring design.
Pham, P. & Huang, M. 2018, 'Quantitative Approach on Parallel Coordinates andScatter Plots for Multidimensional-Data Visual Analytics', Journal of computers, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 407-416.
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Parallel coordinates and scatter plots are two well-known visualization techniques for multidimensional data analytics and often employed cooperatively for flexibility increase in exploration of such data. Existing approaches approximately consider qualitative issues and single attribute comparison, which might face statistic challenges in case of quantitative requirement. This paper introduces a new quantitative approach for visual enhancement of parallel coordinates and scatter plots in term of multiple attribute comparison. The method is based on the visual integration of interactive stacked bars and visual queries on parallel axes and scatter charts. The parallel coordinates play the role of a context view while the scatter charts are for focus details. Using the technique, users could not only quantitatively analyze multivariate data, but also flexibly compare multiple target attributes. Moreover, further investigation is enabled for deep understanding of desired information. The characteristics and usefulness of our approach are demonstrated via a case study with two typical use cases.
Ploderer, B. & Leong, T.W. 2018, 'Manual engagement and automation in amateur photography', Media International Australia, vol. 166, no. 1, pp. 44-56.
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© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. Automation has been central to the development of modern photography and, in the age of digital and smartphone photography, now largely defines everyday experience of the photographic process. In this article, we question the acceptance of automation as the default position for photography, arguing that discussions of automation need to move beyond binary concerns of whether to automate or not and, instead, to consider what is being automated and the degree of automation couched within the particularities of people’s practices. We base this upon findings from ethnographic fieldwork with people engaging manually with film-based photography. While automation liberates people from having to interact with various processes of photography, participants in our study reported a greater sense of control, richer experiences and opportunities for experimentation when they were able to engage manually with photographic processes.
Song, J., Wang, J. & Lu, H. 2018, 'A novel combined model based on advanced optimization algorithm for short-term wind speed forecasting', Applied Energy, vol. 215, pp. 643-658.
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© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Short-term wind speed forecasting has a significant influence on enhancing the operation efficiency and increasing the economic benefits of wind power generation systems. A substantial number of wind speed forecasting models, which are aimed at improving the forecasting performance, have been proposed. However, some conventional forecasting models do not consider the necessity and importance of data preprocessing. Moreover, they neglect the limitations of individual forecasting models, leading to poor forecasting accuracy. In this study, a novel model combining a data preprocessing technique, forecasting algorithms, an advanced optimization algorithm, and no negative constraint theory is developed. This combined model successfully overcomes some limitations of the individual forecasting models and effectively improves the forecasting accuracy. To estimate the effectiveness of the proposed combined model, 10-min wind speed data from the wind farm in Peng Lai, China are used as case studies. The experiment results demonstrate that the developed combined model is definitely superior compared to all other conventional models. Furthermore, it can be used as an effective technique for smart grid planning.
Stender, M., Tiedemann, M., Hoffmann, N. & Oberst, S. 2018, 'Impact of an irregular friction formulation on dynamics of a minimal model for brake squeal', Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 107, pp. 439-451.
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Friction-induced vibrations are of major concern in the design of reliable, efficient and comfortable technical systems. Well-known examples for systems susceptible to self-excitation can be found in fluid structure interaction, disk brake squeal, rotor dynamics, hip implants noise and many more. While damping elements and amplitude reduction are well-understood in linear systems, nonlinear systems and especially self-excited dynamics still constitute a challenge for damping element design. Additionally, complex dynamical systems exhibit deterministic chaotic cores which add severe sensitivity to initial conditions to the system response. Especially the complex friction interface dynamics remain a challenging task for measurements and modeling. Today, mostly simple and regular friction models are investigated in the field of self-excited brake system vibrations. This work aims at investigating the effect of high-frequency irregular interface dynamics on the nonlinear dynamical response of a self-excited structure. Special focus is put on the characterization of the system response time series.
A low-dimensional minimal model is studied which features self-excitation, gyroscopic effects and friction-induced damping. Additionally, the employed friction formulation exhibits temperature as inner variable and superposed chaotic fluctuations governed by a Lorenz attractor. The time scale of the irregular fluctuations is chosen one order smaller than the overall system dynamics. The influence of those fluctuations on the structural response is studied in various ways, i.e. in time domain and by means of recurrence analysis. The separate time scales are studied in detail and regimes of dynamic interactions are identified. The results of the irregular friction formulation indicate dynamic interactions on multiple time scales, which trigger larger vibration amplitudes as compared to regular friction formulations conventionally studied in the field of friction-induced vibr...
Sui, Y., Fan, X., Zhou, H. & Xue, J. 2018, 'Loop-Oriented pointer analysis for automatic SIMD vectorization', ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems, vol. 17, no. 2.
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© 2018 ACM. Compiler-based vectorization represents a promising solution to automatically generate code that makes efficient use of modern CPUs with SIMD extensions. Two main auto-vectorization techniques, superword-level parallelism vectorization (SLP) and loop-level vectorization (LLV), require precise dependence analysis on arrays and structs to vectorize isomorphic scalar instructions (in the case of SLP) and reduce dynamic dependence checks at runtime (in the case of LLV). The alias analyses used in modern vectorizing compilers are either intra-procedural (without tracking inter-procedural data-flows) or inter-procedural (by using field-sensitive models, which are too imprecise in handling arrays and structs). This article proposes an inter-procedural Loop-oriented Pointer Analysis for C, called Lpa, for analyzing arrays and structs to support aggressive SLP and LLV optimizations effectively. Unlike field-insensitive solutions that pre-allocate objects for each memory allocation site, our approach uses a lazy memory model to generate access-based location sets based on how structs and arrays are accessed. Lpa can precisely analyze arrays and nested aggregate structures to enable SIMD optimizations for large programs. By separating the location set generation as an independent concern from the rest of the pointer analysis, Lpa is designed so that existing points-to resolution algorithms (e.g., flow-insensitive and flow-sensitive pointer analysis) can be reused easily. We have implemented Lpa fully in the LLVM compiler infrastructure (version 3.8.0). We evaluate Lpa by considering SLP and LLV, the two classic vectorization techniques, on a set of 20 C and Fortran CPU2000/2006 benchmarks. For SLP, Lpa outperforms LLVM’s BasicAA and ScevAA by discovering 139 and 273 more vectorizable basic blocks, respectively, resulting in the best speedup of 2.95% for 173.applu. For LLV, LLVM introduces totally 551 and 652 static bound checks under BasicAA and ScevAA, respecti...
Wakefield, J., Tyler, J., Dyson, L.E. & Frawley, J.K. 2018, 'Implications of student-generated screencasts on final examination performance', Accounting and Finance.
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© 2017 AFAANZ. While educational technologies can play a vital role in students' active participation in introductory accounting subjects, learning outcome implications are less clear. We believe this is the first accounting education study examining the implications of student-generated screencast assignments. We find benefits in developing the graduate attributes of communication, creativity and multimedia skills, consistent with calls by the profession. Additionally, we find improvement in final examination performance related to the assignment topic, notably in lower performing students. The screencast assignment was optional, and the findings suggest a tailored approach to assignment design related to students' developmental needs is appropriate.
Wang, J., Niu, T., Lu, H., Guo, Z., Yang, W. & Du, P. 2018, 'An analysis-forecast system for uncertainty modeling of wind speed: A case study of large-scale wind farms', Applied Energy, vol. 211, pp. 492-512.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd The uncertainty analysis and modeling of wind speed, which has an essential influence on wind power systems, is consistently considered a challenging task. However, most investigations thus far were focused mainly on point forecasts, which in reality cannot facilitate quantitative characterization of the endogenous uncertainty involved. An analysis-forecast system that includes an analysis module and a forecast module and can provide appropriate scenarios for the dispatching and scheduling of a power system is devised in this study; this system superior to those presented in previous studies. In order to qualitatively and quantitatively investigate the uncertainty of wind speed, recurrence analysis techniques are effectively developed for application in the analysis module. Furthermore, in order to quantify the uncertainty accurately, a novel architecture aimed at uncertainty mining is devised for the forecast module, where a non-parametric model optimized by an improved multi-objective water cycle algorithm is considered a predictor for producing intervals for each mode component after feature selection. The results of extensive in-depth experiments show that the devised system is not only superior to the considered benchmark models, but also has good potential practical applications in wind power systems.
Wang, Y.-.K., Jung, T.-.P. & Lin, C.-.T. 2018, 'Theta and Alpha Oscillations in Attentional Interaction during Distracted Driving.', Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, vol. 12, p. 3.
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Performing multiple tasks simultaneously usually affects the behavioral performance as compared with executing the single task. Moreover, processing multiple tasks simultaneously often involve more cognitive demands. Two visual tasks, lane-keeping task and mental calculation, were utilized to assess the brain dynamics through 32-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded from 14 participants. A 400-ms stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) factor was used to induce distinct levels of attentional requirements. In the dual-task conditions, the deteriorated behavior reflected the divided attention and the overlapping brain resources used. The frontal, parietal and occipital components were decomposed by independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm. The event- and response-related theta and alpha oscillations in selected brain regions were investigated first. The increased theta oscillation in frontal component and decreased alpha oscillations in parietal and occipital components reflect the cognitive demands and attentional requirements as executing the designed tasks. Furthermore, time-varying interactive over-additive (O-Add), additive (Add) and under-additive (U-Add) activations were explored and summarized through the comparison between the summation of the elicited spectral perturbations in two single-task conditions and the spectral perturbations in the dual task. Add and U-Add activations were observed while executing the dual tasks. U-Add theta and alpha activations dominated the posterior region in dual-task situations. Our results show that both deteriorated behaviors and interactive brain activations should be comprehensively considered for evaluating workload or attentional interaction precisely.
Wen, D., Qin, L., Zhang, Y., Lin, X. & Yu, J.X. 2018, 'I/O Efficient Core Graph Decomposition: Application to Degeneracy Ordering', IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering.
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IEEE Core decomposition is a fundamental graph problem with a large number of applications. Most existing approaches for core decomposition assume that the graph is kept in memory of a machine. Nevertheless, many real-world graphs are too big to reside in memory. In this paper, we study I/O efficient core decomposition following a semi-external model, which only allows node information to be loaded in memory. We propose a semi-external algorithm and an optimized algorithm for I/O efficient core decomposition. To handle dynamic graph updates, we firstly show that our algorithm can be naturally extended to handle edge deletion. Then we propose an I/O efficient core maintenance algorithm to handle edge insertion, and an improved algorithm to further reduce I/O and CPU cost. In addition, based on our core decomposition algorithms, we further propose an I/O efficient semi-external algorithm for degeneracy ordering, which is an important graph problem that is highly related to core decomposition. We also consider how to maintain the degeneracy order. We conduct extensive experiments on 12 real large graphs. Our optimal core decomposition algorithm significantly outperforms the existing I/O efficient algorithm in terms of both processing time and memory consumption. They are very scalable to handle web-scale graphs. As an example, we are the first to handle a web graph with 978:5 million nodes and 42:6 billion edges using less than 4:2 GB memory. We also show that our proposed algorithms for degeneracy order computation and maintenance can handle big graphs efficiently with small memory overhead.
Wu, D., King, J.T., Chuang, C.H., Lin, C.T. & Jung, T.P. 2018, 'Spatial Filtering for EEG-Based Regression Problems in Brain-Computer Interface (BCI)', IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 771-781.
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© 1993-2012 IEEE. Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals are frequently used in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), but they are easily contaminated by artifacts and noise, so preprocessing must be done before they are fed into a machine learning algorithm for classification or regression. Spatial filters have been widely used to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of EEG for BCI classification problems, but their applications in BCI regression problems have been very limited. This paper proposes two common spatial pattern (CSP) filters for EEG-based regression problems in BCI, which are extended from the CSP filter for classification, by using fuzzy sets. Experimental results on EEG-based response speed estimation from a large-scale study, which collected 143 sessions of sustained-attention psychomotor vigilance task data from 17 subjects during a 5-month period, demonstrate that the two proposed spatial filters can significantly increase the EEG signal quality. When used in LASSO and k-nearest neighbors regression for user response speed estimation, the spatial filters can reduce the root-mean-square estimation error by 10.02-19.77\%, and at the same time increase the correlation to the true response speed by 19.39-86.47\%.
Wu, Z., Xu, G., Lu, C., Chen, E., Jiang, F. & Li, G. 2018, 'An effective approach for the protection of privacy text data in the CloudDB', World Wide Web, pp. 1-24.
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© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC Due to the advantages of pay-on-demand, expand-on-demand and high availability, cloud databases (CloudDB) have been widely used in information systems. However, since a CloudDB is distributed on an untrusted cloud side, it is an important problem how to effectively protect massive private information in the CloudDB. Although traditional security strategies (such as identity authentication and access control) can prevent illegal users from accessing unauthorized data, they cannot prevent internal users at the cloud side from accessing and exposing personal privacy information. In this paper, we propose a client-based approach to protect personal privacy in a CloudDB. In the approach, privacy data before being stored into the cloud side, would be encrypted using a traditional encryption algorithm, so as to ensure the security of privacy data. To execute various kinds of query operations over the encrypted data efficiently, the encrypted data would be also augmented with additional feature index, so that as much of each query operation as possible can be processed on the cloud side without the need to decrypt the data. To this end, we explore how the feature index of privacy data is constructed, and how a query operation over privacy data is transformed into a new query operation over the index data so that it can be executed on the cloud side correctly. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated by theoretical analysis and experimental evaluation. The results show that the approach has good performance in terms of security, usability and efficiency, thus effective to protect personal privacy in the CloudDB.
Yan, Z., Liu, J. & Liu, S. 2018, 'DPWeVote: differentially private weighted voting protocol for cloud-based decision-making', Enterprise Information Systems, pp. 1-21.
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© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group With the advent of Industry 4.0, cloud computing techniques have been increasingly adopted by industry practitioners to achieve better workflows. One important application is cloud-based decision-making, in which multiple enterprise partners need to arrive an agreed decision. Such cooperative decision-making problem is sometimes formed as a weighted voting game, in which enterprise partners express ‘YES/NO’ opinions. Nevertheless, existing cryptographic approaches to Cloud-Based Weighted Voting Game have restricted collusion tolerance and heavily rely on trusted servers, which are not always available. In this work, we consider the more realistic scenarios of having semi-honest cloud server/partners and assuming maximal collusion tolerance. To resolve the privacy issues in such scenarios, the DPWeVote protocol is proposed which incorporates Randomized Response technique and consists the following three phases: the Randomized Weights Collection phase, the Randomized Opinions Collection phase, and the Voting Results Release phase. Experiments on synthetic data have demonstrated that the proposed DPWeVote protocol managed to retain an acceptable utility for decision-making while preserving privacy in semi-honest environment.
Yasin, A., Liu, L., Li, T., Wang, J. & Zowghi, D. 2018, 'Design and preliminary evaluation of a cyber Security Requirements Education Game (SREG)', Information and Software Technology, vol. 95, pp. 179-200.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. Context: Security, in digitally connected organizational environments of today, involves many different perspectives, including social, physical, and technical factors. In order to understand the interactions among these correlated aspects and elicit potential threats geared towards a given organization, different security requirements analysis approaches are proposed in the literature. However, the body of knowledge is yet to unleash its full potential due to the complex nature of security problems, and inadequate ways to improve security awareness of key players in the organization. Objective: Objective(s) of the research study is to improve the security awareness of players utilizing serious games via: (i) Know-how of security concepts and security protection; (ii) guided process of identifying valuable assets and vulnerabilities in a given organizational setting; (iii) guided process of defining successful security attacks to the organization. Method: Important methods used to address the above objectives include: (i) a comprehensive review of the literature to better understand security and game design elements; (ii) designing a serious game using cyber security knowledge and game-based techniques combined with security requirements engineering concepts; (iii) using empirical evaluation (observation and survey) to verify the effectiveness of the proposed game design. Result: The solution proposed is a serious game for security requirements education, which: (i) can be an effective and fun way of learning security related concepts; (ii) mimics a real life problem setting in a presentable and understandable way; (iii) motivates players to learn more about security related concepts in future. Conclusion: From this study, we conclude that the proposed Security Requirement Education Game (SREG) has positive results and is helpful for players of the game to get an understanding of security attacks and vulnerabilities.